Stolen Darlings (Detective Morgan Brookes #10) by Helen Phifer
Genre: Crime fiction, Crime thriller, Police procedurals
Read: 29th September 2023
Published: 29th September 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
The girl’s body is lying still and the crown of rare darling roses is perfectly positioned in her beautiful auburn hair. Morgan thinks she looks picture-perfect. Until she notices the blood dripping down one side of the boulder beneath her…
Following her colleague Ben up to Castlerigg Stone Circle, Detective Morgan Brookes is shocked at what she finds. A young woman has been killed, left on display at the top of the hill with a crown of roses on her head. As the team race to get the popular tourist spot cordoned off, Morgan hears the heartbroken sobs of the woman who found the body, as she identifies the victim as her best friend Cora Dalton.
Morgan can already see that Cora didn’t struggle when her throat was cut. There’s no blood on the beautiful white gown she was wearing, which means that Cora knew her killer. But everyone, including her boyfriend Jay, has an alibi. As a local shopkeeper, Cora was a huge part of the community, and her neighbours are devastated to lose such a sweet soul.
Then Morgan’s team discover that a local photographer had arranged to meet Cora, and it’s clear from his messages that he chose her elegant white dress. Could their photoshoot have taken a sinister turn?
But when another body is found at another stone circle, wearing an identical flower crown, while the photographer is in custody, Morgan loses the only lead she has. Tracking down the florist who made the crown, Morgan pores over their records and realises the killer purchased three circles of roses…
Certain another innocent life is at risk and with the killer already steps ahead, can Morgan find the connection between these girls before another life is stolen?
An unbelievably gripping new crime thriller in the Detective Morgan Brookes series. Readers of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Lisa Regan will be holding their breath as they race through the pages to the final, epic conclusion.
MY THOUGHTS:
Can you believe we're up to book 10 of this exciting series already? I have followed the exploits of Morgan, Ben and their team since the second book "The Killer's Girl" and it has been tension-filled and not-so-smooth-sailing from the start. Since the brutal murder of one of their own, they have recruited one of their favourite uniforms into CID and he has made himself right at home and has quickly made his mark with them.
In this installment, we see Morgan and Ben called out to Castlerigg Stone Circle with the murder of twenty eight year old Cora Dalton, a young woman who owned a witchcraft shop Black Moon in Kewsick High Street. Cora was found by her friends on the morning of what was to be a yoga outing to mark the Ostara (something I'm not at all familiar with but something to do with stars and spring or something). What they find on the flat stone is Cora's body with her neck slashed and dressed in a sheer white gown wearing a floral crown of roses and a garland of oak leaves.
The area is cordoned off and the team get to investigating the murder. They are quick to suspect the boyfriend who is a history teacher at a nearby school, particularly when it comes to light that he has something of a temper on him. Had he been violent towards Cora? Did she fear for her life?
While the team are busying questioning him and a local photographer, Morgan received a call from a neighbouring unit about a similar attack on another young woman. This time she survived thanks to an off-duty paramedic walking her dog who was quick to administer first aid and call for help. Tabitha King is rushed to surgery but is not out of the woods yet. Will she live long enough to give Morgan the breakthrough that they need?
Then they receive the disturbing news that the young man who works in the bookshop next to Cora's nan has gone missing. Morgan isn't worried as the woman is 68 and the killer's MO is that of young women. But then Lewis reveals that she runs a witchcraft shop nearby. Could this just be a coincidence? Both Cora and Tabitha ran similar types of shops. Should they be worried? Has the killer gone after the young man's nan this time?
With no shortage of suspects, the team are left racing for time to uncover the killer before he kills again. He'd purchased three rose crowns, two of which have been used. So he has one more left. Will Morgan and her team find him in time?
Another super read by Helen Phifer though once again Morgan continues to go in gung-ho to apprehend any suspect single-handedly that it is becoming a bit predictable. I enjoy this series but would prefer a little less predictability when it comes to Morgan as we all know what she's going to do and that it will always be her left chasing down the villain at the end of the day, sometimes to her own detriment. But what makes this series so enjoyable is the camaraderie within the team. I love reading their banter which I often enjoy more than than the investigation. It makes the series a pleasure to read. But please, make Morgan a little less predictable.
Overall, another cracker read and addition to the series. I love the Lake District setting. A normally tranquil setting rocked by the deluge of murders penned by Phifer.
I would like to thank #HelenPhifer, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #StolenDarlings in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Helen lives in a small town in Cumbria. Surrounded by miles of coastline and only a short drive from the beautiful Lake District.
She has always loved writing and reading since the days she learnt how to in infant school. She loves reading books that make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and make her afraid to go to the toilet, alone in the middle of the night. She is eternally grateful to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Herbert and Graham Masterton for scaring her senseless in her teenage years.
Unable to find enough of the scary stories she loves to read, she decided to write her own.
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