{ROY & ROSCOE # 5} HEIR TO MURDER.

HEIR TO MURDER BY TONY BASSETT. 

Genre ... Crime fiction

Publication Date ... 4th December 2023

Standalone fifth book in the Detectives Roy and Roscoe crime fiction series

Estimated Page Count ... 290

Purchase Link ... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CPFNJNQJ

When a neighbour from hell comes to a sticky end, a plucky cop refuses to accept the obvious.

Miles Kenworth loves to play his rock music at a deafening volume. The other residents of his apartment block are not so keen.

One day, after hearing a commotion, Miles’ next-door neighbour discovers his body lying in a pool of blood.

Standing next to the corpse is Jake, the man who lives upstairs.

It should be an open and shut case for DS Sunita Roy. But with Jake vehemently protesting his innocence, she decides to dig deeper.

Most of the residents wanted Miles shut up for good. But was it really Jake who flipped, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Whilst this is the fifth book in the Roy & Roscoe series, it is not the first time I have encountered the detectives who I first came across way back in March 2022 when I read and reviewed the author's Murder On Oxford Lane {the first book in the series} on A Blog Tour here on Pen and Paper.

A character I really enjoyed in the previous book, again DS Sunita Roy did not disappoint with her skill set really came to the fore when, many suspects on, the case saw the detectives travel to Spain in what was probably my favourite aspect of the story.

What I'd describe as more of a traditional whodunit with its fair share of red herrings than your typical police procedural ... though don't get me wrong there are aspects of this to the story just as, though I don't particularly see this myself, some readers argue there are also the aspects of a cozy novel. 

Despite what to my mind was the occasional unrealistic dialogue letting the book down, again this was a well paced read in which, despite my many theories as to just who 'did it', I was kept guessing as to who the murderer was. 

I am a semi-retired journalist who was born in West Kent. While growing up, I spent hours reading and writing, and, from an early age, nursed an ambition to become first a journalist and then novelist. My theory was that, in order to write novels, one had to have life experiences to colour one’s writing and one could obtain those experiences through journalism.

I was fortunate enough to be named Time-Life Magazine Student Journalist of the Year in 1971 in a competition organised by the National Union of Students. At the time, I was editing the student newspaper at Hull University, where I gained a BA Honours degree in History and Political Studies.

After six years working on provincial newspapers in Sidcup, Worcester and Cardiff, I became a freelance journalist in London. For 24 years, I was a reporter on the staff of the Sunday People (now part of Reach plc, formerly Trinity Mirror). Over the years, I sold tens of thousands of stories to the national newspapers, including the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Star, Daily Telegraph and London Evening Standard. I helped cover the Jeremy Thorpe trial at the Old Bailey for the Evening Standard. I broke the news in a Sun newspaper exclusive in April 1989 that Bill Wyman, the Rolling Stones guitarist aged 52, was to marry 18-year-old Mandy Smith. I bought 200 blank MOT forms to expose a trade in fake certificates.

My speciality was tracking people down. For instance, I found evidence about Rod Stewart’s secret love child Sarah Streeter by tracing a retired adoption agent through a library ticket. On one occasion, I took an escaped gangster back to prison. Some of my stories can be read on my website (see below); others are generally available online. For thirty years, I was also employed as a birth and marriage researcher mainly for the Mail on Sunday, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People and The Sun.

I have a grown-up son and four grown-up daughters who all live in South Wales.

Social Media ... Website FaceBook X/Twitter

With thanks to Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for organising a paper copy. One of several bloggers participating in the Blog Tour of this book, agree or disagree with me, all opinions are my own; no financial compensation was asked for nor given; threats of violence towards my favourite teddy bear went unheeded as did promises of chocolate.

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