Today I am very pleased to be opening the blog tour for Book 7 of Stewart Giles brilliant DS Smith series, Horsemen, which has been re-released.
About the book
One draining murder investigation after another has left DS Jason Smith on the brink of losing his sanity and he needs a break.
Smith sets off for the peaceful Yorkshire village of Scarpdale for two weeks of country air, slow walks by the lakes and no mobile phone reception. He wakes up on his first morning to find three policemen outside his room. A young woman has been found dead next to one of the lakes. Smith was seen talking to the woman the night before.
DS Jason Smith is an Australian who was sent to York to live with his Grandmother when his sister disappeared from a beach. He has suffered many losses in his short life and is now a dedicated detective. He is a bit of a loose cannon he has his own way of doing things and that doesn’t always mean following orders and procedures.
DC Erica Witton is Jason’s preferred partner they work well together and share a bond. She isn’t always appreciated by Jason, but they care about each other and that brings a different dimension to the series.
My Review
This is the 7th book in the DS Smith series, or 8th if you include the prequel, and to get to know how DS Smith’s mind works, as well as what Stewart has put him through previously, you need to have read a couple of the previous books before this one. It does work well as a stand alone though if you haven’t had a chance to read them all yet.
This book is slightly different to the previous Smith books in that it doesn’t involve the rest of the York Police because Smith is on vacation in the lovely village of Scarpdale, where a murder happens with him being the chief suspect.
The book starts off with Smtih and the gang investigating some armed robberies at various McDonalds in York and then once they have solved the case Smith is allowed to go on vacation.
Once the murdered woman has been found and Smith has cleared his name the father of the murdered girl asks him to investigate properly as the local police are incompetent. The father is Jimmy Phoenix , who owned the McDonalds franchises which were robbed at the start of the book.
Whilst Smith is investigating the girls murder his chief suspect, her boyfriend, is also found dead in a suspected suicide. Once it is ruled that he was murdered Smith has to find out who killed them both.
His investigation takes him from Yorkshire all the way to the Hamptons in New York as he finds a link to what happened a year ago with regards to the boy’s family.
I really enjoyed this book as it was completely different to Smith’s previous investigations as he is on his own without the back -up or authorisation of his team or DI.
The book kept me guessing all the way to the end, and even when Smith was talking to the murderer I still didn’t realise until he finally confessed and everything fell into place.
Overall this was a brilliant book and I loved the little snippet and clue at the end (although as I have already read book 8, Unworthy, it wasn’t much of a shock to me).
I am now off to re-read/listen to Unworthy in preparation for the highly anticipated book 9 of the DS Smith series, where he is working together with Stewart’s other star DC Harriet Taylor in what I imagine is going to be an exciting book.
About the Author
Website: www.stewartgiles.com
Twitter: @stewartgiles
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/stewart.giles.33
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