Thank you so much to Bookish First and the publisher for my finished paperback review copy of Unholy Murder! Thankfully I remember most of the British slang I had to look up whilw reading Judas Horse, so this was a fairly smooth reading experience!
This is my first read in the Tennison series, though I have liked her DS Jack Warr books quite a bit.
A coffin is unearthed at a dig site attached to an old convent, and the police are called in case there is a body inside! Has the ground been de consecrated? Who would kill a nun and why? Tennison and DS Boon end up having to solve a murder that must have happened at least 25+ years ago. I didn’t realize that these books take place in the 80s, once Jane took her typewriter out of a cupboard I kind of went “ohhh so that’s why these guys don’t have cell phones!”
There was a lot of interesting information about the church, sisters vs nuns, convents and burial rites in the book. Lots of different theories tying into the murder(s), one of which was that the builders were involved. Or was it other nuns? A local priest? The Bishop had done some serious, serious cover ups in the past so the plethora of potential suspects and theories kept it interesting for me. The church looks real great in this one but it was interesting to see internal politics in play.
Most of the theories had some grain of truth in them too, and LaPlante keeps me turning the pages for sure. It was a good mystery but not so much of a thriller, I think the “crime drama” or mysery genre fits it well. I would have never guessed who either murderer was.
My main issue with the book was that I just really didn’t like Tennison very much. I do wonder if reading the prior books would help connect to her more though. None of her personal relationships seemed realistic. The book happened over a fairly short period of time and Jane was practically in love with a guy she had just met and shagged one or two times. She is a good investigator but needs to learn to work with the team – it was a little bit satisfying that she had gotten reprimanded for keeping things to herself, and then someone died as a result – like maybe she will learn to trust in the future finally?
I think Barnes, Boon, and Stanley were my favorites, they all had a turnaround related to their jobs and came up big at the end.
Definitely recommend this author for fans of crime dramas, she is a great writer as far as keeping things flowing and interesting
This is my first read in the Tennison series, though I have liked her DS Jack Warr books quite a bit.
A coffin is unearthed at a dig site attached to an old convent, and the police are called in case there is a body inside! Has the ground been de consecrated? Who would kill a nun and why? Tennison and DS Boon end up having to solve a murder that must have happened at least 25+ years ago. I didn’t realize that these books take place in the 80s, once Jane took her typewriter out of a cupboard I kind of went “ohhh so that’s why these guys don’t have cell phones!”
There was a lot of interesting information about the church, sisters vs nuns, convents and burial rites in the book. Lots of different theories tying into the murder(s), one of which was that the builders were involved. Or was it other nuns? A local priest? The Bishop had done some serious, serious cover ups in the past so the plethora of potential suspects and theories kept it interesting for me. The church looks real great in this one but it was interesting to see internal politics in play.
Most of the theories had some grain of truth in them too, and LaPlante keeps me turning the pages for sure. It was a good mystery but not so much of a thriller, I think the “crime drama” or mysery genre fits it well. I would have never guessed who either murderer was.
My main issue with the book was that I just really didn’t like Tennison very much. I do wonder if reading the prior books would help connect to her more though. None of her personal relationships seemed realistic. The book happened over a fairly short period of time and Jane was practically in love with a guy she had just met and shagged one or two times. She is a good investigator but needs to learn to work with the team – it was a little bit satisfying that she had gotten reprimanded for keeping things to herself, and then someone died as a result – like maybe she will learn to trust in the future finally?
I think Barnes, Boon, and Stanley were my favorites, they all had a turnaround related to their jobs and came up big at the end.
Definitely recommend this author for fans of crime dramas, she is a great writer as far as keeping things flowing and interesting