With Grave Consequences by Jacqueline Harret

306 Pages

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You can find out more about Jacqueline Harret...Here

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• The Blurb...

Cardiff based, Detective Inspector Mandy Wilde is tough as they come. Nearly 6ft tall, with wild, curly hair and an attitude to match it, she spends her days (and most nights) hunting down Cardiff’s criminals. All her spare time is devoted to bringing up her teenage niece, Tabitha, who lives with her after being abandoned by Mandy’s twin sister, Joy.

• Our Review...

With Grave Consequences is the third, and I think the best so far, in the DI Mandy Wilde series.

Mandy is a tall, whip smart DI based in Cardiff with wild hair, a wild mouth and a wild twin sister, Wilde by name and so on. No filter and a gob like a cross between a potty and a machine gun.

The body of a teenage girl is found in a cemetery one cold morning by a lonely old man. Was it murder? One case quicky turns into two. The author leaves a trail of crumbs with little bits of red herrings thrown in. 

The Mandy Wilde books as a brand are little different to your average crime thriller. Yes there are crimes but, and it's difficult to articulate this, the cause of much of the ills are just society. People fall through the cracks in life and the social rescue cant't help them because the net is either thread bare or non existent. This results in desperate people doing desperate things. The bad guys here are not men in black hats or Bond villains but people who are lost and hopeless. It's crime fiction that has a social conscience and it's done well. 

In addition to a whodunnit with a social soft spot we also get a family saga. Twin sisters. One a high up cop and one bum, but the bum has the child that Mandy loves as a daughter. The sisters love each other but also resent each other and the sparks between them add zing to the whole narrative. 

It's a serious crime fiction novel but the author does have a way with funny one liners too that pepper the tale through out. Towards the end of the book the ground work is laid out for what I hope will be DI Mandy Wilde IV.

An enjoyable and polished police procedural. Knows it's audience and hits the spot.

• Selected Quotes...

“When can you do the PM? Today?” “Late afternoon. Say five? It will mean I have a valid excuse to miss the weekly dinner with my mother-in-law.” “Every cloud.” Anyone who would rather cut up a dead body than have dinner with an in-law needed some sympathy.

Olivia has been scouring the CCTV from the cemetery.” “Good God. They have CCTV there? What are they expecting? Zombies?”

his father, put a twenty-pound note into the tin and declined the raffle tickets. A show of wealth. Did he expect a round of applause? What a prick.

Having her sister back was wonderful and awful in almost equal proportions.

• If You Liked This Then You May Also Like...

The List by Graham H Miller.(Review...Here)

Missing, Prersumed by Susie Steiner

Quieter Than Killing by Sarah Hilary

• About The Author...

Former teacher and lecturer with a passion for storytelling. Retired from education but still loves learning. Writes in different genres. Crime series with DI Mandy Wilde as the detective. Women’s fiction with Janet Laugharne as J. L. Harland - What Lies Between Them.Jacqueline is a member of Crime Cymru.