This is book number seven in a series. It is not necessary to read the previous six, but I certainly intend to do so, to find out more about DCI Warren Jones and the people with whom he works.

This outing opens with a dead body under a bridge, fingerprints and teeth removed. Of course, this presents challenges both in identifying the body and solving the murder itself. The team does manage to identify the dead man, but the investigation itself is slow-going, as the victim was a loner of sorts, and held his secrets closely.

To complicate things, it turns out DCI Jones has a lot going on in his personal life as well: his father has been moved to an assisted living facility, and he and his wife are recovering from her miscarriage and their discussions at attempting parenthood again are heartbreaking.

Eventually, they find the man was regularly seeing other men via a dating app, and the investigation becomes even more involve than before, as the team chases down the man’s partners and look into their whereabouts when the man was killed.

Ranging from people lying to damaged walls to nonworking or just slightly out of range or intentionally sabotaged CCTVs, this investigation has it all. But the team is dogged, and there are no slow parts for the reader, which is always a potential when the investigation is so large.

This book has an interesting murder investigation and a personal story that is not contrived just to have the main character have some kind of flaw or obstacle to overcome (and that’s easily solved).

Four point out of five stars, rounded up to five.

Thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for the reading copy.