Reviewed by Dee
TITLE: It’s a Sin
SERIES: The Summerskill and Lyon Series #1
AUTHOR: Steve Burford
PUBLISHER: NineStar Press
RELEASE DATE: January 10, 2016
LENGTH: 239 pages
BLURB:
“He is a talented and very promising young policeman. Make no mistakes, he deserves the promotion.”
But when gay Detective Sergeant Dave Lyon is assigned to Detective Inspector Claire Summerskill’s team as part of the Service’s ‘positive discrimination policy’, no-one at Foregate Street Station is happy. And that includes Summerskill and Lyon.
Mutual suspicion and mistrust must be shelved however, when a young man’s beaten body is found on a canal tow path, and a dead-end case of ‘happy slapping’ unexpectedly turns into a murder investigation.
Why would someone want to kill middle class arts student Jonathan Williams? And how is his death linked to that of rent boy and would be ‘adult’ film star Sean?
As Summerskill and Lyon’s investigations proceed, the newly-promoted detectives begin to untangle a web of connections, false assumptions and sheer prejudices that force them both to question closely not just their relationship with each other but with the rest of their colleagues at Foregate Street Station and with the Police Service as a whole.
REVIEW:
Given I received this book to review for a same sex book review site, I feel compelled to reiterate, as per the blurb, the two main characters in the story are – male and female. While their relationship is purely platonic, I fell in love with both Dave and Claire. For me to love a story I need to become invested in the characters, which in this instance I did! The main two anyway. I didn’t care for Dave’s boyfriend, and Claire’s husband was an odd character I barely warmed to, either. However, they are minor players in a much bigger story so it didn’t really matter.
The investigation had me glued to the pages. I was fairly certain early on who the ‘baddies’ were but it was so glaringly obvious, to me, I decided I had to be wrong. It turned out I was right, but it didn’t detract from a very compelling story! The interviews with many suspects revealed a lot of interesting things. One could go so far as to say they also uncovered a somewhat scandalous relationship between the dead boy Jonathan and a man in a trusted position.
I love when an author stays true to the native tongue of where the story is set. I found myself smiling when reading things like, dishing up ‘tea’ more commonly referred to as ‘supper’ in many other countries.
My one gripe, because of course I have one or it would have been a five star read. Okay two gripes. At times, some of the large adjectives threw me out of the story, more specifically words like – laconically, embarrassedly, portentously, assiduously, resignedly. Yeah, they make my little brain hurt.
But, in the grand scheme of things, that was nothing compared to the slip of the main character’s son’s name. At the beginning of the story he is referred to as Tony. During a dinner party and for a few chapters after that his mother calls him Tim, and near the end of the book we’re back to Tony! For a moment I wondered if Claire had two older sons, so I backtracked. But nope, it appears to be a mix up!
I highly recommend this story to readers who enjoy a riveting detective, whodunit, crime novel.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Hi Donna. Many thanks for reviewing my book. Really appreciated the positive comments and very pleased you enjoyed it so much. One request – please be a proof-reader for my next one! “It’s a Sin” must have been read by at least half a dozen people prior to publication, including an excellent editor and proof-reader, and none of us spotted the Tony /Tim error! (Don’t suppose I could convince you it’s a clue in a forthcoming plot could I?)
Yours embarrassedly and gratefully (yes, I do like my adverbs),
Steve Burford