Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Bitter Legacy
AUTHOR: Dal Maclean
PUBLISHER: Blind Eye Books
LENGTH: 350 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 4, 2016
BLURB:
Detective Sergeant James Henderson of London’s Metropolitan Police Murder Investigation Team is no ordinary police officer. His remarkable gut instincts and relentless detective work have put him on a three-year fast track to becoming an inspector. When the murder of barrister Maria Curzon-Whyte lands in his lap, he finds himself drawn back into the insidious world of London’s privileged elite where men like James’s father possess wealth and power enough to hold the law in contempt. As James navigates the promiscuous, secretive and corrupt spheres of the rich, the murderer strikes again. Soon James begins to fear that these crimes lead dangerously close to his own heart and home. And now, he risks losing everything he’s made of his life unless he can expose the sordid truths that have bred this bitter legacy.”
REVIEW:
On the fast track, Detective James Henderson has seen his share of violent crimes; working as a part of the Murder Investigation Team that’s par for the course. His latest case is proving to be a hard one to crack, however, as a seemingly random crime isn’t turning up any clues as to why or who the culprit is. When another woman is murdered, the similarities between the two cases has James thinking the murders are connected but without more than a gut feeling, he’s having a hard time proving it. What seems as a series of coincidences proves to be anything but, however, when a third and then a fourth victim turns up and now. With the clock ticking down and the window of opportunity to solve the murders closing, James will have to work fast before the body count climbs any higher
Wow, for a first published work, this was really damn good! The case was amazing and the police work was detailed instead of being glossed over like I’ve seen in a ton of other books but it was interesting at the same time. I loved James; he was just so determined to make his own way and he wanted so badly to do something that made a difference. I really felt for him in regards to the issues with his father and the fact that he was cautiously trying to navigate his way through his first relationship as an out of the closet gay male.
I did have a problem with the relationship part of the story, however. (I won’t say who James is with as I’d been going back and forth on it in the beginning and I don’t want to ruin such an integral part of the story.) The relationship was painful to read about for a few different reasons including infidelity and then James pushing his own morals and monogamous tendencies aside in order to try and make it work. At one point my stomach hurt so badly with upset on James’ behalf that I had to step away and read something else before I could go back to it. But the case. The case was just…it was totally entertaining and so well put together that while I was slowly starting to figure things out by the end, I still didn’t have the entire picture until the author wanted me to have it. Even with the drama and issues revolving around James and his love life, the story was good enough to keep me reading.
Things do eventually work out and the ending of the case was amazingly done if a little heartbreaking at the same time. The hea was great to see since for a while I wasn’t sure James would actually get one, and all in all this was a fantastic book. Bearing in mind this is the first published work for this author, I’m really looking forward to what she come out with next! I totally recommended to anyone who likes a good mystery as this was one of the best I’ve read in a long while.
RATING: 
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