“What would you do if your most intimate secrets got into the wrong hands?”

“Set in modern day Cumbria, I Know Your Secret is a police thriller in which a priest is found crucified to the stone floor of his church. Fearing more attacks on the clergy, DI John Campbell and his team of misfits race to find the killer before he strikes again.

Meanwhile, DI Harry Evans, spends his days attending the trial of his wife’s rapist and his nights interfering in the investigation.

Can they catch the killer before he strikes again?”

I am delighted to welcome you to my stop (and sadly the final stop) on the I Know Your Secret blog tour.  I was thrilled to be asked to read and review this book after recently participating in the Matching the Evidence blog tour, also by author Graham Smith.  If you would like to read my review of Matching the Evidence please click here (there is also a rather brilliant guest post from Mr Smith which you don’t want to miss).

After 30 years of service DI Harry Evans is approaching enforced retirement.  He’s not a happy man as he lives for the job and would do anything to keep working with Cumbria’s Major Crimes Team.  But his replacement, DI John Campbell is keen to see the back of Harry and his renegade ways.  While DI Evans is trying to deal with the trial of his wife’s rapist, DI Campbell is called to the scene of a horrific death.  A local priest has been violently killed and crucified to the church floor.  Shortly after, another priest is viciously attacked and left for dead.  Are the two crimes linked?  It’s down to DI Campbell and the Major Crimes Team to discover who has a grudge against the local clergy and whether the secrets being kept are worth killing for…

I really like Harry Evans.  There’s something about him that makes me feel like I shouldn’t like him, but I do!  He’s a bit of a maverick, bit of a rule breaker but with a good heart.  And I love the camaraderie between him and the rest of the team.  I said in my Matching the Evidence review that I wanted to know more about the characters of the Major Crimes Team and this book has done that.  I really like Neil Chisolm and felt strangely sorry for him being stuck in the office rather than out there in the field with his colleagues.  I wasn’t so keen on Lauren, she seems a little too eager to use her feminine wiles rather than her smarts.  I’d love to know more about Bhaki, he seems a little too nice and polite to be a cop!  And I still haven’t warmed to DI John Campbell.  But he brings the necessary friction to a well-gelled team, which makes him quite vital.

Harry Evans is distracted throughout the story by the trial of his wife’s rapist.  I thought these sections were well written and gave an emotional insight into a normally gruff character.  I really felt for Harry.  I did enjoy the way he dipped in and out of the investigation to distract himself from what was happening in court.

There were several different threads running through the story and at times I couldn’t see the connection.  There were no clear links in my mind, but the author has done a brilliant job of linking the different storylines up and making the plots fit seamlessly together.  The book was well paced with an exciting conclusion.  I look forward to reading more from Graham Smith in the future.

Four out of five stars.

Many thanks to Noelle Holten, Graham Smith and Caffeine Nights Publishing for providing me with a copy of  I Know Your Secret in exchange for an honest review.

I Know Your Secret by Graham Smith was published in the UK by Caffeine Nights publishing on 17th October 2016 and is available in paperback and eBook formats | amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | Waterstones | Goodreads | Caffeine Nights |

Graham Smith is married with a young son. A time served joiner he has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. Since Christmas 2000 he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland.

An avid fan of crime fiction since being given one of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books at the age of eight, he has also been a regular reviewer and interviewer for the well-respected website Crimesquad.com since 2009

He is the author of four books featuring DI Harry Evans and the Cumbrian Major Crimes Team.

Author Links: | Facebook | Twitter | Website |
Graham’s Books: | Matching the Evidence | Snatched from Home | Lines of Enquiry | I Know Your Secret |