“The floor felt hard beneath her face. Nancy opened her eyes. Blinked several times. A pain seared through her head. She could feel fluid. No. She was lying in fluid.

When a body is discovered in a burnt-out barn in the Warwickshire countryside, DI Will Jackman is called to investigate.

Nancy Faraday wakes up on the kitchen floor. The house has been broken into and her boyfriend is missing. As the case unravels, DI Jackman realises that nothing is quite as it appears and everyone, it seems, has a secret.

Can he discover the truth behind the body in the fire, and track down the killer before Nancy becomes the next victim?”

I am absolutely delighted to be kicking off the Beneath the Ashes blog tour today.  Beneath the Ashes is the second book in the DI Will Jackman series and is published tomorrow (that’s Tuesday 1st November 2016).  A very happy book birthday for tomorrow, Jane and Legend Press!

DI Jackman is called to investigate a partially burnt corpse found on the outskirts of a fire damaged farm outbuilding.  There’s something suspicious about the scene though.  How did the body get so far away from the site of the fire?  Elsewhere Nancy Faraday wakes on the kitchen floor with no memory after a night out with her (newish) boyfriend.  The broken glass and the missing boyfriend cause immediate alarm.  What happened last night?  If only she could remember.  As DI Jackman investigates he starts to unravel a startling web of lies and nothing is as it seems…

I really enjoyed this book; my introduction to DI Will Jackman and the work of Jane Isaac. There’s something about a well written police procedural that gives me the warm fuzzies and this is a well written police procedural.  I love DI Jackman and I want to read the first book in the series (Before It’s Too Late) before it’s too late…(see what I did there!?).  Book three is coming out next year and I, for one, can’t wait.

DI Jackman is a new favourite of mine, despite the fact that he’s not my usual hard-boiled grumpy police officer.  I didn’t warm to Nancy at all.  I wanted to like her but her blinkered point of view frustrated me somewhat.

It’s an intricate story with many seemingly unrelated threads.  I spent a large proportion of the story wondering how things were going to tie together but oh boy, they do!  There’s a brilliant twist which I didn’t see coming at all…absolutely brilliant!  I was interested from start to finish and I’ll say it again…that reveal is FABULOUS!

Would I recommend this book?  I would, it’s a cleverly crafted police procedural with a brilliant reveal.  More Will Jackman please, Ms Isaac!

Four out of five stars.

Many thanks to Lucy at Legend Press and Jane Isaac for providing me with a copy of Beneath the Ashes in exchange for an honest review.

Beneath the Ashes by Jane Isaac was published in the UK by Legend Press on 1st November 2016 and is available in paperback and eBook formats | amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | Waterstones | Goodreads | Legend Press |

Jane Isaac lives with her husband, daughter and dog, Bollo, in rural Northamptonshire.

Her first novel, An Unfamiliar Murder, was published in the US in 2012 and was nominated as best mystery in the ‘eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook awards 2013’. Jane is also the author of The Truth Will Out, Before It’s Too Late and Beneath the Ashes, published in the UK by Legend Press. The Truth Will Out, was selected ‘Crime Thriller of the Month by EThriller.com and ‘Noveltunity Book Club Winning Selection’.

Jane’s next novel The Lies Within is published by Legend Press on 2nd May 2017.

Follow Jane on Twitter @JaneIsaacAuthor

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