“Three children found murdered on Lyme Regis beach.

A local reporter announces the horrific story, throwing the quiet town into turmoil at this shocking discovery.

Unused to dealing with murder on his peaceful seaside beat, the local Detective Chief Inspector has taken the easy option, pointing a finger at the step-father, Eric Goldcrest, as the only suspect directly linked to the children. 

But wealthy Goldcrest, now forced to leave the marital home by his hysterical wife and the constabulary’s suspicions, has gone to ground. The only person he can trust to prove his innocence is unconventional, Private Investigator, Tammy Pierre. But as the case gets more complicated, Tammy, uncovering new evidence becomes a target herself, when first subjected to a brutal knife attack, and then chased by three big SUVs aiming to force her off the road. She now realises the seriousness of the case as her life is at risk, but by whom? 

Possible suspects, Goldcrest’s business partners admit they hate the man for the past criminal gains he’s made at their expense. Could Tammy now be within their sights.

Fresh information has the town’s folk alarmed by news of the return, after twenty years in jail, of a convicted child rapist and murderer. Someone answering his description has been seen lurking in the back gardens of the Goldcrest children’s home late at night.

But the children’s murder is just the start, as killing follows killing and Tammy, still seeking to prove Goldcrest’s innocence, finds  herself groping for solutions in a nightmare of senseless slaughter. 

Might revenge be the motive? Or is there something far more sinister happening? The Lyme Regis Murders will keep you riveted to the end.

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Once again, I am handing the keys (and perhaps the title deeds too seeing as I haven’t written a review in the last two months) over to my guest reviewer, Ryan, who is sharing his thoughts on Andrew Segal’s The Lyme Regis Murders for the blog tour.

Over to you, Ryan…

I am not sure anyone reads crime books unless they want to play at being a secret sleuth.  You may not announce to the rest of the bus that you think it was Eric Goldcrest, or tell the office that you think the recently released prisoner is the chief suspect.  But I think we all do it.  And if you do it with this book you are going to name a lot of potential suspects!  Andrew Segal does a good job of swinging suspects into view and teasing a little bit of motive or evidence right in front of you, before taking the story off in another direction.

Now I can tell you, honestly that my guess was correct (one of my 8 guesses that is!) so I was pretty pleased with myself.  Not for my skills in detection but for my career choice of not becoming a policeman!  Based on this evidence there would be a lot of innocent people locked up if I were in the constabulary!

There are multiple storylines running through this book; predominantly the murders of three innocent children and the growing body count on the Jurassic coastline, but also the protection job Tammy Pierre has been recruited for and the turmoil that is Tammy’s private life.  Tammy has a lot going on. From a case with many suspects but few leads, through to death threats about the protection job she has been contracted to take. Tammy is a strong female lead; clever, persuasive, undecided on all of life’s big decisions and about to have a massive period of self-doubt.  Can she really solve the murder before the police do and protect her client?  Can she save herself and her overseas client who needs to be protected? And can she really do all this whilst having a stable home life?

I enjoyed Tammy as a character. The constant activity felt draining and as the book progresses, you see Tammy start to feel the pace and become irritable and less rational in her actions and responses.  I felt this characterisation was done well and it was easy to like Tammy even if you didn’t agree with her choices.

Eric Goldcrest is a character that is easy to hate. Brash, arrogant and generally loathsome with a penchant for double crossing his friends and colleagues.  But would he go low enough to kill the children? Why’s he running and what is he hiding from?

Whether you want good or evil, trained or incompetent, suspicious or apparently law abiding there is a character here that you will love or loathe.  The ending of the book is clever with an unexpected twist. The murders keep coming throughout the book and the constant turmoil and exhaustion will surely take their toll on something, but who will still be there come the final pages?

I enjoyed this book by Andrew Segal and would recommend it to anyone looking for a character driven and suspicion filled read!

Ryan chose to read and review a free digital copy of The Lyme Regis Murders. The above review is his own unbiased opinion.

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The Lyme Regis Murders by Andrew Segal was published in the UK by Happy London Press on 1st September 2019 and is available in hardcover and ebook formats (please note, some of the following links are affiliate links which mean I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | Kobo |

Andrew Segal is a prolific author with books ranging from rhyming kids’ stories through ‘The Hamilton Conspiracy’ to this series of fascinating thrilling short stories. His ‘day job’ provides the basis for many entertaining tales, and his imagination conjures characters and situations that will leave you eager to read more.

An idea for the first short story came out of the blue, (don’t they often?), and witnessed the production of the somewhat surreal, ‘Cat and Mouse,’ duly presented to wife and daughter, his sternest critics, for approval, which having thus been gained, resulted in Andrew joining a writer’s group.  The success of that first foray into the world of writing encouraged Andrew to write further, with the group clamouring for more each week.

Andrew finds inspiration for many of his stories in real life events. His story, ‘The Leopard,’ relates to an appalling event involving a family member when they were just 6 years old, and already showing signs of leadership skills.