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Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Little Grave (Detective Amanda Steele #1) in Books

Jan 17, 2021

I admit I don't read a lot of American crime; I've nothing against it but I just happen to prefer my crime books to be set in the UK however, this one caught my eye and I thought I'd have a bit of a change and, overall, I was very satisfied.

The blurb, as you can see, is a long one and sets the scene very well for this solid start to a new series.

Amanda is a complex character and was difficult to get to like at first but this was understandable given what she has experienced; she did grow on me at the end as she started to work through her grief and the true Amanda came out however, I admit to nearly giving up on her but glad I didn't.

As the blurb says, Amanda is investigating the murder of the man who killed her husband and daughter but can she be objective and why is she getting threatening phone calls telling her to back off? She doesn't of course, otherwise there wouldn't be a book, but this is not a straightforward murder and does it have anything to do with the murder of the man's business partner and an exotic dancer or is it just a coincidence? The closer Amanda gets to finding out, the closer she gets to discovering the answers are closer to home than she could ever imagined.

The plot was great, the pace was good and the characters were explored just enough to wet your appetite to want to get to know them more, particularly Trent, but what I felt was really well explored was the grieving process that Amanda was experiencing. I really got a sense of her total desolation and how little things triggered memories of her dead loved ones and how this impacted on her every waking minute because, let's face it, if you had lost your entire reason for being, I'm sure you'd be the same.

Like I said at the beginning, this is a solid start to a new series and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Many thanks to Bookoutre and NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased review.