I would like to thank HQ Digital for a copy of this novel in ex change for a fair and honest review

Publisher – HQ

Published – Out Now

Price – £1.99 Kindle eBook £8.99 paperback

You can cover up the truth, but every murder leaves a trail…

The rain was relentless. It stung Ruth Prendergast’sface as she dashed towards her house, desperate to escape the cold and settle down for an early night. But upon entering her bedroom, she finds a man, lying on her bed – a knife buried in his chest.

When Detective Isabel Blood and her sergeant arrive on the scene, Ruth claims she’s never laid eyes on the victim before. But with no sign of a break-in, how did the killer gain access to the house?

Then Ruth disappears, leaving Isabel and her team to fear the worst. Has their lead suspect escaped, or is Ruth in danger herself?

Forensic evidence at the crime scene is sparse, and it’s proving impossible for Isabel to make a breakthrough. With Ruth still missing, time is running out.

But how can you catch a killer that doesn’t leave a trace?

The police procedural is a classic format and I think the attraction is the slow reveal of suspects and secrets in particular with murder mysteries who was the victim and why are so many people likely to have killed them? In Jane Bettany’s Without A Trace a fantastic hook is deliver to create a solid interesting thriller with some surprises lurking around the corner.

Finding an unknown dead body in your bed will ruin anyone’s day and that happens for Ruth who after a day at work arrives to her recently bought home to find a man stabbed to death in her home. This brings about DI Isabel Blood to soon commence investigation with her trusted team. They soon work out the victim’s identity but motive for a man most felt was a pain in the neck but motive for the killing eludes them for a while before a world of family ties and secrets starts to be revealed.

The impressive opening scene where Ruth discovers the body is a brilliantly delivered hook for the reader a crime so unusual you need to understand the motive and also how it was done. Di Blood and her team are a very solid practical set of investigators and what I enjoyed most was how it showed the legwork of the investigation going through all witnesses and people tied to the house and victim to try and find that elusive clue. This is very much a tale of the art of investigation through conversation watching for clues being revealed and picked up be it in body language or small facts that match up. This is a brain teaser of a puzzle with a really unusual and powerful underlying cause.

DI Blood is less your renegade investigator but more an experienced capable fifty-seven-year-old woman in a key role directing her team and knowing when to press or push. Tying into the story is a mirror plot of BI Blood herself meeting her absentee father for the first time and unpeeling various secrets about his past life including a relationship with her step-brother that looks to start in hostility. Its refreshing to see someone you’d trust with an investigation in charge, and I enjoyed how Bettany creates her characters - they come to life as realistic rather than larger than life you get a strong realistic feel across the book as if this really was a standard murder investigation.

This links to my main issue is that there are some pacing issues in the scenes after the amazing hook. The energy of that crime scene gets turned to a low heat while we try to find out more about victim and who could have got into Ruth’s house, but it felt that the sense of urgency had fled the book replaced with many scenes of people being asked about if they had a key. Halfway through the tension returns and the finale is very well delivered but it did feel that the need for a realistic investigation may have sapped some energy away in those early chapters.

Without a trace is a fine solid thriller with an amazing hook and a very promising lead investigator and her team. It would be an enjoyable winter thriller to read ideally as you’re coming home to an empty house (or at least one you think is empty).