ARC Review: The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza (Detective Erika Foster Book 1)

Release Date: February 12, 2016
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: Kindle
Pages: 359 pages
Genre: Mystery
Buy: Kindle

Synopsis:

Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…She is not the only one.

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation.

The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London.

What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding?

As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika.

The last investigation Erika led went badly wrong… resulting in the death of her husband. With her career hanging by a thread, Erika must now battle her own personal demons as well as a killer more deadly than any she’s faced before. But will she get to him before he strikes again?

Review:

DCI Erika Foster is just back to active duty after the death of her husband.  Brought in on the case of a missing social elite. As in all cases where high profile people are the victim the press is all over the case and the family doesn't want to have their name smeared regardless of reality.  Thinking they are special the family inserts itself into the investigation using their weight to get to the easiest conclusion but not necessarily the correct one.

DCI Foster finds evidence that places this girl in a lower class area in a bar that is known for being rough and with a man that is not her fiance.  This doesn't mesh with what the family wants revealed so DCI Foster finds herself on the outs.

Well written, well paced, with excellent policing and suspense.  I really enjoyed this book and found myself whipping through it wanting to know who may have killed this young socialite.  There are many theories and the suspects start moving in directions that I didn't even consider, very well done. I love DCI Foster, another strong female character in the world of Crime Fiction.  All of the characters really popped off the pages and you felt like you knew them.  Mixed here and there are snippets of their history and their personal lives which really helped to make you feel for them.  I am hopeful that this is only the first in a long series about DCI Foster and her team and that Robert Bryndza writes fast!

Disclaimer: I received an advanced e-copy of this book through netgalley.com from the publisher in exchange for an honest review