Combined review of Fatal Isles, Wild Shores and Cruel Tides (books 1 - 3 in the Doggerland series):

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/fatal-isles-wild-shores-cruel-tides-mari... ( )

This is inventive. Doggerland is a fictional archipelago situated between the UK & Scandinavia, and it borrows from multiple cultures to produce a unique mix. There's a murder and it happens to be Karen's boss's ex wife. So he can't investigate, particularly as he might be a suspect - even if Karen can give him an alibi for most of the timeframe concerned after a disastrous drunken decision.
The story unfolds mostly in the present with the odd flashback to a commune that the victim's family were part of in the 1970s. It's all a long time ago and you wonder what relevance it it - as does the chief of police and the prosecutor, until, gradually, the story unfolds and the past comes crashing into the present. Karen herself has a past, that is revealed slowly and it gives her both empathy and a blind spot. She and the islands she inhabits are certainly an entertaining place to visit (by book, not sure I'd want to go in person!). Be warned though, the second crime that takes place is described in more detail than you'd like or is really necessary. ( )

Great book! Alas, Doggerland is just a fictional place but I was so taken with the story and the wonderful descriptions that I got sucked in (listened to the audio version) that it was so believable. So, believable that I sit here, writing this wanting Doggerland to exist so that I could go there. Felsteg (Fatal Isles) is the first book in a series about Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby and if you like island stories like Ann Cleeves Shetland, and/or like long complicated stories (many characters, past events that affect the present time) like Nele Neuhaus Bodenstein & Kirchhoff series then you will love this book.

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Great book! Alas, Doggerland is just a fictional place but I was so taken with the story and the wonderful descriptions that I got sucked in (listened to the audio version) that it was so believable. So, believable that I sit here, writing this wanting Doggerland to exist so that I could go there. Felsteg (Fatal Isles) is the first book in a series about Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby and if you like island stories like Ann Cleeves Shetland, and/or like long complicated stories (many characters, past events that affect the present time) like Nele Neuhaus Bodenstein & Kirchhoff series then you will love this book.

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My thanks to the Author publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This is a quite brilliant debut, a quality 'Scandi Noir' police procedural set in Doggerland an island between the UK and Denmark. Atmospheric clever descriptive imaginative a totally engaging mystery. Well written with terrific characters especially our brave gutsy no nonsense heroine, gripping from first to last page, a proper page turner, and each time I thought I had the answer to whodunit, wrong another twist. Throw in a tense hold your breath violent finale, and yet another twist, and the first thing I did when I finished the book was check Fantastic Fiction to see if more were to follow. Thankfully book two is on its way.
Completely and utterly recommended. ( )