Dead Jealous is
the first book in the Poppy Sinclair thriller series and is set in
the Lake District. Poppy is sixteen and has come with her mum and
step-dad Jonathan to an alternative/new-age festival on the shores of
Scariswater where her mum and Jonathan are to have a handfasting
ceremony. They are regular attendees to the annual festival but of
late Poppy doesn't believe in the pagan ways.
Poppy is in love with
her best-friend Michael but he has a girlfriend and to protect
herself, Poppy has been turning away from him. At the festival she
meets the gorgeous, slightly older, Tariq – can he take her mind
off Michael?
On the first night
Poppy seeking seclusion climbs a hill and meets Beth. Beth is looking
for a girl she's in love with – Maya – who hasn't been seen since
last year's event. Though Poppy and Beth only meet briefly, they
connect and so when Poppy discovers Beth's dead body in the lake she
knows it was murder. The police think it's an accident and despite
Poppy's assertion that it wasn't, do very little. So it's up to
Poppy, with occasional help from Michael, to get to the bottom of
things.
One of my favourite
adult crime series is Martin Edwards's Lake District mysteries so I
was very much looking forward to Dead Jealous and I wasn't
disappointed. Good use is made of the setting – both the
countryside with its erratic mobile phone signal reception, and the
new age festival including tarot reading and sweat tents. Poppy is
haunted by Beth and Maya – possibly in more than just a manner of
speaking as it's left to the reader to choose whether there's
something supernatural going on or whether it's just that Poppy is
under a lot of strain. As Poppy works through the mysteries she also
resolves some personal issues. I'm very much looking forward to the
sequel, Dead Silent, which is set in another of my favourite
places (Cambridge) and is out in February 2014.
I wasn't aware of this series, sounds great!!
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