A stylish crime story

Meet the suave and debonair Charles Turner. A gentleman and solicitor of impeccable manners who has a fondness for pretty young ladies. He wines them, he dines them, he surrounds them with his wealth and musical taste and introduces them to his large detached residence in the country. There is just one problem with Mr C he is partial to erotic asphyxiation, enjoys the thrill of strangulation, and has a fixation with his dear departed mother her elegant party dresses and the smell of her lavender perfume. DI Gravel is having a bad day with a serial killer on the loose, the body count mounting, and his only daughter Emily about to step into the jaws of a crocodile when she accepts a job at a respectable local firm of solicitors Harrison and Turner.

 I really enjoyed this book and unusual in the fact that the reader knows very quickly who the killer is. There are some well defined characters namely DI Gravel and his unhealthy life choices, his very able assistant Detective Sergeant Laura Kesey and a dangerous predator who will stop at nothing to feed his depraved sexual lust. Many thanks to netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written. I will certainly be reading more by John Nicholl as I enjoy his witty and fast flowing prose.