An Occupied Grave: 1 (A Brock & Poole Mystery) Paperback – 28 Jan. 2018

I had had this downloaded for over 2 years !!! Then I glanced at reviews before embarking upon it and they all mentioned spelling and grammar errors so I wasn't holding out much hope of getting very far into it. There ARE errors which cost it 1* for me but nothing like as bad as detailed. So I am guessing he has got it re-edited since there's a newer cover as well. Though I much prefer my green one so it's a pity he altered that.It was a great story, though I wasn't sure at the beginning but it got better quickly and held my attention. I liked both Poole and Brock, they're both highly different guys but their relationship is clearly going to work, which is nice. Laura is a smashing character, too. I really liked Sanders and Davies so I'll be sticking with this series, especially as we were left with a wee cliffhanger at the end of this one. It is a complete ending but leaves things open for the ensuing books.On only page 5 I was sighing under my breath when he used the word 'building' 4 times in the one paragraph !! Cavity searched needed a hyphen, some sentences dropped words, speechmarks were missed here and there, he wrote retina not retinas though there was only one apostrophe error (which is very good going) !At one point they mentioned that four years was a long time to sit on getting revenge but the chap being discussed had been in prison so that was a nonsensical remark to make and then these detectives were inspecting a missing person's car but didn't open the boot, which would've been the first place I'd have checked !!This sentence just reads wrong to me, ".....Sanders burst into laughter with a little snort, which she instantly became embarrassed of".....then right at the end he really blew his 1* for me when he referred to somebody's mum when she was his nan....sigh.....a real howler, that one !!Anyhow, I will read more of the series and see how things go.

I put 3 stars hand (and not 2) because the book is reasonably well written and engaging whatever the faults of police procedure pointed out by other reviewers. What spoils the read is true of almost all modern British crime fiction. Perhaps you could say that it’s true to life that a man (the hero’s father) is out of prison after something like 15 years having deliberately shot and killed a young boy, not to mention wounding his own son, but although there are forms of murder that can be understood and to some extent forgiven, murdering a child is not one of them, and even if this is how we now ‘deal’ with such people I do not want to read books that appear to condone such a loss of moral clarity. Of course, our ‘justice’ system does behave in exactly this way which makes reading any crime novel set in modern Britain a desolate experience. We used to be better than this.:SPOILER ALERT: Regarding the identity of the killer investigated in the story, another problem arises, again typical. It is a requirement of modern crime fiction across the English speaking world that the evil murderer must almost always be white, and preferably a well off male authority figure. Killers are never poor, or a member of any minority group. Memo to writers: do not make your chief suspect a loony old bloke living in the woods (or black, or gay) because we will know it WASN’T THEM. And when it turns out to be the mayor/policeman/local vicar we will not be surprised, as we suspected something of the sort from the start.

This book, for me was a series of highs and lows. Okay, the lows first. Research into how the police work, how scenes of crimes are handled, how pathologists work and even how police vehicles are used is non-existent. Detective supervisors generally supervise detectives. There are senior (never superior) ranks. Individual detectives aren't given cars to use. They also don't have uniformed officers to do their menial tasks. Sergeants aren't referred to as "sir". I could go on forever. However, look at many telly series about British cops and they display a similar fictitious organisation, often penned by well respected authors. So, suspend belief and go forward.The story itself reminded me of one of the telly shows mentioned above. It's like an episode from Midsomer Murders. It's all there. The village green, the cast of local characters, the vicar, the strange person living in the woods. I even pictured in my head the two main characters as looking like John Nettles and his sidekick. But, hey, if you like that sort of thing, then you'll like this, so it's not all bad by any means. The story itself is a suitably polished whodunnit and guessing the real culprit isn't easy. the sup-plots, the recently transferred DS and grumpy DI, the love interests and the errant father of the DS coming out of prison all help to pad things out suitably.So, if you can look past the inaccuracies, what we are left with is a good, readable story. I nearly scratched two stars off for my overall rating, but on reflection, four stars seems about right. An enjoyable read.

I look forward to reading more by this author.

It took me a while to get into this crime story as the character of DI Brock seemed a little wooden. As someone who keeps his feelings to himself, the story was well underway before his character was slowly revealed. From this point the whole story picked up and became an entertaining and enjoyable read.It starts with a funeral and the discovery of a body already in the grave of someone about to be buried. It’s a terrific start as the mayhem commences. DS Poole, who’s new to the squad, has his own problems alongside working with Brock. Slowly, they begin to piece together events and identify suspects as the story gathers pace for an exciting ending.Overall, it’s well-written and delivered, the characters are believable and the outcome managed a couple of surprises, which is always welcome.

I'm only half way through but too many errors to take it seriously. Someone else mentioned the two days suddenly becoming one and another one was when Poole's mother arrived at the house he pulled on some jogging pants to let her in and then suddenly left the house to go to work, somehow getting into a suit on the way. Perhaps he's Superman! An easy read, perhaps too easy.