It may be Herriott country, and you may have to navigate the sheep herds in the lanes, but crime doesn’t take a holiday in the Dales. Knowing neither Bristol nor Yorkshire (besides owning a Yorkshire Terrier 😉) I just enjoyed my imagination about the landscape and the people.

Troubled detective Winter is investigating the disappearance of Gwen Collier, the sole survivor of a three-decade-long cold case where a murderer claimed her one-time schoolmate Bethan Hopkins. I feel like they are all people I could actually meet in the street, all the little details like their daily routine and the chit chat with their brews and biccies, love it! The writing is superb and peppered with humour with a clever plot that made me listen in one sitting.Gatward's storytelling finesse, allows the everyday to shine, having the setting slowly unfold rather than creating too big a contrast or dichotomy, this novel establishes itself as a noteworthy addition to contemporary crime literature. Gatward’s Harry Grimm books are not great literature, but they’re entertaining “English rural” police stories. It’s all part of a large, organized conspiracy run by greedy and cruel people, something no one had looked for out here in the country. When a woman, celebrating her divorce by camping on the Wensleydale moors, is found stabbed to death, the obvious suspect is her ex-husband.

I mean - I am not a country girl myself, but I wouldn’t make a tit out of myself so badly in said setting. The team must figure out the complicated issue of what happened, who was actually involved, and where was Sophie? However, there were definitely elements that weren't quite as well polished and enjoyable for me and these outweighed the good. For the most part I liked the humor that ran throughout, though at times it felt like it was trying a bit too hard to make me laugh, especially at the start.On a beautiful morning, Bill Dinsdale, a Yorkshire farmer, bids goodbye to his loving wife and sets out to do one of his favorite jobs, baling hay.