Review: Tainted: A DI Colin Strong Investigation

Tainted: A DI Colin Strong Investigation by David Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in Yorkshire, well Leeds and Wakefield in 2002, Detective Inspector Colin Strong, his Detective Sargent Kelly Stainmore and his team investigate a murder after a man’s body is found in a public toilet by a local dog walker.

They are also looking into a cold case, from 20 years previously, which is the murder of a 14 year old girl, Claire Hobson. DNA that had been found on her body has a link to a new PC in the station.

Then a second body is found, and yet another investigation is underway.

Bob Souter, a journalist and friend of DI Strong is also looking into the old murder for a 20th anniversary story. I found it very clever of David Evans to have this parallel investigation, to show a different side to the story and how differently people react to the police or the press.

This really details the way a police investigation works and its way of finding a small detail, which leads to more and more revealing moments. Very cleverly written with great, likeable and believable characters.

The ending is nail bitingly tense and ties up all the loose ends. While this is one of a series, it’s still easy to follow as a stand-alone, but I will be looking out for the next one for sure.

If you like a police procedural then this is a must read and I can recommend it without reservation.

Thank you to Caroline Vincent at Bits About Books for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

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