In Deep Water (Inspector Jim Carruthers Book 5) Tana Collins

The Blurb:

When local fisherman, Robert Paterson goes missing it is assumed by DCI McTavish that the man has fallen victim to another tragic fishing accident. However, things don’t add up for Inspector Jim Carruthers. Why did Paterson take his boat out at night when he would normally fish during the day? Has he taken his own life or has something more sinister taken place? Then a bloodied body shows up on the uninhabited Isle of May. Carruthers is shocked to find it is not that of the fisherman. He suspects the two events are connected. But how? A journalist who had been investigating the two cases disappears. As Carruthers tries to uncover what she discovered more questions arise. Has someone been leaking information to the press? If so, why? And, will the journalist be found alive? With the case getting more complicated and a murderer on the loose in this tight-knit coastal community, Carruthers has his work cut out. This is the fifth book in the bestselling Inspector Jim Carruthers series.

About Tana Collins:

Tana Collins is now a UK Amazon Top 10 bestselling author of the Inspector Jim Carruthers

series set in the picturesque East Neuk of Fife. She was born in Yorkshire but grew up in rural East Sussex where she spent most of her childhood running around in woods creating stories and having adventures. She did a BA at the Polytechnic of North London before moving to Canada to do a Masters in Philosophy and then finally an MPhil at St Andrews. In 1996 she moved to Edinburgh which is where she still lives. Her debut novel, Robbing the Dead, set in fictional Castletown in Fife, was published on 14th February 2017 and became an Amazon No 1 Bestseller for Scottish Crime Fiction. The follow up in the series, Care to Die, was published 1st June 2017 also to critical acclaim "A finely plotted mystery. Tana Collins racks up the suspense on this one. DI Jim Carruthers is a cop to watch." Peter Robinson 'A cracking read. The suspense never lets up.' Leigh Russell A police procedural that delights the reader with a strong sense of place. Tartan Noir at its best.' Sarah Ward, author of In Bitter Chill 'Skilfully plotted with a cast of convincing characters who have real depth. A superb debut.' Alison Tailor Baillie, author of Sewing the Shadows. Her author website can be found at tanacollins.com

My Review:

This is the fifth instalment of the compelling Inspector Jim Carruthers series, and it only gets better. Why did I like this book so much? The strong characters have already embedded themselves in my mind from reading previous books in the series, but this time... oh the location, the words transformed into Turneresque land and seascapes of the Firth of Fife, delightful Scottish fishing villages such as Anstruther, and most of all the Isle of May with it's sights and sounds of the seabirds, and the harsh, isolated, exposed to the elements, environs of an island that despite it's beauty, belongs to the birds and seals and tolerates people in very small doses. In reading this book I was lifted me from my lockdown urbanity to a comparitive Nirvana.

However, this is a crime book, so murder comes as all the more shocking within this small charming close-knit fishing community.

DI Jim Carruthers and his Sergeant Andi Fletcher are sent out to the Isle of May to investigate the death of the warden, the custodian of the island, who was alone on the island at the time.

Add to the mix, his sometimes querulous boss DCI Sandra McTavish, and ambitious DC Helen Lennox who appears to have missed the bit about people skills at police training school, and constantly rubs her colleagues up the wrong way.

All this makes for interesting discussion when they get their heads together in the briefing room, illustrating how they still manage to come together as a team, despite slightly different agendas and minor irritations amongst themselves.

Each chapter had me gripped right up until the final dramatic end which matched up to the dramatic scenery that it was set in.