‘Shot Through The Heart’ by Isabelle Grey

Published (HB) by Quercus,
24 March 2016.
ISBN: 978-1-78429-283-6
Published (PB) by Quercus,
6 October 2016.
ISBN: 978-1-78648-001-9

On Christmas Day in Dunholt Essex, Russell Fewell shoots and kills five people, injures three and then turns the gun on himself. Instead of a suicide note he leaves his drink driving summons out for the police to find. What can be the significance of that?

The first person to be shot was the lover of Fewell's ex-wife, a policeman, was he actually a “bent copper”?

D.I. Grace Fisher and her sergeant Lance are put in charge of the investigations, which leads them to uncover unexpected evidence of corruption within the police force.

Their enquiries lead them to a man they only know as “The Lion King”, an expert in gun ammunition, he also seems to have connections to the police and has helped them in the past. Grace enlists the help of her friend Ivo Sweatman a journalist who can make certain enquiries that she is not allowed to. When more killings take place it gets a lot more personal for Grace and she starts to fear for her life.

When more and more evidence is uncovered about corruption within the Police Federation, Grace struggles to know who to turn to and who to trust. How deep does it go and how many are involved?

This is a really good book, not so much a “who dunnit?” but a “why?” Unusually it is a story of tracing the casings and ammunition used rather than the actual guns, I found this very interesting.

No wonder it is well written, I see from the fly leaf that Isabelle Grey is a television screenwriter, responsible for penning among others Midsummer Murders, Rosemary and Thyme and Wycliffe, some of my favourite programmes. I also note that this is the second book about Grace Fisher, I now need to look out for the first one, Good Girls Don't Die.

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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Isabelle Grey was born within the sound of Bow Bells in London's East End. She grew up in Manchester, spent ten years on what was once a tidal island at the edge of the Romney Marsh, and now lives and work in north London. A former non-fiction author (writing as Isabelle Anscombe) and journalist for national newspapers and magazines such as 'Cosmopolitan', 'Country Living' and 'Psychologies', she has also taught screenwriting at Central Saint Martin's, the Arvon Foundation and the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival.

Her new crime series features Grace Fisher, a murder detective with the Essex Major Investigation Team in Colchester. Determined, unflinching and vulnerable, in Good Girls Don't Die and Shot Through the Heart her race to bring killers to justice is compromised not only by the wily tabloid crime reporter Ivo Sweatman but also by collusion and corruption within the police service she loves. Her two earlier novels of psychological suspense, Out of Sigh and the Bad Mother, are available in Kindle, paperback and audio.
She also writes screenplays for television crime drama, including  The Bill, Wycliffe, Rosemary & Thyme and Midsomer Murders. With Jimmy McGovern, she co-wrote Tina's Story, the final episode in the Bafta and International Emmy award-winning BBC series 'Accused'.

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf  (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.