Holy Island

The DCI Ryan Mysteries, Book 1

By: LJ Ross

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Detective Chief Inspector Ryan retreats to Holy Island seeking sanctuary when he is forced to take sabbatical leave from his duties as a homicide detective. A few days before Christmas, his peace is shattered, and he is thrust back into the murky world of murder when a young woman is found dead amongst the ancient ruins of the nearby priory.

When former local girl Dr. Anna Taylor arrives back on the island as a police consultant, old memories swim to the surface, making her confront her difficult past. She and Ryan struggle to work together to hunt a killer who hides in plain sight while pagan ritual and small-town politics muddy the waters of their investigation.

Murder and mystery are peppered with a sprinkling of romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set on the spectacular Northumbrian island of Lindisfarne, cut off from the English mainland by a tidal causeway.

©2015 L J Ross (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

" Holy Island is a blockbuster." ( Daily Express)

New to Me!

Ms Ross is a new to me author and I’m so glad this series was recommended to me. DCI Ryan is a brooding dreamy hunk. I enjoyed the undercurrent and subplots to the mystery. Bring on book two!

To much romance stuff

To much emotional romantic stuff. I definitely do not care for that in my murder mystery books. I’ll give the next one a shot.

Very uneven

writing/plotting of the mystery were great but the romance was cliche/bodice-ripper & neopagan info error-prone

Eh

Its more a bodice ripper than a mystery…which was unfortunate for me. Oh well.

A nicely twisted mystery

DCI Ryan is on a not entirely voluntary three-month sabbatical from the police force, due to the horrific ending of the last serial killer case he investigated. He's spending this sabbatical on Lindisfarne, a.k.a. "Holy Island." Ryan is living very quietly, but the total population of the island is somewhere around 200, so he's gotten to know, at least slightly, a good proportion of that population.

So one morning, when one of the local women, out walking her dog in the early morning, stumbles upon a dead body, with no police force on the island, she goes directly to DCI Ryan.

Ryan acts immediately to protect the crime scene, get the one local doctor to do a preliminary examination of the dead body, and successfully lobbies his boss to get his sabbatical revoked and put him in charge of the case. Because the dead young woman, Lucy Matheson, was killed sometime during the five hours of the night when Lindisfarne was completely cut off from the mainland, the pool of potential suspects is limited to the local residents. That's a mixed blessing, because it means that at least initially, Ryan can't rule out anyone capable of being of use in the investigation. That includes the tiny Coast Guard force that are otherwise the first responders to anything on-island that needs police-like action.

It's worse that Lucy's death looks like a ritual killing.

As Ryan pulls together a team from his off-island colleagues, and starts serious investigation, he discovers a web of secrets, private scandal, pagan religious activity of varying degrees of seriousness, and complicated relationships that will make this about as difficult as it can be.

And then a second body is found, another woman, killed in a similar ritual way..

Ryan is facing another serial killer.

This is a nicely complex tale, with characters who have real depth and substance. And there's a twist at the end, after you are sure you know the whole thing, that really took me by surprise, and sets up some interesting possibilities for future books in the series.

Recommended.

I bought this book.

Maybe the first few since they are free....

So I started this series because a couple of my other authors have mentioned that LJ Ross was inspirational to them and the first few books were free. So I gave it a go, and I ended up liking the characters enough that I kept going but then stopped because I wasn't going to spend a whole credit for a mediocre series with books under 6 hours. Then there was a huge sale and I could buy all of the rest of the books in the series for about the cost of one credit so I did. Turns out that I should have just stopped when I did. The series gets progressively worse as it goes and I don't understand how any other author could find these books inspiring in any way. There is no mystery in any of the books. The MC just suddenly has a revelation and knows the answer. All of the characters are constantly doing stupid things to get themselves in trouble or to get captured by the bad guy. I paid for the books so I couldn't return them, so I listened.... At the end of book 20 now. So wish I hadn't seen that sale....

Keeble takes some getting used to, and he does speak very fast but after a while it's ok.

Felt a Disconnect with Narrator

I enjoyed the storyline but felt a disconnect with the narrator. His voice is soothing and calming but for me it didn’t match DCI Ryan. I kept listening because I did want to see how this ended but I feel like I missed a lot because of the disconnect I had with the narrator. Again, his voice is wonderful but to me it made me think Ryan was older than he is supposed to be so when the attraction started between him and Anna it felt weird to listen to.

Enjoyed

I enjoyed this. I bought it because I come from the area where the book is set. If I did not know Holy Island I would have enjoyed it more. Having been to Lindisfarne many times you do have to suspend disbelief a bit. Not sure people who live there will appreciate the Satanic cult based on their Island. Anyway I liked the Characters and the pace enough to buy the next book "Sycamore Gap" I appreciated having the 1st chapter free as an add on to "Holy Island " and it is on sale! The narrator is good although his Northumberland accent wobbles a bit at times but on the whole v. Good.

Love DCI Ryan! A great read.

Where does Holy Island rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top stars.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really didn't have an exact favorite since they worked well together, but DCI Ryan and Anna were consistent and interesting.

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Keeble’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. His voice is phenomenal. He is clear and doesn't sound like he is forcing the speech pattern. I believe he is also the actor that plays DCI Ryan on the series. If not, he should.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely, but live dictated otherwise.

Any additional comments?

I loved the twists and turns throughout the book. Sure, there were a few times I was right and a few times I was wrong. The end gave me shivers.

OK story with stereotyped characters

Story was okay, but the characters were too stereotyped for my taste - the women portrayed as either fiery and supple and hot to trot or gossiping old hens salivating over the police officers, while the men were “steely-eyed” tough guys, commenting on women’s butts and throwing caution to the wind while rushing in to save the day. I literally laughed out loud at the line “He ravaged her mouth with his tongue”. The overwrought narration didn’t help.