Roy Grace is toiling away as happy as he can be with a supervisor he can’t stand, in the Sussex Police. Synonymous with plot-twisting page-turners, Peter has garnered an army of loyal fans throughout his storytelling career – which also included stints writing for TV and producing films.

I haven’t read any of the other books and understood this one could be read as a standalone, but maybe some of the side stories tie into the series as a whole? The characters within the case are great and provide plenty of secrets and lies to work through in trying to find out what happened.Unusually for these books, I went through a range of emotions as the story focussed on these other stories and found myself moved to tears at times. I like the ongoing war of attrition between Pewe and Grace with Cassian continuing to NOT endear himself and leaving Roy to ponder why he bothered to save his life I’m sure! Left You Dead is the seventeenth instalment in the Roy Grace series and is Detective Superintendent Grace's most challenging case to date as he investigates the file of a missing woman in Brighton. All the signature elements that makes this series great is included - I always enjoy Norman Potting's ill timed quips whilst Grace and ACC Cassian Pewe's frosty relationship is also explored. If you are after a compelling police procedural with a likeable main character you can't go past Left You Dead.

My only problem with this book is that there were often a lot of characters making appearances at various points, which was hard to keep track of, but I appreciate that they may have appeared in earlier instalments of this series - I would definitely love to read more from Peter James! I'm always eagerly awaiting my yearly dose of Roy Grace ever since I first started reading them during the series infancy - I was always going to be hooked on a crime drama set in my hometown of Brighton. Niall and Eden Paternoster start their Sunday the same way they always do - with along drive , a visit to a country house and a quick stop at the local supermarket on the way home.I like my detectives complicated and enjoy hearing some of their stories apart from the investigation. Left You Dead is another edge of your seat crime mystery with James' signature short, sharp chapters it's an easy, quick read. This was a real hum-dinger of a mystery and it’s fair to say the storyline had me hooked, trying to work out what happened to Eden, from the moment she got out of the car! It was something that should take a lifetime to recover from and yet he was back at work the next day, making plans and decisions, albeit breaking down in tears now and again. I get the impression that the author created a character who was becoming too difficult to handle, and resolved it by just killing him off.

The mystery did have me hooked and invested in trying to figure out what was going on, until a conversation about halfway through, that, to me, gave it away immediately. My one small gripe, which prevents it from being a 5 star read is that it could have been a bit shorter. Normally the police would not look into an adult missing person who was not vulnerable until after 24 hours but the attending officers thought there was something a little off with Niall so they start to look for Eden. Having really grown attached to the characters over the years, the emotional impact that Roy and Cleo face in this outing will have repercussions in future books - these sections were so difficult to get though.In this one their story is an emotional and moving one which is handled extremely well and also makes you feel something. This book follows the investigation into a missing woman, Eden Paternoster, where her husband is suspected of her murder.

The book was, as usual, a fast-paced thrilling read, filled with everything we’ve come to expect from this author.Suffice to say I rarely get teary in books, most certainly not crime fiction, but I’ll admit to some sniffles in this one.