When the body of a local man, Dave Atkins is found deep in a cave called Jingling Pot, the question i Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life” by Helen Fisher – Book Review @RandomTTours #BlogTour #BookReview @simonschusterUK #JoeNuthinsGuideToLife @HFisherAuthor November 20, 2023

The Quartet Murders come second in the Yorkshire Murder Mysteries. It is in December, and DCI Jim Oldroyd is excited to be attending a concert where world-famous violinist Hans Muller will be performing. Not even the awful weather would dampen his mood. He would never have anticipated that this violinist would be killed by a bullet the same night. Swinging fast into action, Jim secures the crime scene and also finds the murder weapon. However, the killer is nowhere to be seen, and he had taken the victim’s priceless violin with him. How come no one saw the killer leave or even take the instrument from the violinist’s hands? Jim was there at the concert, and he did not catch the killer even after arriving at the crime scene minutes later. Is it possible that the killer was not working alone? Plus, he's the narrator of the Detective Lavender Mysteries and I had a huge semi-problem with that series too, simply because... He is Dr. Watson! The topic appealed to me too. I've always had an armchair interest in potholing, so this story enabled me to experience the subject in greater depth - albeit still from the comfort of my own home. To my knowledge, this is the first of three novels featuring this police team and I intend to read them all. Recommended! He is a member of a writers’ group which has inspired him to write poetry and various forms of short fiction. Besides being a writer of crime fiction, ghost stories, and biography, he also likes to garden, walk, run, drink real ale, and listen to classical music. He lives in Leeds.

As a bona fide anglophile, books set in England always appeal to me. My mother was a war bride and I still have a lot of family in the 'old country'. I've read all of the James Herriot books and love the Yorkshire area. The setting, and the fact that this is a police procedural, is what attracted me to this book. Nothing to make this outstanding, but then nothing I really disliked either. Worth continuing on with the series I think. I was waiting for the detectives to get down into the hole, to be honest. It felt pretty obvious that the solution would lie hiding somewhere down there. A guy hated by all is found dead at the bottom of the cave. A new detective is in town. An old detective finds himself married to his job way more than he was married to his wife. By the end of the book a lot of knots get untangled. Some to be untangled in the next installments.

Ellis does a fine job of fleshing out the series of characters in this book, laying out well the personalities of the detectives who serve throughout the series as well as the players for this particular story. He also does an excellent job of painting a landscape such that the reader sees it as if standing by the characters in the book. Makes this reader want to visit and hike the dales. This is the first book by J.R. Ellis in a murder mystery series. It was also the first book I’ve read digitally. The story has a great premise. There are plenty of motives for the central murder, and when another is killed, you begin to question if the first murder was just the beginning. There are characters that are suspicious all the way through, and the reveal, whilst not hugely surprising, is well explained and nicely thought out. I'm reading book two right after this one, followed by book three, hopefully before the release date. It's truly a fantastic and addictive series!!At times I wished there was a list of the cast of characters in the book. It’s my own fault for not paying closer attention to who’s who, but it would have been helpful, I think.

After having read several gritty thrillers over recent times, it was a pleasant respite to read a more traditional police-procedural mystery set in the countryside. The Body in the Dales brings to mind other country-based crime series, including Ann Cleeves's Vera Stanhope series set in Northumberland, Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe series, set in Yorkshire, and television series such as Heartbeat and Wycliffe. The first installment of murder mysteries set in picturesque Yorkshire dales, The Body in The Dales was an interesting read, on many levels.Personally, I don't really see the appeal of caving and this book certainly strengthened my belief in that. I've never felt the urge to explore narrow places under ground where I could easily drown if there were a sudden weather change, but each to their own. 😂 Thanks to NetGalley and to Thomas & Mercer for an advance copy of The Body in the Dales by J R Ellis.

The ending of this whodunit was tied up neatly. Nothing far-fetched, just believable, sound police work. The coppers displayed keen observational skills and some astute knowledge of human nature. This case is specially perplexing as Atkins' body was found some two hours into the cave system, parts of which were extremely narrow. It would be VERY difficult to transport a body through the cave. Also, it would have been near impossible for one person to do this on their own.His novels display a vivid sense of place and a compelling mystery! His characters, both innocent and guilty, are mostly ordinary people. The Yorkshire Dales are also the home of the famous veterinarian James Harriet which gave me a warm glow as they are some of my favorite books.