Although I have yet to read any of the other three books in this series by Michelle Davies, I was happy to dive into this fourth book, Dead Guilty and I think it worked well as an individual thriller as the story was reasonably self-contained. This was a mightily impressive, cleverly plotted, utterly engrossing read that threw out twists leaving me fizzing with tension throughout! Ten years ago, Katy Pope, then 17, was brutally murdered on a family holiday in Majorca. Despite her mother’s high rank in the Met and the joint major investigation between the British and Spanish police, Katy’s killer was never caught. Ten years later, Katy’s family are returning to the Spanish island to launch a fresh appeal for information. Meanwhile, DC Maggie Neville, having recently transferred from Nottinghamshire Police to the Met, is feeling put out because her boss doesn't think that she is cutting the mustard in her new role. She is thrilled therefore, to have been seconded as the family liaison officer to the Pope family and heads off to Spain with the rest of the team of investigating Met detectives. But Maggie’s first international investigation rapidly goes awry when another British girl there goes missing... Dead Guilty is told through the eyes of a variety of people, and I appreciated the way the author structured the novel, switching the point of view from Maggie to one of the victims, then their family, and even the killer. This approach gave the reader a comprehensive overview of the story, but never divulging too much that it may have spoilt the story before the truth was intended to be revealed. Michelle Davies possesses some admirable character development skills - I enjoyed the parts including Maggie, who I found to be intuitive, determined, and realistic. She wasn't always the main event of the story, but helped things nicely along nudging the reader towards the satisfying conclusion. The international setting was fun and I'm looking forward to the next instalment, as well as catching up with Maggie in the first three books. Ingeniously plotted and perfectly executed, Dead Guilty is an absolute treat. Very highly recommended, I am certain that psychological thriller aficionados will love it! I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my request, from Pan Macmillan via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

This is the fourth in the DC Maggie Neville series of books but it's my first and I can honestly say that it didn't matter a jot that I hadn't read the others. Anything of importance was explained enough and the other stuff wasn't relevant to the story in Dead Guilty. That's not to say that it wouldn't have been nice to start from the beginning and follow Maggie through the series but it's just not a necessity. What appealed to me in particular about Dead Guilty was the cold case aspect and also that it's set in Majorca. It gave a different edge to the police procedural/crime genre. The cold case is that of Katy Pope, a 17 year old who was murdered whilst on holiday with her family ten years previously. Her parents, brother and boyfriend head back to Majorca for a memorial and to see if a new appeal will bring forth any new information. Also going to the island are the small police team who are still trying to find out who killed Katy, and this includes Maggie. I rather liked Maggie. I found her sensible in her work (if not in her private life), quite calm and measured in her thinking, and I particularly liked her way of dealing with difficult people and the way she could shut people down without being nasty or getting angry. I found the Majorcan aspect really interesting and the way the team had to interact with the Spanish police who didn't really want the British contingency to be there added an extra complication to the investigation. I was kept guessing until the end, with my focus shifting between various possible culprits. The author did a good job with the red herrings and I was racing through the last few chapters to see how it would all turn out. Although Maggie made a bit of a mess of things, there was a strand of the story that I thought might just be explored in future books and I'd be really interested to see if that happened. The ending also made me wonder what direction her life is going to go in next. She's such an engaging character, a Family Liaison Officer as well as a detective, and I'm really pleased to have read this instalment of her story.