No Place to Die picks up the pieces from Never Look Back, Clare Donoghue‘s outstanding debut. South of the Thames is DI Mike Lockyer’s patch but he’s not himself lately. So it’s DCI Jane Bennett who must step forward because firstly, their colleague Mark Leech has disappeared, and secondly there is a terrible murderer on the loose. It’s a killer who likes to bury his or her victims alive. The first victim is student Maggie Hungerford and Bennett starts to question the girl’s lecturer and an assistant at the university. With Lockyer gradually getting back to his best, they discover a link back to the last case Leech was working on in this fine police procedural.

“No Place to Die is a superb balance of thrills, forensics, and deep feeling,’ said Jeremy Megraw in his review.