Longstone by LJ Ross

Mandie has been absolutely determined to play catch up with the DCI Ryan series by LJ Ross and, over the course of January, she did just that. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing her thoughts on the books, starting today with Longstone. Here is what the book is all about:

About the Book

Between the devil and the deep blue sea…

Viking treasure is discovered beneath the icy waters of the North Sea and local historian Doctor Anna Taylor is called in to help catalogue the most exciting hoard in living memory. But when a shipwreck diver washes up dead, she’s soon out of her depth. Luckily, she knows just the person to call…

When DCI Ryan arrives at the picturesque fishing town of Seahouses, he’s faced with an impenetrable wall of secrets and lies. As he juggles marine archaeology and the cutthroat world of shipwreck diving, another murder blows the case wide open. To uncover the truth, Ryan must delve deeper into the hearts of those around him to find what lies beneath…

Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set amidst the spectacular Northumbrian landscape.

Mandie’s Thoughts

In this instalment of the Ryan series the reader is taken to the lovely costal town of Seahouses when the body of a Marine archaeologist and colleague of Ryan’s wife Anna is found washed up on the rocks around Longstone Lighthouse. At first things look like it was just a tragic accident, and something just went wrong when he was completing a dive for a Viking boat he believed to have sunk along the Northumbrian coastline. When the Harbour Master is attacked and killed not long after, Ryan and co are not sure if the two incidents are linked or not.

I have to admit that it is beginning to look like a very risky prospect for anyone who is either friendly with or associated with Anna Ryan and you can tell that Ryan is also concerned about how it initially looks to his superiors but I think that on another level he is glad for her assistance in understanding the historical significance of what was being searched for and with dealing with the teams of experts sent in to help look for the underwater finds. As things progress the sea reveals far more secrets than anyone had imagined leading to a very tense and in some ways tragic ending to the book as quite a few residents of Seahouses are changed in so many ways, with their lives affected forever.

The camaraderie between Ryan and Frank is as strong as ever and it is this along with the stunning descriptions of the locations in the book that drag you in time after time as you can imagine the places and the people seem real making you invested in the story. Jack Lowerson is also back, still a little bit emotionally battered and bruised from past events but determined to show that he wants to be an integral part of the team once more. There is also one more face from the past, Alex who we first met way back in Holy Island. He has finally managed to move on from the events on the Island and is once again happy to be in the lives of Anna and co, if only they were in slightly better circumstances.

Once again LJ Ross has produced a fab book to continue on what is a great series and as I am so far behind with reading them I don’t have to wait to get stuck into the next one to see what is in store for them all.

About the Author

LJ Ross is an international bestselling author, best known for creating atmospheric mystery and thriller novels, including the DCI Ryan series of Northumbrian murder mysteries which have sold over four million copies worldwide.

Her debut, Holy Island, was released in January 2015 and reached number one in the Amazon UK and Australian charts. Since then, she has released a further sixteen novels, all of which have been top three global bestsellers and fourteen of which have been UK #1 bestsellers. Louise has garnered an army of loyal readers through her storytelling and, thanks to them, several of her books reached the coveted #1 spot whilst only available to pre-order ahead of release. Her eleventh novel, The Infirmary, is a prequel story and is also available as a major Audible Originals audio-drama starring Tom Bateman, Kevin Whately, Bertie Carvel, Hermione Norris and Alun Armstrong.

Louise was born in Northumberland, England. She studied undergraduate and postgraduate Law at King’s College, University of London and then abroad in Paris and Florence. She spent much of her working life in London, where she was a lawyer for a number of years until taking the decision to change career and pursue her dream to write. Now, she writes full-time and lives with her husband and son in Northumberland, where she enjoys reading all manner of books, travelling and spending time with family and friends.

Louise is a keen philanthropist, and is pleased to have supported numerous non-profit programmes in addition to founding several of her own, including the Lindisfarne Reading Challenge and the Lindisfarne Prize for Debut Crime Fiction.