This is the second instalment in the James Walker series. James Walker is a detective, and lives with his wife, Annie, in Kirkby Abbey after moving from The Met in London when his life was threatened from a previous case he had worked on. The first book focused on their arrivals to Cumbria and a serial killer that was on the loose. In this book, Walker is sent to investigate the deaths of a husband, wife, and daughter on their farm over Christmas. We go through the highs and lows with the team to catch the perpetrators. And to top it off, the threat from London on Walker’s life has caught up with him in Cumbria. I thought it was extremely clever to use the present tense to convey the events of 23 years before; this made them feel immediate and engaging. Wondering how these cases could be related, DI James Walker and his team begin to investigate. Robert Bateman, killed on Christmas Eve, had a gambling problem and was about to lose the farm. Threats are found on his phone. His daughter Charlotte is dating a possible drug dealer. And, behind the boarded over cellar door, there’s a peephole where someone has been watching the Batemans. Someone who left bloody shoe prints from the outer cellar door. Prints that don’t match any found near the bodies. As Walker tries to unravel the mystery behind the killings, he faces another threat. Andrew Sullivan, a gang leader, is out of jail and looking for revenge. Walker and his wife are on his list. The narration by Sid Sagar is excellent throughout and added to my enjoyment of this murder mystery. It’s set in Cumbria over Christmas. A former Met police officer, DI Walker has moved away from London for a quieter life after a case which left him and his family being threatened.

It has been a year since DI James Walker’s last big case and this festive period, he is hoping for a much quieter time. Then comes along another twist. The same crime was committed 24 years ago at the very same farm house the only difference is that in this case the daughter Charlotte has been murder; however in the first case the baby Megan her body was never found. Is it coincidence that the same crime has been committed or are they in some way linked. Whatever the answer James is determined to get to the bottom of it. My thanks to Alex and Netgalley for allowing me to read The Killer in the Snow in advance of the publication date. Last Christmas, DI James Walker and his team had to investigate a serial killer in the quiet Cumbrian village of Kirkby Abbey. This year, James is enjoying a quiet Christmas with his wife, Annie, as they make plans for the birth of their first child.I felt like DI Walker had found his feet a little more in this book. He hadn’t long moved to the village in the first book and there was a little tension within the team. It seemed like he’d built stronger relationships within his team this time around and I liked to see the rapport start to grow. This is the second book of the DI James Walker series, although this is the first time I am reading the series. I enjoyed the fact that the lead detective, DI James Walker, seems so well adjusted with a pleasant, comfortable home life, unlike many lead detectives in fiction who have emotional issues in their personal lives that they soothe with alcohol. He also has a cooperative team working together without dissension, and delegates tasks wisely. He is calm, persistent, and patient in his skilled interrogation of suspects. I learned that this is the second book in the DI Walker series, both cases occurring in a quiet village during the Christmas season. This works as a standalone but refers to previous events which raised my interest in reading the first book. Thank you to @AvonBooksUK and Alex Pine for this advanced audio copy of The Killer in the Snow in return for an honest review.

Alex Pine seamlessly weaves together two murder cases, decades apart, with a memorable group of suspects and a distracting outside threat in this well written, suspenseful police procedural. The conclusion is a total surprise. 5 stars.James has moved to the country with his wife to escape a Mob killer who he "put away" some years previously. It is Christmas time and James and his wife who are now expecting their first baby have had a couple of days off until the dreaded phone call. Three bodies have been discovered in a farm house and DI Walker is in charge. There is very little evidence and it first appears as a murder/suicide. However James is a bit skeptical and investigates further. Pine starts off by summarising the events of the first book without giving any spoilers, so this can easily be read as a standalone. I also love that he provides a set of character profiles at the start for any new readers, making sure that everybody starts off in a knowledgeable place. The pace is steady and whilst I anticipated the twist, it didn't take away from the journey to get there. Lovers of police procedural are thoroughly going to enjoy trying to keep one step ahead of James in solving the crimes. I suspected just about every character at some point.

The plot felt fast and edgy, plus, the investigation had many leads to it, including a few red herrings. Given that I read a lot of thrillers I tend to have a good idea early on what has happened and by 38% of the way through the book I made my prediction which turned out to be near as damn right. This, however, didn’t take away my enjoyment of the book as I then needed to see if I was right or what I had missed. In a farm, a father, mother and a daughter were found dead inside the barn. It happened to look like a suicide--daughter was stabbed, the mother was shot and the father shot himself. But when the detectives finds that the father, Robert Bateman is in huge debts and the Bateman seemed to be having enemies, they soon ruled this case as a murder.During his investigation it turns out that 24 years ago a similar incident occurred. Was this related or not?

Perfect for fans of smash-hit TV series Whitehouse Farm, Simon McCleave’s The Snowdonia Killings and Catherine Cooper’s The Chalet. A family is found murdered in their old farmhouse at Christmas time. As if that's not sinister enough, the crime undeniably echoes that of a similar scene that took place 20 years earlier in the exact same spot. DI James Walker doesn't see how the two can be connected...or can they? In many respects, Wind River is a standard procedural, a follow-the-bread-crumbs thriller about an FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) investigating a rape and murder with guidance from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent (Jeremy Renner) who has a better feel for the territory and its customs. Yet Taylor Sheridan sets the film on a Wyoming Indian reservation in the middle of winter, and does everything possible to emphasize its brutality: The official cause of death is a pulmonary hemorrhage caused by breathing the subzero air, and conditions are so terrible that it’s a challenge just to get to the scene of the crime without perishing, too. The weather is one obstacle among many, but Sheridan frames it as a symbol of a Native American culture that’s intensely insular and unseen. Dead of Winter (1987) DI James Walker is investigating what looks like a murder/suicide of a farmer. his wife and daughter. But the more James Walker and his team investigate into the family, the more intriguing the case becomes. Over twenty years ago, the previous owners met a similar fate. There's also a dangerous London gangster who's went that's vowed vengeance on James Walker.

Briefly, when a family of three are found dead at a local farm Walker and his team are on the case. By a strange coincidence the farm had seen a similar occurrence more than 20 years earlier when the then owners were found dead and their baby missing. Are the two events connected? Walker is convinced that both cases need solving. Unrelated to these cases Walker and his wife are living in Cumbria having left London following threats from a psychotic gangster. He has escaped prison and has vowed revenge on Walker. Overall this thriller is a slow burn book--it wasn't bad but it was good too that will keep you engrossed in the book. It was difficult to feel any connection with the c Without a neighbour for miles, there are no witnesses and little eviden ce. And the crime scene h as strange echoe s of another terrible murder committ ed at the farmhouse, twenty years earlier...