J.M. GregsonReseñas

Gave up on this at about 40% when I realised it was becoming a chore to read. The characters were one-dimensional and their motivations unappealing.

The conclusion of the book was extremely unsatisfying and annoying.

On Christmas Eve the local vicar Peter Barton is found shot, in the woods between two villages. Apparently with no known enemies the police are unable to determine a motive. Then another man is found dead.
With no evidence but lots of suspects, its for Superintendent Lambert to find the killer.

DI Percy Peach and DS Lucy Blake are called out to investigate a killing. A killing at an Inn hosting the Masonic Lodge Ladies’ night. Finding out about the dead man's personal life results in quite a few suspects. Can that vital clue to point out the murderer be found.
An interesting mystery with an easy writing style.
A NetGalley Book

Several months previously Alison Watts had gone missing, now her body has been discovered. So Lambert and his team are brought in to investigate.
Not too difficult to determine the guilty party but it still made for an enjoyable story.

When a body is discovered in the Broughton Ash churchyard, Superintendent Lambert and D.S. Hook investigate. But why would any one want to kill Ted Giles, a well liked chemistry teacher.
An enjoyable and well-written mystery

Tom Harrison wants to sell his home but half the house belongs to his son Trevor who using the house to home ex-convicts. A situation Tom objects to. Soon there is the first of the deaths. But who by. Inspector Peach investigates.
An enjoyable story, solid start to the series.
Originally written in 1994

Several days of not seeing her husband, Matthew Upson, Elizabeth Upson reports him missing. As a lecturer at the local University, with an inherent drug problem there seems to be no shortage of suspects.
A decent mystery in the series.
A NetGalley Book.

1896. Golfer Alfred Bullimore needs the helps of Holmes. There have been incidents and threatening letters delivered to the Blackheath Golf Club where he is the Secretary. Soon there is the first attempt on his life.
An entertaining historical mystery, though not the best of portrayals of Watson

A group of people are staying at the Wye Castle Golf and Country Club. When one of the party is discovered murdered, a man of many enemies. Superintendent Lambert and DS Hook investigate to discover the motive before another death occurs.
Originally written in 1991.
An entertaining story

Walter Fletcher died in an accident working on the outside of his house. But his granddaughter Hannah, is not convinced. So Lambert and Hook investigate.
An enjoyable crime story

After an evening committee meeting the Chairman of the Burnham Golf Club is discovered dead by Superintendent Lambert who had been asked to meet him that evening.
Lambert investigates only to discovers a multitude of motives.
An enjoyable story
Originally written in 1989

The storyline is good, it is a classic whodunit in a very British style. Most of the characters are elaborated and believable.So far,so good...Unfortunately the investigating inspector and his (female) sidekick are particularly unattractive.He keeps referring to the victim as a drawer dropper ( not once, but about 30 times),and she feels compelled to say "even so...."!!!
Now if this were written in the dark ages , well , a sign of the times and all that nonsense ,but it is written in the late nineties ,so frankly,a drawer dropper (and many more funny (?) remarks) are more than bizarre and definitely outdated.

Well,the storyline is good, it is a classic British murder mystery. Most of the characters are well developed and believable but for 3 keyplayers.A superintendent who seems to have a IQ of minus 20, DI Peach and his partner (both professional and personal) DS Blake.
They are bordering on the slapstick side, unfortunately without the fun.
(There is a love (bed)scene between the protagonists,and apart from being completely superfluous, it is probably a perfect antidote to any kind of love at all(the bloke goes aaaargh...,death throes,pleasure, shock???))
Pity....

Perhaps a bit old fashioned but nevertheless a good story and endearing characters.

I didn't like the story, I didn't like the characters... I found this boring and I skipped most of it

I won't be reading anything else by this author.

Murder at the Lodge has everything a reader like myself could hope for; cleverness of characters, humor, surprise twists. This was my first book by JM Gregson and was not disappointed. I will be adding this author to my favorites list.

Cry of The Children by J. M. Gregson is the 26th book in his Lambert and Hook series of British police procedurals.

The search begins for seven-year-old Lucy Gibson, who disappeared from the village fair. As Det. Chief Supt. John Lambert, Det. Sgt. Bert Hook, and Det. Sgt. Ruth David begin the investigation, the unthinkable happens: Lucy's body is discovered in the Wye River. Several suspects are identified. High on the list of suspects is Lucy's mother's boyfriend, Matt Boyd, the man who took Lucy to the fair and didn't immediately report her missing, but there are 4 other equally qualified, albeit ignobly, suspects. Fair worker Rory Burns has already reportedly tried to molest another young girl. Then there is 70 year-old Dennis Robson, a known pedophile. Big Julie Foster is a mentally challenged woman who they know longs to have a child to care for and love. Even Lucy's father, Dean Gibson, is a suspect. The police rush to solve the crime before harm comes to another child.

This is not a novel full of breath-taking twists and turns in the plot. What it is, however, is an excellent, very traditional British police procedural that moves along at a fast pace and will keep your interest right up to the end. Gregson did an outstanding job keeping me guessing. As I followed along the information and clues the police uncovered, I'm going to admit here and now that I didn't have a clue who the guilty party was for sure until the very end. Oh, I had some good guesses, but nothing was confirmed until the end.

Although I have not read all the books in this series, that wasn't a hindrance at all in my enjoyment of this latest mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Very Highly Recommended

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Severn House Publishers via Netgalley for review purposes.

A local woman’s afternoon walk with her young son and dog turns nightmarish when their dog make a grisly discovery. The lab finds a badly decomposed body tangled in an oak branch washed up on the mud flats of the river Wye. So begins the eighth book for Superintendent John Lambert and Detective Sergeant Bert Hook.

GIRL GONE MISSING has no dangerous thrills, car chases, or overly dramatic denouements. The mystery of who killed Alison Watts is character, not action driven. And there are some interesting characters among the suspects.

Jason Bullimore, the attractive English teacher at Alison’s school. Jason has been cosseted all his life. He’s surprisingly clueless and out of his depth in many ways where daily living is concerned.
Barbara Bullimore, librarian and Jason’s protective, single older sister. A formidable woman per Hook.
Thomas Murray MA, FRSA, Headmaster at Oldford Comprehensive, Alison’s school. Bit of a pretentious twit.
Robert Watts, Alison’s stepfather is the personification of that conundrum that draws and keeps women with abusive men.
Jamie Allen, Alison’s boyfriend. Sweet, intelligent, naive, and vulnerable.
Mrs. Allen, Jamie’s mother. Protective of the son she loves and keeps on a tight rein. A bit overbearing and afraid to loosen the strings.
Finally, the victim herself, eighteen year old Alison Watts. I didn’t find Alison to be an especially sympathetic character or victim nor did I like her. The arrogance of youth is one thing but Alison took it to an extreme.
Everyone has a secret or something to hide.

The differing perspectives of Lambert and Hook via their interactions with other characters create truly multi-dimensional leads. In particular the view of Detective Inspector Christopher Rushton says a lot about Lambert and Hook, as well as Rushton himself. Rushton is described as “prissy” and that is certainly fitting. Rushton was, for me, the comic relief. Perhaps the most revealing glimpse of Lambert comes from his wife, Christine.
It’s evident from the get go that Superintendent John Lambert and Detective Sergeant Bert Hook are well established in their relationship. However, at no time did I feel lost or that I was missing vital details or information regarding the characters. There are intriguing references to past events that piqued my curiosity, such as why Hook turned down promotion, but this only makes me want to read the backlist. My only bewilderment involves the English school system and golf. I floundered when the intricacies of the education system were discussed and Lambert and Hook were golfing. It wasn’t too bad though and the golfing scenes do facilitate character understanding and add levity.

GIRL GONE MISSING doesn’t bring facts, suspects, and details out of left field to create a solution readers would have never been able to suss out. If you pay close attention the solution is right before your eyes. That’s the draw with this type of mystery. They may not involve a lot of action but they require mental acuity if you want to solve the mystery or conversely you can just go along for the ride. Either way GIRL GONE MISSING is a solid, satisfying, terribly English police procedural. One of my favorite kinds. As soon as I have two minutes to rub together I’ll be searching out Mr. Gregson’s Lambert & Hook backlist.
Reviewed for Miss Ivy’s Book Nook, Manic Readers, & Novels Alive TV

Nothing really to write home about. I listened to the audio book from Audible. The reader, Gareth Armstrong, made this book quite enjoyable for me. Must be the Australian accent, I love it. The story itself needs little explication, but what raised this to 3 as opposed to 2 stars was the relationship between DS Hook and his children. Hook is studying for some promotion exams and his boys made very funny comments about him being too old to study, etc. I laughed out loud at some of the comments. It's not the traditional police procedural, that is it seems there's hardly any investigation. We learn a lot about who had motives (everyone), who had access to the poison (everyone), etc., but then DI Lambert in the last 10 minutes of the audio *bingo* just solves the case.

A straight forward police procedural. And just in case we might forget get that aptly named fuzz Inspector Peach was bald we were reminded every other page.

It took so long to get to the murder of the victim that I really lost interest. The murder itself was anticlimatic...an afterthought as part of a company get-together. The revelation and arrest of the murderer was almost an after thought. I didn't like any of the characters and was actually annoyed by them most of the time. And the author, for some reason, kept using the same phrase over and over, "phoney war", in various settings used by various characters. If I want sex in a book I'll buy a romance not a mystery. This book is not worth the time.

This English detective mystery, featuring series characters Chief Superintendent Lambert and Detective Sergeant Hook, revolves around murder at a chemical company's Golf Day (hence the title). The victim is selfish, arrogant and evil, and there are plenty with every reason for wanting him dead. Intimidating CS Lambert and friendly, avuncular DS Hook sift through the suspects and uncover the usual slew of secrets. The only disappointing aspect was the ending: not the identity of the killer, but the abruptness with which the killer's identity is determined and revealed. Still, I enjoyed all but the final chapter of this mystery.½