Tag Archives: #teamtennison

Dark Rooms by Lynda La Plante – a review BLOG TOUR

My latest read was the next instalment of the Tennison series, Dark Rooms.

In Dark Rooms Jane Tennison is leading a murder investigation after the body of a young girl is found chained to a wall in an old air raid shelter in a derelict house.  Whilst initially the focus is on identifying the young victim there is another shock to come. As forensics start to investigate, they soon make a further grisly discovery, the body of a baby had been hidden in a wall. Jane takes over the cold case with her investigation focussing on the wealthy family that previously owned the house, the heiress now residing in a care home and her sister living in Australia. As Jane starts to delve deeper into the family, she discovers a dark secret, and puts herself in grave danger.

I am really enjoying this series and Dark Rooms was no exception.

This story again sees Jane using her skills to crack a cold case, this time one that literally has repercussions around the world. The crime was both disturbing and intriguing. It was interesting and shows the skill of the author in that I thought it was relatively obvious from the start what the outcome might be, however the twists and turns continued to lead me down dead ends and deliver shock after shock.

I have to be honest and say there are times when Jane is starting to get on my nerves a bit. Whilst I appreciate that she clearly has to stand up for herself and struggles to gain the respect she deserves, there are also times when I think she doesn’t help herself. She certainly isn’t a team player and often ignores colleagues not always for the best. Her taste in men is always dubious, although I hope this time she might have finally made a good choice. However as a reader we are often given sneaky peaks into characters backgrounds and actions that make us think it might not all be plain sailing.

As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews I’m always intrigued by the ‘historical’ setting of these novels and this was no exception. How she is treated by some of her male superiors is disgraceful and I don’t imagine we’ve heard the last of it.

I am thoroughly enjoying my journey with Jane and I am looking forward to the next instalment.  

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Unholy Murder by Lynda La Plante – a review BLOG TOUR

In the latest installment of the Tennison series Detective Jane Tennison is thrown into the deep end when a coffin is dug up by builders renovating an old convent. Although in a city as old as London a coffin itself is no surprise, however when further investigation shows that there are scratch marks on the inside of the coffin it is clear that there has been foul play. Yet it seems that not everyone agrees and Jane soon realises that someone will go to drastic lengths to conceal the truth.

Unholy Murder was another fantastic story that once again pitted the tenacious Jane against both criminals and colleagues as she battled to find out the truth of what happened to the woman in the coffin. I really enjoyed this story and felt that once again Jane had been thrust into a new situation that she had to try and navigate. This time delving into a cold case with it’s added complications.

There was another added layer in this instalment as we saw Jane get a bit of a love interest which gave us another added dimension to her character. I’m really enjoying seeing how Jane grows within each book and it was interesting to see her let her guard down a bit.

The story itself is another great mystery and I enjoyed the slightly different focus with the cold case element. It’s also interesting to see how attitudes towards Jane are changing as she becomes more accepted by her colleagues. As the books have progressed not only have her colleagues attitudes changed to accept her more, Jane seems to have become more adept at handling any criticism or sexism that comes her way.

I am throughly enjoying this series and look forward to the next one.

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Blunt Force by Lynda La Plante – a review

It’s the latest instalment of #TeamTennison and I can’t believe we are already on book 6!

Blunt Force by Lynda La Plante sees Jane Tennison having been kicked off the flying squad back into petty crime and worrying that her career has reached it’s pinnacle. However the discovery of a body soon changes that. Showbiz agent Charlie Foxley has been brutally beaten to death then dismembered and disembowelled. As an agent he had a lot of powerful friends but also a lot of enemies and the list of suspects just keeps getting longer. Jane alongside her old partner Spencer Gibbs is soon having to use all of her skills to try and find the killer.

Blunt Force was a good story that saw Jane struggling with her career and try and keep herself motivated despite feeling so despondent. I quite liked seeing a slightly different side to her this time as her upward trajectory had been halted yet she still wasn’t going to let that hold her back.

I enjoyed the story in this one as I always like a good murder and this was particularly brutal. Alongside this there was a secondary storyline focussing on corruption in the police force and again this was interesting and a good vehicle for Tennison to explore her options further and I suspect that this might come up in future novels.

As always the setting of the story is one of the things that standout in this series and it really interesting to have read them from the start and to see how attitudes are changing albeit slowly.  I especially like the way that the story shows how procedures change, and how the techniques used in detection seem so antiquated compared to now.

Whilst I have been reading this series from start I think this could easily be read as a stand alone but I would highly recommend reading this series from beginning and I can’t wait to book number 7.

Team Tennison book list

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Dirty Dozen by Jane Tennison – a review

We are up to book 5 in the #TeamTennison project and each book just keeps getting better and better.

In the Dirty Dozen DS Jane Tennison becomes the first female to join The Flying Squad. Despite believing she has been transferred due to her excellent detective skills it soon becomes clear that not everyone would agree, and that the ‘old boys network’ is well and truly established in the department. However, Jane is never one to shy away from a challenge no matter how hard they are. Coming up against some of the most hardened armed criminals of her career Jane is determined to prove her fellow detectives wrong when she finds out that a notorious gang is going to carry out a robbery, but she is running out of time to find out where and when.

This was another good story from the Jane Tennison series. Jane is once again trying to balance family life against the demands of a job that is definitely not a 9-5. As always alongside the crime focus we find out more about Jane’s family dynamics and get an insight into the maybe not quite so perfect world of her sister.

One of the things I have really enjoyed about reading this series from the beginning again is the sense of the time they are written in. You get a great insight into the struggles that women would have undergone at this time, and the attitudes that men had about women and their ‘place’.

There were a lot of characters in this story and to start with it took a bit of time to get them all straight in my head but that added to the atmosphere, and you get the sense of confusion that starting a new job can bring when you try to place everyone. I also felt that this was quite a slow burner of a story as we are introduced to Jane’s new world and all the ways of the team. However, as the varying strands and characters all start to entwine the pace soon picks up and the story races to it’s conclusion.

I am very much enjoying reading this series and look forward to seeing how Jane fares in Blunt Force.

Team Tennison book list

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