And now onto Book 1 (yes, I read them out of order, LOL. Book 2 will be reviewed in a week or two!)! It was actually perfectly alright to read the books out of order, as Ellis gives you just enough info so you don't feel lost, but still makes you want to go back and read the previous books! In this book, Carter is new to the area and Oldroyd, is the old timer, set in his ways of solving cases and in knowledge of the Dales area. Like Book 3, there is no shortage of suspects and motives to want Atkins dead. but when the body count starts rising, the team realizes they might not have the answers they thought they did. As Oldroyd looks to the past for a clue, you may not see the ending coming!

If you're looking for a new series for Fall reading, this might be a good one, as it only has the 3 books, and each one can stand alone! And with all the ebooks under $5

I really enjoyed this police procedural set in Yorkshire.  The mystery is interesting, well done, and just a bit unusual.  There is minimal violence, actually there is barely any violence. It involves a body found in a difficult to reach area of a system of caves, and even though I know nothing about caving, the book was easy to follow.  The author describes the caves so well, that you can almost feel the fear and uncertainty that accompanies a trip through a complex cave system.  In fact, the caves really are the focus of the suspense in the novel, and are themselves the focus of a slight sideline mystery.  The author has really researched caving and writes about it quite clearly. The ending was totally unexpected, but very plausible.
I did find the book to move slowly and I sometimes felt that it was bogged down with too much detail.  However, I would definitely read more by this author.

This was a great idea for a plot; a body hidden in the network of caverns below the Yorkshire Dales; a victim universally hated, a new detective up from the city now trying to make it in a rural backwater; a work based romance, a campaigning vicar and an DCI with a broken marriage. It has it all .. but somehow still doesn't quite work. It felt stilted as though it was put together from separate pieces of writing rather than flowing seamlessly from different character view points developing the story line. Not sure it was really for me.

This is a four star mystery read!  Along the lines of Midsomer Murders and DCI Banks  this is set in a rural area of England.  A dead body is discovered in a cave but how did it get their?  Where was the murder scene?  And how does the history of the area play a roll in the solutions.  Ellis does a beautiful job of describing the area and his characters are terrific.  This is a great weekend or rainy day read.

The Body in the Dales is the first book in a procedural series set in Yorkshire. It's an ensemble cast featuring a methodical and cerebral lead character DCI Jim Oldroyd and co. Originally published as The Body in Jingling Pot (a better title in my opinion) and released in 2017, this re-release is published by Amazon UK's crime imprint Thomas & Mercer and came out 9th August, 2018. This version is available in ebook, paperback and audiobook formats and clocks in at 320 pages.

The pacing is very sedate and there is a large cast of secondary characters who aren't always clearly delineated. I did enjoy this book once I was a bit more invested in the characters, though that honestly took a while. The dialogue was competent and readable from the beginning, and though there wasn't much of a hook at the start, the book really did reward the effort to keep reading.

A little side info: When I was a kid, my best friend's family were keen spelunking enthusiasts. I have always been a very bookish kid (big surprise there), but well, best friend and all, I tried my very best to get into caving along with her family. It never took with me at least, the breathtaking glittering caves full of secret beauty never outweighed the squishy muddy stodgy cold drippy reality of squeezing along in the near-darkness and hearing my own breathing interspersed with the occasional grunt and *dammit* of something whacking against a cave wall or low hanging hard surface.

This book is about that. Lots and lots of that. It is pretty well written and entirely readable. It has a very 'English crime' feel and in a lot of ways reminds me of Deborah Crombie's Duncan and Gemma series.

Obvious trigger warning, extreme claustrophobes need not apply.

Four stars, I'll be reading the next books in the series.

This crime/procedural/whodunnit nicel is set in very rural Yorkshire. The poetic descriptions of the countryside luckily are not too long and bearable. The characters are cartoonish - very stereotypical bordering with offensive. The main crime fighter, DCI Oldroyd, is very likeable and a nicely weitten tribute to ACD’s Sherlock Holmes. He is the saving grace of this book. Spoiler alert - very annoyingly and in totally unbelievable way two other secondary characters fell in love! What for?? And what self-respecting woman would go for a social butterfly who just bedded a local tart??!! I may read the next in series to check what’s the crack with that! In overal - nice, easy read if you can overlook the cringeworthy bits.

A quick enough read, and I enjoyed the setting a great deal. I didn't find the overall plot compelling enough to be likely to continue the series, but I liked it well enough for one book. Perhaps that's a little unfair of me, as I think I might just be a little burnt out on mysteries. They all start to sound the same after a while.

This murder mystery set in Yorkshire is the beginning of a new series featuring DI Oldroyd and his team. Originally titled “The Body in Jingling Pot”, it has recently been re-published as “The Body in the Dales”, a shame in my opinion as the former name has more character, stands out, and more accurately sums up what it’s about. At this point there are two more books to look forward to.

A group of cavers discover a body deep underground in the Jingling Pot cave system. Clearly a murder, as the victim, an experienced caver himself, is not dressed for potholing and has been hit over the head, the police are perplexed as to why someone would carry a body so far, only to leave it in a populated caving route. DI Oldroyd, an old school detective, and his new DS, who recently moved from London and is finding his new environment a shock to the system, soon discover that the victim was highly unpopular in the village, being prone to seducing wives, swindling money and being an all-round selfish bastard. It seems like everyone has a motive, and many had the opportunity, so who did actually kill Dave Atkins, and why?

This reminded me a lot of the early Peter Robinson books, and given this is the name of a minor character, I suspect this is not a coincidence. While a bit slow and with rather more information about the incomprehensible (to me) hobby of caving (which I had forgotten is known as potholing in England) than strictly necessary, this had good characters, a large cast of suspects and it was not obvious whodunnit. There is minimal swearing, violence and sex and the solution to the mystery relies on good old fashioned police work rather than forensics - Oldroyd fancies himself as a modern day Sherlock, or Poirot, and has their slightly annoying habit of keeping his deductions to himself until the big reveal - supposedly to help teach his juniors to think for themselves.

I enjoyed this and will be reading the next ones soon, as I got them all for free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest reviews, so my thanks to the publisher, Amazon UK.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book 
I really enjoyed this author and the way they crafted setting and characters. 
Highly recommend it.

J.R. Ellis does an immaculate job of writing a story with great detail of surrounding areas as well as the dialect that one would use in that area. This is a very easy to read novel with enough questions raised to make the reade think. Overall, I felt like I was a pair of the story. The backstory that you get is just enough to allow the reader to make a connection to the characters involved. I think you should all read this one and see for yourself why it has faired so well.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

5+ stars ⭐️ out of 5

The is the first in a series.  Set in the Yorkshire area in England.,  A new detective comes to the department, Andrew Carter.  His boss, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Oldroyd is very creative in his methods of finding the killer.  The victim is found in the cave system called the Jingling Pot.   Everyone in the community hates the victim because he has cheated them out of money or tried to take their women.    
I loved this book.  The characters are so well described that you feel like you could step into the town.    I have definitely found a new author to love.  Once I finished this book I went straight onto the next book  in the series.

The Body in the Dales by J R Ellis. An enjoyable story and was one for me to read quickly . Good for start of a series of books. Hope I can read the others .

The Body in the Dales is the first in a series of police procedurals set in the Yorkshire Dales.  A body is found in one of the series of caves often explored by cavers, and although it’s clearly a murder, the even more pressing question is how the body ended up there.  DCI Oldroyd, DS Carter and DS Johnson  discover that there’s no lack of people who hated Dave Atkins, a shifty cheat with money and with men’s wives.  The premise of the mystery is eye-catching, and the characters of Oldroyd, Carter, and Johnson—as well as several minor characters, like Alison, Oldroyd’s sister, are developed and sympathetic.  The plot tended to plod a bit in spots, too much backstory in parts, too much explanation in others.  Readers can surmise characters’ feelings and motivations without being explicitly told what they are.  The likability of the characters and the evocative descriptions of Yorkshire are the strengths of this first in a series.  An entertaining read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. It is good strong whodunit police detective story written in a more gentle style than some with minimal gore, sex and swearing, making it suitable for a wide range of readers without being cosy in any sense. Set in Yorkshire (God’s own country) the descriptions of the landscape and the hobby of pot-holing are both interesting and informative. The main characters are well formed and you feel like you’re getting to know them already. There are plenty of suspects and possible motives for the murders in the story and the reader is kept guessing until near the end. Books two and three are already out and I think the stories would make a good television series, in fact throughout the book I could picture the actor Alun Armstrong playing DCI Oldroyd! Highly recommended for anyone who likes a good murder mystery.

This is a really enjoyable, easy read. I really liked all the descriptions of the countryside and the characters. The descriptions of the caves made me feel as if I was there and I felt I met all the characters as well. I read this book in one sitting. I would definitely recommend this book and I am looking forward to reading more in this series.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I always like finding new mystery series to read and this was not a disappointment. Great setting and a good cast of characters. I thought the buildup was a bit slow and it took me a while to get into the story, but overall, it was a good, quick read and I will definitely continue the series.

This felt like an old school murder mystery, think Sherlock Holmes etc. 
A young Met detective moves to Yorkshire and is thrown into a murder case on his first day. 

Really enjoyable.
The only thing was the chapters were long so it made it difficult to stop reading....

Well done procedural elevated above the pack by the setting- the Yorkshire Dales.  No one much liked Dave Atkins but no one expected to find his body in a cave. Then there's another murder!   I very much enjoyed the details of the caving, something new for this genre.  Oldroyd is the classic older lead and Andy Carter the loyal younger man.  Steph, the dogged DS, is also a great character.  Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.  This is a nicely plotted and written mystery.

First book in Yorkshire Mystery Series titled "The Body in Jingling Pot" on Goodreads.
An easy read, good police procedural mystery.
Good plot with a "who done it" feel.
Looking forward fo reading The Quartet Murders by J.R.Ellis.

As a police procedural, I found this book not bad at all. The police officers are personable and DCI Oldroyd is a very likeable and humane character. There is just enough of the personal lives of the police officers to add a bit of interest but not enough to take over the story which I find happens a lot in some of the modern stories and which I don't like. Lots of suspects and a few red herrings. The plot is quite interesting being set in an area of caving activity but the ending was a bit unsatisfactory, however, to say why would give the game away so I won't.


Thanks to  Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for a digital copy of this book..