It is SO satisfying to discover a new police procedural series featuring a strong plot, an engaging protagonist, and a beautiful and atmospheric setting.

I'm certain that any reader who enjoys police procedurals will find "The Crossing" a compelling read.  I truly enjoyed making the acquaintance of Detective Louise Blackwell of the Avon & Somerset Police. She is lonely, turns to alcohol rather too often, and is quirky and charismatic in equal measure.

The plot featured a troubled mind in a man whose strict Catholic upbringing colored his entire life - not is a good way.

The settings - Weston-super-Mare, a seaside town in Somerset, England and the forbidding island of Steep Holm, in the Bristol Channel added much to the narrative.

The title was fitting in three profound ways. Louise had to 'cross' the Avonmouth Bridge to travel from her family's homes to her new home, the criminal 'crossed' the water from Weston to Steep Holm several times in the story, AND.... well you'll just have to read the novel to find out the third way that the title fits so perfectly.

In case you haven't yet guessed, I loved "The Crossing" and can't wait to read the next novel in the Louise Blackwell series which is called "The Descent". Highly recommended!

The Crossing by Matt Brolly is about a body found on a beach in a sleepy seaside town.  It’s the first case for Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell. The victim was an elderly lady, church volunteer, with puncture wounds to her hands. Next a priest is killed in a nearby church. Somehow they are connected! Blackwell has to find a deadly killer before another person is killed. This was my first Matt Brolly book and I enjoyed it very much. There was a serial killer out there in the seacoast town targeting the church and its parishioners. Very good book! Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced reader’s copy for a review.

Had a big debate with myself about wether to give this 4 or 5 stars, would like to give 4.5!  It has a good storyline and I wanted to keep reading to see how it unfolded and revealed the tale behind the serial killer being hunted.  The main police characters were well described, I felt I knew them and could see this as a TV crime drama in the future.

This is the beginning of a great new police procedural series. Vividly atmospheric, it is a well crafted story.  The characters are well developed and I look forward to reading more about DI Louise Blackwell. 
Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a real spine tingler of a story which does get quite gory in the description of the victims' bodies. Although the reader knows the identity of the killer from the beginning does not take away from the tension because it is obvious that he has some very complex reasons for the murders. I assume the author is a Catholic himself, if not he has researched the subject thoroughly. So many authors make the mistake of describing the religion as if it is the 1950s. Here we see priests known by their Christian names and special Masses for small children as well as a culture of openness, none of the secrecy and fear that existed in the past.. In other words an accurate description of the modern Catholic faith. All in all a very enjoyable read.

A strong start to what could be a good series. I think there is great potential in Louise and her team. However it was pretty slow going and I felt Louise was typical of the angst female detective currently popular. It just ended up being a bit much, however hopefully now this has been explained in the first instalment, it won’t be a recurring theme in the following book. I’ll certainly read more from Louise and her team. 

Thank you Netgalley & Amazon Publishing UK.

The crossing by Matt brolly. 
When a body is discovered, bled dry on a beach, the sleepy seaside town of Weston-super-Mare wakes up to a nightmare. For Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell, recently transferred to the town she last saw as a child, it’s her first case on the job.
A very good read. Good story.  Gory in some places. 4*.

This is a straight-forward police procedural set in the coastal town of Weston-Super-Mare.  DI Louise Blackwell has been transferred following the shooting of an unarmed man during a police raid.  After a dead woman is found on the beach, Louise gets her first chance to take charge of an investigation in her new posting.  Still trying to figure out her team and her boss, her life is complicated by anonymous text messages that she believes are coming from her former partner who seems to want her thoroughly discredited.

It took me a while to get into this book, and I originally put it down about a third of the way through.  After a break, I picked it back up and got hooked by the story. In short, I enjoyed the last two-thirds of the book more than the beginning.  I'm willing to give DI Blackwell another go when she reappears in book 2.

Thanks to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for access to a digital ARC.

This is a new series from Brolly, who you know from his DCI Lambert series, and like that series, it is one I'll be reading every book in! Blackwell is still adjusting to being back on her home turf, after years spent 'in town' as part of a Major team. She is still licking her proverbial wounds from workplace issues, that forced her to flee, when she gets the opportunity to show just what she is capable of doing. And then her old job comes back to haunt her. She is a bit flawed (like Lambert), but very likable, and it's refreshing to see a female lead in a police procedural with honest emotions. If you like British police procedurals, be sure to pick up this one!

In a small town full of secrets, everyone’s a suspect.
When a body is discovered, bled dry on a beach, the sleepy seaside town of Weston-super-Mare wakes up to a nightmare. For Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell, recently transferred to the town she last saw as a child, it’s her first case on the job.
The victim—Veronica Lloyd, an elderly volunteer at a local church—has puncture wounds to her hands. When a priest is found killed in a nearby church in a similarly grisly condition, it becomes clear that Blackwell is dealing with a righteous and bloody murderer. But the victims aren’t random. The killer has a vendetta and is hell-bent on exacting twisted revenge for a dark secret dating back years—and there are more murders planned.
As the body count rises, Blackwell faces a race against time to solve the mystery of the murderer’s identity and put an end to the carnage. She thought she knew Weston, but the town holds more secrets than she’d ever have imagined. Who can she trust and who knows more than they are letting on?
She must discover the crimes that unite the victims—before it’s too late.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believeable.
Great suspense and action with wonderful world building that adds so much to the story.
Can't wait to read more of these.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.  This is my own honest voluntary review.

Just finished reading The Crossing and thought it was excellent. I loved how the characters of DI Blackwell and the perpetrator are developed throughout the book against the backdrop of Weston-super-mare and cannot wait to read more in this series.

This is the first novel i have read by Matt Brolly but it won't be the last as i was quite taken with his writting style and the characters he has created, The main reason I requested this book was because it is based in Weston-super mare which isn't far from me and he'd done his homework by knowing we affectionately call it Weston on mud and how the tide never seems to be in, which all added to the reading for me. 
The book is the first of a series featuring DI Louise Blackwell a detective from Bristoll who basically gets stithed up by he ex work colleague and lover, So in disgrace she moves to Weston and when a body of a old lady is found on the beach she gets to use her experience as the SIO of a murder, but with hardly any clues and the top brass breathing down her neck its not going to be easy.

The novel itself reminded me of columbo where unusally the culprit is revealled very early on but it slowly reveals the reasoning behind the crime and Louise's reasons for moving and frustration of rtrying to catch the murderer before her ex iis put in charge.  I look forward to more in this series as I think problems will escalate for Louise in the future.

I love Matt Brolly. He has a real knack of pulling you into the story and making you believe. Love Louise. I can't wait to hear more stories,especially as I live in Weston Super Mare and I drive through all the places that are mentioned as well as the few from Bristol, where I had lived all of my life until last year.

A fantastic read, a great story line which is easy to follow and had me gripped throughout. I am looking forward to reading more books by Matt

The Crossing
I received a copy from Net Galley. I loved this book. I found the characters interesting, the plot captivating and subplots intriguing. I will definitely read more in this series.

New author for me can’t wait to catch up .This book is tense well written drew me in from first pages.A multilayered plot that kept me turning the pages.#netgalley#amazonuk

The Crossing by Matt Brolly is the first book in the new Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell series and is set most in and near Weston-super-Mare in England. A body of an older woman is found on a local beach and Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell becomes the senior investigating officer.  Louise and her team start to investigate the identity of the woman.

Will they find out who she is and how she got there?

A few days later, another body is found, a Catholic Priest. He was found in the confessional box of the local church. He had just taken Mass. The priest was known as Father Mulligan. Could these murders be linked and in what way?

Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell and her team have to work quickly before another body is found.

Can the solve these murders in time?

I Highly recommend this book and look forward reading more by Matt Brolly in the future. Especially as Matt Brolly is a new author to me and looking forward to read the next book to this series.

Big Thank you to Amazon Publishing UK and Matt Brolly for a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley and the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way

I received a free electronic ARC copy of this British police procedural from Netgalley, Matt Brolly, and Amazon Publishing UK.  Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.  I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.  I will happily add Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell to my must-reads list.  This is the first of this series by Brolly - I can't wait for number 2.

DI Louise Blackwell is thirty-something, has one brother, a recent widower, and the father of a five-year-old daughter, Emily.  Her brother Paul isn't handling life well at all, and Louise and their parents are often required to step into the breach at the home of Paul and Emily. Louise is historically not catching many breaks.

  Two years ago Louise's partner at MIT in Bristol and surrounds, is DI Finch.  Together they worked the case of serial killer Max Walton, a trail they had been investigating for over a year. It is at last solved, but Finch has placed Louise in a career-killing position.  Knowing they are at the scene of a fresh kill and they are finally closing in on their serial killer, Finch indicates Walton is carrying and asks Louise for cover as he moves in to restrain him.  Tripping and falling, Finch shouts that Walton is holding, and as the killer's hand comes up from the shadows Louise shoots him.  These were the facts, details that later Finch will deny. Under Oath.  Of course, Louise takes the hit for killing an unarmed suspect and is lucky to be allowed to stay on in the police force at all.  She gets transferred to the small rural coastal precinct of  Weston-super-Mare and will most likely be stalled as a DI for the next twenty years.  Her friend Tracey Pugh gets a job advancement to DI and takes Louise's place at MIT, and Finch receives accolades and advancement to DCI for his part in capturing Walton. And he is currently texting her most evenings with snips and challenges and signing them 'a friend'.  

But Louise has to get past all that.  Eighteen months later and despite its size and level of obscurity, Weston has its own killer running amuck.  And he is vicious as he brutalizes his elderly victims for days before he finally kills them. 

We know our bad guy fairly early into this tale.  Geoff was a bullied and abused child who worshiped his father and was exposed to and leaned heavily upon the ceremony and rituals of Saint Bernadette's Church to comfort himself.  Geoff goes off his rocker when his father commits suicide. Suicides never get to heaven, they are in purgatory forever... This is unacceptable.  Knowing they will eventually be back together is all that keeps Geoff sane. 

Geoff's obsession with the stations of the cross is not apparent during the investigation of the first and second victims, Veronica Lloyd and Father Mulligan. Veronica was a single retired school teacher.  Father Mulligan, formerly the priest of St. Barts, was semi-retired and assisted Father Riley, the current priest at the second Catholic place of worship in Weston, St. Michael's.  Father Riley is young, green and new to the area, but Monsignor Ashley was more helpful, as he had been working in the Weston area for many years, and as Louise uncovers the only fact that their two victims seem to have in common was their place of worship, St. Bernadette's, back in the 1980s, Monsignor Ashley brings into play other possible witnesses/or/victims from that era.  Father Lanegan, who was the young priest at St. Barts in the 1980s had subsequently left the priesthood and settled into civilian life in the nearby community of St. Ives.  But he has been missing for some time - a couple of weeks anyway, according to his elderly cleaner who reported him as a missing person.   And it was rumored, Louise is told by older, mostly widowed parishioners, that Father Lanegan and Veronica Lloyd were involved in an affair back then.

And Finch, now a DCI with the Major Investigation Team in Bristol, comes calling, undermining Louise at every turn and attempting to squeeze her out of the investigation altogether.  Because this will be a headline-grabbing criminal case and those headlines should be all his... 

Parts of this story relies on a bit of back knowledge of the workings of the Catholic Church 40 years ago.  It is all explained well but it helps if you understand the Stations of the Cross and the process of bringing children into the pageantry of traditional Catholic services.  It is not, however necessary, nor is it a religious book per se.

After being let down by her police partner  Tim Finch,Louise Blackwell is moved from her position in Bristol & sent to Weston-super-mare- a sleepy place in Winter, a contrast to her summer days spent there as a child. When an elderly woman is found on the beach with unusual wounds she finds herself as SIO in her first murder case in her new posting. When an elderly priest is found dead in his confessional with similar wounds it looks like they have a serial killer on their hands & Finch seems determined to unsettle her.

This is the beginning of a new police procedural series & I hope it continues to be as good as this first one. The reader knows from the start who the murderer is & sees things from his angle. There are lots of things to keep the reader guessing & the setting & characters are well described & engaging- I could feel the rain & the wind!

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book- I am already looking forward to the next one.

Great new series from best selling author Matt Brolly. I live near Weston-Super-Mare and this book perfectly sums up the desolation of the place in the winter months. Great start to a new series about DI Louise Blackwell, a realistic detective with an interesting back story. Great plotting, although I personally don't like hearing the murderer's viewpoint. Look forward to the next one.