As a longtime fan of James Oswald’s writing I was looking forward to reading this one, but am not sure that it lives up to the excellence of its predecessors. Detective Constable ‘Con’ Fairchild gets herself into all sorts of trouble as usual, but some of the action in this book is pretty preposterous and, although there’s plenty to keep the reading turning the pages, it just didn’t have the grip of the other books in this series, or the Inspector McLean novels. Perhaps it is the mystical happenings that fail to convince, or maybe the unlikely escapes from kidnapping, of which there are several. If you want action, nasty characters to be overcome, and plenty of drama in the plot, this could be one for you, but I’m looking forward to a return to more believable writing from Oswald.

Always enjoy a James Oswald book, but Nowhere To Run didn’t tick the boxes as the others have done..
It was a decent enough read, but some of it was simply not to my liking and took a bit away from the story..
I will, however, look forward to his next one and hope that it is back on track with the others..

This is the 3rd book in the Constance Fairchild series by author James Oswald. I love the Inspector McLean series by this author as well as the previous two books in this series so was looking forward to this one. It didn’t take me long to get back into this series and was enjoying the writing but felt overall that the novel lacked the excitement of the other two books. I enjoyed the writing and Constance Fairchild is a very good character but I struggled to get into the storyline.

Detective Constable Constance Fairchild is on compassionate leave following the death of her mother, and is renting a cottage near Aberystwyth, Wales to get away from the hustle and bustle of London. The problem is trouble appears to follow Fairchild around and she finds herself in a police station cell after defending herself from two would-be rapists. While at the station she is mistakenly put in the same cell as a young Ukrainian woman, Lila, who confides in that she’s been forced by her manipulative boyfriend into prostitution and running drugs. Fearing for her life, she has run away from him, only to end up in the cells.

Fairchild cannot keep away from trouble and offers to help her but when Lila disappears, she realises she’s stumbled into very dangerous company. International drug smugglers and ruthless people traffickers. Fairchild’s life is seriously threatened by people who will stop at nothing to protect their secrets.

With my previous knowledge of both the character and the author I still enjoyed the read but not as much as I had initially hoped. A minor blip but feel sure the next book in the series will be much better.

I would like to thank both Net Galley and Wildfire for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I think this is the best James Oswald book I’ve read and I’ve read all of them. Set in Wales post lockdown where detective Con has been convalescing. As usual, a touch of the supernatural is involved in this case, solving the mystery that Con becomes involved in. A great read.

I love Oswald's McLean series but I'm still undecided about this one.... While the characters are engaging and the plot complex and intriguing I'm not so sure about the spiritual slant. An enjoyable read none the less