After reading the first book I was highly anticipating this second one, and it was worth the wait absolutely fantastic book. It was lovely to see how the relationship between Jake and Livia has progressed. Such a good plot line with missing children and the possibility of cold cases of Jake's being connected. Will Jake be able to connect the dots in time or will they all face danger again? Just how much can people get away with? Don't want to give too much away, but if you love a good mystery then you'll love this book!
Many thanks to the publishers for sending me an advanced copy of this book and to Netgalley. Will be looking out for the next book from Stig Abell.

This is the second book from Stig Abel and it is as beautifully written and atmospheric as the first. The landscape and weather are almost characters in their own right adding to the sense of bleakness and isolation. Not sure about the musical references as I like to read without distractions. The final twist was unexpected. Looking forward to the next in the series.

I very much enjoyed the first novel in this series as was interested to see how it would develop; the good news is that Death In A Lonely Place is even better than its predecessor. Because the backstory is now established and the characters introduced, Stig Abell is able to concentrate more on plot, and this is a hard-hitting story in what seems to be an idyllic and peaceful setting. Abell writes beautifully with a nicely idiosyncratic style, and his regular references to the music Jake is listening to enhances the reader's enjoyment. This is a wonderful read.

I had already read Stig's first book Death Under a Little Sky and enjoyed it immensely so when I heard there was going to be another one, following the adventures of Jake and Livia I was very excited and I was not disappointed. This was an absolute treasure of a story, full of twists and turns getting the adrenaline going then Watson!! Well written indeed!

Many thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK and Stig Abel for my ARC of 'Death in a Lonely Place' in return for an honest review.

Another thoroughly enjoyable read. This is the second novel in the series and I look forward to more. It was pacy, with numerous twists and turns as Jake Jackson tried to enjoy a quieter life.

However, a child is kidnapped and he is drawn to helping in the investigation. As it progresses it reminds him of two cold cases he was involved with.

Highly recommended.

This sequel was every bit as good as I was hoping for. I was fully invested in the story from the very beginning and loved all the twists within. The characters are well written and I love the idea of being surrounded by so much nature. My only complaint is how much it rehashes over what happened in book one.

Not keen at all on this second in the series. Plot was just silly and several characters behaved out of character. I don't see how this can continue, but I might read something else by Stig.

The second book in the series but the first i have read... a great crime fiction with lots of twists and turns. Detective Jake moves to the country side for a more relaxed way of living... but an old case comes back to haunt him and brings him into a world of a secretive group that is for the elite ...
Beautifully written and has a great storyline... I will be reading book one and it is five stars for a great read thank you

I do so like the place and main characters of this book, like old friends
The second book with the character Jake Jackson by this author and once again the characters immediately jump off the page,with a story full of intrigue and an ending that left me open-mouthe but also quite sad.

Death in a lonely place by Stig Abell is a continuation from his previous novel ‘Little Sky’ It is about ex detective Jake Jackson who inherited his uncle’s home in secluded part of the countryside, away from phone, TV and Internet. He was hoping for a quieter life, but crime seemed to have followed him and he seemed to get involved in it.
I really enjoyed Little Sky, so I was excited to get a copy of this one to see how the story continues. Although this is again beautifully written story, I found it quite over descriptive, especially his meals that he was cooking. I don’t know what that has to do with a conspiracy theory. It lost me. Shame as the premise is good. But it didn’t hit the mark like the first one did. 3.5 stars from me.

A pacy crime thriller following Detective Jake Jackson who moved to the country for a quiet life to enjoy his extensive retreat with its lake and island and a relationship with Liv a vet and her daughter Diana.
When a child is kidnapped he is drawn into helping with the case as it reminds him of 2 cold cases but the more he investigates he is drawn into the dark web.
This really grabs you and you find yourself willing Jake on as it twists and turns and has you second guessing who to trust a brilliant crime story that I could not put down and stayed up all night to finish.
Would highly recommend for a on the edge thriller.

Detective thriller set in the English countryside - very good.

Jake Jackson, still living in isolation and in a romantic relationship with the local vet, gets involved in a case of a child abduction and later a murder. These all seem related to cold cases from his past as a detective. Some new characters are introduced as well as developing existing ones. There are various unsavoury folk living in the neighborhood and, as in most detective stories, the good guys win in the end. My problem with the book is too many descriptions of the landscape and wintry conditions.: well-written descriptions are all well and good at creating the atmosphere - just too many of them after a while. It's engaging nevertheless and a good read. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

My thanks to Netgalley and publisher Harper Collins for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. Having enjoyed the first book in this series, I'm so glad to have read another. Some aspects of the setting and the hero's situation seem a bit bonkers, but this was refreshing.

The following is what I said to my book club. The author, Stig Abel, helped to launch Times Radio a couple of years ago where he co-presents the breakfast show. Before that, he was a regular presenter on Radio 4's Front Row and was previously editor and publisher of The Times Literary Supplement. He seems to be playing out a personal fantasy, wrapped up with crime fiction.

Jake, in his late thirties, has been a very successful police inspector in the Metropolitan Cold Case Unit. That is until he has a major inheritance. His uncle leaves him a large house, half 18th century farmhouse, half modern addition. It includes enough estate to do a five-mile run without leaving his land, which includes, amongst other things, a lake, and a wood. He has a large farm-house style kitchen with a wood-burning stove/cooker, and my favourite, a vast room set up as a library containing every crime novel ever written. There are no mod cons such as internet, phone, or even TV and Jake is continually playing classical music, on disc, naturally. He keeps fit by going for daily punishing runs, finishing with a naked swim in his own lake and chopping a lot of firewood. Of course, there's no central heating. He has chickens for eggs and recently created some large greenhouses for growing veg. There is a vast basement which his uncle stocked up with not just wine and sacks of flour for bread making, but crates of all manner of other provisions. Jake can live off the grid and intends to do so. There is not even a road fit for a vehicle nearer than two miles away. This surely has to be the author writing about his fantasy of a perfect life.

But modern life intrudes when a crime is committed and Jake finds himself instinctively turning detective again. He walks several miles to the nearest village shop to use the phone and has to borrow a car from a friend and his girlfriend, the local vet. It seems that when the need is greatest, he can't manage without certain modern conveniences.

I'm delighted that there has been a follow-up book to the first one and that it's going to be a series. It will be interesting to see how the fantasy life progresses. That the author is male is obvious. Whilst some tidying up gets done, he doesn't seem to do household cleaning and there is no mention of laundry ! !

After falling in love with Jack Jackson in Stig Abell’s debut last year, Death in a Lonely Place was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024.

It was great to be back with Jack. This book finds him attempting to navigate a relationship with his partner and her daughter alongside his ongoing desire to investigate crime. I found this brilliantly observed. What I love most about this series is that Stig manages to write a solid detective story about believable characters you truly care about, whilst also delivering the most beautifully descriptive prose.

The writing in this latest offering is so spectacular I feel it is straddling the literary genre as well as crime mystery/thriller. A must read.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #HarperCollinsUK publishers for an #ARC of #DeathInALonelyPlace.
This book is the second in the Jake Jackson series, a retired declarative who has gone completely off grid in his daily life. However old cases have come back to haunt him. Can Jake leave the lure of police work behind when it turn too dangerous?
The writing of Stig Abell is beautifully descriptive and makes me wish I was at Little Sky, or just to give up the daily grind and go, like Jake. I enjoyed this book immensely and I am genuinely excited for another installment, although I can't imagine there are too many more scrapes Jake can get himself into.
I would highly recommend this book for lovers of crime drama/detective stories.

An accomplished, beautifully written and observed novel- well worth reading! It’s set in a fairly isolated village with an ex policeman - Jake living nearby. He prefers to keep a low profile, but gets drawn into a crime scene.

An atmospheric follow up to Sting Abell’s first novel featuring Jake Jackson, retired Detective. Although Jake is retired and living a quiet life in his late Uncle’s house, Little Sky, he is still interested in some of his old cases. Without internet and mobile phone he does not keep up with what is going on in the outside world and that is the way he likes it after being constantly on call during his time on the force. However his burgeoning relationship with the local vet and her young daughter means he is having to balance his hermit like lifestyle with slightly more contact when he spends time in Livia’s house.
When Watson, a local policeman comes to him for help investigating the disappearance of a young girl, Jake is torn but ultimately decides to help. His investigations lead to the discovery of a huge criminal conspiracy which seems to reach right up to the top echelons of society. Livia is fearful that his desire to work out what is happening will again lead to danger for all of them.
I liked this continuation of “Little Sky” .The writing is lovely, so evocative and the characters are fleshed out and developed even more than in the first book. The conflict between Jake’s desire to catch the bad guys but maintain his relationship with Livia and Diana is a major theme.
Mr Abell has a good turn of phrase and writes very descriptively “The local church……..is guarded by similarly ancient yew trees, hunched over with age, their spindly branches interlocking like a roof” being a good example.
However the plot is not slowed by the prose and moves long at cracking pace.
As in all good detective tales there are many red herrings and surprises which ensured my attention was required until the very end.
I loved the way familiar fictional detectives were interspersed in the story, found on the shelves of Jake’s uncle’s library and also as a sign off when communicating with Martha.- I hope she appears in the next book if there is to be one.
The music that features in the background as Jake plays his uncle’s records and then as a play list at the back of the book, makes this novel a true experience for all the artistic senses.
I certainly recommend “Death in a Lonely Place”as a five star read and suggest that you read the earlier novel too as it definitely sets the scene
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy

Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for ARC.

Retired detective Jake Jackson has settled into his new more remote life (helped immeasurably no doubt by the legacy left to him by his uncle) and is forging family bonds with local vet Livia and her daughter Diana. When a billionaire buys a nearby property and asks Livia to look after the needs of his horses, Jake's hackles rise. At the same time, an old colleague gets in touch for help with a child abduction case that has similarities to a case that has haunted Jake.
I found this book frustrating for a few reasons. There is a lot of fine descriptive writing about the small routines that make up Jake's secluded, reclusive days, perhaps too much for my tastes. The sweet old fashioned ways of communicating are all very well, but he relies on other people to keep in touch with the modern world (his partner and friends to drive him about is one thing, his old Met contacts to obtain material he shouldn't have access to is something else). Just get a phone already. The conspiracies and cover up are pretty poorly sketched and the denouement didn't satisfy. And yet, there's a lot to entertain in this book.

When the little daughter of a local family is missing, believed abducted, the hermit retired policeman living in the remote country side is dragged into the case to follow the only clue, a card with No Taboo written on it. This leads to suspicion of being linked to a cold case of a boy that also disappeared and never found. It leads to a suspicion of a sophisical criminal organisation catering for the requirements of debauched rich people HQ in a near manor house owned by a multimillionaire. How a bunch of amateurs brings it all down makes an amazing story.

Remove the constant references to the investigations of the previous novel and how remote the property where Jake lives is and there is not a lot of plot.
It felt like the storylines were filched from existing crime novels and at times just so telegraphed – I couldn’t help eye-rolling with exasperation.