Publication Date: Available Now from Black and White
Source: Publisher Review Copy
When DI Bob Valentine returns to duty after a narrow escape with death, he is faced with the discovery of a corpse on a kitchen table with a horrific neck wound and a mystery surrounding the victim’s missing partner and her daughter. It’s all too close to his own near-fatal stabbing.
When the murder investigation begins to reveal a tragic family drama, Bob Valentine struggles to deal with the rapidly unfolding events and the terrifying visions that haunt him. As he starts to uncover the illicit secrets of the family’s past, can he keep a grip on the case and on his own sanity before the body count starts to rise?
Really enjoyed this one again – the second in the Valentine series (you do not need to have read the first) – Tony Black writes really superb crime fiction, often it seems a little below the radar. He also, incidentally, writes great fiction – so if you haven’t come across his novels yet I’d advise going and taking a little look.
The Valentine novels are something a little different again – with a short sharp supernatural edge added to the mix with the visions that Valentine suffers, this is extraordinarily addictive reading.
In this case Bob is faced with a dead man and a missing family – a family full of the kind of secrets that can kill – and things twist and turn and generally mess with your head (and Bob’s) as we head towards the final solution.
The writing is gritty and realistic, descriptively speaking Tony Black manages to put the reader right in the moment. Bob as a character is endlessly fascinating – I like his rather grumpy outlook on life and his struggles to work out what is going on inside his own head. The mystery of Bob Valentine is just as intriguing, if not more so, than the mystery of the dead man in the kitchen…
Clever intuitive prose and a great deal of storytelling art makes “A Taste of Ashes” rather more delicious than the title would suggest. Black is indeed back. Highly Recommended.
Find out more here: http://www.tonyblack.net/
Follow Tony on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/TonyblackUk
Purchase Information: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taste-Ashes-DI-Bob-Valentine/dp/184502964X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443161334&sr=1-1&keywords=a+taste+of+ashes+tony+black
Happy Reading Folks!