The Hermitage #Review #DCIRyan #Book9

The Hermitage 

About the Book

He thought he was invincible, but he was wrong…

When an old man is found dead inside the ancient hermitage at Warkworth Castle, Northumbria CID are called in to investigate. With no apparent motive, it’s their job to unravel why he was murdered – and this time they’re forced to do it without their star detective…

DCI Ryan is thousands of miles away. He’s tracked a killer across Europe and has sworn not to return until he has his man in custody. Nathan Armstrong is a dangerous psychopath but there’s just one problem – he’s also an international celebrity; a world-famous thriller writer with money and connections.

Ryan is a stranger in a foreign land, but he knows one thing – he’ll never give up.

Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set amidst the spectacular landscapes of Northumberland and Tuscany.

My Review

This is book 9 in the DCI Ryan series and this one is set around Warkworth Castle, and the ancient hermitage where a man is found deceased.

DIC Ryan and his team are called upon to investigate the death and sort out the mystery surrounding the death.  However, despite it being Ryan’s team that are investigating they are without their esteemed team leader DCI Ryan.  

Ryan is miles away, quite a few miles away, thousands of miles away in Italy, where both Ryan and Anna (logically) are searching for a killer!!

It was nice to see two stories flowing in this book, Ryan’s mission and the investigation run by Phillips and McKenzie.  We know that despite the team being separated that they are all working together one way or another and all have the same mission in play. 

I found this book to be a bit different to the usual LJ Ross books, with Ryan and Anna being in Italy, leaving McKenzie and Phillips investigating the Hermitage murder, but this didn’t spoil the book for me at all.  I found it really intriguing that we got to see more of Phillips personality and the way he runs an investigation and not as Ryan’s sidekick even though LJ Ross’s readers know that they are all a team and work well together and get along brilliantly. 

This was a fantastic book by LJ Ross as usual and as all of her books do, this had me hooked and riveted from the first chapter!!!

About the Author

LJ Ross is the author of the #1 international bestselling series of DCI Ryan mystery novels and her books have sold more than three million copies since 2015. She has released ten full-length novels, seven of which have reached number one in the Amazon UK Kindle best-sellers chart. They are available to purchase in e-book, print and audiobook narration on the Amazon store.

Her eleventh novel, 'The Infirmary', is a prequel story which will be available in e-book and print on 10th February 2019. It is already available as a major Audible Originals drama starring Tom Bateman, Kevin Whately, Hermione Norris and Alun Armstrong.

Louise was born in Northumberland, England. She studied undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Law at King's College London and studied abroad in Paris and Florence. She spent much of her working life in London, where she was a regulatory lawyer for a number of years before taking the decision to change career and pursue her dream to write.

Now, she writes full time and lives with her husband and son in Northumberland. She enjoys reading all manner of books, travelling and spending time with family and friends.

List of DCI Ryan books

 
1. Holy Island (2014)
2. Sycamore Gap (2015)
3. Heavenfield (2016)
4. Angel (2016)
5. High Force (2017)
6. Cragside (2017)
7. Dark Skies (2017)
8. Seven Bridges (2018)
9. The Hermitage (2018)
10. Longstone (2018)
11. The Infirmary (2019)
12. The Moor (2019)