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The Devil’s Dice
by Roz Watkins
Review

Tea, flowers and an open book on a table in the garden - Used to feature my book reviews

Thank you to the author for tweeting out that this book was available to download from Amazon as a complimentary copy. It was simply a case of being in the right place at the right time to catch the message and I got to read this excellent crime thriller and the first episode in a great new series!

Cover image of the book 'The Devil's Dice' by author Roz Watkins

THE DEVIL’S DICE

Cover image of the book 'The Devil's Dice' by author Roz WatkinsA SHOCKING DEATH – A lawyer is found dead in a Peak District cave, his face ribboned with scratches.

A SINISTER MESSAGE – Amidst rumours of a local curse, DI Meg Dalton is convinced this is cold-blooded murder. There’s just one catch – chiselled into the cave wall above the body is an image of the grim reaper and the dead man’s initials, and it’s been there for over a century.

A DEADLY GAME – 

As Meg battles to solve the increasingly disturbing case, it’s clear someone knows her secrets. The murderer is playing games with Meg – and the dice are loaded…

Cover image of the book 'The Devil's Dice' by author Roz Watkins

ROZ WATKINS

Image of author Roz WatkinsRoz originally studied engineering and natural sciences at Cambridge, before studying patent law.

Before she started writing, she was a partner in a firm of patent attorneys in Derby.

She is also a qualified animal trainer, and her dog Starsky accompanies her on walks, checking out potential murder locations, hoping to find a body.

Roz lives on the edge of the Peak District and since writing took over her life, her partner now runs their two small holiday cottages singlehandedly.

Keep up to date with all Roz’s latest news at  her website

Connect with Roz on Facebook

Follow Roz on Twitter

“I try to be happy with what I’ve achieved, because it’s easy to keep moving the goal posts. Initially success was getting an agent, then getting a book deal, then it’s getting reviewed in newspapers or reaching a certain Amazon ranking or number of sales. So I try to enjoy each stage. I’d love to be able to keep writing pretty much full time – that certainly feels like success for me, after many years in a job that wasn’t right for me.”

Cover image of the book 'The Devil's Dice' by author Roz Watkins

FIRST LINES

 PROLOGUE

“The man clambered into the cave on shaking legs, sucked in a lungful of stale air and stared wide-eyed into the blackness.”

CHAPTER ONE

“I accelerated up the lane, tyres skidding in the mud, and prayed to the gods of murder investigations.”

Cover image of the book 'The Devil's Dice' by author Roz Watkins

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

“I felt the familiar tearing inside, my job tugging me one way, Mum and Gran the other. The job was like a new baby, demanding total commitment and unsociable hours, especially with the Hamilton case. I couldn’t bear to fail. I had to prove I was good enough for the opportunity I’d been given. If Mum got more anxious, how could I find the time to be with her? And we needed my salary. Without the money I contributed, Gran couldn’t have a private carer. It had been so upsetting for her when she’d had a different one each day, someone she didn’t even know, doing the most intimate and unspeakable things to her.”

.

“Most of the villages in this area were picture-perfect tourist honeypots of stone cottages and tea rooms. But just a few miles away you’d come upon a remote  settlement full of rusting machinery, bags of cement, feral collies, and farmers who’d stare blankly at you as if they’d never previously encountered someone from outside Derbyshire.”

.

“I paused as the Nine Ladies stone circle came into sight. The stones dated from the Bronze Age and were reputedly created when nine women were turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath, which seemed harsh. Their presence was greater than their size, which was less than waist height. I felt a tightening in my chest, as if I was being squeezed. The place had an eerie stillness. Even the rustling of the trees and the birdsong quietened as I approached.”

.

“I’d never really considered Mum’s opinions about anything. Dad had opinions, I had opinions, but Mum was just Mum. She looked after everyone else. No one asked her what she thought. And all the time, she’d had these ideas – well thought-out and intelligent and brave. I felt a wave of sickness rising up in me. I’d never really seen her. I’d allowed her to be invisible, to fade into the background, to be defined in my mind only by her relationships with the rest of us, like so many women since the dawn of time. How could I have been so blind and self-centred?”

.

“How charming when a husband’s admiration for his wife could survive the discovery that she was homicidal.”

Cover image of the book 'The Devil's Dice' by author Roz Watkins

REVIEW

“A deadly game of murder”

Wow! After an adrenaline rush like that, I seriously need a short break before I even think about my next review assignment. Roz certainly stirred up a whole host of emotions and pushed so many personal ‘hot buttons’ for me, that I need to get my thoughts in some kind of logical sequence.

The opening narrative passages of this book really set the scene, before there was even a single word of dialogue spoken. The storyline unfolded at quite an even pace, although I must admit I was getting to the stage when I wondered whether it was being stretched out a tad too much and the book was longer than it needed to have been. Then BAM! I hit the 70% marker, or thereabouts, and all hell breaks loose, leading to an ending which I hadn’t worked out at all and which changed and morphed so many times as I was reading, that I even began to confuse myself! The suspense levels were off the scale, the red herrings just kept coming, and there were more twists and turns in the storyline than in a coiled snake!

My personal journey through this story as it infolded was a little uncomfortable, as there were so many ‘too close to home’ ethicacy and morality truths that I needed to confront long before Meg did. I won’t be giving too much away in my review as that would spoil everything, but neither will I be venturing a personal opinion about any of the many issues discussed, as my thoughts might be deemed too controversial. Let’s just say that this one would make for a great book club / reading group option, as believe me, there will be plenty to discuss and debate when you have finished! I definitely need to catch up with the subsequent two books in this series, and I’m sure you will too!

Most certainly not your ‘traditional’ crime / thriller, this often highly emotional, well constructed storyline was definitely multi-layered to the point where I didn’t know whether I was coming or going, but that was just Roz setting me up for a big fall (well several actually!), when I guessed the outcome wrong again! The action was intense, vividly and richly descriptive, and oozing with atmosphere. There was a real depth and range to the many troubling issues which crowded this storyline and they were each focussed upon with great empathy and sympathy. Roz unravelled them all excruciatingly slowly, whilst linking them all together with great expertise and fluidity, to create the very disturbing bigger picture, which led to a killer, with retribution very much on their mind. The sometimes equally unconventional narrative and dialogue was written with more than enough authority and confidence to heighten the suspense to barely sustainable levels, whilst references to folklore, witchcraft and superstition, had me looking over my shoulder with as much suspicion and fear as Meg herself.

Roz also featured some interesting references to the local area, which she knows so well, working them seamlessly into the narrative, and me being of the slightly nerdy disposition that I am, spent several short spells away from actually reading, checking out the places and landscapes she described, as despite me also living in the UK, this is a part of the country I have never explored. Similarly, it was good to see that Roz also selected a period of her own employment history and featured that in the storyline, making this a truly personal backstory for what is a gripping, toe-curling, hide-under-the-duvet, kind of story.

Roz invested equal care, consideration, empathy and exposure to her sprawling cast of complex characters, as she did to that jaw dropping storyline. Whilst none of them were particularly easy to connect with, or often even to like, she expertly opened them all up to outside scrutiny, until they really got under my skin and forced me to opine about them. Meg herself, as the main protagonist, was perhaps one of the most difficult to assess. As with so many fictional detectives, she came with so much excess baggage that she was almost on her knees with the sheer weight of it all! Add to that, she is the first fictional detective I have met with a physical disability and such low self esteem, that I was wondering how she had achieved her rank. Bit by bit though, she reveals her story to be that of someone with a comprehensive education, who worked her butt off to gain a place at Cambridge, and who has worked her way up through the ranks to achieve her current position. At one point, when her physical appearance, her penchant for being accident prone, the state of her home and the way she operated, all contrived to paint this picture in my head, I was left with someone who was a cross between a young Hetty Wainthropp, a female Columbo, with a twist on Mary Beth Lacey (of Cagney & Lacey fame) and maybe a little of DI Jack Frost thrown in for good measure!! Not fair I know and very disingenuous I suspect, as it transpires that she is very competent officer and highly intelligent, just very insecure, searching for a sense of belonging, lacking confidence and a little too eager to prove herself to her new boss and colleagues.

Meg’s position as a ‘newbie’, was not helped at all by the attitude of some members of her new team. She has a boss who I thought might have been slightly misogynistic and one DS who wanted promotion to her job, but was overlooked, making him bitter, twisted and almost dangerous to know. Whilst the two younger members of her team, Jai and Fiona, are more than willing to give her a chance and know the value of collaborative thinking, when faced with such a complex case. If she is to grow, progress and succeed in her new role, I really want to see Meg showing leadership and taking control of the situation in a disciplined way, although she does need to keep a wary eye on the personal relationship which may be developing between herself and Jai!

What a brilliant debut for DI Meg Dalton and I hope that now she has unburdened herself of some of the emotional baggage which has been haunting her for so long, her career will flourish and go from strength to strength, as the series progresses.

BTW! – I also got scared witless! – But that’s all good!

Image of author Roz Watkins

A complimentary download of this book for review purposes, was kindly made available by via Amazon

Any thoughts or comments are my own personal opinion and I am in no way being monetarily compensated for this, or any other article which promotes this book or its author.

I personally do not agree with ‘rating’ a book, as the overall experience is all a matter of personal taste, which varies from reader to reader. However some review sites do demand a rating value, so when this review is posted to such a site, it will attract a well deserved 4 out of 5 stars!

 

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Yvonne

I can’t remember a time, even as a child, when I haven’t been passionate about books and reading.
I began blogging, when I realised just how many other people out there shared my passion for the written word and I have been continually amazed at the wealth of books that are available and the amount of great new friends I have made, from literally 'The Four Corners Of The World'.

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Written by Yvonne