Mari Hannah weaves a mean handful of stories into one another here: Two skeletons are dug up on a beautiful beach, and in the local prison a psycho is ready for release - and unhealthily obsessed with the in-house shrink - Also DCI Daniels' private life might get a reboot, if only she can find the time for it... It's a chilling story of who to distrust, when there are so many possibilities...

Loved the 4th book in the series - a real, twisting pageturner

Such a beautiful location for the most chilling of crimes. On the beaches at Bamburgh, a grisly discovery has been made..


The notion that Bamburgh Castle or Holy Island – two of the most revered places in Northumberland – could be some kind of macabre monument to murder stunning them into silence.


Bamburgh beach and castle is definitely worth a visit and it sits on a craggy rock with lovely views of the surrounding area and coastline. Most of the action takes place here and in the village of Bamburgh itself.

It’s here, in the middle of winter, that the chills come thick and fast and its’s not just the snow that’s the problem. The team are forced to set up their investigation room in a B and B in Alnwick since the roads back to Newcastle are so bad.

The two bodies found under the sands, buried with certain items which will become central to the investigation and possibly the clues for the murders.

Kate’s team has a tough job on their hands and its a long and complicated task ahead. The team is as solid as ever but cracks are starting to show, so the newest members of the team are welcome additions. Kate does not have it easy either at work or in her personal life and her stress levels are through the roof. The investigation is like the sand on the beach - so many grains, hidden items, new things to discover and red herrings scattered all over. But what do the sands of time hide?


Although Bamburgh is the focus, other places are mentioned such as Felton and up near the River Coquet where Emma lives. Oh a birthday meal in the Black Bull pub in Corbridge where Kate grew up. Not forgetting Acklington prison (HMP Northumberland). Bamburgh is the star of the show so to speak and it shines as a setting and a remote landscape for murder and intrigue.

To see Mari Hannah’s Northumberland - in fact to see Kate Daniels Northumberland, take a tour around Bamburgh and see the majestic castle, its view of Holy Island, the desolate but stunning beaches and stand on the dunes like Kate and Hank would have done, feeling the nip in the air and the rough sea fret on your face.

This novel - the fourth one in an increasing good series. If the location adds a gritty chilling realism to the plot, then the level of suspense is the connecting story involving Emily McCann who is a female psychologist, Emily McCann. The scenes involving her within the prison with a more than your usual twisted sex offender were some of the creepiest I have read in a while. It was the ‘what was happening between the lines’ which got me. Brrrr.

I really felt as if I got to know Kate Daniels in this novel. She’s got a lot on her plate what with her personal life unravelling and the sparks which are evident in her scenes with Jo. There are further demands within the police team and Kate is a lot more on edge a lot of the time. I started to see just how many plates this lady juggles! Emily McCann is another standout character here and her backstory is one of despair and upset and I understood a different role within the prison service by her development.

Captivating, Creepy and disturbing but very very gritty and real.

Kate Daniels is going from strength to strength.

Absolutely hooked on this series. Love the characters - keep trying to think who I would cast if the books were ever made into a TV series. Mark Benton would be my recommendation for Hank!

Skeletal remains found on a beach in Bamburgh start the latest of Kate Daniels' murder investigations, leading her into an old crime come to light. Enjoyable thriller, plot moves along speedily, my main quibble is that Hannah doesn't do dialogue too well and often describes interactions between characters rather than let the reader interpret from conversations. It can be a bit too simplistic.

A series that is going from strength to strength continues apace with Monument To Murder, the fourth book of Mari Hannah’s police procedurals featuring DCI Kate Daniels and for my money this is the best of the four so far…

Opening with the discovery of two bodies in a cave on a windswept beach on the Northumberland coast, Daniels and her team find themselves isolated geographically and meteorologically from the comfortable confines of their Newcastle base. As the weather closes in and the initially baffling investigation causes personal and professional issues for Kate and her team, Hannah keeps the reader in suspense consistently throughout. Add into the mix a connecting story of a female psychologist, Emily McCann, recently widowed, and finding herself receiving the unwelcome attentions of a twisted sex offender at the prison where she works, the two plotlines connect and flow in perfect synergy, which again adds to the overall enjoyment of the book.

Hannah’s writing exhibits its strength in predominantly two areas for me as a reader. First and foremost her characterisation of her main protagonist Daniels strikes a chord with the reader as she balances the demands of her job, the leadership of the team of police officers she oversees, and her unerring professionalism and empathy to those who find themselves the victims of crime. Admittedly, her personal life is still a little complicated in the wake of the break-up of her relationship, and the vestiges of attraction that ensure that sparks that still fly between herself and Jo, which adds to the emotional and almost personal feel of the book. Likewise, I liked the characterisation of Emily McCann, and thought that Hannah captured perfectly the feelings of despair after a personal bereavement and her journey back to life. McCann’s sadness is further compounded due to her fractured relationship with her daughter, and the very real demands of her employment in an overly masculine workplace- oh- and the positively weird attentions of the brilliantly creepy Walter Fearon.

The second stand out aspect for me personally of Hannah’s work, is the pitch perfect depiction of location, whether it be Newcastle- where Daniels’ team is normally based- or in this book, the wild and desolate beauty of the Northumberland coast, where the bodies are discovered. This is a part of the UK I am very familiar with, and as Daniels and her team attend the crime scene I could remember the feel of the biting wind, and hear and smell the pounding sea along this barren shore, through Hannah’s painstakingly accurate description of one of the most beautiful coastlines in Britain. The discovery of the bodies on this barren stretch of beach in the shadow of Bamburgh Castle and in sight of Holy Island, is a gem of a location for a crime scene, fuelling the very sinister feel of the whole investigation, and adding to the overall enjoyment of this thoroughly enthralling book. A book not to be missed.