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Slim Hardy Mysteries #9
Here the Road Ends
THE NEW JOHN "SLIM" HARDY MYSTERY - RELEASED FEBRUARY 15th 2024When her mentally disabled son develops a strange obsession, Audrey Johnson contacts private investigator John “Slim” Hardy for help.Andy Johnson has been making teddy bears and leaving them on the memorial of a nine-year-old girl who drowned on Dartmoor more than forty years ago. When nothing will put him off his bizarre tribute to a child who died before he was even born, Slim moves to the peaceful rural community of Brentor to investigate.However, as he digs deeper into the past, overturning stones that do not wish to be overturned, he uncovers a bombshell that will rock the quiet, private community to its very core.And soon he will be looking over his shoulder, because there are people out there on the moor that want their secrets to remain buried.Here the Road Ends is a thrilling mystery with twists until the last page from Jack Benton, author of the bestsellers The Man by the Sea and The Clockmaker’s Secret.
217 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 15, 2024
16 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Jack Benton
50 books91 followersJack Benton is the mystery writing pen name of British science fiction writer Chris Ward.
Chris Ward is a native of Cornwall, England, but currently lives and works in Nagano, Japan. He is the author of multiple series across several speculative genres, as well as writing under pen names in several more.
He spends his time, snowboarding, writing, playing guitar in his rock band, Steampunk Unicorn (www.reverbnation/steampunkunicorn), and generally having too much to say about just about everything.
For more information, please visit www.amillionmilesfromanywhere.net/tok...
Chris Ward is a native of Cornwall, England, but currently lives and works in Nagano, Japan. He is the author of multiple series across several speculative genres, as well as writing under pen names in several more.
He spends his time, snowboarding, writing, playing guitar in his rock band, Steampunk Unicorn (www.reverbnation/steampunkunicorn), and generally having too much to say about just about everything.
For more information, please visit www.amillionmilesfromanywhere.net/tok...
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 2, 2024
A good, refreshingly clean mystery.
March 4, 2024
Slim and the end of the road
Once again, a terrific read. I've read every one of these books and they never disappoint. I hope this isn't the real end of the road for John Hardy. Just know either way, I will read them again and again.
Once again, a terrific read. I've read every one of these books and they never disappoint. I hope this isn't the real end of the road for John Hardy. Just know either way, I will read them again and again.
November 30, 2025
Spoilers ahead. This is one of those series that I continue reading not because they are great but because it's a task to do. Slim Hardy is a private investigator, a former alcoholic who occasionally falls off the wagon. He is often helped by his pals, who don't appear physically in the book but are able to help him find all sorts of information. Like if he needs to track certain people down, find their records, etc. I think of them as supercharged Google or AI who are able to access government or corporate records.
To get back to the story, Hardy is tasked by a mother to find out exactly what her autistic son is doing. He goes down to a memorial site in the moors of a 14(?) year old girl who died during a school outing. She was apparently lost on the moors and found a day later, dead. This was 10-20(?) years ago. As far as the mother knows they have no relationship with the girl nor is there any way the son would know about this incident. When he goes there, he drops off a little teddy bear that he makes himself (I believe they are similar to beanie babies). Sometimes the beanie babies are returned there with the smile turned into a frown.
The death has long been written off as an accident where the girl got lost, hit her head on a rock and got asphyxiated when she fell headfirst onto a pond/stream. Hardy decides the best way to approach the problem is to reinvestigate her death.
Hardy's usual modus operandi is to keep asking questions of everyone he can find and pretty much after asking everyone even remotely associated with the death he finds the answer. One problem with this style is that the reader can get lost with all the characters and I often had to refer back earlier to figure who these people were. And the whole story seems to be a list of twists that the author wrote down, then put together to get the plot. The book was a quick read, I finished it in 1.5 days and it was only mildly entertaining because the author did not write enough about the main characters to get me emotionally vested in them. He only seemed to try to get as many twists into the plot as possible and that doesn't really make a good book.
Real spoilers here: The real story is that the girl wanted to play a prank on one of the teachers on the trip by disappearing. She climbed into the storage compartment of the bus where she got asphyxiated by the exhaust gas. The bus driver found the body when he inspected the bus later but he didn't want his bus company to take a hit on its reputation so he took the body to the moors and left it there. The autistic son found out about it because a girl in the class talked about it during a volunteer trip to a special school/group that he was attending and he latched onto the story. The book was full of twists because it was full of tantalizing side plots that all turned out to be dead ends. For example, he thought the girl was an illegitimate child, he thought the dad might have abducted her, or one of the teachers had assaulted her, etc., etc. and all of those leads were dead ends. I mean it's not bad but not up to the caliber of the other books I'm currently reading.
To get back to the story, Hardy is tasked by a mother to find out exactly what her autistic son is doing. He goes down to a memorial site in the moors of a 14(?) year old girl who died during a school outing. She was apparently lost on the moors and found a day later, dead. This was 10-20(?) years ago. As far as the mother knows they have no relationship with the girl nor is there any way the son would know about this incident. When he goes there, he drops off a little teddy bear that he makes himself (I believe they are similar to beanie babies). Sometimes the beanie babies are returned there with the smile turned into a frown.
The death has long been written off as an accident where the girl got lost, hit her head on a rock and got asphyxiated when she fell headfirst onto a pond/stream. Hardy decides the best way to approach the problem is to reinvestigate her death.
Hardy's usual modus operandi is to keep asking questions of everyone he can find and pretty much after asking everyone even remotely associated with the death he finds the answer. One problem with this style is that the reader can get lost with all the characters and I often had to refer back earlier to figure who these people were. And the whole story seems to be a list of twists that the author wrote down, then put together to get the plot. The book was a quick read, I finished it in 1.5 days and it was only mildly entertaining because the author did not write enough about the main characters to get me emotionally vested in them. He only seemed to try to get as many twists into the plot as possible and that doesn't really make a good book.
Real spoilers here: The real story is that the girl wanted to play a prank on one of the teachers on the trip by disappearing. She climbed into the storage compartment of the bus where she got asphyxiated by the exhaust gas. The bus driver found the body when he inspected the bus later but he didn't want his bus company to take a hit on its reputation so he took the body to the moors and left it there. The autistic son found out about it because a girl in the class talked about it during a volunteer trip to a special school/group that he was attending and he latched onto the story. The book was full of twists because it was full of tantalizing side plots that all turned out to be dead ends. For example, he thought the girl was an illegitimate child, he thought the dad might have abducted her, or one of the teachers had assaulted her, etc., etc. and all of those leads were dead ends. I mean it's not bad but not up to the caliber of the other books I'm currently reading.
February 19, 2024
The ninth book in this fantastic series and does not disappoint. I love the main character, Slim Hardy. He has many "demons" chasing him and sometimes has to drop out of the mainstream but he takes on investigative work as it comes to him to keep moving forward. In this story, a woman hires Slim to find out why her grown autistic son, Andy, makes teddy bears and takes them to a memorial for Elissa, who died 40 years ago. Andy is only in his 30's and wouldn't have known her. As Slim investigates, the story of Elissa's death becomes more complicated and looks like it may have been murder rather than an accident. He has more questions than answers, He is ready to give up a couple of times when the puzzle begins to fall into place. I never guessed the ending.
I love the setting of all of the Slim Hardy books- always in a small village in the English countryside, where people have lived their whole lives and keep to themselves. Slim has to gain their trust to get any information. Always lots of interesting characters in these "film noir" type stories.
I received a free copy and voluntarily provided this review.
I love the setting of all of the Slim Hardy books- always in a small village in the English countryside, where people have lived their whole lives and keep to themselves. Slim has to gain their trust to get any information. Always lots of interesting characters in these "film noir" type stories.
I received a free copy and voluntarily provided this review.
February 19, 2024
Here The Road Ends - a review by Rosemary Kenny.
A young girl goes missing on a school trip - and is later found dead. On the same date a local witnesses a fatal car crash and calls for help - before spotting something that makes him leave the scene - only to join in the hunt on the moor. Many years later, PI John 'Slim' Hardy is hired by the mother of an autistic man, who witnessed something back then,that tipped him over the edge psychologically, and physically.
What connects these traumatic events?
Who's hiding secrets - and who knows the truth? The answers are out there somewhere, but whether Slim can decipher the hidden facts among all the lies and half-truths is another matter.
To learn where the trails lead, get your copy of Jack Benton's riveting crime-thriller Here The Road Ends, today. Guaranteed to grip you firmly by the imagination throughout and keep you reading all night... don't miss it!
A young girl goes missing on a school trip - and is later found dead. On the same date a local witnesses a fatal car crash and calls for help - before spotting something that makes him leave the scene - only to join in the hunt on the moor. Many years later, PI John 'Slim' Hardy is hired by the mother of an autistic man, who witnessed something back then,that tipped him over the edge psychologically, and physically.
What connects these traumatic events?
Who's hiding secrets - and who knows the truth? The answers are out there somewhere, but whether Slim can decipher the hidden facts among all the lies and half-truths is another matter.
To learn where the trails lead, get your copy of Jack Benton's riveting crime-thriller Here The Road Ends, today. Guaranteed to grip you firmly by the imagination throughout and keep you reading all night... don't miss it!
February 8, 2024
( Format : ebook)
"Blue teddybear."
A private investigator is asked to find out why an autistic boy makes and leaves blue teddy bears at the memorial to a girl dead for many years. She'd died, aged 9, on a school trip on Dartmoor. Asphyxia, was the verdict. But was it accidental, or a murder?
A very intriguing mystery with an unexpected ending. An easy read which was absorbing, holding the reader's attention, set in spectacular scenery. Well written, too, although there were a couple of print mistakes - The use of 'their' instead of 'there' not far into the tale, for example, and the alternate use of Lynda and Linda later in the book. Plus the rather large cast of named characters and the relationships between them became difficult to recall without note taking.
But overall most enjoyable, and recommended.
"Blue teddybear."
A private investigator is asked to find out why an autistic boy makes and leaves blue teddy bears at the memorial to a girl dead for many years. She'd died, aged 9, on a school trip on Dartmoor. Asphyxia, was the verdict. But was it accidental, or a murder?
A very intriguing mystery with an unexpected ending. An easy read which was absorbing, holding the reader's attention, set in spectacular scenery. Well written, too, although there were a couple of print mistakes - The use of 'their' instead of 'there' not far into the tale, for example, and the alternate use of Lynda and Linda later in the book. Plus the rather large cast of named characters and the relationships between them became difficult to recall without note taking.
But overall most enjoyable, and recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2026
I really enjoy reading Slim Hardy's stories. He's a flawed character but full of good intentions and a relentless searcher for the truth. He was asked to uncover why an autistic boy is making teddy bears and leaving them at a memorial for a dead girl. In his search he will discover that there are stories within the story and that the girl unfortunately died by her own hands. Here the Road Ends is engaging and entertaining!
May 2, 2024
Did not disappoint.
DI "Slim" Hardy is approached by a woman in Dartmoor to investigate the death of a young girl on the moors forty years ago.
I am thoroughly enjoying this excellent series by Jack Benton; his characters are varied and the plots take the reader in all directions.
Thoroughly recommended for lovers of a good who-dunnit; can't wait for the next one.
DI "Slim" Hardy is approached by a woman in Dartmoor to investigate the death of a young girl on the moors forty years ago.
I am thoroughly enjoying this excellent series by Jack Benton; his characters are varied and the plots take the reader in all directions.
Thoroughly recommended for lovers of a good who-dunnit; can't wait for the next one.
April 12, 2024
Wow! Another great installation of the Slim Hardy Mysteries. Holy crap even after all this time/all these books I still was amazed and enthralled by the story. The twists and turns I did not see coming. An amazing book! Please check it out, you won't regret it. 100% recommend.
September 20, 2024
Slim hardy books
I just finished all nine books. I found the main character fascinating the thought process he used just kept me reading. I applaud the author AND rank him with my mystery favorites
I just finished all nine books. I found the main character fascinating the thought process he used just kept me reading. I applaud the author AND rank him with my mystery favorites
February 25, 2024
Wonderful story. His stories are unforgettable. I highly recommend this author.
March 22, 2024
A particularly good book in this unusual series, and I enjoyed both the story, the characters, ad the wonderful, moody setting. Another winner!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews