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Death On The Algarve: Eyes Of The Water
Anthony Smith plans a holiday to Portugal with his pretty girlfriend Barbara. Regrettably, a young woman's death casts a shadow over what should be an idyllic summer vacation. Barbosa's investigation is compromised by misleading information but the Inspector remains resolute and determined to uncover the truth. When Tony finally acknowledges what he witnessed, an arrest is made, but it opens up the biggest can of worms that anyone can imagine. Back in the UK life becomes unbearable, so much so that he subsequently seeks refuge with his new found Irish friends. Unfortunately, further deaths follow in quick succession, which leads to only one conclusion. The guy with the mint balls has to be stopped and Smithy for once in his life will have to accept some responsibility, he'll have to testify. Will Tony survive a second visit to the sunny Algarve? I doubt it!
214 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 18, 2016
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
K.E. Heaton
8 books32 followersKeith Heaton was born in the North West of England to a working-class family in 1959.
A dedicated family man with a fervent passion for creative writing and a love of photography.
His books are inspired by his life experiences and a yearning to travel the world.
Published books to date are as follows.-
Tales Of Entrapment.
Death On The Algarve (Eyes Of The Water)
Uncle Joe's Revenge (Death On The Cut)
Devoid Of Guilt (A Portuguese Harvest Of Death)
She's Missing
Red Dust And Raindrops (Death On Mars)
The Italian Trap
A dedicated family man with a fervent passion for creative writing and a love of photography.
His books are inspired by his life experiences and a yearning to travel the world.
Published books to date are as follows.-
Tales Of Entrapment.
Death On The Algarve (Eyes Of The Water)
Uncle Joe's Revenge (Death On The Cut)
Devoid Of Guilt (A Portuguese Harvest Of Death)
She's Missing
Red Dust And Raindrops (Death On Mars)
The Italian Trap
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 14, 2021
Took my time and it's still driving me crazy.
Tales of Entrapment Book 1
A serial killer on the run!
I have to say this: whenever I pick up a book on serial killers I have been disappointed most of the time because of so many loopholes in the plot and, sadly, the twist or the suspense doesn't stand out.
Well, this one is it for me!
I was a bit apprehensive about the plot or the characters; wishing the book would come out as exactly what it says in the blurb. So dang glad it lived up to what it promised.
What makes this thriller suspense work:
Short chapters
Convincing realistic adult characters
Characters that fit their roles well. Lively and loveable. Imagine my helplessness when things happened to them...
The chemistry between the characters is electrifying from the very first chapter and yes, all thriller suspense books should start with their first chapters like this!
A plot that sounds familiar yet its execution being well done
Easy to read. Easy to follow. But not easy to guess how and where the twist would be.
What stands out is the way the read is pretty chill and relaxing yet it hits you hard out of nowhere when you think you can relax not wanting to worry about our characters.
The writing picks up really fast and there isn't a dull moment until the end (which I feel if it is there is my only pet peeve for such books). I am really glad for this!
I couldn't put the book down once I started reading it. I was really worried about our main character, and the other female characters should they get hurt anytime.
I didn't realise I was holding my breath during the entire last 8 chapters, forgetting to blink my eyes (I guess as I realised only when the book ended).
Things get well explained in the end. Now I am curious about the following two books in the series as to what would be the plot twists be!
The author is becoming one of my most favourite thriller suspense authors of the year. I didn't expect to enjoy this book much more than the other book I read a few months ago. So glad I did!
Tales of Entrapment Book 1
A serial killer on the run!
I have to say this: whenever I pick up a book on serial killers I have been disappointed most of the time because of so many loopholes in the plot and, sadly, the twist or the suspense doesn't stand out.
Well, this one is it for me!
I was a bit apprehensive about the plot or the characters; wishing the book would come out as exactly what it says in the blurb. So dang glad it lived up to what it promised.
What makes this thriller suspense work:
Short chapters
Convincing realistic adult characters
Characters that fit their roles well. Lively and loveable. Imagine my helplessness when things happened to them...
The chemistry between the characters is electrifying from the very first chapter and yes, all thriller suspense books should start with their first chapters like this!
A plot that sounds familiar yet its execution being well done
Easy to read. Easy to follow. But not easy to guess how and where the twist would be.
What stands out is the way the read is pretty chill and relaxing yet it hits you hard out of nowhere when you think you can relax not wanting to worry about our characters.
The writing picks up really fast and there isn't a dull moment until the end (which I feel if it is there is my only pet peeve for such books). I am really glad for this!
I couldn't put the book down once I started reading it. I was really worried about our main character, and the other female characters should they get hurt anytime.
I didn't realise I was holding my breath during the entire last 8 chapters, forgetting to blink my eyes (I guess as I realised only when the book ended).
Things get well explained in the end. Now I am curious about the following two books in the series as to what would be the plot twists be!
The author is becoming one of my most favourite thriller suspense authors of the year. I didn't expect to enjoy this book much more than the other book I read a few months ago. So glad I did!
September 11, 2021
Note: I generously received a copy in exchange for my opinion.
What an intriguing murder mystery!
Poor Anthony is just trying to spend some alone time with his girl, but dead bodies start showing up faster than you can woah. So much for a fun vacation, probaby hearing Anthony say now.
While the police try to corner him as a suspect, Anthony tries to lead his own investigation and save further lives before he's behind those bars for gruesome murders he didn't commit.
I loved the writing style honestly and firstly, I am given a detailed description of everything happening around Anthony and inside Anthony's head, sometimes getting a glimpse of other characters as well, giving the whole feeling of being personal with the story and murders, and daily life in itself as well.
The procedures in handling the entire case also intrigue me to no end, keeping me on the edge of my seat and waiting, watching, wondering what will possibly happen next, good or bad waiting.
The characters themselves are delightful, and fun and also first-rate amateurs with solving murders, which gives the entire plot a refreshing and more personal view on how to deal with something unexpected as a dead body and being possibly framed for it when you're just trying to enjoy some time with your partner.
Overall, an intriguing mysterious and wild ride for the characters and myself for sure! I would love to read more by Heaton when the time comes.
Until the next read,
-TMR
What an intriguing murder mystery!
Poor Anthony is just trying to spend some alone time with his girl, but dead bodies start showing up faster than you can woah. So much for a fun vacation, probaby hearing Anthony say now.
While the police try to corner him as a suspect, Anthony tries to lead his own investigation and save further lives before he's behind those bars for gruesome murders he didn't commit.
I loved the writing style honestly and firstly, I am given a detailed description of everything happening around Anthony and inside Anthony's head, sometimes getting a glimpse of other characters as well, giving the whole feeling of being personal with the story and murders, and daily life in itself as well.
The procedures in handling the entire case also intrigue me to no end, keeping me on the edge of my seat and waiting, watching, wondering what will possibly happen next, good or bad waiting.
The characters themselves are delightful, and fun and also first-rate amateurs with solving murders, which gives the entire plot a refreshing and more personal view on how to deal with something unexpected as a dead body and being possibly framed for it when you're just trying to enjoy some time with your partner.
Overall, an intriguing mysterious and wild ride for the characters and myself for sure! I would love to read more by Heaton when the time comes.
Until the next read,
-TMR
February 2, 2019
I was given the trilogy as a gift so no preconceived thoughts on the books at all. I do not tend to read about the story before reading because I always like to get to know the characters within the book. So I rely totally on the story to get me involved or disinterest me therefore it is important for a writer to hold my interest from the beginning and this book did exactly that. It is set in the Algarve which I have heard about a lot but have not visited it so I had no previous knowledge of the places described however the author managed to inspire my imagination so that I could actually picture the scenes written about. Part of the story is also in Ireland and once again I was able to picture events due to the information on the page.
The story itself hooked me in so I did not take long to read it. For me it was one of those books that keep you turning the pages so did not want to put it down, events drew you along, the character was no superhero so that was refreshing in itself because anyone can associate with the feelings and actions that he went through. I am really looking forward to the next one in the trilogy.
Recommended reading.
The story itself hooked me in so I did not take long to read it. For me it was one of those books that keep you turning the pages so did not want to put it down, events drew you along, the character was no superhero so that was refreshing in itself because anyone can associate with the feelings and actions that he went through. I am really looking forward to the next one in the trilogy.
Recommended reading.
July 3, 2022
A book packed full of pace, and lots of twists and turns. Very mysterious and a whole bunch of characters where you really do trust no-one.
Good choice of setting, added an extra edge to it.
Surprising, tense, edgy.
Good choice of setting, added an extra edge to it.
Surprising, tense, edgy.
April 7, 2021
Enjoyable read
Great story Reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock film plot Witty dialogue and plenty of action Can't wait to read the rest in the series
Great story Reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock film plot Witty dialogue and plenty of action Can't wait to read the rest in the series
July 7, 2022
I received a message on my editing website from the author asking me to give this story a read. I was curious, and the story was short, so I figured I’d tell him my thoughts. Why mine? I have no clue.
When I offer my services to an author, I expect to find lots of mistakes. FYI, I do free edits all the time. But when I have an unknown author ask me to look over their story—that’s already published—it just raises questions, especially because I’m an editor. Why have an editor read your story, knowing they’ll see all the mistakes? Does he expect a positive review? Because that’s not happening. My thing is if you’re not 100 percent how certain things are supposed to be written (punctuation, for example), open a book and look. You’ll see what I mean below.
If this was a random story I came across and wanted to read for fun, I’d be returning it and/or leaving a poor review.
Where do I start?
I say this in a lot of my reviews, but I’m a stickler for mistakes. While I love looking for them, hence being a copyeditor, I don’t like finding so many right at the beginning of the story and in a book that’s already published. For me, I have a hard time focusing on what’s actually going on because the mistakes are so distracting. In my mind, lots of mistakes equal a bad story.
On that note, this story wasn’t edited. There’s no way. Whether it was not using punctuation (the author seemed to not like commas) or using it incorrectly, which also led to lots of run-on sentences, using incorrect words, capitalizing words that shouldn’t be, or going back and forth between the past tense and the present tense (if there was a specific reason for this, I couldn’t figure it out), the mistakes were all over the place.
For example, “We have a bairn on board with an acute nut allergy and therefore, we must insist…” A comma is missing. Yes, technically you can use however many commas you want as the author but still.
Or “Of course.’ I said a little shakily. What are the two mistakes here?
Or “I didn’t really like the way she dismissed him [PERIOD] IT was out of character.” You could use a period to start the new sentence or a semicolon would have been fine. Not using any punctuation creates a run-on sentence.
Or “I stood up at the bar [Comma] grabbed my drink and trudged over.” Things are being listed so commas are necessary.
Or using dialogue and ending it with a period BUT having a dialogue tag with he/she said. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say she’s spoiling for a fight.” I declared. That first period should be a comma, not to mention another comma should have gone between “better” and “I’d”.
Or “You’re a star.”
Looking past the grammar and punctuation mistakes, the story itself is lacking. I had no clue what Tony looked like or his age. If a reader can create an image in their mind of the protagonist, how are they supposed to connect with him/her? Tony had no backstory. Either way, Tony was an idiot. I know there are clueless people in the world, but Tony was nearing the top of the list. Sleeping with an underage girl, not knowing why the police offered him protection from Joe, constantly shouting/yelling at others when it’s not called for, etc. In the end, a lot of telling as opposed to showing took place.
After finishing the story, the idea itself was interesting but it needed some work. If I can skim a story and still know what’s going on, then some fine-tuning needs to take place. I felt most of the twists or surprises were obvious so there wasn’t much mystery. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters. I’m curious about the cover—the hands of an old man. That’s not Tony, right? I didn’t think he was that old.
Questions about the story:
Barbara and Tony both witnessed the man and woman talking. Barbara saw the man push her while Tony wasn’t sure what he saw. So why did the police officer only want to talk to Tony? Why when Tony talked to Barbara did he tell her he wasn’t sure what he saw but then turn around and tell the officer that he saw her slip days later. “Are you sure?” then “Yes.” (Not the exact wording but that’s what was said.) It made no sense. Also, if the man and Tony had been chatting/eyeing each other on the plane, why didn’t they recognize him on the cliff?
When he inspects his wounds in Emma’s hotel mirror after falling into the hole, he said he looked like a gummy bear. Her response “I don’t know who the Gummi Bears are. I’m not old enough.” What? Not old enough to know WHO(?) gummy bears are? Was he referring to the candy? Anyway, she asked him if his arm was sore and responded “no” EVEN THOUGH he’d been complaining about the pain while in the hole and it was all bruised. How would it not hurt? Still in the scene, how were his boxers mud-stained?
Tony got questioned by Salazar. That was a strange interaction especially after Salazar stated: “Don’t make it difficult for yourself [COMMA] Tony.” And Tony’s response was “I’m not with you?” HUH? What does he mean and why would he have said that? Me, feeling as if a section of the story was missing continued with Salazar’s comments: “Your new girlfriend?” What the heck is happening?
What was with all the red clothing?
So Salazar told Tony that Emma was fifteen and what did he do? Went back to her room and made out with her. That makes sense. He didn’t show any hesitation either or comment about her “I love you” comment. That proved to me he was a disgusting character and I wouldn’t be rooting for him. But then he found it “disgusting” that Uncle Joe ran brothels? Really, Tony? And to top that off, when Barbosa asked him if the fake Salazar threatened him, Tony said no. What about Salazar bringing up Emma and being underage? Hello! Tony! Wake up!
Yes, Tony showed a lot of emotion when he met up with Billy, but why? Why was he so mad at this random guy who didn’t even know what was going on? Tony’s anger and threatening to beat up Billy wasn’t believable because it made no sense.
“The murder is considered to have taken place in order … to execute other crimes and facilitate the escape from the authorities, namely the UK extradition process.” Makes sense. Tony’s response: “I wonder if Joe expected that?” Expected what? Murder someone in Portugal to get away from the UK officials? Um… wasn’t that why he murdered her in plain sight? Or Tony thinking that 8-16 years in jail FOR MURDER was a long time.
Tony visited the Irish ladies. But he didn’t have to take his passport. Nope. Why was that even mentioned?
The fact that Babs was more interested in Billy and Tony in Emma… No.
There’s mention of Tony watching “seven- or eight-year-old kids” playing near the bar and being loud. First off, with all the punctuation mistakes, how did he know to do the suspended hyphen? Secondly, it went on to say the kids were playing “but in the absence of an adult,” BUT continued with “All the adults sat nearby chuckled [at the kids]. So adults were nearby.
Maybe I’m not up to par with “black humor” but how does that relate to “I thought I had a couple of skeletons in my closet! It sounds like she needs her own sodding crypt.”
The word “Pedophile” was used in the wrong context. Please, tell me the author did that on purpose because so many people in the world don’t know what a true pedophile is? Someone?! A pedophile is someone attracted to pre-pubescent children, NOT TEENAGERS!
When Tony went back to testify, Mr. Doyle suggests he put on his black sweater. Why? “you might look a little less conspicuous.” Yes, wearing a sweater when the weather is hot won’t make you stand out.
Lastly, going back to Emma and Tony’s weirdness surrounding her, he tells Barbosa “I know NOW that she was only fifteen…” He said it as though he hadn’t known her age before going back to her room to make out.
At the end “It was the woman from my dreams.” For the love of all that is holy, please, don’t tell me it was Emma. I mean he was constantly thinking and worrying about her. So I wouldn’t be surprised, but seriously! How old was he and he was interested in a fifteen-year-old?
When I offer my services to an author, I expect to find lots of mistakes. FYI, I do free edits all the time. But when I have an unknown author ask me to look over their story—that’s already published—it just raises questions, especially because I’m an editor. Why have an editor read your story, knowing they’ll see all the mistakes? Does he expect a positive review? Because that’s not happening. My thing is if you’re not 100 percent how certain things are supposed to be written (punctuation, for example), open a book and look. You’ll see what I mean below.
If this was a random story I came across and wanted to read for fun, I’d be returning it and/or leaving a poor review.
Where do I start?
I say this in a lot of my reviews, but I’m a stickler for mistakes. While I love looking for them, hence being a copyeditor, I don’t like finding so many right at the beginning of the story and in a book that’s already published. For me, I have a hard time focusing on what’s actually going on because the mistakes are so distracting. In my mind, lots of mistakes equal a bad story.
On that note, this story wasn’t edited. There’s no way. Whether it was not using punctuation (the author seemed to not like commas) or using it incorrectly, which also led to lots of run-on sentences, using incorrect words, capitalizing words that shouldn’t be, or going back and forth between the past tense and the present tense (if there was a specific reason for this, I couldn’t figure it out), the mistakes were all over the place.
For example, “We have a bairn on board with an acute nut allergy and therefore, we must insist…” A comma is missing. Yes, technically you can use however many commas you want as the author but still.
Or “Of course.’ I said a little shakily. What are the two mistakes here?
Or “I didn’t really like the way she dismissed him [PERIOD] IT was out of character.” You could use a period to start the new sentence or a semicolon would have been fine. Not using any punctuation creates a run-on sentence.
Or “I stood up at the bar [Comma] grabbed my drink and trudged over.” Things are being listed so commas are necessary.
Or using dialogue and ending it with a period BUT having a dialogue tag with he/she said. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say she’s spoiling for a fight.” I declared. That first period should be a comma, not to mention another comma should have gone between “better” and “I’d”.
Or “You’re a star.”
Looking past the grammar and punctuation mistakes, the story itself is lacking. I had no clue what Tony looked like or his age. If a reader can create an image in their mind of the protagonist, how are they supposed to connect with him/her? Tony had no backstory. Either way, Tony was an idiot. I know there are clueless people in the world, but Tony was nearing the top of the list. Sleeping with an underage girl, not knowing why the police offered him protection from Joe, constantly shouting/yelling at others when it’s not called for, etc. In the end, a lot of telling as opposed to showing took place.
After finishing the story, the idea itself was interesting but it needed some work. If I can skim a story and still know what’s going on, then some fine-tuning needs to take place. I felt most of the twists or surprises were obvious so there wasn’t much mystery. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters. I’m curious about the cover—the hands of an old man. That’s not Tony, right? I didn’t think he was that old.
Questions about the story:
Barbara and Tony both witnessed the man and woman talking. Barbara saw the man push her while Tony wasn’t sure what he saw. So why did the police officer only want to talk to Tony? Why when Tony talked to Barbara did he tell her he wasn’t sure what he saw but then turn around and tell the officer that he saw her slip days later. “Are you sure?” then “Yes.” (Not the exact wording but that’s what was said.) It made no sense. Also, if the man and Tony had been chatting/eyeing each other on the plane, why didn’t they recognize him on the cliff?
When he inspects his wounds in Emma’s hotel mirror after falling into the hole, he said he looked like a gummy bear. Her response “I don’t know who the Gummi Bears are. I’m not old enough.” What? Not old enough to know WHO(?) gummy bears are? Was he referring to the candy? Anyway, she asked him if his arm was sore and responded “no” EVEN THOUGH he’d been complaining about the pain while in the hole and it was all bruised. How would it not hurt? Still in the scene, how were his boxers mud-stained?
Tony got questioned by Salazar. That was a strange interaction especially after Salazar stated: “Don’t make it difficult for yourself [COMMA] Tony.” And Tony’s response was “I’m not with you?” HUH? What does he mean and why would he have said that? Me, feeling as if a section of the story was missing continued with Salazar’s comments: “Your new girlfriend?” What the heck is happening?
What was with all the red clothing?
So Salazar told Tony that Emma was fifteen and what did he do? Went back to her room and made out with her. That makes sense. He didn’t show any hesitation either or comment about her “I love you” comment. That proved to me he was a disgusting character and I wouldn’t be rooting for him. But then he found it “disgusting” that Uncle Joe ran brothels? Really, Tony? And to top that off, when Barbosa asked him if the fake Salazar threatened him, Tony said no. What about Salazar bringing up Emma and being underage? Hello! Tony! Wake up!
Yes, Tony showed a lot of emotion when he met up with Billy, but why? Why was he so mad at this random guy who didn’t even know what was going on? Tony’s anger and threatening to beat up Billy wasn’t believable because it made no sense.
“The murder is considered to have taken place in order … to execute other crimes and facilitate the escape from the authorities, namely the UK extradition process.” Makes sense. Tony’s response: “I wonder if Joe expected that?” Expected what? Murder someone in Portugal to get away from the UK officials? Um… wasn’t that why he murdered her in plain sight? Or Tony thinking that 8-16 years in jail FOR MURDER was a long time.
Tony visited the Irish ladies. But he didn’t have to take his passport. Nope. Why was that even mentioned?
The fact that Babs was more interested in Billy and Tony in Emma… No.
There’s mention of Tony watching “seven- or eight-year-old kids” playing near the bar and being loud. First off, with all the punctuation mistakes, how did he know to do the suspended hyphen? Secondly, it went on to say the kids were playing “but in the absence of an adult,” BUT continued with “All the adults sat nearby chuckled [at the kids]. So adults were nearby.
Maybe I’m not up to par with “black humor” but how does that relate to “I thought I had a couple of skeletons in my closet! It sounds like she needs her own sodding crypt.”
The word “Pedophile” was used in the wrong context. Please, tell me the author did that on purpose because so many people in the world don’t know what a true pedophile is? Someone?! A pedophile is someone attracted to pre-pubescent children, NOT TEENAGERS!
When Tony went back to testify, Mr. Doyle suggests he put on his black sweater. Why? “you might look a little less conspicuous.” Yes, wearing a sweater when the weather is hot won’t make you stand out.
Lastly, going back to Emma and Tony’s weirdness surrounding her, he tells Barbosa “I know NOW that she was only fifteen…” He said it as though he hadn’t known her age before going back to her room to make out.
At the end “It was the woman from my dreams.” For the love of all that is holy, please, don’t tell me it was Emma. I mean he was constantly thinking and worrying about her. So I wouldn’t be surprised, but seriously! How old was he and he was interested in a fifteen-year-old?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2022
This must be one of the most atrociously written books I’ve ever read. It’s full of spelling errors, grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Has the author never heard of editing?
An exotic landscape, multiple murders and a couple of car chases, cannot rescue this story. All characters are two dimensional and thoroughly unlikeable, and the plot an unholy mess.
How any reader can award it 5 stars is unbelievable!
An exotic landscape, multiple murders and a couple of car chases, cannot rescue this story. All characters are two dimensional and thoroughly unlikeable, and the plot an unholy mess.
How any reader can award it 5 stars is unbelievable!
November 3, 2022
The main character in this novel, Tony Smith goes on vacation with his girlfriend to Portugal. On the beach they witness an accident, or is it murder? There are some interesting twists and turns in this book and the narrative is quite funny in places. I have to admit that I was turned off by the part where Tony has sex with a 15 year old girl. I'm not a prude, but this crosses a line I'm not willing to cross. On the whole it was a fun book to read. There are two more in this series and I am probably going to read the other two as well.
September 9, 2020
Couldn't put this one down. Very fast paced. The plot thickens with every turn of the page and the action is nicely balanced with some brilliant characterisation. The main protagonist is a nicely flawed individual, which makes him all the more interesting and relatable. Very much looking forward to the sequel.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews