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The Photograph
In a quiet Sydney suburb, soon-to-be-married Sonny Day sets off on his bike to catch the train to work. He never makes it to the station. After his fiancée Chrys reports him missing, DI India Hargreaves launches a low-key investigation.
Weeks later, a man’s body is found, mutilated and buried, on a nearby building site, but it’s not Sonny, and with no solid leads, both investigations stall…until a letter arrives from Sonny, claiming he’s met someone else.
Chrys insists Sonny wrote it under duress. She convinces India to investigate further, beginning with the photograph that came with the letter and ending in Scotland and the discovery of more mysterious deaths. But two questions remain unanswered.
Whose body was buried on the building site? And where is Sonny Day?
Weeks later, a man’s body is found, mutilated and buried, on a nearby building site, but it’s not Sonny, and with no solid leads, both investigations stall…until a letter arrives from Sonny, claiming he’s met someone else.
Chrys insists Sonny wrote it under duress. She convinces India to investigate further, beginning with the photograph that came with the letter and ending in Scotland and the discovery of more mysterious deaths. But two questions remain unanswered.
Whose body was buried on the building site? And where is Sonny Day?
308 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2021
1 person is currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
L.E. Luttrell
7 books106 followersL.E. Luttrell was born in Sydney, Australia and spent the first 21 years of her life there before moving to the UK. After working in publishing (in the UK) for a few years she went on to study and trained as a teacher. From the 90s she spent many years working in secondary education, although she’s also had numerous other part time jobs. A frustrated architect/builder, L.E. Luttrell has spent much of her adult life moving house and wielding various tools while renovating properties.
L.E. Luttrell currently lives in Merseyside England, but also spends time travelling between Liverpool, Wales (UK) and Australia when there is not a Covid crisis.
L.E. Luttrell currently lives in Merseyside England, but also spends time travelling between Liverpool, Wales (UK) and Australia when there is not a Covid crisis.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 11, 2021
Chrystal Waters and Sonny Day both leave for work about the same time. Chrys returns home that afternoon expecting Sonny to be there as it is his turn to cook. But he doesn’t come home that night nor the next night. The next day Chrys calls his office and learns that he never showed up the day before. No one has heard from him.
Chrys knows that Sonny would never miss work especially failing to call in. Sonny and Chrys are going to be married in a week. The wedding is all planned and set. The honeymoon was booked and paid for. He left his driver's license and passport at home.
So where could he be? Did he run off? Was he kidnapped? Is he laying in a ditch on the side of the road somewhere? Is he even still alive? Was he murdered? If so why would anyone want to kill him? What would their motive be for wanting Sonny Dead? Is the Sonny Day that Chrys knows the true Sonny Day? Could he have been pretending all this time? If so why would he do that?
The police search for Sonny on his route to the train station that day but that is where their investigation ends. But not Chrys she will not stop looking for Sonny as she doesn’t believe he is dead or that he ran off.
Chrys receives a letter and a photograph from Sonny. Chrys convinces DI India Hargreaves that what Sonny wrote in the letter is not true that he must have been forced to write it. There is something about the photo itself too that just doesn’t sit well with Chrys. Something is off about the picture but what exactly she is not sure of at the moment.
The Photograph was way better than I thought it would be. It drew me in from the first and held on till the end. It pulled me in deeper and deeper with each turn of the page with all its secrets, revealing them slowly, building up to that climactic ending.
There were twists after twists, oh man there were some big ones too. I literally could not turn those pages fast enough as each clue was revealed.
And just when I thought I would have it all figured out bam another twist had slammed me in the face that would throw me for a loop and leave me hanging. But not for long as I was right back trying to figure out where or what happened to Sonny.
When I finally reached the end and it all came tumbling out I was shocked as I promise you I never saw it coming. I never expected what happened in a million years. Now I am wondering what DI India Hargreaves has waiting for us in the future. I am anxious to find out.
Would I recommend The Photograph? Well, of course, I would. I highly suggest that you one-click your copy of The Photograph right now!
Chrys knows that Sonny would never miss work especially failing to call in. Sonny and Chrys are going to be married in a week. The wedding is all planned and set. The honeymoon was booked and paid for. He left his driver's license and passport at home.
So where could he be? Did he run off? Was he kidnapped? Is he laying in a ditch on the side of the road somewhere? Is he even still alive? Was he murdered? If so why would anyone want to kill him? What would their motive be for wanting Sonny Dead? Is the Sonny Day that Chrys knows the true Sonny Day? Could he have been pretending all this time? If so why would he do that?
The police search for Sonny on his route to the train station that day but that is where their investigation ends. But not Chrys she will not stop looking for Sonny as she doesn’t believe he is dead or that he ran off.
Chrys receives a letter and a photograph from Sonny. Chrys convinces DI India Hargreaves that what Sonny wrote in the letter is not true that he must have been forced to write it. There is something about the photo itself too that just doesn’t sit well with Chrys. Something is off about the picture but what exactly she is not sure of at the moment.
The Photograph was way better than I thought it would be. It drew me in from the first and held on till the end. It pulled me in deeper and deeper with each turn of the page with all its secrets, revealing them slowly, building up to that climactic ending.
There were twists after twists, oh man there were some big ones too. I literally could not turn those pages fast enough as each clue was revealed.
And just when I thought I would have it all figured out bam another twist had slammed me in the face that would throw me for a loop and leave me hanging. But not for long as I was right back trying to figure out where or what happened to Sonny.
When I finally reached the end and it all came tumbling out I was shocked as I promise you I never saw it coming. I never expected what happened in a million years. Now I am wondering what DI India Hargreaves has waiting for us in the future. I am anxious to find out.
Would I recommend The Photograph? Well, of course, I would. I highly suggest that you one-click your copy of The Photograph right now!
January 7, 2022
Editor's Review
Keeping this brief, as it's taken me far too long to review this fantastic novel.
L.E. Luttrell seriously knows how to build a mystery. By this point, I've edited, read, written, watched so many stories, I can usually guess where they're heading from early on. With The Photograph, I was way off, and I would've loved it for that reason alone. Add in rich, well-crafted characters, vibrant settings and tight dialogue, it all comes together for a heck of a good read.
Keeping this brief, as it's taken me far too long to review this fantastic novel.
L.E. Luttrell seriously knows how to build a mystery. By this point, I've edited, read, written, watched so many stories, I can usually guess where they're heading from early on. With The Photograph, I was way off, and I would've loved it for that reason alone. Add in rich, well-crafted characters, vibrant settings and tight dialogue, it all comes together for a heck of a good read.
November 20, 2021
You can find this review and all my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Actual rating of 3.75
Sonny Day and Chrys Waters have the perfect relationship. They're happy, they never fight, and they are weeks away from having their perfect wedding and living the rest of their lives in bliss. Until one day, Sonny doesn't come home. After realising that Sonny is missing, Chrys approaches police to file a missing persons report. Weeks later, a man is found buried and mutilated on a building site nearby, however, the body is not Sonny's; causing both investigations to stall. When Chrys receives a letter supposedly written by Sonny, she insists that he has sent her a secret message which proves he is alive and in danger. Chrys convinces DI India Hargreaves to investigate further which takes both women on a whirlwind of a trip across the world looking for answers and finding only more bodies. The two questions remain, Where is Sonny? And who was buried on the building site? Time is running out as the two women fight for the truth, will it be too late by the time they find it?
I love a good murder mystery so I was pretty excited to be given the opportunity to read this one by the author. The premise really intrigued me. We have the missing groom to be, who for all intents and purposes was beyond happy with the way his life was - so where has he gone? And then we have the strange appearance of a mutilated body that is seemingly unconnected to the missing man, so how do all the puzzle pieces fit together? I will admit, I had the who worked out fairly early on, but it wasn't until in the last quarter odd of the book that a scene from the beginning made sense. So while I had the who worked out, I had no idea what the reason was, so I count this as a big win. I can handle knowing the culprit, even from the first meeting, if I am still puzzling over the why of everything. There's still a sense of mystery to the story.
The mystery itself was incredibly well thought out and executed. There were so many twisted strands to this story and Luttrell did a brilliant job of tying off all the ends at the conclusion. Everything fitted perfectly together and I couldn't even begin to imagine trying to plot out a story like this. I feel like it really lends credit to Luttrell's ability in her genre that everything was kept straight and I didn't fall into any glaring plot holes. Just when I thought I had some things worked out, more information was revealed that really kept me guessing.
The characters were well written and I really felt for Chrys Waters, her emotions and personality was very three dimensional and believable. I enjoyed the character of DI India Hargreaves though at times I did find her a little bit flat and not as developed as I would have liked, though I do get the feeling that this could potentially become a series in which her character has the chance to be further developed and fleshed out.
I found the setting of the story to be written brilliantly, I live in Australia, so I knew of the places mentioned throughout the book and I always find it a fun addition when I know exactly where the story is taking place. Something about stories set in locations I personally know tickles me pink and makes the story just that much more enjoyable because of it.
I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to risk giving anything away. All I will say is that this was a fantastic mystery that kept me guessing and it turned into a real page turner once I got into the groove of it. The Australian locales were a nice touch, and I look forward to reading more from this author. If you like a twisty mystery, give this one a go, you won't be disappointed.
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Actual rating of 3.75
Sonny Day and Chrys Waters have the perfect relationship. They're happy, they never fight, and they are weeks away from having their perfect wedding and living the rest of their lives in bliss. Until one day, Sonny doesn't come home. After realising that Sonny is missing, Chrys approaches police to file a missing persons report. Weeks later, a man is found buried and mutilated on a building site nearby, however, the body is not Sonny's; causing both investigations to stall. When Chrys receives a letter supposedly written by Sonny, she insists that he has sent her a secret message which proves he is alive and in danger. Chrys convinces DI India Hargreaves to investigate further which takes both women on a whirlwind of a trip across the world looking for answers and finding only more bodies. The two questions remain, Where is Sonny? And who was buried on the building site? Time is running out as the two women fight for the truth, will it be too late by the time they find it?
I love a good murder mystery so I was pretty excited to be given the opportunity to read this one by the author. The premise really intrigued me. We have the missing groom to be, who for all intents and purposes was beyond happy with the way his life was - so where has he gone? And then we have the strange appearance of a mutilated body that is seemingly unconnected to the missing man, so how do all the puzzle pieces fit together? I will admit, I had the who worked out fairly early on, but it wasn't until in the last quarter odd of the book that a scene from the beginning made sense. So while I had the who worked out, I had no idea what the reason was, so I count this as a big win. I can handle knowing the culprit, even from the first meeting, if I am still puzzling over the why of everything. There's still a sense of mystery to the story.
The mystery itself was incredibly well thought out and executed. There were so many twisted strands to this story and Luttrell did a brilliant job of tying off all the ends at the conclusion. Everything fitted perfectly together and I couldn't even begin to imagine trying to plot out a story like this. I feel like it really lends credit to Luttrell's ability in her genre that everything was kept straight and I didn't fall into any glaring plot holes. Just when I thought I had some things worked out, more information was revealed that really kept me guessing.
The characters were well written and I really felt for Chrys Waters, her emotions and personality was very three dimensional and believable. I enjoyed the character of DI India Hargreaves though at times I did find her a little bit flat and not as developed as I would have liked, though I do get the feeling that this could potentially become a series in which her character has the chance to be further developed and fleshed out.
I found the setting of the story to be written brilliantly, I live in Australia, so I knew of the places mentioned throughout the book and I always find it a fun addition when I know exactly where the story is taking place. Something about stories set in locations I personally know tickles me pink and makes the story just that much more enjoyable because of it.
I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to risk giving anything away. All I will say is that this was a fantastic mystery that kept me guessing and it turned into a real page turner once I got into the groove of it. The Australian locales were a nice touch, and I look forward to reading more from this author. If you like a twisty mystery, give this one a go, you won't be disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews