From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

River of Darkness (John Madden, #1)

Rennie Airth

Start date: July 15, 2025

Finish date: August 6, 2025

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: Trying the first in this series as a buddy read
[close] Trying the first in this series as a buddy read

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What Members Thought

Jul 21, 2018 Christine PNW rated it really liked it

This was a total impulse buy - I was looking for a historical mystery and I love books set in the interwar period, and it was only $5.99, so I downloaded it. I finished it in one gulp. It is a very dark story, but the main character was likeable, and the romantic subplot was outstanding and felt extremely realistic.

However, this is a book that is strongly focused on sexual violence, because the murderer is a proto-typical serial sexual murderer. There are many disturbing aspects to the criminal ...more

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Jun 04, 2019 Bev rated it really liked it

Shelves: thriller, british-mystery, virtual-mount-tbr-2019, police-procedural, mystery, historical-mystery, early-20th-c

This novel is the first in a very long time to make me stay up reading long after I should have gone to sleep. I kept thinking that I would "just finish this chapter" but then I'd go right ahead and plunge into the next...and the next...until I finally had to make myself quit. Not that serial killers using military-like precision to dispatch their victims are the most pleasant bedtime story fare, but the story and the writing were so compelling that I was drawn in from the opening chapter. Rober This novel is the first in a very long time to make me stay up reading long after I should have gone to sleep. I kept thinking that I would "just finish this chapter" but then I'd go right ahead and plunge into the next...and the next...until I finally had to make myself quit. Not that serial killers using military-like precision to dispatch their victims are the most pleasant bedtime story fare, but the story and the writing were so compelling that I was drawn in from the opening chapter. Robert Goddard, author of Edgar-nominated Beyond Recall, says, "Rennie Airth takes what seems to be a twenties drawing-room murder mystery and transforms it into an edge-of-the-seat serial-killer thriller. Compelling stuff."And he's quite right. The trappings of the Golden Age mystery are all there--lavish country houses, landed gentry, and the village bobby, but Airth has given it a wicked twist that produces a believable serial killer for the chosen time period.

It's difficult for me to believe that I enjoyed a book that stacks up 16 corpses, all killed in a very violent way. But I did. Inspector Madden and the supporting characters are vividly drawn with many facets to their complex personalities. Readers are given a strong sense of England in the aftermath of the Great War with men struggling to come to grips with their experiences on the battlefield and women adjusting to the changes wrought by the loss of nearly a generation of men and the scars (both physical and mental) that those who returned will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

I enjoyed getting to know Inspector Madden and Detective Constable Billy Styles. Madden takes Styles under his wing and tries to encourage the young constable without coddling him. This first book shows signs of a good working relationship developing between the two and I look forward to watching it progress in future installments. The mystery here isn't so very great--at least not in the whodunnit category. We know who the killer is from the beginning. The big questions are why does he kill and why does he kill in the manner chosen...and how many will be sacrificed before Madden and his team bring him to justice. ★★★★ for an excellent debut to a new series.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks. ...more

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Jun 15, 2025 Susan in NC rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book, audiobook, tbr-with-gr-groups, detbuddy25

This was a truly gripping historical mystery/thriller, I devoured it in a couple days! The series was recommended by a couple of friends over the years, I know because I picked up book 3 years ago at my local used bookstore. The Reading the Detectives group chose this book as a buddy read for July, which finally prompted me to start the series - I know I’ll read on!

The book opens in the hot, dry summer of 1921; England is still battered from the horrific losses of the Great War. Inspector John M ...more

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Aug 15, 2014 Teri-K rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, historical-mystery

This is what you hope for in a mystery novel! Well-written and intriguing, sometimes causing you to hold your breath for fear of what may happen next, River of Darkness builds suspense, lets it ease and then increases it a bit more in a way that few authors seem able to do these days. The post WWI British setting is fascinating and all of the characters feel like real people. (I loved the fact that not all the local police were bumbling idiots.)

Atmospheric and a bit dark, the story avoids feeli ...more

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