The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham.

Follow Detective Sergeant Fiona Griffiths in her sixth novel working with the South Wales Police from Cardiff. This book can be read as a standalone, which was good as I have not read any of Harry's other books. The Deepest Grave is a murder investigation that is told as a first person narrative, so your focus is all about Fiona.

I am a fan of first person narrative novels and Harry gives you the personality of Fiona straight off the bat. I kept thinking of Nessa from Gavin and Stacey, although Fiona never asks "What's occurring?". I liked how Harry used the local character of Cardiff in his story even though no character had a curry and asked for "half and half".

I liked the setting of this novel as I have lived in Cardiff since 1991. It was a joy to read a novel set on my home turf and although Fiona travels around a lot, Harry makes sure all the locations are real. It annoys me when authors set their stories in fictitious locations. I feel that readers would also enjoy this novel even if they had never visited Cardiff. Harry uses Welsh place names and words in such a gentle way that English born readers, me included, will view the spellings as normal, for example Llanymawddwy and Caledfwlch.

The plot was good and every now and then, Harry would review the progress of the murder investigation to stop the reader forgetting any of the details and flow of the story. The Deepest Grave covers a lot of ground and issues. I found it a pleasant read to go through. The ending is fine and everything is wound up tidy. What I liked most was the author's note at the end when Harry explains the differences in crime thrillers.

I thought The Deepest Grave was an enjoyable, workaday, GOOD read. It gave me what I wanted, a story to roll along with, like reading friends' updates on Facebook. The Deepest Grave gets 4 stars from me but Harry does explain in his author's note how different styles of crime thriller appeal to readers. This reasoning I appreciate and although I vote The Deepest Grave 4 stars, for many readers this could be a 5 star read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Orion for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.