“The Pembroke Castle Murders” by Stephen Puleston

A minister is found dead inside his church in the Welsh town of Pembroke, killed with some kind of hammer. As DI Caren Waits and her team at the West Wales Police Service investigate, they discover that nothing is ever what it seems, even the world of a minister. 

The minister had inherited a large estate from an elderly aunt. He had a half-brother and half-sister, who now stood to inherit. A fellow minister had been passed over for an appointment as cathedral dean. A local man had accused the minister of molesting his son. The suspects seem like they’re falling out of the trees.

 

In the meantime, Waits herself is waiting on the outcome of legal negotiations with her dead husband’s “second” wife, a woman who bore him a child. Waits herself has a young son. The woman has made a claim on the dead husband’s estate. The detective had had no idea of this second family.

 

Stephen Puleston

The investigation has almost too many suspects. Promising leads evaporate. Alibis seem airtight. And then the lawyer handling the estate is himself murdered, followed soon by a third death.

 

The Pembroke Castle Murders is the fourth of the DI Caren Waits series by Welsh writer Stephen Puleston. It’s a solid police procedural story, with Waits and her team plugging away, pounding the pavement, and tracking down ever lead. And in the end, they stage a rather thrilling trap.

 

Puleston publishes three series of Welsh police detective stories. Detective Inspector Ian Drake is with the North Wales Police Service, Detective Inspector John Marco is with the South Wales Police Service, and now Detective Inspector Caren Waits is with the West Wales Police Service. The author originally trained and practiced as a; solicitor/lawyer. He also attended the University of London. He lives in Wales, very close to where his fictional heroes live and work.

 

Related:

 

The Paxton’s Tower Murders by Stephen Puleston.

 

The Tenby Harbour Murders by Stephen Puleston.

 

The Swansea Marina Murders by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Written in Blood.

 

My review of A Time to Kill.

 

My review of Another Good Killing.

 

My review of Brass in Pocket.

 

My review of Worse than Dead.

 

My review of Against the Tide.

 

My review of Devil’s Kitchen.

 

My review of Dead Smart.

 

My review of Speechless.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

 

My review of Dead and Gone by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Time to Die by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Stone Cold Dead by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Looking Good Dead by Stephen Puleston.

“The Swansea Marina Murders” by Stephen Puleston

Detective Inspector Caren Waits of the West Wales Police Service and her team are called to the marina in Swansea. The body of a young woman has been found floating in the marina docking area; the post-mortem will show she’d been brutally strangled. Her identity is quickly determined: a university student who also worked at a marina pub. The site of her murder takes a bit longer to discover, and the crime scene investigators find it. 

The victim shared a flat with three other students, and everything seemed normal on the surface. That is, until the investigators find five thousand pounds in cash stowed in her room, a connection to a former boyfriend who tended to the violent, and an affair with one of her professors who doesn’t seem to be as forthcoming as he should about his own background. Complicating the case is that the victim’s phone is missing and presumably tossed into the marina waters.

 

Then a second murder happens; a friend of the first victim is found with her head bashed by a winch from a yacht. In this case, the victim’s small rooms are found ransacked; someone was looking for something and apparently didn’t find it. Waits and her team discover that there’s a possible connection to a spate of burglaries aboard marina boats and residences; someone had very good information when yacht owners would be sailing and away from home, or out of town and away from their boats.

 

Stephen Puleston

The Swansea Marina Murders is the third in the DI Caren Waits series by Welsh writer Stephen Puleston. It is a classic police procedural story, accented by Waits having to deal with the settling of the estate of her dead husband, the discovery that he had another relationship and child, and trying to raise her own young son with an almost impossible work schedule (parent to the rescue!). 

 

Puleston publishes three series of Welsh police detective stories. Detective Inspector Ian Drake is with the North Wales Police Service, Detective Inspector John Marco is with the South Wales Police Service, and now Detective Inspector Caren Waits is with the West Wales Police Service. The author originally trained and practiced as a; solicitor/lawyer. He also attended the University of London. He lives in Wales, very close to where his fictional heroes live and work.

 

Puleston has been setting the keyboard keys afire. This third DI Caren Waits novel is the third published in 2025, and a fourth one was recently issued. A fifth one is set to be published next year. Like its two predecessors, The Swansea Marina Murders is very methodically told; the focus is on police procedure. All three have been entertaining reads, and I’m looking forward to reading the fourth, The Pembroke Castle Murders.

 

Related:

 

The Paxton’s Tower Murders by Stephen Puleston.

 

The Tenby Harbour Murders by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Written in Blood.

 

My review of A Time to Kill.

 

My review of Another Good Killing.

 

My review of Brass in Pocket.

 

My review of Worse than Dead.

 

My review of Against the Tide.

 

My review of Devil’s Kitchen.

 

My review of Dead Smart.

 

My review of Speechless.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

 

My review of Dead and Gone by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Time to Die by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Stone Cold Dead by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Looking Good Dead by Stephen Puleston.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

When a House Is Not a Home – Matthew Walther at Commonplace.

 

Why we love Jane Austen more than ever after 250 years – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

“Amahl and the Night Visitors”: The Classic Christmas Opera – Michael De Sapio at The Imaginative Conservative.

"The Tenby Harbor Murders" by Stephen Puleston

A period drama is being filmed in the Tenby Harbour area in Wales. Soap opera star Noah Voce is starring in the film, as is his actress wife and a younger woman with whom Voce had had an affair years before. Voce is found dead in his trailer, his head bashed in. 

Detective Inspector Caren Waits, fresh from success in solving the Paxton Tower murders, finds herself and her team grappling with movie star egos, production pressures to keep filming, and a growing list of suspects. The dead man apparently had plenty of admirers but few friends.

 

Waits also runs up against a new experience – being stalked as she works and picks up her young son at school. And she gets disconcerting news from her attorney. Her husband, who died in an automobile crash, apparently had a relationship with a woman who is now demanding a share of his estate. Ad she may have a legitimate claim.

 

Stephen Puleston

The Tenby Harbour Murders is the second in the DI Caren Waits series by Welsh author Stephen Puleston. It’s a solid, entertaining story and helps to anchor was is turning out to be a successful detective series. The third in the series is The Swansea Maria Murders. (Interestingly enough, all three have been published this year, and a fourth is in the works.)

 

Puleston publishes three series of Welsh police detective stories. Detective Inspector Ian Drake is with the North Wales Police Service, Detective Inspector John Marco is with the South Wales Police Service, and now Detective Inspector Caren Waits is with the West Wales Police Service. The author originally trained and practiced as a; solicitor/lawyer. He also attended the University of London. He lives in Wales, very close to where his fictional heroes live and work.

 

DI Caren Waits solves crimes in both the old-fashioned and new-fashioned ways – solid, often slogging, police procedure plus the assistance (and sometimes confusion) of DNA and computer technologies. The Tenby Harbour Murders is a well-done mystery, and it will keep you guessing until the end.

 

Related:

 

The Paxton Tower Murders by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Written in Blood.

 

My review of A Time to Kill.

 

My review of Another Good Killing.

 

My review of Brass in Pocket.

 

My review of Worse than Dead.

 

My review of Against the Tide.

 

My review of Devil’s Kitchen.

 

My review of Dead Smart.

 

My review of Speechless.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

 

My review of Dead and Gone by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Time to Die by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Stone Cold Dead by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Looking Good Dead by Stephen Puleston.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

The Berry Family’s Founding Myth – Jeffrey Bilbro at Plough.

 

A New Environmentalism? – Stephen Hayward at Law and Liberty.

 

How to Keep Your Soul in a Corporate Job – Alex McCann at The Free Press.

 

“Yesterday”: Sometimes a Song – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

The celebrity guide to selective outrage – Sarah Idan at The Spectator.

"The Paxton's Tower Murders" by Stephen Puleston

It’s DI Caren Waits first day on the job at the West Wales Police Service. She wants to make a good impression, but the first thing that greets her is a murder investigation.  

A drug dealer is founded dead at the foot of Paxton’s Tower, an abandoned structure known for its spectacular seacoast views and notoriety for being a drug distribution site. It’s a death with few clues, no witnesses, and leads that have to be eked out. One thing it does have is controversy – a local anti-drug activist is soon organizing public meetings to claim the police aren’t doing their job and could be doing far more.

 

Waits worked for DI John Drake in the North Wales Police Force, and she sticks to procedure and protocol. She’s determined to solve the murder. But then a second murder in the same place puts the investigation – and the protests – on steroids.

 

Stephen Puleston

Despite her newness to the job, Waits demonstrates intelligence, experience, and grit. She’s a single parent, with her husband having been killed in an automobile accident a year before, although there’s some murkiness about both the husband and the death that promises new twists in the future. 

 

The Paxton’s Tower Murders is the first is the new DI Caren Waits crime series by Welsh writer Stephen Puleston. It’s an auspicious, well-plotted story for beginning a series. (And a second novel in the series is due to be published in a few days.) It’s part of Puleston’s writing style to develop the story so that the reader always knows what’s going in the narrative and the characters’ minds.

 

Puleston publishes three series of Welsh police detective stories. Detective Inspector Ian Drake is with the North Wales Police Service, Detective Inspector John Marco is with the South Wales Police Service, and now Detective Inspector Caren Waits is with the West Wales Police Service. The author originally trained and practiced as a; solicitor/lawyer. He also attended the University of London. He lives in Wales, very close to where his fictional heroes live and work.

 

Related:

 

My review of Written in Blood.

 

My review of A Time to Kill.

 

My review of Another Good Killing.

 

My review of Brass in Pocket.

 

My review of Worse than Dead.

 

My review of Against the Tide.

 

My review of Devil’s Kitchen.

 

My review of Dead Smart.

 

My review of Speechless.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

 

My review of A Cold Dark Heart.

 

My review of Dead and Gone by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Time to Die by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Stone Cold Dead by Stephen Puleston.

 

My review of Looking Good Dead by Stephen Puleston.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

The World is in Love with America – Chris Arnade at The Free Press.

 

Kurt Vonnegut’s Ambivalent War on AI – Hoel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.

Magazine.

 

Does Nick Clegg believe in original sin? – The Critic Magazine.