“Murder Under the Sun” by Faith Martin

I’d been worried. I’d come to the last published DI Hillary Greene crime novel, and there was no word on whether there would be a new one. Each book in the series has been consistently good. I’d even subscribed to the author’s email newsletter, which had been quiet on the subject. That is, until about a week before it was published. I pre-ordered it, and then it arrived. 

Murder Under the Sun is the 22^nd novel in the DI Hillary Greene detective series by Faith Martin, and it lives up to the standard set by its predecessors.

 

For the last several stories, Greene has been retired as a detective inspector for the Thames Valley Police, but she’s been working as a civilian employee at police headquarters looking into cold cases. She has two people on her team – Claire Wolley, herself a retired police officer, and Gareth Proctor, a former soldier disabled by an IED explosion while serving in the army.

 

It’s summer and unseasonably hot for England. Staying cool is something of a second job for just about everyone. And it’s in the heat that a new cold case is assigned to the team. Fifteen years earlier, a woman had been struck from behind in her home and killed. No weapon, other than the ubiquitous “blunt instrument,” had ever been identified. Her body had been found by a teenaged daughter coming home from school. 

 

Faith Martin

Hillary and her team painstakingly review the files, check with police officers involved in the original investigation, and interview family members and any potential witnesses. They’re dogged by an enterprising reporter, who’s determined to make his name in news. And the investigation proceeds slowly, as the team looks for anything missed in the original probe.

 

They may be facing one of Hillary’s vastly few failures, when another, and related, death occurs. And it’s Hillary Greene who will manage to run circles around the new investigating officer and ultimately the perpetrator. 

 

In addition to the DI Hillary Greene novels, Martin (a pen name for Jacquie Walton) has also published the Ryder and Loveday novels as well as the Jenny Sterling mysteries. Under the name Joyce Cato, she has published several non-series detective stories. Both Cato and Martin are also pen names for Walton. (Walton has another pen name as well – Maxine Barry, under which she wrote 14 romance novels.) A native of Oxford, she lives in a village in Oxfordshire.

 

Murder Under the Sun is an excellent read. Martin leaves clues, but she also manages to stay ahead of the reader, making this story (like the others) hard to put down. And the novel contains just enough hints to suggest that a 23^rd is more than possible.

 

Related:

Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin.

Murder at the University by Faith Martin. 

 Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Village by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Family by Faith Martin.

 Murder at Home by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Meadow by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Mansion by Faith Martin.

 Murder by Fire by Faith Martin.

 Murder at Work by Faith Martin.

 Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin.

 Murder of a Lover by Faith Martin.

 Murder Never Misses by Faith Martin.

 Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin.

 Murder in Mind by Faith Martin.

 Hillary’s Final Case by Faith Martin. 

 Hillary’s Back! by Faith Martin.

 Murder Now and Then by Faith Martin.

Murder in the Parish by Faith Martin.

Murder on the Train by Faith Martin.

Some Monday Readings

 

Images found on Civil War battlefields: who were they? – John Banks’ Civil War Blog.

 

Civil War Musings: The Battles in My Backyard – Joseph Ricci at Emerging Civil War.

 

Write Soon and Write Often: Soldiers, Letters, Mail, and Boxes – Central Virginia Battlefields Trust.

 

At Old Liverpool St Station – Spitalfields Life.

 

The Liberation of Florence – Frederick Hartt at The Imaginative Conservative.

"Murder on the Train" by Faith Martin

DI Hillary Greene, now a civilian consultant to the Thames Valley police, is taking some vacation (she would call it a holiday), heading to Hay-on-Rye in Wales, the town famous for its bookstores. It’s something of a working vacation – she’s published a crime novel, and she’s planning to visit the bookstores to promote the book.  

Staying a small inn, she’s charmed by both the inn and the other guests, a fairly broad array of people from England, Ireland, Scotland, and the Unted States. When it’s proposed that they all take the steam railway up a nearby mountain, Hillary goes along, although the small rail cars mean she must ride in another car. Which turns out to be a good thing, because one of the guests is murdered, and no one saw it happen.

 

If anyone knows the drill, it’s Hillary. She tells the others what to do, arranges for the police to come, convinces the constable to call in homicide detectives – and she inevitably finds herself co-opted into the investigation (“seconded” is the official term). To complicate matters even further, a local hoodlum decides to target Hillary and find a convenient way to kill her. 

 

Faith Martin

Murder on the Train is the 21^st and so far final novel in the DI Hillary Greene series by British author Faith Martin. Published in 2024, it’s as good as any of its predecessors; Martin has maintained a high level of quality throughout the series. There’s no word as yet when or if there will be a 22^nd story; Martin has been developing another series, and the Hillary Greene series has been considerably deemphasized on her web site. 

 

In addition to the DI Hillary Greene novels, Martin (a pen name for Jacquie Walton) has also published the Ryder and Loveday novels as well as the Jenny Sterling mysteries. Under the name Joyce Cato, she has published several non-series detective stories. Both Cato and Martin are also pen names for Walton. (Walton has another pen name as well – Maxine Barry, under which she wrote 14 romance novels.) A native of Oxford, she lives in a village in Oxfordshire.

 

I’ve read all 21 books in the DI Hillary Greene series and enjoyed every one of them. Here’s hoping that she’ll make another appearance.

 

Related:

Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin.

Murder at the University by Faith Martin. 

 Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Village by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Family by Faith Martin.

 Murder at Home by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Meadow by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Mansion by Faith Martin.

 Murder by Fire by Faith Martin.

 Murder at Work by Faith Martin.

 Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin.

 Murder of a Lover by Faith Martin.

 Murder Never Misses by Faith Martin.

 Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin.

 Murder in Mind by Faith Martin.

 Hillary’s Final Case by Faith Martin. 

 Hillary’s Back! by Faith Martin.

 Murder Now and Then by Faith Martin.

Murder in the Parish by Faith Martin.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

Haunted by the Ghost of Evangeline – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Anatomy of a British screen classic – Jeffrey Meyers at The Critic Magazine.

 

Places That Remember Themselves: The Erosion of Memory in an Unmoored World – Holly Stockley at Front Porch Republic.

 

Splendor of Fire, Speed of Light: A Meander around St. Patrick – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.

 

Patrick: self-consciousness and sainthood – Padraig O Tuama at Poetry Unbound.

"Murder in the Parish" by Faith Martin

Retired DI Hillary Greene, now a civilian consultant to the Thames Valley Police on cold cases, has a new mystery to unravel with her team. And she has the mystery of her own health. 

Thirty years earlier, right before Christmas, a parish vicar was murdered in the doorway of the vicarage. The medical examiner suggested the means was something like a common garden shovel, but the weapon was never found. And many of the people interviewed at the time have died or moved away. Yet two of the potential suspects start receiving blackmail notes, and it appears that the cold case crime is now getting bound up with a wholly new crime.

 

But who would want to kill a vicar, reportedly liked by everyone, some to the point of having major crushes on the man? For Greene and her team, this looks like a personal crime, but there’s nothing in the vicar’s background that offers a clue.

 

At the same time, Hillary’s nagging cough, though to be a chest or lung infection, is turning into something else entirely. And now she has to have tests run, the results of which she may not be ready for.

 

Murder in the Parish is the twentieth DI Hillary Greene novel by British writer Faith Martin, and it’s unusual in the series in that the cold case involved is really, really cold and offers virtually no clues as to a possible solution. The reader gets hints that the investigating team doesn’t get, with some of those involved in or affected by the original crime having conversations or doing things the police are unaware of. But it’s an engaging, riveting story, not the least reason being what is happening to Hillary herself.

 

In addition to the DI Hillary Greene novels, Martin (a pen name for Jacquie Walton) has also published the Ryder and Loveday novels as well as the Jenny Sterling mysteries. Under the name Joyce Cato, she has published several non-series detective stories. Both Cato and Martin are also pen names for Walton. (Walton has another pen name as well – Maxine Barry, under which she wrote 14 romance novels.) A native of Oxford, she lives in a village in Oxfordshire.

 

Related:

 

Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at the University by Faith Martin. 

 

Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Village by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Family by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at Home by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Meadow by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Mansion by Faith Martin.

 

Murder by Fire by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at Work by Faith Martin.

 

Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin.

 

Murder of a Lover by Faith Martin.

 

Murder Never Misses by Faith Martin.

 

Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in Mind by Faith Martin.

 

Hillary’s Final Case by Faith Martin. 

 

Hillary’s Back! by Faith Martin.

 

Murder Now and Then by Faith Martin.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

Agatha Christie, Below the Equator – Naomi Kaye at CrimeReads.

 

Saving Classical Music: A Return to Tradition – Andrew Balio at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Gulf of Mexico / Gulf of America : Highlighting Civil War Era Location Literacy – Neil Chatelain at Emerging Civil War. 

 

Last Boys at the Beginning of History – Mana Asfari at The Point Magazine.

 

Ethan Haim: ‘We Took On the Federal Leviathan and We Won’ – Emily Yoffe at The Free Press.

"Murder Now and Then" by Faith Martin

Cold cases offer both good news and bad news. The bad news is that witnesses have often moved on, memories dull over time, and official records can be lost or shelved in some out-of-the-way place. The good news is that people are often more willing to talk. They may remember things they forgot or overlooked in the immediate aftermath of a crime. And nothing seems quite as urgent as it does right after the act or event. 

Hillary Greene, retired Detective Inspector for the Thames Valley Police and now a full-time cold case consultant to the police, knows this well. Her knowledge of crime and human behavior, plus a certain doggedness, has served her well and continues to do so.

 

The latest case for Hillary and her team: a 10-year-old murder case. The body of a young man was found floating in weeds of the River Cherwell. He was known to be bright, deeply in love with ancient history, and well-liked. He had bicycled away from home one morning, his parents thought it might be to town (Oxford), and then his body was found. He had no addictions, no involvement in drugs or crime, and no enemies. Unless you counted the woman he’d broken up with who had stalked him, or perhaps the tutor who mistook friendliness and interest in history as something other than professional interest.

 

Faith Martin

At first, Hillary and the team get nowhere. They go over case notes and old ground, re-interviewing all the witnesses. No breaking leads or tips. And then an offhand remark by the young man’s mother about his metal detecting interest starts an entirely new line of investigation. And by the time they’ve finished, Hillary and her team will solve not just one but four murders.

 

Murder Now and Then is the nineteenth installment in the Hillary Greene mystery series, and it’s just as fascinating and entertaining as its predecessors. The reader is given access to an investigation that’s happening independently of Hilary’s cold case, suspecting (rightfully so) that the stories will converge. And she keeps a side story going about one of the police team members, which is a standard feature of her stories. It’s a very satisfying read.

 

In addition to the DI Hillary Greene novels, Martin (a pen name for Jacquie Walton) has also published the Ryder and Loveday novels as well as the Jenny Sterling mysteries. Under the name Joyce Cato, she has published several non-series detective stories. Both Cato and Martin are also pen names for Walton. (Walton has another pen name as well – Maxine Barry, under which she wrote 14 romance novels.) A native of Oxford, she lives in a village in Oxfordshire.

 

Related:

 

Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at the University by Faith Martin. 

 

Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Village by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Family by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at Home by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Meadow by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Mansion by Faith Martin.

 

Murder by Fire by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at Work by Faith Martin.

 

Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin.

 

Murder of a Lover by Faith Martin.

 

Murder Never Misses by Faith Martin.

 

Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in Mind by Faith Martin.

 

Hillary’s Final Case by Faith Martin. 

 

Hillary’s Back! by Faith Martin.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

My Mom Was Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Then She Got Better – Sean Fischer at The Free Press.

 

The Killers Angels Still Sings: Revisiting a Classic Civil War novel on its fiftieth anniversary – Will Collins at The Spectator.

 

Murders for January – Jeremy Black at The Critic Magazine.

 

Things Worth Remembering: ‘He Died Standing Up’ – Douglas Murray at The Free Press.

"Hillary's Back!" by Faith Martin

I knew the last DI Hillary Greene mystery novel wasn’t Hillary’s last case. Hillary’s Final Case looked like it might be, but author Faith Martin still had a few tricks up her sleeve, and a few more cases for Hillary to solve. 

Appropriately enough, the title of the next (and eighteenth) installment in the series is Hillary’s Back!. She’s back, all right, and still working as a civilian consultant in the cold case unit of the Thames Valley Police in Kidlington, near Oxford. But she’s experienced personal loss, and her boss is wondering how she’ll do.

 

She also has a new team, a retired soldier injured in an IED explosion and a formerly retired sergeant who seems like everybody’s favorite aunt until you know what she used to do for the police. The retired sergeant knows Hillary and what she can do, and the retired soldier soon comes to realize that he’s landed on his feet with an incredibly capable, competent, and experienced boss.

 

Faith Martin

Their cold case: the stabbing murder of a young man that everyone was glad to see the end of. He’d been a pusher, a pimp, and an all-around wastrel, probably killed by one of his drug clients. While there were plenty of suspects, there were also plenty of alibis or no way to prove someone was at the scene, which was in the woods near the victim’s house (where he liked to do his drug transactions).

 

Watching Hillary unravel an impossible case is just as much an education for the reader as it is for her new team. Hillary’s Back! is an enthralling story. 

 

In addition to the DI Hillary Greene novels, Martin (a pen name for Jacquie Walton) has also published the Ryder and Loveday novels as well as the Jenny Sterling mysteries. Under the name Joyce Cato, she has published several non-series detective stories. Both Cato and Martin are also pen names for Walton. (Walton has another pen name as well – Maxine Barry, under which she wrote 14 romance novels.) A native of Oxford, she lives in a village in Oxfordshire.

 

Related:

 

Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at the University by Faith Martin. 

 

Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Village by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Family by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at Home by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Meadow by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Mansion by Faith Martin.

 

Murder by Fire by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at Work by Faith Martin.

 

Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin.

 

Murder of a Lover by Faith Martin.

 

Murder Never Misses by Faith Martin.

 

Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in Mind by Faith Martin.

 

Hillary’s Final Case by Faith Martin. 

 

Some Thursday Readings

 

An Ode to Charles Willeford – Michael Ledwidge at CrimeReads.

 

Dark Academia – Pamela Steiner at Closed Doors, Open Windows.

 

A Wonderful Career in Crime: Charles Cowlam’s Masquerades in the Civil War Era & Gilded Age by Frank W. Garmon Jr. – Aaron Stoyack at Emerging Civil War.

 

The Socialite Kidnaper – Laura Shimel at Missouri Historical Society.

"Hillary's Final Case" by Faith Martin

DI Hillary Greene, who’s been working cold cases as a civilian advisor to the Thames Valley Police in Kidlington / Oxford, is on the brink of major life changes. Her boss and love interest, soon to be promoted Stephen Krayle, has proposed. She’s leaning toward living together. Whatever she decides, it will mean leaving the Mollern, her canal boat home, or perhaps just tying it up on the canal by Stephen’s house. 

Things are also coming to a head with her team member Jake, the police department’s fair-haired boy who’s also a tech millionaire. He’s been snooping around Hillary’s computer and meeting with local crime figures. What he wants is to find his missing stepsister, whose life spiraled downward into drugs and prostitution.

 

As Krayle’s new job involves going after organized crime, a plan emerges: use Jake and his missing stepsister to go after one of the bigger crime figures in the area. And the cover will be a public announcement that Hillary’s team is reinvestigating a number of missing women cold cases.

 

Faith Martin

Hillary’s Final Case by British author Faith Martin isn’t, as it turns out, Hillary Greene’s final case. Four novels remain. And there’s nothing in the story to suggest it’s the last case she’ll work on. All we know is that she’s changing home addresses, but she’s still in the same Kidlington / Oxford area.

 

But it is a classic Hillary Greene story. Martin comes up with more twists that only Greene can see coming. And it’s a cracking good story, filled with a number of tension-filled scenes.

 

In addition to the DI Hillary Greene novels, Martin (a pen name for Jacquie Walton) has also published the Ryder and Loveday novels as well as the Jenny Sterling mysteries. Under the name Joyce Cato, she has published several non-series detective stories. Both Cato and Martin are also pen names for Walton. (Walton has another pen name as well – Maxine Barry, under which she wrote 14 romance novels.) A native of Oxford, she lives in a village in Oxfordshire.

 

Related:

 

Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at the University by Faith Martin. 

 

Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Village by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Family by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at Home by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Meadow by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in the Mansion by Faith Martin.

 

Murder by Fire by Faith Martin.

 

Murder at Work by Faith Martin.

 

Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin.

 

Murder of a Lover by Faith Martin.

 

Murder Never Misses by Faith Martin.

 

Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin.

 

Murder in Mind by Faith Martin.

 

Some Thursday Readings

 

A Long-Forgotten Mystery by a Much-Celebrated Vaudeville Performer – Martin Edwards at CrimeReads.

 

Beautiful Spaces: Interview with Poet Claire Coenen – Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

The Epic England Never Had: A Review of “eÞanðun” – Seth Wright at Front Porch Republic.