No Sweet Sorrow

DCI Daley and his team are concerned about the use of drugs in Kinloch which intensifies with the apparent arrival of new drug dealing in the area. But when a group of Oxford University students arrive to prepare for an expedition to Mount Everest and one of them is assaulted when trying to obtain drugs it is obvious that drug related issues have definitely escalated.

When the fathers of two of the students arrive to remove their sons from Kinloch, Jim Daley and his team are removed from the investigation. It is obvious that the local drug dealing is not the main reason for events occurring in the town. It is also obvious that people with power are attempting to impede the investigation.

As well as providing a fast paced crime novel set on the west coast of Scotland the author allows the reader to immerse themselves in the lives - both professional and private - of the main characters. Jim Daley speaks regular English and although several of the characters, including Brian Scott, use Scots dialect when they speak it is easy to follow. However Brian does have a tendency to use words incorrectly in sentences, especially when he uses quotations to emphasise a point he is trying to make, much to the amusement of the other characters.

No Sweet Sorrow by Denzil Meyrick is number 11 in the DCI Daley series featuring Jim Daley, Brian Scott and the former fisherman, Hamish.The books are easy to read and difficult to put down as the reader becomes immersed in the lives of the characters in Kinloch and the crime needing to be solved. I look forward to reading the next installment in this series.