Liz Loves Books.Com.

Publication Date: Available now from Headline.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the review copy.

Any bloody death will lead Inspectors Ikmen and Suleyman out onto the dark streets of Istanbul. On January 21, a half-decapitated corpse in the poor multicultural district of Tarlabasi poses a particularly frustrating and gruesome mystery. But as the months pass and the violence increases, it turns into a hunt for that rare phenomenon in the golden city on the Bosphorus: a serial killer.

Admittedly I have dipped in and out of this long running series – one I enjoy a lot but have been terrible at keeping up with – so I was very pleased to leap back into the fray with “Body Count” and I enjoyed it very much again. I will definitely be heading into my backlist!

The thing I love most about these is the setting – Ms Nadel manages to bring into sharp focus the ambience and atmosphere of Istanbul, a place I have never been but feel like I have. It makes for a much better reading experience when you can sense and almost feel the places that the protagonists are living and working in and that is definitely one of the real strengths of this series.

Intelligent plotting as ever, with a dark undertone and a much welcome return of the grumpy yet loveable Inspector Ikmen, we are back in serial killer territory here and of course I do adore a good serial killer thriller. Another book that has haunted my dreams lately, which always means it was a good one, I was completely immersed in this throughout. A really durable series within a plethora of great crime fiction long may this continue.

Definitely recommended for fans of crime and thrillers with an exotic twist.

Happy Reading Folks!