I love mysteries set in small English villages. This was an enjoyable one although one can probably guess who the perpetrator is quite early on. The author tries to throw a few red herrings in front of us but also gives some quite useful clues. ( )

From the very first sentence, the author will have you hooked. This is a mystery novel that is difficult to put down. It will give you the chills and make you want to know where your daughters are at all times.

In this complex mystery there are very few clues to go on. The kidnapper almost seems to be like a ghost. He seems to be able to move about the village without anyone seeing him. As I tried to unravel the mystery along with the detectives, the various twists and turns had me suspecting a variety of different people. I even had the advantage of knowing some information from the perspective of the perpetrator of the crime.

The author did an excellent job of making the characters in Deadly Thyme seem just like anyone else you might meet in a small village in England. I thought the main character Detective Jon Graham was very personable. The torment that Annie experienced was palpable and realistic.

There were a few gruesome scenes and a few very surprising twists. But this killer is a depraved madman and no one can figure out who he is.

I gave Deadly Thyme 5 stars out of 5. It’s a clean read with no profanity and no sexual scenes. If you enjoy murder mysteries, you should definitely pick this book up. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/06/book-review-deadly-thyme-by... ( )

"Deadly Thyme" is a very intense, thrilling read. From the opening pages when we meet little Annie Butler and witness her abduction, to the roller coaster ride of an ending, Ms. Nolen keeps the reader teetering on the edge of her seat!

Set in a sleepy seaside village in England, we are introduced to an eccentric cast of characters, many of who could be Annie's abductor. Clues are dropped here and there and I kept wavering back and forth between the possible suspects, not knowing until the very end who the real villain was.

The writing is crisp and tight and the story progresses effortlessly. The villain of the piece is one of the most memorable and nasty that I have ever encountered in literature. The reader's heart goes out to poor Annie, caught in his nefarious and deadly grasp.

This is one of the best mysteries I have read in a long time and I am hopeful that Ms. Nolen will bring us back to Cornwall in the near future to let us in on the future adventures of Inspector Jon Graham! Highly recommended.

Deadly Thyme is a mystery set in a quaint Britain village that follows the investigation into the abduction and imprisonment of a ten-year-old girl.

Although the first few pages of the novel disclose why the girl was taken and where she is, this did not deflect from the mystery because the antagonist’s true name is not revealed. You are kept guessing who it might be, and there are a number of suspects woven into the plot.

Nolan managed the multiple point of views well, allowing the reader a peek into key characters’ perspectives by clearly illustrating their unique thought patterns. She managed to show the antagonist without giving enough clues to easily surmise the identity. However, there were two short passages where the story switched to omniscient narrator, which felt a bit disjointed. Nevertheless, the characters were all described very well – unique quirks and all. Spots of humour brought interesting insights into each character’s personality, effectively creating a diverse cast. I found some of the dialogue stiff in places, felt like overkill to include British slang and regional dialect, but the descriptions of the settings were imaginative and well-researched.

I would recommend this novel to mystery buffs and would read another book by this author.
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