BOOK ON TOUR #SKIN OF THIER TEETH BY MICHELLE KIDD #JOFFE BOOKS #ZOOLOO'S BOOK ON TOUR #MYSTERY CRIME THRILLER

 

Book Review: A Gripping and Gritty Start to a Suffolk Crime Series

If you’re a fan of British police procedurals with a dark edge and a genuinely unsettling mystery at their core, this new Suffolk-set thriller introduces Detective Nicki Hardcastle with exactly the kind of impact crime readers crave.

The novel opens with a strikingly macabre image: a man impaled on the iron spikes of a townhouse in Bury St Edmunds. What at first glance looks like a desperate suicide quickly spirals into something far more chilling. The victim, Jacob Towers, is found with seven of his own teeth tucked into his pockets — a grotesque detail that instantly signals the killer’s ritualistic signature and sets this story apart from your standard murder mystery.

From here, the tension never lets up. A threatening voicemail — “It’s time to pay for what you did” — hints at a buried injustice, and when another body appears just days later, marked in the same horrific way, it becomes clear that someone is delivering retribution one victim at a time.

Detective Nicki Hardcastle is an immediately engaging protagonist. She’s gritty, capable, and refreshingly human — introduced mid-painting her living room, pulled abruptly back into the relentless violence of her job. She anchors the story, giving readers someone grounded to follow while the plot grows increasingly disturbing.

Where the book truly shines is in its sense of place. Suffolk isn’t always the first setting that springs to mind for crime fiction, but the author uses the quiet streets and historic architecture of Bury St Edmunds to create a stark, eerie backdrop for the escalating brutality. The contrast between postcard-pretty scenery and sudden violence heightens the unease in all the right ways.

Fans of authors like Joy Ellis, Angela Marsons, Ann Cleeves, and Helen H. Durrant will feel right at home here. The pacing is relentless, the twists sharp, and the central mystery — both the killer’s motive and the unsettling significance of the missing teeth — keeps you guessing right up to the final pages.

Finally,

A dark, atmospheric, and tightly plotted police procedural that launches Detective Nicki Hardcastle with a bang. Disturbing, suspenseful, and impossible to put down, this is a must-read for crime thriller devotees and a standout addition to the genre.

Thanks to Zooloo's tours for an advance copy for my honest review.

Description

MEET DETECTIVE NICKI HARDCASTLE IN THIS GRIPPING SUFFOLK-BASED CRIME SERIES.

One broken body. Seven missing teeth. A killer who’s only just begun.

Detective Nicki Hardcastle is supposed to be off-duty – midway through painting her living room - when the call comes in. ‘You might want to see this one, boss.’

Minutes later, she’s standing at the foot of a four-storey townhouse in the heart of Bury St Edmunds. A man lies impaled on a black iron spike, his body blood-soaked and broken

It appears Jacob Towers took his own life. But the details don’t add up. 

Why was the dead man carrying seven of his own teeth in his pockets?  

Then a chilling voicemail surfaces: “It’s time to pay for what you did.” Two days later, there’s another death. Just as sudden. Just as brutal. And once again – seven teeth.  

Someone is dealing out justice, one gruesome death at a time. And they’ve only just begun . . .

Perfect for fans of Helen H. Durrant, Joy Ellis, Ann Cleeves, Angela Marsons and Rachel McLean, this twist-filled thriller will keep you hooked until the final jaw-dropping page. 

AUTHOR 

Michelle Kidd is a crime fiction author best known for the DI Jack MacIntosh and DI Nicki Hardcastle series. Michelle qualified as a legal executive in the early 1990s, spending ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.

But the dream to write was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the first book in what would later become the DI Jack MacIntosh series. 

Michelle now works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. 

She enjoys reading, wine and cats — not necessarily in that order.

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Where can you find them?

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/michellekiddauthor

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/michellekiddauthor/

X (formerly Twitter) https://twitter.com/AuthorKidd

Website http://www.michellekiddauthor.com

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Book Links

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243041205-skin-of-their-teeth

Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/skinoftheirteeth-zbt