The Third Breath by Malcolm Hollingdrake @MHollingdrake @Bloodhoundbook #blogblitz

Such a pleasure to host a stop on the blog blitz for The Third Breath by Malcolm Hollingdrake today! My thanks to Sarah Hardy at Bloodhound Books for the invitation to join and for the review copy!

Author : Malcolm Hollingdrake
Title : The Third Breath
Series : DCI Bennett #7
Pages : 275
Publisher : Bloodhound Books
Publication date : August 28, 2018

DCI Bennett is away on compassionate leave. After much soul-searching, he has decided to attend his father’s funeral.

DS Owen is left at the helm when the discovery of a body in a car in the multi-storey car park is reported. Initially, the Coroner rules out suspicious circumstances but when a second body is found with similar symptoms, Bennett is back in the fold. He suspects that the coincidences must be of some significance.

Soon Bennett’s team are hunting for a callous and devious killer who has covered his tracks effectively.

Will Bennett’s perseverance and attention to detail eventually crack this perplexing case?

It’s quite hard to believe that The Third Breath is already the seventh instalment in the DCI Bennett series but author Malcolm Hollingdrake shows no signs of slowing down and has come up with yet another belter.

I’ve come to expect some rather brilliant and original ways for the killers in this series to murder their victims but this one has to be right up there with the most ingenious and chilling ones I’ve ever read. A dead body is discovered in a car in a multi-storey car park. Bennett and his team are left scratching their heads as there is no evidence whatsoever to find at the crime scene. At first, it looks like the victim may have died from natural causes. But then a second body is discovered and Cyril Bennett does not believe in coincidences.

This killer is playing quite the twisted game, seemingly without a specific motive, which makes them incredibly hard to track down. And what on earth is up with the potatoes? Yeah, that will make no sense to you whatsoever until you read this book. Suffice to say, the killer’s brain isn’t one you’d want to spend too much time with. And all the twists and turns combine into the most wonderfully complex investigation.

Meanwhile Cyril is also dealing with the aftermath of his father’s death and his feelings towards his stepmother, Wendy. Comic relief, as always, is provided by the inimitable Owen. Here’s a character I didn’t think I could possibly adore more than I did already but whenever his name pops up on the page, I just know he’s going to steal the show and make me chuckle.

This isn’t a particularly gruesome read so if you lean a bit more towards to the cosy mystery genre, I have no doubt you will enjoy this one. Just like its predecessors, The Third Breath is well plotted, brilliantly executed and another solid addition to an already extremely solid series. Bring on book eight, I say!

The Third Breath is available to buy!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads

You could say that the writing was clearly on the wall for anyone born in a library, that they might aspire to be an author but to get to that point Malcolm Hollingdrake has travelled a circuitous route.

Malcolm worked in education for many years, even teaching for a period in Cairo before he started writing, a challenge he had longed to tackle for more years than he cares to remember.

Malcolm has written a number of successful short stories and has ten books now available. Completing ‘The Third Breath’ fulfils the seven book publishing contract with Bloodhound Books but there are exciting plans for the future, not only with DCI Bennett and his team but also with another series. More information will follow soon.

Born in Bradford and spending three years in Ripon, Malcolm has never lost his love for his home county, a passion that is reflected in the settings for all his novels.

This year, Malcolm self-published a beautiful and poignant short story titled ‘The Penultimate Man’ to commemorate the centenary of the conclusion of WW1. It has also been released as an audiobook.
Malcolm has enjoyed many hobbies including collecting works by Northern artists; the art auctions offer a degree of excitement when both buying and certainly when selling. It’s a hobby he has bestowed on DCI Cyril Bennett, the main character in his latest novel, ‘The Third Breath’.

Author links : Facebook | Twitter