Not only is one of my most anticipated books in my grasp, but it didn't disappoint, love this series even more for having this book in it! Je rêvais d’un happy-end, style « conte de fées » avec un chouette prologue type 6 mois après les faits.

Since Samson O’Brien started the Dales Detective Agency in the downstairs office of Delilah Metcalfe’s Dales Dating Agency, the calibre of drama has gone up a notch. Little do the detective duo know that several of their cases are about to collide when identifying the whereabouts of the missing man becomes something far more sinister. Chapman has created a superb cast of characters with all the domestic gossip, rivalries, fallings-out and community spirit anyone who grew up in a small town will love and recognise. Je suis ravie de toutes les avancées, des intrigues de fond qui se démêlent enfin et en plus avec des résolutions plausibles.

I thoroughly enjoyed Date with Evil, which is an amusing cosy with a sharp edge that doesn’t shy away from the worst in human nature.

As usual, the secondary characters are highly entertaining, and many play an important role in this volume. Nevertheless, this makes for an easy read and definitely had me on the edge of my seat towards the end. I have enjoyed this series immensely from book one and would say please read the other books before this one as this brings together threads from a few of the previous books.

I say latest because much reference is made to previous mayhem, which I assume was covered in earlier novels. Wonderfully engaging, Julia Chapman’s latest Dales mystery is perfect for fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club series . From stolen washing to inheritance investigations, Bruncliffe's Dales Detective Agency is being inundated with cases.

I would liken this book and indeed the series to a boiled sweet with a soft centre but a hard shell. I think that it would be quite difficult to enjoy this one without having read the previous books in the series.The dialogue is funny, notably on the subject of the fledgling romance between Delilah and Samson, where everyone has an opinion and isn’t afraid to voice it, to much squirming and embarrassment from the recipients. Samson is in London helping the Met, so Delilah is left to run the agency with newly minted detective Ida Capstick. The obvious exception is the perpetrator, who is, in melodramatic fashion, particularly evil and sociopathic. Great pace, great finish to so many stories, this feels like it could be a very satisfying end to my time in Bruncliffe with Samson and Delilah, but I don't want it to be, and right there is a mark of the success of this 8th instalment. No doubt frightening and worrying if this were real life - but not super enticing in terms of fictional plot.