Title: Dead and Buried (Calladine and Bayliss #5)
Author: Helen H. Durrant
Published on: 3 July 2016
Genre: Mystery and Thrillers | Police Procedural
Dead and Buried is the fifth book in Helen Durrant‘s Calladine and Bayliss series.
In the previous book – Dead Lost – we saw some closure regarding Ray Fallon, a notorious gangster. Ray was poisoned by his wife at the prison. Lydia, Calladine’s ex-girlfriend was shot to dead days before Ray’s death – Ray had threatened to kill all close to Calladine; there was a bounty on Calladine’s head too.
If one villain is out of picture, another arrives. Vincent Costello is making his presence felt in the Hobfield, a housing estate where Ray Fallon once ruled. One of the ladies living at the estate is found brutally murdered. Calladine is called to investigate. Meanwhile, a woman with a slight American accent is in town. She joins the bidding for an old and dilapidated cottage but backs out the last minute. The couple who won the bid find a school bag belonging to a teenager in the cottage. The girl’s diary had one last entry – ‘pregnant’. On further enquiry, it is found the girl went missing forty years ago.
Five books/stories so far and Calladine already has four affairs! Meet Casanova Calladine. *wink wink* Ruth Bayliss is now a mother of a baby boy and is spending most of her maternity leave adjusting to motherhood. She asks Calladine to be her son’s godfather. Ruth tries to play cupid once again by trying to bring Calladine’s ex Monika and Calladine back together. But Shez Mortimer has other plans.
It goes without saying Dead and Buried is yet another fantastic addition to the series. We have a new Don in town, someone to watch out for as this one’s worse than Ray Fallon. Let me not discuss Calladine’s love life because who knows who his next girlfriend would be. *winks*
The mystery behind the missing teenager and current murders kept me guessing till the end. We also have a lot of new characters in this story, each with their own side stories and motive. The second half of the book is where all the action and adventure lies.
I could not identify the perp until the detectives put two and two together and solved the case. I missed Ruth – she helps the team finally but I feel Ruth and Calladine make an excellent sleuthing pair. Hope she returns to the series as a full-time detective soon.
Having binge read the first four books, I must say I found this one to be a tad different. I enjoyed every bit of this story, no doubt about it. Also, the gore seems to have mellowed down – either this or I am getting used to all the gory and violent deets in this series. Hmm!
Dead and Buried by Helen H Durrant is an engrossing and compelling police procedural. A highly recommended series!
The Book Decoder 
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