#BlogTour This Dark Place by Claire Kittridge

It's my pleasure to host the Blogtour for This Dark Place by Claire Kittridge. She has created the kind of main character the reader can respect, expect the unexpected from, and yet also in equal measures feel empathy with.

About the Author
Claire Kittridge grew up in Brooklyn, NY watching The X-files, Law and Order, and a worn-out VHS tape of Sweeney Todd that she found in the basement. Long a lover of atmospheric landscape, rolling hills, and rainy days, Claire fell in love with England and its great fictional detectives while traveling around Britain as a teenager.

An avid reader, triathlete, and boxing fan, Claire lives in New York City with her cat, Chairman Meow. She is currently at work on the second Kelly Moore novel.

Follow Claire Kittridge on:
Twitter: @cpkittridge
Instagram: @clairekittridge
Facebook: ClaireKittridgeAuthor/
Amazon author page:  amazon.com/author/clairekittridge
Follow @DelicatePreyPub
Buy This Dark Place

About the book
Priscilla Ames is the daughter of a Wall Street hedge fund manager that has made millions in the stock market. She's reckless, impulsive, always wanting to be the center of attention, but one thing has been constant - her friendship with Avery Moss. They are like sisters that share adventures and look out for each other in times of need.

Avery Moss comes from a working-class family in Brooklyn. She met Priscilla as an 8 year-old at an elite NYC private school where Avery was on a one-year scholarship. They became friends on the first day of school when Avery beat up a boy that was teasing Priscilla. When Avery’s scholarship was discontinued, Priscilla’s father, Peter Ames, stepped in and has supported her schooling ever since, including sending the girls to a prestigious acting college in London

NYPD Detective Kelly Moore is a member of the elite Queens Violent Felony Squad. She is smart and strong and direct. Years ago, her older sister disappeared while traveling in England and the case was never solved, haunting all of her investigations. Moore’s greatest strength and her greatest weakness are two sides of the same coin: when she’s on her game, she works from the inside out, acting on hunches and then backing them up with evidence – but under duress, she acts rashly, leaping before she looks.

When Priscilla’s body is found by Avery in a posh London flat and her death is splashed across headlines worldwide, Kelly Moore flies across the Atlantic to join a crack team of British investigators working on the case.

Together with the London Metropolitan Police, Kelly must track down a twisted serial killer who seems to know her every move and her darkest secrets. As the body count rises, and panic spreads, the killer threatens to make Kelly the next victim.

In a heart-racing game of cat and mouse, Kelly must outwit this elusive master of surveillance – who might be the last person she suspects.

Review
I think it's fair to say that Detective Kelly Moore is often distracted by her past, to the point of endangering herself and others. The disappearance of her sister Cass, and her obsession with the unsolved crime, is detrimental to her decision making process. No matter what, the mystery of Cass comes first.

In this book Moore makes her way to Britain to help solve the strange death of a young woman. The daughter of Peter Ames. She wanders into a quagmire of sexual deviance, manipulation and lies. What appears to be a homicide turns out to be so much more.

Simultaneously someone is taunting Moore with insinuations about her sister. Tempting her with revelations and a possible solution to her inner torture. Unfortunately she lets this person get between the case she is trying to solve, and also puts her in mortal danger.

Moore tends to act without thinking, jump into situations without the appropriate back-up or inform anyone when she is lured into traps by the occasional psycho or two. Her streetwise New York attitude and training is a complete contradiction to the London Met Police working atmosphere she is thrown into.

Kittridge writes a compelling crime story and incorporates 21st century technology with strong memorable characters. The strength of her story is the seamless flow and the sense of ease with which it is written. The focus on intrigue and procedure, as opposed to a constant stream of action, violence and gore, absolutely works in her favour.

She has created the kind of main character the reader can respect, expect the unexpected from, and yet also in equal measures feel empathy with.  I am sure this isn't the last we will hear and read of both Detective Kelly Moore and Claire Kittridge.

Buy This Dark Place on Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.