Many thanks to Rebecca Collins and Hobeck Books for the advance copy of "Blood Loss" for review. Because I'm so passionate about the subject, I'd like to share Hobeck's AI policy as it appears on their home page.
HOBECK BOOKS AI POLICY STATEMENT: In response to recent advances in AI technology we have implemented an non-AI-generative text policy for all our books, blurbs, marketing materials and book reviews. The book reviews arranged by Hobeck have been written by genuine humans who are also book lovers and avid readers and have not been generated by AI in any shape of form.
"Blood Loss" is the sixth book in the Steph Grant murder mystery series by Lin Le Versha. I love a classic cozy, and Lin Le Versha offers a great update of the genre. As such, "Blood Loss" deserves a character list that was so common to cozies:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Steph Grant: Thirty-year veteran of the police force, now a college receptionist / PA to the principal of Oakwood Sixth-Form College. Currently engaged to:
Philip Hale: Detective Chief Inspector in the Suffolk Police. Affectionately known as "Hale". Once a friend of Steph and her husband Mike, he and Steph became romantically involved a few years after Mike's death.
Caroline Jones: Steph's best friend and head of the Art Department at the college where Steph works. Always the picture of elegance. The flamboyant and headstrong Watson to Steph's Holmes.
Robin Hughes: English teacher at the college where Steph and Caroline work and long-time friend of both. Depressed widower. Aged 64 and close to retirement. Unfortunately deceased.
Archie Denhan: Founder of "Grief Retreats", a charity with the aim of helping the bereaved on their grief journey. Lyrical Welsh voice. Not low in self-esteem.
Steve Hill: Lost Beth, his wife of 32 years, two years ago. Retired accountant. Now a "bereavement counsellor". Has attended several Grief Retreats.
James Lovett: Accomplished jazz pianist. Likes to name drop. Fancied by more than one woman at the retreat.
Diane Nicholls: Artist. Lost her husband Jon of 20 years when their car was struck by a drunken driver. A staunch supporter of Archie's work...and Archie himself. Has attended several Grief Retreats.
Becky Harris: At the retreat, shares that her partner Donald died on a safari. Everyone wonders how but she does not elaborate. Wears "cartoon goggle glasses" and is quite catty.
Amina: In Steph's words: "Stunning looking – amazing and expensive clothes, masses of gold jewellery but very tasteful." Once married to college boyfriend Torquil, has been a widow for six months.
Pat Ridgeon: Introverted. Nervous. Twinset and pearls. Last name rhymes with "pigeon".
Kirstie ??: Met Robin Hughes at one of Archie's Grief Retreats. The two immediately hit it off, despite their age difference. Engaged in a whirlwind romance. She's nowhere to be found.
"Blood Loss" wastes no time in taking the reader into the thick of the story. It begins at a "Grief Retreat" presided over by the charismatic Archie Denham. After his wife died some years ago, Archie started the group to help others process and understand their grief after a loss. He now holds multi-day retreats, as well as informal "Bereavement Cafés" for people to meet each other and provide consolation. Archie has no idea that this weekend, two of the attendees are at the retreat under false pretenses: Steph Grant and her friend Caroline Jones.
The women were both close friends of Robin Hughes, an English teacher at Oakwood Sixth Form College. A widower for two and a half years, the depressed Robin sought relief in Archie's retreats. On one of the retreats, he met a much younger woman named Kirstie. The two of them bonded immediately and spent every moment together, in spite of their age difference. The newly smitten Robin agreed to sell his house, put the proceeds in a joint account along with his life savings, and join Kirstie in a new life. Then, she withdrew all of the money and disappeared. After he failed to find her, Robin walked into the sea with stones in his pockets and drowned.
The police, (including Steph's fiancé Detective Chief Inspector Hale), are inclined to rule the death a suicide. Steph and Caroline doubt that Robin would have killed himself, and decide to do some sleuthing of their own. As a former 30-year veteran of the force, Steph has some serious detective chops, and Caroline is fearless and headstrong. They decide to attend one of Archie's Grief Retreats and look for clues about Robin and the woman who swindled him. The two will pretend that they don't know each other and Steph tells Hale she's going to a spa weekend. Steph feels bad about lying to him but in her opinion, the force isn't doing enough to look into Robin's death.
The retreat begins with Archie prompting the attendees to go around, introduce themselves, and share as much information as they're comfortable with. This gives Steph and Caroline an opportunity to get to know the others. This is fortuitous since some of them are "Grief Retreat" veterans and could have met both Robin and Kirstie on a previous retreat. After the meeting, the enthusiastic Caroline tells Steph "It has to be one of them. I’m convinced they’re here. I feel it in my bones, darling!", but Steph is taking a more cautious approach.
Their fellow retreat attendees are quite amusingly drawn by Le Versha. My favorite is Becky, who has a delightfully acidulous turn of mind. Steph thinks the food and wine are delicious, but to Becky "...whoever had thought of tying the pile of dwarf beans with a neat ribbon made of spring onion stems needed therapy for their OCD...she glanced over to the sideboard where the puddings were breeding salmonella nicely in the overheated room." She's also not too fond of the others, who she finds dull, overbearing and predictable, with one exception: James, the jazz pianist. Becky is eyeing him “as if she planned to eat him”. At least she’ll have something to eat; her husband's death left her in so much debt she can't afford anything else.
Another likely suspect is Steve, who has attended several Grief Retreats and has a contentious relationship with Archie. Over the weekend, Steph has seen Archie and Steve in heated discussions a number of times. Steph would love to know what they've been arguing about, but has no idea whether it relates to Robin's death.
As Steph and Caroline attend sessions, share meals, and go through "grief ceremonies", they get to know the others. How many of them were on the same retreat as Robin? Do they know anything about his crooked fiance? Steve, Diana, Amina and Becky have all attended previous retreats, but haven't revealed anything of significance. One or two of them remember Kirstie, but she was very careful and gave out little info about herself. Steph is keeping a notebook in which she jots down anything that might be helpful, and at night Caroline sneaks into her room while they brainstorm their next move.
On the way to the pool in the early morning, Steph is shocked to find DCI Hale there. Someone on the retreat has been killed and Hale's been called to the scene. To say that he's surprised and angry to find Steph there is an understatement. Hale considers Steph's lie about being at a spa to be a serious breach of trust. She is stricken to think that her undercover sleuthing might have jeopardized their relationship. They agree on an uneasy truce, with Steph continuing to observe the others as they're called in one by one to be interrogated by Hale and his team.
When the weekend ends, Hale, Steph and Caroline begin working in their own ways to find out more about Archie, the retreat attendees, and any potential motives for the killing. Then, Archie asks Steph, based on her police background, to help him look into his finances. He believes that "someone is using us to scam vulnerable people out of their money under the pretence of a romantic relationship, then disappearing." Since this is exactly what happened to Robin, Steph is more than happy to assist. When she asks Archie who the other scam victim was, he informs her that they're dead as well.
It's obvious that there's something very rotten about Archie's Grief Retreats and Bereavement Cafes. Scamming people is a sneaky crime; taking advantage of those who are grieving is also terribly cruel. There's no guarantee that Steph and Hale can find the killer before they target another victim. Everyone seems to be hiding something and it will take all of Steph's skills to pry out their secrets.
In "Blood Loss", Le Versha takes the basic components of a cozy (offstage violence, an amateur sleuth, and a small, socially intimate community) and gives it a rousing update. I really liked her character portrayals. The people might initially seem like mere clichés, but Le Versha has a knack for giving them a contemporary flair that enhances their complexities. The unusual setting and unforeseen denouement beautifully complement this mix of traditional and modern mystery elements. These characteristics make "Blood Loss" an excellent read for all mystery fans.
Lin Le Versha has drawn on her extensive experience in London and Surrey schools and colleges as the inspiration for her debut crime novel which Hobeck were thrilled published in 2021. That novel, Blood Notes, introduces Steph Grant and her four-legged companion, Derek. Shortly after came Blood Lines. The third book, Blood Ties, followed on in early 2023. The fourth book, Blood Ribbons, published in 2024. In addition to crime writing, Lin has written over twenty plays exploring the issues faced by secondary school and sixth form students.
Please buy/order "Blood Loss" from your local independent bookstore, or go to bookshop.org and order there. They now offer ebooks as well.
For audiobooks, go to libro.fm.
