I became acquainted with author Sally Rigby through her Cornwall Murder Mystery Series when I was offered the most recent book in that series as an advanced reader copy. I so thoroughly enjoyed her writing that I looked for other books in that series and also discovered she had a second series called the Cavendish & Walker novels. This is the first book in that series.

The body of a student is found at the university in Lenchester. DCI Whitney Walker heads the investigation, knowing that her job could be on the line. Her boss is still holding a grudge from a previous case where they were given bad information, and they ended up raiding the wrong house. This time, she has to get it right. The body appears to be posed with the victim’s cell phone showing a picture of her bound and gagged on a bed on the lockscreen.

Dr. Georgina Cavendish found the body on the campus. She is a highly-regarded forensic psychologist who has spent most of her career in academia. When a second body is found in the same condition, she believes there could possibly be a serial killer on the loose and offers her services to create a profile of the killer. DCI Walker firmly rebuffs her at first, but eventually relents when a third body is found, and they don’t seem to be any closer to finding the killer.

I really enjoyed Deadly Games. Rigby has two main characters who seem to be direct opposites. Walker is a working-class career woman and a single mother. She didn’t get an education in police work from a university; she worked the streets and moved on up through hard work and dedication. She’s also a bit of a luddite, struggling to make sense of how computers and modern technology can help in her work. Her team supports her in that respect, but she’s resistant to new ideas, particularly when they come from academia. Walker resents her boss, who has never worked as an actual police officer before being made her boss, but studied it all in school.

Meanwhile, Dr. Cavendish, or George as she prefers to be called, has never done any real work with her degree. Everything has been theoretical for her, and she feels like it’s time for her to use her knowledge and abilities in real life. She’s struggling in her relationship with her live-in boyfriend, Stephen. Both seem to be workaholics, but George has been struggling to adjust to having him living with her. For all her education, she seems to miss certain warning signs he is throwing. She grew up more affluent than Walker did, and hasn’t really struggled in life.

Deadly Games is the start of the friendship and working relationship between Walker and Cavendish. Walker doesn’t have anyone whom she’s really close to when she needs someone to talk to. She’s spent all of her time and energy on her career and raising her daughter, Tiffany. Now that Tiffany is in University, she’s facing the fact that she needs to start thinking about her own emotional needs. She doesn’t feel it’s appropriate to cultivate a friendship with any of her team members since she’s their boss. This leads her to call on George when she just wants to have a drink and someone to talk to.

The mystery seemed pretty obvious to me. For a while, I was wavering between two suspects, but I ended up figuring it out pretty early on. Rigby’s style is also a little different from that of many American mystery writers. I listened to her afterword where she detailed making the jump from the young adult books she was writing until this point to mysteries. Although she tries to set it in the United States, her agent said her writing style wouldn’t work for American audiences. Rigby is heavy on facts and telling rather than showing when things happen. It works, though, and makes reading her books a nice alternative to so many of the other series I enjoy. Walker and Cavendish are women I could relate to, as they are not young and on the hunt for “Mr. Right.” They are seasoned women who have been around the block a few times, although both have room to grow.

Clare Corbett is the narrator for the audiobook. She does a good job conveying the story. There aren’t a lot of emotions to deal with until near the end, and I liked her style. She has clear personalities for each of the characters without overdoing it and adding emotion to the story when it isn’t there.

I’m glad I found this series by Sally Rigby. I can read it while I’m also catching up with her other series. Her style is different, but I find that refreshing. The characters are compelling and relatable, even if the mystery wasn’t exactly a nail-biter.

Next book in the series: