Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Book Review: As the Crow Flies by Damien Boyd

As the Crow Flies (The DI Nick Dixon Crime Series Book 1)
by Damien Boyd
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: Jan. 20, 2015
ASIN: B00MAOW6JM

Amazon Synopsis:

Rock climbers can’t afford to make careless mistakes. But Detective Inspector Nick Dixon’s former climbing partner, Jake Fayter, died doing just that. Or so it seems. Dixon suspects foul play, but his only leads are unreliable accounts of something odd happening in Cheddar Gorge seconds before Jake fell.

The more Dixon learns about Jake’s life, the more he realises that Jake hadn’t been quite the man he remembered...and a lot of people could have wanted him dead. Once Dixon gets too close to the truth, those people will emerge from the shadows and kill to protect their secrets.


As the body count rises, Dixon bends the rules to breaking point to lure out a killer and unravel a conspiracy of silence that will rock the sleepy town of Burnham-on-Sea to its core.

As the Crow Flies is the electrifying first novel in the DI Nick Dixon Crime Series.

Book Links

My Thoughts:

Shortly after moving from the Metropolitan Police in London to the Avon and Somerset force Nick Dixon received a phone call from his friends father. John and Maureen Fayter want Nick to look into their son Jake's (and Nick's old rock climbing partner) death and see that no stone is left unturned. They don't want his death written off as an accident if it wasn't. They want someone who knows Jake and climbing to make sure that a thorough investigation has been conducted. So far the investigation shows that the climbers rope came undone and that the death was an accident. However Jake was not known for making that kind of an error. He had always used a kind of a knot that got tighter the more you pulled on it. Nick agreed to look into the investigation.

What Nick finds is that little things have been overlooked by the investigating officer's. These are only little things but they are important things. Nick orders that they be investigated. And these little things turn into twists and turns in the plot that create an intriguing and suspenseful mystery.

The story grabs your interest rate from the beginning. It doesn't let go until the surprise ending. As The Crow Flies moves along at a pace that keeps you stimulated. The characters are realistic unbelievable. I enjoyed Nick's dog that travels around with him in his Jeep.

There is some swearing in this book including the use of the F word but there are no sexual scenes at all.

As The Crow Flies is an excellent mystery/suspense novel that I would recommend. I rated it four stars out of five.


I purchased this book on Amazon. All thoughts are my own.

About the Author:

Damien Boyd is a solicitor and crime fiction writer.

Drawing on extensive experience of criminal law as well as a spell in the Crown Prosecution Service, Damien writes fast paced crime novels featuring Detective Inspector Nick Dixon.

Damien recently published the first in the series, 
As The Crow Flies, which has been described as 'gripping'and 'not to be missed' .

Author Links
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