Review: Love You to Death by Caroline Mitchell

Love You to Death (Detective Ruby Preston #1) by Caroline Mitchell
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication date: November 13th 2016
My rating: 4 stars 
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Twenty years ago you were forced to give your daughter up. Now she's back.Or is she?

Women who've had to give up children for adoption are being killed. A knock at their front door begins a nightmare from which they will never wake up.

East London Detective Ruby Preston and her team must hunt down a disturbed individual before someone else is taken. But when bodies start turning up, staged in perfect, domestic scenes, it carries the echo of a memory in Ruby's mind. The tinkling of a music box. A mother and child reunion...

Then just as Ruby thinks they've made a breakthrough, she receives a sinister email, and the case takes a terrifying personal twist.

Can Ruby catch the killer before they strike again? Or will her troubled past catch up with her first?

Love You to Death is a serial killer thriller packed with twists. If you like Karin Slaughter, Angela Marsons and Val MacDermid, discover Caroline Mitchell's new series today - at a special launch price.

My Thoughts:

Detective Sergeant Ruby Preston is the kind of detective you’d want on your side, a woman who yearns for justice and tries to do the right thing, even if her methods aren’t always by the book.  Unfortunately, the love of her life, Nathan Crosby, is on the opposite side of the law and they have a very tangled past and current relationship. I have high hopes for their future, but I’m not sure how things will work out given their circumstances.  There were many POV’s throughout the story, the main one being Ruby of course, but I appreciated getting Nathan’s thoughts as it added another layer on their relationship, making me root for their romance even more than I would’ve without it.

Ruby is currently working on a case where women who previously gave up a child for adoption are being brutally murdered.  It’s clear, from having the POV of the killer, the person they’re looking for is truly disturbed!

Love You To Death had me creeped out and eager for this deranged killer to be caught! My guesses at the killer’s identity were completely wrong, but I do think that was partly because the author didn’t let us in on some of Ruby’s ongoing observations. If I have any complaints I think that would be it. I enjoy a good crime procedural, and this one set in London brought me back to the days I was addicted to the Brit series Prime Suspect, however, I found Ruby far more likable than Helen Mirran’s character.  I’m looking forward to picking up the next installment, eager to see how Ruby’s complicated personal life plays out and for her next case!

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