Jo Spain

Jo Spain likes to make up stories and some of them don't have dead bodies in them, but most of them do. Which is fine for work but not so good when she's in conversation with random strangers. Jo realised early she had expensive taste, which always comes as a shock when people suggest rounds in the pub and she asks for champagne. She has four kids, but there always seems to be double that in her house. It doesn't bother her, she can work through noise but, then, maybe it's the noise that's making her want to kill people all the time. When Jo grows up, she'd like to win an Oscar, partly for the accolade, partly because it's an excuse to wear a pretty dress. Jo likes people, laughing and grisly crime, in that order.

Books by Jo Spain

The Perfect Lie

Detective Danny Ryan jumps to his death rather than face arrest by his own colleagues. Less than two years later, his wife Erin is put on trial for her husband’s murder.

Reviewed on 21 August 2021 by John Cleal

Six Wicked Reasons

A controlling father is murdered on a yacht party. All of his children, re-united for the occasion to celebrate his intended new marriage, have motives for revenge.

Reviewed on 04 July 2020 by John Cleal

The Boy Who Fell

The body of a teenage boy is found outside a deserted house where he had been partying with friends. Examination suggests he was raped before being pushed through a window to his death. His alleged attacker is in custody, but DCI Tom Reynolds has doubts.

Reviewed on 12 October 2019 by John Cleal

The Darkest Place

Out-of-favour DCI Tom Reynolds gets a Christmas day call to a mass grave on an island off the Kerry coast, once the home of a controversial psychiatric institution, where there is one body too many – probably that of one of the doctors, missing for more than 40 years.

Reviewed on 10 August 2019 by John Cleal

The Confession

A man beats a disgraced banker to a pulp in front of his wife. He hands himself in, confesses the attack, but claims it was not premeditated and he didn’t know his victim. DS Alice Moody must discover whether this a random act or linked to the banker’s shady past.

Reviewed on 08 December 2018 by John Cleal

Beneath the Surface

A minister’s aide is murdered in the Irish parliament building. Detective Inspector Tom Reynolds and his team must uncover the truth in a sea of lies, corruption and secrets.

Reviewed on 12 November 2016 by John Cleal

With Our Blessing

The body of an elderly woman is found crucified in a Dublin park and DI Tom Reynolds must solve a killing which has its roots in Ireland’s darkest past.

Reviewed on 23 April 2016 by John Cleal