Beneath The Ashes by Jane Isaac #BlogTour @JaneIsaacAuthor @Legend_Press

The floor felt hard beneath her face. Nancy opened her eyes. Blinked several times. A pain seared through her head. She could feel fluid. No. She was lying in fluid.

When a body is discovered in a burnt-out barn in the Warwickshire countryside, DI Will Jackman is called to investigate.

Nancy Faraday wakes up on the kitchen floor. The house has been broken into and her boyfriend is missing. As the case unravels, DI Jackman realises that nothing is quite as it appears and everyone, it seems, has a secret.

Can he discover the truth behind the body in the fire, and track down the killer before Nancy becomes the next victim?

Welcome to the BLOG TOUR for Beneath The Ashes by Jane Isaac, published by Legend Press on 1 November 2016. This is the second in the DI Will Jackman series, the first; Before It's Too Late was published in June 2015.


I haven't read the first book in this series, but that really doesn't matter as Jane Isaac gives enough background information about her leading man, DI Will Jackman to enable the reader to feel very familiar with him. However, I am intrigued by his back story and have bought a copy of Before It's Too Late so that I can catch up.

Beneath The Ashes is an intelligently written crime story, packed with police procedural and
brimming with tension, I was engrossed throughout.

The story begins with a short, but startling prologue - an unknown woman stumbling through a graveyard, police sirens in the distance, and a shocking final sentence. This is a terrific opener and it lingers in the reader's mind throughout the rest of the story, it's not until the final pages of the story that we understand the relevance of it.

The main story opens with DC Jackman attending a call out. He and his colleagues find a burnt-out barn down a little used, isolated track. Inside the barn, they find the body of a man. This becomes a murder investigation and Jackman and his team really do have their work cut out, right from the beginning. Not only do they have a body with no name, or is it two names, they also have pressure from the higher authorities to get the case solved, and quickly. Jackman also has his own personal issues to deal with. The looming interview with Thames Valley Police, and the devastation he feels about his wife who suffered life-changing injuries in a car accident - an accident that Jackman feels responsible for. Added to this, his daughter has flown the nest. He's lonely, and his work has become his whole life.

Jane Isaac has written an exceptional story with real depth and some wonderful characterisation. Her plot is complicated yet thrilling, with twists that are unexpected and an ending that I certainly didn't see coming.

Beneath The Ashes is absorbing, with a lead character who I fell a little in love with. This is clever and the plotting is fiendishly good. I'm looking forward to reading more by Jane Isaac.


With thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review and invited me to take part in this blog tour.

Jane Isaac lives with her husband, daughter and dog, Bollo, in rural Northamptonshire.

Her first novel, An Unfamiliar Murder, was published in the US in 2012 and nominated as best mystery in the 'eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook Awards 2013'.

The Truth Will Out, was selected 'Crime Thriller of the Month' by E'Thriller.com and 'Noveltunity Book Club Winning Selection.

Jane studied creative writing with the Writers Bureau and the London School of Journalism. Jane's short stories have appeared in several crime fiction anthologies. 

Visit Jane at www.janeisaac.co.uk 
Follow her on Twitter @JaneIsaacAuthor

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