The Case of Sampson's Leap by Alison Golden - Book Review

 

Book: The Case of Sampson's Leap

Series: The Detective David Graham Series

Author: Alison Golden

Publication Date: 24 October 2021

 

Synopsis

A confounding case in the present. A precipitous puzzle from the past...

Inspector David Graham knows all about history. After moving to the island of Jersey to recover from a tragic loss, he has done his best to leave painful memories behind. But sometimes it is not so easy to forget...

When Mia, a promising young actress, turns up dead beneath the jagged cliffs known as Sampson’s Leap, suicide seems the obvious answer. But after Inspector Graham interviews the victim’s conniving clan of associates, he’s not so sure. Jealousy, greed, drugs... With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Mia's mysterious death also shines a light on a far older case... The murder of three women, nearly two centuries ago. New evidence suggests that investigative rigor may not have been applied.

Can the dogged Inspector uncover the truth of Mia’s fate? Can a historical injustice be laid to rest? And can Graham finally reveal the secrets hiding in his own heart to the woman who knows him best...?

 

Book Review

 

"I still don't know if she jumped, fell, or was pushed. Suicide, accident, or murder."

The Case of Sampson's Leap by Alison Golden is the eighth book in the Inspector David Graham Mystery Series and my – what – sixth book for Golden.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Inspector David Graham Mystery Series, it's fast; it's addictive; and you can't help but adore Graham.

Each book in the Inspector David Graham Mystery Series can be read as a standalone. So if you start at book 6 or 8, you don't have to worry about not reading the previous books, although I highly recommend them.

The Case of Sampson's Leap comprises 75 short chapters, making the book super-fast-paced. It opens with the death of a film student, Mia Thorne.

But as Inspector Graham and his team investigate and interview her friends, they find themselves in a super thick web of endless lies.

"To a woman like Mia Thorne, Noah Stimms was merely a toy, a dim foil, a moth to a flame, fluttering pointlessly but eternally hopeful around it until, eventually, he got zapped in a flash of scorching heat and acrid smoke. Mightier men had met similar fates with much the same outcome."

At the same time, the island of Gorey is nearing its bicentenary of Sampson's Leap. Sampson, an apothecary – a pharmacist, was accused of murdering three women. When the townspeople gave him the choice to either jump from a hill into the raging sea or be killed, he took the first option, only to jump and survive.

So the townspeople forced him to jump a second time and that was the end of Sampson. But the area where he had jumped had been named Sampson's Leap ever since.

Although the story focuses on Mia's death, we also get bits of history and new evidence comes to light about the 200-year-old Sampson case. After all, both incidents are related to the area known as 'Sampson's Leap.'

When reading The Case of Sampson's Leap, you'll share the police's irritation at the continuous dead ends. Still it's impossible to put this book down. I finished it in 2 or 3 sittings!

Having read several books in this series, there's significant character development for everyone. While David Graham is fully-developed character, his team began book 1 as a group of newbie officers. Now in book 8, they're smarter, faster, and more creative.

"Graham fixed Noah with a look that would have dented body armor."

Alison Golden expertly juggles two mysteries in The Case of Sampson's Leap, leaving readers curious on both ends.  

 

Overall rating for The Case of Sampson's Leap by Alison Golden: 5 stars.

Note: I received a free copy of The Case of Sampson's Leap from its author Alison Golden being a part of her street team. This did not in any way influence my review of the book. I was already a big fan!

And while I originally finished the book in the allotted time, I had a reviewing-block (spent 7 months not writing book reviews). Hence my review is coming quite late.

 

Other books in the series and reviewed on Nadaness In Motion:

The Case of the Screaming Beauty (Book 1 in The Inspector David Graham Series)

The Case of the Hidden Flame (Book 2 in The Inspector David Graham Series)

The Case of the Broken Doll (Book 4 in The Inspector David Graham Series)

Death at the Café (Book 1 in The Reverend Annabelle Dixon Series)

Horror in the Highlands (Book 5 in The Reverend Annabelle Dixon Series)

Killer at the Cult (Book 6 in The Reverend Annabelle Dixon Series) 

Witches at the Wedding (Book 6 in The Reverend Annabelle Dixon Series)