Read in 2017 - 16: Hushabye

Celina Grace: Hushabye
No. 1 in The Kate Redman Mysteries series

This book had only one fault: I would have wanted it to be longer.

Kate Redman, a young detective, starts her new assignment with the police force in the fictional town of Abbeyford, situated in the UK's West Country. She is a very self-disciplined woman who really wants to do well in her job, but she isn't over-ambitious in the way some people would do anything for their career - she is still human.

Like many interesting characters, there is much more to her than meets the eye, and something looming in her past that makes her unhappy and sad at times. But she is not one of those "broken" detectives who have become so en vogue in crime fiction in recent years; she is essentially a good, believable person the reader can relate to and care about.

In her first case, the 3-month-old baby of a wealthy couple is kidnapped and his nanny murdered. The couple, a business man and a minor celebrity, react very differently to the kidnapping and murder. Both of them know enough dodgy people and have made some enemies in the past for Kate and her colleagues to have several leads to follow, but which is the right one?
Then, another person close to the couple is killed, and as the pressure mounts with each passing day, Kate finds it increasingly difficult to keep her level head.

The story is well-plotted and well-written. The style is contemporary with the occasional swear word, but this is not overdone and fits the situation. It is not the kind of mystery where you can guess what happened from the very start. I found another book in the series for free and downloaded it immediately, and am seriously considering to download the entire series - it is not very expensive, and definitely worth the money.
You can find out more about the books and their author here.