Review: Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire

Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire by M.R.C. Kasasian
Page length: 432 Pages
Genre: Literary Fiction   
Publication Date: 7 February 2019 (Paperback)
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4.5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT BETTY CHURCH AND THE SUFFOLK VAMPIRE
 
September 1939.
 
As Britain readies for war, Inspector Betty Church must battle a ruthless killer...
 
Inspector Betty Church – one of the few female officers on the force – has arrived from London to fill a vacancy at Sackwater police station. But Betty isn't new here. This is the place she grew up. The place she thought she'd left for good.
 
After a slow start, Betty's called to the train station to investigate a stolen bench. But though there's no bench, there is a body. A smartly dressed man, murdered in broad daylight, with two distinctive puncture wounds in his throat.
 
While the locals gossip about the Suffolk Vampire, Betty Church steels herself to hunt a dangerous killer.

My Review:

I absolutely adored MRC Kasasian's Gower Street series (start with the Mangle Street Murders, so I was delighted to get the chance to read the first Betty Church story.
 
Betty Church is one of the first female police detectives, and let's be fair if it wasn't near-war time she might not have got a look in. As if those weren't difficult enough odds, Betty only has one arm. It's Girl Power 1930s!
 
Betty is a brilliant protagonist and as per Mr Kasasian's previous series, (set in Victorian London) the research of the time and location is exemplary. It's Team Betty the whole time when she comes up against common-place (of its time) discrimination and prejudice. It's heartbreaking at times how people are treated and disregarded.
 
The book is a riot from start to finish. I hope to see and read more of Betty Church's escapades.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review.