View source for Where the Dead Fall (DI Ridpath, Book 2) by M J Lee

{{infobox1
|title=Where the Dead Fall (DI Ridpath, Book 2)
|author=M J Lee
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=The second DI Ridpath book is a good read and this is looking like a promising series.  Be warned: all the loose ends of this book are tied up but the story ends on a cliffhanger that will leave you needing to read the next book in the series.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=344
|publisher=Canelo
|date=April 2019
|isbn=
|cover=B07P6P4S7H
|aznuk=B07P6P4S7H
|aznus=B07P6P4S7H
}}

It really shouldn't have happened.  DI Ridpath, conscious that his relationship with his wife and child is hanging by a thread, is off to collect them at his mother-in-law's house for an evening out.  Traffic was heavy on the M60 (a match at Old Trafford wasn't helping) but it was moving steadily.  Then a man wearing only a pair of blue boxers dashed out into the traffic, briefly put his hands on Ridpath's car then ran into the path of an articulated lorry.  The driver had no chance of stopping and the naked man was killed instantly.  Glancing to the hard shoulder Ridpath glimpsed a man with a gun.  This was now a crime scene and the resulting seventeen-mile tailback of traffic would be the least of Ridpath's worries, although no one would let him forget about it in a hurry.

Ridpath's in a strange position. Technically he's part of the Major Incident Team, but he's not that long back from extended sick leave and he's been sidelined into a job as Coroner's Officer.  Only Ridpath is incapable of looking the other way, of restricting himself to what will pass muster, serve his current job and leave the rest be.  He's the only one who's seen the gunman on the M60 but he's not going to let anyone suggest that perhaps, just perhaps he was mistaken.

There's a new head of the Major Incident Team - Claire Trent.  She's immaculate and well-groomed but she knows her job, although DCI Charlie Whitworth can't see that it's right.  He was expecting to get the job.  It's not the fact that Trent is a woman - he's not a misogynist, for heaven's sake.  He puts a lot of value on the women in the job: he doesn't know how he'd manage without Christie who's on the support staff.

It's a good story.  Manchester comes gloriously to life, including the bits the mayor and his cohorts would prefer that you didn't see.  You get a real sense of what it's like trying to police a city that diverse and with a gang culture which is constantly on the verge of bubbling over into open warfare.  M J Lee does an excellent job of bringing it to life and making it realistic.  The characterisation is good too: even relatively minor characters come off the page well.

It's the plot you want to know about though, isn't it?  It's good and not at all predictable.  I had my own views as to who the wrong 'un was but got it completely wrong.  This story is completely wrapped up, but it ends on one helluva cliffhanger.  If you enjoy this book you will have to read the next in the series.

I'd like to thank the publishers for making a review copy available to the Bookbag.  ''Where the Dead Fall'' reads perfectly well as a standalone, but you'll have a better feel for the characters if you read the [[Where the Truth Lies (DI Ridpath) by M J Lee|first book in the series]].

[[M J Lee's D I Ridpath Series in Chronological Order]]

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