I have only read book one in this series and I remember not liking DS Gemma Woodstock at all in that one. Somehow I have managed to pick up book four on Netgalley, and luckily I find that Gemma has improved greatly since that first book.

In Body of Lies she is on maternity leave with nine months old Scarlett, and living with Max, Scarlett's father, and Ben, her older son. Gemma's return to work is approaching and when a really strange case involving a missing corpse turns up she is keen to help out in a casual way. This becomes awkward because she cannot of course run the case and she does not cope well with not being in charge.

It is an intriguing case involving several murders, a stolen corpse, an abandoned baby and much, much more especially in the last third of the book. This is when the author decides to throw everything possible into the mix. As long as you do not want your fiction to be realistic this is actually okay and perfectly readable if a little crazy.

I thought this book started off extremely well and I enjoyed the police work and the characters. As the story progressed it seemed to lose direction and rambled into some very unly scenarios. Still quite readable but not the best. Three stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.48 s2 comments Kylie H1,032

This is book 4 in the Gemma Woodstock series and probably the book I enjoyed the most out of the four of them. In this book Gemma is living in the regional town of Smithson in NSW with her partner Mac and her children. She is on maternity leave but when a body disappears from the hospital morgue and a staff member is found murdered she cannot help but want to get involved.
The Gemma in this book is a lot more able and relateable than the Gemma in the prior books. She seems to be getting her personal life on track, but this case could jeopardise all of that as well her family and professional relationships.
A good gritty story with a few twists that I didn't see coming. Happy to recommend this, but probably better to read the series than read this book as a standalone. Thank you Allen & Unwin as well as Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.aussie-noir crime netgalley ...more27 s5 comments Damo391 45

The new Gemma Woodstock police procedural, the 4th in the series, begins as Gemma’s off work on maternity leave after the birth of Scarlett. But while she’s supposed to be taking it easy, events conspire to draw her back to work and into a strange mystery that has everyone perplexed.

A high speed car accident outside the town of Smithson results in a woman brought into the hospital in a critical condition. After she succumbs to her injuries her body is placed in the morgue pending further examination.

But before the examination can take place the hospital experiences a power failure that precedes a fire alarm. Gemma happens to be at the hospital at the time, visiting her father who has had a heart attack. Just as she’s trying to work out what’s happened, another alarm is raised - the body in the morgue has been taken.

Officially, Gemma is on leave, but she can’t stop herself from being drawn into the investigation, much to the annoyance of the detective in charge, DS Julian Everett. Given that the unit is currently short-staffed, her boss, Chief Inspector Ken Jones, a man she has worked with for years and only refers to as Jonesy, gives her the green light to investigate in parallel to the official team’s work. An odd arrangement and one that you can tell is sure to cause ructions.

And this is the thing with the Gemma Woodstock character, you’re either gonna love her or hate her. I found her to be exasperating. Overly judgemental, resentful and willingly abrasive towards her colleagues, she’s the opposite of a team player and, in highly hypocritical fashion, derides others when she senses it in them. As needy and insecure as she comes across in the course of this book, her behaviour has actually improved from the way she’s acted in the earlier three books. It’s a good thing she’s got a strong instinct for getting to the bottom of crimes.

Along with her reporter friend Candy Fyfe, Gemma manages to squirm her way to a position where she can pick up vital information about the case. Together they start to put a few pieces together, interview a few people and try to come up with an idea of who the woman might have been and why she was driving so dangerously. And then another person is found dead and that’s when the case really starts to take off - as does the friction between Gemma and Everett.

Now, normally I can’t stand police procedurals where the investigation is hampered by the in-fighting amongst the law enforcement officers. And, to be sure, there’s a lot of that going on here. But the fact is, the insecurities of Gemma, the aloof dismissiveness of Everett and the timid behaviour of Minnie, a constable working the case, all play an important role in the outcome of this mystery. It’s all quite well put together, creates an emotional response for the reader to latch onto and has some implications for the nature of the crimes being investigated.

The murder plot itself is quite a tangled one, complicated by more than one astounding twist as well as the occasional blindside that had just about everyone reeling. With hints of a possible cult involvement, high level scientific genetic research and constant reminders of tragic past events, there’s rich fodder for this case to go in any direction.

I must say I had quite a lot of trouble working out the size of the (fictional) town of Smithson, New South Wales. Sometimes it seemed as though it was a small country town, while other times I had the impression it’s quite a sizable city. It seemed to be a short trip to get out onto deserted country roads while also proving to be a struggle to get through congested streets within town. Not only that I sensed that the Smithson Police Force, complete with a forensic team, was quite large for a country town. I just had difficulty positioning the place in my head and, consequently, I felt there was no sense of place.

When Body of Lies put the in-fighting away (and I got over the geographical mystery of Smithson) and got down to the business of solving the crimes that were presented to the Smithson police, the story flowed more evenly. From a slow, plodding start, the pace picked up to deliver an exciting climax which answered many questions but still left me scratching my head a little.

My thanks to Allen & Unwin via NetGalley for my ARC which allowed me to read, enjoy and review this book.
2024-release australian police-procedural25 s Helen2,486 11

This is the first book I have read in this series and I did enjoy it very much, I am not sure whether I really Gemma that much, she tended to rub me the wrong way at times but she does her job and well, Gemma is on maternity leave visiting her father in hospital, when the lights go out and the fire alarm sounds, Gemma jumps in, baby in tow and starts asking questions and DS Everett sent to investigate is not happy with her jumping in, when they discover that the body of a woman killed in a suspicious car accident is missing and Gemma is determined to find answers, little does she know how things are going to turn out.

Gemma’s partner Mac, is working on a cold case at the moment and Gemma is eager to get back to work and this case seems the right time especially when a new born baby is found by the lake, are they linked? Then the hospital CEO is found murdered the pressure is on the police to find answers and Gemma is in boots and all, even though she and DS Everett are not getting on at all, the tension grows as they all do their best to find answers.

With Gemma’s journalist friend Candy pushing for something she can write about, Gemma soon finds herself in danger, when she is attacked, Mac seems to be keeping secrets from her as is her boss DI Jones, who can she trust and what’s more are all of these cases linked and who is behind it all, will she and the police find the answers before there are more bodies turning up.

This is a twisty story with shocking revelations for Gemma and a very busy story with lots happening all at once, there are fabulous characters who have personal issues at the same time they are working and getting to know them added to the story. This is one that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good crime thriller, it did have me turning the pages to find out what happened. Well worth the read.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.review-copy-from-netgalley21 s Andrea890 30

Oh Gemma, Gemma, Gemma. She might be one of my favourite fictional Australian detectives, but she still makes me shake my head in frustration. After book #3 (Where the Dead Go) I really thought DS Gemma Woodstock was starting to get her act together, but this latest (and final, according to Bailey) story shows that in the right circumstances, a person/character can regress.

Because in Body of Lies, things seem to have come full circle for Gemma. She's living back in Smithson, and having been out of action for some time on maternity leave, the old insecurities about her job, her professional skills and her relationships, are all beginning to bubble to the surface again.

Gemma and baby Scarlett are visiting the local Smithson Hospital one evening when an unusual security incident occurs. Between hospital execs, security and local police, nobody can work out what's going on until someone realises a corpse has gone missing from the morgue. The dead woman had been involved in a suspicious road traffic accident earlier that evening. Then when a newborn baby is found abandoned at the lake mere hours later, Gemma decides to cut her maternity leave short and 'help out' the short-staffed police investigation, led by DS Julian Everett.

This was a classic Woodstock story, although the details of the plot were a little unusual - un anything I've read for quite a while. The twists and turns are all there, some guessable but many took me by surprise. While Gemma is a very effective investigator, the way her brain conducts analyses is anything but straightforward. She frustrated DS Everett, she even frustrated her boss Jonesy, who is her biggest supporter, and of course she frustrated me too! In one of the early case briefings, even I wanted to tell her to shut up! But at the end of the day she's a fantastic character and I feel a little sad to say goodbye. (And even sadder to think there may never be a joint investigation with journalist Olive Groves from The Housemate!)

A great ending to a great series.

With thanks to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for an advance copy to read and review.

2024 australian-author netgalley ...more19 s2 comments Marianne3,732 263

3.5?s
Body Of Lies is the fourth and final book in the Gemma Woodstock series by award-winning Australian author, Sarah Bailey. A pub brawl, a fatal road accident with an unidentified victim, the corpse of that victim stolen from a hospital morgue, an abandoned newborn baby, and the stabbing murder of a hospital executive, all within twenty-four hours: some of these incidents are definitely related, but DS Gemma Woodstock, still on maternity leave, is on the scene of one, and knows they should be thoroughly but separately investigated.

With a severe staff shortage, her former boss in Smithson, DI Ken Jones seems eager for her input; Smithson DS Julian Everett is chagrined by her participation; her close friend, independent journalist, Candy Fyfe, wants information to guarantee her a scoop; and her partner Mac is sympathetic to her irresistible urge to get involved.

Of course there are things to consider: ten-year-old Ben is anxious for her safety at work; nine-month-old Scarlett needs care; and Mac has his own work keeping him busy, some of it requiring travel. But starting back in Smithson would stand her in good stead for a potential senior position coming up, Ben could stay in the same school, and she could be close to her father and his health issues. Do she and Mac want to settle in Smithson?

Jonesy agrees that Gemma can run a parallel investigation and share information with Everett, who will lead the case, which sort of works except that she is less than impressed by Everett’s methods and attention to detail. Then things get dangerous for Gemma and she is ordered to step back by Jonesy, and begged to do so by her dad and Mac. But Gemma is hooked by the stimulation the cases offer, and retreat isn’t in her nature: teaming up with Candy is an acceptable compromise.

With each case there are unanswered questions and a myriad of possible explanations and connections. There’s a lot of CCTV to trawl through, and DNA test results seem to take longer than they should. Some witnesses are inexplicably evasive, and others are very ly lying, but Gemma is determined to find the truth. Then a lab result reveals that people Gemma has always trusted implicitly have lied to her on a grand scale. What does it mean for the cases? And can she forgive the betrayal?

Bailey gives the reader an intriguing plot with quite a few twists and turns, although the truth, when revealed, does need the reader to don their disbelief suspenders, and does feel a bit an overdone trope. Gemma is still a gutsy protagonist, even if most of her decisions are less impulsive and more responsible. Attending grisly scenes and prison interviews with Scarlett strapped to her front might also stretch the credibility a bit. A fitting conclusion to this excellent series.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Allen & Unwin.17 s Gloria (Ms. G's Bookshelf)716 165

??4.5 Stars??
Body of Lies by Sarah Bailey
Loved this fast paced police procedural, what a ride! There’s so much happening and plenty of intrigue and suspense. This will be the last in the Gemma Woodstock detective series of 4 books, I haven’t read the others yet but I’m definitely keen now. Easily read as a standalone.

I enjoyed Gemma’s character and her complex life. The story begins with Gemma back in her hometown, she’s on maternity leave, her daughter Scarlett is now eight months. While Gemma is visiting her father in hospital, a corpse in the hospital morgue is stolen and Gemma is drawn into a mystifying investigation although still officially on leave.

Nobody can work out why the woman’s body was taken, she was a car crash victim and not known in town.

Soon after the incident a newborn baby is found abandoned near the lake and Gemma learns of some family secrets that are devastating to her. So much crime in a small town!

Totally gripping, lots of action and well worth reading.

Other books in the series are:-
#1 The Dark Lake
#2 Into The Night
#3 Where The Dead Go

Publication Date 27 February 2024
Publisher Allen & Unwin

Thanks so much to the wonderful team at Allen & Unwin for a copy of the book.the-bookshelf16 s2 comments Linda (Lily) Raiti427 61

This is the 4th instalment of the Gemma Woodstock series. I was so keen to get to this after all the fabulous I was hearing, that I didn’t wait to read the first three … I will be going back though as Body of Lies was so good!
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