Revenge of the Deadly Dozen – Peter Berry

Published By: Bloodhound Books
Pages: 280
Released On: 01/01/2025

Monica is barely a month into her role as leader of The Twelve—a secret group of retired experts tasked with eliminating London’s most dangerous criminals—when a new case threatens to tear the team apart. Ex-plumber David Latham brings them a personal mission: assassinate Paul Storey, the only suspect who walked free after the racist murder of his best friend’s son, Justin Morris in 2010.

But as Monica and her team dig deeper, they uncover a web of corruption that reaches back decades. Old photos, hidden bribes, and buried secrets reveal the true killers and a sinister legacy of violence. And when police commissioner Suzanne Green makes a shocking confession, the team plot their own form of justice…

As alliances are tested and enemies emerge from the shadows, Monica must lead The Twelve on their most dangerous mission yet. But will justice cost them everything?

*****

Thanks to Peter for sending me a copy of his book.

I loooooved book one – Lunch With the Deadly Dozen; it was utterly fabulous and so I was thrilled when Peter sent me book two. And did I see my name in the acknowledgments there…? I think I did. Which was a lovely thing to see..

Cosy crime novels featuring old or retired individuals are ten a penny nowadays, and I love them, but they can get a bit samey. I think where Peter’s stand out is that the characters are ex-somethings. They’re not just older people who happened to get caught up in solving crimes. They’re ex-police, ex-military, ex-spies etc. which gives them extra depth and makes it more believable that they know what to do.

Because it’s been a while since I read the first one, and owing to the large quantity of characters, I was worried I’d be confused, lost as to what had happened previously and who everyone was, but I fitted right in almost instantly.

It’s got adventure, thrill, darkness and sadness, but it also has humour and romance. It’s got a bit of everything.

The big goings-on don’t happen until after halfway, which for most books would be too late. But I think this book, and the previous one, excel in their character work. And so this gives the characters enough time to get their claws into the reader so that when the goings-on actually go on, you are fully invested.

I love the characters. There are some more prominent than others and some more likeable than others, but on the whole, I liked them all. They all bring something different to the table. It’s very impressive because there is a large number of characters and it would be too easy to under-develop some or have it get too complicated, but he’s mastered all of them.

I mean, is it always believable? No, of course not, crime novels rarely are. But I don’t care, because it really works.

I’ve said before, that whilst there is nothing lesser about self publishing or indie publishing, I find it astounding that this duology (and hopeful long series) hasn’t been snapped up by a mainstream big publisher as it is just as good as other cosy crime novels out there and I really think there’s a huge readership for it.