Publication Day Review: The Bookseller: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan

 

As the father of DS George Cross faces a very hard medical diagnosis, he works the case of a murder inside Squire’s Rare Books. Located in Bristol and owned by the Squire family, the bookstore has been a fixture in Berkeley Square. The squires have been involved in the business of rare books for decades, but world of bookselling has massively changed from when Torquil Squire was a mere lad running books when he was a lad. The staff that runs the place these days is having a hard time working together and adjusting the business and there is friction.

 

Did that friction play a role or cause the death of Edward Squire, son of Torquil, or not? A question that DS George Cross and the rest of the team will have to answer in coming days along with a host of other questions. A team that has a lot going on, professionally and personally, as they deal with various matters including the repercussions of recent events depicted in The Teacher.

 

Quite a lot is happening in The Bookseller: A DS George Cross Mystery. This review deliberately skims the surface of this intense police procedural. In my opinion, to reveal more would cause spoilers and I won’t do that. Suffice it to say that this is a mighty good read in a series that just keeps getting better and better.

 

As I have tried to make clear before, each book in this series is well worth your time. The Bookseller: A DS George Cross Mystery is as well.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4ctnvNP

 

 

I received a digital ARC from the publisher, Atlantic Crime, imprint of Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.

  

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Lesa's Book Critiques: The Teacher by Tim Sullivan

 Lesa's Book Critiques: The Teacher by Tim Sullivan

Review: The Teacher: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan

 

With DS Josie Ottey off as she moves her family to a new house, DS George Cross is stuck partnering with his boss, DCI Ben Carson, as The Teacher: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan begins. Those of us who have read the series to this point understand very well that this is not an optimal situation for DS George Cross.

 

In the coming days and weeks, it will get way worse for him as well as a couple of other members of the investigate team.

 

Carson and Cross have been called out to the scene of where an elderly man apparently went down a narrow staircase the hard way. The smear of blood, a long trail, shows the path Alistair Moreton’s head took in its final seconds. The neck is obviously broken. While DCI Carson sees a slip and fall, PC Trevor Bain saw the defensive puncture wounds to the hands of the deceased man and called for assistance.

 

As DS Cross notes, there are also bites to the victim’s legs as well as some sort of puncture wound to his chest. It is clearly not a simple slip and fall. In Cross’ opinion, the police constable was one hundred percent correct in alerting the Major Crime Unit of the Avon and Somerset Police.

 

What follows is a complicated case and a hunt for the killer or killers. Along the way, not only do we see Cross deal with a series of challenges, professionally and personally, we also follow as various members of the team deal with their own professional and personal challenges. In every case, those challenges would be spoilers if I revealed them here, so I won’t.

 

Instead, I will simply point out that The Teacher: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan is a very good police procedural. Part of the excellent series that began with The Dentist. This read, and the others, should be read in order as each one extensively builds on the previous books of the series.

 

 

Strongly recommended.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4rBurxe

 

 

I received a digital ARC from the publisher, Atlantic Crime, imprint of Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.

  

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – The Patient by Tim Sullivan

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – The Patient by Tim Sullivan

Review: The Monk: A DS George Cross Thriller by Tim Sullivan

 

DS George Cross is rarely shocked. After all, he has seen quite a lot over the years. The scene in the woodlands of Goblin Combe though has been quite the surprise for the Detective Sargent of the Avon and Somerset police. It has been quite a surprise to others on the Major Crimes unit team as well.

 

It is a bad business.

 

The ditch in the rural area has a chair sitting in it. When folks smelled the odor in the area, most folks would think that it came from a dead animal. It would only be if one got closer, as a dog walker did this morning, that one would see the contents of the dumped chair. One would see the remains of a badly beaten man, industrial duct taped to the chair, and very clearly dead as time and nature has long been at work breaking down what was once a vibrant person.

 

A person who, based on how he is still dressed, was once a monk. In all likelihood, what sits before them is the body of Dom Dominic Augustus of St. Eustace’s Monastery. He was reported missing two days ago by the father abbot. Dom Dominic Augustus clearly went through a literal hell on earth in his last hours before he was dumped here where he was finally found.

 

For Cross, the central question of the case is answering the why. Not necessarily, the who did it part first. Once the team is able to fully answer why the Benedictine Monk was brutally beaten to death, everything else will fall into place.

 

And it does, slowly and beautifully.

 

DS George Cross always gets the killer or killers. The process is always a highly entertaining aspect of these reads. That is very true here as this reader snickered several times as things were said between Cross and others. Along with the investigative process and those details, several secondary characters, as well as Cross, are further developed. As part of this process, we learn more about Cross’s background, why his mom left, and the ongoing emotional impact of her return all these years later.

 

The result is another complicated read that pulls the reader into this world very fast and does not let go. An entertaining series that must be read in order for the full effect, The Monk: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan is another installment well worth reading.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4bFZyT5

 

 

My reading copy came from Atlantic Crime, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Publication Day Review: The Politician: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan

 

Peggy Frampton is very much dead in her bedroom as The Politician: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan begins. The cleaning lady had found her employer dead that morning. Now Cross, the Detective Sergeant from the Avon and Somerset Police, will lead the hunt for the killer or killers as this most definitely is a murder case.

 

At one time, Peggy Frampton was the Mayor of Bristol. In recent years, she has been a social media influencer through an advice column, and a writer. She has a massive online presence and impact, not only in her local Bristol, England, community, but far beyond. She tended to ruffle feathers, at times, with her blunt advice.

 

She is survived by her husband, Peter, and their adult children. Peter is a lawyer. As it happens, he is in London, on a case, and is on the way back home as DS George Cross looks at the body and the crime scene.

 

While some, such as DCI Ben Carson, believe this is aa case of a simple burglary gone wrong, DS George Cross does not. Before much can be done by the local police, due to the high-profile nature of the case, Chief Superintendent Heather Mathews is brought in to supervise. Fortunately for everyone, while she has never worked with Cross before, she knows of him and how he is, and so she allows him wide latitude to pursue the case as he sees fit. That means he can treat it like any other case and not be micromanaged by Carson or anyone else.

 

That is always a plus. Especially here with a case that is complex and constantly evolving as lines of inquiry are adjusted as evidence comes to light. As always, the reader knows that Cross will identify and build a case against those involved. The real question is what else will he and his team unearth in their pursuit of justice for the dead.

 

For that, you will have to read the book.

 

It would also be best if you started with the first read, The Dentist: A DS George Cross Mystery, and work your way forward to this fourth book of the re-released series. This is not a static police procedural series with very little change over time. Instead, and one of the things that makes it so good, characters constantly evolve and deal with things in life, relationships change, and more happens while the police work continues.

 

The Politician: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan is another very good installment of a really good police procedural series. What more could you want?

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Nu5Hrp

 

 

I received a digital ARC from the publisher, Atlantic Crime, imprint of Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026 

Review: The Patient: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan

 

Third in the police procedural series that began with The Dentist, DS George Cross is outside the Major Crime Unit in Bristol as The Patient: A DS George Cross Thriller by Tim Sullivan begins. He is about to ride home on his bicycle when he sees a woman who has been inside the station each day for the last several days. She is soaked from the falling rain and eating a sandwich in the bike shelter. After a little back and forth, she tells DS Cross that her name is Sandra Wilson and her daughter was murdered.

 

He takes her inside, has Alice Mackenzie get the soaked woman a towel, and looks at the paperwork Sandra Wilson brought with her. Her daughter, Felicity, known to all as Flick, had a very long history of drug use. The police that handled the case decided the death was an accidental overdose, maybe even a suicide, and closed the case. Mom is very sure that her daughter did no such thing. She is sure that it was murder. After going through the file repeatedly and question the woman, DS George Cross spots an inconsistency in the case that makes no sense at all.

 

That is what he does. He spots the smallest of details because he is on the Autism Spectrum. The inconstancy he spotted was ignored by those who worked the case. The system has failed the mother of the victim, the victim herself, and the very young daughter of the victim. He starts working the closed case as if it were his own regardless of who is annoyed that he is doing so.

 

This includes his boss, DCI Carson, who would very much prefer he not waste his time on a closed case. Especially when Cross could focus on the current open case of a body being found in the river. Undeterred, Cross does what he wants because he is a very good detective.

 

It isn’t like they are going to fire him as he is very good. Much to the annoyance of others, including a fellow detective, who should be focused on doing their own jobs better. Including a fellow detective who is now bringing charges internally against him in order for the Force to take disciplinary action against DS Cross.

 

This third book in the series now being published in the United States by Grove Atlantic is a very good read. As is the police procedural series to date. Best to read in order as Cross, Ottey, Mackenzie, and other characters are fast becoming family for this reader.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Y9MXPY

 

 

I received a digital ARC from the publisher, Atlantic Crime, imprint of Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Publication Day Review: The Cyclist: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan

  

It has been a few months since the events of The Dentist as the police procedural, The Cyclist: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan begins, and DS George Cross is at, in all likelihood, a crime scene. An annoyed contractor wants to get his men back to work on the teardown of a row of garages, but the dead body wrapped in plastic and sitting in the bucket of a digger has meant that all work is stopped. Detective Sergeant George Cross of the Somerset and Avon police force flatly and calmly explains the reality of the situation in his unique style and returns to the business at hand—solving a murder.

 

The unique style of Detective Sergeant George Cross is due to the fact that he is on the autism spectrum with Asperger’s syndrome. He has a very hard time picking up on social cues and interacting with people. He does not recognize emotions and has to go through a sort of mental catalog to figure out the emotion a person is displaying on their face. So, he is working hard to be civil and polite with the contractor who wants nothing more than to get the project back underway, and doesn’t quite get why DS George Cross is saying what he is saying to him. DS Ottey is soon able to rescue Cross before things go sideways with the man.

 

DS George Cross is detail focused and driven and is an exceptional investigator though he drives everyone around him a bit mad at times. Of course, if everyone had his attention to detail, that would really help everyone. Since the pathologist clearly does not, she might have noticed clues on the body that would give them an idea as to the identity of the victim. The victim had no identification, no engraved watch, no cell phone, nothing at all that would identify him. But, in his close examination of the body in front of the perturbed pathologist in the morgue, DS Cross identified several clues that indicate the victim was a serious cyclist.

 

That fact soon proves out to be true and the team is able to identify the victim. Now that the victim is identified, they can actually start investigating him, his background, relationships, etc., and begin to make slow progress in a complicated case.

 

This second book in the series builds off the first book, The Dentist, and does so very well. Further character development of George Cross, as well as several other characters, is underway here and does not distract from the main storyline. Also present are the economic budgetary issues impacting the police in the name of efficiency and are, actually, doing the exact opposite. Also present is a complex mystery with far reaching implications.

 

A police procedural series that should be read in order, The Cyclist: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan is a highly entertaining read.

 

The book, and the series, to date, is highly recommended.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4omEQLH

 

 

I received a digital ARC from the publisher, Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Review: The Dentist: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan

  

As next Tuesday already has a publication day review scheduled, I am posting my review today. If you preorder now or pick it up later, make sure you get the new publication as the previous published one with a totally different cover that includes the word “thriller” is widely available.

 

Detective Sergeant George Cross is a man who is very much set in his ways. For very good reason. He is on the autism spectrum with Asperger’s syndrome. He has a very hard time picking up on social cues and interacting with people. He does not recognize emotions and has to go through a sort of mental catalog to figure out the emotion a person is displaying on their face. He comes off as cold and dispassionate as he zero sense of humor and takes nearly everything literally. He gets hyper focused on the minutia of a case. In so doing, he looks for patterns and anomalies. If you need somebody to find the needle in the haystack, he would be your man. He is an exceptional investigator though he drives everyone around him a bit mad at times.

 

As The Dentist: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan begins, he is at the outdoor location of a deceased elderly male. The man was clearly homeless in recent months and, quite possibly, years. The Uniformed Officers that responded to the scene have already deduced that this is just another random “homeless on homeless” crime and have lost all interest. DS George Cross is very sure they are wrong as the man still has his bag containing some food and alcohol. The alcohol is worth more than its weight in gold on the streets and one would think a homeless killer would have taken that.

 

No, something else is afoot. For DS George Cross the deceased also represents a fellow outsider like himself. He knows he does not fit in and has to work to maintain any sort of human contact with the team and others. He also is acutely aware of how he is and how he has been this way back to childhood. He also is very aware that he can’t change any aspect of who he is as that is the very fiber of his being. Truth be told, he doesn’t care. He just does what he does. Because of that, he is an exceptionally good investigator in the Major Crime Unit of the Avon and Somerset police.

 

Because he is what he is, he is obsessed with rules and procedure. Everything is triple checked, if not more, and fully documented. He builds meticulous cases that prosecutors relish as they know that no corners were cut and everything is perfect going into trial. He may have little to no sense of humor and takes everything literally, but he also has a conviction rate of 97 percent.

 

DS Cross is absolutely certain that it is a murder. He is also sure that it is not a case of street violence among the homeless. A man that, as Cross spots in the mortuary, was married and a widower. Not only that, but Cross also spots that the murder victim still has his contacts in his eyes. After the pathologist that missed them uses tweezers and gets them out, Cross notes that they are a little bit larger than normal size. A specialized set of lenses that are used to treat a very specific and rare eye condition. That information could be used to track down his identity. Another example, in his mind, that if other folks would just do their jobs properly, he would not waste so much time having to go back over their work.   

 

That attention to detail and knowledge beyond the job soon leads the police to his identity. They also soon have an obvious suspect, another homeless person, who clearly had a physical fight of some kind with the victim in the last few hours before the murder. The suspect was too drunk and has no memory of what happened. But, charging him, based on the evidence, would be easy and it would resolve the case successfully as the suspect probably did it in the mind of his boss and others.

 

When ordered to charge the suspect, Cross refuses, and the task falls to his partner, DS Josie Ottey. Cross also chooses to continue to investigate as he believes the suspect in their cells absolutely did not do it. He believes somebody else violently murdered the man as he was strangled so hard his trachea was broken.

 

With the victim identified, it doesn’t take Cross long to consider the fact that the death in the here and now might have something to do with the murder of the man’s wife fifteen years ago. A murder that was a media sensation. Dubbed the “Tea Set Murder,” it saw a man who confessed, later recanted, and was ultimately convicted, sent to prison.

 

It also was a case, apparently as Cross begins to review it, one that had issues. Was it just cutting corners and sloppy police work, or was there an actual police coverup? Was the actual killer then never identified and thus remained free? Is it that killer again in the here and now or what? Over the objections of his boss and others, Cross continues to work to link the two cases, and drags Ottey and Mackenzie along with him.  

 

Originally published by Pacific Press in Great Britain in 2020, this police procedural now published in the United States by Grove Atlantic is very good. For those of us who have family members on the spectrum and/or worked for a number of years with students on the spectrum in the local public school system, the first few chapters of constant explanation of how DS Cross is and why can be a bit tiresome. However, if one gets through those several early chapters and stays with it, the patience is rewarded with a very good read as the case develops.

 

The Dentist: A DS George Cross Mystery is a very good read. Built around a main character that is pretty much brilliant and eccentric, the author has assembled an interesting cast of secondary characters. Whether that be the boss, DCI Carson, who is not an idiot though he is a political animal and looking to move up, DS Josie Ottey, who tries to get him to be better with others and is often exasperated by that and other things, the new Police Staff Investigator, Alice Mackenzie, a trainee who soon learns to do only what she is explicitly told to do, and others. Each character, regardless of their importance in the read, is quite distinctive as the read becomes more and more complex and pulls the reader deep into an intriguing fictional world.

 

Strongly recommended and very much worth your time.

 

Once again, I am indebted to Lesa Holstine who reviewed this book very positively back in July. She noted that the book was listed on NetGalley. So, I went and picked it up. I also requested and was quickly granted permission to read, The Cyclist, which is the second book in the series and will be released by Grove Atlantic in January. Hopefully, they plan on doing the entire series.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3VnwxCq

 

 

I received a digital ARC from the publisher, Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.  

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025