Charlaine Harris is completely justified in saying that the books are her creation and as such she can end them anyway she wants, whether it upsets fans or not. My response is, as a paying customer, it is my right not to buy it! I feel that the way the books were written, after book 1, encouraged readers to become heavily invested in a HEA for Sookie and Eric. CH said she always knew how she would end them - in that case she failed to lead the reader to that possibility which is just poor writing.

I've just received an email regarding Amazon offering 55% off the price - and on release date!

For readers who enjoy Billingham's Thorne series and Peter James's Roy Grace this is a must read. A really exciting new talent. I've given it five stars because I really enjoyed the book and can't wait to read the next book in the series. I'm not going to pick at anything because James Oswald hasn't had the luxury of his book being professionally edited. Publishing companies should be knocking down his door because Inspector Mclean is a character that should see future books flying off the bookshelves! I can also see them inspiring a major TV series and lets face it, good crime detectives are in short supply on TV these days. I can see it as a TV series because James Oswald also created interesting minor characters.

I don't do reviews on Amazon normally. I reviewed this one because it has been a long time since a new author has excited me this much. These days the only author I wait for next in series from is Peter James's Roy Grace and happily pay full price upon hardback release. Peter James doesn't need my reviews to sell his books but James Oswald does. I'd happily pay the same amount for the next Inspector Mclean as I would for a Roy Grace, because Natural Causes was that good!

Anyway whilst it's free what do you have to lose? If you like good gritty crime then you'll love this.