The New Zealand city of Dunedin is rocked when a wealthy and apparently respectable businessman is murdered in his luxurious home while his wife is bound and gagged, and forced to watch. But when Detective Sam Shephard and her team start investigating the case, they discover that the victim had links with some dubious characters.
The case seems cut and dried, but Sam has other ideas. Weighed down by her dad’s terminal cancer diagnosis, and by complications in her relationship with Paul, she needs a distraction, and launches her own investigation. And when another murder throws the official case into chaos, it’s up to Sam to prove that the killer is someone no one could ever suspect…
You all should know by now how much I love the Sam Shephard series, everytime a new installment is announced it feels like Christmas. Thanks to Orenda Books for kindly gifting me a beautiful proof of this highly anticipated read and to Vanda for creating such exquisite crime fiction for my reading mind to devour.
Bound by Vanda Symon is due to be published in paperback on the 18th of March, with the eBook version coming the 4th of January. The physical copy is available to pre-order here.
Vanda, again delivers a delicious slice of New Zealand Noir with its tense, snappy dialogue and the straight cut way the plot unravels. With every installment of the series, Sam Shephard opens herself up to be vunrable that little bit more, you can’t help but slip into this love for her. With the mixture of family complexity and a a case which involves the murder of a wealthy business man, we see Sam avoiding the reality of her personal life in the sand of a brutal investigation that slips under the current of legitimate money making.
The modern marriage of Noir and crime fiction that Vanda has officiated takes us back to the city of Dunedin, a small town where Sam has one of the best gut feelings, yet isn’t always taken seriously by the men who are higher up the rankings than her. Sam’s confidence and intelligence shines through at times but we still get to see her at her most fragile, especially when the spotlight is on her father’s terminal illness. I always feel myself getting clasped by the emotion Vanda laces through the plotline, as well as having me edging towards the seat cliff with the ‘who dunnit’ aspect. The storyline spirally unravels at the best speed of stride. I always let out a breath of satisfaction as I turn the last page of a Vanda read, but I also feel sad that I didn’t enjoy it for longer, but it always makes me so much more excited for whatever Vanda writes next!
So do yourself a favour and add Bound to your 2021 TBR pile, pre-order and be prepared to do nothing but devour it when it lands on your kindle or welcome mat.
Until next time,
Happy reading!
The Reading Closet 
I met Vanda at the Orenda on tour last year but it’s taken me until now to begin reading the series. I loved my first taste of it, but I think I’m going to get even more enjoyment when she is in Dunedin since I was in that city just 12 months ago. I love reading about places I’ve visited
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