Blood Trail
A gruesome tradition, a blood-spattered crime scene, and a killer hiding in plain sight.
Detective Harry Grimm is a worried man. When a group of vigilante locals start patrolling the Dales in response to a recent spate of crimes, he is forced to warn them off. Things only get more complicated when he is called out to multiple crime scenes – each with plenty of blood but no bodies.
Very soon, though, body parts start turning up. Delivered in a way that echoes a local poem and an old-but-grisly village ceremony. Faced with the bloody evidence in front of him, Grimm soon realises that his worst fears have come true: someone has already taken the law into their own hands.
With an ancient tradition being used to commit modern-day murder, can this battle-scarred detective stop the lanes of the Dales running red with blood?
Blood Trail is the tenth book in the riveting Harry Grimm police procedural series. If you like compelling characters, twisting plots, and beautiful British countryside settings, then you’ll love David J. Gatward’s nail-biting mystery.
Blood Trail is the tenth book in the DCI Harry Grimm crime thriller series, set in the Yorkshire Dales. Perfect for fans of L. J. Ross, J. D. Kirk, Adam Croft, Simon McCleave, Alex Smith, J. M. Dalgliesh, J. E. Mayhew, and J. R. Ellis.
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David J. Gatward
David J Gatward was born in Bristol and grew up in the Cotswolds, Wensleydale, and Lincolnshire, before heading off to the Lake District to train in outdoor education.
Having failed to realise on reading the prospectus that this meant being in a school classroom and not just climbing mountains, he graduated and went straight into publishing.
His first book was published when he was 18. Since then, he has written numerous books for children and adults, both under his own name and as a ghost writer. He was winner of the Leeds Children’s Book Award, and was short-listed for the 2023 Kindle Storyteller Award.
David now lives in Somerset and is constantly amazed by how his life has turned out.
DCI Harry Grimm Crime Thrillers
DCI Harry Grimm Crime Thrillers consists of twenty-four books and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

