Review: Murder on the River by Janice Frost

Murder on the River (Warwick & Bell, #5)

by Janice Frost

Release Date: October 2, 2025

2025 Joffe Books

Ebook ARC; 290 Pages

ISBN: 978-1805732815

ASIN: B0FSKR688R

Genre: Fiction / Murder

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3.5 / 5 Stars 

 

Summary 

Detective Steph Warwick is halfway through her Christmas shopping when she gets the call. The body of a young man has been pulled from the icy River Witham.

The victim is Max Barsby, a quiet, hardworking archaeology student with no enemies — or so it seems. But Max didn’t drown. He was murdered. Bludgeoned over the head and left for dead.

Meanwhile Special Constable Jane Bell is investigating a routine break-in when she stumbles across an unexpected link to Max. Their enquiries unearth a mysterious girlfriend, a controversial dig site, and a discovery someone will kill to protect.

 

My Thoughts

Murder on the River is the fifth installment in this series and personally, I thought it was the weakest of the series. The mystery itself was actually interesting, but while I love investigations, this one felt rather repetitive, and I was getting rather annoyed with Jane Bell and her interfering family.  

 

Throughout the series, I have actually enjoyed Steph's character development as she was dealing with a lot of personal issues and was trying to work through them. No, she's not the most outgoing person and she struggles to develop personal relationships, but not everyone is warm and fuzzy, and that doesn't necessarily make her character uninteresting. There weren't really any new developments or breakthroughs for Steph, but I do like it when I see her trying, something that isn't easy for her.  As someone who is very much an introvert, I get where Steph is coming from and I enjoy seeing the baby steps she is taking. She doesn't need to be friends with people to do her job well.

 

I usually enjoy Jane and her family, but lately, the way she interferes in investigations actually got on my nerves. And in this one, it wasn't really Jane, but her know-it-all son.  Having him help out with the archaeological dig was one thing, but when you don't listen, get yourself in major trouble to the point where you can die, and there are really no consequences to your actions, that is where I have a problem. In all fairness, Steph typically has a reason to be angry with the Bell family and I was on her side the entire time.  

 

The plot itself was a bit repetitive this time round, but I did enjoy the reasons behind what happened. I did manage to figure out the culprit quite early on, so I just kind of sat back and read to see how the author would lay out the twists and turns for readers.  I did find the book to be one more of the telling variety this time round though. However, I did find the archaeology aspect to be quite interesting. 

 

Verdict

Murder on the River was not my favourite book in the series, but it did have an interesting mystery and I enjoyed learning more about the archaeological element.  I did find the pacing to be somewhat erratic, and I wasn't a fan of the interactions between the Bell family and Steph this time around.  However, I did really enjoy the earlier books in the series and would recommend them, so I will be continuing with the series when the next book is released.