Today I’m excited to be hosting a stop on Luca Veste’s BLOODSTREAM Blog Tour. Published on 22^nd October by Simon & Schuster, BLOODSTREAM is the third novel in the Murphy and Rossi crime fiction series.

Here’s what the blurb says: “Social media stars Chloe Morrison and Joe Hooper seem to have it all – until their bodies are found following an anonymous phone call to their high-profile agent. Tied and bound to chairs facing each other, their violent deaths cause a media scrum to descend on Liverpool, with DI David Murphy and DS Laura Rossi assigned to the case.

Murphy is dismissive, but the media pressure intensified when another couple is found in the same manner as the first. Only this time the killer has left a message. A link to a private video on the internet, and the words ‘Nothing stays secret’. It quickly becomes clear that more people will die; that the killer believes secrets and lies within relationships should have deadly consequences …”

DI David Murphy and DS Laura Rossi of the Major Crimes Unit, Liverpool North have had a quieter time of things since the events of The Dying Place, but that all changes when married social media stars “ChloJoe” are found dead in an derelict house miles from their home. As the media whip up a frenzy around the case, Murphy and Rossi hand the missing persons case of teenager Amy Maguire that they’re working on back to Liverpool South and immerse themselves in the investigation. But what at first looks like a one-off celebrity targeted killing soon becomes apparent as just the start of the killer’s plan.

As more couples are targeted, and the secrets and lies hidden in their relationships are revealed, the killer takes to using social media to spread their ‘message’. Despite the body count rising, Murphy and Rossi struggle to find evidence to lead them to this highly prepared killer.

Meanwhile, Murphy is harbouring a secret of his own – missing teenager Amy Maguire may be connected to him in a way he’s only recently discovered. He hasn’t told his wife, Sarah, yet. And he doesn’t know anything of the secret she’s keeping from him.

With this particular killer on the loose anyone in Liverpool hiding secrets and lies could be a target.

This third book in the Murphy and Rossi series is a real page-turner of a read. The strong sense of place and vivid descriptions bring Liverpool to life, and Murphy and Rossi make for a great crime-solving duo. In this book their personal lives are explored further as Rossi embarks on the beginnings of a more serious relationship, and Murphy struggles to rebuild his friendship with Jess whose son he was unable to save in The Dying Place.

The story also brings into sharp focus how the media, and social media, feed into and off violent crime, and how the amount of media coverage, and the way individuals are portrayed, is dependant on the perceived value of that person and their death to ratings and circulation figures. Veste sensitively handles the impact of this on the grieving families, and the aftermath of the media’s ‘halo and horns’ approach to the murder victims on those left behind.

A dark, gritty and disturbingly sinister police procedural – BLOODSTREAM is a real must-read for crime fiction fans.

You can find out more about Luca Veste and his books at www.lucaveste.com and follow him on Twitter @lucaveste

To buy the BLOODSTREAM from Amazon, follow this link

Also, be sure to check out all the other fabulous stops on the BLOODSTREAM Blog Tour …