For Reasons Unknown

Written by Michael Wood

Narrated by Stephanie Beattie

Two murders. Twenty years. Now the killer is back for more…

A darkly compelling debut crime novel. The start of a brilliant series, perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride, Val McDermid, and James Oswald.

DCI Matilda Darke has returned to work after a nine month absence. A shadow of her former self, she is tasked with re-opening a cold case: the terrifyingly brutal murders of Miranda and Stefan Harkness. The only witness was their eleven-year-old son, Jonathan, who was too deeply traumatized to speak a word.

Then a dead body is discovered, and the investigation leads back to Matilda's case. Suddenly the past and present converge, and it seems a killer may have come back for more…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Jun 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9780008367312

Michael Wood

Michael Wood is an internationally acclaimed historian, film-maker and broadcaster, and the author of several bestselling books, including three Sunday Times number one bestsellers. He has made well over a hundred documentary films, hailed as some of ‘the most innovative history programmes ever on TV’ by the Independent. These include In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great and The Story of China. Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries. 

Reviews for For Reasons Unknown

[Gary Gallo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good plot but it moves very slow, even for a British crime novel.

[K G · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Overall an enjoyable, if not somewhat predictable, police procedural. Nothing earth shattering but it’s a very good filler book if you’re someone like me who nearly always has a book on in the background.
Narration is a bit lispy but pleasant. Characters were well developed and the story kept a decent pace.
In spite of being the first of a series, the book does come to a solid conclusion so the reader isn’t left with need to continue in order to get answers.
Minor annoyances - dci fuller (might have the name wrong), Matilda’s temp replacement, should’ve been written to be a touch less unbearable/his insecure male rage is.. a LOT… and it gets grating.
Matilda’s attitude toward her therapist is a little too back and forth. Her visits are mandatory but she regularly acknowledges them as beneficial… and she then constantly attacks the therapist/refuses to talk to her.. therapy isn’t linear but gah!!
Will continue the series.

[William Hillmann III · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

*SO PREPOSTEROUS*
the last three chapters are the crowning achievement of an author on the loose determined to insult your intelligence, screw with what you know to be accepted legal practice and just, in the most brazen manner, take advantage of your sense, your overall feeling and understanding of the characters exactly as the author intended, then have the entire (foundational) rug yanked out from under you -- not even subtly -- most violently, just to see if your paying attention I guess, to the common understanding of what's true and what's not: 1. a benign tumor matasticizes? huh 2. the antagonist lead supervising male detective sticks a seven inch knife into the belly of the simpathetic psychologically damaged male lead character 3. a rain storm (with record low temperatures in the minus 10° range for weeks on end) floods an upscale cemetery disgorging the shoddy wooden coffin of a wealthy woman who would naturally have had a strong metal coffin but doesn't so the rotten wood splits revealing the murder weapon inside then ... 4. I'll have more consideration for you than this nasty hack of an author and stop right here ... ["so preposterous" -- that's my two word review -- and says it all]

[funstm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've been reading Robert Dugoni's Tracy Crosswhite series and it's set me down the path of needing more procedurals. I stumbled across this in my Amazon searches and it fit the bill. I liked Matilda. She was a little bit of a mess but I enjoyed the case and the way she came to handle herself. Adele was a good friend to her and reminded me a bit of Betty Rogers in Motive (tv show). I kept picturing her with red hair. Which of course made me think Matilda was Angie Flynn. It was a whole thing. I loved the show and this reminded me of everything I loved about it. It's not particularly thrilling but it is a good solid mystery with enough twists and turns to keep me happy. There were a couple of plotlines that kind of went nowhere (why was the case box so empty? Where were all the witness statements, etc, etc. and what the hell was the whole thing with Ben Hales about - he just went nuts? Did he stab him? Was it a faked move by the other guy? Was he framed? It just kind of fizzled though) but it was decent enough to convince me to pick up the next one.

[n.w.moors-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Her husband died and the kidnapping of a child case was botched (though we don't know how), but after counseling, DCI Matilda Darke feels recovered enough to return to work. She's given a cold case to work on to ease her back into the fold. It's the twenty-year-old murder of a couple who left their eleven-year-old son behind covered in blood. As she investigates, more and more troubling clues appear as well as a related murder.This is a thoroughly satisfying who-dun-it in the mode of Agatha Christie. Matilda is an unreliable narrator due to her own personal traumas as she struggles through the case. I veered back and forth over who had done the murders compounded by the erratic behavior of various suspects. Matilda is an engaging protagonist though I did think she snapped out of her trauma a bit too quick in some ways after a tongue-lashing by her boss. Looks like the start of a good series.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was good and kept me guessing. I hope Matilda's getting her life back together continues into the rest of the books in this series - I do like a competent heroine. There were a couple of things that puzzled me, however: SPOILERShow did Jonathan get the knife out of the house, keep it secretly for years and then insert it into his aunt's grave? Why did he not give the police the licence plate of the car which ran Stephen over?

[nicx27 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I do enjoy crime procedurals but lately have been enjoying psychological thrillers more. This book, being set in Sheffield, my home city, really piqued my interest though and I thought it was an excellent and well-written book.The many references to places and events in Sheffield were great for me as I was really able to picture exactly where scenes were set. But if you're not from Sheffield it won't affect your enjoyment of the story.This book introduces DCI Matilda Darke who has been having a really bad time in her home and work life and is now just returning to the Murder Investigation Team. She is allocated a cold case from 20 years ago which quickly links in with the new case that her nemesis, Acting DCI Ben Hales, is dealing with. I was really kept guessing right to the end of this really engrossing and easy to read novel. I've ordered the second in the series and have pre-ordered the third and a short story. Great stuff!

[pet12-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first in a new British police procedural set in Sheffield, which follows DCI Matilda Darke returning to work after a nine months absence. Still in a fragile mental state, she is tasked with looking into a cold case from 20 years ago. But when a murdered body turns up, it soon becomes clear that the two cases are linked.This was an enjoyable story that held my attention throughout. Some developments were fairly predictable but it was interesting enough that you still wanted to discover the why and how. It also had some nice surprises that I didn't see coming. Well written without any unnecessary padding, it was a fast paced story that I easily finished within a day or so. I neither loved nor hated Matilda. It was more the characters she was working with, and especially the suspects, that made the book really engaging. Overall, a very good start to a new series, and I would certainly be willing to follow more of Matilda's cases in the future. Thank you to the author and the publisher for providing me with a complimentary copy via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.