Category Archives: Crime

Review: ‘Who’s to blame?’, by Jane Marlow

Published by: River Grove Books

Publication date: 18th October 2016

I.S.B.N.: 9781632991041

Blurb

Set during the mid-1800s in the vast grain fields of Russian, Who Is to Blame? follows the lives of two star-crossed serfs, Elizaveta and Feodor, torn apart by their own families and the Church while simultaneously trapped in the inhumane life of poverty to which they were born.

At the other end of the spectrum, Count Maximov and his family struggle to maintain harmony amidst a tapestry of deception and debauchery woven by the Count’s son. The plot twists further when the Tsar emancipates twenty million serfs from bondage while the rural gentry’s life of privilege and carelessness has taken its final bow and much of Russia’s nobility faces possible financial ruin.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Who’s to blame?’, by Jane Marlow”

Review: ‘Let The Dead Speak’, by Jane Casey

Published by: Harper Collins UK

Publication Date: 9th March 2017

Format: Ebook

I.S.B.N.: 9780008149000

Price: £9.99

Available here

When an 18-year-old girl returns home to find her house covered in blood and her mother missing, Detective Maeve Kerrigan and the murder squad must navigate a web of lies to discover the truth… When eighteen-year-old Chloe Emery returns to her West London home she finds Kate, her mother, missing and the house covered in blood. There may not be a body, but everything else points to murder. Maeve Kerrigan is young, ambitious and determined to prove she’s up to her new role as detective sergeant. In the absence of a body, she and maverick detective Josh Derwent turn their attention to the neighbours. The ultra-religious Norrises are acting suspiciously; their teenage
daughter definitely has something to hide. Then there’s William Turner, once accused of stabbing a schoolmate and the neighbourhood’s favourite criminal. Is he merely a scapegoat or is there more behind the charismatic façade? As the accusations fly, Maeve must piece together a patchwork of conflicting testimonies, none of which quite add up. Who is lying, who is not? The answer could lead them to the truth about Kate Emery, and save the life of someone else.

My Review

I read this novel in one seven-hour sitting. Despite being exhausted I couldn’t put it down, because I had to find out what happened next. This is a tightly written crime thriller, packed with suspense and an unexpected twist. The characters are rounded and well written, although I found the evangelicals a little stereotypical. The relationship between Maeve Kerrigan and Josh Derwent, at once confrontational and affectionate really draws the reader in as they discover the secrets of Kate Emery and her neighbours.

4/5

Review: Arrowood, by Mick Finlay

Published by: HQ

Publication Date: 23rd March 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9780008203207

Format: Ebook

Price: £7.99

Blurb

London Society takes their problems to Sherlock Holmes. Everyone else goes to Arrowood.

The Afghan War is over, a deal with the Irish appears to have brought an end to sectarian violence, but Britain’s position in the world is uncertain and the gap between rich and poor is widening. London is a place where the wealthy party while the underclass are tempted into lives of crime, drugs and prostitution. A serial killer stalks the streets. Politicians are embroiled in financial and sexual scandals. The year is 1895.

The police don’t have the resources to deal with everything that goes on in the capital. The rich turn to a celebrated private detective when they need help. Sherlock Holmes. But in densely-populated South London, where crimes are sleazier and Holmes rarely visits, people turn to Arrowood, a private investigator who despises Holmes, his wealthy clientele, and his showy forensic approach to crime. Arrowood understands people, not clues.

MY REVIEW

This was a very entertaining historical crime novel. Although William Arrowood is the titular character, it is narrated by his ‘Watson’, Norman Burnet. Holmes and Watson are the bane of Arrowood’s life; they get the big cases while he, and Norman, get the petty thefts and wayward husbands.

When a young lady comes to them asking them to find her brother Arrowood and Burnet

get pulled into a much more complicated case, involving a local crime lord, War

Office officials and Fenians gun running Enfield Riffles to Ireland. I really enjoyed the complications of the case and the character building, the history woven into the main narrative and the descriptions of London in 1895. The weaving in of the Sherlock Holmes canon makes this novel interesting, as Arrowood gives alternative possibilities for the resolution of some of Holmes’ most famous cases.

3/5 – would recommend for fans of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories

Review: ‘Written in Bones’ by James Oswald

Publication Date: 23rd February 2017

Published by: Penguin UK

I.S.B.N.: 9780718183677

Price: £12.99

Format: Hardback

 

Blurb

The roots of murder run deep . . .

When a body is found in a tree in The Meadows, Edinburgh’s scenic parkland, the forensics suggest the corpse has fallen from a great height.

Detective Inspector Tony McLean wonders whether it was an accident, or a murder designed to send a chilling message?

The dead man had led quite a life: a disgraced ex-cop turned criminal kingpin who reinvented himself as a celebrated philanthropist.

As McLean traces the victim’s journey, it takes him back to Edinburgh’s past, and through its underworld – crossing paths with some of its most dangerous and most vulnerable people.And waiting at the end of it all, is the truth behind a crime that cuts to the very heart of the city . . .

Inspector McLean is back in the next gripping instalment in James Oswald’s bestselling crime series.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Written in Bones’ by James Oswald”

Review: ‘Thin Ice’, by Quentin Bates

 

If you read my blog post from last week, you’ll know we had the pleasure of a visit from journalist, translator and crime writer Quentin Bates. Quentin has written four novels (in paperback and ebook format) and three novellas (available as ebooks only) featuring the character Officer Gunnhildur. Details are available on his website: http://graskeggur.com/

I have, and recommend the novella Winterlude. Last week Quentin kindly gave out copies of his books, and of books by Ragnar Jonasson that he had translated; I got my hands on a copy of his most recent book, Thin Ice, published by Constable (an imprit of Little, Brown Book Group) in March 2016.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Thin Ice’, by Quentin Bates”

Review: ‘Body in The Box’, by E.R. Fallon

Published By: Joffe Books

Publication Date: 19th December 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9781912106004

BLURB

The frail body of a young boy is found discarded in an old cardboard box. Even in a hard-edged town used to deadly crimes, this touches a nerve.

BODY IN THE BOX is the first book in the Stygian Town mystery series featuring three very different homicide detectives.

Detectives Dino Copper and Terry Jackson have been partners and friends for years. Now a new detective is drafted in to join them: Rebecca Everhart. They must quickly learn to work together on the biggest case of their careers, the disturbing discovery of the ‘Body in the Box’, as it’s known by the captivated media and the city’s worried citizens.

The case takes the three detectives deep inside the lives of the insular Eastern European immigrant community and the world of unlawful medical practices. The case also evokes an eerie childhood memory of Dino’s, where a boy from his neighborhood vanished and was never seen again.

What appears to be a straightforward, modern-day murder case has more to do with the past than the present, and the detectives come to a genuinely unnerving — and life-threatening — conclusion.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Body in The Box’, by E.R. Fallon”

Book Review: ‘Nowhere To Run’, by Jack Slater

As usual, book received in return for an honest review. I’m going to do something I wouldn’t normally bother with but in this case I think it’s necessary, and add a content warning because of the subject matter.

CW: Child abuse, abduction, paedophilia, murder, suicide

 

Publication Date: 6th January 2017

Published By: HQ Digital

Format: ebook

Price: £1.99

I.S.B.N.: 9780008223588

Blurb

A missing child. A dead body. A killer on the loose.

Returning to Exeter CID after his son’s unsolved disappearance Detective Sergeant Peter Gayle’s first day back was supposed to be gentle. Until a young girl is reported missing and the clock begins to tick.

Rosie Whitlock has been abducted from outside her school that morning. There are no clues, but Peter isn’t letting another child disappear.

When the body of another young victim appears, the hunt escalates. Someone is abducting young girls and now they have a murderer on their hands. Time is running out for Rosie, but when evidence case relating to his own son’s disappearance is discovered the stakes are even higher…

Continue reading “Book Review: ‘Nowhere To Run’, by Jack Slater”

Review: ‘For the love of Emily’, by Joy Wood

Joy Wood is a local author, a nurse in Grimsby, that I met at a local authors event at Grimsby Central Library in the summer. What with Paris, university and being under the weather, it’s taken me a while to get her book read, but this afternoon I felt the need to read a paper book, so I picked up ‘For the love of Emily’ and got back into it.Continue reading “Review: ‘For the love of Emily’, by Joy Wood”

Review: ‘A Daughter’s Deadly Deception’, by Jeremy Grimaldi

Published by: Dundern

Publication Date: 6th December 2016

I.S.B.N.: 9781459735248

Continue reading “Review: ‘A Daughter’s Deadly Deception’, by Jeremy Grimaldi”

Review: ‘The Secrets of Gaslight Lane’ by M.R.C. Kasasian

Hello! I hope everyone’s enjoying the summer? I’m back with a book review. I’ve had a dodgy couple of weeks but I’m feeling better, I think. I’m resting mostly and limiting contact with people because of the exhaustion. Last week I had an ‘aural overstimulation’ day, my head felt like it was being invade by every noise no matter how quiet and that my mind was being bombarded (does anyone else get that?). I had to retreat to my room and silence. It happens sometimes and I can get nasty if I don’t have time in silence. Anyway, on with the book review.

http://headofzeus.com/books/secrets-gaslight-lane
http://headofzeus.com/books/secrets-gaslight-lane

The Gower Street Detective, Book 4

Publisher: Head of Zeus
Format: E-Book (also available in Export Trade Paperback, Hardback, Paperback)
Published: 2nd June 2016
ISBN: 9781781859742

Continue reading “Review: ‘The Secrets of Gaslight Lane’ by M.R.C. Kasasian”