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The Fall by Claire McGowan – Book Review

Posted on February 2, 2012
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What would you do if the man you love was accused of murder?

Bad things never happen to Charlotte. She’s living the life she’s always wanted and about to marry wealthy banker, Dan. But Dan’s been hiding a secret, and the pressure is pushing him over the edge. After he’s arrested for the vicious killing of a nightclub owner, Charlotte’s future is shattered.

Then she opens her door to Keisha, an angry and frustrated stranger with a story to tell. Convinced of Dan’s innocence, Charlotte must fight for him – even if it means destroying her perfect life. But what Keisha knows threatens everyone she loves, and puts her own life in danger.

DC Matthew Hegarty is riding high on the success of Dan’s arrest. But he’s finding it difficult to ignore his growing doubts as well as the beautiful and vulnerable Charlotte. Can he really risk it all for what’s right?

Three stories. One truth. They all need to brace themselves for the fall.

Although billed as a crime and police procedural novel, The Fall by debut author Claire McGowan – Director of the Crime Writer’s Association – is so much more than interviewing suspects and listening to witnesses give evidence in a murder trial – for me this book is about an unlikely relationship between two very different women and to some extent a police detective focussing on his career and gaining promotion.

I don’t normally begin a book review discussing characterisation but as I personally found it to be the main ingredient in the story I think I’ll allow myself a little latitude just this once! Told from three very individual perspectives, that of Charlotte, Keisha and Hegarty, I enjoyed how McGowan developed the story and relationships, never forcing either, allowing them to flow effortlessly and develop …

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Finders Keepers by Belinda Bauer – Book Review

Posted on January 3, 2012
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The eight-year-old boy had vanished from the car and – as if by slick, sick magic – had been replaced by a note on the steering wheel . . . ‘You don’t love him’…

At the height of summer a dark shadow falls across Exmoor. Children are being stolen from cars. Each disappearance is marked only by a terse note – a brutal accusation. There are no explanations, no ransom demands… and no hope.

Policeman Jonas Holly faces a precarious journey into the warped mind of the kidnapper if he’s to stand any chance of catching him. But – still reeling from a personal tragedy – is Jonas really up to the task?

Because there’s at least one person on Exmoor who thinks that, when it comes to being the first line of defence, Jonas Holly may be the last man to trust…

There’s nothing like starting a New Year with a positive outlook on life but I thought I’d begin with a warning – If you’re ever offered a job or holiday let in Shipcott my advice would be not to take it! Although it may sound like an idyllic location in Exmoor I’m positive Miss Marple would have her work cut out for her, Poirot too, in fact she’d probably have to call in reinforcements to make sense of the kidnappings and murders found in abundance in the small village. No one is safe, believe you me!

Finders Keepers represents the third title from Belinda Bauer and although a standalone title – as they all are – you’ll certainly take a lot more from the book if you read them in order, I’m glad I did. Blacklands – the first in the Shipcott series – introduces us to the moor, the Lamb family, and of course the gruesome …

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Creep by Jennifer Hillier – Book Review

Posted on December 14, 2011
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If he can’t have her . . .

Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behaviour. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren’t, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she’s finally engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she’s taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won’t let her walk away.

. . . no one else can.

2011 has been quite the ground breaking year for me and incidentally marks my first full year reviewing and I can honestly say I wouldn’t change the experience for the world. As we approach the festive season – happy holidays, the coke lorry, turkey (cooked), stuffing, did I mention the coke lorry?  – the books are still arriving thick and fast and despite a volatile financial market there appears to be no let-up in publications, January is going to be a very busy month. Apparently crime does pay!

Creep is available in the UK (Paperback & Kindle) & US (Hardback)

With that in mind choosing the next book to read/review is never easy, people often ask me how I make my decision, sometimes it’s as simple as taking pot luck, closing my eyes and picking up a book off the shelf and other times it’s a long drawn out process depending on my reading mood and publication deadlines. When Creep – by debut Canadian author Jennifer Hillier – arrived in the mail, the cover garnished with handcuffs attached to a metal chain, I was in the …

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Already Gone by John Rector – Book Review

Posted on December 7, 2011
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Jake Reese is an ordinary guy with an ordinary job, trying to block out the memory of his violent past by planning for the future with his new wife, Diane. But the past has a habit of refusing to stay buried…When two men attack Jake in a car park and cut off his ring finger, he tries to dismiss it as an unlucky case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when events take a more sinister turn and Diane goes missing, Jake knows he can no longer hide from the truth. As he embarks on a mission to find Diane, Jake finds himself dragged back into the life he thought he had walked away from forever and the days ahead begin to unfold in terrifying ways…

A little over a year ago I read and reviewed Cold Kiss by John Rector, a dark tale of two strangers who make one mistake after another – a book I incidentally loved – when they stumble across a stranger in a bar. A classic Noir title, Cold Kiss is as strong a debut as you could hope for so it was with eager anticipation I began reading his latest title Already Gone a few days ago and although not in the same vein as Cold Kiss it was one of the quickest reads I’ve had in 2011. If ever there was a book I would class as “I couldn’t put that down” this year, Already Gone is without doubt at the top of that category.

The book is a veritable page turner and, set at an enviable pace, it just begs to be read. The narrative is crisp, well written and delivered at such a breakneck speed that I finished the book in a little under …

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Lynn Shepherd talks Charles Dickens

Posted on December 7, 2011
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A little over twelve months ago I read Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd and was blown away by the narrative, storytelling and characterisation, so much so the book was one of my top reads for 2010 and to this day holds a special place on my shelf for a number of reasons. Murder at Mansfield Park, published by Corsair, is now available as an E-Book download.

I hadn’t expected to enjoy it, it’s not the sort of book I would normally read but such was its endearing prose I found myself spellbound and if anyone has any doubt about whether the book is for you why not take time and read my review of Lynn’s book or just listen and watch Lynn enthusing about the title in her video.

“When one of the principle cast members is brutally killed, the book moves up a gear and becomes an enchanting murder mystery. Can one class a murder as enchanting?! The grim discovery of the body in a muddy ditch introduces us to an assured thief-taker, or private detective to you and me – Charles Maddox.”

In the second of Lynn’s videos the author talks about her new murder mystery Tom-All-Alone’s – a book inspired by Charles Dickens’ Bleak House – which is published early next year by Constable & Robinson in the UK to coincide with the celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth in February 1812 – the book also serves as Lynn’s personal tribute to the renowned author who died aged just 58 years old.

If you’d like to learn more then please do visit Lynn Shepherd at her website.…

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Island of Bones by Imogen Robertson – Book Review

Posted on November 16, 2011
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Cumbria, 1783. A broken heritage; a secret history…

The tomb of the first Earl of Greta should have lain undisturbed on its island of bones for three hundred years. When idle curiosity opens the stone lid, however, inside is one body too many. Gabriel Crowther’s family bought the Gretas’ land long ago, and has suffered its own bloody history. His brother was hanged for murdering their father, the Baron of Keswick, and Crowther has chosen comfortable seclusion and anonymity over estate and title for thirty years. But the call of the mystery brings him home at last.

Travelling with forthright Mrs Harriet Westerman, who is escaping her own tragedy, Crowther finds a little town caught between new horrors and old, where ancient ways challenge modern justice. And against the wild and beautiful backdrop of fells and water, Crowther discovers that his past will not stay buried.

Island of Bones by Imogen Robertson marks the third in a series featuring the enigmatic and fastidious Gabriel Crowther and the wonderfully captivating Mrs Harriet Westerman. A finalist in this year’s CWA Ellis Peters Historical Awards – 30th November – Island of Bones, published by Headline, is sure to be a front runner at the awards ceremony for its engaging and free flowing narrative, entertaining storyline and a very well developed investigation. Although – as I have already mentioned – part of a long standing and successful series I had no trouble in picking up the novel and beginning my journey despite having missed the earlier adventures.

I was immediately transported to the 18th century where I experienced a public hanging and the inevitable shame it brought upon a family which in turn prompted Lord Keswick to sell his family’s land, seek privacy and detachment by changing his name following …

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Back Slash by Bill Kitson – Book Review

Posted on November 14, 2011
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What is the secret of the forester living a hermit-like existence in the remotest part of the Wingate Estate? Is he a callous murderer? Is he now taking a terrible revenge on those who wronged him? Or, does the truth lie elsewhere? A ruthless killer is on the rampage, one with a distinctive trademark. With resources decimated by a flu epidemic, Mike Nash is forced to use unorthodox tactics to expose a web of corruption and deceit spanning the years. Evidence all seems to point to an inevitable conclusion, but will Mike be able to uncover the truth, and can he do so before it is too late for all concerned – be they innocent or guilty?

Back Slash by Bill KitsonBack Slash took me by complete surprise. I’ve not had the pleasure of reading any of Bill Kitson’s previous work but on the strength of his latest Mike Nash adventure in crime solving I will have to make sure I go back to the very beginning and discover more about this maverick cop and what makes him tick. Back Slash is the fifth in a series that began in 2009 with Depth of Despair. If the others are half as good and entertaining as this novel then I highly recommend you check out the rest of the series, perhaps beginning with the debut title allowing you to enjoy the character development and growth I didn’t and although this novel is part of an established series I found Back Slash stood alone well.

The one thing I hadn’t expected was its fluidity. Back Slash includes an incredibly fast paced narrative and although used far too frequently, this is a book I certainly didn’t want to put down. Kitson somehow manages to cram a lot of evidence, murder and skulduggery – not forgetting a …

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The House of Silk – Sherlock Holmes by Anthony Horowitz – Book Review

Posted on November 3, 2011
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THE GAME’S AFOOT… It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks. Intrigued by the man’s tale, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston.

As the pair delve deeper into the case, they stumble across a whispered phrase ‘the House of Silk’: a mysterious entity and foe more deadly than any Holmes has encountered, and a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society itself… Sherlock Holmes is back with all the nuance, pace and powers of deduction that make him the world’s greatest and most celebrated detective.

Many years ago, my father introduced me to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – not in the flesh mind, I’m not quite that old – and his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. As an impressionable teenager I lapped up the adventures of the pipe smoking, slipper wearing, Stradivarius playing detective and his loyal companion and biographer Dr John Watson. I couldn’t get enough. Who could ever forget The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles and my favourite A Study in Scarlet.

A few years down the track my father – yes, he introduced me to a lot of things as a kid! – sat me down one winter’s day and we watched a double bill of Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce) and the comedic genius of Will Hay, it was a real father/son moment. I have …

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The Hatton and Roumande Mysteries by DE Meredith

Posted on October 31, 2011
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“Elementary, my dear Professor Hatton….”

What is it about Hatton and Roumande which reminds so many readers of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson?  Don’t get me wrong, I’m deeply flattered by the comparison. What writer, wouldn’t be?  Sherlock Holmes and his side kick, Watson are the most iconic sleuthing team in crime writing history. Holmes is the detective whose unrivalled brilliance solves the crime, whilst dependable old Watson narrates the stories thus giving us unique, observational insights into the Great Man, only occasionally stepping into the frame wielding a gun or his medical bag. We admire both men for different reasons but the team has a leader and the leader is indisputably, Sherlock Holmes.

Hatton and Roumande are different. One readers sums it up very nicely saying that Monsieur Albert Roumande is “far more than any Watson.”

I think so too, so I shall start with Monsieur Albert Roumande. He’s a diener, meaning servant of the morgue.  His jobs involve cleaning, pickling and preserving cadavers, keeping the cutting tools sharp, general admin and financial management , training of new assistants, the odd bit of anatomical drawing, hanging up herbs to mitigate the stench of the morgue and so forth. He has a strong sense of his own class (artisan), his nationality (decidedly French) and his heritage – his great grandfather learnt the trade of diener, at the footstep of the guillotine, during the Revolution when Paris was awash with both bodies and blood.  A fine time for anatomists, then.

Meanwhile, Professor Adolphus Hatton is the younger man at thirty three and English but he’s far from posh. He understands the meaning of hard work, hailing from a poor, rural background himself.  As a boy, he grew up on the land, whilst his family scraped together the money and paid for …

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Hell & Gone by Duane Swierczynski – Book Review

Posted on October 17, 2011
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There are some criminals so dangerous the world can never know about them.
They can’t be held in regular prisons.
They must never be released.

They’re here – in a secret underground prison miles away from anywhere. And now, so is Charlie Hardie. The shadowy organisation running the jail sent him there as punishment for getting in their way. But he’s not a prisoner. He’s in charge.

He can leave any time he wants, he’s told. There’s just one catch: if he goes, everyone in the prison dies, including innocent guards.

But when Charlie realises his family may be in danger, he knows he must protect them at any cost.

Even if it means blasting his way out, one inmate at a time…

Charlie Hardie is back and there’s no stopping him! Hell & Gone represents the second title in a trilogy featuring the enigmatic and opinionated Charlie Hardie, a house sitter for want of a better description, who finds himself in all sorts of trouble right from the very beginning – we wouldn’t want it any other way!

When we last met Hardie – Fun & Games – he’d clearly seen better days for our hero had been left battered and bruised following an explosive encounter with The Accident People, he was literally fighting for his life. A powerful group of individuals led by the voluptuous and ruthless Mann, they are a group for hire protecting the rich and famous. Nothing and no one would stand in their way. Charlie Hardie had other ideas and it nearly cost him his life.

Published by Mulholland Books Hell & Gone is another one of those books I’ve found hard to review purely due to spoilers, or my desire to give away as little as possible in a review! As with …

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Bryant & May and The Memory of Blood by Christopher Fowler – Book Review

Posted on October 6, 2011
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On a rainswept London night, the wealthy unscrupulous Robert Kramer hosts a party in his penthouse just off Trafalgar Square. But something is wrong. The atmosphere is uncomfortable, the guests are on edge. And when Kramer’s new young wife goes to check on their baby boy, she finds the nursery door locked from the inside.

Breaking in, the Kramers are faced with an open window, an empty cot, and a grotesque antique puppet of Mr Punch lying on the floor. It seems that young Noah Kramer was thrown from the building, but the child was strangled, and the marks of the puppet’s hands are clearly on his throat…what’s more, there was a witness.

It’s a perfect case for the Peculiar Crimes Unit. As John May and his team interrogate the guests, Arthur Bryant heads into the secret world of automata and stagecraft, illusions and effects. His suspicions fall on the staff of Kramer’s company, who have been employed to stage a gruesome new thriller in the West End. As a second impossible death occurs, the detectives uncover forgotten museums and London eccentrics, and take a trip to a seaside Punch & Judy show.

Then Bryant’s biographer suddenly dies. Was it a tragic accident, or could the circumstances of her death be related to the case? There’s just one hour left to solve the crime, but Bryant has buried himself away with his esoteric books. The stage is set for a race against time with a surprising twist…

Incredibly entertaining, Christopher Fowler’s Bryant & May and The Memory of Blood is another title – this year – that has taken me by complete surprise and entertained me from start to finish. The narrative is infectious and flows remarkably well throughout and together with an intelligent and humorous dialogue that had me …

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Victim Six by Gregg Olsen – Book Review

Posted on September 30, 2011
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The bodies are found in towns and cities around Puget Sound. The young women who are the victims had nothing in common…except the agony of their final moments. But somebody carefully chose them to stalk, capture, and tortured depraved killer whose cunning is matched only by the depth of his bloodlust. But the dying has only just begun. And the next victim will be the most shocking of all…

One of the very first things that attracted me to Gregg Olsen’s Victim Six book was undoubtedly the jacket cover. A solitary man stands resolute, peering over a wide expanse of water, a deep and inviting body of tranquil water that draws you in as if your very life depended on it. A chilling fog is rising slowly over the lake giving the book a haunting and eerily hypnotic appearance, all this before I’d read the very first page. All I wanted to do was run to the very edge of the small wooden jetty and jump in. I announced to the twitter world that I wanted to do just that but when author Gregg Olsen replied with a simplistic “Don’t do it” I should have realised there and then I was in for a scary ride! The problem is I didn’t listen and I jumped into the book with both feet!

Victim Six is wrong in so many ways, in parts it made me catch my breath, shudder, shake my head and wonder how on earth a serial killer as depraved and unhinged as this could exist. It made me question not only Olsen’s sanity but how an author could come up with something as imaginative, brutal, perverse and downright wrong – yet so right!! This book isn’t for the fainthearted but one thing I will guarantee is …

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Dreda Say Mitchell – Writing A Series

Posted on September 25, 2011
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As Hit Girls hits the books shelves on the high street I ask myself how did a single character I wrote about seven years ago turn into five books? I certainly hadn’t consciously set out to write a series of books about the same characters. So how did it happen? The trigger for writing my first novel, ‘Running Hot’, was the story of Schoolboy, a drug dealer desperate to get out of the East End underworld. I was desperate as well, wanting to share his life with anyone who would listen because Running Hot represented my opportunity to tell the world about part of the life I’d witnessed growing up on a housing estate in east London. And that was it! The publication of the book should’ve been the end of the story; I was happy to move on to write something else… but my readers had other ideas.

I started to get emails from people asking me if I was writing about some of the other characters? What about Lord Tribulation? Jackie Jarvis? Queen? It sent me into a bit of a spin because it hadn’t even occurred to me to write more about the other characters, this was Schoolboy’s story after all. Wasn’t’ it? Then I realised it wasn’t only his story and actually my starting point had been to explore a wider range of characters and London itself. I got all excited thinking about having an opportunity to pop the spotlight on another character. I will admit at this stage I didn’t have a grand plan for a series spanning umpteen books, but yeah some of the people in Running Hot deserved their own narrative.

But whom should I choose to write about next?  Two characters shot to the top of the ‘write about me’ …

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Cold Vengeance by Preston & Child – Book Review

Posted on September 21, 2011
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Devastated by the discovery that his wife, Helen, was murdered, Special Agent Pendergast must have retribution. But revenge is not simple. As he stalks his wife’s betrayers – a chase that takes him from the wild moors of Scotland to the bustling streets of New York City and the darkest bayous of Louisiana – he is also forced to dig further into Helen’s past. And he is stunned to learn that Helen may have been a collaborator in her own murder. Peeling back the layers of deception, Pendergast realizes that the conspiracy is deeper, goes back generations, and is more monstrous than he could have ever imagined – and everything he’s believed, everything he’s trusted, everything he’s understood . . . may be a horrific lie.

Every now and then you pick up a book and completely lose yourself in the story, the narrative and the tension; Cold Vengeance was certainly one of those books for me. Beginning with a stag hunt on the Scottish moors where Pendergast is left for dead with a bullet to his chest, I was immediately immersed in a struggle to survive the harsh elements, a thirteen point stag – 500 inches of antler – and a bog that took no prisoners. Although unrelated I couldn’t help but compare the opening scenes with Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles – fog, rain, treacherous conditions – mind you Cold Vengeance didn’t have the hound causing mayhem on the moors!

Although the second instalment in the –Helen trilogy – Special Agent Pendergast series, Cold Vengeance works well as a standalone and is incredibly enjoyable, fluid and entertaining. However, I would recommend reading Fever Dream (released in 2010) before approaching this novel as there are a number of key events discussed that I would have preferred …

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