Newest Crime Reviews
Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid
I should probably be ashamed to say that I only know Val McDermid's Tony Hill series from the TV adaption Wire in the Blood. And I'm afraid to say that if the latest offering is par for the series, then I'll remain content with that. Full review...
Blood Brothers... Thai Style by Matt Carrell
Chatri Aromanadee and Daeng Khasajamsarun are friends, but in a rather unequal way. Daeng very much has the upper hand despite the fact that Chatri is a policeman: Daeng is manipulative and it's difficult to be polite enough to say that he 'sails close to the wind'. The man is a criminal, but he turned a problem of his own (and of his own making) into a hold over Chatri, which still holds firm even when Chatri becomes the chief of police in Baan Chailai, with its lively bar scene, on the Gulf of Thailand. Their sons have a similar relationship: Daeng's son Tong is brutal in his relationships with women and Chatri's son Sunan has the misfortune to work in the hotel complex owned by Daeng. Full review...
Holy Island: A DCI Ryan Mystery by L J Ross
DCI Ryan has decided the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland is the ideal place for him to wait out his three months' sabbatical from the police. Sea air, peace and quiet... The sort of peace and quiet that evaporates when Lucy, a young islander, is found murdered, her body curiously arranged at the Priory ruins. Ryan volunteers to lead the investigation, enlisting the assistance of Dr Anna Taylor, expert on ancient religious practices. She'll be helpful but something gradually dawns on Ryan that isn't going to help at all: the murderer must be an island resident. Not something that will endear Ryan to the locals! Full review...
Divorce Turkish Style (Kati Hirschel Istanbul Murder Mystery) by Esmahan Aykol
Kati Hirschel still owns Istanbul's only crime book shop while still supplying bed and board to her former lover, Spanish lawyer Fofo. When Fofo dramatically points out the news report surrounding a young political activist's natural death, Kati doesn't pay much attention. But then she realises that the face of victim Sani is familiar, she double takes. There again this is nothing compared to Kati's next realisation: this death may not have been that natural. Full review...
Police at the Funeral by Margery Allingham
When Andrew Seeley, a member of the well-known Faraday family of Cambridge disappears, gentleman adventurer Albert Campion agrees to look into it as a favour to a friend. He finds a dysfunctional family living in its glorious past, with no-one at all sure they want to find their missing relative who can be a bit trying, to say the least. Before long the bodies start piling up, and both Campion and his old friend Inspector Stanislaus Oates of Scotland Yard are as baffled as each other. Until, naturally, Campion figures it all out. Full review...
The Starlings and Other Stories by Ann Cleeves (editor)
Six authors, known collectively as 'The Murder Squad', and their six accomplices were given twelve photographs of the remote landscape of Pembrokeshire by acclaimed photographer David Wilson and asked to come up with a short story inspired by what they saw. Some of the stories will be more to your taste than others, as is only to be expected in such a varied anthology, but none are weak and if you enjoy crime short stories then this book could be a real treat. Full review...
Last Resort (A Bob Skinner Mystery) by Quintin Jardine
In the space of a year life has changed dramatically for Bob Skinner. He's not going to be head of Police Service Scotland - he withdrew his application - and his third marriage went to the wall quite dramatically. On the other hand he's back with his second wife, Sarah, who's getting rather annoyed at the way he's moping around now that he's on gardening leave. She's the one who persuades him to go to his house in Spain to sort himself out. It's a cathartic trip: an old friend asks him to investigate the disappearance of a trusted employee and Skinner discovers that he himself is the target of a 'true crime' author. If nothing else he realises that what he's been missing in the job of late is the hands-on investigation. At least he's not moping any more... Full review...
Hider/Seeker by Tom Claver
Harry Bridger is an ex-policeman who now makes his living helping people disappear. His clients aren't always whiter than white, but when a wealthy woman fleeing domestic violence asks him to help, his chivalrous instincts override the doubts that lurk in the back of his mind. A few things about Angela Linehan don't chime right but she's been vouched for by an old friend and Harry's basic decency won't allow him to leave a woman and her child in danger. And there's another advantage to helping Angela. It brings Harry back into the orbit of his ex-wife Bethany. And Harry would do almost anything to redeem himself in her eyes. Full review...
Post Mortem by Kate London
I enjoyed this police crime novel by a talented new writer, Kate London. It is a well written and intelligently thought out book. The characters are clearly drawn and you are able to see the drama unfold from different perspectives. The action constantly shifts from the present, back to the events that lead to the crime taking place and then forward to reveal a little more of the plot with each shift. This helps you engage immediately with the story and with the characters. Full review...
So Nude, So Dead by Ed McBain
What's in a name? A lot if you decide to call your book So Nude, So Dead. This is a title to conjure with, what on Earth is it about? As this is a Hard Case title it is likely to be hardboiled and not adverse to a little violence and titillation. However, consider that the book was once call The Evil Sleep! and has since been renamed; is this more a case of the title selling the book rather than accurately portraying its content? Full review...
Affinity Bridge by George Mann
London, 1901: airships and automata herald a shining future in a city of steam-powered road trains and carriages. Queen Victoria is still alive (after a fashion) and one of her trusted Crown Agents has his work cut out investigating some decidedly odd goings-on in the capital alongside the chaps at Scotland Yard. Revenant corpses and vengeful, ghostly policemen in the dense fog of Whitechapel don't phase Newbury, however, accustomed as he is to dabbling in the occult. Full review...
Dead in the Water (Campbell and Carter) by Ann Granger
It was the wettest winter on record and coming up to Christmas it wasn't the floods that the residents of Weston Saint Ambrose were worried about - or even the forthcoming festivities. On his way to a call the local vet had spotted something in the river and closer inspection showed that it was a body of what he thought was a young woman. When he managed to get back to the scene and meet the police the body had disappeared, but it drifted under the landing stage of a large house down river and was spotted by a man delivering logs. The owner of the house, a reclusive writer, was shocked to realise that he recognised the girl. Inspector Jess Campbell and Superintendent Ian Campbell had to investigate the brutal killing. Full review...
The Dying Season: A Bruno Courreges Investigation by Martin Walker
It's said that you should never meet your heroes but Bruno Courrèges, chief of police of the sleepy Dordogne town of St Denis, has no such thoughts when he's invited to the 90th birthday celebrations of the man who has been his hero since he was a child. Marco Desaix is a war hero, flying ace and a man with high level political connections in France, Russia and Israel - and he's known as The Patriarch. The party - if you can use such a mundane word for an occasion which includes a fly past by the air force - went well, with only one minor disruption when an old family friend accosted one of the daughters of the Desaix family and was disinclined to let go. Still, it was well known that he was an alcoholic and no one seemed surprised when Gilbert was removed without ceremony by the gamekeeper. Full review...
Manhattan Mayhem – New Crime Stories from the Mystery Writers of America by Mary Higgins Clark (editor)
I was unsure how to open this review. I heart Manhattan, big time. I am always attracted to any work set in Manhattan, but I don’t want to pigeonhole this remarkable collection of stories into a slot that says 'only for Manhattan lovers'. Far from it – it is a superb collection featuring the highest standards of both mystery writing and the form of short story. Full review...
Gray Mountain by John Grisham
Gray Mountain is the latest exciting legal thriller from John Grisham. In this gripping book, two small town lawyers, Donovan Gray and Samantha Kofner, take on the might of some devious coal companies who have never played by the rules. As a result, many of their previous employees are both dying and destitute. All they ask for is some compensation and dignity to live with for the rest of their lives. However, the coal companies don’t see things the same way and are not prepared to give an inch. Will Donovan and Samantha be able to ensure that justice is done? Full review...
Stalin's Gold: A Frank Merlin Novel by Mark Ellis
When we last saw DCI Frank Merlin he was champing at the bit to enlist and do his bit but frustrated by the fact that he could not be released. On the positive side there were signs that he was recovering from the death of his wife a couple of years earlier and he's now in a relationship with Sonia, a refugee from Poland who's working in the dress department at Swan and Edgar. The phoney war is well and truly over and London is suffering daily bombing raids: the capital is a dangerous place to be. Some people are taking advantage of the situation and looting is disappointingly frequent. It's one of the problems that have been dropped on Merlin's toes. Full review...
Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs
Sometimes you really do need to start at the beginning of a series to get into it. And sometimes it doesn't matter a jot. Kathy Reichs' Tempe Brennan novels fall into the latter category. There's a bit of a back-story in there, but let's be honest, it's only there to make Temperance Brennan seem half-way human. Full review...
Frank Merlin: Princes Gate by Mark Ellis
In the early part of the Second World War there was a lull, when hostilities didn't really seem to get going – the so-called Phoney War. Some Londoners, who'd left the capital in the expectation of early bombing raids, began drifting back and there were still those who thought that peace could be negotiated – that we could stay out of the fight. Chief amongst those outside of the political classes who supported this view was the American Ambassador, Joseph Kennedy. Kennedy was, perhaps fortunately but not unusually, out of the country when one of the staff at the residence was murdered and her body fished out of the Thames. Full review...
Whispering Shadows by Jan-Philipp Sendker
Paul Leibovitz was a journalist. That was before. Before he had a small child, who did not survive as long as he should have. Before the end of the marriage that did not survive the loss of a child. Now Leibovitz himself, merely survives. He lives in a kind of self-imposed exile on Lamma, third largest of the Hong Kong islands, a place of greenery and solitude. Full review...
Angel and the Actress by Roger Silverwood
Joan Minter, award-winning actress, was murdered in front of a gathering of her closest friends, but no one saw who did it - or could possibly have been the one who did it. Inspector Angel and his team of detectives were called out to her home, at the foot of the Pennines, in Bromersley. Angel was going to be kept busy though. A young man was found murdered in his home. His wife hadn't expected him to be there - and nor could she explain the new vacuum cleaner which had appeared since she left for work that morning, or the fact that the fridge door was wide open. Then there's the theft of a handbag, which leads to a family's two cars being stolen. And just to top it off, Angel's wife is away visiting her sister. Full review...
Hibernia Unanimis: "Pro Deo, Rege et Patricia, Hibernia Unanimis" (For God, King and Country, Ireland is United) by John Piper
Benedict Plunkett calls a meeting of a small but select and distinguished group of Irish and US politicians, clergy and business men to whom he explains his plans for Hibernia Unanimis – a united Ireland. It will be raised up by and for the Irish in response to the new UKIP government in London. Before the great and the good leave Benedict's mansion they are asked to sign contracts if they want to be part of his future. Some sign, some don't but all think he's deluded and nothing will come of it. Then the accident happens and everyone takes Benedict a little more seriously as, in time, will the English government. Full review...
Ultimate Storm by Richard Castle
As if it wasn’t complicated enough trying to figure out what was real and what wasn’t when reading Raging Heat (Castle) (Nikki Heat 6) by Richard Castle now I find myself reading another story written by this fictional television character that made him a bestselling author. I do wonder, reading these, who the real writer (or writers) behind Richard Castle must be! Anyway, this time we’re with Castle’s fictional character (a fictional character’s fictional character!) Derrick Storm, a PI turned CIA agent, though in this book he’s being called back into service after disappearing into early retirement and officially being ‘dead’. This book is actually a collection of 3 Storm stories, but they are all related and part of the same overall arc. Full review...
The Summer of Kim Novak by Hakan Nesser
Erik knew that the summer of 1962 was going to be a bad one. His mother was seriously ill and there was no hiding that she was likely to die. So, Erik and his friend Edmund planned to spend their holiday, accompanied by Erik's elder brother Henry, at the lake-side cottage. Both boys dreamed of their supply teacher, as fourteen-year-old boys are wont to do, particularly when she's the spitting image of the actress Kim Novak. But it wasn't just Erik's mother's health which was going to ruin the summer: The Terrible Thing was going to happen too. Full review...
Bunderlin by Robert Crompton
As a child Martin had been fascinated and entranced by his neighbour Mrs Bundy's household menagerie. Her son Peter was there too but on the periphery; Martin was just there to visit the animals. In adulthood their paths cross again but this time Peter Bunderlin (as he's now known) isn't so easy to avoid – and Martin's tried! Perhaps if Martin could understand what the heck Peter is up to? Full review...
Modesty Blaise - The Killing Distance by Peter O'Donnell and Enric Badia Romero
Oh, such things just HAPPEN to that pair, Sir. The pair referred to, of course, are Modesty Blaise, sexy femme fatale with a head full of morals and a pair of legs full of kicking power, and Willy Garvin, the only man to call her Princess and get away with it – intelligent, practical and yet equally resilient in a fight with a baddy. The things that happen to them are legion, over many novels and 95 daily newspaper comic strips, and this is one of the better examples of the current collections of the latter. Where else can you get movie stunts going wrong, pregnant women in danger on the high seas, and people escaping from bomb-laden planes, all in a Jolly Hockey Sticks mood that smacks of pastiche and vintage ribaldry, were it not from the heady days of the mid-'90s? Full review...
The Wrong Girl by Laura Wilson
Phoebe Piper went missing on a family holiday in 2006 when she was just three years old and no trace of her has ever been found. There was a lot of publicity at the time and there still is some - particularly those computer-generated pictures which show what Phoebe would probably look now. The 'now' is seven years on and ten-year-old Molly Jackson is convinced that she is Phoebe Piper: she seems to have the proof. Life isn't going well for her at the moment: she's recently been uprooted from the life - and friends - she knew in London and is living in a Norfolk village, in the home of her great uncle Dan. Only, she's just found Dan dead in bed. Full review...
In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon by Laurie R King and Leslie Klinger (editors)
Well, that's one way to get a heck of a lot of attention to your series of short story collections, for sure – get the estate of the author you're respecting to take you to court with the idea that the works cannot be published – the characters are so firmly established and entrenched, but established and entrenched as their property and therefore cannot be artistically reinterpreted, revived or otherwise returned to at all until full and final copyright statutes have expired. Never mind that the characters – one S Holmes and Dr JH Watson – hardly have parallels in how often they already have been mimicked. Never mind the fact that the estate of Conan Doyle was paid off in order for the first book to released. Still, the case was won and this sequel is in our hands. Is it worth all the legal documents? What is the important verdict, at the end of the reading day? Full review...
Raging Heat (Castle) (Nikki Heat 6) by Richard Castle
Fans of the television series Castle will come to this book ready-prepared for what’s going on, but for those unaware, in the series there is a character called Richard Castle who is an author. He observes a homicide detective, Kate Beckett, in her work and then writes a novel, Heat Wave, based on her character, changing Kate’s name to Nikki Heat and his own to Jameson Rook. After the book was written (in the television series) it was actually published in real life. Being a fan of Castle I immediately bought it and read it. To be honest, I found that the concept messed with my head too much! I kept thinking about who was who, within the book, translating Nikki’s name to Kate’s, and Rook’s to Castle, and it all became very confusing because even though Kate and Castle are 'real' they are, of course, fictional characters too! I didn’t read any more Nikki Heat books after that first one, until this one. It’s been a little while since I watched the TV series, and somehow coming at it fresh made a big difference and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Full review...
Half the World Away by Cath Staincliffe
Newly graduated Lori Maddox spends the year after University travelling, and visits China – working as a private English tutor. Back in Manchester, her estranged parents follow her adventures on her blog, “Lori in the Orient”. When all communication stops and silence persists, the parents report her missing, and learning that there is little they can do from Manchester, set out to China in order to search for their daughter. Flying to Chengdu, they have no knowledge of the country, customs or language, and are forced to turn detective in order to save their daughter… Full review...
