Category: reviews

Music of the Night is a new anthology of original short stories contributed by Crime Writer’s Association (CWA) members and edited by Martin Edwards, with music as the connecting theme. The aim, as always is to produce a book which is representative both of the genre and the membership of the world’s premier crime writing association. The CWA has published anthologies of members’ stories in most years since 1956 with Martin Edwards as editor for over 25 years during which time the anthologies have yielded many award-winning and nominated stories by writers such as Ian Rankin, Reginald Hi l, Lawrence Block, and Edward D. Hoch. Stories by long-standing authors and ste lar names sit alongside contributions from relative newcomers, authors from overseas, and members whose work haven’t appeared in a CWA anthology before. Among the gifted stars of today whose fiction featured in a CWA anthology at an early stage of their crime writing careers are Mick Herron, Frank Ta lis, and Sarah Hilary. It isn’t a closed shop, and never has been.

FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to fu l-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thri ler categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at http://www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress

Martin Edwards (Editor) is the author of eighteen novels, including the Lake District Mysteries, and the Harry Devlin series. His ground-breaking genre study The Golden Age of Murder has won the Edgar, Agatha, and H.R.F. Keating awards. He has edited twenty eight crime anthologies, has won the CWA Short Story Dagger and the CWA Margery A lingham Prize, and is series consultant for the British Library’s Crime Classics. In 2015, he was elected eighth President of the Detection Club, an office previously held by G.K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers.

The CWA (Crime Writers’ Association) was founded in 1953 by John Creasey, and organises the prestigious CWA Dagger Awards which celebrate the best in crime writing. The CWA is a pro-active, thriving and ever-expanding community of writers based in the UK but with a reach that extends worldwide.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this collection of short crime stories, all linked by the theme of music. From murderous composers to tragic lives with a singular song as their backdrop. As a musical theatre fan, the title did remind me of a certain murderous Phantom, which was amusing.

There are short stories from existing series’ as well as standalones, but nothing you need to have read beforehand to enjoy these tales. Unless you want to! All of the authors are experts in their field and their victims, musicians, fans, or even just very annoying neighbours, all meet their ends in suitably macabre and definite ways. Perfect for crime fiction fans, whatever your preferred sub-genre.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

The first book in the Shady Hollow series, in which we are introduced to the village of Shady Hollow, a place where woodland creatures live together in harmony—until a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead and the local reporter has to solve the case.

Reporter Vera Vixen is a relative newcomer to Shady Hollow. The fox has a nose for news, so when she catches wind that the death might be a murder, she resolves to get to the bottom of the case, no matter where it leads. As she stirs up still waters, the fox exposes more than one mystery, and discovers that additional lives are in jeopardy.

Vera finds more to this town than she ever suspected. It seems someone in the Hollow will do anything to keep her from solving the murder, and soon it will take all of Vera’s cunning and quickness to crack the case.

Juneau Black is the pen name of authors Jocelyn Cole and Sharon Nagel. They share a love of excellent bookshops, fine cheeses, and good murders (in fictional form only). Though they are two separate people, if you ask either of them a question about their childhood, you are likely to get the same answer. This is a little unnerving for any number of reasons.

My thoughts: this was a delightfully quirky read, all the characters are animals but it reads like noir. Think Disney’s Zootopia crossed with Philip Marlowe with lashings of humour. Vera Vixen is a great protagonist, a sharp eyed reporter with a nose for a good story, she’s first on the scene and determined to investigate and find the killer. Especially as the tiny police department are a little slow on the uptake.

Enlisting her friend, Lenore the bookshop owning raven, as her sidekick, she sets about checking the town’s alibis, but since everyone seems to have been home alone, there’s not a lot to go on. But she’s tenacious and brave, putting herself at risk to get the scoop and solve the case.

I really enjoyed this clever, fun book and can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace. Most everyone assumed Andy had got away with murder—it’s always the husband, isn’t it?—but the police could never build a strong case against him. For a while, Andy hit rock bottom—he drank too much to numb the pain, was abandoned by all his friends save one, nearly lost his business, and became a pariah in the place he once called home.

Now, six years later, Andy has finally put his life back together. He sold the house he once shared with Brie and moved away. Truth to tell, he wasn’t sad to hear that the old place was razed and a new house built on the site. He’s settled down with a new partner, Jayne, and life is good.

But Andy’s peaceful world is about to shatter. One day, a woman shows up at his old address, screaming, “Where’s my house? What’s happened to my house?” And then, just as suddenly as she appeared, the woman—who bears a striking resemblance to Brie—is gone. The police are notified and old questions—and dark suspicions—resurface. 

Could Brie really be alive after all these years? If so, where has she been? It soon becomes clear that Andy’s future, and the lives of those closest to him, depends on discovering what the hell is going on. The trick will be whether he can stay alive long enough to unearth the answers. 

My thoughts: I could not figure out where this one was going. It just seemed so weird. Brie disappears and then six years later a woman who looks just like her appears outside her old house. Then she vanishes again. But can it really be Brie?

Both her husband Andy, and the detective who has been investigating the case want answers and the truth is stranger than they could imagine. Who could have done all of this and why? Andy’s new life could be torn apart by this and he just wants to close the chapter and move on with girlfriend Jayne. The answers are shocking and also quite sad as the people involved were ones he thought he could trust.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

DEATH IS NOT THE END. FOR GRACE McGILL IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

When people die alone and undiscovered, it’s her job to clean up what’s left behind – whether it’s clutter, bodily remains or dark secrets.

When an old man lies undetected in his flat for months, it seems an unremarkable life and an unnoticed death. But Grace knows that everyone has a story and that all deaths mean something more.

A STAND-OUT NOVEL WITH A UNIQUE NARRATIVE VOICE AND AN UNGUESSABLE MYSTERY, YOU ARE GUARANTEED TO REMEMBER GRACE McGILL.

My thoughts: Grace is a strange woman, she lives a very solitary life, just her and her cat George and the occasional demanding call from her alcoholic monster of a father. She cleans crime scenes and places, usually homes, of those who’ve died forgotten.

She also builds dioramas of these scenes, a little like the famous Nutshell dioramas, but without the educational angle. She’s the one that alerts the police to a series of deaths where a single daisy has been left.

Grace is also trying to uncover a long almost forgotten disappearance and possible murder of a young woman in the 1960s. All the witnesses and suspects are elderly and she’s running out of time.

As the book unfolds and more about Grace is slowly revealed, she becomes something darker and things take a sinister turn. A clever, gripping thriller.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.