Tag: crime fiction

It’s a small story. A small town with small lives that you would never have heard about if none of this had happened. Hinton Hollow. Population 5,120. Little Henry Wallace was eight years old and one hundred miles from home before anyone talked to him. His mother placed him on a train with a label around his neck, asking for him to be kept safe for a week, kept away from Hinton Hollow. Because something was coming. Narrated by Evil itself, Hinton Hollow Death Trip recounts five days in the history of this small rural town, when darkness paid a visit and infected its residents. A visit that made them act in unnatural ways. Prodding at their insecurities. Nudging at their secrets and desires. Coaxing out the malevolence suppressed within them. Showing their true selves. Making them cheat. Making them steal. Making them kill. Detective Sergeant Pace had returned to his childhood home. To escape the things he had done in the city. To go back to something simple. But he was not alone. Evil had a plan.

Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series. He spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He turned down a professional rugby contract to study theatre and television at King Alfred’s, Winchester, where he set up a successful theatre company. He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, and lives in Reading with his two children. Good Samaritans was book of the year in Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Express, and hit number one on the ebook charts.

My thoughts:

Sort of following on from Nothing Important Happened Today (a book that scrambled my brains) this is narrated by Evil, and is another brain scrambler of a book.

Someone is shooting children in a small suburban town, an abattoir worker has taken to cruelty and people are having affairs, breaking windows and going missing.

I feel sorry for DS Pace, he’s trying to solve these awful killings while also maintaining some semblance of order in his own life (and failing).

The ending did a number on my noggin and Evil somehow triumphs despite insisting they did very little to affect events.

Will Carver is an evil genius of a writer and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next, once I’ve rested my poor scrambled brain.

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

A serial killer will stop at nothing…

The Killer. His most valuable possession has been stolen. Now he must retrieve it, at any cost.

The Girl. Angela Wood wanted to teach the man a lesson. It was a bag, just like all the others. But when she opens it, the worst nightmare of her life begins.

The Detective. A journal ends up at Robert Hunter’s desk. It soon becomes clear that there is a serial killer on the loose. And if he can’t stop him in time, more people will die.

If you have read it. You must die.

Born in Brazil of Italian origin, Chris Carter studied psychology and criminal behaviour at the University of Michigan. As a member of the Michigan State District Attorney’s Criminal Psychology team, he interviewed and studied many criminals, including serial and multiple homicide offenders with life imprisonment convictions. He now lives in London.

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My thoughts:

This is a dark thriller with a determined detective and a man insensible to others’ suffering pitched against each other in a race against time.

When a pickpocket steals a serial killer’s diary and the LAPD become involved, the killer determines to get back his property – no care for the consequences.

Hunter is a sympathetic protagonist, the hero cop with nothing but his job to live for, I would have liked Angela to have been a bit more central, but the cat and mouse game between Hunter and the mysterious murderer is very cleverly done. The killer’s diary is an interesting plot device, the cold dispassionate tone of his observations clinical and then emotionally driven.

The denouement is satisfying and the final showdown cinematic in its execution.

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

A DETECTIVE UNDER PRESSURE

Deputy Coroner Clay Edison is juggling a new baby who won’t sleep with working the graveyard shift. For once he’s trying to keep things simple.

A HAUNTING DISCOVERY

When infant remains are found by developers demolishing a local park, a devastating cold case is brought back to light.

A DESPERATE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS

Clay has barely begun to investigate when he receives a call from a man who thinks the remains could belong to his sister – who went missing fifty years ago. Now Clay is locked in a relentless search that will unearth a web of violence, secrets and betrayal.

Because in this town, the past isn’t dead. It’s very much alive. And it can kill.

About the authors

Jonathan Kellerman is the Number One New York Times bestselling author of more than forty crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, True Detectives, and The Murderer’s Daughter.

With his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored Double Homicide and Capital Crimes.

With his son, bestselling novelist Jesse Kellerman, he co-authored Crime Scene, The Golem of Hollywood, and The Golem of Paris.

He is also the author of two children’s books and numerous nonfiction works, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children and With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars.

He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association, and has been nominated for a Shamus Award.

My thoughts:

This was a compelling novel of investigation and excavating the past. There are two cases, one that of a dead child’s remains found buried in a park and the other of a child, missing or perhaps dead, fifty years ago.

Clay is an engaging protagonist, juggling his job as a coroner’s deputy and new fatherhood, the scenes between him and his tiny daughter are gentle relief to the cases he’s working.

The deaths of children are highly emotive, and the remains found spark protests and political wrangling, even as Clay is trying to reunite them with their family.

The cold case of the missing child from fifty years ago isn’t remotely clear cut – there’s little to no evidence that there even was a child, making Clay’s life even harder.

The cases are compelling and the investigations detailed and engaging, it’s clear the authors are confident and knowledgeable in their field, making the narrative flow and keeping the reader connected.

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

Four victims. Killer caught. Case closed . . . or is it?

Growing up in a London family with ties to organized crime, Detective Constable Cat Kinsella knows the criminal world better than most cops do. As a member of the city’s Metropolitan Police, she’s made efforts to distinguish herself from her relatives. But leading an upstanding life isn’t always easy, and Cat has come close to crossing the line, a fact she keeps well hidden from her superiors.

Working their latest case, Cat and her partner Luigi Parnell discover a connection to a notorious criminal: serial killer Christopher Masters, who abducted and killed several women in 2012. Though the cops eventually apprehended him, his final victim, Holly Kemp, was never found and he never confessed to her murder, despite the solid eyewitness testimony against him. Now, six years later, the discovery of Holly’s remains near Cambridge seems to be the definitive proof needed to close the case.

Still, a few key items of evidence don’t quite line up. As Cat and Parnell look closer, they find discrepancies that raise troubling questions. But someone will do anything to keep past secrets hidden—and as they inch closer to the truth, they may be putting themselves in jeopardy . . .

My thoughts:

This started off as a pretty average police procedural but then took off in a completely different direction, the plot gathering pace as the investigation sped up. The brilliant twists towards the end were not easy to spot and very little foreshadowing suggested where it might all end.

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

Haunted by their past, the Skelf women are hoping for a quieter life. But running both a funeral directors’ and a private investigation business means trouble is never far away, and when a car crashes into the open grave at a funeral Dorothy is conducting, she can’t help looking into the dead driver’s shadowy life. While Dorothy uncovers a dark truth at the heart of Edinburgh society, her daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah have their own struggles. Jenny’s ex-husband Craig is making plans that could shatter the Skelf women’s lives, and the increasingly obsessive Hannah has formed a friendship with an elderly professor that is fast turning deadly. But something even more sinister emerges when a drumming student of Dorothy’s disappears, and suspicion falls on her parents. The Skelf women find themselves immersed in an unbearable darkness – but could the real threat be to themselves? Fast-paced, darkly funny, yet touching and tender, the Skelf family series is a welcome reboot to the classic PI novel, whilst also asking deeper questions about family, society and grief.Doug Johnstone is the author of more ten novels, most recently Breakers (2019), which has been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and A Dark Matter (2020), which launched the Skelfs series. Several of his books have been bestsellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions – including a funeral home, which he drew on to write A Dark Matter – and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.

My thoughts:

The Skelfs are back. I loved Dark Matter, and this is an excellent sequel. Blackly comic and full of bathos, things pick up six months after the shocking events of the previous book and everyone is trying to move from murder and mayhem.

Hannah is still a mess (but I don’t blame her), Jenny is trying to keep her relationship with Liam alive, and Dorothy is sussing out things no one is paying her for. In short, business as usual for the multi-hypen family businesses.

With missing teenagers, tragic homeless people, a one eyed dog called Einstein and the ongoing trial of Craig, Hannah’s dad and Jenny’s ex to keep them occupied, the chaos continues.

Dorothy is still my favourite Skelf, with her drumming skills and determination to always find the truth. I love her friendship (and perhaps more) with copper Thomas, and her adopting yet more waifs and strays as the story unfolds.

I raced through the book with all its twists and turns, cannot wait for the next one, as there’s a cliffhanger or two at the end.

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

TV naturalist ‘Prof Leo’ Sanders makes it to his deathbed without a whiff of scandal — then confesses his career-defining wildlife discovery was a hoax.

A National Treasure shattering his own reputation on YouTube is enough to spark a media frenzy, and the curiosity of part-time journalism student Claire Webster who makes him the subject of her dissertation.

Her investigations lead to Prof Leo’s estranged family, and a high-flying advertising guru he also slandered in the video.

Ultimately Claire uncovers the truth behind the discovery of the Potley Hill Lemming — the first new species of British mammal in a century.

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Chris Chalmers was born in Lancashire and lives in south-west London. He’s been the understudy on Mastermind, visited 40 countries and swum with marine iguanas. His first novel, ‘Five To One’, was winner of a debut novel competition and nominated for the Polari First Book Prize; his latest, ‘The Last Lemming’, is out now in paperback and ebook. He has written a diary for 42 years and never missed a night.

Click on a reading from ‘The Last Lemming’, or a Five-To-ONE-MINUTE-MOVIE for a 60-second intro to the main characters and themes of ‘Five To One’. Or search ‘chris chalmers novelist’ on YouTube, for clips of Chris reading from his other books, poems about Christmas Eve and butcher’s shops, and fox cubs dancing to ABBA. (Yep, it’s as high-brow as that.)

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My thoughts:

This book has an incredible number of twists and turns as Claire uncovers the truth, or some of it,behind the Potley Hill lemming and the bizarre video “Prof Leo” posted online posthumously claiming it was all a hoax.

The humour is quite black and the story eye raising to say the least, Claire is a likeable protagonist and Leo is really a rather nasty chap. I felt sorry for the lemmings and the other people Leo caused to suffer.

The flashbacks to Leo’s scheme fill in the gaps in Claire’s research and complete the grim tale of Arctic rodents in suburbia.

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

A detective desperate for revenge. A hitwoman with one last job. A killer with both on his list.

Detective Matt Jackson has reached the end. His beloved wife, Polly, is the latest victim of ‘NEON’ – a serial killer who displays his victims in snaking neon lights – and he can’t go on without her. Unable to take his life, Jackson hires a hitwoman to finish the job. But on the night of his own murder, he makes a breakthrough in the case, and at the last minute his hitwoman, Iris, is offered an irresistible alternative: help Jackson find and kill NEON in return for the detective’s entire estate.

What follows is a game of cat and mouse between detective, hitwoman and serial killer. And when Jackson discovers it’s not a coincidence that all their paths have crossed, he begins to question who the real target has been all along…

My thoughts:

This was an interesting take on the police procedural, with a hit woman drafted in by a suspended detective to help catch a serial killer.

The killer is a strange person, building neon light displays and incorporating the bodies of his victims as sinister art pieces.

I enjoyed this, tight and clever writing, with several twists you don’t see coming.

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

Atlanta, Georgia. Present day. A young woman is brutally attacked and left for dead. The police investigate but the trail goes cold. Until a chance assignment takes GBI investigator Will Trent to the state penitentiary, and to a prisoner who says he recognises the MO. The attack looks identical to the one he was accused of eight years earlier. The prisoner’s always insisted that he was innocent, and now he’s sure he has proof. The killer is still out there.

As Will digs into both crimes it becomes clear that he must solve the original case in order to reach the truth. Yet nearly a decade has passed—time for memories to fade, witnesses to vanish, evidence to disappear. And now he needs medical examiner Sara Linton to help him hunt down a ruthless murderer. But when the past and present collide, everything Will values is at stake.

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her 19 novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant Sunday Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her.

The Good Daughter and Cop Town are in development for film and television and Pieces of Her is soon to be an eight-part Netflix adaptation, directed by Lesli Linka Glatter (Mad Men), and produced by Charlotte Stoudt (Homeland) and Bruna Papandrea (Big Little Lies).

Karin is the founder of the Save the Libraries project- a non-profit organisation established to support libraries and library programming.

She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

My thoughts:

I love Karin Slaughter and this book was no exception, her writing is really gripping and the plots are always so compelling and twisty.

I am usually quite good at guessing whodunnit but I was completely blindsided by the twist in this one. Will and Sara are great characters and their relationship is central to this case as the original investigation was under the auspices of Sara’s late ex-husband.

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