Tag: crime fiction

Jenny Bowen is going home. Boarding the Caledonian Sleeper, all she wants to do is forget about her upcoming divorce and relax on the ten-hour journey through the night.

In her search for her cabin, Jenny helps a panicked woman with a young girl she assumes to be her daughter. Then she finds her compartment and falls straight to sleep.

Waking in the night, Jenny discovers the woman dead in her cabin … but there’s no sign of the little girl. The train company have no record of a child being booked on the train, and CCTV shows the dead woman boarding alone.

The police don’t believe Jenny, and soon she tries to put the incident out of her head and tells herself that everyone else is right: she must have imagined the little girl.

But deep down, she knows that isn’t the truth.

My thoughts:

Trains have famously been the place where crimes take place – thanks to a certain Agatha Christie. But instead of a grand trip across Europe, Jenny is taking the sleeper to Edinburgh when the crime she says she witnessed takes place.

The plot that unravels goes to places you don’t expect – what seems like a straightforward case of murder and maybe missing person turns out to be a lot more dangerous and shocking.

The plot whizzes along, the writing is tight and carries you along with it, just like a train.

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

Detective Buchanan remembers every victim.
But this one he can’t forget.

The body of a woman has been found on a pristine New Zealand beach – over a decade after she was murdered.

Detective Matt Buchanan of the Auckland Police is certain it carries all the hallmarks of an unsolved crime he investigated 12 years ago: when Samantha Coates walked out one day and never came home.

Re-opening the case, Buchanan begins to piece the terrible crimes together, setting into motion a chain of events that will force him to the darkest corners of society – and back into his deepest obsession…

My thoughts:

Written by a former police officer, set in New Zealand, this is a dark and gripping thrill ride of a novel, taking the standard police procedural to a darker place. Matt Buchanan is haunted by the murder he couldn’t solve, and leaving the force has not helped him forget. Returning to investigate a similar crime years later, will he find his answers?

What was interesting was the attention to detail and the mental processes of an investigator that comes from having been in that role, although I hope the author doesn’t have unsolved crimes haunting him in the same way.

This was a really interesting take on the genre and I look forward to seeing what else Nathan Blackwell writes next.

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

In 1922 a blind WW1 veteran and former intelligence officer attends a weekend with his aristocratic wife and her family at a country house in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. Fourteen people sit down to dinner on the Friday night; by the end of the weekend there are two murders, an attempted murder and a suicide.

This is book one in a series of humorous murder mysteries and introduces young sleuths The Hon Melissa Charters and her war veteran husband Major Alastair Charters.

The pair collaborate using Melissa’s powers of observation and Alasdair’s old skills gained in the Secret Intelligence Service to investigate the events unfolding over the weekend. A murder mystery with a spy plot told from many different points of view in the tradition of Simon Brett, M C Beaton and Kerry Greenwood.

Will our investigators discover who is behind the murders?

Vicki worked as a Chartered Librarian for the Royal National Institute of Blind People and then for the past 19 years in public libraries in Bournemouth and Poole. There she enjoyed arranging and attending writing courses and author events, including such luminaries as Fay Weldon and Peter James. With the Reading Agency and other librarians round the country she reviewed and selected books for The Radio Two Book Club. All the time writing away in her spare time.

Born in California but brought up in England she was introduced to the Golden Age of crime authors at an early age by her mother. She is married to a blind physiotherapist, and it is from his mother, born in a large country house in Devon (now a hotel), educated by governess and with a cut glass voice like the Queen, that she absorbed real life stories about the twenties and thirties.

She has always had a fascination with the Art Deco period and the Golden Age of crime writing. She has been filling her house with Art Deco inspired artefacts and clothing for 40 years.

Blind Witness is her debut novel and is the beginning of the Charters Mysteries Series featuring Major Alasdair Charters and The Honourable Melissa Charters.

My thoughts:

This was a really interesting take on the classic detective novel. Alasdair has lost his sight in the war and is struggling with the changes his disability has wrought on him, but an old friend in the intelligence services offers him an opportunity to solve a series of murders during a country house weekend.

Evoking Christie, Allingham and the other queens of crime with its setting and period, this is an excellent addition to the canon. I can’t wait to see what Goldie writes next.

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

Suspended from duty after her last case ended in the high-profile arrest of one of Britain’s wealthiest men, DC Constance Fairchild is trying to stay away from the limelight. Fate has other ideas . . .

Coming home to her London flat, Constance stumbles across a young man, bloodied, mutilated and barely alive. She calls it in and is quickly thrown into the middle of a nationwide investigation . . .

It seems that the victim is just the latest in a string of similar ritualistic attacks. No matter that she is off-duty, no matter that there are those in the Met who would gladly see the back of her, Con can’t shake her innate determination to bring the monsters responsible for this brutality to justice.

Trouble always seems to find her, and even if she has nothing to hide, perhaps she has everything to lose . . .

James Oswald is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Inspector McLean series of detective mysteries, as well as the new DC Constance Fairchild series.

James’s first two books, Natural Causes and The Book of Souls, were both short-listed for the prestigious CWA Debut Dagger Award.

James farms Highland cows and Romney sheep by day, writes disturbing fiction by night.

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed this, I hadn’t read the first one but it really doesn’t matter, Oswald includes enough detail about the overarching case Con is involved in that you don’t miss having not read it.

The cases that a supposedly off-duty Constance Fairchild gets involved with are dark and grotesque, involving ritualistic mutilation and murder. So maybe not for the weak of stomach. However I don’t get bothered by fictional gore and found this really fascinating and a compelling read. I even found myself thinking about how all sorts of awful things could be going on right now behind the facade of civility on my own high street, while travelling on the bus the following day, so this is a book that lingers long in the mind.

The writing is concise, the plot and characters hook you from the first page. Con is a bit of a mystery woman herself and you find you’re drawn into her life and its various concerns and problems quickly. Set in London, Scotland and Northumberland, there’s a lot going on and not much of it good, if you’re a character, but great if you’re a reader!

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

When 33-year-old Isabel Flores Montserrat quits a promising career with the Spanish police to run her mother’s holiday rentals agency in rural Mallorca, it seems that her crime-fighting days are far behind. Basking in the Mediterranean sunshine with pet ferret, Furì, she indulges her passion for local cuisine, swimming in the sea and raising her pampered hens. However, in just a few days, the disappearance of a young British girl, violent murder of an elderly neighbour, and discovery of a Colombian drug cartel threaten to tear apart Isabel’s idyllic life. Together with local chief Tolo Cabot, an old admirer of her unorthodox methods, Isabel must race against the clock to untangle a sinister web of crime and restore peace to the island once more.

 

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed this novel, it reminded me of The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency a little, as well as Agatha Raisin, in marrying a crime story to a laid back pace and comic moments.

Isabel is very clever, and somehow manages to find time to solve a series of crimes as an adviser to the Mallorcan police forces and run her mother’s holiday lets business. Although handily some of their renters seem a little dodgy…

This is a well written, smart, enjoyable book, the first in a projected series, and if you like your crime with a side dose of delicious sounding food (seriously I was hungry the whole time I was reading because of the descriptions) then this is the book for you.

I haven’t been to Mallorca, although it’s on my list, and I was interested to learn the main language there is Catalan not Spanish, the island not having always been part of Spain, and like Venice it has its own unique dialect that locals speak and clearly identifies anyone from the main land.

I look forward to the next book and may also dip into the author’s other books, based on her own experiences of moving to rural Mallorca and setting up home there.

The Devil’s Horn is fresh off the printing press and available now from all good bookshops and online in ebook and paperback formats.

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

On the heels of her successful debut, The Love Detective comes more misadventures and murder with Clarry Pennhaligan and her creator, author Angela Dyson.

Note to self: Do not screw this up. When Clarry Pennhaligan, rookie private detective and unlikely heroine, takes on her second case, she is determined to master the art of smart.

All she has been asked to do is to infiltrate a group of women who share a rather unusual way of spending their spare time. Shouldn’t be too demanding, she thinks, nothing to it.

But, after her first clumsy steps reveal secrets that may best be kept hidden, her investigation gains momentum and events take a bizarre and sinister turn.

Out of her depth and working above her paygrade, Clarry soon faces a very real danger. Things just got Next Level.

“The role of amateur detective has always appealed to me,” Angela Dyson explains. “The artless inexperienced meddler asking questions, stirring things up and getting in to a whole heap of trouble. But I’d never be brave enough to do it myself.”

Apart from the twists and turns of her crime caper, Angela has made sure to include some important messages to young and old. As she explains, “Twenty-six year old, Clarry Pennhaligan, is a modern heroine. She’s a generously proportioned size 14. She’s Body Positive and reflects the New Activism: Accept yourself …just as you are. Accept others…..just as they are.”

And then there’s her side-kick, the glamorous septuagenarian Flan. “I love Flan! She’s gloriously outspoken, and with a huge appetite for life. The inter-generational aspect of the novel sends a powerful message: We can do anything we want, no matter what our age.”

My thoughts:

This was a really fun romp of a book, Clarry is a great character and I loved her no nonsense approach to life. I also adore her retiree side kick Flan, who is just the best and totally who I want to grow up to be.

Searching for the truth as to what the strange group of women are up to uncovers a whole mess of scandal and lies. It’s a riot, with our fearless heroines clambering over roofs and attending unusual rituals in suburban Wimbledon.

I hadn’t read the first book, but I’m going to seek out a copy and hopefully there will be more Clarry and Flan to come!

This is a perfect read when you need some comfort, and a giggle, ideal now the night is drawing in and it’s raining non-stop.

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

Edward Ransome is one of England’s most famous artists – rich, a friend to celebrities and known for his devotion to his craft for almost fifty years.

Then someone steals his favourite painting – the painting that set Ransome on course to fame and fortune but was never sold and rarely seen.

Sam Dyke is hired to find the painting, and the thief, but quickly discovers that the loss of the painting is only one of the many losses suffered by Ransome, and his family.

What’s more, whoever stole the painting is keen to keep it a secret, and committing murder to do so is not out of the question.

Soon Dyke finds he has more than a simple burglary on his hands – it’s a case that spans generations and includes more than one ordinary crime.

The Cobalt Sky is a subtle but exciting exploration of the ways in which families can hurt each other over time … without even trying.

From the two-time winner of the Chanticleer Reviews CLUE Award in the private eye/noir category, for The Bleak and The Innocent Dead.

Amazon

Keith Dixon was born in Yorkshire and grew up in the Midlands.

He’s been writing since he was thirteen years old in a number of different genres: thriller, espionage, science fiction, literary.

Two-time winner of the Chanticleer Reviews CLUE First in Category award for Private Eye/Noir novel, he’s the author of nine full-length books and one short-story in the Sam Dyke Investigations series and two other non-crime works, as well as two collections of blog posts on the craft of writing.

His new series of Paul Storey Thrillers began in 2016 and there are now three books in the series.

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My thoughts:

This was quite interesting, a reclusive artist claims his most famous painting, one no one has seen in years, normally stored in his safe, has been stolen and replaced with a replica.

For PI Sam Dyke this case is a bit of a headache, as he realises the family has a lot of secrets and all of it is tangled up with the painting that’s gone missing somehow.

I found the writing quite dense at times and it took me a while to get into the plot, but once I did I enjoyed what I was reading. I know very little about the art world, much like Sam, so it was interesting to read about the rather incestuous (sometimes literally in this case) relationships between artists, dealers and gallery owners.

I felt the ending was nice and tight and tied all the characters and plot lines together very nicely. It was a clever take on the crime genre and reminiscent of some of the more genteel crime novels, but with lots of violent death and blood added in.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour.