Tag: crime fiction

When the bodies of five men are discovered in a secret vault at the villa Belle Époque, suspicion falls upon the villa’s former owner, enigmatic Pascal Deveraux.
Actor, gambler, general good-for-nothing – Pascal has lived a life of privilege and excess. But with no evidence to implicate him in murder, the case goes unsolved.
Called in to investigate the cold case, it’s not long before Margot’s enquiries re-open old wounds.
Aided by policière municipale, Alia Leon, the investigation moves swiftly from the smugglers’ trails of the Pyrenees to the cannabis clubs of Barcelona. And it’s there, in the dark medieval streets of the city’s Gothic Quarter, that someone finds a reason to silence her.
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Rachel Green is the pen name of a writer from the UK. Rachel has twice been longlisted for both the Bath Novel Award and the BPA First Novel Award, as well as being on the shortlist for the Capital Crime New Voices Award. Rachel lives in a tiny village in England, but travels frequently
to the south of France where the stories from the Madame Renard Investigates series are set.

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My thoughts: this was very enjoyable, I like Margot, and I liked Alia, I hope she appears in another book in this series. Investigating a strange cold case leads the two women into the odd lives of the Deveraux siblings, the creepy Pascal and his strange sister. Pascal likes to play perverse and disturbing games with people and immediately Margot has her suspicions of him. When Alia remembers seeing a man matching the remains of one of the victims, they’re set on a trail that will lead beyond the village’s borders and across the mountains into Barcelona.

Margot is an intelligent, resourceful investigator – for all that her late husband was the police officer, she has the right instincts for detective work. The remote villa and the tragic and disturbed family are ripe for investigating. Working with Alia, who really deserves a lot of the credit, means she has back up when things go wrong.

Set against the backdrop of a hot summer in the south of France, and the descriptions of all the delicious food Alia’s father, Didier, provides, gives an intense juxtaposition to the dark deeds and the sinister bunker where the remains were found. Twisted, gripping and intelligent crime writing.

*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 girl is sitting upright, her dark brown hair arranged over her shoulders and her blue, blue eyes staring into the distance. She looks almost peaceful. But her gaze is vacant, and her skin is cold…

When Detective Jackie Cooke is called to the murder scene, she is shocked by what she sees. Missing teenager Chloe Smedley has finally been found – her body left in a cold back yard, carefully posed with her bright blue eyes still open. Jackie lays a protective hand on the baby in her belly, and vows to find the brutal monster who stole Chloe’s future.

When Jackie breaks the news to Chloe’s heartbroken mother, she understands the woman’s cries only too well. Her own brother went missing as a child, the case never solved. Determined to get justice for Chloe and her family, Jackie sets to work, finding footage of the girl waving at someone the day she disappeared. Did Chloe know her killer?

But then a second body is found on the side of a busy motorway, lit up by passing cars. The only link with Chloe is the disturbing way the victim has been posed, and Jackie is convinced she is searching for a dangerous predator. Someone has been hunting missing and vulnerable people for decades, and only Jackie seems to see that they were never lost. They were taken.

Jackie’s boss refuses to believe a serial killer is on the loose and threatens to take her off the case. But then Jackie returns home to find a brightly coloured bracelet on her kitchen counter and her blood turns cold. It’s the same one her brother was wearing when he vanished. Could his disappearance be connected to the murders? Jackie will stop at nothing to catch her killer… unless he finds her first…

An absolutely gripping crime thriller that will keep you racing through the pages. Fans of Kendra Elliott, Rachel McLean and Val McDermid will love The Lost Ones.

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Marnie Riches grew up on a rough estate in north Manchester. Exchanging the spires of nearby Strangeways prison for those of Cambridge University, she gained a Masters in German & Dutch. She has been a punk, a trainee rock star, a pretend artist and professional fundraiser.

Her best-selling, award-winning George McKenzie crime thrillers were inspired by her own time spent in The Netherlands. Dubbed the Martina Cole of the North, she has also authored a series about Manchester’s notorious gangland as well as two books in a mini-series featuring quirky northern PI Bev Saunders.

Detective Jackson Cooke is Marnie’s latest heroine to root for, as she hunts down one of the most brutal killers the north west has ever seen at devastating personal cost.

When she isn’t writing gritty, twisty crime thrillers, Marnie also regularly appears on BBC Radio Manchester, commenting on social media trends and discussing the world of crime fiction. She is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Salford University’s Doctoral School and a tutor for the Faber Novel Writing Course.

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My thoughts: this was really good, I’ve read some of the author’s previous books but this really was a compelling read. I really liked the character of Jackson ‘Jackie’ Cooke, pregnant, mother of twins, wife to a rather useless man, but determined and incredibly good at her job. Her own little brother Lucian (their dad’s an artist) was abducted as a boy and the case is still open. He had Down’s Syndrome, as does the first missing child in this case. The connection means that for Jackie, this is personal.

As more remains are found, and more mothers are informed that their missing children are dead, Jackie becomes even more dedicated to solving this. Despite her boss wanting her, at 8 months pregnant, behind a desk till maternity leave.

The ending and the perpetrator is something you won’t see coming. Jackie’s personal life is on its knees, and I really didn’t pick the murderer out, like I can sometimes do, it just seemed too cruel. Brilliantly done and totally gripping.

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

When DI Barton is asked to investigate a seemingly innocuous fire that kills, he believes it’s either children fooling around or a worrying racially motivated crime.
As he delves deeper into the case, he soon realises that there is a history of similar blazes spread out over many years, all within a close area. And after an idea is suggested by pathologist Mortis, Barton
suspects he has the arsonist’s motives wrong.
When a night worker comes forward with a tip, Barton narrows down the suspects. Yet all of them act suspiciously and he knows for sure that one or more of them are lying. And when a huge house blaze shocks everyone, Barton fears the killer has lost all control.
Who is The Fire Killer? What will be next to burn?
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Ross Greenwood is the bestselling author of ten crime thrillers. Before becoming a full-time writer he was most recently a prison officer and so worked everyday with murderers, rapists and thieves
for four years. He lives in Peterborough.

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My thoughts: another outing for DI Barton and his team, this time on the trail of a serial arsonist, after a woman’s body is found in a burnt out skip. Dark, twisted and a bit disturbing. Fire is a primal thing and most people are either drawn to it or afraid of – perhaps a bit of both.

Set during lockdown, which helps narrow the suspect pool a bit as most people stayed close to home, even the supposedly victimless bin fire that follows the skip isn’t entirely free from damaging a life. The killer’s guilt doesn’t drive them to turn themselves in and there’s a worrying link to a county lines drug case from London too.

Barton’s family are getting a dog and he wants to be home with them, getting to know their new family member, but this case keeps drawing him back in. After a house fire that almost kills an old lady, it’s time to really put some pressure on the suspects.

Gripping and highly entertaining, it’s another slice of the dark side of Peterborough’s otherwise quite pleasant cathedral city.

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

DCI Warren Jones is deep into the investigation into an apparent murder-suicide when another case is thrust onto his desk. Winnie Palmer, missing for two months, has been found dead, her body stripped and propped against a tree in the woods.

Two cases are more than enough to handle – but things get even harder for the team when they realise the cases might be linked. And when a third suspicious death is added to the pile, it raises a horrible question. Is there a serial killer on the loose?

With all the murders taking place on Sundays, it’s a race against time to find the killer before they strike again. As the days tick by Warren desperately searches for a link between the victims – but the only thing he knows for sure is that absolutely anyone could be next…

My thoughts: this was a clever, gripping crime thriller. A murderer seems to be killing people indiscriminately  – an older couple, an elderly woman, but putting out food for the family pet each time. Each killing takes place on Sundays. So the police have a week to find the killer.

But they’re struggling and Warren is a little distracted by his new diet and the fact his wife is finally pregnant. His boss is retiring, change is in the air at the station and now with this spate of killings, all eyes are on Warren and his team.

Another body turns up, and the heat turns up on the team. And now the killer is writing to Warren. Detailed diaries of the murders, taunting Warren. Like certain historical serial killers. As it unfolds, Warren is easily the most sympathetic figure in the book. He has a lot on his plate and wants to catch the killer.

I really enjoyed this book, as with the previous books in the series, the writing is crisp and the plot keeps you gripped. The denouement delivers a surprise or two and I was stunned by the identity of the killer and his frankly bizarre reason for killing.

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

Old secrets are hard to keep buried in this gritty and gripping novel of suspense from New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.

Kelsey Warren may now be a high-flying journalist, but she’s never forgiven her reckless mother Donna for abandoning her as a teenager.

Yet when Kelsey returns to her hometown and discovers her mother’s body at the bottom of a flooded quarry with a gunshot wound in her chest, Kelsey’s world is flipped upside down. Her mother didn’t desert her; she was killed.

Despite Sheriff Mitch Garrett’s pleas to leave the case alone, Kelsey is determined to uncover the truth about her mother. But small towns hide big secrets, and someone has their eye on Kelsey and is set on silencing her for good.

Previously published as In Dark Waters

My thoughts: I liked Kelsey and Mitch, the way they bickered and her irritation at his need to protect her from everything, even though she had a right to know what was going on, after all it was her mother’s disappearance they were looking into.

However this book contained one of my biggest bugbears and it distracted me from the plot – the phrase “making love” as a euphemism for sex. If you can happily write a steamy sex scene, then please use the phrase “having/had sex” instead of “making love” which just makes me gag. Especially when it’s in the back room of a dive shop or a one off, they’re having a shag, not *gag* “making lurve”. Please stop.

Apart from that, and this isn’t the worst offender, it was a good and enjoyable crime story – I didn’t guess the killer right away and couldn’t see at first how the other deaths were connected, which was good. If it’s too obvious, it’s boring. Which this wasn’t.

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

Will the truth be buried with the dead?

When DS Joe Romano first meets Ana Dobrescu she’s nervous, in serious danger, and clearly needs help. The next time Romano sees her, she’s dead.

There was nothing more he could have done, but that’s cold comfort for Romano. He’s determined to catch Ana’s killer. Although the prime suspect, her millionaire boyfriend, is in a coma.

With the help of his larger-than-life partner Rita Scannon-Aktar, Romano begins to piece together a puzzle that places Ana at the centre of something much bigger than they could have imagined.

But while they’re hunting a murderer, those higher up are more concerned about the money. So it’s up to Romano to get justice for Ana. And whatever she knew, he’ll just have to pray that she didn’t take her secrets to the grave.

My thoughts: from what looks like a simple pub fight on the surface, to murder, people trafficking, exploitation and dodgy financial dealings in the small town of Batley, Yorkshire.

DS Romano, himself the grandson of immigrants, is sensitive to the plight of a group of trafficked Romanians, stripped of their passports and forced into horrible jobs for little to no pay, living in squalor. But Ana had a plan to help them, can Romano and his team unravel all the threads in this gritty and dark thriller?

I liked Romano, even if he really could use a clean suit and a good night’s sleep, he’s very determined and forges on even when he’s told that Ana’s death is “probably a domestic”, he knows there’s more to it than that and he won’t rest till he’s helped the same people Ana wanted to. I liked his partner in solving crime, Rita, not your stereotypical copper, and her no nonsense, take no prisoners attitude too, she was good fun.

The case felt timely and real – Brexit may well mean more people trafficking as it’s harder for migrant workers to come into the country legally to do the work Brits don’t want to do, some unscrupulous individuals will take advantage wherever they can. Hopefully the real DS Romano’s out there will put a stop to them.

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

‘I just want my little girl back. She’s so little, she needs her mummy. And she doesn’t even have her panda bear with her. Find her, please find her, before it’s too late.’

Little Rosie Blake has been taken. Since going missing from the hospital where she was being treated for cancer, Rosie’s distraught parents haven’t heard a word. And time is swiftly running out. They have to find her, and right away, because Rosie can only survive for ten days without her medication.

With the police unable to find any leads at all, criminal behaviourist Jessie Boyle and her team are brought in to help. Who would be so evil as to steal a sick child? Narrowing down on a suspect, Jessie quickly moves to arrest them, only to discover the suspect’s dead body instead… And with no Rosie in sight, the case becomes even more desperate.

Who killed their chief suspect, and where is Rosie now? And is Rosie’s disappearance linked to the sudden revival of Dublin’s Hellfire Club, an ancient and terrifying cult obsessed with death and human sacrifice?

As the race to find Rosie intensifies, her heartbroken parents know their little girl’s time is running out. The clock is ticking, but Jessie clings on to the hope of finding her safe. Then her search leads her to Ireland’s remote mountains… Will Jessie be able to survive the deadly threat that awaits her, rescue Rosie, and get her back to safety, before it’s too late?

An utterly compelling crime thriller that will have you hooked from the very first line. Fans of Patricia Gibney, Lisa Gardner and Lisa Regan will not want to miss this.

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Shane Dunphy (S. A. Dunphy) was born in Brighton in 1973, but grew up in Ireland, where he has lived and worked for most of his life. A child protection worker for fifteen years, he is the bestselling author of seventeen books, including the number one Irish bestseller Wednesday’s Child and the Sunday Times Bestseller The Girl Who Couldn’t Smile. His bestselling series of crime novels (written under the name S. A. Dunphy) feature the criminologist David Dunnigan. Stories From the Margins, his new series of true crime books written for Audible, has been critically acclaimed and the second title in the series, The Bad Place, is an Audible True Crime bestseller. 

https://shanedunphyauthor.org/

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My thoughts: the team return for another case with folkloric overtones, although this time they’re rooted in more human behaviour – the Reavers are a strange band planning a sacrifice, spun out of the infamous Hellfire Club, and a child’s life is at stake.

There seems to be several different groups interested in little Rosie’s life – why did the hospital porter report that she wasn’t safe, what does an old school gangster have to do with any of this?

Dawn gets to go all Die Hard, kicking in doors and wielding guns, while Jessie goes off on her own and Terri is put in danger. It’s absolutely cracking, heart in mouth, stuff. There were several moments where it seemed as though we might lose a character as they’re up against possibly the nastiest bunch so far. And of course Jessie’s creepy serial killer stalker Uruz is still around sending her messages, are they any closer to identifying him? Cannot wait for book four.

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