Tag: crime fiction

DCI Hannah Scarlett is an acknowledged expert in solving cold cases, but she is struggling under the weight of bureaucracy when Ramona Smith’s disappearance from Bowness more than twenty years ago crosses her desk. The prime suspect was charged but found not guilty. Now the case comes back into the public eye as the result of a shocking tragedy on the Crooked Shore, the fount of dark legends in the south of the Lake District. Tensions mount in the summer heat as a ruthless killer who has already got away with one murder plans further appalling crimes. Hannah finds herself racing against the clock as she strives to solve the mysteries and save innocent lives.

My thoughts: this was interesting, cold cases are obviously a bit harder to solve when suspects, witnesses and evidence aren’t available.

Added to that are complications in Hannah’s personal life and a strange man who insists a murder is about to happen.

I liked Hannah, she’s pretty sensible and doesn’t just go for the most obvious answers, she carefully works through the evidence and solves the case – though it’s not as straightforward as it seems.

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

Grace, Meg and Daphne, all in their seventies, are minding their own business while enjoying a cup of tea in a café, when seventeen-year-old Nina stumbles in. She’s clearly distraught and running from someone, so the three women think nothing of hiding her when a suspicious-looking man starts asking if they’ve seen her.

Once alone, Nina tells the women a little of what she’s running from. The need to protect her is immediate, and Grace, Meg and Daphne vow to do just this. But how? They soon realise there really is only one answer: murder.

And so begins the tale of the three most unlikely murderers-in-the-making, and may hell protect anyone who underestimates them.

My thoughts: this was very entertaining, as three old ladies decide to carry out a murder and rescue two young women in the process.

What’s happened to Nina and Ronnie is horrific, and gets very dark, so contrasting it with the humour of three women with no idea about the criminal underworld planning a hit helps. But Grace, Daphne and Meg have been through a lot in their 70 plus years, some of it dark too, and it has given them all a source of inner strength and determination to rescue Nina and Ronnie from their own nightmare.

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

At first, Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan believes the murder mystery game sent to her office is a birthday gift from one of her colleagues. But when Frankie studies the game’s contents, she notices a striking resemblance between the ‘murder victim’ and missing twenty-two-year-old Lydia Callin.

As Frankie and her team investigate, a series of grisly crimes connected to the game are discovered across Dublin city and Lydia’s involvement with a shadowy network of murder mystery players becomes clear.

On the hunt for Lydia’s murderer, Frankie is drawn more deeply into the game. Every successful move brings her closer to the killer. But the real question is not what happens should she lose — but what happens if she wins.

My thoughts: this was good, clever and twisted. Drawing on the famous Nutshell crime scene models, escape rooms, online games, and people’s true crime addiction, this investigation is handed on a plate (or should that be, in a box?) to the detectives but there seems to be something very sinister at play. Not helped by the refusal of the other “players” to stay out of it once it becomes clear this is a real crime.

Frankie and her team are racing against time as more clues appear and the amateur sleuths put themselves at risk, getting far too involved. But who is the killer and what is their endgame?

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

This grave can never be opened.
The head of Scotland’s most powerful crime family is brutally murdered, his body dumped inside an ancient grave in a remote cemetery.

This murder can never be forgotten.
Detectives Max Craigie and Janie Calder arrive at the scene, a small town where everyone has secrets to hide. They soon realise this murder is part of a blood feud between two Scottish families that stretches back to the 1800s. One thing’s for certain: it might be the latest killing, but it won’t be the last…

This killer can never be caught.
As the body count rises, the investigation uncovers large-scale corruption at the heart of the Scottish Police Service. Now Max and Janie must turn against their closest colleagues – to solve a case that could cost them far more than just their lives…

My thoughts: this was a really enjoyable, clever police procedural taking in police corruption and a centuries’ old family feud – the reasons for which have been lost to time. Max Craigie is a man on a mission – to stop more innocent lives being lost and to root out the corruption and criminals at the heart of Police Scotland.

Despite being put on sick leave, he keeps working the case, convinced a supposed accident is a cover up for murder and that the Hardie family of gangsters have their fingers deep within the agency that’s supposed to be catching them in their crimes. He’ll need all the help he can get from his DC, Janie Calder and some old friends down south. Gripping, fast paced and very clever, this is the first in what looks to be an excellent new 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.

The Met Police’s Major Investigation Team East has its hands full: a rash of tit for tat gang related stabbings, a strangled housewife, the decomposed remains of a woman found in a ditch and more to come. Adding to their woes is their boss, Chief Inspector Matthew Merry, being distracted by his problems at home.
For Matthew’s wife, Kathy, her only concern is dealing with the aftermath of being drugged and raped by a co-worker. Will the trial of the man responsible be enough to give her the justice she demands. Or, as her therapist states, is it revenge she really desires. She doesn’t know. As her emotions see-saw from elation to depression, her only certainty is that her husband seems more concerned about his work than her.
And Matthew is only too aware of his failings both at home and work. But the police machine grinds on, seeking information and sifting evidence — justice is not their concern.

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John was born in the mid-fifties in Dagenham, London, on part of the largest council estate ever built, and was the first pupil from his local secondary modern school to attend university. He has now taken early retirement to write, having spent the first part of his life working in education and the public sector. He was the director of a college, a senior school inspector for a local authority, and was head of a unit for young people with physical and mental health needs. When he is not
travelling, going to the theatre or the pub, he writes.
John is currently working on a seies of novels set in modern day London. These police procedurals examine the darker side of modern life in the East End of the city.
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My thoughts: this was an interesting novel that started as a simple murder case that grows to have international implications and draws in officers from France and Italy as the police search for the criminal gang involved in trafficking and who lie behind the brutal murder of the young woman found on a Dagenham industrial estate.

The characters were interesting too – DCI Merry in particular. He struggles between the needs of his job and the needs of his family. His wife especially, struggling with her own pain and needing more support than he can give. The book goes to some dark places – the casual cruelty of the gang towards their victims is shocking and the way they act as though it’s just business is a grim reminder of the dark underbelly of London.

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