Tag: reviews

A modern western set in an isolated Australian bush town with a soaring crime rate, where a local constable with a troubled past must investigate the death of a teenage girl whose murder threatens to set the dusty streets ablaze.

Constable Paul Hirschhausen—“Hirsch”—is a recently demoted detective sent from Adelaide, Australia’s southernmost booming metropolis, to Tiverton, a one-road town in the country three hours north.

Hirsch isn’t just a disgraced cop; the internal investigations bureau is still trying to convict him of something, even if it means planting evidence. When someone leaves a pistol cartridge in his mailbox, Hirsch suspects that his career isn’t the only thing on the line.
But Tiverton has more crime than one cop can handle, due largely to the town’s stagnant economy, rural isolation, and entrenched racism and misogyny. When the body of a 16-year-old local girl is found on the side of the highway, the situation in Tiverton gets even more sinister, and whether or not Hirsch finds her killer, there’s going to be hell to pay.

My thoughts:

A remote Australian town, a violent death, a dysfunctional police force and a cover up gone wrong. Hirsch is in disgrace but determined that crime and murder won’t be brushed away this time.

Unhelpful colleagues aside, the lack of witnesses and general disinterest from the community makes it hard for him to solve the murder of a young woman; despite the convenient “accident” Hirsch’s instincts sense more going on than it appears.

The setting, the plot and the sense of isolation give the novel a claustrophobic feel, as Hirsch drives along the handful of roads, trying to solve crime in his truck, despite a campaign of intimidation against him.

A clever, twisted read, with an ending I didn’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.

When police are called to a murder scene at the home of Aberdeen socialite Annabel Imray, they find themselves under pressure to get a conviction, and fast. Meanwhile, local PIs Wilma Harcus and Maggie Laird are at rock bottom, desperate for income. As Maggie contemplates replacing Wilma with an unpaid intern, an eccentric widow appoints them to search for her lost cat – and Wilma goes off-piste to negotiate a loan, with terrifying terms.

As the fear caused by a series of sinister break-ins escalates, Maggie blames the aggressive language in public discourse for inciting violent crime. But before long, she finds she is in the danger zone herself.

Meanwhile, local PIs Wilma Harcus and Maggie Laird are at rock bottom, desperate for income. As Maggie contemplates replacing Wilma with an unpaid intern, an eccentric widow appoints them to search for her lost cat – and Wilma goes off-piste to negotiate a loan, with terrifying terms.

As the fear caused by a series of sinister break-ins escalates, Maggie blames the aggressive language in public discourse for inciting violent crime. But before long, she finds she is in the danger zone herself.

Will Wilma manage to save her?

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Claire MacLeary lived for many years in Aberdeen and St Andrews, but describes herself as “a feisty Glaswegian with a full life to draw on”.

Following a career in business, she gained an MLitt with Distinction from the University of Dundee and her short stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies. She has appeared at Granite Noir, Noir at the Bar and other literary events.

Claire’s debut novel, Cross Purpose, was longlisted for the prestigious McIlvanney Prize, Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award 2017, and Burnout was longlisted for the Hearst Big Book Award 2018. Runaway is her third novel and continues the Harcus & Laird series.

My thoughts:

There was a lot going in in this book – lots of tangled threads that both PIs and police alike are trying to unravel and solve the mysteries at their ends.

Is the murder of a socialite connected to a spate of thefts? What about the missing cat?

Wilma was easily my favourite character, fierce and no nonsense, marching about in shiny leggings, chasing leads and giving her supposedly grown up sons a good clip round the ear!

Eventually the knotty mess was unravelled and not only were various crimes solved, Maggie and Wilma even keep their partnership intact.

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

Who can we turn to, if justice betrays us?

1930. A chilling encounter on London’s Necropolis Railway leads to murder. At the Old Bailey, a man accused of a “blazing car” killing escapes the gallows after a surprise witness give sensational evidence. And journalist Jacob Flint finds himself framed for murder.

To save himself, Jacob needs to discover what links these strange events to a remote estate on a northern coast, Mortmain Hall. There, an eccentric female criminologist hosts a gathering of people who have narrowly escaped the consequences of miscarriages of justice. But the house party culminates in tragedy when a body is found beneath the crumbling cliffs. Is the death an accident, or the result of an ingenious plot to get away with murder?

Rachel Savernake, who’s been invited to the party, proposes an intricate—and dangerous—solution to the assembled guests, having done her own sleuthing into the labyrinthine secrets of Mortmain Hall. Will her relentless quest for the truth bring down the British establishment?

My thoughts:

This was a clever novel in the style of Golden Age writers like Agatha Christie and Margaret Allingham, where murder is someone’s solution to a whole host of problems.

Rachel Savernake is a smart, tough young woman, despite a sheltered upbringing she’s very savvy and adept at spotting the truth, a young Miss Marple, if you like.

Her household staff are her willing sidekicks and happy to bounce ideas and theories around with her, journalist Jacob Flint, slightly bumbling but not far behind her.

This was a very enjoyable read, clever and a bit twisted, much like my favourite crime novels from the Golden Age (I love a classic crime novel), the period setting adding authenticity and the denouement taking place in a Gothic pile literally on the edge of a cliff is very pleasing.

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

Just outside a sleepy Highland town, a gamekeeper is found hanging lifeless from a tree. The local police investigate an apparent suicide, only to find he’s been snared as efficiently as the rabbit suspended beside him. As the body count rises, the desperate hunt is on to find the murderer before any more people die. But the town doesn’t give up its secrets easily, and who makes the intricate clockwork mechanisms carved from bone and wood found at each crime?

Whirligig is a tartan noir like no other; an exposé of the corruption pervading a small Highland community and the damage this inflicts on society’s most vulnerable. What happens when those placed in positions of trust look the other way; when those charged with our protection are inadequate to the challenge; when the only justice is that served by those who have been sinned against?

This debut crime novel introduces DI James Corstophine – a man still grieving for a wife lost to cancer; his small close-knit team of passed-over police and their quiet Highland town. He’s up against a killer who plays him as easily as a child. For a man whose been treading water since the death of his wife, he’s facing a metaphorical flood of biblical proportions as he struggles to understand why these murders are happening, and who is behind each carefully planned execution. All the time, the clock is ticking.

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Born in London, moved to historic Monmouth as a young teenager and escaped as soon as I could to the bright lights of Bristol where I combined the careers of sober aerospace engineering and libertine sound engineering for as long as I could juggle these disparate and separate worlds.
Now living happily in central Scotland, where I enjoy writing books, playing music and exploring the great outdoors with my best friend who happily is my wife.

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My thoughts:

Set in a quiet rural town in the Highlands a series of baffling murders lead the local police force into a horrific past of child abuse and tragedy.

The writing is taut and precise, there’s a growing sense of menace as the police struggle to find the culprit and the death count rises.

Lots of red herrings lead both the detectives and the reader down the wrong path, leaving the real killer free to strike again.

A clever, tense read that hopefully will be followed by more murder and mischief in the Highlands.

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