Difference between revisions of "Newest Crime Reviews"
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| + | |author= C J Skuse | ||
| + | |title= Sweetpea | ||
| + | |rating= 3.5 | ||
| + | |genre= Crime | ||
| + | |summary=In many ways, Rhiannon Lewis lives an ordinary life. She works at a local paper, lives with her long term boyfriend, dotes on her dog and is part of a large group of friends. There are just a few unusual things about Rhiannon, like that she is obsessed with Slyvanian families... and she's in fact a serial killer. She's harmless though... as long as you stay off her list. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0008216673</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
{{newreview | {{newreview | ||
|author=Friedrich Durrenmatt and Joel Agee (translator) | |author=Friedrich Durrenmatt and Joel Agee (translator) | ||
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|summary=Making a long running series evolve organically is a very tricky business; a character that has been around for 26 books, and nearly as many years, is not going to be the same person that started out. Age catches up with us all and many crime writer have come up against the problem of retirement; not their own, but that of their character. Why is a 70 year old still out chasing criminals and shooting things? Lucas Davenport is a character who has always been a maverick, doing what he wants, therefore quitting the police was never going to stop him. | |summary=Making a long running series evolve organically is a very tricky business; a character that has been around for 26 books, and nearly as many years, is not going to be the same person that started out. Age catches up with us all and many crime writer have come up against the problem of retirement; not their own, but that of their character. Why is a 70 year old still out chasing criminals and shooting things? Lucas Davenport is a character who has always been a maverick, doing what he wants, therefore quitting the police was never going to stop him. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471160211</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471160211</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 07:08, 21 April 2017
Sweetpea by C J Skuse
In many ways, Rhiannon Lewis lives an ordinary life. She works at a local paper, lives with her long term boyfriend, dotes on her dog and is part of a large group of friends. There are just a few unusual things about Rhiannon, like that she is obsessed with Slyvanian families... and she's in fact a serial killer. She's harmless though... as long as you stay off her list. Full review...
The Judge and His Hangman (Inspector Barlach 1) by Friedrich Durrenmatt and Joel Agee (translator)
We're in rural, rainy, wintery Switzerland soon after the Second World War. A man has been found on a remote mountain road. It would appear he opened his car door to someone who proceeded to shoot him dead. Leading the investigation is Inspector Barlach, an elderly and it seems chronically ill policeman, who has no fondness for new-fangled ideas of criminology, but he has employed Tschanz to do his leg-work for him – Tschanz who seems much more keen to find evidence and to share it, and not rely on gut instincts. Neither particularly want to be out in all weathers sorting the crime, but the victim was certainly in the wrong place at the wrong time, for he was a fellow policeman and nobody knows why he was there – or if they do they aren't saying. What had he been up to, and which way of policing the case will get to the answers first? Full review...
Amnesia by Michael Ridpath
Alastair is in trouble. He's had a nasty knock on the head and now he can't remember anything about his life. In an attempt to recover his memories, he is sent to convalesce in a remote cottage in the Scottish Highlands in the company of his old friend's niece, Clemence. During their stay, Clemence uncovers a strange book which seems to tell the story of her grandmother's murder years before. Now Alastair and Clemence must uncover the truth about who murdered Sophie as outside the snow grows ever nearer, as does a creeping malevolent ghost from Alastair's past who wants to make sure the past stays buried, even if that means burying Alastair along with it. Full review...
Bryant and May: Wild Chamber by Christopher Fowler
Bryant and May are back! So the slow decline into old age, with a side helping of dementia, isn't quite the Reichenbach Falls: it did give Fowler a cleaner and clearer way to have Arthur Bryant return to work. A simple he hasn't been well but he's back now and no more need be said about it. Full review...
Death Message by Kate London
In October 1987, on the morning after the great storm, Tania Mills left home to visit a friend and was never seen again. Twenty-seven years later DS Sarah Collins from the Met's Homicide Command has to look into new information which might reveal what happened to the fifteen-year-old girl. It's not all she has to do though - there are still current cases which have to be responded to immediately: somehow she has to fit it all together. Meanwhile DC Lizzie Griffiths has to deal with a case of domestic violence: the husband is vicious and volatile, but outwardly charming and the wife ultimately too frightened to do anything but put up with his outbursts. Collins and Griffiths have history and antagonism between them: will they be able to work together? Full review...
Children of Lucifer: Modesty Blaise by Peter O'Donnell and Enric Badia Romero
Out of ninety-five diverse comic strip stories, the publication of this book leaves just the last three yet to be presented in these fabulous large format paperbacks. So if you haven’t yet met with the sassy brunette with her curves and her great crime-solving mind, and of course with her Willie, this is the last-but-one chance for you to do so. And if you have any interest in quick little action tales, or even dated kitsch, for both apply here, then you should eagerly be on board… Full review...
The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2 by E G Rodford
In the second instalment of this series, Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired by a well-known local man to track down some missing valuables. Bill Galbraith, a world-famous surgeon at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital who hosts a popular medical television programme, has had his briefcase stolen by his live-in domestic servant, Aurora. According to Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient of his at the hospital. George agrees to look into the theft, assuming it will be a relatively easy and straightforward case – little does he know, he's about to enter a world of deceit and dysfunction. Full review...
Well of the Winds (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick
It's not a happy time for DCI Jim Daley. The woman he loved is dead - there are those who blame him for what happened - and his relationship with Liz, his ex wife, and his young son is deteriorating by the day. He's finding solace in the bottom of a glass, whilst the man who used to do that all too often, his friend DS Brian Scott is off alcohol completely and has found exercise. There's a new officer in charge at Kinloch - DS Carrie Simmington - and whilst she might look young, it's unlikely that she got to that position without having a core of steel. Full review...
Miraculous Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics) by Martin Edwards (editor)
Consider the following scenario: a policeman hears someone screaming and runs to a house on a particular street, number 13, from where the noise is emanating. When he peeps through the letterbox he discovers a dead man in the hallway with a knife in his throat. He goes to fetch help, but upon returning, finds that the street does not have a number 13 and that the body and the room he saw have both mysteriously vanished... Full review...
The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh
So. In the interest of honest disclosure I should tell you that I love Irvine Welsh's work and I must confess to a particularly gruesome fancy for Begbie, the notoriously violent, terrifying protector/tormentor of the Trainspotting gang. Whilst this means you are unlikely to receive an unbiased review, it does mean you will get a passionate one. It is fair to say that I loved The Blade Artist and my only critique would be that it was over too quickly. For those of you who may not be familiar with Welsh's earlier manifestations have no fear, you can pick up The Blade Artist and be transfixed by Jim Francis, artist, father, husband and elegant thug. For those of you with previous knowledge of Francis Begbie you'll be instantly drawn back into the world of a man previously defined by petty vengeance, violence and blood. Full review...
The Killing Bay by Chris Ould
Between the Scando-noir and the Highlands-and-Islands crime, it was only a matter of time until a series featuring a life-weary detective set in Greenland, Iceland, or thereabouts appeared. And here we are, with a series based in the Faroes. Full review...
The Pictures by Guy Bolton
It's the spring of 1939: in Hollywood The Wizard of Oz is in production at MGM and it's important that nothing interrupts shooting or causes bad publicity for the actors or the studio. The police department recognises that it's good for Hollywood that all goes smoothly and it's Detective Jonathan Crane's job to see that the crimes and misdemeanours of the stars are swept under the proverbial carpet. The studio rewards him handsomely for this and there's perhaps a little bit of antagonism within LAPD that Craine's got it easy and wouldn't know how to investigate a case if it came up and slapped him, but in Craine's mind all that's going to change. Full review...
The Acid Test by Elmer Mendoza
Mayra Cabral de Melo is dead. Murdered in cold blood in a desolate, dusty field by the side of the road. Once the most adored, celebrated dancer at the local strip club, she had a collection of rich and powerful admirers but who amongst them was deluded and dangerous enough to kill her? And what connects her to the deaths of various associates, arms dealers and Narco kingpins? Lefty Mendieta returns in The Acid Test, following on from Mendoza's first novel Silver Bullets. I haven't read the first instalment of this series and don't believe that had any impact on this story. Lefty has a personal connection to the case, forever haunted by the memories of his brief but life changing night with Mayra and uses his connections to the powerful criminal underworld, his tense relationship with American agents and his consuming desire to avenge her death to track down this violent and deranged killer. Along the way we learn about the growing tensions between Narcos which erupt in explosive levels of violence, meet a host of damaged, humorous and violent residents of Culiacán and follow Lefty on a trail of destruction, death and disorder. Full review...
Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith
Maben is on the run. For a long while it's not clear whether she's running from something or towards something, or simply back to where it all started. She's got her small daughter with her, and they've been walking for a very long time. It's hard on the child, but it's also clear that if it wasn't for the child Maben would stop running, and it's clear that that would not be a good thing. Full review...
Parallel Lines by Steven Savile
Books are full of coincidences, because if they were not, they would be pretty dull. The action takes place during an extraordinary timescale of the characters – the time they were involved in a bank robbery, or their loved one was murdered. People are more likely to read this type of book than one about the time they picked out their new curtains. For the intrigue to happen, links between characters have to be made, but balancing coincidence is tricky. Too little and the characters don't gel, too much and you start to think the book is supernatural. Did Steven Savile get the balance right in Parallel Lines? Full review...
Quieter than Killing (D I Marnie Rome 4) by Sarah Hilary
The attacks all seemed to be quite random, but the nights were dark, the weather freezing and D I Marnie Rome and DS Noah Jake were spending quite a lot of time on the streets of London. Then Marnie's family home was ransacked and every indication was that it had been done by someone (or on the order of someone) who knew her. Normally Commander Welland would have been able to give Marnie a degree of protection - he knew her history all too well - but his cancer had returned and he was going to be away for four months. His stand-in was nowhere near as understanding in this or other matters. Then it was established that a child was missing - had been missing for ten weeks - but no one had reported it. Full review...
Little Bones by Sam Blake
It was a fairly ordinary break in. A young artist's home had been given a going over, but it was hard to see that much had been taken. There were suspicions that it might have been one of the usual suspects, only the shoes weren't as they'd have expected to find them if that was to be the case. Something else was not as you might expect to find it: a wedding dress, an old heirloom piece by the look of it, and in the hem, stitched in there, tiny bones. Human bones. Full review...
The Chalk Pit (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths
Norwich is - apparently - riddled with tunnels, many dating back to the time when chalk was mined there. When bones are discovered in one of the tunnels it seems obvious that they've been there for hundreds of years, but Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist, isn't so certain. The colour doesn't look right and she has a suspicion that the bones have been boiled: they've also not been there that long. DCI Harry Nelson has a murder case on his hands. His team has other problems: DS Judy Johnson is investigating the disappearance of a local rough sleeper and there's not a lot to go on other than the rumour that she's 'gone underground', but what, exactly, does that mean? Full review...
Darktown by Thomas Mullen
Atlanta, Georgia. The Deep South. This is country that fought to keep the right to own slaves, and would continue fighting every last bastion of segregation as the United States slowly clawed its way to a humane system of governance of all her people. That's a history that today's southerners are variously proud or ashamed of, or choose to ignore, or hope to forget, or continue to strive against. Variously, because people are also individuals and we all hold to our own view of what is right. For many of us, what is right is sometimes hard to draw the lines around…but what is wrong is much more clear-cut. Divisions based on skin colour, or race, or creed are wrong. No two ways about that. Full review...
Dare to Remember by Susanna Beard
Lisa Fulbrook's best friend is dead – the victim of a brutal attack who fell to her death from her own apartment window. Lisa was there, she too was a victim of the attack that killed her best friend, and she is left with the physical and emotional scars to prove it. Traumatised by the events, Lisa flees to a country village to help settle her frightened mind. But what happened that night still torments her; she is plagued by vicious flashbacks and questions surrounding why she and her best friend Ali were targeted, because the one thing Lisa does know is that she can't remember what really happened that fateful night. How did their assailant know them? Was it planned? More importantly, why were they attacked? Full review...
Time To Win by Harry Brett
I have no idea what Great Yarmouth has ever done to Harry Brett, but, boy, is he getting his own back! Now personally, I don't much like the town, and I know it has its seedy side, like most places, but I can't believe it's quite this bad. According to Brett, the weather's as dreary as the down'n'outs, the streets are grim, and the people worse. He makes the point that no-one comes to Yarmouth for their summer holidays anymore…if that wasn't true before this book, it's likely to be so afterwards. If a place could sue for defamation of character, the town would want to. The opening shot is of Richard Goodwin going down into the murky waters of the Yare out back of his office. Goodwin was not a good person... Full review...
Snatch by Gregory Mcdonald
It's not often that you get two books for the price of one, but if you are going to see this anywhere it will likely be in a reissue. Taking the back catalogue of an author and compiling a larger book consisting of similar stories is a great way of reusing stock that you already have. Hard Case Crime have done this with two books by Fletch author Gregory Mcdonald. Surely two books that centre on kidnapping by the same author would be similar enough to be placed together? Think again. Full review...
The Pledge by Friedrich Durrenmatt and Joel Agee (translator)
In what sounds like rural Switzerland, a girl has been murdered and left for anyone to see in a forest. The police come, and soon find out who the villagers already think is the sole suspect – a man known for illegal liaisons with young girls. They have, in fact, to put a compelling case against lynch mob rule just to get him back for investigation. He does confess, after a lengthy process – and then hangs himself. But the leader of the investigation, even while walking across the airstrip to the plane waiting to take him to a different job elsewhere, is determined to follow up on the promise he made to the girl's parents, to make the guilty person face justice. It's a promise, however, with far-reaching consequences… Full review...
Kill the Next One by Federico Axat
After getting started with the opening chapters of Spanish writer, Federico Axat's Kill the Next One, you might be forgiven for thinking you are stuck with one of those machismo riddled tales where a middle-aged man with a mysterious past is forced to shoot or blunder his way through a by-the-numbers thriller. The spectre of Lee Child's successful Jack Reacher series creeping in around the edges of the page. The novel opens with Ted McKay and his Browning pointed to his temple. He has the perfect life, including a beautiful wife and two adoring children, but has discovered that he is also in possession of an untreatable tumour buried deep within his brain which is slowly killing him. However, right before he decides to take the shot and end his life, there is a knock on his door. Standing behind it is a man named Justin Lynch who tells Ted that he represents an all-knowing organisation that turns would-be suicides into opportunities to correct the imbalances of the law. Ted, instead of killing himself, could kill someone who really deserves it. Full review...
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid
When a teenage joyrider crashed a stolen car and ended up in a coma a routine check of his DNA revealed a connection to an unsolved murder from years before his birth. On the face of it, it looked as though solving the cold case should be straightforward, but it's not. Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie is an expert at clearing cases which have proved unsolvable but in this case it looks as though the law itself might prove to be an insurmountable barrier. She's drawn to another case too - one which she really has no business investigating - and one which has its roots in a terrorist bombing two decades earlier. Like the case of the teenage joyrider nothing is quite as it seems. Full review...
Evil Games (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons
When Ruth saw the man who had raped her coming out of a local pub she was traumatised. He'd served his time (albeit it was rather short) and now he was free - and she was frightened. The rapist was murdered and DI Kim Stone and her team were called upon to solve the killing - and quickly. There was a little bit of a feeling that the man had got what was coming to him and didn't deserve a lot of sympathy, but professionalism won the day. Then more revenge killings came to light and it was obvious to Stone that there was something sinister behind what was happening. Full review...
The Trophy Child by Paula Daly
We've all encountered pushy mothers - the ones who seem determined not to let their children have a moment's peace between all the extra-curricular activities which they have arranged for them. Karen Bloom is in a different class though. Her son, Ewan, was something of a disappointment, but she's not going to allow that to happen to her daughter, the talented Bronte. There's not a moment to spare between the music lessons, dance classes and extra school work - sometimes they have to eat on the hoof from one lesson to another. The rest of the family can see the cost to Bronte and to the family as a whole, but Karen will not listen, will not change her ways. Then one day Bronte disappears. Full review...
Extreme Prey by John Sandford
Making a long running series evolve organically is a very tricky business; a character that has been around for 26 books, and nearly as many years, is not going to be the same person that started out. Age catches up with us all and many crime writer have come up against the problem of retirement; not their own, but that of their character. Why is a 70 year old still out chasing criminals and shooting things? Lucas Davenport is a character who has always been a maverick, doing what he wants, therefore quitting the police was never going to stop him. Full review...
