Difference between revisions of "Newest Crime Reviews"
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| + | |author=James Naughtie | ||
| + | |title=The Madness of July | ||
| + | |rating=4.5 | ||
| + | |genre=Thrillers | ||
| + | |summary=A dead body is found in a Houses of Parliament broom cupboard on a hot 1970s summer day. A sinister enough event normally but for Foreign Office Minister Will Flemyng it heralds greater concerns. The fact the deceased has Will's phone number in his pocket triggers a series of events that not only tests his loyalty to work, country and family but will take Will from the everyday political cut and thrust to his old job. The job he hoped he'd walked away from: spying. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781856001</amazonuk> | ||
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|author=Ann Purser | |author=Ann Purser | ||
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|summary=On a remote stretch of the southern Norwegian coast sits a selection of holiday cottages – second homes for the moderately wealthy. When a man turns up to close his down securely for the winter he finds he has been burgled. What's more he finds what seems to be the culprit in the neighbouring property – stone cold dead behind his balaclava and black clothing. The explanation may perhaps lie in the fact that the secluded coastline has been often used for a different kind of crime, but even when Inspector Wisting factors drug-runners into the proceedings, his investigation will still not run according to plan… | |summary=On a remote stretch of the southern Norwegian coast sits a selection of holiday cottages – second homes for the moderately wealthy. When a man turns up to close his down securely for the winter he finds he has been burgled. What's more he finds what seems to be the culprit in the neighbouring property – stone cold dead behind his balaclava and black clothing. The explanation may perhaps lie in the fact that the secluded coastline has been often used for a different kind of crime, but even when Inspector Wisting factors drug-runners into the proceedings, his investigation will still not run according to plan… | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908737492</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908737492</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 14:43, 27 February 2014
The Madness of July by James Naughtie
A dead body is found in a Houses of Parliament broom cupboard on a hot 1970s summer day. A sinister enough event normally but for Foreign Office Minister Will Flemyng it heralds greater concerns. The fact the deceased has Will's phone number in his pocket triggers a series of events that not only tests his loyalty to work, country and family but will take Will from the everyday political cut and thrust to his old job. The job he hoped he'd walked away from: spying. Full review...
Scandal at Six: A Lois Meade Mystery by Ann Purser
Lois Meade leads a busy life. As if running her own cleaning company isn't sufficient she can never resist doing a bit of ferretin' when something strange happens in the village of Long Farnden. She's so good that local police inspector Hunter Cowgill is only too pleased to involve her as his assistant. Mind you, it probably helps that Cowgill is very fond of Lois and his nephew (also a policeman) is married to Lois' daughter, Josie. This time, local zookeeper, Robert Pettinson and his nephew, Justin Brookes are involved in trading endangered animals and they'd prefer that Lois and her family kept their noses out of their business. Full review...
A Man of Sorrows: An Inspector Carlyle Novel by James Craig
Inspector John Carlyle has a lot on his plate. His attack on a paedophile priest left Father McGowan injured and angry and Carlyle in a vulnerable position. The fact that the Pope is due to visit ups the political pressure and brings Carlyle into conflict with his old nemesis, Christian Holyrod, the Mayor of London. Then there's the armed robbery at a very upmarket Mayfair jeweller when tens of millions of pounds worth of stock goes missing - along with one of the assistants. Normally he'd have had some support from his boss, but she's on secondment in Canada and the man replacing her has great hopes for Carlyle - mainly that he can get him dismissed. Then Carlyle's wife has a serious health scare and his daughter is growing up very fast. Full review...
A Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan
Estate agent William Heming has got it right. He owns a successful estate agency and yet isn't too noticeable. He's helpful, but not in a memorable way. A bit on the beige side perhaps but that’s just the way he likes it, living a life that assists society. Take the time he entered the home of the gentleman who refused to clear up his dog's leavings for instance. It's ok – Heming didn't break in. He already has the key as he once sold the house. How many of his former clients' keys has he actually kept, you wonder? The answer's easy: all of them. Full review...
The Riot by Laura Wilson
DI Stratton has moved to a new posting and Notting Hill is fresh territory to him, but he’s going to have to get to know it fast when a rent collector is stabbed. There’s a sense of loss from the people who knew the man - he was inclined to help if he could and with landlords wanting to oust rent-controlled tenants so that they could put ‘coloured’ people or prostitutes in their place (higher rents, you see) any help was welcome. Added to this there are increasing numbers of street fights involving teddy boys. It’s 1958 - and there’s a heatwave. Full review...
The Atheist's Prayer by Amy R Biddle
I don’t shy away from a book with a little edge, in fact Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favourite authors and his books can be so sharp you can shave with them. On the surface The Atheist’s Prayer would seem to be courting controversy; why else have such a provocative title? But, is it really that shocking? Nope. This is a story about how people deal with the modern world and what happens when dangerous ideals infect a vulnerable group. Full review...
Original Skin by David Mark
DS Aector McAvoy was rather hoping that he might be getting a reputation for his investigative skills but when we first meet him in Original Skin it's his ability with animals which is to the fore. If you want a runaway horse stopping then he's your man. He's distracted about something else too: whilst other detectives are working on a case which involves travellers and violent drug-related crime he's unable to get the case of Simon Appleyard out of his mind. Simon was deeply into the swinging scene and liked to live life to the full, so why did this slender young man with the peacock feathers tattooed on his back commit suicide one morning? Full review...
Stone Bruises by Simon Beckett
When we meet Sean it's obvious that he's on the run, but it will be a long time before we find out what from. He's driving, in France and he knows that he has to get rid of the car, but when he does so he finds himself in far worse difficulty. Cutting across farmland he puts his foot in a metal mantrap and can't free himself. The damage to his foot is considerable and he soon loses consciousness - but when he comes to he's in the hayloft at the farm, being looked after by the farmer's elder daughter. The farmer is definitely not pleased when he finds out, the younger daughter in a mantrap in her own right and there's a lot of animosity against the family in the local village. Full review...
This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash
Easter Quilby is twelve years old. She and her sister Ruth are in a children's home. Not so long ago they woke up to find their mother slouched across the bed, dead. Drink and drugs and a hard, sad life had finally got to her, or maybe her body just gave up on it. Their father, Wade Chesterfield, sometime baseball star, had lit out on them three years earlier. Full review...
Respect by Mandasue Heller
Growing up is difficult in the best of circumstances. The council estate where Chantelle has grown up in isn't decaying - it is dead and rotten. It has become a holding place for those who are condemned to a life of crime, at least when they aren't serving time. It is the type of place that saps ambition and hope from its unlucky inhabitants. But Chantelle is determined to break out. She has avoided all the pitfalls waiting for children in her situation, avoiding drugs, alcohol, crime and dead end relationships. Full review...
East of Innocence by David Thorne
'What's the difference between God and a lawyer? The man sitting across the desk from me, eyes fixed on my face, doesn't look like he'd appreciate the punch line.'
Terry Campion wouldn't even understand the punch line, but then his lawyer, Daniel Connell knows just how untrue it is. He should. He's a lawyer who has somehow lost is ability to mete out his own salvation let alone anyone else's. Full review...
The Shroud Maker by Kate Ellis
It's a year on since the last Palkin Festival when Jenny Bercival disappeared and this time D I Wesley Peterson is called in when the body of a young woman is discovered floating out to sea in a dinghy. The town is packed with visitors who've come to celebrate the life of the fourteenth century mayor of Tradmouth, but John Palkin was no saint either, having made his fortune in trade and the odd bit of piracy. Jenny Bercival's mother is convinced that her daughter is still alive - she's even received some letters which back this up - but Peterson is concerned that the two cases might be linked. If one woman has been brutally murdered the outlook for the one who has been missing for a year doesn't look good. Full review...
The Lie Of You: I Will Have What Is Mine by Jane Lythell
Kathy thinks she has everything: the job; the baby; and him. But she doesn't have my will. She has no hidden places. Thus speaks Heja, Kathy's colleague on the architecture magazine. Kathy is coming to terms with a new husband, a new baby and the inevitable return to her demanding career as an editor. Heja doesn't mind though; she's patient and will use Kathy's preoccupation for her own devious purposes. Whether Kathy realises it or not, Heja is upset and unsettled with a vengeance. Full review...
Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer
Anatomy students at Cardiff University have to work out the correct cause of death of bodies they dissect as part of their studies. This creates a problem for student Patrick Fort when he becomes increasingly convinced that his subject has been murdered. Full review...
The Wrong Quarry by Max Allan Collins
To create a true anti-hero is no easy task. I have read plenty of crime fiction that reports to have an unlikable son of a gun at the centre of the story, but rarely are they actually that bad. You might get a detective with a gruff exterior, but a kind heart. Or perhaps a career criminal whose sense of morals are actually better than the cops. Thank goodness then for Max Allan Collin’s Quarry novels. Old school murder mysteries that have a hitman at their heart (usually pointing his gun at it). Full review...
Cherringham - Murder on Thames: A Cozy Crime Series by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards
Sarah Edwards returned with her two children to sleepy Cherringham in the Cotswolds after her marriage fell apart. Jack Brennan was a homicide detective with NYPD and a year ago he lost his wife. All he wants now is peace and quiet and to that end he's living on a canal boat in Cherringham. Both of them thought that what they needed was to get away from the stress and strain - but they're just beginning to realise that there's something missing in their lives. Excitement. Full review...
Cloudland by Joseph Olshan
Catherine Winslow, a retired investigative journalist, writes household columns for various newspapers while she sits holed up in her house in Vermont. One day, when the winter snow started melting, she discovered a body near her property. The discovery unearthed a series of killings which Catherine and her neighbour a forensic psychiatrist set out to solve. Full review...
As Serious As Death (Primavera Blackstone Mystery) by Quintin Jardine
Primavera Blackstone is determined to live a quiet life. She's happy in her role as a single parent to the late Oz Blackstone's three children (one of hers, two of someone else's - don't ask, it's complicated...) and living in a village on the Spanish coast suits her perfectly. She's OK with Liam Matthews too. He's not the love of her life but they rub along well together until Liam mentions the M word. Primavera doesn't want to get married and before long Liam is on his way. Problems never seem to come on their own - and the next one is the arrival of a retired policeman from her Scottish past. Ricky Ross is now a private detective and he's working for Jack Weighley, owner of a budget airline and a man whose PR makes him seem nicer than the reality would prove. Full review...
Binary by Michael Crichton
Switch on TV over the holiday season and you will eventually stumble across a show about celebrities before they were famous. Sit back and watch Hollywood Royalty gurn on an advert or appear in an early episode of ‘Grange Hill’. Working before you hit the limelight does not happen solely to actors; authors often had a life before they put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). Indeed, the likes of Stephen King, Jack Higgins and many others had a prolific career under a nom de plume. Michael Crichton is another such author and after his untimely death 1998 we will be unlikely to see any new works by him. Thankfully, the publisher Titan Books has gone back to his earlier days under the name John Lange to re-release some of his hardboiled crime fiction. Full review...
Monument to Murder by Mari Hannah
DCI Kate Daniels is working in Northumberland, following the discovery of two bodies buried on a beach, overlooking a beautiful vista. With no knowledge of the local community, Daniels and her loyal team have an overwhelming amount of work to do, as well as a strong sense of justice powering them on. Meanwhile, recently widowed Emily McCann is struggling to cope with a return to her prison work, as well as the added complication of a prisoner who has taken a shine to her. And the two situations are about to collide with one hell of an impact… Full review...
I Love Lucid by Mark Lingane
Lucid is more than a full-immersion role play game; it's THE full-immersion role play game. Its inventor Seth Pascal has ensured that all that needs to be done is to plug in and the player's brain will take them to the virtual world while during sleep, providing perfect lucidity and an alternative life within an avatar. However it's also becoming the game to die for. Yes, literally die for as players are being murdered while they're connected. Detective Evan Waugh is the investigator given the case to prove that he still has what it takes. However there's an added complication for both he and Seth as the investigation continues. Her name is Ellen, the woman for whom Lucid isn't just a way of life, it is her life. Full review...
Morning Frost by James Henry
In 1982 DS Jack Frost - not yet forty years old - is burying his wife, Mary. There's a good turnout for the funeral from the police force and the local Masons, which might be the reason why the local ne'er-do-wells seem to be rather more active than usual. Superintendent Mullett makes a day (and rather a lot of the night) of it, whilst Jack finds himself back at the police station and taking a call about a foot found in a field. ('We're looking for someone with a very bad limp...') Add in a rape at the local comprehensive school (hot on the heels of one near a pub) and a new computer system which seems designed to confuse and it's obvious that Jack isn't going to get much chance to grieve for his wife - not that she was at the top of his list of priorities before she died. Full review...
Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin
Charlie Watts said that being in the Rolling Stones for fifty years consisted of a decade drumming and four decades waiting for something to happen. John Rebus - back in CID - is feeling much the same way as business is slow. He's had to come back in as a sergeant, but being back was what was important. He's not even that worried about working for Siobhan Clarke when their positions used to be reversed. On the other hand he's not pleased when Inspector Malcolm Fox from Professional Standards (or whatever they're calling themselves this week) investigates what happened some thirty years before at a station where Rebus was the new sergeant (first time round...). Fox himself isn't in the best of positions though - he's on his way back to CID where he knows that he's going to be loathed by everyone for the job he's been doing. Full review...
Almost Love by Christina James
When you pick up a crime novel and it has the weight of a brick in your hand, your suspicions aren't immediately alerted. Many a gripping tale takes a while in the telling. Full review...
Montalbano's First Case by Andrea Camilleri
Montalbano was just thirty five and he was a deputy Inspector up in the mountains, which he hated to the extent that they could put him off his food. But in the way that such things are known, he knew that he would be promoted before long. What was not known was where he would be promoted to and this worried him. If it was another posting in the mountains he would resign. His girlfriend's uncle told the couple that it was Vigata, which delighted Montalbano and he went to visit, unfortunately witnessing an assault. The wiser traffic cop in the area was otherwise engaged (chatting to a couple of dogs, as it happened...) but Montalbano was quick to correct the car registration which he'd noted down wrongly. Full review...
Closed for Winter by Jorn Lier Horst
On a remote stretch of the southern Norwegian coast sits a selection of holiday cottages – second homes for the moderately wealthy. When a man turns up to close his down securely for the winter he finds he has been burgled. What's more he finds what seems to be the culprit in the neighbouring property – stone cold dead behind his balaclava and black clothing. The explanation may perhaps lie in the fact that the secluded coastline has been often used for a different kind of crime, but even when Inspector Wisting factors drug-runners into the proceedings, his investigation will still not run according to plan… Full review...
