Last year David Young published his superb debut novel, ‘Stasi Child’. It’s a thrilling mixture of crime, history and mystery, featuring a cast of fascinating characters placed in dangerous political situations. I loved it – and wrote about it here and here – and I wasn’t alone: it became an e-book and then a paperback bestseller, and its author has since graced many a […]
Sometimes it’s good to read something a little different. Having enjoyed a range of psychological crime fiction lately, I was in the mood to try something different when I spotted ‘The Food of Love’ by Amanda Prowse. What’s it about? Freya and her husband, Lockie, are happily married with two teenage daughters. Both are creative […]
Some books you choose; some books choose you. ‘The Lonely Life of Biddy Weir’ chose me; there’s no doubt about that. It wasn’t a book that held an immediate appeal for me, perhaps because the slightly odd name of the protagonist suggested a dated storyline, perhaps because of the floral cover design, or perhaps simply […]
I’ve no idea how this came to feature on my book group’s *crime* reading list this year. And I ought to: I wrote the list. Despite my bewilderment regarding how this slipped into the crime category, I did enjoy reading it and did finish it. I’m not sure how many members of my book group will be […]
Grief is a challenging topic for any novelist to explore. This is presumably even more pertinent when the novel involved is your debut and the grief involved was once your own. Mary McCluskey, journalist and short-story writer, tackles this subject with knowledge and care in her subtle portrait of a couple whose marriage is struggling […]
What does it take to make a man kill? Prosecutor Teodor Szacki is forced to discover some difficult truths in this stunning conclusion to Zygmunt Miloszewski’s loosely connected trilogy. This works perfectly as a standalone novel, exploring the work of prosecutors in Poland, contemporary social attitudes towards domestic abuse and the true driving forces behind […]
There are some books you know you should own. Jenny Blackhurst’s deeply intriguing debut novel, ‘How I Lost You’, is one of them. I couldn’t fathom how I didn’t possess a copy of this intriguing book and was convinced I must have bought one and mislaid it. I was right*; having searched my study for it […]
‘You must be the only person who hasn’t read this book.’ So commented the bemused bookseller who recently rang up my purchase of ‘The Girl on the Train’, about a year and a half after the entire rest of the world read it. ‘Or maybe you already have…?’ he began, obviously beginning to doubt my […]
When is a patient not a patient? When they have no desire to get better, and every intention of causing you harm… Jenny Blackhurst’s debut novel, ‘How I Lost You’, caught my eye a few months ago at Crimefest16. It looked fascinating but somehow slipped out of my immediate TBR pile and disappeared. Having found […]
Reality TV is inescapable, it seems. If I’m not being coerced into watching it by a husband who’s convinced snuggling in front of the TV together is top-quality couples time, it’s sneaking into the books I read! In the third instalment of Katy Collins’ popular series ‘The Lonely Hearts Travel Club’, Katy explores what happens when a couple […]