A father and son enter a ghost house at a theme park. They never come out. This isn’t Private Investigator David Raker’s case – he is hired to uncover what happened to Fiona Murphy, a mother who walked out of her house on boxing day 40 years ago and was never seen again – but […]
Six students. One murder. Your time starts now… Once again, Janice Hallett has created a cosy, clever murder mystery composed entirely of everyday documentation and messages, this time surrounding a multimedia art course. What’s it about? Since the start of their one year MA, the mature students have caused their course leader trouble, from setting […]
How does a whole village vanish? Well, it’s a small village – four houses, nine people – but this is still a cracking premise for a crime thriller. Where did the people of Black Gale go? Two and a half years on, there are still no answers. Enter: David Raker, a Private Investigator whose sole […]
‘Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.’ This is a book that starts with an acknowledgement of a murder and nods at the impact this has had on the narrator’s life: ‘This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.’ There is […]
‘I had no interest in turning my gaze to my family. I was more interested in the strangeness of others.’ Yorkshire, 1979. Margaret Thatcher has just been elected and the news channels are brimming with news about the Yorkshire Ripper, both his crimes and the hunt for him. Meanwhile, two best friends are navigating life […]
I defy you not to be intrigued by the blurb for this book. ‘Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.’ There, you see? Sally is indeed strange, but Nugent is […]
One Murder. Fifteen Suspects. Can You Uncover The Truth? As the strapline suggests, this is a crime novel that, to a greater than usual degree, invites the reader to solve the case alongside the investigators. Personally, I like to sit back and see what happens, but I was intrigued by the narrative style of this […]
‘The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace’ introduces Tippy Chan, her Uncle Pike and his boyfriend Devon. ‘We need to look for the head,’ I said. Devon swung around. His and Uncle Pike’s eyes bugged out at me. ‘What?’ I said. ‘Isn’t it our biggest clue?’ My uncle tapped his lip. ‘She does […]
I have been meaning to read Jane Harper’s books for years. Specifically, I’ve been intending to read her first novel, ‘The Dry’, which is still loitering on my bookshelf, waiting for me to give it the attention I’m sure it deserves. Meanwhile, I’ve enjoyed reading ‘The Survivors’, her fourth standalone book set in Australia. What’s […]
Having read and loved all Young’s ‘Stasi’ books, I was keen to read his new standalone novel, ‘Death in Blitz City’. Though this tale is set in Hull in 1942, when the most heavily bombed city outside London was suffering badly under German bombs, for Detective Chief Inspector Ambrose Swift, one particular death demands his […]