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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
‘Joshua Kane was not like other people. There was no one like him.’ Luckily, there’s no one quite like Eddie Flynn, either. Ex-conman, now a defence attorney, Flynn has a moral code and a knack for tricks that makes him enemies but, crucially, wins cases. Welcome to another thrilling courtroom drama from Steve Cavanagh, heir […]
This story is just as much fun as I thought it would be. And thinking is key here: Turton’s plot ultimately depends on the interactions of multiple characters and subtle manipulations that will transform the island and islanders in ways they cannot anticipate; only in the final pages will the full drama be understood. What’s […]
How do you solve your own murder? Regular blog readers will know how much I love a high concept crime thriller, especially when it works as brilliantly as ‘Not Quite Dead’ does. What’s it about? When Jet Mason is brutally attacked on Halloween, she’s left with a brain injury that will kill her within seven […]
‘You accused Mia of being a witch and bewitching your father. Do you remember that? When a young woman is found murdered at the foot of Pendle Hill, the obvious suspect is Will Perkins, a local schizophrenic who recently denounced Mia as a witch and sought her arrest. When DCI Liam Doyle and his team […]
‘A shadow moved between her and the sun, and a pang of relief went through her. Help was on the way.’ Murder can be brutal. It can be banal. But in DCI Geldard’s Norfolk, a ten year old murder is top of Greg’s priority list, until a rash of unsolved disappearances becomes something more sinister. […]