Ah, small towns. Everyone knows everything about everybody. Except when they don’t. Murder in Dulwich means secrets in Dulwich and secrets mean that someone needs to investigate. In Alice Castle’s new London Murder Mystery series, that someone is Beth, mother, journalist, odd-jobber and, suddenly, amateur investigator. What’s it about? Meet Beth Haldane, thirty-something single mum. […]
Ah, the Carribean. Sun, sea and, erm, dead bodies. Calling all Agatha Christie fans: this is a classic locked room mystery in which all the protagonists are gathered together at the end for the big reveal. Can the reader solve the mystery before the detective? Mmm, possibly. (I didn’t.) If not you’ll be sure to […]
How far would you go to protect your family? Could you forgive those who have wronged you? And even if you could, can you ever truly go home? Billed as a novel for those who enjoy books by Raymond Chandler and John Grisham, John Hart’s second book, ‘Down River’, is a dark and atmospheric trip […]
I love unreliable narrators. So when I saw this story in which the main character openly announces, ‘Sometimes I lie’, well, I was hooked even before I read the rest of the blurb. This is journalist Alice Feeney’s debut novel and, yes, for fans of psychological thrillers, it is absolutely as good as it promises. What’s it about? […]
I love reading about forensics. Catching a criminal because of tell-tale threads of fibres or revealing smears of vital DNA is at the heart of shows like CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) and many a crime novel. There’s something so compellingly CERTAIN about forensic evidence…even when competing criminalists are arguing that a piece of evidence supports […]
Sometimes a book surprises you. Last year that book was David Young’s debut novel, ‘Stasi Child’ – winner of the CWA Historical Dagger award. Despite my vague belief that I don’t really enjoy reading historical fiction, despite my occasional professed boredom with another story focusing on life in post-WW2 Germany, I LOVED ‘Stasi Child’. It’s […]
Talented author and all-round-lovely-bloke G. J. Minett has his second novel, ‘Lie in Wait’ released in paperback today. To celebrate, I am reposting my original review . Enjoy! Then go book shopping. Go on. It’s a Wednesday. Three whole days to go ’til the weekend. Treat yourself – and your shelf. Last year I read and LOVED G. […]
In 1989, someone murdered 20 year-old Lucie Martin and put her body in a lake. Fourteen years later, her bones were discovered during a heatwave, but her murderer remained unknown and a source of intense speculation in Western France. Cue forensic expert Enzo MacLeod, who wants to conclusively solve the cold case so Lucie’s parents can […]
When is a mystery not a mystery? Is it when you can work out the killer in the first third of the book and (rarely) doubt that you’re wrong? Or is it when you’re always several steps ahead of the main investigative character, rendering much of their hypothesising redundant? Maybe it’s when you aren’t convinced […]
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 […]