As an enthusiastic crime fiction reader I always relish the opportunity of reading a crime novel written by someone who has actually walked the walk and talked the talk in law enforcement , drawing on their personal experience to construct an authentic story- as long as they have the propensity to spin a good yarn as well! As an ex-London Met detective with many years service under his belt, Luke Delaney not only exhibits this complete … Read More >>

Following the successful Dark Winter, this is the second outing for the freckled, flame-haired warrior DS Aector McAvoy, and this sequel lacks none of the punch of the first- I would dare to say that I actually enjoyed this one more. This is an altogether darker and seedier affair from the outset, beginning with a particularly brutal murder that sparks a complicated and taxing investigation for McAvoy. When the investigation diverges into the world of local … Read More >>

Being led by the hand through the sinister gas-lit streets of Victorian London by the marvellous Sarah Pinborough, this is masterful genre-defying thriller that will endlessly feed your curiosity and mess with your mind…in a good way! Blending together all the atmosphere of a city gripped by fear in the shadow of Jack The Ripper, Pinborough draws on another unsolved series of murders from the same period, the Thames Torso murders, and melds and manipulates aspects … Read More >>

I must admit to having a slight crisis of confidence in writing this review, questioning whether I could do justice to just how marvellous this book is. From the first few pages, I was totally immersed in the life of Sheldon Horowitz, our curmudgeonly hero of the piece: a man haunted by the ghosts of his former life and coping with the daily frustrations of growing old. From the synopsis, it is impossible to harness all … Read More >>

Unholy Rites is a mystery novel set in the Derbyshire village of Mill-on-Wye, a fictionalized representation of Miller’s Dale, in the 1990s. The action takes place in the weeks leading up to and during the village’s annual Well Dressing Festival, which forms a colourful backdrop to the events of the story. Danutia Dranchuk, a junior detective with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, appears in her third novel, followingt A Deadly Little List (NeWest Press, 2005) and … Read More >>

I am a huge Stuart McBride fan and was really chuffed to be given a proof copy of Close to the Bone to preview.

Close to the Bone is the sequel to Shatter the Bones which, if you remember, left McRae’s girlfriend Sam barely clinging to life and DS Logan McCrae barely clinging to his sanity. Now two years have passed and McCrae has been promoted to acting DI with the wonderful Roberta Steel acting DCI.
Whilst being … Read More >>

As a seasoned and somewhat cynical crime reader I always have a strange feeling of mild peril when approaching an author’s third outing in a series that has pretty much knocked my metaphorical socks off with the first two books. So here is the third of Jackson’s Detective Callum Doyle’s adventures in downtown New York and how did it do? Yeeeeeeeeees! I can push aside those unfounded feelings of doubt, because I am more than happy … Read More >>

Stuart Neville more than proves his versatility as a writer with his new historical standalone novel, ‘Ratlines’. By carefully blending a mix of authentic historical characters along with fictional protagonists, Neville brings to life a dark period of Irish history that has been rarely addressed in fiction before, and weaves a tale of political duplicity, betrayal and murder that grips the reader from outset.

Set in 1960‘s Ireland with a visit from President Kennedy on the horizon, … Read More >>

It is not often that the hunter becomes the hunted, so why is naval intelligence officer Commander Robert Bellamy is being hunted across the globe by half of the world ‘s special forces.
It all began on the strange morning when he received a phone call from his office at 4’o clock . He was asked by his general to trace several witnesses to air balloon accident carrying secret military equipment. Robert found it rather amusing until … Read More >>

I loved this! The unique setting on Tarawa, a remote island in the Pacific, and the quirky DS Louisa Townsend from Edinburgh, who is there battling with her OCD as well as finding a killer, makes for gripping reading. I can’t wait for the next one. I stayed up into the morning, preferring to be knackered the next day to not finding out what was happening. It’s really fantastic: characters, setting, plot intricacies, surprises, relationships. And, … Read More >>

I finished this book just before my holiday (which was lucky as my suitcase was heavy enough without needing to include a big hardback book) As anyone who has read any of my previous posts will know I’m a big Mark Billingham fan so was looking forward to reading this.

Rush of Blood sees Mark Billingham depart from his usual Tom Thorne character and create this stand alone novel. Three couples are on holiday in Florida when … Read More >>

A tale of witchcraft, superstition and murder where fact meets fiction. The witch trials of 1612 followed the Gunpowder Plot, at a time when religion and politics went hand in hand. It was an age when certain parts of society, Catholics in particular, were always looking over their shoulder. I was looking forward to reading this book being interested in the Witch Trials, and it gave me a useful insight into the goings on and history … Read More >>