crime Archives - Page 5 of 15 - The Quick and the Read

Book Review: ‘The Twenty’ by Sam Holland

‘The Echo Man’ – the first book by Sam Holland – was one of the books I absolutely couldn’t put down in 2022, so I was delighted to be granted a copy of this latest book by NetGalley. As always, opinions are my own.

This story opens with an intriguing crime scene – a body is discovered on waste land with a spray-painted number next to the corpse. When more bodies and numbers appear, DCI Adam Bishop realises that this is only part of a much bigger – and much more horrifying – picture. When Dr Romilly Cole turns up in his office with evidence that links the latest crimes to previous murders, Adam is reluctant to believe her for multiple reasons. However, the numbered corpses keep turning up, leaving both Adam and Romilly facing up to their pasts while trying to change the future. Can the countdown be stopped before the killer hits the magic twenty?

Blog Tour: ‘Murder Under The Tuscan Sun’ by Rachel Rhys

I read and loved Rachel Rhys’ ‘A Dangerous Crossing’ so I had high hopes for this one! Thanks to Random Things Tours for my copy of the book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.

As always, opinions are entirely my own.

Book Review: ‘A Bitter Remedy’ by Alis Hawkins

This was always going to be a hit for me – a pioneering heroine taking on the exclusively male Oxford University in Victorian times. Yes, yes and yes. Add in poison, intrigue and murder and I’m totally sold.

The story follows the investigation into the death of a solitary undergraduate from Jesus College, Oxford, in 1881. His body is discovered in his lodging house by his landlady – but a search of his possessions yields little but some dodgy-looking proprietary medicines. Both his tutor at the university (Basil Rice) and a headstrong young woman attending lectures at the university (but not allowed – by virtue of her gender – to be a student) suspect that all is not as it seems…

Book Review: ‘Grave Danger’ by Alice James

Long-time readers of my blog might remember me raving about a book called ‘Grave Secrets’ a while back – if you missed it, my enthusiastic ramblings can be found here.

I totally fell in love with the sassy, funny, feisty necromancer Lavington Windsor at the heart of that book – so I was delighted to be gifted a copy of the sequel, ‘Grave Danger’, by the author. Regardless of how the book got into my hands, opinions are entirely my own.

Book Review: ‘Breathless’ by Amy McCulloch

I have absolutely no intention of ever climbing a huge mountain – entering the ‘death zone’, needing oxygen, fighting altitude sickness, etc. Not for me at all – which is why reading this book was such an adventure!

Cecily Wong is a journalist with a pretty dodgy track record of mountain climbing – which is why she faces the ultimate challenge when asked to join legendary alpinist Charles McVeigh and his team as they tackle one of Nepal’s highest mountains. However, the attempt seems doomed from the start and Cecily is soon fighting for her life against the elements and an altogether more sinister – and more human – enemy.

Book Review: ‘The It Girl’ by Ruth Ware

I’ve got a bit of a confession here. I know I like Ruth Ware’s books but I’d kind of…put this one off. The title made me think it was going to be about wealthy people living Instagrammable lives – not that I have a problem with that at all, but I kind of need to be in the right mood.

I was wrong and should have read the blurb.

This book is actually about a murder at a fictitious Oxford University college. It centres on Hannah and the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of her discovery of the body of her roommate, April, in their shared rooms. April is the ‘It Girl’ of the novel’s title, bringing champagne, designer clothes and luxury furniture to their digs, but this is much more the story of a friendship group and a university experience gone tragically wrong.

Book Review: ‘The Night Man’ by Jorn Lier Horst

Thanks to the lovely people at Penguin Michael Joseph for my copy of ‘The Night Man’ by Jorn Lier Horst. I was delighted to win this in a giveaway but – as always – opinions are entirely my own.

I love Scandinavian crime fiction and was intrigued by this – especially when I saw that it has been made into a major TV series which will be my next port of call! I came to this expecting a dark, tense thriller and wasn’t at all disappointed.

The story opens with the gruesome discovery of a severed head on a stake in the centre of a small town called Larvik in Norway. Police Inspector William Wisting is called in to investigate, but the media are also circling as they seek out a sensational story – and the media pack are led by Wisting’s own daughter, Line. When a second body is recovered from a lake, Wisting is forced to confront the fact that Larvik has been infiltrated by a dangerous and ruthless criminal network…

Book Review: ‘The Sanctuary’ by Emma Haughton

I absolutely loved Emma Haughton’s first fiction book for adults, ‘The Dark’, set in a research centre in Antarctica. This was the perfect claustrophobic locked-room mystery with the inhospitable surroundings meaning escape was impossible.

I gulped that book down in one – so I was thrilled that NetGalley granted me access to Haughton’s next book, ‘The Sanctuary’.

In this book, Zoey wakes in an unfamiliar environment – she doesn’t remember much about the night before, a night out in New York, aside from a few troubling flashbacks. Now she’s in the desert in The Sanctuary, a high-end establishment helping people to kick their various addictions and face their problems. Zoey doesn’t want to be there…but how can she escape when the centre is miles from anywhere and surrounded by the threats of the endless, empty desert? Instead, she begins to get to know the other residents and participate in some often-unorthodox treatments. But is the desert really more of a threat than the perils lurking within The Sanctuary’s walls?

Book Review: ‘Bleeding Heart Yard’ by Elly Griffiths

Elly Griffiths writes lots of great crime books – but I do have the softest spot for this series which features DI Harbinder Kaur.

In this book – the third in the series – Detective Kaur has moved to London and is finding her feet with new flatmates, colleagues and city crime. When a school reunion ends in a suspicious death, DI Kaur and her team find themselves investigating some high-profile school alumnae and links to a murder many years previously. Their work is hindered by the fact that one of their team – DS Caitlin Fitzgerald – is one of the suspects…

Book Review: ‘The Winter Killer’ by Alex Pine

I’ll admit that this isn’t my first trip to DI James Walker’s Lake District – I read and enjoyed ‘The Killer in the Snow’, the book prior to this one in the series, so I was pleased that NetGalley granted me access to this one.

As with the previous books, it’s winter and Cumbria is icy and treacherous – but the surroundings present minimal danger compared to the humans existing in the bleak landscape who have immense capacity to harm.