crime Archives - Page 6 of 16 - The Quick and the Read

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.

Blog Tour: ‘What Child is This?’ by Bonnie MacBird

I’m delighted to welcome you to my stop on the blog tour for ‘What Child is This?’, the fifth book in Bonnie MacBird’s excellent Sherlock Holmes series.

Thanks to Random Things Tours and Collins Crime Club for my place on the tour and copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. As always, opinions are my own.

Book Review: ‘Marple’ by Agatha Christie and others…

Thanks to NetGalley for granting me access to this book, one of the most highly anticipated books of the year for me, a keen Agatha Christie fan!

Book Review: ‘The Cruise’ by Catherine Cooper

Having read Cooper’s previous books – ‘The Chalet’ and ‘The Chateau’ – I knew what to expect. Glamorous settings, a small cast of seriously dodgy people and a twisty mystery that I wouldn’t be able to predict!

I wasn’t wrong!

Blog Tour: ‘Dying Breath’ by Liz Mistry

Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me onto the blog tour and my copy of the book for review. Opinions, as always, are entirely my own.

Book Review: ‘The Girls Who Disappeared’ by Claire Douglas

I’m always in the market for a twisty crime novel and this one seemed to good to pass up!

The story opens with the past disappearance of three teenage girls. Four of them drove home in one car but – after an accident – only one injured girl remains. Where did they go? Now, twenty years later, Jenna Halliday has come to Stafferbury to make a podcast about the events of that night. She needs the co-operation of Olivia, the survivor, but why won’t Olivia speak about her missing friends? Jenna finds herself in danger as she starts to uncover the secrets held by the residents of the small town.