A new book by M W Craven is always a treat – usually a gory, gruesome, twisty treat, but a treat nevertheless!
This book – the fifth featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw – is another excellent addition to the series. Regular readers will not be at all disappointed, but if you haven’t made the acquaintance of Poe and Bradshaw before then I’d recommend that you start with Book 1, ‘The Puppet Show’. This novel makes total sense as a standalone, but you really don’t want to miss the rest of the books!
Thanks to Rosie at Headline for my copy of this tense thriller! As always, opinions are entirely my own.
I loved the premise for this book! A murder at midnight on Hogmanay in Edinburgh – we know there’s a body right from the start. But whose is it? And why has this New Year’s Eve party led to murder?
Fennell’s first book, ‘The Art of Death’, was one of my top crime books of last year so I was eagerly awaiting this sequel and a chance to follow the story of DI Grace Archer of London’s Metropolitan Police. Thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre for my copy for review – as always, opinions are entirely my own.
Thanks to Zooloo’s Book Tours for inviting me to take part in this very exciting blog tour – ‘A Life for a Life’ by Carol Wyer is the third book in the excellent series featuring DI Kate Young.
Blurb:
Nobody can get into the mind of an erratic killer—except an unpredictable detective.
When a young man is found lying on a station platform with a hole in his head, DI Kate Young is called in to investigate the grisly murder. But the killing is no one-off. As bodies start to pile up, she is faced with what might be an impossible task—to hunt down a ruthless killer on a seemingly random rampage.
Meanwhile, Kate has her own demons to battle as she struggles to come to terms with her husband’s death. And she is hell-bent on exposing corruption within the force and bringing Superintendent John Dickson to justice. But with the trail of deception running deeper—and closer to home—than she could ever have imagined, she no longer knows who she can trust.
With her grip on reality slipping, Kate realises that maybe she and the killer are not so different after all. But time is running out and Kate is low on options. Can she catch the killer before she loses everything?
My Review:
I’ve followed this series from the start and so was very keen to read the latest instalment – thanks to Zooloo’s Book Tours and Carol Wyer for my opportunity to read and review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
This story falls into two main strands and both are pretty tense!
The first is DI Kate Young’s investigation into seemingly random murders happening on her territory. After the first murder – a young man with a hole in his head abandoned at a station – the killings don’t stop and there doesn’t seem to be any pattern in terms of location or victim. How can she catch a killer when they are so unpredictable?
Alongside this, Young is also still continuing her ongoing crusade to get vengeance for her husband’s murder. She has uncovered police corruption at the highest levels and now is unsure of who she can trust – and how she can bring down the man at the heart of the problem.
The police corruption element has been a feature of the past two books so – while it was good to see the climax of that story – it was refreshing to get such an involved and complex serial killer plot alongside. The murder mystery was well-plotted, pacey and hard to look away from – especially when the police team start staking out possible crime scenes and waiting for the killer’s next strike.
DI Kate Young remains an engaging character at the heart of the books. Her grief is portrayed with suitable complexity and her lack of certainty on where to turn for support make her an isolated figure at times – albeit one with steely determination and a willingness to bend rules when needed. Her police team are a mostly likeable bunch – but she is very much the main player in these books.
As always, I really appreciate the setting of these books around Staffordshire, not far from my home. It’s quite engaging (and a bit disturbing) to read about places you know and so I was pleased to see Trentham Shopping Village and Blythe Bridge make an appearance – I’ll never look at these places quite the same again! And I’ll definitely watch out for people lurking with bolt guns!
I’d recommend this to those who are familiar with the series so far – although this would work as a standalone, I think it is much more impactful when viewed within DI Young’s back-story. If you like well-written, tense police procedurals then this is a series that you should not miss.
About the Author:
USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer’s crime novels have sold over one million copies and been translated into nine languages.
A move from humour to the ‘dark side’ in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in Little Girl Lost and proved that Carol had found her true niche.
February 2021 saw the release of the first in the much-anticipated new series, featuring DI Kate Young. An Eye For An Eye was chosen as a Kindle First Reads and became the #1 bestselling book on Amazon UK and Amazon Australia.
Carol has had articles published in national magazines ‘Woman’s Weekly’, featured in ‘Take A Break’, ‘Choice’, ‘Yours’ and ‘Woman’s Own’ magazines and the Huffington Post. She’s also been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ”Irritable Male Syndrome’ and ‘Ageing Disgracefully’ and on BBC Breakfast television.
She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband Mr. Grumpy… who is very, very grumpy. When she is not plotting devious murders, she can be found performing her comedy routine, Smile While You Still Have Teeth.
To learn more, go to www.carolwyer.co.uk, subscribe to her YouTube channel, or follow her on Twitter: @carolewyer
I’ve developed a bit of a taste for Scandinavian crime thrillers – so I was very pleased to be introduced to Anne Holt’s writing by Readers First. Thank you to them and Corvus for my review copy. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
The book starts with the assassination of a Norwegian MP in a cafe – an attack in which private investigator, Selma Falck, is also hit. Looking for answers about who killed her friend, Selma works sometimes alongside the police, sometimes with journalists and her own contacts to piece together a puzzle that has far-reaching implications for her country. In doing so, she finds her life in danger again as yet more killings threaten to undermine the stability and peace of Norway…
Thanks to NetGalley and Orion for my copy of this book for review and my place on the blog tour.
From the Publisher:
We’re best friends. We trust each other. But…
We are all liars.
Allie, Stacie, Diana, Emily and Gail have been by each other’s sides for as long as they can remember. The Fierce Five. Best friends forever. But growing up has meant growing apart. And little white lies have grown into devastating secrets.
When Gail invites the increasingly estranged friends to reunite at her Scottish cabin, it could be the opportunity to mend old wounds and heal the cracks in their friendship. But when a freak snowstorm rocks the cabin and one of the girls is found dead on the ice, their weekend away becomes a race against time – and each other – to get off the mountain alive.
I’m delighted to take part in the blog tour for the brilliant ‘For Your Own Good’ by Samantha Downing. Thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for inviting me on the tour and for my copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Cold Sun’ by Anita Sivakumaran, a lively and engaging police procedural set in Bangalore.
With thanks to Random Things Tours and Dialogue Books for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
From the Publisher:
‘Cold Sun is a stylish and exuberant, fish-out-of-water, crime thriller… A wonderfully observed, whip-smart, India-set thriller.’
Amer Anwar, author of Brothers in Blood and Stone Cold Trouble
Bangalore. Three high-profile women murdered, their bodies draped in identical red saris.
When the killer targets the British Foreign Minister’s ex-wife, Scotland Yard sends the troubled, brilliant DI Vijay Patel to lend his expertise to the Indian police investigation.
Stranger in a strange land, ex-professional cricketer Patel must battle local resentment and his own ignorance of his ancestral country, while trying to save his failing relationship back home.
Soon, the killer’s eyes will turn to Patel. And also to Chandra Subramanium, the fierce female detective he is working with in Bangalore.
This breathless thriller will keep you guessing until the final, shocking revelation.
My Review:
I’ve read a few police procedurals set in India – both Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee write fabulous crime novels set in the country.
However, what appealed to me with ‘Cold Sun’ was the idea of a British Indian detective helping to solve a crime in Bangalore. DI Vijay Patel of Scotland Yard is sent in to investigate a series of high-profile murders and finds himself totally lost in India’s policing practices. Kind of a bit ‘Death in Paradise’ but grittier and in India!
DI Vijay Patel is called in when three high-profile women (one of them the British Foreign Minister’s ex-wife, hence the UK link) are killed. There are key similarities between the crimes and each of the women is clothed in a red sari when she is found. Patel needs to work with the often-hostile local police in order to stop a killer before they strike again…
I really liked the way that DI Patel was forced into a balancing act and his position was continually precarious. He has to work hard to gain the trust of the local police while finding their policing methods alien. He works hard not to trample on Indian customs while really struggling with his lack of awareness of his own ancestral heritage. All of this makes him quite a sympathetic character, even as the reader watches him make some huge errors and faux pas.
For me, the character of Chandra Subramanium was one of the real strengths of the novel. I loved that this tough, feisty female detective is partnered with Patel and they make an extremely unlikely pairing – she gets things done in often unconventional ways, while he is much more used to softer policing methods. I really enjoyed the relationship building between the two characters and hope that we will see more of them in future books.
The Indian setting is vibrant and vivid – regular visitors to my blog know that I’m all about the setting! I really enjoyed being immersed in a culture and place so different from rainy Cheshire in August. There was a sense of the heat and the dust, the poverty and colour, the people and customs of Bangalore. I’m a huge fan of novels that can transport me to other places so this was a hig bonus.
The plotting of the novel is well done – it was suitable twisty so that I didn’t guess the denouement at all, even as the book was racing towards its conclusion. I found myself caught up in the story and wanting to read on as the tension was ramped up and the stakes became ever higher.
I’d recommend this to lovers of police procedurals, those who enjoy a ‘fish-out-of-water’ detective, those who love immersive settings, those who like strong female characters…just about everyone really. There is plenty to enjoy in this clever and tense thriller – and I hope to read more by this talented writer.
About the Author:
Anita Sivakumaran was born in Madras and has lived in the UK since 2004. Her historical novel, The Queen, based on real events, has been made into a major television series. Cold Sun is her first novel in the DI Patel detective series.
In a word, no! This is a lively and cleverly structured novel that takes us through a lockdown mystery. I raced through it in two sittings because I really needed to know what happened.
A new book by M J Arlidge is always a cause for celebration and this one – the tenth in the excellent police procedural series to feature Detective Inspector Helen Grace – is no exception.
