Tag: mystery

‘The Ghost Tree’ by MRC Kasasian

This lovely, funny, historical crime novel is now available in Kindle version – the hardcover is to be released on 3rd September (if you can wait that long!)

This is the third in the series of books featuring Inspector Betty Church, the only competent police officer in Sackwater, Suffolk. I’ve read all the previous books and Kasasian’s other series about Sidney Grice (who, along with his sidekick March Middleton, occasionally also pop up in the Betty Church books) so I knew what to expect here: a quirky crime story with eccentric characters and plenty of humour.

The story begins in 1914 when teenage Betty Church is playing rounders with a group of the local children in Sackwater. Her friend, Etterly Utter is last seen by the ‘ghost tree’, possibly in the company of a shadowy man, before she vanishes. Twenty six years later, Betty (now a Police Inspector) is called upon to investigate some human remains and the disappearance of Etterly again becomes her focus.

Many of the characters I loved from the previous novels are here, including daft Dodo, sleazy Banthony and love interest Toby. Also present are Church’s horrible but funny parents and the rest of the useless Sackwater Police crew. The humour is still very much present, although it’s bittersweet in the context of World War Two events closing in on Sackwater; the Dunkirk landings and RAF raids play small roles in the backdrop of the novel.

My only real criticism is that the book is quite slow-paced – I wouldn’t usually mind, but I did find the 1914 section quite long and was looking forward to getting back to the 1940s setting and the characters who I think are the strength of the book.

This is another satisfying installment in the series that would only have been improved by a trim of the flashback section. If you’ve followed the series to now, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re new to the series, enjoy! You have a cosy treat ahead!

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Photo by Matthew Henry from Burst

You can buy this title using the link below – The Quick and the Read may receive commission at no extra cost to you. This link is for the Kindle version – the hardback is not yet available.

‘Evil Things’ by Katja Ivar

I’m so glad I found the Bitter Lemon Press, publishers of this little gem of a book. They produce a fantastic range of dark crime novels both set in and from places around the world – their catalogue can be viewed here. They gifted me this book in exchange for an honest review but, as always, opinions are entirely my own.

This is the first in a series featuring Inspector Hella Mauzer, the first female police officer to gain this position in the Helsinki Homicide Unit in 1948. For reasons that become evident, she has been sidelined into a much less prestigious policing job in Ivalo, a dull city that has jurisdiction over remote and rural Lapland (where the majority of the novel is set).

The book opens in 1952 when a man is reported missing to the Ivalo police team. Hella’s boss, Chief Inspector Eklund, is keen to close off the case file as a tragic accident and retain his 100% crime resolution rate, but Hella has other ideas. Travelling into remote Lapland on her own time, she uncovers a case that has far-reaching implications, a story of people’s hidden pasts, the politics of the Cold War and a situation that is far from what it seems.

One of the things I loved about this book is the character of Hella. She is incredibly determined, spiky and often downright rude, but she definitely grows on the reader! It is very satisfying to see her – over the course of the novel – use her intelligence and bravery, but also to begin to build relationships and develop a slightly warmer side. Sadly, Hella is entirely fictional – no woman in Finland made it to that rank in the police at that time.

The setting of the novel is also vitally important to the plot – this is a narrative that simply could not have happened anywhere but the wild and remote Lapland captured so beautifully by Ivar. On the one hand, it seems rustic and romanticised, but the reader is never in any doubt that the bleak and bitter conditions are highly dangerous. The remoteness of the area that Hella is investigating also adds tension to the novel; there is no easy communication or back-up for this lone female officer in the wilderness.

The plot starts slowly and Ivar sets the scene carefully. It is precisely because Hella has been cast off from the Helsinki Homicide Unit and is bored and patronised by fellow officers in Ivalo that she ends up in the situations that she does. The pace is fairly slow at the start, although this all changes as Ivar gradually ratchets up the tension later in the book.

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys the Nordic Noir genre. I’m a huge fan of this type of crime fiction and of the country of Finland itself (which is what brought me to this book in the first place). The book is a slow-burner but delivers a compelling tale of a pioneering police officer in an interesting historical era for her country.

‘All Fall Down by M J Arlidge

Another page-turner of a police procedural today, released in June 2020.

This is the latest installment in the series featuring DI Helen Grace.  It works as a standalone, I think - I've only read one of the other previous books and wasn't lost at all!

A brutal murder is preceded by a sinister phone call telling the victim that they have only an hour to live.  The killing seems to be linked to another incident eight years before when a group of young people on their Duke of Edinburgh expedition were targeted, but it becomes a race against time as more threats are made and the police can't get a solid lead.  Meanwhile, DI Grace is also having to deal with problems in her personal life and a nosy reporter who seems too close to the police investigation.

This is another well-written and tense thriller - it certainly kept me reading, although I have to confess I did see one of the twists coming.  DI Helen Grace is a strong and likeable heroine and the story is engaging.  I wasn't a huge fan of the 'flashback' elements told via extracts from one of the character's book and I also thought the journalist figure was a bit superfluous - they felt like extra elements that weren't really needed as the book had plenty else to offer.

Overall, I would recommend this book to people who like tense and pacy police procedurals.  It's one that rarely slows and is - in places - really quite creepy.  I look forward to reading more of this series.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Photo by Sarah Pflug from Burst

‘The Graves of Whitechapel’ by Claire Evans

Happy August, everyone! And happy Saturday!

This book, published in June 2020, is one of my five star reads for the year so far. Highly recommended!

I really liked Claire Evans' debut novel, 'The Fourteenth Letter', but I think this one is even stronger.  It's a twisty and tense murder mystery set on the streets of Victorian Whitechapel - what's not to love?!

It's 1882 and Cage Lackmann is a corrupt lawyer.  Although he does some work to defend the innocent, he also fights legal cases to acquit gang members as he is in the pay of a powerful man.  When one of his 'innocent' defendants is accused of committing a second murder, Cage is in trouble.  The police want to frame him, his customers are abandoning him and he is in a race against time to get the evidence he needs.  Everyone has secrets and Cage has to work out who he can trust with his own.

I loved everything about this book!  I kept thinking I'd figured it all out, only for the rug to be pulled from under my feet the next second.  The depiction of gritty, grimy, seedy Whitechapel is great - this is a place where loyalties can be bought and sold, everyone has a price and violence is rife.  That said, this isn't a depressing book - it's clever and engaging and fast-paced.  I read this in a day and would recommend that any lovers of historical crime do the same - clear some time in the diary and settle down for an absolute treat.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Photo by Nicole De Khors from Burst

‘Midnight at Malabar House’ by Vaseem Khan

This book will be released on 20th August and is well worth a read! A fascinating moment in India’s history and the first female police inspector – a perfect combination! 

I really hope this book marks the start of a new series by Vaseem Khan. It's a great story and one book featuring the indefatigable and charming Inspector Wadia is simply not enough!

The story opens on New Year's Eve, 1949 in Bombay.  As the clock ticks over into a new decade of Indian independence, Inspector Wadia is called in to investigate the murder of an important British diplomat, Sir James Herriot.  Initially, it seems that Inspector Persis Wadia has been called precisely because no-one has any faith in her to actually solve the crime (she is India's first female police officer), or in the bunch of misfits she works with at Malabar House.  However, she is determined to prove her worth and unwilling to give in until she has uncovered the truth.

It's this determination that makes the pioneering Inspector Wadia such an interesting character.  She really has the odds stacked against her, but uses her intelligence, humour and sheer bloody-mindedness to take on an extremely politically sensitive case - Khan does not skimp on the history of India and Empire that have led to this precarious situation so there is plenty of explanation for those of us less well-versed in the politics.  However, the book is far from being simply a history lesson - in Persis Wadia, we are treated to a very human and realistic character grappling admirably with a situation way beyond her control.  We see her own struggles - including her strained relationship with her father and a rather sweet and inept flirtation with another investigator - and like her all the more for it.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes historical crime fiction with plenty of heart.  The setting is interesting, the characters are engaging and the plot is well-constructed.  You - like me - will end the book wondering what is next for Inspector Wadia and very much looking forward to finding out.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Photo by Shanu D from Burst

‘The Art of Dying’ by Ambrose Parry

Here is my five star review of this fabulous book! This was published in January 2020.

This is the second book in the Will Raven/Sarah Fisher series after the truly excellent 'The Way of All Flesh'.  They are written by a husband and wife team - he's an award-winning thriller writer and she is a medical doctor with an interest in the history of medicine, so they really know their stuff on all fronts.  I could not wait to read this book after loving the first one.

This is a fascinating, pacy and engaging story set in Victorian Edinburgh a while after the first book.  Dr Will Raven has just returned to the city after a period travelling in Europe developing his medical knowledge.  He returns to the house of Dr James Simpson, leading developer of chloroform as an anesthetic, where his former partner in investigations Sarah has been elevated above her status as housemaid and is learning medical skills for herself.  It's an awkward reunion between the two former allies, although they soon have to work together when they notice a worrying pattern of deaths occurring in the city.

This book met all my high expectations.  It's cleverly plotted and brings alive the setting of Victorian Edinburgh, from the hospital wards to consulting rooms, from the wealth of the doctors' lives to the less salubrious areas lived in by some of their patients.  Sarah is a very appealing heroine, fighting for her right to learn medicine in a time and place that denied women such education.  In comparison, Will is a rather infuriating hero who makes bad decisions and whose motives are not always pure, yet he also seems real and flawed and interesting; he definitely developed as a character during this book in a positive way.

I would whole heartedly recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or who has an interest in medical history.  However, the book should have much wider appeal - it is engrossing and well-researched and engaging, albeit a bit graphic in relation to the medical issues.  Anyone and everyone should give it a go!

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Photo by Adrien Olichon from Burst

‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukherjee

Published towards the end of 2019, this is my review of book 4 in the Wyndham and Banerjee series. As I promised in my review, I’ve caught up the missed books and absolutely love this series! 

I don't know why it took me so long to pick up this book!  Now I've read it - the fourth in the series featuring Captain Sam Wyndham and his Sergeant, Surrender-Not Banerjee - I've fallen in love with the series and shall immediately be making up for lost time with the other books.  Although it would have been good to read these in order, I didn't feel that I was disadvantaged by reading this one first - it works as a standalone, I think.

At the start of this book, Captain Sam Wyndham of the Calcutta Police is in a state - he is an opium addict who is taking himself off to an ashram in rural India in order to break his addiction through a frankly barbaric vomiting cure.  It's 1922 and the story mostly covers Wyndham's experiences at the retreat and then afterwards in a neighbouring town where he gets embroiled in investigating a crime.  However, the story is also partially set in 1905 in Whitechapel in the East End of London where a young Sam Wyndham, a new Metropolitan police officer, is involved in solving a crime that has echoes and repercussions for him later in India.  

I really loved the Indian setting of this book - it seemed at once exotic and interesting, but there was also a sense of the simmering resentments around the British Raj which added a frisson of danger to the proceedings.  It was interesting to see the white privilege in action in the way that Wyndham was treated very differently to Banerjee in the expat community, even though Banerjee was meant to be the main investigating officer at one point.  The characters are well drawn and I cannot wait to get into the other books to find out more about Banerjee in particular as he does not feature heavily here.  There's clever plotting, peril and vibrant description - what more could you want?!  My only quibble was that I solved the murder and worked out the method well ahead of poor Captain Wyndham, but when the novel is so beautifully written as this then that really doesn't matter.

Overall, this is an excellent historical crime novel with real depth and interest.  I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys this genre or who wants more insight into the British Raj in India - it certainly is an eye-opener on this front!

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Photo by Shanu D from Burst

‘Broken Silence’ by Liz Mistry

Today’s post is about an absolutely brilliant police procedural by Liz Mistry. It’s an absolute edge-of-your-seat page-turner and I can’t recommend it enough! 

I'd not read any books by Liz Mistry before this, but I'll certainly be looking for more!  This is the second in a series featuring DS Nikki Parekh and, although there are references to the backstory, I don't think its essential that you have read the previous novel.

After a multi-agency conference, police officer Felicity Springer leaves the venue for her drive home.  As she heads through the country lanes, she sees someone trying to get her attention from inside the van in front.  Felicity Springer doesn't make it home and an investigation is launched into her disappearance.  However, that proves just the tip of the iceburg and DS Nikki Parekh and her team are thrown into a complex and dangerous investigation in Bradford's criminal underworld.  

I'll admit that this is a bit more gritty and grim than my usual reads, but it's also compelling and very pacy - I kept planning on reading one more chapter to see what happened until I realised it was 3am and I should just finish the book!  I liked the portrayal of multicultural Bradford and the diversity within the police team and Nikki herself is an interesting protagonist.  Often the personal lives of the police officers can overshadow the actual crime story in this kind of novel but this never happens here - the plot is tight and twisty throughout.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes police procedurals, especially those with a feisty female police officer in charge.  Just don't pick up this book unless you have a clear run of reading time in which to finish it because you absolutely won't want to put it down.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Photo by Shopify Partners from Burst