I love crime fiction and was intrigued by the idea of a forensic psychologist being involved in a murder mystery – mainly, I think, because I’m not sure what a forensic psychologist is, but it sounds interesting!
This is the first in the series featuring Will Traynor helping the police with investigations and is an extremely promising start. Thanks to NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book opens with the brutal murder of a jogger on a popular trail. Her head is removed from the scene in a gruesome and horrifying twist, but forensic investigations of the nearby area uncover a whole host of other problems that need dealing with too. Detective Inspector Bernard Watts is put in charge of the investigation with an inexperienced rookie police officer, PC Chloe Judd, for support. Together, they begin to uncover the truth about the crime, aided by criminologist Will Traynor – who seems to have his own agenda.
This is a well-paced and engaging police procedural. I found that there were plenty of events and twists to keep me reading and enjoyed the interaction between the main characters – including a fabulous and likeable forensics expert, Dr Chong, who I hope features in future books. PC Chloe Judd is also an interesting character and I liked the fact that she is still learning – it was good to see a more insecure and relatable police officer starting to find her feet.
I was less sure about the character of Will Traynor. I thought that he would be more central to the investigation, but actually Watts and Judd are the key figures. He made some interesting observations on the investigation, but also seemed a bit of a liability! I’d be intrigued to see how his story is developed in future books.
Overall, this is a well-written and cleverly-plotted crime novel. I am certainly looking forward to the next book in the series by A J Cross and would recommend this to those who love a twisty police investigation.
If you’d like a copy of this book, published in paperback on 4th February 2021, please use my affiliate link below – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.
Header photo with thanks to Ahmed Adly on Unsplash.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Sally Rigby’s ‘Silent Graves’, the ninth book in the Cavendish and Walker crime fiction series.
This tour was organised by the lovely Emma at Damp Pebbles and I’d like to thank her and the author for my free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This book was published in paperback and digital formats on 15th January 2021.
Book Blurb:
Nothing remains buried forever…
When the bodies of two teenage girls are discovered on a building site, DCI Whitney Walker knows she’s on the hunt for a killer. The problem is the murders happened forty years ago and this is her first case with the new team. What makes it even tougher is that with budgetary restrictions in place, she only has two weeks to solve it.
Once again, she enlists the help of forensic psychologist Dr Georgina Cavendish, but as she digs deeper into the past, she uncovers hidden truths that hurtle through the decades and into the present.
Silent Graves is the ninth book in the acclaimed Cavendish & Walker series. Perfect for fans of L J Ross, J M Dalgleish and Rachel Abbott.
My Review:
I love police procedurals and doubly so when there’s a strong female lead – so I jumped at the chance to join this blog tour.
I hadn’t read any of this series before (this is the ninth book) but I managed just fine with it. This book works well as a stand alone – everything relevant is explained.
The opening pages introduce us to DCI Whitney Walker who is about to meet her new team in the shiny new Lenchester police station. She’s worked with some of them before, but there are new additions and she has a new boss – all very unnerving for her, but useful for those of us catching up with who’s who!
The team’s first case comes about when two bodies are found on farmland that is being developed for a housing estate. The two skeletons present a problem – this is clearly a historical case and there will be limited forensic evidence. When the bodies are established to be connected to the 1980 disappearance of two teenage girls, Walker and her team are faced with the difficulties of investigating a cold case with limited time – Lenchester Police are unwilling to fund a long investigation that might ultimately lead nowhere…
This is a solid police procedural with a good range of characters – Walker’s team are an interesting bunch, all recognisably real and human, from the slightly cocky new DS who has big career plans to the timid researcher whose brilliant work gets overshadowed by her more confident teammates.
Walker herself is also engaging – although she is slightly prickly and would be terrifying to actually work for, I think! Her friendship with Dr Georgina Cavendish, a forensic psychologist and another spiky character, is well developed and the two women have complementary skills that further the investigation.
I have no clue as to whether this is a realistic portrayal of police work – I did have a few questions – but it is an enjoyable and well-plotted police procedural. I thought there would be issues with keeping the momentum going on a 40 year-old case, but this is well managed and I was keen to keep reading.
I would recommend this to lovers of crime fiction with a strong (female) detective at the helm. It isn’t gruesome or full of peril, but it is an engaging and interesting read – and equally accessible whether you are a die-hard Cavendish and Walker fan or (like me) brand new to the series.
About the Author:
Sally Rigby was born in Northampton, in the UK. She has always had the travel bug, and after living in both Manchester and London, eventually moved overseas. From 2001 she has lived with her family in New Zealand (apart from five years in Australia), which she considers to be the most beautiful place in the world. After writing young adult fiction for many years, under a pen name, Sally decided to move into crime fiction. Her Cavendish & Walker series brings together two headstrong, and very different, women – DCI Whitney Walker, and forensic psychologist Dr Georgina Cavendish. Sally has a background in education, and has always loved crime fiction books, films and TV programmes. She has a particular fascination with the psychology of serial killers.
I love crime fiction and there have been some brilliant books published in this genre in 2020! I’ll admit that I’m particularly partial to a police procedural and love a twisty crime thriller.
Affiliate links are provided – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you).
Here are my top 10 crime novels of this year, starting at number 10…
10 – ‘Neon’ by G S Locke
This is serial killer thriller with a very unconventional detective duo who are working very much outside the law themselves! It’s an absolute page -turner set on the gritty streets of Birmingham – you can read my original review here.
9 –‘Knife Edge’ by Simon Mayo
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Simon Mayo’s novel as I’m always a bit sceptical when people in the public eye turn to writing. However, I needn’t have been worried – this is a tense, tightly-plotted novel with terrorism at its fore. It keeps you reading from the very first pages when the first attacks take place in rush-hour London. You can read my full review here.
8 – ‘The Cutting Place’ by Jane Casey
I’m a huge fan of the DS Maeve Kerrigan series – this is the ninth book and I think could work as a stand alone (but why miss the other 8?!) This story is about uncovering corruption at the highest levels in society and it is another excellent police procedural. My review is here.
7 – ‘Their Silent Graves’ by Carla Kovach
This is the seventh book in the crime series featuring DI Gina Harte – I personally think this is one of the best in an always-excellent series. In this book (which I think could be read as a stand alone), Harte and her team are called in to investigate some particularly chilling Halloween murders in which a serial killer stalks the residents of a town. You can read my review here.
6 – ‘The Watcher’ by Kate Medina
I could not put this book down when I read it for a blog tour earlier in the year! It is gruesome, gritty and absolutely edge-of-your-seat tense. The story is about a killer who stalks their victims and leaves horrific crime scenes, but what I really loved was the fact that one of the investigators is a police psychologist, Dr Jessie Flynn. This gives a different flavour to the police procedural and I’m hoping Dr Flynn will feature in many more books. My review is here.
5 – ‘The Postscript Murders’ by Elly Griffiths
This one is a slightly cosier option than some of my other choices. In this, an unusual mix of characters come together to solve the killing of a ‘murder consultant’ who helps authors with their crime novels. I really enjoyed the combination of a cleverly-plotted murder mystery with the literary backdrop to it all. My original review can be read here.
4 – ‘Lost Cause’ by Rachel Lynch
This is the eighth instalment in the brilliant crime series featuring DI Kelly Porter and set in the Lake District. I think this is a high-point in a series that can always be relied upon to deliver solid police procedurals with plenty of twists. In this book, Porter and her team are investigating the brutal death of a woman whose abused body is found in a bin – but is she the only victim? It is grim and gritty but absolutely compelling. My review is here.
3 – ‘All Fall Down’ by M J Arlidge
In a kind of modern twist on the classic ‘A Murder is Announced’, victims are being warned of their own impending demise in a phone call. DI Helen Grace and her team are called in to investigate and begin to find connections to events eight years before. This is tense and twisty and really quite creepy – full review here.
2 – ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman
This was a highly-anticipated debut from Richard Osman and I was charmed by this mystery set in a retirement village. Although the mystery plot was well handled, the real strength of this book was the characterisation and emotional punch. You can read my review here.
1 – ‘Broken Silence’ by Liz Mistry
This was one of those books that I was totally unprepared for – the pacing, the twists and the tension all totally took me by surprise and I loved it! It’s a gritty tale of Bradford’s criminal underworld featuring DS Nikki Parekh (who I loved) investigating the disappearance of a fellow police officer and I absolutely raced through it! Full review here.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Out for Blood’ by Deborah Masson. This book will be released in paperback by Corgi on 10th December, 2020, but the e-book is available now.
THE RETURN OF DI EVE HUNTER: DI Eve Hunter is back in the edge-of-your-seat new detective thriller from Deborah Masson, winning author of the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2020.
A young man, the son of an influential businessman, is discovered dead in his central Aberdeen apartment.
Hours later, a teenaged girl with no identification is found hanged in a suspected suicide.
As DI Eve Hunter and her team investigate the two cases, they find themselves in a tug-of-war between privilege and poverty; between the elite and those on the fringes of society.
Then an unexpected breakthrough leads them to the shocking conclusion: that those in power have been at the top for too long – and now, someone is going to desperate lengths to bring them down…
Can they stop someone who is dead set on revenge, no matter the cost
READERS ARE OBSESSED WITH THE DI EVE HUNTER SERIES
‘Out For Blood has everything you need in a crime thriller and more’ – Rebecca Bradley
‘DI Eve Hunter is truly a force to be reckoned with’ – David Jackson
‘This is first-class crime fiction’ – Marion Todd
‘Not to be missed, edge-of-the-seat stuff from a genuine rising star’ – Denzil Meyrick
‘One of the best books I’ve ever read!’
‘I loved DI Eve Hunter and her team’
‘Without a doubt the best police procedural I have read in a long time’
‘I cannot wait to see what else is to come in the DI Eve Hunter series’
‘You won’t want to stop reading this addictive crime novel’
‘Fantastic characters that you’ll fall in love with – I really couldn’t put this book down!’
‘Can’t wait for the next one . . . and the next one . . . and the next one!
My Review
This is the second book in the series featuring DI Eve Hunter. I absolutely loved the first in the series – ‘Hold Your Tongue’ – and this is a worthy sequel.
The story opens with the death of a young man in a flat in an exclusive area of Aberdeen. At the same time, a young woman is found dead at a golf course in the city – it would appear to be a suicide, but there are some questions over the circumstances. DI Eve Hunter and her team are called in to investigate both deaths and start to make connections with some very powerful men and a previous police investigation.
I really liked the idea behind this novel – the fact that power at the highest level of society isn’t without corruption. This made for a compelling read as I was keen to find out what happened to the men in power and why.
DI Eve Hunter is an appealing and feisty protagonist – she has temper problems and doesn’t always have the best judgement which is refreshing and real. She has strength, but also she can be vulnerable, and her personal life doesn’t crowd out the crime story (as sometimes happens in police procedural series).
Another strength is DI Hunter’s team. They are also appealing and have identities in their own rights which is refreshing – too often, in books like this, the police team surrounding the main investigator tend to blend together, but this doesn’t happen here. They are individually interesting and likeable.
The story is well plotted and pacey – I was keen to race through to the end to find out what happened and was not disappointed at any point. It isn’t as gruesome as the first book in the series or quite as tense, but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment!
Overall, this is highly recommended to readers who enjoy a solid police procedural with a strong female lead. It’s perhaps not quite as edge-of-your-seat tense as the first one in the series, but it is engaging and compelling. I really look forward to the next one in the series.
About the Author:
Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen, Scotland. Always restless and fighting against being a responsible adult, she worked in several jobs including secretarial, marketing, reporting for the city’s freebie newspaper and a stint as a postie – to name but a few.
Through it all, she always read crime fiction and, when motherhood finally settled her into being an adult (maybe even a responsible one) she turned her hand to writing what she loved. Deborah started with short stories and flash fiction whilst her daughter napped and, when she later welcomed her son into the world, she decided to challenge her writing further through online courses with Professional Writing Academy and Faber Academy. Her debut novel, Hold Your Tongue, is the result of those courses.
Hold Your Tongue has been widely well reviewed by readers and authors alike, with many comparing her favourably to Stuart MacBride. It won the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year 2020 and was longlisted for CWA New Blood Dagger 2020.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Phoenix Project’ by Michelle Kidd. This book was published on 5th October, 2018. The tour has been organised by Damp Pebbles Blog Tours.
This is the first book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh – there are two further books in the series: ‘Seven Days’ (Book 2) and ‘The Fifteen’ (Book 3).
The Blurb
How long can the past remain buried?
A simple message in a local newspaper. A set of highly sensitive documents left in the back of a London black cab. Both events collide to cause Isabel Faraday’s life to be turned upside down. Growing up believing her parents died in a car crash when she was five, Isabel learns the shocking truth; a truth that places her own life in danger by simply being a Faraday. Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh of the Metropolitan Police races against time to save her, and at the same time unravels long forgotten secrets involving MI5, MI6, the KGB and NASA. Secrets that have lain dormant for twenty years. Secrets worth killing for. With kidnap, murder and suicides stretching across four continents, just what is the Phoenix Project?
The Phoenix Project is the first Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh novel.
If you like a gripping page turner, with plenty of surprising twists, buy The Phoenix Project today to discover its secrets.
My Review
I’ll admit that this book was slightly outside my usual genres – although I love a police procedural, this one looked a lot more like a thriller and on an international scale so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
However, from the first page, it became evident that I was in safe hands as the story was revealed – multiple characters, many locations and different time periods were dealt with confidently by the author and I sat back to enjoy the ride!
I don’t think it can be emphasised enough that the scale of this book is HUGE. As well as involving MI5, MI6, NASA, the KGB and the Metropolitan Police, the story shifts between countries. The plot is also complex and on a massive scale with even an element about space travel. Although the premise initially seems a little far-fetched, it is absolutely compelling as the plot is developed around it. Although this was not within my usual genres, I found myself being pulled along by the story.
One of the ways that this book stays pacey and fresh across nearly 500 pages is the twists. Wow, the twists! There were so many that I felt like I was being pulled in so many directions and absolutely raced through the book in order to work out what was truth among the various plot strands featuring spies, double crosses, liars, corruption and secrecy!
In the middle of all this is DI Jack MacIntosh – we mainly follow his investigation and so discover things alongside him. He is an interesting character with a bit of back-story and I’d be interested to see how he develops in the rest of the series.
Also thrown into the middle of the mix is Isabel Faraday, a young woman working in an art supplies store who believes that her parents were killed in a car crash when she was a child. She receives a message to meet her ex-boyfriend, Miles, one evening and becomes central to the plot as she – along with the reader – tries to make sense of the bewildering events. I really liked Isabel as a character because she was surprisingly tough in the face of adversity and some very odd circumstances.
This is a hugely ambitious novel and one that I enjoyed very much, although I did sometimes feel that the plot was the driving force of the novel – I would have liked a little more character development in places as sometimes motives were not so clear. However, this is a minor quibble only as the plot is so fast-paced and twisty that there is never a dull moment.
I’d recommend this to those who like thrillers with a political dimension – although there is a central police figure, this is far from being a police procedural in the traditional sense. Instead, the reader is thrown into a whirl of people, places, plot twists and embarks on a race through the pages in order to discover the truth.
About the Author
Michelle Kidd is a self-published author known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels.
Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.
But the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.
In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and had not looked back since. There are currently three DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fourth in progress.
Michelle works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order.
Welcome to my stop on the Random Things Tours blog tour for ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir.
This is the first in a new ‘Forbidden Iceland’ series and was published on 1st October, 2020 by Orenda Books. It is translated into English by Victoria Cribb.
From the Publisher
‘An exciting and harrowing tale from one of Iceland’s rising stars’ Ragnar Jónasson
The first in the electrifying new Forbidden Iceland series, ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ is an exquisitely written, claustrophobic and chillingly atmospheric debut thriller byone of Iceland’s most exciting new talents
When the body of a woman is discovered at a lighthouse in the Icelandic town of Akranes, it soon becomes clear that she’s no stranger to the area.
Chief Investigating Officer Elma, who has returned to Akranes following a failed relationship, and her colleagues Sævar and Hörður, commence an uneasy investigation, which uncovers a shocking secret in the dead woman’s past that continues to reverberate in the present day…
But as Elma and her team make a series of discoveries, they bring to light a host of long-hidden crimes that shake the entire community. Sifting through the rubble of the townspeople’s shattered memories, they have to dodge increasingly serious threats, and find justice … before it’s too late.
My Review
I love crime fiction and have made a few forays into Nordic Noir, although this was the first book I’ve read set in Iceland. It certainly won’t be my last trip to the Land of Fire and Ice.
I’ll admit to being intrigued by the premise of this book – a murder at a remote lighthouse that starts to uncover the secrets of the town. I also love a book with a female detective, so this ticked boxes for me too.
The story moves between the investigation into the 2017 murder of a woman in the small Icelandic town of Akranes with a voice from the the late 1980s/early 1990s narrating a tragic family story. At first it isn’t evident how the strands fit together but, as it becomes clear, the reader is pulled into the backstory that has led to the murder at the lighthouse.
One of the real strengths of the story is the main character, Chief Investigating Officer Elma. She has returned to Akranes, where she grew up, following the break-up of a relationship (something I sense will become more of a feature of future books – I know the second book in the series is already being translated by Orenda Books, so we shall see Elma again).
We get to view Elma more clearly than anyone else in the book, including her dysfunctional relationship with her sister, her hangovers and potential love interests. She is a charming and realistic character and her interactions with her work team, family and various people associated with the case seem authentic.
Another real strength is the plotting. The narrative device of alternating between the past and modern-day voices is interesting, but it also means that a lot of information is given that suddenly falls into place later in the novel. The early parts of the novel do seem a little slow, but they work brilliantly to set up a pervasive sense of foreboding that the reader never really escapes until the pace picks up towards the denouement. All very understated, but it really adds to the sense of claustrophobia in the small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.
I really loved the setting of the book – Elma has left Reykjavik CID and is back in the town that she grew up in, so we experience the oppression of small-town life just as she does. We hear the gossip of a small community, see the close (but not always easy) relationships of people who have always known each other and experience the uncovering of secrets bubbling just under the surface. Akranes itself seems like a remote setting – a port town with a small population – that is perfect for this kind of story.
I think it is worth saying that the story is very dark – obviously expected in the genre, but it does sometimes make for uncomfortable reading – especially in the 1980s/1990s narrative which is a child’s perspective. Having a child relate some horrific elements makes the story very chilling at times.
Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime fiction with a dark heart. The sense of tension that builds gradually makes for compulsive reading – before you know it, you will be racing through to see where the story goes! It isn’t an easy read because of the dark themes, but it is cleverly plotted, engagingly told and has a heroine that you will want to see again in book two.
About the Author
Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva moved to Trondheim, Norway to study her MSc in Globalisation when she was 25. After moving back home having completed her MSc, she knew it was time to start working on her novel. Eva has wanted to write books since she was 15 years old, having won a short story contest in Iceland.
Eva worked as a stewardess to make ends meet while she wrote her first novel. The book went on to win the Blackbird Award and became an Icelandic bestseller.
Eva now lives with her husband and three children in Reykjavík, staying at home with her youngest until she begins Kindergarten.
Happy publication day to this excellent police procedural!
This is the seventh book in the DI Gina Harte series and it is one of the best. I picked up the series at Book 3 and am never disappointed with any of the novels, but this book is excellent – just the right mix of tension and terror!
This one really isn’t ideal for the claustrophobic – a killer is on the loose in Cleevesford who is burying people alive in coffins. The victims are left with three matches and a string attached to a bell with no clapper so the victim will never be heard while thinking they have a lifeline – fiendish! It’s a terrifying idea and one that DI Gina Harte is personally horrified by as it reminds her of being incarcerated during her abusive marriage to Terry, mentioned in previous books. When a second body is found, Harte and her team have to race against time to identify the links between the victims; this will, ultimately, lead to more potential victims that need protecting, as well as the killer themselves.
What makes this book stand out for me is the way that Cleevesford is starting to feel like a familiar and developed community – Harte’s team, the various locations and the geography of the town are all coming together in my head and becoming much more real. This is especially true in this book as the settings are perhaps more varied than previously – we whisk between the police station, the graveyard, woods and plenty of other places (no spoilers!) with real pace and purpose.
The other strength to this novel is the tension that Kovach creates as we experience the terror of the serial killer’s victims (and Harte herself). This isn’t new to the series, but seems ramped up here as victims have time to realise their fate before their death. This is truly sinister and creepy and the stuff of nightmares – perfect for a novel written about Halloween and during our shared confinement of lockdown.
I think this book could easily be read as a standalone, although I’d really recommend that you start at the beginning to fully understand Harte’s situation with her abusive husband and tentative relationship with her colleague Briggs. However, this is one book in the series where the personal lives of the police team are more in the background than some of the previous books so it’s not essential.
Overall, this is a strong police procedural with real menace. I’d recommend this to fans of crime writers such as Cara Hunter, Rachel Lynch and MJ Arlidge. It will keep you turning the pages and isn’t one you will forget for quite a while!
I received a free copy of the novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Header photo with thanks to David Menidrey for sharing their work on Unsplash.
Also due out on 20th August is the brilliant ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ by Vaseem Khan – the final book in my week of 20th August releases.
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.
As I’d already reviewed ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ on this blog – above is a copy of my previous review – as a bonus, I thought I’d suggest a few other books that you’d like if ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ sounds like your kind of thing!
Feature: Set in India in the past
‘Midnight at Malabar House’ is set in India in 1950. For another excellent historical crime series, I can highly recommend the Captain Wyndham and Surrender-not Banerjee series by Abir Mukherjee set in the India of the 1920s. It’s definitely worth starting with ‘The Rising Man’ as the first book in this 4 book series – ‘Death in the East’ (Book 4) was published this year and my review (no spoilers) is here.
Feature: Pioneering female detectives
Persis Wadia in ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ is India’s first police detective and pioneering women is definitely a trope I love in my crime fiction!
I can highly recommend ‘Evil Things’ by Katja Ivar – her heroine, Inspector Hella Mauzer, is the first woman to be accepted into Helsinki’s Homicide Unit in 1940s Finland. The review is here.
https://thequickandtheread.net/the-ghost-tree-by-mrc-kasasian/Another woman in a man’s policing world is Inspector Betty Church. In MRC Kasasian’s funny and fairly cosy historical crime series, Betty is the only woman in a dead-end police job in Sackwater, Suffolk. Like Persis in ‘Midnight at Malabar House’, Betty has been sidelined because of her gender and has to deal with the collection of misfits she has been assigned to work with. This humorous series starts with ‘Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire’ – a review of the latest book in the series (‘The Ghost Tree’) can be found here.
Feature: A good murder mystery (but not too gory!)
I do like a gritty crime novel and modern forensics, but sometimes a slightly gentler approach is desirable, as in ‘Midnight at Malabar House’.
If you like your crime novels without forensic detail, then the following books and series may be of interest. Cosy crime isn’t a genre I read often, but I can personally recommend these!
The Holmes and Hudson series by Martin Davies – starting with ‘Mrs Hudson and the Spirit’s Curse’, this series draws on the premise that Mrs Hudson is the true brains behind Baker Street’s famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. A gentle and funny series set in Victorian London.
Jessica Fellowes’ series beginning with ‘The Mitford Murders’ – a series of Golden Age-style murder mysteries in which the investigations are connected to the Mitford sisters in 1920s England.
The Laetitia Rodd mysteries by Kate Saunders – starting with ‘The Secrets of Wishtide’, this series features a genteel Victorian lady detective who finds herself in reduced circumstances after her husband’s death.
Feature: Police procedural with a female lead
Much grittier than the cosy crime novels above, these writers can be relied upon to deliver brilliant police procedurals with a strong female detective. These are contemporary novels:
Deborah Masson’s series about DI Eve Hunter, starting with ‘Hold Your Tongue’.
Carla Kovach’s series about Detective Gina Harte starting with ‘The Next Girl’.
Isabelle Grey’s series about DI Grace Fisher starting with ‘Good Girls Don’t Die’. These have the bonus (for me) of being set in Essex – my birthplace!
I hope you have enjoyed my recommendations – please do let me know in the comments if you can add any more.
There are so many brilliant books out this week that I’ll be sharing with you – please do follow my blog as I’ll be reviewing a new release every day this week. It seems that 20th August is a key date in publishing for new books and there are some amazing ones on the way!
First up, we have a fantastic police procedural by Rachel Lynch.
I’ve followed this series from the start and could not wait for book 8 in the DI Kelly Porter series. Set in the Lake District, this series features a tough but likeable female detective, the beautiful but inhospitable Lakes and consistently well-plotted police procedural narratives.
The series seems to become a bit darker with every book and this one does have some quite disturbing themes, including child abuse, prostitution and torture.
In this instalment, Detective Inspector Kelly Porter and her team are investigating the killing of a woman whose body is found in a bin in a tiny village. They begin to notice that there is a pattern of women disappearing in the area, particularly those who are vulnerable and potentially involved in prostitution. What starts as a murder investigation quickly becomes a race against time to discover where the women are being taken before more vanish. Thrown into the mix is a disturbed and lonely young man who frequents an abandoned churchyard and seems to know a lot about the women; it is up to Kelly to determine what his involvement is in the crimes.
As already mentioned, this is a dark story and the sense of looming disaster is enhanced by the setting – the Lake District in January is bleak and remote and often impossible to navigate because of the snow. This further hinders the investigation and makes the story more tense, as does the problems the police have in managing the case across different policing areas. I’m not an expert in these things, but the series seems solidly researched and realistic.
I’d recommend this to those who have followed DI Kelly Porter from the beginning. It does work as a stand-alone, but you would have missed the significance of some of the issues surrounding Kelly’s personal situation and so picking up the series earlier on would be better.
This is a solid, well-plotted police procedural and will certainly keep you reading as you race to find out what happens!
I received a free copy of the novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book can be purchased using the link below – The Quick and the Read may earn commission on this, but at no extra cost to you. Excellent!
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.
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.
