Val McDermid (http://www.valmcdermid.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_mcdermid) will need little introduction to her many fans or to the readers of these reviews. Her new stand alone book has been published in September of 2014 and the summary is as follows: When a skeleton is discovered hidden at the top of a crumbling, gothic building in Edinburgh, Detective Chief Inspector Karen […]
As J.D. Robb, prolific author Nora Roberts (http://www.nora-roberts.co.uk/) has published a series of futuristic science fiction police procedurals. These books, all part of the “In Death” series, feature NYPSD Detective Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke. They are set in a mid-21st century New York City. Despite the emphasis on solving a crime in each of the books, the
Ruth Rendell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Rendell and http://literature.britishcouncil.org/ruth-rendell) is a phenomenally successful crime writer. She probes deeply into the psychological background of criminals and their victims, many of them mentally afflicted or otherwise socially isolated. She has (at the last count) 74 titles to her name covering crime novels, novellas, and short stories (some under the pen name of Barbara
The Girl Next Door Read More »
Karin Slaughter (http://www.karinslaughter.com/) has published 16 fiction titles since 2001 and has a dedicated following. She has sold more than 30 million copies of her books, and is published in 32 languages. I wonder if you’ll take to her particular style of crime fiction. The summary of her latest, ‘Cop Town’ (24 Jun 2014) is as
Edinburgh born Philip Kerr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Kerr) and (http://www.philipkerr.org/) has served up some pretty successful historical crime/thrillers set in Germany and elsewhere during the 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War. Should you wish to immerse yourself in these shady worlds and gain an introduction to the work of Kerr I’d recommend this compilation. It brings
Mason Cross (http://carterblake.net/) was born in Glasgow in 1979. He studied English at the University of Stirling and currently works in the voluntary sector. He has written a number of short stories, including ‘A Living’, which was shortlisted for the Quick Reads ‘Get Britain Reading’ Award. He lives in Glasgow with his wife and three children.
The Killing Season Read More »
In ‘Whispers of Immortality‘ by T.S. Eliot we find the following lines: ‘Webster was much possessed by death, And saw the skull beneath the skin, And breastless creatures underground, Leaned backward with a lipless grin’. Peter James might equally be described as ‘possessed by death’ because the word dead appears in the title of all ten
The screen writer of hit television crime series Prime Suspect, Lynda La Plante (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3562219/Lynda-La-Plantes-life-story-will-be-vicious.html) is back with another thriller. The summary is as follows. ‘Please don’t let anything bad have happened to her, please don’t let anything have happened to my baby…’ Marcus and Lena Fulford are the envy of their friends. Wealthy, attractive and successful,
Scottish crime thriller writer Stuart MacBride (http://www.stuartmacbride.com/) has treated us to a 9 course feast of Detective Logan McRae novels beginning with Cold Granite (2005), set in Aberdeen. His latest is a heart-stopping blood warmer from this author of three consecutive No. 1 bestsellers, including Birthdays for the Dead. The summary goes as follows. Eight years ago, the
A Song for the Dying Read More »
Award winning Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbo (http://www.jonesbo.co.uk/) has achieved a high degree of popularity lately. Why not give him a go to see what the fuss is about? The summary of his latest thriller is as follows. Sonny is a model prisoner. He listens to the confessions of other inmates, and absolves them of their sins. He
Glasgow crime writer Sinclair Macleod (https://en-gb.facebook.com/sinclairmacleodauthor) gives us his darkest, and in many ways his most compelling book in ‘Soulseeker‘. The summary is as follows. Detective Inspector Alex Menzies starts her first day in a new job with a call to the scene of a terrible murder. The body of a young man has been cremated on a
Peter James (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_James_(writer) and http://www.peterjames.com/) offers us the ninth book in the Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series. The summary is as follows. A vicious robbery at a secluded Brighton mansion leaves its elderly occupant dying, and millions taken in valuables. But Detective Grace rapidly learns that there is one item, of priceless sentimental value, that her
Peter May (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_May_(writer)) was a Scottish journalist who wrote for The Scotsman and The Glasgow Evening Times. He has gone on to become a highly successful novelist, penning among other works The Lewis Trilogy and The China Thrillers. Well into his stride now as a practised crime author, his latest is Entry Island (2014). The summary is as
Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defence? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt’s sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Read More »
When the last honest citizen of Poisonville was murdered, the Continental Op stayed on to punish the guilty – even if that meant taking on an entire town. Red Harvest (1929) is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in America. 224 pages in Orion paperback edition ISBN
