Sorted on book title (not in series order)
Somewhere between horror, folk lore and social commentary, set deep in the quiet back waters of northern Finland, THE BLACK TONGUE is a book that will stay with you for a lot of reasons.
Not being much of a fan of horror stories, it's hard to explain why this book appealed in...Read more
The third (and it seems possibly the final) novel in the story of Tatiana Crowe, a female undertaker in 1870s Sydney, sees the return of a character from an earlier novel who has had quite the change in personality (interestingly - explained in the author's notes at the end of the novel...Read more
Michel Bussi is a renowned crime fiction writer and winner of many awards in his native France, BLACK WATER LILIES being the second of his books translated into English. It would appear from both of them (the first was ...Read more
BLACK WIDOW is the 7th Jack Parlabane story, which I did read before WANT YOU GONE, but the review is going up out of order, just because (well actually I was working my way through a list from the bottom up so that's worked well....)
Anyway, this book is the story of surgeon...Read more
Peter May's Lewis Trilogy isn't a new undertaking, originally published in 2009, but it's one of those series I've had flagged in my audio book queue for a long time, and recently I've been fortunate enough to have a lot of available listening time and a desire for something that was dark,...Read more
Whilst reading BLACKLANDS by Belinda Bauer it was a bit hard to get your head around the idea that this was a debut novel. it's so assured It wasn't at all surprising to find it had won a CWA Gold Dagger. It's the story of how the very determined, engaging and just a bit naive Steven Lamb...Read more
There is so much to like about the Café La Femme series (of which THE BLACKMAIL BLEND is #1.5), that a novella drizzled into the middle of existing novels, A TRIFLE DEAD and DROWNED VANILLA is a lovely treat - dare one suggest the icing on the cake? It seems that there is a third book in...Read more
BLACKWATER MOON is the second book from Australian author B. Michael Radburn, although this has more of a crime fiction / thriller focus. Atmospheric, emotional, poignant and tightly controlled, both books from Radburn mark him out as an author to be watched.
The story is built...Read more
Following on from the excellent THE DIGGER'S REST HOTEL, BLACKWATTLE CREEK sees Charlie Berlin and now wife Rebecca, 10 years on. Married with two kids, they are struggling to make ends meet on a policeman's...Read more
Up front, the only complaint I've got about THE BLASPHEMER is that the ending came way too quickly. From the opening scenes, when an armed fanatic breaks into the house of, we discover, Abraham Khan and his wife, things just keep moving fast. Much like the cavalcade required to move Khan...Read more
Fans of Australian writer Michael Robotham will always be waiting with baited breath for the next instalment from him. Be it a book that features (now) ex-cop Victor Ruiz, psychologist Joe O'Loughlin, Sikh detective Alisha Barba or a combination of those characters. BLEED FOR ME is another...Read more
Storytelling or Storyweaving? BLEEDING HEART SQUARE is a classic example of a carefully woven psychological suspense story written by one of the English masters. Mind you, this isn't going to be a book for everyone. It's one of those stories that starts out with central threads that...Read more
DI Steele deserves her own fan club. It would have to be a club where swearing, drinking, smoking and fiddling with your bra strap were perfectly acceptable behaviours of course. You've also got a ready made slogan as fans of the wonderful Logan McRae series from Scottish author Stuart...Read more
I've been happily reading the Anna Travis series by Lynda La Plante since the first book and enjoying them. Despite a few odds and ends that can be mildly annoying. Ongoing romantic angst, a tricky senior officer (in this case the early on love interest as well), and some seriously big...Read more
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, written in the mid 1880s, was a world-wide publishing phenomenon. The story of its publication deserves a book like Blockbuster!. Reviewed at ...Read more
BLOOD & INK is a crime novel about a student that could be writing a crime novel. Or could be planning a range of murders. When his Literature professor Jack Griffen discovers five sheets of paper that the student, Hiero, has written, Jack's not sure which option it is. Until the first...Read more
Okay so I'm a bit of a fan - which after two books is quite an achievement. It's probably a little bit to do with the basic premise of genealogy being used to solve crimes (family tree research being an investigation in its own right after all), but mostly it's because Dan Waddell really...Read more
If you're looking for a slightly different twist to the standard police procedural theme, then THE BLOOD DETECTIVE could be worth looking at. This book is the author's first novel - a journalist, he has previously written non-fiction books, including the book connected to the BBC Series ...Read more
BLOOD FROM STONE was recently announced as the winner of the 2008 Duncan Lawrie Dagger, presented by the Crime Writers' Association in the UK. Reading a prize-winning novel for review always presents a slightly different set of questions to answer - the obvious one being why did it win? ...Read more
BLOOD IN THE COTSWOLD is an entry in the (somewhat unimaginatively named, it has to be said) Cotswold Series from British author Rebecca Tope.
Central character Thea Osborne and her dog Hepzie house-sit. They do this quite a bit, and in this book they are in the quiet little...Read more
Okay, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, what DO they put in the water supply in Scotland. Or maybe it's because of the notoriously dire weather - people are indoors and a percentage of them turn to writing. Don't know. But whatever it is, I hope they keep it up as there are some...Read more
I fell across this book a few years ago in a shop, having never heard of the author anywhere before. But if it's Australian then I'm almost duty bound to read a book (well that's my justification anyway). This is a story about a serial killer - and the police unit that is investigating -...Read more
Puti Derrell likes running at midnight. During lockdown it was safe but now lockdown is over and Porohiwi doesn’t feel safe anymore – especially when she discovers her estranged grandfather has been murdered and left with a Judas mask on his face.
Puti’s already got a lot on her...Read more
Steeped in a sense of culture, people and place, Blood Matters is crime fiction set at the heart of a family and community. Full review at Newtown Review of Books.Read more
The 4th book in the Max Cámara series, which means if, like this reader, you've missed the first three, there's something to look forward to.
Set in post financial meltdown Spain, BLOOD MED is part crime fiction, part police procedural, part analysis of a society that's bottomed...Read more
It always amazes me, how Paul Cleave can start out with a scenario that somehow seems quite normal and "expected" and then make it all go very very good weird, and you don't even notice that it's happening until you finish the book, turn all the lights back on the in house and take a big...Read more
The Hal Challis series is really growing into something particularly interesting, as well as entertaining. There's a distinct edge to this story, there are obviously some issues which the author wants to talk about, and he's cleverly worked a number of elements of social observation and...Read more
The opening novel in The Matakana Series, New Zealand based, Swedish born author Madeleine Eskedahl has set this story in one of the true gems of NZ locations, one that obviously means a lot to her. Matakana is a picturesque small town, increasingly devoted to wine growing, farmers markets...Read more
There are plenty of books around that read a bit like a script in the making, and a lot of them don't work. And then there's BLOOD RIVER that reads like a script in the making, a most unusual crime fiction novel that works. Oh boy does it work. Tony Cavanaugh is the author of the stonkingly...Read more
Look, we all know what I'm going to say here, so let's just get straight to it.
The Logan McRae series is the bees knees of Scottish police procedurals. The plots are intricate, often confrontational (as is very much the case with this one) and the characters are brilliant....Read more