Sorted on book title (not in series order)

Crime Fiction

Unspoken, Mari Jungstedt

I got confused which is nothing, absolutely nothing, new. But one night, for some reason, I plucked THE INNER CIRCLE by Mari Jungstedt from the stacks, and started reading. Then I got quite convinced I'd already read the book. So I went to check and found UNSEEN, which I then re-read,...Read more

Until the Debt is Paid, Alexander Hartung

Translated from the original German, UNTIL THE DEBT IS PAID is a combination police procedural and energiser bunny styled action thriller which starts out running when Detective Jan Tommen wakes up beside his beloved girlfriend one morning to find himself as the chief suspect in a vicious...Read more

Until Thy Wrath Be Past, Åsa Larsson

One of the most appealing aspects of the Rebecka Martinsson series from Asa Larsson has always been the strong sense of place and culture that the books seem to have as part of their DNA.  The fourth book, UNTIL THY WRATH BE PAST, is no slouch in this department at all.

The...Read more

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The Vanishing Act, Jen Shieff

It should come as no surprise that THE VANISHING ACT was a contender in the 2019 Ngaio Marsh Awards, it's a stylish, unusual and most engaging novel. Set in 1960s New Zealand, the land that is now the beacon of so much positive social change, it's a subtle reminder that countries can change...Read more

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Vanishing Point, Pat Flower

VANISHING POINT by Pat Flower was originally published in 1975, and re-released by Wakefield Press as part of their Crime Classics series in 1993.  It is the first of three important thrillers written by this author before her suicide in 1978.

The Wakefield edition has an...Read more

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The Vanishing Point, Val McDermid

It's probably no coincidence that in a genre that, in my mind anyway, is purpose built for looking at the things that don't work in society, I seem to fallen over a few books recently that are exploring the outcomes of Reality stardom. Which is useful as this is about as close as I want to...Read more

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A Venetian Reckoning, Donna Leon

Rather than the normal method of being called out, Commisarrio Guido Brunetti learns of the death of prominent international lawyer Carlo Trevisan from the headlines in the newspaper the next day on the way to work.

What starts off as a baffling investigation of a seemingly...Read more

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Villain, Edward Berridge

One reader's darkly comic domestic noir is another reader's vegan sausage. Which is a really bad way of saying I just didn't get VILLIAN. Not for a moment, and try as I might I'm not even sure I can explain it adequately. 

At the core it's a very "current day" idea - what would...Read more

Villain, Shuichi Yoshida

I had no idea what to expect when I sat down to read VILLAIN, although the Japan Book News quote on the back of the book "... lays out a panorama of modern Japanese society, a patchwork composed of people of various classes and occupations..." really appealed. And the book most definitely...Read more

A Vintage Death, Colin King

With tongue firmly in cheek, and only because I live in the Pyrenees wine district, yes, well why on earth WOULD somebody kill for a Heathcote shiraz??? (Kidding!)

There's nothing better than books that are set in your own stomping grounds. Places that are very familiar,...Read more

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Violent Exposure, Katherine Howell

Katherine Howell is rapidly becoming one of my stars of crime fiction writing in Australia.  Part of what really works in Howell's books (and VIOLENT EXPOSURE is no exception) is the way that the viewpoint is slightly skewed from the common police, detective, investigator concentration.  In...Read more

Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl, Fiona Britton

It's hard not to wonder what the line "Phyrne Fisher meets Underbelly in an arch, out-of-the-box debut historical crime caper" actually means. Turns out it's a bit the timeframe and environment, the character of Violet Kelly, and the situation she finds herself in.

Set in 1930'...Read more

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A Virtuous Lie, Christina O'Reilly

The third novel featuring DSS Archie Baldrick and DC Ben Travers, A VIRTUOUS LIE follows on from INTO THE VOID and RETRIBUTION. This is a series that might be best read in order, which shouldn't be a trial for anyone new to it - the first two are tightly plotted, engaging and only 160 and...Read more

Vodka Doesn't Freeze, Leah Giarratano

Nobody could possibly call reading VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE a pleasure - it's an absolutely heartbreaking and very discomforting book. The author is a trauma psychologist who works with victims, and victims are very much the focus of VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE.

A young girl, victim of...Read more

The Voice of the Violin, Andrea Camilleri

There's a Renault Twingo referred to as having "committed suicide" when Gallo, the station's driver, he of the "Indianapolis Complex", slams into it in a spectacular example of mad driving that had me crying with laughter on page 4 of VOICE OF THE VIOLIN. Which is not a bad writing feat at...Read more

Voodoo Doll, Leah Giarratano

VOODOO DOLL is the second book featuring Jill Jackson - the first, VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE is a worthy nominee on the Best First Crime Fiction novel list for 2008.  VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE explored - very graphically - the impact of child abuse, VOODOO DOLL takes us into the violent world of the...Read more

Wake, Shelley Burr

WAKE won the CWA Debut Dagger in 2019, and it's not at all hard to see why. Atmospheric and cleverly constructed, with a strong sense of place and realistic characters, WAKE has a plot that bring past trauma, grief, guilt and violence forward in a family, and community, to the consequences...Read more

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Waking the Tiger, Mark Wightman

WAKING THE TIGER is set in 1939 Singapore. Dripping with sense of place and time, there's something vaguely reminiscent of Chandler's styling, and the excellent Inspector Le Fanu series by Brian Stoddart in the characterisation and plot.

Inspector Maximo Betancourt is working a...Read more

Walking Shadows, Narrelle M Harris

Okay, so what I'm really saying is that I don't get vampire fiction, unless it's Swedish or funny, and it probably helps to be set in my home state. To be honest I doubt I would have even given WALKING SHADOWS another glance, only I was doing the formatting of the ebook, and phrases,...Read more

Want You Gone, Christopher Brookmyre

Well this is a disappointment. Not the book, but the fact that this another audio journey through a series that's gotten to the end. Jack Parlabane, book number 8, WANT YOU GONE. Here's hoping there are more on the way because I do so love this series (having read them all / now listened to...Read more

The Watcher, Ross Armstrong

You do want to Lily to succeed, as her clumsy and inept forays into investigating the murder of her neighbour are almost charming. She is a lone woman against the world and her husband is of little or no help. You do feel her frustration when the efforts of others to shut her down send her...Read more

The Watchful Eye, Priscilla Masters

Billed as one of Priscilla Masters Medical Mysteries, this author has written around 15 books, some standalone, some with a central series character. THE WATCHFUL EYE is set, as the synopsis says, in a classic small English village where Daniel Gregory is the local GP.  Recently divorced,...Read more

Watching You, Michael Robotham

In this seventh novel in Michael Robotham’s Luiz/O’Loughlin series the sense of unease and anticipation builds from the opening lines. Marnie Logan, young, married, with two children, is struggling to survive since her husband Daniel simply vanished a couple of years earlier and it quickly...Read more

The Water's Dead, Catherine Lea

THE WATER'S DEAD is the first novel featuring DI Nyree Bradshaw (BETTER LEFT DEAD is out in September), set in the upper north island region of New Zealand, with idyllic scenery, pockets of poverty, a strong, tight knit Māori community, and a lot of fractious relationships.

...Read more

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The Water's Edge, Karin Fossum

One of the things that I particularly love about really good crime fiction is the way that it highlights the human condition - warts and all.  The thing I particularly love about Karin Fossum's books is the way that she explores the notion of the sad, the stupid, the moments in which things...Read more

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The Way Back, Kylie Ladd

In the author notes to THE WAY BACK, Kylie Ladd says she became interested in the idea behind the novel when US teenager Elizabeth Smart was reunited with her family months after she was abducted. Whilst the media focused on the story of her captivity and release, what intrigued Ladd was...Read more

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The Way It is Now, Garry Disher

THE WAY IT IS NOW is another new character from Garry Disher, mining some familiar territory for him, in that we've got a cop who is struggling with his past, present and future. Even for a youngish man, Charlie Deravin has been a cop for years, and there's a lot of backstory to his life....Read more

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