Fear in the Lakes

Third in Graham Smith's 'lakes' series and they go from strength to strength.

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Book description

A case with no leads.
A victim with no enemies.
A killer with no conscience…

When Detective Beth Young is called to investigate a victim with multiple broken bones, nothing prepares her for what she finds. James Sinclair is fighting for his life, and Beth can’t shake the idea that the nature of his injuries suggest someone with a personal grudge against him.

But James’s devastated wife Laura insists that her kind, softly-spoken husband is a man with no enemies. She was the one with the fiery temper, but James was so calm, she’d never once managed to provoke even a cross word from him in their eight year marriage. And he was the same with everyone – she can’t name one person who might want to hurt him.

But she knows virtually no details about her husband’s childhood or his life before he moved to the Lake District as a young man, and Beth feels sure that the key to finding James’s attacker is hidden in the secrets of his past. Who was he really? And what is the significance of the coded messages that Beth finds hidden on his laptop?

Then two more bodies are found in one of the deep, picturesque lakes that the area is so famous for, exhibiting similar injuries to the ones James Sinclair suffered. How are they connected? And how many more people are at risk?

Beth knows she is in a race against time to hunt a vicious killer who is both elusive and incredibly dangerous. A killer who knows what James did in the past. Who likes to be one step ahead. But who – if they realise they’re being hunted – might come for Beth next…

My review -

A man is found in his own bedroom with multiple shattered bones, to the extent that he needs his arms and leg amputated. It’s a puzzle for Beth and the team to find out who did it and also why. More bodies – different wounds but there seems to be a connection. When a series of emails appears, all written in code, Beth is in her element. There’s more about her own life, and the race is on to find the perpetrator before there’s another set of crushed limbs. It’s an exciting story, a real puzzle with an unexpected ending. This series is going from strength to strength. Highly recommended.

About the author

Graham Smith is a time served joiner who has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. Since Christmas 2000, he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland. 

He is an internationally best-selling Kindle author and has six books featuring DI Harry Evans and the Cumbrian Major Crimes Team, and four novels, featuring Utah doorman, Jake Boulder. His 'Lakes' series which has three novels featuring DC Beth Young has received much critical acclaim.

An avid fan of crime fiction since being given one of Enid Blyton's Famous Five books at the age of eight, he has also been a regular reviewer and interviewer for the well-respected website Crimesquad.com since 2009

Graham is the founder of Crime and Publishment, a weekend of crime-writing classes which includes the chance for attendees to pitch their novels to agents and publishers. Since the first weekend in 2013, ten attendees have gone on to sign publishing contracts.

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Just a thought

Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth.
― Khaled Hosseini

The Stranger Diaries

This is a stand-alone from Elly Griffiths and it kept me reading till late!

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Book description

A dark story has been brought to terrifying life. Can the ending be rewritten in time?

This is what the police know: English teacher Clare Cassidy's friend Ella has just been murdered. Clare and Ella had recently fallen out. Found beside the body was a line from The Stranger, a story by the Gothic writer Clare teaches, and the murder scene is identical to one of the deaths in the story.

This is what Clare knows: No one else was aware of her fight with Ella. Few others have even read The Stranger. Someone has wormed their way into her life and her work. They know her darkest secrets. And they don't mean well.

This is what the killer knows: Who will be next to die.

My review - 

I do love a bit of gothic and this combined a short ghost story from a previous era with a modern day murder mystery. The story is told from three points of view – Clare, a teacher, Georgia, her daughter and Harbinder Kaur, the DS looking into the murder of a friend of Clare’s. I enjoyed this aspect as we got to see what each thought of the other and how they interpreted what had happened. The ghost story ran through the narrative and was told in its entirely at the end. The main story centred on the school where Clare taught and Georgia was a pupil. It was the former home of the author of the short ghost story and the mixing of the two was, for me, really well done. There are more bodies and it’s down to Harbinder Kaur and the team to discover the murderer. I honestly never guessed. A great book.

About the author

Elly Griffiths was born in London. The inpsiration for her books about forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway came from her husband who gave up a city job to train as an archaeologist. Elly lives near Brighton but often spends holidays on the wild Norfolk coast. She has two children and a cat.

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Just a thought 

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book. 
― Henry David Thoreau

XX

Short in name, long on ideas, XX is the first novel of Angela Chadwick.

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Book description

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO FOR A CHILD OF YOUR OWN?

When Rosie and Jules discover a ground-breaking clinical trial that enables two women to have a female baby, they jump at the chance to make history.

Fear-mongering politicians and right-wing movements are quick to latch on to the controversies surrounding Ovum-to-Ovum (o-o) technology and stoke the fears of the public. What will happen to the numbers of little boys born? Is there a sinister conspiracy to eradicate men at play?

In this toxic political climate, Jules and Rosie try to hide their baby from scrutiny. But when the news of Rosie's pregnancy is leaked to the media, their relationship is put under a microscope and they're forced to question the loyalty of those closest to them, and battle against a tirade of hate that threatens to split them apart...

My review 

The premise of this book is a scientific advance which allows the ova of two women to be fused to create a new life, the so-called ovum to ovum fertilisation. It has that speculative, science-fiction sound to it, which initially drew me to the book. It’s not high on science, though, but is very good on social analysis. Jules, a journalist, and Rosie, working in a bookshop, apply to be in the first group and are successful.

When they do a test and find that Rosie really is pregnant, their own feelings are different from one another. Worst of all, someone leaks their names to the media. What follows is persecution by so many groups, religious, political, and many more. Will this see the end of baby boys? Will men be a minority? This was what fascinated me about the book. This in-depth but gripping analysis of what it meant to the two women, their families, friends, and the wider world. It was utterly engrossing and I loved it.

About the author

Angela Chadwick trained as a journalist and worked as a reporter before becoming a communications manager within higher education. XX is her first novel.

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Just a thought

We owe it to each other to tell stories ― Neil Gaiman

The Body in Belair Park

Another tale of the secret sleuthing of Beth Haldane, a favourite character of mine.

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Book description

A dead Bridge player. A determined mother. A new case…

Beth Haldane is on the verge of having everything she’s ever wanted. Her son is starting secondary school, her personal life seems to have settled – even her pets are getting on. Then the phone rings. 

It’s Beth’s high-maintenance mother, Wendy, with terrible news. Her bridge partner, Alfie Pole, has died suddenly. While Beth, and most of Dulwich, is convinced that Alfie has pegged out from exhaustion, thanks to playing with Wendy for years, Beth’s mother is certain that foul play is afoot. 

Before she knows it, Beth is plunged into her most complicated mystery yet, involving the Dulwich Bridge Club, allotment holders, the Dulwich Open Garden set and, of course, her long-suffering boyfriend, Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Harry York. 

The case stirs up old wounds which are much closer to home than Beth would like. 

Can she come up trumps in time to stop the culprit striking again? Or does the murderer hold the winning hand this time? 

My review

Beth is back in investigatory mode when her mother’s bridge partner dies, in suspicious circumstances, in the middle of a game. Her boyfriend Harry is working the case and as usual telling Beth to keep out of it. She can’t. Her mother ends up in hospital and now it’s personal. As always, I love the way these stories are told – humorously, with great insight into human nature and the unseen pressures of being the supermum that all your child’s friends have. This story leaves us feeling some conclusion has been reached between Beth and Harry. I sincerely hope the series continues!

About the author

Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a feature writer on national newspapers including the Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Alice lives in south east London and is married with two children, two stepchildren and two cats. She writes psychological thrillers for HQDigital under the name A.M. Castle and the London Murder Mystery cozy crime series for Darkstroke as Alice Castle.

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Just a thought

Wear the old coat and buy the new book.― Austin Phelps

St Benet's

Second in a series set in the Norfolk Broads. They are a bit unusual which always draws me in.

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Book description

A girl thrown from a church tower, a man sacrificed to Satan, and a priest murdered at the hands of the Devil.

When the body of an old man is found lying in the ruins of St Benet’s Abbey, his throat cut, a knife resting in his open hand, DI John Tanner and DC Jenny Evans are given no choice but to accept a ruling of death by misadventure. 

But when the body goes missing from its tomb, after a priest is found nailed to a cross, and another impaled on a stake, everything begins to point back to the murder of a teenage girl, thrown from the top of a church tower, some forty-three years before.

Set within the mysterious beauty of the Norfolk Broads, this fast-paced British detective series is a cozy murder mystery with a slice of humour and a touch of romance, one that will have you guessing until the very end, when the last shocking twist is finally revealed.

My review 

When an elderly man, in the garb of a monk, is found dead in a ruined monastery, DI John Tanner investigates. After the funeral, more deaths result – and the body has gone missing. The dead man had a book indicating he believed he could rise from the read. The plot, as they say, thickens. As it does, it seems to hinge upon a death forty years ago.

I really enjoy this series. The two main characters, Tanner and his constable, DC Jenny Evans, have issues of their own, but have to work together regardless. The relationships are well drawn, the atmosphere of the broads brilliantly portrayed with places often difficult to access. I’ve been pulled into this series and I look forward to more.

About the author

David is a full-time author living in North London. To date he has written fifteen books along with a collection of short stories. He's currently working on his sixteenth, Moorings, which is the next in his series of crime fiction thrillers, after Broadland and St. Benet's.

When not writing, David likes to spend his time mucking about in boats, often in the Norfolk Broads, where his crime fiction books are based.

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Just a thought

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.
― Henry David Thoreau

The Death of Jessica Ripley

Another Andy Barrett book - another Eddie Collins book. It's fantastic.

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Book description

Sometimes you can’t forgive and forget.

Jessica Ripley didn’t kill her ex-husband. But everyone thinks she did. After serving twelve years for his murder, it’s time to get her own back on those who put her inside.

During those twelve years, Jessy’s son, Michael, has turned against her. Whatever mercy Jessy had for her intended victims, has gone.

CSI Eddie Collins is having a hard time watching his father enjoying life. He’s also having it tough in the form of two new recruits to his office. One is off his tree on drugs and the other wants his job.

And then the murders begin.

Can Eddie trust the evidence, or is someone out to get even?

And who did kill Jessy’s ex? To find out, buy The Death of Jessica Ripley.

My review -

This is a long book which flies by too fast. It’s a book you hate to leave, even to eat. The story has so much going on in it, but it’s never confusing – just busy, like life. There are characters you feel for and those you detest. There’s a lot of humour and loads of sadness and waste. I felt it was not entirely feasible in places but the story is so gripping you don’t care. That you keep flying through it is a testament to the excellence of the writing. It’s a book you wish you hadn’t read so you could read it afresh again. It’s a triumph! 

About the author

Do you like your crime thrillers to have a forensic element that adds to the realism? Do you like your lead character to be someone intense and unafraid to take on authority?

Andrew writes precisely that kind of crime thriller, and has done since 1996, about the same time he became a CSI in Yorkshire.

He doesn't write formulaic fiction; each story is hand-crafted to give you a unique flavour of what CSIs encounter in real life - and as a practising CSI, he should know what it's like out there. His thrillers live inside the police domain, but predominantly feature CSIs (or SOCOs as they used to known).

Here's your chance to walk alongside SOCO Roger Conniston and CSI Eddie Collins as they do battle with the criminals that you lock your doors to keep out, fighting those whose crimes make you shudder.

This is as real as it gets without getting your hands bloody.

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Just a thought

I'm old-fashioned and think that reading books is the most glorious pastime that humankind has yet devised ― Wislawa Szymborska

Black Summer

Second in a series and it's a belter!

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Book description

ared Keaton, chef to the stars. Charming. Charismatic. Psychopath . . . He's currently serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his daughter, Elizabeth. Her body was never found and Keaton was convicted largely on the testimony of Detective Sergeant Washington Poe.

So when a young woman staggers into a remote police station with irrefutable evidence that she is Elizabeth Keaton, Poe finds himself on the wrong end of an investigation, one that could cost him much more than his career.

Helped by the only person he trusts, the brilliant but socially awkward Tilly Bradshaw, Poe races to answer the only question that matters: how can someone be both dead and alive at the same time?

And then Elizabeth goes missing again - and all paths of investigation lead back to Poe.

My review - 

I’m not sure which pulls me in most, a character-driven or a plot-driven story. With this series, which began with The Puppet Show, we have both. It can’t fail! This book hangs on the reappearance of a girl six years after she was supposed murdered. Her father is serving a sentence for killing her. Poe put him away – yet he has to be released as she’s obviously still alive. This gave rise to a sublimely good plot and the strange friendship between Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw once again comes into play - the old-fashioned detective and the seriously nerdy young woman with no ‘discretion setting’ on her tongue. It played out to an exciting and satisfying ending. I hope there’ll be more books to come with this duo. I’ll be waiting in line for them.

About the author

Although he was born in Cumbria, Mike Craven grew up in the North East before running away to join the army when he turned sixteen. After training as an armourer for two and a half years, he spent the next ten travelling the world having fun. In 1995 he left the army and completed a degree in social work, with specialisms in criminology, psychology and substance misuse. In 1999 he joined Cumbria Probation Service as a probation officer, working his way up to chief officer grade. Sixteen years later, he took the plunge and accepted redundancy to concentrate on writing. He now has entirely different motivations for trying to get inside the minds of criminals.

Between leaving the army and securing his first publishing deal, Mike found time to keep a pet crocodile, breed snakes, survive cancer and get married. He lives in Carlisle with his wife, Joanne, and his springer spaniel, Bracken.

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Just a thought

The ability to read awoke inside of me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive. 
― Malcolm X