Crime Review Update

In our new edition of Crime Review (www.crimereview.co.uk) this week we
have 16 reviews, together with Sarah Hilary in the Countdown interview hot
seat.
We’re on Twitter at:
Crime Review: @CrimeReviewUK
Linda Wilson: @CrimeReviewer
Sharon Wheeler: @lartonmedia

This week’s reviews are:
THE ENGLISH SPY by Daniel Silva, reviewed by Arnold Taylor
A terrorist plants a bomb on a luxury motor yacht, killing all on board
including a popular princess of the British Royal Family. MI5 turns for
help to Gabriel Allon of the Israeli Intelligence Services.

GRAY MOUNTAIN by John Grisham, reviewed by Chris Roberts
Young New York lawyer Samantha Kofer makes a dramatic career change with a
move to West Virginia, where her clients battle rapacious and ruthless
mining companies.

MAKE ME by Lee Child, reviewed by Linda Wilson
Jack Reacher gets off a train in the middle of the Oklahoma prairie, and
finds more than he bargained for in the strangely watchful town of Mother’s
Rest.

THE SERPENTINE ROAD by Paul Mendelson, reviewed by John Cleal
The heiress of a billionaire industrialist is murdered in an apparent
race-hate crime. Colonel Vaughn De Vries of the Special Crimes Unit
investigates and finds a morass of corruption – and a link to an event in
his own past he would rather forget.

VERTIGO by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, reviewed by Arnold Taylor
GÈvigne, a married man, contacts an old friend, a former policeman, after
many years.  He asks him to carry out an investigation into the behaviour
of his wife, who is given to dream-like states and periods of apparent
absence from the material world.

THE EMPIRE OF NIGHT by Robert Olen Butler, reviewed by Chris Roberts
American journalist and spy Kit Cobb travels to Germany early in 1915, on
the trail of an English knight suspected of working for the German cause.

WATER ANGELS by Mons Kallentoft, reviewed by Ewa Sherman
A married couple are found murdered in their home, and their adopted
five-year-old daughter has vanished. Inspector Malin Fors, struggling with
her own demons, starts to investigate.

THE FIFTH HEART by Dan Simmons, reviewed by John Cleal
Sherlock Holmes, under cover following his alleged death at Reichenbach
Falls, prevents American author Henry James from committing suicide and
enlists him to investigate a suicide and a plot to destablise the United
States.

JOURNEY UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN by Keigo Higashino, reviewed by Chris Roberts
A pawnbroker is found murdered in an abandoned building in Osaka in 1973.
Detective Sagagaki’s initial efforts fail to achieve a result, but after 19
years he is still on the trail of two young people connected to the crime.

THE ALBINO’S TREASURE by Stuart Douglas, reviewed by John Cleal
Holmes and Watson are asked to investigate the vandalising of a picture at
the National Portrait Gallery and are sucked into a morass of politics,
crime and killings.

HEARTBREAKER by Tania Carver, reviewed by Linda Wilson
DI Phil Brennan’s marriage seems to be on the rocks and he’s deteriorating
fast, losing himself in the welcoming arms of too much booze. And that’s
not good when he’s got a brutal killer to track down.

THE DEAD DOG DAY by Jackie Kabler, reviewed by Sharon Wheeler
TV reporter Cora Baxter has both personal and professional problems, after
her boyfriend dumps her and her boss from hell is murdered.

PENANCE by Theresa Talbot, reviewed by Linda Wilson
DI Alec Davies investigates the death of an elderly priest on the altar in
a Glasgow church, while TV journalist Oonagh O’Neill delves into some of
the Catholic church’s unpalatable secrets.

WITH OUR BLESSING by Jo Spain, reviewed by John Cleal
The body of an elderly woman is found crucified in a Dublin park and DI Tom
Reynolds must solve a killing which has its roots in Ireland’s darkest past.

BIG BAD WOLF by Nele Neuhaus, reviewed by Sylvia Maughan
Chief Detective Superintendant Pia Kirchoff has no lead to follow up,
although a brief visit to an old school reunion results in more than she
expects.

13 MINUTES by Sarah Pinborough, reviewed by Linda Wilson
Teenager Natasha dies for 13 minutes after a plunge into an icy river. No
one, not even Natasha, knows what she was doing in the woods at night or
how she ended up in the water.

Best wishes

Sharon