New Issue of Crime Review

We feature new 20 reviews in each issue of Crime Review (
www.crimereview.co.uk), together with a top industry interview. This time
it’s author Mandasue Heller in the Countdown hot seat.



We’re on Twitter at:

Crime Review: @CrimeReviewUK

Linda Wilson: @CrimeReviewer

Sharon Wheeler: @lartonmedia



This week’s reviews are:

WHY DID YOU LIE by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, reviewed by Ewa Sherman

Four people are stranded in a small lighthouse on a rock surrounded by
raging sea. An ordinary couple return from home-swap in America to find
their guests apparently missing. A journalist on the track of an old case
hangs himself in his own garage. Someone is determined to punish them.



COLD EARTH by Ann Cleeves, reviewed by Arnold Taylor

Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez of the Shetland police is attending the
funeral of an old friend when a sudden land slip smashes through a croft in
its path.



THESE SHALLOW GRAVES by Jennifer Donnelly, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Miss Josephine Montfort has been destined from birth to lead a respectable
life and make a good marriage. But her father’s untimely death threatens to
rock Jo’s world to its foundations.



KID GOT SHOT by Simon Mason, reviewed by Linda Wilson

When a teenager from his school is shot dead, Garvie Smith is reluctant to
leave the investigation to the local police, especially as he’s sure
they’re just not asking the right questions.



THE TURNCOAT by Allan Murray, reviewed by Chris Roberts

The search for a spy in the Glasgow suburb of Clydebank during WWII becomes
all the more urgent when Hitler’s second-in-command arrives seeking to
contact Nazi sympathisers in the British establishment.



THE SECRET OF HIGH ELDERSHAM by Miles Burton, reviewed by John Cleal

The East Anglian village of High Eldersham is unwelcoming to strangers.
Several have suffered catastrophic accidents. But when a new landlord is
found stabbed in his own pub, Scotland Yard are called in.



THE MYSTERY OF THE THREE ORCHIDS by Augusto de Angelis, reviewed by John
Cleal

As models parade her new creations, fashion house owner Cristiana O’Brian
discovers the body of one of her staff on her own bed. Commissario Carlo De
Vincenzi  must untangle a web of deceit and blackmail to find the
killer.



THE MALICE OF WAVES by Mark Douglas-Home, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Oceanographer Dr Cal McGill is called in to try to solve the mystery of a
14-year-old boy’s disappearance from a remote Scottish island five years
ago.

THE HUNTER OF THE DARK by Donato Carrisi, reviewed by Sylvia Maughan

Marcus is a man who can see evil, but he has amnesia. In the past he
appears to have been an investigator for an ancient holy order. The torso
of a young woman is found within the Vatican walls. Before Marcus can
investigate properly there are other murders, starting with two young
lovers in a car.



THE HOUSE WITH NO ROOMS by Lesley Thomson, reviewed by Jim Beaman

There’s a chilling case for detective’s daughter, Stella Darnell, as crimes
of the past echo in the present.



PERFECT REMAINS by Helen Field, reviewed by John Barnbrook

Hikers find the remains of a body in a deserted Scottish bothy. There are
clues to the identity of the victim but in reality she is screaming in fear
in a locked Edinburgh basement.



ORDEAL BY FIRE by Sarah Hawkswood, reviewed by John Cleal

Veteran Sheriff Sergeant Catchpoll must catch a 12th century arsonist who
has set fires which have killed two people – and at the same time cope with
a keen, but inexperienced, new Under Sheriff.



MOSKVA by Jack Grimwood, reviewed by Chris Roberts

In December 1985, with the USSR crumbling, ex-paratrooper Tom Fox has been
in Moscow less than a week when the ambassador’s daughter Alex goes
missing. Tom makes it his job to get her home safe.



LITTLE DEATHS by Emma Flint, reviewed by John Cleal

Ruth Malone wakes one morning to find a window wide open and her two young
children missing. It’s every mother’s nightmare – but Malone is not like
other mothers.



HER HUSBAND’S LOVE by Julia Crouch, reviewed by Kati Barr Taylor

Louise is trying to move on from the horrific car accident that took her
husband, Sam, and her children. But Sophie, Sam’s lover, is out to destroy
Louise’s future.



CUT ME IN by Ed McBain, reviewed by John Cleal

No one liked tough literary agent Del Gilbert – not those he did business
with, the women he cheated on, not even his partner in the agency. But when
he is found shot in his office, Josh Blake must find the killer – and a
missing contract potentially worth millions.



A LIFE TO KILL by Matthew Hall, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Coroner Jenny Cooper has to handle her hardest case to date, the inquest
into the death of a young soldier in Afghanistan.



A GOOD MONTH FOR MURDER by Del Quentin Wilbur, reviewed by Chris Roberts

A factual depiction of a particularly active month for the police homicide
unit in Prince George’s County, a suburban sprawl east of Washington, DC.



A DIVIDED SPY by Charles Cumming, reviewed by Arnold Taylor

Thomas Kell had decided his days with MI6 were over. Then an encounter with
an MI5 employee offers him the chance of getting even with the Russian who
he believes murdered his girlfriend.



A DEATH IN THE FAMILY by Michael Stanley, reviewed by Ewa Sherman

Wilmon Bengu is found murdered but his son detective Kubu isn’t allowed to
investigate his father’s death. Kubu goes against his superiors but soon
needs to follow a series of murders connected to the Chinese owners of a
mining company.



Best wishes


Sharon