Crime Review Update: 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 Peter Swanson in the Countdown hot seat:

http://www.crimereview.co.uk/page.php/interview/7286

We’re on Twitter at:

Crime Review: @CrimeReviewUK

Linda Wilson: @CrimeReviewer

Sharon Wheeler: @lartonmedia

This week’s reviews are:

RED STROKE by Chris Ryan, reviewed by Linda Wilson

The kidnap of a former Russian intelligence officer from a safe house sparks off a chain of events that sees former SAS operatives Bald and Porter called out of retirement again.

BLOOD ORANGE by Harriet Tyce, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Barrister Alison Bailey is married with a daughter but infatuated with solicitor Patrick. She is horrified to receive messages from someone who knows what she is doing.

THE REVENANT EXPRESS by George Mann, reviewed by Jane Appleby

Investigators Newbury and Hobbes return with a mystery involving sinister experiments and a dangerous train journey across Europe.

THE COLD SUMMER by Gianrico Carafiglio, reviewed by Ewa Sherman

Pietro Fenoglio, a Marshall in the Carabinieri, conducts an investigation into the kidnapping and killing of a local mobster’s young son amidst spreading violence in the region.

CASANOVA AND THE FACELESS WOMAN by Olivier Barde-Cabuçon, reviewed by John

Cleal

Louis XV’s Inspector for Strange and Unexplained Deaths investigates the macabre death of a young whore and is drawn into a deadly web of intrigue where he is partnered with adventurer and seducer Giacomo Casanova.

NEMESIS by Rory Clements, reviewed by Arnold Taylor

Professor Tom Wilde of Cambridge University is in France on holiday when he is approached by a man who appears to be a beggar. He tells Wilde that one of his former students, who joined the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, is now held in a French prison camp and urges Wilde to do all he can to free him.

COLD CASE by Quintin Jardine, reviewed by Linda Wilson

When Bob Skinner is asked for help by his old friend Sir James Proud, he doesn’t expect to find himself trying to decide if his friend really could have been involved in covering up a murder.

AFTER THE MONSOON by Robert Karjel, reviewed by John Cleal

Security policeman Ernst Grip investigates the death of a Swedish soldier in Djibouti and enters a world of greed, intrigue and double-dealing.

AN AUTUMN HUNTING by Tom Callaghan, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Akyl Borubaev is back in the Bishkek murder squad but shooting the Minister for State Security makes him a pariah, and someone of interest to Kyrgyzstan’s top criminals.

MAIGRET AND THE SATURDAY CALLER by Georges Simenon, by Arnold Taylor

Maigret is walking to the bus stop after work one Saturday evening when he notices a man apparently following him. When he arrives home his wife tells him that someone is waiting to see him. It is the same man.

THE ANGRY SEA by James Deegan, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Former SAS sergeant John Carr is caught up in a terror attack whilst on holiday in Spain and ends up getting his wish – to track down and take out the men responsible for the atrocity.

THE MURDER PIT by Mick Finlay, reviewed by John Cleal

Down-at-heel detective Arrowood and his assistant Barnett are hired to find out why a new bride will not see her parents, but what seems a straightforward case develops into something more sinister.

THE PLOTTERS by Un-su Kim, reviewed by Chris Roberts

A Korean assassin ignores his instructions and permits a target to die in her preferred manner – the first step away from unquestioning obedience to his fate.

ATTEND by West Camel, reviewed by Ewa Sherman

Sam, a young gay man, and Anne, a recovering heroin addict, are connected through the world of drugs and revenge in Deptford. They must deal with the consequences of other people’s deeds that affect their own existence.

PRICE OF DUTY by Dale Brown, reviewed by John Cleal

Renegade military contractor Scion, led by a former US president, set out to defeat a plan by Russian president Gennadiy Gryzlov to destabilise and reclaim former Soviet satellites through a wave of cyberattacks.

SECRET PREY by John Sandford, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport is called in when a banker is shot during a hunting trip, an event that proves to be just the beginning of a series of attacks.

THE TATTOO THIEF by Alison Belsham, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor

Marni Mullins’ coffee break during the Brighton tattoo convention turns into a horror story when she finds a mutilated body in the bin.

WEEKEND AT THRACKLEY by Alan Melville, reviewed by John Cleal

Impecunious war hero Jim Henderson is baffled to be invited to a weekend party at the country home of a famous collector of precious stones. Robbery, kidnap and murder follow.

MURDER BY NUMBERS: FASCINATING FIGURE’S BEHIND THE WORLD’S WORST CRIMES by

James Moore, reviewed by Kim Fleet

How numbers feature in murders, their detection, and the punishment of killers.

THE PUNK FACTOR by Rebecca Denton, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Seventeen-year-old Frankie is in a punk rock girl band with her best friend. To succeed in the music industry takes hard work, and that isn’t something Frankie is good at.

Best wishes 

Sharon