Crime Review Update

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 DA Mishani in the Countdown hot seat: http://crimereview.co.uk/page.php/interview/8795

 

We’re on Twitter at:

Crime Review: @CrimeReviewUK

Linda Wilson: @CrimeReviewer

Sharon Wheeler: @lartonmedia

 

 

This week’s reviews are:

 

STORMBREAKER by Anthony Horowitz, reviewed by Linda Wilson

 

Reluctant 14-year-old spy Alex Rider is sent to Cornwall to investigate rich philanthropist Herod Sayle and his plan to install a new generation of computer in every school in the UK. Alex soon realises that there’s a lot more to the Stormbreakers than Sayle is letting on, and with that knowledge comes extreme danger.

 

MAIGRET AND MONSIEUR CHARLES by Georges Simenon, reviewed by Chris Roberts

 

In his last appearance, Maigret investigates the disappearance of Monsieur Charles, a wealthy lawyer well-known in Paris nightclubs.

 

 

POINT BLANC by Anthony Horowitz, reviewed by Linda Wilson

 

Reluctant teenage spy Alex Rider is sent undercover in an exclusive school for the rebellious offspring of some of the world’s richest people to find out what links two unexplained deaths to Point Blanc academy in the Alps.

 

 

THE MAN IN THE WOODS by Ilaria Tuti, reviewed by Viv Beeby

 

There is a creepy man in the woods; a bad man with the face of a skull. And if you don't watch out he's coming to get you …

 

 

THE CABIN by Jørn Lier Horst, reviewed by Ewa Sherman

 

Chief Inspector William Wisting is assigned to lead a top-secret investigation into the life of a recently deceased controversial politician. When he finds boxes full of foreign currency in his cabin, he also manages to unearth possible links to two 15-year-old cold cases, one of them of a missing young man.

 

 

HITLER’S PEACE by Philip Kerr, reviewer by Chris Roberts

 

In autumn 1943 the tide of war has turned and Germany is putting out peace feelers. But the response of the allies will be settled in Tehran.

 

 

THE STRANGER by Simon Conway, review by John Cleal

 

MI6 agent Jude Lyon must deal with past events which threaten the credibility of his agency – and a terrifying new threat to the whole of the British establishment.

 

 

FORGET ME by Andrew Ewart, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor

 

Hannah wants to know the secret her husband can’t remember, whatever the cost.

 

THE NIGHT OF SHOOTING STARS by Ben Pastor, reviewed by Chris Roberts

 

Lieutenant-Colonel Martin von Bora is in Berlin in July 1944, directed to investigate the murder of a prominent clairvoyant, but the rumours of political conspiracy suggest that Bora himself is at risk.

 

 

KISS THE GIRLS AND MAKE THEM CRY by Mary Higgins Clark, reviewed by John

Cleal

 

Investigative journalist Gina Kane receives an email describing the abuse of a woman by a well-known figure at a television news network that’s on the verge of a multi-billion dollar stock market flotation.

 

 

FAIR WARNING by Michael Connelly reviewed by Linda Wilson

 

When journalist Jack McEvoy finds himself a person of interest in the murder of a woman he dated once, he’s determined to clear his own name, as the police don’t seem to be making any moves in that direction.

 

 

WILD DOG by Serge Joncour, reviewed by John Cleal

 

Retired actress Lise persuades her producer husband to holiday in the wild hills of the Causse de Limogne. He must come to terms with his fear of nature and rediscover the basic instincts common to both man and animal.

 

 

THE STRANGER GAME by Peter Gadol, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor

 

Rebecca’s boyfriend is missing. But she is unsure if he is licking his wounds, or if has he become another victim of an increasingly dangerous game sweeping Los Angeles and beyond.

 

 

HAMMER TO FALL by John Lawton, reviewed by Chris Roberts

 

Joe Wilderness spies for Britain in 1960s Finland and Prague and runs into several people with whom he shares a history.

 

 

BONE CHINA by Laura Purcell, reviewed by John Cleal

 

Nurse-companion Hester Why flees London for a position at the lonely Morvoren House on a desolate Cornish clifftop where she finds herself faced with a dark and dangerous situation linked to events of 40 years before.

 

 

THE LAST WIFE by Karen Hamilton, reviewed by Linda Wilson

 

After Nina’s death, her best friend Marie steps in to help her grieving husband with two children and a large house, gradually taking over more and more of her friend’s former life. But not everyone thinks that’s a good thing.

 

 

THE AOSAWA MURDERS by Riku Onda, reviewed by Chris Roberts

 

The poisoning of celebrants at a Japanese family birthday party is a mystery, even when the culprit admits responsibility. The true story takes years to emerge.

 

 

HAVEN’T THEY GROWN by Sophie Hannah, reviewed by Sylvia Maughan

 

Beth Leeson sees an old friend whom she has not seen for 12 years. Her friend has aged appropriately, but her children appear not to have aged at all. Is Beth mistaken about what she saw?

 

 

LAKE CHILD by Isabel Ashdown, reviewed by John Barnbrook

 

Eva Olsen cannot remember much about the last year of her life and is horrified that her parents are keeping her locked in an attic room with no contact with her old friends. And her parents are behaving oddly.

 

 

CORRUPT BODIES by Peter Everett, reviewed by John Cleal

 

When the author becomes superintendent of Southwark mortuary, he walks into a corrupt world of sales of body parts, theft, bribery and kickbacks.

 

 

Best wishes

 

 

Sharon and Linda

 

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