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 Harriet Tyce in the Countdown hot seat: http://www.crimereview.co.uk/page.php/interview/8906

 

We’re on Twitter at:

Crime Review: @CrimeReviewUK

Linda Wilson: @CrimeReviewer

Sharon Wheeler: @lartonmedia

 

This week’s reviews are: 

ZERO 22 by Chris Ryan, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Despite an ambush that leaves Danny Black the only survivor of an SAS unit, it’s not long before he’s deployed again, this time to assist in the assassination of the man ultimately responsible for the attack that left so many of his teammates dead.

 

THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS by Elly Griffiths, reviewed by Viv Beeby

Ninety-year-old Peggy has two main interests in life – observing the comings and goings beneath her bay window in Seaview Court and murder.  So when Peggy is found dead in her favourite chair, notebook by her side, it must surely be from natural causes – mustn't it?

 

BROKEN by Don Winslow, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Six short stories set in the US featuring people on the wrong side of the law and those who oppose them.

 

THE CORPSE IN THE GARDEN OF PERFECT BRIGHTNESS by Malcolm Pryce, reviewed

by John Cleal

Railway detective Jack Wenlock, thrown out of work by the 1947 nationalisation of the industry, searches the Far East for his mother, whom he has always believed dead.

 

THE SUMMER OF ELLEN by Agnete Friis, reviewed by Ewa Sherman

The realities of modern Copenhagen and of Jutland farmland from the 1970s clash as Jacob Errbo, an architect drinking through his bitter divorce, must return to the area he has not visited for nearly 40 years. His very old great-uncles Anton and Anders want to find out what happened to a beautiful hippy Ellen who moved in with them from a local commune.

 

NEVER SAY DIE by Anthony Horowitz, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Alex Rider, traumatised by the murder of his best friend and guardian, is determined to learn more about her death, even if his quest might extinguish the tiny flicker of hope kindled by an inexplicable email.

 

HOUSE OF CORRECTION by Nicci French, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Tabitha Hardy is arrested for the murder of Stuart Rees. She has little recollection of the day he was killed, but is convinced she is innocent, although it seems everyone else believes she is guilty.

 

SAFE HOUSE by Jo Jakeman, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor

Charlie has a new life to go with her new name. But her past is closing in.

 

FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH by Sarah Hawkswood, reviewed by John Cleal

When the Prince of Powys’ messenger fails to reach his English destination, lord sheriff’s men Bradecote, Catchpoll and Walkelin must check a dead man’s identity.

 

THE CHEMICAL REACTION by Fiona Erskine, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Chemical expert Dr Jaq Silver is in desperate need of some income. She’s got debts mounting up and no easy way of paying them off, so when she gets a job offer that involves a trip to China, beggars can’t be choosers.

 

MIDNIGHT ATLANTA by Thomas Mullen, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Atlanta 1956. When the black owner of the Atlanta Daily Times is shot and killed, reporter Tommy Smith is determined to find the culprit.

 

INVITATION TO DIE by Barbara Cleverly, reviewed by John Cleal 

DI John Redfyre discovers a body and uncovers a story of wartime betrayal and multiple murders.

 

CALL ME EVIE by JP Pomare, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor

A quiet beach town should be the place where Evie can heal. But Evie isn’t her name, and she is not there of her own free will.

 

SCAR TISSUE by Ollie Ollerton, reviewed by Linda Wilson

When former special services operative Alex Abbott’s son goes missing, he’s determined to do what he can to help, even if it means walking into a trap.

 

SECOND SISTER by Chan Ho-Kei, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Nga-yee is devastated when her younger sister Siu-man jumps from their Hong Kong tenement flat to her death.  She finds someone who can help her satisfy her desire for revenge on the people who drove her to it.

 

IMPOSTER 13 by Rob Sinclair, reviewed by John Cleal

Aydin Torkal – the former terrorist known as Sleeper 13, now working with MI6 – infiltrates a sinister new terror cell that’s planning a series of devastating worldwide attacks

 

THE TROPHY TAKER by Sarah Flint, reviewed by John Barnbrook

A murderer cuts off ring fingers, rips out hearts and discards them, replacing them with a token and leaves the bodies in graveyards in London. DC Charlie Stafford and her team are desperate to find this killer.

 

THE BRAMBLE AND THE ROSE by Tom Bouman, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Policeman Henry Farrell is called in when a body is found, suspected to be the victim of a bear. Events prove there is more than one predator in the woods.

 

THE FLIGHT by Julie Clark, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor  

Claire and Eva meet at JFK Airport, New York. But their encounter is brief, and their destinations could be their last.

 

CAST NO SHADOW by Julie Newman, reviewed by John Cleal

Young journalist Samantha investigates the story of an Indian hotelier cleared of a rape charge when he is revealed to be a she. The trail takes her into the dangerous Indian underworld, where money always talks – and life is cheap.

 

Best wishes

 

Sharon and Linda

 

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