Sunday, January 17, 2021

Crime Review Update: New Issue for 1/17/2021

 Happy new year! 

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 Amanda Lees in the Countdown hot seat: http://www.crimereview.co.uk/page.php/interview/9040  

 

We’re on Twitter at:

Crime Review: @CrimeReviewUK

Linda Wilson: @CrimeReviewer

Sharon Wheeler: @lartonmedia

 

This week’s reviews are:

PEAKY BLINDERS: THE LEGACY by Carl Chinn, reviewed by John Cleal

The TV series Peaky Blinders turned the fashionably dressed, charismatic, but deeply flawed Shelby family into cult anti-heroes. Now read the sordid facts behind their criminal legacy.

 

THE KINGDOM by Jo Nesbo, reviewed by Viv Beeby

In an enclosed and remote Norwegian mountain community the rules of good and evil are played out in a manner more reminiscent of the Wild West. It's a place where family means everything and guilty secrets are buried deep …

 

BITTER WASH ROAD by Garry Disher, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Constable Paul Hirschhausen has committed the heinous crime of whistleblowing on corrupt colleagues, and as a reward is posted to a rural backwater where life is a challenge.

 

KILL A STRANGER by Simon Kernick, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Matt comes home from a night out with friends to find his girlfriend missing and a dead oman’s body in their bed. The nightmare gets worse when he’s told that Kate will die if he involves the police. To get Kate back, Matt has to do the unthinkable. He has to kill a stranger.

 

FOR THE DEAD by Lina Bengtsdotter, reviewed by Ewa Sherman

Thirty years ago, teenager Paul was found drowned in a lake, and his best friend Francesca vanished from home. His death was considered a suicide. Francesca was never found. When journalist Johan Ro writes about the cold case, DI Charlie Lager gets pulled into the story.

 

BACKLASH by Marnie Riches, reviewed by Sylvia Maughan

Bev Saunders wants to be a private investigator and has started to take on cases. She sets out to go undercover as a cleaner for a colourful local man of doubtful reputation

 

A LONG WAY OFF by Pascal Garnier, reviewed by Chris Roberts

Marc dreams of freedom and abandons his quiet life for a trip with his daughter Anne, but things move in a rather unexpected direction.

 

THE FAMILIAR DARK by Amy Engel, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor

Junie and her best friend are dead. And Eve will make sure their killer pays.

 

WATCHING FROM THE DARK by Gytha Lodge, reviewed by Linda Wilson

When Aidan Poole logs onto Skype to talk to his girlfriend, he gets a nasty shock. Someone is in the flat with her, but she doesn’t seem to know it.And she’s in danger.

 

FEAR FOR MISS BETONy by Dorothy Bowers, reviewed by John Cleal

Former governess Emma Betony is asked to sort out a series of strange happenings at a friend’s struggling girls’ school.

 

THE SYSTEM by Ryan Gatiss, reviewed by Chris Roberts

The discovery of a gun used in a shooting leads to the prosecution of two young men, one guilty and the other innocent. The case will change the lives of several people.

 

SISTER by Kjell Ola Dahl, reviewed by Ewa Sherman

Frank Frølich works as a private detective after being suspended from duty with Oslo Police. He takes on an assignment to find the missing sister of a young immigrant woman who is just about to be deported to her home country. He also gets involved in searching for an eyewitness from a ferry disaster 30 years ago.

 

THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS by Megan Miranda, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor

Arden left the story that defined Widow Hills, even though she was the story. She even left her name. But two decades later, her past is shadowing her, and her life is in danger once again.

 

GILLARD’S STING by Margaret Duffy, reviewed by Sharon Wheeler

Ex-military and spook Patrick Gillard and his author wife Ingrid Langley are pulled back into the action as they try to track down a missing top cop.

 

A MATTER OF MURDER by Ann Granger, reviewed by John Cleal

Drop-out Miff Ferguson disturbs a killer disposing of his victim and is forced to flee to escape the man who now wants to dispose of the only witness to the crime. When a second member of the dead girl’s family is found in a blazing van Detective Inspector Jess Campbell and Superintendent Ian Carter must try to solve the mystery.

 

YOUR STILL BEATING HEART by Tyler Keevil, reviewed by Chris Roberts

After the death of her husband, Eira Vaughn is adrift. But her life is given new meaning as a result of a chance encounter in Prague.

 

THE SCOUNDREL HARRY LARKYNS by Rebecca Gowers, reviewed by John Cleal

A 140-year-old cold case investigation into a true crime of passion – the murder of bon viveur and conman Harry Larkyns by one of the fathers on modern cinema.

 

THE STITCHER AND THE MUTE by DK Fields, reviewed by John Barnbrook

In the United Realms there are no elections, instead each year the leading group is chosen by picking which of them tells the most compelling story. As the election proceeds, Detective Cora Gorderheim becomes more embroiled in solving the crime and also resolving personal issues.

 

ARE YOU WATCHING? by Vincent Ralph, reviewed by Linda Wilson

Jess is out to catch a killer. The only problem is that the killer might catch her first.

 

THE POTTERY COTTAGE MURDERS by Carol Ann Lee & Peter Howse, reviewed by

John Cleal

A police manhunt across the snowbound moors. Just one survivor. This is the first definitive account of the horrifying 1977 Pottery Cottage murders that shocked the nation.

 

Best wishes

 

Sharon and Linda

www.crimereview.co.uk

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