Review: HERCULE POIROT'S SILENT NIGHT, Sophie Hannah

• This book made available as a review copy by NetGalley - an e-book, but it will be available later in the year in hard copy.
  
• Pub Date 04 Oct 2023
• HarperCollins Publishers Australia, HarperCollins

Synopsis (NetGalley)

The world’s greatest detective, Hercule Poirot – legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and A Haunting in Venice – puts his little grey cells to work solving a baffling Christmas mystery.

CAN HERCULE POIROT SOLVE A BAFFLING MURDER MYSTERY IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS?

It’s 19 December 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are called to investigate the murder of a man in the apparent safe haven of a Norfolk hospital ward. Catchpool’s mother, the irrepressible Cynthia, insists that Poirot stays in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while Poirot solves the case. Cynthia’s friend Arnold is soon to be admitted to that same hospital and his wife is convinced he will be the killer’s next victim, though she refuses to explain why.

Poirot has less than a week to solve the crime and prevent more murders, if he is to escape from this nightmare scenario and get home in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, someone else – someone utterly ruthless – also has ideas about what ought to happen to Hercule Poirot . . .

My Take

I think Sophie Hannah has done a good job in re-creating Hercule Poirot, but perhaps Inspector Edward Catchpool is not a good replacement for his old offsider Arthur Hastings.

Catchpool's mother requests Poirot's help in solving one murder and preventing another. The possible second victim is due to be admitted to hospital early in the New Year and to spend his remaining days there. If Poirot can work out who committed the original murder then perhaps her friend Arnold will be safe. There seems to be no reason why the second murder should take place, there is no evident link between the first victim and Arnold, and yet Arnold's wife is convinced the hospital is an unsafe place.

Poirot is confident that the solving of the first murder will take him only a couple of days and that he and Catchpool will be free to return to London in plenty of time for Christmas. However he has not taken Catchpool's mother's determination into account, and the lengths that she will go to. Add to that a mix of very strange and at times unpleasant characters, an inept local police investigator, and something in the past reaching out into the present .....

This is the 5th book by Sophie Hannah in this series, and I recommend that if you are still to give it a try, that you make Hercule Poirot's acquaintance. I doubt that you will be disappointed.

My rating: 4.4

The Hercule Poirot series

  1. The Monogram Murders (2014)
  2. Closed Casket (2016)
  3. The Mystery of Three Quarters (2018)
  4. The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (2020)
  5. Hercule Poirot's Silent Night (2023)

I have already read

4.3, THE MONOGRAM MURDERS - #1
4.2, CLOSED CASKET - #2
4.4, CLOSED CASKET - audio
4.4, THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS - audio book #3
4.4, THE KILLINGS AT KINGFISHER HILL - audio book #4  

Review: THE NIGHT WHISTLER, Greg Woodland

• Format: Kindle (Amazon)
• 
  ASIN : B088VKG7Q4
  
• Publisher : Text Publishing (4 August 2020)
• Language : English
• File size : 4287 KB
• Print length : 300 pages
• source: NetGalley
  

Synopsis (Amazon)

The summer of 1966–7. Hal and his little brother have just come to live in Moorabool. They’re exploring the creek near their new home when they find the body of a dog.

Not just dead, but killed.

Not just killed, but horribly maimed.

Constable Mick Goodenough, recently demoted from his big-city job as a detective, is also new in town—and one of his dogs has gone missing. Like other pets around the town.

He knows what it means when someone tortures animals to death. They’re practising. So when Hal’s mother starts getting late-night phone calls — a man whistling, then hanging up — Goodenough, alone among the Moorabool cops, takes her seriously. But will that be enough to keep her and her young sons safe?

Nostalgic yet clear-eyed, simmering with small-town menace, Greg Woodland’s wildly impressive debut populates the rural Australia of the 1960s with memorable characters and almost unbearable tension.

My Take

There's something rather Disher-like with this novel, and the underlying theme is not a new one: a demoted city cop sent to the sticks, to rural NSW, to teach him a lesson. The boss at the Moorabool police station doesn't appreciate this new burden but Goodenough's is a pair of new eyes, and he realises there are things Bradley, the station boss, has been letting things slide.

Hal's father hasn't been telling the truth about his new job either, that he will be on the road a fair bit, leaving his wife and sons to fend for themselves. And then come the phone calls and the messages, and the prowler in the back yard. The police would rather not know - it's "normal" - but Probationary Constable Goodenough recognises the signs. 

A good read.

My rating: 4.6

About the author:
Greg Woodland is an author, screenwriter and director. Since 2000 he’s worked as a freelance script editor and consultant for film funding bodies and the Australian Writers' Guild. The Night Whistler is his first novel.

Review: THE DAY THE LIES BEGAN, Kylie Kaden

• NB Book not released until August 19, 2019 - available for pre-order
• source: Netgalley 
• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 2208 KB
• Print Length: 344 pages
• Publisher: Pantera Press (August 19, 2019)
• Publication Date: August 19, 2019
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07SMBVNDB

Synopsis  (Amazon)

‘It seemed simple at first - folding one lie over the next. She had become expert at feathering over the cracks to ensure her life appeared the same. But inside, it didn’t feel fixed.’

It happened the day of the Moon Festival. It could have been left behind, they all could have moved on with their lives. But secrets have a habit of rising to the surface, especially in small towns.

Two couples, four ironclad friendships, the perfect coastal holiday town. With salt-stung houses perched like lifeguards overlooking the shore, Lago Point is the scene of postcards, not crime scenes. Wife and mother Abbi, town cop Blake, schoolteacher Hannah and local doctor Will are caught in their own tangled webs of deceit.

When the truth washes in to their beachside community, so do the judgements: victim, or vigilante, who will forgive, who will betray? Not all relationships survive. Nor do all residents.

My take

Abbi and foster brother Blake have a secret that dominates the first half of this book. We are not sure what it is - several alternatives are on offer - but it is something they shouldn't have done, something that will devastate those close to them, and something that will destroy them both if it becomes known. But they both doubt their ability to keep it hidden.

It turns out that even though they didn't know it these families have lived with lies and secrets all their lives. Once Abbi and Blake's big secret is "out" nothing is the same.

The structure of the novel is quite confusing at the beginning and then intriguing as the setting swaps between the present and the day and night of the Moon Festival.


My rating: 4.4

About the author:
Since being plucked from the Random House slushpile, Brisbane writer Kylie Kaden is now an internationally published author of women’s fiction (when she’s not wrangling her sticky brood of boys). Kylie followed her breakthrough debut Losing Kate, with another critically acclaimed suspenseful read, Missing You, in 2015.

Review: THE NOWHERE CHILD, Christian White

• this edition an ARC from NetGalley
• Available from Amazon for Kindle
• File Size: 1646 KB
• Print Length: 384 pages
• Publisher: Affirm Press (June 26, 2018)
• Publication Date: June 26, 2018
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07DCPW9GL

Synopsis (Amazon for Kindle)

‘Her name is Sammy Went. This photo was taken on her second birthday. Three days later she was gone.’

On a break between teaching photography classes in Melbourne, Kim Leamy is approached by a stranger investigating the disappearance of a little girl from her Kentucky home twenty-eight years earlier. He believes Kim is that girl.

At first she brushes it off, but when Kim scratches the surface of her family history in Australia, questions arise that aren’t easily answered. To find the truth, she must travel to Sammy’s home of Manson, Kentucky, and into a dark past. As the mystery of Sammy’s disappearance unravels and the town’s secrets are revealed, this superb novel builds towards an electrifying climax.

Inspired by Gillian Flynn’s frenetic suspense and Stephen King’s masterful world-building, The Nowhere Child is a combustible tale of trauma, cult, conspiracy and memory. It is the remarkable debut of Christian White, an exhilarating new Australian talent.

My Take

I've had this book sitting on my Kindle for some months now, courtesy NetGalley, and now it has been chosen by our book group for our monthly read.

Kim Leamy is approached by someone who has been searching for his lost sister for years. He has scanned thousands of online images looking for similarities to an artist's impression of what his sister would look like nearly three decades after her disappearance. But he is American and Kim has a hard job thinking that the woman who brought her up would have been a kidnapper.

However he tells her that a DNA test he has had taken by a Melbourne lab says there is a 98.5% probability that she is is sister. When she approaches her father it is obvious to Kim that there is some truth in what the American is telling her, that her father knows, and she decides to go to America to find out the truth for herself.

A well constructed interesting story, with good mystery elements.

My rating: 4.4

About the author
Christian White is an internationally bestselling and award-winning Australian author and screenwriter. His debut novel, The Nowhere Child, won the 2017 Victorian Premier's Literary Award. He is currently in development with Matchbox Pictures on a new television series which he co-created, inspired by his script One Year Later, winner of the 2013 Australian Writers Guild ‘Think Inside The Box’ competition. His films have been shown at film festivals around the world. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and their greyhound.

Review: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, Michael Stanley

Synopsis (Amazon)

 There's no easy way to say this, Kubu. Your father's dead. I'm afraid he's been murdered.'

 Faced with the violent death of his own father, even Assistant Superintendent David ‘Kubu’ Bengu, Botswana CID's keenest mind, is baffled. Who would kill such a frail old man? The picture becomes even murkier with the apparent suicide of a government official. Are Chinese mine-owners involved? And what role does the US Embassy have to play?

 Set amidst the dark beauty of modern Botswana, A Death in the Family is a thrilling insight into a world ofriots, corruption and greed, as a complex series of murders presents the opera-loving, wine connoisseur detective with his most challenging case yet.

 When grief-stricken Kubu defies orders and sets out on the killers' trail, startling and chilling links emerge, spanning the globe and setting a sequence of shocking events in motion. Will Kubu catch the killers in time … and find justice for his father?

  My Take

I am a long-standing fan of this series. Published in 2015, this is #5.

His father Wilmon is a much loved member of Kubu's family and a kindly character who has featured in earlier titles. His murder comes as a great shock and it is hard to imagine why it has happened. Are the families of the police being targeted or is there a more local motive?

Kubu of course wants to be involved in the investigation and his boss has a hard job of keeping him out of it. Fortunately there are other matters that Kubu can be involved in. But his frustration at the assignment of his father's murder to a less experienced female detective is well depicted, especially as time passes and so little progress is made.

I enjoyed the way the various threads of this story were woven together with elements of Botswana politics and economics, particularly with Botswana struggling to find its place in the modern world.

The view presented of Botswana is different to the one with Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series which I also enjoy.  I was delighted to find references to that series in A DEATH IN THE FAMILY.

A delightful read.

  my rating: 4.7

Review: STRANGE TIDE, Christopher Fowler

Synopsis (Amazon)

The river Thames is London’s most important yet neglected artery. When a young woman is found chained to a post in the tide, no-one can understand how she came to be drowned there. At the Peculiar Crimes Unit, Arthur Bryant and John May find themselves dealing with an impossible crime committed in a very public place. 

Soon they discover that the river is giving up other victims, but as the investigation extends from the coast of Libya to the nightclubs of North London, it proves as murkily sinister as the Thames itself. That’s only part of the problem; Bryant’s rapidly deteriorating condition prevents him from handling the case, and he is confined to home. To make matters worse, May makes a fatal error of judgement that knocks him out of action and places everyone at risk.

With the PCU staff baffled as much by their own detectives as the case, the only people who can help now are the battery of eccentrics Bryant keeps listed in his diary, but will their arcane knowledge save the day or make matters even worse? Soon there’s a clear suspect in everyone’s sights – the only thing that’s missing is any scrap of evidence.

As the detectives’ disastrous investigation comes unstuck, the whole team gets involved in some serious messing about on the river. In an adventure that’s as twisting as the river upon which it’s set, will there be anything left of the Peculiar Crimes Unit when it’s over?

My Take:

A Bryant & May, Book 13 in the series, following on from THE BURNING MAN.
Mostly I have been listening to the audio books of this series so it will be interesting to see how this one takes me.

Arthur Bryant appeared to be developing Alzheimer's quite rapidly at the end of the last book, and at the beginning of this one Raymond Land says he is in poor health and will be working mainly from home.

The problem is, as the PCU team knows, it is mainly  Arthur Bryant's experience, as well as his odd way of viewing things and connecting up the dots that has led to the team's excellent clear up record. Without him the team will have nothing.

The story starts with three excellent hooks: Queen Boadicea and a Roman legionary sitting on a wall, the capsizing of a Libyan refugee boat off the coast of Italy several years earlier, and then the discovery of a young woman's body near the Queen's Stairs in the Thames.

Ever present in the background of this novel is the River Thames, winding its way through London. We learn peculiar facts about its past and the effects it has had on its residents. As in the other books in this series Fowler's research has thrown up incredible antiquarian items which we see through Arthur Bryant's encyclopaedic brain. 

The plot twists and tangles, and just when you think there couldn't be more there is. As usual the future of the unit comes under threat and the mystery must be solved to save it.

Very enjoyable read, and yes, I did enjoy it as much as the audio ones I had listened to earlier.

My Rating: 4.6

Review: DYING FOR A TASTE, Leslie Karst

• source: review copy from Netgalley
• File Size: 1029 KB
• Print Length: 306 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1629535974
• Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (April 12, 2016)
• Publication Date: April 12, 2016
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B01CSWPE5I
• Available from Amazon for Kindle

Synopsis (Net Galley)
After losing her mother to cancer, Sally Solari quits her job as an attorney to help her dad run his old-style Italian eatery in Santa Cruz, California. But managing the front of the house is far from her dream job.

Then in a sudden twist her Aunt Letta is found murdered in her own restaurant, and Sally is the only one who can keep the place running. But when her sous chef is accused of the crime, and she finds herself suddenly short-staffed, Sally must delve into the world of sustainable farming—not to mention a few family secrets--to help him clear his name and catch the true culprit before her timer runs out.

Leslie Karst serves a platter of intrigue in her stirring and satisfying debut Dying for a Taste, which is sure to become a new favorite of food mystery fans. 

My take

There is a lot about her Aunt Letta that Sally Solari doesn't know, in fact they weren't even really all that close, and it comes a great surprise to her when she inherits her aunt's restaurant. Aunt Letta's murder was quite vicious, but surely no-one hated her that much? And then Sally finds evidence that Letta had been being threatened. She is galvanised into action when, in the absence of any other suspects, the police arrest the head cook of her new restaurant.

Towards the end I felt that there were actually too many suspects and that blurred the plot lines a bit. Ultimately though quite a satisfying read, with a few recipes in the final pages to stimulate your culinary juices.

My rating: 4.2

About the author
Originally from Southern California, Leslie Karst moved north to attend UC Santa Cruz (home of the Fighting Banana Slugs), and after graduation, parlayed her degree in English literature into employment waiting tables and singing in a new wave rock and roll band. Exciting though this life was, she eventually decided she was ready for a "real" job, and ended up at Stanford Law School.

For the next twenty years Leslie worked as the research and appellate attorney for Santa Cruz's largest civil law firm. During this time, she discovered a passion for food and cooking, and so once more returned to school--this time to earn a degree in Culinary Arts.

Now retired from the law, Leslie spends her time cooking, singing alto in the local community chorus, gardening, cycling, and of course writing. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix, Ziggy, split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai'i.

Review: OUT OF THE ICE, Ann Turner

• source: e-ARC from publisher through NetGalley
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia (June 1, 2016)
• Publication Date: June 1, 2016
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B01C36E2XO

Synopsis (NetGalley)

By the bestselling author of The Lost Swimmer, a tense, eerie thriller set in the icy reaches of Antarctica

When environmental scientist Laura Alvarado is sent to a remote Antarctic island to report on an abandoned whaling station, she begins to uncover more than she could ever imagine.

Despite new life thriving in the icy wilderness, the whaling station is brimming with awful reminders of its bloody, violent past, and Laura is disturbed by evidence of recent human interference. Rules have been broken, and the protected wildlife is behaving strangely.

On a diving expedition, Laura is separated from her colleague. She emerges into an ice cave where, through the blue shadows, she is shocked to see an anguished figure, crying for help.

But in this freezing, lonely landscape there are ghosts everywhere, and Laura begins to sense that her own eyes cannot be trusted. Is her mind playing tricks? Has she been in the ice too long?

Back at base, Laura’s questions about the whaling station go unanswered, blocked by unhelpful scientists, unused to questions from an outsider. And Laura just can’t shake what happened in the ice cave.

Piecing together a past and present of cruelty and vulnerability that can be traced all around the globe, from Norway, to Nantucket, Europe and Antarctica, Laura will stop at nothing to unearth the truth. As she sees the dark side of endeavour and human nature, she also discovers a legacy of love, hope and the meaning of family. If only Laura can find her way...

My Take

Australians have a long connection with Antarctica and a mystery novel set there is very attractive.

Highly reputed marine biologist Laura Alvarado is an expert on the Environmental Impact of humans on Antarctic wildlife particularly on penguins, whales and dolphins.  She is in Antarctica currently on an unusually long 18 month contract.

She is requested is to go to the old Norwegian whaling station at Fredelighavn, currently the subject of an Exclusion Order, to assess whether it should be opened for tourism. The station has been closed since 1957 and reports are that many of the formerly endangered species, whales and penguins etc., are flourishing. Laura is to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment. There is a British base nearby called Alliance on South Georgia Island. She will be given assistance at Alliance and will travel to Fredelighavn on a daily basis.

Laura is surprised at the level of non-cooperation she meets among the scientists at Alliance but puts it down to the top secret nature of their research.

I thought the parts of the plot set at Alliance and Fredlighavn were very well done with good character development and a rising level of suspense. The story of the Norwegian whalers who set up the village at Fredelighavn was interesting. I was less than comfortable when the plot took an extravagant direction and tracked paedophilia across the globe.

Having said that, I think the plot would make a stunning film, thought-provoking on many levels.

My Rating: 3.8

I've also read  4.4, THE LOST SWIMMER

About the author (publisher)

Ann Turner is an award-winning screenwriter and director, avid reader, and history lover. She is drawn to salt-sprayed coasts, luminous landscapes, and the people who inhabit them all over the world. She is a passionate gardener. Her films include the historical feature Celia starring Rebecca Smart—which Time Out listed as one of the fifty greatest directorial debuts of all time, Hammers Over The Anvil starring Russell Crowe and Charlotte Rampling, and the psychological thriller Irresistible starring Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill, and Emily Blunt. Ann has lectured in film at the Victorian College of the Arts. Returning to her first love, the written word, in her debut novel The Lost Swimmer Ann explores themes of love, trust and the dark side of relationships.

Review: A RISING MAN, Abir Mukherjee

•  source: ARC provided by Random House UK through NetGalley
• Publication date 5 May 2016
• The winner of the Harvill Secker/Daily Telegraph crime writing competition 2014 

Synopsis (Random House Australia)

Calcutta, 1919. Captain Sam Wyndham, a former Scotland Yard detective new to India, is confronted with a highly charged case: a senior British official has been found murdered, in his mouth a note warning the British to quit India, or else...

Captain Sam Wyndham, former Scotland Yard detective, is a new arrival to Calcutta. Desperately seeking a fresh start after his experiences during the Great War, Wyndham has been recruited to head up a new post in the police force. But with barely a moment to acclimatise to his new life or to deal with the ghosts which still haunt him, Wyndham is caught up in a murder investigation that will take him into the dark underbelly of the British Raj.

A senior official has been murdered, and a note left in his mouth warns the British to quit India: or else. With rising political dissent and the stability of the Raj under threat, Wyndham and his two new colleagues – arrogant Inspector Digby and British-educated, but Indian-born Sergeant Banerjee, one of the few Indians to be recruited into the new CID – embark on an investigation that will take them from the luxurious parlours of wealthy British traders to the seedy opium dens of the city.

The start of an atmospheric and enticing new historical crime series.

My Take

Captain Sam Wyndham finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation almost immediately upon his arrival in Calcutta. He finds himself at odds with the security force directed by the Lieutenant Governor. The dead official is part of the L-G's team, and Wyndham feels that they want to sweep everything under the carpet rather than investigate properly.

Tensions run high in the British Raj in 1919. White people receive preferred treatment while the Indian native population are treat as inferiors, despite their qualifications. So the novel provides interesting insights into colonialism. During the novel the Amritsar Massacre takes place and tensions are very much heightened.

One of the tasks Wyndham has been charged with is to root out corruption in the Calcutta Police Force and so he is not even sure who he can trust. A Mail train is held up but nothing is taken although a railway employee is battered to death. So what were they looking for? Were the attackers insurgents?

A complex plot, well handled, with enough historical details to provide authenticity. Wyndham and his sergeant Surrender-not Banajee make an interesting sleuthing duo.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Abir Mukherjee was born in London, but grew up in the West of Scotland. Married, with two small children, he now lives in London and has spent the last twenty years working in finance. A Rising Man is his first novel and the first in a new series starring Captain Sam Wyndham and ‘Surrender-Not' Banerjee.

Review: DARKEST PLACE, Jaye Ford

• source: Random House Australia via NetGalley
• Available for Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 1122 KB
• Print Length: 346 pages
• Publisher: RHA eBooks Adult (February 1, 2016)
• Publication Date: January 27, 2016
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B017J5899W

Synopsis (NetGalley)

An adrenaline-pumping suspense novel from the author of BEYOND FEAR. What if a stranger is watching you sleep - and no one believes you?

Carly Townsend is starting over after a decade of tragedy and pain. In a new town and a new apartment she's determined to leave the memories and failures of her past behind.

However that dream is shattered in the dead of night when she is woken by the shadow of a man next to her bed, silently watching her. And it happens week after week.Yet there is no way an intruder could have entered the apartment. It's on the fourth floor, the doors are locked and there is no evidence that anyone has been inside.

With the police doubting her story, and her psychologist suggesting it's all just a dream, Carly is on her own. And being alone isn't so appealing when you're scared to go to sleep .

My Take:

Australian author Jaye Ford certainly knows how to write a good thriller.

Carly Townsend moves across the country to Newcastle, NSW, to start a new life. For the last decade she has been living with the fact that she killed her three best friends. Her new apartment is on the 4th floor of a renovated warehouse. All modern. But the first thing she learns is that there is a sad story about the girl who used to own her apartment.

Carly herself is pretty fragile, the result of two failed marriages, three miscarriages, and the death of her three friends.  She thinks she has lost the outgoing personailty she once had, and wonders if she can find it again.

She begins a business course at a local TAFE and is lucky to be befriended by twenty year old with big ideas. Carly hasn't slept well for years but then she is woken in the early morning by a hooded man. She reports the home invasion to the police but by the third time they have had enough of her wasting their time.

Jaye Ford ceratinly knows which of our "fear" buttons to press.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.4, BEYOND FEAR
4.5, SCARED YET?
4.5, BLOOD SECRET
4.7, ALREADY DEAD

Review: LONDON'S GLORY, Christopher Fowler

Subtitle: THE LOST CASES OF BRYANT & MAY & THE PECULIAR CRIMES UNIT

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• to be published March 29, 2016
• source: made available as an ARC through NetGalley by Random House Publishing Group - Alibi
• ISBN 9781101968871

Synopsis (NetGalley)

Arthur Bryant and John May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit are London's craftiest and bravest detectives—and there's no better pair to solve the city's most confounding crimes. In this riveting eBook collection of mystery short stories, available together for the first time, Christopher Fowler takes Bryant and May on a series of twisting adventures and brings readers behind the scenes of his beloved novels.

Includes a preview of Christopher Fowler's new Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery, Bryant & May and the Burning Man!

In “Bryant & May in the Field,” a woman is found with her throat slashed in a snowy park, yet the killer managed to escape without leaving any footprints. In “Bryant & May and the Nameless Woman,” a businessman drowns in the pool of a posh club, and the only suspect is a young woman who remains almost too calm during questioning. And in “Bryant & May Ahoy!” the pair go on holiday on a friend's yacht in Turkey, but Bryant realizes there's something fishy about their fellow passengers. From London's grandest mansions to its darkest corners, from the Christmas department of Selfridges to a sinister traveling sideshow, there's no scene too strange for the Peculiar Crimes Unit and the indefatigable detectives at its helm. 

My take

Followers of the Bryant & May series will enjoy not only these rather quirky short stories but also Christopher Fowler's introduction in which he talks about why crime fiction remains popular. In the UK crime fiction accounts for more than a third of all fiction published. He comments though that many books were "interchangeable" and lacking in originality. He discusses what he considers were the good points of Golden Age crime fiction. He gives insights into the creation of the Bryant & May series and the projects he set himself in the writing of each novel. At the end of the book we are treated to a synopsis of each of the series' titles, including the backstory that led to its creation.

The central focus of this book is 11 very individual, sometimes quirky, short stories drawn from the whole span of the sleuths' careers. Each story is preceded by a summary of why the story was written or what Fowler was trying to do. Some of the stories are very good but some challenge the bounds of credibility.

In all though, a "must have" book which gives a lot of interesting back ground material for followers of this series.

My rating:  4.4

I've also read

THE VICTORIA VANISHES
4.6, TEN-SECOND STAIRCASE
4.5, BRYANT & MAY AND THE INVISIBLE CODE
4.7, FULL DARK HOUSE
4.8, THE WHITE CORRIDOR
4.7, THE BURNING MAN - #12
4.8, BRYANT & MAY: THE BLEEDING HEART- #11

Review: WHAT SHE NEVER TOLD ME, Kate McQuaile

• source: Review copy from Hachette Australia at NetGalley
• first published in Great Britain in 2016, publication date March 8, 2016
• pre-order available from Amazon

Synopsis (Publisher)

What do you do when you find out that your whole life could be a lie?

I talked to my mother the night she died, losing myself in memories of when we were happiest together. But I held one memory back, and it surfaces now, unbidden. I see a green postbox and a small hand stretching up to its oblong mouth. I am never sure whether that hand is mine. But if not mine, whose?

Louise Redmond left Ireland for London before she was twenty. Now, more than two decades later, her heart already breaking from a failing marriage, she is summoned home. Her mother is on her deathbed, and it is Louise's last chance to learn the whereabouts of a father she never knew.

Stubborn to the end, Marjorie refuses to fill in the piecesof her daughter's fragmented past. Then Louise unexpectedly finds a lead. A man called David Prescott . . . but is he really the father she's been trying to find? And who is the mysterious little girl who appears so often in her dreams? As each new piece of the puzzle leads to another question, Louise begins to suspect that the memories she most treasures could be a delicate web of lies.

My Take

I know the year is only a month old, and I've only read 15 books so far, but this really is the best I've read so far, and it will be hard to beat. You know what happens when a book grabs you, and you seize every opportunity to read a few more pages?

Written in the first person, this novel gets you in right from the first word. There are little puzzles for the reader to solve as we try to fill in the story of Louise's life. At her mother's funeral she meets an uncle whom she can't remember ever meeting before. He has some photographs he would like to give her and she promises to visit him. But the solicitor who holds the will can't answer the most desperate question Louise has: how to find her father. She knows his name but nothing else.

A great read, with lots of twists and turns, believable characters and scenarios.

My rating: 4.9

About the author
Kate McQuaile is a graduate of the Faber novel-writing course. She lives in London and works as a journalist, but is originally from Drogheda in Ireland.

Review: MURDER ON THE HOUR, Elizabeth J. Duncan

• source: review e-book from NetGalley
• to be published April 2016 by Minotaur Books, 304 pages
• #7 in the Penny Brannigan Mystery series
• available for pre-order from Amazon.

Synopsis (NetGalley)

The residents of Llanelen are brimming with excitement. Antiques Cymru, a regional take on the popular national TV show, is coming to the Welsh town and people are flocking from miles around, hoping their attic treasures turn out to be worth a fortune. On the day of filming, quiet local sheep farmer Haydn Williams brings a generations-old long-case clock for evaluation, while the woman he's always admired from afar, Catrin Bellis, turns up with a cherished handmade quilt. Will either hear surprising good news about the value of their family heirlooms? By the end of the day, Catrin turns up dead, her quilt missing.

Who could have wanted this shy, quiet woman - who had been overshadowed by her parents for her whole life - dead? Delving into Catrin's past, spa owner and amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan is surprised to discover that Catrin had at least one enemy. And as Penny's romantic life heats up with a new love interest, she realizes that a mysterious document hidden in Haydn's clock could hold the key to a long-forgotten secret and a present-day murder.

Murder on the Hour is a light-hearted traditional mystery featuring a charming heroine set in an enchanting Welsh town

My take

All of the novels in this series are set in the small fictional Welsh town of Llanelin and feature Penny Brannigan, part owner of a local beauty salon known as The Spa, her friend and partner Victoria, and D.I. Gareth Davies.

In MURDER ON THE HOUR, Gareth Davies has recently retired and Penny isn't seeing so much of him. The main action centres around the coming of popular national tv show, Antiques Cymru, to the town. People search for an object or two they can present for evaluation and maybe a chance to be featured on television.

The novel has all the elements of an entertaining cozy, and works quite well as a stand-alone, although I undoubtedly would have been better off had I read any of the earlier novels. Nothing happens in this small town without most of the residents being aware of it, and yet a murder takes place, and there are few clues why.

My rating: 4.3

About this author
Elizabeth J. Duncan has worked as a writer and editor for some of Canada's largest newspapers, including the Ottawa Citizen and Hamilton Spectator. She lives with her dog, Dolly, in Toronto where she teaches in the public relations program at Humber College. She enjoys spending time each year in North Wales and is the first Canadian writer to win the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition. The Cold Light of Mourning, her first novel, is also the winner of the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant and was shortlisted for an Agatha and an Arthur Ellis Award.

Penny Brannigan Mystery (Fantastic Fiction list)
1. The Cold Light of Mourning (2009)
2. A Brush with Death (2010)
3. A Killer's Christmas in Wales (2011)
4. A Small Hill to Die On (2012)
5. Never Laugh As a Hearse Goes By (2013)
6. Slated for Death (2015)
7. Murder on the Hour (2016)

Review: KING OF THE ROAD, Nigel Bartlett

• ARC from NetGalley
• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 1130 KB
• Print Length: 317 pages
• Publisher: Random House Australia (February 2, 2015)
• Publication Date: January 28, 2015
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00NG754UK

Synopsis (Net Galley)

When David's 11-year-old nephew goes missing and he finds the finger pointed at him, he has no choice but to strike out on his own - an unlikely vigilante running away from the police and his own family, and running towards what he hopes desperately is the truth about Andrew's disappearance.

David Kingsgrove is a man on a mission. An ordinary man - and an extraordinary mission. It is a mission that will turn him into someone he never thought he would be: the king of the road, the loner on the highway, the crusader for a sort of justice he has never before had to seek.

Andrew had been a regular visitor to David's home right up until the day he disappeared, walking out the front door to visit a neighbour. It doesn't take long for the police to decide that David - a single man in his thirties, living alone - is their suspect. Soon Andrew's parents will share that opinion. But David knows that he didn't take Andrew.

Realising that the only way Andrew will be found is if he finds him - the police, after all, are fixated on David as their suspect and are not looking anywhere else - David turns to the one person who he knows will help him: Matty an ex-cop now his personal trainer, whose own son disappeared several years before.

David's crusade to find Andrew will also take him into his own dark heart - to do things he never thought he would have to do, and go places he has never wanted to go. And the choices David makes lead us all to ask: How far would I go to save someone I love?

This is a compelling story that is almost impossible to stop reading - a hero's journey, of sorts, with a momentum that is breathtaking even while the subject matter is confronting.

My take

This an ARC that I received from Net Galley early in 2015 and so I'm feeling a bit guilty that I didn't tackle it before.

In many cases the police work on the premise that the perpetrator of the crime is often a member of the family. In the case of the disappearance of his nephew Andrew, David Kingsgrove is a very likely suspect, and this seems to mean that their resources don't focus on others. David knows that he himself is innocent and so he starts looking for clues about what Andrew did when nobody was looking. He discovers that Andrew has a FaceBook account. At the same time he discovers thousands of child pornography pictures on his own computer. When the police take his computer, he knows it will be no time at all before they find them too. So he hits the road to find Andrew himself, and triggers a man-hunt by the police who believe that he has just confirmed his guilt.

A thought provoking novel, drawing together plot-lines relating to paedophilia and social media. Set in Sydney.

My rating 4.4

About the author

Nigel Bartlett is a freelance writer and editor who has worked for many of the best-known publications in Australia.

He's a former deputy editor of GQ Australia and Inside Out magazines and has been a regular contributor to Belle and Sunday, the colour supplement for the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Herald Sun. In addition, he's freelanced for numerous other titles, ranging from Who to Sunday Life and Harper's Bazaar, as well as a number of high-profile websites.

In 2012 he completed a research masters in creative writing at the University of Technology, Sydney. He lives in the inner-city suburb of Redfern.

Review: RUNNING AGAINST THE TIDE, Amanda Ortlepp

• ARC provided by publisher, Simon & Schuster, Australia through NetGalley
• publication date March 2016
• ISBN 9781925030631

Synopsis (NetGalley)

Erin Travers is running away from her life and taking her two sons with her to a small town on the ruggedly beautiful Eyre Peninsula. The close-knit township is full of happy childhood memories for Erin, but the past never stays the same and she is bringing a whole lot of baggage with her.

When the peaceful community is disrupted by arson and theft, everyone has different ideas about who is responsible. In a small town where lives are tangled too closely together, old grudges flare, fingers are pointed and secrets are unmasked.

Brimming with malice and threat, Running Against the Tide is about long-held prejudices and fractured relationships, and cements Amanda Ortlepp as one of Australia's most compelling storytellers.

My Take

I'm in heaven. Another crime fiction title set in authentically in South Australia.
For most of this story you might think this book is on the very outer edge of the crime fiction genre, but its place is firmly established by the end.

Erin Travers takes her two sons away from Sydney and her abusive gambling addict husband to the fictitious town on Mallee Bay on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.  Her older son needs to find a job and teenaged Ryan will go to school. Ryan in particular finds the move away from his father hard and turns in on himself.

They move into a rented dilapidated weather board house next door to elderly oyster fisherman Jono and his wife Helen. Their friendship makes life bearable for Erin and through Helen she enters a painting in the local art competition, and Jono gives Mick some part time work on the oyster farm.

Then someone plants some iceberg roses in Erin's back yard and things take a slightly sinister turn. Oysters go missing from the oyster farm and Ryan has a tough time settling in at school.

Another very readable story, and South Australian readers will love the setting.

My rating: 4.4

About the author.
RUNNING AGAINST THE TIDE is Amanada Ortlepp's second novel.
Amanda Ortlepp is a marketing and communications professional who lives in Sydney. She was signed by Simon & Schuster Australia in a two-book deal. She lives in the Inner West of Sydney. Her first novel was CLAIMING NOAH.

Review: ALL THAT IS LOST BETWEEN US, Sarah Foster

• an ARC from NetGalley to be published Feb 1 2016
• ISBN 9781925184785
• published by Simon & Schuster Australia

Synopsis (Publisher)

Seventeen-year-old Georgia has a secret – one that is isolating her from everyone she loves. She is desperate to tell her best friend, but Sophia is ignoring her, and she doesn’t know why. And before she can find out, Sophia is left fighting for her life after a hit and run, with Georgia a traumatised witness.

As a school psychologist, Georgia’s mother Anya should be used to dealing with scared adolescents. However, it’s very different when the girl who needs help is your own child. Meanwhile, Georgia’s father is wracked with a guilt he can’t share; and when Zac, Georgia’s younger brother, stumbles on an unlikely truth, the family relationships really begin to unravel.

Georgia’s secret is about to go viral. And yet, it will be the stranger heading for the family home who will leave her running through the countryside into terrible danger. Can the Turner family rise above the lies they have told to betray or protect one another, in order to fight for what matters most of all?

Set against the stark, rugged beauty of England’s Lake District, All That is Lost Between Us is a timeless thriller with a modern twist.

My Take

While crimes are committed in this novel, not the least the hit and run that puts Georgia's cousin Sophia into  hospital in a coma, crime really isn't the central point of this novel. It is more about the gaps that grows between members of a family: between husband and wife, mother and daughter, when life is too busy, when you just don't talk.

Georgia finds someone who loves running just as much as she does, but she keeps her new relationship hidden from her family and friends, and then her world falls apart when she realises who he is. She has got herself into a situation she doesn't know how to get out of.

A very readable novel, with considerable appeal to young women, who will empathise with Georgia's situation.

My rating:  4.3

About the author

Sara Foster is the critically acclaimed author of three bestselling psychological suspense novels. Come Back to Me was published in Australia in 2010 and reached the Sydney Morning Herald top ten Australian bestsellers list. Her second book, Beneath the Shadows, reached No. 4 on the Australian Sunday Telegraph bestsellers list, and rights were sold in the USA and Germany. Shallow Breath, Sara’s latest release, featured in the Australian Women’s Weekly, was chosen as Book of the Week in the Sydney Morning Herald, and was longlisted for a Davitt Award. Sara lives in Perth, Western Australia, with her husband and two young daughters. In addition to her novels, she has written for travel website HolidayGoddess.com, and was one of the contributors to their Handbag Guide on New York, Paris, London, and Rome. She has published independent short fiction alongside Hugh Howey in From the Indie Side, and contributed to the Dear Mum charity anthology published by Random House Australia. She is also very proud to have been one of the original editors of the bestselling Kids’ Night In series, which has been raising money for the charity War Child since 2003. 

Review: FATAL CATCH, Pauline Rowson

• format: Kindle (ARC from Net Galley)
  
• Series: A DI Andy Horton Mystery (Book 12)
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers; First World Publication edition (January 1, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727884972
• ISBN-13: 978-0727884978

Synopsis ( Net Galley)

Trust no one. Believe nothing . . .

DI Andy Horton is called out to examine a gruesome catch by two fishermen: a human hand. Is it that of missing violent criminal, Alfie Wright – or is he the killer? And where is the rest of the corpse?

Soon Horton finds himself immersed in a complex case where everyone has a reason to lie and no one is who they seem. Assailed by doubts both in his personal and professional life, Horton desperately tries to keep his emotional feelings under control and his focus on his work. His instincts tell him to trust no one and believe nothing; he’s not sure, though, whether this time he’ll succeed . . .

My take

Andy Horton is still very much pre-occupied with what happened to his mother Jennifer when she disappeared twenty years earlier. This theme alone would make it difficult to read these novels as stand alones although considerable detail is repeated from one novel to the next. Andy is gradually piecing his mother's story together and now he is contacted by a woman who says she is conducting university research into missing persons who choose not to resurface. Jennifer Horton is one of the people she is interested in.

Each novel is based around a current case, this time a severed hand which some fishermen haul in. The hand is identified from its fingerprints, and then Andy's team is told to back off - the man is purported to be a police informant, but Andy thinks this is most unlikely and out of character.

Meanwhile one of the fishermen who found the hand goes missing and then turns up dead.

This is #12 in the Andy Horton series and I would like Andy to hurry up and solve the mystery about his mother. While I have been enjoying the ride, and there is no doubt that each novel is well written, I am ready for something else to occupy Andy's attention. Surely the end of this plot line is in sight?

My rating:

I've also reviewed
DEADLY WATERS
THE SUFFOCATING SEA
4.4, DEAD MAN'S WHARF
4.3, A KILLING COAST
4.6, DEATH LIES BENEATH
4.5, DEATH SURGE
4.6, SHROUD OF EVIL

Review: BRYANT & MAY: THE BLEEDING HEART, Christopher Fowler

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• ARC from NetGalley
• #11 in the Bryant & May series
• File Size: 1305 KB
• Print Length: 401 pages
• Publisher: Transworld Digital (March 27, 2014)
• Publication Date: March 27, 2014
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00H51SZO0

Synopsis (Amazon)

It’s a fresh start for the Met's oddest investigation team, the Peculiar Crimes Unit.

Their first case involves two teenagers who see a dead man rising from his grave in a London park. And if that's not alarming enough, one of them is killed in a hit and run accident. Stranger still, in the moments between when he was last seen alive and found dead on the pavement, someone has changed his shirt...
Much to his frustration, Arthur Bryant is not allowed to investigate. Instead, he has been tasked with finding out how someone could have stolen the ravens from the Tower of London. All seven birds have vanished from one of the most secure fortresses in the city. And, as the legend has it, when the ravens leave, the nation falls…

Soon it seems death is all around and Bryant and May must confront a group of latter-day bodysnatchers, explore an eerie funeral parlour and unearth the gruesome legend of Bleeding Heart Yard. More graves are desecrated, further deaths occur, and the symbol of the Bleeding Heart seems to turn up everywhere - it’s even discovered hidden in the PCU’s offices. And when Bryant is blindfolded and taken to the headquarters of a secret society, he realises that this case is more complex than even he had imagined, and that everyone is hiding something. The Grim Reaper walks abroad and seems to be stalking him, playing on his fears of premature burial.

Rich in strange characters and steeped in London’s true history, this is Bryant & May’s most peculiar and disturbing case of all.

My Take

Once again Christopher Fowler delivers! Littered with quirky facts about London, this was again a delightful read. As always the PCU is under threat, this time mainly because their methods don't conform with those of 'modern' policing.

The novel was a "back number" for me, #11 in the series. The crimes are peculiar: a corpse apparently rising from its coffin despite being buried two days earlier, a young man of promise is killed in a hit and run, and someone has stolen the ravens from the  Tower of London.

Excellent characterization and fascinating threads to the story. 

My rating: 4.8

I've also reviewed
THE VICTORIA VANISHES
4.6, TEN-SECOND STAIRCASE
4.5, BRYANT & MAY AND THE INVISIBLE CODE
4.7, FULL DARK HOUSE
4.8, THE WHITE CORRIDOR
4.7, THE BURNING MAN - #12 

review: EDEN, Candice Fox

• format: ARC from NetGalley
• available from Amazon
• File Size: 738 KB
• Print Length: 320 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (August 25, 2015)
• Publication Date: August 25, 2015
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00QDYYJT0

Synopsis (NetGalley)

The breath-taking new thriller from the author of HADES, winner of the Ned Kelly award for Best Debut Crime Novel.

 "I fool myself that Eden has a heart - that she would at least have trouble killing me..."

Most police duos run on trust, loyalty, and the desire to see killers in court. But Detective Frank Bennett's partner, the enigmatic Eden Archer, has nothing to offer him but darkness and danger. She doesn't mind catching killers - but it's not the courthouse where her justice is served. And now Eden is about to head undercover to find three missing girls. The only link between the victims is a remote farm where the desperate go to hide and blood falls more often than rain.

For Frank, the priority is to keep his partner monitored 24/7 while she's there - but is it for Eden's protection, or to protect their suspects from her? Across the city at the Utulla Tip, someone is watching Hades Archer, a man whose criminal reputation is the stuff of legend. Unmasking the stalker for him might be just what Frank needs to stay out of trouble while Eden's away. But it's going to take a trip into Hades's past to discover the answers - and what Frank uncovers may well put everyone in danger . . .

My Take

If HADES was noir, EDEN is even more so. A little too much for my taste. Frank Bennett and Eden Archer are searching for three missing girls, and Eden goes underground in the community where at least one of the girls was past seen. The work is dangerous and Frank and his team must track Eden with a number of hidden cameras that she takes with her.

The other strand of the story tracks Hades' past. A stalker has Hades under surveillance and he asks Frank to work out what the stalker wants. Much of Hades' life history is revealed even though quite a bit of this must remain hidden from Frank.

This is a novel that keeps you reading, even if only to see the story resolve. But for me it was all just a bit gruesome.

My rating 4.3

I've also reviewed
5.0, HADES

Review: THE SECRET CHORD, Geraldine Brooks

• Not due for publication until October 6, 2015
• source: e-ARC via publisher (Hatchette) at NetGalley

Synopsis (Net Galley)

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, YEAR OF WONDERS and MARCH comes a unique and vivid novel that retells the story of King David's extraordinary rise to power and fall from grace.

1000 BC. The Second Iron Age. The time of King David.

Anointed as the chosen one when just a young shepherd boy, David will rise to be king, grasping the throne and establishing his empire. But his journey is a tumultuous one and the consequences of his choices will resound for generations. In a life that arcs from obscurity to fame, he is by turns hero and traitor, glamorous young tyrant and beloved king, murderous despot and remorseful, diminished patriarch. His wives love and fear him, his sons will betray him. It falls to Natan, the courtier and prophet who both counsels and castigates David, to tell the truth about the path he must take.

With stunning originality, acclaimed author Geraldine Brooks offers us a compelling portrait of a morally complex hero from this strange age - part legend, part history. Full of drama and richly drawn detail, THE SECRET CHORD is a vivid story of faith, family, desire and power that brings David magnificently alive.

My Take

Note - this book is not crime fiction, although without doubt crimes are committed.
Reading it is part of my quest to widen what I read: to go beyond crime fiction.
I have already read the Pulitzer Prize winning PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by the same author.

When I was a child I had a jigsaw puzzle that showed a young, handsome David slaying Goliath of Gath with his slingshot. That image of David, son of Jesse of Bethlehem, ancestor of Jesus Christ and the reason why he was born in Bethlehem, has stayed with me for well over 60 years. But the picture of David in THE SECRET CHORD is a long way from the sanitised image of my jigsaw puzzle.

The description and account of David in THE SECRET CHORD is seen through the eyes of Natan, David's courtier who at times has prophesied events in David's life, and been at his side for decades.  David has commissioned Natan to interview his mother and other family members to learn about the early events of David's life. The king will decide how much of what Natan writes down will be revealed. Natan is well aware that he is treading a dangerous line: the king is volatile and could well turn against him, and his family are not going to be willing to reveal deep secrets willingly.

Eventually we learn David's life history, taking us right through to the declaration of his heir. According to the author "David is the first man in literature whose story is told in detail from early childhood to extreme old age." I was staggered at how violent his life was, how much time was spent in waging war, and how his family almost self-combusted.

A fascinating read.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Australian-born Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who grew up in Sydney's western suburbs. In 1982 she won a scholarship to the journalism master's program at Columbia University in New York. Later she worked for the WALL STREET JOURNAL, where she covered crises in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. In 2006 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for her novel MARCH. Her novels CALEB'S CROSSING and PEOPLE OF THE BOOK were both NEW YORK TIMES bestsellers, and YEAR OF WONDERS and PEOPLE OF THE BOOK are international bestsellers, translated into more than 25 languages. She is also the author of the acclaimed non-fiction works NINE PARTS OF DESIRE and FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. In 2011 she presented Australia's prestigious Boyer Lectures, later published as THE IDEA OF HOME.
Geraldine Brooks lives in Massachusetts with her husband, author Tony Horwitz, and their two sons.