Free Ebook: The Third Pig Detective Agency

Bob Burke's The Third Pig Detective Agency is a short, humorous crime novel which should appeal to all ages and is currently free on UK Kindle and Kobo.

My review is here.

New Reviews: Bolton, Cotterill, Delaney, Keating, Nesser, Staincliffe, Sutton, Toyne, Vowler

Nine new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today. We say goodbye to Sarah Hilary as a reviewer today but look forward to her debut novel Someone Else's Skin which is released in 2014. Thank you for all your contributions Sarah. Her final review, below, is of Tom Vowler's What Lies Within:

Michelle Peckham reviews Like This, For Ever by S J Bolton in which Lacey Flint and co are in pursuit of a serial killer of ten-year-old boys;



Lynn Harvey reviews The Woman Who Wouldn't Die by Colin Cotterill, the ninth outing for the elderly Laos Coroner Dr Siri;


Terry Halligan reviews Luke Delaney's debut, Cold Killing which introduces DI Sean Corrigan;


I recently reviewed the audio book of Into the Valley of Death by H R F Keating writing as Evelyn Hervey;



JF reviews Hakan Nesser's The Weeping Girl, tr. Laurie Thompson which focuses on Ewa Moreno a former colleague of the retired Van Veteeren;


Susan White reviews Blink of an Eye by Cath Staincliffe, an author who "never fails to impress";

Rich Westwood reviews Henry Sutton's My Criminal World;



Amanda Gillies reviews Simon Toyne's The Tower, the final and best part of the Sanctus trilogy

and Sarah Hilary reviews Tom Vowler's debut crime fiction novel What Lies Within.




Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

OT: It's Caturday (x2)

It's been a while, so here are recent photos of two of the cats: Mr Fox and Miss Toffs:

New titles from Little, Brown (July - December 13)

The catalogues for July to December 2013 are rolling in so I will be doing individual posts per publisher, starting off with Little, Brown (and their imprints). Here are the titles relevant to Euro Crime (or are translated):

Little, Brown

July

The Dark Heart of Florence by Michele Giuttari (#6 Michele Ferrara, Squadra Mobile, Florence)

August

Flesh Wounds by Chris Brookmyre (#3 Jasmine Sharp, PI, Glasgow)

October

Cross and Burn by Val McDermid (#8 Dr Tony Hill, Psychologist and DCI Carol Jordan, Yorkshire)

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith (#14 Mma Ramotswe, PI, Botswana)

November

The Discourtesy of Death by William Brodrick (#5 Father Anselm)

Abacus

July

Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino (pb)

Sphere

July

Blue Blood by Sara Blaedel

August

Watching You by Michael Robotham (#7 Joseph O'Loughlin, Psychologist & Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz)

September

The Doll's House by Tania Carver (#5 Detective Inspector Phil Brennan)

November

Casting the First Stone by Frances Fyfield (#2 Di)

The Preacher by Sander Jakobsen

December

The Loch Ness Legacy by Boyd Morrison

Trapdoor

July

The Devil's Sanctuary by Mari Hermanson (pb)

Piatkus

September

Inspector Singh Investigates: A Calamitous Chinese Killing by Shamini Flint (#6 Inspector Singh)

Where the Devil Can't Go - Competition Winners

The two lucky winners of a signed copy of Anya Lipska's Where the Devil Can't Go from last month's competition on Euro Crime are:

Alaina Gibson

Sarah Macey

Free Ebook: The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris

Gordon Ferris's The Hanging Shed is still free for UK Kindle.

Read the Euro Crime review here.

Gordon Ferris's bilbilography on Euro Crime (with more reviews) is here.

Publishing News: Brian McGilloway

Brian McGilloway's DS Lucy Black is to return in two further books as announced in The Bookseller last week:

Constable & Robinson has acquired two new novels from crime writer Brian McGilloway, with the author moving from Pan Macmillan, where he was published by Macmillan New Writing, for the new titles.

Publisher James Gurbutt bought two novels featuring series character DS Lucy Black.

The first novel will be the sequel to Little Girl Lost, which sold more than 180,000 in its e-book edition.

Read two reviews of Little Girl Lost - by Maxine and by Lynn.

The UK Kindle version of Little Girl Lost is currently 59p and the Kobo epub is 98p.

Free Short Story Collection (ebook)

The following collection of short stories is available for free at amazon.co.uk (kindle) and Kobo (epub) and contains stories by Parker Bilal, Conor Fitzgerald, Thomas Mogford, James Runcie and Anne Zouroudi


From Obsession and Payback to Secrets and Lies, Deception and Bad Judgement, these thrilling tales will shock and surprise you with their cunning. Short Sentence was launched in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing, in association with the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. Following a short story written by one of Bloomsbury’s brilliant crime authors, competitors were challenged to take up the same theme and write of a dastardly deed using 1000 words or less. This is Bloomsbury’s collection of the winning entries in parallel with the five brilliant authors, Parker Bilal, Conor Fitzgerald, Anne Zouroudi, Thomas Mogford and James Runcie.

Read Death's Dark Abyss Online for Free

Europa Editions are serialising Massimo Carlotto's Death's Dark Abyss on their Tumblr site. The prologue and chapter one are up, check back weekly for the next chapters.

Read the Euro Crime review of Death's Dark Abyss.

"Over the next few months, Europa Editions will be giving you a preview of one of the best noir writers in the world, Massimo Carlotto. Starting today, you can read Carlotto’s Death’s Dark Abyss absolutely free right here!

Death’s Dark Abyss tells the story of two men and the savage crime that binds them. During a robbery, Raffello Beggiato take a young woman and her child hostage and later murders them. Beggiato is arrested, tried and sentence to life in prison. The victims’ father and husband, Silvano, plungers into an ever-deepening abyss until the day, years later, when the murderer seeks his pardon and Silvano turns predator as he ruthlessly plots his revenge.

Twice a week, we’ll post chapters from the book, leading up to the launch of the new Europa World Noir series on May 7th!"

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Review: Into the Valley of Death by H R F Keating (as Evelyn Hervey) (audio book)

Into the Valley of Death by H R F Keating writing as Evelyn Hervey read by Sheila Mitchell, AudioGO, December 2012, 6 CDs

INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH is the third and final book featuring governess Harriet Unwin written by H R F Keating as “Evelyn Hervey”.

Set in the latter part of the nineteenth century, Miss Unwin is called to Chipping Compton by Vilkins an old friend from their orphanage days. Vilkins is working as a maid but is currently helping out at the pub as the landlord is due to be hanged in a few days time for murder unless Miss Unwin can use her detective skills and find the true killer.

Jack Steadman, the landlord, was found unconscious in the woods next to the dead body of Alfie Goode. He is an ex-soldier and well-respected and yet the evidence is pointing to him. Miss Unwin, assisted by Mr Heavitree, a retired Scotland Yard inspector, must dig around and go undercover to save the poor man's life. Will she make it in time?

Miss Unwin is a resourceful, brave investigator who doesn't yield to threats and puts the doubting men in their places. She has managed to elevate herself in society from a humble start and is sometimes reluctant to go back down but she does it, as well as some other unladylike behaviour, in her quest to save Jack Steadman.

INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH is an enjoyable historical crime novel, splendidly narrated by Sheila Mitchell, which tells an interesting story in a mere six cds. The first two books, THE GOVERNESS and THE MAN OF GOLD are also available on audio book.

I found the references to the Crimean War fascinating – not a period I did at school - several of the characters were involved in the Crimean War and took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade and the local area is named 'The Valley of Death' as featured Tennyson's famous poem.

TV News: US Version of Those Who Kill

US television network A & E are making their own version of the now cancelled Danish series Those Who Kill. It will star Chloe Sevigny and James D'Arcy and will comprise ten one-hour episodes and will be shown in 2014. From the press release, courtesy of Media Market Journal:

A&E Network has taken into custody its newest original scripted drama series “Those Who Kill.” The announcement was made today by Bob DeBitetto, President and General Manager of A&E Network and BIO Channel.  Ten one-hour episodes of the thrilling crime series starring Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress Chloë Sevigny (“Portlandia,” “Big Love”) and James D’Arcy (“Hitchcock,” “Cloud Atlas”) have been ordered from Imagine Television and Fox21.  Production is currently slated to begin this fall and the series will premiere on A&E in 2014.

“Those Who Kill” is based on a popular Danish crime series format inspired by the bestselling work of author Elsebeth Egholm.  The series centers on Catherine Jensen (Chloë Sevigny), a freshly minted and incredibly smart police detective who tracks down serial killers.  Jensen is also attempting to come to terms with her past by continuing to investigate her stepfather, who she suspects may be a serial killer, and her brother who went Missing as a sixteen-year-old. Jensen enlists the help of Thomas Schaffer (James D’Arcy), a forensic psychiatrist, to help her get into the minds of serial killers, all the while luring Schaffer into her own personal investigation. Both characters possess a deep psychological understanding that connects them to the killers’ victims and to the killers themselves.

“’Those Who Kill’ is not a crime procedural about serial killers – it’s a deep serialized character portrait of two compelling yet damaged individuals coming together through the revelation of their dark past,” said DeBitetto.  “We are thrilled to have such an incredible cast and crew signed on to this project and the result should be an absolutely riveting series.”

TV News: Death in Paradise Cast Change

I've been a huge fan of BBC1's Death in Paradise which will be back for a third series in 2014. A significant change to the cast will occur part way through. From the BBC's Press Office:

It has been announced that Kris Marshall (Lightfields, My Family) is to join the cast of BBC One's hit crime drama Death In Paradise as the latest lead detective, in the new series.

Series three will also see the departure of DI Richard Poole, played by Ben Miller. However, details of how and when Miller will depart remain tightly under wraps.

Joining series regulars Sara Martins, Danny John-Jules, Gary Carr and Don Warrington when filming starts on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe from next month, Marshall will play a bright, but rather disorganised and gawky DI, Humphrey Goodman, who is stuck in a mid-life rut and is looking to find a new life and fresh start.

Kris Marshall said: "I am thrilled to be joining Death In Paradise and finding out a bit more about what makes Humphrey tick. Six months filming on a tropical island with an amazing cast and glorious sunshine? What isn't there to love! I might even get myself a parrot!"

Following two hugely successful series, Miller leaves the show on a high, with an average of almost eight million viewers tuning in to each episode of the second series.

Ben Miller said: "I have absolutely loved my time on Death In Paradise and am sad to be leaving such a successful show, however DI Poole has made no secret of his struggle with the Caribbean heat, so I felt now was a good time to put him out of his misery! I know Kris will do a superb job and I'm delighted to be handing over the detective baton to him."

Publishing News: More Arne Dahl books in translation

I've just received this press release regarding the purchase of two more books by Arne Dahl, which follows hot on the BBC4 showing of the first part of the tv version of The Blinded Man:

Harvill Secker buy two more books in the Swedish series set to become the new The Killing for the bbc

Alison Hennessey, Senior Crime Editor at Harvill Secker, has bought the next two books in Arne Dahl’s award winning crime series, adaptations of which the BBC will be broadcasting in the same Saturday night slot that turned The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge into household names. Hennessey bought UK & Commonwealth (ex. Canada) rights from Tor Jonasson at the Salomonsson Agency.

Alison Hennessey, Senior Editor at Harvill Secker says: ‘We knew when we acquired the first two books in Arne Dahl’s crime series that he would go on to become one of the leading lights of our crime fiction list, and I’m delighted to have signed up the next two installments in this gripping, intelligent series. Arne’s books are perfect for fans of Henning Mankell and upmarket, international crime so we couldn’t be more delighted that the BBC will be screening the Swedish tv series.’

To the Top of the Mountain, the book that won Arne the prestigious German Crime Prize, sees Detective Paul Hjelm and his team coming back together after the traumatic events at the end of Bad Blood to investigate a series of crimes – a man killed in a random attack in a restaurant, another blown up in high security prison, rumours of a forthcoming terrorist attack. In Europa Blues, winner of the Best International Thriller at the Dutch Book Awards, the team try and establish links between the execution of a man at Stockholm zoo, the abduction of 8 Eastern European women from a refugee centre and the horrifying murder of a professor at the Jewish cemetery in a case that will extend across Europe and back through time.

Arne Dahl is an award-winning Swedish crime novelist and literary critic whose books have been translated into over twenty languages. He will be attending Cuirt, Bloody Scotland and Edinburgh International Book festivals this year. The first book in the series, The Blinded Man, was published straight into Vintage paperback in July 2012 with Bad Blood coming from Harvill Secker this July.

New Reviews: Beaton, Bond, Davis, Grieves, Hayder, Morris, Royal, Vichi, Wheelaghan

Nine new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:

I review an earlier entry in the Hamish Macbeth series by M C Beaton, Death of a Valentine;


Allison & Busby are reprinting the Monsieur Pamplemousse series by Michael Bond, and Lynn Harvey reviews Monsieur Pamplemousse Afloat;


Lindsey Davis has begun a new series, Falco: The New Generation starring Flavia, the adopted daughter of Falco who makes her debut investigation in The Ides of April, reviewed here by Sarah Ward;


Amanda Gillies reviews Sleepwalkers by Tom Grieves which she loved: "if [] you love books that draw you in and freak you out, this one is for you!";


Sarah Hilary reviews Poppet by Mo Hayder, the sixth in the Jack Caffery series, writing that it's even better than Skin and Ritual;


Terry Halligan reviews the second in the DI Silas Quinn series The Mannequin House by R N Morris saying that it's an "excellent historical mystery book with a very intelligent and historically accurate plot";

Laura Root reviews Priscilla Royal's Wine of Violence the first in the Eleanor,  Prioress series, set in the thirteenth century, which gets its UK release almost ten years after its US one;


Michelle Peckham reviews Death in Sardinia by Marco Vichi tr. Stephen Sartarelli, the third in the Inspector Bordelli series, which she called "a real pleasure to read"

and fans of the BBC series Death in Paradise might want to check out Marianne Wheelaghan's Food of Ghosts the first in the DS Louisa Townsend series, set on the Pacific Island of Tarawa, reviewed here by Susan White.





Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

TV News: More Shetland

The BBC announced yesterday that they have commissioned 3 more two-parters based on Ann Cleeves's Shetland series:

The crime drama Shetland is to return to television screens for three more two-part stories on BBC One.

Based on the novels of Ann Cleeves, the series features detective Jimmy Perez, played by Douglas Henshall.

The first series, aired earlier this year, attracted about 6m viewers for each episode.

Filming will begin in the coming months in Shetland and other locations on mainland Scotland.

According to Shetland News, the books next to be televised (Red Bones was the first tv show) are Raven Black, Blue Lightning and the recently published, Dead Water.

Review: Death of a Valentine by M C Beaton

Death of a Valentine by M C Beaton, January 2011, Robinson Publishing, ISBN: 1849015090

I've inexplicably got behind with my M C Beaton series, so when the latest Hamish Macbeth book, DEATH OF YESTERDAY, came for review I thought I'd better catch-up. Gone are the days it seems when a Hamish book came in at 160 pages if you were lucky, for DEATH OF A VALENTINE is nearly 300, not that I'm complaining as I love my time in Lochdubh.

The book opens with a shocking prologue – Hamish is standing at the aisle waiting for his bride to be to arrive. After twenty-five books is Hamish about to settle down? Flash back one year and we come in at the start of the events that lead Hamish ready to marry his fellow police-officer, Josie.

Hamish has been promoted again to sergeant which means that he needs a constable and Josie McSween, secretly besotted with Hamish, has got the job and thinks she'll be sharing Hamish's cosy police house in the sea-loch village of Lochdubh. Hamish acts swiftly and gets her alternative accommodation but that doesn't stop Josie from pursuing him, though Hamish remains blissfully unaware.

Hamish and Josie finally have a murder to solve when a local beauty queen is killed by a deadly Valentine's card. It seems that the young woman was not the quiet and retiring girl everyone thought and soon a list of suspects forms. Running alongside the investigation are Josie increasingly desperate attempts to get Hamish to notice her. The usual former girlfriends of Hamish make an appearance – Priscilla (briefly) and Elspeth - fuelling Josie's jealousy.

Though this is a cosy series, set in a fantasy Scotland which you wouldn't confuse with reality, DEATH OF A VALENTINE is quite a dark entry, it includes date-rape drugs and alcoholism as well as the usual infidelity and corruption. The tension comes more from whether Josie will get her man than solving the murder. Indeed the Josie subplot is quite a large part of the book which may explain its (relative) length. Overall, this is a solid entry in this long-running but timeless series, in which no-one gets any older, but it may not be the best place to start.