Reviews: Bolton, Carter & Ripley, Ferris, Holt, James, Jones, McKinty, Vargas, Woodhouse

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, three have appeared on the blog over the last couple of weeks and six are completely new.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Amanda Gillies reviews the paperback release of Sharon Bolton's Like This, For Ever, the third in the Lacey Flint series;

Albert Campion returns in Mr Campion's Farewell, based on Philip Youngman Carter's unfinished manuscript and completed by Mike Ripley, reviewed here by Terry Halligan;

Terry also reviews Gordon Ferris's Gallowglass, the newest and final book in the Douglas Brodie series;

Amanda also reviews the first part in the Carnivia trilogy - The Abomination - by Jonathan Holt, set in Venice and now available in paperback;

Rich Westwood reviews Almost Love the second in the DCI Yates series by Christina James, set in the Lincolnshire Fens;

Geoff Jones reviews Carys Jones's Prime Deception, a political thriller (ebook only);

Mark Bailey reviews In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty, the third in the Sean Duffy series;

Lynn Harvey reviews Freg Vargas's Dog Will Have His Day, tr. Sian Reynolds, the second in the "Three Evangelists" series

and Michelle Peckham reviews After the Silence the first part in Jake Woodhouse's Amsterdam Quartet.


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.

Review: After the Silence by Jake Woodhouse

After the Silence by Jake Woodhouse, April 2014, 464 pages, Penguin, ISBN: 1405914289

Reviewed by Michelle Peckham.
(Read more of Michelle's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Set in Amsterdam, at the start of this novel, Inspector Jaap Rykel's collegue Andreas is shot and killed. They’d both been working on closing down a gang called 'the Black Tulips', made up of men from a variety of ex-Soviet states who seemed to have taken over the ports, and are controlling the import and export of illegal substances. Jaap is trying to recover after shooting and killing someone, and taking a year of sick-leave, leaving his colleagues slightly wary of him. Jaap is sent to investigate the murder of Friedman, who is found hanging out of a window. Friedman has a connection to the Black Tulips, and may have decided to co-operate with Andreas, but now it's too late. But then Jaap is told about Andreas's death, and has to leave the investigation into Friedman's death to Kees, a coke-snorting, insecure detective.

Meanwhile, Tanya van der Mark has been called out to a fire, near Zeedijk, some way outside of Amsterdam, in which two adults had died. She spots a small doll left outside the house, and starts to wonder what happened to the child that must have been in the house with the adults. The fire is suspicious, clearly started deliberately. Using her initiative she asks the local garage for their CCTV tapes, to find out if there were any cars that passed that night, and discovers a car, passing at around the right time. But the driver is wearing a mask and there is a zip where they mouth should have been, a link to the Black Tulips. And then, thrown into the mix is the discovery that Friedman was involved with a charity for abused children.

A complex plot, where Jaap has to investigate his friend and colleague's death, and keep a clear head while he discovers facts he’d rather not know about his friend. He uses the I Ching to help set up his mood for the day, a coping mechanism since the shooting that led to his time off. Each morning, he throws the coins and reads the hexagram that gives him sage advice. Tanya is an inventive and intelligent detective that is grudgingly given some free rein to investigate the whereabouts of the missing child, by her superior Bloem, allowing her to go to Amsterdam after she discovers the links between Andreas's investigation and her own. Kees has his own demons, a failing relationship with his wife and an addiction to cocaine that is starting to affect his work and relationships with others. And then there is the background of Amsterdam and the Black Tulip gang. AFTER THE SILENCE is an intriguing read that keeps the momentum going and has an unexpected twist or two that keeps the reader hooked.

Michelle Peckham, April 2014

Maria Lang's books to be available as ebooks

BBC Four have bought the Swedish crime series Crimes of Passion, based on Maria Lang's books. No schedule date for it yet but (not too coincidentally I imagine) the three books that have been translated into English, back in the '60s are being made available as ebooks.

No More Murders is released today, to be followed by A Wreath for the Bride in May and Death Awaits Thee in June, all published by Mulholland Books.

Jealousy and cruelty lurk under the pleasant surface of the small town of Skoga in this classic murder mystery from Sweden's answer to Agatha Christie.

If you are in the US, the DVD of Crimes of Passion is available eg. from MHZ.

Based on the classic crime novels by Maria Lang and featuring Ola Rapace from Skyfall and the Swedish series, Wallander, Crimes of Passion is a collection of stylish whodunnits set in postwar Sweden. The stories follow the exploits of the brainy and beautiful literature student Puck; wherever she goes, mystery and murder are never far behind. Together with fellow academic Eje and police chief Christer, they witness the passions, betrayals and intrigue in the lives of respectable and seemingly quiet-living Swedes. Crimes of Passion was filmed in the beautiful region of Bergslagen in south central Sweden. It’s far north, but there’s nothing chilly about these folks, given their secret lives and steamy affairs.
 

Watch a trailer for the episode Death of a Loved One here.

Award News: Petrona Award Eligibles 2015

Here is a list* of books (44) that can be submitted for the 2015 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year ie:

• The submission must be in translation and published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar year ie 1 January – 31 December 2014.
• The author of the submission must either be born in Scandinavia* or the submission must be set in Scandinavia*.

(E-books that meet the above criteria may be considered at the judges’ discretion (does not include self-published titles))
*in this instance taken to be Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

More details about the award and the history behind it can be found on the Petrona Award website. The winner of the 2014 Award will be announced at CrimeFest.

Links are to reviews by the Euro Crime team; gender, country and publisher details are also included.

Publishers please note: an entry form can be downloaded here or requested from admin@petronaaward.co.uk.

*This list will be updated as and when additional titles are identified.

Published in 2014

January

Jorgen Brekke - Where Evil Lies (apa Where Monsters Dwell) tr. Steven T Murray (M, Norway) Pan
Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg - The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules tr. Rod Bradbury (F, Sweden) PanMacmillan
Hans Koppel - You're Mine Now tr. Kari Dickson (M, Sweden)  Little Brown (Sphere)
Asa Larsson - The Second Deadly Sin tr. Laurie Thompson (F, Sweden) MacLehose Press
Helene Tursten - The Fire Dance tr. Laura A Wideburg (F, Sweden) Soho Press

February

Jussi Adler-Olsen - Guilt (US: The Purity of Vengeance) tr. Martin Aitken (M, Denmark) Penguin
Thomas Enger - Scarred tr. Charlotte Barslund (M, Norway) Faber
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The Silence of the Sea tr. Victoria Cribb (F, Iceland) Hodder & Stoughton

March

Cilla & Rolf Borjlind - Spring Tide tr. Rod Bradbury (M&F, Sweden) Hesperus Press
Martin Jensen - Oathbreaker tr. Tara Chace (M, Denmark) Amazoncrossing

April

Carin Gerhardsen - Cinderella Girl tr. Paul Norlen  (F, Sweden) Penguin
Mons Kallentoft - The Fifth Season tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Hodder
Camilla Lackberg - Buried Angels tr Tiina Nunnally (F, Sweden) HarperCollins
Jo Nesbo - The Son tr. Charlotte Barslund (M, Norway) Harvill Secker
Olivier Truc - Forty Days Without Shadow tr. Louise Lalaurie (M, France) Trapdoor

May

Kjell Eriksson - Black Lies, Red Blood tr. Paul Norlen (M, Sweden) Allison & Busby
Jorn Lier Horst - The Hunting Dogs tr. Anne Bruce (M, Norway) Sandstone

June

Arne Dahl - To the Top of the Mountain tr. Alice Menzies (M, Sweden) Harvill Secker
Karin Fossum - The Murder of Harriet Krohn tr. James Anderson (F, Norway) Harvill Secker
Hans Olav Lahlum - The Human Flies tr. Kari Dickson (M, Norway) Mantle

July

Kati Hiekkapelto - The Hummingbird tr. David Hackston (F, Finland) Arcadia
Sander Jakobsen - The Preacher tr. Sander Jakobsen (M&F, Denmark) Little Brown (Sphere)
Hakan Nesser - The G File tr.  Laurie Thompson (M, Sweden) Mantle
Andreas Norman - Into a Raging Blaze tr. Ian Giles (M, Sweden) Quercus
Dan T Sehlberg - Mona tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (M, Sweden) Scribe Publications
Joakim Zander - The Swimmer tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (M, Sweden) Head of Zeus

August

Jussi Adler-Olsen -  Alphabet House tr. Steve Schein (M, Denmark) Hesperus Press
Lars Kepler - The Sandman tr. Neil Smith (M&F, Sweden) Blue Door
Fredrik T Olsson - Chain of Events tr. Dominic Hinde (M, Sweden) Little Brown
Tore Renberg - See You Tomorrow tr. Sean Kinsella (M, Norway) Arcadia Books

September

Jussi Adler-Olsen -  Buried (US: The Marco Effect) tr. Martin Aitken (M, Denmark) Penguin moved to February 2015
Arnaldur Indridason - Reykjavik Nights tr. Victoria Cribb (M, Iceland) Harvill Secker
Henning Mankell - An Event in Autumn tr. Laurie Thompson (M, Sweden) Harvill Secker
Kristina Ohlsson - Hostage tr. Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden) Simon & Schuster
Arild Stavrum -  Exposed at the Back (M, Norway) Freight Books
Erik Axl Sund - The Crow Girl tr. Neil Smith (M&M, Sweden) Harvill Secker moved to May 2015

October

Sara Blaedel - Only One Life tr. Erik J Macki & Tara F Chace (F, Denmark) Little Brown (Sphere)
Pekka Hiltunen -  Black Noise tr. Owen Witesman (M, Finland) Hesperus Press
Steffen Jacobsen - Trophy tr. Charlotte Barslund (M, Denmark) Quercus
Tom Johansen - Blood on Snow tr. Neil Smith (M, Norway) Harvill Secker moved to April 2015
Liza Marklund - Borderline tr. Neil Smith (F, Sweden) Corgi
Leif GW Persson - Falling Freely As If in a Dream (apa Free Falling, as If in a Dream) tr. Paul Norlen (M, Sweden) Doubleday
Stefan Spjut - Stallo tr. Susan Beard (M, Sweden) Faber & Faber moved to June 2015

November

Elsebeth Egholm - Dead Souls tr. Don Bartlett & Charlotte Barslund (F, Denmark) Headline
Sissel-Jo Gazan - The Arc of the Swallow tr. Charlotte Barslund (F, Denmark) Quercus
Anne Holt - The Lion's Mouth tr. Anne Bruce (F, Norway) Atlantic

December

Carin Gerhardsen - The Last Lullaby tr. tbc (F, Sweden) Penguin moved to June 2015
Leena Lehtolainen - Snow Woman tr. Owen Witesman (F, Finland) Amazoncrossing
Leena Lehtolainen - The Bodyguard tr. Jenni Salmi (F, Finland) Amazoncrossing

Review: Like This, For Ever by Sharon Bolton

Like This, For Ever by Sharon Bolton, November 2013, 512 pages, Corgi, ISBN: 0552166375

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Barney has a secret. He thinks he knows who the murderer is but is too scared to tell. He sees things differently does Barney and while it is useful for finding things he sometimes loses track of time. He doesn't like that. He also misses his mum.

Dead boys are being found beside the Thames, tied up and drained of their blood. Whoever is doing this is speeding up and the pressure is on for DI Dana Tulloch to find the killer as soon as possible. The public is scared and no one is safe outside after dark, although Barney and his friends still do venture out, and end up terrified as a result. Lacey Flint is still on sick leave and determined to resign from the police force once and for all. Except her neighbour, Barney, asks her for help finding his mum and, once drawn in, she can't help but get involved, even when she herself becomes a suspect in the current killings.

This fabulous book is so well written it will draw you in and transport you to another place. You walk down the street with Barney, see what he sees, sit in his room with him and desperately will him to find his mum so that he can be at peace. I had no idea at all who the killer was and the reveal at the end was a fantastic surprise that, then, all made sense. The storyline chapters are interspersed with shorter ones that are the (unknown) killer talking to a psychiatrist at a later date. The tale they tells about why they like blood and what it was like to kill for it, is gruesomely disturbing and written such that you end up suspecting everyone over the course of the book. Everyone except the actual killer, that is!

I love books by Sharon Bolton. She has a real way with words that fills me with dread and keeps me totally focused. This is the third in a series featuring Lacey Flint and I am looking forward to finding out what she does next.

Highly Recommended.

[Read another review of LIKE THIS, FOR EVER.]

Amanda Gillies, April 2014.

TV News: Hinterland on BBC Four

Over a year ago it was announced that Welsh crime series Hinterland would be shown on BBC Four and now there's a start date.

Hinterland has been on in its Welsh language version on S4C and also on BBC Wales in the English language version (though the scheduling was very erratic) and now it has a regular slot on BBC Four, beginning 28 April at 9pm.

Episode 1 (1hr 34m):

On his very first day in his new job in Aberystwyth, DCI Tom Mathias is called out to investigate a suspicious disappearance. In a quiet seaside bungalow he discovers a bathroom covered in blood but no sign of the owner. His investigation into the disappearance of 64-year-old Helen Jenkins leads him to the cascading waters of an ancient ravine at Devil's Bridge, and uncovers the cruel history of a long-closed children's home.

TV News: 35 Diwrnod/35 Days

I've only just heard about 35 Diwrnod/35 Days (via The Independent) which is a Welsh crime series being shown on S4C. If you're outside of Wales then you can pick up S4C via Freesat and Sky but not on Freeview.

35 Diwrnod/35 Days is in eight parts and the first four can be watched online at Clic. Episode 1 will expire in 9 days so be quick. English subtitles are available.

The next episode is on S4C tomorrow at 9pm and is repeated on Tuesday at 10pm.

Finding a dead body on a living room floor marks the shocking start to this ground breaking drama series. And the challenge to the viewers during the eight weeks of viewing? To guess who from the Close is responsible for Jan's death. The first episode commences 35 days before the discovery of the body - before Jan moves onto the Close. Week by week we count down the days to Jan's demise and untimely death. On the surface a happy and content community, but their false morals, manicured and precise lawns and borders hiding frailties and sins. So how does one explain the body of the young woman lying on the floor in one of the houses at the beginning and end of our story?

Review: Dog Will Have His Day by Fred Vargas tr. Siân Reynolds

Dog Will Have His Day by Fred Vargas translated by Siân Reynolds, April 2014, 256 pages, Harvill Secker, ISBN: 1846558190

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Paquelin leaned over the object more closely. The little thing was gnawed, corroded, pierced with dozens of pinpricks, and slightly brown in colour. He'd seen bones before, but no, this fellow must be having him on.

Paris, 1995
Marthe, who must be about 70 now, is sitting in the café doing a crossword when Louis Kehlweiler comes in. She interrogates Louis at the top of her voice as usual: what’s he doing here – what's he working on – where's the girlfriend? Louis, one-time investigator for the Ministry of Justice tells her, not unkindly, to keep her voice down and, after a drink together, sees her home. He is on his way to one of his many observation posts – “Bench 102”. Here he keeps an eye on the nephew of a far-right politician. And although it is pouring with rain, Kehlweiler knows how to look like a tramp on a bench under a tree. He pulls a disgusted face. Some dog has done his business at the foot of the tree. That's happened since Kehlweiler was last at here at lunch-time.
Next morning, back at the bench, one of his helpers – Vincent – is already in place. Louis asks if Vincent minds if he puts Bufo on the bench; Bufo is Louis' confidante and companion, a pet toad. Vincent has no objection. But he tells Louis that Marthe is homeless, evicted by a landlord keen to redevelop. It was typical of Marthe's pride not to have let on when Louis delivered her to her front door last night. Louis is distracted by a tiny white object under the tree, where the dog had left its calling card. A bone. A human bone. A toe bone in fact.
The Paris police are not interested in the bone. Kehlweiler feels he has no option but to do what he does, which is to investigate. Using his small army of “co-investigators” and street-contacts he keeps watch on the routine evening dog-walkers. He even calls for help from medieval historian Marc Vandoosler, already employed in maintaining the archive of cuttings necessary for Kehlweiler's investigations. When Vandoosler finds no reports of Paris deaths that would tally with the toe bone, Kehlweiler asks him to broaden the search to recent deaths outside Paris. One – an elderly woman who fell and died whilst collecting winkles from rocks in Brittany – tallies with the ownership of a certain dog and draws Kehlweiler and Bufo to the far west.

An unashamed Vargas fan, I've been looking forward to DOG SHALL HAVE HIS DAY. This is not a new Vargas book in fact, but a translation by Vargas's long-time prize-winning translator into English, Siân Reynolds, of the second Three Evangelists book which was published in France in 1996. As such, it re-introduces us to the young archaeologist/historian trio of THE THREE EVANGELISTS and in particular, to the medievalist Marc Vandoosler, clad in black and still searching for chivalric love. But it is the obsessive investigator Louis Kehlweiler, mysterious as to his own past, family and nationality, who is central to this story of a bone, a toe, a corpse and a dog.

If you know the work of four-times CWA International Dagger Award winner, Fred Vargas, you know to expect a crime story of mystery and suspense filled with rich characters and regionality. And although these characters are rich to the point of eccentricity, they still convince. DOG WILL HAVE HIS DAY does not disappoint. An earlier book, it is more of a straightforward "whodunnit" than some of the Adamsberg books. But the Vargas eye and ear for individual character, voice and conversation is all here. She has said in an interview: "I like to use these people from villages. Theirs are the voices that never move and never change." Her innate knowledge of community and character which she depicts with humanity is what make her books a joy. They are deeply “French” – in the tradition of the films of Renoir and Truffaut: life is here, complete with both humour and tragedy, but not painted so dark as to make traumatic reading. DOG WILL HAVE HIS DAY is a well-told intriguing mystery: a story about people's lives, desires and intrigues. So, although there is no Inspector Adamsberg, this is Vargas through and through. Read and savour.

Lynn Harvey, April 2014.

New Reviews: Enger, Fowler, Kavanagh, Learner, Lipska, Macbain, Sutton, Tuomainen, Walker

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, three have appeared on the blog over the last couple of weeks and six are completely new.

In another of my occasional feature posts, I recently put together a list of vegetarian detectives and sidekicks.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Laura Root reviews Thomas Enger's Scarred tr. Charlotte Barslund, the third in the Henning Juul series set in Oslo;

Mark Bailey reviews the latest in the Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler: Bryant & May and The Bleeding Heart;



Michelle Peckham reviews Emma Kavanagh's debut, Falling;

Terry Halligan reviews T S Learner's third thriller, The Stolen;

Geoff Jones reviews Anya Lipska's Death Can't Take a Joke the follow-up to the well-received, Where the Devil Can't Go;

Susan White reviews The Bull Slayer, the second in Bruce Macbain's Pliny series;

Terry also reviews Lawless and the Devil of Euston Square by William Sutton, set in Victorian London;

Lynn Harvey reviews Antti Tuomainen's The Healer tr. Lola Rogers which is now out in paperback

and Amanda Gillies reviews Martin Walker's The Resistance Man the latest in the Bruno, Chief of Police, series set in rural France.


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.

Sherlock Holmes News x2

Following the success of The House of Silk, Anthony Horowitz has penned another authorised Sherlock Holmes-world story - Moriarty - which is published by Orion in October:

Sherlock Holmes is dead.

Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind who has risen to take his place.

Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard, a devoted student of Holmes's methods of investigation and deduction, Frederick Chase must forge a path through the darkest corners of the capital to shine light on this shadowy figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, a man determined to engulf London in a tide of murder and menace.

From this recent article in The Guardian:

The publisher said that Moriarty would be "very different in nature to Horowitz's previous bestseller; but fans will be delighted to see a few surprise guests from the Conan Doyle's canon making appearances in the new book".

Horowitz himself revealed on Twitter that "Sherlock Holmes does not appear (until the very end)", that "a vicious murder is investigated by Inspector Athelney Jones (from The Sign of Four)" and that "nearly all the policemen Holmes ever worked with, including Lestrade, appear in my new book".

And I've just received this press release about a Sherlock Holmes event on 23 April in London:

To celebrate World Book Night on 23 April, Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes London will host a fun filled Holmes themed event, taking guests back to 1895 with Victorian food and drink and offering a reward for those donning the most impressive Victorian costume.

Together with specialist Sherlock Holmes publisher, MX Publishing, Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes London will welcome guests to enjoy an evening celebrating all things Sherlock, with all ticket proceeds going to the National Literacy Trust, helping to raise literacy among the UK's most disadvantaged communities.

Special guests will include bestselling author, Dan Andriacco, via satellite from Cincinnati. Dan has published six Sherlock Holmes novels, including ‘No Police Like Holmes’ and will be launching the second novel in his collaboration series with equally renowned Holmes writer, Kieran McMullen, The Poisoned Penman, on 15^th May.

As well as a live Q&A with Dan, activities will include the screening of the award winning first episodes of a Sherlock Holmes web series and a Sherlock Holmes themed quiz, with prizes for the winning team.

The event will take place between 6.30pm and 9.30pm in Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes London’s Watson’s Lounge and guests purchasing tickets will also benefit from discounted drinks throughout the evening, an exclusive offer for overnight stays at the hotel, and an exclusive lifetime discount on purchases from the newly launched Watson's Lounge bookshop; a dedicated online Sherlock Holmes themed bookstore.

Tickets cost £5 per person and include:

• Sherlock Holmes themed cocktail and canapés
• Live author Q&A
• Prizes for the best Victorian Dress
• Entry to the Sherlock Holmes Quiz
• Screening of the first episodes of a Sherlock Holmes Web Series
• £5 donation to  the National Literacy Trust
• 20% discount on drinks at the bar throughout the evening
• 20% off best available rate for a future overnight stays at Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes Hotel (subject to availability)
• Lifetime discount on purchases from the Watson’s Lounge Bookshop

To book your place: http://bit.ly/1mOTI3h

Vegetarian Detectives & Sidekicks

Late last year I happened to read two very enjoyable crime novels in which the lead characters were vegetarian. I put a call out to Sharon at Crime Review UK/Two Fat Vegetarians as to whether she could think of any more vegetarian detectives and she circulated the request more widely. However we pretty much drew a blank. So here are the handful that we've discovered and I would love to know of more, and of course any corrections. I'm including the US in this list to make it a bit longer!

The two I read which prompted this post are:

1. The Mangle Street Murders (2013) by M R C Kasasian which introduces Sidney Grice and his ward March Middleton. Sidney Grice is a vegan. I loved this book and my full review is here.

2. Paws for Murder (2014) by Annie Knox which is also the first in a new series. The main character, Izzy, and her best friend Rena, are both vegetarians. I reviewed it here.



UK Vegetarian Sleuths

Cath Staincliffe's's Manchester PI Sal Kilkenny is vegetarian at least in the early books. I believe she may have changed in the newer ones. The first book in the series is Looking for Trouble (1994).

DS Annie Cabbot first appeared in In a Dry Season (1999), the tenth in the Inspector Banks series by Peter Robinson. I believe Annie wobbles a bit on the path of true vegetarianism but is pretty close.



Added May 2018:

Roz Watkins's lead character DI Meg Dalton is vegetarian. The series which is set in Derbyshire's Peak District began with The Devil's Dice (2018).









US Vegetarian Sleuths

In the currently fifteen-book series which began with The Monkey's Raincoat (1987), it's Robert Crais's Joe Pike, sidekick to Elvis Cole, and sometimes centre-stage protagonist who is vegetarian.


Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar has a vegetarian one-man killing machine sidekick called Win. The first book in the series is Deal Breaker (1995).




Judy Fitzwater's six-book (soon to be seven) series features aspiring crime novelist and vegetarian Jennifer Marsh. The first book, Dying to Get Published (1995), is currently free as an ebook.

Jaqueline Girdner wrote a twelve-book series about Californian vegetarian Kate Jasper which began with, Adjusted to Death (1990).

Jaqueline Girdner also wrote a four-book series as Claire Daniels about a holistic healer. The first book is Body of Intuition (2002). I am assuming these also feature a vegetarian sleuth.



Added May 2018:

Bones to Pick by Linda Lovely introduces Vegan chef Brie Hooker. There are currently two books in the series.









Update 21/5/15

Golden Age writer, Victor L Whitechurch wrote a number of short stories featuring Thorpe Hazell - "vegetarian, detective and expert in all aspects of the railway" and at least some of these have made available on Kindle by Black Heath Editions. See comments section for more information.

Review: Bryant & May and The Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler

Bryant & May and The Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler, March 2014, 384 pages, Doubleday, ISBN: 0857522035

Reviewed by Mark Bailey.
(Read more of Mark's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

BRYANT & MAY AND THE BLEEDING HEART is the eleventh book about Arthur Bryant, John May and their Peculiar Crimes Unit.

BRYANT & MAY AND THE BLEEDING HEART begins with the Peculiar Crimes Unit having moved from being part of the Metropolitan Police to being part of the City of London Police which brings a new issue for them with a new very sharp and business oriented manager overseeing them. Their first case in their new jurisdiction involves two teenagers who witness a dead man rising from his grave at night in a London park. While the others investigate this, Arthur Bryant is seeking to find out how someone could have stolen all seven ravens from the Tower of London - as legend has it, when the ravens leave, the nation falls.

I think that this is a good place for a new reader to start engaging in the weird and wonderful world of the Peculiar Crimes Unit as there is a good amount of background information, much of it in the first few pages in the form of a memo from the Peculiar Crimes Unit chief, so that you can see what has gone before.

The dark humour that one expects of a Bryant & May novel is there with perhaps more of a tinge of reality than usual and overall this is yet another strong Bryant & May novel with the expected, very intricate plot with lots of twists, turns and misdirections – remember everything is magic.

Personally I thought this was the best one yet and am waiting for the next one - THE BURNING MAN.

Mark Bailey, April 2014

Finally on Inspector De Luca: Via delle Oche

The fourth and final episode of Inspector De Luca is based on the third book in Carlo Lucarelli's De Luca trilogy, Via delle Oche, and is being shown on 12 April at 9pm on BBC Four:

April 1948, and demoted to the role of deputy inspector and assigned to the vice squad, De Luca returns to Bologna. As the first elections of the newly-formed Italian Republic are about to take place, a man is found hanged in a brothel. Although the authorities are quick to pronounce the incident death by suicide, De Luca suspects foul play. His dogged determination provokes a stand-off with his superiors, and the investigation takes a further turn for the personal when the inspector runs into the madam of a brothel located in Via Delle Oche.

Review: The Resistance Man by Martin Walker

The Resistance Man by Martin Walker, March 2014, 352 pages, Quercus, ISBN: 1780870744

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Bruno, chef de police in St Denis, in rural France, is back for another wonderful instalment and, as with his earlier outings, continues to tantalise us with his amazing culinary skills as he searches for the responsible criminal(s). This is the sixth book to feature our French hero, his animals and women friends. Bruno is quite a character and, despite having no shortage of female company, he is still searching for that special someone to share his life and home with. He longs to be surrounded by a family but none of his girlfriends seem to be the settling-down type. In the meantime, he can always cook for his friends – and he frequently does, using fresh ingredients from his garden in a way that teases the reader and leaves you feeling somewhat peckish!

This novel begins with the (natural) death of an elderly man who worked with the resistance during WWII. Bruno arrives to pay his respects and is surprised to discover several old banknotes clutched in the dead man's hands. Closer inspection suggests that the notes may have come from an infamous train robbery that took place during the war and it seems likely that the old man could have been involved with this. While planning the funeral arrangements for this war hero, Bruno has to investigate a series of burglaries that have taken place locally while residents have been away. All of the stolen material is expensive art and Bruno is keen is find the perpetrators, especially as there is also a murder to solve and the two may be linked. As Bruno digs deeper into the crimes, he finds himself digging into his memory regarding a nasty homophobic incident that left him shocked more than ten years previously. He is both surprised and relieved that solving the current happenings might give him closure for that unpleasant cold case as well.

Martin Walker, the author of this successful series is an award-winning journalist and lives in Washington DC. He summers in the Dordogne area, where the series is set, and his familiarity with the region is only too apparent in the deliciously rich descriptions he provides of the locals and their surroundings.

Bruno is a cheery, likeable character, as indeed are his many friends and neighbours. He has a winning way with the ladies and I am hopeful that his friendship with one lady in particular is set to blossom in the future!

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, April 2014.

Trailer: The Club at Eddy's Bar by Zoltan Boszormenyi

The Club at Eddy's Bar by Zoltan Boszormenyi is published on 30 April by Phaeton Publishing Limited. It's written in English rather than translated. Zoltan Boszormenyi will join two other authors on the Euro Crime Hungarian Authors page.

"The Club at Eddy's Bar" by Zoltán Böszörményi with Hungarian Rhapsody, Ferenc Martyn drawing.



Here's the press release about the book and the author:

In the last years of the Cold War, the club at Eddy's Bar is a meeting place for the elite of an Eastern European city, especially those with more adventurous sexual tastes, which includes the apparently happily married mayor, several prominent lawyers and a hermaphrodite city administrator. When a young barber, who frequented the club and was involved with several of its members, is found brutally murdered and mutilated at the Hotel Odéon, many people have reason to be afraid.

A young journalist discovers the truth and is forced to leave his family and flee to Canada as a refugee, where he struggles to start a new life. He keeps the notebook in which he wrote his account of the crime, hoping to publish it if his family are ever allowed to join him. However, he finds that the people he meets in the new country are concealing as many dark secrets and lies as those in the old.

The Club at Eddy's Bar is both a gripping mystery and an intricate and involving tale of power, hypocrisy and betrayal.

Zoltán Böszörményi was born in the Hungarian community of Arad in Transylvania. While still a student, he published two books of Hungarian-language poetry. The second of these resulted in his arrest and interrogation by Romanian security officers. He fled across two borders and spent seven months in a refugee camp in Austria. He was admitted to Canada, where he learned English and graduated from York University in Toronto. After the opening up of Eastern Europe in the 90s, he returned and set up a successful lighting company in Romania. Now retired from manufacturing, he is Editor-in-Chief of a Hungarian-language daily journal and a monthly journal based in Arad. He has residences in Canada, Arad, and Monaco. In 2009 he received the Gundel Arts Award for the Hungarian version of The Club at Eddy's Bar, and in 2012 he received the József Attila Award for Hungarian literature. He is the author of two previous bestselling novels published in Hungary. He is married and has two daughters.

TV News: Serangoon Road on Sony TV

Serangoon Road, a ten-part noir crime drama is to air on Sony TV, beginning at 9pm on Wednesday 9 April. From the Sony TV website:

Set in 1960s Singapore, Serangoon Road is a thrilling, fast-paced melting pot of political and colonial tension, criminal gangs and roving CIA agents.

Exotic and tumultuous Singapore is a city at a crossroads. Political and racial tensions are at fever pitch as a new nation is about to be born. The Malayan Emergency is over, but British and Australian troops are still in the middle of an intense four year jungle war in neighbouring Borneo; and during this time, terrorists will set off more than 29 bombs in Singapore itself.

The drama picks up when the Cheng Detective Agency is hired by the CIA to investigate the murder of a US sailor. The agency enlists the services of enigmatic Australian Sam Callaghan to help investgate. But it soon becomes clear that his investigation could have major international implications.

Serangood Road features an international cast which includes, amongst others, Don Hany, Joan Chen, Alaric Tay, Michael Dorman, Pamelyn Chee and Chin Han.