I've just spotted these two 45 minute dramas on Radio 4, based on real-life events, set in Norway and Sweden respectively.
1. Available for 19 more days:
One Night in Lillehammer
The war on terror makes a sudden, terrifying appearance in smalltown Norway.
The shooting of a Moroccan waiter is Lillehammer's first murder in years. Detective Inge Olsen relishes the challenge but quickly finds herself out of her depth. This isn't a random racist attack or the response of a jealous husband, it's the work of the most ruthlessly efficient state security organisation in the world.
Inspired by real events that took place in the wake of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, One Night in Lillehammer constructs an intense crime story set in the short, violent Norwegian summer of 1973.
Writer: Hugh Costello
Director: Alasdair Cross.
2. Available for 22 more days:
The Last Submarine Hunter
An original mystery drama featuring documentary interviews. In October 2014, reports of a suspected Russian submarine in the Swedish archipelago sparked an international hunt. Lucas Almquist disappeared at that time.
Now, two years later, Lucas's sister Lina sets out to find him, and discover the truth about the mystery submarines. Along the way, she meets a retired naval commander and an expert in Unidentified Submerged Objects.
With thanks to Janne Westerlund, Sven Kviman, Per Andersson, Clas Svahn, Freddie Petersson, Max Bergström, Marie Wennersten, Malcolm Dixelius, Magnus Lindman and Magnus Berg.
Sound Design by Steve Bond
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Produced and Directed by Joby Waldman
Executive Producer: Jeremy Mortimer
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
(Also see Mankell's The Troubled Man for earlier submarine shenanigans.)
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Friday, December 23, 2016
A trio of free ebooks
These three ebooks (two novellas and one novel) are currently free on both UK Kindle and UK Kobo:
The 45% Hangover by Stuart MacBride: free for UK Kobo and UK Kindle
A brilliantly twisty, 80-page novella from the No. 1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae series. Including an extract from his new Logan novel, THE MISSING AND THE DEAD.
It’s the night of the big Referendum, and all Acting Detective Inspector Logan McRae has to do is find a missing ‘No’ campaigner. Should be easy enough…
But, as usual, DCI Steel has plans of her own. As the votes are counted there’s trouble brewing in the pubs and on the streets of Aberdeen.
Logan’s picked up a promising lead, but all is not quite what it seems, and things are about to go very, very wrong…
The Secret Dead by S J Parris: free for UK Kobo and UK Kindle
A short story featuring Giordano Bruno: heretic, philosopher and spy. Perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom. Even the dead have a story to tell… Naples, 1566. During a sweltering summer, eighteen-year-old Giordano Bruno takes his final vows at San Domenico Maggiore and is admitted to the Dominican Order – despite doubts over his tendency to ask difficult questions. Assisting in the infirmary, Bruno witnesses an illicit autopsy performed on the body of a young woman. Her corpse reveals a dark secret, and Bruno suspects that hers may not have been an accidental death. His investigation leads him to a powerful figure who wants to keep the truth buried – and Bruno is forced to make a choice between his future in the Order, and justice for an innocent victim and her grieving family…
The One You Love by Paul Pilkington: free for UK Kobo and UK Kindle
Days before their wedding, during their last separate nights of hard-partying singledom, Emma Holden's fiance has gone missing. Not only has Dan disappeared without a trace, his brother is found beaten and left for dead, and may not wake up from a coma. Without any evidence, suspicion for the attempted murder falls on Dan - but Emma refuses to believe his guilt. When crime scene photos get splashed across the pages of London tabloids, Emma knows that someone is following her. Watching her. It is an old, familiar feeling, though no less terrifying. A long-hidden family secret seems to unite Emma's troubled past with her dangerous present. As time runs out her trust in her family, her friends -- and Dan -- faces an ultimate test.
A brilliantly twisty, 80-page novella from the No. 1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae series. Including an extract from his new Logan novel, THE MISSING AND THE DEAD.
It’s the night of the big Referendum, and all Acting Detective Inspector Logan McRae has to do is find a missing ‘No’ campaigner. Should be easy enough…
But, as usual, DCI Steel has plans of her own. As the votes are counted there’s trouble brewing in the pubs and on the streets of Aberdeen.
Logan’s picked up a promising lead, but all is not quite what it seems, and things are about to go very, very wrong…
A short story featuring Giordano Bruno: heretic, philosopher and spy. Perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom. Even the dead have a story to tell… Naples, 1566. During a sweltering summer, eighteen-year-old Giordano Bruno takes his final vows at San Domenico Maggiore and is admitted to the Dominican Order – despite doubts over his tendency to ask difficult questions. Assisting in the infirmary, Bruno witnesses an illicit autopsy performed on the body of a young woman. Her corpse reveals a dark secret, and Bruno suspects that hers may not have been an accidental death. His investigation leads him to a powerful figure who wants to keep the truth buried – and Bruno is forced to make a choice between his future in the Order, and justice for an innocent victim and her grieving family…
Days before their wedding, during their last separate nights of hard-partying singledom, Emma Holden's fiance has gone missing. Not only has Dan disappeared without a trace, his brother is found beaten and left for dead, and may not wake up from a coma. Without any evidence, suspicion for the attempted murder falls on Dan - but Emma refuses to believe his guilt. When crime scene photos get splashed across the pages of London tabloids, Emma knows that someone is following her. Watching her. It is an old, familiar feeling, though no less terrifying. A long-hidden family secret seems to unite Emma's troubled past with her dangerous present. As time runs out her trust in her family, her friends -- and Dan -- faces an ultimate test.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Review: Trespass by Anthony J Quinn
Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)
Although it had been decades since he had last seen the girl, the memories of that night had never quite left him, the sound of her stressed breathing gulping at the hood, and the frail thump of her fists battering the car window as they drove her away...
Border Country, Northern Ireland, late winter.
Samuel Reid has felt a growing sense of foreboding for months. This anxiety brings with it vivid dreams which keep him sleepless. His fears become more concrete when travellers set up camp in a field bordering his farm. The site grows larger and more chaotic. It obsesses Reid along with the idea that the travellers are smuggling tobacco across the border. He contacts the local authorities but the travellers own the land and there are no grounds for their eviction. One night, a man emerges from the shadows of Reid’s farmyard. He says he is a journalist and asks Reid about a young traveller woman who had been working at some of the local farms during the mid-1970s when she disappeared. He shows Reid a photograph of her holding a baby and another of a group of young men in uniform. The uniforms are the same as the one hanging in Reid’s own wardrobe and amongst the young men in the photograph stands Reid’s own brother. Angry, Reid pushes the journalist out, spotting a traveller van at the entrance to his yard as he does so. The van flashes its lights. The journalist leaves with a vague threat and heads towards the van.
Inspector Celcius Daly is under investigation at work for his possible involvement in the disappearance of an old spy during his last investigation. The case concerned a notorious Murder Triangle of the 1970s and it left its mark on Daly for another reason – it had included the murder of his own mother. A solitary and isolated man, Daly is currently excluded still further, left swinging his heels on court duty which means standing in for detectives unable to attend proceedings. During one courthouse session his isolation is broken by a woman solicitor who asks for his help. Celcius is nonplussed to find she simply wants him to hold her client’s baby whilst they attend a hearing but he goes ahead and does so. However the next time that this same young solicitor asks Daly for his help is different. Her ten-year-old son has disappeared from her car whilst she delivered some papers to the court. Daly steps in to organise a search and collect potential witness statements. Gradually it appears as though the boy may have gone with his abductors willingly. Why? Who are they? And if he went willingly – where is he now?
In his Celcius Daly crime novels, Tyrone-born Quinn stakes out two landscapes. The first is that of the dilapidated fields, cottages and blackthorn hedges of rural Northern Ireland full of falling rain and winding tracks which disappear into the darkness of forest and bog-land. His second “landscape” is that of the human ghosts and tragedies behind certain deaths and disappearances in such isolated rural communities. TRESPASS is his fourth Daly novel and it opens with the seemingly contemporary theme of child abduction. But it carries a parallel mystery: the disappearance of a young traveller woman decades before. In investigating both mysteries, Quinn is drawn into the lives and fates of Traveller people both now and during the political disturbances of the Troubles; Daly the outsider is drawn into the lives of these other Outsiders.
In the beginning Quinn’s characteristically atmospheric writing almost steals the pace of his story as he writes about Daly himself, his cross-roads isolation, his life at work and at his run-down cottage on the shores of Lough Neagh. But I am quibbling. Because such atmospheric writing also builds suspense and menace in a way that catches me up and has me reluctant to turn the page but sure to do so. And my reluctance is not the dread of brutal violence but a dread of supernatural horror which Quinn brings to his version of Emerald Noir. Once the way of the world and its crime plot is established, Quinn speeds up the pace to such an extent that I chase on through, the straightforwardness of the ending taking me by surprise and leaving me asking questions about the characters that only another book can answer – if it does.
I have enjoyed all of Quinn’s Celcius Daly books, including TRESPASS. Raymond Chandler wrote a famous sentence about the mean streets and the investigator. Well, Daly may not walk down “mean streets” exactly but he is certainly an “unusual” man and a man of “honor”. Long may he and his Gothic setting survive.
Lynn Harvey, December 2016
Monday, December 19, 2016
Review: Finding Her by Charles Den Tex and Anneloes Timmerije tr. Brian Du-Breuil
Today's review is courtesy of CrimeTime's Bob Cornwell, who last year reviewed Charles Den Tex's Mr. Miller translated by Nancy Forest-Flier.
Finding Her by Charles Den Tex and Anneloes Timmerije tr. Brian Du-Breuil, 512 pages, November 2016, World Editions, ISBN: 9462380783
Something rather different from Charles Den Tex, long-listed last year with his first book in English for the CWA’s New Blood Award (ironically, in the Netherlands, his home country, he has been published since 1995). Now, together with his wife Anneloes Timmerije, a journalist and an award-winning writer of literary fiction and historical non-fiction, they have fashioned something beyond the boundaries of the books normally reviewed on this site.
It is however an excellent book, and I would hate to see it slip unreviewed between categories, and end up neglected.
For it is first and foremost a love story, a true story (its original Dutch title translated as ‘a forgotten story of an unwavering love in wartime’) between Guus Havers, a pilot based in Java in the Dutch East Indies, and his wife Lienke. Guus is inadvertently parted from his wife in the early stages of the Japanese war in the Pacific. A highly regarded pilot, Guus has just transported to Australia a 43-man Army detachment, a group that is planned to lead a later counter-offensive. In his absence, an unexpectedly early attack on Java succeeds in taking over the island. Evacuations are attempted but Lienke fails to gain one of the coveted places. They will remain parted, knowing little or nothing of each other’s circumstances, their longing for each other most movingly portrayed, until the war ends and Guus can finally search for her properly.
But it is not simply a love story. Based mainly on Guus’s war-time diaries, it is also a dramatic record of an arena in World War II of which, like me, you may have little knowledge. In Australia the frustrations pile up for Guus: the slowness and inefficiency of the Allied response, the lack of the necessary aircraft (in particular the cherished B-25s), the rivalries amongst the pilots, the boredom. An early exception (crime writer becoming evident?), a mission back into the combat zone, with a mysterious ‘valuable’ package that goes missing. A little obvious, I thought, but then it turns out (historian also coming to the fore) to be one of three other key elements in the book, throwing light on real-life murky manoeuvrings, one a gross miscarriage of justice, in the war-time history of the area. Guus, for instance, is manipulated to spy for one side in what will turn out to be a political struggle for power in the post-occupation period. In Java meanwhile we experience, through Lienke, the subjugation of the civilian population, later the internment of Dutch and mixed marriage families, and the increasing deprivation within the camps as the war proceeds.
All this is conveyed in crystal-clear often moving prose, flawlessly translated in my view by Brian Doyle-Du Breuil.
Our authors however have reserved their greatest coup for the last part of the novel, bringing the story up to 1995. A new (unidentified) first-person narrative voice is introduced, interviewing the surviving Lienke, now known as Linda and living in California. Like Robert Wilson’s standalone novel, The Company of Strangers, (though without that book’s all-encompassing and complex spy plot) these later heart-rending chapters suggest that another subject of FINDING HER is what Wilson calls the ’big lives’ of his parents' generation (and dare I suggest, those of both Den Tex and Timmerije?).
And it comes with a stunning and poignant last line revelation. Just like a great crime novel.
And if you find any of this review intriguing, take a look at this, another eye-witness account, forceful and moving.
Bob Cornwell
December 2016
Something rather different from Charles Den Tex, long-listed last year with his first book in English for the CWA’s New Blood Award (ironically, in the Netherlands, his home country, he has been published since 1995). Now, together with his wife Anneloes Timmerije, a journalist and an award-winning writer of literary fiction and historical non-fiction, they have fashioned something beyond the boundaries of the books normally reviewed on this site.
It is however an excellent book, and I would hate to see it slip unreviewed between categories, and end up neglected.
For it is first and foremost a love story, a true story (its original Dutch title translated as ‘a forgotten story of an unwavering love in wartime’) between Guus Havers, a pilot based in Java in the Dutch East Indies, and his wife Lienke. Guus is inadvertently parted from his wife in the early stages of the Japanese war in the Pacific. A highly regarded pilot, Guus has just transported to Australia a 43-man Army detachment, a group that is planned to lead a later counter-offensive. In his absence, an unexpectedly early attack on Java succeeds in taking over the island. Evacuations are attempted but Lienke fails to gain one of the coveted places. They will remain parted, knowing little or nothing of each other’s circumstances, their longing for each other most movingly portrayed, until the war ends and Guus can finally search for her properly.
But it is not simply a love story. Based mainly on Guus’s war-time diaries, it is also a dramatic record of an arena in World War II of which, like me, you may have little knowledge. In Australia the frustrations pile up for Guus: the slowness and inefficiency of the Allied response, the lack of the necessary aircraft (in particular the cherished B-25s), the rivalries amongst the pilots, the boredom. An early exception (crime writer becoming evident?), a mission back into the combat zone, with a mysterious ‘valuable’ package that goes missing. A little obvious, I thought, but then it turns out (historian also coming to the fore) to be one of three other key elements in the book, throwing light on real-life murky manoeuvrings, one a gross miscarriage of justice, in the war-time history of the area. Guus, for instance, is manipulated to spy for one side in what will turn out to be a political struggle for power in the post-occupation period. In Java meanwhile we experience, through Lienke, the subjugation of the civilian population, later the internment of Dutch and mixed marriage families, and the increasing deprivation within the camps as the war proceeds.
All this is conveyed in crystal-clear often moving prose, flawlessly translated in my view by Brian Doyle-Du Breuil.
Our authors however have reserved their greatest coup for the last part of the novel, bringing the story up to 1995. A new (unidentified) first-person narrative voice is introduced, interviewing the surviving Lienke, now known as Linda and living in California. Like Robert Wilson’s standalone novel, The Company of Strangers, (though without that book’s all-encompassing and complex spy plot) these later heart-rending chapters suggest that another subject of FINDING HER is what Wilson calls the ’big lives’ of his parents' generation (and dare I suggest, those of both Den Tex and Timmerije?).
And it comes with a stunning and poignant last line revelation. Just like a great crime novel.
And if you find any of this review intriguing, take a look at this, another eye-witness account, forceful and moving.
Bob Cornwell
December 2016
Friday, December 16, 2016
Website Updates: December 2016
I've updated the main files on the Euro Crime website today. Euro Crime includes both British and other European crime fiction writers (that have been published in English); non-British/European born crime writers who are strongly associated with British/European crime fiction (eg. Donna Leon), and crime writers in translation from outside of Europe.
Just a couple of reminders regarding the New Releases page:
1. The main by month/by author pages refer to when a book is published (in English) anywhere in the world however the 'by category ie historical, translated etc' is specific to the UK eg Rhys Bowen's Molly Murphy series which was published in the US in the 2000s (and on) is only recently published in the UK and so some of her books appear in the 2016 Historical list.*
2. When a book is released "early" in ebook I am taking the publication date as to be when the print edition comes out (this is the rule we use for determining Petrona Award eligibility).
*I've also added the breakdowns for 2017: ie published in the UK in 2017 (ALL, Anthology, First Novel, Historical, Translated) - NB the Anthology one is currently blank.
Here's a summary of the usual updates:
I've added new bibliographies for: Stephan Abarbanell, Ross Armstrong, Jackie Baldwin, Haylen Beck, Sam Blake, Maria Angelica Bosco, Rebecca Bradley, Steinar Bragi, Graeme Macrae Burnet, Sam Carrington, Clare Chase, E O Chirovici, Angela Clarke, Aoife Clifford, T A Cotterell, Simon Crane, Michelle Davies, Sandrone Dazieri, J P Delaney, A C Efverman, Jim Eldridge, Emily Elgar, Marc Elsberg, David Essex, Hendrik Falkenberg, Agnete Friis, Martin Cathcart Froden, Arjin Gaind, Malin Persson Giolito, Karo Hamalainen, Adam Hamdy, Mark Hardie, Sarah Hawkswood, Lucy V Hay, Chan Ho-Kei, Catherine Ryan Howard, Sanjida Kay, T E Kinsey, Joseph Knox, R J Koreto, Pol Koutsakis, Mary Lawrence, Molly MacRae, Alyssa Maxwell, Kathleen McKay, Andree Michaud, Caroline Mitchell, Anita Nair, James Nally, Graham Norton, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Chris Ould, Nikki Owen, Mary Paulson-Ellis, Steven Price, Jaime Raven, Rachel Rhys, Liselotte Roll, M B Shaw, Asle Skredderberget, Gard Sveen, Theresa Talbot, C J Tudor, Richard Marggraf Turley, Stuart Turton, Sam Wilson and Les Wood.
I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Jane Adams, Jussi Adler-Olsen, Catherine Aird, Tasha Alexander, David Ashton, Annis Bell, Matt Bendoris, Mark Billingham, Jorgen Brekke, Simon Brett, Neil Broadfoot, Frances Brody, Christopher Brookmyre, Gordon Brown, Alison Bruce, Fiona Buckley, Sheila Bugler, Michel Bussi, Andrea Camilleri, M J Carter, CJ Carver, Jane Casey, C S Challinor, Ed Chatterton, Ann Cleeves, Martina Cole, John Connolly, Sheila Connolly, Lesley Cookman, Paul Cornell, Deborah Crombie, A J Cross, Judith Cutler, Lisa Cutts, Arne Dahl, K O Dahl, Paula Daly, Augusto De Angelis, Oscar de Muriel, Julianna Deering, Hannah Dennison, P C/Paul Doherty, Eva Dolan, David Downing, Carola Dunn, Matthew Dunn, Kjell Eriksson, Charles Finch, Christopher Fowler, Pascal Garnier, Phyllis Gobbell, Andrew Grant, Alex Gray, Susanna Gregory, Mari Hannah, Cora Harrison, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Annie Hauxwell, Elizabeth Haynes, Veronica Heley, Mandasue Heller, Sarah Hilary, Matt Hilton, Anne Holt, Alex Howard, Graham Hurley, Gary Inbinder, Arnaldur Indridason, James H/James Jackson, Bill James, P D James, Hanna Jameson, Diane Janes, Doug Johnstone, Ragnar Jonasson, Will Jordan, Alan Judd, Jessie Keane, Erin Kelly, Simon Kernick, Philip Kerr, Vaseem Khan, Laurie R King, Roberta Kray, Lynda La Plante, David Lagercrantz, Stephen Leather, Adam Lebor, Leena Lehtolainen, Catherine Lloyd, Shona/S G MacLean, Susan Elia MacNeal, Adrian Magson, Barry Maitland, Karen Maitland, G M Malliet, Scott Mariani, David Mark, Edward Marston, Andrew Martin, Priscilla Masters, Peter May, Luke McCallin, Andy McDermott, Claire McGowan, Andy McNab, Deon Meyer, Mark Mills, Thomas Mogford, Susan Moody, Mandy Morton, Fiona Mountain, Amy Myers, Barbara Nadel, Jo Nesbo, Chris Nickson, Hilary Norman, Martin O'Brien, Nick Oldham, Fredrik T Olsson, James Oswald, Chris Pavone, Caro Peacock, Anne Perry, Sarah Pinborough, Sheila Quigley, Anthony J Quinn, Deanna Raybourn, Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Kate Rhodes, Phil Rickman, Rosemary Rowe, Pauline Rowson, Michael Russell, Leigh Russell, Rob/Robert Ryan, Simon Scarrow, Gerald Seymour, William Shaw, Paige Shelton, Stav Sherez, Mel Sherratt, Jeffrey Siger, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Frank Smith, Jo Spain, Anton Svensson, Lesley Thomson, Helene Tursten, L C Tyler, Fred Vargas, Alex Walters, Sarah Ward, Ashley Weaver, Kerry Wilkinson, Jake Woodhouse, A J Wright, Felicity Young and Joakim Zander.
Just a couple of reminders regarding the New Releases page:
1. The main by month/by author pages refer to when a book is published (in English) anywhere in the world however the 'by category ie historical, translated etc' is specific to the UK eg Rhys Bowen's Molly Murphy series which was published in the US in the 2000s (and on) is only recently published in the UK and so some of her books appear in the 2016 Historical list.*
2. When a book is released "early" in ebook I am taking the publication date as to be when the print edition comes out (this is the rule we use for determining Petrona Award eligibility).
*I've also added the breakdowns for 2017: ie published in the UK in 2017 (ALL, Anthology, First Novel, Historical, Translated) - NB the Anthology one is currently blank.
As always, if you spot something wrong or missing, please do let me know.
Here's a summary of the usual updates:
The Author Websites page now lists 1060 sites.
In Bibliographies there are now bibliographies for 2409 authors (12077 titles of which 3035 are reviewed).
I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Jane Adams, Jussi Adler-Olsen, Catherine Aird, Tasha Alexander, David Ashton, Annis Bell, Matt Bendoris, Mark Billingham, Jorgen Brekke, Simon Brett, Neil Broadfoot, Frances Brody, Christopher Brookmyre, Gordon Brown, Alison Bruce, Fiona Buckley, Sheila Bugler, Michel Bussi, Andrea Camilleri, M J Carter, CJ Carver, Jane Casey, C S Challinor, Ed Chatterton, Ann Cleeves, Martina Cole, John Connolly, Sheila Connolly, Lesley Cookman, Paul Cornell, Deborah Crombie, A J Cross, Judith Cutler, Lisa Cutts, Arne Dahl, K O Dahl, Paula Daly, Augusto De Angelis, Oscar de Muriel, Julianna Deering, Hannah Dennison, P C/Paul Doherty, Eva Dolan, David Downing, Carola Dunn, Matthew Dunn, Kjell Eriksson, Charles Finch, Christopher Fowler, Pascal Garnier, Phyllis Gobbell, Andrew Grant, Alex Gray, Susanna Gregory, Mari Hannah, Cora Harrison, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Annie Hauxwell, Elizabeth Haynes, Veronica Heley, Mandasue Heller, Sarah Hilary, Matt Hilton, Anne Holt, Alex Howard, Graham Hurley, Gary Inbinder, Arnaldur Indridason, James H/James Jackson, Bill James, P D James, Hanna Jameson, Diane Janes, Doug Johnstone, Ragnar Jonasson, Will Jordan, Alan Judd, Jessie Keane, Erin Kelly, Simon Kernick, Philip Kerr, Vaseem Khan, Laurie R King, Roberta Kray, Lynda La Plante, David Lagercrantz, Stephen Leather, Adam Lebor, Leena Lehtolainen, Catherine Lloyd, Shona/S G MacLean, Susan Elia MacNeal, Adrian Magson, Barry Maitland, Karen Maitland, G M Malliet, Scott Mariani, David Mark, Edward Marston, Andrew Martin, Priscilla Masters, Peter May, Luke McCallin, Andy McDermott, Claire McGowan, Andy McNab, Deon Meyer, Mark Mills, Thomas Mogford, Susan Moody, Mandy Morton, Fiona Mountain, Amy Myers, Barbara Nadel, Jo Nesbo, Chris Nickson, Hilary Norman, Martin O'Brien, Nick Oldham, Fredrik T Olsson, James Oswald, Chris Pavone, Caro Peacock, Anne Perry, Sarah Pinborough, Sheila Quigley, Anthony J Quinn, Deanna Raybourn, Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Kate Rhodes, Phil Rickman, Rosemary Rowe, Pauline Rowson, Michael Russell, Leigh Russell, Rob/Robert Ryan, Simon Scarrow, Gerald Seymour, William Shaw, Paige Shelton, Stav Sherez, Mel Sherratt, Jeffrey Siger, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Frank Smith, Jo Spain, Anton Svensson, Lesley Thomson, Helene Tursten, L C Tyler, Fred Vargas, Alex Walters, Sarah Ward, Ashley Weaver, Kerry Wilkinson, Jake Woodhouse, A J Wright, Felicity Young and Joakim Zander.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
International Dagger Speculation (2017)
It's time to consider the titles eligible for the 2017 CWA International Dagger.
Here's the list of translated crime novels published between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017 ie the period of eligibility. There's 100* so far.
For ease of purchase/library reservation here they are listed by UK month of publication:
In addition to the list I have set up a Good Reads widget on the right-hand side of the blog. This allows the covers to be visible plus you can add them to your wish-list on Good Reads. Should you wish to, you can subscribe to this list through RSS. I've used the original cover if the English one isn't on Good Reads yet.
In the list below I've also included the country of birth and gender of the author(s) plus the translator's name (where I can find it) and the publisher.
*this total includes titles published by AmazonCrossing. I am not sure if these count as UK publications however I imagine people interested in this list will also be interested in these books.
The CWA website has the list of official submissions
April 2016
Gianrico Carofiglio - A Fine Line (Italy, M) (tr. Howard Curtis, Bitter Lemon Press)
Maurizio De Giovanni - The Bastards of Pizzofalcone (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Europa Editions)
Pascal Garnier - Too Close to the Edge (France, M) (tr. Emily Boyce, Gallic Books)
Simon Pasternak - Death Zones (Denmark, M) (tr. Martin Aitken, Harvill Secker)
Erik Axl Sund - The Crow Girl (Sweden, M & M) (tr. Neil Smith, Harvill Secker)
May 2016
Torkil Damhaug - Death by Water (Norway, M) (tr. Robert Ferguson, Headline)
Anne Holt - No Echo (Norway, F) (tr. Anne Bruce, Atlantic)
Tetsuya Honda - The Silent Dead (Japan, M) (tr. tbc, Titan Books)
Jari Jarvela The Girl and the Rat (Finland, M) (tr. Kristian London, AmazonCrossing)
Lars Kepler - Stalker (Sweden, M & F) (tr. Neil Smith, HarperCollins)
Volker Kutscher - Babylon Berlin (Germany, M) (tr. Niall Sellar, Sandstone)
Leena Lehtolainen - The Devil's Cubs (Finland, F) (tr. Jenni Salmi, AmazonCrossing)
Davide Longo - The Bramard Case (Italy, M) (tr. Silvester Mazzarella, MacLehose Press)
Melanie Raabe - The Trap (Germany, F) (tr. Imogen Taylor, Mantle)
Kjell Westo - The Wednesday Club (Finland, M) (tr. Neil Smith, MacLehose Press)
June 2016
Michel Bussi - Black Water Lilies (France, M) (tr. Shaun Whiteside, W&N)
Frederic Dard - Bird in a Cage (France, M) (tr. David Bellos, Pushkin Vertigo)
Hendrik Falkenberg - Time Heals No Wounds (Germany, M) (tr. Patrick F Brown, AmazonCrossing)
Karin Fossum - Hellfire (Norway, F) (tr. Kari Dickson, Harvill Secker)
Hjorth-Rosenfeldt - The Man Who Wasn't There (Sweden, M) (tr. Marlaine Delargy, Century)
Martin Holmen - Clinch (Sweden, M) (tr. Henning Koch, Pushkin Press)
Mari Jungstedt - A Darker Sky (with Ruben Eliassen) (Sweden, M & F) (tr. Paul Norlen, AmazonCrossing)
Jonas Hassen Khemiri - Everything I Don't Remember (Sweden, M) (tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles, Scribner)
Minna Lindgren - The Lavender Ladies Detective Agency: Death in Sunset Grove (Finland, F) (tr. Lola Rogers, Pan)
Liza Marklund - The Final Word (Sweden, F) (tr. Neil Smith, Corgi)
Seicho Matsumoto - A Quiet Place (Japan, M) (Louise Heal Kawai, Bitter Lemon Press)
D A Mishani - The Man Who Wanted to Know (Israel, M) (tr. Todd Hasak-Lowy, Quercus)
Leif GW Persson - The Dying Detective (Sweden, M) (tr. Neil Smith, Doubleday)
Gunnar Staalesen - Where Roses Never Die (Norway, M) (tr. Don Bartlett, Orenda Books)
Martin Suter - Montecristo (Switzerland, M) (tr. Jamie Bulloch, No Exit Press)
July 2016
Massimo Carlotto - For All the Gold in the World (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Europa Editions)
Mario Giordano - Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions (Germany, M) (tr. John Brownjohn, Bitter Lemon Press)
Yuri Herrera - The Transmigration of Bodies (Mexico, M) (tr. Lisa Dillman, And Other Stories)
Ragnar Jonasson - Blackout (Iceland, M) (tr. Quentin Bates, Orenda Books)
Leena Lehtolainen - Fatal Headwind (Finland, F) (tr. Owen Witesman, AmazonCrossing)
Pierre Lemaitre - Blood Wedding (France, M) (tr. Frank Wynne, MacLehose Press)
Fuminori Nakamura - The Kingdom (Japan, M) (tr. Kalau Almony, Soho Press)
Marc Raabe - Cut (Germany, M) (tr. Sharmila Cohen, Manilla (Bonnier))
Emelie Schepp - Marked for Life (Sweden, F) (tr. Rod Bradbury, MIRA)
Fred Vargas - A Climate of Fear (France, F) (tr. Sian Reynolds, Harvill Secker)
August 2016
Frederic Dard - The Wicked Go to Hell (France, M) (tr. David Coward, Pushkin Vertigo)
Maurizio De Giovanni - Darkness for the Bastards of Pizzofalcone (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Europa Editions)
Herman Koch - Dear Mr M (Holland, M) (tr. Sam Garrett, Picador)
Antonio Manzini - A Cold Death (apa Adam's Rib) (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Fourth Estate)
Zygmunt Miloszewski - Rage (Poland, M) (tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, AmazonCrossing)
Dolores Redondo - Legacy of the Bones (Spain, F) (tr. Nick Caistor & Lorenza Garcia, HarperCollins)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Why Did You Lie? (Iceland, F) (tr. Victoria Cribb, Hodder & Stoughton)
Gard Sveen - The Last Pilgrim (Norway, M) (tr. Steven T Murray, AmazonCrossing)
September 2016
Sebastia Alzamora - Blood Crime (Spain, M) (tr. Martha Tennent & Maruxa Relano Tennentare, Soho Crime)
Augusto De Angelis - The Mystery of the Three Orchids (Italy, M) (tr. Jill Foulston, Pushkin Press)
Pascal Garnier - The Eskimo Solution (France, M) (tr. Emily Boyce, Gallic Books)
Camilla Grebe - The Ice Beneath Her (Sweden, F) (tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Zaffre Publishing)
Chan Ho-Kei - The Borrowed (Hong Kong, M) (tr. Jeremy Tiang, Head of Zeus)
Hans Olav Lahlum - Chameleon People (Norway, M) (tr. Kari Dickson, Mantle)
Agnes Ravatn - The Bird Tribunal (Norway, F) (tr. Rosie Hedger, Orenda Books)
October 2016
Annis Bell - The Black Orchid (Germany, F) (tr. Edwin Miles, AmazonCrossing)
Steinar Bragi - The Ice Lands (Iceland, M) (tr. Lorenza Garcia, Macmillan)
Andrea Camilleri - A Voice in the Night (Italy, M) (tr. Stephen Sartarelli, Mantle)
Torkil Damhaug - Fireraiser (Norway, M) (tr. Robert Ferguson, Headline)
Frederic Dard - Crush (France, M) (tr. Daniel Seton, Pushkin Vertigo)
Hendrik Falkenberg - The Northern Cross (Germany, M) (tr. Patrick F Brown, AmazonCrossing)
Kati Hiekkapelto - The Exiled (Finland, F) (tr. David Hackston, Orenda Books)
Anne Holt - Beyond the Truth (Norway, F) (tr. Anne Bruce, Corvus)
Mari Jungstedt - The Fourth Victim (Sweden, F) (tr. Tiina Nunnally, Doubleday)
Mons Kallentoft - Souls of Air (Sweden, M) (tr. Neil Smith, Hodder)
Bernard Minier - Don't Turn Out the Lights (France, M) (tr. Alison Anderson, Mulholland)
Thomas Rydahl - The Hermit (Denmark, M) (tr. K E Semmel, Oneworld Publications)
Dominique Sylvain - Shadows and Sun (France, F) (tr. Nick Caistor, MacLehose Press)
Antti Tuomainen - The Mine (Finland, M) (tr. David Hackston, Orenda Books)
Carl-Johan Vallgren - The Tunnel (Sweden, M) (tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles, Quercus)
Joakim Zander - The Brother (apa The Believer) (Sweden, M) (tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Head of Zeus)
November 2016
Maria Angelica Bosco - Death Going Down (Argentina, F) (tr. Lucy Greaves, Pushkin Vertigo)
Christoffer Carlsson - The Falling Detective (Sweden, M) (tr. Michael Gallagher, Scribe)
Kjell Eriksson - Stone Coffin (Sweden, M) (tr. Ebba Segerberg, Allison & Busby)
Liselotte Roll - Good Girls Don't Tell (Sweden, F) (tr. Ian Giles, World Editions)
Marco Vichi - Death in the Tuscan Hills (Italy, M) (tr. Stephen Sartarelli, Hodder)
Hanna Winter - Sacrifice (Germany, F) (tr. Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, Manilla)
December 2016
Elmer Mendoza - The Acid Test (Mexico, M) (tr. Mark Fried, MacLehose Press)
Nele Neuhaus - I Am Your Judge (apa To Catch A Killer (UK)) (Germany, F) (tr. Steven T Murray, Pan)
Helene Tursten - Who Watcheth (Sweden, F) (tr. Marlaine Delargy, Soho Press)
January 2017
Stefan Ahnhem - The Ninth Grave (Sweden, M) (tr. Paul Norlen, Head of Zeus)
Federico Axat - Kill the Next One (Argentina, M) (tr. David Frye, Text Publishing)
Andrea Camilleri - A Nest of Vipers (Italy, M) (tr. Stephen Sartarelli, Mantle) moved to August 2017
Anne Holt - What Dark Clouds Hide (Norway, F) (tr. Anne Bruce, Corvus)
Ragnar Jonasson - Rupture (Iceland, M) (tr. Quentin Bates, Orenda Books)
Pol Koutsakis - Athenian Blues (M, Greece) (tr. Pol Koutsakis, Bitter Lemon Press)
February 2017
Stephan Abarbanell - Displaced (Germany, M) (tr. tbc, John Murray)
Sandrone Dazieri - Kill the Father (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Simon & Schuster)
Marc Elsberg - Blackout (Germany, M) (tr. Marshall Yarborough, Black Swan)
Thomas Enger - Cursed (Norway, M) (tr. Kari Dickson, Orenda Books)
March 2017
Samuel Bjork - The Owl Always Hunts at Night (Norway, M) (tr. tbc, Doubleday) moved to April 2017
Frederic Dard - The Executioner Weeps (France, M) (tr. David Coward, Pushkin Vertigo)
Elisabeth Herrmann - The Cleaner (Germany, F) (tr. Bradley Schmidt, Manilla Books)
Jorn Lier Horst - When It Grows Dark (Norway, M) (tr. Anne Bruce, Sandstone Press)
Walter Lucius - Butterfly on the Storm (Holland, M) (tr. tbc, Michael Joseph)
Andree Michaud - Boundary (Canada, F) (tr. Donald Winkler, No Exit)
Cay Rademacher - The Wolf Children (Germany, M) (tr. Peter Millar, Arcadia Books)
Emelie Schepp - Marked For Revenge (Sweden, F) (tr. tbc, HQ)
Mikel Santiago - The Last Night at Tremore Beach (Spain, M) (tr. Carlos Frias, Simon & Schuster)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The Legacy (Iceland, F) (tr. Victoria Cribb, Hodder & Stoughton)
Erik Valeur - The Man in the Lighthouse (Denmark, M) (tr. Mark Mussari, AmazonCrossing)
Antonin Varenne - Retribution Road (France, M) (tr. Sam Taylor, MacLehose Press)
Here's the list of translated crime novels published between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017 ie the period of eligibility. There's 100* so far.
For ease of purchase/library reservation here they are listed by UK month of publication:
In addition to the list I have set up a Good Reads widget on the right-hand side of the blog. This allows the covers to be visible plus you can add them to your wish-list on Good Reads. Should you wish to, you can subscribe to this list through RSS. I've used the original cover if the English one isn't on Good Reads yet.
In the list below I've also included the country of birth and gender of the author(s) plus the translator's name (where I can find it) and the publisher.
*this total includes titles published by AmazonCrossing. I am not sure if these count as UK publications however I imagine people interested in this list will also be interested in these books.
The CWA website has the list of official submissions
April 2016
Gianrico Carofiglio - A Fine Line (Italy, M) (tr. Howard Curtis, Bitter Lemon Press)
Maurizio De Giovanni - The Bastards of Pizzofalcone (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Europa Editions)
Pascal Garnier - Too Close to the Edge (France, M) (tr. Emily Boyce, Gallic Books)
Simon Pasternak - Death Zones (Denmark, M) (tr. Martin Aitken, Harvill Secker)
Erik Axl Sund - The Crow Girl (Sweden, M & M) (tr. Neil Smith, Harvill Secker)
May 2016
Torkil Damhaug - Death by Water (Norway, M) (tr. Robert Ferguson, Headline)
Anne Holt - No Echo (Norway, F) (tr. Anne Bruce, Atlantic)
Tetsuya Honda - The Silent Dead (Japan, M) (tr. tbc, Titan Books)
Jari Jarvela The Girl and the Rat (Finland, M) (tr. Kristian London, AmazonCrossing)
Lars Kepler - Stalker (Sweden, M & F) (tr. Neil Smith, HarperCollins)
Volker Kutscher - Babylon Berlin (Germany, M) (tr. Niall Sellar, Sandstone)
Leena Lehtolainen - The Devil's Cubs (Finland, F) (tr. Jenni Salmi, AmazonCrossing)
Davide Longo - The Bramard Case (Italy, M) (tr. Silvester Mazzarella, MacLehose Press)
Melanie Raabe - The Trap (Germany, F) (tr. Imogen Taylor, Mantle)
Kjell Westo - The Wednesday Club (Finland, M) (tr. Neil Smith, MacLehose Press)
June 2016
Michel Bussi - Black Water Lilies (France, M) (tr. Shaun Whiteside, W&N)
Frederic Dard - Bird in a Cage (France, M) (tr. David Bellos, Pushkin Vertigo)
Hendrik Falkenberg - Time Heals No Wounds (Germany, M) (tr. Patrick F Brown, AmazonCrossing)
Karin Fossum - Hellfire (Norway, F) (tr. Kari Dickson, Harvill Secker)
Hjorth-Rosenfeldt - The Man Who Wasn't There (Sweden, M) (tr. Marlaine Delargy, Century)
Martin Holmen - Clinch (Sweden, M) (tr. Henning Koch, Pushkin Press)
Mari Jungstedt - A Darker Sky (with Ruben Eliassen) (Sweden, M & F) (tr. Paul Norlen, AmazonCrossing)
Jonas Hassen Khemiri - Everything I Don't Remember (Sweden, M) (tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles, Scribner)
Minna Lindgren - The Lavender Ladies Detective Agency: Death in Sunset Grove (Finland, F) (tr. Lola Rogers, Pan)
Liza Marklund - The Final Word (Sweden, F) (tr. Neil Smith, Corgi)
Seicho Matsumoto - A Quiet Place (Japan, M) (Louise Heal Kawai, Bitter Lemon Press)
D A Mishani - The Man Who Wanted to Know (Israel, M) (tr. Todd Hasak-Lowy, Quercus)
Leif GW Persson - The Dying Detective (Sweden, M) (tr. Neil Smith, Doubleday)
Gunnar Staalesen - Where Roses Never Die (Norway, M) (tr. Don Bartlett, Orenda Books)
Martin Suter - Montecristo (Switzerland, M) (tr. Jamie Bulloch, No Exit Press)
July 2016
Massimo Carlotto - For All the Gold in the World (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Europa Editions)
Mario Giordano - Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions (Germany, M) (tr. John Brownjohn, Bitter Lemon Press)
Yuri Herrera - The Transmigration of Bodies (Mexico, M) (tr. Lisa Dillman, And Other Stories)
Ragnar Jonasson - Blackout (Iceland, M) (tr. Quentin Bates, Orenda Books)
Leena Lehtolainen - Fatal Headwind (Finland, F) (tr. Owen Witesman, AmazonCrossing)
Pierre Lemaitre - Blood Wedding (France, M) (tr. Frank Wynne, MacLehose Press)
Fuminori Nakamura - The Kingdom (Japan, M) (tr. Kalau Almony, Soho Press)
Marc Raabe - Cut (Germany, M) (tr. Sharmila Cohen, Manilla (Bonnier))
Emelie Schepp - Marked for Life (Sweden, F) (tr. Rod Bradbury, MIRA)
Fred Vargas - A Climate of Fear (France, F) (tr. Sian Reynolds, Harvill Secker)
August 2016
Frederic Dard - The Wicked Go to Hell (France, M) (tr. David Coward, Pushkin Vertigo)
Maurizio De Giovanni - Darkness for the Bastards of Pizzofalcone (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Europa Editions)
Herman Koch - Dear Mr M (Holland, M) (tr. Sam Garrett, Picador)
Antonio Manzini - A Cold Death (apa Adam's Rib) (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Fourth Estate)
Zygmunt Miloszewski - Rage (Poland, M) (tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, AmazonCrossing)
Dolores Redondo - Legacy of the Bones (Spain, F) (tr. Nick Caistor & Lorenza Garcia, HarperCollins)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Why Did You Lie? (Iceland, F) (tr. Victoria Cribb, Hodder & Stoughton)
Gard Sveen - The Last Pilgrim (Norway, M) (tr. Steven T Murray, AmazonCrossing)
September 2016
Sebastia Alzamora - Blood Crime (Spain, M) (tr. Martha Tennent & Maruxa Relano Tennentare, Soho Crime)
Augusto De Angelis - The Mystery of the Three Orchids (Italy, M) (tr. Jill Foulston, Pushkin Press)
Pascal Garnier - The Eskimo Solution (France, M) (tr. Emily Boyce, Gallic Books)
Camilla Grebe - The Ice Beneath Her (Sweden, F) (tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Zaffre Publishing)
Chan Ho-Kei - The Borrowed (Hong Kong, M) (tr. Jeremy Tiang, Head of Zeus)
Hans Olav Lahlum - Chameleon People (Norway, M) (tr. Kari Dickson, Mantle)
Agnes Ravatn - The Bird Tribunal (Norway, F) (tr. Rosie Hedger, Orenda Books)
October 2016
Annis Bell - The Black Orchid (Germany, F) (tr. Edwin Miles, AmazonCrossing)
Steinar Bragi - The Ice Lands (Iceland, M) (tr. Lorenza Garcia, Macmillan)
Andrea Camilleri - A Voice in the Night (Italy, M) (tr. Stephen Sartarelli, Mantle)
Torkil Damhaug - Fireraiser (Norway, M) (tr. Robert Ferguson, Headline)
Frederic Dard - Crush (France, M) (tr. Daniel Seton, Pushkin Vertigo)
Hendrik Falkenberg - The Northern Cross (Germany, M) (tr. Patrick F Brown, AmazonCrossing)
Kati Hiekkapelto - The Exiled (Finland, F) (tr. David Hackston, Orenda Books)
Anne Holt - Beyond the Truth (Norway, F) (tr. Anne Bruce, Corvus)
Mari Jungstedt - The Fourth Victim (Sweden, F) (tr. Tiina Nunnally, Doubleday)
Mons Kallentoft - Souls of Air (Sweden, M) (tr. Neil Smith, Hodder)
Bernard Minier - Don't Turn Out the Lights (France, M) (tr. Alison Anderson, Mulholland)
Thomas Rydahl - The Hermit (Denmark, M) (tr. K E Semmel, Oneworld Publications)
Dominique Sylvain - Shadows and Sun (France, F) (tr. Nick Caistor, MacLehose Press)
Antti Tuomainen - The Mine (Finland, M) (tr. David Hackston, Orenda Books)
Carl-Johan Vallgren - The Tunnel (Sweden, M) (tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles, Quercus)
Joakim Zander - The Brother (apa The Believer) (Sweden, M) (tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Head of Zeus)
November 2016
Maria Angelica Bosco - Death Going Down (Argentina, F) (tr. Lucy Greaves, Pushkin Vertigo)
Christoffer Carlsson - The Falling Detective (Sweden, M) (tr. Michael Gallagher, Scribe)
Kjell Eriksson - Stone Coffin (Sweden, M) (tr. Ebba Segerberg, Allison & Busby)
Liselotte Roll - Good Girls Don't Tell (Sweden, F) (tr. Ian Giles, World Editions)
Marco Vichi - Death in the Tuscan Hills (Italy, M) (tr. Stephen Sartarelli, Hodder)
Hanna Winter - Sacrifice (Germany, F) (tr. Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, Manilla)
December 2016
Elmer Mendoza - The Acid Test (Mexico, M) (tr. Mark Fried, MacLehose Press)
Nele Neuhaus - I Am Your Judge (apa To Catch A Killer (UK)) (Germany, F) (tr. Steven T Murray, Pan)
Helene Tursten - Who Watcheth (Sweden, F) (tr. Marlaine Delargy, Soho Press)
January 2017
Stefan Ahnhem - The Ninth Grave (Sweden, M) (tr. Paul Norlen, Head of Zeus)
Federico Axat - Kill the Next One (Argentina, M) (tr. David Frye, Text Publishing)
Anne Holt - What Dark Clouds Hide (Norway, F) (tr. Anne Bruce, Corvus)
Ragnar Jonasson - Rupture (Iceland, M) (tr. Quentin Bates, Orenda Books)
Pol Koutsakis - Athenian Blues (M, Greece) (tr. Pol Koutsakis, Bitter Lemon Press)
February 2017
Stephan Abarbanell - Displaced (Germany, M) (tr. tbc, John Murray)
Sandrone Dazieri - Kill the Father (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Simon & Schuster)
Marc Elsberg - Blackout (Germany, M) (tr. Marshall Yarborough, Black Swan)
Thomas Enger - Cursed (Norway, M) (tr. Kari Dickson, Orenda Books)
March 2017
Frederic Dard - The Executioner Weeps (France, M) (tr. David Coward, Pushkin Vertigo)
Elisabeth Herrmann - The Cleaner (Germany, F) (tr. Bradley Schmidt, Manilla Books)
Jorn Lier Horst - When It Grows Dark (Norway, M) (tr. Anne Bruce, Sandstone Press)
Walter Lucius - Butterfly on the Storm (Holland, M) (tr. tbc, Michael Joseph)
Andree Michaud - Boundary (Canada, F) (tr. Donald Winkler, No Exit)
Cay Rademacher - The Wolf Children (Germany, M) (tr. Peter Millar, Arcadia Books)
Emelie Schepp - Marked For Revenge (Sweden, F) (tr. tbc, HQ)
Mikel Santiago - The Last Night at Tremore Beach (Spain, M) (tr. Carlos Frias, Simon & Schuster)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The Legacy (Iceland, F) (tr. Victoria Cribb, Hodder & Stoughton)
Erik Valeur - The Man in the Lighthouse (Denmark, M) (tr. Mark Mussari, AmazonCrossing)
Antonin Varenne - Retribution Road (France, M) (tr. Sam Taylor, MacLehose Press)
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
Review: The Black Friar by S G MacLean
Reviewed by Susan White.
(Read more of Susan's reviews for Euro Crime here.)
This is the second book in the series featuring Captain Damian Seeker, a soldier in the army of Oliver Cromwell, newly appointed the Protector of England.
One of the spies in the employ of Oliver Cromwell's secret service has been found dressed as a Black Friar and walled up - alive - in a church. Seeker is tasked with solving his murder and also finding the sensitive information he was tracking. Seeker is well known in London for his uncompromising belief in Oliver Cromwell and he is feared for his relentless searching out of Royalists and other enemies of the new State.
There is concern that someone in the department is working against the Protectorate, so Thurlow, Seeker's superior, asks him to search out the truth quietly and discretely. One of the suspects is Lady Winter, a known Royalist, who coincidently asks Seeker's help in finding a young servant girl, Charity, who has disappeared. Seeker discovers that Charity is not the only young and attractive person who has recently disappeared. He finds that both the Royalist factions and former Cromwell supporters who believe that his reforms have not gone far enough are plotting against the Protectorate and his investigations of the murdered spy and the missing young people start to have strands in common.
I really enjoyed this book. It is an interesting period of English history and one I knew only the basics about. I found that the background given about Cromwell's followers, who felt he was too tolerant and wanted to bring him down and impose a much more fervent religious belief system on the country, seemed particularly relevant today.
For anyone who enjoys reading historical crime - particularly the C J Sansom series featuring Shardlake - I am sure they will enjoy this. There is the same depth of knowledge of period through the book which gives the right level of historical background without slowing the story down.
Susan White, December 2016
Monday, December 05, 2016
Some 1960 Titles (for Past Offences)
The latest monthly challenge over at Past Offences is to read a book in December, published in 1960. Here are some British/European crime titles to choose from, first published in English in 1960, pulled from my database. This information is correct to the best of my knowledge however please do double check dates before spending any cash!:
John and Emery Bonett - No Grave for a LadyThere are more suggestions in the comments on the Past Offences page.
Gwendoline Butler - Death Lives Next Door (apa Dine and Be Dead)
Agatha Christie - The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
Ian Fleming - For Your Eyes Only
Dulcie Gray - Epitaph For a Dead Actor
Alan Hunter - Gently with the Painters
Michael Innes - The New Sonia Wayward
M M Kaye - Death in the Andamans (revised 1985) (originally published as Night on the Island)
H R F Keating - Zen There Was Murder
Austin Lee - Miss Hogg and the Covent Garden Murders
Ngaio Marsh - False Scent
Ellis Peters - The Will and the Deed (apa Where There's a Will)
H Seymour - The Bristol Affair
Georges Simenon - Teddy Bear
Georges Simenon - Maigret in Society
Georges Simenon - Maigret in Court
James Tucker - Equal Partners
Margaret Yorke - Deceiving Mirror
Sunday, December 04, 2016
New Releases - December 2016
Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in December 2016 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). December and future months (and years) can be found on the Future Releases page. If I've missed anything do please leave a comment.
• Amphlett, Rachel - Scared to Death #1 Detective Kay Hunter
• Armstrong, Ross - The Watcher
• Baldwin, Jackie - Dead Man's Prayer #1 DI Frank Farrell, Dumfries
• Brett, Simon - Mrs Pargeter's Public Relations #8 Mrs Pargeter, Gangster's widow
• Carrington, Sam - Saving Sophie
• Challinor, C S - Judgment of Murder #9 Rex Graves, Scottish lawyer
• Cookman, Lesley - Murder on the Run #17 Libby Sarjeant, middle aged actress/investigator, Kent
• Dunn, Carola - Buried in the Country #4 Eleanor Trewyn, Port Mabyn, Cornwall
• Emerson, Kathy Lynn - Murder in a Cornish Alehouse #3 Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey, Spy, Elizabethan Era
• Glasby, Edmund - The Doppelganger Deaths
• Gobbell, Phyllis - Secrets and Shamrocks #2 Jordan Mayfair
• Heley, Veronica - False Fire #11 Bea Abbott, Sixty-something owner of The Abbott (Domestic) Agency
• Hurley, Graham - Finisterre #1 Wars Within
• Jameson, Hanna - Road Kill #3 London Underground Series
• Kinsey, T E - In the Market for Murder #2 Lady Emily Hardcastle, 1908
• Lawrence, Mary - Death at St. Vedast #3 Bianca Goddard, Henry VIII era
• MacRae, Molly - Plaid and Plagiarism #1 The Highland Bookshop Mystery Series
• Maxwell, Alyssa - A Pinch of Poison #2 Lady and Lady's Maid Mystery
• McCallin, Luke - The Ashes of Berlin #3 Captain Gregor Reinhardt, Military Intelligence Officer, 1943 Sarajevo
• Mitchell, Caroline - Witness
• Oldham, Nick - Bad Blood #22 DCI Christie
• Raven, Jaime - The Alibi
• Rogers, Bill - The Falcon Tattoo #2 National Crime Agency
• Taylor, Marsali - Ghosts of the Vikings #5 Shetland Sailing Mysteries
• Turnbull, Peter - A Cold Case #1 Maurice Mundy
• Tursten, Helene - Who Watcheth #9 Inspector Huss, Gothenburg