New Reviews: Duns, Gowers, Marrinan, Peace, Schenkel, Waites

These are the last reviews I'll upload this year but I am aiming to post a new set on 2 January 2011. I'll soon be collating the Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2010 and will post the result as soon as it's complete.

Terry Halligan reviews the paperback release of Free Agent by Jeremy Duns the first in a spy-thriller trilogy;

Michelle Peckham reviews The Twisted Heart by Rebecca Gowers which contains both a literary mystery and a love story;

Terry also reviews, and praises highly, Patrick Marrinan's legal thriller Degrees of Guilt;

Amanda Gillies reviews the Quercus hardback release of David Peace's 1977 the second part of the Red Riding Quartet;

Maxine Clarke reviews Bunker by Andrea Maria Schenkel, tr. Anthea Bell

and Laura Root reviews the US hardback release of Martyn Waites' Speak No Evil which she calls "quality British noir".

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

New Reviews: Alvtegen, Billingham, Black, Kristian, Marr, Schenkel

The following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website:

Maxine Clarke reviews Betrayal by Karin Alvtegen concluding that "this novel is psychological suspense at its finest";

Craig Sisterson reviews Buried by Mark Billingham writing that the protagonist Tom Thorne is "arguably the best-written detective in British crime fiction today";

Paul Blackburn reviews Gutted by Tony Black saying that it's "a superb second book - roll on book number three";

Amanda Gillies reviews Raven: Blood Eye by Giles Kristian which is "every bit as good as the glowing reviews on its back cover";

Terry Halligan reviews The Director by Chris Marr and finds it "very entertaining and a real page turner";

and Laura Root reviews The Murder Farm by Andrea Maria Schenkel and she "would highly recommend this unusual, thought-provoking book".

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

New Reviews: Brandreth, Calderon, Charteris, Duns, Keating, Rayne, Schenkel

Just one day left in May's competition - win a copy of Suffer the Children by Adam Creed. (There are no geographical restrictions on entrants.) Enter here.

The following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website. The theme this week is historical crime:

New Reviews:

I review the audio book version of Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders by Gyles Brandreth (1889-90);

Laura Root reviews The Creator's Map by Emilio Calderon (WWII);

Rik Shepherd reviews The Best of the Saint: Volume One by Leslie Charteris (1930s);

Michelle Peckham reviews Free Agent by Jeremy Duns (1969);

Mike Ripley reviews A Small Case for Inspector Ghote? by H R F Keating (1964);

Amanda Gillies reviews Spider Light by Sarah Rayne (present day with flashbacks);

and Maxine Clarke reviews Ice Cold by Andrea Maria Schenkel(1930s).

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

New Reviews: Mike Ripley's Crime File, Campbell, Goodwin, Parot, Schenkel, Theorin

Slightly later than normal but I think they're worth the wait :-).

Here are this week's new reviews and details of the current competition:

Latest Reviews:

In Mike Ripley's latest crime file he reviews, Typhoon by Charles Cumming, The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri and Home Before Dark by Charles Maclean;

Maxine Clarke reviews Colin Campbell's Through the Ruins of Midnight. The author is a former policeman and Maxine calls the story "exciting, tense and authentic";

Norman Price reviews this month's competition prize (see details below on how to enter): The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin saying that it's "top quality well written crime fiction";

Laura Root reviews the intriguingly named The Man with the Lead Stomach by Jean-Francois Parot, which is the second in the series and she recommends it to "those readers who enjoy a gripping but intelligent yarn";

Amanda Gillies gives her opinion of The Murder Farm by Andrea Maria Schenkel, writing that "at the same time as being repulsed, you are drawn to finish it"

and Maxine has found another stunning Scandinavian crime writer in the shape of Johan Theorin, whose debut, Echoes from the Dead is the one crime novel you must read this year.


Current Competitions:

Win a copy of The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin*

* no restrictions on entrants (ends 31 July)

New Reviews: Camilleri, Conway, Larsson, Schenkel, Upson and White

Here are this week's new reviews and details of the new competition (which is open to all):

Latest Reviews:

Euro Crime's Camilleri expert, Norman Price, strikes again as he reviews the latest Montalbano novel - The Paper Moon - which he says is "another little gem";

Geoff Jones reviews the new title from Peter Conway, Deadly Obsession - the latest of his books to contain the theme of "incest and corporal punishment";

Maxine Clarke reviews the paperback edition of The Blood Spilt by Asa Larsson calling it a "rich story" with a slightly unsatisfying ending;

Maxine reviews a short but not sweet offering from Quercus in the shape of Andrea Maria Schenkel's The Murder Farm, a fictionalised version of the real-life murder of a whole family;

I review Nicola Upson's An Expert in Murder where Josephine Tey enters the real world of murder in London's West End

and Amanda Gillies calls Fallen Idols by Neil White "a masterpiece".


Current Competition (closing date 30 June):

Win a copy of Death on a Branch Line by Andrew Martin*

* no restrictions on entrants

Website Updates

The News page has been updated with links to recent reviews and articles in the UK papers.

Also the Events page has been expanded a little, separating out one-off author events from the 'Literary Festivals'.

Events added include several author visits at Heffers in Cambridge and a visit by Andrea Maria Schenkel to the Goethe Institute next month. More details can be found on the Events page.