New Reviews: Burdett, Chambers, Cleverly, Fforde, Lehtolainen, Williams

Here are 6 new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today:

Lynn Harvey reviews John Burdett's Vulture Peak the fifth in his Thailand-set series featuring Buddhist detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep;

Michelle Peckham, a real-life scientist, is not enamoured of the fictional science in Clem Chambers's The First Horseman;

Earlier this week, on the blog, I reviewed the audio book of Barbara Cleverly's Ellie Hardwick Mysteries, a collection of traditional amateur sleuth short stories;

Susan White reviews Jasper Fforde's The Woman Who Died a Lot, the seventh in the Thursday Next series;

Maxine Clarke reviews Leena Lehtolainen's My First Murder tr. Owen Witesman which introduces Finnish detective Maria Kallio

and Terry Halligan reviews David Williams's Treasure in Oxford which is now available as an ebook.

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: The Ellie Hardwick Mysteries by Barbara Cleverly (audio book)

The Ellie Hardwick Mysteries by Barbara Cleverly read by Suzi Aitchison, AudioGO, September 2012, 4 CDs

Barbara Cleverly is probably best known for her historical Joe Sandilands series set for the first few books in India. The Ellie Hardwick Mysteries is a collection of five short stories, starring mid-twenties, Suffolk-based architect Ellie Hardwick, first published between 2003 and 2006 in crime and women's magazines.

Love-Lies Bleeding is set in a Norfolk stately home run by a charity. The repair of a staircase leads to a discovery which requires Ellie to solve a paternity question from several hundred years ago and to do a sort of exorcism.

Here Lies is the first of two stories set in a Suffolk church. Ellie discovers the dead body of a woman lying on one of the church's tombs. Her identify is swiftly established; she was about to marry into a local, ancient family. Someone didn't want her to it seems. Ellie does a bit of sleuthing and Inspector Jennings is introduced.

A Threatened Species again has Ellie visiting a Suffolk church where she discovers a dead body in the belfry. She calls Inspector Jennings out and again does a bit of investigating. (This story has also appeared in The Best British Mysteries IV edited by Maxim Jakubowski.)

A Black Tie Affair has Ellie invited to a swanky evening do at a manor hall she's been working on, owned by a property-developer. Inspector Jennings is her date and they stumble on a body whilst looking round the house... This time round it's Jennings who puts the pieces together.

Die Like a Maharajah, tales Ellie to India on a tour. One of the group is an insufferable woman who upsets everyone, so it's no surprise when she dies. Murder or accident though? Only Ellie has the answer.

This is an enjoyable collection of short whodunnits, which range from 30 to 60 minutes long. Ellie is a traditional amateur sleuth with occasional back-up from the capable Inspector Jennings. My favourite of the five stories was A Threatened Species which has Ellie and Jennings working together to solve the mystery. I would like to read more about Ellie though I haven't been able to track down any newer stories. Suzy Aitchison narrates well, giving Ellie a fitting, perky, indomitable voice.

The Last Kashmiri Rose - Cover Opinions

This week's selection for "cover opinions" is the US and UK covers for Barbara Cleverly's The Last Kashmiri Rose which was reissued in US paperback in August by Soho Press (bottom left cover). The Last Kashmiri Rose was first published in 2001 and the series currently numbers nine with 2011's The Blood Royal.

So what are your thoughts on the US (LHS), and UK (RHS below) covers? Which would entice you to pick the book up if you were not familiar with the books of Barbara Cleverly?

If you have read it, how well do the covers match the story?

I read this book in October 2004. I didn't write a formal review but summarised it on one of my monthly read posts:

[] for F2F reading group book where the theme is Eastern Crime (I've just started The Winter Queen by Akunin, also for this theme). Golden Age style mystery in a Golden Age setting at least for the British in India. It's 1922 and officers' wives have been dying - one a year in March. Sandilands is sent from Calcutta to confirm that the deaths were murder and to find the perpetrator. First half is excellent where we get the backstory on all the deaths. It loses its way in a romance/affair sub plot in the middle and then picks up for a dramatic showdown with the killer. Will read more! ps The UK covers are exquisite.

I never did finish The Winter Queen and have yet to read more Sandilands books but I recommend it nonetheless.

US---------------------------------------------------------------UK




































Blurb: In a land of saffron sunsets and blazing summer heat, an Englishwoman has been found dead, her wrists slit, her body floating in a bathtub of blood and water. But is it suicide or murder? The case falls to Scotland Yard inspector Joe Sandilands, who survived the horror of the Western Front and has endured six sultry months in English-ruled Calcutta. Sandilands is ordered to investigate, and soon discovers that there have been other mysterious deaths, hearkening sinister ties to the present case.

Now, as the sovereignty of Britain is in decline and an insurgent India is on the rise, Sandilands must navigate the treacherous corridors of political decorum to bring a cunning killer to justice, knowing the next victim is already marked to die.

Read an excerpt here.

Barbara Cleverly - new series update

Last year Barbara Cleverly, author of the Joe Sandilands series, began a new historical series featuring archaeologist Laetitia Talbot starting with The Tomb of Zeus. At the time there was no UK publication date, however UK fans will only have to wait until September when it's published by Constable and Robinson. (C & R are also reprinting the paperbacks of the Sandilands this June.)
Meanwhile over in the US, the second in the Talbot series, Bright Hair About the Bone, will be published in October.

Barbara Cleverly's new series

The seventh in Barbara Cleverly's Joe Sandilands series, FOLLY DU JOUR, comes out next month and is closely followed in October by the first in a new series, THE TOMB OF ZEUS. The new series features aspiring archeologist Laetitia Talbot and begins in Crete in 1928.

Book description fron Bantam Dell:
With the same flawless storytelling that earned her the CWA Historical Dagger Award, Barbara Cleverly delivers a dazzling new novel. Sweeping us to the exotic island of Crete in 1928, Cleverly introduces a marvelous new heroine: whip-smart and spirited Laetitia Talbot, an aspiring archaeologist with a passion for adventure–and for the mysteries that only the keenest eyes can see.

Born into a background of British privilege, Laetitia Talbot has been raised to believe there is no field in which she may not excel. She has chosen a career in the male-dominated world of archaeology, but she approaches her first assignment in Crete the only way she knows how–with dash and enthusiasm. Until she enters the Villa Europa, where something is clearly utterly amiss…

Her host, a charismatic archaeologist, is racing to dig up the fabled island’s next great treasure–even, perhaps, the tomb of the King of the Gods, himself. But then a beautiful young woman is found hanged and a golden youth drives his Bugatti over a cliff. From out of the shadows come whispers of past loves, past jealousies, and ancient myths that sound an eerie discord with present events. Letty will need all her determination and knowledge to unravel the secrets beneath the Villa Europa’s roof–and they will lead her into the darkest, most terrifying place of all….

You can also read an extract on the site. I do like the cover on the advance copy...



Currently, there doesn't appear to be a UK publication date but the US edition is listed on amazon.co.uk at a shade under six pounds.