Reviews: Alaux & Balen, Bauer, Bilal, Fowler, Hannah, Judd, Shepherd, Todd, Whitney

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, four have appeared on the blog since last time, and five are completely new.

Please welcome new reviewer Ewa Sherman who makes her debut today.

A reminder that FriendFeed is being withdrawn on 9 April, so our crime and mystery group has new home on Facebook - Petrona's Crime and Mystery Friends. It's a closed group but there are admins in all time zones so you won't have to wait long to be approved. Do join us - new members are very welcome!

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 Jean-Pierre Alaux & Noel Balen's Deadly Tasting tr. Sally Pane the fourth in their cozy Winemaker series;

Michelle Peckham reviews Belinda Bauer's The Shut Eye;

Lynn Harvey reviews Parker Bilal's The Burning Gates, the fourth in his Makana series set in Egypt;


Mark Bailey reviews Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May - The Burning Man, the twelfth in this series which features London's Peculiar Crimes Unit;

Amanda Gillies reviews Mari Hannah's Killing for Keeps the fifth in the Detective Chief Inspector Kate Daniels series;


Ewa Sherman reviews Alan Judd's Inside Enemy which is the fourth in the Charles Thoroughgood series;

Terry Halligan reviews Lynn Shepherd's The Pierced Heart, the fourth in the Charles Maddox series;

Terry also reviews Charles Todd's A Fine Summer's Day a prequel in the Inspector Rutledge series

and Susan White reviews Rebecca Whitney's debut, The Liar's Chair.

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

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.

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

New Reviews: Connolly & Burke, Craig, Fowler, Harris, Kinnings, McGowan, Meyer, Robertson, Sinclair

Here are 9 new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today:

Rich Westwood reviews Books to Die For edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke, a collection of 120 essays from well-known authors about the books they love;

Geoff Jones reviews James Craig's third DI Carlyle book, Buckingham Palace Blues;

Mark Bailey reviews Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May and The Invisible Code, the tenth (and possibly last?) in the series;

Terry Halligan reviews Tessa Harris's debut novel, The Anatomist's Apprentice set in 1780 and introducing Dr Thomas Silkstone;

Lynn Harvey reviews Max Kinnings' Baptism the first in a series featuring blind hostage negotiator Ed Mallory, and set in the London Underground;

Susan White reviews Claire McGowan's The Fall, now out in paperback;

Maxine Clarke reviews Deon Meyer's [fabulous] 7 Days, tr. K L Seegers which sees the return of Benny Griessel. Check the blog later this week for an interview with Deon Meyer;

Amanda Gillies reviews Imogen Robertson's Island of Bones the third in the Gabriel Crowther and Harriet Westerman series, out in paperback, and also set in the 1780s

and JF reviews John Gordon Sinclair's debut Seventy Times Seven.

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.

Going Underground...

If you enjoyed Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May Off the Rails (my review) and/or are interested in knowing more about the London Underground then you might want to pick up train enthusiast and crime writer Andrew Martin's recently published Underground Overground:

Official blurb: This is an entertaining and enlightening social history of the world's most famous underground railway. Why is the Victoria Line so hot? What is an Electrical Multiple Unit? Is it really possible to ride from Kings Cross to Kings Cross on the Circle line? The London Underground is the oldest, most sprawling and illogical metropolitan transport system in the world, the result of a series of botch-jobs and improvisations. Yet it transports over one billion passengers every year - and this figure is rising. It is iconic, recognised the world over, and loved and despised by Londoners in equal measure. Blending reportage, humour and personal encounters, Andrew Martin embarks on a wonderfully engaging social history of London's underground railway system (which despite its name, is in fact 55 five per cent overground). Along the way he attempts to untangle the mess that is the Northern Line, visit every station in a single day - and find out which gaps to be especially mindful of. "The London Underground" is a highly enjoyable, witty and informative history of everything you need to know about the Tube.

I haven't read it yet as the library's sole copy has a long waiting list but I do plan to one day.

Harrogate - Crime in Another Dimension

The second panel of the day at Harrogate was Crime in Another Dimension. Talking cross-over novels were Ben Aaronovitch, (Euro Crime favourite) Christopher Fowler, Stuart MacBride and Charles Stross, moderated by David Quantick.

This was a chatty and funny panel with a running joke about changing your name by adding a letter or calling yourself  S J.

Here are my notes:

BA writes cross-overs due to laziness as he couldn't decide what genre to write so put it all in one novel. He's not sure if it is easier, but you have to write what you enjoy writing. Writers' ego believes that people will want to read what you've written.

CF start where you are most interested, Bryant & May contain supernatural but against the mythic background that is London. 2000 years of history. Asked why B & M not aging properly - because they're like the Simpsons, it's fiction! Addresses issue in new book (Bryant and May and the Invisible Code) though Bryant avoids answering.

BA made his hero 25 deliberately to avoid the Rankin problem (retirement age).

SM calls Halfhead a near future thriller not SF. He wrote it before the Logan books and would like to do something different but publishers not keen.

CS Rule 34 , set 15 years ahead. 90% of near future is here today. 9% is new stuff 1% unimaginable. As part of research he discovered that anything you can imagine - there's pornography about it.

David Tennant  was to narrate Cold Granite but got cast as Dr Who so didn't. (Some discussion about Michael Moorcock's Dr Who book - The Coming of the Terraphiles - apparently he didn't want to do it but they kept throwing money at him) SM available for Dr Who book project as loves Dr Who.

BA - book was originally a tv project, cliches bolted together, originally level entry role for a Jamaican woman but then wrote the name Peter Brant and background developed. You can pay police for info (300 pounds) and speak to a currently serving officer rather than a retired one.

CF - a bitter WPC sent him her notebooks, which seem to be in code with all the police acronyms!

CS - suggests looking for blogs of serving cops.

( I think BA said this) Wallander has no reason to be depressed, 1 murder every few years he should just be pleased when there's a murder!

Audience question:

Which book of their would the authors recommended you try

CS: The Atrocity Archives
SM: Currently unpublished novella, Ring of Githa (from sound of it won't get pubbed!)
CF: Kalabash
BA: Rivers of London

New Reviews: Douglas, Fowler, Hall, Holt, Jackson, Kitson, Knight, Ridpath, Villar

The British writers are getting about this week with settings ranging from Germany, Iceland, India and the US as well as closer to home: London, Yorkshire and Scotland. Mainland Europe writers are featured with Norway and Spain.

NB. The International Dagger winner will be announced next week so you only have a couple of days left to vote in the International Dagger Polls.

Here are the new 9 reviews:

Amanda Gillies reviews James Douglas's The Doomsday Testament;

I review the audio book version of Christopher Fowler's, Bryant & May Off the Rails narrated splendidly as ever by Tim Goodman;

Susan White reviews Tarquin Hall's third Vish Puri outing, The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken likening the author to P G Wodehouse;

Lynn Harvey reviews the paperback release of Anne Holt's Fear Not, tr. Marlaine Delargy the fourth (and best imho) in the Vik-Stubo series;

JF reviews David Jackson's second book set in New York, The Helper;

Terry Halligan reviews the sixth in Bill Kitson's Mike Nash series, Identity Crisis;

Terry also reviews Alanna Knight's The Seal King Murders set in 1861;

Maxine Clarke reviews Michael Ridpath's Meltwater the third in his Fire & Ice series set in Iceland

and Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback release of Domingo Villar's Death on a Galician Shore, tr. Sonia Soto which was shortlisted for last year's International Dagger.

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: Bryant & May Off the Rails by Christopher Fowler (audio book)

Bryant & May Off the Rails by Christopher Fowler read by Tim Goodman, Whole Story Audiobooks, April 2011, 9 CDs, ISBN: 9781407472713

Bryant & May Off the Rails is the eighth in this series which features London's Peculier Crime's Unit (the PCU) headed up by London's two most ancient detectives Arthur Bryant and John May. Fast friends but with completely different ways of working.

Off the Rails pretty much follows on directly from the tragic end to On the Loose. The PCU have one week to find the elusive killer, Mr Fox, a chameleon who is drawn to King's Cross Station. If they don't solve the case then they'll be shut down.

A second case is presented to them when a young woman is pushed down a flight of stairs in King's Cross Station and a sticker is left on her back. This sticker leads the team to the Karma bar and on to a house in Bloomsbury full of students. When one of the students impossibly disappears off a late-night underground train then pressure is increased on the remaining students as Arthur becomes convinced one of them is behind the disappearance.

The fascinating history of the London Underground is imparted to the listener via Mr Bryant and the security team at King's Cross. All sorts of legends and rumours as well as hard facts are presented and of course there's a field trip down there by Bryant and May. After much surveilling of suspects and attempts at magic tricks by Arthur, all routes finally lead to King's Cross in a dramatic ending where murder is thwarted by a most unlikely source.

This is another good entry in this innovative and informative series which mixes history with laughs. There is a late scene with "Acting Temporary Head of the PCU" Raymond Land which made me snort loudly on the train, delivered in such a dead-pan way by the always excellent Tim Goodman. Land also makes some attempt to clear up how old the two senior detectives are as he reckons that Arthur has moved the first case, Full Dark House, back by 15 years. Arthur disputes this so we are none the wiser.

Christopher Fowler is possibly the UK's answer to Fred Vargas, both take events which appear to be supernatural and provide rational explanations and both Bryant and Vargas's Adamsberg have very unorthodox ways of getting to the truth.

Read another Euro Crime review of Bryant & May Off the Rails.

More reviews of Christopher Fowler's books can be found on the Euro Crime website.

New Reviews: Ellis, Eriksson, Fowler, Higashino, Lambert, Williams

As promised, a final set of reviews for 2011. More reviews will appear early in the New Year. Do please read the Euro Crime reviewers Favourite Discoveries of 2011 which I'll continue to post next week.

Here are this week's reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews Joy Ellis's follow-up to Mask Wars, Shadowbreaker (which is set in my beloved Fens) and Michelle praises it highly;

Lynn Harvey reviews the recent UK release of Kjell Eriksson's The Princess of Burundi, tr. Ebba Segerberg the earliest of the "Ann Lindell" series available in English from an author Lynn likens to Henning Mankell (and for once the snowy cover is warranted);

Mark Bailey reviews the most recent of Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series: Bryant & May and the Memory of Blood;

I review the much talked-about The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino, tr. Alexander O Smith & Elye J Alexander;

Maxine Clarke begins her review of Charles Lambert's Any Human Face (set in a Rome) by saying that it is "an excellent, well-written novel of suspense"

and Terry Halligan is impressed with Andrew Williams's To Kill a Tsar.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here and new titles by Geraint Anderson, Richard Blake, Julia Crouch, Steven Dunne, James Forrester, Ann Granger, Grebe & Traff, Quintin Jardine, Michael Jecks, Alan Judd, Tom Knox, Lynda La Plante, Matt Lynn, The Medieval Murderers, G J Moffat, Kate Rhodes, Craig Robertson, Imogen Robertson, Jacqui Rose, Bob Shepherd, Simon Spurrier, Jason Steel and Jon Stock have been added to these pages this week.

New Reviews: Bauer, Fowler, Gomez-Jurado, Hannah, Leather, Russell, Walker, Walters

Here are this week's new reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews Belinda Bauer's sequel to the award-winning Blacklands, Darkside which is now out in paperback;

Rich Westwood reviews Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May off the Rails and catches up with London's oldest serving detectives...;

I review Juan Gomez-Jurado's The Traitor's Emblem, tr. Daniel Hahn which is more history than mystery;

Susan White reviews Sophie Hannah's Little Face and also reviews the "Flipback" format it came in;

Terry Halligan reviews Stephen Leather's sequel to Nightfall, Midnight which continues the story of Jack Nightingale with his sold-off soul;

Amanda Gillies adds Craig Russell's character "Lennox" to her list of favourites, here in in his second outing: The Long Glasgow Kiss;

Lynn Harvey reviews the fourth in Martin Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police series set in France: The Crowded Grave

and Maxine Clarke reviews Trust No One by Alex Walters (already known to Euro Crime readers as Michael Walters) which is set in Manchester (rather than Mongolia).

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here and new titles by M K Bates, Laurent Binet, Patrick Easter, Karin Fossum, Christopher Fowler, Tom Grieves, Ewart Hutton, Arnaldur Indridason and Craig Russell have been added to these pages this week.

New Reviews: Bruce, Campbell, Fowler, Francis, Hill, Leather, Miller

NB. No reviews next week as I'm on holiday!

Here are this week's reviews:

Susan White reviews Alison Bruce's second book in the Cambridge-set DC Goodhew series, The Siren, which is now available in paperback;

Maxine Clarke reviews Karen Campbell's fourth book in this loose Glasgow-based series, Proof of Life;

Rich Westwood reviews Christopher Fowler's, Bryant & May on the Loose, the seventh in this series featuring the two elderly policemen who work for London's Peculiar Crimes Unit;

Sarah Hilary reviews the new Dick Francis book Gamble written by Felix Francis and considers what does make a "Dick Francis novel"?;

Lynn Harvey reviews Casey Hill's Taboo the first in the series which brings Californian Reilly Steel to Ireland;

Terry Halligan reviews the new "Spider" book from Stephen Leather: Fair Game

and Michelle Peckham favourably reviews book of the moment, Snowdrops by A D Miller.

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

New Bryant & May on Audio Book

The March new releases from Whole Story Audiobooks sent me jumping for joy (and not just figuratively!) as another instalment of my favourite series on audio was released yesterday.

There are a few narrator-author combinations I seek out in preference to the print books even though it means a wait: Adjoa Andoh and the Mma Ramotse series by Alexander McCall Smith, Cathleen McCarron and the 'big Marge' series by Aline Templeton, Maggie Mash and the Liz Carlyle series by Stella Rimington and above all....Tim Goodman narrating the hilarious Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler.

1 March saw the release of Bryant and May on the Loose (and Bryant and May Off the Rails is "coming soon"):

Long regarded as an anachronism, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is to be disbanded. For octogenarian detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, it seems retirement is now the only option. But then a headless body is found in a freezer, and a suspicious, gigantic figure has been spotted - dressed in deerskin and sporting antlers made of knives. It looks like the PCU are back in business...

New Reviews: Fowler, Grace, Hall, Meyer, Monroe, Weeks

The newest competition which closes on 31 December: Win Murder on the Cliffs by Joanna Challis (UK & Europe only)

Here are the new reviews that have been added to the website (yesterday and) today:

Terry Halligan reviews The Victoria Vanishes by Christopher Fowler and he seems as taken with the series as I am;

Amanda Gillies reviews Tom Grace's The Secret Cardinal and she recommends it to "fans of Tom Clancy and Jack Higgins";

Amanda Brown reviews the latest in Simon Hall's photographer/police-officer series, The Judgement Book writing that "for me this is the best one yet";

Maxine Clarke reviews the paperback edition of Blood Safari by Dean Meyer, tr. K L Seegers (another one of my favourite authors) and Maxine begins her review: "an excellent thriller which held me completely entranced from the moment I opened it and read the first page";

Norman Price enjoyed Aly Monroe's Washington Shadow and is looking forward to more books with her series character Peter Cotton

and Michelle Peckham reviews Lee Weeks' third Johnny Mann book, Death Trip, the violence in which left her seeking a nice cosy read afterwards.

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

New Reviews: Fowler, Fox, Johnston, Russell, Sjowall & Wahloo, Vine

Here are this week's new reviews and the last chance to enter this month's competition:

Latest Reviews:

Amanda Brown is a convert to the Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler, she reviews the latest, The Victoria Vanishes, writing that she "enjoyed it immensely";

I leave Europe to visit Sydney where I review Kathryn Fox's Skin and Bone which I hope is the first of a new series starring Kate Farrer;

With the book cover that recently launched a 1000 blog entries (well at least three) - Paul Johnston's The Soul Collector is reviewed by Geoff Jones;

Terry Halligan reviews the latest from Craig Russell The Carnival Master which is the fourth outing for Hamburg detective Jan Fabel;

Maxine Clarke reviews Sjowall and Wahloo's The Laughing Policeman which she says "is another example of the controlled brilliance of this superb set of novels"

and in the second of a two part look at the latest from Baronesses James and Rendell, Fiona Walker reviews The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell); check out her earlier review of The Private Patient by P D James.


Current Competition:

Win a copy of Our Lady of Pain by Elena Forbes*

* restrictions apply (ends 31 August)

Christopher Fowler's White Corridor on audio

The latest of Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May series to be made available on audio book, is White Corridor. Like its predecessors, Full Dark House, The Water Room, The Seventy-Seven Clocks and Ten-Second Staircase it's superbly narrated by Tim Goodman and I found this one to be the most humorous of the lot.

The premise behind the books is that John May and Arthur Bryant are two elderly detectives, way past retirement age who head up the PCU: The Peculiar Crimes Unit in an office above Mornington Crescent tube station. In the previous books, as well as the other PCU staff, London has been a major character. The books ooze arcane knowledge of the great city. This time though, the 'boys' are stuck in a snow storm and there's a suspicious death back at PCU HQ. It's up to the PCU's very own 'Diana Dors' to work out what's happened, guided by mobile phone conversations with Bryant and May whilst they track down a killer in the snow.

Yvonne Klein has already reviewed The White Corridor, for Euro Crime, and I agree totally with her. This is a series not to be missed either in print or on audio. I've checked the book out of the library to get a couple of quotes:


[May] had always prided himself on his ability to embrace change, and had at least retained a walking pace beside the growth of modern police technology, adopting new techniques as they arrived. Bryant, on the other hand, loitered several metres behind each development, and occasionally drifted off in the opposite direction.

and after finding themselves stranded in a blizzard (on their way to a Spiritualists' Convention):

"Look on the bright side, John. We've plenty of warm clothing in the back. You helped me pack all those outfits for the show."

If you think I'm sitting here dressed in a fig-leaf body stocking and a Protestant cleric's cassock, Arthur, you're sadly mistaken."

New Reviews & April's Competitions

Here are this week's new reviews and details of the two new competitions for April (with no geographical restrictions):

Latest Reviews:

It's time for Mike Ripley's March Crime File in which he reviews A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr, Silesian Station by David Downing, The Mesmerist's Apprentice by L M Jackson and Orpheus Rising by Colin Bateman;

I review the latest Bryant and May title by Christopher Fowler to make it onto audiobook: Ten-Second Staircase - I just love this series which is so well narrated by Tim Goodman;

New Euro Crime reviewer Amanda Gillies opens her account with her take on Allan Guthrie's Savage Night, calling it "noir fiction at its best";

Fiona Walker provides the low down on the latest antics of Dalziel and Pascoe in Reginald Hill's A Cure For All Diseases and explains why she found it "mostly brilliant";

Maxine reviews Brian McGilloway's follow up to Borderlands - Gallows Lane which "leaves the reader looking forward to more"

and Maxine loved the latest offering from Catherine Sampson The Pool of Unease which takes the series character to China.


Current Competitions (closing date 30 April):

Win a copy of The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin

Win a copy of An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson

(there are no geographical restrictions on entrants)

The Peculiar Crimes Unit is back (on Audiobook)

I absolutely adore Tim Goodman's interpretation of Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series and I was extremely pleased to find that Ten-Second Staircase has now come out on audio. It's been a bit of a wait, nearly two years since Seventy-Seven Clocks... The Birmingham library service has several copies so I should hopefully get my mitts on it on Tuesday.

I've previously reviewed the audio versions of The Water Room and The Seventy Seven Clocks.

You can hear 'Bryant' explaining the reason why they are called the Peculiar Crimes Unit here, in this sample from Seventy-Seven Clocks.