New Reviews: Bourland, Dean, Dryden, Hill, Kelly, Meredith, Rickman, Seymour, Winspear

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

Earlier this week I reviewed on the blog, Fabrice Bourland's The Dream Killer of Paris tr. Morag Young the second in the Singleton and Trelawney series set in the 1930s;

Amanda Gillies reviews A M Dean's debut The Lost Library;

Lynn Harvey reviews Alex Dryden's thriller Death in Siberia the fourth in the Anna Resnikov series but Lynn says also works well as a standalone;

Maxine Clarke reviews Antonio Hill's The Summer of Dead Toys tr. Laura McGoughlin set in a steamy Barcelona [this will be in my top ten reads of 2012];

Geoff Jones reviews Jim Kelly's Death's Door, the fourth in his Valentine/Shaw series set in Norfolk [fans of his Dryden series please note that a new book in that series, Nightrise, has just come out];

Terry Halligan reviews the UK release of D E Meredith's debut Devoured which introduces Victorian forensic pathologists Hatton and Roumande;

Rich Westwood reviews Phil Rickman's The Heresy of Dr Dee the second in his Elizabethan series;

Terry also reviews E V Seymour's fourth 'Paul Tallis' thriller Resolution to Kill available on Kindle

and Susan White reviews the newest Maisie Dobbs from Jacqueline Winspear Elegy for Eddie - "a real joy".

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 Dream Killer of Paris by Fabrice Bourland

The Dream Killer of Paris by Fabrice Bourland translated by Morag Young, August 2012, 215 pages, Gallic Books, ISBN: 190604032X

"We sat in a cafe on Rue de Rivoli. Through the window I could see the vast form of the Hotel de Ville and, in front, the old Place de Greve where so many villains had been quartered in the Middle Ages and much of the nobility had been decapitated during the Revolution."

THE DREAM KILLER OF PARIS is the second in the Singleton and Trelawney series after THE BAKER STREET PHANTOM. Andrew Singleton (Canadian) and James Trelawney (American) are private detectives working out of London. It's 1934 and in a quiet period of work, Singleton decides to go to Paris and investigate the apparent suicide of the poet Gerard de Nerval, which took place 70 odd years before.

On the cross-Channel ferry however Singleton is assailed by a vision. He sees the picture of a country scene hanging in the air over the sea and what's more the woman next to him can see it too. Both the vision and the woman disappear leaving Singleton bewildered.

Singleton's not been in Paris long when his friend Superintendent Fourier of the Sûreté intercepts him and asks for his help (again). Two deaths have occurred in locked rooms with no sign of foul play except for the look of terror on the victims' faces.

The victims both had an interest in dreams and the supernatural and both had received a visit beforehand by a mysterious Austrian gentleman. Singleton is joined by his friend Trelawney and along with the police they try to track down the Austrian before he visits anyone else.

On the back of the book, there is the categorisation of Crime/Fantasy which is quite accurate as this is not a crime novel where the usual rules apply; clues come via dreams, a medium and the solution to the crime is fantastical. So long as you're happy with that approach then this is an interesting read with the inclusion of real-life figures: historians, scientists, artists, adding weight to the increasingly otherworldly storyline. Plus there's the bonus of an evocative Parisian setting.

THE DREAM KILLER OF PARIS is a quick read and Singleton alludes to many other cases that they have solved so I expect there are a few more Singleton and Trelawney books in the pipeline, which I look forward to reading.

New Reviews: Bourland, Patterson-Marklund, Roslund-Hellstrom

Last call: Closing today. September's Competition which is open internationally:
Win one of three copies of From the Dead by Mark Billingham (Worldwide)

Here are this week's reviews, sorry there's only 3 this time but I'm away this weekend. Normal service should be resuming very soon!:

Terry Halligan reviews The Baker Street Phantom by Fabrice Bourland, tr. Morag Young;

I review the Patterson-Marklund collaboration that is: Postcard Killers (definitely not the next Stieg Larsson);

and Maxine Clarke reviews the "addictive thriller" Three Seconds by Roslund-Hellstrom, tr. Kari Dickson which is published today.

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