Reviews: Bolton, Carter & Ripley, Ferris, Holt, James, Jones, McKinty, Vargas, Woodhouse

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.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Amanda Gillies reviews the paperback release of Sharon Bolton's Like This, For Ever, the third in the Lacey Flint series;

Albert Campion returns in Mr Campion's Farewell, based on Philip Youngman Carter's unfinished manuscript and completed by Mike Ripley, reviewed here by Terry Halligan;

Terry also reviews Gordon Ferris's Gallowglass, the newest and final book in the Douglas Brodie series;

Amanda also reviews the first part in the Carnivia trilogy - The Abomination - by Jonathan Holt, set in Venice and now available in paperback;

Rich Westwood reviews Almost Love the second in the DCI Yates series by Christina James, set in the Lincolnshire Fens;

Geoff Jones reviews Carys Jones's Prime Deception, a political thriller (ebook only);

Mark Bailey reviews In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty, the third in the Sean Duffy series;

Lynn Harvey reviews Freg Vargas's Dog Will Have His Day, tr. Sian Reynolds, the second in the "Three Evangelists" series

and Michelle Peckham reviews After the Silence the first part in Jake Woodhouse's Amsterdam Quartet.


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.

New Reviews: Crouch, Dunne, Ferris, Hannah, Harper, Kallentoft, Kitchin, O'Connor, Shaw

This week's set of reviews, added to Euro Crime today, is a mixture of new reviews and a catch-up of those posted directly on the blog in the last two weeks, so you may have read some of them before if you're a regular :).

Jut a reminder: I've now set up a Euro Crime page on Facebook which you can like.

Michelle Peckham calls Julia Crouch's Tarnished, an "excellent book";

Geoff Jones reviews Steven Dunne's The Unquiet Grave, the fourth in the Derby-set DI Damen Brook series;

Susan White reviews the paperback release of Gordon Ferris's Pilgrim Soul;

Susan also reviews the paperback release of Sophie Hannah's The Carrier;

Amanda Gillies reviews Tom Harper's The Orpheus Descent;

Lynn Harvey reviews Mons Kallentoft's Savage Spring, tr. Neil Smith, the fourth in the Detective Malin Fors series;

Rich Westwood reviews Rob Kitchin's screwball-noir Stiffed;

Terry Halligan reviews Niamh O'Connor's Too Close For Comfort, the third in the Dublin-based Det. Sup. Jo Birmingham series

and Terry also reviews William Shaw's debut, A Song From Dead Lips, the first in a series set in the 1960s.

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: Pilgrim Soul by Gordon Ferris

Pilgrim Soul by Gordon Ferris, August 2013, 416 pages, Atlantic Books, ISBN: 0857897624

Reviewed by Susan White.
(Read more of Susan's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Douglas Brodie is an ex-soldier, ex-policeman now working as a crime reporter in Glasgow in the late 1940s. His landlady, also his girlfriend, is an advocate. She asks him to investigate a series of burglaries that are targeting the Jewish émigré community when the police seem to be ignoring the crimes. At the same time she is asked to go to Germany to assist with the ongoing prosecution of Nazi soldiers.

Douglas reluctantly starts to investigate but soon finds a link with Germans fleeing the prosecutions - someone appears to be helping certain high level officers escape the justice of the courts. He is coerced into going to Germany to give evidence regarding the interrogations that he undertook of some of the prisoners. Enlisted again into the army with a temporary promotion he uses the opportunity to further his enquiries into the escape route on behalf of the secret services.

As his investigations lead him closer to the Germans he is seeking, he realises that he, his amateur team of Jewish helpers, and his ex-policeman friend Danny, have a traitor in their midst - and it seems that they are not the only people hunting on the streets of Glasgow.

PILGRIM SOUL is a very exciting, but harrowing, story. Very well written and with well rounded characters, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are quite graphic descriptions - or perhaps that was my imagination filling in the gaps - of the atrocities carried out in the concentration camps, not only the deaths of millions but also the way that prisoners were experimented upon.

I am not a fan of war novels, so my enjoyment was a surprise to me. This is not a novel for anyone of a nervous disposition but I recommend it as a good read. One that will remain with me for a long time. Gordon Ferris is someone on my must read list - I must read the others in the series.

Read another review of PILGRIM SOUL.

Susan White, August 2013

New Reviews: Bilal, Enger, Ferris, Meredith, Russell, Santora, Sherez

Seven new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:

Lynn Harvey reviews Parker Bilal's Dogstar Rising, set in Cairo in 2001 and featuring former policeman Makana;

Laura Root reviews the Petrona Award shortlisted Pierced by Thomas Enger, tr. Charlotte Barslund, the sequel to Burned.

Michelle Peckham reviews Gordon Ferris's Pilgrim Soul, the third in the Douglas Brodie series, set just after World War Two;

Terry Halligan reviews D E Meredith's follow-up to Devoured: The Devil's Ribbon featuring the Victorian forensic pathologists Hatton and Roumande;

Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's fifth DI Geraldine Steel book, Stop Dead;

Susan White reviews Nick Santora's Fifteen Digits

and Terry also reviews Stav Sherez's Eleven Days, the second in the Carrigan and Miller series.



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.

Free Ebook: The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris

Gordon Ferris's The Hanging Shed is still free for UK Kindle.

Read the Euro Crime review here.

Gordon Ferris's bilbilography on Euro Crime (with more reviews) is here.

Favourite Discoveries 2012 (4)

Today's instalment of favourite discoveries of 2012 comes from Geoff Jones. He chooses a best-selling Scottish author.

Geoff Jones's Favourite Discovery of 2012

I enjoy Amazon's kindle promotions where they let you purchase a book by a new author for a nominal amount and once hooked the price increases for the follow up books to the correct one (which is fair enough!).

This year I started reading Gordon Ferris's books. He has two series on the go. The first one was Danny McRae and there have been two books so far, set in London post second world war. He has been badly injured in the war and is trying to make a living as a private investigator. The second series and my particular favourite is Douglas Brodie. Again there have been two books so far, set in post war Glasgow. Brodie is a journalist and knows some of the most violent villains. Brodie becomes friendly with an Advocate – Samantha Campbell. Both series are well written and very violent but gripping. The amount of research and attention to detail is immense when you are setting a series around sixty years ago. Interestingly in January (ebook)/ April (print) there is a third Brodie book (Pilgrim Soul) and this will feature the characters from both series – sounds interesting.

There are several authors who owe their sales to these promotions, James Craig also is another one to look out for. 

TV & Film adaptations rarely work for me. Lynda La Plante is an exception (probably because of her TV background) but other favourite characters don't translate to the small screen. For example Rebus and Alan Banks are poor adaptations, partly I think because you have in your imagination how a book character's description looks like and the actor doesn't match your imagination ideal!

Read Geoff's reviews here.

Read the Euro Crime reviews of Gordon Ferris's books and James Craig's.

New Reviews: Bonnot, Brody, Camilleri, Clements, Dunne, Ferris, Heller, Lackberg, Toyne

During April (closes 30th) you can enter a competition to win a copy of Julia Crouch's Every Vow You Break. There are no geographical restrictions. Answer the question and fill in the form here.

Here are this week's reviews of which there are 9 again. There are also more updates to the new releases pages (see below):

Laura Root reviews Xavier-Marie Bonnot's The Voice of the Spirits, tr. Justin Phipps, the third book to feature Marseilles inspector De Palma;

Lizzie Hayes reviews Frances Brody's third Kate Shackleton mystery Murder in the Afternoon now out in trade paperback;

Maxine Clarke reviews Andrea Camilleri's The Potter's Field, tr. Stephen Sartarelli - "an excellent book";

Susan White reviews Prince by Rory Clements, the third in the Tudor John Shakespeare series which is now out in paperback;

Geoff Jones reviews Steven Dunne's Deity, the third in his Derby based DI Brook series;

Terry Halligan reviews Gordon Ferris's second Douglas Brodie outing, Bitter Water set in Glasgow;

Lynn Harvey reviews Mandasue Heller's Manchester based Lost Angel which should appeal to Martina Cole fans;

Rich Westwood reviews the paperback release of Camilla Lackberg's The Gallows Bird, now titled The Stranger, tr. Steven T Murray

and Amanda Gillies reviews Simon Toyne's sequel to Sanctus, The Key.

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. Titles by Simon Brett, Frances Brody, Anders de la Motte, Anna Dean, Barry Fantoni, Casey Hill, Juris Jurjevics, Pia Juul, Lars Kepler, Adrian Magson, Pat McIntosh, Russel D McLean, Theresa Murphy, J A O'Brien, Jean-Francois Parot, Stella Rimington, Sara Sheridan, Martin Walker, Evonne Wareham and Carlos Zanon have been added to these pages this week.

Monumentally Similar

Gordon Ferris's The Hanging Shed out now and Craig Russell's next Lennox book, Dead Men and Broken Hearts will be out in June. Both books are set around 50 years ago, one in London, one in Glasgow.

New Reviews: Anderson, Ferris, McDermid, Moffat, Stanley, Templeton & Website Updates

Earlier today I discovered that Scotland will have its first dedicated crime festival in September: Bloody Scotland so I have gone with a Scottish theme today (with the exception of a review of the current (African) competition prize!)

...and the competition prize: Win Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley (no geographical restrictions).

Here are this week's reviews:

Amanda Gillies reviews Lin Anderson's sixth Rhona Macleod instalment, Final Cut (look out for Amanda's review of Picture Her Dead which I have in the queue to post, plus the first few books in this series are extremely cheap in Kindle and epub format at the moment);

Rich Westwood reviews Gordon Ferris's The Unquiet Heart the second in the post-WW2 Danny McRae PI series (also available at a good price on Kindle);

Laura Root reviews Val McDermid's non-series book, Trick of the Dark;

Amanda also reviews Blindside the third in this series by G J Moffat;

Michelle Peckham reviews the current competition prize, Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley calling it "a very entertaining read"

and Michelle also reviews Aline Templeton's Cradle to Grave the latest in the "Big Marge" series.

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

Website Update

State of play at 22.01.12:

The Author Websites page now lists 917 sites.

The New & Upcoming Releases pages have been updated (added since last weekend - Richard Crompton, R J Ellory, Mari Hannah, James McGee and Karen Maitland).

In Bibliographies there are now bibliographies for 1735 authors (8893 titles with links to 2174 reviews):

I've added new bibliographies for: George Arion, M K Bates, David Belbin, Nancy Bilyeau, Laurent Binet, Kevin Brophy, Peter James, Cottrell, Richard Crompton, Howard Cunnell, Maurizio De Giovanni, Hannah Dennison, Mark Douglas-Home, Zoran Drvenkar, Ruth Dugdall, Caryl Ferey, Camilla Grebe & Asa Traff, Alex Grecian, Tom Grieves, Paul Grossman, Penny Hancock, Mari Hannah, Antonio Hill, Hjorth-Rosenfeldt, Bogdan Hrib, Ewart Hutton, Victor Arnar Ingolfsson, Laurie R King, Peter Leonard, David Mark, Alex Marwood, Matt McGuire, Hakan Ostlundh, Chris Pavone, Oliver Potzsch, Jutta Progijt, Kate Rhodes, Jacqui Rose, Alexander Soderberg, Dag Solstad, Jason Steel, Oana Stoica-Mujea, Ferdinand von Schirach, Kate Williams, Tom Winship.

I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Geraint Anderson, Patti Battison, M C Beaton, James Becker, Mark Billingham Benjamin Black, Helen Black, Sara Blaedel, Richard Blake, Xavier-Marie Bonnot, Stephen Booth, Rhys Bowen, Gyles Brandreth, William Brodrick, Ken Bruen, Andrea Camilleri, C S Challinor, Sam Christer, Cassandra Clark, Rory Clements, Alex Connor, Julie Corbin, James Craig, Adam Creed, Julia Crouch, Judith Cutler, Diego De Silva, P C/Paul Doherty, Carola Dunn, Steven Dunne, Patrick Easter, R J Ellory, Giorgio Faletti, Conor Fitzgerald, James Forrester, Karin Fossum, Christopher Fowler, Nicci French, Robert Goddard, Ann Granger, Barry Grant, Alex Gray, J M Gregson, M R Hall, Patricia Hall, Oliver Harris, C S Harris, John Harvey, Elizabeth Haynes, James Henry, Paulus Hochgatterer, Arnaldur Indridason, Quintin Jardine, Michael Jecks, Roderic Jeffries, Paul Johnston, Susanna Jones, Alan Judd, Jim Kelly, Graeme/G W Kent, Bill Kitson, Bernard Knight, Tom Knox, Marek Krajewski, Roberta Kray, Lynda La Plante, Camilla Lackberg, T S Learner, Donna Leon, Peter Lovesey, Matt Lynn, Karen Maitland, Edward Marston, Andrew Martin, Faith Martin, Peter May, Kathleen McCaul, Andy McDermott, James McGee, M J McGrath, The Medieval Murderers, Danny Miller, G J Moffat, Susan Moody, R N Morris, Ian Morson, Colin Murray, Amy Myers, Hakan Nesser, Chris Nickson, Felix Palma, Caro Peacock, Anne Perry, Leif GW Persson, Sarah Pinborough, R T Raichev, Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Linda Regan, Ruth Rendell, Craig Robertson, Imogen Robertson, Eileen Robertson, Rosemary Rowe, Pauline Rowson, Craig Russell, Giorgio Scerbanenco, Kate Sedley, Bob Shepherd, Frank Smith, Alexander McCall Smith, Roz Southey, Simon Spurrier, Gunnar Staalesen, Lyndon Stacey, Cath Staincliffe, Veronica Stallwood, Jon Stock, D J Taylor, James Thompson, Rebecca Tope, M J Trow, Nicola Upson, Roland Vernon, Jason Webster, Louise Welsh, Andrew Williams, Elizabeth Wilson, Laura Wilson, Jacqueline Winspear, Tom Wood, Simon Wood and Juli Zeh.

If you spot any errors or omissions do let me know.

New Reviews: Becker, Bruce, Dahl, Ferris, Griffiths, Tallis & Reviewers' Top 5s

As well as 6 new reviews, I have uploaded the Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2011, by reviewer. Tomorrow I will announce the favourite book, favourite author and favourite translator of 2011 (based on the aforementioned submissions!).

The competition's still open: win Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley (no geographical restrictions).

Here are this week's reviews:

Amanda Gillies reviews the latest from James Becker, The Nosferatu Scroll (or The Vampires of Venice for Dr Who fans...?) which continues the high standard of the earlier books;

Alison Bruce's, third DC Goodhew book, The Calling is listed in Susan White's 5 favourite reads of 2011;

Laura Root reviews K O Dahl's Lethal Investments, tr. Don Bartlett which is the first in the Oslo-based Gunnarstranda and Frohlich series;

Terry Halligan reviews Gordon Ferris's post World War II set Truth Dare Kill the first in the Danny McRae series;

Maxine Clarke reviews the fourth and latest in the increasingly popular Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths: A Room Full of Bones set in North Norfolk

and Lynn Harvey reviews Frank Tallis's Death and the Maiden the sixth in this historical series set in Vienna, which is now available in paperback.

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 Patti Battison, Rhys Bowen, Gyles Brandreth, C S Challinor, Cassandra Clark, Rory Clements, Julie Corbin, Peter James, Cottrell Howard Cunnell, Maurizio De Giovanni, Diego De Silva, Mark Douglas-Home, Nicci French, Alex Grecian, J M Gregson, Patricia Hall, C S Harris, Elizabeth Haynes, Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson, Roderic Jeffries, Laurie R King, Bernard Knight, Peter Lovesey, Faith Martin, Susan Moody, Amy Myers, Chris Nickson, Chris Pavone, Caro Peacock, Anne Perry, Oliver Potzsch, Jutta Profijt, Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Linda Regan, Eileen Robertson, Rosemary Rowe, Pauline Rowson, Kate Sedley, Frank Smith, James Thompson, Rebecca Tope, Louise Welsh, Andrew Williams and Simon Wood have been added to these pages this week.

New Reviews: Dawson, Duns, Ferris, Gakas, Grindle, Janes, Knight, Lackberg

Here are this week's reviews:

Terry Halligan reviews Sequence by Adrian Dawson, writing that it was "the best that I've read this year";

Geoff Jones reviews Jeremy Duns's Song of Treason (formerly known as Free Country) which is out in paperback;

Lizzie Hayes recommends post-war thriller, The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris which has done well on Kindle;

I review Ashes by Sergios Gakas, tr. Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife which I enjoyed very much despite it being darker than my usual reads;

Lynn Harvey reviews Lucretia Grindle's The Lost Daughter which is the second in her Italian police series, and covers more than just a crime;

Susan White reviews the paperback release of Diane Janes's Why Don't You Come For Me? which she found unsettling;

Amanda Gillies goes back to the 12C to review the paperback edition of Bernard Knight's A Plague of Heretics

and Maxine Clarke reviews the latest (in English) from Camilla Lackberg, translated this time by Tiina Nunnally: The Hidden Child.

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