New Reviews: Downing, FitzGerald, French, Giambanco, Jordan, McIlvanney, Matthews, Nesbo, Wagner

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.

Terry Halligan reviews David Downing's Jack of Spies, set just before World War One;


Susan White reviews Helen FitzGerald's The Cry;

Michelle Peckham reviews Nicci French's Waiting for Wednesday, the third in the Frieda Klein series;

Lynn Harvey reviews V M Giambanco's debut, The Gift of Darkness, set in Seattle;

Amanda Gillies reviews Will Jordan's Sacrifice, the second in his Ryan Drake series;

Geoff Jones reviews Liam McIlvanney's Where the Dead Men Go, set in Glasgow;

Terry also reviews Jeanne Matthews's fourth Dinah Pelerin mystery, Her Boyfriend's Bones, this time set on the Greek island of Samos;

I review Jo Nesbo's Police tr. Don Bartlett, "the new Harry Hole thriller" according to the cover...


and I also review Jan Costin Wagner's Light in a Dark House, tr. Anthea Bell the fourth in the haunting Kimmo Joentaa series set in Finland.


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.

Reviews: Billingham, Blake, Bolton, Cotterill, Fitzgerald, Parot & New Competitions

Three new competitions for August, prizes are: The Third Pig Detective Agency by Bob Burke, Relics of the Dead by Ariana Franklin and Blood Law by Steven Hague (some restrictions apply).

Here are this week's reviews:

Tom Thorne is back in Mark Billingham's Blood Line, which reviewer Craig Sisterson calls a "taut tour de force";

Rome in AD 608 is the setting for Conspiracies of Rome by Richard Blake reviewed by Terry Halligan who found it to be "one of the most atmospheric historical novels I've read in years";

Amanda Gillies calls S J Bolton's Awakening "superb" despite her snake phobia;

Michelle Peckham reviews Dagger Winner Colin Cotterill's fourth Laos mystery Anarchy and Old Dogs concluding it's "an entertaining read that is thoroughly recommended";

Maxine Clarke has mixed views on My Last Confession by Helen Fitzgerald

and Laura Root has another enjoyable excursion into pre-revolutionary France in the third of the Nicolas Le Floch series by Jean-François Parot, The Phantom of Rue Royale.

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

Reviews: Charles, Fitzgerald, French, Ingram, Jones & Allison, McGilloway

The current competition runs until 4 July (UK only I'm afraid): win a copy of The Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard, donated by the translator Tiina Nunnally.

Following on from last week, here's part two of the focus on Irish authors. Along with 2 Irish authors and 1 Northern Irish there are two Scottish and two English (writing together) authors reviewed today:

Geoff Jones reviews The Beautiful Sound of Silence by Paul Charles;

Maxine Clarke reviews Dead Lovely by Helen Fitzgerald writing "it slips down a treat - like an ice-cream with a vindaloo centre";

Michelle Peckham reviews The Likeness by Tana French concluding that it's "an engrossing read, and one to definitely recommend";

Paul Blackburn reviews The Stone Gallows by C David Ingram;

Terry Halligan reviews The Last Straight Face by Bruce Kennedy Jones & Eric Allison

and Norman Price reviews Gallows Lane by Brian McGilloway saying that the main character is "a successor to Rebus and Morse".

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