New Reviews: Baylis, Brett, Charles, Connor, Corbin, Janes, Staincliffe, Weaver, Wilson

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, three have appeared on the blog since last time, 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

Lynn Harvey reviews The Tottenham Outrage by M H Baylis and she liked it very much;

Rich Westwood reviews Simon Brett's Blotto, Twinks and the Riddle of the Sphinx, which is now out in paperback;

Mark Bailey reviews Paul Charles's The Lonesome Heart is Angry, set in Northern Ireland;

Amanda Gillies reviews The Bosch Deception by Alex Connor;

Michelle Peckham reviews Now That You're Gone by Julie Corbin;


Terry Halligan reviews Tapestry by J Robert Janes, the fourteenth in the St-Cyr and Kohler series set in Occupied Paris;

Laura Root calls Cath Staincliffe's Letters to My Daughter's Killer - "a little gem";

Susan White reviews Fall From Grace by Tim Weaver, the fifth in his David Raker series and




Terry also reviews Robert Wilson's You Will Never Find Me, the second in his Charlie Boxer 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.

Review: Now That You're Gone by Julie Corbin

Now That You're Gone by Julie Corbin, June 2014, Hodder & Stoughton, ebook

Reviewed by Michelle Peckham.
(Read more of Michelle's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Set in Scotland, Isla’s life is turned upside down when her twin brother Dougie is found drowned in the Clyde in Glasgow. Isla can’t accept that her brother, an ex-marine, could have died in such a banal way. He’d only had 4 pints to drink in a local pub and he should have been able to swim to safety after falling in the river. As he worked as a private investigator, she is sure that he must have put himself in danger possibly as a result of his investigation into the disappearance of a young girl called Lucy. She thinks that his death was more than simply an accident as the police have concluded and is determined to prove it.

While the novel focuses on Isla’s attempts to get to the bottom of what caused Dougie’s death, the real story is about her life, her relationship with Dougie, her sister Marie, her parents, and her own children and ex-husband, and how she starts to re-evaluate aspects of those relationships. It’s also about her coming to terms with the shock of Dougie’s death and its unexpectedness. It was such a stupid and avoidable death, and she has to discover that there was something more to it as a way of giving his death more meaning. Her investigations lead to her making discoveries about Dougie, uncovering some of his secrets and learning things about him and his life that she didn’t know or realize. A short, excellent read that manages to capture the sense of loss when someone close dies, and the sense of desperation to make sense of it all.

Michelle Peckham, September 2014

New Reviews: Alec, Black, Brett, Corbin, Edwards, Lackberg, La Plante, Miller, Robinson

Here are this week's reviews:

Amanda Gillies reviews W Alec's Son of Perdition, which she highly recommends;

Equally recommended, this time by Terry Halligan, is Deadlock by Sean Black which is out in paperback;

I review the audio book of the second in this laugh out loud series written and read by Simon Brett: Blotto, Twinks and the Dead Dowager Duchess - think Wodehouse meets Christie;

Sarah Hilary was less enthralled with Julie Corbin's Where the Truth Lies but says it may appeal to "those who like their crime a shade lighter than dark";

Maxine Clarke reviews Martin Edwards's new book in the Lake District series The Hanging Wood which reaches the high standard of the earlier books;

Lynn Harvey reviews the US edition of Camilla Lackberg's The Preacher, tr. Steven T Murray;

Geoff Jones review the new "Anna Travis" from Lynda La Plante: Blood Line which he enjoyed but cautions readers to read the previous one, Blind Fury, first;

Laura Root reviews the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger short-listed Kiss Me Quick by Danny Miller

and Susan White reviews the paperback release of Bad Boy by Peter Robinson.

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