Review Roundup: Griffiths, Law, Lipska, Sansom, Wanner, Watson

Here are six reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, all have appeared on the blog since last time*.

*I am trialling a new approach for the next few weeks in that all reviews will appear on the blog rather than being separate under the Euro Crime website. I feel this will give the reviews more exposure and make them more findable in a search engine. The reviews will appear daily ie Monday to Friday, with roundups on Sundays. This week has been British authors, next week will be Translated authors, the week after that Scottish authors and the week after that, is again Translated authors.

I'd be interested in any comments about this new approach. I think I'm the only one that worries about the distinction between blog and website! The blog is free and I currently pay to have the website. As it stands, if Euro Crime were to cease then the website would disappear after a couple of years but the blog might  remain indefinitely.

You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page and follow on Twitter, @eurocrime.

New Reviews

Michelle Peckham reviews Elly Griffiths's The Zig Zag Girl, the first in a new series set in post-war Brighton;


Ewa Sherman reviews J S Law's debut Tenacity set in a submarine;

Rich Westwood reviews Anya Lipska's A Devil Under the Skin, which is the third in the Kizska and Kershaw series;


Susan White reviews Lamentation by C J Sansom;

Amanda Gillies reviews Len Wanner's Tartan Noir: the Definitive Guide to Scottish Crime Fiction


and Michelle also reviews S J Watson's Second Life.

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

Review: Tartan Noir by Len Wanner

Tartan Noir by Len Wanner, April 2015, 256 pages, Freight Books, ISBN: 1910449083

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This book, which calls itself "the Definitive Guide to Scottish Crime Fiction", is simply wonderful. A beautiful, well-written assessment of what Tartan Noir actually is and how it came to be given that name. All too frequently Crime Fiction is described as not being 'proper' literature, that it is formulaic, simplistic and not worthy for consideration of things such as the Booker Prize. In complete contrast, therefore, what a delight to read an intellectual assessment of crime fiction that gives it, according to William McIlvanney, "deeper significance than is normally accorded".

TARTAN NOIR is divided into four chapters – each of which consider a different sub-genre of Scottish crime fiction; detective novels, police novels, serial killer novels and Noir novels. Each of these chapters thoroughly analyses its topic and includes an absorbing examination of ten different novels that fit within its remit. Throughout his writing, Wanner invites us to engage with what we are reading and to think about things for ourselves – which is one of the many excellent aspects of this highly-polished work that I love. TARTAN NOIR is so full of information that it must have been no small undertaking to produce and deserves to be widely known and read. At the end of the book you know exactly why Ian Rankin has become known as the King of Tartan Noir and why this isn't necessarily the truth. You will also have a very clear idea, maybe for the first time, of the distinctions between Tartan Noir and Scottish Noir, along with a whole heap of ideas of new books to read!

I loved every single page of this book and wholeheartedly recommend it to you. Don't skip bits! Read the whole thing! My favourite chapter was the final one. I was delighted to see an extended discussion of Allan Guthrie's "Slammer" – my all-time favourite book – and to finally have a name to put to the genre that I like best; Scottish Noir. TARTAN NOIR is a must-read for every fan of Scottish Crime Fiction. You will love it!

Extremely highly recommended.

Amanda Gillies, July 2015