Review: Good Friday by Lynda La Plante

Good Friday by Lynda La Plante, August 2017, 400 pages, Zaffre, ISBN: 1785762818

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

During 1974 and 1975 the IRA subjected London to a terrifying bombing campaign. In one day alone, they planted seven bombs at locations across central London. Some were defused - some were not.

Jane Tennison is now a fully-fledged detective. On the way to court one morning, Jane passes through Covent Garden Underground station and is caught up in a bomb blast that leaves several people dead, and many horribly injured. Jane is a key witness, but is adamant that she can't identify the bomber. When a photograph appears in the newspapers, showing Jane assisting the injured at the scene, it puts her and her family at risk from IRA retaliation.

'Good Friday' is the eagerly awaited date of the annual formal CID dinner, due to take place at St Ermin's Hotel. Hundreds of detectives and their wives will be there. It's the perfect target. As Jane arrives for the evening, she realises that she recognises the parking attendant as the bomber from Covent Garden. Can she convince her senior officers in time, or will another bomb destroy London's entire detective force?

This was a very atmospheric and fast moving story. I was gripped by this fabulous page turning read. I have not read any of the Tennison stories before but have distant memories of the TV series and in 2010 I reviewed her book BLIND FURY, which featured her other protagonist DI Anna Travis and was very impressed with that story. I remember the 1970s very well and the IRA bombing campaign was very shocking and the TV news reports very filled with all the latest outrages and the difficult reporting of all the latest news from Northern Ireland.

This was thoroughly engrossing read and the very experienced author has done her research impeccably and the book is infused with period detail to give a real flavour of life as I remembered during the mid 1970s. One just could not fault the plotting of this story. The dramatic plot with many twists and turns in the story telling kept me gripped until the sensational conclusion. Very strongly recommended.

Terry Halligan, September 2017

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.

January's Books to TV shows

The tv version of Michael Dibdin's Zen series will begin on 2 January on BBC One at 9pm. It starts with the second book in the series, Vendetta, and stars Rufus Sewell as Aurelio Zen. Cabal will be shown on 9 January. Read an interview with the stars, Rufus Sewell and Caterina Murino on the BBC website.

In Vendetta, Zen is called upon by the Ministry to re-investigate a multiple murder. Flamboyant millionaire and Government construction magnate Oscar Faso and his guests have been shot dead at his lavish villa. Prime suspect and friend of Faso, Renato Favelloni, has "found God" in prison and is retracting his confession, a move which stands to send shockwaves through Government – so Zen must intervene. All the evidence points towards Favelloni's guilt but Zen is convinced he is innocent. Zen heads into the mountains to investigate, reluctant to leave the promise of romance with Tania Moretti, the Chief's new assistant.

As he leaves, news breaks of another murder: Judge Bertolini, an anonymous figure in the Italian judicial system, is shot dead in his car. What Zen doesn't realise is that this unconnected murder is part of a vendetta carried out by a man wrongly imprisoned by Bertolini years earlier. More importantly, Zen's involvement in the case means he is next on the hit-list.

As he struggles between doing the right thing and saving his career, Zen must contend with hostile locals, an attempted kidnapping and a chase through a maze of underground tunnels while the killers draw ever closer to him.

The tv adaptation of the fourth book in the Anna Travis series, Deadly Intent, by Lynda La Plante is being shown in January. The first of the three-parter will be on 3 January at 9pm on ITV1.

DI Anna Travis (Kelly Reilly) is back after her promotion, reunited with DCS James Langton (Ciarán Hinds) and DCI Mike Lewis (Shaun Dingwall), who is also promoted to head up his first murder case, a fatal shooting in a notorious drug dealer’s squat. The victim is Frank Brandon (Callum Sutherland), disgraced ex-police officer and friend of Langton’s. The team discover that Frank has recently married Julia Larson (Stine Stengade), a glamorous, wealthy woman, after working as her driver. It’s an incongruous set-up, and Travis digs deeper into the not-so-grieving widow’s story.

You can read more about the plot and also "Lynda La Plante explains why her latest protagonists in Above Suspicion work so well" at the ITV website.

New Reviews: Bale, Camilleri, Cross, La Plante, Moffat, Nesser, Robinson

Two competitions for August and one is open internationally:
Win one of three sets of Lockdown and Deadlock by Sean Black (Worldwide)
Win one of five copies of Inspector Cataldo's Criminal Summer by Luigi Guicciardi, tr Iain Halliday (UK & Europe)

Here are this week's reviews, including an extra one this week:

Paul Blackburn reviews Tom Bale's second Sussex based thriller Terror's Reach;

I review The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri, tr. Stephen Sartarelli the latest in the loveable Montalbano series;

Craig Sisterson reviews Captured by Neil Cross which is now out in paperback;

Terry Halligan reviews the newest Anna Travis book from Lynda La Plante: Blind Fury;

Amanda Gillies reviews G J Moffat's follow-up to Daisychain - Fallout, set in Glasgow;

Maxine Clarke reviews the fifth Inspector Van Veeteren novel, The Inspector and Silence by Hakan Nesser, tr. Laurie Thompson

and Norman Price is pleased to get re-acquainted with Alan Banks in Peter Robinson's Bad Boy, which came out last week.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and (a recently expanded list of) forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

Stats and The Red Dahlia

The stats package that comes with my website hosting has changed recently and I finally got round to looking at what it now provides and very excitingly I can have a weekly and a daily email showing me which pages have been viewed and how many times etc. Yesterday I did a screen grab of the pages visited the most between 3rd and 10th January and due to the popularity of ITV's The Red Dahlia, the most popular review for that time-period (and possibly ever), on the website is Lynda La Plante's The Red Dahlia which has ten times as many visits as any other review:

3-10 January 2010

Of the reviews posted yesterday - in the stats for Sunday, The Lost Sister nudges out The Red Dahlia, just. (The tv fuelled enthusiasm for The Red Dahlia having now died down.)

The Red Dahlia can be watched on the official ITV programme website.

New Reviews: Badoe, Kernick, La Plante, O'Brien, Somer, Twining

a) Two competitions are currently running:

i)Win Beautiful Dead: Arizona by Eden Maguire (UK only)
ii)Win Sheer Folly by Carola Dunn (UK/Europe only)

Details on how to enter can be found on the Competition page

b) Here are the new reviews that have been added to the website today:

Maxine Clarke reviews Yaba Badoe's debut novel, True Murder which, Maxine suggests, should appeal to fans of Ruth Rendell and Morag Joss;

Michelle Peckham reviews the latest from Britain's answer to Harlan Coben, Simon Kenick's Target;

Geoff Jones reviews the new DI Anna Travis book from Lynda La Plante, Silent Scream;

Jacquot's back: Terry Halligan reviews the return of French detective Jacquot in Martin O'Brien's Confession;

I review the latest in one of the more unusual crime fiction series: The Gigolo Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer, tr. Kenneth Dakan

and Amanda Gillies reviews the most recent in James Twining's Tom Kirk Art Thief series: The Geneva Deception.

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

Lynda La Plante's The Red Dahlia to be filmed

From the Stage:

ITV has commissioned a sequel to Lynda La Plante’s Above Suspicion, which will once again star Kelly Reilly and Ciaran Hinds.

Above Suspicion: The Red Dahlia will be a three-part drama based on La Plante’s novel of the same name, which focuses on detective Anna Travis.

It will be produced by La Plante Productions, with filming starting later this year.

Reilly will once again take on the role of Travis, with Hinds playing her boss, Detective Chief Inspector Langton.

Read the whole article, here.

Read the euro crime review of The Red Dahlia.

New Reviews: Burdett, Dobbs, La Plante, Sigurdardottir

The following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website:

New Reviews:

Laura Root reviews the third in John Burdett's Bangkok series - Bangkok Haunts calling it "a skilful sophisticated thriller";

Michelle Peckham reviews the new offering from Michael Dobbs - The Edge of Madness;

Geoff Jones enjoys Clean Cut by Lynda La Plante

and Maxine Clarke is enthusiastic about Last Rituals by Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir.

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

Lynda La Plante's Anna Travis series on the tv

From Digital Spy:

Prime Suspect creator Lynda La Plante is working on a new two-hour crime drama for ITV.

Above Suspicion will centre on detective DC Anna Travis, played by Kelly Reilly (He Kills Coppers, Joe's Palace), as she takes on her first murder case.

Travis is described as "a young and ambitious officer who is fast-tracking her way through the ranks, eager to prove herself to be as successful as her late father".

Ciaran Hinds (There Will Be Blood) will play Travis's boss Detective Chief Inspector Langton.

Above Suspicion is based on La Plante's bestselling novel of the same name. Filming will begin in London next month.

Currently there are three books in La Plante's Anna Travis series: Under Suspicion, The Red Dahlia and Clean Cut.

More tv episodes of Lynda La Plante's Commander

From Digital Spy:

Amanda Burton is to return as The Commander after ITV1 ordered a fifth series.

The next outing of the drama by Lynda la Plante will see Burton's Commander Clare Blake take on the case of an elderly woman killed in her home and a newborn baby abducted from hospital.

Three hour-long episodes, rather than the two 90-minuters of previous runs, will air early next year.

La Plante said: "In creating the character of Commander Blake, it was very important for me to develop her personality and never let complacency set in.

"This three-part special is a pressure cooker of emotions that doesn't let up throughout and one that sees Blake tested both personally and professionally beyond anything she has experienced before."

A new Prime Suspect...book

From Digital Spy:

ITV will not be making a TV version of the final Prime Suspect, according to Broadcast.

Writer Lynda La Plante is planning to publish one more instalment of the series as a book, despite ITV airing Prime Suspect: The Final Act in October 2006.

"I didn't and I haven't [ended Prime Suspect]," she told the magazine. "My publisher is very keen for me to write the last [book], which I intend to do."

La Plante wrote scripts for the first three Prime Suspects but left the TV franchise after the third transmitted in 1993.

An ITV spokeswoman said: "As far as we are concerned, the final Prime Suspect has been filmed and transmitted and there are no plans to make any more."

New Reviews on Euro Crime

Just a mini-update this weekend as I'm away for a couple of days so instead of on Sunday, I bring you reviews of books by two of the UK's female big hitters: 'Close' by Martina Cole* and 'The Red Dahlia' by Lynda La Plante, reviewed by Sunnie Gill and Karen Chisholm respectively.

*There is a huge waiting list for this in the library - currently 147 reservations for 51 copies.