TV News: Coroner

Not to be confused with the BBC's The Coroner....Canadian series Coroner is based on MR (Matthew) Hall's series of books featuring Coroner Jenny Cooper. The action has moved from the Welsh-English border near Bristol, to Toronto.

Coroner has just begun its run of 8 episodes in Canada but we don't have to wait long here in the UK. The first episode is on the Universal Channel at 9pm on 21 January.

Here's some of the the official blurb from CBC:

Inspired by the best-selling series of books by M.R. Hall and created by Morwyn Brebner (Saving Hope), CORONER (8x60) is a character-driven one-hour drama about Dr. Jenny Cooper (SERINDA SWAN), a recently widowed new coroner who investigates suspicious, unnatural or sudden deaths in Toronto. The series reflects the rich diversity of Toronto, and each case brings Jenny into a new arena in the city, touching on buzz-worthy themes. Jenny taps into her intuition as much as her intellect and heart as she solves cases with the help of homicide detective Donovan McAvoy (ROGER CROSS), a man who isn’t afraid of challenging the status quo; pathologist Dr. Dwayne Allen (LOVELL ADAMS-GRAY) and his assistant River Baitz (KILEY MAY); and Alison Trent (TAMARA PODEMSKI), Jenny’s assistant who keeps it real. And while Jenny solves mysterious deaths, she also deals with clinical anxiety; a teenage son, Ross (EHREN KASSAM), who is still grieving the death of his father; and the prospect of starting a new relationship with the enigmatic Liam (ÉRIC BRUNEAU).

Coroners feature as the lead characters in three other British/European series to my knowledge:

Bernard Knight's Sir John de Wolfe series set in twelfth century Devon.
Priscilla Masters' Martha Gunn series set in Shrewsbury.
Jutta Profijt's Martin Gänsewein series set in Cologne.

(There are slightly more pathologists.)

New Reviews: Fossum, Goddard, Hall, Kerr, Magson. Oswald, Ridpath, Smith, Stiastny

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, two have appeared on the blog over the last week and seven 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

Laura Root reviews Karin Fossum's The Murder of Harriet Krohn tr. James Anderson, the seventh in the Inspector Sejer series and which completes the set of one to ten in English; however it appears, pleasingly, that there are a couple more, newer, Sejers to be translated;

Geoff Jones reviews Robert Goddard's The Corners of the Globe, which is now the middle part of a trilogy;

Michelle Peckham reviews The Burning by M R Hall, the latest in the Jenny Cooper, Coroner series;

Terry Halligan reviews a standalone by Philip Kerr - Research;

Lynn Harvey reviews Adrian Magson's Death at the Clos du Lac, the fourth in the Inspector Lucas Rocco series set in 1960s France;

Dead Men's Bones is the fourth in James Oswald's Inspector McLean series set in Edinburgh, reviewed here by Terry;

Lynn also reviews Meltwater by Michael Ridpath, the third in his Icelandic series;

Amanda Gillies reviews Anna Smith's Betrayed, the fourth in the Glasgow reporter Rosie Gilmour series

and Susan reviews Terry Stiastny's debut Acts of Omission.

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: The Burning by M R Hall

The Burning by M R Hall, February 2014, 400 pages, Mantle, ISBN: 0230752047

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

In THE BURNING, the latest in the series of books featuring the coroner Jenny Cooper, she investigates what really happened when a house was burnt down, with three people inside. Did one of the victims (Ed Morgan) kill his two daughters using a shotgun, before setting light to the house, and then shooting himself? Where is his three-year-old son Robbie, who is missing, and why does he seem to have deliberately hidden him from his 'whore' of a wife Kelly, who was out at work. As usual, Jenny becomes engrossed in the case, and starts to uncover facts and details that others would rather leave uncovered. Her assistant Alison, who had a serious accident in the previous book THE CHOSEN DEAD is keen on returning to work to help, although intriguingly, the damage to part of the frontal lobe in her brain has apparently affected her social behaviour. No longer is she the disapproving assistant of the past, she is now quite gung-ho and eager to help. Jenny's relationship with her pilot boyfriend Michael seems to be going well, but then becomes complicated, as Jenny can't quite bring herself to completely trust him. More unrelated deaths work their way into the mix, which, on further investigation turn out to play a part in the story, and a larger conspiracy begins to unfold.

In the first few books, Jenny was fairly dependent on a range of pills and tablets to help with her various anxieties. Despite finally having weaned herself off these, and her regular therapy sessions, she finds herself having to occasionally resort to the odd pill or two in this story, as she encounters the usual resistance to her dogged determination to leave no stone unturned. A bull-headed character, apparently lacking in confidence to some degree, but yet still determined to go where others are reluctant to go, to discover the truth, she is an interesting woman. I'm not sure how much I actually like her, but one can't help but admire her determination. It all ends in a final climactic scene, and then a final solution to the last remaining mystery, nicely tying everything off. I found the big conspiracy story-line a little bit unconvincing, but otherwise the novel is nicely put together, entertaining and is another enjoyable read from this author.

Michelle Peckham, July 2014

New Reviews: Bale, Dunn, Hall, Jardine, Ridpath, Smith & a New Competition

It's March and here's a new competition plus reviews of 6 more books...

Win Carnage by Maxim Chattam (UK only).

Here are this week's reviews:

Maxine Clarke reviews the new Joe Clayton thriller from Tom Bale, Blood Falls, now out in paperback;

Terry Halligan reviews the twentieth appearance by Daisy Dalrymple in Carola Dunn's Gone West;

Coroner Jenny Cooper is back in M R Hall's The Flight reviewed here by Sarah Hilary;

Susan White reviews Quintin Jardine's new Primavera Blackstone adventure, As Easy as Murder;

Lynn Harvey supplies the third glowing review on Euro Crime for Michael Ridpath's 66 Degrees North the second in this series set in Iceland, now out in paperback

and fans of Alexander McCall Smith's Mma (Precious) Ramtoswe won't want to miss her first case Precious and the Monkeys which I reviewed last week on the blog.

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 David Belbin, Fiona Buckley, N J Cooper, David Downing, Gillian Galbraith, Dolores Gordon-Smith, Tessa Harris, Cora Harrison, Veronica Heley, Diane Janes, Meurig Jones, Margaret Mayhew, Susanna Quinn, Jean Rowden, EV Seymour, John Gordon Sinclair and Simon Toyne have been added to these pages this week.

The Redeemed - Cover Opinions

This week's selection for "cover opinions" is the US, Canadian and UK covers for M R Hall's The Redeemed which is about to come out in UK paperback with a new look for the series. The fourth book in the series, The Flight, (Feb 2012) has a similar feel to below.

So what are your thoughts on the US (LHS), Canadian (RHS), UK (HB & pb below) covers? Which would entice you to pick the book up if you were not familiar with the books of M R Hall?

If you have read it, how well do the covers match the story?

Read the Euro Crime review by Maxine of The Redeemed.

New Reviews: Chapman, Hall, Hayder, Jones, Leon, Martin, Nesser, Sigurdardottir, Toyne, Villar, Watson, Winslow

Now two competitions for April:
Win a set of 5 Van Veeteren novels by Hakan Nesser UK only new
Win a copy of Apostle Rising by Richard Godwin UK & Europe only.

I've published a double set of reviews today as, due to family visits, I'll be taking the next two weekends off. The reviews will be back in May and today I have chosen reviews of very recently published books and those due out in the remainder of the month.

Here are this week's reviews:

Lizzie Hayes reviews Jean Chapman's A Watery Grave, the second in this Fenland-set series;

Maxine Clarke reviews M R Hall's third outing for Coroner Jenny Cooper, The Redeemed;

Michelle Peckham reviews Mo Hayder's Hanging Hill which departs from her recent series;

Laura Root reviews the second in Tobias Jones's Northern Italy set PI series, White Death;

Still in Italy, Maxine reviews Donna Leon's new hardback, the twentieth in the Brunetti Series: Drawing Conclusions;

Terry Halligan reviews the latest in Andrew Martin's railway detective series which brings Jim Stringer into the War in The Somme Stations;

Lizzie is introduced to Swedish humour in Hakan Nesser's The Inspector and Silence, tr. Laurie Thompson which is now out in paperback (and can be won - see above);

I review Yrsa Sigurdardottir's third outing for lawyer-PI Thora, in Ashes to Dust, tr. Philip Roughton;

Amanda Gillies reviews Sanctus by Simon Toyne, the first part in a trilogy, which seems to be as good as the advertising suggests;

Maxine also reviews Domingo Villar's Death on a Galician Shore, tr. Sonia Soto (I was due to review this but I was ill in the week so I'm very grateful that Maxine donated her (superior) review) ;

Lizzie also reviews Before I Go to Sleep the debut from S J Watson which has also been garnering a lot of buzz and Lizzie was very impressed

and Amanda also reviews Satori by Don Winslow a prequel to Trevanian's Shibumi and she doesn't think fans of the original author should be disappointed.

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

New Reviews: Breckon, Cotterill, Hall, Jungstedt, Pineiro, Strong

January competition reminder: 3 copies of A K Shevchenko's Bequest are up for grabs. There are no geographical restrictions. Details of how to enter can be found here.

Here are this week's reviews:

Rik Shepherd reviews the Ian Breckon's debut novel, set in WW2: Knight of Swords;

Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback edition of Colin Cotterill's Curse of the Pogo Stick the fith in the Dr Siri series;

Maxine Clarke reviews M R Hall's The Disappeared, the follow up to the award-winning The Coroner;

Laura Root reviews the paperback release of Mari Jungstedt's Unknown, tr. Tiina Nunnally (US: The Inner Circle), the third in the Inspector Knutas series set on Gotland;

I review Argentinian author Claudia Pineiro's delightfully gossipy Thursday Night Widows, tr. Miranda France

and Terry Halligan reviews the re-release of Terence Strong's Stalking Horse set during the first Gulf War.

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

New Reviews; M R Hall, Roberta Kray, Preston & Spezi, Roz Southey

There's a faint theme of 'true crime' about this week's reviews which include: a fiction book written by Roberta Kray and a true crime book about 'The Monster of Florence'...

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

New Reviews:

Maxine Clarke praises highly the debut novel from M R Hall The Coroner which is the first in a several book series starring Jenny Cooper, Coroner and prescription drug addict;

Amanda Brown reviews The Lost by Roberta Kray which has an authenticity about it;

Michelle Peckham reviews the true crime book about the investigation into The Monster of Florence written by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi and the bizarre tack the police took

and Terry Halligan reviews the unusual sounding historical mystery by Roz Southey - Chords and Discords.

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

The competition is back - go here to see how you can win a copy of The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri.