New Reviews: Blackmore, Camilleri, George, Huber, Leonard, Rickman, Rowson, Vichi, Wilkinson

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 :).

Keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Amanda Gillies reviews Alex Blackmore's debut, Lethal Profit, a thriller set in Paris;

I review Andrea Camilleri's latest Montalbano, translated by Stephen Sartarelli, The Treasure Hunt;

Terry Halligan reviews the new Lynley novel from Elizabeth George, Just One Evil Act;

Susan White reviews Linda Huber's debut, The Paradise Trees, a psychological thriller;

Laura Root reviews Peter Leonard's Back from the Dead, the sequel to Voices of the Dead;

Lynn Harvey reviews Phil Rickman's The Heresy of Dr Dee, now out in paperback;

Terry also reviews Death Surge by Pauline Rowson, the latest in her DI Andy Horton series set around the Solent;

Completing the set of reviews for Marco Vichi's first four Bordelli novels, is Michelle Peckham's review of Death and the Olive Grove, tr. Stephen Sartarelli, which is the second in the series

and Amanda also reviews Playing with Fire by Kerry Wilkinson, the fifth in the DS Jessica Daniel series set in Manchester.


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.

New Reviews: Fossum, Henry, James, Johnstone, Lawton, Rendell, Roberts, Vichi, Wilson

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 :).

News you may have missed in the last few days:

1. Margot Kinberg's has edited, contributed to and published an e-anthology of short stories, the proceeds from which are going to Maxine Clarke's (Petrona) preferred charity, the Princess Alice Hospice.
2. Borgen is back on BBC4 next weekend.
3. A "new" Hercule Poirot novella is available as an ebook.

Keep up to date with stories like these (and more) by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

I review Karin Fossum's I Can See in the Dark, tr. James Anderson, a non-Sejer standalone;

Terry Halligan reviews James Henry's Morning Frost, the third in this well-received prequel series based on R D Wingfield's characters;

Michelle Peckham reviews Peter James's Dead Man's Time, the ninth in the Roy Grace series, which is now out in paperback;

Rich Westwood reviews Doug Johnstone's Gone Again, also just out in paperback;

Susan White reviews the re-released Second Violin by John Lawton, set during WWII;

Terry also reviews the new "Wexford" novel from Ruth Rendell - No Man's Nightingale - no rest for the retired chief inspector;

Another recent paperback release is Mark Roberts's The Sixth Soul reviewed here by Amanda Gillies;

Lynn Harvey reviews Marco Vichi's Death in Florence, tr. Stephen Sartarelli the fourth in the Inspector Bordelli series set in 1960s Italy

and Lynn also reviews Laura Wilson's The Riot the fifth in the DI Stratton series set in post WWII London.




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: Death in Florence by Marco Vichi tr. Stephen Sartarelli

Death in Florence by Marco Vichi translated by Stephen Sartarelli, November 2013, 400 pages, Hodder Paperbacks, ISBN: 1444712306

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Florence, October 1966
Bordelli's first thought as he wakes up is of the woman who has left him; his second is of the thirteen year old boy who has been missing for five days. Before dawn Bordelli is roused out of bed by Botta who has come to take him on a mushroom hunt in the hills above Florence. Walking these wooded hills takes Bordelli back to his time as a partisan in the war but part of him wishes he could just enjoy the beauty of the place as it is now. Back in the city and on his way into police headquarters, Inspector Bordelli reviews the case of the missing boy: an afternoon of heavy rain, the boy's mother unable to start her car to collect him from school and his barrister father caught up in the traffic and arriving late. By then the boy had gone, last seen running through the streets with his satchel shielding his head from the downpour. No one has seen him since. Bordelli's boss is beside himself with the lack of progress. There is hostile press coverage and pressure from influential friends of the boy's father. They must find the boy soon. But Bordelli and his young colleague Piras share the grim intuition that the boy is already dead. The only resolution of the case will be to find his body and then his killer. And next morning a hunter does indeed find the body of the boy, buried in a shallow grave in the wooded hills of La Panca, those very same hills that Bordelli had walked with Botta. Bordelli returns to the grave site and starts his own search for clues. He spirals deeper into the woods from the grave, reminiscing, imagining loving a woman and retiring to these hills to dig vegetables and raise chickens. His imaginings and search are interrupted by the mewing of a kitten, a tiny survivor of four, staggering amongst the bushes. Bordelli takes pity on it. He picks it up and notices a piece of paper close by. It is a telephone bill for a Florence butcher's shop...

DEATH IN FLORENCE is the fourth in Marco Vichi's Inspector Bordelli series and a prizewinning novel in his native Italy. Against the backdrop of Bordelli's beloved Florence and its surrounding wooded hills, a schoolboy goes missing. His body is later found in a wooded shallow grave, bearing the marks of multiple rape and strangulation. The hunt for the killers proves difficult and exhausting for Bordelli and his young colleague Piras who are forced to work with paper-thin evidence, intuition and obstinacy. In the midst of all of this, the River Arno rises and its appalling 1966 flood sweeps through the city, an event which Vichi describes in vivid detail. As the waters recede and the city's losses and ravaged buildings are revealed, so too are the killers' identities. But can Bordelli find the proof that he needs to bring justice for the dead boy?

Vichi's characters are vivid. He conjures up the fifty-six-year-old detective and his surrounding broad circle of friends which ranges from scientists to ex-prostitutes and thieves (the phenomenon that is Botta) with a rounded truth. In this book, perhaps exhausted by his years of policework, Bordelli seems more obsessed than usual with looking for a beautiful woman to share his life as he heads towards retirement. As always, his memories are of Italy's fascist and wartime past and his own part in it, but he also has a keen and accepting eye for life in 1960s Florence. For readers who enjoy a good slice of social history in their crime fiction, Vichi's books are a must. (They come complete with occasional footnotes to explain popular and historical references.) There is no flinching from brutalities but the pages are filled with life. With an atmospheric translation by Stephen Sartarelli, who also translates Andrea Camilleri's “Inspector Montalbano” books – not forgetting the loving description of the food on Bordelli's plate which would rival that on Montalbano's – fans of the Camilleri series may do well to visit Vichi's world of 1960s Florence.

Lynn Harvey, November 2013.

New Reviews: Beaton, Bond, Davis, Grieves, Hayder, Morris, Royal, Vichi, Wheelaghan

Nine new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:

I review an earlier entry in the Hamish Macbeth series by M C Beaton, Death of a Valentine;


Allison & Busby are reprinting the Monsieur Pamplemousse series by Michael Bond, and Lynn Harvey reviews Monsieur Pamplemousse Afloat;


Lindsey Davis has begun a new series, Falco: The New Generation starring Flavia, the adopted daughter of Falco who makes her debut investigation in The Ides of April, reviewed here by Sarah Ward;


Amanda Gillies reviews Sleepwalkers by Tom Grieves which she loved: "if [] you love books that draw you in and freak you out, this one is for you!";


Sarah Hilary reviews Poppet by Mo Hayder, the sixth in the Jack Caffery series, writing that it's even better than Skin and Ritual;


Terry Halligan reviews the second in the DI Silas Quinn series The Mannequin House by R N Morris saying that it's an "excellent historical mystery book with a very intelligent and historically accurate plot";

Laura Root reviews Priscilla Royal's Wine of Violence the first in the Eleanor,  Prioress series, set in the thirteenth century, which gets its UK release almost ten years after its US one;


Michelle Peckham reviews Death in Sardinia by Marco Vichi tr. Stephen Sartarelli, the third in the Inspector Bordelli series, which she called "a real pleasure to read"

and fans of the BBC series Death in Paradise might want to check out Marianne Wheelaghan's Food of Ghosts the first in the DS Louisa Townsend series, set on the Pacific Island of Tarawa, reviewed here by Susan White.





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.

Favourite Discoveries 2012 (7)

After a short break, as promised I have a few more favourite discoveries of 2012 to reveal plus the favourite Euro Crime reads of 2012 will follow soon.

Today's instalment of favourite discoveries of 2012 comes from JF who blogs at Raven Crime Reads as well as reviewing for Euro Crime.

JF's Favourite Discovery of 2012

My favourite discovery of 2012 is Italian crime fiction writer, Marco Vichi. I became instantly hooked on his 'Inspector Bordelli' series this year, beginning with Death in August. Comparisons with Andrea Camilleri are unavoidable, but I actually find the more dark, sombre style of Vichi a big draw, and although not suffused by wit like the 'Montalbano' series, the deft light touches when they arrive are perfectly placed. I have now read the first three in the series and am looking forward to the fourth very much!

Read JF's Euro Crime reviews here.

Macho Vichi's Euro Crime bibliography (with reviews) is here.

New Reviews: Faletti, Fitzgerald, Gakas, Giuttari, Gregorio, Kent, Ohlsson, Rinaldi, Vichi

This week we have an Italian theme with seven of the nine reviews either set in Italy, about an Italian or written by an Italian.

Here are 9 new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today:

[Professor] Michelle Peckham reviews Giorgio Faletti's The Killer in My Eyes, tr. Howard Curtis and has some problems with the "science";

Michelle also reviews Conor Fitzgerald's The Fatal Touch the second in the Commissioner Blume series set in Rome;

Stepping briefly away from Italy, Amanda Gillies reviews the paperback release of Sergios Gakas's Ashes tr. Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife set in 2004 Athens, which reduced her to tears (in a good way);

Lynn Harvey reviews Michele Giuttari's The Black Rose of Florence, tr. Howard Curtis the fifth in the Florence-based Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara series;

Terry Halligan reviews Michael Gregorio's Unholy Awakening the fourth in their Hanno Stiffeniis series set in 19th Century Prussia;

Terry also reviews Christobel Kent's A Time of Mourning (apa The Drowning River) the first in the Sandro Cellini PI series also set in Florence;

Going north to Sweden, earlier this week I reviewed Silenced by Kristina Ohlsson, tr. Sarah Death the second in the series featuring a specialist Stockholm police team;

Maxine Clarke reviews Lucia Rinaldi's Andrea Camilleri: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction, "a complete accessory to the Inspector Montalbano novels and short stories by Andrea Camilleri"

and Lynn also reviews Marco Vichi's Death in Sardinia, tr. Stephen Sartarelli the third in the Inspector Bordelli series set in 1960s Italy.

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.

New Reviews: Carter, Casey, Craig, James, Kerrigan, Sigurdardottir, Vichi, Wakling

Closing today: competition: Win a set of 3 books by Armand Cabasson (UK only)

Here are this week's reviews, which include visits to Greenland, Ireland and Italy as well as the UK:

Amanda Gillies reviews globe-trotting thriller Altar of Bones by "Philip Carter" the speculation on "his" identity ranges from Harlan Coben to Penelope Williamson;

Susan White reviews Jane Casey's second novel and first in the DC Maeve Kerrigan series, The Burning;

Geoff Jones reviews James Craig's debut London Calling which has been available on Kindle for a while but the paperback is due out next week;

Mark Bailey joins the review team with his review of Peter James's Dead Man's Grip;

Terry Halligan reviews Gene Kerrigan's The Rage;

Maxine Clarke reviews Yrsa Sigurdardottir's The Day is Dark, tr. Philip Roughton in which Thora and Matthew go to Greenland (for a very X-files sounding mystery!);

I review Marco Vichi's Death in August, tr. Stephen Sartarelli set in post-war Florence, the first in the Inspector Bordelli series

and Laura Root reviews Christopher Wakling's standalone set in Bristol after the abolition of slavery: The Devil's Mask.

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

Upcoming Italian Crime Fiction - Marco Vichi

I received a paperback proof of Death in August by Marco Vichi at the weekend. It's due out in June from Hodder & Stoughton. ( I mentioned it before when it was to be called Inspector Bordelli)

There are many reasons to be cheerful about it:

1) gorgeous cover
2) it's the first in the series which currently numbers four
3) it's actually quite short (not a 400 page opus like most of the Dagger submissions!) and contains a sampler of book two which is due out in January 2012.
and most excitingly:
4) it's translated by Stephen Sartarelli (of Camilleri fame) and has some of his notes at the back.

Florence, summer 1963. Inspector Bordelli is one of the few policemen left in the deserted city. He spends his days on routine work, and his nights tormented by the heat and mosquitoes. Suddenly one night, a telephone call gives him a new sense of purpose: the suspected death of a wealthy Signora. Bordelli rushes to her hilltop villa, and picks the locks. The old woman is lying on her bed - apparently killed by an asthma attack, though her medicine has been left untouched. With the help of his young protege, the victim's eccentric brother, and a semi-retired petty thief, the inspector begins a murder investigation. Each suspect has a solid alibi, but there is something that doesn't quite add up ...

ps to Translated Delights in 2011

The other day I posted a few highlights of 2011 in terms of translated crime. The Hodder & Stoughton catalogue arrived today and we have another Italian author to add to the list.

Marco Vichi's first Inspector Bordelli book, called Inspector Bordelli, will be published in June 2011. According to the promotional material: "Inspector Bordelli is Andrea Camilleri's favourite detective after his own Montalbano" and equally good news is that Camilleri's translator, Stephen Sartarelli is translating Inspector Bordelli.

No cover image yet, but here's the blurb:

Florence, summer 1963. Everyone has left town for the holidays, and the city is deserted, hot and full of mosquitoes. Inspector Bordelli is tossing and turning in bed when a telephone call informs him of a mysterious death: a wealthy Signora has been found dead in her villa. Next to the bed lies a glass with traces of her asthma medicine, but the coroner explains a sudden asthma attack is unlikely to have been the cause of death. Bordelli sets to work. Each suspect has a solid alibi, but there is something that doesn't quite add up . . .