Review Roundup: Bolton, Carol, Carter, Den Tex, Edwards, Gordon-Smith, Hodgson, Jones, Kelly, Mankell, Marklund, Mogford, Patterson & Ellis, Staalesen

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

If you like translated crime fiction then you may be interested in the International Dagger 2016 Speculation list of titles.

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 Sharon Bolton's Little Black Lies, set in the Falklands;

Susan White reviews James Carol's Prey, the third in the Jefferson Winter series set in the US;

Amanda Gillies reviews Chris Carter's I Am Death, the seventh in his Robert Hunter series set in LA;


Guest reviewer Bob Cornwell reviews the Dutch thriller Mr. Miller by Charles Den Tex tr. Nancy Forest-Flier;

Rich Westwood reviews Martin Edwards's The Golden Age of Murder - a history of the Detection Club;


Terry Halligan reviews Dolores Gordon-Smith's The Chessman, the ninth in the 1920s Jack Haldean series;

Terry also reviews The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins by Antonia Hodgson, the sequel to the award winning The Devil in the Marshalsea;


Geoff Jones reviews J Sydney Jones's The Third Place, the sixth in the Viennese mystery series;

Geoff also reviews Jim Kelly's Death on Demand, the sixth in the Shaw & Valentine series set in North Norfolk;


Lynn Harvey reviews Henning Mankell's An Event in Autumn tr. Laurie Thompson;

Michelle also reviews Liza Marklund's Without a Trace tr. Neil Smith - the tenth and penultimate entry in the Annika Bengtzon series;

Lynn also reviews Thomas Mogford's Sleeping Dogs which takes Gibraltar-based lawyer Spike Sanguinetti to Corfu;

I review parts Three, Four and Five of Murder House by James Patterson and David Ellis


and Ewa Sherman reviews Gunnar Staalesen's We Shall Inherit the Wind tr. Don Bartlett which is the sixteenth in the PI Varg Veum series though only six are currently available in English and is the first of three from Orenda Books.

Review: The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards, May 2015, 528 pages, HarperCollins, ISBN: 0008105960

Reviewed by Rich Westwood.
(Read more of Rich's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

THE GOLDEN AGE OF MURDER is a history of the Detection Club written by crime writer Martin Edwards.

The Detection Club is a dining society for crime writers founded in 1930, and during what is usually called the Golden Age of crime fiction (roughly speaking the period between the two World Wars) it had as its members most of the leading lights of the genre. Martin Edwards, as the Club's Archivist and President elect, is uniquely qualified to write their story, and has produced an entertaining history with loads of human interest.

The 1930 Club line-up included G K Chesterton (Father Brown), E C Bentley (who kick-started the Golden Age with TRENT'S LAST CASE), A A Milne (who wrote THE RED HOUSE MYSTERY four years before WINNIE-THE-POOH), Baroness Orczy (THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER and THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL), Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Anthony Berkeley Cox (who wrote as Frances Iles and Anthony Berkeley).

All of the Club's members get their moment in the limelight, but the majority of the story is carried by three mainstays of the Club: Dorothy L Sayers, Agatha Christie, and Anthony Berkeley Cox. Of these, Christie is of course a household name and Sayers will be very familiar to mystery fans at least. Martin Edwards points out that both had mysteries of their own. Christie's eleven-day disappearance in 1926 has never been fully resolved. Meanwhile, Sayers somehow managed to keep a much-loved illegitimate son quiet for most of her life. The third pillar of the book - Anthony Berkeley - probably qualifies as a forgotten author these days, but was one of the most inventive and influential crime writers of the period. Also one of the crankiest, it turns out (and the not-so-proud owner of an extremely complex love life).

Many lesser lights are fascinating by virtue of their politics, their personal lives, or their approach to the genre. The crime-fiction connections, often related in the end-notes to each chapter, are great. For example, Margaret Cole (half of the left-leaning married couple writing as G D H and Margaret Cole) was sister to Raymond Postgate, who wrote three crime novels including the influential VERDICT OF TWELVE. Raymond's father-in-law was grandfather to Angela Lansbury, famous for playing Miss Marple and of course Jessica Fletcher in MURDER, SHE WROTE. Raymond was also father to Oliver Postgate, inventor of Bagpuss.

One surprise was the debt owed by crime writers to true crimes, which often inspired details in their work or in many cases inspired them to write more socially-aware mysteries. Several members collaborated on a book of essays entitles THE ANATOMY OF MURDER. Founder member of the Club, Millward Kennedy, came unstuck when he was sued for libel by the acquitted suspect in a murder case. Another surprise was the media savvy of the Club, with members working together on plays for the BBC as early as 1930.

As usual with this kind of book, the reader can scribble down recommendations as they read, and nowadays it is becoming a lot easier to own previously out-of-print titles, with even mainstream publishers such as the British Library, Faber Finds, Bello, and Collins racing to revive forgotten books.

A lovely reference book for the classic-crime aficionado, and at 528 pages you won't feel short-changed.

Rich Westwood, September 2015

The Hanging Wood's out in paperback

Just a note to let you know that the latest in Martin Edwards's terrific Lake District series, The Hanging Wood, has just come out in paperback.

Martin's Bibliography with reviews on Euro Crime

and

Maxine's review for Euro Crime of The Hanging Wood.

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.

New Reviews: Child, Cross, Edwards, Ellis, French, Kristian, Seymour, Theorin

Here are this week's reviews, which include visits to Iraq, Ireland, Sweden, USA and the age of the Vikings(!) as well as the UK:

Lynn Harvey joins the review team with her review of Lee Child's fifteenth Reacher novel, Worth Dying For, which has just come out in paperback;

Sarah Hilary reviews Neil Cross's prequel to his tv series Luther, Luther: The Calling;

I reviewed Martin Edwards's The Serpent Pool on the blog last week (do read the comments as well!);

Lizzie Hayes reviews another fifteenth in the series - Kate Ellis's The Jackal Man the latest in the Wesley Peterson series just out in paperback;

Geoff Jones reviews Tana French's third book in a connected series of books, Faithful Place;

Amanda Gillies reviews the last in the Raven Trilogy by Giles Kristian , Raven: Odin's Wolves (but hopes for more!);

Terry Halligan reviews the recently released new thriller from Gerald Seymour A Deniable Death

and Maxine Clarke reviews double CWA Dagger winner Johan Theorin's third book in the Oland Quartet: The Quarry, tr. Marlaine Delargy.

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

Review: The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards

The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards (UK: Allison & Busby, January 2011, ISBN: 0749008792; US: Poisoned Pen Press, February 2010, ISBN: 1590587126)

With so many translated crime novels appearing these days, I find it hard to keep up with my British favourites which is why I've only just read The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards which came out last year. (His next book, The Hanging Wood is to be reviewed shortly on the website by Maxine).

The Serpent Pool is the fourth in the atmospheric and enjoyable Lake District series which has two lead characters: Daniel Kind an Oxford-educated historian who has left the big city for the charms of the country and whose father was a policemen in the area before he died, and Hannah Scarlett who heads up the Cold Case team and used to work for Daniel's father, Ben.

Hannah's latest cold case investigation is into the suspicious death of English student and hopeful writer, Bethany Friend who was found drowned in the Serpent Pool, which happens to be close to where Hannah and her partner Mark have moved to.

The prologue describes to the reader, the murder of a book collector but this death is also put down as suspicious rather than murder by the police.

Meanwhile Daniel is preparing a book on Thomas De Quincey, the 19th Century author of On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts, and also will be giving a lecture at the upcoming De Quincy festival, in addition his sister has moved to the area and her new boyfriend is another book collector.

Steadily all the different threads mentioned above begin to overlap and form a web and a cruel picture emerges.

This case will have long-reaching effects on several members of the regular cast....

As usual, I found myself absorbed by this latest addition to the series. I'm there in the Lake District, tootling around Ambleside, and I can picture it all. Plus I really I want to find out what's happening to Daniel and Hannah who have a relationship of friendship but are destined for something closer (eventually one hopes). For me, the mysteries took a bit of a back-seat to all the relationship issues this time round but I was sad to finish it. For an absorbing British crime novel series, set in one of the country's most beautiful tourist destinations, with some historical facts woven in, I recommend you start with The Coffin Trail and continue.

Don't just take my word for it, read Maxine's Review.

More reviews and a bibliography of Martin Edwards' books can be found on the Euro Crime website.

New Reviews: Edwards, Grimsdale, Guthrie, Kitson, Maclean, Mankell

Many thanks for the kind comments about my back/health. Fortunately I'm ok now and I hope to do a bit more blogging next week compared to this previous one.

Here are this week's new reviews:

Maxine Clarke reviews The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards, fourth in his Lakeland series which Maxine believes is "is one of the very best crime-fiction series being written today";

Terry Halligan reviews Peter Grimsdale debut novel, Perfect Night;

Amanda Gillies is very enthusiastic about Allan Guthrie's Slammer;

Paul Blackburn reviews Bill Kitson's debut Depth of Despair set in Yorkshire;

Rik Shepherd reviews the paperback edition of The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona Maclean and

Michelle Peckham reviews Henning Mankell's The Man Who Smiled, tr. Laurie Thompson and compares it to the tv show.

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

Snaking into shops next February...The Serpent Pool

I've got my hands on the new Allison & Busby catalogue and one of the long awaited delights in it is Martin Edwards's new book in his Lake District series: The Serpent Pool. The cover below is from the US edition, published by Poison Pen Press and which is also published in February.

Synopsis: DCI Hannah Scarlett is determined to uncover the truth behind Emily Friend's mysterious drowning in the Serpent Pool.

But Hannah's distracted by a new sergeant with a troublesome reputation, a new house, and new cause to doubt her partner--second hand bookseller Marc Amos. One of Marc's best customers has been burned to death in the converted boathouse filled with priceless books.

Then Hannah meets Louise Kind, sister of the historian Daniel Kind, who has just returned from America to work on a book about Thomas De Quincey and the history of murder. How are all of these elements related?

New Reviews: Beaton, Clarke, Edwards, Stacey

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

New Reviews:

I review the latest in the Agatha Raisin series by M C Beaton Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison which I enjoyed as usual as the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth books are must reads for me;

Amanda Brown reviews the final entry in the Merde series by Stephen Clarke, Dial M for Merde a James Bond spoof which sounds very comical;

Maxine Clarke reviews the paperback of the latest in another one of my must read series, the Lakeland mysteries by Martin Edwards, - The Arsenic Labyrinth - concluding that "Martin Edwards has well and truly hit his stride in his Lake District novels"

and Michelle Peckham is less taken with Lyndon Stacey's Murder in Mind - but she writes "if you like horse-racing, and a little murder mystery on the side then this is for you".

New Reviews: Burdess, Cotterill, Edwards, Fossum, McAuley, Meyer

Here are this week's new reviews and details of the competitions:

Latest Reviews:

Terry Halligan reviews Wendy Burdess's The Meticulous Messenger set in Revolutionary France and England, and which sounds charming;

Maxine Clarke reviews the third of Colin Cotterill's Laos based series, Disco for the Departed - which stars an ancient coroner;

Liverpool resident Laura Root gives the thumbs up for Waterloo Sunset by Martin Edwards which sees the return of Liverpudlian lawyer Harry Devlin;

Karin Fossum's departure from her Inspector Sejer series, Broken, is not strictly a crime novel but Fiona Walker writes that it "is certainly a novel of suspense";

Amanda Gillies reviews the paperback edition of Players by Paul McAuley and highly recommends it

and though not Euro Crime, it is translated crime, I review the audio book of the latest from Deon Meyer - Devil's Peak - an engrossing tale coupled with an award-winning narrator in Saul Reichlin.


Current Competitions:

Win a copy of Death on a Branch Line by Andrew Martin*

* no restrictions on entrants


Win a copy of Blood Lines by Grace Monroe**

** UK/Europe only

New Detection Club members

At CrimeFest, Maxine and I managed to catch up with the charming Martin Edwards as we partook of the free breakfast of coffee and muffins/Danish and he revealed that he and Ann Cleeves had been elected (by secret ballot) to The Detection Club.

The Detection Club was founded in 1928 by Anthony Berkeley. You can read a bit more about it and see who else are members on the gadetection wiki page. Simon Brett is the current President.

I wonder if this oath is still in use? It begins:

The Ruler shall say to the Candidate:

M.N., is it your firm desire to become a Member of the Detection Club?

Then the Candidate shall answer in a loud voice:

That is my desire.

Ruler:

Do you promise that your detectives shall well and truly detect the crimes presented to them, using those wits which it may please you to bestow upon them and not placing reliance on nor making use of Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo-Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence or the Act of God?

Candidate:

I do.

Ruler:

Do you solemnly swear never to conceal a vital clue from the reader?

Candidate:

I do.

A New Short Story Collection

Yesterday I received the press release for the latest short story collection edited by Martin Edwards, called M.O. which will be out 1 May:

The second in this series of anthologies from the CWA picks up the primary scent of any investigation: the modus operandi; the signature that identifies any repeat offender, the ‘how’ that supersedes the ‘why’. From the ex-doctor tenderly administering a final prescription to his victims, the party of finishing school debutantes exacting revenge on their lecherous host… these stories demonstrate that, even with the most despicable of crimes, there’s methodology in the madness.

The contributing authors include, Robert Barnard, Ann Cleeves, Kate Ellis, Liz Evans and Christine Poulson as well as the editor himself. I like the sound of this one:

Two creative writing tutors discuss the merits of ‘hardboiled’ versus ‘cosy’ schools of crime writing, while a murderous student points out that it’s really procedure that counts . . .

Read more about the collection and the authors on the Comma Press website.

New Reviews

Here are this week's new reviews and a reminder that there's just a couple of days to enter March's competition:

Latest Reviews:

Geoff Jones reviews the newest in the Trish Maguire series by Natasha Cooper, A Poisoned Mind, calling it "well plotted and entertaining";

Maxine Clarke reviews The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards, the second in his Lake District series, this one being a "variant on the classic "locked room" mystery";

Maxine awards "ten out ten" for the latest book in paperback by Nicci French, Losing You which revolves around a mother's frantic effort to find her missing daughter on a small island;

Fiona Walker provides the first Euro Crime review of Nemesis by Jo Nesbo and sums up: "A brilliant thriller rife with violence and vengeance, it may be lengthy but you won't want it to end";

Sunnie Gill reviews the third book from Ed O'Connor Primal Cut and suggests it's perhaps for readers who prefer "a walk on the dark side"

and I review the latest from Minette Walters The Chameleon's Shadow which will be on my list of favourite reads at the end of the year.

Current Competition (closing date 31 March):

Win a copy of A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley (UK & Europe only)

(geographical restrictions are in brackets)

New Reviews on Euro Crime

Here are this week's new reviews and a final reminder of January's competition:

Latest Reviews:

Norman Price, Euro Crime's Italian expert recommends Massimo Carlotto's Death's Dark Abyss - another one of his short books that packs a punch;

Geoff Jones reviews the latest by the prolific author Peter Conway - Deserving Death recommending it to "anyone who likes an uncomplicated detective novel";

Maxine Clarke reviews the first of Martin Edwards' excellent Lake District series - The Coffin Trail calling it "an absorbing read";

Maxine found Hakan Nesser's The Return less compelling than the previous title, Borkmann's Point

and I review the Costa Award winning What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn - the word 'haunting' has been accurately used to describe this book and it is one that will linger in the mind well after the final page has been turned. I thoroughly enjoyed it.


Current Competition (closing date 31 January):

Win a copy of Bad Traffic by Simon Lewis (UK & Europe only)

(geographical restrictions are in brackets)

(a link to) an interview with Martin Edwards

In case you haven't seen it already, here's a link to an interview with Martin Edwards, conducted by fellow author Julia Buckley.

Martin Edwards' 'Lakes' series is a big favourite of the Euro Crime team: The Coffin Trail, The Cipher Garden and The Arsenic Labyrinth.