Review Roundup: Connelly, Dalbuono, Downing, Fossum, Nickson, Quinn, Randall, Russell, Seymour, Webster, Wilson

Here are 12 reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, all have appeared on the blog since last time.

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

I briefly review Michael Connelly's latest Bosch, The Crossing and float the idea of reading some of his earlier books over the summer;

Susan reviews The Few by Nadia Dalbuono, which introduces Scarmarcio of the Roman police;

Terry reviews David Downing's One Man's Flag and Silesian Station;

I also review Karin Fossum's The Drowned Boy tr. Kari Dickson which sees the return of the empathetic Inspector Sejer;

Michelle reviews Chris Nickson's Two Bronze Pennies, the second in the Tom Parker series set in 1890s Leeds;

Lynn reviews Anthony J Quinn's Silence, the third in the Celcius Daly series set in Northern Ireland;

Amanda reviews Anne Randall's Silenced, the second in the Wheeler and Ross series (the first was Riven written as A J McCreanor);

Amanda also reviews Leigh Russell's Blood Axe, the third in the DS Ian Peterson series;


Terry also reviews Gerald Seymour's No Mortal Thing;

Lynn also reviews A Body in Barcelona by Jason Webster, the fifth in the Max Camara series

and Michelle also reviews The Wrong Girl by Laura Wilson.








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

Rediscovering Michael Connelly - The Crossing

Many years ago I listened to the audio book of City of Bones the eighth in the Harry Bosch series which I liked, but for some reason I never carried on with the series. However, when I saw the latest and twentieth Bosch book The Crossing on the library catalogue I was seized by the impulse to reserve it, and I'm very glad I did.

Michael Connelly was arguably, Maxine's (Petrona) favourite crime writer and I really should have made the effort before to try another of his books.

Over on the Petrona's Crime and Mystery Friends Facebook page I have floated the possibility of reading (some of) the earlier books in a read along/challenge sort of way and maybe posting the (monthly?) results on the Petrona Remembered blog. Does anyone fancy this idea or similar?

As I'm knee-deep in Petrona Award submissions I would like to suggest making this a six months Spring to Autumn challenge leading up to the new book in November: The Wrong Side of Goodbye.

In brief, The Crossing finds Harry Bosch forcibly retired from LAPD and his half brother Mickey “Lincoln Lawyer” Haller asks for his help. He has a client who he is convinced is innocent but there is DNA evidence saying otherwise. Harry doesn't want to be one of those who make the crossing to the dark side ie defence but initially agrees to look at the official case notes.

Of course he can't help himself and comes to think that maybe his brother has a point.

The crossing in the title has several meanings, not just going over to the dark side but also crossing a line and the crossing point for the victim and murderer.

Though the case hasn't yet gone to court, Bosch's investigation is like a cold case investigation – which I believe was his previous job – with him going over the paperwork first and then making site visits and speaking to witnesses.

I enjoyed The Crossing. It smacks of verisimilitude based on the author's experience as a crime reporter and it clips along, in a fairly spare style, as Bosch unravels the mystery. Bosch comes out better in it than Haller – who is in it much less - so it'll definitely be interesting to read one of the 'Lincoln Lawyer' series to see what Haller's really like.

The Crossing was one of my favourite reads of 2015.

Michael Connelly - Radio 5 & Crime Fest interview

Last Thursday's Simon Mayo Book Review programme reviewed Michael Connelly's The Scarecrow and John Boyne's The House of Special Purpose. You can listen to Michael Connelly being interviewed as well as the glowing reviews of the panel on this website (podcast can also be downloaded) but don't hang around as the programme doesn't seem to be archived.

Michael Connelly (MC) was the international guest of honour at Crime Fest and was interviewed by Peter Guttridge (PG) last Saturday. Here are my notes:

MC said that he never used to reveal how long it took him to write his books as people assume speed detracts from quality. With some prodding from PG he said that The Poet took 3 months, The Scarecrow 6 months and a Harry Bosch novel 10 - 11 months.

MC is now finishing off a Harry Bosch novel (and according to the website it will be out in October) - called Nine Dragons, a third of it will be set in Hong Kong and it sets up several of the next books. Harry is now in his late 50s so is unlikely to be carrying the badge much longer. Mickey Haller, from The Lincoln Lawyer, will appear in one chapter of Nine Dragons. MC also said that he had sowed some seeds in earlier books which would allow him to write a prequel at some point and he discussed a couple of sub-plots he'd written but now wished he not closed off so quickly.

MC says he writes in the journalistic style ie succinct and to the point. A good day involves writing between 4 am and noon and he ensures that the story moves along by a minimum of one step a day. He will be writing Harry Bosch until he dies/stops writing.

MC's sister runs his website and there is some bonus material for The Scarecrow: twelve websites in the book can be accessed and also a bonus video. Rachel Walling does not appear in The Scarecrow for some pages, so the video shows what she was doing for that time. Two parts are now available and the last part will follow on 26th May. Each part is about 25 minutes long. MC did say that if you don't want to get a picture in your head of Rachel Walling then best to not watch the video.

In both interviews he also discussed the terminal state of the newspaper industry.

Michael Connelly wins Carvalho Prize

From Shelf Awareness:

Awards: Connelly Wins Carvalho

Michael Connelly has won the 2009 Carvalho Prize and will accept it during the BCNegra crime festival in Barcelona, Spain, next February. The jury consists of Spanish writers, booksellers and journalists. The prize is named for [sic] a literary private detective, Pepe Carvalho, created by the late Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.

Connelly's new book, The Brass Verdict (Little, Brown, $26.99, 9780316166294/0316166294), is being published October 14.