Showing posts with label Neil Cross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neil Cross. Show all posts

Monday, December 17, 2012

Favourite Discoveries 2012 (I)

As usual I have asked my fellow Euro Crime reviewers to come up with their top 5 reads of 2012 - these will be collated and announced in early January. Like last year, I have also asked them what their favourite crime fiction discovery of the past year - be it book, film or tv series - has been.

The first reveal comes from Amanda Gillies who chooses a DVD boxed set.

Amanda Gillies's Favourite Discovery of 2012

Following on from really rather enjoying reviewing Luther: the Calling, by Neil Cross, earlier this year, I decided to buy series 1 and 2 of the television series of the same name, and by the same author.

I absolutely loved it! Not having a TV, I was unaware of this series and fell in love with the tall, dark, tormented detective Luther, played incredibly well by the perfectly cast Idris Elba. I am delighted that there is to be a third series soon; Luther gets under your skin and I miss him now that I have finished watching both series.

Like most interesting TV policemen, Luther bends the rules a little in order to get the work done. The difference with Luther, though, is that he treads a very close line between "being a dirty cop and just getting his hands dirty", as one of his associates says when she discovers what he has done.

Luther's cases are rather on the dark side, and this appeals to me as well. They are never quite cut and dried and several span over a number of episodes. There is also more to the TV series than just Luther solving cases. His relationship with his ex-wife and her lover, for example, shows you more of the anguish locked up inside him. You frequently wonder what exactly it was that has made him into the person that he is.

If you have been given vouchers for Christmas and are still wondering what to do with them, I recommend purchasing this little beauty. You won't be disappointed.

Read Amanda's review of Luther: the Calling plus more of Amanda's reviews: crime and teenage/YA fiction.

Amanda blogs at Old Dogs and New Tricks.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

New Reviews: Black, Cross, Fossum, Harris, Holt, James, Kent, Radmann, Russell

The reviews are back after a break of a couple of weeks. (I've written up last weekend's Harrogate Crime Writing Festival.)

Settings this week include Brighton, London, Italy, Norway, Scotland, South Africa and the US.

Here are the new 9 reviews:
Terry Halligan reviews the third of Sean Black's US-set Ryan Lock series, Gridlock, which is now in paperback;

Amanda Gillies reviews Neil Cross's Luther prequel Luther: The Calling now out in paperback (complete with a quote from Sarah Hilary's review);

I review the first Inspector Sejer book from Karin Fossum In the Darkness, tr. James Anderson which was originally published in 1995 (in Norwegian);

Terry also reviews Oliver Harris's debut The Hollow Man which introduces amoral policeman Nick Belsey;

Anne Holt's first Hanne Wilhelmsen investigation is even older than In the Darkness but Maxine Clarke writes that The Blind Goddess, tr. Tom Geddes "remains fresh and engaging";

Mark Bailey reviews Peter James's new Roy Grace book, Not Dead Yet which he enjoyed, but it might be time to wrap up the series-long backstory mystery;

Susan White reviews Christobel Kent's The Dead Season the third in this Florence-based PI series;

Lynn Harvey reviews Christopher Radmann's striking debut set in South Africa: Held Up

and Geoff Jones reviews Craig Russell's Dead Men and Broken Hearts the fourth in the Lennox series set in 1950s Glasgow.
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.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Luther wins Golden Globe

More accurately Idris Elba has won a 2012 Golden Globe in the category Best Actor - Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for TV, for his portrayal of the character Luther in the series of the same name.

So far there have been two series of Luther, both are available on DVD and have been followed up by an original novel from the series creator, Neil Cross: Luther: the Calling which is reviewed here by Sarah Hilary for Euro Crime.

Sunday, August 07, 2011

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.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Luther: Coming Soon

The BBC have released a trailer for the upcoming series 2 of Luther, created by Neil Cross. The first series is available now on DVD and this second series is due to be released on DVD on 27 June.

There is also a book coming out in August, the first in a series of books featuring Luther:

Meet Detective Chief Inspector John Luther. He's a murder detective. A near-genius. He's brilliant; he's intense; he's instinctive. He's obsessional. He's dangerous. DCI John Luther has an extraordinary clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty from friends and colleagues. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. And yet there are rumours that DCI Luther is bad - not corrupt, not on the take, but tormented. Luther seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things he shouldn't; things way beyond the limits of the law. Luther: The Calling, the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther, takes us into Luther's past and into his mind. It is the story of the case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice. Beyond fury, beyond vengeance. All the way to murder...

Trailer:

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Book & TV News: Luther

Though I only made it through 1 episode of Luther, it seems to have been popular enough for more episodes and spin-off books. From The Bookseller:

Neil Cross, author and creator of BBC1's crime series "Luther" is to write three spin-off novels for Simon & Schuster.

The first of the three novels will be a prequel to the TV series, revealing the story behind the case that drove Luther to the edge, destroyed his marriage and nearly cost him his job. It will be titled Luther: The Calling; the other titles are tbc.

The first series of "Luther", starring Idris Elba, aired on BBC1 in May 2010. It has since been syndicated in over 10 territories. At an Edinburgh Television Festival event yesterday [30th August], BBC One Controller Jay Hunt announced that "Luther" will return in 2011, with two two-hour specials.

S&S is planning a "major" hardback launch of the first Luther novel in August 2011. The publisher will continue to publish Cross' non-Luther novels.

Read the whole article here.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

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.

Sunday, January 03, 2010

New Reviews: Charles, Cross, Holt, McCleary, Tallis, Woodrow

Two of this week's review books are published this week, two are from December and two from September; they range geographically from Norway to Paris, Ireland to Austria and the UK to South America:
Geoff Jones reviews Family Life by Paul Charles the second in this Garda Inspector series;

Maxine Clarke reviews Captured by Spooks' writer Neil Cross and she recommends you have a cat or blanket nearby to cuddle;

I review the latest Vik/Stubo outing from Anne Holt, tr. Kara Dickson, Death in Oslo in which the pair get involved in finding the kidnapped female President of the United States;

Terry Halligan follows Nellie Bly to 1889 Paris in Carol McCleary's lengthy The Alchemy of Murder;

Michelle Peckham joins psychologist Dr Liebermann for his fifth investigation in Frank Tallis's Deadly Communion

and Amanda Gillies loved Patrick Woodrow's thriller First Contact.
Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

New Reviews: Camilleri, Cross, Jungstedt, Liang, Neville, Thompson

It's the last week to enter the competition to win a copy of My Last Confession by Helen Fitzgerald (open to all).

Here are this week's reviews:
Maxine Clarke reviews August Heat by Andrea Camilleri, the tenth in the series and she thinks it may not be the best one to start with;

Craig Sisterson reviews the paperback edition of Burial by Neil Cross concluding that the author "does weave an engrossing tale that is well worth reading";

Amanda Brown reviews the paperback edition of Unspoken by Mari Jungstedt saying that it is "a very sinister and complex book";

Going a bit farther afield than normal, Laura Root reviews the paperback edition of Paper Butterfly by Diane Wei Liang, the second in this Beijing set PI series, calling it "a little gem of a book";

Mike Ripley reviews Stuart Neville's 'Northern Ireland noir' debut The Twelve stating that it is a "frighteningly assured first novel"

and Geoff Jones reviews the first in the Bella Wallis series, The Widow's Secret by Brian Thompson, set in the 19th Century.
Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Neil Cross news

Spotted on Twitter:
Neil Cross, author of NATURAL HISTORY and BURIAL has had a new crime show, LUTHER, commissioned by the BBC - to be aired in 2010.
Read the Euro Crime review of Burial.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

New Reviews: Camilleri, Cross, Doherty, MacLean, Weeks

The compilation of Euro Crime reviewers' favourites from last year is almost complete. Early indications are that Scandinavian writers will take the first three places...

This week, the following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website:
New Reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews this month's competition prize, The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri;

Maxine Clarke reviews Burial by Neil Cross which she believes will be a big hit;

Mike Ripley reviews The Spies of Sobeck by Paul Doherty;

Pat Austin reviews The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona MacLean which after a shaky start, she couldn't put down

and Maxine also reviews Lee Weeks's The Trophy Taker which is the first in a new series set in Hong Kong.
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.