Review: The Brides' Club Murder by P R Ellis

The Brides' Club Murder by P R Ellis, March 2017, 278 pages, ellifont, Ebook

Reviewed by Susan White.
(Read more of Susan's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

The Brides’ Club is a group of transvestites who like to dress as brides and live out their fantasy of being a bride for a day at an annual weekend retreat which culminates in the Butterfly Ball. This year the event is being held at the Ashmore Lodge and is made extra special by the inclusion of a real wedding between two of its members, with the other brides acting as bridesmaids.

However this happy event is put into jeopardy by the discovery of the body of one of the members of the club. DS Tom Shepherd is called to the scene and feels that he must close the hotel but is persuaded by the organisers to let the event carry on while the investigation is being carried out. His boss, DCI Sloane, suggests that someone should be sent in undercover and who better than their former colleague, now known as Jasmine Frame and renowned for her investigatory skills. She is now working as a private investigator and is undertaking gender re-assignment and nothing will persuade Sloane that Jasmine has no knowledge of the world of transvestites. As far as he is concerned she is the ideal candidate for the undercover work. It is left up to Tom to persuade Jasmine to help out the police.

This is the third novel to feature Jasmine Frame, a woman born into a man’s body, who has started the long process of gender reassignment. She is slowly re-building her life and forming new relationships. The books tackle the difficult subject of being transgender with sympathy and honesty.

Susan White, March 2018

Review: Bodies by Design by P R Ellis

Bodies by Design by P R Ellis, August 2015, 254 pages, ellifont, Ebook (the paperback edition is available from the author)

Reviewed by Susan White.
(Read more of Susan's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Jasmine was forced out of the police force by prejudice and discrimination and now makes an uncertain living as a private detective. Working on her first case for the Department of Works and Pensions, she is investigating a possible benefits fraud, and is hopeful that it might lead to a more profitable and secure income. She is on surveillance, bored and uncomfortable. A young girl runs from a house shouting fire, and Jasmine's first instinct is to help, although it will mean breaking her cover. When she hears that another young woman, Xristal, is in the house she breaks in but finds her dead - the fire seemingly centred on her body. Xristal turns out to be a young "she-man" a male with some of the physical attributes of a female who earns her living as a prostitute providing a very exclusive and specific service.

DS Tom Shepherd, Jasmine's former colleague, and still a friend, is assigned the case, now identified as murder, and his superior, despite his apparent dislike and distrust, decides to appoint Jasmine as a consultant due to her expertise of the transgender world. She finds herself drawn into a new, complicated world of the difficult choices that some make to survive.

As well as the murder, this is the story of Jasmine's life and her transition from male to female. Unusually, her former wife is supportive of her goals but Jasmine finds herself with few friends after starting her decision. The response of most former friends and colleagues to her has been negative, so when a new neighbour, Viv, seems to be attracted to her, she is initially disbelieving and suspicious, but hopeful of the possibility.

This is the sequel to PAINTED LADIES and describes a further stage on the long, painful and complicated procedures that are necessary for transgender to achieve their ultimate goal - to be the person they need and want to be. A difficult subject, dealt with sensitively but informatively.

Susan White, March 2016

New Reviews: Brett, Ellis, Hauxwell, Nickson, Persson, Perry, Reichs, Thomas, Wheatley

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 :).

NB. There is also a Euro Crime page on Facebook which you can like and will keep you up to date with the blog (plus occasional extras).

New Reviews

Brother and sister detecting duo Blotto and Twinks are back in Simon Brett's Blotto, Twinks and the Riddle of the Sphinx, reviewed here by Mark Bailey;

Susan White reviews P R Ellis's Painted Ladies which introduces copper turned PI, Jasmine Frame;

Amanda Gillies reviews A Bitter Taste by Annie Hauxwell, the second book in her Catherine Berlin series;

Michelle Peckham reviews Chris Nickson's  Fair and Tender Ladies, the sixth in his Richard Nottingham series set in Leeds;

Laura Root reviews Leif G W Persson's He Who Kills the Dragon, tr. Neil Smith, the second in the Evert Backstrom series;

Terry Halligan reviews the latest in the Thomas Pitt series from Anne Perry, Death on Blackheath;

I review Kathy Reichs's Tempe Brennan short story Bones in Her Pocket;

Lynn Harvey reviews Ostland by David Thomas

 
and Terry also reviews the reissue of Dennis Wheatley's The Forbidden Territory.


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.