New Reviews: Aspe, Beckett, Dahl, Hancock, Nesbo, Spencer

Here are six new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today.

The favourite overall reads of 2013 as voted by the Euro Crime review team were revealed last Monday.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Geoff Jones reviews The Midas Murders by Pieter Aspe, tr. Brian Doyle which is the second in the Assistant Commissioner Pieter Van In series and is set in Bruges;

Michelle Peckham reviews Simon Beckett's standalone novel, Stone Bruises which is set in France;

Lynn Harvey reviews Arne Dahl's Bad Blood tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles - "Dahl's writing has a pay-off as rewarding as the book's dark and exciting plot";

Susan White reviews The Darkening Hour by Penny Hancock, whom she compares favourably to Barbara Vine and Sophie Hannah;

Laura Root completes the Euro Crime set of reviews for Jo Nesbo's (currently) ten book Harry Hole series with her review of Cockroaches tr. Don Bartlett, the second in the series

and Terry Halligan reviews Sally Spencer's Death's Dark Shadow the latest in the DCI Monika Paniatowski series.



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.

Harrogate - Drawing the Line

My third panel and this time I took notes by hand. Drawing the Line featured Tim Weaver, Margie Orford, Penny Hancock, Gregg Hurwitz and N J Cooper moderating.

Panel blurb: When it comes to making moral choices, how far should a writer go? Do they worry about titillating those who may be tempted to emulate the terrible crimes they read about? And do writers ever fear for their own psyches when coming up with ideas which push the envelope of acceptability?

My notes:

NC commented that kidnap featured in novels by all 4 of them.

MO said that South Africa is much more dangerous than England, children, people do disappear. [I'm not sure if she was joking] said that she had morgue on speed dial as she has 3 daughters. South Africa is rape capital of the world. It's more fun to write emotional torture than physical.

GH said that he would sometimes leave an important bit out of a description eg if he was describing making a bomb.

MO came to write crime to try and understand why there is so much violence in South Africa.

PH wanted to explore the psychology of a woman (who'd kidnap a teenage boy) - wouldn't be interested in the scenario if the genders were reversed. Hasn't found any examples of a female kidnapping a boy.

TW said that 25% readers found his first book too violent and said he was hurt by that as it it implied that he had no control over his writing. There was going to be a scene with dog cruelty but he was advised (and did) to take it out.

MO was going to have the cat killed off - as didn't fit her character's life but she received an email from a fan saying whatever you do don't harm the cat. The cat was reprieved and she has to re-edit book and put cat care routines in!

MO - fear of fear, moved back to South Africa in 2001 with her 3 daughters and was scared but the mortuary on a Monday morning would show bodies of young men, not women. Said that dead women are often passed to women pathologists as men get too upset. Superstition that if you write about something you are warding it off.

Both GH and MO are reported to be more pleasant when working on a book.

There is a poison line you can ring in US and GH rang to ask about the poisonous nature of oleander and there was a pause and the recipient of the call asked "Sir, may I ask what number you're calling from"!

MO wrote journalist pieces but needed more space to explore true crime. Cops - fluke if they catch someone - only chiefs of police going to jail at the moment. Most people in South Africa experience violence themselves or a close family/friend has.

Crime titles on Richard & Judy List

Richard and Judy's Summer Reading List has been announced. There are ten titles and the ones with  crime/adventure content are:

Richard Harris - The Fear Index
Lars Kepler - The Hypnotist tr. Ann Long (Review by Maxine, Review by Lizzie)
Penny Hancock - Tideline

They are now available to buy in a special promotion in W H Smiths.

More information about the bookclub is on Richard & Judy's website.

Publishing Deal - Penny Hancock

From today's Booktrade:

Simon & Schuster have triumphed in a hotly contested auction for two novels by debut author Penny Hancock. Senior Commissioning Editor Francesca Main acquired UK and Commonweath rights, excluding Canada.

The first of the two novels, Tideline, has drawn comparisons with the writing of Belinda Bauer, Sophie Hannah, Minette Walters and Nicci French and is a psychological thriller rich in atmosphere and suspense. Set by the Thames in Greenwich, it is the story of a respectable married woman, Sonia, who one afternoon answers the door to fifteen-year-old Jez, the nephew of a family friend. She invites him in – and doesn't let him leave. Sonia's estranged husband, her twenty-one-year-old daughter and Jez's own family, falling apart under the stress of his disappearance, all remain oblivious to Sonia's secret, and as events run an increasingly sinister course, we realise she will stop at nothing to keep it...

Francesca Main said: "This is a masterfully controlled, beautifully written and utterly mesmerising novel with a darkly evocative setting. I loved the unwavering composure of Sonia's first-person voice, despite her increasingly unnerving actions, and the gradual reveal of the events in the past that have unhinged her. This is a story of obsessive desire and the destructive power of memory that gets right under the skin. I'm delighted that we'll be publishing Penny, who no doubt has a glittering future ahead of her."

Simon & Schuster will publish Tideline in trade paperback and bespoke limited edition hardback in Spring 2012.