New Reviews: Broadfoot, Goddard, Lovesey, Neville, Perry, Redondo, Russell, Ward, Williams

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, five have appeared on the blog since last time, and four are completely new.

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

New Reviews

Amanda Gillies reviews Neil Broadfoot's The Storm, the sequel to the acclaimed Falling Fast;


Geoff Jones reviews the final part of the World Wide trilogy by Robert Goddard, The Ends of the Earth;

Terry Halligan reviews Peter Lovesey's Down Among the Dead Men, the fifteenth in the Peter Diamond series [and if anyone knows the title of the book he refers to in his review, do drop me a line/comment on the blog and I'll pass it on];

Lynn Harvey reviews Stuart Neville's Those We Left Behind in which DCI Serena Flanagan from The Final Silence, is promoted to main protagonist;

Michelle Peckham reviews Karen Perry's Only We Know, their (two authors co-writing) second psychological drama;


Laura Root reviews the CWA International Dagger short-listed The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo tr. Isabelle Kaufeler;

After a four year absence, Jan Fabel is back in Craig Russell's The Ghosts of Altona, reviewed here by Ewa Sherman;


I review Sarah Ward's debut In Bitter Chill set in a chilly Derbyshire town

and Terry also reviews The Suicide Club by Andrew Williams, set during the First World War.


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

Review: The Ends of the Earth by Robert Goddard

The Ends of the Earth by Robert Goddard, July 2015, 384 pages, Bantam Press, ISBN: 059306979X

Reviewed by Geoff Jones.
(Read more of Geoff's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is the final part in the author's 'The World Wide' trilogy, that started with THE WAYS OF THE WORLD and was followed by THE CORNERS OF THE GLOBE. The first part was published in 2013 and each subsequent one at yearly intervals. So unless you had the books to hand, you may have found the reviews for each book such as on the Euro Crime website invaluable to remind you what has happened so far.

At the end of book two James 'Max' Maxted is drugged and about to be killed, with the murder being made to look like suicide.

Book three opens with Max's faithful friend Sam Twentyman, along with the Americans, Schools Morahan and Malory Hollander, waiting for Sam to join them in Japan. Schools has enlisted a team of five men from the USA to help them to free Jack Farngold, who is a prisoner of the evil Count Tomura. Max had believed that Farngold held the key to why Max's father Henry was murdered.

Soon Sam learns that Max is dead from Pierre Dombreux who works for the German spy-master Felix Lemmer. Dombreux is a French traitor who spied for the Germans and Russians. His estranged wife Corrine was Henry Maxted’s mistress and someone that Max had admired.

Although devastated by the news, Schools, Sam and Mallory agree that they should carry out the original plan to rescue Farngold. Everything that can go wrong does, they are betrayed and Schools and two of the men fall into the hands of the Japanese secret police. Sam and Mallory separately are on the run from arrest.

The author is a master storyteller and just when you feel that the situation can be resolved for the better, it gets worse! There are plenty of twists and turns in this excellent adventure thriller. Although the book comes to a conclusion, there are a few hints that we may hear again from some of these characters. Remember everything is not always as it seems, what secret awaits at the eerie castle in the mountains?

I enjoyed this book just as much as the previous two. I also thought that despite waiting three years for the conclusion that the series worked and worked well. I thoroughly recommend this book and look forward to the next one from the master.

Geoff Jones, July 2015

New Reviews: Fossum, Goddard, Hall, Kerr, Magson. Oswald, Ridpath, Smith, Stiastny

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, two have appeared on the blog over the last week and seven are completely new.

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

New Reviews

Laura Root reviews Karin Fossum's The Murder of Harriet Krohn tr. James Anderson, the seventh in the Inspector Sejer series and which completes the set of one to ten in English; however it appears, pleasingly, that there are a couple more, newer, Sejers to be translated;

Geoff Jones reviews Robert Goddard's The Corners of the Globe, which is now the middle part of a trilogy;

Michelle Peckham reviews The Burning by M R Hall, the latest in the Jenny Cooper, Coroner series;

Terry Halligan reviews a standalone by Philip Kerr - Research;

Lynn Harvey reviews Adrian Magson's Death at the Clos du Lac, the fourth in the Inspector Lucas Rocco series set in 1960s France;

Dead Men's Bones is the fourth in James Oswald's Inspector McLean series set in Edinburgh, reviewed here by Terry;

Lynn also reviews Meltwater by Michael Ridpath, the third in his Icelandic series;

Amanda Gillies reviews Anna Smith's Betrayed, the fourth in the Glasgow reporter Rosie Gilmour series

and Susan reviews Terry Stiastny's debut Acts of Omission.

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.

New Reviews: Casey, Delaney, Fitzgerald, Goddard, Hand, MacNeal, Neville, Oldfield, Wilton

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 few weeks, so you may have read some of them before if you're a regular :).

Also I've now set up a Euro Crime page on Facebook which you can like.

Michelle Peckham reviews Jane Casey's The Stranger You Know, the fourth in the DC Maeve Kerrigan series;

Amanda Gillies reviews Luke Delaney's debut, Cold Killing which is now out in paperback;


Lynn Harvey reviews Conor Fitzgerald's The Namesake, the third in the Commissario Alec Blume series;

Geoff Jones reviews Robert Goddard's The Ways of the World;

Lynn also reviews Elizabeth Hand's Generation Loss, the first in the Cass Neary series;

Terry Halligan reviews Susan Elia MacNeal's His Majesty's Hope, the third in the Maggie Hope series;

Terry also reviews Stuart Neville's Ratlines, which is now out in paperback;

Lynn also reviews Mark Oldfield's The Sentinel, the first part of the 'Vengeance of Memory trilogy'


and Rich Westwood reviews Robert Wilton's Traitor's Field, the second in the Tom Roscarrock 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.

Review: The Ways of the World by Robert Goddard

The Ways of the World by Robert Goddard, July 2013, 416 pages, Bantam Press, ISBN: 0593069730

Reviewed by Geoff Jones.
(Read more of Geoff's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is the twenty-fourth mystery/thriller book by this popular author, this time set in France and England in 1919. The First World War has come to an end. In Paris there is a Peace conference involving the USA, UK, France and Italy. The Japanese are co-opted occasionally.

James Maxted (Max) was a fighter pilot in the Royal Flying Corp. He is the second son of Sir Henry, owner of Gresscombe Place a stately home in Surrey. Max is friendly with his chief mechanic from the war – Sam Twentyman and together they hope to run a flying school on some of the Maxted land. He learns from his mother that his father has died. Sir Henry was an adviser to the British contingent in Paris. Max and his elder brother Ashley (there is no love lost between brothers and Ashley’s wife Lydia is usually fuelling their arguments), travel to Paris. Apparently their father died in suspicious circumstances and was involved with a Madame Corinne Dombreux, who is a widow of a man believed to be a traitor to his country.

Max believes his father was killed and despite angering Ashley, refuses to return home with their father’s body and begins to investigate. Along the way he meets some colourful characters: Travis Ireton (an American fixer) and his associate the powerfully built Morahan; Appleby from the British secret service; Baltazar Riberio, a Brazilian diplomat, and a good friend of his father; Kuroda from the Japanese embassy who befriended Sir Henry when he was in Japan; Lionel Brigham, a British delegate and ex-lover of Max’s mother who believes he is Max’s natural father and Nadia Bukayeva the sultry niece of a Turkish bookshop owner.

Max is aware of a German agent – Felix Lemmer who also knew his father, he is also aware that the Japanese have employed an agent to kill Lemmer, but who is he working for? Who is the mysterious Arab boy known as Le Singe who seems to walk into locked rooms at will!?

Although this book is complete it is actually part one as there will be a sequel, quite a novel departure for the author. THE WAYS OF THE WORLD is well up to the author's high standard. Very much recommended.

Geoff Jones, August 2013

New Reviews: Chattam, Goddard, Hochgatterer, Kerr, Leon, McGuire, Nesser, Tremayne, Wareham & New Competition

New month, new competition time. During April you can enter a competition to win a copy of Julia Crouch's Every Vow You Break. There are no geographical restrictions.

Answer the question and fill in the form here.

Here are this week's reviews:

I recently reviewed on the blog Maxime Chattam's novella, Carnage, tr. Isabel Reid and Emily Boyce which is about school massacres in New York;

Geoff Jones reviews the new title from Robert Goddard Fault Line set in Cornwall and Capri;

Lynn Harvey reviews the paperback release of Paulus Hochgatterer's The Sweetness of Life, tr. Jamie Bulloch, the first in the Austrian "Kovacs and Horn" series;

Laura Root reviews Philip Kerr's latest Bernie Gunther novel, Prague Fatale stating that it's "quite simply, an excellent novel";

Michelle Peckham reviews Donna Leon's Beastly Things, the twenty-first outing for Venice policeman Brunetti;

Terry Halligan reviews Matt McGuire's debut, set in Belfast, Dark Dawn writing that the lead character "O'Neill is a great creation";

Maxine Clarke reviews Hakan Nesser's latest Van Veeteren (and team) Hour of the Wolf, tr. Laurie Thompson which she highly recommends;

Sister Fidelma's has her twentieth adventure in Peter Tremayne's Behold a Pale Horse reviewed here by Amanda Gillies

and Lizzie Hayes recommends Evonne Wareham's debut novel, Never Coming Home to those who like romance along with a good mystery.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here and new titles by Aifric Campbell, Kate Darby, Matthew Dunn, Sam Eastland, Ewart Hutton, Michael Marshall, Val McDermid, Shirley McKay, Louise Millar, Denise Mina, Niamh O'Connor, Marco Vichi, Voss & Edwards and Tom Winship have been added to these pages this week.

New Reviews: Dobbs, Goddard, Johnston, Keenan, Monroe, Penney

Here are this week's new reviews:

Geoff Jones reviews Michael Dobbs' Old Enemies, the fourth in the Harry Jones series, and which is now out in paperback;

Laura Root reviews Robert Goddard's twenty-second book, Blood Count which is also now now out in paperback;

Amanda Gillies reviews Paul Johnston's Maps of Hell which is the third in his Matt Wells series;

Susan White reviews Shy Keenan's debut fiction novel, The Stolen Ones which made for uncomfortable reading;

Terry Halligan reviews Aly Monroe's third Peter Cotton novel, Icelight which has just been listed in the Daily Telegraph's "Top 5 thrillers of 2011"

and Maxine Clarke reviews The Invisible Ones, the long awaited second book from Stef Penney and which Maxine thinks may even be better than the massively successful The Tenderness of Wolves.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here and new titles by Michael Dobbs, Zoran Drvenkar, Robert Goddard, Penny Hancock, Giorgio Scerbanenco, Veronica Stallwood and Elizabeth Wilson have been added to these pages this week.

Long Time Coming - Cover Opinions

This week's selection for "cover opinions" is the US and UK covers for Robert Goddard's Long Time Coming.

Long Time Coming has just won the Best Paperback Orginal Edgar Award. Would that fact influence you to try it irrespective of these covers?

What are your thoughts on the US (LHS), UK (RHS) and UK (paperback) (below) covers? Which would entice you most to pick the book up if you were not familiar with the books of Robert Goddard?

You can read an extract here.

Read the Euro Crime review by Geoff Jones of Long Time Coming.

New Reviews: Goddard, Hannah, Mankell, Robertson, Rowson, Welsh

This month's competitions:

Win the complete Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson on Unabridged Audiobooks (UK & Ireland)
Win a copy of Tell-Tale by Sam Hayes (worldwide)
Win a copy of The Preacher & The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg (UK only)

Here are this week's new reviews:

Geoff Jones reviews Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard;

Maxine Clarke reviews A Room Swept White by Sophie Hannah;

Maxine also reviews Henning Mankell's The Man from Beijing, calling it "marvellous";

Amanda Gillies reviews Craig Robertson's debut novel, Random which is published this week;

Terry Halligan reviews the latest in the DI Horton series from Pauline Rowson Blood on the Sand set in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight

and Michelle Peckham reviews Naming the Bones by Louise Welsh and reports that it's as enjoyable as Welsh's previous books, The Cutting Room and The Bullet Trick.

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

New Reviews: Benn, Black, Goddard, Goodwin, Hayder, Sjowall & Wahloo and New Competition

The competition's back! Win a set of the paperback of The Preacher and a hardback of The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg (UK only alas).
Competition question and rules => here.

This week's reviews are all of paperback releases:

Norman Price reviews Blood Alone by James R Benn, the third in the Billy Boyle WW2 series;

Amanda Gillies is impressed with Tony Black's Gutted writing that Edinburgh is "a real hotbed of crime fiction talent";

Geoff Jones reviews Found Wanting by Robert Goddard;

Terry Halligan reviews Jason Goodwin's The Bellini Card the third of the eunuch detective, Yashim's adventures;

Michelle Peckham reviews Skin by Mo Hayder and

Maxine Clarke reviews the eighth in the Martin Beck series by Sjowall and Wahloo, The Locked Room

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