New Reviews: Brodrick, Brooks, Ceder, Chatterton, Conway, Dahl, Kray, Meyer, Upson

Here are 9 new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today:

Terry Halligan reviews William Brodrick's The Day of the Lie, the fourth in the Father Anselm series;

Susan White reviews Kevin Brooks' Until the Darkness Comes the second in the John Craine, private detective, series;

Maxine Clarke reviews Camilla Ceder's follow-up to Frozen Moment, Babylon tr. Marlaine Delargy which sees the return of Gothenburg detective Christian Tell and co.;

Mark Bailey reviews Ed Chatterton's first foray into adult crime fiction, A Dark Place to Die set in Liverpool;

Lynn Harvey reviews and thoroughly recommends Rock Creek Park by Simon Conway;

Earlier this week I reviewed The Blinded Man by Arne Dahl, tr. Tiina Nunnally also published as Misterioso;

Lizzie Hayes reviews Roberta Kray's Nothing But Trouble which is now out in paperback;

Terry wishes all books he reviewed were as good as Deon Meyer's Heart of the Hunter tr. K L Seegers

and Susan also reviews Nicola Upson's Fear in the Sunlight the fourth in this series featuring Josephine Tey, now out in paperback

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.

The Kray (Writing) Dynasty

I'm enjoying watching the current series of Whitechapel, which brings to the audience's attention the horrific crimes carried out by the Kray brothers. The Kray name is well known in fiction too with Roberta Kray (widow of Reggie) and Kate Kray (widow of Ronnie) both writing crime fiction. Kate Kray has recently switched from true-crime to fiction with The Betrayed, published by MaxCrime in May 2010. Roberta Kray's latest novel is The Villain's Daughter, published in June by Sphere:

Rosie was a beautiful, young actress when she fell in love with Johnny Mullins, the notorious London gangster. But their married life was far from what she had hoped it would be and was marred by drug abuse and violence. After Johnny was arrested and sentenced to 18 years, it became clear that their relationship was doomed to fail. Now, years later, and for the first time in a long time, life is finally looking up for Rosie Mullins. She has confronted her jealous husband and told him that she wants out, her acting career has taken off, and she has fallen into a new relationship with a top TV executive. All too quickly, however, she finds that Johnny's influence extends far beyond the prison walls that contain him. To make matters worse, his intensely loyal twin brother, "Mad Dog" Eddie, is proving to be every bit as dangerous as her husband. Betrayed by those who had sworn to protect her and cornered by her past, Rosie has to fight with every breath to protect herself and her beloved daughter, Ruby. She finds herself forced to play a very, very dangerous game; setting her old family against her new one.

Sean O'Donnell, small-time villain and family man, walked out of his home nineteen years ago and hasn't been heard of since. Now his daughter, Iris, has returned to the East End in the hope of finding him again. But she's not the only one on his trail. The psychotic Street brothers are right on her heels ? and they've got good reason to want her father dead. With the help of the mysterious Guy Wilder, Iris slowly begins to unearth the horrors of the past. It isn't long before she comes to realise that some secrets are best left buried...

New Reviews; M R Hall, Roberta Kray, Preston & Spezi, Roz Southey

There's a faint theme of 'true crime' about this week's reviews which include: a fiction book written by Roberta Kray and a true crime book about 'The Monster of Florence'...

The following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website:

New Reviews:

Maxine Clarke praises highly the debut novel from M R Hall The Coroner which is the first in a several book series starring Jenny Cooper, Coroner and prescription drug addict;

Amanda Brown reviews The Lost by Roberta Kray which has an authenticity about it;

Michelle Peckham reviews the true crime book about the investigation into The Monster of Florence written by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi and the bizarre tack the police took

and Terry Halligan reviews the unusual sounding historical mystery by Roz Southey - Chords and Discords.

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.

Roberta Kray - The Pact

Roberta Kray is the widow of the notorious gangster, Reggie Kray, whom she married in prison in 1997.

After writing the non fiction, 'Reggie Kray: A Man Apart', she has more recently turned to crime fiction in the Martina Cole vein.

In 2006, 'The Debt' was published, followed up in 2007 by 'The Pact'. The paperback of 'The Pact' came out at the end of March and you can watch a short promotional video of Mrs Kray discussing the book on the Constable and Robinson blog.

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk: Eve, the 34 year old daughter of recently deceased conman Alexander Weston, knows a good deal when she sees it - and this one doesn't even come close. However, with vulnerable brother Terry being beaten in jail, she can't afford to be fussy. She needs to organise protection for him, and fast. The intimidating and powerful con Cavelli seems the perfect solution, but how high a price is he going to exact? She may as well be forming a pact with the Devil. A break-in, followed by a vicious assault, soon makes Eve question the wisdom of her choice. Cavelli is leading her straight into Hell. Suddenly, her own life is in jeopardy; there's a psychopath lurking in the shadows and he's prepared to kill to get what he wants. With two men dead already Eve is forced to turn to the past to find the answers she so desperately needs. There's only one problem. Time is running out.

You can read the first chapter (in pdf format) here.