New Reviews: Billingham, Burke, Chance, Christie, Larsson, Magson, Rayne, Sharp, Stark & Competition

And the reviews are back! A slightly longer break than I'd anticipated due to family matters but 9 new reviews follow below plus a very short-term competition to win tickets to meet actors from The Killing (Danish version) at The Scandinavia Show next Sunday. I have 4 tickets to giveaway, just enter a few details in this form.

Here are this week's (globe-trotting) reviews:

Geoff Jones reviews the tenth in the Tom Thorne series by Mark Billingham, Good as Dead;

Laura Root reviews Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the Twenty-First Century edited by Declan Burke an "anthology of essays and short stories centred on Irish crime writing";

Lynn Harvey reviews Alex Chance's second thriller, now out in mass market paperback Savage Blood which she describes as "Denis Wheatley meets Dan Brown";

I review the audio version of two recently unearthed Hercule Poirot stories by Agatha Christie: The Capture of Cerberus & The Incident of the Dog's Ball which are read by David Suchet;

Maxine Clarke reviews the long-awaited fourth book in translation by Asa Larsson: Until Thy Wrath Be Past, tr. Laurie Thompson which Maxine sums up in one word: "brilliant";

Terry Halligan reviews the second in Adrian Magson's 1960s France-set DI Rocco series, Death on the Rive Nord and he hopes for more in the series;

Amanda Gillies praises highly Sarah Rayne's latest psychological thriller, What Lies Beneath now out in paperback;

The first of two books set in the US written by UK authors is Alex Sharp's Driver: Nemesis, set in New Orleans; it's based on a computer game and written pseudonymously by an "English thriller writer" and reviewed here by Rich Westwood

and the second is Oliver Stark's 88 Killer, his second book set in New York City and which Michelle Peckham found "absorbing".

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here.

New Reviews: Easter, Fitzgerald, Indridason, Lawton, Rayne, Robertson, Website Updates & New Competition

A new competition for July: Win a set of 3 books by Armand Cabasson (UK only)

Here are this week's reviews:

Pat Austin reviews The Watermen by Patrick Easter an atmospheric new series set at the end of the eighteenth century;

Laura Root reviews the second in the Alec Blume series from Conor Fitzgerald, The Fatal Touch, set in Rome;

Maxine Clarke reviews the Erlendur-lite Outrage by Arnaldur Indridason, tr. Anna Yates in which Elinborg comes to the fore;

Amanda Gillies reviews John Lawton's newest book in the Frederick Troy series, A Lily of the Field;

Lizzie Hayes reviews Sarah Rayne's the most recent stand-alone novel, What Lies Beneath

and Terry Halligan reviews the third in the Westerman-Crowther series from Imogen Robertson, Island of Bones, also set in the eighteenth century.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

Website Update

State of play at 10.7.11:

The Author Websites page now lists 898 sites.

The New & Upcoming Releases pages have been updated.

In Bibliographies there are now bibliographies for 1672 authors (8606 titles with links to 2031 reviews):

I've added new bibliographies for: Adam Baker, Parker Bilal, Adam Blake, Horst Bosetzky, Constance Briscoe, Kevin Brooks, Will Carver, Jason Dean, Stephen Done,James Douglas, Matthew Dunn, Mark Ellis, Monika Fagerholm, Friis, Agnete & Kaaberbol, Lene, Sergios Gakas, Tim Griggs, Jorn Lier Horst, Mons Kallentoft, Maxine Kenneth, Hans Koppel, Charlotte Link, M L Longworth, Bernard Minier, Laurence O'Bryan, Kristina Ohlsson, Andrea Penrose, Emlyn Rees, A D Scott, Johan Smits, Elizabeth Speller, Linda Stratmann, Stefan Tegenfalk, David Thomas, Antti Tuomainen, S J Watson.

I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Jussi Adler-Olsen, Ray Alan, Lin Anderson, Maureen Ash, Tom Bale, Jo Bannister, Robert Barnard, Colin Bateman, Veronyca Bates, Quentin Bates, Belinda Bauer, Carrie A Bebris, Mark Billingham, Mikkel Birkegaard, Benjamin Black, Cara Black, Sam Bourne, Alan Bradley, John Brady, Simon Brett, P J Brooke, Christopher Brookmyre, Alison Bruce, Fiona Buckley, Tom Cain, Kenneth Cameron, Andrea Camilleri, Rebecca Cantrell, Gianrico Carofiglio, Carol K Carr, Maureen Carter, Jane Casey, Joyce Cato, Camilla Ceder, Joanna Challis, Kimberley Chambers, Charlie Charters, Maxim/Maxime Chattam, Lee Child, Ann Cleeves, Barbara Cleverly, Martina Cole, Simon Conway, Lesley Cookman, Gary Corby, Colin Cotterill, Deborah Crombie, Donna Fletcher Crow, Charles Cumming, Elizabeth Darrell, Carol Anne Davis, John Dean, David Dickinson, Nick Drake, Alex Dryden, Jeremy Duns, Marjorie Eccles, Kate Ellis, Kjell Eriksson, Charles Finch, Jane Finnis, James Forrester, Christopher Fowler, Dick Francis, Guy Fraser, Tana French, Nicci French, Elizabeth George, Michele Giuttari, Philip Gooden, Susanna Gregory, J M Gregson, Tarquin Hall, Sophie Hannah, Tom Harper, Cora Harrison, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Tim Heald, Mandasue Heller, Peg Herring, Matt Hilton, Anne Holt, Anthony Horowitz, Graham Hurley, Graham Ison, Claude Izner, Maxim Jakubowski, Bill James, Quintin Jardine, Doug Johnstone, Mari Jungstedt, Jessie Keane, Lars Kepler, Simon Kernick, Philip Kerr, Bill Kitson, Bernard Knight, Lynda La Plante, Camilla Lackberg, Deryn Lake, Stephen Leather, Simon Lelic, Frances Lloyd, Stuart/Stuart B MacBride, Shona Maclean, Adrian Magson, G M Malliet, Scott Mariani, Howard Marks, Michael Marshall, Edward/A E Marston, Priscilla Masters, Ava McCarthy, Val/VL McDermid, Adrian McKinty, Andy McNab, The Medieval Murderers, G J Moffat, Theresa Murphy, Amy Myers, Barbara Nadel, Jo Nesbo, Stuart Neville, Chris Nickson, Hilary Norman, Margie Orford, S J Parris, Ben Pastor, Caro Peacock, Mark Pearson, Stef Penney, Anne Perry, Leif GW Persson, Malcolm Pryce, Ann Purser, Sheila Quigley, Ian Rankin, Deanna Raybourn, Linda Regan, John F Rice, Roslund-Hellstrom, Priscilla Royal, Fay Sampson, Alex Scarrow, Stav Sherez, Alexander McCall Smith, Dan Smith, Sally Spedding, Cath Staincliffe, Mel/Melvin R Starr, Sara Stockbridge, The Mulgray Twins, Rhys Thomas, Brian Thompson, Peter Tickler, Peter Tremayne, Helene Tursten, L C Tyler, Valerio Varesi, Marco Vichi, Martin Walker, Jeri Westerson, Stella Whitelaw, Patrick Woodhead, Anne Zouroudi.

If you spot any errors or omissions do let me know.

New Reviews: Campbell, Doherty, Hughes, James, Jungstedt, Rayne

Here are this week's reviews:

Terry Halligan reviews the paperback edition of Karen Campbell's After the Fire which is a strong contender for his top 5 of 2010;

Craig Sisterson goes to Ancient Egypt with Paul Doherty's The Anubis Slayings;

Michelle Peckham enjoyed the new Ed Loy, PI from Declan Hughes: City of Lost Girls;

Maxine Clarke is disappointed with the "mind of a killer" scenes in Peter James's Dead Like You but enjoys The Killer's Art by Mari Jungstedt, tr. Tiina Nunnally much more

and Amanda Gillies has high praise for Sarah Rayne's new chiller (set in the Fens), House of the Lost.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

New Reviews: Connolly, Gray, Kelly, Rayne, Robertson, Timlin

Here are this week's reviews:

Pat Austin reviews the latest Charlie Parker from John Connolly, The Whisperers;

Paul Blackburn reviews the seventh of Alex Gray's Glasgow set series Five Ways to Kill a Man;

Maxine Clarke reviews the debut novel by Erin Kelly The Poison Tree, which has been likened to Barbara Vine's A Fatal Inversion;

Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback edition of Sarah Rayne's Ghost Song;

Terry Halligan reviews the second of Imogen Robertson's 18th Century series, Anatomy of Murder

and Geoff Jones reviews Mark Timlin's Guns of Brixton.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

New Reviews: Brandreth, Calderon, Charteris, Duns, Keating, Rayne, Schenkel

Just one day left in May's competition - win a copy of Suffer the Children by Adam Creed. (There are no geographical restrictions on entrants.) Enter here.

The following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website. The theme this week is historical crime:

New Reviews:

I review the audio book version of Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders by Gyles Brandreth (1889-90);

Laura Root reviews The Creator's Map by Emilio Calderon (WWII);

Rik Shepherd reviews The Best of the Saint: Volume One by Leslie Charteris (1930s);

Michelle Peckham reviews Free Agent by Jeremy Duns (1969);

Mike Ripley reviews A Small Case for Inspector Ghote? by H R F Keating (1964);

Amanda Gillies reviews Spider Light by Sarah Rayne (present day with flashbacks);

and Maxine Clarke reviews Ice Cold by Andrea Maria Schenkel(1930s).

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

New Reviews: Beckett, Jungstedt, Macken, Rayne & New Competition

A new competition is up and running. NB This one will close on 14th February and a new one will start on the 15th.

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

New Reviews:

It's been a two year wait for the new David Hunter novel by Simon Beckett. Michelle Peckham reviews, Whispers of the Dead which takes place in the 'Body Farm' in the US and is somewhat gruesome in parts;

Maxine Clarke reviews the third in the Gotland series by Mari Jungstedt, which until recently was to be called 'A Lonely Place' but is published as Unknown (US: The Inner Circle);

Terry Halligan reviews the paperback edition of John Macken's Trial by Blood which he found "unputdownable"

and Amanda Gillies writes that Sarah Rayne's Ghost Song "had me both absorbed and fascinated".

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

The first competition of February is for a set of the ten Martin Beck books by Sjowall and Wahloo. (Closing date is 14th February, one entry per household and UK/Europe entrants only.)

New Reviews; Burdess, Durbridge, Nesser, Rayne, Simms, Sjowall & Wahloo

Here are this week's new reviews and a reminder of this month's competition:

Latest Reviews:

Terry Halligan reviews Wendy Burdess's The Unaccomplished Lady Eleanor concluding that the author "has a real gift in her writing with uncanny descriptive detail and highly imaginative plots" (this title has recently been published in the US);

I had the pleasure of reviewing the full-cast dramatisation of Francis Durbridge's Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery released as part of the 70 year anniversary of Paul Temple;

New reviewer Michelle Peckham debuts with her review of the paperback of The Return by Hakan Nesser writing that it is "an intelligently plotted crime novel";

Amanda Gillies is very enthusiastic about Sarah Rayne's The Death Chamber which sounds very spooky;

Geoff Jones reviews Shifting Skin by Chis Simms which is set in Manchester

and Maxine Clarke continues with her odyssey through Sjowall and Wahloo's Martin Beck series, this time she reviews The Fire Engine That Disappeared which is as good as the previous four.


Current Competition:

Win a copy of Nemesis by Jo Nesbo*

* no geographical restrictions on entrants (ends 30 September)

New Reviews on Euro Crime

Normal service is slowly being resumed starting with a couple of new reviews on the Euro Crime website.

We have another new reviewer for Euro Crime and Terry Halligan's first review is of 'The Last Secret of the Temple' by Paul Sussman. In addition, Karen Chisholm reviews 'Spider Light' by Sarah Rayne.

If you're in the UK and interested in reviewing British and other European crime fiction drop me an email at karen@eurocrime.co.uk.