New Reviews: Alaux & Balen, Grey, Hall, James, Kelly, McKinty, Rendell, Russell, Schumacher

Since the last set of reviews went up, the Euro Crime favourite reads of 2014 have been compiled and the most mentioned authors/titles/translators announced.

In addition the review team's favourite discoveries of 2014 have been revealed.

In addition, here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today.

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

New Reviews

Terry Halligan reviews Treachery in Bordeaux by Jean-Pierre Alaux & Noel Balen tr. Anne Trager, the first in the Winemaker Detective series;

Susan White reviews Isabelle Grey's Good Girls Don't Die;

Lynn Harvey reviews Tarquin Hall's The Case of the Love Commandos;

Rich Westwood reviews Christina James's Sausage Hall, the third in the DI Yates series;

Geoff Jones reviews Jim Kelly's At Death's Window, the latest in his North Norfolk-set Shaw & Valentine series;

Mark Bailey reviews Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty, the fourth in the Sean Duffy series;

Michelle Peckham reviews The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell;


Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's Race to Death

and Susan also reviews Tony Schumacher's The Darkest Hour.

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

New Reviews: Douglas, Fowler, Hall, Holt, Jackson, Kitson, Knight, Ridpath, Villar

The British writers are getting about this week with settings ranging from Germany, Iceland, India and the US as well as closer to home: London, Yorkshire and Scotland. Mainland Europe writers are featured with Norway and Spain.

NB. The International Dagger winner will be announced next week so you only have a couple of days left to vote in the International Dagger Polls.

Here are the new 9 reviews:

Amanda Gillies reviews James Douglas's The Doomsday Testament;

I review the audio book version of Christopher Fowler's, Bryant & May Off the Rails narrated splendidly as ever by Tim Goodman;

Susan White reviews Tarquin Hall's third Vish Puri outing, The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken likening the author to P G Wodehouse;

Lynn Harvey reviews the paperback release of Anne Holt's Fear Not, tr. Marlaine Delargy the fourth (and best imho) in the Vik-Stubo series;

JF reviews David Jackson's second book set in New York, The Helper;

Terry Halligan reviews the sixth in Bill Kitson's Mike Nash series, Identity Crisis;

Terry also reviews Alanna Knight's The Seal King Murders set in 1861;

Maxine Clarke reviews Michael Ridpath's Meltwater the third in his Fire & Ice series set in Iceland

and Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback release of Domingo Villar's Death on a Galician Shore, tr. Sonia Soto which was shortlisted for last year's International Dagger.

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: Bale, Chance, Cotterill, Evans, Hall, le Carre, MacLeod

Two competitions for March, both close 31st March:
1.Win a signed copy of Complicit by Nicci French UK only
2.Win From the Dead by Mark Billingham UK & Europe only

Here are this week's reviews:

Terry Halligan reviews the paperback release of Tom Bale's Terror's Reach;

Amanda Gillies reviews Alex Chance's Savage Blood, which she loved;

Michelle Peckham reviews the first in a new series (presumably) from Colin Cotterill, Killed at the Whim of a Hat set in Thailand;

Lizzie Hayes reviews Geraldine Evans' Deadly Reunion the latest in this "marvellous series";

Susan White reviews Tarquin Hall's The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing set in India;

Geoff Jones reviews John le Carre's Our Kind of Traitor

and Maxine Clarke reviews Torquil MacLeod's Meet Me in Malmo the first in a projected series featuring Inspector Anita Sundstrom.

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

The Case of the Missing Servant - Extract

Tarquin Hall's The Case of the Missing Servant was published in the UK in May and has just been released in the US. Here are the first few paragraphs from the US edition:

One

Vish Puri, founder and managing director of Most Private Investigators Ltd., sat alone in a room in a guesthouse in Defence Colony, south Delhi, devouring a dozen green chili pakoras from a greasy takeout box.

Puri was supposed to be keeping off the fried foods and Indian desserts he so loved. Dr. Mohan had "intimated" to him at his last checkup that he could no longer afford to indulge himself with the usual Punjabi staples.

"Blood pressure is up, so chance of heart attack and diabetes is there. Don't do obesity," he'd advised.

Puri considered the doctor's stern warning as he sank his teeth into another hot, crispy pakora and his taste buds thrilled to the tang of salty batter, fiery chili and the tangy red chutney in which he had drowned the illicit snack. He derived a perverse sense of satisfaction from defying Dr. Mohan's orders.

Still, the fifty-one-year-old detective shuddered to think what his wife would say if she found out he was eating between meals -- especially "outside" food that had not been prepared by her own hands (or at least by one of the servants).

Keeping this in mind, he was careful not to get any incriminating grease spots on his clothes. And once he had finished his snack and disposed of the takeout box, he washed the chutney off his hands and checked beneath his manicured nails and between his teeth for any telltale residue. Finally he popped some sonf into his mouth to freshen his breath.

All the while, Puri kept an eye on the house across the way and the street below.

Read the rest of the extract on the Simon & Schuster website.

Old Publishing News - Tarquin Hall

I missed the original announcement about this series which is set in New Delhi and written by British journalist Tarquin Hall. The first book, The Case of the Missing Servant: A Vish Puri Mystery, is due out in May 2009.

From Publishers Weekly:

Amanda Murray at S&S has acquired U.S. rights to the first two books in a mystery series set in New Delhi and described as the Indian answer to Alexander McCall Smith's bestselling series set in Botswana. The books feature a fastidious sleuth named Vish Puri, and the first book is titled Vish Puri: The Case of the Missing Servant. Emma Parry made the deal, and rights have already been sold to McClelland & Stewart in Canada and to Hutchinson in the U.K. (via auction); to Record in Brazil and to Mondadori in Italy (via preempt). Author Tarquin Hall, who divides his time between England and India, is the author of three works of nonfiction, Salaam Brick Lane, To the Elephant Graveyard and Mercenaries, Missionaries and Misfits. S&S will publish the first book in spring 2009.

Another comparison to Alexander McCall Smith...