Awards News: McIlvanney Prize (formerly Scottish Crime Book of the Year) - Longlist announced

The longlist for the McIlvanney Prize (formerly Scottish Crime Book of the Year) was announced today. From the press release:

We're excited to announce the 2016 longlist of the McIlvanney Prize
(formerly the Scottish Crime Book of the Year) as:

The Special Dead - Lin Anderson
Black Widow - Chris Brookmyre
The Jump - Doug Johnstone
A Fine House in Trinity - Lesley Kelly
In the Cold Dark Ground - Stuart MacBride
Splinter the Silence - Val McDermid
The Damage Done - James Oswald
Even Dogs in the Wild - Ian Rankin
Open Wounds - Douglas Skelton
Beloved Poison - E. S. Thomson

From the Bloody Scotland website: "The winner of the Scottish Crime Book of the Year will now be awarded The McIlvanney Prize at an awards ceremony on the opening evening of Bloody Scotland, Friday 9 September in Stirling."

TV News: Sacrifice on Channel 5

Scheduled at 10pm on Sunday night on Channel 5 is the film version of Sharon (SJ) Bolton's Sacrifice.

Here is the blurb from IMDB:

Sacrifice is the story of consultant surgeon, Tora Hamilton, who moves with her husband, Duncan, to the remote Shetland Islands, 100 miles off the north-east coast of Scotland. Deep in the peat soil around her new home, Tora discovers the body of a young woman with rune marks carved into her skin and a gaping hole where her heart once beat. Ignoring warnings to leave well alone, Tora uncovers terrifying links to a legend that might never have been confined to the pages of the story-books.

The cast includes Radha Mitchell (as Tora) and Rupert Graves (as Duncan).

Review: Cutting Edge by Bill Daly

Cutting Edge by Bill Daly, April 2016, 320 pages, Old Street Publishing, ISBN: 1910400351

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

CUTTING EDGE is the third Glasgow DCI Charlie Anderson book by Bill Daly and it is really brilliantly gripping. Given the number of police procedurals that are published each year, it is very pleasantly surprising to discover an author who writes in a way that does not conform to a very predictable pattern. His protagonist DCI Charlie Anderson is a policeman of senior years and a veteran of many previous cases. This one opens on an ordinary day in June 2011 when a serial killer sends Charlie a parcel which contains the severed left hand of a victim who turns out to be an elderly gypsy. The parcel, contains a shoe box and in that, together with the severed hand, there is also a playing card. There are no identifying finger prints or DNA left on the parcel which was posted from a large post office in the usual way.

Soon a range of victims are being targeted including a heroin-addicted mercenary and a female accountant and their severed left hands are being removed and posted to Charlie and later the corpse of each victim is discovered. The media are involved and it soon becomes a high-profile case with much pressure from the top brass in the Glasgow police to relieve negative public opinion with a quick resolution. Soon Charlie's own family are being targeted and his wife and daughter have to go into hiding to safeguard them and there are tensions in the team of detectives hunting the deranged killer.

The book, since it contains many gory descriptions is not for the squeamish but I did not think it was unnecessarily violent but others of a more sensitive nature may be offended but I think it is important to emphasise the author is attempting to reproduce an accurate portrayal of daily life in a busy police station.

Could the killer be a recently released prisoner who was jailed as a result of Charlie's evidence? This and many other possible leads are investigated by Charlie and his team of detectives. The locality of Glasgow is well evoked with plenty of references to the Scottish diet and humour as well as street names.

I had the pleasure of reading for review purposes his previous books DOUBLE MORTICE and his debut DCI Charlie Anderson novel BLACK MAIL and his present book is well up to his usual high standard.

I truly loved reading CUTTING EDGE which was immensely enjoyable but at 320 pages I thought too short as I didn't want it to end. I will definitely look out for further books by this greatly talented British author who now lives and works in Montpelier France. Extremely well recommended.

Terry Halligan, June 2016.

Review: City of Jackals by Parker Bilal

City of Jackals by Parker Bilal, June 2016, 464 pages, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN: 1408864487

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Cairo, December, 2005
The young brother and sister are awake in the tiny sealed room; dark, it smells of oil and dust and they can hear the sounds of daytime Cairo outside. They had been so close to freedom after their escape from the soldiers and the murders. Travelling with just each other, they had reached shelter only to be snatched into this darkness and fear of death – their only hope of exit a small hatch high up in the wall. Jonah urges his sister to climb up on his back towards it. Voices approach and Beatrice manages to haul herself up but as she turns back to reach for her brother the door bursts open. “Run,” he calls out to her, “Run.”
Makana is watching the sky lighten. After another sleepless night he wonders how much longer he can live on this decrepit houseboat. Every bone aches as he smokes a cigarette and considers his latest case: the apparent disappearance of a young engineering student who has not been in touch with his family for three weeks. His thoughts are interrupted by his landlady's daughter who drags him along the river bank to where a fisherman has hooked a grisly catch, a severed head in a sack. Police Inspector Okasha arrives with his posse of uniforms and brings with him the formidable Chief Forensic Officer, Doctora Siham. She pinpoints a scar pattern on the victim's forehead as belonging to one of Makana's fellow Sudanese, although from the South. Okasha remarks that if the victim is from South Sudan he can't see anyone rushing to solve the mystery, the South Sudanese are not popular in Egypt right now, with their protesters encamped in Maidan Square for months, demanding their right to asylum.
Makana returns to his current investigation and visits the university where the missing youth was studying. There, he begins to experience what will become a familiar pattern in this case – hostility and suspicion of his Sudanese origins. He is used to being an outsider in Egypt but now, with international eyes drawn to Darfur, he finds an extra hostility reserved for his being North Sudanese and an oppressor of the South…

Parker Bilal is the crime pseudonym of British-Sudanese writer Jamal Mahjoub who writes fiction and non-fiction under his own name and whose current project is a contemporary history of the North-South Sudanese conflict. CITY OF JACKALS is the fifth novel in his gripping “Makana Mystery” series, set in Egypt in the years leading up to the Arab Spring and featuring Sudanese exile Makana struggling to make a living as a private investigator and battling his own demons that rise from his haunted and hunted past. The titles in the series often conjure Ancient Egyptian iconography and CITY OF JACKALS introduces us to the realm of Anubis, the dog-headed god who prepares his subjects for the underworld – for the life to come. This is Egypt on the brink of revolt, Mubarak has been elected back into power but protest is in the air. Makana's search for the missing student starts to uncover a life unknown to the rest of the young man's family. But at the same time he cannot forget the murdered Sudanese whose head was found in the river and he works to identify the boy and to find his murderer or murderers. The search takes him into the churches, camps and missions of the Sudanese refugees where he encounters Christian missionary zeal alongside open hostility.

In CITY OF JACKALS Makana seems to be at some kind of exhausted cross-roads himself, the consequence of which is a darker, more conflicted atmosphere. The wit is still there but it is more subdued. The hospitable suppers at his favourite restaurant are less frequent. Makana's journalist friend Sami is also adrift – in his marriage and his job; even Makana's eager young helper, Aziza, now in her teens, seems angry at the hopelessness of her ambitions. However Bilal still conjures the living detail of Cairo, the street scenes, smells, vivid, rounded characters and the layers of a crowded city steeped in human machinations, corruption and hope. Bilal's writing remains sure and Makana's investigation sweeps towards an exciting, physically dramatic conclusion – a trademark Makana finish. You must always hang on to your hat when following the determined Makana's chase to the finish, so press that hat firmly on your head and follow him, you won't regret it.

Lynn Harvey, June 2016.

Awards News: The Dead Good Reader Awards 2016 - Shortlists

From the Dead Good Books website, news of the shortlists. You can vote for your favourites via their website. (I think the translated category is new.):

This year over 2,000 of you nominated your favourite books and authors for the Dead Good Reader Awards. We’re thrilled to now be able to unveil your shortlists.

The Dead Good Recommends Award for Most Recommended Book
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Little Brown)
Die of Shame by Mark Billingham (Little Brown)
In Her Wake by Amanda Jennings (Orenda)
The Missing by C L Taylor (Avon)
Tastes Like Fear by Sarah Hilary (Headline)
Untouchable Things by Tara Guha (Legend Press)

The Tess Gerritsen Award for Best Series
Jack Reacher, Lee Child (Transworld)
Roy Grace, Peter James (Macmillan)
Marnie Rome, Sarah Hilary (Headline)
Logan McRae, Stuart MacBride (Harper Collins)
Ruth Galloway, Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
George Mackenzie, Marnie Riches (Maze)

The Linwood Barclay Award for Most Surprising Twist
Disclaimer by Renee Knight (Transworld)
The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne (Harper Collins)
I let You Go by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere)
The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson (Faber & Faber)
Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton (Transworld)
When She Was Bad by Tammy Cohen (Transworld)

The Papercut Award for Best Page Turner
Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay (Orion)
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Little Brown)
Follow Me by Angela Clarke (Avon)
The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza (Bookouture)
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware (Vintage)
Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid (Little Brown)

The Hotel Chocolat Award for Darkest Moment
Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris (MIRA)
The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood (Sphere)
In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride (Harper Collins)
Little Boy Blue by M J Arlidge (Michael Joseph)
The Teacher by Katerina Diamond (Avon)
Viral by Helen Fitzgerald (Faber & Faber)

The Mörda Award for Captivating Crime in Translation
Camille by Pierre Lemaitre (MacLehose Press)
The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund (Vintage)
The Defenceless by Kati Hiekkapelto (Orenda Books)
I’m Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork (Doubleday)
Nightblind by Ragnar Jonasson (Orenda Books)
The Undesired by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Hodder & Stoughton)

Some 1929 Titles (for Past Offences)

The latest monthly challenge over at Past Offences is to read a book in June, published in 1929. Here are some British/European crime titles to choose from, first published in English in 1929, pulled from my database:

Margery Allingham - The Crime at Black Dudley (apa The Black Dudley Murder)
Anthony Berkeley - The Poisoned Chocolates Case
E M Channon - The Chimney Murder
Agatha Christie - Partners in Crime (Short Stories)
Agatha Christie - The Seven Dials Mystery
Clemence Dane - Enter Sir John (with Helen Simpson)
C H B Kitchin - Death of My Aunt
Beryl Symons - The Leering House
Josephine Tey - The Man in the Queue (apa Killer in the Crowd)
Patricia Wentworth - Fool Errant

My list is rather short but there are longer lists in the comments on the Past Offences page.

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2016 Shortlist & CWA Dagger Longlists

Catching up with recent short- and longlist announcements...

The shortlist for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2016 has been announced.

In addition: "Val McDermid will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining past winners Sara Paretsky, Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill."

Time Of Death – Mark Billingham
Career Of Evil – Robert Galbraith
Tell No Tales – Eva Dolan
Disclaimer – Renee Knight
I Let You Go – Clare Mackintosh
Rain Dogs – Adrian McKinty

"The overall winner will be decided by a panel of Judges, alongside the public vote. The public vote opens on 1 July and closes 15 July at www.theakstons.co.uk."

Read more about the shortlisted titles at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival website.

At CrimeFest, the longlists for the ten CWA Daggers were announced. I've borrowed this handy summary from Dead Good Books.

The CWA Dagger longlists 2016


Goldsboro Gold Dagger, sponsored by Goldsboro Books:

Dodgers by Bill Beverly (No Exit Press)
Black Widow by Christopher Brookmyre (Little, Brown)
After You Die by Eva Dolan (Harvill Secker)
Real Tigers by Mick Herron (John Murray)
Finders Keepers by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
Dead Pretty by David Mark (Mulholland Books)
Blood Salt Water by Denise Mina (Orion)
She Died Young by Elizabeth Wilson (Serpent’s Tail)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications:

The Cartel by Don Winslow (William Heinemann)
The English Spy by Daniel Silva (HarperCollins)
Bone by Bone by Sanjida Kay (Corvus)
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (Serpent’s Tail)
Real Tigers by Mick Herron (John Murray)
The Hot Countries by Timothy Hallinan (Soho Crime)
Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Hearberlin (Michael Joseph)
Make Me by Lee Child (Bantam Press)
Spy Games by Adam Brookes (Sphere)
The American by Nadia Dalbuono (Scribe UK)

John Creasey New Blood Dagger:

Fever City by Tim Baker (Faber & Faber)
Dodgers by Bill Beverly (No Exit Press)
Mr Miller by Charles Den Tex (World Editions)
The Teacher by Katerina Diamond (Avon)
Wicked Game by Matt Johnson (Orenda Books)
Freedom’s Child by Jax Miller (HarperCollins)
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh (Jonathan Cape)
The Dark Inside by Rod Reynolds (Faber & Faber)
The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle (Viking)

International Dagger:

The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango, trans. by Imogen Taylor (Simon & Schuster)
The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaître, trans. by Frank Wynne (MacLehose Press)
Icarus by Deon Meyer, trans. by by K L Seegers (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Sword of Justice by Leif G.W. Persson, trans. by Neil Smith (Doubleday)
The Murderer in Ruins by Cay Rademacher, trans. by Peter Millar (Arcadia)
The Father by Anton Svensson, tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (Sphere)
The Voices Beyond by Johan Theorin, trans. by Marlaine Delargy (Transworld)
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama, trans. by Jonathan Lloyd-Davis (Quercus)

Non-Fiction Dagger:

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)
Sexy Beasts: The Inside Story of the Hatton Garden Mob by Wensley Clarkson (Quercus)
You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life (You Are Raoul Moat) by Andrew Hankinson (Scribe)
A Very Expensive Poison by Luke Harding (Faber & Faber)
Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories by Thomas Grant (John Murray)
John le Carré: The Biography by Adam Sisman (Bloomsbury)

Dagger in the Library:

RC Bridgestock, published by Caffeine Nights
Tony Black, published by Black & White
Alison Bruce, published by Constable & Robinson
Angela Clarke, published by Avon
Charlie Flowers, published by Endeavour Press
Elly Griffiths, published by Quercus
Keith Houghton, published by Thomas & Mercer
Quintin Jardine, published by Headline
Louise Phillips, published by Hachette
Joe Stein, published by Ward Wood

Short Story Dagger:

‘As Alice Did’ from Montalbano’s First Case and Other Stories by Andrea Camilleri (Pan Macmillan)
‘On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier’ from Nocturnes 2: Night Music by John Connolly (Hodder and Stoughton)
‘Holmes on the Range: A Tale of the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository’ from Nocturnes 2: Night Music by John Connolly (Hodder and Stoughton)
‘Bryant & May and the Nameless Woman’ from London’s Glory by Christopher Fowler (Bantam)
‘Stray Bullets’ from Crimes by Alberto Barrera Tyszka (MacLehose Press)
‘Rosenlaui’ by Conrad Williams from The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Moriarty, ed. by Maxim Jakubowski (Constable & Robinson)

Debut Dagger:

Dark Valley by John Kennedy
Death by Dangerous by Oliver Jarvis
The Devil’s Dice by Roz Watkins
Hardways by Catherine Hendricks
Let’s Pretend by Sue Williams
Misconception by Jack Burns
A Reconstructed Man by Graham Brack
A State of Grace by Rita Catching
The Tattoo Killer by Joe West
Wimmera by Mark Brandi

Endeavour Historical Dagger, sponsored by Endeavour Press:

The House at Baker Street by Michelle Birkby (Pan Books)
A Death in the Dales by Frances Brody (Piatkus)
A Man of Some Repute and A Question of Inheritance by Elizabeth Edmondson (Thomas & Mercer)
Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
The Last Confessions of Thomas Hawkins by Antonia Hodgson (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Other Side of Silence by Philip Kerr (Quercus)
A Book of Scars by William Shaw (Quercus)
The Jazz Files by Fiona Veitch Smith (Lion Fiction)
Striking Murder by A. J. Wright (Allison & Busby)
Stasi Child by David Young (Twenty7Books)

New Releases - June 2016

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in June 2016 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). June and future months (and years) can be found on the Future Releases page. If I've missed anything do please leave a comment.

• Bolton, S J - Daisy in Chains
• Booth, Stephen - Secrets of Death #16 Detectives Ben Cooper & Diane Fry, Peak District
• Bussi, Michel - Black Water Lilies
• Callaghan, Helen - Dear Amy
• Carson, Clare - The Salt Marsh #2 Sam
• Carter, Andrea - Treacherous Strand #2 Benedicta 'Ben' O'Keeffe, Solicitor, Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland.
• Clements, Rory - Corpus #1 Thomas Wilde, 1930s
• Cookman, Lesley - Murder in the Blood #15 Libby Sarjeant, middle aged actress/investigator, Kent
• Doughty, Louise - Black Water
• Eastland, Sam - Berlin Red #7 Inspector Pekkala, Revolutionary Russia
• Fossum, Karin - Hell Fire #12 Inspector Konrad Sejer, Norway
• French, Nicci - Saturday Requiem #6 Frieda Klein, Psychotherapist
• Gardner, Frank - Crisis #1 Luke Carlton, Ex-Special Boat Service commando
• Glynn, Alan - Paradime
• Granger, Ann - The Dead Woman of Deptford #6 Lizzie Martin, Lady's companion and Inspector Ben Ross, Victorian Era
• Grecian, Alex - Lost and Gone Forever #5 Murder Squad of Scotland Yard, Victorian London
• Gregory, Susanna - A Grave Concern #22 Matthew Bartholomew, 14th Century physician, Cambridge
• Hjorth-Rosenfeldt - The Man Who Wasn't There #3 Sebastian Bergman, Psychological profiler
• Holmen, Martin - Clinch #1 Harry Kvist, a bi-sexual former boxer and debt collector, 1930s Stockholm
• Hunt, Arlene - Last To Die
• Jones, Chris Morgan - The Searcher #3 Ben Webster
• Jungstedt, Mari - A Darker Sky (with Ruben Eliassen) #1 The Canary Island Series
• Kasasian, M R C - The Secrets of Gaslight Lane #4 The Gower St Detective, Victorian era
• Khemiri, Jonas Hassen - Everything I Don't Remember
• Kitson, Bill - The Haunted Lady #5 The Eden House Mysteries
• Linskey, Howard - Behind Dead Eyes #2 DC Ian Bradshaw
• Marklund, Liza - The Final Word #11 Annika Bengtzon, Journalist, Sweden
• Matsumoto, Seicho - A Quiet Place
• Mishani, D A - The Man Who Wanted to Know #3 Inspector Avi Avraham, Israel
• Perry, Karen - Girl Unknown
• Persson, Leif GW - The Dying Detective
• Runcie, James - Sidney Chambers and The Dangers of Temptation #5 The Grantchester Mysteries
• Staalesen, Gunnar - Where Roses Never Die #17 Varg Veum, PI in Bergen, Norway
• Swallow, James - Nomad
• Sylvain, Dominique - Sun and Shadows #3 Lola Jost and Ingrid Diesel, Paris
• Walker, Martin - Fatal Pursuit #9 Bruno, Chief of Police, France
• Ware, Ruth - The Woman in Cabin 10

Review: No Shred of Evidence by Charles Todd

No Shred of Evidence by Charles Todd, March 2016, 352 pages, William Morrow, ISBN: 0062386182

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

It is Autumn 1920 in a village near Padstow in Cornwall and four middle class young ladies who have been spending the weekend together, decide to go out in a rowing boat on the river Heyl, but unfortunately they have an accident. After being out for some time they see a young man of their acquaintance, in another rowing boat, rapidly sink, and as the water is quite deep, he manages to struggle across to their boat. They really have great difficulty in trying to pull him onto their boat as his waterlogged clothing makes him very heavy, one of the girls brings an oar towards him with the hope that he should grab it but the effort for her is too much and she accidentally drops it and it appears to strike his head. A man on the riverbank sees the struggle that the girls are having and swims out to them and clambers aboard and tries artificial respiration on the victim but he still appears unconscious.

The man on the riverbank accuses the girls of attempting to kill the victim and the police are forced, because of adverse local public opinion, to arrest the girls for attempted murder. The girls spend a night in a local jail but as the facilities are very poor they are placed under house arrest at the house of a local magistrate who happens to be the father of one of the girls. Similarly, as the crime is outside the experience of the local constabulary, Scotland Yard are requested to send a detective to investigate. An Inspector Barrington was sent down initially but unfortunately on the first day of his investigation he suffered a fatal heart attack and died. Because of this, Inspector Ian Rutledge is ordered by his Superintendent to replace Barrington and start a fresh investigation.

Rutledge had only just returned from Derbyshire on a previous investigation and was not expecting to be reassigned so quickly, he follows orders, however, and drives down to Cornwall. Rutledge was an officer on the Somme, during the Great War and was forced to shoot a Scottish soldier Hamish MacLeod for directly refusing an order. As a result of this Rutledge is haunted by the inner voice of Hamish constantly pointing out negative possibilities for almost all of his actions. Little was known at that time of post traumatic stress disorder. When Rutledge reaches Heyl village he starts his investigation but is hampered by not being able to locate any of the case notes that his predecessor, Inspector Barrington had made. Accordingly, he feels obliged to start investigating completely from the beginning.

Although 1920 almost seems within living memory, of course it is almost historic in that many of the furnishings and appliances that we take for granted were completely absent. Thus, interviews with all the persons involved was very important to build a picture of the background. As there were very few telephones available to the public Rutledge could not telephone Scotland Yard to report in, he could only send telegrams but that presented problems of confidentiality, as he could not be sure who may read it during transit and therefore had to be very circumspect in his approach. A national telephone service was not available until the mid 1920s.

"Charles Todd" is the pen name of the American authors Caroline and Charles Todd. This mother-and-son writing partnership live in the Eastern USA in adjoining states and have used their writing partnership to co-write more than twenty-five historical mysteries. They have two main series: the Detective Inspector Ian Rutledge one and separately the Sister Bess Crawford books about a First World War nursing sister who gets involved in several mysteries.

This book is extremely well researched for the period and is a testament to the authors' frequent research trips to the UK. I read for review purposes, A FINE SUMMER'S DAY, as well as many of the other books privately and I really enjoy their highly imaginative and well researched plots enormously and always look forward to reading their stories as I know from previous experience that I will be gripped until the last page is closed. Extremely well recommended.

Terry Halligan, May 2016.

TV News: Dicte on More4

 
Danish series Dicte - Crime Reporter starts on More4 next Friday (3 June) at 9pm. It appears that series 1 will be shown over five weeks in two-hourly slots. There have been two series so far and a third has been commissioned.

Crime reporter Dicte Svendsen returns to her hometown of Aarhus following her divorce and stars Iben Hjejle as Dicte and Lars Brygmann (Unit One, Borgen) as Detective John Wagner.

The series is based on Elsebeth Egholm's Dicte series of books of which only two are available in English, Next of Kin and Life and Limb (books four and five in the series). These have been published only in Australia at the moment but they can be purchased via the Book Depository website.

US Cozy Review: Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay

Welcome to another entry in my irregular feature: US cozy review. Again, this is the start of a new series, and it features a lead who runs the local library.

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay, July 2011, Berkley Books ISBN: 0425242188

BOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING is the first book in the Library Lover's series. As a Library Assistant myself, you would expect me to love this book and you would be correct.

Set in a coastal small town - Briar Creek, Connecticut - the lead character is Lindsey Norris who has recently taken the job of Briar Creek's Library Director after a troublesome personal and professional life elsewhere.

Lindsey's best friend Beth has been working as the children's librarian in Briar Creek for years so it is a happy reunion.

Lindsey has implemented a few changes at the library, much to the disapproval of long-time employee Ms Cole. One of these is a crafternoon session where a group of patrons knit and discuss their book group read.

Beth is an aspiring children's picture-book writer and illustrator and her boyfriend of five years, Rick, is a successful children's author however no-one can see what Beth sees in him. A row over Beth's labour of love leads to the couple splitting and a subsequent revelation has Beth fuming and dashing out to his home on a private island. Accompanied by Lindsey and local sailor Sully they do not expect to find Rick's dead body. The dim-witted local police chief has Beth in the frame however he doesn't count on Lindsey doing her own sleuthing to uncover the real killer.

BOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING imparts a feeling of comfort. The setting is gorgeous and the locals have embraced Lindsey into the community (with the exception of Ms Cole!) and there's just the hint of a salve for Lindsey's broken heart in the shape of hot-chocolate making Sully (recipe included). The mystery side is fine – I didn't guess what was going on - but it takes a while to get a head of steam but the finale is quite action packed and full of peril. There is also a very funny scene towards the end in a college.

I really enjoyed the feel of the book – the ambience, the wonderful library and the book-ish references - so much so that I've just ordered books two and three. The seventh book in the series is due out in November 2016. I may have caught up by then!

Karen Meek, May 2016

Review: Murder Ring by Leigh Russell

Murder Ring by Leigh Russell, May 2016, 320 pages, No Exit Press, ISBN: 1843446774

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is the next book in the extremely popular series featuring Leigh Russell’s DI Geraldine Steel. As usual it is well written but a quick read and can be devoured in a short period of time. Geraldine has gone from strength to strength since we first met her in CUT SHORT in 2009. She has moved towns, been promoted and found herself to be both highly respected and skilled at what she does. I am always delighted to get my hands on another book in the series about this particular police detective. It is only a pity that I read them far too quickly!

In MURDER RING, a dodgy, fresh-out-of-jail, house-breaker called Lenny arrives home after serving his time inside. He is late back, after celebrating his freedom with his mates, and suspiciously offers his girlfriend a diamond ring to compensate for his behaviour. She can’t believe her eyes but her luck soon runs out when Lenny decides to flog the ring and takes it back. Right about the time he is doing this, a body is found in a side street in central London. The victim, a Mr. David Lester, has been shot in the chest and is missing his nice leather jacket – as well as a box containing his wife’s very expensive engagement ring that was being resized.

It is almost immediately obvious to the reader who has the ring but the identity of the shooter remains a mystery; both to us and Geraldine and her team. She has the added worry of a new boss to impress and a new lead on the whereabouts of her birth mother, who might be prepared to meet her at last. The pressure on Geraldine seems greater than ever in this book. She is irritable with Sam, her faithful and talented DC, and silently watching her sister’s developing pregnancy all the while not getting any closer to finding herself either a man or closure on her adoption.

Just as the police begin to turn things around and have the killer in their sights, as well as locked up and under arrest at last, another body is discovered and they have to begin again. Geraldine has to dig deep to find her quarry before any more lives are lost.

Leigh Russell has begun two other series since we were first introduced to Geraldine and the others are equally excellent but this series is my favourite. I love this feisty female detective and feel as if we are friends. This latest instalment does not disappoint and has you guessing and looking for clues, right until the very end. It is interesting to follow an author from their very first book and watch how their work develops. I am really enjoying the journey with Leigh Russell and am looking forward to the many more books that are sure to come!

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, May 2016.

Petrona Award 2016: Winner Announced

On 21 May 2016, at the Gala Dinner at CrimeFest, Bristol, Petrona Award judges Barry Forshaw, Katharina Hall and Sarah Ward announced the winner of the 2016 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

The winner was THE CAVEMAN by Jorn Lier Horst translated by Anne Bruce and published by Sandstone Press.

The trophy was presented by last year's winner Yrsa Sigurdardottir to Jorn Lier Horst's representative, Robert Davidson of Sandstone Press.

Mr Davidson read out the following remarks from Jorn Lier Horst:

This is the fourth Petrona Award and I feel highly honoured to follow Liza Marklund, Leif GW Persson, and Yrsa Sigurdardottir. I am also very grateful to the jury for the trouble they have taken, for their expert knowledge and their commitment over the years. They pay great tribute to their late colleague, Maxine Clarke, whose memory is perpetuated in this most suitable of ways.

Our present time will be referred to in future as the ‘Golden Age of Scandinavian Crime Literature’. Never before have so many Scandinavian authors written so many good crime novels, with a vitality and quality that not only attracts readers worldwide but also enhances the whole crime genre. In such a time it is especially an honour to receive the Petrona Award, particularly gratifying and a source of great pride. Thank you.


Mr Davidson added: This is yet another recognition of a very fine author. More than just a crime writer, Jorn Lier Horst is a novelist who has extended beyond his genre. I would like also to pay tribute to his translator, Anne Bruce. All of us at Sandstone Press are very proud to be the publishers of this great series.

As well as the trophy, Jorn Lier Horst receives a pass to and a guaranteed panel at next year's CrimeFest.

The judges's comments on THE CAVEMAN:

THE CAVEMAN is a gripping police procedural drawing on Jorn Lier Horst’s experiences as a murder detective. All the books in the 'William Wisting' series have had compelling narratives and THE CAVEMAN is no exception, exploring a Norwegian society where, in a supposedly close-knit community, a man can lie dead at home unnoticed and unmourned for weeks. Excellent plotting, well-drawn characters and writing of the highest quality make this book a worthy winner of the 2016 Petrona Award.

As well as the Petrona Award winner, the winners of the CrimeFest Awards were also announced and are as follows:

Audible Sounds of Crime Award
WINNER: Paula Hawkins for The Girl on the Train, read by Clare Corbett (India Fisher & Louise Brealey)

Kobo eDunnit Award
WINNER: Michael Connelly for The Crossing (Orion Publishing Group)

Last Laugh Award
WINNER: Christopher Fowler for Bryant & May and the Burning Man (Transworld)

H.R.F. Keating Award
WINNER: Martin Edwards for The Golden Age of Murder (HarperCollins)

Review: The Firemaker by Peter May

The Firemaker by Peter May, April 2016, 560 pages, riverrrun, ISBN: 0857053965

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

It is 1998, Margaret Campbell, an American Forensic Pathologist has left the USA, following a broken relationship, for Beijing, China on an initial six-week course to teach at the Police Academy. The opportunity had been given to her at short notice and she was very unprepared for the vast difference in language, customs, culture and general way of life there. Li Yan is the lead detective for the Beijing version of Scotland Yard and on his first case after just being promoted has to investigate the discovery of a grotesquely burned corpse discovered in a city park. In order to get to the bottom of this, he needs outside expert help and he discovers, to his dismay, that Margaret's speciality is the pathology of burns' victims.

Initially, there is a lot of animosity between Margaret and Li Yan as they originally met when jet-lagged Margaret accidentally crashed her car into his bike. He tells her off in perfect English. This was particularly upsetting for him as he was on his way to the initial interview for the job of Deputy Section Chief. Turning up for the interview in soiled blood stained clothes at such an important time made him very resentful towards this foreign lady but fortunately it did not stop him getting the job.

Li Yan and Margaret work together to try to discover the identity of the victim and whether it was suicide as everyone initially thinks or could it be murder? There are two other murders discovered at the same time but whether they are connected or separate cases needs also to be investigated. Margaret does the autopsy of the victim and is able with her expert knowledge to discover a great deal of useful information about the victim. She even telephones a contact in the FBI in the US for more information.

The difficulty of investigating a criminal case in a communist state with all their strange (to Western eyes) customs and hierarchical traditions is explained very well by the author, who explains in extensive notes at the beginning of the book how often he has travelled on research trips to China over the years and how much it has changed. Li Yan lost most of his family during the Cultural Revolution and his last surviving main mentor is his uncle with whom he lives and discusses his cases, and gets the benefit of his insightful experience.

The author manages to inject into the story, which is quite lengthy at 560 pages a lot of thoughtful, highly atmospheric descriptions of life in the new China. One could almost taste the contents of the wok the characters ate from as Li Yan took Margaret to various restaurants, during the case. The beautifully rich vocabulary that the author uses transports you immediately to China. As the case developed it became clear that the three victims that were initially investigated were just the tip of an iceberg that could lead to the death of millions, not only in China but around the world.

This is the first in a series of six books with these characters and was originally published in 1999; they are now being introduced to new readers such as me and I look forward to reading the whole series and also his Lewis Trilogy set in the Outer Hebrides. The quality of his writing is first class and I was very impressed as I have not had the pleasure of reading his books before. Extremely well recommended.

Terry Halligan, May 2016.

Review: The Disappearance by Annabel Kantaria

The Disappearance by Annabel Kantaria, April 2016, 384 pages, MIRA, ISBN: 1848454406

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

The book begins with Audrey Templeton on holiday with her two adult children, twins Alexandra and John. She goes missing, presumed having fallen overboard whilst at sea.

In 1970 Audrey Bailey, devastated following the death of her beloved father (her mother having pre-deceased him) decides to sail from England for Bombay to make a new life. She quickly falls under the spell of a suave businessman, Ralph Templeton. After a whirlwind courtship he proposes to her, but tells her he has two children, their mother having committed suicide.

Marriage is difficult because of Ralph's moods, jealousy and his need to control. She makes the best of it for the children. They eventually return to England to live. Audrey misses the sights and sounds of Bombay. She goes to Art class and gets involved with the tutor, but Ralph eventually finds out and takes a violent revenge.

After Ralph's death Audrey moves from London to Cornwall as she misses the sea. Her son John lives near and her daughter and her husband also move close. However John and Alexandra find trying to keep visiting Audrey exhausting and John in particular would like her to move into sheltered accommodation. Audrey who is only just approaching her seventieth birthday does not feel old and disagrees.

Then the twins receive an invitation to go on a cruise of the Greek islands with their mother. What could go wrong in such idyllic settings?

This is the second novel from this Dubai-based British journalist. Her first book was COMING HOME. I enjoyed the story of Audrey's life. The book reminded me of the type of book that Robert Goddard writes, and this is high praise indeed! I intend to download her first book now and would thoroughly recommend this one.

Geoff Jones, May 2016

Review: Behind God's Back by Harri Nykanen tr. Kristian London

Behind God's Back by Harri Nykanen, tr. Kristian London (January 2015, 208 pages, Bitter Lemon Press, ISBN: 1908524421)

BEHIND GOD'S BACK is the third in the Ariel Kafka series but is the second to be translated. The other being the first book in the series, NIGHTS OF AWE.

Ari is one of two Jewish police officers in Helsinki/Finland and he is called in to investigate the murder of leading Jewish businessman Samuel Jacobsen. Many years ago Ari dated Jacobsen's daughter and recently Ari's brother Eli's law firm arranged a loan for Jacobsen. These factors are positives rather than meaning Ari has to recuse himself.

The killer seems to be a professional, no evidence is left behind and the getaway car is found, also completely clean. Ari's small team have to discover whether this is a racist killing or had Jacobsen got involved with criminals?

Just when Ari is beginning to get somewhere, a second killing occurs. Is there a connection to the upcoming visit by an Israeli politician? An unexpected source holds all the answers.

BEHIND GOD'S BACK is an easier book to follow than NIGHTS OF AWE. It is fairly short, so plot overrides characterisation I feel and I haven't got much of a handle on Ari's colleagues. Setting the crime in the Jewish community however, means that not only do you get information about Jewish customs but you get almost a "village" setting as Ari knows everyone and they know him and he will get information that "outsiders" won't.

BEHIND GOD'S BACK is an interesting read and Ari is a typical fictional cop: forty-ish, single, smart-mouthed but for once without a drink problem. The pace is steady, there are no dips, and overall it's a solid police procedural. I hope that more of the currently five-book series get translated into English.

Karen Meek
May 2016

Some 1957 Titles (for Past Offences)

The latest monthly challenge over at Past Offences is to read a book in May, published in 1957. Here are some British/European crime titles to choose from, first published in English in 1957, pulled from my database:

Catherine Arley - Woman of Straw
Josephine Bell - Double Doom
Gwendoline Butler - Dead in a Row
Agatha Christie - 4.50 from Paddington (apa What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw!)
Katherine Farrer - Gownsman’s Gallows
Ian Fleming - From Russia With Love
Alan Hunter - Landed Gently
Alan Hunter - Gently Down the Stream
Austin Lee - Miss Hogg and the Squash Club
Osmington Mills - No Match for the Law
Georges Simenon - The Negro
Georges Simenon - The Son
Georges Simenon Maigret's - Little Joke (apa None of Maigret's Business)
Clark Smith - The Case of Torches
Margaret Yorke - Summer Flight

There are more suggestions in the comments on the Past Offences page.

New Releases - May 2016

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in May 2016 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). May and future months (and years) can be found on the Future Releases page. If I've missed anything do please leave a comment.

• Atherton, Nancy - Aunt Dimity and the Buried Treasure #21 Aunt Dimity
• Bale, Tom - See How They Run (ebook only)
• Billingham, Mark - Die of Shame
• Cavanagh, Steve - The Plea #2 Eddie Flynn, USA
• Cleverly, Barbara - Diana's Altar #13 Commander Joe Sandilands, India
• Damhaug, Torkil - Death By Water #2 Oslo Crime Files
• Ewan, Chris - Long Time Lost
• Furst, Alan - A Hero in France
• Hayes, Sam - In Too Deep
• Holt, Anne - No Echo #6 Hanne Wilhelmsen
• Honda, Tetsuya - The Silent Dead #1 Detective Reiko Himekawa
• James, Peter - Love You Dead #12 Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, Brighton
• Jardine, Quintin - Private Investigations #26 Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Skinner, Edinburgh
• Jarvela, Jari - The Girl and the Rat #2 Metro
• Kepler, Lars - Stalker #5 DI Joona Linna, Stockholm
• Khan, Vaseem - The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown #2 Inspector Chopra
• Kutscher, Volker - Babylon Berlin #1 Detective Inspector Rath, berlin, 1929
• Lehtolainen, Leena - The Devil's Cubs #3 Hilja Ilveskero, bodyguard
• Longo, Davide - The Bramard Case
• Muir, T F - Blood Torment #6 DI Andy Gilchrist & team, St. Andrews
• Mukherjee, Abir - A Rising Man #1 Captain Sam Wyndham, Calcutta, 1919
• Palmer, Matthew - The Wolf of Sarajevo
• Parsons, Tony - The Hanging Club #3 Detective Max Wolfe of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, London
• Raabe, Melanie - The Trap
• Roberts, Mark - Dead Silent #2 DCI Eve Clay, Liverpool
• Russell, Leigh - Murder Ring #8 DI Geraldine Steel
• Tope, Rebecca - The Hawkshead Hostage #5 Persimmon Brown, Florist, Lake District
• Westo, Kjell - The Wednesday Club

Awards News: CrimeFest Awards Shortlists Announced

The shortlists for the CrimeFest Awards have been announced. [Don't forget you can try and win a free pass here.]

From the press release:

STEPHEN KING, IAN RANKIN, PAULA HAWKINS AND MORE FIGHT IT OUT IN THIS YEAR’S CRIMEFEST AWARDS

2016 awards shortlist announced

CrimeFest, the UK’s biggest crime fiction convention, is thrilled to announce the shortlist for the Annual CrimeFest Awards. The shortlist includes a mix of established names in crime fiction as well as a host of new talent. 

Crime fiction heavyweights Stephen King, Ian Rankin and Robert Galbraith will be fighting it out in the listener-voted Audible Sounds of Crime Award, with other competition including debut novelist Clare Mackintosh for her breakthrough smash hit I Let You Go, and Paula Hawkins for her international bestseller The Girl On The Train, now a major feature film. Denise Minda and Linwood Barclay are up for the eDunnit Award, along with debut novelist Jax Miller for Freedom’s Child which she wrote whilst travelling round America on the back of the motorcycle. Elly Griffiths, Simon Brett and Christopher Fowler are amongst the names nominated for the Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel. Finally, Barry Forshaw is up for two H.R.F. Keating Awards, and Adam Sisman has also been shortlisted for his acclaimed biography of John le Carré.

The winners will be announced at the CrimeFest Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, 21 May. For full shortlist details, please see below. 

Representing his fellow organisers, CrimeFest co-director Adrian Muller said: 

‘The shortlist for our awards this year is our most exciting yet, with some of crime fiction’s greatest writers up against some of the most successful debut novelists we’ve seen in recent years. To have such a diverse selection of authors spanning crime, thriller, humour, biography and non-fiction on the list is fantastic and showcases the talent out there within the genre! We are all very much excited about seeing who wins on 20^th May.’

Peter James, Anne Holt, Ian Rankin and Hugh Fraser are among the top names set to speak at this year’s CrimeFest convention. Close to 500 attendees, including more than 150 authors, agents, publishers and crime fiction fans from across the globe, will descend on the city for a jam packed four days of 65 speaking events and panel discussions.

The CrimeFest programme includes a full schedule of panel events covering everything from a mock-trial debating the hotly contested conviction of Steven Avery in Making A Murderer, to panels discussing topics such as ‘Crimes Against Humanity: Terrorism, War and International Intrigue’ and ‘Deadly Dames: Women As Killers, Investigators And Victims’

This year CrimeFest will be giving four independently published crime authors the opportunity to discuss their work at the Emerging Indie Voices Panel after what has been a landmark year for self-publishing. The convention also includes a Pitch an Agent strand, a literary agent speed-dating session where unpublished authors can present their ideas in a Dragon’s Den style session.   Those wishing to pen their own crime novel can take part in a Crime Writing Day, which includes sessions with agents and editors, optional manuscript assessments and a workshop with bestselling crime writers M.R. Hall and William Ryan.

Finally, Ian Rankin, Susan Moody, Laura Wilson and others will be battling it out in ‘Sorry I Haven’t A Cluedo’ – the ultimate quiz for crime fiction buffs, hosted by Mike Ripley

For the full line-up of authors visit www.crimefest.com/attend.html

THE 2016 CRIMEFEST AWARDS SHORTLISTS

The winners will be announced at the CRIMEFEST Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, 21 May.

SHORTLIST DETAILS:

AUDIBLE SOUNDS OF CRIME AWARD

The Audible Sounds of Crime Award is for the best unabridged crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2015 in both printed and audio formats, and available for download from audible.co.uk, Britain’s largest provider of downloadable audiobooks. Courtesy of sponsor Audible UK, the winning author and audiobook reader(s) share the £1,000 prize equally and each receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees for Best Unabridged Crime Audiobook:

- Rachel Abbott for Sleep Tight, read by Melody Grove & Andrew Wincott (Whole Story Audiobooks)

- Lee Child for Make Me, read by Jeff Harding (Random House Audiobooks)

- Harlan Coben for The Stranger, read by Eric Meyers (Orion Publishing Group)

- Robert Galbraith for Career of Evil, read by Robert Glenister (Hachette Audio UK)

- Paula Hawkins for The Girl on the Train, read by Clare Corbett, India Fisher & Louise Brealey (Random House Audiobooks)

- Stephen King for Finders Keepers, read by Will Patton (Hodder & Stoughton)

- David Lagercrantz for The Girl in the Spider’s Web, translated by George Goulding and read by Saul Reichlin (Quercus)

- Clare Mackintosh for I Let You Go, read by David Thorpe & Julia Barrie (Hachette Audio)

- Ian Rankin for Even Dogs in the Wild, read by James Macpherson (Orion Publishing Group)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and Audible UK listeners established the shortlist and the winning title.

KOBO eDUNNIT AWARD

The Kobo eDunnit Award is for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the British Isles in 2015. Courtesy of sponsor Kobo, the winning author receives £500 and a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees for the eDunnit Award:

- Linwood Barclay for Broken Promise (Orion Publishing Group)

- Michael Connelly for The Crossing (Orion Publishing Group)

- Judith Flanders for A Bed of Scorpions (Allison & Busby)

- Suzette A. Hill for A Southwold Mystery (Allison & Busby)

- Laurie R. King for Dreaming Spies (Allison & Busby)

- Jax Miller for Freedom’s Child (HarperCollins)

- Denise Mina for Blood, Salt, Water (Orion Publishing Group)

- Andrew Taylor for The Silent Boy (HarperCollins)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

LAST LAUGH AWARD The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2015. The winner receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees for the Last Laugh Award:

- Sascha Arango for The Truth and Other Lies (Simon & Schuster)

- Alan Bradley for As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust (Orion Publishing Group)

- Simon Brett for Mrs Pargeter’s Principle (Severn House Publishing)

- Christopher Fowler for Bryant & May and the Burning Man (Transworld)

- Elly Griffiths for Smoke and Mirrors (Quercus)

- Malcolm Pryce for The Case of the ‘Hail Mary’ Celeste (Bloomsbury)
- Mike Ripley for Mr Campion’s Fox (Severn House Publishing)

- Jason Starr for Savage Lane (No Exit Press)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

The H.R.F. Keating Award is for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction first published in the British Isles in 2015. The award is named after H.R.F. ‘Harry’ Keating, one of Britain’s most esteemed crime novelists, crime reviewers and writer of books about crime fiction. The winning author receives a commemorative Bristol Blue Glass award.

Nominees for the H.R.F. Keating Award:

- David Stuart Davies & Barry Forshaw for The Sherlock Holmes Book (Dorling Kindersley)

- Martin Edwards for The Golden Age of Murder (HarperCollins)

- Fergus Fleming for The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming’s James Bond Letters (Bloomsbury)

- Barry Forshaw for Crime Uncovered: Detective (Intellect)

- Julius Green for Curtains Up: Agatha Christie – A Life in Theatre (HarperCollins)

- Maysam Hasam Jaber for Criminal Femmes Fatales in American Hardboiled Crime Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan)

- Fiona Peters & Rebecca Stewart for Crime Uncovered: Anti-hero (Intellect)

- Adam Sisman for John le Carré: The Biography (Bloomsbury)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

Review: Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths

Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths, November 2015, 352 pages, Hardback, Quercus, ISBN: 1784290262

Reviewed by Michelle Peckham.
(Read more of Michelle's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is the second book from Elly Griffiths that is set in Brighton, post-Second World War, featuring detective Edgar Stephens. There is a new person on the CID team, a woman called Sergeant Emma Holmes, the subject of a lot of teasing, although Edgar takes a good professional attitude, and knows not to ask Emma to ‘put the kettle on’. The case facing the team at the start is the disappearance of two children; Mark, aged twelve and Anne, aged thirteen. They had been out playing after school, but had failed to come home when it became dark. And then, the children are found dead a few days later, discovered by a dog walker, with a trail of sweets leading to the bodies.

Edgar’s old friend Max Mephisto is also in town, playing in the pantomime 'Aladdin' as Abanazar, the Demon King, a job forced on him due to lack of work. Magicians are losing out to comedians such as Tommy Cooper, and the new development of television.

It turns out that Annie was a budding playwright, and had not only been writing plays, but had organised the other local children into an acting troupe, so that they could perform the plays in the garage of ‘uncle’ Brian. The garage itself had been set out as a mini theatre with red curtains above a small stage at one end. Brian is sure that the children hadn’t just run away, as they’d been looking forward to going to see 'Aladdin' the following week. But even more strangely, Annie’s latest play had been entitled ‘the Stolen Children’. Is there a connection? Or can the children’s death be somehow related to another similar children’s play ‘Hansel and Gretel’ or ‘Babes in the Wood’?

The usual slow but careful investigation follows, with Edgar and Emma both following up on different possible leads, to try to find out why the children went missing and who took them. Is there a link to the theatre and even to the theatrical production that Mephisto is starring in? The introduction of Emma onto the investigating team is a nice touch, and Edgar seems to have an incredibly modern attitude to women, choosing to use her skills and intelligence, rather than giving her more menial tasks to do. A gentle, entertaining story, that makes good use of the backdrops of Brighton and the theatre.

Michelle Peckham, April 2016