New Reviews: Bilal, Enger, Ferris, Meredith, Russell, Santora, Sherez

Seven new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:

Lynn Harvey reviews Parker Bilal's Dogstar Rising, set in Cairo in 2001 and featuring former policeman Makana;

Laura Root reviews the Petrona Award shortlisted Pierced by Thomas Enger, tr. Charlotte Barslund, the sequel to Burned.

Michelle Peckham reviews Gordon Ferris's Pilgrim Soul, the third in the Douglas Brodie series, set just after World War Two;

Terry Halligan reviews D E Meredith's follow-up to Devoured: The Devil's Ribbon featuring the Victorian forensic pathologists Hatton and Roumande;

Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's fifth DI Geraldine Steel book, Stop Dead;

Susan White reviews Nick Santora's Fifteen Digits

and Terry also reviews Stav Sherez's Eleven Days, the second in the Carrigan and Miller 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.

Help Needed - Janie Bolitho website

A new website has been set up for the late author Janie Bolitho: janiebolitho.info and the webmistress Jolene needs your help.

Biographical detail on the author is scant and Bolitho's DCI Roper series has not yet been reprinted and so copies are rare. Fortunately Allison and Busby have recently republished some of the Rose Trevelyan series, set in Cornwall.

If you have memories or information about Janie Bolitho, book reviews you want to share then Jolene would love you to get in touch via the website.

Janie Bolitho's Euro Crime bibliography (with a couple of reviews) is here.

Review: The Devil's Ribbon by D E Meredith

The Devil's Ribbon by D E Meredith, February 2013, 336 pages, Allison & Busby, ISBN: 0749012463

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

It is July 1858 and London is in the midst of a terrible cholera epidemic and many of the bodies that are being brought to St Bart's Hospital, Smithfield for examination and post mortem by Professor Adolphus Hatton and his able assistant Albert Roumande are infected with this dreadful disease. However, the two expert forensic pathologists have a very enthusiastic apprentice, Patrice, to teach and a great need to find diverse patients to demonstrate to him the skills he will need in his new profession.

During the Great Irish famine approximately a million people died during the years 1845 and 1852 and a lot of the remaining population emigrated both to London and America. There was a lot of racist antipathy directed towards these new Irish immigrants at that time and the body of leading Irish Unionist is found and Inspector Jeremiah Grey of the Yard requests the help of the two expert forensic pathologists in finding the cause of death and ultimately, hopefully, the killer.

In this multi-faceted story, in between the main narrative of the work of Professor Hatton and Albert Roumande, is given the back-story of the Irish killers discussing their next moves. Professor Hatton has dealt with other Scotland Yard detectives before, but not one as strange as Inspector Grey appears to be. He is a Welsh man and he dresses very flamboyantly and employs an Italian personal manservant who speaks very little English but appears to carry a personal firearm!

When it becomes clear that they are dealing with a series of connected killings the forensic pathologists must find, with the help of the policeman, the connections between the various victims and also identify who set off a huge bomb that exploded in the Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly, London killing many people.

The science of forensic pathology was in its infancy at that time of course and the investigatory techniques were very primitive in comparison to what we know today, but it is very interesting how much the pathologists of that time were able to discover with what limited evidence they had to hand and the primitive conditions they had to work in. The beginning of the science of fingerprinting is investigated.

I found this second book by D E Meredith even more gripping than the first, DEVOURED, and the amount of extensive research that she must have undergone was huge. As a British born child of Irish immigrant parents myself, I was particularly interested by this story, but I could not fault any of the author's detailed research and there were many new particulars she gave that I was completely unaware of.

D E Meredith gives a very vivid atmospheric picture of life at this time and I was transported by this wonderfully evocative story telling right back to Victorian London. The book in its hardback edition has sumptuous packaging including, very unusually, a ribbon page marker (I wish that all publishers followed this example) and a printed hardback case. All in all, a delightful and most extraordinary second novel in this new historic mystery series about the Victorian forensic pathologists Hatton and Roumande. I look forward to reading subsequent stories in this series. Strongly recommended.

Terry Halligan, May 2013.

Review: Pierced by Thomas Enger

Pierced by Thomas Enger translated by Charlotte Barslund, December 2012, 544 pages, Faber and Faber, ISBN: 0571272460

Reviewed by Laura Root.
(Read more of Laura's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

One of four Scandinavian crime novels nominated for this year's inaugural Petrona Award, PIERCED is the second in Norwegian writer Thomas Enger's series featuring online news journalist Henning Juul. In this instalment of the series, Juul is approached by convicted murderer Tore Pulli, former gangland enforcer turned celebrity property developer. Pulli has been found guilty of the murder of Jocke Brolenius, a thuggish Swedish enforcer, and prime suspect in the murder of a friend of Pulli's, Fighting Fit gym owner Vidar Fjell. As one of the injuries sustained by Brolenius was a "Pulli punch", a jawbreaking manoeuvre Pull was famous for in his enforcer days, and Pulli's knuckleduster (kept for sentimental reasons in the study of Pulli’s house!) was found at the scene, the case seemed crystal clear against Pulli.

In the run up to his appeal, Pulli makes Juul an offer he can’t refuse - if Juul looks for evidence that will exonerate him of Brolenius’s murder, he will tell him what he knows about the fire that injured Juul, and killed Juul’s young son, Jonas. After Juul agrees to help Pulli, he calls in some favours due to his successful indentification of the villain of the previous novel in the series, BURNED. Juul can rely on the assistance of fellow journalist, Iver Gundersen, and his police acquaintances Brogelund and Pia Nockleby to obtain more information about Pulli and his world. Juul also discusses the case with the mysterious police informer 6tiermes7, who contacts him anonymously via online chat. Juul and Gundersen visit the gyms and bars frequented by Pulli and his shady group of friends to attempt to find out more from a group of people who are not significantly keener to talk to the media than to the police. Meanwhile in a separate strand of the novel, at first seemingly unrelated to the Pulli plotline, news camera-man, Thorleif Brenden and his partner are being stalked, and their idyllic upper middle class family life suddenly begins to be threatened.

As in the previous novel in the series, BURNED, Juul remains a sympathetic hero, still struggling to deal with the loss of his son and plagued by nightmares and flashbacks, and amnesia, but mostly managing to function better in his day to day life than in the previous novel. Enger depicts character and milieu very convincingly, and gives a credible and interesting insight into both the frantic environment of online news journalism, and the violent, sweaty milieu of the muscled enforcers. For the most part the book remains a remarkably pacy page turner despite its fashionable 500 plus page length, though I did feel that some of the Brenden subplot could have been omitted, and that Brenden's complete failure to contemplate seeking help from the police at the start could have done with some explanation. The mysteries in Juul's personal life are not fully resolved, with a humdinger of a cliffhanger at the very end of this novel, leading nicely into the next entry in this top notch Scandinavian crime series.

Laura Root, May 2013.

Free Teresa Solana Short Story

Crazy Tales of Blood and Guts, an ebook collection of short stories by Teresa Solana, translated by Peter Bush, has recently been released by Bitter Lemon Press:

Official Blurb: Fascinating short stories that include a rather bloody satire on installation art (“Still Life No.41”, shortlisted for the 2012 short story Edgar award), a wonderful story of gruesome revenge involving a wayward son-in-law, a surprising and hilarious tale of a pre-historic serial killer who invents God and psychoanalysis, and, inevitably, a vampire story told with venom and humor.

One of the stories, The First (Pre) Historic Serial Killer, can be read for free online here.

Award News: Petrona Award Eligibles 2014

Here is a list of books (45) that can be submitted for the 2014 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year ie:

• The submission must be in translation and published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar year ie 1 January – 31 December 2013.
• The author of the submission must either be born in Scandinavia* or the submission must be set in Scandinavia*.

(E-books that meet the above criteria may be considered at the judges’ discretion (does not include self-published titles))
*in this instance taken to be Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden .

More details about the award can be found on the Petrona Award website and the history behind it at Petrona Remembered.

Links are to Euro Crime reviews and gender, country and publisher details are also included.

Published in 2013


February

Leif GW Persson - Linda, As in the Linda Murder, tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Doubleday
Antti Tuomainen - The Healer, tr. Lola Rogers (M, Finland) Harvill Secker

March

Marie Hermanson - The Devil's Sanctuary, tr. Neil Smith (F, Sweden) Little, Brown (Trapdoor)
Anne Holt - Blessed Are Those Who Thirst, tr. Anne Bruce (F, Norway) Atlantic
Camilla Lackberg - The Lost Boy, tr. Tiina Nunnally (F, Sweden) HarperCollins
Alexander Soderberg - The Andalucian Friend, tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Harvill Secker
Johan Theorin - The Asylum, tr. Marlaine Delargy (M, Sweden) Doubleday

April

Gaute Heivoll - Before I Burn, tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Atlantic
Jarkko Sipila - Helsinki Homicide: Cold Trail, tr. Kristian London (M, Finland) AmazonCrossing
Mons Kallentoft - Savage Spring, tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Hodder
Liza Marklund - Lifetime, tr. Neil Smith (F, Sweden) Corgi
Hakan Nesser - The Weeping Girl, tr. Laurie Thompson (M, Sweden) Mantle
Roslund & Hellstrom - Two Soldiers, tr. Kari Dickson (M, Sweden) Quercus

May

Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson - Daybreak, tr. Bjorg Arnadottir & Andrew Cauthery (M, Iceland) AmazonCrossing
Leena Lehtolainen - Her Enemy, tr. Owen Witesman (F, Finland) AmazonCrossing
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Someone to Watch Over Me, tr. Philip Roughton (F, Iceland) Hodder & Stoughton
Dan Turrell - Murder in the Dark, tr. Mark Mussari (M, Denmark) Norvik Press

June

Lotte and Soren Hammer - The Hanging, tr. Ebba Segerberg (M & F, Denmark) Bloomsbury
Pekka Hiltunen - Cold Courage, tr. Owen Witesman (M, Finland) Hesperus Press Ltd
Gunnar Staalesen - Cold Hearts, tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Arcadia

July

Jussi Adler-Olsen - Redemption (apa A Conspiracy of Faith), tr. Martin Aitken (M, Denmark) Penguin
Sara Blaedel - Blue Blood (apa Call Me Princess), tr. Erik J Macki & Tara F Chace (F, Denmark) Little, Bown (Sphere)
Arne Dahl - Bad Blood, tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (M, Sweden) Harvill Secker
Elsebeth Egholm - Three Dog Night (F, Denmark) Headline
Karin Fossum - I Can See in the Dark, tr. James Anderson (F, Norway) Harvill Secker
Grebe & Traff - More Bitter Than Death, tr. tbc (F, Sweden) Simon & Schuster
Mari Jungstedt - The Double Silence (F, Sweden) Doubleday
Lars Kepler - The Fire Witness (M & F, Sweden) Blue Door

August

Arnaldur Indridason - Strange Shores, tr. Victoria Cribb (M, Iceland) Harvill Secker
Kristina Ohlsson - The Disappeared, tr. Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden) Simon & Schuster
Jan Costin Wagner - Light in a Dark House, tr. Anthea Bell (M, Germany) Harvill Secker

September

Anne Holt - Death of the Demon, tr. Anne Bruce (F, Norway) Atlantic
Steffen Jacobsen - When the Dead Awaken, tr. Charlotte Barslund (M, Denmark) Quercus
Liza Marklund - The Long Shadow, tr. Neil Smith (F, Sweden) Corgi
Jo Nesbo - Police, tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Harvill Secker
Hakan Nesser - The Strangler's Honeymoon, tr. Laurie Thompson (M, Sweden) Mantle

October

Jorn Lier Horst - Closed for Winter, tr. Anne Bruce (M, Norway) Sandstone
Martin Jensen - The King's Hounds, tr. Tara Chace (M, Denmark) AmazonCrossing
Leif GW Persson - He Who Kills the Dragon tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Doubleday

November

Jens Lapidus - Never F**k Up (apa Never Screw Up), tr. Astri von Arbin Ahlander (M, Sweden) Macmillan
Leena Lehtolainen - Copper Heart, tr. Owen Witesman (F, Finland) AmazonCrossing
Jo Nesbo - Cockroaches, tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Harvill Secker

December

Anders de la Motte - Game, tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Blue Door
Anders de la Motte - Buzz, tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Blue Door
Anders de la Motte - Bubble, tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Blue Door
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published in the US only (at the moment):
Anna Jansson - Strange Bird, tr. Paul Norlen, (F, Sweden) Stockholm Text

New Reviews: Jones, Monroe, Nakamura, Perry, Roslund-Hellstrom, Stanley

Six new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:

Lynn Harvey reviews the third in Tobias Jones's Italian PI series, Death of a Showgirl;

Norman Price reviews Aly Monroe's Black Bear, the fourth in the Ellis Peters Award winning Peter Cotton series;

Amanda Gillies reviews the paperback release of Fuminori Nakamura's The Thief, tr. Satoko Izumo and Stephen Coates;

Terry Halligan reviews Anne Perry's latest Thomas Pitt novel, Midnight at Marble Arch, now out in paperback;

Susan White reviews the latest book from CWA International Dagger Award winners, Roslund and Hellstrom, Two Soldiers, tr. Kari Dickson

and Michelle Peckham says that Deadly Harvest is the best book so far in Michael Stanley's Botswanan Detective Kubu 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.

Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2013 - Longlist

The longlist for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2013 has been announced. The winner will be announced at Harrogate however we the public will be able to vote on the shortlist of six, announced on 1 July, from 4 July.

The criteria: "...the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels are published in paperback from 1 May 2012 – 30 April 2013".

More about the award is on the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival website.

2013 Longlist (links are to Euro Crime reviews)

The Guilty One – Lisa Ballantyne (Piatkus)

Finders Keepers – Belinda Bauer (Transworld)

Rush Of Blood – Mark Billingham (Little Brown)

Dead Scared – S J Bolton (Corgi, Transworld)

The Affair – Lee Child (Transworld)

A Foreign Country – Charles Cumming (Harpercollins)

Safe House - Chris Ewan (Faber and Faber)

Not Dead Yet - Peter James (Macmillan)

Siege – Simon Kernick (Bantam Press)

Prague Fatale – Philip Kerr (Quercus)

The Rage – Gene Kerrigan (Vintage)

Birthdays for the Dead – Stuart MacBride (Harper)

The Dark Winter – David Mark (Quercus)

The Lewis Man – Peter May (Quercus)

Gods And Beasts – Denise Mina (Orion)

Stolen Souls – Stuart Neville (Vintage)

Sacrilege – S. J. Parris (Harper)

A Dark Redemption – Stav Sherez (Faber and Faber)

A New Lord Peter Wimsey Novel

The new Hodder catalogue has arrived today with details of a new Lord Peter Wimsey novel by Jill Paton Walsh. The Late Scholar will be published on 5 December 2013. This will be Jill Paton Walsh's fourth Peter Wimsey, the previous three had varying degrees of input from Wimsey's originator Dorothy L Sayers from half a book (Thrones, Dominations), some letters (A Presumption of Death) to the mention of a case (The Attenbury Emeralds).

The blurb from the catalogue:

Peter Wimsey is pleased to discover that along with a Dukedom he has inherited the duties of 'visitor' at an Oxford college. When the fellows appeal to him to resolve a dispute, he and Harriet set off happily to spend some time in Oxford.

But the dispute turns out to be embittered. The voting is evenly balanced between two passionate parties - evenly balanced, that is, until several of the fellows unexpectedly die.

The Warden has a casting vote, but the Warden has disappeared. And the causes of death of the deceased fellows bear an uncanny resemblance to the murder methods in Peter's past cases - methods that Harriet has used in her published novels...

TV News: JO

Starting on 19 May at 9pm on Fox UK is JO starring Jean Reno, Tom Austen and Orla Brady (and will be in English):

JO is a one-hour close-ended crime series about Joachim “Jo” Saint-Clair, played by Jean Reno (“Leon – The Professional”) a veteran detective in Paris’ elite Criminal Brigade tackling the city’s most challenging murder cases. Each episode will feature one case, while Jo’s personal journey has a series-long arc.

From the Emmy® winning executive producer of Law & Order comes JO, a thrilling new crime drama starring legend of French and Hollywood cinema, Jean Reno.

Jo St-Clair is a veteran detective in Paris’s elite Criminal Brigade, tackling the city’s most challenging murder cases. All the while, his personal life is as challenging and dangerous as the cases he solves.

St-Clair is partnered with rookie detective Bayard, a good looking, college-educated cop whose by-the-book approach stands in marked contrast to St-Clair’s lone-wolf methods.

Supervising them is the tough-minded boss, Commisaire Dormont, who has suffered a long tumultuous history with Saint- Clair.

Brilliant and brutal, St-Clair matches wits with pathological killers to solve a series of shocking murders: a supermodel thrown off the Eiffel Tower; a young heiress brutalised during a sexual romp at the Hôtel de Crillon; a high-end jeweller burned to death on Place Vendôme.

Go to the Polls - Petrona Award

I have now set up two polls relating to the Petrona Award - as I do for the International Dagger - and they will close on 29 May. The announcement of the winner of the Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year 2013 will be made on 1 June at CrimeFest.

The first poll is for:

Which book do you want to win the Petrona Award 2013.

The second poll is for:

Which book do you think will win the Petrona Award 2013.

The polls can be found on the top right of the blog.

The candidates are:

PIERCED by Thomas Enger, tr. Charlotte Barslund (Faber and Faber) (review on the Petrona blog)

BLACK SKIES by Arnaldur Indridason, tr. Victoria Cribb (Harvill Secker) (review on Euro Crime website)

LAST WILL by Liza Marklund, tr. Neil Smith (Corgi) (review on Euro Crime website)

ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER LIFE by Leif GW Persson tr. Paul Norlen (Doubleday) (review on Euro Crime website)

New Reviews: Brett, Costantini, Martin, Seymour, Weeks, Womersley

Six new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:

After a sixteen-year break, Charles Paris returns in Simon Brett's A Decent Interval, reviewed here by Mark Bailey;

Susan White reviews Roberto Costantini's The Deliverance of Evil tr. N S Thompson, the first in the Michele Balistreri trilogy, set in Rome;

Laura Root reviews the eighth in the historical Jim Stringer series by Andrew Martin: The Baghdad Railway Club;

Terry Halligan reviews Gerald Seymour's The Outsiders, now out in paperback;

Amanda Gillies reviews Lee Weeks's Dead of Winter the first in a new series featuring Detective Constable Ebony Willis

and Lynn Harvey reviews Australian writer Chris Womersley's noir The Low Road.


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.

TV News: The Fall

BBC Two's The Fall, a five episode crime drama begins on 13 May at 9pm:

Gillian Anderson stars as DSI Stella Gibson in the first part of this gripping new investigative thriller. When a murder in Belfast remains unsolved, Gibson is brought in from the London Metropolitan Police to help catch the killer.

Read more about the plot on the BBC's website.

Awards News: CWA Dagger in the Library 2013 - Longlist

The longlist for the 2013 CWA Dagger in the Library has been announced, with 13 authors vying for the title. In the order listed on the CWA's website. You can read Euro Crime reviews of many of the authors' books by clicking on the links below. As I currently specialise in translated fiction I've only read titles from 5 of the 13 authors so far, how many have you read?:

Belinda Bauer
Alison Bruce
S J Bolton
Peter May
Gordon Ferris
Tania Carver
Elly Griffiths
Christopher Fowler
Michael Ridpath
Jane Casey
Phil Rickman
Alex Gray
Frances Brody

"Unlike most other literary prizes, the Dagger in the Library is awarded not for an individual book but for the author’s body of work. Last year’s winner was Steve Mosby, and previous winners have included Mo Hayder, Colin Cotterill, Stuart MacBride and Craig Russell; whilst Lesley Horton and C J Sansom have been Highly Commended.

The nominated authors must be alive, preferably working in Britain and cannot have won the award before. As the award is for a body of work, authors should have published at least three books."

Free Ebook: The Third Pig Detective Agency

Bob Burke's The Third Pig Detective Agency is a short, humorous crime novel which should appeal to all ages and is currently free on UK Kindle and Kobo.

My review is here.

New Reviews: Bolton, Cotterill, Delaney, Keating, Nesser, Staincliffe, Sutton, Toyne, Vowler

Nine new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today. We say goodbye to Sarah Hilary as a reviewer today but look forward to her debut novel Someone Else's Skin which is released in 2014. Thank you for all your contributions Sarah. Her final review, below, is of Tom Vowler's What Lies Within:

Michelle Peckham reviews Like This, For Ever by S J Bolton in which Lacey Flint and co are in pursuit of a serial killer of ten-year-old boys;



Lynn Harvey reviews The Woman Who Wouldn't Die by Colin Cotterill, the ninth outing for the elderly Laos Coroner Dr Siri;


Terry Halligan reviews Luke Delaney's debut, Cold Killing which introduces DI Sean Corrigan;


I recently reviewed the audio book of Into the Valley of Death by H R F Keating writing as Evelyn Hervey;



JF reviews Hakan Nesser's The Weeping Girl, tr. Laurie Thompson which focuses on Ewa Moreno a former colleague of the retired Van Veteeren;


Susan White reviews Blink of an Eye by Cath Staincliffe, an author who "never fails to impress";

Rich Westwood reviews Henry Sutton's My Criminal World;



Amanda Gillies reviews Simon Toyne's The Tower, the final and best part of the Sanctus trilogy

and Sarah Hilary reviews Tom Vowler's debut crime fiction novel What Lies Within.




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.

OT: It's Caturday (x2)

It's been a while, so here are recent photos of two of the cats: Mr Fox and Miss Toffs:

New titles from Little, Brown (July - December 13)

The catalogues for July to December 2013 are rolling in so I will be doing individual posts per publisher, starting off with Little, Brown (and their imprints). Here are the titles relevant to Euro Crime (or are translated):

Little, Brown

July

The Dark Heart of Florence by Michele Giuttari (#6 Michele Ferrara, Squadra Mobile, Florence)

August

Flesh Wounds by Chris Brookmyre (#3 Jasmine Sharp, PI, Glasgow)

October

Cross and Burn by Val McDermid (#8 Dr Tony Hill, Psychologist and DCI Carol Jordan, Yorkshire)

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith (#14 Mma Ramotswe, PI, Botswana)

November

The Discourtesy of Death by William Brodrick (#5 Father Anselm)

Abacus

July

Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino (pb)

Sphere

July

Blue Blood by Sara Blaedel

August

Watching You by Michael Robotham (#7 Joseph O'Loughlin, Psychologist & Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz)

September

The Doll's House by Tania Carver (#5 Detective Inspector Phil Brennan)

November

Casting the First Stone by Frances Fyfield (#2 Di)

The Preacher by Sander Jakobsen

December

The Loch Ness Legacy by Boyd Morrison

Trapdoor

July

The Devil's Sanctuary by Mari Hermanson (pb)

Piatkus

September

Inspector Singh Investigates: A Calamitous Chinese Killing by Shamini Flint (#6 Inspector Singh)

Where the Devil Can't Go - Competition Winners

The two lucky winners of a signed copy of Anya Lipska's Where the Devil Can't Go from last month's competition on Euro Crime are:

Alaina Gibson

Sarah Macey

Free Ebook: The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris

Gordon Ferris's The Hanging Shed is still free for UK Kindle.

Read the Euro Crime review here.

Gordon Ferris's bilbilography on Euro Crime (with more reviews) is here.

Publishing News: Brian McGilloway

Brian McGilloway's DS Lucy Black is to return in two further books as announced in The Bookseller last week:

Constable & Robinson has acquired two new novels from crime writer Brian McGilloway, with the author moving from Pan Macmillan, where he was published by Macmillan New Writing, for the new titles.

Publisher James Gurbutt bought two novels featuring series character DS Lucy Black.

The first novel will be the sequel to Little Girl Lost, which sold more than 180,000 in its e-book edition.

Read two reviews of Little Girl Lost - by Maxine and by Lynn.

The UK Kindle version of Little Girl Lost is currently 59p and the Kobo epub is 98p.

Free Short Story Collection (ebook)

The following collection of short stories is available for free at amazon.co.uk (kindle) and Kobo (epub) and contains stories by Parker Bilal, Conor Fitzgerald, Thomas Mogford, James Runcie and Anne Zouroudi


From Obsession and Payback to Secrets and Lies, Deception and Bad Judgement, these thrilling tales will shock and surprise you with their cunning. Short Sentence was launched in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing, in association with the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. Following a short story written by one of Bloomsbury’s brilliant crime authors, competitors were challenged to take up the same theme and write of a dastardly deed using 1000 words or less. This is Bloomsbury’s collection of the winning entries in parallel with the five brilliant authors, Parker Bilal, Conor Fitzgerald, Anne Zouroudi, Thomas Mogford and James Runcie.

Read Death's Dark Abyss Online for Free

Europa Editions are serialising Massimo Carlotto's Death's Dark Abyss on their Tumblr site. The prologue and chapter one are up, check back weekly for the next chapters.

Read the Euro Crime review of Death's Dark Abyss.

"Over the next few months, Europa Editions will be giving you a preview of one of the best noir writers in the world, Massimo Carlotto. Starting today, you can read Carlotto’s Death’s Dark Abyss absolutely free right here!

Death’s Dark Abyss tells the story of two men and the savage crime that binds them. During a robbery, Raffello Beggiato take a young woman and her child hostage and later murders them. Beggiato is arrested, tried and sentence to life in prison. The victims’ father and husband, Silvano, plungers into an ever-deepening abyss until the day, years later, when the murderer seeks his pardon and Silvano turns predator as he ruthlessly plots his revenge.

Twice a week, we’ll post chapters from the book, leading up to the launch of the new Europa World Noir series on May 7th!"

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Review: Into the Valley of Death by H R F Keating (as Evelyn Hervey) (audio book)

Into the Valley of Death by H R F Keating writing as Evelyn Hervey read by Sheila Mitchell, AudioGO, December 2012, 6 CDs

INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH is the third and final book featuring governess Harriet Unwin written by H R F Keating as “Evelyn Hervey”.

Set in the latter part of the nineteenth century, Miss Unwin is called to Chipping Compton by Vilkins an old friend from their orphanage days. Vilkins is working as a maid but is currently helping out at the pub as the landlord is due to be hanged in a few days time for murder unless Miss Unwin can use her detective skills and find the true killer.

Jack Steadman, the landlord, was found unconscious in the woods next to the dead body of Alfie Goode. He is an ex-soldier and well-respected and yet the evidence is pointing to him. Miss Unwin, assisted by Mr Heavitree, a retired Scotland Yard inspector, must dig around and go undercover to save the poor man's life. Will she make it in time?

Miss Unwin is a resourceful, brave investigator who doesn't yield to threats and puts the doubting men in their places. She has managed to elevate herself in society from a humble start and is sometimes reluctant to go back down but she does it, as well as some other unladylike behaviour, in her quest to save Jack Steadman.

INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH is an enjoyable historical crime novel, splendidly narrated by Sheila Mitchell, which tells an interesting story in a mere six cds. The first two books, THE GOVERNESS and THE MAN OF GOLD are also available on audio book.

I found the references to the Crimean War fascinating – not a period I did at school - several of the characters were involved in the Crimean War and took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade and the local area is named 'The Valley of Death' as featured Tennyson's famous poem.

TV News: US Version of Those Who Kill

US television network A & E are making their own version of the now cancelled Danish series Those Who Kill. It will star Chloe Sevigny and James D'Arcy and will comprise ten one-hour episodes and will be shown in 2014. From the press release, courtesy of Media Market Journal:

A&E Network has taken into custody its newest original scripted drama series “Those Who Kill.” The announcement was made today by Bob DeBitetto, President and General Manager of A&E Network and BIO Channel.  Ten one-hour episodes of the thrilling crime series starring Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress Chloë Sevigny (“Portlandia,” “Big Love”) and James D’Arcy (“Hitchcock,” “Cloud Atlas”) have been ordered from Imagine Television and Fox21.  Production is currently slated to begin this fall and the series will premiere on A&E in 2014.

“Those Who Kill” is based on a popular Danish crime series format inspired by the bestselling work of author Elsebeth Egholm.  The series centers on Catherine Jensen (Chloë Sevigny), a freshly minted and incredibly smart police detective who tracks down serial killers.  Jensen is also attempting to come to terms with her past by continuing to investigate her stepfather, who she suspects may be a serial killer, and her brother who went Missing as a sixteen-year-old. Jensen enlists the help of Thomas Schaffer (James D’Arcy), a forensic psychiatrist, to help her get into the minds of serial killers, all the while luring Schaffer into her own personal investigation. Both characters possess a deep psychological understanding that connects them to the killers’ victims and to the killers themselves.

“’Those Who Kill’ is not a crime procedural about serial killers – it’s a deep serialized character portrait of two compelling yet damaged individuals coming together through the revelation of their dark past,” said DeBitetto.  “We are thrilled to have such an incredible cast and crew signed on to this project and the result should be an absolutely riveting series.”

TV News: Death in Paradise Cast Change

I've been a huge fan of BBC1's Death in Paradise which will be back for a third series in 2014. A significant change to the cast will occur part way through. From the BBC's Press Office:

It has been announced that Kris Marshall (Lightfields, My Family) is to join the cast of BBC One's hit crime drama Death In Paradise as the latest lead detective, in the new series.

Series three will also see the departure of DI Richard Poole, played by Ben Miller. However, details of how and when Miller will depart remain tightly under wraps.

Joining series regulars Sara Martins, Danny John-Jules, Gary Carr and Don Warrington when filming starts on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe from next month, Marshall will play a bright, but rather disorganised and gawky DI, Humphrey Goodman, who is stuck in a mid-life rut and is looking to find a new life and fresh start.

Kris Marshall said: "I am thrilled to be joining Death In Paradise and finding out a bit more about what makes Humphrey tick. Six months filming on a tropical island with an amazing cast and glorious sunshine? What isn't there to love! I might even get myself a parrot!"

Following two hugely successful series, Miller leaves the show on a high, with an average of almost eight million viewers tuning in to each episode of the second series.

Ben Miller said: "I have absolutely loved my time on Death In Paradise and am sad to be leaving such a successful show, however DI Poole has made no secret of his struggle with the Caribbean heat, so I felt now was a good time to put him out of his misery! I know Kris will do a superb job and I'm delighted to be handing over the detective baton to him."

Publishing News: More Arne Dahl books in translation

I've just received this press release regarding the purchase of two more books by Arne Dahl, which follows hot on the BBC4 showing of the first part of the tv version of The Blinded Man:

Harvill Secker buy two more books in the Swedish series set to become the new The Killing for the bbc

Alison Hennessey, Senior Crime Editor at Harvill Secker, has bought the next two books in Arne Dahl’s award winning crime series, adaptations of which the BBC will be broadcasting in the same Saturday night slot that turned The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge into household names. Hennessey bought UK & Commonwealth (ex. Canada) rights from Tor Jonasson at the Salomonsson Agency.

Alison Hennessey, Senior Editor at Harvill Secker says: ‘We knew when we acquired the first two books in Arne Dahl’s crime series that he would go on to become one of the leading lights of our crime fiction list, and I’m delighted to have signed up the next two installments in this gripping, intelligent series. Arne’s books are perfect for fans of Henning Mankell and upmarket, international crime so we couldn’t be more delighted that the BBC will be screening the Swedish tv series.’

To the Top of the Mountain, the book that won Arne the prestigious German Crime Prize, sees Detective Paul Hjelm and his team coming back together after the traumatic events at the end of Bad Blood to investigate a series of crimes – a man killed in a random attack in a restaurant, another blown up in high security prison, rumours of a forthcoming terrorist attack. In Europa Blues, winner of the Best International Thriller at the Dutch Book Awards, the team try and establish links between the execution of a man at Stockholm zoo, the abduction of 8 Eastern European women from a refugee centre and the horrifying murder of a professor at the Jewish cemetery in a case that will extend across Europe and back through time.

Arne Dahl is an award-winning Swedish crime novelist and literary critic whose books have been translated into over twenty languages. He will be attending Cuirt, Bloody Scotland and Edinburgh International Book festivals this year. The first book in the series, The Blinded Man, was published straight into Vintage paperback in July 2012 with Bad Blood coming from Harvill Secker this July.

New Reviews: Beaton, Bond, Davis, Grieves, Hayder, Morris, Royal, Vichi, Wheelaghan

Nine new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:

I review an earlier entry in the Hamish Macbeth series by M C Beaton, Death of a Valentine;


Allison & Busby are reprinting the Monsieur Pamplemousse series by Michael Bond, and Lynn Harvey reviews Monsieur Pamplemousse Afloat;


Lindsey Davis has begun a new series, Falco: The New Generation starring Flavia, the adopted daughter of Falco who makes her debut investigation in The Ides of April, reviewed here by Sarah Ward;


Amanda Gillies reviews Sleepwalkers by Tom Grieves which she loved: "if [] you love books that draw you in and freak you out, this one is for you!";


Sarah Hilary reviews Poppet by Mo Hayder, the sixth in the Jack Caffery series, writing that it's even better than Skin and Ritual;


Terry Halligan reviews the second in the DI Silas Quinn series The Mannequin House by R N Morris saying that it's an "excellent historical mystery book with a very intelligent and historically accurate plot";

Laura Root reviews Priscilla Royal's Wine of Violence the first in the Eleanor,  Prioress series, set in the thirteenth century, which gets its UK release almost ten years after its US one;


Michelle Peckham reviews Death in Sardinia by Marco Vichi tr. Stephen Sartarelli, the third in the Inspector Bordelli series, which she called "a real pleasure to read"

and fans of the BBC series Death in Paradise might want to check out Marianne Wheelaghan's Food of Ghosts the first in the DS Louisa Townsend series, set on the Pacific Island of Tarawa, reviewed here by Susan White.





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.

TV News: More Shetland

The BBC announced yesterday that they have commissioned 3 more two-parters based on Ann Cleeves's Shetland series:

The crime drama Shetland is to return to television screens for three more two-part stories on BBC One.

Based on the novels of Ann Cleeves, the series features detective Jimmy Perez, played by Douglas Henshall.

The first series, aired earlier this year, attracted about 6m viewers for each episode.

Filming will begin in the coming months in Shetland and other locations on mainland Scotland.

According to Shetland News, the books next to be televised (Red Bones was the first tv show) are Raven Black, Blue Lightning and the recently published, Dead Water.

Review: Death of a Valentine by M C Beaton

Death of a Valentine by M C Beaton, January 2011, Robinson Publishing, ISBN: 1849015090

I've inexplicably got behind with my M C Beaton series, so when the latest Hamish Macbeth book, DEATH OF YESTERDAY, came for review I thought I'd better catch-up. Gone are the days it seems when a Hamish book came in at 160 pages if you were lucky, for DEATH OF A VALENTINE is nearly 300, not that I'm complaining as I love my time in Lochdubh.

The book opens with a shocking prologue – Hamish is standing at the aisle waiting for his bride to be to arrive. After twenty-five books is Hamish about to settle down? Flash back one year and we come in at the start of the events that lead Hamish ready to marry his fellow police-officer, Josie.

Hamish has been promoted again to sergeant which means that he needs a constable and Josie McSween, secretly besotted with Hamish, has got the job and thinks she'll be sharing Hamish's cosy police house in the sea-loch village of Lochdubh. Hamish acts swiftly and gets her alternative accommodation but that doesn't stop Josie from pursuing him, though Hamish remains blissfully unaware.

Hamish and Josie finally have a murder to solve when a local beauty queen is killed by a deadly Valentine's card. It seems that the young woman was not the quiet and retiring girl everyone thought and soon a list of suspects forms. Running alongside the investigation are Josie increasingly desperate attempts to get Hamish to notice her. The usual former girlfriends of Hamish make an appearance – Priscilla (briefly) and Elspeth - fuelling Josie's jealousy.

Though this is a cosy series, set in a fantasy Scotland which you wouldn't confuse with reality, DEATH OF A VALENTINE is quite a dark entry, it includes date-rape drugs and alcoholism as well as the usual infidelity and corruption. The tension comes more from whether Josie will get her man than solving the murder. Indeed the Josie subplot is quite a large part of the book which may explain its (relative) length. Overall, this is a solid entry in this long-running but timeless series, in which no-one gets any older, but it may not be the best place to start.