CWA Daggers 2016 - The Shortlists

The shortlists for the 2016 CWA Daggers were announced this morning. From the press release:

Here are the Dagger shortlists for 2016. For brief descriptions of each book, please visit the website: www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers

Goldsboro Gold Dagger – for the best crime novel of the year
Sponsored by Goldsboro Books

Black Widow by Christopher Brookmyre, published by Little Brown

Blood Salt Water by Denise Mina, published by Orion

Dodgers by Bill Beverly, published by No Exit Press

Real Tigers by Mick Herron, published by John Murray

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger – for the best crime thriller of the year
Sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications

The Cartel by Don Winslow, published by William Heinemann

The English Spy by Daniel Silva, published by HarperCollins

Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty, published by Serpent’s Tail

Real Tigers by Mick Herron, published by John Murray

Make Me by Lee Child, published by Bantam Press

John Creasey New Blood Dagger – for the best debut crime novel

Fever City by Tim Baker, published by Faber & Faber

Dodgers by Bill Beverly, published by No Exit Press

Freedom's Child by Jax Miller, published by HarperCollins

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, published by Jonathan Cape

The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle, published by Viking

Endeavour Historical Dagger – for the best historical crime novel
Sponsored by Endeavour Press

The House at Baker Street by Michelle Birkby, published by Pan Books

The Other Side of Silence by Philip Kerr, published by Quercus

A Book of Scars by William Shaw, published by Quercus

The Jazz Files by Fiona Veitch Smith, published by Lion Fiction

Striking Murder by A. J. Wright, published by Allison & Busby

Stasi Child by David Young, published by Twenty7Books

Non-Fiction Dagger – for non-fiction crime
(Unchanged from longlist)

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards
published by HarperCollins

Sexy Beasts: The Hatton Garden Mob by Wensley Clarkson
published by Quercus

You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life (You Are Raoul Moat)
by Andrew Hankinson, published by Scribe

A Very Expensive Poison by Luke Harding
published by Faber & Faber

Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories by Thomas Grant
published by John Murray

John le Carré: The Biography by Adam Sisman
published by Bloomsbury

Short Story Dagger – for a short crime story published in the UK
(Unchanged from longlist)

As Alice Did by Andrea Camilleri
from Montalbano's First Cases published by Pan Macmillan

On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier by John Connolly
from Nocturnes 2: Night Music published by Hodder and Stoughton

Holmes on the Range: A Tale of the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository by John Connolly
from Nocturnes 2: Night Music published by Hodder and Stoughton

Bryant & May and the Nameless Woman by Christopher Fowler
from London's Glory published by Bantam

Stray Bullets by Alberto Barrera Tyszka
from Crimes published by MacLehose Press

Rosenlaui by Conrad Williams
from The Adventures of Moriarty: The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes’s Nemesis edited by Maxim Jakubowski, published by Constable & Robinson

International Dagger – for crime fiction translated into English and published in the UK

The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango
translated by Imogen Taylor, published by Simon & Schuster

The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaître
translated by Frank Wynne, published by MacLehose Press

Icarus by Deon Meyer
translated by K L Seegers, published by Hodder & Stoughton

The Murderer in Ruins by Cay Rademacher
translated by Peter Millar, published by Arcadia

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama
translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davis, published by Quercus

Dagger in the Library – author of the most enjoyed collection of work in libraries

Tony Black published by Black & White

Alison Bruce published by Constable & Robinson

Elly Griffiths published by Quercus

Quintin Jardine published by Headline

Debut Dagger
Sponsored by Orion Books
The hugely popular competition for the opening of a crime novel by an author
with no publishing contract

Dark Valley by John Kennedy

The Devil’s Dice by Roz Watkins

A Reconstructed Man by Graham Brack

A State of Grace by Rita Catching

Wimmera by Mark Brandi

The winners of all nine CWA Daggers will be announced at a glittering Dagger Awards Gala Dinner in London on 11 October. Peter James will be awarded the Diamond Dagger at the same occasion. The speaker will be James Runcie, of The Grantchester Mysteries fame, and master of ceremonies will be Barry Forshaw, the acclaimed crime fiction expert. Everyone is welcome to attend. For details and a booking form, visit www.thecwa.co.uk/dinner

Review: The Women of the Souk by Michael Pearce

The Women of the Souk by Michael Pearce, April 2016, 176 pages, Severn House Publishers Ltd, ISBN: 0727886185

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

It's Cairo, Egypt at the turn of the twentieth century. Britain has been invited by the Khedive who is the ruler of the country, to assist in the running of Egypt. The Mamur Zapt is the head of the secret police, a political appointment and this position is held by a Welshman, Captain Gareth Cadwallader Owen. Many Egyptians resent the British involvement. Against this background our story begins.

A young woman, Marie, still at an exclusive school and from a wealthy family is kidnapped. One of her school friends approaches Owen to implore him to get involved with gaining her release. This can be tricky as a ransom is demanded and if paid too quickly could elicit further demands. If the kidnappers feel they are being ignored the girl could be murdered.

The Khedive feels that the Mamur Zapt's involvement is crucial. So begins a slow and tortuous negotiation with the kidnappers. The local Souk – a market place – hold the key to this dilemma. The local women although by tradition they have to demur to the menfolk, times are changing, and they bring their influence to bear.

THE WOMEN OF THE SOUK is full of interesting characters: the kidnapped girl's boyfriend Ali Shawquat, who is a renowned musician; Marie's school-friend Layla and the young girl who she walked to school with, Minya; Owen's officers Nicos, Mahmoud, Georgides and Selim; the man representing Marie's family, Ali Osman Fingari; the scent-maker in the bazaar and of course the women of the souk, who should wear burkas but have more modern ideas. Owen himself is married to an Egyptian woman, Zeinab.

This is the nineteenth book written by the author featuring tales of the Mamur Zapt. Though the story moved very slowly, but inexorably to its conclusion, it is well researched and made me want to know more about Britain's involvement in Egypt during this period. Recommended.

Geoff Jones, July 2016

OT: Email Problems

Just a quick note to say that I am receiving emails but cannot send them at the moment. Not sure if it's the current BT problems which are the cause. It's been ongoing for a few days now. I have asked the inhouse IT expert to have a look at it :).

Man with Walking Cane - Copycat Covers

Sam Christer's The House of Smoke came out in March (UK) and Will Thomas's Anatomy of Evil will be out in September (US).

 












The House of Smoke blurb from Amazon:

Big Ben chimes in the first seconds of the first day of 1900, the start of a fresh century. Inside London's oldest gaol, preparations are afoot to hang Victorian England's deadliest assassin, a man wanted for two decades' worth of murders.

Cold-blooded killer Simeon Lynch has lived a brutal and glorious life in the employ of the House of Moriarty - the most feared criminal enterprise in the world. Now, as he faces the noose, Simeon learns dark truths about his master, about Sherlock Holmes and about his own past. Truths that make him determined to escape and kill again...

Follow Simeon's bloody footsteps through the capital's cobbled alleyways, wretched workhouses and flash taverns as he crosses swords with Sherlock Holmes and the villainous characters of Victorian London.

Anatomy of Evil blurb from Amazon:

Cyrus Barker is undoubtedly England's premiere private enquiry agent. With the help of his assistant Thomas Llewelyn, he's developed an enviable reputation for discreetly solving some of the toughest, most consequential cases in recent history. But one evening in 1888, Robert Anderson, the head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), appears at Barker's office with an offer. A series of murders in the Whitechapel area of London are turning the city upside down, with tremendous pressure being brought to bear on Scotland Yard and the government itself.

Barker is to be named temporary envoy to the Royal Family with regard to the case while surreptitiously bringing his investigative skill to the case. With various elements of society, high and low, bringing their own agenda to increasingly shocking murders, Barker and Llewellyn must find and hunt down the century's most notorious killer. The Whitechapel Killer has managed to elude the finest minds of Scotland Yard and beyond he's never faced a mind as nimble and a man as skilled as Cyrus Barker. But even Barker's prodigious skills may not be enough to track down a killer in time."

The Queen of Mystery - Short Stories on Radio 4, Episode 2

The latest in a series of short stories set at Festivals/Events running on Radio 4 is by Sarah Hilary and is called The Getaway. It was on last night but you can listen again for the next 29 days via iplayer or the website. Next Sunday, the story is by Val McDermid.

From the BBC Radio 4 website:

It's often said that there is something different about crime writers - they flock together, they enjoy each other's company and freely interact with their fans. Next week, thousands of fiction fans will head to Yorkshire for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, and this new story series celebrates the very particular atmosphere of such festivals.

In this story, Sarah Hilary (who won last year's Crime Novel of the Year Award at Harrogate for her debut SOMEONE ELSE'S SKIN), takes us to an imaginary festival and a character desperate to break free of the mainstream.

Read by Melody Grove
Writen by Sarah Hilary
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron

The Queen of Mystery - Short Stories on Radio 4

A series of short stories set at Festivals/Events are running over the next three weekends on Radio 4 whilst the first one of the four - this one written by Ann Cleeves - was on last Sunday. You can however listen again for the next 27 days via iplayer or the website. Next Sunday, the story is by Sarah Hilary.

From the BBC Radio 4 website:

In the month that thousands of fiction fans head to Yorkshire for the Harrogate Crime Festival, this new short story series celebrates the very particular atmosphere of such festivals. It's often said that there is something different about crime writers - they flock together, they enjoy each other's company and freely interact with their fans. Over the next four Sunday evenings, festival stalwarts Ann Cleeves, Sarah Hilary, Val McDermid and David Mark, will take us to events real and imagined in four original stories that will charm and intrigue.

In this first story, Ann Cleeves (bestselling author of the Vera and Shetland crime novel series) takes us to Malice Domestic in Bethesda, Maryland - an annual crime convention for lovers of the traditional mystery novel. Her character, Stella Monkhouse, known to her fans as the "Queen of Mystery", is an award-winning crime writer who is struggling to come to terms with the fact that her literary star is beginning to wane...

Read by Joanna Tope.

Written by Ann Cleeves.

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

DVD News: Dicte Series 1

The first series of Dicte - Crime Reporter the Danish crime series based on Elsebeth Egholm's novels, which recently ran on More 4 is available on DVD from today.

Following her divorce, investigative journalist Dicte (Iben Hjejle) moves back to her home town of Aarhus, along with her teenage daughter Rose. Dicte soon tangles with local police detective Wagner played by Lars Brygmann (Unit One, Borgen) and by the end of the first couple of episodes he's hoping not to see her again but of course that's not going to be the case!

The two-disc box-set has the episodes in their original ten-episode format ie 5 stories in two parts.

[I'm half-way through the series so I may return to the subject later on but so far it's enjoyable if a little full of coincidences.]

Looking Ahead to 2017

Three debut books/authors have been getting some press attention this week.

Out in January 2017 is Rattle by Fiona Cummins, published by Macmillan. My proof copy gives little away about the plot but does say: "If you only read one thriller this year make it this one".

I have found a bit of a synopsis;

Erdman Frith’s life is falling apart. His beloved son Jakey is suffering from a singularly cruel progressive disease, his wife is threatening divorce, and he’s in a dead end job. What Erdman doesn’t know is that someone is watching him and his son and they won’t stop at anything to get hold of what they want. Jakey Frith suffers from Stone Man Syndrome, his bones are fusing together and he is slowly becoming imprisoned by his own skeleton. The shadowy, threatening character of the Bone Collector has inherited a macabre and gruesome museum of medical oddities. He knows about Jakey’s condition and longs to possess his skeleton for his collection. When five year old Clara Foyle, who also suffers from an unusual medical condition goes missing the police, headed up by feisty Detective Sergeant Etta Fitzroy, embark on a hunt for what seems to be a sinister figure who has access to medical records. As the lives and the fates of all the characters become more desperately entangled, Erdman helps Fitzroy to track down the Bone Collector and restore his family. 

Out in November 2017 is Lara Dearman's debut, The Devil's Claw, published by Trapeze. This is the first in a series set on the Channel Islands. From The Bookseller:

Trapeze has signed a crime series set in the Channel Islands by debut author Lara Dearman.

Sam Eades, senior commissioning editor at Trapeze, struck a two-book deal ... The first book in the series The Devil's Claw will be published in November 2017.

The Devil's Claw follows journalist Jennifer Dorey and DCI Michael Gilbert, who pair up after the discovery of a drowned girl on a local beach and Dorey uncovers a pattern of similar deaths over the last 50 years. Together, their investigation will lead them to expose the island’s historical scars, and to ‘Fritz’, the illegitimate son of a Nazi soldier, whose carefully constructed world is now crumbling because of Dorey.

Eades said: "Crime fiction fans love to be transported to different locations, from the wilds of Shetland to the brooding Scandinavian landscape. I cannot wait for readers to explore the island world Lara Dearman has created in her atmospheric debut The Devil's Claw. The Guernsey setting is both beautiful and deadly, and on this stunning backdrop unfolds an ambitious murder mystery interwoven with local tradition and folklore. Lara is a voracious reader of crime fiction and plays with the conventions of the genre, masterfully weaving together crimes from that past and the present told from three characters."

Dearman, a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at St Mary’s University, grew up on Guernsey before moving to the UK to study. Since graduating with a distinction in 2016, she now lives in New York with her husband and three children and is intending to write full-time.

She said: "I was born and raised on Guernsey and have always felt a deep-rooted connection, a longing even, for the familiarity of my island home. It was this feeling together with a desire to explore the darker side of the island’s history - Nazi occupation and folk tales of witchcraft and Devil worship - which led to the idea for The Devil's Claw. I wondered, what it would be like to return to this small, close-knit community after years away. What would happen if, having returned, those feelings of comfort and familiarity so many of us associate with home were shattered – if the island’s dark past caught up with its present and a body washed up on the beach with the driftwood? Sam’s enthusiasm for The Devil's Claw has been overwhelming and I am so excited to be starting my writing career as part of the Orion/Trapeze family."

The Devil's Claw will be published by Trapeze in November 2017 in paperback, e-book and audio with the second book following in Spring 2018.

And out in December 2017 is Jane Robins' Hitchcock-inspired debut, White Bodies, published by Harper Collins' new division HQ:

HQ are delighted to announce acquisition of UK and Commonwealth rights to White Bodies, a unique attention-grabbing debut novel by journalist and author of three non-fiction books Jane Robins. Cleverly reworking Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train for the internet age, White Bodies follows the story of an abusive relationship that tests the unbreakable ties that bind twin sisters.

White Bodies will be published on 28th December 2017 in hardback, ebook and audiobook.

Sally Williamson, Jane Robins’s editor at HQ, said: “Jane has written an utterly mesmerising book that I devoured in one sitting, gripped by every exquisite page. Unique, addictive and darkly twisted, this is going to be huge.” 

White Bodies follows bookseller, Callie, as she watches her beautiful, talented sister visibly shrink and diminish under the domineering love of her new boyfriend. Tilda has stopped working and pretty much stopped eating. Her flat is freakishly clean and tidy, with mugs wrapped in cling film and ominous syringes in the bathroom bin. So worried is Callie that she joins an internet support group – controllingmen.com – for the victims and families of women enduring abuse from their partners. But when one of Callie’s new internet friends is murdered by her abusive partner both Tilda and Callie’s lives spiral out of control.

Review: Cara Massimina by Tim Parks

Cara Massimina by Tim Parks, November 2011, 288 pages, Vintage, ISBN: 0099572621

Reviewed by Rich Westwood.
(Read more of Rich's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Morris Arthur Duckworth is a down-at-heel English teacher in the Italian city of Verona. His life is financially precarious, always one step ahead of the gas being cut off in his flat, and largely reliant on providing additional private tutorials for his wealthier students. Morris simultaneously despises them and yearns to join them as an equal in wealth and lifestyle.

"He loved taking care of beautiful things... Normal things he was rather careless about (his scuffed shoes, for example) but with beautiful things it was different (and that was the mystery in the end, to have opened one's eyes in North Acton and yearned for class and style before he even knew they existed). And Morris thought that when one day he had finally got a good number of beautiful possessions together, he would spend a long time looking after them and get a great deal of pleasure from it."

His student Massimina seems to offer a step up. She is beautiful, biddable, and deluded enough to have fallen in love with Morris. She is the third daughter of a wealthy family. She is also, unfortunately, seventeen, which means he cannot marry her for several months.

Before you feel sorry for Morris, you should know that he is a liar, a petty thief, and an embryonic blackmailer, driven by an unjustified sense of self-pity. In many ways he is similar to Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley (a similarity heightened by the Italian setting). He flunks his crucial first meeting with Massimina's family by getting caught lying about his prospects.

"Morris then very casually mentioned the names of three Veronese companies he was working with closely at the moment... Names you saw on posters and local television commercials. There was a fair chance, of course, Verona being the tiny tight-knit place it was, that either the signora or Bobo would know people in these companies. By precisely the aplomb with which Morris took that risk should prove the clinching factor."

An elopement seems like the obvious next step. But is it an elopement or a kidnapping? Morris doesn't seem quite sure himself. And is the studiously asexual anti-hero actually falling for Massimina?

"Massimina was in a complete mess. Red in the freckled face, make-up all over the place, hair tousled, body apparently quite shapeless in a running outfit of all things. And out of breath to boot - nostrils flaring and eyes puffy. Rather horrible."

Maybe not, and yet....

CARA MASSIMINA is the first of three books featuring Morris Duckworth recently reissued by Vintage. The first two were originally published in the '90s and CARA MASSIMINA is a reminder of simpler times when kidnappers had to buy newspapers to compose their ransom demands and find out if the police were after them. The Italian setting (informed by Tim Parks' own time as an English teacher in Verona), inexorable plot, sort-of-likeable antihero, and relatively short length make this an ideal holiday book. Good fun.

Rich Westwood, July 2016

UK Kindle Bargains

Whilst we eagerly await parts 4 and 5 in Thomas Enger's Henning Juul series - coming 2017 from Orenda Books, if you haven't read the first three parts then they are currently 66p each on UK Kindle!

Also a bargain are the first 4 books in Leena Lehtolainen's Maria Kallio series which are 99p each during July on UK Kindle.

And finally, BritCrime have put together a handy page of British crime titles that are currently free or at a reduced price on UK Kindle.

Review: Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton

Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton, June 2016, 352 pages, Bantam Press, ISBN: 0593076311

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

DAISY IN CHAINS is a standalone psychological thriller by Sharon Bolton set in South West England. The protagonist is Maggie Rose, a highly successful barrister and true crime author. Maggie has moved away from court appearances to writing true crime books, carrying out her own research to help overturn unsafe murder convictions on behalf of her clients.

Her latest client is Hamish Wolfe, a young, dashing, arrogant doctor imprisoned at Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, after being convicted of a series of a killings involving four overweight young women. The women were lured to their death by a malevolent, internet, stranger who set up a false identity to tempt them into meeting him.

Hamish's mother, Sandra, and a motley array of supporters, the “Wolfe Pack”, are determined that Wolfe is innocent, and persuade Maggie to take on his case. Maggie looks to have an uphill struggle as the evidence against Wolfe was strong: both circumstantial and forensic. Unfortunate rumours have followed him from his university days, that he has a history of exploiting fat women with his friends and making sex tapes without their permission.

Despite (or because of) the nature of his crimes, Wolfe receives over a hundred letters a month, mostly from women. Maggie soon finds she has a rival in the “Wolfe Pack”, a young woman jealous of her prison meetings with Hamish. Maggie herself has to guard against Hamish's attempts to charm and manipulate her. She also has the police to deal with; the detective responsible for Wolfe's arrest is keeping a careful eye on the re-opening of his case.

I found DAISY IN CHAINS an enjoyable, compelling pageturner, with twists and turns that reminded me of Pierre Lemaitre's Verhoeven trilogy. Sharon Bolton skilfully builds up tension, carefully giving the reader clues about the details of the court case and its effect on the police and families involved. The author also casts an interesting light on the phenomenon of the magnetic attraction of convicted killers to outsiders, especially women.

Laura Root, July 2015

US Cozy Review: Yarned and Dangerous by Sadie Hartwell

As it's 4 July, I thought it would be appropriate to post another entry in my irregular feature: US cozy review.

Yarned and Dangerous by Sadie Hartwell, November 2015, Kensington Publishing ISBN: 1617737178

YARNED AND DANGEROUS introduces New York fashion designer Josie Blair who is persuaded by her mother to take some time away in the country to look after her great-uncle Eb who has broken his leg in the car accident that killed his new wife Cora. As well as looking after Eb, Josie is to wind up Cora's wool shop, Miss Marple Knits.

Josie sets off to Dorset Falls, Connecticut with her cat Coco. Her lascivious boss has fired her for leaving on short notice but she hopes that given a bit of time he will re-hire her.

Her great-uncle receives her without enthusiasm but Josie gives as good as she gets.

Josie spent a couple of her teenage years growing up in Dorset Falls so she knows a few people and soon rekindles a friendship with Lorna who runs the general store however she also has a few enemies, including the mother of her ex-childhood sweetheart who didn't like her before and certainly doesn't like her now and definitely wants her hands on the wool shop.

Another potential buyer for the woolshop is Lillian Woodruff who also takes a dislike to Josie, however not for long, as the next day Josie discovers Lillian's dead body in the back room of Miss Marple Knits...

Josie is not an amateur sleuth and in the main is content to leave matters to the seemingly capable local police. Josie has plenty on her hands with looking after Eb and the closing down of the shop and dealing with her own mixed feelings about going back to New York. As well as Lorna she makes a friend in Mitch, the grandson of Eb's neighbour. She also receives help from two friends of Cora, Helen and Evelyn, though she's not sure whether she can trust them. What are they doing in the abandoned shop opposite?

YARNED AND DANGEROUS is an enjoyable, quick read. Set in a cold and rundown town (for a change) it focusses on Josie's journey from a townie thinking about designer handbags – to someone who feels at home in Dorset Falls. There is intrigue and Josie does save the day in the end but she doesn't pursue many leads herself. There are quite a few references to wool but as Josie is a non-knitter there are few technical terms so non-knitters will be fine. Despite the prominence of Coco on the cover, she doesn't make many appearances but maybe she will be more visible in the sequel, A KNIT BEFORE DYING, which I'm looking forward to.

Karen Meek, July 2016

Some 1944 Titles (for Past Offences)

The latest monthly challenge over at Past Offences is to read a book in July, published in 1944. Here are some British/European crime titles to choose from, first published in English in 1944, pulled from my database. This information is correct to the best of my knowledge however please do double check dates before spending any cash!:

Emery Bonett - High Pavement (apa Old Mrs Camelot)
Christianna Brand - Green for Danger
Agatha Christie - Death Comes As the End
Agatha Christie - Towards Zero
Joan Coggin - Who Killed the Curate?
Edmund Crispin - The Case of the Gilded Fly
Ngaio Marsh - Died in the Wool (1944 in NZ, 1945 in UK)
Gladys Mitchell - My Father Sleeps
Georges Simenon - Maigret's Rival (apa Inspector Cadaver)
Georges Simenon - Maigret and the Toy Village
Georges Simenon - To Any Lengths (apa Maigret and the Fortuneteller) (apa Signed, Picpus)
Georges Simenon - The Gendarme's Report
Patricia Wentworth - The Clock Strikes Twelve
Patricia Wentworth - The Key

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

New Releases - July 2016

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

• Alaux, Jean-Pierre & Balen, Noel - Red-Handed in Romanae-Conti #9 Benjamin Cooker, world-renowned winemaker turned gentleman detective
• Beaufort, Simon - The Killing Ship
• Bingham, Harry - The Dead House #5 DC Fiona Griffiths
• Bjork, Samuel - The Owl Always Hunts at Night #2 Holger Munch & Mia Kruger, Oslo Police
• Brett, Simon - Appeal
• Carlotto, Massimo - For All the Gold in the World #8 Alligator, PI, Padova, Italy
• Davies, David Stuart - The Ripper Legacy #6 Sherlock Holmes
• Downie, Ruth (R S) - Vita Brevis #7 Gaius Petreius Ruso, Chester, Roman Britain
• Durrant, Sabine - Lie With Me
• Giordano, Mario - Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
• Harris, Tessa - Secrets in the Stones #6 Dr Thomas Silkstone, 18C England
• Henry, James - Blackwater #1 DI Nick Lowry, Essex, 1983
• Herrera, Yuri - The Transmigration of Bodies
• Hingley, David - Birthright #1 Mercia Blakewood
• Howells, Debbie - The Beauty of the End
• Huber, Anna Lee - As Death Draws Near #5 Lady Darby, Scotland, 1830s
• Ison, Graham - Suddenly at Home #15 DI Brock & DS Poole
• Jonasson, Ragnar - Blackout #2 Ari Thor, Policeman
• Lawson, Mark - The Allegations
• Leather, Stephen - Dark Forces #13 Dan Shepherd, SAS trooper turned undercover cop
• Lehtolainen, Leena - Fatal Headwind #6 Detective Maria Kallio, Helsinki
• Lemaitre, Pierre - Blood Wedding
• Lovesey, Peter - Another One Goes Tonight #16 Peter Diamond, Bath
• Lucius, Walter - Butterfly on the Storm #1 Heartland Trilogy
• Mackay, Malcolm - For Those Who Know the Ending
• Mazzola, Anna - The Unseeing
• McCulloch, Tom - A Private Haunting
• McIntosh, Pat - The Lanimer Bride #11 Gil Cunningham, notary-in-training, medieval Glasgow
• McPherson, Catriona - Dandy Gilver and the Most Misleading Habit #11 Dandy Gilver, Society Sleuth, 1920s Scotland
• Mendelson, Paul - The History of Blood #3 Colonel Vaughn de Vries, Cape Town
• Miller, Derek B - The Girl in Green
• Mina, Denise - The Long Drop #6 DS Alex Morrow, Glasgow
• Mitchell, Dreda Say - Blood Sister #1 Flesh and Blood Trilogy
• Nakamura, Fuminori - The Kingdom
• Nakayama, Shichiri - Nocturne of Remembrance
• Neville, Stuart - So Say the Fallen #2 DCI Serena Flanagan
• Nickson, Chris - The Iron Water #4 Detective Inspector Tom Harper, Leeds Police, 1890s
• Nugent, Liz - Lying in Wait
• Rankin, Ian - The Travelling Companion Short Stories
• Reed, Hannah - Dressed to Kilt #3 A Scottish Highlands Mystery
• Robertson, Michael - The Baker Street Jurors #5 Brothers Reggie and Nigel Heath, Lawyers, Baker Street
• Robinson, Peter - When the Music's Over #23 Insp. Alan Banks, Yorkshire
• Saunders, Kate - The Secrets of Wishtide #1 Laetitia Rodd, Private Detective, Victorian Era
• Sharp, Zoe - Absence of Light Charlie Fox Novella
• Staincliffe, Cath - The Silence Between Breaths
• Sutton, William - Lawless and the Flowers of Sin #2 Campbell Lawless, Victorian Policeman
• Thomas, Julia - The English Boys
• Tremayne, Peter - Penance of the Damned #25 Sister Fidelma
• Trow, M J - The Angel #3 A Grand & Batchelor Victorian Mystery
• Vargas, Fred - A Climate of Fear #9 Commissaire Adamsberg, Paris
• Veste, Luca - Then She Was Gone #4 DI David Murphy and DS Laura Rossi, Liverpool
• Weaver, Tim - Broken Heart #7 David Raker, Missing Persons Investigator
• Wilkinson, Kerry - Something Hidden #2 Andrew Hunter, PI, Manchester
• Wood, Michael - Outside Looking In #2 DCI Matilda Darke

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.