Review: The Ghost Runner by Parker Bilal

The Ghost Runner by Parker Bilal, February 2014, 432 pages, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN: 1408841118

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

Cairo, 2002
Stuck in city traffic, Makana studies his target's Bentley. Mrs Ragab, convinced of infidelity, has been paying Makana to follow her husband, a wealthy lawyer. But after a week of tailing him, Makana still has nothing to report. Tonight, however, he follows the lawyer to a private clinic and then to a room where a young woman lies inside an oxygen tent, unrecognisable, her skin charred black by her extensive burns. Her wristband says "Karima Ragab". But the Ragabs are childless. Is this Ragab's daughter by a previous marriage? Mrs Ragab is shocked by Makana's discovery of Karima but denies any possibility that her husband has a child from a previous marriage and ends the assignment, asking for the bill. However the girl haunts Makana, entwined with thoughts of his own daughter – lost with her mother when their car went through a bridge parapet as the family tried to escape from Sudan many years before.

Makana is surprised to receive a visit from Ragab himself. Karima has died. Ragab explains that although not his daughter but that of a client who came out of prison a Jihadist and had left the country, Ragab has known Karima and her mother all of Karima's life. He has always tried to help them. The mother died two years ago and when this dreadful fire happened Ragab got Karima into the private clinic for treatment under his name. The doctors think that her death was suicide but Ragab suspects murder and Makana is inclined to agree. In fact Ragab suspects Karima's father of engineering some kind of honour killing of his own daughter, thinking her to be Ragab's child. He wants Makana to find out who really killed Karima and Makana agrees to take on the case. He meets Zahra, a women's rights activist and friend of Karima. She has an impact on him that he cannot shake off, even when he leaves Cairo for the oasis town of Siwa, Karima's parents' home town, where he is convinced that he will find the answer to who killed the girl and why.

THE GHOST RUNNER is Parker Bilal's third outing for Sudanese ex-policeman and exile, Makana. The story is set shortly after 9/11 in the international political climate of the West's “war on terror” with growing political protest in Cairo's streets. However these are not the anti-Mubarak protests of the Arab Spring, these are pro-Palestinian demonstrations, reactions to the Israeli siege of Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters.

With each “Makana Mystery”, the tone of Bilal's writing becomes a little starker as it focuses on the social and political issues of Makana's adopted city of Cairo. Parker Bilal (pseudonym of British-Sudanese writer Jamal Mahjoub) creates enduring character portraits; taxi-driver Sindbad, journalist Sami Barakat and the ambiguous and vain Inspector Okasha all reappear from the earlier books. Whilst in the desert town of Siwa, Bilal creates a moving character portrait in Doctor Medina, a haunted soul who distils his own alcohol and entrusts his lovingly repaired Norton motorbike to Makana. As for Makana himself – he grows more established with each book: the man from the South, the outsider inhabited by his past, the shrewd, compassionate observer with a dry wit. And there is something magical (some might say fantastical or downright impossible) about Makana's survival feats, largely sustained by tobacco and persistence.

In THE GHOST RUNNER Bilal writes memorable descriptions of the city and its street life alongside the contrasting life of the oasis town and the desert itself but if I have placed too much emphasis on this book as a glorified travelogue, I apologise. It is enthralling crime fiction and Makana emerges out of this complex story of duplicity and damage as he does out of the desert – exhausted, tattered, spitting sand, but just about upright. I remain his devoted fan and wait eagerly to find out what will come next for him. Absolutely recommended.

Lynn Harvey, February 2014.

Cover Theme - Woman and the Sea

I haven't done one of these posts for a while. I do love these covers and if I hadn't already had these books in mind to read they would make me pick them up!

[I can't quite get them to line-up, apologies.]

and a late arrival...

Review: East of Innocence by David Thorne

East of Innocence by David Thorne, January 2014, 320 pages, Atlantic Books, ISBN: 1782392203

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

This superbly written book is the debut novel for David Thorne. It is the first in a series to feature his protagonist Daniel Connell, a former city lawyer who has set up his own practice and is full of simmering anger, as well as being loaded down with baggage from his shady past. Thorne has set his book in Essex. He doesn’t say exactly where in Essex, though – and the effect is to make the county a rather dark and foreboding place. Having roots in Essex myself I found this to be particularly attractive, as having a rough idea of where things are happening, but not being entirely sure, is both frustrating and delightful!

In short, Daniel is struggling to make a go of his business after his disgraceful exit from a top City law firm. When an old school friend is beaten up by the police and wants Daniel to help him, his initial reaction is to keep well away but he gets dragged into it all the same and ends up losing part of a finger for his troubles. Then, when things really couldn’t get any worse, he is threatened into doing some dodgy work for a local gangster, after insulting the guy at a party. Far from happy, Daniel goes to visit his dad, a somewhat infamous local criminal, who really doesn’t like him, and ends up in even more trouble when he asks about his mum. Mum disappeared a few months after he was born and he has never known her. Eventually he ends up with some shreds of information on who she was and he sets out to find her, trying to leave the rest of his troubles behind for a few days. Only troubles have a way of finding you and Daniel must move fast to stay ahead of the game, and find out the answers to all his questions, before his pursuers catch up.

David Thorne is an established writer, having been involved in TV and radio comedy as well as advertising for the last 15 years. He has received acclaim for his previous work and the TV rights for this book series have already been sold. His debut novel is nail-bitingly exciting as well as dark and gritty. He is clearly an author to watch for in the future and I am really looking forward to reading the next in this series.

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, February 2014.

The Return of Albert Campion

Lord Peter Wimsey has had a new lease of life thanks to Jill Paton Walsh, Poirot lives again in Sophie Hannah's as yet untitled novel due out in September and now Albert Campion reappears thanks to Mike Ripley.

Published in April by Severn House is Mr Campion's Farewell which was begun by Margery Allingham's husband Philip Youngman Carter and finished by Mike Ripley.

From the Essex Book Festival website, Mike Ripley says:

"Youngman Carter left only the first four chapters, which introduced a whole load of eccentric characters behaving suspiciously in an old Suffolk wool town. There was no indication where the plot was going or how it would be resolved, so in one sense I was given a free hand. My advantages were that the Suffolk town seemed (to me) to be clearly based on Lavenham, which I know, and of course, I had Albert Campion there to sort everything out. With a character that good - and the help of the Margery Allingham Society - everything fell joyfully into place, or at least I hope it did!"

Review: Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves

Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves, January 2014, 384 pages, Macmillan, ISBN: 023076018X

Reviewed by Susan White.
(Read more of Susan's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Detective Joe Ashworth is hurrying home with his daughter after a carol service when, due to the snow, the Metro they are on stops suddenly at Mardle, on the outside of Newcastle. They are asked to leave and catch a bus but Jessie is worried that an old lady has fallen asleep and returns to the carriage to shake her awake. Unfortunately she has been stabbed in front of the many passengers, and Joe.

She is identified as living and working at a small hotel in Harbour Street owned by a widow Kate Dewar, with Kate’s teenage children. DI Vera Stanhope is pleased to have a case to absorb her during the insanities of the Christmas season and relishes the challenge.

The dead woman is liked by every one who knew her. A quiet well-bred woman who appears to have fallen on hard times and who helps the disadvantaged and distressed women who find a home at the Haven which is supported by the local church. But as Vera and Joe dig deeper, it is obvious to both of them that there are secrets in Harbour Street and that they are not being told all there is to know about Margaret Krukowski.

Then another young vulnerable women is found dead and a body which has been buried for a long time is discovered and Vera and Joe must bring the secrets into the light to find the truth and the killer.

Vera is an older single woman who uses her intuition and knowledge of human nature to great affect and, it is always a pleasure to read a novel where a woman can be interesting and good at her job, without being sexy, or burdened with the cares of family and children that compromise the investigation. With Vera, we have a detective who just happens to be a woman.

This is an interesting story based in a small declining community. As always with this author, the characters are well rounded. Readers may well know the central characters of Vera and Joe from the TV series and they don't disappoint whether in print or on the screen.

A good read.

Susan White, February 2014

The Crime Fiction of Norfolk County

I've been meaning to do this for a while. I have family in Norfolk and spend a lot of time there and enjoy crime novels set in the places I know. So I have compiled a list of books that are set in Norfolk, mostly the top half - there must be more in south Norfolk but I've not come across them yet. I welcome corrections and especially additions. I haven't read all these authors/titles, and some of the settings I assign to the ones I have read are based on my own feelings, and of course could be wrong.
[Official blurbs are in italics.]

NB. The list does not currently contain self-published titles.

Moving from west to east:

Elly Griffiths has written six books so far, starting with The Crossing Places featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway and King's Lynn policeman Harry Nelson.

A child's bones are discovered near the site of a pre-historic henge on the north Norfolk coast, and the police ask local forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway to date them. Are these the remains of a local girl who disappeared ten years ago? DCI Harry Nelson refuses to give up the hunt for this missing child. Ever since she vanished, someone has been sending him bizarre anonymous notes about ritual sacrifice, quoting Shakespeare and the Bible. He knows Ruth's instincts and experience can help him finally put this case to rest. Then a second child goes missing, and Ruth finds herself in danger from a killer who knows she's getting ever closer to the truth...

Jim Kelly, who also writes about Ely and the Fens, writes a series set in North Norfolk, the DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine series which begins with Death Wore White.

At 5.15 p.m. Harvey Ellis was trapped - stranded in a line of eight cars by a blizzard on a Norfolk coast road. At 8.15 p.m. Harvey Ellis was dead - viciously stabbed at the wheel of his truck. And his killer has achieved the impossible: striking without being seen, and without leaving a single footprint in the snow ...For DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine it's only the start of an infuriating investigation. The crime scene is melting, the murderer has vanished, the witnesses are dropping like flies. And the body count is on the rise...

Canadian author C C Benison set the middle book in his "Her Majesty Investigates" series at Sandringham, with Death at Sandringham House

When housemaid Jane Bee accompanies the Royals on their annual Christmas jaunt to Sandringham, she believes she’s in for a bit of a snooze. Aside from her regular duties, there’s nothing much to do in the wilds of Norfolk … until the body of a woman turns up in the village hall – a woman who just happens to be a dead ringer for the Queen, right down to her glittering crown.

Simon Brett takes his actor-sleuth Charles Paris to Hunstanton in A Comedian Dies (1979)

About to receive an award as Most Promising Newcomer, a rising young stage comedian sensationally drops dead on stage at the start of his act: as he picks up the mike, he is electrocuted. Faulty wiring seems to be the cause and a verdict of death by misadventure is returned at the inquest. But actor/detective Charles Paris was in the audience that night and when another member of the cast reveals that the comedian checked his equipment just before the performance, Charles decides to investigate further. Misadventure—or murder?


James Humphreys has only written two novels, both of which I enjoyed enormously, the second one, Riptide (2001) is set in North Norfolk and I've put it in the Wells-next-the-Sea area.

The small village of Caxton, on the foggy Norfolk coast, holds many memories for Sergeant Sarah Delaney - most of which she's tried hard to forget. For Caxton was the place where her boyfriend Tom had lived - and where he died. Now she has been sent back there in the early hours of the morning to investigate a disturbing sighting - the bodies of a man and a woman on the mist-covered beach. Unfortunately, by the time Sarah arrives the tide has come in and the bodies have been washed out to sea. As a murder investigation is launched, Sarah is forced to confront many ghosts from her past, including the enigmatic inhabitants of the Red House, and the local coastguard, Nick Walton, Tom's closest friend. The time has come, it seems, for Sarah to learn the truth about Tom and his tragic death . . .

Moving towards Cromer, I believe, is Ian Sansom's The Norfolk Mystery which mentions Blakeney in the blurb below

Love Miss Marple? Adore Holmes and Watson? Professor Morley's guide to Norfolk is a story of bygone England; quaint villages, eccentric locals - and murder! It is 1937 and disillusioned Spanish Civil War veteran Stephen Sefton is stony broke. So when he sees a mysterious advertisement for a job where 'intelligence is essential', he applies. Thus begins Sefton's association with Professor Swanton Morley, an omnivorous intellect. Morley's latest project is a history of traditional England, with a guide to every county. They start in Norfolk, but when the vicar of Blakeney is found hanging from his church's bellrope, Morley and Sefton find themselves drawn into a rather more fiendish plot. Did the Reverend really take his own life, or was it - murder?

The Eastrepps in Francis Beeding's Death Walks in Eastrepps (1931) is based on Cromer

Heralded as one of the greatest detective books of all time on first publication in 1931, Death Walks in Eastrepps is a genuine page-turner, set in a picturesque English seaside resort and with a plot involving a double identity, a series of murders, blackmail, a courtroom drama and, unmasked at the end, an unlikely suspect.

And he also wrote The Norwich Victims

A middle-aged schoolteacher wins the French lottery and looks around for somewhere safe to invest her prize. Unfortunately for her she decides to consult the unscrupulous John Throgmorton, and he seizes a once in a lifetime opportunity, murdering the unsuspecting Miss Haslett and sending his secretary and partner in crime, Hermione Taylor, to Paris to collect the money. Throgmorton's devious plan is executed to perfection, and it seems that nothing can go wrong. But then he receives an unexpected visitor...

P D James brought Adam Dalgliesh to Norfolk in Devices and Desires (1989) which is set on the eastern side of Cromer.

When Commander Adam Dalgliesh visits Larksoken, a remote headland community on the Norfolk coast in the shadow of a nuclear power station, he expects to be engaged only in the sad business of tying up his aunt's estate. But the peace of Larksoken is illusory. A serial killer known as the Whistler is terrorising the neighbourhood and Dalgliesh is drawn into the lives of the headlanders when it quickly becomes apparent that the Whistler isn't the only murderer at work under the sinister shadow of the power station.


The eleventh and last book in Edward Marston's Domesday series, is The Elephants of Norwich

It is the juiciest piece of gossip the citizens of Norwich have heard for a long time. The two golden elephants that robber baron Richard de Fontenel was using to lure the beautiful Adelaide into marriage have been stolen. Also missing is de Fontenel's steward Hermer. Desperate to try and ignore this growing crisis are Domesday Commissioners Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret, who are keen to resolve a land dispute involving de Fontenel and Mauger - a man also trying to woo Adelaide. De Fontenel, however, refuses to co-operate until the thief is found. But is Hermer the steward really missing or has something more sinister happened? In Ralph and Gervase's most baffling case yet, nothing is what it seems and no one is free from suspicion...


Moving even further east, we have two books set in Great Yarmouth (or Starmouth and Ernemouth as it appears in these two books).

Gently by the Shore (1956) is the second in the George Gently series. Author Alan Hunter wrote 45 books based in the Norwich/Broads area (and not  Northumberand as in the tv series).

You’ll find plenty of bodies stretched out on a summer beach – but they’re not usually dead...

In a British seaside holiday resort at the height of the season, you would expect to find a promenade and a pier, maybe some donkeys, ‘Kiss-Me-Quick’ hats, candy floss and kids building sandcastles. You would not expect to find a naked corpse, punctured with stab wounds, lying on the sand.

Chief Inspector George Gently is called in to investigate the disturbing murder. The case has to be wrapped up quickly to calm the nerves of concerned holidaymakers. No one wants to think that there is a maniac on the loose in the town but with no clothes or identifying marks on the body, Gently has a tough time establishing who the victim is, let alone finding the killer. In the meantime, who knows where or when the murderer might strike again?

The second book is Cathi Unsworth's Weirdo

Corinne Woodrow was fifteen when she was convicted of murdering one of her classmates on a summer's evening in 1984, a year when the teenagers of Ernemouth ran wild, dressing in black and staying out all night, listening to music that terrified their parents.Twenty years later, new forensic evidence suggests Corinne didn't act alone. Private investigator Sean Ward - whose promising career as a detective with the Met was cut short by a teenage gangster with a gun - reopens the case, and discovers a town full of dark secrets, and a community that has always looked after its own.


The following three series, I have had less success in exact placing, but are set in "Norfolk"

Brian Cooper wrote a nine-book series set in a 1940s/50s North Norfolk. The only one I've read is The Norfolk Triangle

When a young Cambridge student goes looking for the ruins of an old Norfolk village he discovers a body of a girl. Chief Inspector Tench is shocked by the violence of the crime. Is this murder linked to that of another girl 15 years earlier?






S T Haymon's series about Detective Inspector Ben Jurnet has been made available again as ebooks.

The series features Angleby (modelled on Norwich) and presumably Bullen Hall, in Stately Homicide, is based on Blickling Hall.

The first book in the series is Death and the Pregnant Virgin (1980).

'I'm only repeating what I've been told. And what I've been told is that Rachel Case was four months pregnant when she was killed, and she was still a virgin.' Rachel Case was considered by some to be a saint, but she lay, with the back of her head shattered, in the Shrine of Our Lady of Promise. The Norfolk village of Mauthen Barbary was filled with pilgrims, celebrating the fifth year since the statue's discovery, but it had to be someone close to Rachel who had killed her so brutally. Inspector Ben Jurnet finds that the clues to this modern murder lie far back in the past, concealed in a Tudor account book and an ancient Greek text. But not in time to prevent a suicide and two more bizarre killings . . .


American author Kate Kingsbury has written the "Manor House" series, set in "Sitting Marsh", Norfolk.

The first book in the series is A Bicycle Built For Murder (2001)

In World War II England, the quiet village of Sitting Marsh is faced with food rations and fear for loved ones. But Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton, lady of the Manor House, stubbornly insists that life must go on. Sitting Marsh residents depend on Elizabeth to make sure things go smoothly. Which means everything from sorting out gossip to solving the occasional murder ...

Sixteen-year-old Beryl Pierce was trouble with a capital T. So when she winds up dead below a cliff, villagers call it an accident waiting to happen. But Elizabeth and the girl's mother think it was murder. Suspects abound - an American soldier, a boyfriend, and a jealous acquaintance. And Elizabeth is glad to help. But when the Manor House is chosen to house American officers, she's up to her ears in murder and military mayhem - a battle that may get the best of her.

And finally a few other titles set in Norfolk

MC Beaton sends her sleuth Agatha Raisin to a Norfolk village in her tenth outing, Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam

Feeling jilted and cross, Agatha follows a fortune-teller's advice and rents a cottage in the pretty village of Fryfam, where she hopes good fortune and true love will come chasing after her for a change. Unfortunately, her romantic notions are soon dispelled by the strange goings-on in the village. What exactly are those strange lights in Agatha's back garden? Who is stealing paintings and pottery? Where are her beloved cats? And who murdered the local squire…Agatha's nose for trouble leads her into a maelstrom of jealousy, blackmail and dangerous liaisons - and a murderer who plans to keep irrepressible Agatha permanently in Fryfam - as a resident corpse.

In the fifth book in Charles Todd's Inspector Rutledge series, Watchers of Time, Rutledge is sent to Norfolk.

In Osterley, a marshy Norfolk backwater, a man lies dying on a rainy autumn night. While natural causes will surely claim Herbert Baker’s life in a matter of hours, his last request baffles his family and friends.

Baker, a devout Anglican, inexplicably demands to see the town’s Catholic priest for a last confession. The old man dies without knowing that the very priest who gave him comfort will follow him to the grave just a few weeks later — the victim of an appalling murder.

The local police are convinced the evidence points to an interrupted robbery, and have named a suspect, Matthew Walsh. But the dead priest’s bishop insists that Scotland Yard oversee the investigation. A simple task for Rutledge, a man not yet well enough to return to full duty.
 

Ashley Gardner send Captain Lacey to Norfolk in book seven of her series

September 1817 Captain Gabriel Lacey travels with Lady Breckenridge to his boyhood home in northern Norfolk only to discover mysterious happenings in and around the Lacey estate. A young woman, cousin of an old friend, has gone missing, strange objects appear in Lacey's ruined house, and the dark windmills on the marshes keep pulling Lacey to them. The underworld criminal, James Denis, uses Lacey's visit to Norfolk as an opportunity to have Lacey deliver a message to a local squire. A simple task—but one that lands Lacey squarely in international theft and murder. Lacey learns more about Denis's past, and finds himself joining forces with Denis to flush out a brutal killer and save the one person about whom Denis admits to caring.

Andrew Garve set several books in East Anglia including The Far Sands (1961) set on the Norfolk coast.

Fay drowns fleeing the scene of her husband's murder. Was it, as the police believe, murder and a tragic accident or was it, as her surviving twin Carol believes, a double murder? Carol's boyfriend takes some convincing before helping her to unravel the mystery.






Jane Adams's The Greenway is also set on the Norfolk coast

Cassie still has nightmares about that day in 1975 when she and her cousin Suzie took a short cut through The Greenway. For somewhere along this path Suzie simply vanished. Also haunted is John Tyson, the retired detective once in charge of Suzie's unsolved case.

[This is the first of four DI Mike Croft books. I'm not sure if the remaining three are also set in Norfolk.]





and finally Stella Rimington's fiction debut At Risk, was partially Norfolk based

For MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle the nagging complications of her private life are quickly forgotten at Monday's Counter-Terrorist meeting. An invisible may have entered mainland Britain. An 'invisible' - a terrorist who is an ethnic native of the target country, who can cross its borders unchecked and move about unnoticed - is the ultimate nightmare. For Liz this signals the start of an operation that will test her to the limit. Who or what is the target? Where and who is the invisible? With each passing hour the danger increases. But as she desperately sifts the incoming intelligence and analyses the reports from her agents she finally realises that it is her ability to get inside her enemy's head that is the only hope of averting disaster.

TV News: Fleming on Sky Atlantic

Fleming, starring Dominic Cooper as James Bond creator Ian Fleming has already begun showing in the US and now it's the UK's turn. The first part (of four) is on Sky Atlantic at 9pm on 12 February 2014.

I hope it's as good as it looks on the trailer showing on Sky. I can't find the same one online but the BBC America one is similar but with an added voiceover:




From the Sky Atlantic website:

There's no questioning the iconic status of the man they call 007, and Fleming explores how some of the real-life exploits of Ian Fleming became the inspiration for one of the most enduring and successful characters ever.

Untroubled by the spectre of impending war, roguish playboy Ian Fleming chases women, collects rare books and lives off the family fortune. Forever in the shadow of his brother Peter (Rupert Evans) and an eternal disappointment to his formidable mother Eve (Lesley Manville), Ian is finally given some direction in his life when he's recruited by Admiral John Godfrey (Samuel West) to help in the effort against the Nazis. With the somewhat sceptical support of tough-cookie Second Officer Monday (Anna Chancellor), Ian's extraordinary imagination and ability to spin a yarn makes him a perfect fit for espionage.

The stakes increase as Ian's chance encounter with the captivating Lady Ann O'Neill (Sherlock's Lara Pulver) becomes a passionate affair that shapes both their lives. Directed by Mat Whitecross (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and the BAFTA®-nominated Road to Guantanamo) and written by John Brownlow and Don Macpherson, Fleming captures both the opulence of high society London and the suspense and intrigue behind enemy lines.

While Bond fans will spot many a nod to the legendary agent, the series is ultimately a gripping account of a playboy spy and the woman who won his heart.

Simon Brett and the Diamond Dagger

When Severn House tweeted earlier today that Simon Brett is to be awarded the CWA's Diamond Dagger, I was amazed that he hadn't already "won" it. Many congratulations to this very worthy recipient.

From the CWA's website:

The diamond-studded Dagger will be awarded to Simon Brett at a gala dinner on the 30th June in London hosted by Lucy Worsley, who recently explored the phenomenon of our fascination with murder in the BBC television series ‘A very British Murder’.

The Diamond Dagger recipient is chosen each year by the CWA committee, from a shortlist nominated by the membership. It is very much an honour awarded by the author’s peers and this makes it special. Shortlisted authors must meet two essential criteria: first, their careers must be marked by sustained excellence, and second, they must have made a significant contribution to crime fiction published in the English language, whether originally or in translation. The award is made purely on merit without reference to age, gender or nationality.

New Reviews: Aspe, Beckett, Dahl, Hancock, Nesbo, Spencer

Here are six new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today.

The favourite overall reads of 2013 as voted by the Euro Crime review team were revealed last Monday.

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

New Reviews

Geoff Jones reviews The Midas Murders by Pieter Aspe, tr. Brian Doyle which is the second in the Assistant Commissioner Pieter Van In series and is set in Bruges;

Michelle Peckham reviews Simon Beckett's standalone novel, Stone Bruises which is set in France;

Lynn Harvey reviews Arne Dahl's Bad Blood tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles - "Dahl's writing has a pay-off as rewarding as the book's dark and exciting plot";

Susan White reviews The Darkening Hour by Penny Hancock, whom she compares favourably to Barbara Vine and Sophie Hannah;

Laura Root completes the Euro Crime set of reviews for Jo Nesbo's (currently) ten book Harry Hole series with her review of Cockroaches tr. Don Bartlett, the second in the series

and Terry Halligan reviews Sally Spencer's Death's Dark Shadow the latest in the DCI Monika Paniatowski 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.

TV News: Salamander on BBC Four in February

Salamander, a twelve part Flemish political thriller begins on BBC Four on 8 February at 9pm. Episode two follows at 9.45pm.

From the BBC's media centre:

Disguised as builders, a group of robbers descend on a top Belgium private bank - but the burglars have no eye for money or other valuables and target only 66 of 800 vaults in the bank. These 66 vaults belong to the country's industrial, financial, judicial and political elite, and the safe-deposit boxes contained their most intimate secrets - secrets that could bring down the nation.

Who ordered this hack? Who wants to disrupt the state? The bank scramble to cover up the robbery and avoid the involvement of the police, but police inspector Paul Gerardi (Filip Peeters) catches wind of the affair. With his incorruptible, old-school morals and devil-may-care attitude, Gerardi throws himself into the investigation, and when some of the key players are murdered, commit suicide or vanish, he soon realises just how big the case is.

Gerardi discovers that the victims are members of a secret organisation called Salamander. As he becomes the target of both the criminals and the authorities, Gerardi must quickly find out what their agenda is - and who is behind the thefts...

Review: Stone Bruises by Simon Beckett

Stone Bruises by Simon Beckett, January 2014, 320 pages, Bantam Press, ISBN: 0593073282

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

This is a stand-alone novel by Simon Beckett, not connected to his earlier four novels that feature Dr David Hunter, a forensic anthropologist. Instead this novel revolves around one man, Sean, beginning with a description of him abandoning his car in a field somewhere in France. He checks it has nothing in it that could identify him, washes off blood from the seat of the car using water from a nearby stream and removes the UK number plates. But just as he is about to walk away, he spots a package of a ‘white substance’, which he reluctantly has to take with him. He destroys his SIM card as he walks away, and takes a lift from a passerby. It is clear that Sean has done something, and wants to hide away, but we don’t know what he’s done, or why. Gradually, as the book unfolds, a few glimpses into his previous life in London emerge, and a story is slowly pieced together.

But where will he go? Soon, that choice is taken away from him, as he steps onto an iron hunting-trap in a field, badly damaging his foot. Now, he has to stay with the family, on the farm that put the trap there, while he slowly recuperates, staying in the barn just outside the farmhouse. The father, Arnaud, is clearly antagonistic towards him, and would rather Sean left, his wife died some time ago, and there are two daughters, Mathilde and Gretchen, and Mathilde has a child of her own (but the father is absent).

Gradually the French family accepts Sean and he starts working for them, once he begins to recover from his injury. The family dynamics both intrigue and annoy him, but it suits him to stay on the isolated farm, where there is no immediate danger that he will be found. However, it quickly becomes clear that there are some deep dark secrets hidden away that no-one will discuss. Sean’s presence ignites a change in dynamics, which eventually force the secrets out, leading to a climactic ending, at the farmhouse, and eventually a final unveiling of Sean’s own personal story.

Told in the present tense, which I got used to after a while, STONE BRUISES is a carefully written story, nicely put together, with enough clues to help the reader try to work out what the secrets are, but with enough freedom to lob in a few surprises that keep one guessing as to what the real story actually is. This was an intriguing read, that was well plotted and a good book to keep one entertained on a cold winter's evening.

Michelle Peckham, January 2014

TV News: Banks & Gently return next week

DCI Banks and Inspector George Gently return to UK screens next week.

The third series of DCI Banks, based on Peter Robinson's series, with Stephen Tompkinson in the lead role, is six episodes, with two-parters of Wednesday's Child, Piece of My Heart and Bad Boy (the sixth, sixteenth and nineteenth books respectively in the series) and begins on Monday 3rd February at 9pm on ITV1.

From the ITV website:

The series sees the return from maternity leave of DS Annie Cabbot, played by Andrea Lowe (Love Life, Monroe), immediately thrown into a harrowing case for a new single mother. Having acknowledged their feelings for one another in the last series, the new episodes focus on whether a romantic relationship between Banks and Annie can ever be a reality. However, there are inevitable complications as the pair come to acknowledge their own unique and challenging roles as colleagues and parents.

Caroline Catz (Doc Martin) also returns to the series playing DI Helen Morton, the disarmingly blunt and often socially inept detective who joined Banks’ team when Annie left for maternity. Helen has to confront her inflexible approach to both her home and work life; can her relationship with Banks help her to understand when to bend the rules? With both Helen and Annie working under Banks, will he successfully be able to juggle the opposing views of these two strong willed independent women? How far will Banks go to keep both these women at his side?

This series also sees the surprise introduction of Banks’ university dropout daughter, Tracy. Although on the surface, Banks and Tracy have a good relationship, it becomes clear that neither father nor daughter really know each other as well as they pretend. The distance between the pair means Banks cannot see the real danger Tracy soon throws herself into until it is too late.

Inspector George Gently, starring Martin Shaw, returns for a sixth series (seventh if you include the pilot) consisting of four ninety-minute episodes and is set in 1969. The series takes its name from the George Gently series by Alan Hunter though Hunter's books were set in East Anglia, the series is set, and now filmed, in Northumberland.

The first episode, Gently Between the Lines, is on Thursday 6th February at 8.30pm on BBC One:

It is 1969, and approximately six months since the shootings in the cathedral. Gently is taken by surprise when he learns of Bacchus's resignation, realising that his sergeant has lost his confidence. Still suffering his own scars from the incident, Gently sets about fixing Bacchus and insists that he help him investigate a death in custody - a case that has both Gently and Bacchus questioning what it means to be a police officer at a time when attitudes to the police are changing. Meanwhile, the victim's family ask the pertinent question: 'aren't the police supposed to protect us?'.

Review: The Midas Murders by Pieter Aspe, tr. Brian Doyle

The Midas Murders by Pieter Aspe translated by Brian Doyle, December 2013, 336 pages, Pegasus, ISBN: 1605984876

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

When you recall Belgium crime writers the most famous is Georges Simenon of Maigret fame. The Midas Murders is the second book by fellow Belgian, Pieter Aspe, to have been translated into English, but incredibly he has had thirty-two crime novels published in his native Belgium as well as a book for children.

Set in Bruges we are introduced to Assistant Commissioner Pieter Van In. A heavy drinker and a smoker and a chauvinist who suffers from depression. He is in arrears on the mortgage and could lose his house which is his pride and joy; he is in a relationship with the beautiful Hannalore, who is a deputy Prosecutor, and he is also regularly seeing a call girl Veronique! His conscience is his trusty sergeant – Guido Versavel.

A German business man has been attacked and dies. Van In, however, is given the task of investigating the bombing of a famous statue, the government afraid that this could affect tourism. When the two cases seem to be connected Van In and Versavel have their work cut out.

We’re introduced to the fact that Belgium is split between Walloons and Flemish and Bruges comes across as an interesting place to visit. The book was published in the mid-nineties and seems to be set in the late eighties/early nineties. The word-processor is just making an appearance, no mobile telephones are used and the Renault Espace is one of the vehicles used.

I look forward to reading more on the likeable rogue Van In.

Recommended.

Geoff Jones, January 2014

The Euro Crime Favourite Reads of 2013

I've asked the recent contributors to Euro Crime to choose their favourite European reads of 2013 and a total of 72 titles have been submitted. The following favourites come from the lists submitted by: Mark Bailey, Amanda Gillies, Raven Crime (aka JF), Terry Halligan, Lynn Harvey, Geoff Jones, Michelle Peckham, Norman Price, Laura Root, Sarah Ward, Susan White and myself. The breakdown by reviewer, with additional recommendations and any additional comments they have made, can be found here. Quotes are taken from the Euro Crime reviews, unless stated otherwise.

The most mentioned titles are:

3 votes:

The Ghost Riders of Ordebec by Fred Vargas tr. Sian Reynolds

Vargas has a genius for weaving a strand of the supernatural into her crime stories without breaking faith with the credibility of her plot. In previous novels, she's had readers almost believing in vampires, werewolves and ghosts, before extracting a commonsensical explanation at the last moment.

THE GHOST RIDERS OF ORDEBEC [] is no exception, with its evocation of a terrible legend with the power to drive ordinary people to commit murder. Yet there is never any doubt that this legend is being manipulated by a killer who's very much alive. With a surfeit of suspects, can dreamy and distracted Jean-Baptiste sort the clues from the red herrings? You'll be turning the pages to find out, but also because Vargas has created a compelling world of characters that is simply irresistible.


2 votes:

Pilgrim Soul by Gordon Ferris

...an interesting brevity to the style of writing, and particularly the dialogue that is somewhat reminiscent of the Chandler novels (and the main hero, Philip Marlowe). I quickly became immersed in this book, and very much enjoyed it, so much so that I've already started to read the earlier books in the series. An intelligent, thought provoking story that I thoroughly recommend.

An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris

An Officer and A Spy is a very fine novel full of great characters, plot and atmosphere. Robert Harris has got inside the personality of his protagonist, Georges Picquart, cleverly used the real life characters to give an account of the real life events embellished with a dialogue that reflects the atmosphere of Paris in that period....An Officer and A Spy has more than enough action to keep the reader turning the pages. [from the Crime Scraps review by Norman Price]

Second Violin by John Lawton

The terror and brutality of life, whether in Vienna or London, during this period is brought vividly to life. The resilience of people to rebuild after they have lost, or have had everything taken away from them whether by personal tragedy, by war or by being displaced to a foreign land, is accurately depicted. An interesting story, building on well documented facts and helping history to come alive with the aid of the stories of individuals' lives and experiences is very believable.

Alex by Pierre Lemaitre tr. Frank Wynne

Every so often a crime thriller comes along that leaves you breathless and takes you on a disturbing journey into the darkest recesses of human experience - ALEX is one such book and you are guaranteed a tale of the unexpected from start to finish. Don't expect any spoilers or dwelling on the plot from me, as I want you all to be as surprised by this twisty tale as I was, but all I will say is, you are in for more than one shock or two along the way.

An absolute gem of a crime novel that is wonderfully dark, scary, mad, bad and dangerous to know, but just far too good to miss…

Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller

What a beautiful book! Superbly crafted and touching on a delicate subject with sensitivity and perception, NORWEGIAN BY NIGHT is a story of one man’s loss and regret and how he tries to come to terms with everything. An excellent debut novel from Derek B Miller; he is another talented new voice to keep an eye out for in the future.

Police by Jo Nesbo tr. Don Bartlett

In Harry Hole, Jo Nesbo has created one of crime fiction's most charismatic heroes and this is reinforced by his absence from the investigation team. Fans of Harry Hole and Jo Nesbo will enjoy POLICE and be thoroughly absorbed in this typically well-plotted, complicated story with its many misdirections and dead ends.



The most mentioned authors (irrespective of title) are:

4 votes:

Jo Nesbo

3 votes:

Gordon Ferris
Fred Vargas

2 votes:

Robert Harris
John Lawton
Pierre Lemaitre
Derek B Miller
Leif G W Persson

The most mentioned translators are:

4 votes:

Don Bartlett (Jo Nesbo)
Neil Smith (Mons Kallentoft, Liza Marklund, Leif G W Persson)


3 votes:

Sian Reynolds (Fred Vargas)

2 votes:

Anthea Bell (Jakob Arjouni, Jan Costin Wagner)
Frank Wynne (Pierre Lemaitre)

All the titles mentioned in the best of lists:

Jakob Arjouni – Brother Kemal tr. Anthea Bell.
Laurent Binet - HHhH tr. Sam Taylor
Simon Brett – A Decent Interval
Roberto Costantini - The Deliverance of Evil tr. N S Thompson
Arne Dahl – Bad Blood tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles
Kishwar Desai - Witness the Night
Michael Donovan - Behind Closed Doors
PR Ellis - Painted Ladies
Gordon Ferris – The Hanging Shed
Gordon Ferris - Pilgrim Soul
Robert Galbraith - The Cuckoo's Calling
Pascal Garnier - Moon in a Dead Eye tr. Emily Boyce
Elizabeth George - Just One Evil Act
Phillipe Georget - Summertime All The Cats Are Bored tr. Steven Rendall
Alan Glynn - Graveland
Robert Goddard - The Ways of the World
Robert Harris - An Officer and A Spy
Terry Hayes - I Am Pilgrim
Elizabeth Haynes - Human Remains
Keigo Higashino - Salvation of a Saint tr. Alexander O Smith with Elye J Alexander
Antonio Hill - The Good Suicides tr. Laura McGoughlin
Jonathan Holt - The Abomination
Jorn Lier Horst - Closed for Winter tr. Anne Bruce
Arnaldur Indridason - Strange Shores tr. Victoria Cribb
Steffen Jacobsen - When The Dead Awaken tr. Charlotte Barslund
Doug Johnstone - Gone Again
Mons Kallentoft – Savage Spring tr. Neil Smith
M R C Kasasian - The Mangle Street Murders
Pierre Lemaitre - Alex tr. Frank Wynne
John Lawton - Second Violin
Adrian McKinty – I Hear the Sirens in the Street
David Mark - Dark Winter
Lisa Marklund – Last Will tr. Neil Smith
Andrew Martin - The Baghdad Railway Club
Danny Miller - The Gilded Edge
Derek B Miller - Norwegian by Night
Jo Nesbo - Phantom tr. Don Bartlett
Jo Nesbo – Cockroaches tr. Don Bartlett
Jo Nesbo - Police tr. Don Bartlett
Fuminori Nakamura - The Thief tr. Satoko Izumo and Stephen Coates
Hakan Nesser - The Strangler's Honeymoon tr. Laurie Thompson
Nele Neuhaus - Snow White Must Die tr. Steven T Murray
Chris Nickson - The Crooked Spire
Leif G W Persson - He Who Kills the Dragon tr. Neil Smith
Leif G.W.Persson - Linda , As in the Linda Murder tr. Neil Smith
Anne Perry - Death On Blackheath
Ian Rankin – Saints of the Shadow Bible
Roslund & Hellstrom - Two Soldiers tr. Kari Dickson
Michael Russell - The City of Strangers
Kevin Sampson - The Killing Pool
Lynn Shepherd - A Treacherous Likeness
Stav Sherez - Eleven Days
Anna Smith - Screams In The Dark
Johan Theorin - The Quarry tr. Marlaine Delargy
David Thomas - Ostland
Simon Toyne - The Tower
Antti Tuomainen – The Healer tr. Lola Rogers
Helene Tursten – The Golden Calf tr Laura A Wideburg
Valerio Varesi - The Dark Valley tr. Joseph Farrell
Fred Vargas - The Ghost Riders of Ordebec tr. Sian Reynolds
Marco Vichi - Death and the Olive Grove tr. Stephen Sartarelli
Jan Costin Wagner - Light in a Dark House tr. Anthea Bell
Marianne Wheelaghan - Food of Ghosts
Christopher J Yates - Black Chalk

New Reviews: Brightwell, Gerhardsen, Indridason, Miller, Nickson, O'Brien

Here are six new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today.

Check back tomorrow to see what is the favourite overall Euro Crime read of 2013, plus who are the team's favourite authors and translators of 2013.

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

New Reviews

I review Emily Brightwell's The Inspector and Mrs Jeffries which has recently had a (very belated) UK release;

Rich Westwood reviews The Gingerbread House by Carin Gerhardsen tr. Paul Norlen, the first in the Hammarby (Stockholm) series;

Michelle Peckham reviews Arnaldur Indridason's Strange Shores tr. Victoria Cribb;

Amanda Gillies reviews Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller;

Terry Halligan reviews Chris Nickson's The Crooked Spire, set in fourteenth-century Chesterfield

and Lynn Harvey reviews the latest in Martin O'Brien's south of France set, Daniel Jacquot series, The Dying Minutes.


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.

Review: Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller

Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller, September 2013, 304 pages, Faber & Faber, ISBN: 0571294278

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

What a beautiful book! Superbly crafted and touching on a delicate subject with sensitivity and perception, NORWEGIAN BY NIGHT is a story of one man’s loss and regret and how he tries to come to terms with everything. An excellent debut novel from Derek B Miller; he is another talented new voice to keep an eye out for in the future.

The central character is Sheldon Horowitz, an 82-year-old American Jew who is recently widowed and has been persuaded, against his will, to move to Oslo to live with his granddaughter and her husband. Sheldon is a bit doddery on his feet, a bit stiff in his joints and prone to forgetfulness but when he witnesses the horrific murder of a neighbour, and ends up sheltering the dead woman’s son from the attackers, his old army training kicks in and he goes on the run to keep them both safe.

Sheldon is haunted by the ghosts of his long dead friends and has conversations with them while he is on his journey. Himself an ex-Marine who saw active service in Korea, he is still raw from the death of his own son in Vietnam. He blames himself for his son going to war in the first place – having over-instilled in him the importance of fighting for one's country, as well as the significance of being Jewish. Sheldon’s family seem to think that he is insane, and he may well be as he is frequently confused between the past and the present. One thing is true, though. He knows how to survive when people are hunting him and the journey he takes across the country, with young Paul at his side, dodging both the police and the criminals that want to kidnap the boy, is nothing short of miraculous.

To my shame, it took me longer to get into the book than it deserved but, by halfway, I was hooked and in love with dear old Sheldon. This book pulls at your heart-strings and reminds you that, just because people are old, doesn't mean they should be quietly written off, as they could do things that will surprise you.

Quite simply brilliant!

Amanda Gillies, January 2014.