Book Review – In Two Minds by Alis Hawkins

Blurb

Solve a murder, bring a killer to justice… but at what cost?

Harry Probert-Lloyd, a young barrister forced home from London by encroaching blindness, has begun work as the acting coroner of Teifi Valley with solicitor’s clerk John Davies as his assistant.

When a faceless body is found on an isolated beach, Harry must lead the inquest. But his dogged pursuit of the truth begins to ruffle feathers. Especially when he decides to work alongside a local doctor with a dubious reputation and experimental theories considered radical and dangerous.

Refusing to accept easy answers might not only jeopardise Harry’s chance to be elected coroner permanently, but could, it seems implicate his own family in a crime.

My Review

Being acting coroner means that Harry must answer the call to arms to see a faceless body, and he needs the help of John Davies to do it.  When he reaches the body it’s to discover that the facelessness comes from it having been kept in a lime store, the lime acting against the skin, but it’s also naked and on the rocks, so something already don’t add up.  Procedures aren’t followed and it seems everyone but Harry and John want to just accept the easy answers. As the case unravels, it seems that Harry’s family, family from his mother’s side who he barely knows, may have been more involved than is comfortable for Harry. The case also brings Harry into the circle of Dr Reckitt. Reckitt has an interest in deceases and the use of autopsy to investigate them. It’s a tarnished reputation that does little to enhance Harry’s own reputation. Letters for Lydia also bring him closer to

From the start Harry is considering running for election as the coroner, but that puts him at odds with the original idea from book one that Harry might become a solicitor and take John on to be his articled clerk. As Harry works out possibilities, he’s aware of John’s ambitions and is reticent to let the younger man know of other possibilities because he doesn’t want to divert his path. John, however, thinks Harry is just another rich man who dangled a prospect only to renege.

The murder, for such is it, revolves around a scheme to help people migrate to America, a scheme that may have been undermined by the murder. Emigration is an option that attracts John greatly.

As the facts starts to reveal themselves and the truth is seen, personal problems pull Harry in awkward directions that require him to think again and against about his future.

As always Alis engages the reader and draws a landscape, a history that is vivid and realistic, it’s one of the reasons that I can actually read these books even though I generally dislike historical fiction. The real reason I think, is because Harry and John are so real. I can visualise them, I believe their actions. I also believe they’d both do well to be more honest with each other, but the different levels of their birth seem to make that impossible.

This is the second of the Teifi Valley Coroner series, you can read my review of the first, None So Blind, here.

If you like historical mystery fiction, this is a gold standard. I would highly recommend.

Book Review – Grandville by Bryan Talbot

Blurb

Two hundred years ago, Britain lost the Napoleonic War and fell under the thumb of French domination. Gaining independence after decades of civil disobedience and anarchist bombings, the Socialist Republic of Britain is now a small, unimportant backwater connected by a railway bridge, steam-powered dirigible, and mutual suspicion to France. When a British diplomat is murdered to look like suicide, ferocious Detective-Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard stalks a ruthless murder squad through the heart of a Belle Epoque Paris, the center of the greatest empire in a world of steam-driven hansom cabs, automatons, and flying machines. LeBrock’s relentless quest can lead only to death, truth… or war.

My Review

Firstly, let me make clear that this is a comic not a novel. But if you read my blog, you’ll know that I like things that are a bit of the side of the norm.

We start with a high-speed chase across Paris. Then we’re transported to the English countryside and the apparent suicide of Leigh-Otter. The uniformed officers have been told to wait for Detective Inspector LeBrock to arrive. The Inspector arrives with Detective Ratzi, and they pick up all the clues. It is as they are leaving, waiting for a train back to London, when it’s rammed home to the reader that while we are reading English, the characters are speaking French.

LeBrock and Ratzi travel to Grandville (which is really Paris) to hunt down the details of Leigh-Otter’s last day.

This is all set to a background of Anglophobia in France, with reference to British Anarchists attacking the French establishment.  But where is the real threat behind this plot. Of course, LeBrock works it all out and that leads to a thrilling adventurous ending.

As far as the crime story is concerned – it’s very well done. There’s no holding back on the violence, but it’s not that graphic (for a graphic novel). The anthropomorphising of the characters is mostly well done, though somehow when they take their clothes off, it feels a bit off, but that doesn’t happen often thankfully. 

I was recommended this book by the gent who runs the local comic shop, and I’m so glad I did give it a try and I will be reading more.  Highly recommend this series.

Book Review – The Cthulhu Casebooks – Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovesgrove

Blurb

It is the autumn of 1880, and Dr John Watson has just returned from Afghanistan. Badly injured and desperate to forget a nightmarish expedition that left him doubting his sanity, Watson is close to destitution when he meets the extraordinary Sherlock Holmes, who is investigating a series of deaths in the Shadwell district of London. Several bodies have been found, the victims appearing to have starved to death over the course of several weeks, and yet they were reported alive and well mere days before. Moreover, there are disturbing reports of creeping shadows that inspire dread in any who stray too close.

Holmes deduces a connection between the deaths and a sinister drug lord who is seeking to expand his criminal empire. Yet both he and Watson are soon forced to accept that there are forces at work far more powerful than they could ever have imagined. Forces that can be summoned, if one is brave – or mad – enough to dare…

My Review

John Watson is a gambling man and after a card game in a shabby tavern, he spots an old friend, Stamford trying to procure a young girl for the whole night.  Though Stamford leaves, Watson is confronted by an old sea salt, who eventually turns out to be Sherlock Holmes who was chasing Stamford. Catching up with Stamford, seeing the madness in which he dies is only the first step into a deeper and darker world for our two heroes. A world from which they will not emerge the same as they were.

As you might have guessed already, these characters are in essentials the Holmes or Watson we are used to, but not entirely, they couldn’t be with what these tales put them through. The narration of Watson in this volume explains the differences and explains away the cannon of the original tales. The language used evokes the tone of the original Holmes stories, but in a way that is accessible to the modern reader. As that last might indicate, I am not a great fan of the original Holmes stories. They kind of grate, I find Holmes and incredibly unlikable individual who I don’t want to share headspace with. To me Conan Doyle is like Agatha Christie, I know they were trail blazers, and greats in their time and this. I will watch adaptations of their stories and enjoy them. I just don’t want to read them.

As an introduction to the Cthulhu Mythos this is as good as any. It’s a complicated Mythos that it’s probably best to keep on the edges of. I’ve been reading (and writing) Cthulhu for a few years now, and can say that again James Lovegrove does a great job of evoking the sense of darkness and threat which lay at the heart of those tales.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I will be reading more of them.  Recommend this book, but am aware that some will find it hard to get into.

Crime Podcasts – True Crime

If you’re reading this blog, then you must have an interest in reading crime. But are you interested in listening to others talking about real life crime?

When I was working in an office, I used to listen to a lot of audio books, some of which I’ve reviewed here, but one of the other things I used to listen to were true crime podcasts.

Now if you do a quick google search you will find loads of lists of true crime podcasts, and there is something for every taste. 

Podcasts, like everything else, come in all shapes and sizes, so you’re bound to find something you like. Over the years, I’ve listened to things about serial killers, legal complications, and all sorts. Some focus on one crime (Suspect), others are more general (Park Predators). What to hear about women who kill? Try Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley. I did find one that is all about hauntings, so I’m not entirely sure how that fits into true crime, but it’s there.

You can listen to individual crimes told over a series of podcasts or something different each week. There are celebrity tales (The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood), and even one where the mystery is the presenter (Casefile).

I’ve recently found one that claims to be 99% murder free for those who don’t want to go to too far into the darkness, it’s called Ridiculous Crime if that’s your interest. And if you like something a little different, there’s even Who Shat on The Floor at My Wedding? Yes, that is a real thing and yes, that title is what it’s looking into.

My personal favourite was All Killa, No Filla, in which comedians Rachel Fairburn and Kiri Pritchard-McLean as they explore a shared passion, serial killers. This one actually made me laugh out loud in places.

The point really is that if you like true crime and want to give your eyes a rest, prick up your ears and listen to some true crime.

References:
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/g28555490/best-true-crime-podcasts
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/podcasts/factual-crimeandjustice-truecrime
https://allkillanofilla.libsyn.com

Book Review – A Bookshop to Die For by M P Black

Blurb

Ditching her fiancé at the altar, Alice Hartford bolts to her childhood hometown to reconnect with the last, happy remnant of her past: her mom’s old bookstore.

But the bookstore is falling apart. And when a handyman working there falls to his death, the local chief of police insists it’s an accident. Alice knows better and must put her detective skills to the test — before a determined developer destroys her last chance at a new beginning.

Join Alice in book 1 of the Wonderland Books Cozy Mystery Series for a twisty, feel-good cozy mystery that celebrates books, friendship, and the courage to start anew.

My Review

A bride runs into a bookshop, finds the magic cupboard, reads a book, sees a murderer running away, meets the owners of a diner and an inn, solvers a murder while falling in love with a town.

Back in the city, Alice was working as a bookshop manager and about to marry the owner, Richard. She calls him Rich, probably because that’s what he’s there to be, the rich boyfriend, but he’s awfully clingy, one of the over attentive type that would drive me nuts. And apparently, Alice finally work up to the same reaction, so she ran.  She ran all the way back to the bookshop her late mother used to own, where she goes and hides in the ‘magic cupboard’ her mother built her to read in as a child.

Then she hears the hunky handyman fall from the scaffolding, and sees a figure running past as she tries to get back out of the cupboard, something quite difficult given that it was built for a child not a full-grown adult, and she’s wearing a massive-skirted wedding dress.

Kind of sounds like a joke, but it’s not. It’s a cosy mystery, and quite a sweet little one at that.  There is some falling in love, but it’s falling in love with both oneself and with friends. 

There are a surprising number of characters in the novel, but they are all distinguishable, and fun. They all have a purpose in the prose. The bad guys are a touch on the stereotypical, but they work in this scenario. The Major is described as Mark Twain but read a little Colonel Saunders.

One of the things that made me smile is that there’s a book shop in this book and a lot of the places are book themed, from the diner called “What the Dickens Dinner” to the “Pemberley Inn”. So, Austen and Dicken fans can have fun with the references. Then there are the books in the books store which are referenced and it’s a bit of a crowd pleaser here, because writers from all over the world are mentioned, a fair few of whom I’ve read and one I’ve actually met!

I read this in a day, it’s sweet, it’s easy to read, and the mystery has enough substance and sufficient suspects to keep it interesting. It wasn’t the most difficult crime in the world to solve, but it wasn’t patently obvious from the start either, which some cosies fall into the trap of.  Not to hard and not to easy, so just right as Goldilocks might say.

This is the first of five in the series, the Wonderland Books Cozy Mystery series and I might read some more of them in the future, but not in a rush, you know? I would recommend this as a holiday read or a palate cleanser, or just a brain wipe. It’s a bit of fun and readers should enjoy it as such.

TV Review – The Marlow Murder Club

What IMDB says

Judith, Suzie and Becks start an investigation. To assist with official police investigation, headed by Tanika. They must suspect witnesses, and face down real danger as they work against the clock to stop the killer in their tracks.

Who’s in it?

Samantha Bond – the best Miss Moneypenny ever, in my opinion. Also a very well known, very good actress all around.  As Judith Potts.

Jo  Martin – Okay so I know her from Doctor Who stint as the Fugitive Doctor.  But I’ve also seen her in Whitstable Peral and Mrs Sidhu Investigates.  Another very watchable actress. As Suzie Harris.

Cara Horgan – I’d only seen her in The Sandman, but don’t let that put you off, she fills the role admirably. As Becks Starling.

What’s the Story

Retired archaeologist Judith is a crossword writer. She pops out to the river at the end of her garden (I think it’s the Thames) for a spot of skinny-dipping free swimming (brave woman). While in the water, she hears a gun shot and knows her neighbour has been shot. Unable to get into his garden, she swims home and calls the police. Who turn up, but don’t do too much investigating, so Judith does it for them to get them drawn into the case, which she does admirably.

In the search she’s joined by Suzie a dog walker who finds a second body, shot in the same execution style and by the same German Luger. Judith’s investigations also draw in Becks, the vicar’s wife with enough contacts to ensure that Judith’s number one suspect is out of the running, and getting plenty of information from the local gossip.

What I think of the show

Loved it. 

There isn’t a bad performance in the piece. I actually liked DS Parry (played by Phill Langhorne) who I’m not sure the watcher is meant to like. He’s clearly got an issue with DS Tanika Malik (Natalie Dew). The police are generally well shown, or at least as well as they ever are in a cosy mystery.

I wasn’t overly surprised to find that this come from the pen of Robert Thorogood, who also has a hand in Death in Paradise. 

The action has been  filmed in some beautiful, idyllic areas of the UK, suspect this is the upper reaches of the Thames in Oxfordshire or possibly The Cotswolds. It’s gorgeous.  However, the houses some of the characters are inconsistent with the jobs those characters do. But that’s definitely me being picky.

Recommended?

Would I recommend watching this – Hell yes! It loved it, streamed it, and I’ll probably do so again.

Where to Watch:

At the moment (March 2024) it’s free to view on UK TV Play.

Book Review – Unleashed by Emily Kimelman

Blurb

Sydney Rye and her dog exact justice—the dog doesn’t die, but the bad guys do.

Blue was as tall as a Great Dane but skinnier, with the snout of a collie, the markings of a Siberian husky, the ears and tail of a shepherd, and the body of a wolf with one blue eye and one brown. Crouched in a sitting position, unable to lie down or sit all the way up, he looked at me from between the bars, and I fell in love.

I adopted Blue from the shelter, and everything in my world changed…

When I brought him home, I wanted something in my life that was worth holding on to. I’d just broken up with my boyfriend and picked up a dog-walking gig on the Upper East Side. I was young and lost…normal.

I was still Joy Humbolt.

I’d never even heard the name Sydney Rye.

Never seen a dead body, gotten beat up, or shot at. I didn’t set out to be a hero—couldn’t have imagined becoming a vigilante.

But I don’t regret what I’ve done. The lives I’ve saved…or the ones I’ve taken.

P.S. The dog doesn’t die.
P.P.S. Do not read these books if you have issues with “strong” language, sex out of wedlock, or LGBTQ+ characters. <—-Top 3 things one-star reviews complain about.

My Review

Sydney Rye isn’t in this book much, because, in this book she’s still Joy Humbolt. She’s a bit of a ne’er-do-well, just sacked from her job as a barista – which I totally understand I couldn’t do that job and not just because I can’t stand the smell of coffee. Mostly it’s because I couldn’t deal with the way people treat service staff. It’s just awful.

Then she gets wind of a dog-walking business that’s for sale, and she takes it on.  What could be hard about walking dogs? Well, having one of the dogs find the body of a man shot in the face for a start. Then to learn that it’s the body of one of the other dogs she walks doesn’t improve things. The interest in her that the hunky police officer shows is welcome, but the being dragged into a murder enquiry, being the reason that the detective leading that enquiry is suspended, these things aren’t so good.  And it’s definitely not good when the troubles come to her door and start shooting.

This book is well written, I enjoyed the style, it was fun and easy to read with enough action and twists to keep me interested. And it’ wasn’t until the very end that you find out how she becomes Sydney Rye, and it makes perfect, heartwarming (if you can say that about a vigilante) sense.

I didn’t read the whole blurb before I read the book, so when I was surprised by what it says when I copied it for this review. Surprised because I’m not convinced either way about giving trigger warnings, though these seems to be a good reason here. And surprised because there’s nothing in the warnings that I think is unusual in crime writing these days. I don’t have issues with strong language, not that there was that much. I don’t have issues about reading of sex out of wedlock, or even the more interesting dominatrix ideas that are threaded into this book. And I certainly don’t have issues with LGBTQ+ characters, so the final warning wouldn’t have made any difference to me anyway.  As far as I’m concerned, these things are part of the human condition, why shy away from them? There again, see Joy’s mother, that might explain it.

There are passages in this that are difficult to read, I did cry at one point. But that’s because the characters are crafted well enough for this reader to come to care about them. I don’t think I would have like Joy Humbolt in the real world, but I can certainly warm to Sydney Rye.

I would recommend this book and I will be reading more of the series.

The Queen Overrules Free Speech

Recently I was at a panel where the usual topic of the Queen of Crime came up. One author said that they had never read any Agatha Christie, and I said, well I have and it’s not great.  A third panellist then said that you can’t slag off Agatha Christie.

My question is, why not?

How can any one writer be so protected from criticism? It’s not like the woman is going to care, she’s already dead. And it’s not like the estate isn’t still raking the money in, and good for them! Though I think they overstepped the mark in going against Val McDermid being referred to as the Queen of Crime. The Queen is dead, long live the Queen.

If you like Agatha Christie, all power to you. She was a trailblazer of the genre, and deserves that recognition. If you are a Christie devotee, then long may you enjoy reading her work. I respect that. But it’s just your opinion. And this is mine, and I’m just as entitled to say it as the next reader.

The thing is, I don’t live in a cosy little village. The vicar won’t come round for tea. I don’t have friends in high or low places. I don’t go to stay with distant relatives or friends from the ‘old days’. Exotic (expensive) journeys to far flung places are out of my reach. And I was given the MMR jab as a child. I don’t drink sparkling wine let alone cyanide, though I suppose if I did, I’d only do that once. And if I can reference all those icons of AC without reading many of her works, that goes to show just how impressive and influential her works really are. But here’s the thing, I don’t enjoy reading those works.

It’s not that her works were in any way bad, it’s just that they are of their time and they don’t speak to me. They are set in a time that doesn’t draw me in. They are written with a language that doesn’t resonate with me. I don’t gel with the characters, most of them just irritate me. I can watch an adaptation. I’ll read clip notes. I’ll follow the plot and recognise how good that it. But my God, reading the stuff is a work of patience and persistence for me. And the older I get the more I subscribe to the if you’re not enjoying it, don’t read it practice.

There’s also a thing about some of the endings, and Agatha Christie ending. Like ten pages from the end, she’ll introduce a new character and they’re the killer. If you did that in fiction today, the reader will feel that you’ve cheated them, robbed the of the chance to identify that character as the murderer.  And that’s really the point of this article. Tastes and styles change with the times. Agatha Christie will always endure because there is skill in her writing, but that doesn’t mean that everyone has to love her work.  That notion would be ridiculous.

What I’m railing against here is not Agatha Christie, it’s the gatekeepers. It’s those who think they have a right to dictate how other see things. What they are doing is reinforcing an increasingly untenable position that there is only one way to see a subject. 

Agatha Christie is not a woman I have researched, I’m not bothered about her, I don’t buy into the cult of celebrity at any significant level, but I can’t imagine that she would expect to get put on a pedestal so high no one could attack her.

I’m not saying that Agatha Christie shouldn’t be on people reading lists.  Read what you want. That’s your business not mine. But do not tell me I can’t say a negative word about something or someone. That’s censorship and I won’t stand for it. 

No matter how great the queen, freedom of speech is more important.

New Release – The Locked Trilogy

The Locked Trilogy is the story of Charlie Bell, an ex-detective sergeant who was rightly convicted of murder, and what happens to him after that. And this is the first time all the stories have been brought together in one ebook.

Locked Up reveals what happens when Charlie is dragged into investigating a murder in a prison when the top brass want it covered up. That his help is sought by prison officer Ariadne Teddington only makes him more willing to help and brings the two of them closer together.

In Locked In Charlie is out of prison, but not out of trouble. Ariadne Teddington is not having a good day, goes to her bank, then someone puts a gun to her head. When stuck in a bank robbery gone wrong with an ex-prisoner she knows and people start dying, is there any hope for a prison officer to get out alive? What about the rest of them, including the kid?

Locked Down sees DCI Matthew Piper investigating a cold case that threatens to pull apart people he cares about. Charlie Bell might have a new place to live, a reasonable job, but his landlady and her daughter have got problems, and Piper isn’t helping as much as he thinks. This is one case that could do a lot of harm before it does any good.

This is only available on Kindle and if you have unlimited, it’s free!
The Locked Trilogy (UK)
The Locked Trilogy (USA)

TV Review – Darby and Joan

What IMDB says

Two lone strangers trekking on the road – a retired Australian policeman with a dog as his only company and widowed English nurse – meet each other and embark on an epic odyssey in the outback of northern Australia.

Who’s in it

Bryan Brown (as Darby), Greta Scacchi (as Joan) and Nudge/Kobe.  Now I’ve always liked Bryan Brown, and he’s as good in this as anything I’ve seen him in.  And Greta Scacchi I know less, but she was in Bodies which I loved, and she give a great performance in this too. Nudge and Kobe by the way both play the dog, and he’s gorgeous! And honestly, I didn’t realise there were two dogs until I started to write this and opened up IMDB.

What I say

Joan Kirkhope thinks her husband, John, in is Spain. Then she is called go all the way to Australia to identify his body.  Yeah, I’m sure it was a shock to her too.  Six months later, Joan decides she has to go to Australia following details she’s found in John belongings to try and work out what happened to him and why he died.

In episode one, she’s driving her campervan and following the directions form the sat nav – oh do keep an ear out for the sat nav, she has some great moments – and turns down a track to her first destination. Coming the opposite way is Darby in a four by four, and it doesn’t look like either one of them is going to give way.  They both serve, but the Land Rover ends up rolling, which may have more to do with the driver than the car.

Of course, the two clash, there has to be conflict right, and neither is going to give up on their own journey, but Joan has a rather impressive Campervan (yes I have Campervan envy so sue me), and it’s the right way up.  So Darby, and his beautiful dog Diesel gets in with her and dragged to her first destination.

At the destination, there is (shock horror!) a murder.  Joan is a retired nurse, so she checks out the injuries, and Darby is a retired police officer, so he knows how to investigate. A natural team they solve the crime.  Be aware though, there is a question mark over quite what rank Darby achieved in the police.

Subsequent episodes are of a similar road movie meets “New Tricks” nature. It has to be said that these are not the most complex crimes in the world to solve, but what do you expect from a comedy-drama with stories that wrap up in an hour?  They are, however, good stories well presented, and they do keep the watcher watching.

If you like your criminal activity gentle and with a touch of humour, you’ll enjoy this one.

Where to Watch

Well you can watch (Feb 2024) on a Thursday evening on Drama (freeview) or you can watch the whole series on UK TV Play.