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Banquet of Beggars – Chris Lloyd

In Paris 1940, survival means sacrifice. Like most in the city, Detective Eddie Giral has already lost so much under Occupation: the people he once loved, the job he once believed in.

And his latest investigation into the murder of a black-marketeer has made it clearer than ever: Eddie is no longer just catching criminals. He’s working for them. Because when a German trader is the next to die, the authorities decide it’s innocent civilians who will pay the price – unless Eddie can find the killer in time.

As hunger grows, tensions rise and a fierce rebellion brews, Eddie will tread a dark path between doing whatever it takes to live with the enemy… and also with himself.

My thanks to the publishers for a review copy of Banquet of Beggars which I received through Netgalley.

“collaborator”

noun

disapproving

a person who works with an enemy who has taken control of their country

Collaborator is a word Eddie Giral is hearing far too often. It is shouted at him, hissed at him and muttered about him behind his back. It is not a word which Eddie accepts. He is a Paris cop, he is doing the job he’s always done and is trying to do it to the best of his ability. But the citizens of Paris are increasingly distrustful of Eddie as it is 1940 and Paris is under German control. If Eddie is trying to enforce the law then the assumption is that he is working alongside the Germans and that makes him a collaborator with their oppressor, this means people are less likely to trust him and his ability to do his job will also be severely impacted.

An inability to gather information is a major hinderance to Eddie as his role is very much to keep his German “boss”, Major Hochstetter, informed of various aspects of criminal activity within the city. Eddie’s actual boss within the French police is Inspector Dax. Both Dax and Hochstetter have an interest in Black Market activity within Paris. As the city residents approach the second Christmas under occupation there is an increasing shortage of many types of staples and this means black market trading is rife.

Banquet of Beggars opens with Eddie, not above the law in some instances, trying to join a large queue of hopeful shoppers who have had word a supply of butter may be available. The source of the rumour (and the source of the butter) are somewhat vague and there’s real doubt any butter which does materialise will be legally obtained but Eddie’s happy to take the chance and overlook any grey legal areas. Unfortunately for Eddie his shopping is going to be interrupted by the discovery of a body but with hindsight he realises he may have moved a bit closer to gathering important information about the Paris Black Market. The body Eddie will find certainly has some connection to illegal trading – not least because someone has stuffed some butter into the corpse’s mouth. And that’s not the most unexpected thing he finds at the crime scene!

Tasked with finding more about the illegal traders in the city Eddie is frustrated to find his office space is to be shared with a new administrative assistant and also with his colleague Detective Boniface. Even during wartime and in the midst of personal drama and challenging work commitments it’s somewhat reassuring to see just how frustrated Eddie can be when having to deal with workplace disruptions and losing some of his precious desk space.

What I particularly love about Chris Lloyd’s Eddie Giral books is how Paris springs to life around the police, the soldiers and even the surly bar staff who Eddie delights in winding up. These books are not simply a crime story they are accompanied by a fascinating insight into the social history of Parisians during the 40’s. Aspects of their life are woven into the plot so we can see how they coped with rationing, increasing fear at the Gestapo’s “techniques” for gathering information, travel when there are fuel shortages and even how they choose to socialise. The depth of the world Chris Lloyd spins around his characters is an absolute treat for readers – small wonder he has won the HWA Gold Crown for Best Historical Fiction.

Eddie Giral is a man with a raft of problems. To be fair, however, many of these problems come from Eddie’s own sardonic nature and his inability to keep the inside thoughts unspoken. His personal life is in turmoil as he has to keep his relationship secret from the authorities – Germans are not accepting of black women at this time and Eddie cannot afford to have Major Hochstetter discover a potential weakness in Eddie’s life which Hochstetter could exploit. This is equally true of Eddie’s son who has fled the city and Eddie doesn’t know if his son is safe or even if he is alive.

Beggars Banquet zips along at a very enjoyable pace. Eddie’s investigations into the Black Market trading gets waylaid by the appointment of a new judge who seems intent on making an example of two foolish small-time crooks by sentencing them to death by guillotine despite a lack of any real evidence. Eddie has known the crooks (brothers) for many years and is doing his best to prove their innocence despite the judge ignoring any attempts to see justice done – it will please the Germans that action is seen to be taken. Eddie has also been asked to help secure the release of a young French protestor who got caught up in an anti-German event – this is more tricky for Eddie as she is being held by the Gestapo and Eddie will need Hochstetter’s help to secure her freedom. But Hochstetter isn’t interested in helping Eddie.

It’s a glorious sequence of dilemma, drama and a swinging shift in power dynamics. Chris Lloyd keeps many plates spinning through the whole book and just as it looks like everything will come crashing down around the ears of Eddie Giral, well perhaps something does…

Crime fiction in a wartime setting – the Eddie Giral novels should not be missed. Essential reading.

Banquet of Beggars is published by Orion and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/banquet-of-beggars/chris-lloyd/9781409190356?_gl=1*9urw77*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTMxNTIwODkyMC4xNzI0NzAzMjky*_ga_P4C39TQPV3*MTcyNDcwMzI5MS4xLjEuMTcyNDcwMzUzMy4wLjAuMA..

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April 18

The Kitchen – Simone Buchholz, Translated by Rachel Ward

When neatly packed male body parts wash up by the River Elbe, Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her colleagues begin a perplexing investigation.

As the murdered men are identified, it becomes clear that they all had a history of abuse towards women, leading Riley to wonder if it would actually be in society’s best interests to catch the killers.

But when her best friend Carla is attacked, and the police show little interest in tracking down the offenders, Chastity takes matters into her own hands. As a link between the two cases emerges, horrifying revelations threaten Chastity’s own moral compass, and put everything at risk…

I received a review copy from the publisher, Orenda Books. I am grateful to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the blog tour for The Kitchen.

The writing in The Kitchen is exquisite. Here’s a crime story, a friendship story, a story of vengeance, of retaliation and of body parts being dredged out of the river – and it’s laid out for us by Simone Buchholz in a little over two hundred pages. She packs so much action, energy and description into the tightest and devastatingly effective narrative that no word seems wasted.

I’m no stranger to Buchholz’s Chastity Reiley books and I’ve always enjoyed the stories about the Hamburg State Prosecutor and the dual investigative and prosecutor roles she seems to hold. Her personal life always seems chaotic and that comes to the fore in The Kitchen as one of Chasity’s closest friends is attacked.

Unable to help her friend and under pressure from her boyfriend over where their relationship may be heading – Chastity feels she may be losing focus on the investigation into the human remains that have been found in the river.

What I loved about The Kitchen is that the reader is given some very broad hints as to where certain elements of the story may be heading. You keep reading and the hints and suggestions keep coming until you know what Chastity is not seeing. And it’s glorious. Because, if you’re keeping up, then one scene will have your stomach churning in horrified realisation.

There’s a lot of snappy dialogue, many cigarettes are smoked and emotions and frustration run high. Without doing spoilers I was happy with how the retaliation element of the plot was handled, I didn’t like the fact the events triggering that retaliation seemed to be all too avoidable but all too common. Tremendous writing to capture those emotions.

When a review of a translated book is singing the praises of the power of the author’s writing it also needs to sing the praises of the phenomonal work the translator contributed towards my enjoyment of a story. I would not have had the opportunity to experience the thrills and shocks in The Kitchen were it not for Rachel Ward taking Simone Buchholz’s words and making that tight, powerful narrative style shine for us.

At a time where I have been struggling to read and have lacked focus on many books I have tried to enjoy I realise I needed a book like The Kitchen to shake some life into my reading lethargy. The tight plotting, the snappy dialogue and the economy of Buchholz’s writing let me zip through this book and hold my attention – a very refreshing and timely read.

The Kitchen is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-kitchen/simone-buchholz/rachel-ward/9781916788077

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February 6

In The Blink of An Eye – Jo Callaghan (audiobook)

In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds. Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye. DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss.

A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat’s instincts come up against Lock’s logic. But when the two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal.

AI versus human experience. Logic versus instinct. With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic?

I’m reviewing a book from my Audible library

In The Blink of An Eye was the Waterstones Thriller of the Month in January 2024 and the sequel is due in the very near future. After hearing so many of my fellow bookbloggers showering praise on this book and knowing they are champing at the bit for the next Jo Callaghan release I felt it was time to catch up. I had Audible credits and was very much in the mood for a read which would throw a different dynamic into the mix. An AI police officer sounded like something too good to pass up.

A good choice – Kat Frank is a lead character I immediately found myself rooting for. She’s a recently widowed mother, her husband’s terminal illness was mentally and physically draining. After his death Kat and her son have tried to rebuild and adjust to their new lives, as we join the story Kat is returning to work and her boss wants her to head up a new team. It’s suggested Kat leads a pilot project reviewing old (cold) cases of missing people, the taskforce which is assembled to review these cases will be assisted by an Artificial Intelligent Detective Entity (AIDE) which has been given the name Lock.

The reader is told Kat has issues with AI. We learn why and we wonder if this partnership is doomed from the outset. Prospects for success seem even bleaker when it also comes to light that Lock has been developed as his creator doesn’t believe the police force is fit for purpose – Lock is to remove the possibility of corruption and prejudice, bias and human error. It can do menial tasks in the blink of an eye, it can learn, analyise and adapt.

Lock should be an asset but for Kat it will also bring huge problems, not least it does not understand nuance, compassion or how a police officer with twenty years of experience will have a gut instinct for what is right and what feels wrong. It will be a learning experience for all involved.

As I previously mentioned: Kat, Lock and her team are reviewing missing people cases. What the reader knows is that an unknown narrator has contributed to the story too – someone who’s been taken. Is locked alone in a room, drugged, possibly interfered with (in some way they cannot determine) and they are not alone in their unusual, medicated prison. The drugs this unknown person is given keeps them weak, mostly asleep and far too disoriented to do much beyond survive day to day. It is a chilling form of captivity and this was conveyed very effectively in the audiobook where narration duties moved from the excellent Rose Ackroyd (who takes the lead for 99% of the book) to the equally impactful voice of Paul Mendez. Giving the mysterious captive a different voice hit home.

I don’t like to make a habit of comparing authors when I put together a review however…if you enjoy the awkward, often stilted pairing of Poe and Tilly in the excellent books by M.W. Craven then the scenes with Kat and Lock will delight you. I’d go further to compare In The Blink of An Eye to a fusion of the great American thriller writers: Robin Cook and Michael Crichton. It’s a terrific read bringing elements of tech, police investigations, medical undertones and a cast of characters who find it difficult to relate to each other and accept “their” way of working is not the only alternative.

I touched briefly on the fact I listened to the audiobook. Huge plaudits to Rose Ackroyd for a wonderful listen. She brings Jo Callaghan’s words to life and had me listening longer than I’d planned as I was totally drawn into the story. There are many characters who all sounded, acted and felt unique and it is refreshing to hear an audiobook where the narrator can convincingly “do” the regional accents they attempt! My current audiobook has an American reader spectacularly failing to make her Irish character sound like a resident of the Emerald Isle.

The time I need to invest into an audiobook is two or three times more than it may take me to read the same book in paperback. I like my audiobooks to be a top quality listen and In The Blink of An Eye certainly hit that mark. One minor quibble would be about a plot thread being a bit too obviously signposted; but when that event did come to pass it actually played out better than I had feared and I enjoyed the subsequent fallout from said event. Bit cryptic but no spoilers will be found here and it certainly would not deter me from recommeding In The Blink of An Eye.

This book hits hard emotionally as it deals very well with loss, illness, isolation, grief and prejudice – but Jo Callaghan keeps the mystery flowing, the tension high and the humanity of Kat Frank to the fore. It’s a storming book and I enjoyed it immensely. I’m more than ready for more Kat Frank in my TBR please.

In The Blink of An Eye is published by Simon & Schuster and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/in-the-blink-of-an-eye/jo-callaghan/9781398511194

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September 29

You’d Look Better as a Ghost – Joanna Wallace

I have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die.
Of course, it helps that I’m the one killing them.

The night after her father’s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn’t know it, but it’s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But even before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby.

The thing is, it’s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavement support group and trying to get her art career off the ground. Claire will do anything to keep her secret hidden – not to mention the bodies buried in her garden. Let the games begin…

I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley. My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the blog tour for You’d Look Better as a Ghost.

It doesn’t seem quite right to have a serial killer novel which also makes you laugh out loud. Yet here we are. You’d Look Better as a Ghost definitely had me laughing but there are also scenes which give you pause for thought, how we treat other people and how they treat us runs through the heart of this story and Joanna Wallace uses this to extremely efficient effect.

We meet Claire. She’s recently lost her father and is attending grief counselling but her group brings together a rather odd assortment of people. There’s an extremely angry Welshman, a furious note-taker, a “nice” lady who will be deeply offended by bad language (which is unfortunate given the presence of the Welshman) and there is Claire too – she’s a serial killer and the star of this book.

Claire sees the world as a slightly better place when some people who have done bad things are no longer in the world. So Claire may take mattes into her own hands an murder those bad people. Her garden is a busy old spot and inside her house there are some very unusual decorations.

Feeling slightly out of sorts while she grieves Claire decides she is going to murder someone who emailed her by mistake, apologised, but Claire didn’t think he looked sorry enough when she tracked him down.

Unfortunately for Claire she’s not as careful as normal and inadvertently kills a man who had his own criminal endeavours on the go and his partner in crime is going to find out what Claire knows about his disappearance.

In her grief therapy group Claire realises one of their number may not be quite what they appear but can she work out who’s keeping secrets before her own secrets are revealed?

I know we shouldn’t really be rooting for the killer in a crime novel but Joanna Wallace puts the reader on Claire’s side. We see young Claire, a young child, and how she thinks and behaves differently from the other kids around her. Then we get an insight into her home life and some insight into some of what may have shaped Claire’s formative years.

What I found most compelling was Joanna Wallace’s portrayal of vulnerability and how she plays on our perceptions of those vulnerabilities. I couldn’t possibly elaborate on that (spoilers) but when some plot threads were unraveled I was applauding the slick way I had been played.

I really enjoyed You’d Look Better as a Ghost, it’s clever, funny and unpredictable. I’d certainly welcome more stories like this and I’m crossing my fingers I’ll get my wish.

You’d Look Better as a Ghost is published by Viper Books and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BPN1KP22/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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September 22

The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black – Lisa Hall

You know she has been murdered. Can you stop it happening twice?

Two very different lives…

It is 2019 and Lily Jones is living her dream in LA. Sort of. It hasn’t quite turned out as she planned and instead of working as a movie producer, she is cleaning at the prestigious Beverly Hills Hotel. At least she gets to work in the renowned Paul Williams suite, site of the brutal murder of Honey Black 70 years ago, shrouded in rumour and dark glamour.

It is 1949 and Honey Black is about to hit the big time. She may have started out a country girl from Hicksville but now she is a star. And Hollywood had better watch out – nothing can stop her now!

One Hollywood murder…

After an accidental bump to the head, Lily finds herself in Hollywood, 1949. Like a dream come true, she is rubbing shoulders with the great and good of Tinseltown. Including Honey Black… Horrified, Lily realises that the actress has only two weeks left to live before she will be murdered.

Could this be why she has found herself in 1949?

To find the killer and stop them in their tracks?

I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley

A time-travel adventure which will catapault Lily from Hollywood in 2019 back to to the golden era of filmmaking in 1949. It gives The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black an utterly fabulous setting, Lily is one of the most likeable lead characters I’ve encountered this year and I constantly had the feeling I was reading a book which the author loved to write.

Where to start?

Lily is a girl displaced. English born and a lifelong fan of classic movies, she has travelled to Hollywood with the hope of finding a successful career in the industry she loves. She is working in one of the hotels in Holywood, a staff member who’s keen to help her colleagues and is a good friend to them too. She dreams of getting a break and being offered the opportunity to work on a movie but as the story begins she’s offering to help clean one of the suites in the hotel – the room where upcoming starlet Honey Black was found murdered 70 years earlier.

Lily takes a knock to the head while cleaning what had been the room occupied by Honey Black. When she recovers her senses Lily finds she has been transported back in time. It’s 1949. Lily has no money, nowhere to stay, no idea what’s happened and she’s a very modern girl in a very old fashioned world. None of these things are going to make life easy.

But it’s not all bad news for Lily. She is given an amazing opportunity to work as an assistant to an upcoming new starlet…Honey Black. Yes, Lily has arrived in 1949 in the days before Honey is due to be murdered. Has she been sent to the past to avert a murder? Should she try to intervene and change history? Or is it just coincidence and, if so, how on earth is Lily going to get home?

Watching Lily navigate her way around movie sets, Hollywood stars and handle the attitudes and behaviours from 70 years ago is a huge amount of fun. She’s a no-nonsense sort by nature so there’s no hope of Lily accepting the misogynistic culture on film sets or of adopting a demure and deferential persona so she fits in. We are going to enjoy a feisty and independent woman shaking up the world around her.

I loved reading about life in the late 1940s, there are several cameos to enjoy from huge Hollywood stars (no spoilers) and Lisa Hall makes the whole period come alive around the reader. Lily gets to contrast clubs and hotels with the LA she knows so well. She makes friends along the way but ruffles more than a few feathers as she leaps to the defence of her new employer, Honey Black.

As for Honey herself, she’s a small town girl who’s been given a huge opporunity to become the “next big thing”. But if Honey is to succeed she will need to be better than her rivals, behave impeccably, defer to the big bosses and be squeaky clean. Unfortunately it seems soneone wants Honey to fail and temptations, challenges and physical attacks will all need to be dealt with (often by Lily) if she is to finish filming the movie which should propel her to the brightest of spotlights.

There’s so much to love about The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black and it’s all to easy to forget Honey is due to be murdered and Lily is trying to prevent that from happening. I got far too caught up in the world of films, producers and directors, bickering actresses and the social lives of a long-forgotten generation. The writing and scene setting is joyous, the characters are glamourous, whimsical and deeply posessive of their own celebrity. I don’t know if it would be possible to revisit that world given how events pan out (again no spoilers) but I am sure Lisa Hall would find a way to make it happen if we were all to cross our fingers, wish really, really hard and all buy a copy of The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black…there’s a handy wee link just below this paragraph to help you get your copy.

The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black is published by Hera Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-mysterious-double-death-of-honey-black/lisa-hall/9781804365946

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September 2

The Silent Man – David Fennell

A father is murdered in the dead of night in his London home, his head wrapped tightly in tape, a crude sad face penned over his facial features. But the victim’s only child is left alive and unharmed at the scene.

Met Police detectives Grace Archer and Harry Quinn have more immediate concerns. Notorious gangster Frankie White has placed a target on Archer’s back, and there’s no one he won’t harm to get to her.

Then a second family is murdered, leaving young Uma Whitmore as the only survivor.

With a serial killer at large, DI Archer and DS Quinn must stay alive long enough to find the connection between these seemingly random victims. Can they do it before another child is orphaned?

My thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to join the Blog Tour and to the publishers (Zaffre) for my review copy.

I read a lot of good books but The Silent Man is a great book and I had a blast following the action.

DI Grace Archer is a woman with a whole world of problems. She’s had a long-standing enemy in London gangster Frankie “Snow” White and things appear to be coming to boiling point. Having not read the previous books* I am presuming past events have seen Frankie White blaming Archer for an incident which caused him a great deal of pain and cannot be undone (no spoilers). Frankie White is gunning for Grace Archer and nothing is going to get in his way.

From the early pages of The Silent Man the readers see the ruthless nature of White, the extent of his reach and the sinister methods he is prepared to adopt to get to Grace and her family. David Fennell creates tension right from the very start of this book and I found myself considering every new character as a possible threat to Archer. It’s a highly effective way to ensure I kept reading – I want to pick up a book and feel I am living the story and that I care about what happens to the characters, Fennell nailed that in The Silent Man.

Archer is a likeable character, a good cop and has a loyal partner at her side. You’ll root for her to escape the attentions and machinations of Frankie White and you’ll will her to track down the dangerous killer who has been targeting people in their homes. Wait, what killer? There’s not been talk of a killer so far…

Yes indeed – not content with pitching Archer against her nemesis the author also has a really nasty serial killer on the prowl and he’s the titular Silent Man. The killer operates under the cover of darkness, entering the home of his victim, incapacating them and leaving their body with masking tape wrapped around their head and a distinctive image penned onto the tape. The police don’t have much to work on but their first victim wasn’t living an angelic life so their initial focus is on people who may have been holding a grudge.

Conducting a murder investigation while avoiding the increasingly direct and dangerous attacks from Frankie White will keep Archer stretched and stressed. There’s so much going on that readers will be kept breathlessly entertained. It’s books like The Silent Man that I love to read: no pacing issues, no plots which feel like padding, no messing about – this is a full throttle thriller and I’m very much here for it.

If you’re a crime fiction fan and you want a stone cold page-turner to keep you entertained then you should look no further than The Silent Man.

* I said I hadn’t read the earlier books by David Fennell – I am righting that wrong immediately. I have a copy of The Art of Death sitting by my bed which I will be starting just as soon as I finish this review.

The Silent Man is published by Zaffre and you can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-silent-man/david-fennell/9781804181737

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August 20

Bloody Scotland 2023 – Alice Bell – Grave Expectations

The countdown is on to Bloody Scotland 2023. This is Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival and this year another stellar ensemble of writers will arrive in Stirling to discuss all things criminal, both fictional and factual. It’s one of the highlights of the year and if you’ve never experienced the friendly buzz of a book festival then I’d urge you to browse the programme and get along to Stirling if you can. For those that cannot attend in person there is also the option to join digitally as many events are available to enjoy online. You can visit the festival website here: https://bloodyscotland.com/

GRAVE EXPECTATIONS

Claire and Sophie aren’t your typical murder investigators…

When 30-something freelance medium Claire Hendricks is invited to an old university friend’s country pile to provide entertainment for a family party, her best friend Sophie tags along. In fact, Sophie rarely leaves Claire’s side, because she’s been haunting her ever since she was murdered at the age of seventeen.

On arrival at The Cloisters it quickly becomes clear that this family is hiding more than just the good china, as Claire learns someone has recently met an untimely end at the house.

Teaming up with the least unbearable members of the Wellington-Forge family – depressive ex-cop Basher and teenage radical Alex – Claire and Sophie determine to figure out not just whodunnit, but who they killed, why and when.

Together they must race against incompetence to find the murderer – before the murderer finds them… in this funny, modern, media-literate mystery for the My Favourite Murder generation.

I’m reviewing my personal copy of Grave Expectations. My thanks to Fiona Brownlee for the opportunity to host this leg of the Bloody Scotland blog tour.

There’s something for every reading taste at Bloody Scotland and on Saturday morning the place to be for fans of cosy crime is the Golden Lion – the Cosy Thrills panel begins at 10:30 am and I’ll be there to hear Alice Bell discussing the fabulous Grave Expectations. Selected by Radio 2 as a Book Club choice, this story has ghosts, a possible murder, a family with more than their fair share of trust issues and a tradition of booking terrible entertainment for their grandmother’s birthday celebrations.

The “entertainment” booked in Grave Expectations is Claire. She is a medium who has been booked by an old university chum to attend Nana’s birthday party and host a seance with the guests. Claire is skint and very much in the market to visit a large ancestral family estate out in the middle of nowhere as she can bump up her normal rates and maybe even get a nice dinner out of it. Things don’t quite go to plan.

Claire is actually a successful medium, mainly because her schoolfriend Sophie is on hand to help. Sophie’s dead. She appeared to Claire after her death and their friendship picked up from where it had left off. Sophie is the best associate a medium can have as she is free to snoop around, listen to conversations without being seen and can also help drum up other spirits for Claire to chat to.

The evening before Nana’s birthday party Claire is encouraged to do a mini-seance for family members. There is the usual mix of believers and doubters in the small group but Claire does manage to convince Nana that she has been able to bring a ghost to the table (literally) and this is more than enough evidence Nana needs to enlist Claire to help her. Nana belives there has been a murder committed by one of her family and she wants Claire (and Sophie) to find out who was killed and identify the killer too.

Thus begins a murder investigation quite unlike anything I’ve read before. Claire and Sophie enlist the help of Basher (former cop but there’s a story there) and Alex who’s quite happy to help out and share their weed on the condition nobody tells their Aunt. A more diverse collection of sleuths you’d be pressed to find – particulaly as they can’t even all speak with each other. But they are utterly fabulous to read about.

The last author that had me laughing out loud as I read their books was Terry Pratchett. Taking up the mantle is Alice Bell (I hope she’s okay with that). Alice has laced Grave Expectations with comic asides, inappropriate interjections and hilarious set-ups that I was hugely entertained from the very first chapters. A large part of this comes from the fact Sophie can only be heard by Claire and, as such, she is not hesitant at making her feelings known. She fills the silence in conversations with the unspoken (and unfiltered) thoughts. It gives the author scope to lighten the tone of the story whenever needed and that makes Grave Expectations hugely entertaining to read.

I had so much fun reading this book. I am concerned the dead companion may put off some readers who enjoy their stories a little more “grounded”. But honestly this shouldn’t stop anyone from enjoying a smart and well worked mystery story. It’s refreshing to see a different approach to crime fiction and Alice Bell absolutely nails it by making the presence of the spirits in her story absolutely normal and non-sensationalist – we just accept Sophie (and others) are dead and get on with solving a murder. Glorious.

Alice will be appearing at Bloody Scotland on the Cosy Thrills panel on Saturday 16 September in the Golden Lion. Alice will be joined by JM Hall and Suk Pannu. You can order tickets here: https://bloodyscotland.com/events/cosy-thrills-jm-hall-suk-pannu-and-alice-bell/

Grave Expectations is published by Atlantic Books. It was a Radio Two Book Club selection and is available in hardback, digital and audio book format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/grave-expectations/alice-bell/9781838958398

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August 2

Zero Days – Ruth Ware

Her husband has been murdered and she’s the only suspect. What should she do?

Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband Gabe are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. It soon becomes clear that the police have only one suspect in mind – her.

Jack must go on the run to try and clear her name and to find her husband’s real killer. But who can she trust when everyone she knows could be a suspect? And with the police and the killer after her, can Jack get to the truth before her time runs out?

I received a review copy from the publishers. My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the tour for Zero Days

I’ve never met a Ruth Ware book I didn’t like. These are books I actively seek out as I know the likely outcome is that I am going to be gripped for a few hours while wrapped in a a world created by a wonderful storyteller. Zero Days did exactly what I had expected – great story with a lead character I was fully invested in and rooting for them to overcome all the challenges she was facing.

Because I knew I’d be reading Zero Days I purposefully did not read the blurb and went in “cold”. The story opens with Jack Cross breaking into an office. It’s straight into the action as Jack is finding her way through the fence, over a wall or any seeking any possible route which will take her to the building she needs to enter. Guiding Jack’s progress and offering “helpful” advice is her husband – Gabe. He is at home and communicating with Jack waiting for her to infiltrate the target building and access their computer systems, that’s when his skills come to the fore as Gabe is a computer expert.

Despite their illegal endeavours the couple are breaking and entering with a valid reason. They are penetration specialists, routinely engaged by firms who challenge them to break into offices and stress-test their secuity protocols. Ideally their customers are hoping Gabe and Jack will fail but Jack seems to love the excitement of sneaking into buildings and snooping where she knows she’s not meant to be.

Jack’s having a good deal of success and manages to evade security guards and slip past doors which are meant to be secure but when she reaches the computer servers her good fortune wavers and Jack’s evening and her life will slide into chaotic dispair. While trying to access the server room Jack makes a mistake and alerts secuity to her presence. She flees the scene (Gabe on comms tying to help her) but she is caught and finds herself being escorted to the local police station. While this is not a new experience for Jack, her bad luck continues as their client is not contactable at 1am and she finds it hard to get someone to clarify to the police she is legitimately entitled to break into the building she was fleeing from.

Finally released from custody Jack returns home to the ultimate nightmare. She finds Gabe dead at his computer…murdered. Stunned into a shocked stupor Jack finally manages to pull herself together enough to call the police. However it soon becomes clear to Jack that SHE is the primary suspect in her husband’s murder. When it becomes clear to Jack the police are not listening to her claims of innocence she seizes the opportunity to escape from the police station where she’s being questioned and goes on the run.

But Jack can’t run forever. She needs to know what happened to Gabe. Why did his killer take some of his computer equipment? And, most importantly, how can she convince the police she isn’t a murderer?

Those questions are not going to be answered here – this is a spoiler-free zone and Ruth Ware has provided all the answers and much more besides in Zero Days. Best you grab a copy and find out more about Jack’s story for yourself.

What I can promise is that this is a pacy action thriller that will keep you turning the pages long into the night. Jack has few people she can turn to and the police know this so her options are severely limited. Her skills at infiltrating places she’s not meant to be will undoubtedly come in handy but how can she know where she needs to be? Ruth Ware skilfully takes Jack and her readers on a journey of discovery and shock revelations and it’s fabulous reading.

Another fantastic thriller from an author you really shouldn’t miss.

Zero Days is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. It is published by and you can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/zero-days/ruth-ware/9781398508392

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

June 19

The Hotel – Louise Mumford

Four of them went to the hotel

Four students travel to Ravencliffe, an eerie abandoned hotel perched on steep cliffs on the Welsh coast. After a series of unexplained accidents, only three of them leave. The fourth, Leo, disappears, and is never seen again.

Only three of them came back

A decade on, the friends have lost contact. Oscar is fame-hungry, making public appearances and selling his story. Richard sank into alcoholism and is only just recovering. Bex just wants to forget – until one last opportunity to go back offers the chance to find out what really happened to Leo.

Ten years later, they return one last time

But as soon as they get to the hotel things start going wrong again. Objects mysteriously disappear and reappear. Accidents happen. And Bex realises that her former friends know far more than they are letting on about the true events at Ravencliffe that night…

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley

It’s publication week for The Hotel as I sit to write my review. I will cut straight to the chase on this – I really, really enjoyed this thriller/chiller by Louise Mumford and I’m recommending you seek it out. Seriously entertaining. My kind of book which gave me feels of a Dean Koontz tale. Shades of horror, a thumping good mystery and plenty of cryptic suggestions as to what may have ocurred in an old (possibly haunted) buiding which four teenagers felt compelled to visit one dark evening – lives were changed forever.

Ten years ago four friends made a trip to Ravencliffe. High on the rocks above the Welsh coast sat an old hotel, long since abandoned, but fabled to be haunted with stories of a murder on site and strange stories of former residents. The friends (Bex, Richard, Oscar and Leo) took a video camera with them. As horror fans they planned to record their trip and make a feature from it. Little could they know their film would become a cult horror classic – one of their number (Leo) never returned from the expedition and the three surviging friends could not explain much of what occurred that fateful evening.

Ten years on we meet Bex, living in the bustle of London where the crowds give her a degree of anonymity. Oscar is boucing between public appearances at various “cons” where fans of their film regularly gather to discuss the film which told the story of that night at Ravencliffe. Having one of the friends there is a big deal for the fans but Oscar, for reasons which become clear, isn’t the draw which Bex or Richard would be. Richard has battled his own demons over the last Decade – at the time the film was recorded he and Bex were an item but that created a degree of friction within the group.

The defining image of the movie, which had been watched in the minutest detail by an army of fans was that of Leo vanishing from the sheer cliff steps in a flurry of blurred pictures, shouts of panic from Bex and then nothing. What happened to Leo? He hasn’t been seen since that fateful evening and no body was ever found either. It’s had fans speculating for ten years, theories on what happened to Leo, could Bex have treated him better? Did Richard have a problem with Leo? All incredibly difficult for Bex to cope with as Leo had been her oldest friend. She dreads the tenth anniversary of Leo’s disappearance and suspects someone may try to make something of the event.

Bex’s instincts are correct – the film company want to bring the three friends together, back at the Ravencliffe, to make a follow up feature which will revisit their adventure and address some of the speculation. Bex is reluctant until something arrives at her house. Something only one of the four friends could have known about and something which hasn’t been seen for ten years. Steeling all her resolve Bex agrees to participate in the reunion fiming and we go back to the Hotel with a new film crew in tow.

Through a narrative set in present day and also in flashback the reader will hear more about what the four friends faced on their first visit. We also experience shocks and unexplained incidents in the present day. It’s a really effective use of a dual timeline and Louise Mumford makes this a terrific read as you just want to keep reading so you can get to the bottom of what actually ocurred.

As I said at the top of this review – The Hotel comes highly recommended. Not a full on horror tale but a chilling thriller that I gobbled up in quick time.

The Hotel is published on 22 June 2023 and you can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BXGPL8GJ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

June 6

The Woman in Carriage 3 (Audiobook) – Alison James

An ordinary journey. A shocking secret. And the perfect murder…

Hattie travels on the 18.53 train home every night. She sits in the same seat, in the same carriage, and sees the same people. The unwritten rule is you don’t talk to your fellow passengers, but Hattie has been watching them all for months now to distract herself from her own troubles.

Then one night a commuter suddenly drops dead. And the terrible accident changes everything.

In the aftershock of the tragic death, the group of strangers huddled around the two tables in carriage 3 strike up a conversation. Boundaries are shattered, connections are made and Hattie becomes tangled up in the lives of her fellow passengers as they travel to and from London every day.

But Hattie has no idea what she’s letting herself in for. The ordinary people on her ordinary journey all have dangerous secrets. When another commuter is killed, Hattie suspects someone in carriage 3 is responsible. Who can she trust? And is the truth closer to home and more dangerous than she could have guessed?

An absolutely addictive psychological thriller that will keep you up late into the night. If you love Behind Closed Doors, Gone Girl and The Perfect Couple, you’ll be gripped.

I recieved a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley

One evening on a busy commuter train a passenger takes ill. The train is forced to stop to allow medical treatment to be delivered and Hattie finds herself unexpectedly in dicussion with some of her fellow commuters. Drinks are bought, names exchanged and half a dozen mis-matched commuters form an unexpected friendship group. Over the following weeks some of them will travel together, they arrange to sit together and become a small part of each others lives. Except the reader is told one of their number is going to die – how can you not keep reading when you know someone’s days are numbered?

Hattie is the focus of the story. After her relationship broke down a year earlier she has been forced to move home to live in the suburbs with her parents. Hattie finds herself engaged in a number of temporary jobs which hold little appeal. She spends time on Tinder matching with potential partners and seems to enjoy many evenings in pubs with her latest date. Her focus on her jobs will wane, hangovers become more frequent and her parents disapproval at the lifestyle choices she is making are wearing her down.

One bonus of the unexpected new friendship group is that Hattie get to know the handsome Casper, movie star good looks and more than a little charming. Even better is that he seems to welcome Hattie’s attentions. A romance could flourish. The two start exchanging more and more messages and Hattie finds her days are increasingly distracted as she waits to hear from Casper.

Unfortunately Hattie drinks far too much for her own good. She doesn’t come across as a particularly likeable character and she is far too easily influenced and prone to making terrible choices. This makes following her story a frustraing experience at times – I found myself frustrated with Hattie and I just wanted her to grasp some of the good opportunities which were clearly within her reach. But she didn’t.

I did have some frustrations with The Woman in Carriage 3 – a total lack of concern around drink driving being the main one. After their initial meeting on the train the travelling companions will often share drinks on their journey home. One of their party will have join in the drinking and then drive home, often offering others a lift home. Maybe its down to Scotland having stricter drink driving regulations than are in place in the South of England but that made me really uncomfortable. When we find out a bit more of each character’s back story the drink driving seems even more unlikely but that’s spoiler territory.

There were points in the story where I thought about stopping the audiobook and moving on to a new story. It took longer than I had anticipated for the threads which the author was sewing into the story to start to come together. Once the pace started to pick up I was curious enough to stick with the book to see how things panned out. There were some unexpected developments and the narrative definately ended up in places I had not anticipated, however, a couple of the big “reveals” were fairly easy to spot well ahead of the revelation and the story felt more pedestrian than express train.

While some of my concerns make it sound like I didn’t enjoy the book that’s not true. I liked it just fine, didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. It felt like the perfect book for a commute, I could pick it up and put it down in short reading bursts (my 30 min train journey to work) and feel it helped pass the journey. Sometimes that is all I need from a book and The Woman in Carriage 3 did keep me reading to the end, just to find out what would happen to Hattie.

The narrator of The Woman in Carriage 3 deserves a special mention. This was the first time I have heard Jan Cramer on audiobook duties but I thought her performance was excellent. Jan Cramer gave this small cast a great voice and I was more than happy – no niggles, no awkward attempts at accents (sadly something that crops up all too often in audiobooks) and a pleasant narrative voice which I felt fitted perfectly to the setting and tone of the book.

The Woman in Carriage 3 is published by Bookouture and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BXM14TYY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Category: Audiobook, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off