‘The Case of the Christmas Card’ by Elly Griffiths

Published by Quercus,
8 October 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-52955-957-0 (PB)

When you're part of a top secret detective squad whose speciality is time travel, it shouldn't really be a surprise when Charles Dickens turns up on your doorstep a few days before Christmas. All the same, it's not as if DI Ali Dawson doesn't already have enough on her plate. Her beloved son is going away with his girlfriend for the festive season; her boss has just handed her a new case; and her best friend's daughter has gone missing. 

The Case of the Christmas Card is book three – or possibly two and half; it's a novella – in Elly Griffiths's unlikely but nonetheless engaging Frozen People series. This time the time-travelling happens in the other direction; instead of Ali going back to the mid-19^th century, the mid-19^th century comes to her, in the shape of Mr Dickens, who is as bemused as she is. All he did was sit on a chair... 

Ali has encountered the time-travelling chairs during one of her previous cases and knows where to find one in 21^st century London. Will it get him home, though? 

But first there are mysteries to be solved. And Mr Dickens, once he's finished marvelling at the marvels of the 21^st century, like television, pyjamas and electric Christmas lights, proves surprisingly useful on the detecting front.  

They set out to discover what has happened to Nell, the drama student daughter of Ali's friend Meg, with whom she was planning to spend Christmas Day. Charles makes a number of helpful suggestions, which result in a visit backstage in a West End theatre, a trip to Norfolk and a hostel for homeless people, each one graphically portrayed with Griffiths's usual deftness and unique brand of slightly wry humour. 

En route they encounter a couple of villains, who are involved in the conundrum of how new paintings by a long-dead artist are appearing in auction rooms. And Mr Dickens is introduced to pizza and Deliveroo (other food delivery firms are available), and Christmas shopping 21^st century style.  

All that remains is to get Charles Dickens back where he belongs. That doesn't prove as easy as Ali hopes and requires the input of the entire Frozen People squad: sensible John, quirky Dina and eccentric but technologically brilliant Bud. 

Does Ali track down the missing Nell? Will the mystery of the paintings be solved? And will Charles Dickens get back to the 1850s in time to write another half-dozen novels? That's for Elly Griffiths to decide in her own inimitable way – and you to find out by reading about it. If you're not already a fan of her books, I guarantee you will be by the end of this one. You may even believe Charles Dickens could arrive for Christmas.
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick 

Elly Griffiths is the author of a series of crime novels set in England’s Norfolk County and featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway. The first in the series, Crossing Places, earned a good deal of praise both in Griffiths’ native country, England, and in the U.S. The Literary Review termed it “a cleverly plotted and extremely interesting first novel, highly recommended.  Since then, Elly has written fifteen further novels in the series.  She has written a second series set in Brighton in the 1950’s featuring magician Max Mephisto and DI Stephens. There are seven books in the series. Her most recent series features Ali Dawson, a time traveller.

www.ellygriffiths.co.uk  

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

‘Then She Lied’ by Alice Leigh

Published by Canelo,
30 July 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-83598257-0 (PB)

The discovery of a body discovered in a pond on Long Island starts a chain of events that have their origin 20 years previously. At that time a young woman had walked into a police station. She was covered in blood and could not remember her name or anything of her past. Investigations failed at the time to find out more about her. She has since become established as a psychologist under the name of Dr Jane Dowson. She is in what seems to be an abusive and rapidly failing marriage to Caleb Jones, a celebrity chef. She still doesn’t know her true identity or recall her past, except for one event, but the recovery of the body starts to stir inchoate memories.

The chief police detective, Gail Miller, is also in a failing marriage and has the tragedy of losing a sister in her past. Her assistant, Detective Mark Winters, is a local and has very vivid memories of two young women disappearing at the time of Dowson’s blood-stained appearance. It has never been established what happened to them, although there have been reports of one living elsewhere. 

Dowson has been receiving threats that if she tells the police what little she recalls about one incident in her past, almost the only thing of which she believes she has a clear memory, she will regret it. Despite this, she decides she must go to the police. What she tells them causes ructions. Dowson claims that 20 years previously she saw Andrew Linebeck murder a young woman, and he knows that she saw it take place. The problem for the police is that Linebeck is the son of a former president who died in office: he is himself a successful man, a district attorney given to good works, particularly with the young, and who has an unblemished past. His only daughter (he also has two sons) is one of the missing girls from 20 years previously. Dowson believes Linebeck is sending the threats. She is attacked on more than one occasion, and her abusive husband comes under suspicion at one stage. A mental institution and its director become important. 

Meanwhile, the identity of the body pulled from the pond takes time to be established. It is assumed that it is either that of Holly Rose Dunn (Linebeck’s daughter) or Hanna McKinney, another local. As the investigation progresses, so many assumptions about Dowson, Linebeck and the police, amongst others, are questioned. Revelations about the past constantly alter perceptions. Resolution comes from an unexpected direction. 

This is an intricately-plotted and continually shifting novel. It holds attention and the reader soon learns not to trust more or less every character. The twists towards the end are convincing. There may be one or two things that I found perplexing (the police protection unit seems curiously incompetent, for instance, and something mentioned about Dowson’s early years is never further explained), but ‘Then She Lied’ is a story that will keep you entertained and on your toes. Is the title a clue? And who is ‘she’? You will have to read the novel to find out.
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Reviewer: David Whittle 

Alice Leigh is a novelist. She writes dark and twisty thrillers from her home in Cyprus. What I Told My Friends is her debut dark academia novel. Her latest book is Then She Lied. 

David Whittle is firstly a musician (he is an organist and was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for over 30 years) but has always enjoyed crime fiction. This led him to write a biography of the composer Bruce Montgomery who is better known to lovers of crime fiction as Edmund Crispin, about whom he gives talks now and then.

‘Murder in the Choir’ by Alice Castle

Published by Bookouture,
11 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80550210-4 (PB)

Sarah Vane, a retired GP has just returned form a bracing walk with her Scottie dog Hamish. How lovely she decided to be in the warm curled up with a cup of tea and a novel. Looking out of the window she sees a flake of snow drifting down. Then her letter box rattled and there on the mat was leaflet. Feeling her sixty-something years, she bent to pick it up the leaflet. It showed a man in a Santa hat pointing his fingers to…

The Merstairs Muses needs you this Christmas: Join our Jungle Bells tomorrow. 

Sarah had heard of the Merstairs Muses and it was the one organisation that her bubbly next-door neighbour and best friend Daphne Roux never seemed to have joined. She was intrigued and felt that it would be good for her and Daphne. Belting out a carol was always lovely. 

Sarah had seen less of Daphne of late since Charles Diggory, the handsome owner of an antiques shop on the sea front had finally freed himself from his troublesome ex-wife Francesca. As a result, he and Sarah had enjoyed quiet a few candlelit dinners. 

Thinking she would have a chat with her friend Daphne tomorrow her peace was shattered by the doorbell and there was Daphne keen for them to join the Merstairs Muses. This is our moment Daphne went on. Usually, they audition people, but it looks like they’ll take anyone on now. 

The next evening Sarah swapped the peace of her sofa for the All-Saints village hall. She’d rung Charles to see if he wanted to come too, but he said that he was too busy. They had been there for a while, and the atmosphere was certainly lively. Daphne had told Sarah that there had been trouble in the choir but to Sarah it all seemed pretty jolly. Then a woman stepped forward and introduced a big bear of a man, stocky and in his late fifties. He didn’t look like a jolly Santa as he glared at the choir. ‘I am sure that he needs no introduction, the world-famous award-winning singer Daffyd Jones, my husband. A young man stepped forward with his arm in a sling and offered Daffyd a cup of coffee. Daffyd grabbed it and said, ‘More sugar next time boy’ and shoved the cup back to him. The tenors looked mortified as Daffyd continued to thunder at them, and the rest of the choir. 

Although they had only just got there Sarah was already sure that she didn’t like Daffyd Jones, who was now giving a talk saying that he is listening out for brilliance. She noted his bloated body and angry looking face. Daphne, she said, ‘let’s go’. 

Then the soprano soloist Matilda Webster burst into a rendering of Silent Night; and it was so beautiful it gave Sarah goosebumps. Matilda had a wonderfully pure voice.  As she finished the choir burst into thunderous applause. Daffyd, screamed at her that she sounded like some old slapper in a tarty dress. Oops! 

Later tired of his tirade to the members of the choir, Sarah decides to pay him a visit and finds him dead in his office. 

As Sarah talks to the devastated choir members, she soon discovers many had a reason to dislike Daffyd. Was it the soprano who was humiliated by him in front of the choir for missing her high note? His long-suffering wife suspected an affair – are her floods of tears fake? And why was his picture-perfect forever home put on the market just days before his death? 

Who killed Daffyd?  The list is long. As more of Daffyd’s devious doings come to light.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Alice Castle had a long career as a feature writer on national newspapers including the Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph, before turning to crime. Alice has also written a nine-book crime series set in south east London.  Her recent series features Sarah Vane. There are six books in this series. Alice grew up in south London and, after a stint in Brussels (where her first novel, Hot Chocolate, is set) she is back in the UK, dreaming up adventures for her heroine’s. She writes psychological thrillers for HQ Digital as A.M. Castle. Alice is married with two children, two stepchildren. Follow Alice on Twitter as @DDsDiary or visit her website at.... 

http://www.alicecastleauthor.com 

‘A Body at Lavender Cottage’ By Dee MacDonald

Published by Bookouture,
2 November 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-80314853-3 (PB)

Kate Palmer and her sister Angie had moved to the North Cornwall coast a few years ago. Kate had fallen in love with Lavender Cottage and had spent the last few years renovating her cozy, clifftop cottage with its gorgeous views of the sparkling Cornish sea. Kate had also fallen in love with the recently retired Inspector Woody Forrest.

This morning feeling all of her 61 years Kate has been woken early by Barney their springer Spaniel scratching madly at the back door. Kate crossly opens the door and peers out at the October gloom.  Having omitted to bring in the washing from the clothesline the night before she now sets about it. Oddly she couldn’t locate Woody’s dark blue tie bearing the crest of the Metropolitan Police in London with whom he had served for many years before retiring down to Cornwall. With Barney still barking at the back of the garage she goes to investigate and is stunned to find a scruffy jeans clad man lying in  a bed of nettles. As a trained nurse she knew he was very dead. 

The noise had woken Woody, and he instantly telephoned the glamorous Inspector Charlotte Martin who replaced him when he retired. Now taking a closer look Woody realises that the corpse is Frank Ford, a petty criminal and his old nemesis. He learns that Frank had only recently come out of jail after serving 20 years for killing his wife. 

Kate knows that the man she loves is not a murderer and is determined to prove his innocence. But who would want to kill Frank and frame Woody? As Kate investigates, Frank’s family seem to be the obvious suspects. Could it be Jason Ford, the youngest son, who has an odd obsession with birdwatching? Sid Kinsella, the angry father-in-law? Or Sharon Mason, the troublesome daughter? 

While Woody acquaints Charlotte with the news Kate muses on their perfect life in Cornwall where they had decided to live out their old age.

When another member of the Ford family is killed while Woody is tending his allotment, it becomes clear to Kate that the killer is determined to bury Woody’s reputation. But a chance conversation provides Kate with a clue. She needs to find a woman named Rose.

Kate needs to act fast as Charlotte is already questioning Woody. Can Kate save him, before he is thrown in the jail.

A marvellous entry in this enjoyable series. Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Dee MacDonald left Scotland and headed for London at the beginning of the swinging sixties. For eight years she was an air stewardess on long haul routes with BA (then BOAC). After that she did market research at Heathrow for both the government statistics and for BA. She became a sales rep and was the receptionist at the Thames Television Studios in Teddington. She then ran a small B&B for ten years in Cornwall, where she now lives with her husband. Dee has now written seventeen novels.

https://www.facebook.com/dee.macdonald. 

‘Do You See What I See? by Peter Swanson

Published by Faber,
24 September 2026.  
ISBN: 978-0-571-39400-5 (HB)

Nicholas, a struggling author, receives a rather strange commission: he's asked to spend the festive season helping Marco, a rather more successful author, to complete his next book, with which he is himself struggling. In the absence of other Christmas plans, or indeed any plans at all beyond trying to survive, Nicholas accepts, and moves into Marco's beachfront home, which is as luxurious as his lifestyle.

 

On the face of it the commission is something of a sinecure. It's a convivial gathering, with several guests as well as Marco's wife, sister and grandmother. The only downside appears to be that Marco himself is obnoxious; everyone has a reason to dislike him, including his own family. So, when he is found dead, his throat cut with a weapon from his own collection, and another body is recovered from the icy ocean, the police have plenty of suspects.  

At the request of the investigating detective, Nicholas sets out to write his version of events – an account of the last few days, the relationships and interplay between the various people in the house, their behaviour and demeanour. An obvious culprit emerges, and the police are happy to declare the case closed. But there's a lot going on under the surface, and Nicholas himself knows a great deal more than he's telling... 

It's a measure of Peter Swanson's deft hand with a plot that the truth doesn't emerge until a year later – and   the last page, in fact the very last line of the book. He is equally adroit with characters: self-possessed Maeve, Marco's wife; uncommunicative Cat, his sister; sullen drunkard Billy, his childhood friend who is more loyal than he deserves; charitable James, whose story Marco stole and who is desperate to impress Maeve; resentful Ben, whose wife Eve flirts outrageously with Marco. Then there's Marco himself, loud, offensive, selfish, careless of people's feelings. Even minor players like the detective, Marco and Cat's elderly grandmother, and his and Nicholas's agent have distinct personalities. 

The only person who doesn't emerge fully rounded is Nicholas himself, the narrator and storyteller, and even he has a past, and a trait or two, which make it plain why he is rather less successful than Marco. 

It's a short book, hardly more than a novella, but it contains more twists and turns than many twice its length. It had me hooked from the first page to the last; just when I thought I had it sussed, it threw another curve ball. Not a comfortable Christmas read – but then who reads a murder mystery for comfort?
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick 

Peter Swanson is the author of two novels, The Girl with a Clock for a Heart, and The Kind Worth Killing, available from William Morrow in the United States and Faber & Faber in the United Kingdom. His poems, stories and reviews have appeared in such journals as The Atlantic, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Epoch, Measure, Notre Dame Review, Soundings East, and The Vocabula Review. He has won awards in poetry from The Lyric and Yankee Magazine, and is currently completing a sonnet sequence on all 53 of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. He lives with his wife and cat in Somerville, Massachusetts. 

http://www.peter-swanson.com  

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

‘The Chesil Beach Murders’ by Rachel McLean

Published by Ackroyd Publishing,
4 September 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-83560324-6 (PB)

The eleventh book in this series opens with the discovery of a man’s body at St Catherine’s Chapel which sits at the top of the hill outside Abbotsbury.

DCI Lesley Clarke is hoping for a quieter time, now the Kelvins’ are all dead or in prison. Or are they? 

Heading into Dorset Police HQ at Winfrith she muses on the two teams she is currently in charge of. DI Jill Scott, in charge of the Cold Case Team is fine. Apart from the occasional sulk, she didn’t give Lesley any trouble.  But DI Hannah Patterson, in charge of the MCIT, was a different matter, contradicting Lesley at every turn. Before she could exit her car Superintendent Anthony Carpenter slid into the passenger seat.  ‘You’ve got trouble, Lesley’ he said. I need you in my office in five minutes. 

Hell, was this to do with DC Johnny Chiles coming back. He had left for London in disgrace years earlier. She should never have listened to Dennis, just let Johnny continue to languish in the Met as she had intended. 

Also, on her first day back at work is DC Tina Abbott. Husband Mike is taking over now doing his stint as a ‘stay at home father’.  Walking into the MCIT team room she was surprised by how uneasy she felt.  After a welcome from DC Meera Vedra, DS Nathan Strunk strode in. Sarge said Tina I am back from Maternity. Virtually ignoring Tina, he said ‘Anyone seen DI Hannah?  Tina could sense that the room was full of tension, and no one seemed at ease! 

Attending Superintendent’s office as requested, Lesley finds also present Chief Inspector Zara Weathers of the Professional Standards Department. There has been a complaint against you Lesley, from DI Hannah Petterson. No surprise there thought Lesley.  On what grounds asked Lesley. Bulling and Harassment was the response, and DI Hannah has phoned in sick. 

Lesley is now SIO running two teams. Despite the difficulties in reaching the body found at St Catherine’s Chapel, the forensics are now on site. His DNA is not on the system, and his fingertips and teeth have all been removed. Why did the killer need to hide his identity?  Was he killed by an organised crime gang? 

Meanwhile Jackie Kendall and her partner Yiannis are currently in Norway. So far there had been no sign of anyone following them since they left the UK. Are they safe?  Being on the run may be keeping them alive but for how long? 

A terrific read. Cleverly plotted with many twists and turns. A real page turner.  Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett 

Rachel McLean writes thrillers that make your pulse race and your brain tick. Originally a self-publishing sensation, she has sold millions of copies digitally, with massive success in the UK, and a growing reach internationally too. She is also the author of the Detective Zoe Finch series, which precedes the Dorset Crime novels, and the spin-off McBride & Tanner series and Cumbria Crime series. In 2021 she won the Kindle Storyteller Award with The Corfe Castle Murders and her last five books have all hit No1 in the Bookstat ebook chart on launch.

‘Full Circle’ by Chris Hammer

Published by Wildfire,
29 September 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-03544164-0
 

This book is as intricate as a nest of carved ivory balls and as explosive as a land mine. 

Chris Hammer takes the reader into the world of the uber-rich.  When hedge fund billionaires jockey for position, the fall-out tramples everyone in their path. Money buys everything. Mansions, servants, privilege, influence: the list goes on and on. The power of great Australian dynasties like the Murtries and the Claptons seems to be as formidable and unstoppable as the breakers crashing in on the Mornington Peninsula. 

Their battleground is the board room where financial takeovers are masterminded.  The risks are massive, but so are the potential profits. With enough nerve and preparation, a few hours of trading can create a roomful of new millionaires. When the stakes are that high, honesty and integrity are up for sale and even murder can be justified as collateral damage.  Rape and abuse become just another perk for the head of the Murtrie clan, who has been obeyed and indulged for so long that he seems to have forgotten that human beings are not commodities. 

Travis Somerland takes on what he believes to be a standard undercover police operation, working as a driver for Felix Clapton. A potentially corrupt financial coup is being prepared which threatens to destroy the Murtrie empire.  He is unaware of the sensitivity and breadth of the spider’s web he has just stepped into.  Its threads connect the highest and lowest levels of society.  He is not the only one hiding his true identity, and he is not the only one with a hidden agenda, reporting to another agency. 

Old crimes leave deep wounds.  There is one commodity which is not for sale, and that is revenge.
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Reviewer: Jane Andreoli

Chris Hammer was a journalist for more than thirty years, dividing his career between covering Australian federal politics and international affairs. For many years he was a roving foreign correspondent for SBS TV's flagship current affairs program Dateline. He has reported from more than thirty countries on six continents. His first novel, was published in 2018 and was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Debut Dagger Award, Best Debut Fiction at the Indie Book Awards, and Best General Fiction at the ABIA Awards. It has also been longlisted for the Ned Kelly Best Crime Novel of the Year. Scrublands was optioned for television by Easy Tiger (a Fremantle Media company). Chris has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Charles Sturt University and a master's degree in international relations from the Australian National University. He lives in Canberra with his wife, Dr Tomoko Akami. The couple have two children.

Jane Andreoli. I have been in love with words ever since my mother read me bedtime stories before I could read for myself. As a writer, I enjoy creating mysteries with twists in their tails, and I love a well-crafted plot. My literary heroes are Jane Austen for her superb social observations, Shakespeare for the amazing way he crunched the English language into new shapes to express his emotions, Margery Allingham for her satisfyingly convoluted plots and Phil Rickman for his masterful command of supernatural atmosphere.  I also love Douglas Adams and Sir Terry Pratchett for their humour, satire, and social commentary. I have an honours degree in English, but fortunately that was so long ago that I have forgotten all those pretensions and rediscovered the joy of creative writing.  I am now a published author, currently working on my next book. I have just reached that delicious stage where the characters become autonomous and start making their own decisions.  Anything could happen and probably will.

‘The Langdale Legacy’ by Rebecca Tope

Published by Allison & Busby,
17 Sept. 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-74903465-8 (HB)

Persimmon, known as Simmy, is out for a walk with new baby, George, and her dog when she meets two other dog walkers. Before long, she learns that the couple, Thea and her brother Damien, are up in the Lake District for a few days and that they have a mutual friend in Ben Harkness. Ben works for Simmy’s husband at his auction house. Simmy suggests that they all meet up for a meal, and she learns that the couple are in the area for a few days hoping to find out more about the unexplained disappearance of their great-grandfather, John Armstrong who went missing as a young man. Thea suspects he was murdered, but Damien is more interested in finding out about a medal that he was awarded for bravery.

Ben is only too happy to help. He agrees to use his IT skills to research the family’s past history, leaving Thea and Damien to visit long lost relatives to learn what they know about John Armstrong, and if they can shed light on what happened, which might explain his sudden disappearance.   

Simmy would like nothing better than to help in the investigation but any contribution she might make can only be severely limited. All her time is taken up trying to cope with baby George who demands her constant attention. Ever since his birth seven months ago, George’s waking moments have been filled with fits of screaming. She is convinced he is in pain, but the nurses at the baby clinic assure her that all babies cry. Any spare time she does have, she feels compelled to spend with her three-year-old son, Robin, so that he doesn’t feel neglected.

Not everyone is pleased with the discoveries the investigation is revealing as Simmy discovers when an unexpected caller arrives at her door to warn her off. 

This is the seventeenth book in Rebecca Tope’s series of novels set in the Lake District. Her fans will recognise all the familiar characters who are involved in the story including Ben, girl-friend Bonnie who also works in Simmy’s flower shop, and Simmy’s parents. This novel also includes Thea Slocombe, the protagonist in her equally popular Cotswold Mysteries.   

As always, Tope’s skill at describing the landscape of this area of the Lake District and capturing its atmosphere is readily apparent.
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Reviewer: Judith Cranswick   

Rebecca Tope is the author of four popular murder mystery series, featuring Den Cooper, Devon police detective, Drew Slocombe, Undertaker, and Thea Osborne, house sitter in the Cotswolds. More recently her series set in the Lake District features Persimmon (Simmy) Brown, a florist. Rebecca grew up on farms, first in Cheshire then in Devon, and now lives in rural Herefordshire on a smallholding situated close to the beautiful Black Mountains. Besides "ghost writer" of the novels based on the ITV series Rosemary and Thyme. Rebecca is also the proprietor of a small press - Praxis Books. This was established in 1992. 

www.rebeccatope.com  

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder.
I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/

‘The Cormorant Hunt’ by Michael Idov

Published by Scribner,
21 May 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-66808228-7 (HB)

In December 2023 a journalist, famous for having released the so-called Harlow Dossier two years earlier, is killed in Prague.  The dossier had exposed damning evidence of a plot to rig Russia’s 1996 elections.  It also linked several murders, committed half a century later, to the original conspiracy. The broadcast featured the voice of a CIA boss who referred to the brains behind the plot simply as Cormorant.  Surprisingly, the journalist’s source was also CIA, a less senior agent called Ari Falk, who had long worried about the ethics of his profession.  The agency’s current top brass believed that they alone knew of Falk’s involvement, but the Prague murder suggests otherwise.  

It falls to Asha Tamaska, CIA’s Head of Covert Activities, to deal with the potential fall-out.  Falk has been off grid since the scandal broke, Tamaska needs to find him and chooses Jim Otterbeck, a third generation CIA agent, for the job.  Jim is a fastidious follower of rules whilst Falk is, as we already know, an unapologetic maverick.  The pair had clashed on a previous assignment and Otterbeck is delighted to be tasked with locating and bringing in the prodigal agent; the mission will not only exonerate his beloved CIA, but it won’t do his career any harm either!

Meanwhile, Falk is in Tbilisi where he realises that he will almost inevitably be framed for the reporter’s demise.  He has no choice but to return to the murky world of espionage and clear his name.  As Otterbeck prepares to seek his prey, Falk is already making tracks towards his new destination and thus begins an entertaining game of cat and mouse.

Whilst this unfolds, we are introduced to Felix Burnham, a successful and deeply unpleasant podcaster and self-proclaimed voice of alpha males everywhere.  Burnham’s followers are gullible and many.  Russian money enables his podcast to preach a fervent anti-western, anti-democratic message as Burnham begins to assemble a vile and violent “private army”.  As if she hasn’t enough on her plate, Asha Tamaska is also tasked with looking for ways to compromise the misogynist’s ever-increasing popularity.  It’s a complicated undertaking; she can’t be too heavy-handed because the agency is seen as unpopular, even untrustworthy, by a growing number of US citizens.  Thankfully Tamaska is a clear-thinking statistician, solution focused and happy to take on a challenge.

If the plot sounds complicated it is, and in a good way.  The narrative moves in one direction, only to do a quick about turn and introduce a delicious complication.  This proves to be as compelling and intriguing as the characters who are provocative, flawed and great to spend time with.  This includes Burnham – a despicable villain and a joy to detest.  The story ducks and weaves across a variety of countries, it even squeezes in a romantic liaison as it accelerates towards the dénouement.  The writer wears his understanding of espionage and complex socio-political knowledge lightly, no mean feat. 

The Cormorant Hunt is the second in Michael Idov’s trilogy and the novel works perfectly as a stand-alone.  The scope of this story is vast as it explores complex political and social themes in a stunning variety of locations.  There are twists and turns galore, hilarious one-liners, and a writing style that eases the reader into the intricacies of the intelligence service it depicts. 

Terrific fun and highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Michael Idov is a novelist, director, and screenwriter. A Latvian-born American raised in Riga under Soviet occupation, he moved to New York after graduating from the University of Michigan. Michael’s writing career began at New York magazine, where his features won three National Magazine Awards, and he has also been the editor-in-chief of GQ Russia. Michael has worked on numerous film and TV projects, including Londongrad, Deutschland 83, Leto, and The Humorist. He and his wife and screenwriting partner, Lily, divide their time between Los Angeles, Berlin, and Portugal. 

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.  

‘The Last Telegram of Mrs Hudson’ by Mattea Orr

Published by Head of Zeus,
3 September 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-03592651-0 (PB)

Not a great deal is known about Sherlock Holmes's childhood, but Mattea Orr is setting out to change that. In her version of those formative years, his mother takes centre stage, but seven-year-old Sherlock certainly makes his presence felt, and plays a part in solving the mystery of the disappearing village boy and the body in the garden. So does Mrs Hudson, known to Conan Doyle aficionados as the housekeeper to the grown-up Holmes and his amanuensis Watson, but here is a young widow who exchanges a career as a telegraphist for a job as a lady's maid. 

But to begin at the beginning of this quirkily written piece of
pseudo-history: a grieving Katy Hudson has returned home from London after the untimely death of her beloved husband. She finds her mother and five siblings in need of a breadwinner, and in the absence of a position as a telegraphist, her London job, she becomes Lady Holmes's personal maid. But as Lady Holmes is no ordinary employer. She very soon declares that what she really needs is not a maid but an investigative partner, and reveals talents more suited to an undercover agent than a member of the nobility. What's more, it quickly becomes evident that the pair are going to become closer still. 

The first mystery to be solved is Eddie Beale's rash, and the destruction of a row of marrow plants. The Beales are tenants of Lady Holmes, who is unconventional to the point of eccentricity: abrasiveness and lack of patience is only part of it. So she sends Hudson in to do the questioning. Success achieved, they turn their attention to Billy Mudd, whose disappearance is driving his mother frantic – and that's when the fun really starts. 

Of the characters in this multi-layered mystery, only Lady Holmes and Katy Hudson veer away from stereotype: her ladyship is starchy, formal and unmaternal, though a softer side reveals itself and Katy has trouble reining in her tongue but knows how to relate to the village folk. The supporting cast wouldn't be out of place in a Victorian melodrama: Billy's mum Frances is hysterical; Katy's brothers are full of mischief; the maids at the Holmes residence are all-seeing, Goodwin the policeman is controlling, bombastic and in the thrall of the local gentry, who are haughtily convinced of their own superiority– all quite deliberately in the part of the author, I'm sure. And it all takes place against a background of detail and contrast: mainly the tiny cottage which houses Katy's large family and the vast Holmes mansion where her ladyship and Sherlock rattle around with a handful of servants. 

Sherlock lurks mostly in the shadows, but even at his tender age shows talents and flashes of brilliance which hint at what is to come. Who knows what may develop as the series progresses? It will be interesting to find out.---------
Reviewer: Lynne Patrick 

Mattea Orr is a recovering academic and current mystery writer, author of The Last Telegram of Mrs. Hudson (Bloomsbury/Head of Zeus) and the forthcoming sequel A Most Remarkable Forgery  will be published in Spring 2027. Her short stories have appeared in the anthologies Transcendent from Transmundane Press and the Agents of the Abyss from Padwolf Publishing, Toil & Trouble Literary Magazine, and Witch House Magazine. She lives in upstate New York with her partner, their three kids, and any number of disreputable cats, where she writes full time. 

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.