‘Gallows Wood’ by Louisa Scarr

Published by Canelo, 
11 July 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-651-6 (PB)

Police Constable Lucy Halliday and her “sniffer” dog Moss are called to Gallows Wood in the New Forest. A chewed hand has been found and Moss is needed to find the rest of the body. It takes him no time at all, and Lucy is overcome with grief at the sight of a dead man. She momentarily thinks it’s her husband Nico, a journalist who disappeared two years ago. However, a friend of hers is with her at the discovery and assures her it is not him.

Lucy has been trying to trace him for the two years, sure after no sightings that he has been murdered. She has kept a file of men who have gone missing and/or died and hands it to the new man heading the team, Detective Inspector Jack Ellis. However, he is not happy with her investigations, thinks it is not really part of her job, plus it is too close to her personally.

Then she and Moss find another body. This time it’s a woman and she has been dead for a few months. Both have blunt force trauma to the head, thought to be caused by a baseball bat. An organised wider search is now put in hand.

The bodies are identified, the man was the son of a police officer at the station. The woman was married to a detective sergeant in the drug squad. He never even reported her missing.

When Nico’s body is found, and Lucy is now more determined than ever to discover what is going on. Connections are found to an organised drug dealing gang run by Albanians. Lucy tells Jack that Nico was investigating a story for his newspaper but he wouldn’t say what it was. He kept all his papers and notes together in his camper van which has never been found. This now becomes a priority.

Then there is another death.

The more Jack, Lucy and the team investigate the more they are convinced that there is corruption within the police force, even involving people in their own Hampshire police station. 

Throughout the book there are descriptions of a seemingly young girl named Daisy being kept prisoner in a dark and gloomy place. Who can she be? It is not until near the end of the book the reader learns who it is and what a surprise when Daisy’s identity is revealed.

A really highly recommended brilliantly written book with a fascinating insight into police dogs and their handlers.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Louisa Scarr studied Psychology at the University of Southampton and has lived in and around the city ever since. She works as a freelance copywriter and editor, and when she's not writing, she can be found pounding the streets in running shoes or swimming in muddy lakes.

 

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.

BLOODY SCOTLAND INTERNATIONAL CRIME WRITING FESTIVAL KICKS OFF IN STIRLING ON FRIDAY 13TH

Throughout the weekend some of the biggest names in crime writing including
Ann Cleeves and Peter May
will be appearing alongside other big names such as
Richard Armitage, Irvine Welsh
and the BBC’s Frank Gardner and Louise Minchin.

On the opening night the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year will be awarded in the ballroom of the Golden Lion Hotel and the winner will be photographed with the Stirling and District Schools Pipe Band before they lead a procession through the cobbled streets.

Bloody Scotland has always been praised for the non-traditional book events and this year we have The Wickedest Link, as eight crime writers battle not to be the first voted off our Friday night quiz which may bear a passing resemblance to a popular BBC quiz show.

On Saturday there will be Criminal Karaoke at the Coo. McIlvanney finalist, Abir Mukherjee cites his favourite memory of Bloody Scotland being when he sang And I Love You So by Perry Como at famous whisky bar, The Curly Coo. It’s the hottest ticket (literally, it’s a small bar, it gets very steamy) and is where new and established writers get to let their hair down.

Bloody Scotland prides itself on helping debut authors. From the opening night when the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize will be presented to the Scottish debut crime writer of the year to the final day when Pitch Perfect, in memory of journalist Rae Stewart, will give aspiring writers the chance to pitch their book idea to publishers and agents followed by a practical session on How to Get Published.

Follow us @bloodyscotland #BloodyScotland 

‘The Perfect Place’ by Amanda Cassidy.

Published by Canelo,
1 August 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-808-4 (HB)

Elle Littlewood, a beautiful, successful online influencer, is about to marry the rich and handsome Will who adores her.  In other words, she seems to have it all. However, Elle’s online producer and marketing expert, Sue, recognises that times are changing. She thinks they need to broaden their horizons and persuades Elle to tackle the makeover of an old French Chateau.

Elle falls for the Chateau and purchases it cheaply under a French law that allows the owner, Leonard, to continue living there until he dies. Leonard is old and sick, so that does not appear to be too great a problem.  Elle sets about giving the chateau sufficient of a makeover to satisfy TV viewers without paying much attention to questions like, what had happened to Leonard’s wife - she had disappeared suddenly years previously - and what had become of his mistress. And who is Pierre, a gardener-cum-handy-man, who helps out and clearly adores Leonard?

Slowly, Elle’s idyllic world begins to unravel.   Adverse comments from trolls and haters appear about her online, and the number of her followers drops disastrously. Will is hiding something dramatically important from her and Sue, who has problems of her own, is jealous and plans to reveal details from the past that Elle is desperate to conceal. When a bloody, battered body is found in the chateau questions arises as to what Elle and those connected to her or to the Chateau’s past would do to preserve the status quo.

Negotiating one’s way through The Perfect Place is a little like taking a journey in a dark and twisty tunnel that is littered with a never-ending supply of unexpected hurdles. But it is a journey that is well worth completing.
-----
Reviewer Angela Crowther.

Amanda Cassidy is a freelance journalist, commissioning editor, former Sky News reporter and author. She has been shortlisted for the Irish Journalist of the Year Awards, the Headline Media writing awards and more recently the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for her debut, Breaking.

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.

‘Under Her Roof’ by A. A. Chaudhuri

Published by Canelo Hera,
13 June 2024.   
ISBN: 978-1-80436-295-2 (PB)

Although this story starts and ends with somebody on trial for murder at the Old Baily, most of the action is centered around an ultra-modern house in Hampstead. This is no ordinary house. It has automatic, locked, wrought-iron gates at the front, green shrubbery on either side and Fort Knox type security both inside and outside. The house belongs to Adriana, a beautiful widow who guards her privacy as though her life depends on it.

Adriana doesn’t like living on her own, so she lets out one room at low rent to Sebastian, a young writer of limited means who is looking for somewhere quiet to write. Unbeknown to each other, both Adriana and Sebastian -Seb- are hiding secrets from their pasts: secrets that stalk them like shadows.

Within a day or two of moving into the house Seb begins to get the feeling he is being watched. Adriana has the same feeling. Then they both start to get surprisingly accurate emails that seem to confirm they are indeed being watched, both when they are inside and when they are outside the house. Who is watching? How do they get access to the house.  Is it bugged?

Whilst the book relies heavily on the alternating narratives of Adriana and Seb, other characters provide external views and commentary. Jason, Seb’s old university friend, and Ruth, Adriana’s next-door neighbour, are both worried about previous fatalities at the house. Had the deaths of Adriana’s husband and Seb’s predecessor really been accidents or had there been something more sinister at play? Adriana had a troubled childhood and doctors Martin and Adams make significant contributions to the tale, as do her old school friends Eve and Xavier.

All in all, I can only say that in this compulsively readable, creepy psychological thriller, A.A. Chaudhuri and her characters have demonstrated a frighteningly high degree of competence in their ability to deceive the innocent reader.
------
Reviewer Angela Crowther

A.A. Chaudhuri is the author of The Scribe and The Abduction, and two psychological thrillers published by Hera, She’s Mine and The Loyal Friend. Alex recently signed with Hera for three more psychological thrillers; The Final Party will be published in May 2023. After gaining a degree in History at UCL, Alex trained as a solicitor and worked for several City law firms before turning to thriller writing. She lives in Surrey with her family.   

https://aachaudhuri.com/

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.

Death in the Dales

Sedbergh Crime Festival
11th - 13th October 2024 

England’s only book town,
presents its first ever crime fiction festival.

Venues: Queen's Hall, Sedbergh School and the People's Hall

Authors taking part

• Matthew Booth
• Jean Briggs
• Frances Brody
• Martin Edwards
• Kate Ellis
• Malcolm Hollingdrake
• Antony Johnston
• Jason Monaghan
• Harry Navinski
• Fiona Veitch Smith
• Deborah Swift
• Marsali Taylor

Tickets will be available ‘on the door’ and can also be purchased online from

 www.trybooking.com/uk/eventlist/booktownfestival  

www.sedbergh.org.uk/festivals/death-in-the-dales/

‘Return to Blood’ by Michael Bennett

Published by Simon & Schuster,
25 April 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-39851225-2 (HB)

Present day New Zealand. Traumatised by a previous case, ex-cop Hana Westerman has returned to the home of her childhood. All she wants to do is leave the world of violence behind – but then the body of a Maori woman who went missing four years before is found buried in the sand dunes of her favourite beach. She’s the second woman to have died there ...

This book is told partly in the first person, by the person we soon learn has only a short time to live: a Maori girl, Kiri, who thinks about the old gods, and has managed to kick her drug habit – until her boyfriend, Dax, betrays her. The investigation strands in the third person, mostly centred on Hana. She’s a sympathetic heroine, wanting to walk away, yet impelled by her sense of justice, and her insider knowledge – in this case, her father, Eru, who knew the man convicted for the first murder, and didn’t believe in his guilt. Hana’s daughter, Addison, is a musician in partnership with PLUS 1, a non-binary composer; they’re in the process of working out where their relationship can take them. Addison’s father is Jaye, Hana’s ex-boss, who now needs her help in saving his marriage. They’re all good characters, to spend time with, and the plot is cleverly worked out. However, what made this really stand out for me was the way Bennett added the Maori language and traditions into the plot – fascinating.

A cleverly told, moving PI / amateur detective story with interesting characters, a well-worked out plot and a vivid sense of the Maori culture woven in throughout.
------
Reviewer: Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett (Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Whakaue) is an award-winning New Zealand screenwriter and author whose films have been selected for numerous festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto and New York. In 2008 Michael was the inaugural recipient of the Writers Award from the New Zealand Film Commission, and in 2005 he was awarded the British Council/New Zealand Writers Foundation Award. In 2011 Michael’s feature film Matariki won Best Feature Film Screenplay at the New Zealand Screenwriting Awards, and in 2013 he was awarded Best Documentary Screenplay for his documentary on the Teina Pora case, The Confessions of Prisoner T. He went on to publish In Dark Places in 2016, which won Best Non-Fiction Book at the Ngaio Marsh Awards and Best Biography/History at the Nga Kupu Ora Awards 2017. Michael lives in Auckland, New Zealand, and is Head of Screenwriting at South Seas Film School.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh and came to Shetland as a newly qualified teacher. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  She lives with her husband and two Shetland ponies.

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk   

‘The Antique Store Detective’ by Clare Chase

Published by Bookouture,
2 August 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-8379096-8 (PB)

Bella Winter has left her busy life in the city to open an antique shop in the small Shropshire village of Hope Eaton where she grew up. Her hopes for a quiet life renewing past friendships and establishing a new business are soon shattered when she discovers the body of one of her father's friends, an eccentric local historian, Professor Oliver Barton in the ruins of Raven Hall. The local police think Oliver’s death was an accident, but Bella is unconvinced. Her friend and assistant in the new shop, John Jenks tells her that Oliver gave him an ancient coin that appears to be part of treasure trove. Was Oliver killed when he was out at night illegally digging for treasure in private grounds? To add to the mystery, John tells Bella about a strange rhyme that Oliver mentioned concerning four suspicious women he called the queens of hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades.

Bella and John feel compelled to investigate. Who has a motive to want the professor dead, who are these suspicious women and are they connected to his death? There are suspects aplenty.

This is the first book in a new mystery series by prolific author Clare Chase. I have read a couple of her Eve Marlow mysteries and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Clare Chase always has a large cast of characters. Apart from a raft of suspects, there are numerous members of John’s family keen to help with the investigation. Bella is an engaging character keen to adopt the methods of her much-missed deceased policeman father. One of my favourite characters is John who is much more reserved than his new employer.

The background is well researched, and I enjoyed delving into the world of antiques and learning more about nighthawking.

The twists and turns of the complex plot kept me guessing right up to the end. An enjoyable read, The Antique Store will appeal to anyone who loves a fast-paced, cosy mystery.  
------
Reviewer: Judith Cranswick  

Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations. Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium. As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.

www.clarechase.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!’ Her most recent book is Passage to Greenland  

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/

‘The Case of the Busy Bees’ by Clifford Witting

Published by Galileo Publishers,
18 July 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-915530-45-5 (PB)
Originally published 1952.

Let me say straightaway that this is one of the most enjoyable Golden Age novels (it was first published in 1952) I have read in recent times. It has everything you could want within a constantly fascinating plot, including an abduction followed by two murders, attempted extortion, maps, drawings and a reproduction of a letter, and a cast of vivid and interesting characters. It is helped along in no small measure by Witting’s entertainingly breezy style.

A tomahawk of debated provenance is reported missing from Monk Jewel museum, an establishment run by the eccentric Mr Theophilus Mildwater. At the same time a notorious gang of violent thieves who call themselves The Busy Bees start operating in the area. Witting’s regular detective, DI Charlton, is investigating the activities of this gang, but when a violent murder is committed it appears that the Bees are linked to the theft.

So begins an investigation which rattles along merrily. As well as trying to identify abductors and murderers, Charlton and his colleagues are also desperate to discover the persona of Rex Apis (King Bee) who taunts them occasionally with written communications. We are regularly given tantalising glimpses of who is up to something without ever knowing quite what part they are playing in the various dodgy activities. A couple who are ostensibly on a holiday in their caravan and who run a cafe in London come under suspicion, and there are a number of characters who may not be what they seem. Who exactly, for instance, are Luther G. Ropemaker (of Cleveland, Ohio) and Otto Bijornson (currently of Kenya)? Is Mr Mildwater involved, and what about Rev. Glen? There is also the subplot of activities at Highman’s department store involving tensions between Jonathan Highman and his nephew Robin Galloway who stands to inherit the business. The latter’s relationship with a member of staff (herself the sister of a local criminal) leads to a dispute with his uncle. Galloway is also romantically linked to another local beauty.

Just as Inspector Charlton is about to solve the case he falls rather dramatically into a diabetic coma (we have been prepared for something along these lines through his increasingly failing health), and it is left to his colleagues to unmask the perpetrators. They identify the hives of The Busy Bees and the gang’s members (they are referred to only by numbers within the organization), and after a chase involving the caravan and an ambulance this intricate case is brought to a conclusion.

A thoroughly enjoyable novel, then, as I have already stated and, as the cliché goes, a real page-turner. It owes much to Witting’s entertaining style. Characters are well-drawn. As an example, there is the Chief Constable, Colonel Hollis, who is often more of a hindrance than a help, regularly telling his officers affably that he does not interfere whilst invariably doing so. Witting makes wry observations. ‘People shouldn’t have such names,’ someone observes when failing to remember a character called Elphinrick. ‘There ought to be a law against it.’ Colonel Hollis is not surprised when a criminal is unmasked whom he had come across in another context some years before: ‘Might have guessed he was no good. Called a table napkin a serviette – that sort of fellow.’ In a clear nod to Anthony Trollope, a letter from Rex Apis to a potential extortion victim is headed ‘Framley, Barchester, Barsetshire’.

You will not regret reading The Case of the Busy Bees. It is great fun.
------
Reviewer: David Whittle

Clifford Witting (1907-1968) was born in Lewisham, England. He was educated at Eltham College, London, between 1916 and 1924. During World War II he served as a bombardier in the Royal Artillery, 1942-44, and as a Warrant Officer in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 1944-46. He married Ellen Marjorie Steward in 1934 and they had one daughter. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a clerk in Lloyds bank from 1924 to 1942. He was Honorary Editor of The Old Elthamian magazine, London. from 1947 up to his death. His first novel Murder in Blue was published in 1937 and his series characters were Sergeant (later Inspector) Peter Bradford and Inspector Harry Charlton. Unusually, he didn’t join The Detection Club until 1958 by which time he had written 12 detective novels.

 

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. He is currently convenor of the East Midlands Chapter of the Crime Writers’ Association.

Coming Soon: 'Because She Looked Away' by Alison Bruce

The first in a NEW Cambridge series

 Published by Constable

26 September 2024

After the sudden death of her sister, devastated detective DS Ronnie Blake relocates to Cambridge to help her brother Alex raise their sister's young son, Noah. She reports for her first day but instead finds herself being questioned by a special investigations unit, nicknamed the DEAD Team.

With a small group of six, led by DI Fenton, the once-successful DEAD team has a single outstanding case, Operation Byron, and the failure to resolve it threatens the unit's existence. Their most promising lead is an anonymous note linking three seemingly unconnected people: a convicted fraudster, a dead academic... and Ronnie's sister Jodie.

When Ronnie is denied information about Operation Byron, she follows a lead slipped to her by Malachi, the youngest member of the team, and makes a discovery which links Operation Byron to a disturbing unsolved murder. She is rapidly drawn into an intricate web of deceit, buried secrets and tragedy and the discovery that her connection to Cambridge is far darker than she could ever have guessed.

Alison Bruce was born in Croydon and grew up in Wiltshire. She had moved to the Cambridge area in 1998 and decided to make it the backdrop for the books because of its unique mix of characteristics. She writes the DC Gary Goodhew / Cambridge Blue series and has also written two standalone novels, I Did It for Us and The Moment before Impact. Alison has a first-class BSc (Hons) in Crime and Investigative Studies and works with the Eastern region police forces.  The first book in her new series set in Cambridge is, Because She Looked Away, which will be published September 2024.

www.alisonbruce.com 

‘Deadly Earnest’ by Joan Cockin

Published by Galileo Publishers,
8 August 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-915530-34-9 (PB)
Originally Published 1952

This novel is set almost entirely at Humpstead Manor (aka ‘the Hump’), an establishment run by Personnel Selection, Incorporated (PSI), an organisation which sifts potential employees for specific companies via a series of tests. The eight candidates involved in the story are jostling for posts with African Enterprise Incorporated. They are all high-fliers and fully aware of the competitive nature of this selection. This shows itself in the nervous tensions which develop between the candidates in the intimidating atmosphere of the Hump.

The novel begins in a similarly unsettling vein when the only other person in Inspector Cam’s train carriage, a young woman, suddenly says ‘I wish I were dead’. When Cam presses her on the matter, she claims she said it only to make herself feel better. That is the start of a lengthy debate between the two. The woman reveals that she is going to the Hump. Cam does not let on at this point that it is also his destination, although not in his official position but as an observer.

As everyone gathers at the Hump, both staff and examinees, relationships past and present begin to unfold. The staff includes Dr Tombley (the head of PSI) and his rather odd wife, assisted by Mr Murdoch and Miss Grey. The candidates are assigned numbers. This adds to the rather strained atmosphere, even though we know who everyone is. Much of the attention is centred on Paul Bolton and his rather fussy friend and would-be protector David. Bolton, brilliant but flawed, has apparently been the victim of a potentially fatal accident at a London station, and his misfortunes continue at the Hump. He falls down the stairs when stair-carpet rods become unsecured- was it an attempt on his life? Later Bolton spits out his coffee and claims it was poisoned. Is there a murderer in the house? Are Bolton’s fears real or imaginary, or is he concocting them himself? The faithful David develops ‘an acute vicarious persecution complex’.

When two murders are actually committed almost simultaneously well into the story there is, of course, a limited range of perpetrators in this closed community. Although Cam is present, he is out of his jurisdiction, but the affable local police look to him for any help he can give. The final test for the candidates, a study of an African village, bears an uncanny resemblance to the Hump murders and leads rapidly to the denouement.

This novel, a slow burner, is an interesting study of group dynamics. The scene-setting could seem a little ponderous were it not for Cockin’s wry style which is such a feature of the novel (one character is described as having ‘the air of a dog which is not, after all, going to be taken for a walk’, for instance). The highly-strung and unappealing dramatis personae (apart from Cam, of course) combine to create the tense atmosphere which is central to the book, and which leads to a very satisfying solution to the killings.
------
Reviewer: David Whittle

Joan Cockin is a pseudonym used by Edith Joan Burbridge, who was born in Gloucester in 1919. She was an author and diplomat. In World War II she did propaganda work in Washington for the British government. She is the creator of 'Inspector Cam'. She wrote three books. Curiosity Killed the Cat, Villainy at Vespers and Deadly Ernest.

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. He is currently convenor of the East Midlands Chapter of the Crime Writers’ Association.