‘Till Death Us Do Part’ by Reverend Penny Stephens

Published by Quercus,
16 July 2026. 
ISBN: 978-1-52944-147-5 (HB)

The Reverend Clare Brakespear has already been reluctantly entangled in one murder and was able to lend a helping hand to tetchy DCI Jackie Carter. When she's invited to lead a retreat in a Cornish hotel from which a guest went missing a year earlier, she hopes there won't be a repeat performance. 

But her wish is destined not to be granted. She soon discovers that all but two of this year's retreat members had a connection with Victoria, the missing woman – and one of them is Jackie Carter, who has signed up under a false name, and is definitely not there to investigate anything – or is she? What's more, Jeremy, the hotel's events manager, is acting in a decidedly shifty manner. 

Like her protagonist, the author is herself a member of the clergy, and has been a parish priest, so Clare Brakespear is as normal and flawed as anyone – the kind of vicar who enjoys a gin and tonic, doesn't quote the Bible in every sentence and occasionally thinks uncharitable thoughts. Also, like Clare, Rev Penny Stephens is clearly a student of human nature. The characters are rounded and well-drawn, the kind of motley assortment you might meet at any gathering of this kind. 

There's Lucy, the missing woman's sister, prickly and defensive. Michael, Victoria's estranged husband, is keen to make amends for the misdemeanour that pushed them apart. Pippa, that misdemeanour, reinvents herself with every new outfit. Gareth is super-fit, proud of it and competitive. Vincent is curious, verging on downright nosy. Dan is the kind of Christian guaranteed to irritate by bringing it in every time he opens his mouth. Astrid is just there for time out from high-pressure work. 

Something else the author clearly knows well is the location: the Lizard peninsula right at the tip of Cornwall. Picturesque coastal paths, cliffs, cafes and rock-strewn beaches all come to life and provide a counterpoint to the unhappiness and shock which crime engenders. 

Even minor characters like hotel staff and the stand-offish and not exactly competent local DCI are sharp and distinct. And since this is a murder mystery after all, in true Agatha Christie manner they all have a part to play when the inevitable murder is discovered. 

So will Jackie, with Clare's help, solve not only the murder but also the mystery of Victoria's disappearance? What is Jeremy hiding under his inappropriately flamboyant exterior? And will Clare get herself out of a potentially dangerous situation? No spoilers; read the book! You'll be glad you did.
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick 

Rev. Penny Stephens was a vicar in a village parish before working as a hospice chaplain in East London and Kent. She now takes services in the Diocese of Rochester, where she is an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral. Till Death Us Do Part is Penny's debut novel.

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.

‘Why Did She Die?’ by Joan Coggin

Published by Galileo Publishers,
4 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-91754324-8 (PB)
Originally Published in 1947.

The main character in this, the third novel in Coggin’s ‘Lady Lupin Quartet’ (first published in 1947), Lady Lupin Hastings is young, attractive, chaotic, apparently dim and the wife of a clergyman as well as being the daughter of an earl. The story takes place almost entirely in a village where some of her friends live. In many ways the main character is Penelope (‘Pen’) Stevenson, a maiden youngish lady who has devoted herself to looking after her father – who, it must be observed, doesn’t give the impression of having any particular need of being looked after. She has turned down offers of marriage to remain close to her father. Increasingly she gets on the nerves of her married brother and his wife, particularly after her father dies when she announces, unasked and unwanted, that she will remain equally devoted to them and their baby. This leads to problems in the marriage. Pen is quite a bit older than her brother and has long considered herself as a mother figure to him ever since their actual mother died when he was very young. 

It takes until almost halfway through the novel before Pen is found shot dead in the garden (this is no spoiler as the blurb on the back tells us that she is the victim). I didn’t exactly jump out of my chair shouting ‘yippee!’ at that moment, but there is no doubt that I was delighted to see the back of this sanctimonius character. Initially suicide is suspected, but this is ruled out when no fingerprints are found on the gun and Pen was not wearing gloves when found. As a consequence, relationships past and present between local residents and others come increasingly under scrutiny. Revelations are made which provide any number of potential suspects with reasons for wanting Pen out of the way. She has left a trail of disruption to the lives of others, often under the unconvincing guise of unselfishness. 

In my review of the novel’s predecessor ‘The Mystery at Orchard House’ I wrote that I found Lady Lupin rather irritating. If I found her less so in this story, it is possibly because I struggled to feel any sympathy for most of the dramatis personae, although there are one or two for whom one feels sorry (there are some ghastly cousins of the Stevensons who provide comic relief). I am reluctant to be too critical as I’m aware that I could have been unconsciously in an unreceptive mood when reading (it happens). I confess that my sympathies improved in the later stages. Lady Lupin may be fat-headed at times, but she does, in that often rather damning expression, ‘mean well’, and she can be perceptive (‘Lady Lupin is not a clear thinker’, says one observer, ‘but there is not much that escapes her’). 

However, the denouement, whilst perhaps not a particular surprise, is neat and plausible, the writing is always lively and there are some wry descriptions. As a period piece ‘Why Did She Die?’ will be enjoyed by lovers of Golden Age stories. Don’t let me put you off reading it!
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Reviewer: David Whittle 

Joan Coggin (1898 - 1980) aka Joanna Lloyd, was born in 1898 in Lemsford, Hertfordshire, the daughter of the Rev. Frederick Ernest Coggin. Her mother, who was the daughter of Edward Lloyd, founder of Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper, died when she was eight, and the family moved to Eastbourne, where Coggin lived until her own death in 1980. She was educated, together with her sister Enid, at Wycombe Abbey, a setting she would later use for her girls' school stories, written under the pseudonym Joanna Lloyd. Leaving Wymcombe in 1916, Coggin became involved in the war effort, working as a nurse at Eastbourne. After the war she worked with the blind, and returned to her schoolgirl interest in Guiding. She suffered from a mild form of epilepsy, but aside from the inability to drive, it did not greatly impact her life. Her first novel, And Why Not Knowing, was published in 1929, and was followed by a series of mysteries featuring the amusingly inadvertent detective, Lady Lupin Lorrimer.

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.

‘The Corpse with the Steely Gaze’ by Cathy Ace

Published by Four Tails Publishing,
6 July 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-990550-66-9 (PB)

It is the summer term at the University of Vancouver, which means that there are less students than usual on the university campus. Professor of Criminal Psychology Cait Morgan is looking forward to teaching her course on victim advocacy and the judicial system, but she feels extremely grumpy when she arrives at the campus and discovers that she is unable to park anywhere near her office building. That part of the car park has been taken over by the large trailers used by a film company, which is using the university to make a new film. After making her way across the hot car park, Cait travels up in the lift and as she steps out, she encounters Sami, a member of the cleaning staff, who is in tears and close to hysteria. Sami declares that Cait must not go along the corridor to her office because it isn’t safe. Of course, Cait ignores Sami’s words and goes to investigate. Her attention is drawn to the office next to her own, which belongs to a senior member of the university staff who is away for the summer. When Cait enters the office, she finds Parm, a young member of the security staff, and on the floor is a dead man, dressed in what appears to be silver jogging trousers, although he is naked from the waist up. The man is an actor, known to his admiring public as Jayson Flyntt, who had originally been Jason Flynn, a name that is still used by his family and close friends. As Jayson he had achieved stardom in a long-running soap called The Harding Life, in which he had won legions of female admirers who were captivated by his remarkable eyes and his trick of looking up with a steely gaze. 

After his character in the soap was killed off, Jason had invested some of his money in helping to produce a science fiction film, in which he stars, part of which is being filmed at the university. At first Jason’s death seems incomprehensible. Although he had an alcohol abuse problem as a young man, he cleaned up his act and is believed to have been sober for many years. When the post-mortem reveals that Jason died of an overdose most people assume that the drugs found in his system were self-administered, however, nobody can work out how he took them within the relevant time-scale, or why he should have done so when he had so much to live for, because Jason’s life appears to have been a ‘fairytale’ success story. He and Stevie, an actor friend who had been at school with Jason, had both achieved stardom: Jason in the television series, while Stevie became a film star. However, Stevie had not handled fame well. He sunk into wild excess and died young, but Jason has married happily and has children. 

As a criminal psychologist, Cait is intrigued by the case and asks her husband, Bud, a retired detective, to ask his police colleagues about the background of Jason, his wife, Marsha, and several of the filmmakers who have been working with Jason. Soon Cait and Bud are probing through Jason’s relationship with his film colleagues and his wife, as well as exploring Jason’s past and what happened following Stevie’s death. 

As Cait digs deeper, she discovers several different layers of reality viewed through the perspectives of the people she interacts with. There is the cleverly constructed pretence of the film and filmmakers, which impresses Cait with its skill. Alongside this is the image that Jason and his advisors had created to appeal to his fans, which includes his generous charity donations. Within these layers there are deeper, stranger ones that Cait finds uncomfortable to cope with. Sami believes that she can sense that Jason’s spirit is unquiet and wishes to consult the shaman in her uncle’s village, and Marsha also claims that Jason is trying to communicate with her after death and even holds two seances to try to reach him. This psychic element unsettles Cait and leads her to attempt unconventional and potentially risky tactics in her determination to uncover the truth. 

The Corpse With the Steely Gaze is the sixteenth book featuring Cait Morgan and Bud Anderson and it combines Cait’s familiar working life as a lecturer and Criminal Psychologist with the unfamiliar background of the world of film making, which is described in fascinating detail. Cait and Bud are engaging protagonists, and Cait is a delightful narrator, never belittling the seriousness of the crime and warmly protective of the more vulnerable suspects, but also determined to discover the truth and describing her experiences with her customary wry humour. This is an interesting and enjoyable book which I recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron  

Cathy Ace was born and raised in Swansea, South Wales. With a successful career in marketing having given her the chance to write training courses and textbooks, Cathy has now finally turned her attention to her real passion: crime fiction. Her short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies. Two of her works, Dear George and Domestic Violence, have also been produced by Jarvis & Ayres Productions as ‘Afternoon Reading’ broadcasts for BBC Radio 4. Cathy now writes two series of traditional mysteries: The Cait Morgan Mysteries and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries. She is a Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada.

http://cathyace.com  

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies. Her most recent books is The Apples of Sodom.  

www.carolwestron.com 

‘Blood Enemy’ by Douglas Jackson

Published by Canelo,
9 July 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-80436748-3 (HB)

I previously read and reviewed Blood Roses which deals with the Nazis entry to Warsaw in 1939 and introduces us to the former chief investigator Jan Kalisz. 

Blood Enemy is the final in the series and is the story of Jan Kalisz's further life as a double agent forced to work with the occupiers as he gathers information for the Polish resistance.  He is unable to explain to his family of wife - Maria and teenage son Stefan - his true allegiances. 

This is a fast-paced novel dealing with extremely dark incidences which occurred in Warsaw towards the end of the occupation in 1944.  Frankly I found some of the descriptions of the cruelty and horrors of this period difficult to read.  The author has clearly done an enormous amount of research into this period of history and the writing is superb. 

The main character Jan Kalisz is a formidable hero, and one is rooting for him to the very end.  I found the descriptions of his temporary incarceration in Auschwitz/Birkenau horrifying and entirely believable.  His description of meeting Josef Mengele was equally authentic and disturbing. 

This novel is not an easy read and its ambition and intelligence rescue it from being a miserable reading experience.  Many readers, like myself, will be aware of the horrors of the Holocaust but probably unaware of the suffering of the Polish people during the War years and the fear of the future which was represented by the Soviet Army. 

I can strongly recommend this book to fans of Robert Harris and to broaden awareness of events of World War 2.  
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Reviewer: Toni Russell 

Douglas Jackson is the author of seventeen historical novels and mystery thrillers published by Transworld/PRH, including the critically acclaimed nine-book Hero of Rome series. He was born in Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders and now lives in Stirling. Originally a journalist by profession he rose to become Assistant Editor of The Scotsman before leaving to be a full-time writer in 2009.  

Toni Russell is a retired teacher who has lived in London all her life and loves the city.  She says, ‘I enjoy museums, galleries and the theatre but probably my favourite pastime is reading.  I found myself reading detective fiction almost for the first time during lockdown and have particularly enjoyed old fashioned detective fiction rather than the nordic noir variety.  I am a member of a book club at the local library and have previously attended literature classes at our local Adult Education Centre.

‘Witch Trial’ by Harriet Tyce

Published by Wildfire,
26 February 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-03541191-7 (HB)

Witch Trial starts with heart surgeon Matthew Phillips being chosen for jury duty. Due to personal reasons this is the perfect opportunity for Matthew to get away for a few weeks, and he feels this has fallen at the perfect time. Little does he know, the trial he is taking part in has garnered a media circus and he is on the jury for ‘Witch Trial’. 

Isobel Smyth and Eliza Lawson are on trial for the murder of eighteen-year-old Christian Shaw, a fellow boarding school student and best friend, in Inverleith Park, Edinburgh. They are known as ‘The Witch Girls’ as they claim to be in direct contact with the devil. This story is heavy on witchcraft, satanic rituals and obsession, but is a standout in that it provides you with a great deal of insight into the workings of the law. 

Harriet puts you on the jury as Matthew and you experience his perspective throughout the events of the trial, but soon things start to spiral and somethings’ not right, it leaves you questioning the lines between what the truth is and what is a lie, as they quickly being to blur. 

Don’t expect to go into this book finding relatable and likeable characters as I don’t think there are any, which makes the story all the more interesting and the twists this book holds will take you on a ride you’ll not be anticipating. 

Witch Trial is sharp, unsettling and unpredictable and will leave you rethinking everything.
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Reviewer: Lorraine Carpenter

Harriet Tyce grew up in Edinburgh and studied English at Oxford University before doing a law conversion course at City University. She practised as a criminal barrister in London for nearly a decade, and recently completed an MA in Creative Writing - Crime Fiction at the University of East Anglia.  

Lorraine Carpenter lives in the Southwest of England with her partner Doug. She spends most of her free time reading and has loved mysteries and thrillers since a very early age. If she’s not reading, she is most likely to be drawing or crocheting (very poorly) and watching a true crime documentary. 

‘The Deep End’ by Nick Louth

Published by Canelo,
13 November 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-885-5 (PB)

The Deep End is book 4 in the Jan Talantire series by Nick Louth, and the first one that I have read. Although it may benefit to have read the previous books to give you more of a deeper understanding into Jans background, it definitely isn’t necessary and you can dive straight in as enough information is provided and the story works well as a standalone. 

The Deep End beings with the discovery of a woman's body that appears to have drowned underneath Teignmouth pier, she has been dubbed ‘Medusa’ and DI Jan Talantire is brought in to investigate the crime scene, which is soon deemed to be a suicide, however, potentially sinister circumstances arise when toxicology results show heavy metal poisoning and new information comes to light. Alongside trying to forward the case, Jan is also dealing with the aftermath of being accused of colluding to bring Commander Brent West down for sexual harassment and her career is hanging on by a thread, little does she know the two series of events are unexpectedly linked. 

This was an engrossing and dark read that was paced well while interweaving the storylines in Jan’s life. The initial mystery was compelling and became even more intriguing as the story progressed, due to the complexities of the case. I enjoyed getting to know Jan as an independent and strong character, but even more so seeing her grow throughout the book. The ending also provided a satisfying sense of closure, even if you haven’t read the series previously! 

I look forward to reading the first three and for what’s to come, I highly recommend The Deep End.
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Reviewer: Lorraine Carpenter

Nick Louth is a best-selling thriller writer, award-winning financial journalist and an investment commentator. He self-published his first novel, Bite, which was a No. 1 Kindle best-seller. It has sold a third of a million copies and been translated into six languages. Freelance since 1998, he has been a regular contributor to the financial Times, Investors Chronical and Money Observer. Nick is married and lives in Lincolnshire. 

Lorraine Carpenter lives in the Southwest of England with her partner Doug. She spends most of her free time reading and has loved mysteries and thrillers since a very early age. If she’s not reading, she is most likely to be drawing or crocheting (very poorly) and watching a true crime documentary.  

‘Salt Bones’ by Jennifer Givhan

Published by Mulholland Books,
2 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-031658152-3

Malamar "Mal" Veracruz has never left her town of El Valle, California, which resides next to the toxic, sulfuric remains of the Salton Sea. She has lived a difficult and troubled life but tries to make the best of what she has. She raised two children at a young age, cares for her parents and brothers and experienced the disappearance of her sister Elena when they were children. Now, history is repeating itself and another child has gone missing and when Mal starts to see visions of the horse-headed women, La Siguanaba, she feels a duty alongside her daughters to uncover the truth. Is she there as a threat and a bad omen, or does she want to provide them with support and guidance? 

The story is told from the viewpoints of Mal and her two daughters, and it really hits home the impact that the privileged and wealthy have on marginalised communities and the lack of support and resources they can access. It also highlights the environmental decay and irreparable damage that results from colonisation. 

The mix of both English and Spanish adds a wonderful extra element, and it really helps to flesh out the setting and provides richness and depth to the characters which already have a rawness to them. 

Salt Bones is a mesmerising story, mixing Indigenous Mexican Folklore, family trauma and true crime to create what I can only describe as a masterpiece. The depth of storytelling creates such a vivid mental image, and Givhan’s writing is just so wonderfully poetic. It really is a must read.
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Reviewer: Lorraine Carpenter

Jennifer Givhan is a Mexican-American and Indigenous poet and novelist from the Southwestern desert and the recipient of poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and PEN Emerging Voices. The Los Angeles Times called her novel Salt Bones “a triumph… one of the most masterful marriages of horror, mystery, thriller and literary writing” and it was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a Book Riot Best Mystery & Thriller of the Year, a Marie Claire Best Mystery-Thriller of the Year, a Library Journal Stellar Selection, and an American Library Association Best Book of the Year. Her latest novel The Sleeping Sisters will be published 18 August 2026.

Lorraine Carpenter lives in the Southwest of England with her partner Doug. She spends most of her free time reading and has loved mysteries and thrillers since a very early age. If she’s not reading, she is most likely to be drawing or crocheting (very poorly) and watching a true crime documentary. 

‘Marble Hall Murders’ by Anthony Horowitz

Published by Penquin,
25 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80494300-7 (PB)

Susan Ryeland thought that she and Andreas would make their life together in Crete. The olive groves, the tinkle of the goats’ bells, the perfect sunsets and dining with friends on a long trestle table beneath the bougainvillea. 

But her head was in London, even when she was in Crete and so at 55 years old, she went back to Crouch End in the north of London. Having settled back in a flat in London, she takes a call from her boss Michael Flynn, the publisher of Causton Books. She had previously edited two novels by Alan Conway, about the famous detective, Atticus Pünd, and both times come close to being killed, so she is not that keen when Michael persuades to work on a third book in the series.

The new novel featuring Atticus Pünd is by Eliot Crace, grandson of Miriam Crace who was the biggest selling children’s author in the world until her death twenty years ago. Eliot believes that Miriam was deliberately poisoned. And when he tells Susan that he has hidden the identity of Miriam’s killer inside his book, Susan knows she’s in trouble once again. 

After her meeting with Michael Flynn Susan headed back to Crouch End. She didn’t want to do the job, but she needed the money. The memories of editing the Alan Conway books which she initially thought were entertainments turned out to be more like dangerous weapons, loaded with malevolence and launched to cause maximum damage. She would have been happy never to have heard of Alan Conway. However, she needed to pay the mortgage and so poured herself a glass of wine and sat down to read the typescript. After all what harm could it do? 

The book is set in 1955. Atticus Pünd has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. Waiting to see Doctor Benson in Harley Street, he encounters Lady Margaret Chalfont along with her daughter Judith Lyttleton in the wating room. Later with the doctor the conversation turns to the UK’s bad weather how lovely it would be in the south of France where Lady Chalfont is going for a holiday.  Some days later he receives a letter from her saying she needs his help. Will you come to Chateau Belmar in France? And I will explain everything. 

Set partly in a villa in the South of France, as Susan commences editing this final book in the Atticus Pund series, she discovers parallels between past and present. The real world and the fictional world. A book within a book. A puzzle within a puzzle. Susan ploughs on but when a death occurs, is it just in the book or is it real? Has she again become a target, as someone clearly doesn’t want this book to be published.

Incredibly cleverly plotted, with twists and turns, this intriguing and fascinating book will keep you reading.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett 

Anthony Horowitz is one of the most prolific and successful writers working in the UK – and is unique for working across so many media. Juggling writing books, TV series, films, plays and journalism. Anthony has written over 40 books. Anthony was commissioned by the Conan Doyle Estate and Orion Books to write two new Sherlock Holmes novels. The House of Silk was published in November 2011 and was internationally lauded as the top title of the autumn. The sequel, Moriarty, was published in October 2014 with similar success. Most recently he was commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate to write the James Bond novel Trigger Mortis, which was published on 8th September 2015.  Anthony is responsible for creating and writing some of the UK’s most beloved and successful television series, producing the first seven episodes (and the title) of Midsomer Murders. He is the writer and creator of award-winning drama series Foyle’s War, which was the Winner of the Lew Grade Audience award for BAFTA.  Anthony's latest show New Blood will premiere on BBC iPlayer later this year. Anthony is on the board of the Old Vic Theatre. He regularly contributes to a wide variety of national newspapers and magazines on subjects ranging from politics to education and currently has a travel column in The Telegraph. He has been a patron to East Anglia Children’s Hospices and the anti-bullying charity, Kidscape, since 2008. Anthony was awarded an OBE for his services to literature in January 2014.

http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com 

‘The Silent Places’ by Sarah Mellor

Published by HarperNorth,
26 March 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-00871625-7 (HB)

The Silent Places is the second in Sarah Mellor’s gritty Liverpool-based series featuring the flawed but lovable DS Leigh Borrowdale and her long-suffering Chinese partner and colleague, DI Des Chung. Like The Departed, Mellor’s debut novel, The Silent Places displays the authenticity we can expect from a Scouser despite Liverpool’s being Mellor’s adopted home. Both publications are not only crime fiction novels but also well-researched historical depictions of a city the author has lived in for thirty years and knows intimately, with the first set in the Winter of Discontent in 1979 and the second framed by the Toxteth riots of 1981. 

In The Silent Places, the troubled Leigh has become a mother. Naturally, Des Chung is adorable little Kai’s father, but the couple is estranged because of Leigh’s predilection for casual sex with strangers and tendency to get blindingly drunk whenever opportunity allows. Kai offers comfort as an undemanding child who seems to view his mother’s excesses with the wisdom and compassion of a baby Buddha. 

The novel opens on a note of tension and suspense that the author skillfully maintains throughout. Duane Harding, the man Leigh suspects of killing Gail, his nine-year-old stepdaughter, and of hiding her body, has just been acquitted of those crimes. The jury’s verdict devastates the heavily pregnant Leigh, who has spent months trying to uncover evidence of his guilt, mindful, too, of her promise to Nikki, Gail’s distraught mother, to find her daughter. 

The loss of a loved one: it’s a grief Leigh is only too familiar with herself. James, her younger brother, disappeared seven years earlier on a camping trip to the Isle of Man, and Leigh still misses him terribly, imagining she sees him whenever she visits their childhood home, where her mother still lives. Then Duane himself is found murdered in his kitchen, his new wife kneeling by his body, and Leigh and Des are tasked with finding his killer.  

This is a novel of unexpected twists and turns, but they are never unearned. The more we learn about the cast of people inhabiting the story, the more likely and even inevitable their actions appear. One of the author’s many strengths is making her characters not only believable but also making us, her readers, care about them. Perhaps it is because Mellor worked as a psychotherapist for the NHS for many years that she can produce fully-fleshed out individuals whose mannerisms can amuse as well as irritate, who are inconsistent but charming, capable of heroism as well as selfishness. Highly recommended!
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Reviewer: Wendy Jones Nakanishi/aka Lea O’Harra.

Sarah Mellor is a crime author and psychological therapist based in Liverpool. She has been writing – and dreaming of being a writer - for as long as she can remember. She loves crime novels, particularly stories with lots of twists and turns, and this was her aim when starting her series of 1970s-set books featuring Detective Leigh Borrowdale and her partner, Des Chung. Her first novel, The Departed, was set in the snowy landscape of the winter of 1979. The second book in the series, The Silent Places, is set in riot-torn Liverpool in 1981 and will be published on 26 March 2026.

You can follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahjeanmellor 

Lea O’Harra.  An American by birth, did her postgraduate work in Britain – an MA in Lancaster and a doctorate at Edinburgh – and worked full-time for 36 years at a Japanese university. Since retiring in March 2020, she has spent part of each year in Lancaster and part in Takamatsu on Shikoku Island, her second home, with occasional visits to the States to see family and friends. An avid reader of crime fiction since childhood, as a university professor she wrote academic articles on it as a literary genre and then decided to try her hand at composing such stories herself, publishing the so-called ‘Inspector Inoue mystery series’ comprising four murder mysteries set in rural, contemporary Japan. She has also published two standalone crime fiction novels.   

Lea O'Harra – Mystery writer  

‘Serpent’s Tongue’ by Barbara Nadel

Published by Headline,
7 May 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-03541901-7 (HB)

I must start by making a couple of confessions. The most important one is that this is the first of Nadel’s 28 books in her ‘Inspector İkmen Series’ that I have read, despite good intentions in the past. Secondly, I watched the first instalment of ‘The Turkish Detective’, the series based on Nadel’s novels, on the BBC a couple of years ago and never got any further. Again, this was from inertia rather than disinclination, and I am glad to see that it is still available on the I Player (memo to self: must do better). As a consequence, I realise that most of you reading this will probably be far better informed about Nadel’s series than I am. But please bear with the impressions of this neophyte.  

In Istanbul Inspector Süleyman has two deaths on his hands. The first is that of dancer Gözde Turan from a snake bite. The second is that of Dilara Önder, the wife of a businessman, who dies when a bomb explodes at her home in what becomes a suspected terror attack. The deaths do not appear to be connected, but ex-Inspector İkmen has other ideas. He is helping a friend to try and place the extraordinary work of a dead artist which is in a flat close to where Turan died. İkmen notices that some of the art bears a resemblance to the dead dancer. Was she known to the artist? He also wonders whether the death of a devout Muslim woman (Önder) is connected to a terror plot. 

And so, begins an intricate investigation. Why, for instance, did Turan not seek medical help given that it took her 24 hours to die from the snake bite and prompt attention meant that she could have been saved? The investigation ranges through a whole host of subjects, from a snakelet, drag queen and drugs to Chechens and Islamic State. Religion is a constant theme (snake-worshipping even comes into it). Relationships are key, those between both individuals and communities. There are revelations about personal lives as the plot develops. A constant undercurrent is Süleyman’s marriage coming under scrutiny: he is concerned by ageing (‘I’m vain. I can’t take criticism’ he tells his wife) and she is jealous of the way he looks at other women (‘This was not to say that he wanted to sleep with other women; he just wanted to know that he could’). Other families have their problems. There are tensions between two Roma populations. 

It is also topical in more ways than one. Putin and the war in Ukraine is one example. ‘For all the peace talks we may offer to host in order to bring the war in Ukraine to a close,’ says one character, ‘other incidents will occur on our soil because, like it or not, we are at war. Not just Türkiye, not just Ukraine, Palestine, Israel – we are at war because some people believe they are better than other people.’ 

As I mentioned in my opening, many readers will be aware of the backstories of some characters which will doubtless add to their enjoyment, but I found myself sufficiently informed. The main thing is that this is an intricately plotted and convincing story in an intelligently presented contemporary setting. For those of you already familiar with Nadel’s writing, that will come as no surprise. For the rest of us, this could be the start of a new obsession.
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Reviewer: David Whittle

Barbara Nadel was born and brought up in the East End of London. She has a degree in psychology and, prior to becoming a full-time author, she worked in psychiatric institutions and in the community with people experiencing mental health problems. She is also the author of the award-winning Inspector Ikmen series and received the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger for the seventh novel in the series Deadly Web. There are now 24 books in the series. She is also the author of the award-winning Inspector Ikem series now adapted by the BBC as The Turkish Detective. Barbara now lives in Essex.

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