‘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: 978-031659648-0

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

Crime Writers’ Association Announce 2026 Dagger Winners

The winners of the prestigious 2026 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger Awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been announced. 

Created in 1955, the world-famous CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century. 

The awards were announced [11pm, 2 July] at the CWA gala dinner at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, London. 

The coveted KAA Gold Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, went to Abigail Dean for The Death of Us, a haunting literary thriller that examines how a violent crime reverberates through a marriage over decades. Dean transitioned from a successful legal career—including working as a lawyer at Google—to become one of the UK's most acclaimed contemporary thriller writers.

S.A. Cosby, the only author to be shortlisted for an unprecedented three Dagger awards, took home the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, which honours the best thriller of the year, with his book, King of Ashes.

Cosby is one of the most celebrated crime writers working today, regularly praised by Barack Obama in his Books of the Year selections, known for blending fast-paced noir thrillers with sharp explorations of race, class, masculinity, and life in the modern American South. He worked in construction, retail and security, writing on the side, before breaking through with the acclaimed novel, Blacktop Wasteland. 

King of Ashes, is a Southern Gothic crime epic inspired in part by The Godfather. The novel combines family drama, organized crime, revenge, and long-buried secrets. 

Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “It is a genuine pleasure to congratulate every winner of this year's Daggers. The range and quality on display are a reminder of just how much vitality there is in crime fiction and how it continues to push at its own boundaries, and this year's winners are leading that charge. Congratulations.” 

Nina Allan received the Historical Dagger for A Granite Silence, an atmospheric mystery that uses the disappearance of a young girl in 1930s Aberdeen to explore memory, truth, and the stories communities tell themselves about tragedy. Nina made a name for herself in the Science Fiction genre, but her literary thrillers cross categories and have been highly praised by critics. 

The Twisted Dagger for psychological suspense went to Sarah Pinborough, for her haunting Gothic novel, We Live Here Now. Pinborough is best-known for her New York Times bestselling breakout novel (and hit Netflix show) Behind Her Eyes. We Live Here Now was praised for its eerie atmosphere and signature Pinborough-style ending.

 The Whodunnit Dagger for books with an intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, sees Mel Pennant take home the award for A Murder for Miss Hortense. 

A playwright, screenwriter, and novelist A Murder for Miss Hortense is Pennant’s breakthrough novel featuring the sharp-witted Jamaican-born retired nurse living in Birmingham who investigates a murder. The book was praised for combining a compelling mystery with a warm portrayal of the Windrush generation and Caribbean-British life. 

The global reach of the genre is showcased in the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger. Finland’s Antti Tuomainen came top in a hotly contended category, with The Winter Job. Tuomainen is one of Finland's most internationally acclaimed crime writers, often described as the "King of Helsinki Noir" and dark comedy. His translator David Hackston, is also recognised in the award, which is sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski. 

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction was awarded to
Susannah Stapleton for That Dark Spring. 

Stapleton is a historian specialising in uncovering forgotten stories from the early twentieth century, particularly women’s stories. That Dark Spring is an absorbing true-crime mystery that reopens the unsolved 1929 death of an eccentric British artist in Provence, revealing a world of secrets, rivalries, and unanswered questions. 

The Daggers are one of few high-profile genre awards that celebrate the short story. This year’s recipient of the Short Story Dagger goes to Ambrose Parry for The Apple Falls Not Far. Ambrose Parry is the joint pen name of Scottish crime novelist Chris Brookmyre and his wife, former consultant anaesthetist Marisa Haetzman. 

The Dagger in the Library, voted for by librarians, recognises authors whose bodies of work have resonated with readers over time. Tim Sullivan took the accolade in a stellar shortlist that included Paula Hawkins, Clare Mackintosh, Freida McFadden, and Abir Mukherjee.

An accomplished television writer-director, Tim Sullivan reinvented himself as a bestselling crime novelist through the hugely successful DS George Cross mysteries, combining classic detective fiction with a distinctive neurodivergent protagonist. 

The CWA Daggers are also known for providing a platform for emerging talent, with the much-anticipated ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger and the Emerging Author Dagger competition, sponsored by Fiction Feedback; over two dozen past winners and shortlisted debut authors have signed publishing deals to date. 

Laura McCluskey received the Creasey First Novel Dagger with The Wolf Tree. The Australian writer, editor, actor and filmmaker worked across theatre and film, before becoming a novelist. The Wolf Tree is an atmospheric crime thriller set on the fictional Hebridean island of Eilean Eadar, partly inspired by her Scottish family heritage and research into Scottish folklore.

The Emerging Author Dagger went to Michael Nikitin for Blind Side of the Sun.

The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher category recognises the publishers behind the genre’s success. The respected independent publisher Bitter Lemon Press beat heavyweights including Faber & Faber, Pan Macmillan, No Exit Press and Simon & Schuster to the award.

 Founded in London in 2003 by François and Frédéric von Hurter and Laurence Colchester, Bitter Lemon Press specialises in bringing award-winning crime, noir, mystery, and thriller novels from around the world into English, often through new translations. 

The CWA Diamond Dagger, sponsored by Karen Baugh Menuhin, is awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2026 was awarded to Mark Billingham.

Mark Billingham said: “I could not be more thrilled or honoured. To be added to a list that features most of my literary heroes is fantastic.”

The winners in full:

 CWA KAA Gold Dagger

Abigail Dean The Death of Us (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

S. A. Cosby King of Ashes (Headline)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

Susannah Stapleton That Dark Spring (Pan Macmillan/Picador)

 Historical Dagger

Nina Allan A Granite Silence (Quercus/riverrun)

 Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger

Antti Tuomainen The Winter Job (Orenda Books) translated by David Hackston

 Whodunnit Dagger

Mel Pennant A Murder for Miss Hortense (John Murray Press/Baskerville)

Twisted Dagger

Sarah Pinborough We Live Here Now (Orion Fiction)

 ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger

Laura McCluskey The Wolf Tree (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)

 Short Story Dagger

Ambrose Perry ‘The Apple Falls Not Far’ (Canongate)

 Emerging Author

Michael Nikitin, Blind Side of the Sun

 Dagger in the Library

Tim Sullivan

 Best Crime & Mystery Publisher

Bitter Lemon Press

 Diamond Dagger

Mark Billingham

 ENDS

Home - The Crime Writers’ Association

 To view past winners, or find out more, please visit
https://thecwa.co.uk/the-daggers 

‘Until We Drown’ by Ava Morwood

Published by HarperNorth,
9 April 2026.
ISBN:‎ 978-000872467-2 (HB)

Until We Drown is an astonishing novel, its eloquent and elegant prose a delight for those who love poetry, its meditations on life and love transforming a tale of betrayal and revenge into an enthralling work about coming to terms with the vicissitudes of human existence. 

The myth and folklore of the Peak District where Until We Drown is set saturate the story, but its underlying template is the Danish Hans Christian Andersen’s literary fairy tale The Little Mermaid. First published in 1837, it is the ultimately tragic story of a young mermaid princess willing to relinquish her life in the sea – and her voice – to gain an immortal soul and win the love of a human prince. Predictably, Disney has given The Little Mermaid a happy ending, but Andersen was less inclined to sentimentality, and his mermaid had to pay a heavy price for the fulfilment of her dreams. 

Mermaids! Those mythical aquatic creatures crowd the story, which is also replete with imagery of water. At the beginning of the novel Ellie Kellaway, her handsome husband Ethan and their two children, the teenaged Zack and four-year-old Libby as well as a sweet mongrel named Jasper, leave behind their idyllic seaside home in Sandsend to begin a new life three hours’ drive away in an isolated dwelling in the heart of the Peak District. Ellie has not even begun unpacking before Libby finds a crude carving of a mermaid hidden behind a wooden stairway. It is pagan rather than pretty and arouses unpleasant reflections. It was the appearance of a ‘mermaid’ in their lives that had made Ellie decide she and her family must relocate from their happy life near the beach to a house surrounded by pastures, moorland and rough, rocky outcrops. That ‘mermaid’ was a member of a wild swimming group Ethan belonged to in Sandsend, and with whom he’d begun an affair. 

Libby is obsessed with mermaids and delighted when she realizes the Peak District, while landlocked, houses three pools associated with ancient tales of mermaids. Ellie is less entranced, particularly when she learns these mermaids are dangerous creatures fond of luring humans to their deaths in the deep, dark waters. Also, lurking in her own background, Ellie harbors a painful reason to fear drowning. 

With the novel told entirely from Ellie’s perspective, the reader finds her dream of a contented, close-knit family life in their new home shattered almost immediately. It’s not only the ugly carving of the mermaid. She also spies a mysterious figure at the bottom of their garden. Zack begins acting strangely, and Jasper disappears. On a hike, Ellie finds the body of a male figure that, at first sight, from a distance, she fears might be her son. Instead, it is a local man, but the circumstances of his death are unexplained. 

Until We Drown is a treat with its accumulation of twists and turns and acute observations on jealousy and rage and the power of love. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Wendy Jones Nakanishi/aka Lea O’Harra.

Ava Morwood was raised in Penistone, South Yorkshire, and still lives locally in a house of creaking doors and crooked walls, with her partner Fergus. She loves exploring the hills and dales with her two hugely enthusiastic Dalmatians and has a penchant for books on folklore and weird history, Earl Grey tea and semicolons. She has won the Shirley Jackson Award for Short Fiction, and her debut thriller The Cold Season, written under the name Alison Littlewood, was a R&J pick.

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

‘The Propaganda Murders’ by Lynn Brittney

Published by Iris Books,
1 Jun3 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-90714795-0 (PB)

At the start of the First World War some clear-sighted members of the Metropolitan police realised that there were some roles that women could play more effectively than men. This resulted in a special task force being set up under the command of Detective Chief Inspector Peter Beech, an officer who was invalided out of the army with an injured leg. He is supported by two other male officers: one is an experienced sergeant, Arthur Tollman, who had retired and has returned to serve during the duration of the war, and Billy Rigsby, a young constable who was invalided out of the army. The women in the team include: Caroline, a doctor at the Women’s Hospital; Mabel a pharmacist at the same hospital; Victoria, a qualified solicitor, although as a woman she is not allowed to practice as a lawyer; Billy’s mother and aunt, Elsie and Sissy; and Lady Maud Winterbourne, whose house in Mayfair is the headquarters of the women’s work for the police. 

The Propaganda Murders opens in February 1916 at a point where the British government has just passed The Military Service Act, which will introduce military service for all single men aged between 18-41. Victoria, who has already been widowed, is very distressed at this development because she fears that the new man in her life will be conscripted and die in the trenches. When she encounters a young woman who is shaming a young man by presenting him with a white feather, Victoria is very angry and after the resultant scuffle she is arrested. Beech manages to get Victoria released and insists on accompanying her home. This is fortunate because soon after this the young woman is discovered brutally murdered. Although the whole team know that Victoria would never deliberately kill anyone, they are relieved that she has got an unimpeachable alibi. The victim was a member of The White Feather League: women who present young men who are not wearing uniform with white feathers, which they use to indicate that they regard these non-combatants as cowards. The dead girl had her throat cut and the marks left by the murder weapon were so unusual and barbaric that neither the police officers nor the medical experts can identify what it could be. 

As well as the murder investigation and their work at the hospital, Caroline and Mabel have been asked by Mabel’s friend, Lionel, to help him inspect a factory that constructs aircraft. There are concerns that the chemicals used in the process may be causing serious and permanent health damage to the women working in the factory. As well as examining the women, Caroline and Mabel do some serious research, which proves that their fears are correct. The female casualties whose lives are destroyed by this patriotic work are fewer in numbers than the young men who are dying in the trenches, but they are not insignificant, and Caroline, Mabel and Lionel are determined to make the government address this serious matter. 

Another young woman is killed in an equally savage manner. This girl was not a member of The White Feather League but she was an art student who helped to design recruiting posters. The Mayfair team suspect that the murders are connected to propaganda, which is trying to persuade or shame men into joining the army. They want to warn women involved in promoting propaganda, but there are so many outlets that it seems like an impossible task. Despite the team’s efforts, the violence continues and more women are attacked, and the search for the killer becomes even more urgent and terrifying when one of their own team disappears without trace. 

The Propaganda Murders is the seventh book in the Mayfair 100 series. It is a fascinating addition to an excellent series that shows life in Britain during the First World War with all its fears and frustrations, and the compelling plot is driven by superb historical detail and research. Although most of the female protagonists are educated and privileged, they also have to fight against the presumptions made by many men regarding their rights and capabilities. None of the protagonists are perfect, which makes them human and likeable, and they are all engaging because they are honourable and decent people. 

The Propaganda Murders is a page-turner, which I thoroughly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron 

Lynn Brittney has fifty-two plays, books (fiction and non-fiction), and foreign translations of her books registered for PLR. She began novel-writing in 2005 and the first book in her Nathan Fox Elizabethan spy trilogy was nominated for the Waterstones and Brandford Boase Prize. In 2016 she created the Mayfair 100 series, set in WW1. There are now five books in the series. 

www.lynnbrittney.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.

www.carolwestron.com 

‘Death by Noir’ by Olly Smith

Published by Baskerville,
18 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-39982984-7 (HB)

Victor Crawshaw's body has been found polluting a vat of his own wine. There's no mark of violence on him, and the police think it was an accident. Indeed, it has all the hallmarks of an accident. Even the inquest said it was an accident. To all appearances, he opened the vat, inhaled too much of the carbon dioxide fumes, tumbled in and drowned. But Barclay Flint, friend of the dead man, wine shop owner and connoisseur of all things wine-related, is uneasy. Why would an experienced wine-maker make such an elementary mistake? And why has Victor's son invited his menacing old army pal to stay? And why is the neighbour Victor feuded with for decades hanging around?  

This is the enigma that lies at the heart of wine expert Olly Smith's first novel. Intertwined with the mystery is a cast of eccentric characters, a guided tour of the town of Lewes and an awful lot about wine all well wrapped in a highly idiosyncratic style. There are also numerous digressions into how best to preserve the countryside and save the planet, and even a smidgen of romance. Oh, and music. And fireworks. And jigsaws. 

Barclay himself is what might be termed a bit of a character. A glass of wine sits permanently at his elbow, and he's also a fan of a decent pint of beer, preferably brewed in the local brewery. When he describes wine, he becomes the master of the tortured metaphor. His assistant Pearl is far more down to earth, and intent on raising the town's consciousness about climate change through a series of disruptive stunts including a mass yoga session in the middle of the street. Teddy, the wine shop's delivery driver is passionate about rare moths. He also adores Pearl, and is reduced to a clumsy, tongue-tied wreck in her presence. Minty, Barclay's Antiguan neighbour, wants to mother everyone and teach them to dance. 

The police are almost incidental. DI Nuria Alpert is focused and crisply efficient, but DC Oscar Keane takes more of an interest in his surroundings, especially the wine shop. They do manage to be in at the kill, so to speak, but more by accident than design. 

And that's just the good guys. The dead man's son Harold seems to have it in for everyone, especially his sister Tabitha and Barclay, and his ex-army oppo is positively menacing. The arch-baddie (or is he?) is the Crawshaws' neighbour Maurice le Brocq, who wants to turn the vineyard into an extension of his pheasant-shooting enterprise. 

By the end of the book I felt I knew Lewes as intimately as Olly Smith clearly does, especially the highly elaborate annual celebrations of Bonfire Night. I'd also learned far more than is strictly safe about wine. So, was Barclay right to be uneasy about his friend's death? You'll have to read the book to find that out!
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Olly Smith is an award-winning wine expert, TV personality, author and podcast host. His exceptional blend of passion, enthusiasm and knowledge, as well as his unique turn of phrase, have made him one of the UKs best loved figures in the world of food and drink. He has written two books. Death by Noir published 2026 and The Blood Wine to be published in 2027.

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 latest from Bloody Scotland: 18 - 20 September 2026

Our Closing Event is Revealed 

Our 2026 programme was already a banger - but we couldn't resist bringing you one last event to close the festival in style. The legends that are Val McDermid and Denise Mina will now be closing the show at the Albert Halls at 6pm on Sunday the 20th September. This is sure to be a popular event, so get your tickets will you can.

You the Jury - Extra Session Added

Calling all armchair detectives! Due to popular demand, our You the Jury events, sponsored by The Faculty of Advocates, sold out very quickly. That's why we've added an extra session to the programme on Saturday the 19th of September at 13:15pm.

This enthralling courtroom drama, written by Douglas Skelton and based on a vintage case (but updated) stars real-life lawyers Laura Thomson KC and Frances McMenamin KC, forensic experts Professors Lorna Dawson and Dr James Grieve, and chartered psychologist Professor Lara Frumkin, along with court staff.

Forget the histrionics and cries of objection. Forget a tetchy judge banging a gavel. This is a compelling, true to life theatrical experience which takes place in a working court room.

And you could be on the jury!

We know that many of you were disappointed when our Lee Child tickets sold out. Thankfully, there is an alternative way to watch the Reacher novelist's appearance at Bloody Scotland. Digital tickets for his event, which will be streamed live on Friday the 18th of September at 6.45pm and available on catch up, cost just £6.75. Alternatively, you can also purchase a digital pass for £60.75 which gives you access to all 15 streaming events.

Bloody Scotland: The Podcast 

We were absolutely cock-a-hoop to find out that Bloody Scotland: The Podcast had been shortlisted for not one, but two awards at the Scottish Podcast Awards. A few of the team went along to the awards ceremony at the Old Fruitmarket last night to celebrate alongside the other nominees. Sadly, we didn't win this time around, but we had a terrific time celebrating anyway! Huge congratulations to all the winners.

Bob McDevitt, Caron Macpherson, Dawn Geddes

 and Denise Mina representing team Bloody Scotland at the awards. 

Pitch Perfect & Crime in the Spotlight Opens

Emerging Crime Writers - have we got an opportunity for you! Well, two opportunities to be exact. We're delighted to tell you that applications for both Pitch Perfect and Crime in the Spotlight are now officially open!

Pitch Perfect is our annual opportunity for unpublished writers to pitch their work to a panel of industry experts. Many of our former pitchers have gone on to bag book deals including: Kate Foster, D.V. Bishop, Matt Wesolowski, Alison Belsham and Joseph Knox. This year’s judging panel are Literary Agent, Diana Beaumont, Journalist and author Lisa Howells
(Crime  Monthly), and Stephen Cameron, Creative Director of Into Books.

The deadline for entering is: Friday the 17th of July.

Our Crime in the Spotlight scheme shines a spotlight on new crime writing talent during the festival. Every year we invite new and emerging published crime writers to apply for a slot to read out a short sample of their work before one of our big Albert Halls sessions in Stirling in September.

You are eligible to apply for Crime in the Spotlight if you, have never appeared on the programme at Bloody Scotland before and are early in your crime writing career (your first or second published book, but no more).

If you are successful, you'll appear as the opener for one of our author events and will also be invited to sign books alongside them. It's an exciting opportunity that will get your work in front of a large crime writing loving audience. 

The deadline for entering Crime in the Spotlight is:
Friday the 10th of July.

Bloody Scotland | International Crime Writing Festival

CWA Bursary

Fancy joining us at Bloody Scotland this year, but not sure if you'll manage? The Crime Writers’ Association is currently offering a £500 grant towards the cost of tickets, travel and accommodation to attend Bloody Scotland in 2026. This bursary is open to CWA full members, provisional members, and emerging author members.

For further information and apply, visit:
https://thecwa.co.uk/member-benefits/bursaries/