‘Catch Your Death’ by Louise Voss & Mark Edwards

Published by HarperCollins

12 January 2012.

ISBN: 978-0-00-746070-0

Kate Maddox fleeing from her abusive husband in the USA returns home to England with her son.  By chance she sees her lover Stephen who she knows died twenty years ago.  The sighting takes her back to the time she spent with Stephen in the Cold Research Unit two decades ago.  But the person Kate sees is Stephen’s twin brother Paul. 

The meeting with Paul has her questioning her time at the unit and what happened there, and as she concentrates on it she realises that her memory is at fault and that there are gaps.  Can she fill in these gaps and should she?  What was happening at the Cold Research Unit all those years ago?

This is a chilling tale, as Kate seeks to uncover exactly just what did happen twenty years ago when she thought that she was participating in finding a cure for the common cold.  As with Paul’s help Kate probes deeper, she puts herself and others in danger.

These mysteries set in Research Stations always make fascinating reading, but just sometimes, one wonders just how much is fiction!  However, although we are all aware on one level of the ‘flu virus’s, seeing then listed was a scary moment. This is one of those unable to put down books – have to finish it or won’t be able to concentrate on anything else.   And there is one of those delicious twists that have the reader reeling.

Highly recommended.

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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Mark Edwards and Louise Voss met after Louise saw Mark on a TV documentary about aspiring writers, and a writing partnership was born.  Their first two thrillers, Killing Cupid and Catch Your Death, were huge hits when the pair self-published them online, becoming the first UK indie authors to reach No. 1 in both the Amazon Kindle and Amazon Fiction charts. They are currently working on the sequel to Catch Your Death.

‘Never Apologise, Never Explain’ by James Craig

Published by Constable and Robinson,

2 February 2012.

ISBN: 978-1-84901-584-4

The killing of Agatha Mills in her flat just across from the British Museum in London, looks to Inspector Carlyle an open and shut case - her husband Henry of thirty years did it.  It would, mused Carlysle be good to wrap it up quickly.

This is not your normal crime fiction whodunit.  Carlyle is not a larger than life hero, keen to put in the hours, dedicated to finding the perpetrator.  Basically Carlyle wants to get a result and get home, so that his wife Helen doesn’t give him a hard time.  He cares about his daughter Alice, and he loves Danish pastries - even the offer of one will get his attention.

Contacted by TV presenter Rosanna Snowden who thinks she is being stalked, a whore Carlyle has known from way back whose says her child is in danger from her father, Carlyle owes then both but will he help? Well, if he can get to it. But life so often gets in the way, his boss Superintendent Carole Simpson certainly gets in his way.  I wanted him to do more, but when I looked at it in reality I realised he was doing what he could, but as I have said he is not a super hero.  But I warmed to him as the story unfolded, he did the best he could, but sometimes the truth maybe just isn’t worth the paperwork, sometimes, maybe you just take the result.  I suspect that this is how it pans out in the real world.

I found this compelling reading for many reasons, but you need to read the book for yourself to see if the reality works for you.   A real page turner, this book is highly recommended.

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Lizzie Hayes

  

James Craig was born in Scotland, but has lived and worked in London for thirty years. He worked as a journalist for ten years, and as a TV producer for Five.

His first book London Calling was published in 2011.

‘Two for Sorrow’ By Nicola Upson

Narrated by Sandra Duncan

Published by Whole Story Audio Books,

July 2010.

ISBN: 978-1-40745-927-1

(13 CD’s Playing Time 14.75 hours).

Josephine Tey has travelled down to London from her home in Inverness to do some work on her novel, a fiction account of a true crime - the hanging in Holloway in 1903 of Annie Walters and Amelia Sach - the Finchley baby farmers.

The  Cowdray Club where Josephine is staying is run by her old tutor Celia Bannerman. Josephine is keen to interview anyone who was around at the time of the hanging and Celia Bannerman proves to be a help in this instance having herself worked for a short time at Holloway prison.

Having also agreed to take part in a star-studded charity gala in aid of the Cowdray club Josephine meets up with the Motley sisters, who are the cousins of her friend Inspector Archie Penrose.  But when a young seamstress is found brutally murdered at the studio of the Motley sisters Josephine begins to suspect a link between the current death and the hanging thirty years earlier.

A fascinating insight into two era’s poles apart, depicting both the life of an independent woman who stays in a private women’s club when she visits London, against the stark reality of London slums in the early 1900’s and the bleakness of Holloway prison.

Once again I find that I am listening to a crime fiction book that I know is going to have me delving back into the history of this period when women got rid of children they couldn’t afford. A chilling aspect of life at the turn of the 19^th to 20^th century.

This is Nicola Upson’s third book featuring Josephine Tey and in this book, she has for me began to find her place in writing first class crime fiction.

The narration by Sandra Duncan brought much to my enjoyment. This audio is highly recommended.

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Lizzie Hayes

Nicola Upson was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and read English at Downing College, Cambridge. She has worked in theatre and as a freelance journalist, and is the author of two non-fiction works, and the recipient of an Escalator Award from Arts Council England.

Since discovering the work of Golden Age author Josephine Tey/Gordon Daviot, she has developed a passion for the theatre and literature of the period, and an admiration for those who wrote and performed between the wars. Her research has included many conversations with people who remember the time and who knew Josephine Tey, including Sir John Gielgud and Margaret Harris, one of the design team ‘Motley‘.

She lives with her partner and splits her time between Cambridge and Cornwall, where the next novel in the series is set.

Photograph of Nicola courtesy of Julia Hedgecoe

Sandra Duncan is an award-winning actress with significant credits on television, radio and the theatre, where she is probably best known for her portrayal of Mrs Birling in An Inspector Calls in the West End, as well as performances in All My Sons by Arthur Miller and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee. Her television credits include

Coronation Street

, Doctors, and Midsomer Murders.

‘Carnival for the Dead’ by David Hewson

Published by MacMillan,

6^th January 2012.

ISBN: 978-0-230-75593-2

Receiving a somewhat cryptic note form her Aunt Sofia, and being unable to reach her by telephone for several days, Teresa Lupo travels from Rome where she is a Forensic pathologist, to Venice.  Teresa is surprised that on hearing about the strange note her mother Chiara should instantly decide to accompany her.  It is February, and Venice is in the grip of carnival fever and experiencing freezing temperatures. 

Arriving at Sofia's apartment in the Dorsodura they find no clues to her disappearance, nothing but mess - so where is Sofia? What has happened to her?  The situation brings forth from Chiara a startling revelation about Sofia's past that re-focuses Teresa’s view of her beloved Aunt – although, a painter of mediocrity, a writer still writing the book she started some twenty years ago, she was always vibrant and on the move, living in exotic places.  Is this the real Sofia?  An anonymous letter delivered to Teresa by Camilla, the girl living in the apartment below Sofia’s, appears to be a work of fiction but it is puzzling in that both Teresa and Sofia feature in the story, together with an Englishman called Aitchison. The bunch of flowers accompanying the letter she assumes are from her partner Peroni, currently on a police assignment in Sicily and out of contact.

Teresa’s arrival in Venice has not gone unnoticed and she is contacted by Alberto Tosi, a retired pathologist she had come to know on an earlier visit to Venice* with an invitation to be his guest at the carnival that day.  The first day of the carnival is ‘The Flight of the Angel’ and on route to the police to report her aunt missing Teresa and Tosi become caught up in the masses of people attending the carnival, and they are witness to a death.

The Venice police are pleasant but Teresa feels sure that with the carnival and the spectacular death taking up much police time, little will be done to find her aunt. To whom can she turn for help in what is becoming more puzzling by the hour, as she receives more anonymous stories – are they from Sofia?, or the person who is holding her? Or is Sofia dead?  

The story is told third person by Teresa Lupo, but also by the anonymous story teller, who weaves a tale that may or may not be the truth.  This is not just a mystery of today but takes the reader back into the history of Venice. I was utterly captivated by the cryptic clues in the  anonymous stories that weave their own mythical tale. The clues are all there but the interpretation needs an insight into the history of Venice.  This is a book with a surface mystery that you want to solve, but more interestingly will invoke a need to know more of the history that surrounds this mystery.  I can only liken it to the interest I developed when I read for the first time ‘Daughter of Time’ by Josephine Tey and ‘The King’s General’ by Daphne Du Maurier.  Both had me delving deep into the history books. 

If you have visited Venice this book will evoke the memories of your visit to the city, the bright lights, the restaurant’s and gaiety, and then, turning into a square, or sometimes a small courtyard, and hitting deep silence - tall buildings where no lights show, the signs of poverty and neglect, and the feeling that you are maybe being watched.  If you have never visited Venice, reading this book you will know you must go, and soon.

David Hewson has been described as one of the finest crime writers, and after reading this book I have to agree. If you only read one book this year, make it this one.

Lizzie Hayes

* See The Lizard’s Bite

David Hewson was born in Yorkshire in 1953 and left school at the age of seventeen to work as a cub reporter on one of the smallest evening newspapers in the country in Scarborough. Eight years later he was a staff reporter on The Times in London, covering news, business and latterly working as arts correspondent. He then worked on the launch of the Independent and was a weekly columnist for the Sunday Times for a decade before giving up journalism entirely in 2005 to focus on writing fiction.  He is the bestselling author of nineteen books published in more than twenty languages. His popular Costa contemporary crime series is now in development for a series of movies in Rome.

For more information visit his web site http://www.davidhewson.com

Lizzie's Top Ten 2011

Every year DorothyL (Internet discussion group which last year celebrated its’ 20^th year) asks us to list our Top Ten List of top reads for the preceding year. Basically the books that knocked your socks off, here is mine:

Lizzie's Top Ten 2011

Frozen Charlotte by Priscilla Masters (2011)

‘There was nothing to mark her out. She sat quietly in the corner of the Accident and Emergency department, in the seat farthest away from the registration hatch.’ The opening two lines of Frozen Charlotte have the reader griped from that moment.  For the woman is clutching a bundle in a pink blanket that contains a new born, that has been dead for several years.

What Lies Beneath by Sarah Rayne (2011)

Although the book starts in the present day when Ella Haywood hears alarming news whilst queuing at the supermarket, the story switches back to 1912 where we meet the Cadence family of Cadence Manor in the village of Priors Bramley, narrated by Crispian Cadence the eldest son, and a series of journals – author initially unknown. Although the seeds for the catastrophe of 1960 were sown in the early 1900’s the full horror does not actually come to light until the present day. This is a gruesome yet utterly absorbing tale, where the sins of the fathers are certainly visited on their children.  For Ella Hayward the past must stay buried, but secrets have a habit of finding their way to the surface.

The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris (2011)

Douglas Brodie a former police man who enlisted to fight for King and country is now in 1946 returning to Scotland.   Demobbed, Brodie has secured a job in London as a reporter, where he intended to stay, but news from Hugh Donovan, a childhood friend who is sentenced to be hanged within the month convicted of the murder of a child, has him bound for home.

66° North by Michael Ridpath (2011)

The story is one of anger, helplessness, fear, and in some respects everyone's greed.  As more people in influential positions are murdered Magnus continues to pursue his line of investigation which is not in-line with his superiors. The `whodunit' aspect kept me enthralled to the end. And the final sentence has me leaping up and down for the next book. A real page turner, this is an excellent piece of writing

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman (2011)

Carol Goodman gives the reader a thought provoking tale and an interesting mystery to which she provides a satisfying conclusion, but the tale of The Changeling Girl and its interpretations may remain with you a long time.

Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson (2011)

Waking up in a strange bed in a strange room lying next to someone we do not recognise and of whom we have no memory, may have happened to one or two of us after a great party and a hard nights drinking, but gradually memory seeps back usually accompanied by a massive pain in the head, and as things become clearer, infinite regret.   But what if there is no memory at all, and what if it happens every day that we wake.  This is what happens every day to Christine Lucas – she knows she is Christine Lucas only because that is what the man beside her tells her, he is, he says her husband Ben. Christine, if that is who she is, and she only has this stranger’s word for it, feels nothing for this man who says he loves her.

The Herring in the Library by L C Tyler (2011)

This is the classic whodunit, with a good cast of suspects whose motives gradually come to light as Ethelred investigates at the request of Annabelle Muntham. But above all it is a fun read. The story is told by Ethelred and Elsie in alternate chapters. They are marvellous well-fleshed out characters, that you so want to meet. The prose is witty and beautifully delivered.  This book is highly recommended and whilst I await the next instalment of Ethelred and Elsie I will catch up on the earlier ones – you should do too, if you haven’t already

The Deadly Touch of the Tigress by Ian Hamilton (2011)

Ava Lee is a forensic accountant - she tracks money owed to people who have advanced money in good faith, but then found that the recipients have reneged on their commitments. Asked by her elderly Hong Kong based ‘Uncle’ to locate money that should have been paid to Andrew Tan, Ava sets out to track the money and return it to its rightful owner.  But, although she quickly successfully tracks the money, retrieving it is a different matter. Her quest takes her to Guyana, and it’s not a place I would ever want to visit, and if you read this book you won’t want to visit it either. But with some fancy footwork Ava sets up deal, but she is dealing with rogues and very influential rogues at that. Can Ava pull it off?

For whatever reason you pick up this book, don’t put it down unless it is safely in your tote bag and you are taking it home. It is a not to be missed read. I just can’t wait for the next one.

A Means of Escape by Joanna Price (2011)

Debut book. Cleverly plotted this is an intriguing mystery which kept me reading into the early hours. Kate is a most engaging protagonist, feisty and yet vulnerable, her interaction with her immediate boss Rob Brown adds much to the story. Whilst, the solution was satisfactorily tied up, there is a good hook at the end to make me want to keep an eye out for the next book

The Lost Daughter by Lucretia Grindle (2011)

The main narrators of the story are Enzo Saenz as he struggles to make sense of the two disappearances, and the background to the story which is told by a series of flashbacks from Anna Carson’s past. So enthralling and descriptive is the writing that I became so immersed in the story that there were occasions when I looked up from the book and was surprised to find I was in the UK, and not in Florence.  

‘Shadowbreaker’ by Joy Ellis

Published by Robert Hale,

30th September 2011.

ISBN: 978-0-7090-9306-0

DI Nikki Galena has returned to her home in the Fens.  Feeling good she sets off for work to welcome back Sergeant DS Joseph Easter who is today joining her CID team on his first day back after being injured on duty*.  As she walks to her car she is enthusiastically greeted by her closest neighbour Martin Durham whom she has known for nine years.  He tells her he has some interesting news but it can keep until the weekend.

Later, called to the incident of a jumper Nikki is horrified to see the body of her neighbour Martin, who just a few hours previously had greeted her with pleasure.  Now he is dead by his own hand.  He had thrown himself from the top of the church tower.  What could have happened to drive this happy man she saw earlier to suicide in a matter of a few hours.  With friends and family Martin appeared to have no reason to take his own life.

Sergeant DS Joseph Easter is pleased to be back at work, but not so excited at being given the task of reviewing suicides in the area.  But a chance sighting of Billy Sweet, a man from Joseph’s past turns Joseph’s life upside down – what is Billy Sweet doing here? Joseph has reason to fear Billy Sweet and eventually unable to deal with the nightmare, realises that he has to face his past before he loses his mind and maybe his life.  Should he tell Nikki of his past experiences so that she can understand his deep fear of Billy Sweet?

A discovery of a second body, one who bears a resemblance to Billy Sweet, totally unnerves Joseph.  But Nikki is trying to make sense of another bizarre suicide. Are there two killers out there?

I was totally hooked as I struggled to comprehend the mystery of the suicides, and how Joseph would resolve his personal nightmare. A fascinating and complex mystery from a clearly gifted writer.

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Lizzie Hayes

* see Mask Wars

Joy Ellis grew up in Kent but moved to London when she won an apprenticeship with the prestigious Mayfair florist, Constance Spry Ltd. Having run her own flower shop in Weybridge for many years, Ellis then worked as a bookseller until a trip to the Greek island of Skyros, where she took part in a writer's workshop with Sue Townsend who encouraged her to write her own books. She now lives in Lincolnshire with her partner Jacqueline and their two Springer spaniels, Max and Rowan

‘Deception’ by Adrian Magson

 Published by Severn House, 2011. 

ISBN: 978-0-7278-8130-4

Harry Tate is a former MI5 officer who still has a ‘loose’ attachment to the Security Services. So he was not unduly surprised to be contacted by an MI6 officer, one Richard Ballatyne, who wants him to do a job and in return he will return the favour.  The favour being the whereabouts of one Henry Paulton, former Operations Director of MI5, the man who had posted Harry to Georgia and nearly succeeded in having him eliminated – Harry hasn’t forgotten and is still keen to catch up with Paulton. But Ballatyne has another job for Harry – locating missing Military personnel, but not your average squaddies who are AWOL, these are personnel who carry important information that could be damaging if it falls into the wrong hands.  He gives Harry a short list of six, the most important being one Vanessa Tan who has failed to report for her return flight to Afghanistan.

Locating missing people is one of Harry’s skills, but he discovers that he is tasked with locating people who have been taken, or are in the process of being taken by a professional group called ‘The Protectory’.  Not, as he later learns, a group to be crossed.  But the sweetener is that Ballatyne says that Paulton is connected to the group.

As Harry tackles the list of missing military personnel he comes to the attention of the group and runs into their disposal personnel.

In tracking people down Harry has the assistance of his friend Rik Ferris, who still has his arm in a sling following a shooting. But even Rik cannot seem to get a handle on the whereabouts of Vanessa Tan.  Soon matters escalate and Harry receives help from an unlikely source, one that Harry doesn’t trust but one for which is nevertheless grateful.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s I was a great fan of spy books, particularly those by Palma Harcourt – I still have them all.  In latter years they seemed to go out of vogue but just recently seem to be having a revival and this is one of the best.

Fast paced with some great dialogue this is one of those unputdownable books – the ones that keep you reading into the night. I loved it.  Highly recommended.

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Lizzie Hayes

Adrian Magson has three series. In his first series featuring Riley Gavin & Frank Palmer, there are four books. Although born in the UK, Adrian lived and was educated for a time in France. So it is fitting that he sets one of his series in France featuring Inspector Lucas Rocco. The first book is entitled Death on the Maris which was published by Allison & Busby 30 September 2010, and the second book Death on the Rive Nord published August 2011. His series featuring Harry Tate published by Severn House is set in the world of espionage. The first book Red Station was published 9^th September 2010, followed by Tracers which was published in February 2011. Deception is the third in the series.

‘Dying For Justice’ by L.J. Sellers

Published by Spellbinder Press, 2011.

ISBN 9780983213833

Gina Stahl, opens her eyes, but has no idea where she is, all that comes instantly into her mind is ‘someone tried to kill me’.

When she comes to full consciousness she discovers that she is in a long-term care facility and has been in a coma for two years, following her suicide attempt.  Although her brain is fuzzy Gina tells the police that she had not tried to commit suicide but that that she had been attacked by a man wearing a ski mask, and that she believes the man to be her ex-husband.  But, her ex-husband is a police officer, so who will believe her.

The case is assigned to Detective Wade Jackson, who works with the violent crimes unit of the Eugene, Oregon Police Department.  DI Wade has an excellent record of closing cases, but DI Wade is distracted by a letter received from Hector Vargas, the man accused, convicted and jailed for the murder of his parents, eleven years ago.   Hector Vargas tells Jackson that he is innocent, and now that he is terminally ill with cancer he wants to set the record straight. Despite Jackson’s skepticism he knows that he has to follow it up.

Jackson works both cases, but only manages it with the help of his 32-year-old trainee detective- Lara Evans.  Soon Jackson finds himself in the unenviable position of suspecting other police officers.  His re-opening and examining the circumstances surrounding his parents death brings him into contact with his brother with whom he has not seen for a number of years.

The story of both cases grips the reader, with the narrative alternating between Jackson and Lara Evans.  I could not put this book down - a fine piece of plotting that had me hooked, and turning the pages eager to know if, and how justice would be done for these two cold cases. 

Highly recommended.

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Lizzie Hayes

L J Sellers She is the author of the bestselling Detective Jackson mysteries and standalone thrillers.  Also an award-winning journalist, capturing the Grand Neal in 2002 for her articles titled “Discovery! Neurology” and winning a second Neal in 2003 for her role on Pharmaceutical Executive, named “best overall magazine.” The Neals are the highest awards granted to trade magazines.

‘Sleep like the Dead’ by Alex Gray

Published by Sphere,

22 December 2011.

ISBN: 978-0-7515-4379-7

The shooting of thirty-seven year-old Kenneth Scott divorced, no children living in a quiet suburb of Glasgow, seems motiveless – even the victim has a surprised look on his face.  And disbelief from those who knew him, ‘such an ordinary bloke’ seems to be the census of opinion - it must have been a mistake!

Investigating is Detective Chief Inspector William Lorimer’s team and his new Detective Constable Omar Adel Fathy.  And so they begin the interviews of those closest to Kenneth Scott with the exception of his ex-wife who they cannot locate. 

Across the city, a hit-man is keen to collect his fee and be on his way. But matters don’t go smoothly and this makes him angry and bent on revenge.

Meanwhile in Spain wee toerag Billy is living royally on 10K that isn’t his, but wee Billy is not that savey away from his native Glasgow.

Further professional killings has DCI Lorimer struggling to find any evidence, and following budget cut-backs he cannot call on criminal psychologist Solomon Brightman, to give him a profile of the killer.  Although saddened that he is no longer able to be involved, Solomon and his wife Dr Rosie Ferguson, the forensic pathologist is pregnant with their first child, so they have much to occupy them, but Solomon is closer to the case than he knows.

An intriguing mystery, rich is characters that initially seem unrelated until the author skilfully draws the threads together and the story unfolds to reveal the full picture.  The strands of the story are satisfyingly tied-up, with a twist at the end that for this reader ejects into the story a note of sadness.  Very highly recommended.

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Lizzie Hayes

Alex Gray, born in Glasgow, is a Scottish crime writer. She has published six novels, all set around Glasgow and featuring the character of Detective Chief Inspector Lorimer and his psychological profiler  Solomon Brightman. The earlier novels being published Canongate and later books by Little Brown. She has also written several magazine articles.

‘Down the Darkest Road’ by Tami Hoag

Published by Orion

19 January 2012.

ISBN: 978-0-75289-898-8

Lauren Lawton happily married living in Santa Barbara with two children has the perfect life until the disappearance of her sixteen year-old daughter Lesley.  In the space of one afternoon Lauren’s life turns from joy to nightmare.  And four years on the nightmare continues – her daughter never found and her husband dead, Lauren lives in anger and fear with her younger daughter Leah now fifteen, just the age that Lesley was when she disappeared.

Although Lesley has never been found, Lauren knows who took her daughter but without a single piece of evidence the police are powerless to do anything and despite their pity for Laurens plight her constant haranguing of the police department have worn thin their patience.  Now Lauren has moved to Oak Knoil but has the man who took her daughter also moved to Oak Knoil – is he stalking her?

Aptly titled it is indeed a dark road that Lauren is travelling, accompanied by her daughter Leah who should as a teenager be enjoying life but who lives daily in the shadow of her missing elder sister and her mother’s total preoccupation with bringing to justice the abductor of her daughter. Whilst the loss of a child, particularly in these circumstances is unbelievably horrific, this story illustrates how a tragic event can consume one to the detriment of everything and everyone.

Written in first person journal form by Lauren as she seeks to gain catharsis by recording the events as she remembers them, and by multiple third person point of view, we gain a picture of the lives of the people touched by this terrible event.  The overriding emotion is one of powerlessness as Lauren tries to protect her remaining child, but at every turn she seems to be the one in the wrong as she reacts in panic when matters begin to move beyond her control.  Not a comfortable book, but one that will remain with you long after you have turned the last page, as one cannot help but wonder ‘what would I do in these circumstances’?

Highly recommended.

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Lizzie Hayes

Tami Hoag.  Born in Iowa on January 20 1959 and raised in Minnesota began her writing career at the age of nine with the self-published, self-illustrated third-grade hit Black Pony.  The school project—a tale of two children sharing a pony named Smoky—sparked Hoag’s love for storytelling and the publication of her first novel, The Trouble With J.J. With fifteen consecutive Times bestsellers to her credit, including Deeper Than the Dead, Secrets to the Grave, and Prior Bad Acts, Hoag has more than 35 million books in print, published in more than twenty languages worldwide.  Her first thriller, Night Sins, was made into a two-part mini-series in 1997. An avid competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage, Tami currently lives in Palm Beach County, Florida, where she competes her horses on the prestigious winter show circuit.