‘A Dance of Cranes’ by Steve Burrows

‘A Dance of Cranes’ by Steve Burrows

Published by Point Blank, 12 September 2019.
 ISBN: 978-1-78607-577-2 (PBO)

Canadian born Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune now lives in Norfolk, England. He has recently split up with his girlfriend Lindy. An attempt was made on her life, and he believes it to be an ex-con Ray Hayes trying to take revenge on Jejeune through Lindy as he was responsible for putting Hayes away. He believes that by splitting up and moving back to Canada at least for a while, he will keep Lindy safe.

At the same time, as insurance he has a sergeant Danny Maik keep an eye on her. In Canada while bird watching by Lake Toronto with his brother-in-law Roy, he learns that his brother Damian and his guide Annie Prior have lost contact while trekking in remote woods in the North West Territories.

Domenic flies up to see the park superintendent about organising a search but is told that as they are not overdue no attempt will be made yet to find them. As Domenic knew his brother's last co-ordinates, he decides to look for him himself, not realising what grave danger he is putting them in.

Meanwhile back in Saltmarsh, Norfolk, newly promoted sergeant Lauren Salter is put in charge of solving the murder of a Wattis Wright an elderly man living on his own. It’s very difficult to find a motive, nothing seems to have been stolen or disturbed in any way. A cheque for a large amount of money is found in his lounge. Salter discovers it is from the sale of rights to choreography it is thought he had created years ago for a group now making a comeback. Could there be a connection somehow?

According to a neighbour, an Albert Ross was heard having a big row with Wattis, could he be capable of murder? Salter wishes she had Jejeune there to advise her as he always used to.

Meanwhile Maik is called off keeping Lindy under surveillance and she disappears. A message comes through to him demanding he tells Jejeune to come to where Lindy is being held or she will be killed.

Back in Canada Domenic, Damian and Annie are now overdue and a search begins, but can they be found in time for Domenic to be informed of Lindy's capture and to fly home and save her? Time is of the essence.

A thoroughly absorbing book. The action switches effortlessly between Norfolk and Canada keeping the reader guessing until the very end.

Trekking in remote woods never did appeal to me, I am now convinced I am right!  I highly recommend this tale and its every bit as good as the last one of the “birder murders” I read.

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Reviewer:  Tricia Chappell

Steve Burrows has pursued his birdwatching hobby on five continents. He is a former editor of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society Magazine and a contributing field editor for Asian Geographic. He was winner of BBC Wildlife magazine’s ‘Nature Writer of the Year’. Author of the Birder Murder series set in Britain’s prime birding county of Norfolk and featuring Canadian DCI Dominic Jejeune. Steve now lives with his wife in Oshawa, Ontario.

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

More Exciting News from Capital Crime

CAPITAL CRIME, CAPITAL ENTERTAINMENT

In two days, we throw open the doors to the Grand Connaught Rooms and welcome hundreds of crime and thriller fans to Capital Crime.

FRIDAY FILM
We're pleased to announce we shall be screening WIDOWS, the brilliant film directed by Steve McQueen, adapted from Lynda La Plante's seminal series. The screening is open to all Friday Day Pass and Weekend Pass holders.

MYSTERY PANELS
FRIDAY
On Friday, we're thrilled to be welcoming two brilliant authors to Capital Crime to talk about the experience of having their novels adapted for screen.
SJ Watson is an international bestseller whose debut novel, Before I Go To Sleep, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong. Paula Daly is the critically acclaimed author of six novels. Her books are being adapted for the new ITV series, Deep Water, starring Anna Friel. They will be talking to Capital Crime co-founder and screenwriter, Adam Hamdy.

SATURDAY
Adam Hamdy will be back on Saturday as part of a panel on the Craft of Writing. He'll be in conversation with his partner in Capital Crime, David Headley, the founder of DHH Literary Agency and Goldsboro Books, and Vicki Mellor, Fiction Publishing Director at Pan Macmillan. A number of Capital Crime passholders have asked for a panel on writing advice, so if you're an aspiring author, come along. There will be an opportunity to ask questions of the panellists.

You can find the final Capital Crime schedule here:
 https://www.capitalcrime.org/capital-crime-schedule/

FREE SHIPPING
We’re pleased to announce our festival bookseller, Goldsboro Books, is offering free UK shipping on books bought at the festival, so you don’t have to worry about carrying a suitcase full of signed books home with you. Let Goldsboro take the strain while you enjoy meeting your favourite authors and discovering new ones. International shipping is also available.
Please ask staff for details.
 
CAPITAL ENTERTAINMENT, CAPITAL VALUE
We’re also delighted to announce that all pass holders will be entitled to complimentary tea and coffee at the festival, courtesy of the fine folks at Pan Macmillan. Weekend pass holders will be entitled to two complimentary drinks from the bar at the opening night drinks party, thanks to DHH Literary Agency. And Saturday and weekend pass holders will be entitled to two complimentary drinks from the bar at the Saturday night drinks party, thanks to Amazon Publishing.

All our pass holders will also receive a fantastic goody bag packed with books, samplers and freebies.
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Pass holders are currently voting for the Amazon Publishing Readers' Awards. If you're a Capital Crime pass holder, visit www.capitalcrime.org, log into your account and cast your votes today.

If you have any questions about Capital Crime, please try our FAQs: https://www.capitalcrime.org/faqs/

If you're planning to come to Capital Crime and haven't booked your pass, you're running out of time, and we're running out of tickets.
Click here to book your passes or visit www.capitalcrime.org

We look forward to seeing you at the festival
David & Adam

McIlvanney Prize Winner Announced.

Bloody Scotland
20 –22 September 2019 

MANDA SCOTT REVEALED TO BE THE WINNER OF
THE McILVANNEY PRIZE
SCOTTISH CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2019

David Baldacci announced at the opening of Bloody Scotland that the winner of the 2019 McIlvanney Prize is Manda Scott for A Treachery of Spies published by Transworld.

It is only the second time in its 8-year history that the prize has been won by a woman. Two previous winners – Denise Mina and Chris Brookmyre (this time as Ambrose Parry with wife Marisa Haetzman) were amongst the four finalists along with Doug Johnstone – but A Treachery of Spies was the unanimous winner.

The panel of judges which included Guardian journalist Alison Flood; Chair of Publishing Scotland, James Crawford and former Head of Programmes at Channel 4, Stuart Cosgrove, described A Treachery of Spies as:

‘A powerful, complex and remarkable espionage thriller: a present-day murder links back to Resistance France.  An intricately plotted novel which keeps the reader guessing right to the end.’

Lee Child described it as:  

‘a beautifully imagined, beautifully written, smart, sophisticated – but fiercely suspenseful – thriller’ 

 

Born and raised in Scotland, Manda has been, variously a veterinary surgeon, veterinary anaesthetist, acupuncturist columnist, blogger, economist – and author. She began her writing career with a series of crime novels, the first of which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. No Good Deed, the dark, edgy thriller which followed, was nominated for an Edgar Award and hailed as one of the most remarkable thrillers of the year in 2001.

The McIlvanney Prize recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, includes a prize of £1000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones.

This year Bloody Scotland also introduced the inaugural Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year and special guest, Richard Osman, presenter of Pointless on TV and soon to be a debut author himself, presented it to Claire Askew for All the Hidden Truths published by Hodder. She is a poet, novelist and the current Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh.

Both winners accompanied David Baldacci at the head of the torchlit procession from Stirling Castle to his event at the Albert Halls which begins at 8.30pm.

Festival Director, Bob McDevitt commented:

‘I am delighted that a woman has won both the McIlvanney Prize and the Debut Prize. Coincidentally we had already planned a panel on Spy Sisters about how women are beginning to enter the male dominated preserve of spy fiction. When Manda was longlisted for the prize we added her to the panel. Now anyone who had booked to see that event at 2.30pm tomorrow will be lucky to hear from the McIlvanney Prize winner.’  

Immediately after being presented the McIlvanney Prize 2019 by David Baldacci, Manda Scott announced that she wished to share the prize equally with all finalists - Doug Johnstone, Denise Mina and Ambrose Parry (Chris Brookmyre & Marisa Haetzman).

She invited them all to join her on stage on this day of climate protest and said 'This is the proudest moment of my life. We need to change if we're going to get through this moment of climate and ecological crisis and we need to change the way we do things - this starts with abandoning rivalry. We need to cooperate. We need to share. I would like this to be a grain of sand in a tide that sweeps us to a new way of being.'

Manda and the other winners went on to lead the torchlight procession with David Baldacci. 

Manda Scott was born in Glasgow but now lives in Ludlow, Shropshire. She will be in Stirling until Monday afternoon. 

If you would like to talk to either of the winners, the judges or the Director of Bloody Scotland Bob McDevitt please contact fiona@brownleedonald.com 07767 431846.

‘Lessons in Playing a Murderous Tune’ by Charlie Cochrane

Independently Published,
18August 2019.  
ISBN: 978-1-68653042-5

It is 1911 and the Cambridge Fellows, Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart, are happily settled and content with their positions at St Bride’s College, Cambridge, their fame as amateur sleuths, and their lives together. Although they are constantly aware that they must keep their love for each other secret or face imprisonment and ruin. All that Orlando and Jonty need to make life perfect is a new case to investigate. However, when a case is offered, Orlando is far from happy. The person wishing to employ their detective skills is the Warden of Gabriel College, the Oxford college where Orlando studied before he came to Cambridge and met Jonty. The thought of returning to Oxford brings back all Orlando’s feelings of insecurity and fear of failure.

To add to Orlando’s confusion, it is unclear whether Jonty and Orlando are being asked to investigate one case or two. A potentially valuable violin has been left in the Old Quad at Gabriel College, in mysterious circumstances, and nobody has claimed it, but the Warden is convinced that it is connected to the death of a friend of his, a talented violinist, Peter Dennison. The police accepted the doctor’s verdict that Dennison had died of natural causes, heart failure, but the Warden still suspects foul play.

Despite Orlando’s secret hope that the Master of St Bride’s will forbid them to go to the assistance of their rival university, everyone is eager for them to accept this new challenge. Once in Oxford, Jonty and Orlando have to disentangle the threads of the two cases and discover whether they are linked in any way. Despite the evidence that Peter Dennison died of natural causes, they continue to probe into a tangled web of intrigue, resulting in the discovery of a complex and deeply rooted conspiracy.

This novella is part of the long running Cambridge Fellows series and is a gentle, pleasant read. Jonty and Orlando are engaging protagonists and their relationship is the central driving force of the stories featuring them. The descriptions of Edwardian Oxford are delightful and it is fun to see it through the eyes of Jonty and Orlando. Lessons in Playing a Murderous Tune is an enjoyable book, which I would recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Charlie Cochrane couldn't be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team— so she writes. Her favourite genre is gay fiction, predominantly historical romances/mysteries.  A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and International Thriller Writers Inc, Charlie's Cambridge Fellows Series, set in Edwardian England, was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name.  

http://www.charliecochrane.co.uk 

  

Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a Creative Writing teacher.  She is the moderator for the cosy/historical crime panel, The Deadly Dames.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  The Terminal Velocity of Cats the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, was published July 2013. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. To read the interview click on the link below.
https://promotingcrime.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/carol-westron.html

www.carolwestron.com

http://carolwestron.blogspot.co.uk/ 

To read a review of Carol latest book Strangers and Angels click on the title.

‘Acts and Monuments’ by Alan Kane Fraser

Published by Matador,
28 February 2019.
ISBN: 978-1-789016 08-6 (PB)

Barry Todd is a pretty ordinary bloke – late forties, overweight, balding. He lives in a medium-sized Midlands town not far from Birmingham and works for a local housing association where he tries to do some good for other people – the homeless, the unemployed, and those in financial difficulties due to cuts in social security benefits. Financially life isn’t that good for him, he would like to be able to pay off his mortgage and to help provide for his daughter just starting at university and if he could that would help to improve the state of his relationship with his wife which has been deteriorating since the death of their son. And he expects his finances to improve with promotion to the post of Head of Department – no less than he deserves, he feels, with all his experience and his years of service to the association. But Barry is, frankly, rather a plodder so the bosses of the association give the post to Barry’s colleague, the younger, thrusting, harder-nosed Langley Burrell. Barry has never got on with Langley particularly since he sacked Barry’s wife who has been unable since then to find a job, a fact which Barry and his wife have kept from the mortgage company. Not unnaturally, Barry’s resentment starts to build, not just towards Langley who has deprived Barry of his company car, but towards his bosses.

And then an opportunity comes Barry’s way. A young man for whom he had found accommodation with a housing project who was supposed to be getting over his drug addiction is found dead of an overdose. The police do not suspect foul play so there is no real reason why when Barry goes to the young man’s home, he should not take away with him a cardboard box with the few papers that the young man has. And among the papers is the young man’s cheque book. And that is when Barry begins to hatch a plan to create an elaborate plan to divert to himself some of the money that his housing association is due. And he really does intend to pay it back before too long. But meanwhile he can top up his daughter’s living allowance and pay the rent for one of the housing association’s clients, the young and attractive Rumanian, Iulia Nicolescu, whose benefits have been cut and who has been forced to turn to prostitution. Even better, when his colleague Saleema Bhatti takes voluntary redundancy and she and her husband return to Pakistan to look after her father who has to have a serious operation, he can lend her the substantial sum required for the operation. But things are becoming difficult for Barry; even though police enquiries into the fraud are half-hearted at best and their investigation into the young man’s death not much better, Barry is by now living on his nerves. And although Saleema and her husband do repay the money Iulia uses her relationship with Barry, who is now paying her for sex, to blackmail him. In return, Barry could inform the so-called Rumanian Migrants Welfare Association of Iulia’s new address, but they have threatened her with death. And Barry’s relationship with his wife is deteriorating yet further although he is too preoccupied with his own concerns to understand her despair. More and more he visits the Birmingham Art Gallery studying a particular painting – only at the end does he realise that it depicts not Peace but Death.

When I started reading this book, I was uncertain how it would rank as a crime novel. There is no violence in these pages, no grand shootouts, no international spy rings. But fraud is one of the most prevalent of crimes today and does untold damage to innumerable people. There is far too much for the police to investigate and the evidence is unbelievably voluminous, so it is only the really massive frauds which are investigated. The research on this story is extensive and feels highly authentic. And the examination of the moral framework on which we all base our lives – well, most of us – certainly provides food for thought. Recommended.

------

Reviewer: Radmila May

Alan Kane Fraser was raised and still lives in Birmingham with his wife and family. He has worked for many years in the fields of social housing and homelessness and knows the world that his debut novel inhabits intimately. He has previously written pieces for The Guardian, Inside Housing and The Local Government Chronicle, amongst others, and his stage play, Random Acts of Malice, won the inaugural Derek Lomas Award for Best New Play at the Wellington Literary Festival.

Radmila May was born in the U.S. but has lived in the U.K. since she was seven apart from seven years in The Hague. She read law at university but did not go into practice. Instead she worked for many years for a firm of law publishers and still does occasional work for them including taking part in a substantial revision and updating of her late husband’s legal practitioners’ work on Criminal Evidence published late 2015. She has also contributed short stories with a distinctly criminal flavour to two of the Oxford Stories anthologies published by Oxpens Press – a third story is to be published shortly in another Oxford Stories anthology – and is now concentrating on her own writing.

‘The Killer You know’ by S.R. Masters

Published by Sphere,
2 May 2019.
ISBN: 978-0-75157037-3 (PB)

It is 1997 and friends Adeline, Rupesh, Steve, Jen and Will are gathered around and discussing what they intend to be doing in sixteen years’ time when they will be in their thirties. Most come up with the usual ambitions, doctor, actress etc. until it comes to Will's turn. He announces that he intends to kill three people making him a serial killer. They will all be unrelated and none of them will be traceable back to him, but his gathered friends will know he carried out the murders. At first, they have a good laugh but when he seems serious the atmosphere changes. But surely, he is having them on, isn't he? 

We then go to 2015 and the same friends have arranged to meet up after all this time. Everyone turns up except Will. They wait well into the evening and give up on him. While they are waiting though, Jen happens to check on her phone and discovers there has been a death at a festival, exactly how Will described he would kill the first person. A coincidence? Very disturbing. They decide they must try to trace him, even if it’s just to put their minds at rest.

Throughout the book alternate chapters are set in 1997-8 and 2015 and we learn more about the characters of the “gang” as they think of themselves. It appears Steve and Adeline and Rupesh and Jen were items which left Will rather out on a limb. He always seemed a bit strange and withdrawn.  Back in 1997 the gang also had issues with a Bill Strachan a neighbour, but Will seemed to connect with him. This didn't go down too well with the rest of them, they felt Strachan's behaviour was having an influence on Will.

When a game is devised, where they take it in turns to leave clues for the rest to follow, it leads to more bad feelings especially between Steve and Will. Eventually though they all leave to go back to college still pretty good friends.

Back to 2015 and Will seems to have disappeared, there are tales of him being on drugs and in trouble with the police, but the rest of the gang are determined to find him. But will they regret it?

Once I got used to switching from 1997 to the relative present day, I really enjoyed the increasingly creepy, uneasy undercurrents as the characters of the gang were slowly revealed. A rather clever piece of writing showing how our younger lives can influence us years later. Recommended for lovers of a slowly building mystery with disturbing atmospheric undertones. 

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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

S R Masters grew up around Birmingham, and spent his teen years reading, playing in bands and wandering through fields with friends. After studying Philosophy at Cambridge, he worked in public health for the NHS, specialising in health behaviour. His short fiction has featured internationally. He regularly contributes to UK short fiction anthology series The Fiction Desk, having won their Writer's Award for his short story 'Just Kids'. His story 'Desert Walk' was included in Penguin Random House USA's 'Press Start to Play' collection. The Killer You Know is his debut novel. He currently lives in Oxford with his wife and son.

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

‘The Big House’ by Larche Davies

Published by Matador,
28 July 2019.
ISBN: 978-1-789018 24-0 (PB).

Four children – Lucy (15), Paul (6), David (15) and Dorothy (16) – are crammed into the back of a car, driven by Pete and social worker Bev. They are being driven to Wales, to a safe house, prior to their giving evidence in the trial of two men charged with two or perhaps three murders connected with a cult which worships a being called The Magnifico. The priests of the cult, the Holy Leaders, are intent on establishing world-wide control by impregnating women whom they have abducted; once the women have served their purpose, they are eliminated by lethal injection.

Any records of the children born as a result of this procedure are destroyed so that their true parentage cannot be traced. These four children are not the only ones who have been conditioned to carry out this fell purpose; there is a countrywide network of such people who are hiding in plain sight so the children in this story have to observe utmost precautions lest a rash word or action betray them. But at the same time, they will be going to school where they will make friends. Can those friends be trusted? And even the two kindly elderly ladies who will care for the children in the safe house – are they entirely trustworthy?

This is a sequel to The Father’s House and given the age range of the main characters in the narrative, I think is aimed at older children and young adults.

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Reviewer: Radmila May

Larche Davies studied law at the universities of Aberystwyth and London. She worked in London as a barrister and legal journalist, and then in Cardiff as a judge in employment tribunals. She has five children and seven grandchildren. The Father's House was her first novel. She started writing it after she fell over the dog and broke her leg.

Radmila May was born in the U.S. but has lived in the U.K. since she was seven apart from seven years in The Hague. She read law at university but did not go into practice. Instead she worked for many years for a firm of law publishers and still does occasional work for them including taking part in a substantial revision and updating of her late husband’s legal practitioners’ work on Criminal Evidence published late 2015. She has also contributed short stories with a distinctly criminal flavour to two of the Oxford Stories anthologies published by Oxpens Press – a third story is to be published shortly in another Oxford Stories anthology – and is now concentrating on her own writing.

‘The Artemis File’ by Adam Loxley

Published by Troubador Publishing Ltd,
7 May 2019.
ISBN: 978-1-78901873-8 (PB).

George Ambrose Wiggins, compiles crossword puzzles for the London Chronicle newspaper and lives in Tenterden with his wife Margaret.  Complete with hanging baskets and pubs galore, the Kentish village has doggedly refused to succumb to the retail chains that have decimated most British high streets and is the perfect home for George, a man of temperate and predictable habit.  In the opening paragraphs of Chapter One he follows his usual Thursday night routine, popping into The Red Lion for a few pints with the locals on his way home from work.  By the end of the chapter, however, his world has been turned upside down as he is plunged into the thrilling tale of espionage concealed within The Artemis File. 

The first few chapters of the book introduce a giddy array of spies attached to MI5, the CIA and their Russian equivalent, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB).  The plot lines are intriguing, and there is little time to consider how they might relate to each other given the G-force of the accelerating narrative.  Some respite is offered in the book’s descriptions of Kent and London.  These are meticulously, often beautifully, portrayed and contain fascinating and well researched historical information. 

Characterisation is excellent throughout.  With the possible exception of Wiggins, one would not wish to socialise with any of the personalities who are still standing at the end of the breathless narrative.  This includes the central protagonist and anti-hero, Craven, whose character attracts and repels in equal measure.  The ex-special operations investigator, apparently loyal to crown and country, evinces machismo and employs extreme brutality when dealing with, admittedly similarly vicious, adversaries.  Craven’s nihilism, casual misogyny and racism make him an unpredictable and complex character.  For all his lack of political correctness, however, he’s definitely the guy to choose when confronted by the other deplorable undercover operatives depicted in the novel.

The Artemis File, is a sequel to Adam Loxley’s 2011 debut novel, The Teleios Ring.  It is a fascinating and well-constructed novel that captured my imagination from beginning to end.  The book pulls no punches and is perfect for those who enjoy the literary equivalent of a rollercoaster’s dive drop, it provides non-stop action and an edge of your seat ride.  I enjoyed every shocking twist, had no idea who to trust, and was completely outmanoeuvred by the final chapters.  A cracking good read!

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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Adam Loxley lives in the Weald of Kent. Other than creative writing his passions are making music, world cinema and contemporary art.  The Artemis File is a sequel to his debut novel, The Teleios Ring. The third and final novel in the Vector trilogy, The Oedipus Gate, is currently in manuscript.

adamloxley.com

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

‘A Spot of Vengeance’ by C.J. Anthony

Published by Troubador Publishing,
28 July 2019.
ISBN: 978-1-78901838-7 (PB)

The Prologue introduces us to a Danny Swift, ex-army intelligence and an aspiring artist. He is the main character in the story that unfolds.

Danny is determined to get known in the art world and befriends a well-known art dealer and critic Hafiz de Mercurio. He agrees to help him further his talent as he has contacts in all the right places.

One day Hafiz takes him to the Serpentine Gallery where he is introduced to Bernadette, she runs the gallery, Danny is instantly in awe of her. 

He meets her again when he is at an art exhibition and they get on really well. However on the way home he is abducted by British Intelligence, it seems they want his help once again. To his amazement he is told his friend Hafiz is an Islamic extremist sleeper and is believed to be plotting some sort of terrorist attack. They want Danny's help in discovering what he has planned, he reluctantly agrees.

They tell him they believe Hafiz is behind two recent horrific killings. Both incidents involved a painting of Joseph Legend being destroyed along with a print of each painting. Although Danny finds it hard to believe his friend is involved, he starts to spy on him. He surreptitiously photographs some papers he discovers in a “locked” draw. It gives details of people with different chemical names by each of them. Danny realises they all have connections to Legend paintings.

As he researches Legend's work further it becomes apparent that Hafiz has devised a code involving the spots, circles and numbers depicted in all of the works of art. But what is he planning and where?

Thom his contact in British Intelligence is convinced that whatever Hafiz is plotting is going to happen soon and urges Danny to discover what.

Can he solve the codes connected to the paintings in time? He is sure the answer lies in a work by Joseph Legend entitled “Chemical Warfare” being displayed in the Tate Modern Gallery. But what is it and can he find out in time to prevent the horrific attack Hafiz has planned? Time is running out.

A very clever and intricate plot set in the world of modern art. It tells of how someone slighted in the past plots to exact terrible vengeance on the people involved. Highly recommended.

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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

C J Anthony was born in Birmingham. His debut draws on his experiences as a former British Soldier, technical advisor and security specialist in the Middle East. He is passionate about anything creative, an avid art collector and a keen painter who has exhibited in London.

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

‘More Rivals of Sherlock Holmes’ edited and introduced by Nick Rennison

No Exit Press,
23 May 2019.
ISBN: 978-0-85730260-1

When Sherlock Holmes stories were first published between 1887 and 1927, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation encouraged other writers of the period to pen tales of their own super sleuths.  More Rivals of Sherlock Holmes is a carefully chosen selection of fifteen detective stories published between 1890 and 1914.  Here is a whistle-stop tour through the anthology.

The Missing Heir (1896) by Herbert Keen, begins the compilation.  An unassuming clerk, Mr Perkins, receives an intimation of good fortune from the mysterious Mr Farquhar Barrington.  Perkins sensibly consults his friend, retired detective Mr Booth, before signing a financial agreement with Barrington.  But will Booth’s skepticism cause Perkins to lose his inheritance altogether?

In Ernest Bramah’s The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage (1914), the brilliant, blind detective Max Carrados is engaged by Lieutenant Hollyer who has a hunch that his sister, Millicent Hollyer, is about to be murdered by her unfaithful husband.  Another matrimonial mismatch follows in The Arrest of Captain Vandaleur (1899) by LT Meade and Robert Eustace.  Walter Farrell, a successful businessman, has become addicted to gambling, a habit which is squandering his fortune and ruining his wife’s health.  Can the investigative expertise of Florence Cusack save the situation?

One Possessed (1913), by EW Hornung, describes how Dr John Dollar uses psychology to investigate the erratic behaviour of a wife who appears to “be losing her reason.”  In the next story, JE Preston Muddock’s Glaswegian Detective, Dick Donovan, seeks to retrieve The Jewelled Skull (1892).  Muddock’s detective predated Holmes and was, according to some critics, even more popular with readers than the Baker Street detective.

Horace Dorrington, the detective created by Arthur Morrison, has been described as a sociopath.  In The Case of the Mirror of Portugal (1897), Dorrington tries to get his own hands on a diamond that has been stolen from a would-be client.  In 1971 the story appeared on BBC television as the 6th episode in Season 1 of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes.  Morrison also authored the next tale, The Ivy Cottage Mystery (1895), which features another unusual detective, Martin Hewitt.  The author’s note describes Hewitt as the “antithesis” of Sherlock Holmes who attributes his successes not to genius but tenacity: “…my ‘well known powers’ are nothing but common sense assiduously applied and made quick by habit.”

Next, Judith Lee heralds three more female detectives in the compilation. Conscience (1911), by Richard Marsh, describes how Judith, a “lazy-looking girl,” employs her “inconvenient” gift of being able to lip-read, to solve the mysterious deaths of three women.  The next contribution comes from Baroness Orczy’s 1910 collection, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard. In The Man in the Inverness Cape we find Lady Molly disguised as “the landlady of a disreputable gambling-house” in order to discover the whereabouts of Mr Leonard Marvel.  Our next sleuth is the American detective Madelyn Mack.  In The Missing Bridegroom (1914), by Hugh Cosgro Weir, Mack exudes confidence and intelligence as she, along with her journalist-friend Nora Noraker and dog Peter the Great, cracks a case that has the police baffled. 

A further disappearance provides the subject for The Vanished Millionaire, one of The Chronicles Of Addington Peace (1905) by B Fletcher Robinson.  This time a man has walked out into the snow leaving only his footprints behind.  Next up is The Divination of the Kodak Films (1895) by Headon Hill.  When Lady Hertlet’s diamonds are stolen from her room in Okeover Castle, the quick actions of Sir Frederick Cranstoun bring about the arrest of the perpetrators.  The jewels, however, are nowhere to be found and will remain hidden unless Detective Mark Poignand can unravel the meaning of Kala Persad’s mystical insights.

In David Christie Murray’s (1895) The Case of Muelvos Y Sagra, Detective John Pym, is more a clone than a rival of Holmes.  Keen-eyed readers will recognise the narrative as remarkably similar to a more famous tale published in February 1892 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Next, The Search for the Missing Fortune (1914) by Percy James Brebner, involves a convoluted will, strange funeral arrangements and a silver pin! 

Finally, in R. Austin Freeman’s The Mandarin’s Pearl (1909), Fred Calverley regrets purchasing a pendant pearl when he subsequently finds out it is stolen property.  Convinced that the pendant is cursed he consults John Thorndyke and then the real trouble begins…

Following the success of his earlier collection, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, this book by Nick Rennison will appeal to readers who simply enjoy Victorian and Edwardian detective fiction for its own sake as well as academics and historians of the genre.  The editor’s succinct notes are informative, interesting and entertaining.  The influence of Conan Doyle’s writing is evident in most of the tales, but this does not diminish their value both as narratives in their own right and as artefacts of this important period in the development of detective literature.  More Rivals of Sherlock Holmes is highly enjoyable and illuminating throughout.

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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Nick Rennison is a writer, editor and bookseller with a particular interest in the Victorian era and in crime fiction. He has written several Pocket Essential guides published by Oldcastle Books including Short History of the Polar Exploration, Roget, Freud and Robin Hood. He is also the author of The Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide to Crime Fiction, 100 Must-Read Crime Novels and Sherlock Holmes: An Unauthorised Biography. His debut crime novel, Carver's Quest, set in nineteenth century London, was published by Atlantic Books. He is a regular reviewer for both The Sunday Times and BBC History Magazine.

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

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