Sunday, 12 May
09:30 - 10:20
The Panel are Nikki Copleston, Abby Davies,
Susan Grossey, Sherry Hostler, S.J. Richards,
and the participating Moderator is Zoe Sharp.
Kylie Gillingham is missing, presumed dead. For years she lived two lives, married to two men. To Mark Fletcher she was Leigh, a loving wife and stepmother to his two sons Oli and Seb, and with rich businessman Daan Janssen she led a glamorous life as Kai, until a few weeks ago when she disappeared after being exposed as a bigamist. One of her husbands is under investigation for her murder, and there’s a shadow over the other. The wealth of circumstantial evidence is probably enough to secure a conviction, but Kylie’s body has never been found, and Detective Constable Clements, assigned to the case, has reservations. A lot of them.
Emotions are running high in the Fletcher household, especially now that Fiona, Kylie’s erstwhile best friend, has moved in. Oli and Seb are wary of her, and twelve-year-old Seb is convinced his beloved stepmother is alive. Everything is made more complicated because it’s 2020, and Covid lockdown restrictions mean nothing can happen the way it should.
And then there’s Stacie, living in an isolated cottage with her father. Following treatment for brain cancer, she has lost her memory and is desperate to regain some sense of who she is.
Just Between Us is a sequel; it follows directly on from the events which led to Kylie’s disappearance. I came to it from a point of no knowledge, but I soon found it didn’t matter; I was soon absorbed in the family life of the Fletchers, Daan Janssen’s careful unpicking of the evidence against him, and most of all in Stacie’s story, which seems to happen in parallel, unconnected to the hunt for Kylie and evidence against her killer.
The characters may have had a previous life, but Adele Parks is an accomplished writer, and makes sure they come across loud and clear to readers unfamiliar with the earlier book. A layer of desperation underpins everyone’s life, and they all handle it differently. I especially enjoyed Seb and Oli, each dealing in his own way with huge trauma, adolescence, and the trials of lockdown; and Kenneth, Stacie’s father, coping with issues only he knows about.
Another of Parks’s strengths is creating atmosphere. The damp grey blanket that grief throws over everything; the near-hysterical euphoria when lockdown restrictions are lifted; a growing sense of menace and tension as the truth begins to unfold: all are almost palpable.
It’s one of those novels
which makes you long for a happy ending for at least some of the people
involved. Finding out whether or not they get it is only one reason to read
this twisty thriller; there are plenty more besides: characters to warm to or
loathe; a great sense of place; and most of all plain old-fashioned good
writing. It should garner new fans for Adele Parks.
------
Reviewer: Lynne Patrick
Connect with Adele Parks on Twitter @adeleparks, Instagram @adele_parks and Facebook @OfficialAdeleParks
Sunday, 12 May
09:30 - 10:20
The Panel are Elizabeth Chakrabarty, C. V. Chauhan,
Stephen Edger/M.A. Hunter, Jen Faulkner,
and the participating Moderator is Alison Bruce
Some crime novels are pure entertainment, if matters of life and death can be described in that way. Others make use of the life and death to explore other issues as well, and that’s what Jo Spain’s latest standalone sets out to do.
From the title, you could be forgiven for expecting a legal thriller, and the opening chapter does nothing to contradict that. A young man, Theo, leaves his girlfriend Dani asleep in her college room in the small hours of the morning, and heads out on a mission which is clearly of the utmost importance to him.
Fast forward nine years, and there’s the first suggestion that the trial in question is actually a different kind. A patient dies on a geriatric ward, and an observant nurse notices something on his records. She reports it, and a month later her body is retrieved from a canal after a car accident.
A year later still, Dani, the girlfriend in the first chapter, has returned to the college as a lecturer – and it soon becomes plain that she is not quite as she seems. Two mysteries start to unfold. Theo hasn’t been seen since his disappearance ten years earlier, and it seems only Dani is concerned; and the nurse’s ‘accidental’ death might be anything but. And the trial of the title is a long way from the legal kind.
Given Jo Spain’s previous life in politics and journalism, it’s unsurprising that what follows sounds pretty convincing as it delves into murky ethical territory. She does it through the medium of scratch-me-and-I-bleed characters, some unequivocally on the angels’ or devil’s side, some who leave the reader unsure what to believe about them. The locations, too, spring off the page: the venerable older college buildings, the shiny new science block, an upmarket bar, a village in France Dani visits, all come to life.
Spain explores the kind of topic which makes the news and does it with a sure hand on the tiller and a keen eye for what can go wrong. Alzheimer’s, the pharmaceutical industry, funding for education, care for the elderly all come under scrutiny, with the twin mysteries of Theo and the nurse woven into a complex fabric.
Some
mystery novels, the best kind in my opinion, raise important questions, examine
important issues, and make us wonder exactly what does go on behind closed
doors. This is one – and as it does all those things, it succeeds in being a
meaty page-turner.
------
Reviewer: Lynne Patrick
“Savage looked toward the mountains, but it was
impossible to see where the ranch land ended, and the hills began…”
For the last three days there has been heavy snowfall in Hawk’s Landing, South Colorado. It’s created a picture postcard landscape but is the last thing the town’s struggling farmers and businesses need and it’s causing all manner of trouble for Sheriff Dalton Savage. The officer, his wife Becca and baby Conor are still settling into their new property, Apple Tree Farm, and after a long shift, Dalton is glad to be on his way home to spend the evening with his family. Then a call comes through on his radio, suspicious noises have been heard coming from a barn on Lone Mountain Ranch. Savage grudgingly changes direction and makes his way through the relentless blizzard to investigate.
Inside the barn lies the mauled corpse of a young woman, it seems likely that an animal attack caused her death. Savage isn’t convinced though; something doesn’t seem quite right. He declares the area a crime scene and stays with the frozen body until a medical unit arrives to retrieve it. An autopsy reveals that hypothermia caused the victim’s death and that her injuries were inflicted post-mortem. After all, it looks like the woman’s demise was a tragic accident, the case is closed.
Enter FBI Special Agent Avril Dahl. She believes that the circumstances of the case fit the modus operandi of a serial killer who has been pursued for fifteen years. “The Frost Killer,” Dahl explains, has already killed fifty-three women - the victim in the barn could be his fifty fourth. At first the sheriff is irked at the outsider’s attempt to undermine his team’s investigation, but the FBI Agent’s evidence is compelling, and the case is reopened. Then, a second local woman is found dead.
The landscape in which the story unfolds is described with exquisite precision. Its remoteness, craggy mountains and perilous weather add to the sense of jeopardy that infuses the novel.
The story is initially told through a third person narrator and mainly from Savage’s viewpoint. Then, a few chapters in, the murderer’s point of view briefly interrupts the narrative. After this first intrusion, this change of perspective appears intermittently throughout the novel. These rare insights into the killer’s thoughts disrupt the story, challenging and unsettling the primary narrative voice. It is a skilfully executed and highly effective technique that adds to the suspense of the tale.
The relationships between the individuals working on the case provide an interesting subplot running through the story. The police officers are a tight group that reflect the community they serve. As they hunt for the killer, their sense of obligation to the people of Hawk’s Landing makes the investigation personal. Having an outsider join the team brings its own problems and her character is, to say the least, enigmatic.
The Frost
Killer is the fourth in
the Dalton Savage series, but the book works perfectly as a stand-alone. The
plot has surprises aplenty and cliff-hanger chapter endings ensure you’ll turn
the page to see what happens next. A great read and highly recommended.
------
Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent
Saturday, 11 May
13:40 - 14:30
The Panel are Guy Morpuss, Rachel North,
Teri Terry,
and the participating Moderator is Vaseem Khan
I was at a conference at the weekend and someone said 'are there any mysteries set at conferences'.
I have found a few.
|
AUTHOR |
YEAR |
TITLE |
|
ABRESCH. Peter |
2003 |
Painted Lady |
|
ASIMOV, Isaac |
1976 |
Murder at the ABA |
|
CANNON. Taffy |
1996 |
Class Reunions are Murder |
|
CHURCHILL, Jill |
2003 |
Bell Book and Scandal |
|
COLLINS. Max Allan |
1984 |
Kill Your Darlings |
|
CUTLER. Judith |
1996 |
Dying to Write |
|
FENNELL,Tony M |
2001 |
Don't Blame the Snake |
|
GLASS, Suzanne |
2000 |
The Interpreter (1st) |
|
HART. Carolyn G |
1991 |
The Chrisie Caper |
|
HESS. Joan |
2000 |
Conventional Corpse |
|
1986 |
The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn |
|
|
KING. Peter |
2001 |
A Healthy Place to Die |
|
LEWIS. Roy |
1998 |
Murder on the Golf Course / The Ghost Dancers |
|
LORENS. M K |
1992 |
Dreamland |
|
MILES. John |
Murder in Retirement |
|
|
O'KANE. Leslie |
1999 |
Fax of Life |
|
PETERS, Elizabeth |
1984 |
Die for Love |
Saturday, 11 May
13:40 - 14:30
The Panel are C.V. Chauhan, Sam Holland,
Joanna Wallace, Sarah Ward,
and the participating Moderator is Alex North
Saturday, 11 May
11:20 - 12:10
The Panel are J.G. Goodhind, Ada Moncrieffe,
Kate Wells, Ovidia Yu,
and the participating Moderator is Dolores Gordon Smith
