‘Nobody’s Hero’ by M.W. Craven

Published by Constable,
10 October 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-40871760-8 HB

Ben Koenig has a condition which makes it impossible for him to feel fear. He has been through intense training to discover what someone who has this complaint is capable of, his handler is Jen Draper and they are given many government contracts.

At London’s Speaker’s Corner a homeless looking woman kills two pickpockets and seems to abduct another woman – or was she rescuing her? The police are baffled, the killer seems to have vanished into thin air.

Later the “homeless” woman is identified as a person Ben Keonig had been instructed to make seem to disappear ten years ago.

His knowledge and expertise are needed to discover why she has resurfaced. He is based in the US. and is called in by the highest authorities dealing with top security, who send him to London with Draper.

Once there they are taken to the US. Embassy and told about the discovery of a supposed plot to bring disaster to the U. S. A. It seems to be connected to the woman who Koenig made disappear all those years ago and it has the title of Acacia Avenue Protocol. No one has any idea what it actually means.

So begins Koenig and Draper’s task of discovering what heinous crime is planned. As Keonig gets deeper and deeper into the plot, he realises how devastating it is. Part of it concerns finding out what possible cargo can a small boat be carrying that seems to be the centre of it all. He also discovers it’s all well and good not feeling fear, but it does lead him into a very precarious life-threatening position, taking others along with him. He leaves a trail of murder, mayhem and destruction in his wake. However, it will be well worth it if he can prevent the incredible destruction planned, but can he?

What a great thriller, full of heart stopping gung-ho action and a huge amount of dark humour. Plus, as an added bonus there is a really surprising ending.

I cannot recommend this book too highly for lovers of the good old-fashioned stop at nothing, death defying hero, righting wrongs, or attempting to!
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

M. W. Craven was born in Cumbria in 1968 but grew up in the North East. He trained for two years as an armourer before spending the next ten being paid to travel the world and drink ridiculous amounts of alcohol. In 1995, sick of writing postcards and having fun, he decided it might be time to do something a bit more sensible. And it doesn't get more sensible than doing a law degree. So, he did Social Work instead. Two years later he started working in Cumbria as a probation officer. Sixteen years later he took the plunge and became a full-time writer. Mike's first Washington Poe novel The Pupped Show, won the Gold Dagger for best novel in 2019.  The Botanist, published in 2022, the fifth book in the series won the Gold Dagger in s  four books in the series. A fifth book is scheduled for publication in 2022.  He lives in Carlisle. Mike is a member of the Crime Writers' Association, the International Thriller Writers' Association, and the Mystery People Group.

http://www.mwcraven.com/  

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.

‘Rough Justice’ by Biba Pearce

Published by Mortlake Press,
24 September 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-73854030-3 (PB)

When the dead body of lap dancer Bianca Rubik is found near Waterloo Station in London, police begin to look for a male vagrant who was caught on CCTV near the place she was found.  DC Gareth Trevelyan is handed the case, and his first task is to identify the unknown man.  When two officers show a still image of the possible suspect to Shrap Nelson, another rough sleeper, she recognises his face and agrees to go with them to assist the detective in charge. 

The officers take Shrap to Southwark Police Station unaware that she is a veteran who had served with the Royal Engineers before moving into the Royal Military Police.  During her time in the army, Shrap frequently faced the possibility of injury and capture in hostile environments around the globe.  Her luck ran out when she encountered and was incarcerated by the Taliban.  The gutsy soldier survived and returned to the UK to resume her military duties, but just twelve months later her experiences took their toll.  Diagnosed with PTSD, her career and long-term relationship were destroyed.  For the past two years she has been sleeping and living on London’s streets amongst the homeless, drug addicts, drunks and gangsters.  This comes with its own problems, but it’s the memories of her time in the armed forces that haunt her.

Shrap tells DC Trevelyan that the man in the photo is called Doug and that he’s ex-army.  What she doesn’t confide to the detective is that her fellow veteran had talked her out of taking her own life some months earlier.  When she realises that Doug is a suspect in a murder case, Shrap decides to employ the investigative skills she learned as a Military police officer to prove her friend’s innocence. 

Then Waterloo gives up yet another corpse.  This time it’s Doug, and Trevelyan thinks that the old soldier must have murdered Bianca before he deliberately or accidentally killed himself.  This would be convenient and solve two suspicious deaths in one go, but Shrap isn’t having any of it.  She convinces Trevelyan that there are some anomalies that throw doubt on Doug’s culpability and suddenly the pair find themselves working in tandem.  It’s an unlikely alliance and one that puts them both in danger.

Rough Justice is a fast moving and well plotted crime thriller.  Each chapter is concise, compelling, and carefully constructed.  Violence is sometimes described graphically, yet without ever becoming gratuitous.  Shrap and Gareth both have complicated histories, they are the perfect protagonists as they negotiate the case from very different situations.  London is depicted with realism; the sights, smells and sounds of the city are realistic and a sense of edgy jeopardy lurking just below the surface is palpable.  Brilliant!

Biba Pearce has created a page-turner full of attitude with twists and turns galore.  Highly recommended. 
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent 

Biba Pearce grew up on the wild eastern coast of Southern Africa. She now lives in Surrey, and when she isn’t writing, can be found rambling through the countryside or kayaking on the river Thames. She writes gritty police procedurals and is the author of the bestselling DCI Rob Miller series published by Joffe Books. She was the winner of Best Crime Fiction at the 2024 National Indie Excellence Awards and was a finalist for the 2024 Feathered Quill Award for Best Mystery Thriller

Website: www.bibapearce.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.  

Coming Soon: City of Destruction by Vaseem Kham

 

Published by Hodder & Stoughton.
28 November 2024.

The 5th Book in the Malabar House series

Bombay, 1951. A political rally ends in tragedy when India's first female police detective, Persis Wadia, kills a lone gunman as he attempts to assassinate the divisive new defence minister, a man calling for war with India's new post-Independence neighbours.

With the Malabar House team tasked to hunt down the assassin's co-conspirators - aided by agents from Britain's MI6 security service - Persis is quickly relegated to the sidelines. But then she is given a second case, the burned body of an unidentified white man found on a Bombay beach. As she pursues both investigations - with and without official sanction - she soon finds herself headed to the country's capital, New Delhi, a city where ancient and modern India openly clash.

Meanwhile, Persis's colleague, Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, lies in a hospital fighting for his life as all around him the country tears itself apart in the prelude to war...

Vaseem Khan was born in London in 1973. He studied finance at the London School of Economics. He first saw an elephant lumbering down the middle of the road in 1997 when he arrived in the city of Mumbai, India to work as a management consultant. This surreal sight inspired his Baby Ganesh Agency series of 'gritty cosy crime' novels. His aim with the series is to take readers on a journey to the heart of modern India. He returned to the UK in 2006 and has since worked at University College London for the Department of Security and Crime Science. Elephants are third on his list of passions, first and second being great literature and cricket, not always in that order. His first book The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra was a Times Bestseller and an Amazon Best Debut. The second in the series Perplexing Theft of The Jewel in The Crown won the 2017 Shamus Award for Best Original Private Investigator Paperback. His latest book in the Malabar House series is City of Destruction. 

 http://vaseemkhan.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VaseemKhanUK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VaseemKhanOfficial/

‘Blackshirt Rebellion’ by Jason Monaghan

Published by Level Best Books,
17 September 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-68512-736-7 (PB)

Hugh Clifton, Commander Z3 Confidential Investigation Section, is back in action.  It’s 1937 and, in this version of Britain, Edward VIII has not abdicated, and Fascism is thriving, with a large number of groups (the story suggests more than twenty) looking for members and power.  Hugh originally took the role in the Intelligence Unit of the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists (British Union) at the behest of MI5 – his dishonourable discharge from the army left him vulnerable to pressure and he had joined the BU as a spy.  However, he has proved able to serve two masters and has had sufficient success in post to have moved up in the structure of Department Z. 

Hugh has a close-knit group of agents (though individual loyalties are always in doubt) and together they fight constant danger as it becomes clear that there is something deeper going on and that powerful individuals with the British establishment are pursuing their own route to power at the expense of any individual or group that stands in their way.  As he and his colleague and partner Sissy, (a member of the British aristocracy and a committed member of the BU), try to understand what is going on and who (if anyone) can be trusted, they and their friends and colleagues face danger, betrayal and death. 

This is the third in the series and, as with the earlier novels, neatly mixes fact and fiction.  Hugh is a quiet, engaging hero, unwilling to accept praise and, surprisingly, not the killer he is thought to be.  Real players and real events are skilfully woven into the fast moving, complex and lively plot and the reader is swept along by the action.  It’s an interesting, thought-provoking and satisfying read.

Though this is the third in the Agents of Room Z series, it does work as a stand-alone.  The author has included a useful list of characters (real and fictional) and a note on the historical background. 
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood
Other books by this author:  The Agents of Room Z series:  Blackshirt Masquerade, Blackshirt Conspiracy;  Jeffrey Flint Archaeology Mystery Series:  Darkness Rises, Byron’s Shadow, Shadesmore, Lady in the Lake, Blood and Sandals;  Historical Novel:  Glint of Light on Broken Glass

Jason Monaghan was born 1959 in Yorkshire is a novelist and Roman archaeologist. He has also at times been a financial regulator, an anti-money laundering specialist and a bank director. The eccentric side of Archaeology provided the background to his first five novels written under the pen-name of Jason Foss, and he is an active member of the Crime Writers Association. Glint of Light on Broken Glass is his first historical novel. Major projects he has worked on include Britain's most intact Roman ship (from Guernsey), and possibly the only known English Elizabethan shipwreck (off Alderney). His PhD thesis was on the Roman Pottery of Kent and he later published research on pottery from the Roman fortress of York. Each summer since 2009 he has led a group of friends excavating in Alderney, investigating what looks to be Britains finest small Roman fort. He lives in Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

https://monaghanfoss.com 

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.

‘Delivering Lazarus’ by Carol Westron

Published by Pentangle Press,
26 October 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-91755501-2 (PB)

Annie Evans is stunned when she sees some paintings by Chris Harland. The nineteen-year-old has skills that would merit a place on her course at Galmouth Art College.  There’s just one problem - he is currently on remand and awaiting trial for murder. The college has an outreach programme though, and Annie decides to visit the young artist in prison.  Chris is no angel and is candid about his misdemeanours, but he insists he has been set up when it comes to the murder charge. 

The lecturer decides to try to help Chris develop his talent, but before she can do that, she needs to convince two people.  The first is Neil Walder, her head of department, and the second is her husband Rick, a Detective Inspector with Galmouth Police.  Rick’s been on prolonged sick leave but will instinctively want to avoid Annie’s association with a known felon, not only for her safety, but also because of the implications as he prepares to return to duty.  Knowing it will not be easy, Annie nevertheless presses on, determined to champion Chris as an artist and ensure that he has a chance to put his past behind him. By doing so, she places herself, and those she cares for, in jeopardy.

The novel explores domestic and work relationships through the perspectives of the married couple at its heart. Annie and Rick, through their contrasting points of view, provide balance and empathy as the story unfolds. Both are strong characters who inspire empathy as their respective fears and flaws are revealed. Similarly, the vulnerabilities of the book’s younger characters are presented with understanding as they negotiate, sometimes painfully, their early adult years in an increasingly convoluted society. Drug dependence, homelessness and domestic abuse are treated with sensitivity whilst exposing the damage they inflict on those who encounter or endure such predicaments. 

These gritty themes are set against the gentle humour and compassion that Annie’s character injects into the narrative.  Indeed, as the title suggests, Delivering Lazarus is ultimately a tale about hope.  It begins with Annie who, whilst she is not immune from the vagaries of the world, advocates relentlessly for others. When those she encounters during the story find a way through their difficulties to confound the naysayers, it inspires optimism. 

Delivering Lazarus is the second in Carol Westron’s Galmouth Mysteries series and marks the welcome return of Annie and Rick Evans who made their first appearance in The Fragility of Poppies. The novel works perfectly as a stand-alone.

A story that is engaging, thrilling and heart-warming. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels re set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. interview

www.carolwestron.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.  

‘Death on Dartmoor Edge’ by Stephanie Austin.

Published by Alison & Busby,
19 September 2024. 
ISBN: 978-0-7490-3118-3 (HB)

Juno Browne works hard at her businesses.  She has a small business doing housework, dog walking and providing home help care.  She also owns Old Nick’s, the Ashburton antiques shop which she inherited from its former owner. 

One day, having had to close the shop because of lack of staff, she arrives from her domestic duties to find it open and on entering she recognises the voice of her friend Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is talking with a man called Colin, who appears to be trying to blackmail her.  Colin leaves and Elizabeth explains that she is being pursued for money her dead husband had stolen.  Colin works in a local retirement home, Moorland View, in which her sister is a resident and Elizabeth had been traced via that contact.  Juno’s natural inclination to investigate is aroused and she’s happy to use her amateur detective skills.  Then, on a visit Ricky and Morris, friends who run a theatrical costume hire business, she helps unpack some of the returned clothing hampers. They quickly notice a strong smell of whisky coming from one hamper.  Here they discover Freddy, the actor son of one of Ricky’s friends, and he is in trouble (hence the hamper and whisky).  He unwisely accepted the offer of a substantial amount of money for a small job – he was to make a few changes to his part in a play, being given the change of script on a weekly basis.  Apart from really annoying his fellow actors, things had suddenly become dangerous, and he had fled.

So, Juno now has two investigations to consider.  But the the discovery of Colin’s dead body makes things very serious indeed and the police become interested in Juno’s activities.

This is the eighth of the Devon Mysteries, so Juno’s character and lifestyle are well-established.  The story is well plotted, and her friends and colleagues fit neatly into the action, providing colour and contrast.  It blends the exciting and dangerous world of the amateur detective with the quieter, more structured life that Juno usually enjoys.  The book works as a stand-alone, and the reader can quickly slip into the flow of Juno’s life, but it’s always fun to find a new series to read from the beginning.
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood
Other books by this author:  Dead in Devon, Dead on Dartmoor, From Devon with Death, The Dartmoor Murders, A Devon Night’s Death, Death Comes to Dartmoor, A Devon Midwinter Murder.  

Stephanie Austin has enjoyed a varied career, working as an artist and an antiques trader, but also for the Devon Schools Library Service. When not writing she is actively involved in amateur theatre as a director and actor and attempts to be a competent gardener and cook. She lives in Devon.

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.

‘Our Holiday’ by Louise Candlish.

Published by HQ,
4 July 2024.
IBSN: 978-0-00861465-2 (HB)

The beach at Pine Ridge is full of people enjoying the festival atmosphere, when a property falls from the cliff onto the sand.  The story starts with a bang and then moves to the weeks preceding this event in the small Dorset village.

Numerous characters are introduced, varied in background, age, wealth and education, and we follow them through the month of August, as the village population increases with the arrival of the DFLs (Down from London visitors).  The villagers rely on tourism for a substantial part of their income.  As in many such places, there is resentment towards second-home owners, Pine Ridge itself having a couple of groups expressing their frustrations in direct action, from greeting tourists with a shower of eggs to small acts of criminal damage to property.  Such activities infuriate some of the visitors and serve to create a slightly menacing atmosphere.

As the residents and visitors settle in for the summer break (whether working on their second homes or working to make money while they can), the author uses the opportunities provided by the numerous and widely differing people to develop a number of sub-plots.  As the DFLs experience the small irritations of living in close and frequent contact with people they realise that they don’t really like, the cracks begin to appear.  The ruined building then reveals its own secret, when a body is discovered during the recovery work.  The village is shocked and, as the police begin to investigate, the pressure on certain individuals builds up and, for some, life really starts to unravel.

The first part of the story moves fairly slowly - the characters are introduced and, throughout the book, provide the opportunity to include many conversations around such subjects as generational divides, political differences and economic disparities.  The way they are presented does make it difficult to warm to any of them – thank goodness for Mango, the dog.  As the story progresses the pace picks up, and the author neatly weaves together the complicated lives of individuals, the circumstances in which they find themselves and how they react and gives a hint to the future. 
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood
Other books by this author:  The Only Suspect, The Heights, The Other Passenger, These People, Our House, The Swimming Pool, The Sudden Departure of Emily Marr, The Island Hideaway, The Day You Saved My Life, Other People’s Secrets, Before We Say Goodbye, I’ll Be There For You, The Second Husband, Since I Don’t Have You, The Double Life of Anna Day.

Louise Candlish studied English at University College London. She then worked as a travel writer, art book editor and copywriter, before beginning her first novel on a whim during a holiday in Sicily. Her books are emotional dramas, often located in foreign settings where characters behave quite differently from the way they might in their lives at home. Other People’s Secrets (published by Sphere in July 2010) is set in Orta San Giulio in the Italian Lakes, where Louise spent several (rainy) weeks researching. She lives in South London with her partner and daughter. 

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.

‘A St Ives Christmas Mystery’ by Deborah Fowler

Published by Allison & Busby,
24 October 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-749033193-0 (HB)

Merrin McKenzie met her husband when they were both undergraduates and after their marriage they continued to live in Bristol. Adam McKenzie moved up the ranks of the police force to become a chief inspector and Merrin worked as a solicitor. When tragedy strikes and Adam is killed, Merrin feels that she cannot not bear to continue living in the house they had bought and lived in together, especially now that their only child, Isla, is away at university. She decides to sell up and, accompanied by Horatio, a rescue parrot with attitude, she moves back to her childhood home, the coastal town of St. Ives in Cornwall.

For some time, Merrin has felt disillusioned with her work for the Family Court and does not regret leaving her legal practice. However, a new job is forced upon her and it is one that she would much prefer to pass to someone else. Merrin hates cleaning and has certainly never had an ambition to become a cleaner but her oldest friend, Clara, is overextended and in desperate need of a cleaner to service the two holiday cottages she owns. Although Merrin’s lack of domestic skill means that the changeovers are not seamless, they get done, until Merrin goes into the bedroom of one of the cottages and discovers a dead man in the bed. From the way the young man is laid out, it is evident that, whether or not he died by violence, his body has been moved to its present position.

Finding the young man brings back memories of Adam’s death but Merrin manages to internalise her reaction. In fact, she is so successful that the investigating officer, Inspector Louis Peppiatt, regards her with some suspicion and shows scepticism about her observations regarding the death. However, when Louis realises that she is the widow of Adam McKenzie his attitude changes, because he had met Adam and greatly admired him. There are no identity documents on the young man’s body and his dental records are not in the system. While Louis conducts the official investigation, Merrin continues to quietly make enquiries of her own. She is helped from a distance by her daughter, Isla, who makes a considerable contribution towards solving the mystery. At the same time, she is hindered by Clara, who takes shameless advantage of their long-time friendship, and persuades her to foster, William, the ugliest dog in the world, and at first the unfriendliest dog as well. This imposition works out well for Merrin, because she befriends and adopts William, and his affection enhances her enjoyment of her new home.

The investigation continues and another death occurs as the violence grows more extreme. Merrin and Louis start to co-operate more closely and Merrin discovers a way to use her training as a solicitor in a way that serves justice and protects the vulnerable. As Christmas comes around, life is better for Merrin and Isla than they had believed possible and, while never forgetting Adam, Merrin feels ready to move on with her new life in St Ives.

A St Ives Christmas Mystery is the first book in a new series featuring Merrin McKenzie. It is a heart-warming, cosy mystery, with a central character that is engaging from the first page. Indeed, all the characters in the book are likeable, especially Merrin, Isla and Louis. The plot is well constructed and deals with modern crimes and problems.

This is a superb start to what promises to be a delightful series, and it is an excellent Christmas mystery in a wonderful seaside setting. I enjoyed this book very much and wholeheartedly recommend it.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Deborah Fowler's first short story was published when she was seventeen. Since then, she has published over six hundred short stories, novels, a crime series and several works of non-fiction. Deborah lives in a small hamlet just outside St Ives and A St Ives Christmas Mystery is the first in a new series set against the beautiful backdrop of the West Cornish coastline.

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. interview

www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Death and the Dancing Snowman 

The Glencairn Glass launches ‘The Last Dram’

A crime fiction anthology to raise
money for charity

The Glencairn Glass – the world’s favourite whisky glass made by Scottish company Glencairn Crystal – has launched a collection of gripping crime fiction short stories by up-and-coming crime authors. The anthology features tales from 16 different authors, all of whom have previously entered the Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story competition over the last three years. All of the profits from the book sales in the run up to Christmas will go to charity.

The Glencairn Glass has supported and celebrated Scottish crime writing talent through its ongoing sponsorship of the prestigious McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland Debut crime-writing literary awards since 2020. Following this, the Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition was then launched in 2021 - an annual competition open to both experienced and novice crime writers around the world.

Working in partnership with Stirling University, a collection of the most enthralling stories from the competition’s entrants has been collated for the creation of the anthology named The Last Dram. Students from Stirling University helped to create various aspects of the final collection, from assisting with the curation of the stories to the design and layout of the book.

The Last Dram has been edited by Heather J. Fitt, a Scottish,  crime fiction author based in Hampshire, who appeared at this year’s annual Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling.  The talented authors whose stories have been featured in The Last Dram are Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition winners and runners up as well as other entrants whose stories impressed the competition judges.

The list of contributing authors, including both experienced and debut writers, is as follows:

Allan Gaw (2022/23 runner up) – Allan has since gone on to win this year’s Bloody Scotland Debut Prize which is an impressive achievement.

Phillip Wilson (2023/24 winner)
Elisabeth Ingram Wallace (2023/24 runner up)
Brid Cummings (2021/22 winner)
Jennifer Harvey (2021/22 runner up)
Judith O’Reilly (2021/22 runner up)
 
Other writers featured in the book include the published crime author Morgan Cry, as well as Gayle Thompson, Louise Sharland, Ewan A. Dougall, Ben Colley, Julian Benson, Shona MacBryer, Anna Wallace, Bryce Main and BV Lawson.
 
Money raised from sales of the anthology book will go to Maggie’s - a cancer care charity that provides free expert care and support in centres across the UK and online.
 
The Last Dram includes grisly tales of murder, retribution and revenge, as well as the chilling confession of a food blogger who sought vengeance on her violent husband. There’s also a disillusioned tourist guide on the Isle of Skye who sends badly behaved tourists to suffer a gruesome fate, a series of murders set in a Glasgow police station in 1928 which the police have to unravel, plus many, many more spine-tingling stories.

Kirsty Nicholson, Design and Marketing Manager at Glencairn Crystal said: “We’ve been blown away by the outstanding quality of the stories that have been entered into our Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition over the last few years. We wanted to showcase these gripping reads for people in a collection to support and celebrate the talented authors and the world of Scottish crime fiction, whilst raising money for Maggie’s – a very special charity.  A fine dram of whisky in a Glencairn Glass is the perfect accompaniment to settling down with a good book over the winter months;  ‘The Last Dram’ also provides the perfect Christmas gift for those friends and relatives who are difficult to buy for.” 

The book is available as both an e-book (priced £5.99) and a limited-edition book in print (£9.99). There is also a special gift pack containing the printed book alongside two Glencairn Glasses (priced £25.99) - the ideal Christmas present for lovers of both whisky and crime fiction! The e-book, print book and gift set with Glencairn Glasses are available via the Glencairn Glass website online shop: Glencairn Anthology. 

@bloodyscotland #BloodyScotland 

‘Shadow of Poison’ by Peter Tonkin

Published by Sharpe Books,
14 September 2024.
ISBN:979-833924242-0 (PB)             
It’s 1586 and Robert Poley, Queen Elizabeth’s intelligencer, is newly returned to England from war in Arnhem, Holland. He has only recently played a part in unmasking Anthony Babington’s plot to murder Queen Elizabeth, replace her with the Queen of Scots and return the country to Catholicism. On his return Poley is taken to Sir Owen Hopton, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, who tells him of a suspected plot to kill the Queen. He wants Poley to go under cover as a notorious poisoner to discover more. First, he is placed in a cell in the Tower with suspected plotters spreading the feeling among them that he really is a poisoner. Meanwhile, he learns a lot about different poisons from his “interrogators” when he is supposedly taken for questioning.

The main person coming under suspicion is the Queen’s physician Doctor Lopez, Poley finds this very hard to believe as he seems devoted to Her Majesty, and she thinks the world of him.

One day when Poley and other men are experimenting with different poisons, Archbishop Creagh is accidentally killed and Poley is blamed, leading to him being sent from England. While abroad he starts to investigate plans by King Philip of Spain who plots to poison Queen Elizabeth. The dethroned King of Portugal Dom Antonio also comes under suspicion along with countless spies.

Poley then uncovers more suspicions involving Doctor Lopez and he returns to England in1590 determined to find out more. On his arrival he is approached by Robert Cecil to join his spy network.

Meanwhile the Earl of Essex, recently humiliated on the field of battle, is determined to win the Queen’s favour once more and show himself to be the one to save her from the “poisoner” Doctor Lopez. He becomes a real thorn in the side of the Queen’s intelligencer. The more Poley delves into suspicious plots involving poisons and their poisoners the more confused he becomes, trying to tell friends from enemies. Plus, as much as he wants to believe in the innocence of the Doctor, events make him start to wonder. Can he really take the chance that Lopez may be plotting to poison Her Majesty? The whole affair becomes a real gamble for Poley. Will her doctor be found guilty or innocent, it takes four years for the decision to be made one way or the other.

A really all consuming, intriguing book full of double dealing and perilous plotting times. The story telling brings it all to life dramatically.

Very highly recommended for readers at all interested in the latter years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign with their unsettling events and outcomes.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Peter Tonkin was born 1 January 1950 in Ulster, son of an RAF officer. He spent much of his youth travelling the world from one posting to another. He went to school at Portora Royal, Enniskillen and Palmer's, Grays. He sang, acted, and published poetry, winning the Jan Palac Memorial Prize in 1968. He studied English with Seamus Heaney at Queen's Belfast. His first novel, Killer, was published in 1978. His work has included the acclaimed "Mariner" series that have been critically compared with the best of Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes. He has also written a series of Elizabethan mysteries. Since retiring from teaching he has written mysteries set in Ancient Rome and more recently a series set in Greece.

https://petertonkin.com/

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.

‘Murder in Transit’ by Edward Marston

Published by Allison & Busby,
26 October 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-3017-9 (PB)

It is 1866 and Giles Blanchard, a wealthy estate agent, is travelling by train from Chichester to Portsmouth, after which he intends to take the ferry to the Isle of Wight where he resides. He follows an elegant and attractive woman into a first class carriage and, despite the presence of a man in naval uniform who seems to be sleeping off a drunken binge, Blanchard approaches the woman and makes his lecherous intentions obvious. The woman encourages his advances but Blanchard’s plans for a pleasant interlude go very wrong and, at Portsmouth, a railway official discovers him dead by violence.

The Chief Constable of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Constabulary requests that Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck, popularly known as the Railway Detective, is sent to Hampshire to investigate the crime. Colbeck and his trusted sergeant, Victor Leeming, travel down immediately. When they have been informed of the circumstances surrounding Blanchard’s death, Leeming travels by train to Chichester to question the men at the Haven Club, the gentleman’s club where Blanchard had spent the evening, and Colbeck goes by ferry to the Isle of Wight to talk to the dead man’s family.

Both detectives are told by the people they first interview that, as well as being a shrewd businessman,  Blanchard was a thoroughly decent man, popular and generous, and devoted to his wife and family. However other people, who are less close to the victim, paint a different portrait, describing an ambitious and ruthless man with a roving eye for attractive young women. This does not surprise Colbeck and Leeming who had already speculated about why such a reputedly caring husband should spend so much time staying at his club rather than travelling home, and they wonder if the victim was indeed a man who had had sexual relationships with other women. Blanchard’s killers already know the answer to this question because they have discovered amongst his possessions a very indiscreet notebook and they are delighted to have acquired a new, lucrative source of income that involves less risks than robbery.

The investigation is rendered even more urgent by the detectives’ awareness that the widowed Queen Victoria is residing at Osborne House, her beloved home on the Isle of Wight. Many years ago, Colbeck had been instrumental in saving the lives of the Queen and the Prince Consort, and he is determined that nothing should impair Her Majesty’s pleasure in her island retreat, much less place her in danger, and he is dismayed when their enquiries lead them to the inner circle of the royal residence.

Murder in Transit is the 22nd book in the Railway Detective series. It is a delightful, multi-viewpoint book in which the reader is offered far more information than the detectives. The historical information is fascinating and the central characters are engaging. An enjoyable addition to an excellent series, which I highly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Edward Marston was born and brought up in South Wales. He read Modern History at Oxford then lectured on the subject for three years before becoming a full-time freelance writer. His first historical mystery, The Queen's Head, was published in 1988, launching the Nicholas Bracewell series. A former chairman of the Crime Writers Association Edward has written over forty original plays for radio, film, television and the theatre. Edward lives in Gloucestershire with his wife and author Judith Cutler.  Murder in Transit, is the 22^nd book in the Railway Detective series. 

http://www.edwardmarston.com/

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People.

www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Death and the Dancing Snowman