‘Rainforest’ by Michelle Paver

Published by Orion Fiction,
9 October 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-39877231-4 (HB)

Michelle Paver is well known as a writer of dark, mysterious books for children, and when she turns her hand to adult fiction the result is dark and mysterious enough to be avoided late at night lest it give you nightmares.

Rainforest is a powerful and scary tale based on her own experiences of visiting the south American jungle. Her version of it is freighted with unquiet spirits and hallucinatory potions and set at a time when white travellers had scant respect for either the terrain or the people who had lived in harmony with it for centuries.

Her protagonist is Simon Corbett, an entomologist who uses his search for new species as a means of escaping the aftermath of an obsessive love affair which ended in tragedy. He is still obsessed, and racked with guilt, a toxic combination which leads him into reckless behaviour and down some perilous paths.

The story is a familiar one of coming-of-age and redemption, but it’s skilfully woven into a sumptuous and graphic evocation of the jungle in all its luxuriant and baleful glory, its beauty and its dangers, and the effect it can have on the imagination. Or is it imagination? The local Indians believe everything, animate or not, has a spirit; who knows whether those spirits have the power to create havoc, or benevolence?

The evidence of careless destruction at the hands of money-grabbing outsiders plays a smaller part but is no less shocking for that. Contributing to that ruination are Simon’s fellow travellers, archaeologists, exploring (and to modern eyes despoiling) ancient Mayan ruins, and they are as colourfully evoked as the landscape. They are all misfits, a little eccentric: the bombastic Professor, self-important Ridley, clownish Birkenshaw. In contrast, the local Indians are laid back and sardonic, resigned to having their way of life and history trampled on. 

In many ways the story could be seen as secondary to the background, but Michelle Paver is too accomplished a writer to allow that view to persist. She uses the jungle to teach Simon Corbett a valuable lesson, about himself and about the world he comes from. His companions don’t change, but he does; he learns how to live peacefully in the jungle, not to fight and abuse it, and to respect the people who have made it their home.

The crime in this novel isn’t murder. It’s what human beings are doing to the planet we inhabit, and the damage we inflict on ourselves and each other along the way.  
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick 

Michelle Paver was born in Malawi to a Belgian mother and a father who ran the tiny 'Nyasaland Times', She moved to the UK when she was three. She grew up in Wimbledon and, following a Biochemistry Degree from Oxford, she became a partner in a City law firm. Eventually, though, having submerged herself in myth and folklore (not at work) and having been chased by a bear (again, not at work), she gave up the lawyer life to follow her long-held dream of becoming a writer. 

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

‘Broken House’ by Louisa Scarr

Published by Canelo Crime,
16 October 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83598-077-4

Third in the author’s PC Lucy Halliday series, Broken House features not only the engaging police dog handler Lucy but also her two lovable dogs: Moss, a black spaniel specialist search dog, and Iggy, a German shepherd trained to track and attack. In this series, Scarr writes in the popular genre of “K-9” —stories in which canine companions feature prominently.  

 

Inevitably, Lucy boasts a rich and complicated backstory. Lucy’s past with its unresolved issues figures largely in this third instalment, represented in her conflict with the man whose team she’s assigned to at the beginning of the story to investigate the case of a missing person, Lauren Shaw, daughter of a well-known country and western singer.

 

DCI Jack Ellis is a boss but also a friend and a potential future love interest, although in Broken House, her boyfriend is Pete Nash, a fellow dog handler. In the first book of the series, Ellis had led the team investigating the case of Lucy’s husband, Nico, an investigative journalist, missing and presumed dead, whose body subsequently was found in woodland. The trauma of the case made Lucy decide to relinquish her position as a DI and to retrain as a PC dog handler.

 

Three years later—the time of the action of Broken House—Jack and Lucy are estranged. Investigating Nico’s death, Jack learned he had confessed to his killer that Lucy’s difficult mother, who’d died when she was a child, had had another daughter—Lucy’s sister—of whose existence Lucy has always been completely unaware. Wanting to protect his friend, Jack conceals the fact from Lucy, and on subsequently learning of his deception, Lucy considers it unforgivable. At forty, Lucy imagines it’s too late to start a relationship with an unknown sibling, but the reader is aware she is lying to herself.

As for the case Ellis and Lucy are currently investigating, attractive Lauren Shaw disappeared from her large home in Hampshire ten years earlier. Her husband, Declan Cox, had claimed at the time that she had run off with a lover, and the police accepted his theory. But a schoolboy’s chance discovery of a memory stick in the overgrown garden of the mansion Bracken House, empty for ten years and now, in its now derelict state, dubbed locally as ‘Broken House,’ casts serious doubt on Cox’s supposition. It includes footage of Lauren, timestamped a week after she was reported missing, apparently being raped by a threatening male figure. Moss quickly finds human remains in the garden, and they are assumed to be Lauren’s.

The cast of characters includes not only Jack and Lucy and Lauren’s husband but Maggie Shaw, Lauren’s older sister, and Brett, Maggie’s former husband. They are all flawed individuals hiding dark secrets of their own, enjoyably complicating the story. Scarr ramps up the tension with the stalemate between Lucy and Jack—will they or won’t they ever reconcile? — and the question whether Lucy will, after all, seek out the sister she’d never known about. Iggy and Moss, naturally, also play an important part in the action.

Broken House features so many twists, turns, and unexpected revelations that the reader is pleasurably absorbed from start to finish in trying to guess the killer. Scarr writes in lucid prose and provides us with a surprise ending. Recommended.
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Reviewer: Wendy Jones Nakanishi/aka Lea O’Harra. 

Louisa Scarr studied Psychology at the University of Southampton and has lived in and around the city ever since. She works as a freelance copywriter and editor, and when she's not writing, she can be found pounding the streets in running shoes or swimming in muddy lakes.  

Lea O’Harra.  An American by birth, did her postgraduate work in Britain – an MA in Lancaster and a doctorate at Edinburgh – and worked full-time for 36 years at a Japanese university. Since retiring in March 2020, she has spent part of each year in Lancaster and part in Takamatsu on Shikoku Island, her second home, with occasional visits to the States to see family and friends. An avid reader of crime fiction since childhood, as a university professor she wrote academic articles on it as a literary genre and then decided to try her hand at composing such stories herself, publishing the so-called ‘Inspector Inoue mystery series’ comprising three murder mysteries set in rural, contemporary Japan. She has also published two standalone crime fiction novels. 

‘The Woman from Bookclub’ by Carrie Hughes

Published by Hera Books London,
6 November 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83598 342-3 (PB)

It would appear that Emma has it all: a handsome, affluent husband, Elliot; reasonably well-behaved, teenage twin daughters; a lively dog and a beautiful house in a pretty village. Emma, along with her twin sister Jules, and friends Lucy, Rosa and Marianne, all belong to a book club. They meet in each other’s houses where they discuss their latest book choice whilst consuming posh nibbles and wine. Everything was running along smoothly until Lydia, a glamourous gold-digger, wormed her way into the group. She sets her sights on Elliot and all hell is let loose.

In the first sentence of the prologue Emma tells us that she was arrested for murdering Elliot. We are then taken back six weeks earlier to see how and why this startling event had come about. A tremendous lot then occurs very quickly over a comparatively short period with the  story being told by Emma and Lydia in segments alternating between each of their points of view.

We listen as Lydia shamelessly sets out to seduce Elliot and force Emma out of her home - a fate that the docile Emma seems surprisingly willing to accept.  Thankfully, Emma was not such a doormat as she first appeared to be. Once she starts working and meets a potential new partner, the planning and plotting behind her arrest is slowly revealed. Helped by Jules, Lucy, Marianne and Rosa, Elliot’s character and work ethics are exposed. He is not so nice after all.  Then he is killed.

The Woman from Bookclub is easy to read, and thanks to Carrie Hughes’ excellently drawn characters, distinguishing between the five members of the group presents no problems. The setting may sound idyllic, but not all of the characters have the relaxed and happy lives that those looking in from the outside might attribute to them. I found Lydia’s behaviour truly horrible, though who knows how they would behave if they were in her impecunious position? I just hope that none of us end up with Lydia’s doppelgänger in our book groups.  Suffice to say Emma is definitely not such a wimp as her initial easy acceptance of her fate might suggest. She is also fortunate to have technically adept and feisty friends. The message from this book is clear: choose your book club members carefully.
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Reviewer Angela Crowther.

Carrie Hughes lives in West Sussex, where she is a copywriter and guest lecturer in creative writing. She can often be found dreaming up stories, communing with dogs and visiting the dark side. She loves creating female characters who are stronger than they appear and forcing them into difficult situations.  

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.

‘The Contest’ by Jeff Macfee

Published by Datura Books,
11 February 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-91552345-7 (PB)

During childhood, Gillian, a child prodigy took part in Miscellany’s prize puzzle course, a competition that guaranteed a huge reward for the winner, but it was not to be. Now, Gillian is just trying to keep her life together, working odd jobs and trying to support her unwell mother, without feeling like she has failed again.

When one of Gillians former child adversaries turns up offering her a job to investigate alleged cheating at Miscellany, she takes it.

The Contest is not your typical thriller; it feels very fresh and has such a unique and compelling premise. As a puzzle lover, this book was incredibly satisfying as there are so many littered between the pages, it also just feels like you're navigating a world of secrets and betrayals, and each player is taking their turn to move their piece.

As the main character I found Gillian to be a very likeable, flawed but realistic, someone who lives with the feeling of not being good enough, and not living up to the potential she was told she had. She often doubts herself, but underneath it all is resilient and stoic.

It’s a slow burn mystery, but one that you can’t help but be pulled into. There is just so much intrigue, deception and many problems to be solved by a puzzling mind.
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Reviewer: Lorraine Carpenter

Jeff Macfee is the VP of IT for Gearbox Software and a graduate of Viable Paradise Writer's Workshop. His short fiction has appeared in Needle: A Magazine of Noir and Shotgun Honey. He lives in North Texas with his wife and the chaos of three children. 

Lorraine Carpenter lives in the Southwest of England with her partner Doug. She spends most of her free time reading and has loved mysteries and thrillers since a very early age. If she’s not reading, she is most likely to be drawing or crocheting (very poorly) and watching a true crime documentary. 

 

 

‘Death in the Sea Pool’ by Peter Tickler

Published by Oxford eBooks,
4 November 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-91077951-4 (PB)

I didn’t kill her, I swear.

Mick Raglan’s voice betrayed anger, desperation and extreme ill-health. P.I. Doug Mullen nodded but said nothing. He is still wondering ‘why me’.  Then he realised, Raglan’s nurse knows his partner Becca Baines, also a nurse, and all becomes clear.

Raglan had served 15 years in prison for the murder of Layla Lark, and is now dying of cancer, all he wants is his name cleared so that his daughter doesn’t have to live the rest of her life thinking her dad was a killer.

Although reluctant to take on the case, Doug knows the money will be useful now that Becca is pregnant, and so he, Becca and their dog Rex head for Bude, the scene of the crime. Within a short time, they become aware that the agency woman looking after the house where they are staying is Roxanne, mother of Layla.

It quickly becomes apparent that Doug’s presence in Bude is not wanted. Mick Raglan is hated, and no one wants the past resurrected. But Doug having agreed to look into Raglan’s case feels compelled to continue. Then he is set upon by three men wearing balaclava’s who use him as a punch bag.

While his investigations don’t bring him any clarity as to the truth of Layla’s murder, Doug doggedly continues to pursue any lead that he can connect with.

This is a fascinating book, as our intrepid hero continues to interview everyone who at any time knew Raglan.  While the list grows, Doug encounters many people that knew both Raglan and Layla. He consequently logs up many questions but fewer  answers. 

A tantalising and truly compelling read as Doug continued to try to piece together just what did happen on the night of Layla’s death. A gripping mystery that I heartily recommend. 
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Peter Tickler has lived and worked in Oxford for over 30 years. He was a student at the university, and before that he was a university student, reading classics at Keble College. Peter is a member of the Crime Writer's Association and Mystery People group. 

http://www.petertickler.co.uk/ 

‘The Death Lesson’ by Sarah Ward

Published by Canelo,
2 October 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83598-145-) (PB)

I’ve read several of Sarah’s novels and enjoyed them all, and so far this is the one I’ve liked the most. I consumed The Death Lesson in about three days, a record for me given my long working hours.

For a start, I enjoyed the setting – both the immediate one of a girls’ select boarding school and the general environs of West Wales, an area I know a little and like a lot – and this is always a plus.

I’ve long had a fascination for stories set in girls’ boarding schools; not only the books I was brought up on such as St Clare’s, Malory Towers and the Chalet School, but also older novels my mum introduced me to by Angela Brazil, Dorita Fairlie Bruce and so on. So, The Death Lesson was one I wanted to read. The novel actually delivered in an unexpected way; the zesty interaction I looked for between the pupils and the staff was certainly there, but it was in a different arena that the novel excelled. I don’t want to provide spoilers so won’t say too much, but it was another all-female group, this time from the past, that was the key to the novel – a group with a quasi-religious, semi-mystical agenda that had me well and truly hooked.

The first chapter follows Pippa, a young, insecure woman taking up a post as a maths teacher at Penbryn Hall, the prestigious boarding school, and what happens to her there. This sets up the framework for the novel, with Mallory Dawson – a civilian investigator working for the Dyfed Powys police – brushing off her dusty maths degree to go undercover as a teacher at Penbryn Hall. Her boss, DI Harri Evans in CID with whom Mallory is in a wobbly personal relationship, follows another line of investigation and is tracking down the members of a punitive cult that he came across some years previously. The way the novel moves between Mallory in the claustrophobic environment of the school and Harri trying to break down firmly closed doors to the past in Ceredigion, keeps the pages turning and anticipation growing.

Part of the excitement of the novel is sparked by Mallory’s increased isolation at the school and the danger posed to her by person or persons unknown, and part of it by trying to match up the little glimpses we’re given into the past with the women surrounding Mallory at the school. While Mallory gained my sympathy, and was an attractive and determined protagonist, other characters were just as interesting: the headmistress Lowri; one of the girls, Livvy; and the very scary Angharad of the sisterhood. Every page was a fresh delight.

The ending was suitably dramatic and satisfying and I was sorry to say goodbye to the scenario and the cast of characters, including our heroine. So, while in some ways I did revisit Mal(l)ory Towers, the novel’s darker elements recalled another, very different joy from my childhood: The Owl Service by Alan Garner. If you read The Death Lesson you’ll see what I mean, and reading it is very much recommended.
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Reviewer: Dea Parkin

Sarah Ward is the author of four DC Childs novels set in the Derbyshire Peak District where she lives. She is also writes gothic historical thrillers as Rhiannon Ward. The Birthday Girl, is the first book in her new Welsh based series, published 6th April 2023. She has also written Doctor Who audio dramas. Sarah is on Board of the Crime Writers Association and Friends of Buxton Festival, is a member of Crime Cymru, and a Royal Literary Fund fellow at Sheffield University.  

www.crimepieces.com  

Dea Parkin is Editor-in-chief at editorial consultancy Fiction Feedback, sponsor of the Emerging Author Dagger. She’s also Competitions Coordinator at the Crime Writers’ Association. She writes short stories, poetry, award-winning non-fiction and occasionally re-engages with The Novel. When she isn't editing or writing, you can find her at crime-writing festivals or giving her all on the tennis court. Usually, reading several books at a time, she thrives on crime fiction, history, and novels with a mystical edge. She is engaged in a continual struggle to find space for her books and time for her friends.

‘When Shadows Fall’ by Neil Lancaster

Published by Harpercollins,
27 March 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-00-855137-7 (HB)

This is book 6 in the DS Max Craigie series; it starts with Max at Chanonry Point watching dolphins with his aunt Elspeth, and a call from an old friend Shay Hammond about a suspicious death.

A climber has fallen on A’Chralaig, a Scottish Munro. The local police wrote it off as an accident, but it has been uncovered that a string of similar deaths have occurred over the last few years, it appears that someone has been targeting lone female climbers. As the investigation unfolds Max and Janie find themselves wrapped up in a world of heinous crimes and horrific motives.

These are the types of thrillers that I always find the most exciting and enjoyable, When Shadows Fall is centered around a well-established, likeable, capable team, and the plot is chilling, fast paced and suspenseful. It’s a genuine page turner, that pulls you through all its twists and heart in the mouth moments with ease. Neils ability to slowly turn up the tension and only reveal snippets of important information is masterful, following alongside the team as they work through these crimes is joyful in the darkest sense of the word.

I’d highly recommend this book and this series, it’s consistent and will constantly leave you wanting more.
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Reviewer: Lorraine Carpenter

Neil Lancaster was born in Liverpool in the 1960s. He recently left the Metropolitan Police where he served for over twenty-five years, predominantly as a detective, leading and conducting investigations into some of the most serious criminals across the UK and beyond. Neil acted as a surveillance and covert policing specialist, using all types of techniques to arrest and prosecute drug dealers, human traffickers, fraudsters, and murderers. During his career, he successfully prosecuted several wealthy and corrupt members of the legal profession who were involved in organised immigration crime. These prosecutions led to jail sentences, multi-million pound asset confiscations and disbarments. Since retiring from the Metropolitan Police, Neil has relocated to the Scottish Highlands with his wife and son, where he mixes freelance investigations with writing. 

Lorraine Carpenter lives in the Southwest of England with her partner Doug. She spends most of her free time reading and has loved mysteries and thrillers since a very early age. If she’s not reading, she is most likely to be drawing or crocheting (very poorly) and watching a true crime documentary. 

‘Final Orbit’ by Chris Hadfield

Published by Quercus,
7 October 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-52943595-5 9HB)

It is 1975 and Kaz Zemeckis has been appointed Flight Controller of a joint American and Soviet space mission.  The plan is for two modules, Apollo and Soyuz, to dock in orbit before attempting to board the USA’s first and now abandoned space station, Skylab.  The mission is considered relatively straightforward in space exploration terms, but there are some potential problems.  For one thing the Cold War is ongoing, and an underlying mistrust exists between the two nations despite the venture.  Another possible stumbling block involves unreliable communications between the two orbiting spacecraft and their control rooms on planet Earth.  Similarly, working in two quite different languages may lead to misunderstandings which on a spaceship could be disastrous. 

Confident that all glitches have been resolved, the ground teams at the Space Centre Houston and Baikonur Cosmodrome watch their respective spaceships launch into orbit.  The hope is that the expedition will herald a new era of collaboration between their two countries.

 

Meanwhile, in China, Chairman Mao and his top space scientist, Professor Tsien Hsue-shen,  are anxious not only to join the space race, but also to exceed the successes that are celebrated in Russia and America.  As the launch day approaches their political and economic rivals are unaware that a single-manned Chinese space craft, Shuguang, is already orbiting the Earth.  Professor Tsien assures his leader that the Peoples’ Republic can disrupt the joint mission, and Shuguang’s pilot, Fang Kuo-chun, intends to do just that – whatever the cost!

 

Hadfield skilfully weaves a story of criminal sabotage through the jeopardy that accompanies every manned space flight as the different narrative strands unfold and collide, in some cases literally!  It will take all Kaz’s experience, expertise and endurance to sort out what is a rapidly unravelling mission. 

 

The author uses his remarkable knowledge and personal experience, as a test and fighter pilot and subsequently as an astronaut, to describe scientific concepts in a way that is both fascinating and comprehensible.  Most of those who appear in the book are real historical characters, helpfully listed in his Author’s Note, and the imagined events that take place feel relatable as well as plausible.

 

This is the third in Hadfield’s Apollo Murders series.  It marks the welcome return of Kaz Zemeckis as its chief protagonist and works perfectly as a stand-alone novel. Scientific endeavour and political posturing at all levels are central themes but at the heart of the story is the desire of the human spirit to survive even in the most desolate places and situations. 

 

Final Orbit is a crime thriller set in orbit 270 miles above the Earth on spacecraft moving at around 4,570 miles per hour.  That is 22 times the speed of sound at sea level!  What’s not to love?

Exciting and entertaining from start to finish, and highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent  

Chris Hadfield is one of the most seasoned and accomplished astronauts in the world. The top graduate of the U.S. Air Force test pilot school in 1988 and U.S. Navy test pilot of the year in 1991, Colonel Hadfield was CAPCOM for twenty-five Shuttle missions and NASA’s Director of Operations in Russia. Hadfield served as Commander of the International Space Station where, while conducting a record-setting number of scientific experiments and overseeing an emergency spacewalk, he gained worldwide acclaim for his breath-taking photographs and educational videos about life in space. His music video, a zero-gravity version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," has nearly 50 million views, and his TED talk on fear has been viewed over 10 million times. He helped create and host the National Geographic miniseries One Strange Rock, with Will Smith, and has a MasterClass on exploration. Chris Hadfield's books An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, You Are Here and The Darkest Dark have been bestsellers all around the world.

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 

'The Cat' by Georges Simenon.

Translated by Ros Schwartz
Published by Penguin Classics,
6 November 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-24180803-0 (PB)
Originally Published  in 1967. 

Émile and Marguerite married rather hastily in their sixties after having been widowed. It appears to be a match made out of loneliness, but the fragile relationship collapses when Émile’s much-loved cat is found poisoned in the cellar. Marguerite disliked the animal, and Émile is convinced that she has killed it. He retaliates in kind by seeing off Marguerite’s parrot which she has stuffed, much to Émile’s discomfiture (his cat ended up in the bin). They never speak to one another again (divorce is not an option as Marguerite is a fervent Catholic). Despite remaining in the same house, they communicate only by short barbed notes, hateful glances and silent accusations. They even sleep in the same room, use the same bathroom and eat in the same kitchen, keeping their own food locked away in different cupboards and doing their own washing up. Émile often shadows Marguerite when she goes shopping. What little pleasure each gets in life is a result of attempting to disconcert the other. Both want to be the survivor.

[By way of an aside, the malevolence on display brings to mind one of my favourite novels. In ‘Les Célibataires’ by Henry de Montherlant this quality is considered: ‘It was malevolence that kept him alive, for malevolence, like alcohol, is a preservative. After a certain age, every biting word uttered, every anonymous letter posted, every calumny spread abroad wins you another few months from the tomb, because it stimulates your vitality. This can also be seen among animals: a particularly cruel hen, a stubborn horse or a vicious dog will live long than its fellows.’ I heartily recommend this very amusing novel. There is an excellent translation (as ‘The Bachelors’) by Terence Kilmartin, but I believe it is out of print at the moment. Abebooks has copies.]

The majority of the novel thus consists of direct psychological warfare between the two. It is only relatively late on that the first visitor – an acquaintance of Marguerite - comes to the house. Émile thinks she is bringing assistance into their struggle (the battle is no longer equal) and it drives him out. He has spent a lot of time previously drinking in cafés and bars (he sometimes has wine at home around breakfast time) and this now increases. Having been unfaithful during his first marriage, Émile seeks some sort of solace in the arms (a rather inaccurate description of hasty couplings in the kitchen) of Nelly who runs one of these bars. He moves into her spare room as a paying guest for a short period which finishes after Marguerite keeps appearing on the other side of the road from the bar as if she is keeping a watch on it and him. Émile returns to the house and their dysfunctional relationship, as well as to a spike in his consumption of alcohol. Is there any hope of a reconciliation?

The novel is thus a study of the most extreme marital discord. One realises as we go on that it is all written from Émile’s (and thus a man’s) perspective, not that he is narrating it as such. As a consequence we know what he is thinking, but we never get into the mind of Marguerite. Can we believe everything he says?

When offered it for review, our esteemed editor wrote: ‘Looking at the synopsis I am not sure it’s strictly crime fiction. But I suppose killing a cat counts as a crime’ (I don’t know if that indicates her general view of felines). I imagine that most readers of Mystery People will probably think that it is not ‘strictly crime fiction’ (no Maigret here, of course), but I have posed a couple of questions at the ends of the previous two paragraphs which help to keep us guessing about what will happen. And at one point an observation could make us have the slightest doubt (and I mean the slightest) as to whether Marguerite was responsible for the death of the cat. I confess that I’m clutching at straws here.

Whether strictly crime novel or not, this is a very well-observed story. As always with Simenon, not a word is wasted and the last few lines of the book make you assess what you have read. I am happy to recommend this unusual novel.
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David Whittle  

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. Born 13 February 1903 in Liege Belgium Died 4 September 1989 (aged 86) Lausanne Switzerland. He was a prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.  

David Whittle is firstly a musician (he is an organist and was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for over 30 years) but has always enjoyed crime fiction. This led him to write a biography of the composer Bruce Montgomery who is better known to lovers of crime fiction as Edmund Crispin, about whom he gives talks now and then. He is currently convenor of the East Midlands Chapter of the Crime Writers Association. 

‘Dying Days’ by Les Hinton

Published by Whitefox Publishing Ltd,
6 November 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-917523-51-6 (PB)

A party at a historic country mansion for the good and the great of the newspaper world and politics and assorted other people with power and aspirations to it. A few days later, an awards event at a luxury hotel with a similar guest list on the other side of the Atlantic. Both are targeted by a bomb; both incidents result in casualties and major disruption. The obvious agenda is terrorism. But weeks later the police and investigating authorities in both England and the USA are no closer to identifying any suspects. In fact, they’re no wiser than they were when the incidents occurred.

Dan Brasher is a gate crasher at the party, which is the home of his erstwhile employer, Cressida Chatstone, owner and chair of Chatcorp, the media giant of which The Daily Courant forms part. He resigned – jumped before he was pushed – from his job of senior journalist, shortly before, and narrowly escapes serious injury when the bomb explodes. Jess Hunter is a junior reporter at The Courant, young and keen, and determined to prove her worth. She finds her way past the police blockade outside the house, and meets up with Dan.

After the second bomb, Dan heads for New York, and Jess follows him shortly afterwards. Jake Abrams, editor of the downmarket redtop New York World and a close friend of Dan’s, escaped the debacle and has gone into hiding; Dan is desperate to track him down – as are various other people, not least the FBI and, as it turns out, those responsible for the attack.

The two journalists pursue a convoluted and dangerous investigation of their own, littered with richly drawn locations and vibrant, larger than life characters. There’s Perry Ainsworth, columnist on The Courant, whose flamboyant mode of dress and speech disguise a sharp mind and unexpected courage. Francis Wyler, heir apparent to the chair of the American equivalent of Chatcorp, is as overweight as he is naive, and his ambition outstrips his ability by a considerable margin. Dan’s lifelong friend Siobhan Mac Stiofain is the best kind of FBI agent, efficient, ruthless, fiercely intelligent but warm hearted. Both Dan and Jess are unafraid of danger but find themselves plunged headlong into a situation that threatens to run out of control.

Les Hinton is a career journalist, now retired, highly experienced in and acutely observant of the industry he served for several decades. Dying Days is his first venture into fiction, and by the time the bombers are identified, the underbelly of both the newspaper industry and the wider media world have been well and truly exposed. Coupled with a newspaperman’s eye for a story and an adroit way with words that still lingers in some corners of that world, he has created a pacy thriller that lays bare the people, attitudes and reactions of the life he knows so well, all with a loud, clanging ring of truth.
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Les Hinton was born in Bootle, Merseyside, and grew up in Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Germany, Singapore, and Australia. He has spent his career as a journalist and senior executive in a multinational media company. He lives in New York and London with his wife Kath. His memoir The Bootle Boy was published in 2018. Dying Days is his first novel. 

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

‘Feast For The Ravens’ by Sarah Hawkswood

Published by Allison & Busby,
18 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-74903258-6 (PB)

It is September 1145, and two young boys are hunting for nuts in the Forest of Wyre in Worcestershire, when the bountiful crop tempts them to go further into the woodland than their mother would allow. The children of the area have all been warned to stay out of the forest for fear that the Hrafn Wif, the Raven Woman, would get them. The Raven Woman is a mysterious woman who lives in the forest, whom the villagers regard with superstitious dread. In the clearing, the children discover the body of a dead man, who wears the uniform of a Templar Knight, his face is unrecognisable because his eyes have been pecked out by ravens. As the boys flee in terror, they glimpse the Raven Woman herself.  

The men of the village carry the body back to the church, where it is undressed and cleaned and laid out with due deference. In the process it is discovered that the man was murdered, by a single thrust of a blade, that must have been delivered by someone who could get close to him, despite the fact that he was carrying his sword. Under his clothing they discover a message, written in Latin, and the parish priest can understand enough of the meaning to know it may indicate a change of allegiance and betrayal of King Stephen. At this time, civil war is still raging in England between Stephen, the late king’s nephew, and the Empress Maud, the late king’s daughter; Stephen has been crowned king, but the ultimate fate of the kingdom is still in contention.  

Even without the possibility of treachery, the killing of a Norman knight, who was a member of such an eminent and powerful religious order requires investigation by the sheriff of the county and, as the lord of the manor is away from home, his steward sends a man with a message to Worcester to inform the sheriff, William de Beauchamp. The sheriff is not available, but Undersheriff Hugh Bradecote sets off immediately, accompanied by Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin. Despite the facial mutilation, the dead man is identified as Ivo de Mitton, a man who had vanished from the area after committing an unforgivable crime, which had resulted in the destruction of most of his family. When he left, Ivo had been accompanied by an illegitimate kinsman, Eustace fitzRobert, whom everyone describes as an evil influence, but it is unknown whether he was still in Ivo’s company so many years later. The motive behind the murder is complicated by the potentially treacherous message pinned to the corpse, and as Bradecote, Catchpoll and Walkelin attempt to solve the murder, they have to tread the dangerous path between powerful nobles who are all determined to protect their own interests, while avoiding even the suspicion of misconduct and treachery. Because Bradecote and his assistants are decent men, they also wish to safeguard the rights of the common people, who are terrified that they may suffer for the actions of the unknown killer. Even if the villagers are not responsible for the man’s death, Bradecote and his helpers have to prove, within a few days, that another Norman had committed the crime, otherwise the villagers will have to pay the murdrum fine, which was the fine levied by the Normans on an Anglo-Saxon community if a Norman was murdered, because it was assumed the killer must come from the community that the Normans were subjugating. Despite the best efforts of Bradecote, Catchpoll and Walkelin, the violence escalates and more deaths occur, until they discover the truth, and, at the same time, the identity and tragic history of the Raven Woman becomes clear.

Feast for the Ravens is the thirteenth mystery in the series featuring Bradecote and Catchpoll. The plot is complex, exploring not only the investigation of the murder but also the violence and confusion of the civil war, with all its treachery and double standards. The central protagonists are engaging and their characters and relationships have developed well. Catchpoll can now acknowledge that they work well together as a team, despite his initial resentment when Bradecote was appointed as Undersheriff, that he was inclined to take too active a role in investigating crimes, which Catchpoll had always considered his prerogative. This is an interesting novel, which explores a politically difficult period in English history. It is an intriguing read.
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Reviewer:  Carol Westron

Sarah Hawkswood read Modern History at Oxford University and specialised in Military History and Theory of War. She turned from writing military history to mediaeval murder mysteries set in the turmoil of The Anarchy in the mid 12thC, all set in Worcestershire, where she now lives. The Bradecote & Catchpoll series began with Servant of Death (previously published as The Lord Bishop's Clerk) set in Pershore Abbey. The second, Ordeal by Fire, is set in Worcester itself, and there are already another five written. Writing is intrinsic to who she is, and she claims she gets 'grumpy' when there is not another manuscript on the go. Her aim is to create a 'world', one in which the reader can become immersed, and with an accurate historical context, not 'dressing up'. Sarah Hawkswood is a pen name.  

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with
The Fragility of Poppies. 

www.carolwestron.com

'Where is Francis?' By Richard Trahair

Published by The Book Guild,
28 June 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83574-234-1 (PB)

This book is slightly unusual in that it combines some of the author’s early memories extended into a fantasy world in which crooks use unsavoury methods such as child trafficking and peddling drugs to raise funds for a far-right political movement in the UK.  The Francis referred to in the title is the chief designer for Hoffmann, a shirt manufacturer that produced shirts exclusively for British Home Stores

Francis was a pleasant, well-liked, middle-aged individual, so when he disappeared his colleagues at Hoffmann were worried. Dissatisfied with the police’s efforts to find Francis, Richard, Nicolas Hoffmann, his PA Amanda, Edward, ex-army and now the personnel manager, and his wife Mary, joined forces to search for him.  Following up on an unusual parcel delivery Richard had been asked to make for Hoffmanns, he discovered Francis’ car abandoned, thus increasing their anxiety. The group’s efforts were frowned on by DI Mason who, along with a man in a grey suit told them they were putting themselves in danger - it seems that Edward was probably a member of MI5. Undaunted, the group continued with their investigations. DI Mason’s warning proved to be correct.

Where is Francis is an entertaining, easy to read book. It is rather like an adult version of The Famous Five tales. Although the dangers involved have changed, as has the inclusion of a hint of romance between Richard and Amanda, the tale still involves meetings of the sleuths and carries you into underground rooms and passages as they and the police investigate.  And just in case you’re wondering, there is also a large dog who has his own opinions but keeps them to himself.
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Reviewer: Angela Crowther.

Richard Trahair grew up on the borders of Devon and Cornwall, spending holidays every year at the far end of that peninsula. He has strong farming roots in the area around Cape Cornwall, where his family farmed from c1750 until his enterprising forebears moved on as merchants and manufacturers of foods, notably a baby and toddler rusk that became famous. Richard is a retired chartered surveyor with a BA (Hons) in Textile Management and holder of the Aldhelm Cross from the Bishop of Salisbury. He lives in Salisbury, Wiltshire where he is also the Church organist. This is his second published novel. 

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.