‘Blue is the Night’ by Eoin McNamee

Published by Faber & Faber,
6 March 2014.
ISBN: 978-0-571-27860-2

In 1961 Harry Ferguson comes to the Holywell mental institution in Northern Ireland where Doris Curran, ex-wife of Lance Curran, formerly Northern Ireland Attorney-General and then a Northern Ireland judge, is now resident. Doris was committed to Holywell in 1953 a few days after the murder of her and Lance's teenage daughter Patricia. A man called Ian Hay Gordon was convicted of Patricia's murder and only escaped the death penalty by reason of insanity; he also was committed to Holywell. Doris is now unable to talk coherently about her daughter's death or indeed about anything else much; always unstable, perhaps as a result of having been brought up in Broadmoor where her father had been superintendent, her personality is now merging with that of Thomas Cutbush, a suspect in the notorious Ripper killings in the late 19^th century London's East End who had been confined to Broadmoor. However, the book mainly concentrates on an earlier trial in 1949 of the young Protestant workman Robert Taylor for the murder of the elderly devout Catholic widow Mary McGowan. The evidence against Taylor is overwhelming, and there is no doubt of his guilt. Curran, as Attorney-General, is determined to conduct the prosecution himself with scrupulous fairness. But Ferguson, as Curran's long-term political fixer, is equally determined to see that Taylor is acquitted; the result of a Protestant being convicted of a capital crime for the murder of a Catholic in a city as polarised as Belfast would be cataclysmic. However, Curran will not choose the path of easy expediency so Ferguson must find other means to ensure Taylor's acquittal, and if there should be a retrial to ensure that that also results in a conclusion that he, and the powerful, threatening yet shadowy interests behind him, desire.

I thought this book was outstanding. McNamee writes beautifully. The narrative is multi-stranded and weaves backwards and forwards in time, yet at all times is so controlled that there is no doubt as to who is involved and when. The characters are convincing and the bigoted atmosphere of Belfast admirably conveyed. McNamee has written two other books based on the real-life Taylor/McGowan case, Blue Tango and Orchid Blue; if they measure up to Blue is the Night the whole trilogy is remarkable.

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Reviewer: Radmila May

Eoin McNamee's novels include Resurrection Man, later made into a film, The Blue Tango, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and Orchid Blue, described by John Burnside in the Guardian as 'not only into a political novel of the highest order but also that rare phenomenon, a genuinely tragic work of art.'. He lives in Sligo.

‘The Hunter and Other Stories’ by Dashiell Hammett

Published by No Exit Press,
24 July 2014.
ISBN 978-1-84344-343-8

After 1934, when The Thin Man was published Hamett became a screen writer and stopped publishing his work. This book contains seventeen short stories and three screen stories. These are from his personal files and he probably never tried to sell them. There are two more that haven’t been reprinted in over 80 year, plus unpublished screen treatments. Hammett churned out stories to pay the bills, but it seems he would have liked to write for markets other than “pulp fiction.”

The editors, Hammett's granddaughter, a Hammett scholar and a biographer, have gathered them into four categories; Crime, Men, Men and Women and Screen Stories. The story notes provide details about where and when Hammett was when the pieces were written

If you are a confirmed Dashiell Hammett fan you will find this book interesting. This is a broad picture of Hammett's styles and his development as a writer.

For people who are familiar with Hammett as the creator of Sam Spade, the collection finishes with a lost Sam Spade story, A Knife Will Cut for Anybody.

There are only four crime stories in this book; The Hunter features a noir detective. The Sign of the Potent Pills uses a cowardly detective. The Diamond Wager is a Golden Age type mystery. Action and the Quiz Kid, possibly Hammett's last-ever story, is literary, more about character than plot.

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Reviewer: Sue Lord

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hardboiled detective novels and short stories. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), and the Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse). In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on film, Hammett "is now widely regarded as one of the finest mystery writers of all time" and was called, in his obituary in the New York Times, "the dean of the... 'hard-boiled' school of detective fiction."


He Died in 1961 in New York City.He also wrote as Peter Collinson, Daghull Hammett, Samuel Dashiell, Mary Jane Hammett.

Sue Lord originally studied Fine Art and Art History, her MA is in Creative Writing. She now, revues, teaches, mentors and script doctors. She lives in central London and Cornwall. Her favourite pastime is gardening.

‘The Eye Collector’ by Sebastian Fitzek

Translated from the German by John Brownjohn

Published by Atlantic Books,
1 August 2013.
ISBN: 978-0-85789-371-0

Ex-policeman Zorbach has never recovered from having shot a woman.  Now, as a journalist, he’s chasing a killer called ‘the eye-collector’ – because he kills mothers and kidnaps the children, whose bodies are later found with one eye gouged out.  Then his wallet is found in a garden with another dead mother ... and the only person who can help him is a blind girl who’s ‘seen’ through the murderer’s eyes.

The stakes in this story were high, ratcheted up by having the kidnapped boy as one of the narration strands.  You sympathised with Zorbach straight away, and the thread of supernatural – blind Alina’s visions, and the radio broadcast he couldn’t have heard – added to the atmosphere of mystery.  Zorbach’s sidekick, Frank, and his former police colleagues were also very real characters, and the pressures of the job came across well.  The Berlin setting wasn’t particularly emphasised – it could have been any city – but the atmosphere of Zorbach’s newspaper office, and his visit to his boat in the woods was good.  There were some ‘yuck!’ passages, but it wasn’t as gory as the description sounds.  The solution was surprising and satisfying.  Warning for those who like their books to finish completely in one volume: this is the first in a pair of books, the second being The Eye Hunter.

A slick PI mystery, whose tension and easy-reading style kept me turning the pages.

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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Sebastian Fitzek  has worked as a journalist and author for radio and TV stations  all around Europe, and is now head of programming at RTL, Berlin’s leading radio station. His first and subsequent novels have become huge bestsellers in Germany, and he is currently working on his fifth.

http://www.sebastianfitzek.de

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

‘The Wrong Man’ by David Ellis

Published by Quercus, 2013.
ISBN: 978-1-78087-791-4

Jason Kolarich is a lawyer practising in what appears to be, if not Chicago, somewhere very like it. He specialises in defence work relying on meticulous case preparation and his advocacy skills in often apparently hopeless cases to win the day. One such case is that of homeless Iraq veteran Tom Stoller who is accused of the execution-style shooting of young paralegal Kathy Rubinowski. Tom is suffering from schizophrenia triggered by PTSD arising from his wartime experiences. He cannot account for why he has the murder weapon nor Kathy’s purse, mobile and necklace. He is so traumatised that he can barely speak coherently, let alone anything that might help his defence. He just wants the trial to be over quickly. Jason, however, is not convinced of Tom’s guilt; he feels there is more to Kathy’s murder than meets the eye, that the police have arrested the wrong man. With his team, Shauna Tasker, Bradley John, and Joel Lightner and also the chance-met attractive Tori Martin, Jason sets out to get at the truth behind Kathy‘s killing.

Meanwhile a would-be client of Jason’s, Lorenzo Fowler, who has Mob connections and who has hinted to Jason of assassinations, is also murdered - another execution-style shooting. The gun is different to that used to murder Kathy but Jason wonders if the two killings could be connected. At first apparently not until Jason’s team discover a link between a case that Kathy was working on and a firm selling artificial fertiliser with a somewhat iffy background. And behind all that is a conspiracy of right-wing fanatics intent on wreaking massive destruction in the city.

This is a gripping story with interesting and well-drawn characters and a fascinating legal setting with which the author, himself a lawyer who has been compared to John Grisham, is clearly deeply familiar. I found the similarities and the differences between the US and English legal systems particularly fascinating. The courtroom scenes are exceptionally well crafted. Recommended.

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Reviewer: Radmila May

Other books by David Ellis include Breach of Trust, Jury of One and In the Company of Liars.

David Ellis  is a lawyer and award-winning author of nine novels. Dave currently lives near Chicago with his wife Susan, their children Abigail, Julia, and Jonathan, and their pug, Otis.

http://davidellis.com