‘Dead Alone’ by Gay Longworth

Published by HarperCollins,
2002.
ISBN: 978-0-00-713958-6

Jessie Driver, a motorbike riding female police officer loves being back in London at West End Central. The youngest DI on the Area Major Investigation Team, responsible for a large proportion of Central London. It does of course have its downside, in the guise of Mark Ward, her professional equal, and her personal opposite. Life, however, is good for Jessie, sharing a flat with Maggie Hall, TV presenter, gets her invited to some fun events, very different from her life at West End Central.

These lives, however, begin to merge when Maggie is trashed by one Joshua Cadell on the Ray St Giles chat show. For Ray St Giles is the man who shot an innocent passerby, Trevor Molls, during a robbery, and for which Raymond St Giles was sentenced to 16 years for manslaughter, but he has now served his time and is making his name as a chat show host. But for Clare Mills, Trevor’s daughter the nightmare still goes on, as she searches for her brother Frank who was taken into care the day of her father’s funeral and the day Clare’s mother committed suicide. Along with DCI Jones, Jessie is tasked to find Frank.

When Jessie is sent out to investigate a headless corpse washed up on the banks of the Thames, she realises that she has been set-up by her colleague DI Ward, so she decides to play it by the book. But what she suspects is a prank turns out to be very serious, when bizarre evidence points to a minor celebrity. Then other celebrity corpses turn up and Jessie is running her first murder enquiry.

When Jessie finds herself attracted by a key suspect, she puts her own life in danger,

I liked Jessie enormously but found Maggie a little irritating. I don’t want to give anything away, but the identification of the corpse was both bizarre and fascinating. It had me hooked. Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Gay Longworth, Carrie Adams) was born in 1970. She trained as an oil trader after graduating from university. Eventually, though, her love for writing wouldn’t be ignored, and she left the job and moved to Cornwall, England, to write. Dead Alone is her first novel to be published in the United States. She is now a full-time writer in London, where she lives with her husband and daughter.

‘A Treachery Of Friends’ by C J Carver

Published by Bloodhound Books,
12 December 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-91697811-9 (PB)

When Sidney Scott was eight her father showed her some magic tricks. She became fascinated and hooked on the science behind magic. Then her father disappeared but unlike the magic card tricks he never reappeared.

Fourteen years later, Sid is a supernatural sceptic, some people called her a ghostbuster. Her speciality is exposing paranormal scams. When she receives a call from Detective Kelly, of the Gloucestershire police, she is both frightened and hopeful that it relates to her father’s disappearance. But it relates to a traffic accident and the death of one Owen Evans, who Sid has never heard of.  But in his clothing is a post card with her name and address on it, and it is undoubtedly in her father’s handwriting. Then he breaks the news that Owen Evans death was not an accident, but a murder.

Detective Kelly is circumspect in what he tells Sid, but from the postcard she gleans enough to set off on her own investigation. Her starting point is St John’s College, where Owen Evans had been a student.  After giving her name to the Head Porter he  makes a telephone call and then hands her a piece of paper and tells her to ring one Winstone Fairchild, who will be able to help her. And through him she learns of two powerful men: one is an ambitious politician, and the other the leader of a religious cult.

There is much unrest in the country, with demonstrations orchestrated by people out only for themselves. Sid makes the mistake of visiting the cult, where she finds true evil.  As in most mysteries the people you place your trust in are not always good people.  On the other hand, people can also surprise you. 

Horrifying, in fact terrifying. To say that the story is scary is a gross understatement.  Could this happen?  

I have read every book by C J Carver, and she always has me on the edge of my seat as the twists and turns of the story unfold. Yet again she delivers an incredible read.  Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Caroline Carver was brought up on a dairy farm. At 18 she headed for the bright lights of London and four years later took a holiday in Australia which turned into a ten-year stay, working for the Sydney arm of several major international publishers. Between jobs, she travelled widely and adventurously: back-packing in South-East Asia on $10 a day for nine months, walking in New Zealand, trekking in Nepal and riding a camel through the Thar Desert are just a few of her travel experiences. Her first novel Blood Junction won the CWA Debut Dagger and was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best mystery books of the year.

http://www.cjcarver.com

‘Dark Truth’ by C.D. Steele

Published by The Conrad Press,
15 Novenber 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-915494-81-8 (PB)

Ex MI6 private investigator Joe Wilde, well known for tracing missing people, is hired by the Archers, Tom and Marie to find their six-year-old daughter Laura who has disappeared after playing out in the street with her friends.

Joe then has another client approach him, Jack Riley, who wants Joe to investigate what he believes to be a plot to frame him and make it seem as though he has been cheating on his fiancé Claire. Outraged Claire has told Jack she is finished with him although he protests his innocence. 

Looking into the disappearance of Laura, Joe discovers disturbing news of a paedophile living quite close to the Archer’s property. He does however appear to have an alibi. But is he as innocent as he makes out?

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Whelan is the Senior Officer in the Laura Archer case and when Joe consults with him he is told there have been several sightings of Laura or a girl who looks like her in Cumbria, but Joe is sceptical.

Meanwhile, disturbing news comes in of increasingly nasty attacks on Claire, the latest being a petrol bomb pushed through the letter box. Luckily no one was hurt but terrified she also hires Joe’s help who then looks into the movements of Claire’s past boyfriends.

As Joe delves further into Laura’s disappearance, he discovers that more than one paedophile lives locally. That really is worrying.

Then investigations reveal the marriage of Tom and Marie is not quite as happy as Joe was led to believe. Apparently, Marie had in the past suspected Tom of molesting Laura and reported him to Social Services. Could he have something to do with her disappearance?

Disturbingly as Joe delves deeper and deeper into the two cases, attacks are made on him. He must be getting close to the truth, but in which investigation? Or is it both?

A rather complicated plot full of unexpected revelations making for a thoroughly absorbing story. Recommended.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

C. D. Steele works as an Executive Offer in the Civil Service. He has a degree in Recreation Management and lives in Bangor, County Down. False Truth was his first novel.

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.

‘Blackflies Are Murder’ by Lou Allin

Published by Rendezvous Crime, 
January 2002.
ISBN: 978-0-92291419-2

When her elderly neighbour is found dead, Belle Palmer is worried that her death could in some way be connected to the bear baiting site that she had discovered in the woods, and that her neighbour had vowed to destroy.

Steve Davis of the local police investigating the killing seems to have only one suspect, the victim’s nephew, But Belle, owner of Palmer Reality surveying the neighbourhood finds herself paying close attention to things that she would normally overlook. The distinct hostility of Patsy Sommers. Nick Delvecchio, who arrives every April and stays through to August, shy and reclusive, Belle reckons he is too old to be a student and has no idea how he supports himself during these months.

When Belle stumbles on a letter which recalls a past tragedy, she wonders if this could be relevant to the murder. Snatching at straws she sets out to seek the truth of this horrific event, believing that it may lead her to find her friend’s killer. As she uncovers past secrets, she comes to question the people around her who may not be what they seem.

Set in Northern Ontario in high summer, Lou Allen conveys the incredible vastness of the country and the remoteness of the setting. The descriptions of the woods, fauna and plant life are beautiful and fascinating. At one point in the story Belle is explaining to a neighbour who has only recently moved to the area, that there are rules to rural living. Well Lou certainly had my attention. I found the whole background to the story utterly absorbing. It’s rewarding to not only enjoy a mystery but to learn about a different way of life along the way.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Lou Allin (1945-2014) was born in Toronto, Canada, but raised in Ohio. She is the author of two series, the Holly Martin Mysteries and the Belle Palmer Mysteries. After teaching for many years at Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ontario, she moved to Vancouver Island. Her father followed the film business to Cleveland in 1948. and his profession explains her passion for classic films. And debt to Ted Turner.

‘The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou’ by Eleni Kyriacou

Published by Head of Zeus,
9 November 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-83793034-0 (HB)

London, 1954. Zina Pavlou, a Greek Cypriot woman who speaks no English, and can neither read nor write Greek, is accused of murdering her daughter-in-law, Hedy. Eva Georgiou is brought in as her interpreter but becomes more involved in the case than she expected as she realises, she’s the only person who believes Zina could be innocent.

This vivid, gripping story is told mostly in the third person, cutting from Eva and Zina in prison to Eva’s life at home, where she and her husband are struggling to reconnect after the loss of their baby, and giving flashbacks to the immediate past, with the story of Zina arriving in London to stay with her son, Mikaelis, Hedy and their children.

Some episodes take us further into Zina’s past, with her life as a hard-working peasant farmer in Cyprus, and her marriage and family. Gradually you come to understand what’s brought about the tragedy of Zina’s daughter-in-law’s death. The characters are completely believable. Eva is longing for life and colour, for things as they used to be with her husband, Jimmy, before her miscarriage, yet she’s unable to make the first move; she’s sorry for Zina, and wants to help her, feeling that she is the only one who can, yet she has no power to do anything.

You sympathise with Zina, coming over to her son only to find he and his wife want her as a cook and cleaner so that the wife can work, but at the same time you can see how alien they find her old-fashioned ways. Mikaelis, is torn between his modern German wife and his mother, whose ways he at least understands; Hedy just wants her gone. Zina longs to be a granny to Anna and baby Georgie, but Hedy won’t allow it.

London of the 50s is brought to life, particularly the contrast between the Club de Paris, with its colourful gowns and film star clientele, and the grimness of Holloway Prison. The ending both is and isn’t a surprise: the whole story has led up to it. The plot focus is on the murder, but the story also asks questions about how people who are seen as ‘other’ are treated.

Based on a true story, this intriguing, moving novel joins unforgettable characters to an increasingly difficult situation. I couldn’t put it down.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Eleni Kyriacou was born and brought up in London to Greek Cypriot parents. Never quite feeling completely British or Cypriot, she's always felt a Londoner and still adores the place, especially Soho. She's an award-winning editor and journalist and her writing has appeared in many publications, including the Guardian, the Observer, Marie Claire, Red and Stella, among others. She's written on a wide range of topics including adoption, relationships, travel, self-development, the arts and women's health. She's edited national magazines and is now freelance. Her first novel She Came to Stay was published by Hodder in 2020.

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.

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book
Death in A Shetland Lane

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk

‘An Accidental Shroud’ by Marjorie Eccles

Published by St Martins, 
1 January 1997.
ISBN: 978-0-31215045-7 (HB)

When antique jeweller Nigel Forntenoy is found dead on a building site, the immediate suspect is his cousin Jake Wilding. For Jake Wilding is in debt to the dead man, and it is his building site, and he does not convincingly account for his whereabouts on the night in question.

On the surface Jake Wilding is a successful builder with a trophy wife. But all is not as it seems, beneath the façade, the family is divided, with Jake’s son Matthew refusing to go into his father’s business, preferring instead to work for his cousin Nigel. Christine Wilding’s daughter Lindsey has just returned from abroad but is no longer the open chatty girl that Christine knows.  Lindsey has also formed an attachment to a young girl Cassie, which makes Lindsey uneasy for no reason she can pinpoint.

When traces of Nigel’s blood are found on one of Jake’s trucks, he finally produces an alibi. An ex-wife, and he claims that he had been pressurised by Nigel to obtain from her something of great value.

As DCI Gil Mayo and DI Abigail Moon investigate, they uncover other attachments. Nigel, Jake and Tom Callaghan are old friends, but since the death of Tom’s daughter Judy, the relationship between Nigel and Tom has been strained.

This is the seventh book in the series and Marjorie Eccles has once again woven an intricate tale set around the lives and secrets of an extended family. There is also in this book more of Abigail Moon who is tentatively becoming involved with a journalist Ben Appleyard.

Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Marjorie Eccles was born in Yorkshire and spent much of her childhood there and on the Northumbrian coast. The author of thirty-three books and short stories, she is the recipient of the Agatha Christie Short Story Styles Award. Her earlier books featuring police detective Gil Mayo were adapted for the BBC. Her most recent series is set after the Great War and features DI Herbert Reardon. There are five books in the series. She has also written a number of standalone books. She lives in Hertfordshire.

‘Laying Out the Bones’ by Kate Webb

Published by Quercus,
18 January 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-52942-128-6  (HB)

Cold case investigators are usually the poor relations of the police force, but in their first big case D I Matt Lockyer and D C Gemma Broad showed themselves to be a cut above the average by unearthing the truth about a case which had put the wrong person in gaol. But troubled Matt still has something to prove, not least to himself – and to his nemesis, D I Steve Saunders.

The pair are presented with a body which surfaced during recent heavy rain. It’s identified as Lee Geary, a man with borderline learning difficulties. At six feet nine, he looked pretty scary when he was alive, but everyone who knew him describes him as a gentle giant. A head wound suggests he was clubbed to death, but it’s also possible it was an accident.

From Salisbury Plain where Lee’s body was found, all roads seem to lead to Old Hat Farm, a New Age-style commune, which was also connected to the unsolved murder – or possibly suicide – of twenty-year-old Holly Gilbert a few years earlier. That case was investigated by none other than D I Saunders, and shelved because there was insufficient evidence against the main suspects, who are all now dead.

Matt and Gemma have their work cut out. Like their previous case, the investigation revolves around a cast of characters who seem to jump off the page, including Lee Geary himself. In the foreground are slightly fey Trish, damaged Jason whose synaesthesia colours his life, and Vince who is trying to escape from his past. Minor players also come to life; I especially liked – or enjoyed disliking – feisty Stef, stroppy Nina, and capable Jody who seems to appear out of nowhere.

The whole convoluted tale is vividly set against the tail-end of the Covid pandemic during the hottest summer on record; I sweated along with Matt and Gemma as I read in in mid-December! There’s a keen sense of real life going on outside work for both the protagonists. Gemma is coping with an uneasy relationship. Matt’s mother is seriously ill in hospital, his father isn’t coping well, and the long-ago death of his brother keeps raising its head. And his elderly and eccentric neighbour Mrs Musprat throws a large spanner in the works.

Several truths are revealed by the end, some unexpected, others inevitable. There’s even a hint of a happy ending for Matt, left as a teaser for the next in the series. I look forward to seeing how it works out for these two likeable characters.
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Kate Webb was born in 1977 and grew up in Hampshire before reading History at Durham University. She has since spent time living in London and Venice, and now lives in the countryside near Bath, UK. Stay Buried is her debut crime novel and Book 1 in the DI Lockyer series. She also writes historical fiction under the name Katherine Webb, which have included several Sunday Times Top Ten Bestsellers and been translated into 26 languages around the world.

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.

‘Seven Up’ by Janet Evanovich

Published by Headline,
4 June 2001.
ISBN: 978-0-74726956-4 (HB)

Our intrepid bond enforcement agent Stephanie Plum returns again in this the seventh book in the series. When Eddie DeChooch fails to attend his court appearance, Stephanie is assigned to find him. He’s a semi-retired mob guy, but Eddie has learned a few tricks over the years and proves difficult to catch. He also has a penchant for using his gun, as Stephanie discovers when she finds the body of Loretta Ricci in Eddie’s shed.

We meet again Grandma Mazur, Lulu, Vinnie and all the wonderful cast of characters we have grown to know and love in the earlier books and are additionally introduced to two of Stephanie’s former high school classmates, Walter ‘MoonMan’ Dunphy, and Dougie ’The Dealer’ Kruper, who have inadvertently become involved with Eddie DeChooch. Then Dougie disappears. Regularly turning up at Stephanie’s flat are Benny and Ziggy, friends of DeChooch, who keep offering help, but seems only to hinder. When MoonMan also disappears, Stephanie goes into high search mode.

Stephanie’s love life continues to be complicated with the gorgeous Morelli on the one side and the unfathomable Ranger on the other. On the home front; perfect sister Valerie has decided to move back to Trenton, bringing her two children of one of whom thinks she is a horse. Makes for even more fun at the Plum meal times.

Another fantastic adventure in the series.  A must for all Evanovich fans.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Janet Evanovich grew up in New Jersey, but now lives in Hampshire. She is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum novels including Turbo Twenty-Three and Tricky Twenty-Two; the Knight and Moon novels including Curious Minds, co-written with Phoef Sutton; five novels in the Fox & O'Hare series - The Heist, The Chase, The Job, The Scam and The Pursuit - co-written with Lee Goldberg; the Lizzy and Diesel novels including most recently Wicked Charms, co-written with Phoef Sutton; twelve romance novels; the Alexandra Barnaby novels; the Troublemaker graphic novels; and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author. She has won several major crime fiction awards including the CWA John Creasey Award, Dilys Award and Silver Dagger.

‘Lost and Never Found’ by Simon Mason

Published by Riverrun,
18 January 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-52942-556-4 (HB) 

When rich socialite Zara Fanshawe disappears after pranging her Rolls Royce in Oxford, Superintendent ‘Barko’ Wallace instructs his two DI’s, Ryan Wilkins and Ray Wilkins (not related) to put an end to the media frenzy by finding Zara asap.  Much to Ray’s chagrin, Barko appoints Ryan as the lead investigator. The two DI’s have completely different backgrounds. Ray is tall, dark, handsome, well-dressed and well-educated. He works by the book. Ryan wears silver joggers with orange T-shirts, ignores normal police procedure, invents rules as he goes along, and you wonder if he has read any books - other than the one about a mole and a mouse that he reads to his three-year-old son. Ryan’s habit of mischievously exerting his new authority by insisting that Ray performs menial tasks like knocking on doors, does nothing to harmonise the already shaky foundations of their working relationship.

Zara’s body is found in an empty house belonging to her ex-husband. Nearly twenty years ago Zara had been a student in Oxford. Until a couple of months ago she had been living in luxury and leading a frivolous life full of drugs, drink etc. Now, for whatever reason, she seemed to have abandoned her hedonistic lifestyle for one of poverty and penance. Why had she brought five thousand pounds to Oxford and started searching for a homeless man, ‘Waitrose’, who pushes a trolly around the town? She had lots of friends and no obvious enemies. Why would anyone want to kill her?

Ryan is convinced that something that happened whilst Zara was a student was responsible for the change in her behaviour, but what?  As Ray and Ryan battle to determine what, if anything, connects Zara to the wide variety of characters that inhabit the story both of them are also struggling with their domestic situations. Ray has a pushy father anxious for his son to climb the promotion ladder added to which Ray and his wife have six-month-old twins, so sleep is in short supply. Ryan and his young son - also called Ryan - get very upset when Ryan senior doesn’t get home in time for Ryan junior’s bedtime story. Then young Ryan becomes ill and won’t speak to his father.

Set mostly in Oxford during February and containing a plot that is as intricately woven as a spider’s web, Lost and Never Found shows a town sharing the universal problems of homelessness, drug addicts and prostitutes rather than simply showcasing the usual touristy side of the beautiful old university town. This is the third in Simon Mason’s DI Wilkins mystery series.  There were signs at the end of the book that Ryan’s adversarial attitude towards Ray and authority in general might be softening a little and that the two Wilkins might start working, if not more harmoniously, then at least more tolerantly with each other – that is of course if promotion, ambition, personal circumstances etc. do not conspire to separate the two DI’s and set these entertaining and original characters off on another tangent.
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Reviewer: Angela Crowther  

Simon Mason is an author of children's and adult books. His first adult novel, a black comedy entitled The Great English Nude, won the Betty Trask first novel award and Moon Pie was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction prize. Running Girl is his first story starring Garvie Smith. Simon lives in Oxford with his wife and their two children.

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.

‘Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet’ by MC Beaton

Published by Constable,
29 August 2002.
ISBN: 978-1-84119539-1(HB)

The ladies of Carsely are a futter as a new vet has moved into the village, and Agatha Raisin, recently retired high-flying based London PR executive is fluttering more than most.  Having returned from a holiday in the Bahamas in pursuit of her neighbour James Lacey, who apparently changed his plans at the last minute, presumably because some kind soul tipped him off that Agatha was planning to join him. So, Agatha is in need of a sop to her self-esteem. But before she has swung her lasso, Dr Paul Bladen, the new vet is accidently killed while attending Lord Pendlebury’s horse.

I am not quite sure why I read these adventures of Agatha Raisin, she is a remarkably shallow woman, whose only goal in life seems to be the ensnarement of her neighbour James Lacey. He on the other hand seems to be a very pleasant chap, with one suspects a sense of humour. So, his constant avoirdance of Agatha is refreshing, perhaps that is why I read them, in the hope that Agatha will never get him.

The mystery, however, is good fun, with James showing an interesting disregard for the law, and Agatha being somewhat apprehensive about such matters.

We meet again the delightful Bill Wong of the local constabulary and Mrs Bloxby, the vicar’s wife, whom I suspect has Agatha’s measure.

It’s a bit like a soap opera, sort of compulsive. I suspect I may read the next one in the series.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes
M C Beaton is also the author of the highly acclaimed Hamish MacBeth series.

M.C. Beaton (1936-2019) was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead.  She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York. Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write Regency romances. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name of Marion Chesney and getting fed up with 1811 to 1820, she began to write detectives stories. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both were ired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.

http://www.mcbeaton.com