‘The Stranger in my House’ by Judith Barrow

Published by Honno Press,
14 November 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-91682122-4 (PB)

Does it count as crime fiction if nobody dies? That’s a moot point. In Judith Barrow’s new domestic drama there’s certainly a crime; it’s called coercive control and carries a five-year prison sentence. But if you’re looking for murder and mayhem and a police investigation you’ll be disappointed. 

But not if you keep reading. You’ll find yourself gripped and drawn into the lives of twins Chloe and Charlie and their hapless dad Graham. And I guarantee you’ll be after the blood of Graham’s second wife Lynne, who really is a wicked stepmother. Graham is taken in by her blandishments, and pays a high price for doing so, but first Charlie and then Chloe see her for what she is: a cruel, conniving hypocrite who has an agenda very much her own, which definitely does not include caring for two lively eight-year-olds.

She persuades Graham that these perfectly normal eight-year-olds need specialist attention, Charlie in a succession of care homes for ‘difficult’ children, Chloe with foster parents who prove unexpectedly beneficial. Separated by both circumstances and Lynne’s design, and seemingly abandoned by their unfortunate father, the twins follow very different paths.

Judith Barrow has a talent for creating characters who live and breathe and draw her readers into their lives and making us care about them. Her stories have a powerful emotional pull; this one made me cheer when Chloe makes something of herself and I feel desperately sorry for Charlie who is less lucky. I was ambivalent (as I’m sure was intended) about Graham who allows himself to be woefully abused, and most of all I wanted to see the appalling Lynne get her comeuppance.

The supporting cast is as strong as the leading players. Lynne’s own teenage children couldn’t be less alike: Saul the self-centred bully whom she adores, and gentle Evie who sees straight through her and incurs her contempt. Evie is a support to the twins throughout, and though Charlie finds himself in the worst possible children’s home, Chloe’s foster families are the nurturing kind. Later, when the twins are eventually reunited and set about rescuing their father, it’s with the help of Simon, who offers Charlie a new life, and Graham’s business partner Phil, his wife Margaret and son Mark.

Conventional murder mystery it isn’t, but the most heinous crimes are often the least visible. When they’re portrayed in a believable story inhabited by characters so well drawn you want to root for them or beat them to a pulp, it can only make you wonder what really goes on in other people’s families.

It’s all thanks to Judith Barrow, and I urge you to read it for yourselves.
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Judith Barrow originally from Saddleworth, a group of villages on the edge of the Pennines, has lived in Pembrokeshire, Wales, for over forty years. She has an MA in Creative Writing with the University of Wales Trinity St David's College, Carmarthen. BA (Hons) in Literature with the Open University, a Diploma in Drama from Swansea University. She is a Creative Writing tutor for Pembrokeshire County Council and holds private one to one workshops on all genres. 

https://judithbarrowblog.com

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.

‘Poppy’s Christmas Cracker’ by Leigh Russell

Published by Crime & Mystery Club Ltd,
19 September 2024. 
ISBN: 978-0-85730600-5 (PB)

This is the fourth outing for Poppy, the adorable crossbreed terrier and her owner Emily. Emily inherited a house, in the beautiful country village of Ashmead, when her great auntie died. with the condition she adopted Poppy,

Emily works as a waitress in village’s popular, Sunshine Café, owned by her best friend, and brilliant baker Hannah.

In this unputdownable story, a French Patisserie has newly opened in the village. The problem being,it is opposite the busy Sunshine Café. To further complicate, and cause bad feeling between Hannah and Emily, Emily has fallen for and has started dating Niles, the handsome waiter at the French café.

The Sunshine cafe is now losing trade where the French patisserie is thriving.

When the owner of the patisserie, Desiree, is found dead, having fallen out a window, and suspected having being pushed, Hannah is arrested and charged with her murder. She had been overheard by many villagers saying bad things about Desiree, and further witnesses have come forward to report overhearing a row between the two women. To complicate further, Hannah has no alibi.

Christmas plans in Hannah’s café involving all the lone villagers and friends are now on hold, and the café is closed.

Now Emily, along with her close village friends, go on a mission to prove Hannah’s innocence.

Next, our hero dog Poppy discovers something of vital importance that turns the case on its head, leaving Emily wondering who her real friends are.

This, as one would expect from the pen of Leigh Russell, is an extremely well-crafted mystery. Add to that clear and colourfully drawn characters, and top that with a cracker of a dog for becoming Santa Paws and saving Christmas in the village of Ashton-Mead.

I read this story in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down. Five stars for Leigh Russell and a big turkey dinner for Poppy.
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Reviewer: Linda Regan
www.Lindareganonline.co.uk

Leigh Russell studied at the University of Kent gaining a Master’s degree in English and American literature. Formerly a secondary school English teacher, with the success of her Geraldine Steel series, Leigh now writes full-time. Her debut novel, Cut Short, was published in 2009 by No Exit Press in the UK, there are now 22 books in the series  featuring detective Geraldine Steel.  Leigh also has a  series featuring Lucy Hall. Her most recent series features Poppy the dog. Leigh Russell is married with two daughters and lives in Middlesex.

 leighrussell.co.uk/   

Linda Regan is the author of nine crime novels. She is also an actor. She holds a Masters degree in critical writing and journalism, and writes a regular column, including book reviews, for three magazines. She also presents the book-club spot on BBC Radio Kent. She is an avid reader and welcomes the chance to read new writers. 

  To read a review of Linda's most recent book
 The Burning Question
click on the title. 

www.lindareganonline.co.uk

Mystery at Lockley Grange by Clare Chase

Published by Bookouture,
30 October 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-83525727-2 (PB)

Prolific mystery writer Clare Chase has a considerable well-deserved following. Mystery at Lockley Grange is the 13^th novel in her Eve Mallow series.

Eve is under pressure trying to hold down two jobs as an obituary writer and working with friend Viv in the tea shop while attempting to organise the arrangements for her own wedding in a couple of weeks’ time. However, she is happy to be asked to cater for the big party hosted by diplomat Lance Hale at Lockley Grange to celebrate his latest award. Many years before, Eve used to act as babysitter to the three Hale children.

Lance is found dead in his swimming pool the morning after the party. He is the third member of his family to suffer a tragic death. His first wife died when she was deliberately run down by a car and his eldest daughter fell from a cliff top only a few months ago.

Despite all the difficulties of finalising the wedding details – not least dealing with her brother who constantly pesters her with questions about the accommodation she has arranged for him – Eve finds it impossible not to investigate Lance’s murder. She quickly obtains a commission to write the Lance’s obituary which provides her with a good excuse to question all his remaining family and close associates.

Lockley Grange proves to be a hotbed of jealousy, sibling rivalry, lies and deceit. All too soon she discovers that his two surviving children, his second wife, his personal assistant and even the family doctor have plausible motives for his murder.

Clare Chase keeps the reader trying to unpick the tangled web. The twists and turns of the plot build up until it reaches a satisfying conclusion.

A thoroughly enjoyable read – perfect for those who enjoy a fast-paced, cosy mystery that will keep you turning the page and guessing till the very end.
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Reviewer: Judith Cranswick

Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations. Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium. As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.

www.clarechase.com 

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder. I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness’ sake!’ Judith’s latest book is Journey to Casablanca 

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/

‘Mystery in White’ by J Jefferson Farjeon

Published by British Library Crime Classics,
25 September 2014.
ISBN: 978-0-7123-5770-8 (PB)
Originally published in 1937.

On Christmas Eve, the 11.37am train from Euston to Manchester came to an unofficial halt.  And a group of people find themselves stranded in the snow, as the guard informs them that there is no chance of the train moving.

Several passengers decide to leave the train and try to walk to another station down the line,  but poor visibility leads them off the track and eventually they take shelter in an remote empty house, amazingly with tea laid out and a kettle humming on the hob. Maybe the sight of a bread knife in the middle of the kitchen floor should have given then pause for thought. But maybe shelter and a cup of tea is all they wanted at this point.

Initially the only passengers identified in the book are a brother and sister, David and Lydia, Carrington, but an elderly gentleman does identify himself as Robert Thomson, without a P, as he quickly informed them. Later they are joined by other travellers from the train and they learn that there had been a murder on the train. During the trek from the train Jessie Noyes had fallen in the snow, twisted her ankle and passed out. Also from the train seeking shelter, are a Mr Hopkins, a Mr Smith and a Mr Edward Matley. Quite an assorted group.

In his introduction to this book Martin Edwards says ‘although today little is known of this author, he was a major figure during the Golden Age of murder between the two world wars. Indeed his novels were admired by Dorothy L. Sayers, who called him "unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures"

There is without doubt an Agatha Christie feel about the book, as people disappear. The thing I enjoy most when reading crime fiction is when the roots of the puzzle lie in the past, and therefore to solve the mystery the past has to be unravelled. There is a spooky feeling to the house they have stumbled upon And a rather high body count.

A dark atmospheric classic mystery, with a twist at the end, like all good mysteries. Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Joseph Jefferson Farjeon (4 June 1883 – 6 June 1955) was born in Hampstead, London. He worked for ten years for Amalgamated Press in London before going freelance.  An English crime and mystery novelist, playwright and screenwriter. was the grandson of the American actor Joseph Jefferson, after whom he was named. His father, brother and sister also developed successful careers in the literary world. His "Ben" novels were reissued in 2015 and 2016.

‘Fatal Forgery’ by Susan Grossey

Independently Published,
12 July 2013.
ISBN: 978-1-91600190-9 (PB)

1824, in London. Constable Sam Plank of the magistrates’ force has just arrested respected banker Henry Fauntleroy for forging the signatures to various documents. If he’s found guilty, he’ll hang ...

Trial stories are always a good hook, and this one’s a winner. For a start, there’s the fascination of how exactly a trial was conducted two hundred years ago, and we follow Plank and Fontleroy through the whole process: the arrest, the preliminary hearing and Fauntleroy’s incarceration, then the second hearing, his transfer to Newgate and finally the trial. It’s written so vividly as to feel like time travel. Then there are the characters. Fauntleroy is intriguing right away – the charge-sheet sounds like just another fraudulent banker (we know all about them nowadays!) but a crowd of witnesses to his good character come forward, and his behaviour is strange – why isn’t he defending himself? The narrator, Sam Plank, is drawn in too – and he’s a great character, a solid, honest policeman with a supportive wife, Martha. He knows the people in this early C19 London: the clerks and lawyers in the court, the magistrates and justices, and the wardens of prisons Coldbath and Newgate. His search leads him out into the suburbs, and a woman with two little girls – was Fauntleroy as squeaky-clean as he pretends? The chapters are short, making for a quick read, the progress of the trial is compelling reading, and the final reveal is completely unexpected.

This historical PP is the opener in what promises to be an excellent series, with a well-plotted story, gripping characters, a vividly described setting and a clever end twist.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Susan Grossey has always made her living from crime – for twenty-five years as an anti-money laundering consultant and now writing historical financial crime novels.  In 2012 she published what she thought was a standalone book set in London in 1824, but it turned out that the true hero of Fatal Forgery was a magistrates’ constable who insisted on having a further six books written about him.  When he retired in 1829, Susan turned her attention to her hometown of Cambridge and the University constables who were created there in 1825.  She has published Ostler – the first of five planned novels narrated by university constable Gregory Hardiman – and is currently wrestling with the second in the series.  

Susan Grossey – Historical crime writer

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh and came to Shetland as a newly qualified teacher. 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.  She lives with her husband and two Shetland ponies.

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk 

‘Deadfall’ by Aline Templeton

Published by Allison & Busby,
21 November 2024:
ISBN: 978-0-7490-3154-1 (HB)

 DCI Kelso Strang’s personal life has moved on since his last case. The fifth in this engaging series set in a variety of Scotland’s small towns saw him start a romance with young lawyer Cat Fleming; at the beginning of book six, the relationship has progressed and Cat is moving into the cottage on the coast which Kelso calls home when he isn’t away on a case. He is head of Police Scotland’s Rural Crime Squad, which takes over major investigations when the local force lacks the resources and manpower to do it themselves.

They are both hoping for some down time from work, to let their relationship settle into its new shape; but crime pays no heed to other people’s lives, and Cat’s boxes aren’t even unpacked before duty calls Kelso away. He has to leave Cat to her unpacking when the co-owner of a large estate is found dead, and the post mortem reveals that it wasn’t the accident it first appeared. 

The dead man is Perry Forsyth, recently returned to his childhood home from the bright lights of Edinburgh, where his lucrative career in property has come to an abrupt end. It soon becomes plain that Perry was not a popular man, and his death works to the advantage of a number of people who have designs on the ancient forest which forms most of the family estate. His sister Oriole has continued to live there, and sees herself as the guardian of the trees and wildlife. A local consortium of dubious businessmen want to buy the land cheaply to build a luxury hotel. A small-time academic sees potential for a study centre which would enhance his failing career. And then there’s Jay, Perry’s wayward teenage son, who adds a layer of complication by going missing.  

It’s down to Kelso to dig down into the layers of deceit and self-interest in order to identify the murderer and find the missing boy. His sidekick DS Livvy Murray is forced to make the arduous two-hour journey to and from Edinburgh every day because the budget won’t stretch to accommodation for her. They very soon becomes suspicious of Keith Drummond, one of the local inspectors, but fortunately finds an ally in DI Hamish Campbell. And to cap it all, the new chief superintendent is on a witch hunt, determined to root out corruption.

Kelso finds a way through the tangled web to the truth, but not before other lives, including his own, are put in danger. Meanwhile back at HQ in Edinburgh, his boss DCS Jane Borthwick is fighting a battle for the future of the Rural Crime Squad. Cat is discovering first-hand how it feels to be the much younger partner of a senior police officer: a complex mixture of pride in his achievements, resentment and some outmoded attitudes in the force, and gut-wrenching fear for his safety.

Kelso Strang is rapidly becoming one of my favourite police procedural protagonists: he’s efficient and perceptive, and also very human, with emotions and frailties which he isn’t afraid to show. In each book Aline Templeton places him at the head of a well-rounded and true to life set of characters, some recurring, most passing through. The series is going from strength to strength; long may Kelso continue!
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Aline Templeton grew up in the fishing village of Anstruther, on the east coast of Scotland not far from St Andrews.  The memories of beautiful scenery and a close community inspired her to set the Marjory Fleming series in a place very like that – rural Galloway, in the south-west of Scotland. After attending Cambridge University to read English she taught for a few years.  She now writes full-time.  Her most recent series features DCI Kelso Strang, officer in charge of Police Scotland’s Serious Rural Crime Squad. There are six books in the series.  

http://www.alinetempleton.co.uk

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.

‘Murder at Whitechapel Road Station’ by Jim Eldridge

Published by Allison & Busby,
21 November 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-74903146-6 (HB)

This is the fourth book in Eldridge’s London Underground Station Mysteries Series and, as with its predecessors, is set during the Blitz in WW2. The former Whitechapel Road Underground station is being used as an air raid shelter and a body is found in one of its nooks and crannies. Not only has this woman been stabbed, she has also been eviscerated. A battered Victorian doctor’s case containing surgical tools has been left nearby. Was that meant to be found? Once the dead woman is identified as a prostitute, it is inevitable that the ghost of Jack the Ripper starts to hover over proceedings.

DCI Edgar Coburg, or Edgar Saxe-Coburg to give him his full name, of Scotland Yard is brought in. Coburg comes from a privileged family (he is the younger brother of Magnus Saxe-Coburg, otherwise known as the Earl of Dawlish). Assisting him, as before, is DS Ted Lampson. Before long, as they say, the plot thickens. Coburg is summoned to a meeting at Buckingham Palace with King George VI and Winston Churchill, the prime minister. One of the monarch’s valets, Bernard Bothwell, has gone missing, and they want him found. They also claim that a watch has disappeared, and this appears to be a major concern. Coburg is told that everything must be kept quiet, and he cannot tell even DS Lampson. In an entertaining aside, the king wonders whether he (his family name being Saxe-Coburg-Gotha before George V changed it to Windsor) and Edgar Saxe-Coburg are distantly related.

At this point there is nothing to link the cases, but it soon transpires that Bothwell has family connections with Whitechapel – and Coburg does not like coincidences. Early in the novel we become aware that there is ‘The Watcher’, someone who is keeping an eye on the police activities around Whitechapel. Magnus Saxe-Coburg and his valet Malcolm have been asked by Churchill to scout potential sites in Whitechapel for more air raid shelters. Whoever ‘The Watcher’ is manages to persuade some local toughs that the pair are Nazi spies, and consequently they get beaten up. Meanwhile, another two women are murdered: one is also eviscerated, but the murderer is interrupted whilst attempting to do the same to the second yet manages to escape.

Such is the importance attached to Coburg’s investigation into the disappearance of Bothwell (which gives the reader the impression that there is more to it than meets the eye) that he is taken off the underground station murders. Lampson and others continue looking into them, but it is not long before the cases merge to one extent or another. A discovery is made that drags Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson into the story.

There are interesting developments from the previous novel in the series. Ted Lampson and Eve are now married (Lampson lost his first wife), and Ted hopes that his son Terry will start to call Eve ‘mum’ rather than Eve. Added period detail comes through Coburg’s wife, Rosa, who is a jazz musician. During the novel she hosts the first of what is hoped to be a series of concerts broadcast live from the Maida Vale Studios, and artists such as Vera Lynn, Flanagan and Allen and the Crazy Gang make appearances.

This is an enjoyable and easy read. Eldridge likes dialogue, and there are relatively few descriptive passages to get in the way of the fast-moving and engaging plot. Characters such as ‘Cheerful Charlie Brown’, a reporter on the Whitechapel Chronicle, add to the fun. If the previous novels have caught your attention, I’m sure you will not be disappointed by this one.
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Reviewer: David Whittle

Jim Eldridge was born in the Kings Cross/Euston area of north London in November 1944. He left school at 16 and did a variety of jobs, before training as a teacher. He taught during the 1970s in disadvantaged areas of Luton, while at the same time writing. He became a full-time writer in 1978. He is a radio, TV and movie scriptwriter with hundreds of radio and TV scripts broadcast in the UK and across the world in a career spanning over 30 years. He lives in Kent with his wife, 

http://www.jimeldridge.com/   

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.

‘In Harm’s Way’ by Judith Cutler

Published by Joffe Books,
24 May 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-83526590-1 (PB)
Originally Published 24 March 2008 as
Still Waters

Simon Gates has recently taken up the post of Deputy Chief Constable in the Kent County Constabulary.  Deputy Chief Superintendent Fran Harman not only knows him but was also his line manager before he left Kent some twenty-five years earlier.  Gates has enjoyed a stellar career, and Fran is ambivalent about his return; he was and still is a closed book, and Fran wonders what the “new broom” plans to do to make his mark in his current role.

An altogether different personality is Sergeant Jim Champion.  Jim had been Fran’s supervisor and mentor when she first moved into the Criminal Investigation Department.  He eschewed the greasy pole of promotion while those he had trained, like Fran, moved up the ranks.  She still respects and admires her old teacher, though, and when Jim shares his concerns about a recent violent death, she takes notice.  Ten days earlier, a man called Alec Minton fell from the fifth floor of an upmarket hotel in the seaside resort of Hythe.  Investigators have decided that he committed suicide, but Jim isn’t convinced and his concerns prompt Fran to make a few discreet enquiries of her own.  Then she comes across a case of murder dating back several years. The victim’s body has never been found but two men are currently serving prison sentences for the crime.  As she continues her scrutiny of the cold case, some of Fran’s colleagues become rattled.  The question is, why? And just how far will they go to stop her from finding out the truth?

The novel’s tight plot and sub plots weave together to produce a multi-layered and unpredictable thriller populated by characters who are colourful, credible and sometimes inscrutable. No one could accuse Fran Harman of being a shrinking violet, yet even she, now older and menopausal, is judged on received orthodoxies that write off women of a certain age. The novel treats such issues seriously but with a commendably light touch alongside the intriguing and sometimes shocking investigation into Minton’s unexplained death. The book also explores the domestic circumstances that concern Fran when she is off duty. Her relationship with fiancée Mark is relatively new and they are still flitting between their respective homes. This delicate arrangement is threatened when Sammie, Mark’s daughter, asks for her father’s help and he finds himself dealing with conflicting responsibilities. These transitions and overlaps between home life and professional duty are deftly balanced and add to the tension as well as the realism of the book.

In Harm’s Way, explores themes that are as relevant today as they were in 2009 when the novel was first published as Cold Pursuit. This, the third of the Fran Harman Mysteries, can be read perfectly well as a stand-alone novel.

Carefully crafted characterisation within a complex, often chilling, narrative make In Harm’s Way a fascinating and highly enjoyable read.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Judith Cutler was born in the Black Country, just outside Birmingham, later moving to the Birmingham suburb of Harborne. Judith started writing while she was at the then Oldbury Grammar School, winning the Critical Quarterly Short Story prize with the second story she wrote. She subsequently read English at university. It was an attack of chickenpox caught from her son that kick-started her writing career. One way of dealing with the itch was to hold a pencil in one hand, a block of paper in the other - and so she wrote her first novel. This eventually appeared in a much-revised version as Coming Alive, published by Severn House. Judith has eight series. The first two featured amateur sleuth Sophie Rivers (10 books) and Detective Sergeant Kate Power (6 Books). Then came Josie Wells, a middle-aged woman with a quick tongue, and a love of good food, there are two books, The Food Detective and The Chinese Takeout. The Lina Townsend books are set in the world of antiques and there are seven books in this series. There are three books featuring Tobias Campion set in the Regency period, and her series featuring Chief Superintendent Fran Harman (6 books), and Jodie Welsh, Rector’s wife and amateur sleuth. Her more recently a series feature a head teacher Jane Cowan (3 books). Judith has also written three standalone’s Staging Death, Scar Tissue, and Death In Elysium. Her new series is set in Victorian times featuring Matthew Rowsley. Death’s Long Shadow is the third book in this series.  

http://www.judithcutler.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.  

‘Poor Girls’ by Clare Whitfield

Published by Head of Zeus,
7 November 2024.
ISBN: 978-187393086-9 (HB)

Clare Whitfield’s third novel is based on real-life characters with a lifestyle you couldn’t make up: the Forty Elephants, a team of 1920s working class women who broke the mould they were expected to settle back into after fulfilling men’s roles throughout the First World War. After a taste of respect, freedom and decent wages, a handful were unwilling to return to a life of servicing the men whose jobs they had done and become wives or domestic servants. Instead, they decided to provide for themselves, by embarking on a well-organized life of thieving from those who were determined to tread them down.  

Eleanor Mackridge is working as a waitress, ignored or abused by the rich clientele, when she meets John, an amiable rogue, who introduces her to his glamorous sister Chrissie. Within weeks, Eleanor has changed her appearance and her name and joined a ‘cell’ of feisty young women who earn enough to buy their own jewellery and fur coats – through shoplifting their way through London’s upmarket department stores and selling on their loot.

Nell, as she becomes, emerges as spirited, ambitious and intelligent. She reluctantly cuts herself off from her family, who would never approve of the way she comes by the considerable sums of money she is able to send them. Her new family consists of the girls in her cell: impulsive Effie, friendly Charlie and sensitive Lily. The novel charts their adventures in and out of the tight knit Forty Elephants: their assaults on the department stores, their relationships with men and other women, and their extra-curricular ventures, one of which almost leads them into serious trouble.

The novel is littered with quirky and fascinating characters: Jay, the lesbian driver; Peter, Nell’s lover who inevitably comes to a sticky end; the Anns, two wizened crones retired from active thieving, who teach Nell her craft; and of course, Alice Diamond herself, statuesque Queen Alice who rules the Elephants with a rod of iron; and many more besides. On the other side are Nell’s downtrodden sister Steph; PC Horace Bevan, who takes a shine to Nell but becomes her nemesis; and a host of snooty shop assistants, rude restaurant clientele and corrupt magistrates, who place the readers’ sympathies firmly with Nell and her fellow thieves – engaging and honest crooks everyone.  

It’s a crime novel like no other I’ve encountered, and its solid proof of the old adage truth is stranger than fiction. And it’s a jolly good read into the bargain.
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Clare Whitfield is a UK based writer living in a suburb where the main cultural landmark is a home store/Starbucks combo. She is the wife of a tattoo artist, mother of a small benign dictator and relies on a black Labrador for emotional stability.

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.

‘The Widow’ by Helene Flood

Published by Quercus,
10 October 2024. 
ISBN: 978-1-52940607-8 (HB)

This is the third in Helene Flood's trilogy of stand alone thrillers.  The Therapist, The Lover are the previous books, and all the books have different narrators but are linked by the same police characters.  The author is Norwegian and the translator is Alison McCullough.  

This is a domestic tale about the death of a man and the immediate effect this death has on his wife Eva - the narrator - and their three grown children with supporting characters in the form of neighbours, friends and the Police.  It is in a very original format - jumping from the past and the present in practically every chapter and keeps one gripped at every turn.  It is both scary and fascinating and always believable. 

Evy is shocked by the sudden and unexpected death of her husband Erling in a cycling incident but almost immediately she is confronted by strange happenings in their home, unexplained doors left open and possessions missing and most worrying the autopsy on her husband Erling's body showed no signs of the medications he was taking that might have prevented the fatal heart attack.  Eva has been drinking heavily and her memory is patchy but she becomes convinced that her husband's death was not an accident. 

Slowly the characters of Eva, the children and Erling are revealed.  No one is perfect and each character is potentially dangerous.  The chilling and twisty tale reveals a shock to the whole family when Erling's Will is read and the following events involving family and friends are both compelling and irresistible to the reader.  A thoroughly enjoyable Scandi thriller and I absolutely loved it!
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Reviewer: Toni Russell

Helene Flood is a psychologist who obtained her doctoral degree on violence, revictimization and trauma-related shame and guilt in 2016. She now works as a psychologist and researcher at the National Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress. The Therapist is her first adult novel. It has been sold in 27 counties and film rights have been bought by Anonymous Content. Her second novel, The Lover, will be published in English in 2022. She lives in Oslo with her husband and two children.

Toni Russell is a retired teacher who has lived in London all her life and loves the city.  She says, ‘I enjoy museums, galleries and the theatre but probably my favourite pastime is reading.  I found myself reading detective fiction almost for the first time during lockdown and have particularly enjoyed old fashioned detective fiction rather than the nordic noir variety.  I am a member of a book club at the local library and have previously attended literature classes at our local Adult Education Centre.  I am married with three children and five grandchildren