Capital Crime: Espionage for the Modern Reader.

 Leonardo St Paul's, London 

 Friday 13 June 2025
16:10 - 17:00

Ava Glass, Charles Cummings,  Nick Harkaway 
and the participating moderator Vaseem Khan. 

Ava Glass is the author of the espionage series Alias Emma. A former civil servant and journalist, she once worked closely with spies, and that experience fuels her writing. Ava is the pseudonym for an international bestselling author who has written more than ten crime novels under another name. Her books have been bestsellers in multiple countries and have been published in more than twenty languages. Alias Emma is currently being developed for television by The Ink Factory. 

www.AvaGlass.co.uk

Charles Cumming was born in Scotland. He was educated at Eton College (1985-1989) and the University of Edinburgh (1990-1994), where he graduated with 1st Class Honours in English Literature. The Observer has described him as "the best of the new generation of British spy writers who are taking over where John le Carré and Len Deighton left off".  His first book A Spy by Nature, partly based on his experiences with MI6, was published in the UK in June 2001. 

http://www.charlescumming.co.uk 

Nick Harkaway (aka Nicholas Cornwell) is the fourth son of John le Carré. A highly respected author in his own right, his novels include The Gone Away World, Gnomon, Titanium Noir and Sleeper Beach, a second instalment to the Titanium books. In 2021, after the death of his father, Nick completed the final le Carré’s novel, Silverview, aiming that his contribution should be as invisible as possible. Last year’s Karla’s Choice is a continuation of his father’s Smiley novels.

nickharkaway.com

Vaseem Khan writes two award-winning crime series set in India. In 2021, Midnight at Malabar House, the first in the Malabar House novels set in 1950s Bombay, won the Crime Writers Association Historical Dagger. His latest is The Girl in Cell A, a psychological thriller set in small town America. Vaseem is also the author of the upcoming Quantum of Menace, the first in a series featuring Q from the James Bond franchise.

vaseemkhan.com 

The Dark Edge by Nick Louth

Published by Canelo,
24 April 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80436889-3 (PB)

Did she fall or was she pushed? This becomes the burning question for Detective Inspector Jan Talantire and her team when the body of Joanne Dexter was found lying part of the way down a really high cliff in Devon. A man on the clifftop found Joanne’s frail old mother Margaret Omerod, wandering around confused, it was really cold and the rain was torrential. He guided her to his car and she wanted to know where her daughter was. She told him Joanne had gone to look for her mother’s hat, it had blown off in the wind. He then took her back to the local nursing home where she was a patient suffering from dementia.

Events then take a rather sinister turn when it is found Joanne worked for Special Branch at a listening station in Bude and was an intelligence officer employed by GCHQ. On investigation suspicions arise, could she have been a Russian spy?

Digging deeper into Margaret’s and Joanne’s personal lives, events take a very complicated turn involving a Marquess many years ago. Jan is thoroughly baffled, can this really have anything to do with Joanne’s death? It seems more and more likely it may well have.

Then there is another body found; this time it is definitely a murder. To add to the mystery, DNA is found at the crime scene, which is seemingly impossible, what is going on? Jan and her team are really confused; it seems they have never had two such complicated deaths to solve. Are they even connected?

While all the investigations are going on, Jan also has to deal with a complaint she has made about a senior officer she once had an affair with. Things turn quite nasty for her.

Can she discover the truth behind the two deaths, solve the problems in her personal life, and emerge unscathed?

Another absorbing crime for Detective Inspector Jan Talantire to tackle from her clever creator Nick Louth.  Really highly recommended.
------
Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Nick Louth is a best-selling thriller writer, award-winning financial journalist and an investment commentator. He self-published his first novel, Bite, which was a No. 1 Kindle best-seller. It has sold a third of a million copies and been translated into six languages. Freelance since 1998, he has been a regular contributor to the financial Times, Investors Chronical and Money Observer. Nick is married and lives in Lincolnshire.

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.

Winners of the Final 2025 CrimeFest Awards Announced

 

one of Europe’s leading crime writing conventions, has announced the winners of the final CrimeFest Awards.

It’s a historic year for the annual awards as the convention ends after 17 years; the first convention was hosted in 2008.

The awards honour the best crime fiction and non-fiction books released in the UK in the last year, and feature the hotly-contended Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award, which offers a £1,000 cash prize.

This year the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award goes to the Japanese author and journalist, Akira Otani 
(and translator Sam Bett) for 
The Night of Baba Yaga (Faber), a no-holds-barred queer gangland thriller.

Award judge Dame Mary Perkins, co-founder of Specsavers, which sponsors the award, said: “I read many crime thrillers mainly at night before going to sleep. However, I could not do that with 
The Night of Baba Yaga.
Totally gripping and, quite frankly, violent, but a book which I had to read in one go - not in bits.  So - quite different to the usual scenarios I read.  It's set in Japan and certainly paints a different picture to "cherry blossom" ones. Congratulations to Akira Otani for introducing her writing to us here in the UK.”

Akira Otani said: “I'm immensely grateful to have been chosen for this prestigious award. For someone writing in a minor language like Japanese, there's no greater joy than seeing your work translated and shared with a wider audience of readers. I also offer my sincerest thanks to the translator, Sam Bett, for bringing this novel into English. This prize is for both of us.”

The winner of the CrimeFest H.R.F. Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book features goes to Mark Aldridge with 
Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness (HarperCollins).

CrimeFest’s Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel is awarded to
Mike Ripley for Mr Campion’s Christmas (Severn House).

The CrimeFest E-Dunnit Award for the best crime fiction e-book goes to the American novelist and playwright, Jean Hanff Korelitz with The Sequel (Faber).

The CrimeFest Best Crime Novel for Children (aged 8 - 12)
goes to Sufiya Ahmed for her World War Two
adventure set in Cairo, 
Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker (Bloomsbury).

The Best Crime Fiction for Young Adults (aged 12-16)
goes to Heist Royale by Kayvion Lewis,
the sequel to the Waterstone’s prize winning Thieves’ Gambit.

Adrian Muller said: “We are proud of the role our awards has played championing categories that were previously not recognised on the awards circuit. However, it’s our work championing children’s and Young Adult crime fiction that we’re most proud of.

“Crime fiction is recognised as a gateway into reading, and has the important ability to hook young readers, helping forge a life-long reading habit. There’s countless research on the benefits of reading, from improved mental and physical health, enhanced cognitive abilities, and personal growth. It improves focus, empathy and understanding, as well as reduces stress. It’s a gift to any young person on their journey through life.

“As CrimeFest closes, we would like to take this opportunity to challenge the Crime Writers’ Association to incorporate children’s and Young Adult categories into their famed Dagger awards going forward. It is vital the future generations of readers, and the authors that serve them, get the recognition and platform they deserve.”

Leading British crime fiction reviewers and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults, alongside the members of the School Library Association (SLA), form the CrimeFest judging panels.

In partnership with the independent Max Minerva’s Bookshop and participating publishers, CrimeFest gifts thousands of pounds of crime fiction books for children and young adults to school libraries.

This year also featured the Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama, which celebrates dramas based on a book screened in 2024. The award is named in honour of Thalia, a CrimeFest team member and a much-loved figure in the world of crime fiction.

The winner show is Slow Horses (series 4) based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron on Apple TV+. It’s the third year in a row Herron has won the award, beating hit shows including Apple TV’s Bad Monkey, based on the book by Carl Hiaasen,
the BBC’s Moonflower Murders based on the books by
Anthony Horowitz, and the BBC’s 
The Turkish Detective based on the Inspector Ikmen books by Barbara Nadel.

Mick Herron said: “Thalia would be delighted to know of this award being given in her name. She was a great friend to crime-writers, a great boon to the community, and is often remembered when groups of us gather. I'm proud to have known her, and I'll be proud to have this on my shelf.
Thank you, Thalia, thank you, CrimeFest, and thank you all.”

CrimeFest readers established the shortlist and the winning TV show.

The 2025 CrimeFest Awards were announced at a gala dinner hosted during CrimeFest on Saturday 17 May at the
 Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel,
compered by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) chair
 and author, Vaseem Khan.

Hosted in Bristol, CrimeFest was one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with circa 60 panel events and 150 authors attending over four days.

The final celebratory event saw long-standing friends attend, led by blockbuster author Lee Child, who attended with his brother
and co-Reacher author, Andrew Child.

The final CrimeFest also saw exclusive talks from the actor and screenwriter
Mark Gatiss on his upcoming TV series for UKTV's U&alibi channel Bookish, the TV writer Chris Chibnall with his debut novel, Death at the White Hart, and a tribute to John le Carré, featuring his two sons,
the film producer Simon Cornwell and novelist, Nick Harkaway.

CrimeFest was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention.
Established in 2008, it follows the egalitarian format of most US conventions, making it open to all commercially published authors and readers alike.

All category winners received a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.
Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

The 2025 CrimeFest Award in full:

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD

- Akira Otani (and translator Sam Bett) for 
The Night of Baba Yaga (Faber & Faber)

eDUNNIT AWARD

- Jean Hanff Korelitz for The Sequel (Faber & Faber)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

- Mark Aldridge for Agatha Christie's Marple:
 Expert on Wickedness (HarperCollins)

LAST LAUGH AWARD

- Mike Ripley for Mr Campion's Christmas (Severn House)

BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR CHILDREN (aged 8-12)

- Sufiya Ahmed for Rosie Raja:
Undercover Codebreaker (Bloomsbury Education)

BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULTS (aged 12-16)

- Kayvion Lewis for Heist Royale 
(Simon & Schuster Children's Books)

THALIA PROCTOR MEMORIAL AWARD FOR BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA

- Slow Horses (series 4), based on the Slough House books
by Mick Herron (Apple TV+)

crimefest.com

The 2025 CrimeFest Award Shortlist in full:

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD

- Tom Baragwanath for Paper Cage (Baskerville)

- Tasha Coryell for Love Letters to a Serial Killer (Orion Fiction)

- C. L. Miller for The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder (Pan Macmillan)

- Akira Otani (and translator Sam Bett) for The Night of Baba Yaga 
(Faber & Faber)

- Tracy Sierra for Nightwatching (Viking)

- Claire Wilson for Five by Five (Michael Joseph)

eDUNNIT AWARD

- Martin Edwards for Hemlock Bay (Head of Zeus)

- Laurie R. King for The Lantern's Dance (Allison & Busby)

- Jean Hanff Korelitz for The Sequel (Faber & Faber)

- Bella Mackie for What A Way To Go (The Borough Press)

- Liz Moore for The God of the Woods (The Borough Press)

- Peter Swanson for A Talent for Murder (Faber)

 

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

- Mark Aldridge for Agatha Christie's Marple: Expert on Wickedness 
(HarperCollins)

- Jem Bloomfield for Allusion in Detective Fiction 
(Palgrave Macmillan)

- Ashley Bowden for Female Detectives in Early Crime Fiction 1841-1920 
(Fabula Mysterium Press)

- Dan Coxon & Richard V. Hirst for Writing the Murder: Essays on Crafting Crime Fiction (Dead Ink)

- Sara Lodge for The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Detective 
(Yale University Press)

- Lynda La Plante for Getting Away With Murder: My Unexpected Life on Page, Stage and Screen (Zaffre)

 

LAST LAUGH AWARD

- Cathy Ace for The Case of the Secretive Secretary 
(Four Tails Publishing Ltd.)

- DG Coutinho for The Light and Shade of Ellen Swithin 
(Harvill Secker)

- Bella Mackie for What A Way To Go (The Borough Press)

- Orlando Murrin for Knife Skills for Beginners (Transworld)

- Mike Ripley for Mr Campion's Christmas (Severn House)

- Antti Tuomainen (and translator David Hackston) for 
The Burning Stones (Orenda Books)

 

BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR CHILDREN (aged 8-12)

- Sufiya Ahmed for Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker 
(Bloomsbury Education)

- Natasha Farrant for The Secret of Golden Island 
(Faber & Faber)

- A.M. Howell for Mysteries at Sea: The Hollywood Kidnap Case 
(Usborne Publishing)

- M. G. Leonard for The Twitchers: Feather (Walker Books)

- Beth Lincoln for The Swifts: A Gallery of Rogues 
(Penguin Random House Children's UK)

- Nicki Thornton for The Floating Witch Mystery (Faber & Faber)

 

BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULTS (aged 12-16)

- H.F. Askwith for A Cruel Twist of Fate 
(Penguin Random House Children's UK)

- Denise Brown for It All Started With a Lie (Hashtag Press)

- A.J. Clack for Lie or Die (Firefly Press)

- Amie   Jordan for All the Hidden Monsters (Chicken House)

- Kayvion Lewis for Heist Royale 
(Simon & Schuster Children's Books)

- Karen M. McManus for Such Charming Liars 
(Penguin Random House Children's UK)

 

THALIA PROCTOR MEMORIAL AWARD FOR BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA

- Bad Monkey, based on the book by Carl Hiaasen (Apple TV+)

- Dalgliesh (series 3), based on the Inspector Dalgliesh books
by P.D. James (Channel 5)

- Lady in the Lake based on the book
by Laura Lippman (Apple TV+)

- Moonflower Murders based on the book by Anthony Horowitz (BBC)

- Slow Horses (series 4), based on the Slough House books
by Mick Herron (Apple TV+)

- The Turkish Detective, based on the Inspector Ikmen books
by Barbara Nadel (BBC)

‘The Less Unkind’ by Rosario Giorgi

Published by Troubador Publishing Ltd,
28 January 2025.
ISBN: 978-1836287261

It is 1994, and Pico della Rosa is twenty-one and enjoying her third year of academic studies at the University of Copenhagen. Pico is an attractive, lively, young woman, and is part of a well-born, affluent, Italian family. She is defined by her natural gift for languages and an intellectual curiosity that means she is fascinated by linguistic puzzles. Above all, she is recklessly courageous, and, at the start of this adventure, she has never known real fear, which means she embraces danger as an exciting challenge.

One of the first new friends Pico made in Copenhagen had been Leo Hansen, and he has remained one of her closest friends. It is Leo who is responsible for the most major development in Pico’s life when he tells Pico that Antonio Bartram, an antique dealer, is looking for a summer assistant to answer the telephone and to mind the warehouse when he is out. He is looking for someone who can speak several languages, but knowledge of antiques is not required. Pico has already heard about Antonio, and she is fascinated by the rumours that in his earlier life he had been a priest. She goes to the warehouse with Leo to meet Antonio and feels an immediate bond with him. She accepts the job that Antonio offers her; she is happy to do the work he sets her, which leaves plenty of time for her own studies, and she is delighted to be working in the warehouse because she has admired the outside of the building whenever she passed it, especially the leering satyrs on the facade.

The more she gets to know Antonio, the deeper the connection with him becomes; she finds him interesting and charismatic, although she senses within him a reserve and deep loneliness. One thing about her new job that disturbs her are the phone calls from a man called Catania, whom Leo had encountered once and feared; in the brief phone calls that Pico receives from Catania she feels the same sense of trepidation, although he does nothing more frightening than ask to speak to Antonio.

Pico is excited when Antonio tells her that she is to accompany him to an auction in Sweden and mentors her about what is involved in attending and bidding at the auction. However, on the journey he spends the time telling her about art theft, specifically about Caravaggio’s Nativity, an extremely valuable painting that had been stolen in 1969 from a badly guarded parish church in Palermo, Sicily, and had never been recovered. As the trip continues, Pico begins to suspect that the auction is not Antonio’s main motive for the journey, and she becomes convinced that it has something to do with his obsession with the missing Caravaggio.

Pico is used to Antonio going off on business trips, but when a journey that he predicted would only last a fortnight stretches on much longer and he neither returns nor contacts her, she becomes worried. Her anxiety increases in proportion to the length of his absence, and her only point of contact is Antonio’s unhelpful solicitor, a man that she instinctively dislikes, who claims that he has no idea of Antonio’s plans or his current location. Pico is determined to find Antonio, and she uses her linguistic skills to decode the clues she discovers regarding his life and his possible whereabouts, an exercise that endows her with a growing understanding of the fundamental importance of keys of all kinds. Her research causes her to visit the Italian Riviera, the Vatican, and the mysterious Norden Wine Club in Copenhagen, and culminate in a forbidding castle. During her quest, she loses her youthful recklessness and experiences deep fear, especially when she encounters members of the Mafia, who never forget a grudge, as well as dealing with ruthless collectors of historical artefacts. Despite everything, Pico refuses to abandon her search for her friend, even though she knows that her attempts to find Antonio could well result in her own death.

The Less Unkind is a captivating novel with an engaging, dynamic protagonist, and an interesting, complex plot, which takes the reader on a tour of many fascinating places. It is a beautifully written novel, which explores the themes of obsession and moral dilemmas, and cleverly combines fictional characters with a real-life art theft that has never been solved. This is a compelling read, which I thoroughly recommend.
------
Reviewer:  by Carol Westron

Rosaria Giorgi comes from a quaint little Italian village, nestled among the rolling hills of Tuscany. She studied Scandinavian Languages and Literature in university, graduating summa cum laude from the University of Pisa. Research took her to the University of Copenhagen, where she had the bold idea of a Denmark-Sweden bridge. This formed the foundation of her thesis exploring the relationship between infrastructure and regional identity in the Øresund region. She founded a fashion startup and spent over a decade in Dublin.  In 2011 she left the Irish rain for the Canadian snow in Toronto, where she currently lives with my husband.   

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 

‘Double Stakes’ by Alison Morton

Published by Pulcheria Press,
20 May 2025.
ISBN: 979-1-09731039-4 (PB)

Mélisende des Pittones and her partner Jeff McCracken are enjoying a much-needed break with Mel’s family at their estate in France, following a particularly gruelling mission for their employers the EIRS (the European Investigation and Regulation Service). Their relaxation is interrupted by a desperate call for help from Mel’s mother, Susan, who had been working in her conservatory when a heavy ball of black basalt crashed through the glass roof, narrowly missing her. To add to the horror of this potentially fatal attack, the basalt ball is accompanied by a note, which demands money and threatens to take ‘one of your kids and sell them’ if the cash is not immediately forthcoming. Susan has no idea who could be targeting her and, as her two children are adults, it seems probable that the threat refers to her grandchildren, Mel’s brother’s children. 

The local police are summoned, but Mel wants to investigate the matter herself, aware that she has enough friends in the EIRS to informally access their facilities, including the use of any state of the art scientific laboratory in Europe. Mel and McCracken discover a reason for the threat, which they hope will set the police on the right track, however they are summoned to return to work as a matter of urgency and are warned that they will be required to undertake a new mission, which, if they fail, could compromise the security of Europe. 

On the first leg of their journey back to the EIRS headquarters in Brussels, when Mel is briefly alone on Poitiers station, she is attacked by two thugs, who call her by name. Mel, who served in the French army before she joined the EIRS, has no problem dealing with them, and the two men run away. She is uncertain whether this attack is linked to the threat her family are facing or if it is connected with the mission she is about to undertake. When Mel and McCracken meet their EIRS boss, in order to receive their briefing, they are shocked because Patrick Stephenson is not his usual immaculate self, and he confides in them that he has suffered a personal tragedy. Despite this, Stephenson is determined to carry on doing his duty. 

The mission he wants Mel and McCracken to undertake could have internationally disastrous consequences if they fail. Achim Nessler is a candidate in the election of a new chancellor for Germany and is expected to lead his party to victory. Nessler is a charismatic and respected centre-left candidate, who would uphold democracy in his country.  Nessler’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Emma, has been kidnapped and the abductors have threatened to kill her if Nessler does not withdraw from the election, but if he did withdraw it is almost certain that the extreme right would win and attempt to return the country to a violent extreme-right regime. 

While Mel liaises with the German police, McCracken uses the skills he acquired as an undercover police officer and dresses and acts like a right-wing thug, in the hope of infiltrating one of the groups of Neo-Nazis. He swiftly succeeds in doing so, which makes Mel very anxious for his safety, and she is also worried about the difficult situation that her family are suffering at home. To make matters worse, Mel finds working with some of the German police officers very difficult, many of the male officers are misogynistic and she fears that some of them are also corrupt. This means that she is uncertain who amongst her police colleagues she can trust, and all the time the clock moves inexorably nearer to date of the election when Nessler either has to withdraw from the campaign or accept that his daughter will probably be killed.  

Double Stakes is the third book in the series featuring Mélisende des Pittones and Jeff McCracken, and it is an excellent addition to a series that grows stronger and more gripping all the time. The core central characters are all engaging and their personalities and relationships develop all the time; the plot is complex and fast moving; and the political and geographical details are fascinating. This is a compelling thriller, a page turner, which I thoroughly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. She lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her latest three contemporary thrillers, Double Identity, Double Pursuit and Double Stakes. Her eleven-book Roma Nova thriller series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue. Six years’ military service, a fascinating with ancient Rome and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction have inspired her writing. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history. For the latest news, subscribe to her newsletter at https://www.alison-morton.com/newsletter and receive  'Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’ as a thank you gift.

http://alison-morton.com  

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 

Capital Crime: What's Going on in OZ?

Leonardo St Paul's, London  

GOLDSBORO BOOKS STAGE 

 Friday 13 June 2025
13:50 - 14:40

Chris Hammer, Hayley Scrivenor, Kate Kemp,
and moderator Craig Sisterson,
discuss the new favourite destination for Crime Fiction.

Chris Hammer has been a journalist for over twenty-five years. He has been an international correspondent for SBS TV's flagship current affairs program Dateline, the chief political correspondent for The Bulletin and a senior political journalist for The Age. His non-fiction book, The River, published by Melbourne University Publishing in 2010 to critical acclaim, was the recipient of the ACT Book of the Year Award. 

Hayley Scrivenor is a former Director of Wollongong Writers Festival. Dirt Creek is her first novel (published as Dirt Town in Europe and Australia). An earlier version of the book was shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize and won The Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award. Originally from a small country town. Hayley now lives and writes on Dharawal country and has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Wollongong on the south coast of Australia. 

Kate Kemp is an Australian writer living in the UK. She trained as an occupational therapist and then as a systemic psychotherapist and has worked with families and individuals in mental health services in both Australia and the UK.  In 2021, she won the Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction and the Yeovil Literary Prize. The Grapevine is her first novel.

Craig Sisterson, is a former lawyer who grew up among Middle Earth scenery in New Zealand, solving mysteries alongside the Hardy Boys, Hercule Poirot, and Agaton Sax. He now lives in London and writes for magazines and newspapers in several countries, intercut with being an event chair, festival founder, and book awards judge.

Murder in the Grotto’ by Amy Myers

Published by Severn House,
6 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-4483-0999-3 (HB)

Cara Shelley is happy running her café, the Happy Huffkin, situated in the grounds of Tanton Towers in Kent. Tanton Towers is the property of Max Farran Pryde and his wife, Alison, and Cara loves the quirky stately home, with its eccentric architecture. She knows that her contribution to making the Towers a successful tourist venue is appreciated by Max and Alison, however, she feels wary when she is invited for a meeting in the family wing of Tanton Towers, because she knows that Max’s aunt is visiting them. Cara is grateful to Lady Izzie, who advised Max and Alison to accept Cara’s proposal to open the Happy Huffkin, but she knows that her ladyship can be both eccentric and forceful. Cara’s instinct for trouble is correct. Lady Izzie announces that she is the honorary president of the Tanton Ghost and Phantom Society, and she is planning a celebration of their twentieth confirmation of a ghost sighting, to honour her nephew, Thomas Chalcott, the previous chair of the society, who had died of a heart attack, ten years ago, on the morning after an overnight ghost hunt in the grotto.

Max and Alison had thought that Lady Izzie was planning a grand dinner for the society members, and had summoned Cara to discuss the catering, but they are taken unawares when her ladyship announces that after the meal, they will hold an overnight ghost hunt in the grotto. The Tanton Towers grotto is one of the most spectacularly eccentric features of an architecturally remarkable house, but despite Max’s protests, Lady Izzie is adamant. At first Cara is amused by Lady Izzie’s determination, and she is looking forward to the first evening event the Happy Huffkin has catered. She is less happy when Max and Alison insist that Lady Izzie will not sleep in the grotto, and she pressurises Cara into attending at least the start of the ghost hunt in her place. Cara does not think that she believes in ghosts, but Lady Izzie’s request makes her shudder. Her fears increase when Lady Izzie reveals that she is convinced that her nephew had been murdered and she believes his ghost will appear to reveal the identity of his killer.

Despite her misgivings, Cara tries to find out about Thomas Chalcott and talks to the present members of the society. Lady Izzie assures her that everyone likes the chairman, Berowne Dyer, and Cara has to admit that he is very charming. However, soon she discovers that Berowne is a womaniser and that many of the society members are angry and resentful that Berowne, a comparative newcomer, ‘stole’ the job of chair from more established members when Thomas resigned.

The dinner and the start of the ghost hunt passes successfully, despite verbal sniping between the society’s members and an inflammatory speech by Lady Izzie. Cara feels relieved when she has overseen the start of the ghost hunt and returns home to her cottage for the night. However, in the morning she discovers that a violent death has occurred. Some time ago, when another murder had happened at Tanton Towers, Cara had helped to solve it, and she had started a relationship with DCI Andrew Mitchem, but when Mitchem was posted overseas the romance fizzled out. To her dismay, Mitchem has just returned from abroad and is the Senior Investigating Officer. All of Cara’s old feelings for him surge back, but she is unsure whether Mitchem reciprocates. Lady Izzie’s bulldozer tactics push Cara into continuing her investigation into Thomas Chalcott’s death, and Mitchem says he has no objection as long as she avoids the current murder investigation.

As Cara interviews the surviving members of the society, she is conscious of a constant fear that somebody is secretly watching her. Lady Izzie’s grand plan culminates in a ghost tour of Tanton Towers, led by Cara, who has been studying the ghost stories that abound around the historical house. At the end of it, despite Lady Izzie’s histrionics, Cara is relieved that her quest can be declared finished, but it seems the killer has other ideas, and Cara is in more danger than she realises.

Murder in the Grotto is the second book in the series featuring Cara Shelley, Andrew Mitchem, and the other inhabitants of Tanton Towers and the Happy Huffkin Café. This is an excellent addition to the series, with a delightful unconventional setting, an engaging cast of eccentric characters, and an ongoing relationship story between the two protagonists. Murder in the Grotto is an enjoyable cosy crime novel, which I recommend for anyone who enjoys gently-paced, quirky crime fiction.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Amy Myers was born in Kent, where she still lives. For many years she worked as a director in a London publishing firm, before realising her dream to become a writer. Her first series featured detective, August Didier, a half French, half English master chef in late Victorian and Edwardian times. She also writes a series with her American husband James Myers, featuring Jack Colby, car detective, there are 8 books in the series. Her most recent series is set post WW1, featuring chef-sleuth Nell Drury. There are three books in this series.  She has also written nine books featuring Marsh and Daughter, and in between a series about a Victorian chimney sweep Tom Wasp. Amy also writes historical novels and suspense under the name Harriet Hudson.  

http://www.amymyers.net/  

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 

‘Sayonara, My Sweet’ by Lea O’Harra

Published by Black Rose Writing,
7 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-168513595-9 (PB)

This Japanese-set mystery novel opens with the news report of an unnamed young woman in her twenties dying of poison, then returns to twelve hours earlier, with beautiful, conventional Kaori Hirakata preparing to run away with Hiroki Sato, a young man her parents definitely wouldn’t approve... except that when Hiroko arrives, the author tells us, The next five minutes turned [Kaori’s] world upside down. The reader doesn’t know what happened, but it seems Kaori’s spoiled little brother, Aki, overheard. Then we move to Murota Police Station, where Chief Inspector Ito learns more details of Kaori’s death. He already knows the family – over ten years ago, there was a gun attack on Kaori’s father, and his boss accused him of gang membership and corruption.

The movement between the other characters and Chief Inspector Ito is neatly done, giving us the true feelings of characters compared to what they tell the police. We meet a variety of people: Mrs Goto, the nosy neighbour who can keep her head in an emergency; Emi Tada, Kaori’s best friend, who enjoyed the luxury of Kaori’s life compared to her own poverty; Juno-sensei, an unpleasant, pushy missionary at the Christian church where the Hirakata family worshipped; Koji Yanagihara, the reporter from the Nippon Times who finds himself attacked by a masked man with one pinkie missing – a sign of gang membership.

With no leads and the disappearance of Hiroki, his superintendent humiliates Ito publicly, and takes him off the case. However, it’s re-opened nearly halfway through the book, ten years later, by the return of Kaori’s brother Aki, with new evidence. This part of the book drew me in well, with the description of the time-capsule house and the reactions of its new tenant, a young American teacher at the university. Aki renews his friendship with the people in the case, and now the threads of the mystery are drawn together to a tense conclusion.

A cleverly constructed stand-alone murder novel with interesting characters, an atmospheric background and a knowledgeable portrait of Japanese society. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Lea O’Harra has previously published four crime fiction novels: Imperfect Strangers, originally published in 2015 by Endeavour Press, republished in 2022 by Sharpe books; Progeny, originally published in 2016 by Endeavour Press, republished in 2022 by Sharpe books; Lady First, originally published in 2017 by Endeavour Press, republished in 2022 by Sharpe Books, and Dead Reckoning, published in 2022 by Sharpe Books. The first three books comprise the so-called ‘Inspector Inoue murder mystery series’ and are set in Japan. The fourth book is a standalone in small-town America. In autumn 2017 Lady First was awarded finalist status in the crime fiction section of the Beverly Hills Books Awards. It was also a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards in 2018. Dead Reckoning was selected as a Book Excellence Award Finalist in 2023 in the thriller category. 

http://leaoharra.com  

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.  

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book
Death at a Shetland Festival 
www.marsalitaylor.co.uk