‘The Fixer’ by Joseph Finder

Published by Head of Zeus,
24 June 2015.
ISBN: 978-1-78408-129-4

Rik Hoffman has lost his job as an investigative journalist, lost his fiancée and having no money has moved back into his father's old and dilapidated house.

With the help of the builder next door he starts a few renovations. When they break through the back wall of

a built in closet Rik finds millions of dollars hidden beneath a tarpaulin. The builder catches a glimpse of the money but does not realise exactly how much is there.

As Rik's father is in a nursing home unable to speak after a stroke twenty years ago, he is unable to shed a light on how the money got there and where it came from.

Rik starts making his own enquiries and these lead him into many serious situations. His experience as an investigative journalist helps him to delve deeply into bribery and corruption involving big names in the city of Boston. They also bring to light his father's rather murky past.

It's not long before he realises he is being followed and has to change cars and places to stay , not always

successfully and the tension increases until it all comes to a head with a very satisfactory ending.

I really enjoyed this book, the story flows nicely and I found I was turning the pages faster and faster as I read on. I especially liked the fact that the main character was just an ordinary person and not some tough guy who could easily outwit his pursuers. I thought that his efforts to keep from being followed were really believable.

He also has his own faults as he admits to himself that the only reason he arranges for his father to have a new treatment that may bring his speech back, is to find out where the money came from.

This was a great read with believable characters and an even more believable plot. Corruption of this nature must go on in every town and city everywhere.

I look forward to reading more books by Joseph Finder with great anticipation.

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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Joseph Finder was born in Chicago  and spent his early childhood living around the world, including Afghanistan and the Philippines. In fact, Joe's first language -- even before English -- was Farsi, which he spoke as a child in Kabul. Finally, after a stint in Bellingham, WA, his family finally settled outside of Albany, NY.

After taking a high school seminar on the literature and history of Russia, Joseph went on to major in Russian studies at Yale. He then completed a master's degree at the Harvard Russian Research Center, and later taught on the Harvard faculty. He was recruited to the Central Intelligence Agency but eventually decided he preferred writing fiction.  In 2006 he won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel for Killer Instinct. Now a bestselling thriller writer, Jo in addition to his fiction, does occasional work for Hollywood and has written on espionage and international affairs for a number of publications, including TheDailyBeast.com, Forbes, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Republic. He roots for the Boston Red Sox and lives in Boston with his wife, daughter, and a needy golden retriever, Mia, a dropout from seeing-eye-dog school.

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.

‘Accused’ by Hannah Dennison

Published by Constable,
5 November 2015.

It's all go in the leafy village of Gipping-on-Plym. For a countryside idyll, there certainly is a lot of small scale crime: sunflowers destroyed, bicycle tyres slashed and the odd scuffle between neighbours, not to mention bed-hopping neighbours having affairs and the upcoming annual worm charming (yes, worm charming) competition. 

So far, so parochial. But did I mention that the father of our heroine, local newspaper journalist Vicky, is an accomplished burglar? Or that she is his accomplice, burying his loot in her landlady's garden until it's safe to move it? Suddenly we move into the realms of unusual. 

And when Ruth Reeves, whose husband recently came into a large inheritance, dies, rumours abound that she was murdered. But by whom? And why? Vicky determines to find out...

As more eligible men than you would expect in such a small locale declare their feelings for Vicky, she tries not to get distracted and focuses on the task at hand. But it's hard when both the local policeman and paramedic are vying for your affections, when your landlady is kicking you out and the local undertaker offers you a place to stay and when your headline-hungry colleague threatens to scoop you at any moment. But Vicky perseveres, uncovering village secrets at every turn, until the exciting climax. 

This is a lively account of village life where the criminal investigation really takes second place to the comings and goings of the neighbours. A light-hearted narrative that doesn't take itself too seriously, the author has successfully weaved a tale that is both engaging and fun, providing the right amount of detail to keep the reader interested without getting bogged down in lengthy descriptions. A great summer read. 

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Reviewer: Joanna Kennedy

About the author

Hannah Dennison was born and raised in Hampshire, but on leaving school landed a job as an obituary writer/amateur dramatic reviewer for a Devon newspaper. Hannah is the author of the Honeychurch Hall Mysteries and the Vicky Hill Mysteries, both set in Devon, England. She has been an obituary reporter, antique dealer, private jet flight attendant and Hollywood story analyst. Hannah originally moved to Los Angeles from England to pursue screenwriting and now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and their cat. She continues to teach mystery writing at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and still works for a west coast advertising agency. Hannah is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, The Crime Writers Association, Mystery People, The Historic Houses Association, the National Trust and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. She enjoys hiking, horseback riding, skiing, theatre and seriously good chocolate.

www.hannahdennison.com

Joanna Kennedy studied French and German at university. She works in the aerospace industry and is a chartered marketer in the UK. She describes herself as a voracious reader, enjoying genres as varied as crime thrillers, historical fiction and autobiographies. Joanna lives in London. She is the daughter of crime thriller writer Leigh Russell.

‘The Murder Road’ By Stephen Booth

Published (UK0 by Sphere,
15 July  2015,
ISBN: 978-0-7515-5994-1(HB)
Published (CA) by Sphere,
8 September 2015.
ISBN 978-0-7515-5995-8 (PB)
Published (US) by Witness Impulse,
8 September, 2015
ASIN:* B00XHRVXKE (Kindle)

The newest novel in the Ben Cooper series opens in the tiny, isolated Peak District hamlet of Shawhead, where, one is told, there is only one way in and one way out.  When a lorry delivering animal feed is found jammed into a narrow lane blocking the only ingress/egress, with no driver inside [although there are a lot of bloodstains, indicating something seriously amiss], the case is assigned to newly promoted DI Ben Cooper, of the Derbyshire E Division CID.

Ben, in his 30’s and still recovering from the death of his fiancée, Liz Petty, a civilian Scenes of Crime officer, in an earlier series book.  In addition, Ben must adjust to the new DS assigned to him, and is adjusting to no longer having DS Diane Fry with whom to discuss his cases, Diane (who has a reputation for toughness and a lack of emotion”) having been transferred to the Major Crime Unit of East Midlands Special Operations
Unit, although he manages to get together with her for brief personal/professional visits.  Other familiar members of Ben’s staff are present, including DCs Luke Irvin, Carol Villiers and Becky Hurst, although
Gavin Murfin is, as the book opens, about to celebrate his retirement.  His presence will be missed, by his colleagues as well as the reader, despite him being “an idle, sexist, politically incorrect anachronism who should have been kicked out years ago.”

The novel starts off slowly, less action-filled than the reader might want or expect, although the descriptions of Edendale and Ben’s beloved Peak District, as well as the more rural countryside is, as usual, wonderfully
descriptive and evocative.  The detailed descriptions, as well as the cover, certainly enable the reader, even those from “across the pond,” such as myself, to visualize the scene.  Ben finds himself thinking “This was
what he’d been missing, the sense of the wide, open spaces of the Peak District, the acres and acres of wild, majestic country that he’d always loved.”

The case proves especially difficult, primarily because of the insular nature of the inhabitants of the area, as Cooper finds:  “The word ‘community’ seemed alien to the residents here.  They seemed to live in a state of mutual unhelpfulness and suspicion.”  Things only get more complicated when another body is found later that same day, hanging from a tree less than three miles away, apparently a suicide.  It’s difficult to believe it’s a coincidence, especially when it is discovered that both men were connected to a fatal accident that had occurred on a major nearby highway 8 years ago.  The action picks up, as does the suspense, as the book nears its end.  As always with a Stephen Booth novel, it was very enjoyable, and is recommended.

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Reviewer: by Gloria Feit

Stephen Booth was born in the English Pennine mill town of Burnley. He was brought up on the Lancashire coast at Blackpool, where he attended Arnold School. He began his career in journalism by editing his school magazine, and wrote his first novel at the age of 12. After graduating from City of Birmingham Polytechnic (now  Birmingham University), Stephen moved to Manchester to train as a teacher, but escaped from the profession after a terrifying spell as a trainee teacher in a big city comprehensive school.  Starting work on his first newspaper in Wilmslow, Cheshire, in 1974, Stephen was a specialist rugby union reporter, as well as working night shifts as a sub-editor on the Daily Express and The Guardian. This was followed by periods with local newspapers in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. He was at various times Production Editor of the Farming Guardian magazine, Regional Secretary of the British Guild of Editors, and one of the UK's first qualified assessors for the NVQ in Production Journalism.  Freelance work began with rugby reports for national newspapers and local radio stations. Stephen has also had articles and photographs published in a wide range of specialist magazines, from Scottish Memories to Countrylovers Magazine, from Cat World to Canal and Riverboat, and one short story broadcast on BBC radio. In 1999, his writing career changed direction when, in rapid succession, he was shortlisted for the Dundee Bool Prize and the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger competition for new writers, then won the £5,000 Lichfield Prize for his unpublished novel The Only Dead Thing, and signed a two-book contract with HarperCollins for a series of crime novels.  In 2000, Stephen's first published novel, Black Dog, marked the arrival in print of his best known creations - two young Derbyshire police detectives, DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry. Black Dog was the named by the London Evening Standard as one of the six best crime novels of the year - the only book on their list written by a British author. In the USA, it won the Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel and was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best First Mystery. The second Cooper & Fry novel, Dancing with the Virgins, was shortlisted for the UK's top crime writing award, the Gold Dagger, and went on to win Stephen a Barry Award for the second year running.  In 2003, Detective Constable Ben Cooper was a finalist for the Sherlock Award for the Best Detective created by a British author, thanks to his exploits in the third book of the series, Blood on the Tongue. The publication of Blind to the Bones that year resulted in Stephen winning the Crime Writers' Association's 'Dagger in the Library' Award, presented to the author whose books have given readers most pleasure. The same book was nominated for the Theakston's UK Crime Novel of the Year award in 2005. Subsequent titles have been One Last Breath, The Dead Place (both finalists for the UK Crime Novel of the Year in 2006 and 2007), Scared to Live, Dying to Sin, The Kill Call, Lost River and The Devil's Edge. The 12th Cooper & Fry novel, Dead and Buried, will be published in the UK in June 2012. A special Ben Cooper story, Claws, was released in 2007 to launch the new 'Crime Express' imprint, and was re-issued in April 2011. All the books are set in England's beautiful and atmospheric Peak District. At the end of 2006, the Peak District National Park Authority featured locations from the Cooper & Fry series in their , new  Peak Experience visitors’ guides recognising the interest in the area inspired by the books.

Ted and Gloria Feit live in Long Beach, NY, a few miles outside New York City.  For 26 years, Gloria was the manager of a medium-sized litigation firm in lower Manhattan. Her husband, Ted, is an attorney and former stock analyst, publicist and writer/editor for, over the years, several daily, weekly and monthly publications.  Having always been avid mystery readers, and since they're now retired, they're able to indulge that passion.  Their reviews appear online as well as in three print publications in the UK and US.  On a more personal note: both having been widowed, Gloria and Ted have five children and nine grandchildren between them.

‘Rise of the Enemy’ by Rob Sinclair

Published by Clink Street, 

7 May 2015  
ISBN 978-1-909477-89-6

Carl Logan is a British agent who works for a secretive intelligence agency, the JIA that is controlled jointly by the USA and the UK. Their brief includes policing, espionage, and the armed forces all rolled into one!

Logan has never had a normal life. Recruited as an unruly teenager from a series of foster homes, he was no stranger to criminal activities. Indeed it would be difficult to find a more conflicted or vulnerable character, especially as the only two people he has ever loved or trusted, his boss Mackie and an American agent, Angela Grainger, have both betrayed him.

The action begins with Logan and a colleague trying to steal information from a high security complex in Russia.  Logan is captured. Did somebody know they were coming? For a considerable while the narrative then alternates between the next three months when he was held captive, which becomes the past, and the time after he escapes, which is the present.

When captured Logan was extensively tortured, and both cleverly interrogated, and mentally undermined by Lena, a Russian woman who pops in and out of the rest of the story.  Once Logan escapes it seems that everybody, the British, the Americans and the Russians all want him dead.  What accommodations have the spy bosses made with each other and why?  Can Logan trust the two minders sent to bring him back to England?  And what do the Russians have that the Americans are so desperately looking for? 

This is a cleverly written book that maintained my interest during the long period that Logan was held captive even though I knew from the parallel writing that he eventually escapes.  The body count is high and the torture is graphic.  Rise of the Enemy is not for the fainthearted, but is undoubtedly a good read for thriller fans. 

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Reviewer: Angela Crowther

Rob Sinclair began writing in 2009 following a promise to his wife, an avid reader, that he could pen a 'can't put down' thriller. Rob's first novel, Dance with the Enemy, was published in June 2014 and is the first in the Enemy Series following embattled intelligence agent Carl Logan. Rise of the Enemy, the second book in the series, was released in April 2015. The Enemy series has received widespread critical acclaim with many reviewers and readers having likened Rob's work to authors at the very top of the genre, including Lee Child and Vince Flynn.  Rob worked for nearly 13 years for a global accounting firm after graduating from The University of Nottingham in 2002, specialising in forensic fraud investigations at both national and international levels. He now writes full time.
Originally from the North East of England, Rob has lived and worked in a number of fast paced cities, including New York, and is now settled in the West Midlands with his wife and young sons.

http://www.robsinclairauthor.com/