‘Sweet After Death’ by ‘Valentina Giambanco

Published by Quercus,
15 June 2017.
ISBN: 978-1784299637

Ludlow is huddled beneath mountains on the US/Canadian border. It’s a small town, full of small-town politics and people with secrets. And a murder has taken place. The town’s police force is ill-equipped to deal with this unspeakable crime - things like that don't happen in Ludlow. Now they have, so Homicide Detective Alice Madison, Detective Sergeant Kevin Brown and crime scene investigator Amy Sorensen are called in from Seattle to take charge of the investigation. But the weather is closing in, and what is on everybody's mind in Ludlow is that the killer is most likely to be one of them.

Sweet After Death is the fourth book by Valentina Giambanco featuring Alice Madison – and, I have to say, I think it’s her best one yet. The plot is multi-layered, the atmosphere claustrophobic and the sense of place absolutely wonderful - man, did I feel cold reading this.

There is also a great sub-plot that runs alongside the murder investigation and main narrative about a motherless family living on a farm in the mountains. Their father is the only adult the children have ever known. Samuel is one of those children suffering at the hands of their abusive father. When the murder investigation brings the police to the farm, Samuel dares to believe help for him and his siblings could finally be at hand.

The two plots merge and intersect so cleverly.

And the characters are, as always so well realised. Samuel is a sad boy with a terrible life, yet he believes that someone, somewhere will help him, and the reader cannot help but warm to him. The relationship between Madison and Brown is nuanced and so well done, as is the growing bond between Madison and lawyer Nathan Quinn. And during Sweet After Death we learn so much more about what made Madison into the person she is.

Giambanco has a great eye for detail, and her research into forensics and US police procedures is formidable - yet the novel wears its research oh-so-lightly. We feel totally immersed in Ludlow and in the murder investigation and follow it step-by-step. We are in very safe hands.

Sweet After Death is a beautifully written, complex novel with real emotional depth and I urge you to seek it out. It can be read as a standalone, but why leave it there? I definitely recommend her three previous books too.

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Reviewer: Mary-Jane Riley

V M Giambanco was born in Italy and moved to London after my Italian A-levels to do a degree in English & Drama at Goldsmiths. She started working in films as an editor’s apprentice in a 35mm cutting room making tea and sharpening pencils. Since then, over almost twenty years, she has been involved in many UK and US pictures, from small independent projects to large studio productions. Her first book was The Gift of Darkness. Valentina lives in South West London.

http://www.valentinagiambanco.com/

Mary-Jane Riley wrote her first story on her newly acquired blue Petite typewriter. She was eight. It was about a gang of children who had adventures on mysterious islands, but she soon realised Enid Blyton had cornered that particular market. So she wrote about the Wild West instead. When she grew up she had to earn a living, and became a BBC radio talk show presenter and journalist. She has covered many life-affirming stories, but also some of the darkest events of the past two decades. Then, in true journalistic style, she decided not to let the facts get in the way of a good story and got creative. She wrote for women's magazines and small presses. She formed WriteOutLoud with two writer friends to help charities get their message across using their life stories. Now she is writing psychological suspense, drawing on her experiences in journalism. The Bad Things by Mary-Jane Riley was published by Harper Collins/Killer Reads. Her second book, After She Fell, also published by Killer Reads in April 2016.  To read the review of Killer reads click here http://promotingcrime.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/after-she-fell-by-mary-jane-riley.html

‘The Late Show’ By Michael Connelly

Published by Little, Brown and Company,
18 July 2017.
ISBN: 978-0-316-22598-4 (HB)

Published by Grand Central Publishing,
25 January 2018.
ISBN 978-1-4555-2423-5 (PB)

Published (UK) by Orion,
11 July 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-140914554-7 (HB)

Michael Connelly has written two previous series featuring memorable protagonists.  The first was Harry Bosch, the irascible LA detective.  Then he created the Lincoln Lawyer, who made his office in the car of the same name, and turned out to be Harry’s half-brother.  Now Connelly has introduced another, detective Renee Ballard, sure to anchor a third series on a par with the excellent predecessors.

The title refers to the undesirable overnight shift to which Ballard was banished following a failed sexual harassment accusation she made at the Lieutenant who supervised her in the homicide-robbery squad. Late Show detectives rarely saw a case from start to finish, frustrating to Ballard, a top-notch operator.  We follow Ballard as she picks up a case and finally gets a chance to finish it. More importantly, she gets involved on her own time in a murder investigation, with results that aren’t even contemplated by those responsible for the investigation.

The author’s trademarks, attention to details, accurate descriptions of the locations of the action and similar attributes, are apparent in the novel.  But more important is his ability to build a character.  And he has in Ballard, who is an obvious keeper.  We’ll be seeing more of her in the future.  Meanwhile, there is a new Harry Bosch novel we can enjoy coming in the Fall.  Another featuring Ballard and Bosch might be interesting as well. Highly recommended.

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Reviewer: Theodore Feit

Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, PA on July 21, 1956. He moved to Florida with his family when he was 12 years old. Michael decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews. After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat.  In Fort Lauderdale, he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written. After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America.  Fifty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into thirty-nine foreign languages. Michael lives with his family in Florida.

http://www.michaelconnelly.com/

Ted and Gloria Feit live in Long Beach, NY, a few miles outside New York City.  For 26 years, Gloriawas 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

‘Defectors’ by Joseph Kanon

Published by Simon and Schuster,
1 June 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-4711-6261-9 (HB)

ISBN: 978-1-4711-6262-6 (TPB)

The stresses and strains of fraternal relationships have always been a fertile source for fiction and, in this book, Frank and Simon Weekes are the brothers under the spotlight.  In the 1950’s Frank, a CIA agent, defected to Russia with his wife and son.  He leaves behind brother Simon, then a State Department employee, to wonder why and to cope with the fallout.  It’s now 1961 and Simon, who has become a publisher in the intervening years, is in Moscow responding to a request from Frank about the possibility of publishing his memoirs.  Unlikely though it is that the book will ever be published, Simon can’t forgo the possibility of finally finding out why his brother betrayed his country.  He quickly discovers that it is not going to be that simple, and in a short time finds out more about himself and his brother than he might have anticipated.

The lives of the small international group of defectors (Guy Burgess inevitably makes an appearance), the remains of old relationships, the unending sadness of loss, all contribute to a tense feeling of claustrophobic anxiety.  It’s an atmospheric and deftly-written book, which should please existing fans and attract new readers.

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Reviewer:  Jo Hesslewood

Other books by the author:  Leaving Berlin, Istanbul Passage, Stardust, Alibi, The Prodigal Spy, Los Alamos, The Good German

Joseph Kanon is the internationally bestselling author of eight novels, which have been published in twenty-four languages: Los Alamos, which won the Edgar Award for best first novel; The Good German, which was made into a film starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett; The Prodigal Spy, Alibi, which earned Kanon the Hammett Award of the International Association of Crime Writers; Istanbul Passage, and Leaving Berlin. He is also a recipient of The Anne Frank Human Writers Award for his writings on the aftermath of the Holocaust. Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a book publishing executive. He lives in New York City with his wife, literary agent Robin Straus. They have two sons.

www.josephkanon.com

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.