‘The Bangkok Asset’ by John Burdett

Published by Corsair,
24 September 2015.
ISBN: 978-1-4721-5142-1 (TPB)

Sonchai Jitpleecheep is a Buddhist detective of the Royal Thai Police Force. All his life he has been obsessed with finding out who his father is, he only knows he is American.

Sonchai is called to the gruesome murder of a 12 year old girl who it seems has had her head literally pulled off of her body, no one has seen anything like it before. Who or what could have such incredible strength to commit such a hideous crime? Written on a mirror in the same room as the girl are the words “Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep I know who (the next word is a smudge) father is”. This makes him more determined than ever to find his father.

The Asset in the title is an American of super human strength, one of many who are called transhumans. Some think it possible that America has developed a new military weapon.

Sonchai's enquiries take him to a well hidden compound in the Cambodian jungle where there live several American veterans from the Vietnam war. He discovers some very worrying truths which lead him to wonder how far America will go to hide its highly controversial secrets. He also at last discovers his father's identity and that he has a half brother.

This was certainly a very different book and gives rise to a few rather thought provoking theories. It doesn't concern actual robots but rather 'enhanced humans' and seems more than a little plausible.  At the same time it gives a bit of an insight into the Thai people and their way of life. As I have been to Bangkok, be it only briefly, I found this very interesting.

In England we think there is bribery and corruption in this country but we are as pure as the driven snow compared to Thailand and their police force according to this book!

I understand this is the fifth book set in Bangkok and concerning Sonchai, I would certainly like to read the others as I felt as though I was only just getting to know him. A good read.

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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

John Burdett practiced law for 14 years in London and Hong Kong until he was able to retire to write full time. He has lived in France, Spain, Hong Kong and the U.K. and now commutes between Bangkok and Southwest France.

http://www.john-burdett.com/

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.

‘The Dead Dog Day’ by Jackie Kabler

Published by Accent Press,
2 November 2015.
ISBN: 9781783752270 (PB)

Sometimes a murder mystery novel is exactly that: there’s a murder, and the protagonist, detective or amateur sleuth, sets about solving the mystery of whodunnit.

And sometimes it’s... not. There’s certainly a murder in The Dead Dog Day, and animal lovers will be relieved to know the victim is not the dog. Jeanette Kendrick, the abrasive and highly unpopular editor of a morning TV show, plummets to her death from a seventh-floor window in chapter one, and all the signs are that she didn’t go willingly. The aftermath of the killing is threaded through the rest of the narrative and is eventually solved, but the detective in charge of the case is far from centre stage, and the main protagonist makes no attempt to be an amateur sleuth.

The author is better known as a TV presenter, and worked on a well-known morning show for a number of years, so she knows her subject. The narrative follows Cora Baxter and her technical team for several months, as they rush up and down the country in the small hours chasing quirky stories, with brief respites in her home in Cheltenham or London where the programme is based. The quirky stories are highly entertaining, as are the rivalries and friendships and the unlikely romance between Cora and an action-man hero of another TV show – but the crime-solving seems to take second place.

Occasional scenes at the police station, or between Cora and DCI Adam Bradberry, the SIO on the case, keep the murder in focus; several suspects are eliminated quite quickly; and some vital evidence which Cora chooses not to disclose to Adam proves to be rather important towards the end. But as murder mystery plots go, this one was a tad thin on actual investigation and suspense.

That said, the showbiz and TV studio background comes to vivid life, and the characters are lively and believable. There is a clear narrative line; and the book is a diverting page-turner, pacy and well-written, well sprinkled with amusing vignettes, some of which are so unlikely that they have to be based on real events. When the denouement finally comes, with scant help from the police (and none at all from Cora, it has to be said), it all fits together and makes perfect sense. It’s a fun read, though possibly not one for crime fiction purists who prefer the murder investigation to take pride of place.

The dog, in case you’re wondering, died of natural causes.

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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Jackie Kabler worked as a newspaper reporter and then in television news for twenty years, including nearly a decade on GMTV. She later appeared on BBC and ITV news, presented a property show for Sky, hosted sports shows on Setanta Sports News and worked as a media trainer for the Armed Forces. She is now a presenter on shopping channel QVC. Jackie lives in Gloucestershire with her husband, who is a GP.

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 on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

‘The Murderer's Daughter’ by Jonathan Kellerman

Published by Headline,
18 August 2015,
ISBN: 978-1-4722-06572

Grace Blades is a very well respected doctor of psychology but she leads a double life. After her daily sessions with patients she likes to head off to bars or hotel lounges to pick up men just for the sex and strictly one night stands.

One day into her therapy room comes a man she recently picked up. As they had both given false names each is as shocked as the other when he walks in.

As the story unfolds Grace's traumatic childhood is revealed, when she was five and a half years old, she witnessed her parents' murder and suicide. Thereafter she was placed with several different foster parents.

Grace comes to realise that the patient she recently had sex with has connections to her past and when he is murdered she sets about trying to find out why. This leads to her being followed and very nearly murdered herself.

All her life she has had to live by her wits and this stands her in good stead to survive the many attempts on her life.  The action builds nicely and ends on a very satisfactory note.

I am a great fan of Jonathan Kellerman, he can always be relied upon to write an absorbing psychological thriller and The Murderer's Daughter is no exception. From beginning to end I wondered how Grace would come through each traumatic episode in her life and for her to make it as a doctor of psychology shows determination and character.

I found myself silently cheering her on and when the book reached such a satisfying ending I actually cried out a triumphant “YES”!

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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Jonathan Kellermann was born in New York City in 1949 and grew up in Los Angeles. He helped work his way through UCLA as an editorial cartoonist, columnist, editor and freelance musician. As a senior, at the age of 22, he won a Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award for fiction.Like his fictional protagonist, Alex Delaware, Jonathan received at Ph.D. in psychology at the age of 24, with a specialty in the treatment of children. He served internships in clinical psychology and pediatric psychology at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles and was a post-doctoral HEW Fellow in Psychology and Human Development at CHLA.In 1975, Jonathan was asked by the hospital to conduct research into the psychological effects of extreme isolation (plastic bubble units) on children with cancer, and to coordinate care for these kids and their families. The success of that venture led to the establishment, in 1977 of the Psychosocial Program, Division of Oncology, the first comprehensive approach to the emotional aspects of pediatric cancer anywhere in the world. Jonathan was asked to be founding director and, along with his team, published extensively in the area of behavioral medicine. Decades later, the program, under the tutelage of one of Jonathan’s former students, continues to break ground. In 1985, Jonathan’s first novel, When the Bough Breaks, was published to enormous critical and commercial success and became a New York Times bestseller. Since then, Jonathan has published a best-selling crime novel every year, and occasionally, two a year. Jonathan is married to bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman and they have four children.

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.

'Falconer's Crusade' by Ian Morson

Published by Ostara, reprint of 1994
ISBN 9781906288501

This is an exciting murder mystery set in 13th century England.  Regent Master William Falconer of Aristotle College, Oxford University is a progressive Aristotelian educationalist who finds himself having to solve the murder of a French servant girl.  His new student, Thomas Symon, arrives in Oxford in the evening and, as he tries to find the College he finds, instead, the girl's body.  When others reach the body he is accused of the murder and he flees.  Fortuitously he meets his future teacher in an alley  and Falconer hides him from pursuit,even before he realises that this is the young student he is expecting.  The traditional enmity of town and gown means that students are always suspects in any trouble.    The rumbling atmosphere of distrust in Oxford means that all Oxford scholars must move carefully as one of the town constables warns Falconer. 

The background to this tale is superbly done so that the reader can appreciate the attitudes of academics and townsmen of the day, and picture their surroundings.  Education for students in 1364 can be  seen through the teachings they receive and through the disputations of their teachers.  The position of those who live in the Jewish area is also well shown.    These are frightening times outside Oxford too as a struggle for political supremacy becomes violent and Oxford becomes involved in that struggle.

Falconer eventually uses his logical skills to identify the murderer and the reasons for that murder in the satisfying denouement.
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Reviewer: Jennifer S. Palmer
7 more full length adventures for William Falconer follow this one.  Ian Morson also writes stories featuring a Venetian at Kubilai Khan's Court and a pair of shady characters in Georgian England.

Ian Morson was born in 1947 in Derby. In 1965 he won a scholarship to Oxford where he studied the Russian language and literature. He started writing for real at the age of 42, after having dabbled in (unperformed) radio plays and (unpublished) poetry.  The first in the series of Falconer novels was published in 1994. He promotes his own novels with radio interviews, and bookshop talks along with the Medieval Murderers group of writer. He lives in Hastings.

http://www.ianmorson.co.uk/

Jennifer Palmer Throughout my reading life crime fiction has been a constant interest; I really enjoyed my 15 years as an expatriate in the Far East, the Netherlands & the USA but occasionally the solace of closing my door to the outside world and sitting reading was highly therapeutic. I now lecture to adults on historical topics including Famous Historical Mysteries.