‘The Whispering Trees’ by Jacqueline Harrett

Published by Diamond Crime,
4 November 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-91564918-8 (PB)

Detective Inspector Mandy Wilde sits at her desk in Cardiff Central Police Station feeling really bored, when  Superintendent Withers comes in with the report that a man’s body has been found in Nant Fawr woods. Together with Detective Sergeant Josh Jones she visits the scene. The deceased is a man in his twenties, and he has a roll of bank notes totalling at least two thousand pounds in his pocket. To add to the mystery, he is wearing a pair of exclusive handmade shoes.

However, after tracing them to a company in London, it’s revealed they were personally designed for and bought by a man in his seventies. Enquiries reveal that together with other clothes they were donated to a charity. Tracing who bought them proves to be a headache for the police.

Meanwhile one of the boys who discovered the body in the woods, disappears, can it be connected? As if the team do not have enough to deal with, a spate of burglaries breaks out, a coincidence?

Further enquiries reveal that people have been occupying supposedly empty houses. Young men have been seen coming and going in the middle of the night, more coincidences? Investigations lead Detective Inspector Wilde to suspect them to be illegal immigrants. Someone seems to be employing them, also illegally, but who is actually organising it all?

There are so many different leads to follow, involving such a variety of characters, it becomes really time consuming. To make matters worse, Mandy and Josh’s boss Superintendent Withers, stresses that there will be no overtime paid while saying he wants it all solved as soon as possible.

Poor Mandy, she doesn’t even have a peaceful home life to go to at the end of the day. Her niece Tabitha lives with her after Mandy’s twin sister Joy, abandoned her to live abroad with her new boyfriend. Now she informs Mandy that she is coming back and wants to live with her. This can only be problematic. Hopefully Mandy’s sense of humour and a certain way of dealing with problems will pull her through both her personal and professional issues.

A really intricate crime novel involving a very up to date problem. I was very taken with the main character Mandy Wilde. Her sense of humour and dedication to the job make her an endearing person. I had many a laugh out loud moments and highly recommend The Whispering Trees.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Jacqueline Harrett was born in Northern Ireland, Jacqui has settled in Cardiff with her husband, a cat with OCD and a bad-tempered tortoise called Speedy. Her grown up children live close by and attempt to keep her in check – with varying degrees of success. A former teacher with a passion for oral storytelling, she has also written books for teachers and published collections of short fiction in anthologies and online. Jacqui joins Diamond Crime with a classic police procedural, The Nesting Place, introducing South Wales detective, D.I. Mandy Wilde.

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.

‘Exile’ by Denise Mina

Published by Bantam Press,
3 August 2000.
ISBN: 0-340-76079-0 (HB)

'She's dead,’ said the woman. But she wasn't, she was alive, and she heard them.

In this the second book by Denise Mina, Maureen O'Donnell is attempting to come to terms with the death of her lover, the fact that her father is back in Glasgow and living in close proximity to her, a dangerous threatening game being played out by her former therapist, and the continual storming of her defences by her mother.

To appease her conscience of the money left to her by Douglas, her former lover, Maureen has taken some voluntary work with the 'Place of Safety Shelters'. When her best friend Leslie comes to her expressing her concern for one Ann Harris, a battered woman, who has suddenly left the shelter, and disappeared. Maureen is confused by Leslie's concern and by the widening gap in their friendship. Maureen is convinced that Ann has not been battered by her husband, but if not by him, who?

The circumstances surrounding Ann's disappearance take Maureen to London, looking for answers, but the overriding enthralment in this fascinating mystery is in the incredible characterisation, and the sad reality of those trapped in a dangerous way of life. It is powerful in its portrayal of family and friends in crisis, and pain and suffering, and laughter and tears. It takes you in a roller coaster of emotions.

A compelling read. One of those books that stays in your mind.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Denise Mina was born in 1966 in Glasgow. She worked as an auxiliary nurse in geriatric and terminal care nursing homes before studying law at Glasgow University. As an academic researcher she has written extensively on the medicalization of deviant women, and until recently she taught Criminology and Criminal Law. She lives in Glasgow, where she now writes full time.

‘Dying Voices’ by Laura Wilson

Published by Orion,
15 June 2000.
ISBN: 0-75283-230-1 (HB)

Dodie, only daughter of multi-millionaire Wolf Blackstock, was only eight years old when her mother was kidnapped. Despite attempts by the family and police to get Susan back, no body was ever found. Since that time, Dodie has been estranged from her father, who has continued to live at the Blackstock's stately home Camoys Hall, with his second wife Joan.

Following the death of her father, whilst Dodie, now twenty-nine, is attempting to come to terms with the vast fortune left by him, she is called to identify her mother's body, which has just been found. Her mother has been dead less than forty eight hours!

Reeling from this shock, Dodie turns to Joan for answers, but cannot contact her. In desperation she telephones Des, a close friend of her father's, with whom she has also been estranged for some years, but to whom she now looks for answers.

This is Laura Wilson's second book, and it is terrific. After her first book A Little Death I couldn't imagine what she would come up with, but this is rich in subterfuge and to arrive at the truth Dodie must peel away layers of deceit.

There was a point at which I put the book down and thought 'Who do I trust? It must all be lies. This is a compelling read. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Laura Wilson was brought up in London and has degrees in English literature from Somerville College, Oxford, and UCL, London. She lives in Islington, London, where she is currently working on her thirteen novel. She is the crime fiction reviewer for the Guardian newspaper and teaches on the City University Crime Thriller Novel Creative Writing MA course.

http://www.laura-wilson.co.uk

‘Clutch of Phantoms’ by Clare Layton

Published by Harper Collins,
1st May 2000.
ISBN: 0-00-651318-2

Cass Eversham is a successful City trader. The story opens as Cass succeeds having taken one of her biggest gambles yet. With a rise in salary, and starting a two-week holiday in the Seychelles with the man she loves Cass leaves her office on top of the world. Within twenty-four hours her world has collapsed.

When Livia Claughton is released from jail after serving a long prison sentence, she is besieged by reporters. Moving to a remote area and living under an assumed name, Livia attempts to come to terms with her new life.

Julia Gainsborough is an actress struggling to restart her failing career, while dealing  with her feelings of bitterness and the need for revenge.

Although each of these women have had no contact for the last twenty five years, their lives are inexplicitly woven together by their past which now shapes their future.

This is one of those books you have to keep reading, so much is under the surface. Livia Claughton had clearly been convicted of a serious crime, but what, and why, is not immediately apparent. There are layers to peel away before the reasons become known. Likewise, who she was and what she has become, is only revealed slowly, and the interaction between characters brought together by a set of circumstances makes for fascinating reading.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Clare Layton is a pseudonym of the highly successful writer Natasha Cooper (Daphne Wright), who has two series, the first featuring Willow King (seven books) and her more recent series featuring barrister Trish Maguire. This is her first psychological suspense.