What I read in September 2015

Pick of the Month Sept 2015

A productive month with some really good reads,
It covered quite a range of the crime fiction genre.

1. 4.5, BLOOD REDEMPTION, Alex Palmer - Aussie author
2. 3.8, THREE-CARD MONTE, Marco Malvaldi - translated
3. 4.6, THE SINS OF THE FATHERS, Lawrence Block - first in the Matt Scudder series 
4. 4.6, THE ICE TWINS, S.K. Tremayne
5. 4.5, THE GHOST FIELDS, Elly Griffiths - audio book 
6. 4.8, THE SECRET PLACE, Tana French
7. 4.4, WYCLIFFE AND THE DUNES MYSTERY,  W.J. Burley - from Mt TBR 
8. 4.4, GIVE A CORPSE A BAD NAME, Elizabeth Ferrars - Vintage Golden Age fiction 
9. 4.7, SILENT SCREAM, Angela Marsons - British author 
10. 5.0, THE GHOSTS OF ALTONA, Craig Russell - winner of Scottish crime fiction prize 
11. 4.2, AUNT BESSIE BELIEVES, Diana Xarissa - cozy set on Isle of Man 

My pick of the month was THE GHOSTS OF ALTONA by Craig Russell, but as you can see from my ratings there were a number of titles that were close behind. 

Synopsis 
Jan Fabel is a haunted man.

Head of the Polizei Hamburg's Murder Commission, Fabel has dealt with the dead for nearly two decades, but when a routine enquiry becomes a life-threatening - and life-changing - experience, he finds himself on much closer terms with death than ever before.

Two years later, Fabel's first case at the Murder Commission comes back to haunt him: Monika Krone's body is found at last, fifteen years after she went missing. Monika - ethereally beautiful, intelligent, cruel - was the centre of a group of students obsessed with the gothic. Fabel re-opens the case. What happened that night, when Monika left a party and disappeared into thin air?

When men involved with Monika start turning up dead, Fabel realizes he is looking for a killer with both a hunger for revenge and a taste for the gothic. What he doesn't know is that someone has been aiding and grooming a deranged escapee as his own, personal tool for revenge.

A truly gothic monster to be let loose on the world.

Winner of the Scottish Crime Novel of the Year 2015
Read a free chapter here

I was very pleased to renew my acquaintance with Jan Fabel.

Check what others have chosen for their Pick of the Month.