Review: THE DARKEST PLACE, Jo Spain

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 711 KB
• Print Length: 352 pages
• Publisher: Quercus (September 20, 2018)
• Publication Date: September 20, 2018
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B076ZSC6LD
• #4 in DCI Tom Reynolds series

Synopsis (Amazon)

Christmas day, and DCI Tom Reynolds receives an alarming call. A mass grave has been discovered on Oileán na Caillte, the island which housed the controversial psychiatric institution St. Christina's. The hospital has been closed for decades and onsite graves were tragically common. Reynolds thinks his adversarial boss is handing him a cold case to sideline him.

But then it transpires another body has been discovered amongst the dead - one of the doctors who went missing from the hospital in mysterious circumstances forty years ago. He appears to have been brutally murdered.

As events take a sudden turn, nothing can prepare Reynolds and his team for what they are about to discover once they arrive on the island . . .

My Take

The mass grave on the island off the coast of County Kerry accommodates 60 bodies going back decades, The site is to be cleared for a new hotel complex but work stops so that the bodies can be lifted and re-located. All of the bodies have been put into body bags and tagged with names etc. But one does not belong. It has been wrapped in plastic and hidden under the top layer in the mass grave.  And it has probably been there for 40 years when a promising young doctor disappeared.

That he is called about the case on Christmas Day and expected to go to the site almost immediately is a measure of the malevolence that DCI Reynolds' Superintendent has for him, and typical of how he has been treated for the past 6 months.

There is pressure from the Chief Commissioner for this cold case to be treated with priority because of familial links with the wife of the missing man. The wife gives Reynolds a diary she thinks the missing man left at home when he was last there forty years ago. For forty years she has held on to the hope that he will turn up. It makes for horrific reading.

There is some interesting discussion of how treatments of insanity and depression have changed over the last 40 years - provided by a clinical psychiatrist that Reynolds takes as part of his small team.

A very engrossing read.

This is the first novel that I have read by this author and I didn't feel my reading was at all impaired by not knowing the content of the previous three titles in the series. Although there were some references to earlier cases.

My rating: 4.7

About the author
Jo Spain is vice-chair of business body InterTrade Ireland and a parliamentary assistant in Leinster House. Her first novel With our Blessing is published by Quercus, London and was one of seven books shortlisted in the Richard and Judy search for a bestseller competition 2014. The book is based on the investigations of a Dublin-based detective team led by Tom Reynolds. It was launched in Ireland in September 2015 and became a top-ten bestseller that month. It will be launched in Britain in 2016 and the rights have been snapped up in Germany. She has received rave reviews from Martin Sixsmith (author of Philomena) and Sinead Crowley (Can anybody help me?) as well as in leading media and blogs.  Jo lives in Dublin with her husband and their four young children.

Series (Fantastic Fiction)

Inspector Tom Reynolds Mystery
1. With Our Blessing (2015)
2. Beneath the Surface (2016)
3. Sleeping Beauties (2017)
4. The Darkest Place (2018)
5. The Boy Who Fell (2019)

Review: COLD BLOOD, Robert Bryndza

• this edition published 2017 by Bookouture
• ISBN 978-1-78681-149-3
• 351 pages
• #5 in the Erika Foster series
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

She fell in love with a killer, now she's one too.

The suitcase was badly rusted, and took Erika several attempts, but it yielded and sagged open as she unzipped it. Nothing could prepare her for what she would find inside....

When a battered suitcase containing the dismembered body of a young man washes up on the shore of the river Thames, Detective Erika Foster is shocked. She's worked on some terrifying cases but never seen anything like this before.

As Erika and her team set to work, she makes the link with another victim - the body of a young woman dumped in an identical suitcase two weeks ago.

Erika quickly realizes she's on the trail of a serial killer who's already made their next move. Yet just as Erika starts to make headway with the investigation, she is the victim of a brutal attack.

But nothing will stop Erika. As the body count rises, the twin daughters of her colleague Commander Marsh are abducted, and the stakes are higher than ever before. Can Erika save the lives of two innocent children before it's too late? She's running out of time and about to make a disturbing discovery...there's more than one killer.

Brilliantly gripping, Cold Blood will have you hooked from the beginning and holding your breath to the heart-stopping and shocking ending.

My Take

A young girl wants so badly to be accepted by her older boyfriend that she agrees to do whatever he asks, even to agree to covering up a killing which she witnessed.

Yet another gruesome tale from Robert Bryndza which is at the same time compelling reading, an exploration of forces that lead to murder.

The story hops between two time frames, keeping readers on their toes, and includes a period when Detective Erika Foster is rather predictably suspended for insubordination. But Erika doesn't let that stop her from continuing her investigation.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read
4.8, THE GIRL IN THE ICE #1
4.8, THE NIGHT STALKER #2
4.6, DARK WATER #3
4.8, LAST BREATH #4

Australia Day - Australian Children's authors honoured

Australia Post has added 5 popular children's authors to its Australian Legends series.

The 2019 legends – Mem Fox AM, Morris Gleitzman, Leigh Hobbs, Alison Lester and Shaun Tan – ­will each have their portrait featured on new postage stamps which forms part of the 2019 Australian Legends of Children’s Literature stamp issue.

Now in its 23rd year, the Australia Post Legends Award celebrates living Australians who have made a unique contribution to the nation through their field of endeavour, inspiring the community and influencing the way Australians think about themselves and the community.

Past recipients include Sir Donald Bradman, Dame Joan Sutherland, Barry Humphries, Sir Gustav Nossal, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, Cate Blanchett, Stephanie Alexander, Rod Laver and Bert Newton. A complete list of recipients can be found at www.auspost.com.au.

2010 Australian Legends of the Written Word
Peter Carey AO
Bryce Courtenay AM
Thomas Keneally AO
David Malouf
Colleen McCullough AO
Tim Winton

Review: THE STRANGER DIARIES, Elly Griffiths

• this edition published by Quercus 2018
• ISBN 978-1-78648-740-7
• 408 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

THE TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR

THE RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK

A dark story has been brought to terrifying life. Can the ending be rewritten in time?

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to tales of murder. As a literature teacher specialising in the Gothic writer R.M. Holland, she teaches a short course on them every year. Then Clare’s life and work collide tragically when one of her colleagues is found dead, a line from an R.M. Holland story by her body. The investigating police detective is convinced the writer’s works somehow hold the key to the case.

Not knowing who to trust, and afraid that the killer is someone she knows, Clare confides her darkest suspicions and fears about the case to her journal. Then one day she notices some other writing in the diary. Writing that isn’t hers…

My Take

The narration in this story is from several different voices:
Clare Cassidy herself;
Harbinder, a former student at the school and is the detective sergeant carrying out the investigation into the death of Clare's friend and colleague Ella;
Georgia (Georgie), Clare's daughter and a student at the school;
The short story The Stranger written decades before by R.M. Holland in whose house the school is established;
Excerpts from the story are featured throughout the main story and the narrators change often.

This is a story about obsession. The murder victims appear to be linked by the fact they are teachers in the English faculty at the school.

This I think is the first stand-alone that I have read by Elly Griffiths who in 2016 was the recipient of the CWA Dagger in the Library for services to crime fiction.

Very readable.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.6, THE CROSSING PLACES
4.6, THE JANUS STONE
4.6, THE HOUSE AT SEA'S END
4.5, A ROOM FULL OF BONES
4.8, DYING FALL- audio book
4.5, THE GHOST FIELDS - audio book
4.7, THE OUTCAST DEAD - audio book
4.7, THE WOMAN IN BLUE
4.7, THE CHALK PIT
4.4, THE VANISHING BOX

Review: LETHAL WHITE, Robert Galbraith

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 1480 KB
• Print Length: 656 pages
• Publisher: Sphere (September 18, 2018)
• Publication Date: September 18, 2018
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07FD8PFJM
• #4 in the Cormoran Strike series

Synopsis (Amazon)

When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike's office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.

Trying to get to the bottom of Billy's story, Strike and Robin Ellacott - once his assistant, now a partner in the agency - set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.

And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike's own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been - Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much more tricky than that . . .

The most epic Robert Galbraith novel yet, LETHAL WHITE is both a gripping mystery and a page-turning next instalment in the ongoing story of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott.

My Take

Cormoran Strike is approached by a Cabinet Minister who says he is being blackmailed, whose wife says there are trespassers in the woods on their property. And then Billy turns up saying he has witnessed a murder. Coincidentally Billy's father used to work for the Cabinet Minister.

The Cabinet Minister believes that the blackmail threat is coming from another Cabinet Minister's office so Robin, Strike's colleague, is installed in the Parliamentary office undercover.

That is just the beginning of the first theme of the story. The book is quite large, with complex intertwining themes, a large number of characters and incidents to keep track of.

But it was so well written that it just kept me reading. There is considerable development in the personal background for both Strike and Robin. The action takes place over a period of over a year.

I look forward to the next in the series.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read
5.0, THE CUCKOO'S CALLING #1 
4.5, THE SILKWORM  #2
4.6, A CAREER OF EVIL  #3

Review: THE DEVIL'S NOVICE, Ellis Peter - audio book

• Unabridged Audio book from Audible .com
• Narrated by: Vanessa Benjamin
• Series: Brother Cadfael, Book 8
• Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
• Originally published 1983
• Release date: 10-26-00
• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Synopsis ( Audible .com)

Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peters and Saint Paul, in September of the year of our Lord 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive 19-year-old novice.

Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname the Devil's Novice. Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priest's dreadful fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet's innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy's pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.

My take

There was more of the "local politics" of the Stephen/Maud civil war in this novel than in previous ones. Opportunist nobility and bishops are seeking to take advantage of the political chaos by setting up their own fiefdoms that support neither Stephen nor Maude. Nobody is quite sure of what the mission was of the priest murdered in the forest.

Meriet is the Lord of Apsley's second son, delivered to the Abbey to become a priest, while his first son Nigel is about to be married and will take over lands to the north as part of his wife's dowry. Brother Cadfael is pretty sure Meriet does not have a vocation, that he has come to the Abbey for some other reason.

Reading these novels in order pays off as some characters persist from one to the other, and assist in the development of Cadfael's character. Cadfael works in tandem with Hugh Berengar the deputy sheriff of Shrewsbury who is now consistently featured.

My rating: 4.2

I've also read
THE PILGRIM OF HATE
4.3, A MORBID TASTE FOR BONES
4.6, A CORPSE TOO MANY 
4.6, MONK'S-HOOD 
4.4, THE LEPER OF SAINT GILES 
4.4, THE VIRGIN IN THE ICE

Review: LAST BREATH, Robert Bryndza

• this edition published by Bookouture 2017
• #4 in the Erika Foster series
• ISBN 978-1-78681-145-5
• 357 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Amazon)

He’s your perfect date. You’re his next victim.

When the tortured body of a young woman is found in a dumpster, her eyes swollen shut and her clothes soaked with blood, Detective Erika Foster is one of the first at the crime scene. The trouble is, this time, it’s not her case.

While she fights to secure her place on the investigation team, Erika can’t help but get involved and quickly finds a link to the unsolved murder of a woman four months earlier. Dumped in a similar location, both women have identical wounds – a fatal incision to their femoral artery.

Stalking his victims online, the killer is preying on young pretty women using a fake identity. How will Erika catch a murderer who doesn’t seem to exist?

Then another girl is abducted while waiting for a date. Erika and her team must get to her before she becomes another dead victim, and, come face to face with a terrifyingly sadistic individual.

My Take

Another bold and breathtaking entry into this gripping series - it did not disappoint.

At the end of the last story (DARK WATER) Erika Foster stormed out when a colleague was promoted above her, thus denying her the credit for solving the case. However she finds herself in an office, pen-pushing, and she realises that she needs to eat humble pie to get herself back playing an active role in Murder Investigation.

She comes across a report about the resolution of a missing persons case and realises that it could have connections to a current murder investigation. She takes her intuition to Sparks, who got the Superintendent job she felt was rightfully hers, and he agrees to let her back into the team if she toes the line.

The reader finds out quite early on who is committing the abductions/murders and the investigation gets closer, partly through careful policing, and partly through Erika's intuition. Despite her promises to the contrary, Erika remains a loose cannon, who doesn't always look before she acts.

Erika's relationships with members of her small team are further cemented and explored, so it pays to read this series from the beginning in order to get the full character development.

My rating: 4.8

I've also read
4.8, THE GIRL IN THE ICE #1
4.8, THE NIGHT STALKER #2
4.6, DARK WATER #3  

Review: KILL SHOT, Garry Disher

• this edition published by Text Publishing 2018
• ISBN 9-781925-773224
• 242 pages
• Wyatt #9
• source: my local library
• for US readers: available on Kindle

Synopsis (Good Reads)

The latest gripping story in the popular Wyatt thriller series kicks off in Sydney and then unfolds on the beaches of Newcastle.

Some people just work better alone. Wyatt’s one of them. He’s been getting by on nice quiet little burglaries—one-man jobs—when he gets wind of something bigger.

A corporate crook, notorious Ponzi schemer, set to face court and certain jail time. He’s about to skip bail the old-fashioned way: on a luxury yacht with a million dollars in cash.

Wyatt thinks it sounds like something he should get into.

He’s not alone.

My Take

Most of Wyatt's recent jobs have been brokered by a day-release prisoner named Sam Kramer. Through his daughter Kramer passes on information he has gleaned from other prison inmates.  As a result Wyatt relieves people of their valuables, mainly through burglary, passes them on to a fence, and puts a commission into an safety deposit box for Kramer, keeping the remainder for himself. Periodically Kramer's daughter contacts him to let him know the family needs some money. It works well.

Wyatt is a cautious, yet confident man, careful to remain anonymous, leaving nothing his victims can identify him by, and watchful for signs that he has been noticed. He thinks back over what he's done, looking for errors.

The weak link in the scheme is Kramer's son who passes Wyatt's name on to someone else who like to cash in on the jobs that Wyatt is doing.

There are a couple of linked stories in this novel: a Ponzi scheme operator planning to skip the country with about a million dollars, and a couple from South Australia who've stolen a luxury boat.
Wyatt gets information about the first from Kramer. Looks like it might be easy pickings if he can work out where the Ponzi scheme money is.

There definitely an Australian flavour to this novel. And some how you forget that Wyatt is on the wrong side of the law.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read (not all are Wyatt series novels)
4.7, WYATT
4.8, WHISPERING DEATH
4.7, BLOOD MOON
4.2, THE HEAT
4.5, SIGNAL LOSS
4.7, HER
4.9, UNDER THE COLD BRIGHT LIGHTS

review: THE NIGHT STALKER, Robert Bryndza

• this edition published by Sphere 2018
• ISBN 978-0-7515-7147-9
• 370 pages
• source: my local library
• #2 in the Erika Foster series

Synopsis (publisher)


In the dead of a swelteringly hot summer's night, Detective Erika Foster is called to a murder scene. The victim, a doctor, is found suffocated in bed. His wrists are bound and his eyes bulging through a clear plastic bag tied tight over his head.

A few days later, another victim is found dead, in exactly the same circumstances. As Erika and her team start digging deeper, they discover a calculated serial killer - stalking their victims before choosing the right moment to strike.

The victims are all single men, with very private lives. Why are their pasts shrouded in secrecy? And what links them to the killer?

As a heat wave descends upon London, Erika will do everything to stop the Night Stalker before the body count rises, even if it means risking her job. But the victims might not be the only ones being watched... Erika's own life could be on the line.

My take

I have to admit being hooked on this series which I discovered last year.
The crimes in it are very noir (warning) and Detective Erika Foster thinks outside the square, loyal to those she leads, antagonises those supervising her (although they recognise that she is brilliant), and likely to be sidelined by her superiors at crucial times.

But again this was one of those books that just compels you to read on.

My rating: 4.8

I've also read

4.8, THE GIRL IN THE ICE  #1 
4.6, DARK WATER  #3

Review: TWISTED, Lynda La Plante

• this edition published by Simon & Schuster 2014
• ISBN 978-1-47112-588-1
• 500 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

Marcus and Lena Fulford are the envy of their friends. Wealthy, attractive and successful, the couple, with their strikingly beautiful teenage daughter Amy, seem settled and content. But appearances mask a strained relationship almost at breaking point. Marcus's latest business venture has failed, draining Lena, the major breadwinner, dry. Putting Amy into weekly boarding school and striving to get her own career back on its feet, Lena remains alone in the luxurious family house as her marriage heads towards as amicable a divorce as she and Marcus can muster, and joint custody of their only child.

So when Amy arranges a sleepover with a school friend one weekend, neither parent sees the need to be in touch with her. It is only when Amy is reported missing from school and her friend's mother reveals that, instead of staying with them, Amy was visiting her father - a fact vehemently denied by Marcus - that Lena contacts the police.

DI Victor Reid, in charge of the case, fears the worst - abduction or murder. A family under constant police and press scrutiny, a father who has seemingly lied about his alibi for the weekend, a mother whose perfect world is crumbling beneath her feet, a detective under pressure from his impatient superiors to deliver a result, the length of time that Amy has been missing gathering speed… all conspire to make Lynda La Plante's latest thriller her most tense and terrifying yet.

My Take

Marcus and Lena Fulford are going through what they both insist is an amicable divorce process, after a separation of two years, when Marcus decides to accelerate things by bringing their lawyers together to discuss the terms of the divorce settlement.

Almost immediately Amy goes missing during a weekend when she is supposed to be having a sleepover at a friend's house. Lena reports her daughter's disappearance to the police and they launch an investigation. Amy is not found and Di Victor Reid suspects that her father may have had something to do with her disappearance. The misper investigation drags on and is handed over to a murder squad and that is when things get interesting.

This is quite a long novel and I changed my mind several times about what the ending would be, but not once did I really get it right!
 
My rating: 4.5

I've also read
4.5 ROYAL FLUSH aka ROYAL HEIST
4.5, DEADLY INTENT

Successes and failures in crime fiction reading in 2018

Although I exceeded my planned total of books for 2018 it was a year when some things just slipped off my radar, and other categories bloomed.

Early in the year my good friend and collaborator Bernadette on Fair Dinkum Crime passed away unexpectedly. Our little reading group has missed her acid wit and I have missed her inspiration.
I have kept Fair Dinkum Crime going but in reality she was the energy and guiding light behind it.
If you read Australian crime fiction and would like to contribute to Fair Dinkum Crime let me know. 

So here is what I managed this year - you can check the details here if you like.

• 2018 Good Reads Reading Challenge. I set my challenge at 110 and read 123
• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Completed in 2014, titles read in 2018: 4
• 2018 Global Reading Challenge currently 10
• USA Fiction Challenge So far 21/51, this year: 19
• 2018 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: aiming for 20: currently 25
• 2018 Australian Women Writers Challenge: aiming for 20. Currently 14
• British Books Challenge 2018 currently 67
• 2018 Ebook Reading Challenge currently 28
• New to me authors - a personal challenge currently 49
• Not crime fiction - a personal challenge currently 9
• Nordic reading challenge - a personal challenge, currently 2
• New Zealand reading challenge -again a personal challenge. currently 0
• Translated crime fiction - a personal challenge that will overlap with many of the other reading challenges that I have undertaken. currently 5
• Snagged at the Library currently: 60
• Audio books: currently: 23
• 2018 Historical Reading Challenge. Currently: 16

The Global Reading Challenge failed to capture me and I won't run it again this year.
I am horrified that I only read 2 books for the Nordic challenge, and absolutely gutted that my total of New Zealand crime fiction reading is 0.
My e-book reading dropped off a little and the low number of translated novels is probably linked to that.

However - the up-side

• I rarely read outside the genre - only 9 non-crime fiction titles, 3 of those are in a series, and have a heavy "mystery" theme. But then reading friends will tell you that I can see mystery in almost every book.
• 1 book in 6 was set in America
• 1 book in 6 was an audio book
• 1 book in 5 is by an Australian author
• 40% of the authors that I read are "new-to-me". Doesn't mean they are new on the scene, just that I haven't reviewed one of their titles on this blog in 11 years.
• Over 50% of the crime fiction I read is British, and most of that is newly published.
• About 50% of the books I read are provided by my local library, 25% from Kindle, and 20% from Audible.

meme: New to me authors October to December 2018

I ended 2018 having read 49 titles altogether by "new-to-me authors".
There were 10 books in the last quarter of the year, five of them by Australian authors (A), and, at least 2 of them, authors I will look out for in the future.
While a number of these titles are recently published, I stress that all "new-to-me" means is that I haven't written about this title during to 10 years of this blog.

1. 4.4, THE FRENCH GIRL, Lexie Elliott 
2. 4.3, IN THE SHADOW OF AGATHA CHRISTIE, Leslie S. Klinger
3. 4.7, SCRUBLANDS, Chis Hammer  A
4. 4.5, A SPARK OF LIGHT, Jodi Picoult 
5. 4.0, MURDER IN MURLOO, Brigid George A
6. 3.5, THE HONOURABLE THIEF, Meaghan Wilson Anastasios A
7. 4.4, THE MURDER WALL, Mari Hannah
8. 4.9. MAN AT THE WINDOW, Robert Jeffreys A
9. 4.3, MURDER AT THE FITZWILLIAM, Jim Eldridge 
10. 4.5, THE BOTANIST'S DAUGHTER, Kayte Nunn  A 

Check what others have found.

review: THE MARMALADE MURDERS, Elizabeth J. Duncan

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
  
• Series: A Penny Brannigan Mystery (Book 9)
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (April 24, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1250101492
• ISBN-13: 978-1250101495

Synopsis (Amazon)

The Marmalade Murders is the ninth book in Elizabeth J. Duncan's award-winning mystery series, celebrated for its small-town charm and picturesque Welsh setting and starring amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan.

The competition is friendly and just a little fierce at the annual Llanelen agricultural show as town and country folk gather for the outdoor judging of farm animals and indoor judging of cakes, pies, pastries, chutneys, jams and jellies, along with vegetables, fruit and flowers. But this year, there’s a new show category: murder.

Local artist, Spa owner, and amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan agrees to help with the intake of the domestic arts entries and to judge the children’s pet competition on show day. When the president of the Welsh Women's Guild isn’t on hand to see her granddaughter and pet pug win a prize, the family becomes concerned. When a carrot cake entered in the competition goes missing, something is clearly amiss.

A black Labrador Retriever belonging to the agricultural show’s president discovers the body of the missing woman under the baked goods table. A newcomer to town, a transgender woman, is suspected, but amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan believes her to be innocent. She sets out to find the real killer, but when a second body is discovered days later, the case is thrown into confusion, and Penny knows it’s up to her to figure out what happened―and why.

My take

This a well plotted cozy set in Wales with a scenario that many a country woman would be familiar with. As Penny Brannigan says later, who could guess that a simple cake and jams competition could engender such violence?

Penny and her colleague Victoria are roped into monitoring the cakes, jams and marmalades as the local women bring them in to the competition. Later Penny also has to jusge the children's pets competition.

One of the competitors arrives late to hand her marmalade in, then disappears overnight, and then turns up dead under one of the trestle tables.

Very readable.

My rating: 4.2

I've also read 4.3, MURDER ON THE HOUR 

About this author
Elizabeth J. Duncan has worked as a writer and editor for some of Canada's largest newspapers, including the Ottawa Citizen and Hamilton Spectator. She lives with her dog, Dolly, in Toronto where she teaches in the public relations program at Humber College. She enjoys spending time each year in North Wales and is the first Canadian writer to win the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition. The Cold Light of Mourning, her first novel, is also the winner of the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant and was shortlisted for an Agatha and an Arthur Ellis Award.

Penny Brannigan Mystery (Fantastic Fiction list)
1. The Cold Light of Mourning (2009)
2. A Brush with Death (2010)
3. A Killer's Christmas in Wales (2011)
4. A Small Hill to Die On (2012)
5. Never Laugh As a Hearse Goes By (2013)
6. Slated for Death (2015)
7. Murder on the Hour (2016)
8. Murder Is for Keeps (2017)
9. The Marmalade Murders (2018) 

What I read in December 2018

Pick of the month December 2018

A good reading month (Perhaps I was reading when I was meant to be doing other things like sending cards!)

My Pick of the Month has to be
 5.0, KINGDOM OF THE BLIND by Louise Penny
closely followed by 4.9. MAN AT THE WINDOW by Robert Jeffreys new Australian author to watch

Other titles that I read

• 4.6, MONK'S-HOOD, Ellis Peters - audio book
• 3.5, THE HONOURABLE THIEF, Meaghan Wilson Anastasios - Australian author
• 4.4, THE MURDER WALL, Mari Hannah
• 4.9. MAN AT THE WINDOW, Robert Jeffreys - Australian author 
• 4.4, THE LEPER OF SAINT GILES, Ellis Peters - audio book
• 4.8, THE GIRL IN THE ICE, Robert Bryndza
• 4.8, PRESERVATION, Jock Serong - Australian author 
• 4.3, MURDER AT THE FITZWILLIAM, Jim Eldridge
• 4.5, THE SHADOW SISTER, Lucinda Riley
• 4.5, THE BOTANIST'S DAUGHTER, Kayte Nunn  - Australian author  
• 4.4, THE VIRGIN IN THE ICE, Ellis Peters - audio book
• 5.0, KINGDOM OF THE BLIND, Louise Penny 

See what other have chosen.

My best crime fiction reads in 2018

I am pleased to present my best reads in 2018.
It is always hard to know where to stop the list, but if you want to check further go here. (I read 120 books altogether)
Nearly half the "best" books were by Australian authors and I have marked them for you with A

1. 5.0, THE LOST MAN, Jane Harper A
2. 5.0, FORCE OF NATURE, Jane Harper A
3. 5.0, THE OTHER WIFE, Michael Robotham A
4. 5.0, KINGDOM OF THE BLIND, Louise Penny 
5. 5.0, THE GIRL BEFORE, J P Delaney
6. 5.0, ON THE JAVA RIDGE, Jock Serong A
7. 4.9. MAN AT THE WINDOW, Robert Jeffreys  A
8. 4.9, UNDER THE COLD BRIGHT LIGHTS, Garry Disher A
9. 4.8, THE SHROUDED PATH, Sarah Ward
10. 4.8, PRESERVATION, Jock Serong A
11. 4.8, CARELESS LOVE, Peter Robinson
12. 4.8, THE RUIN, Dervla McTiernan A
13. 4.8, THE GIRL IN THE ICE, Robert Bryndza 
14. 4.8, THE WILDLING SISTERS, Eve Chase
15. 4.8, THE DEATH OF MRS WESTAWAY, Ruth Ware
16. 4.8, THE PRESIDENT IS MISSING, Bill Clinton & James Patterson
17. 4.7, THE STRANGER, Melanie Raabe 
18. 4.7, THE ONES YOU TRUST, Caroline Overington  A
19. 4.7, SCRUBLANDS, Chis Hammer  A
20. 4.7, FRIDAY ON MY MIND, Nicci French
21. 4.7, THE GATEKEEPER, Charles Todd 
22. 4.7, DARKTOWN, Thomas Mullen 
23. 4.7, COMPANY MAN, Joseph Finder
24. 4.7, REDEMPTION POINT, Candice Fox  A
25. 4.7, TELL TALE, Jeffrey Archer

New to me authors - October to December 2018

It's easy to join this meme.

Just write a post about the best new-to-you crime fiction authors (or all) you've read in the period of October to December 2018, put a link to this meme in your post, and even use the logo if you like.
The books don't necessarily need to be newly published.

 After writing your post, then come back to this post and add your link to Mr Linky below. (if Mr Linky does not appear - leave your URL in a comment and I will add to Mr Linky when it comes back up, or I'll add the link to the post)
Visit the links posted by other participants in the meme to discover even more books to read.

This meme will run again during 2019.  Expect it to appear at the end of March.
 

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Pick of the Month December 2018

Crime Fiction Pick of the Month 2018

Many crime fiction bloggers write a summary post at the end of each month listing what they've read, and some, like me, even go as far as naming their pick of the month.

This meme is an attempt to aggregate those summary posts.
It is an invitation to you to write your own summary post for December 2018, identify your crime fiction best read of the month, and add your post's URL to the Mr Linky below.
If Mr Linky does not appear for you, leave the URL in a comment and I will add it myself.

You can list all the books you've read in the past month on your post, even if some of them are not crime fiction, but I'd like you to nominate your crime fiction pick of the month.

That will be what you will list in Mr Linky too -
e.g.
ROSEANNA, Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo - MiP (or Kerrie)

You are welcome to use the image on your post and it would be great if you could link your post back to this post on MYSTERIES in PARADISE.

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Review: MINE, J.L. Butler

• this edition published by HarperCollins Publishers 2018
• ISBN 978-0-00-82641-9
• 424 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

Set in the Inns of Court in London, where justice and corruption go hand in hand. J L Butler’s taut, gripping legal drama brims with suspense and obsession, and only you can solve the case…
A gripping, thrill-a-minute ride through London’s dark side’ Erin Kelly

Gripping, intelligent, thrilling’ Adele Parks

Intelligently written. Compulsive. I defy you to put this down.’ Jane Corry

Fatal Attraction meets Apple Tree Yard. This debut novel will be your new obsession.

Francine Day is a high-flying lawyer about to apply for silk, ambitious and brilliant. She just needs one headline grabbing client to seal her place as Queen's Counsel, Martin Joy. The attraction is instant. Obsessive.

They embark on a secret affair and Francine thinks she can hold it together. But then Martin's wife, Donna, goes missing. And Martin is the prime suspect.

As the case unravels so does Francine, because the last person to see Donna Joy alive, was her.

My client. My lover. My lawyer. My obsession.

My Take

This was a good book to start the year with.

In having an affair with her client divorce lawyer Francine Day is committing the unforgiveable. But she hopes she can keep it hidden. That becomes dangerous ground when Martin's wife Donna disappears. Francine has been suspecting that Martin and Donna don't really want a divorce, that they are still in love, or is Donna playing around with someone else?

Martin is worth tens of millions and Donna wants half his money in a divorce settlement. All sorts of thoughts go through Francine's head about why Donna has disappeared. But she can't stay away from Martin even though she suspects he has had something to do with Donna's disappearance.

The blurb says this is a slick page-turner, and it is not wrong. It will keep you reading until the very end.


My rating: 4.6

About the author
J.L. Butler trained as a lawyer and journalist. She lives in London with her husband and son. J.L. Butler is the pseudonym for Sunday Times bestseller, Tasmina Perry.

My challenges for 2019

I have decided to go mainly with the same challenges that I followed in 2018, mainly because they are a convenient way for me to keep track of my reading.

Some are challenges that I have "officially" joined, others just personal lists.

Here is my list

• 2019 Good Reads Reading Challenge. I have set my challenge at 120.
• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Completed in 2014, but the reading goes on
• USA Fiction Challenge So far 21/51, 
• 2019 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: aiming for 20:
• 2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge: aiming for 20.
• British Books Challenge 2019 
• 2018 Ebook Reading Challenge
• New to me authors - a personal challenge
• Not crime fiction - a personal challenge 
• Nordic reading challenge - a personal challenge,
• New Zealand reading challenge -again a personal challenge
• Translated crime fiction - a personal challenge that will overlap with many of the other reading challenges that I have undertaken.
• Snagged at the Library
• Audio books: 
• 2019 Historical Reading Challenge.

If you want to check descriptors, locations etc. check my 2019 Reading Challenges page.