Weekly Geeks 2010-36 Readers Advisory

This week's Weekly Geeks task has prompted me to release, a couple of days early, a meme that I was going to run anyway where I invite readers to suggest crime fiction books we could give for Christmas.

This meme, called Give Books for Christmas 2010,  invites you to add links to a "Mr Linky" for books you've read or reviewed and have no hesitation in recommending to others, or to a page on your blog where you have a list of recommendations.

For myself, I'll probably just link to my "books read" in 2010, where my list is ranked in rating order, so there is no doubt about which ones I thought are the best.

My own suggestions for Give Books for Christmas 2009 were really just my best reads for the year.

If you look in the right hand side of my blog you'll see that I have linked to this post to help you find it easily in the future once you have decided what you can add to Mr Linky. And there is no limit to how often you can come back and add a link!

Try your hand at a mini-review #2

Publish a mini-review on my blog. Last time I ran this, 6 brave souls contributed.

I'll publish the reviews in a fortnight's time, so make a note, and come back and add your contribution by about 22 September.

If you have trouble working on the form below, then you can complete it at Google Docs.



Don't forget to go right to the end of the form and click on Submit

Try your hand at a mini-review

If you have trouble working on the form below, then you can complete it at Google Docs.


Don't forget to go right to the end of the form and click on Submit

My top 5 reads so far in 2009

My list of top 5 reads so far this year contains 3 new-to-me authors, 2 of which I have read in translation.



The links go to my reviews.
5.0, PLAY DEAD, Richard Montanari -new to me
4.9, ECHOES FROM THE DEAD, Johan Theorin - new to me, translated from Swedish.
4.9, A PALE HORSE, Charles Todd - new to me
4.8, ARCTIC CHILL, Arnaldur Indridason - translated from Icelandic
4.8, THE CRUELLEST MONTH, Louise Penny

Euro Crime: Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2008

Euro Crime: Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2008

Karen asked a bunch of crime fiction addicts to list their top 5 reads for 2008.
The 15 of us are mainly people who have reviewed books in the last year for Euro Crime.
Only 5! It was very hard to choose.

It is interesting to compare this list with others I have been part of or seen.
I've marked those I've read. ***
You could do a lot worse than use this as a "reading syllabus".
All the ones I have marked *** are more than worth your attention, and I trust my fellow reviewers to recommend the others too.

4 votes:
Stieg Larsson - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ***

3 votes:
Stuart MacBride - Flesh House
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Last Rituals
Johan Theorin - Echoes from the Dead

2 votes:
Kate Atkinson - When will there be good news?***
Reginald Hill - A Cure for All Diseases ***
Arnaldur Indridason - Arctic Chill ***
Philip Kerr - A Quiet Flame
Jo Nesbo - Nemesis***
Michael Robotham - Shatter***
Helene Tursten - The Torso***
Fred Vargas - This Night's Foul Work***

Oz_Mystery_Readers Announce top reads for 2008

The oz_mystery_readers Yahoo group has announced it's top crime fiction reads for 2008.

15 members suggested 140 titles

How we voted:

47% (7) - SHATTER, Michael Robotham
25% (4) - FAN MAIL, P. D. Martin
20% (3) - THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, Stieg Larsson
20% (3) - VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE, Leah Giarratano

then all the following were chosen by 2 readers
A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES, Reginald Hill
A SUPERIOR DEATH, Nevada Barr
BODY COUNT, P.D. Martin
FRANTIC, Katherine Howell
GUILTY PLEASURES, Laurell K. Hamilton
MY ENEMY'S CRADLE, Sara Young
THE DARKEST HOUR, Katherine Howell
THE DRAINING LAKE, Arnaldur Indridason
THE PRIVATE PATIENT, P.D. James
VOODOO DOLL, Leah Giarratano

If we sort it by author here is what we get (*** Aussie writers surface)

50% (8) - ***Michael Robotham: SHATTER, BOMBPROOF
47% (7) - ***P.D. Martin: BODY COUNT, FAN MAIL, THE MURDERER'S CLUB
40% (6) - ***Leah Giarratano: VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE, VOODOO DOLL
25% (4) - ***Katherine Howell: FRANTIC, THE DARKEST HOUR
20% (3) - Stieg Larsson: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
20% (3) - Nevada Barr: A SUPERIOR DEATH, TRACK OF THE CAT

then each of the following authors got 2 mentions
Val McDermid: A DARKER DOMAIN, BENEATH THE BLEEDING
Stephanie Meyer: NEW MOON, TWILIGHT
Sara Young: MY ENEMY'S CRADLE
Reginald Hill: A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES
Peter Robinson: FRIEND OF THE DEVIL
Nicci French: LOSING YOU, THE MEMORY GAME
Lynda la Plante: ABOVE SUSPICION, CLEAN CUT
Linwood Barclay: NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, TOO CLOSE TO HOME
***Leigh Redhead: CHERRY PIE, RUBDOWN
Ken Bruen: CROSS, PRIEST
Jo Nesbo: NEMESIS, THE REDBREAST
Fred Vargas: SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR, WASH THIS BLOOD CLEAN FROM MY HAND
***Felicity Young: A CERTAIN MALICE, AN EASEFUL DEATH
Arnaldur Indridason: THE DRAINING LAKE
Ann Cleeves: RAVEN BLACK, WHITE NIGHTS
Adrian McKinty: DEAD I WELL MAY BE, THE DEAD YARD

Crime fiction discoveries in 2008

Well, the year hasn't ended yet, but this "meme" that I've now seen around on at least 3 blogs took my fancy.

The idea is to
1) List the authors that were new to you this year, regardless of year of publication.
2) Bold the ones that were debuts (first novel, published in 2008)
3) Tag some people

To my surprise it wasn't as hard to do as I thought.
I discovered that 36 authors and 42 books qualified.
I've listed them in alphabetical order of the author, but included my rating so you can see what I thought of it. I've also linked each title to my review.
I'v also interpreted "debut" as first in the series, not necessarily first published in 2008

Megan Abbott, DIE A LITTLE, 3.7
Linwood Barclay, NO TIME TO SAY GOODBYE, 4.7
Brett Battles, THE CLEANER, 4.2
Laura Benedict, ISABELLA MOON, 4.3
Chelsea Cain, HEARTSICK, 4.5
Terry Carroll, SNOW CANDY, 4.4
Michael Chabon, THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION, 4.2
Kate Charles, EVIL INTENT (Audio CD), 4.2
John Clanchy, VINCENZO'S GARDEN, 4
Lauren Crow, BYE BYE BABY, 4.2
Siobhan Dowd, THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, 4.2
R.J. Ellory, A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, 5
R.J. Ellory, CITY OF LIES, 4.3
Helen Fitzgerald, DEAD LOVELY, 4
Friedrich GLAUSER, THUMBPRINT, 4.6
Kevin Guilfoile, WICKER (aka CAST OF SHADOWS), 4.5
Marion Halligan, MURDER ON THE APRICOT COAST, 2.5
Timothy Hallinan, A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART, 4.7
Cora Harrison , MY LADY JUDGE, 3.8
Joan Hess, A HOLLY, JOLLY MURDER, 3.2
Susan Hill, THE VOWS OF SILENCE, 4.7
Susan Hill, THE PURE IN HEART, 4.7
Susan Hill, THE RISK OF DARKNESS, 4.7
Susan Hill, THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN, 4.6
Lesley Horton, DEVILS IN THE MIRROR, 4.5
Susan Kelly, THE LONE TRAVELLER, 4.3
Susan Kelly, LITTLE GIRL LOST, 4.2
Douglas Kennedy, THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH, 3.9
Matthew Klein, CONNED (aka CON ED), 4.4
Mark Lalbeharry, THE SIMIAN CURVE, 4.1
Stieg Larrson, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, 4.8
Asa Larsson, THE SAVAGE ALTAR, 4.6
Lisa Lutz, THE SPELLMAN FILES, 4
RJ McDonnell, ROCK & ROLL HOMICIDE, 3.5
Brian McGilloway, GALLOWS LANE, 4.2
William McInnes, A MAN'S GOT TO HAVE A HOBBY, 4.4
Felicity Pulman, WILLOWS FOR WEEPING, 4.5
Vanda Symon, OVERKILL, 4.8
Janwillem van de Wetering, DEATH OF A HAWKER, 4.4
Fred Vargas, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR, 4.9
Fred Vargas, WASH THIS BLOOD CLEAN FROM MY HAND, 4.8
Fred Vargas, THIS NIGHT'S FOUL WORK, 4.6

Other places where I've seen this meme
The Rap Sheet
Observations from the Balcony
Detectives Beyond Borders
Crime Scraps
Pattinase
Petrona

What new-to-you authors have you read this year? If you want to take this meme and run with it, by all means do!

Robert Goddard, always a reliable read

This is another in my blogs about crime fiction authors that I find it safe to pick up on impulse.

Testimony to the fact that I enjoy the writing of Robert Goddard is the fact that I have 5 of his novels in my database (what I've read in the last 40 months).

I have to be read: CLOSED CIRCLE- I picked that up recently second-hand. I am hoping the most recent, FOUND WANTING, will turn up soon as a review book. What I enjoy about the stand-alones is the fact that they cover a variety of subjects, but often with a historical slant.

My mini-reviews

SIGHT UNSEEN
On a summer’s day in 1981, a two-year-old girl, Tamsin Hall, was abducted during a picnic at the famous prehistoric site of Avebury in Wiltshire. Her seven-year-old sister Miranda was knocked down and killed by the abductor’s van. The girls were in the care of their nanny, Sally Wilkinson.
One of the witnesses to this tragic event was David Umber, a Ph.D student who was waiting at the village pub to keep an appointment with a man called Griffith who claimed he could help Umber with his researches into the letters of “Junius,” the pseudonymous eighteenth century polemicist who was his Ph.D subject. But Griffin failed to show up, and Umber never heard from him again. The two-year-old, Tamsin Hall, was never seen again either. The Hall family fell apart under the strain. Sally Wilkinson, the nanny, wound up living with Umber, whom she had met at the inquiry. But she never recovered from the incident, suffered increasingly from depression, and eventually committed suicide.
In the spring of 2004, retired Chief Inspector George Sharp receives a letter signed “Junius” reproaching him for botching the 1981 investigation. Sharp confronts Umber, whose explanation for being at the scene of the tragedy has always seemed dubious. Obliged to accept Umber’s denial of authorship of the letter, he nonetheless forces him to join in a search for the real culprit — and hence the long-concealed truth about what happened 23 years previously. It is a quest that both will later regret having embarked upon. Too late they come to understand that some mysteries are better left unsolved.
My rating: 4.5

DYING TO TELL (Audio CD)
Lance Bradley, living the quiet life in a shop in Glastonbury, has lost touch with his old friend Rupert Alder. Rupe’s siblings, Win, Mil, and Howard, all a good deal older than Rupe, are dependent on him for their income, and their income has mysteriously dried up. Rupe seems to have disappeared and Win asks Lance for help in tracking him down. This is not an easy task and leads Lance around the world and back to headline-making events that occurred in the year that he and Rupe were born, 1963. A thriller with some very unexpected twists and turns.
My rating: 4.3

INTO THE BLUE (unabridged audion CD)
Reading this required a bit of 'devotion'. There are 14 CDs with 17 hours 30 minutes on them. Harry Barnett lives on Rhodes caretaking a friend's villa and working in a local bar. Harry, British and middle-aged, has been a failure at most things he has turned his hand to. Heather Mallender, a young friend of the villa's owner, arrives to spend some time on holiday and re-cuperating from a recent illness. When she and Harry are climbing a mountain one afternoon, she goes on ahead and disappears. The local police at first suspect Harry of murdering her and disposing of her body. They have no evidence. Harry is released, and, convinced Heather is still alive. he begins to track her life. This story is full of twists and turns and is a complex web of strands. The reading is very well done and provided a very enjoyable experience. My rating: 4.7

OUT OF THE SUN (Audio CD)
#2 of Robert Goddard's Harry Barnett books. When Harry is informed that his son, David, is in a diabetic coma, he is certain there must be a mistake, since he does not have a son. But he soon discovers that he does and that other scientists employed like David have died in mysterious circumstances. Is David the victim of attempted murder? Once again this is a complex story, and just when you think there is a resolution, you come to another blind alley. The unabridged CD set is 10 CDs and almost 12 hours. Paul Shelley does an excellent job of all the different voices. Other characters from the earlier book INTO THE BLUE make a welcome re-appearance: Barry Chipchase, Zora, Mrs Tandy and Harry's mother, but there is enough background information if this is your first dip in the series.
My rating: 4.5

NEVER GO BACK
#3 in Goddard's Harry Barnett series and is set 10 years on from the second title OUT OF THE SUN. Harry is now living in Canada, but has returned to England to finalise his recently deceased mother's estate. An old mate from Harry's RAF days is organising a 50th anniversary reunion in Scotland at Kilveen Castle where as young men they had taken part in a psychological experiment. But even before they arrive at the castle one of their group has disappeared and soon after they arrive another dies in strange circumstances.
My rating: 4.5

Listing from Fantastic Fiction.

Harry Barnett series
1. Into the Blue (1990)
2. Out of the Sun (1996)
3. Never Go Back (2006)

Novels

Past Caring (1986)
In Pale Battalions (1988)
Painting the Darkness (1989)
Take No Farewell (1991)
Hand in Glove (1992)
Closed Circle (1993)
Borrowed Time (1995)
Beyond Recall (1997)
Caught in the Light (1998)
Set in Stone (1999)
Sea Change (2000)
Dying to Tell (2001)
Days Without Number (2003)
Play to the End (2004)
Sight Unseen (2005)
Name To A Face (2007)
Found Wanting (2008)

Barry Maitland's books

Barry Maitland is one of those authors who may slip beneath the radar.
I'm not sure whether we can really claim him as an Australian author: Barry Maitland was born in Scotland and brought up in London. After studying architecture at Cambridge, he practised and taught in the UK before moving to Australia where he is Professor of Architecture at the University of Newcastle.

I have 3 Maitland books in my database of books read in the last 40 months. There are lots of gaps in my reading but I have no hesitation in recommending you search him out.

ALL MY ENEMIES
ALL MY ENEMIES is the third in Barry Maitland's Brock and Kolla series. Detective Sgt. Kathy Kolla has been successful in her ambition to become one of the officers of the Serious Crime Squad, working with DCI David Brock as her superior, after her stint working with the County police. She is gratified to be called upon by Brock to help in the investigation of a murder one day prior to her official start on his team. A young girl, seemingly without an enemy to her name, has been discovered by her parents, brutally murdered and mutilated, Brock's team sets out to interview her friends, fiancé and workmates in an attempt to find the criminal. Kathy's investigations, aided by the presence of her aunt who has arrived unannounced on her doorstep, lead her to investigate an amateur theatre group. Kolla is put, as is Maitland's wont, into dire physical danger when she encounters as nasty a villain as the author has yet created. #3 in the series.
My rating: 4.7

NO TRACE
In this work Maitland turns his focus on an artistic community where one of the leading artists, Gabriel Rudd, has won England’s most controversial art awards, the Turner Prize, with a painting he completed after the death of his wife. Now his daughter has disappeared, and two other young girls have also gone missing at the same time. Rudd begins to work on an art installation based on the grief he is experiencing for his lost daughter Tracey.
Within a disturbingly unconventional artists' neighbourhood in London, Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla and Detective Inspector David Brock engage in their most passionate case yet. They need to find six-year-old Tracey Rudd. Tracey is the third child to be abducted in similar circumstances over the past few weeks. Her father, Gabriel, is an infamous artist known best for a work called 'Dead Puppies', and her mother, Jane, committed suicide five years earlier. Jane's parents have accused the self-absorbed Gabriel of neglecting Tracey with much the same abandon as he neglected his wife. Gabriel uses his daughter's disappearance as artistic inspiration to embark on a major controversial artwork - one painting for each day that brings no trace of Tracey. In the meantime, Brock and Kolla's investigations unearth the abductors of the first two girls, but there are still no leads to Tracey. These kidnappers, however, are connected to one of the artists in the neighbourhood, and in turn, everyone in the community falls under suspicion with grotesque consequences. As Kathy tries desperately to understand what motivates Gabriel, Brock's attention is turned necessarily to a new police enquiry, one that targets him. #8 in the series.
My rating: 5

SPIDER TRAP
Spider Roach, his very name a combination of the insect pests that we all hate, is the perfect illustration of the adage that evil breeds evil. Back in the 1980s he controlled the hotbed of gangster land around Cockpit Lane. Now an old man, 20 years on he still controls it - his 3 sons are evil and always have been, and they seem to have married and begotten evil too. Brock had dealings with Roach back in the 1980s and he emerges from retirement in SPIDER TRAP to warn Brock off from his current investigation into the spider's web of evil he has built up over the decades. Two young girls have been found shot dead in Cockpit Lane, a boy is electrocuted as he tries to cross the electrified rail line to get to the nearby waste land where "brown bread" is rumoured to be hidden, and then the police begin to dig up 20 year old skeletons buried in the waste ground. #9 in the Brock and Kolla series.
My rating: 4.7

SHATTER and CORONER'S LUNCH in CWA Shortlists

I am delighted to see that Colin Cotterill's CORONER'S LUNCH and Michael Robotham's SHATTER, which I have just begun reading, have both been nominated in this year's CWA and Duncan Lawrie shortlists.
http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/2008/index.html

The Duncan Lawrie Dagger 2008
James Lee Burke, The Tin Roof Blowdown
Colin Cotterill, Coroner's Lunch
Frances Fyfield, Blood From Stone
Steve Hamilton, Night Work
Laura Lippman, What the Dead Know
RN Morris, A Vengeful Longing
More information on the Duncan Lawrie Dagger page.

The Duncan Lawrie International Dagger 2008
Andrea Camilleri (Italy), The Patience of the Spider (Picador, Macmillan)
Translated by Stephen Sartarelli
Stieg Larsson (Sweden), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (MacLehose Press, Quercus)
Translated by Reg Keeland
Dominique Manotti (France), Lorraine Connection (EuroCrime, Arcadia Books)
Translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz
Martin Suter (Germany), A Deal with the Devil ( EuroCrime, Arcadia Books)
Translated by Peter Millar
Fred Vargas (France), This Night's Foul Work (Harvill Secker, Random House)
Translated by Sîan Reynolds
More information on the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger page.

Other Daggers
Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Mo Hayder (Ritual),
Gregg Hurwitz (I See You),
Michael Robotham (Shatter),
Tom Rob Smith (Child 44) and
David Stone (The Echelon Vendetta)

A QUIET BELIEF fights back

Last week in ANGELS toppled by OUT, I commented on how OUT by Natsuo Kirino had taken top position from R. J. Ellory's A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS on Amazon UK's Bestsellers in Crime, Thrillers & Mystery list.
Since then the price of a new copy of OUT has spiralled downwards to an unbelievable £7.99 £1.00 while ANGELS has been £7.99 £3.47

This morning on my RSS feed ANGELS is back at the top. Why am I so interested in this? Well, I gave both of them my highest rating of 5, so both are well worth your attention.

The rest of the list?
#3 DEVIL MAY CARE (James Bond) by Sebastian Faulks
#4 THE FRONT by Patricia Cornwell
#5 DISSOLUTION (Matthew Shardlake 1) by C. J. Sansom
#6 FLESH HOUSE by Stuart MacBride
#7 THE WOODS by Harlan Coben
#8 BONES TO ASHES by Kathy Reichs
#9 BROTHER ODD by Dean Koontz
#10 DARK FIRE (Matthew Shardlake 2) by C.J. Sansom

My review of HARUM SCARUM up on Euro Crime

Some weeks back I posted my review of Felicity Young's HARUM SCARUM here, and now it has made it up onto Euro Crime, along with

• Laura Root reviews David Downing's 'Silesian Station' writing that it is "a thoughtful, sensitive thriller";
• Norman Price reviews the second in the Yashim, Ottoman Detective series by Jason Goodwin: 'The Snake Stone' which it seems is a rather impressive follow-up to the Edgar winning 'The Janissary Tree';
• Fiona Walker calls Mo Hayder's 'Ritual' "a complete triumph" and that it is "certainly the best British crime novel I've read so far this year";
• Maxine Clarke thinks that 'Trial by Blood' by John Macken is one for action fans rather "than for those who like a lean plot with strong characters";
• Karen Meek takes a look at recent Euro Crime interviewee, Mehmet Murat Somer's 'The Prophet Murders'

Check them all out through http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/review_list.html

Forgotten Books (Crime fiction that is)

Inspired by a posting by Petrona who pointed me to a new-to-me blog by Pattinase on a theme called Friday:Forgotten Books, I queried my database (which contains only records of books that I have read in the last 40 months or so) with the following requirements.

• Published before 1970
• Given a rating of 4 or more
• Not Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers or Ngaio Marsh (whom I don't think have been forgotten)

Here are the books the database came up with

• Patricia Carlon, THE WHISPERING WALL (1969)
• Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, ROSEANNA (1968), THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN, (1968), THE MAN ON THE BALCONY (1967)
• Colin Watson, HOPJOY WAS HERE (1962), LONELYHEART 4122 (1967), CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME (1968), THE FLAXBOROUGH CRAB (1968)
• Truman Capote, IN COLD BLOOD (1966)
• John Le Carre, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1963)
• Robert Van Gulin, THE CHINESE BELL MURDERS (1958)
• Friedrich Glauser, THUMBPRINT (1936)
• Fergus Hume, THE MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB (1886)

I am looking forward to some other recommendations

Felicity Young, West Australian author

I reviewed Felicity Young's latest book HARUM SCARUM a little while back.

This week over on oz_mystery_readers group, Felicity is our guest on Quiz an Author, a quarterly activity where we put an Australian author in the spotlight. Guests so far have been Brian Kavanagh, Adrian Hyland, Gabrielle Lord, and PD Martin. In September it will be Michael Robotham's turn.

Felicity is one of a group of recent Australian writers who delight in giving their crime fiction an Australian setting. Her 3 published novels are all clearly located in Western Australia.

Here are some quick "reviews"

A CERTAIN MALICE (2005), my rating: 4.5
Senior Sergeant Cam Fraser accepts an appointment to run the police station in a small country town in West Australia to get away from the trauma that he and his 15 year old daughter have experienced in the last 3 years. He was brought up in this town, but his expectations of a quiet life are shattered with the discovery of a charred body after a bushfire in the grounds of a local school. To complicate matters the police at the station are mainly young and inexperienced, apart from Vince against whom there have been many complaints by locals. And what are the school principal and her husband hiding? The story moves at a good pace and the plot is well woven. Young makes good use of the uniqueness of her Australian setting.

AN EASEFUL DEATH (2006), my rating: 4.6
Somebody is killing young women in Perth, Western Australia, and then, post-mortem, posing their painted bodies carefully in relatively public places. The first body is painted bronze, the second silver ... you get the picture. False clues are left stuck to the bodies, and each has AN EASEFUL DEATH written down one leg. This is the second novel by Felicity Young. It features D.S. Stevie Hooper newly seconded to the Serious Crime Squad in Perth. She is young, un-married with a young daughter, keen to do well, and working with a boss who is also a good friend. In this case Stevie is the liaison with the eminent profiler who is helping the squad with the case. Quotes from publications by the profiler appear as tag lines in each of the chapters (but I must confess, didn't always seem significant to me). The action of the book mainly seems to happen over a one week period and comes thick and fast. There are plenty of candidates offered for the serial killer and I must confess I punted for the wrong one!

HARUM SCARUM (2008), my rating: 4.5
The body of the floater in the Swan River doesn't have a lot to identify it - the face is mutilated, the fingertips gone - but Monty McGuire, head of Perth's Serious Crime Squad is pretty sure his team is well on the way to identifying it.
D.S. Stevie Hooper and lifelong friend Tash are now both members of the Cyber Predator Team, charged with tracking down paedophiles who stalk children in internet chat rooms. Part of their job also is to visit schools talking to children about cyber safety. Stevie heads the team but there are times when she finds Tash, an impulsive risk taker, hard to manage.
The disappearance of an 11 year old girl, and the eventual finding of her body in a dumpster, brings Monty and Stevie, already lovers and parents of six year old Izzy, together into a joint operation directed by Monty.
There's a lot to like about this book apart from the fact that it is well crafted and Felicity Young is a more than accomplished writer. It explores themes that are issues for many parents in the western world - the way children use internet chat rooms and cyber technology in general; the threat to children from paedophiles; and effects of a society in which most parents work, on the way their children are growing up and the risks they are exposed to.

DEVILS IN THE MIRROR, Lesley Horton

The murder investigation sparked by the discovery of the body of missing school girl Shayla Richards at a local beauty spot called Druid's Altar brings with it some unexpected conflicts for the investigating DI, John Handford.

Shayla has been missing for some weeks but over a year before she was the centrepiece of an assault allegation against a male teacher at Cliffe Top Comprehensive where Handford's wife Gill is the head of English. Now that teacher is accused by Shayla's mother of responsibility for her death. Even though the teacher was acquitted of the assault charge, mud sticks, as they say, and the school board is conducting its own investigation.

This is not the only complication for Handford. Within his own team he has two officers who simply don't get on, the underlying reason being racial bigotry.

In addition, the investigation is driving a real wedge between Handford and his wife. It is dividing the staff at the school, threatening the principal's authority, and some seem to regard Gill Handford as the DI's snout.

This, the 3rd title in the Handford series, was not just another police procedural.
It was well written with very believable characters, and interesting focal threads. I'll certainly be looking for more.

My rating: 4.5

1. Snares of Guilt (2002)
2. On Dangerous Ground (2003)
3. Devils In The Mirror (2005)
4. The Hollow Core (2006)
5. Twisted Tracks (2007)

Lesley Horton's own website: http://www.lesleyhorton.co.uk/

THE OVERLOOK, Michael Connelly

Allen & Unwin, 2007, 260 pages.

If I needed it, the ease and speed with which I read THE OVERLOOK is really confirmation that crime fiction, police procedural bordering on thriller is absolutely my genre of preference.

Harry Bosch has recently moved from LAPD's Open Unsolved Unit to the prestigious Homicide Special squad. He has a new partner, a youngster Ignacio Ferras, who regards him as a bit of a dinosaur, and this is their first case. A body has been found at the overlook above the Mulholland Dam, and it's rather obviously a murder. The victim is a medical physicist who supplies a radio active substance called cesium for use in medical procedures that use radioactive therapy.

Alarm bells go off for Harry when FBI agent Rachel Walling turns up at the scene of the crime. Rachel is attached to one of the FBI's Homeland Security operations called the Tactical Intelligence Unit. The body is easily identified and once the fact that a large quantity of cesium is found to be missing, the case becomes a tussle between the LAPD and the FBI. The FBI are saying this is a possible terrorist killing.

For Harry, the involvement of Rachel is fraught with all sorts of hurdles, given a previous relationship. The FBI involvement spell danger for Harry in a number of other ways, including some he can't forsee. His new partner Iggy Farras causes other problems for Harry, not the least because Harry likes to be the alpha dog, works on hunches, rarely discusses anything, and doesn't do partnerships at all well.

THE OVERLOOK was originally serialised in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, and Connelly says this gave him a chance to re-visit the book prior to publication as a book, although he did not make substantial changes.

I haven't read all of the Harry Bosch series, 13 books since BLACK ECHO in 1992, but I have enjoyed all that I have read. This one was no exception.

My rating 4.6

Michael Connelly's website is at http://www.michaelconnelly.com/index.html
His next novel is called THE BRASS VERDICT.
Here's the blurb from the website page:
Lincoln lawyer Mickey Haller and LAPD Detective Harry Bosch team up in this new novel by Michael Connelly.
Things are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is back in the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him into the big time, he learns that Vincent's killer may be coming for him next.
Enter Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent's killer, he is not opposed to using Haller as bait. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work together.

THIS NIGHT'S FOUL WORK, Fred Vargas

Publisher: Harvill Secker (Random House Australia), 2008, $32.95 (Aust. Dollars), 409 pages

What a lot of disparate elements come together in the plot of THIS NIGHT’S FOUL WORK by Fred Vargas. An ancient recipe for eternal life. One elderly district nurse who just happens to be a serial killer, recently escaped from gaol. Two men murdered, their throats cut in what looks like a drugs-related killing. Stags found dead in Normandy with their hearts cut out. Someone who polishes the soles of his shoes. Snowball the station cat so devoted to a policewoman that he’ll travel over thirty kilometres in search of her.

Someone close to the inquiry into the drug-related killings is manipulating the investigation.

Commissaire Jean Baptiste Adamsberg has recently returned from enforced leave and finds himself working with a pathologist whose apple cart he upset two decades ago. He has moved into a new house haunted by the Wicked Silent Sister, Saint Clarisse, a serial killer of gullible women, before the Revolution.

To add to the feast for the reader there are some odd, vividly drawn, characters in Adamsberg’s team: Veyrenc, the new lieutenant who spouts Racine constantly, and is assigned to guarding Camille, the mother of Adamsberg’s baby son Tom; his colleague Commandant Dangland who works ceaselessly to eliminate Unsolved Questions; Estalere who has a knack and passion for memorising trivial detail; and Retancourt, devoted to protecting Adamsberg with her own life, to name just a few.

THIS NIGHT’S FOULS WORK showcases Adamsberg at his best, sifting and sorting a smorgasbord of information. Adamsberg is equally at home in the country and in the city. His methods are eccentric but his team recognises that eventually they will solve the case. There is an eclectic mix of folklore, history, mystery and just plain human interest. I wouldn’t classify this as a pacey novel. In some ways it lurches from one crisis point to another. It abounds in red herrings and the way forward can be hard to see. Tension builds, then climaxes, only to build again as a new element is included. As in other Vargas novels, at times the plot strains the bounds of plausibility and some readers may find this a leap too far. For me this didn’t matter.

THIS NIGHT’S FOUL WORK, translated from the French by Sian Reynolds, is #4 in the Adamsberg series. It was first published as Dans les bois eternels in 2006. The second in the series, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR, was a finalist for a Dagger Award in 2005. Vargas went on to win the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger twice with THE THREE EVANGELISTS (2006) and WASH THIS BLOOD CLEAN FROM MY HAND (2007)

My rating: 4.6

Author website: http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/books/books_by_fred_vargas.html

Another attempt to list the best in crime fiction

Times Online: The 50 Greatest Crime Writers

This is a very provocative list with a number of omissions. As you search for your favourite, I'm sure you'll pinpoint some. (Not an Australian author in the list for example.)
There are a number though that I cut my crime fiction teeth on.
And there are for me some surprise inclusions, and one or two I haven't read at all.
However I am pleased to see that I have at least a nodding acquaintance with about 45 out of the 50. And I enjoyed the pithy by-lines that attempts to capture the essence of each writer's achievement.
If anything I think the list is a bit light on with modern writers, particularly those who've made their mark in the 21st century.
You can leave a comment over on the main page to suggest others.

What is really great though is that every author listed is linked to another page of specific details: a justification for the choice, and then related articles, and sometimes audio and video files. They've certainly done their homework!

I find the order interesting too. I've read some Highsmith but never thought of putting her at the top of any list. Perhaps I need to read some more.
What do you think?

I've captured the list here, and each link should take you to the timesonline article on that author. To get to their main page click on the link on the heading above.

1. Patricia Highsmith:Rule-breaking master of amorality
2. Georges Simenon: The Trojan horse of foreign crime-writing
3. Agatha Christie: The original Queen of Crime
4. Raymond Chandler: The most profound of pulp writers
5. Elmore Leonard: The Dickens of Detroit
6. Arthur Conan Doyle:Creator of the ultimate hero-and-sidekick team
7. Ed McBain:Thrilling writer of snap-and-crackle dialogue
8. James M. Cain:Godfather of Noir
9. Ian Rankin: Edinburgh’s gritty crime laureate
10. James Lee Burke: American spinner of bleakly lyrical tales
11. Dennis Lehane: A tender craftsman with a tough centre
12. P.D. James:Prolific and cerebral grand dame of British crime
13. Dashiell Hammett:The man who dragged murder back into the alley
14. Jim Thompson:Revered creator of corrupt cops and sociopaths
15. Sjowall and Wahloo: The mother and father of Nordic crime
16. John Dickson Carr:King of the “locked room mystery”
17. Cornell Woolrich: Tortured pulp novelist known for Rear Window
18. Ruth Rendell: Criminal mastermind of unparalleled breadth and depth
19. Ross Macdonald: Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled heir
20. James Ellroy: The most literary of American crime writers
21. Charles Willeford:Aficianados’ favourite who is ripe for a break-through
22. Dorothy Sayers: Lord Peter Wimsey’s witty creator
23. John Harvey: The man behind the jazz-loving Nottingham cop Resnick
24. Wilkie Collins: Godfather of the detective novel
25. Francis Iles: Pseudonymous writer of radical plots
26. Manuel Vasquez Montalban:Intellectual gourmand whose fiction mapped Barcelona
27. Karin Fossum:Norway’s foremost cold-climate crime writer
28. Val McDermid:Influential author of high-grade “Tartan Noir”
29. Edgar Allan Poe:Mould-setter for the modern sleuth
30. Derek Raymond:Hard-drinking, hard-writing British crime legend
31. George Pelecanos:Energetic, music-loving social crusader
32. Margery Allingham:Golden Age sophisticate who can chill or charm
33. Minette Walters:Unflinching chronicler of humankind’s dark side
34. Carl Hiaasen:Rapid-fire satirist of Miami vices
35. Walter Mosley:A bold American voice, not afraid to tackle race
36. Reginald Hill:Playful creator of British favourites Dalziel and Pascoe
37. Michael Dibdin:Late, great ironist who investigated Italy’s corruption
38. Patricia Cornwell:Shrewd pioneer of gruesome pathology
39. Scott Turow:Legal thriller-writer famous for Presumed Innocent
40. Dick Francis:Former jockey and king of equestrian intrigue
41. Edmund Crispin:Elegant and accomplished Oxford plotter
42. Alexander McCall Smith: Scottish Professor whose Mma Ramotswe has won hearts and minds
43 Andrea Camilleri: Italy’s foremost crime export
44. Harlan Coben:Mature metroplitan stylist loved for his twisting plots
45. Donna Leon: American explorer of the Venetian underworld
46. Josephine Tey:Acute 1940s author whose books describe the danger of love
47. Colin Dexter: Former classics teacher who found fame with Morse
48. Nicholas Blake: C. Day Lewis’ crime-writing foil
49. Henning Mankell:Swedish novelist with a bleak take of modern life
50. Sara Paretsky: Spirited creator of feminist sleuth VI Warshawski

WORLD WITHOUT END, Ken Follett

In a previous post I talked about how I love to listen to audio books in the car. This 14 hour 12 CD set is an abridged version of the book (I discovered after listening to it) but it is wonderfully narrated by Richard E. Grant.

A sequel to Follett's very successful book THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, WORLD WITHOUT END is set in the same cathedral town, Kingsbridge, two centuries later. The story begins just over two decades before the Black Death hit England in 1348. In some ways it is about how English towns emerged from the middle ages, from the dominance of people by the church, and the changes brought not only by pestilence, but also by European traders, and by war. On another level it traces the lives of four children who witness a murder in the forest in 1327, and how their lives interlace in the next 30 years. It gives a lovely insight to a very cataclysmic period of English history.

This is obviously not crime fiction, but my defence is that it has lots of little mysteries embedded in it. Besides Richard E. Grant's reading was magnificent!

Ken Follett's website

My rating: 4.7

Jane Goodall, author to look for

Google searches for Australian crime fiction author Jane Goodall confuse her with the "other" Jane Goodall, the one who works with chimpanzees. The crime fiction author is not only younger than the other, but, born in England, she lives and works in Australia. She is Research Director of the College of Arts, Education and Social Sciences at the University of Western Sydney, and is sometimes to be found at writers' festivals.

Jane tried to carve out a name for herself by calling herself Jane R. Goodall, and her second novel showed that on the cover, but by the third the R had gone again.

Jane Goodall has produced 3 very successful novels for you to look for.
* THE WALKER 2004
* THE VISITOR 2005
* THE CALLING 2007
I don't have a record for THE WALKER in my database but I remember being impressed.
Jane did a speaking/reading tour of Australia after THE WALKER was a featured book for the Australian Big Book Club and I heard her speak at a local library.

From the blurb on the cover of THE WALKER:
Plymouth 1967: Schoolgirl Nell Adams, all the newspapers reported, finds murder victim on train. And her photo covers the front pages. So he knew her name and her face. His face, or lack of it, filled her nightmares until she woke screaming...
London 1971: Nell is a university student in London, trying to put the past behind her. But as a series of murders reveals a killer obsessed with Jack the Ripper, she realises her nightmares might be coming true.
Detective Briony Williams, also just starting out on her life on London, is part of the team tracking down The Walker. The killer is a practised anatomist with a theatrical streak, arranging his victims' bodies in twisted parodies of Hogarth's engravings. He sends a perfectly extracted eye to the police in a Tupperware container, with a defiant message. He's planning a reunion with the schoolgirl who found his first victim.
Two young women, so full of hope and possibility, soon discover that new times mask age-old evil in this dark psychological thriller.

2005 THE VISITOR
Twin boys run away from their au pair on a trip to the Oxford countryside. They race into some woods where they see a man chopping. At first they think he is chopping wood, but what he is holding in his hand is not an axe, and the shape on the ground is not a tree. Their au pair, Sylvie, sets off to look for them... Briony Williams has moved to Oxford. The story begins as she speeds across the city to the murder site, where Sylvie Bec has been found dead—killed by a single blow that crushed her skull. The forensic pathologist says he has never seen anything like it.
With a fascination for all things terrifying, Jane Goodall takes readers into the dark, drug-filled world of 1970s Oxford, where we witness serial killings and a murderer with a fascination for ancient artefacts. Not even Detective Briony Williams is safe.
My rating: 4.7

2007 THE CALLING
Set in London 1976. Briony Williams has been promoted to Detective Inspector and relocated from Oxford to Chelsea. Her mentor Alexander Macready has been promoted to Commander. A leg, disconnected from the male body that it belongs to has turned up in the mud of the Chelsea Embankment. Briony's new patch is in the heartland of the newly emerging Punk movement, attracting all sorts of characters and bands, like Sudden Deff and the Sex Pistols. On Friday nights after dark Kings Road hosts "concerts" which are a strange mix of music, vaudeville and pyrotechnics. The squats around Kings Road are attracting teenagers particularly girls who have left home for a new life. And then a fanzine turns up featuring three portrait photographs: Briony, Macready and another policeman; with the caption DEFF ROW. Suddenly it seems they are all in deep water. In this, her third novel featuring Briony Williams, Australian author Jane Goodall shows a deft touch in building suspense. My recommendation: read the earlier novels, THE WALKER and THE VISITOR first if you can.
My rating: 4.8

I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

Jane Goodall is one of a number of successful Australian authors who have chosen to set their crime fiction novels overseas: Michael Robotham, Barry Maitland, PD Martin, Sydney Bauer, Marshall Browne, Brian Kavanagh, and Lauren Crow.