Review: THEN SHE VANISHES, Claire Douglas

• 
  this edition made available by my local library
  
• published by Penguin Books 2019
• ISBN 978-0-718-18791-0
• 436 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Everything changed the night Flora Powell disappeared.

Heather and Jess were best friends – until the night Heather’s sister vanished.

Jess has never forgiven herself for the lie she told that night. Nor has Heather.

But now Heather is accused of an awful crime.

And Jess is forced to return to the sleepy seaside town where they grew up, to ask the question she’s avoided for so long:

What really happened the night Flora disappeared?

My take

A very twisty plot. Just when you think you have it all sorted out, then it takes a sharp turn, and you are forced to think it all through again.

Central is the unsolved disappearance of 16 year old Flora Powell nearly two decades before.  And now her sister Heather appears to have shot dead two strangers and then turned the gun on herself.

This will keep you reading until you know the truth.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.6, THE COUPLE AT NO. 9
• 4.6, JUST LIKE THE OTHER GIRLS
• 4.7, LAST SEEN ALIVE 

Review: LEAVE NO TRACE, Jo Callaghan

• 
  This edition an e-book on Amazon (Kindle)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C9NG1YZX
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster UK (March 28, 2024)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 383 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 139851120X

Synopsis (publisher)

One detective driven by instinct, the other by logic.
It will take both to find a killer who knows the true meaning of fear . . .

When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI detective – are thrust into the spotlight with their first live case.

But when they discover another man dead – also crucified – it appears that the killer is only just getting started. When the Future Policing Unit issues an extraordinary warning to local men to avoid drinking in pubs, being out alone late at night and going home with strangers, they face a hostile media frenzy. Whilst they desperately search for connections between the victims, time is running out for them to join the dots and prevent another death.

And if Kat and Lock know anything, it’s that killers rarely stop – until they are made to.

My Take

The first title in this series IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE introduced the concept of artificial intelligence being used to solve cold cases. Now DCS Kat Frank feels it is time to test AIDE Lock on a live case. She gets her wish when the body of a man is found crucified at a local recycling depot. 

Once again a well plotted fast moving story which illustrates how Lock's capacity for analysing data can speed up the processes of dealing with crime. However the team working with Lock is very human and the whole process of working together takes a lot of compromise and adjustment,

So this is partly police procedural, and partly thinking about what the face of future policing might look like. 

Don't start with this title though. Look for IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE to read first.

My rating: 4.8

I've also read 

4.8, IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, Jo Callaghan

Review: THE ROYAL LIBRARIAN, Daisy Wood

This edition published 2024 by Avon UK

• 
  ISBN: 9780008636913
  
• ISBN 10: 0008636915
• Imprint: Avon
• On Sale: 11/04/2024
• Pages: 384

Synopsis (publisher)

A royal palace. A closed book. A betrayal that will echo through generations

Windsor, 1940: War rages, and as bombs rain down across Britain, nowhere is safe: not even a royal palace.

Secretly tasked with foiling a suspected plot, Sophie Klein is placed in the Royal Library at Windsor castle, where the princesses reside. But when she learns that Windsor is compromised, Sophie must sacrifice everything she knows to save the future queen of England

Philadelphia, Present day: Digging into her great aunt's family tree, Lacey Turner comes across a mysterious book bearing the stamp of Windsor Castle's royal bindery. But how did it come to be in her family's possession?

And so begins a journey that will take Lacey from battlefields to Buckingham Palace in a quest to reunite the book with its rightful owner.

My Take

Not really crime fiction, more of a mystery, coupled with a family saga spanning over 80 years.

Sophie Klein is rescued  from Austria on the eve of Hitler's invasion by a person at the British Embassy who can see the usefulness of her bilingual abilities and also the chance to help her get out of Vienna. At the same time her ten year old sister is evacuated by philanthropists to America. They will never meet again in Sophie's lifetime.

In present day Philadelphia Lacey Turner discovers a reference to her grandmother's sister, who had been the Royal Librarian at Windsor Castle early during World War II and travels to the UK to discover more about her.

Sophie is employed to keep an eye on events surrounding the former king, the Duke of Windsor, and foils a plot to abduct the royal princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. There is a nice picture drawn of  the Princess Elizabeth.

A nice warming story, plus a credible plot.

My rating: 4.5

About the author

Daisy Wood worked in publishing for some years before leaving to concentrate on her own writing. She has had several children’s books published, both historical and contemporary, and is happiest rooting about in the London Library on the pretext of research. She lives in south London and when not locked away in her study can be seen in various city parks, running after a rescue Pointer with a Basset Hound in tow.

Review: THE PERFECT PARENTS, J. A. Baker

• 
  this edition made available by my local library
  
• published in Great Britain by Boldwood Books 2024
• ISBN 978-1-80415-398-7
• 389 pages

Synopsis (publisher) 

Jackson and Lydia Hemsworth are pillars of the community, feted for having the perfect marriage and three wonderful children – Florence, Jessica and Ezra.

But appearances can be deceptive.

Because behind closed doors Jackson Hemsworth rules his family with cruelty and control. His marriage is a sham; his children for years have cowed in fear.

Until the day that Jackson and Lydia throw themselves off Newport Bridge in a joint suicide pact – the final cruel blow by Jackson to control his wife and torture his adult children.

As the Hemsworth siblings return to their family home, they must try to make sense of their parents’ last act. But there are many dark secrets waiting to be unearthed at Armett House.

Like, why are the townsfolk so suddenly hostile towards them? And who are the strangers who arrive at Armett House unannounced? And why has their mother’s body still not been found?

In the aftermath of their parents’ death, it becomes clear that something terrible is about to be exposed about the Hemsworths’ perfect parents.

A secret they may all wish had stayed hidden…

My Take

The story proper begins with  Jackson and Lydia jumping in tandem off the Newport bridge into dark and swollen waters. From that point on the main narrative voices are their two daughters Flo and Jessica. 

The girls had left home years ago but it is now they and their brother Ezra who have to death with the aftermath of their parents' suicide. For while their father's body has been recovered from the river, their mother is still missing. And the catalogue of the dreadful things their father has done over the years begins. And the bodies begin to pile up.

A real page turner.

When you've finished reading this story, do go back and re-read the Prologue, and decide whose voice this is.

My rating: 4.5

About the author

Website: https://jabaker.substack.com/

Twitter: thewriterjude

J. A. Baker was born and brought up in the North East of England. She has had 15 books published and recently completed book 16.

When she's not writing and thinking up new and inventive ways of killing off her fictional characters, or looking after her young grandchildren, she can be found pottering around her garden with her madcap dog, Theo or in a coffee shop eating cake with her long suffering husband.

Review: THE BOOK CLUB, C.J. Cooper

• 
  
• 
  large print edition, publ. W. F. Howes, 2021
  
• ISBN 978-1-0042-303-5
• 449 pages 
• this edition from my local library
  

Synopsis (publisher)

Can you trust the woman next door?

The book club was her idea, of course. Alice's.

It was her way into our group. A chance to get close.

I knew from the day she arrived that she couldn't be trusted.

And I was right.

Because Alice didn't come to the village for peace and quiet.

She came for revenge. 

My Take

Lucy Shaw has lived in her cottage only 3 months. And now Alice has moved in next door. She persuades Lucy to set up a book group with her 3 friends, and then Alice chooses the books. Slowly it dawns on Lucy that in some way each book, although they are English classics, relates to a situation her friends are in. Each of her friends, and Lucy herself, appears to have a secret, and things are not as idyllic in this sleepy Cotswold village as they appear.

And there is something about Alice - she is creepy, cold and not to be trusted. Alice manipulates each of the others in the book group, turning them against each other, but it is not obvious why it is happening, not until the very end.

A really good read.

My rating: 4.6

About the Author

C. J. Cooper grew up in a small village in south Wales before moving to London as a student. She graduated with a degree in Ancient History and Egyptology and spent seven months as a development worker in Nepal. On her return to Britain she joined the civil service, where she worked for 17 years on topics ranging from housing support to flooding. She hung up her bowler hat when she discovered that she much preferred writing about psychotic killers to ministerial speeches. She lives in London with her husband and two cats.

Review: HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition read on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0046H95T0
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; Masterpiece Ed edition (October 14, 2010)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 179 pages
• first published 1938,
• Hercule Poirot #20/38
  

Synopsis (Amazon)

It is Christmas Eve. The Lee family reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture, followed by a scream…

Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed.

But when Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the village with a friend for Christmas, offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man…

My Take

This is the first time I have read this novel in 14 years, and I am reading it this time for discussion with my U3A Agatha Christie Reading Group. My earlier review on this blog is here.

Hercule Poirot seems a little less bombastic in this novel. He agrees to go with a friend to the murder scene to offer his opinion, and then becomes involved in the investigation.

I've found another review that has provoked some thoughts

In my discussion with my group I want to focus on the following:

• the war referred to in the early part of the novel is the Spanish Civil War. Pila seems extraordinarily hardened by her war experiences.
  
• the ways in which Simeon Lee brought his murder on himself, although he could hardly have expected that to be the result; Did he deserve his fate?
  
• structure of the story: did you notice how the story was broken up into Part 1, Part 2 etc = each Part contains the action for a particular day.e.g. Part 1- December 22. It takes place over 7 days of a Christmas week.
  
• this story appears to be a "locked room mystery" - what does that mean?
• Why was there so much blood?
  
• There are none of the promised activities of a Christmas week. What preparations had been made? No tree? No presents? No Christmas dinner?
  
• there are 3 people who are not who they seem - who are they?
• after the first murder, there is an attempted murder. Why did the murderer try to do this?
• the idea that families getting together for Christmas often provokes violence, even death 
• what is the role of women in this novel?
• What gave the murderer away?
  

I've found another review that has provoked some thoughts

My rating: 4.5

See my Agatha Christie novels page.

Review: THE DEATH OF DORA BLACK, Lainie Anderson

• 
  This edition available as an e-book on Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CX9LRBCB
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hachette Australia (August 28, 2024)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 321 pages
• Petticoat Police Mystery #1
  

Synopsis (Amazon) 

Summer, Adelaide, 1917. The impeccably dressed Miss Kate Cocks might look more like a schoolmistress than a policewoman, but don't let that fool you. She's a household name, wrangling wayward husbands into repentance, seeing through deceptive clairvoyants, and rescuing young women (whether they like it or not) with the help of a five-foot cane and her sassy junior constable, Ethel Bromley.

When shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on a city beach, Miss Cocks and Ethel are ordered to stay out of the investigation and leave it to the men. But when Dora's workmate goes missing soon after, the women suspect something sinister, and determine to take matters into their own hands. After all, who knows Adelaide better than the indomitable Miss Cocks?

*In 1915, Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks became the first policewoman in the British Empire employed on the same salary as men. This novel is a rich exploration of that little-known chapter of Australian history.*

My Take

From all accounts Kate Cocks was a remarkable woman. This book, fictionalised history set in Adelaide mid way through World War 1, brings her to life and gives readers a chance to appreciate her achievements. If you live in Adelaide there are landmarks you will recognise, and some that have disappeared from our landscape.

The novel is essentially a police procedural, very readable, with credible scenarios. 

The real Kate Cocks.

My rating: 4.4

About the Author
In early 2024 I completed a PhD with the University of South Australia, exploring the life of South Australia's Kate Cocks. In 1915 she became the first policewoman in the British Empire employed on the same salary and with the same powers of arrest as men. Here's a piece I wrote about her legacy for The Conversation.  As part of my PhD I have also written a historical murder mystery inspired by Kate's extraordinary life and some of the cracking cases she solved. The Death of Dora Black will be released by Hachette Australia in August 2024.

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