Review: THE NEW NEIGHBOURS, Claire Douglas

• 
  this edition a trade paperback from my local library
  
• published Penguin Random House 2025
• ISBN 978-1-405-95764-9
• 391 pages 

Synopsis (publisher)

Lena overhears a conversation she shouldn’t have.

She’s sure her new neighbours – the Morgans – are planning a crime.

Her family say she’s mistaken.
They are a lovely, friendly couple.
She should forget it.

Yet Lena can’t.

And the more she investigates,
the worse her suspicions.

But Lena hasn’t counted on one thing.

A secret from her own past. One the Morgans seem connected to.

And which puts Lena in terrible danger . . .

My Take

I've found that I have always enjoyed stories by Claire Douglas, and this one did not disappoint, even if slightly more complex than I had expected to be. Still, a satisfying read. 

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.6, THE COUPLE AT NO. 9

4.6, JUST LIKE THE OTHER GIRLS

4.7, LAST SEEN ALIVE 

4.5, THEN SHE VANISHES 

Review: UNIFORM JUSTICE, Donna Leon

• 
  This edition a book from my local library
  
• Published by Penguin Books 2004
• ISBN 978-0-09-953665-9
• 326 pages
• #12/33 in the Brunetti series  

Synopsis (publisher)

When a young cadet is found hanged at a military academy, Commissario Brunetti's investigation entangles him in the strange and stormy politics of Venice's powerful elite

Neither Commissario Brunetti nor his wife Paola have ever had much sympathy for the Italian armed forces, so when a young cadet is found hanged, at Venice's elite military academy, Brunetti's emotions are complex: pity and sorrow at the death of a boy close in age to his own son, and contempt and irritation for the arrogance and high-handedness of the boy's teachers and fellow students.

The young man is the son of an ex-politician, a man of an impeccable integrity all too rare in Italian politics. But as Brunetti - and the indispensable Signorina Elettra - investigate further, no one seems willing to talk. Is this the natural reluctance of Italians to involve themselves with the authorities, or is Brunetti facing a conspiracy of silence?

My Take

This case sits very badly with Guido Brunetti. He can't accept that a 17 year old with his life before him would commit suicide, and he doesn't like the way his fellow students are so non-commital about the boy. Brunetti also thinks there is something very wrong with the reaction of the boy's father to his son's death.

A very thought provoking read which tells you a lot about Brunetti's principles and the way the system works. 

My rating: 4.7 

I've also read

ABOUT FACE

THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

4.4, A QUESTION OF BELIEF

4.5, BEASTLY THINGS

4.4, QUIETLY IN THEIR SLEEP

3.9, THE JEWELS OF PARADISE

4.8, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

4.5, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, Donna Leon - abridged audio version

4.6, DEATH IN A STRANGE COUNTRY

4.7, BY ITS COVER

4.5, THE GOLDEN GOOSE

4.8, THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH

4.5, FALLING IN LOVE

4.8, EARTHLY REMAINS

4.6, TRANSIENT DESIRES - #30

4.7, SO SHALL YOU REAP - #32 

4.6, GIVE UNTO OTHERS - #31

4.6, A REFINER'S FIRE - #33 

 

Review: NOT QUITE DEAD YET, Holly Jackson

• 
  This edition a trade paperback supplied by my local library
  
• Published by Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House UK, 2025
• ISBN 978-0-241-75369-9
• 430 pages 

Synopsis (publisher)

In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.
Twenty-seven years old, she’s back living with her parents, waiting for her life to begin. She’ll do it later, she always says. Her parents have their doubts. Until, on the night of Halloween, Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder. She suffers a catastrophic brain injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, she’ll suffer a deadly aneurysm.

Jet never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her ex-best friend turned sister-in-law, her former boyfriend. She may only have seven days – if she even makes it that long – but Jet is absolutely determined to finally prove her doubters wrong.
Jet is going to solve her own murder.

My Take

Effectively Jet Mason is dead, or she will be about 7 days after an assailant struck her on the head in her own home. And Holly is determined to find out who "killed" her. Time is short, and the search is not something that Jet can put off which is what she usually does.

So we the readers are along with Jet for the ride, piecing the evidence together, willing her to live long enough to solve the mystery. An unusual scenario.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Holly Jackson (born 6 December 1992) is a British author of mystery novels. She is best known for her A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series. 

Review: THE BIG FOUR, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• Originally published 1927
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FZLLJ87M, Publisher ‏ : ‎ Zenith Velvet Ink Publishing, 3 November 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-1070126516
• Book 5 of 38 ‏ : ‎ Hercule Poirot 

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

Four ruthless masterminds. One brilliant detective. A conspiracy that spans the world.
When a mysterious visitor collapses at Hercule Poirot's doorstep, the great detective is drawn into a web of international intrigue unlike anything he has faced before.

Behind a series of murders, kidnappings, and coded messages lies the sinister organization known only as The Big Four — a secret alliance plotting to dominate the world through power, fear, and manipulation.
With Captain Hastings by his side, Poirot must match wits against the most formidable enemies of his career — including a criminal genius whose intelligence rivals his own.

The Big Four combines Christie's razor-sharp plotting with the tension of an international thriller, delivering relentless twists, deadly traps, and a mystery that tests the limits of Poirot's legendary "little grey cells."

My Take

I was surprised how much I enjoyed re-reading this novel for at least the fourth time. This time I have read it for discussion with my U3A Agatha Christie reading group.

It is set after the First World War which has not ended in the sort of peace that the "winners" have envisaged, and in particular world politics seem to be destined to dominated by forces of evil. In particular an international intrigue of four people, three of whom Poirot has identified, but the identity of Number 4 is a puzzle, a chameleon whose physical characteristics appear to be different each time he makes an appearance. 

To me the Poirot who features in this story is a stronger, almost younger, character than the man who appears in later novels. He is also held in high regard by those who "matter" in international governments, and certainly the Big Four regard him as important opponent, someone who needs to be dealt with.

The novel apparently began life as a series of short stories featuring Poirot with a connecting theme, although in same cases the connections are tenuous. It was then turned into a full length book and published after Christie's disappearance and re-appearance in 1926, and the resultant publicity seems to have ensured that it was a sales hit.

I found the Wikipedia article useful. 

My previous reviews are here and here 

My rating: 4.4 

All my Agatha Christie reviews.  

Review: THE DARKNESS, Ragnar Jonasson

• 
  This book read as an e-book on Libby from my local library
  
• The Darkness (2018)
• (The first book in the Hulda series)
• Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb  

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Spanning the icy streets of Reykjavik, the Icelandic highlands and cold, isolated fjords, The Darkness is an atmospheric thriller from Ragnar Jónasson, one of the most exciting names in Nordic Noir.

The body of a young Russian woman washes up on an Icelandic shore. After a cursory investigation, the death is declared a suicide and the case is quietly closed.

Over a year later Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík police is forced into early retirement at 64. She dreads the loneliness, and the memories of her dark past that threaten to come back to haunt her. But before she leaves she is given two weeks to solve a single cold case of her choice. She knows which one: the Russian woman whose hope for asylum ended on the dark, cold shore of an unfamiliar country. Soon Hulda discovers that another young woman vanished at the same time, and that no one is telling her the whole story. Even her colleagues in the police seem determined to put the brakes on her investigation. Meanwhile the clock is ticking.

Hulda will find the killer, even if it means putting her own life in danger. 

My Take

Another title that I'm reading for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction Group. 

Although it is the first in the Hulda series, chronologically it is the last in her story. I recently read THE MIST and I think I have read them in the correct chronological order. I am wondering if this "out of order" feature is actually based on the discovery of the books by the English publisher.

Hulda is not ready for retirement but her boss has already discovered a younger person to replace her. Hulda has a reputation of being hard to work with, although over the years she has achieved incredible results, but she is not a team player.  

My Rating: 4.7

I've also read

• 4.4, THE MIST
• 4.5, WHITE OUT 
• 4.5, WINTERKILL 
• 4.6, THE MIST
• 4.6, RUPTURE   

Hulda Series
   1. The Darkness (2018)
   2. The Island (2019)
   3. The Mist (2020)  

Review: RUPTURE, Ragnar Jonasson

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby, provided by my local library 
  
• published in English originally 2016, in Icelandic 2012
• translated by Quentin Bates 
• The fourth book in the Dark Iceland series 

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

1955.Two young couples move to the uninhabited, isolated fjord of Hedinsfjörður. Their stay ends abruptly when one of the women meets her death in mysterious circumstances. The case is never solved. Fifty years later an old photograph comes to light, and it becomes clear that the couples may not have been alone on the fjord after all…

In nearby Siglufjörður, young policeman Ari Thór tries to piece together what really happened that fateful night, in a town where no one wants to know, where secrets are a way of life. He's assisted by Ísrún, a news reporter in Reykjavik, who is investigating an increasingly chilling case of her own. Things take a sinister turn when a child goes missing in broad daylight. With a stalker on the loose, and the town of Siglufjörður in quarantine, the past might just come back to haunt them.

Haunting, frightening and complex, Rupture is a dark and atmospheric thriller from one of Iceland's foremost crime writers.

My Take

I seem to be reading books by this Icelandic author all out of order. This title I am reading for discussion with my U3A Crime Reading Group.

However, a saving grace, you do seem to be able to read them as stand-alones, and they do make compelling reads.   

This story in RUPTURE does not originally seem to involve a crime, until detective Ari Thor, time on his hands because the town is in lockdown, doing a favour for a friend, works out that there is a mystery in the old photo from 50 years before.  A great puzzle. 

My rating: 4.6 

I've also read

• 4.4, THE MIST
• 4.5, WHITE OUT 
• 4.5, WINTERKILL 
• 4.6, THE MIST 

 Dark Iceland series in English
   1. Snowblind (2015)
   2. Nightblind (2015)
   3. Blackout (2016)
   4. Rupture (2016)
   5. Whiteout (2017)
   6. Winterkill (2020) 

Hulda
   1. The Darkness (2018)
   2. The Island (2019)
   3. The Mist (2020) 

Review: THE SNACK THIEF, Andrea Camilleri

• 
   This edition read on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• Translated by Stephen Sartarelli 
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006NV9C4K
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 October 2005
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1743291474
• Book 3 of 28 ‏ : ‎ Inspector Montalbano Mysteries 

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

The third novel in Camilleri's savagely witty and hauntingly atmospheric Sicilian mystery series featuring Inspector Montalbano.

Never has Inspector Montalbano's character - a unique blend of humor, cynicism, compassion, earthiness, and love of good food - been more compelling than in Andrea Camilleri's third Montalbano novel, The Snack Thief.

When an elderly man is stabbed to death in an elevator and a crewman on an Italian fishing trawler is machine-gunned by a Tunisian patrol boat off Sicily's coast, only Inspector Montalbano suspects a link between the two incidents. His investigation leads to the beautiful Karima, an impoverished house cleaner and sometime prostitute, whose young son steals other school children's mid-morning snacks. But Karima disappears, and the young snack thief's life - as well as Montalbano's - is endangered when the inspector exposes a viper's nest of government corruption and international intrigue.

My Take

I have only read a couple of novels by this highly rated Italian author. This one I am reading for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction Reading Group.

Inspector Montalbano is a fascinating and vivid character, an unusual detective, a man with a rough exterior and a tender interior. The plot combines the discovery of a local murder with the death of a trawlerman off the coast of Sicily in international waters. 

The human side of Montalbano gets an outing too as he and his girl friend become involved in creating an instant family. 

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.5, AUGUST HEAT - #10
• 4.2, ROUNDING THE MARK - #7