Review: WINTER DEAD, Lynne McEwan

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby, provided by my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Canelo Crime, Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 6, 2025
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1835980699
• Book 6 of 6 ‏ : ‎ Detective Shona Oliver  

Synopsis (publisher)

How do you solve a murder when you don't have the body?

A blood-soaked hammer is discovered in a lorryload of wood delivered to a local pub. DI Shona Oliver appears to have a murder weapon, but where is the victim?

Then a call comes in that local forest ranger and ex-soldier John MacFarlane isn't answering his phone. There's no sign of MacFarlane at his cottage, and the only clue the team have to go on is a bloody trail in the snow which ends abruptly and leads to nowhere. A manhunt begins.

It seems something from MacFarlance's past may have caught up with him. But what exactly is unclear. And Shona has her own past to contend with when someone from long ago makes an unexpected reappearance. Can she keep her head in the game? 

My Take

I've gone against my usual principles and have plucked this novel from the end of a series. The plot is provoking. A blood stained hammer seems to indicate there may be a body somewhere. A missing ranger is identified. And then a popular poet goes missing and Shona needs to organise a search for him too. 

Resources are stretched with the arrival of a huge coastal storm, a hang glider crashes against a cliff, and the personal problems intervene. Well constructed and involving. 

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Glasgow-born Lynne McEwan is a former newspaper photographer turned crime author. She’s covered stories including the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War in addition to many high profile murder cases. Her DI Shona Oliver series is set on the beautiful Solway Firth which forms the border between Scotland and England, and where Shona is also a lifeboat volunteer. Lynne is an alumni of the University of East Anglia's Creative Writing programme with an MA (Crime Fiction). She splits her time between Lincoln and Scotland. 

Review: DRUID'S MOOR, Rhys Dylan

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FGCQQHCK
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wyrmwood Books, Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 4, 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 322 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1915185525
• Book 18 of 20 ‏ : ‎ DCI Evan Warlow Crime Thriller

Synopsis (Amazon) 

On the moor, not all the beasts walk on four legs.

On a windswept moor, a child emerges from the mist with a story no one wants to believe. The farmer who finds her assumes she’s simply lost. But when she utters a chilling phrase—“We went to see the old ones”—he realises something is terribly wrong.

As Detective Evan Warlow battles his own demons, he and the team are pulled into a case of ritualistic secrets, long-buried crimes, and the whispers of something darker lurking in the mist.

In the empty heart of Wales, legends are harmless. It’s the people you need to fear.

My Take

This book brings to a close a number of themes and stories that have been bubbling along for a swathe of titles in this series. In addition Evan Warlow is reminded very strongly of his own humanity.

A very satisfying read but you really need to have been reading the series to appreciate the structure.

Having said that, I have realised, looking at the list of what I've read, that I have missed a couple.

Book 16: One Less Snake
Book 17: A Word With The Dead: 

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.6, THE ENGINE HOUSE - #1

4.5, CAUTION: DEATH AT WORK -#2

4.6, ICE COLD MALICE - #3

4.5, SUFFER THE DEAD - #4

4.6, GRAVELY CONCERNED - #5 

4.5, A MARK OF IMPERFECTION - #6

4.5, BURNT ECHO - #7 

4.6, A BODY OF WATER - #8

4.5, LINES OF INQUIRY - #9 

4.5, NO ONE NEAR - #10 

4.6, THE LIGHT REMAINS - #11

4.6, A MATTER OF EVIDENCE - #12

4.5, THE LAST THROW - #13 

4.6, DRAGON'S BREATH - #14

4.6, THE BOWMAN - #15

Review: LAST SEEN WEARING, Colin Dexter

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (Amazon)
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FG3X5NH8
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pan, Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 21, 2009
• Originally published 1976
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 309 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0330468527
• Book 2 of 13 ‏ : ‎ Inspector Morse  

Synopsis (Amazon) 

Last Seen Wearing is the second Inspector Morse novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set detective series.

Why now? Why Friday 12th September – two years, three months and two days after Valerie Taylor had left home to return to afternoon school?
He frowned. ‘Something’s turned up, I suppose.’
Strange nodded. ‘Yes.’

After leaving her home in Oxford to return to school in London, seventeen-year-old Valerie Taylor completely vanished. Despite the efforts of the police and Chief Inspector Ainley, the trail went cold and she was never found.

Two years on, Ainley is dead, and Inspector Morse is handed the case. But now, someone has decided to supply some surprising new evidence . . . 

My Take

This title, the second in the Morse series, was first published 50 years ago. I have read it before, and have read it again for my U3A Crime Reading Group.

Morse is given the case of the disappearance of Valerie Taylor after the death in a road accident of the original investigator. After over 2 years since Valerie left home Morse is convinced she is dead. Lewis is less convinced. They haven't worked together very often so they are still learning about each other. 

Morse comes up with a number of theories about what has happened and then Lewis goes down with the flu. 

An intriguing investigation 

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.5, LAST BUS TO WOODSTOCK - #1
• 4.3, INSPECTOR MORSE: BBB Radio Collection
• 4.5, THE SECRET OF ANNEXE THREE - #7
• 4.6, THE WENCH IS DEAD -#8
• 4.3, SERVICE OF ALL THE DEAD - #4
• 4.4, LAST SEEN WEARING - #2
• 4.6, THE RIDDLE OF THE THIRD MILE - #6
• 4.6, THE JEWEL THAT WAS OURS - #9
• 4.8. THE WAY THROUGH THE WOODS - #10
• 4.7, THE DAUGHTERS OF CAIN - #11,
• 4.7, DEATH IS NOW MY NEIGHBOUR - #12
• 5.0, THE REMORSEFUL DAY, Colin Dexter  - #13

 

Review: BLOOD PACT, Fiona McIntosh

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby provided by my local library
  
• Published: 2 December 2025, Penguin Australia
• ISBN: 9781761343612
• Pages: 384
• #6 Jack Hawkesworth series  

Synopsis (Publisher)
Detective Superintendent Jack Hawksworth is seconded by counter-terrorism to investigate a spate of domestic events. First it was needles in strawberries, then tampering with lipstick samplers and baby formula. But when toxic mushrooms enter the market system and a death occurs, a wave of terror is set to sweep the country. Breaking news of a possible serial killer only heightens the alarm.

There are no leads, no DNA, no witnesses, no CCTV footage. Jack and his team must work on instinct to figure out why someone would want to harm innocent victims, each of them curiously linked to a single blood transfusion.

When a hospital bomb threat erupts, it is up to the team to prevent the inevitable bloodshed. The clock is ticking, and no one is safe from the possibility of a tragedy on a catastrophic scale.

My Take

A quality offering from a local (Adelaide) author which moves at a fast pace and is filled with believable scenarios and well drawn characters. I regret that I haven't read all in this series and should remedy that some time.

There are plenty of red herrings as Jack's team attempts to identify the person behind the domestic terrorist events, and then a real surprise as the perpetrator is identified and we move into the culmination.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

• BYE BYE BABY
• 4.4, FOUL PLAY, Fiona McIntosh

Review: THE HOUSE IN THE WATER, Victoria Darke (aka Victoria Scott)

• 
  this edition, large print, supplied by my local library
  
• published by Boldwood Books 2024
• ISBN 978-1-83561-692-5
• 498 pages 

Synopsis (publisher)

A secluded house. A lost notebook. A wartime secret.

1942: Young Irish nurse Ellen arrives at May Day House, tasked with helping the men there rehabilitate. But there’s something strange about the house, surrounded by water, on its own island in the Thames. And then there are the men: traumatised by their experiences of war, and subject to troubling methods in a desperate race to get them back to duty. As Ellen gets drawn into the world of May Day House, she starts to realise this will be no place to hide away from her own troubles…

2013: Philip and Meredith are the proud new owners of May Day House. Following a string of tragedies, the couple have moved to the area in search of a new start. But all is not what it seems in the riverside community. As their plans for the rundown house meet resistance from the neighbours, Meredith finds herself slowly unravelling: she hears voices on the water, sees figures where there can be no one there. When she finds an old notebook from the war, she seeks solace in the stories about the former patients of the island.

But will shadows from the past threaten her future happiness – and even her life?

My Take

The publisher refers to this story as a "Gothic timeslip novel", the first time I have seen that term used. It is set in two time frames, 70 years apart, around a house on a small island on the Thames, used as a hospital during World War II for soldiers suffering from the trauma they experienced in the war.

The new owners of May Day House are hoping to renovate it and bring new life to it but local residents are very much opposed to their plans. There are overtones of memories of the past reaching out into the present. This aspect of the story is very well done.

Meredith is certain that there are things that her husband Phillip is not telling her, and his absences as an airline pilot put additional stress on her already fragile mind.

Recommended.  

My rating: 4.5

About the Author

Victoria Scott has been a journalist for many media outlets including the BBC and The Telegraph. She is the author of three novels published by Head of Zeus. Her first book for Boldwood is a Gothic timeslip novel, The House in the Water. 

Review: A DEADLY AFFAIR IN THE DALES, Maria Malone

• 
   This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DWT1MG35
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ No Exit Press, Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 14, 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 303 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1835012291
• (Wren & Wilson 1) Kindle Edition
• alternative title: Death in the Countryside 

Synopsis (Amazon)

A delightful Yorkshire cosy mystery with a detective sergeant, her loyal spaniel and a town full of secrets.
Meet Sergeant Ali Wren and her trusty companion Officer Police Dog Wilson, a springer spaniel with a nose for trouble. Together they serve the small Yorkshire town of Heft, where everyone knows everyone else's business. And if they don't, that's a cause for concern…

Ali, who has just returned home to Heft, needs all her diplomatic skills, not to mention a huge sense of humour, to navigate the requirements of her job. Drama lurks around every corner, from rogue parking in the disabled bays to a feud between the long-established Hooley bakery and a fancy new 'cakery-bakery'. When Brian Bright reports his wife Melody missing, at first Ali thinks it's just another routine case. The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that Melody has simply left, tired of playing a supporting role to Brian's obsession with classic cars and his first (dead) wife.

But something niggles. When Ali and Wilson doggedly continue their investigation, they find there was more to Melody than anyone realised – and more to her disappearance too…

My Take

I have thoroughly enjoyed this new cozy, and look forward to another when it comes.

The author has created strong characters and believable scenarios. The plot features a number of spin-offs and reminded me a little in structure of local writer Garry Disher's Hirsch series which is not as cozy but also describes the role played by a local policeman.

5.0, BITTER WASH ROAD - Hirsch #1 - aka HELL TO PAY

5.0, PEACE- Hirsch #2

5.0, CONSOLATION - Hirsch #3

4.7, DAY'S END- Hirsch #4

4.7, MISCHANCE CREEK - Hirsch #5 

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Maria Malone's first crime novel, A Deadly Affair in the Dales (published as Death in the Countryside in the US) is set in the fictional Yorkshire town of Heft, and features Sergeant Ali Wren and her trusty police dog, Officer Wilson, a spaniel with a nose for trouble.

Maria worked in print journalism and television before ghostwriting for many years, working with extraordinary people on their autobiographies. A former Yorkshire Press Awards Journalist of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year, she lives in the North-East of England.   

Review: DAUGHTERS OF BATAVIA, Stefanie Koens

• 
  
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby supplied by my local library
  
  
  
• ISBN: 9781460766163
• ISBN-10: 1460766164
• Published: Harper Collins Publishers, AU, 29th July 2025
• Number of Pages: 384
• winner Banjo Prize for fiction
• Longlisted for Best Debut Fiction in the Indie Book Awards 2026 

Synopsis (publisher)

A woman searching for answers in her own life finds them - and much more - in the wreckage and haunting stories of the Batavia shipwreck. The powerfully moving historical debut from the winner of the Banjo Prize for Fiction. 

Two women. One shipwreck. And four centuries of secrets.

Shortly before Christmas in 2018, Tess McCarthy, a hard-working English teacher who never does anything out of the ordinary, flies to Western Australia's remote Abrolhos Islands. She is in search of answers - both to the infamous Batavia shipwreck and her personal family crises.

Amsterdam, 1628. Saskia, an orphaned young Dutchwoman, boards Batavia with relatives, bound for a new and potentially dangerous life in the East Indies - only for her world to first collide with Aris Jansz, the ship's reluctant under surgeon.

Tess, Saskia and Aris - their lives linked by secrets that span generations - carry the baggage of past losses and the uncertainty of their futures. And, in the most unlikely circumstances, they find qualities that echo through centuries: faith, acceptance, and love. 

My Take

The story of the wreck of the Batavia on Houtman's Abrolhos was told to me when I was quite young. I thoroughly enjoyed this re-telling with its dual time frames. We slipped easily between the present and 400 years ago. The characters in both were well presented and the stories were credible.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Stefanie Koens grew up in Perth, reading, writing and dreaming of stories. As a teenager she won prizes in the Mary Durack Young Writers Award, then studied English, History and Education at Notre Dame University. She loves bringing local history to life and capturing family stories.