Review: THE CLOCKS, Agatha Christie

• 
  I read this as an e-book from Amazon for Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DCN8G16T
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Horizon Ridge Publishing (August 11, 2024)
• Originally published 1963
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 292 pages 
• previous review:  
• useful entry on Wikipedia

Synopsis (Amazon)

In the small town of Crow's Nest [Crowdean??], a mysterious murder takes place, and the only clue is the eerie presence of four clocks stopped at the exact time of the crime. As the investigation unfolds, a complex web of secrets and lies is revealed, leading to a shocking revelation.

Written by the legendary Agatha Christie, "The Clocks" is a classic whodunit that will keep you on the edge of your seat. With its intricate plot, memorable characters, and masterful twists, this gripping mystery novel is a must-read for fans of detective fiction.

My Take

According to my records I last read this about 11 years ago for my Agatha Christie Reading Challenge when I was attempting to read all Agatha Christie novels in the order in which they were published.

This time I am reading it with my U3A Agatha Christie reading group. It is no, 34 of the 38 Poirot novels. So the purpose of this commentary is to consider what discussion points we might focus on.

So from here on there may be spoilers.

1. There are essentially two interwoven plots:the mystery Poirot works on from his armchair while the police work on the spot, and a Cold War spy story told in the first person narrative.
2. Poirot does not appear until about half way through the novel, and is then essentially a figure in the background, trying to solve the mystery from notes and narrative given to him by Colin Lamb. Colin is mainly involved in the finding of  an espionage manipulator.
3. The initial murder is that of a respectable gentleman, with false identification, found dead on the floor of a blind woman's house by a typist who has been sent there.
4. There are 6 clocks in the room with the man, 4 of them stopped at 4.15.
   
5. There are in the long run 3 murders, so we will discuss why they occurred.
6. I think there were a number of red herrings and a number of facts that are treated seriously, but in fact were not at all essential for us to know.
7. There were a number of plot points that were rather untidy:
1. we are originally told that Sheila Webb has been brought up by her aunt, but then we find that her mother is actually Miss Pebmarsh
2. Why was the body left in Miss Pebmarsh's house. She doesn't seem to have any connection to the murderers
3. Colin Lamb's father is Superintendent Battle
4. Mrs Ramsay whose husband has deserted her seems a bit superfluous
5. other odd things they want to comment on.
   
8. It appears that the plot has been modified at many levels for the David Suchet/ITV production. We usually follow our discussion up by viewing the television program, but I don't yet have a copy.

My rating: 4.2 

All the Agatha Christie novels I have read.

Review: THE PRISONER, B. A. Paris

• 
   this edition from my local library
  
• published by Hodder & Stoughton UK 2022
• ISBN 978-1-399-71022-0
• 365 pages
• Richard & Judy Book Club pick for 2023
  

Synopsis (publisher)

Secrets. Suspicion. Survival

THEN

Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her parents as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London. As she builds a career for herself in the magazine industry, she meets, and agrees to marry, Ned Hawthorne.

NOW

Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband Ned?

In true B.A. Paris style, The Prisoner is a gripping survival story, a twisted tale of love and at its dark heart a thriller to keep you up all night. 

My Take

If you haven't met this author before, put her on your list. 

The narrative swaps quickly between Past and Present. and is told mainly through the eyes of Amelie, who is initially rescued from the streets of London by Carolyn who first of all gives her a home and then gets her a job in a popular magazine. She feels like she has been given a second family. But after she agrees to spend a few days in Paris with Ned, everything goes sour.

Short snappy chapters build the tension. When Ned and Amelie are kidnapped, she is not sure what they have done nor who the kidnappers are, or what they want.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.5, BRING ME BACK  
• 4.5, THE THERAPIST
• 4.6, THE BREAKDOWN

Review: DORMIE 5, G. R. Jordan

• 
  This edition available from Amazon on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BQF9K1DT
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Carpetless Publishing (April 30, 2023)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 239 pages
• Highlands & Islands Detective Book 25

Synopsis (Amazon)

A clash of cultures at a golf club of distinction. The club secretary found sliced on the 15th tee box. Can Macleod and McGrath find the rogue player on the course before some else receives a two slash penalty?

With the building of the new parkland course beside Newtonmoray’s famous old links, tensions rise in the realms of the club’s devoted golfers. But when there is talk of a professional tour event coming to the club and being switched to the new course, the gloves are off in a fight for the event. In the midst of the fervour, the club secretary is found dead over his golf trolley at the picturesque 15th hole. Can Seoras and Hope wade through the club politics and personalities to uncover a brutal killer, or will the clubhouse row lead to more patrons being teed up!

The match might be dormie, but they’ll play to the death!

My Take

It is a while since I've read one in this series and this one has served to remind me of how good they are! The solving of a brutal murder at a local golf course is complicated by the fact that MacLeod has been made Acting DCI but McGrath is still to be made Acting DI. So Hope takes on the lead for the case while Seoras tries to leave her alone, and not to interfere too much. Command structures are not clear and Seoras worries that Hope is not ready for the new responsibilities, while she worries that he will be disappointed in her.

Meanwhile there is a second death but is it the same murderer or a copycat?

You will see from the list below that I love this series.   

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.5, WATER'S EDGE -#1
• 4.4, THE BOTHY - #2
• 4.4, THE HORROR WEEKEND - #3
• 4.5, THE SMALL FERRY - #4 
• 4.5, DEAD AT THIRD MAN  - #5
• 4.4, THE PIRATE CLUB  - #6
• 4.5, A PERSONAL AGENDA  - #7
• 4.6, A JUST PUNISHMENT - #8
• 4.5, THE NUMEROUS DEATHS OF SANTA CLAUS - #9
• 4.4, OUR GATED COMMUNITY - #10  
• 4.4, THE SATCHEL - #11 
• 4.3, CULHWCH ALPHA - #12
• 4.5, FAIR MARKET VALUE - #13
• 4.5, THE COACH BOMBER -  #14 
• 4.7, THE CULLING AT SINGING SANDS - #15
• 4.6, WHERE JUSTICE FAILS - #16 
• 4.5, THE CORTADO CLUB - #17
• 4.5, CLEARED TO DIE - #18
• 4.5, MAN OVERBOARD - #19 
• 4.6, ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR -#20 
• 4.5, ROGUE'S GALLERY- #21
• 4.5, THE DEATH OF MACLEOD - #22
• 4.5, A COMMON MAN -#23
• 4.5, A SWEEPING DARKNESS - #24

Review: TIPPING POINT, Dinuka McKenzie

• 
   this edition available on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CDDDGXZL
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins (February 1, 2024)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 355 pages
• (Detective Kate Miles Book 3)

 Synopsis (Amazon)

A suicide. A shooting. And a reckoning, decades in the making. The must-read new Detective Kate Miles novel from 'a born storyteller' (Michael Robotham).

Weeks from Christmas in the sweltering heat of summer, Detective Kate Miles' estranged brother, Luke Grayling, returns home to Esserton to farewell a childhood friend - Ant Reed, dead by suicide. Within days of the funeral, another young man, Marcus Rowntree, is found shot dead in the back paddock of his property.

Almost twenty years ago, Luke, Ant and Marcus were best mates in high school and now two of the three friends are dead. A tragic coincidence? Or is there something more sinister connecting the three men?

When Luke is identified as a person of interest in Marcus's death, Kate once again finds herself in the middle of a media storm, sidelined from the case and battling accusations of conflict of interest. As press attention deepens, and uncomfortable truths about Luke's personal life and past events come to light, Kate is forced to contend between loyalty to the police force, and the bonds of friendship and blood.

My Take

Set in a fictional town in northern New South Wales, this is the third in the Kate Miles series, and shows Dinuka McKenzie again a writer to be watched. 

Closely plotted, tightly woven plot, with a number of themes. In the long run, the final solution came a bit out of left field. The novel explores family relationships, and mental health issues.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.6, THE TORRENT - Kate Miles #1
• 4.7, TAKEN - Kate Miles #2
  

Review: BURIED, Lynda La Plante

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book by my local library on Libby
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Zaffre (2 April 2020)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 450 pages
• Book 1 of 3: Detective Jack Warr

Synopsis (Amazon)

SOME THINGS SHOULD REMAIN BURIED . . .

The gripping first book in a brand new thriller series by the Queen of Crime Drama, Lynda La Plante.
__________________

DC Jack Warr and his girlfriend Maggie have just moved to London to start a new life together. Though charming, Jack can't seem to find his place in the world - until he's drawn into an investigation that turns his life upside down.

In the aftermath of a fire at an isolated cottage, a badly charred body is discovered, along with the burnt remains of millions of stolen, untraceable bank notes.

Jack's search leads him deep into a murky criminal underworld - a world he finds himself surprisingly good at navigating. But as the line of the law becomes blurred, how far will Jack go to find the answers - and what will it cost him?

In BURIED, it's time to meet DC Jack Warr as he digs up the deadly secrets of the past . . .

My Take

Adopted when he was 5, Jack has never seemed to find something to give a spark to his life. His boss is pushing him to take his sergeant's exams, because he has potential but just hasn't demonstrated commitment. 

But now his adoptive father has cancer, and Jack feels the need to locate or at least identify his birth father. and then he discovers links to a cold case he is exploring.

A police procedural that tags the close line between the law and the criminals.  Jack is torn.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.5 ROYAL FLUSH aka ROYAL HEIST
4.5, DEADLY INTENT
4.5, TWISTED
4.6, HIDDEN KILLERS

Review: YOU HAD IT COMING, B.M. Carroll

• 
  This edition made available by my local library as an e-book on Libby
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viper; Main edition (13 May 2021)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
• SHORTLISTED FOR THE NED KELLY BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD
  

Synopsis (publisher)

WOULD YOU SAVE THE MAN
WHO DESTROYED YOUR LIFE?

When paramedic Megan Lowe is called to the scene of an attempted murder, all she can do is try to save the victim. But as the man is lifted onto a stretcher, she realises she knows him. She despises him. Why should she save his life when he destroyed hers?

Jess Foster is on her way home when she receives a text from Megan. Once best friends, the two women haven't been close for years, not since the night when they were just the teenage girls whom no-one believed; whose reputations were ruined. All Jess can think is, you had it coming.

Now Megan and Jess are at the centre of a murder investigation. But what secrets are they hiding? Can they trust one another? And who really is the victim?

My Take

I won't reveal just how Megan knew the attempted murder victim because that would spoil the plot for you. Certainly there is more to this plot than originally meets the eye. It raises issues that would affect anyone who is the victim of unwanted violence and also anyone who has lost a court case, or anyone who has been belittled in court.

The question also arises of how much Megan's situation was engineered. 

Very well written and compulsive reading.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

• 4.5, THE MISSING PIECES OF SOPHIE McCARTHY
• 4.5, WHO WE WERE 
  

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.

see more

Review: THE SEARCH PARTY, Hannah Richell

• 
  this edition provided as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia (January 3, 2024)
• Length: 400 pages
• ISBN13: 9781761421730
• Shortlisted for the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards, Best International Crime Fiction

Synopsis (publisher)

Join six old friends for one wild weekend at Cornwall’s newest glamping spot.

The guests:

• The anxious hosts with everything at stake.
• The boho hippies concealing a private darkness.
• The TV celebrity with his hot new wife and an even hotter temper.
• The exhausted new parents with a secret to hide.
• The one that won’t make it home alive . . .

The tents are up. The bonfire is lit. Get ready for one hell of a party. 

My Take

The author helpfully provided a list of the four families and their members  right at the beginning of the book. I used it more than once.

The Prologue tells us something out of the ordinary, maybe catastrophic, has happened. We then launch into the story proper on Sunday afternoon with one of the characters, Dom, sitting waiting to be interviewed by the police. From then on we piece together the story of what has happened since Friday afternoon when the 3 families arrived at a glamping spot about to be put on the market by their friends who own it. In each chapter a character narrates to the police the events from their point of view. Our job as the reader is to put the jigsaw together.

Bit by bit everything comes together and we can decide for ourselves what sort of crime has been committed. There are plenty of red herrings too.

The structure works very well. Highly recommended.

This would make an excellent discussion book.

My rating: 5.0

About the author

Hannah Richell was born in Kent, United Kingdom, and spent her childhood years in Buckinghamshire and Canada. After graduating from the University of Nottingham, she worked in the book publishing and film industries in both London and Sydney. She is a dual citizen of Great Britain and Australia, and currently lives in the southwest of England with her family. She is the author of several international bestsellers, such as The Search Party and One Dark Night. Her work has been translated into twenty-one languages. Find out more at HannahRichell.com. 

Review: IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, Jo Callaghan

• 
  This edition available as an e-book on Kindle through Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09YFTR7M8
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster UK (January 19, 2023)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 415 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1398511161
• Winner of the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA New Blood Dagger

Synopsis (Amazon)

In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds.
Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye.

DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat's instincts come up against Lock's logic. But when the two missing person's cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal.

AI versus human experience.
Logic versus instinct.
With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic?

In the Blink of an Eye is a dazzling debut from an exciting new voice and asks us what we think it means to be human. 

My Take:

I have just finished reading this book, and my mind is full of superlatives.

AI is in the process of penetrating our world and not every instance of it is bad. In fact we have been using AI for some time to process and interpret raw data in many beneficial ways. And clearly it can take over many tasks that currently take humans far too long. We just need to learn to trust the results.

So in a sense this novel is about how AI might be useful in crime detection and prevention, in how it might help resolve criminal activity more quickly, or even at all.

And in many ways AI is still in its infancy with many lessons to learn.

This book will give you a lot to think about. Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.8

About the Author
Jo Callaghan works full time as a senior strategist, carrying out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce. She was a student of the Writers’ Academy Course at Penguin Random House, and was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Writing Competition and Bath Novel Competition. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, Callaghan started writing In the Blink of an Eye, her debut crime novel, which explores learning to live with loss and what it means to be human. Jo Callaghan lives with her two children in the British Midlands.

Review: IT TAKES A TOWN, Aoife Clifford

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Published Ultimo Press 
• ISBN 9781761152733
• Pub Date: April 2024
• Extent: 352pp

Synopsis (publisher)

So many people had reason to hate her, but did anyone have reason to kill her?
 
Everyone dies famous in a country town, but glamorous Vanessa Walton was a shining star. A celebrity since a television commercial when she was a child, Vanessa is back on the front page for all the wrong reasons; after a terrible storm she has been found dead at the bottom of her stairs.
 
At first her death seems to be a simple accident, but anonymous letters are discovered that suggest otherwise – and when 16-year-old Jasmine Landridge claims it is murder, she suddenly disappears. As the police begin to investigate, secrets are exposed and friendships unravel.
 
What happens to a community when murders and abductions sit alongside petty workmates, teenage tribulations and longstanding friendships? It will take a town to solve this crime, but what will be broken in the effort to piece together the truth? 

My Take

The attendance at her funeral is huge for a small town and the word on everybody's lips is "murder". But the local police, in the first case for the new station head, and the local coroner, both pronounce that it was an accident. The woman who brought fame to the town was hated by many. But she was adored by many, and there are those who think the investigation into her death has not been thorough enough.

Secrets come to light, and relationships are tested. A wonderful array of believable characters. An excellent read.

My rating: 4.6

About the Author
Aoife Clifford is the author of All These Perfect Strangers, which was long-listed for both the Australian Industry General Fiction Book of the Year and the Voss Literary Prize, and Second Sight, a Publishers Weekly (starred review) and PW Pick for Book of the Week. Aoife’s short stories have been published in Australia, United Kingdom and the United States, winning premier prizes such as the Scarlet Stiletto and the S.D. Harvey Ned Kelly Award.

Review: THE CARDIFF KILLINGS, Gaynor Torrance

• 
  This edition available from Amazon on Kindle
  
• THE CARDIFF KILLINGS a gripping murder mystery (DI Jemima Huxley Crime Thriller Book 1)
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09W33D4BJ
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books crime thriller, mystery and suspense (March 20, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 279 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

MEET DETECTIVE INSPECTOR JEMIMA HUXLEY IN THIS BRILLIANT NEW CRIME SERIES FULL OF STUNNING TWISTS.

Please note this book was previously published as REVENGE.

An isolated manor house. Shallow woodland graves. A troubled female detective facing the biggest case of her career.

The call comes early in the morning. David and Helen Tremaine have discovered a body buried in the grounds of their large Victorian manor house, Llys Faen Hall, just north of Cardiff.

DI Jemima Huxley and her partner, DS Dan Broadbent, race to the scene to discover that a second body has been unearthed in a shallow woodland grave. And the forensic team working the site believe this is just the start.

Jemima knows this is the biggest case of her career. But it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Struggling to get pregnant, she is a woman on the edge, a woman who self-harms just to make it through the day. And with no one reported missing, no apparent motive and no obvious suspect, the investigation is anything but straightforward.

Eight graves. Eight dead women. All with pomegranate seeds placed inside their mouths.

When Jemima makes an unexpected breakthrough, she enters a desperate race against time to prevent more women dying.

Readers of Simon McCleave, Rachel McLean, Ann Cleeves, Helen H. Durrant, Joy Ellis, Angela Marsons, L.J. Ross, J.M. Dalgliesh, Mark Edwards and Lynda La Plante will love Gaynor Torrance’s feisty and flawed protagonist DI Jemima Huxley.

My Take

This is the fairly grisly beginning to a new-to-me series set in Wales. Basically a police procedural about a serial killer. There are some not-so-new elements such as a new female detective inspector charged with setting up a new murder team, hounded by her boss, and also feeling the pressures of being unable to become pregnant.  Jemima Huxley also self harms.  

A body is found in a shallow grave on a wealthy estate. Investigators quickly realise there is more than one body, all killed in a similar way, seemingly with some ritual significance.

I will read another.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Gaynor Torrance lives near Cardiff with her husband and their rescue cat, Cleo. The area is the setting for her Detective Inspector Jemima Huxley Crime Thriller series of books. Like Gaynor, Jemima has a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Though, apart from them both having a keen interest in human behaviour, that’s where any similarity ends.

When she’s not writing or glued to her Kindle, Gaynor enjoys listening to music, playing the piano, walking, travelling, and eating far too much chocolate.

Find out more about Gaynor at: https://www.gaynortorrance.com  

DETECTIVE INSPECTOR JEMIMA HUXLEY
Book 1: THE CARDIFF KILLINGS
Book 2: THE BRIARMARSH CLOSE KILLINGS
Book 3: THE CAERPHILLY MOUNTAIN KILLINGS
Book 4: THE LEIGHTON MEADOW KILLINGS
Book 5: THE MARQUESS CLUB KILLINGS

Review: ONE DARK, TWO LIGHT, Ruth Mancini

• 
  this edition provided by my local library
  
• published by Head of Zeus 2020
• ISBN 9-78188-543354
• 376 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

New Year's Eve, London. Outside the Hope & Glory pub, a man has been left to die. A victim of extraordinary violence, he will never walk or speak again. He remains in hospital, nameless, until criminal defence lawyer Sarah Kellerman walks onto his ward.

Sarah barely recognises the man she once worked with – he was honourable and kind – what was he involved in? Who wanted him dead? But in her race to uncover the truth, Sarah comes to realise there are two men in her life that she never really knew at all...

From one of crime fiction's most compelling voices, One Dark, Two Light sees the personal and criminal collide, as Sarah reaches into the darkest corners to bring secrets into the light.  

My Take

The man Sarah Kellerman recognises in a London hospital has apparently lain there unidentified for about three months. But when Sarah investigates how the police have not identified him earlier, nor seemingly have not written a report on what happened to him, it seems the story does not ring true. And then when her 15 year old client is charged with running him over in a car, she realises she can't leave this alone.

A good read.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.5, THE WOMAN ON THE LEDGE

Review: THE LAST WORD, Elly Griffiths

• this edition from my local library
• published 2024 by Quercus, large print edition
• ISBN 978-1-399-16878-6
• 341 pages
• Harbinder Kaur #4
  

Synopsis (Publisher) 

Words can be dangerous. Sometimes they kill…

Natalka and Edwin are running a detective agency in Shoreham, Sussex. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated, longing for a big juicy investigation to come the agency’s way.

Then a murder case turns up. Local writer, Melody Chambers, is found dead and her family are convinced it is murder. Edwin, a big fan of the obit pages, thinks there’s a link to the writer of Melody’s obituary who pre-deceased his subject.

The trail leads them to a slightly sinister writers’ retreat. When another writer is found dead, Edwin thinks that the clue lies in the words. Seeking professional help, the amateur investigators turn to their friend, detective Harbinder Kaur, to find that they have stumbled on a plot that is stranger than fiction.

My Take

An easy to read story but perhaps just a few too many tangled threads.

Private detectives Natalka and Edwin come across some deaths which relatives think are actually murder. The starting point is a writer's retreat during which a third person dies. From there we go to a book club which seems also linked, and more suspicious deaths are discovered.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read

• 4.6, THE CROSSING PLACES - Ruth Galloway #1
  
• 4.6, THE JANUS STONE - Ruth Galloway #2
• 4.6, THE HOUSE AT SEA'S END - Ruth Galloway #3
• 4.5, A ROOM FULL OF BONES - Ruth Galloway #4
• 4.8, DYING FALL- audio book - Ruth Galloway #5
• 4.5, THE GHOST FIELDS, Elly Griffiths - audio book - Ruth Galloway #7
• 4.7, THE OUTCAST DEAD, Elly Griffiths - audio book - Ruth Galloway #6
• 4.7, THE WOMAN IN BLUE - Ruth Galloway #8
• 4.7, THE CHALK PIT - Ruth Galloway #9
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES - Harbinder Kaur #1
  
• 4.4, THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS - Harbinder Kaur #2
  
• 4.7, THE LANTERN MEN - Ruth Galloway #12
• 5.0, THE STONE CIRCLE - Ruth Galloway #11 
• 4.8, THE DARK ANGEL - Ruth Galloway #10
• 4.7, THE NIGHT HAWKS - Ruth Galloway #13
  
• 5.0, THE LOCKED ROOM - Ruth Galloway #14
• 4.6, BLEEDING HEART YARD - Harbinder Kaur #3
• 5.0, THE LAST REMAINS - Ruth Galloway #15
• 4.8, THE ZIG ZAG GIRL - Brighton Mysteries #1
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Brighton Mysteries #2
• 4.5, THE BLOOD CARD- Brighton Mysteries #3
  
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX - Brighton Mysteries #4 
• 4.6, NOW YOU SEE THEM- Brighton Mysteries #5
  
• 4.5, THE MIDNIGHT HOUR- Brighton Mysteries #6
• 4.6, THE GREAT DECEIVER -Brighton Mysteries #7

Review: BEFORE SHE KNEW HIM, Peter Swanson

• 
  This book made available through my local library
  
• first published in 2019
• 309 pages
• ISBN 978-0-571-34064-4

Synopsis (publisher)

'They had a secret, the two of them, and there was no better way to start a friendship than with a secret.'

When Hen and Lloyd move into their new house in West Dartford, Mass, they're relieved to meet, at their first block party, the only other seemingly-childless couple in their neighborhood, Matthew and Mira Dolamore. Turns out they live in the Dutch Colonial immediately next door.

When they're invited over for dinner, however, things take a sinister turn when Hen thinks she sees something suspicious in Matthew's study. Could this charming, mild-mannered College Professor really be hiding a dark secret, one that only Hen, whose been battling her own problems with depression and medication, could know about? Lloyd certainly doesn't seem to believe her, and so, forced together, Hen and Matthew start to form an unlikely bond. But who, if anyone, is really in danger?

From its deeply unsettling opening, Peter Swanson, the master of contemporary domestic thrillers, fashions a novel as brilliant, dark, coruscating and surprising as Patricia Highsmith and Ira Levin at their very best.

My Take

Another book that just keeps you reading. (I seem to have discovered so many of theme recently - I blame my friends who keep recommending them).

I found this one a little difficult to get into but that may have been something to do with the size of the print which was a bit small.

Hen has trouble convincing her husband Lloyd and the police that her neighbour Matthew is a murderer.  The story is engrossing. But nothing prepared me for the final twist at the end. 

I've also read 4.8, RULES FOR PERFECT MURDERS

My Rating: 4.6

About the Author

Peter Swanson's debut novel, The Girl With a Clock for a Heart (2014), was described by Dennis Lehane as 'a twisty, sexy, electric thrill ride' and was nominated for the LA Times book award. His second novel The Kind Worth Killing (2015), a Richard and Judy pick, was shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and named the iBook stores Thriller of the Year, and was followed by two more critical and commercial hits, Her Every Fear (2017) and All the Beautiful Lies (2018). He lives with his wife and cat in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Review: APARTMENT 303, Kelli Hawkins

• 
  this edition made available on Libby as an e-book by my library system
  
• ISBN: 9781460763322
• ISBN-10: 1460763327
• Published: 8th March 2023
• Format: Paperback
• Number of Pages: 320
• Audience: General Adult
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Synopis (publisher)

Even a locked door can't keep you safe

Twenty-six-year-old Rory rarely leaves her apartment, though her little dog Buster keeps her company. Days are spent working for her aunt's PI business, and watching and imagining histories for the homeless men, the Dossers, across the road. At night she walks Buster on the roof, gazes at the stars and wonders.

The night before New Year's Eve, one of the Dossers is murdered, an incident which brings the world - police, new neighbours, her dark past and new possibilities - crashing through Rory's front door.

She thought she was keeping her fears at bay. But has her sanctuary turned into her prison? Or is it safer for everyone if Rory stays locked away? 

My Take

This is one of those books that takes you into a world that most of us are not familiar with. Rory rarely leaves her apartment unless it is in the company of her aunt or the driver that her aunt employs. She has OCD and constantly battles her compulsive disorders. Those on the downstairs desk in the foyer of Rory's apartment building are careful to look after her, and her food and household supplies are delivered by a trusted family.

She has a good life, well taken care of, work she enjoys, and she even makes friends with a young girl in the building.

But then things change. One of the dossers who sleeps in the park opposite the apartment building is murdered, and one of the doormen decides to retire.  Rory watches the dossers through binoculars and she sees the shape of a man that she thinks she recognises. It is of course someone from her past that she doesn't want to see. That puts her world into a spin.

This is a book that just keeps you reading. We find out that Rory is being manipulated in ways that she doesn't realise. 

Well worth reading.  Perhaps worth looking for other books by this author.

My rating: 4.5

About the author:
Kelli Hawkins writes reports for a private investigator, as well as working on novels for adults and children. She lives in Newcastle with her two teenagers. Over the years she’s travelled whenever possible and worked all kinds of jobs. Kelli’s been a political journalist, a graphic designer, a mystery shopper – even a staple remover. When she’s not writing she’s planning a holiday – or dreaming of one. Or reading, of course.

Kelli Hawkins writes across genres and has five books published by HarperCollins Australia. Three are psychological adult thrillers. Other People’s Houses was published in 2021, followed by All She Wants in 2022. Her latest, Apartment 303, was released in March 2023.

Review: THE TRIVIA NIGHT. Ali Lowe

• 
  This edition, published 2022 Hodder & Stoughton
  
• supplied by my local library
• ISBN 978-1-529-34882-8
• 356 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Question: How long does it take to tear someone's life apart?

Answer: Sometimes just one night.

From the outside the parents of the kindergarten class at Darley Heights primary school seem to have it all. Living in the wealthy Sydney suburbs, it's a community where everyone knows each other - and secrets don't stay secret for long.

The big date in the calendar is the school's annual fundraising trivia night, but when the evening gets raucously out of hand, talk turns to partner-swapping. Initially scandalised, it's not long before a group of parents make a reckless one-night-only pact.

But in the harsh light of day, those involved must face the fallout of their behaviour. As they begin to navigate the shady aftermath of their wild night, the truth threatens to rip their perfect lives apart - and revenge turns fatal.

THE TRIVIA NIGHT is a gripping, domestic page-turner full of shocking reveals, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Sally Hepworth.

My Take

Here is a Trivia Night quite unlike any that you've ever attended.

Four couples sit at a table, and general knowledge questions take a back seat. What happens at this night will have a long tail of consequences that none of them could have foreseen at the beginning. Lives will be changed forever.

There is a twist at the end that I really didn't anticipate.

Question for the reader:
Who is the author of the Prologue and who is she writing to? (there are plenty of clues)

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.8, THE SCHOOL RUN
• 4.6, THE RUNNING CLUB
  

Review: THE LOST APOTHECARY, Sarah Penner

• 
  This edition available as an e-book for Kindle on Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08L7G19RP
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Legend Press (2 March 2021)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 321 pages
• Shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award
  2021's Most Highly Anticipated New Books Newsweek
  Most Anticipated Books of 2021 Popsugar

Synopsis (Amazon) 

With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating debut novel of secrets, vengeance and the remarkable ways women can save each other despite the barrier of time.

Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.

Meanwhile in present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, running from her own demons. When she stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago, her life collides with the apothecary’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.

My Take

This novel attempts (successfully) one of those very difficult formats: two time frames separated by over 200 years, and also at least two themes mystery, and love/faithfulness. Another element is that it is written by an American author but set in London.

Caroline Parcewell's 10 year wedding anniversary trip to London turns out very different to what she had imagined when just prior to the trip she finds out that her husband has had an affair. Instead of a second honeymoon she finds herself in London alone. With time on her hands she goes mudlarking on the mud flats of the Thames and finds a small blue vial. This sparks a quest to find out more and she uncovers information about an apothecary who used these vials to help women deal with husbands they want to be rid of.

I have read it for my U3A Crime Fiction group.

I have discovered a reader's guide which both poses questions about the story, and gives some background to how and why it was written.

Here are some I may use in our discussion. (click here to find more)

1) The Lost Apothecary opens with Nella in her shop, preparing to dispense a poison meant to kill a man. Her work is sinister, and much about her character is dark and disturbing. When you first learned that Nella was a murderer, how did you view her? How did your feelings change over the course of the book as more of her past was revealed?
Did you believe she would eventually find redemption? In the end, did you see her as a hero, a villain, or something in between? Why?

2) At the beginning of Caroline’s story, she finds the apothecary vial while on a mudlarking
tour. Had you heard of mudlarking prior to reading this book? Do you believe that fate or
coincidence led to her discovery? Have you ever stumbled on something that you consider to
be fate?

3) Both Nella and Caroline have been betrayed by men in their lives. In what ways did the two
women respond similarly to these betrayals? In what ways did they respond differently? Do
you feel that one woman was more emotionally resilient than the other?

4) Nella and Eliza form an unlikely friendship early in the story, despite Nella’s resistance to
having the young girl in her shop a second time. Why do you think Nella eventually softened
her heart toward Eliza? What drew the two characters—one on the cusp of womanhood, the
other toward the end of her life—toward one another? What kind of impact did Eliza have on
Nella’s character?

5) The Lost Apothecary is sprinkled with mention of magick, and several events occur that could
be considered either the work of magick or merely good luck. When you learned that Eliza
survived after ingesting the Tincture to Reverse Bad Fortune, did you believe it the result of
magick, or do you think she was a lucky survivor after jumping into the freezing river?

 My rating: 4.5

About the Author
Sarah Penner is the debut author of The Lost Apothecary, which has been sold into eleven territories worldwide. Sarah works full-time in finance. She and her husband live in St. Petersburg, Florida with their miniature dachshund, Zoe. Follow Sarah @SL_Penner Or visit www.SarahPenner.com