Review: MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL, Faith Martin

• 
  This edition available as an e-book from Amazon on Kindle
  
• first published 2004
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0763RXLRV
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books crime, thriller and mystery (1 October 2017)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 249 pages
• DI Hillary Greene #1 

Synopsis (Amazon)

 Looking for a brilliant murder mystery with a feisty female detective?

DISCOVER THE MILLION-SELLING SERIES NOW. MEET DI HILLARY GREENE, A POLICE WOMAN FIGHTING TO SAVE HER CAREER.

Not only has she lost her husband, but his actions have put her under investigation for corruption.

Then a bashed and broken body is found floating in the Oxford Canal. It looks like the victim fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Her investigation exposes a dark background to the death.

Can Hillary clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?

This is a crime mystery full of well-observed characters, which will have you gripped from beginning to end.

MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL is the first in a series of page-turning crime thrillers set in Oxfordshire.

My Take

I'm really looking forward to reading this series (in order of course) - interesting scenarios, topical plots, well drawn characters, relatively short books.

In this first in the series, we've already been introduced to a range of characters whom I expect will reappear in ensuing books. The central character, Hillary Greene, recently bereaved, is middle aged, feisty, and an intuitive detective. She is third in the chain of command, and it seems relatively easy for her superiors to claim credit for her accomplishments. Which prompts Hillary to think outside the box and also to take action without authority.

My rating: 4.5

The series

   1. Murder on the Oxford Canal (2004)
     aka A Narrow Escape
   2. Murder at the University (2005)
     aka On the Straight and Narrow
   3. Murder of the Bride (2006)
     aka Narrow Is the Way
   4. Murder in the Village (2006)
     aka By a Narrow Majority
   5. Murder in the Family (2007)
     aka Through a Narrow Door
   6. Murder at Home (2007)
     aka With a Narrow Blade
   7. Murder in the Meadow (2008)
     aka Beside a Narrow Stream
   8. Murder in the Mansion (2008)
     aka Down a Narrow Path
   9. Murder in the Garden (2009)
     aka Across the Narrow Blue Line
   10. Murder by Fire (2010)
     aka A Narrow Point of View
   11. Murder at Work (2011)
     aka A Narrow Exit
   12. Murder Never Retires (2012)
     aka A Narrow Return
   13. Murder of a Lover (2013)
     aka A Narrow Margin of Error
   14. Murder Never Misses (2013)
     aka Walk a Narrow Mile
   15. Murder at Midnight (2015)
     aka A Narrow Victory
   16. Murder in Mind (2015)
     aka The Work of a Narrow Mind
   17. Hillary's Final Case (2016)
     aka A Narrow Trajectory
   18. Hillary's Back! (2020)
   19. Murder Now and Then (2021)
   20. Murder in the Parish (2023)
   21. Murder On the Train (2024)

Review: ONE DOWN, Diana Wilkinson

• 
   this edition provided by my local library
  
• published by Boldwood Books 2023,
• large print edition,
• ISBN 978-1-83751-006-1
• 494 pages 
• aka THE COUPLE IN APARTMENT C
  

Synopsis (publisher)

A twisty unputdownable thriller from Diana Wilkinson, author of the Number One bestseller The Girl in Seat 2A

I’m not being paranoid. It’s all there in the crossword clues…in black and white. There’s no doubt the threat is real. Today, the answers spell out my murder.

Is Nathan, my estranged crossword-setter husband, really planning to kill me? Or is it someone closer to home?

I check the door is bolted, slither to the ground, and count down the seconds to noon. There’s nothing left to do, and no one I can call. Who’d believe me anyway? The lady on the ground floor has already left the building, and my new boyfriend is on holiday. Or is he?

A tread of footsteps. A rap at the door, and I close my eyes, hold my breath…

A smart and unsettling psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Shari Lapena and Claire Douglas

My Take

I'm not much good at cryptic crossword puzzles so the bits in here where the author appeared to be trying to teach me how to interpret the clues just sort of left me cold. But nevertheless the plot is very creepy. Someone does appear to be trying to scare the life out of Amanda by personalising the clues in the daily cryptic crossword. Her estranged husband Nathan is one of the anonymous setters of the puzzles in the local paper and certainly she knows that a number of the clues are ones that he has created. But is he trying to kill her?

Amanda has other problems too - she is an alcoholic, she has been responsible for a child's death, she seems to be emotionally unstable. All of which makes for a good read.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.7. THE GIRL IN SEAT 2A
• 4.6, YOU ARE MINE
• 4.5, 4 RIVERSIDE CLOSE

Review: 4 RIVERSIDE CLOSE, Diana Wilkinson

• 
  this edition provided by my local library
  
• published 2020 by Bloodhound Books
• ISBN 978-1-913419-43-1
• 304 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

A seemingly innocent social network draws residents of a North London cul-de-sac into a web of manipulation and murder in this psychological thriller.

How well do you know your neighbors? . . .

From the outside, Caroline and Jason Swinton have an idyllic life. But when the cracks start to appear, the residents of Riverside Close are drawn into a dangerous game.

When Jason’s body is discovered in a house on the Close, everyone becomes a suspect. Could his lovely wife be responsible for his murder? Or do the neighbors have a motive for wanting him dead?

As the secret lives of those living on the Close are gradually revealed, it becomes clear that someone is hiding something they will stop at nothing to protect . . .

My Take

This is the third novel I've read by this author whom I discovered a few weeks ago, and I guess you could say I'm hooked.

There are only 4 houses in Riverside Close and No. 4 is up for sale. Most of the characters come from the close but there is one couple Caroline and Jason, the founders of Join Me?, who live nearby. On the surface Join Me? is an innocent idea, offering activities particularly for bored housewives or people who have plenty of time on their hands, but also, plenty of money. But Caroline and Jason's intentions are not so innocent.

Very good read.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.7. THE GIRL IN SEAT 2A
• 4.6, YOU ARE MINE
  

Review: YOU ARE MINE, Diana Wilkinson

• 
  this edition made available by my local library
  
• This edition published by Boldwood 2023
  first published 2020
• ISBN 978-1-80549-788-2
• large print edition, 491 pages 

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

How far would you go to stop the love of your life from slipping away?
Jealousy can be a killer…

Ten years after her boyfriend Mitch’s mysterious disappearance, Rebecca finally learns the truth about what happened.  When he returns a happy ending appears within their grasp but there is no escape from the past. And Arthur, Rebecca’s friend who has formed an unhealthy obsession with her, has no intention of letting her go.

When Arthur realises that Mitch is the only person standing in the way of his happiness, his thoughts turn to murder…

When love and obsession collide, the results are deadly.

 My Take

Three time-frames, half a dozen narrators: the reader certainly needs to keep their wits about them with this novel, to keep track of the plot threads.

The author often uses two narrators to describe what has happened, to give their versions of the action, but one after the other. But there is a sort of time slippage, just to keep you on your toes. Sometimes the windows of time are not exactly the same.

And, in the beginning, not all of the characters actually know each other, although perhaps they know they exist. It's almost like a Venn diagram with intriguing mysteries thrown in.

The Prologue describes a rather bloody murder, but we need to wait until almost the end to know who has killed who.

Cleverly structured, and yet quite plausible.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.7. THE GIRL IN SEAT 2A

Review: WE SOLVE MURDERS, Richard Osman

• 
   this edition published by Penguin Viking 2024
  
• ISBN 978-0-241-60837-1
• 444 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Combining the heart and humour of The Thursday Murder Club with a puzzling international mystery, welcome to the blockbusting new series from the biggest new fiction author of the decade, Richard Osman.

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favourite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job . . .

Then a dead body, a bag of money and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a deadly enemy? 

My Take

I wasn't prepared for the complexity of this plot. There is a lot to get your head around, and a lot of new characters to become familiar with. There are glimmerings of humour but not too many outright belly laughs, although some develop by the end. The quirkiness that was a feature of the previous series is there - scenarios that you feel could only come from Richard Osman's brain.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.5, THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB  
• 4.3, THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE 
• 4.6, THE BULLET THAT MISSED
• 4.8, THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE

Review: PERFECT CRIME, Helen Fields

• 
   this edition an e-book on Libby supplied by my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avon (18 April 2019)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 417 pages
• #5 in the DI Callanach series

Synopsis (Amazon)

our darkest moment is your most vulnerable…

Stephen Berry is about to jump off a bridge until a suicide prevention counsellor stops him. A week later, Stephen is dead. Found at the bottom of a cliff, DI Luc Callanach and DCI Ava Turner are drafted in to investigate whether he jumped or whether he was pushed…

As they dig deeper, more would-be suicides roll in: a woman found dead in a bath; a man violently electrocuted. But these are carefully curated deaths – nothing like the impulsive suicide attempts they’ve been made out to be.

Little do Callanach and Turner know how close their perpetrator is as, across Edinburgh, a violent and psychopathic killer gains more confidence with every life he takes…

My Take

This is a complex novel, set in Edinburgh and centred around cases that appear at first to be suicides, but each has elements that cast doubt on that diagnosis. The characters are well drawn, and their relationships complicated.

I regretted a number of times while reading that I have not read earlier novels in the series. There are references to earlier cases that have had lingering impact. So I have listed below the earlier novels in case you are in a position to read them in order, which I think would be rewarding.

My rating: 4.6

About the Author
Helen Fields studied law at the University of East Anglia, then went on to the Inns of Court School of Law in London. After completing her pupillage, she joined chambers in Middle Temple where she practised criminal and family law for thirteen years. After her second child was born, Helen left the Bar. Together with her husband David, she runs a film production company, acting as script writer and producer. Perfect Prey is her second novel following Perfect Remains. Both are set in Scotland, where Helen feels most at one with the world. Helen and her husband now live in Hampshire with their three children and two dogs.

DI Callanach
   1. Perfect Remains (2017)
   2. Perfect Prey (2017)
   3. Perfect Death (2018)
   4. Perfect Silence (2018)
   5. Perfect Crime (2019)
   6. Perfect Kill (2020)
   7. One for Sorrow (2022)

Review: THE GIRL IN SEAT 2A, Diana Wilkinson

• 
  this edition an e-book supplied by my library on Libby
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Boldwood Books (19 January 2024)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 358 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

Funny how one lie can spiral…

One thing about me: I HATE flying. That’s why I book seat 2A every time.

Since my big win, I’ve been booking 2B and 2C as well. They’re my comfort seats, and at last I can afford them.

I am now determined to live the life of luxury. I deserve it, after all.

And if anyone learns my secret, they better watch their back. Because I will stop at nothing to get what's mine…

My Take

A very intriguing plot with a gaslighting con man at the very centre. But ask yourself after you've read it, whether the central character Jade is not also a con-man.

An engaging plot with plenty of mystery and a series of intriguing twists and turns.  

My Rating: 4,7

About the author

Diana Wilkinson (née Kennett) was born and bred in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the height of the civil unrest. After graduating from Durham University with a degree in geography, she settled in England.

Diana spent most of her working life in the business of tennis development. A former Irish international player, Diana recently stepped off the court to become a full-time writer. The inspiration for much of her work has come from the ladies she coached over the years and from confidences shared over coffee.

Previously published by Bloodhound Books, Diana’s debut novel, 4 Riverside Close became an instant international bestseller, and its success was soon followed by the release of 6 more psychological thrillers. You Are Mine. Right Behind You. The Missing Guest. The Couple in Apartment C. The Woman in my Home......and the Number One Bestseller......The Girl in Seat 2A. All these titles are published by her new publisher, Boldwood Books. Thriller number 8, The Girl in the Window, is due out 13th December, 2024

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: DEATH ON THE NILE, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition from Amazon on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DCG8S8NV
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Horizon Ridge Publishing (10 August 2024
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
• First published in Great Britain in 1937

Synopsis (Amazon} 

Beloved detective Hercule Poirot embarks on a journey to Egypt in one of Agatha Christie's most famous mysteries.

The tranquility of a luxury cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful. A girl who had everything . . . until she lost her life.

Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: "I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger." Yet under the searing heat of the Egyptian sun, nothing is ever quite what it seems.

A sweeping mystery of love, jealousy, and betrayal, Death on the Nile is one of Christie's most legendary and timeless works.

My Take

Well, of course, this is far from the first time that I have read DEATH ON THE NILE. My earlier reviews is here. I am re-reading it this time with my U3A Agatha Christie Reading group who are coming to the end of their 4 year course with me. I anticipate they will have enjoyed the novel.

I want to focus our discussion on some of the following

• the way Christie introduces us to all the main characters
• who is NOT what they appear to be at first glance? 
• the interactions between the characters
• how is each character in some way linked to a crime
  
• the suspicions she plants in our minds
• the red herrings which are laid across our reading path
• The role of Colonel Race
• How they felt about the ending.
• what makes this such an appealing book?
  
• some themes that have been suggested: Justice, genre expectations, the importance of class, romantic love, selfishness and generosity, national identity and international connections
  

We will follow our discussion by watching the television production with David Suchet as Poirot. 

My rating: 4.5

My reviews of Agatha Christie novels

Review: MISS AUSTEN INVESTIGATES, Jessica Bull

• 
  this edition published by Penguin 2024
  
• ISBN 988-0-241-64210-8
• 452 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Lavish balls, fetching bonnets, and dead bodies...It's time for Jane Austen to put down her pen - and find a killer

Jane Austen is just starting out in society.

The perils of being a woman in this environment fill the pages of her writing. Yet little does she know just how dangerous things truly are…

When the body of a milliner is discovered during a ball, the murder causes uproar.

For Jane, however, it becomes personal when her beloved brother Georgy is accused of the murder.
To clear his name, she must find the real killer.

Her writing is full of tales of questioning motives, and unmasking secrets.

Might her powers of observation help her solve this mystery, and save her brother from the hangman’s noose? 

My Take

This is obviously written by an author who has a detailed knowledge of Jane Austen and the world she lived in. This story though is basically fictitious with identifiable characters.

It reads well as crime fiction, and the author supplies a wealth of accurate historical details. The plot is well constructed, detailed, and credible.

I guess my main objection is a personal prejudice, when an author plucks a character from history, and uses them in a way that never happened in their real lives. Elsewhere I have referred to this practice as "coattails".

My rating: 4.0

About the author

Jessica Bull grew up in South East London, where she still lives with her husband, two daughters, and far too many pets. She’s addicted to stories and studied English Literature at Bristol University, and Information Science at City University, London. ..