MYSTERIES in PARADISE

13 April 2018

Review: THE DETECTION COLLECTION, members of the Detection Club

this edition published in 2014 by Harper Collins
edited by Simon Brett, President of the Detection Club
ISBN 978-0-00-758389-8
224 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

This volume of short stories by the cream of British crime writing talent celebrates 75 years of the quintessential Detection Club.
Contains
The Part-Time Job, P.D. James
Partnership Track, Michael Ridpath
A Toothbrush, H.R.F Keating
The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, John Harvey
'Going Anywhere Nice'?, Lindsey Davis
Between the Lines, Colin Dexter
The Life-lie, Robert Barnard
The Woman from Marlow, Margaret Yorke
Toupee for Bald Tyre, Robert Goddard
The Holiday, Clare Francis
Fool of Myself, Reginald Hill

My take

Most of these short stories are quick reads, about 20 pages long, and among the authors are a number of bestsellers, as well as winners of both Diamond and Gold Daggers. The stories appear to have all been written for the occasion, and are previously un-published.

I think the best were The Part-Time Job, by P.D. James and Between the Lines, by Colin Dexter

My rating: 4.3

9 April 2018

Review: MURDER ISN'T EASY, Richard Hull

source: publisher, Ipso Books
File Size: 2438 KB
Print Length: 219 pages
Publisher: Ipso Books (March 29, 2018)
Publication Date: March 29, 2018
Originally published 1936
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B07B9LGQ9N
available at Amazon

Synopsis (publisher)

Three men, three motives, one murder. Who will come out on top? No one ever said murder was easy.

Nicholas Latimer considers himself indispensable to advertising agency NeO-aD unlike his partners Barraclough and Spencer. Sometimes Nicholas thinks it would be better if he was running it by himself. If only some unfortunate accident would befall his colleagues

Paul Spencer has just about had it with Latimer's incompetence and wilful time-wasting. Spencer knows for a fact that he is the cog that keeps NeO-aD rolling, and wishes that Barraclough would take a stance and get Latimer out of the way.

And Barraclough? He just wants to do his job without the constant bickering of his two insufferable colleagues.

When a new client presents an opportunity for the company to hit it big, Latimer contemplates taking matters into his own hands. He hasn't considered, however, that Spencer and Barraclough might have plans of their own

Filled with so many twists and turns that you won't be able to keep track, this underrated crime classic gem will keep you guessing until it s final conclusion. With a hilarious prose style and richly developed characters, Murder Isn't Easy is a gripping page turner that we think you would love.

My take

Unusually this novel is written from 4 points of view. Each of the partners in NeO-aD is convinced that he is the essence of the company, and the others are a waste of space, and even perhaps hampering the company from it's true development. Each considers that he could run the company without the others, with minimal help from the office staff. It has got to the stage where each person is considering how to get rid of the others. And so it becomes a case of murder, but who will murder who? And will they get away with it?

The book is divided into four distinct sections and eventually the deed is done. But who actually committed the murder? It is up to police Inspector Hoopington of Scotland Yard to finally deduce what happened. He manages with considerable help from one of the office staff whom each of the partners under-rated.

This is a bit of Golden Age crime fiction with a less than straight forward plot and some unusual plot twists.

My rating: 4.2

About the author

(1897 - 1973)

Richard Henry Sampson FCA, known by the pseudonym Richard Hull, was a British writer who became successful as a crime novelist with his first book in 1934.

7 April 2018

New to me authors January to March 2018

As usual about one third of my reading are new to me authors
Not all of these are crime fiction
My pick is THE WILDLING SISTERS by Eve Chase

See what others have chosen this time

5 April 2018

Review: THE GIRL BEFORE, J P Delaney

this edition published by Quercus UK 2017
ISBN 978-1-78648-028-6
406 pages
source: my local library

Synopsis (Quercus UK)

Enter the world of One Folgate Street and discover perfection . . . but can you pay the price?

Jane stumbles on the rental opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to live in a beautiful ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect, on condition she abides by a long list of exacting rules. After moving in, she discovers that a previous tenant, Emma, met a mysterious death there - and starts to wonder if her own story will be a re-run of the girl before.
As twist after twist catches the reader off guard, Emma's past and Jane's present become inexorably entwined in this tense, page-turning portrayal of psychological obsession.

My Take

An absolutely mesmerising read.

The chapters are alternately titled Then: Emma and Now: Jane and begin with Emma, recently the victim of a burglary, flat-hunting, and finally viewing a remarkably cheap house at One Folgate Street in Hendon. The owner is a famous architect and there is a rather complicated landlord-tenant agreement, involving a lengthy questionnaire, and interview, and then a list of conditions the tenant must agree to abide by.

1. Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.

Jane, who follows Emma as the tenant, brings her own recent tragedy with her. She becomes very curious about what happened to Emma. In both cases the architect Edward Monkford, becomes part of their lives. Not only does he design minimalist living spaces but he tries to follow the same principles in his own life, and expect those he becomes involved with to do the same. Not only is the house at One Folgate Street itself amazing, behind it is constant technology that assesses how well the residents are doing.

This book just keeps you reading, to solve the mysteries. The characters are well drawn and interesting.

My rating: 5.0

About the author

THE GIRL BEFORE is the first psychological thriller from JP Delaney, a pseudonym for a writer who has previously written bestselling fiction under other names. It has been published in forty-one countries. A film version is being brought to the screen by Academy Award winners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment.

3 April 2018

Review: RUMPOLE: THE PENGE BUNGALOW MURDERS, John Mortimer - audio book

Rumpole: The Penge Bungalow Murders and other stories
Three BBC Radio 4 dramatisations
Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch, Timothy West, Jasmine Hyde, Cathy Sara
Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
Original Recording
Release date: 01-04-18
Language: English
Publisher: BBC Digital Audio
source: Audible

Synopsis (Audible)

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young, feisty, devastatingly acute Horace Rumpole in this collection of cracking cases, also starring Timothy West as the older Rumpole.

Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders: It is the '50s, and two war heroes have been shot dead. Defending the suspect is deemed hopeless, so the case is handed to a novice. But the novice's superiors didn't count on the tenacity and wit of the young and hungry Horace Rumpole as he defends the accused alone and without a leader for the very first time. This two-part adaptation of the novel by John Mortimer also marks the beginning of Rumpole's lifelong liaison with Hilda ("She Who Must Be Obeyed").

Rumpole and the Family Pride: We rejoin Rumpole and Hilda in the late 1950s, when they have been married for a year or two. Hilda's cousin lives with her husband, the 17th Baron Sackbut, in Sackbut Castle on the Yorkshire Moors. Hilda and Rumpole are invited to the castle when a body is found in the grounds. Meanwhile, in London, Rumpole defends a tramp who has confessed to a triple murder.

Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle: When Rumpole and Hilda attend a concert performed by The Casterini Trio, Rumpole is surprised to be approached by Elizabeth Casterini - the trio's beautiful violinist. But then, the trio's cellist, Tom Randall, is murdered. Elizabeth's husband is arrested, and Rumpole agrees to defend him at the Old Bailey.

My Take

These radio plays capture the spirit of the Rumpole stories, with Timothy West and Benedict Cumberbatch blending beautifully as the older and young Rumpole.

If you are looking for a good item to listen to during your commute then maybe this is it.

My rating: 4.5

All the references to Rumpole on this blog.

What I read in March 2018

Pick of the month March 2018

Another good reading month, including some books that aren't crime fiction
The best crime fiction was ON THE JAVA RIDGE by Jock Serong, an Australian author

See what others have chosen this month

1 April 2018

Pick of the Month March 2018

Crime Fiction Pick of the Month 2018

Many crime fiction bloggers write a summary post at the end of each month listing what they've read, and some, like me, even go as far as naming their pick of the month.

This meme is an attempt to aggregate those summary posts.
It is an invitation to you to write your own summary post for March 2018, identify your crime fiction best read of the month, and add your post's URL to the Mr Linky below.
If Mr Linky does not appear for you, leave the URL in a comment and I will add it myself.

You can list all the books you've read in the past month on your post, even if some of them are not crime fiction, but I'd like you to nominate your crime fiction pick of the month.

That will be what you will list in Mr Linky too -
e.g.
ROSEANNA, Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo - MiP (or Kerrie)

You are welcome to use the image on your post and it would be great if you could link your post back to this post on MYSTERIES in PARADISE.