Review: NINTH AND NOWHERE, Jeffery Deaver

• format: kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 4956 KB
• Print Length: 52 pages
• Publisher: Amazon Original Stories (January 29, 2019)
• Publication Date: January 29, 2019
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07JYPTLJW

Synopsis (Amazon)

Seven strangers. Two hours. One tragic moment of violence that changes everything.

In this electrifying short story by New York Times bestselling author of The Never Game Jeffery Deaver, the destinies of seven strangers intersect in ways no one sees coming. It looks like just another gray March morning in the tough urban district nicknamed Nowhere when seven lives converge: a young man intent on buying a gun; the gangbanger who cuts him a deal; a by-the-book police officer on a last patrol; an advertising executive keeping secrets from her husband; a veteran haunted by a combat death; a single dad in a bitter custody battle; and a sharp-looking businessman en route to a new job he desperately needs. Any one of them could have a dark motive. Any one of them could be walking into a trap. When the fog lifts, it will all be much clearer—that a single, shattering act of violence has marked each of them forever.

My Take

I liked the way each of the 7 main characters was introduced in this novella. Inevitably as the author described each of the characters I made a judgement about them, but, as it turned out I was very wrong.

Tension builds as the reader realises each character is heading towards Ninth Ave in Nowhere and you know that something is going to happen.

An excellent read. Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.8

Review: THE MURDER AT REDMIRE HALL, J. R. Ellis - audio book

• audio book from Audible.com
• Narrated by: Michael Page
• Series: Yorkshire Murder Mystery Series, Book 3
• Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Release date: 09-13-18
• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Synopsis (Audible.com)

An impossible murder behind a locked door. Can DCI Oldroyd find the key to the mystery?

Lord Redmire’s gambling habit has placed him in serious debt. Determined to salvage his fortune by putting Redmire Hall on the map, the aristocrat performs an impossible locked-door illusion on live TV. But as the cameras roll, his spectacular trick goes fatally wrong....

Special guest DCI Jim Oldroyd has a front-row seat, but in all his years with the West Riding Police he’s never witnessed anything like this. He sees Redmire disappear - and then reappear, dead, with a knife in his back.

As Oldroyd and DS Stephanie Johnson soon discover, nearly everyone at the event had a reason to resent the eccentric lord. But how did the murderer get into the locked room - or out, for that matter?

When the only other person who knew the secret behind the illusion is brutally silenced, the case begins to look unsolvable. Because as Oldroyd and Johnson know, it’s not just a question of who did it and why - but how?

My take

This is the third, for the moment, the last,  in the cozy mystery series featuring DCI Olroyd and his colleague DS Stephanie Johnson. The audio book is well produced and is engaging listening.

Lord Redmire's father was the one who had the locked room trick installed in his house, but once performed, it was forgotten for over 30 years. now his son wants to use the trick to bring tourists to the house.

He invites DCI Oldroyd to be an official witness at the operation of the trick, but that actually has the effect of ensuring that the police  are at hand to begin the investigation into Lord Redmire's death.

I certainly hope there are more titles to come in the series.

My rating: 4.4

See my other reviews in this series
4.3, THE  BODY IN THE DALES
4.4, THE QUARTET MURDERS

Review: THE GIRL WHO WOULDN'T DIE, Marnie Riches

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 1124 KB
• Print Length: 314 pages
• Publisher: Avon (April 2, 2015)
• Publication Date: April 2, 2015
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00U1K18VY

Synopsis (Amazon)

HE’S WATCHING HER. SHE DOESN’T KNOW IT…YET

When a bomb explodes at the University of Amsterdam, aspiring criminologist Georgina McKenzie is asked by the police to help flush out the killer.

But the bomb is part of a much bigger, more sinister plot that will have the entire city quaking in fear.

And the killer has a very special part for George to play…

A thrilling race against time with a heroine you’ll be rooting for, this book will keep you up all night!

WINNER OF THE 2015 DEAD GOOD READER AWARD FOR MOST EXOTIC LOCATION

My Take

I'm afraid this book didn't grab me in quite the way the blurb promised. I found the plot overly complex and black. It would probably appeal to a much younger reader.

George McKenzie presents as a Cambridge student studying sociology in Amsterdam where girls are going missing. When a bomb explodes in an old library of the University of Amsterdam, and other students go missing, it is George who works out that there must be some connection with the faculty she belongs to. That's when the reader finds out that George is not quite who she seems.

Not quite my cup of tea.

My rating: 3.5

About the author
Marnie Riches is an award-winning, best-selling British author of crime-fiction, making her debut in the US with "The Girl Who Wouldn't Die" - the first novel in her gritty, gripping George McKenzie series. The series of five books has sold approaching two hundred thousand copies in the UK and continues to garner critical acclaim from her peers and in the press, as well as a loyal readership.

Marnie grew up in a tough neighborhood in Manchester, England, infamous for its violent crime but loved for its world-class music and friendly people. Exchanging the spires of nearby Strangeways prison for those of Cambridge University, she gained a post-grad degree in German & Dutch. She has been a punk, a trainee rock star, a pretend artist and professional fundraiser. When she's not writing, Marnie likes to run, refurbish old houses and drink gin.

Her George McKenzie crime thrillers, tackling the subject of trans-national trafficking, were inspired by her time spent in The Netherlands. "The Girl Who Wouldn't Die" and subsequent four books are must-reads for all fans of Scandinavian and British mystery, suspense and thrillers, who love a kickass heroine who will happily flout the rules if it means catching a killer. George's partnership with troubled Inspector Paul van den Bergen of the Dutch police and her complex family relationships back in London have readers returning, book after book, to see how George's life unfolds...

Marnie is also the author of "Born Bad" and "The Cover-Up" - the critically acclaimed UK hit series about Manchester's notorious gangland.

Meme: NEW TO ME AUTHORS January to March 2019

Some really good reads among these: 14 read in 3 months
Not all crime fiction

1. 4.6, MINE, J.L. Butler
2. 4.7, THE DARKEST PLACE, Jo Spain 
3. 4.6, WEEPING WATERS, Karin Brynard
4. 4.2, AS THE CROW FLIES, Damien Boyd 
5. 4.3, THE  BODY IN THE DALES, J. R. Ellis
6. 4.4, THE KOOKABURRA CREEK CAFE, Sandie Docker not crime fic
7. 4.3, THREE GOLD COINS, Josephine Moon not crime fic
8. 4.4, THE NOWHERE CHILD, Christian White 
9. 4.4, THE BLUE EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, Jonathon King
10. 4.2, SOMETHING IN THE WATER, Catherine Steadman
11. 4.1, MURDER UNDER A GREEN SEA, Phillip Hunter
12. 4.4, THE BOOK CLUB, Mary Alice Monroe not crime fic
13. 4.8, THE MARRIAGE CLUB, Kate Legge not crime fic
14. 4.5, THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPH, Kate Riordan mystery rather than crime fic 

What I read in March 2019

A good month

Pick of the Month March 2019

1. 4.3, THREE GOLD COINS, Josephine Moon - Australian author, not crime 
2. 4.4, THE NOWHERE CHILD, Christian White - Australian author 
3. 4.4, THE BLUE EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, Jonathon King
4. 4.4, A STRANGER IN THE FAMILY, Robert Barnard 
5. 4.2, SOMETHING IN THE WATER, Catherine Steadman
6. 4.3, THE LISTENERS, Anthony J. Quinn
7. 4.4, THE QUARTET MURDERS, J. R. Ellis - audio book
8. 4.1, MURDER UNDER A GREEN SEA, Phillip Hunter  
9. 4.4, THE BOOK CLUB, Mary Alice Monroe - not crime fiction
10. 4.7, SHARP OBJECTS, Gillian Flynn
11. 4.8, THE MARRIAGE CLUB, Kate Legge
12. 4.5, THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPH, Kate Riordan   

See what others have read this month.

New to me authors - January to March 2019

It's easy to join this meme.

Just write a post about the best new-to-you crime fiction authors (or all) you've read in the period of January to March 2019, put a link to this meme in your post, and even use the logo if you like.
The books don't necessarily need to be newly published.

 After writing your post, then come back to this post and add your link to Mr Linky below. (if Mr Linky does not appear - leave your URL in a comment and I will add to Mr Linky when it comes back up, or I'll add the link to the post)
Visit the links posted by other participants in the meme to discover even more books to read.

This meme will run throughout 2019.  Expect it to appear at the end of June.
 

---

Pick of the Month: MARCH 2019

Crime Fiction Pick of the Month 2019

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 2019, 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.

---