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Review: THE RAGING STORM, Ann Cleeves

• 
   this edition made available by my local library
  
• #3 in the Two Rivers series
• published 2023 Pan Macmillan
• ISBN 978-1-5290-7770-4
• 383 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

When Jem Rosco - sailor, adventurer and legend - blows in to the local pub, The Maiden's Prayer, in the middle of an autumn gale, the residents of Greystone are delighted.

The whole place has a strange, unreal quality: the village that time forgot. Backed by a worked-out quarry, with a shingle beach and a north-facing quay, there's little to recommend it to tourists.

When Rosco disappears again, they think nothing of it; that's the sort of man he is. Until the lifeboat is launched to a hoax call-out and his body is found in a dinghy, anchored off Scully Cove, a place with legends of its own.

This is an uncomfortable case for Venn. Greystone is a stronghold of the Barum Brethren and he came here as a child. Faith and superstition mix as another body is found in Scully, and Matthew finds his judgement clouded.

The wind continues to howl, and he realizes that his own life is in danger. 

My Take

The setting is a rather unlovely village in coastal Devon but one which Matthew Venn is familiar with.  The story begins with the arrival of a sailing legend and adventurer cum TV personality who momentarily put the village on the map. But the villagers have mixed feelings about him. Then he disappears and turns up dead and the detectives arrive.

The background, and why anyone would want to murder Jem Rosco takes a lot of discovering. The weather is wild and the going is slow. The village is struggling to survive, but at the same time incomers are treated with suspicion.

Part of the narrative focuses on how anxious the detectives are to please their boss Matthew Venn, and at the same time on the things that niggle them about each other.

I seem to have missed reading THE HERON'S CRY, #2 in this series.

My rating: 4.8

I've also read

• RAVEN BLACK - Shetland #1
• WHITE NIGHTS - Shetland#2
• RED BONES - Shetland #3
• 5.0, BLUE LIGHTNING - Shetland#4
• 5.0, DEAD WATER  - Shetland#5
• 4.6, THIN AIR - Shetland #6
• 4.3, MURDER IN PARADISE - Palmer-Jones series #3
• TELLING TALES (Vera Stanhope) #2
• 4.8, SILENT VOICES, (Vera Stanhope) #4
• 5.0, THE GLASS ROOM (Vera Stanhope) #5
• 4.9, HARBOUR STREET (Vera Stanhope) #6
• 4.5, BURIAL OF GHOSTS - stand-alone
• 4.8, THE MOTH CATCHER (Vera Stanhope #7)
• 4.4, TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE (Quick Reads)
• 4.7, THE SEAGULL - (Vera Stanhope #8)
• 4.6, THE LONG CALL - Two Rivers #1
• 4.9, THE DARKEST EVENING - Vera #9
• 4.5, A LESSON DYING - Inspector Ramsay #1
• 4.5, MURDER IN MY BACKYARD -Inspector Ramsay #2 
• 4.4, A DAY IN THE DEATH OF DOROTHEA CASSIDY - Inspector Ramsay  #3
• 4.6, KILLJOY -  Inspector Ramsay #4
• 4.5, THE HEALERS - Inspector Ramsay #5
• 4.6, THE BABY-SNATCHER - Inspector Ramsay #6
• OFFSHORE, Ann Cleeves - Shetland 6.1 - short stories
• 5.0, THE RISING TIDE - Vera #10
• 4.5, THE MISSING AND THE DEAD

Review: THE CAMDEN MURDER, Mike Hollow

• 
  This edition read on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• #7 in the Blitz Murder series
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BBZ288RL
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allison & Busby (December 15, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 337 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

November 1940. As dawn begins to break, blackout regulations are rendered pointless by a car burning fiercely near the Regent's Canal in Camden Town, north London. In the burnt-out vehicle police find the charred remains of a body. The victim is Les Latham, a commercial traveller for the Baring and Sons confectionery company. He liked to be known as Lucky Les, but it seems his luck has finally run out.

Detective Inspector John Jago discovers a mysterious photograph and some suspicious-looking petrol ration books among Latham's belongings. These lead him off on a murky trail of deceit, corruption and murder. It seems that the Blitz Detective will have to make his own luck to bring to light an unexpected killer.

My Take

Another instalment in this lovely series with John Jago and his offsider Peter Cradock hunting down the person responsible for the death of a commercial traveller.

There are a number of red herrings to be discarded before the truth is finally revealed.

What I love about these books is the feeling of authenticity that comes from solid research and details gleaned from the news of the day. (Who knew that early RAF bombers were sent out with homing pigeons to deliver their location in the case of being shot down; or that Great Britain paid Jamaica NOT to export their banana crop?)

In some ways police procedures have not change in 80 years - fingerprinting, dental records etc - but these crimes are set against the setting and stress of London in 1940, and the characterisation is superb. There are glimpses of what is happening in the rest of the world and how England is surviving as Hitler attempts to cut it off.

You will notice that I've inadvertently skipped reading #6, THE PIMLICO MURDER, but I will remedy that in the New Year.

My rating: 4.5 

I've also read

• 4.5, THE BLITZ DETECTIVE - #1
• 4.6, THE CANNING TOWN MURDER -#2 
• 4.5, THE CUSTOM HOUSE MURDER - #3
• 4.5, THE STRATFORD MURDER - #4 
• 4.5, THE DOCKLAND MURDER, - #5

 

Review: DECEPTION, Lesley Pearse

• 
  this edition from my local library
  
• published 2022 by Michael Joseph
• ISBN 978-0-241-14494-1
• 362 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

After the funeral of her mother, Sally, Alice Kent is approached by a man claiming to be her father.

She had accepted Sally's many faults, and her reluctance to ever speak of the past. But faced with this staggering deception, Alice knows she must uncover the whole truth about her mother.

Whatever the cost.

As Alice journeys into the past she discovers her mother may never have been the woman she claimed to be . . .

My Take

Some will point out that this isn't my usual fare of crime fiction, but there are a number of crimes described, and it is based around mystery.

Angus Tweedy's claim to be her father, and to have been gaoled for bigamy with her mother at first upsets Alice Kent, but then sets her off on a quest to learn as much about her mother's life as she can. She tracks down former friends of her mother and manages to piece together answers to many questions.

What Alice finds out is interspersed with a third person narrative which details episodes in her mother's life from when Sally was a small child.

An interesting novel which also reminds us of how the world has changed in the last 80 or so years.I will certainly read more by this author.

My rating: 4.5 

I've also read 4.5, LIAR

Review: DOGBOY V. CATFISH, Luke Gracias

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C5M16D1L
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Authors Upfront (17 May 2023)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 247 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

On the day of her second wedding, Katherine Fisher, aka ‘Catfish,’ set the date for her divorce. In precisely 18 months, she would be entitled to half of their combined assets and receive maintenance payments until her five-year-old daughter, Emma, turns 18. Just as Catfish was about to take her husband, Lindsay ‘Dogboy’ Kramer (a successful businessman and dog whisperer) to the cleaners, he goes missing.

The police investigation into Dogboy’s disappearance leads them into the dark world of counterfeit designer goods, money laundering, and drug smuggling.

With Dogboy’s assets frozen and the mob protecting their interests, the missing persons case escalates to homicide. Catfish is in a race against time to get hold of Dogboy’s assets before the police get hold of her.

One question remains - is Dogboy dead or alive?

My Take

A fascinating tale, told almost in a documentary style.

Katherine Fisher (Catfish) it seems, will do almost anything for money. She sees her husband Lindsay (Dogboy) as a gullible and easy target, but doesn't realise he has realised her intentions, and set his own plans in motion, to ensure that not only is the wealth that she aims to capture is moved out of her reach, but also that the police and the authorities will be able to document what she has been up to.

In the long run Dogboy is able to call on friends that Catfish didn't realise that he had, while her own resources are criminals.

This is a real page turner, unusual format, and unique subject matter.

My rating: 4.7

About the author

Luke Gracias is an Environmental Specialist who has been working part- time in the film industry since 2006. The Codex Gigas or the Devil's Bible is the largest medieval manuscript in the world. It currently resides in the National Library of Sweden. The Codex Gigas has twelve missing pages which are rumoured to contain an apocalyptic test known as the Devil's Prayer.
An avid photographer, Luke travelled through Europe and his home country Australia documenting the 13th Century conspiracy between the Mongols who came to Europe in search of the Devil's Prayer and the Papal Inquisition.  

Review: DROWNING, T. J. Newman

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster (30 May 2023)
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982177918
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982177911

Synopsis (publisher)

Flight attendant turned New York Times bestselling author T. J. Newman's adrenaline-fueled thriller about a commercial jetliner that crashes into the ocean and sinks to the bottom with passengers trapped inside--and the extraordinary rescue operation to save them.

Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors--but it's too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside.

More than two hundred feet below the surface, engineer Will Kent and his eleven-year-old daughter Shannon are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives.

Their only chance at survival is an elite rescue team on the surface led by professional diver Chris Kent--Shannon's mother and Will's soon-to-be ex-wife--who must work together with Will to find a way to save their daughter and rescue the passengers from the sealed airplane, which is now teetering on the edge of an undersea cliff.

There's not much time. There's even less air.

With devastating emotional power and heart-stopping suspense, Drowning is an unforgettable thriller about a family's desperate fight to save themselves and the people trapped with them--against impossible odds.

My Take

Unlike most readers, I have been on a plane when an engine failed. Fortunately we were able to turn around and, after 50 nervous minutes, land safely on the remaining engine.

But in the case of Flight 1421 the engine failure and subsequent explosion was catastrophic.  If you are nervous about flying, you may never want to fly again. but this is also a story about bravery, good training, human nature and the will to survive. The result is a real page turner.

There is a nice twist at the end too.

My rating: 4.8

I've also read

4.9, FALLING

Review: LIAR, Lesley Pearse

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B085ZD3K3W
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (25 June 2020)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 355 pages

Synopsis (publisher) 

Amelia White didn't expect her career as a reporter to start like this: by finding a young woman's body, just around the corner from her Shepherd's Bush bedsit.

With rumours already spreading about this poor murder victim, she seizes her chance to write the true story.

But when more bodies are found, the police are baffled.

Reporting on the story, Amelia meets witnesses as well as suspects. If she can only work out who the liar among them is, she may be able to stop the murders.

Or might she turn herself into the next victim? . . .

My Take

Lesley Pearse is an accomplished author with over 30 titles in 30 years to her credit.

At the same time, however, as feeling some empathy for Amelia, the central character who discovers a body on a rubbish heap during a strike by London's sanitation collectors, I also found her to be a bit gullible and pliable. She is a little too willing to be thrust into the role of investigative journalist by her exploitative editor. As it is, she is very lucky to have some people on the look out for her welfare.

The story was full of twists and turns, leading us first down one path and then another.

My rating: 4.5

About the author

Lesley Pearse was told as a child that she had too much imagination for her own good. When she grew up she worked her way through a number of jobs, including nanny, bunny girl, dressmaker and full-time mother, before, at the age of forty-nine, settling upon a career that would allow her gifts to blossom: she became a published writer. Lesley lives in Devon and has three daughters and three grandchildren.

Find out more about Lesley and keep up to date with what she's been doing:

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