My Review (5 stars out of 5) When the body of a woman is found in a field in Brighton, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is reminded of the disappearance of his own wife. However, identifying the corpse proves difficult as the dead woman’s head is missing. Meanwhile, on his train journey home, struggling businessman Tom…
Month: July 2021
‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Striving to avoid his debts, Tom Ripley is given an opportunity when a businessman offers him a free trip to Europe to track down the man’s errant offspring. With money in his pocket and a talent for forgery, Ripley sets out to create a new life for himself…
‘Pretty Evil New England’ by Sue Coletta
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Exploring murder in nineteenth century New England, crime writer Sue Coletta tells the stories of five female serial killers – Jane Toppan, Lydia Sherman, Nellie Webb, Harriet E. Nason and Sarah Jane Robinson. Delving into their individual backgrounds, she looks at the events that drove these women to…
‘High Risk’ by Ben Timberlake
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) Ben Timberlake delves into his various careers and non-careers as an archaeologist, Special Forces soldier, combat medic and drug addict, emerging in one piece, though perhaps not quite the same man as he once was. From a truly scary near-death experience in a very dodgy bar in…
‘Sherlock Holmes of Baking Street’ Nancy Holder and Margie Deck (Eds)
My Review (5 stars out of 5) This is a compilation of essays, personal reflections and short stories using the general theme of baking as a starting point. As with any anthology, some pieces are more appealing than others but for fans of the detecting duo Holmes and Watson, there’s definitely something for everyone. Several…
‘The Bleak’ by Keith Dixon
My Review (5 stars out of 5) When Sam Dyke meets a new client, her strange behaviour suggests he should drop her like a hot doughnut, but something about Margaret’s story intrigues him. Working in a secret research unit, the woman has serious concerns about her boss, whose own behaviour has taken a turn for…
‘Forgive Me’ by Kateri Stanley
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Amid lots of twists and turns this book reads like a mix of horror, fantasy and paranormal, with the narrative going off in different directions every five minutes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – but for me it made the plot a little hard to follow…
Colin Garrow 