My Review (5 stars out of 5) A crash involving a teenage joyrider and a routine DNA test prompts a new look at a twenty-year-old murder inquiry. But Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie’s interest is piqued by a different case – one her boss tells her to leave alone. Digging into both cases, Karen soon…
Author: colingarrow
‘The House of Light and Shadows’ by Lauren Westwood
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Finance solicitor Kate is wrenched from her legal firm when her estranged sister is admitted to hospital. Sibling Emma’s children need someone to take care of them until their mother is well enough to take over. Unfortunately, the relationship between the two sisters is not on an even…
‘Dead Lions’ by Mick Herron
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Slough House boss Jackson Lamb travels to Oxford to check what a dead body might be doing on a bus. When the corpse turns out to be former spy Dickie Bow, it sets Lamb wondering if the apparently assassinated spook left some sort of message, something that might…
‘The Woven Lie’ by Liz Harris
My Review (4 stars out of 5) This is the first book I’ve read by this author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I lived in Suffolk for several years, so it was interesting to come across places I’m familiar with, such as The Angel, in Bury St Edmunds, where Charles Dickens stayed while…
‘Killing Rommel’ by Steven Pressfield
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) In 1942, Hitler’s armies are sweeping across Europe. In North Africa, Rommel has beaten back the British Eighth Army and stands ready to overrun Egypt, Suez, and the oil fields of the Middle East. The British come up with a desperate plan to infiltrate enemy lines and…
‘Old Rage’ by Sheila Hancock
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) Actor and writer Sheila Hancock writes about her life from (and before) 2016, recalling incidents from her childhood, her long acting career and her marriage to actor John Thaw. But she also talks a lot of about politics, Covid, lockdown, racism and the difficulties of getting old.…
‘Chasing Her Shadow’ by Joy Mutter
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Actor Wilhelm Schreiber lives in London with his Italian wife and their sons. But the growing rivalry between siblings Wolfgang and Conrad, soon takes a dangerous turn. I’ve read most of this author’s books so am familiar with her penchant for those classic literary themes, murder and lust.…
‘Get Carter’ by Ted Lewis
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Back home for his brother’s funeral, Jack Carter wants to know what happened. Told that Frank was found dead and drunk in a car at the bottom of a cliff, mob-enforcer Jack knows his sibling was no great drinker. Instructed by his gangster bosses Gerald and Les to…
‘The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken’
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Most of us, at some point in our lives, either ourselves or one of our loved ones, will go through the experience of having to appear in a criminal courtroom. Written anonymously by a barrister, this book brings to light some of the cases where justice doesn’t work…
Giving up the Ghost – the Agony of an Unfinished Novel
Like many writers, I’m a big fan of Stephen King, and have taken on board most of his advice about storytelling, character development and the routine of writing. However, his suggestion that ‘Stopping a piece of writing just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea,’ doesn’t always work for me. Having…
Colin Garrow 