My Review (5 stars out of 5) Professional stripper Veda Rux steals an expensive Cellini dagger from a millionaire’s house – seemingly during a sleepwalking incident. The woman’s agent, Cornelius Gorman, ropes in dodgy PI Floyd Jackson, in a bid to return the dagger to the millionaire’s safe before he learns it’s missing. Jackson thinks…
Category: Characters
‘Night Service’ by John F Leonard
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Luke and Jessica are out on their third date and need to get home. Short of cash, the night bus looks like a sensible choice, but they soon discover that all is not as it seems… This horror novella is a fairly short read (I finished it in…
‘Men of Iron’ by MJ Porter
My Review (4 stars out of 5) This is the first book in a new series titled The Dark Age Chronicles. With little historical documentation to fall back on, the story is instead inspired by archaeological evidence, though the author’s knowledge of the period (real or imagined) does shine through. The plot revolves around several…
‘Welcome to Cooper’ by Tariq Ashkanani
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Transferred to the town of Cooper, Detective Thomas Levine struggles to get over the death of his girlfriend, as well as coming to terms with his own dubious past. He is paired with a cop who has a similar history of bending the rules, and who soon leads…
‘Murder at the Residence’ by Stella Blomkvist
My Review (4 stars out of 5) The New Year dawns to find Iceland still coming to terms with the effects of the financial crash. When an infamous financier is beaten to death following a reception at the President’s residence, the cops soon have a man in custody. But lawyer Stella Blómkvist thinks there may…
‘See Them Run’ by Marion Todd
My Review (5 stars out of 5) During a wedding celebration, one of the guests ventures outside to meet an admirer – only to discover the individual has something more deadly in mind. Called to the scene, DI Clare Mackay is faced with a puzzle. The dead man has a white card on his body…
‘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…
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…
‘Finders Keepers’ by Stephen King
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Obsessed with the books of author John Rothstein, Morris Bellamy breaks into the writer’s house with a view to stealing a stash of notebooks that could contain an as-yet unpublished novel. Years later, as Bellamy is coming to the end of a jail sentence, schoolboy Pete Saubers discovers…
‘Unnatural Exposure’ by Patricia Cornwell
My Review (5 stars out of 5) A series of murders committed thousands of miles apart sets Kay Scarpetta on a path to find the connection. But discrepancies with the most recent corpse suggest someone else may be behind the killings. When another body is found, however, the body points to a sinister and deadly…
Colin Garrow 