My Review (5 stars out of 5) In her basement office within the Baker Street Building Society, Harriet (Harry) White has been given the job of responding to mail addressed to Sherlock Holmes. A telegram asking for the great detective’s help prompts Harry to investigate. A nephew of the author Philip St John is convinced…
Category: Crime
‘Mystic River’ by Dennis Lehane
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Three childhood friends – Sean, Dave and Jimmy – are thrown together again when the daughter of one of them is murdered. Now a cop, Sean is part of the investigation and finds himself regurgitating an incident from the past involving Dave, while Jimmy struggles to get his…
‘Bedlam’ by LJ Ross
My Review (5 stars out of 5) While lecturing in the US, forensic psychologist and criminal profiler Dr Alexander Gregory is invited to help the New York State Homicide Squad. The wife of a notorious Mafia boss has been admitted to a private psychiatric hospital. The FBI is concerned she won’t be able to follow…
‘You Are Dead’ by Peter James
My Review (5 stars out of 5) A disturbing case sets Detective Superintendent Roy Grace on the trail of a serial killer. Someone is targeting young women who all have similar features. Bizarrely, those bodies that have been recovered have been branded with the words, ‘U R Dead’. Following the abduction of Logan Somerville, Grace…
‘Mary Ann Cotton – Dark Angel’ by Martin Connolly
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In West Auckland, County Durham, in 1872, Mary Ann Cotton was arrested and charged with the murder of her stepson. Married four times and supposedly having borne twelve children, she was found guilty and hanged in Durham Goal. Charting the details of the trials and claims she may…
‘Ripley Under Ground’ by Patricia Highsmith
My Review (3 stars out of 5) A team of art fraudsters at the Buckmaster Gallery in London plan an exhibition of work by Derwatt – a dead artist whose works they’ve been forging. Tom Ripley’s part in the scam requires him to help perpetuate the myth. Travelling to England from his home in France,…
‘The Shadow of Death’ by Philip E Ginsburg
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) During the 1980s, a killer stabbed six women in the Connecticut River Valley, between New Hampshire and Vermont. Despite rigorous investigations, the murderer has never been caught. Author Philip E. Ginsburg reveals the pioneering forensic methods police and FBI agents used to track the killer. The only…
‘Silent Voices’ by Ann Cleeves
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Following her doctor’s orders, DI Vera Stanhope makes the effort to take regular exercise by swimming a few lengths of the pool in her local gym. When she discovers a body in the sauna room it looks as though the woman died of natural causes, but ligature marks…
‘Chase – The Hunt for the Tsar’s Treasure’ by Thomas Dellenbusch
My Review (4 stars out of 5) The Chase team’s IT specialist Andree is drawn into a new adventure when an old classmate asks for his help. An encrypted data carrier may hold clues to Russian treasure but before Andree’s friend can tell him more, she is kidnapped by a gang of motorcyclists. Translated by…
‘The Fells’ by Cath Staincliffe
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In the summer 1997, Vicky Mott leaves the cottage where she’s staying with her friends and walks off into the early morning light. Her disappearance is put down to the serial killer known as the Fellside Strangler but when Vicky’s body is discovered twenty years later, the possibility…
Colin Garrow 