***** When bombs explode in three American hotels in the heart of Singapore, Inspector Sam Tay is close by – so close by that he is injured and spends several days in hospital. On waking, he is disturbed to learn that he won’t be involved in investigating the bombings and has instead been assigned to…
Category: detective
‘Rivers of London’ by Ben Aaronovitch
***** Probationary cop Peter Grant longs for an interesting transfer in the Metropolitan Police Service, but after a strange encounter with Nicholas Wallpenny (who happens to be a ghost), what he gets is something unexpected. Learning that his new inspector is also a bit of a wizard, Grant finds himself talking to dead people, casting…
‘Troubled’ by Joy Mutter
***** The discovery of a naked body on the banks of a river in Sheffield, sets off an immediate police investigation. DCI Cosgrove and his team soon find themselves immersed in the dark world of grooming gangs, manipulation and child abuse. With kooky scientist Fenton Nightingale on the run, Cosgrove and his DS Theresa Smart,…
‘Double Indemnity’ by James M Cain
***** Insurance agent Walter Huff gets into deep water when he meets beautiful temptress Phyllis Nirdlinger. Cooking up a plot to kill the woman’s husband, Huff looks forward to getting the money and the girl. Unfortunately, the plan to pull off the perfect murder falls foul of Huff’s boss, Barton Keyes, who knows more about…
‘White Nights’ by Ann Cleeves
***** During an art event in the small community of Biddista, Shetland cop Jimmy Perez encounters an Englishman who appears to have lost his memory. When the man is later found dead in a fisherman’s hut, it looks like suicide, but further examination reveals he’s been murdered. Forced to bring in experts and another detective…
‘Sabine’ by AJ Griffiths-Jones
***** New Year’s Eve finds Max Mallery and his team celebrating, but the festivities are destined to come to a swift end the following day when a body is discovered at the Saint Margaux Vineyard. Unfortunately, Therese Bisset’s is not the only suspicious death – the apparent suicide of an engineer begins to look like…
‘Mongkok Station’ by Jake Needham
***** NB This post first appeared as part of the Blog Tour for ‘Mongkok Station’ organised by Emma at Damppebbles. Former Singapore detective Sam Tay is retired. Or at least, that’s the theory. When John August from the American intelligence community asks a favour, Tay doesn’t feel he can refuse. Especially as it involves working…
‘The Deadly Truth’ by Valerie Keogh
***** Newly promoted to junior partner, Melanie Scott feels she’s got everything going for her, so when she meets the charming Hugo in a pub, it’s just another good thing in her life. And that’s when something in Melanie’s past comes back to haunt her. Taunted by mysterious texts and emails, it seems like her…
‘The Big Nowhere’ by James Ellroy
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy ***** Los Angeles, 1950. Communist witch hunts and a spate of violent killings throw three men into a complex and dangerous web of lies, deceit and murder. (Audiobook/paperback) This is Ellroy’s second novel in the LA Quartet series. Though there are a few nods to the first book, The…
‘Pietr the Latvian’ by Georges Simenon
**** Georges Simenon’s first outing with his Parisian detective follows the pipe-smoking investigator round the seamier side of the city, as he attempts to track down master criminal, Pietr the Latvian. My first impressions of this book were that either Simeonon was a really crap writer, or that the translation is at fault, my reasoning…
Colin Garrow 