***** When Vera Donovan dies suddenly, her housekeeper Dolores is ready to tell her version of what happened, but with gossip and long-standing suspicions about how her own husband died, Dolores needs to put things straight, so her story is going to be told her way and it’s going to include pretty much everything. This…
Category: murder
‘The Umbrella Man’ by Jake Needham
***** 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…
‘Strangers on a Train’ by Patricia Highsmith
**** On a train journey to meet up with his flirtatious wife in the hope of her agreeing to a divorce, Guy Haines falls into conversation with another passenger, Charles Bruno. Bruno is an odd man whose interest in Guy unearths deep-seated uneasiness about the task Guy hopes to accomplish. Bruno, however, has an idea…
‘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…
‘Family’ by Owen Mullen
***** NB This post first appeared as part of the blog tour for ‘Family’ via Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources. When gangster Luke Glass gets out of prison after a seven-year stretch, he has no intention of going back. The only way to avoid trouble is to get out of the family business, but with…
‘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,…
‘The Man Who Died’ by Antti Tuomainen
***** Mushroom entrepreneur Jaakko is only thirty-seven years of age, so when a doctor reveals that he’s been poisoned and will soon die, Jaakko is determined to find out who is responsible. But that isn’t his only problem – the new mushroom company across the street are trying to steal his customers, one of his…
‘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…
Colin Garrow 