***** 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…
Category: murder
‘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…
‘Crime and Justice’ by Martin Bodenham
***** NB This post first appeared as part of a Damppebbles Blog Tour. When the son of a hard-hearted Seattle mayor is accused of rape, it throws his mother’s candidacy for state governor into jeopardy. Meanwhile, crime-lab worker Clark is in trouble—with mounting debts and a threat to his wife’s career, the possibility of smoothing…
‘A Fine Day for a Hanging’ by Carol Ann Lee
***** When 28-year-old Ruth Ellis shot her lover, David Blakely, in 1955, she set in motion a trial that rocked the country. Found guilty, she was sentenced to death and became the last woman to be hanged in Britain. With many theories about what really happened, this account attempts to lay out the facts, rather…
‘Still You Sleep’ by Kate Vane
***** In her own place and with her family and a support worker nearby, Vikki Smith seems happy – until she is found dead by a burglar. With a video and Vikki’s name trending on social media, the trolls come out of the woodwork. But could one of them be responsible for her death, or…
‘The Hard Swim’ by Keith Dixon
***** During World War Two, a group of SAS soldiers are captured, shot and buried in a forest in the heart of France. Seventy years on, a young woman is targeted by a team of experienced killers who attempt to abduct her following a meeting at Edinburgh Zoo. Fortunately, PI Sam Dyke observes the would-be…
‘The Moving Toyshop’ by Edmund Crispin
**** Poet Richard Cadogan sets off for a much-needed holiday to Oxford. Arriving late one night, he becomes intrigued to find the door of a toyshop unlocked. Snooping around, he discovers the dead body of an elderly woman. Before he can do anything else, someone bops him on the head. Informing the police, Cadogan is…
‘No Love Lost’ by Robert Crouch
***** When Kent Fisher interviews a young woman as a prospective new employee, he gets a bit of a surprise. But agreeing to help track down the woman’s mother, who abandoned her as a baby, he also sets in motion a series of dramatic events that could change his life forever. Aided by cop pal…
‘The Quality of Mercy’ by Malia Zaidi
**** Returning home to London, Lady Evelyn plans to start her own detective agency and having done so, soon finds herself with a dead body on her hands. With her forthcoming marriage to Daniel also on the cards, Lady E must also consider what she wants out of life. In the meantime, she has to…
Colin Garrow 