Creating a new series is a bit of a challenge for any author – not only must you come up with a bunch of brand-new characters, but you also need to know where they live, what work they do and any interesting pasts they’ve had before appearing fully-formed in a new adventure. I’m not a…
Category: mystery
‘Night School’ by Lee Child
My Review (5 stars out of 5) When an American demands a hundred million dollars for an unspecified item, it seems the Saudis might be planning something big. Jack Reacher and his sidekick Neagley are sent to Hamburg to find out what, where and who. This is book 21 in the Jack Reacher series and…
‘Elm Brook Manor’ by Iwan Ross
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Author Coby McTavish, also known as Mister Jones, hopes to reinvigorate his life by moving into historic Elm Brook Manor. But the house harbours secrets from the past, including the restless spirit of a murdered woman. Digging into the house’s history, Coby becomes entwined with a scorned mother…
‘A Litter of Bones’ by JD Kirk
My Review (5 stars out of 5) The memory of catching child-killer ‘Mister Whisper’ comes back to haunt DCI Jack Logan when another child goes missing. But with the original perpetrator locked up years earlier, this must be a copycat. Trouble is, some of the details relating to the case are scarily familiar and Logan…
‘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…
‘Get Carter’ by Ted Lewis
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Back home for his brother’s funeral, Jack Carter wants to know what happened. Told that Frank was found dead and drunk in a car at the bottom of a cliff, mob-enforcer Jack knows his sibling was no great drinker. Instructed by his gangster bosses Gerald and Les to…
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…
‘The House on Devil’s Lane’ by SL Ireland
My Review (4 stars out of 5) When she meets cabbie Steve, young mum Kat Riley sees him as a means of escaping both her family and her own troubled past. Taking her baby, she sets off for a picturesque cottage in the Durham countryside. But the house on Derville’s Lane reveals its own dark…
‘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…
Colin Garrow 