**** NB This post first appeared as part of the Blog Tour for ‘Captain Clive’s Dreamworld’ via Emma at Damppebbles. Suspected of being involved in the death of a woman, Deputy Sam Hardy is sent to take over as Deputy of Angels and Hope, a town which boasts an amusement park known as Captain Clive’s…
Category: mystery
‘The Crow Trap’ by Ann Cleeves
***** At an isolated cottage, three women meet to carry out an environmental survey. On her arrival, the first of the three makes a gruesome discovery. Amid the initial investigation of what looks like suicide, the women begin their work, but all three are hiding secrets and when another death occurs, Inspector Vera Stanhope turns…
‘The Two Fathers’ by Keith Dixon
***** NB This post first appeared as part of the Blog Tour for ‘The Two Fathers’. Cinema manager Brian turns up at Sam Dyke’s house one night asking for help. Despite Dyke’s reluctance to take on what appears to be a ‘divorce’ case, he listens to Brian’s story and learns that the wife, Jessica, is…
‘If She Dies’ by Erik Therme
***** NB This post first appeared as part of the Blog Tour for ‘If She Dies’ by Eric Therme. Months after the death of her five-year-old daughter, Tess has fallen into a daily routine – a routine that involves watching someone else’s child as the girl makes her way to school. Tess knows Eve Brady…
‘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…
‘Lazarus Remembered’ by EJ Harper
***** Learning that his mother Lydia is dying, Peter Mackenzie’s life erupts as work demands, arguments with his partner and the urgency to return to Australia all converge in a flurry of pressure and anxiety. Having left his home as a teenager, Peter has plenty of reasons for not going back, but if he doesn’t,…
‘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…
‘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 