The Cadaver Game by Kate Ellis

The Cadaver Game is a chilling crime  story beginning with a hunt. We're in Devon, not long after the ban on fox-hunting, but if you waft a hundred pounds under the noses of a few willing teenagers, you can set up a hunt with human quarry. Only this time it all goes horribly wrong, and instead of being tagged and sent off back to get dressed - yes, did I tell you, the kids are chased in nothing but their running shoes? - two young people are shot.

The case bears a resemblance to events at Catton Hall in the early part of the nineteenth century, as recorded in the journals of the squire’s unpleasant jester who acts as entertainment officer as well as his steward, excerpts of which are woven into the narrative. This at times makes for grim reading, involving acts of terror and violence, plus slavering hounds. 

At modern-day Catton Hall, a famous artist has paid Richard Catton a large fee to excavate a buried picnic from sixteen years before. The whole process is to be filmed and displayed at the Tate Modern, and running the dig is DI Wesley Peterson’s chum Neil Watson. A load of pretentious nonsense according to some, but things take a darker turn when an old skeleton is discovered in a bin liner among the buried china and glassware.

But before Wesley and Gerry and the team can get stuck into either case, an anonymous emergency call sends a squad car to the address of a single woman, found dead in her bedroom. The body is a couple of weeks old, her face barely recognisable. The house belongs to a jeweller and her phone isn’t picking up but everyone says she’s in France on holiday.

There’s a lot going on, and the same characters seem to crop up in many of the scenarios, so the wily reader is eager to spot connections. But until the dead woman can be identified, Wesley and co are running around in circles. It doesn’t help that an officer of Wesley’s is a cousin to one of the dead teenagers. Emotions are high and there are lots of buried secrets among the bones as well as skeletons in the closet.

The Cadaver Game is a terrific police procedural on the one hand and an interesting glimpse at a corner of history on the other. Ellis has ticked all the boxes for setting and atmosphere, as well as keeping lots of plots and subplots bubbling away. But at the end of the day, this is a novel about character and the darker turns of the human heart. The ending has a few twists which I didn’t see coming plus a nail-biting showdown involving armed police.

In short The Cadaver Game is a brilliant read and coming in at number 16 (out of 24), you know there are plenty more in the series to enjoy. This is the first one for me and it didn’t seem to matter that I haven’t read the books in order. I shall definitely be popping back to Devon to check in on Wesley and Neil some time soon.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: The Cadaver Game

The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill

One of the two things that can make for a captivating mystery novel is an interesting setting. Think Martin Walker's Bruno novels set in Provence or Anne Perry's numerous novels set in Victorian London. Colin Cotterill's Dr Siri novels start out in 1970s Laos, a country which was once part of French Indochina, recently made independent by a Communist insurrection. Things aren't so very different under the Pathet Lao Party, just a new set of picky rules and a lack of good restaurants. 

Dr Siri Paiboun, now in his seventies, thinks after a lifetime of commitment to the communist party, it might be nice to retire, but with many of the educated classes having abandoned Laos for Thailand, doctors are in short supply. When he is appointed as chief coroner, he has no experience, no choice and a very basic morgue with no air conditioning. Just as well he has help from Geung, a Downs Syndrome morgue attendant with a brilliant memory and Dtui, a smart young nurse with a yen for glamour she can never aspire to.

This brings me to the other key ingredient in a winning mystery series - the characters. Siri is a dry, philosophising sleuth whose love of Maigret novels as a student in Paris comes in handy in recognising something fishy. The subordinate characters, Dtui and Geung, Siri's friends and neighbours, the police detective who rides in on a smoking motorcycle are all entertaining and add to the rich vein of dialogue that pervades the novel.

Of course the story has to be interesting too. Siri hits the ground running with several perplexing cases. First off, a senior official's wife who dies at a banquet but with no lab, (and very soon no body either) how is Siri to determine cause of death? Then there's one of three bodies found in a reservoir showing  marks of torture. And what is the story of the fisherman who lost his legs in an accident at the wharf?

The cases pile up and Siri has to use his ingenuity to avoid treading on Party toes and yet see justice prevail - one way or another. And then there are Siri's ghostly dreams where the recently dead appear and give helpful clues. There's a reason for this, which like the neigbourhood dog that growls as Siri passes, will be explained later on.

I really enjoyed the audiobook edition of this introduction to the series. The reader, Gareth Armstrong, has the tone just right for the numerous characters that people the book, particularly Dr Siri and his dry humour. I wish the library had the whole series on audio, but fortunately we have plenty of other readable options to discover. 

Posted by JAM

Catalogue links: 

The Coroner's Lunch (audiobook)

The Coroner's Lunch (ebook)

The Coroner's Lunch (print copy)

The Coroner's Lunch (large print)

A Time to Run by J M Peace

Young Australian police officer Sammi and her long term partner Gavin have had one of their arguments. While Gavin heads out for a run to cool off, Sammi decides to visit her friend Candy in Brisbane for a night out on the town.

With a police shift the following afternoon, Sammi’s plan is to have not too much of a good time, crash at Candy’s place and leave early the next day to drive the over three hour trek home to Angel’s Crossing.

When she doesn’t return home, Gavin is worried. When she doesn’t turn up to work, the normally very reliable Sammi becomes a missing person, sparking a police hunt across Queensland.

Ticking off the minutes, hours and then days, the narrative slips between the fleeing Sammi and the police investigation. Sammi isn’t your normal fictional victim. She is tough and resourceful but no super hero – she knows her limits. On her side is Brisbane Detective Senior Constable Janine Postlewaite who from the beginning believed something sinister had happened to Sammi and like a dog with a bone she won’t give up.

As the evening draws in on the second night of Sammi’s disappearance and the lead detectives pack it in for the night, it was nearing 11pm at our house. Could I put this book down and wait till the morning to see if she survives? No! I could not leave Sammi to fight it out in the Australian bush alone. This fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller had me reading till the wee small hours when the last page was turned.

With a carefully-crafted plot; strong, intelligent female characters in Sammi and Janine; and real life police procedures (the author is an Australian serving police officer), this is an exciting, suspenseful read.

And to top it all off, J M Peace has written a sequel. This time I will start earlier in the day in anticipation of another not-to-be-put-down crime thriller.

Posted by Miss Moneypenny

Catalogue link: A Time to Run

It All Falls Down by Sheena Kamal

In the fictional world of private eyes; sassy and quirkiness often go hand in hand. Add a serious touch of prickliness tinged with a no-nonsense attitude, and you have PI-in-training and research assistant Nora Watts; the unlikely heroine in this the second book in Sheena Kamal’s detective series.

In the first book, Eyes Like Mine, Nora is looking for a missing teenager that she has a personal connection with. Continuing on from that story her quest sees her heading for Detroit to find information about her deceased father, spurred on by a chance encounter with a veteran who served with her father. As Nora starts unravelling the mystery behind her father’s suicide she unexpectedly uncovers details on her mother, the woman who abandoned Nora and her sister when they were very young. And then, as is the norm with Nora, trouble follows her. Trouble that is trying to kill her.

Back in her home town of Vancouver, former police officer turned private investigator and Nora’s old AA sponsor Jon Brazuca is doing some investigating of his own. Hired to investigate the drug overdose of a billionaire’s pregnant mistress, his mission takes on an ominous twist that leads Brazuca to believe Nora is in danger.

The two narratives of Nora and Brazuca run alongside each other and although the reader knows they must link up it takes some clever plotting to bring them together with a satisfying conclusion. However like all good crime series there are some incomplete story lines that the author addresses with a final chapter titled Letter to the Reader.

For me one of the stars of the series is Nora’s dog Whisper. With one look Whisper can convey extremely complex messages to any humans he comes into contact with. This stray turned loyal companion deserves his own series and delivers some of the few lighter moments in this otherwise psychologically suspenseful story.

If you like strong flawed female heroines that despite their faults grow on you; then start first with Eyes Like Mine, you won’t be disappointed.


Reviewed by Miss Moneypenny

Cataolgue link:  It All Falls Down