The Searcher by Tana French

You might remember Tana French as the author of the Dublin Murder Squad series. I first came across French with her dark and twisty psychological thriller, The Wych Elm, which I loved, so was pleased to get my hands on her new book, The Searcher. But this novel has quite a different feel, with its setting in the hinterlands of Ireland, in a tiny hamlet miles from anywhere.

Former Chicago cop, Cal Hooper, has taken early retirement, his divorce still raw, when he buys a run-down house on a small holding in rural Ireland. He wants to spend his time fishing and hunting, living the quiet life. But when he befriends a teenager from a troubled  home, he soon finds himself involved against his better judgement in a missing person's case.

Young Trey tells Cal his older brother Brendan has been missing for several months, and thinks he wouldn't run away without telling anyone. Cal reluctantly begins to interview Brendan's friends and his troubled mother, but soon comes up against a wall of secrecy and well, not lies exactly, but a lot of blarney. Cal doesn't want to be the one who has to give Trey the bad news, but his cop's instincts suggest that things don't look good.

The story moves at a gentle pace that suits the quiet, rural setting, gathering steam as Cal discovers more than is wise. In the background, Cal's chatty neighbour, Mart, invites him to the pub where stories about sheep being attacked by wild cats or UFOs are the order of the day. Mart and the town gossip, Noreen, conspire to set Cal up with Lena, who is only really interested in persuading Cal to take a puppy from her dog's new litter.

There's plenty of Irish banter and Cal takes a lot of ribbing, but French also reminds you that there isn't a lot for young people in places like this - they either leave for the city or get into trouble of one kind or another. Secrecy and threats of violence add a layer of menace which cranks up the tension as the story develops.  You really feel for Trey and his family, who are struggling, but no one lends a helping hand. Cal himself is an interesting and likable character, often a fish out of water, the outsider who has a lot to learn about how things are done.

I found The Searcher a little slow to begin with, but I am glad I stuck with it as the story pulls you in and builds to a satisfying ending. But it is as a character-driven mystery that this novel really shines, with plenty of empathy and insight. Tana French is definitely an author who consistently delivers a terrific read and I shall be looking forward to see what she comes up with next.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: The Searcher

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

Elly Griffiths won an Edgar Award for The Stranger Diaries which introduced us to DS Harbinder Kaur. Now Harbinder’s back with a new murder to solve – that of ninety-year-old Peggy Smith who lived in sheltered care. Because of her age, the doctor writes the death off as natural causes, but Natalka, the visiting caregiver, smells a rat. Peggy was still spritely and busy, and then there’s her business card: Mrs M Smith, Murder Consultant.

Peggy isn’t much missed by her money-grubbing son Nigel who has her cremated quickly and her flat boxed up, ready to sell. She is missed by her neighbour, eighty-year-old Edwin and Benedict, the former monk who runs the Coffee Shack on the waterfront below Peggy’s flat. The three of them used to meet over coffee to talk murder mysteries and solve cryptic crosswords. We soon learn that Peggy helped several well-known crime novelists with their murder plots, particularly Dex Challinor, who lives in a fancy part of town and is a best-selling author.

The story takes us into the world of publishing, book marketing and literary festivals as Natalka, Edwin and Benedict team up to solve Peggy’s murder. They are an unlikely set of allies: Natalka is from Ukraine and talks like a spy – she thinks she’s being followed too. Elderly, gay Edwin is refined and charming while Benedict swirls a heart pattern on Natalka’s cappuccinos, which she never seems to notice.

DS Kaur promises to look into the case, and a new murder that might be linked has the police on the job, but it’s getting hard to rein in Team Natalka. The three sleuths head to a literary festival in Aberdeen to talk to some of the authors who might have used Peggy’s services. As tension mounts, and the team assemble more facts and get to know each other, the story builds to a several showdowns and nail-biting moments.

There’s a ton of humour too – I found myself laughing out loud not only at the interactions of Natalka, Edwin and Benedict but also with Harbinder’s wry mutterings and ongoing stress over her parents and how to tell them she’s gay. You can tell that Griffiths – herself a best-selling author – has had a lot of fun sending up the hype around publishing and the ever ingenious gimmicks marketing departments come up with to sell books. This series is shaping up to be as welcome as Griffith’s hugely popular Nelson and Galloway series.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: The Postscript Murders

Miss Moneypenny's Holiday Mystery Reading

This is the time of year when I start putting together the books I want to read over the summer. Catching up with detectives both professional and amateur is a perfect way to spend the summer. 

A Better Man by Louise Penny. This, a most excellent French Canadian mystery series, is centred around the fictional village of Three Pines and the most likeable Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. There are continuing storylines as well as births, deaths and marriages so if this is a new series for you start with Still Life. 

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith. I was initially reluctant to read this detective series written by the Harry Potter author J K Rowling. But don’t be like me and let this successful children’s author put you off as this is a great mystery series. The British protagonist, private detective, Cormoran Strike has an uneasy truce with life. Along with crimes to solve, Cormoran has romantic ups and downs and more personal issues that you can shake a stick at. Start with book number one: The Cuckoo’s Calling. 

Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner. This is the second in the British police detective series featuring Det. Sgt. Manon Bradshaw. In the first book in the series Missing, Presumed, socially awkward Manon is called into a missing person case. Edith comes from an affluent background but with her boyfriend Will they led a self sufficient lifestyle (well apart from the money Daddy gives her). When she goes missing the worst is feared. Needs to be read in order. 

A Willing Murder by Jude Deveraux. Romantic novelist Deveraux has branched into the world of crime with this the first in the Medlar Mystery Series. The main characters are bored and successful romance novelist Sara Medlar, her niece Kate and house guest Jack. Looks promising. 

Hunting Game by Helene Tursten. I was introduced to Tursten with her collection of detective short stories: An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good. Hunting Game is set in Sweden with Detective Inspector Embla Nyström on holiday moose hunting when a body turns up. Billed as slow burning and atmospheric; here's hoping it lives up to its reviews.

Murder at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison. Now for something different - a cosy mystery set in a quaint village in the English county of Devon. Kat is about to launch into her new career in the antique business when her mother recklessly purchases a dilapidated carriage house. Kat finds herself drawn into the affairs of the local stately mansion. Cute, quirky and fun – a perfect choice for a relaxing read over the summer.

Posted by Miss Moneypenny

A Talent for Murder by Andrew Wilson

Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance in 1926 sparked a massive police search and decades of speculation, movies and books, both fiction and faction. Andrew Wilson has used this 10-day period in the Queen of Crime's life to begin his mystery series featuring Agatha as his sleuth. While many have posited that the writer had a kind of mental break-down when her marriage failed and she just needed to get away for a bit, Wilson makes her the victim of an evil plot by the sadistic and manipulative Dr Kurs.

Kurs wants to get rid of his wealthy wife and, like so many Christie fans, having recently read and been impressed by The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, he sees a way to get Agatha to do his bidding. Meeting on a windswept plain in December, Kurs has Christie stand by as he crashes her beloved car down a slope, along with her luggage and fur coat, before whisking her off to London and from there by train to the spa town of Harrogate. 

With the threat of harm to her young daughter, Agatha must use her wits and expertise with poisons to somehow outfox Kurs, put an end to his machinations and save herself and her loved ones. Meanwhile the police are desperate to find a body, sinking all their resources into dredging ponds and scouring the countryside where her car was found.

Wilson has created an imaginative thriller around the facts of Agatha's disappearance, outlined in a postscript - don't read it before you read the novel - it contains spoilers! We meet Davison who works for the British secret service who, like Kurs, is hopeful to engage Agatha's formidable brain, this time for intelligence work. And then there's his plucky young chum, Una, who still feeling somewhat low since the death of her beloved father, plans to make a name for herself as a journalist by investigating  Mrs Christie's disappearance.

It all comes together in a very smart way, and is surprisingly believable. I enjoyed meeting Agatha - she's a terrific character and Wilson has since brought her to life in three more mysteries, with no doubt more to come. Readers who have enjoyed Agatha Christie's fiction will love the series, and those who haven't may well be inspired to give her books a go. 

Posted by JAM

Catalogue links: 

A Talent for Murder (regular print)

A Talent for Murder (large print)

A Talent for Murder (ebook)

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

'The queen of just-one-more-chapter does it again,' says the blurb on one of Ruth Ware's novels. And certainly, she lives up to that crown here. The Turn of the Key is a novel where we have a twenty-something nanny writing from prison where she's serving a sentence for killing one of her charges. There is an obvious reference to the Henry James story, The Turn of the Screw so I knew I had to prepare myself for a reasonably high level of creepiness.

Ware is a wiz at spooky houses and this one has it in spades. It's a large Victorian manor in a remote part of Scotland, with a rambling, overgrown garden, a part of which - walled and locked - is a secret garden and home to a collection of extremely poisonous plants. A former owner studied them, with tragic consequences - his ghost said to haunt the attics. But what makes this house particularly spooky is that it seems to have a mind of its own.

The owners of Heatherbrae, Sandra and Bill, are architects who have installed a state-of-the-art electronic system which controls locks, curtains, temperatures, lights and everything else you could think of. The fridge tells you when to buy more milk. There's also the Happy app, where nanny Rowan, and also Sandra and Bill, can watch what's happening in many of the rooms. Rowan puts a sock over the webcam in her bedroom, naturally.

The other thing Ware is great at is creating unreliable narrators. Rowan, writing to a barrister, attempting to put the record straight, is edgy from the start. But even from her first application to become Bill and Sandra's nanny, we know she's got a secret or two - which Ware cleverly uses to create a brilliant twist later in the book.

What with absentee parents, a Mrs Danvers style housekeeper, stories of ghosts and a poison garden, poor Rowan has more than enough to deal with before we even get to the kids. Here we have a  porridge throwing toddler, a troubled five-year-old; a devious eight-year-old and a wayward teen - alone enough to deter anyone from a career in childcare. No wonder it all soon goes very wrong.

The story builds gradually in tension, and even though I'm not wonderful with spooky stories, I found I just had to keep reading. There was always just enough logic for me to see that there could always be a non-supernatural explanation. With a few dramatic plot twists, one or two left till the very end, The Turn of the Key is a very satisfying read - one of Ware's best so far.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: The Turn of the Key

The Golden Age of Crime Fiction

One of our Third Thursday Book Club members has been reading books from the British Library Crime Classics collection –These are ‘hidden gems from the Golden Age of crime fiction.’ and even have a facebook fan group devoted to them: https://www.facebook.com/BritishLibraryCrimeClassics/

Our reader’s favourite this month was Murder in the Mill-Race by ECR Lorac.

So what is this ‘Golden Age of Crime Fiction’?

Wikipedia explains that it was ‘an era of classic murder mystery novels of similar patterns and styles, predominantly in the 1920s and 1930s.’ Many of the authors were British, such as G K Chesterton, and Dorothy L Sayers; although a few Americans also wrote in this genre, but with a distinctly British flavour.

Golden Age whodunits are built around certain established conventions and clichés that leave the reader knowing what to expect –no surprises in the plot, clear clues that lead to the identity of the murderer, and stereotypical settings such as the secluded English Country House.

A typical plot of the Golden Age mystery might go something like this:

•Guests have arrived at a country house for the weekend. They are likely to include characters such as an aristocratic young man, an opinionated widow and her independent daughter, a retired clergyman, the prodigal older son of the house; and an unlikely detective .

•The gardener discovers a body on the manicured lawn next to the orangery.

•Due to unexpected flooding, the police are unable to get to the house to assist until the river goes down.

As society changed in the 1940s and readers became more critical and challenging of the norms presented in Golden Age Crime Fiction, the decline of their popularity began. Rather than being seen as the height of fashion and literary achievement, Golden Age Crime became displaced by books drawing inspiration from wider society, and more well rounded and diverse characters. Their influence lives on in the modern genre of ‘cosy’ mysteries however –set in tea rooms, rustic cabins, catteries and quilting shops; as well as in popular television such as MidsomerMurders and the game of Cluedo.

Modern readers who thirst for blood may love their forensic science and police procedurals, but for those of us who want a rollicking good light read, set in a quaint vicarage during a snowstorm, with all the clues assembled so that we can gradually guess who the real villain is……golden age crime classics are perfect. And as Agatha Christie’s enduring popularity proves, it’s a winning formula for success.

Posted by Elizabeth 

Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

I saw this book on a colleague’s desk and picked it up. After flicking through a couple of pages it had definitely caught my interest and I decided it was worth a read. 

The main character, a bookstore owner, is interviewed by an FBI agent about a book list he had created for his blog some years before. Eight books describing eight perfect murders. But why is he being interviewed? What's the agent's interest? It's all about unsolved murders which appear to be following the plot lines of various murder mystery novels... are they following his list?

I immediately identified with the main character, as running a small independent book shop is a bit of a fantasy of mine. He seems plain, boring and a bit clueless and as you find out more about him this impression is only reinforced. However, as you follow him further and deeper into the story, more and more information comes to light and those impressions change.

This is a book with twists and turns that keep going right to the end, packed with psychological suspense.

You also end up with a good list of books to read at a later date. Look out for Nero the cat (He didn't do it).

eBook Link: Rules for Perfect Murders

Posted by Rob

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

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

Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn

This wonderful book is a mystery story with a twist – told entirely from Chet the dog's perspective. Bernie Little is a private detective and together with his dog Chet they make the best crime-solving team. In this case, their client is Cynthia, a mother desperate to find her daughter Madison who has been missing for 8 hours – the police won’t look into it until 24 hours have passed. Bernie and Chet don't usually do this kind of thing but they need the money so take the job.

Chet and Bernie go to Cynthia's house to gain information about Madison but just as they are leaving, Madison arrives home. She explains where she has been but Bernie quickly ascertains that she is lying. When Madison disappears again, her mother waits over a day to call because she turned up before. Things work out rather differently this time as Bernie’s car tyres get slashed and Chet is injured.

The police believe she has run away and are not very concerned but Bernie and Chet continue to look for Madison. This story is well written and although I thought I knew the 'what' for a while, I hadn’t figured out the 'why' until the end.

Spencer Quinn has written several other titles in this series including Thereby Hangs a Tail and To Fetch a Thief (both on Libby). Although I slightly skimmed some parts to get to the 'why' in the plot, Spencer Quinn has easily become a new favourite author. He also wrote the Bowser and Birdie series which is in the Junior Fiction section at the Library.

Posted by Andrea

Catalogue link: Dog on It

A House of Ghosts by W C Ryan

William Ryan is an award-winning Irish writer, known for his Captain Korolev series set in 1930s Moscow. Writing as W C Ryan, his latest book, A House of Ghosts, mixes mystery with an element of the supernatural.

The novel is set in 1917, on a wild and rugged island off the Devon coast, where sits Blackwater Abbey, the baronial pile belonging to Lord Highmount, a munitions entrepreneur. The Abbey is so old it is well and truly haunted and having lost both of their sons in the war, the Highmounts bring together two mediums in the hope of communicating with the dead.

But that isn’t all that is going on at the Abbey. London’s Whitehall suspects someone has been leaking plans for a new torpedo designed at Highmount’s factory. Among the guests, Madame Feda and Count Orlov are suspicious because they are, well, foreign. Also tagging along is Rolleston Miller-White, who has gambling debts and is engaged to Lord Highmount’s daughter Evelyn, and then there’s Lady Highmount who is Austrian. The suspects being to assemble.

Crossing in heavy seas as storms set to lash the island is Kate Cartwright, a Whitehall dog’s-body also on the guest-list. She’s an old family friend of the Highmounts and conveniently also has the gift of seeing ghosts. Kate adds eyes and ears for Whitehall agent Captain Donovan, masquerading as a valet, and the two make an uneasy alliance as they wait for the spy to make their move.

A House of Ghosts is a witty, action-packed yarn, filled with a varied cast of house-party guests and servants, reminiscent of Agatha Christie, but updated for twenty-first century tastes. There’s lots of snappy dialogue between Kate and Donovan, who are a brilliant odd couple: Donovan the stony-faced man of action; Kate, both intelligent and genteel, but set apart from her class because of her ‘special’ talent.

We are reminded of the popularity of spiritualism at a time when so many families were losing their sons to the carnage of World War One. And the Abbey is packed with ghosts who frequently find the antics of the living amusing. If you’re after a spine-tingling thrill, A House of Ghosts might not be the book for you, but there’s plenty of fun nonetheless. I whizzed through the novel enjoying every page.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: A House of Ghosts

The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan

If you like detective stories or Irish settings, you’ll want to check out the DS Cormac Reilly crime novels by Dervla McTiernan. Set in Galway, a city on Ireland's west coast, the series follows Cormac, a talented detective who has returned to his old stomping ground with his partner, Emma Sweeney. She's a research chemist with Darcy Therapeutics, a big pharmaceutical company attached to Galway University.

The Scholar is the second in the series and begins when Emma finds the body of a young girl on campus - what looks like a hit and run. She calls Cormac who really shouldn’t be handling the case when he’s so close to a prime witness. The girl has an ID card that suggests she’s the grand-daughter of the company boss, John Darcy. But when Cormac visits the girl’s flat, Carline Darcy is alive and well and has no idea who the girl might be or why she's carrying Carline’s ID.

No students have been reported missing and it is only when a teenage boy calls into the police station worried about his sister that Cormac gets a break. Meanwhile, nobody is talking at Carline’s flat or Darcy Therapeutics, while suspicion hovers around Emma, who has had a brush with the law before. Cormac must not only solve the crime, but deal with increasing difficulties at the station – the smart new cop on the block who becomes the subject of gossip.

McTiernan writes a solid crime story, with plenty of suspects and mounting tension as the killer looks to strike again. The characters are well-drawn and believable and this helps drives the plot. And if you like an interesting setting, McTiernan fills in enough detail to add colour without slowing things down. The Scholar gives us much of the background to Emma’s story, hinted at in the first book, The Ruin. Both are engaging and intelligent novels and promise a series you’ll want to return to.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: The Scholar

Dead in Devon by Stephanie Austin

It’s always satisfying when you get in at the beginning with a new mystery series. Austin’s Dead in Devon introduces us to amateur sleuth Juno Browne, who with her titian hair and tall, willowy good looks could surely be doing something other than housekeeping, dog-walking and sundry odd jobs for a living.

Juno advertises herself as a ‘Domestic Goddess’ and in her little yellow van, rushes from job to job in the Devon town of Ashburton, eking out a meagre living. When she takes on a new client, Old Nick, who has a dodgy history as a trader in antiques and collectibles, she gets more than she bargained for when Nick is murdered.

The police struggle to find any obvious suspects, so Juno, a born busy-body, steps in. High on the list of probables must be the two Russian thugs she caught arguing with Nick; then there are his estranged children, Helena and Richard who appear for the funeral. A budding romance with Paul the furniture restorer adds complications. Luckily she has chums like gay couple Ricky and Morris to bounce off her ideas with. The two run a company hiring out theatrical costumes, which is handy when Juno has a date and can borrow something striking from a play.

There’s heaps to find entertaining in this little mystery which includes some lively actions scenes, witty dialogue and an array of interesting characters. The setting of a quaint Devon town is conjured up nicely, and I shall look forward to paying a further visit and catching up again with Juno for another caper. The second in the series, Dead on Dartmoor is also in the library.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: Dead in Devon

Agatha Raisin by MC Beatson (DVD, Series 1)

Ashley Jensen brings M.C. Beaton’s murder mysteries to life as the main character in this TV series. I haven’t read the books and found it a very good introduction to M.C. Beaton’s work.

Agatha Raisin is a highly sought after PR but longs for a life in the country where she has pleasant memories. She takes early retirement and moves to the little village of Cotswold where she is soon embroiled in a mystery murder. In the pilot episode she struggles to fit into village life and manages to get a few locals offside. Episode one is also about a quiche competition. Agatha boasts about her amazing quiches and enters one into the competition.  Later all signs point to her quiche causing a death. But all is not as it seems – did she really bake the quiche? Why would she want to murder someone she hardly knew? If she is the murderer why is her life at risk?

In each of the 8 episodes on season one she uses her PR connections to dig up information on all the suspects and with the help of friends solves each murder before the police. From PR to PI Agatha Raisin books and series are interesting and engaging. Definitely recommend.

Posted by Andrea

Catalogue link:  Agatha Raisin DVD

Catalogue link:  Agatha Raisin eBooks/eAudiobooks

This Poison Will Remain by Fred Vargas

Vargas is one of the most original authors in the crime fiction genre. Her award-winning Commissaire Adamsberg series is entertaining for a bunch of reasons. Paris and rural France settings: check. Creative and surprising storylines: check. Animated scenes set in cafes and restaurants reminiscent of Simenon’s Maigret novels: check. A police department peopled with eccentric detectives: check.

It is this last point that keeps me coming back to the series more than any other. As if Adamsberg isn’t oddball enough – he’s scruffy, secretive and sentimental, with a weird intuition that can sniff out guilt at a hundred paces. But his team in the Serious Crimes squad are even odder.

Voisenet would rather be an ichthyologist and has the head of a moray eel under his desk to study later. Mercedet suffers from narcolepsy, taking naps during the day in the cushiony corner of an unused office. Violet Retancourt is of Amazonian proportions, and ‘worth ten men’, but is the carer of Snowball, the office cat who sleeps on the disused photocopier always left on to keep it warm. To name but three.

In This Poison Will Remain, Adamsberg returns from leave to a murder case that needs careful handling. An elderly woman alerts him to the mysterious deaths of three old men in Nimes - each bitten by a recluse spider. Not normally fatal, these bites have turned to septicaemia and the victims’ age and tardiness in seeking medical treatment is thought to have contributed to their deaths.

The fact that two of the men were part of a gang in an orphanage and tormented other boys has Adamsberg sensing foul play. But getting his team on board, a team whose confidence in his leadership has been seriously undermined, has the Commissaire acting even more secretively than ever.

The novel has plenty of twists to keep you turning the pages, with a few key themes around child abuse and the effects of isolation, plus some interesting facts around religious recluses from medieval times. All the same, it’s a cracking good read that will make you laugh and yearn for another in the series. Best read in order, the novels first introduced us to Adamsberg in The Chalk Circle Man. Recommended.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: This Poison Will Remain

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson

Private detective Jackson Brodie returns after nine years!
Kate Atkinson has been busy writing award-winning literary fiction such as Life After Life and A God in Ruins, but her mystery fiction series (with four previous books) is a favourite of mine. If you are hazy on Brodie's backstory or have not read the series, Atkinson brings us all up to date along the way.

Big Sky begins with two sisters from Russia who are excited to be organising a new life in England via a recruitment agency online, which is actually a container in a field. The 'jobs' will turn out to be their worst nightmare.

Meanwhile Chrystal is living in a seaside village in coastal west England. She is a great character who has had a rough life and is rumoured to have been a former glamour model who has married well. She is obsessive about maintaining her super-clean mansion ('she was disinfecting the past') with her daughter, step-son and her husband Tommy. When Chrystal discovers she is being followed she is certain her past is involved, and hires Brodie to find who is stalking her.

Chrystal's husband Tommy is a self-made man whose regular golfing group are central to the plot. The unfortunate Vince has lost his wife, house and job in a short space of time; and Andrew runs a bed and breakfast and a travel agency. They were introduced by Vince's school friend Steve Mellors who is an accountant. Vince and Stephen are bound together by Vince saving Steve from drowning years ago.

The subject matter is disturbing: human trafficking and an historic child abuse ring, but there is an absence of graphic detail or gratuitous violence and lots of dry humour is thrown in throughout the novel. The plot is so convoluted I doubted how it was all going to fit together, but had faith that Atkinson would do so. Which of course she does, rather late in the story with a few red herrings thrown in.

This series is character-driven in the same vein as the Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling Cormoran Strike mysteries.

Reviewed by Katrina

Catalogue link:  Big Sky

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Kya remembered Ma always encouraging her to explore the marsh:  "Go as far as you can...way out yonder where the crawdads sing."

Where the Crawdads Sing is an unusual and captivating read. It's a cross between a coming of age novel, a murder mystery, and a nature study.
 Kya's family is known by the locals as 'Marsh People': a derogatory name given to the those who live in the swamp and marshland areas of North Carolina. Kya's father is a violent drunk; when this becomes too much for her mother she finally leaves but without her children.  One by one Kya's older siblings leave too and she is left more and more to fend for herself, spending hours each day in the beautiful yet unforgiving natural environment.
A scant half day of schooling and bullying is enough to convince Kya that she does not want to be formally educated, and a time of deftly avoiding the truancy officer follows.

In later life Kya has relationships with two young men: Tate, who loves the marsh environment as much as she does; and later the popular and handsome Chase. When Chase is later found dead the police are not convinced that his death was accidental and a dramatic court case follows.

The other main character in Where the Crawdads sing is the natural environment, which is described lovingly by Delia Owens.  It is no surprise to discover that Delia Owens is an American wildlife scientist.  She makes some astute observations about male and female animal behaviour throughout the book, drawing comparisons with events in Kyla's life.

Where the Crawdad's Sing is set between 1952 and 1970 with beautiful prose and a folksy Southern dialect. This novel also highlights the bigotry and prejudices of the time. Read it before it is made into a film ( actor/producer Reese Witherspoon has purchased the film rights) and also if you enjoyed Educated or My Absolute Darling.  Everything you could ask for in a novel really - great characters, stunning landscape and a clever plot. 

Reviewed by Katrina

Catalogue link:  Where the Crawdads Sing

Murder in an English Village by Jessica Ellicott

I do like a good cosy mystery; especially one set in the English countryside with lots of quaint characters. Murder in an English village delivers all this and more.

Set in post-World War One this, the first in a new series, features two women of a certain age as our amateur sleuths. Beryl is an American adventuress who is tired not only from crash landing a hot air balloon in the desert but from America’s dwindling supplies of good quality gin. Her former school chum Edwina is a stark contrast; a quiet retiring daughter of an English solicitor living in the aforementioned picturesque English village. They are reunited when cash-strapped Edwina’s advertisement for a boarder sees Beryl abandoning her adventures to hurtle through the English countryside, eventually crashing her red car outside Edwina’s front door.

When Beryl discovers Edwina’s finances are the talk of the village (thanks largely in part to the gossipy postmistress) she lets it be known that not only was Edwina a secret agent for His Majesty’s service but that Edwina’s recent advertisement was a code for requesting Beryl’s assistance in a new mission. Despite this all being complete fabrication within hours Edwina is hit over the head in broad daylight. Is there someone in the village with something to hide?

Prompted by the need to find out who tried to kill Edwina as well as justify the secret service story both women team up to investigate the only unexplained event in the village; the war time disappearance of a land girl from a local farm. As our intrepid sleuths start to ask questions and the investigation gathers momentum another young woman is found dead. With the local constable decreeing the young woman’s death an accident Beryl and Edwina are left with no choice but to find out who the murderer is.

Jessica Ellicott draws us into this charming English village with its hedgerows and roses, well drawn characters (including Crumpet the dog), and the premise that by asking a lot of questions (even when physically threatened) you can solve just about anything.

Whether you are looking for a mystery with genteel characters or a gentle read with a few murders thrown in, this series may be right for you.

Reviewed by Miss Moneypenny

Catalogue link:  Murder in an English Village

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle reinvents the mystery novel as we know it. Author Stuart Turton sets his story around a gathering of family, friends and associates at Blackheath, the crumbling stately home of the Hardcastles. They have been invited for the 19th anniversary of the death of seven-year-old Thomas Hardcastle. So far, so Agatha Christie.

But it’s nothing like the steady gathering of clues, the interviewing of suspects, the discovery of secrets and final revelation that we have come to expect from your typical country house murder mystery.

First off there’s the sleuth. We meet Aiden Bishop running through the woods. Not only is he clueless about what’s going on around him – a woman screaming for help, gunshot, a malefactor in hot pursuit. He doesn’t know who he is or why he’s there. The next day he wakes up in the body of another character and learns from someone disguised as a medieval Plague Doctor, that to escape Blackheath he has to solve a murder – that of Evelyn Hardcastle.

Evelyn is Thomas’s big sister, who was supposed to have been looking after him on that fateful day. She isn’t due to die until 11 pm, during a display of fireworks when appearances suggest she takes her own life.

Aiden has eight days and will take on eight different personalities to discover Evelyn’s killer, reliving the same day over again. The different people he becomes are guests or servants staying at Blackheath and each gives a different slant on the crime.

What sets out to be a mystery novel, quickly turns into something like a computer game, where you attempt to battle your way out of a labyrinth, lose a life and start again. Or maybe it’s Groundhog Day in dinner suits. But towards the end we are on familiar territory, as not only does Aiden solve the crime, he uncovers more dark deeds than even the Plague Doctor knows about.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a novel that will keep you on your toes, a roller-coaster of a read that is full of surprises. There may be a lot to get your head around but it’s well worth the effort because with its ingenious plot and evocative storytelling, there is just so much to admire. Not surprisingly, Stuart Turton won the Costa First Novel Award for this mystery tour de force. I eagerly await his next book.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods. Beautiful and troubled Summer whose horrific death shocked the small town where she lived. Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. There are all sorts of rumors about what happened that day; that the girls were witches, that they were being controlled by their weird friend Owen, that they were obsessed with a fantasy book and that they killed her as a sacrifice because of it.

The only thing is: they didn’t do it.

They all go their separate ways, trying to cope with the hatred and rumors that plague them and their families, until, on the 5th anniversary of Summer’s death they are brought back together to try and find out what really happened. Mia and Brynn haven't spoken since they were accused of Summer's murder, and Owen had left town, studying overseas to avoid the wrath of those who believed them all murderers. Together they uncover dark secrets, and face the things that they too had been hiding.

I really enjoyed this novel. It was a tad predictable at times, but Lauren Oliver’s writing is captivating. An amazing beginning and ending to this book, even if it did sometimes drag in the middle. Plus it has an amazing first line that really made me want to keep reading - “Five years ago, when I had just turned thirteen, I killed my best friend.” I knew from the first page that I would be hooked – and I was.

Posted by Sas

Catalogue link: Broken Things