Tag Archives: Detective fiction

February 7, 2013

A Treacherous Likeness by Lynn Shepherd

By bibliomouse

treacherous likeness

Publisher: Corsair

ISBN: 978-1780331676 

Publication date: 7th February 2013

Tom-All-Alone’s was one of my favourite books of 2012 so I was really excited to see that Lynn Shepherd’s third novel also featured Charles Maddox, the detective and great-nephew of the ‘great thief-taker’ from Murder at Mansfield Park. 

Shepherd’s previous book ended with a man leaving a card for Charles and the elder Maddox being taken ill. When Charles returns the call, he finds that he is visiting Lord Percy, the only remaining child of  Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary, author of the (in)famous Frankenstein who now, frail and elderly, lives with her son and daughter-in-law.The Shelleys want Charles to stop the publication of some letters which would harm the reputation of the dead poet, something that Lady Jane has spent years working to clean up. The letters belong to Claire Clairmont, Mary’s step-sister and one-time lover of Lord Byron, who is reviled and feared for the potential power she holds over the family.

Accepting what he believes will be a relatively simple commission, Charles once again finds that nothing is what it seems and that there is a lot more to the animosity between the two parties than the Shelleys had let on. Suspecting that his great-uncle knows more about the affair, he trawls through Maddox’s case notes from thirty years before whilst the man himself lies insensible, struck down with an illness that is mystifying the household. As Charles gets drawn further into the lies and intrigue that surround the history of Shelley, Mary and Claire, he discovers that there are many reasons that Maddox was so keen to cover up his part in it…

As with Tom-All-Alone’s, Shepherd’s research is impeccable. The atmosphere that she creates feels authentically chilling and she doesn’t shy away from describing squalor and seediness. The pace doesn’t flag throughout the novel and none of the multiple threads of the story ever feel confused or arbitrary. Despite the numerous narrative voices employed by Shepherd, all feel authentic and they work together to create an engaging whole. I particularly appreciated the introduction of Maddox Sr’s case notes as a way of enabling the use  of his voice whilst he is essentially out of action.

Charles is still a great character, naïve and street-smart in equal measure, able to conduct a complex investigation whilst being utterly unaware of what is going on under his nose. I defy anyone to read the novel and not feel an overwhelming urge to shake him several times. Shepherd excels at writing villains, and there are plenty to choose from here, from the unbearable Lady Jane to the twisted Shelleys, each seemingly as bad as the other. There are also genuinely moving moments, especially, as in the previous novel, those involving the fate of infants unfortunate enough to get caught up in the tangled relationships of the adults around them.

The notes at the back give suggestions for further reading and indicate the extent of Shepherd’s research and the love she has for the period. This is turning into a brilliant series and I’m really pleased that Shepherd’s next book will also feature Charles and his investigations.

4/5

Thanks to Corsair for sending me a review copy!

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in British, Detective/Crime, Historical, Reviews

August 2, 2012

Don’t Look Back by Karin Fossum

By bibliomouse

Publisher: Vintage

ISBN: 978-0099452133

Publication date: 3rd July 2003 (paperback, translation)

I’ve read lots of Scandinavian crime fiction in the last couple of years – Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, Jo Nesbø, Stieg Larsson, Camilla Lackberg and Yrsa Sigurdardottir to name a few – but Karin Fossum had passed me by until recently. Don’t Look Back is the first of her novels to be translated into English, although it is her second novel featuring Inspector Sejer, and it won the Glass Key Award in 1997 for Nordic crime writing.

Set in a small town north of Oslo, at the foot of Kollen Mountain, the novel starts with a terrifying scenario – six-year old Ragnhild accepts a lift home from a strange man who promises to show her th baby rabbits at his house. Soon the police are with the girl’s distraught parents, when she arrives home, unharmed. The release of tension when she turns up is immense, only to be shattered a few pages later when Inspector Sejer gets a phone call about a dead body that was found lying by the lake by the search party hunting for Ragnhild.

The dead girl, fifteen-year old Annie Holland, also lived with her parents in the town. A promising athlete and good student who regularly babysat for some of the town’s younger children, she seemed on good terms with everyone who knew her, although she has been withdrawn for her last few months. Initially there are few clues and, as with many small towns, everyone thinks that they know each other, but Sejer and his young assistant Jacob Skarre start to uncover the many secrets and tensions brewing under the seemingly calm surface of the community.

This is definitely a book for fans of the police procedural, and maybe not one for lovers of frenetic action and dramatic chases. Sejer and Skarre painstakingly interview Annie’s friends and neighbours, slowly gathering evidence about her murder, and several suspects emerge as they talk to people. Can Annie’s ex-handball coach explain why she quit the team so suddenly? Why What is Annie’s backpack doing in her on/off boyfriend’s shed? What is Annie’s mother’s first husband hiding? Annie’s death is not the only crime to have taken place in the town of  Granittveien.

I really enjoyed Don’t Look Back, despite its pace being a little slower. This pace actually suits Fossum’s wonderful inspector, Konrad Sejer, who is steady, intelligent and thoughtful without being boring. He has recently been widowed and missed his late wife terribly, lives alone except for his dog, and has a grown-up daughter and a grandson, Matteus, of whom he is very fond. I was afraid that starting with the second book in the series might mean that  it would be hard to get a sense of his character but Fossum is very good at small details which make her characters come alive and I get the sense that we will learn a little more about Sejer, and Skarre, with each novel.

Fossum’s excellent characterisation is also used to convey the devastation caused by Annie’s death. Her family are very well drawn, from her superficial and rather stupid elder half-sister to her rather hideous mother, but it is her father whose reaction to her death is the most upsetting. As with Susan Hill’s portrait of grieving parents in The Pure in Heart, Fossum has created a compelling and heart-rending picture of a distraught father who is struggling to deal with the loss of his child and the changed dynamic of his family.

If you want an excellently-written detective novel with elegant writing and clever characterisation, I would recommend Don’t Look Back. Don’t expect a cheerful read though – there is a quiet sense of sadness that pervades the whole book, though, and the ending is as chilling as that of  Gordon Reece’s Mice. I’m looking forward to exploring more of Fossum’s writing, starting with the first in the Sejer series, In the Darkness, which was published in July.

4/5

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Detective/Crime, Recommended, Reviews, Scandinavian

July 14, 2012

Three bookshops and a bookfair later…

By bibliomouse

I do like living in Newcastle but, due to the ridiculous amounts of rain recently, I’m beginning to get a little bored of going to the same cafes etc. all the time, and staying inside makes me a little stir crazy. With this in mind, Mr Mouse persuaded me that 2 hours on a bus would be a good idea and dragged me off to Alnwick on Saturday, for a day of book shopping. One book fair, two second-hand bookshops and an indie later, we crawled back onto the bus home clutching bags of books. I was quite impressed at how restrained I was really…

I was really happy with what I found, especially with The Song of Achilles, as I’ve been arguing with my copy of the net galley of it for weeks. I’ll be reviewing some of these once I’ve read them, but here’s a bit about them from the blurbs:

Catch Your Death

A terrifying enigma – with the power to destroy…

Twenty years ago, Kate Maddox was a volunteer at a research centre where scientists hunted for a cure for the common cold virus. That summer, Kate fell in love with a handsome young doctor, Stephen, but her stay ended in his tragic death and Kate fled to a new life in the US.

Now Kate is back in England and on the run with her young son, this time from her vile husband. But a chance encounter sets her on a terrifying path of discovery. What really happened at the Cold Research Unit two decades ago?

Pursued by both her estranged husband and a psychotic killer who is obsessed with his prey, Kate must fight to solve the puzzle of the past – uncovering a sickening betrayal and a truth more horrifying than she could ever have imagined…

Heft

Former academic Arthur Opp weighs 550 pounds and hasn’t left his rambling Brooklyn home in a decade. Twenty milesaway, in Yonkers, seventeen-year-old Kel Keller navigates life as the poor kid in a rich school and pins his hopes on what seems like a promising sporting career-if he can untangle himself from his family drama. The link between this unlikely pair is Kel’s mother, Charlene, a former student of Arthur’s. After nearly two decades of silence, it is Charlene’s unexpected phone call to Arthur – a plea for help-that jostles them into action.

Through Arthur and Kel’s own quirky and lovable voices, HEFT tells the winning story of two improbable heroes whose sudden connection transforms both their lives. It is a novel about love and family found in the most unexpected places.

The Return of Captain John Emmett

1920. The Great War has been over for two years, and it has left a very different world from the Edwardian certainties of 1914. Following the death of his wife and baby and his experiences on the Western Front, Laurence Bartram has become something of a recluse. Yet death and the aftermath of the conflict continue to cast a pall over peacetime England, and when a young woman he once knew persuades him to look into events that apparently led her brother, John Emmett, to kill himself, Laurence is forced to revisit the darkest parts of the war.

As Laurence unravels the connections between Captain Emmett’s suicide, a group of war poets, a bitter regimental feud and a hidden love affair, more disquieting deaths are exposed. Even at the moment Laurence begins to live again, it dawns on him that nothing is as it seems, and that even those closest to him have their secrets . . .

The Hidden Child

Crime writer Erica Falck is shocked to discover a Nazi medal among her late mother’s possessions. Haunted by a childhood of neglect, she resolves to dig deep into her family’s past and finally uncover the reasons why.

Her enquiries lead her to the home of a retired history teacher. He was among her mother’s circle of friends during the Second World War but her questions are met with bizarre and evasive answers. Two days later he meets a violent death. Detective Patrik Hedström, Erica’s husband, is on paternity leave but soon becomes embroiled in the murder investigation. Who would kill so ruthlessly to bury secrets so old?

Reluctantly Erica must read her mother’s wartime diaries. But within the pages is a painful revelation about Erica’s past. Could what little knowledge she has be enough to endanger her husband and newborn baby? The dark past is coming to light, and no one will escape the truth of how they came to be…

The Song of Achilles

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper – despite the displeasure of Achilles’s mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Witch Child

When Mary sees her grandmother accused of witchcraft and hanged for the crime, she is silently hurried to safety by an unknown woman. The woman gives her tools to keep the record of her days – paper and ink. Mary is taken to a boat in Plymouth and from there sails to the New World where she hopes to make a new life among the pilgrims. But old superstitions die hard and soon Mary finds that she, like her grandmother, is the victim of ignorance and stupidity, and once more she faces important choices to ensure her survival.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in American, British, Detective/Crime, Historical, Lists, Scandinavian

July 12, 2012

The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill

By bibliomouse

Publisher: Chatto and Windus

ISBN: 978-0701178949

Publication date: 2nd June 2005 (paperback)

The second in Hill’s crime series featuring Chief Detective Inspector Simon Serrailler, The Pure in Heart is another assured piece of sensitive and absorbing writing. Called back from a holiday in Venice when his severely disabled youngest sister, Martha, contracts pneumonia, Simon finds himself heading up the investigation into the disappearance of a nine year old boy, David Angus, who has vanished without a trace. Glad to have something to distract him from the feelings that last year’s shocking murder stirred up, Simon throws himself into the case with the help of Nathan Coates, newly promoted to Detective Sergeant.

As with The Various Haunts of Men, this novel concentrates more on the community of Lafferton and its reaction to the crime than actual police work. Simon himself is far more present in this novel than the first in the series, and he reveals himself to be highly contradictory. He can be generous, lively and amusing but also cold, distant and intensely private, which causes problems when Diana, a woman with whom he had a casual affair in past years, develops possessive tendencies despite his indifference and, indeed, disgust.

Cat Deerbon, Simon’s sister, is the heart of the novel. Pregnant with her third child, she finds herself deeply upset by David’s disappearance, especially in addition to her family’s own situation with Martha. The disintegration of David’s family is also profoundly affecting. The portrait of a grieving family is shown in such intimate detail that it feels almost voyeuristic. Details such as his mother adding cold water because she shouldn’t be allowed the luxury of a hot bubble bath whilst her son is missing are brilliantly and sensitively observed.

As readers might have gathered, it’s not a cheerful book and although I didn’t personally find it as upsetting as The Various Haunts of Men, I can imagine that anyone with children might find the descriptions of David’s captivity and his mother’s grief highly emotive. However, the quality of Hill’s writing prevents the depiction of such naked emotions from feeling gratuitous. There are many loose ends remaining at the end of the novel and this might be frustrating to some readers; for me, it just made me hanker for the next book  (which, luckily, was waiting for me on the bookcase). The Pure at Heart wasn’t as satisfying as Serrailler’s first outing but, as one in a series, it’s a excellent read.

4/5

This review was originally written for New Books Magazine September/October.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in British, Detective/Crime, Recommended, Relationships, Reviews

July 9, 2012

The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill

By bibliomouse

Publisher: Chatto and Windus

ISBN: 978-1856197144

Publication date: 3rd June 2004 (hardback)

I recently agreed to review the second in Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailler series for a feature in New Books Magazine, with a really tight deadline, thinking that I’d read the first book already. It turns out that this was completely imagined and the 560 pages of The Various Haunts of Men were still to be tackled. I have to admit that I was a little daunted at the prospect – I’ve read so many crime novels recently that the idea of reading two more in a fortnight wasn’t exactly appealing. However, I prefer to read series in order so I picked up Simon Serrailler’s first outing and got on with it.

As so often happens, I’m really pleased that I did. Much like Ruth Rendell, who is quoted on the front cover, I loved this book. I should have known that it would be excellent as the other two books by Hill that I’ve read have both been brilliant. The Woman in Black was a novel thrust upon me when I was about 12 as a set text at school and I liked it then; I’ve read it since and picked up so much more atmosphere and detail than the first time around.  Similarly, Strange Meeting was a text on a World War I module for my BA and, despite it being one of several novels that we had to read, it was the one which I’ve since re-read for pleasure. Hill’s writing is always a joy to read and often belies the horror of her subject matter.

Set in the fictional cathedral town of Lafferton, The Various Haunts of Men is ostensibly about the disappearence of a middle-aged woman who vanishes one foggy evening. There are few leads as Angela, the missing woman, lived alone and kept very much to herself. Once these leads dry up, the case is downgraded in priority and only Detective Sergeant Freya Graffham thinks that there is more to the case than meets the eye. She is proved right when there are more disappearences, although the missing persons have nothing to connect them other than vanishing whilst up on The Hill. D.S. Graffham, along with her Detective Constable, Nathan Coates, is determined to find out whether Lafferton has its first serial killer.

I’ve read reviews of this novel which criticise it for the slow pacing and, whilst I recognise that this isn’t the most rip-roaring of novels, I do think that those reviewers are missing the joy of Hill’s writing and plotting. Although the crime aspect kept me interested, the real point of the seems to be the way that the reader gets to know the town and its inhabitants, many of whom will be featured throughout the series.

There’s Angela Randell, who lives alone but is in love with a mystery man for whom she buys expensive and, potentially, inappropriate gifts; Debbie Parker, a depressed young woman who seeks answers in the alternative therapies on offer in nearby Starly, and her flatmate Sandy who worries about her friend being taken in by charletans. Karin McCafferty, a professional gardener, discovers she has cancer but refuses her doctor’s advice and also turns to  alternative medicine, and Dr. Cat Deerbon who has to find the line between being Karin’s doctor and her supportive friend, as well as dealing with tensions surrounding the increase in  Cat’s mother Muriel, herself a retired doctor, is heavily involved in local activities and it is through the choir that she meets Freya Graffham, recently moved from London after a messy divorce. Freya discovers that she already knows Muriel’s son, Simon Serrailler – he’s her D.C.I., and she is also, inconveniently, in love with him. All of these characters are vividly brought to life and, although some are featured more heavily than others, none feel redundant or superfluous.

It’s the strength of Hill’s characterisation and the sense of community that it invokes which makes the crimes in the novel so affecting. And they are emotional, from the disappearances of characters that the reader has come to care about to the shock ending. Ah, that ending. If anyone remembers the first ever episode of Spooks they might know what I mean when I say that the denouement of this novel was shocking. I think it’s fair to say that I was a wreck by the end of the novel, and Mr. Mouse had serious reservations about me reading any more of the series. To be fair, even thinking about Bambi makes me teary, so I’m not the best measure of  the emotional power of anything, but I’d definitely advise you to have tissues to hand when approaching the ending.

I don’t really have anything bad to say about The Various Haunts of Men, which is slightly dull – sorry! As mentioned in my post about my favourite books of the first 6 months of 2012, I promised myself that I’d finishing writing this review before reading The Risk of Darkness, the third in the series. That didn’t happen, mainly because I just couldn’t not read it once it was on the bookcase. Bearing in mind the size of my TBR pile, this says a lot about this series. One word of warning – I would strongly recommend reading these in the correct order as I think the emotional heft would be lessened otherwise.

Go! Read!

4.5/5

3 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in British, Detective/Crime, Relationships, Reviews

April 3, 2012

The Other Child – Charlotte Link

By bibliomouse

Best-selling German author Charlotte Link is back with another tense thriller, this time translated into English. Set in Scarborough, The Other Child is a crime novel that explores the impact of past sins coming to light in the present day.

This is the first of Link’s novels that I’ve read, and I was quite impressed. From the opening chapter, in which a scared young woman makes a gruesome discovery in a barn, it is clear that Link is highly skilled in creating atmosphere within her novels. This mysterious incident is then not mentioned again until well into the story, with the attention focusing instead on the vicious, and seemingly motiveless, murder of a student on her way home from babysitting one night. The police, led by D.I. Valerie Almond, are stumped until another, similar, murder is committed nearby.

The main protagonists are part of a cleverly-connected web, at the heart of which are Fiona and Chad, elderly friends who have known each other since childhood. When emails that Fiona has written to Chad about events in their past come to light, there are suddenly strong possible motives for the murder. These emails are shown to the reader, but in small sections at a time, allowing the tension to build steadily. I read it with a lengthening list of questions, always a good sign in a thriller: are the murders linked to Fiona’s evacuation from London during the 2nd World War? What lurks behind that barn door? What part do the slightly creepy paying guests at the farm play?

The other characters are a bit of a mixed bag. Colin and Jennifer Brankley, the paying guests who have been staying at the farm for years, have their own backstory, which is somewhat tenuously connected to one of the victims, and are suitably creepy at times. Chad’s daughter, Gwen, is a quiet mouse whose relationship with a smooth talking underachiever is a source of scepticism for everyone, who think that he is only with her for the farm. Leslie, Fiona’s grand-daughter, is a doctor in London but escapes to Scarborough, back to the grandmother who brought her up. This time she is running away from a failed marriage, but doesn’t find the refuge that she was searching for, as Fiona clearly has problems of her own.

Link writes compellingly and is very readable. I would have liked some more of Valerie Almond, who promised to be an interesting character but who is not given much ‘screen time’, which is a shame. Some of the links between the crimes are a little unlikely, but overall it is tightly plotted, and the ending is nicely paced. The Other Child is a good, solid thriller which, whilst not a book to keep you reading into the small hours, is perfect for a holiday.

3/5

This book was provided for review purposes by www.welovethisbook.com.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Detective/Crime, Relationships, Reviews

February 29, 2012

The Holy Thief – William Ryan

By bibliomouse

I love historical novels, especially historical crime, so I was thrilled when I was offered William (Bill) Ryan’s debut novel, The Holy Thief,  which is set in Stalinist Moscow. I’d better start this review by saying that I know absolutely nothing about Russian history (unless you can count what can be learnt from watching Anastasia…), so was a little nervous that I wouldn’t really understand the context . However, I do have a Socialist boss who is a bit of an expert on Communist Russia, and who put up with a barrage of questions every lunch-time, which gave me a bit of background understanding.  I should make it clear that it is entirely possible to thoroughly enjoy Ryan’s novel without any background knowledge, it’s just that I’m incurably curious!

Anyway, onto the review itself. When the mutilated corpse of a young woman is found in one Moscow’s old churches, Captain Alexei Dmitriyevich Korolev, a Criminal Investigator with the Moscow Militia,  is assigned the case. The woman is identified as American by her dental work. What is left of her clothes are another indicator, as they are much finer than anything that was being produced in the Soviet Union at that time, a fact that Korolev notes ruefully. The fact that the victim was American immediately makes the case a dangerous one to be investigating;  Colonel Gregorin of the NKVD decides that the case is political, and Korolev has to be even more careful than usual, watching everything he says and does. As the novel opens, one of his colleagues has just been sent to The Zone for making a political joke which was reported by another colleague, and the threat of the NKVD, the forerunners of the KGB, hangs over the whole city.

The plot takes Korolev and his junior Investigator, Semionov, from a meeting with an American antiques expert in Moscow’s finest hotel, to being taken to a secret rendezvous with Count Kolya, the head of the Thieves, Moscow’s underworld bosses. One of Kolya’s right-hand men is the second victim of the murderer, and he thus has a vested interest in helping the militia solve the murders. However, Korolev is never sure if he is being aided or led further from the answers – the Thieves are not usually ones to help the militia without a motive of their own, and Korolev soon finds himself being pulled in opposite directions by Gregorin and Kolya, unable to report half of the conversations that he has with suspects and unable to know who to trust.

Korolev, a former soldier who fought in both the German War and against the Red Army, is full of contradictions which make him a more interesting character than the average detective. He is a loyal Soviet citizen who firmly believes in Stalin’s promise of a great new nation, but he despairs of the poverty that he sees in and around Moscow. He starts every day with prayers and keeps his most treasured possession, his bible, under his floorboards, but he accepts that the regime has outlawed religion and deconsecrated all churches. He admires the rebuilding that is going on as Moscow expands but misses the old alleyways and dark corners of his youth.

The Holy Thief has plenty of passages which give a feeling of authenticity to the novel: a football match between Korolev’s old team, Moscow Spartak, and their rivals Dinamo Moscow, and the altercations which ensue are written with verve and energy; the atmosphere of tension and worry which surround the Militia headquarters, and indeed Korolev’s whole investigation could be seen as representative of the feeling in the whole city at the time of Stalin’s Great Purge;  the awkwardness of sharing an apartment with someone you’ve never met is clearly shown, but so is the feeling of privilege in only having to share with one other family, and having one’s own bedroom, rather than just a bed in a communal room. Korolev is given a room in a prestigious area as a reward for solving a vicious rape case, and it is seen as a definite step up in society.

I really enjoyed The Holy Thief, both for the writing, which is concise yet descriptive, and the atmosphere. It’s sparked an interest in Russian history and I can’t wait to read The Bloody Meadow, the second in the series. Bill Ryan has created a fine character in Korolev, and I hope that he has a long career ahead of him.

4/5

This book was provided as a review copy by the author, but I was not paid for my review, and the views expressed are mine.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Detective/Crime, Reviews

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