Book Review

Back, and to the Left

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‘Kennedy 35’ Charles Cumming

Charles Cumming has long, rightly, been regarded as one of the top two or three working in the espionage genre at the moment.

Emerging around the same sort of time as the impressive Jeremy Duns and Simon Conway, Cumming has managed the difficult task of longevity – Duns remains on hiatus and missed by readers, if not by charlatan sub-editors.

Cumming has also managed that still more difficult task: reinvention. He has produced several multi-volume series and moved on without alienating readers who allowing quality to diminish.

Oh and, for good measure, he’s also produced at least three of the best modern-era standalone novels of the genre in ‘Typhoon’, ‘Trinity Six’ and ‘The Man Between’, the latter a 21st century Eric Ambler – and all the better for that comparison.

And so here we have ‘Kennedy 35’, the latest in the Lachlan Kite series of stories.

These books, beginning with 2020s ‘Box 88’ are both simple in conception and classy in their execution.

By running a duel storyline, an historic case involving Lachlan as young man, juxtaposed with a modern day story and examining the repercussions across years, combined with the heavy lifting of personal details from youth woven through the text, Cumming has made his own narrative niche.

I don’t claim to have read all the reviews of the earlier pair of novels in the series, but I distinctly remember writing that “this was spy fiction as Proust.”

Now, even one’s own vanity does not run to consider this an especially significant observation, but it did mean that I snorted out loud with laughter in an early chapter when a character said, “Now if somebody puts a guava in front of me, or if I taste or smell the brine of tinned food, I throw up.’ In French he added: ‘It’s like an inversion of Proust’s fucking madeleines.”

And it is this slightly self aware tone which permeates the text. A French character name drops Camus and Kafka within a thin spread of pages and Kite acknowledges this and chuckles.

Likewise, Cumming keeps the reader rooted in period detail “London was Oasis and Blur. It was Friends and Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush.” A lovely turn of phrase, although one unlikely to resonate much outside the UK?

At one stage I had fretted that these novels would become a conceit. After all, how many life changing experiences can one character have which includes formative experiences and be naturally tied into contemporary life?

I’m delighted to report the answer is… at least three and it better be four!

Here, Kite is embroiled in a scenario related to the Rwandan genocide and brought to life by the reappearance of an old friend.

This actually ties into the one strand which concerns me on Cumming’s behalf. If I’d been asked previously, I’d have placed the character of Kite as a “small c conservative”. In this novel, the obvious contemporary overtones related to HMG’s Rwanda deportation scheme are striking as is a recognition of where the UK now stands internationally now we have “taken back control.”

Our villains “will launder and provide cover for whoever pays their 20 per cent fee. In this they are not ethical of course. Boko Haram. Allied Democratic Forces. Al-Shabaab. It doesn’t matter. They are interested solely in the accumulation of money and the power which goes with it… She parties with Tory donors and Conservative MPs here in London, attends the sort of events that make their way into the pages of Tatler and Daily Mail online. She has blood on her hands but she also has money. The people who want that money are entirely without moral scruple. They turn a blind eye.’

‘It’s a modern disease,’ Kite observed.”

Or take this exchange between Kite and a French intelligence officer. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful to your wonderful country, Lockie, but you know as well as I do that the UK has been enabling the likes… for years. Your lawyers prepare their tax returns, your PR firms polish their images and if any journalist wants to write about them, their editor knows that a seven-figure libel action is waiting just around the corner.’

‘It’s much worse than that,’ Kite replied with an air of amused fatalism. ‘Successive British governments have actively encouraged anyone with a large enough chequebook to get it out in London and start spending. Dirty money washes through the construction sector, the hospitality industry, car dealerships, football clubs, you name it. Without it, the British economy would probably go into freefall.’”

Why would I say this worries me when a) these are opinions of fictional characters and b) objectively verifiable facts? Mainly because the world appears to have run mad and authors don’t seem to be free to express obvious truths without people weaponising them for their own ends.

I’m hoping that ‘Kennedy 35’s inclusion on The Times Autumn books to read means, perhaps, CC has slipped under the culture wars radar. I do hope so.

This is neither a Vince Flynn bombastic bullets ahoy nor a Le Carre-esque disaffection with the state of espionage in the modern world. This is, quite simply, a novel by a top class performer, performing at the head of the pack.

I was concerned that it actually marked the end of the series, so confident, so accomplished and so self-assured it appeared.

But, it is fair to say, with an ending which leaves well loved characters physically and emotionally up in the air, ‘Kennedy 35’ is a triumph of a novel about which I can only say: read it. You will not be sorry.

Purchase Links:

Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10526/9780008363512 (Warning! Buying form this link gives money to this blog also)

Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/dU94TWR

Author Bio:

Charles Cumming

Charles Cumming was born in Scotland in 1971. He was educated at Eton and graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1994 with First Class Honours in English Literature. The Observer has described him as “the best of the new generation of British spy writers who are taking over where John le Carré and Len Deighton left off”. In the summer of 1995, Charles was approached for recruitment by the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). A year later he moved to Montreal where he began working on a novel based on his experiences with MI6. A Spy By Nature was published in the UK in 2001. (Biography courtesy of Harper Collins)

Sympathy for the Devil

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‘The Last Devil to Die’ by Richard Osman

It is a small observation but, in preparation for this review, I revisited my piece on the second book in Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, ‘The Man Who Died Twice’. This did two things: it reminded me that I had not written a review of the third book in the series, ‘The Bullet that Missed’ and it made my feelings about this latest one, even stronger.

In that 2021 review I wrote: “I listened to both the original and the sequel in audiobook form read by Lesley Manville. I listened on long car rides alongside a mother who has dementia and doesn’t take that much pleasure in long form stories these days. Both Manville’s performance and Osman’s writing delighted her, amused her and kept her entertained and, for that, they were cheap at twice the price and I shall be ever grateful to them for their work.”

This little personal revelation is not especially insightful or interesting but it links to the lack of a review of the third novel in two ways.

Firstly, Manville had been replaced by Fiona Shaw as narrator in a move I’m yet to find anyone to approve of, and secondly, my Mum’s health deteriorated so far, so fast, that by 2022, listening like that was no longer an option at all.

That makes me sad. It may also account for why I reacted so strongly to ‘The Last Devil to Die’.

This third outing for our aging sleuths is a quieter novel. And, a sadder and more moving one for it.

If anything, Osman has truly established himself the Amanuensis of the Home Counties middle classes. The world of KitKats, slow traffic on the A26 and parking problems in Petworth – will be familiar to those of us raised in the area. Eat your heart out more “serious” novelist. Don’t tell me that bloke off ‘Pointless’ doesn’t do social realism!

I would say this novel is significantly better than the last, which was a much lower key book for me.

This latest caper has got lovely growth for the characters (especially Joyce and Ibrahim – surely the most crowd pleasing of characters to reward) and is both touching and much sadder than some of the previous ones.

Caveat: Steven’s dementia is a major factor in this tale and Osman has done a great job rendering the experience of dementia. It’s very well done but it made me cry. I suspect I’m not very objective on the topic.

As narrator, Shaw was a lot less jarring this time around- although in the interview which follows between her and Osman they reference the loss of Lesley Manville and what a big set of shoes it was to step into (although fail to explain why, grr).

However, she does quite literally the WORST scouse accent I’ve ever heard by a professional actor.

In conclusion, the gang remain in safe hands and it feels like Osman has grown as a writer taking his audience to darker, more moving places even while retaining his beloved milleau.

I look forward to next year’s outing…

Purchase Links:

Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10526/9780241512449 (Head’s up: purchasing from this link supports both independent bookshops and this blog, hint hint 😉 )

Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/7HuJCGt

Author Bio:

Richard Osman is an author, producer and television presenter. His first three novels, The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice and The Bullet That Missed were multi-million-copy record-breaking bestsellers around the world. The Last Devil to Die is his fourth book. He lives in London with his wife, Ingrid, and their cat Liesl. (Biography courtesy of https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/141792/richard-osman?tab=penguin-biography)

Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MrRichardOsman

Twitter: @richardosman

Instagram: https://instagram.com/misterosman

I’m Going Wait in the Midnight Hour, Until My Love Comes Tumbling Down

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‘The Secret Hours’ by Mick Herron

Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating “historical over-reaching” by the British Secret Service. Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so.  

But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn. Now the administration that created Monochrome has been ousted, the investigation is a total bust—and Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away by the pounding London rain.

Until the eve of Monochrome’s shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlin—an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of Service history. (Synopsis courtesy of Penguin Random House)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a spy fan in need of the best should go searching for a Herron.

The poor man has lived with the lazy comparisons to Le Carre, the even less accurate Fleming associations and, from the more learned spy fans, Len Deighton references ever since ‘Slow Horses’ really caught fire around 6/7 years ago.

Since then, there has been Gary Oldman and Apple TV, Gold Daggers, silver dagger short listings and Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novels of the Year.

In short, if not an unbroken line of amassing ever-greater garlands, as close as any writer working in the field today.

And, of course, that means that each book becomes a higher wire act as bad actors (geddit?) wait for the fall. I noticed with Herron’s last book that there were one or two snotty reviews in certain publications, as the pendulum continues its full movement towards a back lash.

In fact, I wondered to what extent Herron’s decision to move this novel out of the Slough House milieu was a pre-emptive way of circumventing that entire conversation.

Or, perhaps, it was fab service? Amongst the learned literati of the Spybrary community (nicest place on the internet, best espionage books podcast I’ve ever encountered) there has long been talk of a desire to see Herron tackle a Cold War-set story. This desire seemed settled when the short story, ‘Standing by the Wall’ was released.

And then we heard that a standalone novel was to be released.

And, I’m delighted to report, the shimmering sceptres of lesser writer’s jealousies are going to have to wait a while longer for their enjoyment of the fall.

Because it’s too good. ‘The Secret Hours’ has got it all. It has the needle sharp observations on contemporary British politics, it has the Herron characters we’ve come to expect (fully rounded in that they’re broken on all sides) and it has the exactitude of language which means that no one turns a sentence to effect better – or uses the ambiguity of the English language to better plot effect. It also has the jokes – Apple TV gets a nod here, Gary Oldman there – which implies at least that all this praise has not gone to his head at least.

It is fair to say it is not really a standalone. It’s really an expansion of the “Herronverse”, taking the themes and events encountered in other pieces from the series and then re-visited from the angle of these new characters’ perspectives.

Basically: it’s a joy. It’s clearly Herron’s world; we just live in it. Long may it continue…

Author Bio

Mick Herron is a bestselling and award-winning novelist and short story writer, best known for his Slough House thrillers. The series has been adapted into a TV series starring Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb.

Raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, Herron studied English Literature at Oxford, where he continues to live. After some years writing poetry, he turned to fiction, and – despite a daily commute into London, where he worked as a sub editor – found time to write about 350 words a day. His first novel, Down Cemetery Road, was published in 2003. This was the start of Herron’s Zoë Boehm series, set in Oxford and featuring detective Zoë Boehm and civilian Sarah Tucker. The other books in the series are The Last Voice You Hear, Why We Die, and Smoke and Whispers, set in his native Newcastle. During the same period he wrote a number of short stories, many of which appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

In 2008, inspired by world events, Mick began writing the Slough House series, featuring MI5 agents who have been exiled from the mainstream for various offences. The first novel, Slow Horses, was published in 2010. Some years later, it was hailed by the Daily Telegraph as one of “the twenty greatest spy novels of all time”.

The Slough House novels have been published in 20 languages; have won both the CWA Steel and Gold daggers; have been shortlisted for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year four times; and have won Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz prize. Mick is also the author of the highly acclaimed novels Reconstruction, This is What Happened and Nobody Walks. (Biography courtesy of https://www.mickherron.com/landing-page/mick-herron-about)

You can read my previous reviews of some of Herron’s earlier novels, Slough House here and Joe Country here

For all things Mick Herron, there is no finer place on the internet than Jeff Quest’s Barbican Station. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/spywrite  

Death Among the Unexplored Places

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‘Death at the Caravan Park’ by Susan Willis

Clive Thompson heads for Whitley Bay caravan park to finish writing his novel. He’s never had a caravan holiday before and is warmly greeted by the manager, Liz Mathews, who lives on the park. She is single and cares for her ninety year old mother who has Alzheimer’s Disease. Clive meets the people in neighbouring caravans and has an amazing view from his veranda over the sea to St. Mary’s Lighthouse. However, Audrey goes missing during the night and Liz is beside herself with worry.  The police are out looking for her, but disillusioned by their efforts, Clive begins his own investigations.  

Caravans are weird. Perennial irritant of motorists, bete noire of old school misogyny Top Gear, they don’t really get the best press. When I was a kid, they were the destination of choice of my parents -my father needed disabled access, we needed somewhere which would take a dog and we needed it to be in the UK because there wasn’t the money for exotic foreign travel. Caravans were the answer. Ooh, the glamour of Paignton, Taunton and Formica-fringed world of 80s caravan parks.

Considering that caravan parks are by their design pretty anonymous, often secluded in rural spaces near beaches and contain a large number of transient and semi-permanent people in varying mixes, it is a wonder they do not act as the milieu of more crime stories – this is certainly the first I’ve read.

Susan Willis does a great job of weaving the sort of characters one encounters in caravan parks with a nicely structured first person narrative. Her lead, albeit somewhat startled, detective Clive talks us through the story and is a gentle and entertaining guide to events. Willis is particularly good at dealing with the issues which people go through on a daily basis – the Alzhiemer’s mother, the complicated family relationships – which do distract the every day.

Zipping along, confidently written and rooted in the real world, ‘Death at the Caravan Park’ would be an asset in any Sprite, static or twin axle tourer you care to name.

Purchase Links – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Caravan-Park-Thompson-investigates-ebook/dp/B0C6YGTH79/

Author Bio –

Susan is a published author of eight novels and six novellas with short stories published in Women’s Weekly magazines. She is now retired from Food Technology and scribbles away in County Durham. Writing psychological suspense and cosy-crime novels with strong, lovable North East characters, is her passion. Last year, she brought us ‘Clive’s Christmas Crusades’, set in York. Following the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival, Susan wrote six Curious Casefiles which is now published by Northodox Press. She has incorporated up-to-date issues: poor mental health in a kidnap scene, the perils of social media, and an intruder on Skype.

Social Media Links –

You can find Susan’s books here: https://amzn.to/2S5UBc8    

www.facebook.com/susan.willis.710

Dark Sides to Beautiful Places

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‘The Secret of Villa Alba’ by Louise Douglas

1968, Sicily.  Just months after a terrible earthquake has destroyed the mountain town of Gibellina, Enzo and his wife Irene Borgata are making their way back to the family home, Villa Alba, on roads overlooked by the eerie backdrop of the flattened ghost town.  When their car breaks down, Enzo leaves his young wife to go and get help, but when he returns there is no trace of Irene.  No body, no sign of a struggle, nothing.

2003. TV showman and true crime aficionado Milo Conti is Italy’s darling, uncovering and solving historic crimes for his legion of fans. When he turns his attention to the story of the missing Irene Borgata, accusing her husband of her murder, Enzo’s daughter Maddi asks her childhood friend, retired detective April Cobain, for help to prove her father’s innocence. But the tale April discovers is murky: mafia meetings, infidelity, mistaken identity, grief and unshakable love.  As the world slowly closes in on the claustrophobic Villa Alba, and the house begins to reveal its secrets, will the Borgata family wish they’d never asked April to investigate? And what did happen to Enzo’s missing wife Irene? 

Bestselling author Louise Douglas returns with an irresistibly compelling, intriguing and captivating tale of betrayal, love, jealousy and the secrets buried in every family history.

When I went to Sicily, the bus which transferred us from the airport to the hotel had a stereotypically loquacious guide on board. As we travelled along the autoroute, he pointed out where the craters were where Judge Giovanni Falcone had been blown up by the Corelonesi crime family. As we passed through the city of Palermo, he highlighted the buildings high on the hills: begun; developed; abandoned; unfinished. Part of a Mafia concrete scam.

It is a volcanic island. It is an island of great wealth alongside great poverty. Kindness and historical violence, welcome and malevolence. Stunning beaches, parched inlands. It is beauty and beast. And it definitely has an aura and character all of its own.

I wanted to review Louise Douglas’ latest novel because of that background. The blending of historical reality and fiction and the contrasting time periods begins to take on something of that Jekyll and Hyde status of the setting.

A reluctant investigator, with his own personal connection to the mystery, there is something in Douglas’ writing style which brings to mind the doyen of the Mediterranean crime novel, Patricia Highsmith – and I can pay no higher compliment to her than that.

I finished the novel with a glass of our homemade limoncello. I can highly recommend both.    

Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/secretvillaalbasocial

Author Bio –

Louise Douglas is the bestselling and brilliantly reviewed author and an RNA award winner. The Secrets Between Us was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. She lives in the West Country.

Social Media Links –  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Louise-Douglas-Author-340228039335215/

Twitter https://twitter.com/louisedouglas3

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/louisedouglas3/

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/LouiseDouglasNews

Would You Fight For Your Right to a Night at the Opera Now?

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‘SEAT 97’ by Tony Bassett

SEAT 97: wrong place, wrong time: the mystery of a very public murder
A man who had it coming, or mistaken identity?

People are finding their seats for a soul concert when a shot rings out. David Barron crumples to the floor. Next to him, journalist Nick Colton and his wife, Greta, step in to help.

The assassin quickly escapes from the building. Realising this might be the scoop of his life, Nick rushes after him.


Although the man evades him – perhaps a good thing, seeing as he is holding a gun – Nick is determined to find the killer. Despite the misgivings of the police.

So who was David Barron and why was he shot? Why was he holding the lethal ticket for Seat 97?

Can you work out the mystery?

This is a totally gripping standalone crime mystery set in London that will keep you guessing.

There is definitely something of the Eric Ambler/John Buchan about former journalist Tony Bassett’s latest novel.

These masters of the espionage genre were superseded by Alfred Hitchcock and those new-fangled talkies and, latterly, by one of the new big beasts operating in the field today, Charles Cummings.

Here, Bassett comes up with a perfect scenario for this type of novel: the unassuming couple on a night out to the theatre witnessing a shocking and violent death. But was it murder or misadventure? Well, the unlikely hero better find out – and off we go.

Bassett has already published seven novels and this latest outing is ample evidence that you are in a safe pair of hands. The events spiral for our protagonists excitingly and Bassett generates a feeling of impending tension which could explode at any minute.

Overall, ‘Seat 97’ may represent the worst night out at the theatre since the Lincoln’s, but it certainly represents value for money in the excitement stakes.

Purchase Links

Author Bio – Tony Bassett

A former Fleet Street journalist, has had seven crime novels published so far.

This latest book, Seat 97, introduces Nick Colton, a journalist who is swept up into a murder investigation. It is a standalone novel which may possibly lead to a series. The book is published by London-based independent publishers The Book Folks, who specialise in crime fiction.

Tony is best known for his Midlands series of crime novels featuring DCI Gavin Roscoe and DS Sunita Roy (Murder On Oxford Lane, The Crossbow Stalker, Murder Of A Doctor and Out For Revenge, all published by the Book Folks).

He first developed a love of writing at the age of nine when he and a friend produced a magazine called the Globe at their junior school in Sevenoaks, Kent. When he reached his teenage years, growing up in Tunbridge Wells, his local vicar staged one of his plays, about Naboth’s Vineyard.

At Hull University, Tony was named student journalist of the year in 1971 in a competition run by Time-Life magazine and went onto become a national newspaper journalist, mainly working for the Sunday People in both its newsroom and investigations department.

His very first book to be published, the crime novel Smile Of The Stowaway, was released in December 2018. It concerns a Kent couple who harbour a stowaway and then battle to clear his name when he is charged with murder.

Then, in March 2020, the spy novel The Lazarus Charter, was released. It involves foreign agents operating in the UK. The book has kindly been endorsed by Marina Litvinenko, widow of the murdered Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, and by Stan and Caroline Sturgess, parents of the innocent mother-of-three poisoned with novichok in Salisbury in 2018.

Tony has five grown-up children. He is a Life Member of the National Union of Journalists. He lives in South-East London with his partner Lin.

Social Media Links –

www.tonybassettauthor.com 

www.twitter.com/tonybassett1

www.facebook.com/tony.bassett.92505

www.instagram.com/tonyba1

A Tasty Treat

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‘A Contest to Kill For’ by Evie Hunter

The competition is fierce….

Desperate to try and rebuild the reputation of Hopgood Hall, owners Alexi Ellis and Cheryl and Drew Hopgood agree to host a realty TV baking show, spearheaded by their arrogant but enigmatic head chef Marcel Gasquet. Hopefully the ratings will bring in bookings to the struggling hotel and Cosmo, Alexi’s antisocial feral cat, is hoping to get a starring role too!

The temperature is high…

Fiery and hot-headed, Marcel’s antics makes for brilliant television, but off-screen trouble is brewing. One of the contestants, femme fatale Juliette Hammond, makes it clear that she will do anything to secure the winning prize – even if it means sweetening up the prima donna chef.

The results are deadly!

So when Juliette is found dead, all eyes turn to Marcel. Has his fiery French temper got the better of him or has someone else fallen victim to Juliette’s devious ways?

With the reputation of the hotel in tatters and Marcel’s liberty on the line, Alexi needs answers and fast.  And the only person she can turn to for help is her old friend and private eye Jack Maddox.  Jack’s working his own case, but he can’t refuse Alexi and he knows more than anyone that this murder could cost them everything!

Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/ContestToKillForsocial

In my other life I have, this year, been teaching Home Economics. Because, well I said I’d help out and that is how small schools are staffed. So, English teacher to donning the chef’s whites I went. Hardly my natural zone, but needs must when the devil vomits in your kettle. In order to facilitate this, I have watched a quite simply Herculean quantity of Masterchef episodes. UK edition? Completed it, mate. Celebrity incarnation? Tick. Professional? I-Player rung dry. Singaporean, New Zealand, Australian and Celebrity Australian for a little international flavour: I have watched a lot of Masterchef.

And, I’m not going to lie, I understand the temptation to bump off some of the “characters” who present this format internationally.

So, apart from the fact that I had very much enjoyed Evie Hunter’s opening instalment in this series, ‘A Date to Die For’ this latest outing for Alexi, her dilapidated country house owning chums Cheryl and Drew and her chunky monkey sleuthing feline companion Cosmo really appealed for the opportunity to take out any lingering frustrations with celebrity chefs from my in-depth cooking research.

And Hunter, of course, does not disappoint. Her characters have texture – since the debut of the protagonists the world has moved on – they have changed and grown and are dealing with new arrivals. What Hunter maintains is the easy of interaction between them as well as a plot which zooms along reaching a nice rolling boil before satisfyingly concluding like a well-paced meal.

This is another successful outing for the Hopgood House crew and I look forward to dining at their table again in the future.

Author Bio –

Evie Hunter has written a great many successful regency romances as Wendy Soliman and is now redirecting her talents to produce dark gritty thrillers for Boldwood. For the past twenty years she has lived the life of a nomad, roaming the world on interesting forms of transport, but has now settled back in the UK.

Social Media Links –  

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/wendy.soliman.author

Twitter https://twitter.com/Wendyswriter

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/wendy_soliman/

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/EvieHunter

Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/evie-hunter-572c1816-05f2-47c2-9c13-6d10a229670b

Historical Resonance

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‘The Body at Carnival Bridge’ by Michelle Salter

How deadly is the fight for equality?

It’s 1922, and after spending a year travelling through Europe, Iris Woodmore returns home to find a changed Walden. Wealthy businesswoman Constance Timpson has introduced equal pay in her factories and allows women to retain their jobs after they marry.

But these radical new working practices have made her deadly enemies.

A mysterious sniper fires a single shot at Constance – is it a warning, or did they shoot to kill? When one of her female employees is murdered, it’s clear the threat is all too real – and it’s not just Constance in danger.

As amateur sleuth Iris investigates, she realises the sniper isn’t the only hidden enemy preying on women.

Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/CarnivalBridgesocial

I very much enjoyed the opening instalment in Michelle Salter’s novels involving Iris Woodmore, ‘Murder at Waldenmere Lake’

I described Salter’s novel as being in the “best traditions of the cozy crime genre” and I still stand by this judgement with Iris’ return in ‘The Body at Carnival Bridge’. I understand why, in these divisive times, there are people who have issues with contemporary novelists inventing characters who buck the trend of their historical periods and so we have a world of women and people of colour powering through social divides at a time in history when this was a significant barrier.

However, I’ve always been of the view that this is a distraction and distortion. One of the big issues is that you can often find real historical people who broke the moulds and have been written out of history and so fictional counterparts getting the airtime these pioneers deserved is rather charming.

Secondly, I think watching these characters interacting in their worlds and overcoming their challenges is entertaining.

These thoughts were pootling along in my head while I read this. Iris Woodmore might have found the real world even more stacked against her than she does in the novels but I particularly enjoyed the dynamic between her and potentially under fire industrialist, Constance Timpson.

This is yet another Golden Age-style romp from an author with the historical cajones to back up her lively world of deception and murder and a protagonist of suitable charm and nosiness to get herself into – and out of – plenty of entertaining trouble.

Author Bio –

Michelle Salter is a historical crime fiction writer based in northeast Hampshire. Many local locations appear in her mystery novels. She’s also a copywriter and has written features for national magazines. When she’s not writing, Michelle can be found knee-deep in mud at her local nature reserve. She enjoys working with a team of volunteers undertaking conservation activities.

Social Media Links –  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichelleSalterWriter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichelleASalter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellesalter_writer/

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/MichelleSalterNews

Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/michelle-salter

No Sign of a Damp Squib Under Cloudy Tuscan Skies

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‘Murder in Florence’ by TA Williams

Also on the tour today, Being Anne and Chick Lit Central

A brand-new cozy crime series set in gorgeous Tuscany…It’s murder in paradise!

A glamourous film star…

Life as a private investigator in the suburbs of Florence isn’t always as glamourous as Dan Armstrong imagined it to be, until he is asked to investigate a recent spate of violent attacks on a Hollywood movie set in Florence. The star of the show, movie-star royalty Selena Gardner, fears her life is in imminent danger…

Foul play on set…

As Dan investigates, he discovers secrets and scandals are rife within the cast and crew. But with no actual murder, Dan believes these attacks could simply be warnings to someone…until the first body is found.

A dangerous killer on the loose.

Now Dan and his trusty sidekick Oscar are in a race against time to catch the murderer. But the more Dan uncovers, the more the killer strikes and Dan finds himself caught in the line of fire too! Is this one case Dan and Oscar will regret?

A gripping new murder mystery series by bestselling author T.A. Williams, perfect for fans of Lee Strauss and Beth Byers.

Purchase Link – https://amzn.to/3YyhANi

I previously wrote in positive terms about the first in this series of books featuring Armstrong and Oscar, Murder in Tuscany.

If, like me, you like Italy and dogs – especially Labradors – then TA Williams has certainly hit upon a winning formula. As it happens, I do like both of these things so colour me delighted.

This is further accentuated if you happen to enjoy narrators with wry, lightly humorous voices, which Mr Williams again delivers on. What’s not to like from a protagonist who observes, “I’m sure Philip Marlowe never had water soaking his underpants.”

This neatly encapsulates what is so strong about Williams’ work – the characters are grounded and real in the ways they interact with the world while the metanarrative is in dialogue with the influences of the author, so Raymond Chandler meets Donna Leon who interacts with Agatha Christie and Michael Dibden.

Spring is definitely springing as I write this and, of course, poor Armstrong begins the novel exposed to the less picture postcard aspects of Tuscan weather, but this is a novel which will hold off even the heaviest April shower and spread some good cheer.

Bellissimo!

Author Bio –

T A Williams is the author of over twenty bestselling romances for HQ and Canelo and is now turning his hand to cosy crime, set in his beloved Italy, for Boldwood. The series will introduce us to retired DCI Armstrong and his labrador Oscar and the first book, entitled ‘Murder in Tuscany’, was published in October 2022. Trevor lives in Devon with his Italian wife.

Social Media Links –  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TAWilliamsBooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TAWilliamsBooks

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/TAWilliamsNews

An Iris Wading in Deep Water

/ PAJNewman / 1 Comment

‘Murder at Waldenmere Lake’ by Michelle Salter

A murder shocks the small town of Walden. And it’s only the beginning…

Walden, 1921. Local reporter Iris Woodmore is determined to save her beloved lake, Waldenmere, from destruction.

After a bloody and expensive war, the British Army can’t afford to keep the lake and build a convalescent home on its shores yet they still battle with Walden Council and a railway company for ownership. But an old mansion used as an officer training academy stands where the railway company plans to build a lakeside hotel. It belongs to General Cheverton – and he won’t leave his home.

When the General is found murdered, it appears someone will stop at nothing to win the fight for Waldenmere. Iris thinks she can take on the might of the railway company and find the killer. But nothing prepares her for the devastation that’s to come…

Purchase Link – https://amzn.to/3vDssgr

There’s a lot of water which has flowed under a lot of bridges in the name of progress and development, especially in Hampshire and the south east.

What attracted me to reviewing this novel? Well, I grew up around those parts. The protagonist is a small town, provincial newspaper reporter and I’ve written my share of those kind of pieces for local rags. There’s a nice little historical parallel as we move one hundred years beyond the period setting and encounter the same problems continuing.

And I’ve had my share of “experiences” with local authorities and their particular delights.

Michelle Salter has written a novel in the best traditions of the cozy crime genre. The heroine is engaging, the first person narration allowing you to sit alongside her as she uncovers her clues and moves towards the thrilling denouement.

If you are in the market for a warming beverage of a book which will sweep you along like streams flowing to Hampshire lakes, then Murder at Waldenmere Lake is a perfect choice.

Author Bio –

Michelle Salter is a historical crime fiction writer based in northeast Hampshire. Many local locations appear in her mystery novels. She’s also a copywriter and has written features for national magazines. When she’s not writing, Michelle can be found knee-deep in mud at her local nature reserve. She enjoys working with a team of volunteers undertaking conservation activities.

Social Media Links –  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichelleSalterWriter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichelleASalter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellesalter_writer/

Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/michelle-salter