15 August 2022

Choose your spook: chaotic, methodical or brutal

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It is catch-up time . . . . . . and therefore time to continue an already long overdue review of recent reads with this triple treat of works from some of the best in the crime fiction business. Go-to authors who you know will always deliver the goods. Endlessly inventive with their plotting and… Continue Reading

15 August 2022

Choose your spook: chaotic, methodical or brutal

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It is catch-up time . . . . . . and therefore time to continue an already long overdue review of recent reads with this triple treat of works from some of the best in the crime fiction business. Go-to authors who you know will always deliver the goods. Endlessly inventive with their plotting and… Continue Reading

3 August 2022

Fact or fiction, joy for readers in hardcore walks

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GET out and start walking. This is the advice continually given to sufferers from all manner of ills, mental and physical and everything in between. And by and large, lacing up the trainers and putting one foot in front of the other does seem to be part of the answer. Or at least an excellent… Continue Reading

11 May 2022

Editing cutbacks unfair to writers and readers

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memoir

WITH Covid and staff shortages becoming the default excuse for poor service and faulty products it is sad to see the malaise spreading to the world of publishing. Errors there are so visible and so irritating to readers. For publishers they are so difficult and costly  to correct.  In specialist areas, editing shortfalls can bring… Continue Reading

5 April 2022

Billingham’s twister sparks sleepless nights

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RARELY do I allow my bedtime reading to rob me of much-needed sleep. The temptation is often there but has to be resisted if next day is not to be write-off. Bit like drinking red wine; the extra glass (or two) rarely justifies the inevitable frowziness and inertia that follow. However, this latest creation of… Continue Reading

20 December 2021

Crime fiction triple treat for Christmas wish lists

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A HYPOTHETICAL: what would make a good Christmas gift for an avid reader of crime fiction?  Faced by a pile of recent reads, I soon realised this was an almost impossible task. Too much choice; too many vying for the top spot. And such a broad range of  preferences among devotees of the genre. Much… Continue Reading

2 December 2021

Snowbound Siberia, oligarchs and shamans

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IT has been a while – far too long, in fact – since I was last in the moody company of Arkady Renko, the rebellious investigator who is a perennial thorn in the side of Moscow prosecutor, the devious Zurin. Back then, in 1981, Arkady’s creator, Martin Cruz Smith, was announcing his arrival on the… Continue Reading

30 November 2021

Trigger-happy woke brigade way off target

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WHO would have thought it?  Who in their wildest imaginings would have been prepared for such a sudden assault on their mental processes? Thank goodness, therefore, for those ever-alert guardians of our sensibilities  and weak spots.  The do-gooders who see harm where none exists; and attach needless warnings of  possible injury to the most innocent… Continue Reading

28 October 2021

Teen waif a heart-breaker hero of gripping crime tale

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THE joys of reading are many and varied. Too many delights exist to be contained within a strictly defined list. And always they are dependent on time, place, purpose and  numerous further variables. It’s a statement clearly not made to broadcast some newly discovered truth. But uttered in the hope of spreading light into dark… Continue Reading

15 October 2021

Chilling mystery among Sweden’s forest-dwellers

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A BOOK with a cover claiming the contents are “eerie, unnerving and buckets of fun” presents a puzzle before a single page is turned. Unnerving and fun? Such an odd mix. Especially for what is also billed as “a thriller”, and involves “one kidnapping, one liar, one chance”. Where are “the buckets of fun” going … Continue Reading

29 September 2021

Bad night’s good for thrill-seeking readers

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IT is one of those titles that says it all. Well, almost. The cover picture of menacing clouds hanging low over the French capital leaves little room for doubt about the content within. Everything is explained in five short words: A Long Night in Paris. And not one of gaiety and revelry such as those… Continue Reading

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