The Crime Warp

Set in the John Wayne territory of Orange County Detective Schmidt (Schmitty)  fed up being sidelined in his harbour patrol job teams up with a sexy PI as a favour to Property Developer Mac Whelan to find his missing son Jimmy.  

Lisa Cutts is the daughter of a former Metropolitan Police officer and obtained her first degree in Law, working in a number of jobs in London and around the South East area, before becoming a police officer herself in 1996. She later achieved a second degree in Applied Criminal Investigation. She balances working full- time for Kent Police with writing crime fiction.

The Venus Trap is a tense psychological thriller about a  woman held captive in her own home by a psychopathic acquaintance from her past.  Initially I wondered, having enjoyed Tammy Cohen’s Christmas is for Dying , which has a similar theme, not so long ago, if The Venus Trap could sustain such a tense and close relationship between captor and captive for an entire book – Within pages my worries were put to bed.  From the start Voss delivers an intense   and well written   story that had my emotions and sympathies all over the place – The Venus Trap is  Highly Recommended by me

Set between the racially segregated Mississppi of the1960's and the current time Natchez Burning is a powerful novel- in fact, in my opinion it is one of the best crime fiction explorations of the racial hatred of that part of America's history. 

The Summer of Ghosts is the second in the Tom Bevans series, the first being The Last Winter of Dani Lancing .  Don’t worry if you’ve not read the first, I hadn’t, and it didn’t get in the way of the story. 

This collection of collaborative short stories is crime fiction at its’ most revolutionary - Our favourite crime detectives Face Off against each other in a unique collection of 11 short stories written by 23 of the world’s best known crime fiction writer’s. This collection stands out, not only because of the excellent  and inventive stories but because of the skilful editing by David Baldacci.  

It's unseasonably hot in Maine in October and the heat is getting to everyone.  When game warden Mike Bowditch is called out to investigate the macabre, senseless slaughter of ten moose on the estate of the wealthy Elizabeth morse who despite being an animal rights activist has managed to put the backs  of many of her human animal neighbours right up. 

Competition The Crime Warp presents the great Tattoo competition!!!   Which UK Crime Fiction writer sports these brilliant sleeves?

In the criminal world (both fact and fiction I guess)  tattoos can play a significant role whether it’s prison tattoos linking the wearer to a particular gang or allegiance or the tattoo found on a dead body and used to identify the victim.

What can I say about Mel Sherratt, her novels go from strength to strength, and in my opinion this is definitely the best one yet. Follow the Leader is the second outing for the fabulous DS Allie Shenton, (the first being the gripping, Taunting the Dead), and it is an awesome book. One of the best I've read in a while, and even though it does sometimes refer back to Taunting the Dead, it can still be read as a standalone novel. Mickey Taylor’s body has been found by a canal towpath. Allie recognises him. In his pocket is a green plastic letter E, the game has begun. It becomes apparent that there is a link, not just to one of her colleagues, Perry Wright, but also to her beloved sister Karen. Tension mounts as the body count rises. Although the reader knows who the killer is from the start, it doesn’t spoil the enjoyment of the story at all. It is a gripping read, and there are plenty of twists. As with all of Mel's books, the characters are well dr...

SJ Watson was always going to have a hard job on his hands to equal his debut novel   Before I Go To Sleep, but in    Second Life   he manages to, once again, delve into the female psyche to deliver a believable psychological thriller told  in the first person . Gare Du Ourcq

I’m new to Peter Swanson and so pleased I tried this book as the story is simply fabulous.   Ted Severson is intelligent, wealth and unhappy, drowning his sorrows in an airport bar.   He’s approached by Lily Kintner, beautiful, enigmatic and empathetic enough to get Severson to open up about his troubles.   Ted’s wife Miranda is beautiful and sophisticated but unfaithful with Brad, the builder who is creating Miranda’s dream home, funded of course by Ted’s bulging bank balance.   Ted is angry at this betrayal but doesn’t know what to do, although after a few more cocktails the answer is clear.   He wants to kill Miranda.   Lily turns out not just to be a good listener, but practical too, offering to help Ted kill his wife Miranda.  The novel also tells the backstory of the main characters, bringing to life Ted, Miranda and Lily herself.   As the story developed I was quite disturbed by Lily, particularly her first cold and calculated murder,...

If you haven't been watching Crisis on  a Friday at 9 pm on Watch you really should start!  This is a triumph of FBI excitement, heart wringing decisions, personal secrets and it's damn well written and acted to boot.  Crisis features a criminal mastermind who knows that using the children of the counties most influential people will get him what he wants... and boy do they keep us guessing as to what he really wants- brilliantly acted by Dermot Mulroney and with Gillian Anderson back in the saddle after the end of The Fal l  ... Read on to see the trailer 

The Spring of Kaspar Meier by Ben Fergusson (Abacus, 2014.) If you are brave enough for real darkness, a mystery that will actually give you nightmares, then this is the book for you. Ben Fergusson instantly transports the reader into a bombed out dismal post-war Berlin world where an assortment of shell shocked characters eek out a pathetic existence amid the rubble of its terrible history. 

P oisoned Ground is the third in the Hakim/Arnold PI series by Barbara Nadel.  I haven’t read any others in the series but this reads easily as a stand alone, with Nadel  unobtrusively  filling in any necessary back story. 

The Killing Season is Mason Cross’s debut novel and I loved it…who wouldn’t? It’s got the flamboyance of the FBI, the mystery of hero Carter Blake and a sniper, serial killer escapee whose hunting ground has no restrictions.   But, what gave me an extra buzz was that I discovered Mason is not only Scottish but he went to my old Alma mater – The wonderful University of Stirling, home of Bloody Scotland, William Wallace and a plethora of successful graduates!

Two Christmases  ago I was loitering in Waterstones (Bradford)  with intent to buy a crime book (or three).  Anyway, hearing a Scottish accent I turned round to see this lovely young assistant talking to a fellow browser.  Spotting me furtively leafing through the crime books he approached and we got chatting about crime fiction.  He then directed me to  The Blackhouse  by Peter May saying it was the best book he’d read for ages.  Never one to ignore a recommendation from a fellow crime reader I went the whole hog and bought the first two books in the Lewis Trilogy... and I have to say a very fine investment it was!