The Crime Warp

I don't know about you, but I love a good bogeyman story. I still remember the thrill of 'bogeyman' stories as a child - that tension, spine tingling fear  ... they scared the hell out of me, but were simultaneously deliciously addictive. The thrill of an uncanny supernatural, larger than life malevelant presence really grips me and in The Six by Luca Veste, The Whisper Man by Alex North and The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths, I was transported back to that thrilling, edgy, feeling from my childhood. The idea of an unseen , yet sinister threat hovering just out of sight.  The Six by Luca Veste Blurb Ad Link Buy Here Six friends trapped by one dark secret. It was supposed to be our last weekend away as friends, before marriage and respectability beckoned. But what happened that Saturday changed everything. In the middle of the night, someone died. The six of us promised each other we would not tell anyone about the body we buried. But now the pact has been brok...

You don’t have to have read Edgar Allan Poe to enjoy this mystery set in 19th Century Paris. Karen Lee Street wrote an entertainingly gothic homage to the American author Poe, who in this novel is recently bereaved and gradually spiralling into a serious depression. Saved by a letter and ticket to Paris, the fictitious Edgar Allan Poe tries to help his posh but financially depleted friend the Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin track down an elusive criminal who brought down the Dupin family during the French Revolution. Mid nineteenth century Paris with its creepy catacombs is an interesting alternative to the ever-popular London setting. Here Poe and Dupin are hired to track down a notorious thief and blackmailer, who might be able to give them a clue as to the whereabouts of Dupin’s evil nemesis. Karen Lee Street’s writing style is admirably suited to the period and the genre - dark, dramatic and expressive.   If you enjoy reading historical fiction or are a fan of Edgar Allan Poe,...

Crime Writer Ian Rankin The best-selling writer behind the Inspector Rebus books has been unmasked as the programming chair for next year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. As a result, Ian Rankin – who has sold more than 20 million books and was awarded an OBE in 2002 for services to literature – has been charged with pulling together a “most wanted” list of guest authors and speakers to headline next year’s four-day event. Since its launch in 2003, the Theakston Old Peculier  Crime Writing Festival  has become recognised as one of the biggest – and most important – celebrations of crime writing in the world. Last year’s festival, which boasted a killer line up of more than 100 authors including Harlan Coben, Jeffery Deaver and Jo Nesbo, saw Northern Irish author Steve Cavanagh winning the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for 2019, for his book  Thirteen . A special presentation was also made to American literary g...

Another hugely enjoyable crime novel by an Irish author. What is it with the Irish? How do they produce so many good writers? Taking their population numbers into account they must be the per capita writing world leaders. Did they all kiss the Blarney Stone?  I’d better get on with my review of Dervla McTiernan’s second book, The Scholar, a good follow-up to her first book, The Ruin, which was shortlisted for two awards, one in Ireland, the other in the US. Detective Cormac Reilly faces a very tricky investigation into the murder of Carline Darcy, the granddaughter of the wealthy and ruthless pharmaceuticals tycoon John Darcy. Cormac Reilly’s personal situation is made infinitely more difficult as his brilliant but troubled girlfriend Emma discovers the body and seeing that she an indirect link to the victim, soon becomes a suspect. How do you investigate a case when your partner is one of the suspects? And what does that do to your relationship? The setting at Galwa...