The Crime Warp

 I’ve just come across The Mistletoe Murder - small volume of four short stories by P D James.   I didn’t know that P D James regularly wrote short stories for newspapers and magazines that were published at Christmas.   A bright spark has diligently trawled through the archives and chosen four of these Christmas short stories for a beautifully presented hardback edition. As you’ll have guessed, the stories are all set at Christmas with tightly written plots and sharp characterisation that work really effectively, even though there is limited scope to develop character and plot within a short story that’s only a few thousand words long.   The settings are, as you would expect Christmas in a large house, with two of the four stories starring Dalgleish, although in one he hasn’t even reached the lofty rank of Chief Inspector.   Val McDermid’s foreword provides a lovely introduction and felt like a bridge between the modern day and the time long past whe...

I've always got a huge pile of books on the go and want my recommendations for Crime Warp readers to represent the newest and best in contemporary crime and thriller fiction.  I’ve also been thinking about what I would recommend for people going on holiday who want to take just one or two books with them.  It hasn’t taken me long to settle on these two as my top recommendations.   The Man Who Wasn’t There by Michael Hjorth and Hams Rosenfeldt.   This is the new Sebastian Bergman thriller – you may have seen the character on the TV played splendidly by Rolf Lassgård, or have read the first Bergman novel, The Man Who Watched Women , which I previously reviewed on The Crime Warp.  Either medium presents superbly both the character and absolutely top writing by Hjorth and Rosenfeldt.  The Man Who Wasn’t There starts with the discovery of six skeletons buried in the mountain a long time ago.  This investigation is perfect for Bergman – no...

It’s now almost that time of year when you start thinking about sitting outside with a book whiling away an afternoon reading.  Although we’re not quite there yet – I found it distinctly chilly outside at the weekend – I thought I’d let you know about three books I've recently read that are really worth looking out for.  These are all highly recommended and would keep you pretty well glued to the garden chair even if it did get chilly! Hard Cold Winter by Glen Erik Hamilton .  I came across Van Shaw last year in Glen Erik Hamilton’s first novel Past Crimes , when Van Shaw was tracking down who murdered his grandfather.  In this new novel, Van Shaw is firmly back in civilian life when Willard, an old criminal acquaintance of his grandfather’s calls in a favour.  Willard niece hasn’t been seen for several days and he asks Van Shaw to find her and make sure she is safe.  After a trek to the remote log cabin where Willard’s niece and her boyfrie...