The Crime Warp

I'm always on the lookout for series that push the boundaries, show different cultures and allow me to experience, second hand, things I might never experience for myself. I also love narratives that shine a light on areas of society that are often ignored and Nell Pattison's novels fulfill all of that criteria with bells on. Then there's the fact that I recently met Nell at Hull Noir 2021, where I had the undoubted pleasure of chatting with her (and Alex North and Russ Thomas) on the In Cold Blood panel and she's lovely and very entertaining.  So far I've read the first three of the Paige Northwood series and am most definitely hooked and hope their will be more to come from this author.  The books are set in the deaf community which was illuminating for me as I'd never spent time with a deaf person before. Paige Northwood is a British Sign Language interpreter who is the only hearing person in her family (her sister is the only member of her family still alive...

It was quite by accident that I came across this delicious series. I saw Alexandra Sokoloff at Bloody Scotland 2018 on a panel about the portrayal of women in crime fiction and was impressed by her views about how us crime writers need to change the narrative of women as victims in the genre. Fast forward to a chance Facebook post telling me the newest one in The Huntress series Available here was due out, but with the warning not to read out of sequence and that was me ...  Now, series complete after a binge fest I'm just about able to articulate some of my thoughts about The Huntress. Crime fiction has always been about spotlighting what's wrong in society, about fearlessly exploring issues through our writing and reading, about observing and commenting on what's happening in society ... Sokoloff does all of these from a feminist perspective and hats off to her for saying it how it is.  Set gainst the back drop of #METOO, stories of male entitlement as...