The Crime Warp

The latest Bryant & May novel starts with a memo from the hapless Raymond Land, Chief of the Peculiar Crimes Unit to his team, to help them adjust to the realities of their new masters, the City of London Police.   If you’re not sure about the whether to read the book, just start with the memo and that should be enough to help you decide.    The Peculiar Crimes unit receives a new case – a dead man apparently rising from the grave.   If that’s not peculiar enough, one of the two witnesses Romaine Curtis is killed soon after in a deliberate hit and run.   As the investigation ramps up a second case begins when Bryant is asked to investigate the disappearance of the ravens from the Tower of London.   Despite all the security at the Tower, the ravens are well and truly gone – with all that means for the future of the realm. All is not plain sailing as Land is forced to reprioritise by his new superior Orion Banks, whose paucity of kn...

Tick Tock The clock struck midnight.  James fell to the floor still holding his gift.  With an arthritic finger he prodded the body beside him.  "Is this all you think I'm worth after all these years loyal service?" Grimacing he shook the gift .  Then, he laughed. "It's come in handy tonight m ind you ."  and he threw the bloody carriage clock to the floor.  He stood up, carefully wiped his damp hands down his trousers frowning slightly at the faint stain.  Then, he looked down at his ex boss and saluted before saying "No hard feelings then Midnight?" 

I do get and read a lot of books and wondered whether I play it too safe in what I choose to read and what I recommend on The Crime Warp.   I decided that I should be a little more adventurous so I started looking at a number of less obvious novels by authors that aren’t in the mainstream, and chose three books with something special that attracted me to them.   So, this month’s trio is a little more unusual, but I think, like me, you’ll be pleased if you read any of these.   I hope that at least one of these books ends up on your “to try” list The Investigation by Jung-Myung Lee – Set in Fukuoka prison in 1944, Watanabe, a young prison guard is charged with finding the killer of fellow guard Sugyama.   Although a confession from a prisoner appears to resolve the case, Watanabe continues to investigate and starts to uncover what has been happening in the prison, a place of unspeakable violence and brutality that few inmates manage to survive.   Alt...

Use The Picture Clues to Name The Crime Novel and Match to its Author Authors:    Karin Slaughter   Stuart MacBride   Denise Mina  Robin Hardy   Malorie Blackman   Thomas Harris   Ian Rankin    S tieg Larsson     Reginald Hill   Agatha Christie 1/   5 Words 2/     3 Words 3/               5 Words 4/   3 Words 5/     4 Words 6/                                                    1 Word 7/                       6 Words 8/ 3 Words  9/   5 Words 10/   3 Words Answers to: lizmistrythecrimewarpblog @yaho...

The newest Jenny Cooper novel starts with a devastating fire that the hides the murder – suicide of Ed Morgan and his two daughters.   Morgan’s chilling message from the grave to his wife Kelly is that she is a cheating whore and will never see their son again.    This appalling and motiveless crime has Cooper puzzled.   Why would quiet Ed Morgan suddenly snap and murder his daughters?   Why does he then taunt his wife, by not leaving his son’s body to be found? Lines of inquiry start to emerge – the disappearance of a young girl from the same area ten years ago, Ed Morgan’s job at the local rendering plant, a convenient way of disposing of bodies if there ever was one, and the apparent murder and apparent murder and disappearance of local gangster Jacob Rozek.   All these leads seem to add to the confusion without providing the killer clue to unlock the mystery.  Meanwhile, Cooper’s on off boyfriend Michael has asked to make the...

Thankless In Death by J.D. Robb JD Robb(who also writes as Nora Roberts) is author of the futuristic 'In Death' series of Police Procedural crime novels. Based in NewYork of the 2060's her hero's are Eve Dallas a 'kick ass' Police Leitenant and her husband Roarke, an Irish gazillionare with a dodgy background.  I like this series on a purely fantasy level.  They're well paced and quirky with a good selection of characters and aren't so dissimilar from today that I'm lost. I love the references to 'the Revised Miranda' (introduced after the civil war of 2000), lip dye, zoners(drugs), blockers(pain relief).  The cars can fly and some people have Droids, but the crimes are the same, although the prisons for serious offenders are off planet. Thankless in Death (the 37th book in the series)is about a narcisstic sociopath who, when he kills his mother in a rage, realises that this is exactly what he's been waiting for all his li...