The Crime Warp

My first Joseph Kanon book was Los Alamos – more years ago than I care to remember!   I loved the atmosphere of secrecy – the book was set in the Manhattan Project, so one big secret hid another secret - murder.   The protagonist’s affair with a scientist's wife added more layers of lies and duplicity to the plot.   I just loved it.   Kanon’s books all have a dark noirish atmosphere about them and when I saw details of his latest book Defectors , it became a must read for me. So, what’s it about?   Defectors is set in the 1960s, Simon Weeks’ brother Frank is an American defector living in Moscow, with his wife Jo.   Frank has decided to write his memoirs and asked Simon to publish and promote his book.   Simon flies to Moscow to meet Frank face to face, quickly realising that the book is a cover for Frank’s latest manipulative scheme.   Frank uses his charm, psychology and Simon’s remaining goodwill to put his plan into practice, bu...

Need You Dead is number 13 in Peter James’ highly successful Roy Grace series.   I’ve followed Peter James for some time now.   He’s an author that’s genuinely at the top of his game and Need You Dead doesn’t disappoint.     I loved the idea behind the story in Need You Dead – a body in a bath – there’s something almost quaintly old fashioned about this idea, especially as at first it looks an open and shut case with a clear prime suspect. However, as Grace looks carefully at the case, a number of plausible scenarios present themselves, until an unexpected turn of events makes the case more sinister than Grace could ever have imagined. Roy Grace is the central character of Peter James' successful 13 book series and, for those blog tourists that don’t know him, here’s a peek at his file! I thoroughly recommend Need You Dead and you can read some of my previous reviews of Peter James’ novels, as well as an interview with Peter James hims...

Our latest author interview on The Crime Warp is with Chris Brookmyre, who has published a total of 22 books and ebooks since his first book, Quite Ugly One Morning in 1996.  His latest novel Want You Gone is the final book in a Jack Parlabane trilogy that started with Dead Girl Walking in 2015, followed a year later by Black Widow , which won the McIlvanney Prize.  R – Hello Chris, welcome to The Crime Warp.  I’ve seen some reviews of Want You Gone , which have described your latest book as a technothriller.  Is that something you set out to write?   CB – No, I’d definitely shy away from calling it a technothriller, that would be to really misunderstand what the book is about.  There’s a perception that hacking or anything to do with hacking is ultra-modern, but if you look at the books you’ve just referenced – Dead Girl Walking and Black Widow , hacking is actually an old crime – if you look at hacking – it’s not about computers and...