At half past six this morning I was relieved to have my Alexa nearby, because I was able to take advantage of the sun rays on Easter Sunday morning to finish William Shaw’s Salt Lane. The seventh book in the Theakstons longlist that I’ve read. This novel had several stories running in parallel with questions… Continue reading The Salty Easter Egg

Now that I’ve read six of the eighteen books longlisted for the Theakstons crime book of the year, I thought that I’d write this article partly as an aide memoir to myself and as a summary of the themes and ideas behind the books and to try to work out whether my earlier predictions are… Continue reading The first Six

Louise Candlish’s entry to this years Theakstons Crime Book of The Year, Our house, was a book which had me undecided as to whether I liked it or not? The characters, a women who was subject to fraud of her 2 Million pound house is a person who I struggle to empathise with, but as… Continue reading One third down – Two thirds to go

With Theakstons coming up this July it was great to get an early audio copy of Their Little Secret, narrated by Mark Billingham himself and produced by Little Brown. It was novel to hear another Tom Thorne book, given that the last one I heard was when Mark’s books were turned into a tv series… Continue reading Their Little Secret Revealed

This years Theakstons longlist has many names that will be well known to regulars of the festival and it once again shows the importance of the New Blood panel with three former panellists making it onto the longlist: CJ Tudor, Kate Rhodes and Stuart Turton. Also, two authors likely to be shortlisted are Mick Herron… Continue reading Hawley’s predictions for the Shortlist

The 4th of April was a big day for book releases. However, one that stood out to me was Sleep by CL Taylor, whom I was going to see (along with Fiona Cummins) at an event at Nottingham Waterstones. This is a book with a definite timeline, which makes it different from other novels that… Continue reading Sleep was well worth the long Day

Last night in Nottingham it was great to see CL Taylor and Fiona Cummins, as the first instalment of Waterstone’s ‘Bloody Women’ series of events. These authors offered two different perspectives on the psychological thriller side of crime. Fiona Cummins has primarily focussed on serial killers, with her first two books really showing her skill… Continue reading Bloody Women show a darker Side