A Bloody Scotland Read

Bloody Scotland have just started a book group on Facebook, and as part of this they go through a selection of books and discuss it with a panel of reviewers and authors. This April, Lou Berney's November Road was one of the three books chosen. After it won the Ian Fleming award from the CWA …

A busy Weekend

When I started this latest book by Stuart MacBride and saw that it was around 17 hours, I scheduled to finish it around the 15th, given the fact that I was watching Locked Up Fest 2. However, because of the way that they scheduled the festival and as it started at half past two, I …

A Twisty Second

Look what you made me Do by Nikki Smith is the second novel of hers. This is a multi-layered tale that is just as twisty as All in her Head. This time, though, it has two narrators, although I'm not sure what parts the two played, as there were three voice parts in the novel. …

CrimeFest Awards Announced 2021

Congratulations to all nominees in the following categories:- SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir for The Creak on the Stairs (Orenda Books) Marion Brunet for Summer of Reckoning (Bitter Lemon Press) Robin Morgan-Bentley for The Wreckage (Trapeze) Richard Osman for The Thursday Murder Club (Viking) Mara Timon for City of Spies (Zaffre) Trevor …

First and Last

This month Val McDermid is relevant to two online events, where I get to directly review her books. The first of these is on the 13th of April when Val hosts Fiona Cummins in her pre-launch for her book When I was Ten. In preparation for this, I'll be reading her latest Karen Pirie book, …

Reading on Fire

After first coming across Rachael Blok in the Afraid Of anthologies, I've now read all of her books in relatively quick succession. With the first one in December, which was quite apt, as the plotline was around Christmas. In that book we were introduced to the protagonist, Marten, but by the time we get to …

Preparing for Flawed Women

Since I first read Philippa East's opening novel, Little White Lies, I was aware of her talent to go for original stories and Safe and Sound was no different. When it first came out earlier this year, despite my desire to read it almost straight away, I was busy with interviews, so when the Flawed …

Catching up with You

In preparation for tonight, when Caroline Kepnes and Erin Kelly do an online talk for Waterstones, I've been watching the first series of You on Netflix. Since 2016, when Kepnes wrote You, I've been meaning to watch the series, but didn't want to ruin the book, but given that the 3rd book is due out …

Global with Orenda

Vanda Symon's Bound is the 4th in her New Zealand series, set in Dunedin. This is the first of her books that I have read., After being with her on Noir at the Bar last year and seeing her at Theakstons in 2019, I was waiting for an opportunity to read her books and Orenda …

Detecting in two Ways

After the intriguing way in which Firewatching concluded, implying something about Tyler's past, I was glad that I read that book so close to reading this one. Thomas's character building is one of the most redeeming features about his novel writing and the way that he starts each chapter from the point of view of …