What a cracking read! I picked this up as a freebie a few months ago, but it sat on my TBR pile for longer than it should. Simon Toyne is an author and TV producer – if you can find his series “Written In Blood” where he interviews crime fiction authors about real-life cases that have inspired his writing, I heartily recommend it.

In brief, a woman – one half of a ‘perfect’ couple – is brutally murdered in her own home, in a wealthy London suburb. Her body is found by the couple’s cleaner, posed with a number of objects, including a copy of How To Process A Murder, by troubled criminologist, Laughton Rees. Her husband is missing.
DCI Tannahill Khan is assigned the case. What unfolds is an excellently crafted police procedural, with plenty of twists, turns and misdirections. Khan is a well-formed and sympathetic character, but arguably the principal character is Laughton Rees. She has a complex and tragic background, which led her to becoming an expert in the field of criminology, but which has left her reluctant to leave the theoretical comfort of academia and teaching to examine live cases. Unfortunately, the presence of her book at the scene means that she has little choice but to become involved.

What I like about this book, is that in addition to it being an excellent detective novel, is the well-layered and complex characters. They have a rich background that makes them compelling to read. Laughton’s own tragic past, which has coloured her relationship with her daughter, brings emotional depth to the character. We also see glimpses through the killer’s eyes. This not only adds depth to the narrative, but also ratchets up the tension, as we see him watching those who are trying to bring him to justice. It makes the characters feel more vulnerable.

The relationship between Khan and Rees grows and matures throughout the book, and by the end of the story I found myself hoping that the author chooses to visit them again in future.

Another highly recommended read. 

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If there’s one thing more exciting than getting a parcel, it’s getting an unexpected parcel. So I was thrilled a few weeks ago when I opened a mysterious package to find a proof copy of the latest DS Max Craigie novel, The Night Watch, sent to me by Neil Lancaster’s publicist.
Now first of all, I want to remind you of the rules for this blog. I only recommend books that I’ve enjoyed, it doesn’t matter if the author is a mate. The first two in the series have been top notch – and I’m delighted to tell you that this series just keeps on getting better.

This outing is a real whodunnit. The book kicks off with two murders; a recently released convict and a prominent defence solicitor. Pretty soon, Craigie’s team are called in to oversee the investigation, since there are links to past events that might indicate corruption.
I’m not going to outline the plot here – read it for yourself and enjoy the ride. But as ever the central mystery is satisfying complex, there are some terrific action scenes and it packs an emotional punch.

Best of all, Craigie, his ever reliable sidekick Janey Calder, and gloriously foul-mouthed boss, Ross Fraser (and Nutmeg the cockapoo), are all back, on sparkling form, along with Barney their slightly dodgy covert surveillance technician and Norma their IT whizz.
This is the third go around the block for these characters, and it really shows. Lancaster writes them like old friends. The dialogue is pacy and confident, and laugh-out-loud funny at times. Lancaster is an ex-detective, and so the detail is spot on, whilst never being too onerous. Fans of the series will be delighted to find that all of the characters get their chance to shine, with genuine growth and development, but newcomers to the books are given everything they need to join in the fun.

Max, Ross and Janie are fast becoming one of my favourite crime teams.  The book isn’t out until September, but I am already waiting impatiently for book 4.
Highly recommended!

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What a treat! Today’s #RecommendedRead is The Botanist, M.W. Craven’s latest Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw masterpiece. I’ve reviewed others in the series (The Curator and Dead Ground), but this time I was fortunate enough to get an early copy.
Yes I am being hyperbolic, but I don’t care. I devoured it in 3 days and it is absolutely fantastic.
Washington Poe, former soldier, and now a detective working for the National Crime Agency, specialises in serial killers and the most fiendish of crimes, and in this book he is given a doozy. The Botanist is targeting high-profile victims, and they just can’t figure out how the killer is getting to the targets. At the same time, Poe’s friend, series-regular, pathologist Professor Estelle Doyle, is arrested for the murder of her father. ALL the evidence points towards her, but Poe and Tilly know that she can’t possibly be guilty.
Poe hates locked room mysteries – but here he has two, and the stakes couldn’t be higher, both personally and professionally.
Mike Craven has crafted an enviable series that ticks all the boxes. Central to the books is the wonderful pairing of Poe, and gifted analyst, Tilly Bradshaw. The chemistry of this mismatched duo is what sets them apart. Poe is taciturn, rude and technically inept, but he is a brilliant and tenacious detective who’s never met a meat dish he doesn’t love. Tilly is a technical genius, whose early cloistered upbringing amongst other intellectual giants, has left her with few social skills, and a wide-eyed naivete and forthright manner that is refreshing, toe-curlingly cringeworthy and laugh-out-loud hilarious. Much to Poe’s disgust, she’s also a vegetarian.
What’s great is the way the author’s own dry wit comes across in the narrative, and the book is full of quotable lines.
The fact is, that Craven could have given these two any investigation, and the books would have been popular and fun reads. But he hasn’t. The investigations here are fiendishly clever, locked room mysteries. And the answers when they come are brilliant, but obvious when you look back and ignore the expertly placed misdirection.
What’s especially impressive is the pacing. Despite two complex and detailed investigations, and the need for the series’ trademark Tilly and Poe diversions off topic, the book gallops along. You get a huge amount for your money, yet the book feels neither rushed or overly long.
And on a personal note, as the title of the book suggests, the books rely on a degree of scientific expertise. Through the need for Tilly to explain everything to Poe, the readers are also kept in the loop, and it doesn’t become burdensome. The science is a little out of my own area of biology, but as best I can tell is accurate and plausible. Craven has wisely taken advice from advisors such as fellow writer Brian Price, who he has credited in the acknowledgments.
All in all, the book is an excellently crafted novel, from a writer at the top of his (and anyone’s) game.
If he wasn’t such a nice bloke, and I didn’t enjoy these books so much, I’d hate him!
The Botanist is out on June 2nd and is sure to be showered with accolades.
Have you had a chance to read The Botanist yet? Is it on your TBR pile? Feel free to comment here, or on social media.
Happy reading!
Paul

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Today’s #RecommendedRead is the latest deliciously dark psychological thriller from Victoria Selman.
The copy I have was a freebee from CrimeFest, (it’s not due out until July) and the moment I saw its beautifully designed, black cover, with its sealed, folding flap, I knew it would be my next read. 

Told in two time frames, it’s narrated by a twelve-year-old girl, Sophie who moves, with her single mother, from Massachusetts to North London at the beginning of the 1980s. There they meet Matty Melgren, a charismatic Irishman who starts dating Sophie’s mother. With no father figure, Sophie finds in Matty someone to fill that void in her life and soon she feels her family is complete.
But there is a serial killer stalking the streets of London, killing young women in a ritualistic manner, and so we see the investigation unfold during the book, and it gets steadily darker and darker.

The second time frame, interleaved with the first, is set twenty years later. Matty is now serving life without parole for the murders – crimes that he swears he is not guilty of. Sophie is wracked with guilt for not seeing him for what he was, yet is still plagued with doubts. What if the man she loved like a father is innocent after all? And then she receives a letter from him. He’s dying and he asks to see her in prison…

This book is a masterclass in the slow reveal. The two threads are woven together seamlessly, each retaining their own separate feel and identity. 1980s London is interspersed with life twenty-odd years later. Matty’s case remains an obsession to many, with numerous true crime documentaries and websites rehashing events; some believe he’s guilty, others are convinced of his innocence.

Usually such books are divided into sections, with each timeline clearly labelled. But Selman hasn’t done that here. The short chapters weave between the two times, but she maintains a distinctiveness between each period that means the reader is never in any doubt when the chapter is set. As the book unfolds, the reader is not quite sure if Matty is guilty. The evidence was enough to convict him in 1983, yet there is enough reasonable doubt that you can’t be completely certain. 

The skill here is in the writing; the novel is an acutely observed study of uncertainty. We follow Sophie’s story as she negotiates her early teenage years; then we see her as a grown woman, haunted by the events of two decades ago. Period details and references to current affairs keep the sections in the 1980s firmly grounded in that time period, whilst the contemporary sections supply a commentary on our modern obsession with serial killers from the past, and ‘citizen detectives’.

The book builds to its climax slowly, yet never feels laboured, and you are immersed in the story. By keeping the book firmly in the first person throughout, you are only ever privy to what Sophie knows. But because it’s set in two time periods, you find yourself scrutinising the earlier parts of the story with the benefit of hindsight. Fundamentally, the question you find yourself trying to answer, is whether Sophie was hoodwinked or not?

This was a fantastic read, and I highly recommend it.
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Best wishes,
Paul