Monthly Archives: January 2010

About Face, by Donna Leon

Posted on January 27, 2010 by

  About Face If you have read any novels by Donna Leon, ABOUT FACE will be no surprise. It's just like the others: a perfect miniature of a book with a social sting in its tail; an elegy for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Crime fiction, Europe, Italy, Police procedural, Social comment, USA | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Disappeared, by M. R. Hall

Posted on January 27, 2010 by

  The Disappeared I was very much looking forward to the second outing of THE CORONER, otherwise known as Jenny Cooper. Although I certainly enjoyed THE DISAPPEARED, I don't think it quite matches up to the promise of the earlier … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Crime fiction, England, Eurocrime, Legal, Mystery, Psychology, Series, Wales | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Murder on Page Three, by Ella Griffiths

Posted on January 26, 2010 by

Murder on Page ThreeElla Griffiths  (translated by J. Basil Cowlishaw)Quartet Crime 1984 (first published Norway 1982) 183 pp Latest in my discovery of Scandinavian mystery authors is Ella Griffiths, who wrote Murder on Page Three back in the 1980s. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Crime fiction, Europe, Mystery, Norway, Police procedural, Translated | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Reunion, by Simone van der Vlugt

Posted on January 26, 2010 by

  The Reunion The ReunionBy Simone van der Vlugt, translated by Michele Hutchinson (Harper Collins)   Sabine works in an office in Amsterdam as an administrator for a bank. She’s recently had to take some time off work while suffering … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Crime fiction, Europe, Mystery, Police procedural, Psychology, The Netherlands, Translated | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Like Clockwork, by Margie Orford

Posted on January 26, 2010 by

Like Clockwork My contribution [to the Crime Fiction Alphabet] this week is a review of a book I have just finished reading, Like Clockwork by Margie Orford (Atlantic books).   Set in Cape Town, Like Clockwork follows the life and thoughts of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, Crime fiction, Debut, Police procedural, Private investigator, Social comment, South Africa, Thriller | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Tooth and Claw, by Nigel McCrery

Posted on January 17, 2010 by

  Tooth and Claw TOOTH AND CLAW is the second in the series about DCI Mark Lapslie, begun in the rather good "Agatha Christie noir" novel CORE OF EVIL (aka STILL WATERS). As might be expected from the author's credentials … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Crime fiction, England, Eurocrime, Europe, Police procedural, Series, Thriller | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Whispers of the Dead, by Simon Beckett

Posted on January 17, 2010 by

  Whispers of the Dead I have belatedly caught up with Simon Beckett, whose third David Hunter novel is set in Tennessee’s Anthropological Research Laboratory, colloquially known as the ‘Body Farm’. After his previous cases in the fens of eastern … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Crime fiction, England, Europe, Medical, North America, Police procedural, Series, Thriller, USA | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Siren of the Waters, by Michael Genelin

Posted on January 17, 2010 by

Siren of the Waters (Commander Jana Matinova Investigation) (Written in English). This novel is set in Slovakia, both in the present (post-Communist) day and, in flashback, during the Communist era. The two regimes do not seem very different from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Crime fiction, Europe, North America, Police procedural, Political, Slovakia, Thriller, USA | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blood Sunset, by Jarad Henry

Posted on January 17, 2010 by

Blood Sunset Detective Rubens McCauley (great name!) is at the end of his night shift, having recently returned to work after being injured and suspended (a story told in the author’s debut novel Head Shot, which I haven’t read), when a … Continue reading →

Posted in Australasia, Australia, Books, Crime fiction, Police procedural, Series, Thriller | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Death in Oslo, by Anne Holt

Posted on January 17, 2010 by

Death in Oslo: Everyone Has a Secret Life. Even the Most Powerful Woman in the World Death in OsloAnne Holt (translated by Kari Dickson). To appreciate DEATH IN OSLO as an English-language reader, one must note that the book was … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Crime fiction, Europe, Norway, Police procedural, Political, Series, Social comment, Thriller, Translated, USA | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment