Category Archives: Crime

October 14, 2024 · 3:21 pm

Big Sky – Kate Atkinson

Big Sky – Kate Atkinson

Sadly, I have now finished all of the Jackson Brodie books. Number six – Death at the Sign of the Rook, has just been released, so it will be a while before another one is published.

Here’s the blurb …

Jackson Brodie, ex-military police, ex-Cambridge Constabulary, currently working as a private investigator, makes a highly anticipated return, nine years after the last Brodie, Started Early, Took My Dog.

Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son and an aging Labrador, both at the discretion of his ex-partner Julia. It’s picturesque, but there’s something darker lurking behind the scenes.

Jackson’s current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for his suspicious wife, is fairly standard-issue, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinister network—and back across the path of his old friend Reggie. Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breathtaking novel by one of the most dazzling and surprising writers at work today.

This was excellent. Different strands coming together in a beautiful tapestry. All of the good literary Atkinson things – literary references, great sense of place, fabulous characters (I particularly liked Harry and Bunny). A return of old characters – Reggie and Julia. Julia seems to live in Brodie’s head – always making comments on his thoughts.

Guardian Review

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October 8, 2024 · 1:45 pm

Started Early, Took my Dog – Kate Atkinson

Started Early, Took My Dog – Kate Atkinson

I am continuing on my Jackson Brodie audio marathon (this narrator pronounces Niamh wrong, which is grating).

Here’s the blurb …

Tracy Waterhouse leads a quiet, ordered life as a retired police detective – a life that takes a surprising turn when she encounters Kelly Cross, a habitual offender, dragging a young child through town. Both appear miserable and better off without each other – or so decides Tracy, in a snap decision that surprises herself as much as Kelly. Suddenly burdened with a small child, Tracy soon learns her parental inexperience is actually the least of her problems, as much larger ones loom for her and her young charge.

Meanwhile, Jackson Brodie, the beloved detective of novels such as Case Histories, is embarking on a different sort of rescue – that of an abused dog. Dog in tow, Jackson is about to learn, along with Tracy, that no good deed goes unpunished.

This was very good. The new characters Tracy, Barry, Tilly and Courtney are excellent. I enjoyed getting their perspective (not Courtney – she’s only four). Jackson’s new dog was an added bonus. There were crimes and they do get solved, but it’s more about the characters, their interactions and how they develop or not over the course of the story.

A review.

I have read this before, so here is my previous thoughts. (It was 14 years ago).

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October 3, 2024 · 1:37 pm

When Will There Be Good News – Kate Atkinson

When Will There Be Good News – Kate Atkinson

I am making my way through Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels – this one is number 3 (and I have read number 6, so just two more).

Here’s the blurb …

Three lives come together in unexpected and thrilling ways in Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News?

On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason’s family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna’s life is changed forever…

On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound…

At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening. Luckily, Reggie makes it a point to be prepared for an emergency…

These three lives come together in unexpected and deeply thrilling ways in the latest novel from Kate Atkinson, the critically acclaimed author who Harlan Coben calls “an absolute must-read.”

Kate Atkinson writes what I am calling ‘literary fiction’. There are references and quotes to other novels – Austen and Henry James for example. The characters are great, funny, annoying, kind. We get inside the heads of various characters and I love their internal monologues. I found myself inventing tasks so I could listen to this story.

A review.

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October 1, 2024 · 1:10 pm

The Satsuma Complex – Bill Mortimer

The Satsuma Complex – Bill Mortimer

We needed an audio book that was about 7 hours and we wanted something funny, and this is what we found on Audible.

Here’s the blurb …

‘My name is Gary. I’m a thirty-year-old legal assistant with a firm of solicitors in London. To describe me as anonymous would be unfair but to notice me other than in passing would be a rarity. I did make a good connection with a girl, but that blew up in my face and smacked my arse with a fish slice.’

Gary Thorn goes for a pint with a work acquaintance called Brendan. When Brendan leaves early, Gary meets a girl in the pub. He doesn’t catch her name, but falls for her anyway. When she suddenly disappears without saying goodbye, all Gary has to remember her by is the book she was The Satsuma Complex. But when Brendan goes missing, Gary needs to track down the girl he now calls Satsuma to get some answers.

And so begins Gary’s quest, through the estates and pie shops of South London, to finally bring some love and excitement into his unremarkable life…

A page-turning story with a cast of unforgettable characters, The Satsuma Complex is the brilliantly funny first novel by bestselling author and comedian Bob Mortimer.

This novel was very fun. I particularly liked the dialogue (does that come from being a comedian?). It’s got good pacing and the characters are fabulous; funny, a bit weird, but believable.

I will be reading/listening to more.

A review.

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September 30, 2024 · 4:56 pm

Creation Lake – Rachel Kushner

Creation Lake – Rachel Kushner

I have returned to my booker short list reading with this one.

Here’s the blurb …

A new novel about a seductive and cunning American woman who infiltrates an anarchist collective in France—a propulsive page-turner of glittering insights and dark humor.Creation Lake is a novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions, and clean beauty, who is sent to do dirty work in France. “Sadie Smith” is how the narrator introduces herself to her lover, to the rural commune of French subversives on whom she is keeping tabs, and to the reader. Sadie has met her love, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian, by “cold bump”—making him believe the encounter was accidental. Like everyone Sadie targets, Lucien is useful to her and used by her. Sadie operates by strategy and dissimulation, based on what her “contacts”—shadowy figures in business and government—instruct. First, these contacts want her to incite provocation. Then they want more. In this region of centuries-old farms and ancient caves, Sadie becomes entranced by a mysterious figure named Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists who communicates only by email. Bruno believes that the path to emancipation from what ails modern life is not revolt, but a return to the ancient past. Just as Sadie is certain she’s the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno Lacombe is seducing her with his ingenious counter-histories, his artful laments, his own tragic story. Written in short, vaulting sections, Rachel Kushner’s rendition of “noir” is taut and dazzling. Creation Lake is Kushner’s finest achievement yet as a novelist, a work of high art, high comedy, and unforgettable pleasure.

I was fascinated by this novel. Our protagonist (who calls herself Sadie) is a secret agent who infiltrates activist groups and tries to manipulate/encourage them to violent acts. Definitely dubious morally, but you still warm to her (or at least I did). And then the structure is interesting too – there are emails from Bruno (the activist group’s mentor) about Neanderthals and did they (prehistoric people) know something we don’t about living a good life? It also touches on gender relations – apparently in a commune people revert to biological roles (which just means women do the drudgery), on money and class, and environmental issues.

It is beautifully written and speaks to a lot of modern issues, which should appeal to a large audience.

I still think James will win.

Two more novels to go.

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September 19, 2024 · 11:53 am

One Good Turn – Kate Atkinson

One Good Turn – Kate Atkinson

I enjoyed reading Death at the Sign of the Rook and I thought I would read the Brodie novels that I had missed. I listened to the audio version (it was very good).

Here’s the blurb …

Kate Atkinson began her career with a winner: Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which captured the Whitbread First Novel Award. She followed that success with four other books, the last of which was Case Histories, her first foray into the mystery-suspense-detective genre. In that book she introduced detective Jackson Brodie, who reopened three cold cases and ended up a millionaire. A great deal happened in-between.

In One Good Turn Jackson returns, following his girlfriend, Julia the actress, to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh. He manages to fall into all kinds of trouble, starting with witnessing a brutal attack by “Honda Man” on another man stuck in a traffic jam. Is this road rage or something truly sinister? Another witness is Martin Canning, better known as Alex Blake, the writer. Martin is a shy, withdrawn, timid sort who, in a moment of unlikely action, flings a satchel at the attacker and spins him around, away from his victim. Gloria Hatter, wife of Graham, a millionaire property developer who is about to have all his secrets uncovered, is standing in a nearby queue with a friend when the attack takes place. There is nastiness afoot, and everyone is involved. Nothing is coincidental.

Through a labyrinthine plot which is hard to follow because the points of view are constantly changing, the real story is played out, complete with Russians, false and mistaken identities, dead bodies, betrayals, and all manner of violent encounters. Jackson gets pulled in to the investigation by Louise Monroe, a police detective and mother of an errant 14-year-old. There might be yet another novel to follow which will take up the connection those two forge in this book. Or, Jackson might just go back to France and feed apples to the local livestock.

I think these novels should be read in the published order. There were a couple of references in Death at the Sign of the Rook that passed my by when I was reading it, but I understand more now.

I enjoyed this. Atkinson is a fabulous writer who has a soft spot for her characters. It’s told from various perspectives, Jackson, Martin, Louise, Paul Bradley (although not much from him) and Gloria. Then there are the other characters, ‘Honda man’, Tatiana, Pam, Archie. It’s funny, but also moving, and it ends in a satisfying way.

I am definitely going to read the rest – in the right order!

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September 10, 2024 · 3:12 pm

Death at the Sign of the Rook – Kate Atkinson

Death at the Sign of the Rook – Kate Atkinson

I do like Kate Atkinson novels and I managed to get this one as an ARC.

Here’s the blurb …

The stage is set. Marooned overnight by a snowstorm in a grand country house are a cast of characters and a setting that even Agatha Christie might recognize – a vicar, an Army major, a Dowager, a sleuth and his sidekick – except that the sleuth is Jackson Brodie, and the ‘sidekick’ is DC Reggie Chase.

The crumbling house – Burton Makepeace and its chatelaine the Dowager Lady Milton – suffered the loss of their last remaining painting of any value, a Turner, some years ago. The housekeeper, Sophie, who disappeared the same night, is suspected of stealing it.

Jackson, a reluctant hostage to the snowstorm, has been investigating the theft of another The Woman with a Weasel, a portrait, taken from the house of an elderly widow, on the morning she died. The suspect this time is the widow’s carer, Melanie. Is this a coincidence or is there a connection? And what secrets does The Woman with a Weasel hold? The puzzle is Jackson’s to solve.?And let’s not forget that a convicted murderer is on the run on the moors around Burton Makepeace.

All the while, in a bid to make money, Burton Makepeace is determined to keep hosting a shambolic Murder Mystery that acts as a backdrop while the real drama is being played out in the house.

A brilliantly plotted, supremely entertaining, and utterly compulsive tour de force from a great writer at the height of her powers.

This is told from various different view points – Jackson, Reggie, Ben, Lady Milton, the Vicar, an escaped psychopath, and they all converge at the big house. It’s by turns funny and moving.

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September 5, 2024 · 11:34 am

The Cut – Richard Armitage

The Cut – Richard Armitage

I read (listened to) Geneva and enjoyed it, so when this appeared in my Audible library I was happy to listen to it (and it is narrated by Richard Armitage).

Here’s the blurb …

You can’t escape your past. The cut always reopens.

In the sleepy village of Barton Mallet, the old ruins of Blackstone Mill watch over the residents as they go about their quiet lives. Ben Knot and his friends are looking forward to a summer of fun and freedom once their last year of school is over. The class of 1994 have been through a lot together, good and bad, but teasing turns to bullying when the Knot gang target younger boy Mark Cherry. As tensions rise and violence escalates, the group fractures and tragedy strikes. Before the summer is over, one of them will be killed. Murdered by someone they called a friend.

Thirty years on, Ben is an award-winning architect who has moved his family back to the village where he grew up. His girlfriend Dani is a hands-on step mum to his kids, budding actor Nate and star footballer Lily, but even though the family seem happy, Ben has never been able to forget the tragedy of the past. And it’s a past that is coming back to haunt him with the murderer’s imminent release from prison. Ben’s glittering career is also starting tarnish as some shady business deals have put him on the path to bankruptcy. With the killer’s parole date approaching and the banks calling in their loans, Ben struggles to keep a grip on the perfect life he has built.

When Nate lands the leading role in a new horror movie, Dani jumps at the chance to propel him towards stardom, despite Ben’s concerns that it will complicate their lives. Ben is persuaded to support his son’s dreams, but when the film crew descend on the village to start shooting, the dream starts to turn into a nightmare. The film is not quite what it seems. His kids are being pushed to the limit and Ben’s paranoia makes him question the film makers’ motives. Ben is desperate for answers and will stop at nothing to keep his family safe.

If the first cut is the deepest, then the last cut is going to end it all.

This was really interesting and different. It has two different time periods thirty years apart and the story is told from various perspectives – Ben, Nathan, Max, etc. (all of whom may be unreliable). There is awful school bullying, fraud and suspect business practices, and an historic murder (the early narrative builds to the murder) not to mention the filming of a horror film. The pacing is excellent.

A review.

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August 13, 2024 · 3:38 pm

Career of Evil – Robert Galbraith

Career of Evil – Robert Galbraith

I have very much enjoyed listening to this. I watched the first two series of C.B Strike, so I have been picturing the actors as I have been listening.

Here’s the blurb …

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…

A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, Career of Evil is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives. You will not be able to put this book down.

I haven’t got much to say about this novel. It was a really enjoyable crime novel, and I didn’t pick the culprit. There is a lot of what I think of as world building – I felt like I was walking the streets of London, going to the office on Denmark Street, etc. It adds to the enjoyment of the novel for me.

Now to watch the the third series.

A review.

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June 11, 2024 · 2:34 pm

The Late Mrs. Willoughby – Claudia Gray

The Late Mrs Willoughby – Claudia Gray

I was given this book for mothers day. I have already read the first novel The Murder of Mr. Wickham. I was keen to read this one and I see there is also a third one.

Here’s the blurb …

The suspenseful sequel to The Murder of Mr. Wickham, which sees Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney reunited, and with another mystery to solve: the dreadful poisoning of the scoundrel Willoughby’s new wife.

“An absolute page-turner full of well-plotted mystery and hints of simmering romance. . . . More of the Jane Austen characters we love (as well as those we love to hate).” —Mia P. Manansala, author of Arsenic and Adobo

Catherine and Henry Tilney of Northanger Abbey are not entirely pleased to be sending their eligible young daughter Juliet out into the world again: the last house party she attended, at the home of the Knightleys, involved a murder—which Juliet helped solve. Particularly concerning is that she intends to visit her new friend Marianne Brandon, who’s returned home to Devonshire shrouded in fresh scandal—made more potent by the news that her former suitor, the rakish Mr. Willoughby, intends to take up residence at his local estate with his new bride.

Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley are thrilled that their eldest son, Jonathan—who, like his father, has not always been the most socially adept—has been invited to stay with his former schoolmate, John Willoughby. Jonathan himself is decidedly less taken with the notion of having to spend extended time under the roof of his old bully, but that all changes when he finds himself reunited with his fellow amateur sleuth, the radiant Miss Tilney. And when shortly thereafter, Willoughby’s new wife—whom he married for her fortune—dies horribly at the party meant to welcome her to town.

With rumors flying and Marianne—known to be both unstable and previously jilted by the dead woman’s newly made widower—under increased suspicion, Jonathan and Juliet must team up once more to uncover the murderer. But as they collect clues and close in on suspects, eerie incidents suggest that the killer may strike again, and that the pair are in far graver danger than they or their families could imagine.

This is a fun crime novel set amongst the characters of Jane Austen novels with a bit of Jane Austen style in the writing. I think if you’re a fan of Jane Austen and/or crime, then you will enjoy this novel.

Willoughby was suitably caddish, Mrs. Jennings enthusiastic, but kind, Colonel Brandon thoughtful, and Lady Middleton thoughtless. The characters are how you think they should be.

A review.

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