Author: steven

The Dying Detective

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The Dying Detective by Lief Persson is a different kind of detective novel.

The detective is Lars Johansson, a retired legendary head of the National Criminal Police who has just had a stroke and is recovering in hospital. His doctor tempts him back into bed ridden action in an endeavour to solve a 25 year old brutal rape and murder of a young girl. The only problem, apart from being retired and bed ridden, is that the statute of limitations on the case has expired so even if Lars discovers who the killer was he won’t be able to bring him to justice.

Is is not just a whodunnit. The side story of how Lars copes (or fails to cope) with his physical disabilities, his unwillingness to adapt his life and diet to help his recovery, the rag bag collection of friends, family and helpers and the witty combination of dialogue with his own internal commentary provide a good counterpoint to the detection bit. Even though you can see the end coming you don’t want to put this down.

The Dying Detective is very good, I will look out for more of Persson’s writing 4/5

Sugarland

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Sugarland: A Jazz Age Mystery by Martha Conway is an atmospheric mystery set in Chicago in 1921. Think speakeasies, jazz musicians, emerging black culture, racism and gangsters and you’ll get the flavour of Sugarland.

This is a great read, well written, full of fascinating detail about early 20’s Chicago, black/white tensions and the Jazz scene. The plot twists nicely and the detail is woven in without being overly intrusive. I hope it is the first of a series by Conway

You should read this 4.5/5

The Torture Trial

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The Torture Trial by Joseph Suste is a surprising mix of a political polemic with a gripping court room drama. Imagine George Bush being brought to trial for authorising torture after 911, it could never happen? But it does in the Torture Trial.

Joseph Suste is a campaigning writer who seems to know his stuff about the US legal code, international law on torture and what went on post 911. The novel is extensively footnoted with hundreds of references, I don’t know whether his quotes are in or out of context, but to me at least, he makes a convincing case against Bush and his senior advisers. But, The Torture Trial is not just a well argued case for prosecuting the perpetrators of torture at the highest level of the US administration, it’s a really good court room drama, the characters are engaging, the plot is full of believable skullduggery – I didn’t want to put it down.

Read this, it’s gripping, instructive and most importantly it will make you question your ideas on what is acceptable within our democracies to defend us against those who want to do us harm. Think torture, think intrusive monitoring of our communications, think destabilising regimes that are considered a threat and think supporting some of the most anti democratic fascistic homophobic dictatorships in the world. All in the name of preserving our democratic values.

This was not what I was expecting, read it. 4.5/5

The Three-Body Problem

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Take a good dollop of SciFi, set it in today’s China, add in a dash of history of the Cultural Revolution, season with some aliens looking for a new home planet, an immersive reality computer game and some politics – that’s The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, a Hugo Award winner.

Liu, is one of China’s foremast SciFi writers, he has won their national SciFi award 9 times. Who knew that there was a big SciFi culture in China? Not me.

This book is fantastic, hard core SciFi combined with mystery and a surprisingly frank navigation of recent Chinese history and politics. I can’t recommend it highly enough, SciFi at its very best. And there are 2 more novels in the series, I love it when you get to the end of a book and know there is more to follow 🙂

If you like SciFi, read this. If you like mystery, read this. If you are interested in the Cultural Revolution, read this. And if you don’t fall into any of those buckets, read it any way.

This is the first book I have read since starting this blog that ranks as 5/5

Dark Eden

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There is a vein of SciFi writing that riffs on either a biblical theme or some form of post holocaust/grand destruction rebuilding. Dark Eden by Chris Beckett combines both.

Eden (note the rather crude biblical reference) is a planet populated by the descendants of two astronauts (fortunately male and female) who were stranded their about 160 years ago. The 500 odd descendants are indeed odd, inbred and amoral. Doesn’t sound good? Well actually it isn’t bad, it’s readable although there are no surprises in the plot line.

If you like this type of stuff, then this might be worth a read, particularly if you want a series that has the potential to run on and on. There is a second book in the series, Mother of Eden, it has the potential to get better but I a not sure I want to hang in there to find out.

Personally I much preferred Canticle for Leibowitz which is a true ‘classic’, if you haven’t read it, it’s a ‘must read’

2.5/5

The Spy of Venice

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The Spy of Venice is the first novel from Benet Brandreth is a cross between CJ Samson and Shakespeare in Love.

A young Shakespeare joins a group of players on a mission to Venice in the company of a wealthy nobleman on his way to take up an ambassadorial post at the court in Venice. They get attacked on the way and Will is drawn into a web of Venetian intrigue and murder.

Full of interesting historical detail on both the complex political and religious intrigues of the Elizabethan period and the rivalries between Venice and the Papal States.

A real page turner that I couldn’t put down. Hopefully this will be the first of many

4.5/5

The Winemaker Detective Omnibus

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The Winemaker Detective series by Jean-Pierre Alaux is more wine than detective.

If you are into the nuances of fine wines, different chateaux, grape species and the like with a bit of gourmet food thrown in and all complimented by elegant descriptions of the French countryside and Bordeaux life, then you will love this. The crime bit seems almost like an afterthought with little detection and a sort of surprise “oh that’s who did it and why” in the last chapter.

This omnibus contains the first three books in the series. They are quite short (not sure what defines a short novel as a novella) so you might be disappointed if you bought them individually.

Personally I like my crime a bit more on the robust side with some dark flavours, a hint of a plausible diversion and a satisfying aftertaste or conclusion. Give me a Premiere Cru crime novel not this light whimsical novella. This is only a 2.5/5 for me

If you  want a top quality crime series set in rural France with a bit of food and wine around the edges try Martin Walker’s Bruno Courreges series, I’d give them a 4.5/5

The Thicket

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I’d forgotten how much I enjoy Joe R Lansdale, he is a witty writer who tells good hard boiled stories.

The Thicket is set in East Texas at the turn of the century, it’s a combination of a ‘coming of age’ story and a tough bounty hunting chase of a brutal gang of bank robbers and killers. The lead character, Jack Parker, is accompanied by Shorty, a crack shot midget, Eustace, a grave digger and a Jimmy Sue, kind hearted whore on his pursuit of his sister’s kidnappers.

This is a very good read, when you’ve finished you will want to meet more by Lansdale, a great find.

This is at least a 4/5

Star Sand

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Star Sand by Roger Pulvers tells the story of two deserters, one Japanese and one American, stranded on a tiny island as WW2 draws to a close. Star Sand explores their relationship through the diary of a young girl of mixed Japanese and American parentage who finds them and helps them to remain hidden and to survive.

What does it mean to be enemies? How do you forgive and move on? The conflict between a sense of duty and humanity. This is a compelling read, even though you sense that you know what is going to happen the tension builds and you hope for a different outcome.

Almost 4/5

The Plea

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The Plea by Steve Cavanagh is a cracking legal novel, sort of Micky Haller with knuckle dusters.

Eddie Flynn is an ex con man turned lawyer.  He gets pressured into defending an open and shut murder case by a secretive FBI agent who wants Eddie to convince the defendant to plead guilty. As he looks into the case and meets the defendant Eddie starts to have doubts about his guilt but anything other than a quick guilty plea will put Eddie’s wife at risk.

This is a pacy courtroom page turner with some good twists and turns. Well worth a read, 4/5