crime novels – nigeladamsbookworm

The Alter Girls. Patricia Gibney

I can’t believe we’re already at book 13 in this series.

Don’t worry if you haven’t read the others because this can be read as a standalone and is still a fantastic read.

The ongoing stories involving Detective Lottie Park, her team, and her family add to the series massively, but the main story in each book is the real star.

In this book two young girls go missing on a snowy day. The only problem is nobody really notices they’re missing for a good few hours.

Both girls are connected to the church through the choir and serve as alter girls, both are very young, still in primary school.

When the first girl turns up dead in the Cathedral grounds people naturally start suspect the involvement of somebody in the clergy. A bias that has riddled the church for years.

When the second girl is found in similar circumstances the Catholic Fathers come under even more suspicion.

Lottie can’t afford any type of bias as her team start the investigation.

The families of both girls also have their secrets, but the main person Lottie would suspect, one of the girls fathers, is in prison

Nobody writes crime fiction better than Patricia Gibney.

She relates the frustrations of the investigation team with unerring realism.

When instinct is telling you there is something wrong, but there is no evidence. When old biases rear their head, but you daren’t act on them because people will think you’re going for the obvious, easy hit.

Gibney never shies away from putting her characters through the mill. She never avoids a difficult subject. In the Alter Girls she addresses some of the concerns people have around the clergy. She looks at the secrets kept behind closed doors in, what should be the sanctuary, of the family home.

And all the way through she shows the minefield that is building hypothesis during an investigation. It is absolutely compelling.

The book is just over 500 pages long but every word is used well and is relevant to the current story, or the ongoing stories of the main characters.

As close as it could be this was a “pick it up and read from start to finish” for me. In fact if I hadn’t have to go to work, it would have been.

Pages 504. Publisher: Bookouture. Audiobook 13 h 35m. Narrator Michele Moran

Anna O. Matthew Blake

I’ve read a few books with really original plots recently but I think this one stand out.

Anna O is an infamous young lady who was found lying between two people who had stabbed to death. She was asleep, and four years later she still is.

The judiciary wants to put her on trial, but first they need to get her into a fit enough condition to stand trial.

They have her moved to the Abbey sleep clinic on Harley Street and place her under the treatment of Dr Benedict Prince, who has recently published a paper on Resignation Syndrome. (That had me reaching for Google and spending a good hour reading about the syndrome)

From there the plot splits between several characters.

Benedict himself.

His ex wife, who was the first Police Officer on the scene of the murder.

Anna O’s Mom, an ex Shadow Minister, now Vicar , who was, and is, more interested in saving her own reputation than that of her daughter.

Anna’s Dad, a Banker who has little in common with his wife or daughter.

Lola, a blogger and armchair detective that is linked to Anna, and possibly the murders. Her online persona is @Suspect8. Insinuating she was at the scene.

The plot is brilliantly woven from the outlook of each of these characters.

It’s a battle for the truth. Is Anna O a murderer, or a convenient scapegoat.

Can Benedict rouse her from her sleep and have her sufficiently compos mantis enough to tell her story.

The Publishers Gumph

What if your nightmares weren’t really nightmares at all?

We spend an average of 33 years of our lives asleep. But what really happens, and what are we capable of, when we sleep?

Anna Ogilvy was a budding twenty-five-year-old writer with a bright future. Then, one night, she stabbed two people to death with no apparent motive–and hasn’t woken up since. Dubbed “Sleeping Beauty” by the tabloids, Anna’s condition is a rare psychosomatic disorder known to neurologists as “resignation syndrome.”

Dr. Benedict Prince is a forensic psychologist and an expert in the field of sleep-related homicides. His methods are the last hope of solving the infamous “Anna O'”case and waking Anna up so she can stand trial. But he must be careful treating such a high-profile suspect–he’s got career secrets and a complicated personal life of his own.

As Anna shows the first signs of stirring, Benedict must determine what really happened and whether Anna should be held responsible for her crimes.

Only Anna knows the truth about that night, but only Benedict knows how to discover it. And they’re both in danger from what they find out.

What I thought

It’s a real page turner of a book. I’d never heard of Resignation Syndrome before, and I’ve found out that it’s a relatively newly diagnosed condition, but I can see many more authors using it as the spine of a plot.

The plot itself is really good and with one exception I didn’t second guess where the story was going.

At 448 pages it’s a bit long but not a page is wasted.

I can’t wait to see what Matthew Blake writes next.

The Lies You Wrote. Brianna Labuskes

Of all the crime fiction books I’ve read, and that stretches into many hundreds, this is the first one I’ve read that has a Forensic Linguistic expert as it’s main character.

It’s an original approach and it really works. I can’t remember how many times I disappeared down a Google Rabbit Hole researching some of the terms and phrases used in this book, and it’s fascinating.

FBI linguistics specialist Raisa Susanto is called in to assist in a case which appears to be a copy cat murder.

A famous murder suicide some years before has been the point of speculation for the usual crime conspiracy theorists for years.

A young man murdered his mother and father before killing himself and leaving his three younger sisters without a family.

He left a suicide note and the local police decided it was a slam-dunk, open-and-shut case.

For years people have theorised that the investigation was too short. There were rumours in the small community that Alex Parker was a youth with issues, accusations of assaults by him on young girls were brushed over because his Mom and Dad were almost town “royalty”.

But there were rumours about them as well, was it a really a perfect marriage?

The suicide note has long been an item of speculation. Susanto uses it herself in lectures, hypothesising on its credibility and authenticity.

When a couple are found murdered, posed in the same way that the Parkers had been found, the FBI launch an investigation with Susanto, and Forensic Psychologist Callum Kilkenny making up part of the team.

The usual scepticism is thrown Susanto’s way. How can she be of any help.

But she can. Word patterns, phrases, unusual use of terms, inconsistencies in tenses, are just a small way she looks at the words written by different people involved in the investigation

And, because of her familiarity with the original crime, through her studies and lectures, she is uniquely placed to start spotting links.

So is this really a copycat, or is it more sinister.

As much as Alex Parker was a hateful figure, and easy to identify as the killer of his parents, did he really commit suicide or was he another victim.

This is a cracker of a story. I loved its originality.

Years ago I was involved in a murder investigation where Forensic Linguistics played a huge part in getting a man convicted of murdering his wife.

I’ve since seen that linguistic expert lecture to college and university students, and hold them captivated by the way he and his team have aided in criminal investigations.

So I’m not surprised that somebody has used a linguistic expert as their main character.

Thinking about it I’m more surprised by the fact that this is the first, that I’ve read, where it’s happened.

Billed as book one in the Raisa Susanto series I can only hope it’s the first of many, because if this book is anything to go by, it’s going to be a fantastic series. 🔲

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer. Publishing date: 28th November 2023 available on preorder

The Girl’s Last Cry. Alison Belsham

Detective Lexi Bennett book 2.

Its early in the series but I’m already really engaged with Lexi Bennett. As far as Detective Inspectors go in modern fiction Lexi is relatively “normal”, and for me that’s a refreshing change.

When she almost stumbles across a crime scene its the start of an investigation that takes us into an area that is becoming increasingly more concerning.

A young girl falls from a tower, but is it suicide or was she pushed?

The girl is a student at a school where she sings in the choir. It’s also a school where Lexi’s nephew is a student, and when he hears about the death he is insistent that Lexi finds out what really happened.

With her boss telling her that this investigation should be carried out by local officers, not Lexi’s major crime team, she asks to be let carry on until it can be established why the girl killed herself.

But then a second death, another musically talented child is found dead.

A coincidence? No

But who is responsible.

That is when the story goes into a world that is becoming a daily reality.

Influnencers.

Puppeteers working online to bend peoples thoughts and emotions, and in this case its not fashion trends they are pushing, or the latest music videos, it’s pushing vulnerable people to a place where they want to end their own lives. And then being there to make sure they don’t back out at the last second.

Lexi and her team work quickly to identify what is going on, and why these young people have taken their own lives.

The big question is, has a crime even been committed.

I really enjoyed this story. Yes, we as readers know straight away that somebody is leading these students, praying on their vulnerability, and is ultimately responsible for their deaths, but the Police don’t.

The tenacity of Lexi, and her team, does eventually lead to a proper investigation being carried out, but it takes time, and they take a lot of pressure from above to write the deaths off as not being suspicious.

The story plays on the fact that there are introverted vulnerable people that seek solace online, instead of turning to their family.

It shows the way people can hide behind pseudonyms and groom vulnerable people.

In my youth bullies were a physical presence. People that could not hide behind a keyboard or computer screen. They got away with being abusive by hiding their behaviour from those strong enough to stand up for the people who were suffering.

Today they can remain anonymous. Even the victim doesn’t know who they are being abused, or groomed by.

How is that a fair fight.

And if the victim isn’t ever physically touched, just coerced, from a distance, how can the police ever find a perpetrator.

There have been a few books covering this subject recently, including Robert Galbraith’s (Yes, I know who it is really) The Ink Black Heart, but this is the best one I’ve read.

A great story in a series that has quickly made it on to my must-reads-as-soon- as-available list.

Pages: 401. Publisher: Bookouture. Publishing Date. 11th July 2023

Out Of The Ashes. Louisa Scarr

As a retired Fire Officer, and current Fire Investigation Consultant and Fire Procedures and Science Lecturer, I always open books which contain fire scenes with trepidation. However, I have to say that this book has got everything spot on. The Fire Scenes, along with the interaction between the Police team and the Fire Investigation Officer, is stunningly accurate.

This is the fifth outing for Detectives West and Butler and just like the four before it it is a great read.

Now working in two separate forces it takes a cross boarder crime to bring the two together as a team, which is not to everybody’s liking.

At first they are kept apart, West investigating a stalker, and Butler investigating an arsonist that has set fires in both force areas.

When the teams realise that they may be dealing with the same person committing both crimes it is inevitable that they start to work closely together again, and the old spark is rekindled, in more ways than one.

As with real fire setters the crime of setting the fire begins to escalate. And when the frequency of when they are set isn’t enough, the severity and dangers to others start t increase.

But when two people die in different fires are they randomly unlucky or is there a connection to the fire starter.

If the stalker is responsible is the target of his attentions in danger from an arson attack.

The tension mounts as the investigation continues, who is the fire setting stalker, and why are they not leaving any evidence that might identify them.

Meanwhile the relationship between West and Butler is also smouldering. The year working in different forces, and the fact that they are both in relationships hasn’t done anything to dampen that fire.

Can they both concentrate on the case, and keep each other at arms length.

The want the case over quickly. One of them will take unnecessary risks. This story might not have the happy ever after ending.

What a book. Without other commitments it would have been a one sitting read, what it was was a distraction when I should have been doing other things. Brilliant.

I was convinced I knew who the stalking fire setter was, and I’m sure that was because of some canny writing, but it wasn’t until they were revealed that I realised I was wrong.

A clever plot, completely realistic, and a brilliant balance of crime investigation and personal battles amongst the main characters.

Pages: 411. Publisher: Canelo Crime. Publishing date: 6 July 2023

The Art Merchant. J.K Flynn

When I was browsing through Amazon looking for a new author to read I came across this introductory paragraph

“An Alcoholic, sex addicted detective finds herself fighting her superiors in a bid to bring down a local crime boss”

It caught my attention but for the wrong reasons. My initial thought was “another one”. But something about the cover, or the description in the rest of the gumph, peaked my interest and I downloaded it.

Thank God I did

What a book. The Detective is DS Esther Penman. In her immediate bosses words “the best police officer he’s ever worked with” but it comes at a cost.

She has a brilliant analytical mind, when it’s not rugged with vodka.

She puts in hours of work but is often late.

In her words she’s woke up under too many strange ceilings, not knowing how she got there, again because of the vodka.

Her attitude toward people can at best be described as sketchy.

Her general admin is awful but, when it counts, when files are sent to the CPS, or Court Files need preparing, she is brilliant.

Esther as a character is superbly written.

Flynn understands the psychology of the functioning alcoholic. The sex addiction is just another form of self harm. The conflict between knowing what she is doing is wrong, and actually stopping is a fight played out in her head, and on the pages of the book.

I enjoyed every page and was happy to see there’s going to be another featuring Esther Penman released sometime late 2023.

The Publishers Gumph

Detective Sergeant Esther Penman is a mess. She drinks too much. She sleeps around. And now her chief inspector is threatening to kick her out of CID and send her back to uniform because he doesn’t like her attitude.

Luckily for Esther, if there’s one thing she’s good at, it’s solving cases…

When a woman is killed in one of Belfield’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, Esther quickly realises that it’s no straightforward homicide. The husband has an alibi, but he’s hiding something, and Esther is determined to find out what.

A few days later a man is found hanging in nearby woodland, and her suspicions of a deeper conspiracy begin to grow.

It isn’t long before Esther’s discoveries set her on the trail of forces far more sinister than she imagined…

And put her on a collision course with the man they call the Art Merchant…

Pages: 285. Publisher: Chingola Publishing

A Truth For A Truth. Carol Wyer

Carol Wyer

Wow. Where do I start.

This has been a great series from the start and its got even better with the addition of this book.

Kate Young has been trying to break the ring of abusers she thinks is responsible for her husbands murder. The problem is the ring includes at least one Senior Police Officer.

Throughout the series she has been driven by the voice in her head, that of her husband.

But now she’s killed somebody, somebody in power, somebody who was part of the ring.

The Police, and probably her team, will be asked to investigate his death.

But first they have to find the body, at first its just a missing persons case and Kate is doing her best to carry on as if she has nothing to do with the death.

Then there’s the bigger problem. Her husbands voice of reason is being fought against, and at times replaced, by another voice. The voice of the man she murdered, and he’s ridiculing her.

As much as this is a great crime story its also the story of a woman having a breakdown, she’s functioning but her mental health is really on the edge.

Can she keep her mind long enough to escape blame.

Can she break the ring and expose everybody involved.

The very last page made me gasp out loud.

There has to be another book. It can’t end there, or can it.

Pages: 411. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer. Publishing Date: 4th April 2023

The Snow Killer & The Soul Killer. Ross Greenwood

I picked up Snow Killer on a recommendation, and I’m really glad I did. It was that good I went straight to book 2 The Soul Killer

Gentle Giant, and family man, DI John Barton is the main Police lead and a cracking character, but what steals the show in these books, and makes them stand out in current crime fiction, is the main criminals.

Greenwood dedicates as much time to the criminal and their activities, as he does to the Police and their investigations.

The criminals sections are written in the first person, with the investigation side written in the third person.

This allows Ross to get right into the criminal mind and explore the psyche the murderers.

The Snow Killer

In this book the killer is out for revenge. 50 years ago her family were murdered in a Gangland killing. She escapes badly injured, with the killers thinking she had died.

It took her a few years but she got revenge. Now a he’s killing again, but why.

An old Lady annoyed at the way the youth have no respect. The way the neighbourhood is run by silly, arrogant, tooth sucking teens.

Barton really has his work cut out. The old cases don’t even come on his horizon until a retired officer comes under suspicion for an unrelated issue.

Who would suspect an old lady. But then again we were all young once, and why would our attitude change just because our body isn’t as strong.

A gun is a great leveller, so is a well placed knife in skilled hands

Soul Killer

Following on from the aftermath of the shocking end to the Snow Killer

This time the killer is very close to home.

Again revenge is at the heart of the crimes. This time the killer is young, clever and calculated. But what Greenwood does brilliantly is show the escalating downward spiral of their mental health as they start to make mistakes.

One killing has to lead to another, just to cover up their tracks, the more killings the more chance of a mistake. The cold calculated killer starts to turn into a panicked psychopath.

One of Barton’s team is a new and very blunt young DC. The team find him hard to get on with but Barton sees something in him and lets him have his head. He hits the nail on the head quickly but is largely ignored, after all how could the person he thinks is a serial killer be responsible, they wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Both of these books had me hooked. I’ve not come across any other stories that give the killer so much time in a story, and have them writes so well.

Greenwood gives a real gravitas to the mind of the killer. He looks at their history, in both stories the issues the killers have started years ago and have festered in their minds.

He looks at the planning and consequences. The average person these days think they are Forensically aware, and know that a mistake will almost inevitably lead to their capture. So when killers start to make mistakes, even the coolest start to panic. The more they panic the more mistakes they make.

Barton’s team are good at what they do. There are some great characters amongst them, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, but everybody knows their worth, what they are good at, and how to support each other.

At the end of the second book, in the acknowledgments, yes some people do read them and I’m one of them, Greenwood states he didn’t realise, when he was writing the first book, that it would turn into a trilogy.

Well it must really have come as a surprise to him that it went beyond book three. In fact according to Amazon there’s five books in the series.

How good are the first two. I’ve just finished Soul Killer and immediately downloaded the rest of the series.

The books are also available as Audiobooks, narrated by David Thorpe

Publisher Boldwood Books. Available now on Amazon.

Rich Blood. Robert Bailey

A great book for readers who like authors like John Grisham and Greg Iles, and American legal thrillers.

An ambulance chasing, personal injury lawyer, Jason Rich, has just been released from 90 days in rehab. He has turned to booze once to often and rehab was one of the conditions of him being allowed to carry on practicing.

But his troubles are nothing compared to his sister. They don’t get on, since childhood they have had a tumultuous relationship which has worsened since the death of their father.

So when he finds out she is desperate for his help he’s unsure what he will do.

Why does she need help? She’s being held in prison after being arrested for the murder of her husband.

Jana, the sister, is not easy to warm to. She’s an alcoholic, who also uses hard drugs. She’s had more than one affair and it’s alleged she withdrew $15000 dollars from her, and her husbands, joint account to pay a man to kill him.

She’s in debt to the local drug Lord and is paying him off in “favours” in lieu of the interest in the $50000 she owes him.

So as well as being in prison accused of murder, she is under threat from the drug Lord not to implement him, or trade information on him, for a lower sentence. With her in prison it’s her two young daughters that will pay if she goes against him.

So how will the alcohol dependent brother, who has never tried anything other than compensation cases, defend the alcoholic drug taking sister with no morals, against a murder charge.

This book was a bit of a bolt from the blue. I love this type of story, and I thought I was on top of the current authors writing this genre. How wrong was I. As soon as I finished this I downloaded Robert Baileys back catalogue.

U.K. Publisher Thomas & Mercer. Pages 379. Available now

The Deptford Murder. Jez Pinfold

Detective Chief Inspector Bec Pope. A new Police Officer on the book shelves, and hopefully one here to stay.

The Deptford Murder introduces Pope in spectacular fashion.

The first body is found posed in a church, with a personal message to Pope, in the form of a formal invitation, placed neatly on the body.

The second body appears within hours, another message to Pope.

This is the beginning of a cracking story that had me turning the pages well into the night.

Pope is a great character. Typical of a Police Officer her job takes president over her family, even she admits it.

She works late, drinks when she gets home, has trouble sleeping. She lives with her husband and his kids, but it’s not an easy relationship.

As another attack takes place more pressure is put on Pope’s team, mainly born of her own professionalism, but they crack on and work long hours to find the killer before there are more victims.

Inevitable there is strain on family relations, and almost as inevitably there is a close bond between Pope and one of her colleagues. But will “that” line ever be crossed.

As the investigation, and the book, fly along, surprising connections start to be made and the final twist is a real surprise, without being out-of-the-blue, or unrealistic.

This is hopefully the first of a series. Pope, and her team in Londons Met, are really well conceived. As individuals there is great promise, as a team the scope for the stories to come is wide and I can’t wait to read whatever is to come

Print length: 302 pages. Publisher: Joffe. Published: 3rd December 2022.