Deborah Crombie: A Killing of Innocents Sunday, Mar 5 2023 

complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and police procedural and Series not to be missed , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 5:13 pm

Killing Innocents

Crombie’s 19th Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James was worth waiting for, with The Killing of Innocents the new case that starts in a Bloomsbury pub.

Sitting with his DS, Doug Cullen, Duncan notices a young woman wearing scrubs, obviously waiting for someone who never arrives. She leaves, and he is shocked to be called shortly after to a murder scene. The victim is the young trainee doctor he’s just seen, stabbed to death in Russell Square.

With Gemma working on a task force on rising knife crimes, she and her DS, Melody Talbot, aid their investigation, Soon all the familiar characters are in force, and the case takes an unlikely turn with relationships to people Duncan and Gemma know.

At first glance, Sasha Johnson looks like an unlikely victim: career-driven, single, without any history that would connect her to crime. Digging deeper reveals her secrets, but did they lead to her murder?

Then a colleague of Sasha’s is found dead, and the teams scramble to find a connection other than their work site. Could they have a serial killer on their hands? It’s all hands on deck as the pieces are gathered to form a picture of a murderer working in plain sight.

One of the many delights of Crombie’s novels is the way she investigates her setting and brings it to life for readers. Another is her inclusion of the family travails of two working detectives. It all adds to the realistic atmosphere of everyday stresses that must be handled even while investigating a murder.

At its heart, this is a very fine mystery, peppered with human-like characters you’ll want to return to, set within a complex plot that will have readers scratching their heads along with the detectives until the stunning climax.

 

Kate Rhodes: The Locked-Island Mysteries Sunday, Jan 22 2023 

complex mystery and Continued series winner and police procedural and Series not to be missed , , Auntie M Writes Crime 1:38 pm

Kate Rhodes has been a favorite author of Auntie M’s, starting with her compelling Alice Quentin series. Now that’s she’s branched out to her Locked-Island Mysteries, set in the Scilly Isles, Auntie M caught up with the series that features local detective DI Ben Kitto, with the 5th and 6th in this compelling series.

Devil’s Table centers on the island of St. Martin’s, where young Jade and her twin brother, Ethan, are attacked after leaving their shared bedroom at night. Ethan escapes but Jade is nowhere to be seen, and an island-wide search starts with residents and police battling the incessant fog that permeates the island.

Then a body is found in a dramatic, posed fashion, and Ben and his small team scramble to redouble their efforts to find the missing girl, while at the same time searching for a killer amidst the seemingly innocent narcissi harvest. The juxtaposition between the fields of fragrant bulbs, to be picked and flown to the mainland for Christmas and New Years clashes with the tiny community burdened by suspicion. 

Having grown up on nearby Bryher, Ben knows most of the people on St. Martin’s, who suddenly become suspects in this baffling murder of a man who is seen differently by people. Grudges held from long ago surface, and he must question everyone, regardless of his history with them.

A tense and gripping plot combine with an atmospheric mystery that make this an instant classic.

The Brutal Tide has Ben looking for clues to a set of old bones found during the excavation for a new outdoor activities center on Bryher, spearheaded by two locals who married and have returned home to complete this project.

Not everyone is a fan of the new center, and as Ben tries to find the identity of these bones, they suddenly disappear, and one of the  loudest critics of the project is found dead.

At the same time, a young woman whose father has been a crime kingpin sets up a plot to take out the officers whose information sent her father to prison. Now dying, Craig Travis has constructed this plan for his daughter Ruby with a devious way to take his revenge on those he hates, all from his prison hospital bed.

Ben Kitto, whose undercover past has returned to haunt him with a vengeance, must search for a killer on his home island while he avoids being Ruby’s last victim—all while his partner reaches the end of her difficult pregnancy.

A taut, clever mystery, with a very real protagonist at the heart of this series, makes this a tense and beautifully written mystery. 

Rhodes abilities as a poet surface in her lyrical prose and beautifully constructed descriptions and prose; her talents at creating tension have Elly Griffiths calling her “An absolute master of pace.”

Do yourself a favor if you haven’t already discovered the wildly talented Kate Rhodes, and immerse yourself in her wonderful sense of place and character, wrapped in stunningly good crime stories.

 

Silver Falchion Finalist Wednesday, Aug 31 2022 

amateur sleuth and Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and police procedural Auntie M Writes Crime 2:26 pm

NOTE: After long health-related absence, Auntie M (Marni Graff) will be back from time to time. Here’s what she’s been up to:

Auntie M was thrilled to learn her fifth Nora Tierney English Mystery, THE EVENING’S AMETHYST was named a finalist by Killer Nashville for their Silver Falchion Award for Best Cozy!

2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalists

Along with this honor, Amethyst was also eligible to collect for their coveted Readers Choice Award.

Amethyst didn’t win either award, despite having strong support from readers and other writers. And you know what? That’s all right with me. As the Oscar non-winners say every year, just being nominated is an award in itself. And to be a finalist, even better. Sure, I’d have like this book to have won. But by having it on lists and blogs as a finalist, I hope that’s brought it’s attention to new readers everywhere. Such is the life of a writer. And I’m good with that as we head into the fall and I work on next year’s book, the third Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery, Death at the Orchard. In case you missed The Evening’s Amethyst:
2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Readers’ Choice Award

Garnering multiple 5 star reviews, Amethyst starts off with a frantic phone call to Nora at her Oxford home from her stepsister, Claire, a Master’s student at Exeter.

Nora’s fiancée, DI Declan Barnes, has just been asked to investigate the death of an Exeter student found at the bottom of a staircase.

Claire was friends with the dead young woman, and begs Nora to help her convince Declan that Bea would never have committed suicide.

Soon the sisters are unraveling what part a child named Verity played in Bea’s death, in this mix of amateur sleuth and police procedural. But what part does a cold case kidnapping two decades old play in the case?

Nicola Upson calls The Evening’s Amethyst “a fine addition to a wonderful series.”

 

Jo Spain: After the Fire Wednesday, Oct 7 2020 

complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and police procedural Auntie M Writes Crime 12:18 am

Jo Spain’s sixth Inspector Tom Reynolds Mystery, After the Fire, combines the best of police procedurals with a team of characters who grow more familiar with each book.

Tom’s job as chief superintendent of the National Bureau of Crime Investigation in Dublin takes him away from being in an on-the-ground investigation, tied up in administrative bureaucracy.

Forced to take two weeks off of holiday time, he and his wife Louise are helping their physician daughter, Maria, with caring for her six-year old daughter, Cait. He’s having lunch at the hospital with Maria during his time off when he overhears two porters discussing a new patient, and is all ears.

A young woman was found walking down the street, naked, exhibiting signs of smoke inhalation and burns on some surfaces of her body, mumbling about a not being about to save the baby.

That’s all it takes for Tom to check out the patient, and soon his friend and colleague, DCI Laura Lennon of the murder squad. Tom soon finds himself lending a Laura’s case a hand, when the house the young naked woman escaped from is found to contain more victims and was a case of arson.

Only slightly escaping Louise’s wrath at becoming involved, Tom manages to help Laura and her team investigate what might be a trafficking ring. Meanwhile, Laura’s husband, Ray, assigned to the new gun-related crimes unit, has his own sources that may contribute to the situation.

The people living in the burned out house were not the casual renters thought at first glance. Several others are missing. And where is this baby?

Spain’s newest elevated the police procedural in a fast-paced race to find those at risk, rescue an infant, and keep the burn patient from becoming the next victim.

All the while, she manages to give the effect of the Irish accent without resorting to overdone brogue dialect. Her dialogue sparkles with the relief of black humor most long-term police adopt, adding a realistic feel and depth to her characters.

A fast and engrossing read. Already looking for the next one.

 

Aline Templeton: Devil’s Garden Sunday, Aug 16 2020 

complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and police procedural Auntie M Writes Crime 12:17 am

Aline Templeton brings her Serious Rural Crime Squad, headed by DI Kelso Strang, to a new case in a rural border town in Devil’s Garden.

Alerted by a former police college friend to suspected corruption at her local station, Strang manages to place DC Livvy Murray, whom he is mentoring, at the station to ferret out what’s going on.

The local celebrity is the ultra-reclusive Anna Harper, an international best-selling author known for avoiding the limelight or interviews. When her son dies of an overdose, and soon after her daughter, Cassie, who runs a foundation Harper has founded, has an accident, it becomes apparent to Strang that there is more going on here than accidents and Harper is at the heart of it all.

There are plenty of suspects, from several writers at the Foundation for a writers retreat and employees at the Foundation, to the majordomo housekeeper/best friend of Harper, Marta Morelli, who has been at the author’s side for years and keeps her secrets.

When the major snowstorm called the Beast from the East isolates everyone, Murray and Strang will face even more obstacles in keeping Harper and her daughter safe from a killer bent on revenge.

Strang is a strong lead character, a man who has lost his family, scarred emotionally and physically, and is trying to put his life back together. Murray could be his nemesis, but under his careful tutelage, is fast becoming a decent sidekick for him, albeit one who must learn to stop going off on her own.

A grand addition to a series that should be better-known in the US, Templeton is the author of the beloved DI Marjory Fleming series. With Strang going to rural places, Auntie M isn’t the only one hoping at one point these two detectives will have a case that overlaps and work together, even for one outing. Let’s hope Templeton is listening!

 

Margaret Murphy: Before He Kills Again Thursday, Jul 16 2020 

Award winning novelist and complex mystery and great read and mystery to die for and police procedural and police thriller and psychological mystery and Series not to be missed and suspense thriller and thriller Auntie M Writes Crime 12:47 am


Margaret Murphy has a strong history in writing chilling psychological novels. Known for the Clara Pascal, and Rickman and Foster series, Murphy has also written as AD Garrett, and with a partner as Ashley Dyer. All of her books feature realistic characters and chilling plots that will have readers leaving the lights on long after they should have been asleep.

Now she brings DC Cassie Rowan to the page in a complex psychological novel that is tightly woven in Before He Kills Again.

Starting from its powerful opening, readers will be hooked immediately with the powerful image Murphy creates.

There’s a sadist on the loose named the Furman, who targets prostitutes and pretty young woman, terrorizing them then raping and beating them before leaving the victims to be found. DC Cassie Rowan spends her evenings undercover, trying to get picked up by this maniac.

And one night she almost succeeds in catching him, where it not for the incompetence of two of her team members. All the while, she juggles being the responsible adult for her teenaged brother after the death of their parents.

Then someone who’s become a friend is savaged by the Furman. Frustrated, Cassie becomes even more determined to bring this maniac to justice, despite at times feeling sabotaged by her own team.

Alan Palmer is a psychologist with his own fraught home situation. Separated from his wife, trying to mend fences to have access to his young daughter, he has private and NHS patients he’s trying to help, but one in particular has caught his attention. Could this young man be the Furman?

Then someone dies, and all bets are off for Rowan and Palmer, all the while bringing the danger closer to home than they would like to believe. The incidents ratchet up in intensity; someone is losing it, and Cassie and Alan are at the heart of it all.

How these two professionals lives intersect forms the basis for a quick-paced psychological thriller, part police-procedural, all parts skillfully written, that heralds the start of a complex new series from this accomplished author.

Highly Recommended.

 

Tony Parsons: #taken Sunday, Mar 29 2020 

complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and police procedural Auntie M Writes Crime 12:07 am

Tony Parson’s sixth DC Max Wolfe police procedural #taken starts out with a bang.

A beautiful woman has been kidnapped from a car in Hampstead, her young son left behind in his car seat in the back.

Max’s inquiry into Jessica Lyle’s disappearance isn’t helped by her father, retired Met detective. Could one of his enemies have been the culprit?

Then it comes to light that Jessica was driving her friend’s car, and the roommate comes under his microscope. Snezia Jones leant Jessica her car. So who was the real intended victim?

When it comes to light at Jessica was the girlfriend of drug kingpin Harry Flowers, things rapidly escalate. And when Harry shows up at the home Max shares with his young daughter, Scout, and their dog, Stan, he gets quickly up Max’s nose.

But Harry’s determined to help find Jessica, and soon Max has an unwanted partner. If only he can find a way to use Harry to help instead of hinder him, they just might get Jessica back before she’s killed.

One of the best parts for Auntie M is the way Parsons weaves a darn good thrilling case around the lives of Max, Scout and Stan. It rings of realism and the ugliness and beauty of life raising a loved child of divorce. This is another grand installment in a fantastic series that doesn’t get enough attention. Highly recommended.

 

Bruce Robert Coffin: Within Plain Sight Tuesday, Feb 4 2020 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and police procedural and Series not to be missed Auntie M Writes Crime 12:28 am

Within Plain Sight, Bruce Robert Coffin’s newest Detective Bryon novel takes the best of police procedurals and adds an element of reality that others miss in his Portland-set series.

The opening scene is packs a wallop that is explained later but sets this up in a way that lets the reader know this is not your usual killing. The mutilated body of a young woman is found inside an abandoned lumber yard, and soon enough the suspect list is growing.

Det. Byron has his personal struggles but his dedication to his job is unquestionable. He’s acclimating to the first female police Chief Portland has had, stepping through the political hoops of the job he tries to avoid, when he catches a new murder case.

For Byron, this means interviews, footwork, relying on his team members to gather more information, and trying to see the pattern through the evidence. With his instincts for the job highly developed, Bryon often sees threads others miss, and this will lead him to figure out the subterfuge that’s at hand.

The city of Portland comes to life under Coffin’s talented pen. An accomplished realism painter, he applies that same technique to his writing, allowing readers will feel they’re in on the investigation. This is a series that keeps getting stronger and more satisfying. Highly recommended.
@BruceRobertCoffin

 

Peter Robinson: Many Rivers to Cross Tuesday, Jan 14 2020 

Award winning novelist and complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and police procedural Auntie M Writes Crime 12:14 am

Peter Robinson’s 26th Alan Banks mystery, Many Rivers To Cross, brings today’s issues to the forefront in the long-running series. Robinson manages to remain timely while bringing a fresh perspective to Banks, his colleagues, and detecting.

A young Middle Eastern boy’s body is found stuffed into a garbage bin, and with no identifiers or missing persons report, it takes Banks and his team a while to find his identity.

Found on the East Side Estate, interviews with the few neighbors provide little information other than that of a car engine leaving the area of the old woman whose bin has been used as a dump site.

Then a heroin addict is found dead in his home in an estate scheduled to be torn down for redevelopment. Are the two deaths related and are drugs involved? Or are illegal immigrants and trafficking at the bottom of these deaths?

With information from other squads pointing Banks toward organized crime in his beloved Eastvale, Banks must separate the twisted threads to find out the truth.

A fascinating subplot follows a friend grappling with her past and dealing with the trauma. Add to that Banks’s musical choices, and readers will be treated to a police procedural that keeps on winning on all fronts.

 

Vanda Symon: The Ringmaster Tuesday, Dec 24 2019 

complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and police procedural and Uncategorized Auntie M Writes Crime 12:23 am

After introducing Sam Shepherd in Overkill, the newly-minted New Zealand detective returns in The Ringmaster.

With a move to the university town of Dunedin, rooming at the home of her best friend’s aunt and uncle, Sam is a lowly detective constable with an unerring sense of human nature.

Sam clashes with her boss, who keeps her under his thumb, yet is forced to include her on the fringes of an investigation into the murder of a university researcher. The young woman’s work was the envy of her doctoral colleagues, yet Sam suspects the motive to be far more personal.

With a local circus in town, Sam connects several unsolved murders to dates of visits by this traveling circus, and soon the interviews are interminable. This is where Symon shines, as she manages to bring humanity to the various workers, and even the animals. There will be more tragedy, some that impacts Sam personally, before the stunning and unforeseen climax.

Symon brings the New Zealand setting wrapped into the story so well its stark beauty becomes another character with her vivid imagery. The series will make you want to visit the area.

But the story belongs to Sam, feeling her way in what is still very much a man’s police world here. Her wit and foibles make her a very likable and identifiable young woman, one readers will have no difficulty following.

Look for book 3 in the series, Containment, in the US in early 2020. Highly recommended. @OrendaBooks @vandasymon.

 

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Award-winning Mystery Author on books, reading and life: If proofreading is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

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