Alison Bruce

The Calling

Detective: Gary Goodhew
Setting      Cambridge
Time         Current
Genre       British Police Procedural

This is the third in the Alison Bruce/Gary Goodhew series and although Bruce claims in the afterword to be pleased with the plot she has constructed, there are times when it gets a little too convoluted to follow. A serial killer leaves women unmolested, fully clothed, trussed up in remote locations leaving them to die of starvation or exposure to the elements. The likely identity of the killer is revealed early one and the main puzzle in the readers mind is whether or not a key young woman is his victim or his accomplice. This one doesn't quite work. 

Rating B

Alison Bruce's website

Previously read
Cambridge Blue
The Siren

Quentin Bates

Chilled to the Bone

Detective:  DS Gunnhildur Gisladottir
Time          Present
Setting       Reykjavik, Iceland
Genre        Scandi Noir

This is the third in the Gunna Gisladottir Series and is a well crafted novel. A victim of a scam run by a dominatrix dies gagged and tied to a bed. Other victims of the scam are discovered, all too embarrassed to have reported it to the police.  As Gunna and her team try to identify the dominatrix so does an ex-con just returned from prison in Lithuania although his ultimate client is somewhere hidden in the background.  At the same time a Civil Servant is under pressure to find a missing laptop. before compromising Government secrets leak out. To add to the complications a woman is mysteriously following the Civil Servant.

In the backplot, Gunna's son, who works away on the fishing fleet, advises hi mother that he has two women pregnant simultaneously.

Rating A+

Quentin Blake's Blog

Previously read novels in the series
Frozen Assests (1)
Cold Comfort (2)
Winterlude (4)

Aline Templeton

Evil for Evil

Detedtive: Matjorie Fleming
Setting       Galloway
Time          Present
Genre        Police Procedural

The crime that triggers the story is the discovery of a relatively recent skeleton in a cave on an island just off the Galloway coast.  In the local village there is resentment shown to the "incomer" who has inherited a local farm and the island.  The opening of the novel is a bit confused as a cast of characters is introduced including a woman from Mancheste, with something in her past who cladestinely leaves her husband and takes up residence in a holiday chalet nearby.

Once the characters are established hoever the plot builds nicely and as Fleming and her team investigate various options open up and the novel is well crafted although when the villain is revealed I'm not too sure of the credibility of the rationale.

In the backstory the rivalries amongst Fleming's team continues and her personal life is complicated by her daughter's first disastrous experience of university and the pressures her demanding job place on her family in general

Rating A

Aline Templeton's website

Previously read
Cold in the Earth
The Darkness and the Deep
Lying Dead
Lamb to the Slaughter

Mari Jungstedt

Dark Angel

Detective: Anders Knoutas

Journalist Johan Berg

Setting:     Gotland

Time:       Current

Genre:     Scandi Noir

This is the sixth of the Jungstedt Knutas/Borg stories set on the Swedish island of Gotland. All of them allow the issues to be developed between Knutas, the chief detective on the island, and Borg the TV journalist.

The story begins with the murder of an important Gotland social event organiser, although it soon becomes apparent that he is the accidental victim. The intended target had been his lover. The book uses the device of interspersing the current action with the autobiographical reminiscences of an unidentified character. Who this is and how he relates to the main plot is gradually revealed although it is not as one might think.

The previous novels have detracted a little from the detective plot by exploring the developing relationship between Borg and his wife. This is not so apparent in this novel, but Knutas' difficulties in relating to his teenage son forms much of the backplot

Rating A

Marie Jungstedt's website

Previously Read

 Unseen,

 Unspoken,

 Unknown

 The Killer's Art

 The Dead of Night

Bill Rogers

Backwash

Detective DCI Tom Caton
Setting     Manchester
Time        Immediate
Genre       Police Procedural

This is the latest Tom Caton and the first I've read since starting this blog. Set in Manchester the locations are recognisable, which adds to the enjoyment.

This one leads Caton into investigating three murders with a similar MO, all eventually linked to a form of cyber crime and on line bullying. Discoveries of one the victims on line activity leads to a final extra element to the plot with Caton's son from his first marriage exposed to a paedophile ring.

All this is set in the week leading up to Caton's wedding to his current partner. The relationship here has developed gradually through all the novels

Rating A

Bill Roger's website

Previously read
     The Cleansing
     The Head Case
     The Tigers Cave
     A Fatal Intervention
     Bluebell Hollow
     A Trace of Blood
     The Frozen Contract