***** At an isolated cottage, three women meet to carry out an environmental survey. On her arrival, the first of the three makes a gruesome discovery. Amid the initial investigation of what looks like suicide, the women begin their work, but all three are hiding secrets and when another death occurs, Inspector Vera Stanhope turns…
‘The Two Fathers’ by Keith Dixon
***** NB This post first appeared as part of the Blog Tour for ‘The Two Fathers’. Cinema manager Brian turns up at Sam Dyke’s house one night asking for help. Despite Dyke’s reluctance to take on what appears to be a ‘divorce’ case, he listens to Brian’s story and learns that the wife, Jessica, is…
‘When You are Engulfed in Flames’ by David Sedaris
***** This is the sixth book in the author’s collection of personal stories and is the second of his that I’ve bought. Having heard a lot of his work on BBC radio, I got the audio version of this one, read by the author himself and which also includes a selection of live recordings from…
‘If She Dies’ by Erik Therme
***** NB This post first appeared as part of the Blog Tour for ‘If She Dies’ by Eric Therme. Months after the death of her five-year-old daughter, Tess has fallen into a daily routine – a routine that involves watching someone else’s child as the girl makes her way to school. Tess knows Eve Brady…
‘Dolores Claiborne’ by Stephen King
***** When Vera Donovan dies suddenly, her housekeeper Dolores is ready to tell her version of what happened, but with gossip and long-standing suspicions about how her own husband died, Dolores needs to put things straight, so her story is going to be told her way and it’s going to include pretty much everything. This…
‘The Umbrella Man’ by Jake Needham
***** When bombs explode in three American hotels in the heart of Singapore, Inspector Sam Tay is close by – so close by that he is injured and spends several days in hospital. On waking, he is disturbed to learn that he won’t be involved in investigating the bombings and has instead been assigned to…
‘Strangers on a Train’ by Patricia Highsmith
**** On a train journey to meet up with his flirtatious wife in the hope of her agreeing to a divorce, Guy Haines falls into conversation with another passenger, Charles Bruno. Bruno is an odd man whose interest in Guy unearths deep-seated uneasiness about the task Guy hopes to accomplish. Bruno, however, has an idea…
‘A Deadly Deal’ by Simon Fairfax
*** NB This post first appeared as part of the Blog Tour for ‘A Deadly Deal’ via Rachel at Rachel’s Random Reads. My Review London, 1986. Newly qualified surveyor Rupert Brett’s job in the brokering industry may be the making of him. But the ruthless nature of the business isn’t what he’d expected, and he…
‘Neverwhere’ by Neil Gaiman
***** (Audiobook) Beneath London lies a different kind of city – one filled with monsters and angels, villains and rat-talkers. When businessman Richard Mayhew finds a young woman hurt and bleeding on the streets, he takes her back to his flat and soon discovers she is not all she seems. But if he is to…
‘Lazarus Remembered’ by EJ Harper
***** Learning that his mother Lydia is dying, Peter Mackenzie’s life erupts as work demands, arguments with his partner and the urgency to return to Australia all converge in a flurry of pressure and anxiety. Having left his home as a teenager, Peter has plenty of reasons for not going back, but if he doesn’t,…
