In this era of forensic this and CSI that it would be easy to believe that the police have always had this crime solving toolkit. Not so and that's just one of things I liked about The Yard, not only is it set in a time when the police were ridiculed for their spectacular failure to catch Jack the Ripper but unless someone saw a murder take place they had no way of knowing who the killer was. Enter Dr Bernard Kingsley, pathologist but interested in concepts such as fingerprints, and traces of fibres on a dead man's clothing. The idea of bobbies travelling in pairs, the concept of informants all carefully woven into a cat and mouse game between a killer and Inspector Walter Day.
One more thing Alex Grecian doesn't come from England yet he conjures up the Victorian monster that was London in all its filthy glory.. Full review in June.
I read a lot of books as I review books for an indie bookstore in SLC, Utah. I'm also a writer. The Mary Mac trilogy is out now.
The Nikki Doyle trilogy (Rollover, Thunderball and Ms. Scarlett) can also be found at your local indie. Excalibur - the Nikki/Mary crossover was just published.
N.B My blurbs give you just a taste of the plot. Reviews are a pretty subjective matter but the books you'll find here are books I have read and loved.
Mar 28, 2012
Mar 27, 2012
Sacrilege, S.J. Parris
Renegade philosopher monk Giordano Bruno (Heresy, Prophecy)
returns for a third outing. A hooded figure is following Bruno around London and when he confronts this stalker he is pleasantly
shocked to find that it is Sophia Underhill -the disgraced daughter of an Oxford fellow.
Sophia is accused of murder in Canterbury and Bruno-who still carries a
torch for her-agrees to help clear her name. On his arrival he discovers that
the Queen’s enemies are well entrenched here and Sophia’s husband may have been
involved in a cult that reveres the bones of St Thomas a Beckett. Soon Bruno is fighting
for his life, and he can’t put his faith in anything especially the English
justice system.
Last Will, Liza Marklund
Annika Bengtzon just got the newspaper scoop of the century
but she can’t write a word about it. Key witness to a murder at the prestigious
Nobel prize ceremony because the killer stood on her foot, Annika can only
watch as terrorism is blamed and arrests made. She feels that the assassin
known as the Kitten didn't miss her target and the answer lies in the life of
the dead woman and the world renowned Karolinska Institute. Too blinkered to
register a friendship turning toxic and with her personal life collapsing
around her, Annika pursues the story to the exclusion of all else, including
her marriage.
Vanishers, Heidi Julavits
Julia Severn is ill, she works in a run-down carpet store in
New York and
takes so many pills that if you shook her she’d rattle. Her doctors can’t find
anything wrong with her. The last time she was healthy was over a year ago when
she was stenographer to the famed physic Madame Ackermann, Julia wasn’t such a
slouch in the physic department herself and while the illness and the
medications may have blunted her gift her sense of humour remains more-or-less
intact. To get better Julia must become one of the ‘vanished’-people who have
chosen to absent themselves from their own lives. But whilst recovering she
comes across a wayward heiress, a conniving widow and a noted academic all
involved in the hunt for a controversial French filmmaker who has some
surprising links to Julia’s own mother Elizabeth. ‘Vanishers’ is a paranormal
dramedy with surprising depth.
New For April
March was busy, April hopefully not so much. Here are a few new releases. Enjoy. Comments at the bookstore or via e-mail.
Currently reading The Yard by Alex Grecian a first novel set in London around the end of the reign of Jack The Ripper when Scotland Yard's murder squad was only twelve officers strong. Full of historical detail this moves at a pretty fast clip.
Two books I bought pretty much sight unseen are AngelMaker by Nick Harkaway and How to Think like Leonardo Da Vinci by Michael Gelb. We have a short break coming up but after that my act will be well and truly gotten together.
Currently reading The Yard by Alex Grecian a first novel set in London around the end of the reign of Jack The Ripper when Scotland Yard's murder squad was only twelve officers strong. Full of historical detail this moves at a pretty fast clip.
Two books I bought pretty much sight unseen are AngelMaker by Nick Harkaway and How to Think like Leonardo Da Vinci by Michael Gelb. We have a short break coming up but after that my act will be well and truly gotten together.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)