Rating: 4 out of 5 stars An unnamed defendant stands accused of murder. Just before the Closing Speeches, the young man sacks his lawyer, and decides to give his own defence speech. He tells us that his barrister told him…
Review: ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’ by Stuart Turton
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars Somebody’s going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won’t appear to be a murder and so the murderer won’t be caught. Rectify that injustice and I’ll show you the way out. It…
Review: ‘Mystery in White’ by Jefferson J. Farjeon
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the…
Book Club Chatter #2: ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ by Agatha Christie
Since January, I’ve managed to miss two book club meetings. I missed the February meeting because I was too busy at work to finish “early” (at 5.15pm…) and go to the meeting. That was a shame, actually, because the book…
Review: ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ by Agatha Christie
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Now, tragically, came the news that she…
Review: ‘The Gift of Darkness’ by V. M. Giambanco
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Twenty-five years ago in the woods near the Hoh River in Seattle, three boys were kidnapped. One did not come home. A quarter of a decade later, a family of four is found brutally…
Review: ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears…
Crime Book Review: ‘The Beekeeper’s Apprentice’ by Laurie R. King
Rating: 4 out of 5 starsSynopsis (Courtesy of GoodReads) In 1915, long since retired from his crime-fighting days, Sherlock Holmes is engaged in a reclusive study of honeybees on the Sussex Downs. Never did the Victorian detective think to meet…
Crime Review: ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ by Agatha Christie
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 starsSynopsis The famous case that launched the career of Hercule Poirot. When a wealthy heiress is murdered, Poirot steps out of retirement to find the killer. As the master detective makes his way through the…
Crime/Thriller Review: ‘A Plea of Insanity’ by Priscilla Masters
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 starsSynopsis On a late summer Monday, Doctor Claire Roget takes up her new post of clinical psychiatrist at Greatbach Secure Psychiatrist Unit in the Midlands city of Stoke on Trent. Six months ago, her predecessor…
