Book Review: HAS ANYONE SEEN CHARLOTTE SALTER? by Nicci French

 

Title: HAS ANYONE SEEN CHARLOTTE SALTER?

Author:  Nicci French

Read: March 2024

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description:

 

A nerve-tingling and atmospheric thriller from master of suspense Nicci French about two families shattered by tragedy and the secrets that have been waiting decades to be revealed.

 

On the day of Alec Salter’s fiftieth birthday party, just before Christmas 1990, his wife Charlotte vanishes. Most of the small English village of Glensted is at the party for hours before anyone realizes Charlotte is missing. While Alec brushes off her disappearance, their four children—especially fifteen-year-old Etty—grow increasingly anxious as the cold winter hours become days and she doesn’t return. When Charlotte’s coat is found by the river, they fear the worst.

 

Then the body of the Salters’ neighbor, Duncan Ackerley, is found floating in the river by his son Morgan and Etty. The police investigate and conclude that Duncan and Charlotte were having an affair before he killed her and committed suicide.

 

Thirty years later, Morgan Ackerley, a successful documentarian, has returned to Glensted with his older brother Greg to make podcast based on their shared tragedy with the Salters. Alec, stricken with dementia, is entering an elder care facility while Etty helps put his affairs in order. But as the Ackerleys ask to interview the Salters, the entire town gets caught up in the unresolved cases. Allegations are made, secrets are revealed, and a suspicious fire leads to a murder. With the podcast making national news, London sends Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor to Glensted to take over the investigation.

 

My musings:

 

It’s no secret that Nicci French are on my list of favourite writers, and I will snap up anything they write as soon as it comes out. So when I found out that HAS ANYONE SEEN CHARLOTTE SALTER? was available on audio, I settled in for a long and enjoyable read.

 

French are masters of characterisation and keen observers of the human psyche, a trait that made their latest book another 5-star read for me. It started off slowly, setting the scene: 15-year old Etty is the first to become alarmed when her mother fails to turn up for her husband’s 50^th birthday party. My alarm bells rang when everyone around her dismissed her fears as groundless, but when Charlotte Salter failed to appear after a few days, it became obvious that something was badly wrong here. Soon after, the body of the Salters’ neighbour and family friend is found dead in a nearby river. The police, eager to solve both cases, conclude that he must have taken his own life after feeling remorse for killing Charlotte. Case closed.

 

Thirty years later, the Salter children return to the family farm to clear out the house and organise for their father Alec, who is suffering from dementia, to go to a nursing home. Ever since their mother’s disappearance, the Salter children (now adults) have drifted apart, and even now refuse to open up about how Charlotte’s absence has affected them. It’s not until the two sons of the other victim decide to publish a podcast looking closer into the two deaths that they have to confront their past – with unexpected results.

 

HAS ANYONE SEEN CHARLOTTE SALTER? was a psychological thriller of the best kind. From the slow exploration of the two families’ grief and confusion, to the mystery surrounding Charlotte’s disappearance, this character driven tale kept me enthralled from beginning to end. In typical French fashion, nothing was as straight forward as it seemed, and there were plenty of surprises in store as we got a look into the past. I particularly loved how French describe the fallout of Charlotte’s disappearance on all her children, affecting their lives far into adulthood – especially Etty, whose personality has been totally transformed by grief.

 

As with most Nicci French novels, the story here had a deep emotional effect on me, and I still pondered the Salters’ story long after the book had concluded. Having lost my mother at a young age, I particularly related to the effect of grief on a young (and older) Etty.

 

Summary:

 

Lovers of slow burning, character driven mysteries will appreciate the way French unravel this cleverly constructed tale and their insight into the effects of crime on the victims’ families. One of my favourites so far this year!

 

Book Review: THE WITCH HUNTER by Max Seeck

 

Title: THE WITCH HUNTER

Author:  Max Seeck

Read: November 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

A bestselling author’s wife has been found dead in a gorgeous black evening gown, sitting at the head of a formally set dinner table. Her most chilling feature—her face is frozen in a ghastly smile.

At first it seems as though a deranged psychopath is reenacting the gruesome murders from The Witch Hunter, the bestseller written by the victim’s husband. But investigator Jessica Niemi soon realizes she’s not looking for a single killer but rather for dozens of believers in a sinister form of witchcraft.

They know her every move and are always one step ahead. As the bodies start piling up, Jessica knows they won’t stop until they get what they want. And when her dark past comes to light, Jessica finds herself battling her own demons while desperately trying to catch a coven of killers before they claim their next victim. 

 

My musings:

 

Nordic Noir is my favourite genre, so when I stumbled across Max Seeck’s latest novel, THE ICE COVEN, it appealed to me straight away. But seeing it is part two of a series, I thought I should probably read the first book to get a better background on the characters – and I am glad I did! THE WITCH HUNTER sports a rich cast of characters, from multiple murder victims and perpetrators to a whole squad of detectives, which at times had me frantically scouring previous pages to keep track of who was who. Luckily the puzzle to solve was intriguing enough to keep me glued to the pages. By the end of the book, I finally felt that I had a good grasp of all the members of the detective squad, which should set me up nicely for Book 2 and made this a worthwhile endeavour.

 

With many of the dark elements that make the genre so appealing to me, the story captured me very quickly and I wanted to know the answers. The icy atmospheric setting and the theme of witchcraft inspired murders in a Finnish seaside suburb made this book extra intriguing. I did feel at times that a few details and nuances got lost in translation, though, and I am still not sure if I totally understood the final unravelling of all the threads. However, the character of Jessica Niemi and the delicious armchair travel setting in Finland will definitely make me come back for more and I can see that this is a series I can easily get addicted to.

Book Review: CONSOLATION by Gary Disher

 

Title: CONSOLATION

Author:  Gary Disher

Publisher:  Serpent’s Tail

Read: June 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

 

Book Description:

 

Winter in Tiverton.

Constable Paul Hirschhausen has a snowdropper on his patch. Someone is stealing women’s underwear, and Hirsch knows enough about that kind of crime—how it can escalate—not to take it lightly.

But the more immediate concerns are a call from the high school, a teacher worried about a student who may be in danger at home. Another call, a different school: a man enraged about the principal’s treatment of his daughter.

A little girl in harm’s way and an elderly woman in danger. An absent father who isn’t where he’s supposed to be; another who flees to the back country armed with a rifle. Families under pressure. And the cold, seeping feeling that something is very, very wrong.

 

My musings:

 

Three things made me fall instantly in love with the Paul Hirschhausen series: 1) it’s set in rural Australia; 2) Hirsch is just such a decent, likeable cop who really cares about his community; 3) the events happening in the series are not far-fetched, twisty stories but reflect the darker side of a real-life small community (it’s all very relatable). Plus, Garry Disher is a seasoned author who knows how to spin a good yarn!

 

In the midst of a cold, South Australian winter, Constable Paul Hirschhausen (“Hirsch”) has a few problems on his hands. Someone in the community has been stealing old ladies’ knickers off their clotheslines, leaving the senior citizens of Tiverton and Redruth up in arms. On top of that, Hirsch is sent on a welfare check to a remote farmhouse to address a teacher’s concerns about one of her home-schooled pupils. And, just as he is trying to sort these issues out, a parent goes berserk at the local school, prompting pupils and teachers to barricade themselves inside the classrooms until the fracas has died down. It’s all in a day’s work for Hisch, who spends his days driving around the area to check on the vulnerable members of his community and making sure that law and order is being upheld by the rowdier ones.

 

There are many different storylines and multiple characters that drive the many threads Disher weaves together in CONSOLATION, which made for an intriguing and fast-paced read with the hallmark atmospheric setting that makes this series so compelling. Disher isn’t out to trick his readers with sleighs of hand, killer twists or red herrings galore, and yet it takes a clever armchair detective to follow all the clues and solve the mysteries in the same time as Hirsch does. I love Disher’s innate understanding of the obstacles a lone copper in a small rural town faces on a daily basis: the isolation, the weather, the fact that everyone knows everyone else’s business, just to name a few. I also appreciated the undertone of menace as evil crawls out of the cracks and makes the town an unsafe place.

 

CONSOLATION, just like its prequels, is a novel that reads like a good yarn at the local pub, catching up on all the town gossip, the speculation and the scandals. It’s both a comfort read as well as one you will be loathe to put down because of the many different mysteries Hirsch is juggling, and you really want to find out the answers.

 

Summary:

 

CONSOLATION has a little bit for everyone: crimes to solve, lots of intriguing backstories, true to life characters and the bleak, vast landscape that typifies Australian noir. I highly recommend this series to readers who love an atmospheric read told by a master of the genre and led by one of the most likeable small town cops you will ever encounter in a crime novel. I look forward to my next Hirsch-fix!

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Serpent's Tail for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE CUTTING PLACE (Maeve Kerrigan #9) by Jane Casey

Title: THE CUTTING PLACE (Maeve Kerrigan #9)

Author:  Jane Casey
Read: June 2020

Expected publication: 3 November 2020

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Book Description:

Everyone's heard the rumours about elite gentlemen's clubs, where the champagne flows freely, the parties are the height of decadence . . . and the secrets are darker than you could possibly imagine.

DS Maeve Kerrigan finds herself in an unfamiliar world of wealth, luxury and ruthless behaviour when she investigates the murder of a young journalist, Paige Hargreaves. Paige was working on a story about the Chiron Club, a private society for the richest and most privileged men in London. Then she disappeared. 

It's clear to Maeve that the members have many secrets. But Maeve is hiding secrets of her own – even from her partner DI Josh Derwent. Will she uncover the truth about Paige’s death? Or will time run out for Maeve first?

What attracted me to this book:

Jane Casey’s latest instalment in the DI Maeve Kerrigan series once again affirms that this is one of my favourite crime series. Having read every book in the series from when Maeve made her first appearance in THE BURNING, I have been eagerly been looking forward to every book. Now at Book 9, I am still enjoying the series as much as ever!

My musings:

Whilst I recommend reading the series from Book 1 to get the most out of the homicide team’s dynamics, Casey offers individual stories that could easily be read as stand alones. In THE CUTTING PLACE, Maeve gets embroiled in the investigation into a sinister secret society that has been linked to the dismembered body of a young journalist washed up on the banks of the Thames. All of Casey’s novels are original and well plotted, and her latest book was no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed the creepy vibes as Maeve tries to look into the murky depths of the Chiron Club, though I must confess that the dynamics between Maeve and her nemesis Josh Derwent remained my favourite part. Their constant bickering and sniping whilst they are secretly great mates was good fun to read – Derwent’s quick wit and his political incorrectness as these two clash always raises eyebrows as well as a chuckle.

Summary:

It’s difficult to name favourites in an overall great series, but this book is definitely among them, as we get to see a more vulnerable side to both Maeve and Josh. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and look forward to continuing following Maeve and Josh on their adventures.

Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: LONG BRIGHT RIVER by Liz Moore

Title: LONG BRIGHT RIVER

Author: Liz Moore
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Read: February 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

"I could picture the drug as the Piper [of Hamelin]. I picture the trance it casts: I can see this trance quite clearly every day that I work, everyone walked around, charmed, enthralled, beguiled. I imagine the town of Hamelin after the story ends. [...] I can hear it: the terrible silence of the town."

Book Description:

Mickey Fitzpatrick has been patrolling the 24th District for years. She knows most of the working women by name. She knows what desperation looks like and what people will do when they need a fix. She’s become used to finding overdose victims: their numbers are growing every year. But every time she sees someone sprawled out, slumped over, cold to the touch, she has to pray it’s not her sister, Kacey.

When the bodies of murdered sex workers start turning up on the Ave, the Chief of Police is keen to bury the news. They’re not the kind of victims that generate a whole lot of press anyway. But Mickey is obsessed, dangerously so, with finding the perpetrator - before Kacey becomes the next victim.

What attracted me to this book:

I hemmed and hawed a lot whether I should pick up this book or not. I see the consequences of addiction and the long lasting effects on both the victims as well as their families at work, and it’s not pretty. Reading is an escape for me, and I wasn’t sure whether a hard hitting book about drugs would be for me. I even started reading it last month and put it aside again. But now that I have sat down and read it, I am so glad that I did!

My musings:

Kensington, Philadelphia, is about as far removed from my reality as it gets, but with an author as talented as Liz Moore that was no hindrance at all. It wasn’t long until she had transported me into the dark alleys of the city, where people die from drug overdoses on a daily basis, where women sell their bodies for money for their next fix and where babies are born already in withdrawal. It’s a scary world, but handled with such compassion and care that the great human tragedy of the opioid crisis was brought very close to my heart without any political agenda or judgment of the people involved.

Mickey is a policewoman who is very familiar with the terrible cost of the opioid crisis on human lives. Having grown up in Kensington, the daily confrontation with the effects of drug addiction are an everyday occurrence to her. But Micky has an Achilles heel – her own sister Kacey is one of the victims of the drug, and she has been missing for weeks. Every time Mickey finds the body of yet another woman on the streets, she is expecting it to be Kacey, and it emotionally breaks her.

I felt so sad for Mickey. Having lost her mother to a drug overdose when the girls were only small, Mickey and Kacey were sent to live with their grandmother, who didn’t bother to hide her resentment of having to look after two young children. I never quite understood why she was so horrible to those two little girls – she professed to be heartbroken over losing her daughter, and yet she seems to hate her granddaughters! Whilst Mickey is determined to make something of her life, her sister falls into the same trap as their mother did and becomes an addict. I can never fully understand what it would be like to grow up with such tragedy, and in such a scary and tragic neighbourhood. Here every family seems to have lost a child, a parent or a sibling to addiction, but the author portrays her characters so vividly that I found I could easily relate to their plight.

Part police procedural, part family drama, the story soon pulled me in with all its complexities and the mystery surrounding Kacey’s disappearance. Whilst I would not primarily call it a mystery, there are a lot of elements that define that genre, and a twist I did not see coming. I loved the way the author portrayed the relationship between the sisters, which ultimately drove the story for me.

Summary:

LONG BRIGHT RIVER was a powerful, hard-hitting and gut-wrenching story that was handled with such insight, sensitivity and compassion for the victims and families affected that it was impossible not to be touched deeply by it. It’s not a happy read, and sometimes it felt like a heavy weight on my heart to pick it back up and keep reading, and yet I could not put it down. If you are finding it off to a bit of a slow start, stick with it, because it was worth it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE GOOD TURN by Dervla McTiernan

Title: THE GOOD TURN

Author: Dervla McTiernan
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Read: January 2020

Expected publication: 24 February 2020

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

Book Description:

Police corruption, an investigation that ends in tragedy and the mystery of a little girl's silence - three unconnected things that will prove to be linked by one small town.

While Detective Cormac Reilly faces enemies at work and trouble in his personal life, Garda Peter Fisher is relocated out of Galway with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head. But even that is not as terrible as having to work for his overbearing father, the local copper for the pretty seaside town of Roundstone.

For some, like Anna and her young daughter Tilly, Roundstone is a refuge from trauma. But even this village on the edge of the sea isn't far enough to escape from the shadows of evil men.

My musings:

Dervla McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly series is one of my favourite police procedurals and I was very excited to get the opportunity to read her latest novel. I am happy to say that it lived up to all my expectations!

The book starts with a kidnapping, and a shooting – from here follows a taut and nerve wrecking police procedural that had me on the edge of my seat until the end. As with previous books, I was reminded how much I like the main character, DI Cormac Reilly, who embodies the type of person you would want on your side. He is motivated, fair and with a strong sense of justice that will see him fighting for the right cause even when all the odds are stacked against him. I was happy to see that his young colleague, Peter Fisher, also had a starring role in this book, and he lived up to his mentor’s high standards. I loved all the inter-personal dynamics that came to play here, especially between Peter and his father, who is also in the police force but has chosen a very different path from his son.

As usual, the plot was clever, multi-faceted and compelling, which makes for the best kind of crime story. I’m not going to say any more – as with every mystery, the less you know in advance the better! If you have loved the previous books in the series, or are looking for a new series to fall in love with, then I urge you to pick up this book and let yourself be swept up in its story. I look forward to seeing Cormac Reilly back again in the next instalment and hope that McTiernan continues to star different characters from this Irish crime fighting squad.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: GIRLS LIKE US by Christina Alger

Title: GIRLS LIKE US

Author: Christina Alger
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Read: July 2019

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

Book Description:

FBI Agent Nell Flynn hasn't been home in ten years. Nell and her father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never had much of a relationship. And Suffolk County will always be awash in memories of her mother, Marisol, who was brutally murdered when Nell was just seven.

When Martin Flynn dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house she grew up in so that she can spread her father's ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father's partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County.[...] But she may not like the answers she finds--not just about those she loves, but about herself.

My musings:

I always appreciate a good solid police procedural and was happy to find that GIRLS LIKE US delivered just that. Nell Flynn, an FBI agent, is forced to return home to a small seaside town after the sudden death of her father in a motorbike accident. But what should have been a short, straight-forward visit turns into something much more complicated when Nell is drawn into the investigation into the death of a young local woman, whose body was found in a wealthy suburb not far from where Nell is staying. Soon her suspicions are aroused that the death could be related to one of her father’s old murder cases. The more Nell digs, the more afraid she becomes that her father may have been involved in something much bigger and more terrible than she ever suspected ....

As far as main characters go, Nell Flynn was the perfect protagonist: an intelligent, brave and yet also emotionally vulnerable female who is not afraid to dig into the past to find out the truth, even if it puts everything she has ever believed into jeopardy. The difficult relationship between Nell and her late father added complexity and emotional depth to an otherwise straight forward police procedural, but with a suspicion that hits so close to home Nell was never going to escape unscathed from this investigation.

Readers who love some nail biting action and a constant sense of menace and danger in their crime novels will be pleased with the tension Alger has created in her latest novel, even though I found it was a bit slow to get there. But once Nell was up to her neck in danger and conspiracy, the story soon swept me along in its wake until its fast-paced finale.

It is always difficult to review a book that relies largely on its surprise elements to thrill and entertain, so I will keep this short and sweet. If you like a police procedural featuring a strong, independent, smart woman protagonist, then this one should be a good fit. I could easily see Nell coming back in future novels, though it was her personal emotional connection to the crimes that made this story stand out from hundreds of others in the genre. I have Alger’s first novel THE BANKER’S WIFE on my wishlist and look forward to reading more from this author in future.

Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE STRANGER DIARIES by Elly Griffiths

Title: THE STRANGER DIARIES

Author: Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Read: March 2019

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Book Description:

From the author of the beloved Ruth Galloway series, a modern gothic mystery for fans of Magpie Murders and The Lake House.

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger,” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the storylines of her favourite literature.

To make matters worse, the police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her closest confidant, her diary, the only outlet she has for her darkest suspicions and fears about the case. Then one day she notices something odd. Writing that isn't hers, left on the page of an old diary: "Hallo, Clare. You don’t know me."

Clare becomes more certain than ever: “The Stranger” has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?

My musings:

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."

An atmospheric Gothic setting in an old school building that is rumoured to house a ghost? A literary inception (book within a book) element? Some gruesome murders with cryptic notes that have the police puzzled?

Yes, yes, YES! *clapping my hands together in excitement and jumping up and down*

It’s true – this book has it all – but wait, there is more! I am incredulous that I have never read any books by Elly Griffiths before, because this one had all the elements I enjoy in a good thriller. It starts with an excerpt of The Stranger, a novella by classical author R.M. Holland, featuring a stranger telling a story to another passenger on a train as they ride through the dark night. It’s creepy, and it’s menacing, and it had me hooked immediately like a hapless little fish flapping around on the end of the line. This story may not be the main plot, but its theme flavoured the rest of the story and cast its dark shadow over it. Just the way I like it!

The rest of the book is being told through three POVs: Clare, an English teacher at Talgarth High School whose best friend Ella gets murdered very early in the story; her daughter Georgie; and DS Harbinder Kaur, the detective investigating Ella’s death. Each of the three women are well-rounded and intriguing characters with complex backstories and secrets to hide that may – or may not – make them unreliable narrators. I especially enjoyed the character of DS Kaur, whose different cultural background added a lot more depth to the storyline than in many other police procedurals.

Another favourite of mine was the setting, which was so atmospheric and creepy that it almost featured as another character in the story. Talgarth High, the setting of much of the story, is an old brownstone building that was once home to R.M Holland, the author of the famous story The Stranger and its infamous quote: “hell is empty”, which featured prominently in the spate of murders to follow. The building also has its own resident ghost, the White Lady, who has been spotted by many townsfolk and is believed to herald an imminent death. This particular ghost will soon have her work cut out for her, when the bodies mount up!

Summary:

All in all, this was just such a delicious read for me. Murders inspired by a classical gothic novel, an old English schoolhouse setting with its own resident ghost, a white witch, ghostly scribbles in a diary and a detective who must solve the puzzle before more lives are lost. My highlight was to be able to read R.M. Holland’s novella The Stranger in its entirety at the end of the book, which left me duly spooked and thoroughly satisfied.  THE STRANGER DIARIES  was a perfect blend of gothical, suspense and police procedural with a touch of the supernatural, based on a (fictional) classical tale. It was clever, engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable. I can’t wait to read more from this author in future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

If you enjoyed both the gothic element in this story as well as the "book within a book" theme, then I strongly urge you to pick up:

 The Weight of Lies by Emily Carpenter

Book Review: THE SCHOLAR by Dervla McTiernan

Title: The Scholar (Cormac Reilly #2)

Author: Dervla McTiernan
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Read: January 2019

Expected publication: 18 February 2019

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

Book Description:

When DS Cormac Reilly’s girlfriend Emma stumbles across the victim of a hit and run early one morning, he is first on the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him. The dead girl is carrying an ID, that of Carline Darcy, heir apparent to Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland’s most successful pharmaceutical company. Darcy Therapeutics has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy – it has funded Emma’s own
ground-breaking research. The investigation into Carline’s death promises to be high profile and high pressure.

As Cormac investigates, evidence mounts that the death is linked to a Darcy laboratory and, increasingly, to Emma herself. Cormac is sure she couldn’t be involved, but how well does he really know her? After all, this isn’t the first time Emma’s been accused of murder...

My musings:

I really loved Dervla McTiernan’s first book, The Ruin, and was a very happy chappy when I received a copy of The Scholar, number two in the Cormac Reilly series. I am pleased to say that I liked it equally as much, and it was great to see all the characters back again and to get to know them a bit better.

In The Scholar, DI Cormac Reilly is finally taken off cold cases and given a caseload of current crimes to solve. However, when one of the cases involves someone close to him, it may test his loyalties. That is really all you need to know about the story– some books are best plunged into with held breath and eyes closed, letting the author take you on a journey.

As soon as the story started, McTiernan transported me seamlessly into Cormac’s world, and I was totally engrossed. He really is one of the best fictional detectives to come along in the last two years! I said it in my review of The Ruin, and I will say it again, the refreshing thing about Cormac is that he is so “normal”. He is neither an alcoholic, nor a tortured cynical soul that lives on take-aways and donuts, neither is he a sad divorcee nor involved in some bizarre workplace romances. Cormac just appears to be an average nice guy, and a damn good investigator to boot. However, all is not totally whole in Cormac’s world. There are some workplace issues that have seen him banished to work cold cases after his transfer to Galway, and even though he is finally granted permission to take on a caseload of fresh cases, his boss seems determined to see him fail. Cormac does not appear bitter or resentful about this, surprisingly, although he will be sorely tested when one of the crimes he is sent to investigate involves his girlfriend Emma. This brings me to his personal life, which may have appeared quite idyllic in The Ruin, but which also has some darker events preceding his move to Galway. I loved getting to know Cormac better as a character, and really look forward to watching him grow in depth and background as the series progresses – which I hope will be a loooong one!

McTiernan writes well, and drew me in with the ease of a skilled author, effortlessly evoking the sights, the sounds and atmosphere of the world her characters inhabit. I found both cases Cormac is trying to solve in The Scholar utterly intriguing, and as in The Ruin, some of the themes pulled on my heartstrings. 

Summary:

With The Scholar, the author has written another intelligent, multi-layered mystery that was pure joy to read and get lost in. Some things may not come as a surprise to a seasoned mystery-lover, but the side stories added a depth that is not often found in other police procedurals. I must also mention that I thoroughly enjoyed the development of the side characters, like Carrie O’Halloran and Peter Fisher, and will look forward to seeing them back in the next book. McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly series has quickly risen to reside amongst my favourites, and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE HUMMINGBIRD by Kati Hiekkapelto

Title: The Hummingbird

Author: Kati Hiekkapelto
Publisher: Arcadia Books
Read: December 2018

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

"Anna saw nothing wrong with looking for a better quality of living. Surely it was natural for everyone to search for such a thing? Why should it be restricted to people who already had everything they needed?"

Book Description:

Anna Fekete, who fled the Yugoslavian wars as a child, has just started working as a criminal investigator in a northern Finnish coastal town, when she is thrust into a rolling murder investigation. It doesn t help that her middle-aged new partner, Esko, doesn t bother hiding his racist prejudices. Anna s work as a criminal investigator barely gets off the ground before she is thrust into a high-profile, seemingly unsolvable case that has riveted the nation. A young woman has been killed on a running trail, and a pendant depicting an Aztec god has been found in her possession. Another murder soon follows. All signs point to a serial killer, but can Anna catch the Hummingbird before he or she strikes again?

My musings:

I am a huge fan of Scandinavian crime novels, but found I had never before read one set in Finland – this needed to be remedied ASAP! Kati Hiekkapelto is a new author for me, and I am happy to say that I really enjoyed her writing style. In particular, main protagonist Anna Fekete is a well-drawn and intriguing character who really drove the story. Born into a Hungarian minority group in Yugoslavia, Anna had to flee the war-torn country with her parents as a child and has spent most of her childhood in Finland, yet still remains an outsider, identifying herself more with her Hungarian background than her Finnish one. She recently left her old workplace to commence a new position as criminal investigator in the same northern Finnish coastal town she grew up in, where her estranged brother is still living. Starting her new job knowing that she was hired to represent an ethnic minority in the workforce, Anna knows that she will be likely to battle prejudice and pressure from some colleagues, who are resenting the ever-growing number of migrants coming to the country. However, she has not bargained with being partnered with the worst offender, Esko, who is not afraid to tell her how he feels about “bloody foreigners” in general.

Anna’s migrant background and her feelings of constantly being torn between her heritage and her new adopted country rang true for me, and added a depth to the story missing in many other crime novels. Without Anna, the murders themselves, whilst interesting, would otherwise have blended into the fray of many other similar stories. As an added bonus, Hiekkapelto also introduces an interesting side story to the main murder-mystery, that of a teenage Kurdish girl who has made a phone call to emergency services to call for help but now claims that this has been a misunderstanding. Anna knows that many of these girls disappear without a trace, forcibly married off to strangers by their own families, and suspects that the girl is too afraid to talk to her for fear of retribution from her parents.

I loved the way Hiekkapelto introduces topical themes of immigration, racism and cultural differences into her story, with Anna representing one of the migrant groups who have assimilated well into their new country but still struggle with adversity, whether through feeling torn between their two home countries or struggling against people’s prejudices. The author’s spare and direct prose perfectly creates the bleak and chilly atmosphere so typical of Nordic noir, which is one of the reasons I seek out the genre above others. The only criticism I would make is that the translation could have done with a bit of tweaking to read more smoothly, which is an art that is often difficult to achieve.

Summary:

All in all, The Hummingbird was an enjoyable police procedural with an interesting main protagonist and I will definitely come back to read more in the series.

Book Review: FIVE (Beatrice Kaspary #1) by Ursula Poznanski (Ursula Archer)

Title: Five

Author: Ursula Archer (Ursula Poznanski)
Read: November 2018

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Book Description:

EVERY CORPSE IS A CLUE

N47° 46.605 E013° 21.718. A dismembered hand
N47° 48.022 E013° 10.910 Two severed ears
N47° 26.195 E013° 12.523 A mutilated corpse

A woman is found murdered. Tattooed on her feet is a strange combination of numbers and letters.

Map co-ordinates. The start of a sinister treasure hunt by a twisted killer.

Detective Beatrice Kaspary must risk all she has to uncover the killer in a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse.

My musings:

Have you ever heard of geocaching? Or even done it yourself? It sounds like fun, doesn’t it – a sort of GPS treasure hunt for hidden caches all around the world. It was certainly on my horizon as something that I’d like to do, but I am not so sure now after reading Poznanski’s dark and disturbing thriller, where a crazed killer sends the police on a gruesome geocache hunt ....

If you love police procedurals with a very different theme, then this should definitely be on your radar! Detectives Beatrice Kaspary and Florin Wenninger have their work cut out for them when they are asked to solve the murder of a young woman found in a cow paddock with GPS coordinates tattooed on her feet. When they follow the killer’s directions, they discover their first ever geocache – containing body parts of another murder victim, whose blood has been detected on the young woman’s clothes. The deeper Beatrice and Florin look into the geochaching community, the more convinced they become that the killer is either part of it, or has a huge grudge against it – or both!

It is getting harder and harder to find thrillers with an original premise, but Poznanski certainly delivers that! Those readers who love working out clues and following leads will also get their wish, as Bea and Florin have their work cut out to decipher the killer’s cryptic instructions to find the next cache – in the hope of catching him before another person dies. This is a dark and disturbing book with a mounting body count, which belies its idyllic location in beautiful Salzburg. I recently visited the city with a friend and could vividly picturing the locations described, which made for great armchair travel, though I was very happy to be sitting on the other side of the world as this one played out!

I really loved Beatrice as a main protagonist, which will make me seek out other books in the series. Due to the constant demands of police work, Bea’s marriage has fallen apart and she has recently separated from her husband. With the gruesome murder case taking up all her time, it is getting increasingly difficult to juggle motherhood and work, and Bea is constantly feeling torn between wanting to be with her young kids and feeling under pressure from her boss to  work longer and longer hours. Her ex-husband, who is still angry at her, makes matters worse by constantly guilt-tripping her into believing she is a bad mother, which is taking its toll. Enigmatic and smart, Bea is the perfect protagonist representing working mothers everywhere, and Poznanski does a great job in portraying her struggle to be a good mother and fulfill the demands of her career at the same time. 

Summary:

Austria has really come through for me lately with some great Scandi-noir type books that have given me all the dark and disturbing elements I love in a thriller. This clever police procedural will appeal to all lovers of multi-layered and somewhat unsettling stories that will keep you at the edge of your seat until the thrilling finale. Highly recommended for anyone looking for an original premise and an overall great read.

Book Review: THE LEGACY (CHILDREN'S HOUSE #1) by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

Title: The Legacy

Author: Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Read: November 2018

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

Book Description:

The Legacy is the first installment in a fantastic new series featuring the psychologist Freyja and the police officer Huldar.

The only person who might have the answers to a baffling murder case is the victim’s seven-year-old daughter, found hiding in the room where her mother died. And she’s not talking.

Newly-promoted, out of his depth, detective Huldar turns to Freyja for her expertise with traumatized young people. Freyja, who distrusts the police in general and Huldar in particular, isn’t best pleased. But she’s determined to keep little Margret safe.

It may prove tricky. The killer is leaving them strange clues, but can they crack the code? And if they do, will they be next?

My musings:

I can hardly contain my praise for this book – it’s been a long time since I have felt so excited over a new crime series! Bringing to mind the way all cogs fell nicely into place when I discovered the first book of some of my other favourite series, like Tana French, Sharon Bolton or Nicci French, knowing I was settling in for a binge-fest of many more books yet to come. It’s hard to believe that I have not come across any of Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s books before, seeing how this one ticked absolutely all the boxes of what makes a perfect read for me. Firstly, an atmospheric setting in Iceland – even though Reykjavik may not be remote for Icelanders, it still fell into that category for this reader from West Oz! Then there are the two main characters, whose flaws made them all the more likeable, with interesting dynamics between them that piqued my curiosity as to how this would develop in future books. And of course the hunt for the murderer, brutal and original like only Nordic Noir seems to be able to deliver with such conviction and thrill. I have been led to believe that Iceland is a peaceful country with few murders, so the credit must go solely to the author’s imagination here (even though she may be in some trouble with the Iceland tourism commission).

Whilst The Legacy could probably be described as a police procedural, it is so much more. Freyja, one of the main protagonists, is a child psychologist, and added a whole new dimension to the mystery for me. I found this whole aspect of the investigation utterly fascinating, and the concept of 7-year-old Margret being the witness to her mother’s murder tugged on my heartstrings. Sigurdardottir has a knack of making all her characters somewhat vulnerable and likeable, even her deeply flawed ones, so I felt totally emotionally invested in the story the whole time, despite the shifting POVs (which is not an easy thing to achieve in a novel). Having Karl’s story as a sideline to the police investigation, with the threads eventually coming together, worked really well, providing a different perspective and added depth to the novel. I loved the way the author ratcheted up the tension and suspense by including small details, like the unexplained noise in Karl’s basement or Molly’s injury (serving as an ominous foreshadowing). Also, I spent way too much time trying to crack the numerical code of the sinister radio transmissions, failing miserably (no surprise there, it was way too clever!).

I will not go into the story any more deeply, as it is best read without any preconceptions or spoilers – except to say that I loved every minute of it. So much that I immediately grabbed Book 2 of the series after finishing this one, and was seriously contemplating taking lessons in Icelandic to be able to read the third book, which sadly has not been translated into English yet. Failing this, I am anticipating a nail-biting wait for a new book to come out!

Summary:

In summary, The Legacy is an utterly addictive, binge-worthy first book of what I hope will be a looooong series. I am already halfway through the next book, eagerly devouring the story of Freyja and Huldar’s next case. Very highly recommended to lovers of Scandi Noir, it doesn’t get any better than this!