Twelve titles to tempt you?
We didn’t have a reading theme in April, but here’s a list of the 12 books we chatted about at our meeting.
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronvitch
“What a weird book!” said Norfolk Gal. The protagonist, Peter Grant, works in the London police force for a DI who’s a wizard and is in charge of the magic department! There he meets other wizards, trolls and vampires as he helps to investigate why people are acting strangely, their faces are collapsing and they are dying. He is also asked to help with an ongoing dispute with mother and father Thames. The premise behind this is too complicated to explain in one paragraph and Norfolk Gal couldn’t really explain what it was about even after she’d finished reading it. Nonetheless she said the characters were well-rounded and it was well written but her verdict was that this was too weird for her tastes. 2 Stars.
Truth or Dare by M.J. Arlidge
Oxo picked this up at random and is glad she did. Set in Southampton it’s Book 10 in the DI Helen Grace series but can easily be read as a standalone novel. There’s a crimewave in the city – arson attacks, murders, carjacking – with nothing seeming to connect the crimes and almost no clues. Grace is a rather renegade cop who has a tendency to flout the rules but her unorthodox methods get results. It’s a good police procedural with lots going on and although Oxo was a bit disappointed with the ending she’s going to look for more in this series. 4 Stars.
One Good Deed by David Baldacci
This is not at all the sort of book that Freyja usually reads, but she was inspired to borrow it after Oxo told us about the Aloysius Archer series last month. This is Book 1 and set in 1949. Archer is a young demobbed soldier who fought in WW2 in Europe and was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit when he returned to the US. Now out of jail he arrives in a small town and checks in with his parole officer. Before long he’s hired by the town’s richest man to retrieve a bond from a wealthy rival. When both men are subsequently murdered the police suspect Archer, who ends up having to investigate the killings and later has to defend himself in court. Freyja says this was a smooth and easy read which she very much enjoyed. Baldacci has written it in the style of a 1940s crime noir novel and done this so successfully you really feel it could have been written by one of the classic crime writers. 4 Stars.
Storm Watch by C J Box
It’s March in Wyoming and game warden Joe Pickett is on his rounds just before a big storm rolls in, having had a report that game is being harassed by men on snow mobiles. Before he finds them, he discovers an abandoned SUV and the body of a missing professor, who appears to have been killed in a rather gruesome manner. The next day the storm has abated and the body has disappeared. And when Joe reports what he found he’s told by everyone from his boss to the state governor to stand down. Of course he continues to investigate and realises he’s stumbled on a real humdinger of a conspiracy plot involving rogue FBI agents, Chinese spies, survivalists, drug addicts, and more. The story might be far-fetched but Freyja says the writing is good and C.J. Box’s descriptions of the landscape are, as always, excellent. She says it’s very readable and gave it 3 Stars.
Three Inch Teeth by C.J. Box
Quite by chance MadDog also chose a book by C.J. Box, this one being the latest Joe Pickett title, published last month. A rogue grizzly bear is on the rampage, killing, among others, a friend of Joe’s daughter. At the same time a man called Dallas Cates has been released from prison and is seeking revenge on the people who sent him to jail, one of whom is Joe. Using the grizzly attacks as cover, Cates starts to methodically check his victims off his list. MadDog says the plot is wildly improbable but it was great fun to read! 4 Stars.
Opal Country by Chris Hammer
Set in Finnegan’s gap, a fictitious town in New South Wales deep in opal mining country, “Ratters” or thieves break into Jonas McGee’s mine one night looking for opals to steal. Instead they find McGee dead and crucified on a makeshift cross. Exiting quickly, making sure to cover their tracks, they call anonymously to report the crime. Detective Ivan Lucic arrives from Sydney to investigate and is joined by inexperienced local detective constable Nell Buchanan. Nothing is straightforward in the case and to make matters worse, Ivan and Nell are each dealing with career-threatening problems at the same time. Pink Alpaca says this was an excellent mystery and that Chris Hammer really delivers a sense of locality. 4 Stars.
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
Set in the mid-1600’s this story is based on true characters but is a fictionalised account of what might have happened to them. Charles II has been restored to the throne and is seeking revenge for the execution of his father. He sets up a regicide committee to track down the men who signed the death charter and Richard Naylor, secretary to the committee, goes in pursuit of Edward Whalley and his son-in-law William Goffe, who have fled to America. Norfolk Gal says this is an exciting story that’s so well written she really felt she was there, and the characters are so believable she ended up having sympathy for all of them. 4+ Stars.
How to Disappear by Gillian McAllister
Encouraged by Freyja’s reports, Calendar Girl read her first Gillian McAllister novel and loved it. This was published in 2020 and is the story of Lauren and her daughter Zara who are living in a witness protection programme. Zara had witnessed a terrible crime and her testimony at trial had put a target on her back. Now they live on the edge, desperately trying to stay hidden and it will only take one mistake to expose them. It’s a psychological thriller that ticks all the boxes. Non-stop tension and lots of twists and turns, which make it hard to put down. 4 Stars.
Into the Woods by David Mark
Calendar Girl says this is a gripping psychological thriller and it’s the first in a new series by David Mark. Thirty years ago in the Lake District three girls went into the woods, but only two returned and the surviving pair have never been able to remember what happened. Rumours abound as to what might have happened and Rowan Blake, a journalist who is down on his luck, decides that breaking this story might be just the boost his career needs. Dark, twisty and difficult to read in places, Calendar Girl gave this 4+ Stars.
Night House by Jo Nesbo
For Nesbo fans this is a considerable departure from his Harry Hole series. It’s a spin on a classic horror story. After the tragic death of 14-year-old Richard Elauved’s parents, he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle in a remote area of Ballantyne. They are ill-equipped to deal with a teenage boy and Richard soon finds himself a suspect when two of his friends disappear under strange circumstances. Trying to prove his innocence he grapples with dark magic and becomes fascinated by an old house with an interesting past. Pink Alpaca says that from this point anything is possible as Nesbo keeps twisting the story. And is Richard the most reliable narrator? There’s a twist at the end she didn’t see coming and she loved this. 4 Stars.
The Woman on the Pier by B.P. Walter
Caroline Byrne’s daughter Jessica died, murdered in Stratford when she was supposed to be staying with friends in Somerset. Caroline can’t understand the lies and the subterfuge until she discovers messages Jessica had been sending to a boy named Michael. Then she realises that everything that happened was because he failed to meet Jessica on the fateful day, and she decides he’s going to pay. MadDog says this plotline is a bit unbelievable but it’s well written and a really good read. She gave it 3+ Stars.
The Excitements by C.J. Wray
Penny and Josephine Williamson are respected World War II veterans, both in their nineties. Visiting Paris to receive the Légion d’Honneur, accompanied by their great-nephew Archie, should be straightforward, but both sisters have led adventurous lives so that’s certainly not how the trip turns out. Cornish Eskimo had been looking forward to reading this because the plot outline sounded such fun but she said the characters were unconvincing and the humour is forced, so (regrettably) only 2+ Stars.
If you’d like to come along to a meeting of Oundle Crime to meet other crime fiction fans and chat about the books and authors you enjoy, just email join@friendsofoundlelibrary.org.uk and we’ll send you the details.