Review ~ Song of the Dead by Douglas Lindsay

A dead man walks into a police station. He tells a tale - bizarre as it is grotesque - of kidnap and organ harvesting. John Baden's story of being held prisoner for twelve years sounds far-fetched - but it's all about to get much, much stranger.

DI Ben Westphall has been given the case because of his background in MI6. He also has a knack for getting inside people's heads and seeing things others would miss. Westphall is no ordinary detective and this is no ordinary investigation.

When his suspects start dying, Westphall realises someone is killing to cover up the truth. But what exactly is the truth? To find out, he'll have to question everything he's been told, before there's no one left to ask..

My thoughts..

When a dead man walks into an Estonian Police Station his appearance creates something of a conundrum, not just for the personnel involved, but also for DI Ben Westphall who is the Scottish detective in charge of the British side of the investigation. The 'dead' man's sudden arrival creates more questions than it does answers and before long Westphall is dragged into a bizarre investigation which gets more and more complicated as the story evolves.

I liked Ben Westphall from the beginning, he's an interesting character and his background in MI6 mean he has a good eye for working out the improbable, that he is also rather flawed, goes a long way into making him an interesting leading man. As with any new series there is a certain amount of scene setting and background about the lead characters but this was achieved smoothly and didn't get in the way of what is, in effect, a really tense murder mystery.

Song of the Dead is a really cleverly plotted crime thriller, with more than enough twists and turns in the plot to keep you guessing. Its complicated story line moving between dangerous situations both in Eastern Europe and some rather dark events in Scotland makes for fascinating reading.

Three titles in the DI WESTPHALL series will be coming from Mulholland Books in 2019.

About the Author

Douglas Lindsay was born in Scotland in 1964, at 2:38 am. Thirty-five years of little note ensued, before the world heralded the publication of his first book, The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson, which was adapted was adapted for the screen starring Robert Carlyle, Ray Winstone and Emma Thompson. As he was leaving the house to undertake a public engagement for the first time, his wife kissed him on the cheek and said, 'Whatever you do, don't be yourself...' Sadly, Lindsay continues to ignore her advice to this day.

Lindsay worked at the Ministry of Defence for over ten years and is married to a diplomat. He has lived in Dakar, Belgrade, Warsaw and Tallinn, an experience that inspired Song of the Dead. He now lives and writes full time in Somerset with his wife and their two children. 

 Twitter @DTSLindsay #SongOfTheDead


Amazon UK

Review ~ A Sea of Straw by Julia Sutton

Cheyne Walk Press
2017

What's it all about...

Will a man walk two thousand kilometres for a woman? In 1967, Ze will. Salazar's Portugal has become a prison for him.

1966: When Jody, young mother and designer from Manchester, arrives on the Lisbon coast, she brings the lure of 'Swinging London' to Portuguese painter Ze 's existing dreams of freedom. A nascent love is interrupted when, back in England, husband Michael forces her to choose between their 2-year-old daughter Anna and Ze . And Ze, at home in Lisbon and grounded by the state's secret police, can only wait.

For both Jody and Ze, love is revolution. And personal and political threads weave their story, a period piece set amid the then socially conservative North of England, the light and rugged landscapes of modern Portugal, and the darkness of the dying years of Europe's longest-running dictatorship. A Sea of Straw, with its pervading atmosphere of saudades, is a quest for love in revolutionary times.

What did I think about it...

There is much to consider in this debut novel set amidst the politically volatile background of 1960's Portugal and the steadfastness of Northern England, and which looks at a love affair which attempts to survive in a country which is in turmoil.

It's a difficult story to say too much about as I am conscious of not giving anything of the story away so what I will say is this is a well written and astute first novel. It takes a little while to get used to the time switches, moving as it does between different time frames, people and places, but once I had settled into the author's writing style I found that my understanding of the novel became easier. The characters are well developed and believable and such is the draw of the story that I felt like I had gone back in time to an era in history that, regrettably, I knew very little about. Salazar's Portuguese dictatorship as seen through the eyes of the young artist, Ze shows, very eloquently, of the struggle for identity and of the constant threat of fear.

A Sea of Straw is one of those clever stories which makes you think about what has gone before.

More about the Author can be found by clicking here 

Julia Sutton is an artist and writer from East Anglia, who has lived and worked for much of her adult life in continental Europe. Following eleven years in Paris, she returned, in 1997, to her native Suffolk coast, where she now lives and writes full-time. her short stories are published in literary magazines and online. A Sea Of Straw is her first novel.

Follow on Twitter @juliamarysutton

Follow this link for more information  - click here 

My thanks to the author for sharing her story with me.

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Review ~ City of Good Death by Chris Lloyd

Canelo
2015

The blurb..

A killer is targeting hate figures in the Catalan city of Girona – a loan shark, a corrupt priest, four thugs who have blighted the streets of the old quarter – leaving clues about his next victim through mysterious effigies left hung on a statue. Each corpse is posed in a way whose meaning no one can fathom. Which is precisely the point the murderer is trying to make.

Elisenda Domènech, the solitary and haunted head of the city’s newly-formed Serious Crime Unit, is determined to do all she can to stop the attacks. She believes the attacker is drawing on the city’s legends to choose his targets, but her colleagues aren’t convinced and her investigation is blocked at every turn.

Battling against the increasing sympathy towards the killer displayed by the press, the public and even some of the police, she finds herself forced to question her own values. But when the attacks start to include less deserving victims, the pressure is suddenly on Elisenda to stop him. The question is: how?

This is the first in a proposed trilogy of crime novels set in Spain and will appeal to those readers who enjoy Inspector Montalbano stories or similar crime fiction set in Europe.

It took me a little while to get into the story and to get used to the Catalonia names but once I had settled into the characters I found this to be a compelling and interesting crime novel. Intricately plotted with a fine eye for detail, the author clearly writes about what he knows and because of that knowledge, he is able to bring the sights and sounds of Girona alive. I've never visited this area in Spain but found myself able to clearly picture the place and its people.

The story is complex and there is much to take in, and as with any new series there is a certain amount of scene setting which will allow the books to flow during the follow up stories. I rather liked it and look forward to seeing what's coming next.

Best Read With ...some Spanish tapas and a glass or two of smooth and smoky Merlot

About the Author

Chris Lloyd lived in Catalonia for over twenty years, besides brief spells in Bilbao, Madrid, Grenoble and a mill in Devon. He has written and contributed to several travel books about Spain for Rough Guides, travelling extensively around the country. Now back in South Wales, he works as a Catalan and Spanish translator. This is his first novel.

My thanks to Ana at Canelo for my e-copy of this book.

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Review ~ Little Sister by David Hewson

Pieter Vos #3
Pan Macmillan
5 May 2016

The Timmers’ sisters, Kim and Mia have been locked away in a secure institution for twenty years. Their conviction as child killers gives them a certain amount of notoriety, and as they are now due for release, everyone is understandably nervous about their reintroduction to society. Inevitably, once they gain their freedom, the girls disappear along with their nurse, who was given the task of escorting them to a safe house, and as the search begins to find the girls, tensions begin to run high. And for DI Pieter Vos, from the Amsterdam police, re-opening the Timmers’ case brings more questions than it does answers.

I read the story quickly, and was impressed by how easily I became involved with the characters, particularly Kim and Mia who are not a bit likeable. They are both superbly flawed and completely unreliable as narrators, and whilst that, at times, makes for uncomfortable reading, it also gives the story a certain creepy edginess. By the end of the novel I, sort of, liked them a little better and hoped that things would work out for them, but I won’t spoil the book by giving anything away, that’s for you to find out for yourself.

There is no doubt that the author has a real skill for storytelling and he allows his characters to become really integral to the plot. There is no superfluous dialogue, just really good story telling with a frighteningly realistic edge and Vos in particular has more than enough faults and foibles of his own to carry the story along. This is my first read of  a book in the Pieter Vos series, indeed it’s also my first book by this author, and I was impressed by how quickly the story grabbed my attention and even though this is now the third book in the Vos series, I thought that Little Sister worked, very comfortably, as a standalone story.

Best Read with …A marinara pizza and a couple of glasses of robust red wine…

About the author

Website

Twitter @david_hewson

Amazon UK

Interview with the author can be found here

My thanks to the author and publishers for my review copy of this book.

The author in my spotlight is ...David Hewson

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to welcome

David Hewson

On the Publication Day of his latest Detective Pieter Vos Novel

Little Sister

Voss #3
Macmillan
5th May 2016

Hello David, welcome to Jaffareadstoo and congratulations on the publication of  your latest novel.

Without revealing too much, what can you tell us about Little Sister?

This is a story about two sisters who, at the age of ten, were deemed guilty of a terrible crime: the murder of a man they seem to have believed, wrongly, had killed their family. We meet them eleven years on, after incarceration in an institution outside Amsterdam in a remote lakeside location. Their doctor thinks they’re well enough for a gradual return to the community. But when they set off for a halfway house in the city with their nurse they disappear - as does the nurse. And Vos, drawn into the case almost by accident, begins to realise that the family tragedy of a decade before was never fully investigated and is still, for some people, very much alive. So it’s a story about guilt and retribution and, for the sisters, Mia and Kim Timmers, a fight to understand what really happened to them in the past.

Where do you get your inspiration for a story from – are you inspired by people, places or do you draw purely from your imagination?

Bit of both really. I spend a lot of time in the Netherlands for these books. They’re published pretty much simultaneously in Dutch too so I have a publisher in Amsterdam who’s incredibly helpful when it comes to background. But I never use real-life incidents or people as inspiration. I think imagination’s a wonderful thing and I’d be cheating a bit if I did that. 

Your writing is very atmospheric – how do you ‘set the scene’ in your novels and how much research did you need to do in order to bring Little Sister to life?

I choose a particular area of the city and a set time of year because they will dictate a lot of the story. This takes place in high summer, much of it in the rural area outside Amsterdam called Waterland. So I rent an apartment and travel the buses, taking photos, making notes, trying out ideas. The contrast between rural Waterland and the busy city is a key part of this book. Mia and Kim can’t wait to escape their institution and reach the city. But when they get there — surreptitiously — it’s quite terrifying for them. 

Whilst researching the novel, did you discover anything which surprised you?

The biggest surprise was discovering Waterland. It’s only fifteen kilometres from the centre of Amsterdam but it’s like travelling from the middle of London to furthest Cornwall. The best known place is Edam where the cheese originated. A lot of the story, though, takes place in the fishing and tourist village of Volendam and the little island of Marken. The Dutch view this as a holiday area and it’s delightful but foreign visitors barely know it exists.

When do you find the time to write, and do you have a favourite place to do your writing?

Well writing’s what I do for a living so finding the time for it is no problem at all. Though I could always use more. Mostly I write at home in Kent but I always take the work in progress with me on the road. A fair bit of this book was actually written in an apartment overlooking the Prinsengracht canal, not far from where Vos’s fictional houseboat would be. But home, with a big screen and no distractions, is probably the best place to write.

Can you tell us if you have another novel planned?

The fourth Vos book is already finished and will be out in a year’s time. After that… I’m working on a few ideas. And the first Vos book is being developed as an eight-part series for Dutch TV which is exciting too - looking forward to seeing that.

About the Author

David Hewson is a former journalist  who has worked at The Times, The Independent and The Sunday Times. He is the author of twenty crime thrillers set in various European cities, including the critically acclaimed interpretation of Danish TV drama The Killing and the Nic Costa series set in Rome. His ability to capture the sense of place and atmosphere of the cities in his novels comes from spending considerable research time there. David was inspired to write his new detective crime series starring Pieter Voss ( The House of Dolls, its sequel The Wrong Girl and now Little Sister) after exploring the city of Amsterdam..

Website

Twitter @david_hewson

Amazon UK

My thanks to the author and to the publishers Macmillan for my review copy of  Little Sister

and to Sophie at EDPR for her help with this interview.

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