iBookKindlePrintReviews

Fiddle City by Dan Kavanagh

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When Julian Barnes’s pseudonymous PI novel Duffy was reissued earlier this year, the literary author found himself welcomed into the crime genre. Written under the name Dan Kavanagh, Duffy was a scandalously funny, violent and sordid debut from a writer who was clearly relishing a…
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iBookKindlePrintReviews

Die Again by Tess Gerritsen

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The last crime novel that I read which was set in Botswana was one of the No1 Ladies Detective Agency series, written by Alexander McCall Smith and featuring the homespun wisdom of Mma Precious Ramotswe. Die Again opens in the same country but, in contrast, Tess Gerritsen’s…
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Features

Rough Justice: Top five books of 2014

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Trying to decipher trends that have arisen from the year just ended is always difficult. Though I read a lot, I don’t read everything by any means, and many good books might have escaped me. But what I can say is that there were many…
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PrintReviews

The Blue and the Grey by MJ Trow

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14 April, 1865. Ford’s Theatre, Washington DC. As the packed house laughs and cheers its way through Tom Taylor’s Our American Cousin, a shot rings out and gunsmoke drifts into the gas-lit spotlights. A very special theatre-goer, none other than Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president…
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Features

Spriteby: Top five books of 2014

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If anything I’ve been spoilt with the selection of books I’ve been able to read this year. Strangely for me, I’ve not read any Nordic noir. My diet has in the main consisted of historical crime fiction and some pretty terrific home-grown talent, making my…
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Features

Interview: Brian Stoddart

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Professor Brian Stoddart is a distinguished Australian academic who has been Vice Chancellor of Latrobe University, Victoria, and is a widely respected non-fiction author. He’s especially interested in the role of sport – and, in particular, cricket – in Australian culture. Now, he has turned…
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