Paul Burke

Writing in Ice by Michael Ridpath

By Paul Burke

29 June, 2021

Writing in Ice isn’t a crime novel. Let’s get that out of the way. This is a non fiction book – a memoir focusing on the origins of Magnus Jonson, the Icelandic-American cop created by English author Michael Ridpath. It’s also a love letter to…

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The Transparency of Time by Leonardo Padura

By Paul Burke

22 June, 2021

Translated by Anna Kushner — Leonardo Padura is widely recognised as Cuba’s finest living writer and The Transparency of Time is a literary crime novel that demands your full attention. You will be richly rewarded for your efforts. Padura is a master of the slow…

Kindle Print Reviews

Burying the Newspaper Man by Curtis Ippolito

By Paul Burke

17 June, 2021

Burying the Newspaper Man is a stylish and engaging police procedural from debut novelist Curtis Ippolito, a San Diego charity worker and former journalist. This novel is in the style and spirit of California noir but is an intriguing and original piece of storytelling. The…

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Knock Knock by Anders Roslund

By Paul Burke

15 June, 2021

Journalist Anders Roslund teamed up with ex-criminal prison campaigner Börge Hellström to bring us the first Swedish detective Ewert Grens novel in 2004. Odjuret, translated as both The Beast and Pen 33, broke new ground with its realistic portrait of violence and its scathing indictment…

Features

Floodland brings Flemish crime fiction to our screens

By Paul Burke

15 May, 2021

Floodland is a Belgium-Netherlands co-production set in modern day Flanders-Zeeland, the borderland region between the two countries either side of the Scheldt river. It’s a blackly comic police drama that draws heavily on the clash of cultures between city, cosmopolitan liberal values and an out-of-touch…

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A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames

By Paul Burke

13 May, 2021

Jonathan Ames is perhaps best known for his tense and emotionally draining psychological drama You Were Never Really Here, published in 2013. It was his first noir novel and told the story of a man driven by his own childhood trauma to rescue victims of…

Features

Chester Himes returns in a new set of Penguin Classics

By Paul Burke

11 May, 2021

With strikingly designed covers, new editions of five novels by Chester Himes have appeared the shelves. Featuring Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones, the reprinting of these hardboiled detective stories is good news – Himes was an American crime fiction genius who is still underappreciated. When…

Kindle Print Reviews

A Certain Man's Daughter by Timothy J Lockhart

By Paul Burke

6 May, 2021

Stark House Press does a grand job bringing classic American pulp novels to a new audience and occasionally publishes contemporary tales that catch the spirit of those mid-20th century originals. Timothy J Lockhart’s A Certain Man’s Daughter, the title drawn from a poem, is in…

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About author

Writing in Ice by Michael Ridpath

The Transparency of Time by Leonardo Padura

Burying the Newspaper Man by Curtis Ippolito

Knock Knock by Anders Roslund

Floodland brings Flemish crime fiction to our screens

A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames

Chester Himes returns in a new set of Penguin Classics

A Certain Man's Daughter by Timothy J Lockhart

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