NTN: Janet O'Kane interviewed
If you’re looking for an alternative to the grim urban settings that predominate in Scottish crime fiction, then self-published author Janet O’Kane is one to try. Her first book No Stranger to Death offers a gentler setting – the Scottish Borders – but at the…
NTN: Mrs Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death by Mark Reutlinger
Not all crime books have to be gory, graphic or downright dangerous. For example, Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries tend to tax the brain without unsettling the stomach, while Alexander McCall Smith’s No1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books feature a traditionally built female sleuth whose most potent…
Seeing the Dead by Sheila Connolly
Back in January, we reviewed, Reunion with Death, by this New York Times Bestselling author, and our reviewer particularly enjoyed its descriptive settings, meanderings into the world of art history, and its gentle, engaging writing style. Her latest cosy mystery, which was released in September…
Murder on the Ile Sordou by ML Longworth
This book is being publicised as the fourth in the Verlaque and Bonnet Provencal mystery series set in or around Aix-en-Provence, but fear not if you are new to the series. It had not previously registered on my Francophile radar either, and it stands well…
Malice by Keigo Higashino
Translated by Alexander O Smith — This year has been a good one for lovers of Japanese literature in translation. Across all genres, Japanese literature in English has flown off the shelves. In crime fiction in particular, the second half of 2014 has seen three…
The Corpse with the Platinum Hair by Cathy Ace
Canadian crime fiction writers are having their well-deserved moment in the sun just before the long winter sets in. Louise Penny, Peter Robinson and Linwood Barclay are merely the best known of a very diverse and entertaining group of crime writers. Not all of the…