Only to Sleep
Written by Lawrence Osborne – Writing a Philip Marlowe novel must be one of the most intimidating jobs in crime fiction. There are few characters who share the sardonic Californian private eye’s iconic status within the genre. Perhaps that’s why, in an era when so…
City Without Stars
Written by Tim Baker — It seems like a long time since Tim Baker’s explosive JFK assassination based debut, Fever City, hit the shelves in April 2016. Fever City was a recommended read with Crime Fiction Lover and was nominated for equally prestigious awards such as the CWA’s…
Mr Avila - Mexican crime drama comes to Walter Presents
Our view of Mexico in the crime fiction world is perhaps a little filtered by America’s perspective on its neighbour – the war on drugs, cross-border migration and so on. From Breaking Bad to The Power of the Dog and The Dead Women of Juarez,…
La Frontera by Sam Hawken
Sam Hawken’s The Dead Women of Juarez and Tequila Sunset set the ball rolling for this popular author who takes a look at the perils of life on both sides of the border between Mexico and Texas. We last reviewed Missing in 2014, but we missed the 2013…
Ochoco Reach by Jim Stewart
Here we have another PI novel, but if you want mean streets, neon bar signs reflected in rainy sidewalks, and the seedy underbelly of a city where dreams go to die, then look elsewhere. We start in Oregon, where the air is cold and clean,…
The Cartel
Sometimes truth is stranger – or in this case, more ghastly – than fiction, and Don Winslow doesn’t attempt to improve on the unbelievable everyday brutality and mind-numbing violence of Mexico’s drug business. The Cartel is the sequel to The Power of the Dog, and…
The Cartel by Don Winslow audiobook
Read by Ray Porter — Is there anyone who still thinks a little illegal drug use is a victimless crime? Who thinks the American “war on drugs” is actually accomplishing anything other than creating vast, lucrative criminal enterprises? Don Winslow’s much-publicised new thriller about the…