Features

CIS: Georges Simenon's Dirty Snow revisited

If you’ve read Georges Simenon’s classic of existential noir Dirty Snow you will probably believe there was mutual influence between Simenon and his contemporary Albert Camus. Dirty Snow certainly belongs on the same shelf as Camus’ The Stranger. The influence of Dirty Snow’s existential musings is still prevalent…
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AudiobookReviews

Target Churchill

Written by Warren Adler and James C Humes, narrated by Nick Howden-Steenstra — Warren Adler is perhaps best known for his screenplay for The War of the Roses, the 1980s movie starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. He’s also written an array of thrillers and mysteries including…
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iBookKindlePrintReviews

A Hero in France

Written by Alan Furst — Paris in spring conjures up images of joie de vivre, recalling Sinatra singing about chestnuts in blossom and holiday tables under the trees. But in the spring of 1941 a darkness hangs over Paris – Nazis occupy the much of France, including…
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Book Club

The Age of Treachery

Gavin Scott’s historical crime thriller takes us back to post-WWII Britain where former operative Duncan Forrester is enjoying his new life reading ancient history at Oxford. One night, during the reading of a Viking saga, there’s a huge crash and a man is found dead…
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iBookKindlePrintReviews

Death Zones by Simon Pasternak

Translated by Martin Aitken — This bleak novel is set towards the end of World War II, as the Nazi offensive in Russia stalls amidst terrible fighting and enormous military and civilian casualties. SS Oberleutnant Heinrich Hoffman is a detective with the German police in…
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Features

Writing a believable 1940s setting

During New Talent November, we reviewed Gwen Parrott’s wonderful debut novel Dead White. It’s an interesting book for several reasons. Firstly, it was originally written in Welsh before being translated by the author herself for publication by Pageturners. Secondly, it’s set in the 1940s, two years after…
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