Ian Rankin - The Complaints

Review by Malcolm Martland on show oct 29th

This new novel from Ian Rankin features a detective Malcolm Fox who replaces the famous Inspector John Rebus. But far from the beer swilling Rebus, Malcolm Fox does not drink! Apart from that would we know the difference in the novel? Set in Edinburgh, the usual gangster fraternity passing each other backhanders, the dysfunctional family members, and the occasional murder, it resembles just one of Ian Rankin's John Rebus novels but without the colour and flavour that the old rogue detective gave to the stories.

Anyway to get down to the plot! Malcolm Fox works in the complaints department and has just successfully put away another corrupt policeman much to the annoyance of his regular colleagues. He gets a call from the child protection department down the corridor-a meeting is requested with DS Annie Inglis. She is investigating an allegation of child pornography downloading by a colleague, Jamie Breck. Malcolm Fox's help is requested. Meanwhile Malcolm's sister due to repeatedly gets beaten up by her partner Vince. But one day Vince's body is found on a building site and while Malcolm was comforting his sister Jamie Breck turns up to investigate. The two men get on really well and become friends, Malcolm cannot believe that Jamie Breck is the real culprit in the child pornography suspicion.
Bodies go missing in the Firth of Forth, gangsters gather in pubs to plot, corrupt developers try to offload land that is now worthless because of the recession. There is a hint of a romantic relationship between Fox and Inglis, Breck and Fox are suspended for overstretching their authority and while hanging around wondering what to do next they wrap up the case satisfactorily for everybody. Oh, and Breck was being set up for the pornography he was completely innocent.

The genre of the story is just the same as Inspector Rebus just the characters are slightly different. Nevertheless a most enjoyable read.

Malcolm Martland 29th October 2009

Ian Rankin - Doors Open

Review by Malcolm Martland, 19 October 2008
Doors open is an event they have in Edinburgh on certain days – The doors of usually closed institutions are opened – one being a depository of the Scottish National Gallery where the bulk of the National Galleries at collection is housed.

But a gallery director, a collector and a banker from 1st Cally (First Caledonian Bank) have a notion to rob the depository on one of the doors open days – but they have a fairly unconvincing ruse to prevent their discovery by substituting the masterpieces by very well painted forgeries.

But for the heist they need some help from thug Chib Calloway and his gang – who is in trouble with the police and his dealers – to whom he owes a huge sum of money.

It all goes pear shaped of course.

Well this is the first Ian Rankin Novel after he dispensed with the services of Inspector Rebus – but sadly the absence of Rebus and his sidekick Siobhan were noticeable – Rebus is the shabby, real ale drinking, chain smoking, brilliant detective who is the foil for Rankin’s intellect.

So summing-up, not a bad plot but not up to usual enjoyment level. Still better than the popular crime writers’ line-up of Cornwell, Reichs, Patterson and Connoly - but that wouldn't be hard! This week I had a book club offer 10 Kathy Reichs books for £10 - £1 a book – slightly more than a packet of crisps in the pub – and only slightly more memorable! Bring back Rebus – that’s what Rankin’s readers want!
Doors Open £18.99 Hardback (not worth 18.99 – it’s less at Amazon or wait for the paperback)

Ian Rankin - Standing in Another Mans Grave

review by Babs Simpson live on show 7th Nov 2013.

I READ A LOT OF IAN RANKINS DETECTIVE NOVELS A WHILE AGO AND ENJOYED THEM SO JUMPED AT THE CHANCE TO BORROW THIS, THE LATEST FEATURING JOHN REBUS.  AND IT IS WELL UP TO STANDARD.

REBUS IS NOW RETIRED FROM THE FORCE AND WORKING AS A CIVILIAN IN THE COLD CASE UNIT LOOKING INTO UNSOLVED MURDERS AND DISAPPEARANCES FROM THE PAST.

HE MEETS A WOMAN WHO IS DESPERATE TO FIND HER MISSING DAUGHTER AND WHO IS CONVINCED HER DISAPPEARANCE IS LINKED TO THAT OF OTHER YOUNG WOMEN WHO HAVE NOT BEEN HEARD OF SINCE THEY WERE LAST TRACED TO THE LONELY A9 ROAD RUNNING THROUGH THE BLEAK CENTRE OF SCOTLAND.

REBUS, AS ALWAYS OUTSPOKEN, SCORNFUL OF MODERN METHODS AND DEEPLY UNPOPULAR WITH MOST OF HIS SENIOR COLLEAGUES, STARTS HIS OWN INVESTIGATION WHICH INVOLVES VARIOUS CHARACTERS FROM SCOTLAND'S UNDER WORLD.  HE EVENTUALLY GETS RESULTS.  REBUS IS AN INTRIGUING CHARACTER - HE DRINKS & SMOKES TOO MUCH, PURSUES AN INDEPENDENT ROUTE AND CERTAINLY WASTES NO RESPECT ON THOSE WHO IN HIS EYES DESERVE NONE.  BUT HE IS VERY ENTERTAINING BOTH TO THE READER AND TO SOME OF HIS COLLEAGUES WHO RESPECT HIS QUESTIONABLE METHODS AND THE RESULTS THEY ACHIEVE.

THIS IS A VERY SATISFYING AND ENJOYABLE READ.  AN EXCELLENT STORY, COMPLICATED BUT ALWAYS HOLDING YOUR INTEREST, PEOPLED WITH COMPLETELY BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS.  I AM VERY GLAD TO SEE THAT ANOTHER REBUS NOVEL IS COMING OUT THIS MONTH.  THANK YOU IAN RANKIN, I HAVE SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO.

Bookshow 21st August with author Ian Christie

Ian Christie, author of 'The Franklin Saga' appeared on the book show along with Corinna Christopher & Brian Lowen on 21st August, 2008.

Ian got his idea for the book from the book of revelations. Although it is classed as a Sci-fi book it isn’t, especially if you are comparing it to Dune or Star Trek. He was rather despondent that the book cover had flying saucers on it as he felt it would put many people off reading it. Being very excited over the prospect of his first novel being published he did not get as involved in the design of the cover as he should.
The saga is about a family, a normal family, who find themselves at the end of this world but the beginning of a new world. It follows their children & childrens children, so although they go into the future it is still following the lives of the Franklin family. The first book has reference to the Isles of Scilly, as it is where the young couple go on their honeymoon. The book had good and neutral reviews on Amazon but as yet is not on sale nationally. Most of the neutral reviews were from people who bought it expecting a sci-fi read.
Ian works for the Salvation Army with homeless men. He started writing because friends & colleagues told him he ‘had a way with words’. He is working on the third in the Franklin Saga but said after this he would like to write a book about the homeless.
Ians favourite author is Clive Cussler. He has a bookshelf full of his books which he reads & re-reads.
Ians hobby is bowling (green bowls). He loves the Isles of Scilly. He has cruised with his wife to a lot of beautiful places but none, he says, compare to Scilly and he finds that when he does holiday he does, literally, compare the places to Scilly but none come close. His claim to fame is meeting Ian Rankin.

Brian Lowen on the book show on Thursday 21st August reviewed Clive Cusslers Sahara. He enjoys reading Clive Cussler but found the depth of archaeology in the story off-putting. He enjoyed it but it wasn’t his favourite.

Quote from another reviewer: I don't normally read Clive Cussler, but I found this a very entertaining story, even if it does stretch reality sometimes. I would recommend this book. There is a great blending of fictional history into real-life. Some of Cussler's ideas can be a little outlandish and Sahara is certainly no history book, but the story rushes past in such a manner that everything feels in place. It is the believable evilness of the villains in this story and the portrayal of diseased and enslaved which really hit home.

Corinna Christopher on the book show on 21st August reviewed ‘Salmon fishing in the Yemen’
Said it was a Richard & Judy summer read 2008 book & she enjoyed it & would recommend it. This book wasn’t in their shortlist for favourite

9th April 2009

On the show today were Malcolm Martland and a new guest to the bookshow Lydia Birch.
Lydia reviewed Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. Lydia likes reading historical novels, as well as Bill Bryson but has found a fascination with the Twilight series 'which feature vampires, werewolves, teenage love and all the complications of relationships brilliantly told with action and romance equally balanced'. They are actually aimed at the teenage market but like Harry Potter, The Book Thief, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, they are as well read by adults.
Lydia has also read and enjoyed 'Buffy Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel'.
Malcolm reviewed Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride. This is a hard hitting book along the lines of 'Rebus'and based in Scotland. Stuart MacBride was likened to Ian Rankin, Graham Hurley and Peter James. Ian Rankin is one of Malcolms favourite authors.
Malcolm also reviewed White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, which was described by one reviewer as an 'unadorned portrait of India seen from the bottom of the heap'.
It won the Booker prize and Michael Portillo, the head judge commented:
"..White Tiger prevailed because the judges felt that it shocked and entertained in equal measure.....won overall because of its originality.......it presented a different aspect of India and had enormous literary merit".

Both Stephanie Meyer and Aravind Adiga were in the top ten of 'Amazon' general bestsellers, with Twilight series being 2nd/3rd/4th & 5th! Good choice guys! But what about number 1 in this list...'Grow Your Own Drugs:Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Treats' by James Wong..! I had to laugh when I saw that title I could imagine all the junkies rushing out to buy it.........think he had the 'wong' title

30th April 2009

Guests this week are:
Babs Simpson reviewing 'The Piano Teacher' by Lynn Wood and 'Faith' by Lesley Pearse
Malcolm Martland reviewing 'Blingsighted' by Karin Slaughter and 'Hanging Garden' by Ian Rankin.
Similar authors to:
Karin Slaughter are: Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, Tess Geritsen.
Ian Rankin is: Stuart MacBride
Lyn York are: Anita Shreve, joanne Harris.
There were four books with the title of 'The Piano Teacher'. The fictional town of Swan Knob was inspired by Pilot Mountain in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains where the author spent her adolescent years.
Lesley Pearse had a traumatic early life and three marriages, some of which have inspired her novels.
Malcolm finished with a quick mention of 'We're british innit' by Iain Aitch and his amusing observasions of English quirkiness. And 'The Bad Dogs Diary: A Year in the Life of Blake' by Martin Howard 'does his best to avoid the frequently threatened neutering and spends a lot of his time either scooting across the carpet or chasing local tail. It really is a dog's life, and Blake has kindly taken the time to keep a diary of a year in his own life - providing a hilarious, unputdownable glimpse into the mind and world of your average mutt'.

Ian Rankin - The Impossible Dead

review by Malcolm Martland on show nov 2011

Product Description
Malcolm Fox and his team from Internal Affairs are back. They've been sent to Fife to investigate whether fellow cops covered up for a corrupt colleague, Detective Paul Carter….But what should be a simple job is soon complicated by intimations of conspiracy and cover-up - and a brutal murder, a murder committed with a weapon that should not even exist..etc.

My Review
I thought the first Malcolm Fox novel, The Complaints, was a bit lightweight compared to the Ian Rankin’s Rebus series. I though this one was going to go the same way with the rather lacklustre and teetotal DI Malcolm Fox getting nothing but derision, contempt and lack of cooperation from Kirkaldy CID as he attempts to investigate a complaint against a fellow officer. DC Paul Carter has been reported by his retired policeman uncle Alan, for allegedly offering young ladies leniency for their crimes in return for “favours”. DC Carter is found guilty in court but the sherriff commented that his fellow officers were either wilfully stupid or wilfully complicit.

Fox and his team are drafted in from Edinburgh and are offered a broom cupboard to work from. This is so inadequate that they tend to meet at the local café, The Pancake Place. Unlike Rebus’s passion for a pint of 80/- at the Oxford Bar, Fox has long given up alcohol and dinks mainly Big Tom (a spicy tomato juice). The team’s job is solely to discover whether Paul Carter’s colleagues have been complicit in his professional misconduct and not to be judge and jury on DC Carter. But it isn’t as simple as that as DI Fox soon discovers.

Fox sets off to interview the original complainant, Paul’s uncle Alan Carter. He finds him in a remote cottage, aptly named Gallowhill Cottage. They get on amiably enough and Fox notices that the place is piled high with newspapers and magazines from the mid 1980’s – one paper he picks up dated April 85 which Alan Carter laughs off as the time Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis at snooker.

The next day Alan Carter is found shot in the head. Suspicion falls on his nephew, Paul, but things don’t add up to Fox. Ballistics reports on the bullet find it was shot from a gun that is recorded as having been destroyed 20 year previously. Telephone records and garage CCTV both implicate Paul, who of course denies he killed his uncle despite ample motive. Despite being on a complaints job the detective in Fox gets the better of him and he revisits the cottage finding that all the magazines and papers had been strewn across the floor, maybe to make it look like burglary. The police investigating take exception to him poking his nose in but he goes back later when they have gone, finds a key under plant pot and has a good snoop around himself. He soon discovers that most of the literature concerns not a snooker match but the death, apparently suicide, of an activist Scottish Nationalist, Francis Vernal. But again not all is clear, he apparently crashed into a tree late one night and then still conscious, shot himself. Police reports of the incident are suspiciously lightweight and Fox finds himself investigating the man’s possible murder. He uncovers that MI5 were tailing him at the time of the crash but, despicably, took no action to assist him. He tries to find what happened to the car but gets nowhere until he just happens to discover the wreckage of it in the locked garage at Gallowhill Cottage, curiouser and curiouser!

Coincidentally explosions are going off in woods around the area; it looks like the Scottish nationalists are getting active again. And Fox has his own domestic demons to contend with too, a sick father and a difficult sister.

So instead of just doing his job he becomes embroiled in an investigation to Scottish nationalist terrorism in the 1980’s and a real group called the Dark Harvest Commandos. He uncomfortably exposes some ruthless militant activists who have since risen to high rank in the new Scotland, a comparison with Northern Ireland which is remarked on in several places.
--
I thought it was a bit slow to get going and the plot overly complicated (there is a lot I’ve left out), some nice descriptions of the inhabitants Kirkaldy though “scroungers, walking wounded, coffin-dodgers, jakey’s and ASBO’s”…and worse! I had to look up quite a few Scottishisms to work it all out. By the end I was really quite hooked. There is some clever writing but to me still not as enjoyable as the best Rebus.

Malcolm Martland, broadcast on Radio Scilly 107.9FM, 24 November 2011

Peter Robinson - Past Reason Hated

review by Brian Lowen live on bookshow 19th April
It should have been a cosy scene – a roaring fire, sheepskin rug, Vivaldi on the stereo, Christmas lights on the tree. But appearances can be deceptive, for Caroline Hartley, lying quietly on the couch has been brutally murdered.

Chief Inspector Alan Banks, together with his recently promoted side-kick, Detective Sergeant Susan Gay are called to the grim scene on Christmas Eve.

And so we follow them as they start the lengthy process of tracking down all her known associates, past and present, and interviewing them to try and find the killer. A lot of potential suspects are uncovered, and those under most suspicion are in the local amateur dramatics group rehearsing Shakespeares Twelfth Night to be performed on the twelfth night after Christmas.

There is another crime under investigation by Susan Gay involving vandalism of local club houses, the solving of which leads Susan to the killer at the same time as Alan Banks also arrives at the dramatic conclusion of the case.

This book is not a thriller, although it does get a bit exciting in the last chapter, but rather a detailed description of the police investigation – no doubt typical of this type of police work. It is one of a series of stories featuring DCI Banks and recommended by Ian Rankin but I don’t think I shall be looking out for any more books by this author.

show 12th Nov

This was a different format show, I came out of the studio and hit the streets to ask people what they liked to read.
First stop was the local library where Ann Gurr was in charge for the morning. Ann likes reading 'easy' read books such as Belva Plain, Maisie Moscoe and Catherine Cookson.
In the library choosing books was Mrs Hitchings, she had a Val McDermid in her hands. She likes murders/thrillers such as the Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Martina Cole.
As I was leaving Bob Seddon came in to return his Conn Igulden book. He likes historical novels, enjoyed reading Robert Harris's Pompeii(apologies as I said Richard on the recording), a book I have read and enjoyed - and he also enjoys reading books of the sea like Patrick O'Brian, Alexander Kent; I did mention Douglas Reeman but his books are modern naval action.
I moved on from the library to Bourdeaux's book shop on St Marys. Fortunately Sue Humphreys came in and couldn't wait to tell me about the Penny Vincenzi book she was reading, she loves it, can't wait to get back home to start reading it again (a sign of a good book!). She loves the way the author describes all the characters, life and situations they find themselves in. It is set in Britain in present time. As we looked along the shelves of books in Bourdeaux's, Sue picked out some of her other favourite authors like James Patterson, Wilbur Smith and also mentioned how funny 'Cathy Kelly' books are.
In the shop too was Veronica Maple who talked to me about the radio programme produced by Jeremy Vine - the best bedtime reads (were they voted for by parents or children age 3-7?), anyway top three were Paddington Bear, The Hungry Caterpiller and tops is The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, so good tips for xmas presents.
I managed to get a few words out of Janice Nightingale, who manages the shop, she hasn't got time to read presently but would reach for a historical novel if she did.
Fortunately, I also got chance to interview three schoolgirls, Phoebe Kirkby, Jessica Kirk and Amy Bagnall about their favourite books. They all had different favourites but one they all liked was Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.

Henning Mankell - The Man Who Smiled

Review by Malcolm Martland on show 1st April
The Man Who Smiled is the fourth Kurt Wallander mystery and is set in and around the southern Swedish town of Ystat. It was recently dramatised on the BBC with Kenneth Branagh playing Wallander. When I realised it was the same story I nearly gave up but decided to continue and there were significant differences in the written story. But most will be familiar to anyone who has seen it.

Wallander has been off sick for over a year, he had a breakdown after shooting a man during the course of his police work and took refuge in nearby Denmark. He intends to return to his old police station and resign his position but while walking on a beach he is approached by an old friend, a solicitor, who asks him to investigate the apparent accidental death of his father, also a solicitor. Wallander is unable to accept any commitment in his mental state and refuses. However, several days later he hears that his friend has been shot dead in his home. Filled with guilt and remorse he returns to his station not to resign but to resume, and to investigate the death of his friend and his father. A few feathers are ruffled by his return but eventually they all agree to work as a team.

He visits the solicitors' secretary and finds that the senior man had been visiting a wealthy client at Farnholm Castle and apparently had run off the road in fog on his way home. Wallander visits the scrapyard where the car was taken and finds a few clues including a chair with only three legs. He then goes the site of the accident and guess what? Buried in the mud he finds another leg of the chair, just the right sort of thing for bashing the old man on the head. His suspicions are up. Ballistics on the bullets found in the younger solicitor revealed them to be from an unusual and expensive Italian pistol. Clearly foul play is afoot. The secretary calls him, something has bothered her in the garden, Wallander sees a disturbed area on the lawn with something protruding, and as you do, he throws a telephone directory at it provoking an enormous explosion from the buried mine!

During the course of his further enquiries Wallander visits Farnholm Castle where a disgraced ex-policeman is on sentry duty. He learns that the owner of the castle, Dr Alfred Harderberg is an important and influential as well as a benevolent local businessman, "The Man Who Smiled".

While following up the clues found in the dead solicitors' offices Wallander finds he is being followed by a strange car. His fellow officer, Ann-Britt notes the car registration number and they discover that it has been stolen. But they continue their enquiries late into the night hoping they have shaken off the tail but after visiting potential witnesses Wallander notices that is petrol tank gauge seems to be higher than expected. They abandon their car and while waiting for forensic backup it explodes. Clearly someone is trying to tell Wallander something!

The team pull all stops out and while re-examining the elder solicitor's vehicle they find a plastic cool box, the sort used for transporting human organs. Suspicions of a grisly trade emerge and the fingers are pointing at Dr Alfred Harderberg but where is the evidence? Wallander plants a girl stable-hand at the castle and unexpectedly receives a tipoff from the disgraced ex-policeman and a gunshot riddled chase of helicopters, cars and planes begins.

All great stuff I thoroughly enjoyed it despite having seen it only a week before. We can never know what was lost in translation, it lacks the despair of the TV series, but nevertheless this is a great thriller akin to some of the best works of Ian Rankin and Val McDermid.

Malcolm Martland, RadioScilly Book Club, 1 April 2010

Stuart McBride - Cold Granite

reviewed by Malcolm Martland 9 April 2009
This is Scottish writer Stuart McBride’s first novel and I found it quite bizarrely entertaining but there is a lot unsaid in the reviews – Aberdeen based DS Logan McRae has been off work for a year following a savage attack by the Mastrick Monster – this put him in intensive care with multiple abdominal injuries – and he was resuscitated several times. Several of the desk sergeants were discussing his return from the dead give Logan a nickname after a humorous dialogue – “who was that chap in the bible that died and came back to life – Oh – you must mean Jesus? – No not him - Lazarus was his name! – or something like that – so Logan acquires Lazarus or Laz as his nickname – but Laz’s clinical history is not what this book is about although there is clearly scope for SM to write a prequel. No this is about disappearing children – some maliciously murdered, some unaccountable – and one found in the barn of a deranged council worker called Roadkill – his job is to collect dead animals from the roads – but he keeps them all stacked up in heaps at his farm – Yuck! The council sends a team in to clear the health hazard – but they come across the body of a child – one who had disappeared years before – it’s a gruesome scene – ant the Ice Queen misdiagnoses the cause of death as a beating – to be put right by ex-boy friend Laz who recognises this as injuries cause by a car – and Roadkill had just come along and cleared up the body as if it was a rat or a dog – charming! And Laz does actually find one a child alive – round at his Grans – not sinister but brownie points there for Laz from his cola-sweet sucking boss DI Inch.

The story continues with the killer(s) always one step ahead of the police thanks to leaks to the local press – through the Ice Queen who is now living with a persistent local journalist Colin Miller There are tales of council corruption, gangsters from down south – he means Edinburgh – not Brighton – people the likes of Malkie McClennan. Kneecapped bodies found in the sea – and more gore galore.

It is definitely a good read if you like gruesome detective novels – very much better than the genre of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs – wouldn’t be hard would it- but not a patch on fellow Scottish novelists Ian Rankin and Val McDermid.

Peter Robinson - Friend of the Devil

Review by Brian Lowen live on bookshow 14th Feb 2013

This is another detective story in the series featuring DCI Banks working in the North Yorkshire area and comes recommended by Ian Rankin.

The victim is no older than Bank’s own daughter. Just 19, she is found raped and strangled in the dark tangle of little streets they call the Maze.

There is no shortage of suspects, and Banks finds himself missing DI Annie Cabbot. Their personal problems aside, he could do with her sharp instincts on this case. But Annie has troubles of her own. On loan to the Eastern area, she has been called to investigate the cold-blooded killing of a woman in a wheelchair.

On the face of it, the two deaths have nothing in common, but as Annie digs deeper, she finds something disturbingly familiar in the case. Perhaps she and Banks will find themselves working together again a lot sooner than expected.

This is not an easy book to read as there are far too many names, that I do not think are necessary, and so it is easy to lose track of the story, especially as we have two stories progressing together.  It is a long book of over 500 pages, and although I realise police detective work is one interview after another, it does tend to get a bit ponderous.

I realised after finishing this that I had read another book featuring DCI Banks which was Past Reason Hated, and my review for that was similar to this one, so I won’t be looking out for any more titles by this author.

Stuart MacBride - Blind Eye

Review by Malcolm F. Martland on show 28 January 2010
Blind Eye is the latest in a series of detective novels by Stuart MacBride. The principal character is Detective Sgt Logan McRae also known as Lazarus or Laz to his pals, because of his miraculous recovery from a savage knife attack in a previous novel.

The MO appears to be that a disaffected Aberdonian has taken a crusade upon himself to punish the Polish workers who have come to take all their jobs and women. He does this by gouging out their eyes and burning the sockets with lighter fuel. But soon he targets some of the local gangsters as well.

With some similarities to the girl who played with fire much of the story is about importing prostitutes but in this case mainly from Poland. After some pretty gruesome episodes involving local thugs, claw hammers and paedophiles Logan detains a deranged suspect who admits to everything.

But then they get a call from Polish police similar atrocities have been happening there to. So Logan heads off to Poland only to find that most of the victims are long dead and his Polish guide Victoria almost gives up on the case. However Logan researches the history of the mutilations and finds one man, a militant from the Solidarity era and known as The Watchmaker because of his expertise with bombs – he was blinded in just the same way as the Aberdeen victims – but it appears that it is because of his conflicts with the KGB and local gangster network.

Logan manages to get blown up in the investigation by a booby trap set by The Watchmaker but he survives and returns to Aberdeen where mental assessments on his suspect show that he is completely bonkers. The mental patient is released, and properly rearrested for poking somebody’s eye out in a bar!

Meanwhile more victims appear, both of the blinding and claw hammer attacks. There is a confusion of rival gangs, and Eastern Bloc pimps running a prostitution racket in Polish girls. But it is the Eastern bloc pimps that still retain the old spy who put people’s eyes out in retribution. Logan sets out to solve the case in a gory denouement.

The whole novel sounds awful but the writing is very humorous, quite similar to Ian Rankin but a lot gorier. There are some wonderful one-liners too, dark police humour. Love it or hate it - I loved it!
Review by Malcolm F. Martland 28 January 2010

Alex Gray - The Riverman

review by Brian Lowen on show 13th October 2011

A detective story featuring DCI Bill Lorimer of the Glasgow Police and set in the area around the Clyde.

The Riverman’s job is to navigate the swollen currents of the Clyde, pulling rubbish from Glasgow’s river, but occasionally he is required to do something more shocking – such as lifting out corpses.

The day he pulls a lifeless body out of the river it looks like a case of accidental death, but DCI Lorimer is not convinced and when he identifies the body as a partner in a top firm of accountants he starts investigating just what did happen after the firm’s party at a riverside hotel. As his investigations get deeper into the mystery other executives start to disappear and a whole can of worms is uncovered involving the accountants, local bookmakers, drugs and money laundering.

A good story, a bit plodding at times, as any investigation would be I suppose, which keeps you guessing until the end. Probably not on a par with Ian Rankin ( Malcolm would say!) but an easy to follow, enjoyable book especially if you know the area around the Glasgow river.

Stieg Larsson - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Reviewed on show by Malcolm on 19th Nov.
This is the first of three novels that make up the Millennium Trilogy by this Swedish author – Swedish title: Men who hate women! Tragically he died before completing the further seven books of the series. He was one of the world's leading experts on antidemocratic, right wing extremist and Nazi organisations. Initial suspicions of foul play were discounted after natural causes were established as the reason for his death. In the book he refers to Val MacDermid’s Mermaids Singing and I suspect ideas for some of his clues originated in her writing. It’s a real who dunnit akin to Ian Rankin and John le Carré amongst others.

The story begins with a prologue which describes how an 82-year-old receives a framed pressed flower on his birthday as usual. This little ritual had been begun many years ago by his niece Harriet. But she disappeared when she was 16 in unresolved circumstances 40 years previously yet the flowers continue to arrive!

Mikael Blomkvist is an investigative journalist who also publishes, Millennium, an anti-right wing magazine – hence the Millennium Trilogy. The main story begins with him being convicted of libel agains a financial wheeler dealer called Wennerstrom who has made millions out of dodgy East Bloc investments. Wennerstrom is a crook but unfortunately Mikael was set up with false information and publishes a libellous story for which he receives a 3 month prison sentence. Unlike here in the UK he goes home in a hail of adverse publicity to await notification of when and where his sentence will begin.

Meanwhile Dragan Armansky who runs a security company is asked by millionaire industrial dynast Henrick Vanger to find him a researcher to write the family history as a cover – but in reality to try to establish the fate of his lost niece Harriet. Armansky has also been asked by a lawyer friend to try out a his guardian, a bright girl Lisbeth Salander as an IT worker. This is the girl with the dragon tattoo but she is seriously socially dysfunctional, apparently suffering from a form of autism. But she always delivers her tasks on time, makes mincemeat of the companies IT security and establishes herself as a reliable if unorthodox worker. She investigates Mikael and sends in her report – Henrick employs him for a year to investigate the disappearance of his niece 16 year old Harriet Vanger. Mikael also resigns as a partner in the magazine he publishes jointly with his part time lover – amidst much staff acrimony.

Mikael travels north from Stokholm to remote Hedestat and the attached Hedeby Island where the remnants of the bizarre Vanger dynasty still live – some of whom have a murky past with involvement of the Swedish Nazi party. Henrick installs him in a cottage and he begins to explore the island while Henrick sends over all the documents he has collected about Harriet’s disappearance. Mikael has been sworn to secrecy and asked not to tell other family members of his real reason for being there – but they all soon guess and meets with some hostility from them, and he compromises himself by briefly becoming the lover of another of Henrick’s nieces Cecelia Vanger. He makes a few discoveries but concentrates on photographic evidence from the day Harriet disappeared, a childrens parade day in 1966 – overshadowed by a road accident on the bridge joining Hedeby to Hedestad – the island is isolated until the vehicles are removed – but Harriet vanishes without trace. Mikael searches the photographs from local papers and any onlookers looking for evidence of either Harriet or her murderer – but all he can find is other family members!

He also finds some notes in Harriet’s diary – a list of names or initials with a string of numbers after them – with no idea what they mean he pins the list up in his kitchen. Their importance is revealed when his daughter on a spontaneous visit en route to a Christian conference she has become involved in asks him why he has a list references to Leviticus. The references give accounts of what will befall women who are unfaithful – and more - and Mikael realises he has a list of potential murder victims and the way in which they were killed. He requests additional help from Henrick to investigate disappearances of women over the last few decades and Henricks lawyer suggests Lisbeth Salander – computer hacker extraordinaire.

Well inevitably Mikael and Lisbeth become lovers, solve the list of murders, identify the Vanger throwback and women hater that killed them all, and locate a torture chamber on the island where many have suffered and died. Together they solve the disappearance of Harriet, expose the rogue financier Wannestrom as a fraudster and re-establish the Millennium magazine publishing partnership.

I felt it was a bit slow moving to begin with but after I got used to the rather dry translation, the Swedish names and past all the complex financial affairs that start the novel the pace quickened and I couldn’t put the book down – I’m looking forward to reading the next two in the series “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest”.
Reviewed by: Malcolm Martland 19 November 2009