Shortlisted for CWA Duncan Lawries Dagger for best crime novel of the year.
I read 'Written in Bone' and enjoyed it so I was looking for another by this author to take on holiday with me. So please I found this book in a charity shop.
This author has shades of Patricia Cornwell.
Dr David Hunter went to live in a quiet rural village and took up the post of GP which was a far cry from his previous job - forensic anthropologist. After the tragic accident which killed his wife and daughter he felt he had to get away from death.
He worked as associate to the long time GP Henry. Henry was in a wheelchair after a tragic car accident in which he lost his wife. David Hunter had been in the village for three quiet years but the village peacefulness was shattered when a local woman was found murdered.
The local police are baffled and when the superintendant discovers what Davids job was he asks him to help them. David tries not to get involved as it will stir up painful memories but he is co-erced into it especially when a second woman is killed in the same brutal way. He then finds himself under suspicion of the local villagers.
David has started to form a friendship with a local teacher who has only been in the village for the past year. When she too is taken by the same madman David can't believe he will lose yet another woman who means so much to him. This is a real twister and keeps you turning the pages.
He writes very much in the same vein as Patricia Cornwell where the autopsy is concerned. I did prefer 'Written in Bone' though and thought some of the romantic bits were leaning towards mills and boonish but still enjoyed it.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Patricia Cornwell. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Patricia Cornwell. Sort by date Show all posts
Saturday, 22 March 2014
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Kathy Reichs - Bare Bones
review by show host 29th oct
This was the first one of this authors I have read and for the first half, I decided I wouldn't be reading another. I wasn’t enjoying what I considered to be a poor copy of Patricia Cornwell. Also, she spent too much time talkingabout/ describing the habits of her dog and cat. However, it did get better.
Kathy Reichs author, is/was a forensic anthropologist in the state of North Carolina. The story is set in charlotte/Carolina and guess what – the main character Dr Tempe Brennan is a forensic anthropologist!!
The story begins with Dr. Tempe Brennen packing up the bones of a newborn baby who had been cremated in a woodstove on a remote farm. The mother has been identified as the daughter of someone Dr Brennen knows, Gideon Banks. He worked at the forensics division as a cleaner for many years. although it wasn't her job to impart this news personally, she felt she should as she knew him. the daughter (mother of the dead baby) has done a runner and nobody in the family knows where she is.
The story moves on to Brennan, her daughter and the dog, going to a hoedown/barbeque party in a remote field near a remote farm. The dog starts going loopy as he sniffs out a buried bag of bones in various stages of decomposition. The bones turn out to be bear, as in grizzly bear,remains.
Brennen is due to go on holiday with her boyfriend when a call comes through about a private plane which has crashed in the mountains. They need her there to identify the charred body remains….. Holiday cancelled.
Returning to the grizzly bear remains, a human bone is found. A more thorough search of the farm near the discovery site uncovers more bones, headless in some cases, bodyless in others, this time some are human, as well as those of exotic birds.
All these events become linked together along with: animal poaching, missing police officers, threatening emails to Dr. Brennan and drug trafficking.
As I said earlier, for the first half of the book, my mind wasn't being captured but by the time I got to page 162, (half way through the book) it was starting to get my attention and I started to warm to this author, although some may give up before page 162! I do agree with other reviewers that there were too many characters/animals/plots. As I said she reminds me of Patricia Cornwell, who too worked in forensics (she took a job at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia).
This was the first one of this authors I have read and for the first half, I decided I wouldn't be reading another. I wasn’t enjoying what I considered to be a poor copy of Patricia Cornwell. Also, she spent too much time talkingabout/ describing the habits of her dog and cat. However, it did get better.
Kathy Reichs author, is/was a forensic anthropologist in the state of North Carolina. The story is set in charlotte/Carolina and guess what – the main character Dr Tempe Brennan is a forensic anthropologist!!
The story begins with Dr. Tempe Brennen packing up the bones of a newborn baby who had been cremated in a woodstove on a remote farm. The mother has been identified as the daughter of someone Dr Brennen knows, Gideon Banks. He worked at the forensics division as a cleaner for many years. although it wasn't her job to impart this news personally, she felt she should as she knew him. the daughter (mother of the dead baby) has done a runner and nobody in the family knows where she is.
The story moves on to Brennan, her daughter and the dog, going to a hoedown/barbeque party in a remote field near a remote farm. The dog starts going loopy as he sniffs out a buried bag of bones in various stages of decomposition. The bones turn out to be bear, as in grizzly bear,remains.
Brennen is due to go on holiday with her boyfriend when a call comes through about a private plane which has crashed in the mountains. They need her there to identify the charred body remains….. Holiday cancelled.
Returning to the grizzly bear remains, a human bone is found. A more thorough search of the farm near the discovery site uncovers more bones, headless in some cases, bodyless in others, this time some are human, as well as those of exotic birds.
All these events become linked together along with: animal poaching, missing police officers, threatening emails to Dr. Brennan and drug trafficking.
As I said earlier, for the first half of the book, my mind wasn't being captured but by the time I got to page 162, (half way through the book) it was starting to get my attention and I started to warm to this author, although some may give up before page 162! I do agree with other reviewers that there were too many characters/animals/plots. As I said she reminds me of Patricia Cornwell, who too worked in forensics (she took a job at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia).
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Kathy Reichs - Fatal Voyage
review by showhost
If you like Patricia Cornwell then will probably like Kathy Reichs. They are both forensic anthropologists and both have female characters who are.
I couldn't quite understand what was happening at the beginning of the story as it describes our main character Tempe Brennan looking at the half body up in the tree, like a figure head off a ship. I went back and re-read twice, then I got it! A plane crash! In the mountains of North Carolina. The plane was carrying young students and a police officer and his prisoner.
Temp Brennan is called to the crash site. Whilst investigating she finds a limb a severed leg in the posession of a pack of coyote. Once removed from them and analysed she realises that no-one on the plane fits the DNA of the limb.
Her questions and search lead her to a house in the middle of nowhere. The house isn't listed on any maps. Brennan is accused of misconduct and taken off the case. The local sherrif is her only ally.
What caused the plane crash, could it have been terrorists? And if the limb wasn't from the plane crash, who did it belong to?
It's a slow moving book, over 350 pages long. Theres lots of forensic information and explanation, lots of missing people and names. I struggled to finish it, found it often very tedious and the only really esciting bit was near the end.
Sorry not very impressed and not as good as the Cornwell I remember reading.
If you like Patricia Cornwell then will probably like Kathy Reichs. They are both forensic anthropologists and both have female characters who are.
I couldn't quite understand what was happening at the beginning of the story as it describes our main character Tempe Brennan looking at the half body up in the tree, like a figure head off a ship. I went back and re-read twice, then I got it! A plane crash! In the mountains of North Carolina. The plane was carrying young students and a police officer and his prisoner.
Temp Brennan is called to the crash site. Whilst investigating she finds a limb a severed leg in the posession of a pack of coyote. Once removed from them and analysed she realises that no-one on the plane fits the DNA of the limb.
Her questions and search lead her to a house in the middle of nowhere. The house isn't listed on any maps. Brennan is accused of misconduct and taken off the case. The local sherrif is her only ally.
What caused the plane crash, could it have been terrorists? And if the limb wasn't from the plane crash, who did it belong to?
It's a slow moving book, over 350 pages long. Theres lots of forensic information and explanation, lots of missing people and names. I struggled to finish it, found it often very tedious and the only really esciting bit was near the end.
Sorry not very impressed and not as good as the Cornwell I remember reading.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Patricia Cornwell - Isle of Dogs
Review by showhost oct 2010
I can sum this book up in one word - Garbage
I am just soooo glad I read this book before I went on holiday because I would have resented the room it would have taken up in my suitcase!
It is billed as a 'comic romp' on Amazon - well I must have had my sense of humour surgically removed - it got so awful, you had to laugh or cry! Actually, I did notice that there were no comments from the press or literary media on the front cover - or the back - I wonder why......Has Cornwell gone to the dogs???
I threw it on the floor after 130 pages (don't know how I got that far!)but from what I read the general characters and synopsis are:
Judy Hammer, chief of Police of Virginia, Andy Brasil reporter turned state Trooper, and the Governor of virginia, who is practically blind and senile (reminds me of Boss Hogg in the dukes of hazard).
The Governor elected Judy Hammer to the post of chief of Police because she was a woman and he had to be seen to be doing the right thing by the equal rights department. Consequently, he is never in when she rings.
Andy Brasil, State Trooper, goes off for a years sabatical to learn about archealogy and anthropology so he can come back and secretly write articles under the pseudonym 'Trooper Truth' about the police and crime in the state- the only person who knows his true identity is chief Hammer.
The addled, nearly blind governor of Virginia confusedly launches a speed-trap program on isolated Tangier Island, whose dim, eccentric, interbred residents (they are like something out of 'Deliverance') take great offence to. They decide to take the visiting dentist hostage (the dentist who has been providing gross treatment for the residents, taking out teeth, putting in dentures which don't fit and claiming big fees). Their dialogue is in a stupid backward format which you get fed up trying to understand and such inconsequential dialogue anyway!
Chief Hammer's dog is kidnapped and there is a baby faced killer on the loose and a gang of street-stupid thugs gunning for Hammer and Brazil.
All this stupid lot are the story and it just scoots from one to the other with no direction and no sense..
The book jacket describes the novel as "Satisfying storytelling with an intoxicating dash of comedy". It was neither satisfying, intoxicating nor funny. I am just sooo glad I didn't pay a shop price for this rubbish, the 50p at the charity shop was bad enough!
One of the many reviews on 'Amazon': A dogs breakfast, A friend gave me this book, in an effort to get it off of their bookshelf. Unfortunately, having said "It can't be that bad" and read it, I can assure you that it really is just not that good.
I can sum this book up in one word - Garbage
I am just soooo glad I read this book before I went on holiday because I would have resented the room it would have taken up in my suitcase!
It is billed as a 'comic romp' on Amazon - well I must have had my sense of humour surgically removed - it got so awful, you had to laugh or cry! Actually, I did notice that there were no comments from the press or literary media on the front cover - or the back - I wonder why......Has Cornwell gone to the dogs???
I threw it on the floor after 130 pages (don't know how I got that far!)but from what I read the general characters and synopsis are:
Judy Hammer, chief of Police of Virginia, Andy Brasil reporter turned state Trooper, and the Governor of virginia, who is practically blind and senile (reminds me of Boss Hogg in the dukes of hazard).
The Governor elected Judy Hammer to the post of chief of Police because she was a woman and he had to be seen to be doing the right thing by the equal rights department. Consequently, he is never in when she rings.
Andy Brasil, State Trooper, goes off for a years sabatical to learn about archealogy and anthropology so he can come back and secretly write articles under the pseudonym 'Trooper Truth' about the police and crime in the state- the only person who knows his true identity is chief Hammer.
The addled, nearly blind governor of Virginia confusedly launches a speed-trap program on isolated Tangier Island, whose dim, eccentric, interbred residents (they are like something out of 'Deliverance') take great offence to. They decide to take the visiting dentist hostage (the dentist who has been providing gross treatment for the residents, taking out teeth, putting in dentures which don't fit and claiming big fees). Their dialogue is in a stupid backward format which you get fed up trying to understand and such inconsequential dialogue anyway!
Chief Hammer's dog is kidnapped and there is a baby faced killer on the loose and a gang of street-stupid thugs gunning for Hammer and Brazil.
All this stupid lot are the story and it just scoots from one to the other with no direction and no sense..
The book jacket describes the novel as "Satisfying storytelling with an intoxicating dash of comedy". It was neither satisfying, intoxicating nor funny. I am just sooo glad I didn't pay a shop price for this rubbish, the 50p at the charity shop was bad enough!
One of the many reviews on 'Amazon': A dogs breakfast, A friend gave me this book, in an effort to get it off of their bookshelf. Unfortunately, having said "It can't be that bad" and read it, I can assure you that it really is just not that good.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Debby Fowler - Letting Go
review by Ro Bennett on show Jan 2012
This is the first book in the Felicity Paradise crime novels by Debby Fowler. Babs reviewed The Silver Sea which I bought after her recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed, but I wanted to start with the first book in the series, so I read Letting Go first.
The series starts when Felicity Paradise’s lawyer husband is killed by a hit and run driver in Oxford. Traumatised, she runs away to Cornwall to try to sort her head out. Though the verdict is ‘unlawful killing’ she is convinced that Charlie’s death was deliberate and is linked in some to the case on which he was working.
A chance encounter in a pub at St Ives leads her to uncover a trail of crime which begins in an Oxford College and ends in a famous Cornish garden.
I thought the name Debby Fowler was familiar and looked it up. I found that she has also written three non fiction books: Sprouting which is about sprouting seeds and beans, Nature’s Pharmacy and The Herb Book. The books are published by Truran which is based at Mount Hawke near Truro and printed and bound by R. Booth Ltd of Penryn near Falmouth - so a nice local Cornish product all round!
The books are pricey. Amazon often sell books at a discount but haven’t in this case, probably because it is a small publisher with a limited profit margin. Letting Go was £7.99. It was £6.17 on Kindle, but that is the only one of her six books currently in e book format. The rest are priced at £6.99.
I enjoyed both books although I did find them both rather implausible and far fetched. However it didn’t spoil my pleasure because they were light, easy and readable and I wasn’t expecting Patricia Cornwell. I loved reading about places in Cornwall and the continuation of the characters and their lives which I presume will carry on evolving throughout the series. I will certainly read her other books - they are the sort I like to pick while reading a more complex book
As I read it though, the Chief Inspector reminded me constantly of Jack Shepherd who played Wycliffe. I could picture him and hear his voice all through the books... Consequently I have just bought the first of the Wycliffe books to read for £4.49 from i books ...
This is the first book in the Felicity Paradise crime novels by Debby Fowler. Babs reviewed The Silver Sea which I bought after her recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed, but I wanted to start with the first book in the series, so I read Letting Go first.
The series starts when Felicity Paradise’s lawyer husband is killed by a hit and run driver in Oxford. Traumatised, she runs away to Cornwall to try to sort her head out. Though the verdict is ‘unlawful killing’ she is convinced that Charlie’s death was deliberate and is linked in some to the case on which he was working.
A chance encounter in a pub at St Ives leads her to uncover a trail of crime which begins in an Oxford College and ends in a famous Cornish garden.
I thought the name Debby Fowler was familiar and looked it up. I found that she has also written three non fiction books: Sprouting which is about sprouting seeds and beans, Nature’s Pharmacy and The Herb Book. The books are published by Truran which is based at Mount Hawke near Truro and printed and bound by R. Booth Ltd of Penryn near Falmouth - so a nice local Cornish product all round!
The books are pricey. Amazon often sell books at a discount but haven’t in this case, probably because it is a small publisher with a limited profit margin. Letting Go was £7.99. It was £6.17 on Kindle, but that is the only one of her six books currently in e book format. The rest are priced at £6.99.
I enjoyed both books although I did find them both rather implausible and far fetched. However it didn’t spoil my pleasure because they were light, easy and readable and I wasn’t expecting Patricia Cornwell. I loved reading about places in Cornwall and the continuation of the characters and their lives which I presume will carry on evolving throughout the series. I will certainly read her other books - they are the sort I like to pick while reading a more complex book
As I read it though, the Chief Inspector reminded me constantly of Jack Shepherd who played Wycliffe. I could picture him and hear his voice all through the books... Consequently I have just bought the first of the Wycliffe books to read for £4.49 from i books ...
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
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.
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.
Friday, 1 May 2009
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'.
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'.
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Tess Gerritsen - Vanish
review by showhost
another charity shop bargain!
After the first book I read of this author I said I would never read another as I said it was more Mills and Booon than crime. However, I had an email from the author or her blog sec, who said that Mills & Boon had jumped on her success & started re-releasing her earlier work which was indeed for Mills & Boon,
If it was published prior to 1997, it is most definitely a romance novel. (With the exception of HARVEST, which was my first thriller, and published in 1996.).
This book was 1st published in 2005 so I thought I'd give the author another go. It went in my suitcase for one of my holiday reads and I was glad I took it. I read this after the cody McFadyen (which I had enjoyed) and I was not disappointed.
Tess Gerritsen was a doctor so her knowledge of medical, ER & autopsy is in her novels as well as her studies in anthropology.
The story starts in the morgue where Dr. Iles & her assistant are undertsaffed and busy doing autopsys. As she unzips one of the bodybags, the corpse, a beautiful young woman opens her eyes.
Dr. Iles has the body rushed to the hospital ER across the road. Whilst in the ward the young woman murders an armed security guard, who it emerges later was not an employee of the hospital, then takes hostages. She is eventually joined by an accomplice and a siege situation arises.
Unfortunately for Detective Jane Rizzoli, who is 9 months pregnant, whe was in the wrong place at the wrong time & is now a hostage in labour.
Her husband FBI agent Gabriel, is finally allowed in to the hospital by the hostage takers. They just want to tell their story on National TV but the National Security at the White House have other ideas. They storm the building but not before the 'terrorists' say a few words to Jane & Gabriel.
Those words begin to nag at Jane and she and Gabriel find themselves fighting an unknown enemy. who was this girl and her partner tagged as terrorists? and why did the CIA & White House want them dead.
Janes life and that of her child is put in dire danger in this tense, smart thriller.
Shades of the early Patricia Cornwell here with a mix of Kathy Reichs. Forsensics, International Crime & human trafficking. I am glad I gave this author another go and will gladly read another.
another charity shop bargain!
After the first book I read of this author I said I would never read another as I said it was more Mills and Booon than crime. However, I had an email from the author or her blog sec, who said that Mills & Boon had jumped on her success & started re-releasing her earlier work which was indeed for Mills & Boon,
If it was published prior to 1997, it is most definitely a romance novel. (With the exception of HARVEST, which was my first thriller, and published in 1996.).
This book was 1st published in 2005 so I thought I'd give the author another go. It went in my suitcase for one of my holiday reads and I was glad I took it. I read this after the cody McFadyen (which I had enjoyed) and I was not disappointed.
Tess Gerritsen was a doctor so her knowledge of medical, ER & autopsy is in her novels as well as her studies in anthropology.
The story starts in the morgue where Dr. Iles & her assistant are undertsaffed and busy doing autopsys. As she unzips one of the bodybags, the corpse, a beautiful young woman opens her eyes.
Dr. Iles has the body rushed to the hospital ER across the road. Whilst in the ward the young woman murders an armed security guard, who it emerges later was not an employee of the hospital, then takes hostages. She is eventually joined by an accomplice and a siege situation arises.
Unfortunately for Detective Jane Rizzoli, who is 9 months pregnant, whe was in the wrong place at the wrong time & is now a hostage in labour.
Her husband FBI agent Gabriel, is finally allowed in to the hospital by the hostage takers. They just want to tell their story on National TV but the National Security at the White House have other ideas. They storm the building but not before the 'terrorists' say a few words to Jane & Gabriel.
Those words begin to nag at Jane and she and Gabriel find themselves fighting an unknown enemy. who was this girl and her partner tagged as terrorists? and why did the CIA & White House want them dead.
Janes life and that of her child is put in dire danger in this tense, smart thriller.
Shades of the early Patricia Cornwell here with a mix of Kathy Reichs. Forsensics, International Crime & human trafficking. I am glad I gave this author another go and will gladly read another.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Val McDermid - Star Struck
Review by Malcolm Martland 9 July 2009
This is a girly detective story – I bought it at Wem Co-op for £1.50 while I was away – and I’d just finished Robert Harris’s Enigma – I’ve been back 2 weeks now and I’ve only just finished struggling through. I should have known from the title – it is about a TV star that has had poison pen letters threatening her with death – and to make matters worse each chapter begins with an Astrological Chart titled something like Jupiter trines with Saturn – honestly some people will believe anything – especially if it’s utter garbage. But it is the writer of the charts Dorothea Dawson a fortune teller that is the first victim – her brains bashed out with her crystal ball – well that I did find mildly amusing. She should have seen it coming – haha! She was associated with the local TV station – particularly the show the Northerners – a thinly disguised parody on Coronation Street – she parked her mystic campervan in the car park so that the poor stressed luvvies could get a reading – what a load of cobblers……………!
Val McDermid adopts the strategies of other female crime writers by having a female investigator – in this case Private Investigator Kate Brannigan – check out Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta and Kathy Reich’s Temperance Brennan for example. This is not set in the US or Quebec however but in Manchester and the Saddleworth Moors in deepest winter. And of course her plucky female guiles beat the blustering chauvinist police investigators.
I do like some of Val McDermid’s crime novels, she was made famous by Wire in Blood and the TV series - but I should have first read the review of that fine guide to literature - Good Housekeeping! “Contemporary feminist crime at its finest” Not my scene thanks.
This is a girly detective story – I bought it at Wem Co-op for £1.50 while I was away – and I’d just finished Robert Harris’s Enigma – I’ve been back 2 weeks now and I’ve only just finished struggling through. I should have known from the title – it is about a TV star that has had poison pen letters threatening her with death – and to make matters worse each chapter begins with an Astrological Chart titled something like Jupiter trines with Saturn – honestly some people will believe anything – especially if it’s utter garbage. But it is the writer of the charts Dorothea Dawson a fortune teller that is the first victim – her brains bashed out with her crystal ball – well that I did find mildly amusing. She should have seen it coming – haha! She was associated with the local TV station – particularly the show the Northerners – a thinly disguised parody on Coronation Street – she parked her mystic campervan in the car park so that the poor stressed luvvies could get a reading – what a load of cobblers……………!
Val McDermid adopts the strategies of other female crime writers by having a female investigator – in this case Private Investigator Kate Brannigan – check out Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta and Kathy Reich’s Temperance Brennan for example. This is not set in the US or Quebec however but in Manchester and the Saddleworth Moors in deepest winter. And of course her plucky female guiles beat the blustering chauvinist police investigators.
I do like some of Val McDermid’s crime novels, she was made famous by Wire in Blood and the TV series - but I should have first read the review of that fine guide to literature - Good Housekeeping! “Contemporary feminist crime at its finest” Not my scene thanks.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
show 22nd October interview with jimmy paget brown
Well, on show today we have Jimmy Paget-Brown talking to us about his new book 'Finns War'.
also we have reviews from Brian Lowen - another Dan Brown Digital Fortress and Folly by Alan Tichmarsh.
Also will be looking at the dagger winners which were announced last night.
Linda Thomas interviewed Jimmy Paget-Brown on the bookshow on 22nd Oct 2009:
LT: When did you come to the Islands?
JPB: My wife and I came to live on St.Agnes in 1998, from Shropshire.
LT: Had you been over here before?
JPB: We had been to the islands a couple of times and stayed on Tresco and St Martins and enjoyed the islands so when this place on St Agnes came up for sale we bought it.
LT: Wow that was quite a contrast suddenly going to live on St Agnes which is a small and isolated island.
JPB: Yes, but beautiful though and the best of them all!
LT: Well, I couldn’t live there its too quiet for me, St Marys is quiet enough
LT: What was your profession prior to coming here?
JPB: I worked for Sales Marketing
LT: What made you take up pen & paper?
JPB: Since a young adult my dream was to either play Rugby for England or write a book. I didn’t play rugby for England so I went for the second best dream.
LT: the book is based around World War 11, why this subject for the book?
JPB: Because I lived through the war, I remember the bombs dropping and Chamberlains speech when he told us we were going to war with Germany. In fact I have to laugh when I read in the news of unexploded bombs from WW2 being discovered and surrounding houses being evacuated for a radius of 3 miles. When we were boys an unexploded bomb landed in our neighbours garden and we would go and watch the men digging around and trying to lift it out of the boggy ground, on our way back from school!
LT: How long did it take to write and research?
JPB: It took me 4years from start to finish and I did my research through books, sometimes online and through my memories and experiences.
LT: What about a publisher and proof reader, how did you go about finding them?
JPB: Well, I knew it was either trawl around the publishers in London or publish myself out of my own pocket, so I went for the latter. A friend of mine is a childrens author so she proof read for me and enjoyed the book and also suggested the publishing house.
LT: What about the book cover design as I really do sometimes judge a book by its cover?
JPB: We have a friend who is an artist and she painted the idea in watercolours.
LT: did you have an idea of what you wanted?
JPB: Most certainly, I knew I wanted the background of London in the blitz – St Pauls cathedral, the spotlights, rubble, and the family in the forefront.
LT: So, can you give us a quick resume of the book?
JPB: It is set from the beginning to the end of the war and the story is based around a family who live through these times.
(Brian Lowens also on the bookshow, who has started to read the book, asks if any of the family are based on JPB himself, especially the bright athletic one?)
JPB, with a wry smile: I think there is definitely some similarity
LT: Do you read & if so what do you like reading? Favourite authors?
JPB: I like historical factual novels especially by an author called Antony Beever best known for his works, the best-selling Stalingrad and Berlin - The Downfall 1945 recount the World War II battles between the Soviet Union and Germany.
Fiction books, one of my favourite authors is Patricia Cornwell. Mind you I always feel guilty reading - I feel I should be doing the housework or cleaning or something.
LT: Hm, I always have that fleeting thought just for a nanosecond, then its gone and I get back to what I enjoy doing - lives too short not to Jimmy.
LT: Do you have any other hobbies?
JPB: I used to like playing squash but I never played after I came to live here as I felt I was too old. I enjoy swimming and swim most days in the sea.
LT: Wow, don’t you find it too cold!
JPB: Oh no, I have my wetsuit on!
JPB: I would like to say what tremendous joy I get from writing, its therapeutic and gives you power, power to do and say anything you want, you are in control of your story. I would recommend it to anyone. My next book will be a childrens book. I have written childrens stories before.
LT: Oh, I didn’t realise, were they published?
JPB: No, they were for the benefit of my own children when they were small, for me to read to them.
LT: Well I hope you will come back on the show and talk about your next book when you have finished it. It has been a pleasure having you on the show and talking to you. Thank you very much. Oh, by the way, why do you not use your full name on your book?
JPB: Well, I thought Jimmy Paget-Brown was too much of a mouthful so I shortened it to James Brown.....
also we have reviews from Brian Lowen - another Dan Brown Digital Fortress and Folly by Alan Tichmarsh.
Also will be looking at the dagger winners which were announced last night.
Linda Thomas interviewed Jimmy Paget-Brown on the bookshow on 22nd Oct 2009:
LT: When did you come to the Islands?
JPB: My wife and I came to live on St.Agnes in 1998, from Shropshire.
LT: Had you been over here before?
JPB: We had been to the islands a couple of times and stayed on Tresco and St Martins and enjoyed the islands so when this place on St Agnes came up for sale we bought it.
LT: Wow that was quite a contrast suddenly going to live on St Agnes which is a small and isolated island.
JPB: Yes, but beautiful though and the best of them all!
LT: Well, I couldn’t live there its too quiet for me, St Marys is quiet enough
LT: What was your profession prior to coming here?
JPB: I worked for Sales Marketing
LT: What made you take up pen & paper?
JPB: Since a young adult my dream was to either play Rugby for England or write a book. I didn’t play rugby for England so I went for the second best dream.
LT: the book is based around World War 11, why this subject for the book?
JPB: Because I lived through the war, I remember the bombs dropping and Chamberlains speech when he told us we were going to war with Germany. In fact I have to laugh when I read in the news of unexploded bombs from WW2 being discovered and surrounding houses being evacuated for a radius of 3 miles. When we were boys an unexploded bomb landed in our neighbours garden and we would go and watch the men digging around and trying to lift it out of the boggy ground, on our way back from school!
LT: How long did it take to write and research?
JPB: It took me 4years from start to finish and I did my research through books, sometimes online and through my memories and experiences.
LT: What about a publisher and proof reader, how did you go about finding them?
JPB: Well, I knew it was either trawl around the publishers in London or publish myself out of my own pocket, so I went for the latter. A friend of mine is a childrens author so she proof read for me and enjoyed the book and also suggested the publishing house.
LT: What about the book cover design as I really do sometimes judge a book by its cover?
JPB: We have a friend who is an artist and she painted the idea in watercolours.
LT: did you have an idea of what you wanted?
JPB: Most certainly, I knew I wanted the background of London in the blitz – St Pauls cathedral, the spotlights, rubble, and the family in the forefront.
LT: So, can you give us a quick resume of the book?
JPB: It is set from the beginning to the end of the war and the story is based around a family who live through these times.
(Brian Lowens also on the bookshow, who has started to read the book, asks if any of the family are based on JPB himself, especially the bright athletic one?)
JPB, with a wry smile: I think there is definitely some similarity
LT: Do you read & if so what do you like reading? Favourite authors?
JPB: I like historical factual novels especially by an author called Antony Beever best known for his works, the best-selling Stalingrad and Berlin - The Downfall 1945 recount the World War II battles between the Soviet Union and Germany.
Fiction books, one of my favourite authors is Patricia Cornwell. Mind you I always feel guilty reading - I feel I should be doing the housework or cleaning or something.
LT: Hm, I always have that fleeting thought just for a nanosecond, then its gone and I get back to what I enjoy doing - lives too short not to Jimmy.
LT: Do you have any other hobbies?
JPB: I used to like playing squash but I never played after I came to live here as I felt I was too old. I enjoy swimming and swim most days in the sea.
LT: Wow, don’t you find it too cold!
JPB: Oh no, I have my wetsuit on!
JPB: I would like to say what tremendous joy I get from writing, its therapeutic and gives you power, power to do and say anything you want, you are in control of your story. I would recommend it to anyone. My next book will be a childrens book. I have written childrens stories before.
LT: Oh, I didn’t realise, were they published?
JPB: No, they were for the benefit of my own children when they were small, for me to read to them.
LT: Well I hope you will come back on the show and talk about your next book when you have finished it. It has been a pleasure having you on the show and talking to you. Thank you very much. Oh, by the way, why do you not use your full name on your book?
JPB: Well, I thought Jimmy Paget-Brown was too much of a mouthful so I shortened it to James Brown.....
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