32) Involuntary Witness by Gianrico Carofiglio Generally, whenever we travel to a particular place, I like to try and read a novel that is set in and around there. This killed two birds with one stone, as Carofiglio had been on my radar for a while - and this legal / crime thriller is set… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 32: Involuntary Witness
Category: crime
Year 3 / Book 30: Out of Bounds
30) Out of Bounds by Val McDermid There are few better crime writers around than Val McDermid, and this is solidly in the top middle of her novels that I've read. Normally that wouldn't be much of a recommendation, but in her case that just means 'pretty bloody good'. In this story, Karen Pirie is… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 30: Out of Bounds
Year 3 / Book 29: The Adversary
29) The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrere This is a curious and affecting short book, which opens with a powerful hook and never really lets go. It's about a man, Jean-Claude Romand, who has lived his life (as the subtitle has it) as a 'monstrous deception'. A deception that unravels as this book opens - his… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 29: The Adversary
Year 3 / Book 24: Two Kinds of Truth
24) Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly When times are tough, I always reach for a comfort read - and a Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly feels like the reading equivalent of lighting a fire, making a cup of tea and putting on some velvet slippers. From the off here, we are in… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 24: Two Kinds of Truth
Year 3 / Book 22: The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye
22) The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz Along with much of the rest of the world, I was a fan of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, especially the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. They combined hugely memorable lead characters in Mikael Blomqvist and Lisbeth Salander, an excellent supporting cast,… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 22: The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye
Year 3 / Book 21: The Outcast Dead
21) The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths I really enjoyed The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths when I read it last year, and so I turned to another of her novels when I was looking for some undemanding, page-turning fare. And this one delivered in the same way, with the incredibly likeable main… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 21: The Outcast Dead
Year 3 / Book 19: Death at La Fenice
19) Death At La Fenice by Donna Leon Donna Leon has been an author I've circled round for a while, but for some reason in my mind I had her pegged in the Tess Gerritsen slasher / thriller type mode. A comment from my friend Sara ("a bit of light and frothy detective fun") helped… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 19: Death at La Fenice
Year 3 / Book 18: I’ll Be Gone In the Dark
18) I'll Be Gone In the Dark by Michelle McNamara This book comes loaded with authorial endorsements (the foreword is by Gillian Flynn of Gone Girl fame) but also with the tragic knowledge that Michelle McNamara died before finishing her book. This is inescapable throughout the book as her colleagues and peers have completed it… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 18: I’ll Be Gone In the Dark
Year 3 / Book 14: The Lady From Zagreb
14) The Lady from Zagreb by Philip Kerr Philip Kerr has become one of my favourite police and crime writers: you cannot go wrong in picking any of his Bernie Gunther stories, and I've been un-chronologically making my way through the whole series. So I was really saddened to learn about his death at the… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 14: The Lady From Zagreb
Year 3 / Book 13: Suspicion
13) Suspicion by Friedrich Durrenmatt I can't remember why or where I bought this book, although I have a distant memory of adding The Pledge (another Inspector Barlach mystery) to my to-read list a while back. I also didn't know that Durrenmatt is better known as a playwright, but apparently Mrs Temple (being a German… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 13: Suspicion
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 