12) Devices and Desires by PD James Busy times tend to mean more crime in reading terms for me, and there are few better at the top of the game than PD James in her pomp. She is as quintessentially English as her main detective leading man, Adam Dalgleish - and incredibly adept at bringing… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 12: Devices and Desires
Category: police procedural
Year 2 / Book 7: March Violets
7) March Violets by Philip Kerr It seemed like a strangely appropriate moment to read a novel set in mid 1930s Germany - can't imagine why. So I returned to Philip Kerr's great set of Bernie Gunther novels, a detective who is like Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe with a heavy side-dose of British sarcasm and quick-wittedness.… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 7: March Violets
Year 2 / Book 5 & 6 – Bird in a Cage & The Last Temptation
After the heavy but brilliant non-fiction of The Unwinding, I've retrenched to a bit of escapist crime & police fiction.... 5) Bird in a Cage by Frederic Dard This is a short, atmospheric, slightly gothic tale which packs a lot of plot complexity and character exposition into a slim number of pages. It follows a… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 5 & 6 – Bird in a Cage & The Last Temptation
Year 2 / Book 2: Redemption
Another week and another Danish read, but this time back into crime-thriller territory. 2) Redemption by Jussi Adler-Olsen. I read the first and second of this bestselling series many moons ago and found it fun but a little far-fetched, and a touch try-hard. But being in Copenhagen for a week meant that I searched out the next… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 2: Redemption
Books 38 & 39: Thirteen Hours // 7 Days by Deon Meyer
It's a busy time at work, so I've retrenched somewhat to a diet of thrillers and police procedurals as my ageing brain can't cope with much else at the end of the day. These are a couple of the best I've read this year, though. 38) & 39) Thirteen Hours and 7 Days by Deon Meyer. Meyer's main… Continue reading Books 38 & 39: Thirteen Hours // 7 Days by Deon Meyer
Book 37: Havana Gold by Leonardo Padura
37) Havana Gold by Leonardo Padura. An obvious choice for me, really: we've just been to Cuba and I love a detective novel. So I had high hopes or this - and, as often seems the case, high hopes are followed by lower excitement... In glimpses, this was great: sultry jazz, sexy characters, and smoky… Continue reading Book 37: Havana Gold by Leonardo Padura
Books 30-36 (& spares) / 2016
So it's been a while. Last update was start of July when I was on book number 29). So I think I missed 6 weeks. Fortunately, packed in quite a few hours of reading while on hols, so here goes. I've picked my summer faves (and one to avoid). Excuse epic post. 30) The White… Continue reading Books 30-36 (& spares) / 2016
Books 27-29 / 2016
27) The Children Act by Ian McEwan. I've read most of McEwan's stuff, and they are really novellas these days, so this was quite quick to pile through. It's eminently readable, and all seems fairly effortless as it wades through religion, medicine, law, marriage and much more. The main character is a female judge deciding whether… Continue reading Books 27-29 / 2016
Books 19-26 / 2016
[NB - apparently I can't count, so I have two number 19s (see previous post) 19) Parade by Shuichi Yoshida. If you have ever wondered what it might be like to be a disillusioned, disaffected 20-something living in a flat share in Tokyo, with an increasing air of tension, menace and weirdness building, then this… Continue reading Books 19-26 / 2016
Books 13-19 / 2016
13) The One From the Other - by Philip Kerr. I've been meaning to read a Bernie Gunther crime novel for a while, and this was worth waiting for. Set in pre- and post-war Germany, it covers a really wide range of ground whilst staying (mostly) believable and, in places, quite powerful. Gunther has a… Continue reading Books 13-19 / 2016
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 