I am slipping this month with only nine books on the list. Life, good weather and the allotment saw me out and about far more – not to mention having my evening hours occupied with Bunch Courtney! There are a few non-fictions that are half read and so will probably appear on July’s list.
In a vague attempt at reducing my TBR shelves I have been playing catch-up this month so you will notice that a few of the books listed dating back some considerable way. But… I came back from the high street today with another six. Granted half from the Oxfam bookshop – nine books read and six added – at least I’m ahead by three… Apologies to those authors for my tardiness but I do get to them eventually!
These are my honest opinions of books I have read in June 2023. As always I don’t star rate my reads – but if its here then I did enjoy reading it.
Missing Girls : A Staffordshire Moorlands Mystery (DI Marsha Clay #1) – Mel Sherratt Blood Red Books. 2023
On the morning that DI Marsha Clay is welcoming in DC Jess Baxter to her team member a local business man is murdered at his home, his wife badly injured and their two young granddaughters are missing. Have the girls run away in fear? Or worse still have they been abducted? This new police procedural crime series from Mel Sherratt based, as the title suggests, in the Staffordshire Moorlands; specifically the small market town of Leek. Now this is local for me but strangers to the area would get a good feel for the peaks and moorlands from Sherratt’s evocative descriptions. As the case follows various trails we also have the lives of all the team, especially Clay and Baxter, sketched in some detail with rich seams of backstory to be pulled in for future episodes. I use episodes advisedly because I could easily see this making a Saturday evening TV series. Perhaps not as dark as some of her previous books but read this at one sitting – always a good sign for me. I look forward to reading the next.
One Eye Open – Paul Finch published by Orion, 2020
DS Lynda Hagen is a crash investigator called in to assess a car crash that has left two unknown victims critically injured in a car bearing false plate and a shed-load of cash. Her brief is to report on the crash itself is determined to find out who the victims are, despite being warned off the case by her superiors. There are two intertwining story lines – one following Hagen’s investigations and the other plotting the history of the two unknowns that ended up in a ditch on a deserted road. As one would expect from a police thriller written by a master of the art these threads gradually accelerate into a blood pumping crescendo that kept me up into the wee small hours to finish. Standalone novel but with plenty of scope for sequels! I give no spoilers – just read it. Excellent!
Murder Under a Red Moon: a Bangalore Detectives Club Mystery – Harini Nagendra. Publisher Constable, 2023
Second in the series set in the conservative world of Bangalore in 1921. Our young newlywed, Kaveri Murthy, is asked by her domineering mother-in-law to investigate an apparently simple case of embezzlement. This series gathers pace as our amateur sleuth gathers a regular if misfit team around her to bring a culprit to justice. The case, of course, is far more complex as Kaveri delves into the mystery made more so very difficult by family politics. This series looks set to become a staple on my reading list.
A Whisper of Sorrows: A Scottish Detective Mystery, DC Logan #6 – JD Kirk published by Zertex, 2020
Jack Logan was never convinced he’d seen the last of Owen Petrie – even after he’d thrown the killer off of a parking garage roof and Petrie was declared brain damaged (as described in a previous book). Then Petrie escapes from the asylum and makes direct threats against Logan and his family. I should have loved this. The humour – albeit a little potty-mouthed – makes me smile and there is danger and excitement galore, but… there are two tropes in crime fiction that makes me cringe. A/when a detective has been framed or B/ their nearest and dearest are under threat from a psycho killer. This is the latter, and because of it, though well enough written, A Whisper of Sorrows didn’t really do it for me. Just a quirk in my personal taste. Avid fans of Logan will love this one.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson Published by Electric Monkey, 2019
Everyone knows that Andi Bell was murdered by Sal Singh, who then committed suicide before the Police could charge him. Five years later Pippa Fitz-Amobi is less certain and uses her final-year project to launch her own investigation. The deeper she delves the darker the secrets connected to Andi’s death and the greater the danger Pippa finds herself in. There real murderer is still out there and will stop at nothing to prevent the truth coming to light. The investigation unfolds in to distinct threads. As a standard narrative from Pippa herself, and her Production Log for her project that includes transcripts of interviews conducted with various people involved in the case plus her notes and conclusions made as the case proceeds. I am playing catchup with this award winning teen/ya novel. It is the first in a trilogy but stands alone quite happily. If I had one observation to make it is that I had to keep reminding myself that this is set in England as it has (for me at least) a distinctly American flavour. Nothing I could put my finger on, and not a criticism as such, but odd when both author and setting are very much English. I can quite see why it is destined for the small screen as it has a very filmic vibe. It is an engrossing read, with some surprise sub-plots to the main story. I shall try to get around to buying the other two in the series – when my TBR shelves reach manageable levels.
Cottingley – Alison Littlewood. Published by Newcon Press, 2017
An epistolary folk horror fantasy novella from horror writer Alison Littlewood that gives a different slant on the famous Cottingley fairy tale in which another Cottingley resident and his granddaughter write to Conan-Doyle and an intermediary, Edward Gardner with an altogether darker take on the fairies that inhabit that place. I loved this one. Folk-horror at its best with enough ‘history’ and real people to make you imagine it might even be true. Recommended read! Limited edition hardback.
Case of the Bedevilled Poet : A Sherlock Holmes Enigma – Simon Clark. Published by Newcon Press, 2017
As the subtitle suggests this is a Sherlock Holmes tale – and as the occasional writer of Holmesian fiction I always have a soft spot for tales if the master detective! This novella is set in the dark days of WW2. At the height f the London blitz. A poet named Jack Crofton is accosted by a soldier who threatens to kill him. He runs into a nearby pub for safety and starts chatting with two elderly chaps claiming to be Holmes and Watson. Holmes reluctantly agrees to find out who the soldier is and thus prevent Crofton’s murder. Hard to say more without spoilers but suffice to say it’s a gripping tale. Is it a psychological thriller? Or supernatural crime? You will need to read it to find out. Limited edition hardback.
The Bullet That Missed :Thursday Murder Club #3 – Richard Osman. Penguin, 2022
The Club turn to a decade old cold case and stir up secrets that would have been better left alone. Into the mix come an old adversary of retired spy, Elizabeth demanding she kill a suspect to prevent her friend Joyce being killed. The humour is subtle (some might say slight) and the premise far-fetched, but that is the whole point of these books. A parody (pastiche?) on cosy crimes everywhere. It is eminently readable and very cleverly put together but I don’t know why I find these books don’t quite hit the spot. I love the quirky characters as a gang esp Elizabeth as the ex spy – Helen Mirren’s portrayal of Victoria in the ‘Red’ films comes readily to mind – sadly Joyce, whose notes make up half of the book, is quite annoying and perhaps she is meant to be, but I end up skip reading her ‘diary’ chapters as a result. That said the books overall are fun.
The Midnight Hour : Brighton Mysteries #6 – Elly Griffiths . Published by Quercus, 2021
I love Griffiths work and especially enjoyed this series, not just because its both historical crime AND set in Brighton, but because the quirky characters are a genuine delight. Impresario Bert Billington is poisoned. Suspicion falls inevitably on his wife, retired musical star, Verity Malone, who calls in ex-Inspector, now private detective, Emma Holmes to prove her innocence. Emma must race against the police investigation – led by her husband Superintendent Edgar Stephens – to reach the truth. Her friend, the magician and actor Max Mephisto, is inevitably pulled into the case but he is not telling her all he knows. There are many suspects and oodles of red herrings that provide twists and turns for the most discerning reader to make this a wonderful mystery. Add in Griffith’s wit and warmth, played against the domestic backdrop of the Stephens’s marriage and the morays of the time where a mother and wife was very much expected to be the good little woman and stay at home and it kept me glued in place – all 340 pages at one sitting. I have loved every moment of this one and rather sad that its billed as final in the series, but who knows. Maybe one day…
That is it for June. More to come next month!
Today was all about cakes for the Alchemy Press launch party at Chillercon on Saturday! We are launching two books this weekend.
For the launch I have baked eighteen banana and cherry muffins and fifteen chocolate muffins, plus twenty chocolate brownies (all gluten and nut free).
And then I had to settle down and decorate them! 
he Alchemy Press Book of Horrors volume 2 : Strange Stories & Weird Tales
Sadie lifts the lid on the creaking, stuttering, kettle to stare in at the scant half cup of water at its base. Flakes of beige limescale-confetti dance around the looped coil in a maelstrom of bubbles and steam, and as all motion ends there is a vague waft of electrical burning.
Today sees the launch of your latest anthology The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors – what inspired you to choose the theme and what horrors can we look forward to seeing in it?
Bat biscuits are a thing in this house or have been today and yesterday. An assembly line process that can be messy.
Jan’s artisan Bat Biscuits are destined for The Alchemy Press Book of Horror launch at Fantasycon in Chester. The only way to get you hands on one of these fabulous goodies is to buy the even more fabulous book!
Our readers, June Palmer, Debbi Voisey, Jan Edwards, Peter Coleborn, Nic Hale, Mick Walters, Margaret Moxon and Dawn Weeks. Front row, me…
Hi – I’m Dean. Primarily I am a horror writer but in 2016 I moved to France to write a historical film script called “The Tragedy Of The Duke Of Reichstadt” with the French writer, Romain Collier. The script won two awards at the Monaco International Film Festival. Right now I am writing a horror / historical script set at the Battle of Waterloo called “The Scum Of The Earth.” A collection of four novellas (Romain Collier, Jan Edwards, Phil Sloman and myself) I compiled / edited called “Into The Night Eternal: Tales Of French Folk Horror” has just been published electronically and very soon in paperback. I have my own small press (Demain Publishing) and currently I am editing a WW1 anthology called “The Darkest Battlefield” which will be released in November – there are then a number of smaller books we will be releasing through the ‘Short Sharp Shocks!’ and ‘Murder Mystery Mayhem’ series. Also – I have been commissioned to write two other horror films which I am, as we speak, plotting out and hopefully getting some sales in for a Christmas theme antho I previously put together for Nocturnicorn Press called “12 Dark Days: One Helluva Christmas”. Busy times! 
Jan Edwards 
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