Dark Road Home - Sheila Bugler

New novel by Eastbourne based, Irish born author Bugler from Canelo Crime

As a vivacious reader of crime novels and thriller reads from the publication house, Canelo, and its sub-print Canelo Crime I have taken pleasure in reading and following the careers of Marion Todd, Rachel Lynch, MJ Lee and Bugler.

Unlike the other contemporaries, who have dealt with a series of detective fiction revolving around a central character, Bugler has dealt with different storylines and characters jumping from a different premise, location and environment from book to book. This book is her 10th release, a wonderful milestone.

In this instance, Dark Road Home, is a coming home of sorts for her. Set in the fictitious west Ireland coastal town of Dungarry; her conduit for this homecoming is Leah Ryan. She returns home after an absence of two decades to face the turmoil she left behind which led her to Australia. Upon her return though to visit her ailing, wheelchair bound mother, another tragedy hits as her first love Eamon is brutally murdered as his restaurant business.

It seems a mystery, but soon as in all small towns where everyone knows everybody's business, everything is connected and there are secrets behind every front door.

Leah starts a flirtatious relationship with a cop who is investigating and she tries to bury the hatchet with her brother, Frank, the sibling who was meant to leave in Leah's place and explore the world. Instead Frank has remained and is a shell of the man he was hoping to be, drinking too much and carrying a spare tyre.

Bugler writes about the Irish homeland - a place she would like to retire to - with such fondness and for fans of The Woman in the Wall and other Irish crime series (the returning Blue Lights) this will be a welcome addition to the canon. 

The story which has a dual narrative of now and twenty years prior which leads to Leah's departure for this reader felt like it was treading water, and yet as so often in Canelo releases the second half of the book picked up steam and went to a crescendo that is worthy of Bugler's talent. The delicate handling of Leah and Frank's relationship and the guilt Leah feels for her leaving is told effectively.

While for me not as good as Bugler's other earlier works or her last work Black Valley Farm, it nevertheless is a solid thriller and a well told standalone plot and story that was entertaining and full of twists.

Dark Road Home is out from Canelo on 18th April on all formats.

Home - Sheila Bugler

The Coffin in the Wall

 

New novel by MJ Lee set in Cheshire

MJ Lee is a prestigious and prolific writer of crime thrillers. For the last five years he has written eight books featuring the everyman coroner officier DI Ridpath which saw him overcoming crimes in the Greater Manchester district as he navigated cancer diagnoses, loss and a growing teenage daughter.

In an interesting switch, Lee has started a new narrative series, this time set in and around the small city of Chester and following the tales of DI Emma Christie who must investigate a gruesome crime amidst the picturesque surrounding of the Roman city. 

This is a great move by Lee, I always admire those writers who are so married to their characters - a la Lee Child or Patricia Cornwell - yet they are never able to show other strings to their bow. Here, he is writing about a new city, a new lead character and of the opposite sex which comes with its own potential hiccups. 

However, the character of Christie is quite reminiscent of Ridpath - an everywoman quality resonates from her, she is determined to succeed despite the problems of caring for her ailing father/former cop who is beset with dementia. Those scenes featuring his dwindling memory are particularly heart-breaking. 

The case itself did remind me of Ridpath cases yet that is not a criticism, that familiarity was welcoming as the book is so well researched in terms of police procedure, Lee has done the legwork and it pays off convincingly as the narrative moves at such a clip it is richly rewarding.

The scenes within the force where they discuss the case is ripe for duelling dialogues as this hotchpotch of different ages, cultures and backgrounds come to the fore along with the class and hierarchy of the police force. With Christie you have a woman who has to overcome her gender and accusations of nepotism to reach her position on merit.

For fans of Mark Billingham along with those who like something new as well as the continued Marion Todd series set in St. Andrews, this is a crime read ripe for digesting and will garner wide attention when the word of mouth begins.

The Coffin in the Wall is self-published and available on Amazon and other platforms

Black Valley Farm - Sheila Bugler

 

New crime thriller from Sheila Bugler out 22nd June from Canelo Crime

Hailing from the South Coast, well Eastbourne to be precise, Sheila Bugler has curated a nice niche for her crime fiction. Previously she has written a series of novels featuring Dee Doran an investigative journalist which were very entertaining. This time she has written a novel that could read like a true crime novel about the discovery of bodies at the pseudonymous farm where a cult had been residing.

Incorporating dual narratives and timelines, so we follow the tale of Clare on the run for 10 years following the fire at the farm and how the fire started that engulfed the site killing ten people including children.

Nuala Fox, is a podcaster who won awards for her series based upon the cult, has now fallen by the wayside and needs another hit. She takes the job of working on a documentary with Andrea Leach, a far-right MP candidate for the new Progress Party, yet who is Ms. Leach and where did she come from.

Nuala though is hiding a secret herself in that she fabricated the end of her series to get better results, morality and ethics circumvent the narrative throughout. Everyone is being chased and all are chasing something, namely the truth.

Bugler is a writer this reader admires, and following her career has been a pleasure, and this book took a while to start but once it did get its wheels on track the pacing of the narrative was cranked up and handled with such robustness and thrills that it was hard to put down afterwards. 

The impending threat of being found out or discovering a hurtful truth is encompassing and the claustrophobic atmosphere Bugler creates of the cult itself along with the judgmental world we find ourselves in today, where we feel we have to please everybody but ourselves is key to the tension.

Heart-pounding by the books conclusion, Bugler has again written an engrossing tale of thrilling suspense that you will find hard to put down and find hard to forget.

Black Valley Farm is out on all formats from Canelo Crime on 22nd June.

Check out my reviews of other Sheila Bugler books below:

NextToTheAisle: When The Dead Speak - Sheila Bugler

NextToTheAisle: Before You Were Gone

NextToTheAisle: I Could Be You - Sheila Bugler

Old Bones Lie

 

Old Bones Lie - the Sixth book in the DI Clare Mackay series -
out July 7th by Canelo Crime

Marion Todd has established herself in the last four years as a writer of great intellect, delicate plotting and wonderful characters based around the central figure of DI Clare Mackay who attempts to navigate the tricky neighbourhood of St. Andrews that has a murder rate to match Midsomer.

In six books to date, Todd has created the Mackay-verse with her band of characters handling criminal cases with swiftness and professionalism as crimes surround them. In this novel, proceedings begin innocently enough with a Saturday night takeaway which turns nasty as armed men come into the home of two prison officers with their wives, they kidnap all four people and the case begins.

What follows is a convoluted case involving a jail break, a jewellery heist gone wrong and the murder of a lady who is attempting blackmail on the owner of the jewellery shop. Keep up please it is a lot to take in.

As a reader of all of Todd's books to date, for whatever reason (perhaps mine) I found the first half of the book to be a bit complicated to follow but once the kidnapped women turn up this prompts the book to ratchet up a few gears quickening the pace to the benefit of the book and the enjoyment of this reader.

The plot is so well handled as always by Todd that you are left in no doubt that you are in the hands of a talented writer who takes great care over the narrative and loves her creations. The ending again shows Mackay at a crossroads of sorts both professionally and personally; yet you know she cannot alter her position too much.

Like her contemporary, MJ Lee from the same publishing house, this reader looks forward to the new St. Andrews suspense tome. As ever, the next one cannot come soon enough.

Old Bones Lie is out 7th July from Canelo Crime

The Dark Hours - Michael Connelly

 

Brand new LA set crime thriller from master storyteller Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly is most famous for creating the indelible detective Harry Bosch, rendered in the Amazon production Bosch starring Titus Welliver. Bosch is a hard-bitten, hard-working policeman who knows what is right and wrong, while the forces that be conspire to restrict his brand of policing in these more politically correct times.

As Bosch has grown up and in the narrative of his books, retired from the police force to become a private detective, we now follow Renee Ballard, a female police officer who works the same beat as Bosch used to do and is also facing the same troubles Bosch used to notice - colleagues who do not work as hard, no empathy for victims and hands tied by paperwork.

This new tale starts on New Years Eve, Ballard has to work the beat as all police officers must do on a busy night of the year in Los Angeles. In a pique of revelry, angelinos shoot bullets into the air amidst this unusual tradition a bullet goes astray leading to a murder investigation. The bullet leads to the reopening of a cold case led by Bosch.

The predatory Midnight Men are on the prowl, a duo of sex predators who attack women on major holidays - single women in their own home attacked and victimised. Ballard takes these attacks personally and chooses to hunt them down. Connelly has always had a great eye for detail in police work, as Bosch says 'get off your ass and knock on some doors' and Ballard's detective work in noticing the streetlights in terms of giving the perpetrators extra darkness is a wonderfully painted narrative detail.

As ever, there is a crispness to the dialogue spoken with real world dialogue apparent amidst a global pandemic and the swiftness of the narrative as Ballard spins numerous plates in the air while combining with Bosch to great effect. 

This makes for a winning combination and this is another winner from the desk of Connelly, a master of the crime genre.

The Dark Hours is out now from Orion Publishing on all formats 

When The Guilty Cry - MJ Lee

 

The Seventh book in the DI Ridpath series is out now on Canelo 

MJ Lee returns with another entry into the DI Ridpath series, another tale of crime and conspiracy in the Greater Manchester area while overcoming personal difficulties.

Fans of my blog will know that I have followed the genesis, birth and growth of DI Ridpath ('just Ridpath') from the beginning under the penmanship of Mancunian author, MJ Lee. This series is a thrilling clash of thrills, spills and chills - combining the thumb turning efficiency of Lee Child with the prolific nature of James Patterson. Lee is able to weave a wonderful world of police work, the pressures they are under to get results whilst there being changes in the world as computer analysis and data seemingly attempts to alter the hunches a policeman would have had in the past.

This tale set amidst the still ongoing global pandemic makes the book feel current and now with its heart on the pulse of current affairs much like the work of pulp and dime novels would have been in a by-gone era; and there is a by-gone quality to our lead character. He seemingly is a maverick who works with the coroner but also has a foot in the police camp - this makes him a rogue in some people's eyes but also respected by others, and not adverse to putting some people's noses out of joint.

This case starts with the discovery of human hands in a backpack by a team of YouTube ghost hunters in an old abandoned children's home. The case then collides with that of an 11 year disappearance of a 16 year old in 2009 and the requirement for a death certificate to be approved to the family of that young girl. Ridpath uncovers the connection between the two cases thanks to a missing social worker who looked the other way when sexual abuse occurred at the children's home with shady callbacks to one Jimmy Saville.

The book does take a while to come together, but the timeline of one week for everything to unravel helps propel the second half of the book to something that is all consuming and impressive.

Lee writes again with such panache that it does surprise this reader that the book is not read by a larger more deserving audience. Go read this book and you shall not be disappointed.

WHEN THE GUILTY CRY is out now on all book formats

When The Evil Waits - MJ Lee

 

The sixth book in the DI Ridpath series is out now from Canelo Press

Writer MJ Lee is an author of some renown, prolific and intelligent in his depiction of a searing individual who has to combat many obstacles in his day-to-day life as an assistant to the lead coroner of the Manchester region.

Lee, who writes a book a year for Ridpath, seems to reflect the social context of work to his narrative needs. This is no different in When The Evil Waits, as the action takes place over the month of August 2020 so Ridpath and all his colleagues have had to combat the threat of the global coronavirus pandemic. This helps you appreciate that all the action takes place with the police force with face masks on for the protection of all. This relatability to proceedings helps with the visualisation of the action.

In this novel we find Ridpath dealing with the ramifications of the action that ended When The Past Kills, where one key character was left fighting for their life. Ridpath is in a period of grieving, his daughter Eve is not living with him at moment while he recuperates. He has been signed off for work but he still sees his wife Polly in his dreams. So the spectre and question of if he is fit for work has to be asked by his superiors and one definitely has it in for Ridpath throughout the book.

The unity of those who support Ridpath is there for all to see, he is well liked by his peers because he gets results albeit by unfamiliar methods and gut instincts. 

This is another fine entry into the catalogue however, for this reader the depiction of the villain in this instance was not totally well rounded and a bit of a stretch for reality, yet the action in apprehending him was well told and fittingly gripping to the high standard you expect.

Lee also has fun with the depiction of the journalist who is seeking to upend the police force and their reputation all to better her own career forsaking personal relationships at any cost seemingly; this dweller of bottom feeder journalism still exists in the gossip-mongering all lights on internet.

In conclusion, while it may not have reached the heights of previous Ridpath novels like Where The Silence Calls perhaps but it is still better than some television dramas of recent times and with the in vogue Line of Duty back on our screens, sometimes it is better to remove from escapist fare on the visual medium and rejoice in the assured hand of MJ Lee with DI Ridpath for comfort.

When The Evil Waits is out now on all formats from Canelo Press.

My thanks to Canelo for the review opportunity. 

The Law of Innocence - Michael Connelly

THE NEW LINCOLN LAWYER NOVEL OUT 10TH NOVEMBER

Highly enjoyable entry into the Mickey Haller universe with guest appearances by half-brother, Harry Bosch.

Ordinarily with Haller stories, he is facing down the law on the side of the victim, chasing for clues and crooked cops as he seeks justice for the person he is defending and sometimes those he defend are not all they seem.

In this new story from the prolific Connelly, Mickey - the famous Lincoln Lawyer so well adapted in the 2011 thriller directed by Brad Furman and written for the screen by John Romano, and famously portrayed by the smooth-talking Matthew McConnaughey - is himself charged with murder after a routine traffic stop finds a body in his trunk, one that Mickey cannot explain but as the victim is a former client of his who owed him money it gets all a bit convoluted. 

The book descends into more a courtroom tussle, and puts Mickey in a difficult situation. He has to prove that he is not innocent just not guilty which is the law within the courtroom, he is worried that his professional career will suffer if he is not properly acquited and wishes an apology from the court and District Attorney if possible. Constantly the law of innocence is asked as Mickey staves off the first degree murder charges against him.

                                  

The swiftness of plot and effortless character arc and narrative is second to none; the inclusion of Bosch is deliberate but not overbearing, as a secondary character from his own universe may overtake proceedings but Bosch serves as an important part of Mickey's defence team to seek the truth.

I spent the whole time with the voices of Matthew McConnaughey and Titus Weliver in my head; this would be a tale ripe for adaptation - and Connelly makes it very much of the here and now with the tale taking place over November 2019 to March 2020 with the threat and worry over a possible pandemic incoming to the populus of Los Angeles, with little touches such as people wearing masks and general unknowingness of an impending doom.

As a fan of Connelly's work and the Amazon Prime original series Bosch this is thoroughly enjoyable fare of the highest order from a writer working at full speed and the top of his game.

The Law of Innocence is published on November 10th from Orion Books

When The Past Kills - MJ Lee

Book Five of the DI Ridpath series is out on September 24th from Canelo

MJ Lee has developed quite a niche in recent times, his creation Detective Ridpath first appeared in the latter part of 2018 and since then Lee has written with a breakneck pace of regularity providing the fifth tale of his cancer survivor Detective Inspector who has to overcome office politics, his own career aspirations and the criminals of the Manchester underworld.

From the second tale Where The Dead Fall, which was this reviewer's introduction to the series, Ridpath has this relatable everyman quality that comes across in the page; not once in the second book did this reader feel left out of a secret club with the first book narrative being relayed quickly and called back at times without leaving the reader none the wiser.

In this new book When The Past Kills, Ridpath is centre to an investigation where people who wrongly jailed an innocent man before getting the guilty coroner are being subjected to assaults, scare mongering, one by one a chain of command is being followed including online deaths to the dark web, hangings by live feed - Ridpath is in a race against time before he becomes the next victim of the serial attacker.

Lee writes with such a whipcrack rhythm full of short chapters incorporating a range of character arcs, story development and dialogue which is both expositional but gripping; set amidst the gloom of Manchester - Lee is at pains to paint this city as much of a character as his protagonists.

Every Ridpath book is one to relish, as it serves up tales that are full of tension and enjoyment - a sense of satisfaction is apparent and this book also features one hell of a cliffhanger, leaving his reader eagerly anticipating Book 6 which will hopefully drop

When The Past Kills is out on 24th September from Canelo Publishing and all formats

When The Dead Speak - Sheila Bugler

The second novel by Eastbourne based novelist Sheila Bugler out from Canelo

Bugler turned some heads with her debut novel I Could Be You released at the start of this year (which seems like ages ago), featuring a gripping page-turning tale set in and around the Southern coastal stretch of Eastbourne with train trips to South London.

This time Bugler takes a tale that is very much based upon you never really know what goes on in your own town and how secrets stay with families.

Dee Doran returns, typically tenacious and takes it upon herself to find out what has happened to a missing Polish immigrant set against a police investigation of a young woman, which her boyfriend detective cannot work on due to a conflict of interest.

Told with real care and precision by Bugler who builds out from the relationships we hold dear, it is key to see how relationships are tested by a see-all community and how such relationship is held in public view.

Again featuring a strong female protagonist, Bugler weaves a narrative that is gripping and finishes strong after a somewhat slow beginning, akin to her contemporary and Canelo stable mate, Marion Todd

For fans of Fiona Barton's work, this is a novel that can be devoured in quick time.

When The Dead Speak is out on July 9th from Canelo 

Lies To Tell - Marion Todd

The 3rd book in the DI Clare Mackay series is released from Canelo on 25th June, written by Marion Todd

Marion Todd is a Scottish writer, which is perhaps wrong to put here in that stable of Scotland as a writer, but the book she writes is so of the region that it makes sense to attach that stigma to her.  Todd is also what you would consider no spring chicken, and is a writer making up for lost time.

Her Clare Mackay character has now appeared in three books, and each book has appeared within the last 15 months in a brilliant period of publishing by Canelo which they have done before with MJ Lee's DI Ridpath series which has had four releases in as many years.

This is not unusual for writers to be prolific, John Grisham and Lee Child the biggest selling writers on the planet release a new work like clockwork with James Patterson operating now a factory line of consumption for thriller readers.

Yet, this is not like pulp fiction or dime novels, Todd is writing a character that is both relatable, honest and eye-opening; to get a woman of a certain age writing about a woman of a certain age who is good at her profession yet struggling with the perception that she should be settling down for a family in the eyes of other people and society.

Mackay showed in the second book In Plain Sight, that she is an industrious individual, pragmatic and believable, respected by her peers in the pursuit of rescuing an abducted child.

Lies To Tell finds Mackay again at the crossroads of her relationship status, her love Geoffrey (a professor) has moved to Boston for his work and Mackay is enjoying her work, work is busy as always in the police force yet the action picks up straight away with her being picked up by her superior Alan to go to a meeting with a mysterious computer specialist Gayle, who may or may not know about a possible leak in the St. Andrews squad in relation to an ongoing trial.

Gayle asks to be positioned in the headquarters to try and sniff out the leak, then a sub-plot of students going missing yet with lots of money in their bank accounts open up a can of worms.  This is coupled with Mackay succumbing to temptation with Alan her superior, and becoming friendly with Gayle. If Todd did not take the plot so seriously, the narrative of Mackay having two very heavy sessions at home would be played for comedy yet Mackay knows this is a break in character and a sign of weakness which her partner, loyal Chris mentions to her.

Personally, this reader found the book a bit harder to get into compared to the two previous books written by Todd, this may have been my personal circumstances yet my adage is start slowly but finish strong especially in crime or thriller tomes - and this rings true of the plot for this novel with Todd cleverly painting this ominous air of paranoia and fear for Mackay as she gets deeper into understanding the source of the leak and for this Todd should be praised. The ending is dynamic and gripping which is exactly what you need and for this reader expects of her after three novels now.

Lies To Tell is out on 25th June from Canelo Press.

Fair Warning - Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly returns with a new gripping thriller for the page turner this Summer.

Connelly the writer behind Harry Bosch, returns with another character he has written before - Jack McEvoy; a journalist for a consumer website who is on the hunt for a serial killer of women.

McEvoy himself has his baggage, a broken relationship with his love who was his source and she lost her job for that, to save him jail time.

Connelly as ever is in the Los Angeles setting as his milieu and playground; traversing from Downtown to Hollywood to Pasadena to Cedars Senai. These landmarks are all prevalent in our minds eye so a well read reader will be able to picture most of the action, it is down to Connelly to keep us entertained.

That he does in bundles as McEvoy has to combat two policemen who have it in for him as a suspect when a body pops up not far from McEvoy. That sets in motion the wheels for the narrative of a story that involves genetics and genealogy as the plot revolves around women with broken history looking for a link for their past which they believe to be an answer in their own DNA, using those online DNA profiling.

The twist is that the dark web gets ahold of this private information, and then sell it to women-hating cell groups who then pick off women who are risky propositions and then easy targets for a serial killer.

McEvoy untangles this dark web of intrigue and uncovers a conspiracy involving unsavoury characters whose motives are nothing but welcoming, culminating in a showdown with the character calling himself 'The Shirke' so named after a carnivorous bird, a man who believes himself to be atop of the flighted food chain.

Connelly cleverly writes his narrative to build McEvoy as both an investigator but also the fear of being a suspect, and how closely the police work with the awareness and fear themselves of making mistakes a theme familiar to viewers of the Bosch television series.

As ever, Connelly writes with a swiftness and clarity which is refreshing as ever and will be enjoyed by old and new fans alike. One of the world's best thriller writers has done it again.

Fair Warning is out now on all formats.

In Plain Sight - Marion Todd

The Second DI Clare Mackay thriller by Marion Todd is out on 20th February from Canelo Press

Marion Todd burst onto the scene in the latter part of 2019 with her debut novel SEE THEM RUN published by Canelo Press, a story about a woman re-adjusting her life at the ten year point in her career as a police detective having to re-locate from Glasgow to the smaller surroundings of St. Andrews.

See Them Run is a nice introduction to Mackay as a character, you are with her throughout the process of a case that involved hit and run vehicular crimes in the serene lush landscapes near the illustrious home of golf.

Todd sets up the lead protagonist, as her role evolves and she has to encounter different people from the city, as well as familiar gender and sexual politics of the workplace environment. The first novel moved at a clip but you got the sense that it was an opening salvo for more to come.

Marion Todd - Back with a bang

It is so pleasing to hear that Todd has not sat on her laurels, and in the follow up In Plain Sight, she has written a better book, the difficult second album bug has been shaken off by this author who at the age she is making up for lost time clearly.

The action kicks off from the outset, a charity run is cut short by environmental protesters and in the vicinity of that a young baby is abducted with no-one in the crowd able to ascertain who had kidnapped her.

What follows is a book that is swift and moves at a breakneck speed; yet it is not all police work, we bear witness to Mackay's attempts at a lasting relationship with Geoffrey, a professor from the area, a more dependable partner than Tom whom she left in Glasgow following her move.

Mackay is utmost sympathetic to the plight of the parents of the missing child, despite not being a parent herself, her procedure of working embraces teamwork and the use of this breaks open the case with leads being jumped upon through hunches being followed and good detective work.

In Plain Sight is out on all formats from Canelo Press on 20th February 2020.
My thanks to them for the review opportunity