Natalie Marlow Interview - Needless Alley

Natalie Marlow's debut novel NEEDLESS ALLEY is one of the first whetting of one's appetite of 2023, a fresh voice from a bygone age as her story set around a private detective in Birmingham during the 1930s is a engaging and enjoyable historical fiction novel. It is both tantalising to see where the series will go and how her lead character William Garrett will develop over the forthcoming years in partnership with Baskerville Press

Read my review of Needless Alley here, and below is an exclusive interview with the author ahead of the novel's publication on Thursday 19th January 

Interview with Natalie Marlow

 

·        What was the genesis of William Garrett?

This is such a good question. I wrote Needless Alley following Raymond Chandler’s rules in The Simple Art of Murder. For Chandler, the detective must be a ‘complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must me, to use a weathered phrase, a man of honor – by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it.’ This was my starting point. However, William was the culmination of a lifetime of reading classic crime fiction.

 

·        Where do you live? Has this impacted your writing?

I live in the Midlands, near Coventry. I’ve lived here all my life, apart from my time at university. And, yes, the landscape, history and people of the Midlands has impacted my writing to an extent I doubt I could write about anywhere else.

 

·        Where did the idea to incorporate this Peaky Blinders world with a detective come from?

The whole Peaky Blinders thing was just an accident! I’ve only watched the first series, and I decided not to watch any more as I didn’t want it to influence my writing. Queenie, who is the most ‘Peaky’ of all the characters, is very loosely based on a relative. My great grandma was a canal boatwoman and ran the illegal bookmaking in her area of Coventry in the 1920s and 1930s.

 

·       What are your influences upon this book?

My main influences are the books and films of the 1930s and 1940s. I’ve read a lot of Graham Greene. He called his thrillers his ‘entertainments’ and both Brighton Rock and A Gun for Sale are important influences on Needless Alley. I’ve also read a lot of Hammett, Cain, and the female noir writers, particularly Vera Caspary and Dorothy B Hughes. However, my biggest influence is Raymond Chandler. I adore Chandler.

 

·        We started corresponding due to a love of film and pre-WW2 Hollywood stars – what are your favourites?

This is such a tough question, Jamie! I’ll stick with pre 1939 films just to thin the herd. I love The Thin Man series; It Happened One Night; Top Hat and The Gay Divorcee; The Old Dark House; The Lady Vanishes; The Maltese Falcon; Mr Smith Goes to Washington; Bringing up Baby; The 39 Steps; Dames; Gold Diggers of 1933; The Women; Scarface…I could go on!

Favourite pre war film stars? I adore Myrna Loy, Jean Arthur, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell, William Powell, Dick Powell, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and, of course, James Stewart.

 

·        What are you currently reading?

I’m writing right now, so I find it difficult to read. However, I’m listening to a lot of Golden Age detective fiction on Audible. I like the British Library Crime Classics.

 

·        What are you currently bingeing on TV?

I’ve just finished watching Slow Horses on Apple and loved it. Have you seen The English on BBC IPlayer? I love big sweeping narratives and this one was a doozy. Highly recommended.

 

·        What advice would you have for would be authors who think it is too late to write?

I honestly thing maturity is an advantage. I don’t think I would’ve had the patience, or time, in my twenties to write Needless Alley. My advice to any writer is to sit down and write a few hundred words a day. Don’t get het up about other people’s word counts or processes. Write your way but just write.

 

·        How good is your relationship with Baskerville?

Baskerville have been wonderful. They’ve really guided me through the process of being a debut and have been very supportive of my writing. I’ve been overwhelmed by their support.

 

·        What are your hopes for Needless Alley?

Honestly, I’d love for someone to read Needless Alley and love it the way I love my favourite books. We’ll see!

Needless Alley is out on 19th January from Baskerville (Hachette) in all formats

You can follow Natalie on Twitter @NatalieMarlow2

The Way It Is Now - Garry Disher

 

New novel by Australian author THE WAY IT IS NOW 

out from Viper Books 4th August  

WHO SHALL INHERIT THE SINS OF THE FATHER?

This thrilling novel is set in Australia and tells the tale of a mother gone missing and how suspended policeman Charlie Deravin tries to solve the case following the discovery of two bodies in a local building site.

Disher weaves a clever tale throughout here, making sure you understand the motivations of his characters whilst taking the time and not rushing unnecessarily. He follows Deravin from counselling following his suspension to the difficult family relationships - his mother and father were going through a divorce at the books beginning in the year 2000 where the book begins. His mother is reported missing and we jump forward to Christmas 2019 and the beginning of the global pandemic which would engulf us all.

The book is prominently set in a small seaside town of Swanage, which for this reader is a lovely notion of kismet as I spent significant formative summer holidays with my family in the English seaside town of Swanage, Dorset. So anytime I read that name, I myself am transported to those wonderful halycon days of beaches, ice cream, cricket and Punch and Judy.

Disher writes effectively and with great nous throughout, short chapters keeps the reader engaged and while it might not be to everyone's taste it kept my attention nonetheless. And you would expect nothing less from a writer of over 50 titles, this is the first time I have encountered Disher and I am sure it will not be the last.

My thanks to Viper Books for the opportunity to review a new title at short notice and the copy sent in the post.

Happy reading one and all

When The Night Ends - MJ Lee

The Eighth book in the DI Ridpath series is out from Canelo Crime on 9th June

Ridpath is back and this time it's murder. Sorry, I was doing that silly voiceover you used to hear at the end of Columbo/Perry Mason episodes.

Yet those famous detectives are renowned for many things, one is their tenacity and never giving up - their desire for justice and truth amongst a world where every obstacle is put in front of you.

Author MJ Lee is a prolific novelist, one who has hit upon a star vehicle in the literary world, a returning hero who has an everyman quality, a stickler to uncover the truth in some plots that are brilliantly written all the while set amidst an ever changing world as government changes and pandemics take a grip of the world.

Ridpath is one of those characters that is a joy to journey with from investigation to investigation; in this tale he has to figure out how a prisoner died alone in his cell after seemingly falling over and hitting his head. The death occurred three years ago, a lot has happened before Ridpath in his role as working for the Coroner re-opens the case. Many have given statements and some have been moved sideways in their career as they deal with their role - from Saunders who has been stuck on desk duty due to being station agent when the death took place. Ridpath's intention to investigate a fellow police officer does not sit well with others in Greater Manchester Police (GMP) as anybody who watches Line of Duty can attest, internal affairs are not favoured in the police force; police should catch criminals not cops. But what if the criminals are cops?

This leads Ridpath to collide as always with his nemesis Turnbull, a man who detests Ridpath and his maverick streak. Yet Lee goes to great lengths to show that Ridpath does play well with others, respected by others especially when in partnership with Emily Parkinson and Sophie, they prefer Ridpath's candour and commitment to proving things right.

The case as always has its twists and turns, with bodies appearing from nowhere, witnesses being either unable to source or turning up cold; the spectre of organised crime looms over the case and that is where Lee is so good at bringing in factual information to his fictional storylines. While reading it you might think some of it is too good to be true and the fact as always is that truth is stranger than fiction.

This reader devoured the book in a few sittings, this is partly due to the knowing the rhythm established so effectively by the author yet this was an enjoyable read throughout - crisp, clean and intelligent crime writing with a real hero at the heart of the action.

When The Night Ends by MJ Lee is out from Canelo Crime from 9th June

My thanks to Canelo for the review opportunity via NetGalley.

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. 

Shiver - Allie Reynolds

 

Debut novel by Allie Reynolds out from Headline on January 21st

Allie Reynolds was a former professional snowboarder, her love for the pistes and the sport is perfect for the old adage of write what you know.

She tells the tale of Milla, who reunites with old friends in the Alps and from there we have a dual-narrative occuring as we go back to an incident that involved the disappearance of the mysterious Saskia. Ten years have passed since this event, and her brother Curtis has asked them all to return - some reluctantly and some have altered drastically since then.

Reynolds writes with a confidence and also does well to convey the changing of people's psyche and how influential people can become on your lives no matter how briefly there time in your life.

Milla is a hardworking individual eager to excel at snowboarding, but she does not have the natural talent of Saskia and her European rivals - she cannot make certain tricks and this frustrates her. Saskia is the Queen Bee of the group, loved by men but hated by women and this duality of the two main females is honed well by the debut author.

When I encountered this novel on my NetGalley TBR pile, I had just finished The Chalet by Catherine Cooper, and unfortunately that Christie style murder-mystery was more successful of dealing with character aspirations and arc effectively; while Shiver sadly faded by the end of the book. 

However, it should still be recommended for those in need of a good murder-mystery set on the luxurious Alps and the glamorous lifestyle that comes with it. For a debut it also smacks of rich potential for this young author. 

Shiver is out from Headline on 21st January on all formats.

We Begin At The End - Chris Whitaker

 

New novel by Chris Whitaker released by Zaffre Books in April 2020

For some people, trouble just finds them.

Thirty years ago, Vincent King became a killer.

Now, he's been released from prison and is back in his hometown of Cape Haven, California. Not everyone is pleased to see him. Like Star Radley, his ex-girlfriend, and sister of the girl he killed.

Duchess Radley, Star's thirteen-year-old daughter, is part-carer, part-protector to her younger brother, Robin - and to her deeply troubled mother. But in trying to protect Star, Duchess inadvertently sets off a chain of events that will have tragic consequences not only for her family, but also the whole town.

Murder, revenge, retribution.

How far can we run from the past when the past seems doomed to repeat itself?

Review
Whitaker does a great job of writing a thriller that reaches for the heights of American novella, the dual narrative structure of each chapter which takes us into the point of view of wither Walk (Chief Walker), the local sheriff who seeks to find answers to another murder in Cape Haven and the other side of the coin is the story of Duchess being displaced in Montana following the murder of her mother, Star.

Walk is one of those great American idealists like Atticus Finch and others, someone who seeks to do the hard work but overshadowed by past errors and the ill health that is befalling him at this vital stage of his investigation.

Duchess is written as a tough cookie of a young girl, who will not take any rubbish from anyone to fight her corner and protect her brother Robin, like her Mum, Star, did for them.

You have this contrast of a coming of age novel, and for Walk a coming to the end which is a unique take on two different paths for two lead protagonists.

This book was a pleasant one to read, the swiftness and nimbleness of the plot pays off dividends once the action is ramped up. The utilisation of Montana and the grandfather, Hal, who portrays the stillness of that landscape in contrast to the mayhem of California.

Whitaker paints a world that is both of now and from a timeless period - the Montana scenes read like something from a Richard Ford novel while the murkiness of California reads like a Michael Connolly story.  All the more staggering considering that Whitaker was born in London, he writes of America as good as any author I can recall.

Recommended for those who require to be whisked away from this mad mad world.

We Begin At The End is published by Zaffre Books on 2nd April.
My thanks to Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to review on the blogtour.

Dark Sacred Night

Michael Connelly returns with the latest novel featuring Detective Harry Bosch

Set in and around Los Angeles, Bosch is not necessarily the lead protagonist of this novel. He is partnered up with the younger female Renee Ballard, a detective who must navigate the dreaded graveyard shift.

The wonderful plot device that Connelly uses is that we have the dual threat of following both Bosch and Ballard as they go around investigating, and while Bosch can seemingly focus all his efforts on solving the case of Daisy Clayton, a murder case that has not been solved for 10 years.

Ballard is used as a political statement - a younger member of the police force who must navigate all various channels of enquiry as well as the actual beat of hitting the street and resolving disputes. 

In the middle part of the book, Ballard investigates the disappearance of an elected official's son; she visits the apartment where he resides, questions the room-mate and then notices a rug has been moved.  It shows that the flat-mate has murdered the missing son, this is great writing and shows the ingenuity and intelligence of Ballard in such matters, in another chapter she attends a strip joint that is worried about someone breaking in and robbing them, this turns out to be youths sneaking a peek at female flesh.

This constant dipping in and out of actual day to day work away from the deeper dive into the Clayton murder case keeps the reader on its toes while appreciating the sincerity of Ballard married with the sheer doggedness of Bosch - a nice union which has perhaps breathed new life into the old sage. A sequel or new book the The Night Fire is out in October of this year

Connelly shares the writing style of contemporaries Child and James Patterson, it is quick and zips along at a clip that allows the book to be devoured in several sittings.  Like James Ellroy who famously writes about Los Angeles and Hollywood, Connelly writes about the city using the vast landscape of the sprawling cityscape to his advantage with a milieu of background characters and cameos breathing life into the story whenever needed.

Dark Sacred Night is one of those thrilling books that can be perfect for the beach or the bedroom, a master storyteller at the peak of his powers.

Out from Orion Books in Paperback from 16th May.

My thanks to Tracy Fenton for the review opportunity and being part of the blog tour

In The Wake - Helen Treverrow

Helen Treverrow's debut novel is released from Urbane Publications on 28th June

When a body is found floating in London's Royal Albert Dock, public relations expert Kay Christie is sent to quiet the media, but things become complicated when it emerges she knows the victim.

Centered around the Excel center in London, a major exhibition is overshadowed by this body being found.  A convoluted narrative structure involving Kay's father who works at the exhibition hall, and the tightly knit support network around her starts to unravel as secrets much like the body rise to the surface.

Opening with the disappearance of a French nurse from her London hospital around Christmas time - the imagery Trevorrow evokes the harshness and cold of the London winter is depicted succinctly, showing the combination of how lonely the big city can be when you are questioning your own decisions in life.

Kay is in her 40s, gay and partnered with Julia, a woman who is enjoying an Indian summer with high-profile media commitments; and yet Kay is not happy. Kay drinks regularly, she is in love with her job but not in love with her routine. The introduction of a female police officer, Polly - younger and vital stirs some lustful yearnings within her which has been absent for sometime.

This melodramatic shift to a women's narrative in unison with the crime story is a risky venture, and on occasion the crime story struggles to be heard beside the Sapphic storyline; at times this reader felt that the love scenes were overpowering the actual crime story narrative and the interest in the case being solved.  Kay is an intelligent, successful woman and yet her life is full of quandry with Treverrow delicately explaining her psyche following a sexual assault from years past; which is told to us in flashback.

The Smiling Man

Joseph Knox, got tongues wagging when his debut novel Sirens was released by Transworld Publishers in early 2017. The tale of Detective Aidan Waits' descent into hell as he succumb to his drug addiction whilst attempting to complete a criminal investigation; was a tale for our times, an anti-hero who wore his vices clearly - at times unlikeable, dishonest and yet equally charming and mysterious.

Waits returns in the sequel or second of the ongoing series, The Smiling Man.  Waits has now been banished to the graveyard shift with the only officer who would work with him, a large unsavoury character Sutton - who uses hand sanitiser religiously, it dripping from him like fat our of a chip pan.

Whilst this reader was fond of Sirens, the malevolent nature of Watts was something difficult to deal with - whilst it harked back to the bygone age of literary pulp noir such as Hammett and Chandler; their heroes Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe were certainly capable of bad things they never crossed the ethical line Waits practically triple jumped over.

The Waits we encounter in this second novel is an altogether different character, one who is aware of the harm he has caused and damage to his reputation and close relationships.  Now sober but stuck in a shift he can never get out of, investigating the thrilling world of dust-bin fires he fears he will never see the light of day until they get a call to the Palace hotel late one Saturday night.

There they see a security guard injured and further investigation leads them to a fourth floor room (413) that has a man tied up in a chair dead but with a Cheshire Cat grin on his face.  This unnerves Waits and the veteran Sutton, and so begins the case to find out who the Smiling Man is or was.

Waits encounters obstacles throughout and not from criminals but as much from his superior, the omnipresent Superintendent Parrs who has his sights set on Waits and would like nothing more than to put him out of the picture.

While the first book wallowed in the dark world of Northern Noir it was drawing, this book is lighter in tone due to a sober Waits being front and centre; his charm and magnetism coming to the forefront - though a bar-room brawl with a former enemy brings out the worst in him.

Whilst Knox focused on creating an atmosphere of noir in the first book, this is more of a tongue-in-cheek noir transplanting the talking of American noir to Manchester; oneupmanship banter flowing back and forth and with the action taking place over summer months there is a general warmth and sunny disposition running through the novel but always with that sinister underbelly ('Fate turns into karma at forty degrees')

Yet that is the cleverness within Knox's writing - the consistent juxtaposition of light and dark; good and evil; right and wrong; the warmth with which Waits is created is merged with the dark of the world he inhabits.  There is a lushness and rawness to the novel that radiates throughout and its a pleasure to read and see a young writer growing in confidence with each new work written.

The Smiling Man is published and released from Doubleday Press on Thursday 8th March

Last Stop Tokyo - Book review

The debut novel by James Buckler, published by Doubleday Press, follows in the footsteps of other debut novels by bright new voices of British crime fiction, Joseph Knox and Daniel Cole; where you have an unlikeable protagonist who does not fit the mould of crime novels, they are on the peripheries with a dark history looking for a change and seemingly unfamiliar with an ever-changing world they find themselves struggling in.

Buckler's lead is Alex Malloy, an English language teacher in Tokyo, who is running away from a tragic accident in London. From the outset, much is made of Alex's otherness in the Oriental jungle of Japan's capital city, his white skin, fair hair and Peter O'Toole blue eyes set him out from the crowd. However, as much as he tries to avoid trouble, trouble keeps finding Alex from drunken late nights with his friend Hiro, to the illicit relationship with Hiro's sister, Naoko; an affair that could prove deadly.

Buckler paints Tokyo as a city of vice and sin for foreigners, part-time citizens in a twenty four cityscape where they can get away with murder if they so wish.  From geisha girls who are treated like prostitutes, to unseemly businessmen who treat women as objects of lust to drug lords and vengeful work colleagues.

The trouble for Alex leads him to jail where he encounters Jun who cuts him a deal to get out of the predicament but this has a trickle effect on all of his relationships and those people's lives.

Alex is no saint and Buckler paints him as such, the moral fibre of British people has been called into question in novels recently especially the aforementioned Knox's Sirens where the toeing of the line between right and wrong is complexly handled in a nourish fashion involving double crosses, femme fatales and dark urban settings.

If you are seeking one of those fish-out-of-water novels where an Englishman is lost abroad this is not for you, what you have here is an Englishman experiencing the effect of a gradual resentment of the English values from overseas territories, people do not like English but Alex still finds his saviour in an understanding detective Saito who wants to bring down a yakuza king pin and sees Alex as integral to the investigation.

Buckler writes with a real zip and thrust to the proceedings which is useful where the book comes in at under 280 pages, however, there is a real surprise in the ending which turns the point of view of the book to Naoko ending from a surviving female perspective, which is fitting as Naoko, a female character written by a man who is not merely an object of desire but a fully rounded character.

The ending will pack a punch and is quite a brave step for the modern day novel, Buckler has written a standalone novel that is both enticing and yet downbeat which is not surprising given the current uncertain political climate we find as a people find ourselves.

Last Stop Tokyo is released from Doubleday Books on 28th August in Hardback and all e-book formats.