The Bones of Chester - MJ Lee

 

Third book in DI Emma Christie series by prolific MJ Lee

Returning for the third book in the series, MJ Lee again writes a pulsating book set in and around the historic city of Chester. 

DI Emma Chrisite, is again tasked with a troubling case after human remains are found near a landmark in the Cheshire city. After an autopsy and inspection by pathologists, it is determined that the remains are from three different female skeletons.

Christie, must contend with office politics and the police hierarchy who want her to fail and have the men pick up the pieces. With her diligent and devoted team, they set about trying to find out firstly who the women are who have been buried and who did the heinous acts of maceration - the removal of flesh from human bones. 

Based around the mythic folk tale of Santa Muerte, who speaks to our villain; the plot revolves around the disappearance of young girls on two specific dates every calendar year. This nugget of truth amidst a fictitious tale helps somewhat ground it in reality - this is helped by Lee writing the discombobulating effect of the politicking in her job. Not to mention, her ongoing care for her ailing father and ex-super cop who is battling Alzheimer's at home.

That facet of the narrative is dealt with delicately, as the father's back story is slowing growing along with the history of the original crime gang family - the Gilligan's from Liverpool - who are always sniffing about. Another thing sniffing, is that familiar rat Gavin Newton, the journalist with no morals and even less ethics. 

A familiar trait of Lee's books is that the first half of the book seems to tread water in narrative construction and obstacles for our protagonists as if it is going uphill to reach a summit. Then when it reaches that summit, the downhill portion is all-go, thrill seeking page turning of the highest order.

Highly recommended for fans old and new, a book to get your teeth into. The fourth book cannot come soon enough.

The Bones of Chester is a self-published book by Author MJ Lee and available on all formats now.

What The Dead Want - MJ Lee

 

Tenth book in thrilling Manchester based detective series by MJ Lee

Author Lee burst into this reader's viewpoint in 2019 when the second book of the series Where The Dead Fall was released on NetGalley. From there this reader has looked forward to each release with relish as to how DI Thomas Ridpath, but his friends just call him Ridpath is navigating the delicate balancing act of working for the coroner's office and being seconded to the police office with the melting of law enforcement and investigation of suspicious deaths meeting.

At the end of book nine, What The Shadows Hide, Ridpath was dealing with the tragic injury of his boss Coroner Challinor who was attacked by an assailant and left for dead. The book begins with her still in a coma some months later, with Ridpath working for a new boss who is nothing like his predecessor. 

A good mark of any crime detective series is that the hero detective is only as good as his opponent, and in this new novel What The Dead Want, we have the unlikely return of the evil pathologist Harold Lardner who has planned a series of murders despite being behind bars..

A mysterious disappearance of a young boy in Manchester during the Covid lockdown is investigated and leads to a care home which itself had a spike in suspicious deaths with organs removed from cadavers from being moved from care home to the mortuary slab.

As ever, Lee writes with such efficient fluency and swiftness that you are never left in doubt about the action taking place. Ridpath continues to have to deal with office politics and the new know-it-all detective Helen Shipton brings its own problems, with her being in direct conflict to Ridpath's loyal footsoldiers.

The other notable note of credit to Lee is that he loves writing Ridpath and his characters, and he can still get me with a surprise twist in terms of narrative pull. Something else he does well is elicit correctly the feel and atmosphere of being in February - cold, miserable and dire. 

This is another excellent entry into the Ridpath series; and his second excellent novel of this calender year.

What The Dead Want is out now from Canelo on all formats.

A Tangled Web - Ken Lussey

Brand new Contemporary novel by Ken Lussey out 15th November

Prolific Scottish based author, Ken Lussey, returns with his second contemporary set novel of the calendar year. Starring his new creation, Callum Anderson, a Metropolitan Police officer, whose life has taken a strange turn and finds himself out of familiar water in the Scottish Highlands.

Callum is investigating the mysterious death of Iain Mackay, husband to Dr. Jenny, whose disappearance was first mentioned in the first novel The High Road. Callum is getting more firmly cemented into his new surroundings and in being quite taken with Jenny as a new romantic avenue to pursue.

The first book that introduced Callum had a bit more emotional baggage to navigate as he had to overcome the end of his marriage in London and separation from his twin sons, yet we followed his navigation of finding a new lease of life and purpose in the Scottish landscapes. 

This second novel, shows our protagonist as more an investigator than a policeman, delving into the dodgy dealings of Iain before his unseemly end in a lay-by. Fans of the television series Shetland will notice and wonder how such nefarious things can follow a man around small towns.

Yet for this reader, Lussey remains a capable and prestigious talent of maintaining narrative hold of the proceedings, never wavering in terms of pace and thrust of the cut that finds our lead characters in worrying moments of peril.

Lussey again weaves in historical facts of long lost locations (Drumbeg Castle) and paints wonderful pictures of lovely landscapes Callum and Jenny encounter. At times it can feel like tourist information but Lussey writes with such a passion for the history and feel of a place it does not feel like exposition and not at all unnecessary.

Written with such a verve and intelligence that it is commendable he can write with such authority and assuredness release upon release. Another great addition to his catalogue, if not completely matching previous heights, of which he has set a very high standard though.

A Tangled Web is release from Arachnid Press on all formats from 15th November.

My thanks to them for the review opportunity.

Agent in Berlin - Alex Gerlis

 

New spy thriller by Alex Gerlis from Canelo out 4th November

Alex Gerlis is a writer of spy thrillers, following in the great heritage of British spy authors such as John Le Carre and Frederick Forsyth, he bases his tales in the past in and around the second world war primarily, looking back at the past and finding tales to create historical fiction with a huge dose of influence by accurate depictions of figures who were in and around the actual turning of history.

His most recent book, Agent in Berlin, is set around the spymaster ring set up by British intelligence in the German capital as a reaction to the worrying trend of fascism and Nazism rising in profile from 1933 with the abhorrent attack on the Jewish people. Gerlis tells the story of spymaster, Barnaby Allen who recruits a network of allies from all sides to forge a bond against the Third Reich as they begin to gain power. He recruits a German homosexual, an American journalist and the wife of a Nazi commander amongst others, despite constant danger the ring discover plans for a new German fighter plane better than the illustrious Spitfires and Hurricanes.

The tension wracked up by the author in his numerous scenes are so well handled; depicting a time of terror and worry in a prominent city that slowly becomes more and more like a prison, the colour evaporating from the buildings and its inhabitants as Germany go on a course of cleansing of those they believe to be inferior to the supposed superior Aryan race.

The key character or agent Allen endorses is that of a spy in the Japanese embassy, who finds intelligence that Japan in an alliance with Germany are to attack the United States and bring them into the war. The action runs from 1933 when the seed is sown and up to early 1942 after Pearl Harbor has taken place with USA now making it a second world war.

There is a lot of pleasure to be taken from the reading of this novel, from Gerlis' well researched on life in Berlin to the touching points of the 1936 Berlin Olympics when in the character of Jack Miller he has a conduit of a fish out of water but also a spectator at something truly ground-breaking such as Jesse Owens' miraculous achievements under the hateful eyes of Der Fuhrer. 

The character, Miller also side bars into football commentary travelling around to see Schalke and Hamburg those heralded footballing hotbeds of Germany during the war and it allows Gerlis - a life-long Grimsby Town supporter - to use his love of football as a plot device, which for this reader was greeted with great relish. Some of the games mentioned are factually correct in the Bundesliga as well as the Olympic ties

In conclusion, this is my second Gerlis read. I read Prince of Spies last year and while that was a continuing story in a series. This stand alone novel is full of tension and drama, handling the arcs of all characters expertly with an end result bringing a neat resolution to proceedings.

Agent In Berlin is released from Canelo on Thursday 4th November