‘True Blue’ by Joe Thomas

Published by MacLehose Press,
29 January 2026.
ISBN 978 1 52942 343 3

True Blue is the final installment- following White Riot and Red Menace- of a thought-provoking trilogy that chronicles the turbulent times and events that occurred in East London between the late seventies and the end of 1990. This book is mainly concerned with 1990, Margaret Thatcher’s final year in office. It was also a year when the introduction of the poll tax ensured that the poor became poorer and the comfortably-off became richer following the privatization of the water industry. As in the earlier parts of the trilogy, music and well-informed commentary on it continue to play a major part in the story. Unfortunately, corrupt police officers continue to flourish supporting a burgeoning drug trade whilst deliberately and maliciously targeting black youth. 

DC Noble’s job is to uncover corruption within the police force whilst ostensibly investigating the illegal rave scene from within the Acid Squad task force. Nobel works out of Stoke Newington and is helped by an undercover officer or spycop, PC Parker, who is well integrated within the local villains and Suzi Scialfa, a photo journalist who hob nobs with the local musicians and is therefore well-placed to gather intelligence for him. 

CI Young is Noble’s boss. As head of the Special Demonstration Squad, Young also holds a senior role in Scotland Yard’s Anti-Corruption Squad CIB2.  His allegiance to his work leaves everything to be desired. 

We watch as trusting citizens and black youths are mistreated by the forces of both law and disorder whose intent is to line their pockets with no consideration for the damage they do to individuals or society as a whole. We see the futile efforts of well-meaning individuals like Parker and his partner Carolyn to keep her young cousin Shaun on the straight and narrow after he had been released from Feltham youth offenders’ institution. We comprehend the sickening tragedy that strikes after another black youth Simeon is misled by the underhand efforts of drug dealers to implicate him in their nefarious trade. We follow the well-intentioned efforts of the borough solicitor as he endeavors to understand unusual behaviour in his catchment area designed to facilitate the privatization of the water industry. 

Although a work of fiction True Blue feels uncomfortably authentic and provides a meticulously researched conclusion to this graphic trilogy of institutional corruption and failings. It is also a horrifying confirmation of behaviour that we have all been informed about but have found the abject betrayal by those supposed to keep us safe difficult to believe and easier to brush off as improbable and unlikely. True Blue is not all gloom and doom, there is qualified happiness too.  Both Noble and Parker become fathers. Sadly, only one of the newborns will grow up with his father in the house. Overall, it is an excellent book. It can easily be read as a one off, but readers may well want to start at the beginning of the trilogy.
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Reviewer Angela Crowther

Joe Thomas is a visiting lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. Prior to this, he lived and taught in São Paulo for ten years. Gringa is the second book to feature detective Mario Leme. The first, Paradise City, was published by Arcadia in 2017.

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.

‘The Three’ by Kelsey O'Brien

Published by Hera,
29 January 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-83598235-8 (HB)

Georgian England was a positive hotbed of all the things school history lessons leave out, and it turns out they're a lot more interesting than dates of battles and monarchical family trees. For instance, there was a flourishing gay community in London. And the designers and makers of corsets – stays for the initiated – were mainly men.  

In The Three, these lesser-known details combine with man's inhumanity to woman and the perils of revolutionary politics to form a tale of secrecy and danger. A man who was found 'guilty' of fancying his own sex was condemned not only to the gallows but also to the contempt and derision of the rotten-fruit-throwing public. A woman who facilitated such 'reprehensible' behaviour was sentenced to the pillory, which could easily mean death if a hurled half-brick met its mark.   

Matthew, a charming, talented and successful corset-maker, falls in love with Henry from the landed gentry, and becomes Henry's wife's live-in dressmaker in order to pursue their affair. Elina, the wife, refuses to be content with the tedious existence of lady of the manor, and educates herself not only by reading radical tracts and forming subversive opinions, but also by turning her views into a book and trying to get it published. For this she seeks Matthew's help, and they become friends – but he is now in danger on two fronts.   

These three characters form an intriguing and constantly shifting pattern. Elina has no interest in ladylike pursuits like clothes and parties, and is quite unaware of her dressmaker and friend's relationship with her husband. Henry, as befits a man of his station, sees only what he arrogantly believes to be the case, and has no idea that his wife has a brain which far outstrips his own, or that she uses it for purposes he would find quite unacceptable. 

The balloon, as it were, inevitably goes up, and Matthew is stuck in the middle, unable to escape judgement whichever of them he supports. Which will he choose? 

This isn't an ordinary thriller; if you discount people who meet their end as a result of laws which are deplorable by 21^st century standards, there are no murders. Rather, it's a story which illustrates what counted as criminal behaviour during a certain period of history. In the late 18^th century, loving the wrong person and contravening the rules and conventions of society forced people to live under the radar; they were punishable by death or imprisonment if you were caught.

This isn't an ordinary thriller; if you discount people who meet their end as a result of laws which are deplorable by 21^st century standards, there are no murders. Rather, it's a story which illustrates what counted as criminal behaviour during a certain period of history. In the late 18^th century, loving the wrong person and contravening the rules and conventions of society forced people to live under the radar; they were punishable by death or imprisonment if you were caught.

Kelsey O'Brien doesn't preach. Instead, she creates engaging characters and a credible, and very well portrayed, world for them to live in, and turns their fate into a rattling good story. But the message it carries isn't buried very deep, and it serves as a warning to certain aspects of our own world
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick 

Kelsey O'Brien is a Paris-based writer who tells stories about intriguing figures and hidden moments from the past. Her fiction, reviews, and travel pieces have appeared in print and online.

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

‘Sherlock Holmes and the Widow’s Key’ by Linda Stratmann

Published by Sapere Books,
31 December 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-85495823-8 (PB)

The story is set in autumn 1878, when Arthur Stamford, the young medical man who preceded Doctor Watson as Sherlock Holmes’ friend and early biographer, has just passed his examinations and is now employed as a junior surgeon at St. Bartholomew’s hospital. This is a welcome change in Stamford’s circumstances, but he is concerned that his heavy workload will mean that he is less able to always assist Holmes’ investigations. Holmes is also moving on with his career and has started to advertise his services as a consulting detective, although, as he is still only twenty-four years old, he is still mainly employed by those who have experienced his talents before, or when he is invited to join Inspector Lestrade in investigating a police case. 

On All Hallows’ Eve, Stamford receives a message from Holmes informing him that the corpse of an elderly woman is due to be delivered to the hospital mortuary because of allegations that she was murdered. Intrigued, Stamford hurries to Holmes’ rooms, where he is introduced to Roderick Ineson, the son of a solicitor who has previously employed Holmes. Roderick Ineson has recently joined his father’s firm and needs Holmes’ assistance regarding the death of a client, Mrs Joan Orless. At first there seems to be little reason to suspect foul play: Mrs Orless was eighty-six, and the doctor had certified that her death was due to heart failure; her will was straightforward, bequeathing her money to an orphanage, and her personal possessions to her maid, Mary Anne Clatterby, who is her niece by marriage. However, at the reading of the will, four gentlemen had turned up and expressed anger and disbelief at the provisions of the will. They claimed that Mrs Orless had promised each of them, individually and confidentially, that she would bequeath them the bulk of her property, including the house she lived in. When the will was read, and it was made clear that the four men were not the beneficiaries, and that the house was rented, the men went to the police and made such a fuss that it had been decided to delay the funeral and do a postmortem to confirm the cause of death. 

Before the postmortem on Mrs Orless, Stamford meets Mary Anne Clatterby, who is anxiously awaiting the results of the medical investigation, and he thinks that she seems honest and truthful, although the time he has spent with Holmes has shown him that appearances can be deceptive. Stamford and Holmes are allowed to attend the postmortem, which is inconclusive. After this, the pair go to help inspect the house where Mrs Orless lived. There is little to interest them in most of the house, and they fail to discover anything that bears out the rumour that Mrs Orless was a wealthy woman. However, they cannot go up into the attic because of a giant wasps’ nest, and there is a possibility that something of value is packed away up there. They also open a locked cupboard that contains the Halloween decorations that Mrs Orless and her husband had used when they held Halloween parties. Mary Anne had been told to leave it locked, because Mrs Orless was afraid of letting rodents into the kitchen, but when Holmes and Stamford enter the cupboard, as well as cardboard skeletons and black wool spiders, they discover the mummified body of a woman. Nobody knows her identity or when she was placed in the cupboard. Various people are requested to examine the mummy, including archaeological experts from the British Museum, who know Holmes and Stamford from earlier investigations, and senior surgeons at the hospital. They all conclude that the mummy is not an ancient one, and that mummification has occurred naturally, which means the death of the victim will require further investigation. 

One of the most pressing needs is to attempt to prepare the mummified body for postmortem. Holmes and Stamford are deeply involved in this: Holmes has the opportunity to develop some innovative new chemical experiments to soften the leathery texture, and again Stamford is allowed to assist with the postmortem. The major question that Holmes and his helpers have to answer, is to establish is the identity of the corpse, and then discover whether she had any involvement with Mrs Orless. As they investigate, the case is complicated by the four gentlemen who had hoped to be Mrs Orless’ heirs, and their foolishly reckless behaviour brings Holmes and Stamford into unexpected danger, as they try to establish whether either or both of the dead women were unlawfully killed. 

Sherlock Holmes and the Widow’s Key is the tenth book in the series featuring the young Sherlock Holmes and his early biographer, Arthur Stamford. It is an excellent addition to a very enjoyable series, with interesting adventures, and superb historical details. Stamford is an engaging narrator, whose modesty and self-deprecating courage makes Holmes more approachable and likeable. This is a very enjoyable read, which I definitely recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron 

Linda Stratmann was born in Leicester in 1948 and first started scribbling stories and poems at the age of six. She became interested in true crime when watching Edgar Lustgarten on TV in the 1950s. Linda attended Wyggeston Girls Grammar School, trained to be a chemist’s dispenser, and later studied at Newcastle University where she obtained a first in Psychology. She then spent 27 years in the civil service before leaving to devote her time to writing. Linda loves spending time in libraries and archives and really enjoys giving talks on her subject.   

www.lindastratmann.com  

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies. 

www.carolwestron.com 

Mark Billingham Awarded CWA Diamond Dagger

Mark Billingham receives highest accolade in crime writing

Mark Billingham is the 2026 recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger, sponsored by Karen Baugh Menuhin.

The award recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.

One of the UK’s most prominent societies, the CWA was founded in 1953 by John Creasey. The awards started in 1955 with its first award going to Winston Graham, best known for Poldark.

25 years ago, Mark Billingham’s debut novel Sleepyhead became an instant bestseller, launching a prolific career as a novelist.

Born in Birmingham, he worked as an actor and stand-up comedian before becoming a full-time author, best known for playing the role of Gary in the cult children’s TV show, Maid Marian and Her Merry Men. Mark continues to be a regular face and voice on TV and radio.

Sleepyhead introduced Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, leading to a further 18 books in the series, which was adapted to screen by Sky 1 in 2010, starring David Morrissey as Thorne. The latest Thorne book, What the Night Brings, was published in June 2025 - Billingham’s 25th book.

Mark Billingham said: “Presuming this is not an administrative error, I could not be more thrilled or honoured. To be added to a list that features most of my literary heroes is fantastic. That so many are also friends is the icing on the cake and, for me, a mark of how very special the crime-writing community is.”

Recent recipients of the Diamond Dagger include Mick Herron, Lynda La Plante, James Lee Burke, Peter James, Walter Mosley, Lee Child, Lawrence Block, Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, Lindsey Davis, Andrew Taylor, Martina Cole, Ann Cleeves, Val McDermid, Robert Goddard, Martin Edwards, Catherine Aird and Simon Brett.

Past icons of the genre acknowledged with a Diamond Dagger include Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, and
John le Carré.

In 2023, Billingham introduced a new series featuring DS Declan Miller with The Last Dance followed by The Wrong Hands (2024). The third book in the series, The Shadow Step, is due out this year. His stand-alone novels include In the Dark, Die of Shame and Rabbit Hole. A series based on the novels In the Dark and Time of Death
was screened on BBC1 in 2017.

Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “Across a remarkable body of work, Mark has consistently set the bar for contemporary crime fiction, while also being generous with his time and support to emerging writers. His influence on the genre extends far beyond his own novels, shaping the crime writing community as a whole. For his outstanding contribution to crime fiction, his lasting impact on readers and writers alike, and his commitment to the genre, Mark Billingham is a thoroughly deserving recipient of the Diamond Dagger.”

In 2022, Billingham won the CWA’s Dagger in the Library, voted by librarians, for his body of work. He’s also been awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year twice (Lazybones, 2005 and 
Death Message, 2009).

Sponsor of the CWA Diamond Dagger, Karen Baugh Menuhin, said: “As sponsor of the CWA Diamond Dagger, I am thrilled to congratulate Mark Billingham on being chosen as the 2026 recipient of crime fiction's highest honour. His place amongst crime writing royalty is hard won and richly deserved.”

Mark is also a member of the rock band, The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a combo of bestselling crime and thriller writers (Val McDermid, Luca Veste, Doug Johnstone, Stuart Neville, and Chris Brookmyre) who performed at Glastonbury in 2019 and 2024.

The CWA Daggers are now regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing. As the oldest awards in the genre, they have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.

Nominations for the CWA Diamond Dagger are recommended by CWA members. Industry experts then narrow these down to a shortlist. The winner is then voted for by a panel of past Diamond Dagger winners.

The Diamond Dagger, sponsored by Karen Baugh Menuhin, is presented at the annual CWA Dagger Awards, dubbed the ‘Oscars of the crime genre,’ which take place this year on July 2nd.  

‘Murder at the Pyramids’ by Jim Eldridge

Published by Allison & Busby,
22 January 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-74903230-2 (HB)

It is 1901, and renowned archaeologist, Abigail Wilson is excited to return to Egypt to show her husband, Daniel, the Great Pyramid at Giza, the site of one of her greatest excavations. Daniel is a retired Scotland Yard detective, and he and Abigail have combined their unique skills to investigate crimes that take place in the world’s major museums, which has earned for them the title The Museum Detectives.

Unfortunately, Abigail’s pleasure is short lived. When she and Daniel enter the subterranean chamber of the Great Pyramid, they discover the body of a man who has been shot in the stomach. They immediately summon the police and, as the Great Pyramid is now a crime scene, Abigail takes Daniel to walk around the Sphinx. The couple know that they have a duty to assist the police but hope to retain their status as witnesses who discovered the body, rather than investigators. 

However, their fame as the Museum Detectives means that they are not allowed to sink into the obscurity enjoyed by most tourists. The dead man is identified as Simon McGruder, an American journalist, and when Abigail and Daniel return to Cairo, they are requested by Herbert Kennedy, the American Ambassador, to assist the Egyptian police to investigate the murder. Aware that the police force in question is a branch of the army, and has little experience in detection, the Museum Detectives accept the commission. They are aided by Abigail’s fluency in the language, and her knowledge of local customs, as well as her excellent relationship with the man in charge of the local museum, who has great respect for her archaeological achievements. 

One person who is definitely not happy about the Wilsons’ involvement is Sir Evelyn Baring, the British Consul-General, a pompous, dictatorial man who is determined to keep rigid control over Egypt, which the British administer, despite the presence of a puppet Egyptian government. Baring is so concerned about maintaining the prestige of the British in Egypt that he insists on the Egyptian police releasing an English prisoner that they have arrested, even though he has been caught stealing from tourists on two separate occasions. This thief figures on the Museum Detectives’ suspect list, and so do two American confidence tricksters, ‘grifters’, who had targeted McGruder when they were all in America, and had followed him to Egypt to try to get the rest of his money. The detectives discover that McGruder had been a writer of articles for an American magazine called Weird Days, which concentrates on stories about the supernatural. McGruder has made his reputation with these articles, which have made sensational claims, that are usually without credible evidence. He came to Giza to research what he claims are the supernatural powers of the Sphinx: claims that Abigail views with great scepticism. Before his death, McGruder had a heated confrontation with Ahmed Hassan, a senior curator at the museum, a man passionate about preserving Egyptian antiquities and culture, and deeply resentful of British rule. 

Abigail and Daniel’s suspect list continues to grow, as they consider the possibility that McGruder’s fiancée, who has clearly grown disillusioned with their relationship, and even his American secretary, might have reasons to wish McGruder dead. It seems remarkable that a man who arrived in Egypt so recently could have so many people on the spot with possible motives to kill him. It is a relief to them both when they meet an English couple whom they can engage with in a social way, especially as they had encountered the couple before in Manchester, when they had tried to assist Abigail when she was attacked. 

This is a very difficult case for the Museum Detectives because they have to utilise the expertise and knowledge of several of their suspects, even though they know that they cannot totally trust any of them. Another violent death occurs, and the detectives have to deal with more interference from Sir Evelyn Baring, who is more obsessed with maintaining British prestige than in serving justice, and, as they draw near to a conclusion, they find their own lives in mortal danger. 

Murder at the Pyramids is the twelfth book in the series featuring the Museum Detectives. It is a beautifully constructed story with fascinating historical details, which are so skilfully inserted that they never interfere with the pace or lively characterisation of the novel. Abigail and Daniel are engaging protagonists, who are respectful of the Egyptian people and their customs. They have a marriage built on mutual respect, in which they admire and augment each other’s skills. This is a beautifully paced story, with a fascinating setting and delightful protagonists. It is a page-turner, which I wholeheartedly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron. 

Jim Eldridge was born in the Kings Cross/Euston area of north London in November 1944. He left school at 16 and did a variety of jobs, before training as a teacher. He taught during the 1970s in disadvantaged areas of Luton, while at the same time writing. He became a full-time writer in 1978. He is a radio, TV and movie scriptwriter with hundreds of radio and TV scripts broadcast in the UK and across the world in a career spanning over 30 years. He lives in Kent with his wife. 

http://www.jimeldridge.com/ 

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies.  

www.carolwestron.com

‘Mystery at Mistletoe Place’ by Clare Chase

Published by Bookouture,
1^st December 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83618-369-3 (PB)

Eve Mallow is happy with her life in the village of Saxford St. Peter. She enjoys her career as an obituary writer but is content to augment her income by working at the cafe owned by her best friend, Viv. While Eve will never be the inspired baker that Viv is, she is invaluable in creating order out of the chaos that usually surrounds her impetuous friend. Eve is also very happy in her marriage to Robin, after her first marriage had ended in divorce. She is glad that Robin is enjoying his police work in London, but she worries about him, and misses him, especially as Christmas will soon be approaching. 

In early November, Eve accompanies Viv, and Viv’s brother, Simon, and her son and daughter-in-law on an exciting local expedition. They visit Arthur’s Boatyard, a business that has been famous for repairing boats and barges for the past hundred years. They are going to collect the sailing boat that Simon has ordered, which has been restored at the boatyard. At the boatyard, Eve feels uncomfortable about the obvious tension between Anthony Mottram, the owner of the boatyard, and Anthony’s second-in-command, Hal Osborne. This is unusual, because the pair have been close friends since their childhood, and both of them are friends with Simon. Her doubts prove to be well founded when Simon takes his new boat out, with Viv’s son and daughter-in-law, Jonah and Stevie, as passengers. Eve and Viv and Eve’s dachshund, Gus, walk along the shore to watch Simon’s first voyage. They are alarmed to see Stevie bailing water out of the boat, and it seems possible that the boat is about to sink. 

Simon’s swift action averts the disaster but the fault in a newly-restored vessel indicates that the problems at Arthur’s Boatyard are far more deep-seated than anybody had realised. In the next few days, rumours go round the village that an empty vodka bottle was discovered in a newly restored boat; Anthony claims it must be due to a casual worker, but Eve wonders if Hal or Anthony are responsible, which would account for the tension between them. 

At the start of December, Eve, Viv, Simon and two of their friends attend a party at Mistletoe Place to celebrate the centenary of Arthur’s Boatyard. All the friends have assisted Eve in her investigations in the past, and Eve has primed Simon to push for an update on the fault in his boat. The friends plan to watch the interactions at the party in the hope of working out what is going on between Anthony and Hal. Mistletoe Place is the property of Hal’s uncle, Theo Osborne. Although Theo is a widower, whose only daughter has left home, Mistletoe Place also houses Hal’s father and stepmother. Eve is familiar with the house because Hal’s stepmother, Tabitha, is a successful interior designer, and Eve has visited Tabitha, in her capacity as a journalist, in order to research an article about the business. Eve likes and admires Tabitha, but she notices that she looks more anxious than is reasonable for a friendly, celebration party. It is obvious that there is a lot of bad feeling at the party, most of which is centred around Anthony. Eve overhears Hal begging Anthony not to sack him because his job is his ‘passport to freedom’; she also overhears a violent quarrel between Anthony and Theo Osborne, in which Osborne accuses Anthony of being behind somebody’s disappearance. Eve also encounters Anthony’s sister, Ada, who is gloating that things are going wrong for Anthony and Hal. Near the end of the party, when some guests are leaving, Tabitha asks Eve if she has seen Anthony because people wish to say goodbye to him. Eve wonders if he has taken refuge from the controversy surrounding him by going to the boatyard, and she and Viv walk down to see if they can locate him. Anthony is at Arthur’s Boatyard, but when Eve and Viv find him, he is dead, his head battered and bloody by a pipe wrench. 

Once again Eve has an obituary to write and a murder to investigate. She commences a round of interviews and soon discovers that the Osborne and Mottram families have many secrets. There are clues to follow and alibis to probe, while Eve still has her everyday work to do, and preparations to make for Christmas and getting her cottage ready for her annual charity open evening. She is also concerned that Robin might not be home to share with her all of the joyous preparations for Christmas. Another murder occurs, but Eve continues to investigate, which results in a terrifying encounter when her own life is in grave peril. 

Mystery at Mistletoe Place is the fifteenth book in the series featuring Eve Mallow and the people of Saxford St. Peter. It is an enjoyable addition to a series that continues to develop and grow, and is based in a warm, close-knit village community. It has an interesting plot, and engaging characters, whose relationships develop with each book. Murder at Mistletoe Place is an enjoyable read which I recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations. Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium. As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.

www.clarechase.com  

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with  The Fragility of Poppies. 

www.carolwestron.com

‘The Doorman’ by Chris Pavone

Published by Head of Zeus,
22 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80328736-2 (HB)

It’s night-time in New York City where, earlier in the day, a black man was shot and killed by an officer from the New York Police Department.  The man’s violent death has prompted a demonstration which is still in progress.  People throughout the city are jumpy and community tensions exacerbated. 

Away from the disquiet, Chicky Diaz patrols his patch in front of an apartment block aptly entitled the Bohemia.  The ex-military man has worked as a doorman here for over twenty-eight years and, whilst he’s aware of the city’s unrest, tonight he is considering his own difficulties as he looks across at the streetlamps in front of Central Park West.  Similarly, those who live in the Bohemia are preoccupied with their personal and professional situations with little thought of the violence escalating across town.  Neither the doorman nor those who live in the imposing building expect what is about to unfold. 

The Bohemia is a terrific setting for the novel; the grand old building has been refurbished to provide luxurious homes for its wealthy occupants.  The building epitomizes the juxtaposition of poverty and wealth in the famous and infuses the text with a sense of ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ class distinctions and divisions.  The Bohemia defines those who live and work there, in many ways it becomes a character in its own right as it witnesses the comings and goings of those who pass through its entrance. 

Indeed, the novel is driven by its eclectic mix of characters.  Chicky has fallen on hard times, he’s in debt, facing eviction, and, despite his best efforts, must rub shoulders with villains.  Like countless of his fellow New Yorkers who are working hard to get by, Chicky is frequently underestimated and undervalued by those oozing wealth and privilege.  The notable exception to this kind of snobbery is found in Emily Longworth from Apartment I IC-D.  Emily values the doorman’s reliability and friendly, reassuring manner.  She was a struggling artist with money worries of her own before she married Whit.  As the story begins, however, she is processing her recent realization that her husband is a criminal; amongst other shady deals he makes billions of dollars selling military equipment to bad people.  Whit treats women and anyone he considers weak with disdain, misuses his physical and monetary power and is thoroughly unlikable.  How will Emily deal with this and what effect will it have on the lifestyle she has enjoyed and shared with her two children?  

The Doorman highlights the social, economic and political uncertainties of what we have come to describe as western democracies.  The book looks at types of people who live within such democracies, but who have very different life experiences.  Whilst the themes through which the reader views these preoccupations are thought-provoking and compelling, they do not detract from the thriller at the heart of the novel.  Violent death threatens from the outset, the question is who will fall victim to it?  Against a background of beautifully crafted flash backs the plot accelerates towards a terrifying, violent and unexpected conclusion. 

A novel for our time, a super read and highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Chris Pavone grew up in New York City and attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn and Cornell University. He worked at a number of publishing houses over nearly two decades, most notably as an editor at Clarkson Potter, where he specialized in cookbooks; in the late nineties, he also wrote a little (and mostly blank) book called The Wine Log. His first novel, The Expats, released in the U.S. and the U.K. in early 2012, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and is being published in fifteen languages on five continents, and developed for film. Chris is married and the father of twin schoolboys, as well as an old cocker spaniel, and they all live in Greenwich Village and the North Fork of Long Island. 

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.  

‘Mrs Hudson and the Belladonna Inheritance’ by Martin Davies

Published by Allison and Busby,
22 January 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-74903249-4 (HB)

‘Mrs Hudson and the Belladonna Inheritance’ is the eighth novel in Davies’s Holmes and Hudson series. I have previously reviewed its predecessor, ‘Mrs Hudson and the Capricorn Incident’, which featured a threat to world peace. This novel centres around another danger. The wealthy, universally detested and malevolent Charles Belladonna who lives in a grand house that he won in a game of cards (he renames it Belladonna Hall), and spends most of his time in his laboratory developing an explosive which will require only a small amount to cause catastrophic damage. He takes a wife who dies in childbirth. Belladonna subsequently keeps his infant son by him in the laboratory, but in the chaos following a conflagration (out of which Belladonna is dragged unconscious) the son – who has previously been scarred by another accident in the laboratory - disappears. 

Belladonna is later killed in another explosion in his laboratory caused by the use of impure chemicals. In the meantime, he has written his will. This states that unless the son, Paul, has made himself known to Belladonna’s executor by his (Paul’s) 26th birthday, the entire estate will go the Margate Refuge for Retired Donkeys. This is another example of Belladonna’s malevolence: his potential asinine benefaction is not because he has a liking for such animals but because his sole executor and neighbour, Colonel Stephenson, with whom he was not on particularly amicable terms and who was thus surprised to be named executor, has detested donkeys ever since he ‘had his arm broken by an army mule out in the Punjab’. Belladonna included even more mischief in this will. If his heir appears, he will initially receive only personal effects and an annuity unless within one year he has taken the Belladonna name and married Georgina Beatrice Montmorency-Smythe, the niece of the man from whom Belladonna won his residence (then called Montmorency Hall) and who now lives in genteel poverty. As Holmes observes, ‘You must have heard enough by now to realise that this man Belladonna was motivated entirely by spite. He had already expunged the Montmorency name from the family’s ancestral dwelling. Now he planned to bring about its extinction altogether. If the young lady is to avail herself of his charity, she must give herself in marriage to his son and take on the hated Belladonna name.’ 

I hope you have followed me this far. There are a number of further complications, of course. One is that nobody is aware of the location of the heir’s scar, detailed in a document held securely by Belladonna’s solicitor, other than the boy’s former nurse whose whereabouts are unknown. Given that Belladonna had previously let it be known that he would sell the recipe for his explosive to any country willing to pay a colossal sum, there is a race to find details of the scar and to produce claimants to be his heir. The British establishment is unsurprisingly very concerned by this. There are subplots involving shoes and socks (I am slightly concerned by Davies’s fetish for footwear as I seem to recall that boots by a railway were of importance in his previous novel) and even mutton pies. Holmes and Watson are perhaps more prominent than in the previous novel, but it is again Mrs Hudson and particularly Flotsam, the endearing yet shrewd narrator, who win the day. The latter’s past life plays some part in proceedings, including a criminal who has a record of involvement in particularly unsavoury activities. There is a suitably comic episode involving cows as the novel reaches its conclusion as well as an important revelation that is seemingly known only to Flotsam. We are also left wondering about her love life. 

But as with its predecessor (I still have yet to read earlier novels in the series – a treat to come), this is enormous fun. It is well-plotted and a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable story, told with Davies’s trademark light and witty touch. I must confess to a slight disappointment that the memorable Irascible Earl, so magnificent in the ‘Capricorn Incident’, makes only a brief appearance, but his absence can be endured given the wealth of other characters. If you have not yet read any of this series, I urge you to do so. You will not be disappointed.
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Reviewer: David Whittle

Martin Davies grew up in North West England. He has travelled widely, including in the Middle East and India, and his plan for The Conjuror's Bird  was put together on a trekking holiday in Greenland. He lives in South West London and works for the BBC as a producer.

David Whittle is firstly a musician (he is an organist and was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for over 30 years) but has always enjoyed crime fiction. This led him to write a biography of the composer Bruce Montgomery who is better known to lovers of crime fiction as Edmund Crispin, about whom he gives talks now and then. 

‘One London Day’ by Chris Humphreys

Published by Allison & Busby,
22 January 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-74903335-4 (HB)

The book basically concerns a few days in the life of a contract killer and a rogue MI5 Unit. 

The setting is the hot summer of 2018, and the author makes his knowledge of London known via his absolutely spot on description of various places in and around East London and its environs.  

The rogue MI5 outfit nicknamed The Shadows - is headed by Sebastien who appears to be  psychopath.  Sebastien sends a hitman - Mr Phipps - to kill the respectable London businessman Joseph Severin who has a side line in false accounting and to retrieve the books when it becomes clear that their game is up and they have been rumbled. 

There is a far-reaching spider web of potential collateral damage involving innocent musician Lottie and Sonya - a Russian prostitute who has heart-breaking reasons for her chosen temporary profession.  A shadowy Ellerby from MI5 has them all in her sights. 

This is a fast-paced thriller which I understand is the first in a planned series stepping into the murky world of the intelligence services.  I look forward to the next in the series!
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Reviewer: Toni Russell 

Chris Humphreys was born in Toronto and raised in London. His acting career has taken him from the West End to Hollywood with stops along the way for The Bill and at the Rovers Return on Coronation Street. His debut novel, The French Executioner, was shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger and more recently Plague won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel. After a dozen years on a remote island in British Columbia, he is now living in Totnes, Devon.

Toni Russell is a retired teacher who has lived in London all her life and loves the city.  She says, ‘I enjoy museums, galleries and the theatre but probably my favourite pastime is reading.  I found myself reading detective fiction almost for the first time during lockdown and have particularly enjoyed old fashioned detective fiction rather than the nordic noir variety.  I am a member of a book club at the local library and have previously attended literature classes at our local Adult Education Centre. 

‘Murder in Paris’ by Christina Koning

Published by Allison & Busby,
20 November 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-74903246-3 (HB)

Paris, in April, 1945, just after the liberation. Blind veteran Frederick Rowlands has been asked there by MI5 agent Iris Barnes, to identify a young woman calling herself Clara Metzner, whose evidence – if she really is who she says – will help track down French collaborators responsible for the death of British agents. Frederick’s first meeting with Clara is inconclusive – then a shocking death occurs. 

This series follows Rowlands through the war. He’s an interesting protagonist, blinded in the trenches of WWI, married with three adult daughters, and now running a hostel and education centre for fellow blinded servicemen. There are also a number of series characters, like Iris Barnes, Celia Swift, his not-quite love interest, and his London police colleague, Alasdair Douglas, who gradually rises up the ranks during the series. The story’s told in the third person, focused on Rowlands, and so we’re told what he heard, what he smelt and what was beneath his feet, making for very vivid writing. 

It’s a good plot, with vivid characters (you can have fun identifying famous artists and writers under different names) and lots of action, particularly in the cemetery meeting and final underground confrontation, but what drew me most into the novel was the vivid evocation of social setting: the description of France in the aftermath of brutal occupation by the German forces, and the behaviour of French mobs towards those they saw as collaborators. An older French friend once told me that the war was never discussed in her village, and this book brings that atmosphere alive. Nazi rule had been terrifyingly brutal, in ways that we in the UK find hard to imagine, not having lived through it, and the reaction of those who’d survived it was also violent. The only thing to do afterwards was to bury it completely,and some incidents in this book show why. 

There’s a feel, in the celebratory ending, that this tenth Blind Detective is winding up the series. Koning’s many fans will hope not; there must be plenty of mysteries to be solved in the chaos of post-war London.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor 

Christina Koning is an award-winning novelist, journalist and academic. She was born in Kuala Belait, Borneo, and spent her early childhood in Venezuela and Jamaica. After coming to England, she was educated at the University of Cambridge, Newcastle College of Art, and the University of Edinburgh, eventually settling in south east London. As an academic, she has taught Creative Writing at the University of Oxford and University of London, and was the 2014-15 Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. She has taught at Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education at Madingley Hall and was Editor of Collected, the Royal Literary Fund's magazine. Christina Koning has two grown-up children and lives in Cambridge. 

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine. 

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book
An Imposter in Shetland 
www.marsalitaylor.co.uk