Thursday 28 December 2017

DECEMBER 2017 - ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY - 6 OF THE BEST

Another 6 acquired during the month......

Amazon freebie purchase
Martin Rhodes could not believe he was living the life of a vagabond. He had no money and no home. He was once a respected homicide detective for the Newport Police Department, but one single action had turned his life upside down. He had gone from catching criminals to becoming one. He had spent ten years in prison for murder.

FROM THOMAS FINCHAM, THE NEW VOICE IN THE CRIME AND SUSPENSE GENRE, COMES A HERO UNLIKE ANY IN FICTION.

Martin Rhodes is a former police detective who spent years in prison for murder. He is flawed but honorable. He always gets his man...

Gritty, fast-paced, and utterly suspenseful. You will stay up all night to finish it!

A serial killer is leaving dismembered bodies on trains for passengers to find and he will stop at nothing to get his message across.

Former Detective Martin Rhodes spent ten years in prison for murder. After traveling from town to town in search of employment,he arrives in the City of Bridgeton. Rhodes hopes to re-start his life and to leave his past behind him. Special Agent Jo Pullinger is searching for a man who killed her father over twenty years ago. Jo is suffering from a heart condition which she hides from the world. A series of dead bodies on the trains lead Rhodes and Jo to end up searching for the same person.

A Christmas present from my wife!
A MISSING GIRL. A DESPERATE FATHER.
A CASE WHICH WILL TEAR THEM APART.

'Plotting that takes the breath away' Ian Rankin

'A fantastic thriller writer' Mark Billingham

* * * * *

WHO IS DEADLIER ...

Leonard Howell's worst nightmare has come true: his daughter Caroline has been kidnapped. He can't rely on the cops, so Howell calls the only man he trusts to get her back.

THE MAN WHO KNOWS THE TRUTH

Eddie Flynn knows what it's like to lose a daughter and vows to bring Caroline home safe. Once a con artist, now a hotshot criminal attorney, Flynn is no stranger to the shady New York underworld.

... OR THE ONE WHO BELIEVES A LIE?

However, as he steps back into his old life, Flynn realizes that the rules of the game have changed - and that he is being played. But who is pulling the strings? And is anyone in this twisted case telling the truth...?

* * * * *

An ingenious plot, gripping action and characters who leap off the page: discover why readers love Steve Cavanagh:

Another Amazon purchase, when the publisher Near to the Knuckle was doing the 12 days of Christmas promotion!
“A surprisingly dark, thoughtful, action filled, hardboiled thriller with a heart as black as pitch. If you like dark fiction, this is it.” --Christopher Black.

“The Hard Cold Shoulder is clever, ruthless and hardboiled enough to give the meanest tough guy the shivers.” -- Frank Larnerd.

“Every step leaves ex DI Ben Pitkin wrestling with his own sanity, takes him deeper into seedy shadows thick with money and greed, deeper into the sickness of a country tearing itself apart under the pressures of austerity. Northern Noir at its most fierce, Sykes’ novella takes a hard, cold look at the desperate actions of desperate people caught in the effects of psychological trauma.” --E.S. Wynn

Amazon again 
Josh Nieto celebrates his 18th birthday by walking out of Juvenile Detention and into a sweet job as the driver for an elderly loan shark named Malcolm Hunt. But when Hunt's Dixie Mafia past catches up to him, Josh finds himself in the middle of a blood feud.

"Steve Brewer’s latest is a bare-bones tale of murder, deceit, and betrayal. A prison-hardened member of the Dixie Mafia has tracked down the man he blames for his incarceration, and he intends to get his pound of flesh. The only person who can save the man’s life is a kid just released from juvenile detention, but he’ll have to risk his freedom to do it." -- Bill Fitzhugh, award-winning author of HUMAN RESOURCES

"Fast-paced, fun, and funny, this caper is another must-read from the master." -- Edgar Award-winning author Charlie Price

Review copy via Edelweiss from publisher Oceanview
PI Jake Longly and Nicole Jamison head to New Orleans at the behest of Nicole's uncle, movie producer Charles Balfour, when his megastar, A-list actor Kirk Ford, awakens in his hotel bed with the body of Kristi Guidry, a local college coed. Ford, in the Big Easy for a location shoot, remembers little of the evening and nothing of the murder. And, to make matters worse, Kristi is the niece of a local mafioso-type who will do whatever is necessary to avenge her death. Balfour is losing money every day the filming is stalled--he needs his actor cleared, and quickly.

Surrounded by glitzy Hollywood stars and intimidated by seedy underworld characters, Jake and Nicole encounter nothing but obstacles. Something isn't right. The facts don't fit. Who would want Kristi dead? Why frame Kirk for the murder? Everyone has an opinion, including Kristi's friends and ex-boyfriend, the local homicide detectives, and a fortune-teller. The clock is ticking as Jake and Nicole struggle to decipher who's lying, who's telling the truth, and exactly who schemed to murder Kristi Guidry. Nothing is easy in The Big Easy.

Copy gratefully received from the author, all the way from Tasmania. I do like the back cover, I wonder why?







SAY IT'S NOT SO, but detective squads still put their faith in the whiteboard and texta, brainstorming difficult cases. Like this:
1. Hildvi dies. Accident, suicide, murder?
2. Wayne, distraught.
3. Josh, Ange, impeccable alibis.
4. Mrs Ellicott swears she heard a scream.
5. Kurt Cowboy - mysterious, dangerous, no known ID.
6. Operation Centipede - Brisbane, "colourful identity" Marko Kaljurand.
7. Fishscale, Charlie, Blow, Wogan = best quality cocaine.
8. Uluru ... Sorry, wrong whiteboard? No. Correct whiteboard. Add Alice Springs.

Seeking answers to myriad tricky questions, Detective Inspector Franz Heineken, aka Pufferfish, aka long-time Aussie blow-in, knows where he must go - to the two Australian places he never wanted to investigate, let alone re-visit: the fabled Red Centre, and his ethically questionable past.

"The writing is funny and sharp, and loaded with attitude and local colour ... For those lucky crime fans who will discover him for the first time, the good news is his new publisher has indicated his back catalogue will be re-released." - Herald Sun Weekend Magazine Melbourne.

"The narrative style is instantly recognisable ... well it is if you've enjoyed him before." - Col's Criminal Library Leighton Buzzard.


6 comments:

  1. How cool to have a quote on the cover of a novel!

    These books seem exactly the kind you would enjoy. I think the one that sounds most enjoyable to me is A-list. I will see how you like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tracy, I was happier than a pig in sh*t when I found out!

      Hopefully I read all 6 of them early 2018, as I try and cut down on getting more books. I sound like a broken record, but we will see how 2018 goes!

      Delete
  2. Oh blimey, well-deserved fame at last! I don't think Leighton Buzzard often gets mentioned on the back of books. And at last your influential blogging is recognized... I would buy 10 copies if it happened to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers. I did get a mention in another book last year, which quoted a review from a previous book by the author, but it wasn't actually my quote, they must have got their reviewers mixed-up! I wasn't quite so chuffed about that one!
      Fair to say, this book's a keeper. The publisher is re-issuing all the previous books in the series, so I wonder if I'll be a one-hit wonder or whether my astute observations will stand for the whole series.

      Delete
  3. Good taste, that wife of yours has. The Liar won the Gold Dagger last night.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh wow I didn't know that. Time to read something by him!

      Delete