WES MARKIN - A LESSON IN CRIME (2019)

Synopsis/blurb....

Your student years should be the most carefree years of your life.

Not for Michael Yorke.

When a student party ends in violent murder, Michael Yorke begins to realise he harbours a fascination with crime which goes way beyond the norm.

Driven to discover the truth behind a series of murders which shocks the university community, Yorke turns his back on those closest to him: His girlfriend, Charlotte, and his best friend, Brandon. With bloody and disastrous consequences.

A super-fast one-hour thrill ride, which will define the relentless and compassionate police officer who stars in One Last Prayer for the Rays.

A FREEBIE audible download generously offered by the author during the current COVID-19 disruption and my first time with Markin's series character, future cop Michael Yorke.

Student days, parties, friendships, 90s music, Leeds, rivalries, homophobia, intolerance, girlfriends, boyfriends, date rape, a stabbing, a death, a troubled relationship or two, lies, secrets, flings, infidelity, sex, break-ups, families, another violent death, a further attack and an outcome.

Quite a busy tale for an hour or so's listening. All of it viewed from the perspective of Michael Yorke a love struck student. I haven't been totally captivated by him as a character yet, though with a few more from Markin's series on my TBR pile maybe the next one will be the charm.

Decent enough story and I was a bit surprised by the culprit.
An enjoyable hour or so was had.

Emotive narration by Aubrey Parsons which I quite liked.

3 from 5

Markin has been busy. There's four full length Yorke books which been published in the last year or so. My next time will be the first proper novel in the series - One Last Prayer for the Rays.


Read - (listened to) April, 2020
Published - 2019
Page count - 47 (1 hr 15 min)
Source - Audible FREEBIE purchase
Format - Audible

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET: U IS FOR ........ UHNAK, UTAH, UNDER THE BRIGHT LIGHTS

Another week another slice of crime fiction from my collection. This week........ U

U is for...... 

Dorothy Uhnak ....... Uhnak was a NYPD police officer turned author. Her semi-autobiographical work Policewoman was the basis for the Angie Dickinson TV show of the 70s, something I dimly remember.

Policewoman (1964)

Dorothy Uhnak's no-holds-barred memoir about her life as one of New York's finest

The "original policewoman," Dorothy Uhnak was the first to write a procedural novel with a female cop as the protagonist. But before she turned her talents to fiction, Uhnak was a detective with the New York Transit Police. Policewoman chronicles her fourteen years on the force, where she was decorated twice for bravery.

This insider's view of law enforcement takes you behind the scenes into a city that was a no-man's land of corruption, drugs, and violence. Uhnak recounts the hurdles facing a female cop during New York's tumultuous 1950s and '60s, and the difficult adjustment to a new way of life once she gets her badge. She takes readers from firearms training to homicide scenes to interrogation rooms where detectives extract confessions. As gritty and relentless as Uhnak's novels, Policewoman is a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last, spellbinding page is turned.

Uhnak wrote about 10 books in all, including a three book series featuring Christie Opara. I've read her standalone - Codes of Betrayal (1997) back in 2014 and enjoyed it well enough to track down a few more of her books. The Witness is the second book in the Opara series.

The Witness (1969)

Christie Opara, the only woman on the DA's Special Investigation Squad, is assigned by her boss to shadow his daughter to a civil rights demonstration. An ugly group of hecklers soon turns the demonstration into a riot and someone gets shot. A cop with a bewildered look on his face stands over the body with a revolver in his hand.

The crowd and the public cry for the cop's blood in the days to come. Only Christie, who was standing next to the cop, saw another person pull the trigger. Now she must find the real murderer before matters get totally out of hand . . .

'Detective Opara is going to become one of fiction's most popular police people' Sunday Mirror



U is for......

Utah ...... and not the home of too much crime or mystery fiction from what I can see. I do have one book on order and written by an author born in Salt Lake City and set there as well.

At least, I'm sorted for when I eventually get back to an ongoing US 50 States Reading Challenge.


Linda Sillitoe - Secrets Keep (1995)

Secrets Keep (1995)

The trouble with Caitlin is that she's obsessed with her work as a crime reporter. And troubled by it. The scenes she writes about stay with her when she's in bed with her husband at night and when she's driving the children to school in the morning.Things go from bad to worse when Caitlin's older brother disappears. Not only is the era ire extended family thrown into a crisis, but the closer they become and the more they learn about each other, including a startling revelation about a hushed-up family suicide, the more uncomfortable they feel.

All in all Caitlin's is probably a typical Salt Lake City family. But Linda Sillitoe peels back layers of pretense in a story that begins like a dream that one remembers only well enough to be unnerved by. For Caitlin, it is a nightmare that has become real.


Lastly,

U is for.......

Under the Bright Lights from Daniel Woodrell

It's the first in the three book Rene Shade series.
Muscle for the Wing and The Ones You Do are the ohters

Under the Bright Lights (1986)

Jewel Cobb had come to St.Bruno to climb on the big city gravy train. His cousin Duncan set little Jewel up to do the killing. The boy was hillbilly raw but country rough, and pleasingly expendable.


It seemed a simple enough case for the authorities. Too bad the dead man was a prominent black city council man. But for the police detective Rene Shade it all looked too neat. Shade takes on city hall as he follows a twisting trail through the sleazy streets of the Cajun quarter into the murky swamps and bayous that ring the city. It is a trail that leads to corruption and yet more murder.


Previous Alphabet entries........

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - A IS FOR.... AX, ABBOTT, ABERDEEN

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - B IS FOR ....... BOSTON, BIRD, BONES

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - C IS FOR.........CAPE TOWN, CONFIDENCE MEN, CROSS

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - D IS FOR ....... DETROIT, DISHER, DEAD

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - E IS FOR ....... EDINBURGH, EXCESS, ELLIS

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - F IS FOR ....... FLORIDA, FRANCIS, FLOATERS

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - G IS FOR ....... GALWAY, GUNS, GRAFTON

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - H IS FOR ....... HAMBURG, HAMMETT, HIDDEN RIVER

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - I IS FOR ....... ICE, ICELAND, IZZO

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - J IS FOR ....... JAPAN, JACK CARTER. JELLO SALAD

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - K IS FOR ....... KING, KOREA, KEEPER

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - L IS FOR ........ LE CRIME, LEONARD, LOS ANGELES 

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - M IS FOR ........ MIAMI, MACKAY, MUCHO MOJO 

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - N IS FOR ........ NORWAY, NISBET, NEMESIS

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - O IS FOR ........ OWEN, ONE NIGHT STANDS AND LOST WEEKENDS, OXFORD

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - P IS FOR ........ PARKER, PHILADELPHIA, PAYDIRT

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - R IS FOR ........ RAYMOND, ROGUE COP, RUSSIA

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - S IS FOR ...... SWEDEN, SMITH, SILENT JOE

CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - T IS FOR ...... THOMPSON, TEXAS, TOWER

2 BY LEE CHILD

2 from Lee Child this week.

You would probably have to have been living in a cave for the past twenty five years or so to have never heard of Lee Child or his main man Jack Reacher.

I've probably seen as many films with pint-sized Tom Cruise as the lead as I've read books in the series and I can't remember what ones they were anyway..... pre blog days when I wasn't making lists or keeping records.

I guess I'll try and start at the beginning again when I eventually get back to the series.

If I want to play catch-up the series is upto about 25 books at the minute. I think I have most of the first dozen on the shelves.


Killing Floor (1997)

"This was the first Jack Reacher novel and with its lean, spare prose it has one of the most intriguing heroes of our times and displays a gift for explosive drama." (Daily Express)

Jack Reacher jumps off a bus and walks fourteen miles down a country road into Margrave, Georgia. An arbitrary decision he's about to regret.

Reacher is the only stranger in town on the day they have had their first homicide in thirty years.The cops arrest Reacher and the police chief turns eyewitness to place him at the scene. As nasty secrets leak out, and the body count mounts, one thing is for sure.

They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.

Although the Jack Reacher novels can be read in any order, Killing Floor is the first book in the internationally popular series. It presents Reacher for the first time, as the tough ex-military cop of no fixed abode: a righter of wrongs, the perfect action hero.

Die Trying (1998)

Jack Reacher, alone, strolling nowhere.

A Chicago street in bright sunshine. A young woman, struggling on crutches. Reacher offers her a steadying arm.

And turns to see a handgun aimed at his stomach.

Chained in a dark van racing across America, Reacher doesn't know why they've been kidnapped. The woman claims to be FBI. She's certainly tough enough. But at their remote destination, will raw courage be enough to overcome the hopeless odds?

Although the Jack Reacher novels can be read in any order, this is the 2nd in the series.

LAWRENCE BLOCK - DEFENDER OF THE INNOCENT (2014)

Synopsis/blurb.......

The criminal defense lawyer. Redefined.

Martin H. Ehrengraf, dapper and diabolical, may be Lawrence Block's darkest creation. He's the defense attorney who never sees the inside of a courtroom, because all his clients are innocent - no matter how guilty they may seem. Some even believe themselves to be guilty: They remember pulling the trigger, or wiring the dynamite to their spouse's car, or holding the bloody blade. But things have a way of working out when Martin Ehrengraf is on the case. Evidence turns up, incriminating someone else. More murders occur, with the same M.O. And the gate of the jail cell opens, and the accused walks free.

But be careful - hiring Martin Ehrengraf comes with a price. A high price, one that comes due even if he appears to have done nothing on your behalf. And you'd better be prepared to pay...

Here at last are the complete exploits of Martin Ehrengraf: a dozen delicious tales of vice and villainy including one - ''The Ehrengraf Fandango'' - that is appearing for the first time anywhere. It's a 12-course meal of sinister surprises, exquisitely prepared and served simmering hot by the greatest living master of mystery fiction.

Another Lawrence Block book enjoyed on Audible during the month of February.

Twelve short stories, each comprising a case for Block's defense attorney Martin Ehrengraf.
I've briefly encountered Ehrenegraf before in The Ehrengraf Fandango last year.

Here for the sake of completists (of which I'm one) we have......
“The Ehrengraf Defense” © 1976
“The Ehrengraf Presumption” © 1978
“The Ehrengraf Experience” © 1978
“The Ehrengraf Appointment” © 1978
“The Ehrengraf Riposte” © 1978
“The Ehrengraf Obligation” © 1979
“The Ehrengraf Alternative” © 1982
“The Ehrengraf Nostrum” © 1984
“The Ehrengraf Affirmation” © 1997
“The Ehrengraf Reverse” © 2002
“The Ehrengraf Settlement” © 2012
“The Ehrengraf Fandango” © 2014
Afterword from the author

Most of these originally appeared as one-off stories in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine with a few appearances elsewhere, probably around the time of the copyright date.

I really enjoyed the collection and the narration, so much so I re-listened to it again during April.
Block's protagonist is a dapper defense attorney who only defends the innocent and never appears in court. Ehrengraf's clients in each and every case, with the exception of one I think, face murder charges and the evidence against them in always pretty compelling.....

A woman murdered with a fire axe - our client has such an axe and a drug habit which causes blackouts, memory loss and no alibi.

A man shot in his drawing room - our client owns the gun which killed him, was present and has gun shot residue on her fingers.

A girl strangled with a Cadman society tie - our defendant is a member of the Cadman society and had a relationship with the girl.

Ehrengraf outlines his terms, agrees a fee, and then after a suitable interlude he's meeting his client for payment, the charges against them miraculously dropped after new facts come to light...... a copy cat killing or two, a mass poisoning outbreak, a helpful suicide with a note confessing guilt and exhonerating Ehrengraf's client, etc etc.

All our accompanying killings take place off-page and Ehrengraf's involvement is all the more chilling for Block only ever alluding to his man's actions. On a couple of occasions, our lawyer has to explain certain actions which leave our clients in no doubt as to the capabilities of the man and the lengths to which he is prepared to go to achieve the desired outcome. It's usually when the client is rich and has second thoughts as to paying Ehrengraf's fee as from an initial glance his efforts do not appear to have resulted in the charges being dropped. As a reader we know the man's MO. It's fun seeing the realisation dawn on them and the terror on their faces as they appreciate just how dangerous the dapper little man is.

Overall I really liked the collection. Looking back some of the cases are kind of blurred and listening to them one after another they could lose some of their power. Typically the book on both occasions  took about three or four days to enjoy, so that wasn't really a problem. There's also plenty of variety in the material - a man of Block's abilities isn't really going to repeat himself 12 times over.

I think my favourites were the opener - The Ehrengraf Defense which introduces the well dressed lawyer and allows us a glimpse of his true nature and another case - name escapes me - which doesn't include murder but some conflict resolution between a disabled house bound troublemaker and his hapless victim.

4.5 from 5

Read - (listened to) February, 2020
Published - 2014
Page count - 237 (6 hrs 44 min)
Source - Audible download code received from author's assistant. (I do have a print copy somewhere)
Format - Audible

GRAHAM BRACK - LYING AND DYING (2017)

Synopsis/blurb...

An international crime thriller with an unforgettable detective. Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin, Jo Nesbo and Peter Robinson.

What do you do when the poison comes from within…?


The body of a young woman is found strangled by the side of the road.

There are no obvious clues to what happened, apart from the discovery of a large amount of cash concealed on her person.

The brilliant, but lazy, Lieutenant Josef Slonský is put in charge of the case.

With a wry sense of humour, a strong stubborn streak and a penchant for pastries, Slonský is not overly popular with the rest of the police force. But he is paired with the freshly-graduated, overly-eager Navrátil, whom he immediately takes under his wing.

When fingers start to point inwards to someone familiar with police operations, Slonský and Navrátil are put in a difficult position.

If what they suspect is true, how deep does the corruption run? Are they willing to risk their careers in their pursuit of the truth?

Anyone could be lying - and others may be in danger of dying…

LYING AND DYING is the first international crime thriller in the detective series featuring Lieutenant Josef Slonský: an atmospheric police procedural full of dark humour.

Lying and Dying is the first in a six book series featuring Czech policeman Joseph Slonsky from author Graham Brack. After a shaky start for me, one where I wasn't too sure I was going to find Slonsky's humour and mannerisms agreeable I found myself really enjoying it.

We have the puzzling murder of a young woman and an unlikely suspect - a Government minister who lies to Slonsky about his relationship with the girl. I don't usually read too many police procedural-cum-murder mysteries although I read a lot in the crime fiction genre, but I could make an exception for Slonsky.

Murder, cash, political undertones, a cheating husband, a cautious boss, a young pup policeman to train, or at least have fetching beers, food and coffee, Czech dissident history, corruption, blackmail, rivals, control, power, manipulation, radical politics and allegiances, family, and a lot more besides.

I read this a month or so ago and the finer details are fading including important character names. I feel like I'm hardly doing the book justice.

I liked the main character..... his past, his failed marriage, his outlook on life, his previous experiences, the on-going grief he gives his boss, his irreverence and general disdain for all around him, his doggedness and refusal to be cowed or intimidated by greater authorities, his intelligence and cunning, often concealed by his slovenly appearance and manner, the ease with which he can bend people to his will, his love of food and drink, the relationships he has with his colleagues and their willingness to participate in some of his slightly underhand schemes to soften up a suspect in order to advance the investigation, the mentoring of his pupil Navratil and his protection of him and the surprising lengths he is willing to go to to ensure justice for his victim.

I liked the blend of Czech history in the narrative, the recounting of events from the past and how they effected Slonsky. I felt like I learned something about the country and its people while at the same time having a few laughs at some of the antics Slonsky gets up to in the course of his investigation.

Pace, setting, character, plot, outcome - all massive ticks in the box.

4.5 from 5

Slaughter and Forgetting is the second book in the series. I'm looking forward to it in the not too distant future.

Read - March, 2020
Published - 2017
Page count - 297
Source - owned copy
Format - Kindle

ANDY RIVERS - THE SPY WHO BLUFFED ME (2014)

Synopsis/blurb...

The name's Palmer...Pagga Palmer...

Neville 'Pagga' Palmer is an over-sexed, run-of-the-mill doorman with delusions of grandeur. Despite being terrified of his local rivals and thicker than a whale omelette he's convinced that he's a highly trained spy who is simply 'sleeping' until needed by the security services. This isn't a scenario that anyone who has ever met him would think likely...until one day an upper-class, blonde-haired spook asks him to sign the official secrets act and tells him that his services are required for Queen and country...

Bad guys beware 'cos Pagga's coming to save the world!

A bit of a daft one to lighten the mood and one I thoroughly enjoyed without feeling like I'd just read the book of the century.

70-odd pages long, a bit laddish in tone with a likable main character, totally lacking in self-awareness and oblivious to how those around him perceive him.

Small town community, a plot which strains the bounds of credibility but which I was happy to buy into, a bouncer, drunks, trouble makers, a bargain basin tart - cheaper than a pound shop, a secret mission, more troublesome youths, job rivalry, the girl of his dreams and a happy ending in more ways than one.

Bawdy, funny, rude, crude, probably not everyone's cup of tea, the sort of thing Paul D. Brazill and Charlie Williams might come up with after a weekend out on the lash.

I have something else from Andy Rivers which has languished on the kindle for about 5 years or more - Maxwell's Silver Hammer. Hopefully I don't forget it in a few week's time as I think I'd have some fun if this one is anything to go by.

4 from 5

Read - April, 2020
Published - 2014
Page count - 68
Source - purchased copy
Format - Kindle

MARCH 2020 - ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY - 6 OF THE BEST!

Six of the best added to the collection in March......

a couple of review copies, a couple of FREEBIES and a couple of purchases

Patrick Hoffman - Clean Hands (2020) - Edelweiss early reviewer site

Clean Hands is the author's 3rd novel. I've not read his debut, The White Van yet, but I enjoyed his last one Every Man A Menace


Synopsis/blurb....

Corporate lawyer Elizabeth Carlyle is under pressure. Her prestigious New York law firm is working on a high-stakes case, defending a prominent bank that's been accused of fraud. When Elizabeth gets the news that one of her junior associates has lost his phone - and the secret documents that were on it - she needs help. Badly.

Enter ex-CIA officer Valencia Walker, a high-priced fixer who gets called in when wealthy corporations, people and governments need their problems solved discreetly. But things get complicated when the missing phone is retrieved: somebody has already copied the documents, and now they're blackmailing the firm. The situation gets murkier still when stories about the documents start appearing in the press and a tragic suicide appears staged, hinting that darker forces may be churning below the surface. With billions of dollars on the line, Elizabeth and Valencia must outmanoeuvre their tormentors, all the while keeping their hands clean.

In a world of private security, private diplomacy and private justice, a sharply-drawn cast of characters - including dirty lawyers, black-market traders and Russian criminals - take part in this breakneck tour through New York. Authentic, tense and impossible to put down, Clean Hands offers a vivid perspective on the connections between corporations, government and the underworld.

Tyler Dilts - A King of Infinite Space (2009) -  purchased copy

A new author for me and a bit of a punt after seeing this one on a recent list/essay about essential crime novels of LA. It's the first in a series of four books in Dilts's Long Beach Homicide series.

Synopsis/blurb.....

Awake in the darkness, long after midnight, Long Beach Homicide Detective Danny Beckett is trying to keep his past at bay. Haunted by all the things he's lost--his wife, his family, his hope--he begins to investigate the brutal murder of Elizabeth Williams, a popular High School English teacher. Soon Danny begins to understand that apprehending the murderer is not just a case to solved, but an act of personal redemption.

Andy Rausch - Until One of Us is Dead (2019) - Amazon Freebie purchase

I've enjoyed Andy Rausch's work before -  Riding Shotgun and Other American Cruelties - but he writes them faster than I can read them. There's a few more from him on the pile.

Synopsis/blurb......

When his young granddaughter Allie is suddenly abducted from a restaurant in rural Missouri, police officer Denny Davis' life takes a devastatingly dark turn.

After thirteen years, a fruitless manhunt has turned him into a troubled alcoholic plagued by guilt - but a twist of fate leads him stumbling down an unexpected path.

Trapped in a sinister game and shocked at its players, can Denny find revenge - and redemption - as he finally comes face to face with the perpetrator?

Cal Moriarty - Ten of Swords (2020) - Amazon Freebie purchase

Cal Moriarty's debut The Death of Bobbi Lomax still sits on the pile. This is the follow-on.

Synopsis/blurb.......

MEET STRONG, BRAVE, COURAGEOUS, WILD, VULNERABLE LISS

When cop’s daughter Liss uncovers a murdered girl’s frozen face on a snowy mountain, she feels compelled to investigate what might have happened to the nameless girl.

Days later while working for book & coin experts the Rook twins, whose sister has gone missing a decade earlier, the mystery begins to take a dangerous turn.

As Liss, together with her close friend Bobbi Lomax, begins to uncover the towns buried secrets and lies, she becomes convinced that she may be the killer’s next victim -- and when another teen friend goes missing and is found dead, she knows the killer is sending her a deadly warning.

But it’s too late now, Liss can’t stop even if she wanted to. But will she find the killer, before he finds her?

Ten of Swords can be read as a standalone novel, or as part of Cal’s Wonderland series. The Killing of Bobbi Lomax (Wonderland Book 1) is also available on Unlimited and for purchase. Death in Wonderland (Book 3) is available for pre-order on 3rd March 2020.

Kevin Doherty - The Leonardo Gulag (2020) - Edelweiss early reviewer site

Another new-to-me author. Sounds intriguing. It's his 4th book I think.

Synopsis/blurb.....

Perfect for fans who love the artistry of Daniel Silva and the passion of Greg Iles

Stalin's Russia, 1950. Brilliant young artist Pasha Kalmenov is arrested and sent without trial to a forced-labor camp in the Arctic gulag. This is a camp like no other. Although conditions are harsh and degrading, the prisoners are not to be worked to death in a coal mine or on a construction project. Their task is to forge the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. There is a high price to be paid for failing to reach the required standard of perfection; particularly as the camp commandant has his own secret agenda. When the executions begin, Pasha realizes that only his artistic talent can protect him. But for how long? Worse horrors are to come—if he survives them, will life still be worth living?
The Leonardo Gulag journeys to the sinister heart of Stalin's regime of terror, where paranoia reigns and no one is safe, and in which the whims of one man determine the fate of millions. Ultimately, the novel presents a moving portrait of the indomitability of the human spirit.

Ralph Dennis - Dust in the Heart (2019) - purchased copy

A standalone novel from Ralph Dennis. He's a forgotten author from the 70s and 80s brought back to a modern readership thanks to Lee Goldberg and Brash Books. I've enjoyed a couple of his Hardman series - 2 down only another 11 to go!

Atlanta Deathwatch
The Charleston Knife is Back


Synopsis/blurb......

There's a killer stalking children in a small, North Carolina town...and the only one who can stop him is the local Sheriff, a man crippled physically and emotionally by a war that he's still fighting within himself. The haunting, powerful new thriller by Ralph Dennis, author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels

Wilton Drake's hip was shattered by a sniper's bullet in Lebanon...and his heart was ripped apart by the wife who left him as lay in a military hospital. Now, after fiteen years in the Navy, he's returned to Edgefield, North Carolina a broken man, looking for a way to hold himself together. He finds it in a bottle...and behind a badge as Webster County's newly elected Sheriff...but his forbidden attraction to a mysterious stripper and his harrowing investigation into a horrific string of child murders might destroy what's left of him, body and soul.

"Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment." New York Times

"His prose is muscular, swift and highly readable. " Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap & Leonard novels, the basis for the hit TV series.