Buried Deep, by Penny Grubb, Reviewed.

The wonderfully idiosyncratic heroine, Annie Raymond, appears first in Penny Grubb’s detective

novel, Like False Money. Buried Deep is the fifth book in the series, and this well-imagined detective has significantly developed along the way.

This story holds the reader’s interest from the beginning and never lets go. The reader easily understands Annie; her faults making her a believable creation and endearing her to us as she struggles with the difficulties sent her way. In this book, she has to work with the flawed police detective, Webber. He brings his own problems, prejudices, insights and skills to the tale, building the book into something bigger than a simple crime novel.

Penny has a way of wearing the skin of her characters, even the villains, so that the reader cares what happens. But Annie and Webber are the ones we really empathise with, in spite of their faults, or maybe because of them.

The nature of the crimes in this story will disturb some readers, but crime fiction is designed to make people think, to bring the real world into the safe environment of our homes where we can experience it without personal danger.

As always, with this author’s work, there are shocks, moments of unexpected illumination, many twists and turns, and a complex puzzle to solve. And the developing pace of the story engages the reader as both Annie and Webber are led into great danger. The denouement builds slowly at first, then the pace increases with the tension until it becomes impossible to book the book down until it’s finished. And a satisfying finish it is.

Buried Deep is more than just a crime novel. It is a well-written, engaging, absorbing and truly attention-demanding piece of fiction. If you like your crime enlivened with humour, human failings, realism, and intelligence, this book is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it.

#BookADayUK; A Reader Event For October. Day 7

Today, the theme is 'Last book I bought in a bookshop'. Oops! I have to admit that it's a while since I bought a book in a bookshop. There are a number of reasons for this. I've tended to avoid buying books recently, as I have a reading list around 150 titles long, and those books are on my shelves! I agreed with my long-suffering wife that I would read most of these before I bought any more. But, of course, I'm a writer and therefore a reader, so I've been either buying ebooks to go on my iPad, or reading free classics on the same device. Bit of a cheat, I know, but all readers will understand that.

Anyway, to the theme. The last book I bought at a book shop was at a writer's book-signing. It was Penny Grubb's excellent crime thriller, 'Like False Money'.

Now I've exposed my shame, I suppose I'd better go and buy a book on the day this promotion is supporting. What will it be, I wonder...?

Don't forget to stay involved by visiting the site, Books Are My Bag.com via this link. And, when you tweet, use the #tag #bookadayUK.

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Mind Tryst, by Robyn Carr, Reviewed.

Compelling: it must be, because I read Robyn Carr’s ‘Mind Tryst’ under rather trying circumstances. In a nutshell, I was doing a read-aloud edit of the last two books of my fantasy trilogy, spending a great deal of time in deep reading. That meant my energy, interest in and time for other reading was pretty minimal. But this book, which I had started before I commenced with my own work, wouldn’t let me go. I had to know. I had to get to the end.

The narrative character, Jackie, a lawyer from LA who moves to a small town to escape the grief that follows the death of her child, finds herself caught up in a mystery that is at first only odd and disconcerting but slowly builds to become menacing and life-threatening. The relationships in this novel, good and bad, are very well written. The characters all come alive on the page. The reader is introduced to a wide gathering of city slickers and small town folk, and given enough information to permit empathy with all.

This is a psychological thriller with real bite. It’s a page-turner; an involving read. I found myself compelled to discover the secrets hidden in the twists and turns. Sympathy and suspicion vie with each other for the two main characters as Carr skilfully weaves a complex and changing, but ultimately credible story leading to a high-tension ending. There are touches of lightness and even humour to ease the reader through the story.

Women readers in particular should beware of reading this if alone in the house, unless they wish to spend the night awake.

If you enjoy your thrillers with real characters, believable scenarios and accurate, well-researched settings, you’ll enjoy this story. I thoroughly recommend it.

Margery Allingham’s Mr Campion’s Farewell, Completed by Mike Ripley, Reviewed

The PR company handling marketing asked me to review this book. It’s not my usual read, but, having watched some of the adaptations on TV and enjoyed them, I agreed.

The eponymous character is well drawn, matching the depiction from the screen. He’s an interesting personality, personifying that quintessentially English upper middle class hero who prefers to pretends to be a little dim. In fact, of course, his wit is razor sharp and his intelligence high. The other players in this novel are equally well put together; individuals who manage to be representative of certain types without becoming stereotypical.

The narrative is delivered with a tongue-in-cheek gentle humour reminiscent of an earlier age. At times, I found the convoluted descriptions a little tedious, though this was only an occasional irritation, which quickly passed. There is a certain type of wit here that will definitely appeal to those who have loved the previous novels and those who enjoy the Jeeves and Wooster books.

The plot is clever and its denouement very well handled, keeping the reader interested to the very last. The relationships between the various characters are drawn with humour and compassion so that even the villains engender a certain amount of sympathy. In one of those peculiar coincidences that sometimes cause delight, I began to read this book on the day I had visited Lavenham, in Suffolk. This is the town on which the main setting of the book is based, so I immediately felt at home with the descriptions of the place and some of its buildings.

Against my expectations, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It’s an entertaining and engaging read and I expect that those who love their crime with a touch of humour will find it thoroughly worthwhile.

Bluff, by Susan Yanguas, Reviewed.

Subtitled, a ‘Po-po Poker Mystery’, Bluff is a crime novel, set in USA, with a new detective and a sassy female ‘victim’ paired for the romance element. It is one of a series, hence the subtitle.

I know almost nothing about poker, but that didn’t impair my understanding, or my enjoyment of the book. There is humour, tension, a moral message and a credible outcome in this woman in jeopardy tale. The female character, Abigail, is strong and intelligent as well as ‘model girl’ attractive, which helps the plot and the reader’s enjoyment. The male lead is a detective of Italian descent, who I’ll call ‘Sal’, since great play is made of the fact that his colleagues find his full name more or less unpronounceable.

A good detective read, this book is a step above many others in the genre, simply by the inclusion of corruption amongst the wealthy business class and, in particular, a definite criticism of the American legal system’s vulnerability to distortion through the power of money.

I enjoyed the read. The story held my attention and the characters were well drawn. I recommend it to all who enjoy a good, honest crime tale.

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The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club, by Duncan Whitehead, Reviewed.

An unusual title for an unusual book. I was unsure what to expect from this book, which as I write this, has been listed as a finalist in the 2013 Readers’ Favourite annual International Award Contest in the humour category. There’s certainly an element of humour in the story and its presentation, and I did laugh out loud quite a lot whilst reading. So, I wish it well in that contest. Comedy isn’t noted for its ability to travel, so my enjoyment of the humour, as a Brit, suggests this one has managed that trick rather well.

If I say that the book is a ‘light’ crime novel, you might get the idea that it is a different type of book than the one I actually read. There is a deal of the minutiae involved in the lives of the many characters, all of whom are well drawn. Lots of detail and some repetition that describes the people and their lives; many of which are about to be changed. Superficial appearances are shown to be misleading. Love and lust are interchangeable for some of the protagonists here and the element of cheating is not uncommon, giving the whole community a slightly seedy feel.

I found myself rooting for some characters, only to discover in later pages that they weren’t the innocents I had first taken them for. The pettiness, selfishness, ambition and deceit of the characters come across well, so that their ultimate fates, initially apparently unjust, become almost desirable.

There are several surprises along the way in this well-plotted novel. I found myself quite convinced I had the identities of villains and victims sorted early on, only to discover that clever wording had fooled me. I enjoyed the read, even if it was a little longer than might have been absolutely essential. I suspect that the inclusion of so much detail was a way of conveying the very ordinariness of the lives that were introduced, only to then prove that these lives were, in fact, not at all ordinary. A good read that I recommend.