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Colin Bateman was born in Northern Ireland and started his working life as a reporter on the local newspaper. His first novel, Divorcing Jack, was written in his spare time. He has also written scripts for TV, including Murphy's Law.

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August 28, 2010

The summer's winding down, we're told, and kids are going back to school and grownups to work (if they have it to go to). So if you haven't finished your summer reading (Remembrance of Things Past, Finnegans Wake, Sophocles in the original Greek) it's time to get cracking or to put them back on the shelf for another year. We do have some suggestions to ease the transition - our reviewers found much this time that was both entertaining and a bit of a challenge.

First up, for me, was the very welcome return of John Cardinal, in Giles Blunt's CRIME MACHINE. He's still grieving for his dead wife, but otherwise very much in top form in Algonquin Bay. While Lourdes Venard much enjoyed Carl Hiaasen's STAR ISLAND, featuring someone who could give Lindsay Lohan pause, she did feel it was not quite up to the giddy standard of some of the author's previous South Florida excursions.

John Cardinal is not the only copper on the beat this week. Barbara Fister recommends Gary Disher's BLOOD MOON as an excellent way to get to know Australian policeman Hal Challis, even if you're unfamiliar with the series to date. In another on-going series, DS Bev Cooper is on the job in Birmingham in Maureen Carter's DEATH LINE, and Sharon Wheeler's only complaint is that she has to wait too long for the next one. Not part of a series, Lisa Gardner's LIVE TO TELL features another policewoman, D.D. Warren, in a novel that Madeleine Marsh found impossible to put down.

Not a police procedural, but, according to Maddy Van Herbruggen, a startlingly frank debut by ex-spook Susan Hasler, INTELLIGENCE tells much about the US intelligence services and tells it well. Meanwhile, the FBI shows up in Scottish writer Paul Johnston's MAPS OF HELL, though to lesser effect, according to Linda Wilson. Another visitor to American shores is Charlie Fox, in Zoe Sharp's FOURTH DAY, where she's looking into a California cult.

There's a pair of very different private investigators on the scene this week. Charlie Parker is back in John Connolly's THE WHISPERERS, which Angel L. Soto warmly recommends, and the oddly mysterious Greek detective Hermes Diaktoros pays a visit to the island of Kalkos and its famous icon in THE LADY OF SORROWS, by Anne Zouroudi. Anthea Hawdon enjoyed the trip. MIDNIGHT ANGELS, by Lorenzo Carcaterra, also has to do with art and with a city on almost everyone's bucket list, Florence. Christine Zibas admired the excellent descriptions but thought the thriller fell a bit short.

Not every detective is a professional, of course. Two attractive amateur sleuths appear in DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD, by Alan Orloff, which PJ Coldren calls "a little gem," and in Mary Jane Maffini's CLOSET CONFIDENTIAL, where the detective is someone whose phone number I wish I had - she's a closet organizer. And although THE DOG PARK CLUB, by Cynthia Robinson does have a whole crew of amateur sleuths and sounds like a pet cosy, it's really quite a different animal, according to Sharon Katz, whom we welcome back after a long absence.

Finally, the odd book out this week is Karin Fossum's BROKEN, not to be confused with Karin Slaughter's novel of the same name. This struck me as more of a literary exercise than a crime novel and a bit hard to explain.

And that's about it. Please welcome two new reviewers, Anthea Hawdon and Madeleine Marsh, both based in the UK. Don't forget to see what Colin Bateman has to say for himself in the "Sixty Seconds with..." interview to your left, and look to the box below for what is on offer in our drawing, a bonus three books this time.

See you in two weeks, as we resume our usual schedule.

Best,

Yvonne

P.S. If you wish to submit a book for review, please check here before contacting us. Please note that we do not review self-published books.

Our mascot and masthead is Smokey the Cat. Smokey the cat went to the great playground in the sky on April 29, 2008, at 3:30 p.m. He was about 13 years old, had diabetes and only 11 teeth left. He is much happier now. He will remain as our masthead and mascot.

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