Monday 26 January 2015

The Hangman's Song by James Oswald

The Hangman's Song (Inspector McLean, #3)The Hangman's Song by James Oswald
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mysterious hangings capture Tony McLean's attention in James Oswald' third offering in this series. Unfortunately for Tony his colleagues are looking for the easy life and dismiss them as regular suicides. At this point you are brought up to date with history relevant to this story obviously from the first two novels, it is done well with the author only providing the minimum information required to make sense. James Oswald paints a very graphic picture of the crime scenes and you almost feel as if you are there. Death and injury seems to personally follow Tony McLean and this book is no different, his life is continually being shattered by unfortunate happenings. Overall this is not a bad murder / detective mystery, I would have preferred however a different approach to the ending.

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Sunday 18 January 2015

Dead Simple by Shirley Wells

Dead Simple (A Dylan Scott Mystery, #8)Dead Simple by Shirley Wells
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

We have all read crime novels featuring a retired or disgraced policeman turned private investigator, well here is another one. Dylan Scott however was a disgraced policeman taking the blame for someone else. A informant / friend from his police days is found dead, murdered in his own flat, as Simple Stevie had no enemies, Dylan was determined to give some payback and find out who killed Stevie. Although slow to start the novel starts to pick up with Dylan compiling his list of suspects, little did he know his investigations would lead him into the world of football and politics in the same case. The story develops further with twists and turns but the clues are there. A very good murder mystery which could easily be turned into a good TV series.

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Sunday 4 January 2015

Captured by Neil Cross

CapturedCaptured by Neil Cross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kenny Drummond finds out he only has a few weeks to live due an aggressive brain tumor. With this information Kenny relives his life and writes a list of the the people he has not thanked for helping him in the past. His childhood love is on the list as she was the only person ever to be nice to him in junior school, however Callie Barton proves to be difficult to track down. Enlisting some help Kenny is determined to find out where Callie is but finds out more than expected. Kenny's condition allows the author to consider more extreme reactions to the obstacles placed in front of his quest. If you look at the front cover you will get some clues as to how extreme this dying quest is. This is a good murder mystery novel and compelling reading.

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Saturday 3 January 2015

Hades by Candice Fox

HadesHades by Candice Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As brother and sister relationships go this is a strange one, Eric and Eden Archer are police detectives in Sydney. When Eden lost her partner he is replaced by Frank Bennett the main character. They are called to an incident of attempted murder at the harbour and a grisly murder scene is discovered. It turns out that there must be a serial murdering surgeon on the loose. As Frank and Eden investigate the case, Frank becomes curious about Eric and Eden's background, and starts his own little investigation unearthing some strange things. The author fills in the gaps about the siblings to keep pace with Franks own questions. It all builds to a great climax and is delivered in an way to read style although the fill in parts could have been identified better. Good crime thriller.

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