Author: a.coates1@btinternet.com

Christmas Crackers

Books make great stocking fillers and perfect presents when you buy someone the whole series as you could do with my recommendations of Christmas crime novels.

What Child Is This? by Bonnie MacBird (Collins Crime Club)

The fifth in MacBird’s oeuvre of Sherlock Holmes’ adventures, this Christmas one has a Dickensian flavour with its sweep of characters from the meanest existing in poverty and workhouses to the higher echelons of society living in luxury. Holmes is rather in the Scrooge frame of mind bah humbugging all the festivities but he takes on two cases both involving sons: the attempted kidnap of a beloved three year old child and the disappearance of a younger son of a marquis.

Inspired by Conan Doyle’s The Blue Carbuncle, and illustrated by Frank Cho, What Child Is This? brilliantly recreates the Victorian London of the Holmes oeuvre and offers another intriguing mystery novel to delight fans and those new to the genre. MacBird has produced a page-turning tale full of cracking characters and devilish plots with style and wit with a dénouement to warm the cockles of the reader’s heart.

Born in San Francisco, educated at Stanford, Bonnie MacBird lives in London with her husband, computer scientist Alan Kay. A fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle since age ten, she’s active in the Sherlockian community in both the UK and the US, and lectures regularly on Sherlock Holmes, writing, and creativity. A veteran of Hollywood, MacBird has been a screenwriter (original script for TRON), an Emmy winning producer, a playwright, studio exec (Universal) and actor.

Murder Most Royal by S. J. Bennett (Zaffre)

What’s not to like about our late Queen Elizabeth solving murder mysteries while others flap around trying not to upset her sensibilities? The third in the series in which the Queen’s trusted assistant, Rozie, aids the “detective” by going to the places and asking the questions the monarch cannot, is a delightful read.

A body part washed up on the beach near the Sandringham Estate where the Queen and most of her immediate family are spending the Christmas holidays, threatens the peace and tranquility of the festive season especially when Her Majesty recognises a ring on the dismembered hand. The victim is a distant cousin but the murderer could be much closer to home.

Witty and brilliantly observed by Ms Bennett, Murder Most Royal is full of intriguing possibilities, fabulous set pieces relating to the royal family and is a great who-done-it. The author has been a royal watcher for years, but is keen to stress that these books are works of fiction: the Queen, to the best of her knowledge, did not secretly solve crimes.

SJ Bennett was born in Yorkshire, England, and travelled the world as an army child and a student of languages. After various jobs as a lo bbyist, strategy consultant and start-up project manager she wrote several award-winning books for teenagers before turning to adult crime novels with the Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series, set in 2016. She lives in London.

Stage Call

At The Old Vic, one of London’s most iconic theatres, the stage is set for one of our national treasures to tread the boards in a new, sell-out play. Joan Ballantyne, now in her sixties, has attracted a new fan base with her role in an award-winning soap, Chicory Road, and they’ve turned out in force. As the curtain rises, it reveals the strangely still body of the leading lady, slumped in an armchair. The show will not go on…

Still recovering from the attempt on her life, Hannah Weybridge is stunned. She had been collaborating with the actress on her memoir. Now she has to contribute to her obituary. Suicide is suspected, but Hannah, from the little she knows of the woman, is sceptical. As is Joan’s son, the famous TV actor, Leo Hawkins, who implores Hannah to investigate the circumstances of his mother’s mysterious death.

Hannah is drawn into the lives of those who knew Joan. But who can she trust in a world where everyone seems to be playing a part?

You can order Stage Call from bookshops or online at Blackwell’s with £1 discount and free delivery.

Stage Call is also available from Amazon in paperback and ebook. the latter free on Kindle Unlimited.

Reviews in The Arbuturian

I have never had the courage to do a “My Top Reads” but this year I have read and reviewed some amazing books for The Arbuturian. During the pandemic I found it difficult to concentrate on reading but writing reviews brought back my focus. Here are the books in chronological order (a couple are missing from the photo) which reignited my love of reading throughout 2021. I hope you will enjoy them too. Click the book link to read the review.

The Dark Room by Sam Blake

The Last Thing To Burn by Will Dean

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

The Body on the Island by Victoria Dowd

The Plague Letters by V.L. Valentine

Two Wrongs by Mel McGrath

The Three Locks: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure by Bonnie MacBird

Catch As Catch Can and Syn by Malcolm Hollingdrake

This Is How We Are Human by Louise Beech

Fragile by Sarah Hilary

One Good Lie by Jane Isaac and The Invitation by A.M. Castle

The Rule by David Jackson

The Killing Kind by Jane Casey

Midnight At Malabar House and The Dying Day by Vaseem Khan

No Honour by Awais Khan

The Shadowing by Rhiannon Ward

One Last Time by Helga Flatland and Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun

The Woman Who Felt Invisible by Lizzie Chantree

Celebrating the publication an exciting, romantic story of love and new beginnings here’s an excerpt from The Woman Who Felt Invisible a novel full of humour, romance and tear-jerking reality, from international bestselling author, Lizzie Chantree.

“This was it. This was Olivia Tenby’s life, now. This was how low she had come. At the age of forty-one, she was sweating her guts out in a house that felt like a furnace, babysitting two delinquent Labradoodle dogs called Bertie and Belle, while their owners swanned around getting even richer somewhere else. Wiping her palms across her face, feeling glad she’d discarded her top so that she couldn’t drip on it, she pressed a button. Music blared out of speakers set into the ceiling. This house had everything – lights that came on when you spoke to them, a vacuum cleaner that tripped you over while it scurried along the floor of its own accord, and a fridge that dispensed perfectly shaped ice cubes into crystal glasses.

“Olivia looked around furtively for a moment, and then laughed and decided to go for it. Her job as dog sitter extraordinaire had begun two weeks ago. She’d been told to entertain the excitable animals in any way she could think of, as they were naughty and destroyed everything while the owners were out – which they always were. Olivia hadn’t even met them, which was baffling. They left her notes with instructions on how to stop the dogs eating the walls and making a mess of the thick pile carpets. She actually quite liked the job, it was as easy as walking in a straight line. Then she thought about how wobbly she always was after three vodka and cokes, and quickly pushed that picture aside. The dogs were bored and, although her job included giving the house a cursory swipe with a duster, it was always immaculate when she arrived. Something was a bit weird, though, as the place was incredibly hot. The dogs liked to slobber all over her, making her even hotter. So she’d taken to stripping off as soon as she sat down with the pooches, otherwise she’d probably pass out and be found weeks later, mummified in dog hair.”

You can buy the book on Amazon to carry on reading.

Summer Reads

I read and review all genres but I’ve chosen a selection of crime books that show the range and scope of narratives some of my favourite authors engage in – there’s something for everyone from police procedurals to amateur sleuths, legal thrillers to avenging families. All of these books are available through bookshops or Bookshop.org which supports independent bookshops.

One Good Lie by Jane Isaac (Canelo)

Famed for her police procedurals, Jane Isaac presents us with a thriller which deals with the aftermath of a murder with huge repercussions for the family as another murder happens which may or may not be related – and everyone is a suspect…

The Rule by David Jackson (Viper)

Daniel’s parents’ have instilled in him to obey the rule. But when his father’s life is threatened, Daniel breaks that rule. What follows is a chilling sequence of events with the police on one side and vicious criminal family on the other and Daniel’s parents sliding into a vortex of wrongdoing to protect him. 

The Killing Kind by Jane Casey (HarperCollins)

Jane Casey keeps the reader on their toes in this legal thriller. Barrister Ingrid Smith is being stalked by the man she got off a harassment charge. But nothing is as it seems as she uncovers links that go back to one of her first cases as a junior. Brilliantly manipulative first person narrative.

Body On The Island by Victoria Dowd (Joffe Books)

An Agatha Christie type scenario: the five Smart women (the book club amateur sleuths) plus Jess, Angel, Bottlenose and Spear as well as two drowned bodies are thrown up on an uninhabited island, facing starvation, hypothermia and the knowledge that there is a murderer among them. As the body count rises suspicion eats away at them all. Who is the killer and will the Smart women manage to outwit him or her?

The Invitation by A.M. Castle (HarperCollins)

A locked room mystery only this time it’s a castle on a Cornish Island which becomes cut off from the mainland by a storm. The hostess, with her new and much older husband and two adult children, knows all the secrets her friends have hidden for years and she’s determined to have fun exposing them. But someone else is pulling the strings and murder is on the menu in this

The Three Locks by Bonnie MacBird (Collins Crime Club)

MacBird steps back into the world of Holmes and Watson to adroitly weave three stories into a compelling narrative featuring a range of characters whose motives are often hidden behind convention and deceit. Through meticulous research and rigorous attention to period detail, she eloquently evokes the Victorian atmosphere and, of course, the world of Holmes and Watson created by Conan Doyle.

Syn by Malcolm Hollingdrake (Holbrook)

Malcolm Hollingdrake has produced a dream team with DI Decent and DS Warlock for this new series. The narratives are intensely dark and gritty. He handles the themes with assurance and the storytelling is superb as the language flows and compels the reader on with enough twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes until the dramatic dénouement.

Two Wrongs by Mel McGrath (HQ)

When young women die in mysterious circumstances at a Bristol university, Honor fears for her daughter’s life. Haunted by her best friend’s “suicide” years before, she realises there is a connection and she could at last avenge the deaths and right the wrongs. But is she strong enough to face the repercussions? A perfectly plotted, gripping tale of revenge.

Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough

My introduction to Sarah Pinborough’s work came recently as a dramatisation of her book Behind Her Eyes on Netfilx. I was totally hooked and bought the book. After listening to her talk about her life and career on a podcast my fandom was complete. And so to Dead To Her published this month (10 June).

This is a very different book but there are some similarities not least in the quality of the writing and perfect plotting. Set in the world of the Savannah GA elite, Dead To Her introduces you to a world of glamour, secrets, voodoo, retribution, lust, love, loyalty, lots of sex followed by betrayal and deceit. You never quite know just who is pulling the strings, which makes for compelling reading.

Widower William Radford IV has returned early from his travels to Europe bringing a new Mrs Radford some forty years his junior. Close friends have been invited to an elegant soirée to meet Keisha and feelings are mixed to say the least.

Two worlds collide and ricochet apart. One guest, Marcie has the life she could never have dreamed of. As the second, younger wife to Jason Maddox she feels secure if not accepted but she immediately senses the interest between her husband and his business partner’s new wife from London.

Keisha is too young, too black, too coarse and too naïve to realise that her new husband would have checked out her past – to the finest and worst detail. She is haunted by her past and her culture plus disgusted by her much older husband with his unpleasant sexual demands once he has taken Viagra.

William’s saintly first wife haunts their home – with a nod to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca including a Mrs Danvers type character in the form of the devoted employee, Elizabeth – and the relationships within the friendship group some of whom have known each other since childhood. But nothing is what it seems in this multi-layered narrative and I love how the author plays with your assumptions and trifles with your allegiances as each twist and turn exposes one dark drama after another until a tantalising dénouement. Characters are brilliantly depicted and locations feed our lockdown souls.

Perfect summer reading wherever you are.

Sarah Pinborough is a Sunday Times Number One, New York Times and internationally bestselling author who is published in over 25 territories worldwide. A recent book Cross Her Heart is in development with World Productions and Dead To Her has been optioned by a major studio for development as a US TV series.

Sarah has been shortlisted for the Crime and Thriller Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and was the 2010 and 2014 winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Novella. She has four times been shortlisted for Best Novel. She is also a screenwriter who has written for the BBC and has several original television projects in development.

Angelena Boden

Angelena Boden  retired from running her own international training consultancy and happily settled in rural Shropshire. Her greatest pleasure is her  garden and having long conversations with the visiting robins. Her books include Edna’s Death Café and Love Bytes Back.

Hi how lovely to see you in my virtual cocktail lounge. What can I get you at the bar?

A: Thank you for inviting me. I’d love a mocktail please. You choose!

So where did we first meet in real life?

A: We haven’t met in person but we became acquainted in 2016 and developed a telephone and Twitter friendship. I really hope we get to meet up in London this year.

What were your first impressions?

A: I found you to be very approachable and fun to chat to.

Apart from writing do we have anything other else in common?

A: Neither of us suffers fools gladly!

True! I’ve read Edna’s Death Café so tell me aboutits sequel.


A: My latest book is Love Bytes Back published by Troubador. It’s the second book in the Edna Reid Series. When lonely widow Kitty Merriweather moves to Derbyshire’s Hope Valley, she joins the Silver Rose online dating site because it offers a safe place for the over sixties to find romance. There she meets the enigmatic Harvey, a scientist working on a conservation project in Bali who promises her “hot days and stormy nights.”

Love blooms quickly but Kitty breaks all the rules laid down by the agency, putting herself at risk. When little things don’t add up she dismisses them as being unimportant. Nothing matters more than her plans for them to live happily ever after. When she confides in her new friend, Edna Reid, octogenarian and former café owner, Kitty gets angry at Edna’s implication she is likely the victim of a scam. The more Edna hears about Harvey, the more she is convinced he’s only interested in Kitty for her money. Using her knowledge of computers Edna finally uncovers the truth, but where does black magic and murder fit into this intriguing cosy mystery?

Are you working on anything at the moment?

A: I’ve been working on a novel based a memoir for the past two years. It’s called Chasing Peacocks and is about my time in Iran. It’s now finished and edited but as for its future…

What would be your dream panel (at any event) – subject, fellow panelists or a Q&A with someone you have met or would love to meet?

A: I’d love to do a Q/A with the former Bishop of Edinburgh – Richard Holloway. His latest book, Waiting for the Last Bus is one of my absolutely favourites.

What are you most looking forward to when lockdown is finally lifted?

A: Invite my daughters for a celebratory dinner and to hug my grandson.

Is there anything lockdown has made you think about/want to do?

A: My lockdown life hasn’t been much different from my ordinary life, although I do miss my long coastal walks. I’ve completed an online course in First Aid Mental Health and I hope to offer my services to our local hospital.

You can find out more about Angelena Boden and her books here.

Linda Huber

Linda Huber grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, but went to work in Switzerland for a year aged twenty-two, and has lived there ever since. Her day jobs have included working as a physiotherapist in hospitals and schools for handicapped children, and teaching English in a medieval castle. Her writing career began in the nineties, when she had over fifty short stories published in women’s magazines. Several years later, she discovered the love of her writing life – psychological suspense fiction. Her ninth novel, The Runaway, was published in March 2020. She also writes feel-good novellas as Melinda Huber, and really appreciates having the views enjoyed by her characters right on her own doorstep!

Hi Linda how lovely to see you in my virtual cocktail lounge. What can I get you at the bar?

L: Thank you – you need to either win the lottery or take out a huge mortgage to buy cocktails in Switzerland, so I’ve been looking forward to this! I’ll have a White Lady, please. They always look so elegant.

We can do elegance, Linda. Do you remember where we first met in real life?

L: I think that was in London. Bloodhound Books threw a huge party in a bar near King’s Cross Station, and I came over from Switzerland for that. It was a good evening!

It was and I was stunned to see you there, travelling all that way for a party! What were your first impressions?

L: You looked très chic in a dress, if I remember rightly. It was one of those evenings we were all meandering around in semi-darkness saying, ooh, look, there’s so-and-so!

Happy memories. Points in common?

L: The main point everyone had in common that night was – we were all screaming at each other, the music was so loud… Writers have so much in common, though, and it’s great to be able to chat in real life about the ups and downs of the writing life, especially if you write in a similar genre, as we do. Nobody “gets” it like another writer!

Indeed and we both started off by writing short stories. Tell me about your latest book?

L: A psychological suspense novel The Runaway. This one’s set mainly in and around St Ives. We had several holidays in Cornwall when I was a child – I just loved the magic of the place. The book centres on a family of three who relocate there from London. One of them discovers that you can’t run away from a secret. Or… can you?

I’ll look forward to reading that. What are you working on now?

L: My WIP at the moment is another psych. suspense novel. It’s just back from its structure/characters/plot edit, so I’m working through my editor’s suggestions and corrections. This one, which is giving me biggest headache ever as far as finding a title’s concerned, will probably join the others in my self-published collection, though it won’t be ready for a few months.

We can only think wistfully about book events at the moment so what would be your dream panel (at any event) – subject, fellow panelists or a Q&A with someone you have met or would love to meet?

L: That’s a hard one. I think I would like to be on a panel discussing character development in crime fiction. The other panelists would be Elly Griffiths, Elizabeth George and Mary Higgins Clark. (I can dream, can’t I?) And if could do the impossible, I’d like to watch a panel with those three plus Ruth Rendell. These ladies all write/wrote such great characters.

I’d join you for that! What are you most looking forward to when lockdown is finally lifted?

L: Being able to go where I want to go without packing face masks and hand sanitiser, and without the nagging fear at the back of my mind all the time.

Is there anything lockdown has made you think about/want to do?

L: I think we’ve all learned to appreciate what we have, in this pandemic. It’s often the little things in life that give us the most pleasure – a zoom chat with my kids, meeting (at a suitable distance) friends locally and having a chat or a coffee. In the Spanish Flu epidemic last century, it took them three years to get on top of it. I’m hoping for two, this time, but we’re not even halfway there yet. Thank heavens for the Internet…

Absolutely and it’s been so lovely to catch up with you now Linda. I hope it’s not too much longer before we can meet in real life. In the meantime let’s have another White Lady.

You can find out more about Linda and her books here and follow her on Twitter @LindaHuber19

Chris Nickson

For many years Chris Nickson lived in the US, where he was a music journalist (among many other things). He now writes historical crime, mostly set in Leeds where he was born and raised, covering a range of era from the 1730s, all the way to the 1980s. Lately his focus has been on Simon Westow, an 1820s thief-taker, and Detective Superintendent Tom Harper, a working-class man who runs Millgarth police station in Leeds in the late 1800s/start of the 20th century.

Hi Chris how lovely to see you in my virtual cocktail lounge. What can I get you at the bar?

C: I’d love a cup of tea, please. No sugar, just the tiniest splash of milk.

Well that’s a first  but fortunately my teapot is at hand. So where did we first meet in real life?

C: We haven’t – at least not yet. Maybe sometime post-coronavirus, if such a time can exist.

Well I hope it does and I look forward to visiting Leeds some time. First impressions?

C: You’re a good writer, and a lovely genial soul.

That’s kind. Points in common?

C: Both crime writers, of a certain age, and our politics both seem to lie firmly on the left.

The last novel I read of yours was The Tin God, a Tom Harper Mystery, which I loved. Tell me about your latest book.

C: Last month The Mystery Press published The Anchoress of Chesterfield, which, as the title suggests, isn’t set in Leeds, but is the fourth in an occasional series set in medieval Chesterfield. I lived near there after I moved back to the UK and really like the place.

Set in the 1360s, it features John the Carpenter who has been happy to leave the investigation of death behind. For six years now he’s been content to work with wood. But times are growing desperate.

Then the coroner summons him to look at the mysterious death of an anchoress, a religious woman who lived in confined solitude. She’s been murdered. Her father is an important local landowner, a man of influence with the crown. He’s distraught, and the money he offers John to find the killer can solve his problems and leave his family comfortable for life. But the path to the truth leads John to places where he’s not welcome and in danger for his own life.

Sounds intriguing. What are you working on now?

C: There’s a new Simon Westow, To The Dark, coming at the end of December, and another Tom Harper set for the middle of next year. Publication has been delayed because of Covid. I’d completed another Tom Harper to follow that, now awaiting my revisions, and I’m 10k in yet another one, because the devil finds work for idle hands.

That’s some output! When you take a breath between books, what would be your dream panel (at any event) – subject, fellow panelists or a Q&A with someone you have met or would love to meet?

C: Raymond Chandler, Knut Hamsun, and another long chat about the blues with guitarist Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. We once spent several hours discussing it on the phone.

Great choice. What are you most looking forward to when lockdown is finally lifted?

C: I’m not sure I trust this government to lift it safely, so I’ll hang back.

Is there anything lockdown has made you think about or want to do?

C: It’s certainly made me think a lot more about my own mortality, and the need to get the books written that I want to complete.

Thanks for joining me today, Chris. More tea?

You can find out more about Chris Nickson and his books here and follow him on Twitter @ChrisNickson2

William Shaw

William Shaw’s fiction has been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger and a Barry Award and long-listed for the CWA Gold Dagger plus twice for the Theakston’s Prize. His DS Alexandra Cupidi series – and the standalone bestseller The Birdwatcher – are set in Dungeness Kent. He also writes the acclaimed Breen & Tozer crime series set in sixties London. He worked as a journalist for over twenty years and lives in Brighton. His eighth book, Grave’s End, the latest in his Alex Cupidi series, was published in July by Riverrun.

Hi William how lovely to see you in my virtual cocktail lounge. I’m on a winner here as I don’t have to pay for the drinks. However what can I get you at the bar?

W: Oh. I’ve brought my own hip flask of rhubarb gin, as it happens.  

You obviously didn’t trust my selection of beverages! I hope that isn’t to do with where we first met in real life?

W: Waterstones, Brighton, I believe. Around 2012 or 2013. It was for a book launch, but I can’t remember which one. There was wine, wasn’t there? Probably snacks.  

There’s always wine and, of course, we’ve met up at many book launches since as well as at CrimeFest and Morecambe & Vice. First impressions?

W: Smiles a lot. Slightly shorter than me.

I’m beginning to feel like Hermia in these interviews. Any points in common?

W: We both write books, for starters.

And we’ve both worked as journalists. Thinking about book festivals, what would be your dream panel (at any event) – subject, fellow panelists or a Q&A with someone you have met or would love to meet?

W: Innua Ellams because I’ve seen a couple of his plays recently and they’re so good. The last was Three Sisters just before lockdown. C. L. Taylor, who I’ve never been on a panel with – but she seems both wise and funny which is my ideal combination. Marina Hyde for similar reasons. 

Sounds great. I love your Alex Cupidi series although I haven’t read the latest one, so tell me about Grave’s End.

W: In Grave’s End, an unidentified cadaver is found in a freezer in an unoccupied luxury house. No one seems to know or care who it is or who placed it there. When DS Alexandra Cupidi is handed the case, she can have no idea it will lead her to a series of murderous cover-ups and buried secrets. Namely the discovery of the skeleton of public-school boy, Trevor Grey, beneath a housing development. His disappearance twenty five years earlier had almost passed unnoticed. But as evidence surfaces that his fate was linked to long suppressed rumours of sexual abuse, Cupidi, her teenage daughter Zoe and her friend Bill South find themselves up against powerful forces who will try to silence them.

I’m looking forward to reading that. What are you working on now?

W: I am half way through a standalone set at sea that is filled with VERY bad rich people and there’s a storm coming and I’m not at all sure how they’re going to get out of this. No date yet for that one. Plus my next in the Alex Cupidi series has just gone off to the copy editors and involves trawler-men, but still doesn’t have a title. Titles are hell.

You’ve certainly been busy writing-wise but what are you most looking forward to when lockdown is finally lifted?

W: I play in a ceilidh band. Even when lockdown is lifted I think it’s going to be a long time before we get to do anything like that again, sadly. Weird to say that you miss crowded rooms, isn’t it?

It is. What has lockdown made you think about/want to do?

W: I’ve been doing all sorts of DIY-ish stuff. I built some hefty raised beds and I’ve been restoring cane chairs. Not very crime fiction, is it?

I still remember the lovely bookcase you made for free books outside your house! Thank you so much for joining me here, William, and I look forward to meeting up when all this is over.

You can find out more about William Shaw and his books here and follow him in Twitter: @william1shaw