Category: Book Reviews

The Edge of Darkness by Vaseem Khan

I have been following the exploits of Persis Wadia, India’s first female detective, since she was introduced in the first book in the series, Midnight at Malabar House. Persis is a detective with attitude and an amazing capacity for enduring and recovering from physical attacks while investigating murders. I am beginning to have serious concerns for her health especially since reading the sixth thriller in the series, The Edge of Darkness.

The inspector has been exiled from her home in Bombay to the wild and mountainous Naga Hills district for deliberately ignoring orders. Isolated from her father and her team at Malabar House, apart from her boss who arrived just before her, Persis is also grieving for her forensic scientist colleague/lover, Archie Blackfinch, who is in a coma in a Bombay hospital.

As India prepares for its first post-Independence election, tensions run high especially with the Naga people who seek self-government. For safety Persis is sent to stay in the heavily guarded Victoria Hotel – a colonial-era building which has seen much better days and has few, mostly foreign guests. Her career has nose-dived and Persis is despondent. Then a prominent politician staying in the hotel is brutally murdered in his locked room and Persis must solve the mystery before the political situation explodes…

Well if ever there was a protagonist who exposed herself to the most extreme danger, then Persis is she. How she survives is almost beyond belief. However her powers of detection and deduction, intelligence and sense of justice are never impaired. Vaseem Khan has created a character to be reckoned with. I just fear for her future!

The writing is taut and the narrative races from scene to scene, barely a breath between them. Attention to detail and the interweaving of Indian history into the narrative is second to none. If you love historical crime and a locked room scenario you’ll adore this book, which could be read as a standalone but why would you deprive yourself of the previous books.

The Edge of Darkness by Vaseem Khan is published by Hodder & Stoughton and is available in hardback, £22 from bookshops and £17.19 from Amazon . Paperback due September 2026.

The Key to the Island House by Amanda Lees

An amazing feat of weaving history, mystery and romance into an utterly compelling narrative. Heartbroken by the death of her fiancé in a hit-and-run accident, soon after the demise of Nadia the beloved great aunt who had brought her up after the death of her parents, Sophie travels to Cairo, to see the house left to her by Nadia. The only clue to its importance – it saved Nadia’s life and was where she had met the love of her life, Tom.

As Sophie discovers the secrets and endeavours to work out the clues and codes left by her aunt, her own life is under threat by unknown enemies. Her fate is inextricably linked to what happened to her aunt during the war and Ben’s death. As various people offer help and support, including Josh whose own family has ties to Nadia, whom can she trust? Whom did Nadia trust?

Lees’ characters are brilliantly drawn, and the dual time-line is pitch perfect. Edge of your seat scenes and dramatic incidents in 1942 and the present day combine to keep the reader totally gripped.

Amanda Lees evokes the sights, sounds and smells of Cairo during WW11 with masterful brushstrokes. Her research must have been meticulous and I have nothing but admiration for her diligence and creativity in this brilliant book.

Published by Bookouture, September 2015 and available from bookshops and Amazon.

Killer Bodies by Heleen Kist

I love a locked room murder mystery and Heleen Kist has aced it with her latest novel, Killer Bodies, choosing as the setting a private gym for residents of an exclusive Edinburgh apartment block. One of the receptionists, Evie, has an amazing talent for drawing manga type graphics depicting ways she’d kill off those who use the gym and irritate her… She shares her thoughts with Mrs M the only resident she has any time for and who isn’t a gym user…

On her birthday Evie is called in to work as the other receptionist is apparently sick. Most of the residents have received a notification that the gym will be closed for repairs – apart from six who all turn up. Evie has a reason to dislike all of them except S the newest resident… When one of them keels over on an exercise bike, Evie puts her first aid training to the test but to no avail and to make matters immeasurably worse the phones aren’t working, there’s no internet access and the gym doors are all locked. When another resident collapses, Evie realises the deaths resemble her drawings. Is she being framed or will she be a victim?

If you like dark humour mixed with your murder you’ve got the right book! A bonus is the drawings throughout the book. Kist has a cast of rather unlikeable – if not downright despicable – characters and you will be on the edge of your seat wondering who will be next as the body count rises and tempers fray.

So who is behind all these deaths? Heleen Kist creates intriguing twists and turns to keep you guessing right until the end as you try to work out how characters die and why. Read carefully and pick up the clues as you proceed but beware of red herrings and unreliable narratives.

Killer bodies is available as an ebook and paperback on Amazon.

The Midnight News by Jo Baker

What a jewel of a book, this is. Set during the London Blitz it encompasses love, friendship and dysfunctional family relationships as well as treachery and death.

Charlotte Richmond, daughter of an MP, has a dull job as a typist, and lives in digs, refusing an allowance from her father. At twenty she has already suffered the loss of her mother when she was a young girl and her beloved brother never returned from France. Sharing gin and confidences with her best friend Elena keeps her sane, but when she dies in an air raid her fragility intensifies. Only the sight of a young man who feeds the birds amidst the rubble of the Blitz brings an unexpected joy into her life. But then she is haunted by the deaths of two more friends and the sense that she herself is being stalked intensifies… In her grief and suspicion, Charlotte becomes increasingly vulnerable not knowing whom to trust or if she can rely on her own instincts.

This is a superbly written story, which grips the reader from the beginning. The evocative descriptions of a city under attack witnessed from a very personal viewpoint add a poignancy to the historical perspective that is at times heart-breaking and terrifying. Jo Baker has created characters who will linger in your mind and the present tense narrative keeps you totally immersed in their dangerous journey.

Jo Baker is an acclaimed author of seven previous novels including the Sunday Times bestselling Longbourn. The Midnight News is published by Phoenix Books, an imprint of The Orion Group.

The Forgetting by Hannah Beckerman

Imagine waking up, not knowing where you are and having no memory. This is Anna’s plight. Even Stephen who claims to be her husband is a stranger to her. Where she lives in London does not feel like home. Apparently she has no job but was a librarian. No friends contact her. Her parents are dead. There is something strange about her marriage but she has no reference points. Stephen controls everything – for her own protection. She is lost in a sea of unknowns.

In Bristol Livvy, newly married to Dominic and looking forward to returning to work after six months maternity leave, is thrown by the unexpected arrival of Dominic’s estranged mother. Why is she stalking her daughter-in-law and what really happened in Dominic’s childhood? Livvy’s own close family is concerned when the couple decides to move to London for Dominic’s new job while Livvy has to give up the promotion she had longed for.

This is domestic suspense at its best. The Forgetting will grip you from start to explosive finish. It is an exquisitely written narrative of coersive behaviour. Two women’s stories brilliantly balanced: Anna’s in the first person; Livvy’s in the third. Two professional women, one determined to further her career, the other has no idea what the future holds until she can remember her past. The narratives are juxtapositioned until their two worlds collide with dramatic results.

This is Hannah Beckerman’s fourth novel and she handles her subject matter with an assured confidence. Highly recommended.

Published by Lake Union Publishing, available from Amazon.

The Lost Man Of Bombay by Vaseem Khan

The Lost Man of Bombay is the third in the Malabar House series set in Bombay 1950, featuring the intrepid Inspector Persis Wadia.

The discovery of the body of a white man found frozen in the foothills of near Dehra Dun plus two new murders of Europeans within days of each other grips the imagination of the city. As the first – and only – female police inspector, Persis Wadia has her work cut out for her. Not everyone is happy with the results of her research. Her investigation links the three deaths but she is missing vital clues, hindered by misogynist Inspector Oberoi, and aided by Met Police criminologist, Archie Blackfinch. As she fights the mutual attraction between her and Archie, she puts her own life on the line before resolving the mystery. 

With a deft hand, Khan recreates the world of India, post partition and British rule, in which the first female police inspector fights her own demons and prejudices. The balance of the personal and political is masterfully handled, perfectly interwoven in the intricate plot involving religious hypocrisy, family dilemmas, racial tensions and historical wrongs. If, like me, you enjoy solving clues and codes, you’ll love this series. The vibrancy of the city, the interplay of cultures and perfect characterisation make for a fascinating read.

The Lost Man of Bombay is published in hardback, paperback and ebook by Hodder & Stoughton. The previous two titles are Midnight at Malabar House – Winner of the CWA Historical Dagger 2021 – and The Dying Day.

Vaseem Khan was born in Newham but spent ten years working in India as a management consultant. As well as the Malabar House series, he is the author of the Baby Ganesh Agency series, of which the first book, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra was a Times bestseller, translated into 15 languages.

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.

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.