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

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.