Caroline Graham - Death In Disguise

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A very enjoyable read

I have enjoyed all of the books in this series very much – and far more than I expected to.  I grew tired of the Midsomer Murders TV series a long time ago, but the books are actually very different in tone and character from what the series became.  They are very good novels of character with crime as their plot drivers.

This time, Barnaby is investigating deaths in a New Age Commune.  As always with Caroline Graham, the plotting is very good and she weaves a beguiling spell which hooked me in.   She writes very well with a fine understanding of her characters and their motivations and there is genuine psychological insight here – and also has a lot of fun at the expense of charlatan mystics and gurus.  It is this which makes the books so worthwhile; she paints some scathing portraits but others with genuine compassion and depictions of goodness, all of which I found very realistic.  It's quite a long way from the slightly twee whodunit feel of the TV series – especially in the character of Sergeant Troy who is no loveable sidekick but a lecherous, ignorant bigot with a strong line in unfunny, unpleasant jokes.

The prose is a pleasure to read, with plenty of pithy phrases ad it carries you along very nicely without ever getting in the way of the story.  So, somewhat to my surprise, I can recommend this warmly as a very good, involving novel of character as well as being a gripping crime mystery.

H.E. Bates - The Complete Flying Officer X Stories

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Little gems by a master

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed and was moved by these stories. 

The stories are very short and are essentially character studies of those involved in and affected by the activities of a heavy bomber squadron in WWII, flying Stirlings on raids into Nazi-held territory.  Each one, told by the unnamed narrator ("Pilot Officer X") is a portrait of a pilot, a gunner, a girlfriend, a bereaved family and the officer speaking about the death of their son and so on.  They give fine understated insights into what the war really means to these people and the toll it takes.  The quiet tone, reflecting the modest, unemotional language of the airmen themselves, makes the impact of the action and the emotion all the more powerful, I think.  They also paint a vivid picture of heroism, but less of the daredevil valorous kind and more the quiet, persistent courage needed to do one's best in terrible circumstances, like bringing a terribly damaged plane home through skill and steadiness under fire – the kind of inner strength and courage for which, as Bates remarks, we have not yet struck a medal.

H.E. Bates is a rather little-read writer these days and might be almost entirely forgotten were it not for the TV adaptation of The Darling Buds Of May.  He deserves to be far better remembered and widely read; these stories are little gems which still resonate strongly today and justify Graham Greene's description of Bates as "one of the best short-story writers of my time."  Warmly recommended.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)

Caroline Graham - A Ghost In The Machine

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Very enjoyable

I enjoyed this book very much – and far more than I expected to.  I grew tired of the Midsomer Murders TV series a long time ago, but this is actually very different in tone and character from what the series became.  The book is a very good novel of character with crime as its plot driver.

A Ghost In the Machine is 550 pages long and I have to say that the first third of the book was good but a bit of a plod sometimes.  Caroline Graham paints intricate portraits of her characters and their lives and we spend a long time getting to know them while not much actually happens, but she does it very well and I did get quite involved in them.  The plot really begins to develop with a death after almost 200 pages, and by that time I was pretty well hooked.  The story is well told and pretty plausible, with the characters' behaviour very believable, which is by no means always the case in such books.  By half way I was immersed and gripped and I enjoyed the second half very much indeed – especially the lack of a ridiculous Cornered Killer Climax, but a plausible, sensible denouement which was no less gripping.

Graham writes very well.  She has a fine understanding of her characters and their motivations and there is genuine psychological insight here.  She paints some scathing portraits but others with genuine compassion and depictions of goodness, all of which I found very realistic.  The prose is a pleasure to read, with plenty of pithy phrases like the man welcoming people to a spiritualist evening: "He bared his teeth in a fearsome grimace of synthetic friendliness."  Or setting the scene and character neatly with "Choosing her moment carefully, after Alan Titchmarsh but before the snooker…"  It's excellent stuff.  (Oh, and you might be surprised by the real Sergeant Troy who, far from the lovable character of the TV series, is a lecherous, ignorant bigot - excellently portrayed.)

So, somewhat to my surprise, I can recommend this warmly as a very good, involving novel of character as well as being a gripping crime mystery.

Ian Rankin - Rather Be The Devil

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Another good novel from Ian Rankin

Ian Rankin's books are always good and sometimes quite outstanding.  I don't think this is an outstanding one, but it's still very good.

In Rather Be The Devil, we continue Rebus's real-time development.  He is ageing with the rest of us, now in retirement, of course, and even trying to look after his health as it begins genuinely to worry him.  None of this stops him getting involved with an old, unsolved murder case while Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox continue their uneasy relationship while working together on a current fraud and money-laundering operation.  It's a decent enough story which becomes pretty convoluted as the two cases may or may not be related to each other but Rankin, as ever, tells it very well, creating good characters and keeping the reader hooked.

These books are now really three-handers rather than just Rebus novels, with Clarke and Fox having equally active roles.  It works very well, I think, and they make an interesting and engaging trio.  Old adversaries Darryl Christie and, of course, Big Ger Cafferty play prominent roles and long-term Rebus fans like me will find this a satisfying instalment.  (And those of us who share some of Rebus's musical taste will enjoy the way the title Rather Be The Devil is never actually mentioned, but its source features quite prominently on Rebus's turntable.)

I didn't think the plot and sense of place were among Rankin's best achievements, but a Rankin book which isn't one of his very best is still head and shoulders above a lot of other crime writing.   This is an involving and rewarding read, and I can recommend it.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)

Mick Herron - Spook Street

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A great addition to a fantastic series

Mick Herron has created a fantastic series of spy thrillers in the Slough House series and this, the fourth, is well up to the brilliant standard of its predecessors.

Not a great deal more need be said, really, but this is another rather twisty tale of the washed-up spooks of Slough House, dragged into the aftermath of a terrorist outrage and lots of consequent internal Intelligence politics and nefarious dealings, some going back decades.  The plot is good, although perhaps slightly less plausible than previous books – but who cares?  It's still a gripping, superbly told tale with the magnificent Jackson Lamb at its heart and Herron manages to make this both hilarious and chilling – sometimes simultaneously.  Lamb and his ragbag of rejects are again superbly drawn, damaged characters, about whom we somehow care, Lamb himself remains his cynically obnoxious self and I laughed out loud regularly, as I always do when reading Mick Herron's books.  Lamb is one of the great creations of modern fiction.

If you haven't yet read the Slough House series I would recommend reading the others in order first (Slow Horses,  Dead Lions, Real Tigers), but this can be read on its own.  If you have read the others you'll need no encouragement from me; this is an excellent addition to what is becoming a classic series and is very warmly recommended.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)

Chris Brookmyre - Black Widow

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent read

I thought this was an excellent thriller.  Twenty years ago someone gave me a copy of Quite Ugly One Morning, I didn't like it all that much and haven't read any Brookmyre since, which was clearly an error because he has become a very good writer indeed.

Black Widow (it's a pity the title is such a cliché) is a clever, involving psychological thriller.  It involves the death in a road accident of a recently married IT worker, although the body is never found, and the subsequent growing suspicions that not all is as it seems and that his wife, surgeon Diana Jager, may have murdered him. To say more would be to give away more than I would have liked to know before reading it, but I found it a real page-turner which gripped me early on and didn't let go until the final pages. 

Brookmyre writes very well; he builds an excellent atmosphere of tension, there are fairly laid clues and some clever misdirection, too, which all made it a very enjoyable read.  I also found it far more subtle than I expected, with penetrating and insightful portraits of the main characters.  Diana is especially well done; the third person narrative is intercut with first person accounts by her for reasons which become apparent late on in the book.  There are also very good minor characters, like the two young police officers who first attend the accident.

In a market which is very crowded with crime fiction, much of it very good, I think this stands out as an especially good example, and I can recommend it very warmly.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)