I am getting really tired of January and the cold weather. Winter seems to have gone on for a long time this year. I have been in Cambridge this week for a couple of days and the driving there was hampered by road works and the return journey not much fun as ice on the roads. So I have been hunkering down and reading a lot of crime, as per.
The Brutal Tide – Kate Rhodes. This is the latest in the Ben Kitto series set on the Scilly Isles. I really enjoy Kate's writing and loved her Alice Quintin books (if you have not read 
them may I recommend you do) and I keep pestering her for more despite the fact she is now writing a new series. Hope springs eternal.
A gangland mobster Craig Travis is dying in hospital and he is determined that he will get even with those who helped put him away. His daughter, who he adores and who sees no wrong in him, sets out to seek revenge on his behalf and a killing spree begins. Ben Kitto is on her list but she has to seek out a way to get to him.
At the same time Ben has discovered a skeleton which is unearthed during construction works and it links back to events some twenty years earlier.
The two stores run parrallel to each other and while one was predictible, (I won't say anything) the danger Ben is in keeps us on our toes and is very exciting. Really enjoyed it.
Showstopper – Peter Lovesey. The latest Peter Diamond detective story and I really love this series. I felt this was a slow burner and not as immediate as some of his other titles, and at the start when retirement was mentioned, I panicked. No this series cannot end but by the last page I felt reassured….
There appears to be be a jinx on a popular television series and while these are dismissed as 
just bad luck with the tabloids building it up, the mysterious disappearance of a member of fthe crew some years earlier has never been solved.
If you have not read any of the Diamond series then, once again, I can recomment that you do. Immensely readable and fun, with a dash of tragedy thrown in, I loved them all.
Tana Collins – the Inspector Jim Carruthers series. I received an offer from Amazon to read these, five of them in total, for the astounding sum of 99p on Kindle. Mad. But I bought them thinking if I did not like them then I was hardly out of pocket.
Well, I DID like them and spent a happy week reading all of them, Robbing the Dead, Care to Die, Mark of the Devil, Dark is the Day and Deep Water. Inspector Carruthers is divorced from his wife (is there any other kind of DI in crime fiction) who is living in Scotland as he moved up there in an attempt to save his 
marriage. It did not work but Jim finds he loves living in a coastal town in Scotland. He crosses swords with his boss (again this seems the norm in most crime stories. Peter Diamond has the same problem). I am sure somewhere in the UK there is a DC Super who does not worry about budgets all the time. At least I hope so.
If I say to you that the writing is nice and tidy and clean you might get the impression that I am damning with faint praise, but I am not. Flowery and over decorated prose is not for me. I like my stories and narrative lean and mean and Tana Collins fulfills this in spades as far as I am concerned. Another recommendation and I do hope there are more.
I have also discovered another series, again courtesy of a 99p offer from Amazon. This is a cunning ploy because they lure you in and hope you will then go and buy the rest. I fall for it every time. This series features a female DI, Zoe Finch and the author is Rachel McLean. Just embarking on the second one and, yes, have bought more and will keep me going for a bit. Will let you know how I get on.
Two other things to mention. A year or so ago, Dean Street Press, reprinted a series of detective stories by Moray Dalton of whom I had never heard. But as this publishing house seems to produce an endless list of books all of which I want, I got hold of them, read them and loved them. Please do check them out and I am delighted to hear that in March this year more are arriving.
British Library Crime Classics continue to come up with the goods as well. Not all of them are to my taste but most of them are. After reading one of their reprints by Freeman Wills Croft I then went on to hunt down all his titles. It turned out to be quite expensive….
So two arrived this week, Death of Mr Dodsley by John Ferguson which is classified as a London Bibliomystery, A murder in a bookshop. Perfect.
Death of an Author – E C R Lorac. This title has been out of print since 1935 so kudos to the BritLib for giving us the chance of reading and enjoying. E C R Lorac is about my favourite of all the newly rediscovered authors they have published and I am going to save this up for a bit and just enjoy the anticipation.
And I have to mention yet again, Jane Casey and her wonderful detective stories featuring Maeve and Josh. I have just reread them all and now that I know the characters well found that going right back to the beginning was a real treat. They are simply brilliant.
Jane has also written stand alone title, The Killing Kind which is equally gripping and, I gather it is going to be made into a tv series. Cannot wait.
OK well loads of recommends for you. Do let me know if you read or have read any of them, and let me know what you think.
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