Mike Stafford
Mike Stafford is an irascible Yorkshireman currently domiciled in Worcester. As an Energy Analyst, his daily life provides the perfect motivation for escapism into literature; he both reads and writes it with great enthusiasm. His book collection extends to crime fiction, philosophy, political treatises, biography, 20th Century classics and a hearty chunk of Stephen King’s oeuvre. When not indulging in these, he can be found despairing of the fortunes of his beloved Sheffield Wednesday.
Gangster Squad, by Paul Lieberman
Reviewed on October 24, 2012
Gangster Squad: The True Story of the Battle for Los Angeles; if that title doesn’t float your boat, I’d question your commitment to true crime. Author Paul Lieberman has conducted over 300 interviews to support this weighty tome on the subject of the eponymous Gangster Squad, a covert unit of the LAPD founded to rid [...]
Mark Oldfield
Reviewed on October 22, 2012
Mark Oldfield has worked in criminological research for over 20 years. He has a PhD in Criminology from the University of Kent and has carried out research in the areas of risk assessment and prediction and as well as evaluative research on policing, prisons and probation. He has also taught in various Universities on research, crime and criminal justice.
The Sentinel, by Mark Oldfield
Reviewed on October 18, 2012
The Sentinel is the debut novel from Sheffield-born Doctor of Criminology Mark Oldfield. Marking the start of what promises to be an ambitious and intelligent trilogy, it divides its time between the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, the oppression that followed during the 1950s, and to the near present, where the scars of the [...]
Julia Keller
Reviewed on October 13, 2012
Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, visitors see only its stunning natural beauty. But for those living there it’s a different story. The mountain roads harbour secret places, perfect for making the prescription drugs that tempt its desperately poor.Bell Elkins left a broken teenager, savaged by a past she couldn’t forget. But, as [...]
A Killing in the Hills, by Julia Keller
Reviewed on October 2, 2012
A Killing in the Hills is the first novel for adults from Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Julia Keller. A West Virginian by birth, Keller turns her journalistic eye on her native state, telling a tale of social decay, and one tenacious prosecutor’s attempts to turn back its tide. That prosecutor is Belfa “Bell” Elkins, also a [...]
Talking to the Dead, by Harry Bingham
Reviewed on September 17, 2012
Talking to the Dead is the debut novel from former banker turned Writers Workshop supremo Harry Bingham. The first in a new series, it introduces us to DC Fiona Griffiths, a new and atypical heroine. In this, her first murder investigation, she wrestles with demons both internal and external, hunting the killer of a mother [...]
Payback Time, by Geraint Anderson
Reviewed on September 14, 2012
Payback Time is the third book from Geraint Anderson, banker turned whistleblower better known to the world as Cityboy. In this offering Steve Jones returns, embarking on a quest for revenge against his employer after their dismissal of his true love apparently leads to her suicide. Right off the bat, Anderson lets us know what [...]
Socking it to the sock puppets
Reviewed on September 6, 2012
I’m not angry; I’m disappointed. We all remember this as the worst condemnation childhood had to offer, and it was my initial reaction on hearing that none other than RJ Ellory had dipped his hands into the filth of anonymous fake reviewing. Lest you missed it in the myriad other places the story has broken on [...]
The Dark Winter, by David Mark
Reviewed on August 9, 2012
In literature as in life, there remains an emphatic north/south divide. Try finding a publisher for a crime novel set anywhere north of Watford (but south of Berwick-upon-Tweed), and you’ll see what northerners are up against. This was the problem that plagued David Mark for a long, frustrating decade before the fine people at Quercus [...]
Outlaws: Inside the Hell’s Angel Biker Wars, by Tony Thompson
Reviewed on August 8, 2012
To many of us, the name “Hells Angels” conjures up visions of beards, bikes and body odour. The Angels are, to us less well-informed folk, a rag-tag bunch of anti-social petrolheads who enjoy the occasional brawl. In Outlaws, investigative journalist Tony Thompson lifts the lid on the world of 1%-er MCs (motorcycle clubs), and shows [...]
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
Reviewed on August 5, 2012
On November 16th, 1959, an article appeared in The New York Times concerning the multiple murder of Kansan family. Among its many readers was novelist and short story writer Truman Capote, and the article so fascinated him that he dedicated much of the next half-decade to studying the crime. He befriended the people of Holcomb, [...]
The Twenty Year Death, by Ariel S. Winter
Reviewed on July 31, 2012
Hard Case Crime – when they’re not resurrecting the dead, they’re bringing us satisfyingly sleazy neo-pulp. And now, with The Twenty Year Death, they’ve finally found a way to combine those two noble goals. In one of the most ambitious literary projects of the year, Ariel S Winter brings us three novels for the price [...]
Gods and Beasts, by Denise Mina
Reviewed on July 10, 2012
Gods and Beasts is the tenth novel from poster child of tartan noir, Denise Mina. Centring on DS Alex Morrow, but featuring a diverse cast of characters, it covers an investigation into a robbery turned murder. A Post Office becomes a scene of carnage as a grandfather is gunned down with an AK47 in front [...]
A Dark and Broken Heart, by RJ Ellory
Reviewed on June 28, 2012
A Dark and Broken Heart is the tenth full-length novel from Birmingham’s much lauded RJ Ellory. Another standalone, it introduces us to Vincent Madigan – a man on the edge in the classic sense. Popping too many pills, and deep in debt to East Harlem’s drug kingpin, Madigan is looking to get out from under [...]
Inside Job, by Charles Ferguson
Reviewed on June 22, 2012
Consider, if you will, a trillion-dollar robbery thirty years in the planning, executed with the complicity of the government, and after which the perpetrators are not only spared prison, but allowed to keep their ill-gotten gains. Beyond the range of even the most ambitious thriller writer? Probably, but it’s a reality which Charles Ferguson explores [...]
Disgrace, by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Reviewed on June 21, 2012
How to follow the best book of 2011? Of all the problems that could face a crime writer, it’s by no means the worst, but it’s one that faces Danish sensation Jussi Adler-Olsen. Last year’s Mercy was a masterpiece of Nordic noir, introducing us to a classically curmudgeonly detective named Carl Mørck, and his mysterious [...]
How to Think More About Sex, by Alain de Botton
Reviewed on June 14, 2012
Of all genres of book, self-help books must surely be the most maligned, and with good reason. The most revered book of the field suggests that men and women come from differing corners of the solar system, and the worst are little better than disingenuous, saccharine trash. Add sexual subject matter to the mix, and [...]
Drive, and Driven, by James Sallis
Reviewed on June 13, 2012
How to mark one’s 25th birthday? For the general public, the answer can frequently be found in booze. For No Exit Press, the solution is a little grander. To celebrate a quarter-century of successful independent crime writing, they’re re-issuing the back catalogue of James Sallis, the connoisseur’s crime writer of choice. Re-printed in uniformly moody [...]
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt
Reviewed on June 9, 2012
With American political rhetoric growing more antagonistic by the day, Jonathan Haidt is one of several thinkers using moral psychology to attempt to foster understanding between the warring factions. In the three sections of The Righteous Mind, he explores the relationship between intuition and morality, the foundations of our moral thinking, and the unifying and [...]
Glass Geishas, by Susanna Quinn
Reviewed on June 3, 2012
Glass Geishas is the debut novel from journalist and ghost writer Susanna Quinn. Set entirely in the Tokyo district of Roppongi, it follows struggling actress Steph as she navigates a murky world of hostess bars, exploitation and sex for sale. Originally planning to work alongside old school friends Julia and Annabel, upon arrival she finds [...]
Hammered: Memoir of an Addict, by GN Braun
Reviewed on May 30, 2012
Drug addiction is a divisive subject. Some approach it moralistically, decrying the selfish hedonism of the junkie. Others adopt a gentler stance, seeing addiction as something stemming from circumstance and misguided choices. Others, thanks possibly to the excesses of the rich and famous, seem to believe there is some sort of glamour in it. In [...]
The Nameless Dead, by Brian McGilloway
Reviewed on May 24, 2012
After a brief hiatus due to the release of last year’s acclaimed Little Girl Lost, Inspector Ben Devlin is back. In The Nameless Dead, Brian McGilloway’s beloved Garda detective investigates the murder of a disabled newborn baby, its tiny skeleton found buried on an islet between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The baby is discovered [...]
Dear Zari: Hidden Stories from Women of Afghanistan, by Zarghuna Kargar
Reviewed on May 21, 2012
Loosely paraphrased, Dostoevsky contended that the degree of civilisation in any society could be ascertained by its treatment of prisoners. In the modern era, the treatment of women is held up as a similar barometer of civilisation. By this measure, countries such as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan are often found wanting, and in Dear Zari, [...]
Lady, Go Die!, by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
Reviewed on May 20, 2012
Unusually for any writer, death has actually made Mickey Spillane more prolific. All but retired in his twilight years, releasing just three books between 1989 and 2003, Spillane will have posthumously released nearly triple that by 2014. The story behind this post-mortem productivity is a touching one, recounted in the Co-Author’s Note to Lady, Go [...]
Escape From Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey From North Korea to Freedom in the West, by Blaine Harden
Reviewed on May 16, 2012
In Western thinking, North Korea is a punchline state. The DPRK is the village idiot of the global community, still apparently unaware that Communism has been discredited and totalitarianism defeated. Comics’ material is written for them by the ridiculous personality cult of the Kim dynasty. However, as Escape From Camp 14 shows, the truth about [...]
The Magic Christian, by Terry Southern
Reviewed on May 12, 2012
By the time he passed away in 1995, Terry Southern had long established himself as something of a cultural icon. Novelist, screenwriter and essayist, he was involved with the Beat writers in the 50s, Swinging London in the 60s, and Saturday Night Live in the 80s. He was key in the development of the script [...]
The Republican Brain, by Chris Mooney
Reviewed on May 10, 2012
You don’t need to be an expert to see that American politics is dangerously polarised. And, with Republicans recently prepared to risk economic catastrophe over the debt ceiling just to spite President Obama, this partisan insanity puts the whole world at risk. This is nothing short of an ideological war, and as US Senator Hiram [...]
Last Exit to Brooklyn, by Hubert Selby Jr.
Reviewed on May 6, 2012
Much like the lethal dose of heroin that is the flame to moth-like junkies, banned books have an allure all of their own to readers. Last Exit to Brooklyn is no different; it was subject to an obscenity case in the UK on release in 1966, and banned outright in Italy. Its frank descriptions of [...]
Murders of London, by David Long
Reviewed on May 3, 2012
David Long is a prolific author of pleasingly diverting non-fiction books, most with a London theme. These include Hidden City: The Secret Alleys, Courts and Yards of London’s Square Mile, and When Did Big Ben First Bong? As its title would suggest, in Murders of London, Long turns an eye towards the capital’s dark history. [...]
Force of Nature, by CJ Box
Reviewed on April 25, 2012
After a hectic publication schedule in 2011, the release of CJ Box’s twelfth Joe Pickett novel, Force of Nature, brings us up to date with our American cousins. This is a book eleven years in the making, finally filling in the back story of enigmatic hard-man Nate Romanowski. Indeed, this is more a Romanowski than [...]
A Dark Redemption, by Stav Sherez
Reviewed on April 23, 2012
A Dark Redemption is the third novel from music journo Stav Sherez, and marks the beginning of a promising new series. The heroes of the piece are a male/female pairing, DI Jack Carrigan and DS Geneva Miller, and we meet them for the first time as they investigate a particularly hideous crime; the murder of [...]
The Comedy is Finished, by Donald E. Westlake
Reviewed on April 20, 2012
Hard Case Crime have recent form in bringing us pulp from beyond the grave. Last October there was The Consummata, published five years after Mickey Spillane’s death, and now comes The Comedy is Finished, a tense, thoughtful novel from the late Donald E Westlake. Westlake first started working on The Comedy is Finished in the [...]
Tango 190, by PC David Rathband
Reviewed on April 16, 2012
Tango 190 is PC David Rathband’s deeply personal account of three key periods since his shooting at the hands of Raoul Moat. Across punchy chapters divided, diary-style, into accounts of individual days, Rathband (working with ghost writer Tony Horne) tells of the bizarre and horrific week during which Raoul Moat was at large, of the [...]
The Moral Landscape, by Sam Harris
Reviewed on April 12, 2012
For centuries, humanity has fallen into a Cartesian trap of dividing knowledge into the subjective from the objective. On that basis, even scientists themselves have largely conceded that their empirical research can have no bearing on matters of morality. In The Moral Landscape, Sam Harris takes a fascinating look at a potential new branch of [...]
Mr. Glamour, by Richard Godwin
Reviewed on April 12, 2012
Start out with the work of Nesbo, travel down through Bruen and to the depths of Mo Hayder, and keep going. When you think it can’t possibly get any blacker, you’re still nowhere near the darkness that is Richard Godwin. I’m reminded of an Attenborough documentary about the life forms living at the bottom of [...]
Spilled Blood, by Brian Freeman
Reviewed on April 5, 2012
Spilled Blood is the seventh book from Macavity Award winning psychological suspense author Brian Freeman. The cover begs a disturbing question for any parent: “could your child really be a killer?” However, Spilled Blood is not a psychological tract on the subject of murderous children. Instead, it is a vital account of life in the [...]
The Contract, by David Levien
Reviewed on April 3, 2012
The Contract is the latest novel from cinematic renaissance man David Levien. Levien is a director, producer, and also a screenwriter, whose writing credits include the star-studded ‘Ocean’s Thirteen,’ and the under-rated Grisham adaptation ‘Runaway Jury.’ The story of the book is a simple one. Returning hero Frank Behr is working for a private detective [...]
The English Monster, by Lloyd Shepherd
Reviewed on March 28, 2012
The English Monster is the debut novel from former journalist and infrequent Graun columnist Lloyd Shepherd. In 1811, Wapping Docks are scandalised by the gruesome murders of the Marr family. Husband, wife, and infant have all been brutally slain by persons unknown, and the Thames River Police are, though embroiled in jurisdictional wrangling, tasked with [...]
The Damage, by Howard Linskey
Reviewed on March 26, 2012
The Damage is the sequel to Howard Linskey’s superb début, The Drop. David Blake, once an ideas man for Tyneside’s premier organised crime outfit, is now Newcastle’s Top Boy. He lives in luxury in a Thai compound with Sarah Mahoney, the beautiful daughter of his former boss, who (spoiler alert), unknown to Sarah, Blake executed [...]
Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End, by Leif G W Persson
Reviewed on March 14, 2012
I’ll confess, I’ve fallen into certain habits when it comes to crime fiction. When approaching new books, I’ve risked prejudicing my own critical faculties by looking for the same things each time; protagonist, setting, mood. And so, when something as ambitious and expansive as Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End crossed my path, I spent [...]
Carnage, by Maxime Chattam
Reviewed on March 9, 2012
Just what is it about the life of an American teen that can drive individuals to mass murder? If you want an in-depth psychosocial analysis, don’t pick up a copy of Carnage. Let’s get that out of the way; Carnage is a novella, and such a short one that it makes The Great Gatsby look [...]
The Golden Scales, by Parker Bilal
Reviewed on March 7, 2012
Parker Bilal is the pseudonym of Jamal Mahjoub, British Sudanese writer of successful literary fiction. With seven books under his belt already, The Golden Scales sees Bilal dipping a toe into crime genre waters, and on the strength of this outing, he’s more than welcome to stay. The story follows Makana, an exiled Sudanese police [...]
The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, by Sax Rohmer
Reviewed on March 5, 2012
Travel far enough up the family tree of oriental bad guys, and you reach Dr Fu-Manchu. A literary contemporary of Professor Moriarty, Fu-Manchu has not only given his name to a moustache, but has bequeathed an entire model of villainy to the world. Whenever a fictional Chinaman employs exotic or even demonic methods, or conducts [...]
The Expats, by Chris Pavone
Reviewed on February 29, 2012
The Expats is the début novel from New York’s Chris Pavone. It also marks one of the more wild departures in style I’ve come across; Pavone has edited several cookbooks and indeed written a wine guide of his own. The tale introduces us to Kate Moore, juggler extraordinaire of career, marriage and parenthood. She could [...]
Guilt by Association, by Marcia Clark
Reviewed on February 22, 2012
Guilt by Association is the first novel from American attorney and legal talking head Marcia Clark. Legal names don’t come much bigger than Clark, who was chief prosecutor during the OJ Simpson trial, and with Guilt by Association, she travels the well-trodden path between practicing law and writing sharp crime thrillers. This particular thriller introduces [...]
Star Island, by Carl Hiaasen
Reviewed on February 20, 2012
Trashing celebrity culture is something of a sport for sections of the intelligentsia. Just as semi-literate imbeciles clamour for the latest news on Bosh and Pecks’ new diet regime, or intimate details of some pop-tart’s marital breakdown, educated types have an endless appetite for Brookerian or Eltonian celeb-scorn. It’s a vicious cycle of sniping, to [...]
Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie
Reviewed on February 19, 2012
Ah, Dame Agatha, the pen that sold four billion books. Assuming my maths GCSE is worth the paper it’s printed on, that’s just shy of 1.4 books sold every second of every day since she was first published back in October 1920. To this day, when non crime buffs think of crime writing, the chances [...]
A Sentimental Traitor, by Michael Dobbs
Reviewed on February 13, 2012
I grew up with Michael Dobbs. His books enjoyed pride of place on my father’s shelves, and I recall the House of Cards series being the among the more acclaimed televisual events of their respective years. Indeed, Dobbs may be the only living politician I can recall enjoying consistent popularity with anyone. The reasons for [...]
Getting Off, by Lawrence Block
Reviewed on February 12, 2012
It appears Ronseal have gone into the business of book cover design. At least, that’s the conclusion one could reach from checking out Getting Off: A Novel of Sex and Violence. I defy anyone to glance at this book without expecting anything but 300 pages of murderous, porno filth. It’s certainly not one to whip [...]
Buried Secrets, by Joseph Finder
Reviewed on February 6, 2012
In the world of crime and thriller writing, authenticity is king. The genre is filled with ex-cops, lawyers, crime reporters and assorted other experts, and one of the most dedicated among their number is Joseph Finder. As if his time spent working for the CIA didn’t do enough for his credibility, he actually spent time [...]
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The Bookgeeks Interview
Mark Oldfield
Mark Oldfield has worked in criminological research for over 20 years. He has a PhD in Criminology from the University of Kent and has carried out research in the areas of risk assessment and prediction and as well as evaluative research on policing, prisons and probation. He has also taught in various Universities on research, crime and criminal justice.
