Dandelion by Mark Lowes

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You can buy Dandelion.....Here

You can follow Mark Lowes...Here

The Blurb...

He is on a journey of change, pushing himself to feel... something.

When he meets Violet, an innocent, life-affirming young woman, he's tempted into being something tame. Something he's not.

Then he discovers George, a sociopathic serial killer.

Both are now in a tug-of-war for his loyalty.

Who will he choose?

Can a criminal psychopath really change?
Dr Raveed Makesh is delving deep into the mind of one of Cardiff's most deadly killers, revolutionising therapy for criminal psychopaths.

Is Makesh successful? Or just another victim of his games?

If you love American Psycho or Hannibal, Dandelion is the book for you. A dark, literary thriller that will have you second-guessing yourself and, in the end, agreeing with a criminal psychopath.

My Review...

If you want rainbows and lollipops this is not the book for you.

It tells the tale of Cardiff's worst serial killer and his fractured mind.

It is dark. How dark is it? It's darker than a pint of Guinness in a cupboard under the stairs, in the basement, at midnight, in a power cut.

From the absolute sledgehammer of an opening line it is relentless.

This is a scary book. It is scary precisely because it does not deal in the gothic monsters of literature. No werewolves or vampires or even zombies. No, it deals the most terrifying thing known to man, the dark corners of the human mind. These monsters are real and they can lead a man to kill. It is a complex book, in that you will spend your time trying to decipher who is real and who is in the patient's head. The book is given added gravitas because it is written in epistolary form, using Doctor's notes, diary entries, screen grabs of text messages and even a DNA report.

This is a very good book. The only caveat I can find is that the author does leave a few questions unanswered. What was the patient's job and how did he get fired/resign among them. 

The author does however have a gift for making the reader uncomfortable through the book. He does this in two distinct ways. 

One is a small  twist on general language for example, instead of "day turned to night" we get "Outside, the night had crawled over the day."  Subtle yet dark. He is very clever in that they are sparingly used and if you are not looking for them you wont see them (but you will feel them.)

The second method of keeping the reader uncomfortable is used more often. This method is dropping what I have called "cynical society truth bombs." Ideas and tropes that occur in our culture, of which you have probably given little thought to, are deconstructed in a scornful and sceptical manner and you end up thinking Yes, I can see the sinister, prophetic truth in that line. e .g. "Nothing excites me anymore. Nothing. When I was young I felt some excitement in discovery and enthusiasm in the unknown. as I grew up things became more and more mundane. That's the nature of growing up, we are worn down."

So he makes us uncomfortable, but he makes us come back for more, time and time again. It is like an addiction. It is like having a guilty pleasure. 

This is the second Mark Lowes book I have read and although you can see the influence of Stephen King, Robert Louis Stephenson and others in his writing he has a style all his own. His forte is describing and manipulating the conflicting thoughts and emotions in a person's mind and soul.

 His prose is simultaneously disturbing and, when called for, mouth-wateringly rich.

This is a very gifted writer. He deserves to be more well know and he deserves to be snapped up by a publisher ASAP.

I have been lucky enough to interview Mark. The interview will be on this website within the next two weeks

Selected Quotes...

"We sat for a while without talking, the silence mulled between us, waiting, brewing ageing."

"They say we're a democracy but we're democratic to a choice. A choice that is limited. A choice that is wrong. I don't want to choose from a bad lot. It's like choosing between having cancer or being cremated alive."

"Parents were what I considered to be comforters, enablers, disciplinarians. They were a trust fund. They gave birth to you then provided. Perhaps it was a strong sense of responsibility brought about by law, misinterpreted as love."

About the Author...

Mark is a former teacher, current early childhood educator and a dad. He lives in Cardiff, Wales. while he is not working with deaf children and their families he's writing dark and twisty fiction. His books tend to be quite genre fluid but he's dedicated to scaring the shit out of you. Mark is an associate member of Crime Cymru He is also the winner of Litopia's Pop-Up Submissions  and of a pitch contest at the Cardiff Book Festival.

None So Blind by Alis Hawkins

 

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You can buy None So Blind.......Here

You can find out more about the author.....Here

The Blurb...

1850 – Harry Probert-Lloyd is a young barrister making a successful career in London when he realises he’s going blind. Forced home from London to rural Cardiganshire, the only path open to him seems to be one he hoped he’d have never take: to become one of the squirearchy.

But Harry has scarcely got his things unpacked when a messenger comes banging on the door. Human remains have been discovered on a neighbouring property.

Harry has a horrible feeling he knows who the bones belong to; and that he’s part of the reason she’s dead.

But the murder took place during the infamous ‘Rebecca’ tollgate riots and, with the whole area caught up in a frenzy of gossip, rumour and fear, the inquest jury brings in an anomalous verdict o. Intimidation by the resurgent influence of the shadowy Rebecca? Harry thinks so.

In the teeth of opposition from all sides, he sets out to find out who killed Margaret Jones. And why.

Needing help, Harry hires John Davies, a young solicitor’s clerk, to be his eyes and, as they pursue their investigation, three names keep cropping up.

Rebecca – Why are the men who dressed as women and rode out at night so keen to leave Margaret Jones’s death uninvestigated?

Nathaniel Howell – rabble-rousing, equality-before-God espousing minister of the local chapel. Why did he disappear when the riots were at their height? What did he know about Margaret Jones? Is he still alive, or did he, too, end up in an unmarked grave?

And David Thomas. Every time his name is mentioned, Harry steers away from it and John becomes suspicious. Who is David Thomas and why are they not beating a path to his door to ask him what he knows? Exactly what part did Harry himself play in the Rebecca Riots?

Harry and John’s investigations take them as far afield as London and Ipswich where they make an astonishing discovery.

The truth behind Margaret Jones’s death changes everything.

My Review...

None So Blind is the first in the Teifi Valley Coroner Series. Other novels in the series are

In Two Minds

Those Who Know

I found this to be a very good book on so many levels. The murder mystery was intriguing,  the characters were compelling and (to me anyway) the historical context was absolutely fascinating.

Murder Mystery; How do you solve a murder if there is no police force? Indeed how can even find out  that it is a murder. This is the dilemma facing Harry. There is no police force but there is a very rudimentary coroner system in 1850s rural West Wales. Harry believes he knows the victim who was buried beneath a tree. He feels duty bound to find her killer. His first step in his quest is to use his fathers influence to push the local coroner to open an inquest. This is by no means a straight forward and routine procedural  task as would be the case today. The jury returns a verdict that cannot be correct. They have been nobbled. Harry is requested to continue his investigations by an unlikely source. He does this gladly but by doing so falls foul of his distant father. Harry must navigate his path to the killer, but that path lies through corruption, conspiracy and physical intimidation by the Rebecca Rioters.  The 1840s equivalent of a vigilante, guerilla, militia.  Several possible scenarios for Margaret's death are investigated and several red herrings are produced before the perpetrator is exposed. In addition the author does have a lively turn of phrase. Have a squint at the selected quotes for some fine examples. I have probably used too many quotes. I hope the author forgives me but they are all little belters

Compelling Characters; Harry on first glance would appear to be the stereotypical hero. He is from landed gentry, well educated with a conscience. This is all well and good but it would make for a very boring protagonist. This is where the author comes up with two strokes of genius. Harry has a debilitating occular disease and is going slowly blind. He only has periphal vision. He needs help. He needs someone to be his eyes. This is where John Davies comes in. John is from a lower social strata than Harry and can see things that Harry cannot both physically and societally. Between the two of them they have access to the whole social strata. They grow to become almost symbiotic. The second stroke of genius is to give Harry a past both with Margaret and the Rebbecca Riots. John begins to suspect Harry of some sort of involvement. It's like Starsky not really trusting Hutch! In addition John himself is carrying a dark secret. Yes Hutch is hiding something from Starsky (ed probably showing my age with those references 🤔) It makes for full, well rounded, proper meaty characters.

There are few appendices in the version that I read. Notes on the Rebecca Riots, notes on law and order in 19th Century West Wales and questions for reading groups. All very interesting additions to the story itself. 

Historical Context; This aspect was fascinating. We go from rural West Wales where the poorest in society are sharing their homebuilt dwelling with cattle to London where there are gaslights in the home along with turquoise wallpaper. The Rebecca Riots play a large part in the story and it seems to me while they started as a sort "Poll Tax Riot" they degenerated into the paranoia and chaos of the Salem Witch Trials. I have read about the Rebecca Riots, The Merthyr Rising and the Chartist Rising but I think if you ask the average Welsh citizen about these, their knowledge would be little to nothing. That is why is great to see books like this, that provide a palatable and engaging way to learning about our heritage. These things together with Treweryn should be higher in our collective national conscience. Anyway I digress back to the book

 I was thinking what novels could I compare it with regards to  setting and context and it eventually came to me, and if you think the Starsky and Hutch reference was odd you are going really surprised at this. It reminded me of both the Godfather  and I Claudius (two of my favourite books.) Yes, Yes I know I am odd but here me out. All three totally immerse you  in a society with a very distinct social strata. The rules and etiquette  for recognising  who is on what level (and sub level) of society  are numerous and, to the outsider at least, opaque. For example speaking Welsh is only for the lower classes, upper classes speak English. Tenant farmers are below land owners. Power, wealth and status are everything. Trying to to move up the social ladder is fraught with danger and conversely the threat of falling down the ladder is forever looming in the background. The hand you are dealt with from birth greatly impinges on everything you do in life. In an ideal world it wouldn't but it does and sadly that is still true today. All three societies are cultures that I had limited knowledge of before reading about them. However upon reading them felt totally immersed in that world with all the subleties and nuances that go along with them, and now I will never forget them. 

Selected Quotes...

"As we walked under a sky like soaked linen,"

"I didn’t trust anything until it was written down where I could see it. Behaving itself."

‘In my experience, Mr Probert- Lloyd,’ the coroner said, ‘the truth is rarely told where a suspicious death is concerned. And certainly not the whole truth.’

‘Do you defend these Rebeccas?’ ‘I defend their right to take action if nobody else will uphold the law!’ ‘To take action? They’re rioting, boy!’ ‘Riot is in the eye of the beholder.’

"...fire burning in a room nobody was in. That was what having money meant."

"Parry was a large man and I remembered him as being soft around the edges, as if he might be easy to squeeze into a blancmange mould."

About the Author...

Alis Hawkins grew up on a dairy farm in Cardiganshire. Her inner introvert thought it would be a good idea to become a shepherd and, frankly, if she had, she might have been published sooner.

However, three years reading English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford revealed an extrovert streak and a social conscience which saw her train as a Speech and Language Therapist. She has spent the subsequent three decades variously bringing up two sons, working with children and young people on the autism spectrum and writing fiction, non-fiction and plays. She writes the kind of books she likes to read: character-driven historical crime and mystery fiction with what might be called literary production values.

As a historical writer, Alis takes her research very seriously which sometimes has unexpected consequences. Research into the techniques of medieval charcoal burning led to a fascination with the craft and she and her partner are now regular members of the team that keeps the earth burn charcoal-producing technique alive in the Forest of Dean.

Series: The Teifi Valley Coroner historical crime series, featuring Harry Probert Lloyd and John Davies, published by The Dome Press. #1 - None So Blind (2018),#2 - In Two Minds (2019), #3 - Those Who Know (2020)

Testament, a split time narrative set in fictitious university town Salster in both fourteenth and twenty-first centuries – published by Sapere Books July 2019.

The Black and The White, a historical psychological mystery set during the time of the Black Death will be published by Sapere Books (publication date March 30th 2020)

Q&A with Darren Arthurs author of the DeLuca Series

 

Hi Darren, 😁 Give us a brief outline/history about yourself. 

Hi Grumpz! I am Forty-five year old man living in Swindon, married with children and a dog that spends so much time sleeping that I find myself getting jealous. I try to be as positive as I can because there is more than enough arguments going on to want to add to it. I read quite a lot, yet I don’t consider myself an avid reader or read reviews in newspapers, I read the blurb and take a chance. I have been writing properly for about a year and have released three books with a new one being released in May or June.

Give us a brief outline of your latest book.

It’s the follow-on to ‘DeLuca’ which was released late last year. It isn’t a sequel as such, the story doesn’t carry on, but it is helpful if you have read the first. The story centres around Breanna DeLuca who is working as a cleaner in a hotel when she ‘accidentally’ picks up a memory stick not knowing that it is central to a blackmail plot by some European criminals.

She is then followed by a dangerous former Polish police detective that has been hired to retrieve it no matter who or what stands in his way. She turns to her friends to help her while also trying to keep one step ahead of her pursuer.

NB. You can buy Broken Umbrellas (a short stand alone)..........Here

 You can buy DeLuca....................Here

You can buy DeLuca Finds a Man.................Here

Where can readers find out more about you?

I don’t have a website or anything, so I suppose the place to find me is through the ‘author page’ on Amazon or Twitter (@CreativeType14) where I post things about books I’m reading and biscuits I’m eating.

What was the hardest scene to write?

The violence was tricky, I tried to make it a little more violent so the reader can dislike the baddie, but I also didn’t want to put people off, because the central character is supposed to be fun. Finding that balance was difficult, and I had to rewrite certain parts three or four times to reach a point I was happy with.

Do you find it difficult to write from a different gender/ethnic background point of view?

Being a middle-aged white man means I’m a million miles away from my main character, who is a twenty-something black female, but I don’t really think about it. I could have made the central character a white man in his forties, but he wouldn’t have fit into the story so well. I hope no one is offended by my main character, I guess Mary Shelley wrote about a male medical student and that worked out ok. The vast majority of positive things I hear about the first book is the fact that Breanna is likeable, so maybe I’m doing ok…

It is part of a series. Is there another in the pipeline?

I’m piecing together a third one at the moment, but it’s difficult. The fact she isn’t a police officer means she doesn’t have certain tools at her disposal so the ‘crimes’ need to stay either under the radar with regards to police involvement or low key. But, hopefully, there will be a third – and if I can make the pieces fit together, it’ll be a cracker!

How did you first get into writing?

I write reviews for music releases for a website called Dancing About Architecture, it specialises in smaller, unsigned bands and tackles all genres, but writing novels started in March 2020. I was put on Furlough for a few weeks, and I struggled with insomnia. To help me get off to sleep I busied myself with an idea for a story, over a few nights that story grew larger and eventually I decided to write it down. It became a book called ‘Broken Umbrellas’ about a young boy living in an abusive home who plans to walk to the seaside.

I planned, wrote the first draft and edited it in three weeks.

Then I was hooked.

I returned to work in April 2020 and wrote in my spare time.

What have been your favourite books to read throughout your life and why?

What a question! I rarely read a book more than once, but books that have stuck with me are ones like World War Z by Max Brooks, I loved this book and was hooked from the opening page. The Last of Us by Rob Ewing, which is about a group of young children surviving on a Scottish island after some kind of pandemic. I’m not obsessed with plague and disease honestly! 

Another I read this year was Les Miserable by Victor Hugo, I loved the intertwining stories.

You can buy World War Z by Max Brooks......Here

You can buy The Last of Us by Rob Ewing.....Here

You can buy Les Miserables by Victor Hugo...Here

Who is your favourite author and why?

I don’t really follow authors, I tend to flit and bounce between genres but two authors that I seem to return to and that I’m currently obsessed with are Linda Castillo, who writes spectacular crime novels set against the backdrop of an Amish community in Pennsylvania, and S D Sykes who writes historical crime in the 1300’s during the Black Death. Both writers could write a shopping list and I’d read it.

You can find  Sworn to Silence the first in the Kate Burkholder series by Linda Costello....Here

You can find Plague Land the first in the Oswald DeLacy series by SD Sykes ...Here

Has any book that you have read changed you?

I think reading changes all of us, I know my understanding of language has changed since reading regularly. I also enjoy and appreciate my own thoughts more and I find myself seeking moments during the day to read. I know it’s a very general answer, but I think the actual act of reading is good for us.

If you could be any character from literary fiction who would it be?

Does Batman count? I can’t think of anybody that has leapt from the page and made me want to be them. Jack Reacher would be cool, but his life sounds far too busy for me.

What is your favourite quote?

One I say often, especially to my daughters, is “there’s always a bigger fish” meaning the world is full of people and there will always be someone better than you at something, but this also means, you are better than someone else. It’s from Star Wars.

What comes first plot or characters?

Plot. The characters come later, depending on what is needed.

Do you plan it or when you sit down it just happens?

Because I’m not a full-time writer, I tend to plan the next step, so once I’ve stopped writing I then add one or two sentences to explain what happens next, this acts as a springboard to get going quickly the next time.

How to you create characters in your books, are they cast in your mind or composites of real people?

I don’t think any of them are real people, what I find useful is thinking of a tv celebrity for characters and that way I know exactly what they look like and maybe a quirk or habit will come through too. It’s particularly helpful when writing a series where the characters need to stay the same, they can’t be short and slim one minute, only to be tall and muscular the next.

What is the most difficult part of writing for you?

Editing. I like to write and move on, but I have to go back through and repair/replace things. I find it tiresome because I usually have another idea in my head that I want to work on.

How do you research your books?

Google is a big help of course, but most of the time it’s moments and information that I have picked up from television, films, experiences. I seem to have one of those minds that gathers useless information and stores it away in some dark corner in my nogging. It’s annoying, but also useful when describing scenes with words. 

What is the best and worst thing about being a writer?

Best thing is writing whatever pops into your head, I love the freedom that comes from a blank page and an imagination. The worst thing is time, I don’t get enough time to write, and my head goes onto the next thing before I’ve really finished the thing I was working on. 

Share something that your readers will not know.

I detest green pesto. I can’t be anywhere near it. Just the smell of it makes me gag.

Favourite place, favourite film, favourite song, favourite food?

Favourite place would be my home, favourite film is a toss-up between The Godfather or Jaws. Song is even more difficult, but I love Boys of Summer by Don Henley. Favourite food would be something simple like a sausage sandwich or lasagne.

DeLuca Finds a Man by Darren Arthurs

 

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You can buy DeLuca Finds a Man.....Here

You can read a brilliant interview with Darren..... Here

The Blurb...

Breanna DeLuca is back!
Just when Breanna thought she was about to return to her quiet existence, she finds herself in possession of something that some of Europe's most powerful criminals are after - and they don't care who gets in the way...
Why are people turning up dead?
Who is the dangerous hitman on Breanna's tail?
Why is Sukier doing community service?
Will Pavek ever cheer up?
And how come Breanna's mum is on a dating website?
Welcome back to the world of Breanna DeLuca.

My Review...

Well it's the second book and Darren Arthurs has done it again. He has a habit of turning what should be a dark tale involving multiple murder, blackmail, corrupt coppers and organised crime into a fun filled jolly escapade.

Most of this is down to his bright and breezy, happy go lucky, afro wearing, ball of energy, everyday heroine Breanna Deluca. This would be a dream part in a TV series for any up and coming actress. 

Of course the writer accentuates her bouncy character by giving her the dour, droll Pavek as her sidekick. They are like a human Tigger and Eeyore. 

Breanna now working as a maid in a hotel stumbles into a blackmail plot and the usual criminal chaos ensues as the body count rises alongside the chuckles on the giggle-meter. 

This time Breanna finds a young beau, but how will he fit with what has become her adoptive family 🤔

This is the second DeLuca book. While it is advisable to have read the first it is not totally necessary.

Once again Darren Arthurs has written an enjoyable cozy crime romp. 

He also hints that the next book may be a stand alone adventure for Pavek. So that's another for the TBR then.

Selected Quotes...

"Breanna stands in the middle of the salon and removes her coat, its a mustard colour quilted winter coat with a high collar which, being the same width as her afro, makes her appear like a chess piece or salt and pepper pot."

"So, this was what life was going to be for Kerry. Sitting at home on a weekend watching talent shows and hospital dramas whilst wearing comfortable footwear."

“Do you know anything about cars?” Delma asked. “I know you put petrol in one end and your shopping in the other,"

"I’m far more devious. You’ve got the speed, sure, but I’ve got this”, she tapped her head with her finger. “An afro?” came the reply."

"it was an old- style pub with carpet on the floor and packets of peanuts that were stored on a cardboard photograph of a woman in a swimsuit, with each packet that was removed, another glimpse of the woman was revealed, a little like Pass the Parcel but for perverted squirrels."

About the author...

Darren is a hobbyist writer living in Swindon. He comes up with stories whilst driving to work and they niggle away at him, fleshing out details and characters until he has to write it down. He mostly reads crime and historical drama.  He is currently being plagued by plans for a fantasy book.

Inside Out by Thorne Moore

 

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You can buy Inside Out.....Here

You can find out more about Thorne Moore.....Here

You can find an article by Thorne Moore about writing Sci Fi.....Here

The Blurb...

Triton station, Outer Circles headquarters of Ragnox Inc, on the moon of Neptune, is as far as the intrepid can go. It’s a place to make money, lots of money, and for seven lucky travellers, bound for Triton on the ISF Heloise, that’s exactly what they intend to do.

Maggy Jole wants to belong. Peter Selden wants to escape. Abigail Dieterman wants to be free. Merrit Burnand wants to start again. Christie Steen wants to forget. No one knows what David Rabiotti wants. And Smith, well, Smith wants everything.

Does it really matter what they want? The journey to Triton will take them eleven months – eleven months to contemplate the future, come to terms with the small print of their contracts, and wish they’d never signed. But changing their minds is not an option.
Sometimes it really is better to travel… than arrive.

My Review..

7 desperate and disparate people, 3 women and 4 men, sell themselves into what amounts voluntary penal servitude in the lawless outer reaches of the Solar System. If they survive their 7 year stretch there is the opportunity for enormous wealth.

But its an 11 month journey on ISF Heloise. Captain Foxe, a latter day privateer, is their captor but as the journey progresses and we discover more about the downfall of our less than magnificent 7, Foxe becomes their mentor and catalyst.

I do not usually read Sci Fi. I chose this book because I have read, and enjoyed, a few short stories by the author (Thorne Moore.) This is her first sojourn into future fiction, so I thought we could take the journey together and it does not dissapoint.

In her previous writing Thorne was very good at writing "creepy" things so I was half expecting "Space Creepiness" ala Alien or similar but no, this is a straight forward ensemble odyssey both in space and within each characters souls and that is the beauty of this book.

Being a very good author Thorne realises that Sci Fi isn't really about spaceships and ray guns any more than crime fiction isn't really about vials of poison and twirling moustaches. It is always about people and their stories and how they interact. We may come for the genre but we stay for the universal stories. So we learn their backstories, how they fell from grace and how they came to do a deal with the devil incarnate. As we take on board their histories we fear for their future when Captain Foxe delivers them to Triton. I can give no higher praise than to say for vast tracts of this book, I forgot I was reading a Sci Fi novel. The intertwining character arcs and plot development were that engaging.

A major part of  any Sci Fi is the world building and Thorne builds an intriguing and often scary scenario. A few Super Corporations dominate from top to bottom and throughout space. To get a "contract" is akin to getting citizenship in ancient Roman society. There are connections with our generation too, chandeliers, T shirts, snooker tables et al. All these things remind us that we are connected to that time and place. It's a very clever trick, its helps us to invest in the story, it could be us. There are laws as far as Jupiter but from there on outwards, it is the wild west rule of the ruthless. The rationale for Thorne's scenario is an added appendix in the book and it is fascinating, and more scarily quite possible given the way society has progressed in recent years. 😧

Really good book. I enjoyed my time with the crew and passengers of the Heloise. We made good progress together. We started as strangers and ended as friends. What started as  

journey towards fear may yet end in redemption.

Selected Quotes...

‘Hey, this is Platinum City, we’re talking about. The real thing.’ Selden picked his teeth. ‘Is that so?’ Merrit sneered and moved on to Christie. ‘How about you?’ ‘I’ve seen the real thing,’ she said, hidden behind her dark glasses. ‘It stinks.’

"That was the rub. He’d shown her the leash. Gilded it might be, but she wanted no more of it. She’d command her own life, her own money– assuming she could acquire some. Abigail had never given a thought to the exacting science of economic management. Inexhaustible funds had always been on tap. Now she had to go prospecting."

"No longer the bee’s knees, or the cat’s whiskers, just the donkey’s arse."

"David didn’t seem capable of comprehending crime, let alone carrying it out, but one had to wonder why he’d been packed off to the Outer Circles. It was a common ploy to mislay the black sheep of the family."

"As they approached, they could see three other freighters docked on, like piglets on a sow."

About the author....

I grew up in Luton but I have lived in north Pembrokeshire for the last few decades. I decided to be a writer at the age of about five, which is why I ignored my headmaster’s advice to study law and make a lot of money. Instead, I studied history at Aberystwyth, and much later, sneakily took a law degree through the Open University when my old headmaster would know nothing about it and couldn’t say I told you so.

I worked for some years in a library before deciding that I wasn’t fit to be an employee, so I left to become self-employed, making miniature furniture and running a restaurant with my sister Liz. These days I more or less write full time in my old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.

With my fellow author and good friend Judith BarrowI ran the Narberth Book Fair for several years, before handing it on to the Queen’s Hall.

I am a member of Crime Cymru, a Welsh crime writers collective.

Thornes Other Books...

A Time for Silence...Here

The Covenant...........Here

Motrherlove.............Here

The Unravelling......Here

Shadows..................Here

Long Shadows.........Here

The Unwanted Dead by Chris Lloyd

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You can buy The Unwanted Dead.....Here

You can follow Chris Lloyd......................Here

You can follow Orion Publishing..............Here

The Blurb..,

Paris, Friday 14th June 1940. The day the Nazis march into Paris, making headlines around the globe. Paris police detective Eddie Giral – a survivor of the last World War – watches helplessly on as his world changes forever. But there is something he still has control over. Finding whoever is responsible for the murder of four refugees. The unwanted dead, who no one wants to claim. To do so, he must tread carefully between the Occupation and the Resistance, between truth and lies, between the man he is and the man he was. 

All the while becoming whoever he must be to survive in this new and terrible order descending on his home…

My Review...

Chris Lloyd has succeeded brilliantly on two fronts with this novel, location and character. 

The cover of the book is great in that it truly conveys the situation. It is Paris but it is upside down. It's Paris but not as Eddie (our anti-hero) knows it. The majority of the population has fled, leaving old folks, crooks and refugees. Into this mix add the German occupying army and nazi enforcers and it makes for an explosive cocktail. It's dark, it's empty, it's moody. It has commandeered hotels and sleazy clubs where German Officers and organised crime rub shoulders. It's not a matter of who he can trust, Eddie knows he can trust no-one but he has to distrust some more than others. The author sets the scene beautifully. 

The author has also created a tough, vulnerable, relentless, thug of an honest cop in Eddie Giral. Eddie is a war veteran with all that entails. Eddie is determined to track down the killer of four Polish refugees. His investigations lead him to Wermacht Officers, the Gestapo, the Resistance, corrupt police officers and an  American journalist. The tightrope Eddie has to walk becomes smaller and smaller  Everyone has a dark secret and Eddie's got a couple that he keeps his close to his chest. He is so self destructive that he had to leave the woman and child he loves in case they caught in his explosive perimeter. Another quality that Eddie posseses is durability, the poor bloke has had more pastings than Mike Tyson' s sparring partner. Everyone wants a pop at him.

The author has obviously done his research with regards to the occupation of Paris (also has an interesting piece re research at the end of the book.) and  has slotted the murder mystery neatly into the historical background like a hand into a glove.

This book has got a bit of everything, murder mystery, crime fiction, spy thriller but its driving force is the location, the history and Eddie. 

Selected Quotes...

"We are more similar than we seem, Edouard. Good men in bad times."

"And bad men in good times"

"I thought again that the Germans were more than prepared for war. It was the peace that had taken them by surprise."

"Next to me at the bar,two prostitutes were eyeing a table full of youthful officers, looking like acne in a uniform."

 "I'd probably have another small scar to call my own, though, so I went to pour myself a glass of whisky to mark the occasion. I looked at the amount left in the bottle and wondered whether I'd be able to afford another scar."

About the Author...

Straight after graduating in Spanish and French, Chris Lloyd hopped on a bus from Cardiff to Catalonia and stayed there for over twenty years. He has also lived in Grenoble - researching the French Resistance movement - as well as in the Basque Country and Madrid, where he taught English and worked in educational publishing and as a travel writer. He now lives in South Wales and is a translator and novelist.

The result of his lifelong interest in World War 2 and resistance and collaboration in Occupied France, The Unwanted Dead (Orion) is his first novel set in Paris, featuring Detective Eddie Giral. Chris is also the author of the Elisenda Domènech crime series (Canelo), featuring a police officer with the newly-devolved Catalan police force. 

Mists & Megaliths by Catherine McCarthy

 

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You can buy Mists & Megaliths............Here

You can follow Catherine McCarthy....Here

The Blurb....

Welcome to Wales, land of mists and megaliths, where mythical creatures and ancient spirits lurk in the strangest of places.
This collection of 10 supernatural stories offers a flurry of folklore, a gathering of ghosts, and even a cosmic cave creature.

Stories include...

Lure: A fisherman who nets the tail fin of a lure becomes obsessed with finding the rest, but what else lies hidden in the ancient lake?

Carreg Samson: A Neolithic burial chamber stares out to sea, remembering times long since past, but when it loses its heart of stone to a young girl the repercussions are hard to bear.

Coblynau: An old man watches the mountain which was once a slag heap of coal. He listens for the knock of the Coblynau, certain they will come for him... soon, just like they did to warn of the Aberfan disaster.

Author Catherine McCarthy’s second collection invites the reader on a regional journey, evoking a sense of quiet horror from the cosmic to the Gothic.

My Review...

This is a really good collection of short stories that give a real flavour of the dark, Celtic folklore of Wales and bring it into the modern era. A mini Mabinogion.

Horror really isn't my thing so was a tad wary of doing  a review for a horror book. However, this book is not so much horrific as supernatural/creepy.  Turns out that I really enjoyed this Welsh Twilight Zone. There are 10 terrifying tales, so there is sure to be something for everyone.

1. Gragen. A tale about a jealous sea spirit.

2. Two's company, threes a shroud. Comic claustrophobia in a grave.

3. Jagged Edges. The spirit of a railway man haunts a disused station.

4. Mara. What actually is a spirit box?

5. Retribution. When a village is turned to idol worship, And a monster is caged.

6. Ysbrid Y Mor. A stranger comes promising hope, do you let him in?

7. The Ice House. What we do in life echoes in the afterlife.

8. Lure. Who is fishing for who?

9. Corblynau. The mining trolls of Wales.

10. Carreg Samson. If the ancient standing stones could talk.

Each tale offers a little something a little different from the comedy of Two's company, to the foreboding of catastrophic karma of  Carreg Samson, to the moral tale of being a welcoming people in Ysbrid Y Mor.

What really comes through in the writing is a respect, awe and dare I say love for the ancient tales and locations of Wales. I have been to a few of the locations in the book. Namely the ice-house, Cefn Coed Cemetery, Porthgain and as a young lad swam in Cefn Golau pond next to the cholera graves. (Now having the read the ice-house, the fact that I swam there creeps me out a bit 😳.) She has chosen the locales very well, because having been there I can testify that they do, indeed, feel like "Thin Places." A Thin Place is where the dividing line between this world and the next is at its most shallow and can, on occasion, be breached. 

Aside from the creepiness of the tales, the writing can be powerful and gripping. In one section in particular in Corblynau the last miner in Wales is in a nursing home and suffering from dementia and the way the author writes about him is absolutely heart breaking.

There is also a short pre-amble before every tale, which gives a little background information and sets the scene. A nice touch and very informative.

This collection is a display of the dark, spiritual heritage of Cymru. As well as being ripping yarns in themselves they give you something to ponder about in your own lives afterwards.

Selected Quotes...

"If Charles were still able to give a derisory snort, he would have done so, but the cartilage in his nasal passages had long since decomposed."

"The end of the line. Or was it the beginning? Harold thought it depended entirely on one’s perspective."

"I suppose in retrospect I hoped to glean some reaction from the creature, however small, and it made me wonder as to the instinctive need in us humans to communicate with our fellow men. You see, the more accustomed I grew to the creature’s appearance, the more readily I accepted it, until it seemed almost human."

"Decades of coal dust nestle in lungs which rattle like a percolator as he breathes."

About the author...

Catherine McCarthy is a spinner of dark tales, often set in her native Wales, U.K.
She has published two novels and two collections of short stories and her new novella, Immortelle, will be published by Off Limits Press in July 2021.
Her stories have appeared in anthologies such as Graveyard Smash, The One That Got Away, and Diabolica Britannica, and her flash fiction has been published by Crystal Lake Publishing and Flame Tree Press.
In 2020, she won the Aberystwyth University Imagining Utopias prize for creative writing.
Catherine lives in an old farmhouse with her illustrator husband and its ghosts, and when she is not writing may be found hiking the rugged coast-path or photographing ancient churchyards for story inspiration.

Fatal Solution by Leslie Scase

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You can buy Fatal Solution.....Here

You can see the Crime Cymru page for  Leslie Scase..... Here 

Published by Seren, You can visit their website......Here

The Blurb....

In this new mystery Inspector Chard is confronted with another murder in bustling Victorian Pontypridd. On the face of it the case appears unremarkable, even if it isn’t obviously solvable, but following new leads takes Chard into unexpected places. A second murder, a sexual predator, industrial espionage and a mining disaster crowd into the investigation, baffling the Inspector and his colleagues and putting his own life at risk as the murderer attempts to avoid capture.

Once again Leslie Scase takes the reader back to a time and place where, despite the pretensions of Victorian society, life is cheap and passions strong. His research brings Pontypridd vividly to life, and historical events drive along the plot of this page-turning story of detection, as Chard navigates a way through the clues and red herrings, and a lengthening list of suspects, towards the poisoner.

Atmospheric, authentic, Chard and the reader are left guessing until the final page.

My Review...

This is the second in the Inspector Chard novels. Chard is an Englishman from Shropshire who ends up as an Inspector in the Welsh Valleys boom town of Pontypridd in the 1890s. Set against the backdrop of the recent massive Albion colliery disaster and the fight for control of the hugely lucrative Welsh rail industry. Chard isn't quite a fish out of water but he is definitely in the wrong river. Three murders happen in quick succession. Are they linked? Can he stop his bumbling superior from interfering? Can he stop internal jealousies in the ranks. The Welsh Wyatt Earp has his hands full.

I absolutely loved this book and if I could give more than 5 stars I would. It succeeds on all fronts.

Historically it is excellently researched and presented. You are living the period from such nuggets as cocaine being legal, to workhouse ettiquette to the day to day life of a miner.

The whodunnit aspect of the book is also excellent. The author sets numerous traps for you to fall into. Just when you think you know who the villain is, they are exonerated and the spotlight falls on someone else. I have been known to spot the killer early on in a crime fiction novel, however on this occasion the author had me flummoxed until the reveal. Then of course with hindsight the path to the killer is all too clear.

Thirdly and most impressively he gets the culture of the Valleys right. I am from the valleys and  in all the years that I have been reading, I always looked for two things. First to expand my view of the world that I am not familiar with. Secondly I have always looked to find books that reflect my heritage, and my sense of belonging, to show me, my own hinterland. The valleys are quite a large part of south wales with a large population but are hardly noticeable in literature. The only notable exceptions that I found as a young man being How green was my valley by Richard Llewellyn  and Rape of the Fair Country by Alexander Cordell.  While both have their merits I always felt they didn't quite nail it. Llewellyn was actually an Englishman and I think sub-consciously was describing the valleys from the outside looking in (although the character of Dai Bando was superb, and I saw many men of that type.) While Cordell's world was about ironmaking not coal. The culture of the valleys is very different from any other part of Wales. I have heard said about the valleys that Cardiff was only a few miles and different world away. I feel the author gets the feel of the valleys.

This book ticks all the boxes and more for me. After reading this book, I immediately went and bought the first in the series. I think I may have a new favourite author and his name is Leslie Scase.

Selected Quotes...

  "George and Dai were indeed in the fifth cage. As it descended, the two men glanced up to watch the sky slowly disappear from view as the cage went deeper into the dusty, claustrophobic world they would inhabit until they emerged to once again breathe fresh air."

"The blueish tinge of parts of the man’s skin, and the discolouration of a small scar on his cheek, where coal dust had long ago been rubbed into the cut to seal the wound, spoke of Mr Jones’s past."

"Do you read, Inspector? Fiction, I mean.’ Chard was taken aback by the change in topic. ‘Occasionally,’ he responded. ‘I often read. It takes me away from the difficult realities of life. It feeds my soul in some ways."

"But I hate children,’ moaned Dai. ‘There you are, perfect qualifications for a teacher."

About the author...

Leslie Scase is a former civil servant, born and educated in south Wales but living now in Shropshire. He is a member of the Crime Cymru writers' collective, and of the Crime Writers Association. He has given talks on crime and punishment in the late Victorian period, and has appeared at literary festivals and has been interviewed on radio. His Inspector Chard series will run to seven volumes.