A Death in Tuscany (Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara series, Book 2) by Michele Giuttari

A gripping book to read during my holiday in Paris this week.  A clash of Italiano-Franco culture!


Paperback blurb:  In the picturesque Tuscan hill town of Scandicci, the body of a girl is discovered.

Scantily dressed, with no purse or other possessions, she is lying by the edge of the woods.

The local police investigate the case - but after a week the still haven't even identified her, let alone got to the bottom of how she died.

Frustrated by the lack of progress, Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara, head of Florence's elite Squadra Mobile, decides to step in.

Because toxins were discovered in the girl's body, many assumed that she died of a self-inflicted drugs overdose.

But Ferrara quickly realises the truth is darker than that:  he believes that the girl was murdered.

And when he delves deeper, there are many aspects to the case that convince Ferrara that the girl's death is part of a sinister conspiracy - a conspiracy that has its roots in the very foundations of Tuscan society...

A cleverly plotted, atmospheric mystery, A Death in Tuscany (first published in 2008) has been a bestseller in Italy and has been translated into nine languages.

About the author:  Written by former Florence police chief Michele Giuttari (1995-2003), it gives a unique insight into life and police work in Tuscany.

A review by The Independent.

A review from the Reviewing The Evidence blog.

A review from the Australian Crime Fiction blog.

Rating:  5/5

The Dead Hand of History (A DCI Monika Paniatowski Mystery, Book 1) by Sally Spencer

This book reads like a cosy crime novel.  I am unsure what other readers thought about this book but to me, it falls into the category of a cosy mystery.  It is neither brilliant nor bad.  Enjoy!


Hardback blurb:  It will be no easy task to fill the shoes of a local legend like DCI Charlie Woodend, the newly-promoted Monika Paniatowski tells herself - particularly when he's still a very real presence in Whitebridge - but given a little time, she thinks she can grow into them.

Yet time is the one thing she does not have.

On her first day in the new job, a severed female hand is discovered on the riverbank.

And not only that, but the killer has already alerted the press, as if he is deliberately forcing Monika into the spotlight.

Only hours into the case, she finds she can no longer trust her colleagues - or even herself - and the urge to pick up the phone and bed Woodend for help becomes almost irresistible.


About the author:  Sally Spencer (a pseudonym used by Alan Rustage) worked as a teacher both in England and Iran - where she witnessed the fall of the Shah.

She now lives in Spain and writes full-time.

Having once been an almost fanatical mah-jong player, she is now obsessed with duplicate bridge.

As well as the Chief Inspector Woodend Mysteries, Severn House publishes the Inspector Blackstone series, also by this author.

The Dead Hand of History, a British police procedural, was published in 2009.  Other books in the DCI Monika Paniatowski mystery series are


The Ring of Death (2010)
Echoes of the Dead (2010)
Backlash (2011)

Reviewed at Paradise-Mysteries.

Rating:  2/5

The Snowman (Harry Hole, Book 7) by Jo Nesbo

I am steadily progressing through the intellectually satisfying Harry Hole series with The Snowman (2007).  The Snowman was awarded The Norwegian Booksellers' Prize 2007 for Best Novel of the Year and The Norwegian Book Club Prize 2007 for Best Novel of the Year.  Perfect title for the festive season and the clue in this one is so obvious that it is very easy to overlook it - a clue that hides in plain sight.  

More information and reviews at Jo Nesbo's official website.

For Harry Hole fans, Phantom (book 9) will be available in 2012.

Thumbs-up to this narratively gripping read!

Paperback:  A young boy wakes to find his mother missing.  Their house is empty but outside in the garden he sees his mother's favourite scarf - wrapped around the neck of a snowman.

As Harry Hole and his team begin their investigation they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years.

When a second woman disappears it seems that Harry's worst suspicions are confirmed:  for the first time in his career Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his home turf.

Videos of Nesbo and The Snowman trailer:





Rating:  5/5

The Accident by Linwood Barclay

I am a little slow on my reading this month even though there is a stack of bestsellers on my to-be-read pile.  Could it be the festive season or the excitement of taking two trips abroad that is slowing me down?  Or the onslaught of winter weather?  What can a bookworm do but carry on reading - this is the curse of a bookworm!  I have picked Linwood Barclay as my third book to read in December because he is engrossing, relentlessly pacy, hard to put down and utterly riveting.  Highly recommended.  Need I say more?

Hardback:  Milford, Connecticut is a quiet, orderly place to live, a good place to bring up kids.

But people are beginning to feel the bite of financial hard times.

And even normally law-abiding folks have started getting a little creative when it comes to making ends meet.

For Glen Garber, the recession has been particularly bad for his construction business, especially after a mysterious fire destroyed one of its buildings.

But Glen's troubles are about to escalate to a whole new level.

His wife Sheila has her own plans for getting them out of their financial jam, plans that seem to involve a secret network of Milford's wives and are about to pay off big-time.

And that's when the accident happens . . .

Suddenly, it looks as if the neighbours' 'get rich quick' schemes are more likely to get you dead, and Glen - no longer able to trust even the people he loves - must risk everything to find out what's lurking behind the town's idyllic facade before it's too late.

Because some accidents aren't accidents at all.


About the author:  Linwood Barclay is married with two children and lives in Toronto.  He is a former columnist for the Toronto Star and is the author of several international bestsellers, including the Richard & Judy Summer Read winner and number one bestseller, No Time for Goodbye (2007).  The Accident is a standalone novel published in September 2011 and is Number One on the UK Sunday Times bestseller  list for hardcover fiction.  For more information, check out Linwood Barclay's official website and his Facebook page.

Here are videos of The Accident:



Of the author:



Rating:  5/5

Detective Inspector Huss (Book 1) by Helene Tursten

From the hardback:  Detective Inspector Irene Huss is an investigator assigned to the Violent Crimes Unit in Goteborg, Sweden.

She is a wife and mother - her husband is a chef and she has twin daughters - and also a judo champion and an avowed feminist in a police department which is still adjusting to the presence of women as officers.

On a rain-drenched November night, she is called to the scene of the apparent suicide of a wealthy financier connected with the first families of Sweden.

His mangled body has landed on the icy ground, just feet away from an old lady walking her dog.

Did he fall?

Or was he pushed from the balcony of his luxurious duplex apartment?

Before Irene and her colleagues can determine what happened and why, she must tour contemporary Sweden, from the haunts of the highest echelon of Society to the drug addicts, skinheads, and motorcycle gangs that constitute a new threat to the country's liberal ethos.

About the author:  Helene Tursten, who lives in Goteborg, is a registered nurse and also a dentist.

When her dental career was curtailed by rheumatic illness, she turned to writing.

Detective Inspector Huss, her first novel, was published in Sweden in 1998 under the title Den Krossade Tanghasten.  Subsequently, Den Krossade Tanghasten was made into a film entitled The Torso (video)  produced by Illusion Film and Yellow Bird Films and has been very well received in Sweden.

Her mysteries have been translated into Norwegian and Danish and are bestsellers in Germany.

Detective Inspector Huss (2003) has been translated from the Swedish into the English by Steven T Murray.

My take:  Click onto Helene Tursten's fan website for more information on the Detective Inspector Huss series of which there are two other books in the series apart from this one, and they are The Torso (2006) and The Glass Devil (2007).  The fourth book, Night Rounds, will be published in 2012.

2011 is drawing to a close in under a month and I have discovered another excellent Swedish crime series which reads like a classic - well-researched and well-written.  I think it is perfect for the days leading up to Christmas.  It does take some time to finish perhaps because some of the translation is a bit stilted but I highly recommend this perfect police procedural.  Happy reading!

A review by Eurocrime.

A Book A Week review.

Rating:  5/5

Little Girl Lost by Brian McGilloway

Blurb:  Midwinter.

A child is found wandering in an ancient woodland, her hands covered in blood.

But it is not her own.

Unwilling, or unable, to speak, the only person she seems to trust is the young officer who rescued her, Detective Sergeant Lucy Black.

Soon afterwards, DS Black is baffled to find herself suddenly moved from a high-profile case involving the kidnapping of another girl, a prominent businessman's teenage daughter.

Black's problems are not only professional:  she's caring for her increasingly unstable father, and trying to avoid conflict with her frosty mother - who also happens to be the Assistant Chief Constable.

As she struggles to identify the unclaimed child, Black begins to realize that her case and the kidnapping may be linked by events that occurred during the grimmest days of the country's recent history - events that also defined her own troubled childhood.

Little Girl Lost is a devastating crime thriller about corruption, greed and vengeance, and a father's love for his daughter.

My take:  This is another perfect read for the period leading up to Christmas.  McGilloway is an author to watch out for, mark my words, although I must say I expect writers of his calibre to write more complex plots, but it is not a big deal because his books do deliver and that is what matters.

An interview with the author about Little Girl Lost by tv3 Ireland.

If you want to know whether Little Girl Lost is a one-off or the start of a new series by McGilloway, do read this.

More information can be obtained from www.brianmcgilloway.com

Rating:  5/5

The Redeemer (Harry Hole series, Book 6) by Jo Nesbo

Perfect read for the coming festive season.  The best thing about the plot in Book 6 of the Harry Hole series is that the crime committed has no clue whatsoever and that the wrong person is murdered.  It is only in the unravelling of the threads that you finally crack it.  Don't be put off by the over-long novels of Nesbo as he is starting to write more and more "in a filmic way".  He said that crime stories on film influences the way he writes and it comes from what he wants in a story, the way he thinks in terms of a story on film and what he sees visually around him.  As he succinctly puts it, the best story is told in films and not in novels.

Paperback blurb:  It is a freezing December night and Christmas shoppers have gathered to listen to a Salvation Army carol concert.

Then a shot rings out and one of the singers falls to the floor, dead.

Detective Harry Hole and his team are called in to investigate but have little to work with - there is no immediate suspect, no weapon and no motive.

But when the assassin discovers he's shot the wrong man, Harry finds his troubles have only just begun.

Jo Nesbo talks about The Redeemer (2009) which was shortlisted for the 2009 International Dagger:

As is the case in each and every one of Nesbo's books, The Redeemer was translated from the Norwegian into the English by Don Bartlett.

If you are looking for a suspenseful Norwegian novel to read or an exceptional Norwegian series to read by a master writer, look no further, the Harry Hole series is it.

All information about the author and his books can be found here.

A review by the Independent.

There is only one rating to this series and it is...

Rating:  5/5

Factory Girls: Voices from The Heart of Modern China by Leslie T Chang

Listen to the author talk about her book, Factory Girls, on npr in 2008, the year it was first published.

To read the summary, reviews, book excerpt and Q&A, click on Leslie T Chang's website.

Factory Girls is basically a story about the immense population of unknown women who work countless hours, often in hazardous conditions, to provide us with the material goods we take for granted.

A book of global significance, it demonstrates how the movement from rural villages to cities to power the assembly lines of the nation's export economy is transforming individual lives and the fates of families in China.

Ironically, migration has become the chief source of rural livelihood.

This book, divided into two parts - The City and The Village - is for anyone who is interested in humanity and in China.

The City tells of migrants who are doing their best to eke out a living and to survive in a world a million miles away from home in the literal sense.  After all, city life is lonely so it is no surprise that the most useful lesson they learn is to rely on oneself.  It is a dog-eat-dog world out in the city and only the toughest live to tell the tale.  It is a place without memory.

The Village is more reminiscent of pastoral life and this is my favourite part to read.  Family, farming, the land and deep-rooted traditions are still very much a part of life in the rural areas.  People are simple, poor and put up with their lot.  The pace of life is so much slower.  Life remains mostly stagnant but no matter what happens in the city, you can always "go home" to your village and find someone you know there.  The polar opposite of The City, The Village is filled with childhood memories.

Chang has also reserved a chapter for her family history going back as far as 1700, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and how they all became Chinese Americans as years and years went by.

It is a compelling read.

Factory Girls was named one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2008 and also received the 2009 PEN USA Literary Award for Research Nonfiction and the Asian American Literary Award for Nonfiction.

I do not rate books of this nature.  

The author on her book and a Q&A session:

The Forgotten Affairs of Youth (An Isabel Dalhousie series, Book 8) by Alexander McCall Smith

A line that caught my eye:  "...but then so much that went through our minds was odd in one way or another:  unexpected, unconnected, unimportant;  mental flotsam swilling around with sudden moments of clarity and insight.  A hotch-potch of memories, plans, dreams, random bits of silliness:  the very things that made us human." - Chapter 9


Hardback blurb:  Happy in her Edinburgh kitchen with her husband-to-be and beloved son, Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics and resident of the most humane of cities, has feelings about parenthood that grow more tender daily.

So when Jane, a visiting academic adopted and sent to Australia as a baby, asks for help in tracing her Scottish origins, Isabel cannot refuse.

However, in these investigations, habitually upright Isabel finds herself beset by temptation:  first, to count her own blessings when the unhappiness of others is all too clear.

Then, the perennial temptation to suspicion - of the iniquitous Professor Lettuce's latest subterfuge, and of her niece Cat's weakness for the wrong man when a new assistant begins work at her delicatessen.

Meanwhile, the search for Jane's parents turns troubling, and Isabel can hardly prevent herself from interfering a little too forcefully in family secrets.

As she steers a course between love and laissez-faire, Isabel succeeds in resisting all temptations but those which must be answered and, among Edinburgh's green gardens and thoughtful inhabitants, our philosopher heroine teases a solution from every problem.

My take:  The Forgotten Affairs of Youth rounds up the entertaining Isabel Dalhousie series read which I started a few months ago.  This particular series is full of wit and wisdom.  It may make for some slow reading but hey, do reserve it for buffer reads or something or other.  You will enjoy it once you get going.  This one has a happy ending.  I will now explore another book series by the esteemed author.

For more information, go to www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk

A short and sweet review by The Mystery Gazette.

Rating:  3/5

Christmas Books List 2011 - What To Read, What To Buy.

Is anybody ready for Christmas?  I am already in the mood for Christmas.  Preparations are underway in my house.  Buying new glittery clothes, food, presents, sending out cards, making lists, arranging a big family eat, and putting up the Christmas tree in the living room are all underway.  Everything is looking and feeling festive.

This year, the annual event of the Christmas Light Switch-On in my city was carried out by Sheila Ferguson, Three Degrees lead singer the Sunday just gone.  No, I wasn't there.  I heard there was a good turnout though.  Now we can officially start counting down to Christmas but in the meantime, here is a list of Christmasy books - for the twelve days of Christmas - which I have compiled that might help you and me wind down during this busy time, or it may make for some great Christmas gifts to family and friends.

Merry Christmas 2011, booklovers.

MY CHRISTMAS BOOKS LIST 2011:

1)  The Night Before Christmas by Scarlett Bailey

(Synopsis:  All Lydia's ever wanted is a perfect Christmas...  So when her oldest friends invite her to spend the holidays with them, it seems like a dream come true.  She's been promised log fires, roasted chestnuts, her own weight in mince pies - all in a setting that looks like something out of a Christmas card.  But her winter wonderland is ruined when she finds herself snowed in with her current boyfriend, her old flame and a hunky stranger.  Well, three (wise) men is traditional at this time of year.)

2)  Christmas At Tiffany's by Karen Swan

3)  Home For Christmas by Cally Taylor

4)  It Started With A Kiss by Miranda Dickinson

including an entertaining video (from the author's blog) brought to you by the author herself:



5)  Christmas Magic by Cathy Kelly

6)  Wrapped Up In You by Carole Matthews

The author tells you what her book is about here (from her website):



7)  A Season To Remember by Sheila O'Flanagan

8)  Twelve Days Of Winter:  Crime at Christmas (only available on Kindle - 12 editions) by Stuart MacBride

9)  A Christmas Homecoming by Anne Perry

10)  Christmas At Pemberley by Regina Jeffers

11)  The Twelve Days Of Christmas by Stuart Weatherby

12)  The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson

With a video taken from the author's youtube website:

The Rising (An Inspector Benedict Devlin Mystery, Book 4) by Brian McGilloway

Paperback blurb:  I should have kissed Debbie and the kids goodbye before I left the house...

When Garda Inspector Benedict Devlin is summoned to a burning barn, he finds the remains of a man who is identified as a local drug-dealer.

It soon becomes clear that the man's death was no accident.

Meanwhile, Devlin's former-colleague's teenage son has gone missing during a seaside camping trip.

Devlin is relieved when the boy's mother receives a text message from her son's phone, and so when a body is washed up on a nearby beach, the inspector is baffled.

Just as it seems he's closing in on the truth, a personal crisis will strike at the heart of Ben's own family, and he will be forced to confront the compromises his career has forced upon him.

Gripping, affecting and always surprising, The Rising is a dark tour de force.

McGilloway tells you what The Rising (first published in 2010) is about:



One of the best modern crime fiction I picked up this year.  The Rising ends my Inspector Benedict Devlin Mystery series read.  Book 4 is a bit slow on the uptake and not as pacy as the first three but still worth catching up if you want to know the outcome as I did.  I hope there is going to be a Book 5.  I shall look out for it.  Happy reading.

A review by The Irish Independent.

Rating:  4/5

The Devil's Star (Harry Hole series, Book 5) by Jo Nesbo

Continuing with my series read.  I love the Harry Hole series, what more can I say?  If you have found a good book series, stick with it.  Reading brings me great pleasure especially on a day like today - cool, dry, with a little sun - spring-like on an autumn's day.


Paperback blurb:  A young woman is murdered.

One finger has been severed from her left hand and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star - a pentagram, the devil's star.

Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it.

But Harry is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work.

With a wave of similar murders, it soon becomes apparent that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands...

Nesbo said that the first novel his father read to him was Lord of the Flies by William Golding.  His mother was a librarian and his father used to spend every afternoon reading in the sitting room.  Here, he tells us about the fifth book in his Harry Hole mystery series, The Devil's Star:



Where is the author's favourite place to write?




The Devil's Star was first published in 2005 and was translated from the Norwegian into the English by Don Bartlett.

Rating:  5/5

Bleed A River Deep (An Inspector Benedict Devlin Mystery, Book 3) by Brian McGilloway

Aah, I love the Inspector Devlin police procedural mysteries set in Ireland.  According to Peter James (author), Inspector Devlin is a "truly human and original police officer, flawed, maverick and vulnerable".  Yes, no doubt, he is a compassionate man, a man of conscience who would fight for justice with dogged determination, a good man, few and far between.

This is a quality series which you cannot afford to ignore.  I will be onto the fourth and latest in the series called The Rising (published 2010) next.  Do check out Brian McGilloway's books.

Paperback blurb:  When a controversial US envoy is attacked at the prestigious opening of a Donegal gold mine, Inspector Ben Devlin is blamed for letting the gunman through.

Then an illegal immigrant is killed near the Irish border and Devlin has a chance to redeem himself.

He links the death to a vicious people-smuggling ring, but when another body turns up he begins to suspect that the new mine is hiding something much darker than precious metal.

The new novel from one of the most celebrated crime writers around finds Inspector Devlin struggling to balance his devotion to his young family against the brutal realities of a new Ireland.

World politics, big business and organized crime collide in Brian McGilloway's most gripping and gutsy novel yet.

Bleed A River Deep was first published in 2009.

Rating:  4/5

Perfect People by Peter James

There is a lot of good noise made on the publication of this book so I will not put forward my unbiased opinions.  Peter James has become one of my favourite authors to watch out for so my opinions will be biased anyway.  I include myself as one of the thousands of his fans who have read all seven of the Roy Grace novels.  Biased or unbiased, you tell me.

Anyway, do read the synopsis for Perfect People (first published in November 2011) on the international bestselling author's official website and for other relevant information.  

The latest news for the author is that he won the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards People's Bestseller Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year 2011 on 7 October 2011 in London's Grosvenor House Hotel.  Peter James beat four other veteran and best-selling authors - David Baldacci, Lee Child, Mark Billingham and Peter Robinson - to the punch.  Congratulations to Peter James as well as the other four nominees not forgetting a Thank You to them for their books to satisfy our bookish palate, particularly Peter James'.

Peter James is also currently on a book tour so if you want to meet him, do go over to his website where whatever information you want to know about the author can be found there rather than elsewhere.

Perfect People is excellent fiction and not one bit dull.  It is more than a couple who wanted designer babies.  Just when you think the story is going to even out and have a happy ending for the couple, Peter James gives you more surprises, more twists and more turns.  It took Peter James a decade to carry out the research, write, edit and lastly to publish the book for his fans and the absolute amount of the authenticity of his work shows in his superior writing.

Lastly, this passage from Chapter 128 makes me wonder about how far we have come (or not at all) from the beginning of civilization:

"...that we have failed emotionally to keep pace with our advances in technology.  We're a species that is on the verge of being able to travel faster than the speed of light and so much else our ancestors could never even imagine, yet hasn't learned how to deal with the hatred in our hearts.  A species that can still only resolve problems by throwing rocks at each other..." 

Rating:  5/5