New books

Went shopping today to spend some book vouchers I got for my birthday, and this is what I got (thanks to 3 for 2 at Borders):

Murder in Steeple Martin by Lesley Cookman
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale
Dead Man's Footsteps by Peter James
Scream for Me by Karen Rose

Dead Heat by Dick Francis

What the cover says:
The night before the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket sees the horse-racing community gathered for a prestigious black-tie gala dinner. It is a fitting testament to the glamour of the occasion that top chef Max Moreton is cooking the evening meal. However, when Max's food is suspected of putting twenty-four of the dinner guests in hospital, his pride and professionalism tell him that all is not as it seems.
Within hours, Max's restaurant is forcibly closed, his reputation teeters on the brink of ruin and a court case looms. But the day is far from over, and soon Max Moreton finds himself desperately fighting for more than just his livelihood...

This book is actually written by Dick Francis and his son Felix, but you wouldn't know as it is vintage stuff. Everything you would expect from a Dick Francis novel, and with some great twists at the end. As always, the hero is eminently likeable, there is just the right level of romance with a suitable heroine, and the use of the restaurant is a great plot device. It was one of those books where I couldn't stop reading, yet was reluctant to read too fast I as wanted to prolong the enjoyment.


9/10

Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner

What the cover says:
Young women are disappearing... girls no one will notice are gone: prostitutes, runaways, high-risk teens. One night they exist, next morning they've vanished.
...
The only lead - a man who gets his kicks in the creepiest of ways: a twisted sadist with a brutal past. Kimberly Quincy, FBI Special Agent, knows she mustn't get caught in his web, but as the trail leads her closer, it seems she must become the prey if anyone else is to survive.

Warning - not for arachnophobes!!
I've now read a few of Lisa Gardner's books, and usually thoroughly enjoy them. This one is not quite as good as some of her others, but is still an enjoyable read. There are a couple of negatives - the bits from the killer's point of view are sometimes confusing as it's difficult to know when they're talking about the past or the present, and there is a little too much about the heroines relationship with her husband than I felt strictly necessary but there's enough there to keep those pages turning right to the end.

7/10

Stay of Execution by Quintin Jardine

What the cover says:
Evil stalks the city of Edinburgh. This time the threat is bigger than the crooks, scam-artists or drug dealers who find their prey in the shadows of the streets. Some people are looking for a big-time hit.
It starts small. The body of a respectable businessman is found hanging from a tree; a veteran from a Belgian marching band is killed in a hit-and-run incident and another dies of an apparent heart attack. Excitement on the streets of Edinburgh is feverish as the city prepares for a huge rally to celebrate the return of Pope John the 25th to his home town. The security has to be bulletproof. But is there a chink in the armour and does DCC Bob Skinner have the inner strength to find the answer to the biggest question of all?

An interesting idea and beautifully written as you would expect from Jardine. Apart from getting me totally confused with the departmental reorganisation at the beginning, it keeps you guessing right to the end.

8/10

The Survivors Club by Lisa Gardner

What the cover says:
The Survivors Club... that's what Jillian, Carol and Meg call it. They don't consider themselves to be victims. They are survivors who faced the blazing headlines and helped lead the investigation that caught Eddie Como, the man who changed their lives forever.
But now Eddie Como, the College Hill Rapist, has been murdered, shot down outside the courtroom moments before his trial was to begin. Jillian, Carol and Meg are openly ecstatic - but they are also the prime suspects in his murder.
Detective Roan Griffin has never had a case quite like this one. Could three ordinary women have been driven to do the unthinkable? Has someone in the Survivors Club become a killer? And then another woman is brutally attacked...

This is an excellent read, full of more twists and turns than you can shake a stick at. It does become ever so slightly slow and laboured in places, but that is easily forgiveable with such a clever idea.

8/10

A Cursed Inheritance by Kate Ellis

What the cover says:
The brutal massacre of the Harford family at Potwoolstan Hall in Devon in 1985 shocked the country and passed into local folklore. When a journalist researching the case is murdered twenty years later, DI Wesley Peterson is faced with his most disturbing case yet.
As more people die violently, Wesley needs to discover why a young woman has transformed a dolls house into a miniature reconstruction of the massacre scene. And could the solution to his case lie across the Atlantic Ocean, in the ruined remains of an early English settlement in Virginia USA?

Sadly, this is a book that appears to promise much but actually delivers very little. There are too many characters, too many obvious red herrings and too many threads to the story. In trying to be clever, the book actually just becomes overcomplicated, including an unnecessary and half-hearted attempt at a romance.
It's a shame, as the idea is a good one and could have been thoroughly enjoyable if simplified a little.

5/10

Jericho Point by Meg Gardiner

What the cover says:
When a young woman tumbles dead onto the beach, the police identify the body. It's Evan Delaney.
Except that Evan is very much alive, It's her identity that's been stolen. Soon she finds herself harassed by drug runners and suspected of murder. She must save herself - but to do that must escape a web of deceit that threatens to destroy not just her, but her boyfriend Jesse.

This isn't as good as the other Evan Delaney books I've read. Not bad, but just not quite as good. There's been just one too many layers added into the identity theft storyline which uses up pagetime that could be better spent exploring the other aspects of the story in more depth and would have made it less confusing.

7/10

China Lake by Meg Gardiner

What the cover says:
The Reverend Pete Wyoming is arming his flock - and not just with the scriptures. The way he sees it, the end of the world is nigh and he's ready for judgement. But judgement comes in unexpected ways...
Evan Delaney is shocked to discover that her ex-sister-in-law has joined The Remnant - Wyoming's fanatical band of disciples. And that Tabitha is trying to regain custody of her six-year-old son, Luke, currently in Evan's care while his father is posted to the Naval Air Warfare Center.
Two deaths and one kidnap attempt later, Evan realises she's started down a long road - the one to hell.

The religious group in this reminded me very much of the vile people in the Phelps' Westboro Baptist 'Church', and the hope of seeing them get their comeuppance keeps the pages turning! I frequently felt like I was holding my breath waiting to see what would happen next, and it was often the unexpected. A good read.

8/10

Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman

What the cover says:
"A young woman who disappeared into the inky black night....
A retired schoolteacher stabbed to death in broad daylight...
Two women butchered in a small-town beauty parlour...
Three baffling murder cases, linked only by a perplexing lack of motive...."

This was for me, standard Kellerman fare, following the usual formula. However, the plot was interesting and clever, and the ending exciting even though the outcome is always predictable - mind you, one day he'll surprise me by killing off Alex, Milo or Robin at the end!

8/10