The story is set in Iceland but could have been set anywhere – only the names of the characters and places show the connection. The book feels like it was written to be adapted for a TV series. It gets better as it goes along. As the writer’s first novel I rate it

☆         rubbish
☆☆       poor
★★★     OK, more or less
☆☆☆☆   pretty good
☆☆☆☆☆ excellent

Nothing to do with Inspector Morse’s sidekick, these three novels are set on the Hebridean island of Lewis, the most northerly of the archipelago. The setting of a small community where everyone knows everyone else is not unusual in crime fiction, but although May himself was born in Glasgow and has never lived in the Hebrides his research and portrayal of the communities on the island is convincing. His books have won several awards and prestigious nominations, especially in his adopted home country, France.^*

The books follow in sequence and would best be read in order. They share some characteristics: in each story current events and the roots of the crime the main character has to solve are embedded in the past. And each has a significant social or cultural issue which underlies the plot. May achieves continuity of the past and current narratives by alternating between a first party voice and a third party narrative, which works well. The stories also share an underlying sense of sadness and regret for people and opportunities lost over the years.

As for the plots themselves, the stories move at a satisfying pace. There is action – sometimes violent; relationships are explored and dissected; landscape and weather contribute atmosphere.

I enjoyed the books (I binge-read the last one-and-a-half). They were recommended to me by an expert in the genre and I’m glad to say she was right.

* Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_May_(writer). Inspected 30.12.2021.

This is the second outing for DI Malcolm Fox in Rankin’s post-Rebus world. I haven’t read the first, but I was disappointed with this book. It has a large – possibly too large – cast of characters but none of them has any depth; sadly that includes DI Fox and his two sidekicks. I felt the book was run-of-the-mill; Rankin is going through the motions but it lacks the sense of place of his earlier novels and ultimately fails to engage the reader.

Title: The House of Fame
Author: Harris, Oliver
Published by: Vintage (Kindle edition)
Year: 2017
First published: Jonathan Cape, 2016
Date reviewed: 04.17
ISBN: EPUB 9781473511668

“The House of Fame” has neither the tightly localised focus of “The Hollow Man“ nor the remarkable research behind “Deep Shelter“. It ranges right across London as Belsey skitters across the thinnest of ice as it breaks up around him. Lacking the firm base of the earlier books this one is less convincing, but if you can go along with the character it is still an enjoyable read. I wonder though if there are any more Nick Belsey stories. No spoilers, but given the ending of this book it will be a stretch to write a next one.

It should have been the perfect art heist carried out by art lovers turned amateur criminals. But the real underworld of Edinburgh came in on the act and things turned unpleasant. No Rebus in this novel, but Rankin hasn’t lost his talent for a well-crafted story with some surprise twists.

This is the second of Harris’s books set in present-day London and featuring DC Nick Belsey, described on the cover by Val McDermid as “a beguiling bastard of a hero”. As in the first book “The Hollow Man“ it doesn’t take long for Belsey to get into trouble which will probably end his police career, or even his life.

I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say this fast-moving and tightly-written story is about the mysterious and half-forgotten world of underground London. The plot may seem far-fetched, but I know some of the locations to be genuine and the small bibliography of sources at the back of the book suggests more of the story is based on actual events than you might think.

This is a good second novel, if anything slightly better than the first, so I hope Harris has more Belsey stories to tell. Just one suggestion – I grew up in London, but for readers who aren’t as familiar with the city a map would help!

“The Hollow Man” is Oliver Harris’s first novel. His central character is a disillusioned, disreputable detective constable whose patch is Hampstead, but who knows the seedier parts of London too. The story concerns a suicide in a house in the exclusive millionaire’s row of the The Bishop’s Avenue. DC Nick Belsey is mainly trying to achieve his own disappearance from London and the Met, but can’t avoid getting drawn ever deeper into investigating the death.

The story is ingenious, the plot not so much labyrinthine as complex and twisted, the action fast-paced; the whole may be rather implausible but Harris provides enough detailed knowledge and research to make the events just possible. Credible or not, the book is certainly entertaining. His next book, “Deep Shelter“, also features Nick Belsey and I’m intrigued enough to put it on my reading list.

Titles in order, with date read.

• Death at La Fenice (07.99)
• Death in a Strange Country (09.99)
• The Anonymous Venetian (10.99)
• A Venetian Reckoning (10.99)
• Acqua Alta (11.99)
• The Death of Faith (11.99)
• A Noble Radiance (01.01)
• Fatal Remedies (10.01)
• Friends in High Places (11.03)
• A Sea of Troubles (11.03)
• Wilful Behaviour (11.03)
• Uniform Justice (02.04)
• Doctored Evidence (07.05)
• Blood from a Stone (10.05)
• Through a Glass, Darkly (06.11)
• Suffer the Little Children (12.11)
• The Girl of His Dreams (08.10)
• About Face (08.10)
• A Question of Belief (09.11)
• Drawing Conclusions (06.12)
• Beastly Things (09.13) *
• The Golden Egg (03.15) *
• By Its Cover (03.15)

* The book “The Jewels of Paradise”, listed between these two titles in Leon’s books, is not a Brunetti novel.

This series deserves a longer review, which I might get round to writing sometime. Meanwhile, enough to say that the early stories are truly excellent, with their strong contrasts between the outward appearances of la Serenissima and the city’s murky corrupt undercurrents. Sadly, by the time Leon reaches the thirteenth in the series (Doctored Evidence, published in 2004) she seems to have run out of the passion that inspires the earlier books. While Brunetti and his family are still drawn with warmth and affectionate humour, the main story has become rather formulaic and Leon’s passion for her adopted city and her anger at the embedded failings of the society around her seem to have ebbed away. Fans (and I include myself) will still enjoy reading the book, and will look forward to the next one, but I wonder how much longer Leon will feel it worth going on with the series.

In the fourteenth book, Blood from a Stone there is almost no joy, just a resigned acceptance that there is nothing to be done to combat the corruption and wrong-doing Leon sees as endemic in Italian society. Detective Brunetti’s role is to uncover the truth, but any thought of justice is hopeless. The plot itself suffers from inconsistencies, leaving one forced to wonder if Leon is writing just to air her political views – however sympathetic one might be towards them – rather than to produce a well-crafted detective novel. Number 15 Through a Glass, Darkly is very light on story and atmosphere and 16, Suffer the Little Children is rather rambling and unfocussed with an uncharacteristically abrupt and hurried ending.

Number 17 The Girl of His Dreams, although still not up to the standard of the earliest stories is more satisfying than the previous few. About Face is a good detective mystery, although the key story element is a bit contrived. The 19th book, A Question of Belief continues the improvement of the most recent stories.

Book 20, Drawing Conclusions, is a bit different. It’s not really a crime story or whodunnit and it’s not even clear whether a crime has been committed, at least as far as the ‘victim’ is concerned. Instead Leon allows Brunetti to follow his instinct that there’s something not quite right with the ‘natural causes’ explanation of a sudden death and other murky happenings are exposed in typical Leon/Brunetti style. The pace drags a little at times, but overall Leon’s experiment (if that’s what it is) works quite well.

In book 21, Beastly Things there’s definitely a crime – more than one in fact. Brunetti slowly unravels the relationhips and shuffles the pieces of a jigsaw until they all fit. Like most of the novels number 22, The Golden Egg, is based on one particular issue. The story is rather lightweight, and Leon seems as much or more interested in the relationships between her enduring characters than with the wrong-doing Brunetti investigates. By Its Cover (no.23) returns to a stronger story with stronger characters, and I wonder if this is because Leon is more familiar with the world of libraries and old books with which it deals.

If you’re new to Donna Leon, take my advice and read the books in order.

I think this is the first book by Ian Rankin I’ve read, and my first Rebus novel. So what better than to start with the last one, set after Rebus has retired from the police force?

Anyway, he’s back and working as a civilian in a cold case unit. The plot centres on a string of disappearances of young women, all abducted close to the A9, and a blurry photograph of an isolated landscape. The story rattles along at a good pace and with a good spread of characters to keep you intrigued. Good entertainment!

"It’s the new Sherlock Holmes book."
"Really?"
"Yes, really! Well, not by Conan Doyle obviously but written by Dr Watson. Or rather, Anthony Horowitz pretending to be Dr Watson."
"So is it any good, or some kind of joke thing?"
"Well …."

It’s a genuine — and succesful — attempt to create a new full-length Sherlock Holmes novel in the style and spirit of the originals. Horowitz is a life-long Holmes fan and his new book has the blessing of the Conan Doyle estate and the exacting Sherlock Holmes Society. Watson is now old and retired but wants to give the public this one last tale of Holmes’ exploits which he couldn’t publish earlier because of the nature of the crimes and the involvement of people from the Top Echelons Of Society. If one or two little bits of knowing humour creep in to Watson’s account we can surely forgive him, for it is a far from lighthearted tale.

If you’re a Holmes fan you won’t be disappointed. Recommended.