danger in cat world – nina post

Danger In Cat World

I received this as a review copy.  I have to admit, until I saw it, I had never even heard of Nina Post – let alone read any of her books (of which there appear to be four!) – but i will be very happy to read others at some stage! Perhaps when my massive ‘To Read’ pile has dwindled somewhat!

The ‘Danger’ in cat world actually refers to Detective Shawn Danger – a homicide detective brought in to investigate the murder of a rich paper heiress who has been found with her head bludgeoned in.

In an attempt to solve the case, Shawn also has to investigate the apparent murder of the heiress’ 50+ year old tortoise (who had once attended boarding school), work out why she had been obsessive about the weights of her collection of anvils and get to the bottom of why she hired such a bunch of misfits to work in her mansion on such odd tasks as ‘investigating coincidences’.

Not only this, but Shawn’s is trying hard to avoid his own family (who wouldn’t want to avoid sisters that used to make him play ‘North Korean Dictator’?), has found a potential love interest and is having to placate his cat Comet who is a little put out when a number of ideantical cats seem to be appearing at Shawn’s house every hour.

I love a little bit of surreal, and this certainly does contain a bit of surreal.

Shawn is a fantastic character.  he’s a bit of a loner, at loggerheads with his family, only has Comet for company and really throws himself into his work – which results in him being a very good detective.  However, he is extremely likeable, and a bit cocky.  The ‘dates’ he goes on are very amusing – I would have enjoyed those kinds of dates

“Can’t you get in trouble for taking me on a wretched, terrible date?” “The department doesn’t have rules in place for date quality. We’re free to go on whatever quality of date we like.”

When you take the slight oddities out of the book, and the ‘other world’ and ‘another Danger’  that Shawn often sees on an old TV (he can’t stand the other smug Danger), this is just a plain and simple detective story.  But it is one with very strong characters, a likeable not-too-damaged hero and quite a few ‘grin’ moments, if not laugh out loud.

I really enjoyed it.

if snow hadn’t fallen – s j bolton

If Snow Hadn’t Fallen

I have read two of S J Bolton’s Lacey Flint books, and unfortunately the next isn’t due for release til April.  They have been the best detective thrillers I have read in a long time, so when I saw that there was a short story available starring Lacey, I was more than happy to pay out my £1.64 to buy it (it has since gone up 25p!)

This starts with the rather grim murder of a young Muslim man and shadows Lacey as she follows each lead where (as ever) she becomes more involved than she probably should.

The snow in the title serves to cover the grisly scene in a blanket of purity and to almost illuminate the burkha-clad woman who mourns there.

There’s not much I can say about the story as it IS only short and I don’t want to give away too much – except it’s wonderfully written with Lacey’s unmistakeable voice and that it gave me a much-needed dose of her to tide me over to April (argh…April…now, where can I get an ARC of Like This, For Ever?)

If you like detective thrillers and you haven’t read Now You See Me and Dead Scared, what are you waiting for?!!?

getting skinny – monique domovitch

Getting Skinny

Nicky Landry has recently opened Skinnys On Queen, the restaurant that she’s always dreamed of owning and running.  She seems to have a gift with food, much to the delight of her best friend (who is also her business partner).

At the official opening party, she believes her life is finally going in the right direction – she is pretty sure that her gorgeous boyfriend Rob is going to pop the question, the only downside in her life being the fact that the ‘perfect dress’ for the evening is rather too snug!

However, everything soon falls apart in a more dramatic fashion than she could possibly believe, leaving Rob lying murdered in her garden, her the prime suspect and Skinnys without customers.

Can she find out what happened to Rob, get herself off the hook and save her dream?

I really enjoyed this – a Canadian chick-lit detective murder mystery!

Nicky is a great character – strong, intelligent, with a great business head, but with the usual weaknesses that girls have.

The style was so easy to read, just like a proper chick-lit book, but also had that edge to it thanks to the murder mystery aspect.  I zoomed through very happily and finished in a couple of days.  Although there were many elements that were pretty obvious, that’s what you WANT from this kind of book, and when you don’t get it, you feel cheated!

I’ve noticed that on Goodreads it is billed as ‘Chef Landry Mystery #1′ so I am assuming (and hoping) that means there will be more written of Nicky.

My only quibble may have been due to this being an Advance Review Copy, and halfway through the book, Rob is referred to as Brad about 4 times over 2 pages.  I assume that this will be corrected in the final version!

Getting Skinny will be published on 4th February 2013 and is just £1.55 on Kindle.

now you see me – s j bolton

Now You See Me

After listening to the fantastic Dead Scared a few months ago without realising it was the second book featurning DC Lacey Flint, I thought I’d go back and listen to the first one.

In this story, we’re properly introduced to young Met Police DC Lacey Flint and her own introduction to DI Mark Joesbury.

Lacey is interviewing a potential witness to a violent crime, when  a woman is stabbed so severely she dies in Lacey’s arms, and it becomes apparent that Lacey must have only missed the actual murder by seconds – almost as if it was performed for her personally.

When another kill is added to this particular murderer’s tally, certain facts come to light that make Lacey wonder if there could be a more deep-set motive that she should be spotting.

This is a fantastic thriller – a complete page turner (although I’m not sure what the equivalent of that is on audiobook!). It has pace, it has interesting characters, it has loads of Jack the Ripper stuff, it has gore, it has depth and it has a riveting climax, which I loved, even though I accidentally listened to the second book first, so knew part of the outcome!

If you like detective thrillers, definitely give this one a go – it’s only £3.93 on Amazon at the moment…and then you can follow up immediately with Dead Scared!  I can’t wait for the next in the series (please let there be a next in the series!)

beyond evil – neil white

Beyond Evil

I have missed a couple of Neil White books (which I will be going back to read at some stage), but this one isn’t part of the DC Laura McGanity series, I spotted that it was only 99p, I needed a good thriller and I love Neil White – I couldn’t go wrong, could I?

Set in York, it starts with the discovery of the mutilated body of one-time lottery-winner Billy Privett.  After his win, Billy had been very much the party-boy, but his namehad been tainted by the death of a teenage girl in his swimming pool a year before – a death that has haunted DI Sheldon Brown ever since.

His lawyer had always been sure of Privett’s innocence in the matter, but it falls to her colleague Charlie Barker and Brown himself to unravel what really happened that night.

If you’ve never read Neil White but like a good detective thriller, you should really give this one a go – especially at 99p, it’s a bargain.

At first, as you are introduced to the main characters, you wonder how the hell they have anything to do with each other and how the story is going to tie-up.  Think Christopher Brookmyre, Carl Hiassen or even Guy Ritchie, and you’ll get what I mean.

They do tie up neatly though – and quite unexpectedly.  Every time I thought I knew what had actually happened, I was proven wrong a couple of pages (clicks) later – and I love that, as long as I don’t feel like I am purposely being led down the wrong path.

Fast-paced, action-packed and clever. It was exactly what I was looking for and I loved it!

agatha raisin & the haunted house – m c beaton

Agatha Raisin & The Haunted House

I picked this up as an audiobook from Audible when they were doing a 2 for 1 sale on a selection of titles, I had some credits to use and it sounded quite fun. However, I did NOT realise that it is apparently number 14 in a series of Agatha Raisin books.

It was read by the ever wonderful Penelope Keith, who apparently played Agatha in the BBC adaptations of the stories – something else that seems to have totally passed me by (and I love a good radio series, I do!)

Agatha is a self-styled sleuth, based in the sleepy Cotswolds. I am thinking Miss Marple, but somewhat updated. Alhough Agatha is early middle-aged, she doesn’t come across as completely dowdy, and can have a bit of a mouth on her.

She’s a really great character, and although the book stands alone pretty well (I didn’t lose what was going on through any of it, as each of the characters that had obviously been in previous stories were given enough of a quick back-story with context to see how they fit in) part of me wished that I had started the books from the beginning, just so that I could see her character grow. I know I can go back and read them, but I know where she ends up, so there’s some mystery taken out of it all.

Anyway, an old woman in the next village is complaining about strange goings-on in her house – she swears that it is haunted. Agatha is vaguely interested, but it is only when her new next door neighbour, the rather dashing Paul Chatterton asks her to go along and investigate that her interest is really piqued.

After their visit, Agatha and Paul think someone is obviously just messing around – either kids, or the woman herself for attention, and don’t think much more of it…until the old lady is found dead.

This is quite a lovely gentle book – part detective novel and part a commentary on English village life, and I was totally won over by it. And Penelope Keith’s narration just made it all that more appealing! My only gripe really was that there was far too much time spent on describing Agatha’s various outfits and how much make-up she did or didn’t have on. I am guessing that it was to show that even though Agatha was a bit of a hard-ass on the outside, she had the same self-doubt, image-issues and romantic inclinations as almost every woman in the world.

If you’re interested in a bit of light, well-written entertainment, give Agatha a go – the series starts with The Quiche of Death.