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It's my first serious crime novel - previously I've worked within the cosy genre, mixing crime and gentle comedy but Down Among the Dead  marks my first venture into straightforward thriller territory. I'll still be working within the cosy genre - fans of my popular Granny Smith series will be pleased to see a new title in early summer - but I intend to alternate between series, and Down Among the Dead is the first Chief Inspector Frank Parade wartime mystery - I've already plotted out the second - working title, If Only the Dead Could Talk so I am hoping that readers take to the character of Frank Parade. My team of advance readers have given great reports on this book, calling it thrilling and a real page turner. And I do hope many of you take a chance on this book - you've got nothing to lose if you follow the special offer detailed below.


1940 – France has fallen and Britain stands alone against the might of the German war machine; a fierce battle for supremacy of the air rages in the skies as the Battle of Britain hits full stride.

For Chief Inspector Frank Parade, and his much depleted team there are many challenges to policing the small Welsh mining village of Gilfach Goch, for whilst miles away from the theatres of war the Home Front faces unique challenges of its own. The wartime demands thrown on the country mean that each officer in Parade’s team must do the work of two men – three even.

Soon the already overwhelming workload is increased when not one but two bodies turn up, and Parade finds himself having to investigate two murders as well as cope with everything else thrown his way.

‘Chief Inspector Frank Parade is going to become the new superstar cop. An excellent book.’ *****

The book is available in both paperback and eBook and for a short period you can download the eBook version for zilch - yep believe it or not, whilst the paperback will set you back several pounds you can grab a digital copy to be read on your eReader, computer screen , phone or tablet for free - all I ask is that you please leave a honest review on Amazon, Good Reads or, if you have one, a blog - reviews are the single most valuable tool to any writer - they help greatly to get a book noticed.





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Book Review: Love Like Blood by Mark Billingham

'Writing about cultures and religions that are not your own brings with it a degree of responsibility, and so it should. I have endeavoured to do so with care, sensitivity and, crucially, with respect. In Love Like Blood I have tried to display the utmost respect for Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and for those who practice their religions peacefully. ' Mark Billingham


Tackling a subject like this in a crime thriller is fraught with perils, but Billingham pulls it off and at no point does the book stray into needless sensation - This is the 14th novel featuring the author's series character, Tom Thorne - (I've been on a bit of a Billingham kick lately and this is the third novel of his I've read this month - back to back reading I add. This brings me up to date with the character, I believe there's a new Thorne novel due later this year) - and the subject matter gives the book a sharp edge. Razor sharp; you could slice a finger turning these pages.


When Detective Inspector Nicola Tanner's partner is murdered in their own home she is left seething with the need for vengeance and justice. She has been investigating a series of honour killings in the Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities and she is convinced the murder of her partner is connected, but Tanner is pulled from the case, put on compassionate leave. She won't leave the investigation alone though and drags Tom Thorne into her case; unofficially of course. The book contains all the usual elements of a successful thriller - there are hit men, red herrings galore, more twists than a Curly Wurly and above all an engaging team in Thorne and Tanner. This book is nothing short of excellent and gives great insight into  honour based violence, which is something that is more common than we realise.

Official figures are that there are around a dozen or so honour killings in the UK each year, with around five thousand each year globally - a thousand of these killings take place in Pakistan alone. However according to the police many of these crimes are unreported and if you include assault, mutilation and kidnapping in with honour based violence then the figures are totally staggering. It is estimated that the true figure for the UK alone would be 20,000. Any woman who deviates from some arbitrary patriarchal law is at risk. You can be killed for simply smiling at someone the wrong way.

Billingham, in this book tries to separate the religion, of which he shows the utmost respect, from the honour crimes of which he hates, but he is walking a tightrope creating a fictional thriller around such an emotive subject. He pulls it off though....he pulls it off really well. The book does what it is supposed to  as a thriller, keeping the reader turning the pages, giving us believable characters but at the same time allowing us a glimpse of a world in which we know very little about.


'I've always thought if you write a book with an agenda,' Billingham told the Independant newspaper
at the time of the book's original publication. 'That you are going to write a bad book. 'And I stand by that. Even if I am writing something topical the story has to be front and centre. And it has to be character driven.'


'Honour killings have also been documented in Jewish and  Christian communities,' Tanners says in the book. 'If fact I think the only ones without blood on their hands are Buddhists and Rastafarians...maybe Jedis.'

All in all then another exceptional thriller from a crime writer who is at the top of his game...and one that could, excuse the cliche, have been ripped from today's headlines.

You can read the details of the true case that inspired Love Like Blood HERE

Not so HAPPY VALLEY

I don't really watch TV these days, and yet strangely I am watching more quality television shows than I ever have.

 To make sense of that let me explain -  I never watch TV as it's broadcast, and tend to catch up on shows via DVD or streaming services like Netflix.

 Because of this I'm always behind but this has the advantage of me being able to binge on entire seasons and be far more selective with my viewing. For instance last year I watched every season of Breaking Bad, back to back over a three week period - and I doubt if the show would have had the same effect had I watched it on a weekly basis and then waited several months between seasons. When you watch entire story arcs over a short period you can better appreciate the way a story has been structured, the flaws though also become evident. Quite often I'll start a show and give up after a season or two, especially if the show runs out of steam but that's getting rare these days especially as I tend to gravitate towards shows that have gathered critical acclaim.

James Norton - best screen psycho in many a year

There are times though when I will pick on a show out of curiosity and discover an absolute gem. One such case was the six part, 2014 BBC crime thriller, Happy Valley. It was only that I saw the entire series on DVD in Tesco for a measly £7 that I took the plunge. I would never have picked up this show otherwise - after all it stars one time Coronation Street actress, Sarah Lancashire (an actress I associate with gentle TV drama designed for housewives) and simply didn't seem like the sort of show I'd enjoy.

 Still it was a crime drama, the disc was cheap and so I placed it in the player - I fully expected a twee crime drama, a cross between Juliet Bravo and Midsummer Murders  but what I got was a gritty and grim thriller, a kind of British Fargo but with the humour replaced with genuine nail biting tension.

Written by Sally Wainwright who also directed the pulse pounding fourth episode, Happy Valley centres on a group of people who find themselves involved in events they are unable to control. The initial trigger is accountant, Kevin Weatherhill who annoyed with his boss over his refusal of a pay rise mentions the idea of a kidnap to local drug dealer, Ashley Cowgill. Wetherhill dreampt up the idea on a whim after discovering Cowgill dealt drugs and from there things spiral out of control. First Cowgill enlists two of his workers, Lewis Whippey and Tommy Lee Royce. The latter character is played by James Norton and he gives us a performance of true depth and in doing so creates one of the most memorable screen psychos of all time.

It's all gritty stuff - opening with a theme song from the excellent Jake Bugg it soon becomes clear that this is a thriller with teeth, and boy does it bite.

It's an extemely violent show, unusually so for the BBC but the violence is justified and the effects of all this is explored in depth with the complex, well realised characters. I watched all six episodes over a two nights and although episodes five and six seemed like an epilogue that could have been tightened up into one episode the show kept my attention throughout. Still I suppose it is the kidnapping that drives the plot and once that was concluded at the climax of episode four, the pace slowed down considerably; almost feeling that the final two episodes were made to stretch the show out to six episodes to fit better into television scheduales.


That said this is a brilliant series that anyone who likes crime thrillers needs to catch up on. Sarah Lancashire's performance is absolutely extraordinary and the rest of the cast are uniformly excellent.

THE THRILLER AS COMIC BOOK

"Thriller comics are in the minority in the US, despite prose thrillers taking up a big portion of the book market. Steven Grant pointed out in his column Permanent Damage that this is probably because the mainstream American comics market is superhero-driven, and the superhero genre already assimilates the crime and thriller genres into itself much of the time. Batman and Daredevil are prime examples of this."


There's a rather brilliant and well thought out article on the subject HERE

DRAMA CITY BY GEORGE PELECANOS

DRAMA CITY
George Pelecanos
Orion
£7.99

This is the first book I've read by George P and it certainly won't be the last.

Lorenzo Brown, fresh out of prison and looking to stay on the straight and narrow. Rachel Lopez is his parole officer who is battling a fair few demons of her own but nevertheless she sees a genuine desire in the client to stay on the right side of the law and she is going to do her utmost to help him. There is another major character in Nigel, an old criminal friend of Brown's who controls a large portion of the drug trade.

George Pelecanos presents a tale of fate and redemption and keep form control of this there way story that works towards a surprising and gritty climax.

An excellent crime thriller.