The monster in the box by Ruth Rendell

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Genre - Mystery


Inspector Reg Wexford is startled to see a face from the past, a man who he believes has committed at least two murders, but who he never expected to see again. This is the catalyst that takes Wexford back to his early days in the police force, when he was convinced that Eric Targo had murdered young mother, Elsie Carroll. He had no evidence & was too junior to influence the murder investigation, but he knew Targo was guilty, & Targo knew that Wexford knew. So, a strange game developed where Targo would walk his dog past Wexford’s house or stare up at the windows of the police station. Then, he would disappear for years before unexpectedly turning up again. As Wexford tells the story to his deputy, Mike Burden, the evidence becomes more compelling, especially when another murder occurs close to Wexford’s home. The Wexford series has been one of the best police procedurals for over 40 years & this is another great installment. It’s not one of the best, but interesting to see Wexford as a young man, starting his career & meeting his wife, Dora.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Mud, muck & dead things by Ann Granger

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Genre - Mystery


This is the first in a new series of mysteries by Granger, set in the Cotswolds. Lucas Burton, a shady businessman, is lured to a deserted farmhouse for a meeting. Instead of his business partner, he finds a dead girl in the barn. In his panic, he scrapes his silver Mercedes against a fencepost & is seen leaving the farm by Penny, who owns the livery stables nearby. Inspector Jess Campbell is called in to investigate the murder, &, as well as identifying the victim & coping with the eccentric old man who owns the farm, she has to deal with the expectations of her new boss, Superintendent Carter. No sooner has Jess & her team identified Lucas’ car & tracked him down, than he is found murdered in his garage. Granger sets up her characters nicely in this first novel, & the Cotswolds setting is a bit less attractive than usual – all that mud & muck. Great for fans of Midsomer Murders.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Dark mirror by Barry Maitland

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Genre - Mystery


Marion Summers dies a painful death in the London Library. The autopsy reveals that she died of arsenic poisoning, a method of murder more suited to the murky 19th century world of the Pre-Raphaelite painters & poets she was researching. Detectives Brock & Kolla investigate secretive Marion’s background & discover that her research may have been the reason she was killed. Did her discoveries threaten the career of her academic supervisor? Or was it the fellow researcher who had been following her, taking photos on his mobile phone? Or her mysterious lover, who may have been the father of the child she lost just weeks before her death? This is a complex mystery with fascinating literary & historical elements. Brock & Kolla are sympathetic characters & it’s always good to catch up with them again.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The headhunters by Peter Lovesey

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Genre - Mystery


Jo & Gemma sit in a café planning ways to murder Gemma’s irritating boss. Friends Rick & Jake join in the game & they’re soon calling themselves the Headhunters. The laughter stops when Jo finds a woman’s half-naked body on the beach, and when Gemma’s boss disappears, & another body is discovered, the game becomes serious. This is an intriguing mystery. I suspected most of the main characters at some point. DCI Hen Mallin, who featured in a previous novel, The Circle, is the investigating officer, but this isn’t a traditional police procedural. Jo finds herself becoming more & more involved with Gemma’s flights of fancy & as the plot thickens, she can’t tell who to trust. Lovesey’s plot is entertaining, wonderfully convoluted & full of red herrings.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The vows of silence by Susan Hill

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Genre - Mystery


A gunman is killing young women in the cathedral town of Lafferton. There seems to be no connection between the women targeted, and the police have few leads. DCS Simon Serrailler & his team must follow the few leads available & try to anticipate the murderer’s next move. What distinguishes this series from most other series in the genre is the feel & texture of real life which Hill evokes. Serrailler is another in a long line of loner detectives, wary of commitment in his private life. But, he has a family, and for me, this allows us to see his humanity & makes him a believable character. His sister, Cat, has just returned from a sabbatical in Australia with her husband & children. Cat & Chris are both doctors, and this has brought in other characters to the series that reappear in this book. Most significantly, Jane Fitzroy, an Anglican priest, who ran away from the tentative beginnings of a relationship with Simon in an earlier book. Serrailler’s mother has died, & he’s upset by his father’s new relationship. Other characters are briefly introduced, and, in some cases, violently removed, just as the reader has started to get to know them. We also enter the mind of the killer, and understand his motives while the police are still in the dark. There are plenty of red herrings & the solution is satisfying. I read it in an afternoon & can’t wait for the next installment.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Still waters by Judith Cutler

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Genre - Mystery


Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman is happy in her personal life – she’s in love with colleague, Mark Turner, & they’ve bought their dream home together. If only Mark’s daughter could accept their relationship. Her professional life is more of a problem. Her new boss is a man she once mentored, and his attitude to work – and Fran - has changed for the worse. She’s covering for an ill colleague, is reviewing a potentially unsafe conviction before the case comes to court, & trying to investigate a straightforward suicide which she has a hunch may not be so simple. Her desire to keep working on the investigative side of her job is thwarted by the new boss’ love of constant meetings & committees. Her relationship with Mark takes a potential turn for the worse when his selfish daughter leaves her husband & wants to move back home. I enjoy this series very much. Fran is a middle-aged woman trying to juggle work & family, caught in the trap at work of being promoted away from the parts of the job she loves. There’s plenty of police procedural here as well as the personal lives of the main characters, and the potential for the series to develop in new ways as Fran takes on a new job at the end of the book.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

An expert in murder by Nicola Upson

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Genre - Mystery


The writer becomes the detective in this first novel by Nicola Upson. Josephine Tey was one of the best writers of detective fiction in the Golden Age. In this novel, she becomes a character, a suspect, and maybe even the next intended victim. Tey also wrote plays under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot, and had a great success in the 1930s with Richard of Bordeaux, her play about Richard II. On the train to London from Edinburgh for the final week of the play's run, Josephine meets a young fan, Elspeth Simmons, and is horrified when, on arrival at Kings Cross, Elspeth is murdered. There are hints that Josephine’s play had something to do with the murder. Was Josephine the intended victim? Detective Inspector Archie Penrose of Scotland Yard, a friend of Josephine’s, investigates. The novel gives a wonderful picture of London theatre life in the 30s, all the backstage gossip, the artifice behind the on-stage glamour. There were almost too many characters with too many hints of possible connections & motives. I enjoyed Archie Penrose, with his obvious echoes of Tey’s fictional detective, Alan Grant, but there was a little too much flitting from one character to another. I would have liked more emphasis on the police investigation. This is an enjoyable novel with a great deal of atmosphere, and I’m looking forward to the next novel in the series.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards

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Genre - Mystery


Lecherous landscape gardener Warren Howe was murdered. Cut to pieces with a scythe and his body dumped in the trench he was digging in a client’s backyard. There was no shortage of suspects among his many conquests and their unhappy husbands, but no one is charged with the crime. Now, the cold case team led by DCI Hannah Scarlett, receives an anonymous letter accusing Howe’s wife Tina of the murder, and they reinvestigate. Cold case investigations stir up all kinds of memories and fears, and this one is no exception, especially when Nick Lowther, Hannah’s Sergeant, who was on the original investigating team, seems to be involved with one of the prime suspects. Hannah’s friendship with Daniel Kind, the son of her old boss and mentor, is also becoming more important to her, and Daniel becomes involved in the murder investigation as he researches the history of his garden at Tarn Cottage and the hidden message in its design. This is a fantastic follow up to The Coffin Trail, the first in this series. Hannah and Daniel are increasingly drawn to each other, and their relationship is the emotional core of the book. The investigation is full of surprises and the Lake District - including a visit to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm – is a lovely setting for murder and mayhem.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The Coffin Trail by Martin Edwards

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Genre - Mystery


This is the first in a series of fantastic murder mysteries set in the Lake District. Daniel Kind leaves his secure job as a historian at Oxford, and, on a whim, moves to a dilapidated cottage in the Lake District with new girlfriend, Miranda. Some years earlier, a young woman was murdered and her body left on the Sacrifice Stone, a local landmark. Barrie Gilpin, a loner, who used to live in the cottage Daniel has bought, was found dead at the bottom of nearby cliffs. Case conveniently closed. Daniel's father was the policeman who originally investigated the case, and he wasn't sure of Barrie's guilt. Neither is Daniel, who knew Barrie as a child. The case comes up as part of a cold case review led by DCI Hannah Scarlett, and Daniel becomes involved in the investigation. This is an atmospheric story which sets up an intriguing relationship between Daniel and Hannah to be explored in future books. Recommended for lovers of English police procedurals.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters