Fair Play by Louise Hegarty
Review by Max Dunbar Mystery Night I never worked out the appeal of murder mystery nights. Sure, you get to raid the dressing-up box but the practicalities must be a…
The Drowned by John Banville
Reviewed by Harriet, 14 Jan 2025 When John Banville announced that he was going to give up writing the multi-award-winning literary fiction for which he had been celebrated for decades,…
Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson
Reviewed by Harriet He had spent a good two weeks being sensible and mature, and then he bought a Land Rover Defender instead. It was a rugged, blokey kind of…
Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
Reviewed by Harriet ‘Anyone who has read the four books I have written about my adventures with ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne, may be surprised by this one. Where is Hawthorne?…
The Trials of Lila Dalton by L.J. Shepherd
Review by Gill Davies This is a first novel by a practising barrister and is billed as “a legal thriller with a psychological twist”. It comes with plaudits from –…
Shot with Crimson by Nicola Upson
Reviewed by Harriet This is the eleventh novel in Nicola Upson’s Josephine Tey historical crime series; we’ve reviewed four of them on here as well as her standalone fictional biography…
The Running Grave by J.K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith
Reviewed by Harriet Like me, many people will have been waiting impatiently for the next installment of the ongoing saga of private detectives Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. Some (not…
West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman
Review by Annabel Imagine, it’s the mid-late 1970s, the Independence Day long weekend, and the founder members of an exclusive country/hunting club, West Heart, are gathered in the Club’s extensive…
The Mill House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
Translated by Ho-Ling Wong Review by Terence Jagger This is another of Yukito Ayatsuji’s homages to the British Golden Age of mystery writing, like The Decagon House Murders I reviewed…
Twice Round the Clock by Billie Houston
Reviewed by Harriet It’s been a while since we reviewed a British Library Crime Classic on here, so it’s a pleasure to write about this recent one, the only novel…
The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green
Review by Max Dunbar The Savannah of George Dawes Green‘s mystery novel is full of tourists. Not regular tourists. These tourists ride around in the back of a hearse. In…
The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson
Reviewed by Harriet You never know what you’re going to get with a Peter Swanson novel, though you can be sure of intelligent, challenging mysteries, interesting and almost invariably warped…
Q&A with Charlotte Vassell, on The Other Half
Questions by Harriet Harriet: Hi Charlotte. Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions. I have to tell you that The Other Half was one of the most enjoyable novels I’ve…
The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell
Reviewed by Harriet Charlotte Vassell’s brilliant debut thriller begins with a dying girl on Hampstead Heath. This, as we discover later, is Clemmie, and she is, or was, an influencer….
The Elvis Mysteries: Kill Me Tender & Blue Suede Clues by Daniel Klein
Review by Annabel Daniel Klein has featured at Shiny New Books once before, back in our early days when Victoria reviewed his 2014 non-fiction book Travels With Epicurus, a gentle…
The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
Reviewed by Harriet I was initially quite surprised to discover, early on in the latest and biggest novel about the exploits of private investigators Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, that…
The Life of Crime by Martin Edwards
Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies Here is a hefty and impressive package, a bumper fun book and prodigious resource guide for all serious crime fiction fans (and who isn’t these days,…
Even the Darkest Night, by Javier Cercas
Translated by Anne Mclean Review by Michael Eaude Javier Cercas rose to literary fame two decades ago with Soldiers of Salamis (2001), a novel structured as an investigation into an…
Nine Lives by Peter Swanson
Reviewed by Harriet Peter Swanson is a prolific author, averaging one book a year since his debut, The Girl with a Clock for a Heart in 2014. I’ve reviewed two…
The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
Review by Terence Hallett This is an intriguing but also frustrating book. I did wonder if the Shiny editors would allow me to write two alternative reviews. The first would…
After Agatha: Women Write Crime by Sally Cline
Review by Karen Langley We readers have never been able to get enough of crime fiction, it seems, and in the 21st century the genre is as popular as it…
The Second Cut by Louise Welsh
Review by Gill Davies Louise Welsh has published eight novels. The only one I had read prior to this was The Cutting Room (2002), to which her latest novel is…
The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo
Translated by Bryan Karetnyk Reviewed by Harriet Seishi Yozomizo (1902-1991), whose works are hugely celebrated in Japan, has been described as ‘the Japanese Agatha Christie’, or alternatively ‘the Japanese John…
A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle
Review by Terence Jagger This is a modern murder mystery, but is set in 1924 and is explicitly in the grand manner of the “golden age”, with all that implies…