Book #69 The A.B.C. Murders

The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read The A.B.C. Murders back in the 70s. Last week I watched the BBC TV adaptation starring John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot - Poirot, but not as you know him! I had to read the book again just to confirm what a travesty the BBC airing was! The book for the most part is narrated by Poirot's old friend Captain Arthur Hastings, O.B.E. who has returned in June 1935 from his ranch in South America to see to various affairs at home. He looks up his old friend who is now retired but still practiced his profession on occasion. The BBC for reasons best known to themselves completely omit Hastings from the cast list! DCI Japp figures prominently in Poirot's previous investigations and he plays his usual rôle in the book - BBC have him retired and bump him off with a heart attack in the first scene... And Malkovich? Well - he is not David Suchet!

Despite all of this, reading the book again so soon after the TV show was very rewarding. It did not spoil my enjoyment in the slightest. I won't go into the details of the plot as I am sure most of you will be familiar with it. The book really is Agatha Christie at her best. And those little grey cells? Don't get a mention on the BBC!





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Book #68 The Evidence Against You

The Evidence Against You by Gillian McAllister
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My thanks to Michael Joseph Comms and NetGalley for this advance ARC of Gillian McAllister's The Evidence Against You.

I have previously read Anything You Do Say by Gillian McAllister, one of my best reads - ever. So, would The Evidence live up to expectations? That's an unequivocal YES! A lengthy slow-burner, some 450 mesmerising pages that unfurl layer upon layer and draw you in like a moth to a flame.

Izzy (Isabelle) English knows that her father is about to be released from prison on life parole. He has served seventeen years incarcerated, convicted of murdering his wife Alexandra - Izzy's mother, when Izzy was just seventeen. Izzy now runs what was her mother's restaurant - Alexandra's - on the Isle of Wight. Her husband Nick is a police analyst. "He might come looking for you" he says. The island natives know who Isabelle English is but still they patronise the restaurant where indeed her father turns up. "I did not kill your mother, Izzy". What seems important to Gabe is not so much the loss of liberty, but the loss of his wife and daughter. The evidence against him was compelling. Izzy had always thought him guilty but something shifts in her mind - the moment when she chooses to try and believe him.

Did he? Didn't he? Does Izzy's husband Nick show empathy with her or does he try and undermine her thought processes at every turn? As another layer unfurls your mind will be pulled every which way. Doubts linger...

There are several more characters here that play significant rôles in this intricate plot and that have an impact on the outcome. And the outcome? Totally unexpected that turns so much on its head...

The Evidence Against You is beautifully crafted, superbly written and one of my Top Five reads of 2018.

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Book #67 In the Galway Silence

In the Galway Silence by Ken Bruen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ken Bruen does it again - number 14 in my favourite series. Jack Taylor, ex guard, no saint, Irish noir that is at times hilarious, written in Bruen's inimitable style with paragraphs that more closely resemble verse than prose. It's original, unusual and continues to entertain as it appears that Jack might have at long last found contentment. Still loves the Jameson and still dabbles in uppers, but he has a new girlfriend, a new apartment with glorious views and little sign of trouble on the horizon...

...don't be daft. This is Jack Taylor, finds himself looking after his girlfriend's spoilt nine-year-old and trouble is heading his way. Wealthy Frenchman Pierre Renaud, a double murder, his ex-wife and an unfurling past.

In the Galway Silence - it's grim, dark, hilarious - it's unique. Love him or hate him - it's Jack Taylor.

I am definitely in the first camp...

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Book #66 Going For a Song

Going for a Song: A Chronicle of the UK Record Shop by Garth Cartwright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Going For a Song. Phew! I started reading this in April - taken me almost eight months to complete! Large pages and small print are daunting to say the least. So, I've read it a few pages at a time. It is truly an in-depth history of the rise, fall and rebirth of the UK's independent record shops. From early 50s and Dobell's Jazz, Blues & Folk shop, Levy's of Whitechapel and Transat Imports for soul 45s. Virgin and Beggars Banquets build empires out of rock shops. Our Price, Rough Trade, Small Wonder and Good Vibrations are all here. And then they are gone...

Across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland there remain several hundred record shops and stalls. Among them is my favourite: Resident Music in the North Laine, Brighton. The loss of record shops may appear inconsequential when compared to events currently overwhelming the UK. A good local record shop tends to be proudly provincial. Deprived areas come in all shapes and sizes and when your neighbourhood no longer supports independent retailers, it enters into a decline that may, initially, appear invisible. Independent record shops can attract people to a locale, encourage communication and investigation.

Sadly, there remain far too few....

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Book #65 The Chestnut Man

The Chestnut Man: A Novel by Soren Sveistrup
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

1989. Detective Marius Larsen travels out to Orum's Farm. Animals have broken through the fence, roaming the neighbour's fields. Farmer Orum needs to sort this out. When Larsen arrives at the farm what he is faced with is horrific...

Move forward to present day Copenhagen. Detective Naia Thulin works for the Major Crimes Division. Her boss, Nylander, tasks her with partnering 'the new guy'. A liaison officer named Hess, stationed at Europol's HQ in the Hague, ordered to Copenhagen for some blunder or other. They are faced with a brutal murder. The victim, Laura Kjaer, 37 years old, has been partly dismembered. A chestnut man figure lies nearby. Forensics uncover a fingerprint on its head. The print of Kristine Hartung. The 12-year-old daughter of Rosa Hartung, Minister for Social Affairs. The girl went missing less than a year ago and a few weeks later a young tech nerd was arrested and, given weight of evidence, he confesses to strangling and dismembering the body. No body parts were ever found. When more horrific murders occur the chestnut figures take centre stage. How can they all reveal a fingerprint of Kristine Hartung?

The Chestnut Man is a complex story with well developed characters. It is dark and disturbing with many horrific scenes. Perhaps though a tad too long as I found myself easily distracted. It did not anchor me to the pages and took me considerable time to read because of this.



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