Sarah Ward's Blog, page 2

New Book News: The Shadowing

I see I haven’t posted since February! I’ve had a busy few months and things will be getting even busier over the summer and the autumn. I’ve a good few crime reads stacked up to review which I’m going to get cracking on next week. In the meantime, here’s some book news from me.

My next novel, The Shadowing, is published on the 16th September. It’s another Rhiannon Ward book set this time in the 1830s.

When Hester, a Quaker living in Bristol, learns of her sister Mercy’s death at a Nottinghamshire workhouse, she travels to Southwell to find out how her sister ended up at such a place.

Haunted by her sister’s ghost, Hester sets out to uncover the truth, when the official story reported by the workhouse master proves to be untrue. Mercy was pregnant – both her and the baby are said to be dead of cholera, but the workhouse hasn’t had an outbreak for years. 

Hester discovers a strange trend in the workhouse of children going missing. One woman tells her about the Pale Lady, a ghostly figure that steals babies in the night. Is this lady a myth or is something more sinister afoot at the Southwell poorhouse? 

As Hester investigates, she uncovers a conspiracy, one that someone is determined to keep a secret, no matter the cost…

I hope you enjoy another slice of gothic. The Shadowing can be pre-ordered here.

Recent Reads

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed my reading but I’ve been busy working on various projects, more news of which soon. However, I’ve been powering through books on my kindle which has been a godsend during this lockdown.

Sound of the Sinners is the latest book by Hull author Nick Quantrill. Private eye Joe Geraghty is back in Hull to attend the funeral of his old friend and colleague, Don Ridley. The city has changed during his stint in Amsterdam and Geraghty becomes convinced that his friend’s death was no accident. A cold case, it appears, is coming back to life and it’s Geraghty who feels honour-bound to finish what Ridely started. As usual, the city of Hull leaps from the page in Quantrill’s novel and I’m always impressed by the author’s clear and compelling prose.

Hell Gate by Jeff Dawson is another well-written and compelling thriller set in New York. After the sinking of the steamship General Slocum which killed over a thousand souls, mainly from the German immigrant community, a populist senator preys on his voters’ grief. It’s 1904 and alliances haven’t yet been formed, the senator reminding people that, except for one vote in the House of Representatives, the nation would be speaking German. British spy Ingo Finch arrives in Manhattan to infiltrate and expose the new political movement and is soon under attack from all sides. I loved the historical detail in this book, genuinely feeling I’d learnt something about the period and the pace never lets up. A very strong spy story.

Barbara Copperthwaite writes psychological thrillers with interesting themes and empathetic characters. In her latest book, The Girl in the Missing Poster, Stella plasters posters around the town looking for news of her twin sister Leila who disappeared twenty five years earlier. It attracts the notice of a TV company who feature her quest on Netflix. Stella receives a letter from someone claiming they took Leila and, as a reunion is organised for those who were present on the night her sister disappeared, old secrets begin to emerge. It was great, after a gap, to read a new Barbara Copperthwaite and I found it to be a page-turning read.

I haven’t been reading as much Scandinavian crime fiction recently but I was reminded of how much I love the genre after reading The Therapist, the debut novel from Helene Flood. Sara’s husband, Sigard, leaves early one morning for a trip to a holiday cabin. A phone call from his friends waiting for him reveals that he never arrived. As she tries to interest the police in her husband’s disappearance while running her therapy practice, she begins to notice that objects are being moved around her house. Does she have an intruder and is it connected to Sigard’s disappearance? This is an excellent thriller with sharp insights into how people behave and how not everyone is how they present themselves. It was, as I always expect from Maclehose, a high-quality read. The translation was by Alison McCullough.

The Ormering Tide is the debut novel from Mercury Prize-nominated musician Kathryn Williams. Rozel lives with her three older triplet brothers on a small island. When one brother goes missing, Rozel is forced out of her comfortable existence to see the community as it actually is. Secrets, odd behaviour and repressed truths are explored with beautifully evocative language. A truly stunning read.

Books of the past, present and future. My top reads of 2020 (and early 2021).

As we gladly say goodbye to 2020, the good news is that we should be able to meet up in more normal circumstances at some point in 2021. My reading this year has been a little different as I’ve relied on well-loved authors such as PD James and Josephine Tey and also read widely outside the crime genre. However, I’ve also enjoyed some outstanding crime novels which were published in 2020 and have discovered four exceptional reads for 2021.

First up my top five crime reads of 2020 (in alphabetical order).

 

1. The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves: Vera, snow and family secrets. What more could you want from a crime novel?

2.  The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths The welcome return of Ruth Galloway to Norfolk and a genuinely creepy tale.

3. The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel Not a traditional crime novel but a powerful story of a Bernie Madoff style figure and the impact of his crimes on family and victims.

4. The Wayward Girls by Amanda Mason Reminiscent of the Essex poltergeist hauntings, I loved the strong characterisation and atmospheric setting.

5. Sorry for the Dead by Nicola Upson The combination of Josephine Tey and Charleston makes for a rich narrative and there’s an intriguing historic murder to solve.

And what are the books you really want to read for 2021?

First up is the fabulous Body of Stars by Laura Maylene Walter. Set in a world where women’s skin is mapped with markings which predict their future, Celeste reaches the age where her markings change from temporary to permanent. She finds her changing body an object of fascination and she, along with other changelings, becomes an abduction target. The story is both compelling and menacing and bursts with originality.

Body of Stars is out on the 18th March

If you love alternative realities, another book I’ve read which pulled me into its worlds was The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley. Joe Tournier receives a postcard with an etching of a lighthouse on the front. It has been in the sorting office for 91 years but Joe discovers the lighthouse has only recently been built. Joe is a British slave in the French Empire. It’s a world where the French won the Napoleonic Wars. Or is it? Joe can remember a world where English is spoken and in his quest to discover if his memory losses are down to epilepsy or a more shadowy truth, he travels to Scotland to visit the lighthouse in the postcard. Brilliantly inventive with a plot designed to enthral, I didn’t want to leave the world Pulley created.

The Kingdoms is out on 27th May

The Last House on Needless Street is an atmospheric, creepy thriller reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Lulu disappeared aged six, the supposed victim of a predator. Dee, her sister, is haunted by the disappearance and rents a house near one of the suspects at the time. Ted lives with his daughter Lauren and cat, Olivia.  A loner who takes trips only to visit a dubious therapist,  is Ted responsible for Lulu’s disappearance? Unusual, sad and ultimately redemptive, it’s a book to surprise and delight.

The Last House on Needless Street is out on 18th March.

Finally, The Drowned City is the first in a series by K J Maitland. Set in the year following the Gunpowder Plot, a conspirator, Daniel Pursglove, is set free in exchange for entering Bristol and spying on the Catholic conspirators there. The city is recovering from a drenching by a River Severn wave which killed thousands. In the middle of mayhem, Daniel finds himself hunting for a killer. Beautifully written with a dark heart, Maitland knows how to pull you deep into the early Jacobean period.

The Drowned City is out on the 1st April.

So, some great books to look forward to. What were your outstanding reads for 2020?

 

New Crime . . .

In the middle of the second lockdown in England, I’m reading more than ever. It’s such a shame that bookshops have had to close their doors but good news we can still order online. I’ve read some great new crime books recently and my reading pile is tottering with novels for the coming weeks.

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As soon as No Exit Press sent an email saying they had review copies of Angel‘s Inferno by William Hjortsberg, I couldn’t wait to read the book. It’s the follow up to Falling Angel which was made into the successful film, Angel Heart. I reread the original book for a workshop I was giving on novels which successfully mix crime and the supernatural and Hjortsberg is a master of this. Angel’s Inferno follows the investigation of Harry Angel who now knows of his role in the disappearance of Johnny Favourite. He’s determined to track down Louis Cyphre and his journey takes him to the Paris underworld in the hunt for the magician who goes by numerous devilish names. It’s written in Hjortsberg’s trademark noir style and the darkness at its heart holds the reader’s attention until the end. A very accomplished follow-up that will delight Hjortsberg’s readers.

[image error]I’m a huge fan of Ann Cleeve’s writing and her latest Vera book, The Darkest Evening, is a delight. It has many of the Golden Age tropes that I love: a country house, a family with thrilling secrets and the possibility of a disputed inheritance. It is also packed full of atmosphere.

The body of Lorna Falstone is found on a snowy evening after she abandoned her child in a neighbours car. Vera, finding the child, takes it to the nearest house belonging to her estranged relatives. Lorna’s story enfolds, a child of loving but overprotective parents, she’s spent time in a clinic for her anorexia and has refused to name the father of her child. Vera must put old family hurts aside to discover Lorna’s murderer. In this book, we see more of Vera’s frailty but she’s as redoubtable as ever.

[image error]Margot Kinberg is an old friend to Crimepieces. Way back in 2011 when I first started blogging, she was a supportive commenter and promoter of this blog which has continued to this day. Margot is a talented crime writer and I reviewed her novel, Publish or Perish back in 2012. A Matter of Motive is her latest novel. Newbie detective Patricia Stanley has her first murder case. Ron Clemons is found dead in his car. At first, it appears he’s a victim of a heart attack but suspicions are raised by medics and, as Patricia digs beneath his apparent faultless life, professional and personal tensions become apparent. A Matter of Motive is written in Kinberg’s witty prose and there’s a lovely classic crime feel to the plot. I loved it.

 

Recent reads: Max Seeck, Susanna Clarke, GE Trevelyan & Alison Belsham

I’ve been reading a mix of genres recently and it’s hard to find a common thread except to say that all the novels below pulled me deep into their worlds which, during these strange times, is exactly what you want.

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Witch Hunter is the first in a new series by the Finnish author Max Seeck. It begins with an unsettling premise. A bestselling novelist’s wife is murdered and the ritualistic killing mirrors a death in one of the author’s Witch Hunter novels. As events turn darker and more victims are selected, Helsinki detective Jessica Niemi is convinced the killings aren’t the work of a single person. But she has her own secrets to hide and her duplicitous life might start to unravel. We’re in classic Nordic noir territory here – the brutal killings, stark setting and clever plotting – and I can see why the author has been liked to Jo Nesbo. I found it a compelling and twisty read with a decent female protagonist.

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Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi is a dazzling story of a man living in a house with infinite rooms. He is called Piranesi by the only other human he meets who he nicknames ‘the Other’ but is sure that he has another name. He’s aware that his memory is transient and keeps notebooks which chart his journey around the many rooms. The book draws you into its world and shows how a man can be content living with his loneliness. You’re always wondering what world we’re in – the man’s imagination, an altered state or perhaps the story serves as an allegory for what ever the reader chooses. However, there is a revelation which turns the narrative and which is wholly satisfying for the reader. Piranesi is perfect bedtime reading. I dropped off to sleep with dreams of great floods and sea creatures.

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Publisher, Abandoned Bookshop, are to rerelease a 1930s debut from the talented writer, GE Trevelyan. Appius and Virginia is a moving tale of a women who raises an orangutan from birth and attempts to give it the upbringing of an ordinary child. Virginia’s motives feel initially benign, she is a scientist with knowledge of animal behaviour. However, as she tried to dress, educate and teach Appius to speak, she’s revealed as rigid in her views and exasperated by the orangutan’s essentially animal nature. The novel addresses ever present themes of how we try to mould our animals to our own needs and, in the passages I found especially moving, how hard our animals try to please us.

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The Embalmer is an engrossing new thriller from the talented Alison Belsham. A recently mummified body is found inside a display cabinet in Brighton Museum. A clue to the death lies in tattoos on the body and Egyptian canopic jars found nearby. DI Francis Sullivan suspects he is looking for a serial killer and with his partner Marni Mullins the hunt is on. As the list of suspects narrow, we enter the twisted mind of a disturbed murderer. The book is fast paced and engrossing and there are plenty of surprises for the reader. I particularly liked the Egyptology element and there are some genuinely frightening moments. The Embalmer is out in ebook in November.

After Dark: Fireside Gothic by Andrew Taylor

[image error]I picked up Fireside Gothic at my local bookshop before lockdown. I’m a fan of Andrew Taylor’s books and here he’s written three short stories with a supernatural theme. The first, Broken Voices, is set just before the Great War where two schoolboys are left in the care of an elderly teacher one Christmas. In the shadow of a Fens cathedral, the schoolteacher tells stories of local myths until the schoolboys decide to check out the truth for themselves.

The Christmas and Fens setting are classic ghost story tropes and there’s a lovely gothic feel to this story, particularly as the protagonists’ stories are updated at the end of the tale.

In The Leper House, a man returning from his sister’s funeral gets lost and knocks on the door of a remote cottage. It’s an atmospheric time leap story and could easily have stretched to a novella, I was so wrapped up in the characters. The final story, The Scratch, has a beautiful New Forest setting and is perhaps the most disturbing of the three dealing with post traumatic stress and infidelity.

This is a perfect read for an October evening by the fire. Do check it out.

After Dark: Mr Wrong by Elizabeth Jane Howard

[image error]It’s October, the month of the encroaching dark and unexplained hauntings, and I’ve been reading lots of ghost stories which I’ll be reviewing here on Crimepieces. I want to bring you recommendations of spooky tales by writers who you might be familiar with along with some forgotten authors.

I’m a big fan of Elizabeth Jane Howard and in particular the Cazalet Chronicles. I bought Mr Wrong a year or so ago and was delighted when I picked it up to see that it was a collection of ghost stories loosely based around haunted travel. In the opening story, a woman buys a car and, on her first drive out of the city, encounters the strange feeling that something is desperately wrong. She tries unsuccessfully to return the car and the phenomena persists to the extent that she begins to put off the weekly visit to her parents. Finally, the car’s history emerges and that of her own role in the continuing story of the vehicle.

Another other excellent story in this collection was the slightly better known Three Miles Up. Two men are on a canal boat holiday which has become marred by discontent and bickering. When they pick up a girl to transport part way along the canal, the dynamic shifts. The landscape is as much part of the horror as the protagonists and it’s a haunting tale which stays with you long after you’ve finished it.

Do you have a favourite ghost story? Do let me know in the comments below and I’ll see if I have it on my shelf…

New books by my Favourite Writers

It’s always very exciting when one of my favourite writers publishes a new book. The summer and autumn of 2020 has brought a raft of new titles, some delayed because of COVID, and here are four of my favourites.

[image error]First up is Margaret Murphy who I first read in back in 2005, I think. Her thought-provoking psychological thrillers were enthralling and I particularly loved the Liverpool settings. Murphy went on to write thrillers under the name of AD Garrett and Ashley Dyer.  I was delighted to see that Joffe books are now publishing her backlist along with a new book, Before He Kills Again featuring Detective Cassie Rowan. Cassie is working undercover on the streets of Liverpool to capture a predator known as the Furman who is killing women sex workers. As I’ve come to expect from Murphy’s books, this new thriller combines a compelling plot along with a keen eye on life for the working girls and the subtleties of Cassie’s relationship with her colleagues.

[image error]Marnie Riches is a versatile writer whose crime series have been published to rave reviews.  She’s written a series of historical sagas about the early days on the NHS under the name of Maggie Campbell, the first of which is Nurse Kitty’s Secret War. It has a Manchester setting,  Park Hospital which is now the Trafford General. It’s just after the war and Kitty Longthorne is a nurse juggling a family unsupportive of her career, a romance with a doctor and the stresses of nursing in a new regime. There’s plenty of suspense, especially in relation to Kitty’s love life and I personally loved the insights into the birth of the NHS and it’s impact on ordinary lives still reeling from the effects of war. Meticulously researched this book is a perfect celebration of the early days of the NHS.

[image error]Elly Griffiths is one of my favourite writers. The Lantern Men is the latest outing for DCI Harry forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson. A man convicted for killing two women is prepared to reveal the location of other bodies but only if Ruth will do the digging. Ruth has relocated to Cambridge but is unsettled personally and professionally. I love how Griffiths keeps the will they/won’t they drama going for Ruth and Nelson and there’s a nice touch of folklore about the existence of the lantern men in the marshes. Possibly my favourite in the series, I couldn’t stop turning the pages.

[image error]Jane Bettany is a debut writer who I met at one of my writing workshops and was lucky enough to get a glimpse of the early chapters of the book which became In Cold Blood. DI Isabel Blood investigates a body in the back garden of a house she once lived in as a child. The forensic team think the body has been in the ground for forty years which coincides with the date of Isabel’s father’s disappearance. In Cold Blood won the 2019 Gransnet and HQ writing competition and it’s easy to see why. It’s a tightly written police procedural with a very relatable protagonist and a compelling plot. If you like Elly Griffiths, I’m sure you’ll love this book.

The Quickening: Out Now!

My new novel The Quickening is now out in hardback, ebook and audio. It was a labour of love for me writing this gothic thriller. Set in 1925, Louisa Drew is sent to a house to photograph its objects before an auction. There, she is drawn into a web of secrets involving a seance that took place thirty years earlier. As guests gather to recreate the seance, a never-forgotten child makes its presence felt.

There have already been some great reviews. Heat magazine called it ‘a creepy evocative mystery’ and Maxim Jakubowski on Crime Time said it was a ‘compelling fare of antiquarian delights.’

I hope regular readers of Crimepieces enjoy it too!

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Latest Reads: Golden Age, Nordic Noir and More…

As we begin to emerge from covid-19 lockdown, I’m trying to take stock of the assorted books I’ve read over the last month or so. Some of you may have seen on Twitter that I was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer over the last few months. Terrible timing but I’ve now, thankfully, finished treatment. My reading, we can safely say, has been spontaneous and comforting (even when it’s quite gory!)

[image error]First up is a non-fiction book I loved. One of the great things about interacting with readers on my Facebook author page has been some of the book recommendations I’ve received (good for my reading, bad for my bank balance). The Knife Man by Wendy Moore subtitled of “Blood, Body-Snatching and Birth of Modern Surgery” was impossible to resist. It charts the career of John Hunter who rose from humble Scottish origins to a residence in Leicester Square treating the great and good of Georgian London. Eschewing the leaching and blood letting of his peers, he used disection and the study of anatomy to advance medical practices such as removing cancerous tumours and innovative bypass procedures to avoid amputations.

While his experiments sometimes make for uncomfortable reading (especially when you’ve just had surgery yourself), many of his ideas became the cornerstone for modern medicine and Hunter is a wonderful maverick who deserves to be wider known. We see him from the fresh faced new arrival procuring bodies by dubious means for his physician brother’s lectures to an elderly man suffering from angina who refused to let his illness slow him down. I was entranced by the book and Moore’s writing.

I’ve been reading a fair amount of golden age detective fiction including books by Dorothy Sayers, Carol Carnac and Josephine Tey. Detective fiction set between the First and Second World Wars isn’t always just about the mystery. Some show interesting character development and a take on social issues of the time. Two contemporary writers who I love are Nicola Upson and Martin Edwards who’ve taken on golden age tropes and given then a modern twist.

[image error]Sorry for the Dead is the latest instalment in Nicola Upson’s excellent series featuring Josephine Tey as its protagonist. Jospehine revisits the summer of 1915 when, as a newly qualified teacher, she supervised students at a horticultural college set in the grounds of Charleston, later famous as the home of Vanessa Bell. When a student dies, the whole enterprise comes under scrutiny and prejudices move to the fore. In 1938, as a journalist attempts to resurrect the scandal. Reflecting on the incident invokes a mood of reassessment in Tey which is superbly handled by Upson. This series is marked by excellent writing and clever plotting and each book gets better and better.

[image error]Mortmain Hall is the latest book in Martin Edwards series of historical thrillers set in the 1930s. Rachel Savernake investigates a series of seemingly unconnected deaths not all of which have been concluded as murder. As Rachel travels around the country, she is occasionally perused and often aided by journalist Jacob Flint. The book is full of golden age references for aficionados to enjoy – a hanging judge, a stocking salesman – and there’s an air of fun about the book along with meticulous research and a killer protagonist.

[image error]Finally, two Nordic Noir novels I enjoyed. Fatal Isles is set in Doggerland, an island off Denmark, where Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby wakes up after an oyster festival next to her boss. When his ex wife is found murdered that same day, Hornby takes charge of the investigation but must negotiate her own relationship with the chief suspect. I loved the Doggerland setting and the sense of an insular community holding on to its secrets. Not out until February 2021, this a crime novel to watch out for.

[image error]Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s books are particular favourites of mine. In her latest book, Gallow’s Rock, a man is found hanging from a rock once used as a place of execution. When the police break into the man’s appartment they discover a four year old boy with a complicated story about how he came to be in the building. The race is on to discover the fate of the child’s mother and the complex and violent relationship at the heart of the mystery, A satisfyingly twisty tale.

So that’s a selection of recent books I’ve read. I’ve also been immersing myself in the gothic, more of which in my next post….