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A Death in Custody by T S Clayton

Delroy, a young Black man, is arrested on a minor drugs charge in 90s Brixton. When he dies in a police cell as the result of a head injury, the detective who was the only person present at his death claims to have acted in self-defence. The case appears to be cut and dried. Then an expert adviser alters her evidence in court and a quick-thinking solicitor asks the right question. An unexpected verdict casts doubt on the policeman’s version of events, and Delroy’s family demand justice.

Chief Inspector Elliott conducts an investigation into Delroy’s death, but his enquiries are obstructed by a lack of co-operation from police officers, the activities of a corrupt private investigator – and the legal system itself. Alison French, a young White journalist, Neeta Patel, Delroy’s family’s solicitor, and Ben Weekes, a Black youth worker, join forces to try and find out the truth about Delroy’s death, but find themselves in growing danger, as they are drawn into a murky world of violent criminals and police informants.

In my opinion, A Death in Custody has the feel of a docudrama. It contains more passages of law than most crime novels. These details are essential to show how the law drives the plot, but can be a little long at times. There is a strong sense that Clayton is writing about situations and environments he has observed in real life. Although the main theme is deadly serious, there are amusing descriptions of minor characters, and the romantic interest is enlightening about common attitudes towards race at the time.

I was given a copy of A Death in Custody in return for an honest review. I recommend this novel to fans of police procedurals and to anyone interested in the law, policing and Black history.
A Death In Custody

Moroccan Traffic by Dorothy Dunnett

In Moroccan Traffic, which is set in the late 1980s, Dorothy Dunnett transports her readers to Marrakesh after dramatic events in London. Wendy Helmann, a clever, ambitious executive secretary, is persuaded to take her perfectly healthy mother for a ‘rest cure’ in Morocco. In fact, this is a cover for a mission she has been asked to carry out for her boss, the Chairman of Kingsley Conglomerates, who is involved in morally questionable takeover negotiations. Morocco is a romantic place, and a handsome Irishman is keen on Wendy, but she is distracted from his charms by the antics of sparky businesswoman Rita Geddes. When she finds herself surrounded by kidnapping, explosions, industrial espionage, murder and car chases across the High Atlas mountains, Wendy realises that only portrait painter and secret agent Johnson Johnson and his yacht Dolly can save the day – but will they?
Reading and reviewing the seven humorous crime novels in Dunnett’s ‘Dolly’ series has given me great pleasure. Dunnett’s use of the same plot model for all of them pulls the series together brilliantly. Certain familiar and likeable characters, including Dolly the yacht, appear in each novel. This reunites the reader with old friends, while allowing for lots of variety in the story lines. As a bonus, Rita Geddes, who is one of the main characters in Moroccan Traffic, was the narrator of the first in the series, Tropical Issue. I was fascinated to learn how her career has developed.
The things I like best about Dunnett’s novels are dry humour, fun, sharp wit, exotic locations, glamorous lifestyles, beautiful clothes, thrilling descriptions of life at sea, devious red herrings, twisty plots which keep me guessing and the complete absence of personal tech such as mobile phones. I highly recommend every book in the series.
Many thanks to @farragobooks and @RandomTTours who gave me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Moroccan Traffic

Split Code by Dorothy Dunnett

I have enjoyed every book in the Dolly series so far. Split Code, the sixth in a series of seven, may be my favourite.
Each of Dunnett’s Dolly novels is narrated by a different strong, talented young woman who has to fight a crime. Dolly is a luxurious yacht owned by Johnson Johnson, a world-renowned portrait painter and yachtsman who doubles as a British secret agent. The most remarkable feature about JJ is the bifocal glasses which emphasise his enigmatic appearance. Although he is very wealthy, JJ wears jumpers and ties knitted by an uncle.
In Split Code the narrator is Joanna Emerson, a graduate of the world’s finest college of Nursery Nurses. No sooner is she engaged as a nanny to Benedict, newly born heir to a vast cosmetic fortune, than she is caught up in a complex kidnap plot. But JJ is close at hand, and he understands the dangerous game Joanna is playing. Before long, bullets are flying.
What I like most about Split Code is the account of Joanna’s career as a top-flight professional nanny. She describes play dates with other nannies, the uniform she is proud to wear and the day-to-day lives of her wealthy employers. This novel was first published in 1976, so it is a window into the past. However, I suspect the basics of life as a nanny have not changed in fifty years.
Joanna’s affection for her charge shines through the dramatic accounts of attempted abductions. She is completely focused on the needs of vulnerable three-month-old Benedict. This makes the tension and excitement of Dunnett’s plot very powerful.
Thank you, Farrago Books and Random Things Tours, for giving me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Countdown to Christmas by Jo Thomas

Jo Thomas reminds her readers that not everyone spends Christmas in an ideal family unit. Chloe Jones is a single mother whose twelve-year-old son is spending the run-up to Christmas with his father. Reuben knows his Mum will miss him, so he creates an advent calendar to cheer her loneliness. When heir hunters inform Chloe that she has inherited land in Canada, she accepts their offer of a free flight to Quebec.
I enjoyed reading about Chloe’s struggle with the natural world. At Foret d’Esprit, she sleeps in a log cabin and chops her own firewood. Snow lies thick on the ground and her clothes are unsuited to the Canadian winter. The only heat in Chloe’s new environment comes from a disconcerting crush on Theo, the hunky lumberjack type who shows her around. She is about to scurry back to Wales when she realises that pregnant café owner Bea is in desperate need of support. Being a kind-hearted person, she steps in to help.
The business world disturbs the atmosphere of festive romance. The local economy depends on using time-honoured methods to produce maple syrup from lovingly curated trees. Chloe enjoys helping Bea to create recipes for the delicious organic syrup. When she realises that Tremblay Syrups, a large company which makes an inferior product, is threatening to take over the enterprise, she faces a difficult decision. Whether she should succumb to Theo’s manly charms is now the least of her worries.
The story’s diverse French-speaking cast is inter-generational. The action takes place against a background of horse drawn sleighs, ice skating, youth sports, protective moose and a chatty turkey. In A Countdown to Christmas, the genre is given a thoughtful and entertaining twist.
Thank you, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Penguin and Random Things Tours, for giving me a free copy of this novel in return for an honest review.
Countdown to Christmas

Roman Nights by Dorothy Dunnett

If you like the idea of sailing around the Tyrrhenian sea on a private yacht, visiting the islands of Ischia, Lipari, Taormina and Capri as the guest of a world-famous portrait painter who is also a British secret agent, you will love Roman Nights. Because this is the latest of the Dolly novels – Dorothy Dunnett’s humorous crime series - the voyage is not the dreamy idyll its itinerary suggests. This is an action thriller with hand-to-hand fighting, bacchanalian carousing and a passionate love story. The background to the adventure is the changing sea and the beauty of the islands.
Like all Dunnett’s humorous novels, Roman Nights is narrated by a brave and clever young woman who aims to solve a crime which has hurt someone she loves. Ruth Russell is an astronomer who studies the stars from the Maurice Frazer Observatory in Rome. She lives with Charles Digham, a fashion photographer who works with top models like sultry Diana Minicucci. When Charles’ camera, containing pictures of the new season’s designs, is stolen at the zoo, he and Ruth chase the thief and find him in the toletta - minus his head. At first it looks as if competition between couture houses is getting out of hand. Then Johnson Johnson, who is in Rome to paint a portrait of the Pope, makes it clear that more is at stake than the latest skirt lengths.
After Ruth and Johnson Johnson find hidden messages with details and times of future meetings, fashionistas from Charles’ world mix with scientists and academics from Ruth’s to pursue the mysterious villains across the waves. Along the way they find time to sightsee, party and dress to kill. Roman Nights is packed from start to finish with wit, action and red herrings. It was first published in 1973, so when Ruth sets out on her adventures, she cannot rely on technology to get her out of trouble. I think this adds to the suspense in the story.
I was given an advance review copy in return for an honest review.

Life and Otter Miracles by Hazel Prior

Life and Otter Miracles is the engaging story of a young woman who finds relief from devastating problems, through caring for wild creatures. Nineteen-year-old Phoebe and her father Al have recently moved from the city of Birmingham to Darleycombe, a small village in Devon. Phoebe’s two older siblings have left home to lead their own lives, so Al is able to retire early and focus on Phoebe’s wellbeing. The father and daughter, who have a sweet, caring relationship, use humour to get through the darker moments of life.

Al soon settles into his new job - delivering parcels - and begins to get to know the locals. Phoebe hopes he will find happiness in a new love, because after several years alone, Al appears to be unable to move on from mourning Phoebe’s mother. Phoebe’s intensely private troubles have interfered with her studies. Unable to take a regular job, she has become reclusive. It is only when she and Al rescue an abandoned baby otter that Phoebe dares to venture into the village community. She becomes part of a team of volunteers at the otter sanctuary, facing physical challenges of her own, to ensure the baby otters can survive in the wild. When the sanctuary is threatened by a mysterious enemy, Phoebe uses skills she learned from watching detective dramas on TV to find out who is to blame.

Lovers of nature and wildlife will enjoy this delightful story. The characters of Phoebe, Al, Christina and the other residents of Darleycombe are relatable and well drawn. Also, because the novel is narrated from Al’s point of view as well as Phoebe’s, the reader is given a clear picture of the nature of the challenges facing them. The relaxed pace of Hazel Prior’s storytelling allows the reader to follow the positive changes in Phoebe step by step, living her life alongside her and her magical friends - the otters.

I was given an advance review copy of Life and Otter Miracles by Penguin Random House and Random Things tours, in exchange for an honest review.
Life and Otter Miracles

The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves

In a North Devon fishing village one dark night, celebrity sailor Jem Roscoe walks out of a storm and into a crowded pub. He is renting an isolated cottage while he waits for an important visitor, whose identity he keeps secret. Jem, who grew up in a nearby town, blends seamlessly into the small community of Greystone, until he disappears as unexpectedly as he arrived. Everyone assumes he has left to seek fresh adventures, until the village lifeboat is called out on a false alarm. When Jem’s dead body is discovered, curled up naked in a stolen dinghy and floating among rocks reputed to be haunted by the spirits of drowned sailors, DI Matthew Venn is called in.
Ann Cleeves is famous for using weather and landscape to give texture and tone to her writing, and The Raging Storm is no exception. This is especially true of the scenes where Mary takes the helm of the Greystone lifeboat. I could almost hear the wind whistling around spooky Scully Cove. When a huge storm cuts off the power and blocks the roads with fallen trees, the sense of nature’s power is dramatic.
DI Venn was born into the Barum Brethren, a strange religious sect with many adherents in and around Greystone. The Brethren disowned him when he came out as gay, but he is still affected by their influence. He feels uncomfortable about going into pubs and suffers from an abiding sense of guilt. While he is investigating Jem’s death, he is affected by memories of his boyhood among the Brethren. Although he is repelled by their judgemental ways, a part of him appears to miss the security of their community.
Aided by his team, Jen and Ross, Venn meticulously follows up sparse leads. Jen is a single mother of teenagers, with all the problems involved in managing a family while juggling long shifts at work. She is dedicated to her job and loyal to her boss. Ross, on the other hand, is an ambitious young policeman who finds Venn’s slow pace of work irritating. It does not help that Venn cannot resist provoking him.
The Raging Storm is the third in the Two Rivers series by Anne Cleeves. It works well as a stand-alone, and the characters are so engaging they made me want to read the first two novels.
The Raging Storm

Moving to Combe Tollbridge by Roseanna Hall

Combe Tollbridge is a peaceful fishing village on the Exmoor coast. When a charming cottage goes on sale, Jasper and Jane move there from London. They are welcomed with open arms by the local community and soon become involved in parish politics. Angela, who is returning to stay with her mother Susan after breaking up with her boyfriend, has a rougher time, but soon gets back into the swing of rural life. The story centres on a dispute over a footbridge, and various other small-town dramas crop up along the way. There is a complicated network of family relationships in the village, and the residents are strongly aware of its history. Literature also gets a mention - the influential pub landlord is called Jan Ridd, a reference to the hero of Lorna Doone, a classic novel set on Exmoor. Roseanna Hall writes well, but I would have found it easier to follow the story if the characters had been introduced at regular intervals, instead of all together at the beginning. Readers who know North Devon will enjoy this book.
I received a free copy from Farrago Books in return for an honest review.

Operation Nassau by Dorothy Dunnett

Operation Nassau is the latest humorous mystery by Dorothy Dunnett to be re-released by Farrago Books. Ibiza Surprise, Tropical Issue and Rum Affair raised my expectations sky-high, and Operation Nassau does not disappoint. Every one of the novels in Dunnett’s Dolly series has a different strong female narrator who is investigating a murder. In each case the amateur sleuth is assisted by Johnson Johnson, a famous portrait painter and British government secret agent. Dolly is the name of JJ’s private yacht, which serves as a luxurious base while he and his guests travel the world.
The star of Operation Nassau is Dr. B. Douglas MacRannoch, who admits she chose a medical career as a way of achieving independence from her controlling father, who is head of the Scottish clan MacRannoch. By chance she is called on to give medical aid to Sir Bart, a government agent who is poisoned by arsenic on a flight to Nassau. As a result, she finds herself embroiled in a murder mystery populated by colourful characters, none of whom is trustworthy. Only JJ can be relied on to help the good doctor out at crucial moments. The trouble is, when JJ offers a solution to one crisis it usually leads to another.
All the Dolly novels feature a particular skill or pastime. In Operation Nassau the theme is golf, which makes the book an excellent gift for a keen golfer. The descriptions of locations are superb, giving a genuine sense of how it feels to be in that place. Dunnett was writing years before personal technology was available, which in my opinion adds excitement to the plot. Some of the humour around Dr. McRannoch’s resolve not to marry is jarring, because it is in the style of early James Bond films, but she is more than capable of dealing with unwanted romantic advances.
Many thanks to Farrago Books for sending me copies of this delightful series in return for honest reviews.
Operation Nassau

Killer Bodies by Heleen Kist

In Killer Bodies, author Heleen Kist gives the locked room mystery genre a contemporary twist. In a smart private gym on the third floor of an upmarket apartment building, the entrance doors and lockers are operated digitally. Early one morning the technology stops working, and everyone who happens to be using the gym is trapped inside. When one of them drops dead it seems like an accident – until the body count begins to rise. The captives are powerless to do anything but wonder who will be next, and try to guess the identity of the murderer – or murderers.
Evie, the gym receptionist, has a painful history and holds grudges against residents who treat her with disrespect. Her sole outlet is the manga-style drawings she shares with Mrs. M, a quirky old woman who is her only friend in the building. These drawings show Evie’s tormentors suffering horrible deaths, which are now becoming reality. When Evie’s sketchbook goes missing she is afraid she will be accused of murder. The book’s darkly funny illustrations prove her fears are justified. New tenant Suki teams up with Evie to search for clues. As the plot thickens and more unexplained deaths occur, everyone comes under suspicion.
Kist skilfully unravels the plot, using dual narration to reveal the characters’ back stories, and the reader is drawn into trying to solve the mystery. I did not predict the outcome correctly, but I enjoyed the challenge and Kist’s dark humour.
I was given a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Killer Bodies: a gripping locked room mystery full of surprises