I am a Northern Irish crime writer. I worship storytellers, no matter if the stories are relayed on the page, the screen, or in songs. As long as the stories come across as real, then I am happy.
I, as a storyteller, endeavor to be more of a "camera" than a “writer.” I believe it’s all there waiting for me, and as a “camera,” I am allowed to go deep into myself and record all that my imagination is producing. I believe all the books I have selected have helped me in some small way understand why some of us can commit crimes while others can’t.
Colin Dexter immediately pulls me into what reads as a real world.
The writing is so beautiful, I’m not aware of anything but the story. The chapters are delightfully short and tight, so much so that the pages absolutely flow past.
I prefer reading books that, even though they are clearly fiction, read as true crime stories. When I read a Colin Dexter Morse mystery, I am unaware of pages, chapters, sentences, punctuation. I am allowed to be totally immersed in the story. The casts of perfectly drawn characters in each story always intrigue me.
Morse is flawed, a quality he shares with the camera. He doesn’t mind being wrong, a rare quality in a human.
Last Bus to Woodstock is the novel that began Colin Dexter's phenomenally successful Inspector Morse series.
'Do you think I'm wasting your time, Lewis?' Lewis was nobody's fool and was a man of some honesty and integrity. 'Yes, sir.' An engaging smile crept across Morse's mouth. He thought they could get on well together . . .
The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail. By Friday evening Inspector Morse had informed the nation that the police were looking for a dangerous man - facing charges of wilful murder, sexual assault and rape.…
I find it such a treat to eaves-drop on a real-life cop in that, unlike most detective fiction, which usually focuses on a single crime, the Frost stories allow me to walk in the shoes of a real detective and experience firsthand the truly multi-faceted work of an average detective.
I find the Wingfield books really difficult to put down once I start. Slowing them down to savor them at leisure is quickly kicked into touch in my desperation to discover what happens next.
'A funny, frantic, utterly refreshing brew' - Sunday Telegraph
Detective Inspector Jack Frost, officially on duty, is nevertheless determined to sneak off to a colleague's leaving party. But first the corpse of a well-known local junkie is found blocking the drain of a Denton public lavatory - and then the daughter of a wealthy businessman is reported missing.
And now a wave of crime threatens to submerge sleepy Denton.
A robbery occurs at the town's notorious strip joint, the pampered son of a local MP is suspected of a hit-and-run offence and, to top it all, a multiple rapist is…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I have found that Dick Francis stories (33 standalone and a series character for an additional 4 books and a second series with 2 books) have stood the test of time in that I read them all as they were published, and recently I am working my way through them again on Audible and I have found them to be even better the second time around.
I feel they are equally exciting, character-led, thrilling, and each title still kept me guessing right up to the end. I am in total in awe of Dick Francis' writing and storytelling.
Each title deals with horses and horse racing as either the main theme or, in some of the titles, as the back story. I have selected Decider mainly because I found that he effortlessly incorporates the horse world with the “Succession syndrome” – that is to say, family life and entitled family members.
If Decider is not a classic, I’d love to know what is.
This time the detective whose shoes I am allowed to tread in are those of Cliff Janeway, a Denver Homicide detective, investigating the murder of a local rare books scout.
I grew to know what it feels like to be a detective. To someone like myself - who prefers to pick up my rare first editions, not on the internet but by rummaging around for hours in bookstores - this and the other titles in John Donning's atmospheric Janeway titles are pure mana from heaven.
The author ran the Old Algonquin Bookstore in Denver for a decade. Mr. Donning's writing voice is so authentic, I have to keep reminding myself that Janeway is the detective and not the author.
"A joy to read for its wealth of inside knowledge about the antiquarian book business and its eccentric traders." -The New York Times Book Review
In the bestselling first novel of the Cliff Janeway bibliomystery series, former Denver homicide detective Cliff Janeway trades his badge for a bookstore-and quickly finds that rare books and murder make a volatile mix.
Janeway, a tough, book-loving cop with a penchant for collecting rare first editions, becomes obsessed with the death of local book scout Bobby Westfall-a gentle loner with a sharp eye for valuable volumes. When the lead suspect slips through the cracks…
Aury and Scott travel to the Finger Lakes in New York’s wine country to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings at the Songscape Winery. Disturbed furniture and curious noises are one thing, but when a customer winds up dead, it’s time to dig into the details and see…
The thing I love about Michael Connelly is his very subtle way of keeping up the pace of the investigation without you even being aware he is doing so.
There are few things I like more than reading an author you’ve never known before, loving their work, and then discovering the author in question has several other titles available. I call the resultant state: heaven!
Michael Connelly is one such author. He doesn’t know how to write a bad book or even an average one, for that matter.
In my opinion the Harry Bosch series of books are even better than the Bosch TV show, and that’s saying something. Narrows is the perfect starting point, but really, it could be any of the two dozen and counting titles.
FBI agent Rachel Walling finally gets the call she's dreaded for years: the one that tells her the Poet has returned. Years ago she worked on the famous case, tracking down the serial killer who wove lines of poetry into his hideous crimes. Rachel has never forgotten Robert Backus, the killer who called himself the Poet - and apparently he has not forgotten her either. Harry Bosch gets a call, too. The former LAPD detective hears from the wife of an old friend who has recently died. The death appeared natural, but this man's ties to the hunt for the…
Departing Shadows is about a detective trying to correct the gross injustice of a diplomatic immunity incident. It is also about how sometimes our perceptions of the people we encounter can be way off-center and sometimes even lethally so.
It’s about an Ulsterman, Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy, exiled in London, Camden Town to be exact, who loves nothing more than attempting to solve the puzzle of the crime, as in, who did it, why they did it, and how they did it – and not necessarily in that order. It’s about DI Christy Kennedy sticking to his priority of wanting to protect the innocent rather than punish the guilty.
Palmer Lind, recovering from the sudden death of her husband, embarks on a bird-watching trek to the Gulf Coast of Florida. One hot day on Leffis Key, she comes upon—not the life bird she was hoping for—but a floating corpse. The handsome beach bum who appears on the scene at…
Rodney Bradford comes into Lindsay's restaurant, offers to buy her small house for double its value, eats her brownies, and drops dead on the sidewalk in front. Next, her almost-ex-husband offers to sign the divorce papers, but only if she'll give him her small,…
