Category Archives: Book Review

My Mother and the Hungarians by Frankie McMillan – 2016

Posted on January 10, 2017 by alysonebaker

For some reason I have never enjoyed the short story form (excepting Conan Doyle) but I read Ninety-nine stories of God by Joy Williams last year and now I am a big fan of the short short story form.  The … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Historical, Short Stories | 1 Comment

The Student Body by Simon Wyatt – 2016

Posted on January 1, 2017 by alysonebaker

Natasha Johnson, a 15-year-old schoolgirl – seemingly a paragon to her peers and elders – is found murdered at her school camp at Piha Beach.  Newly promoted Detective Sergeant Nick Knight lands the job of managing the suspects side of … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review | Leave a comment

Marshall’s Law by Ben Sanders – 2016

Posted on December 19, 2016 by alysonebaker

Marshall Grade has been laying low in witness protection after quite spectacularly not doing so in American Blood, the previous novel in the Marshall Grade series. But when he finds out U.S. Marshal Lucas Cohen, his witness protection contact, was kidnapped … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review | Leave a comment

The Cloud Leopard’s Daughter by Deborah Challinor – 2016

Posted on December 11, 2016 by alysonebaker

The Cloud Leopard’s Daughter is the third in Challinor’s Kitty / Smuggler’s Wife series, and as well as pushing the story along she packs it full of backstory for those new to the characters, or maybe to remind her readers who … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Historical | Leave a comment

London Lies Beneath by Stella Duffy – 2016

Posted on December 5, 2016 by alysonebaker

A tale of London – not the London of commerce, science and suffragettes but that of the slums of Walworth with its overcrowding, costermongers and kids scrounging through the mud of the Thames for the odd useful find; the “Real … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Historical | Leave a comment

Spare Me the Truth by CJ Carver – 2016

Posted on December 2, 2016 by alysonebaker

CJ Carver describes herself as “half-English, half-Kiwi” and Spare me the truth is the first of her novels I have read, despite it being the eighth she has written.  And I will be reading more!  Spare me the truth is … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review | Leave a comment

The Salted Air by Thom Conroy – 2016

Posted on November 19, 2016 by alysonebaker

Another beautifully presented novel by Thom Conroy after his The Naturalist in 2014, an historical novel about the German naturalist Ernst Dieffenbach.  The Salted Air is contemporary and takes the form of the journal of 28 years old Djuna, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Leave a comment

A Place to Bury Strangers by Grant Nicol – 2016

Posted on November 12, 2016 by alysonebaker

In my last review of a Grant Nicol book – The mistake, also set in Iceland – I suggested a longer novel might allow us more time to get to know his characters, saving them from the “all women are … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review | Leave a comment

The Second Stage of Grief by Katherine Hayton – 2016

Posted on November 11, 2016 by alysonebaker

The second in Hayton’s Ngaire Blakes series and another great read!  Ngaire is still coming to terms with traumas suffered prior to and during the first installment (The three deaths of Magdalene Lynton) and is working temporarily in a law … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review | Leave a comment

The Three Deaths of Magdalene Lynton by Katherine Hayton – 2016

Posted on November 5, 2016 by alysonebaker

This is cold case mystery story telling at its best – in fact the case was determined not to be a case at all forty years ago when a determination of accidental drowning was made – but now there is … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review | Leave a comment