Category Archives: Book Review

Chasing the Dragon by Mark Wightman – 2023

Posted on March 24, 2024 by alysonebaker

Inspector Maximo Betancourt is back solving crimes in sweaty bustling 1940 Singapore. Like his first outing, Waking the Tiger, Chasing the Dragon is full of colourful characters, lots of action, and an intriguing crime to solve. In Waking the Tiger, … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review, Historical | Leave a comment

Take Two by Caroline Thonger & Vivian Thonger, illustrated by Alan Thomas – 2023

Posted on March 13, 2024 by alysonebaker

Take two is a random collection of incidents from the U.K. childhoods of two sisters, Caroline and Vivian Thonger. Vivian now lives in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Take two is like a catalogue of memories, complete with illustrations of remembered artefacts. … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Historical, Short Stories | Leave a comment

Resurrection by Roger Simpson – 2023

Posted on March 4, 2024 by alysonebaker

Jane might finally be making headway with a twenty-year-old case, when an accident sends her spinning into a strange world. Three months after the accident, she is surrounded by “strangers who somehow feel familiar” – are they familiar because she … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review | Leave a comment

Double Jeopardy by Stef Harris – 2023

Posted on February 11, 2024 by alysonebaker

Frank Winter is a grumpy cynical ex-sheriff who has been working as a cleaner for the last fifteen years. He likes his drink and he “looks like Johnny Cash on a three-day drunk”. Detective Nunzio Arabito is a twenty-nine-year-old strategic … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review | Leave a comment

Queen, King, Ace by Olivia Hayfield – 2024

Posted on January 31, 2024 by alysonebaker

“Britain needs someone to believe in right now” – its citizens still reeling from the aftermath of Brexit and the badly managed Covid-19 pandemic. Ace Penhalagon, who has risen to Wimbledon and Olympic glory, appears to be their knight in … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review, Historical | Leave a comment

Gunflower by Laura Jean McKay – 2023

Posted on December 27, 2023 by alysonebaker

Gunflower is a collection of stories written by Laura Jean McKay. The collection includes stories written over two decades, there are short stories, short short stories, and flash-fiction-length stories. They are grouped into three sections: Birth, Life, Death, and they … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Short Stories | 1 Comment

Bird Life by Anna Smaill – 2023

Posted on November 23, 2023 by alysonebaker

Dinah Glover has fled to Tokyo from Oamaru, Aotearoa. She is living in prime real estate Itabashi, yet her apartment building and surroundings are weirdly deserted. Yasuko Kinoshita fled to Tokyo from Sapporo years ago, she is beautiful, immaculate, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Leave a comment

His Favourite Graves by Paul Cleave – 2023

Posted on November 18, 2023 by alysonebaker

Sheriff James Cohen is struggling with an aged and impaired father, a recalcitrant teenaged son, a wife who loves him but who has left him, and growing legal and financial woes. Then local crime-writer/heavy-drinker Peter Conner calls in to say … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Book Review | 1 Comment

Audition by Pip Adam – 2023

Posted on November 15, 2023 by alysonebaker

“I tried to sigh,” Alba says. “But that banged my head into the roof.” Alba is not in a good way – she is squashed into a small space getting increasingly smaller. She is with Stanley and Drew, who are … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Science Fiction | Leave a comment

Some Things Wrong by Thomas Pors Koed – 2023

Posted on November 11, 2023 by alysonebaker

Is the narrator imprisoned? Infirm or otherwise incapacitated? Is he mentally compromised? Is he a detained dissident, a barefooted tramp, or has he been imprisoned for fratricide? He seems aged and frail, we know he absconds at one point, towards … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | 1 Comment