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U.K.

Book Review: The Passengers by John Marrs

By Larry Clow

September 10, 2019

You’re riding in your self-driving car when suddenly the doors lock, the route changes and you have lost all control. Then, a mysterious voice tells you, “You are going to die.”

The Rheingold Route by Arthur Maling

The Edgar Awards Revisited: The Rheingold Route by Arthur Maling (Best Novel; 1980)

By Thomas Wickersham

July 9, 2019

Arthur Maling’s 1979 novel The Rheingold Route may hold the dubious distinction of being the least remembered book to ever win the Edgar Award for best novel of the year. It is a challenge to find anyone who has heard of it, let alone read it. A 2019 internet search turns up virtually nothing besides…

London’s Serial Killers: Why They Were Caught

By Sandie Jones

June 11, 2019

With centuries of history to dive into, the U.K. has borne some of the most notorious serial killers the world has ever seen. But it’s the streets of London that have seen the grisliest goings-on. From as far back as the early 1800s, the once poverty-stricken areas either side of the River Thames have witnessed…

The Sleepwalking Defense: How I Incorporated True Crime into my Historical Novel

By Sara Collins

May 22, 2019

For a writer, obsessions are more useful than ideas. One of mine is true crime. I’m a sucker for it. As a teen, my copy of Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi’s account of prosecuting the Manson murderers, was thumbed to the point of disintegration, and I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara’s exploration of her…

A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn

Book Review: A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn

By Susan Amper

March 18, 2019

A Dangerous Collaboration, the fourth installment of Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell Mysteries, has everything a mystery reader could want: a spooky castle on a shadowy isle, a missing bride, and a murderer.  In their fourth outing, A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn, Veronica (the semi-legitimate daughter of the Prince of Wales) and Stoker (aka the Honourable Revelstoke…

The Smiling Man Joseph Knox

Book Review: The Smiling Man by Joseph Knox

By Kristin Centorcelli

January 28, 2019

The Smiling Man by Joseph Knox is the second thriller in the Aiden Waits series set in the seedy streets of Manchester. Readers that like their crime fiction with a heavy helping of darkness will find a lot to love in Joseph Knox’s knockout follow-up to Sirens. DC Aiden Waits is not a favorite of…

Grit-Lit in the UK: The Birth of Crook’s Hollow

By Robert Parker

I don’t quite know how it happened, but in 2016, I noticed a shift in my own tastes. It happened as a gradual thing and snuck up on me—it was only when I saw that my to-be-read pile had changed complexion did I notice it. I’m sure a lot of authors have two separate TBR…

11 of the Best Fictional Island Cops

By John Keyse-Walker

September 13, 2016

Most of us love the idea of islands—their beauty, their singularity, their separation from the wider world. And, of course, we all believe that life may somehow be easier on islands, more laid back, simpler, even Edenic. But islands have their dark side, too. And just as most of us are drawn to the mythic…

Inspector Lewis 8.01: “One for Sorrow” Episode Review

By Leslie Gilbert Elman

August 8, 2016

Archaeological excavations are underway at Oxford, and the student diggers have unearthed something they probably didn’t expect to find: a dead body wrapped in recycling bags.  It’s enough to send police cars screaming to the scene, followed at a slightly less frantic pace by Inspector Lewis (Kevin Whately) and his no-longer-unrequited love, pathologist Laura Hobson…

Grantchester 2.06: Episode Review

By Leslie Gilbert Elman

May 2, 2016

It’s the last episode of Series 2, and we’re still dealing with the fallout from Gary Bell killing Abigail Redmond in Episode 1. Gary was executed for Abigail’s murder, and hunky vicar Sidney Chambers (James Norton) hasn’t quite gotten over it. He’s drinking to excess, hanging on past last call at the pub, and dribbling…

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