Tag: crime

#BookReview Vanish in an Instant by Margaret Millar @PushkinPress

whatcathyreadnext1 Comment

Vanish in an InstantAbout the Book

Virginia Barkeley is a nice, well brought-up girl. So what is she doing wandering through a snow storm in the middle of the night, blind drunk and covered in someone else’s blood?

When Claude Margolis’ body is found a quarter of a mile away with half-a-dozen stab wounds to the neck, suddenly Virginia doesn’t seem such a nice girl after all. Her only hope is Meecham, the cynical small-town lawyer hired as her defence. But how can he believe in Virginia’s innocence when even she can’t be sure what happened that night?

And when the answer seems to fall into his lap, why won’t he just walk away?

Format: Paperback (256 pages)                     Publisher: Pushkin Press
Publication date: 25th October 2018 [1952] Genre: Crime, Modern Classics

Find Vanish in an Instant on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Mrs Hamilton, Virginia’s redoubtable mother, is convinced Virginia is innocent of the murder of Claude Margolis but not so sure about the abilities of Eric Meecham, the lawyer hired to defend her daughter. On the other hand, the view the reader gets of Virginia via Meecham isn’t quite the ‘butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth’ opinion held of her by her mother.

A late night encounter draws Meecham into the investigation of the circumstances of the murder with the picture becoming more of a puzzle by the moment as a web of tangled relationships is revealed. As he observes, ‘Another equation to be solved… and each new equation led to still another, and on and on into the infinity of the human mind’.

Alongside the murder mystery, the book also charts the beginning of a relationship that is intense from the outset, as if the two people involved were somehow fated to meet, and to be together.

Vanish In An Instant is a taut, well-crafted crime mystery sprinkled with red herrings but also with a few clues for the (very) observant reader to pick up on. As an author, Margaret Millar was renowned for her clever plotting and last few page reveals and Vanish In An Instant definitely lives up to both those accolades.

Margaret Millar Vanish In An Instant A Stranger in My Grave The Listening WallsMy thanks to Pushkin Press for my review copy of Vanish In An Instant, along with A Stranger In My Grave, which I have yet to read, and The Listening Walls which I reviewed in November 2019.

Vanish In An Instant is the penultimate book on my Classics Club list and one of the two books I plan to read for the latest Classics Club Spin. (The other is the final book I need to earn my place on the Classics Club Wall of Honour, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont.)

In three words: Intriguing, ingenious, assured

Try something similar: The Listening Walls by Margaret Millar

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

Margaret MillarAbout the Author

Margaret Millar (1915-1994) was the author of 27 books and a masterful pioneer of psychological mysteries and thrillers. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she spent most of her life in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband Ken Millar, who is better known by his nom de plume of Ross Macdonald. Her 1956 novel Beast in View won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In 1965 Millar was the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year Award and in 1983 the Mystery Writers of America awarded her the Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement. Millar’s cutting wit and superb plotting have left her an enduring legacy as one of the most important crime writers of both her own and subsequent generations. (Bio credit: Publisher author page/Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

#BookReview The Hunting Season by Tom Benjamin @RandomTTours @LittleBrownUK

whatcathyreadnext5 Comments

The Hunting Season BT Poster

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Hunting Season by Tom Benjamin, the second in his crime series featuring English detective Daniel Leicester. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Little, Brown UK for my digital review copy.

The Hunting SeasonAbout the Book

It’s truffle season and in the hills around Bologna the hunt is on for the legendary Boscuri White, the golden nugget of Italian gastronomy. But when an American truffle ‘supertaster’ goes missing, English detective Daniel Leicester discovers not all truffles are created equal. Did the missing supertaster bite off more than he could chew?

As he goes on the hunt for Ryan Lee, Daniel discovers the secrets behind ‘Food City’, from the immigrant kitchen staff to the full scale of a multi-million Euro business. After a key witness is found dead at the foot of one of Bologna’s famous towers, the stakes could not be higher. Daniel teams up with a glamorous TV reporter, but the deeper he goes into the disappearance of the supertaster the darker things become.

Murder is once again on the menu, but this time Daniel himself stands accused. And the only way he can clear his name is by finding Ryan Lee… Discover Bologna through the eyes of English detective Daniel Leicester as he walks the shadowy porticoes in search of the truth and, perhaps, even gets a little nearer to solving the mystery of Italy itself.

Format: Paperback (336 pages)            Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Publication date: 5th November 2020 Genre: Crime, Mystery

Find The Hunting Season (Daniel Leicester, #2) on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

I really enjoyed Tom Benjamin’s novel A Quiet Death in Italy when I read it in 2020. I remember commenting at the time that it didn’t feel like a debut because both its location – the Italian city of Bologna – and its main characters seemed so very well realised. I’m pleased to say that, as well as Daniel Leicester, many of the characters I enjoyed getting to know in the first book make a return appearance in this second one, including Daniel’s daughter, Rose, and his boss, father-in-law and fomer carabinieri, the formidable Comandante. Readers new to the series need not be concerned though because the author provides just the right amount of detail about the key characters and events in the previous book.

As I noted in my review of A Quiet Death in Italy, Daniel’s back story provides the author with plenty of options when it comes to his personal and professional life. In this case, the personal comes in the shape of Oriana de Principe, TV reporter for Occhio Pubblico, described as Italy’s answer to the BBC’s Crimewatch, although in view of events perhaps a more apt description might be Crimewatch‘s wilder and more provocative cousin. I also liked the fact that Daniel brings a father’s insight into what the parents of the missing man must be going through, showing them great empathy.

As in A Quiet Death in Italy, the city of Bologna emerges as a character in its own right, a place where ancient and modern exist side by side. ‘Bologna was the city of hidden places – gardens blooming behind graffitied doors, porticoed masking palazzi.’ Now the author’s home, it’s clearly a city he has grown to love and I can pretty much guarantee you’ll enjoy walking the streets with Daniel. (Check out Tom’s Instagram page for wonderful pictures of the city and some of the locations featured in the book.)

No doubt the author’s experiences are also reflected in Daniel’s observations about contemporary Italian society and customs, such as the fact that in Italy laws are regarded ‘not so much as rules as guidelines’ or, probably most importantly, that regardless of the crisis, family always comes first.   Cleverly woven into the plot is a darker side of modern day Italy in which immigrants are mostly invisible or, at best, treated with suspicion, and tolerated only because of the roles they perform as the country’s builders, cleaners, carers and manual labourers.  Tellingly, Daniel reflects that he cannot think of a single prominent black or Asian doctor, lawyer , journalist or showbiz celebrity.

On a lighter note, Daniel observes, ‘As much as for the British a cup of tea is the universal panacea, for the Italians it’s food, any food.’ Therefore you won’t be surprised that the book also contains plenty of references to the delicious sounding food of the region – tortellini in brodo, tagliatelle al ragu, cotoletta alla Bolognese or zuppe inglese, to name but a few. And, as the blurb makes clear, this time it all comes with a generous sprinkling of truffle. Well, perhaps not the zuppe inglese!

The satisfyingly intricate plot encompasses the trade in counterfeit truffles, the impact of climate change on truffle production, people trafficking and the scourge of organised crime. As Daniel recalls, there is an Italian saying, ‘To trust is good, to distrust is better’. Good advice, as it turns out. And, although there are some dramatic scenes that delve into Italy’s wartime past, what lingers in my mind is a poignant and touching visit Daniel makes near the end of the book that left me slightly tearful.

The Hunting Season more than lived up to my expectations and I sincerely hope there is another case for Daniel along soon.

In three words: Engaging, immersive, intriguing

Try something similar: After the Storm (Guiseppe Bianchi #2) by Isabella Muir

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

A Quiet - TomBenjaminAbout the Author

Tom Benjamin grew up in London and began his working life as a reporter before becoming a spokesman for Scotland Yard. He went on to work in international aid and public health, developing Britain’s first national programme against alcohol abuse and heading up drugs awareness campaign FRANK. He now lives in Bologna, Italy.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram