Tag: crime

Book Review: The Temptation (The Anglian Detective Agency #2) by Vera Morris

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The TemptationAbout the Book

Where is David Pemberton?

It’s 1971. Thirteen year old David has been missing for two years. It’s now up to Laurel Bowman and Frank Diamond, partners in the newly formed Anglian Detective Agency, to find him. But how do you solve a cold case with no leads? Are there connections to the brutal deaths of three local residents?

As their first big case unravels, they uncover a circle of temptations, destruction and deceit.  But the closer they get to solving the case, the more exposed they are to danger. And now both Laurel’s and Frank’s lives are at risk.

Format: ebook (371 pp.)    Publisher: Accent Press
Published: 17th May 2018  Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Temptation (The Anglian Detective Agency #2) on Goodreads

My Review

The Temptation is the sequel to Some Particular Evil, which introduced many of the characters who also feature in The Temptation.  Readers should be aware that The Temptation contains references to events in the earlier book, including the identity of the culprit.  Therefore, although The Temptation works perfectly well as a standalone, readers who feel inclined to read the whole series should definitely start with Some Particular Evil.

The Temptation starts with the feel of a classic crime era novel but soon gets distinctly darker, especially when a number of unexplained deaths occur.  Soon the members of the newly established Anglian Detective Agency (brought together as a result of events in the first book) start to find links between cases that initially seemed entirely unconnected.   As the bodies pile up, it becomes clear that there are evil forces at work.  I enjoyed the way the book explored the idea of temptation; whether that’s something as innocent as a weakness for bacon sandwiches (Any HP sauce, Mabel?) or a pint of Adnams…or something more illicit and sordid.

Set around Aldeburgh in Suffolk (home of the composer, Benjamin Britten), the author creates a convincing sense of the location through detailed descriptions of the town, its shops, the nearby villages and surrounding countryside.  I particularly liked the way the author conjured up the energy of the sometimes storm-lashed Suffolk coastline.  ‘It was deserted, the sea pounding the shingle; she put a hand over her mouth as the gusts were taking her breath away.  Steel grey waves rushed in, piling on top of each other in their anxiety to reach land.  A few gulls were riding the wind , banking and turning, likes planes in a dog fight.’

Mainly set in 1971, I would have liked to get a similarly vivid sense of the period.  Although there were a few references to television programmes of the time (remember Softly, Softly or The Virginian, anyone?) and national events, I often found the need to remind myself when it was set.  Having said that, towards the end of the book, when motives begin to emerge, I started to see why the author perhaps chose to set the story in this period.

The Temptation is a well-written, adeptly plotted crime mystery with engaging central characters and an interesting setting.  Did I imagine it or, at the end of the book, did the author leave an opening for the story to continue in what would be an intriguing direction?  I know from the author’s website that a third book in the series is planned for 2019…

Vera is appearing at Henley Literary Festival on 1st October 2018 at the ‘Crime and Wine’ event alongside Vaseem Khan, author of Murder at the Grand Raj Palace, and Jessica Fellowes, author of Bright Young Dead (event sold out at time of writing).

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In three words: Suspenseful, atmospheric, engaging

Try something similar…The Missing Girl by Jenny Quintana (read my review here)

Vera MorrisAbout the Author

Before becoming a teacher Vera blew soap bubbles in Woolworth’s, cooked in hotels and electro-fished in Welsh rivers. The majority of her teaching career was in a local mixed comprehensive in South Oxfordshire, where she became headteacher. Her interests include writing, gardening, cooking, reading, the theatre, museums and art galleries, and travelling in her campervan.  (Photo credit: author’s website)

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Book Review: The Missing Girl by Jenny Quintana

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The Missing GirlAbout the Book

When Anna Flores’ adored older sister goes missing as a teenager, Anna copes by disappearing too, just as soon as she can: running as far away from her family as possible, and eventually building a life for herself abroad.

Thirty years later, the death of her mother finally forces Anna to return home. Tasked with sorting through her mother’s possessions, she begins to confront not just her mother’s death, but also the huge hole Gabriella’s disappearance left in her life – and finds herself asking a question she’s not allowed herself to ask for years: what really happened to her sister?

With that question comes the revelation that her biggest fear isn’t discovering the worst; it’s never knowing the answer. But is it too late for Anna to uncover the truth about Gabriella’s disappearance?

Format: ebook (336 pp.)    Publisher: PanMacmillan/Mantle
Published: 18th December 2017    Genre:  Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Missing Girl on Goodreads

My Review

As well as attending several events at this year’s Henley Literary Festival (which runs from 29th September to 7th October), I wrote recently about how I’d been inspired to create a reading list of books by some of the authors appearing at the Festival.   The Missing Girl by Jenny Quintana is one of those books.

The Missing Girl is a compelling mystery but also an absorbing and believable depiction of a family coping with the disappearance of a child.  For me, this second element was the most rewarding part of the book.   As the mystery of Gabriella’s disappearance remains unresolved, it has a disturbing effect on the family.  Even more so coming as it does on top of overheard fragments of conversations and knowing glances between her father and mother the meaning of which twelve-year old Anna doesn’t understand at the time.   Anna mainly notices the hole Gabriella’s absence has left in their lives. ‘There was an emptiness, a stillness.  Gabriella had created sound.’

Alternating between two timelines – the present day and the 1980s – I thought the author did a particularly good job of recreating a sense of the earlier period.  A time when a bottle of Cinzano and a bowl of Twiglets marked a family celebration, Sunday lunch was a roast dinner (followed by roly-poly and custard if you were lucky) and a popular teenage hangout was the Our Price record shop.    I also liked the way the rather insular nature of a small village was conveyed and the spine-tingling feeling the author creates as young Anna undertakes her own investigation in the wooded outskirts of the village.

Given the sisters’ close relationship, I’ll admit I found it a little difficult to understand how Anna could have spent thirty years not wanting to find out more about Gabriella’s disappearance and Anna’s life in those intervening years doesn’t get much attention.  Nevertheless, the death of her mother does awaken Anna’s desire to know the truth – ‘Persistence, the need to know, creeping back after all those years away’ – and, luckily for her, some of the key witnesses from the time are still around.

The Missing Girl is an accomplished debut which I really enjoyed for the author’s deft handling of the dual timelines and its multi-layered story.   The author lays down plenty of tempting false trails for the reader to follow and although I (sort of) guessed one of the key twists in the book before it was revealed it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of what followed.  The solution to the mystery of Gabriella’s disappearance – sorry, not going to say!  However, I’ll admit the author wrong-footed me.

Jenny Quintana is appearing at Henley Literary Festival on 30th September 2018 (tickets still available as at time of writing)

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In three words: Atmospheric, unsettling, mystery

Try something similar…Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor (read my spoiler free review here)

Jenny Quintana, author.About the Author

Jenny Quintana grew up in Essex and Berkshire, before studying English Literature in London. She has taught in London, Seville and Athens and has also written books for teaching English as a foreign language. She is a graduate of the Curtis Brown Creative writing course.  She now lives with her family in Berkshire. The Missing Girl is her first novel.                                      (Photo credit: Alicia Clarke)

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