Tag: NetGalley

Book Review – The Mouthless Dead by Anthony Quinn

whatcathyreadnext2 Comments

About the Book

One night in 1931 William Wallace was handed a phone message at his chess club from a Mr Qualtrough, asking him to meet at an address to discuss some work. Wallace caught a tram from the home he shared with his wife, Julia, to the address which turned out, after Wallace had consulted passers-by and even a policeman, to not exist.

On returning home two hours later he found his wife lying murdered in the parlour. The elaborate nature of his alibi pointed to Wallace as the culprit. He was arrested and tried, found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang, but the next month the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the verdict and he walked free.

Fifteen years on, the inspector who worked the case is considering it once more. Speculation continues to be rife over the true killer’s identity. James Agate in his diary called it ‘the perfect murder’, Raymond Chandler said ‘The case is unbeatable. It will always be unbeatable’. And on a cruise in 1947, new information is about to come to light.

Format: Hardcover (288 pages) Publisher: Abacus
Publication date: 6th March 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime

Find The Mouthless Dead on Goodreads

Purchase The Mouthless Dead from Bookshop.org [Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops]

My Review

The Mouthless Dead is inspired by a real case – the murder of Julia Wallace in 1931. It’s a crime which remains unsolved to this day. Quite a few people, including the author P. D. James, have had a go at trying to identify the culprit without ever coming up with a definitive answer. I had never heard of the case but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book. Frankly, the author could have invented the case and the book would still have made a gripping read.

Although many of the characters are real and events such as the trial follow the historical record, the author has created a fictional character, Detective Inspector Key who was involved in investigating the case many years before but has now retired from the police force. It is from his point of view the story unfolds as he ponders writing a memoir about the case, for his own personal satisfaction rather than with any intention it should be published.

What is particularly brilliant is the detailed back story the author creates for Key. The cruel treatment he suffered whilst a pupil of a Jesuit college. His traumatic experiences during the First World War during which he lost comrades in the most dreadful fashion. His personal life, that has been a series of disappointments, leaving him living alone. He misses the camaraderie of the police force and, although a keen member of a chess club, he has time on his hands. Hence his decision to take a transatlantic cruise to New York.

On board he meets a young woman, Lydia Tarrant, who is travelling with her rather over-protective mother and they strike up a friendship. Two becomes three when aspiring film maker, Teddy Absolom, joins their conversations around the swimming pool. Discovering Key’s involvement with the celebrated Wallace case, both Teddy and Lydia are eager to learn more about it. It soon emerges that Key has an unique perspective on the case. But how much of what he reveals is the truth and how much the product of his imagination born out of a desire to impress Lydia or provide Teddy with the perfect screenplay for a suspense film?

It’s difficult to say more for fear of spoilers but safe to say the author will keep you guessing until the end. Possibly even after that.

The Mouthless Dead is an imaginative and compelling take on a true crime story. It’s also a fascinating social history of middle-class life in Liverpool in the 1930s.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of Abacus via NetGalley.

In three words: Gripping, atmospheric, clever
Try something similar: The Dublin Railway Murder by Thomas Morris

About the Author

Anthony Quinn was born in Liverpool in 1964. From 1998 to 2013 he was the film critic for the Independent. His novels include The Rescue Man, which won the 2009 Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award; Half of the Human Race; The Streets, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Walter Scott Prize; Curtain Call, soon to be a feature film starring Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton; Freya, Eureka, Our Friends in Berlin and London, Burning. He also wrote the recent Liverpool memoir Klopp.

Book Review – The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner

whatcathyreadnext4 Comments

About the Book

Paris, 1938. Annie Mayer arrives in France with dreams of becoming a ballerina. But when the war reaches Paris, she’s forced to keep her Jewish heritage a secret. Then a fellow dancer offers her a lifeline: a ballroom partnership that gives her a new identity. Together, Annie and her partner captivate audiences across occupied Europe, using her newfound fame and alias to aid the Resistance.

New York, 2012. Miriam, haunted by her past, travels from London to New York to settle her great-aunt Esther’s estate. Among Esther’s belongings, she discovers notebooks detailing a secret family history and the story of a brave dancer who risked everything to help Jewish families during the war.

Format: Paperback (368 pages) Publisher: Aria
Publication date: 13th February 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find The Paris Dancer on Goodreads

Purchase The Paris Dancer from Bookshop.org [Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops]

My Review

This dual timeline story moves back and forth between Miriam’s journey of discovery into the past of her recently deceased great-aunt Esther and Esther’s experiences growing up in Paris, including during the German occupation of that city. I thought both storylines were strong and, in fact, could have been novels in their own right. However, the frequent connections and parallels between the two women’s experiences binds them together in a satisfying way.

The book description is a little misleading in that the sections set in wartime Paris are told by means of a memoir written by Esther. We never hear Annie’s story first-hand which means that some of her experiences, even quite significant and traumatic ones, we only learn about by means of letters or conversations recalled by Esther. For me, Annie was the most interesting character so I regretted she wasn’t given a narrative of her own.

Both Esther and Miriam harbour guilt about the part they played in past tragedies, the nature of which are only gradually revealed. And they have both experienced fractured family relationships. Miriam’s experiences have resulted in a tendency to self-sabotage (although she prefers to think of it as self-protection), believing that any relationship she forms is destined to end in disaster. Luckily (no pun intended) she has a encounter of the ‘meet cute’ variety with a man who resists all her attempts to push him away. (I did think his character could have been more developed.)

As we learn, for much of Esther’s life, she was prevented from forming the relationship she really craved. Her memoir, written specifically for Miriam, whilst describing the horrors that Jewish people suffered at the hands of the Nazis, is also her way of demonstrating that it is possible to move on from terrible experiences and find fulfilment, if only you have the courage to take a chance.

The author’s professional and personal interest in dance is evident in the novel, especially in the scenes set in the Bal Tabarin theatre in Paris, renowned for its spectacular floor shows, daring tableaux and gorgeous costumes. In Miriam’s story, learning to dance is shown to be both an act of self-expression and intimacy. And how, especially in the case of the tango, the concentration required to master the intricate steps can provide a temporary distraction from external worries.

Despite some reservations about the narrative structure, I found The Paris Dancer an absorbing story with moments of real tension and emotion.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of Aria via NetGalley.

In three words: Dramatic, emotional, insightful
Try something similar: The Paris Network by Siobhan Curham

About the Author

Author Nicola Rayner

Nicola Rayner, born in South Wales, is a novelist and dancer writer based in London. journalist. She is the author of The Girl Before You, which was picked by the Observer, picked by the same newspaper as a debut to look out for in 2019, optioned for television and translated into multiple languages. Her second novel, You and Me, was published by Avon, HarperCollins in October 2020.

In her day job as a journalist, Nicola has written about dance for almost two decades, cutting her teeth on the tango section of Time Out Buenos Aires. She edited the magazine Dance Today from 2010 to 2015 and worked as assistant editor of Dancing Times, the UK’s leading dance publication, from 2019 to 2022. She continues to dance everything from ballroom to breakdance, with varying degrees of finesses.

Connect with Nicola
Website | X | Instagram | Facebook