I enjoyed JM Peace’s first novel, A Time to Run and also had the opportunity to interview the elusive still-serving police officer after its release. We engage on social media from time to time so I did follow (from afar) the progress of her newest release and jumped at the opportunity to read it and catch up with Constable Sammi Willis who (#spoileraler)t survived the serial killer in the first book of the series.
I was fortunate to start this series at the beginning and until I checked Goodreads I assumed The Hanging Club was the second in the series by Tony Parsons. And was about to tell you it should be pretty easy to catch up if you need to.
I was surprised therefore to discover this is actually number three and I ‘somehow’ missed number two last year. So obviously it doesn’t matter if you’re playing catch-up because Parsons does a good job of succinctly sharing any necessary backstory.
I’m a newcomer to the work of Tania Carver, having only read the previous book in the Brennan & Esposito series, Heartbreaker. So I was surprised when Martyn Waites responded to my tweet about the book, outing himself as Carver. Obviously it was / is no big secret and I’m just a little behind the times… but it’s nice to know, although I’m still unsure which pronoun to use when discussing the author! #firstworldproblem
I’m fairly new to Tami Hoag’s work but enjoyed her last novel Cold Cold Heart, published in January 2015.
I hadn’t realised her latest, The Bitter Season, was part of a series but thankfully it made no difference and I was able to enjoy the book without knowing the characters’ histories. In fact she does a great job, adding context with minimal detail so readers don’t feel they’ve missed out and don’t have to endure four books worth of backstories.
I read Nele Neuhaus’s Bad Wolf in early 2014 and reviewed it on Goodreads. I enjoyed it but (apparently!) found there to be too many characters as I had trouble keeping track of everyone. I wondered at the time if Neuhaus really needed to introduce quite as many players (names and details) though later realised it was the 6th in the series*, so guess regular readers had time to familiarise themselves with the many characters.
I noted at the time however one of the German author’s previous novels, Snow White Must Die, had received great accolades.
It’d been a while between Tony Hill / Carol Jordan drinks for me on the book front when Val McDermid’s 9th novel in the series arrived in my letterbox.
I’m a huge fan of the series and was a lover of the TV show based on the series (though vaguely recall losing interest for some reason which now alludes me. Was there a change of characters? Or perhaps it just finished?). Anyhoo… I excitedly tuned in for the latest instalment and was (again) forced to change dinner plans so I could read the book in a night!