What are we reading 2022?

KeskusteluBritish & Irish Crime Fiction

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What are we reading 2022?

1rosalita
tammikuu 3, 2022, 10:02 am

Please feel free to wrap up your 2021 reading in the thread below. But we've turned the calendar page to 2022, finally!

I am reading The Fingerprint by Patricia Wentworth. I'm nearly to the end of my multi-year chronological read of this series (this is 30 of 32 books).

What British & Irish crime fiction are you reading this year?

2ted74ca
tammikuu 3, 2022, 2:13 pm

Happy New Year to all. I'm looking forward to reading more British and Irish crime fiction than I got to last year.

3VivienneR
tammikuu 4, 2022, 8:23 pm

Happy New Year to everyone here!

I just finished - and really enjoyed Midnight Fugue by Reginald Hill

A story that takes place all in one day at a time when Dalziel is about to return to work following his convalescence when he was blown up by a terrorist bomb (in a previous book). Still a bit muddle-headed, he was visiting a church to confirm that it is Sunday and enjoying a Bach Fugue when he is approached by a woman. The music reference crops up often in the story and Dalziel's knowledge of Bach surprises and annoys the supercilious Pascoe. Maybe Pascoe thought Andy was on the scrap heap and he was in charge, only to have his ambition thwarted again. Hill has created a mystery with a clever plot combining musical allusion and humour. I've never been a fan of Pascoe, but Dalziel, even with his earthy language, is one of my favourite fictional characters.

4Sergeirocks
tammikuu 6, 2022, 10:09 am

First out of the traps for me: A Shetland Winter Mystery by Scottish author Marsali Taylor 4★s. This is book 10 her Shetland Sailing Mysteries series.

Sailor, Cass, (native Shetlander) and partner Gavin (Highlander, now a police detective in Lerwick, Shetland) become embroiled in a tale of mischievous trows (the local ‘little people’), inter-family hatreds, demo’s/sabotage against wind farms, and murder. Also featuring Cat and Kitten, their family pets.

I’ll be happy to read more from this author.

5Sergeirocks
tammikuu 6, 2022, 10:24 am

Next, an historical mystery: The Day of the Serpent by Cassandra Clark 4★s, book 2 in her Brother Chandler Mystery series.

Set in 1400, Bro Rodric Chandler is a spy for the House of Lancaster, now working for his liege lord, Thomas Swynford, step-brother of Henry IV. Henry has just usurped Richard II from his throne, and Chandler finds himself in the unfortunate position of sympathising with the former king, while still having to pretend allegiance to Henry.
This is a murder mystery; Chandler is tasked with finding the murderer.

I’ve also read one of Clark’s Abbess of Meaux mysteries. I’m happy to continue reading both series.

6rosalita
tammikuu 6, 2022, 11:22 am

I finished The Fingerprint by Patricia Wentworth.

I have really enjoyed this series, and this was another solid entry, even if the premise of a man who collects famous (and otherwise) fingerprints seemed a bit farfetched. Although, I guess there's no accounting for what people of the early 20th century took a fancy to. :-)

7Sergeirocks
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 13, 2022, 8:16 pm

A good, old-fashioned Manor House Murder Mystery - Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan 3.5★s. Mordecai Tremaine is a sexagenarian amateur criminologist, a romantic at heart, but murder never seems far from his door…
I found the writing style a bit ponderous for this 1949 offering, but I’ve requested my library to buy another of the ebooks of this series. If they do buy it, I’ll give Mordecai another chance to grow on me.

8Sergeirocks
tammikuu 13, 2022, 8:27 pm

I found this one an easier read than the Duncan book above (>7 Sergeirocks:) - The Green Pen Mystery & Other Stories by Donald Stuart 4★s.
‘The Green Pen Mystery’ was written in 1934, a mid-length standalone; the four ‘Other Stories’ were penned in the 1970s and featured Able Kane, a rather unconventional solicitor.

9ted74ca
tammikuu 14, 2022, 2:57 pm

Just finished Three Quarters of a Mystery by Sophie Hannah (one in her Hercules Poirot series). Just an "OK" rating from me-not bad, but not great.

10VivienneR
tammikuu 20, 2022, 1:18 am

Just finished Real Tigers by Mick Herron another terrific entry from my current favourite series, Slough House.

11rosalita
tammikuu 23, 2022, 8:44 pm

I've picked up The Man in the Brown Suit as part of the reading challenge hosted by the Agatha Christie website.

12Sergeirocks
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 28, 2022, 6:46 pm

Book 13 in Ian Rankin’s Rebus series, Resurrection Men, 5★s. A favourite series of mine.

13Sergeirocks
tammikuu 30, 2022, 10:16 am

Cast, in Order of Disappearance and A Comedian Dies, both by Simon Brett, both 4★ reads.

Charles Paris is a middle-aged actor, fond of his drink (and the ladies), who dabbles rather amateurishly in murder detection.

14Sergeirocks
tammikuu 31, 2022, 7:56 pm

And another in Simon Brett’s Charles Parish series: The Dead Side of the Mike 4★s.

15ted74ca
helmikuu 3, 2022, 11:47 am

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. Well written, but disturbing throughout, and the ending just didn't work for me.

16Sergeirocks
helmikuu 4, 2022, 1:04 pm

Book 29 in M. C. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth series: Death of a Policeman 3.5★s.

17VivienneR
helmikuu 4, 2022, 2:43 pm

Judas Country by Gavin Lyall

The operator of a small airline has been hired to fly twelve cases of champagne to a hotel in Nicosia, Cyprus. On arrival he finds the hotel in receivership and not only is there no payment but he is roped into helping out as chef and manager to try and keep the business afloat. He is aided by his partner who is fresh out of a two-year stretch in an Israeli jail. When an important guest requests champagne, well, the twelve cases still on the 'plane are the obvious source, until one box is opened and found to contain arms. Complicating matters even further, the champagne drinker is an archaeologist who claims to have discovered an artifact of fabulous historical importance. This is an exciting thriller if not very serious and I enjoyed that there was plenty of authentic aviation details including a dicey flight to Israel that has the reader hanging on by their fingernails. Lyall gave a very accurate portrayal of the area just after the Cyprus Emergency in the fifties when terrorist attacks were still common. Published in 1975 this an excellent example of thriller novels of the time. This was only my second Lyall book but I'll be looking for more.

18Sergeirocks
helmikuu 10, 2022, 3:01 pm

One from Scottish author, Denzil Meyrick: Whisky from Small Glasses, book 1 in the DCI Jim Daley series. 4★s.

A murder mystery set on the rugged west coast of Scotland. I’ve read a few books in this series and have added the rest to my tbr.

19Sergeirocks
helmikuu 18, 2022, 7:22 am

The Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth 4★s

1963, it is known that there is a plot in place to assassinate Gen. Charles de Gaulle; will the French authorities, and Commissaire Lebel of the Police Judiciare in particular, be able to hunt down the Englishman, code named ‘Jackal’, in time to stop him?

20Sergeirocks
helmikuu 26, 2022, 4:44 pm

A short story in the DCI Daley (Kinloch) series (see >18 Sergeirocks:): Dalintober Moon by Denzil Meyrick 4★s.

And one fm the prequel series featuring the earlier career of DI Jack Frost: Lethal Frost - Danny Miller 4★s.

21Sergeirocks
maaliskuu 4, 2022, 6:14 am

The Religious Body Catherine Aird 4★s.

1966 - Murder in a nunnery, case solved by DI Sloan and new sidekick, DC Crosby. First book in a series.

22Sergeirocks
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 8, 2022, 4:14 pm

Sherlock Holmes - very satisfying…

The Valley of Fear - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 4.5★s.

23Sergeirocks
huhtikuu 10, 2022, 6:12 am

Third book in a series I’m really enjoying - The Judas Sheep by Stuart Pawson 5★s.

24Sergeirocks
huhtikuu 17, 2022, 9:09 am

The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth, 4.5★s.

An ex-SAS Col. goes undercover as a released Gitmo-imprisoned Afghan Taliban fighter to foil a terrorist plot against a G8 summit being held on an oceangoing liner.

25Sergeirocks
huhtikuu 29, 2022, 11:09 am

A Golden Oldie from 1935: Queer Face by Gerald Verner 4★s.

I’ve only recently stumbled across this author - one of many, many that I look upon with glee when I uncover a ‘new’ name…

26Sergeirocks
huhtikuu 30, 2022, 1:08 pm

Book two in the Charles Paris murder mystery series by Simon Brett: So Much Blood 4★s

Wherever middle aged actor Charles turns up to work, he seems to stumble across a murder - and can’t resist investigating (while falling for some pretty, young woman).

27Sergeirocks
toukokuu 13, 2022, 9:42 am

Another new author for me: Tony Schumacher.

The Darkest Hour is set in a 1946 London where Germany has won the war. Widower and war hero John Rossett is a police Sgt attached to the SS, working for the Office of Jewish Affairs, leading the ‘clearances’, unaware (and uncaring) of the final destination of those people - until his conscience is pricked by a 7 year old boy. 4★s.

28ted74ca
toukokuu 15, 2022, 8:20 pm

Finally-read some British crime fiction, if "thrillers" fall into that category.? This one didn't really grab my attention-it took me well over a month of reading just a few pages at a time before getting bored with it and putting it down, to finally finish it this weekend. Not too impressed with Hostage by Clare Mackintosh.

29Sergeirocks
toukokuu 16, 2022, 6:46 am

>28 ted74ca: Oh, dear. Reading should be a pleasure, not a chore… Well done for persevering and finishing it.

30Sergeirocks
kesäkuu 4, 2022, 6:08 am

Continuing with the Grantchester Series by James Runcie, book 4 Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins, 3.75 ★s.

31Sergeirocks
Muokkaaja: kesäkuu 26, 2022, 6:08 am

Continuing a series I really enjoy - Dark Suits and Sad Songs by Denzil Meyrick, set on the west coast of Scotland. 4★s.

32fwbl
kesäkuu 20, 2022, 8:50 am

Finished re-reading On Dangerous Ground by Jack Higgins (3.5/5).

33Sergeirocks
heinäkuu 4, 2022, 12:50 pm

The Piper on the Mountain, book 5 in an Ellis Peters series from the 1960s.
A British mountaineer dies in Yugoslavia. Discovering that an official at the British Embassy in Prague thinks this wasn’t an accidental death, the deceased’s step-daughter, a university friend of policeman’s son Dominic Felse, wants to know more. 4★s

34Sergeirocks
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 23, 2022, 6:12 am

A British author writing about some Italian cops - an author new to me - David Hewson.

The Lizard’s Bite 4.5★s:
Nic Costa, his partner Gianni Peroni, and their boss Insp Leo Falcone, are exiled to Venice from Rome as punishment for some misdemeanour 8m ago. Just about to take some leave with their visiting girlfriends, their plans are hijacked when the local commissario wants them to investigate a fire and 2 deaths at a family glassworks. It’s supposed to be a cut and dried case, easily put to bed (just as the locals want it, for reasons of their own), but the Romans aren’t so willing to toe the line… Good job the girlfriends are an ex-FBI agent and a pathologist!

I’m looking for more books in this series. I’m hooked!

35Sergeirocks
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 6, 2022, 5:05 pm

A Cotswold Mystery - Rebecca Tope 4★s

Widowed Thea Osborne earns money by house-sitting in the picturesque villages of the Cotswolds. Unfortunately, it seems that wherever she turns up, so does a dead body…
This book is the fourth in the series.

36Sergeirocks
heinäkuu 23, 2022, 6:19 am

Another new author for me, Luca Veste: You Never Said Goodbye 3★s.

38-year-old Sam discovers the mother he believed drowned 25 years before may still be alive and that some very bad men are looking for her. He determines to go to the US to search for her himself.

Not my cup of tea, sad to say.

37rosalita
elokuu 1, 2022, 10:00 am

July was a good month for British & Irish crime fiction for me:

* The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths (set in Norfolk). I love this series featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway.

* Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch is the latest in the Rivers of London paranormal police procedural series.

* The Appeal by Janice Hallett (set in a fictional English village) was a recommendation from a friend. It's an epistolary novel, told entirely through emails, texts and letters, as a barrister tasks his clerks with reviewing the written material from a recent murder trial to look for grounds for an appeal.

* The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (set in a fictional English retirement village) is a cozy mystery featuring a quartet of octogenarian sleuths and a lot of comedy one-liners. I liked it well enough to continue with the series.

38VivienneR
elokuu 14, 2022, 1:48 pm

Wobble to Death by Peter Lovesey

Lovesey has resurrected a popular sport of the Victorian era and created an entertaining mystery novel. Six day "Go As You Please" contests - or "Wobbles" were instituted by Sir John Astley in 1878 and became very popular on both sides of the Atlantic. The contestants may choose to walk or run with brief rests for six days on a track. Lovesey's race takes place in the vast Agricultural Hall in Islington in 1879 with a first prize of £500, lower amounts for second and third places. With so much money at stake, to say nothing of the bets placed with bookies, there are bound to be shenanigans. In this case one contestant died of a massive dose of strychnine, commonly administered in minute amounts by his trainer as a stimulant. Then the trainer died too. And that wasn’t the only strange method trainers used. Combining the mystery with a sport I've never heard of before was a lot of fun. Dashing around Victorian London in hansom cabs and thick fog was wonderful.

39Sergeirocks
elokuu 17, 2022, 7:34 pm

Gently French by Alan Hunter, 3.5★s.
A series that I’m dipping into, in no particular order. This one is book 20 in the series featuring Chief Superintendent George Gently.

40Sergeirocks
elokuu 20, 2022, 1:20 pm

New author for me, LJ Ross: Holy Island 4.5★s.
I shall look for more in this cop series.

41ted74ca
elokuu 23, 2022, 11:29 am

Finally-I've read some British crime fiction. Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths, one of my favourite authors.

42Sergeirocks
elokuu 26, 2022, 9:36 am

>41 ted74ca: That’s a series I want to try sometime, Terry. I’ve also heard good things about her ‘Harbinder Kaur’ series.

43Sergeirocks
elokuu 26, 2022, 1:08 pm

Night Frost by R. D. Wingfield 4★s.

44minsterbooks
elokuu 27, 2022, 1:24 pm

>39 Sergeirocks: I recently picked up a box set of these books and I am also working my way through. They are very enjoyable.

45Sergeirocks
elokuu 30, 2022, 5:28 pm

The Killings on Jubilee Terrace, a book by an author I like to read now and again - Robert Barnard 4★s

46Sergeirocks
syyskuu 1, 2022, 7:28 am

A change of pace - Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King’s Daughter - Simon Brett 4★s. A lighthearted, 1920’s romp with aristocratic sleuthing siblings Blotto and Twinks assisted by their chauffeur, (ex-army) Corky Froggett.

47Sergeirocks
syyskuu 3, 2022, 3:28 pm

An author I have really come to admire over the last few years - Mari Hannah, who sets her books in the north east of England. Settled Blood 4.5★s

48Sergeirocks
syyskuu 6, 2022, 5:03 pm

Fell of Dark by the author of the Dalziel & Pascoe novels, Reginald Hill.

This one is a standalone novel - a Buchanesque chase through the fells of the Lake District in Cumbria, after businessman Harry Bentink is wrongfully suspected of rape/murder. 4★s.

49ted74ca
syyskuu 11, 2022, 11:40 am

I usually really like Sophie Hannah's novels, but Perfect Little Children didn't really make much of an impression on me-pretty ho-hum.

50dianeham
syyskuu 12, 2022, 2:00 am

51Sergeirocks
syyskuu 12, 2022, 4:19 pm

>40 Sergeirocks: The follow-up to Holy Island which I read back in August: Sycamore Gap by LJ Ross - DCI Ryan continues to be a thorn in the side of a pagan group when he investigates a current-day death which has links to the recently uncovered body of a young woman who went missing 10y ago. 4.5★s.

52Sergeirocks
lokakuu 17, 2022, 7:11 pm

First book in a fairly new series from Simon Brett: The Clutter Corpse 4.5★s.

Widowed Ellen Curtis, who runs her own decluttering business, finds a body amidst the clutter on one of her jobs.

53Sergeirocks
lokakuu 25, 2022, 4:52 am

A Golden Classic, Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced 4★s

54ted74ca
lokakuu 25, 2022, 2:39 pm

I have done very little reading of late, as I've been away visiting family for over a month. I did manage to finish an ebook Murder on a Summer's Day by Frances Brody amidst being a nana to my 18 month old granddaughter for 3 weeks! Generally too tired at the end of the day to even open a book.

55Sergeirocks
lokakuu 26, 2022, 8:22 pm

The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish, only 3.5★s for this. Goood enough writing style, but the storyline didn’t appeal. Can’t see me searching out any more books from this author.

56Sergeirocks
lokakuu 29, 2022, 4:28 pm

Continuing a series I’m enjoying, Angel, 4th book in the DCI Ryan series by LJ Ross 4.5★s.

57quartzite
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 31, 2022, 12:09 am

Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup

58Sergeirocks
marraskuu 3, 2022, 12:08 pm

One from 1938, (I do like these Golden Oldies…) - The River House Mystery by Gerald Verner 4★s.

59Sergeirocks
marraskuu 4, 2022, 9:53 am

Another one from Verner, from the same series as >58 Sergeirocks: above - Terror Tower 4.5★s.

Trevor Lowe is a successful dramatist, and a criminologist who helps out DI Shadgold of Scotland Yard now and again.

60Sergeirocks
marraskuu 8, 2022, 3:09 pm

One of my favourite series: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear, Leaving Everything Most Loved 5★s.

61rocketjk
marraskuu 8, 2022, 6:28 pm

I finished A Man Without Breath the 9th book in Philip Kerr's excellent Bernie Gunther noir crime series. I mention it here despite the fact that the book takes place in the German Army circa 1943, Kerr was Scottish and lived for much of his life in London.

62Sergeirocks
marraskuu 19, 2022, 11:23 am

Absolutely loving this cop series by LJ Ross, set in Northumberland: High Force 5★s

63Sergeirocks
marraskuu 26, 2022, 6:48 pm

2 from Agatha Christie: The Thirteen Problems 4★s and After the Funeral 4.5★s

64Sergeirocks
marraskuu 30, 2022, 9:02 am

A new author to me, Scottsman Michael Innes. Appleby and Honeybath 3.5★s - a country manor mystery in which a body goes missing from behind a locked library door.
This was written and set in the 1980s. I kept wanting it to be set in the 50s - it somehow felt wrong in the 80s…
I won’t be seeking any more from this author.

65Sergeirocks
joulukuu 2, 2022, 8:35 pm

Another Agatha Christie: The Pale Horse 4★s.

66Sergeirocks
joulukuu 5, 2022, 7:59 pm

One from another cop series I’m following: Denzil Meyrick’s The Rat Stone Serenade 4.5★s.

67Sergeirocks
joulukuu 9, 2022, 4:58 pm

Golden oldie Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell 4★s.

First book in the Mrs Bradley series. A Country Manor murder mystery.

68ted74ca
joulukuu 12, 2022, 11:45 am

Always enjoy the books in this series: Death of an Avid Reader by Frances Brody.

69Sergeirocks
joulukuu 15, 2022, 4:40 pm

Another continuing series for me: The Frost Fair by Edward Marston 4★s.

London, 1669, the Thames is frozen; young architect, Christopher Redmayne, and his friends are visiting the Frost Fair when one of the party find a body in the ice…

70ted74ca
joulukuu 27, 2022, 2:53 pm

I just finished the latest in Ian Rankin's Rebus series: A Heart Full of Headstones. Must admit I'm growing a bit weary and bored with Rebus, though I've had a lot of reading pleasure from this series over the years. I think I'd like to see Rankin end this series.

71Sergeirocks
joulukuu 29, 2022, 4:09 pm

>70 ted74ca: Time to retire Rebus?
I ration myself with the Rebus series, it’s a thing I do with all my favourite authors or series, as I hate coming to the end with nothing left to look forward to… 🙂. So I’m only up to book 15 for Rebus, still a fair way for me to go.

72dianeham
joulukuu 29, 2022, 4:51 pm

73ted74ca
joulukuu 29, 2022, 9:43 pm

Finished another Kate Shackleton mystery today-I really enjoy this series. Death in the Dales by Frances Brody

74Sergeirocks
tammikuu 2, 2023, 9:54 am

Just to finish off the year’s books:

The Ashes of London - Andrew Taylor 3.5★s
Body Line - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 4.25★s
Cragside - LJ Ross 4.5★s
Dark Skies - LJ Ross 4.5★s

And a “Happy New Year” to all fellow posters, 🙂.

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