Paris Requiem #ChrisLloyd #ParisRequiem

By Chris Lloyd https://chrislloydauthor.com/ @chrislloydbcn

Published by Orion Publishing Group https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/ @orionbooks

416 pages ISBN 9781409190301

Publication date 23 February 2023

Paris Requiem is the second novel in the Eddie Giral series.

Click on the link to read my review of The Unwanted Dead the first novel in this series.

I was allowed access to a pdf review copy on Net Galley https://www.netgalley.com/ @NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I would like to thank the Author and Publisher for organising this.

The cover

Dark and gloomy, fitting for a man who must work in the shadows.

From the blurb

Paris, September 1940.

After three months under Nazi Occupation, not much can shock Detective Eddie Giral. That is, until he finds a murder victim who was supposed to be in prison. Eddie knows, because he put him there. The dead man is not the first or the last criminal being let loose onto the streets. But who is pulling the strings, and why?

This question will take Eddie from jazz clubs to opera halls, from old flames to new friends, from the lights of Paris to the darkest countryside – pursued by a most troubling truth: sometimes to do the right thing, you have to join the wrong side…

My thoughts

Its three months on and much has changed. Eddie’s son Jean-Luc has made his way down France and is currently in The Pyrenees waiting for a guide to take him over the border and the relative safety of Spain. In Paris the German occupation is starting to bite as they are controlling the residents, there is a strict curfew in place, and rationing has been introduced.

Eddie is called in to investigate a murder, a gruesome symbolic one, as the victim is bound to a chair with his lips roughly sewn together with twine. He has been suffocated. The setting is strange one, the victim is in a long-closed jazz club, hardly the place for a known robber to find rich pickings in the safe. It doesn’t follow his usual Modus Operandi either, he’s a roof man, used to entering via skylights, he wouldn’t lower himself to go in through the front door. The oddest thing of all, he should be in prison, Eddie knows this because he put him there, so who has got him out of prison?

It transpires that somebody has managed to get several criminals from across Paris, who have no connections to each other from either working together or in gangs, released. It’s as if someone was building a gang of gangs, a supergroup of the cream of the Paris underworld. But who would have the power to set them free and hope to control them? It must be the Germans.

Two names come up for Eddie to investigate, Capeluche and Henri Lafont. A bit of digging in the library shows that Capeluche was an executioner in Fifteenth Century Paris, so a suitable nom de guerre for a killer. But who is Henri Lafont? Nobody knows a crook by that name, and he draws a blank back at the library. Is he real or a kind of Keyser Söze?

The plot is the investigation behind this release but there are side issues, the search for the sons of two women and the protection of Jean-Luc who is not yet safe. The pacing is steady but unrelenting, there’s a lot of ground to cover before the reveal and the satisfying finale.

As Eddie is beginning to discover in this war of occupation there is no absolute good and bad, sometimes to survive you must settle best solution you can achieve and live with. With the competing German factions, the Abwehr (intelligence), Wehrmacht (army), Schutzstaffel (SS) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and then the dreaded Gestapo in his way his job is near impossible. He may have to humour the Abwehr to avoid supping with the Devil, there is no spoon long enough to work with the Gestapo. All the while there are acts of resistance, collaboration, and the nagging feeling that even some of his colleagues are not to be trusted. Trying to be a moral man under these conditions is near impossible.

Eddie’s character is developing, trying to do right by Jean-Luc he is starting to bury his demons to the extent that he throws the dud bullet away. After a lifetime of letting people down and throwing friendships away Dominique is finally getting him to reflect on past mistakes.

Humour is used sparingly but to great effect. This is no wisecracking smart lipped detective at work, under occupation that would just get you killed. Its much more subtle and all the more cutting for it. There’s a brilliant take down of opera, a German one at that, and it avoids the trope of fat ladies singing. The opera connection is important though. Replacing the wisecracks are Eddie’s observations and great use of similes to express the vulgar.

This is a novel with a great atmospheric feel to it, the unlit streets of the Paris black out, night-time in the graveyard and scrambling around the countryside. Then to top it off there’s a child singing a strange melody who is dogging Eddie but he cannot catch up with him, shades of a Sergio Leone spaghetti western here. Its fabulous Noir, it could almost be a black and white classic of the period, if they were to film it chiaroscuro style would be perfect.

There are real incidents within the fiction which help with the overall feel, there is genuine authenticity about it. In the UK we knew about rationing and privation, particularly during the days of the war in the Atlantic, but we didn’t have the German’s pillaging the countryside for produce. This is brought home in the novel, three months in and produce is being systematically stolen or ‘purchased’ for next to nothing be it food, drink or clothing. Even the lowliest German soldier could participate in this state sanctioned looting. Already the Parisians are suffering hunger, queuing for hours for the scraps left over. By 1945 much of mainland Europe was surviving on 500 or 600 calories (that’s less than a ‘fasting day’ on the 5 2 diet!) There are also hints at the atrocities to come. There’s Eddie’s despair at being pulled out of a food queue when he gets near the front to him going rogue in the countryside, where he cannot help himself. So, an intelligent and largely factual portrayal of life at the beginning of occupation within a framework of an entertaining thriller.  

Paris Requiem is a magnificent war time police procedural that evokes a downtrodden and defeated Paris that is almost tangible. I think this is destined to be a great series.  

Paris Requiem can be purchased via the publishers website here

The author

Chris was born in an ambulance racing through a town he’s only returned to once, which probably explains a lot.

Straight after graduating in Spanish and French, he hopped on a bus from Cardiff to Catalonia where he stayed for the next twenty-odd years, first in the small and beautiful city of Girona, then in the big and beautiful city of Barcelona. He’s also lived in Bilbao, pre-empting the Guggenheim by a good few years, and in Madrid, where his love of Barcelona football club deepened. During this time, he worked as a teacher, in educational publishing, as a travel writer and as a translator. He still spends part of his day translating lofty and noble academic and arts texts.

Besides this, he also lived in Grenoble for six months, where he studied the French Resistance movement, a far deeper and more complex subject than history often teaches us and one that has fascinated him for years.

Source: Author’s website

The Acapulco #SimoneBuchholz #TheAcapulco

By Simone Buchholz @ohneKlippo

Translated by Rachel Ward http://www.forwardtranslations.co.uk/ @FwdTranslations

Published by Orenda Books https://orendabooks.co.uk/ @OrendaBooks

276 pages ISBN 9781914585661

Publication date 13 April 2023

This is book one in the Chastity Riley series.

Click on the links to read my reviews of Hotel Cartegena (winner of the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger in 2022) and River Clyde.

I was sent an electronic proof copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours @RandomTTours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and Karen at the publishers.

The cover

Like the other books in the series there is the fluorescent sign style, this time against a night-time Hamburg setting. The menace comes from the carpet knife, indicating a threat of violence, the relevance of which will become apparent. Great cover.

From the blurb

State Prosecutor Chastity Riley faces her most challenging case yet, with a violent serial killer at large, who might just be uncatchable…

A serial killer is on the loose in Hamburg, targeting dancers from The Acapulco, a club in the city’s red-light district, taking their scalps as gruesome trophies and replacing them with plastic wigs.

Chastity Riley is the state prosecutor responsible for crimes in the district, and she’s working alongside the police as they investigate. Can she get inside the mind of the killer?

Her strength is thinking like a criminal; her weaknesses are pubs, bars and destructive relationships, but as Chastity searches for love and a flamboyant killer – battling her demons and the dark, foggy Hamburg weather – she hits dead end after dead end.

As panic sets in and the death toll rises, it becomes increasingly clear that it may already be too late. For everyone…

My thoughts

Billed as the Chastity reloaded series, but don’t worry this is far superior to anything you usually see appended with reloaded. It is going back to the start for Chastity with the original novels being given a new translation, so if you’ve loved the later books then you are in for a treat.

The plot is straightforward and linear, the search for a killer who becomes a serial killer. The story is told in a kind of staccato rhythm, the case moves forward and then something mundane happens such as Chasity and Faller will have a coffee and shoot the breeze before the story resumes. These slightly leftfield interjections work so well with the short chapters and allow snapshots of life in Sankt Pauli to be shown.

The author has a very distinctive style, at times the prose is sparse and stripped back, but there remains a lyrical quality to it, at times almost poetic. It is as if all the background noise is removed and what is left is carefully assembled into a text that is both precise and cuts to the heart of the matter. Its not just the quality of the writing though, the translation is a real tour de force in preserving these attributes. The chapters range from short to miniscule to accommodate this style, meaning every word counts, there is no excess baggage.

The dialogue fizzes with energy and then suddenly there is a crack like peanut brittle being snapped and there is a change in the vibe. This is not the usual wise cracking hard-boiled approach, but there is always an undercurrent of deliciously dark humour.

Fans of action won’t be disappointed, there’s blood and gory murder (described in the aftermath) along with some danger and jeopardy, but it stays in procedural territory rather than being an all-out thriller. It’s a trawl through the sleazy twilight world of Hamburg as working girls, erotic dancers, pimps and dealers are questioned.

Chastity is a fascinating character, thoroughly modern but unable to settle down. She’s thirty-eight but still has a chaotic approach to life like someone in her early twenties. At the start we find her suffering with a major hangover from drinking until 3am in a bar. She’s also full of contradictions, such as when she thinks her friend Carla is big enough to look after herself but then panics when she doesn’t answer her phone. Her love life vacillates too, she considers neighbour Klatsche is too young, but they end up sharing a bed while Carla is trying to set her up on a date with an older man.  Very much a woman whose attitude is all in or nothing.

We get sketches of a past, a mother who deserts Chastity and her father, her father’s suicide and her moving to Hamburg. She only intended to stay a couple of years but cannot leave as she observes like your football time you cannot chose your city, it choses you. A brilliant observation as Chastity is absorbed into life in the Sankt Pauli as it becomes the fabric of her life. The dive bars, fish sandwiches on the docks, the nightclubs on the Reeperbahn, the street food, the sights, and smells of the docks and of course St Pauli FC for her football fix. In a similar way I think this series might be one that picks the reader, for me it’s totally absorbing.

The supporting characters are fabulous too. Head of CID Faller, likened to Robert Mitchum when troubled, is a substitute father figure, concerned for her welfare and someone she can confide in. Living next door to Chastity is Klatsche a young man who has turned his back on a life of burglary to become a master locksmith and is only too happy to help Chastity out in any way he can. Carla is the best friend, the female bond, who is just as unreliable as the rest, leaving a regular customer unofficially in charge of her café when the feeling takes her, usually consuming too much alcohol with chastity. There’s also a startling cameo and scene involving Julchen which I won’t spoil.

The Acapulco is the start of a fantastic noir series set in the dark shadows of the Sankt Pauli district of Hamburg. With stylish prose and punchy dialogue its hard-bitten, hard-boiled and hard to put down.

The Acapulco can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street, Hotel Cartagena and River Clyde all followed in the Chastity Riley series, with The Acapulco out in 2023. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.

The translator

Rachel Ward is a freelance translator of literary and creative texts from German and French to English. Having always been an avid reader and enjoyed word games and puzzles, she discovered a flair for languages at school and went on to study modern languages at the University of East Anglia. She spent the third year working as a language assistant at two grammar schools in Saaebrücken, Germany. During her final year, she realised that she wanted to put these skills and passions to use professionally and applied for UEA’s MA in Literary Translation, which she completed in 2002. Her published translations include Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang and Red Rage by Brigitte Blobel, and she is a member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting.

Don’t forget to check out the other reviews on this Blog Tour:

Blood Runs Cold

By Neil Lancaster https://neillancastercrime.co.uk/ @neillancaster66

Published by HQ Digital (an impress of Harper Collins Publishers) HQ Digital https://www.hqstories.co.uk/ @HQstories

352 pages ISBN 9780008551254

Publication date 13 April 2023

Blood Runs Cold is the fourth novel in the Max Craigie series.

Click on the links to read my reviews of The Blood Tide and The Night Watch the second and third novels in this series.

I was allowed access to a pdf review copy on Net Galley https://www.netgalley.com/ @NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I would like to thank the Author and Publisher for organising this.

The cover

A road through the highlands and quite brooding vibe. A little dull perhaps, but hard to represent what happens in the book on a cover…

From the blurb

She was taken against her will.

On her fifteenth birthday, trafficking victim Affi Smith goes for a run and never returns. With a new identity and secure home in the Scottish Highlands, she was supposed to be safe…

She escaped once.

With personal ties to Affi’s case, DS Max Craigie joins the investigation. When he discovers other trafficking victims have disappeared in exactly the same circumstances, he knows one thing for certain – there’s a leak somewhere within law enforcement.

She won’t outrun them again.

The clock is ticking… Max must catch Affi’s kidnappers and expose the mole before anyone else goes missing. Even it if means turning suspicions onto his own team…

My thoughts

What another case for the Policing Standards Reassurance Team to investigate, its only a few months since the last one, surely there can’t be that many corrupt officers… Alas a quick look in a newspaper will show that there are still plenty about. So, I think the PSR Team will be busy for a few years to come which is great news if you like reading action-packed, high-octane police thrillers. Don’t get too hung up on procedures and form filling, bang up those bad guys. Mr Lancaster has done it again with another fast paced, gripping page turner, in keeping with the style of the previous three.

The team come across the case by accident when Max’s wife Katie asks him to look into a case of a missing girl. Katie is a paralegal at a firm of immigration solicitors and the girl, Affrodita (Affi), is a client. She’s Albanian and was trafficked to the UK aged twelve and eventually rescued by the authorities whilst making a drugs delivery to Scotland. Now three years later she is settled with foster parents in the Highlands of Scotland but has gone missing whilst out for a training run. She’s now happy and well adjusted, her foster parents cannot believe she has decided to just run away. A bit of digging by Max and Janie reveals a fud of an ex-boyfriend and a bit of help from Barney the helpful former spook provides an opening. She’s clearly been kidnapped using information from a bent copper, so it becomes a live case for them.

Plot the centres on the search for Affi, the tracking down of the rogue policing elements and bringing the Albanian gang to justice. Its straightforward and linear but well thought out and put together, there is some guile, but what it lacks in complexity it more than makes up for in action, bloodshed, and jeopardy.

Keeping a small investigation team allows tight plotting and control over the storyline. Barney comes in to do his magic with the technology and phones, which kind of makes him the fifth Beatle. Max’s old contact Bruce gets a call, and the regular part of the investigation is handed over to DCI Marnie Leslie, but the famous five remain firmly in the centre.

The themes are up right to date and sadly a true reflection of the problems faced by Britain and Europe. Human trafficking into slavery (in this case drug running) and prostitution with no regards to humanity or life, together with weak, corrupt men in power.

The subject matter may be serious but there’s still room for lighter moments too. The banter between the officers is a good as usual. There’s a great cameo by Lewis McPhail the ex-boyfriend of Affi. He’s four years older but somewhat behind her in maturity terms and is a wannabe Gangsta and gets all Bolshie to be pulled by the ‘Feds’. He thinks he’s Hip Hop but comes over as a Scottish version of the man from the Staines ghetto, a sort of Ali McG. Silly but hilarious and the sad thing is if you go to any small town, you will find young men like him.

There’re some lovely little touches that bring the characters to life, like when they become worried that they can’t find Barney, because he’s left his baccy pouch behind so it must be serious. There’s a little more filling in of a character’s back story with a surprise that shocks everyone (including the reader so no spoiler.) Hoxhaj is a menacing crime boss, and you can practically smell Enver his rank oversized bodyguard.

If you love reading pacey, page turning crime thrillers then you’re on to a winner with Blood Runs Cold. Fans of the series are going to love it and I believe there will be another coming soon. We wait with eager anticipation.

The author

Neil was born in Liverpool in the 1960s. He recently left the Metropolitan Police where he served for over twenty-five years, predominantly as a detective, leading and conducting investigations into some of the most serious criminals across the UK and beyond.

Neil acted as a surveillance and covert policing specialist, using all types of techniques to arrest and prosecute drug dealers, human traffickers, fraudsters, and murderers. During his career, he successfully prosecuted several wealthy and corrupt members of the legal profession who were involved in organised immigration crime. These prosecutions led to jail sentences, multi-million pound asset confiscations and disbarments.

Since retiring from the Metropolitan Police, Neil has relocated to the Scottish Highlands with his wife and son, where he mixes freelance investigations with writing.

Source: Goodreads author profile

The Langstone Harbour Murders

By Pauline Rowson https://www.rowmark.co.uk/ @PaulineRowson

Narrated by Colin Mace @Macey6

Published by Joffe Books https://www.joffebooks.com/ @JoffeBooks, Saga Egmont Audio https://www.sagaegmont.com/ @sagaegmont

276 pages (7 bours 42 minutes) ISBN 9788728529409

Publication date 23 February 2023

The Langstone Harbour Murders is book 2 in the Solent Murder Mystery series. This novel was previously published as Deadly Waters.

I was allowed access to an audio review copy on Net Galley https://www.netgalley.com/ @NetGalley.  Thanks to the Author and Publisher for organising this.

The cover

A bold eye-catching cover if a little generic.

From the blurb,

The headmistress of a Portsmouth school is found brutally murdered on an old structure in the middle of Langstone Harbour. Discovered with the victim is a note with the words ‘Have you forgotten ME?’ scrawled on it and a wad of money covered in honey, and wrapped in a five-pound note.

The victim is Jessica Langley, a steely, determined woman who made enemies on her path to success. But did any of them hate her enough to want her dead?

All the evidence points to a killer who wants to leave a very particular message.

Detective Andy Horton of Portsmouth CID is on the case and it is a race against time to piece together the clues and stop the killer. With the clock ticking and Superintendent Uckfield pressing for results, Horton is forced to make a decision that will put his life on the line.

The narration

An excellent measured performance. A nice balance between authority and frustration with Horton and Cantelli is a perfect creation of steady and reliable.

My thoughts

The narration starts with an author’s note; the novel is set in the early 2000’s when technology was somewhat different. This is because the book is a re-issue with a new title, the previous being Deadly Waters. Technology is not the only thing to change in the last twenty years, society and the policing of it have changed significantly, but for football fans the thing that jumps out is that Portsmouth are in the Premier Division. Despite this the story still feels quite fresh and is not obviously dated.

The story starts with the principal police officers, DI Andy Horton and BS Barney Cantelli, just completing a miserable night-time stake out on a gang of antique thieves, where they drew a blank. Preparing to end shift Horton gets a call that a body has been spotted on the sunken Mulberry Harbour. (These were pre-formed concrete harbour pieces that were used during the 1944 Normandy Landings, with a damaged one left in situ in Langstone Harbour.) Sleep not an option for Horton and Cantelli as they are immediately thrust into this case. For Horton the stakes are ramped up due to him being overlooked for a new position. Horton assumed that when his former friend Steve Upfield got the job of heading up the Major Crimes team, he would get the job of his number two. Upfield has other plans though and a different DI has the job and will join in a week. This works to spur Horton on, making him determined to solve the case before the new man comes in.

The plot centres on this murder, it turns out the victim was a well-respected Headmistress of a local school. In her knickers is found a roll of money which is smeared in honey, a clear nod to Edward Lear’s poem/nursery rhyme ‘The Owl and the Pussycat.’ This combined with the Mulberry Harbour (‘Here we go round the Mulberry Bush’) and the twenty-year vintage immediately had me thinking oh no a serial killer who taunts the police with killings set to nursery rhymes, but thankfully this is much more subtle and sensible. Suspects are obvious but digging into dark pasts is needed before the pieces come together.

The novel is very much centred on DI Andy Horton, a complex, troubled man with significant baggage. Quite suitably for the investigation he lives on a boat, however this is no romantic idyll but necessity as he was kicked out of the family home by wife Kathryn after he was, wrongly, accused of rape in an earlier case. Horton is trying to rebuild a shattered life and career, desperate to see his daughter he still harbours hope of a marital reconciliation. All of which is doing little to improve his state of mind and temper. His support comes in the form of DS Barney Cantelli, a solid copper and all-round good guy, it is he who provides the jokes and light relief as he tempers Horton’s aggression.

There is plenty of extra colour provided by the other supporting characters; a police doctor with drink problems, grubby betting shop customers with a brassy manager, a dodgy club bar steward and schoolteachers who range from those with too high opinion of themselves to the downright prissy. All a world away from the posh yachts and marinas.

The motivations of the various suspects are varied with, revenge, power, and exploitation to the fore. But in the end, it boils down to one of the basic sins.

The pacing is well judged, never getting too far ahead of itself and Horton’s domestic problems provide a nice switch of emphasis and pace without reverting to misery. The storyline is entertaining, there’s enough going on, elements of jeopardy and more than one murder to keep the reader’s interest without getting too dark. It remains overall a police procedural.

The Langstone Harbour Murders is a highly entertaining police procedural that bares the test of time well.

The audiobook closes with a statement about the fine charitable work carried out by Egmont in support of education for children and young persons, please see their website for details.

The author

Adventure, mystery and heroes have always fascinated and thrilled Pauline, that and her love of the sea has led her to create her exciting and gripping range of crime novels.

Born and raised in the coastal city of Portsmouth in the UK, Pauline Rowson draws her inspiration for her crime novels from the area. When she isn’t writing (which isn’t often) she can be found walking the coastal paths on the Isle of Wight and around Langstone and Chichester Harbours looking for a good place to put a body!

Pauline is the author of twenty-four crime novels — sixteen featuring the rugged and flawed Portsmouth detective, Inspector Andy Horton; four in the mystery thriller series featuring Art Marvik, the troubled former Royal Marine Commando now an undercover investigator for the UK’s National Intelligence Marine Squad (NIMS); two standalone thrillers, the award-winning In Cold Daylight and In For the Kill, and the 1950 set mystery series featuring Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Alun Ryga, who makes his debut in Death in the Cove with his second investigation Death in the Harbour.

Her crime novels have been highly acclaimed in the UK, USA and Commonwealth and they have been translated into several languages. Multi-layered, fast-paced, and compelling, they are full of twists and turns and are played out against the dramatic and powerfully evocative British marine landscape of the south coast of England.

Pauline is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association and the Society of Authors. Before becoming a full-time writer, she was a renowned marketing and training guru, with a collection of ‘how to’ business books and a successful marketing, media and training career behind her.

Source: Publisher’s website.

Force of Hate

By Graham Bartlett https://policeadvisor.co.uk/ @gbpoliceadvisor

Published by Allison & Busby https://www.allisonandbusby.com/ @AllisonandBusby

352 pages ISBN 9780749028671

Publication date 23 March 2023

Force of Hate is the second novel in the Chief Superintendent Jo Howe series.

I was allowed access to a pdf review copy on Net Galley https://www.netgalley.com/ @NetGalley.  Thanks to the Author and Publisher for organising this.

The cover

Dark and moody, in keeping with the subject matter and location.

From the blurb

When a firebomb attack at a Brighton travellers’ site kills women and children, Chief Superintendent Jo Howe has strong reason to believe the new, dubiously elected, far-right council leader is behind the murders.

Against the direct orders of her chief constable, Jo digs deeper into the killings. She uncovers a criminal ring of human trafficking and euthanasia all leading to a devastating plot which threatens thousands of lives and from which the murderous politician looks sure to walk away scot-free.

My thoughts

This novel runs with an interesting ‘what if’ premise. No not what would have happened if Hilter had been victorious, that one has been done to death. The premise here is what might happen if a genuine far-right organisation took over a city council. Local council elections, with their often very low turn outs and protest votes, are notorious for producing odd results. Independents can win seats on single issues, so whilst perhaps improbable, it’s by no means impossible for an organised group to pull off such a coup. That it occurs in Brighton, seen by some as the ‘Gay Capital of England’ promises an interesting read ahead.

The story starts with Ajee, who is fleeing the war in Syria. On her arrival in England, she quickly brings her survival instincts to the fore as the lorry they are travelling in is stopped, but she manages to escape. From this point onwards she must live of her wits and the goodwill of others. A true refugee, like so many others, trying to avoid the clutches of those who would exploit her.

Following this there is a fire bomb attack at a travellers camp with devastating effect. Two adults and two children are killed as a result and there are two further deaths as the attackers make their getaway. Such deaths may not have been expected but it is clearly an orchestrated attack, one designed to send a clear message.

Chief Superintendent Jo Howe is battling on many fronts. She is still processing the fall-out from the previous major case (in Bad for Good) and a misjudged affair. Her professional relationship with the Chief Constable Stuart Acers is strained as he seems too busy trying to please the local council. Jo must work with the Council Leader Tom Doughty and Chief Executive Russ Parfitt but they show her no respect and delight in making her position uncomfortable. They represent the far right British Patriot Party (BPP) and are busy setting their own agenda which includes undermining the position of the police in areas where they can’t exercise control.

The paths of Ajee and Jo cross by accident as they both play prominent roles within the plot before their paths cross once again towards the finale. The plot itself is the execution of a dastardly master plan by the BPP, aimed at disrupting social harmony and setting citizens against each other and particularly those who are incomers or in some way different. Certainly audacious, but also credible enough to have me wondering if such plans have been contemplated and thwarted by the authorities.

The novel tackles many of the serious issues facing the Western World today. There is war and devastation that creates huge numbers of refugees which in turn produces the incentive for human trafficking, together with the physical and sexual violence they potentially face en route. Once at their destination, there is the issue of modern slavery and sexual exploitation. To this is added racial tensions and violence and being set in Brighton some homophobia. A potent mixture handled well with considerable tact and a firm moral stance, here there are no blurring of the lines, whilst essentially remaining an entertaining crime novel.

There is plenty happening throughout, and the action moves along at a fair pace to accommodate this. The style builds up a sense of urgency in the latter third through chapters shortening and narratives switching leading up to a breathless final set-piece. It is here the tables are turned and Jo asserts control over Doughty.

As a lead character Jo is both interesting and engaging, she has flaws, but no more than any other normal person. She possesses steely determination, is loyal to her colleagues and sensitive to the public. She is also pragmatic, not everything can be done by the rule book, but that doesn’t mean the rule book should be ripped up. Whilst her railing against her superior and facing suspension is a familiar trope in police procedurals, it is crucial to the plot and dealt with really well here.

The one aspect throughout is the authentic feel to the writing and a quick check of the author’s biography demonstrates why this is the case. Excellent judgment is shown in the areas where the envelope has been pushed in the name of entertainment. Complete authenticity would make for a dull read but here there was no point in the action where I thought ‘I’m not buying that’.

The supporting characters were excellently portrayed. There’s the hopes and fears of Ajee and a real feeling of jeopardy for her part. Doughty and Parfitt are textbook villainous bullies, obnoxious and nasty, brave in control but weak in isolation and Acer is a pathetic man who has risen too high and is determined to protect himself at all costs. In Bob and Gary, Jo has 100% reliable officers in support, which the author adroitly uses to build structure to the investigation whilst Jo is being ‘Mrs Maverick’, the sort you hope to come across if ever you need a police officer.

The interactions between the officers are perfectly judged if a little sanitised, but for me the standout is the interviews, never overplayed but convincing, clearly written by someone with first-hand experience. Covering serious themes means light-hearted moments are few, though Jo’s frustration at the council when one of their officers tries to make her life difficult was a standout bit of schadenfreude.

Force of Hate is a fast-paced procedural with an authentic feel that is action packed and tackles serious themes. A series I can recommend and intend to stick with.

Force of Hate can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Graham Bartlett rose to become chief superintendent and the divisional commander of Brighton and Hove police. His first non-fiction book Death Comes Knocking was a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller, which he then followed with Babes in the Wood. He co-wrote these books with bestselling author, Peter James, and has since published Bad for Good and Force of Hate starring Chief Superintendent Jo Howe. Bartlett is also a police procedural and crime advisor helping scores of authors and TV writers inject authenticity into their work.

Source: Publisher’s website

Viper’s Dream

By Jake Lamar http://www.jakelamar.com/ @jakelamar

Published by No Exit Press https://noexit.co.uk/ @noexitpress (an imprint of Oldcastle Books Group) https://oldcastlebooks.co.uk/ @OldcastleBooks

192 pages ISBN 9780857305497

Publication date 20 April 2023

I was sent a paperback proof in exchange for a fair review.  I would like to thank Hollie at Oldcastle Books for kindly sending me this copy.

The Cover

A simple but very effective cover. It has the cool jazz vibe of the 1960s with just a hint of menace, love it.

From the blurb

1936. Clyde ‘The Viper’ Morton boards a train from Alabama to Harlem to chase his dreams of being a jazz musician. When his talent fails him, he becomes caught up in the dangerous underbelly of Harlem’s drug trade. In this heartbreaking novel, one man must decide what he is willing to give up and what he wants to fight for.

My thoughts

My father was a great fan of the big band swing era, so I was brought up with him listening to Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw in the background. He also listened to Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong and here was probably the starting point for my appreciation for jazz music, preferring Bebop and Cool jazz of the 55s and 60s whereas Dad stuck to the big band compositions to the very end. So when I saw Viper’s Dream tagged as ‘A pure, true Jazz Noir Classic’ by David Peace I knew I had to get a copy. I love noir and jazz, a perfect combination plus it would stir a few memories. I was not disappointed.

The storyline follows Clyde Morton a black, country hick and his adult journey from Meachum Alabama to becoming a big player in the Big Apple, New York. It is told through two strands, a night of reckoning in 1961 and a back story from him catching the train to New York in 1936 which catches up to the present.

Clyde has been fed stories by his crazy uncle Wilton that he can find fame and fortune as a jazz trumpeter. So he ditches his pregnant fiancé (who threatens suicide) on the platform and catches the train to his future. Alas, the dream is very short lived. At his first audition with Pork Chop Bradley he is told that he can’t play, but it introduced to ‘Mary Warner’ (marijuana) and so makes two lifelong friends. Pork Chop gets Clyde a job at Gentleman Jack’s barbershop and from there he is introduced to Abraham Orlinsky known as Mr O, a prominent businessman in Harlem, even though he is white and Jewish. Chauffeured around, the best tailoring and grooming, Clyde becomes an enforcer and associate within Mr O’s crime empire. This is a journey that will be mirrored twenty years later. He also has a nickname too, Viper, after the ssss from exhaling when smoking a joint, appropriate when Viper Morton becomes the biggest supplier of ‘Mexican loco weed’ in the city.

Clyde falls under the spell of Yolanda who he first meets working as a maid for Mr O. Yolanda, Yo-Yo to her friends, is from a poor creole family who just wants to sing and dreams of stardom. Their paths keep crossing with disastrous results, made for each other but seemingly destined never to be together, Yolanda is a true femme fatale.

This is a short novel, 192 pages, but the reader is in no way short changed. The storytelling is intense, the prose rich like a reduced French jus from Yolanda’s stay in Paris. Broad descriptive strokes at times, but more than enough to get a feel for Harlem, 52^nd and Midtown, this is very focussed writing.

The characterisation is wonderful, particularly with the portrayal over the twenty five years as they mature and change. Crooks, chancers, dope heads, heavies, bent police and lawyers are all there and whilst a little cliched at times all have a purpose. Police corruption is as old as they come but we all know it goes on for these empires to form.

The dialogue is as sharp as Big Al’s cutthroat razor and feels an authentic voice. The nicknames are on point, varying from the sublime to the ridiculous, but it’s a scene where everyone who is anyone had to have one.

The plot is the journey of final self-reflection that Viper must take on what builds up as his judgement day. A simple device, a poser from Baroness Pannonica (Nica) de Koenigswarter who held jazz parties, if you had three wishes what would they be? Miles Davis only needed one, to be white. Viper ponders over his choices. He faces a night of reflection taking almost three hours and the reader gets insight into why he makes choices he did.

Fans of jazz will love the cameo appearances of Parker, Monk, Gillespie et al and Nica’s parties are a perfect vehicle with the lazy late-night jams amidst the cigarette smoke. You’ll wish you were there but the best you can do is listen to the 50-track play list curated by the author. A fair few I possess but more will be streamed.

Throughout there is the theme of good versus bad but often seen through a distorting lens. Viper’s boys don’t deal heroin because its evil and kills but they deal marijuana. There is a sense of a code of honour, a little like the Mafia, but justice is their form, vicious and summarily handed out, these short, intense bursts of violence may shock or take your breath away. The question posed is it better to rule by love or hate or is it possible to rule with both? Viper starts out being loved but in the end is feared and then hated.

Viper’s Dream is simply a brilliant piece of intense noir writing set against a background of the changing New York jazz scene.

Viper’s Dream can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Image © Ulf Andersen

Jake Lamar was born in 1961 and grew up in the Bronx, New York. After graduating from Harvard University, he spent six years writing for Time magazine. He has lived in Paris since 1993 and teaches creative writing at one of France’s top universities, Sciences Po. He is the author of a memoir, seven novels, numerous essays, reviews and short stories, and a play. His most recent work, Viper’s Dream, is both a crime novel and an audio drama, set in the jazz world of Harlem between 1936 and 1961. He is a recipient of the Lyndhurst Prize (for his first book, Bourgeois Blues), a prestigious Centre National du Livre grant (for his novel Postérité), France’s Grand Prize for best foreign thriller (for his novel The Last Integrationist), and a Beaumarchais fellowship for his play Brothers in Exile. He is currently working on a memoir about his life in Paris.

Source: Publisher’s website