Tennison #TEAMTENNISON #LyndaLaPlante #Tennison

By Lynda Le Plante https://lyndalaplante.com/ @LaPlanteLynda

Narrated by Julie Teal @JulietealJulie

Published by Bolinda Audio https://www.bolinda.com/ @Bolindaaudio, Simon & Schuster https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/ @simonschusterUK

611 pages (17 hours 20 minutes) ISBN 9781489089809

Publication date 24 September 2015

Tennison is the first novel the Jane Tennison Thriller Series.

I reviewed an audiobook using the BorrowBox library app https://www.borrowbox.com/ @BorrowBox. I would like to thank Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers http://www.compulsivereaders.com/ for the opportunity to take part in the #TEAMTENNISON review project. My review of Hidden Killers the second novel in the series will be posted on this blog in early October.

The Cover

The audiobook cover is decidedly dull. The book cover (as shown) is much more atmospheric, being a lone woman at night with a sense of danger.

From the blurb

In 1973 Jane Tennison, aged 22, leaves the Metropolitan Police Training Academy to be placed on probationary exercise in Hackney where criminality thrives. We witness her struggle to cope in a male-dominated, chauvinistic environment, learning fast to deal with shocking situations with no help or sympathy from her superiors. Then comes her involvement in her first murder case.

The narration

Good all-round narration, I thought she gave a sense of personality to Jane, and I especially enjoyed the more working-class voices (albeit some of this work being of a criminal nature.)

My thoughts

I am of an age that I can remember when Jane Tennison crashed on our screens in 1991 in Prime Suspect. It was one of those periodic ‘game changers’ that happen on TV which sweeps a new style into the medium. Here was a female police office, a detective of high rank, who was forceful, determined and a risk taker, not willing to take nonsense from the men around her, even taking them on at their own game. A genuine alpha female.

Starting the Prime Suspect series of novels so far through Jane Tennison’s career leaves so many open questions, most notably how did she get there. The career ladder is difficult to climb in the 2020s, it must have been nigh on impossible in the 1970s and 1980s for a woman to smash through the glass ceiling. What sacrifices did she make to get there, what major cases was she involved in and how did the male officers treat her, immediately spring to mind. I’m not usually a fan of prequels, but there is so much background to fill in and so many questions to answer that the need is clear and compelling.

The story begins with Jane fresh out of Hendon College and working as a probationary constable at a station in Hackney, so not the gentlest of starts for a newbie. We quickly realise that she is very keen to impress and to be a success, so much so that this over eagerness backfires at times and she quickly feels sergeant Harris’ ire. She gets a lucky break early as she gets drafted into CDI to help cover for the indexer who is on maternity leave. Jane also gets the chance to go on a forensics course where she is keen to not only absorb what she can but also apply it to the cases she is helping on. Admittedly a little bit of a ‘teacher’s pet’ but the personal attributes that will help her later in her career are becoming evident, her determination, sharp intellect and ability to make connections.   

Her settling in, making new friends and moving into the stationhouse provides great opportunities to lighten up the story. Pranks are played, nicknames discovered with a lot of banter and camaraderie as Jane learns important lessons, many the hard way.

Jane’s family could be regarded as genteel and middleclass, her mother worries about her joining the force and would rather her be a hairdresser or something similar. Now that the die is cast, they are supportive of her despite their fears. A nice caring family, something we all deserve. Her sister’s wedding causes some angst even though Jane tries to avoid the subject, though no one can ignore the description of her bridesmaid’s dress.

The plot originally centres on the murder of a young woman whose body is found on Hackney Marshes. This case gives Jane a crash course in the worst of humanity and the cold hard reality for some of those on the fringes of society. She gets exposure to those whose life is blighted by drugs, criminality and prostitution as well as her first visit to a post-mortem. Running parallel to this is a second case, which is discovered by accident, thanks to Jane paying attention and being able to ‘join the dots.’ Senior officers are sceptical at first but her confidence and certainty wins them over. It will be a major collar and doubles all round if she is right, but reputations are at stake in a high-risk game.

Some may find the book a little slow, which it is at times, as it builds up quite a detailed back story. There are sections when it does speed up, these coinciding with the action scenes, but it is a long novel at over 600 pages so few readers will blast through it in one sitting. The action scenes when they do come are vivid and quite shocking.

Some say that if you can remember the 1960s you probably weren’t there, well if you can remember the 1970s, they were bloody awful, something our author captures so well about the period. An honest snapshot of the time rather than one looking through rose-tinted spectacles. There are enough popular culture references to fix the period in time without going over the top and there is so much scope for old-fashioned policing. So, card indexes, notebooks, and typewriters rather than computers; landlines and payphones rather than mobiles and of course no DNA testing to help. On the ‘plus side’ a certain amount of roughing up of suspects is condoned and a blind eye is turned to the occasional perk and fiddle. The drug squad and the Sweeney get cameo roles within the investigations, their chippy, cocky personas being captured to perfection.

The attitudes of the time are well portrayed too, with the sexism, chauvinism and casual racism. Consequently, attitudes displayed to female officers are shocking by modern standards, it’s as if testosterone sloshing around by the bucketful. Jane quickly learns that she needs to prick male egos and stand up to them if she is going to thrive in this environment.     

As the genesis of one of crime fiction’s best loved female detectives Tennison is exactly what the reader has come to expect.

Tennison can be purchased via the publisher’s website here

The author

Lynda La Plante’s many novels, including the Prime Suspect series, have all been international bestsellers.  She is an honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and a member of the UK Crime Writers Awards Hall of Fame.  She was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2008.  She runs her own television production company and lives in London and Easthampton, New York.

Source: Publisher’s website

The Tumbling Girl

By Bridget Walsh @bridget_walsh1

Narrated by Jasmine Blackborow @JazziBlackborow

Published by Gallic Books https://belgraviabooks.com/pb/ @BelgraviaB, Bolinda Audio bolinda.com @Bolindaaudio

287 pages (10 hours 20 minutes) ISBN 9781038642516

Publication date 25 May 2023

The Tumbling Girl is the first book Variety Palace Mysteries series.

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

The Cover

Pure Victoriana, its perfect.

From the blurb

1876, Victorian London. Minnie Ward, the feisty scriptwriter for the Variety Palace Music Hall, is devastated when her best friend is found brutally murdered. She enlists the help of private detective Albert Easterbrook to help her find justice, even though he already has his hands full trying to catch the notorious Hairpin Killer.

Together they navigate London, from its high-class clubs to its murky underbelly. But as the bodies pile up, Albert’s burgeoning feelings for his amateur partner start to interfere…

The narration

I loved the narration; she demonstrated a great range of voices and had the working-class ones like Minnie down to a tee. Also, I had the feeling that she was enjoying what she was doing which adds to the pleasure.

My thoughts

Variety theatre was the entertainment of the masses during the Victorian era and a chance for toffs to rub shoulders with the hoi-polloi, experience a frisson of danger before returning to the safety of their townhouse or mansion. A happy hunting ground for the rich and influential to partake in some decadent behaviour and take advantage of vulnerable working class show girls. It spawned a phenomena known as ‘Whitechapel Tourism’ before the dark days of the summer of 1888. A hotbed of vice and melodrama, the perfect setting for a modernised ‘Penny Dreadful’. Think ‘The Good old Days’ but an episode where Leonard Sachs gets bludgeoned in the interval with his gavel, and I think there’s a few people who fancied having a go at that over the years.

The failure of the authorities to investigate the death of a performer, Rose a young acrobat from the local variety theatre, merely chalking it down as a suicide, is a clear indication of the attitudes prevalent at the time. Some would argue that for some, like prostitutes they are not much better this century. Friend Minnie and Rose’s mother are determined to prove that it was a case of murder, but what can two women do in this man’s world. They enlist the help of a private detective, in this case Albert is a true gentleman detective, a loner who reluctant to find Minnie inserting herself into his investigation. He’s a soft-hearted truth seeker with a lot to learn about backstage life but Minnie is the perfect guide and along the way they both learn important things about themselves and each other.

Albert comes from a family of wealth and influence. He proves to be a disappointment to them when he decides to be a policeman, prompting as much opprobrium for this choice as he might if he came from a family of crooks. After some years of service in the force, he leaves to become a consulting detective. From a business point of view, he is too much of a soft touch, failing to charge the going rate, so it is a good job he has private funds to fall back on. His housekeeper Mrs Burn helps to keep him focused as well as seeing to his household needs and giving advice and imparting wisdom. It is she who warns him about letting opportunities slip through his fingers.

Minnie is a kind-hearted young woman who hides it under tough carapace thanks to a torrid upbringing and formative years, that ultimately led to a life on stage. No longer performing herself, she writes material for other performers, such as songs and sketches, as well being an unpaid de facto second in command to ‘Tansie’ (Mr Tansford) the owner of the Variety Palace Theatre.

Being the first novel in a planned series there is a fair degree of scene setting and background to be absorbed, but much of this has been cleverly absorbed into the storyline. Here we discover the motivation behind Albert’s career choice and the reasons why Minnie ended up on the stage only to eventually give it up.

The setting in the variety theatre is a stroke of genius as it provides great opportunity to change the narrative flow with interludes. These shows were incredibly popular and offered true variety even dipping into the territory of the other contemporary entertainment of the circus freak show. So, a one-legged dancer and the Mexican boneless wonder can easily be incorporated into the bill and moments of great levity are provided by a true cheeky monkey. A primate destined for literary stardom or perhaps more accurately notoriety!

The investigation is involved and quite twisty as suspects are eliminated. Naturally expect surprises, shocks and a little theatrical deception. A key aspect is a stanhope, no not a Northeast detective called Vera, but a piece of jewellery that hides a viewer for an enclosed microscopic photograph of a loved one. A true piece of Victorian ingenuity.

The principal motivation is the exercise of power. Power that becomes drug like, with a bigger fixed needed each time, which means bigger risks, but also the smug sense of satisfaction knowing that you are going to get away with it.

The writing is upbeat and the story skips along nicely. The dialogue is great, with Minnie getting some fabulous cutting remarks in, I think it is this that makes it work so well as an audiobook.

The Tumbling Girl brings the golden period of variety theatre vividly to life, only to remind us that gory death was never far away in Victorian England. A lovely new series for fans of historical crime fiction to enjoy.

The Tumbling Girl can be purchased via the publisher here

The Bolinda Audiobook that I listened to can be purchased from Audible here

The author

I was born in London and now live in Norwich with my husband and two dogs. After a degree in English Literature, and a few abortive career choices, I found my home as an English teacher for 23 years. I completed my PhD in Victorian domestic murder at London University in 2009, but my fascination with Victorian crime never left me. In 2019 I completed the Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) MA at UEA where I was awarded the David Higham Scholarship and received the UEA Little, Brown Award for Crime Fiction. I am represented by Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann.

The Tumbling Girl, the first in a series of crime novels set in the 1870s and featuring an intrepid, working-class heroine and her somewhat posher sidekick, will be published by Gallic in 2023.

Source: Goodreads profile

The narrator

Jasmine is currently shooting as Charly in Guy Ritchie’s THE GENTLEMEN for Netflix opposite Theo James and Joely Richardson.

She plays the Princesse de Lamballe in MARIE ANTOINETTE penned by Deborah Davis for CAPA Drama, Banijay Studios France, the BBC and CANAL+.

Other recent credits include Marie in SHADOW & BONE for Netflix, independent feature films SCHOOL’S OUT FOREVER for Rebellion Productions, THE ART OF LOVE on Netflix and the BAFTA nominated short AAMIR.

Theatre credits include THE BREACH directed by Sarah Frankcom at Hampstead Theatre and most recently the lead role in SUPER HIGH RESOLUTION directed by Blanche McIntyre to rave reviews.

Source: Management company Accelerate Management

Murder by Natural Causes

By Helen Erichsen @hjderichsen

Narrated by Natalie Pela

Published by Muswell Press https://muswell-press.co.uk/ @MuswellPress, Bolinda Audio bolinda.com @Bolindaaudio

352 pages (10 hours 12 minutes) ISBN 9781739638276

Publication date 25 May 2023

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

The Cover

Quite a clever cover, look at the shadow for a sense of what is to come.

From the blurb

Cilla is a 22-year-old contract killer, specialising in the dry job: a murder interpreted as death by natural causes. Neither strong, nor beautiful, she isn’t your typical female protagonist. In fact, she is so unremarkable as to render her almost invisible, an advantage in her line of work.

Cilla has survived because she is clever, stubborn and lucky. Plus, the weapons training and lessons on poison at the elite Academy 43 have stood her in good stead. But statistically her luck is bound to run out. She must find a way to reinvent herself. Soon.

The narration

Excellent narration, capturing Cilla’s changing emotions well and had a bit of fun with the Russian accents.

My thoughts

Female assassins are nothing new now, in fact they are becoming a bit of a TV and movie staple, but they still have the power to capture our imagination, something that Cilla certainly does. Women are still seen as the loving, nurturing sex so murder by females tends to shock, even more so when it is seen as callous and coldblooded. They don’t come much colder and vicious than those trained in the former Soviet Union.

The story starts with a backgammon shark winning much more than is wise to from a reckless young gambler, but one with important connections. On discovering this error, he decides to run, only to come across Cilla Wilson with a baby in a pram at the airport WH Smith. Cilla is no young mother though, she is a deadly contract killer who specialises in dry jobs, those that appear to be death by natural causes. The baby is a life-like dummy, an elaborate prop because despite her youth Cilla is an experienced and hardened professional.

The plot follows two strands of Cilla’s life, one is her current (early 1990’s) life in England, the other her childhood past in Russia. The narrative regularly moves between the two, but this is seamless to the progression and straightforward to follow. A nicely constructed narrative.

In the ‘current’ strand we follow Cilla as she works as the in-house killer for Vlad, a ruthless gangster with casino and drugs interests who runs a high stakes bridge and backgammon club as his base. For a retainer and a nice flat to live in, Cilla makes his people problems go away. She also has the relative freedom to do jobs on a freelance basis, for which she charges £50,000 a time. As time progresses though she realises this is not a life, she wants normality. The problem is how can she just slip away…

The historical strand follows her shattered and disturbing childhood. Living in a rural family that is struggling and largely uncaring, we discover that Luna the dog is the only one she holds affection for, she is selected to go to a special school, Academy 43. Of course, this is nothing like the academy schools we have in the UK, as she quickly discovers. Here their special talents are nurtured, but also, they are gradually desensitised to suffering and killing, to become highly trained killers.

A central theme is that of escape from an existence that is predetermined and one where once she has served her purpose, she becomes superfluous to requirements. The reality is assassins don’t get the chance to retire, they are erased by their successors. Here the stark reality faces Cilla as there are parallels in her life. She escapes the Russians only by working under the protection of Vlad. If she is to escape from Vlad who is going to protect her then?

Naturally with the story centring on murder there are some gory descriptions and a little casual torture but it’s not visceral and ‘in your face’ as dry jobs are supposed to look like natural causes. If your spouse suddenly takes an interest in archery or buying lots of cherries, you might want to start paying attention though.

Dark subject matter but with nicely judged light-hearted moments. In the Russian school they are allowed to watch VHS recordings of British TV and Cilla develops a taste for sitcoms, managing to watch every episode of The Liver Birds (and this wasn’t part of the desensitisation!) Her developing love of all things Liverpudlian is only then enhanced by her choice of English name Cilla, surprise surprise, due to her love of Cilla Black.

Cilla is a fascinating character, intelligent and thoughtful, a lover of philosophy reading the works of Kant and Nietzsche but with a stunted development when it comes to life in the West. So, we get to experience her discomfort in social interaction with her peers and various rites of passage western youngsters would have met a younger age. The timing of the story is a little confusing but makes perfect sense, covering as it does the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union. The upheaval and change experienced in the East becomes an allegory for what Cilla goes through herself, as she sees the possibility of a better life ahead, one with some freedom. An individual with a life and personality blossoming for the barren wasteland of a past forced upon her. It feels like to start of a journey, perhaps there will be more to follow one day.

Murder by Natural Causes is a thought-provoking look at a killer trying to change their destiny within a highly entertaining thriller. A cracking debut novel.

Murder by Natural Causes can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Source: Twitter

Helen Erichsen has a background in sociology, psychology and criminology. An accomplished bridge player, she has represented England several times and won the English Ladies Trials in 2021. Murder by Natural Causes combines Helen’s interests in psychology with her bridge career and her knowledge of gardening and the many properties of plants. She is married to the Norwegian bridge professional Espen Erichsen and lives with her family in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Source: Goodreads profile