Review: The Adventures of Max Spitzkopf by Jonas Kreppel

Synopsis: Max Spitzkopf, the Yiddish Sherlock Holmes, “heads the famous Viennese detective bureau Blitz . . . He’s bold as a lion and takes the wildest risks.” Meet Max Spitzkopf: legendary private eye, undefeated foe of villains, and passionate defender of the Jewish people. No matter how hopeless or dangerous the case, when “the investigatory profession’s greatest artist” is summoned, justice is assured. Aided by his trusty assistant, Fuchs, super-sleuth Spitzkopf deploys equal parts physical bravery and intellectual ingenuity— not to mention a knack for stealthy disguise—to unpick evil conspiracies, outwit the canniest of criminals, and restore moral order to the world.

Giving a unique twist to a beloved literary genre, this complete collection of the fifteen Spitzkopf mysteries is also a vibrant testament to Jewish life, in all its variety, during the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Reading the tales, with every iota of their linguistic verve and historical charm preserved in Mikhl Yashinsky’s translation, it’s easy to see why the young Isaac Bashevis Singer thought them “masterpieces.”

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Highly engaging collection of fifteen short stories featuring a Jewish detective, written in the style of Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes". The stories are set in and around Vienna in the 1920s, and deal with issues pertaining to the Jewish community and their dealings with those who are outside it.

Max Spitzkopf is a well respected (licensed) detective, and is accompanied by his Watson - Hermann Fuchs - who always seems to get himself into one scrape after another, resulting in a bash on the head, imprisonment and escape. Spitzkopf is inundated with cases from the seemingly banal to issues of national importance. As Spitzkopf bemoaned to Fuchs: “I would need at least ten heads, along with twenty eyes, twenty ears, and twenty pairs of hands and feet, to take on all of the cases these people wish to drop into my lap.”

Themes dealt with include religious bigotry, racism, murder, revenge, persecution, marriage, gang violence, espionage, forged wills, kidnappings, disappearing persons, - so if you have read your Holmes, you will feel at home with Spitzkopf. Like Holmes, Spitzkopf makes use of his assistants to do the leg-work, dons disguises himself, and throws out red herrings when on the trial of his mark. All cases are solved when the detective takes centre stage to unveil the villains and lay the matter to rest. And the villains always receive their dues.

Each of the stories follows in sequence and this is indicated by references at the beginning of the next tale. They are each in turn set out with a number of small chapters. As Yashinsky points out in his introduction, the stories of Spitzkopf were originally written as fifteen ".. pulp-fiction pamphlets that told his stories and cost only twenty Austrian heller for each shabby little shocker of thrity-two pages, published in Kraków around 1908."

I welcomed the opportunity to explore and savour a new detective series and highly recommend investing some time with Spitzkopf, the Yiddish Sherlock Holmes.

Fictional sleuth Sam Spade will be back in 2026

From AP News:

The story of one of the great fictional sleuths, Dashiell Hammett‘s Sam Spade, will be continued by prize-winning crime writer Max Allan Collins.

The publisher Hard Case Crime announced Thursday that Collins’ “The Return of the Maltese Falcon” will be released in January 2026, when the Hammett classic featuring Spade, “The Maltese Falcon,” enters the public domain. “The Maltese Falcon,” published in 1930 and known to movie fans for the 1941 adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart, is widely regarded as a model for the hard-boiled detective novel.

According to Hard Case Crime, Collins’ new book will bring back Spade and Joel Cairo among other Hammett characters, and “a mysterious new femme fatale.” Collins, whose “Road to Perdition” was adapted into a film starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, has a long history of working with famous literary detectives. He took over the Dick Tracy comic strip in the late 1970s after creator Chester Gould retired, and he was later authorized to continue Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer series.

Review: The Return of Moriarty by Jack Anderson

Synopsis: After Professor Moriarty survives Reichenbach Falls and Sherlock Holmes dies, Moriarty finds himself caught up in a locked-room mystery Holmes couldn’t solve.  This time, it’s up to Moriarty to crack the mystery, perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes ingenious retellings like the ones by Anthony Horowitz and Laurie R. King.

Upon escaping from Reichenbach Falls, his empire in ruins, criminal mastermind James Moriarty takes the identity of wealthy inventor Hugo Strahm and embarks on a dark pilgrimage to the cliffside manor of Schloss Alber in Bavaria.

When medical student Clara Mendel returns to Schloss Alber, she finds her childhood home on the verge of ruin. A deadly feud over a priceless heirloom has thrown the Alber family into chaos while its walls play host to an unusual cast of characters – the obstinate Lord Alber, his strange and beleaguered children, their cantankerous butler, and of course, their mysterious new guest, "Hugo Strahm." When one of them is poisoned at dinner, it’s the first act in a spiraling criminal conspiracy, in which any and all of them are suspects.

Working with the sharp and inquisitive Clara, the former crime lord attempts to solve the mystery whilst trying to keep his true identity concealed. Yet despite taking on the role of detective, Moriarty does not share Sherlock Holmes’s methods, nor his interest in justice. Only one thing is certain, for James Moriarty, dying at the hands of Sherlock Holmes would have been an elegant end… The question of what comes next is far more complicated.

This cleverly plotted mystery is a faithful and inventive take on the Sherlock Holmes legacy, paying homage to Arthur Conan Doyle’s signature style while adding its own devious tricks to the story that is destined to become a must-read classic for Sherlock Holmes fans.

~ ~ ~

As a huge fan of Conan Doyle's Holmes and Moriarty, I was eager to read this new mystery featuring Moriarty himself. And for the first part, I was intrigued and engaged as a series of journal entries and letters reveal that Moriarty did indeed survive after Reichenbach Falls in 1891 - these narratives explain this quite well, with each new narrator picking up where the previous one left off.

It is not until we meet our final main narrator in Clara Mendel and we reach our destination of Schloss Alber, that for me, events stagnate - characters become passe and even Moriarty himself is a bit wishy-washy. The actual mystery, was rather formulaic - just set in a different geographical location and timeline.

Whilst the use of a number of difference narratives does - at first - maintain a certain continuity, they actually begin to distract and detract from the mystery itself, bogging down the narrative to the point that I found myself wondering if the author was ever going to get to the point.

I was not a fan of this rendition of Moriarty, which was most likely one of the main reasons that this story just did not resonate - I would hardly describe it as a homage to Conan Doyle's own style nor being faithful to the Holmes legacy. One for the Holmes corpus ... I think not.

Review: Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill

Synopsis: Crime fiction author Joe Penvale has won the most brutal battle of his life. Now that he has finished his intense medical treatment, he and his twin sister, Meredith, are boarding the glorious Orient Express in Paris, hoping for some much-needed rest and rejuvenation. Meredith also hopes that the literary ghosts on the train will nudge Joe's muse awake, and he'll be inspired to write again. And he is; after their first evening spent getting to know some of their fellow travelers, Joe pulls out his laptop and opens a new document. Seems like this trip is just what the doctor ordered…

And then some. The next morning, Joe and Meredith are shocked to witness that the cabin next door has become a crime scene, bathed in blood but with no body in sight. The pair soon find themselves caught up in an Agatha Christie-esque murder investigation. Without any help from the authorities, and with the victim still not found, Joe and Meredith are asked to join a group of fellow passengers with law enforcement backgrounds to look into the mysterious disappearance of the man in Cabin16G. But when the steward guarding the crime scene is murdered, it marks the beginning of a killing spree which leaves five found dead—and one still missing. Now Joe and Meredith must fight once again to preserve their newfound future and to catch a cunning killer before they reach the end of the line.

~ ~ ~

The author provides the reader with a puzzle and mystery that is centered around how Christie's story amplifies the travelers' own experience on the actual Orient Express and of their perceptions of the fellow passengers.

This theme is referred to quite often by the fictional character of crime fiction author Joe Penvale and his sister, lawyer Meredith, who embark on a journey on this famous train only to find themselves caught up in their own version of "Murder on the Orient Express".

Like the Christie novel, the reader meets Joe's fellow passengers on the train - in fact it is a train full of detectives of one sort or another. There is the locked room murder, all passengers are suspects as Joe put himself in the position of Poirot and investigates. Clues and red herrings abound, as the body count rises (a la Death on the Nile), and the author reveals that not all is what or who they seem.

An entertaining homage to the Queen of Crime.

Review: The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

Synopsis: An old friend of Kosuke Kindaichi's invites the scruffy detective to visit the remote mountain village of Onikobe in order to look into a twenty-year-old murder case. But no sooner has Kindaichi arrived than a new series of murders strikes the village - several bodies are discovered staged in bizarre poses, and it soon becomes clear that the victims are being killed using methods that match the lyrics of an old local children's song...

The legendary sleuth investigates, but soon realises must unravel the dark and tangled history of the village, as well as that of its rival families, to get to the truth.

~ ~ ~

This is the sixth in the Kosuke Kindaichi series that have been translated and re-issued; and my engagement with each new (old) release never wanes.

It is a child's nursery rhyme that will aid Kindaichi in solving not only a twenty year murder mystery but the current one that links back to the original. As usual, family secrets, jealousies and rivalries drive the narrative and slowly come to the fore as we discover connections between the victims and their families.

Yokomizo is the master at weaving an intricate and devilish plots, whilst ensuring the reader is immersed in both scenery and culture, to the point that they feel like they are literally following in the footsteps of our detective, Kindaichi.

Hasegawa Hiroki as Konsuke Kindaichi

As always, I am looking forward to the next release from Pushkin Press (Murder at the Black Cat Cafe) - and cannot recommend this series enough.

Review: The Conspiracies of the Empire by Qiu Xiaolong

Synopsis: The legendary Judge Dee Renji returns, in this lyrical combination of mystery, history and ancient Chinese politics from the author of the renowned Inspector Chen mysteries.

In Tang dynasty China, Empress Wu - seductive, ambitious and vindictive - rules with an iron fist. Her premier minister, Judge Dee Renji, is honored to be trusted by her. But when she orders him to carry out an urgent investigation into the disappearance of disgraced poet Luo Binwang, he can't see why the matter is of such vital importance.

Luo Binwang joined a doomed uprising against Her Majesty, and vanished after the final, bloody battle. Is he missing - or dead? Either way, now that the rebellion has been mercilessly quashed, what harm could a poor, elderly poet do?

Traveling out of the great capital of Chang'an, accompanied by his loyal manservant Yang, Judge Dee launches a painstaking investigation, in the hopes of achieving what the empress' secret police could not. But the journey is marred by ill omens, and with death and disaster following his every step, Judge Dee soon begins to wonder if the empress trusts him as much as he thought . . .

This powerful mystery, set in ancient China, will appeal to fans of Robert Van Gulik's novels featuring the semi-fictional historical character Judge Dee, and includes an appendix of poems from some of China's finest Tang dynasty poets, newly translated by the author, who is an award-wining poet and critic in his own right.

~ ~ ~

The second in the Judge Dee mystery series set in China during the reign of Empress Wu, the first being The Shadow of the Empire.  This is a period and a character I love !

Set during Tang Dynasty China, this narrative revolves around the search for missing poet Luo Binwang, author of some politically motivated, and motivating, poetry. Forget Western style concepts of the murder mystery if embarking on this tome.  The investigation is conducted in a leisurely pace, observing the courtly protocols and etiquette of the period, however, there is till plenty to occupy the reader - murder, scandal, cover-ups.

For me, I could take or leave the poetry at the end though this did not detract from me reading or enjoyment of any Judge Dee mystery.

Check out the "Young Judge Dee" movies on YouTube or various PayTV channels.

Review: The Meji Guillotine Murders by Futaro Yamada

Synopsis: Japan, 1869. A time of reform and rebellion.A classic Japanese mystery – a pair of sleuths investigate a series of bloody murders in 19th century Tokyo.

Detectives Kazuki and Kawaji are assigned to investigate a series of seemingly impossible murders. Together with the help of a mysterious shrine maiden, can they solve each gruesome death and piece together the dark connection between them?

~ ~ ~

This tale is told over a series of small stories, each with it's own mystery and solution, but all converge and are joined in the final chapter, where the over-arching narrative is revealed and mystery solved.

There are two main investigating characters from the Imperial Prosecuting Office: Kazuki (based on a real historical figure) and his partner, the fictional, Kawagi. As an additional character, we are introduced to the fay-life Esmeralda, who accompanies the object in the title - the guillotine - to Japan, and remains as a sort of spiritualist who divines clues from speaking with the victims. Can't say I was a fan of Esmeralda and at times wonder why she was included at all.

There are many themes in this narrative - corruption, reform, colonialisation, tradition, politics, religion, rivalry, jealousy - for mid to late 19th century Japan was undergoing much change with the introduction of Western ideas and the end of Japan's isolationist policies.

A slow moving pace may detract some readers, but it is worth persevering to the end when the mysteries of the shorter stories and finally understood.

Review: The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi

Synopsis: A bewildering locked-room murder occurs as an amateur crime writer investigates strange events in the Chizurui mansion in this prizewinning classic Japanese mystery.

This ingenously constructed masterpiece, written by one of Japan’s most celebrated crime writers and translated into English for the first time, is perfect for locked-room mystery fans who can’t resist a breathtaking conclusion.

In the Chizurui family mansion, a haunting presence casts a shadow over its residents. By night, an eerie figure, clad in a sinister Hannya mask is seen roaming around the house. An amateur murder mystery writer, Akimitsu Takagi, is sent to investigate — but his investigation takes a harrowing turn as tragedy strikes the Chizurui family.

Within the confines of a locked study, the head of the family is found dead, with only an ominous Hannya mask lying on the floor by his side and the lingering scent of jasmine in the air as clues to his mysterious murder.

As Takagi delves deeper into the perplexing case, he discovers a tangled web of secrets and grudges. Can he discover the link between the family and the curse of the Hannya mask? Who was the person who called the undertaker and asked for three coffins on the night of the murder? And do those three coffins mean the curse of the Hannya mask is about to strike again?

The Noh Mask Murder’s legendary ending offers locked-room mystery fans the perfect coda to an ingenously constructed mystery.

~ ~ ~

Japanese crime fiction is not a simple genre - it is complex, tedious, ingenious, complicated, enthralling, gruesome. There is a narrative that can be as long and winding as a mountain path - it is never direct and never clear-cut. It is an onion - each layer revealing something new, something deadly, something confusing, something linked, something delicious. 

Japanese crime fiction of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s - or deductive reasoning fiction - is a genre that explores human driven motives that, as Seichō Matsumoto says "... originates from the psychology when people is left in the extreme situation..". 

An article from The Guardian discusses the art of "Honkaku" which refers "... to the crafting of fiendishly clever and complex puzzle scenarios".  In this same article, writer Haruta Yoshitame is said to have defined or described "Honkaku" as "... a detective story that mainly focuses on the process of a criminal investigation and values the entertainment derived from pure logical reasoning”."

The Noh Mask Murder is no different - the author narrates his own murder mystery, when he is called in to investigate by one Koichi Yangi, whose journals also form part of the narration.

As Takagi notes: "... unnatural facades have a habit of concealing sinister motives .." and as more family secrets are being revealed or unraveled as the case progresses, the corpses pile up. Prosecutor Ishikari observed that "... the Chizurui mansion was not a place where normal notions of justice held much sway ...". In fact, as the author notes, "... once the curtains had opened on the tragedy, the Chizurui family was plunged into catastrophe after catastrophe - and at a terrifying speed ...".

It is deliciously gripping narrative that slowly draws the reader into the spider web deftly woven around the key themes of family, suspicion, fear, hatred and death. No one is innocent but who is truly guilty ..? You must read on till the very end!

Review: Mrs Hudson & The Capricorn Incident by Martin Davies

Synopsis: It is spring in Baker Street, and London is preparing itself for the wedding of the season - an international spectacular in which the young and popular Duke of Krasnow, a political exile from his native land, is due to take the hand of the beautiful and accomplished Princess of Rovenia - a union that will heal the divisions between her family and the duke's. But the stakes are high.

When the princess disappears in dramatic circumstances, other members of the British establishment are quick to call on Mr Sherlock Holmes and he, in turn, looks to his redoubtable housekeeper Mrs Hudson, and housemaid Flotsam, to assist in this puzzling case.

~ ~ ~

What if Baker Street’s most gifted resident wasn’t called Sherlock Holmes?

This is the premise for a mystery series based around Sherlock Holmes' housekeeper / landlady, Mrs Hudson, as the primary investigator. This particular tome is number seven in the series, which I wasn't fully cognisant of at the time of reading, so my comments are based solely on this tome.

Not a fan - Mrs Hudson was not to my mind, central to the storyline at all, it more based around the housemaid, Flotsam, who is also our narrator. Maybe I should I read the first books, as I was certainly not invested in this one.

For those who are interested, the  books in the series are:

• Mrs Hudson & the Spirits’ Curse
• Mrs Hudson and the Malabar Rose
• Mrs Hudson and the Lazarus Testament
• Mrs Hudson and the Samarkand Conspiracy
• Mrs Hudson and the Blue Daisy Affair
• Mrs Hudson and The Christmas Canary

Review: The Devil's Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

Synopsis: Locked room mysteries are hot again, and this classic from the golden age of crime presents a mind-bending Japanese mystery from the great Seishi Yokomizo, whose fictional detective Kosuke Kindaichi is a pop culture phenomenon akin to Sherlock Holmes.

This time the beloved scruffy sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi investigates a series of gruesome murders within the feuding family of a brooding, troubled composer, whose most famous work chills the blood of all who hear it.

Readers will be totally engrossed by one of Yokomizo’s most clever guessing games, in which everyone has something to hide…

~ ~ ~

The style is fairly consistent - and one the author Seishi Yolomizo explores well - deep, dark family secrets, which when brought into open, give birth to jealousy, greed and ultimately ... murder. And here again, we have all those elements: a family saga of love and hate, revenge and redemption; many suspects but always one whom you are least likely to suspect; a suspenseful mystery, tied together by a long narrative that conveys the essence of the story, location and characters to perfection. This is Yokomizo's trademark.

In this instance we have a mysterious disappearance, a locked room murder mystery, a jewel robbery, and the haunting and ominous tones of a flute. All set in post WWII Japan. And at the centre of it all is our sleuth - Ko suke Kindaichi.

I cannot recommend this series enough, with our detective, Kindaichi, who according to the local policeman, looks more like a criminal than a world famous detective and is a indolent as a cat when not on a case!

See my other reviews of the books of Seishi Yokomizo.

Occupation Series by Chris Lloyd

Taken from the CRA Newsletter:

Layers of Research by Chris Lloyd

There is only one rabbit hole that is deeper and more relentless than researching for a novel. And that is asking a historical novelist about their research. Never, under any circumstances, do it. You may never escape.

I write the Occupation series, featuring Eddie Giral, a French police detective in Paris under the Nazi Occupation. To get the story right calls for a lot of research. This ranges from the general – the major events of the war – to the specific – the occupying authorities and the French police, rationing and criminality. To get the atmosphere and the setting right calls for much more targeted research into the day-to-day minutiae of people’s lives under Nazi rule. Where other writers have a social life, I have layers of research.

The bottom layer is immersive research. This is where I spend hours staring at photos of people of the period, what they’re wearing, where they work, how they move about the city. Films released at the time are a great source of getting a sense of the place and period. Eddie used to moonlight at jazz clubs, so I listen to the jazz he would have listened to.

The next layer up is general research. If my story takes place in autumn 1940, as in the case of Paris Requiem, I need to know what was happening in France and elsewhere and decide how much of it Eddie could have known, given censorship and restrictions.

Next up is specific research. As I set each book at a specific time during the Occupation, the bulk of the research goes into what was happening in Paris during that particular time. What laws were passed, what groups were being persecuted, which senior Nazis visited the city. I look for specific events and curiosities, such as French prisoners going missing from a Paris prison and interpret that through Eddie. His investigation turns up the same truth as the research gave to me but cast through his prism.

Finally comes the targeted research. This comes mainly from diaries and interviews. Recorded memories of people who lived through the Occupation are essential. This is what creates the atmosphere – what it was like to queue for bread, the silence of the streets without cars and buses, the sound of boots on cobbles.

Uniting all of the above, there is one underlying piece of research that is both extremely important and extremely enjoyable – walking Paris. If you want to bring all the strands of your research together, you need to walk the streets your characters walk. Just don’t ask me to talk about it. As I will. At length.

Read more about Chris and his books here.

Review: Marple: Twelve New Stories

Synopsis: A brand-new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Mystery’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors.

This collection of a dozen original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.

Miss Marple was first introduced to readers in a story Agatha Christie wrote for The Royal Magazine in 1927 and made her first appearance in a full-length novel in 1930’s The Murder at the Vicarage. It has been 45 years since Agatha Christie’s last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, and this collection of ingenious new stories by twelve Christie devotees will be a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains the most famous fictional female detective of all time.

Nice little addition to my Agatha Christie library, with some very different takes on the original Miss Marple.

I really enjoyed each author's own personal style when I can to including such a well-known character into their own stories, and it was great to see the inclusion of some familiar characters and locations.

The Authors & Their Stories:

Lucy Foley: Evil In Small Places
Jane visits an old school friend.

Val McDermid: The Second Murder at the Vicarage
Harkens back to the original "Murder in the Vicarage" with the same characters making another appearance. Another murder is committed, the victim being one of the original characters.

Alyssa Cole: Miss marple Takes Manhattan
Miss Marple is in Manhattan with her nephew Raymond West when a murder in one of the off Broadway theatres takes place, just as one of Raymond's books is about to premier as a play.

Natalie Haynes: The Unravelling
Miss Marple is involved in a murder in a village where an impersonation takes place.

Ruth Ware: Miss Marple's Christmas
Jane is celebrating Christmas in St Mary Meade at the Bantrys. However, deception and fraud are unwelcome gifts.

Naomi Alderman: The Open Mind
Attending a dinner at St Bede's College, Jane is witness to a poisoning of a greatly disliked man and a journalist. Long lost letters provide a clue.

Jean Kwok: the Jade Empress
Jane is on a cruise ship to Hong Kong to meet her nephew Raymond. A death of a passenger reveals a family secret.

Dreda Say Mitchell: A Deadly Wedding Day
Death of a wedding guests. Jane teams ups with Ms Bella, a local sleuth of the Caribbean community.

Elly Griffiths: Murder at the Villa Rosa
On the Italian Amalfi Coast, a writer contemplates the murder of his main character.

Karen McManus: The Murdering Sort
Nicola West (granddaughter of Raymond West) and her friend Diana Westever encounter the death of a rich old man.

Kate Mosse: The Mystery of the Acid Soil
Miss Marple meets a friend and a curate shortly after WWII. There is a murder in the village.

Leigh Bardugo: The Disappearance
Jane stay with her nephew Raymond for the summer. However, Dolly Bantry calls Jane back to St Mary Meade to solve the disappearance of one of Gossington Hall's new tennants. Dolly Bantry is at the heart of the mystery.

I cannot say how much I enjoyed their mini homages to Agatha and Jane.  As I said, a great addition to my own Agatha Christie Library!

Review: Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo

Synopsis: Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news – the son of one of the island’s most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger – with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters’ lives would now be in danger. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophesy, and to protect the three women if he can.

As Kosuke Kindaichi attempts to unravel the island’s secrets, a series of gruesome murders begins. He investigates, but soon finds himself in mortal danger from both the unknown killer and the clannish locals, who resent this outsider meddling in their affairs.

Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the fiendish Death on Gokumon Island is perhaps the most highly regarded of all the great Seishi Yokomizo’s classic Japanese mysteries.

For those unfamiliar with this series, it is about time that you invest in it. You can find the full list HERE - included those few that have been translated into English.

The style is fairly consistent - and one the author Seishi Yolomizo explores well - deep, dark family secrets, which when brought into open, give birth to jealousy, greed and ultimately ... murder. And here again, we have all those elements: a family saga of love and hate, revenge and redemption; many suspects but always one whom you are least likely to suspect; a suspenseful mystery, tied together by a long narrative that conveys the essence of the story, location and characters to perfection.  This is Yokomizo's trademark.

Kato-sensei as Kindaichi

This time, the grisly deaths appear to form some sort of dramatic countenance - and Kosuke is said to have remarked: "... The inhabitants of this island, do they all think this way - as if everything's like some kind of drama ..."

Throw into this murderous mix some pirates, returned and repatriated servicemen, local politics and scandal, and you have all the ingredients for a truly satisfying murder mystery.

I cannot recommend this series enough, with our detective, Kindaichi, who according to the local policeman, looks more like a criminal than a world famous detective!

Pignon Scorbion & the Barbershop Detectives by Rick Bleiweiss

For fans of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, author Rick Bleiweiss’s quirky new detective and ensemble cast of characters set against the backdrop of small-town England in the 1910s will feel both comfortingly familiar and thrillingly new.

The year is 1910, and in the small and seemingly sleepy English market town of Haxford, there’s a new police Chief Inspector. At first, the dapper and unflappable Pignon Scorbion strikes something of an odd figure among the locals, who don’t see a need for such an exacting investigator. But it isn’t long before Haxford finds itself very much in need of a detective.

Luckily, Scorbion and the local barber are old acquaintances, and the barbershop employs a cast of memorable characters who—together with an aspiring young ace reporter for the local Morning News—are nothing less than enthralled by the enigmatic new police Chief Inspector.

Investigating a trio of crimes whose origins span three continents and half a century, Pignon Scorbion and his “tonsorial sleuths” interview a parade of interested parties, but with every apparent clue, new surprises come to light. And just as it seems nothing can derail Scorbion’s cool head and almost unerring nose for deduction, in walks Thelma Smith—dazzling, whip-smart, and newly single.

Has Pignon Scorbion finally met his match?

How To Keep Your Readers Coming Back for More

From Joanna Schaffhausen on CrimeReads:

Cracking open a new book in a detective series is like reuniting with old friends. If you want a protagonist who endures, give them plenty of problems both inside and out, a distinct life perspective and a specific geographic locale, a thirst for answers, and some entertaining (possibly furry!) sidekicks.

Joanna Schaffhausen takes the reader / writer through five essential character traits for your detective to keep readers turning pages long past book one.

read more here @ CrimeReads

30 Essential Crime Reads Written by Women in the Last 100 Years

A post by Emily Temple for CrimeReads:

Undisputed Queen of Crime Agatha Christie died on this day [12th Jan] in 1976. Crime fiction is a genre that has traditionally been dominated by men — but on the other hand, Christie is the best-selling author of all time, so that should tell you something. In honor of her life (and her prolific publishing career) I’ve picked out a few great crime novels written by women from each of the last ten decades. Now, of course, there are more than three crime novels from each decade that you should read (and probably more than three novels in every genre that you should read), but one has to stop somewhere, so add your own recommendations with abandon. 

NB: This is not a definitive list by any means; genre is necessarily a bit fluid here, privilege has gone to important, groundbreaking or otherwise historically notable works where I’ve noted them, but taste has, as ever, played a factor.

read the list of books here @ CrimeReads

Review: The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo

Synopsis: The third title in Japan’s most popular murder mystery series — after The Honjin Murders and The Inugami Curse — fiendish classics featuring investigator Kosuke Kindaichi.

Nestled deep in the mist-shrouded mountains, The Village of Eight Graves takes its name from a bloody legend: in the Sixteenth Century eight samurais, who had taken refuge there along with a secret treasure, were murdered by the inhabitants, bringing a terrible curse down upon their village.

Centuries later a mysterious young man named Tatsuya arrives in town, bringing a spate of deadly poisonings in his wake. The inimitably scruffy and brilliant Kosuke Kindaichi investigates.

I cannot begin to say how much I am loving this series featuring the stuttering, dishevelled, shaggy-haired Japanese detective, Kosuke Kindaichi.  A long-time hit in Japan, but barely discovered here in the West until now, thanks to Pushkin Vertigo.  This is my third Kindaichi novel, having previously read The Honjin Murders and The Inugami Curse, so I literally jumped at the chance to read this one.

It is a slightly familiar format, and one the author Seishi Yolomizo explores well - deep, dark family secrets, which when brought into open, give birth to jealousy, greed and ultimately ... murder.  And here we have all those elements: a family saga of love and hate, revenge and redemption; many suspects but always one whom you are least likely to suspect; a suspenseful mystery, tied together by a long narrative that conveys the essence of the story, location and characters to perfection.

However, in this particular novel, the story begins much earlier - in the 1560s - with the murder of a group of samurai, a missing treasure and a curse.  Events rear their ugly head in the 1920s with the descendants of the village succumbing to the ancient curse.  By the time our story takes place (ie: 1940s), the village has become incredibly insular, and its villagers both suspicious and superstitious of everyone and everything. When events start to unravel along historic lines with the arrival of Tatsuya, the villagers can not but look to the past for an explanation.

In an interview published in The Guardian, Yokomizo's grandson On Nomoto, said: “Kindaichi tries to find out not just how someone has been killed but why it happened. And behind the story, it’s always connected to Japanese history.”

In the same article, Daniel Seton from Pushkin says of Yokomizo's novels: “It has all the ingredients that thrill fans of golden-age British and American mysteries ...... an old country house, a feuding family, mysterious noises in the night, a macabre murder and a brilliant sleuth with an ingenious solution. It’s also steeped in a distinctively Japanese atmosphere, and is packed full of playful references to the classics and traditions of crime writing.”

I love the character of Kosuke Kindaichi - a Japanese Columbo if you are wanting a comparison.  Kindaichi is portrayed as being slightly eccentric, wearing a robe and trousers that have seen better days, as well as having bad dandruff. He also gets easily stressed and excitable, which brings on his stuttering. And yet beneath all of the yokel-like exterior, is an exceedingly clever detective.  It goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover (though Yokomizo's are fabulous!).

From what I can find, the next Kindaichi novel to be released is the fiendishly clever "Gokumon Island" said to be loosely inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.  Perhaps the most highly regarded of all the great Seishi Yokomizo's classic Japanese mysteries, this novel is due for release in June 2022.  This particular novel was translated by Bryan Karetnyk .

Pushkin Vertigo have release 35 mysteries from various international writers - and I have read 25 of them!  You can find the list HERE. Yokomizo is featured among many incredible writers - I cannot but suggest the reader delve into these mysteries for themselves.

More on Kindaichi here 

@ The Thrilling Detective website

@ Black Hole Reviews

Review: The Sleeping Car Murders by Sébastien Japrisot

Synopsis: A beautiful young woman lies sprawled on her berth in the sleeping car of the night train from Marseilles to Paris. She is not in the embrace of sleep, or even in the arms of one of her many lovers. She is dead. And the unpleasant task of finding her killer is handed to an overworked, crime-weary police detective named Pierre Emile Grazziano, nicknamed Grazzi, who would rather play hide-and-seek with his little son than cat and mouse with a diabolically cunning, savage murderer. 

My first by this particular author and I can honestly say that I really enjoyed this French mystery.

Having expanded my reading to authors scattered far and wide, writing about their own countries, and all with their own distinctive style, I was able to quite easily adapt to this author's style of writing. It would be imprudent of the reader to assume that all author's write the same - and much also comes down to the quality of the translation.

I was initially drawn to this particular tome as it put me in mind of Agatha Christie - which is no bad thing. The premise is quite simple - a woman is murdered on an overnight train travelling from Marseille to Paris; the suspects are narrowed down to those who shared the sleeping coach with her; the police investigate; a motive and killer are eventually revealed and the mystery is solved. Simple - maybe; interestingly formatted - very much so (see below).

This could fall under the auspices of a "police procedural" novel - as we follow Detective Pierre Grazziano (or "Grazzi" to use the nickname he is often referred by) and his offsider, Gaubert.  I really enjoyed the narrative and the format - each chapter heading was the berth number of each of the passengers. 

And the passengers themselves are a motley bunch: a salesman, a struggling actress, a truck driver, a typist, a housewife.  As each of the passengers is duly investigated to check for a connection to the victim, to pry out that piece of the puzzle or secret they are withholding, or establish a motive - one by one they are .... eliminated.  It seems that Grazzi is always that one step behind but eventually there is light at the end of the tunnel.

As I mentioned, I really did enjoy this and love expanding my reading beyond the standard UK and US offerings, exploring how other writers present similar mysteries on their own patch!

Trans: Francis Price

Charles Dickens & Superintendent Sam Jones Series by JC Briggs

Charles Dickens had a fascination with detectives. He would accompany police detective Charles Frederick Field and a few of his men on an all-night visitations of the most squalid and dangerous haunts of London’s underclass, later writing about his experiences in his magazine, Household Words in 1852. Could this real life detective have formed the basis for Dickens' own fictional detective, Inspector Bucket, in Bleak House, which was published in serialised form in 1852 - 1853.?  

But what if Dickens' interest in detectives started earlier, and he himself took on the role of detective, leading up to his plotting out of his novel Bleak House.? The Bow Street Runners had been in existence for about 100 years, and the Metropolitan Police (or Peelers) were established in 1829, with its detective branch active from 1842.

Author JC Briggs has taken up the character of Charles Dickens and created a new role for him - that of detective, and he features in the following series of books.

The Murder of Patience Brooke

A brutal murder in Victorian London forces a famous writer to solve the mystery…

London, 1849 - Charles Dickens has set up Urania Cottage as a sanctuary for fallen women. But he is shocked when the matron’s assistant – Patience Brooke – is found hanging outside the property, covered in blood.

Desperate to protect the reputation of the Home and to stop a scandal from spreading, Dickens takes the investigation into his own hands. With the help of his good friend, Superintendent Sam Jones of Bow Street, and a description of the suspect as ‘a man with a crooked face’, Dickens's search takes him deep into the filthy slums of Victorian London.

Can Dickens save his reputation? Will he find out the secrets of Patience Brooke’s troubled past?  Or will the killer strike again …?

Death at Hungerford Stairs

A serial killer is on the loose in Victorian London .... Boys are going missing from London’s slums…

London, 1849 - When a boy is found drowned in the River Thames at Hungerford Stairs, novelist Charles Dickens and Superintendent Jones of Bow Street are mystified to discover that the child is not the missing youngster for whom they have been searching.

As Dickens and Jones delve deeper into London’s poverty-stricken backstreets, they stumble across two more bodies.  A serial killer is on the loose. And Charles is terrified that someone close to him may be one of the victims.

With a strange image of a mask sketched next to the corpses, could the murderer be leaving a trail for the detectives to follow…?  Or will the Death at Hungerford Stairs remain unsolved…?

Murder by Ghostlight

Dickens has gone from private investigator to prime suspect…

London, 1850 - Charles Dickens is in Manchester, performing at the Queen’s Theatre with his acting group. But his career on the stage is cut short when a man is shot dead – on set. With Dickens himself caught with the gun in his hands, he is immediately arrested.

Along with the help of his good friend Superintendent Sam Jones, Dickens must do all he can to find the real killer, before he is locked up for a crime he didn’t commit. 

Can Dickens convince the authorities of his innocence? Will he unmask the true assassin?  Or will there be another Murder by Ghostlight…?

The Quickening and the Dead 

Three girls, three deaths — but what connects them…?

London, 1850  - Lavinia Gray vanishes on the eve of her wedding and is found drowned. Evie Finch dies of septicaemia in a filthy lodging house. Annie Deverall, a fifteen-year-old milliner’s apprentice is on remand in Newgate, accused of murdering the Doctor Lancelot Plume.  Three young girls' lives have been ruined, but could they be connected somehow?

Charles Dickens visits Annie and is immediately convinced of her innocence. He enlists the help of Superintendent Sam Jones to find the real murderer before Annie goes to trial. How are the three girls linked to Plume? And if Annie didn’t kill him, who did?  What Charles Dickens uncovers will shock him to his very core…

At Midnight In Venice 

Two cities, two skeletons, linked by a mysterious vision…

London, 1850 -  An Italian music master and an English governess disappear from the house of Sir Neptune Fane, a prominent Member of Parliament.

A female skeleton is found in a disused water tank behind a house which has been empty for five years. Her neck had been broken and found with a jewelled chain around it.

Charles Dickens is reminded of his time in Venice a few years earlier, when he thought he saw a monk with his hands on a girl’s neck, the glimpse of jewels in fleeting torchlight, a cry of fear. And later he read that a girl was found drowned at the spot where he had his vision.

Are the two corpses connected? And what is the link to Sir Neptune Fane?  Charles Dickens and Superintendent Sam Jones must find the link between the backstreets of London and the mysterious canals of Venice…

The Redemption Murders 

The sea gave up its dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds.…

London, 1851 - The Thames River Police are called to The Redemption, a ship docked at London’s Blackwall Reach. Louis Valentine, the ship’s captain, has been stabbed to death. With no murder weapon on site, and no signs of a robbery, the only clue is a copy of Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop. The book is not inscribed to Valentine but to someone called Kit.

When Charles Dickens realises his good friend Kit Penney is now a murder suspect, he is determined to clear his name. But Kit has gone missing.  With the help of Superintendent Sam Jones, Dickens starts to investigate the troubled last journey of The Redemption. It seems there was more than one suspicious death on board. But were they murders? And did the same person attack Captain Valentine?

Dickens and Jones begin a desperate search for Kit – and for the key to the dark secrets bound up in The Redemption…

The Mystery of the Hawke Sapphires

Dickens faces a decades-old disappearance, a brutal murder and a missing link…

London, 1851 - On his deathbed, the sinister Sir Gerald Hawke asks a distant cousin — Reverend Meredith Case — to find Sapphire, his long-lost ward and heir to the Hawke family jewels.  Concerned for her welfare, Meredith vows to discover where Sapphire disappeared to.

Meanwhile, Felix Gresham — a young man with literary ambitions — is found murdered on the steps of a bookshop. As an acquaintance of the Gresham family, novelist Charles Dickens once again teams up with Superintendent Sam Jones to investigate the murder.

But in his quest for the truth, Dickens finds that those associated with Felix are reluctant to talk.  And when he is called on to assist with the search for the Hawke heir, he begins to wonder whether the two cases could be connected…

What became of Sapphire Hawke? What secrets did Felix take to his grave?  And can Dickens find the link between the two mysteries…?

The Chinese Puzzle

Are unsolved murders in London linked to the opium trade - Charles Dickens must unravel a mystery that stretches from the streets of London to the shores of Canton…

London, 1851 - The Great Exhibition has opened, and everyone is flocking to see the wonders on display. But when a potential Chinese assassin manages to get up close to Queen Victoria, and then vanishes without a trace, the Prime Minister orders an urgent investigation.

Superintendent Sam Jones from Bow Street is put on the case to find the whereabouts of the missing man. And he discovers that Cornelius Mornay — a wealthy retired banker from Canton — also went missing on the same day.

As a former opium merchant, it seems that Cornelius had some powerful — and dangerous — connections. The British government order Jones to keep his enquiries under wraps, so he enlists the help of his good friend Charles Dickens to infiltrate the seedier streets of London.  And when the body of Mornay is found washed up in Wapping, poisoned with opium, the plot starts to thicken.

Mornay is deeply connected to the Opium trade and the suspects are many. And when more murders occur, it seems this mystery could be connected to something larger than Dickens and Jones had ever imagined…

read more here

- Charles Dickens Page

Review: Murder at Elmstow Minster by Lindsay Jacob

Synopsis: It is the 830s; a time of warring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, declining monastic standards and outbursts of fear of divine retribution. 

Elmstow Minster – a community of nuns in the Kingdom of the East Angles – has been recently established to atone for the execution of a young prince. The minster is torn between two camps – pious nuns and those who have no intention of giving up their worldly ways. These ungodly women are supported by powerful, degenerate donors, who treat Elmstow as an aristocratic whoring nest. The abbess of Elmstow has been humiliated by the influence wielded over her minster by these rich patrons and plots revenge. Two naked bodies are discovered, hanged together.

A young, introspective priest, Father Eadred, is sent to Elmstow to spy on the declining standards and against his wishes becomes entangled in the task of uncovering the guilty. He challenges the traditional approach of using an ordeal of hot iron to identify the culprits. Instead, he has the novel idea of exploring the evidence. He faces significant opposition, including an attempt on his life. Eadred is befriended by a hermit monk who becomes the only person with whom he can talk about his detection.

Further murders will take place. As Eadred moves closer to the truth the situation is thrown into further disarray when the minster is attacked by the neighbouring kingdom. Can they be saved and the final culprit revealed?

Rather good start from what promises to be the first among many, one hopes.

I have read a great deal of historical fiction, with characters from the fictional to the historical, putting on their deerstalkers and turning detective. Jacob's Father Eadred is one of many religieuse sleuths - Ellis Peters' "Brother Cadfael" series will be the foremost on many readers' minds - but he is joining the ranks of Rabbi David Small, Father Brown, Sister Fidelma, Hildegard and over 300 clerical detectives.

A number of murders and just as many motives and suspects - but not at all wrapped in a few pages - the denoument is drawn out to an interesting conclusion.  I am looking forward to reading more from this author.

note: 

those who like their crime fiction to be bubblegum wholesome would do well to avoid

further reading:

Kingdom of East Anglia