crime fiction – Home | The Blind Scribe

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well. As you can see by the title of this blog post, today I will be sharing with you all the books I rate in my top ten of the crime fiction books that I have read so far this year. It will be interesting to come back to this list in December and see how things have changed, or maybe it won’t have we shall have to see.

As you may or may not know, I enjoy a good crime fiction book, so much so I am doing my thesis on it, but I am very picky with what I like. So, I can tell you that so far this year I have read 28 books that fall into the category of crime fiction. That’s quite a lot, isn’t it. Anyway, from those I’d say there’s only four that I really have not liked at all. Most of them I would say were just okay, maybe nothing special but today I am sharing my top ten with you.

At number 10:

Murder at the Village Fair by Helena Dixon. This is somewhere in the middle of the Miss Underhay mystery series, I have so far this year read seven or eight of this series so for this list I tried to limit myself to only choosing one and this one was it. It was reminiscent of old Agatha Christie stories, set in a village fair on a sunny day, very nostalgic, and the mystery was clever too which is always a bonus. I love revisiting these characters, Matthew and Kitty with each new book, if you’re looking for a quick and easy read then this series could work for you.

At number 9:

In Want of A Suspect by Tirzah Price. This is part of the Jane Austen style murder mystery novels, starting with Pride and Premeditation, but it is also sort of a spin off of that series. It follows Lizzie and Darcy, who we meet in Pride and Premeditation, and we see a continuation of their story which is not really connected but also it connected to the rest of the series. That is probably a bit confusing but it makes sense if you read the books. I enjoyed that this had a regency feel to it and I loved continuing Darcy and Lizzie’s story, they were my favourite characters from the series so far.

At number 8:

The Highgate Cemetery Murder by Irina Shapiro. As you can see by these three books on this list so far, I am quite partial to a historical mystery. 1920s/1930s and victorian are definitely the sweet spot for me though. This one is set in victorian london and you follow two characters: Inspector Bell of the police and Gemma Tate who was a nurse in Crimea but returned home to negative opinions. I loved seeing the relationship forming between these two main characters, it worked alongside the mystery brilliantly. I will say this series is a lot darker than I first thought it would be, you might need to check the trigger warnings for it but safe to say I love it, I bought the series about two months ago and I have read books 1-3 already.

At number 7:

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano. I had put off reading this book for ages. Honestly, I read the first book in the series, about a woman who writes novels and is overheard while talking to her agent and winds up being hired as a hitwoman, and loved it and then book two wasn’t that good in my opinion but I already owned book three – this one – so I wanted to give it a go but I was worried I’d hate it so it took me ages to read it. But I am glad I did, it is one of my favourite books of the year so far. It was the perfect blend of fun and danger.

At number 6;

A Deadly Night at the Theatre by Katy Watson. I won’t say too much here because I am doing a full book review for this novel but as part of the Three Dahlias series, I think it could be my favoruite so far. I loved the setting of the theatre and the way everything played out.

At number 5:

Dog Sitter Detective Plays Dead by Antony Johnston. This series follows Gwinny, an older woman who used to be an actress but has been out of work for a while. While getting back into it she encounters a bunch of murders. Again the books in this series are hit or miss for me but this one, book three I believe, was really good. It takes place on a film set which was great for including red herrings and disguises and fun things like that.

At number 4:

The Diabolical Bones by Bella Ellis. And back to the historical mystery. This series, that starts with the vanished bride, follows the Bronte sisters as they solve different mysteries. The first book in the series is very classical, a manor house mystery, this second book got a lot darker. The mystery they have to solve is a set of bones, of a child, being found hidden away in a house and they find out what happened and whose bones they might have been. This book literally gave me chills.

At number 3:

The Last Word is Death by Faith Martin. I think I will probably do these two together because number 3 and number 2 are the first and second books in the same series. A Murder by Candlelight and The Last Word is Death by Faith Martin. This series follows Arbie, he travels around writing books about places that are supposedly haunted even though he doesn’t actually believe in ghosts, and his friend Val as they end up in different places together and in the process of ghost hunting end up solving murders too. This was the biggest surprise of the year for me. I ended up in hospital in February and all I could find on ebook was Murder by Candlelight and I remember thinking I’ll give it a go but not hoping too much, and I ended up loving it and reading the second book immediately after.

At number 1:

The Protest by Rob Rinder. This is the third book in his series following a young, newly qualified, lawyer as he gets caught up in different cases. It took a little while to warm to the character who seemed not very confident to begin with, but now I’m on book three and I am loving it. I read these books as soon as I get them and I just cannot get enough. Can’t wait for book four.

Book Reviews

The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer Book Review

February 12, 2024January 28, 2024 theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today.

Today I am bringing you my book review for The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer. I read this on a car journey up to London.

Blurb/Synopsis:

The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer is a charming cosy crime read for fans of Richard Osman and S. J. Bennett.

Retired police detective Lulu Lewis’s life changed forever when she met a street cat named Conrad. There’s something very special about Conrad, but it’s a secret she has to keep to herself.

When Lulu takes her narrowboat to Oxford, she is planning nothing more stressful than attending a friend’s birthday party. And drinking a few glasses of Chardonnay.

But a brutal murder and a daring art theft means her plans are shattered – instead she and Conrad find themselves on the trail of a killer.

A killer who may well strike again

My review:

Okay, first of all I should have read the blurb more carefully because I didn’t realise that this book was the second one in a series although after reading it I would say it works well enough as a standalone because I could understand it all fine without the set up from the first novel.

This novel follows Lulu as she attends an event at an old friend’s house, accompanied by her cat Conrad – who by the way, can talk. Once there she finds out before her arrival there had already been a break in and a murder.

I honestly thought I was going to love this book, a good cosy mystery with some intricately woven threads of a story but in my opinion that’s not what I got.
I felt that a lot of this book was very slow in pace, that does work sometimes in books but for me not in this one. It felt like there wasn’t enough going on in the plot to keep my attention. I did enjoy the premise and the middle section of the book because it picked up a bit and I did like how some of plot points linked together in surprising ways.
For me, what I disliked the most was the ending of this novel, now I’m not going to spoil anything in case you want to read this book, it used one of the devices I absolutely hate in novels and it made what was going to be a maybe 4 star read a lot lower in my rating.

blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: The Murder Box by Olivia Kiernan

July 22, 2021July 22, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Thursday bookish people! Today is the publication day of The Murder Box by Olivia Kiernan and I am part of the Social Media Blog Blast for the book. I’m so excited to tell you all what I thought about it! Thank you to Milly Reid, Quercus Books and River Run Books for giving me a Netgalley copy of this book to read and review.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Onto the review!

The Murder Box Plot:

What can I say about this book? It was brilliant. I love a good murder mystery plot and this one got me invested immediately. There were many points that completely shocked me, I didn’t expect the twists that were intricately threaded into the plot. Predominantly following the detectives and their side of the investigation was interesting to me because I usually pick up mysteries that follow the Amateur Detective and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this point of view. I felt the pacing of the mystery was perfect, it didn’t take too long to get started and there were no lapses in action, this was well balanced with information about the detectives and their personal lives. Now, the ending, what a twist! I had a suspect in my head (I was wrong – and not to sound bad or anything but I do guess a lot of the killers in murder mysteries, honestly I probably read too many of them) and who it actually was caught me completely by surprise, in a good way because once it was revealed it made sense that was who it was.

The Murder Box Characters:

I really enjoyed how the author created this world and it’s characters. I haven’t read any of the other books in the Frankie Sheehan series but I definitely plan to now. I think it is a testament to Olivia Kiernan’s talent that throughout this book I had no idea which characters I could or couldn’t trust, that always makes a murder mystery good for me. As I said above, I liked getting an insight into the personal lives of the detectives as well because it allowed me to see who they really were and why, especially Frankie, were trying so hard with the case.

The Murder Box Writing and Dialogue:

Kiernan’s writing is well written, incredibly well researched and has perfect pacing. It flowed well and read clearly, I hardly felt the few hours it took me to read it pass by that’s how much I was enjoying it.

The Murder Box Overall:

I gave this book four stars, a great read for me this month and I would tell anyone who loves a good, unique, murder mystery to pick up this book and give it a go.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Some games can be deadly

At first, Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan believes the murder mystery game sent to her office is a birthday gift from one of her colleagues. But when Frankie studies the game’s contents, she notices a striking resemblance between the ‘murder victim’ and missing twenty-two-year-old Lydia Callin.

As Frankie and her team investigate, a series of grisly crimes connected to the game are discovered across Dublin city and Lydia’s involvement with a shadowy network of murder mystery players becomes clear.

On the hunt for Lydia’s murderer, Frankie is drawn more deeply into the game. Every successful move brings her closer to the killer. But the real question is not what happens should she lose — but what happens if she wins.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

April 19, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Monday Bookish people! This is book review 2 of 5 today. The first was The Windsor Knot by S J Bennett if you’d like to check that out. This review is for The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths. I was given a copy of this book for Christmas 2020 and I ended up reading it in January of this year.

In this book review I will give star ratings for four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy me book review.

plot of The Postscript Murders:

I found the plot of this novel to be exciting and fast paced. The opening was full of tension and set the scene beautifully. I felt that the ages of the characters was a unique addition to the plot of a murder mystery novel and this was what caught my interest to begin with. Throughout the novel I felt that the changes of location and the events that happened in each place continued to create tension filled scenes. I knew I was getting caught up in the story because I could feel my heart racing for most of the book. The plot was clever and intricate.

The Postscript Murders Characters:

The characters of this novel were quirky and interesting. I found them easy to connect to and this was one of the reasons I ended up enjoying the novel. There was a good balance between character and narrative which I enjoyed even though I usually enjoy character central novels the best.

Writing and Dialogue

The writing style was smooth and clear, it helped me to keep track of the story as it went between different days and locations. The dialogue was authentic and engaging, I felt that I knew the characters personally because of the great dialogue. In my opinion I think there were some points where I would have liked more dialogue and more explanation about what was happening in a scene.

The Postscript Murders Overall Rating:

I gave this novel four stars because the mystery was intricate, well plotted and well written and I found the characters engaging and humorous. At the time of reading it I gave it four stars because I had just read my first five star read of the year and I didn’t feel this book was quite up there with it however if I had read this book after a three star or another four star read my rating might have been different.

Blurb/ Synopsis:

“This droll romp is a latter-day Miss Marple.”— Washington Post

Murder leaps off the page when crime novelists begin to turn up dead in this intricate new novel by internationally best-selling author Elly Griffiths, a literary mystery perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz and Agatha Christie.

The death of a ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition should not be suspicious. Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing out of the ordinary when Peggy’s caretaker, Natalka, begins to recount Peggy Smith’s passing.

But Natalka had a reason to be at the police station: while clearing out Peggy’s flat, she noticed an unusual number of crime novels, all dedicated to Peggy. And each psychological thriller included a mysterious postscript: PS: for PS. When a gunman breaks into the flat to steal a book and its author is found dead shortly thereafter—Detective Kaur begins to think that perhaps there is no such thing as an unsuspicious death after all.

And then things escalate: from an Aberdeen literary festival to the streets of Edinburgh, writers are being targeted. DS Kaur embarks on a road trip across Europe and reckons with how exactly authors can think up such realistic crimes . . .

That’s it for this book review, I hope you enjoyed it!

Tag: crime fiction

The Best Crime Fiction So Far This Year