These are both February reads for the English Kindle Mystery Club.  They are also both new to me authors.  A Dark Redemption, while set in London, has connections to Africa and the atrocities committed there under various uprisings and coups.    Jack Carrigan has his own history with Africa, which he’d rather forget, and now that he has to take charge of a case with an African victim it is bringing it all back for him.  The novel gives you glimpses in to the horror from Jack’s trip with his friends to Africa as a young man, interspersed with the current investigation.  Finally, connections and the killer are revealed.  A good first in a new series, I enjoyed this London based mystery with international connections.

The Blood Detective is a genealogy based mystery with the killer re-enacting an old crime.  DCI Foster recruits Nigel Barnes, a genealogist researcher to trace elements of the crime.  The crimes escalate as Barnes and Foster uncover more connections to the past and try to prevent more murders in the present.   This was well written and paced.  I have read other genealogy based mystery but did not enjoy them as much as this one.  Nigel is a great character and the story line was very compelling.   Would definitely read more by this author.

Cross is book 6 in the Jack Taylor series and Jack is in a particularly dark place dealing still with repercussions of the earlier books and the effects of trying to remain sober.  The crimes are particularly brutal and somewhat senseless which make them seem even worse.  The book is just steeped in hopelessness even right to the ending where it seems like things should be looking up for Jack with a new start.  There is also a side plot here that involves animal cruelty, which I had to sort of skim through as I have a difficult time reading anything like that.  This was not my favorite book in the series but certainly in keeping with with the darkness that surrounds Jack Taylor.

To Dwell in Darkness is book 16 in the Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid series.  In this book Gemma and Duncan are still finding their feet after the adoption of their new daughter and returning to work.  Duncan in particular returned to find he had been transferred to a new department and has a new partner.  The case involves a protest demonstration that appears to have gone horribly wrong ending with a young man burnt to death.  As Duncan investigates, things and people are not all as they appear.  Gemma has her own case which is going well as she makes a long awaited arrest.  Another good installment in this long running series.

This is book 3 in the Rebus series, originally called The Wolf Man when released.  Rebus is out of his element, brought down to London to work on a violent serial killer case.  Rebus is miserable and isolated.  The killer’s voice is mad and disjointed showing a disconnection from reality and escalating violence as the book progresses.  It was interesting to see Rebus interacting with his estranged wife and daughter, who live in London, as the idea of Rebus as a husband and father is not how I usually think of him.  The killer was who you would least expect.  I enjoyed this and will read more in the series.

This is book 4 in the Slough House series.  Once again Jackson Lamb and his crew of “slow horses” find themselves embroiled in international intrigue and terrorism.  The case is personal for River as it begins with an attempt on the OB’s life, leading to connections to the long ago past, which at this point is almost lost to OB.   Really well written with a plot that intricately twists and turns involving an engaging cast of both recurring and some new characters.  This is a great series and I am really enjoying it.

The Crocodile is the first in a series for me.  It is Italian Noir and certainly lives up to the darkness of the noir genre.  There is a sense of hopelessness that permeates the book and the detective, Inspector Lojacono’s, life.  The crimes seemed senseless as they went on until they were finally tied together at the end.   I found the sense of place really well done but I was not as pulled in by the detective.  The writing and the story line were both good, I am on the fence as to whether I will read another or not.

The Slaughter Man is the second in Tony Parson’s series after The Murder Bag, which I did enjoy.  This was well done and kept me guessing pretty far along in the book.    Quite a few red herrings and assumptions made with connections to a prior case.  Well written and thrillingly paced with great tension.  This is a series I am really enjoying.  Just a quick warning, the case does involve child abuse/trafficking and might be disturbing for some readers.

Unfortunately due to a nasty case of the flu, despite having the flu shot, I am still not getting much reading done.  It has left me with lingering vertigo, lightheadedness and dizziness.  I have worked my way through one Wallender book:  Sidetracked

  which I enjoyed even in the state I am in.  Another read was short Kindle purchase I will Never Leave You.  An okay mystery read.  

Finally, I have worked through the The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories from the North, which was well written, just not what I was expecting and as such I didn’t really enjoy it.

The holidays, work, a gift of a netflix subscription,  and a reading slump came together to create a tiny hiatus.  I’ve picked up quite a few books and ended up putting them back down again.  I have been “reading” quite a few cookbooks and trying recipes during this time.  Hoping to jump back into reading soon, especially with a three day weekend coming up!

  This is the current month’s read at the Goodreads English Kindle Mystery Club.  I actually nominated this one, which is rather embarrassing as I  didn’t care for it at all.  This was less of a mystery and more of a journey into the psychological breakdown/disconnection of the main character.  The book is written in the first person and in a stream of consciousness voice.  It is difficult to follow as the story jumps around in the time stream and even contradicts itself in the current time, within a sentence or two on the same page.    The mystery of her sister’s death is solved at the very end but it is not something the reader would have uncovered.  Heavy emphasis here on the psychology study, it was not really my cup of tea.

The Sound of Broken Glass is the 15th book in the Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James series.  In this installment, Gemma has been promoted and is running a case while Duncan takes family leave to look after their foster daughter.  The case involves a barrister found dead in compromising circumstances.  As Gemma deals with the case and connections to the past, Duncan looks on somewhat jealously as he deals with taking care of the house and children.  This installment was more focused on the family life, however there was still enough mystery here to solve.  I look forward to the next book as Duncan returns to work and a transfer.

Priest is the 5th installment in the Jack Taylor series.  This picks up directly after the horrifying ending of the book 4th and the repercussions of that event.  As Jack recovers and tries to come back to himself and make some amends, he takes on a new case from his long time nemesis.  A priest with a past involving preying on altar boys is killed brutally and the church just wants it all to go away.  Jack gets dragged into the case reluctantly initially and then intrigued he continues even after being warned off by interested parties.  This was a great installment in the series!

The Body in the Marsh is this month’s read at the Kindle English Mystery Club.  This is the first in the DCI Gillard series.  Gillard gets involved in a case concerning a long-lost love.  They find signs of a murder, some forensic evidence, but still no body.  The husband, a pompous academic, seems unconcerned and then he also disappears.  Finally, the family fortune appears to be stolen in a real estate scheme.  Gillard investigates and mourns for his lost love, but things are not exactly as they seem.  I figured out the twist relatively early on but thought the scheme itself was cleverly done and enjoyed reading this.

Real Tigers is book 3 in the Slough House series.  In this series, River, Jackson Lamb and crew find themselves caught up in a “test” of information security and systems that goes terribly awry.  As one of their own is kidnapped and political intrigues abound, they have to try to save Slough House and their lives from a clean up operation.  Fun, action packed spy thriller with lots of pithy dialog and an intriguing story line.

I am Watching You is a psychological thriller involving the disappearance and murder of a young woman on a trip with a friend to London.  A woman who witnessed her on the train steps forward to help the police and finds herself vilified in the aftermath.  Now she is receiving threatening letters and finds herself being drawn back into the investigation of the crime.  The point of view changes frequently as does the timeline throughout the novel.  The main motif of the novel is the long-lasting impact one’s actions or inactions can have, far beyond what could be predicted.  An okay thriller read.