Peter Lovesey, Diamond Dust (2004)

This is the fourteenth British Peter Diamond novel.

Peter Diamond of Bath CID ends a case successfully by putting one of the infamous Carpenter brothers in prison for life. He does not get much time to enjoy his success, however, because a few hours later his wife, Stephanie, is shot in a local park.

Of course he cannot be in charge of this case, and for a few weeks he is so engrossed in his loss and the funeral preparations that he accepts staying on the sideline, especially as his colleagues seem to be efficient and competent. But when he surfaces again, he cannot just watch the investigation which by now seems to lead nowhere.

After a slow part the story gathers speed in the second half. There is a good and entertaining plot, but I do get annoyed when experienced policemen forget about important clues for 300 pages. There is one unusual side to this detective, however; he genuinely loved his wife and remembered to tell her.

I bought the book myself for the What´s in a Name Challenge, a gem.

Declan Burke, The Big O (2007)

This love ... eh caper crime story is the writer´s second novel. No, of course a male Irish writer doesn´t write love stories. Yet... No, certainly not.

"Except what Karen remembered best was his eyes in the split-second when he realised what had just happened. How they got clearer but stayed perfectly still. Tigery eyes, gold flecks in hazel. Karen, knowing he couldn´t see her face behind the helmet´s visor, had been tempted to wink."

So this is the story about Ray and his companions who want to abduct Margaret, Frank´s ex-wife. Or perhaps it is the story about Karen, Frank´s receptionist and Margaret´s friend, who holds up people in her spare time and meets Ray during one of her stick-up ventures. 

And that´s when things begin to get a bit complicated. You are already confused? Honestly, so was I, at least half of the time, but I didn´t mind very much, because this story was just so funny that I didn´t worry too much about who did what to whom.

The book was a gift from a blog friend. I read it for the Ireland reading challenge # 3 and What´s in a Name (size).

Thy, a Taboo & a Challenge

 I don´t know if this picture is quite ´comme il faux´, but as you know, we have just been driven from our home for weeks, and perhaps some of you would like to see the pretty result?

(Well, Blogger couldn´t handle it and turned it upside down - sorry, Blogger, I am a Scandinavian - we have no restraint)

What´s in a Name Challenge 2011

A reading challenge I am looking forward to is “What´s in a Name 4”, hosted by ´Beth Fish´.
Here are the categories, and I hope I can tempt some of you to participate in this fun challenge.

1. A book with a number in the title                    C.J. Box, Three Weeks to Say Goodbye
2. A book with jewelry or a gem in the title      
3. A book with a size in the title                          Sophie Hannah, The Other Half Lives
4. A book with travel or movement in the title     Ian Rankin, Exit Music
5. A book with evil in the title                             Peter Temple, In the Evil Day
6. A book with a life stage in the title.                 Rosanne Dingli, Death in Malta (Kindle)

Number five should be quite easy for a crime enthusiast, and as you can see, I have books on my TBR which can help me through five categories, but perhaps you would like to help me by suggesting some good crime fiction titles for the second category?
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What´s in a Name - Finished.

As soon as I saw this challenge on Beth Fish´s blog, I knew I had to participate. It has been a pleasure, Beth!

What´s in a Name Challenge:

1. Food: Pierre Magnan, Death in the Truffle Wood (2005) - France
2. Body of water: Paul Cleave, Cemetery Lake (2008) – New Zealand
3. A title: Colin Cotterill, The Coroner´s Lunch (2004) - Laos
4. A plant: Thomas Cook, Red Leaves (2005) - America
5. Place name: Matt B Rees, The Bethlehem Murders (2007) - Israel
6. Music term: Margot Kinberg, B-Very Flat (2010) - America

The very best reading experience: The Coroner´s Lunch
A shared second place: Death in the Truffle Wood and B-Very Flat.


Three challenges down, one to go.

Do you participate in reading challenges? Which one is your favourite?

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Colin Cotterill, The Coroner´s Lunch (2004)

This novel, written by a British writer who lives in Thailand, is set in Laos, and it is the first in the series about Dr Siri Paiboun.

The book gives a strong sense of Communist Laos in 1976 and of the very intriguing character, Dr Siri. It grabbed me from the very first chapters because I had to know more about Dr Siri who begins his career as the State Coroner very reluctantly, but as all other doctors have fled, no one else is better qualified. He finds some French textbooks in the humble morgue and embarks on his new career though the just as inexperienced judge does not show much interest in his results. So Dr Siri does not have much left to hope for but retirement, the sooner the better.

But when he gets involved in two cases where someone apparently does not want him to get to the bottom of the causes of death, Dr Siri wakes up and shows what kind of person he really is. And this is also the point when he realizes that his assistants, the romantic nurse Dtui and Mr Geung who suffers from Down´s Syndrome, have hidden talents. So though the story is highly critical of the political system, it is very gentle and respectful towards the team who seem ailing and deficient on the surface. Perhaps it would have been impossible to unravel the rather unusual cases without the combined efforts of the unusual team, plus the aid of several spirits and an exorcist.

As if all these strong points were not enough, I enjoyed the style and the humour so much that I actually laughed out loud several times.

Here Dr Siri and Comrade Civilai from the politburo are eating their lunch sandwiches together:

He took a swig of his tea and handed the flask to Civilai. ´I don´t want to be cutting up bodies till the day I become one of them. I need this. I need to know when I can expect a replacement. When I can stop. God knows, I could keel over any second. What would you do then?´
´Eat the rest of your sandwich.´

This book is highly recommended for several reasons.

The book is a gift from Maxine, Petrona, and I read it for the 2010 Global Reading Challenge # 10 (Laos, Asia), and for the What´s in a Name Challenge # 5 (title).

If you need further recommendation, you can read Maxine´s review here.

Margot Kinberg, B-Very Flat (2010)

This American crime novel is the second in the series about Joel Williams, the academic detective.

Serena Brinkman is a sophomore student at Tilton University. She is busy following her courses, she has to practice several hours every day for an important violin contest, and just like any other student she tries to squeeze in time with her friends and Patricia Stanley, her lover.

Though Serena is a pretty and considerate young girl, she is not without enemies or rivals. The young photographer Tony Ferguson from the Tilton yearbook falls in love with Serena when he interviews her for the yearbook, and he is not happy when he realizes he has been slighted for a girl. Troy Brinkman is Serena´s cousin and good friend, but how far will he go to get rid of his gambling debts? The violinist Michelle Park likes Serena, but winning the competition is decisive for her with her humble background, and another fellow student, Marcie Bratton, struggles hard to keep a secret which might destroy her future career.

And how many of them know that Serena is allergic to peanuts?

When things go horribly wrong, Patricia appeals to Dr Joel Williams, her advisor, for help to solve the case, as she is certain Serena would never eat anything that wasn´t safe for her.

See my review of Publish or Perish, and here you can find Margot Kinberg´s fantastic blog.

This book was a gift from my husband. I read it for the What´s in a Name Challenge: music term.

Paul Cleave, Cemetery Lake (2008)

This thriller from New Zealand is the author´s third. I chose this one for the title because I wanted one I could use for both my reading challenges.

The novel is well-written and captures one´s attention immediately (though it is written in the present tense), just as there is a nice streak of (dark) humour.

It begins when private investigator Theo Tate watches the exhumation of a grave. While waiting for the coffin of Henry Martins to resurface, he and the diggers see three bodies rise to the surface of the lake nearby. Later it turns out that the body in the coffin is not even the one that should be there.

Theodore Tate is a former police officer who lost his little daughter and nearly lost his wife to a car accident (a drunken driver) two years ago. He soon gets personally involved in the case, partly because he cannot help feeling that if he and his colleagues had done a better job two years ago when Henry Martins died, they might have prevented the murders of four young girls.

The plot of this somewhat dark thriller is exciting and unexpected, and even though the protagonist is not always very likeable and sometimes hits the bottle at the wrong moment, the reader gets to know him and to understand his flaws to some extent.

I found the middle part less convincing than the rest as there are a few chapters which are more like Greek tragedy than real life, but after this lapse, the ending turned out to be very satisfactory.

I bought the book myself because I had seen glowing recommendations of the writer here

If you want to know something about New Zealand crime fiction, Craig´s blog Crime Watch is the place to go.

Read for:
2010 Global Reading Challenge: Australasia/New Zealand
What´s in a Name: A body of water.

Pierre Magnan, Death in the Truffle Wood (2005)

A mini review for a busy day. Sorry, this novel deserves far better, but ...

The plot: a handful of young hippies who have sought refuge in a village in Provence to get away from their middle class background disappear without trace. Have they chosen to move on, or is something criminal going on?

This unusual and delicious French crime novel was first published in 1978. The sense of place is very strong, and among the colourful characters we meet Roseline, a highly valued member of Alyne Morelon´s family, earning her living as a successful truffle pig. In her spare time she is an excellent detective due to her keen sense of smell. Besides, the story shows the chasm between the young hippies who care about sex, drugs and rock and roll, and the traditional farming community who care about ... well, certainly their truffles.

My opinion: this novel is not quite new, but it is very charming and well-written, full of (dark) humour. I recommend it to anyone who wants to widen her or his reading horizon.

I bought the book myself. Read for the What´s in a Name challenge (food).

Matt Rees, The Bethlehem Murders (2007)

[Dansk titel: Kollaboratøren fra Betlehem, 2008]

US title: The Collaborator of Bethlehem

Read for the 2010 Global Reading Challenge (Asia) + What´s in a Name Challenge (place).

This novel is Matt Rees´ debut. The writer lives in Israel, and as the title indicates, the story takes place in a town that many of us associate with birth, not death. But this is Bethlehem in the twenty first century:

“George Saba´s family huddled against the thick, stone wall of his bedroom. It was the side of the house farthest from the guns. George came through the front door. The shooting was louder inside and he realized the bullets were punching through the windows into his apartment. He ducked into an alcove in the corridor and crouched against the wall.”

The protagonist, Omar Yussef, is an Arab history teacher. One of his old students, the Christian antique dealer George Saba, is arrested, suspected of having killed a member of the Palestinian resistance movement. Yussef cannot believe Saba would collaborate with the Israeli, he suspects his former student must be set up, possibly because he is a Christian.

Omar Yussef is a wise and likeable, very human character, who has had problems with alcohol, and who does his best to make his pupils think for themselves, not just accept the ´truths´ they hear or read. As Yussef makes it clear at some point, it is difficult to decide who are the terrorists and who are the terrorized, but though he fears for his own and his family´s safety, he fights for George Saba´s life, and for everything he believes in.

This crime story, which is built on real events, is a story that should be told! Like many other stories about real crime, the plot is not the strongest point, however. So this is a novel you should read for the very vivid sense of place and the credible characters, which makes it a good choice for the Global Reading Challenge.

I bought this book myself.

What´s in a Name Challenge + Award

What´s in a Name Challenge:
Here is my preliminary list for my second (or actually first) 2010 challenge, hosted by Beth here:

1. Food: Pierre Magnan, Death in The Truffle Wood. (reviewed February 12th)

2. Body of water: Paul Cleave, Cemetery Lake – New Zealand. [buy later]

3. A title: Colin Cotterill, The Coroner´s Lunch (TBR)

4. A plant: Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose or Margie Orford, Blood Rose – S. Africa.

5. Place name: Matt B Rees, The Bethlehem Murders (reviewed Jan 18)

6. Music term: Ian Rankin, Exit Music (TBR)

When I came up with my global reading challenge, I made a few changes to this list. Paul Cleave,“Cemetery Lake” will do splendidly for both challenges, and I also plan to use Matt Rees, “The Bethlehem Murders” for them both. If I buy Margie Orford´s novel, I can do the same. It sounds very exciting, I have just not found it at the right price yet.


New Year´s Honours List
I have received a very special honour from ´Petty Witter´, one of her 2010 PAPAs (Pen and Paper Award):

The PAPA for Contribution to Literature.

Am I proud? You bet!

Readers Suggest: What´s in a Name

Thank you to all my kind readers for your inspiring suggestions. I will save my December budget and buy some of them in January. Which ones? Well, that is a difficult question, because of course I want to read all the ones I have not read already. I have listed all of them as I hope to tempt some of my readers. The ones marked in green are books I have read (several of them are excellent stories)

1. A book with a food in the title
Pierre Magnan, Death in the Truffle Wood
Fannie Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes
Joanne Fluke, the Hannah Swensen series
Douglas Clark, Roast Eggs
Peter Lovesey, Rough Cider

2. A book with a body of water in the title
Helen Robertson, Venice of the Black Sea
Minette Walters, The Ice House
Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile
Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake
Michael Dibdin, Dead Lagoon
Thomas King, Green Grass, Running Water

3. A book with a title in the title
K.T.McCaffrey, Bishop's Pawn
Jan Guillou, In her Majesty´s Service
Ellery Queen, The King is Dead
Tony Hillerman, Talking God
Harry Kemelman, Friday the Rabbi Slept Late

4. A book with a plant in the title.
Marie Belloc Lowndes, The Story of Ivy
Lynda la Plante, Red Dahlia (two plants! – very elegant suggestion)
Ellis Peters, Monk´s Hood
Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia

5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title.
Rebecca Tope, Blood in the Cotswolds
Tim Heald, Murder at Moose Jaw
Matt Beynon Rees, The Collaborator of Bethlehem (The Bethlehem Murders)
Martin Edwards, Waterloo Sunset
Colin Dexter, Last Bus to Woodstock
Agatha Christie, 4:50 from Paddington
Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
Colin Dexter, The Dead of Jericho

6. A book with a music term in the title.
Caro Ramsay, Singing to the Dead
Reg Hill, Midnight Fugue
Philip Kerr, A German Requiem
Ian Rankin, Exit Music
Kate Ross, The Devil in Music
Charles Willeford, Miami Blues

What´s in a Name?

In my first year of blogging I have only participated in a few reading challenges (perhaps because I am such a lousy loser and take them far too seriously). Now the temptations begin to appear here and there, but so far I have only given in to one 2010 challenge.


This is the third season of the challenge called What´s in a Name, and it is hosted by Beth Fish. For all the details visit the blog Beth has tailor-made for this challenge. Here are the main rules:

1. A book with a food in the title
2. A book with a body of water in the title:
3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title
4. A book with a plant in the title.
5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title.
6. A book with a music term in the title.

What do you think? Are you tempted to participate? Or would you like to help me by suggesting crime stories which suit the six categories?