The Murky World of Timothy Wall

The Murky World of Timothy Wall is a new novel in the DI Carmichael series of crime novels from the inventive pen of Ian McFadyen.

A couple of weeks ago I was sat in our conservatory and I said to my wife: "I hope there'll be a DI Carmichael novel out soon."

And thank goodness, there is!

This year found me once again relaxing in a hot bath, reading the latest DI Carmichael crime novel. The ninth one in the series, as it happens.

A local private detective, Timothy Wall, is OK with allowing his secretary to finish a little earlier than normal to go out on a date with her new boyfriend. After all, all he has left to do that afternoon was to meet a new client at 5.20pm. 

But who was the stranger watching her leave the building, from the vantage point of a nearby café? Why was he watching her?

Later that night a cleaner employed by a contract cleaning company finds the blood-stained corpse of Timothy Wall in his office.

Stock, the irascible forensic scientist, confirms, with his typical bad grace, that it is, indeed a murder case.

Carmichael and his team of detectives find the case to be a complex one that taxes their combined abilities as never before.

Why? Because Timothy Wall seems to have been loved and hated in equal measures. A considerate and attentive lover, he had the bizarre habit of keeping a red book in which he kept scores of his lovers, using a scoring system only completed after their brief relationship came to an end. And the vast majority of his relationships were brief. And some actually overlapped...

So, could his book (kept throughout his romantic life) hold a clue to his murder?

Or could it be the fact that he was working for the HMRC conducting fraud investigation on their behalf? 

Or the Poulter case, which involved trying to locate a missing person, sought by a person who is claiming to be terminally ill?

But is there a link between the murder and the Baybutt family, local bookmakers? After all, one member of the family seemed to have been more than a little satisfied when he heard reports of the death. After all, nobody likes the HMRC, and a local private detective, investigating their tax affairs.  And who told the Baybutt family that Wall had died?

There are also added complications for DI Carmichael. His normally loving wife Penny was in a foul mood. And he was worried that Lucy Martin, with whom he had had a brief dalliance whilst they were on a case that had taken them to Winston-Salem in North Carolina several years previously, is returning to work as a member of his team. And Carmichael is unaware that Penny knows at least something of what had taken place.

Could Carmichael and his team disentangle Wall's complex life? Could they work out who had been responsible for the murder? Was it the mysterious new client, Mr Haverstock-Price? And who, exactly, is Haverstock-Price?

This is another thrilling read from Ian McFadyen.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99 and deserves to be in the Christmas stockings of all mystery and crime novel fans. 

 

White Scar

The novel White Scar written by Jill Petts is set in the White Scar Cave in Ingleton, Yorkshire.

Jill tells the story of Ralph and Alba Milway who are twins of 14-years-old.

In 2050 a young woman called Aster is accused of the murder of two fairy folk, a Bishop and the sacrifice of an only son.

By the use of magic she, the judge who sentenced her and her loving, faithful cat are imprisoned in the White Scar Cave, together with one of the three magical wands used to bind them all in the cave.

In the year 2150, a century later, the boys inadvertently free them from their prison cave which, quite understandably, brings more than a little confusion and adventure into their lives.

They find themselves involved in a titanic battle between good an evil. But the twins need to exercise extreme caution, for some things are not exactly what they appear to be.

The background of the story is made even more complicated because it is set against a backdrop of the Earth being post-apocalyptic, when a third world war was brought to an utterly unexpected conclusion when a meteor smashed into the Earth.

What would happen to Ralph and his sister, Alba? 

This is a magical, mysterious story and will make a wonderful Chirstmas gift for young readers.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

For readers who are interested in exploring the White Scar Caves, please visit https://whitescarcave.co.uk.

Birgit's Consequences

 

In his historically-based novel, Birgit's Consequences novelist  GM Gaudio explores what happened to the children of Hitler's Lebensborn experiment, in an attempt to create a master race of superior beings.

Hitler died and the Second World War ended, but what of the children of his experiment? What of the women who were used and abused for the evil programme? What happened to them?

The story begins for the reader in the Calabrian Mountains in the 1970s. We meet with Andreas Kuhlemann who is battling to find a place in the world, a place which he could call home.

He was born in occupied Norway to a Norwegian receptionist and a German army officer. At the war's end he was taken to Germany, to the home town of his father.

Eventually he was adopted by an Italian man who worked on the railways. As a result Andreas was always moving, never feeling at home, always feeling lost.

However, unknown to Andreas he had a counterpart in Lorenzo Benedetta, a man who has spent four tiring, weary decades trying to seek out some form of redemption. He has suffered many setbacks, but is determined to attain his aim, to reach his conclusion. 

But what happens when his dreadful crime is discovered and he is brought before a court of law to answer for what he did?

As a result the stories of both men are brought to a conclusion. 

But the conclusion is one that reveals a death and that one of them was a monster. But which one?

It is a stunning debut novel which shows that the wickedness evil men perpetrate lives on for many decades.

It is published by Matador at £10.00. 

For the Love of Roman

This is a debut novel from Philip Pavlovic.

In For the Love of Roman readers are introduced to Roman. Roman is a young man who has a heavy weight pressing him down. He has been unable to find love and he feels that the only way out of his loveless life is to end it.

But is there a female counterpart to him? A young female who is also searching for love? 

His longings for love take him on a train journey through Europe. In fact at a particular railway station he acts as a catalyst which, mystically, brings two different dimensions of reality together.

The reader is dropped directly into this parallel dimension in a war-ravaged Yugoslavia where young men by their thousands are imprisoned in trains and being taken toward certain death.

One of these men is Drago who is desperate to live, who has two daughters who are fighting to let the world learn of what is happening to their fathers and the other men who are in the same dreadful situation.

But what linked Roman to this situation? Was he also doomed to die? Or could he be brought back from the brink? If so, how? By whom?

This is a very powerful first novel and it deftly tells the stories of two different worlds. It is a story that is both horrific, yet also filled with love and hope.

I hope to see more novels from Philip in the future.

It is published by The Book guild at £8.99. 

Fractured Dreams and Second Chances

This novel, Fractured Dreams and Second Chances, by Stephen Anthony Brotherton is semi-autobiographical.

It is a story of a first love, told through the eyes of two characters, Freddie and Jo-Jo.

Their love would, of course, last for ever. 

However, incidents within their childhoods had caused fractures and, eventually, all too soon, in fact, events both old and new caused their love to founder.

But what if there could be a second chance for Freddie and Jo-Jo? A second chance to get back together in later life to rekindle their love affair after three decades apart?

It's a well-told tale that explores the impacts of childhood traumas and how these can change the person you become as an adult.

It's published by the Book Guild at £9.99

Without Let or Hindrance

Without Let or Hindrance is a novel from author Geoffrey Charin. 

It's the summer of 1938 and the metaphorical clouds are gathering over Europe.

Veronica and Billy, her fascist boyfriend, attend a pro-German event that was hosted by the 5th Duke of Wellington.

It's a glamourous, glittering event and Veronica meets Sir Oswald Mosley and Diana Mitford. Veronica is invited to take a trip to Berlin, the capital of Germany.

As Europe stumbles toward war, many otherwise good people shake their heads, bewildered, apparently unable to do anything to stop the flow of evil that threatens not only continent of Europe but the entire world.

As Jews are more and more becoming victims of Nazi pogroms such as the evil of Kristallnacht, the British government is trapped between trying to apparently appease Herr Hitler and trying to deal with the question of Jewish refugees.

For Veronica, doing nothing is not an option she can feel comfortable with, so she decides to take action.

Veronica finds herself within the very heart of Nazi Germany. But what of Billy, the member of the British Union of Fascists? And what of Mosley and the Mitford sisters?

Victoria puts her life in danger to save Jewish refugees. But who can she trust? 

This novel is a tightly composed and well-written historical thriller that is based on factual occurrences. 

It is published by The Book Guild at £9.99.

 

A Victorian Rebel Fighting for Gay Rights Edward Carpenter

A Victorian Rebel Fighting for Gay Rights Edward Carpenter In his biography Brian Anderson examines the life story of Edward Carpenter.

It's likely that you might not have heard of Edward Carpenter who was an early campaigner for gay rights in Britain.

And Brian Anderson has decided to put this situation to rights.

During his research Anderson was able to locate a considerable number of Carpenter's letters (none of which had been previously published) to his friends, his lovers and other fellow socialists.

The book covers the details of his transition from a youth who was generally a normal, conforming  member of Victorian society, to a bold and somewhat outspoken critic of what he saw as the flaws and problems within Victorian society. Especially in the treatment of homosexual males.

As a gay youth his adolescence was more troubled than for some of his contemporaries, combined with his confusion about his sexual identity.

He attended Cambridge University which helped to broaden his horizons and Anderson reflects on his first, timid love affairs.

He soon developed into a radical socialist and became known as an author of polemical pieces. He later developed into a writer on sexual politics, though publishing his works was difficult due to the fallout from the Oscar Wilde scandal.     

He was criticised for what would be considered a misogynistic attitude, but Anderson questions whether or not this was the case. 

It's a very well-researched and well-written book which will be of interest to anyone interested in the history of Victorian society and the history of gay emancipation. 

It's published by Matador at £9.95.