Claire Ladds

Crime and suspense author

crime and mystery books

Spell the Month in Books: July

by Leave a Comment

A new month brings a new blog post in which I spell the month in books. There was no post for June, due to various reasons, but I’m back again now!

This is a short month – in letters, anyway, so I have just four books for you. As usual, I’m putting my own crime spin on this book challenge, and there are a couple of my favourite detectives in this month’s haul. So, without further ado, let’s see what I’ve got in my bookstack.

Jewel that was Ours (The) – Colin Dexter

I’ve said before that I love Inspector Morse, whether it’s the novels or the TV series. This novel is no exception.

Oxford is used to having international visitors, and 27 American tourists is just par for the course. But then one of them turns up dead in his hotel room. To all intents and purposes, it looks like a terrible accident. Yet an antique has been taken from the man’s pocket, and no one seems to care. No one except Morse. When two days after this dreadful occurrence, a naked and battered body is found in the river, Morse is determined to prove that there’s a link between the two deaths.

It’s great to ‘watch’ Morse at work, solving the crimes while negotiating his way around the visiting Americans. Morse’s feel for the respectable and the rumbling irritability that often lurks within him always make such quietly amusing contrasts as he goes about his detection. Oh, and if you’ve never watched the Inspector Morse series, I thoroughly recommend it. It’s not for those who want a fast-paced detective programme, but if you like your detecting to be somewhat more cerebral, and if you love the idea that Oxford – including its university – is the setting, then this is for you.

Under the Dragon’s Tail – Maureen Jennings

When an abortionist is murdered, it comes as no great surprise to Murdoch, because she was a greedy woman who held her ‘clients’ in contempt. She may have been very discreet, but she left too many people who crossed her path angry at their treatment. Then a boy is found murdered in the abortionist’s kitchen. Why? Murdoch doesn’t know, and what’s more puzzling and disturbing is that he isn’t sure if he’s on the hunt for two separate killers, or whether there’s a link between the murders and he’s searching for just one. But who could want an abortionist and a boy dead?

Victorian/Edwardian surroundings, progress and inventions fascinates me. I recommend Murdoch Mysteries to anyone who loves a cozy mystery and a great detective story with strong characters.

Love Lies Bleeding – Edmund Crispin

I have a set of half a dozen Edmund Crispin novels involving the English professor and amateur sleuth, Gervase Fen, on my shelf, and I am sad to say that I have not yet had the opportunity to read any of them. However, I have started this one and I can say that the humour woven into the Gervase Fen books has already had me sporting a wry smile while I’m reading, and sometimes laughing out loud.

Professor Fen has been invited to hand out the prizes at Castrevenford school’s Speech Day. But trouble isn’t very far away, as the night before he is due to fulfil his engagement, two staff members end up dead. Gervase Fen is asked to put his sleuthing powers to work and find out what happened, and all kinds of shenanigans ensue!

This is a classic Golden Age mystery, with the added quirkiness and comedy not always found in all Golden Age mysteries. If you like a light-hearted tone in your mystery, then Gervase Fen might be the sleuth for you.

You Let Me In – Lucy Clarke

Finally, after using this book in previous Spell the Month in Books posts (who’d have thought I’d have such difficulty finding a crime book on my shelves beginning with a ‘y’?!), I have managed to read the novel! I can most definitely say that I’m glad that I did.

Elle hasn’t felt right since she moved into her rented house. She has the creepy feeling that someone is watching her. Everything about the atmosphere feels – strange. But she convinces herself that it’s her own imagination because she’s a writer. And she’s likely to have strange imaginings because of that, isn’t she? As paranoia and terror takes over, she knows someone is out to get her…

I absolutely loved this! I have no intention of spoiling the story, but I will say that if suspenseful books are for you, then this is a book you definitely have to read!

So, there we have it, the first post about crime, mystery and dark books for the second half of the year (where is the time going?!). Next month my Spell the Month in Books post will be a bit longer. August has more letters! 😁 If you try any of these books, or you’ve read them, do feel free to let me know in the comments. As always, my disclaimer: this post contains a few affiliate links if you’re an Amazon US user, but only to books I’ve personally read and recommend.

If you want to tell me what you’ve been reading, or are planning to read this month, you can tell me in the comments, or find me on Facebook or Instagram. And if you’ve read one of my books, I’d love to hear from you! New ones are in the pipeline. More on those very soon…

***

Lastly…

Would you like to join my Readers’ Club? You’ll get to be among the first to hear about my books, be told of any special – and even exclusive – offers, get more crime book talk and lots of other good stuff. There’s an exclusive, FREE, welcome gift of Beneath the Flesh waiting for you if you choose to sign up. Just click below.

Get a short, FREE and exclusive psychological thriller when you join my Reader’s Club

Read Christie 2021: my March book choice – Death in the Clouds

by Leave a Comment

I am back once more with my #ReadChristie2021 challenge choice, this time for March. This one was under threat all month due to my fingers being slavishly glued to the keyboard in an attempt to complete the first draft of my next book by the end of the month. Somehow, though, I’ve managed to squeeze in my reading through some matchstick-propping of eyelids. 🙂

The remit for this month was a book containing a society figure. The recommended read was Lord Edgware Dies, but I chose to read a story that I haven’t read since I was about fourteen. I picked Death in the Clouds, partly to see how much of the original story I remembered, and partly to see how it differed from the film version starring David Suchet as Poirot.

#ReadChristie2021 my March read

The setup for the story is as follows: After a visit to France, Poirot and others, some who have been to watch the tennis, some who had other reasons to be there, head to England on a plane. Poirot is among a small group of passengers in the first class compartment but, as he hates flying, he wraps himself up and tries to block out the trip altogether. As they approach the end of the flight, one of the stewards discovers one of the passengers is dead. At first glance, it appears she has been stung by a wasp, but on closer examination, it’s blatantly clear that a poisoned dart has stabbed her in the neck and a blowpipe is discovered in the back of one of the chairs, right near where Poirot had been sitting. And poor Poirot isn’t trusted, then, by most of his fellow passengers or by certain members of the authorities.

It turns out that the dead woman is a notorious money-lender, publicly known as Madame Giselle, and who targeted people with secrets which she could hold over them in order to ensure repayment of their loans. One of the passengers in that first-class compartment must have killed her somehow, even though it seems impossible that anyone could have blown a dart at the woman without being seen. But someone did, and there are a number of distinctly likely candidates. Poirot is determined to help Inspector Japp solve the case – if only to reclaim his respectability!

The trail leads them back to France to discover the secrets of Madame Giselle – including any information they can find out about the secret daughter who inherits everything. Back in England, and with the aid of two of the younger passengers, Jane grey, a hairdresser, and Norman Gale, a dentist, (and who form the beginnings of a romantic attachment as a nice little sideline) the plot gradually unfolds, despite the many attempts to misdirect and misinform Poirot, until the culprit is revealed.

So, where does the society figure come it, then? Well, of course, she is one of the suspects. Lady Horbury is an addicted gambler – and she’s also addicted in other ways, too. She really is one of those characters who make me ‘bristle’. I struggle to find anything at all in the way of a redeeming feature. And she is, as you can well imagine, a strong suspect. Whether she did a very clever job on the woman to whom she was in debt and who knew way more about her than she wanted leaking to the press or other members of her society circle, I shall not tell you – obviously!

I’m going to be honest and say that this is not one of my favourite Christie stories, but as ever with books, this is just my subjective opinion. I do, however, think that the plot device used to enable the perpetrator of the crime to do their dastardly deed was very clever. It is one Christie used several times, for example in the short story ‘The yellow iris’, which she extended and which also became the novel Sparkling Cyanide. If you’ve read them, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If not, I’m not going to spoil it for you!

As ever when I use affiliate links I let you know. Links in this post will take you to Amazon.com. I may earn a tiny commission if you choose to purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you (if you shop on Amazon US, that is).

Have you decided to join in the Read Christie challenge this year? If you have, I’d love to hear about what you’ve been reading. If not, I’d still love to hear about what you’ve been reading – I’m always happy to add to my ‘to be read’ pile! Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments.

Happy reading!

Read Christie 2021: my February book choice – Sad Cypress

by Leave a Comment

The Read Christie 2021 challenge for February was to read a book featuring love. I knew immediately which one I was going to read. Sad Cypress is a novel I read when I was in my early teens and it has truly stuck with me for decades. I can vividly remember where I was, the weather, the seat I was on (in case you’re wondering, it was a sun bed in the back garden), and exactly how I felt when I devoured this book the first time. It, I believe, was completely responsible for my lifelong wish to write books containing poisons (which I did manage to achieve in Baby up the Chimney). Anyway, back to Sad Cypress.

Plot

Elinor Carlisle stands in the dock, accused of murdering Mary Gerrard. Elinor was in line to inherit the estate of her aunt, Mrs Welman, but after an anonymous letter, it seems that Mary Gerrard might have been getting a bit too close to Mrs Welman for some people’s liking. To make matters worse, Elinor’s boyfriend’s sudden love for Mary causes the engagement to be broken off. Meanwhile, Mary, encouraged by the local nurse, nurse Hopkins, has made a will, and now it seems she has something to leave to its recipient. Elinor, too, has made a will, leaving everything she inherits to Roddy, the ex boyfriend.

While clearing out the house and the lodge, Elinor makes sandwiches, and invites Mary and nurse Hopkins who has taken a shine to Mary and is helping out, to have lunch with her. An hour later, Mary is dead.

So, did Elinor poison Mary Gerrard with Morphine in the sandwiches, like the police think she did? Or has someone got it in for Elinor and is framing her for the murder? The local doctor is determined to get Elinor off at all costs, and enlists the help of Hercule Poirot to do so. And Poirot searches for the truth, even if that means he discovers that Elinor is guilty of murder after all.

Okay, so there’s much more to the plot than that, but I really don’t want to give you any spoilers. Onto the book itself…

[Read more…] about Read Christie 2021: my February book choice – Sad Cypress