Virtual Crime Book Club – Video and Voting!

Last night was the book club’s fifth meeting where we discussed Mark Billingham’s Their Little Secret. There was a surprise for members at last night’s meeting though as Mark joined us for a brief Q&A for the first fifteen minutes of the meeting before we went on to discuss the book. He was warm, friendly and funny and it was great to have him attend. So from everyone there, thank you, Mark.

You can view the whole discussion on the video below. Or if you just want to hear Mark talk he’s on the first fifteen minutes! Please be aware if you watch the video that there are spoilers so don’t watch if you haven’t read the book but intend to read it in the future.

 

Now onto the voting for next month’s meeting – which will be Monday 7th September. You have until Friday evening to vote. I will then update you on the winning book. This month’s theme is far-flung places (as few of us are going far this year.) As suggested by a member. Next month, instead of a theme, I’m going to open it up to all members who attend the meeting and have an open month. So if you feel any month hasn’t been your cup of tea, next month you can suggest a book you’d like to go into the vote.

Over to you now.

White Heat by Mel McGrath

Half Inuit and half outsider, Edie Kiglatuk is the best guide in her corner of the Arctic. But as a woman, she gets only grudging respect from the elders who ruled her isolated community on Ellesmere Island. When a man is shot and killed while out on an “authentic” Arctic adventure under her watch, the murder attracts the attention of police sergeant Derek Palliser. As Edie sets out to discover what those tourists were really after, she is shocked by the suicide of someone very close to her. Though these events are seemingly unrelated, Edie’s Inuit hunter sensibility tells her otherwise. With or without Derek’s help, she is determined to find the key to this connection-a search that takes her beyond her small village, and into the far reaches of the tundra.

 

 

 

The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan

On the day he retires, Inspector Ashwin Chopra inherits two unexpected mysteries.

The first is the case of a drowned boy, whose suspicious death no one seems to want solved. And the second is a baby elephant. As his search for clues takes him across the teeming city of Mumbai, from its grand high rises to its sprawling slums and deep into its murky underworld, Chopra begins to suspect that there may be a great deal more to both his last case and his new ward than he thought. And he soon learns that when the going gets tough, a determined elephant may be exactly what an honest man needs…

 

 

 

Tangerine by Christine Mangan

The last person Alice Shipley expected to see since arriving in Tangier with her new husband was Lucy Mason. After the accident at Bennington, the two friends—once inseparable roommates—haven’t spoken in over a year. But there Lucy was, trying to make things right and return to their old rhythms. Perhaps Alice should be happy. She has not adjusted to life in Morocco, too afraid to venture out into the bustling medinas and oppressive heat. Lucy—always fearless and independent—helps Alice emerge from her flat and explore the country.

But soon a familiar feeling starts to overtake Alice—she feels controlled and stifled by Lucy at every turn. Then Alice’s husband, John, goes missing, and Alice starts to question everything around her: her relationship with her enigmatic friend, her decision to ever come to Tangier, and her very own state of mind.

 

 

The Silver Road by Stina Jackson

Three years ago, Lelle’s daughter went missing in a remote part of Northern Sweden. Lelle has spent the intervening summers driving the Silver Road under the midnight sun, frantically searching for his lost daughter, for himself and for redemption.

Meanwhile, seventeen-year-old Meja arrives in town hoping for a fresh start. She is the same age as Lelle’s daughter was – a girl on the brink of adulthood. But for Meja, there are dangers to be found in this isolated place.

As autumn’s darkness slowly creeps in, Lelle and Meja’s lives are intertwined in ways, both haunting and tragic, that they could never have imagined.

 

 

Sword by Bogdan Teodorescu

As a shadowy killer stalks the streets of Bucharest, seeking out victims from among the Roma minority, the police are at a loss to track down the murderer, who always dispatches in the same manner – hence the Sword nickname the media are quick to give to the killer. As panic starts to take hold and inter-racial tensions begin to reach boiling point, those in government and those who want to be try manipulate the situation for their own ends.

 

 

 

 

 

Crying Blue Murder (aka A Deeper Shade of Blue) by Paul Johnston

The whitewashed walls of paradise hide acts of chilling depravity

When Alex Mavros is hired to find American tourist Rosa Ozal, it looks like a straightforward missing person case for the Athens-based private detective. Arriving on the Greek island where Rosa was last seen, he finds something deeply wrong: a British journalist has fled without warning and a pair of young lovers has been found floating in a rigid, naked embrace amongst the fishing nets. The islanders are in no mood to answer the questions of an inquisitive outsider – but do they have other, more sinister, motives for keeping Mavros in the dark? As he begins to unravel the mystery, Mavros discovers an island steeped in horrors beyond his wildest imaginings.

 

 

 

If you’re not yet a member of the virtual crime book club you can sign up HERE. We’d love to have you join us!

You can find all the previous videos at this link HERE.