Virtual Crime Book Club – Meeting Video and Voting Choices

Last night the Virtual Crime Book Club met to discuss Joseph Knox’s latest release, True Crime Story. It was our longest meeting to date and we talked for well over an hour. That might have had something to do with having Joseph in for a chat for the first part of the meeting to discuss things such as, where the unusual idea of inserting “the author” into the book came from, the ensemble cast, and his writing process. Joseph was a wonderful author to have attend and talk with us. He was charming and lovely and very chatty!

When Joseph had gone the group talked about their thoughts on the book and it was very nearly a full-house for having enjoyed the read.

You can watch the meeting in the video below or just watch Joseph’s Q&A or jump to 40 minutes in and watch the members discuss the book. It’s totally up to you. I do however say we’re in 2020! so please ignore me, I promise hadn’t been drinking. It must have been nerves!

The theme for the next read is – Let me explain… I realised, we’ve just crossed the two year mark of the book club and in that time, many books have been up for the vote and missed out on being read and some of them have been close to winning the vote. Some haven’t even been close. I think both categories deserve another chance. So the theme is, books that have already been nominated at any point in the previous two years, but that we obviously haven’t read.

For any members who haven’t yet attended a meeting but continue to think about it, I’ll let you know how the nomination system works. It’s as fair as the voting system. At the end of the book club meeting, I give members the theme for the next book and they can then email me before the next morning (before I do this post) with a book they’d like to nominate. Not everyone does this. It’s an open process. If you want to you can. If you don’t have any ideas, you don’t have to. I usually receive between one and four. So, as you see, it is worth getting involved. And we are a welcoming group. We had two new members last night who both engaged with the meeting. It was lovely to chat with them.

As always, leave a comment with your vote from those nominated below, before the end of Friday 24th June. The next meeting is Monday 18th July 8pm BST.

On with the books!

The Split by Sharon Bolton

No matter how far you run, some secrets will always catch up with you…

The remote Antarctic island of South Georgia is about to send off its last boat of the summer – which signifies safety to resident glaciologist Felicity Lloyd.

Felicity lives in fear – fear that her ex-husband Freddie will find her, even out here. She took a job on this isolated island to hide from him, but now that he’s out of prison, having served a term for murder, she knows he won’t give up until he finds her.

But a doctor delving into the background of Felicity and Freddie’s relationship, back in Cambridge, learns that Felicity has been on the edge for a long time. Heading to South Georgia himself to try and get to her first is the only way he can think of to help her.

The Retribution by Val McDermid

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

There are two kinds of families: the ones we are born into and the ones we create.

Walk has never left the coastal California town where he grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released.

Duchess is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Her mother, Star, grew up with Walk and Vincent. Walk is in overdrive trying to protect them, but Vincent and Star seem bent on sliding deeper into self-destruction. Star always burned bright, but recently that light has dimmed, leaving Duchess to parent not only her mother but her five-year-old brother. At school the other kids make fun of Duchess―her clothes are torn, her hair a mess. But let them throw their sticks, because she’ll throw stones. Rules are for other people. She’s just trying to survive and keep her family together.

A fortysomething-year-old sheriff and a thirteen-year-old girl may not seem to have a lot in common. But they both have come to expect that people will disappoint you, loved ones will leave you, and if you open your heart it will be broken. So when trouble arrives with Vincent King, Walk and Duchess find they will be unable to do anything but usher it in, arms wide closed.

The Angel Maker by Morgan Greene

Every angel deserves their wings…

A teenage girl is found dead in the woods. The kill bears a chilling resemblance to those of the Angel Maker, a serial killer caught two decades ago.

But with the old case files missing and doubts swirling about the original investigation, London Met detective Jamie Johansson is drawn back to the icy streets of her home city to help. Her father, one of Stockholm’s most notorious detectives, closed the case when Jamie was just a girl. And her memories may hold the only key to unlocking the past, and the truth of whether he put the right man behind bars all those years ago.

Jamie will have to confront her own dark childhood, as well as the evil stalking the city if she hopes to crack this case. But with so many secrets buried beneath the frozen earth, will she be able to find the killer before he claims his next victim?

The Angel Maker is back, and a plan twenty years in the making is already in motion.

Tell me your Secret by Dorothy Koomson

Pieta has a secret.

A Gift for Dying by M J Arlidge

Nothing surprises Adam Brandt anymore. As a forensic psychologist, he’s seen and heard everything.