Harbour Street

It is the week before Christmas and snowing heavily. When Detective Sergeant Joe Ashworth and his daughter, Jessie, travelled home on the train from Newcastle they did not expect to find a dead woman in their carriage. 

Margaret Krukowski lived in Mardle, a small seaside town where Harbour Street was the focal point of the community. However, when Vera and her team set out to find Margaret's killer they also find a number of long held secrets about Margaret and the town itself. Then a second woman is murdered in the town.

There are many suspects for the two murders evolving into a complex and perplexing case to solve. The focus of the book is not only on solving the case but also on the working relationships between members of Vera's team.

Harbour Street is number 6 in the Vera series by Ann Cleeves. The book was the basis for episode 1 in series 4 of the television series, Vera.

The Bone Code

The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs is no. 20 in the Temperance Brennan series. This novel is set in 2021, supposedly after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Temp is working in Charleston, North Carolina, when a hurricane hits the area. When a friend asks her to come to Charleston in South Carolina to assist after the storm damaged her home Temp agrees, but before she leaves she meets an elderly woman who shows her photos of her identical twin plus a photo of her grandmother and great aunt, also identical. There is also a photo of a death mask with the same face. Could it have belonged to the great aunt who disappeared many years ago? Temp is intrigued with the likenesses of the four women and agrees to investigate.

However, on the way to South Carolina she receives a phone call from the Charleston County Coroner who asks her to come and investigate two bodies in a container that have been washed up on the beach during the storm. This brings back memories of a similar case she had investigated in Quebec fifteen years earlier when two bodies were washed ashore in a container. The identity of the two people was never discovered. In Quebec Temp and her partner, Andrew Ryan, work together to try and find the identity of the four bodies and why they were murdered.

Kathy Reichs always provides technical detail of the medical investigations conducted by Temp and others in her novels and in The Bone Code she provides detail about the different uses of DNA for research. The reader can also be provided with medical information relating to other cases Temp is working on. When this story begins Temp is trying to determine the age of a body which may be of a young teenager or of someone in her twenties. She concludes that the victim had Silver-Russell Syndrome (Russell Silver Syndrome in Australia), a rare condition that a family member of mine has.

I was uncomfortable with one part of the plot when it was discovered that experimentaion had occurred with some medical procedures. With some people propogating conspiracy theories about vaccination, this could be considered unfortunate timing for this plotline.

However, I became so involved in reading this novel that I was surprised to discover that it was 12.45 in the morning and maybe it was time for bed. I look forward to the next installment in this series.

As a side note, there are also mentions of Australian people and objects in this book - Mary Mackillop, vegemite and the didgeridoo.

Mirrorland

Mirrorland is the world created by El and Cat, identical twins, to escape from the traumas of their life. They live with their mother and grandfather at no. 36 Westeryk Road in Edinburgh and retreat to Mirrorland not only to reenact stories told to them by their mother but to escape from danger when necessary. Being identical twins the girls have had a special relationship which has been fractured at one stage resulting in Cat leaving Edinburgh to live in the USA.

Then Cat receives news that her sister is missing and immediately returns to her former home, to a world of long forgotten memories and danger. Forced to confront childhood memories Cat knows that she is in danger but does not know who to trust. Anonymous cards and email messages increase her fear as she follows clues for a treasure hunt that bring back memories from the past.

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone is the chilling story of the physical and mental abuse endured by El and Cat, initially as children but continued as adults. There are many twists and turns until the truth is finally revealed in this challenging thriller which kept me reading until late at night. Like Fifty-fifty this is another recently published book about complicated relationships between sisters.

The Glass Room

The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves is definitely a novel for those addicted to crime fiction.  The action occurs at a country property used as a writers' retreat. When Vera's neighbour is reported missing by her partner, Vera tracts her down at the retreat. Vera sets out to check that Joanna is OK and discovers that a murder has occurred with Joanna as the initial suspect. As Vera and her team investigate it is soon obvious that the murder victim was not a popular person and the investigation of the crime will not be straightforward.

The investigation examines why each participant is at the retreat and what they hope to achieve by attending. The guests are not just aspiring writers but are also lecturers and tutors. When a second murder occurs it becomes apparent that the murderer has staged the setting of the murder to resemble a setting for a murder written by one of the guests at the retreat. Working on a case committed by someone interested in creating crime fiction provides challenges for Vera and her team as they race to avoid a third murder. The chemistry between Vera and members of the team continue to be a feature of the novel.

The Glass Room is book number 5 in the Vera television series. The plot from this book has not featured in the TV series.

When She Was Good

The sequel to Good Girl Bad Girl, When She Was Good by Michael Robotham sheds more light on the previous life of Evie Cormac revealing why she is the way she is and why those who try to help her are in danger. 

Evie is back in Langdon Hall, the secure children's home where she will supposedly be kept safe. However it is soon obvious that those who want her dead in order to protect information about their crimes have discovered her location. 

In this gripping story we learn more about Evie's background explaining the trauma she has been through and to some extent why she behaves as she does. Cyrus Haven manages to trace Sacha Hopewell, who had found Evie in a deserted house seven years earlier. Reluctantly Sacha shares the information that she knows about Evie and they decide to work together to try to locate the people who had physically and mentally harmed Evie and other young children. It soon becomes clear that the members of a paedophile ring are being protected by people in power and that anyone who becomes close to discovering the truth will be murdered.

I enjoyed reading Good Girl Bad Girl but thought that When She Was Good was even better.

Deadman's Track

Jai Wharton struggles to cope with looking after his grandfather who needs to be cared for in a nursing home. However this involves money that Jai does not have. When the opportunity to make some 'easy money' arises he takes it not realising the effect it will have on his life.

Tess Atherton is reconsidering her relationship with  Aaron which she felt had become suffocating. With the support and encouragement of her friends she shows her independence much to Aaron's displeasure. When it becomes obvious that a relationship is developing between Tess and Jared, a local policeman, they realise that Tess may be in danger.

Tess works not only as a guide on wilderness hikes in the ranges near Hobart but is also part of the search and rescue team for the area. On one walk an accident occurs resulting in the death of one of the hikers and Tess has problems regaining her confidence, especially in regard to heights. Reluctantly she agrees to take a group, including Jai and his girlfriend Riley, on a walk during winter. The hikers accepted that the weather may cause problems but they did not anticipate the violence they would encounter.

The different threads of the novel become intertwined resulting in a gripping story of the characters struggle to survive in the Australian bush.

Deadman's Track by Sarah Barrie is just one of a number of recent crime novels set in Tasmania. These include The Others by Mark Brandi, The Survivors by Jane Harper, The Bluffs by Kyle Perry, The Great Divide by LJM Owen and Bruny by Heather Rose.

Silent Voices

Silent Voices is number 4 in the Vera series by Ann Cleeves. When Vera decided to follow the advice of her doctor to undertake regular physical exercise, she did not expect to find a body in the sauna at the fitness centre.

Jenny Lister was a social worker who had been overseer of a case where a young boy had drowned. Connie Masters had been appointed as the social worker responsible for the family and when the boy drowned she not only lost her job but also was hounded by the media. Connie and her young daughter, Annie,  had moved to the village of Barnard Bridge to escape but she was soon recognised and the victimisation began again. With the discovery of Jenny Lister's body she became a prime suspect.

As the investigation gathers pace it soon becomes obvious that there is much more to this death and Vera and Joe with the rest of the police team have a challenge to persuade the villagers to reveal their secrets in order to discover what really happened.

As well as solving the crime this book is largely about the working relationship between Vera and Joe, her younger colleague.

Silent voices formed the plot of the second episode of the second series of the television series, Vera.