A.A. Abbott

GREAT CRIME STORY WRITER

death

Book Review – Killing The Girl, by Elizabeth Hill

by

Desire, Secrets and DeathKilling The Girl is a page turner suspense thriller about secrets desire and death

An explosive tale of desire, secrets and hard-nosed commerce, “Killing The Girl” is a psychological thriller like no other. It begins with a coming-of-age story. Fifteen-year-old Carol Cage lives in a council house on the edge of Bristol. A tomboy whose older brothers have taught her to drive, she loves nothing better than taking the wheel of a car or scrumping apples with her best friend. Local farmer’s son, Perry, his crush on Carol painfully obvious, holds no attraction for her. Childhood mischief comes to an end, however, when Carol falls under Frankie’s spell. Nineteen-year-old Frankie is visiting a relative whose posh house nearby is a mirage of unattainable wealth to the council kids. He seems impossibly handsome and sophisticated.

It doesn’t take long for the reader, or indeed many of the adult characters in the book, to realise that Frankie is just using Carol. However, Carol is besotted and ignores all the well-intentioned warnings until she finds out the hard way. Then, nightmarishly, she attacks Frankie when he pushes her too far.

Love or Money?

Perry is Carol’s saviour, helping her cover up Frankie’s death. He claims it is because his father’s farm would face impossibly steep outgoings if land that Carol has inherited falls into new hands. Although undeniably true, it is also clear that Perry still carries a torch for Carol – a torch that burns for nearly five decades while they co-exist as neighbours. Then the council announces it will build a ring road through the land where Frankie is buried. Can Carol continue to escape justice?

The Corpse Count Rises

Once the bulldozers move in, more secrets are revealed. There are heart-stopping moments as Carol unravels the hidden agendas of those she has loved and trusted. The story, written from Carol’s point of view, portrays her as a mild-mannered woman buffeted by the whims of others. However, the corpse count keeps rising…

Page Turner

Although this is Carol’s story, the supporting characters are sharply observed and interesting, too. Even the gloriously-named socialite Izzy Dewberry-Newberry is well-described in a couple of lines. Likewise, the social mores of the 1970s – the acceptance of drink-driving, the Bristol tobacco factory jobs handed down from one generation to the next – leap from the page. Exquisitely written, full of surprises as layers of secrets and lies are peeled back, “Killing The Girl” is a page turner par excellence. Elizabeth Hill is definitely a writer to watch.

________________________________________

Like Elizabeth Hill, I’m a British thriller writer. If you love a suspense-filled story uncovering secrets of the past, try “The Vodka Trail”. Vodka salesman Marty Bridges couldn’t save his business partner’s life. Blamed by the dead man’s daughter for his death, Marty finds new evidence – but dare he tell her?

Book Review – Death on the Suez, by David Wake

by

Agatha Christie meets Terry Pratchettsphinx-like murderers and magic carpets in this agatha christie meets terry pratchett mystery

Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile” is splendidly parodied by David Wake in this locked room murder mystery set aboard the Victorian paddle steamer SS Karnak. Yes, folks, the protagonists appear to travel on the very boat Hercule Poirot chose for his rather too exciting holiday in Egypt. This time, the ship sails down the Suez Canal with an assorted cast of characters including a libidinous Frenchman, an Indian mystic, two archaeologists and a couple of stiff upper lip British army men. They are accompanied by the Derring-Do Club, three plucky young women whose parents have forbidden them to do any adventuring, ever. A murder investigation doesn’t count as an adventure, however, so middle sister Georgina is roped in as investigating officer when one of the archaeologists takes a fatal bullet. With humour worthy of Terry Pratchett, David Wake leads Georgina and her sisters on a merry dance through the desert, in which they nearly (but of course, not quite) die before the case is cracked.

Locked room murder mystery

There are at least nine suspects, all with alibis and no apparent means of shooting a man whose corpse has been found in a room locked from the inside. The method, when Georgina finally deduces it, is a twist worthy of the Queen of the Crime herself.

Magic carpets, romance & adventure

“Death on the Suez” is so much more than a murder mystery, however. It’s a rip-roaring adventure  featuring mummies, guns, magic carpets, a marvellous calculating machine, ancient gods and temples. There’s also dash of romance, running like a thread throughout the narrative and beautifully tied at the end. Throughout, David Wake writes well, his gentle British humour lampooning Victorian mores. He never puts a foot wrong, and the pages just keep turning.

_______________________________________________________________________

Like David Wake, I’m a British writer, and my stories are fast-paced page turners. The Trail series of crime thrillers begins with a mystery when fake bride Kat White goes missing. Take a look at The Bride’s Trail here.