Newest from Author Ann Cleeves

     The newest addition to the Vera Stanhope series of murder mysteries by Ann Cleeves is called Harbour Street.
     The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is in full swing in Newcastle. Detective Joe Ashworth and his daughter Jessie find themselves swept along in a raucous crowd and onto the Metro, but, when the train has to be stopped due to poor weather conditions, Jessie notices that one lady hasn't disembarked. Her name is Margaret Krukowski and she has been fatally stabbed.
     Joe's gov'ner, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope arrives on the scene to take charge of the case. She stands on the platform at the station and surveys the surroundings. She can feel in her bones that this is going to be a complex and unusual case. Truth be told, Vera is glad for the distraction from all of the holiday revelry.
     A few days later, another woman from Margaret Krukowski's neighborhood is murdered and Vera knows that to solve both cases, she is going to have to figure out why Margaret was so worried in the weeks leading up to her death. She knows there is a link somewhere, but the residents of Harbour Street are reluctant to speak to the police. They are hell-bent on closing ranks to keep outsiders from intruding into their lives. Retracing Margaret's final movements may be the only way to piece together what deep dark secrets the neighbors on this street are keeping. At what point, though, do silent witnesses become complicit in the crime itself?
     This riveting British police procedural uses sharp prose and an eye for forensic detail to tell the age old story of how keeping secrets can be deadly.  

Remember, if you enjoy the Vera Stanhope character, the library also has several seasons of the television drama Vera starring Brenda Blethyn as the detective inspector herself.
   

British Mysteries on DVD

I have recently finished two new British Mystery series on DVD. The first one is Death in Paradise (Season 1) and it stars Ben Miller (Primeval, Johnny English) as the pent-up and proper Detective Inspector Richard Poole. DI Poole has been sent from Scotland Yard to the Caribbean Island of Saint Marie to solve the murder of a fellow police officer. he encounters an island full of colorful characters and a police station manned by an equally raucous crew. Paired with DI Poole is Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey (Sara Martins). Where Poole is up-tight and a little OCD; Camille is laid back and free-spirited. Needless to say, these two but horns at almost every turn, but Camille and her mother, Catherine, take every opportunity to try to get the DI to relax. Adding to Poole's headaches are Officer Dwayne Myers (Danny John-Jules) and Fidel Best (Gary Carr). Dwayne just wants to revel in the island that he loves so much. Fidel is a about to be a new father and while quite competent, he is a little on the green side when it comes to police work, but he is more than willing to learn. This eight episode season is full of character driven stories without all the blood and gore of grittier police shows and it is peppered with enough humor to keep it light and watchable.

The second set of British mysteries I've watched recently is called Scott & Bailey (Season 1). It stars Lesley Sharp (The Full Monty, Cranford) as Detective Constable Janet Scott and Suranne Jones (Coronation Street) as Detective Constable Rachel Bailey. This show is more serious and drama driven than the other series discussed here. DC Scott is the sensible, family-oriented detective. She is kind, intelligent and a by-the-book copper. DC Bailey is a single woman with a penchant for the wrong men. She, too, is intelligent and good at her job, but she is more likely to bend the rules than her partner. These two ladies are best friends as well as partners. They may not always see eye-to-eye, but when things get hairy they have each other's backs. This series doesn't have a lot of gore either, even though the cases are more gritty and urban than Death in Paradise. This is definitely a buddy-cop show and well worth watching.

Take a Trip Down the Concourse

I just read an interesting mystery novel set in New York City, mainly in the Bronx. The book, titled Concourse and written by S. J. Rozan, stars Private Investigator Bill Smith and his sidekick/love interest Lydia Chin. This is the second book in this series (the first is China Trade) and is a great story about life in the Bronx. Bill is assigned by his old friend Bobby Moran to investigate a brutal murder of a security officer at a nursing home in the Bronx, situated on the "Concourse." Bill poses undercover as a security office to try and discover the truth and meets some hardball criminals, sweet older people and other Bronx residents along the way. The story is a convoluted tale of corruption, but Bill works tirelessly to solve the mystery and find the truth. He is half in love with his partner, Lydia Chin, a tough Chinese woman who puts up with his shenanigans in spite of her distate for them! This is an entertaining New York P.I. and would be a great choice for anyone who enjoys police procedurals.

Get Hooked by an Angel

I am a big fan of police procedurals and I have just finished reading a really great one! Angel’s Tip is the latest mystery thriller from Alafair Burke, and it truly is a fast and exciting read. The book is set in New York and features Ellie Hatcher, a tough, “newly promoted” NYPD detective who has been working in the homicide division of the Thirteenth precinct for exactly one week. The book’s action is centered around the murder of Chelsea Hart, a college student from Indiana who was spending her spring break with her two best friends, in New York City. A bit wild and carefree, Chelsea convinced her friends to leave her at a nightclub on the last night of their trip, so that that she could dance and have fun “a little bit longer.” But, the best night of Chelsea’s life turned sour when her murdered body was discovered the next day in East River Park. The plot is complicated and the action moves quickly in this book. Not only do readers’ get to hear Ellie’s point of view, but also they are pushed into the mind of the killer during several parts of the book. The best part of Alafair Burke’s novel is her heroine, Ellie Hatcher. Ellie’s father was a policeman and she has followed in his footsteps in her own career choice. Ellie lives in a world of men, and being attractive and blond has hindered her ability to be taken seriously by her fellow detectives. In this book, Ellie receives a new partner, J. J. Rogan, who as an African American has had to face his own battles within the force. Ellie and J. J.’s developing partnership and uphill battle to learn the “lay of the land” within the NYPD add an extra layer of tension to this already exciting story. Dead Connection is the first novel written by Alafair Burke, that stars Ellie Hatcher. Burke has also written three books in a series with Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid that are set in Portland, OR; the first book in the Samantha Kincaid series is Judgement Calls. If you like Angel’s Tip, try also reading The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen, the first book in Gerritsen’s series starring Detective Jane Rizzolo. The story involves a creepy cerebral serial killer, a charismatic female doctor and a tough female detective set amidst the history and bustle of Boston, MA.