Author:Stuart MacBride

After a series of standalone novels, Stuart MacBride marks the 20th anniversary of the debut of Logan McRae in Cold Justice with the first addition to the series since 2019’s All That’s Dead. Whereas the aforementioned All That’s Dead focussed on Scottish nationalism, this new work sees the author turn his attention to the migrant crisis, racism and the hatred and fear stirred up by elements of the press. The usual supporting cast of Tufty, Rennie and of course Steel (now just weeks away from retirement) are all present and correct, as Covid decimates the force leaving just a skeleton staff on duty. When a migrant hotel is firebombed, there’s a huge climate change march in the offing and a body is found in the river, it’s all hands on deck, especially when the case of a missing person is unexpectedly thrown into the mix. With resources stretched to breaking point, McCrae and his merry band have it all to do to keep on top of their escalating caseload as one crisis follows another and things go from bad to worse. This is a first class read, a police procedural / thriller laced with plenty of the author’s » Continue Reading.

Author:Dante DiCarlo

London based musician and member of the tribute band ‘Who’s Next’ Dante DiCarlo has put together this comprehensive look at the studio albums released by The Who. He’s taken the reasonable decision to exclude the numerous compilations and live recordings, which unfortunately excludes one of their most seminal albums, Live at Leeds, and one wonders if the rules couldn’t have been a bit more flexible in that instance but there you go. He precedes each album by giving some detailed background on the creation and recording of the music, before giving his thoughts on each individual song, focussing in the main on the albums as they originally appeared rather than getting into bonus tracks added to subsequent reissues and box sets. He also includes the Odd and Sods album in his chronology as that comprised previously unreleased material. He’s a good entertaining writer, although as a non-musician myself the detail on chords, tunings, keys etc was a bit lost on me, but of course others may find that sort of information enlightening! He does offer some perceptive thoughts though on the songs, and isn’t afraid to give his opinion and call out material that wasn’t quite up to » Continue Reading.

Author:John Connolly

A new instalment in the long running Charlie Parker series finds the private investigator drawn into a tale of four children abducted from Mexico, who it initially appears are the offspring of the brutal head of a drugs cartel. However, it transpires all his family are safe and well, so just whose children are they and why is he so determined to recover them at any cost, eliminating anyone who gets in the way. Meanwhile, a former soldier, the boyfriend of a long standing acquaintance of Parker’s, suddenly disappears, leaving behind only a mobile phone that contains just one text message, ‘run’. The investigation into why he’s fled leads Parker, along with his associates Angel and Louis, into a dangerous world where he faces the drug lord’s ruthless agents and their accomplice, a mysterious woman. At the same time, strange foreboding events are occurring in the nether world inhabited by Parker’s daughter, which seem to portend some sinister developments in the near future. This is a very good addition to this series of novels, with Connolly keeping the action and suspense moving along at a brisk pace, carefully building the suspense while throwing in a good measure of » Continue Reading.

Author:Richard Butterworth, Alan Draper, Robert Day-Webb

I’m still very fond of The Pretenders, especially the first five albums which is the era covered by this very readable potted history of the band. Their 1980 debut still stands up today and subsequent records were all of a high standard, if not perhaps quite attaining the same level of sexy sassy swagger. As is well documented, the band was to suffer some tragic losses, but carried on regardless and continued to make some great music. These essential albums are delved into song by song with plenty of in depth analysis alongside the story of what was happening in the ranks, which is precisely what you want from a book like this. A very well put together effort compiled by a serious and knowledgeable fan. Original Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips is a name that perhaps isn’t that well known to those outside his circle of fans. Having departed after the Trespass album, he eventually embarked on a prolific solo career of mostly instrumental music, often working as something of a cottage industry. working at his own pace in his own time. Nevertheless, he managed to produce no fewer than 15 albums in the » Continue Reading.

Author:Anthony Horowitz

This is the third in the series of murder mystery novels featuring Susan Ryeland and Atticus Pund. Although it works as a standalone work in its own right, it’s more enjoyable if you have already read the two previous novels in the series, Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders, so that you’re familiar with the main players and their back stories. (Just a warning though that the solution to the first novel is revealed here.) The basic premise in all three stories is that a ‘real life’ murder occurs in the life of an author, and the clues to solving it are to be found in the manuscript of a novel said author is writing featuring the fictional detective Atticus Pund, a Poirot like figure, and that Susan Ryeland is in the process of editing. It’s a very clever idea, and it’s one that works very well. There’s lots of fun to be had trying to establish which fictional characters are representations of real world people, and in trying to spot clues to what’s going on which are hidden in the form of anagrams. To give a brief précis, a final Pund novel, set in the South of France, » Continue Reading.

Author:C B Everett

An intriguing novel from an author new to me. There are shades of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None mixed with hints of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in this locked room thriller, which has a gothic touch despite its contemporary setting. Ten strangers awaken to find themselves locked in an old house with no recollection of how they arrived. Their own clothes are in their rooms and their favourite meals are on the dinner table. The only means of escape is to solve the mystery of a missing woman, but they only have twelve hours to accomplish this. Meanwhile, a killer stalks the corridors, gradually reducing their numbers. Who is telling the truth here and who isn’t all that they first seem – and who or what is the narrator, the mysterious Beast in the Cellar, and can they be trusted? This is a fascinating read, full of red herrings and with, of course, a completely unexpected sting in its tail. I devoured this in a couple of evenings, and it’s a novel that holds your attention from the first page to the last with a new twist always just around the next corner. » Continue Reading.

Author:Kate Mossman

I’m sure most people on here associate Kate with her writing on The Word, although since its sad and premature demise she can be found in the pages of the New Statesman. This book compiles nineteen long form profiles of rock stars, mainly now falling into the elder statesman category, written for both magazines. As you’d anticipate, the writing is perceptive and intuitive as she delves into the personas of these archetypes while also exploring her personal obsession with music and musicians. She covers a diverse cast list including the likes of Jeff Beck, Sting, Ray Davies and Glen Campbell to pluck out just a handful of names, and the pieces are prefixed with newly written introductions setting the scene, and sometimes she even adds an insightful Afterword as well to sum up her thoughts and memories of the encounters. This is a really enjoyable look back at the best of her incisive writing, which is always tinged with wit and humour, making her observations on her chosen subjects essential reading.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

The Word of course! What better way to spend a few hours than delving into this fine collection » Continue Reading.

Author:Gerald Seymour

The enigmatic MI5 intelligence analyst Jonas Merrick returns in this new novel for a fifth consecutive outing. I always mentally picture him as a George Smiley type figure as portrayed by Alec Guinness, but this new novel sees him languishing in a forgotten corner of Thames House as a punishment for past misdemeanours, counting out the days until his retirement. However, a proposed prisoner swap involving a British agent imprisoned in a Russian Gulag and the courier for an Albanian gang involved in laundering money for Russian oligarchs sees him pressed back into the thick of the action. The situation rapidly becomes vastly more complicated when it transpires that the kidnapped courier is the grandson and heir apparent of the criminal gang’s ruthless leader, and the whole operation soon seems to be spiralling inexorably out of control; heading inevitably towards a bloody confrontation. As with all these novels, the initial stages are quite slow as the author painstakingly sets the scene and introduces the main characters, but as things progress the pace picks up and the action and tension intensify, leading to a nail biting climax. Seymour is a past master of this type of novel, this being » Continue Reading.

Author:Paul Rappaport

Subtitled Airships, Airplay and the Art of Rock Promotion, this book is written by a man who was at the heart of the US music industry during arguably its most exciting era. For over thirty years from the late 60s all the way through to the 90s he worked in the promotions department at Columbia Records, starting when he was still at college and playing guitar in an LA punk band and ascending through the ranks to eventually reach the dizzy heights of Senior Vice President of rock promotion. From a student who couldn’t believe he suddenly had access to as many free albums and concert tickets as he wanted to meeting and working with some of the biggest names in rock, this insider’s account of adventures in the golden age of rock n roll is a really enjoyable and entertaining read. Along the way, he encounters such luminaries as Dylan, Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd to cherry pick just a few choice names. There’s many a tale of life on the road, including a particularly eventful tour with the New Barbarians, and there’s a plethora of eccentric characters, including not just the artists » Continue Reading.

Author:Phil Kafcaloudes, Alberto Bravin & Andrew Wild, Nick Holmes

2024 not only saw the release of Deep Purple’s 23rd studio album, it also marked the 40th anniversary of the 1984 reunion of the classic line up. Since that time there have been no less than 13 albums released, with, I think it’s fair to say, varying degrees of quality and success. The reformation album, Perfect Strangers, was certainly quite promising but inevitably it wasn’t too far in the future when Blackmore once more departed, leading to the beginning of the Steve Morse era, which produced the longest lasting line up in their history. This whole era is one that is often overlooked but it produced some great songs along the way, even if they were all too often tucked away on somewhat nondescript albums. This is a book I really enjoyed, with the author going through each record song by song, including the numerous live releases, and at the same time looking at what was going on in the ranks of the band behind the scenes. It’s very well worth looking out for this comprehensive and well researched effort if you’re a fan, as this era is often overshadowed when » Continue Reading.

Author:Martyn Hanson, Don Klees, David Starkey, John Van der Kiste

When I think of the Groundhogs, it takes make right back to the days of Split and Thank Christ For The Bomb. Led by Tony McPhee, who sadly passed in 2023, they produced a challenging brand of progressive rock, championed by the likes of John Peel, They eventually produced 13 studio albums over 4 decades and toured until 2014, but their glory days were in the late sixties and seventies. McPhee’s partner allowed the author full access to their archives to produce this in depth look at not just the band and its music, but also the solo adventures of this complex character, including his pioneering work with synthesisers. This book originally appeared in 2005 but has long been out of print, so if you mussed it at the time then now is the chance to pick up a copy and dig out those albums one more time.

Bowie’s years post Let’s Dance are ones I’m not greatly familiar with – the period from The Man Who Sold The World to Ashes to Ashes are the golden years for me. I vaguely recall on a thread years back now that » Continue Reading.