The Murder Code – Cleopatra Loves Books

WWW Wednesday (December 4)

Posted on December 4, 2013 by cleopatralovesbooks

Hosted by Miz B at Should be Reading
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• What are you currently reading?
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• What do you think you’ll read next?

The Wronged Sons by John Marrs has finally made it to the top of the pile.

This is a gripping book which I am really enjoying so thanks again Book Lovers Attic for pointing me in the right direction for this one.

The Wronged Sons Amazon UK

I have just finished The Murder Code by Steve Mosby. Will Andy crack the murder code?

click on the book cover to read my review

The Murder Code Amazon UK

Published 3 December 2013

And for once there is no doubt at all about my next read which has been on pre-order for what seems like ages, but is out on kindle on 5 December 2013; The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood

I read The Wicked Girls, the author’s debut novel, by chance fairly soon after it was published and loved it so I have high expectations of this one.

Blurb

No. 23 has a secret. In this gloomy, bedsit-riddled South London wreck, lorded over by a lecherous landlord, a horrifying collection quietly waits to be discovered. Yet all six residents have something to hide.
Collette is on the run from her ex-boss; Cher is an underage children’s home escapee; lonely Thomas tries to make friends with his neighbours; while a gorgeous Iranian asylum seeker and a ‘quiet man’ nobody sees try to keep themselves hidden. And there for them all is Vesta, a woman who knows everything that goes on in the house – or thought she did.
Then in the dead of night, a terrible accident pushes the six into an uneasy alliance. But one of them is a killer, expertly hiding their pastime, all the while closing in on their next victim…
Amazon

The Killer Next Door Amazon UK

Review: The Wronged Sons by John Marrs (bookloversattic.wordpress.com)

Books I have read

The Murder Code – Steve Mosby

Posted on December 3, 2013December 4, 2013 by cleopatralovesbooks

This book starts with the interview of a young boy by police officers but this is a tantalising start; the nature of the incident being investigated isn’t revealed until much later.

The main story follows a murder investigation which starts with a woman who is bludgeoned to death outside her home. Steve Mosby doesn’t stint on the horrors inflicted, making this a book to avoid by the squeamish, but if you have the stomach for it, and the underlying plot is outstanding, original and most importantly well-written.

Andy Hicks is the officer in charge, a policeman whose wife is expecting their first child, an event it is fair to say, that is causing him some anguish. Laura, who he partners, role is more about soothing the families of the victims and questioning the theories put forward by Andy. Andy believes that statistics and probabilities will be the route to finding the killer and holds much store by his personal theories about murderers whereas Laura is the more intuitive of the two.

As in Black Flowers, the only other book I’ve read by this author, family relationships play a big part of the novel, for both victims and perpetrator. Even though the description of the violence is at the upper end of what I am comfortable reading, this is a character led book. The characters are superbly drawn, from the distraught mother of the first victim to the young boy being interviewed in excerpts throughout the book.

The book is split into the days of the investigation and although there are mentions of the force being drafted in for assistance, the action concentrates on Andy Hicks and Laura with little in the way of the management of the investigation.

I will now be searching out for the many books I have missed by this author since he has scored a hit with me for both that I have read.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for my honest review.

The Murder Code

The Murder Code was the eighth book read for the COYER challenge

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Weekly Posts

WWW Wednesday (November 27)

Posted on November 27, 2013 by cleopatralovesbooks

I am currently (still) reading Love Nina by Nina Stibbe

Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life

This book of letters is great to pick up and put down in spare minutes as it consists entirely of letters from nanny Nina to her sister during the 80’s. Great fun

I have very nearly finished The Moon Field by Judith Allnatt which will be published 16 January 2014.

Blurb

A poignant story of love and redemption, The Moon Field explores the loss of innocence through a war that destroys everything except the bonds of human hearts.
No man’s land is a place in the heart: pitted, cratered and empty as the moon…
Hidden in a soldier’s tin box are a painting, a pocket watch, and a dance card – keepsakes of three lives.
It is 1914. George Farrell cycles through the tranquil Cumberland fells to deliver a letter, unaware that it will change his life. George has fallen for the rich and beautiful daughter at the Manor House, Miss Violet, but when she lets slip the contents of the letter George is heartbroken to find that she is already promised to another man. George escapes his heartbreak by joining the patriotic rush to war, but his past is not so easily avoided. His rite of passage into adulthood leaves him believing that no woman will be able to love the man he has become.
A poignant story of love and redemption, The Moon Field explores the loss of innocence in a war that destroys everything except the bonds of the human heart. Amazon

The Moon Field

This is a fantastic read, one that doesn’t shy away from the horrors of war with its scenes from the battlefield in Ypres.

I have just finished Water’s Edge by Jane Riddell

Click on the cover to read my review

Water’s Edge

I plan to read The Murder Code by Steve Mosby next, publication date 3 December 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media

Blurb

Detective Inspector Andrew Hicks thinks he knows all about murder. However horrific the act, the reasons behind a crime are usually easy to explain. So when a woman is found bludgeoned to death, he suspects a crime of passion and attention focuses on her possessive ex-husband. But when a second body is found, similarly beaten, Hicks is forced to think again.
When more murders arrive in quick succession, Hicks realizes he is dealing with a type of killer he has never faced before, one who fits nowhere within his logic. Then the letters begin to arrive . . .
As the death toll rises, Hicks must face not only a killer obsessed with randomness and chaos, but also a secret in his own past. If he is to stop the killings, he must confront the truth about himself . . . Netgalley

The Murder Code

I’m looking forward to this one as I read Black Flowers a couple of years ago and was impressed by the fantastic storytelling