MacMillan New Writing

This is the first of the Inspector Devlin Stories, and I loved it.  The story is fast moving and yet you feel that the pace of life around the borderlands of Ireland does not move quite so fast.

The story is based round the area of the borderlands between North and Southern Ireland, and it takes place over as period of a few months though taskes in s crime that happend many years before.

As with most crime there is s feeling that something is not right, and that the way things are going there has to be more to what is happening - but no-one can see just what! 

Gallows Lane by Brian McGilloway is the second in the Inspector Devlin Mysteries.   I loved this Ireland based book and especially as there seems to be not so many Irish based crime novelists, but Brian certainly knows his subject based on very good research and time spent watching and observing the local Garda (police).The title is taken from the area that was well known to Donnegal criminals.

Testament was a book I wanted to read very slowly to take in the atmosphere but the story wouldn't let me! I had to keep turning the page to find out what was going on both in the past with Simon, Gwyneth his wife and Toby his son with cerebral palsy, and the present with Damia, her relationship with Catz her partner and how she tries to decipher a painting on Kineton College wall.

Many times whilst reading North I could feel the similarity to the Greek Tragedies. It is a beautifully written book about the teenager North, the Narrator and four other characters entwined in North's psychological manipulations. I was utterly fascinated in where Brian Martin was going to take his story and would there be a sequel.

The Herring Seller's Apprentice is a very funny crime story with not only lots of twists and turns but some excellent pastiches to other writers, my favourite being the A.A.Milne characters! That one really had me laughing out loud. My favourite character was Elsie Thirkettle who would never accept no as an answer, and rules were definitely meant to be broken!