Reading for pleasure: August 2023

David Young (Zaffre: £8.99; e-book £4.99)

David Young has drawn a veil over his Stasi series with Oberleutnant Karin Müller. That is a huge loss. It was a terrific series. Young has now moved back into the Second World War and we find ourselves in Hull and East Yorkshire. DCI Ambrose Swift has transferred from the Met, having dismantled, and inevitably upset, some serious criminals. This is dangled before us with occasional tension from his past shown when Swift sees something suspicious. 

There are a series of killings of young women in Hull. A pattern develops, but who and why? An American base is close by and we witness the tensions and liaisons which develop between the American soldiers and the locals. Dancehalls are the centre of the activity. Young, as always, is good on the historical accuracy of the background against which he sets his narrative. Here readers who may not have known about the German bombing of English cities will appreciate how extensive it was. We also have a detour into the racism of America. There are tensions, recreation of East Yorkshire in the war years, as Swift moves up and down the coast, as far as Scarborough as he tried to solve the increasingly violet killings. Terrific.

James Comey (Head of Zeus: £20; e-book £7.99)

The former director of the FBI was, prior to that post, the chief federal prosecutor for the southern district of New York. His main focus was prosecution of the mafia. Following the old adage “write about what you know”, he sets his first novel in the courts of New York. The disgraced governor, in his own #metoo moment, is found dead. Murder it is and suspicion falls on his second wife. A trial ensues. A principal witness is murdered. A second trial ensues. Interwoven are the daily trials in the lives of the prosecutor, Nora Carleton and her FBI colleague, Benny. There is much to learn on the trial process, from witness preparation to the order of speeches. There are some terrific set pieces of evidence taking. All is not as it seems, and the second trial is gripping. We are left with an ending which may prove a beginning of the next book. Enjoy!

Katja Ivar (Bitter Lemon Press: £9.99; e-book £7.71)

This is the third in the private detective Hella Mauzer series. This book sees her in Helsinki in the middle of the Cold War in 1953. Her father, mother, sister and niece were killed in 1942, when they were struck by a truck. The investigation was closed without anyone being held responsible. Mauzer is asked to make enquiry into the background of Heikkinen, the man who is to be the next head of the homicide team. A stranger appears but does not immediately approach Hella. There are essentially three narratives woven into one terrific book. A subtext is whether Hella will finally fall into a relationship with Steve. There is a common core to these narratives, and Ivar with care, no, skill, slowly unveils the link. The past extends its reach into the future, as Hella keeps digging into Heikkinen’s past while simultaneously pressing for access to the police file on her parents’ deaths. This all leads to a terrific denouement. Helsinki is captured as beautifully on paper as it is in real life. The writing is sparse but effective. This is a page turner.