#Bookvent – Celebrating my top reads of 2017
Part two of today’s #bookvent selections is a book which is kind of part of a series and kind of not. This book … well it had me chuckling from start to finish but then that is nothing more than I’d come to expect from certain characters in the book. The author is one of my favourite of recent times, a drop everything kind of read, and when I got wind of this book I had to place an order straight away. One of two titles released this year, both have a kind of literary tone or feel to them, this one styled very much in homage to AA Milne and Winnie the Pooh. Take a look inside the covers and you see what I mean. A masterclass in fudgemonkery, my second day 24 #bookvent pick is …
She can’t prove he did it. But she might die trying…
From the Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae series, comes a standalone spinoff featuring DS Roberta Steel.
Revenge is a dangerous thing…
Detective Chief Inspector Roberta Steel got caught fitting up Jack Wallace – that’s why they demoted her and quashed his sentence. Now he’s back on the streets and women are being attacked again. Wallace has to be responsible, but if Detective Sergeant Steel goes anywhere near him, his lawyers will get her thrown off the force for good.
The Powers That Be won’t listen to her, not after what happened last time. According to them, she’s got more than enough ongoing cases to keep her busy. Perhaps she could try solving a few instead of harassing an innocent man?
Steel knows Wallace is guilty. And the longer he gets away with it, the more women will suffer. The question is: how much is she willing to sacrifice to stop him?
Ah … Now everyone needs some Tufty in their life. That poor DC may have thought he hit the big time moving to CID in Aberdeen, but he perhaps hadn’t counted on the Steel effect. Roberta Steel, the irrepressible DCI from the Logan McRae series returns in her very own story and what a story it is. Demoted for faking evidence, she is now on the back foot when it comes to an old nemesis, and when it comes to proving he is responsible for a spate of recent attacks on women, she is thwarted at every turn. Full of Steel’s own brand of both humour and justice, her questionable methods may not tick any of the boxes in the Police Scotland handbook, but Steel knows her stuff. The question is – can she prove it? Legally … As funny as this series has ever been, MacBride seamlessly blends the humour with a very serious case, keeping the balance between slapstick and the darker side of the investigation just about perfect. I love the characterisations in this book, especially Tufty. I kind of have a soft spot for that daft DC. Less so after his encounter with the disgruntled farmers, but even this provides a great deal of humour and is borne in mind if I am ever travelling behind a muck spreader … And it certainly casts new light on old Batman … For sheer class and kudos of getting fudgemonkeys and Womble wallopers into a book, this has to get a ten out of ten from me. It was a close run contest as A Dark So Deadly was also a top notch read but the fudgemonkeys won me over. I’m easily amused.
You can read my full review of Now We Are Dead right here and purchase a copy of the book from the following retailers:
Amazon UK | Amazon US | Kobo | Waterstones
Happy #bookvent reading all
JL
If you liked this please share the #booklove
