Santa Womble - The Third Stocking - Crime Mysteries and Thrillers

Ho Ho Hoooooo

“He’s making a TBR list

He’s checking it twice

He’s going to tempt you

Whether you’re naughty or nice

Sannnnta Womble is coming to town”

So, if you want to let people know what is good as a gift for you someone else or perhaps just treating yourself too; then join me in my grotto and let’s talk some book ideas.  My favourites of the year come later this month but these listed are all worthy of your consideration.

Stocking 3 – Crime and Thrillers

Its been great to get into some more genres this year and crime and thrillers have been  a delight to see back in my reading and more to follow in 2020. They’re puzzles to solve; tense races against time and sometimes can tell us about the things that are wrong about our society.  And just perhaps help you channel violent impulses against bad carol singers!

Firstly slightly crossing over with SF we have The Line Between by Tosca Lee  first part in a fascinating duology this year where a woman who has just been cast out of her cult after many years has to race to save her family outside and possibly the wider world!  Very engrossing

Stephen King needs rarely much book tempting but his mystery novel The Colorado Kid tells you a maddening mystery that is damn entertaining and also talks to why we loved the unsolvable. Brilliantly done and after many years now back in the UK.

For something seasonal James Lovegrove has presented us a new Holmes tale with Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon and this feels so right you can just imagine Jeremy Brett striding through a castle looking for cues.

From the 19th century to the present day and in Safe House we have a look at redemption, and also can you be forgiven for the unforgivable? I really enjoyed the cat and mouse approach used in Safe House by Jo Jakeman

Rightly getting a lot of acclaim Oyinhan Braithwaite’s funny and fascinating tale of murder in Nigeria is well worth a look in My Sister The Serial Killer

For something a bit weirder with psychopaths learning to play together then Leona Deakin’s new tale may be a fun thriller racing around the UK in Gone

And finally, a rather brilliant mystery where two people disappear during a UK eclipse in the same small town many years apart. The supernatural or someone close to both families? Fran Dorricott’s After the Eclipse is well worth a look.