Tag Archives: york

March 27, 2019 · 6:31 pm

Rogue Killer by Leigh Russell – BLOG TOUR

I am a big fan of writer Leigh Russell and so I jumped at the chance to read her latest novel Rogue Killer. In Rogue Killer we again meet up with Detective Geraldine Steel. She is still living in York and starts to investigate when a man is killed, and suspicion falls on a gang of opportune muggers. Geraldine Steel is the only one who thinks this is work of a murderer. When two more victims are found, the muggers are tracked down. However, it soon becomes clear that it isn’t them, and that a killer is on the loose. One who seemingly believes that he is invincible despite there being DNA found. Yet he hadn’t banked on the tenacity of Geraldine.

Rogue Killer is an interesting story that kept me hooked throughout. I felt the story was very clever, and especially enjoyed the setting in York. This is one of those stories that walks you through the streets of the city it is set in and as a York dweller myself you can imagine the routes taken.

Although the crimes are pretty gruesome, this isn’t a graphic novel with most of the violence happening off the page which I think can often make things even more chilling. There were also chapters from the killers point of view, which personally I always really enjoy, although I suppose enjoy isn’t really the right word they were rather disturbing.

Although this is the latest in a long series it can still be read as a standalone. There were plenty of background references given, and you can soon work out the relationships between Geraldine and her two very different sisters and the tension between Geraldine and her now superior officer Ian. One of the things I really like about Leigh Russell’s books is the attention given to somewhat peripheral characters, in this case the gang of muggers. The interaction between the three was interesting and showed a sense of vulnerability alongside the arrogance and unpleasantness that makes you think they deserve whatever they get. Of course the standout character is Geraldine, and despite her being a little annoying at times when she can be a bit slow on the uptake, she is a character that on the whole I like.

I very much enjoyed this story and would recommend Leigh Russell’s series to anyone who likes a gritty thriller.

To find out more about Rogue Killer pop over to the other spots on the Blog Tour tomorrow is the turn of Short Book and Scribes.

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July 31, 2018 · 7:51 am

Death Rope by Leigh Russell – a review BLOG TOUR

I love a good crime story and I love living in York. Therefore any book that combines these two things is going to be winner for me. So I was very pleased to be invited onto the blog tour for Leigh Russell’s latest novel ‘Death Rope’

Death Rope is the latest in the series starring Geraldine Steele. She has moved to York after being demoted and is struggling with the fact that she no longer has the authority to go her own way in investigations. When Mark Abbot is found hanging at his home it is at first assumed to be a suicide. However his sister Amanda is adamant that he wouldn’t take his own life and suspicion points to his wife. Geraldine wants to investigate but it is not until Amanda goes missing that she can persuade the rest of the team to take an interest.

I very much enjoyed this story. Although it is obvious that the suicide is going to turn out to be more complicated than it seems (it would be a pretty short crime novel otherwise) the rest of the story doesn’t take any obvious routes. The novel starts relatively slowly but manages to hook you in from the beginning as the pace begins to quicken and the twists start coming.

The character of Geraldine is interesting. Death Rope is the eleventh in the series and although I have a read a few of the previous ones I haven’t yet read them all. However there is enough detail in Death Rope about Geraldine and her previous life that you can happily read this as a standalone. She is quite a sad character I felt. Clearly very lonely living in a new city, and trying to balance the demands of two tricky sisters, both with their own albeit different baggage. You get the impression that she isn’t particularly happy especially as she has been demoted and she is quite reserved which obviously doesn’t help with making new friends. Yet she is also smart with a good eye for a case.

This is a nice easy to read police procedural that is well written. The story keeps you guessing until the end. I would highly recommend this series. Find out Leigh’s top ten crime drama’s here: https://acrimereadersblog.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2125&action=edit

Death Rope is available on Amazon.

Don’t forget to visit the other stops on the tour.:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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February 11, 2018 · 5:13 pm

The Book Case

So Tuesday was my first trip out with Bookcase For All. For those who don’t know the idea is that we provide books for the homeless and vulnerable in York. When people think of the city of York they think of historical buildings, great tourist attractions, and for those of us of a certain age the Blue Peter competition to design a boss for the ceiling of York Minster. Whilst there is no denying that York is a beautiful place and we are very lucky to live here, like most places there are those who are struggling with the high cost of living, and with life in general. York has a high population of homeless and it seems like this is a problem that is just getting worse.

One good thing however is that there are some fantastic organisations within York providing essential items to people in need. The Lunar Project concentrates of period poverty and provides an outreach service twice a week, as well as providing boxes of towels and tampons in schools. Another excellent project around is Kitchen for Everyone York (KEY). They provide a hot meal on a Tuesday night as well as a cooked breakfast on a Sunday. Mr F can sometimes be found cooking sausages and bacon at KEY on a weekend (which is great for me as it means he’s not stinking out my kitchen frying it!)

One idea that had been brewing with me for a while was the idea of providing books for those who would like them. You often see people on the streets quietly minding their own business reading a book. As someone who reads a lot it bothered me that not everyone can afford to buy books, and whilst I am a huge fan of the library, without an address you can’t get a library card. Having done a bit of research there was no specific place I could donate books to try and reach vulnerable people. Therefore the idea for Bookcase For All (BFA) was born, and thanks to KEY a venue was offered to trial.

Everyone warned me not to get too disappointed if I didn’t get any takers to start with, it takes time to build up trust with people. However, my first outing was a huge success with over ten books taken and lots of requests for different genres and themes. What struck me both at BFA and when I went out with the Lunar Project, is the absolute lack of greed of people with nothing. When we were out offering hot drinks, alongside socks and gloves people were only taking items if they needed them. At BFA anyone who came up to chat was told to take anything they wanted from my pile of books, yet people were not just grabbing anything. They were picking up, and looking and choosing just like a proper library.

The other thing that surprised me and really shouldn’t have is that readers are all similar no matter what their home life. They all love books. They love to talk about books – what they have read, what they would like to read, what they are currently reading. People who like to read all like to talk about what they read.

However, the big thing I noticed is how narrow my own reading choices are.  As you know I read crime fiction, therefore 99% of the books I own are crime fiction. Therefore all of the books that I had for my first BFA were crime fiction. To me this didn’t seem to be a problem, yet apparently there are some weird people out there who don’t read crime fiction. Luckily I was saved by a donation from a friend which meant I had a much more eclectic mix of books to offer.

What it has taught me though is I’m definitely going to need a better source of books than just my own bookshelves, so if anyone is in York and has any books they could donate do let me know.

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October 19, 2017 · 4:34 pm

You can run!

A couple of weekends ago I took part in the York 10 mile race. This was run alongside the Yorkshire Marathon. As you know a marathon is 26 miles (26.2 to be precise, why someone added an extra 0.2 is beyond me, was 26 not enough?) When you look at it in that context, 10 miles doesn’t seem far. If someone said lets go shopping, you’d jump in the car and happily drive off ten miles without thinking twice.

Well I can tell you now, covering ten miles on foot is definitely something to think twice about. In fact you should think three and four times about it, ideally whilst sat in front of the television with a glass of red so you are not tempted to think it’s a good idea. I never really thought it was a good idea, I just didn’t appreciate what a bad one it was. One friend suggested we sign up to do it. I then mentioned it to another friend who was already signed up. He said maybe I would need to train more and should wait until next year. Well that was a stupid thing to say, as obviously I jumped on my high horse and signed up straight away.

The training went quite well. I completed some nice long runs, in fact at one point I ran from pluto to the sun* So I turned up on the day confident I would complete it in my target time of 2 hours. As always before I signed up I checked the results from last year. I’m a very slow runner, but as long as I’m not going to be last then I’m happy to give it a go. Therefore with some 3 hour runners at previous events I was confident I’d be as usual in the middle average.

Of course when looking at previous results I’d concentrated on the slowest people without realising that there was still going to be a rather large number of fast people doing it. I don’t mind getting overtaken by speedy professional looking runners. That’s just part and parcel of being a bit of a fairweather jogger. However when you suddenly realise that you are actually being passed by Zippy and Bungle from Rainbow you do start to think it might be time to hang up the trainers. Luckily one of the best things about these runs is the constant supply of sweets that the kindly spectators are giving out as you drag yourself round. The man in the batman suit might have finished way ahead of me, but I bet I enjoyed my jelly babies more than him.

 The thing with this kind of event though is that as soon as you reach the finish line you forget everything. You forget about the fact that at the half way point you were ready to sit down and wait for a taxi. You forget about the fact that your face is that red you are stopping traffic as you go past. You forget about the fact your toenails will probably never be the same again. As soon as you get your finish time, which in my case was a very respectable 1 hour 44 minutes, you forget what a stupid idea trying to run 10 miles actually is. In fact once you are actually able to walk again you think, what’s my next challenge going to be all pain forgotten. One thing for certain though is I won’t be doing a marathon. 26 miles ok maybe, but 26.2, that’s just silly.

 

*York Solar System Cycle Path obviously!

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