2016 books, #86-90

Freeze frame, by Peter May. Kindle edition.

I'm starting to become quite freaked out with the coincidences in locations with this series of books - I read this while in Morocco for work in November, and one of the first scenes is set in the 1960 Agadir earthquake.  Then two days later, we were in a museum looking at a painting of the 1960 Agadir earthquake...  Anyway; this is another excellent Enzo Macleod mystery, which spans 60 years. Enzo is asked by a man's widow to look at his study and try to figure out the clues he left 20 years ago for his son, who died shortly after him without being able to work out who had killed his father.  The mystery takes Enzo to an island off the coast of Brittany - the man who was tried, and acquitted, of the murder is still around, and many of the locals don't want the story brought to life again.  As ever, Enzo doesn't let this deter him; even though things in his private life are doing their best to distract him...

The box of delights, by John Masefield. London: Egmont, 2014.

I'd forgotten quite how enjoyable this book was; and also that it was the companion to The midnight folk, which I'll have to track down and re-read.  Kay Harker comes home from school for Christmas, but some mysterious characters share a carriage with him, and a strange man at the station tells him that The wolves are running... Then his and his siblings' guardian is called to London at short notice and doesn't reappear, and clergy start disappearing from the Cathedral...  A creepy Christmas tale for all ages.

No man's land, by GM Ford [audiobook]. Read by Jeff Harding. Bath: BBC Audio, 2008.

Frank Corso is summoned to a high-security prison, where inmates have taken over.  The ringleader, Timothy Driver, is the subject of one of Corso's biographies, and demands Corso come in and talk to him.  Subsequently Driver kidnaps Corso, and he and another prisoner escape.  Corso is dragged along during a killing spree; and a television journalist is also trying to track Driver and his companion down.  This ought to have been thrilling, and it's read as ably as ever by Jeff Harding, but I did find my attention drifting from time to time...

Fatal pursuit, by Martin Walker. London: Quercus, 2016.

Bruno, chief of police in the Dordogne town of St Denis, is supervising a vintage car rally when news comes that a man has died on the outskirts of the village.  It looks like a natural death - the man is elderly, overweight and has a terrible diet - but Bruno's just not sure.  He can't find the papers the man is meant to have been working on, and there are no files on his computer relating to his current commission.  Meanwhile he's also dealing with a family feud, the car rally and the presence of his old flame Isabelle who has been stationed nearby dealing with a high-level fraud investigation. This series continues to charm, and also to wrap up satisfying plots; bravo.

Blowback, by Peter May. Kindle edition.

Enzo Macleod's fifth cold case from Roger Raffin's book takes him to a chateau in the Jura, home and restaurant to three-star Michelin chef Marc Fraysse, who was murdered seven years before.  He has a limited amount of time to investigate as the restaurant is about to close for the winter season, but he has a mole in the kitchen staff already, and the cooperation, at least initially, of Fraysse's family.  As he investigates, though, he digs up a mass of seething sibling resentment, betrayal and infidelity which both put him into danger and lead to disturbing parallels with his own life.  Another excellent outing for Enzo.