The latest in the Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries series, Close To Death is a fun, intriguing and clever mystery.  Breaking the literary version of the fourth wall, a fictionalised version of author Anthony Horowitz works to solve crimes with the help of private detective protagonist Daniel Hawthorne. The latest in the long-standing Hawthorne and Horowitz series, Close To Death changes the format by giving the audience a glimpse into a past case. Instead of investigating alongside Hawthorne, this time, Horowitz is narrating events from old case notes, without knowing the solution himse ..read more

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry for being a bit behind on posting, I’ve been super busy, but I’ll be aiming to share more exciting new stuff over the coming weeks. For now, here are my top picks for new books to watch out for in 2024: The Opposite of Murder By Sophie Hannah Sophie Hannah is back with another exciting premiss for a new book. From the author of chilling titles like Little Face and many others, her upcoming novel is a strange tale about a woman who confesses to a murder she can’t possibly have committed. She has a cast-iron alibi: at the time of the murder, she was confessing to ..read more

Former Journalist and Academic Henry Sutton has moved into the world of non-fiction with a new book, Crafting Crime Fiction. To celebrate the publication of the book, which draws on Henry’s experience developing the world’s first MA in crime fiction, I spoke to him about his work and what led him to create this insightful guide. Tell me a bit about how you came to write Crafting Crime Fiction. What was your previous career path and education background, and how has this influenced your work? Crafting Crime Fiction is in many ways the culmination of my various careers – a journalist/critic, a ..read more

TV personality Richard Osman has created a unique series surrounding The Thursday Murder Club, a group of cantankerous elderly misfits living in a luxury care home. The first book was so successful that he quickly came out with a second novel, The Man Who Died Twice. His latest release and the third book, The Bullet That Missed, is an enjoyable addition to the series, with everything you could possibly want from a cosy crime novel. We’re reunited with the gang, including the only first-person narrator, Joyce. Each chapter is different: some are third-person and explore the different adventure ..read more

As Lee Child states in his cover quote on I Will Find You: “Harlan Corben never, ever lets you down”. Most thriller readers, or even anyone who has a Netflix account, has heard of Harlan Corben. He’s the writer behind Stay Close and The Stranger, two books that became leading TV shows on the renowned streaming site. He’s more than just those two books, though: Corben has written over 30 books, mainly standalone novels. Most of them, including his latest release, I Will Find You, focus on a past crime that’s being revisited. In this case, the crime is the murder of a toddler, Matthew Burroughs ..read more

Martin Amis, the son of Kingsley Amis and acclaimed author in his own right, has died at his home in Florida of oesophageal cancer aged 73. He passed away on the 19th May and is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren. Although his father was a renowned author who wrote on of my favourite novels ever, Lucky Jim, Martin Amis made a name for himself in his own right thanks to his unique brand of observational humour and creative characterisation. In the 1980s, alongside seminal writers like Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro and others, Amis was credited with shaping the UK wri ..read more

Another great addition to the Alex Delaware series, Unnatural History is an interesting book let down slightly by author Jonathan Kellerman’s slight lack of knowledge about the seedy underbelly of society. While the 38th in this long-standing series isn’t my favourite by a long shot, it’s still a great read for fans. If you’ve never read an Alex Delaware novel, I wouldn’t start here, but if you’re already a lover of the sophisticated child psychologist and his police detective friend Milo Sturgis, then I’d definitely check it out. Kellerman is an expert in the rich and famous, as well as psyc ..read more

Have you got a memory you’d like to forget? And if so, would you get it removed? And if you did, would you want to know there was something missing? Well, the answers to these questions are the premiss of Jo Harkin’s debut novel Tell Me An Ending. This inventive sci-fi novel is and fun and engaging, and covers a range of principles including psychology, philosophy and ethics. The sci-fi novel is set in an altered version of the present day, where you can remove memories, at a cost that is both financial and, as the narrative explores, emotional. For individuals looking to have memories remove ..read more

Happy New Year! It’s that time of year when I explore some of the upcoming books that I’m excited about for 2023. There are loads of amazing books due to be released this year, but I’ve put together a small selection that I think you’ll be interested in too. Mostly they’re crime fiction, but there are some other books I’m excited about in the upcoming months, and no doubt many I’ve not even heard of or thought about yet! But here’s the list so far to wet your appetite. Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night Sophie Hannah has bought the Queen Of Crime’s beloved Belgium sleuth back to life with four out ..read more

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year from The Dorset Book Detective! Just a quick post to say Merry Christmas and thank you so very much to everyone who has supported this book blog over the past year. I know I’ve not posted nearly as much as I should’ve over the past 12 months, but I’m working hard on some new pieces to share with you in 2023! Have a lovely festive season and see you on the flipside ..read more