Martin Davies - Mrs Hudson and the Malabar Rose - Canelo - 2015 (Holmes and Hudson)

Martin Davies - Mrs Hudson and the Malabar Rose - Canelo - 2015

In the `Holmes and Hudson` Series

In practise I`m not able to review each and every book that I read, but instead I shall  just tell you that this is the book I`m reading at present and that I`m enjoying it enormously. 

I certainly plan to read the other two titles in the Holmes and Hudson series but after that I suspect that Martin Davies and myself will be parting company as I suspect his other titles will be less in my line. 

Unfortunately, I don`t have time to comment in greater detail, but that`s the way it is with us international men of mystery, constantly in demand ! 

J M Allen - A Senior Sort of Murder - Vanguard - 2007

J M Allen - A Senior Sort of Murder - Vanguard - 2007

This authors` books are not always easy to find, probably because they were produced in quite small quantities. For this reason, some sellers are asking huge prices for them, but I am not convinced those prices are realistic. A quick search online produced very little trace of `chatter` about her books and I would have thought that if they had achieved cult status there would be a lot more talk about them.

Secondly, she is not the only author to have written as J M Allen, so don`t assume all J M Allen books are by this J M Allen.  

On to the matter in hand. The author, who I take to be an amateur, has had five books published to my knowledge, four of them being crime fiction. Having read this I can truthfully say it is worthy of a professional writer. 

It is a good story, told well, and the couple of criticisms I have are quite minor. The only one worth mentioning here is that some of the dialogue seems stilted, but not so much that it detracts from the book as a whole.

Crime writing purists might object that the reader does not have all the information needed to solve the case themselves (new information is suddenly made available right at the very end) but overall I still feel this is a strong contribution to the crime-writing genre. 

If you can get this at a reasonable price I strongly recommend you do so.

If I remember I will update this review at some point with a list of this authors` crime fiction titles. If anyone knows anything about the writer and/or her works, it would be great to have your comments.