Skelton’s Guide is the first of three mysteries featuring English barrister Arthur Skelton, who has just successfully defended the accused in 1929’s case of the century and is finding himself having to contend with autograph hounds, journalists, and clients clambering for his help. He, though, is remarkably self-effacing about his skills and charmingly in awe of his wife.
I loved that Skelton is based (very loosely) on real-life tall, nerdy barrister Norman Birkett, who famously defended a “domestic poisoning,”, along with a suitcase murder and a burning car case (the next books in the series). Can he get Mary Dutton off when everyone is convinced—and the evidence is overwhelming—that she poisoned her husband?
A charming period mystery with characters I hope to see again. What a delight!
Arthur Skelton has gone from unassuming Yorkshire barrister to front-page sensation, having won the case of the century. But January 1929 brings another high-profile case. Mary Dutton is accused of murdering her husband, although there are few people who dispute her guilt. Between practising his autograph and pose for hordes of journalists and fans alike, Skelton agrees to defend her, despite many considering the case to be unwinnable. With a looming general election and an army of flappers set to cast their inaugural votes, both sides of the political divide are vying for their support by trying to turn the…
I write, read, watch, and listen to true crime. A few writers sit at the top of my must-read list, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Edward Humes is one.
He explores the long-solved 1987 murder of two young people from Vancouver who disappeared in Washington State and, most grippingly, the story of genetic genealogy (tracing family trees and DNA connections to identify a murder suspect).
This case was the first where the defendant was successfully convicted in a trial, relying on the work of genealogist CeCe Moore and Parabon Nanolabs (featured recently in a limited ABC TV series The Genetic Detective).
Coincidentally, Barbara Rae-Venter’s book, I Know Who You Are, was published about the same time—another good read about how she used genetic genealogy to crack the Golden State Killer case.
“Thought-provoking true-crime thriller…the book raises urgent questions of balancing public and private good that we’ll likely be dealing with as long as the title implies.”—Wall Street Journal
A relentless detective and a civilian genealogist solve a haunting cold case—and launch a crime-fighting revolution that tests the fragile line between justice and privacy.
In November 1987, a young couple from the idyllic suburbs of Vancouver Island on an overnight trip to Seattle vanished without a trace. A week later, the bodies of Tanya Van Cuylenborg and her boyfriend Jay Cook were found in rural Washington. It was a brutal crime, and…
I love good mysteries and I love good storytelling. Ann Cleeves always delivers both.
This is one of her Vera detective series, which also appears on BritBox with Brenda Blethyn as the opinionated and dogged detective-of-a-certain-age. Cleeves also writes the Shetland series, among others.
Vera’s an older woman who faces life and the worst that people can do to others with an unflinching honesty and a wicked sense of humor. This is the series I go to when I want an atmospheric read with interesting characters and a real puzzle of a mystery.
Snow is falling and Christmas is coming when a woman resident of Harbour Street doesn’t exit the train at her station. She’s been stabbed, and DCI Vera Stanhope has to uncover her hidden past to understand why.
Harbour Street is the sixth book in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series - which is now a major ITV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn as Vera.
A silent community. A murderer among them . . .
As the snow falls in Newcastle, Detective Joe Ashworth and his daughter Jessie travel home on the busy Metro. When the train stops unexpectedly due to bad weather, Jessie notices that one woman doesn't leave and when trying to wake her they find that the passenger has been fatally stabbed.
With no witnesses DI Vera Stanhope looks into the victim's past and discovers she…
Western North Carolina is known for mountain vistas and wild, rocky rivers, but remote wilderness and quaint small towns can have a dark side. Learn the truth behind the famous murder ballad Tom Dooley. Delve into the criminal history of moonshine, and the tales of two unexpected bombers in idyllic Mayberry.
Crime writer Cathy Pickens brings a novelist's eye to Western North Carolina's crime stories that define the sinister—and quirky—side of the mountains.
