Crime Fiction I Love

Today I thought I'd try something different: a Pinterest post about crime novels I like. Have a look. (Shameless plug included!)

The Fault In Our Stars

If you've been following this blog for some time, you know I don't, as a rule, read sad books. None in which children die or get hurt. It's an emotional journey I consciously choose not to embark on, an emotional experience I hope to live without.

Consequently, my book club has a time and a half trying to convince me to read a book "in which something bad happens". I will ask a lot of questions: is it ultimately uplifting, do you feel enriched for having read the book, are the emotional scenes heart-wrenching, is it so good you'd read it again, does it ultimately have a rewarding ending (not necessarily a happy one, just rewarding).

John Green's The Fault In Our Stars ticks all the boxes (including the "no"-box under "are the emotional scenes heart-wrenching"). It's a beautiful book, totally worthy of reading, and I won't tell you what it's about for fear that you won't want to read it. For it is a grim topic, well handled with just enough humour and irreverence, and with a lot of heart.

10/10.

Anzac Day

Anzac Day. Baked Anzac biscuits. Remembered.

Spanish Degustation Dinner

Think Spanish wine and, chances are, you're not going to think very long. In New Zealand, we usually drink wine from New Zealand and Australia. In South Africa, we drink South Africa, French and Australian. In Poland, we drink vodka.

And yet, Spain is the third largest wine producer in the world, after France and Italy. Did you know that? I didn't. Just one of the many things I learnt at last night's dinner, a lavish 6-course affair with Spain's cooking, matched with Spanish wine.

My favourite dish was probably a goat cheese croquette with Iberico de Bellota ham (made from free-ranging black pigs fed on a diet of acorns). I liked the Chardonnay matched with it, but my favourite wine of the evening was Papa Luna Garnacha / Shiraz. There's just something about Shiraz, no matter where it's made...

All of this at our local restaurant, an easy walk from the house. Next time, we'll leave the car at home, even if it rains. Five small glasses of wine may not put me over the legal driving limit, but I certainly felt the buzz!

Go Forth And Hibernate

April in New Zealand means the first breath of winter. The air is still warm, the leaves only starting to turn from green to gold, but my body is telling me it's time to fatten up and go to sleep. For real!

The urge to lie on the sun-drenched sofa is overwhelming. With a strong cup of tea and a biscuit. And perhaps a book I've read before, so I don't mind if my eyelids get droopy and I... drift off... to Nap Land....

Yawn. See you next week. Maybe.

I do want to tell you about this thought-provoking novel, Save Me. But today, I'm a bear.

Operation: Genocide - the blurb

An inhuman agenda…

In 1982, Annette Pretorius lives a life of privilege afforded to those of European descent in South Africa, but when her husband is murdered, she discovers a shattering secret: he’d been commissioned by the whites-only South African government to develop a lethal virus aimed at controlling the growth of the black population--already oppressed under the cruel system of apartheid.

A clandestine organization…

The murder came with a warning to Annette from a secretive organization: keep our secrets or you too will die. Captain Trevor Watson, Annette’s former boyfriend, is appointed to lead the investigation. Watson’s loyalty is tested as the evidence stacks against his high school sweetheart.

And the killing isn’t over yet…

When the investigation points in a terrifying direction, Annette and Watson face a wrenching choice: protect those they love or sacrifice all to save innocents from racial extermination.   Operation: Genocide by Yvonne Walus. Coming out soon from Stairway Press.  

Excerpt from Red Herrings:

By
Jean McLennan:


A new development in forensic science will provide real and contemporary fi citious detectives with another tool in the fight against crime. Until now the challenge has been to obtain clear footprints from a scene of the crime where they have been left on fabric, such as carpet or clothing. (...) By adapting existing visualisation techniques, Doctor Kevin Farrugia of Abertay University, Dundee has developed a method of obtaining detailed images of latent footwear left on fabrics. These images will give investigators information about the brand, style and size of the footwear, but more than that, because an individual’s gait varies, the wear on a pair of shoes is subject to random and individual characteristics. The print can identify the wearer. The technique will work equally well on old prints as new and will be used in the re-examination of unsolved crimes.