The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A simply wonderful discovery. 'The Hanging Shed' is set in the west of Scotland just after WW2, and features Douglas Brodie, a reporter/ex-policeman newly returned from the war. In this book he gets involved in an attempt to save an old friend from the gallows, bringing him into conflict with just about everyone possible - gangs, the police, the judiciary, the church, even.

The characters are interesting without being massively developed, but it doesn't matter in the slightest because the story is just such a good one. What Ferris is very good at is conveying the atmosphere of a city (Glasgow) as well as a town (Kilmarnock) and country areas, too.

This author has me hooked as much as Rankin's Rebus. There are two more Brodie novels at least - yummy.

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When We Were Married - Volume 1 The Long Fall by Daniel Quentin Steele
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I bought "When We Were Married" for my Kindle a long time ago, and it's taken until now for it to reach the top of my book pile.

It's a difficult book to review. It's a good story, a court-room drama from an author who clearly knows the background of Florida court procedures, about Bill Maitland (an assistant prosecuting lawyer), the collapse of his marriage, and how they intertwine. It's not giving away much of the plot to say that the lawyer extrapolates that his marriage is dead and his wife is cheating on him simply because she once refers to their marriage in the past tense (hence the title). To me, that seems a slip of the tongue, but in "When We Were Married" it turns out to be the kiss of death. What follows transforms of the lives of both Bill and his wife Debbie, both at home and at work.

The most controversial part of this novel will be its sex scenes - there are quite a few. I think I prefer my sex scenes to be a little more tender, a little less physical, and I can see why some reviewers felt that this book would be more popular with men than women. I'm not sure that's right, by the way, but it's not reading material for your local church's book group. It's pretty graphic in places and there's not a lot of romantic love in here. Personally I wasn't offended at all, but some might be.

One concern about "When We Were Married" I had was about its values. The message sent out strongly in this novel is that men and women have a duty to look after themselves physically so that they remain sexually attractive to their partners, and I felt uncomfortable with that. (Throughout, we are reminded that it's the main cause of Bill's and Debbie's marriage breakup.) The only plus point is that least it was the man who was being criticised, not the woman.

For all that, I enjoyed "When We Were Married", and I read it very quickly, too. It's well-written (there's a clever little literary trick at the start of each chapter), well-researched, and those slight reservations didn't put me off at all. The guy can certainly write well. One last warning - is this a spoiler? It turns out that "When We Were Married" is only the first in a series - of four, I think.

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Beastly Things by Donna Leon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read every one of Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti series and they simply keep getting better and better. This latest involves the discovery, in a Venetian canal, of the body of a man with an unusual condition. First the body has to be identified, then Brunetti and his sidekick Vianello interview possible suspects before gradually a picture emerges of a murky and corrupt feature of life (no spoilers from me here!). And all of the other favourite characters play a role, too, including Paola, Signorina Elletra (complete with her dubious methods of collecting information by computer-hacking), and of course Patta.

There are two features of this book that I liked in particular. First, there's a clear link between the events of Brunetti's working and personal lives; and second, the interviews Brunetti conducts with his suspects are more interesting, slower, better-observed than ever before. Even Patta is a more rounded character than previously.

Roll on the next one. Some crime novels get read, enjoyed, then end up in the charity shop. Donna Leon's go back on the bookshelf ready for the next reading.

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