A Question of Identity by Susan Hill (Vintage)

by Patrick O'Connor

SUSAN Hill is a renowned British author and one of her most popular works is the ghost story The Woman In Black but she is also an accomplished crime writer.

Ten years ago she began a series of novels featuring police detective Simon Serrailler but Hill is as much concerned with character as with a traditional crime-solving plot.

Falling Glass by Adrian McKinty (Serpent's Tail)

by Patrick O'Connor

IF you like your crime thrillers fast and furious with a mean, tough anti-hero then look no further than this cracking read.

Although there are brief diversions to the United States and Hong Kong, most of the narrative is set in Northern Ireland as we follow Killian, who was born into an Irish tinker family but has forged a reasonably lucrative career as an 'enforcer', someone who gets a job done (quite often collecting debts) with no questions asked.

Skios by Michael Frayn (Faber and Faber)

by Patrick O'Connor

ONE of the dictionary definitions of farce is 'a light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect.'

The playwright and novelist Michael Frayn is perhaps best known for his 1982 stage comedy Noises Off but he also a very accomplished writer and this offering, set on the fictitious Greek island of Skios, contains all the ingredients for an enjoyable farce.

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd (Bloomsbury)

by Patrick O'Connor

ONE of the few decent things on British television over the Christmas period was a 1940s spy thriller called Restless, adapted from a book written by the acclaimed novelist and screenwriter William Boyd.

It was such a cracking yarn that I sought out another Boyd offering, Ordinary Thunderstorms.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday) by Patrick O'Connor   THE BBC's adaptation of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series of novels, featuring Jason Isaacs as the former police inspector turned private investigator and set in Edinburgh, is one of my favourite TV crime dramas. But Atkinson is superbly adept at other genres, as demonstrated […]

Dark Winter by David Mark (Quercus)

by Patrick O'Connor

POLICE procedural novels are ten-a-penny these days and it's getting harder and harder to come up with something different.

Characterisation and location are key elements and writers have to shuffle this pack constantly to try and re-energise the genre.