~~~INTRODUCTION~~~ I buy a lot of books from charity shops – after all they’re cheap, accessible, tend to have an impressive range of genres available and at the same time you’re supporting a good cause in a way that offers a benefit to you as well as the organisation concerned. I found myself in the local Oxfam shop a couple of months ago. Recently refurbished, it holds a remarkable collection of books, organised by author making it easy to see what’s on offer. I was delighted and surprised to see an early Val McDermid book on sale for the princely sum of £1.50 and in almost pristine condition, so of course, I had to have it. This is my fourth ...  Read the complete review

This mystery from Val McDermid is an absorbing story, enjoyable to read. The plot is effectively in two parts, a clever combination of police procedural and amateur detective novels. However, while worth reading, it is ultimately disappointing because of shortcomings which detract from the plot. The book is firmly rooted in its setting: an isolated village, Scardale, in the Peak District, at the time of the Moors Murders. Scardale’s physical isolation is reflected in its closely-related families and feudal attitudes. The outside world, in the form of the police, intrudes when the squire’s step-daughter goes missing. The village closes ranks ...  Read the complete review

When a young girl goes missing in a remote Derbyshire village in the 1960s, new police Inspector George Bennett is suddenly faced with heading up his first major case. Refusing to let his own inexperience, the obstructive attitude of the villagers or media pressure get to him, George is determined to find justice for missing Alison Carter. I confess, when I first started reading A Place of Execution, I didn't think I was going to enjoy it and found myself struggling to get into it at first. At the start, I found the pace rather pedestrian and the characters cold and unlikeable. Although I found it mildly interesting, I didn't find it gripping. At ...  Read the complete review

One thing I really like is a good novel. I like it even better when the novel is adapted successfully for TV, and over the last few weeks, Val McDermid has once again has the adaptation treatment. The Wire In The Blood author is probably better known for her character Dr Tony Hill due to the WITB series on TV, and although only a couple of the episodes have any bearing on the novels, it was after watching the first WITB that I started reading McDermid's books. Of her fictional publications, I much prefer the 'stand alone' individual novels she writes. The WITB series is accompanied by a couple of other characters she has, including private investigator Kate ...  Read the complete review

Val McDermid is best known for her two series of crime thrillers - the rather light-hearted novels with PI Kate Brannigan and the far darker ones with criminal profiler Dr Tony Hill. A Place of Execution breaks out of these moulds in that it is a stand-alone novel. It has much of the darkness of the Tony Hill books without the level of explicit violence. The most notable point of this book is its unusual structure. It's not so much a single book as two books. Or possibly even three. Let me explain... The book is based around the disappearance in the '60s of schoolgirl Alison Carter. The setting is an isolated Derbyshire village, which ...  Read the complete review