Laura, even her name exudes sighs of happiness, and sun-drenched blondness - a Pumpkin Spice Girl if there ever was one, now works at the same chain bookstore as Roach. Alice Slater absolutely NAILS the pacing in this. Not so fast that you lose out on the detail & feeling of suspense, but gripping enough that I binge-read the whole thing in a couple of days.

Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. First published in 1956 it’s no surprise that some would find it ‘dated’. I happen to love ‘dated’, the language especially. The fact that Wigan is tasked with infiltrating London’s rare and second-hand book industry allows Farmer to work his bountiful knowledge of the trade into the story. For instance, Wigan spends a great deal of time pounding the pavement on Tottenham Court Road as he trails from one book dealer to the next, looking for people who knew and might have had reason to kill Fisk. You won’t want to put it down once you start so make sure you have a free day. If you’re like me, it’ll stay with you even after you’ve finished. The author worked for a time as a policeman so the details of police procedures and office politics seem convincing. Unfortunately, as a write Bernard Farmer is plodding and clumsy. He explains, he summarizes, he tells us what to think. This book has been praised for its plotting, but I found many of the twists and turns wildly improbable, especially when supernatural elements come to be involved. The climactic scene of confession is just ridiculous.

Complete this captcha to connect to Foyles

This was a deliciously dark crime novel intertwining true crime with bookselling. I personally think that this executed bookselling PERFECTLY and it was such a joy to read a book that spoke about it so well and accurately, as well as hilariously. Along side this, the discussions of true crime and the obsessiveness of some that consume it was incredibly fascinating and seeing how it completely took a tole on Roach and every aspect of her career and life, was something I had never read before and would now, be intrigued to branch more into. I gave 3 stars because Wigan is a pleasant main role character and the mystery, on the whole, is interesting since there are several suspicious characters and until the end you can't guess who really could be the murderer. The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot. It's told through a dual point of view, which worked extremely well - it highlighted the contrasting motivations & attitudes of the two narrators, and I felt like I was really inside the characters' heads. a collaborator of the detective, suddenly disappears and Wigan doesn't care too much about what might have happened to him ... not seeing him, he thinks he will wait a few more days to look for him, even though he knows that the situation could be dangerous ... and then in reality he doesn't even look for the man!

When Laura joins the book store staff, she knows right away that something is off about Roach. But Roach can tell something is off about the pretty, perfect Laura as well. These two are destined to be besties.And the unease with which they circle one another coupled with their conflicting opinions on True Crime really injected a sinister layer of tension that had me on edge wondering what would happen next.

I don't know what to say about this book. I have so many conflicting thoughts. For starters, I wonder why anyone would give it more than 1 star. Slater’s darkly comic debut follows the increasingly uneasy relations between two co-workers who have very different investments in true crime.According to Martin Edwards in the Introduction to this reprint, original copies of the novel are much sought after and the story has cult status among book lovers. Surely that can only be because of the huge amounts of information on book collecting, bookselling and arcane books which it contains, since it could hardly be said to have appeal for lovers of stylish writing, tight plotting and solid detective investigation.