Did You See Melody? by Sophie Hannah

Did You See Melody?

By Sophie Hannah 

I loved this book. It has everything. A brilliant setting. An inexplicable mystery. And great characters.

When Cara Burrows decides she needs to escape from her family she ends up at the very swish Swallowtail resort in Arizona. She arrives in a state of exhaustion just wanting to collapse into her hotel room bed and sleep. But there's a problem. When she gets to her allocated room and opens the door, two people are already in there.

Cara becomes certain that one of the occupants of the room is Melody Chapa, who was supposedly murdered several years earlier and whose parents are in jail for the crime.

The story explores Cara's experiences from that moment on as her discovery leads her into danger. This part of the narrative is intercut with accounts from the past that deal with Melody's early life and her abduction and murder. There's some interesting stuff here about how the aftermath of her disappearance is dealt with by the authorities and the US tendency towards trial by television.

As we move towards finding out the truth about Melody, Cara must ensure her own safety and become reunited with the family she so recently wanted to get away from.

The plot is complex, original and entertaining and the ending was so unexpected that I had to go back and read the last few pages again.

Highly recommended.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.

You can find out more here.

A Game For All The Family by Sophie Hannah

A Game For All The Family

By Sophie Hannah 

‘A Game For All The Family’ is an intriguing novel. In structure, it is a story within a story and a puzzle within a puzzle.

When Justine Merrison and her family move to Devon, Justine decides that, for reasons that will become apparent later in the story, her main purpose in life will be to do absolutely nothing. A wish that, I have to say, I have every sympathy with.

But it doesn’t turn out that way, because pretty soon it becomes apparent that her daughter Ellen is unhappy. And, with Ellen’s father away on an opera singing assignment, Justine is going to have to do something.

Why has Ellen become so withdrawn? Why is she so unhappy that a fellow pupil has been expelled from school? And why on earth are the school insisting that the pupil concerned never even existed? And what on earth is the story that Ellen is obsessively writing all about?

Justine reads the beginning of the story – a tale of a family called Ingrey, and the murder of Malachy Dodd – and wonders where on earth her daughter got the idea from. The reader then gets to see the rest of the story, and is invited to think about who killed, not Malachy Dodd, but Perrine Ingrey.

The puzzle posed by Ellen’s story runs alongside the puzzles in Justine’s own life. Who is making mysterious threatening phone calls to her? Why did she feel such a strong connection to a house glimpsed from the car that has nothing to do with her?

The novel asks many questions of the reader. What is true? Who can you believe? What is the nature of storytelling, and can we rely on narrators? What sort of behaviour is reasonable and what isn’t? And it is at the intersection of those questions that the essence of the story lies.

As always, the story really makes you think - not just about the outcome, but about the intricate problems of life that it explores. I read this one really quickly, devouring it in huge chunks because I was so intrigued by it.

This book is a great read. It has all the Sophie Hannah trademarks, including a complex plot with an unguessable solution, an accomplished structure and a Twitter spat. It also has some lovely additional touches. The fabulous Olwen – a dog breeder who names all her dogs after lines from Christmas carols.  And the gorgeous Figgy Pudding, a Bedlington terrier who definitely wins my ‘literary dog of the year’ award for 2015.

‘A Game For All The Family’ is a fabulous addition to the collection for established Sophie Hannah fans, but as a standalone would be perfect for new readers as well.

Thanks very much to the publishers for a review copy of this book.

You can find out more here.

You can read my reviews of other Sophie Hannah books here.

The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

The Monogram Murders

By Sophie Hannah 

I have to admit that when I first heard there was going to be a new Poirot book, I was slightly dubious. But that was before I realised it was Sophie Hannah who would be writing it. I love Agatha Christie, I love Poirot, and I love Sophie Hannah. What’s not to like?

So as the time of the release date got nearer, I got more intrigued about this book and was thrilled when HarperCollins offered to send me a review copy. I wasn’t disappointed when it arrived – I loved it and read it in one sitting.

Sophie Hannah made some crucial decisions in the writing of this book, which I think are at the heart of why it works so well. Firstly, she gave Poirot a new sidekick/narrator in the form of Edward Catchpool. This gives a sense of freshness to the narration, and sits well with the blending of Sophie Hannah’s voice and Agatha Christie’s voice.

But Catchpool is not just a device to show the reader how clever Poirot is, he is a real character with a past and concerns of his own. Why is he so haunted by the murders he has to investigate, and why is he so troubled by the hands of the dead. ‘Hold his hand, Edward.’

We also find Poirot living, not in Whitehaven Mansions, but in the lodging house of Mrs Blanche Unsworth. It turns out that Poirot is lying low in order to give his formidable mind a rest. This results in his meeting Catchpool, but also takes him out of the environment in which readers are used to seeing him. It works well because had he been left in Whitehaven Mansions, the reader would have been expecting Captain Hastings or Miss Lemon to turn up with every turn of the page.

As you’d expect of an Agatha Christie, and indeed a Sophie Hannah, there’s a murder with an ingenious twist to be investigated in this novel. Why have three guests at The Bloxham Hotel been murdered and left with monogrammed cufflinks in their mouths? Who is PIJ and why was a note left at reception saying, ‘May they never rest in peace’?

It’s an engrossing mystery, a complex and satisfying plot, and a great tribute to the Queen of Crime. I highly recommend this novel to lovers of Agatha Christie and Sophie Hannah alike. It is a truly great crime novel.

Thanks very much to the publishers for a review copy of this book.

You can find out more here. 

The Telling Error by Sophie Hannah

The Telling Error

By Sophie Hannah

I’m a huge fan of Sophie Hannah’s Culver Valley series, so I was really thrilled to be sent a review copy of ‘The Telling Error’ so that I could feed my addiction.

Here’s what the publishers have to say about the book:

Stuck in a traffic jam, Nicki Clements sees a face she hoped never to see again. It's definitely him, the same police officer, stopping each car on Elmhirst Road. Keen to avoid him, Nicki does a U-turn and makes a panicky escape.

Or so she thinks. The next day, Nicki is pulled in for questioning in connection with the murder of Damon Blundy, controversial newspaper columnist and resident of Elmhirst Road.

Nicki can't answer any of the questions detectives fire at her. She has no idea why the killer used a knife in such a peculiar way, or why 'HE IS NO LESS DEAD' was painted on Blundy's study wall. And she can't explain why she avoided Elmhirst Road that day without revealing the secret that could ruin her life.

Because although Nicki is not guilty of murder, she is far from innocent . . .

Initially we are presented with two scenarios in this novel. One is a particularly twisted and elaborate murder with potentially hundreds of suspects, the other a woman going about her daily business, but with a secret to hide. The way that she goes about hiding that secret is the first thing to entangle her with the murder, but as the story continues the two scenarios become inextricably entangled.

As psychological thrillers go, this one is a stunner. It has that air of impossibility that characterises Sophie Hannah novels, and makes readers want to power towards the end to find out what really happened and why. But, as always, this is so much more than just a psychological thriller.

What I like about Sophie Hannah’s work is that each book invites you to think really carefully about what it means to be human, and about particular aspects of our humanity.

In ‘The Telling Error’, we are asked to think particularly about what it means to lie and to be lied to. Nicki has told a lot of lies and is keeping a lot of secrets, and they are her undoing. But a lot of the other characters are keeping secrets as well, and this adds to the complexity of the plot. What does Melissa, who is married to Nicki’s brother, know about Nicki’s childhood? Why has Damon Blundy been pretending to love his wife when she is convinced he doesn’t?

Which leads on to the second conundrum at the heart of this novel – what does it mean to love and to be loved? Damon’s relationship with his wife, and Nicki’s with her husband are put under the microscope and offer up some fascinating answers.

The structure of the novel is very clever as well. Nicki’s narrative carries the story, but we also have a posthumous contribution from the victim in the form of a series of online newspaper columns. In fact, the novel is very much at home in the online world, having email, Twitter, and chat-room correspondence telling part of the story as well.

The interactions between the team of detectives in Spilling continue to fascinate. At the centre of this we have the extremely touching and well drawn relationship between Simon Waterhouse and Charlie Zailer. But we also have Simon’s relationship with Proust, his boss, Simon’s relationships with his colleagues Gibbs and Sellers, Charlie’s relationship with Gibbs, and his (adulterous one) with her sister Liv. Going back to these characters, and seeing how the subtle balances between them have changed, is one of the delights of any new book in this series and more than enough to keep me going back for more.

For me, one of the most interesting things about this book was the effect that the conclusion of the case has on Simon Waterhouse. I can’t really say any more than that without spoilers, but that, more than anything, is what has me looking forward to the next one.

I loved this book on so many levels and can highly recommend it to existing Sophie Hannah fans and new readers alike.

Thanks very much to the publishers for a review copy of this book.

You can find out more here.