Light in a Dark House by Jan Costin Wagner

Jan Costin Wagner is a German crime writer who has set his novels in Finland and this novel is one in a series that feature the policeman Kimmo Joenta.

This was the first book I've read by this Author and I'm a big fan of Swedish crime so I thought I would try something else in the Nordic crime genre. Kimmo Joenta is the main policeman in the story and as well as discovering the murderer, Kimmo is also struggling with the woman who walked out on him, who has no name. This thread turned out to be a very small sub plot, but was made out to be a big deal in the first couple of chapters.

The different names of all the characters were very hard to follow, partly because they were foreign names and partly because there were so many different ones. Because of this, I did lose the plot a bit at times and forgot which character had done what.

Overall I liked this book. The plot and the murders were interesting and there was definitely a mystery surrounding the deaths which made me read on to try and find out what was going on. However, I think that it could have been made more simple, with less sub plots and descriptions, as many of these were never followed up on or completed. There were also too many characters and half of them could have been left out - unless this was just me getting lost in them all, but I do think the same could have been done with a lot less characters.

For me, the ending was a bit of an anti-climax as well. The mystery of the murders was slowly unravelled over the last quarter of the book and then just kind of came to an end and stopped. There was no unexpected twist and no cliff hanger.

I would recommend this book to those readers who are crime fans and who like Swedish or Nordic crime, although I don't think I will be reading this again. I would describe it as a 'nice' crime story because there weren't any brutal murders or twists and it just kind of told a story and then ended.

Summer Kisses by Sarah Morgan, a Mills and Boon special

Ok, so I admit now that this is a review of only half the book and that's because the book itself is split into two.

The first half follows the story of Flora, a single Girl who works and lives on the small island of Glenmore. And Connor, who was once the islands bad boy, who comes back looking for a better life, and to make amends. It is focused round the islands doctors surgery, where both Connor and Flora work.

It is a simple story and quite predictable and has all the ingredients for a Mills and Boon novel, however I thought it was lacking. As the story only takes up half the book, it lacks on certain details and could be made more of. The ending was also very rushed and a bit out of keeping with the rest of the story. The character of Connor changed too quickly.

Having said that though, I enjoyed it and was a nice summer romance to enjoy. As I said above, there is a second story in the book which I've not read yet, which also takes place on Glenmore. I'm not sure if it links with the first story, as there are different characters but I will post my second review after reading. I wasn't in the mood to start a similar story straight after the first!

The Last Girl by Jane Casey

This was the first book I had read by Jane Casey and I'm afraid to say that it didn't do it for me. It started really well with a double murder and an uninterested father. There were some interesting finds about the people who were killed, however these finds were not really delved into much more.

All the concentration went on the uninterested father who was also a lawyer and who had some enemies, but nothing if significant interest was uncovered.

By the time I got halfway through the book I had to give up. It felt like I was reading another book altogether. There was mention if a post mortem but the results hadn't been revealed and no other murders had taken place. There was more focus on relationships between the colleagues investigating than there was on the horrific murder.

I have been finding it hard recently to be excited about crime novels so me not enjoying it might just be down to my current mood. I would urge other crime fiction lovers to try it as it might be good for them, but I couldn't finish it, which was a shame.