Death In The Rainy Season – Anna Jacquiery

Apologies to those who expected this review a week or so ago – some personal bad news got in the way, and threw us all for a bit. But, prior to that, I did get a chance to slip away for a while to somewhere a tad more exotic than the West of Scotland: Cambodia, although, sadly, only on the pages of Anna Jacquiery’s second Inspector Morel novel, Death In The Rainy Season!

I didn’t know much about Cambodia before I read this book, rather than the 40 year old story of the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields (and of that, admittedly, embarrassingly little.) In this book, though, we don’t see a great deal of the Cambodian population, but more of the ex-pat population. But first of all, let me introduce you to our investigator, Inspector Serge Morel. He is on a relaxing holiday in the depths of the countryside of Cambodia when he receives an instruction from his boss in Paris to get to the capital, Pnomh, and aid in the investigation of a French national who has been found murdered. As the victim is the nephew of a government minister, who had been running an NGO in the country, they want this investigation tidied up as quickly and as quietly as possible, and as Morel is in the country, he’s perfect for the job. It’s not just the fact that he’s currently nearby(ish!); his mother was Cambodian and he speaks Khmer, the local language. Already on the case is a local policeman, Sarit, the local doctor, Pran, and a man from the French Embassy, Nizet, who is there to ensure any possible scandal is buried as quickly as possible, in order to save embarrassment to the influential relatives back home. And there is a possibility of scandal: Hugo Quercy, the victim, had booked into a hotel room only 5 minutes from his room – under another name, Jean Dupont. Suspicious in itself. There are no post mortems in Cambodia, so it’s down to the doctor’s best opinion as to his death – a hugely different practice as to what Morel is used to in the West. I don’t think it’s any great spoiler to give away the fact he was beaten to death, as that’s revealed in the first five minutes of the book. To add to his difficulties, Morel finds himself having to work with Sarit, an initially somewhat unmotivated local policeman, who clearly resents the outside interference from the French police and the Embassy, who are adding to his normally easy workload! Then we meet the ex-pat community, containing most of Adam’s circle of friends and colleagues…and possibly the supect(s)? We have Quercy’s grief-stricken wife Florence; his long-time best friend Paul, wife Mariko and their daughter Nora; and the people who work under him at the NGO – mainly Adam and Kate, and also Julia (who appears to be the only character who didn’t regard Hugh as some kind of saint – and wasn’t afraid to say so!) It’s down to Morel and Sarit to decipher the various relationships between them. Who liked and disliked who? Who was sleeping with who? Or was this not about personal relationships at all – had Hugo got mixed up in something dangerous within the notoriously corrupt local politics – for example, the land clearances, which were seeing farmers thrown off their land, and losing their livelihoods, by big corporations, with the government turning a blind eye, for the right price? As he was so committed to human rights, perhaps he’d fallen foul of big companies or the government. There are so many different lines of investigation. Throughout the course of the book, the relationship between Morel and Sarit relaxes considerably, with them even socialising together after Sarit invites his temporary partner to a family wedding. Morel also takes the opportunity to see his mother’s brother and his family, who remained in Cambodia whilst Morel’s mother fled – a visit which is initially difficult, but Morel’s perseverance means eventually a (somewhat reluctant) rapprochement is reached.

So, did I guess “whodunit”? You all know I can’t resist pitting my wits against all the crime authors I review! In this case, I’d have to say, “No chance!” Anna Jaquiery cleverly keeps so many avenues open that really anyone could be the perpetrator. The reveal, when it comes, also makes perfect sense – no “but why on earth would he…”-type stuff I’ve encountered countless times before. The only possible criticism is that all of the investigations is more or less within the ex-pat community – I’d have much preferred a bit more time spent within the Cambodian community. The only taste we get of this is when Morel visits family members, and at the wedding. But of course, had this not been an ex-pat murder, Morel would not have cause to have been called in, so Ms Jaquiery did the best she could in showing us Cambodia. As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, this is the second book to feature Inspector Morel. If I tell you I’ve already got hold of a copy of the first in the series, The Lying Down Room, I think that tells you plenty about what I think of Anna Jaquiery and Inspector Morel. It was an easy read, without being at all unintelligent, and hugely enjoyable, with touches of wit peppered throughout the book. All in all, this is a great crime novel, and bodes well for the series. And I’ll be reporting back soon on The Lying Down Room!

With massive thanks, as ever, to Sophie Orme at Mantle Pan MacMillan for the review copy and inclusion in the blog tour, and for my copy of The Lying Down Room too.

BLOG TOUR – Death In The Rainy Season – Anna Jaquiery

Today it’s my lucky day – I have Anna Jaquiery visiting on her blog tour to promote her second book in her Inspector Morel series (the first was The Lying Down Room.) This book takes Morel to Cambodia, where his holiday and the death of a French citizen with influential connections co-incide, resulting in his holiday being cut short – here’s the blurb… A beautifully evocative crime novel set in Cambodia, featuring Chief Inspector Serge Morel. Perfect for fans of Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin.

‘Anna Jaquiery’s elegant, beguiling and beautifully crafted debut left me longing for more from her enigmatic Parisian detective, Commandant Serge Morel. A rare and delicate treat from a writer already in total command of her craft’ – M.R. Hall

Phnom Penh, Cambodia; the rainy season. When a French man, Hugo Quercy, is found brutally murdered, Commandant Serge Morel finds his holiday drawn to an abrupt halt. Quercy – dynamic, well-connected – was the magnetic head of a humanitarian organisation which looked after the area’s neglected youth. Opening his investigation, the Parisian detective soon finds himself buried in one of his most challenging cases yet. Morel must navigate this complex and politically sensitive crime in a country with few forensic resources, and armed with little more than a series of perplexing questions: what was Quercy doing in a hotel room under a false name? What is the significance of his recent investigations into land grabs in the area? And who could have broken into his home the night of the murder? Becoming increasingly drawn into Quercy’s circle of family and friends – his adoring widow, his devoted friends and bereft colleagues – Commandant Morel will soon discover that in this lush land of great beauty and immense darkness, nothing is quite as it seems…

Phnom Penh, Cambodia; the rainy season. When a French man, Hugo Quercy, is found brutally murdered, Commandant Serge Morel finds his holiday drawn to an abrupt halt. Quercy – dynamic, well-connected – was the magnetic head of a humanitarian organisation which looked after the area’s neglected youth. Opening his investigation, the Parisian detective soon finds himself buried in one of his most challenging cases yet. Morel must navigate this complex and politically sensitive crime in a country with few forensic resources, and armed with little more than a series of perplexing questions: what was Quercy doing in a hotel room under a false name? What is the significance of his recent investigations into land grabs in the area? And who could have broken into his home the night of the murder? Becoming increasingly drawn into Quercy’s circle of family and friends – his adoring widow, his devoted friends and bereft colleagues – Commandant Morel will soon discover that in this lush land of great beauty and immense darkness, nothing is quite as it seems…

Here, for the blog tour, Anna muses for us on the popularity of Scandinavian fiction, and why other quality fiction from other countries hasn’t caught on so much (and she also has a couple of names for your Wish List, so grab your notebook!)

Australian crime – The first time I was invited to talk about my novel The Lying-Down Room was at Tim’s Bookshop in Melbourne. We’re lucky in this city to have some great independent bookshops and this is one of my favourites. That night I got to speak alongside Australian crime writer Garry Disher, which was exciting because I’d recently read his most recent crime novel Bitter Wash Road and loved it. It tells the story of a detective who falls out of favour with his colleagues after getting mixed up in an internal corruption scandal at an Adelaide police station. He’s transferred to Tiverton, a God-forsaken country town where he’s the only police officer. Australia, with its vast landscapes and wilderness as it gets and Disher captures the atmosphere of a small Australian town and the isolation experienced by those who live in it beautifully. Reading Bitter Wash Road got me thinking about settings and about what readers are drawn to. Is it exoticism? Or do they want familiarity? And what is it about Scandinavian novels? Why, for example, is a crime novel set in Sweden more likely to be successful than one with an Australian setting? Take for example the success of Camilla Lackberg, whose crime novels are set in her home town of Fjallbacka, on the west coast of Sweden. Or the popularity of Henning Mankell‘s Kurt Wallander series. Or Stieg Larsson‘s Millennium Trilogy has sold over 60 million copies worldwide. The list of successful authors from Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark is too long to mention here. Maybe the appeal of the Scandinavian countries lies in the fact that they are both close and enticingly distant, with their long winters and remote, spectacular landscapes. Perhaps Australia is so remote in readers’ minds that it can sometimes seem like too far to travel. Still, for a taste of Australian crime I would urge readers to pick up books by Garry Disher or Peter Temple, for a start. Before you know it, you’ll be hooked.

What’s your thoughts on why some areas of the world become especially popular when it comes to crime fiction, while others, despite producing quality crime fiction, are somewhat neglected? Please leave your thoughts on this – it’s something I find particularly interesting. Next post, I’ll have a few thoughts on this, and my review of Death In The Rainy Season.

Below, left, is Anna Jaquiery herself, and on the right is the cover of her debut novel and the first in the Inspector Morel series, The Lying Down Room. And on Sunday, catch up with more of this blog tour at the fabulous blog, Being Anne…

Stacking The Shelves

Stacking The Shelves (April 6) | Crimeworm (with thanks to CleopatraLovesBooks)

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you’re adding to your shelves, be it buying or borrowing. From ‘real’ books you’ve purchased, a book you’ve borrowed, a book you’ve been given or an e-book they can all be shared!

I asked one of the lovely publicists I deal with at Serpents’ Tail if I could pretty please have any spare copies she might have of Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty. Not only did she oblige, in record time, she also sent me the book I most wanted but didn’t feel cheeky enough to ask for (obviously it’s different if they send you it, unsolicited) – Attica Locke‘s Pleasantville. Since Black Water Rising, I’ve had an “author crush” this highly talented young woman. Marina Sofia says this has a bit of politics in it, but I’m sure despite that, it’ll be fantastic. (One of my classes at first year in Uni was Political Science, and I’ve always had a strong interest in politics and current affairs, but I have to admit to being a bit puggled by the US system, especially as it now seems to have created a deadlock between both parties in both houses, making it pretty much impossible for Obama to do anything in his last two years, thus making him look like a “lame-duck” president – but it’s the system that’s created this situation, not him!) Anyway – you can wake up now – this book takes us back to the ’90s, when a mayoral campaign ends in a murder, and the return of Jay Porter, from Black Water Rising to defend the nephew of the mayoral candidate, who’s accused of the murder of a girl who was helping electioneer for the defendant’s uncle.

 

From Bookbridgr, I received two books this week, despite requesting them some time apart – Lonely Graves, by Britta Bolt, which is the first in the Pieter Posthumus Trilogy. In Amsterdam, Pieter works in the Lonely Funerals department, which ensures no-one goes to the grave unmourned. I’ve got to say, as soon as they saw that name on the application form, I’m sure he was a shoo-in for the job. He takes his responsibilities seriously, so when a young Moroccan immigrant is found in a canal in mysterious circumstances, he starts his own investigation. The other Bookbridgr – oh joys! – is the latest John Connolly, A Song Of Shadows. Actually, it isn’t really “oh joys”. Because despite reading Connolly since his first, Every Dead Thing, I got stuck at The Lovers – nothing to do with Connolly’s work, just – so many books! Which means I’ve got five to read – and I really wanted to read The Wolf In Winter first! But as that would take ages, then I’ll have to skip the five, then go back. I know Certain Book Bloggers who would have palpitations at the thought of reading a series out of sync, but not me. I can take this on the chin, guys. ‘Cos there’s no way I could read all five, could I…?

I was having trouble getting A Killing Winter by Tom Callaghan to download from NetGalley, so I e-mailed the publicist concerned, who said, “Do you just want me to send you the book?”, which was just so nice and helpful of him. It’s set in Kyrgyzstan, which is a new one on me – I’m reading a book set in Cambodia at the moment too (I do my travelling vicariously, through my reading – basically as I’ll never be able to afford to go to any of these countries – although bizarrely my friend Stephen worked in Georgia, and now Kazakhstan, opening up new branches of – get this – New Look! Who’d have thunk it?) Anyway, A Killing Winter has shades of Child 44, to me – a murder, but orders of a cover-up from those on high – but a policeman determined to see justice done. And I do like books based in the former USSR. I was also sent My Sunshine Away, which I’ve heard so much about from my US blogging friends, and have been dying for…author MO Walsh wants to go for a wee dram in July when he’s over – as long as it’s not a “wee” one! I expect we can arrange that… Hopefully he’ll be up for the Edinburgh International Book Festival – the one time when all book things aren’t in London! Also, I met Alex Gray, who was signing books at Waterstones for their stock. She was lovely, and signed my collection of her books – although most are on Kindle, annoyingly. She was on her way to my home island, Mull, where she’s set her latest book – Keep The Midnight Out. I’m hopefully going to try to do something for my One Year’s blogoversary – but that’s all on the QT, so I didn’t tell you…

The one on the right – Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible: Adventures In Modern Russia, by Peter Pomerantsey, is a journey about what it’s like living in Russia nowadays if you have money, and all the different “tribes” in Moscow. As I’ve already mentioned, I do enjoy reading about Russia, and this got some good reviews in the broadsheets when it came out in January, so I snipped it up today in the Kindle Daily Deal. The book on the left is one I wrote a short blog post about when I had just started blogging (and didn’t know what to write about – I hadn’t discovered NetGalley yet!) The news came out that my old school friend, Colin Macintyre, who had cult musical fame as Mull Historical Society, had sold his first book. It shows you how long the process takes – that was pretty much a year ago! I’ve got a hard copy, but I know it’s on NetGalley, and (is this a fashion?!) is set on Mull. It’s sort of quirky, but any of you bloggers out there who fancy reviewing it, I’d be really grateful – it’s good to see any old school friends doing well, and if you can do anything – however small! – to encourage it, you feel you should. And he’s a really nice guy, too (and was rather the school heartthrob among certain girls, if I remember correctly!)

Apologies to anyone who visited this post last night and found lines of code gobbledegook (well, that’s what it was to me!) – I have no idea why that happened but after a ton of deleting, I got the garbage out and this is what remained (some would say there’s plenty of garbage left…)

The Crossing Places – Elly Griffiths

I feel a bit stupid. Actually, very stupid. I’ve had this book for ages (in fact, I have it as an e-book too!) but I haven’t got round to reading it until now – despite all my favourite bloggers telling me how great the series is. If you’re a fan of Elly Griffiths (and I’m aware many of you are!), it won’t surprise you to learn that once I was about 100 pages in, I couldn’t stop reading and stayed up late (as usual!) to finish it. The one good thing, though, about having waited so long before discovering her wonderful character, Ruth Galloway, is that I have the other six books still to read (I already have the seventh of the series, The Ghost Fields, to read and review) – as well as her well-received other book, The Zig-Zag Girl.

Dr Ruth Galloway is first approached by DCI Harry Nelson when the skeleton of what appears to be a child’s body is discovered in the salt marshes, which cover the area in front of her remote cottage. Nelson wants Ruth, in her role as a forensic archaeologist, to examine the bones and give him an idea of old they are. He is privately holding on to the hope that they will belong to a girl called Lucy Downey, a case Nelson was involved in investigating ten years previously, and which ground to a halt – no body, and no arrest. But Ruth is quickly able to confirm that that the body in question is from the Iron Age, by the torque around her neck.

So, you would expect this to be the end of dealings between Ruth and Harry – but not so. Beforehand, though, Ruth goes out on the salt marshes, to continue digging, and has to be rescued when the tide comes in by her neighbour, David, who’s warden of the bird sanctuary on the marshes. Seeing the path David brings her back along, she thinks it is the Causeway to their previous dig, the path which her mentor and previous boss, Erik, was so keen to find, and she calls to tells him of her find (or David’s, to be fair! – which made me think that David, really, should be the archaeologist as he seemed to find with great ease this path that SO mystified Erik, guru of all things archaeological.) This is when Nelson pops up again, to ask Ruth to look at some letters. He’s been receiving them since the girl, Lucy Downey, disappeared, and some of them mention things about which she is knowledgeable: ritual, myths and legends, the Bible. He also refers to another recently missing local girl, Scarlet Henderson, although it’s news to Ruth, who apparently doesn’t read the newspapers/watch TV/listen to the radio/discuss local missing children with colleagues in a, “Oh, isn’t it terrible, I do hope they find her. Do you remember the other one? That’s about ten years ago now – what was her name again…?” way. The fact that he has received a very similar letter since Scarlet’s disappearance makes him – tentatively – think the two cases could be linked, although he is careful to stress that the letter writer may be no more than a mischief-maker, who could throw the whole investigation off track – rather like Wearside Jack did, quite incredibly, in the Yorkshire Ripper case. In them, Ruth finds a number of references that she thinks could refer to the Saltmarsh. Nelson asks if she recalled anyone specific hanging around the original dig 10 years before,when the first disappearance occurred.  She particularly recalls a New Age-type who called himself Cathbad. When she tells Erik she mentioned him to police, Erik doesn’t seem happy, but Ruth knows he’s never been a fan of the police. When they track Cathbad down, he reveals that he was previously a student in Manchester under Erik – which is the first Ruth’s heard of it! Why wouldn’t Erik mention this? And, to top that, he now works at the same university as Ruth, unbenowst to her, as a lab assistant. Then here he is again – closely involved with the Henderson family, that of Scarlet, the second missing child!

Ruth’s involvement in the enquiry steps up a level, though, when she returns home to find one of her cats, Sparky, on the doorstep with it’s throat cut – presumably, someone knows she is helping the police, and is warning her off. Ruth is devastated, and instinctively calls Harry Nelson. He appears, reassures Ruth, and takes the cat away for forensic testing, as obviously it’s death could be linked to the disappearance of the girls.

Then Ruth gets other visitors from the past. It seems as though a number of people attached to the original dig – which was going on when Lucy Downey disappeared – are now reappearing, straight after Scarlet Henderson’s disappearance. Is this just coincidence? Or has Lucy’s abductor returned – perhaps because he’s just abducted Scarlett too, and wants to be around the investigation, as we’re often told perpetrators do? Or as he, or she – let’s not be sexist! If we want equal rights it has to be as murder suspects too, ladies! – been in the area, unnoticed, all along?

So, what makes Elly Griffiths’ book so special? First of all, the writing is simple but effective – Griffiths’ is a wonderfully fluid writer, whose style is incredibly readable. You think you’ve been reading for 10 or 15 minutes, then you realise it’s an hour, and your tea’s cold. In Ruth, she’s created a character who, to me, came across as incredibly real – she’s dedicated to her career, possibly at the expense of her love life. She moans slightly about being overweight, but I don’t think it bothers her that much – she’s a “take me as you find me” type of person. She appears to be happy, living alone, with her cat(s), and her books – she isn’t one of these women who would rather be with any man than be alone (I know so many women like that, and I can’t help feeling they could do so much better in life – even if it did mean living alone! What’s so awful about that? You actually get control of the duvet all the time, and the remote, not just when he’s out! You’ll never hear the bloody Champions League self-important theme again!) In short, she’s normal – and not an incredible, heart-stopping beauty (yawn! Male writer’s cliché alert – stop living life vicariously through your books!)

She and Harry make a good partnership, which, like all such partnerships in books, start out with a bit of misunderstanding – he’s a bit clueless about her job, and it’s value to society, whereas he feels comfortable with the value of his, and enjoys the closure, and feeling that his job is like a giant ledger where the books are balanced, to the best of his ability at least. That’s why, he would tell anyone who asked, that the Lucy Downey case bothered him – because it left a debt to society, unpaid. That’s probably how most of us feel. But even for professionals there’s also an elemental, emotional feeling that someone must pay for an evil act committed. It obviously affects beyond a family, a street, a class, a school, a Brownies group or a pony club – it affects a community, and all our society is, is these microcosms of communities multiplied to the nth. So it impacts all of us, and 24 hour rolling news and newspaper front pages, of heartbreakingly pretty blondes – and they ARE all pretty at that age – with gappy teeth in a school photo, and the internet, and radios playing, makes it impossible to ignore (unless, of course, you’re Ruth…) So Harry’s contribution is easy to quantify. But when he realises that Ruth holds knowledge that may help decipher those letters, that to him, looked nonsensical, she gains new respect from him. And the growing closeness between the brusque, slightly flash Northerner, and the studious, quiet, methodical (yet tough and determined and brave) academic is demonstrated when he is the one she phones when Sparky is killed and left on her doorstep. She doesn’t call him because she’s thinking of evidence, or a perpetrator still nearby, or whatever – he’s simply the first person she wants to see. But Harry’s married – so surely she’s just looking for a friend, isn’t she? Like anyone would after a shock? They’d certainly be an odd romantic partnership. And crimeworm frowns on adulterous relationships, Ms Griffiths, especially with characters she likes (Ruth) and is growing to like (Harry). Even if his wife does seem a tad bimbo-ish, they have a family, and you don’t go there, as that would be naughty. Although not as naughty as abducting young girls. Obviously.

I admit, I did guess the baddie, and how he’d managed to get away with stuff, but this is a game I play against myself, and purely a symptom of WAY too much crime fiction. Remember, too, that this was Elly Griffiths’ debut novel, and I imagine her storylines have got a whole lot more sophisticated since then. THAT is something I greatly look forward to finding out. Anyway, as I’ve always said, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey – this was a wonderful one. And, my fellow bloggers, as regards your encouragement to get reading this series – you were right. As, of course, you always are. Thank you for that, and for everything else!

 

 

 

Blog Tour: Jane Alexander’s The Last Treasure Hunt…er, hunt

The Last Treasure Hunt – a modern media morality tale

“Quickly asserts itself as something unique, a masterclass…an important new voice.”

– Gutter Magazine

Praise for Jane Alexander’s short stories:

“Moving…relentless honesty.”

-Sophie Hannah

At the age of thirty, Campbell Johnstone is a failure. He’s stuck behind the bar of a shabby pub, watching from the sidelines while everyone else makes a success of their lives. The most visible is Eve Sadler, a childhood friend and rising Hollywood star.

When Campbell tries to rekindle their relationship, he longs for the glitter of her success to rub off on him, but a single shocking night – the novel’s shattering twist delivered with a knockout punch – changes everything. Campbell is about to discover the bittersweet taste of fame, and, in the process, struggle to save his soul and overcome his own self-delusion.

The Last Treasure Hunt explores our obsession with fame and celebrity with great intelligence and sly wit – it’s a modern media morality tale with bite.

To celebrate the publication of The Last Treasure Hunt, Saraband Books have organised a…Treasure Hunt! (see what they did there?!) It’s been covered by various blogs, and today I have the pleasure of giving you…

Clue 5

A wild Tasmanian genius

Crosses the desert sky

And passes this formation

Alone under the Outback sky

#treasurehunt

How the hunt works:

• Each clue refers to a landmark or iconic location in a film. The landmark/location is the answer – when you figure it out, make a note of it!
• (If you need a hand, check out the #treasurehunt hashtag on Twitter or Instagram for a hint to the landmark’s location…)
• Clues will be revealed by some fantastic book bloggers from March 26th until April 21st. Keep checking back on Jane Alexander’s dedicated treasure hunt page (janealexander.net/join-the-hunt) or on the #treasurehunt hashtag for links and new clues.
• When all the clues are revealed, the first letter of every answer will make an anagram. Solve the anagram and you have your final answer!
• Email this answer and all the landmarks you figured out to hermes@saraband.net by April 30th to be entered into the prize draw. Two entrants will win a signed copy of The Last Treasure Hunt – and if you’ve guessed the most landmarks and locations, you’ll win a goodie bag and something special from Jane personally! On top of that you’ll get bragging rights on Twitter and we’ll publicly dub you queen/king sleuth.

About Jane Alexander

Jane Alexander’s short stories and creative non-fiction has been widely published in a number of anthologies and literary magazines, including Mslexia, Litro and The Orphan Leaf Review. A winner of a major national story competition, and the recipient of a Scottish Arts Council New Writers bursary, Jane is also a lecturer in creative writing at the Open University.

At present, crimeworm is still working her way through The Last Treasure Hunt, due to a clash in her reading diary (that’s the one she follows when she’s not dining with celebs, flying on private jets to Necker Island, and hangin’ with Bey giving her clothes and hair advice…) But be assured, a review will follow very soon…

Praise for The Last Treasure Hunt

“The Last Treasure Hunt quickly asserts itself as something unique…a masterclass on what happens when empathy is absent. [Her] debut novel marks the arrival of an important new voice.” – Gutter Magazine

“A fascinating character, as complex and exasperating as a real person. As he mires himself ever further into controversy, it’s as gripping as a real treasure hunt. He’ll stay with you long after the last clue is solved.” – Mandy Haggith

Praises for Jane Alexander’s short stories

“A trumpet call of urgency and great promise.” – The Scotsman

“A perfectly handled piece of realist science-fiction.” – The Skinny

“Moving…relentless honesty.” – Sophie Hannah

Book details

Title: The Last Treasure Hunt

Author: Jane Alexander

Publication Date: 26 March, 2015

Publisher: Saraband

Price: £8.99

ISBN: 9781908643803