Old Oxford in more ways than one Simon Mason’s 4th Wilkins’ book brings together the two men from the opposite sides of the tracks once again. Ryan Wilkins and his son, Little Ryan are by far my favourite characters, b…

Here's my review of Simon Mason's A Voice in the Night: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/04/23/o...

Candlish’s New Property Louise Candlish openly admits in the interview with the narrator at the end of the book that she likes to write books about property, so Candlish fans will not be surprised that this is another pla…

Here's my review of Louise Candlish's A Neighbour's Guide to Murder: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/c...

Reading on the Road Yesterday on the 14th of April I was invited down to London for the launch of Theakston’s Crime 2026, run by Harrogate International Festivals. As part of this, it was a good idea to have a l…

Here's my review of Kia Abdullah's What happens in the Dark: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/04/15/r...

Here's my review of Gillian McAllistair's Famous Last Words:

hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/04/09/1...

A Timely Offer Yesterday as I was searching for what to read next, Audible had Yemi Dipeolu’s Kiss Marry Kill on offer. Reading the synopsis, it sounded slightly generic when my PA read it to me, and the co…

My review of Yemi Dipeolu's Kiss, Marry, Kill:

hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/04/07/a...

Writing Backwards For the first time in a while, I’ve gone to my TBR pile. This book has been in my library since it was shortlisted for last years’ Bloody Scotland prize and the only reason that it&#821…

My review of Denise Mina's The Good Liar: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/04/06/w...

Industry Expectations The Other Couple is a very apt title, because throughout this novel, which is told from multiple perspectives (but unfortunately with only a single narrator on the audiobook), was really well const…

Here's my review of The Other Couple by Claire McGowan: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/04/01/i...

The book I was unsure about Reading through the synopsis of books is something that I generally avoid, but when you’re isolating and have time to read more books sometimes you come across a book with a similar plotline …

My review of Natalie Chandler's The Voices: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/31/t...

Midnight Reading The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley is a really interesting story about a community battling against a rich incomer who has decided to build a hotel on their family’s land. The hotel’s ope…

Here's my review of the Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/m...

Hot air isolation Several years after reading The Murder Game and after seeing Tom speaking to TM Logan in Nottingham Waterstones, I purchased this after hearing how unique the plot was. Tom, as a former travel jour…

My review of Tom Hindle's Death in the Arctic:

hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/24/h...

Surprising Slow Burn When you read as many books as I do you come across a lot of different styles of writing, but the first time you read an author, you don’t know what their style is or how they will surprise y…

My review of Alice Feeny's Beautiful Ugly: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/23/s... @alicefeeney01.bsky.social

Is this a new sub-genre? Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars could be a new sub-genre of crime: The drag queen detective. This came recommended as something different and it definitely was, as it was the first time …

hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/22/i... My review of Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars.

Returning to Orkney In Daniel Aubrey’s second novel, The Dying Light, Freya’s life gets more and more complicated as she looks into the corruption surrounding book one. This book is a hard one to review as…

Here's my review of Daniel Aubrey's The Dying Light: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/21/r...

Climbing with Craigie Last Friday night I was listening to Neil Lancaster being interviewed about his latest book The Dark Heart on UKCBC and realised that it was a while since I’d read one, so decided to read the…

My review of @neillancaster66.bsky.social When Shadows Fall: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/c...

A devilish locked room Tom Mead’s 4th Spector novel is probably the most complex novel that he’s written. Although no 3 was a lot more violent because it was aiming towards the Asian side of the locked room, …

Here's my review of The House at Devil's Neck by @tommeadauthor.bsky.social hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/14/a...

A new twist on a trope Lisa Jewell’s Don’t let him in is an examination of coercive control, toxic masculinity, fraud and a spiteful sod. But that’s just the main character, voiced by Richard Armitage i…

Here's my review of Lisa Jewell's Don't Let Him In: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/13/a...

The other Hunter On Cara Hunter’s birthday I read the third in the Eve Hunter series by Deborah Masson. We all get our names from somewhere when writing and I’ll be checking whether this is coincidence …

My review of From the Ashes by Deborah Masson: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/03/06/t...

Interview with Deborah Masson - I'll be watching You

Here's me chatting to @DeborahMasson about her latest book, I'll be watching You: open.spotify.com/episode/2H3D...

The book I wish I’d Written As the title says, this is definitely the book I wish I’d written for personal reasons, as I wrote an essay on CCTV and whom might be watching the watchers back in 2009, back when the legisla…

My review of Deborah Masson's I'll be watching You: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/t...

The companion Traitor As a crime writer, I’ve always been a big fan of The Traitors, right from series one and now that both the UK and NZ versions have had published authors, with Harriet Tyce and Vanda Symon, yo…

Here's my review of Harriet Tyce's A lesson in Cruelty: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/01/18/t...

@tomjhindle.bsky.social Hi Tom, sorry we haven't spoken since Waterstones in Nottm. Was looking for authors to appear on the 4th season of my podcast. Would you be interested in this as your new book A Killer In Paradise is out this Thursday. Please let me know. Regards Alex

Two titles, one book Over Christmas whilst waiting for several things to come to fruition I was randomly watching 4oD and saw an advert for a TV show called The Revenge Club, but I couldn’t get Paramount, so goog…

My first review of the year is JD Pennington's The Othello Club: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2026/01/02/t...

December Evening Reading At the end of the year, I’ve still got a massive TBR pile, but have just finished my third podcast season and needed a break from crime, so this is why it has been approximately two weeks sin…

My last review of the year is @drjennymorris.bsky.social #AnEthicalGuidetoMurder, highlighted by @bloodyscotland.bsky.social hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/d...

Preparing for the final podcast of the Year Today, the final episode of series 3, of my podcast AJ Hawley’s World of Crime was recorded with Antti Tuomainen. This has been the first proper series of it since I instigated it during my h…

Here's a link to my review of Antti Tuomainen's The Winter Job, published by @orendabooks.bsky.social which includes a link to our chat on my podcast:

hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/p...

Award winner returns to his Origins After several years away from Wyndham and Banerjee they are back in The Burning Grounds. Abir Mukherjee deservedly won the Theakstons Crime Book of the year with Hunted and the nature of the standa…

Really enjoyed Wyndham and Banerjee's return. Thanks for this great book @radiomukhers.bsky.social Good luck with the tour:
hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/a...

In conversation with Alis Hawkins

open.spotify.com/episode/7htZ...

Hawkins’ History In preparation for my interview with Alis Hawkins I’m reading her latest series, The Oxford Mysteries. Although I’ve been aware of her work for a long time due to our collaboration with…

Looking forward to interviewing @alishawkinsauthor.bsky.social soon. Here's my review of her first book of the Oxford Mysteries, A Bitter Remedy: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2025/11/16/h...

Pirie’s Back After a year away, it is finally great to read another Val book, of all the characters she could have chosen, it had to be Karen Pirie. Post this years Harrogate the second Karen Pirie book was ada…

Welcome back @valmcdermid.bsky.social

Here's my review of Val McDermid's Silent Bones: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2025/11/02/p...

McSorley’s World of Crime On this busy Thursday with some of my favourite authors being published, it’s nice to also read one of the most original writers on the scene today in Callum McSorley. I prepared to discuss t…

Really enjoyed reading @callummcsorley.bsky.social Paperboy. Here's my review and to find out more, listen to my podcast. The link is on the review: hawleyreviews.wordpress.com/2025/10/28/m...

Here's me in conversation with @davegoodman.bsky.social , author of the award winning A Reluctant Spy: open.spotify.com/episode/7bkq...