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Irish Times
10-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
August's best new crime fiction: From Stuart Neville's dark supernatural thriller to a perfect summer read by Laura Lippman
Many thrillers revolve around a parent trying to rescue a child, but few test the parent's limits as fiercely as Stuart Neville's gripping Blood Like Ours (Simon & Schuster, £16.99), which offers the moving story of a very particular family wrapped up in everything you'd want from a supernatural thriller. The second novel in what's now billed as a trilogy, Blood Like Ours picks up just days after the concluding events of Blood Like Mine separated Rebecca Carter and her daughter Moonflower. Sure that her mother's gone forever, Moonflower's bereft, afraid and desperately struggling to hold on to her true self. Unbeknown to Moonflower, though, Rebecca's hunting feverishly for her, a hunt that drives Neville's narrative. Despite this separation, their singular relationship remains absorbing and central, even as Neville considerably expands the role of FBI agent Sarah McGrath, and introduces brothers Will and Jacob. The brothers are strays like Moonflower and they take her on the run, while their own backstory unfolds amid terrifying violence. The women are the highlight, though: Rebecca, Moonflower, Sarah and even the more remote Emma all bring a vividly persuasive depth to these pages. More than just the trilogy's middle act, from its first scene to its gratifying conclusion Blood Like Ours simultaneously evokes hope and a spiralling dread, both of which resonate across the novel. As do the best thriller writers, Neville draws out the darkness of a seemingly mundane world. READ MORE Just as dark in its way, Denise Mina's excellent The Good Liar (Harvill Secker, £16.99) is another August highlight. The novel opens like a procedural before slyly becoming a much broader example of how crime fiction can dissect power's inner workings, as her characters learn the cost of the compromises they've made for their own convenience and comfort. The Good Liar shifts between two timelines. The first is set at a gala as Claudia – a blood spatter forensics expert, recently widowed under suspicious circumstances – steels herself to deliver a speech. It's meant to be blandly honorific, but she's prepared a bombshell revelation that will destroy careers, including her own. The other timeline begins one year earlier, as Claudia and her powerful mentor Philip (sorry, Sir Philip) are called to a crime scene: the staggeringly wealthy Earl of Strathearn and his much younger fiancee have been brutally murdered. Mina weaves these timelines ever closer, steadily increasing the pressure on Claudia. The varied plot strands – divorce, betrayal, murder, shell companies, illicit relationships – are anchored by the deadly weight of aristocratic class, painted here in all its inbred connections and relentless self-interest. Even Claudia struggles to resist the temptations of shiny bangles such as lunch at Claridge's. As persuasive as the storytelling is, the real hook is Mina's voice. Devastatingly angry and acidic, its sceptical, desert-dry wit gives Claudia and the others – many of whom are more than they seem at first – the sharp edges that make this book gleam. It's easy to see why Elliot Ackerman's entertaining Sheepdogs (Viking, £16.99) drove a TV bidding war: lean but globe-trotting, it's both funny and deadly earnest. Where lots of military thrillers lean on gruff brutality, this instead lends something like the castoff perspective of Slow Horses to the chaotic pessimism of David O Russell's film, Three Kings. We meet Skwerl and Cheese as they're hustling to repossess – not steal! – a private jet stashed at an isolated Ugandan airfield. They're both over-qualified: Skwerl's a former CIA operative fired for going public about a bloodily botched mission, and Cheese was the best Afghan pilot employed by the Americans, a credential that did him little good when the US left (Ackerman's also written non-fiction about America's Afghan allies and shows real conviction in his depiction of Cheese's experiences). Tricky from the start, their plan immediately grows even messier. Skwerl, Cheese and their ragtag team are soon enmeshed in everything from revenge, blackmail, and professional BDSM to smuggling and off-books paramilitary funding. The connective tissue here is a sardonic sense of absurdity that's anchored in their lives, like when Cheese recognises that 'Stealing (or repossessing) a luxury jet probably didn't fall into the category of good behaviour in his adopted country. But having five hundred grand in his bank account did. Cheese understood this much about America.' After 300 quick pages, Ackerman sticks the landing, tying up the diverse threads while promising further exploits from these characters. The cosy centre of Samantha Downing's gleeful Too Old for This (Michael Joseph, £16.99) may appear less flashy, but it's ringed by a deadpan humour that perfectly complements its eccentric plot and narrator, Lottie Jones. Back in the 1980s, single mother Lottie faced a media frenzy after being questioned by the Spokane police for three murders. She committed all three, but was exonerated when the cops couldn't prove anything. Using a large settlement for wrongful arrest, she changed her name and moved to a small town where she raised her son, her past a secret. Now 75, she's settled into a rhythm of church potluck dinners and bingo nights spent gossiping with friends about their children's questionable life choices. [ July's best new crime fiction: Prom Mom by Laura Lippman; Someone You Trust by Rachel Ryan; A Lesson in Malice by Catherine Kirwan and more Opens in new window ] The arrival of Plum Dixon, a young documentarian, disrupts Lottie's quiet existence and – deploying an umbrella, her spare freezer and a chainsaw – Lottie's suddenly back to what made her notorious those many years ago. The world has changed, though: cameras, smartphones and DNA evidence make it so much more difficult to cover one's tracks. Between this new technology and her bad hip, 'murder began to feel like a chore instead of a joy', just one more demand on her time. Now, she has to juggle a growing body count, appointments to tour retirement homes, and her son's wedding preparations. She needs a nap. That, and maybe one more opportunity to 'feel all lit up inside' by the 'sound of hitting a skull'. Bringing a big city detective's instincts to the warmth of a cosy mystery, Laura Lippman delivers an armchair tour of France in Murder Takes a Vacation (Faber, £9.99), a witty adventure starring Mrs Muriel Blossom, former employee of Lippman's series protagonist, PI Tess Monaghan. Tess does make a brief appearance, but this tale belongs to Muriel. Well into her 60s and accustomed to going unnoticed, she's surprised by a flood of attention from a bevy of strangers, whose veiled motives shape the events. Widowed, and recently enriched by finding a multi-million-dollar lottery ticket in a convenience store parking lot, Muriel treats herself and best friend Elinor to a luxury cruise up the Seine, anticipating a relaxing week of good food, museums and day trips. However, after being befriended by the handsome, mysterious Allan at the airport and unknowingly eating a marijuana gummy during the flight, she departs from her meticulously planned itinerary. Before long, further complications arise involving the motives of a dead man whose phone contained her details, a stylist who might be an FBI agent, an enigmatic heiress on the same cruise and the men swirling around Elinor. All of them learn not to take her keen observation skills lightly. This art-infused tale's light touch is animated by its moving observations on marriage, ageing and friendship, as Muriel eases into the grace of time-earned wisdom. Elegantly folding Muriel's insights into her deft plotting, Lippman's produced a perfect summer read.
BBC News
25-06-2025
- BBC News
Farmer's wife attacked husband with hammer at Rotherham home
A farmer's wife who attacked her estranged husband with a lump hammer due to "stressful" divorce proceedings has been jailed for four years and nine Teasdale, 70, was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court earlier for wounding with intent and later stalking Daniel Teasdale, 75, while on attack took place at Burne Farm in Todwick, near Rotherham, on 21 August 2023, while the pair were embroiled in legal battles over their divorce and the ownership of a cottage on their Francis Laird said that she had hit him seven times on the head in their marital home with "intent to cause injury" as Mr Teasdale watched television. He added: "I do note it happened in the stressful context of a divorce."Pamela Teasdale had previously pleaded guilty to both the wounding and stalking Laura Marshall said Mr Teasdale, who married the defendant in 1974, had arrived home on the day of the incident and was watching television in the suddenly "felt like he'd had a shock" as his wife approached him from behind and started hitting him on the head with the hammer. He managed to grab the hammer from her and left the house before making his way to their daughter Rebecca Carter's home Carter's converted barn, Cow House, was the subject of an ownership dispute between her parents during the divorce court heard Mr Teasdale's grandchild was the first person to see him with his injuries and she found her mother to tell her: "Grandad's bleeding".Mr Teasdale then told his daughter: "She's hit me with the hammer, she's mad, she's trying to kill me." The court heard Pamela Teasdale fled the scene but did not realise her car had a tracker on it and she was located near found her in a semi-unconscious state after taking a suspected was taken to hospital and remained unconscious until the following day, when she was then was released on bail but was arrested again on 5 May 2024 on suspicion of stalking when Mr Teasdale spotted her in a car taking photos of him as he worked on the farm. Ms Marshall added: "She said in her police interviews that she did not know he would be there."The pair built a life on the farm with their two daughters during their 40-year marriage, as the land had been in Mr Teasdale's family for three in 2018, they filed for divorce and agreed to both still live in the farmhouse during Penelope Smith read a statement on behalf of her father in which he described the impact of the assault. He said: "After I was released from hospital I went back into the kitchen in the house and just thought about how lucky I was to be alive."He added that he feared having to sell the farm due to losing "so much money over this".He said: "I've lost money as I've had to pay contractors to do work that I now can't do, I have spent £9,000 on CCTV after the attack, and I had to pay Pamela £800,000 upfront as part of our £1.8m divorce settlement."This incident will affect me for the rest of my life." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Smuggled horses now in Norfolk after 'horrific' journey
Five smuggled horses have died with others recuperating at a Norfolk farm after being transported in "horrific conditions". Twenty horses travelling on illegal transport to the country from Ireland have been rescued and taken to a World Horse Welfare site at Hall Farm in Snetterton. It is believed the horses were to be fattened and slaughtered - despite the ban on live exports that has been in place since May 2024. Five horses were euthanised after being found due to ill health (Image: World Horse Welfare) The animals were found "crammed" into an unsuitable lorry at Dover despite being "too weak and sick to travel" - with foals left covered in their own faeces with matted fur. Included among the smuggled horses were Irish thoroughbreds, Connemaras and leisure ponies alongside other animals that were being moved legally. One foal was left unable to get back up on his feet which led Dover port officials to redirect the vehicle to a holding yard for inspection. Five of the Irish thoroughbreds were euthanised following health and welfare assessments. Pony in a stable at the holding yard who was suffering from a bacterial skin infection affecting most of his body and legs (Image: World Horse Welfare)World Horse Welfare field officer, Rebecca Carter, said: 'At the holding facility I was faced with a heartbreaking scene. "The equines were so still and quiet and appeared shell-shocked from their ordeal. "A number of the horses were underweight and had strangles, a highly contagious bacterial and potentially fatal infection. 'It's not just the health of these horses which was put at risk, there's a bigger issue here in that these horses were carrying highly contagious diseases and therefore a biosecurity threat to all those they came in contact with.' Eight of the horses were taken in by World Horse Welfare and are currently recovering at the site in Snetterton. The other seven horses - who were in better health - were claimed by new owners.
BBC News
07-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
Norfolk charity rescues horses found in a lorry at a port
A charity has rescued "bewildered" horses and ponies that were being illegally smuggled out of the UK for suspected fattening and slaughter in animals, including racehorses, were found in "horrific conditions" in a lorry at the Port of Dover in December, seven months after the ban on live exports. World Horse Welfare (WHW), which is based in Snetterton, Norfolk, said it was caring for eight surviving horses, including a pregnant mare and foals. Five Irish Thoroughbreds had to be euthanised. "It was an incredibly sad sight to see this very mixed group of horses, some of which were fully clipped and shod, so previously well cared for, now looking bewildered, poor and depressed, with vacant expressions," said WHW field officer Rebecca Carter. 'Heartbreaking scene' Many of the horses were too sick and weak to travel and were crammed into an unsuitable lorry where one foal was on the floor and unable to get back on its feet, the charity officials - who have been praised by WHW for their vigilance - redirected the lorry to a holding yard for further checks."I was faced with a heartbreaking scene," explained Ms Carter."The equines were so still and quiet and appeared shell-shocked from their ordeal."A number of the horses were underweight and had strangles, a highly contagious bacterial and potentially fatal infection – with the infected horses suffering from painful abscesses and fever." Two of the animals had pneumonia, some were suffering from skin conditions and various health issues, and unhandled foals were matted with faeces, she added."They were completely terrified and when I approached them, they buried their heads into each other and huddled together in a corner of the stable."Two Irish Thoroughbreds are recovering and are expected to be rehomed and seven horses in better health were claimed by their owners. The discovery was made one year after WFW helped rescue 26 horses, including pregnant mares, which had been crammed into a transporter at Dover. WHW chief executive Roly Owers said: "We always knew that the passing of the Animal Welfare (Live Exports) Act 2024, whilst a huge step forward, was never going to work in isolation. "Nevertheless, it is shocking to have been involved in another high-profile rescue of equines at Dover, many of whom were very likely being exported for slaughter."He said the welfare of transported equines would "never be fully protected" without a digital identification and traceability system. An investigation into the transportation of the 20 horses, which originated in Ireland, is ongoing.A spokesperson from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs said that the government did not comment on individual cases, but added: "It is illegal to export horses for slaughter under the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act 2024."We have put in place measures to ensure this law is enforced robustly." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
