Book Review - Natural Suspect By William Bernhardt

Them Crooked Vultures are a supergroup; a band made up of musicians who are already famous for their work, either individually or as part of other famous bands. With Natural Suspect, William Bernhardt has assembled himself a supergroup of mystery-writers, including Gini Hartzmark, Phillip Margolin and Laurence Shames, to name but a few.

The Story:

Rich owner of Hightower Oil, Arthur Hightower, has had enough of his cheating wife and deadbeat children and announces his intentions to disinherit the lot of them. Next thing we know, he’s been clubbed to death and shoved in the family freezer, where he is found clutching his wife’s pearl necklace. Being an alcoholic prone to blackouts, Julia Hightower finds herself without an alibi and, when police find Arthur’s blood on her blouse, she is immediately arrested and charged with cold-blooded murder.

Little-known lawyer Devin McGee steps in at this point, to defend Julia Hightower and, in the process, uncovers a staggering number of skeletons in an equally staggering number of closets!

Despite being a single story line, Natural Suspect is divided into chapters, each written by a different famous mystery writer! What’s more, with the exception of the first chapter, written by Bernhardt, there is no indication of who wrote which of the other chapters – giving the reader their own personal mystery to solve while the characters go about solving theirs.

Book Review - Discworld By Terry Pratchett

Since this is a website about books, I have thus far assumed all readers understand the concept of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. However, for those who (for some unfathomable reason) are unfamiliar with one of the greatest literary creations of all time, here’s an introduction.

The Discworld is a slightly convex disc-shaped world that sits on top of four huge elephants, which stand on the back of a Giant Star Turtle called The Great A’Tuin. In this world, which is quite similar to ours at very first appearance, things are entirely as they should be – which is a source of constant strife for everybody. The way things work out in the Discworld is best described as a kind of narrative destiny; things exist in accordance with pre-ordained stories, hence much of life is spent following or seeking to avoid your ‘written’ fate. The power of these stories should never be underestimated either; so strong is the power of believe in the Discworld that, if a legend is retold enough times, it actually becomes true!

What this means for the reader is that every novel based in the Discworld is subject to infinite possibilities, with each tale unwinding through a series of hilarious events as the characters attempt to evade or further their narrative destinies.

Having been writing this blog for a quite a while now, I think it’s about time I mentioned one of my favourite authors. Being that my favourite genre is fantasy (yes, I’m still a child at heart), many might assume J.R.R Tolkien features at the top of my list. However, much as I enjoy Tolkien’s work, no author can quite compare to the might of David Gemmell – not in my eyes.

Working as a labourer, a bouncer and freelance journalist, Gemmell wrote his first novel – Legend – in 1984, at the age of 36. Despite the massive success of this book, it wasn’t until he released his third – Waylander – in 1986 that he could afford to work as a full-time writer. Although I still wasn’t born by this point, the story of Gemmell’s rise to success has always been an inspiration to me – only slightly less so than his works themselves.

Although his first three books were of the Drenai Series, which grew to be nearly a dozen books long, Gemmell’s Fantasy Fictions works include the Jon Shannow Series, the Stones of Power Series, the Hawk Queen Series and the Rigante Series, as well as both the Troy and Greek series of Historical Fiction and a over half a dozen individual titles. My personal favourites are White Wolf and The Swords of Night and Day (from the end of the Drenai Series), as well as the Troy Series as a trilogy. It is worth pointing out, however, that David Gemmell died before the third of the Troy Series (Lord of the Silver Bow) was finished and his wife, Stella, completed the work for him.

If ever there was a way to fall in love the fantasy genre, reading David Gemmell’s masterpieces is the best and easiest.

Buy Books by David Gemmell