Book review

Litchfield reviews ‘Smoke City’ for the Colorado Review

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“Although somewhat uneven and, at times, repetitive, Smoke City is a distinctive, emotionally rewarding story that moves and entertains. Rosson, whose debut novel, The Mercy of the Tide, netted strong critical reviews, once again shows his talent for creating authentic, sorrowful characters and rich, beautifully wrought prose.” Weaving between hope and destruction, fear and sorrow, […]

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The Made Up Man by Joseph Scapellato

Litchfield Reviews The Made-Up Man by Joseph Scapellato

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Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: Absurdist humour and existential noir intermingle in Joseph Scapellato’s playful and intelligent debut novel about a soul-searching archaeology school drop-out who finds himself at the centre of a strange and risky performance art project in the Czech Republic. Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Scapellato, who now lives in Pennsylvania, is an assistant professor of English in the Creative Writing Program at Bucknell University. His previous work, the critically acclaimed story collection Big Lonesome, received high praise from Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and the Lancashire Post, with the New York Times proclaiming: ‘Scapellato’s inventive, hallucinatory prose dazzles.’

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Litchfield Reviews French Exit by Patrick deWitt

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Gentler and more tender than a Patrick deWitt reader might anticipate, French Exit is a skilfully told tale that is brimming with humour and pathos, insightful conversations, and featuring eccentric people that intrigue and entertain. It begins at a party on the Upper East Side with the strikingly attractive, revered, upper-cruster Frances Price indulging in

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Book review: ‘Sleeping Dragons’ for the Colorado Review

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“At times, the open-ended nature of Baudoin’s stories has the effect of making a narrative seem unfinished and crying out for resolution. Argentine-born writer, translator, and editor Alberto Manguel addresses this issue in his introduction, writing: “We come to the last page of a Baudoin story and we ask ourselves, what exactly just happened?” Time

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Hostage for a Hood and The Merriweather File by Lionel White_image

Litchfield Reviews Hostage for a Hood and The Merriweather File for the Lancashire Post

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Litchfield Reviews Hostage for a Hood and The Merriweather File for the Lancashire Post: In two top-notch crime capers from the 1950s, a car accident steers an innocent woman into the thick of a violent armoured car robbery, and dark marital revelations surface after a dead body is found in the trunk of a salesman’s car. Influential American crime writer Lionel White is often described as the master of the big caper. His 1955 novel Clean Break was adapted by Stanley Kubrick as the basis for the film noir classic The Killing and a number of White’s other 35 novels have been made into films.

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Litchfield Reviews Fugitive from the Grave for the Lancashire Post

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“Identical-twin detectives Peter and Paul Skillen are called on to investigate the strange fate of a missing beggar, a band of shadowy highwaymen, body snatchers, a stalker and a wily thief in the fourth thrilling tale in the Bow Street Rivals mystery series. Set in London in 1817, with the city ‘awash with beggars,’ and

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Litchfield Reviews Petites Suites by Robert Wexelblatt for the Colorado Review

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“Thought-provoking, entertaining, and eloquent, like so many of his stories in Petites Suites, you can’t help but marvel at Wexelblatt’s ability to move and enchant in just a few concise pages. This inspired and truly original story collection is an exquisite joy, offering the equivalent beauty and charm a fine symphony might accomplish.” Published today in

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Cover of The Body Looks Familiar and The Late Mrs. Five by Richard Wormser

Litchfield’s Lancashire Post Review of Richard Wormser’s ‘The Body Looks Familiar’ / ‘The Late Mrs. Five’

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Nicholas Litchfield’s Lancashire Post Review of Richard Wormser’s ‘The Body Looks Familiar’ and ‘The Late Mrs. Five’: In two thrilling, out-of-the-ordinary crime stories, an assistant district attorney attempts to frame the city’s police chief for the murder of his mistress, and a travelling company vice president finds himself accused of the murder of his ex-wife. The Body Looks Familiar and The Late Mrs. Five are both impressive novels by the late Richard Wormser, a prolific American writer of some 300 short stories, 200 novelettes, and numerous crime and detective novels, movie and TV novelisations, screenplays and Westerns.

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Book review: Never Say No to a Killer by Clifton Adams

Litchfield Reviews Never Say No to a Killer by Clifton Adams for the Lancashire Post

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Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: Never Say No to a Killer is a fast, lean, effective tale by a writer who was very proficient at penning marketable men’s adventure fiction. Although not as complex and stimulating as some of his Westerns, Adams’ tough crime novel has sufficient action and plot twists to make for a swift, entertaining read.

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Litchfield Reviews Day In, Day Out by Héctor Aguilar Camín for the Lancashire Post

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“Distinguished Mexican author, journalist, and historian Héctor Aguilar Camín explores a dissolute writer’s lifelong obsession with a nefarious temptress in this hardboiled tale of lust, police corruption and murder in Mexico City. Day In, Day Out, originally published in 2016 as Toda La Vida, is Aguilar Camín’s second work of fiction to be translated into

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