#Blogtour #Review - Deadly Autumn Harvest by Tony Mott

Deadly Autumn Harvest
Tony Mott (trans Marina Sofia)
Corylus Books, 1 August 2023
Available as: PB, 230pp, e

Source: Advance copy
ISBN(PB): 9781739298913

I'm grateful to Corylus for sending me a copy of Deadly Autumn Harvest to consider for review, and for inviting me to join the book's blogtour.

Deadly Autumn Harvest introduces us to Romanian forensic pathologist Gigi Alexa (it's the first book translated into English to feature her, although there is backstory especially with one of her police colleagues; through much of this books she's negotiating the trauma of one particular relationship with someone she still has to work with). Gigi is clearly at the top of her profession, slightly resented by the cops and uninclined to suffer fools gladly. I enjoyed the value she ascribes to being alone: while being perfectly capable of getting along with others, she really, really needs her time away from them. 

The mystery we're presented with here is a perplexing one. As the tourist season comes to an end, visitors thin out in the town of Braşov, the days shorten, and the weather turns cool, a series of killings begins. We know they are connected (the story, while coy about identities, does give us the perspective of the killer at times, as well as of some of the victims) but they don't seem to have much of a common thread. Taken together, the murders put a lot of strain on the Braşov police, still reeling from a previous botched investigation, and bring national attention. Alongside the minutiae of the investigation, the book raises issues about what crimes are prioritised and about how an investigation may be driven - or derailed - by press attention and public concern.

The story with Gigi's earlier lover and colleague also gives us an insight into the aftermath of an abusive relationship, something she's finding it hard to move on from (one might think her speciality would help here but really "physician, heal thyself" doesn't cut it). Mott also gives us insights into Gigi's family background and earlier life, including an incident which might deserve a content warning for sexual violence. Indeed, the wrinkles and creases of Gigi's personality are as fascinating as the events unfolding in Braşov, as Mott gives us a carefully managed, slow revelation of the mischief that's at work. The balance between the two is perfect, current events and past history - and the personalities of the different victims - combining to present a many-faceted portrayal of suffering, of wrongness - and of overcoming.

I did, actually, spot the murderer before they were revealed and was very pleased with myself... until I realised I hadn't! The mystery is actually deceptively complex and all the more so for everything (apparently) being set out before us. 

All in all a most enjoyable crime novel, with Marina Sofia's translation excellently readable, rendering the story into English without flattening out the Romanian-ness of it - for example, making clear where a choice of pronouns indicates familiarity. 

I hope to hear more about Gigi Alexa, and maybe to catch up oil some of her earlier adventures too.

The blurb

A series of bizarre murders rocks the beautiful Carpathian town of Braşov. At first there’s nothing obvious that links what look like random killings. With the police still smarting from the scandal of having failed to act in a previous case of a serial kidnapper and killer, they bring in forensic pathologist Gigi Alexa to figure out if several murderers are at work – or if they have another serial killer on their hands.

Ambitious, tough, and not one to suffer fools gladly, Gigi fights to be taken seriously in a society that maintains old-fashioned attitudes to the roles of women. She and the police team struggle to establish a pattern, especially when resources are diverted to investigating a possible terrorist plot. With the clock ticking, Gigi stumbles across what looks to be a far-fetched theory – just as she realises that she could be on the murderer’s to-kill list.

About the Author

Tony Mott

Tony Mott was born and bred in Braşov, which often forms the backdrop for her novels. She has worked internationally as a coach and HR professional, but her real passion remains writing. In 2022 she received the Romanian Mystery&Thriller Award. Deadly Autumn Harvest is the first novel in the Gigi Alexa series to be translated into English. 

About the Translator

Marina Sofia is a translator, reviewer, writer and blogger, as well as a third culture kid who grew up trilingual in Romanian, German and English. Her previous translations for Corylus Books are Sword by Bogdan Teodorescu and Resilience by Bogdan Hrib. She has spent most of her winters in Braşov skiing, so is delighted to translate a book set in her favourite Romanian town.

For more information about Deadly Autumn Harvest, see the publisher's website here - and of course the other stops on the blogtour which you can see listed on the poster below. 

You can buy Deadly Autumn Harvest, from your local high street bookshop or online from Bookshop UK, Hive Books, Blackwell's, Foyle's, WH Smith, Waterstones or Amazon.

#Blogtour - Resilience by Bogdan Hrib

Resilience
Bogdan Hrib (trans by Marina Sofia)
Corylus Books, 20 August 2021
Available as: e, 286pp
Source: Purchased copy
ASIN: B09C44C3X7

I'm grateful to the publisher for inviting me to join the blogtour for Resilience.

If - in this year of all years - you've missed out on some international travel, let Resilience fill that gap in your life, hopping as it does across Europe from the beaches of South Shields, where it opens with a death, to the streets of Bucharest and Iasi in Romania and back again to London. More than travel, though, the action in this slickly plotted thriller is driven by distance, by geography and by history, plugging into the complex history of Middle Europe with its evolving borders, nationalisms and polities.

Stelian Munteanu is an investigator, a fixer of sorts, also an editor - a man, as the book describes him, with his fingers in many pies. He's hired, after that early death, to look into things. Travelling from Bucharest to Newcastle, he's able to cast an outsider's eye on Britain - but will it be able to penetrate the web of mystery and conspiracy that we're confronted with here? I enjoyed meeting Stelian - the book makes it clear that this isn't his first adventure and indeed, I see that the book is part of a series, but it wears that lightly: there is a sense of backstory, of the characters here having met and been through things before (particularly Stelian's wife, Sofia Matei, whose occupation and dealings are kept a bit mysterious).

Further deaths ensue in the story, both in Britain and back in Romania, and Hrib shows us glimpses of a conspiracy that may or may not be responsible for them. It's part of the fun of this well-constructed and pacey story that we see parts of what they're doing and can sort-of guess and what they want, but at the same time, not everything seems to fit. There are plots within plots, and some of the characters seem to know altogether too much about what's happening. I just didn't know who to trust - even now, I'm not sure. That, to me, is a sign of a convincing thriller.

Behind that, the book read to me as having deep roots in the history and politics of Central Europe. There are the grand plans - the dreams of unifying modern states to create something crossing the continent, echoing the empires of the past and, perhaps, bringing back greatness. There are also nightmares, fears of what dislocation and chaos might follow. All of that's seen through the lens of modern "influencing" - of fake news, astroturfed activism and mysterious figures dispensing large denomination Euro notes. All thrilling, but Hrib never takes the story beyond the plausible and that sense of a history, a previous life, to his main group - not only Stelian and Sofia but Anton, Stelian's policeman friend and his brilliant assistant, Anabella, and Ionescu the spy who comes and goes like Gandalf in The Hobbit. Hearing them speak (and argue and make up) it almost feels like walking into a room where a group of friends are already deeply engaged in a conversation - except that rather than falling silent, Hrib's writing, combined with Marina Sofia's readable, evocative translation, invite you get a drink, take a seat, and listen along.

Bogdan Hrib

Overall a fun read introducing characters I'd like to meet again.

For more information about Resilience, see the publisher's website here. And do take a look at the other stops on the blogtour, listed on the poster below.

About the Author

Bogdan Hrib was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1966. 

Former journalist, civil engineer by education and now professor at the University in Bucharest, Hrib is the co-founder of Tritonic Books (1993) and has been instrumental in bringing other Romanian crime writers into English publication.

He was the vice-president of the Romanian Crime Writers Club (2010-2012), and the director/organizer of the International Mystery & Thriller Festival in Râșnov (2011-2015), as well as the PR coordinator of the History Film Festival also in Râșnov

He is the author of the crime fiction series featuring Stelian Munteanu, a book-editor with a sideline doing international police work. Kill the General (2011), the fourth book in the Munteanu series was Hrib’s first novel translated into English, won the Special Award of the Bucharest Writers Association (2012). The Greek Connection is Hrib’s second novel translated into English.

The novel Resilience, the sixth of the series, was published in May 2020, by Tritonic. The story A Bucharest Arrest was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (March-April 2021)

Marina Sofia

www.bogdanhrib.ro
Instagram @bogdanhrib
Facebook @bofromro
Twitter @bo_hrib

About the Translator

Marina Sofia was born in Romania but has lived in the UK for half of her life. She was a reviewer for Crime Fiction Lover for more than seven years and has also worked for Asymptote Literary Journal. Her previous translation for Corylus Books was Sword by Bogdan Teodorescu. She is on Twitter and https://twitter.com/MarinaSofia8 and blogs at https://findingtimetowrite.wordpress.com/