The Ripper file

I THOUGHT I would move away from fiction this week and take a fascinating look into the world of true crime, from the small fry who serve drugs on street corners to the Mr Big characters whose influence spans continents. A former crime correspondent of the Observer, Tony Thompson is widely regarded as one of Britain's top true-crime writers and this book demonstrates why. By building up a network of “anonymous” contacts, Thompson is able to give an in-depth insight into the g

*Click on Book Cover to go to Amazon Sales page IF you like your gangsters of the rough and ready 'oop north' variety, it seems Mandasue Heller is the go-to author that fits the bill. Having spent 10 years living on Manchester's notorious Hulme Crescents estates she uses this background for many of her novels. And Mandasue likes to keep herself busy, singing in cabaret and rock groups, 70s cover bands and blues jam bands. As part of that scene, I'm sure she has built up a wea

* click covers to go to Amazon sales pages IT MAY be pushing it a bit to put Lynda La Plante in the gangster fiction genre, but having been brought up on the Prime Suspect series with Helen Mirren I think there are enough dodgy characters involved to make out a good case for including her. Of course, perhaps the first crime gang you can associate with Lynda is the Widows, who took centre stage in a popular TV series back in the early 80s. Dolly and her crew got together to fi

CASEY is being touted as an up-and-coming star in the genre and seems to have built up quite a following. I thought I would give The Promise a try, the story of young sisters Georgie and Marnie Parker, who are left to fight their own corner when their mother is jailed for a horrific crime. While the premise sounds good, unfortunately I found this slow and rambling, and could feel no affinity or sympathy with any of the characters, even the two little girls, who don’t really t