Reviews

Reviews of Hollow Mountain | Reviews of Sign of the Cross | Reviews of Shadow of the Rock | Reviews of Sleeping Dogs | Reviews of A Thousand Cuts

‘Hollow Mountain’ Reviews

GIBRALTAR CHRONICLE, 9 JULY 2014

One of the advantages of being a literary critic is the exposure it gives to new authors, especially when they turn out to be rather good. Thomas Mogford was/is one such author, and it was fortuitous that I had the chance to crit his first novel in his ‘Spike’ Sanguinetti series, ‘Shadow of the Rock’. Although not a resident of Gibraltar, Mogford has spent time here and researched both Gibraltar and the Gibraltarians in detail, giving his characters (Spike Sanguinetti is a Gibraltarian lawyer) and setting considerable veracity. So much so that I remember with his first novel feeling that I had actually met the person on whom Spike Sanguinetti’s law partner was based – it took me time to realise that the character was just so well drawn that he felt completely familiar to one who had worked in a local law firm.

Spike, otherwise Somerset Sanguinetti, is the only child of a retired headmaster of Sacred Heart School, and his wife, herself a much loved teacher, whose unexplained suicide has been a source of tension between father and son for years. Their family home is in Chicardo’s Passage, and in town Spike is partner in a law firm with the solid, bon viveur Peter Galliano.

When the story opens, Spike is on the Paradise Coast of Italy, trying to locate Zahra, the wild creature he had met in Morocco and with whom he had fallen in love. He had recued her and brought her to Gibraltar from where she had eventually run off to a dubious life in Malta. Zahra is now apparently ‘owned’ by a known international criminal, Žigon, and has sent Spike a message to forget about her, to go away, and warning him that Žigon will not hesitate to kill anyone who crosses him. It is there Spike is forced to leave his search and return urgently to Gibraltar, where his partner, Peter Galliano, has been the victim of a hit and run and is lying in a coma in St Bernard’s Hospital.

I would love to elaborate further on the plot, which is really rather good, but then it might spoil your enjoyment. The denouement of each of the various strands is bloody and dramatic but satisfying – as it should be in a good thriller. Thomas Mogford’s ‘Hollow Mountain’ is published by Bloomsbury and is another success for this author who was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger award for best new crime writer with ‘Shadow of the Rock’, and has made an equally convincing job of ‘Hollow Mountain’. I hope it gives you as much pleasure as it gave me. Christine Thomson

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, JULY 2014

In Mogford’s breathless third Spike Sanguinetti novel (after 2013’s Sign of the Cross), the Gibraltar lawyer temporarily abandons his search for his lost love, Zahra, when he learns that his partner and best friend, Peter Galliano, lies near death, the victim of a suspicious hit-and-run. Picking up Peter’s caseload, Spike falls into a marine salvage operation run by Mort Clohessy, a ruthless treasure hunter. He also agrees to help a widow, Mrs. Grainger, who believes that her late husband, whose body was found on the Rock by the Barbary macaques, did not commit suicide as the police claim. Meanwhile, Spike receives an enigmatic call from Zahra, who warns him not to try to find her, and a shadowy killer dogs his footsteps. Torn, like the Rock itself, between two cultures, British and Mediterranean, Spike pursues his vision of justice under the torrid southern sun. A descent into Gibraltar’s eerie tunnels leads to a bittersweet finale. Agent: Nicola Barr, Greene & Heaton (U.K.). (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

LIBRARY JOURNAL, JUNE 2014

Spike is still hunting for his missing love, Zahra, but he is temporarily distracted by his law partner’s accident. Thrills don’t get any better than those in Mogford’s compelling Gibraltar-based series; this is number three (after Sign of the Cross). Teresa L. Jacobsen 

THE SUN, 23 MAY 2014

Hollow Mountain – Thomas Mogford (£11.99). Decent Gibraltar lawyer Spike Sanguinetti is hired by a dodgy salvage company after it discovers a wreck full of treasure and finds he is out of his depth. Intriguing story that benefits from the unusual, rather seedy setting of the Rock. 4/5. Simon Copeland

BOOKLIST, 20 MAY 2014

The first two Spike Sanguinetti novels strayed from the Gibraltarian’s home turf to nearby Tangier and Malta, and while this one has side trips, too (mainly to Italy’s Amalfi Coast), it sticks closer to the Rock, concluding with a gripping set piece inside the fabled Hollow Mountain. Mogford writes full-bodied, multifaceted characters, and he’s no slouch at suspenseful plotting, either, but landscape is his real sweet spot. In telling the story of Sanguinetti’s investigation of his law partner’s assault, and his ongoing search for his vanished girlfriend, Zahra, Mogford imbues the tale with the sights and sounds of Gibraltar, a peninsula bridging two continents and home to a multicultural stew of remarkable richness and resonance. Melancholy continues to shroud the charismatic, brooding Sanguinetti, both in the present and the past, as his investigations lead to the mystery of his mother’s suicide and to some startling revelations about Zahra. Recommend this outstanding series to fans of Jean-Claude Izzo’s Marseilles trilogy, set in a similarly sun-speckled, racially turbulent Mediterranean locale and starring another darkness-engulfed hero. Bill Ott

CRIMEPIECES, 6 MAY 2014

Thomas Mogford is an author that I’ve been meaning to try for a while but other priorities have got in the way. However, carrying out my resolve to move my reading to other parts of Europe, I picked up Hollow Mountain as I was attracted to its Gibraltar location. I’m glad I did because Mogford is a seriously good writer. He manages to combine tense plotting with excellent prose and has produced a book a cut above the ordinary crime thriller. I wish I’d tried his books earlier.

Lawyer Spike Sanguinetti is in Genoa looking for his missing ex-girlfriend who telephones him to say she doesn’t want to be found and that the lives of his family are at risk. Spike is called back to Gibraltar when his partner becomes the victim of a hit and run accident which may have been a result of him being deliberately targeted. Spike picks up his partner’s outstanding cases which include a missing husband and a salvage company looking for silver bullion in a wreck in the Straits. Both cases lead him into violent confrontation with those looking to protect their financial interests.

Gibraltar is a place that I know little about so it was fascinating to read the descriptions of the baking hot landscape with its lacklustre buildings and slightly bored tourists. The perennial conflict with the Spanish border is constantly referred to and adds to both the tension in the book and the sense of a place brought to life. The landscape plays an important role in the narrative and we get glimpses not only of the tourist Gibraltar populated with its Barbary apes but also of the local community struggling to make a decent life in sub-standard housing.

Hollow Mountain is fairly shocking in terms of its depictions of violence but the author has done well to strike a balance between making the brutality graphic without seeming gratuitous. Although I’ve started reading the series with book three, I’ll definitely look out for the earlier novels, given the quality of the prose. Mogford really is an excellent writer and reminds me a little of another talented author, Adrian McKinty.

Thanks to Bloomsbury for my review copy. Sarah Ward

CRIME TIME, 16 APRIL 2014

THE SUNDAY TIMES, 13 APRIL 2014

‘Sign of the Cross’ Reviews

EUROCRIME, 25 MAY 2014

SIGN OF THE CROSS is number two in Thomas Mogford’s series about lawyer Spike Sanguinetti. A third, HOLLOW MOUNTAIN, is also out now.

At CrimeFest 2014 Mogford said that the small size of Spike’s home Gibraltar meant that his adventures had to take him further afield, and in this case he is called out to the other end of the Mediterranean. His Maltese uncle and aunt have died – in a murder-suicide, according to the local authorities. Spike is needed to sort out their affairs.

Malta is vividly realised without the book becoming a tourist guide. Historic and well-preserved in some places, run-down and seedy in others, and above all a tiny community; Spike sees both sides of the island. Its small size is part of the Malta’s greatest problem. It has become notorious as a crossing place between Europe and Africa, and acts as a way-station for thousands of refugees on their way north. After a period in detention they are moved to run-down tent camps elsewhere on the island. They are a massive strain on the resources of a tiny economy and hence unpopular with many of the locals. Equally the refugees make easy pickings for predators.

Spike’s love interest from SHADOW OF THE ROCK, Zahra, is now working as an Arabic-to-English translator for a refugee charity. Through her Spike gets to see conditions in the camps at first-hand.

Meanwhile, he looks into the deaths of his uncle and aunt. David Mifsud, an art historian, had been acting very strangely before his death and there is scant evidence for suicide. It soon looks to Spike as though his uncle’s murder is connected to a deeper mystery. This side of the story brings in the Knights of Saint John, the order of knights which has run Malta since medieval times, and who are represented in the book by the baron who was David Mifsud’s landlord.

With all the ancient chivalric orders and hidden secrets I was slightly worried we were getting into ‘Da Vinci Code’ territory, but this is ultimately a down-to-earth thriller. Spike is a realistic sort of hero. His home life is complicated by caring for an increasingly frail father and the early loss of an alcoholic mother. He’s a bit of a fool when it comes to managing his love life, which makes trouble for those around him. But he is loyal to his friends and tries to do right by them, even if it drags him into danger.

Overall, a taut thriller with a strong sense of place and a conscience: Mogford isn’t afraid to confront the conditions in the refugee camps.

Health warning: there is a graphic scene of murder in chapter one which may offend some readers. You can safely skip it. Rich Westwood

MORNING STAR, 16 MAY 2013

YORKSHIRE POST, 26 APRIL 2013

Sign of the Cross

Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury, £12.99)

Spike Sanguinetti swaps the Gibraltar courtroom for a fast-paced thriller as he bids to prove his art-mad uncle did not kill his wife and then commit suicide.

Sanguinetti, hardly cast in the all-action mould as he trades in his legal brief for the instincts of an amateur detective, struggles to unravel the mystery unfolding on the island of Malta.

Centuries of sieges have turned the former British colony into a land populated by a mix of Europeans and Africans trying to find their own personal salvation.

Thomas Mogford’s second Sanguinetti thriller continues the excellent work of this London-based journalist and writer. As the hero peels back the layers of Malta’s melting pot of a society, he delves further into the complicated world of the Knights of St John, which will leave the reader eagerly anticipating the next instalment.

Expect there to be many more adventures for the lawyer who has an aptitude for sleuthing. Roddy Brooks

MYSTERY SCENE MAGAZINE, SPRING ISSUE, 2013

Sign of the Cross

by Thomas Mogford
Bloomsbury, May 2013, $25.00

Gibraltar-based lawyer Spike Sanguinetti travels back to his homeland of Malta for the funeral of his uncle and aunt, David and Theresa. The two were involved in an ugly domestic dispute that escalated to a ghastly murder and suicide—or so the police believe. Spike isn’t so sure and starts his own investigation. The couple did not have a history of violence. Would an art historian just snap and brutally cut his wife’s throat? The police think that Theresa was having an affair and David’s jealousy led to murder. But many of Theresa’s friends don’t buy it, either, since she openly showed her devotion and love for her husband. Spike snoops around, discovering that the real killer may be connected to Theresa’s job working as a refugee aid worker. As Spike delves into the mystery, a woman from the refugee camp goes missing, as does someone else close to Spike, confirming his belief that he’s on the right track and that the police are covering something up.

Mogford’s second novel featuring his crime-solving attorney grips readers’ attention with the opening murder. The scene is ugly and vicious, destroying any notion we may have that this will be a fun romp through two inviting Mediterranean countries. Mogford does a great job of describing the locales, but the setting resonates because it feels truthful and free of romanticization, giving readers a glimpse into local life beyond a superficial travelogue. Though the book is briskly paced and thrilling, it doesn’t come at the expense of depth. Mogford packs the story with plenty of historical asides, but thankfully not in a manner that takes away from the central plot. Although he’s not a detective, Spike makes for an intriguing protagonist. Despite his reluctance to enter the fray as a detective, he feels honor-bound to do so and is tenacious enough in the face of danger to pursue a path toward the truth. Readers should greatly anticipate the next installment in this series. —Derek Hill

CRIME TIME, 9 APRIL 2013

Spike Sanguinetti has received some shocking news. His uncle and aunt have been found dead at their home in Malta. The Gibraltar based lawyer is called upon to travel to Malta for their funerals and to execute their wills. Upon arrival he finds the circumstances around the deaths to be far from clear. According to the Maltese police force it was the result of a domestic dispute that spiralled out of control with his uncle stabbing his wife before killing himself. However, Spike is far from convinced. Nothing in the background of the mild-mannered art historian David Mifsud suggests a propensity for the violence involved in the case.

Spike enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend Zahra in finding out more about the lives of his Aunt and Uncle. Zahra works for the same charity that Teresa worked for helping economic migrants and refugees from the effects of The Arab Spring. Gathered in filthy gated camps on the island, Spike finds their living conditions shocking and disturbing. Spike’s investigations lead him from the seedy underbelly of Maltese society to the crumbling grandeur of its capital Valletta and the legendary order of the Knights of St John of Malta. Before long Spike is involved in a search for a lost masterpiece by the artist Caravaggio that brings him into contact with the Maltese criminal underworld.

Sign of the Cross is the second in the Spike Sanguinetti series by author Thomas Mogford and follows on from the events of Shadow of the Rock. Mogford’s evocations of the atmosphere, language, architecture and landscapes of the Maltese archipelago are rich and detailed and create a memorable backdrop to his crime narrative. Delving into the disturbing world of people trafficking Mogford fuses a compelling and exciting plot with a detailed and enthusiastic study of Maltese history. Indeed it is Maltese history that is at the real heart of the story and Mogford does a fine job of exploring it. An absorbing crime thriller in a fascinating setting, surely Dashiell Hammett would have approved. Giles Morgan

 BOOKLIST – APRIL 2013

Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof

Sign of the Cross.

Mogford, Thomas (Author)

May 2013. 240 p. Bloomsbury, hardcover, $25.00. (9781620402009).

Lawyer and reluctant sleuth Spike Sanguinetti returns (following Shadow of the Rock, 2012) in this second installment in Mogford’s captivating series set in Gibraltar. This time Spike leaves the Rock with his aging father to attend the funerals of his aunt and uncle in Malta. The violent death of his relatives—his uncle apparently stabbed his wife before turning the knife on himself—doesn’t sit well with Spike, who decides to nose around a little before doing his job of executor of the wills. His nosing prompts a reunion with former girlfriend Zahra, who is working as a translator in Malta’s immigration camps, but just as suddenly as Zahra reappears in Spike’s life, she disappears again. Setting is clearly Mogford’s trump card, and he does for Malta in this episode what he did for both Gibraltar and Tangier in the first book, contrasting old and new worlds while forcing his characters to walk the delicate fault line between the two. Spike Sanguinetti is a younger, sexier, unmarried but still sensitive version of Donna Leon’s Guido Brunetti, and his adventures may eventually attract a Leon-size audience. — Bill Ott

SHOTS MAG – APRIL 2013

Although he’s a lawyer rather than a private eye, Gibraltar-based Spike Sanguinetti certainly acts like one. The only problem with being based on the Rock of Gibraltar is that it’s rather small so the number of cases he can get involved in must be limited and his first outing last year took place mostly in Morocco just across the water.

In his second case, Sign of the Cross, from Bloomsbury, Thomas Mogford sends Sanguinetti to Malta, another British outpost of an island halfway across the Mediterranean, to investigate the very suspicious deaths of his aunt and art historian uncle, their deaths forming a very brutal prologue to the book. Some of the bitchy dialogue comparing the two islands is absolutely priceless and Mogford shows a sharp eye for descriptive detail.

I was impressed with Mogford’s debut, Shadow of the Rock last year and I think Sign of the Cross is even better, enhancing Spike Sanguinetti’s reputation as a resourceful and likeable hero, despite being a lawyer. If his adventures continue their island-hopping progress (where next – Cyprus?) hanging on to Spike’s coat-tails will be almost as much fun as a Mediterranean cruise without the downside of seasickness or that awful couple from Birmingham who always insist on joining one at the Captain’s table. Mike Ripley

LIBRARY JOURNAL – 1 MARCH 2013

Starred Review

Once again, Gibraltarian attorney Spike Sanguinetti confronts unwanted violence in his personal life, when his aunt and uncle die in their Malta home, apparently from a murder/suicide. Spike senses this is homicide and sets out to prove it. Readers know that the killer is looking for a valuable painting, but Spike must trace his uncle’s last days before he can make that connection. Along the way, he reconnects with his former lover, Moroccan refugee Zahra, and she opens doors for him in the Maltese community. Trouble is, the killer keeps pace with Spike and Zahra, and he has no compunction about taking more lives. By the time Spike realizes that human trafficking is part of the equation, Zahra is missing.

VERDICT: Starting with a tortuous opening and rarely letting up, Mogford’s superbly plotted thriller (after Shadow of the Rock) is just as riveting as his debut. Hang on for twists, layers of deception, and unexpected betrayals. Partner with Conor Fitzgerald (art and organized crime) and Harry Bingham (human trafficking).

KIRKUS REVIEWS – 15 FEBRUARY 2013

In the second novel of his series (Shadow of the Rock, 2012), Mogford sets up his unconventional hero for a third volume in the violent world of Gibraltar-based attorney Spike Sanguinetti.

Spike, whose family originally hails from Malta, returns there with his aging father, Rufus, when his father’s brother, David, and his beloved wife, Teresa, are found dead, victims of what police say is a murder-suicide. But Spike and his dad know that something is wrong. David loved his kind, beautiful wife, and their late-in-life marriage had been a source of great joy to both of them. Police believe David, an art expert, cut Teresa’s throat after discovering she had a lover. But those who knew Teresa, a generous woman who worked for a nonprofit refugee relief agency, say that the only love outside of David that Teresa possessed was her dedication to the agency’s clients. Slowly, Spike begins to realize that David and Teresa fell victim to something much more sinister than a love triangle. And when young women, including one from Teresa’s camp and another from Spike’s past, also disappear, Spike joins forces with family friends who are also quasi-celebrities on Malta and starts questioning the investigation. Soon, he is thrust into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that he neither prepared for nor understands. Mogford opens with a graphic homicide, and while his writing is atmospheric and evocative of the exotic locales his characters occupy, his prose tends to come off as dark and brutal. Romantic souls who want to escape for a few hours to Malta, or in a lesser capacity, Gibraltar, will learn plenty about their histories and customs, but there’s nothing pretty about either the settings or the characters they’ll meet along the way.

The author overuses changes in tense as a literary device, throwing in the requisite ho-hum evil conspiracy or two, but the cons don’t outweigh the pros in this hard-hitting, no-holds-barred novel that will leave readers panting for the next installment.

‘Shadow of the Rock’ Reviews

ARAB SPRING NEWS – September 14th 2014

Shadow of the Rock is the first in Thomas Mogford’s crime series featuring lawyer Spike Sanguinetti.  Spike lives on “the Rock,” i.e. Gibraltar with all its diversity of ethnicities (English, Spanish, Arabic) and associated issues.

 When Solomon Hassan, an old friend, desperately turns to Spike for help, he must listen.  Solomon has been accused of murdering a Spanish heiress in Tangier and escaping to Gibraltar.  He swears he’s innocent and begs Spike to take his case and prevent extradition back to Morocco.  The death penalty there is execution.

 What Spike learns is that the case is not so simple.  It will involve a renewable-energy company and its plans for solar-power in the Sahara.  In Morocco, the more Spike investigates (while the local police can’t be bothered) the more dangerous it becomes.  Deep in the desert, Spike is even subjected to a primitive Bedouin truth-telling test.

 Just when you think you’ve figured out “who done it,” some new wrinkle appears until, finally, the plot is revealed. . . or is it?  You will be shocked by the last twist in this thriller.

 Thomas Mogford has written two more in this series so look for them in future reviews.  I can hardly wait for more by this terrific mystery writer. Brenda Repland

THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE – August 2013

Summer Crime — Paperbacks

Word-of-mouth approval for any new title is something that publishers desperately seek, but are unable to guarantee. Bloomsbury, however, must be rubbing their hands when the phenomenon kicked in resoundingly with Thomas Mogford’s Shadow of the Rock, which arrives festooned with praise from the likes of William Boyd. Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti comes home to discover old friend Solomon Hassan on his doorstep. The latter is on the run from the police, after being accused of a savage killing in Tangiers. The Moroccan authorities want to extradite him, and Spike agrees to travel to Tangiers to delay his extradition… which is how Spike’s troubles really begin. This is an economically written thriller that delivers on every level.

MANLY DAILY, NEW SOUTH WALES – December 14th 2012

CULTURE PUTS BEAUTY INTO MOROCCAN MURDER TALE

Mogford’s Spike Sanguinetti is a wonderful protagonist in Gibraltar and as a tax lawyer is unenthusiastic about investigating murder and intrigue. However, his old school pal Solomon Hassan is in deep trouble fleeing from Morocco, where a young girl was found with her throat cut on a beach. He thinks his pal may be a little sleazy but not a murderer, so he catches the ferry to Tangier. Fantastic location and cultures make this a really good thriller. Mogford uses the divide between the poorest Bedouins and wealthy developers with effect. Rating: **** Maryan Hefferman

THE SPECTATOR – 24 November 2012

Books of the Year 2012

[An] excellent thriller … by [a] rising star … ‘Shadow of the Rock’, the first book by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury, £12.99), is partly set on Gibraltar. It’s exciting and assured — with a hero wonderfully called Spike Sanguinetti… Popular fiction at its best. Susan Hill

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION – Nightlife Book Review, 1st November 2012

Shadow of the Rock
by Thomas Mogford

Mogford read Modern Languages at Oxford University and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in law from City University in London. He also works as a translator and journalist on the UEFA Champions League. He lives with his young family in London and this is his first crime novel.

While following the writer Susan Hill on twitter a while ago the author wrote enthusiastically about Thomas Mogford’s debut thriller – naturally, I had to read it. And it is superb. A new fictional crime hero, Somerset ‘Spike’ Sanguinetti is a tax lawyer dividing his time between Spain, Gibraltar and Tangiers, Morocco. Spike is of Genoese extraction, and fluent in the patois (a combination of Spanish, French, Arabic and Hebrew).

Late one night an old school friend Solomon Hassan, a Sephardic jew turns up on Sanguinetti’s doorstep. He has crossed the straits from Tangiers, claiming that he is wanted for the murder of a rich industrialist’s daughter.

What follows is a cat and mouse game between Gibraltar, Tangiers and a remote Bedouin village in the Sahara Desert. We are not reading about the exotic Tangiers. In this engrossing novel we see the seedier underbelly, especially the slums of ‘Chinatown’ where sinister characters play a dangerous game of secrets, with corruption and lies. Spike also finds love with the mysterious Bedouin girl, Zahra.

An intriguing read, cross-referencing snippets about race, religion, languages and culture, geography and history in Gibraltar and Morocco. And yes, the apes on The Rock, of course.

It is a terrific read, highly intelligent and unputdownable.

Next year, Mogford will publish the sequel ‘Sign of the Cross’. Clare Calvet

Publisher Bloomsbury
Dist Allen & Unwin
Trade paperback
pages 260
$ 32.99

ALFRED HITCHCOCK MYSTERY MAGAZINE – November Issue, 2012

Shadow of the Rock (Bloomsbury, $25), Thomas Mogford’s debut novel, features Gibraltar lawyer Spike Sanguinetti, a tax specialist, taking on a totally different problem when an old friend, Solomon Hassan, is accused of murder in Tangiers. Shadow of the Rock doesn’t feature a lawman swimming against the tide of corruption but rather lawyer who has no experience with criminal law reluctantly becoming involved with a murder case.

Hassan tells Spike that he was seen drinking and arguing with a girl at a Tangier beach bar shortly before she was murdered and left lying on the deserted beach. The girl was his boss’s step-daughter. When Hassan learned that he would be arrested he grabbed his passport and managed to flee from Tangiers to Gibraltar.

Spike agrees to help Hassan only if he agrees to surrender his passport and turn himself in to Gibraltar authorities. Spike then agrees to represent Hassan to try to prevent his extradition to Tangiers—a decision that leads Spike to visit Tangiers and Hassan’s employer, Dunetech.

It doesn’t take long for Spike to realize that Hassan has omitted telling him a great many details about his relations with the murdered woman, Esperanza. Dunetech officials Nadeer Ziyad and security head Toby Riddell offer little help but explain Hassan’s role in the eco-friendly company promising to bring solar energy and new wealth to the entire country.

Spike encounters a disorienting blend of blandishments and cooperation from Dunetech and government officials alike, while at the same time his attempts to learn more about Hassan and Esperanza’s last night in Tangiers leads only to dead alleys. A trip to the Sundowner Club, for instance, the bar where Hassan and Esperanza argued, in turn leads Spike to a beautiful Bedouin woman named Zahra that prompts an attempt to kill one or both of them.

Spike is forced into a world of intrigue where much more than his client’s guilt or innocence is at stake, and he must quickly learn how to survive while surrounded by desert sharks in Mogford’s very promising debut. Robert C. Hahn

THE COURIER MAIL (AUSTRALIA) – 27 October 2012

SHADOW OF THE ROCK

Thomas Mogford

Bloomsbury $29.99

LET me introduce you to Thomas Mogford and Spike Sanguinetti. They are both interesting characters, and I’m sure you’ll wish to make their acquaintance.

Mogford is one of those Brits who seems to have packed quite a bit into his short life, leading to early attempts at short fiction in a variety of magazines, then a semi-final spot in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Which all lead to the literary existence of Spike Sanguinetti.

Life as a lawyer in Gibraltar is very busy, if a little unfulfilling. There is always money to be made from clients wanting to take advantage of The Rock’s protected tax status, not to mention the geographic proximity to both Africa and Europe. Spike is a man who is acutely aware of all those invisible lines that can’t be crossed – until one night when he is approached by an old friend who wants to hire him for a different sort of business.

Solomon Hassan is a Sephardic Jew on the run from authorities in Tangiers, just over the Straits, accused of murdering a young Spanish woman. Spike catches the ferry across to check things out as a favour to his friend, and finds more than he bargains for – love, death, corruption and secrets.

Mogford has the ability to give a real sense of place to this exotic locale, which is at least as essential as the wonderfully drawn characters. Already looking forward to the next Spike Sanguinetti tale. VERDICT: GREAT DEBUT OF NEW WRITER, CHARACTER AND LOCALE. Ian Barry

THE OXFORD TIMES – 10th October 2012

Thomas Mogford’s… excellent new novel Shadow of the Rock (Bloomsbury, £12.99), is the first in a planned series featuring Gibraltar-based sleuth Spike Sanguinetti. On a Greek holiday… the gripping adventure proved ideal reading on my first few days in the sunshine. Christopher Gray

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW – October Issue, 2012

Shadow of the Rock
Thomas Mogford
Walker & Company
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
9780802779991, $25.00, www.walkerbooks.com

For a friend, one has to dig through the sands of the Sahara, and the heavy corruption of the people who live in it. “Shadow of the Rock” is a contemporary thriller from Thomas Mogford, follows Lawyer Spike Sanguinetti as he tries to aid his old friend Solomon Hassan through his accusations of murder, trying to stop an extradition. Working with a company called Dunetech to pass a deal, he finds there are few people to trust as he works with the company and finds he doesn’t like what he sees. “Shadow of the Rock” is a must for those seeking a modern thriller that evokes the cities of Northern Africa well, highly recommended.

LITERARY REVIEW – September Issue, 2012

And don’t miss:

‘Shadow of the Rock’  by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury 272pp £12.99)

A good start to a promised series featuring Spike Sanguinetti, a Gibraltarian lawyer. He crosses to Tangiers hunting evidence to prevent the extradition of an old friend who is on the run, suspected of murder. Spike gets involved in Moroccan big business and politics, meets a beautiful Bedouin girl, undergoes the almost obligatory torture, and doggedly solves the case. Jessica Mann

BOOKPAGE – 14 August 2012

Grab your geography book and ’fess up that you don’t really know that much about the British colony of Gibraltar, or about the current politics between “The Rock” and its contiguous country, Spain. But Thomas Mogford’s debut crime novel, Shadow of the Rock, sets us straight on all things Gibraltar as he introduces Spike Sanguinetti, a Gibraltarian tax attorney and amateur detective with a strong taste for finding out the truth of a matter.

The attorney’s story takes one exotic turn after another as he travels to the Moroccan city of Tangier, just nine miles away across the Strait of Gibraltar. He’s looking for answers—and a murderer—as his old friend Solomon Hassan sits in a Gibraltar jail, accused of cutting the throat of a Spanish woman, stepdaughter of one of his employers in Tangier. Hassan, presumed guilty, has escaped to Gibraltar, and the authorities in Tangier want him back to stand trial.

Spike seeks information in Tangier from Hassan’s employers at the mysterious but high-flying renewable energy company Dunetech, poised to extend its multi-national control with an enormous solar energy site under construction in the Sahara. The attorney sets out to untangle the web of deceit and corruption at the energy giant. He also traverses the bars and back alleys of the famous Moroccan city, and travels into the desert with a young Bedouin girl, where he encounters the gleaming solar array, not to mention the ancient Bedouin tradition of Bisha’a (a painful lie detection ritual)—to his extreme discomfort.

Mogford assigns a starring role to the politics and locations of this romantic and captivating region, where the exotic locales are the stuff of old Bogart movies. This tightly written, highly readable story needs no car chases or special effects to lure readers into an all-night read. There’s an appealing cast of characters: Dunetech high mucky-mucks Nadeer Ziyad and Ángel Castillo; robed and turbaned Bedouins; a corrupt Tangier bar owner; and Spike’s inventive hotel neighbor, Jean-Baptiste, with his exquisite knowledge of the highways and backways of Tangier. The intriguing chemistry between Spike and a police officer named Jessica will assure her return in upcoming sequels.

Spike will turn your head in this engrossing new series. Attractively, he seems to be free of the quick-comeback, wise-cracking demeanor that mars so many of today’s fast-track detectives. A follow-up novel, The Sign of the Cross, is in the works. Barbara Clark

THE TIMES – 11 August 2012

Thomas Mogford’s Shadow of the Rock is in fact set almost exclusively in Tangier, rather than the Gibraltar that gives the book its title. It all makes it ideal, if rather disturbing, reading if you’re holidaying in Morocco. His hero, the lawyer Spike Sanguinetti, owes his appeal, however, to his well-defined identity as a Gibraltarian of ancient Genoese extraction fluent in the patois and cosmopolitan customs of the mixed-race inhabitants of the controversial colony. When his old school chum Solomon Hassan, another classic Gibraltarian blend of Jewish and North African blood, turns up in his office fleeing accusations of murdering a well-connected Spanish girl on a Tangier beach, Sanguinetti feels obliged to help. His investigations lead him to a Moroccan strip club and an exotic Bedouin girl whose father disappeared after arguing with an international conglomerate building mammoth solar power plants in the desert. Sanguinetti soon comes to doubt whom he can trust in a corrupt and distrustful world of tribal customs, double-dealing and casual violence in the exotic setting of the most worldly city in the Maghreb. Evocative, engrossing and entertaining. Peter Millar

SHOTS MAG – August 2012

Debut of the Month – Shadow of the Rock: A Spike Sanguinetti Novel

Starred Review

Mogford, Thomas. Walker. Aug.2012. c.272p. ISBN 9780802779991. $25.

Gibraltar tax attorney Spike Sanguinetti agrees to help childhood schoolmate Solomon Hassan fight extradition to Morocco when Solomon is accused of murdering his boss’s stepdaughter, Esperanza, in Tangiers. Being Jewish, Solomon fled the country because he is convinced the Moroccans will happily convict him. Spike travels to Tangiers, where he finds the authorities less than cooperative and Solomon’s employer, a solar power company called Dunetech, most sinister. After a harrowing night, Spike tracks down Zahra, a Bedouin woman who knew Esperanza and suspects Dunetech had something to do with her death since the company covets the Bedouin lands. Spike manages to find enough allies to save his life, and along the way, he achieves some justice for those who need it most. VERDICT: Guns, grit, and torture: this breathtaking debut runs through the shifting sands with aplomb. Mogford’s exotic locales, gorgeous prose, and closing twist make this debut a showstopper. Teresa L. Jacobsen

BOOKLIST – July 2012

Shadow of the Rock.

‘Sleeping Dogs’ Reviews

EURO CRIME – 12th October 2015

Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Mogford, April 2015, 256 pages, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN: 1408846616

The city of Saranda curved around its amphitheatre-shaped bay. The concrete blur only hazily visible from Corfu now resolved into Soviet-era tower blocks, a low port complex, a few stunted palm trees embedded along the sandy beach.

Kavos, Corfu.
The girl thrusts her things into a bag and nervously checks the window. This is when the door to her room bursts open

Gibraltar.
With his law partner, Peter Galliano, on long-term sick leave and the firm struggling financially, lawyer Spike Sanguinetti sits in the psychiatrist’s office reluctant to discuss his insomnia and panic attacks. He doesn’t even manage the allotted hour. As he leaves, the therapist reminds him that his problems won’t just “go away”. At home that night, babysitting the young, grieving son of his dead lover, he finds his elderly father rocking the boy on his lap, soothing his night terrors.

Corfu.
By way of a much needed break, Spike’s father has insisted on their going ahead with their pre-arranged stay with Peter Galliano at his home on Corfu’s northern coast. Their friendly driver names the villa-owning billionaires of the region, not least the media mogul Sir Leo Hoffmann whose estate borders Peter’s home. A warm greeting and an idyllic evening drink on Peter’s terrace is interrupted by the arrival of Spike’s ex-girlfriend, Gibraltar Police detective Jessica Navarro, another of his father’s surprises and a jolt for them both. Their awkwardness eases over the meal cooked by Katarina, Peter’s housekeeper. The view of the Albanian coast across the Corfu Channel prompts Katarina to describe how her husband swam across the channel to escape that country’s Communist regime. They met, married, and had two sons, but her husband died ten years ago and is buried back in Albania. Towards the end of the evening Peter tells them that everyone has been invited to the Phaeacian Games on the Hoffmann estate tomorrow, a celebration inspired by Sir Leo’s passion for Ancient Greek history and archaeology. Spike decides on another bottle of wine and in the kitchen interrupts an irritable quarrel between Katarina’s son Lakis and Arben, the handsome young Albanian who accompanied Jessica to the house tonight. Arben comments on Spike’s blue eyes, an evil omen in his native Albania …

Sometimes you just want to plunge head first into a short, sharp thriller; one that keeps your attention from start to finish and – if you share my taste for crime in faraway places – paints a vivid picture of its setting and characters. This is just what Thomas Mogford, ex-journalist and translator, provides in SLEEPING DOGS. His fourth Spike Sanguinetti novel sees Gibraltarian lawyer Spike, burnt out and broke, holidaying with his law partner Peter in Corfu. During a grand soiree at the neighbouring villa, celebrating the archaeological finds of its owner billionaire media mogul Sir Leo Hoffmann, more than the statues of the title’s Sleeping Dogs are revealed in the caves below; the dead body of a young Albanian leads to the arrest of another young man for murder. Spike is called in to provide legal help and the story escalates into the pursuit of a missing witness and the murderous terror of vendetta.

This Corfu-set episode stands up to reading without “prior knowledge” of the previous three Sanguinetti books. Its short, sharp chapters pick up increasing pace as the story weaves between the terrified flight of a young woman from Corfu to her native Albania and Spike and Jessica’s attempts to find the real killer of a murdered man. With a peppery mix of young and old, the mega-rich and the working locals, and the contrasts of Corfu and Albania, this is a well constructed, entertaining and accessible thriller. Lynn Harvey

SHELF AWARENESS – 17th July 2015

Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti, plagued by nightmares after the death of his lover, decides to visit his friend and law partner Peter Galliano, who is recuperating from a hit-and-run at his family’s vacation home on Corfu. To Spike’s surprise and initial discomfort, Peter has also invited Spike’s former flame Jessica Navarro, who was recently promoted to detective sergeant in the Gibraltarian police.

For Spike and Jessica, Corfu loses its idyllic aura when the body of an Albanian man is found on the Hoffmann estate, next door to Peter’s house. When one of Peter’s employees is arrested for the murder, he begs Spike to represent Lakis pro bono. Spike, unable to resist the plea of his injured friend, takes on Lakis’s case, in spite of pressure from the wealthy Hoffmann family to hurry matters along.

As Spike and Jessica dig into the events surrounding the murder, they discover that beneath the cheerful, quotidian Greek culture are family vendettas and political corruption. As the clues lead them across Corfu and into Albania, Spike and Jessica end up putting their own lives on the line in their quest for truth.

Dividing its time among several unusual mystery settings–Gibraltar, Corfu and Albania–Sleeping Dogs makes for a captivating Mediterranean read. In exploring the dark legacy of Albanian Communism, Corfu’s turbulent history and Spike’s own tortured memories, Thomas Mogford (Hollow Mountain) has created a deliciously atmospheric novel that belies its bright and sunny settings. Jessica Howard

Discover: Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti is on vacation in Corfu, but murder seems to follow him wherever he goes.

Bloomsbury, $26

CRIME REVIEW – 20 June 2015

Spike Sanguinetti takes a holiday in Corfu but finds himself involved in a murder, followed by a very dangerous trip to Albania.

Lawyer Spike Sanguinetti has had three previous adventures, all of which played out with substantial periods in his home of Gibraltar. In his latest outing he is exclusively in Corfu for a much-needed break, at the holiday home of Peter Galliano, Spike’s legal partner. Keeping him company is his ailing father Rufus, and Jessica Navarro, a beautiful policewoman.

The group visits the adjoining luxurious Hoffman estate for a party, which breaks up in disarray when a young man, Arben, is found stabbed, dead. Arben is working for the Hoffmans and is from nearby Albania, as are Peter’s domestic staff, Katerina and her sons Lakis and Spiros. Peter and his guests are stunned when Lakis is arrested the next day for Arben’s murder, his fingerprints on the weapon discovered in his room.

Spike is roped in to help, and Lakis tells him of a witness, Calypso, who can establish an alibi. Spike and Jessica find where she has been living but the girl has gone, leaving signs of a struggle. Soon after, Lakis is gunned down while being moved, revenge by Arben’s family and a matter of vendetta. This can extend to Spiros too when he becomes of age, unless Spike can find Calypso and have her convince Arben’s family that Lakis was not the culprit.

As with previous books in the series, Sleeping Dogs is full of varied characters. Some of these we have met before, although we find out more about Rufus and Peter, and Jessica has been elevated from an old flame to Spike’s current romantic interest. The Hoffmans are briskly sketched out as a super-rich dynasty with plenty of internal strife, and Katerina and family as sympathetic but vulnerable.

The series has hitherto always featured interesting locations: here we get a taste of Corfu and Albania, to the uninformed surprisingly close. Albania is not necessarily an agreeable holiday destination, but provides a very challenging environment for the protagonists to demonstrate their mettle, especially where they find it necessary to visit a village devoted to the production of cannabis, where the locals are very serious people.

The book is densely plotted and with plenty of action and short chapters to propel the reader on. Spike and Jessica do all you could expect of your lead characters, but have no special skills except for quick minds and a preparedness to do the right thing. Despite the stress which inspired the Corfu trip, Spike shows signs of adopting a more ordered life. Whether he will be able to settle and still provide the thrills we have come to expect of him will be interesting to see. Chris Roberts

SHOTS MAG – 14 June 2015

Sleeping Dogs is a popular title for novels, if not a standout one (this is the second book Shots has reviewed with this title in less than a year). Good title or not, this Sleeping Dogs gets a big Shots Woof! Woof, woof, woof.

The fourth installment in the Spike Sanguinetti Gibraltar-set series, this one allows our fearless lawyer to travel to several southern European destinations (with a population of 30,000, Gibraltar could become Midsomer-level dangerous if all the books took place there). In this instance, Sanguinetti finds himself detecting and holidaying in Corfu. Dastardly deeds in a beautiful setting has been done, oh a few zillion times at least, but this one sticks in the mind.

Brevity and precision are Mogford’s strong suits. Sleeping Dogs, at a trim 238 pages, tells its story with clarity and detail, there is no padding or fluff. And this befits Sanguinetti, a driven lawyer who lives with his father on the Rock, where old girlfriends dead and living haunt his days and financial troubles nip at his heels. In Sleeping Dogs, he takes a holiday with his father and yes, ex-lover Jessica Navarro, near the palatial manse of Leo Hoffmann, a Rupert Murdoch-style media magnate. On arrival, Spike is struck by the friendly relations between upstairs and downstairs, the zillionaires mingling easily with the local staff.

Maybe not so friendly, he learns, when the body of Albanian factotum Arben Avdia is discovered not far from the setting of a huge Hoffmann bash. Not long afterwards, Lakis Demollari, a driver for the Hoffmanns, is also killed. As Spike and Jessica work to uncover the truth behind the young man’s death, they discover a Brit-Albanian-Greek melting pot not nearly as harmonious as it seems. The febrile atmosphere is heightened by master and servant disparities, ethnic tensions and the availability and usage of recreational drugs.

Linking up with Jessica (in more ways than one), Spike ploughs along a trail of drug dealing and people smuggling to nail Arben’s and Lakis’s real murderer. The recounting of their quest is interspersed with elements of a story told by a woman called Calypso.

The story is a pertinent one, taking on some of the major ironies of the 28-member European Union. Commenting on the poor quality of Corfu’s toilet flushes, one character quips that “no country should get to stay in the EU if their plumbing cannot handle some s**y Andrex.” That line sums up the mish-mash Spike confronts – nationals who must work together but don’t always understand one another’s customs or quirks.

The beauty of Sleeping Dogs is the detail Mogford uses to provide believability. His novels are unique in that people eat and he tells us what they eat (my tummy rumbled more than once at the descriptions of delicious Greek meals). He zeroes in on Spike’s struggles with tobacco addiction, including vaping (again, familiar territory for this reviewer). He talks about the weather, describes pubs and bars, shares Spike’s aches and pains. This is cinema vérité in book form , specific and modern with little superfluous description. Likewise, short chapters allow the story to sprint along and the reader to keep pace over the short time frame of the murders and investigations.

I’ve read two of these books and feel I know Spike and like him. I’m rooting for him to fall in love with a good woman (ha!), to overcome his physical pains and achieve financial success. I’m not hopeful all this will come about but I am keen to read the next book in the series. Judith Sullivan

CRIMEPIECES – 7 May 2015

Thomas Mogford is another of my favourite crime writers. Hollow Mountain was in my top five reads last year and he continues to write high quality crime fiction. For his latest book, Sleeping Dogs, he takes his Gibraltarian lawyer/detective to Corfu. It’s a nice change of scenery for the series and, given that I read it in Greece, a perfect holiday read.

Spike Sanguinetti is advised by a therapist to go on holiday to help eradicate some of the demons that have been tormenting him. He chooses to visit the house of his business partner on the wealthy north coast of Corfu. But his holiday is overshadowed by the death of the handsome Greek/Albanian Arben on the neighbouring estate owned by the wealthy Hoffmann family. When the son of his host’s housekeeper is arrested for Arben’s murder, Spike reluctantly agrees to investigate the case. However lives are put at risk as domestic secrets and dynastic feuds ignite.

I’ve always been impressed by the evocation of the Gibraltar setting in Mogford’s books. It feels genuine even though I’ve never been to that part of the world. So it was interesting to read one of his narratives set somewhere I am familiar with: a Greek island. Mogford puts enough language and local flavour into descriptions of the place to bring alive the setting without it dominating the plot.

In Sleeping Dogs, as well as investigating the killing of Arben, there’s a focus on Spike’s domestic arrangements. This is first seen through his relationship with Charlie, the child he rescued in the previous book, Hollow Mountain, and then in Corfu as he attempts to resurrect his relationship with his childhood girlfriend Jessica.

The quality of Mogford’s writing once more shines through and he makes storytelling look effortless. Which I’m pretty sure isn’t the case. Once more Bloomsbury have produced a writer of quality crime fiction. Sarah Ward

LITERARY REVIEW – May 2015

In his fourth adventure, the Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti goes on holiday to one of the world’s most beautiful (and my own favourite) places – the corner of northeast Corfu sometimes called ‘South Kensington on Sea’. The British have competition these days, in particular from Russian visitors, and it is not as easy as it used to be for rich holiday-makers to ignore the difficult circumstances in which the locals, mostly Greek but also Albanians from across the narrow strait, are living. Sanguinetti and his companions – his father, his partner in a two-man law firm and his about-to-be girlfriend – get involved when the son of their host’s Albanian housekeeper is accused of murder. The story is solidly credible, but it is the setting that is most enjoyable, vividly realised and full of reminders that the olive-clad land and the translucent sea have been the scene of battles and crimes, and will be again. Jessica Mann

BOOKLIST – May 2015

Mogford’s fine series, set in Gibraltar and starring lawyer Spike Sanguinetti, alternates between adventures taking place on the Rock itself—a spectacular setting for crime fiction, both for its insular nature and for its amalgam of African and European influences—and in various, nearly as atmospheric Mediterranean settings nearby. This time it‘s Corfu, where the ever-brooding Sanguinetti, still bemoaning the tragedy he failed to prevent in Hollow Mountain (2014), repairs with his ex-girlfriend, policewoman Jessica Navarro, for a little R&R. Both Rs prove in short supply, as they become involved with amateur archaeologist Leo Hoffmann and are thrust into another murder investigation, this time of a young Albanian killed on Hoffmann’s property. It’s easy to say that novels set in stunning locales project vivid senses of place, but Mogford goes further than that: he uses his settings for not only their beauty and atmosphere but also the multicultural richness they support in the characters and the plot. This series belongs on the reading lists of everyone who cares about international crime fiction, especially those willing to leave the chill of Scandinavia every now and then.— Bill Ott

SUNDAY EXPRESS – 26rd April 2015

The Best Crime Books April 2015

Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury, £12.99)

Mogford’s books featuring Spike Sanguinetti, a lawyer-cum-detective living in Gibraltar, comprise one of the most enjoyable crime series of recent years.

For Spike’s fourth adventure, the criminal possibilities of “a rock the size of Hyde Park” have clearly been exhausted and so he is off on holiday to an area of Corfu so full of well-heeled Brits it’s been christened Kensington-on-Sea. And the unexpected arrival of his ex-girlfriend is not the worst thing Spike has to contend with when a corpse inevitably turns up to spoil the idyllic surroundings. Jake Kerridge

BOOK OXYGEN – 23rd April 2015

Thomas Mogford is another writer with an interesting take on men and their search for love.  His detective is Spike Sanguinetti, a Gibraltarian lawyer, who was introduced to the public in Shadow of the Rock.  Unmarried, with tragic love affairs behind him, responsibility for an increasingly demented father and an orphaned boy, Sanguinetti is a highly attractive character.  In Sleeping Dogs he and his father are taking a holiday with his business partner in Corfu, and the novel is full of ravishing views, delectable food and punishing retsina.  The action takes Spike and his latest love interest over to the Albanian mainland, where organized crime and tribal vendetta ratchet up the narrative tension.  Intelligently written and witty, Sleeping Dogs would be perfect reading on a terrace above the Ionian sea, surrounded by the scent of wild thyme, and with a dewy glass of ice-cold fizz at your side. N.J. Cooper

THE OXFORD TIMES – 23rd April 2015

Thomas Mogford is known for a successful series of novels featuring the Gibraltar-based lawyer and sleuth Spike Sanguinetti (his name reflecting the Genoese background of many on the Rock).

The books are notable for taut action described in fluent, polished prose, with a vivid sense of place and shrewd psychological observation, particularly where the love life of the strapping, blue-eyed thirty-something hero is concerned.

Sleeping Dogs (Bloomsbury, £12.99) is the fourth in the series and, in my view, the best to date. In it, Spike continues his fictional odyssey that has ranged from Gibraltar through Tangier, Malta, Genoa and now to Corfu.

Amid the olive groves and sandy beaches of the holiday island – specifically those of the north-east corner where mighty magnates dwell –, Spike becomes involved in a murder case that brings bloody repercussions with the mafia drug barons of neighbouring Albania.

As one familiar with the places described, in Corfu at least, I read with admiration a fine evocation of the scenery I first encountered in 1973, so very different then in the case of tourist hells like Ipsos and Kavos.

That my reading was being done in Greece, on an island some way distant from the Ionian group, brought added enjoyment.

Thomas excels when he moves to the subject of food. And so, appetite whetted by what he says of the varied appetisers, the rich stews, the sticky puddings, I was lucky enough to go straight out to eat some. Christopher Gray

KIRKUS REVIEWS – 16th April 2015

CFL Rating: 5 Stars

Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti is back for a fourth book in this series by Thomas Mogford. Following the violent events of the previous book, Hollow Mountain, Spike is in Corfu to meet up with his legal partner Peter Galliano. He’s taken his curmudgeonly father Rufus and his sometimes girlfriend detective Jessica Navarro with him.

The serenity they’re enjoying at a beautiful location on the north-east coast of the island is soon disrupted by a murder on the adjacent estate of millionaire Sir Leo Hoffman. With a local man falsely accused of the crime, Spike unwittingly becomes involved in a case hinging on the testimony of an elusive Albanian girl who is in fear for her life. As the action pivots between Corfu and Albania, Spike and Jessica race against time to catch a killer.

Although Spike himself is dealing with his own feelings of loss and insecurity after the death of his lover in a previous story, his strong moral core means he’s unable to turn his back on the fate of an innocent man or his friend Peter, who is emotionally invested in the case.

A stand out feature of Mogford’s writing is the wry and easy humour of his characters. The book is peppered with amusing asides, and Mogford cannot resist a few cutting sideswipes at the idle rich, who are personified by Leo Hoffman, and his children, as he plays lord of the manor in foreign climes. The dialogue feels natural and reflective, and there is an assured balance between the lighter and darker aspects of Spike’s psychological make-up. He has proven to be an incredibly empathetic character throughout the series to date.

Previous books have taken us from Gibraltar to Italy and Malta, and Mogford appears to have researched his locations very well. He comfortably paints a picture for us of the tranquility of the Greek coast then immerses us in the moral deprivation of popular holiday resort Kavos. Sleeping Dogs weaves in little snippets of pertinent information about local customs and socio-political mores, and this is especially vital to the plot when the action moves to Albania. Spike and Jessica find themselves at the whim of local superstitions and practices, which seem strange to them. This adds to the interest without over complicating the storyline and what unfolds is precisely written and engaging.

The tight plotting means that no single strand of the story is overplayed, though this is a relatively short crime novel. The investigation takes several twists and turns along the way, which keeps a heightened sense of engagement and, more importantly, keeps us rooting for Spike to clear the accused man’s name and catch the real culprit. An excellent read. Raven Crime

‘A Thousand Cuts’ Reviews

 

THE SUNDAY TIMES – 12th February 2017