A story within a story within a story that has an LA cop teamed with an elderly lady amateur detective. The pace is fast, the bodies fall, the blood flows and the twists are unexpected. A cracking tale, funny, shocking and with a satisfying ending.

Another excellent offering from Chris Brookmyre, it felt a little different to his usual offerings but still with his usual flair and interesting twists to the tale.

I love how Brookmyre pairs characters in his books that are so different but manage to find a way to balance each other through the story. My favourite example of this was in The Cut and this felt similar by just how different the main characters were to each other.

The main story was a fun detective story and the seemingly unconnected becomes a full tale. I felt there were some loose ends not fully addressed and while the twist to the plot line was fun and certainly a thought provoking element in our modern times, I felt more could have been done to explore that theme. That being said I still enjoyed its use to put a new dimension in the story.

Is this my favourite Brookmyre book? No. Would I still recommend it? Yes. Did I find it an entertaining and enjoyable read? Absolutely. So much so I’m looking forward on getting the audiobook as well.

This is only the second book by this author so unsure whether this is typical of his writing. I found there to be too many characters for me to keep tabs on. Felt like at least two books mashed up with a rather tedious middle section and an extremely convoluted ending. I wanted Poirot to appear, gather everyone into the drawing room and explain.

I was expecting this to be Miss Marple meets Die Hard, and I feel we all lulled into this thinking….I was wondering how on Earth this was going to work, how on Earth we’re these two lives going to fit together, it’s like two completely different books at the start.

Then…. I genuinely don’t know where to start…I’ve been repeatedly shocked to be honest, and at one point quite upset and frightened.

This is a wild ride and I honestly can’t describe it. I’m reeling.

My thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Penny Coyne a modern Miss Marple and Jonny Hawke a LA detective thier worlds collide in this riveting mystery. Lots of twists along the way. Kept me guessing till the end. Loved the plot and characters. Thanks to Little Brown Books and Netgalley for this review ARC.

I have read every Chris Brookmyre that has been published, including those he has written with his wife as Ambrose Parry, so I think it is fair to say that I am a big fan of his. So I was delighted to find that he had a new book out and couldn’t wait to start reading.
The thing I think I like most about his books is that you have to really concentrate on them, as there are always a lot of different elements that he somehow manages to bring together convincingly at the end of the story. This book is no different in that respect. However, it is not like anything I have read before, and at one point I was not sure if I liked it, as I thought I could see where the plot was going and it seemed a little contrived. But I should have had more faith in the master. By the end of the book I was totally convinced, and once again in awe of how Chris Brookmyre manages to write such different but satisfying stories, over and over again. I loved the characters of Johnny and Penny, and I really enjoyed the denouement where everything was explained. And as usual there were lots of thrills and excitement along the way - which is only to be expected when you are reading a book by Brookmyre!
If you are new to Brookmyre, then I would not start with this book. Quite Ugly One Morning is probably the best one to read first, and my personal favourites are One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night and All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye. But they are all brilliant!

This is my first read by this author, so I wasn't sure what to expect, being drawn in by the sideways reference to Agatha Christie in the title.

I felt like the book started in traditional Agatha Christie territory in an English village and a little old lady who solved murders. Just settling into that when we are transported to Los Angeles and a homicide detective called Johnny Hawke who has trouble keeping his partners alive.

The story then switched between these two places and it was as if I was reading two totally separate books. What was happening here? How are these two opposite people going to end up being involved in the same story. Slowly it began to come together when suddenly a new person was introduced with their own agenda and story. I was now totally flummoxed with three threads and a shed load of characters, but I read on, hoping it was all going to become clear.

Without totally ruining the book there isn't much else I can say, other than I have never read anything like it before. So very clever, at times maybe too clever for the reader who is having to grasp all the information wondering when it will be needed.

With this book, Chris Brookmyre has not just rewritten the rules about crime novels, he has completely smashed them, torn them up, not even bothering to rewrite them, and what he has delivered is, for me anyway, total genius.
Ok I am a bit biased, I love all things Brookmyre. Stand-alones, Parlabane, and the Will Raven ones he writes with his wife. But that said, this book is still genius...
So we start off with what actually feels like reading two books. Each having their own chapter numbering system (nice touch) and featuring completely different storylines. This theme continues throughout, several times.
In one we meet Penny Coyne (more genius) who is a Marplesque little old lady who lives in a sleepy village and solves crimes. The other features Johnny Hawke, hard boiled LAPD cop who does the job but not always within the law.
Quite how these two polar opposite crime fighters get together is something I will leave you to discover for yourself. In fact, if you want my opinion, you'll probably do yourself a favour if you just stopped reading reviews for this book, go in as cold as you can and just discover how clever this author is. Just put your trust in him and it will all come together.
This is one of those books that I am gutted I have finished. It's one that I had so much fun throughout my time reading it, discovering all of what happens, that I am actually well jealous of anyone who gets to discover this for the first time. It's also one that I am definitely going to revisit in a few months or so to see what I missed, if anything... It is, I suspect, a great book to re-read with hindsight...
I spent a good deal of this book wondering where in the heck we were going. Holding on to a fair few things that I wasn't sure about. Until... oh my days - we are really going THERE... Oh My! And now it makes sense... Not that I ever thought it wouldn't as I trust this author implicitly. But yeah... wow! Standing Ovation... And with THE best ending...
I could probably bang on and on about how great I think this book is forever, and will probably do so liberally over all the social media platforms but yeah, I say again... genius.
In Brookmyre we most definitely trust.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

In LA Johnny Hawke has been able to apprehend someone who has kept slipping through his hands due to the foresight of his new partner. When they are then diverted to an apparent suicide at a studio he is disappointed. He feels even worse when things get out of hand and he gets suspended when he tries to prove that it wasn't suicide. He then travels to Scotland on the trail of the possible culprit and comes across Penelope Coyle at a Wedding. When a similar suicide is discovered at the Wedding and there is an attempt on their lives, the trail leads them both back to California. Who is the elusive Wesley? Is he behind the deaths? As they investigate the mystery becomes murkier and they are aware that their lives at at risk.
A very good book!

This was an interesting concept of 2 genres of murder mysteries having to work together to solve very similar apparent suicides and as the cases progress and the similarities occur we find we are reading quite something different. I enjoyed it but am not too sure if I liked the ending.

I started this book and wondered what all the threads were leading to. Read quite a bit more and wondered why I was bothering to read it at all.

However, I hate not finishing a book and so I kept reading as it was an easy enough read.

So happy that I did as the denouement was so worth the wait.

No clues from me as to the plots but I do suggest that you discover them for yourself. I cannot imagine you will be disappointed.

Penny Coyne is a sweet old lady who lives in a Scottish village and has a history of solving a series of murders that have puzzled the local police. She's finding life difficult as her brain shows signs of aging, memories just won't appear when she needs them. Maybe it's time she retired? But what about the current mystery where a body has been found in the confessional? Johnny Hawke is an LAPD detective who's always on the wrong side of his captain. Can't seem to take a direct order when it goes against his hunches. his current investigation should be an open and shut case but he can't let it go. I loved this book with its twisting storyline where two worlds collide keeping you guessing.

There are a lot of subgenres subsumed within the crime thriller genre, each with its own conventions; albeit with blurred boundaries. Mergers are not uncommon, but usually one subgenre is the format while the other has its tropes modified to the format. The ‘Little Old Lady in a Village’ is a classic, the ‘Troubled, Hard-Bitten Cop’ is another. Their formats are about as far apart as the genre goes. In the Perthshire village of Glen Cluthar, Penny Coyne (great name) is an octogenarian librarian who is just about to solve her seventeenth whodunnit. Meanwhile, in LA, detective Johnny Hawke, suspects that the suicide of a screenwriter might be a cleverly contrived murder. On suspension for disobeying orders, Johnny follows his hunch and flies to Scotland to find the screenwriter’s partner who had fortuitously gone there to attend a wedding. By coincidence, Penny has been invited to the same wedding and, when another suspicious death occurs, they form an unlikely partnership, which takes them to Edinburgh and then LA, attempting to solve the murders, against a background of ultra rich families and the overlapping worlds of publishing and computer games.
The idea of combining contrasting fictional styles is not new. In fact the author flags this by having librarian Penny referencing Italo Calvino, arguably the master of the style. I have to put it in the crime thriller genre but really it is almost undefinable. What Brookmyre has created here is a huge intellectual puzzle, where the partnership of Penny and Johnny is the least strange event. The writing is well handled, with the syntax changing to reflect the two different formats, and the idioms of Penny and Johnny clearly differentiated. The final resolutions (there are a number of facets to the overriding dénouement) are logical and Penny’s codicil whodunnit is a lovely cadence.

I love a good crime/thriller book, and the premise of this sounded fantastic so I was really excited to give it a read. Unfortunately it took me about a third of the book to really get into the story, and while the concept is undoubtedly clever and there are some brilliant twists, it felt a little slow for my liking and didn't keep me as fully engaged as these kinds of books usually do.

For others that might suit well, so I definitely wouldn't hesitate to tell people to give it a try. It is very well-written (I can see myself picking up another of Chris Brookmyre's works in the future) and the concepts is certainly unique. It might not have hit the mark for me, but I can see many reasons why others could easily love it.

I’m afraid this was a dnf for me. Reading the rave reviews I think it must be me, but I really struggled to understand the direction the book was going in and although I struggled and reached 50% it just felt that it was getting stranger rather than building. I’m sure it will do really well but the writing style and direction was not for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early copy of this book.

In The Cracked Mirror we have two worlds colliding as hard-bitten LA Homicide Detective, Johnny Hawke and elderly English amateur sleuth Penny Coyne have to come together to figure out whodunnit as they go down the rabbit hole to uncover secrets, lies and red herrings all whilst figuring out how on earth these worlds apart personalities are going to successfully work together.

The concept for this book was immediately intriguing - Agatha Christie meets Michael Connelly, ok let's give it a go! I did however, struggle to get into it and it took me a while to get used to the narrative voice and writing style, but once the story found its pace I came to enjoy it despite some of the plot contrivances and coincidences (which after finishing I came to appreciate their place in the plot).

I appreciated the unique set up - not many people can make a crime/crime hybrid novel but here we have a cosy golden age style crime mystery intermingling with a brutal American crime thriller and it works in many ways. It's so creative and different that despite my misgivings at the beginning I'm glad I continued. The settings and situations are vivid and effective and there really is some laugh out loud humour and it all wraps up with an inventive ending that I didn't see coming which I always appreciate.

If you're a mystery/crime/thriller fan I would encourage you to give this out of the ordinary, bonkers and fun book a read because I can pretty much guarantee it won't be like much else you've read.

3.5*

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Abacus for a digital review copy of "The Cracked Mirror " in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Oh, where to start with this book? Two apparently irreconcilably different scenarios and characters in the beginning, then worlds collide and the plot thickens until it’s practically set. No spoilers, but the denouement is so complex and unusual as to be beyond belief - for me at any rate. Am I glad that I persisted and finished the book? Probably, yes, but is not one that I would really recommend that you spend valuable hours of your life reading.

You have to pay attention to all the different characters as they all have their part to play and storylines in this book.
A retired English lady and a hard-boiled American detective team up to solve a number of intriguing murders. It shouldn't work ,but it really does!
Zigzagging across 2 continents the story weaves and turns, I was completely enthralled by this read

To be honest, as I sit down to write this review I’ve absolutely no idea what’s going to come out of my fingers. ‘The Cracked Mirror’ is unlike anything I’ve ever read, and it made my head spin. It’s also one of those books that is impossible to review without being extremely vague, or do the genius plot justice.

The book description mentions a mix between Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly. And at the beginning of the story that is most definitely true. Penelope Coyne, who lives in a tiny village in Scotland that seems to have some kind of murder pandemic, is very reminiscent of Miss Marple. I adored her immediately. On the other side of the world, Jonathan Hawke is an LAPD detective who is quite possibly heavily inspired by Bosch. I must admit at that point I preferred Penny’s chapters. There are often instances where American settings just don’t seem to work for me, and whenever the story was set in Los Angeles, I couldn’t wait to get back to Scotland.

Both of these characters are investigating apparent suicides. At some point, their paths will cross and without wanting to give anything away, let’s just say things go somewhere entirely unexpectedly. That moment when I realised what was going on, my jaw dropped and I needed a moment to absorb it all. What an incredibly clever and refreshing way to tell a crime story.

‘The Cracked Mirror’ is a book you should go into knowing as little as possible. I have a feeling it is most likely a story one will either love or not, not quite a middle way. Sure, some technicalities may have gone slightly over my head but I was hugely intrigued from start to finish, probably adding many frown lines to my forehead along the way, but happy to let the author lead me wherever it was he was going with this complex tale. These two characters couldn't possibly be more different from each other, yet somehow an unlikely kind of friendship is formed. And this is done so well that ... well, I can't really say but there might have been a tiny lump in my throat at some point.

Do yourself a favour : go in blind and keep an open mind, dear readers. And you too might find this one thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining.

In The Cracked Mirror, Scottish crime author Chris Brookmyre asks the question that crime genre lovers have not thought to ask themselves. What would happen if Miss Marple met Harry Bosch and had to solve a crime together. In doing so, Brookmyre has plenty of fun with not only these but a couple of other classic, trope-filled sub-genres of crime fiction. And in doing so has not really needed any more suspension-of-disbelief moments than considering why an old woman has had to solve 15 murders in a small Scottish village.
The Cracked Mirror opens in two strands. The first involves renegade LA detective Tommy Hawke. Hawke is a hard drinking, hard living detective who has a reputation for getting his partners killed or injured. He is put onto an apparent suicide of a screenwriter at an independent film company, and while he suspects foul play, the pressure is on for him to sign off on the death and move on. Soon, as expected in this type of narrative, Hawke is suspended and flying himself to Scotland to follow a lead. Meanwhile in the Scottish village of Saint Culthar, eighty-three year old sleuth Penelope ‘Penny’ Coyne solves yet another murder and then finds herself mysteriously invited to a wedding where she becomes involved in another suspicious suicide, this one in the publishing industry and with connections to Hawke’s case.
The Cracked Mirror reads like a love letter to two venerated crime authors and the sub-genres that they excel in – Agatha Chistie and Michael Connelly. Particularly when the two protagonists get together and have to adapt to each other’s idiosyncrasies. And Brookmyre uses this to bring in other crime fiction element. There is a third strand involving a hard boiled detective called Rattigan and other fictional detectives from Sherlock Holmes to Dirk Gently get name checked.
But, importantly, The Cracked Mirror is a good crime novel in its own right. Underneath it all there are a number of mysteries to be solved. And while Brookmyre hints at one that explains the sheer craziness of his premise, the actual crime (or crimes?) are actually solved by the pair combining their powers and methods. And even more than this, Brookmyre actually also manages to deliver an emotional through line and a fair amount of poignancy when he brings all of his threads together.
The Cracked Mirror crosses crime sub-genres and mashes established literary genres in such a knowing and understanding way that it all works. There are plenty of meta-levels to delve into in The Cracked Mirror and what it says about crime fiction – from book to screenplay to movie. But even they become integral to the overall plot which is tense, playful, engaging, a little weird and ultimately satisfying.