June is UK National Crime Reading Month

We're halfway through the month and I've read three books so far. All three turned out to be really good.

The Puppet Show is book 1 in MW Craven's Washington Poe series. I've already read most of the other books in this series (I don't know how I managed to miss the first book). The other books are fantastic so I had high expectations of this one and I wasn't disappointed. Poe and Tilly are two of the best characters anywhere in crime fiction, and I hope this series goes on forever.

Deadly July is book 5 in the Amber Fearns' London Crime Thriller series. Again, I've been flitting about the series, reading them out of order (naughty me!). This book works perfectly well as a standalone. Amber is a retired DCI who is called in as a consultant. The crime is interesting, with some added originality and a good twist. If you're an avid police procedural reader, you'll love this book.

I'm cheating here. This isn't a crime book, it's a vigilante thriller, and it's the prequel to the River Swift series. River is a female Jack Reacher and the whole series so far is great. If you like exciting action scenes, you won't be disappointed.

River undertakes a daring rescue in Afghanistan. I worried there might be too much military stuff for me, but the characters captured me right from the start and the story is about them. It's well-written and I couldn't put it down. The setting felt wonderfully authentic and really added to the story, rather than just being background.

I'd recommend all three of these books. I hope I'm as lucky at finding good books in the second half of the month.