Tag: Firing Line

Quote from Firing Line by Mike Hollow: I could've done without that murder. Nearly put me off my breakfast.

#ThrowbackThursday | Firing Line by Mike Hollow

It’s Throwback Thursday! Today I’m resharing my review of Firing Line by Mike Hollow, which previously appeared at International Christian Fiction Writers.

Firing Line is the fourth book in The Blitz Dectective series by Mike Hollow. It’s a police procedural following Detective Inspector John Jago as he investigates murders in London’s East End during the Blitz, those months in 1940 when the Germans were routinely bombing British cities, especially London.

As is almost expected with a murder mystery, Firing Line opens with the discovery of a body.

Joan Lewis has been strangled, but her body is found behind a locked door. How? Was her assailant known to her? Where did the Navy uniform hat come from? And the hard-to-get American nylons?

The novel also addressed some of the political issues of the age, such as boy’s clubs, greenshirts, and Social Credit (a political party I never understood, and understand even less now I know what it is).

Firing Line is the fourth novel in Mike Hollow’s Blitz Detective series, but only the second one I’ve read. It’s a standalone mystery, so it won’t matter if you haven’t. I did find I appreciated some of the subtle humour in the interactions between Jago and Detective Constable Craddock all the more for having read one of the earlier books.

I do enjoy the dry British humour. Some is remarkably modern:

Quote from Firing Line by Mike Hollow: I think people who read newspapers believe what they want to believe.
So #FakeNews isn’t new.

I enjoyed the location of Firing Line and the memories it brought back of living in London and hearing stories of the Blitz. But it’s a good read for mystery lovers with or without the memories. Recommended.

Thanks to Lion Fiction and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Mike Hollow

Mike Hollow
Photo: Stephen Crockford

I was born in 1953 in the Essex County Borough of West Ham – home of the Blitz Detective – on the eastern edge of London. I grew up mainly in Romford and went to the Royal Liberty School, then studied Russian and French at Cambridge University.

My first job was translating for the BBC, and I did various jobs there for sixteen years before moving to work in communications for development agency Tearfund, travelling widely in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2002 I went freelance as a writer, editor and creative project manager. Now I earn a living by translating and spend the rest of my time in the cellar of my house in Hampshire chronicling the adventures of the Blitz Detective.

Why write detective novels? Because I enjoy reading them and I love to create entertaining stories. Why set them in that place and time? Because overnight the Blitz turned everyday existence into a life-and-death struggle for ordinary people – and some of them were my family.

You can find Mike Hollow online at:

Website | Twitter

About Firing Line

Flames leap skyward from a blitzed factory in West Ham as an air raid destroys all in its path. When the blaze threatens neighbouring houses a volunteer fireman breaks in to rescue a trapped resident – but instead finds only the body of a young woman, strangled in her bedroom.

For Detective Inspector John Jago the scene brings back memories of the Soho Strangler. He suspects this woman had a secret – that she is not what she seems – and that this may be the root of her untimely end. Investigation reveals a drunken sailor may hold the key to what happened in Joan Lewis’s flat.

But his information points Jago towards family jealousies, violence, robbery, and the underworld of political terrorism. Was Joan as innocent as her friends claim, or was she mixed up in crime? Jago must unpick multifarious motives if he hopes to reach the truth.

You can find Firing Line online at:

Amazon | Goodreads | Koorong

You can read the introduction to Firing Line below:

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week 31 | Firing Line by Mike Hollow

It’s First Line Friday, which means it’s time to open the book nearest you and share the first line. Today I’m sharing from Firing Line, book four in The Blitz Detective series by Mike Hollow. Here’s the first line:


She wondered what it would feel like in the instant your body was blown to pieces.

A bit macabre, but doesn’t it make you want to keep reading?

About Firing Line

Flames leap skyward from a blitzed factory in West Ham as an air raid destroys all in its path. When the blaze threatens neighbouring houses a volunteer fireman breaks in to rescue a trapped resident – but instead finds only the body of a young woman, strangled in her bedroom.

For Detective Inspector John Jago the scene brings back memories of the Soho Strangler. He suspects this woman had a secret – that she is not what she seems – and that this may be the root of her untimely end. Investigation reveals a drunken sailor may hold the key to what happened in Joan Lewis’s flat.

But his information points Jago towards family jealousies, violence, robbery, and the underworld of political terrorism. Was Joan as innocent as her friends claim, or was she mixed up in crime? Jago must unpick multifarious motives if he hopes to reach the truth.

You can find Firing Line online at:

Amazon | Goodreads | Koorong

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

First Line Fridays hosted by Hoarding Books

You can then click the link which will take you to the master page of all this week’s #FirstLineFriday posts.

And click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Book Review | Enemy Action by Mike Hollow

It’s Throwback Thursday, where I reshare an older review, or share a review of an older book. I’ve just finished reading Firing Line, the next book in Mike Hollow’s The Blitz Detective series, so it seems like a good time to share my review of Enemy Action, the third book in the series. This review previously appeared at Suspense Sisters Reviews.

It’s 1940, the middle of the London Blitz, and there is a body in the aftermath of the nightly bombing raids. But this body isn’t a victim of the bombs. No. This body was stabbed to death. Whodunit?

The investigation starts with Inspector Jago and his partner meeting all manner of people whose only relationship was that they knew or knew of the victim, none of whom appear to have any motive for killing him. As the story progresses, unexpected relationships emerge between the characters, which leave us with several having both motive and opportunity for the murder. Yes, there were plenty of red herrings, and the end managed to both surprise me and make perfect sense.

That’s always the sign of an excellent mystery.

I was impressed by the character voices, about the way I could ‘hear’ the different accents. I was also impressed with the overall setting and background—the subplot around contract mismanagement, the comments about gender equity, the history in general. It gave the novel a sense of time and place I rarely see in Christian fiction.

And this was Christian fiction, although it’s Christian fiction of a more understated variety (as is typical with British fiction). It’s clear Inspector Jago is on a spiritual journey, whether he knows it or not. I’ll watch that with interest in future books, along with his relationship with the pretty American journalist.

This is the third book in the Blitz Detective series, but can easily be read as a standalone novel. I haven’t read the first two in the series, but will be ordering them soon. Recommended for historical fiction lovers, especially those who like police procedural mysteries.

Thanks to Lion Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Mike Hollow

Mike Hollow
Photo: Stephen Crockford

I was born in 1953 in the Essex County Borough of West Ham – home of the Blitz Detective – on the eastern edge of London. I grew up mainly in Romford and went to the Royal Liberty School, then studied Russian and French at Cambridge University.

My first job was translating for the BBC, and I did various jobs there for sixteen years before moving to work in communications for development agency Tearfund, travelling widely in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2002 I went freelance as a writer, editor and creative project manager. Now I earn a living by translating and spend the rest of my time in the cellar of my house in Hampshire chronicling the adventures of the Blitz Detective.

Why write detective novels? Because I enjoy reading them and I love to create entertaining stories. Why set them in that place and time? Because overnight the Blitz turned everyday existence into a life-and-death struggle for ordinary people – and some of them were my family.

You can find Mike Hollow online at:

Website | Twitter

About Enemy Action

Fifty people squashed into a stinking public air-raid shelter all night – babies screaming, old ladies crying, no beds, not even a light to see by. When the all-clear siren sounds, people disperse to home and work. But one man remains. He’s Paul Ramsey, a young teacher, and he’s dead – stabbed through the heart.

DI Jago quickly establishes that the victim was a pacifist, desperate to avoid military service. Why, then, was he carrying a loaded revolver in his pocket? Did he have enemies? Was he intent on harming someone – or even himself?

Jago discovers that Paul isn’t the only pacifist whose convictions have been challenged. For some, anger and violence lie just below the surface. And despite Ramsey’s moral stance, it seems there were dark shadows in his life. In fact, more than one person might have had a motive for murder …

You can find Enemy Action online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

You can read the introduction to Enemy Action below: