REVIEW: THE RAIN-SOAKED BRIDE / AUTHOR: GUY ADAMS / PUBLISHER: DEL REY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

After their successful first adventure in The Clown Service, Toby Greene and August Shining embark on their next case: diplomatic officials are being killed by a combination of mobile phones and really bad luck before an important peace conference (which sounds like the plot of a Doctor Who episode). Adams does an excellent job of using this to build the tension as more people die in increasingly contrived ways, and the identity of the culprit genuinely took us by surprise.

There are some books that STARBURST recommends to its readers on the basis that we read them and thought they were good, and then there are books that we’d go out and buy with folding money. This book definitely fits into the second category. Admittedly, we laughed more at the first one, but they’re both very accomplished pieces of work and we intend to read them again in the fullness of time if not sooner. Having only found out about the series when it hit paperback fairly recently, it was a thrill to discover another book was coming out so soon (and even more of a thrill to review it) and it did not disappoint.

In a way, we wish Adams had started writing these thirty years ago so there would be a rich vein of stories for the new fan to discover. As it is, we must be content with two very well written and funny books. At least there’s a third on the way, though it’s a shame we have to wait for it.