ANGELS IN ARMS by Mike Ripley

Phew. I feel like I've been doing a lot of reading lately, in amongst a rather hectic life in general. What with the 2010 Global Reading Challenge, and a few recently released internationally bestselling crime/thriller titles to review, it actually feels like a little while since I've just randomly picked up a book from my TBR pile, rather than being somewhat constrained by a particular deadline/purpose/goal.

So it was with something of a pleasant sigh that I looked at my bookcase this morning (with so many books smiling back invitingly), and realised that after I finished magazine deadline I was relatively free to spontaenously choose a title - although I do have a few upcoming author interviews pencilled in, so I should read their latest works soon too.

I felt like something light, perhaps some humour - and what would you know, but when I got into work today I found a copy of Mike Ripley's ANGELS IN ARMS waiting for me (thanks Mike). Unable to resist starting it on my lunch break, I am already guffawing my way through the pages - what fantastic and potent mix of crime and comedy.

The publisher's blurb states: "When Angel gets a call from Werewolf, his old and disreputable friend, he finds himself reluctantly involved in tracking down a shipment of drugs mistakenly smuggled in from France. On the trail he encounters Werewolf's brother, a wolf in sheep's clothing if ever there was one; a second-rate but very loud heavy metal band; a young Dutchman who's as well armed as he is well dressed, and the mad, bad and definitely dangerous Lucinda L. Luger. And then he has to face the bad guys..."

Ripley himself, along with being the author of the award-winning ‘Angel’ comic thrillers (see fansite here), is also a renowned crime fiction commentator. He is also the co-editor of the three Fresh Blood anthologies promoting new British crime writing and, for ten years, was the crime fiction critic of the Daily Telegraph. He is now well known for his great “Getting Away with Murder column” in Shots Ezine), and has also written about crime fiction for The Guardian and the Birmingham Post, amongst others.

It has been said that Ripley 'paints a picture of London Dickens would recognise', that 'he writes like the young Len Deighton, wierd and wonderful information and very, very funny', and he has been described as 'England's funniest crime writer' (The Times). I'm certainly having a blast thusfar. Smiles, chuckles and laughs aplenty.

Has anyone else read any of Ripley's Angel series? What do you think of comic crime - Ripley's or in general? Or what about his insightful crime commentary? Thoughts and comments welcome...