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DCI Jack Callum #3
Appetite for Evil
Appetite For EvilThe Third DCI Jack Callum MysteryThe Author’s Cut: First published to critical acclaim as For Her Sins, Appetite For Evil sees the third DCI Jack Callum Mystery restored to the author’s original vision, complete with its original title and at its original length.A young nun is found murdered. She has been stabbed repeatedly and her body violated.December 1959: DCI Jack Callum and the team are called to a local orphanage to investigate the murder of Sister Bernadette, a noviciate nun. The post-mortem throws up a massive shock, and suspicion falls on a handsome young priest with whom Bernadette worked closely. More violence is unleashed as the dark secrets of these seemingly devout people are exposed. Powerful members of the local community are determined that the scandal goes away, but jealousy, love, and loss will be revealed by Jack’s investigation.
Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2016
About the author
Maynard Sims
65 books36 followersMAYNARD SIMS www.maynard-sims.com
The DCI Jack Callum series of crime novels - No Evil,Prime Evil and For Her Sins with The Detective Jack Callum Trilogy. The Bahamas series of thriller novels - Touching The Sun, Calling Down The Lightning, and Raging Against The Storm. The Department 18 series of supernatural crime novels - Black Cathedral, Night Souls, The Eighth Witch, A Plague Of Echoes, and Mother Of Demons. The crime novels Let Death Begin, Through The Sad Heart, and Falling Apart At The Edges. The supernatural novels, Shelter, Demon Eyes, Nightmare City, Stronghold, and Stillwater. The erotic romance novels, under a pseudonym, - The Love Project and The Romance Project.
One screenplay, based on the first two Department 18 books, won the 2013 British Horror Film Festival Award for Best New Screenplay.
Numerous stories have been published in a variety of anthologies and magazines. Collections include, Shadows At Midnight, 1979 and 1999 (revised and enlarged), Echoes Of Darkness, 2000, Incantations, 2002, two retrospective collections of their stories, essays and interviews, The Secret Geography Of Nightmare and Selling Dark Miracles, both 2002, Falling Into Heaven 2004, The Odd Ghosts, 2011, and Flame And Other Enigmatic Tales, and A Haunting Of Ghosts, both 2012. Their tenth collection of ghost stories and strange tales – Death’s Sweet Echo – which includes all their recent and new stories, many of them previously unpublished, is 2016.
Novellas, The Hidden Language Of Demons, The Seminar, His Other Son, and Convalescence have been published in 2002, 2003, 2013 and 2015 respectively. All their stories and novellas have been reprinted in eight uniform volumes through The Maynard Sims Library in 2014. An erotic romance novella, First Time Love, 2015 and First Time Arousal, 2016. Devil is a 2016 crime novella..
They worked as editors on the nine volumes of Darkness Rising anthologies. They co-edited and published F20 with The British Fantasy Society. As editors/publishers they ran Enigmatic Press in the UK, which produced Enigmatic Tales, and its sister titles. They have written essays. They still do commissioned editing projects, most recently Dead Water, and the Capital Crimes anthology for the ITW. They do ghost writing commissions.
Email contact can be made at ms@micksims.f9.co.uk
Find Maynard Sims on most social media - links are on the website
The DCI Jack Callum series of crime novels - No Evil,Prime Evil and For Her Sins with The Detective Jack Callum Trilogy. The Bahamas series of thriller novels - Touching The Sun, Calling Down The Lightning, and Raging Against The Storm. The Department 18 series of supernatural crime novels - Black Cathedral, Night Souls, The Eighth Witch, A Plague Of Echoes, and Mother Of Demons. The crime novels Let Death Begin, Through The Sad Heart, and Falling Apart At The Edges. The supernatural novels, Shelter, Demon Eyes, Nightmare City, Stronghold, and Stillwater. The erotic romance novels, under a pseudonym, - The Love Project and The Romance Project.
One screenplay, based on the first two Department 18 books, won the 2013 British Horror Film Festival Award for Best New Screenplay.
Numerous stories have been published in a variety of anthologies and magazines. Collections include, Shadows At Midnight, 1979 and 1999 (revised and enlarged), Echoes Of Darkness, 2000, Incantations, 2002, two retrospective collections of their stories, essays and interviews, The Secret Geography Of Nightmare and Selling Dark Miracles, both 2002, Falling Into Heaven 2004, The Odd Ghosts, 2011, and Flame And Other Enigmatic Tales, and A Haunting Of Ghosts, both 2012. Their tenth collection of ghost stories and strange tales – Death’s Sweet Echo – which includes all their recent and new stories, many of them previously unpublished, is 2016.
Novellas, The Hidden Language Of Demons, The Seminar, His Other Son, and Convalescence have been published in 2002, 2003, 2013 and 2015 respectively. All their stories and novellas have been reprinted in eight uniform volumes through The Maynard Sims Library in 2014. An erotic romance novella, First Time Love, 2015 and First Time Arousal, 2016. Devil is a 2016 crime novella..
They worked as editors on the nine volumes of Darkness Rising anthologies. They co-edited and published F20 with The British Fantasy Society. As editors/publishers they ran Enigmatic Press in the UK, which produced Enigmatic Tales, and its sister titles. They have written essays. They still do commissioned editing projects, most recently Dead Water, and the Capital Crimes anthology for the ITW. They do ghost writing commissions.
Email contact can be made at ms@micksims.f9.co.uk
Find Maynard Sims on most social media - links are on the website
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 3, 2016
3rd in this series, it’s proven to be very well written and many likeable characters. This is a crime thriller set in the 1950s in a good sized English town, featuring DCI Jack Callum.
Sister Bernadette, a young nun working at a local orphanage, is found brutally stabbed and mutilated. As the investigation proceeds, many secrets are discovered. There are the sexy clothes found in her closet, as well as make-up. Perhaps the most surprising find is that she was several weeks pregnant.
Fearing a scandal, Callum’s supervisor issues much caution in dealing with the Church. But then, the single priest that also had much to do with the orphanage is also found stabbed and mutilated. Callum had suspected that the priest was the father of Sister Bernadette’s baby, and also the prime suspect of her murder.
And that’s not the end of the body count ……
As in most murders, find the why and you will find the who. In the 1950s, the forensics we’ve grown to expect did not exist. It’s fun watching law enforcement working the old fashioned way … with their brains and detecting abilities.
This is a good mystery and I really enjoy the mix of Callum’s professional and personal life. His job means everything to him, but his family means more. It’s lovely to see how his wife and children see him.
I highly recommend this series, and even though each book can be read as a stand-alone, I would suggest reading them in order. The author has done a great job is showing the characters as they mature and grow.
Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / NetGalley who provided a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Sister Bernadette, a young nun working at a local orphanage, is found brutally stabbed and mutilated. As the investigation proceeds, many secrets are discovered. There are the sexy clothes found in her closet, as well as make-up. Perhaps the most surprising find is that she was several weeks pregnant.
Fearing a scandal, Callum’s supervisor issues much caution in dealing with the Church. But then, the single priest that also had much to do with the orphanage is also found stabbed and mutilated. Callum had suspected that the priest was the father of Sister Bernadette’s baby, and also the prime suspect of her murder.
And that’s not the end of the body count ……
As in most murders, find the why and you will find the who. In the 1950s, the forensics we’ve grown to expect did not exist. It’s fun watching law enforcement working the old fashioned way … with their brains and detecting abilities.
This is a good mystery and I really enjoy the mix of Callum’s professional and personal life. His job means everything to him, but his family means more. It’s lovely to see how his wife and children see him.
I highly recommend this series, and even though each book can be read as a stand-alone, I would suggest reading them in order. The author has done a great job is showing the characters as they mature and grow.
Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / NetGalley who provided a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
August 3, 2016
This is the 3rd novel in the Jack Callum series and it does not disappoint.
Sister Bernadette is a young nun working in the local orphanage has been found stabbed repeatedly and her body badly violated. During the postmortem it's discovered Sister Bernadette was 7-8 weeks pregnant. Suspicion falls on a young priest who worked closely with Bernadette. As the dark secrets of these devout people are exposed more violence takes place.
This series is set in the 1950's long before the high tech equipment our police force have today. It has many twists and turns that keep you turning the pages.
Brilliant series. I just love Jack Callum, his family and colleagues.
I would like to thank Net Galley, Joffe Books and the authors Maynard Sims for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Sister Bernadette is a young nun working in the local orphanage has been found stabbed repeatedly and her body badly violated. During the postmortem it's discovered Sister Bernadette was 7-8 weeks pregnant. Suspicion falls on a young priest who worked closely with Bernadette. As the dark secrets of these devout people are exposed more violence takes place.
This series is set in the 1950's long before the high tech equipment our police force have today. It has many twists and turns that keep you turning the pages.
Brilliant series. I just love Jack Callum, his family and colleagues.
I would like to thank Net Galley, Joffe Books and the authors Maynard Sims for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 16, 2016
It's December 1959 Hertfordshire and DCI Callum is call out to an orphanage to investigate the brutal killing of a novice nun. When his main suspect is killed next, Callum has to re-think the motive. In the days before the modern technologies, Callum and his team have to reply on their investigative skills and unfortunately the prejudices of the day.
An interesting read with decent characters, and thankfully I did not work out who the murderer was.
A NetGalley Book
An interesting read with decent characters, and thankfully I did not work out who the murderer was.
A NetGalley Book
August 6, 2016
I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for a review copy of For Her Sins, a police procedural set in late 1950s Hertfordshire.
DCI Jack Callum is called out to a murder at St Joseph's, an orphanage run by nuns. The victim, Sister Bernadette, a troubled noviciate in the order, has been viciously stabbed several times and violated. Jack and his team find the investigation hard going as the Church closes ranks and withholds information.
I must admit that I did not find For Her Sins as compulsive reading as the previous two novels in the series, maybe because I guessed the perpetrator early on or maybe because not much happens as the team go round in circles trying to uncover information. Jack Callum, however, is, as always, a wonderful protagonist, a proto-feminist surrounded by mysoginists. He tries to help his daughter's friend, Avril, who is a battered wife but the law and his colleagues won't help him, preferring to see it as a private domestic issue which is the way it was regarded then and for many years to come.
For Her Sins is a good, well written novel so I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who likes a good police procedural.
DCI Jack Callum is called out to a murder at St Joseph's, an orphanage run by nuns. The victim, Sister Bernadette, a troubled noviciate in the order, has been viciously stabbed several times and violated. Jack and his team find the investigation hard going as the Church closes ranks and withholds information.
I must admit that I did not find For Her Sins as compulsive reading as the previous two novels in the series, maybe because I guessed the perpetrator early on or maybe because not much happens as the team go round in circles trying to uncover information. Jack Callum, however, is, as always, a wonderful protagonist, a proto-feminist surrounded by mysoginists. He tries to help his daughter's friend, Avril, who is a battered wife but the law and his colleagues won't help him, preferring to see it as a private domestic issue which is the way it was regarded then and for many years to come.
For Her Sins is a good, well written novel so I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who likes a good police procedural.
August 16, 2016
The newest DCI Jack Callum mystery easily meets the high standards set by Maynard Sims’s previous novels. Once again, Sims offers readers a complex mystery where surprises abound set within a vibrantly depicted 1950s Britain. Sims’s attention to detail brings the era and its issues to life making it easy to immerse oneself in the mystery.
In For Her Sins, DCI Callum and his team must discover who brutally murdered a young nun and why. Was she killed for her religion or for more personal reasons? The case is further complicated by the subsequent murder of a handsome priest. Both police officials and members of the church hierarchy want the scandal to be silenced, but DCI Callum is determined to discover the truth and obtain justice for Sister Bernadette.
If you enjoy historical mysteries or police procedurals, you won’t be disappointed by Maynard Sims’s DCI Callum mysteries. For Her Sins is a captivating mystery and a worthy addition to the series.
5/5
I received a copy of For Her Sins from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
—Crittermom
Visit Muttcafe.com for daily book reviews
In For Her Sins, DCI Callum and his team must discover who brutally murdered a young nun and why. Was she killed for her religion or for more personal reasons? The case is further complicated by the subsequent murder of a handsome priest. Both police officials and members of the church hierarchy want the scandal to be silenced, but DCI Callum is determined to discover the truth and obtain justice for Sister Bernadette.
If you enjoy historical mysteries or police procedurals, you won’t be disappointed by Maynard Sims’s DCI Callum mysteries. For Her Sins is a captivating mystery and a worthy addition to the series.
5/5
I received a copy of For Her Sins from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
—Crittermom
Visit Muttcafe.com for daily book reviews
August 11, 2016
The 3rd in the Jack Callum series is another great read. This time Jack is attempting to solve the murder of a young nun, stunning in its brutality.
Set in 1959, I found the book not just a great read, but loved the descriptions of life in England in those days; the place women were kept in (thank goodness for progress), the power of the Roman Catholic church, but also the lack of technology, which I found a breath of fresh air. Jack's home life is lovely; no lone alcoholic, angst-ridden detective here, just a happy family man with a lovely wife and children.
I adore this series!
Thank you, Netgalley, Joffe Books and Maynard Sims for the ARC.
Set in 1959, I found the book not just a great read, but loved the descriptions of life in England in those days; the place women were kept in (thank goodness for progress), the power of the Roman Catholic church, but also the lack of technology, which I found a breath of fresh air. Jack's home life is lovely; no lone alcoholic, angst-ridden detective here, just a happy family man with a lovely wife and children.
I adore this series!
Thank you, Netgalley, Joffe Books and Maynard Sims for the ARC.
August 3, 2016
I only discovered that this is the third book in a series about Detective Jack Callum after I'd started the book.
I liked it for its sense of time, the late 1950s.
It has the language and descriptions about the era. The characters are interesting. However I think I have made a mistake by not reading the other two books first. I felt that knowing a bit more about the detectives may have helped me to enjoy this book more.
I will look out for other books by Maynard Sims.
My thanks go to Netgalley and the publisher Joffe Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I liked it for its sense of time, the late 1950s.
It has the language and descriptions about the era. The characters are interesting. However I think I have made a mistake by not reading the other two books first. I felt that knowing a bit more about the detectives may have helped me to enjoy this book more.
I will look out for other books by Maynard Sims.
My thanks go to Netgalley and the publisher Joffe Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 21, 2016
Nostalgic detectve read .
This book is a good old school detective read . Takes you back to the times when coppers handled things very differently to nowadays , some good ,some not so good you would have to read it yourself to know what I mean! The ending is a twist that is very unexpected , an enjoyable and atmospheric book I am a 60s child and although it is a 50s book it brought back memories for me ! I will be reading the other 2 books in the series .
This book is a good old school detective read . Takes you back to the times when coppers handled things very differently to nowadays , some good ,some not so good you would have to read it yourself to know what I mean! The ending is a twist that is very unexpected , an enjoyable and atmospheric book I am a 60s child and although it is a 50s book it brought back memories for me ! I will be reading the other 2 books in the series .
August 7, 2016
This is the third outing of DCI Jack Callum and is every bit as good as the first two. Again the story is set in the 1950's and is a refreshing change from the modern detective stories as there are no computers or mobile phones. It was also interesting to see how domestic violence was treated in those days. I am eagerly awaiting the next book.
August 13, 2016
A huge THANK YOU goes out to Netgalley and Joffe Books for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. I was hooked from the beginning, all the way til the end. A rather surprise ending, wish s few nice side story additions that don't take away from the main storyline. Well-written! I look forward to reading the other books in the set, as this was #3.
August 6, 2016
Good read
Twists, turns and reminds me of values from growing up. Should be asleep but couldn't stop reading til the end. Ending could have been a little better but does the next book take off from here? Worth the time to read.
Twists, turns and reminds me of values from growing up. Should be asleep but couldn't stop reading til the end. Ending could have been a little better but does the next book take off from here? Worth the time to read.
June 18, 2017
Great cast of characters
Although this book is set in the 50's it has a contemporary storyline. If you love English who-dun-its you'll enjoy this book. Jack Callum is a police officer investigating the murder of a young nun that has been brutally killed. While the investigation is ongoing a priest is murdered. Jack and his team find this is no ordinary case. Many secrets lie hidden within. I enjoyed the sense of family
the author has developed with his characters. Jack has a warm, loving family that you come to know and love. I'm hoping for another book in the Jack Callum series.
Although this book is set in the 50's it has a contemporary storyline. If you love English who-dun-its you'll enjoy this book. Jack Callum is a police officer investigating the murder of a young nun that has been brutally killed. While the investigation is ongoing a priest is murdered. Jack and his team find this is no ordinary case. Many secrets lie hidden within. I enjoyed the sense of family
the author has developed with his characters. Jack has a warm, loving family that you come to know and love. I'm hoping for another book in the Jack Callum series.
August 30, 2017
Brilliant
As usual the 50s/60s theme is spot on . love the characters are genuine and lovable. Jack is wonderful as is Annie his long suffering but understanding loyal wife x bravo more please
As usual the 50s/60s theme is spot on . love the characters are genuine and lovable. Jack is wonderful as is Annie his long suffering but understanding loyal wife x bravo more please
September 28, 2020
Guessed who did it as soon as they made an appearance.
September 28, 2022
Best of the three in the series so far.
September 15, 2016
Excellent crime novel
I loved this book, read it in a few hours. Enjoyed the backdrop of 1950s England and the differing attitudes within the police force compared to what we expect in modern day Britain. Characters all engaging and a few twists and turns to keep you hooked. I will definitely read more from Maynard Sims!
I loved this book, read it in a few hours. Enjoyed the backdrop of 1950s England and the differing attitudes within the police force compared to what we expect in modern day Britain. Characters all engaging and a few twists and turns to keep you hooked. I will definitely read more from Maynard Sims!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews