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Border guard detained

In September, the AKS GKNB detained the head of the Kulundu frontier post in the course of operational-search measures when giving a bribe to an employee of the state committee…
Tom Callaghan
September 29, 2020
Blog

What price health?

The former Minister of Health, Kosmosbek Cholponbaev, is charged with negligence and abuse of office during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tom Callaghan
September 22, 2020
Blog

The cost of smuggling cars

Abror Sabirov, son of Shukhrat Sabirov, the director of the State Agency for Antimonopoly Regulations of Kyrgyzstan, was placed in jail-1 in Bishkek for two months.
Tom Callaghan
September 16, 2020
Blog

What idiot would want this?

The SCM GUVD of Bishkek received information that citizen E.E., born in 2000, carried the skin of a rare wild animal, and was making attempts to illegally sell it.
Tom Callaghan
September 8, 2020
Blog

A New York state of mind

Although the 18 titles in the Burke series by Andrew Vachss tail off in impact towards the later novels, the intensity of earlier books such as ‘Flood’, ‘Blue Belle’ and…
Tom Callaghan
September 3, 2020
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Love at first sight

I’ll be honest: I haven’t read ‘Gallows Court’ by Martin Edwards. And books set in pre-war London, the Golden Age of crime fiction, tend not to feature high on my…
Tom Callaghan
August 29, 2020
Blog

The city at the end of the world

The main character (and the most terrifying) in Jack O’Connell’s books is not a person, it’s a place. Quinsigamond, a post-industrial New England city, where derelict warehouses, porn theatres and…
Tom Callaghan
August 27, 2020
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No Corruption

No Corruption The Kyrgyz authorities devote a lot of time and energy to stamping out the problem of corruption
Tom Callaghan
August 23, 2020
Blog

Serious, but rarely fatal

Unless a bookcase collapses and buries you under a landslide of paperbacks, collecting books will rarely kill you (although they will damage your wealth, eyesight and marital harmony).
Tom Callaghan
August 14, 2020
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Nostalgia is so now

Looking at the cover, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Stephen King’s forthcoming book, ‘Later’ came out in the late 50s. The vintage pulp style of illustration reeks of bad…
Tom Callaghan
August 12, 2020
Blog

Dates for your diary

With this blog now underway like a rusty tramp steamer nerving its way into new waters, you might like to note a couple of future weekly events.
Tom Callaghan
August 10, 2020
Blog

I haven’t actually read it yet

It seemed an innocuous habit at first, one my parents even encouraged. Harmless to begin with. The odd Puffin paperback here and there, and then later, Penguin Classics, before moving…
Tom Callaghan
August 9, 2020
Blog

Life is a merry-go-round

Except here, it seems. The virus appears not to like sunlight, fresh air and open spaces that people can enjoy while still keeping their distance. Children seem to be the…
Tom Callaghan
August 8, 2020
Blog

Time to get Kinky?

The world of crime/ noir/ thriller books is, understandably, dominated by a few best-selling authors. You know, the ones whose covers stare out at you in every airport, promising distraction…
Tom Callaghan
August 6, 2020
Blog

Hard at work

In reality, I normally spend my days on my private terrace overlooking Montego Bay, sipping a cold Red Stripe and enjoying exotic sushi. But I want you to believe that…
Tom Callaghan
August 5, 2020
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Judge a book by its cover

As you might expect from a novelist, I'm keenly interested in book cover design. Not least because the success or failure of a book cover has a direct impact on…
Tom Callaghan
August 3, 2020
Blog

Distractions

I'm spending today working on an Akyl Borubaev short story. But with a view like this, are you surprised I get distracted?
Tom Callaghan
July 30, 2020
Blog

My Favourite Bar

Yesterday’s post showed me standing in the dark and the snow outside Derevyashka, a local bar facing Gorky Park (no, not that one). *Derevyashka means ‘wood’, and as I described it…
Tom Callaghan
July 29, 2020
Blog

Welcome Back

To anyone who’s wondered about my silence:  I’m still writing, even if I haven’t published anything for a while, and I hope my revitalised blog will keep people up to…
Tom Callaghan
July 28, 2020
Blog

German edition special cover

Sebastian Fitzek says about this book: "I have not read anything as intrusive since Child 44.. This thriller is merciless, strongly atmospheric and unbelievably gripping." Sebastian Fitzek's new novel PASSENGER…
Tom Callaghan
December 20, 2014