Brooke never intended to return to her native Scotland. That is until she’s offered a job with legendary literary agent, Levi Hudson, who just happens to represent her favourite author, Petra Swan.
Petra’s books helped her find hope again after her heart was broken, and Brooke will do anything to meet her. Even if it means working with the formidable Levi.
Not only is he grumpy, he’s also infuriatingly handsome. Yet as his frosty exterior slowly begins to melt, Brooke realises that moving back to the highlands might be the best decision she’s ever made…
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Publication Date: 31st January 2027
Julie Shackman is a former journalist from Scotland, who has always wanted to write feel-good romance. As well as being an author, Julie also writes verses and captions for greetings card companies. Julie admits to having an obsession with stationery and handbags. She has two sons and an adopted Romanian rescue pup, Cooper. Dreaming of a Scottish Summer is Julie’s sixteenth novel.
Between layers of deceit and magic, nothing is as it seems.
Alison Wilde is an ordinary girl in a nearly normal world, until an uncharacteristic turn of events shifts reality, as she knows it, completely upside down. Plunged into the Netherworld, with little memory of her life back on Earth, she is faced with a host of horrifying fantastical creatures, some more familiar than others.
But as her newfound companions attempt to guide her through their unsettling and tumultuous realm, dark forces are at work which threaten the very fabric of the Universe, and who will stop at nothing to prevent Alison from achieving the potential her destiny holds.
Bruce loves to write about other realms, alternate realities, monsters and mayhem. He likes to make people think about their own lives while getting lost in someone else’s. He loves nothing better than to sit down at his computer and play with his imaginary friends.
He was obsessed with horror and monsters from a very early age, and always knew he was different to everyone else, but never knew why! He never felt like he fitted in.
As a result, Bruce has always strived for perfection in everything he has done, and through working in the leisure industry for many years, he has his own unique take on the human psyche.
Bruce was born and raised in Leeds, West Yorkshire. He graduated from Humberside University with a degree in Exhibition & Museum Design, but soon fell out of love with design, due to him constantly thinking outside the box. He worked in many fields before finding great success as a multi-award-winning public house manager and brewer.
After the infamous Covid lockdowns and personal tragedy in 2022, Bruce turned his attention to writing, crafting his first eagerly anticipated novel Dream Walker – Somewhere Between Realm and Reality. He now lives in Lancashire with his daughter.
My thoughts: Alison finds herself in a darker, stranger version of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland, there’s a Hatter and a Rabbit, a Caterpillar and a Queen of Hearts, but she’s also a vampire, the Hatter used to be an assassin, the Rabbit can manipulate time and the Caterpillar’s a gangster.
As she and her new friends attempt to evade the queen’s guards and not get drained of their blood, Alison’s friends back home are desperate for her to wake up from the coma she’s in.
With werewolves, berserker bears, and other strange creatures who might aid her or kill her, Alison must survive the Netherworld to return home to her friends and her life, before someone snuffs it out.
An interesting take on Carroll, Alison is an adult not a child and the battles she faces are of the sword and sorcery kind, the familiar characters have been reworked and danger lurks everywhere.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
When a notorious investigation into Los Angeles’s darkest criminal network thrusts private investigator Trevor Finnegan into the national spotlight, the fallout is immediate—and lethal.
Haunted by his past as a cop and driven by an obsession with justice for the dead, Finnegan has spent years hunting the powerful men who profited from torture and murder on the dark web.
But when a billionaire suspect dies in federal custody and the agents involved turn up dead under suspicious circumstances, Finnegan finds himself facing a far more insidious enemy. One that doesn’t just silence people but drives them to the edge.
As Finnegan digs deeper, his search leads him into the orbit of a brilliant, charismatic tech mogul promising a cleaner, safer future through artificial intelligence. And the line between progress and cruelty blurs beyond recognition.
With his pregnant wife at risk, his agency on the brink of collapse, and his own moral compass under siege, Finnegan must decide how far he’s willing to go—and what he’s willing to lose—to stop a force that claims it can conquer death itself.
Aaron Philip Clark is the author of the International Thriller Writers Award-nominated Detective Trevor Finnegan series. He has co-written and collaborated on works of fiction with rap artist and entertainment mogul Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Civil Rights Attorney and activist Benjamin L. Crump, and various public figures and luminaries.
He has two forthcoming novels: BLUES FOR THE DEAD (Severn House/Joffe Books), which features Det. Trevor Finnegan, an ex-LAPD detective turned PI, investigating a powerful tech CEO with a dark past and nefarious plans for the future, and ALL THE SMOKE (Amistad/HarperCollins), a psychological thriller inspired by The Talented Mr. Ripley, set in the world of hip-hop and scheduled for publication in Feb. 2027.
In addition to writing, Aaron is a professor at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in Hollywood, CA, and hosts the podcast, The Culture Point, on the Authors on the Air Global Radio network.
My thoughts: PI Trevor Finnegan is helping the FBI look into a group of truly nasty predators, but when the agents he’s been working with turn up dead, it looks like it might all fall apart. But when the tech billionaire son of a dead suspect hires him, he finds a whole new layer of evil.
His wife’s pregnant and on bed rest, his ex is a mess which puts their young daughter in danger, and his team are not happy with his methods.
As he digs into his new client and tries to find out what really happened to the FBI agents, he puts everything he holds dear at risk.
A smart, gripping dark thriller that exposes the risks of progress when it does harm and the way powerful people manipulate the situation.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
We swap homes for a week with another couple. A luxury mini-break to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. But they are hiding a terrible secret . . . and so am I.
It seemed like a good idea. Our marriage has been under strain, and my husband has done something I’m finding hard to forgive. As soon as we arrive, something seems wrong. It’s little things at first: the hot water suddenly turns cold; the lights flicker out. It feels like we’re being watched.
The next day, a stranger knocks at the door. He seems desperate, and it’s freezing outside. So I let him in. Big mistake. This house swap isn’t a romantic escape. It’s a trap.
A.A. Chaudhuri is the Amazon bestselling author of five psychological thrillers and the Kramer & Carver legal thriller series. Her highly acclaimed debut psych thriller, She’s Mine, was the LJ Ross Book Club April book of the month in 2022, and has reached No. 2 on Top Paid Crime and Thrillers behind CL Taylor and two spots ahead of Richard Osman on the Apple Books charts. Italian and Spanish rights for her fourth psych thriller, THE FINAL PARTY, have been sold to Newton Compton Editori, with publication set for some time in 2026. Alex is a History graduate and a former City lawyer. She lives in Surrey with her family.
My thoughts: I don’t really get the appeal of a house swap, I don’t want strangers rummaging through my life, sleeping in my bed. But Fallon is convinced by her daughter Rose, that this could be just what she and her husband need.
They trade their Devon farmhouse for a Maida Vale mansion and at first it all seems quite nice, and then it all gets very dark and nasty. Someone has it in for Fallon and her family, and quite possibly the couple they’ve swapped houses with.
Fallon does a secret, but she’s not done anything wrong, she was a victim, and she didn’t tell her husband because she was worried about how he’d react, but now she has to, as she realises who might be behind all the blackmail, the strange things happening in the house and the threats.
When the police arrive, things shift and Fallon might finally get some answers, if she can convince them she’s not the person they should be questioning.
Tense and full of twists, this is a smart modern thriller about our pasts and how easy it is to misread a situation when you don’t have all the information.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own
The Boy is a powerful novel of wasted talent, loss, greed and revenge – but also of discovered genius and life-affirming friendship.
By turns terrifying, taut, humane and tender it tells the origin story of Ireland’s organised-crime epidemic with a skill and grace which belies a debut novel, and is the calling-card of a ringing new voice in Irish fiction.
When the Guards knock on the door The Boy already knows his mother is dead. His father flees to the pub, leaving him to wait alone. Soon his brother Fallon, half-protector and half-outlaw, draws him into a world where grief and crime are rarely separated. At the same time, a wealthy landowner harbours grotesque secrets in the countryside – a hidden “family” of abducted boys, a nightmare lurking beneath respectability.
As The Boy moves through these fractured worlds – his father’s guilt, his uncle’s paramilitary past, his brother’s violent death – he becomes both witness and inheritor of a brutal legacy.
Think of a space where the layered complexity of Tana French meets the whipsmart dialogue and brutal beauty of Colin Barrett and the sharp tenderness and humour of Graeme Armstrong’s The Young Team – and you’re somewhere near where this novel will take you.
The Boy is a dark, lyrical crime debut. It is unflinching, propulsive, and unforgettable.
Mark Gyves is an Irish crime fiction writer. He has lived and worked in the UK and Ireland and now resides in his hometown on the outskirts of Cork.
My thoughts: I actually thought this was a black comedy, as The Boy becomes mired in death and crime in order to buy video games, pizza and trainers. He takes over his brother’s drug business with his strange friend, gets caught up with some complete nutcases and goes all out for revenge.
The world he finds himself in is full of gangsters and drug dealers, people who don’t want to know what’s going on, but also kind neighbours and loving grandmothers. His dad’s a deadbeat, but was once a genius, until he used that brilliance to improve ways of blowing people up and turned to drink, The Boy makes sure his bar tab has been paid.
It’s a weird, dark place, the underbelly of Cork and full of very odd people with nasty habits like killing people or keeping them in dungeons under their ancestral home. The Boy is smart but perhaps a bit too young and naive for the life he finds himself in.
An interesting and quite enjoyable read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Former Scotland Yard detective Ember Lockhart lost her career following a scandal. Now working as a private investigator, she is hired by Amelia Cross to investigate her husband’s sudden death on a flight into Heathrow.
Calvin had been frightened before he died, and the corrupted USB stick he left behind suggests he had good reason. As Ember begins asking questions, she is followed, warned and threatened to abandon the case.
With reluctant help from her former colleague and ex-lover, Leo Campbell, she traces Calvin’s death to a secretive technology company involved in political blackmail and corporate espionage involving an elaborate plan to destabilise the British government.
Then Amelia is murdered, and the evidence is carefully arranged to frame Ember.
Charged with killing her own client, Ember must prove her innocence while pursuing an organisation prepared to eliminate anyone who gets in the way of their ultimate political goal.
She vanished without a trace. But someone knows exactly where she is.
Bronte Lowe — single mother and the key witness to a local hit-and-run — disappears in broad daylight.
Probation officer Cate Austin is used to spotting lies. So when Adam, one of her offenders, starts raising red flags, she can’t ignore her instincts.
Meanwhile, Adam’s girlfriend Freya has just moved into his remote cliffside home, hoping for a fresh start. But something isn’t right. The closer she looks, the more she senses the house is hiding something — or someone.
As Bronte’s disappearance collides with Cate’s investigation, a web of secrets begins to unravel. When desperation takes over, how far will three women go to protect what they love?
Don’t miss this gripping thriller, perfect for fans of Joy Ellis from award-winning, Kindle #1 bestselling author Ruth Dugdall.
My thoughts: Cate returns to Ipswich when her troubled sister Lizzie leaves rehab and goes missing. Staying with her ex, so their daughter can spend time with her dad, she gets drawn into the mysterious disappearance of the woman next door – Bronte. Everyone is adamant she wouldn’t abandon her son Kai and the dog came home from a walk without her.
Having exhausted the possibility that she somehow fell into the sea, the police move onto more sinister options – did someone take Bronte? If so, is it because she was a victim in a hit and run – the van that hit her was driven by a notorious local drug dealer, or because of her job at local nuclear power station? There’s currently a protest being held about it.
Cate agrees to do a few days as a probation officer again – the money will be useful, and while supervising a new recruit, meets a suspicious character – Adam. Her spidey senses tingling, she looks into him. All the while trying to find Bronte and get Lizzie back into rehab.
Another complex and involved outing for Cate Austin, who really needs to start her own detective agency, she’s always doing so much. Returning to Suffolk wasn’t necessarily the best move – she gets sucked into so many people’s lives and reconnecting with Tim has its risks too.
I really enjoyed this, the whole series is great, and can’t wait to see what chaos Cate gets into next time.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The Fitzglens are London’s most celebrated theatrical family. They are also its most successful thieves. Their current target is a legend nobody believes in. The Tapestry of Silence.
It’s said that the tapestry was woven from the blood and guilt of murderers. That the scene stitched into it is not decoration . . . but evidence. And that it was hidden away because of what it proves.
There’s no other option. The lease for the family’s theatre is about to expire, and the freeholders are the Fitzglens’ greatest enemies. If they can’t raise the sum needed in time, they’ll lose everything. But as they follow the tapestry’s trail, it soon becomes clear that someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep its terrifying secrets buried forever.
The Fitzglens have robbed museums and mansions and walked away laughing. This time, one of them may not walk away at all.
Sarah Rayne is the author of a number of acclaimed psychological thrillers, haunted house books, and historical mysteries. For many years she was active in amateur theatre, and lists among her interests theatre, history, music, and old houses. She has a considerable weakness for properties with an eerie past.
She began writing in her teens, and after a Convent education – which included writing plays for the Lower Third to perform – embarked on a variety of jobs, but never lost her love of writing fiction. Her first novel was published in 1982, and since then she has written over 40 books.
These include eight psychological thrillers – with Tower of Silence long-listed for the prestigious Theakstone’s Crime Novel of the Year; the widely-read haunted house series, featuring the Oxford don, Michael Flint; and the popular series with the music researcher, Phineas Fox. The much-loved Wolfking fantasy books, written during the 1990s, were recently re-issued in ebook format.
In 2023 she launched the ‘Theatre of Thieves” series, which introduced the Fitzglens, who are very proud of their reputation as one of Edwardian London’s leading theatrical families – but who also pursue, very discreetly, another profession. When not on stage they are extremely successful thieves. The first in this series is Chalice of Darkness. It was followed by The Murderer Inside the Mirror, and The Face Stealer. Book 4 in the series – published in August 2026 – is The Haunted Tapestry.
As well as being published in America and Australia, Sarah’s novels have been translated into German, Dutch, and Russian.
My thoughts: This was an interesting blend of mystery and historical fiction. The Fitzglens own a theatre where they stage plays, the whole family is the cast. Unfortunately it looks like they might lose their home to their greatest rivals. The family are also highly successful thieves, so they decide to steal a secret treasure – a mythical tapestry – surely they can ransom it for enough to save their home?
Through diary entries and chapters from a hundred years previously we learn about the tapestry and about how the theatre came to be in the hands of a Gilfillen in the first place. While the Fitzglens plan and mount a heist, the story of this strange tapestry unfolds.
I hadn’t read the previous books and I don’t think it’s essential to have done so to enjoy this one, it’s a fun caper and a sinister history blended together, entertaining and enjoyable.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
A skeleton tied to a chair. A witness whose story unravels. A killer who’s not finished yet.
Detective Greg Geldard is still reeling from a blazing row with his partner Chris when the call comes. A body in a derelict farmhouse outside the quiet Norfolk village of Themelthorpe. Nothing in twenty-five years of policing has prepared Geldard for this. A headless skeleton bound at the wrists and ankles. And facing it, a tripod. A video camera pointing straight at the remains. The only witness is a hitchhiker whose story falls apart the moment Geldard starts asking questions.
But one thing is clear: someone wanted this woman’s death to be seen. And someone may still be watching. Because somewhere on the Norfolk Broads, another woman is already tied to a chair. Waiting for her turn in front of the camera. She has days if she’s lucky. Hours if she’s not.
Award-winning author Heather Peck has enjoyed a varied life. She has been both farmer and agricultural policy adviser, volunteer covid vaccinator and NHS Trust Chair. She bred sheep and alpacas, reared calves, broke ploughs, represented the UK in international negotiations, specialised in emergency response from Chernobyl to bird flu, managed controls over pesticides and GM crops, saw legislation through Parliament and got paid to eat Kit Kats while on secondment to Nestle Rowntree. She is author of the very popular DCI Geldard Norfolk Mysteries and her standalone thriller ‘Milestones’ won the PageTurner Book Award for best crime novel in 2024. She lives in Norfolk with her partner Gary, two dogs and two cats. See more and sign up for Heather’s free monthly newsletter at http://www.heatherpeckauthor.com
My thoughts: This is a shocking case, starting with the remains of a young woman being found in a rotting farm house. The hitchhiker who found her body has a story that doesn’t add up and as the police investigate it becomes clear something dark and terrible happened to the woman.
And then it becomes apparent that there’s another victim, a woman being slowly starved to death on camera. The online team determine she’s somewhere in Norfolk, and a task force swings into place to find her and get her help as fast as they can. But who is behind this and what is the connection between the victims, a London university and the farm where the first woman was found?
DS Geldard also has some personal stuff going on, as his partner is struggling with returning to work in a reduced capacity, and it’s throwing a lot of things up in the air. He needs to focus on the case but he can’t neglect his family.
A sinister and disturbing story of vulnerable young women being exploited and killed by a murderer without a conscience.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Two women hunting the same killer. One seeks justice. One seeks fame. Both have something to hide.
In a remote Scottish town where everyone knows everyone, the disappearance of local girl Lily Howard should be impossible to hide. But as Detective Ruth Lindsey discovers, some secrets run deeper than blood.
When internet sensation Mia Chaplin arrives to investigate, her viral YouTube videos about the case spark a media frenzy. The town divides: some worship Mia as a crusader for justice, others see her as a dangerous provocateur.
For Ruth, she’s a threat – not just to the investigation, but to the fragile peace of a community already fracturing under pressure.
As Mia’s revelations start destroying lives, Ruth realises she’s dealing with something far more sinister than a fame-hungry influencer. Because Mia knows things about Lily she shouldn’t.
And Ruth is beginning to suspect that the real predator isn’t hiding in the shadowy hills of Galloway, but broadcasting to millions from plain sight…
Charlotte Langley works as a journalist and a personal finance reporter at the Telegraph and is a fresh, breakout voice in gripping psychological police dramas.
My thoughts: This was a really good crime read, dealing with the true crime, social media investigator trend and the harm an inexperienced, non-professional detective can cause.
When Lily Howard goes missing, the police and mountain rescue are soon looking for her, but as the time goes by and she doesn’t turn up, the social media investigators start to descend, like locusts.
Mia Chaplin is one of them, but her previous case has done more harm than good, and it looks like this might be the same. As she pokes into Lily’s life, cosying up to her family, publishing unsubstantiated rumours and setting the online and irl ghouls on innocent people.
DI Ruth Lindsey is a professional, she and her team are ruling out suspects the correct way. Despite repeated warnings Mia won’t listen and continues to harass local residents and connect dots that just aren’t there.
As it becomes clear that Lily is no longer alive, Ruth and Mia are repeatedly at odds. And their confrontations are distracting Ruth from finding the perpetrator.
A really interesting, clever book with some shocking twists as a community is torn apart by accusations and mob rule.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
