blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Mark of Eternity – Murray Bailey

ramblingmads

An ancient symbol. A deadly killer. Two strangers must decode the past to survive the future

Book Two of the Egyptian Stones Trilogy – Coming Spring 2026

FBI Special Agent Charlie Reed thought the Surgeon — a notorious serial killer — was a ghost from the past. But when a new series of murders erupts, each marked with strange, arcane symbols, the trail leads Reed across continents to Egypt… and to a chilling revelation: the Surgeon has returned, and this time, his killings follow a pattern—one tied to a purpose more terrifying than anyone imagined.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Alex MacLure has uncovered more encoded messages in ancient tablets. An ancient Egyptian was searching for a forgotten symbol. His name appears in a programme written by a brilliant AI student. The student reaches out with a wild theory — but before MacLure discovers the truth, he’s arrested for a murder he didn’t commit.

Thrown together by fate and hunted by forces beyond their understanding, Reed and MacLure must unlock an ancient secret. They must stop the Surgeon before he unleashes a plan, millennia in the making.

My thoughts: A serial killer who has hidden dozens of bodies across America and now has apparently headed to Egypt, an AI program that is spewing out word maps about Alex MacLure and secrets hidden in the desert, a race against time to save his journalist girlfriend Rebecca from fanatics that believe they can bring about a new Christ by re-enacting the crucifixtion using ancient Egyptian symbols.

Alex’s job deciphering clay tablets telling the life story of an important clerk in the ancient world and his links to pharaohs and prophecy might help him find the mysterious symbol the killer seeks.

I was absolutely hooked by this next installment in Alex’s adventures, I read a lot of crime fiction so the serial killer angle was interesting too, bringing in another dimension and the FBI in the form of Agent Charlie Reed.

It’s a fast paced story, with lots of action and the puzzles Alex must translate and solve in order to save the day.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Dowager is Done In – Helen Golden

ramblingmads


A mysterious summons. A fatal hot chocolate. And a duchess who never expected mourning to be this dreadfully dull.

Hampshire, 1891. Six months into widowhood, Alice, Duchess of Stortford, is restless. Black gowns and seclusion in the country have their limits, so when Clarissa, Dowager Countess of Romley, sends a personal summons asking for her discreet assistance with a troubling matter at Lawrence House, Alice seizes the excuse for a change of scene.

But what begins as a family gathering to welcome home the Dowager’s once-disgraced son ends in shock. Clarissa is discovered dead, her passing swiftly dismissed as a heart attack. Alice knows better.

The Dowager had been afraid — and had trusted her to uncover the truth. Someone silenced her, but why? Was it to do with the announcement she made over dinner, or something even more dangerous?

Now everyone in the house is a suspect: the resentful heir, the returning prodigal, the mysterious guest with a too-familiar face. With her sharp-witted maid Maud, steadfast footman George, and her
reluctant ally Lord Rushton at her side, Alice must act quickly. If the Dowager was murdered to keep her secrets buried, the killer will not hesitate to strike again.

The Dowager is dead. The clock is ticking. And the duchess is about to discover that country house parties can be murder.

Full of clever twists and a heroine who won’t give up until she finds out the truth, A Dowager is Done-in is the perfect escape for fans of historical mysteries wrapped in wit and warmth.

Amazon UK  Amazon US


Helen Golden spins mysteries that are charmingly British, delightfully deadly, and served with a twist of humour.
With quirky characters, clever red herrings, and plots that keep the pages turning, she’s the author of the much-loved A Right Royal Cozy Investigation series, following Lady Beatrice and her friends—
including one clever little dog—as they uncover secrets hidden in country houses and royal palaces.

Her new historical mystery series, The Duchess of Stortford Mysteries, is set in Victorian England and introduces an equally curious sleuth from Lady Beatrice’s own family tree—where murders are solved over cups of tea, whispered gossip, and overheard conversations in drawing rooms and grand estates.

Helen lives in a quintessential English village in Lincolnshire with her husband, stepdaughter, and a menagerie of pets—including a dog, several cats, a tortoise, and far too many fish.

If you love clever puzzles, charming settings, and sleuths with spark, her books are waiting for you.

Instagram Facebook TikTok Twitter

My thoughts: Alice, Duchess of Stortford has been invited to the home of the Dowager Countess of Romley by the lady herself, she needs Alice’s help, but before she can explain why, she is murdered.

And so, Alice and her band of assistants, maid Maud, footman George and friends Fee and Baxter (and her reluctant brother Duncan) must find out who killed the Dowager and why. Was it her recently returned prodigal son? But if it is over the will of the Countess or something else? Alice must get to the bottom of the family’s troubles and find a murderer before it is too late.

I really like this series, Alice is clever and quick, her servants are excellent sidekicks and even chatty, scatty Fee comes in very useful in getting information on their suspects.

It’s another clever and satisfying read from Helen Golden.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: The Frost That Burns – Carliann Jean

ramblingmads

We’re thrilled to share another amazing new release from the Starlit Desires Saga! This dark fantasy romance is called The Frost that Burns by Carliann Jean!

The Frost that Burns

Part of: Starlit Desires (6 books)

Release Date: February 10, 2026

Genre: Fantasy Romance/ Why Choose

🥀Gothic underworld vibes
🩸Vampire x demons
🫦MMF romance (queer awakening)
❤️‍🩹Mental health and disability rep
💃🏼Soulmate festival
🗡️Hate to love you
😏Friends to lovers
✨Dancing under the stars
🔥Spicy spice
🤌🏻So much banter

Misery might be able to dance with love after all.

Finding a soulmate at the Starlit Festival is a dream for most souls. But for Keres, a lethal ruby vampire chained to the demands of a ruthless queen, a week of starry skies and fated love is simply another broken dream. Not all clipped wings can heal in the darkness of the Underworld.

But when her best friend arranges a week off from serving their cruel queen, Keres is content to enjoy feasting on decadent sweets and blood wine while dancing under the stars.

Until she finds her demons.

As the general of Wrath’s army, Ares has spent centuries hiding behind charming smiles and brutality. But when a mission to poison the queen’s prized weapon is thwarted, Ares finds he may be willing to remove his careful mask if it means having more of her.

Tristan, the grumpy royal adviser, knows love isn’t destined for damaged souls like him. Preferring to keep his scowling face buried in his books, Tristan is hesitant to let Ares drag him to the Starlit Festival. Rattled by a shared history of trauma and tragedy, the demons had given up on finding their soulmates.

Until they find their vampire.

As Keres and her demons embrace vulnerability and surrender to their carnal desires under the glittering stars of the festival, Keres begins to hope for an impossible future. With freedom and healing on the line, Keres, Ares, and Tristan must find the courage to love one another, and more importantly, themselves.

The Frost That Burns is an adult dark fantasy romance, where sinful desires and love can heal the darkest of trauma.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

 

TRIGGER WARNINGS:

  • Dark Themes
  • Mental Health Disorders
  • Impact of Trauma
  • Explicit Language
  • Suggestive Language
  • Violence
  • Gore
  • Manipulation
  • Sexual Assault
  • Mentions of Emotional and Physical Abuse
  • Torture
  • Forced Contracts and Slavery
  • Murder and Death
  • Forced Torture of a Pet
  • Scenes of a Sexual Nature
  • BDSM
  • Choking
  • Restraints
  • Spanking
  • Other Heavy Themes

 

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

books

Cover Reveal: A Curse So Bitter and Broken – N.A. Triptow

ramblingmads

We’re thrilled to present the cover for A Curse So Bitter and Broken: The Prince and The Enchantress by N.A. Triptow!

This is the first in a new series of romantasy duologies retelling a different Shakespeare play told from the perspective of one of the three Wyrd Sisters.

A Curse So Bitter and Broken: The Prince and The Enchantress

Expected Release Date: June 19, 2025

Genre: YA Romantasy/ Hamlet Retelling

Cover Designer: @author_n_a_triptow

Three sisters. Four time periods. And an ancient fae secret that threatens to destroy all of life itself. Follow the Florentini sisters from modern-day New York City as they become embroiled in a fae war that spans continents and time.

Seventeen-year-old Ophelia Florentini is as normal as any other high school theatre kid, except for the visions of fae creatures that fill her dreams. When her play rehearsal is interrupted by the same ageless elf who keeps showing up to save her—this time from the very creatures in her dreams—her world implodes. As centaurs, pixies, trolls, and all manner of fae attack her family restaurant in the middle of New York City, she finds herself thrown into a new world and time where the events of Shakespeare’s Hamlet are taking place before her very eyes, but not in the way she expects.

In 13th-century Denmark, Hamlet is plunged into chaos when his father, the king, is murdered. Returning from Oxford, the young prince finds that his beloved home is nigh unrecognizable. The queen blames her husband’s murder on the fae living amongst them, and she’s handing out punishments left and right. Only it might not be her doing, for, unbeknownst to Hamlet, the darkness taking root in the kingdom has been brought on by someone much older and far more bitter than the queen.

Will Ophelia be able to avoid Prince Hamlet and her seemingly inescapable death in order to stop the Harbinger of the End of Days and find her way back home, or will she end up just like her namesake?

The Wayward Chronicles is a series of romantasy duologies each retelling a different Shakespeare play told from the perspective of one of the three Wyrd Sisters from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer’s Gilded, Erin A. Craig’s House of Salt and Sorrows, and Lydia Sherrer’s Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus. A Curse So Bitter and Broken 1: The Prince and the Enchantress is a dual point of view romantic fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where the romance is integral to the story but the magic and high-stakes adventure take center stage.

PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON

 

 

COVER REVEAL ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Back for Good – Jay Jacobs

ramblingmads

Sasha Denning doesn’t ask for anything—ever. Feeling unappreciated and stuck in a
crumbling marriage with her husband, Mark, she’s suddenly given a dramatic escape: a near-death experience. Returning to life with a mission to help others, Sasha is thrust into a series of challenges that range from comical to heart-wrenching.

Zinnia, her determined but rule-bound trainee spirit guide, wants to help Sasha mend her life and marriage. But with The Spirit Guidance Rule Book restricting her every move, Zinnia faces her own struggles to prove she’s ready to qualify. When disaster looms, Zinnia must decide what matters most—her mission, her career, or Sasha and Mark’s future.

Goodreads
Purchase

Jay Jacobs, a writer and mother of two, was inspired to write after her sister shared the account of a little boy’s near-death experience. Exploring a wealth of similar stories, uncovering a fascinating and life-affirming perspective, this journey ignited her creativity, resulting in an uplifting novel intended to inspire and resonate with readers seeking hope and transformation.

Facebook Instagram

My thoughts: This was a bit different from my usual fare, narrated by trainee spirit guide Zinnia, who is watching over Sasha, a mother of three who is rather fed up with her husband Mark, who never helps out at home. After a horrible car accident, Sasha has a near death experience, and the spirit of her Gran takes her on a quick tour of her life and some people who need her help.

Recuperating in hospital, Sasha discovers she’s a bit psychic now and keeps reliving her strange experience. Recovering in record time, she’s determined to at least try to help the people she saw in her vision.

But her marriage is still in decline and her refusal to ask for help is stopping her from putting anything right in her own life. How can she help others but not herself? Zinnia is getting frustrated as she’s not supposed to directly intervene but when something threatens to completely destroy Sasha’s marriage, she can’t help herself. But has she made things or worse?

A quirky and at times very funny book about trying to do the right thing, even when it makes you seem crazy and learning that it’s ok to ask for help and not always put everyone else first.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Lost Detective – Elspeth Latimer

ramblingmads

On a summer’s day, a baby vanishes. The mystery is never solved, leaving a young
mother lost in grief.

Twenty-one years later, ex-police detective Dan Hennessy is struggling with his own
tragic loss, and when a neighbour disappears and a body turns up at the solar farm, he is desperate for answers.
The haunted landscape is keeping secrets, and there are dangers lurking in the Brecks.

Dan must find the truth.

Can he offer hope to the grieving mother, and also save himself?

Goodreads Purchase

Elspeth Latimer is an associate tutor on the prestigious  University of East Anglia MA in Creative Writing Crime Fiction, and also the author of Writing the Detectives, an academic study of the protagonist in the contemporary crime fiction series, published by Cambridge University Press.

Facebook Instagram Threads

My thoughts: Dan is a former police detective who quit after his fiancée was killed in a horrible accident, he’s still struggling. Having moved to a caravan park where he’s supposedly in charge of security in exchange for a place to live, he becomes involved in the murder of a man on the solar farm next door. His landlady also asks him to look into the cold case of her missing son, who vanished as an infant over twenty years ago.

His former colleagues aren’t happy with his involvement with the murder case, and he keeps his PI activities a secret from them, knowing it won’t go well if anyone finds out he’s digging in a case the police never closed.

His grief is causing him to do strange things, and he’s losing time. But by focusing on the cases he’s able to give his days a little more meaning. He still needs to sell the house he and Beth bought before she died, and decide what to do with her ashes. But it all seems too much, instead he’d rather hunt for a missing caravan renter and the long lost baby Felix, wading into a past some would prefer to forget.

Clever and intriguing, the cases that are helping Dan somehow, weave around each other in his head and in the story, there’s some strange things that he sees and his friend Cassie, now in his old job, gets frustrated with him a fair bit. He hasn’t lost his instincts as a detective, and digs away at things, even when officially told not to. He’s an interesting character, the reluctant detective, who wants to shut out the world but can’t resist a mystery.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Tombstoning – Doug Johnstone

ramblingmads

Your best mate just fell off a cliff in mysterious circumstances. You were the last person to see him alive. What do you do? If you’re David Lindsay from Arbroath, you leg it – and don’t go back.

Not for fifteen years. Then Nicola Cruickshank – yes, that Nicola, the girl you always fancied but never had the guts to speak to – gets in touch. She wants you back for a school reunion. At the very place it happened. Of course you say yes. Not to lay ghosts to rest, but because you still fancy Nicola.

The thing is, if you are David Lindsay, then returning to Arbroath isn’t going to bring closure. Because when someone else tumbles off the cliffs – an act the locals now call tombstoning – David has a choice: run away again, or finally find out why people around him keep dying…

Doug Johnstone is the author of nineteen novels, many of which have been bestsellers. The Space Between Us was chosen for BBC Two’s Between the Covers, while six of his books have been shortlisted or longlisted for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year or the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year.

Doug has taught creative writing or been writer in residence at universities, schools, writing retreats, festivals, prisons and a funeral directors. He’s also been an arts journalist for twenty-five years. He is a songwriter and musician with ten albums released, and drummer for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers. He’s also co-founder of the Scotland Writers Football Club.

My thoughts: I love Doug’s books (#skelfaholic) so I was excited to read this, the re-issue of his very first book. And I wasn’t disappointed. It doesn’t read like a debut, it’s as assured and clever as his most recent, this is an author who knows what he’s doing.

The story is full of twists and gets pretty dark at one point, but had me completely gripped. I could not put it down.

David and Nicola are very ordinary people, but when things get nasty, they’re also brave and resourceful. Tracing the last steps of David’s old friends before their shocking deaths, he comes to the conclusion that it doesn’t add up. It never has.

The police are looking at him, but they haven’t thought of the last member of their foursome – Neil. If David can track him down, maybe he might get some answers, or at least an idea for why two of his old pals, fifteen years apart, appear to have chucked themselves off the cliffs. When they had plenty to live for.

So begins David and Nicola’s quest. Find Neil, get some answers, hopefully lay this to rest. But of course, it’s not straightforward. And chaos ensues.

Absolutely brilliant stuff, you should get a copy and enjoy.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Stolen Sister – Jan Baynham

ramblingmads

Lost letters. A secret Greek love affair. A daughter’s search for the truth.

Crete, 1963. Young artist Greta Ellis arrives at the sun-soaked port of Fáros Limáni,
ready to paint and explore the beautiful Greek island.
When she meets passionate local Andreas Papadakis, she is swept up in a world of
colour, freedom and forbidden love. But when tragedy strikes, Greta is forced to make an impossible choice that will echo for decades.

Wales, 1984. After her mother Greta’s death, silversmith Zoë Carter receives a sealed letter that upends everything she thought she knew. Greta’s dying wish is for her ashes to be scattered in Crete, a place precious to her . . . but somewhere she had never spoken of.

Searching through her mother’s belongings, Zoë uncovers a series of letters. Written in Greek and dated the year before she was born, they reveal a passionate love affair. And a tragedy that tore it apart.

Determined to know the truth, Zoë travels to Crete to follow the trail left behind in her mother’s letters. Through the olive groves and whitewashed villages of Crete, she begins to piece together a story of love, betrayal and loss — and discovers that her
family was never what it seemed.

Goodreads
Purchase 

Fascinated by family secrets and ‘skeletons lurking in cupboards’, Jan’s dual narrative,
dual timeline novels explore how decisions and actions made by family members from one generation impact on the lives of the next. Her first three novels look at the bond between mothers and daughters as well as forbidden love.

Setting and a sense of place plays an important part in all Jan’s stories and as well as her native mid-Wales, there is
always a contrasting location – Greece, Sicily and northern France. Her next books will involve secrets and sibling relationships; the first set in 1943 and 1968 takes the reader back to beautiful Sicily where two sisters work together to prove their father’s innocence of a wrongdoing.

Facebook Instagram Twitter Website

My thoughts: Have the tissues handy! This is a bittersweet story of family, loss and love that takes us from green Wales to sunny Crete and back in time to the 1960s, when young artist Greta found love and heartbreak on the island.

Twenty odd years later, her daughter Zoë follows in her footsteps to honour Greta’s last request and scatter her mother’s ashes on the island. Why? Zoë has no idea. Her mum never spoke of the place.

What Zoë uncovers will change everything she thought she knew about her parentage, her family and her life.

I really enjoyed this book, which tugs on the heartstrings and is truly one of those books where the sad parts and the happy parts co-exist and blend together beautifully.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

books

Book Blitz: Dance of the Asuras – N. Patel Baxi

ramblingmads

Happy release day to N. Patel Baxi and congratulations on the release of Dance of the Asuras!

Dance of the Asuras

Release Date: February 24, 2026

Genre: Romantasy

  • Forced Proximity
  • Morally Grey
  • Karmic Retribution
  • Gods & Anti Gods
  • Hidden Powers
  • He Falls First
  • Tension, Banter & Spice

Freedom was her final dance, until the devil stepped onto her stage.

Niya is the most famous dancer in Khoya, bound by a contract to a kingdom that has stolen her independence. With her servitude nearly over, she is closer than ever to gaining safe passage to the revered city of Varnasi—and a life of her choosing.

But when Zehan, the Prince of Hell, witnesses her final performance, he claims her as his Chosen and drags her to the realm of demons.

Now, to gain her freedom, Niya strikes a new bargain: serve in Zehan’s court and use her magic to help him uncover who is stealing the souls of his subjects. The culprit proves elusive, and the more time Niya spends in Zehan’s world, the more her heart betrays her vow to leave.

Whirling between deceitful anti-gods and an unraveling prophecy, Niya finds a surprising source of power as she steps into an unexpected destiny…and an inescapable love.

AMAZON

 

TW:

Off-page sexual assault (not to the main character) and is only alluded to

 

BOOK BLITZ ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Overkill – Colin Garrow

ramblingmads


Edinburgh, Christmas Eve, 1936. A gruesome double murder. A white-faced killer. A mysterious stranger…

Still haunted by his recent past, Professor Finlay MacBeth is called in to assist the police following an horrific double murder. Traces of greasepaint and white cotton lead MacBeth and Inspector
Callaghan to the Christmas Circus, but while they search for clues, someone else is watching them.

Meanwhile, bent cop Kilmartin still has MacBeth in his sights…

In this thriller series set in Edinburgh, Overkill is book #2 in the Finlay MacBeth series.

Amazon  Draf2Digital


Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland. He has worked in a plethora of professions including taxi driver, antiques dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor, and has occasionally masqueraded as a pirate.

He has published more than thirty books, and his short stories have appeared in several literary mags, most recently in Witcraft, and Flash Fiction North. Colin lives in a humble cottage in Northeast
Scotland where he writes novels, stories, poems and the occasional song.
He plays several musical instruments and makes rather nice vegan cakes.

Website Twitter/X Bluesky Facebook Instagram Bookbub

My thoughts: Professor MacBeth is settling in for Christmas Eve, when Inspector Callaghan calls, a couple called McDuff have been murdered (which made me grin, any other survivors of reading The Scottish Play at school will know why).

They’ve been savagely butchered and some of their organs are missing, and the police are at a loss. As MacBeth and the inspector hunt for the killer, they find themselves directed towards the circus, in town for the festive season.

There a performer mentions being scared by a man with a strangely pale face – and striking blue eyes. Could he be their killer? The traces of greasepaint at the scene suggest a link.

More bodies turn up as the police work, also brutally slaughtered. But there’s another killer lingering in the wings with his own plans and a personal vendetta against the professor.

Absolutely gripping and sinister, I really enjoyed (if that’s the right word for a book about a murder) this book. I like MacBeth, Rhona and Johnnie, his little found family. Looking forward to seeing where this series goes next, the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.