London based lawyer Kyra Gibson returns to Martha’s Vineyard and the beach house she inherited for an extended summer holiday. Still reeling from her father’s brutal murder and the role she and the handsome detective, Tarek Collins played in uncovering it, Kyra is hopeful for some peace and quiet. But when a summer squall reveals the wreckage of the pirate ship, Keres, rich with rumored treasure, all hopes of peace are dashed. Conservationists and treasure hunters descend on the exclusive island to lay claim to the ship. When two of the salvagers are killed, Kyra and Tarek’s friend, pub owner and amateur historian, Gully Gould is arrested for murder.
Determined to prove Gully’s innocence, Kyra, Tarek, and reformed playboy Chase Hawthorn team up to clear their friend’s name. But someone wants the treasure for themselves. And with someone willing to kill for it, there is more than just danger lurking along the island’s caves and coves. There is death.
Attorney Kyra Gibson has a lot on her mind this Thanksgiving. She’s been working long hours on a multi-billion dollar corporate merger, her family is visiting from London, and her relationship with former police detective Tarek Collins is heating up. When she and her companions are invited by her aristocrat client to attend a formal gala at a historic mansion on Chappaquiddick, Kyra reluctantly agrees.
But Chappy is more than just a playground for the wealthy. It’s a wild, remote place cut off from civilization. When the first body is found, the occupants are worried. Was it an accident or murder? When a second guest is brutally killed and then a third, there’s no doubt and the guests fearfully turn on each other. They are locked in a house with a murderer picking them off one-by-one. Kyra, her best friend Chase Hawthorn, and Tarek must survive the night and find the killer, or one of them could be next.
Both novels are from the Martha’s Vineyard Murders series, which starts with A Chain of Pearls. They can be read as standalones.
Raemi A Ray’s travels to Martha’s Vineyard and around the world inspire her stories. She lives outside Boston. When not writing or traveling she earns her keep as the personal assistant to the resident house demons, Otto and Dolph Lundgren.
My thoughts: I’ve really enjoyed these books, and hopefully there will be more to come.
Set on Martha’s Vineyard, each book can be read as a standalone or as part of a series, which is how I’ve read them.
Wraith’s Return – after a long lost ship is found just off the island, rumoured to be full of pirate treasure, it brings trouble to the small community. Pub owner Gully is invested in raising the ship from the seabed, and several conservation groups are protesting the plan.
When Gully becomes a suspect in the murders of two divers, and then a local fisherman, tensions heighten. Can lawyer Kyra and police detective Tyrek help Gully clear his name and find the real killer?
The book really casts the divide between lifelong islanders and “newcomers” like Gully, Tyrek and Kyra, even though all three have links to the island. Gully is suspected even though he’s the one who was funding the divers and has no reason to want them dead. Kyra is a brilliant investigator, even though she’s not a criminal lawyer (mergers and acquisitions) she has a really good understanding of human nature and an analytical way of thinking that make her a natural sleuth.
Widow’s Walk – Kyra’s most demanding client has rented a huge historic mansion on the small neighbouring island of Chappaquiddick to celebrate a huge deal. It’s Thanksgiving, and Kyra’s family are visiting. She doesn’t want to go to the event, but her boss and the client won’t take no for an answer, including her guests as theirs.
A tribute to Golden Age crime, this is a smart and clever read, with only a few people cut off from the larger island by a storm, the phones and Internet down, when the bodies start to pile up – one of them must be a killer.
Once again Kyra and her friends must solve the crime, identify the killer and keep themselves safe and alive long enough for help to arrive. They have limited resources, a lot of places to hide and plenty of suspects.
What first seem like accidents take on more sinister aspects when they find a very clearly murdered victim, and accusations fly. A woman is missing too – is she the killer or another victim?
Kyra and Tyrek are trying to get to the bottom of the case, is it linked to the big deal they’re all in the house to celebrate or is it about something else? Who could be killing the guests?
Both books are well written and very enjoyable, I liked the characters a lot too, Kyra is a great protagonist and her group of friends and family are a pleasure to spend time with. She’s smart and resourceful and as Wraith’s Walk ends with her needing to make decisions about her future, if she becomes a PI, I think she’d make a great one.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Ismail Karaman is one of the deadliest terrorists in recent history. So why is he free to float around the Persian Gulf on his luxury yacht?
Ex intelligence agent James Ryker thinks he knows why, and the answer lies at the corrupt heart of the SIS. Ryker isn’t one to let the bad guys get away with murder, even if it means taking matters into his own hands. But Karaman has many enemies, and one in particular will make all their lives much more complicated…
They call her the Angel of Death – a former agent whose last encounter with Karaman cost her her family, and left her in a Lebanese prison cell. Now she’s free, and with nothing else to lose, she’s determined to get her revenge… whatever it takes.
Ryker and the Angel may have the same target, but that doesn’t mean they’re on the same side.
Who will reach Karaman first?
And who will still be standing when the bodies pile up?
My thoughts: Ryker has never stopped investigating the Syndicate, despite no longer officially working for any intelligence service. He’s still in touch with Winter, though and still able to access various databases. He’s tracked his strongest link to Dubai, where he lives on his fancy yacht, not exactly hiding from anyone.
Ryker plans to get to Karaman, he has questions, he’s determined to follow the trail of the Syndicate to the top. But because he’s on the outside now, he doesn’t have the access he once did and it doesn’t go smoothly.
There’s also another person involved – a former agent known as the Angel of Death – who wants to get Karaman for her own reasons. Can Ryker get his man or will Angel or the intelligence community get there first?
Another action packed installment of Ryker’s story, which sees him pull off quite possibly his riskiest mission yet. He’s become perhaps too focused on proving the existence of the Syndicate and is putting himself at risk of winding up on the wrong side of the law, and even Winter won’t be able to help him.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Award-winning author of the Annalisse series, Marlene M. Bell, brings distant friends together in the rural South only to have one of them become the victim of a brutal crime of passion.
Once celebrated for her show-stopping pastries and irresistible desserts, former celebrity chef Laura Harris is now making headlines for a far darker reason.
Laura has been accused of murder.
How could this petite chef have brutally smothered the beloved small-town matriarch, World War II ferry pilot veteran, Hattie Stenburg? Hattie wasn’t just a pillar of the community; she was Laura’s confidant and mentor. The shocking twist? Hattie’s will contained recent changes, bypassing next-of kin and leaving her entire fortune and historic estate to Laura.
As Laura scrambles to clear her name, she uncovers sinister secrets lurking beneath the town’s idyllic surface. The real murderer is always one step ahead, leaving taunting clues and threatening Laura to leave Texas—or face deadly consequences. With time not a luxury, Laura must untangle the web of deceit before the killer makes her the next victim.
In A Hush at Midnight, Marlene M. Bell twists an amateur sleuth crime mystery into a race against the clock to solve her mentor’s murder.
AmazonGoodreads For all of October the book is $1.99 on US Kindle
Marlene M. Bell has never met a sheep she didn’t like. As a personal touch for her readers, they often find these wooly creatures visiting her international romantic mysteries and children’s books as characters or subject matter. Marlene is an accomplished artist and photographer who takes pride in entertaining fans on multiple levels of her creativity.
Her award-winning Annalisse series boasts Best Mystery honors for all installments including these: IP Best Regional Australia/New Zealand, Global Award Best Mystery, and Chanticleer’s International Mystery and Mayhem shortlist for Copper Waters, the fourth mystery in the series.
Marlene also writes children’s books. Her picture book, Mia and Nattie: One Great Team is based on true events with a bottle lamb. It’s a touching story of compassion and love between a little girl and her lamb, suitable for ages three through seven years.
She shares her life with her husband and a few dreadfully spoiled horned Dorset sheep: a large Maremma guard dog named Tia, and cats, Hollywood, Leo, and Squeaks. The animals and nature are the cornerstone for Marlene’s books.
A monumental sepia-toned picture hanging over the brick and stone fireplace caught Laura’s eye, and she moved closer to investigate. She flipped the wall light switch to brighten the print’s details. A youthful Hattie in an oversized shirt and pants stood next to a four-engine bomber with a pin-up style girl painted on the fuselage.
“An iconic shot. Tell me about this one.” Laura pointed to the woman in the photo. “That’s you next to the bomber, isn’t it?” She’d remembered that particular aircraft from descriptions in long talks with Hattie. The girl standing in the photo resembled how Hattie would’ve looked in her twenties. Forties pageboy hairstyle and all.
“Me at Avenger Field in Sweetwater. That was ol’ Sheila Mae, the big girl. One of the biggest birds I’ve ever had the privilege to ferry. Did you know that B-17s take ten people to fly them on a mission?”
Laura scrutinized the giant silver aircraft and how small Hattie looked standing next to the wing.
“If you’re wondering about my baggy clothes, the girls had to wear military-issued men’s gear because all the clothes were made for men. Women flying trainers and bombers were unheard of until the WASPs, which stands for Women Airforce Service Pilots. Flying in theater was a men-only job back then. The girls asked to fly in combat, but General Peterson turned us down. He wouldn’t be responsible for women drivers getting blown out of the sky or something like that.” Hattie sighed. “The only things that kept our pants from falling around our ankles were extra wide belts and lots of elastic.” Hattie slapped her thigh and grinned, followed by a cough.
“How did you reach the pedals to fly something that huge?” Laura couldn’t imagine that petite women like herself had an easy time of it in the plane’s cockpit that Hattie had referred to as a Fortress.
“We rigged the seats with pillows so we could see above the instrument panel. We had to work out other things, but a few of us put our heads together and got it done.” Hattie reached for a glazed donut and held it up. “Try these with your coffee; they’re delish.”
“I have something you might like better. Will you be okay for a couple of minutes? I left the cooler in the car.”
“If it’s something made by your hands, I can’t wait.” Hattie set the donut on the plate and licked sugar from her fingertips. “Go ahead.” She flipped her hand toward the door. “Surprise me.”
Laura and Hattie ate the chocolate-glazed profiteroles and drank coffee for at least half an hour, catching up on so much lost time. Although writing letters was a nice pastime, it couldn’t replace a personal interaction where facial expressions said more than reading words on a page. Laura was glad she’d listened to her dad’s advice about driving a couple of hours to see her old friend. How Laura had longed for Hattie’s sense of humor and hearing the crazy recounts about her flying days.
Their near-fatal accidents were terrifying and the tales about frying donuts in their rooms and getting thrown out of the men’s local bar made Laura temporarily forget her irritation with Lucas Olsen, her latest companion of six months.
“Is Nicole a close friend of yours?” Laura asked. “You’re lucky to have someone staying with you.”
“She has her own place with Edith next door.” Hattie took another sip from her third cup of coffee. “Nicole lives at home to help out her mother and comes here to fix my meals and straighten the house. All but Warren’s office beneath the staircase. I keep his door locked with a special key.” Eating the last of her pastry had left custard on her lip. “Nicki’s a good kid. I don’t know what I’d do without her and Jordan, my groundskeeper.”
Two questions answered. Jordan cut the grass and did general maintenance on the property outside, while Nicole took care of Hattie’s indoor needs from the white house next door. Laura wondered what lay inside Warren’s office.
“Is there something I can clean or move for you in his office while I’m here?”
“All in good time.” Hattie held one eye in a wink longer than needed. “The Alamo’s behind that door.”
A conflicting statement if there ever was one.
Laura laughed as she worked through the puzzle. “Don’t tell me; Warren collected Texas battle memorabilia and you, the Staffordshire pieces?”
Hattie nodded. “Right-e-o. I’ve gathered almost every piece of Staffordshire made, large and small. The bigger specimens are upstairs.” Her eyes swept the staircase as she gripped the rocker armrest, then turned her pinpoint gaze on Laura. “I’m glad you stopped by, Laura.” She held up one bony finger. “You do look taller, though.”
A smile stretched across Laura’s face. “I wish. Still four-foot-eleven inches in bare feet.”
Hattie whisked crumbs from her lap blanket. “I adore French pastry, and your profiteroles were crackerjack. Time for a potty break.” She rocked forward with the help of her cane, tossing the throw blanket aside.
Neighbor Nicole banged through the front door with bags of groceries on a trolley cart, traipsing to the kitchen. She pulled along her heavy burden on squeaky wheels.
“I’ll help you to the bathroom. Point me in the right direction.” Laura set her coffee cup down, taking Hattie’s arm.
Hattie chuckled. “Did I ever tell you how I found Jordan trespassing in my barn?”
“What?”
“A few years ago, when I could still check the outbuildings in the mornings, I caught him sleeping in there and helping himself to the drinks in the little fridge. He was stranded on the road between towns. Poor fellow. He needed a job, so I put him to work.”
Laura was surprised at how easily Hattie had offered the stranger a job.
“I had the vacant guesthouse in back and needed the help. Mutually beneficial, as Warren would say. The guest’s quarters are over there around the corner.” Hattie pointed to her left and began coughing. “Sometimes, he takes Moonie.” Another deep-seated cough. “It keeps the little nubbin out of trouble.” Hattie’s coughing grew in intensity, and she had trouble taking breaths in between.
“Hattie, catch your wind.” Laura planted her feet, catching her friend as she lost her balance and swayed on her cane. Her coughing could bring about an embarrassing accident, and Laura knew how prim and proper Hattie would hate that. “How far to the bathroom?” she asked Nicole.
“Just go. I can handle her.” Nicole arrived on the cane side of Hattie with a fresh bottle of cough syrup. “Take a swig.”
Laura’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding. Let her breathe normally first. She’ll choke.”
Hattie patted her chest and cleared her throat as she brushed Nicole’s hand away. Between coughs and gasps, Hattie managed a goodbye wave for Laura.
“I’ll stay with Hattie tonight,” Laura addressed Nicole. “Leave the groceries for now. Hattie needs her rest. I can sit with her.”
Laura’s dear pen pal managed a smile and a short wink.
Nicole folded her arms. “She doesn’t need you. I’ll even sleep on the couch if that makes you feel any better.”
Laura was shocked by the neighbor’s wisecrack in front of Hattie.
“You aren’t making me feel better.” Laura turned to Hattie. “Will you be all right if I leave now? I’ll stay if you want.” Laura hoped that Hattie would ask her to stay, but it was up to her.
Hattie paused, looked sadly into Laura’s eyes, then nodded. “We’ll talk again soon, my girl. I’m fine.”
Grabbing her leather bag from the floor, Laura’s tears welled, spilling down her cheeks. She hated to leave Hattie with someone as uncaring as Nicole. Laura made one last turn to watch the pair move along the hardwood floor and around the staircase.
She exited into chilly blackness on the porch amid a chorus of croaking toads and nighttime crickets.
Almost to Coldspell and full of misgivings, Laura couldn’t shake her feeling of dread for Hattie’s sake. Why did she allow Nicole to steer her away? She should’ve stayed with her mentor and not bowed to the will of a neighbor she knew nothing about.
Laura had to drive back to Stenburg no matter how late it was.
She glanced at the clock on her dash, beyond caring what anyone thought about an after-midnight visitation. Even if she had to nap in her car to make the trip back to Coldspell, she wouldn’t rest until she knew that Hattie was okay.
An inky blanket hung over the property when she arrived. Not a single porch or barn light shone from the Stenburg Estate. Living this far out from town, Laura couldn’t imagine why a dusk-to-dawn light hadn’t been installed. She’d mention it to her dad. Her headlights beamed on the front door and bay window, bright enough to wake someone sleeping on the living room couch. Laura left her Subaru in park with the engine running and jogged up the steps. She knocked quietly on the huge glass pane. If she could rouse the neighbor without waking Hattie, better yet.
A dog barked in the distance. The only sound for miles. Moon Pie should’ve been with Hattie, but Laura picked up no sound from inside the estate house. Surely, Hattie’s pet would notice visitors.
The barking continued, perhaps from a nearby shelter for stray animals.
Laura cupped her hands and peered through the window but was unable to see past the dark glass cloaked by heavy curtains. She knocked more firmly with her knuckles. Other than raising goosebumps on her arms, no one inside rose to open the front door.
Nicole had lied about staying with Hattie and sleeping on the couch.
Laura’s heartbeat quickened as she pounded on the massive door, calling for Nicole or Hattie to let her inside. No human or pet could sleep through the noise she was making. She tried the door and found it as it should’ve been. Locked.
“Hattie! Is anyone in there?” Laura kicked her boot at the door in frustration.
She checked the kitchen and bedroom windows that were too high for her to climb through even if she were lucky enough to find one unlocked. She ran along the wraparound porch, calling for Hattie—her car’s right headlight spotting the way from porch to grass.
The further she went toward the back of the house, the louder the barking became.
Hattie had mentioned that Moon Pie stayed with Jordan in the guesthouse.
Wake Jordan. He’ll find Hattie.
Laura ran to her car and drove behind the building to where the guesthouse connected to the estate via a concrete breezeway. There, she found a sharp-eared corgi with her nose pressed against the window, scratching with her claws and raising all kinds of ruckus.
Where is Jordan, and why is Moon Pie alone in the guesthouse? Laura’s tingling senses told her the scene was all wrong.
She slammed the Subaru into park and faced the dog from the other side of the narrow four-foot window near the guesthouse’s entrance. Laura tried to open the locked metal door by the knob, then gave a strong shove with her shoulder. All she received for her trouble was a sore arm. When she made eye contact with Moon Pie once more, the dog wriggled its rump, whining and whimpering. Crouching to Moon Pie’s level, she placed the flat of her hand on the outside screen, trying to soothe the irate dog with her words. A small gap below the sash showed her that Jordan had left the window slightly ajar for the dog.
Laura caught a whiff of something she couldn’t describe.
Moon Pie had her red nylon lead attached at the collar, as if she’d been dropped inside abruptly.
“Sweetie, I’m coming in.” Laura removed a driving glove, pried the screen from its runners with her nails, and threw it aside.
Moon Pie stuck her nose through the opening and sniffed.
“Don’t bite my fingers.” She replaced the glove on her hand and with all her might, lifted the sash from the gap, sliding it up and open. Enough to squeeze her small frame through sideways.
Moon Pie jumped out then came back to follow her inside, barking madly at her feet. Her boot caught the dog, throwing Laura headlong into the wall. “Honey, quiet. I can’t think.” Laura groped the painted surface with her palm until she found a light switch and flipped it on.
She stood in a bedroom.
Someone lay still on the mattress. Deathly pale.
A crawling sensation moved up her spine. Jordan. As she walked closer to the person, she realized the body was that of a female, partially obscured by a bed pillow. Laura took several labored breaths and sped around the footboard—watching for the rise and fall of the woman’s chest.
A fleeting thought of Nicole went through her mind, quickly dashed by the person’s hair color. Bitterness filled Laura’s mouth and she swallowed hard. Her worst fears had come true.
My thoughts: If Laura’s career as a chef ever fails, she’d make a great detective. After her mentor and surrogate grandmother Hattie dies in what Laura suspects is murder, despite the cops originally deciding it looks like natural causes, she starts to investigate, while pushing the police to do the same.
She’s also dealing with a few other issues, there’s her widowed dad’s new “friend”, the bakery she’s helping getting back on its feet with her friend, a handsome lawyer and Moon Pie, Hattie’s corgi to take care of. And someone keeps leaving her notes telling her to get out of town.
I hadn’t read any of the author’s books and this was an excellent introduction to her work, I really liked Laura, she’s dynamic and determined, not afraid to get stuck in and do her upmost to find Hattie’s killer.
The plot was satisfying and enjoyable, there was lots of fun little details and I think we need a prequel about Hattie, as well as more of Laura’s adventures.
*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 an anonymous tip lands on his desk, DS Adam Tyler is intrigued in spite of himself. The disappearance of a young mother twenty-four years ago was big news, but the case was never solved – this tantalizing new lead is something he simply can’t ignore. But the letter has set in motion a dangerous chain of events, and Tyler’s search for the truth soon leaves him fighting for his life.
. . . LIVE IN THE PRESENT
With Tyler out of action, DC Mina Rabbani must step up to lead the Cold Case Review Unit in his absence, retracing Tyler’s steps and uncovering his secrets to figure out what he was working on. But as she begins to put the pieces together, the case starts to hit frighteningly close to home. Without DS Tyler to protect her, Mina realizes that now she’s the one with hard choices to make.
And this time she’s on her own.
My thoughts: I was really pleased to be reading this excellent addition to the Adam Tyler series, and for Mina to get her own book. Adam’s out of action in hospital, Mina needs to solve the case he was working on, and despite being told to stay away, she’s also looking into what happened to Tyler. On her own.
She’s a very capable and experienced detective, even if she doesn’t always believe in herself. The case will require her to finally open up conversation with her own family as well as dig into the case files and cross paths with an MP, who’d rather not find his late wife’s killer.
This was an excellent read, and a brilliant, complex, knotty case that Mina unravels while Tyler’s life hangs in the balance.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
We are celebrating the release of this gorgeous dark fantasy Wish by Sara Flanagan, all week long! Be sure to grab a copy today!
Wish (The Onyx Mist Series Book 1)
Publication Date: October 22, 2024
Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance
Haunted, Morally Grey FMC
Monstrous Villain
Lovers to Enemies
Female Rage
Cinnamon Roll that Could Kill You MMC
Binding Magic and Curses
Touch Him/Her and Die
Enemies to Lovers
Fated Mates
Captivating, tense, and shockingly wicked,
Wish is an adult dark fantasy full of magic, morally grey chaos, and a swoon-worthy enemy-to-lovers romance. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Harper L Woods, and Raven Kennedy.
“She glared deep into his azure eyes, bestowing him with a silent promise. He may very well be responsible for her undoing. But she would be his end.”
When Mora met Dother she expected a one-night tryst, but the man she grew to love had a different idea. He intended to keep her at any cost. Even if that meant binding her to a flask and cursing her to grant the wishes of any who held it. Though Dother meant it when he swore Mora would never truly be rid of him, he didn’t anticipate the monster she would become in the name of vengeance.
Revenge was not enough.
Three hundred years later, Mora is eternally cursed, rageful, and haunted by memories of Dother. She makes do by twisting her Keepers’ wishes to have dire, often deadly outcomes until a wish gone awry lands Mora in the hands of a new, terrifying enemy. One who knows all of Dother’s secrets and plans to use them against her.
Trapped alongside Zadriel, a brooding Fae male who despises her and yearns for her in equal measure, Mora must face a past she longs to forget. But something is hidden in the Forbidden Forest. Secrets her Keeper wishes to uncover. Secrets Zadriel would prefer to keep. As Mora is forced to fulfill a wish she knows will end in horror, she unravels the damning truth about Dother’s curse. And Mora isn’t the only one who’s doomed.
Please Note: Wish contains mature themes, explicit content, and dark elements. It is intended for an adult audience; read at your own discretion. This is the first book in a dark fantasy romance series.
Psychology With Mr. Mistletoe (Smart is Seriously Sexy Series Book 3)
Publication Date: October 22, 2024
Genre: Contemporary Romance/ Holiday Romance
Return to hometown
Best friend’s older brother
Small town romance
Firefighter
Slow burn
Secrets
She’s running the town’s holiday fundraiser, but he might just steal the show—and her heart.
Becoming the new chair for the annual Mr. and Ms. Mistletoe Fundraising Event is an honor Morgan McCann embraces. After all, the competition combines Christmas, honoring local firefighters, and raising money for victims of Colorado wildfires, a cause close to her heart. Minutes into the job, however, she discovers a certain firefighter has been nominated…a man with whom she shares a years-long secret and happens to be her best friend’s older brother.
Returning to his hometown after being gone five years had never been part of Jason Kinsella’s plan. But experiencing personal tragedy while on the job turned his life upside down. As such, competing to become Mr. Mistletoe is not at the top of his holiday to-do list. But can he really say no to the nomination and the Lady Chair who hasn’t been far from his mind the last sixteen years?
Amidst competition hiccups, nosy eyes and ears, and a secret fighting to break free, Morgan and Jason realize there might be more than holiday magic in the air.
Brigid’s Vista is the place to be this season where brains and brawn meet under the mistletoe in Psychology With Mr. Mistletoe, Book Three in the Smart is Seriously Sexy Series.
A cold-blooded killer strikes at the hottest moment: the new head of a sauna-stove company is murdered … in the sauna. Who has turned up the temperature and burned him to death?
The evidence points in the direction of Anni Korpinen – top salesperson and the victim’s successor at Steam Devil. And as if hitting middle-age, being in a marriage that has lost its purpose, and struggling with work weren’t enough, Anni realizes that she must be quicker than both the police and the murderer to uncover who is behind it all – before it’s too late…
Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. In 2011, his third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Novel and shortlisted for the Glass Key Award.
Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards and now a Finnish TV series. Palm Beach, Finland (2018) and Little Siberia (2019) have both been adapted for the screen, airing shortly, and also shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and winning the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The international bestselling Rabbit Factor trilogy is filming now for Amazon Studios, starring Steve Carell.
Antti lives in Helsinki with his wife.
My thoughts: From theme parks to sauna sales, the first in a new series from the funniest Finnish writer I’ve read is back and I am delighted.
Saunas are big business in Finland, where people have them in their back gardens and use them daily, being the best salesperson at Steam Devil, and after the murder of her boss’ heir apparent puts Anni in the police’s crosshairs, they think she’s the killer, and even more so once another one of her colleagues also dies.
There’s evidence that seems to link her to both scenes, although she insists the “bumlets” (every time I read that word, I giggle) were stolen. Then there’s her deeply weird husband who spends all his time watching old F1 races and discussing them online as well as selling related merchandise, or at least stockpiling it.
Anni’s got issues and so do the police investigating her, it’s a small place and everyone has history.
I really enjoyed this, Finland sounds like such a unique and weird place, and Antti’s books are full of utterly ridiculous and odd people. Who knew saunas would cause so much chaos!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Welcome to the tour for The Wrong Brother by Maren Jenner! Read on for more details!
The Wrong Brother: A New Adult College Romance (Wrighting the Wrongs Book 1)
Publication Date: October 8, 2024
Genre: NA Romance
Leah chose the wrong brother—she just doesn’t know it yet.
Leah Parker has always found Shawn to be the most attractive of the Wrighting brothers, and the most complicated. Which is why she chooses his predictable, steady brother, Sebastian, to date after an ex leaves her confidence shattered and reputation ruined. While Sebastian is the perfect option to ease back into the dating pool, they make better friends than lovers and part amicably.
It’s Leah’s senior year of college and she is more than looking forward to Spring Break with the brothers, until Sebastian backs out. Now she has to face the trip single and without her best friend. Shawn’s yo-yo mood swings—sweet one minute and grumpy the next—make her even more apprehensive, despite Sebastian’s reassurances that Shawn will look out for her.
Shawn loves pushing Leah’s buttons, even if it makes her think he hates her. Her angry responses to him are the only times he glimpses the fiery woman she used to be before her jerk of an ex-boyfriend got a hold of her. He misses that spitfire woman. The way her blue eyes flash when she’s mad and how she flays him with her sharp words is nothing short of amazing. But things get complicated when he’s forced to face his tangled mess of emotions head-on.
Their upcoming Spring Break trip offers Shawn the chance to own up to his true feelings, show Leah what she truly means to him and tackle the hardest task of all—convincing her that she was with the wrong brother.
Happy release week to Alli Temple! Only Mostly Dead is the perfect ghostly tale for the spooky season!Only Mostly Dead (Afterlife Incorporated Book 1) Publication Date: October 21, 2024 Genre: Urban Fantasy/ LGBTQ+
Urban fantasy
Ghost & reaper
Odd couple
Sloooooooow burn
No one tells you how much paperwork there is after you die.
I expected to wake up on a cloud where angels played harps and fed me grapes. Instead, I’m a ghost stuck in suburban Toronto. The only one who can see me is an unemployed grim reaper who’d rather play video games.
Turns out the business of dying is a train wreck. But if there was ever a girl boss who could get it back on track, it’s me. All I need is a little help from my new undead roommate, whether they want to be involved or not.
Nothing at Afterlife Incorporated moves quickly and if I don’t find a way out soon there won’t be anything left of me to cross over. They say death can be easy, but being only mostly dead sucks.
Only Mostly Dead is the first installment in the Afterlife Incorporated urban fantasy trilogy. It features a slow—so slow—burn romance that may take several books to resolve. Be patient. Death is coming…eventually. AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
My thoughts: this was a lot of fun, probably more than death really is. After dying and not being “collected” and taken to the Afterlife, anyone would be a bit frustrated. But when your life’s work was helping others get their lives sorted out – well maybe the Afterlife needs your help.
Funny, reminiscent of Dead Like Me (that was a good show) with delightful characters and a rather magnificent cat (always a good addition), there’s a lot more to the life after death! Can’t wait for book 2!
I’ve spent my entire life trying to make up for what happened that day. I was barely fifteen when I killed my mom.
Twenty years later.
I’ve turned my life around. I have a handsome, wealthy husband; two daughters who are everything to me; a stunning Connecticut beachfront home. I’m grateful for every minute that we have together.
Today I came home to find a silver-and-blue gift-wrapped box on the porch. The note inside says: Who killed Midge Lester? Midge Lester was my mom. Someone knows.
An Amazon Charts/Best Selling Author, many of McGarvey Black’s novels are also available in audiobooks and have been translated into other languages.
“I love writing twisty thrillers that keep readers guessing and hanging at the end of each chapter. Nothing makes me happier than when one of my readers tells me I kept them up all night.” —McGarvey Black
Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, McGarvey Black is married with two children and lives and writes in Florida. She loves dogs of any kind and eating ice cream with demitasse spoons to make it last longer.
My thoughts: Imagine spending years believing that only two people in the world know about the terrible thing you did, hearing that one of them was dead and knowing the other can’t tell anyone. And then finding out that that isn’t true.
Abigail doesn’t remember the death of her mother, only that she woke up holding the gun that killed her. Her boyfriend took the gun when he left town and she confessed to the local priest, which under the seal of the confessional he cannot share.
All these years later, her life is very different, but she carries her secret and her grief with her. Then a familiar face appears, one who shouldn’t be alive anymore and then another person she never thought she’d see again resurfaces in her life.
Suddenly the secret that she has kept for so long is at risk of being exposed and everything she’s built could fall apart.
Full of twists, with a likeable and sympathetic protagonist in Abigail, this was an enjoyable and intelligent thriller.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Happy release week to Alli Temple! Only Mostly Dead is the perfect ghostly tale for the spooky season!
Only Mostly Dead (Afterlife Incorporated Book 1)
ramblingmads 