Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Emergency Drill – Chris Blackwater

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Shortlisted for the 2020 Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger award

Newly qualified offshore medic, Danny Verity, arrives on the Cuillin Alpha oil platform shortly before a storm damages the satellite system, severing the crew’s only mode of communication to the mainland.

Storm or sabotage?

Danny is forced to perform emergency surgery on an injured crewmate, whose accident he suspects was the result of sabotage. The man dies, a member of the crew disappears, and yet another is attacked.

Enter the Pied Piper, whose sinister announcements carry his threats through the entire platform.

While the North Sea rages around them, emotions and suspicions run high.

Danny knows he’s the only one who can stop the saboteur. But will the crew trust him?

With no way of calling in help and unable to risk escaping on the lifeboats, everyone aboard the oil platform is trapped. So is the killer… and Danny is determined to smoke him out.

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Chris Blackwater is a writer and chartered engineer from Leeds, England. His first novel Emergency Drill, book 1 in the Danny Verity, PI series, set on a North Sea oil platform, was shortlisted for the 2020  CWA Debut Dagger Award. His short stories have appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies including contributions to the much-missed Mad Scientist Journal. 

Book two in the series, Dead Crude, is  set in Orkney. Apart from Danny Verity, it features other characters who survived Emergency Drill. He is  working on a third book in the series, called Head Hunting.

Chris began writing to entertain himself whilst working on offshore oil platforms and remote power stations. His career has taken him all over the world to unusual locations and introduced him to some remarkable characters. In recent years Chris has gradually drifted down to the south coast of England where he spends his spare time learning to sail and play the flute, though not at the same time.

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My thoughts: this is a fast paced, explosive (although not literally) thriller set on a North Sea oil platform. Danny is the new medic on crew – he didn’t expect it to be this eventful.

Starting with the death of another crew member, a series of sabotage events terrify the whole platform and cut them off from the mainland, unable to get help.

Danny joins forces with some of the others on the platform to unmask the Pied Piper claiming responsibility for the incidents, and stop them before anyone else gets killed. But with supplies running low and the power almost out, time is in short supply.

Danny is an interesting protagonist – a former Military Police Officer turned medic, he has skills and experience he tries to put into use during this terrifying case. He has to rely on people he doesn’t know very well, especially Gemma, who acts as his sidekick and insider, while hiding out after almost being killed.

Using his own experiences, which hopefully wasn’t as traumatic, the author sets up this new series of high octane thrillers with a bang.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: White as Snow – Lilja Sigurđartóttir, translated by Quentin Bates

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On a snowy winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near Reykjavík. Inside are the bodies of five young women – one of them barely alive.

As Icelandic Police detective Daníel struggles to investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Áróra looks into the background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daníel’s former wife, and the connections don’t stop there…

Daníel and Áróra’s cases pit them both against ruthless criminals with horrifying agendas, while Áróra persists with her search for her missing sister, Ísafold, whose devastating disappearance continues to haunt her.

As the temperature drops and the 24-hour darkness and freezing snow hamper their efforts, their investigations become increasingly dangerous … for everyone.

Bestselling crime-writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written ten crime novels, including Snare, Trap and Cage, making up the Reykjavík Noir trilogy, and her standalone thriller Betrayal, all of which have hit bestseller lists worldwide and been long- and shortlisted for multiple awards. The film rights for the Reykjavík Noir trilogy have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Cold as Hell, the first book in the An Áróra Investigation series, was published in the UK in 2021 and reprinted twice, and was followed by Red as Blood, a number-one digital bestseller. Lilja lives outside of Reykjavík with her partner and a brood of chickens.

My thoughts: a terrible crime scene inside a shipping container, the bodies of several young women, buried underneath them, a survivor. After surviving a harrowing journey, she could provide the key evidence to stop a human trafficking ring run by Russian gangsters in Iceland.

Is there a connection between this awful case and Daniel’s ex-wife’s new boyfriend? Àróra is looking into him, as she turns out to be related to the woman in question too – is Iceland really that small?

This is an incredibly awful crime – Bola has been through a horrific experience but maybe now, with Helena’s help she might be able to start to recover and find a safe place to begin her life again.

Written with great sensitivity and detail, this might be Daniel’s hardest case yet, and his children are staying too. Luckily he has a marvellous helper in the drag queen who lives in his garden.

It also means Àróra has to put the search for her sister on hold – there’s just not enough evidence and the trail grows colder. This case could bring her and Daniel closer together, as there’s nothing specifically personal about it.

Another masterful and compelling addition to the series, once again tackling complex themes and injustices.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Just a Fika – Beck Erixson

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Family.
They’re always meddling in your love life
Even after they’re dead.
Brooklynite-and genealogist-Ingrid Ekstrom accepts a surprise request from her typically estranged family: to become the live-in caretaker of their shared historic house in the sleepy Jersey Shore town of Aegir Haven. A fun-loving cousin is quick to introduce Ingrid to the local handyman and bluegrass musician. As he fixes up the place, Ingrid digs into the house’s past and learns about the family she barely knows.
And then Mormor-her long-dead grandmother-shows up, acting as though not being in the spirit realm is perfectly normal.
Ingrid’s always yearned for stronger family connections, and it’s nice having Mormor around.
Mormor tries to set her up with a young real estate attorney who’s closer to her more thunderous, god-like personal standards than the musician with keen senses Ingrid is falling for. As lore and
legends mingle with real life, she’s torn. Mormor’s fantastical family sagas can’t actually be true, right?

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Beck Erixson writes about the beautifully awkward world of navigating the journey to true happiness through friendships, love, and family—be it blood, found, or chosen. Her stories enhance the importance of positive interconnection, even when we feel lonely. She lives on the
Jersey Shore, and can often be found either writing by the river, or in it in some way. Her short stories have appeared in Many Nice Donkeys, and Full Mood Mag.

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My thoughts: this is a bit of a strange mix of genres, from a sort of ghost story, with the dead relatives popping in, romance and family history.

Ingrid is staying in her late grandmother’s house in a rather unusual town and her Mormor (Swedish for grandmother) pops up, apparently the Norse gods (possibly Loki) allow the women of their family to come back to see their descendants.

There’s two very different brothers that Ingrid can’t choose between, a hurricane rolling in and cousins to re-bond with. All she wanted was to hang out with her family and do some genealogy research. Guess sometimes the universe (or the gods) has other plans.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Beginning of Everything – Jackie Fraser

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The Beginning of Everything is the story of Jess and Gethin, whose paths cross in the most unexpected way. Jess is running, leaving all she knows and everyone she loves behind her, with just a few treasured belongings in her rucksack. She’s escaping from the pain and trauma of a bad relationship with a bad man, gone very badly wrong. Gethin’s kindness and care takes her breath away. They become friends. But with so much hurt in her past, can Jess learn to love and live again?

My thoughts: this was a lovely book, a really enjoyable read. Jess and Gethin are delightful and I was so happy when they finally managed to actually talk about their feelings.

Jess has fled from her home, from her abusive, controlling boyfriend. She breaks into an abandoned house to keep warm, only for Gethin to one day unlock the front door. He’s bought the house. And he invites her to stay. It’s an unconventional start to a truly lovely friendship, that slowly blossoms into more.

Jess is wary of being hurt and can’t believe anyone as kind and generous as Gethin really exists. She’s easily startled and hasn’t dealt with any of the stuff that happened to her before.

But it’s such a sweet story, and Gethin is a genuinely lovely man, who cares for Jess and wants to give her the world. If you enjoy a good old fashioned romance, where you’re rooting for them all the way, then this is a book you need to buy.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Blackmail in Bloomsbury – Anna Sayburn Lane

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A bohemian party, a handsome artist – and murder.

London, October 1922. When Marjorie Swallow attends her first Bloomsbury party, she worries the conversation will be over her head. But when the night ends in murder, she has more pressing concerns.

Was the culprit really the handsome young artist she danced the night away with? And why did so many people want Betty Norris dead? From the garden squares of Bloomsbury to the smart restaurants of Piccadilly and the seedy backstreets of Soho, apprentice detective Marjorie goes on a perilous hunt for the killer.

Blackmail in Bloomsbury brings 1920s London to life in a classic murder mystery.

Anna is a writer and journalist, living by the sea on the Kent coast.

Blackmail In Bloomsbury marks a new direction for Anna’s writing, switching from contemporary thrillers with a historical back-story into cosy historical mysteries. Anna is fascinated by the 1920s, a period of enormous social change that can seem both very modern and more than 100 years ago.

Anna enjoys research in the British Library, coastal walks, summer swimming and yoga on the beach. Blackmail In Bloomsbury is her fifth novel.

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My thoughts: I must confess that I am on Anna’s ARC reader list, so I have read this delightful book several times now. But even if I wasn’t, this is a book that’s right up my street.

Historical crime fiction with a quirky and delightful female protagonist and her eccentric private investigator employer. Absolutely aimed at someone like me.

Bringing London in the 1920s brightly to life, with the fashions and cocktails of the age, as naive but determined to succeed Marjorie sets about investigating.

This series is only just beginning, and I am so excited to see where it goes. I love Marjorie, she’s naive about a lot but does understand people and it helps her get to the bottom of things. She’s a natural detective and her skills can only improve.

You can get a free short story about Marjorie and how she got her job if you sign up to Anna’s mailing list, which I also recommend.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

#TeamScilly Blog Tour: Double Review – Devil’s Table & The Brutal Tide – Kate Rhodes

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A MISSING CHILD
St Martin’s is shrouded in bitterly cold fog when Jade Minear and her twin brother, Ethan, are attacked in a field, late at night. Ethan manages to return home but the shocking events of Jade’s disappearance have rendered him mute.

A LONG-HELD GRUDGE
On a small island where there are few places a child can hide, DI Ben Kitto must battle the elements to search for Jade. When his investigation reveals that the Minear family have many enemies on the island, Kitto grows increasingly worried that Jade is in danger.

A KILLER HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT . . .
Meanwhile, someone on the island knows exactly where the girl is. Someone with a deep-seated hatred of Jade’s family. To find the truth, Kitto must investigate the lives of the people he has known all of his life. Because one of them is lying – and it isn’t long until a body is found . . .

My thoughts: families aren’t always the safe place they should be, and when Jade, one half of the Minear twins, goes missing at the height of her family’s busy flower harvest, secrets and suffering inside the family threatens to overflow.

Ben’s investigating brings him into close contact with Jade’s twin, Ethan, who communicates mainly through music, as Jade was his voice. Can Nina bring him out of his shell and help him tell Ben what happened and where his sister is?

Someone holds a grudge against the family, and Ben has to work through each member and their secrets, trying to find out who and why they hate the Minears so much. It gets pretty dark as more members come under attack, and the final revelation shatters some. But once again, Ben and his team work together to break through the tough hard knit community prejudices to solve a terrible crime, with reverberating consequences for the island.

REVENGE
DI Ben Kitto made many enemies in his time working as an undercover officer for the Met police, none more ruthless and calculating than gang leader Craig Travis.

IS WORTH
Travis has longed to make Kitto pay for his role in getting him convicted – and that day has finally arrived. Now, a dark and twisted killer is heading for the Scilly Isles, one who has waited a long time for revenge.

WAITING FOR . . .
With Kitto busy investigating the discovery of a body on the islands and distracted by the imminent arrival of his first child, his defences are down. He has so much to lose.

And Travis will stop at nothing to take it all from him.

My thoughts: before Ben returned to the Scillies, he worked undercover bringing down a criminal gangster, who is now dying in prison. The one person who loved that man the most is his daughter, and taking the lessons her father taught her, she has decided the time has come for revenge on those, like Ben, who betrayed him.

As she ticks off her list, travelling across England, with Ben last in her sights, she comes to the attention of the police. They want Ben on the mainland, but he knows he’s safer tucked away on an island, or is he?

Can he stop the killing, and will a different way of life stop Ruby from making any more mistakes?

This is definitely the most personal case Ben has investigated yet, the islanders have nothing to do with it, he’s brought this to them and with Nina and Shadow also potential victims, he has to stop the violence before they are harmed, or he is. The tension is incredible and the fact is that while being isolated on an island can be protection, it can also make you more vulnerable, cut off from help.

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

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Blog Tour: A Long Time Burning – J A Higgins

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Nell has had a terrible year, so she travels to North Chase to find some true Christmas magic. But the town has its own problems; its solstice festival is tainted by the disappearance of two teenage boys and a witch’s curse is blamed.
Then, nine-month-old Ava is threatened. Has a medieval killer been awoken or does something else haunt the woods?
Nell must battle through horrific nightmares and face her own demons to expose the truth before another child is spirited away. There is magic in the air this Christmas, but behind the tinsel and
baubles glitters a terrifying secret that one family has hidden for centuries, and only Nell can uncover it.

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J A Higgins was born and raised at Porton Down in Wiltshire, and currently works for the NHS in Salisbury. She has always been fascinated by history, crime and the unexplained.
A Long Time Burning is the second book in the Nell Montague Mystery series which explores how horrors from the past are still very relevant today. The first book, Finding Ruby, was a Page Turner Book Award winner in 2021.

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Giveaway to Win a signed copy of A Long Time Burning and matching bookmark (Open to UK Only)

My thoughts: Nell decides to spend Christmas alone in North Chase, where her grandmother grew up. It’s an old place, with lots of history and traditions. Surely there she can find some peace.

But ghosts of old curses, tales of witches buried at the crossroads and other spooky stories abound and Nell, along with her friends Max and Austin, is drawn into the mysterious goings on. Is it an ancient curse or is someone very modern threatening the local lord of the manor’s baby daughter?

Full of ghosts and folk tales, North Chase ends up being the worst place Nell could have picked, and then there’s the appearance of her estranged father to contend with too. Thankfully her friends are there to help her and between them they solve some mysteries before Christmas Day is ruined by ghostly noises and modern day murder.

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

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Blog Tour: You’d Look Better as a Ghost – Joanna Wallace

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I have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die. Of course, it helps that I’m the one killing them.

The night after her father’s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn’t know it, but it’s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, even before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby.

The thing is, it’s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavement support group and trying to get her art career off the ground. Let the games begin…

Dexter meets Killing Eve in this superb thriller, perfect for fans of How To Kill Your Family and My Sister the Serial Killer.

Joanna Wallace worked as a solicitor until an autoimmune condition took away some of her sight. She now volunteers at a charity helpline and runs a family business with her husband. She was partly inspired to write You’d Look Better as A Ghost following her father’s diagnosis of early onset dementia. Joanna lives near London with her husband, four children and two dogs.

My thoughts: there’s a particular sub-genre of pitch black humour that really appeals to me, and this book has plenty of that. Is it the serial killer narrator? Is it the fact that her killings have no real overarching reasons? I don’t really know. I think I just enjoy the twisted darkness of these books a lot.

Claire kills people, people who annoy her, people who get in her way, there’s a man’s head in her fish tank, there’s probably several bodies in her garden. And the thing is, I get it. I have often become irrationally annoyed with people and wanted to kill them. I just haven’t acted on that impulse. Claire however, has no such qualms.

Unfortunately someone has been watching her, and so now they must die. And anyone involved in their scheme. Claire can’t have the police popping round.

Dark as Marmite and very much a book some people will hate, but I loved it. Yum.

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

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Blog Tour: The Time of Cherries – Michael S. Hollington

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Burgundy, 1861.

Christine ‘Kiki’ Vellay, the daughter of vineyard workers, is forced to marry an older man in exchange for a piece of land. He abuses her. Seduced by a young naval cadet she plots to run away. When her husband is killed during the attempt, she finds herself wrongly accused of his murder.

Kiki is on the run.

On reaching Paris in disguise, Kiki discovers she is pregnant and takes on various jobs to survive. When her child is stolen from her, she begins a desperate attempt to find him. Her story takes her from imprisonment in the infamous Conciergerie, to a chateau in the Loire, back to Paris under siege – as a spy – during the Franco­Prussian war, culminating in a dramatic conclusion in the final bloody week of the Paris Commune.

A story of resilience in the face of immense hardship, The Time of Cherriesis a gripping account of a woman’s instinct and longing for her child.

Michael S Hollington qualified as a chartered surveyor. After spells in the City, Belgium and North America he spent the bulk of his career in Hong Kong, selling buildings on behalf of clients. He lives in London with his wife, Sarah. The Time of Cherries is his first published novel.

My thoughts: this was a really interesting, well written and researched historical novel with a delightful and compelling protagonist in Christine “Kiki” Vellay, who sometimes uses a lot of different names as she works her way through the 19th Century and Paris at the height of the Commune.

A resourceful and brave young woman, after the death of her horrible husband, she flees to the capital and using her wits and the skills she’s accrued as an educated seamstress, she takes on a variety of jobs, from chambermaid to accountant for a mining firm, eventually becoming a Baroness and a vintner.

Her son is kidnapped and she puts much of her efforts into rescuing him and building her finances so she can provide for him. She makes genuine friends along the way, as well as some false ones. Becoming a spy, she is double crossed but rescued once again by a face from her past.

I really enjoyed this book, it brings a period of time that doesn’t get covered much, to life and in the figure of Kiki, the hidden and often forgotten lives of ordinary women (even though she is pretty extraordinary).

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

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Blog Tour: I Spy With My Little Die – Helen Golden

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Uncovering a web of conspiracy that intertwines past and present, can Lady Beatrice and DCI Richard Fitzwilliam catch a killer and unveil the truth of her husband’s death at long last?

BREAKING NEWS

Second Senior Police Officer Dies Within a Week
A senior officer from the Protection and Investigations (Royal) Services died unexpectedly yesterday.
His death comes hot on the heels of Detective Inspector Ethan Preece (43) from City Police, who died of a suspected heart attack last week. Although he’s not yet been named, the dead officer was a
greatly respected public figure, who had served in policing for over thirty years. A PaIRS spokesperson has confirmed that ‘neither men’s death is being treated as suspicious at this time’.

With the senior PaIRS officer dead, so is any hope of reopening the inquiry into Lady Beatrice’s husband’s accident fifteen years ago. Unless, of course, there is something that links the two men to
the earl’s fatal car crash?
Can she and Fitzwilliam, along with their friends, work together to unravel the mystery and catch a killer before the truth is buried forever?


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Hello. I’m Helen Golden. I write British contemporary cozy whodunnits with a hint of humour. I live in a small village in Lincolnshire in the UK with my husband, my step-daughter, her two cats, our two
dogs, sometimes my step-son, and our tortoise.
I used to work in senior management, but after my recent job came to a natural end I had the opportunity to follow my dreams and start writing. It’s very early in my life as an author, but so far I’m loving it.
It’s crazy busy at our house, so when I’m writing I retreat to our caravan (an impulsive lockdown purchase) which is mostly parked on our drive. When I really need total peace and quiet, I take it to a
lovely site about 15 minutes away and hide there until my family runs out of food or clean clothes

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My thoughts: this series just gets better and better, and finally Lady Bea might just get some answers to the mysterious death of her husband fifteen years ago – or not. As two of the police officers with links to the case die one another the other – of suspected sudden heart attacks but DCI Fitzwilliam doesn’t believe in coincidences.

Digging into the deaths, and armed with some interesting ideas from the autopsy, he’s pretty sure there’s foul play afoot. But does it have to do with the investigation into the past or is it something else?

Bea is also dealing with moving back into the Dower House, the home she left pregnant and widowed, for her parents’, but now, with her son away during the week at school, it’s time. Or so she thinks, she just needs a spot of redecorating with Perry’s assistance and hopefully it will feel like home again, but minus any bad memories.

Another brilliant book and the title made me laugh. Intelligent and enjoyable, I can’t wait for the next one.

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