Category: reviews

It’s hard to escape a brutal past.

A vicious killer is on the loose .
Victims targeted include an academic and members of Edinburgh’s high society.

When the Murder Investigation Team find out that the killer is connected to her past, DS Jane Renwick is banished to the side-lines and forced to look on as the manhunt ramps up at a ferocious pace.

Has someone from Jane’s birth family returned to haunt her?
Is one of her relatives involved?

Where will the killer strike next?

This gripping police procedural is set in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The exciting novel is the first in Val Penny’s new series of Scottish thrillers.

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Val Penny has an Llb degree from Edinburgh University and her MSc from Napier University. She has had many jobs including hairdresser, waitress, banker, azalea farmer and lecturer but has not yet achieved either of her childhood dreams of being a ballerina or owning a candy store. 

Until those dreams come true, she has turned her hand to writing poetry, short stories, nonfiction, and novels. 

Val is an American author living in SW Scotland. She has two adult daughters of whom she is justly proud and lives with her husband and their cat. 

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My thoughts: this was a really clever, gripping police procedural. Sidelined after a familial DNA match, DS Jane Renwick won’t just go home and twiddle her thumbs, she’s determined to find out whether her estranged brothers are out there – and which one of them’s a killer. She’s also picked up a stalker, is he her brother too?

The rest of the team are hard at work, looking for connections between the victims, trying to work out how the killer picked them and why, so they can stop him. Armed with Jane’s information, they’re also looking for her brothers. All three might be killers – their jobs suggest as much – as long as they’ve got the right Smiths!

I liked the characters of Jane and Rachael, their friends and colleagues, the way that even amidst terrible crimes they find time to banter and joke, stop for fish and chips, but always with half a mind on the investigation. I think this could be a really great series.

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

What if crying out for help made you a target?

Within hours of arriving in Montego Bay, Eddie Barrow and his friend Corey Stephenson witness a gruesome murder outside a bar. When the victim’s sister reaches out for help, they learn of machinations to conceal foreign corporate corruption and a series of horrific sex crimes. However, Barrow and Stephenson’s commitment to solving the case is put to the test once they find themselves in the crosshairs of a ruthless criminal network—one that extends beyond the shores of Jamaica.

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Russell Brooks is an Amazon bestselling author of several thrillers—Pandora’s Succession, Unsavory Delicacies, Chill Run, and The Demeter Code. If you enjoy heart-pounding thrillers with conspiracies, martial arts, sex, betrayal, and revenge, then you don’t need to look any further and see why these are among the best mystery thriller books of all time.

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My thoughts: this was really good, it hooked me right from the start as Eddie and Corey get involved in the terrible death of a young gay man in Jamaica. They’re there on Eddie’s book tour but after witnessing the crime, and seeing the disinterest of the police, they can’t help but look into it. The victim’s sister shows up at the book signing and Eddie promises to help.

Unfortunately Dwayne’s tragic death is part of something much bigger, a conspiracy that crosses oceans and far more complex than the two men originally think. There’s other terrible crimes all tangled up in it too, as they pursue another witness with a sad past.

Corruption, child abuse, homophobia, intellectual property theft, police looking the other way, it’s all in there. Along the way there are some powerful allies to go along with the dangerous enemies they’ve made. Eddie and Corey put their lives on the line for the truth.

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

Something slightly different today, there are three books out so far in this series – book four follows in a couple of months, and I’m reviewing book one today. However I highly recommend the whole series – details for books two and three follow my review of book one – The One Who Fell.

In the seaside town of Whitecliff, everyone looks out for each other. Everyone knows your name. And everyone knows your secrets…

Moonlight falls on the figure of the girl standing on the red-tiled roof. Her white dress and blonde hair flutter in the freezing night wind. And suddenly – she is gone.

Volunteering at the local nursing home is Millie Westlake’s one escape from the rumours that swirl around Whitecliff about her past. But speaking with elderly resident, Ingrid, as they play board games, Millie gets chills at her strange story about a young girl being pushed from a roof, somewhere across the valley…

Everybody thinks Ingrid is confused: but Millie knows how it feels to not be believed. Her parents died a year ago, and the residents of Whitecliff – such a quiet place, other than crashing waves and cawing seagulls – are convinced Millie killed them.

Desperately searching for evidence to find the girl Ingrid saw, a broken roof tile could prove Ingrid was telling the truth. But when strange footprints appear in Millie’s garden, she’s certain someone out there is watching.

Have Ingrid and Millie stumbled across something terribly dangerous? And with the town against her, will Millie have to face up to her own secrets to solve the mystery before it becomes deadly?

An utterly compelling, character-driven mystery by bestselling author Kerry Wilkinson, perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Mary Burton and LJ Ross.

The One Who Fell Audio UK Audio US Listen here

Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.

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My thoughts: I really enjoyed the author’s previous books I’ve read so I was looking forward to this and it’s cracking. A resident at the nursing home where she volunteers tells Millie she saw a woman jump off the roof of the house opposite, and while Ingrid may suffer from some confusion, she’s positive about what she saw. Millie decides to have a little snoop and soon she’s sure something is going on in the house opposite the nursing home.

But Millie isn’t a police officer, and in an unfriendly town, where people think she’s involved in her parents’ deaths, it’s going to be hard to make anyone believe her. Retired journalist Guy might have written some nasty things about her, but he might also be the only one who will help.

Millie is a great protagonist, and the hints about her past make her more interesting – why has she stayed in a town where she’s a subject of gossip, did she have anything to do with her parents dying? She’s not entirely trustworthy, she definitely has secrets. So does Guy, and between them they’re highly likely to find things out but also put people’s backs up. Digging into things could make trouble for them both, and Millie’s either incredibly brave or just has no sense of danger, not everyone likes a nosey neighbour.

This first step into Whitecliff Bay is full of secrets and mysteries, and for somewhere where people claim to know their neighbours, an awful lot goes completely unseen and unnoticed. This series gets better and better with each book, so check out the next two below too and get reading!

In the darkness, the girl slumps against the rough tree bark. Her eyes are closed, her wrists tied. As consciousness fades, her last thought is of her best friend, and how much she regrets what she did…

Seventeen-year-old best friends Nicola and Millie were supposed to have a summer night of fun and freedom in the local park. But when dawn comes Millie realises Nicola is missing. Distraught, she searches for her alone: and finds Nicola tied to a tree, her purple Converse shoes missing, her long hair cut and scattered on the ground. With no memory of what happened, terrified Nicola begs Millie never to speak of this again…

Fifteen years later. With countless secrets and hurt between them, Millie and Nicola have not spoken in over a decade. But now Nicola has found her old purple Converse strung up in her garden. Is her attacker sending a message? Why now, after all this time?

In the small town of Whitecliff, people have long memories – but Millie is the only one who can help get answers. And, as she asks questions of their school friends, she realises one of them knows more than they should about her own family secrets…

Not knowing who to trust, and knowing Nicola’s kidnapper is still out there, Millie must ask: how far will they go to keep the truth buried forever?

Fans of Faith Martin, Ann Cleeves and LJ Ross won’t be able to put down this addictive mystery read set in the small seaside town of Whitecliff, where nothing is as it seems.

The One Who Was Taken Audio UK Audio US Listen here

Up on the desolate moor, she tightens her coat against the bitter wind. The man she followed here points to a rock embedded in the mossy earth. ‘This is the place.’ But when they dig, what will they find?

Everyone in the small seaside town of Whitecliff knows the name Kevin Ashworth. Two boys disappeared thirty years ago – and although local teacher Kevin never admitted to knowing where their bodies are, he’s been in prison ever since.

Now, Kevin is finally ready to talk: but only to amateur sleuth Millie Westlake and journalist Guy Rushden. With the families of the boys desperate for answers, Guy and Millie are led to a lonely spot on the moors above Whitecliff. They’re on the moors expecting to find bodies… but what if they find something even more terrifying?

Reeling from their discovery, as Millie scours the local countryside and speaks to heartbroken families what she discovers changes everything she believes about Whitecliff and the people who live here. With rumours about her own dark past still haunting Millie, can she ever get justice for a decades-old wrong? Or as she gets closer to finding out who else Kevin has hurt, will she learn that some secrets are destined to stay buried?

An absolutely addictive mystery read that fans of LJ Ross, Mary Burton and Faith Martin won’t be able to put down.

The Ones Who Are Buried Audio UK Audio US Listen here

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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.