Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: End Game – Liz Mistry

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Four dead bodies. One missing person. Let the game begin.
When an anonymous tip-off leads Detective Nikki Parekh and DS Sajid Malik to the sprawling Salinger estate, Nikki’s senses are on high alert. The brutal murder of all four members of the
Salinger family has shocked the sleepy Bradford village to the core.
A mother, father, daughter, and son. . . all killed in exactly the same way – whilst sat around the coffee table, playing a game of Monopoly.
But Nikki notices that there are five pieces on the board. One of the players is missing… Did they manage to escape the killer, or was the killer part of the game?

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Born in Scotland made in Bradford sums up LIZ MISTRY’s life. Over thirty-five years ago she moved from a small village in West Lothian to Yorkshire to get her teaching degree. Once here, Liz fell in love
with three things: curries, the rich cultural diversity of the city… and her Indian husband (not necessarily in this order). Now thirty years, three children, Scumpy, the cat, and a huge extended family later, Liz uses her experiences of living and working in the inner city to flavour her writing. Her gritty crime fiction police procedural novels set in Bradford embrace the city she describes as ‘Warm, Rich and Fearless’, whilst exploring the darkness that lurks beneath.
Having struggled with severe clinical depression and anxiety for many years, Liz often includes mental health themes in her writing. She credits the MA in Creative Writing she took at Leeds Trinity University with helping her find a way of using her writing to navigate her ongoing mental health struggles. Liz’s PhD research contributes significantly to debates concerning issues of inclusion and
diversity of representation within the most socially engaged genre of contemporary crime fiction.
Being a debut novelist in her fifties was something Liz had only dreamed of and she counts herself lucky, whilst pinching herself regularly to make sure it’s all real.
You can contact Liz via her website.

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My thoughts: I really enjoy this series, I love the relationships between the characters, especially Nikki and Saj, and the rest of their team. Their boss DCI Abad is more prominent in this book, which as he’s dating Nikki’s sister is nice, because he’s becoming more of a part of her found family. And as there’s a wedding on the horizon – family is in Nikki’s mind.

There’s a murdered family, all sat round the table playing Monopoly – a game that definitely causes a few feuds and fights, but murder? When they look deeper, it seems there’s more going on. The eldest daughter went missing years before, is there a connection here?

Gripping as ever, this case moves between several different narrators and time periods – showing us a dark, hidden world, that Nikki and her team will bring to light and put an end to. It also seems to involve some of the more senior police figures, will that change things for the better?

Make sure you read the author’s note at the end, Liz is an interesting person and it’s always fun and insightful to learn about the inspiration behind an author’s work. I thought this was a particularly poignant 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.

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Blog Tour: After the Rain – Susan E Jones

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It is the late summer of 1910 and Bessie Hardwicke, thirty-nine years old and single, has just started work as a lady’s companion to widowed Fanny Grist in London. 

The change is momentous for Bessie and she constantly questions whether the move was a big mistake. 

Life in London is so different from what she’s been used to and she desperately misses her dear nephew Walter, whom she looks upon as a son.

There is no denying that she is badly in need of a change. Even after twenty years, she is still grieving the loss of her fiancé Arthur and beloved sister Ethel.

But she is not alone in her grief. 

Those she comes into contact with in London are no less afflicted by the loss of loved ones than she is. And through her compassion and selflessness, Bessie bestows on others the priceless gift of irrepressible hope.

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I grew up in Stroud in Gloucestershire but was always keen to travel and embrace new experiences. For many years I lived and worked abroad – in Brussels, Rome, Abidjan and Washington DC – working mostly with international organisations in various roles ranging from editing to budget preparation.

When I finally decided it was time for me to return to the UK, I chose Penzance in Cornwall as my home and was able to devote most of my free time to writing. This had long been my ambition. Long daily walks along the South West Coastal Path give me both a sense of wellbeing and an opportunity to think about ideas for my next novel.

I self-published three novels between 2016 and 2020. These were, however, basically fictionalised autobiographies and would not have attracted an audience beyond family and close friends. After the Rain is the first purely fictional novel I have written. It was inspired by the contents of my great-great aunt’s postcard album, which somehow ended up my possession. Many of the postcards are from her nephew and they captured my imagination, giving me a glimpse into life in the early 1900s.

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My thoughts: this is a gentle novel set in the 1900s about a woman who, after a long career in service, takes a new role as a lady’s companion in London and finds her whole life starts to change.

Bessie Hardwicke is a kind, friendly soul, her one great love, Arthur, a thatcher, died and so she never married. She has a few close friends and is particularly fond of her nephew Walter, who sends her postcards and letters from his travels as a stonemason, specialising in repairing in old buildings, like churches.

Inspired by the author’s own great-great-aunt’s postcard collection from her nephew, Bessie’s life blossoms when she becomes involved with two young orphans and is befriended by the local pharmacist. While her employer is somewhat mercurial, these new relationships, and that of her close friend Patty and her family, bring a new lease of life and happiness to Bessie’s quiet world.

While I wouldn’t call it action packed, this is a sweet story about life in 1900s London during the early reign of George V, ordinary people, and the fact that life is never so short as to be without happiness and surprises at any age.

*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: Her Last Chance – HJ Reed

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A bullet to the brain. An estranged daughter. And a spate of brutal murders.

A bullet lodged in the frontal lobe is bound to cause a few health issues. For DI Al Crow, it’s just the beginning.

When his estranged daughter Rosie is accused of being involved in a grisly murder, Crow becomes her only hope of being acquitted.

Desperate to save his daughter, Crow goes all out to solve the case. He knows this is a chance to repair a rift that has torn his family apart and to prove to his bosses that he’s still up to the job.

The stakes are high, but things are complicated.

To solve the murder, Crow must reckon with his ex-wife’s connection to a seasoned, ruthless conman and Rosie’s relationship with a dangerously unstable psychologist. Can he crack the case and save his family and his career?

Her Last Chance is an intricate crime thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page.

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H J Reed lives and writes in Bristol, where she graduated with a PhD in psychology and began a long career lecturing in psychology and criminology, both in mainstream universities and in the prison education system. Her evenings were spent writing novels and short stories in various genres and styles, and pondering on the strange workings of the criminal mind. After a number of publication successes, she gained an MA in creative writing and went on to teach literature and the arts.  Now, she is able to follow her lifelong passion and write crime fiction full time. When she is not writing, she can be found being taken for long muddy walks by a middle-aged, temperamental toy poodle, or in far-flung foreign cities thinking up new plots.

This is HJ’s first DI Crow novel published with Inkubator Books.

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My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book, DI Crow is exactly my sort of curmudgeon. He’s on sick leave after a horrendous injury but swiftly on the case when his daughter Rosie is accused of assisting a murderer in escaping from the psychiatric hospital she works in.

Both he son-in-law John, know she’s innocent, but how to prove it? There follows an incredibly complex and twisting plot, the scheme behind it, the links to two other far flung similar cases (one in Spain) and several other incidents are somewhat tenuous, but Crow’s boss believes him. So they just have to tie it all together and nab the real suspect. Easy.

Totally gripping, excellent writing, clever, suspenseful and enjoyable. I look forward to more DI Crow books from their new home at Inkubator.

*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 School Trip – Miranda Smith

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They should have been watching. But my little girl is gone…

On this crisp October day, the class of six-year-old children are wrapped up warm in gloves and coats for their trip to a local farm. They giggle as they stroke the animals and search for the perfect Halloween pumpkin, and as I watch my daughter Claire race off with her friends, the pink ribbon in her hair bouncing, I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s been so hard since my husband died and my sweet little girl deserves to be happy.

But as the sun sets and the teachers gather the children, Claire is nowhere to be seen.

We call the police and frantically scour the fields and playgrounds, my heart breaking as I cry out Claire’s name. And then a detective shows me a video: my daughter, skipping away from the farm, holding hands with an adult in a bulky coat, their cap pulled down low.

My blood turns to ice. Claire would never leave with a stranger. Whoever took her must be someone I know.

But who could want to punish me this badly? Is it linked to the night I refuse to think about—the terrible night my husband died?

Did my mistakes put my baby girl in danger?
Can I save her by finally facing the past?
Or will I lose her forever when the truth comes out?

A brilliantly twisty thriller that will have you gripped from the first page to the final reveal. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell.

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Miranda Smith writes psychological and domestic suspense. She is drawn to stories about ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Before completing her first novel, she worked as a newspaper staff writer and a secondary English teacher. She lives in East Tennessee with her husband and three young children.

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My thoughts: I don’t have kids, but I did used to work with them, and with the same age group as the class in this book. You cannot take your eyes off them for a second. And a second is all it takes for little Claire to disappear. Who has her and why? Is it someone close to the family or is there a link to her father’s tragic death two years before? Who can be trusted?

The twists and turns just keep coming, it’s hard to know which characters are being truthful, they all seem to have things to hide, and as events develop, more coincidences occur – detectives never like those. Will they get Claire back safely? Well, you’ll have to read it to find out!

*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 Forgotten Palace – Alexandra Walsh

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In an underground labyrinth a lost soul wanders, waiting for revenge, waiting for love…

London 1900
Alice Webster has made the worst decision of her life. When her Aunt Agatha offers her the chance to go on a Grand Tour she jumps at the opportunity to get away from the glare of scandal. Heading off to see the world as the century turns, Alice begins to believe her broken heart can be healed, and a chance encounter on a train bound for Paris changes everything. When their journey takes them to a Cretan house thick with history, and the world-famous dig at Knossos, stories from the past begin to echo through Alice’s life.

London Present Day
Eloise De’Ath is meant to be a grieving widow. But if people knew the truth about her late husband, they’d understand why she can’t even pretend. Needing to escape, Eloise heads to Crete and the house her father-in-law Quinn left her, and slowly Quinn’s home begins to reveal its mysteries. In his office Eloise discovers his life’s work: the study of the Victorian excavation to find the Minotaur’s
labyrinth. Fascinated by the diaries of a young woman from the dig, Eloise is drawn into Alice’s tale of lost love and her growing obsession with Ariadne, the princess of the labyrinth.
Three women divided by time but connected by the long-hidden secrets of the past. As their stories join in a golden thread, a terrible injustice might finally be undone…
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Alexandra Walsh is the bestselling author of dual timeline historical mysteries, previously published by Sapere. Her books range from the fifteenth century to the Victorian era and are inspired by the
hidden voices of women that have been lost over the centuries. Formerly a journalist, writing for national newspapers, magazines and TV, her first book for Boldwood will be published in Spring 2023.

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My thoughts: I have always been fascinated by myths and legends and Crete contains so many of them, predating the Ancient Greeks too. No wonder Alice and then Eloise are drawn into the story of the Minotaur and the labyrinth.

Moving between the two women, and a mysterious third figure – Ariadne, the story weaves an intriguing web of love and loss, sacrifice and suffering from the ancient world to the present day. Both Alice and Eloise find healing in Crete, and new hope for their futures.

A beguiling and evocative book, replete with archaeological digs, myths and love stories, oh and lots of delicious Greek food. One to keep you dreaming in your living room.

*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: Death Before Coffee – Desmond P. Ryan

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By 2:27 on a Thursday afternoon, the one-legged man from Room 8 at 147 Loxitor Avenue had been beaten to death with a lead pipe. Twenty-eight minutes later, Detective Mike O’Shea is testifying in a stuffy courtroom, unaware that, within an hour, he will be standing in an alleyway littered with beer cans and condoms while his new partner uses a ballpoint pen to flick bugs off of a battered corpse. 

When a rogue undercover copper leaves Mike balancing what is legal with what is right, an unlikely rapport develops between Mike and the lead homicide investigator, a cop’s cop in stilettos. 

At the end of his seventy-two-hour shift, three men are dead, and Mike O’Shea is floating in and out of consciousness in an emergency room hallway, two women by his side.

In the second of the Mike O’Shea Series, Death Before Coffee weaves a homicide investigation through the life of an inner-city police detective intent on balancing his responsibilities as a son, brother, and newly single father with his sworn oath of duty and the promise he made himself to find the man who murdered a former partner.

Born and raised in Toronto, Desmond P. Ryan graduated from UofT and joined what was then the Toronto Police Force. He has been a front-line officer, a beat cop, a patrol sergeant, an instructor at the Toronto Police College, and a detective over the almost thirty years of his career.

Whether as a beat cop or a plainclothes detective, Desmond dealt with good people who did bad things and bad people who followed their instincts. Now a retired detective, he writes crime fiction. Des is presently working on the Mike O’Shea Series and the Mary-Margaret Series, both published by Level Best Books.

Desmond lives in the Toronto neighbourhood known as Cabbagetown, where he can be seen wandering about, considering his next plot point or on his way to the pub.

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My thoughts: we rejoin Detective Mike O’Shea 13 years after the events of 10-33 Assist PC which have shed his optimism, he’s not that cop any more. Now he just wants to get through the day and get a decent cup of coffee at some point.

That’s not to say he’s not a good detective, he is, one of the better ones, but he’s a bit more jaded, a bit less hopeful. And they still haven’t arrested Sal’s killer. Now with several cases on the go, in court and at the station, Mike’s a busy man. His personal life’s in free fall, he hasn’t had time to iron his clothes and there’s a murderer to find. All in a (very long) day’s work.

There’s plenty of action and familiar faces from the first book pop up, adding to the continuity. It’s the same city, but different, the passing of time and all that. But there’s still Sunday dinner at his mother’s, there’s still crime and he still hasn’t really spent any time with his son Max. The only rest he really gets is a trip to A&E.

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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: From The Ashes – Melissa Addey

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They called it the Flavian Amphitheatre. We call it the Colosseum. Let the Games begin.
Rome, 80AD. A gigantic new amphitheatre is being built. The Emperor has plans for gladiatorial Games on a scale no-one has ever seen before. But the Games don’t just happen by themselves.
They must be made. And Marcus, the man in charge of creating them, has just lost everything he held dear when Pompeii disappeared under the searing wrath of Vesuvius.
Now it will fall to Althea, the slave woman who serves as his scribe, to ensure the Colosseum is inaugurated on time – and that Marcus makes his way out of the darkness that calls to him.
Can a motley crew comprising a retired centurion, slaves, a prostitute and an ex Vestal Virgin pull off the greatest gladiatorial Games ever seen? Or will they fail and find themselves in the arena as
punishment? Time is running out to deliver an unforgettable spectacle.
From the Ashes is the first, fast-paced novel in the gripping new Colosseum series. Follow the quick-witted and fiercely loyal backstage team of the Colosseum through the devastation of Pompeii,
plague and fire. This is historical fiction at its most captivating: both action-packed and tender.
Take a front row seat at the Colosseum’s inaugural gladiatorial Games. Buy From the Ashes today.
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Melissa Addey writes historical fiction set in Ancient Rome, medieval Morocco and
18th century China. She is a fulltime self-published author and runs workshops for authors wanting to be entrepreneurial. Her books have been selected for Editor’s Choice by the Historical Novel Society and won the inaugural Novel London award. She has been the Leverhulme Trust Writer in Residence at the British Library, has a PhD in Creative Writing and works with the Alliance of Independent Authors on their campaigns.
If you’d like to try her writing, visit http://www.melissaaddey.com to pick up a free novella, The Cup.
Website – where readers can get a free novella that starts another series (medieval Morocco).
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My thoughts: return with me to the first century CE, a time of great upheaval and the horror of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the destruction of Pompeii and the construction of Rome’s famous Colosseum.

Greek slave Althea is given to Marcus, the director of the Colosseum’s inaugural festival of games, as his scribe. But she becomes his friend after his family die amid the chaos of Pompeii. She is instrumental in getting him back to Rome and back to work, before their masters realise he left the city. There isn’t a lot of time to organise the kind of events that will satisfy the emperor, and the crowds.

This was a fascinating and interesting read, vividly bringing the past to life, the sights, sounds, smells of ancient Rome, the people who lived in its streets, the sheer number packed into what’s actually quite a small amount of space. The characters are well created too, I liked Althea and the friends she makes, from Fausta the former prostitute to Julia – once a Vestal Virgin, now their landlady. There’s plenty of action to keep you interested and the story itself, full of tragedy and loss, as well as the creating and staging of the epic spectacle in the Colosseum is enjoyable and draws you right in.

*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: Home Sweet Home – Amy Lavelle

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Four sisters. One house. It’s about to get messy…

Poppy, Saffron, Rosemary and Sorrell might be sisters, but they could not be more different…

Oldest Poppy has hit all the milestones before turning thirty, but constantly being in control is starting to feel a bit suffocating; peacemaker Saffron will do anything to keep her sisters together even at her own expense; Rosemary has crafted a perfect façade, but cracks in her engagement are beginning to surface; youngest Sorrell is pregnant after a one-night stand, and is determined to do it all on her own for once – without any help from her sisters!

But when they inherit their family home, the four must make the decision to keep or sell the house – and they’re about to discover that no one gets under your skin quite like family…

Can they ever put their differences aside and find a way to move forward together?

Heartwarming, uplifting and hilarious, Home Sweet Home is a novel about sisters, misunderstandings and growing up. Perfect for fans of Emma Gannon, Olivia Beirne and Helly Acton.

My thoughts: sibling relationships are complicated, and I only have the one sister. I think I’d go mad if there were more. In this book, there are four. All with floral names – Poppy, Saffron, Rosemary and Sorrel. All very different people, dealing with their lives in their own way. And now they’ve been given the family home to squabble over, as their rather absentee parents have decided to base themselves permanently in France.

This adds further strain to a not entirely harmonious sibling relationship. Poppy gave up her childhood to help look after her younger sisters, Saffron has always been the organiser, looking after the others, Rosemary feels a bit invisible and neglected and Sorrel as the youngest, would appreciate not being told what to do all the time.

None of them have ever really aired their resentments and grievances, so nobody realises how they feel, but somehow the house is bringing old grudges to the surface and it’s probably time to have it out so they can all move on.

Narrated in turn by each of the sisters, you see the stuff that’s really going on, how each of them feels unhappy with aspects of their lives, how they mess things up and how they feel they can’t talk to each other. Which is a bit sad really. Thankfully they do eventually actually sit down and talk, and deal with some of the stuff each of them has been hanging onto for years.

I really enjoyed this book, although I found the sisters a bit annoying in different ways, but was pleased when they finally got over themselves and made changes for the better. An interesting look at family dynamics.

*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 Truth for a Truth – Carol Wyer

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DI Kate Young’s team is hunting for a killer. What they don’t know…is that the killer is her.

DI Kate Young has known for years that her boss, Superintendent John Dickson, is a violent and evil man. But when she finally confronts him and accidentally shoots and kills him, she’s forced to cover her tracks before anyone can pin his death on her. With revelations about his corruption soon to become public knowledge, Kate sets up a trail of evidence to make it seem that Dickson has conveniently vanished…

But Kate knows the corruption doesn’t end with Dickson. As she heads up the team investigating his supposed disappearance, she also pursues other loose ends. Stanka, the sex worker who supplied the evidence against Dickson, leads her to crucial information on another corrupt officer, DI Harriet Khatri, and her dubious involvement with sex traffickers.

As the noose starts to tighten on Kate, she finds herself targeted by traffickers, the bent cops on her force and even her own team of detectives. Can she stay one step ahead of them all and bring Harriet to justice? Can she trust anyone around her? And can she possibly get away with murder?

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USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer’s crime novels have sold over one million copies and been translated into nine languages. 

A move from humour to the ‘dark side’ in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in Little Girl Lost and proved that Carol had found her true niche.

February 2021 saw the release of the first in the much-anticipated new series, featuring DI Kate Young. An Eye For An Eye was chosen as a Kindle First Reads and became the #1 bestselling book on Amazon UK and Amazon Australia. 

Carol has had articles published in national magazines ‘Woman’s Weekly’, featured in ‘Take A Break’, ‘Choice’, ‘Yours’ and ‘Woman’s Own’ magazines and the Huffington Post. She’s also been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ”Irritable Male Syndrome’ and ‘Ageing Disgracefully’ and on BBC Breakfast television.

She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband Mr. Grumpy… who is very, very grumpy. When she is not plotting devious murders, she can be found performing her comedy routine, Smile While You Still Have Teeth.

To learn more, go to http://www.carolwyer.co.uk, subscribe to her YouTube channel, or follow her on Twitter: @carolewyer

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My thoughts: this series just gets better and better, my heart was in my mouth as Kate digs herself in deeper, putting everything at risk to bring down the syndicate and stop Superintendent Dickson and his cronies. Although now she’s got her own neck in the noose.

She’s having to put her trust in a lot of people, and some she barely knows. Like Stanka, a young woman who’s been trafficked and wants to rescue her little sister from the same criminal gang. She needs Kate’s help and Kate needs hers.

The person Kate thought she could trust perhaps isn’t the one she should, as secrets come tumbling out of various closets.

I was totally hooked once more, Carol Wyer has created characters that just pull you in and Kate is chief among them. I was rooting for her but also wondering how long she could stay out of the suspicions of some of her colleagues.

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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: Bewitching – J. E. Nice

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A teenage girl tempted from this world over a carpet of bluebells…
A house full of shadows and a presence waiting to be let in…
Finally, everything is going well for Erica Murray, witch and paranormal investigator. That is, until the mother of a missing teenage girl recognises Erica’s fae lover, Alfie, for what he is and begs for his
help. Erica must step into Alfie’s world to find the girl, but it means discovering secrets about her lover that might tear them apart.
Meanwhile, Jess Tidswell has other things on her mind. Her parents are meeting Jess’s new dog and, more importantly, her fiancé for the first time.
That’s not the worst of her problems. Her parents, keen for a new adventure, have bought a house and it comes with some unexpected residents. Shadows that move of their own accord, a curious spirit and something malevolent that lives on the periphery.
Unable to contact Erica, can Jess handle this terrifying ordeal on her own and protect her family?
Deep in another world, can Erica find the missing teenager and bring her out of harm’s way?
It’s going to be a long weekend.

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J E Nice is a fantasy author who lives in a city filled with dragons, woodland where the fae hang out, on an airship home to a crew of sky pirates and, sometimes, on the outskirts of Bristol in England. Wherever she is, there is always cake.
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My thoughts: this isn’t my usual fare, as someone who remains deeply sceptical about the existence of ghosts and other things (although my mum insists there was a presence in my childhood home when we moved there), I actually quite enjoyed this book about paranormal investigators Jess and Erica.

This is book four and can be read as a standalone, as I did, but you might prefer to read the whole series and have the full back story. I did get a bit lost in Erica’s romantic plot line – what with the time travelling detective ex/future husband and the fae lover Alfie – so the previous stories might make sense of all of that.

Jess has gone to introduce her new fiancé to her parents, only for them to spring a surprise – they’ve bought a new house and it needs a lot of work. Especially when Jess (and daughter Ruby) sense all is not well in the house. There’s a ghost and something else – something nasty. Can Jess get rid of this malignant presence?

Erica meanwhile has gone into the land of the fae with Alfie to carry out a wellness check of sorts on a teenage girl spirited away by a fae who insists they’re meant to be. If that’s the case, why all the bluebells?

A fun adventure story with magic, witches, and lots of tea and cake. I might just have to work backwards and read the rest of the 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.