It would be unfair to blame the woman I met tonight for turning my life upside down. She didn’t.
It was already upside down. I just didn’t know it.
Recently life has been good for Mallory Hansen: a great job, a lovely home, and a wonderful man, Nathan, to share it with.
But now she must ask herself: is it all built on lies?
A shocking accusation has been made against Nathan, and Mallory doesn’t know who to believe. He denies everything, but all the signs point to his guilt. She has learned to trust Nathan, but she also remembers the boy he used to be.
As teenagers, Mallory and Nathan were part of a close-knit group of six friends until a vicious argument drove them apart. Now, fifteen years later, they are back in touch – only to find themselves drawn into a web of mutual distrust, one by one…
The attacks on their lives are skilfully targeted, designed to hit them where they hurt the most, and when a young woman disappears and a baby is abducted, DCI Tom Douglas must try to unravel the past and discover who is the architect of their misery.
A DCI Tom Douglas Thriller
My thoughts: the author kindly sent me a copy of her new book to review and as it’s just been published, here are my thoughts!
I really enjoyed this book, the complicated, tangled mess of the past, six former friends who don’t really see each other any more, a night fifteen years ago that they’ve mostly forgotten and a series of horrific, shocking crimes that bring them back together.
DCI Douglas and his team have to untangle this mess and try to find out why anyone would do this to a group of people – allegations of sexual assault, kidnap, murder, rape. Some of the most heinous crimes and people who cannot understand why they’re the targets.
I only caught on right towards the end, when a few things had started not to add up, pretty much when the police started to pull apart the coincidences and careful building of false evidence and identities. It takes skill to build such a clever story and it had me totally hooked. Who was behind it all? What did a cuddly badger have to do with it? Why was someone so angry so many years later? Well, you’ll have to read it to find out!
A lonely recluse. A missing girl and a community in fear. When the body of a young local girl is found next to an isolated lake, the main suspect is the old recluse who has lived next to the lake for many years – especially when the young girl’s purse is found on the old man’s doorstep. But DCI Emma Gardner and her partner DI Paul Riddick aren’t so sure. Why would the old hermit leave such an obvious clue? And who would want to set the old man up? As they dig deeper into the murder they discover a community in fear, determined to keep hold of long buried secrets. And Riddick is convinced that his own dark past is somehow linked to this crime, too. Gardner fears that she may never get the answers she needs, until a break leads her down a path she’d rather not face. One that runs directly to her own front door… Purchase
Wes Markin is the bestselling author of the DCI Yorke crime novels, set in Salisbury. His new series for Boldwood stars the pragmatic detective DCI Emma Gardner who will be tackling the criminals of North Yorkshire. Wes lives in Harrogate and the first book in the series The Yorkshire Murders will be published in November 2022.
My thoughts: this was a dark and twisting crime thriller, set in North Yorkshire, where long buried secrets threaten to come to light and some will go to great lengths to hide them. Where a murder has the oldest of motives but the clues seem to point in different directions and the detectives are distracted by issues in their personal lives, so it takes a little bit longer to solve.
The body of a young woman, Tia Meadows, is found by the home of a reclusive older man. He knew her father a long time ago, and at first glance all evidence points to him. But digging into the case DCI Gardner finds there’s a lot more going on. Has he been set up? Tia’s father, a man who dominates the local building trade, certainly believes the evidence and goes off to get his own justice, while the police investigate the men in Tia’s life. The answers may lie there instead.
Clever, and well paced, this is a gripping and suspenseful read. As the police work through the suspects and possible motives, their personal lives intrude and distract them, leading to tragedy, before they get back on track. A solid and knotty plot, highly enjoyable.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Sisters Olivia and Clara rehearse with Ninette de Valois at the recently opened Sadler’s Wells. Disciplined and dedicated, Olivia is the perfect ballerina. But no matter how hard she works, she can never match up to identical twin Clara’s charm.
I would kill to be with her.
As rehearsals intensify for the ballet Coppélia, the girls feel increasingly as if they are being watched. And as infatuation threatens to become obsession, the fragile perfection of their lives starts to unravel.
LUCY ASHE trained at the Royal Ballet School for eight years, first as a Junior Associate and then at White Lodge. She has a diploma in dance teaching with the British Ballet Organisation. She decided to go to university to read English Literature at St Hugh’s College, Oxford (MA Oxon), while continuing to dance and perform. She then took a PGCE teaching qualification and became a teacher. She currently teaches English at Harrow School, an all-boys boarding school in North London. Her poetry and short stories have been published in a number of literary journals and she was shortlisted for the 2020 Impress Prize for New Writers. She also reviews theatre, in particular ballet, writing for the website Playstosee.com.
Lucy writes:
‘I have a great love of ballet and am fascinated by its history. I was lucky enough to meet many of the great dancers of the Royal Ballet, even Dame Ninette de Valois when she came to White Lodge to celebrate her 100th birthday. I have performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and learnt the repertoire for many of the classical ballets.
My novel is closely researched, re-creating the early years of the Vic-Wells company at Sadler’s Wells, and the story is immersed in ballet history featuring characters such as Ninette de Valois, Lydia Lopokova, Constant Lambert, Alicia Markova and Nicholas Sergeyev. Frederick and Dora Freed and their pointe shoe workshop play a key role, as does the history of Sadler’s Wells theatre itself. In a book shop on Cecil Court, I found beautifully preserved theatre programmes from the 1932-33 season at Sadler’s Wells and it was magical to imagine my characters holding those pages.
One major inspiration for me was my twin sister. We spent the first part of our lives doing everything together: first day of school, first ballet class, first piano lesson. We were a unit, referred to simply as the twins, and we had a very special connection. That connection remains even though our lives are so entirely different now. And so, in my novel, I have been inspired by the connectedness and the bond of twins, Olivia and Clara staying so close despite their lives starting to take them in different directions.’
My thoughts: when I was little I wanted to be a ballerina, turns out I have great feet, turnout but the wrong attitude. It didn’t stop me, however, becoming a huge ballet fan. I adore going to see the incredible dancers and of course Sadler’s Wells, the home of British ballet, is a theatre I know well. So this book was very, very much up my street.
Set during the period when British ballet was coming into its own, after being dominated by the French and then the Russians, and featuring some of the greats of the time, this very well researched book takes you right into the heart of Sadler’s Wells and the ballet classes attended by twin dancers Olivia and Clara.
Ballet is a small world at this point, and quite insular, so obsession is perfectly possible and it is obsession – almost mirrored in the production of Coppelia being rehearsed, that we find. Two men, a pianist and a cobbler, in love with the twins, but not in a necessarily healthy way. Then there is the twins’ own obsession with ballet, with their performance, their career. One is a purist, the other wants to be a star. This is post Pavlova, pre Fonteyn (although a very young Margot makes a tiny cameo) and there’s maybe a gap for a star dancer in the company. Could Olivia or Clara fill it?
It’s also, ultimately, a love story. Between the sisters, who share their lives with each other almost to the exclusion of others, and with ballet. One I can definitely appreciate, I may never have become a dancer, but sitting in the audience, watching the incredible performers, the hours of work and the honed, perfect bodies, you can fully see that love and obsession that still draws young dancers to it today. A brilliant, highly enjoyable book.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Welcome to The Broken Darkness book tour! Read on for more info about this gorgeous collection and visit one of our instagram hosts for a chance to win a paperback copy of your own!
The Broken Darkness
Publication Date: January 26th, 2023
Genre: Dark Fiction/ Spec Fiction/ Short Story Collection
Publisher: Gorgon Blood Press
In her debut collection, Theresa Braun explores the inner workings of the human heart and what it is we most desire—forgiveness, acceptance, love, fame, or merely to escape who we really are. Whether we are battling ghosts, demons, mythical monsters, the past, or other dimensions, we are really facing the deepest parts of ourselves. These thirteen tales of horror and dark fantasy may appear to be a matter of good versus evil, but they are all a reflection of the hidden corners of the soul that are often shades of broken darkness. The characters in these stories must face their inner and outer terrors, or else suffer the consequences.
Theresa Braun has a Master’s degree in English literature and lives in South Florida where she has taught literature and writing for over 20 years. Traveling, ghost hunting, and all things dark are her passions. In 2018 Unnerving released her horror novel Fountain Dead, a coming of age ghost story. Her short works have appeared in The Horror Zine, Sirens Call, Hardened Hearts, and Best Indie Speculative Fiction: November 2018, Double Barrel Horror (Volume 3) and Emporium of Superstition.
My thoughts: these short stories are sinister and creepy, dark and compelling. From ghosts who keep reliving the moments of their deaths, to haunted places, things that go bump in the night, vampires and other sinister goings on, there’s something for every horror fan here. And of course, there’s exactly 13 tales, fitting perfectly into the theme of the book as a whole. Satisfying chilling.
Nothing is more important than family . . . Matt Forrester has followed in his dad’s footsteps, climbing the police ranks to become a DI. But when he receives an urgent call for help, Matt has to rethink his career. His dad has been murdered, and Matt’s not going to let this case go. It doesn’t help that his current boss is sleeping with his ex-wife. Hermia Forrester didn’t follow her brother into the police force, instead she works in research at the university. But, she’s not going to let that stop her from helping her brother find out what happened to their dad. But the siblings soon find themselves surrounded by more danger than they ever imagined. Can they both survive this case or will there be more of their family in the morgue? The thrilling first instalment in the Forrester Detective Agency Mystery series. Purchase
Anita Waller is the author of many bestselling psychological thrillers and the Kat and Mouse crime series. She lives in Sheffield, which continues to be the setting of many of her thrillers, and was first published by Bloodhound at the age of sixty-nine. Her first book for Boldwood will be published in August 2022.
My thoughts: I can already tell that this is going to a be a corker of a series. This book online sets off at a blistering pace and we’re thrown into a shocking and terrible case. Matt’s father and business partner are brutally attacked and killed by unknown assailants. Was it to do with their past careers as police, their current PI business, or something completely different?
Matt hands in his badge to be able to investigate and when his beloved sister Hermia, is also attacked, he and best friend Steve, as well as his former police partner Karen, step up the case. They will stop at nothing to find the perpetrators and land them where they belong – in prison.
Gripping and totally thrilling, this book rattles along at a fair clip, and what the gang uncover is dark and disturbing but if they can survive and solve the case, will change things forever. And then there’s the small matter of a bit of romance too!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
A seaside party at a Cornish mansion with plenty of fizz, what could be more perfect? But something fishy is afoot… a killer lurks among the guests, and only Cressida Fawcett can stop them.
When Cressida Fawcett is invited to stay at Penbeagle House on the Cornish coast for a fancy-dress ball, she is looking forward to sipping rum cocktails clad as a pirate, watching the red-sailed boats go by and relaxing in the sea air with her good friend Dotty. But before they can raise their glasses to toast Cressida’s former flame Lord Canterbury’s engagement, he drops dead in front of the horrified guests.
The local doctor determines that Lord Canterbury was poisoned, and soon Detective Chief Inspector Andrews is on his way from Scotland Yard. But Cressida is dismayed by the murder of the intrepid explorer who once asked for her hand in marriage, and she cannot simply leave the case to the police. Together with Dotty and her little pug Ruby, Cressida searches for clues only to discover that many of the guests have a motive for murder. Did an irate journalist or a bitter fellow explorer send Lord Canterbury on his untimely final journey?
And when a young maid is found dead, floating in the shimmering waters of the cove, Cressida knows time is running out to catch the killer. Could aclue hidden among some rather pungent crab sandwiches help her solve the case before there is another murder?
A witty and totally addictive cozy mystery packed with intrigue and glamour. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss.
Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.
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My thoughts: this was so much fun, starting at a roaring 20s fancy dress party in a Cornish mansion, Cressida, Dotty and pug Ruby roar up in Cressida’s car dressed as pirates (Ruby’s a parrot – love it!) where a terrible event happens, Cressida’s ex fiancé Lord Canterbury, newly engaged to the host’s daughter, collapses. Poisoned. But who did it and why? There’s plenty of hijinks as Cressida investigates, despite detective Armstrong from Scotland Yard being on the case. There’s secrets, smuggling, another terrible murder and more.
This series just keeps getting better, I love Cressida, Dotty and Ruby. Ruby finds squirrels and clues, Dotty’s a real brick and Cressida is always dashing about, rooting out the truth. Marvellous stuff.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Eva Mackenzie is back with a brand-new psychological thriller called Last Known Location and it will be available on February 9th! Read on for details and a chance to win a 8GB Kindle Paperwhite!
Last Known Location
Expected Publication Date: February 9th, 2023
Genre: Thriller/ Psychological Thriller
The past has a killer obsession…
Gwen’s life has turned into a nightmare after an ongoing feud with her neighbor turns volatile. Malicious allegations and police intervention drive Gwen out of her home for a long weekend, where she meets a mysterious, handsome stranger named Noah on the local hiking trail.
Gwen’s never fallen for someone so quickly, but when he’s gone by morning, she never expects to see him again.
Three days later, Gwen is working in the ER when Noah is brought in with unexplained injuries and no memory of what happened to him.
Soon, Gwen can sense someone stalking her home and vandalizing her things. She can’t help but think her ex will never let her go, or is this mysterious man’s past catching up with him?
How can she protect herself from an enemy she can’t identify?
Eva Mackenzie is an author who enjoys twisty, emotionally engrossing tales. She is a wife and mother living on the east coast. When she isn’t writing, she is spending time with her family, training for her next marathon or reading stacks of suspense novels. Some of her favorite authors are Minka Kent, Dean Koontz, Tami Hoag, and Lisa Jackson.
My thoughts: this was a clever, gripping thriller with a heck of a twist at the end, which I didn’t see coming at all.
Nurse Gwen is working in the ER when an unconscious man is brought in, she’s met him briefly and is able to tell the police that his name is Noah. Unfortunately he’s lost his memory and doesn’t know what he was doing in the woods. Can Gwen help him remember?
When his fiancée shows up, claiming to have been waiting in town for him for a week, the detective on his case is suspicious, as is Gwen. And then there’s the problems she’s been having with her ex too. Is it all coming to a head?
Twists and turns galore, you’ll be totally hooked and desperate to know what happens next!
Like a precious doll, the girl leans against the towering pine tree with her long bare legs stretched out and her hands folded neatly in her lap. Her head tilts towards the sky, but this innocent child will never feel the warm glow of morning sun again; her fragile little body is cold, her tender heart is still.
When Detective Katie Scott receives a plea from neighboring Coldwater Creek to help with a tragic murder, she doesn’t hesitate. Fifteen-year-old Ivy Miller’s naked body was found tied to a tree, a freshly inked pink rose tattoo on her arm. The word “MORE” carved into her back means sweet Ivy could be the first of many…
Katie’s heart aches for the young girl whose life ended before it had even begun. But she has her work cut out with the inexperienced police department fumbling the case at every turn. There hasn’t been a murder in this small town for as long as anyone can remember, but why will none of the locals cooperate? Katie’s only lead is a blurry photograph of Ivy’s long-missing mother found in Ivy’s bedroom. If she can find out where it was taken, Katie knows she’ll have the first clue in a mystery that has been haunting Coldwater Creek for years.
But Katie’s world crashes down when Ivy’s two best friends are found murdered in the same woods days later. Inked with the same pretty flower, the rose girls were keeping a deadly secret. Katie will never forgive herself for not making the connection in time. As mothers cling to their daughters, terrified to let them out of their sight, Katie’s search leads her to an abandoned building deep in the forest where the last photo of Ivy’s mother was taken. But will she survive long enough to stop more heart-shattering tragedies?
A totally nail-biting, keep-you-up-all-night crime thriller from a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author. Prepare to pick your jaw up from the floor at that final twist! Fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh will be absolutely gripped!
Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and best-selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells.
In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists, and member of the International Thriller Writers.
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My thoughts: this was so good. A terrible murder of a teenage girl, a town full of secrets, Katie and Gav on the scene as their car breaks down, world’s best canine officer Cisco finding important clues, it’s all here.
Utilising her extensive knowledge of forensics, k9 training criminology and basically all round awesome skills, Jennifer Chase has once again created a totally gripping, terrifying and intriguing case for some of my favourite fictional cops to solve.
Small towns can be creepy, everyone knows everyone, secrets fester below the surface and outsiders get little response. Which makes solving the series of murders and disappearances in this small town harder than it needs to be. The few people willing to help will only go so far, for their own safety mostly, and warning off Katie makes her more determined to stay put.
Luckily she and Gav have excellent back up and skills their enemies don’t know about. Also Cisco. Who is my favourite character, he’s so good.
Cannot wait for book 10, this series just gets better and better.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
The shocking murder of a heavily pregnant woman throws the New Zealand city of Dunedin into a tailspin, and the devastating crime feels uncomfortably close to home for Detective Sam Shephard as she counts down the days to her own maternity leave.
Confined to a desk job in the department, Sam must find the missing link between this brutal crime and a string of cases involving mothers and children in the past. As the pieces start to come together and the realisation dawns that the killer’s actions are escalating, drastic measures must be taken to prevent more tragedy.
For Sam, the case becomes personal, when it becomes increasingly clear that she is no longer safe, and the clock is ticking…
Vanda Symon lives in Dunedin, New Zealand. As well as being a crime writer, she has a PhD in science communication and is a researcher at the Centre for Pacific Health at the University of Otago. Overkill was shortlisted for the 2019 CWA John Creasey Debut Dagger Award and she is a four-time finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel for her critically acclaimed Sam Shephard series. The fourth in the series, Bound, was shortlisted for a Barry Award. Vanda produces and hosts Write On, a monthly radio show focusing on the world of books at Otago Access Radio. When she isn’t working or writing, Vanda can be found in the garden, or on the business end of a fencing foil.
My thoughts: Vanda Symon is back, Sam Shepherd is back, but not for long. Maternity leave calls for the detective, but she’s determined to solve this awful case first. Because babies always stick to the timetable.
A murdered woman, her unborn baby taken from her body, rocks the New Zealand Town of Dunedin – it’s so horrific most people can’t imagine it. The hunt for the baby is key, but so is finding the killer.
Sam, up against her terrible boss as usual, refuses to accept desk duty and sets about investigating who would want to take a newborn. A desperate woman? Stolen to order or something far sadder but also something that could have been avoided.
Without giving much away, I actually immediately knew why once a few key bits of info fell into place, and it is heartbreakingly sad. I used to work in a DNA blood typing lab and yeah, this needs to be something that’s done every time. DM on Twitter to discuss once you’ve read it if you like. Drawing on her scientific background, Symon has once again crafted a clever, intense, compelling read.
Hopefully Sam and baby will enjoy their time off, there’s a great nursery nearby and Sam will be back with more cases soon.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
In 1930s London, celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is discovered dead in his locked study, and there seems to be no way that a killer could have escaped unseen. There are no clues, no witnesses, and no evidence of the murder weapon. Stumped by the confounding scene, the Scotland Yard detective on the case calls on retired stage magician-turned-part-time sleuth Joseph Spector. For who better to make sense of the impossible than one who traffics in illusions?
Spector has a knack for explaining the inexplicable, but even he finds that there is more to this mystery than meets the eye. As he and the Inspector interview the colorful cast of suspects among the psychiatrist’s patients and household, they uncover no shortage of dark secrets—or motives for murder. When the investigation dovetails into that of an apparently-impossible theft, the detectives consider the possibility that the two transgressions are related. And when a second murder occurs, this time in an impenetrable elevator, they realize that the crime wave will become even more deadly unless they can catch the culprit soon.
A tribute to the classic golden-age whodunnit, when crime fiction was a battle of wits between writer and reader, Death and the Conjuror joins its macabre atmosphere, period detail, and vividly-drawn characters with a meticulously-constructed fair play puzzle. Its baffling plot will enthrall readers of mystery icons such as Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr, modern masters like Anthony Horowitz and Elly Griffiths, or anyone who appreciates a good mystery.
Tom Mead is a UK crime fiction author specialising in locked-room mysteries.
He is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association and the International Thriller Writers’ Organization.
His debut novel is DEATH AND THE CONJUROR, featuring magician-detective Joseph Spector.
My thoughts: this was a lot of fun, harking back to my beloved Golden Age detective stories (honestly still some of the best crime fiction) with a magician turned “consulting detective” called Spector (excellent name) assisting the police investigation into the locked room mystery death of the psychiatrist Dr Rees (think Freud, complete with the large house in North London and dysfunctional family). The suspects are his three patients, his daughter and her fiancee.
As the pair delve into the lives of the Doctor and his patients, more mysteries appear, who was the man in the alley, what happened to the lift operator and who was the mysterious visitor the housekeeper couldn’t identify? No spoilers here, so grab a copy and follow the sleights of hand, the misdirection and try to guess where the case will go next!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 