Lauren can’t wait to leave London for a fresh start in the countryside with her new partner Paul and his two young children.
She never thought she’d be so lucky. A dream glass house in the woods, a ready-made family, a second chance. But as dark rumours swirl about their new home, Lauren begins to question their happily-ever-after. When they met, she was at her most vulnerable. She would trust Paul with her life. But should she?
My thoughts: this was very good, very creepy and totally compelling. Also never date a psychologist – never come across one in a book that isn’t manipulative and dangerous. Lauren is entirely vulnerable, not just because of her memory issues but she’s in the middle of nowhere, no friends, no family, responsible for two young, traumatised children in a huge glass house, reliant on the say so of her partner Paul, who is hiding something.
As the days pass, you get more and more suspicious of Paul, but I had no idea what exactly he was doing. The sinister shed, the way he treated his poor bewildered son. The twists, utterly shocking. I was inwardly shouting “run Lauren run, he’s a nutcase!” but how far he’d go, nope, wasn’t prepared for that. Hooked. Read it, but not at bedtime or you’ll be up all night.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Now or Never…In the summer of 1960, eighteen-year-old Rose Featherstone took a trip to Memphis that changed her life. Now, Rose confesses to her granddaughter, Daisy, that she returned home with more than just memories all those years ago – she was carrying Elvis Presley’s child! Daisy is sure the claim can’t be true, and yet, what if it is? When her grandmother passes away soon after her startling revelation and leaves Daisy with a ticket to Memphis, Tennessee, Daisy decides it’s time to discover the truth. She’s always struggled to fit in but this trip might just show her the benefits of being born to stand out and is a moody motorcycle cop called Blue the answer to all her dreams? Her adventures in Memphis take her behind the famous music gates of Graceland. Pack your Blue Suede Shoes for a rockin’ rom-com.
Real rock wife Suzan, wife of former Slade frontman Noddy Holder, has written another ‘rock n’ roll rom-com’ to follow her Beatles themed debut ‘Shake It Up, Beverley’. Journalist and TV producer Suzan once again weaves her love for music into a hilarious and heart-warming story that is uplifting and laugh-out-loud funny. Suzan says: “I love that my books celebrate music and have been inspired by my own life experience of living in a slightly crazy, rock ‘n’ roll, rom-com world…some of the weirdest and funniest stories in the books really have happened to me!” Suzan Holder trained as a newspaper journalist and worked on regional and national newspapers before moving into TV. She produced a variety of television news and lifestyle programmes and was executive producer of ITV’s daytime network show ‘Loose Women’. She is a monthly columnist for Cheshire Life Magazine and appears regularly on radio. Suzan has one son, two step-daughters and two step grand-children. Originally from the West Midlands Suzan now lives with Noddy Holder in Cheshire, they have been together for 32 years.
My thoughts: this was a fun road trip story, alternating between the perspectives of Rose, Lily (Rose’s daughter) and Daisy (Lily’s daughter) as they slowly unravel the story of Rose’s trip to Memphis and who Lily’s father is. Is he really Elvis?
I liked the way Daisy cherishes the bond with Rose, even after Rose dies. Having lost my beloved Grandad earlier this year, it’s something I recognise. Honouring Rose by undertaking the mission to Memphis, literally following in her footsteps and trying to find out who Rose’s long lost love really was is sweet and Daisy also finds friendship and maybe even love in the land of rock ‘n’ roll.
I enjoyed this book a lot and found it engaging, fun and entertaining. I’ve never been to Memphis but it felt vivid and real, like Daisy was showing me around!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
He changed his identity. He moved to Hong Kong. He changed his life. But can he change who he really is?
Charles Balcombe, sophisticated, risk-taking lothario was a special investigator. He thinks that taking a PI job to find a missing boy will distract him from his killer instinct. But once a killer…
My thoughts: this was very enjoyable, gripping and intelligent. Balcombe – also known as Blackjack – is a dangerous man, but there’s some goodness in him as he frees imprisoned young women and deals with their captors during his investigation into the missing son of a banker.
In the deeply segregated world of post war Hong Kong, a white man wandering around Chinatown stands out, but somehow Balcombe avoids too much attention. Handy when a detective with the police – Munro, is suspicious of him.
I liked Albert, Balcombe’s rickshaw boy and assistant, I hope in future books there’s more of their partnership. I also liked detective Munro – promoted not just because he’s a good cop but also because they thought he was white! His relationships with Balcombe could be very interesting.
Balcombe was a bit of a mystery, I think there’s a lot more to him than so far revealed. Obviously he’s a killer on the run, having fled Malaya (now Malaysia) and changed his name. His signature moves with knives might bring the authorities down on his head if anyone connects the dots. I can’t wait to see what happens next and whether he ever crosses paths with the author’s more straightforwardly heroic Carter again…
*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 Real Prime Suspect is a jaw-dropping, gritty memoir from Jackie Malton, former DCI and the inspiration for legendary TV detective Jane Tennison in Lynda La Plante’s Prime Suspect.
Jackie Malton was a no-nonsense girl from Leicestershire who joined the police force in the 1970s. It was a time of sex segregation in the police force. Male recruits were given a truncheon; female recruits received a handbag and were assigned social work duties. But Jackie desperately wanted to become a detective. Feisty and determined, Jackie made her way into some of the most male-dominated departments of the police force. She worked in CID and the famous flying squad before rising to become one of only three female detective chief inspectors in the Metropolitan Police.
In The Real Prime Suspect, Malton describes the struggles she faced as an openly gay woman in the Metropolitan Police, where sexism and homophobia were rife. Utterly compelling, the book is rich with fascinating cases and intriguing characters from Jackie’s time on the force. Jackie dealt with rapists, wife beaters, murderers, blackmailers and armed robbers but it was tackling the corruption in her own station that proved the most challenging. Ostracised and harassed by fellow officers furious that she reported the illegality of some colleagues, Malton used alcohol to curb her anxiety. A chance meeting with writer Lynda La Plante five years later changed the course of her life. Together they worked on shaping Jane Tennison, one of TV’s most famous police characters, in the ground-breaking series Prime Suspect. Not long after, Malton recovered from alcoholism and now works as an AA volunteer in prison and as a TV consultant. Jackie Malton is a true trailblazer. She forged a path in a male-dominated world and through it all she remained true to herself. Jackie has spent her life working in crime. Now she’s ready to share her story.
Jackie Malton was a police officer for twentyeight years. During her career she worked in the drugs squad, CID, the flying squad (famously known as The Sweeney), fraud squad and as a hostage negotiator. She rose to become one of only three female detective chief inspectors in the Metropolitan Police.
Jackie has acted as an adviser on some of the most successful British crime dramas, including Prime Suspect, The Bill, Cracker, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, Trial and Retribution and Murder Investigation Team. In 2019 she presented the documentary series, The Real Prime Suspect in which she revisited some of the most notorious murder cases. Most recently, she was interviewed for BBC 2’s documentary Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty; she appeared in Steve McQueen’s BAFTA-award-winning documentary Uprising about the New Cross Fire; and made a guest appearance on the new BBC Sounds podcast, Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley. Jackie regularly gives talks on policing and currently volunteers in a male prison supporting offenders recovering from addiction. Twitter: @thursley.
Hélène Mulholland has been a journalist for over twenty years and previously worked at the Guardian as a political reporter. Hélène now works on a freelance basis. The Real Prime Suspect is her first book.
My thoughts: this was an incredibly fascinating insight into the recent history of modern British policing. From the sexism and homophobia she encountered, to the cases that have stayed with her, Jackie Malton’s voice rings through clearly. A determined, dedicated officer for many years, she rose through the ranks despite the many challenges of being a woman in an institutionally backwards organisation.
Her work in TV as an advisor was of less interest to me than her work as an addiction counsellor and volunteer in prisons. That was really interesting and she writes with respect and understanding of the men she works with.
She is also very mindful of the victims she writes about, listing their names and empathising with their relatives and friends, particularly in the case of the New Cross Fire, which has never been fully resolved.
Jackie had an illustrious career, working in the famous Flying Squad, as well as developing new ways of supporting victims of domestic violence when working in Hammersmith & Fulham. Her impact might not be judged for some time to come but I think she is probably seen as a role model by many young female police officers. Her life story is at turns inspiring and thrilling.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
We were all at the party. Which of us wanted her dead?
As the smoke from the bonfire spirals into the night sky and the cool drinks slip down our throats, none of us can take our eyes off Lacey. She dances in the dunes, her long golden hair damp from her late-night swim, her smile dazzling, her blue eyes closed.
Everyone who is close to Lacey sits by the smoky fire. Her adoring boyfriend, who holds onto her, perhaps a little too tightly. Her little sister, always in Lacey’s shadow, sifting fine soft sand through her fingers, never taking her eyes off Lacey. And me. Sad and full of rage, after an argument forced the man I love to leave the party early.
When the fire burns out, we stumble away from the beach, along the cliff path – faces burned by the wind, hearts full of secrets. But Lacey never makes it home. The next morning, her body is found in the sand dunes, a heart-shaped locket missing from around her neck.
Who would have thought our beach party could end the way it did? Close friends gathered on the last night of a long hot summer – which one of us could have killed the girl everybody loved?
An absolutely gripping psychological thriller with an ending you will NEVER see coming! Strap in for a twisty rollercoaster ride that will keep you turning pages all night long. Perfect for anyone who adored The Holiday, The Guest List or Gone Girl.
Amy Sheppard is a busy mum of two boys, living in Cornwall. Her obsession with making budget friendly family dinners, led her to writing two cookbooks. Amy creates recipes for her followers and for brands @amysheppardfood
Her debut novel is out in August 2022. A psychological thriller set in Cornwall called ‘The Beach Party’
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My thoughts: this was a really clever crime thriller, taking us into a small, tight knit community that has been shaped by a terrible crime that was never solved. The podcast Kate and Sophie are making drags a lot of things into the light, including long held secrets and painful memories. Kate grew up there and was a witness to Lacey’s murder but even she can’t guess where their investigation will lead or what she’ll learn.
Tense, gripping and with the sense of claustrophobia of all small communities, the killer is closer to home than they can guess. I was totally hooked.
*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 coming of age story of an award-winning translator, Homesick is about learning to love language in its many forms, healing through words and the promises and perils of empathy and sisterhood.
Sisters Amy and Zoe grow up in Oklahoma where they are homeschooled for an unexpected reason: Zoe suffers from debilitating and mysterious seizures, spending her childhood in hospitals as she undergoes surgeries. Meanwhile, Amy flourishes intellectually, showing an innate ability to glean a world beyond the troubles in her home life, exploring that world through languages first. Amy’s first love appears in the form of her Russian tutor Sasha, but when she enters university at the age of 15 her life changes drastically and with tragic results.
My thoughts: for a slim volume this book packs a heavy emotional punch. Amy and Zoe live in their own world, home schooled after Zoe is diagnosed, and it’s always just the two of them. But when Amy shows incredible intelligence and wins a scholarship to university at 15, everything changes.
Going away to uni was tough at almost 19, no naive, sheltered 15 year old is prepared for that, and Amy has almost no experience in the world to draw on. She and her sister created their secret lives together, she invented made up languages and they seemingly had no friends outside each other. Nothing has prepared her to cope with the loneliness and turmoil of being around older students, of being a celebrity of sorts and of being away from home.
Her reaction to the stresses and sadness of her home life – her sister’s illness, her parents’ unhappiness, is perhaps expected in some ways. The final section, detailing her travels as she tries to come to terms with her experiences is bittersweet. Amy has survived and some would say thrived, but part of her is forever altered.
*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 body of a baby is found in the woods but all is not as it seems.
A twisted serial killer is targeting pregnant teenage girls.
DI Blood races against the clock to stop the most chilling murderer he’s ever hunted. His private life meanwhile threatens to distract him and derail his investigation.
Any mistakes, any hesitation on his side, could cost another innocent life …
Eileen Wharton is an Oscar winning actress, Olympic gymnast, and Influencer. She also tells lies for a living. Her first novel was published in 2011 to worldwide critical acclaim. And she’s won awards for exaggeration. It did top the Amazon humour chart so she’s officially a best-selling author. She currently has five ‘lively’ offspring ranging from thirty-three to fourteen years of age, and has no plans to procreate further, much to the relief of the local schools and police force. She lives on a council estate in County Durham. She has never eaten kangaroo testicles, is allergic to cats and has a phobia of tinned tuna. She’s retired from arguing with people on the internet.
My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book, I liked DI Blood, he felt like a real person – trying to balance his job, grim as it is, with dealing with his crazy ex-wife, his children and his crush on his best friend and former sister-in-law. The case is pretty dark, young women are being murdered and so are their unborn babies. Anything involving children is bound to be pretty terrible but this seems completely monstrous and the cops are at a loss.
Meanwhile Sue is dealing with the disappearance of a young girl, and her mother’s behaviour is very odd. Sobbing one minute and then playing video games and yelling at her other kids the next. Something is off here but Sue’s own past is colouring her vision. She’s also worried about her daughter, and looking for her long missing brother.
Blood is juggling a lot and worried about more young women being killed – he can’t figure out the connection. Is it the slightly weird church they all seem to have gone to, is it the gymnastics centre his niece attends, what connects these young women? And how does the killer know them?
There’s a lot happening in both the cases and in the detectives lives, and the pace is relentless. Racing against time, even more so when Sue and Rachel are put in danger, can Blood stop the murderer? Cracking stuff.
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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.
Northern Irish novelist, Paul McCracken was born 16th January 1991 in the Ulster hospital, Dundonald, just outside of Belfast. He grew up in the Castlereagh area of east Belfast where he also went to school.
Ever since he could hold a pencil, he wanted to be an artist and no-one, not even the school career advisor could tell him otherwise. He left education with only three GCSE’s and an Art diploma. He tried to make it as a fine artist whilst also trying to find any work to support himself financially. However, the more he learned about the commercial art world, the more he wanted no part in it.
In spring 2011, he enrolled in a five day film making course through the Prince’s Trust charity. He always had a passion for storytelling. During the course, he impressed the owner of the studio at which the course was being held, through the raw creativity he displayed. The studio owner was the first to encourage Paul to write his own material, that material being screenplays. After leaving the course with new found confidence and ambition, Paul started to learn the craft of screenwriting and got to work writing his very first feature film.
After securing full time work later that year, he found a renewed inspiration to write again and wrote a full length film script in the space of a week. Paul kept on writing other projects as well as continually editing the first script, but he kept the fact he was writing close to himself as he didn’t want to face any negativity if he were to tell anyone. The script would go on to score highly in an international screenplay competition, based out of Los Angeles. It would then place in the quarter-finals of the same competition for the next two years in a row, accompanied by another screenplay that Paul wrote next.
Years later, after entering competitions, pitching, submitting and doing some occasional freelance scriptwriting, Paul wanted to find a way to get his work into the public eye. Writing a novel was a challenge that seemed daunting but also exciting. Having first thought of converting his best script into a novel, he decided to come up with a completely original story.
In 2018, he self published his debut novel, Layla’s Song.
In 2020 he secured two book deals with two different English publishers. The Conrad Press and PM Books (Imprint of Holland House Books). The first of these books was Where Crows Land, a detective thriller set in Belfast and published by The Conrad Press.
My thoughts: this was an interesting sci-fi story about two women on either side of a division. Cleo has joined the resistance and with her team of fellow rebels plans to strike a blow against the rulers of Denestra with a mythical item she’s been given a map to find. But her former ally and friend, Fhey will do anything to stop her.
A lot happens in a short space of time, the rebels are betrayed and pursued in their ship, Equinox, the device is retrieved then stolen, and we learn about why Cleo switched sides.
The ending felt a bit rushed, perhaps it could have been a longer book or even a duology so there was more room for the story to expand. But it’s a good space opera and has interesting ideas and characters.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
When too many patients die under his watch, a troubled young doctor suspects murder. But are his instincts to be trusted?
Returning to practice after a suspension for stealing opioids, a young doctor takes the only job he can find: a post as a physician at the struggling St. Luke’s Hospital in east London. Amid the maelstrom of sick patients, overworked staff and underfunded wards, a more insidious secret soon declares itself: too many patients are dying. And a murderer may be lurking in plain sight.
Drawing on his experiences as a physician, Simon Stephenson takes readers into the dark heart of life as a hospitalist to ask the question: Who are the people we gift the power of life and death, and what does it do to them?
As beautifully written and witty as it is propulsive, Sometimes People Die is an unforgettable thriller that will haunt you long after you turn the last page.
My thoughts: this was really good. Drawing on the author’s own time as a junior doctor, though hopefully in a hospital without its own resident serial killer, this complex and clever murder mystery centres on a rundown London hospital and the staff and patients therein.
Our narrator, a down on his luck and quite frankly lucky to still be a doctor, addict and slightly inept human being, is only at St Luke’s because he has literally nowhere else to go. Escaping ignominy in Scotland he winds up mopping up east London’s best and brightest in A & E and Geriatrics. But after a series of suspicious deaths brings the Met police into his life, things spiral further from his control. Events take over and after a tragedy, he decides to solve the crime himself as the police have made a terrible mistake.
Funny, dark, intelligent and not completely farfetched, it reminded me of several hospital dramas (both on screen and in books) covering the realities of life in the NHS for junior doctors and just life in London really. A bit grotty and grubby but sometimes with those bits of gold old Dick Whittington was looking for shining through.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Annie’s sister has gone missing. Why doesn’t anyone care?
Annie feels like she’s at a good place in her life. Happily married, expecting her first child, enjoying a vacation with her extended family at their beautiful coastal home.
But then her sister, Sunday, suddenly goes missing.
Annie is immediately concerned, but the rest of the family assure her that everything’s fine, this is the kind of thing Sunday does, she’ll be back…
But Annie knows in her heart that something is very wrong. And she won’t rest until she sees her sister safe and well.
As Annie digs for the truth, she realizes that some of her family are not what they seem. And as she draws closer to uncovering their horrifying secret, Annie finally understands that she and her unborn child are in terrible danger…
Cathryn Grant writes psychological thrillers, psychological suspense, and ghost stories. She’s the author of twenty-three novels. She’s loved crime fiction all her life and is endlessly fascinated by the twists and turns, and the dark corners of the human mind.
When she’s not writing, Cathryn reads fiction, eavesdrops, and tries to play golf without hitting her ball into the sand or the water. She lives on the Central California coast with her husband and two cats.
My thoughts: the family in this book is deeply creepy in so many ways, the constant touching of Annie’s pregnant belly, the way they all adhere to their dad’s outdated and quite frankly wrong philosophies, the gaslighting that goes on when Annie tries to get them to look for her sister, the rewriting of the past. I kept wanting to shout at Annie and her slightly useless husband to get out of there, there’s something deeply weird happening!
How many red flags do you need. And obviously it gets worse and weirder the longer they’re all there in the house, feeding each other’s strange behaviour and stoking Annie’s paranoia and fear. Disturbing but compelling to read. Makes me glad my family are a bit “normal”.
*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 