Nowhere to hide. London, 1879. As winter grips the city, a group of African travellers seek sanctuary inside the walls of the Quaker Meeting House. They are being hunted by a ruthless showman, who is forcing them to perform in his ethnic exhibition in the London Aquarium.
Nowhere to turn. Private investigator William Arrowood and his assistant Barnett agree to help the travellers avoid capture. But when they arrive at the Meeting House, they find a scene of devastation. Two people have been murdered and the others have fled into the night.
Nowhere to run. The hunt for the real killer leads Arrowood into the dark heart of Victorian London. A shadowy world of freak shows, violence and betrayal, where there are no good choices and only the slimmest chance of survival…
My thoughts: I really enjoy this series – Arrowood is the anti-Sherlock (who he hates) and can sometimes barely stand but always gets his man, or men. The brutal murders in this book lead him all over London, following on the heels of showmen in the PT Barnum mould, as well as a group of South African performers trying to get out of a contract they never should have signed.
However there’s more to it – a deadly theft that traces all the way back to South Africa and a killer in search of gold. Mixing elements of real history with fictional figures, this is a dark and deadly crime story.
*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 Met Police’s Major Investigation Team East has its hands full: a rash of tit for tat gang related stabbings, a strangled housewife, the decomposed remains of a woman found in a ditch and more to come. Adding to their woes is their boss, Chief Inspector Matthew Merry, being distracted by his problems at home. For Matthew’s wife, Kathy, her only concern is dealing with the aftermath of being drugged and raped by a co-worker. Will the trial of the man responsible be enough to give her the justice she demands. Or, as her therapist states, is it revenge she really desires. She doesn’t know. As her emotions see-saw from elation to depression, her only certainty is that her husband seems more concerned about his work than her. And Matthew is only too aware of his failings both at home and work. But the police machine grinds on, seeking information and sifting evidence — justice is not their concern.
John was born in the mid-fifties in Dagenham, London, on part of the largest council estate ever built, and was the first pupil from his local secondary modern school to attend university. He has now taken early retirement to write, having spent the first part of his life working in education and the public sector. He was the director of a college, a senior school inspector for a local authority, and was head of a unit for young people with physical and mental health needs. When he is not travelling, going to the theatre or the pub, he writes. John is currently working on a seies of novels set in modern day London. These police procedurals examine the darker side of modern life in the East End of the city. Amazon author profile Goodreads Twitter
My thoughts: this was an interesting novel that started as a simple murder case that grows to have international implications and draws in officers from France and Italy as the police search for the criminal gang involved in trafficking and who lie behind the brutal murder of the young woman found on a Dagenham industrial estate.
The characters were interesting too – DCI Merry in particular. He struggles between the needs of his job and the needs of his family. His wife especially, struggling with her own pain and needing more support than he can give. The book goes to some dark places – the casual cruelty of the gang towards their victims is shocking and the way they act as though it’s just business is a grim reminder of the dark underbelly of London.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Evie has just started her second year at University. She is young, beautiful and popular. She should be having the time of her life, except she has something to hide – a one-night-stand with her English Professor, Simon.
Not wanting any of his other students to be used in the same way, Evie reports their relationship to University HR. But hours later, Village Vixen, the student gossip blogger, is baying for blood. She’s found out about the accusation and is firmly on Simon’s side.
But how could Village Vixen possibly have known? Evie can’t help but feel like she’s being watched. As paranoia and fear set in, the one thing Evie knows for sure is someone has to teach Simon a lesson…
My thoughts: this was really good with twists and turns and jaw dropping moments of total “what just happened?” It’s so cleverly done, you can’t tell who you can trust, is Evie a liar, is Simon being set up, and what exactly is Jenny up to? None of them are reliable, all of them have an agenda.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, it was smart and gripping and I dropped my breakfast a few times when another sudden turn appeared. The ending especially is so shocking and unexpected. Brilliant 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.
Tara Moore feels like the luckiest girl in the world. She’s finally found the man of her dreams, and after the fairytale wedding, she’s leaving Dublin to start a new life in Australia.
Until Avril Ryan’s body is discovered in a house that Tara lived in three years ago.
Tara doesn’t know Avril, so why was she the last person Avril called? How has she become the number one suspect?
But what the police don’t know is that Tara’s past conceals her own dangerous secrets. And as the detectives start digging and old friendships come to light, Tara begins to wonder who she can trust.
Will her wedding day become her last?
A twisty, unputdownable psychological thriller packed with suspense. Fans of T.M. Logan and Samantha Hayes will be completely gripped.
Jackie Walsh lives in Dublin with her husband Paul and dog Layla. She is a member of the Irish Writers Centre and The Irish Crime writer’s group. After years spent building her own business she decided to take time out and pursue her interest in writing. With a lot to learn, Jackie attended classes, writing groups and travelled to lots of festivals and launches. She secured a publishing deal with Hera Books who published Familiar Strangers and The Secrets He Kept in 2019, Five Little Words in 2020 and Her White Lie which will be published in July 2021.
Twitter: @JackieWalsh_ie
My thoughts: this was a clever and tense thriller, who can you trust if you can’t trust your oldest friend?
Tara’s sitting on a secret, but not the one the police think. Having to rely on her former friend and housemate, herself riddled with secrets and lies, isn’t ideal and Tara’s perfect new life is at stake.
Very much on the edge of your seat stuff as the two women try to keep their stories straight. It had me hooked all the way 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.
When actress Rachel Goldberg shares her personal views on a local radio show, she becomes a target for online harassment. Things go too far when someone paints a swastika on her front door, not only terrifying her but also dredging up some painful childhood memories. Rachel escapes to her hometown of Carlsbad. To avoid upsetting her parents, she tells them she’s there to visit her Orthodox Jewish grandmother, even though that’s the last thing she wants to do. But trouble may have followed her.Stephen Drescher is home from Iraq, but his dishonorable discharge contaminates his transition back to civilian life. His old skinhead friends, the ones who urged him to enlist so he could learn to make better bombs, have disappeared, and he can’t even afford to adopt a dog. Thinking to reconnect with his childhood friend, he googles Rachel’s name and is stunned to see the comments on her Facebook page. He summons the courage to contact her, Rachel and Stephen, who have vastly different feelings about the games they played and what might come of their reunion, must come to terms with their pasts before they can work toward their futures.
Shawne Steiger wrote her first story when she was seven. Over the years, she has been a pizza maker, dressage teacher, house cleaner, and therapist. The one constant in her life has been her writing, which is why, after years working as a trauma therapist, she applied to Vermont College of Fine Arts and completed an MFA in Fiction writing. After learning that she’s happiest when writing, Shawne published short stories and essays in several literary journals. Supporting her writing habit with her social work degree, Shawne frequently incorporates her understanding of how trauma affects people into her fiction. When not writing or working, she enjoys going to the theater, reading and travel. Luckily her love of travel stops her from fully realizing her aspirations to enter the realm of mad cat woman, since she’s yet to find the perfect suitcase that will fit both her cats and still be light enough to carry.
My thoughts: this was an interesting exploration of hate, passed through the generations, and how it affects people’s thinking. Stephen is raised by his racist, neo-Nazi grandfather, but at the same time seeks affection from Rachel’s Jewish grandmother. But even the influence of Goldbergs doesn’t change the way he behaves and the people he associates with. Meanwhile Rachel’s religion is bringing unwanted attention to her door, as someone who doesn’t practise her childhood faith she struggles with this – does she want to identify as such when it draws negative reactions from some?
I didn’t feel that Stephen really learnt anything from reconnecting with Rachel and her family, while she decided to stand up and speak out. Considering that the world is how it is at the moment, this feels like a timely story.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
From the mind of a psychologist comes a chilling domestic thriller that gets under your skin.
What happens when a psychologist begins to question her own sanity?
Sara runs a private psychology practice for troubled youth in the newly inherited house she is refurbishing with her husband, Sigurd. One morning, a voicemail from Sigurd tells Sara he’s arrived at a holiday cabin for a weekend away with the guys. A couple of hours later, Sigurd’s friends call from the cabin asking where he is — according to them, Sigurd never arrived.
Sara is irritated by what she thinks is a practical joke. But as the hours stretch out, her anger turns to fear, and the large empty house begins to feel increasingly threatening.
To get to the root of Sigurd’s disappearance, Sara must question everything she knows about their relationship. But can she trust her own thoughts? And where is she safe?
My thoughts: this took me a while to get into but when I did I found it really interesting. Sara starts her own investigation into her husband’s death, she also starts thinking about her own life – about her parents, her mother’s death and how she ended up where she is. As readers we spend a lot of time in Sara’s head, following her thoughts and sharing her moods.
It was an interesting and complex story – the police keep all their theories and suspects from her, so she builds her own, while being slowly terrorised in her own home. The final scenes are shocking and the answers it offers are a complete surprise.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Her work has got in the way of relationships before – but never like this Anna’s job as a geologist takes her all over the world, including to the beautiful island of Elba, where she’s sent to look for precious metals. And the island isn’t the only thing that’s gorgeous – she can’t believe her luck when she meets windsurfer Marco and sparks fly. But Anna must keep her role on Elba a secret to avoid upsetting the locals, which means lying to Marco even as they grow closer. When her old friend Toby visits, Anna suddenly finds herself torn between the attentions of the two men. However, Anna’s not the only one keeping secrets. Is Marco being entirely honest with her? And why did Toby really come to visit? A fun and escapist romance, perfect for fans of Lucy Coleman and Alex Brown. Purchase
I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I did languages at university a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to Italy for seven years as a teacher of English. My Italian wife and I then came back to the UK with our little daughter (now long- since grown up) where I ran a big English language school for many years. We now live in a sleepy little village in Devonshire. I’ve been writing almost all my life but it was only seven years ago that I finally managed to find a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me my first contract. The fact that I am now writing romantic comedy is something I still find hard to explain. My early books were thrillers and historical novels. Maybe it’s because there are so many horrible things happening in the world today that I feel I need to do my best to provide something to cheer my readers up. My books provide escapism to some gorgeous locations, even if travel to them is currently difficult.
My thoughts: I really enjoyed this sunshine soaked rom com, especially as getting away to Italy is currently a pipe dream. The plot was engaging and entertaining, the writing flows smoothly and kept me involved in the narrative. I liked Anna, and her friendship with George the dog (and his human!). A thoroughly delightful read for the summer.
*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 fox could be a shape-shifter, a spirit being. It could appear in human form if this suited its purposes; it could come and go as it pleased, play tricks, lead men astray.’
A young filmmaker in Hackney with a fox problem in her garden; an actress dealing with a rival and the fallout of a scandal; an English tutor who gets too close to an oligarch; a freelance journalist on Mars, grappling with his fate.
When everyone is trying to make it, what does it take to survive? These men and women have learned to change shape, to adapt – but can they learn to be wise?
Showing the short story collection at its most entertaining and rewarding, In the Time of Foxes is deeply insightful about the times in which we live. With an exhilarating span of people and places, it introduces Jo Lennan as an irresistible new storyteller.
My thoughts: Foxes in folklore around the world are tricksters and magical, they slip through the world with a wink and a grin. They’re survivors, making homes in places that have changed since humans started building cities and motorways.
In this collection of short stories, foxes slip through gardens and under fences, they’re just out of the corner of the eye, as the humans strive and struggle to fit in, and try to find their place. From London to Sydney, Japan to Mars, each story is a tiny novel in itself, some I wanted to know more, others were fine to leave just as they were.
I really enjoyed these stories, snap shots of lives at one moment in time, people dealing with issues that loomed large in their lives but might seem insignificant to outsiders. Intelligent and well written, this book was a pleasure to read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Brothers bound by blood but fated to be enemies. Can their Empire survive or will it crumble into myth?
Istanbul, 1903. Since his younger brother usurped the Imperial throne, Sultan Murad V has been imprisoned with his family for nearly thirty years. The new century heralds immense change. Anarchy and revolution threaten the established order. Powerful enemies plot the fall of the once mighty Ottoman Empire. Only death will bring freedom to the enlightened former sultan. But the waters of the Bosphorus run deep: assassins lurk in shadows, intrigue abounds, and scandal in the family threatens to bring destruction of all that he holds dear…
For over six hundred years the history of the Turks and their vast and powerful Empire has been inextricably linked to the Ottoman dynasty. Can this extraordinary family, and the Empire they built, survive into the new century?
Set against the magnificent backdrop of Imperial Istanbul,The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus is a spellbinding tale of love, duty and sacrifice. Evocative and utterly beguiling,The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus is perfect for fans of Colin Falconer, Kate Morton and Philippa Gregory.
Ayşe Osmanoğlu is a member of the Imperial Ottoman family, being descended from Sultan Murad V through her grandfather and from Sultan Mehmed V (Mehmed Reşad) through her grandmother. After reading History and Politics at the University of Exeter, she then obtained an M.A. in Turkish Studies at SOAS, University of London, specialising in Ottoman History. She lives in the UK with her husband and five children.
My thoughts: this was really fascinating, a partly fictionalised account of the lives of the deposed Sultan Murad V and his family, who lived under house arrest after his brother seized the throne.
Written by a descendant of the family, it obviously has a slight bias towards the real life figures in it, but that’s understandable and I think if I were to write about my ancestors, I’d probably do the same. Saladuddin in particular was a really interesting, intelligent man, the son of the former sultan, he had lots of ideas about reforming the Ottoman Empire and bringing it into the 20th Century, but his paranoid and mistrustful uncle would never have listened.
It is at times very sad, the whole family, four generations at one point, were trapped in an admittedly luxurious Palace, but unable to see any of their other relatives, of which there were many, or even know what was going on outside the walls, unless from the newspapers and loyal servants’ gossip. After Murad’s death, they are finally allowed on restricted outings and Prince Nurid doesn’t even realise that the four legged creatures on the streets are dogs, that’s how isolated and forgotten they were.
It’s an incredibly moving and deeply interesting read – seeing world history through their eyes, as opposed to the Western European one I learnt at school was especially intriguing.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
DI Kate Young can’t trust anybody. Not even herself.
In the bleak countryside around Blithfield Reservoir, a serial murderer and rapist is leaving a trail of bloodshed. His savage calling card: the word ‘MINE’ carved into each of his victims.
DI Kate Young struggles to get the case moving—even when one of the team’s own investigators is found dead in a dumpster. But Kate is battling her own demons. Obsessed with exposing Superintendent John Dickson and convinced there’s a conspiracy running deep in the force, she no longer knows who to trust. Kate’s crusade has already cost her dearly. What will she lose next?
When her stepsister spills a long-buried secret, Kate realises she’s found the missing link—now she must prove it before the killer strikes again. With enemies closing in on all sides, she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to bring them down. But time is running out, and Kate’s past has pushed her to the very edge. Can she stop herself from falling?
USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer writes feel-good comedies and gripping crime fiction.
A move from humour to the ‘dark side’ in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in LITTLE GIRL LOST and demonstrated that stand-up comedian Carol had found her true niche.
To date, her crime novels have sold over 750,000 copies and been translated for various overseas markets.
Carol has been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ”Irritable Male Syndrome’ and ‘Ageing Disgracefully’ and on BBC Breakfast television. She 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 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.
My thoughts: I really like this series, Kate feels understandable and realistic, I liked seeing her relationship with her stepsister Tilly, in this book, it made her less isolated and threw her troubles into a different light. She’s still searching for answers about her husband’s death but this new case leads her in different directions, looking for a serial rapist and killer – especially as one of his victims was a police officer.
The crimes are awful, obviously, and the evidence limited but Kate and her team are determined to find the killer. During the investigation she discovers a few new leads for her own case, and starts to gather the evidence she needs.
The writing is gripping and the plot zips along, there are a few false starts and its only when Tilly says something to Kate that it all starts to come together. The team work hard but the fact that the victims offer up little evidence doesn’t help. It was good to learn a bit more about the other officers too – I like Emma, the martial arts expert, who offers a calmer perspective than Kate’s. This series is shaping up to be really good and I’m looking forward to book three.
*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 