The page-turning psychological thriller novella about infatuation, revenge and the lengths we will go to for love.
“She pressed her nose gingerly to the glass, peering unblinking through the viscous liquid at her gift.”
Victorian, rural Sussex. When headstrong daughter of a rector, Constance Timothy, receives a flurry of gifts in pretty little boxes from the charming, smouldering student doctor Smith Williams, her whole family anticipates a future betrothal.
Yet beneath the exquisite pastel lids and satin bows lie macabre secrets that entice Constance into a private world of obsession and darkness, where morality becomes blurred, loyalties are tested and unthinkable acts are possible. One secret will shake the genteel world she knows to the core…
The first book of The Carousel of Curiosities series, this haunting novella is perfect for readers of Sarah Waters, Laura Purcell, and Angela Carter.
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Lucy Kaufman is an award-winning author, playwright, audio dramatist and poet. 40 of her plays have been performed professionally around the UK and Australia, to critical acclaim. She has lectured in Playwriting and Screenwriting for Pen to Print and Canterbury Christ Church University and is a mentor at The Writing Coach. Originally from London, she now lives by the sea with her husband, sons, dogs and cats.
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My thoughts: When medical student Smith Williams and vicar’s daughter Constance meet, she is dazzled by his charm, and he begins sending her strange gifts in pretty boxes, she keeps the contents secret from her parents, rightly knowing they won’t understand. She dreams of the day he proposes. Until she hears that he is engaged to someone else.
However someone is looking after Constance, without her knowing, and they take a terrible revenge on her behalf.
Sinister and creepy, this novella is clever and like Constance, slightly intense, as she realises what has been done for her and must take action.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Someone pushed my boyfriend under a train. Everyone thinks it was me.
The police say he took his own life. But there were four other people at the tube station that day – and I know one of them killed him.
So I flee to Tidesong, my family’s crumbling clifftop house in Cornwall. Here I can grieve Marcus. Come to terms with his betrayal. And work out what really happened. I think I’m safe here. Then the message flashes onto my laptop: Marcus didn’t jump. He was pushed. I know it was you. Someone’s watching me. Someone has followed me here. Someone knows my secrets – or thinks they do. And they won’t stop until I pay for what they think I’ve done.
Sadie Ryan is the bestselling psychological author of three novels. Alongside her writing she works fulltime, and loves to take walks in the Cheshire countryside where she lives with her rescue dog. In her past re-incarnations she was a model, worked in advertising and ran a coffee shop. She speaks fluent Spanish a little French and adores Italy and Italian food—lots of Italian food, and is partial to a an odd glass of wine or two!
My thoughts: This was really good, tense and compelling. Told from multiple perspectives, the narrative builds up to a dramatic confrontation between all our different narrators, bringing their versions of events together, hoping to get at the truth of not just what happened to Marcus on that Tube station platform, but also Sophie, who died in Bibby’s arms some years before and whose death has haunted several people all this time.
Bibby has retreated to her family’s house in Cornwall to mourn but the events of Marcus’ death have followed her and so have the other people who were on the platform the day he died, and they want answers. Can Bibby satisfy their demands or will this sad story claim another victim?
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
As the sticky heat of August settles over Florence, Dan Armstrong is ready for a well-earned break— sightseeing with fiancée Anna, daughter Tricia and her fiancé Shaun. But when a British man is found dead inside the city’s magnificent Duomo, Dan’s plans quickly change.
The victim, Tristan Angel, is a super-wealthy arms dealer with a saintly name and a devilish reputation. But what was he doing in the cathedral, and who decided to make it his final confession?
At Angel’s opulent villa in the hills of Fiesole, Dan and Commissario Virgilio encounter a colourful cast of suspects—each one hiding secrets and none too eager to talk. As tempers rise and the heat outside grows ever more intense, Dan and his four-legged sidekick, Oscar, must sniff out the truth before the killer strikes again.
T. A. Williams is the bestselling author of the Armstrong and Oscar cozy mystery series. Trevor studied languages at University and lived and worked in Italy for eight years, returning to England with his wife in 1972. Trevor and his wife now live in Devon.
My thoughts: Yay! Another case for Dan Armstrong and the true hero, canine Officer Oscar (it’s official, Virgilio says he’s a vital part of the police) and he does of course find an important piece of evidence, and is rewarded with steak.
When the owner of an arms company is shot in the confessional of the Florence Duomo, the stunning cathedral, the Santa Maria del Fiore, there are almost too many suspects, and the international spy agencies (the ones with names like MI6 and CIA) are very interested. Angel’s company had some, interesting, clients.
But the main suspects are the group of people he brought with him. Almost all of them are employees of the company in one way or another, and some of their relationships go a long way back. Oh, and his not very happy ex-wife just happens to be in Florence too.
Dan can’t help but get involved, even though his daughter and her fiancé are visiting, as well as Anna and her daughter too. He’s supposed to be looking at wedding venues, not catching criminals. I always feel a bit sorry for Anna, Dan’s priorities go; Oscar, crime, Anna.
Obviously I really enjoyed this – I love this series, and this one reminded me I really must go back to Florence and have a proper look around – I was 14 last time and don’t remember much of our day trip to the city other than how hot and crowded it was!
So join Dan and Oscar on another fiendish and clever case, filled with some larger than life characters (Eddie), spies, weapons dealers and a very patient fiancée in Anna.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
A killing like no other. A killer more twisted than he’s ever seen before. A case that will test him to the limit. Has Robert Hunter finally met his match?
‘Do you believe the Devil exists, Detective?’ the officer at the end of the line asks. ‘Because if you don’t . . . I’m sure you will once you get here.’
Robert Hunter is called to the most vicious crime scene he has ever attended. It is made even more disturbing when the autopsy reveals a poem, left by the killer, inside the body of their victim.
Soon, another body is found. The methods and signature of the murder differs, but the level of violence used suggests that the same person is behind both crimes. Hunter’s fears are confirmed when a second part of the poem is found.
But this discovery does more than just link the two killings – it suggests that this is the work of a serial murderer.
With no forensic evidence to go on, Robert Hunter must catch the most disciplined and systematic killer that he has ever encountered, someone who thrives on the victims’ fear, and to whom death is a lesson that needs to be taught.
From #1 Sunday Times and multi-million copy bestselling author, Chris Carter, comes the most compelling and ruthless Robert Hunter thriller yet.
My thoughts: Called to a truly gruesome murder Hunter and Garcia find even their stomachs turning, and they’ve seen some grim things.
As this case unfolds, they’re truly stumped, there appears to be absolutely no connection between the victims, and no explanation as to the motive driving the killer. Each crime scene is even more disturbing than the last and the MO is different each time, the only link is a line of some sort of poem left with each victim. But it isn’t something that was published, so it continues to leave them puzzled. Until Hunter spots something in a crime scene that might just help them solve this one…
Another disturbing, and awful, but ingenious case. A sort of sins-of-the-father reasoning and a murderer who wants to deliver a lesson that no one will forget.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Alesha Dykema is a thirty-something-year-old author of thriller novels.
She lives in the dreadful Midwest with her strange husband, head-banging toddler son, a neurotic dog, and warden cat.
Besides writing, Alesha loves to read (like every other author in the world). Alesha is also a health and fitness junkie and a dabbler in furniture refinishing. She is extremely anti-social and wishes she lived off-grid in the middle of the woods, but her husband hates good ideas and happiness and won’t allow this to happen.
Even though she’s pretty anti-social, she still likes to make new friends and have casual chats about people’s childhood traumas.
My thoughts: With a controlling father who won’t let anyone make their own decisions – he even decided who his children should marry, it’s not surprising you might just reach the end of your rope. But there are secrets, things that a man who has to manipulate everyone, will go to great lengths to protect.
The narrator is one of this man’s children, a woman who will do anything to protect her daughter from ending up like her, controlled and manipulated by a bully. When she makes a new friend, things don’t add up, and when she learns the truth, it’s a shock and only adds fuel to the fire of her determination to put an end to her father.
This is a dark story about a family completely under the control of the patriarch that only murder seems to be the solution. I enjoyed it, if you can say that about a book narrated by a murderer!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own
A murdered beauty influencer. A buried secret waiting to surface. A killer who’s already one step ahead.
In the picturesque Warwickshire town of Queensbridge, a retired nurse escapes to her hotel room looking for peace from the chaos of her great-nephew’s rowdy thirtieth birthday party. But to her horror she witnesses a brutal crime from her balcony — a young woman strangled in the room opposite.
Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy — staying at the same hotel after attending a nearby wedding — is first on the scene, and quickly realises this isn’t a random attack. The victim, glamorous beauty influencer Candy Goodhope, was living a double life — and everyone close to her has something to hide.
Roy’s boss, DCI Gavin Roscoe, takes charge of the investigation, and as the pair follow the trail, another brutal killing tears through the town. Roy is sure there’s a link between both murders, but Roscoe isn’t convinced.
But as Roy digs deeper, she closes in on a secret so dangerous someone will kill to protect it. Because in this town, the past never stays buried — and even the dead still have a voice.
Tony Bassett is a former journalist who worked on regional and national newspapers in Britain for more than 40 years. He mainly reported on crime, show business, human interest and consumer topics. Now retired, he writes crime fiction. Tony is best known for his series of novels set in the West Midlands featuring Detective Chief Inspector Gavin Roscoe, an experienced detective and family man, and his sergeant, law graduate and resourceful problem-solver Sunita Roy.
His latest novel, VOICES FROM THE DEAD (Book 8) begins in the picturesque Warwickshire town of Queensbridge where a retired nurse escapes to her hotel room from a rowdy birthday party, looking for peace. But to her horror, through a window, she witnesses a brutal crime — a young woman being strangled in the new wing of the building. Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy —attending a wedding in the same hotel — is first on the scene, and quickly realises this isn’t a random attack. The victim, glamorous beauty influencer Candy Goodhope, was living a double life — and everyone close to her has something to hide.
The fifth book in the series, HEIR TO MURDER, was judged first in the Mystery and Suspense (Police Procedurals) category in the American Fiction Awards in June 2024. The full list of books in the series (in order) are: MURDER ON OXFORD LANE; THE CROSSBOW STALKER; MURDER OF A DOCTOR; OUT FOR REVENGE; HEIR TO MURDER; IT NEVER RAINS; NOT MY VALENTINE; and VOICES FROM THE DEAD.
A collection of the first seven books was published in October 2025 under the title DETECTIVES ROY & ROSCOE MYSTERIES 1 – 7. The whole series has been released by London publishers The Book Folks, now part of Joffe Books.
Tony has also written a stand-alone thriller, SEAT 97, about a man shot dead at a London concert hall (published by The Book Folks) while two further works (the crime novel Smile Of The Stowaway and the spy novel The Lazarus Charter) were published by The Conrad Press.
Tony first developed a love of writing at the age of nine when he produced a junior school magazine. A few years later, his local vicar in Tunbridge Wells staged his play about Naboth’s Vineyard. At Hull University, Tony was judged Time-Life Magazine student journalist of the year in 1971.
Tony, who has five grown-up children, is a Life Member of the National Union of Journalists. He lives in South-East London with his partner Lin.
My thoughts: Witnessing a murder through her hotel window is a shock, but the witness, a retired nurse, has the presence of mind to call for help. Luckily DS Roy, Sunita, is at a wedding in the same hotel and is first on the scene. A young woman has been strangled.
She’s a local hairdresser and influencer, last seen very drunk in the hotel bar earlier that day. The police find DNA linked to a supposedly dead man at the scene, which sends them in the wrong direction, but they quickly get back on track.
Why would anyone want to kill Candy? She might not have appealed to everyone, but she wasn’t a terrible person. Her two friends/employees are at a loss. Her husband and her boyfriend have alibis, and her husband would more likely do away with his rival than his wife.
It must be someone in her circle. Could it date back all the way to her school days?
When a retired teacher from the same school is found murdered in her home with a nail gun, the police wonder if there is a link between the two killings. It seems slim, but as they dig into the past, certain things come to light that suggest someone with plenty to hide.
A satisfying ending, with twists and turns along the way for the team of detectives. The motives are dark and the means rather ad hoc but they get their man in the end. Very enjoyable.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The only thing more dangerous than the truth is the lie she told to hide it.
After years of struggle, Raven Kendrick is giving up on her dream of a theater career in New York. Returning to her hometown, she moves back in with her parents and resigns herself to a quiet life.
But that humble dream is shattered when her tyrannical father is murdered. Even worse, Raven is convinced her beloved mother killed him while sleepwalking. So instead of calling the police, she decides to cover up the crime.
But as detectives close in, Raven’s carefully constructed lies begin to crumble. Her alibi isn’t holding up and her father’s business partner is asking way too many questions. And she’s pretty sure her mother knows more than she’s saying.
With the police circling, Raven is shocked to find that she herself has become suspect number one. She needs to get to the truth of what happened that night—and fast.
But as she digs, Raven uncovers a tangled web of buried resentments and festering revenge.
And behind that web, a horrifying secret that will change her life forever.
Brian R. O’Rourke has been writing stories since he was eight years old. A lifelong, avid reader, Brian believes that fiction has the power to change the world. He enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, playing the violin, and golfing.
My thoughts: Raven is desperate to learn the truth about her controlling father’s death, but she also wants to protect her mother – who she thinks killed him while sleepwalking.
The police are circling, neither Raven or her mother has a very convincing story and the evidence doesn’t add up. It doesn’t help that Raven is trying to cover up what she thinks her mum did.
She’s not exactly a criminal mastermind, and her own investigation isn’t really going anywhere. Moving back to her hometown and reconnecting with her ex-boyfriend really isn’t going too well.
I liked Raven, she’s just trying to protect her mum, her dad was a controlling bully and didn’t treat her mum very well, and the murder while sleepwalking is a clever idea, although in the end the truth is more than Raven could imagine.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Three dead bodies. Two murders. One missing Bonfire Night effigy.
With Bonfire Night looming, Aldermaston, the Eighth Marquess of Mortiforde, is feeling the heat.
Not only has someone stolen Mortiforde Millie—the town’s beloved fifteen-foot Bonfire Night effigy—just days before the town’s annual firework celebrations, but developer Rupert Rinde wants to torch Mortiforde’s heritage by building a waste incinerator on the historic Mortiforde Meadows.
The locals are outraged, as is Rupert’s father, Sir Hugo, who owns the meadows. So when Sir Hugo is found dead, skewered by a medieval dagger, his widow begs Aldermaston to investigate.
Meanwhile, Sir Hugo had promised Aldermaston’s wife and her Ladies’ Legion the meadows for their new eco-friendly burial scheme. Now they’re desperate to plant their first body in the ground before the deal goes up in smoke.
So, when Aldermaston uncovers who stole Mortiforde Millie and why, he realises the waste incinerator project is designed to ignite some explosive repercussions.
Can Aldermaston unmask a killer and save the Mortiforde Meadows before Bonfire Night erupts into chaos? Will the Ladies’ Legion bury a body before their dreams go up in flames? And can Aldermaston rescue Mortiforde Millie’s hidden secret before the fireworks begin?
Simon Whaley lives in rural Shropshire, having escaped from Greater London in the late 1990s. His first published piece was a word search puzzle, aged 17, and he’s since written over 1000 articles in publications as varied as BBC Countryfile, Country Walking, Cheshire Life, The People’s Friend, The Daily Express, The Observer, Outdoor Photography, Coast, The Simple Things and Writing Magazine.
His first book, One Hundred Ways For A Dog To Train Its Human, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in September 2003, and spent three weeks on the UK’s Top Ten Non-Fiction paperback bestseller lists. (Lifetime sales now exceed over a quarter of a million copies.) He became a full-time writer in January 2004. He’s since written over a dozen non-fiction books, and recently published the third novel in his Marquess of Mortiforde cosy crime series.
My thoughts: This was a fun and funny mystery, there’s all sorts of chaos going on. The Mortiforde Meadows are the best site for a massive incinerator, according to some, the Ladies’ Legion have been told they can have them for their green burial site, and this leads to murder. But whodunnit? And why?
There’s also a giant effigy to find, someone leaves a tank in front of the gates, and BANG, a protest group, are getting a bit out of hand. There’s one very stupid policeman but thankfully Aldermaston, the Marquess, is on hand to sort it all out, and find his missing brother as well.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The note on the envelope was addressed to a man who had been officially dead three years earlier. It read: “To Ed Constance. If you’ve come this far, that is your name.”
He had another name only yesterday… He had a wallet with credit cards, a driver’s license and a social security car to prove it. He had a photograph of a woman who, only last night, he could not remember. But now he did: Sarah, his wife.’
In the early hours of a summer night, seven drugged children are found dumped beside a highway in northern Maine. There’s no record of their disappearance. No therapy or hypnosis can release them from their amnesia. They are the Apostles, created by a sinister organisation with one terrifying endgame in mind.
Ed is one of those abandoned children, locked away for years and then set free on an unsuspecting world. As his college days approach and with only fragments of memory left, his life implodes when an old adversary calls upon him. Suddenly the true purpose of his whole existence is revealed. He does the only thing he can. He runs…
Special plans have been devised for Ed Constance, but he isn’t like the others. He knows what his pursuers want. Will he have the strength to deny them their ultimate goal?
Oliver Johnson’s expertly-paced, high-concept thriller grips from its opening pages to its spectacular finale.
OLIVER JOHNSON is an editor of commercial fiction and non-fiction and has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry including John Grisham, Iain Banks and Michael Crichton. He is the author of several fantasy novels and children’s books. He spends his time between London and a writing bolthole in East Sussex. Caller Unknown is his first thriller.
My thoughts: This is a strange and at times bewildering book taking in the supposed CIA MKUltra experiments, terrorism, brain washing and mind control. It all moves at an incredible pace.
Ed was one of seven children found abandoned by the side of the road, he was maybe nine years old, and could recall nothing of his life before that moment. Adopted by a couple in Boston, he’s exceptionally bright and capable, excelling at school. But he has no friends beyond the owner of the bait and tackle shop by Lake Tranquility in Maine, where his adoptive parents have a house.
When things from his past start to enter into his present on his first day at college, he runs, assuming a new identity and moving to Florida, as far as he can go.
Building an entirely new life for himself as a successful lawyer, marrying and believing himself safe from the mysterious organisation that had him as a child, he manages to live quietly for some years. Then things take another strange turn and he must turn to his only friend, Vietnam vet Jerry Dove once more for help.
There are so many twists and turns, so many threads in this rather brilliantly written book, I was completely hooked and could not put it down. And the ending! Oh, so intriguing.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
“And I thought you were my savior in my darkest hour. How very wrong I was.”
1794: Devastated by the violent disappearance of her husband, Charles Sharpe, Eliza struggles to save Pleasant Hall from the hands of crooked creditors and the governor’s greed. In the aftermath of the attack, her husband’s enemies have branded him a traitor and declare him dead.
But an unlikely source carries knowledge that he still lives, and he alone knows who has taken Charles. Eliza’s desperation drives her to form an alliance with the king of the underworld himself: Captain Hiram Bruin, a notorious man who is more pirate than privateer.
Eliza’s death has been ordered by Lord Dunmore, and Bruin himself tasked with the deed. But Hiram Bruin has never been a man to follow orders. He offers her passage on his ship, the Fortuyne, and his personal protection. In her hour of distress, Eliza accepts—for she has no other choice.
Bruin takes Eliza on a wild and dangerous voyage from the island of New Providence to the wild and untamed Saba, and finally to England, where her journey started three years ago.
Eliza endures her new sinister reality, one where death creeps ever closer, and quickly learns that the only monsters at sea are men. Ensnared by the salt air and damning secrets, one thing is startlingly clear: Bruin wants to take everything she holds dear. For the roots of revenge lie deep…
Will Eliza be able to save the life of her husband before it’s too late? What price is she willing to pay for his freedom? And can she escape this unimaginable nightmare, fueled by a man of unspeakable cruelty?
Gina Giordano always had an insatiable curiosity and a penchant for history. Born in New York City, she is a writer, artist, and a conjurer of the past. She holds a BA in history and a master’s degree in historical fiction from New York University, and has traveled to over sixty-five countries across the globe. When she is not climbing ancient ruins or exploring forgotten palaces, she enjoys swimming with sharks in remote pristine waters. Her debut novel, Strange Eden, was longlisted for the 2023 Bath Novel Award.
My thoughts: Eliza and Charles finally found a way to each other, only to be ripped apart by the events on the island. She’s been told that he’s dead, but refuses to believe it. Pirate Hiram Bruin tells her he knows where Charles is, abducts her onto his ship the Fortuyne and they set sail.
Bruin is a terrifying character, and his crew of reprobates isn’t any better. But Bruin has a personal vendetta against Charles which he keeps from Eliza, all the while attempting to convince her to give up her search and marry him.
As they traverse around the Caribbean and then across the Atlantic to England, Eliza must brave events that would destroy a weaker woman. Murder, rape and intense cruelty, are all part of life aboard the ship.
Meanwhile Charles is suffering through his own hell, held prisoner in South America by a dangerous criminal who makes his prisoners fight each other. He knows that he needs to stay alive and make his way to Eliza and Philippe, wherever they are.
This final chapter in Charles and Eliza’s story is probably the most shocking, the crimes of the Bahamas governor, Lord Dunmore, are mounting and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
Charles and Eliza are incredibly strong and brave people, they suffer terribly at the hands of their enemies and must overcome all obstacles to find their way to safety and keep their son well.
Gripping, shocking and full of drama, this brings the Strange Eden trilogy to a sensational end, where it began, in an English country garden.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 