Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Sunken Sailor – Patricia Moyes

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Inspector Henry Tibbett and his wife, Emmy, are enjoying a holiday on a friend’s yacht, lazily sailing from one little English sea-town to the next.

It should all be delicious indolence… except that Henry can’t stop thinking about death.

Well, one death in particular. The death of a local sailor. And he really can’t stop thinking about it when it starts looking as though the drowned sailor is somehow connected to the robbery at a nearby manor house.

Patricia Moyes (1923-2000) was an acclaimed British mystery novelist, best known for her long running series featuring Inspector Henry Tibbett. The tenth book in the series, Who Saw Her Die?, was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award, and Moyes was inducted into The Detection Club, presided over by Agatha Christie, in the same year. Her early career also included work as a radar operator in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force; as a screenwriter – with credits including the Robert Hamer film School for Scoundrels and Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected –; as an assistant editor for Vogue magazine; and as a translator.

My thoughts: I’m beginning to think that the Tibbetts should just stay at home – their holidays always seem to end up getting someone murdered!

This time they’re enjoying the English coast, on a friend’s boat. But all is not well in the bucolic countryside and next thing you know they’re embroiled in jewel heists and murders. Henry gets stuck in to solve the case, and Emmy gets kidnapped.

Can Henry unravel the murderous mystery, save his wife and still enjoy a brief cruise on board their friends’ boat?

Another delightful classic crime resurrected from the archives, although I would also enjoy a biography of the author herself.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Everyone is Perfect Here – Jane Haseldine

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A woman’s life is upended when her past comes back to mess with her mind in this psychological thriller full of twists and turns.

There’s no such thing as perfect. It’s been fifteen years since Carly Bennett’s mother was brutaly murdered during a home robbery. Since then, she’s worked hard to build a normal life with a stelar career as an English professor—far away from the picture perfect step family that abandoned her at boarding school.

When a male coleague is found dead in Carly’s office—her name scrawled next to his body—everything she’s strived for starts to fal apart.

There are eerie similarities to her mother’s attack, and Carly determines to find the truth. Yet things take a bizarre turn when she suddenly experiences lost time, waking up in strange places, and flashes of dormant memories . . . memories that can’t possibly be real. Because, if they are, then she was there the night her mother was killed.

Could Carly have been responsible? Or is something more sinister at play in her stepfamily’s perfect world . . .?

This eerie domestic suspense is perfect for fans of Frieda McFadden and Lisa Jewell.

Jane Haseldine is a journalist, former crime reporter, columnist, newspaper editor, magazine writer, and deputy director of communications for a governor. Jane writes the Julia Gooden mystery series including The Last Time She Saw Him, Duplicity, Worth Kiling For and You Fit the Pattern.

My thoughts: So many disturbing things start happening to Carly, her colleague is murdered in her office, she’s hallucinating and behaving strangely, her stepbrothers have reappeared in her life (and one of them is definitely a psychopath), she’s falling apart, and her annoying assistant seems to be trying to take over her job.

Luckily her kickass best friend Ava is there to dig up the dirt and try to save Carly from the step family she thought had forgotten her – since she was sent away to boarding school and her mother was murdered, she’s had no contact with them. So why are they back in her life and why is everything going so horribly wrong? 

Filled with twists, and with an empathetic protagonist in Carly (although Ava is a much more entertaining character – her bag of disguises, the relationship she has with her ex-husband, her avoidance of her family, her crazy job) I liked Carly, she was innocent and a little naive at times, but a genuinely good person who didn’t deserve all the awful things that had happened to her. 

I enjoyed this book, and the twist at the end was very good, I didn’t see it coming at all. Carly is very lucky that Ava is in her life and that there was at least one detective willing to listen to her as she sought to prove her innocence.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: False Witness – John Carson

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Some killers are caught.
Others simply go into hiding…

DCI Liam Brodie is no stranger to horror. Seven years ago, he led the hunt for a murderer who killed seven women, leaving their bodies out on display like some kind of morbid exhibition. Never any
witnesses; never any clue as to who he was. The press called him The Embalmer. Brodie called him a monster.

Now, seven years later, the killings have started again. Same method. Same pattern. Same nightmare.
Brodie is called back to Fife to lead the investigation. But this time, the killer isn’t just repeating the past—he’s rewriting it. And Brodie isn’t just hunting a serial killer… He’s being hunted.

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Originally from Edinburgh, I moved to NY in 2006 with my wife – who is American – and my two daughters, who were 10 and 7 at the time. I met Debbie, my second wife, online in 2001. My daughters are from my first marriage, and Debbie has an adult son. I have been writing for a long time, writing my first crime novel in 1997.

After being taken on by an agency in 2012, the agent then abruptly left the agency in 2013. A year later, in November 2014 I decided to self publish my books.

I started with the DI Frank Miller series, followed by DCI Harry McNeil and DCI Sean Bracken. I decided on writing DCI James Craig and have him move from London to Fife. I have also written two
Calvin Stewart books (from the McNeil series) and four US – based thrillers.

Social Media Links –
Facebook: @johncarsonbooks
Twitter: @JCarsonAuthor
Instagram: @johncarsonauthor
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Bookbub profile: @JohnCarson

My thoughts: The twist in this book is *chef’s kiss*, you honestly won’t see it coming, it’s so cleverly done. And now you’ll be trying to guess, but no spoilers.

This is a cracking case, a supposedly dormant killer has started again, leaving dead women on the beach, but were they ever truly dormant? Or did they just kill elsewhere? As Brodie and his team dig into the case, both the new victims and the old, they put themselves in harm’s way, the killer is watching their every move.

Gripping, enjoyable and fiendish, this was truly a great crime read.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Pledge – Sarah Yarwood-Lovett

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A MYSTERIOUS OFFER
When Thea deciphers a cryptic invitation, she can’t believe it’s real. Yet the next moment she’s on a jet, being whisked off to a private Caribbean island.

BUT THIS IS NO ORDINARY HOLIDAY
Her fellow guests are richer than rich – billionaires, tech bros, even royalty; all in paradise to sign a global deal. So what is Thea doing here?

THERE IS NO ESCAPE
By the morning, their host is dead – and so is any hope of getting off the island.

NO GETAWAY
As guests are picked off one by one, the group’s suspicions turn on Thea.

ONLY A FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL
But the killer isn’t the only threat on the island – and escape means facing her worst fears . . .

My thoughts: Summoned to a deserted island, Thea is at a loss as to why she, a defence barrister, is there. The other guests include a minor royal, her MP husband, several entrepreneurs and billionaires, a pop star, a supermodel and a journalist. Her husband seems to be involved with their host Olga, and that really throws Thea, who invites their lover’s wife to their super secret summit?

Unfortunately things go from bad to worse when Olga is found drowned in the swimming pool the next morning. Their phones were confiscated on arrival, the WiFi is off, the staff have been sent away, there’s no way off the island and no way to call for help.

As the group squabble and try to work out which one of them is a killer, the situation continues to deteriorate. Thea tries to be rational, but the things really aren’t. Someone there is a murderer, there’s a hungry panther roaming the island (big cats do not make good pets) and then more bodies show up violently murdered. Can she survive the weekend? Can any of them? Will help ever arrive? And why did Olga invite them all there?

Clever, funny (if you’re a bit dark and twisted like me), but with an interesting point to make, this was a really enjoyable, smart read from a writer whose previous books I really like.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: I Am You – Victoria Redel

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A mesmerising historical novel, I Am You is a meditation on gender, an ode to artistic creation, and an unforgettable love story that reimagines the life of renowned painter Maria van Oosterwijck during the Dutch Golden Age.

At eight years old, Gerta Pieters is forced to disguise herself as a boy and sent to work for a genteel family. When their daughter Maria sees through Gerta’s ruse, she insists Gerta accompany her to Amsterdam and help her enter the elite, maledominated art world.

While Maria rises in the ranks of society as a painting prodigy, Gerta makes herself invaluable in every way: confidante, muse, lover. But as Gerta steps into her own talents, their relationship fractures into a complex web of obsession and rivalry, until the secrets they keep threaten to unravel everything.

Victoria Redel is a first-generation American poet and novelist. Her work has been widely anthologized, awarded, and translated in ten languages. Her debut novel, Loverboy (2001) was adapted for feature film directed by Kevin Bacon. Redel’s short stories, poetry and essays have appeared in Granta, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Bomb, One Story, Salmagundi, O and NOON. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment forthe Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center. Victoria is a professor in the graduate and undergraduate Creative Writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College.

My thoughts: I actually found this a very sad book in many ways, Gerta is often unhappy and mistreated by her mistress Maria, who mocks her in public and is hot and cold with her in private.

The two women live a strange life, Maria is feted by society for her artworks but the men of the art world are dismissive of her talent, because she’s not a man, while also hoping to make her their wife or mistress. 

She and Gerta become a couple, but must keep it secret from everyone. And as Gerta learns to paint and assist Maria, who suffers from what I think is Parkinson’s, unable to use her hands unless the tremors she suffers become apparent, their relationship changes.

Gerta narrates the story, and we see her pain and misery first hand. From being forced to dress and behave like a boy, to being raped by Maria’s horrible nephew. She finds little love in her life, often rejected by Maria, who toys with her and ultimately she is forced to make a decision that will affect them both.

Powerful, compelling and fascinating, this story of women in a man’s world, creative and cruel (Maria) and incredibly loving (Greta) is moving and intriguing, recreating a vanished world in Amsterdam.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: After Darcy – Joanna Nadin

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It is a truism, frequently invoked by the members of the Meryton Women’s Guild, that one is only ever as happy as one’s unhappiest child. So, with five daughters and four grandchildren, it was a miracle Mrs Hester Bennet ever raised a smile. At best, she was only ever tentatively pleased, and even then understood that her contentment rested on the edge of a gaping precipice into which she would inevitably tumble the second Kitty or Lydia (it was almost always those two) messaged in the clutches of yet another existential crisis…

Lydia, home from Paris on New Year’s Day in a welter of hangover and humiliation, finds herself swearing off drink, drugs and sex for the next 12 months. Through her unfamiliar sobriety, she’ll see a landmark year for all the Bennet sisters, including a disruptive 40th birthday, an engagement and a funeral: and, maybe, coming to terms with the results of a run-of-the-mill run-in with a jackknifed lorry on a wet stretch of the M1…

A sharply funny and unexpectedly tender modern sequel to Pride & Prejudice, this is a story of sisterhood, survival, and second chances. For fans of Marian Keyes, Dolly Alderton, and anyone who’s ever wondered what the Bennet sisters would be like in the age of therapy, WhatsApp, and wellness trends gone rogue.

Joanna Nadin is a former broadcast journalist, political speechwriter and special adviser to the Prime Minister. Since leaving politics she has written numerous books for children and adults, including an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility for younger readers, the Carnegie Medal-nominated Joe All Alone, which is now a BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated BBC drama, andthe Flying Fergus series with Sir Chris Hoy. Originally from Essex, she now lives in Bath, and is Associate Professor in Creative Writing at University of Bristol.

My thoughts: this modern day update to the sisters of Pride & Prejudice is fantastic, funny, sad, thoughtful, entertaining and hugely enjoyable. The Bennet sisters are up to date with dating apps, WhatsApp chats and a very different take on the 18th Century.

Lizzy is a doctor with twins who never stop asking questions, juggling a demanding job with parenthood, Jane is contemplating her future and that of Netherfield, Mary is still figuring things out, Kitty might be about to wreck her love life and Lydia is, well, a total mess.

While Mr Bennet takes refuge in his newspaper, Mrs Bennet is still meddling in her daughters’ lives, some things never change.

As the sisters’ year begins, there’s heart break, misunderstandings, arguments, gossip and a trip to Paris which might derail the close knit bond between the five for good.

So much fun, very cleverly done and with real heart, this is a terrific book.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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BBNYA Blog Tour: Miss Bennet’s Dragon – M. Verant

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Miss Bennet’s Dragon is the 10th place BBNYA 2025 finalist!
About BBNYA

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 (17 in 2025) finalists and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official.

War threatens England, but Elizabeth Bennet’s battles are closer to home. She’s managing the family estate for her ailing father. Insufferable gentlemen keep bursting in to propose marriage. And most dangerous of all, she’s hiding a forbidden skill. Elizabeth can speak to draca, the small, fire-breathing dragons kept by gentry as frivolous status symbols.

When Napoleon’s spies attempt to steal draca, the distant war threatens even cozy Hertfordshire. Elizabeth seeks the aid of Mr. Darcy, the proud man whose proposal she once scorned. Amid the breathtaking halls of Pemberley, she discovers the truth: she is not the first woman to speak with draca. But with her secret revealed, the dark history of Pemberley tears her and Mr. Darcy apart.

One hope remains: her dangerous affinity to draca. But does she dare to trust legends and lost songs? And when a terrible betrayal threatens the man she loves, does she have a choice?

Miss Bennet’s Dragon is the first book in the award-winning Jane Austen Fantasy trilogy. For fans of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and of course Jane Austen.

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Goodreads The Story Graph

M. Verant writes noblebright fantasy and sci-fi that’s exciting, romantic, and celebrates diversity and empowerment. His latest work is Emma’s Dragon, book 2 in the award-winning Jane Austen Fantasy series. Dragons of the Great Wyves, book 3 of the trilogy, is next, followed by Tiger Seed, a contemporary fantasy rooted in ancient Indus history. He collects Jane Austen paraphernalia and two-legged dragons while dodging wild turkeys in the San Francisco Bay Area. Follow him on Bluesky @mverant.com.

My thoughts: This was a lot of fun, it’s Pride & Prejudice & Dragons (not Zombies) and since I enjoy both the work of Miss Austen and dragons, right up my street, or should I say, in my library!

Lizzy Bennet discovers she can communicate with the small forms of draca that live in England, no true dragons exist, or so she believes (maybe St George put them off?) but married couples of her social class can bond with a variety of the smaller types, on their wedding night. A lot of the lore is shrouded in mystery, the church rather disapproves and not everyone can make it happen (like Mr Collins and poor Charlotte).

Mr & Mrs Bennet have a firedrake, a dog sized draca that Mrs B is somewhat afraid of, but Lizzy, and to some extent her sisters, are not. Which is handy when Lizzy starts to realise she can talk to them, and some of them talk back.

Most of the plot is familiar to fans of P&P but there are changes, the war against Napoleon is more important to this version than the original, and indeed a certain Arthur Wellesley shows up, turns out he and Darcy are old friends. There’s also a rather horrible change in one of the Bennet sisters, but Lizzy is still a remarkable, funny, intelligent heroine.

I really enjoyed this and now I’m off to read book two, which features a Miss Emma Woodhouse….

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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The Conversation; Hallie Rubenhold

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Last Tuesday I was kindly offered the opportunity to go and see historian and author Hallie Rubenhold talk about her work at the gorgeous St Martin-in-the-Fields in London.

Truly a great setting to listen to one of my favourite authors talk about The Five, The Covent Garden Ladies, The Scandalous Lady W and her most recent, Story of a Murder.  

This was all part of a series of talks called The Conversation 2026 where different very interesting people are invited to talk about their life and work and you can be in the audience, either in person or via live stream from your sofa.

I took my mum, who hadn’t read any of Hallie’s books before but was very interested in how she reframes the cases she writes about so that the women, who are often the victim, are the main character, not the killer, who is usually a man.

In the case of Story of a Murder, the victim is Belle Elmore, a music hall performer, by her husband Dr Crippen, who buried her in the cellar of their London home and then took off with his mistress, Ethel.

Hallie brings their world to life in her book, creating a wonderful sense of time and place, exploring why the police were so reluctant to believe anything was wrong, despite how often Belle’s friends in The Music Hall Ladies’ Guild insisted it was. The Belle they knew wouldn’t just vanish to America without a word, as her husband claimed, she would have written. It is really shocking how long it took to get Scotland Yard to investigate, and it ended in a transatlantic race to catch Crippen and Ethel who were trying to escape to Canada.

It was really interesting hearing Hallie talk about how she goes about researching and learning about the cases, and how she reconstructs the events from often quite small comments in trial transcripts and newspaper reports. She never loses sight of the fact that these were real people and only quotes dialogue that is in the record.

Honestly I could have listened to her for hours, she was so fascinating, her work intriguing and important in re-centering women in history and not letting them end up sidelined in their own lives. Her most famous book, The Five, upset a lot of Ripperologists, because of the focus on his victims, and not who the killer might have been.

Both The Scandalous Lady W and The Covent Garden Ladies have been adapted for TV (the Ladies as Harlots) and you can see why, the books are clever and full of fascinating details.

If you’re interested in seeing any of the other conversations, visit the link above to check out the upcoming dates and book your tickets.

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Blog Tour: Don’t Look Back – JJ Burgess

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He saved her. Now he owns her.

Exhausted new mother Lucy is rushing her baby to hospital. Distracted by her sick
child, she loses control of the car, and hits Roger, her elderly neighbor.

Terrified of being sent to prison and separated from her infant son, she makes a split-second decision and flees the scene.
Her boyfriend Ian realizes what she has done and helps her cover it up. Lucy is
incredibly grateful, until she begins to understand that his kindness comes at a price.

Small favors become demands. Demands become threats.

The bargain she has made is clear. If Lucy doesn’t do everything Ian wants, he’ll go to
the police and she’ll go to jail, losing access to her child.

Meanwhile, Roger’s wife Mary is circling closer to the truth and the police start asking questions. Lucy’s world has become a suffocating prison with no hope of escape.

Unless… if something were to happen to Ian…

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JJ Burgess has a degree in Economics and lives in Bristol with his wife and two sons.
By day he is the Director of a greetings card company, by night he writes
psychological thrillers that ask questions about the world we live in. When he isn’t
writing, he is usually running through the woods around Bristol, thinking of new
characters and dark plots.

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My thoughts: Lucy makes a split second, terrible decision with her baby son in the car. She can’t bear the thought of being separated from him ever. So she tells a lie and let’s her neighbour die on the side of the road. Unfortunately she confesses to her slimy boyfriend Ian, who turns out to be genuinely awful. He manipulates her, threatens her, abuses her and uses her fear against her.

But Mary, the kindly neighbour whose husband was Lucy’s victim, is asking questions and she doesn’t like Ian. She sees through him and wants to help Lucy. 

As the story twists and turns and Lucy’s life gets worse and worse, her plans to flee with her son going nowhere, a virtual prisoner in her home, can Mary do anything to help her? 

Clever, gripping and with a really unpleasant antagonist (ergh, Ian, so gross) you’re rooting for Lucy and Mary all the way through.  

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: A Country Meadow Murder – Katie Gayle

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Julia loves donning her gardening gloves for the first blooms of spring. But when out working in the local wildflower meadow, she does not expect to find a dead body…!

Spring has come to Berrywick, and Julia Bird is determined to enjoy the fine weather. But not all life is in flower when she stumbles across the body of building expert Basil Crow next to a bright yellow digger. And Julia believes this is no accident.

Julia’s suspicions are confirmed when forensics report a brutal blow to the head. Julia soon learns from pie shop owner, and Basil’s first wife Delilah, that he was not widely liked and left behind three failed marriages. Could one of his ex-wives have wanted revenge? Julia’s friend Tabitha was in a neighbourly dispute with him after he blocked her car in her driveway. But is this motive enough to kill?

Then local choir singer Esmeralda is found dead in the woods. The police think the murders are unconnected. Unlike Basil, Esmeralda was a well-loved soul. Who would want her dead? Digging for clues, Julia realises that both victims had a link to the proposed redevelopment of the meadow Basil was found in. But would someone really kill to save it? Can Julia find the murderer before someone else is pushing up the daisies?

A page-turning and totally charming cozy mystery set in the English countryside. Fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands will love the Julia Bird Mysteries!

Amazon

Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats. Unlike their sleuth Epiphany Bloom, neither of them have ever stolen a cat from the vet.

My thoughts: Dog walker finds body, and once again it’s Julia Bird! This time she’s stumbled across the body of local council planning officer Basil, and it turns out there are plenty of people who might have a motive to kill him, including Julia’s librarian friend Tabitha, and it isn’t for defacing library books!

As the police threaten to stop Tabitha heading to Ghana for a family wedding, Julia goes into detective mode, determined to find the culprit and prove Tabitha’s innocence.

Could the develop of a local beauty spot, popular with picnickers and dog walkers, be the reason Basil, and his colleague Esmerelda, have met sad ends in the open air? Well, the only way to find out is to read the book!

It’s another entertaining installment of Julia’s misadventures, and as well as the murders, things could be moving to the next level with Sean and there’s changes ahead for one of the charity shop crew too.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour,but all opinions remain my own.