Category: reviews

A dense, brilliantly rendered novel by a new master of Southern gothic’ Kirkus

In this thrilling debut, Henry Wise transports readers to the Deep South, to a town poisoned by corruption and haunted by its past.

Will Seems has not returned to Euphoria, Virginia County, since his mother’s death. Now, taking a job as a Deputy Sheriff, he is forced to confront the turbid currents of this backwater town. Will is confronted by his past when a mysterious homicide claims the life of a close friend. The brutality of the crime serves as a grim reminder of the true reason for Will’s return — to atone for the past.

The local police rush to close the homicide case by arresting a man Will knows to be innocent and he faces a community that refuses to confront its history. Personal grievances and deep-seated prejudices undermine his every attempt to uncover the truth. Will’s hunt for answers leads him to Snakefoot, a dense wilderness long serving as a refuge for outcasts. It is here that old secrets lie buried, waiting to be unearthed.

Henry Wise is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Mississippi MFA program. A writer across multiple genres, his poetry has been published in Shenandoah, Radar Poetry, Clackamas, Nixes Mate Review, and elsewhere. His non-fiction and photography have appeared in Southern Cultures. Holy City is his first novel.

My thoughts: The tangled web of secrets, some dating back decades, that connect the residents of this small town continue to impact their present, even when they try running from them.

Will Seems is hiding a fugitive in the form of his childhood friend Sam, despite being a Sheriff’s Deputy, because he feels he owes him following a violent incident in their childhood. When another childhood friend is murdered, Will is desperate to prove that Sam’s father isn’t the killer, despite being caught fleeing the scene. 

The Sheriff however is sure they’ve got their man, no motive, but plenty of circumstantial evidence, and isn’t willing to look any further. Especially not at the dead man’s girlfriend, who he secretly swore to protect and look out for years before.

When a private detective is hired to actually look into to case, by the victim’s mother and the wife of the man in custody (because they both know he’s innocent), Will is asked to help her out, even as it brings him into conflict with his boss. I lost track of how many times Will quits/gets suspended/is fired/quits again.

It all ends in an even bigger mess, with shots fired, a confession, and Will being encouraged to run for Sheriff over the corrupt and frankly hopeless incumbent.

Will feels he’s failed his friends, and while he remains in the town, at his family’s old farm, he’s still haunted by his demons and ghosts, which may well be the death of him.

Many of the characters are deeply conflicted and held back by the past, to the point where the wrong person is arrested and could be charged with murder in a state with the death penalty. Those old wounds linger and make people commit terrible mistakes. The Sheriff doesn’t come out of any of this well, holding what he thinks he knows over people to control them. Will is broken by his losses and what he perceives as his failures, unable to see another way. This isn’t a happy book, but it is certainly an interesting one.

*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 calculated killer. A life hanging in the balance. A decision that changes everything…

For the first time in her life, DCI Emma Gardner finds herself unable to concentrate on the job she loves. Her thoughts are now always with her old colleague Paul Riddick, who lies desperately ill in hospital – a tortured man in life, now facing death.

When a young woman dies from seemingly natural causes, Emma can’t help feeling that something isn’t quite right with the case, but she needs her team to pick up the slack whilst she focuses on Paul.

The case proves more complex than anyone imagined and will test the team like never before. But unbeknownst to everyone, there is another threat lurking even closer to home – Emma’s unpredictable brother Jack. And with Emma distracted, he has free rein to put right the dark and twisted grievances from his own past.

But his actions, when they come, will be devastating. And will destroy everything Emma loves…

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Wes Markin lives in Harrogate and is the bestselling author of the DCI Yorke crime novels set in Salisbury. He is also the author of the Jake Pettman series set in New England.

“An explosive and visceral debut with the most terrifying of killers. Wes Markin is a new name to watch out for in crime fiction.” – Bestselling Crime Author Stephen Booth

Perfect for fans of Chris Carter, James Patterson, Chris Brookmyre, and Stuart Macbride.

Facebook: @WesMarkinAuthor

Instagram: @WesMarkinAuthor
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My thoughts: I really enjoyed the previous books in this series and a lot of the long running plots come to a head here as Emma tries to deal with her brother leaving prison, her former colleague Paul being in a coma, critically ill, and her relationship with Lucy, while also juggling a rather complex case.

Her brother’s return is troubling, he’s a sociopath who murdered a man in front of her and shot Lucy. Now he’s out and she’s worried about his plans and how his presence will affect his daughter, who Emma adopted. Then there’s the presence of the somewhat sinister Neville, who has engineered Jack’s release for his own ends.

The case itself is a puzzle, what young woman with no history of heart trouble just drops dead of a heart attack? Emma is convinced there’s something else going on, especially as the victim’s husband seems somewhat unaffected and is a bit of a mystery himself. The team dig into the case as Emma sits by Paul’s bed, waiting for him to either wake up or possibly die, as a dangerous infection has set in. In his coma Paul is plagued by a mix of memories and dreams, puzzling and troubling.

Can the team solve the case and catch a killer? Will Paul wake up? And what consequences are there following Jack’s release? Well, you’ll have to read the book. There’s plenty of twists and a really shocking ending to keep you hooked. Great stuff.

*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 killer is stalking the illustrious Fitzwarren family. And any of the clan could be next . . .

Lord Hugo may be heir to the Fitzwarren millions. But everyone knows who
rules the roost in his noble old family. His formidable mother, Lady Beatrice. It’s been that way since her husband met his watery end. In a boating accident, poor thing.
Now, on the eve of her seventieth birthday, Lord Hugo plans to give his mama a gift she’ll never forget: a portrait of her dear, departed husband.

Guests gather at the Fitzwarrens’ decadent ancestral pile, waiting with bated breath for a glimpse of the painting. Detective Jack Dawes is among them, his wife Corrie on his arm. A cord is pulled. The curtain falls . . . and Lady B lets out a blood-curdling scream.
It’s not the likeness that has her spooked. It’s the dagger, plunged deep in her husband’s chest. Scrawled beneath, in blood-red paint, there’s a single word. Killer.
Is it a spiteful prank . . . or something more?

Detective Jack’s determined to find out. But he’s got his work cut out — with the frosty Fitzwarrens seeking to shut him down at every turn and Lord Hugo himself mysteriously missing.
Lord Hugo’s family are certain he’ll turn up in his own time. But Jack knows the clock is ticking to solve this baffling case.
Before something worse than paint is spilled . . .

This entertaining and absorbing mystery is perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, LJ Ross, J.R. Ellis, Faith Martin, Catherine Moloney and P.F. Ford.

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Frances Lloyd was born in Essex but spent a nomadic childhood being carted between RAF stations until mercifully, she was allowed a crack at a proper education in Cheltenham, studying English and Classics. As an adult, she became something of a wandering minstrel with no physical or
spiritual roots apart from a strong work ethic.
Frances has always been a writer. The job that paid the mortgage was in government communications, She also worked as a freelance journalist and photographer but her ambition was always to write crime novels.
She now lives in Northumberland – “Vera” territory – and writes full time.
She has published ten DI Dawes murder mysteries.
Married three times but now a widow, Frances’ hobbies are reading, wine
tasting and cooking.

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My thoughts: This was very good, enjoyable and with several excellent twists. The Fitzwarren family are pretty ghastly and unpleasant a bunch, but after the nasty incident at Lady Beatrice’s birthday and then the disappearance of Lord Hugo, Detective Jack Dawes has been tasked with investigating who has it in for the family.

Following two other attacks against them that are more serious, Jack tries to once again get the family to talk, but they seem determined to take all the secrets to the grave. Daughter Charlotte is the only one who’ll talk, and she doesn’t really know anything. Her awful parents and brother aren’t much help and Lady Bea, who knows everything refuses to blacken the family name further.

Their obsession with the family legacy, the bloodline that supposedly stretches back to the Norman Conquest, all of this otherwise completely ridiculous stuff is suddenly on vital importance as the clues are there in Hugo’s plans, which Jack eventually uncovers. The person holding a grudge against the family (which I felt some sympathy for) has had years to plan their revenge but when the family secrets finally come to light, the family were pretty busy destroying their legacy all along.

Hard to feel sorry for most of them, although I liked Charlotte and Louise, neither of whom were responsible for any of the mess. I’m glad Jack eventually got to the bottom of things, proving that once again, the aristocracy is utterly mad and totally bizarre, and that truth and honesty is important to avoid long held grudges.

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

With her Curiosity Shop open for business, Alice Carroll is finally settling into life in the picturesque Cotswold village of Little Pride. But then her old life comes knocking…

Alice’s ex boyfriend, Steven, who dumped her to travel the world, has run out of money and asks Alice to sell off his collection of chess sets.
Alice decides to host a tournament to showcase the boards, and her plan seems to be working. That is, until chess pieces begin to mysteriously disappear. And when a body is discovered outside the
tournament, Alice realises that the victim was a pawn in another, far more dangerous game.

As the host of the event, Alice is eager to help the police investigate. She doesn’t know why anyone would be interested in stealing random chess pieces, let alone willing to kill for them, but she’s determined to find out. Can she solve the case before someone else gets hurt?
Or will this be one gambit too far for Alice?

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Debbie Young writes warm, witty, feel-good contemporary fiction inspired by life in the English village where she lives with her Scottish husband and their teenage daughter.
Her Sophie Sayers Village Mystery series begins with “Best Murder in Show” and the first seven books run the course of a calendar year in the life of a classic English Cotswold village. Originally
intended to be a seven-book series, further books will follow, due to reader demand.
She also writes the romantic comedy mystery series, Staffroom at St Bride’s, set in the staffroom of an English girls’ boarding school. The series will eventually be six books long, running the course of
an academic year, and the first book is “Secrets at St Bride’s”.
Her books were shortlisted in 2020 and 2021 for The Selfies Award, given to the best self-published adult fiction in the UK.
She also writes short stories and has published three themed collections, “Marry in Haste”, “Quick Change”, and “Stocking Fillers”, and had stories included in many anthologies.
When she’s not writing, she does other bookish things, such as speaking or reading her work at literary events, such as Crimefest, the leading international crime writing event, the Cheltenham
Literature Festival and the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival, the event that she founded for her local community.
She’s a member of the Society of Authors and the UK Ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors.
She loves reading, bellringing, singing in the local choir, gardening, knitting, sketching and travelling with her family in their camper van. Her many hobbies mean she is never short of ideas for her gentle tales of rural life.

Facebook: @DebbieYoungAuthor
Twitter: @DebbieYoungBN
Instagram: @debbieyoungauthor
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My thoughts: I was in the chess club at school, mostly because we could eat our lunches in the classroom and not have to brave the playground and the soaking wet foam footballs being violently kicked at you. Thankfully there were no murders.

When Alice decides to organise a showcase and auction to sell some of her ex-boyfriend’s chess sets, she certainly doesn’t expect it to end in death for one of the attendees. He was also stealing chess pieces, and not even from the more expensive, antique sets, but plastic replicas of the Isle of Lewis figures. Very strange.

And the case gets stranger, a man wanders into Alice’s shop in the middle of the night, and when she tries to locate the original seller of the set, she gets hung up on.

Clearly there’s more going on here than first appears, luckily there are clever local coppers on the case, as well as Alice and her friends. A bit of bellringing and a set up to catch the culprit. It’s all very action film in a country village! Great fun as always from Debbie Young.

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