Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blogathon: Body of Lies – Jo Callaghan

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The brand-new thriller featuring DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock, from the award-winning Sunday Times bestselling author of In the Blink of an Eye.

Human suspicion. AI manipulation.
When truth can be rewritten, who can you trust?

DCS Kat Frank is back at the Future Policing Unit after a devastating loss – and straight into her most disturbing case yet.

On Halloween night, a local MP is found murdered. Beside the body is a taunting message in binary code, aimed directly at Kat:

Catch me if you can.

The victim was a vocal opponent of AI. The motive looks political. But as Kat investigates with her partner, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI detective – the case spirals into something far more dangerous.

Then a cyberattack takes down the National Grid.

With the country in chaos and lives on the line, Kat and Lock must track a killer who is always one step ahead. But in a world of deepfakes, deception and digital ghosts, instinct is no longer enough.

Kat must decide whether to trust the one thing she still fears most: her AI partner.

Because this time, Lock may not just be solving the case.

He may be changing what it means to be human.

Can Kat stop a killer before the lights go out for good?

My thoughts: This series is so good, and so prescient as the debate about AI gathers steam.

Lock and Kat are investigating the murder of a local MP, her body found with a message that seems to be just for them.

As they investigate it seems their case has far reaching dimensions, as an unknown threat emerges and attacks the national grid, demanding the government should hand over millions in return for getting to keep the lights on.

At the same time, a member of Kat’s team has a critically ill child, if they don’t get the power back on, it could have serious consequences for them.

Seconded onto the government’s emergency response team, Kat and Lock must find this hidden threat and stop them before the generators run down.

I was absolutely gripped, such a good case, Kat is a great protagonist and even though Lock is an AI construct, he’s surprisingly human at times. I really enjoyed every page, Jo Callaghan is a fantastic writer.

*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: The Night Lagoon – Jo Morey

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It’s a liar’s paradise

Wittering Lodge, Stann Creek, Belize

In the dead of night, lying in her father’s jungle lodge, Laelia watches her partner Aid sleeping – her mind racing with everything that’s brought her to this moment.

The heady Caribbean holiday when they first met.

The rum-fueled passion that, day by day, creeps into something darker.

The secrets she discovered in a hidden nook of the lodge, revealing a devastating past.

Above all, she thinks about the impossible decision she must make before dawn.

Does she stay silent and protect their newfound paradise? Or does she confront the lies which run as deep and dark as the lagoon – surfacing a dangerous truth from which there’s no return…

JO MOREY is a graduate of the Faber Academy and the Curtis Brown Breakthrough Mentoring Scheme. The Night Lagoon is her first novel, a literary suspense, for fans of The White Lotus and Where the Crawdads Sing. It was selected as The Sunday Times ‘Book of the Month’, is one of Good Housekeeping’s ’20 Hottest Books of the Summer’ and has been described by US Publishers Weekly as ‘Lush and immersive with a chillingly effective payoff.’

Like her protagonist, Jo wears hearing aids and suffers constant tinnitus. She lives in West Sussex at the foot of the South Downs with her husband, two boys and two Portuguese Water Dogs. Jo is currently working on her next novel, set on the North Island of New Zealand where she used to live.

My thoughts: Belize isn’t somewhere I know anything about, beyond the fact that it was once occupied by the British.

Laelia’s father is an academic specialising in orchids, of which Belize has many species. She and her sister Chloe are visiting him for his birthday, with their partners and children.

When he has a terrible accident and ends up in hospital, she decides to stay and look after his home, prepare it for his return. But as she and her partner Aid settle in with her children, Ella and Dylan and become part of the community, things start to go awry.

Aid has secrets, secrets Laelia needs to learn in order to stay safe. Her father knew some of them and if he ever wakes up, he’ll be able to tell her. But Aid isn’t behaving like his usual self and his past is beginning to intrude into their present.

Gripping and fascinating, with a great protagonist whose disability makes it harder for her to be sure what is true and what she’s heard.

*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: Death in the New Forest – Linda Mather

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Welcome to England’s New Forest, where clinging mists hide many a secret. Step beneath the towering pines — on any twisty heathland path — and you’ll soon realise there’s more to this place than meets the eye . . .

Detective Elinor Saxby leaves the city for a crooked little cottage near sleepy Lyndhurst village.
It’s not exactly her dream home, cut off from everything and everyone she’s ever known. But Elinor will do anything to leave her troubled past behind.
She can run from her demons. But she can’t hide.

The very next morning, Elinor gets a call from her new sergeant.
A woman’s been found dead. Drowned in the pool of her luxury woodland spa. Her silk gown is ruined. Her perfect skin marred by livid red hand prints.

But it’s not these details that send Elinor spiralling in panic. It’s the victim’s name. Because the dead woman is no stranger to Elinor. She texted just last night to ask Elinor one last favour.
Now the only favour Elinor can do her is to find her killer.

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Linda Mather is the author of the Jo and Macy Mystery series. The 6th book in this
series is THE PERFECT HOUSE FOR MURDER, published in August 2023.
Her Jo and Macy Mystery books are Forecast Murder, A Sign for Murder, Murder as Predicted, The Hanged Man and A Future Murder, all published by Joffe Books and available on Amazon. They feature Jo Hughes and her private investigator boss David Macy. Jo is an astrologer, who also works as a PI and whose tenacious inquiries lead her to twisty resolutions.

The Jo and Macy Mysteries series is set in the West Midlands and Cotswolds. A sense
of place is really important to Linda. She likes to research the places she writes about by visiting when she can to absorb the atmosphere, weaving the details into the stories.

The idea for her latest book came to her during lockdown during many canal walks.
The cottages with their flower-filled window boxes and the idyllic pubs along the canal path are so pretty and perfect that it looks as if nothing bad could ever happen there. Linda saw this as a challenge.

Linda has recently landed a contract for 3 books in a police thriller series and is
currently writing the first of these, which is set in the New Forest.

She also has plans for the next Jo & Macy Mystery.

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My thoughts: Elinor has moved from the busy buzz of Birmingham Police to the sleepy New Forest, where she doesn’t think they have much crime. But her first case is murder, and the victim is someone she knows.

While the team get to work, Elinor has to deal with office politics, a new boss, and members of her team who would rather be anywhere else than here.

Luckily newly qualified Detective Constable Nancy is keen as mustard and determined to get to the bottom of the case, how did a trauma counsellor end up face down in the pool at a luxury hotel and spa with her lungs full of chlorine gas? And does an accident involving the same hotel’s handyman and his moped have anything to do with it?

As the case unfolds and the team starts to get used to their new DCI, can they get to the bottom of things and work together, and can Elinor whip them into shape subtly, avoiding comparisons with her predecessor, whose exit seems to be have been swifter than she originally believed. What is going on in the New Forest?

An enjoyable and engaging start to a new series, from which Nancy emerges as the most interesting character apart from Elinor, who has plenty of secrets of her own. I look forward to more in the next 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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Arrival – Robin Brooks

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Leo and Viv’s Friday night starts out like any other. A bottle of wine, a takeaway from their favourite Chinese restaurant, a movie, then an early night.

But when Leo wakes up, he finds he’s not in London anymore; he’s naked and alone in an unfamiliar bed, in an anonymous hotel, on the other side of the world. Viv wakes up to a ringing phone. It’s Leo – he claims that he’s in Australia, despite the impossibility of it. An emergency passport is arranged.

A return flight to London is booked, but before Leo can make it onto the plane, there’s a flicker in the corner of his vision, and he wakes up in another bed, in another hotel room, in another country.

Disoriented, Leo soon discovers he’s not alone. Someone with access to a groundbreaking technology and an axe to grind is beaming a group of individuals around the globe – and hunting them down, one by one, committing perfect, untraceable murders.

As Leo fights for his life, back in London, Viv is struggling to understand what’s happening. But as her investigation deepens she starts to unearth secrets from Leo’s past. Dark secrets. Secrets that might be enough to make someone want to kill him. And the more she learns about Leo, the less she seems to know and the less certain she is that her husband is a man worth saving.

Robin Brookes grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Brighton, England. She has worked as a playwright, copywriter and bookseler. The idea for The Arrival came about after Robin heard, and misunderstood, the science behind the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physics. It is currently in development as a feature film.

My thoughts: This is a very clever story, you’re as at sea as Leo and Viv to begin with, as they try to make sense of how Leo has woken up on the other side of the world, 24 hours away by plane, just seconds it seems to them.

As the story unfolds, and Viv investigates how someone could be controlling where Leo finds himself, from Australia, to North Korea and beyond, you learn they face a dangerous and angry foe, intent on revenge for the sort of incidents that fester and become larger the longer you dwell on them. They’ve had access to an incredible new technology, and they’re using it to carry out their outsized revenge plan, despite it not officially being able to transmit people, just objects.

Viv is determined to get her husband back before she gives birth, and Leo must stay alive long enough to make it home, unsure who his enemy is, or what they’re capable of.

Tense, gripping and really enjoyable, this is a brilliant thriller with an ingenious plot.

*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: Old Bones in Puglia – Tom Benjamin

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Discover Italy’s bewitching region of Puglia with the seventh Daniel Leicester mystery, the most propulsive yet . . .

English detective and Bologna resident Daniel Leicester has been summoned by a dying relative to the wildest corner of Puglia, home to revered saints, fearsome mafia clans, hidden catacombs and sinister ceremonies.

As Daniel discovers that his Italian family’s history runs deep in the veins of the region, old grudges resurface, superstitions awaken and he is drawn into a case of stolen antiquities. But when a contact is murdered by mobsters, it’s clear that mafia rule is more powerful than local mysticism.

Lured by magic but trapped by the mob, Daniel is unable to return to his beloved Bologna. His family is bound to Puglia more tightly than he ever imagined, and powerful people want answers he can’t give. And when Daniel’s daughter is snatched during a Holy Week procession, he sees first-hand just how far they’re prepared to go . . .

Tom Benjamin grew up in the suburbs of north London and worked as a journalist before becoming a Scotland Yard spokesperson.

He later moved into public health, where he developed Britain’s first national campaign against alcohol abuse, and led FRANK, a drugs awareness programme.

He now lives in Bologna. Old Bones in Puglia is the seventh book in his Daniel Leicester series of mysteries.

My thoughts: Daniel is accompanying the Commandante to Puglia, where the older man once served and met his wife, who comes from the region.

They’ve been asked to come to the aid of archaeologists, who think their most recent finds are actually forgeries and the real ancient relics have been stolen to sell to the highest bidder.

But it’s all a lot more complicated than it first seems, there are secrets galore in a region where no one wants to talk to the police, or to a PI.

Then Daniel’s beloved daughter Rose is kidnapped in broad daylight. Is it connected to the case or something older, more confusing?

As Daniel attempts to understand the layered, complex tangle of superstitions, secrets and history in the place, he finds himself entangled with witchcraft, revenge and murder.

A clever, well written story that draws you in and keeps you hooked until the very last page. This series just gets better with every 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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Blog Tour: Of Sisters and Spitfires – Frank Francis

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On the brink of war, one secret will tear a powerful family apart.

The Hartford sisters gather for one final night at Bonsall Hall, their once-grand family estate, on the eve of it being lost forever. The dinner is meant to mark an ending — a farewell to the house, the past, and the life they once knew. But before morning comes, everything changes.

Audrey, the youngest, is reckless and curious, always pushing against the rules that bind her. Katherine, the eldest, is controlled and calculating, fiercely protective of thefamily’s reputation at any cost. Beatrice clings to elegance and influence through her  dangerous political connections, while Sophia’s radical beliefs place her on the opposite  side of everything the family stands for.

When a guest disappears under suspicious circumstances, the fragile balance between  the sisters begins to fracture. As Europe edges closer to war, their personal loyalties  collide with their political convictions, and Audrey is drawn into a shadowy world of  secrets, surveillance and power struggles that reach from country houses to intelligence offices.

With Britain racing to prepare for a conflict, the sisters must decide where they stand — with each other, with their country, or with their own beliefs. Because some truths could change the course of history… and some are deadly enough to destroy a family.

Of Sisters and Spitfires is a gripping historical thriller about family and the moral  compromises made in the shadow of war, perfect for fans of Kate Atkinson and Robert Harris.

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Frank Francis is a pseudonym for the combined work of George F. Brown and
Guillaume Jest, known for their contributions to the historical thriller genre.

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My thoughts: The Hartford sisters made me think of the Mitford sisters (probably intentionally), where they were on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Although they still had their parents and brother, and I think at least one of them was properly nuts.

The Hartfords struggle with their relationships, politics causing division, but they pull together when they have to. When a guest to the family home is killed mysteriously in the middle of the night, after visiting to bring them their brother’s journal, it seems there’s more to his visit than it first appears. 

Youngest sister, Audrey, investigates with the help of a journalist friend, and is soon caught up in the huge changes sweeping Europe, especially in Germany, where she finds a cell of resistance fighters against the Nazi threat. 

But what she soon learns is that things are much more complicated than it first appears, and her family secrets go deeper than she could imagine. 

It’s a clever concept, a complex plot and reflects the real situation of the 1930s and 40s, as Europe headed to war. 

*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: Murder with a side of Shrimp and Grits – Skylar Warren

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Welcome to Honeybee’s diner, where the scent of butter and garlic wraps itself around you, thick and comforting. Jessie Haynes’ homestyle cooking feeds the hearts and souls of the good people of Willow Bluff. Until someone puts murder on the menu!

Y’all are invited to dig into a steamin’ plate of meatloaf. The diner’s well-worn red chairs have cradled folks from every corner of Willow Bluff—Jessie’s podcasting bestie, Tee, Old Mr Higgins, two mighty mischievous kittens, Biscuits and Gravy, and every tattling townsperson in between—so when the mayor turns blue after a bite of Jessie’s famous shrimp and grits, she finds herself in seriously hot water…

Suddenly, all eyes are swivelled toward Jessie. For fifty years her family has fed Willow Bluff, and Jessie won’t let one mouthful shatter the legacy of her grandmother’s secret recipes. The mayor’s peanut allergy was talk of the town, so when traces are found in his food, Jessie must fight to clear her name.

An empty peanut packet in the diner’s pantry has Jessie and Tee hot on the heels of the murderer when another case of food tampering occurs at a nearby bakery. Someone is dishing out delicious death sentences. How many locals will get served before Jessie can crack the case? Her investigation must be a recipe for success or Honeybee’s will be toast…

This unputdownable and addictive cozy mystery is full of Southern charm, a gripping whodunnit and a feisty amateur sleuth. It’s perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Ellery Adams and Joanne Fluke.

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Skylar Warren is a Chicago native and a graduate of Chicago State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Media Arts and Theatre. She now lives in New York City and works as a claims adjuster. In her spare time, she enjoys watching mysteries and solving puzzles.

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My thoughts: This was a fun and enjoyable crime caper centering on a diner in a small town called Willow Bluff. Jessie has taken over the diner her grandmother founded, cooking her recipes for the town.

Until disaster strikes and the mayor drops dead of anaphylaxis on the diner’s anniversary. He’s well known to be allergic to peanuts and Jessie is insistent that her kitchen is peanut free, so how did the nuts get into his food? 

Did someone murder the mayor and frame Jessie? Luckily she has a crack team of investigators  – also known as her friends – to solve the case. And it helps that the sheriff is on her side too, the evidence has been collected and is being analysed.

Unfortunately the town is a gossip’s paradise and the local estate agent, a rather nasty woman, cannot stop spreading rumours and undermining Jessie’s attempts to assert her innocence.

I hope this becomes a series, with Jessie and her friends solving crimes in their small town, the characters are fun and there are cats called Biscuits and Gravy.

    *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: Blood Pact – Cameron Curtis

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    A kidnapped girl. An impenetrable fortress. Sounds like a job for Breed.

    Keen to discover what she knows about a looming conspiracy, Breed and Stein plan to question German cabaret performer Käthe Ziegler in New York.

    Their plan is derailed when Käthe is kidnapped by a team of professionals. They want her and a piece of jewelry she’s been hiding — an ancient gold seal she stole from the most dangerous man in Europe.

    Karl Graf is Germany’s Vice-Chancellor, the head of a secret society of senior
    politicians and industrialists, and a man with a plan to reshape the continent. He wants his seal back. He wants Käthe back. And he’s prepared to kill anyone who gets in his way.

    Breed and Stein discover that Kathe has been taken to a castle high in the Bavarian
    Alps. Against all odds, they climb to the fortress, which sits atop a lethal three-thousand-foot peak.

    Inside, they find Käthe, Graf, and the truth about an eighty-year-old conspiracy that
    began in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and ends — in a bloody climax —
    on Christmas Eve.

    Blood Pact — Book Thirteen in the stunning Breed action thriller series. Perfect for fans of Jason Kasper, Jack Carr, and Lee Child.

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    Cameron Curtis has spent thirty years on trade floors as a trader and risk manager. He was on the trade floor when Saddam’s tanks rolled into Kuwait, when the air wars opened over Baghdad and Belgrade, and when the financial crisis swallowed the world.

    Having written fiction as a child, he is the author of the Breed action thriller series.

    My thoughts: Breed and Stein are in Germany, which is supposed to be an ally, but as they attempt to keep Käthe from her captors, they discover a conspiracy that dates back to during WWII and the Nazi obsession with the supernatural.

    As with all the Breed thrillers, the plot moves very quickly and I found the parts where Käthe is relating the history of her family and their relationship with the Grafs, quite slow in comparison.

    There’s also a lot of gunfights and dead bodies – obviously they’re mostly henchmen so even their employer doesn’t really care, even when Breed is chucking them down the cliff the German castle they’re holed up in, stands on.

    As Käthe fills in the back story, Stein and Breed are working out what the group of powerful politicians are up to in their castle stronghold at Christmas. Could they be preparing to bring down the world as it currently stands and go back to their grandparents’ time?

    Thankfully Breed and Stein are there, as there seems to be a mole and worryingly their Director and President might be a bit more involved in this than either operative would like.

    We still don’t learn anything about Breed, his past is a closed book, but he does get to be the hero of the hour, and even if he doesn’t believe in the supernatural element of this mission – he is very clear on the potential fall out should it succeed. 

    After another success, he and Stein must head back to the US to confront their Director and try to locate the mole – the one who almost cost their lives this time. 

    *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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    Book Review: The Body That Floats – Jayne Chard

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    Julia and Frankie visit their friend in Cornwall. When the body of a local property developer washes up on the beach, the police believe the death was accidental, but the sisters have other ideas.

    My thoughts: In a quiet Cornish village, Julia and Frankie stumble, or should I say, swim across the body of an unpopular property developer. The local police constable says it’s an accidental drowning, but that doesn’t explain the head injury or the boat.

    Problem is, he has almost too many enemies, so they need to narrow it down. Was it the possibly smuggling brother fishermen? The local builder? Or someone else in the village?

    Cue a lot of creeping about, trying to find out who was where and when, running into the eccentric neighbour who rescues local wildlife, and wondering whether Julia’s old friend might be involved.

    Julia and Frankie’s relationship is a lot better than in the last book, living together and working out what jobs they’re best at and dividing the labour has meant less bickering. There’s still some friction during the case between Frankie’s dive right into it and Julia’s more cautious approach.

    Another funny, clever escapade for the sisters, who might never leave home again!

    Buy a copy

    *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 Night Before the Wedding – Emma Robinson

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    Looking out at the crystal clear waters of Sorrento, my heart aches at the loss of the future I’d allowed myself to dream. But Tom’s lie is bigger than I could have imagined. How can we survive it? My decision will shatter more than just my own heart. Am I really ready to say the words that will change everything?

    It was supposed to be a week of bliss leading to our dream wedding on the Italian coast. But it’s obvious our families are against it. My mother questions why Tom has controlled so much of the planning, twisting his generous surprise into something sinister. Tom’s daughter, Lily, makes it known she’ll never see me as her mother.

    Trying to focus on our dream day, I can’t help but notice a woman who spends every day at the pool, alone. She seems fascinated by Lily in a way that worries me. When Tom finally locks eyes with her, he immediately pales.

    This week should have been the best time of our lives but before our future can begin, Tom will confess a secret that could destroy everything. But he’s not the only one who kept a past lie hidden for the sake of happily-ever-after. By the end of the week with both our secrets laid bare, will we really say, ‘I do’?

    A totally addictive novel about family secrets which will have you turning the pages long into the night. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Diane Chamberlain.

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    Emma Robinson is a USA Today Bestseller with a passion for stories which explore the power of family and friendship in the most challenging circumstances. Focusing on emotional themes, her novels are both heart-breaking and life affirming.

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    My thoughts: Carrie has been whisked off to Sorrento by her fiancé Tom along with her mother and his daughter, to get married. They’ve only known each other eighteen months, and been a couple for eleven, but surely that’s long enough to know what you want?

    However, it appears Tom hasn’t been a hundred percent honest, with either Carrie or Lily, and now, in the brilliant sunshine and with days before they tie the knot, the truth is about to come out.

    Carrie has to make a lot of decisions in a short space of time  – and not just about her future spouse, as it turns out her overprotective mum might also have a few things to come clean about.

    I felt for Carrie, she’s struggling a bit with everything, part of her things have gone a bit fast, and she wants to be a good step-mum to Lily, who at twelve, is pushing back. When she finds out the secrets the people she trusted so much were keeping – she’s furious and has to stand up for herself.

    The secrets aren’t life threatening, but they do change things for Carrie, and make her decide to take charge for a change. A really interesting and enjoyable 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.