Category: reviews

Join Maddie Penrose, scone baker, book lover and amateur sleuth, in her new home by the Cornish seaside. A member of her local book club has been murdered, and she’s on the case!

Maddie Penroseis settling into Cornish life with her fun and feisty grandmother, Nor. She throws herself into getting to know the locals, helping out at the village book club and enjoying the occasional G&T in the pub with handsome police officer DI Tom Trevelyan. But one sunny morning, her newfound peace is shattered when she spots Quentin, a member of the book club… dead, with a knife in his back.

To Maddie’s surprise, it transpires that almost all the other members of the book club have a motive to murder Quentin. Quentin’s own wife, a fellow reader, seems to be hiding something. The local romance author isn’t all sweetness and light, and another writer is keeping secrets. But is one of the book lovers in the sleepy seaside village really responsible for Quentin’s untimely death?

No sooner has the ink dried on the page of the first killing, another takes place – and the second victim is also a member of the book club! As Maddie frantically scrambles to get her clues down in black and white, she unearths a discovery connected to Nor. Is her gran the next victim on the list?

Can Maddie rescue Nor before her story ends in murder too? Or will the killer have the last word?

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Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.

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My thoughts: Maddie Penrose has a habit of finding dead bodies, and this one, washed in with the tide during the early morning midsummer swim, has clearly been dumped at sea. Local bookseller Quentin isn’t the sort of person to have enemies, but someone wanted him dead.

Then another member of the book club is killed, and Maddie tries to work out the connection between the two men’s deaths. Does it have something to do with the Pendragon Treasure and what secrets is her grandmother, Nor, keeping?

There’s some goat related shenanigans and a lot of tea and cake gets eaten as Maddie investigates, she’s able to ask questions the police wouldn’t and gradually she gets Nor to open up and tell her the truth. But not before a terrifying show down in a cave. Maybe she should stick to baking!

Another fun and enjoyable outing for this new series, hopefully in the next one Maddie and DI Tom actually go on a date rather than just hanging around crime scenes flirting.

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

One dark night in the Shropshire Hills, a car goes hurtling down the lonely track to Clive Quarry. Careering ever closer to the sheer drop at the end of the lane. It teeters on the edge for one heart-stopping moment. Then plummets down to the jagged rocks below.

Next morning, the bodies of two teenage boys are pulled from the twisted wreck. But the real mystery is what’s locked inside the boot.

The body of a frail old woman, wrapped in a woolly blanket. Nails painted, hair freshly dyed. Six months dead.

With no leads, no ID and no living witnesses, only Coroner Martha Gunn can piece together this Jane Doe’s story.
Someone out there knows exactly who the old woman is.

And they’ll do whatever it takes to keep Martha from the shocking truth . . .

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Priscilla Masters was one of seven multi-racial children adopted by an orthopaedic surgeon and his Classics graduate wife. She trained as a nurse in the 1970s at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

She is the author of more than thirty crime novels, including the popular DI Joanna Piercy series set in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

She currently lives on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border and has two sons and two grandsons.

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My thoughts:  This book has shocking moment on shocking moment, first a car goes over the edge of a quarry and two young men die and then the body of an old lady is found in the boot. But are the two events connected?

The two young men in the car dying is awful, but as the police look into the body in the boot, other sad and terrible stories come to light. In the end the death is tragic and moving, and the police find themselves unsure whether a crime has really taken place or just a sad tragedy.

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

When a body is discovered at their local country fair, amateur detectives Flora and Jack Carrington agree this death smells suspicious – and it’s not just the killer cheese. It’s the scent of murder…

Sussex, 1960: It’s the perfect day for Abbeymead’s autumn fair. The village green has been transformed into a riot of stalls and tents, and Flora and Jack are keen to sample all the local produce. But when local cheesemaker Gilbert Barrow crashes into the fair, he brings the festivities to a dead halt.

Flora rushes to the van and finds Gilbert slumped over the wheel, killed by his prize-winning round of cheese, which has broken free of its bonds. Flora is immediately alert – surely Gilbert would have been more careful with his treasured prize… and with his life?

Certain there’s more to this than just a tragic accident, Flora and Jack begin investigating Gilbert’s close circle – his jealous cousin, Bea, his corporate dairy rival, Reginald, and his estranged wife, Vivienne. When Gilbert’s new girlfriend is attacked, the race to find out who had the biggest motive heats up faster than fondue. But can Flora and Jack sniff out the killer – or will their investigation crumble before the murderer strikes again…?

A completely gripping and page-turning, charming cozy mystery novel packed to the brim with brilliant twists. Fans of Agatha Christie, Faith Martin and J.R. Ellis will love Murder at the Country Fair.

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Merryn taught university literature for many years, and it took a while to pluck up the courage to begin writing herself. Bringing the past to life is a passion and her historical fiction includes Regency romances, wartime sagas and timeslip novels, all of which have a mystery at their heart. As the books have grown darker, it was only a matter of time before she plunged into crime with a cosy crime series set in rural Sussex against the fascinating backdrop of the 1950s.

Merryn lives in a beautiful old town in Sussex with her husband and one last cat, Bluebell. When she’s not writing, she tries to keep fit with adult ballet classes and plenty of walking.

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My thoughts: When local cheesemaker Gilbert is crushed to death by a massive wheel of cheese, in his van, after someone cuts through the straps holding it in place. (It’s ok, cheese doesn’t kill people normally.) Flora and Jack investigate, Gilbert seems to have plenty of people who might have wanted him dead – his ex-wife, the dairy that wanted to buy his business, his cousin.

The police are stumped but since Flora and Jack are good at thinking outside of the box and are good at getting people to talk, they soon unravel why so many of the people around him seem to have reasons to do away with Gilbert. And narrow it down for the police.

A smart and entertaining case with an interesting cast of characters.

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

We are but dust and shadows is the motto on the sundial in the garden at Blackthorn Manor. The past haunts the family living there.

When Robert Landimor, a famous painter, dies suddenly, he leaves his estate, including Blackthorn Manor, to his housekeeper, Mary, disinheriting his three daughters, Lucia, Izzy, and Sara in the process. No one understands why.

Sara attempts to find answers, but only uncovers buried secrets about their father and his family instead. Then, the body of a woman is discovered in the lake on the Manor’s grounds, leaving Sara and her sisters to face terrible danger.

Ghosts and the past may not be the only things haunting their family.

Tabitha Potts won several awards for her work including an Honorable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. She runs a literary podcast, Story Radio Podcast, and lives in London with her family and one very large Tamaskan dog. She is a lover of the Gothic, folk horror, and ghost stories, and enjoys kickboxing and cooking (not at the same time). “The House of Dust and Shadows” is her first novel.

My thoughts: After the sudden death of their father, the three Landimor sisters are  shocked to find themselves disinherited. Going back through their lives, they attempt to understand their father’s decisions. But as they attempt to unravel the secrets of their father’s house and their family, it becomes clear they never really knew him or each other.

Clever and full of twists, this explores the bonds and secrets, past and present, that families are built on.

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

Alyssa wants to be seen. Less wants to be someone. She takes two buses to class, posts pictures of her lunch, and pretends it’s all effortless. He hides his privilege beneath thrifted clothes and a sketchbook full of impossible designs. Together, they are inseparable – two outsiders constructing a version of themselves the world might finally applaud.

Then Alyssa stumbles upon the hidden world of phrogging – living unnoticed inside other people’s homes. She and Less slip through Los Angeles’ glossy veneer: influencers, producers, pop stars, all so busy performing their perfect lives they don’t notice the shadows in their attics, the scratching in their walls. An act of rebellion. A harmless thrill. A social experiment.

Until they choose the wrong house. Until the influencer they idolise catches them in the act. Until the cameras, already rolling, capture everything. What begins as a reckless adventure becomes a nightmare of lies, power … and murder…

Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series and the cri cally acclaimed, mind-blowingly original Detective Pace series, which includes Good Samaritans (2018), Nothing Important Happened Today (2019) and Hinton Hollow Death Trip (2020), all of which were ebook bestsellers and selected as books of the year in the mainstream international press.

Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for both the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2020 and the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize, and was followed by the literary thrillers, The Beresford, Psychopaths Anonymous, The Daves Next Door, Suicide Thursday and Upstairs at the Beresford, and his highly regarded speculative thriller debut, Kill Them with Kindness.

Will spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He and his partner run their own fitness and nutrition company, and live in Reading with five children and a tortoise.

My thoughts: Will Carver is back, and now giving us his take on influencer culture and celebrity, and it is very good.

Alyssa and Less are trying to find their places in the world, addicted to social media, fascinated by the influencers they follow, famous only for the content they produce.

When they start breaking into people’s homes and pawing through their things, they don’t see it as harmful or dangerous, until they break into the wrong house and things go horribly wrong….or do they?

Keeping the reader guessing is a Carver speciality, is everything as you think or is something else going on? Who are the people who really make the influencers go viral and can you trust everything you see online?

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

SOME THINGS RUN IN THE BLOOD…

A darkly twisted and wonderfully original debut thriller for fans of Riley Sager and Jessica Knoll. 

At an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers, the participants begin to wonder if somebody’s continuing the family tradition when one of their number turns up dead.

Plenty of people have lousy parents, but Nicola Fischer’s father has just been convicted of murdering five young women, including her best friend. Fired from her job and hounded by reporters, Nicola passes the time by doomscrolling and drunk-dialling Greer Woods, the alluring host of the hit show To Catch a Killer, who cracked the case and turned Nicola’s life upside down before disappearing along with her so-called ‘best intentions’.

When an email from Greer finally shows up in Nicola’s inbox, there’s no apology or explanation, just a cryptic invitation. The Death Row Club is an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers – and Nicola is the newest reluctant member. Desperate to escape her small town, she accepts the offer with barely a second thought, forging tentative bonds with her fellow club members, most of whom seem intriguing, and only slightly unhinged.

But when an uninvited guest shows up at their remote wilderness retreat, everyone is put on high alert, and the next morning paranoia turns to outright fear. Because one of their own is dead, and the rest of them are left with only one question.

V. A. Vazquez was born and raised in Buffalo, NY where she currently teaches English. She received her B. A. in English from Barnard College and used to live in Scotland in a town inhabited by more sheep than people.

My thoughts: This was so good, I was hooked from the first page. It’s so readable and compelling, darkly funny in an odd way. Nicola has just lost her job as a teacher because a true crime series about her father’s crimes has been aired.

She’s in free fall, not only is she now unemployed, she’s about to lose her house, the press are hounding her and she’s furious with the woman she thought was her friend – Greer Woods – who produced the series that has wrecked her life.

Then she’s invited to a secret gathering of the children of murderers. It’s a strange group, all of them with their own baggage and paranoia.

Then an uninvited guest arrives and things take a turn for the worst. Someone at their secretive retreat is a killer, and the secrets that they’ve all fought so hard to keep might be exposed.

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

Discover an absolutely gripping locked-room murder mystery set in sunny
Thailand, featuring a British detective abroad — armchair travel at its finest!

Perfect for fans of Death in Paradise.
Meet Vijay Mistry. He used to work a desk job at Bristol City Council. But adventure
called! Now he lives in the bustling city of Bangkok, doing translations . . . and solving mysteries.

He loves a good puzzle. But his latest case will test his skills to the limit.

When respected English antiques dealer Arthur Cavendish falls from the balcony
of his luxury apartment, the police quickly conclude he took his own life. A locked
room. No forced entry. No sign of a struggle.

Case closed — right?

Vijay agrees, when he’s asked to investigate as a personal favour. But as he follows the trail from high society parties and upscale antique shops to the city’s darker corners, his instincts begin to prickle.

Then a second, shocking death stops Vijay in his tracks.

And the part-time detective realises that the truth he’s chasing is far more complex — and far more dangerous — than he ever imagined.

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Mithran was born in Colombo and grew up in London. After completing his studies he
went to Thailand to work in an electrochemistry lab and, other than a 3-year spell in Japan, has been there ever since.

His short stories have appeared in The Sun, Inkwell, Natural Bridge, The Minnesota Review, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and The Best Asian Short Stories 2017, among others. One of his stories was shortlisted for the Bridport 2017 Short Story Prize and another was longlisted for the Commonwealth 2025 Short Story Prize.

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My thoughts: This was a really good crime novel, with private detective Vijay asked by his ex-girlfriend to look into the death of an antiques dealer from the UK who falls off the balcony of his home – or did he? 

While attempting to understand the deceased better, Vijay becomes embroiled in something darker and connected to the terrible Khmer Rouge regime in neighbouring Cambodia, when one of his witnesses is shot dead in front of him. 

There were so many twists and turns in this, as Vijay peels back the layers and begins to understand the high society world of antique dealers and the world of fakes artificially aged to pass for the real thing. 

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

MEET YOUR NEW FAVOURITE DETECTIVE.

Detective Norman is out of retirement and back on the beat in a rainy Welsh seaside town.

Llangwelli might be short on sunshine, but it’s certainly not short on murders . . .

Norman may seem a bit old-fashioned, but he’s always willing to learn from his band of misfit recruits.

It’s DC Judy Lane who takes the call. ‘We’ve got a body. It’s at a house called Forge Cottage, on the Old Llangwelli Road.’
The elderly victim is found propped up in his own back garden, a chain wrapped tightly around his chest.

The only clues to what happened are a glass of red wine, a Chinese takeaway receipt – and a missing delivery driver.

Before Detective Norman can pull the pieces together, the wife of a prominent local businessman disappears.
And a second body is discovered in a seafront hotel.

Two dead bodies and a missing person: there’s something very nasty going on in this quiet little seaside town. It’s up to Detective Norman to uncover the truth before events turn even darker.

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Peter Ford always dreamed of becoming a writer, but a dream is easily stifled without
support from those around you. It was only when his old, unhappy life fell apart and he met his new partner (now wife) Mary, who believed dreamers should be
encouraged, that he finally got the chance to live that dream. Fast forward a few years and you find a man transformed.
Now, blissfully happy, settled in a quiet corner of Wales with wife Mary and their
rescue dogs, P.F. Ford is living proof that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.

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My thoughts: The poorly buried body of an anonymous young woman found in the woods is never far from Norman and his colleagues’ thoughts and this new case might finally help them get some answers after a man’s body is found in his own back garden, and the only witness, a delivery driver, has disappeared.

All is not what it seems as the team unravel the true identity and history of the victim, and then another body is found in a local hotel. Is this death connected to the first one?

It’s a clever and fiendish case with lots of twists and secrets that come to light and threaten to destroy a family forever.

It’s also something of a time for change for Norman and his team, as changes from on high mean they all have to make decisions.

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