Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: So Now Go Tell – Susan Sachon

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After reaching a crisis point at 40, Jenny Watson is offered her dream job running a Shakespeare festival at a Tudor pub. She can hardly believe her luck at this brilliant new start, and chance to escape her unhappy past. The job isn’t all it seems, however.

The pub is remote and her mysterious boss is permanently absent; there’s a 400 year old skull residing in the cellar; and the local actors are less than enthusiastic over her boss’s choice of play. Then there’s the growing conviction that someone’s watching her. Strange messages, withheld calls and shadows on the windows spike temporary attacks of stress-related blindness as she clings to her last chance to live her dream. But as the dark play she’s directing starts to unravel the secrets she’d sworn never to tell, Jenny realises she’s not at the pub by chance . . .

…and soon she finds herself the leading lady in a nightmare replay of her past.

Susan says “I love theatre directing as well as writing, and have found working with Shakespeare’s writing cathartic and inspiring. In my working life, especially teaching adults, I have encountered many women with similar confidence problems, and the book grew out of that experience. It also carries the message that we should never give up on our dreams, no matter what age we are, where we come from, or whoever tells us we are bound to fail.”

Susan has loved writing, books and theatre since childhood, and now loves sharing stories with her small granddaughter. Apart from enjoying time with her family, she has also worked in business, run a theatre arts school for kids and somehow found time to gain a degree in Literature/Creative Writing, and a PhD in Shakespeare! She now writes fiction full-time, runs Shakespeare workshops and directs plays locally.

LINKS TO BUY: Publisher Amazon

Available in paperback format at £13.99 from Troubador.co.uk, and in e-book format from Amazon KDP Select at £4.99. Paperback also available online from Waterstones and Barnes & Noble. 

My thoughts: apart from all the terrible things Jenny encounters doing her dream job, I’d happily do the same. I am a huge Shakespeare nerd, theatre kid and I studied Titus Andronicus at uni (Hamlet is probably my favourite).

Jenny leaps at the chance to re-open an old pub and revive its Shakespeare festival, although she wants to do Hamlet, the mysterious owner insists on the even more gory and blood soaked Titus.

Making new friends in the local community and slowly building her confidence with Speak Out (a therapy group), she also begins researching the pub and the history of its resident Yorick, a human skull that belongs to someone either called Henry or John, according to neighbour George. Finding that there is a genuine link to the person, and a production of Shakespeare’s play in the 1500s, she digs into the local history, encountering witch trials, a hanging and tragedy.

Unfortunately her own tragic past is coming up to find her. An abusive mother, a rape and a pregnancy at 16, Jenny’s life isn’t a happy one. And now, divorced and alone, apart from the wonderful Mags, she’s starting over. Her aunt, in New Zealand, drops a bombshell – Jenny’s son is in the UK and wants to meet her.

But someone is leaving weird notes and the door keeps unlocking itself. A local woman is attacked, and she looks a bit like Jenny. What is going on? Is Jenny safe?

There’s a lot of turmoil and horror to come, but thankfully Jenny has brilliant friends around her, people who care and want to help, including local teacher and historian Ben.

Gripping and at times shocking, I was enthralled with Jenny’s story and the research she was doing. I love history and as a literary material culture buff, this was right up my street. I think Jenny and I would get along famously. She’s a real survivor and what she has been through is heartbreaking. But there’s so much hope and good will for her, that it left me feeling upbeat and pleased. Shakespeare’s incredible way with words guides Jenny, and even saves her life. A real treat of a book in many ways.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Beaver Theory – Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston

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Henri Koskinen, intrepid insurance mathematician and adventurepark entrepreneur, firmly believes in the power of common sense and order. That is until he moves in with painter Laura Helanto and her daughter…

As Henri realises he has inadvertently become part of a group of local dads, a competing adventure park is seeking to expand their operations, not always sticking to the law in the process…

Is it possible to combine the increasingly dangerous world of the adventure-park business with the unpredictability of life in a blended family? At first glance, the two appear to have only one thing in common: neither deals particularly well with a mounting body count. In order to solve this seemingly impossible conundrum, Henri is forced to step far beyond the mathematical precision of his comfort zone … and the stakes have never been higher…

Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. In 2011, his third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Novel and shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards and now a Finnish TV series. Palm Beach, Finland (2018) and Little Siberia (2019) were shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The Rabbit Factor, the first book in the trilogy will soon be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell for Amazon Studios, and the first two books were international bestsellers. Antti lives in Helsinki with his wife.

My thoughts: we return, for the final time, to the crazy world of adventure theme parks and Henri, the actuary who often seems to wind up solving crimes, instead of his actual job at YouMeFun.

Now living with girlfriend Laura and her daughter, you might think joining the dads club at the school and settling into domesticity, would mean less crime solving and fewer murders. But no, Henri’s ne rivals are a bunch of gangsters, who are attracting all the customers with free entry and free food, but Henri can’t see them lasting long in business. And then the owner is murdered. Which brings the cops to his door, again.

So, in between reassuring his staff and baking cakes to fundraise for the school trip to Paris, Henri sets out to solve a murder, or several, find out what the two dodgy cops are up to, and what this all has to do with horses, before he gets arrested or killed.

Written (and translated) with great wit, this delightfully funny black comedy of theme park shenanigans and espionage, is a wonderful high note for the highly entertaining trilogy to end up. Henri’s life is settled and happy, his crack team at the park are more committed than ever and things just might, finally, be ok.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Book Club Murders – Alan Gorevan

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When Izzy O’Brien flees the city centre apartment she shared with her controlling partner, she relocates to the seaside town of Dun Laoghaire, and the house she inherited from her aunt.

Isolated and insecure, Izzy is relieved to be embraced by a tightknit group of female neighbours, who invite her to join their book club.

However, the town is not as sleepy as she thinks.

And her ex-boyfriend is not ready to let her go.

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Alan Gorevan is an award-winning writer and intellectual property attorney. He lives in Dublin.

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My thoughts: this was a fun read, full of terrible deeds and not really about a book club at all, although if Louise hadn’t got the members together in the first place, more of them might have survived the events that this blackly comic murder fest entails.

Izzy has run to her aunt’s house, that she recently inherited, to get away from her controlling and angry boyfriend, Adam. Unfortunately he’s not willing to let her go. Louise is a neighbour who invites Izzy to join the book club meeting at her house, where Kate, Tess, Dee and Melanie are all waiting to discuss Sherlock Holmes.

The next morning, by text, they’re informed that Kate is dead. Was it her husband? A jealous lover? Or was it someone at the book club? As events spiral and more violence breaks out, it seems that book club isn’t a cosy safe place, but a hotbed of murder and insanity.

Izzy, her new friend Dylan and the other members are all at risk, and the various husbands and boyfriends have their own unhinged relationships too – the war between Louise’s husband Robert and Melanie’s Alan over the dog shitting in the garden gets spectacularly crazy.

Nothing in supposedly quiet Dún Laoghaire (which I now know how to pronounce, thank you!) where Izzy thought she might find some peace is as it seems when these neighbours go to war!

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

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Blog Tour: The Figurine – Victoria Hislop

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In her irresistible new novel, Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author Victoria Hislop shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people – and countries – will pay to cling on to them.

Of all the ancient art that captures the imagination, none is more appealing than the Cycladic figurine. An air of mystery swirls around these statuettes from the Bronze Age and they are highly sought after by collectors – and looters – alike.

When Helena inherits her grandparents’ apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child, when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Her remote, cruel grandfather was one of the regime’s generals and as she sifts through the dusty rooms, Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities. How did her grandfather amass such a trove? What human price was paid for them?

Helena’s desire to find answers about her heritage dovetails with a growing curiosity for archaeology, ignited by a summer spent with volunteers on a dig on an Aegean island. Their finds fuel her determination to protect the precious fragments recovered from the baked earth – and to understand the origins of her grandfather’s collection. Helena’s attempt to make amends for some of her grandfather’s actions sees her wrestle with the meaning of ‘home’, both in relation to looted objects of antiquity … and herself.

Inspired by a visit to Spinalonga, the abandoned Greek leprosy colony, Victoria Hislop wrote The Island in 2005. It became an international bestseller, has sold more than 6 million copies and was turned into a 26-part Greek TV series. She was named Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards and is now an ambassador for Lepra. Her affection for the Mediterranean then took her to Spain, and in the number one bestseller The Return she wrote about the painful secrets of its civil war. I

n The Thread, Victoria returned to Greece to tell the turbulent tale of Thessaloniki and its people across the twentieth century. Shortlisted for a British Book Award, it confirmed her reputation as an inspirational storyteller. Her fourth novel, The Sunrise, about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the enduring ghost town of Famagusta, was a Sunday Times number one bestseller.

Cartes Postales from Greece, fiction illustrated with photographs, was a Sunday Times bestseller in hardback and one of the biggest selling books of 2016. The poignant and powerful Those Who Are Loved, was a Sunday Times number one hardback bestseller in 2019 and explores a tempestuous period of modern Greek history through the eyes of a complex and compelling heroine. Victoria’s most recent novel, One August Night, returned to Crete in the long-anticipated sequel to The Island. It spent twelve weeks in the Top 10 hardback fiction charts.

Her books have been translated into forty languages and Victoria was executive producer on the adaptations of three of her novels for Greek television. Victoria divides her time between England and Greece and in 2020, was granted honorary citizenship by the President of Greece. She was recently appointed patron of Knossos 2025, which is raising funds for a new research centre at one of Greece’s most significant archaeological sites. She is also on the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. Victoria was recently granted an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Sheffield.

My thoughts: Having read several of Victoria Hislop’s previous books, I knew this would be enjoyable, well written, full of history and very interesting but this was also something of a thriller.

Helena is half Greek and spends a few weeks every summer at her grandparents’ home in Athens, a place her mother refuses to return to. Her Yiayia (grandmother) is kind but under the thumb of her husband – a general in the Greek army, and as the military rules the country, an important man, but not a kind one.

As she gets older Helena realises more and more about her family, their place in Greek society and her grandfather’s casual cruelty. She becomes closer to her mother and her Scottish father, a doctor, who is so different from her grandfather.

As an adult Helena meets the charming Nick, who invites her to join him on an archaeological dig in Greece. From there everything changes, initially enthralled by the charismatic young man, she becomes suspicious of him and his charms. Discovering he might well be involved in the theft and sale of priceless antiques is the last straw and Helena begins to plan a way to stop him, and those he works with.

It’s an utterly gripping story of wrongs to be righted, beautiful and ancient artefacts in peril, the illegal antiques market, and a love story too. Helena and Greece. As well as the young art restorer she meets while selling her grandparents’ furniture in Athens.

I was completely hooked and thought Helena a wonderful protagonist, as she learns about Greece’s difficult and complex past, makes new friends and ultimately builds a life, while ensuring some truly wonderful treasures remain where they belong.

As the argument about the Parthenon marbles stolen by Elgin and currently held in the British Museum continues to rumble on (I find that particular gallery dreary and depressing), this is a timely and intelligent reminder that the treasures of the past should be preserved for the future, in their homelands, not sold away to private collectors. A truly delightful story with a powerful message.

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

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Blog Tour: The Weekend Away – Miranda Smith

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My sister died. Her friends lied. And now I’m going to learn the truth…

A year ago, my twin sister Samantha left me a message: I need you.

A day later, she was dead. I always knew it was suspicious, but no one would listen.

But I’ve just found her journal, tucked into a hidden space in the window seat of our childhood bedroom. It shows who her best friends really are: the fraud. The liar. The cheat. The crush.

Now, they’re all together on a weekend away, in a beautiful wood-panelled cabin in the mountain. And I’m going too. One of them killed her, and I’m going to prove it.

But am I ready for the answers I’m seeking? Because I soon realize that my sister had dark secrets too…

And when fire breaks out on the mountain, leaving us trapped, I must decide: what will I risk to get justice for Samantha? Because finding the truth might cost me my life…

An absolutely compulsive thriller that will have your pulse racing as you flip through the pages at speed. If you like The Hunting Party, Ruth Ware and The Summer House, you’ll love The Weekend Away!

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Miranda Smith writes psychological and domestic suspense. She is drawn to stories about ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Before completing her first novel, she worked as a newspaper staff writer and a secondary English teacher. She lives in East Tennessee with her husband and three young children.

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My thoughts: after her sister dies, Stella gives up her life of travel and photography to help her parents run the family dry cleaners, an invitation to join Samantha’s close friends on a weekend away in celebration of their friend leads to confrontation and violence, Stella knows there’s more to her twin’s death and finding a journal filled with secrets means she’s determined to get answers.

The weekend away gets really tense and scary when fire breaks out shortly after a major confrontation between the characters, talk about tension! After Jackson suffers an accident, and the others close ranks, Stella gets frightened, someone here is dangerous.

Utterly gripping, very intense and clever, loads of twists and turns. Never start a business with your friends is the message I’m taking away, especially if one of them is a psychopath!

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Emergency Drill – Chris Blackwater

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Shortlisted for the 2020 Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger award

Newly qualified offshore medic, Danny Verity, arrives on the Cuillin Alpha oil platform shortly before a storm damages the satellite system, severing the crew’s only mode of communication to the mainland.

Storm or sabotage?

Danny is forced to perform emergency surgery on an injured crewmate, whose accident he suspects was the result of sabotage. The man dies, a member of the crew disappears, and yet another is attacked.

Enter the Pied Piper, whose sinister announcements carry his threats through the entire platform.

While the North Sea rages around them, emotions and suspicions run high.

Danny knows he’s the only one who can stop the saboteur. But will the crew trust him?

With no way of calling in help and unable to risk escaping on the lifeboats, everyone aboard the oil platform is trapped. So is the killer… and Danny is determined to smoke him out.

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Chris Blackwater is a writer and chartered engineer from Leeds, England. His first novel Emergency Drill, book 1 in the Danny Verity, PI series, set on a North Sea oil platform, was shortlisted for the 2020  CWA Debut Dagger Award. His short stories have appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies including contributions to the much-missed Mad Scientist Journal. 

Book two in the series, Dead Crude, is  set in Orkney. Apart from Danny Verity, it features other characters who survived Emergency Drill. He is  working on a third book in the series, called Head Hunting.

Chris began writing to entertain himself whilst working on offshore oil platforms and remote power stations. His career has taken him all over the world to unusual locations and introduced him to some remarkable characters. In recent years Chris has gradually drifted down to the south coast of England where he spends his spare time learning to sail and play the flute, though not at the same time.

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My thoughts: this is a fast paced, explosive (although not literally) thriller set on a North Sea oil platform. Danny is the new medic on crew – he didn’t expect it to be this eventful.

Starting with the death of another crew member, a series of sabotage events terrify the whole platform and cut them off from the mainland, unable to get help.

Danny joins forces with some of the others on the platform to unmask the Pied Piper claiming responsibility for the incidents, and stop them before anyone else gets killed. But with supplies running low and the power almost out, time is in short supply.

Danny is an interesting protagonist – a former Military Police Officer turned medic, he has skills and experience he tries to put into use during this terrifying case. He has to rely on people he doesn’t know very well, especially Gemma, who acts as his sidekick and insider, while hiding out after almost being killed.

Using his own experiences, which hopefully wasn’t as traumatic, the author sets up this new series of high octane thrillers with a bang.

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

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Blog Tour: White as Snow – Lilja Sigurđartóttir, translated by Quentin Bates

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On a snowy winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near Reykjavík. Inside are the bodies of five young women – one of them barely alive.

As Icelandic Police detective Daníel struggles to investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Áróra looks into the background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daníel’s former wife, and the connections don’t stop there…

Daníel and Áróra’s cases pit them both against ruthless criminals with horrifying agendas, while Áróra persists with her search for her missing sister, Ísafold, whose devastating disappearance continues to haunt her.

As the temperature drops and the 24-hour darkness and freezing snow hamper their efforts, their investigations become increasingly dangerous … for everyone.

Bestselling crime-writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written ten crime novels, including Snare, Trap and Cage, making up the Reykjavík Noir trilogy, and her standalone thriller Betrayal, all of which have hit bestseller lists worldwide and been long- and shortlisted for multiple awards. The film rights for the Reykjavík Noir trilogy have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Cold as Hell, the first book in the An Áróra Investigation series, was published in the UK in 2021 and reprinted twice, and was followed by Red as Blood, a number-one digital bestseller. Lilja lives outside of Reykjavík with her partner and a brood of chickens.

My thoughts: a terrible crime scene inside a shipping container, the bodies of several young women, buried underneath them, a survivor. After surviving a harrowing journey, she could provide the key evidence to stop a human trafficking ring run by Russian gangsters in Iceland.

Is there a connection between this awful case and Daniel’s ex-wife’s new boyfriend? Àróra is looking into him, as she turns out to be related to the woman in question too – is Iceland really that small?

This is an incredibly awful crime – Bola has been through a horrific experience but maybe now, with Helena’s help she might be able to start to recover and find a safe place to begin her life again.

Written with great sensitivity and detail, this might be Daniel’s hardest case yet, and his children are staying too. Luckily he has a marvellous helper in the drag queen who lives in his garden.

It also means Àróra has to put the search for her sister on hold – there’s just not enough evidence and the trail grows colder. This case could bring her and Daniel closer together, as there’s nothing specifically personal about it.

Another masterful and compelling addition to the series, once again tackling complex themes and injustices.

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

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Blog Tour: Just a Fika – Beck Erixson

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Family.
They’re always meddling in your love life
Even after they’re dead.
Brooklynite-and genealogist-Ingrid Ekstrom accepts a surprise request from her typically estranged family: to become the live-in caretaker of their shared historic house in the sleepy Jersey Shore town of Aegir Haven. A fun-loving cousin is quick to introduce Ingrid to the local handyman and bluegrass musician. As he fixes up the place, Ingrid digs into the house’s past and learns about the family she barely knows.
And then Mormor-her long-dead grandmother-shows up, acting as though not being in the spirit realm is perfectly normal.
Ingrid’s always yearned for stronger family connections, and it’s nice having Mormor around.
Mormor tries to set her up with a young real estate attorney who’s closer to her more thunderous, god-like personal standards than the musician with keen senses Ingrid is falling for. As lore and
legends mingle with real life, she’s torn. Mormor’s fantastical family sagas can’t actually be true, right?

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Beck Erixson writes about the beautifully awkward world of navigating the journey to true happiness through friendships, love, and family—be it blood, found, or chosen. Her stories enhance the importance of positive interconnection, even when we feel lonely. She lives on the
Jersey Shore, and can often be found either writing by the river, or in it in some way. Her short stories have appeared in Many Nice Donkeys, and Full Mood Mag.

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My thoughts: this is a bit of a strange mix of genres, from a sort of ghost story, with the dead relatives popping in, romance and family history.

Ingrid is staying in her late grandmother’s house in a rather unusual town and her Mormor (Swedish for grandmother) pops up, apparently the Norse gods (possibly Loki) allow the women of their family to come back to see their descendants.

There’s two very different brothers that Ingrid can’t choose between, a hurricane rolling in and cousins to re-bond with. All she wanted was to hang out with her family and do some genealogy research. Guess sometimes the universe (or the gods) has other plans.

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

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Blog Tour: The Beginning of Everything – Jackie Fraser

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The Beginning of Everything is the story of Jess and Gethin, whose paths cross in the most unexpected way. Jess is running, leaving all she knows and everyone she loves behind her, with just a few treasured belongings in her rucksack. She’s escaping from the pain and trauma of a bad relationship with a bad man, gone very badly wrong. Gethin’s kindness and care takes her breath away. They become friends. But with so much hurt in her past, can Jess learn to love and live again?

My thoughts: this was a lovely book, a really enjoyable read. Jess and Gethin are delightful and I was so happy when they finally managed to actually talk about their feelings.

Jess has fled from her home, from her abusive, controlling boyfriend. She breaks into an abandoned house to keep warm, only for Gethin to one day unlock the front door. He’s bought the house. And he invites her to stay. It’s an unconventional start to a truly lovely friendship, that slowly blossoms into more.

Jess is wary of being hurt and can’t believe anyone as kind and generous as Gethin really exists. She’s easily startled and hasn’t dealt with any of the stuff that happened to her before.

But it’s such a sweet story, and Gethin is a genuinely lovely man, who cares for Jess and wants to give her the world. If you enjoy a good old fashioned romance, where you’re rooting for them all the way, then this is a book you need to buy.

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

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Blog Tour: Blackmail in Bloomsbury – Anna Sayburn Lane

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A bohemian party, a handsome artist – and murder.

London, October 1922. When Marjorie Swallow attends her first Bloomsbury party, she worries the conversation will be over her head. But when the night ends in murder, she has more pressing concerns.

Was the culprit really the handsome young artist she danced the night away with? And why did so many people want Betty Norris dead? From the garden squares of Bloomsbury to the smart restaurants of Piccadilly and the seedy backstreets of Soho, apprentice detective Marjorie goes on a perilous hunt for the killer.

Blackmail in Bloomsbury brings 1920s London to life in a classic murder mystery.

Anna is a writer and journalist, living by the sea on the Kent coast.

Blackmail In Bloomsbury marks a new direction for Anna’s writing, switching from contemporary thrillers with a historical back-story into cosy historical mysteries. Anna is fascinated by the 1920s, a period of enormous social change that can seem both very modern and more than 100 years ago.

Anna enjoys research in the British Library, coastal walks, summer swimming and yoga on the beach. Blackmail In Bloomsbury is her fifth novel.

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My thoughts: I must confess that I am on Anna’s ARC reader list, so I have read this delightful book several times now. But even if I wasn’t, this is a book that’s right up my street.

Historical crime fiction with a quirky and delightful female protagonist and her eccentric private investigator employer. Absolutely aimed at someone like me.

Bringing London in the 1920s brightly to life, with the fashions and cocktails of the age, as naive but determined to succeed Marjorie sets about investigating.

This series is only just beginning, and I am so excited to see where it goes. I love Marjorie, she’s naive about a lot but does understand people and it helps her get to the bottom of things. She’s a natural detective and her skills can only improve.

You can get a free short story about Marjorie and how she got her job if you sign up to Anna’s mailing list, which I also recommend.

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