Category: reviews

A Premier League bad-boy murdered at his newly refurbished home; a teenage runaway’s corpse uncovered on a construction site; a gunman shoots up the premises of the local gangland boss – all of them projects run by beleaguered builder Mark Poynter. 

Can he fix it?

Things seem to be on the up for builder, Mark Poynter. 

Mark’s got himself a nice little earner taking care of the sizeable property portfolio built up from the career earnings of former Premier League bad-boy and local celebrity, Danny Kidd. 

But when Danny Kidd puts an interested party’s nose out of joint by using his star status to gazump them on a development site – the derelict Admiral Guthrie pub – things turn ugly and incendiary, leaving Mark to deal with the consequences.

Meanwhile local villain, Hamlet, uses his subtle persuasion to dupe Mark into unwittingly help him launder vast sums of dirty cash but when it drags the area to the brink of gang warfare, Mark’s help is needed to try and broker a truce.

At the Admiral Guthrie secrets from the past meet conflicts of the present – will the rising flames reduce Mark’s future to ashes?

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Matthew Ross is the author of 3 published novels to date. His first novel, “Death Of A Painter” was selected by The Sun newspaper as one of its picks of the week. Matthew wrote his first novel after undertaking the prestigious Faber Academy 6-month novel writing course under the tutelage of Richard Skinner. 

Prior to that Matthew wrote material for a leading British stand-up comedian for their live performances, corporate bookings, national theatre tours and their appearances on tv and radio shows such as “Have I Got News For You”, “Mock The Week” and “The News Quiz”. 

In addition, he was commissioned to provide material and sketches for several comedy series that were broadcast on BBC Radio 4. 

Matthew lives in Kent with his family and pets.

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My thoughts: I felt sorry for Mark, as soon as something seems to be going right for him, things start going wrong. He’s gone into business with the Kidd brothers, former footballer Danny and Stuart. They’ve bought an old pub to turn into flats, Mark’s going to do the work with his Uncle Bern and Co, but someone doesn’t want them anywhere near the place. There’s a furious Scot called Donaldson who keeps popping up and Danny’s feuding with a rapper online.

Lots of grim things keep happening, not least what’s unearthed at the old Admiral Guthrie. Now the police are involved and Mark’s trying to keep the work coming in. He might need to ask local kingpin Hamlet for help, which his girlfriend Perry isn’t pleased about.

This is a blackly comic novel, as Mark and his friends stumble from one disaster to another, there’s murder, arson and he keeps ending up with guns pointed in his face. The building game in Kent’s Medway towns is not exactly all friendly. But thankfully Mark’s got good, if interesting, friends and it might all be ok. This time. Great fun and with lots of twists and turns.

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

Julia Bird loves the village pub quiz, but it seems one of her team won’t make it to the next round alive…

On the first Tuesday of each month, Julia Bird and her Agatha Quizteam teammates take part in Berrywick’s village pub quiz. They take it seriously – what’s the point of playing, after all, if you aren’t in it to win it? But it seems someone connected with the quiz night has taken the competition to a whole new level when Lilian, the local police constable and all-round general knowledge expert, is found fatally stabbed after the evening’s final round.

With local DI Hayley Gibson stuck home with a broken leg and an incompetent Superintendent brought in from the nearby town, it’s up to Julia to make sure the investigation stays focussed – whether they like it or not! While the police are convinced that the murderer is linked to Lilian’s professional life, Julia turns her amateur sleuthing eye to suspects much closer to home. Perhaps Lilian’s personal life could have something to do with the dreadful crime?

When another quiz team member is attacked, Julia is finally put on the right track. But what could possibly be important – or dangerous – enough for two attendees of the pub quiz night to meet such foul ends over? Could the culprit really be among them on that busy Tuesday night? As Julia’s race to identify the killer ramps up to desperate heights, she wonders, where will the murderous spree end?

Perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands, Murder at the Inn is a brilliantly compelling English cosy mystery.

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

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My thoughts: who knew pub quizzes can be so dangerous!?!? I love a pub quiz, and so does Julia, whose team Agatha Quizteam (excellent team name fyi) are in a weekly competition against several others. But one team, containing two detectives, seems to be the target of a particularly ruthless individual. After several accidents and murders, does the answer lie in the past or is someone out to win the pub quiz league the bloody way?

Julia is on the case as DI Hayley Gibson is laid up with a broken leg, and the superintendent drafted in is an idiot. Can Julia’s knowledge of human weaknesses and the connection between the victims lead to a killer? Another cracking case for Julia, and there’s an inter species romance brewing for the naughtiest dog around too.

I don’t think I’ll be moving to the Cotswolds and joining a quiz team any time soon. Just in case.

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

A brand-new cozy crime series set in gorgeous Tuscany…It’s murder in paradise!
A lazy weekend in the country…
Dan Armstrong and the new love of his life, Anna, are heading to a hotel deep in the gorgeous Tuscan countryside for a long weekend, looking forward to some time away from the stresses of their day
jobs. With the beautiful and historic city of Siena just around the corner, it promises to be relaxing and enjoyable. What could possibly go wrong?
A mutilated body…
But when a mutilated body is discovered in the hotel grounds Dan is called in to help with the investigation. But who or what could have been responsible for such a vicious attack? Was it the work of wild animals, or is there a brutal murderer at large?
A killer who cried wolf?
Dan knows he is dealing with a clever killer – whether whether two- or four-legged! And as he sets out to solve the case he begins to worry about his own loyal canine companion. Could Oscar be in
more danger than any of the other hotel guests or is a murderer trying to cover their tracks?
It’s another case for Dan and Oscar to solve!
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T A Williams is the author of over twenty bestselling romances for HQ and Canelo and is now turning his hand to cosy crime, set in his beloved Italy, for Boldwood. Trevor lives in Devon with his Italian
wife.

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My thoughts: Dan and Anna are supposed to be on holiday with their friends but staying at their hotel is a conference on ecology and the scientists are an interesting bunch. There’s a tangled web of sex and intrigue, they all seem to be sleeping with each other or hate one another. After one of them is killed Dan and Virgilio get drawn into the case to assist the local police with translating and their impressions of the biologists.

There are wolves in the hills around Siena, and while the experts at the hotel insist they wouldn’t attack a human, local farmers want the wild animals gone. Is someone framing the wolves to get them removed or to throw suspicion on someone in particular? As another scientist meets a grisly end, Dan and the police realise there’s a really messy situation unfolding and that the conference is covering up a ring of adultery and sexual jealousy. Can they find the killer/s before they go home?

Another great fun outing for Dan and obviously Oscar, who once again finds vital clues that the human detectives miss. Trust a dog’s nose to find the important stuff. He can also tell whether the chilling howls in the night are wolf or human, more than Dan can. Someone get him a K9 cop badge! Anna is also growing as a character and Lina, Virgilio’s wife, is also a bit more involved, which is nice, Dan’s community is important as he grows his PI business, he can only expect Oscar to do so much, he doesn’t do filing.

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

With gorgeous prose, European glamour, and an expansive wanderlust, Christine Mangan’s The Continental Affair is a fast-paced, Agatha Christieesque caper packed full of romance and suspense.

Meet Henri and Louise. Two strangers, travelling alone, on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul. Except this isn’t the first time they have met. It’s the 1960s and Louise is running. From her past in England, from the owners of the money she has stolen — and from Henri, the person who has been sent to collect it.

Across the Continent — from Granada to Paris, from Belgrade to Istanbul — Henri follows, desperate to leave behind his own troubles. The memories of his past life as a gendarme in Algeria that keep resurfacing. His inability to reconcile the growing responsibilities of his current criminal path with this former self. But Henri soon realizes that Louise is no ordinary mark. As the train hurtles toward its final destination, Henri and Louise must decide what the future will hold — and whether it involves one another

Christine Mangan is the author of the national bestsellers Tangerine and Palace of the Drowned. She has her PhD in English from University College Dublin, with a focus on 18th-century Gothic literature, and an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Southern Maine. She lives in Detroit.

My thoughts: this was an interesting read, as Louise and Henri travel across Europe to Istanbul, Turkey, on what I think is the Orient Express or certainly something very similar, their story unfolds. Henri has been following Louise since Madrid. Where she stole a small fortune in a moment of opportunistic luck. However the money belongs to some criminals Henri, a former police officer, now works for, and they want it back.

Henri isn’t even the only person following Louise. And they’re both in danger. Neither is happy with their lives, both are running from things they’d rather forget. On this strange journey across Europe, as they meet and part in different places, they start to reconcile with themselves and discover who they are now.

It’s a strange book, there’s a slightly dreamlike quality to some of the events, Louise is often disconnected from what’s happening around her and is more honest with Henri than anyone else. She’s on a journey with no real destination in mind, and suddenly in possession of a small fortune. Henri is a man struggling with grief and regret, he’s fallen into this job and is reluctant to complete it, especially after Louise starts spending the money. Their relationship is odd, but somehow they connect and reconnect as they travel, and perhaps heal.

I enjoyed it, I love an adventure story with some peril and complicated characters, and this is definitely that. The ending left me with more questions than answers and I wanted to know what became of our unusual travel companions. Did Henri go back to Algeria? What did Louise do after Istanbul? Will they meet again? I wonder.

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