Category: reviews

Upwardly mobile and smart Wendy Helmann, Executive Secretary, is in Marrakesh with her mother while her boss, Chairman of Kingsley Conglomerates, conducts very delicate if slightly dubious takeover negotiations.

But while Morocco is a romantic place, Wendy finds herself side-tracked from its attractions by the antics of Rita Geddes and a few peripheral problems such as kidnapping, explosions, industrial espionage, murder and car chases across the High Atlas mountains . . . Enter Johnson Johnson and his yacht Dolly.

Dorothy Dunnett (1923-2001) gained an international reputation as a writer of historical fiction. She later turned to crime writing with the acclaimed Dolly books, aka the Johnson Johnson series. She was a trustee of the National Library of Scotland, and a board member of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. In 1992 she was awarded an OBE for her services to literature. A leading light in the Scottish arts world and a renaissance woman, Dunnett was also a professional portrait painter and exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy on many occasions.

My thoughts: the final Dolly book, and it brings the return of Rita Geddes from the first book – Tropical Issue – but now she’s the head of a large corporation and not a make up artist. Whose company is the target of a hostile takeover. But first there’s total chaos, with kidnappings, car chases and other crazy things.

Secretary Wendy Helmann, and her crazy mother, who might actually be a spy or something, are in town too, to assist with the takeover, until they get dragged into the nuttiness. It might be Johnson Johnson’s most outrageous outing yet.

Packed with references to the previous books in the series, this is a hilarious, totally over the top and delightful read.

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

Guilt. Motherhood. Murder.
When the body of Jen’s teenage son, Eli, is found at the edge of a lake, her shock and grief are overwhelming. She feels guilty because she wasn’t at home the night he was killed.
As the police investigation intensifies, and her son’s estranged father reappears in her life, Jen hides a secret, while yearning to know what really happened.
Soon she begins to wonder if her son’s friends are hiding something. And after she learns that Eli had a girlfriend it becomes more and more difficult to separate the truth from the lies…Did her son have a secret life she knew nothing about?
And can she unlock the truth about what happened to Eli on that fateful night before someone else gets hurt?

Praise for J. S. Lark:
“Dark, deceptive and utterly delicious.” —Louise Douglas, author of The Secrets Between Us
“Engrossing . . . [A] psychological thriller that will leave you stunned and satisfied.” —Lisa Regan, USA
Today–bestselling author of the Detective Josie Quinn series

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Jane is a coffee, chocolate and red wine lover, and a late-night writer of compelling, passionate, and emotionally charged fiction. The kindle bestselling author of The Twins and The Secret Couple…

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My thoughts: I was hooked by this shocking and gripping thriller, set in the Lake District.

Jen’s teenage son is dead, found in the Lake, but his last movements are unknown. Was it an accident or did someone kill him intentionally?

As the police investigate, Jen does so too, she’s desperate to find out what happened to her son, and is positive someone in the small community knows what happened, but aren’t telling the truth.

As events spiral, and the pace gathers, the plot thickens and twists itself around a handful of locals. There are some killer twists too, that made me gasp.

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

The scrap of paper looked as if it had been torn from a diary. The words written in faint pencil. The letters rounded, almost childlike: Please look after her. Her life and mine depend on you not trying to find me.
When Detective Alana Mack arrives at Clonabee police station, in a small Irish seaside town on the outskirts of Dublin, she doesn’t expect to find a distressed two-year-old girl sobbing on the floor.
Abandoned in a local supermarket, the child tells them her name is Casey. All Alana and her team have to go on is a crumpled note begging for someone to look after her little girl. This mother
doesn’t want to be found.
Still recovering from a terrible accident that has left Alana navigating a new life as a wheelchair user, Alana finds herself suddenly responsible for Casey while trying to track down the missing mother
and solve another missing person’s case… a retired newsagent who has seemingly vanished from his home.
Forced to ask her ex-husband and child psychiatrist Colm for help, through Forensic Art Therapy, Alana discovers that whatever darkness lies behind the black windows in Casey’s crayon drawing, the little girl was terrified of the house she lived in.
Then a bag of human remains is found in a bin, and a chilling link is made – the DNA matches Casey’s.
Alana and her team must find the body and make the connection with the missing newsagent fast if she is to prevent another life from being taken. But with someone in her department leaking confidential details of the investigation to the media, can Alana set aside her emotional involvement in this case and find Casey’s mother and the killer before it’s too late?
Heart-pounding and totally addictive, The Puppet Maker is the first in the Detective Alana Mack series that will have fans of Ann Cleeves, Angela Marsons and LJ Ross racing through the pages late into the night.

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Born in Dublin, Jenny O’Brien moved to Wales and then Guernsey, where she tries to find time to write in between working as a nurse and ferrying around 3 teenagers.
In her spare time she can be found frowning at her wonky cakes and even wonkier breads. You’ll be pleased to note she won’t be entering Bake-Off. She’s also an all-year-round sea swimmer. Jenny is represented by Nicola Barr of The Bent Agency and published by Storm Publishing and HQ Digital (Harper Collins).
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My thoughts: the crimes the villain of this thrilling new crime series’ first book commits are really gruesome and made my skin crawl. No wonder Casey’s mother begs to be left alone and not looked for. But the police can’t do that, she might be at risk and then there’s the bag of body parts found in a bin, thank goodness the homeless man that found it showed his friend, a former doctor, and didn’t just cook it up for his dinner!

I liked Alana, she’s smart, with great detective instincts, having her be a wheelchair user is an interesting twist, while it limits her physically, as the world is very inaccessible, it doesn’t stop her leading her team and solving crimes. Or getting flirted with by a newspaper magnate, who happens to also be the father of her newest team member. And so it shouldn’t. It will be interesting to see her evolve with the series.

A really interesting read and with plenty of great characters (Alana’s boss is awful) and lots of possibilities for the series. Big thumbs up.

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