Category: reviews

To all appearances Joanna Emerson is a fully qualified, gold-medalled graduate of the world’s finest college of Nursery Nurses. No sooner is she engaged as a nanny to Benedict, newly born heir to a vast cosmetic fortune however, than she becomes caught up in a complex kidnap plot.

But the enigmatic portrait painter, yachtsman and former spy, Johnson Johnson is never far away – and he knows the dangerous game she’s playing.

Before long, bullets are flying, and most of them in Joanna’s direction.

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: another brilliant outing from Johnson Johnson and his marvellous yacht Dolly, this time we’re off to the Croatian coast, although it’s still Yugoslavia at this point in time.

Joanna is one of those practically perfect in every way nannies, graduate of something similar to Norland (they’re the ones in the smart brown uniforms hired by celebrities, the very wealthy and royalty), with every possible event prepared for and never a hair out of place. She can sail a yacht through a storm, while also looking after a baby, two unconscious men, some seasick kidnappers and making soup.

She’s also a crack code writer, working for the British government in the form of her father. And someone has a very important, very secret document that was encoded by her and now they want her to decode it. Kidnapping Joanna and her three month old change, who has horrible parents, might just be the way to force her hand. She’d never let the baby come to harm. Good thing Johnson is around though, she needs a spot of assistance escaping and capturing the kidnappers.

With bullets whizzing about, millionaires having affairs and behaving badly, is it any wonder she’s starting to question her vocation – maybe being a nanny is not for her.

Another hilarious and action packed book, the second to last sadly, in this tremendous and highly entertaining series.

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

Four girls close their eyes. Only one wakes up.

Leah and her three best friends get changed into their pyjamas, eat pizza and argue about what film to watch. They laugh together until the early hours. But the next morning, Leah blinks open her eyes and sees three empty sleeping bags. The other girls are gone.

Twenty years later. In her small hometown, still-haunted Leah has never been able to shake off the rumours and whispers. How could she have slept through it all? She must know what happened.

Now, a documentary is being made about the night Leah’s best friends disappeared. Is the truth about to come out?

Then an anonymous email arrives in Leah’s inbox. ‘Stop them’.

Somebody out there knows what happened the night of the sleepover. Is Leah in terrible danger? And will she ever find her missing friends – or are some secrets meant to be kept forever?

An absolutely addictive psychological thriller with twists and turns that will make you gasp. Anyone who loves Lisa Jewell, Shari Lapena or The Perfect Marriage won’t be able to put this down.

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Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.

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My thoughts: I used to have sleepovers when I was a teenager, luckily I never woke up to find all my friends missing, although I did once see my sister crouched on the floor eating the leftover popcorn we’d discarded and she definitely wasn’t invited!

But that’s what happened to Leah, at a sleepover at her friend Vicky’s house, she wakes up and her 3 friends are just gone. Not in another room, not playing a prank, just gone. And 25 years later, she still doesn’t know what happened. But someone out there does.

The brother of one of the other girls is making a documentary about the case. The police still have no answers, and he wants to find out whether anyone remembers something, a lead the cops didn’t follow perhaps.

Leah’s getting strange emails from “a friend” telling her to shut the film down or else. But she doesn’t know why they’re threatening her, she doesn’t know what happened. Or does she?

Kerry Wilkinson specialises in plots with twists and turns that you just can’t see coming and this one is no different. Just as you think he’s handed over the answers, it goes off in a different direction entirely and made my head spin. I have no idea where the sequel will go, this was so shocking.

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

Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge is bestselling author Spencer Quinn’s first novel in a new series since the meteoric launch of Chet and Bernie — introducing the irresistible and unforgettable Mrs. Plansky, in a story perfect for book clubs and commercial fiction readers.

Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a widow in her seventies, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren. Thankfully, her new hip hasn’t changed her killer tennis game one bit. One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam. By morning, Mrs. Plansky has lost everything. Law enforcement announces that Loretta’s life savings have vanished, and that it’s hopeless to find the scammers behind the heist.

First humiliated, then furious, Loretta Plansky refuses to be just another victim. In a courageous bid for justice, Mrs. Plansky follows her only clue on a whirlwind adventure to a small village in Romania to get her money and her dignity back — and perhaps find a new lease on life, too.

Spencer Quinn is the bestselling author of eight Chet and Bernie mystery series, as well as the #1 New York Times bestselling Bowser and Birdie series. He lives on Cape Cod with his wife Diana and dogs Audrey and Pearl. Keep up with him by visiting SpenceQuinn.com.

My thoughts: this was great, I want to be Loretta Planksy when I grow up. She could have just sat there and given up when her life savings are stolen in a telephone scam. One of those horrible ones that you hear about every now and then targeting the elderly. My own grandparents have received similar phone calls, though not this exact one, in the past and as my parents get older I worry about them too – these scammers are smart.

But not Mrs Plansky, she’s not taking this nonsense and when law enforcement don’t seem too keen to push to go after the gang who took her money – she buys a plane ticket to Romania and goes hunting.

She’s an active seventy-something and not afraid to get stuck in, the American Embassy in Bucharest try to send her straight back to Florida, but instead she rents a car and drives off to the small town she’s heard back in the States from an slightly more loose lipped FBI agent, than he should be.

This is a funny, wry revenge thriller with an incredible protagonist in the brilliant and determined Mrs Plansky, culminating in a chase through the Carpathian mountains to save two young men and a journalist from thugs.

I want Mrs P to start her own detective agency, helping other older people who’ve been targeted by scammers and con artists, or who just need someone to help them when officialdom fails. I think she’d be fantastic at that. She’s not afraid of action – climbing out of windows and sneaking around secret tunnels. I reckon she’d do a better job than some of the cops out there.

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

Mrs. Sidhu – unofficial Aunty to everyone, caterer, and amateur sleuth from Slough – spices up the lives of Berkshire’s elite with both her mouth-watering dishes and her sharp detective skills. But when she stirs up trouble among the rich and ruthless, she finds herself an outsider in her own community.

Banished to the kitchen by her boss and sentenced to an endless loop of aubergine bhajis, Mrs. Sidhu seizes the opportunity to whip up a new recipe for success – getting a job as a private chef at an exclusive celebrity rehab retreat. But when a therapist is found dead in the quiet village, Mrs. Sidhu’s appetite for mystery is rekindled.

As the plot thickens, it becomes clear that the killer is picking victims through a twisted raffle at the village fete. Is a vengeful spirit returning to exact a horrifying revenge, or is there an impostor among the residents hiding a deadly secret?

Suk grew up along the M4, the draughty corridor that connects London to Slough. The son of immigrants, his upbringing was filled with discipline, love and aunties. At an early age, he got his head stuck into books and escaped into other worlds. He has long believed that one of his aunties would be the perfect crime solver.

Suk Pannu has written for some of Britain’s best-loved Asian shows including Goodness Gracious Me and five series of the award-winning The Kumars at No 42. He has also contributed to radio shows like The News Quiz and Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive, and he has had several successful series and pilots of his own. This is his debut novel.

My thoughts: first of all it took me ages to get the pun in the title because I say scone with an ‘e’ like stone not gone. But that’s a me issue (me and a lot of other people!)

Anyway, I didn’t know this series from the radio, but my mum did, so I now need to seek it out online and listen. But I thought the book was hilarious and I loved Mrs Sidhu, she reminded me of a lot of my friends’ mums and aunties, always feeding everyone, always worrying and a lot smarter than you might think.

Mrs Sidhu knows people, and that’s her secret talent, she can read them, she’s sure everyone else is looking in the wrong place, at the wrong suspect, and missing the clues. And of course, she’s right.

But even her detective friend overlooks her theories, and lets others lead him the wrong way. They’re all fascinated by the “Dr” who runs the rehab centre, and celebrities in recovery, missing the quietly odd cult still existing in their midst. But not Mrs Sidhu, who follows her own path, solves the murders, and a few other mysteries along the way. All the time cooking up a storm and producing perfect scones for the fete. More please!

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

For Matt Forrester, The Forrester Detective Agency is going from strength to strength: they’ve expanded their office space and even hired a new office manager – a qualified and astute woman named Carol.
What starts as a simple burglary case soon turns into something darker. The victim of said burglary soon turns up dead, after engaging in threats with the local yobs she believed to have been responsible.
But it soon becomes clear that there’s more at play here, and Matt – alongside sister Hermia, partner Steve, and life partner Karen – will have to put all their skills to the test, even if it puts them in
danger…
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Anita Waller is the author of many bestselling psychological thrillers and the Kat and Mouse crime series. She lives in Sheffield, which continues to be the setting of many of her thrillers.

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My thoughts: the Forrester Detective Agency is getting plenty of work, mostly of the cheating spouse kind, when there’s a burglary round the corner. It’s one of Karen’s official police ones, but Matt casts an eye over it, hoping he can help.

While Steve has a landscaping client whose garden has been trashed, and as well as putting it right, he offers to look into the incident.

A brilliant new receptionist, in the shape of scone baking, file sorting, super capable Carol, helps them get the office into shape and creates a database, WATSON, to keep their cases organised.

A strange woman, claiming to be an old friend of Matt’s dad, has appeared but no one has heard of her, but Carol offers to dig through the files for a trace of her. What does this woman really want?

As the team work on their cases, there’s still time for family, although Harry is struggling, and needs his dad more than ever with a new baby sister in the picture.

Another gripping and intelligent thriller that might keep you awake if you read it too late!

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

On the morning after his thirtieth wedding anniversary Stewart Harding is found dead. He was an arrogant and thoroughly unpleasant man and there is no shortage of suspects, but all of them have firm alibis. In any case, everything points towards it being an opportunistic killing linked to a robbery.
Newly promoted DI Mark Webber is assigned as the SIO with Gillian Marsh overseeing the investigation. However, when her mother dies, she takes leave of absence and lets Webber continue on his own.
Webber is making good progress until his colleague – and secret lover – DC Erin Macfadyen disappears without trace. Webber’s world falls apart.
DCI Marsh cuts her bereavement leave short to take over the investigation into Stewart Harding’s death and to track down her missing officer.
There is no doubt that she will find Harding’s killer, but will she find Erin and are the two cases connected?

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Anna Legat is a Wiltshire-based author, best known for her DI Gillian Marsh murder mysteries. Murder isn’t the only thing on her mind. She dabbles in a wide variety of genres, ranging from dark humour, through magic realism to dystopia. A globe-trotter and Jack-of-all-trades, Anna has been an attorney, legal adviser, a silver-service waitress, a school teacher and a librarian. She has lived in far-flung places all over the world where she delighted in people-watching and collecting precious life experiences for her stories. Anna writes, reads, lives and breathes books and can no longer tell the difference between fact and fiction.
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My thoughts: another gripping case for DI (now DCI) Gillian Marsh and her team. When a man is found dead in somewhat strange circumstances the day after celebrating his thirtieth wedding anniversary, the team start to dig. His family don’t seem too upset, especially his wife.

But with two likely suspects first on the scene – was it a burglary gone wrong or something else?

Then Erin goes missing and the team set aside everything else, the case, Gillian’s mother’s sudden death, to look for her. Is it connected to their case or something personal? As time runs down, will they find the DC alive?

I was hooked from the start, although it can be hard to feel sorry for such an unpleasant victim, especially when he behaves so awfully just before he’s killed.

There was a lot going on in the team’s personal lives too – Webber finally got custody of his children, Gillian’s mother dies very suddenly, not that she seems too emotional to the upset of her family, Erin has a secret. This really moved the story along, and it was interesting to see how they juggle their professional and personal situations, especially when one of their own is at risk.

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