ramblingmads

While the city sleeps, a killer strikes.

Detective Bec Pope is waiting in Heathrow departures when the call comes in: a body has been found in a quiet Bloomsbury cemetery. Her long-overdue holiday is over before it begins.

It’s no ordinary crime scene. The smartly-dressed young man hasn’t just been murdered. The killer has left a message – a pentagram, brutally carved into the dead man’s chest.

Then a second victim is discovered on a patch of scrubland in Bermondsey. Another young man, killed at midnight, just like the first.
The same five-pointed symbol etched into his flesh.

Bec is on the hunt for a ruthless killer unlike any she’s faced before. If she is to crack the case, she must discover what the symbols mean. And why these victims were targeted.

With the press circling and the entire city on edge, Bec’s running out of time in a case that grows darker by the hour. She needs to stop the killer before midnight strikes – and another life is taken.

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Jez Pinfold taught English and Film Studies in London for twenty years, including eight years as Head of English. Before landing in secondary teaching he had various jobs, including roadie, sound engineer, guitar tutor and teacher of English as a foreign language.
After writing, his other passion is music. He plays guitar in a rowdy covers band currently called The Maverick Detectives, although they frequently change their name to avoid becoming too recognised and succumbing to the trappings of fame.

My thoughts: This is a twisted case, the killer leaving an inverted pentagram carved into the flesh of their victims  – it implies some dark purpose behind their crimes.

Detective Bec Pope and her team can find no connections between the two victims, and they need to work out the person responsible before anyone else comes to harm. Then it takes a very personal turn.

This was a really clever, gripping read, I had no idea where the twists and turns were going and the killer is remorseless, taunting the detectives, especially Bec, with whom they seem to have become a little obsessed.

*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 the system isn’t working, work outside the system.

A search for a missing man thrusts Rand Scott into the dark realms of homelessness, drug dealing and sex clubs.

Kirsty Moore wants to find her brother Johnny, a one-time rock star.
The police also want him – for murder.
And there are others looking who don’t play nicely.

A simple job turns deadly as Rand uncovers a world where money talks louder than the screams of innocent bystanders.

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Graeme Cumming lives in Robin Hood country. He has wide and varied taste in fiction, but a particular leaning towards the darker side – though he’s very pleasant when you meet him.

Borderline, the first book in his new crime series was released in 2025 and already gained praise from readers.

When not writing, Graeme is an enthusiastic sailor (and, by default, swimmer), and enjoys off-road cycling and walking. He is a past President and Education Director at Sheffield Speakers
Club. He also reads (a lot) and loves the cinema.

For more information about Graeme and his books, you can check his website

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My thoughts: Rand Scott used to be a police officer, now he’s working outside the official system, helping the homeless, and investigating a missing man, who might be on the streets somewhere.

There’s a lot more however to the case than first appears, some rather nasty criminals are also looking for the missing man, Johnny Moore, and they don’t mind beating up anyone who gets in their way. Unfortunately they picked on the wrong person.

Dragged into a murky underworld where criminals cross big business arms dealers, Rand has to tread carefully, everyone here prefers to shoot first and ask questions later, if at all. He’s also fending off the local police, including his former boss (and what a dodgy piece of work he is) and trying to give his friend Liv the collar.

Nothing is ever easy in his world and this is a nightmare, still, he’s got his sense of humour – the vehicles registered in the names of famous musicians made me laugh. And if he survives, there’s always that trip to Rotterdam to look forward to. 

Funny, smart, and with plenty of twists and turns, this is an enjoyable and entertaining read. 

*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 the worst comes calling…

Scott and Blair Bagby are a happy, successful English couple living in the suburbs with their teenage son and Great Dane. Life seems good, until one beautiful spring morning when a detective inspector
knocks on their door asking if their son is home, unleashing an unspeakable horror that blows apart the life they thought they had.

Police have discovered bodies buried deep in the Peasedale forest and the inspector suspects one is Jamie, the final victim of a brutal and prolific serial killer. But Jamie’s death is unlike all the others, starting with his emergency phone call that leads to a macabre burial ground near a dilapidated
hunting shack and creates shocking suspicions.

With bone deep grief threatening to destroy their marriage and their sanity, Scott and Blair set out to investigate Jamie’s death, a journey that not only upends their perceptions of who they are, but torturously reveals they may not have known Jamie at all…

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Heidi Field was raised in the beautiful countryside of the South of England with her parents and her two sisters. In her twenties she was a freelance Sports Massage Therapist. She achieved a Degree in Zoology at the age of thirty and then went on to raise two boys and became the stepmother of three more young children. She still lives near her family home with her partner, their Great Dane and the
children that have yet to fly the nest.

In her early forties Heidi completed a Masters in Creative Writing at Winchester University. She entered the course hoping she would become a children’s fantasy writer and left with a burning desire to write contemporary mysteries and thrillers. Heidi wanted to put relatable people in extraordinary situations, challenge them, push them to their limits
and watch them fight for their sanity. The Other Boy is her first novel.

My Facebook author page is: Heidi Field Author
@HeidiField11
@heidifield.bsky.social

My thoughts: Sad, shocking and chilling, Scott and Blair’s quest to find answers to their son’s death at the hands of a sadistic killer lead them to unexpected and disturbing places. Grieving but unable to let go of Jamie’s last hours, they hunt for the titular other boy, a friend of their son’s who might just have been helping his killer.

Blair especially struggles with her grief, manifesting a version of Jamie that only she can see in order to cope with the loss. Time at an inpatient clinic helps her come to terms but only answers will help her finally let him go.

Scott, an investigative journalist, doggedly follows every lead, chasing down a burglar and hunting through his son’s things. He too wants answers, but more for Blair than himself.

Combining an exploration of parental grief with a quest for truth and answers to Jamie’s death, this is an unusual and highly enjoyable thriller.

*This is a repost of a review from earlier this year, to help promote this book. All opinions expressed remain my own.