ramblingmads

Finders keepers, losers . . . Dead?

Checkout girl Bea Jordan has a knack for stumbling into trouble. Even so, nothing can ruin her picnic in the allotment with her best friend, green-thumbed Ant.

With the annual Kingsleigh Flower and Produce Show approaching, she feels he’s had little time for her. Especially with the drama of a prize-winning tomato thief on the loose.

But a grizzly discovery is waiting for them by the pumpkin patch . . .

The body of Dylan Bradley, their old history teacher. Someone stuck a trowel in his head and left him for dead.

But who would want to hurt Dylan? Bea has a feeling it has something to do with the ruby ring he dug up in the allotment.

Then the discovery of a second body throws the townsfolk into full-blown turmoil. Now Bea must juggle small-town secrets, rivalries and murder with her growing feelings for Ant.

Can she dig up the truth before the killer strikes again, or has Bea finally planted the seed for her own demise?

AN ABSOLUTELY GRIPPING COZY MYSTERY FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS AND LOVEABLE CHARACTERS.

Meet the workers of Kingsleigh Costsave. There’s Bea, a maths whizz with a heart of gold. Ant, a hapless high-school drop-out. And wisecracking Dot, in her late fifties and always beautifully coiffed.

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I’m a fiftysomething author of psych thrillers and cosy crime books for adults and thrillers for young for adults. I live in Bath, England, and have a husband, two grown up children and two dogs. I’ve been a full-time writer for 10 years, before which I had ‘sensible’ jobs.

I’m now writing crime for adults. My cozy crime series, The Supermarket Mysteries, is now published as ebooks with Joffe Books. The first novel in the series is The Missing Checkout Girl Mystery.

My debut psychological thriller, Safe With You, is published by HQ Digital and is out now.

For young adults, I have published the Numbers trilogy, The Drowning and Water Born with Chicken House UK. The first book came out in the UK in 2009 and the USA in 2010. My Numbers books explore the gift of being able to see death dates. If you looked in somebody’s eyes and saw the date of their death, would it change the way you felt about people? They’ve been published in 26 countries and optioned for film.

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My thoughts: I like this series, I like Bea and Dot very much, but it was interesting to have a book that was focused a bit more on Ant and the other male staff members at Costsave, as well as some of the other characters.

Ant and Bob have been helping their friend Charles out with his allotment, and getting giant marrow Marvin ready for the local produce show and competition. Ant has been spending a lot of time there after work and bonding with the other growers, especially retired teacher Dylan. His genuine horror at finding Dylan’s body, locked in his shed with a trowel to the skull is awful. But he determines to find out who killed his friend and why. 

Bea doesn’t want anything to do with it, understandably, but gets drawn into the case anyway. Dylan was a local councillor and wanted to open a town museum to showcase the history. She’s fascinated by this aspect of his life and agrees to find out more.

The whole gang become part of the investigation and the allotments are central to what they uncover as is Dylan’s passion for local history. The town might not seem like an interesting place to many, but all the intrigue and murder they uncover suggests otherwise!

A smart and witty crime novel with really great characters, always a pleasure to 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.

London based lawyer Kyra Gibson returns to Martha’s Vineyard and the beach house she inherited for an extended summer holiday. Still reeling from her father’s brutal murder and the role she and the handsome detective, Tarek Collins played in uncovering it, Kyra is hopeful for some peace and quiet. But when a summer squall reveals the wreckage of the pirate ship, Keres, rich with rumored treasure, all hopes of peace are dashed. Conservationists and treasure hunters descend on the exclusive island to lay claim to the ship. When two of the salvagers are killed, Kyra and Tarek’s friend, pub owner and amateur historian, Gully Gould is arrested for murder.

Determined to prove Gully’s innocence, Kyra, Tarek, and reformed playboy Chase Hawthorn team up to clear their friend’s name. But someone wants the treasure for themselves. And with someone willing to kill for it, there is more than just danger lurking along the island’s caves and coves. There is death.

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Attorney Kyra Gibson has a lot on her mind this Thanksgiving. She’s been working long hours on a multi-billion dollar corporate merger, her family is visiting from London, and her relationship with former police detective Tarek Collins is heating up. When she and her companions are invited by her aristocrat client to attend a formal gala at a historic mansion on Chappaquiddick, Kyra reluctantly agrees.

But Chappy is more than just a playground for the wealthy. It’s a wild, remote place cut off from civilization. When the first body is found, the occupants are worried. Was it an accident or murder? When a second guest is brutally killed and then a third, there’s no doubt and the guests fearfully turn on each other. They are locked in a house with a murderer picking them off one-by-one. Kyra, her best friend Chase Hawthorn, and Tarek must survive the night and find the killer, or one of them could be next.

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Both novels are from the Martha’s Vineyard Murders series, which starts with A Chain of Pearls. They can be read as standalones.

Raemi A Ray’s travels to Martha’s Vineyard and around the world inspire her stories. She lives outside Boston. When not writing or traveling she earns her keep as the personal assistant to the resident house demons, Otto and Dolph Lundgren.

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My thoughts: I’ve really enjoyed these books, and hopefully there will be more to come.

Set on Martha’s Vineyard, each book can be read as a standalone or as part of a series, which is how I’ve read them.

Wraith’s Return – after a long lost ship is found just off the island, rumoured to be full of pirate treasure, it brings trouble to the small community. Pub owner Gully is invested in raising the ship from the seabed, and several conservation groups are protesting the plan.

When Gully becomes a suspect in the murders of two divers, and then a local fisherman, tensions heighten. Can lawyer Kyra and police detective Tyrek help Gully clear his name and find the real killer?

The book really casts the divide between lifelong islanders and “newcomers” like Gully, Tyrek and Kyra, even though all three have links to the island. Gully is suspected even though he’s the one who was funding the divers and has no reason to want them dead. Kyra is a brilliant investigator, even though she’s not a criminal lawyer (mergers and acquisitions) she has a really good understanding of human nature and an analytical way of thinking that make her a natural sleuth.

Widow’s Walk – Kyra’s most demanding client has rented a huge historic mansion on the small neighbouring island of Chappaquiddick to celebrate a huge deal. It’s Thanksgiving, and Kyra’s family are visiting. She doesn’t want to go to the event, but her boss and the client won’t take no for an answer, including her guests as theirs.

A tribute to Golden Age crime, this is a smart and clever read, with only a few people cut off from the larger island by a storm, the phones and Internet down, when the bodies start to pile up – one of them must be a killer.

Once again Kyra and her friends must solve the crime, identify the killer and keep themselves safe and alive long enough for help to arrive. They have limited resources, a lot of places to hide and plenty of suspects.

What first seem like accidents take on more sinister aspects when they find a very clearly murdered victim, and accusations fly. A woman is missing too – is she the killer or another victim?

Kyra and Tyrek are trying to get to the bottom of the case, is it linked to the big deal they’re all in the house to celebrate or is it about something else? Who could be killing the guests?

Both books are well written and very enjoyable, I liked the characters a lot too, Kyra is a great protagonist and her group of friends and family are a pleasure to spend time with. She’s smart and resourceful and as Wraith’s Walk ends with her needing to make decisions about her future, if she becomes a PI, I think she’d make a great one.

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