blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Broken Bones – John Carson

Some bodies just won’t stay buried…

After putting a stop to one of Edinburgh’s most notorious serial killers 3 years ago, DCI Liam Brodie is known as a man who can handle – and solve – the hardest of cases. But when he’s assigned to Fife’s
Major Investigations Team, he soon realises that he’s walking into a minefield. The previous DCI is missing, presumed dead, and the case he’s been called in to lead becomes dangerously close to
home.

When a child’s bones are unearthed beneath the floorboards of an old house in Fife – the same house where his girlfriend, psychologist Ruth Calder, grew up as a foster daughter – Brodie uncovers a
tangled web of lies and jealousy. Ruth’s foster mother, now gripped by dementia, holds fragments of the truth but in a community haunted by its history, Brodie must navigate betrayal and buried guilt to
bring a decades-old secret to light.
But at what cost to those he loves most? ⚠️

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John Carson is the multi-million, bestselling author of numerous Scottish-set crime series.

Facebook: @john.carsonauthor
Instagram: @johncarsonauthor

My thoughts: Brodie has been working on a case involving a now imprisoned serial killer, trying to locate and identify his victims. Seconded to Fife, where their DCI has gone missing and key people connected to him have died in supposed suicides, he’s involved in two very different cases.

The first is the terribly sad case of the remains of a young boy found under the floorboards of a house. He might be the son of the owner – a child who supposedly ran away after his father committed suicide. If that’s true, someone in the house killed him and hid his body. To complicate matters, Brodie’s partner Ruth, was fostered by the family as a child. She remembers the house and the family as not a happy place or people. Brodie’s got to find out what happened, and it stirs up difficult memories for all involved.

The MIT officers are also looking for their boss, after returning from holiday, he just vanished. It distracts them from the murdered boy, and Brodie, while sympathetic, has to pull them up on it and get them back to work.

Meanwhile his Edinburgh colleagues are attempting to identify the body found in a shallow grave, one their serial killer didn’t put there. It turns out to be connected to Brodie too, and there might be another serial killer out there.

This is a gripping, clever read, there are twists and turns and the three cases overlap and interweave as the two police teams attempt to solve them. Brodie is torn between the work he’s doing in Fife and what’s happening in Edinburgh, wanting to help there too. As for the missing DCI, it doesn’t look good for him either.  I really enjoyed this and if you’re into thrillers or police procedurals, you will too.

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

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Blog Tour: White Raven – Maggie Ritchie

Bored with life as a teacher in an Edinburgh girls’ school, artist Rosie recognises Alex Kuznetsov from her previous life as a decoder at Bletchley Park.

Alex, a war hero and anti-Soviet intelligence officer, is running a Russian language school for National Servicemen to put Britain’s best and brightest young men through intensive training as translators and intelligence operators in the event of a third world war.

During an ardent courtship, Rosie joins the JSSL as an art teacher, but she soon finds out that there is more to her role as Alex gains her confidence and persuades her to take on a daring undercover espionage mission in a Highland country house.

Rosie discovers that the world of spies is full of treachery, manipulation and deceit, and that what started out as a thrilling game can have deadly consequences. Faced with a choice between duty and love, and between stability and adventure, Rosie must decide where her loyalties lie.

Maggie Ritchie’s novel, Looking for Evelyn, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for Best Published Novel 2018. Her debut novel, Paris Kiss (2015), won the Curtis Brown Prize, was runner up for the Sceptre Prize, and longlisted for the Mslexia First Novel Competition. Daisy Chain was published by Two Roads/ Hachette in 2021 following a Society of Authors funded research trip to Shanghai. Maggie graduated with Distinction rom the University of Glasgow’s MLitt in Creative Writing. A journalist, she lives in Scotland with her husband and son.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this 1950s set novel about the beginnings of the Cold War. Rosie, an artist, previously worked at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, and is bored teaching at a girls’ school in Edinburgh.

When handsome Alex Kuznetsov arrives back in her life with an intriguing offer, to teach art to the men learning Russian (including Dennis Potter, Michael Frayn and Alan Bennett) as their national service near Crail in Fife.

While there, she and Alex fall in love and he convinces her that an old family friend is secretly spying for the Soviets, with her help he can prove this and stop the plans for a nuclear submarine getting into Russian hands. But is he telling her the truth? 

Rosie, for all her wartime experience and obvious intelligence is hoodwinked by the oldest trick in the book – love. As events overtake her, she loses her heart and is threatened with treason. Unsure who to trust as people are revealed to be in the pay of various governments, she struggles to extricate herself from the mess she’s in.

An intelligent, intriguing and enjoyable read about a somewhat forgotten period in history, that is having something of a revival due to current political and military posturing. I liked Rosie a lot and felt for her, torn between what she knows is right and her love for the White Raven.

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

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Blog Tour: The Cameo Keeper – Deborah Swift


Rome 1644: A Novel of Love, Power, and Poison

Remember tonight… for it is the beginning of always ― Dante Alighieri

In the heart of Rome, the conclave is choosing a new Pope, and whoever wins will determine the fate of the Eternal City.

Astrologer Mia and her fiancé Jacopo, a physician at the Santo Spirito Hospital, plan to marry, but the election result is a shock and changes everything.

As Pope Innocent X takes the throne, he brings along his sister-in-law, the formidable Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, known as La Papessa – the female Pope.

When Mia is offered a position as her personal astrologer, she and Jacopo find themselves on opposite sides of the most powerful family in Rome.

Mia is determined to protect her mother, Giulia Tofana, a renowned poisoner. But with La Papessa obsessed with bringing Giulia to justice, Mia and Jacopo’s love is put to the ultimate test.

As the new dawn of Renaissance medicine emerges, Mia must navigate the dangerous political landscape of Rome while trying to protect her family and her heart. Will she be able to save her mother, or will she lose everything she holds dear?

For fans of “The Borgias” and “The Crown,” this gripping tale of love, power, and poison will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

‘historical fiction that is brisk, fresh and bristling with intrigue’ – Bookmarked Reviews ★★★★★

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Deborah Swift is the author of twenty novels of historical fiction. Her Renaissance novel in this series, The Poison Keeper, was recently voted Best Book of the Decade by the Wishing Shelf
Readers Award. Her WW2 novel Past Encounters was the winner of the BookViral Millennium Award, and is one of seven books set in the WW2 era. Deborah lives in the North of England close to the mountains and the sea.

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My thoughts: Blending historical facts with fiction, this book brings 17th Century Rome to life, a city filled with intrigue, religion, superstition and the beginnings of proper medical science. 

The election of a new Pope brings fortune for some and not for others. With Innocent  X comes his widowed sister-in-law, who immediately starts shaping the city to her will and with that comes trouble for anyone who crosses her.

For Mia and Jacopo, the patronage of Donna Olimpia could bring good things, but they will have to please her, and she’s not above changing her mind. Their involvement with La Popessa puts them at odds and their engagement at risk.

Mia believes working for Donna Olimpia will help her protect the only family she has left, her stepmother, but Jacopo refuses to compromise his principles. Can their love survive the new regime?

Intelligent and interesting, with characters both real and imagined, this is an enjoyable and engaging book and I very much enjoyed it.

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

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Never Mine – Monique Shepherd

We’re celebrating the release of the highly anticipated sequel in the Never Never duet, Never Mine by Monique Shepherd!

Never Mine: A Forbidden Age-Gap College Romance

Series: The Never Never Duet Book 2

Release Date: November 10, 2025

  • Forbidden age-gap
  • Gothic Academia
  • K!nk exploration
  • Touch her & 💀
  • A big F-U to the University President
  • Revenge
  • Feminine Rage
  • HEA

Kieran: They tried to take her from me. And I wasn’t there to stop him. I’ve walked through hell. But nothing—nothing—prepared me for the terror of almost losing her.

Now, she’s fighting to recover, and I’m battling the darkness inside of me, the need for revenge. I’ve killed for her once. I’ll do it again. This time, with her by my side.

I am no longer just her professor and she is more than just my student. We’ve crossed every line, broken every rule. But none of it matters now because all I care about is keeping her safe…even if it means becoming a man I don’t even recognize.

Deirdre: He saved me, but I don’t know how to save him from the rage burning in his eyes. He’s angry. Haunted. Ready to burn the world down to find the man who hurt me.

GET IT HERE

Content Warning:

Mentions of Parental Loss to Cancer, Flashbacks of DV and SA, PTSD/Depression, Unaliving

Explicit sexual scenes: Edging, Orgasm Denial, Praise kink, Breath play, Kink exploration, Impact play.

Vulgar language is expressed throughout the book and possibly more not mentioned here.

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Blog Tour: Scars of Silence – Johana Gustawsson, translated by David Warriner

Twenty-three years ago, a young woman was murdered on the Swedish island of Lidingö.

The island has kept its silence.

Until now…

As autumn deepens into darkness in Lidingö, on the Stockholm archipelago, the island is plunged into chaos: in the space of a week, two teenaged boys are murdered. Their bodies are left deep in the forest, dressed in white tunics with crowns of candles on their heads, like offerings to Saint Lucia.

Maïa Rehn has fled Paris for Lidingö after a family tragedy. But when the murders shake the island community, the former police commissioner is drawn into the heart of the investigation, joining Commissioner Aleksander Storm to unravel a mystery as chilling as the Nordic winter.

As they dig deeper, it becomes clear that a wind of vengeance is blowing through the archipelago, unearthing secrets that are as scandalous as they are inhuman.

But what if the victims weren’t who they seemed? What if those long silenced have finally found a way to strike back?

How far would they go to make their tormentors pay?

And you – how far would you go?

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently under way in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding was a number-one bestseller in France and is the first in a new series. Johana lives in Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.

My thoughts: This was so good, shocking and horrible, and totally gripping. There’s something very haunting, and deeply twisted, about dressing the victims as Saint Lucia, in her white dress and crown of light. But the killer is making a statement. It just takes a while for Commissioner Aleks Storm to join the pieces and work out the connection between the victims. 

Aided by French detective Maïa Rehn, asked by the grandmother of the convicted killer from twenty-three years ago to take another look at that case, Storm must find the person who has decided to take terrible revenge on those who have gone unpunished. They have bided their time and held onto their grief for so long. The deaths and what they represent will tear the community apart and destroy lives.

Dark, haunted by the past, and full of righteous anger at the slow change of the law (which is the same everywhere, society fast outpaces the justice system), this is another absolutely brilliant read from Johana Gustawsson, an incredibly skilled writer, who draws you into her world and never really let’s you go.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Before Her Eyes – Jack Jordan

She can’t see the killer but the killer can see her.

Naomi Hannah has been blind since birth. Struggling with living in a small, claustrophobic town, Naomi contemplates ending her life. But then she stumbles across the body of a young woman who has been brutally murdered. She senses someone else there at the scene – watching her. Naomi may not be able to see the killer’s face, but she is still the only person who can identify him.

As the police begin hunting the person responsible and more victims are discovered, Naomi is forced to answer the question on which her fate hangs: why did the killer let her live?

In a town this small, the murderer must be close, perhaps even before her very eyes…

My thoughts: Naomi is a deeply unhappy person, struggling with depression following the end of her marriage, having trouble talking to her family, she’s contemplated ending it all a few times.

Making her way home from work one evening, she takes a wrong turn and ends up in an alley. In the alley is a dead woman and her killer. Naomi can’t see the person standing right in front of her, and the killer uses that.

A series of truly terrible things happen to Naomi, who has the very serious misfortune of getting onto the radar of two different psychopaths. As her life is endangered, can the police solve the murders and keep Naomi alive?

Twisted, shocking and violent, the small town Naomi has lived in her whole life is rocked by the events, could it all be connected to the disappearance of a teenage girl years before, and if so, why does someone want to torment the blind woman?

The story of course has a signature Jack Jordan end twist, that is so well hidden, you won’t have any idea what’s coming, poor Naomi.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Angel Takes Off – Roger Silverwood

Detective Inspector Michael Angel returns to face his toughest case yet — and this time, he’s missing his right-hand man!

Discover a brand-new, page-turning murder mystery in the bestselling series. One million books read!

A detective who’s no angel despite his name . . .

Meet Detective Michael Angel. An old-school policeman who sometimes rubs his team up the wrong way. He’s got his flaws, but he never gives up on a case.

One dead actor, murdered on set while the cameras roll.
When dashing Rodney Pertwee is shot dead at Northern Film Studios, everyone assumes it’s part of the script. Until Rodney’s leading lady spots a bloodstain that’s anything but fake.

Enter Inspector Angel. He arrives to find a room full of shaken witnesses. They all watched Rodney die. Yet no one saw the real-life shooter.
Who’s telling the truth — and who’s turning in an award-winning performance?

Out of the corner of his eye, Angel glimpses a mysterious woman in green, slipping out the exit. No one knows her name. Or what she was doing on the closed set.

Angel’s determined to find out. But he can’t do it without his loyal DC Scrivens — who’s
disappeared without a trace.

Can Angel track down his friend before the killer returns for one final cut?

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Roger Silverwood is a mystery crime writer who lives in Barnsley in Yorkshire at the foot of the Pennines. He has worked as a salesman and sales manager covering the UK and Ireland.

He has been a copywriter in an advertising agency and an antique dealer in precious jewellery until he retired in 1989 to write full-time.

His big success is the series of 29 books featuring Inspector Angel. He has also written 5 standalone novels and a radio play. His books are available in all English-speaking countries.

Website

My thoughts: This was really good, there was so much mystery around the identity and whereabouts of the probable murderer. This figure that was just out of Inspector Angel’s reach multiple times – he got so close.

But even before we got onto the murder, Angel had to rescue his number two, DC Scrivens, who had been abducted by the gang he brought down by arresting their leader.

Two investigations for the price of one!

This was hugely enjoyable and now I have the immense fun of exploring the rest of the series. Join me!

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

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Blog Tour: Eleven Hours to Murder – D.B. Borton

A cold case from the Swinging Sixties.

A sassy senior sleuth.

If Cat Caliban’s not your favorite crime-solving grandma, you just haven’t met her yet.

Meet Cat Caliban: former housewife, widow, cat lady — and private eye in training. Who said fifty-something was too old to start again?

But if Cat’s not old, the case that lands on her desk sure is. Back in the summer of ’69, rebellious teen Leila Perle secretly boarded a bus to Woodstock, and never came home.
What really happened at the legendary music festival — if the missing girl even made it there at all?

Some say that if you can remember the Sixties, you weren’t there. But Cat’s certain someone from the hazy, drug-addled era of peace, love and rock ‘n’ roll remembers exactly what happened to the missing music-lover.
And they’ll do anything to keep their terrible secret buried.

ELEVEN HOURS TO MURDER — a whip-smart, witty mystery featuring Cincinnati’s sharpest-tongued sleuth, three cats, one retired Black cop friend with a very unruly beagle, and a case where justice is long overdue.

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D. B. Borton is the author of two mystery series—the Cat Caliban series and the Gilda Liberty series —as well as the standalone mystery novels Smoke and Bayou City Burning and the humorous science fiction novel Second Coming.

In graduate school, Borton converted a lifetime of passionate reading and late-night movie-watching into a doctorate in English. She is Professor Emeritus of English at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Borton currently lives with Zoe the cat in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she gardens, practices aikido, a martial art, and, of course, reads.

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My thoughts: This is easily one of my absolute favourite crime series out there. I love Cat and her band of merry housemates, especially juvenile delinquent Sidney (he’s a cat) and of course Foggy, the voice of reason and experience, that Cat often ignores!

This case takes them back in time to 1969, when Cat was busy raising her children, and the summer of love was underway.

A teenage musician with dreams of making it big, Leila Perle disappeared, supposedly on the way to Woodstock. But as they investigate, Cat becomes certain she never left town.

This might be the saddest case Cat and co have investigated yet, there’s no joyful reunion or humour in what they discover. But it’s all done with such grace, the narrative really buoys you along.

Cat and a few other regular characters are such colourful, genuine people, you can’t help but love them. And it’s Valentine’s Day so Kevin has decorated the building in a way that’s guaranteed to annoy Foggy. And there’s Leon, who must be the hardest-working person ever. He’s on his 600th job here and still has time to help Cat out. It’s just the best.  

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

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: A Fate Drawn to Flame – Skylark Melody

We’re celebrating the newly release dark romantasy A Fate Drawn to Flame by Skylark Melody!

A Fate Drawn to Flame (Realm of The Halo Book 1)

Release Date: October 30, 2025

Genre: Dark Romantasy

  • A dark, slow burn epic fantasy romance and a bit of spice.
  • A unique premise and delicious angst with a genre-blending, multi-layered plot.
  • A soft but confident FMC and a strong but conflicted MMC.

MORE TO LOVE:

  • Found family
  • Fated mates
  • She falls first/he falls harder

A Fate Drawn to Flame is the first book of the Realm of The Halo series and ends with a satisfying cliffhanger.

Is their love fated in forever, or will it be the beginning of the end?

Marked by a life of tragedy and sorrow, Araxia Arevin’s search for a new start begins with a harrowing accident in a place filled with old memories and ancient mysteries.
While she recovers, Arax meets the mercurial Konstantine. Cold and harsh, he wants nothing to do with her, but she is drawn to him.
Who is this man? What is this place? And why, of all things, does she feel most at peace by his touch?

An alpha meant to rule since birth, Konstantine has had a life filled with political turmoil, betrayal, and loss. To deny himself almost everything for the sake of duty means survival, including keeping the one destined for him from being dragged into the uncertainty of his world

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Triggers:

Violence/gore brief mention of rape (no on or off page rape occurs), death of a parent/sibling (off page, flashbacks)

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

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Blog Tour: The Secret Lives of the Dead – Tim Lebbon

A dark folk horror tale of a deadly family curse, crime and murder that is sure to turn your blood cold, from the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Netflix’s The Silence.

When Jodi, BB and Matt decide to burgle a derelict country home as a thrilling dare, they become embroiled in a twisted legacy of supernatural terror. There are rumours of a bizarre curse hanging over the hoard of antiques and jewellery within the house. And unbeknownst to the others, one member of the trio has darker motives for breaking into the property.

Lem is a brutal man obsessed with a gruesome family legend. He is determined to right the wrongs of the past and lift the curse placed on his bloodline. By completing the work of his father and bringing a bizarre selection of scattered relics back together, he hopes to be free of
the malign influence that has hounded every generation of his family for two centuries.

Across a single day, a deadly pursuit will culminate on the desolate, storm-swept Crow Island, and those involved are given cause to wonder… can believing in a curse deeply enough bring its own bad luck?

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TIM LEBBON is a New York Times-bestselling writer from South Wales. He’s written over fifty novels, as well as hundreds of novellas and short stories. His latest novel is Secret Lives of the Dead. He has won a World Fantasy Award, four British Fantasy Awards, a Dragon Award and a Scribe Award. His novel The Silence is a movie on Netflix starring Stanley Tucci
and Kiernan Shipka. The movie of his novella Pay The Ghost stars Nicolas Cage.

Tim has written extensively in existing universes including Alien, Conan the Barbarian, Predator, Star Wars, Firefly and Hellboy novels. He also novelised the movies 30 Days of Night, The Cabin in the Woods, and Kong: Skull Island.

He has written computer games, comics, and audio dramas. He is currently developing more novels, and both original and adapted screen projects.
He loves the outdoors, and spends a lot of time walking, running, cycling and swimming around the Welsh countryside. He’s competed in many Ironman and other triathlons. He’s a huge music fan and believes you’re never too old to jump up and down in a mosh pit.

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My thoughts: This was a creepy, sinister book with a rather terrifying but apparently ordinary man in pursuit of something rather extraordinary.

Having convinced boyfriend BB and best friend Matt to go with her, Jodi and her pals break into an abandoned manor house. In the basement is a treasure trove, and if that was all they took, things would have been very different. 

But Jodi has an ulterior motive, one that ends in death and destruction as her theft attracts the attention of a determined and murderous Lem.

He’s attempting to reverse a curse laid on his family many generations ago, and he doesn’t care who gets hurt along the way. He and Jodi have crossed paths before, and this spurs her need for revenge.

As the two pursue each other, and the strange relics Lem so needs, chaos unfolds. Neither is willing to back down, and innocents will be the price they pay.

Gripping, dark and sinister, this was fascinating and disturbing in equal measures.

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