Life couldn’t be sweeter for Honey Driver, floating around the Med on her own private yacht, with her dishy detective husband Steve. But dark clouds are gathering on Honey’s perfect horizon. And the forecast looks like murder!
When Honey’s love boat sinks in a freak accident, she has no choice but to return to rain-drenched Bath. But now that Honey needs him, her insurance broker, silver-tongued Norman Glendower, is nowhere to be found. He’s not at his luxury offices in town and he’s not answering his phone. Honey could kill Norman for leaving her in this fix. But what if someone got there first?
Behind the gates of leafy Regency Gardens, the exclusive complex where Norman lives, something is terribly amiss. Norman’s mewling cat leads a curious neighbour straight to his dead body! He’s been bludgeoned and left for dead on the pristine tiles of his designer kitchen. Which of his many enemies was the one to strike the fatal blow?
Honey’s on the case — with a killer watching her every move . . .
Jean, the alter ego of bestselling historical author Lizzie Lane, has lived in and around the Bath area for some time and was indeed a member of Bath Hotels and Restaurants Association — so well in touch with the hospitality trade in that fair city. However, unlike Bath hotelier Honey Driver, she was never asked to be Crime Liaison Officer and neither does she collect antique underwear! However, her daughter assures her she is just as zany as the quirky Honey Driver and will never grow old gracefully.
A Victorian asylum. A woman imprisoned. A deadly secret.
England, 1875. London journalist, Harris Mortimer, visits a Hampshire lunatic asylum to investigate society’s treatment of the insane, only to find himself in a fateful encounter with a beautiful woman claiming to be wrongly incarcerated.
Horrified by a series of murders, he soon becomes drawn into the strange world of the asylum and begins to wonder who is truly mad and who is sane.
Back in London, Harris meets Nancy Carter, a young woman striving to become a music hall star. Nancy’s shocking act, based on madness and murder, has uncanny parallels with Harris’s recent experiences in Hampshire.
Is it all just a coincidence? To what lengths will one person go to exact their revenge?
As the fates of Harris and Nancy intertwine, they are about to discover the terrible consequences of uncovering the truth.
Music, madness and murder collide in this thrilling historical mystery for fans of Stacey Halls, Jessie Burton and Elizabeth Macneal. A perfect book club fiction selection, Murder at the Lunatics’ Ball discusses themes of social control, the female lunatic stereotype, and the struggle by women to earn their bread and find their voice in Victorian England.
R S Leonard was born in Cheshire, England, and after a long stint in London, then Hampshire, now lives back in her home county.
She’s always had a deep love of storytelling and history, inspired, no doubt, by her mum encouraging her to get the utmost out of the public library as a kid. She has a PhD in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture and MAs in Creative Writing and Victorian Studies. These inspired her recently-published second historical mystery novel, Murder at the Lunatics’ Ball, as well as her first, The Body, the Diamond and the Child.
My thoughts: This was an interesting read, with several very surprising twists along the way.
Journalist Harris Mortimer is sent to write about the modern asylum for The Times newspaper, a family friend happens to be the senior doctor at one in Hampshire, and is here he meets both inmates and staff, although at times he struggles to see who is truly mad.
He also meets Titania Rossetti, a beautiful patient who seems to be terrified of something or someone at the asylum. He’s told she suffers from a specific type of melancholy – an Ophelia – heartbroken from lost love. This was an actual diagnosis. There is a weird focus on women needing to fit into specific categories at the asylum, and Harris finds the whole thing peculiar.
The titular murder does indeed take place at a ball (of sorts) organised for the inmates. It won’t be the only one. Shocking and depraved, the murderer is among the residents, both patients and staff, and Harris is on the frontline. The reporting makes his name and on returning to London he is riding high.
Meanwhile Nancy Carter, actress, returns home too. She’s been away, supposedly in Birmingham, but on return must get back into her sister’s good books and rebuild her performing career.
As Harris spins into madness, Nan works to build a new, successful life, and leave any evidence of the recent past, and her activities, behind her.
There were times when I didn’t think Harris was particularly bright, especially when Miss Rossetti and her friend Miss Millais meet him for tea. There are clues about his beloved’s reality but he just can’t seem to see them.
Nan is a brilliant character, both monstrous in her rage and revenge, her strange stage act that plays with murder and madness, but also sweet and beguiling, trying to find a way to take care of what’s left of her family.
This was an incredibly interesting and clearly well researched book, I am interested in the treatment of mental illness historically as it varies wildly and so much of it seems utterly barbaric. What Titania experiences demonstrates this, while some doctors are keen to treat their patients gently and with kindness, others prefer the more inhumane ideas that preceded them. But the true madness lies elsewhere in this story.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Connie Maguire has always lived in the shadows. Battling low self-esteem, she has spent her life prioritising her only child — and he has flourished, becoming Ireland’s newest rugby star. On the day of her milestone birthday, with Liam’s career about to soar, Connie finally believes she might achieve some happiness. Then tragedy strikes in the dark of night, changing everything.
On Ireland’s rugged west coast, the past refuses to stay buried, and Connie must finally confront the devastating truth of what happened on the night that destroyed so many lives. This powerful exploration of motherhood, guilt and redemption questions whether we can truly be free from the mistakes of our past.
Hailing from Navan, Co. Meath, Domhnall works as a travel journalist, columnist and author. He writes extensively for the Irish and British media, with work regularly appearing in the Belfast Telegraph, Woman’s Way, The Sunday Times and the Irish Examiner. Domhnall has received many prestigious honours for his writing, including the 2025 Travel Extra Travel Journalist of the Year award. Mercier Press published his novels Crazy for You and Colin and the Concubine. His début novel, Sister Agatha: the World’s Oldest Serial Killer, was released in 2016. As an actor, he appeared in the award-winning series Ros na Rún for nine seasons.
My thoughts: This was really interesting and gripping. Connie has just been released from prison and needs to find somewhere safe to stay, she can’t go back to the village she’s lived in her whole life, her son’s in Portugal, her best friend’s in Spain and there isn’t anyone else.
As she travels across Ireland to find safety, she is forced to reckon with the events that lead to her imprisonment. At her fortieth birthday party, after a night of drinking and dancing, tragedy struck. And she paid the price. But some think she should still be locked up and the truth is not quite as straightforward as the one she told in court.
This is intelligent, engaging and fascinating. Connie raised her son alone, and his success means everything to her, even at the expense of her own freedom. Can she reach a place of safety or have her actions poisoned everything?
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
How many times would you let your child get away with murder?
When you look down at your newborn baby, you realise they were right, those smug parents you’ve always rolled your eyes at: you’d do literally anything for your child. To make them happy, keep them safe.
So when Joseph Carver wakes one night to find his teenage son Max scrubbing the kitchen, hands wet with blood and panic flooding his voice as he promises it was an accident, he didn’t mean to do it, Joseph does the only thing he can. He helps Max bury the body.
Joseph thinks that’s the end of the nightmare. Until he finds Max with stricken eyes and bloody hands once again . . .
You’d do anything for your child – even cover up a murder.
SAM LLOYD grew up in Hampshire, where he learned his love of storytelling. These days he lives in Surrey with his wife, three young sons and a dog that likes to howl. His first three thrillers, The Memory Wood, The Rising Tide and The People Watcher were published to great critical acclaim.
My thoughts: There are a lot of dead bodies in this book, and lots of clever twists too. Joseph helps his son Max cover up what Max says is a terrible accident, but not reporting it is a serious crime. Especially when the brother of your victim is a psychopath who won’t stop till he finds out what happened.
Then Max, oops, kills someone else. But this isn’t a stranger, and it’s a little too close to home. Joseph is taking bigger risks and his wife’s getting suspicious. If he can just get Max through the summer and off to med school then it’ll be fine. It’s not fine.
Things get crazier and crazier, the whole family get drawn into the chaos, and then more twists turn everything you think you know upside down. I was absolutely hooked and lost count of the corpses. There’s also a strain of pitch black humour or possibly hysteria running through this very dark, very bloody book. Highly recommend.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The twistiest murder mystery you are ever likely to read?
A story about a family that does the unthinkable in order to save the life of one of its beloved members?
Both?
Or something else altogether?
You’ll have to read until the very last word in order to find out…
You think it will never happen to you: the ring of the bell, the policeman on the doorstep. What he says traps you in a nightmare that starts with the words, ‘I’m afraid…’
Sally Lambert is also afraid, and desperate enough to consider the unthinkable. Is it really, definitely, impossible to escape from this horror? Maybe not. There’s always something you can do, right?
Of course, no one would ever do this particular something – except the Lamberts, who might have to. No one has ever gone this far. Until Sally decides that the Lamberts will…
Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times, New York Times and Amazon Kindle UK No. 1 bestselling author and her books have sold millions of copies worldwide. She writes contemporary psychological thrillers and, at the request of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, the new series of Hercule Poirot novels. She lives in Cambridge with her family.
My thoughts: Sophie Hannah is one of my very favourite writers, so getting to read this and be on the blog tour is very exciting.
Without spoiling the story, I actually think I would go further than the Lamberts if I was in their position. I would actually kill and get away with it (I have read so much crime fiction, watched CSI in every US city and so many other crime shows, I am pretty sure I could leave no trace).
The Lamberts, are a pretty ordinary family, Sally’s a bit quirky certainly, but other than that pretty normal. The document that purports to reveal what really happened is a mishmash of things, in some semblance of order, but the narrator is a question mark. Who is telling the story of the Lamberts and what happened?
When a member of their family is accused of a crime, Sally springs into action, rounding up her children and husband and going in search of allies. She knows that no one in her family committed this crime, but is at a loss as to how to prove it, and how to keep them all safe.
The story that unfolds will tell us everything we need to know about the Lamberts, their village, its residents, the Gaveys (boo! hiss!), the so-called crime, the truth about that incident, some history, and what happened next. Or will it? You will have to decide what you can believe.
Funny, very clever and a little confusing in a “huh? What?” way, this is a very different sort of crime novel but hugely enjoyable and entertaining.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Adam’s wife, Maryanne, vanished without trace whilst on holiday in southern France, more than two years ago. Unexpectedly, he receives an enigmatic message. It prompts him to return to the scene of her disappearance. His efforts to piece together what happened force him to reexamine their relationship, coupled with his feelings of guilt.
Retracing events that led to that fateful day, he soon learns that his return has not gone unnoticed, and his efforts to find Maryanne are far from welcome. Adam is joined in his search by Abigail, Maryanne’s daughter from a previous marriage. It is February. The mistral is battering the streets and dark corners of the ancient towns across this area of France.
As more of Maryanne’s past is revealed, the search, enmeshed in a world of intrigue and deceit, with its past rooted in antiquity, becomes increasingly dangerous. They discover that some will do anything to stop them from uncovering the final, terrifying truth.
Robert Cole trained as a clinical psychologist but spent most of his career within the corporate business world, both in the UK and overseas. He has held senior positions in Human Resources within a number of large global companies.
Mistral is his second novel and is a powerful and sweeping drama set amongst the vineyards and picturesque towns and villages of the Languedoc and Provence areas of the South of France.
His well-received first novel, A Breeze Across the Aegean published in 2020, draws on his affinity with Greece and its diverse islands. He is currently working on a sequel.
In addition to the UK he has lived in Singapore, Cyprus, the Netherlands and South Africa. Currently he divides his time between Surrey and Uzes in France.
My thoughts: The mistral is a fierce wind that batters parts of France in winter and spring, this ferocious weather makes it unlikely for many tourists to be visiting, so Adam stands out even more as he hunts for clues to his missing wife’s location. The strange postcard he received convinces him that she’s still alive and in the region. But no one he speaks to, especially the artist Jean, will admit to knowing anything.
He’s joined by Maryanne’s daughter, Abigail, she too has never given up hope of finding her mother. Together they search for her. Fragments of memory of Abigail’s childhood in Dublin, the people her artist grandmother hosted at her home, come back to her, and the pair wonder if there’s a connection.
Adam’s friend Caroline, who lives in the region, helps him, despite not being keen on Maryanne, and he worries that his wife’s history of mental illness and disappearances, including taking Abigail to a house not far from where she disappeared, as a child. They find that place, but it’s been abandoned.
As they look into the photographer Jean, and his strange brother, who both think they’ve seen before, a curious connection between Maryanne and the cult of Mary Magdalene emerges. Could this have something to do with her whereabouts?
Both Adam and Abigail risk their own lives to find out the truth and get answers to what became of Maryanne, why she vanished when she did and where she’s been for three long years. The police have stopped looking but Adam has never given up hope.
Clever, full of twists, shocking moments, obsession and darkness, as well as the terrifying wild boars, sangliers, who make their homes in the forests and mountains of this part of France, this was an enjoyable, if sinister read. Adam and especially Abigail are great protagonists, brave, resourceful and incredibly lucky.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Former Detective Hillary Greene and her cold case team are sweltering in their stuffy basement office on the hottest day of the year when they are handed an impossible case.
Fifteen years ago, Imelda Phelps was battered to death in the hallway of her home. The brutal crime shocked the residents of the pretty market town of Chipping Norton. The killer was never caught.
The motive for the murder remains a mystery. Could the happily married mother-of-two’s stunning good looks have played a part in her death?
Everyone will have to take a hard look in the mirror — and not everyone will like what they see. If Hillary is to crack the case, she must keep an open mind. But one thing is crystal-clear: this crime was personal. It’s up to Hillary and her team to work out which of Imelda’s family and friends is hiding a deadly secret.
A secret lover. A humiliated husband. A vengeful ex-business partner. A resentful daughter. The list of suspects grows . . .
Suddenly an unexpected lead throws the case wide open. And then a second body turns up. This cold case is now red hot . . .
Faith Martin was born in Oxford, and has spent all her life within twenty miles of the university city, even working at Somerville College for six years before turning to writing full-time.
Faith has been writing for nearly 30 years under four different pen names and has had nearly 50 books published so far. She began writing romantic thrillers as Maxine Barry, which Joffe Books are in the process of re-releasing as brand new eBooks. Then she turned to crime, and as Joyce Cato wrote classic-style whodunits, since she’s always admired the golden-age crime novelists. But it was when she created her fictional DI Hillary Greene, and began writing under the name of Faith Martin, that she finally began to become more widely known. Her latest literary characters WPC Trudy Loveday, and city coroner, Dr Clement Ryder, take readers back to the 1960’s and the city of Oxford.
Having lived within a few miles of the city of dreaming spires for all her life, both the city and the countryside/wildlife often feature in her novels. Although she has never lived on a narrow boat (unlike DI Hillary Greene!) the Oxford canal, the river Cherwell, and the flora and fauna of a farming landscape have always played a big part in her life – and often sneak their way onto the pages of her books. Her hobbies include walking her now ageing dog, wildlife-watching, reading and (reluctantly) gardening.
My thoughts: I am a bit of a fan of Faith Martin’s Loveday and Ryder books and I’ve read a few of her others too, but somehow not this series. Time to rectify that as this was really good.
Retired detective Hillary Greene heads up the cold case unit, a team of three, that scour the case files looking for new clues and evidence that might finally allow the police to close the case. Looking into the fifteen year old murder case of a local model killed in her home.
Her husband has remarried, her children are now grown up. But everyone remembers where they were when it happened. Hidden somewhere in their memories might be the answer to the question – who killed her?
Hillary and her tiny team must pit their wits against a killer that may be closer to home than they think.
Clever, highly enjoyable and with lots of twists and turns, this is excellent crime writing.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
A wedding, a missing fiancée, and a murder – Melody Harper is about to discover just how dangerous “I do” can be…
Fledgling private detective Melody Harper is down on her luck and nursing a black eye when she’s approached by a new client who believes her daughter is in danger.
There’s a wedding next weekend, and the client’s daughter is the bride. Except Melody’s client hasn’t told her the whole truth – the groom’s last fiancée seems to have disappeared, and nobody has any answers. Now tasked with going undercover to protect the bride-to-be, Melody finds herself out of her comfort zone and on an outdoor adventure weekend in the Lake District with the hen party.
After narrowly escaping death in a climbing accident, Melody’s detective skills are tested to the limit when one of the bridesmaids is murdered – and time is running out. This is her biggest investigation to date, but will Melody even survive long enough to unmask the killer and protect the bride?
Murder in the Lakes is a page-turning murder mystery from USA Today bestselling author Rachel Amphlett and perfect for readers who love amateur sleuths and deadly crimes.
Before turning to writing, USA Today bestselling crime author Rachel Amphlett played guitar in bands, worked as a TV and film extra, dabbled in radio, and worked in publishing as an editorial assistant. She now wields a pen instead of a plectrum and writes crime fiction with over 30 crime novels and short stories featuring spies, detectives, vigilantes, and assassins. A keen traveller and accidental private investigator, Rachel has both Australian and British citizenship. You can find out more about Rachel and her books at http://www.rachelamphlett.com.
My thoughts: I can’t think of anything I’d like to do less than an outdoors abseiling and climbing weekend, and as a hen do, no thank you! But that’s what Melody gets roped into doing.
She’s starting out as a PI, mostly investigating men who seem too good to be true before some unfortunate young woman marries them. But asked to provide protection to Natasha, who’s due to get married in just over a week, finds her in the Lake District, doing all many of outdoor activities.
After a couple of close calls, one of the bridesmaids is killed. What did she know that put her in the killer’s crosshairs? The police are on their way but first the party has to make its way back to the base camp in one piece and Melody is quickly putting the pieces together. She needs to find the killer fast, before they can act again.
Smart, enjoyable crime fiction with an excellent protagonist in Melody, and supporting cast in her adoptive family who run the fish and chip shop downstairs, a nasty murderer, who haven’t got away with it once, thinks they can do so again but without counting on Melody’s instincts and investigating nous. Hopefully there will be more.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
How deep can you go into the mind of a killer before you lose your own?
Dr. Evelyn Shaw is a celebrated forensic psychologist, known for her ability to uncover the minds of the most dangerous criminals. But when she is asked to profile James Hawthorne, a cunning and manipulative serial killer, she finds herself drawn into a psychological battle unlike any she has faced before.
James is no ordinary murderer. He reveals unsettling details about his crimes—and Evelyn’s past. As their sessions progress, Evelyn’s carefully constructed life begins to unravel. Long-buried childhood traumas resurface. James’s eerie knowledge of her darkest memories forces her to question whether he is manipulating her or if her mind is betraying her.
As Detective Inspector Ziggy Thornes races to uncover the truth behind James’s crimes, Evelyn becomes increasingly isolated. The line between victim and accomplice continues to blur. In a chilling finale, Evelyn must face her darkest fears and unravel her own connection to James’s crimes.
The Shadow Killer is a gripping psychological thriller that explores the thin line between sanity and madness, manipulation and truth, leaving readers questioning where darkness truly begins.
Catherine Yaffe is the author of crime thrillers that readers and reviewers frequently describe as compulsively readable. A creative writing student with the OU and a graduate of Curtis Brown Creative, Catherine wrote her first crime thriller, The Lie She Told in 2020. On its release it debuted in the top 10 hot new releases on Amazon, achieved number 1 in the Amazon paid chart and to date has accrued hundreds of five-star reviews. The Web They Wove followed as the second in the Tangled Web series and was released in 2021. Again, it was received with widespread acclaim. The third book in the series, When We Deceive launched in April 2023 and flew straight to the top of the Amazon charts. Catch Me Twice was released in May 2024, again achieving the much-coveted best-seller tag on release. The Shadow Killer is the fifth book in the DI Ziggy Thornes series, though each book is self-contained and can be read as a standalone. Popular with library borrowers and available in all major retail outlets, Catherine’s books have the unique ability to capture the readers imagination with fictional stories that read like true crime. When Catherine isn’t writing she loves nothing more than gardening, horse riding and travelling whenever she can. She lives in West Yorkshire with her husband and a menagerie of animals.
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My thoughts: This is a creepy, sinister case, and Dr Evelyn Shaw, a forensic psychologist, finds herself caught up in the middle of it. She’s attempting to assess a rather nasty killer, one who enjoys playing with her, causing her to question her abilities and her past. Has she met this monster before?
The police think there might be a live victim out there, hidden somewhere and desperately need him to tell them, she might not have much time left. But he refuses to say anything, preferring to taunt and terrify Evelyn.
Then she disappears. It’s a race against time, to find Evelyn and solve the case, the so-called Shadow Killer is messing with them, but there’s real danger here and it’s far closer to home than anyone realises.
Clever, twisted and utterly compelling. I couldn’t put it down. It’s quite gruesome in parts and filled with twists you won’t see coming.
*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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When everyone is lying, how do you catch a killer?
A brutal attack at Fakenham Racecourse plunges DI Ashley Knight into the competitive world of horse racing, where fortunes are won and lost in the blink of an eye. As the investigation unfolds, a chilling discovery reveals a darker side to this glamorous sport. In these high-stakes arenas, where winning is everything and everyone has something to hide, a few are willing to cross the ultimate line.
Can Ashley, an outsider in a world of whispers and long-held grudges, unmask the murderer before they kill again?
Ross Greenwood is back with a brand new, heart-pounding case for DI Ashley Knight, perfect for fans of Mark Billingham, Ian Rankin and Peter James.
Ross Greenwood is the author of crime thrillers. Before becoming a full-time writer he was most recently a prison officer and so worked everyday with murderers, rapists and thieves for four years. He lives in Peterborough.
My thoughts: I have family connections to the world of race horses, but I don’t know a lot about it, so it was interesting to follow Ashley and her team as they attempt to break into this tight knit but not always happy community of owners, trainers, bookies and race course staff.
The murders are strange, a hammer attack, then run through with a sword, a strange symbol drawn on the victims’ foreheads in the middle of winter. There’s also the attack on affable police officer Frank, is it connected or opportunistic?
It all seems to centre around one stables and the horses and people who spend their time there. Did some of these people fix a race a few months previously? And is the killer sending a message?
As they investigate the victims and the people around them, there seem to be more questions than answers and plenty of suspects too.
The case is really clever and as always there’s lots of clever twists, red herrings, and carefully seeded clues. But Ashley never let’s confusing evidence and attempts at misdirection stop her from finding out the truth.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 