Tag: crime fiction

TWO DEATHS

Tommy and Markie Jones are found dead at the side of a main road in Scotland.

TWO RIVALS

Detectives Jazzy Solanki and Annie McQueen are on the scene where the bodies are identified as the nephews of Jimmy Nails, head of a notable gang in Glasgow. The turf war between the gangs
of Glasgow and Edinburgh has existed for years, but these murders are seen as an escalation in violence.

ONE UNFORGIVABLE BETRAYAL

As the investigation unfolds, there’s suspicion about a leak within the police force, and to her dismay Jazzy is asked to keep a watchful eye on someone close to her.
With distrust mounting on all sides, can the pair uncover the truth before someone else is killed?

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Liz Mistry moved to West Yorkshire in the late 1980s. Her gritty crime fiction police procedural novels set in Bradford embrace the city she describes as ‘Warm, Rich and Fearless’ whilst exploring the darkness that lurks beneath. Yet, her heart remains in Scotland, where childhood tales of bogey men, Bible John and grey lady ghosts fed her imagination.

Her latest work, The Solanki and McQueen crime series is set around West Lothian, where she uses the distinctive landscape, historic heritage and Scottish culture as a backdrop to her gritty yet often humorous stories.

Struggling with clinical depression and anxiety for many years, Liz often includes mental health themes in her writing. She credits her MA in Creative Writing from Leeds Trinity University with helping her find a way of using her writing to navigate her ongoing mental health struggles. The
synergy been creative and academic writing led Liz to complete a doctorate in creative writing researching the importance of representation of marginalised groups within the genre she loves.

Her husband, three children and huge extended British Indian family are a constant support to her.

In her spare time, Liz loves visiting the varied Scottish and Yorkshire landscape, travelling, listening to music, reading and blogging about all things crime fiction on her website blog, The Crime Warp.

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My thoughts: The Jazz Queens are back! Jazzy Solanki and Annie McQueen (Queenie) are sort of recovered from the events at the end of their last case and while Jazzy is on desk duty as her physical injuries are still healing, Team D are split up to help cover the rather worrying gang war that seems to have broken out between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Or has it?

The gangsters involved have been receiving messages from someone calling themselves ‘Vengeance’ and killings have taken place in both cities. The police aren’t in the loop, but the Jazz Queens have spotted some oddities in the events that suggest to them that someone else is involved.

As events grow towards a showdown, the team gather information and try to get ahead of the inevitable fall out. There’s also a cold case that needs their help, and may be linked to ‘Vengeance’ too.

DI Dick is still being, well, a dick, and keeps trying to sideline his best team, but DCS Afzal knows their worth, even if Jazzy is still furious with him.

Another absolutely cracking outing for this team of ace detectives and highly enjoyable it is too. I really like Jazzy and Queenie, they’re a great pairing and along with the rest of team Jazz Queens, are amply qualified to take on this complex and messy case, replete with historical abuse and murders. Can’t wait for the next installment.

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

Abbie Thorpe, a confident and ambitious young woman, had dreams of making it big one day; dreams that died with her in a tragic house fire.

Fire investigator Freya Redfern is given the task of determining the cause of the fire. Troubled by aspects of the scene, Freya can’t help but feel there’s more to it than a terrible accident. Detective Sargeant Harry Gardman isn’t so sure. Determined that the case be properly investigated, Freya sets about finding enough evidence to convince him of the fire’s deliberate origins.

Forming an unlikely partnership, the pair work together to uncover a truth which nobody could have foreseen.

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Susan Handley grew up in England, in the Midlands and despite a love of literature, and crime fiction in particular, she never dreamt of being able to carve out a career as a published writer. But the desire to write never left her and after years of writing by night she has at last been able to share the results of her efforts.

Susan now lives in a small village in rural Kent with her husband and two cats. When she’s not indulging in her love of writing crime fiction she loves walking (the hillier the better), bike riding (the flatter the better) and tending her veggie patch.

Susan is the author of two crime series: the DC Cat McKenzie series, which include: A Confusion of Crows, Feather and Claw, The Body Politic, and Close to Death; and the DI Matt Fisher series, of which the first Paid in Blood is currently available. 

Susan has also produced two short story collections: Crime Bites Volume 1 and Volume 2. Full of bite-size crime stories there’s bound to be something to suit all tastes.

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My thoughts: I really liked this book, Freya was a great protagonist with an instinct for the truth, even when she’s the only one who believes it’s murder.

The police are happy to say that Abbie Thorpe’s death was a tragic accident, that drunk and dosed up on tranquilisers, she fell asleep with a lit cigarette and started the fire that killed her. But Freya, a fire investigator, thinks something is not quite right about it. 

She eventually gets the detective on the case, DS Harry Gardman on board with her theory, and the pair start looking into Abbie’s death more closely. Especially when another apparent accidental death takes place in the same house.

Freya is in mourning for her partner Nikki, and during the investigation she finds new friendships with Harry and with Joe, a neighbour of the deceased who agrees it’s not quite right. They help bring her out of her shell, and when someone starts following her and leaving her creepy notes (and dick pics, seriously guys, no one, especially a lesbian, wants those) Harry takes an interest in that for her too.

What they uncover is a pretty ingenious crime but one that had to backfire eventually. And only Freya’s excellent memory and eye for detail can put it all together and catch the perpetrator.

Really enjoyable crime writing with excellent characters and a twisted killer.

*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 Yeovil Literary Prize award winner

A lifeboat is lost off Cornwall’s wild Atlantic coast. All eight crewmen die. The cause is never fully explained.

Ten years later, Kate Tregillis, the editor of a small, struggling newspaper, becomes obsessed with solving the longstanding mystery.
Her investigations provoke a backlash of threats and violence in the insular fishing community of St Branok. In exposing the truth, she risks the future of her newspaper and even her life – and discovers that the man she loves has his own secrets.

Praise for The Echoing Shore:

‘A gripping story full of twists and turns’ – Margaret James, Writing Magazine.

‘An enthralling read that keeps you guessing to the end’ – Victoria Howard, author and judge for the international 2023 Yeovil Literary Prize.

‘I would definitely pick this book up from the bookshop shelf’ – Claire Gradidge, winner of the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition.

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Jason Mann is an award-winning journalist and writer living in the South West of England with Nicola, his wife, and their lively whippet, Patch. He is also a shore-based volunteer for the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution.

Jason says: ‘Many of my stories are set in the wonderful county of Cornwall where truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction. I have swum and surfed there much of my life. It has been a special place for me with its legends, soaring cliffs, rugged moors and wild seas.
The landscape has a raw, mystical magic. My father and mother’s recollections of rescues and tragedies on the North coast are often the inspiration for my stories. My father became one of the county’s early lifeguards after his predecessor was killed by a strike of lightning while standing in
waist-deep water during a rescue.’

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My thoughts: This was so good, utterly gripping, with well written characters, a real sense of creeping menace and a brilliant plot. Dark deeds done in the deep waters off of my beloved Cornwall. In winter, when the tourists leave and only the locals remain, where the beauty of its coastline is hidden by bad weather and the grinding struggle to get by.

Kate has returned from London and is trying to keep the local paper solvent and a going concern in a time where fewer and fewer copies sell and there’s not much news to print. The arrival of a freelance writer looking into the loss of a lifeboat and it’s crew ten years ago stirs up old pain and new threats.

The boat’s crew were all lost, except one man, who was conveniently unwell and didn’t go, but then promptly left town. This seems suspicious and Kate agrees to help investigate whether it really was a terrible accident or something more sinister. Then the threats begin. Notes left in her cottage, a break in at the paper. Who could be trying to stop them reporting on the tragedy and why?

I was completely hooked, this is the other side of small town life, and Cornwall, where those rugged cliffs and swirling tides turn dangerous. Kate’s attempts to get answers put lives, including her own, at risk, and she could lose the paper too. A real page turner that will keep you up all night, desperate to finish 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.

Nobody is safe…

When the murdered body of a woman is found in a Sheffield carpark, former cop turned private investigator Matt Forrester finds himself embroiled in the case, because the last call the victim made
was to him…

But the case isn’t as simple as the drug theft it looks like, and – when a young boy becomes the next victim – Matt and his life partner, DI Karen Nelson, realise they’re investigating a terrifying series of
revenge killings.

Arrests start to be made, but enemies are being made. And, as the killings continue, nobody is safe…

A totally unputdownable crime novel, from bestselling author Anita Waller, guaranteed to keep readers up all night.

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Anita Waller was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire in 1946. With many books to her
name, she feels she has finally realised her dream. In 2021 Waller signed a five book deal with Boldwood Books, and currently has six published books with them: One Hot Summer, The Family at No.12, Fatal Secrets (the first in a new series set in Sheffield), The Couple Across the Street, Fatal Lies, the second in the Forrester series and The Girls Next Door. The Family at No.12 reached #2 in the Amazon Kindle charts. The final book in the Forrester series, Fatal Endings, is to be launched on 13 November 2024.

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My thoughts: the final book in the trilogy about former DI Matt Forrester turned PI brings various cases to their end and has a big shock twist that alters the lives of the characters forever.

A young boy is murdered and his older brother vows revenge, the police are keen to talk to him but he’s disappeared, could his drug trafficking grandfather be helping him stay out of sight? Karen and her team are tracking him down after the chief suspect in the younger brother’s murder is killed, when tragedy strikes.

Meanwhile Matt is looking into a wealthy woman’s husband after he starts taking sums of money out of their joint account and making her suspicious. He’s also looking after Harry, who’s returned to school after his running away, and needs some gentle support.

This series has been really enjoyable, the author’s books are always engaging and clever, with well written and interesting characters. This is a big case, with lots of complications and ends the series dramatically.

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

After learning of a suspicious attempt to burn down a beloved old pub, The Crooked Horse, Libby Sarjeant and her friend Fran reluctantly agree to investigate.
But when a local antiques dealer mysteriously disappears after apparently taking out his boat, it appears there are dark and sinister forces at play.

Can Libby and Fran uncover a connection between the fire and the missing man? And will unravelling a deadly case put them in terrible danger?

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Lesley Cookman writes the Libby Sarjeant Murder Mysteries and the The Alexandrians, an Edwardian Mystery Series. She lives on the south east coast of England, and is a former model, actor, and journalist. Her four adult children are all musicians and writers.

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My thoughts: I really like this series, Libby and her “Loonies” as her friends call themselves. Solving crimes involves a lot of time spent in pubs it seems as Libby and Fran do some digging into the attempted destruction of the titular Crooked Horse and a missing local antique dealer.

Ian, Libby’s police detective friend, asks her to ask around about the incidents, but she uncovers a conspiracy involving stolen Anglo-Saxon treasure, a local building contractor, and some rather nasty criminals.

This was another excellent addition to the series, with Libby pursuing possibly her most dangerous case yet.

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

We regret to announce the tragic death of Phoebe Fredericks…

When crime novelist Phoebe opens the post and receives an invitation to her own funeral, she’s horrified. Not least because the date of her death is marked as tomorrow.
Deciding it’s nothing more than a prank from an enemy from her past, she determines to put it to the back of her mind.

But the next morning, when her completely infuriating postman (who likes to think himself her no.1 literary critic) rings her doorbell, a parcel of poisoned pen-nibs explodes in his face. Forced to
confront the fact her correspondence is more RIP than RSVP, Phoeve realises someone must want her dead.

Together with the newly-formed Village Detectives – Juno, Mil and Felix – Phoebe resolves to find out who is behind the poison pen letters before they strike again and her fate is signed, sealed and
delivered!

A totally hilarious, modern cozy crime mystery, from million-copy bestselling author Fiona Walker, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Janet Evanovich and Janice Hallett.

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Fiona Walker is the million copy bestselling author of joyously funny romantic comedies. Most recently published by Head of Zeus, she will be turning to cozy crime for Boldwood. The first in her new Village Detectives series, The Art of Murder, will be published in May 2024.

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My thoughts: This is such a fun series, I love Juno and her determination to be a detective, despite not always getting it right. She wants to help Phoebe so much, but her instincts are not always spot on. As she and Felix hurtle around in her mother’s rather battered old car, including a jaunt to Paris, Phoebe herself is looking a little closer to home.

The Twitter accounts that harassed her once before might be connected to the shocking death of the postman on the doorstep and the horrible things she’s been receiving in the post, but Phoebe reckons it’s someone in the village, it doesn’t feel quite the same to her. What she uncovers is a sad and rather different story than the one Juno and Felix are following.

Lots of fun and all carried out in Juno’s unique chaotic style, with help from her son Eric, and of course the delightful Mil, pub landlord and protector of potential murder suspects.

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