Summer can be murder out on the sun-scorched Yorkshire Fells.
When the body of eighteen-year-old Tyler Prasad is found up on lonely Skye Moss, Detectives Leo Donovan and Shan Young are called in to investigate.
Tyler lies dead in a bone-dry ditch. His handsome face shattered in a brutal attack that leaves Donovan and Young baffled. They dig into Tyler’s deepest secrets, following a twisty trail that leads straight to Patefield Grange, a luxury country-house retreat across the moors. The well-heeled guests — gathered for a controversial grouse hunt in the sweltering summer heat — seem respectable on the surface.
But, beneath the façade, dark secrets smoulder. It’s only a question of which was worth killing for.
As temperatures soar, so does the pressure for Donovan and Shan to crack this impossible case.
Before tensions at the Grange ignite, and the body count rises again . . .
Cath Staincliffe is a best-selling, award-winning novelist, radio playwright and creator of ITV’s hit show Blue Murder. Cath has been shortlisted for the CWA Daggers five times, winning 2012’s Short Story Dagger. She won the WGBB Best Radio Drama Award in 2019. Cath’s standalone titles describe the human impact of crime on ordinary families, giving voice to victims, the bereaved, survivors and witnesses. Cath is a reading junkie who loves hill-walking or pottering in the garden. Her new detective series features chalk and cheese duo Leo Donovan and Shan Young in the stunning setting of the Yorkshire Dales.
My thoughts: This was a really gripping and quite shocking read. A young man is murdered and his body dumped in a ditch, found by the ubiquitous dog walker. He’s an environmental activist, there for a local art protest camp, but he’s been shot and beaten, his phone and wallet stolen.
Tracing his path to a local grouse shoot (a horrible, cruel and quite frankly pointless “sport”) at a former country house, there are frankly, too many gun toting suspects. But someone isn’t telling the truth. Then another person is shot and the shooter goes on the run across the Fells.
Tragedy follows, and the duo of Leo and Shan are in terrible danger as they pursue their suspect. Summer out on the fells can be dangerous, a single spark can be lethal. Can they survive long enough to catch their killer?
Things on the home front are rocky too, with both detectives dealing with tricky relationships. Their brushes with death help put things in perspective, but you’d hope you wouldn’t need to go that far for some clarity.
I was hooked from the first page, Leo and Shan make a great team and this case is full of twists and turns, becoming more complex as they investigate.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
An iconic bridge…🌉 Private investigator, Dan Armstrong, lives and works in Florence and knows the world famous Ponte Vecchio well. Usually a magnet for tourists, on this occasion it is the scene of an unexplained death, and Dan finds himself involved in the intriguing case.
An uncompromising man… 😠 Dan quickly discovers that the victim, an elderly jeweller, was every bit as hard as the diamonds he sold in his shop on the bridge. Few people liked him, not even his adult children, and his business dealings look murkier than the waters of the River Arno. Dan suspects more secrets lie hidden…perhaps inside the massive safe in the old man’s luxury villa…
A complex case.💎🔍 As the evidence begins to mount up, so too do the suspects with their different motives. With a fortune in gold bullion and precious stones involved, Dan thinks the only way to catch the killer is to lay a trap, but might he be caught in the killer’s sights? Fortunately, he has Oscar, his canine wingman at his side, always eager to prove that he’s as good as gold. 🐶
Can Dan and Oscar sniff out the killer’s tracks or will this case be a bridge too far?
T. A. Williams is the bestselling author of the Armstrong and Oscar cosy mystery series. Trevor studied languages at university and lived and worked in Italy for eight years, returning to England with his wife in 1972. Trevor and his wife now live in Devon.
My thoughts: We return to Italy with another case for one of my favourite detectives, Oscar, and his human assistant, Dan. This time, a jewellery merchant has been killed in his shop on the famous Ponte Vecchio in Florence. It’s been made to look like a suicide, although very clumsily, and the police are suspicious that the man’s estranged children are all in town to meet with their father for the first time in years.
But of course, it’s not that simple. The victim was involved in some dodgy dealings, and it soon becomes apparent his death is connected to those of two asylum seekers. There also seems to be something strange going on at the police headquarters and Virgilio asks Dan’s help in quietly looking into it.
Once more, Oscar’s excellent nose for rooting out the bad guys saves the day, whatever would Dan do without him?
I love this series and it goes from strength to strength, this was a really interesting addition, exploring the dark underbelly of the beautiful city on the Arno, and the lives of those at the bottom of the social order, who are easily forgotten. Dan makes a new connection and even has a go at treading the boards, I found Zebra the theatre director very intriguing, I hope we see her again.
*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 an unidentified female body is discovered laid out on a slab in an abandoned butcher’s shop, the cause of death is unclear. Her body bears no marks; except for the fact that her lips have been carefully stitched shut.
It is only when the full autopsy gets underway at the Los Angeles County morgue that the pathologist will reveal the true horror of the situation – a discovery so devastating that Detective Robert Hunter of the Los Angeles Homicide Special Section has to be pulled off a different case to take over the investigation
But when his inquiry collides with a missing persons’ case being investigated by the razor-sharp Whitney Meyers, Hunter suspects the killer might be keeping several women hostage. Soon Robert finds himself on the hunt for a murderer with a warped obsession, a stalker for whom love has become hate.
My thoughts: Another chilling and sinister case for Detectives Hunter and Garcia. Women are being abducted and murdered in horrific ways, and it hasn’t hit the police radar until now when a body is found in an empty old butcher’s shop. There is no obvious cause of death and I won’t tell you what the autopsy reveals, but it is shocking. As is what happens next.
This killer is a monster, and Hunter, the man who can get inside a monster’s mind, is the only one who can catch him. But not before they find more victims.
I was hooked from the beginning. These books are dark and often very shocking but the writing is so good and I can help but root for the detectives to get the killer and save more potential victims from terrible deaths.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
SKIN DEEP Star LAPD homicide detective Marcy Kendrick is infamous for killing three serial killers before they could be brought to trial. Marcy knows her actions were in self-defense, but her co-workers wonder if she has a vendetta because Marcy’s mother was brutally murdered by a serial killer. When a series of murders rocks the city, Marcy discovers the killer has the same MO as the man who murdered her mother. Marcy is assigned to the case and the killer immediately taunts Marcy, telling her that they are very much alike. They’re both murderers. Can Marcy catch the killer before another victim meets a grisly end?
BLOOD LINE Det. Marcy Kendrick is feeling the heat from her ex-husband, now her boss. He’s piling on the pressure and she needs a win. Then heiress Audrina Dixon is killed with only her twin sons as witnesses. But the traumatized boys seem to have developed a form of mutism. Or perhaps there’s another reason they won’t speak? Because there’s mounting evidence that the boys may be the killers. As Marcy investigates, she realizes the murder is just one part of a much bigger picture. Behind it, lies a horrifying web of depravity and revenge….
DARK DUTY
Panic grips LA as a cop killer stalks the streets. So far, three officers have been murdered and there are no clues. Det. Marcy Kendrick and her partner Angel are assigned the case but the dead cops’ partners insist they have no idea why the victims were targeted. But Marcy discovers they are lying, that the officers were connected to an unimaginable crime against an innocent girl. As public outrage grows, Marcy and Angel are caught in the middle. Can they find the killer before the city blows up?
KILL COUNT Det. Marcy Kendrick and her partner are called to investigate the murder of a young starlet. They soon discover this was the work of El Gato, an infamous drug lord who has evaded police for years. Marcy soon learns El Gato has secrets. But drug lords don’t want their secrets to become public. Especially not these secrets…
PAY BACK When an affluent woman is murdered, Marcy Kendrick and Angel Reyes are sent to investigate. They soon discover that the victim is no ordinary housewife. She’s connected to an organized shoplifting ring. Now, someone is killing off these women in a series of home invasions. It’s a race against time. Can they stop the killer before it’s too late?
LOST SOULS When Det. Marcy Kendrick and her partner investigate the death of a drug dealer, they discover he was waterboarded – with baptismal water. Then the killer strikes again. This time the victim is a young woman with baptismal water in her wounds. As the death toll rises, it becomes clear the killer is on a religious mission. Marcy has no idea where he’ll strike next. Can she stop him before he kills again?
END GAME Marcy Kendrick is struggling to get her life back to normal when a series of murders thrust her back into the limelight. A serial killer is on the prowl. He calls himself Killer Cache because he posts the geocaching coordinates of the site where he’s left the body of his latest female victim. Leaving no stone unturned in the search for the sadistic killer, Marcy must choose between her own safety and stopping a psychopath before he can kill again.
Theo Baxter loves writing psychological suspense thrillers. It’s all about that last reveal that he loves shocking readers with. He grew up in New York, where there was crime all around. He decided to turn that into something positive with his fiction. His stories will have you reading through the night—they are very addictive!
My thoughts: This boxset was so, so good, gripping, intelligent and shocking. Marcy and Angel (her best friend and partner) track down serial killers in LA. Each case is fiendish and horrifying, but Marcy keeps her cool and the duo dive into the cases, digging into the victim’s lives to find the killer.
They also juggle their personal lives and relationships, which suffer from their all-consuming jobs, the strange hours they work and the danger they put themselves in during the course of their jobs. Unfortunately some of the criminals they come up against take it personally and target Marcy and Angel, making it harder to do their jobs.
They also go after bad cops, the kind that take advantage of the vulnerable and exploit their positions. It might not make them popular in or out of the precinct, but they stand for justice and the victims.
Marcy’s brother Stephen is the most important person in her life, and he has his own demons, but she sticks by him through thick and thin, and he uses his computer skills to help her out from time to time. She also has an ex-husband, who is now her lieutenant and can’t stop losing his temper, he becomes a huge problem that Captain Robinson (their supportive boss) has to deal with.
The crimes are shocking, the interpersonal relationships fascinating, the characters realistic and empathetic, the writing gripping.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Seattle defense attorney Daniel Raine is relentless in his pursuit of justice. And he’s in the right place – the city’s streets provide an endless supply of cunning criminals and high-stakes cases. With his career on the line and justice hanging in the balance, Raine will have to stay one step ahead of ruthless prosecutors and dangerous adversaries – or his next case may be his last.
BURDEN OF PROOF Some people would kill for a fresh start. Attorney Daniel Raine’s law partner is leaving their firm. If Raine can’t find a way to stay afloat, he’ll be practicing law out of his car. Then, rich socialite Abigail Willoughby arrives at his door, wanting to divorce her even richer husband. Raine takes the case but gets forced into an alliance with realtor Rebecca Sommers, who has her own motives for wanting to get close to his client.What seems like a straightforward case turns to chaos when Abigail threatens her husband Jeremy in front of dozens of witnesses. That same night, Jeremy is murdered. Abigail swears she’s innocent and Raine believes her. Together with Sommers, he races to find out who really killed Jeremy and to save his client from serving a lifetime behind bars.
TRIAL BY JURY Murder is an art form. And this one is a masterpiece. When attorney Daniel Raine is invited to a gala at an art gallery, he sees it as a chance to find some new clients. And it works in the most unexpected way when an artist is found dead in the restroom. The police declare it a suicide and the young woman’s parents promptly sue the gallery owner for driving their daughter to take her own life. Raine is hired to defend the lawsuit and embarks on a mission to exonerate his client. He soon becomes convinced that the young artist was murdered. But why? And by whom?
THE SURVIVAL RULE A family on top of the world. With a long, long way to fall. Daniel Raine is hired by Adam Harper, the son of Seattle’s biggest developer. Adam wants to seize control of the family company by declaring his father mentally unfit. There’s only one problem – the old man is very much in possession of his mental faculties and Raine is going to lose the case. Ever the pragmatist, Raine decides to stick with it and rack up some billable hours. But he finds himself in the middle of a deadly dispute as various members of this powerful family fight to gain control. They will stop at nothing to get what they want. Including murder. As Raine closes in on the final truth, he himself becomes a target in this twisted game.
DOUBLE JEOPARDY Murder. Lies. Corruption. Just another day at the office. A young man, Michael, dies while in custody at the county jail. The authorities claim it was a heart attack. His mom thinks it was murder. Daniel Raine agrees to take the case, suing the jail for wrongful death. But no one will talk about what happened in Michael’s cell on that fateful night. Now Raine must unravel the mystery. Did someone order Michael’s murder?
Stephen Penner is an author, artist, and attorney from Seattle. He has written over 25 novels and specializes in courtroom thrillers known for their unexpected twists and candid portrayal of the justice system. Stephen began his legal career as a criminal defense attorney, appearing in federal, state, and municipal courts throughout the State of Washington. After several years, Stephen ‘switched sides’ and became a prosecutor. He has been practicing criminal law for nearly 30 years, working his way up from misdemeanor offenses, to felonies, and finally to homicides. He has conducted over 100 trials and draws on his extensive experience to infuse his writing with realism and insight. In his spare time, Stephen enjoys painting, drawing, and spending time with his family.
My thoughts: I really enjoyed this series, I was only going to talk about the first two books but I read all 4, they were so compelling and well written.
Daniel Raine is down on his luck, his legal partner has recently become a judge, and if he doesn’t get some clients who can pay him soon, he’s going to lose his office space too.
Then the very wealthy Abigail shows up asking if he’ll represent her in a divorce from her controlling husband. At the same time he also meets the fabulous Rebecca Sommers, estate agent par excellence, who agrees to help him out as his investigator. She has incredible connections throughout the city and a nose for finding things out.
Throughout the four stories in this collection, Daniel and Rebecca investigate the cases their clients bring them, even when the clients aren’t the nicest people. He’s a good lawyer, smart and insightful. Rebecca is my favourite character, she’s so well connected and people just seem to want to tell her things.
Daniel is also juggling co-parenting his sons with his ex-wife, who he’s still in love with, and puts himself in danger hunting for the truth for his clients, and himself. The author uses his legal knowledge and expertise to craft clever and intricate cases that keep you gripped and wanting to know what happens next and how Daniel will win in court.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Step into the sandals of Neferet and Bener-ib — two women doctors in ancient Egypt who never expected murder to become part of their medical routine. With the help of their perceptive teenage apprentice and Neferet’s steadfast father, this unlikely investigative team takes on crimes that shake their community to the core.
Across four rich, standalone books — Flowers of Evil, Web of Evil, Wheel of Evil, and The Melody of Evil — N.L. Holmes brings ancient Thebes to life through everyday lives touched by extraordinary events. There are no pyramids here — just humanity, heart, and a whole lot of suspense.
One of the things about ancient Egyptian society that inspired the character of Neferet is the status of their women. They were freer and more respected than in almost any other contemporary society, even though we’d have to admit that that society, like our own, was basically patriarchal. Apart from being honored as mothers, lovers, and helpmeets, women were legal majors, able to own property, testify in court, bring lawsuits, and conduct business under the same legal protections as men. They could sit on village councils, and we even have records of women who served as the mayor of their village. Although it was definitely the exception, they could rule the entire country in the person of a queen,.and these were very hands-on monarchs with few limits to their authority. In the Old Kingdom, Egypt’s formative period, at least one woman served as vizier or prime minister, and there were classes of priestesses that corresponded to almost every class of priest. Unfortunately, these opportunities for religious authority were restricted in later periods to women of the royal family.
The idea of a female vizier or priest raises the issue of whether women were literate. Only 1% of the population could read and write, and literacy was the key to social status. We have no positive testimony that this golden skill was confided to any but males. However… it’s hard to imagine a vizier who couldn’t read the reports that were brought to her. It’s difficult to conceive how the female stewards of large royal or private estates could supervise the running of palaces without being at least basically lettered. The same is true of female physicians—who did exist— since Egyptian medicine rested upon casebooks based on generations of trial and error. Thus, I think the case of our Neferet, whose menfolk are all literate scribes, isn’t improbable. There must have been women now and again who were trained by their fathers or brothers, even if they didn’t formally attend the scribal school conducted at the temple of Amen-Ra, the House of Life.
That’s why Neferet became the character she is: headstrong, pushy, and unconventional. She does a lot of things that wouldn’t have been common in her day but wouldn’t have been forbidden either. She was lucky enough to live in an age when women were strong and sometimes independent, visible, and fully able to contribute to their society in a variety of ways. She would have had those all-important role models. Some men might have disapproved of her, but others would have accepted her forwardness. And I think the great and proactive goddesses of Egypt’s pantheon would have looked on with affection.
Excerpt
“Can you do anything?” the woman cried tremulously, clutching at Neferet’s arm.
But Neferet could think of nothing encouraging to say. Her insides had that hollow, leaden feeling that meant the worst was about to happen.
“There’s no point in stitching up the outside,” she said gently. “He’s lost a lot of blood, and they’ve chopped him up pretty seriously inside. As the medical books say, ‘This is not a case I will treat.’”
The woman understood and began to whimper. She reached out a hand to touch her husband’s shoulder but then drew back as if she’d just discovered it was someone else. A gloomy silence fell over the group, broken only by the increasingly weak huff of the patient’s breath. His lips moved feebly, and Bener-ib leaned over his face.
“I think you’d better stand with him, mistress,” Neferet said. “His soul is ready to fly. He might have something to say to you.”
The woman drew closer fearfully. “Sen-em-iah, my brother, I’m here.”
At first, Neferet wondered if she’d misunderstood and the woman was really his sister—although from her age she might have been his daughter—but brother and sister were terms of endearment often used by married people. Everyone stood, hushed, waiting for a final word from the threshold of the other world. Sen-em-iah said nothing. His head lolled finally, and a tiny sibilance of breath escaped him.
They all stared at him expectantly until Neferet said in a quiet tone, “I think he’s passed to the West, mistress.”
She took the patient’s hand and pressed her fingers against the inside of the wrist. No pulse.
The woman stared at Neferet as if she couldn’t believe her. She made no move to wail or tear her hair.
“Who is he? Why might someone have done this?”
Since the wife was frozen, one of the servants answered. “Sen-em-iah son of Nakht is—was—Bearer of Divine Offerings of Amen, mistress. Chief florist of the Hidden One’s temple, like his father before him.”
Yahyah. That explains why he was just coming home at this hour of the morning. Florists work all night, while it’s cooler.
“Who would want to kill a florist?” she asked. “They don’t hurt anybody.”
“Maybe it was just a random attack,” suggested another of the servants. “Maybe they were going to rob the master.”
“Were you all with him when he was attacked?”
“Not me,” said an older man. “I’m the steward. I came out with the mistress of the house when the others yelled. These young fellows are the litter bearers and bodyguards. Yes, they were with him.”
No casual robber would have attacked anybody protected by eight stalwart young men. And Neferet knew what the servants didn’t—the attacker had not just stabbed Sen-em-iah but had ripped viciously. He had aimed to kill.
The steward said, “We brought him all the way here because we didn’t know where else a sunu could be found at this hour of the morning. One of these fellows lives in this neighborhood.”
Bener-ib, who had been listening intently, leaned over Sen-em-iah and drew down his eyelids.
That gesture brought his wife out of her shock, and she began to cry, quietly at first, but soon she was howling, keening, raking at her face with her nails.
“Perhaps mistress would like to go home, notify the children?” suggested the steward, taking her by the elbow. “If we could leave the master here briefly until we can call the servants of Inpu…?” He raised inquiring eyes to the two sunets, one after the other. Already, he was edging the distraught widow toward the door. The block of servants crowded after them.
“Of course,” said Neferet. “Is it all right if we come by later to ask a few questions? We’ll have to report this murder, now that we’re involved, and we’ll need to explain what we see’s been done to the body.”
The steward nodded distractedly over his shoulder, and the entire crowd disappeared through the door. The woman’s wails trailed off as they exited the gate, and soon Neferet, Bener-ib, and Mut-tuy were left staring at one another in silence. The young girl’s eyes were round as plates and scalpel sharp.
Mangler had entered and was lapping blood from the smooth plaster floor, his tail wagging in pleasure at the windfall.
Neferet gave her partner a long significant stare. “Do you realize what this is? Our first murder case.”
“Our first? Will there be more?” Bener-ib said faintly.
“Look at that wound. Somebody wanted to be sure this florist died. Somebody who knew what they were doing. A soldier, maybe. A professional assassin.” Neferet turned to the body of Sen-em-iah, whose eyes had popped open a slit. He seemed to be watching them. “If only he could tell us who did this. I feel sure he knew. But he didn’t have any final words.”
“Oh yes, he did,” said Bener-ib, brightening. “I distinctly heard him say something just before you called his wife over.”
Neferet’s heart stepped up its pace. She seized Bener-ib’s hand. “He did? Quick, Ibet! What did he say? This could be the clue to his murder!”
Bener-ib looked around as if searching for witnesses to support her, then she pronounced firmly in her girlish voice, “He said… he said, ‘Sekhat. Rabbit.’”
My thoughts: This series is so good, if you love crime fiction, historical fiction, strong female protagonists, loving families, adventure, cute animal sidekicks, it’s all here.
Hani is an important scribe working in the Egyptian empire for the boy king we know as Tutankhamen. His daughter, Neferet is a sunet or doctor, who along with her partner Bener-if (in life and medicine) provides medical treatment to the people and occasionally animals in their community. She has adopted a family of orphans, and is meant to be training one as her apprentice, only Mut-tay would rather be a detective.
When a man dies in their dispensary, Neferet takes it upon herself to investigate his murder and the series has her and her friends, as well as members of her family, look into suspicious deaths of various people from the community. Mostly people who would be overlooked as not important, like a florist, a musician, a scribe. The medjay (the police) are lazy and corrupt so if Neferet and Hani don’t look into things, no one else will and the dead will never get justice.
The books are really enjoyable and relatable, despite being set thousands of years in the past. The characters and their relationships are fully realised and I really rooted for them, to get justice and to be safe as they often come up against really nasty people. Luckily their canine bodyguard, Brute, is there to save them. There is a fifth book due later this year and I can’t wait!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock are back in a cutting-edge new thriller.
The truth will always come out, but at what cost?
Fresh from successfully closing their first live case, the Future Policing Unit are called in to investigate when a headless, handless body is found on a Warwickshire farm. But as they work to identify the victim and their killer, the discovery of a second body begins to spark fears that The Aston Strangler is back. And as the stakes rise for the team, so do the tensions brewing within it.
When DCS Kat Frank is accused of putting the wrong man behind bars all those years ago, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI Detective – pursues the truth about what happened with relentless logic. But Kat is determined to keep the past buried, and when she becomes the target of a shadowy figure looking for revenge, Lock is torn between his evidence-based algorithms and the judgement of his partner, with explosive results.
When everything hangs in the balance, it will all come down to just how much an AI machine can learn, and what happens when they do . . .
Jo Callaghan works full time as a senior strategist, carrying out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce. She was a student of the Writers’ Academy Course (Penguin Random House) and was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Writing Competition and Bath Novel Competition. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, she started writing In the Blink of an Eye, her debut crime novel, which explores learning to live with loss and what it means to be human. She lives with her two children in the Midlands, where she spends far too much time tweeting as @JoCallaghanKat and is currently working on further novels in the series.
My thoughts: This series just gets better and better with each book, giving both a cracking read and plenty to think about.
Kat’s in the spotlight as an anonymous podcaster is determined to prove the conviction of The Aston Strangler, a man Kat arrested, was wrong and that Kat make mistakes and manipulated evidence.
With the remains of a young woman found on a local farm, and Lock’s involvement in the autopsy being questioned, could Kat lose her job or will her accuser go too far in their desire for the truth?
The title and the plot ask timely questions about the role of AI, Lock cannot understand why humans behave the way they do, there’s often little or no logic to their actions, he doesn’t understand human emotions.
His actions are also being called into question, the fact he can only really follow instructions to their logical conclusion and can’t deviate or use his own intuition leads to devastating consequences for the team, but is it his fault?
Their victim only came to be on the farm in the first place, following clues to try to find out what happened to her grandfather, who was a POW there but never returned home. Actions have consequences, even decades later, which will destroy two families. Lock can’t really understand the whys of this either, he’s a bit like Spock from Star Trek in that sense, none of the things anyone in this does seem logical, because humans aren’t logical. We act on instinct, emotions, our gut, all sorts of things you can’t define to AI. Even the doctor who designed him is starting to question whether she’s right, and she used to be sure she was.
A truly thought provoking, intelligent read that throws up plenty to chew over once it’s finished.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Meet Peter Maxwell: film buff, golden-hearted cynic, bow-tied eccentric teacher . . . and reluctant amateur sleuth.
A reality TV crew descends on Leighford High . . . and Head of Sixth Form Peter Maxwell braces for disaster — but not murder. The cameras pry into every corner of the school, exposing secrets better left buried. But when a member of the TV crew is found stabbed to death in the headteacher’s office, it’s clear the real drama has only just begun.
Then a second crew member is found sprawled in Maxwell’s office. Murdered with the same knife. As Maxwell unravels the truth he finds himself facing a chilling reality: the murderer is still watching, still waiting, and ready to kill again.
M J Trow (the ‘M’ as most people know by now stands for Meirion, a Welsh name few can manage, so he writes as M J, is known by all and sundry as Mei, rhyming with ‘my’) has been writing for many years, with his first book – The Adventures of Inspector Lestrade – being published in 1984 by Macmillan. More Lestrades followed and then some true crime and somehow it all snowballed so now he has many historical biographies and three other crime series (Maxwell, Marlowe and Grand and Batchelor, the latter two written with his wife, writing as Maryanne Coleman, though her name is Carol, actually!) to his credit.
He claims to be retired, but that’s just from teaching. In fact he has never been busier and is a sought after ‘ghost’ these days as well as historian and novelist, with many different subjects’ stories having been told through him. He has recently started collaborating on fiction projects (with someone other than his wife, that is) and finds it a really exciting and pleasurable experience.To relax he … actually, that’s a bit tricky, as he doesn’t really ever relax.
He has been known to garden, he is a keen cook and artist and likes to travel. This is rather easier these days as he is a popular speaker on cruise ships – in fact his profile picture was taken on a very gusty day in Cape Town, setting off on a long voyage home to Southampton through some of the scariest seas he and his wife have had the pleasure to meet! It really was the calm before the storm, despite being a Force 9 just leaving the Bay.
My thoughts: I can’t imagine anything worse than a film crew following you about your day, especially in a school. Although I admit I have found the end results quite intriguing (the Educating… series was quite good).
But murder, that’s a whole different set of problems. And a member of the film crew murdered in the head teacher’s office, isn’t a great start to this filming malarkey. In fact, the police pull the plug, at least for a while, and the teachers heave a sigh of relief, getting dozens of teenagers to just learn something isn’t easy.
But Maxwell, head of Sixth Form, history teacher, married to a detective, doesn’t leave it there. He does a bit more digging, unearths a few other secrets (gambling ring in the building manager’s office for starters) and gets clonked over the head for his troubles.
Then another member of the film crew is killed, in his office, while he’s off sick. What on earth is going on? He’s pretty sure even the most insufferable student isn’t a killer, but is it someone on the crew or closer to home?
Funny, clever and full of twists, I really enjoyed this and would love to know more about the mysterious Mrs B, computer genius and school cleaner.
*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 family gardener is murdered near a site of legendary buried treasure, dog-lover and mystery-solver Cressida Fawcett is on the case!
1926, Sussex. The Honourable Cressida Fawcett is delighted to return to her parents’ rambling mansion to introduce them to her pug Ruby’s puppies. But when the pups go running off with Cressida in hot pursuit, they lead her to a bubbling stream – Hell’s Ditch. And the body of Bob the gardener is floating there, his outstretched hand clutching a soggy cheese and pickle sandwich.
Everyone assumes Bob died of natural causes. But when Cressida finds a glittering gold coin grasped in his other fist, she realises this is part of the long-hidden Saxon hoard. Was Bob struck down by the gold’s ancient curse? As Cressida interviews the colourful members of the local historical society, she learns that Bob had been boasting of new-found wealth, much to the annoyance of his wife, and perhaps deadly jealousy of the other members…
Luckily for Cressida, eminent historian Sir James Colston, friend of the family, arrives at the mansion with tantalising information on the whereabouts of the rest of the Saxon gold. He promises to tell all, but the very next day he collapses into his morning porridge…
To Cressida’s horror, Marian – Bob’s widow and her parents’ cook – is accused of poisoning both the porridge and Bob’s sandwich and is carted off to jail. But Cressida is sure the answers are buried in the past. Just how far would a history boffin or a hard-up local go for an ancient pot of gold? And can Cressida dig up the truth before poison worms its way into her family’s kitchen again?
An absolutely addictive, warm and witty whodunnit that will keep you reading late into the night, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Verity Bright.
Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.
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My thoughts: Cressida is back, and my favourite detective pug, Ruby, has had six adorable puppies (chugs? Porgies?) who are causing havoc at Cressida’s parents’ country residence. They keep escaping and running wild, and then rounding them up, Cressida and her mother find the gardener, Bob, floating in the stream running through the estate. Sadly, he’s dead, and it’s not natural causes.
Cressida is on the case, and with Dotty and Alfred down for a visit, and keen to help out, she’s soon looking into Bob’s life, and his claims to have come into a tidy sum. His wife, Marian, the cook, doesn’t know anything about this. And then a house guest keels over at breakfast.
There’s a poisoner on the loose, and poor Marian is the chief suspect! But why would she kill her husband and her employer’s guest, historian Sir James? It doesn’t make any sense.
As Cressida and co investigate further, they find the motive might go a long way back to two pairs of lovebirds decades ago and a killer who hasn’t given up on true love.
Another clever whodunnit, with the delightful Cressida, Dotty and Alfred getting to grips with the case, and trying to wrangle some very wriggly puppies at the same time! Delightful.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
In this historical mystery, a string of abductions and rising tensions thrusts a young leader into a world of murky politics and dark secrets – written by award-winning BAFTA scriptwriter and film director, Mario Theodorou.
London, 1904.
Edward VII sits on the throne, the economy is faltering, and one of the youngest Prime Ministers in history has been thrust into office on the crest of a populist wave. Battling self-doubt and fierce opposition within the Commons, Felix Grey is plunged into a world of murky politics and hidden secrets when a lord is mysteriously abducted from a gentlemen’s club.
With tensions rising between the government and trade unions amidst a series of fatal factory disasters, Felix must quickly connect the dots between the missing politicians and the growing chaos in the country. A rapidly escalating chain of events is threatening to tear apart Parliament and Nation…
Can Felix crack the case and protect his country, or will he bear witness to a grim repetition of history?
About the Author
Mario Theodoru is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and author known for his diverse body of work across both comedy and drama. Selected for the BBC’s prestigious Drama Writer’s Programme, he was named one of the BBC’s 200 emerging talents on their Hotlist. His original commissions include projects for BBC Drama and Sky, and his radio drama The Cyprus Missing aired on BBC Radio 4 and BBC America. Mario’s short films Anonymous, Echo, and The Gifted Hypothesis have garnered numerous awards, selections and nominations at Oscar, BAFTA, and BIFA-qualifying film festivals. His accolades include Best Drama at Cannes Shorts, Best Narrative Short and Best Male Actor at FIFF, as well as a nomination for the Short Film Award at the Oscar-qualifying Austin Film Festival and selection for the Oscar-qualifying Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival. Mario attended Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan and taught soccer for the MLS in Arizona and Los Angeles before returning to London. He is also a BAFTA member and serves on the board of the Kingston International Film Festival.
My thoughts: Felix Grey is the somewhat beleaguered Prime Minister during Edward VII’s reign. The country is in turmoil, strikes threaten to bring the mines, factories and mills to a standstill, the Opposition are demanding an election, and two members of the Lords have been kidnapped, a card with a strange symbol printed on it the only clue.
Somehow Felix is able to conduct his own investigation despite being one of the most recognisable faces around, and the police guarding Downing Street are completely oblivious. I cannot imagine any present day PM a) caring that much and b) risking themselves in such a way. He’s a very noble and brave, if a little stupid, man.
He does have allies in the form of his friend Amelia, an Oxford professor originally from Texas, and Alfred, a young man he meets during his investigation and gives refuge to. He should however trust the police a bit more – they do know what they’re doing it turns out.
The case has links to a dark, and never forgotten, moment in British history, but is there more to it. Who is the person pulling the strings?
Clever, entertaining and well researched, I look forward to Felix and his friends carrying out more heroic investigations to protect the country and try to get it on an even keel once 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.
ramblingmads 