Tag: crime fiction

The Fatal Farandole is a cozy mystery full of plot twists and small-town secrets. It’s perfect for fans of character-driven crime novels with emotional depth.

A beloved Provençal festival.

A murderous conspiracy.

A bullfighter who knows too much.

When two local chefs are killed within a week, shockwaves ripple through the region’s tight-knit culinary world.
Suspicion lands squarely on baker Julie Cavallo.

As whispers turn to accusations, her eccentric family closes ranks, and her loyal friends rally to her side.

But Julie’s running out of time. Her pastry shop is at risk. Her love life is unraveling. The gendarmes are tracking her every move. Julie can’t afford to wait for the official investigation to uncover the
truth.

Her instincts go into overdrive. Dots connect. Patterns appear…

Can Julie make it through this case, when asking the right questions has already gotten others killed?

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Ana T. Drew is the evil mastermind behind a recent string of murders in the fictional French town of Beldoc. A first-place winner of the Chanticleer MYSTERY & MAYHEM Awards, her books have been
released in several languages, both independently and through traditional houses, including HarperCollins France and Straarup & Co.

When she’s not plotting mysteries, Ana can be found perfecting her low-carb cookie recipes or watching The Rookie to cope with the void left by Castle.

Ana lives in Paris with her husband and their dog, but her heart resides in Provence.

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Win a boxset of the three books in the Provence Mysteries Series (Open INT)

My thoughts: as the town gears up to celebrate the annual bullfight, and Julie is waiting to see whether her bakery is one of the caterers, a friend is murdered and she finds herself locked in a fridge with her grandmother’s dog and somehow the prime suspect.

Julie and her friends decide to carry out their own investigation, especially as the police seem so focused on her, even after another suspicious death which she can’t possibly be involved in.

As they dig into the lives of the victims, they find a conspiracy, one that someone will kill to keep hidden. Can Julie avoid becoming the next victim?

Clever, funny and enjoyable, this was an entertaining crime read with plenty of twists (and now I really want a pistachio croissant!)

*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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Every place has its ghosts. Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most.

17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned.

Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since. Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime.

The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive.

Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present. But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty…

Sarah Hilary is the critically-acclaimed author of nine novels. Her debut, Someone Else’s Skin, won the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year 2015 and was also a World Book Night selection, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and a finalist for both the Silver Falchion and Macavity Awards in the US.

No Other Darkness, the second in her DI Marnie Rome series, was shortlisted for a Barry Award. Sarah is Programme Director for St Hilda’s Crime Fiction Weekend, and cofounder of Ledburied, a crime fiction festival in her home town. Her short stories have won the Fish Criminally Short Histories Prize, the Cheshire Prize for Literature, and the SENSE Prize.

My thoughts: Joe survived the devastating accident that killed his classmates and now everyone in town looks at him differently. It doesn’t help that he once admitted he sees the ghosts of his classmates, especially his best friend.

It’s exhausting for him, being the focus of so much pain and loss, but he never left. And now he’s a detective working with a new DI on a horrific new case that’s bringing his awful experience back to the forefront of the community’s minds.

Can he and Laurie solve the case, and keep the town from falling apart again as Joe becomes the focus of another tragedy?

An intelligent and intriguing case, starting what should be an interesting new series from a writer who understands how to get a reader hooked.

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

A man lies beaten to a pulp in a deserted car park in Maidstone, Kent.

His own brother put him there.

Josh Winters never saw it coming. He trusted his brother Alex. He always has.

Detective Abigail Morton is embedded in a fractured source-handling unit on the Kent
coast. She’s working a dangerous informant operation against the Winters’ criminal gang. Everyone says the brothers are untouchable.

But something is shifting inside the organisation. A crack running through its
foundations – and Abigail is close enough to feel it.

Getting close enough to use it is another matter.

But now she has a way in.
Josh and Alex’s mother, Betsy, is willing to turn on her own sons . . .

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Charlie Gallagher was a serving UK police officer for thirteen years. During that time
he had many roles — starting as a front-line response officer, he became a member of a specialist tactical team and finally a detective investigating serious offences. Charlie left to concentrate on writing full time.

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My thoughts: When Betsy, mother of the Winter brothers contacts the police, willing to give them information on her sons’ criminal activities, the police are pleased. She’s able to overhear all sorts of things as her boys hold meetings in her kitchen.

Her handler Abigail is careful, aware that while Betsy seems determined to put her sons’ away, she’s protective of her grandson Max, who might be more involved in her father and uncle’s business than his grandmother is willing to believe.

While Betsy’s information does help a little, the police need more to go on to follow up and as the end of the year approaches, Abigail and her partner Vince have found a few things out that might put a crimp in Betsy’s plan and that of her sons’.

There’s some great twists in this story about a family failing apart as they become embroiled in crime and the police’s attempts to stop them.

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

I only survived high school because of my best friend Mia. Me and her, together
against the world. No matter what.

The moment I graduated, I left town forever — and erased the girl I used to be. New name. New body. New life. Even my own mom wouldn’t recognize me now.
But two years later I’m back in Devil’s Paradise — the place I swore I’d never return to.

Because Mia is missing.

Her last letter says she was being watched. Followed. Hunted.

So here I am. Mia needs me. Me and her — we’ve always saved each other. But no
one can know my real name isn’t Charlie, it’s Reagan. That I used to be one of them.
Because if they find out who I really am, it’s not just Mia’s life on the line . . . it’s
mine too.

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Kaelin Wennerberg was born and raised in a small town in Montana, US. Since a very
young age she has dreamed of becoming an author and writing for a living. It took her four years to write her debut novel, “The Jameson Cabin”. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her fiancé, friends and family or reading any horror/thriller novel that she can find.

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My thoughts: What starts out as a true crime/thriller style story takes a more horrific twist as Charlie discovers the truth behind the disappearance not only of her own best friend, Mia, but a series of young women going back decades.

Having escaped her home town for college and total reinvention, the last thing she wants is to go back, but the letters she receives from Mia, letters written over the months they’ve been apart, and then the sudden disappearance of her friend, mean she feels she must return.

But getting too close to the mayor and his inner circle, to the dark and rotten secrets at the heart of the town, put her in danger.

And then there’s Jaymes, Mia’s high school boyfriend and Charlie’s forever crush. He wants to help find Mia, and maybe some answers about his twin sister’s disappearance too. She vanished not long after graduation and he’s never really recovered. Could this be a way to get closure or will the truth destroy the fragile friendship he and Charlie build?

There’s a lot going on, so many secrets and some sheer craziness too as Charlie tries to find her way to the truth, even as she attempts to keep her own secrets close. But it’s really enjoyable and I liked Charlie, even if she isn’t who she appears to be.

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

Detective Mike Nash thought that moving back to Yorkshire from London would
give him a quieter life. Little did he know . . .

Welcome to Stark Ghyll. A bleak ravine that cuts across the Yorkshire moors like a
scar. Folk call this place the Valley of Death. And it’s about to live up to its name.
A woman’s body is found, waist-deep in the treacherous murk. She’s barely cold,
but the crows have already taken her eyes.

One look at her ruined face, and Detective Mike Nash realizes: this woman’s death was no accident. It was murder.

The marsh has swallowed every trace of her killer. But not the victim’s identity.
A positive ID soon follows, but the victim’s name only leads to more questions.

Longstanding misper Vicky Lambert.

Mike’s been searching for Vicky for twenty long years.
Ever since the first time she was murdered …

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Bill Kitson was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. His father, a wool merchant, was a fan of crime books giving Bill access to his diverse thriller collection from a young age.

Educated at Ashville College, Bill worked in the family business before spending over thirty years as a bank executive. A keen cricketer and sportsman, the highlight of his career came when he umpired a one-day international at Lords.

He and his wife now live in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, where he writes crime,
romance, and general fiction. Bill’s interests include Cricket, Crime, Crete, Cookery, Cryptic crosswords – and also Alliteration.

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My thoughts: I do enjoy this series, and this was a very good addition, with conspiracies and secrets to be found.

The discovery of human remains at an archaeological dig isn’t always one for the police, but these bodies are. The bones have bullet wounds, something the settlement’s ancient inhabitants wouldn’t have.

The DNA of one of the bodies leads the police to a missing person case from twenty years before. And then more bodies turn up – is there a connection between the first two and the more recent death of a woman who supposedly died two decades ago?

Mike and his team find lies, embezzlement, murder and a long lost love story as they hunt for answers.

There’s also a secondary case involving local drug dealers, Amazon deliveries and a connection to the murders that at first leads them astray.

It’s a cracking read and fiendish enough with long reaching roots, to satisfy any fan of conspiracies as well as murder.

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