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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
The BRAND NEW Barton thriller from the bestselling Ross Greenwood.
After three years behind a desk, Inspector John Barton wonders if he’s still got what it takes. An opportunity arises to return to Major Crimes, so he jumps at it, after all he’s been around the block a few times. When he and his team are called in to investigate an attempted murder which seems to be linked to the case of a missing child, Barton is immediately thrust back into the life of a detective – early mornings, late nights and endless pressure to get to the truth. Then a man dies.
Something deadly is going on behind the high walls and imposing gates of the mansions in the sleepy village of Castor. The locals are keeping each other’s secrets and if Barton doesn’t find out why soon, the bodies will start mounting up. The Village Killer knows who’s next, and the clock is ticking…
The book all Ross Greenwood fans have been waiting for – Barton is Back! Ross Greenwood returns to his bestselling series, perfect for fans of Mark Billingham and Ian Rankin.
Ross Greenwood has had an eclectic career, ranging from financial advisor to Prison officer. The advent of parenthood and the terrifying rise of Spice in prison led Ross to become a stay -at-home parent and a novelist.
My thoughts: DCI Barton returns to his former team at the MIT to lead them in searching for a missing fourteen year old girl, whose mother seems rather blasé for someone whose only child has disappeared.
There’s also the near miss of a local woman, who thinks someone tried to run her over while she was out jogging. Then her neighbour dies in suspicious circumstances, what is going on in the village of Castor ? Behind their gates, in their fancy houses, there’s secrets that could prove deadly.
Barton slots back into his old team pretty neatly, giving Zander some much needed time off means he’s actually out interviewing and being involved in the case, not just overseeing it from the office. This gives him a way to reconnect with his colleagues. It also puts him front and centre as they try to sort out the incidences in Castor and find a precocious teenager, who might not exactly be in the trouble they think.
Clever, compelling and really enjoyable, the Peterborough MIT team are diligent and dig into the lives of the people who live in these posh houses, and those who work there too. Someone has a vendetta and as lives unravel, Barton and his team of detectives must work to catch a killer and help those who need 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.
A mysterious bequest and the legacy of a tragic love – only one person can unravel the hidden secrets of the past before it’s too late…
When Elisabeth Quemener dies she leaves a small parcel with the instructions that it must only be opened by Astrid Oake. The trouble is, no one knows who Astrid Oake is…
Elisabeth’s family turn to Touissants detective agency for help but, when Mila Shepherd and Carter Jackson try to track Astrid down, their frustration soon mounts. Their only clue is a photo of two young women holding the hands of a tiny child. The women are smiling but Mila is haunted by the sadness in their eyes. Is this Astrid and Elisabeth and if so, who is the child? And why are there signs everywhere in Elisabeth’s home that the old woman was frightened despite her living a quiet life with no known enemies?
As Elisabeth and Astrid’s story slowly unfolds, Mila feels the walls of her home The Sea House closing in. And as the secrets finally begin to reveal themselves, she is ever more determined to carry out Elisabeth’s final wishes. Because what is inside that unprepossessing parcel might just save a life…
Louise Douglas is back in the Brittany seaside town of Morranez with a heart-stopping, heart-breaking, brilliantly written and utterly compelling mystery. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton, Eve Chase and Lucinda Riley.
Hello! I’m Louise, author of 12 novels mostly set in the Somerset countryside close to where I live and Sicily. I’m thrilled to have won the RNA Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller award 2021 for The House by the Sea which has sold more than a quarter of a million copies.
My thoughts: I’ve read some of the previous books featuring Toussaints investigators but you can read this as a standalone.
An unusual bequest in a will leads Mila to the wilds of Yorkshire’s moors in the quest for a woman no one remembers seeing in years. At the same time the results of the DNA test carried out on the body found in a sea cave are due – is it her brother-in-law Charlie? If it is, how will his daughter Ani, Mila’s niece, react?
Travelling back and forth from France to Britain, attempting to trace the life of the missing Astrid Oake and the woman who left her the bequest, Elisabeth Quemener, as well as prepare for Christmas with fiancè Luke, still living in Bristol, means Mila has a lot on her plate. Will something have to give?
Another clever and complex riddle for the team at Toussaints to unravel, how do you find someone who seems to have vanished into thin air? And while dealing with the ongoing tragedy of Sophie and Charlie’s accident at sea. Ani is turning sixteen, and needs Mila both more and less than before, leaving Mila torn between raising her niece and marrying the ever patient Luke.
*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 Italy’s greatest opera singer, Rodolfo Argento, is killed in a terrible car accident, the police initially rule his death a tragic accident or suicide. But his elderly mother, Violetta, believes this to be poppycock! Her son was a brilliant driver and had too much to live for. She suspects foul play and turns to Private Investigator, Dan Armstrong to discover the truth.
A cheating spouse?
So Dan and Oscar travel to Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet, to find out what really happened. There Dan discovers Rodolfo’s private life could have come straight out of a Shakespeare play. Although now happily married, Rodolfo was a man with a reputation to rival Casanova, his past strewn with heartbroken women. Could his death have been a star-crossed lover determined to get revenge?
A family feud?
Or does the truth lie much closer to home? With his large inheritance still to be settled, the motive for Rodolfo’s murder could simply be greed. As Dan searches for suspects while staying at the Argento Opera Academy (where people randomly launch into operatic arias.) life for Dan is complicated by the fact that Oscar has a habit of joining in with the singing…
Can Dan solve the case before he and his tone-deaf dog get thrown out?
I’ve written all sorts: thrillers, historical novels, short stories and now I’m enjoying myself hugely writing romance and whodunnits. Romantic comedies are what we all need from time to time. Life isn’t always very fair. It isn’t always a lot of fun, but when it is, we need to embrace it. Murder mystery is all very well, but it needs to put a smile on your face, so that’s why I like to inject some humour.
My thoughts: I love this cover, with Oscar playing a canine Romeo in his smart yellow bow tie!
This time we’re in Verona, where Dan and Anna (and Oscar) are invited to stay at the Argento Operatic Academy while investigating the death of opera singer Rodolfo, whose family own the academy. He crashed his car into a tree, speeding, but his mother believes the police are wrong in assuming it was suicide or a tragic accident.
Dan asks a lot of questions and Oscar gets a girlfriend! All of his questions do seem to be leading to murder, and he’s got plenty of suspects to rule out, from family members, Rodolfo’s agent, staff at the Academy, various locals the singer either seduced or their husbands, it’s a lot to sort through.
Dan works with the local police to find out who the killer was and also why they killed Rodolpho. It almost leads to another death, and things get a bit intense, but thankfully things work themselves out. Though Oscar’s romance with fellow Labrador Elektra has yet to be resolved.
*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 a ruthless gang burgles the home of a Premier League football player, DCI Gavin Roscoe and DS Sunita Roy suddenly have a murder and a kidnap on their hands. The footballer’s stepson, Marcel, is taken from the palatial property whilst it is being ransacked, and his bodyguard is shot, stone cold dead.
To help them with their task, DI Parkes from the National Crime Agency’s Kidnap Unit joins the investigation but he has very different ideas about how the operation should be run.
While rain lashes the surrounding countryside, tempers rise, as do the flood waters. Can the police track down this dangerous gang, unmask its malevolent ringleader, and reunite the boy with his family before it’s too late?
IT NEVER RAINS is the sixth book in the detectives Roy and Roscoe crime fiction series by Tony Bassett.
Tony Bassett is a former journalist who worked on regional and national newspapers in Britain for more than 40 years. He mainly reported on crime, show business, human interest and consumer topics. Now retired, he writes crime fiction. Tony is best known for his series of novels set in the West Midlands. They feature Detective Chief Inspector Gavin Roscoe, an experienced detective and family man, and his sergeant, law graduate and resourceful problem-solver Sunita Roy.
The fifth book in the series, Heir To Murder, was judged first in the Mystery and Suspense (Police Procedurals) category in the American Fiction Awards in June 2024. The novel concerns a peer of the realm’s son found axed to death after a row over loud music. Two years earlier, his older brother mysteriously disappeared while hiking in Spain. Here is the Amazon link The series is published by The Book Folks, an independent London publisher specialising in crime fiction.
Other books in the series (in order) are: Murder On Oxford Lane, The Crossbow Stalker, Murder Of A Doctor and Out for Revenge. His stand-alone thriller Seat 97, about a man shot dead at a London concert hall, has also been published by The Book Folks. Two further works (the crime novel Smile Of The Stowaway and the spy novel The Lazarus Charter) were published by The Conrad Press.
Tony first developed a love of writing at the age of nine when he produced a junior school magazine. A few years later, his local vicar in Tunbridge Wells staged his play about the Biblical story of Naboth’s Vineyard. At Hull University, Tony was judged Time-Life Magazine student journalist of the year in 1971.
Tony, who has five grown-up children, is a Life Member of the National Union of Journalists. He lives in South-East London with his partner Lin
My thoughts: This was a very clever, interesting police procedural and DS Sunita Roy does tremendous work unravelling the case and finding the missing boy. Unlike the twit they’ve been landed with from the NCA’s Kidnap Unit – DI Parkes, who just seems to have useless ideas and get under foot. At one point I thought he might be the man on the inside, so inept is his involvement.
Thankfully the rest of the team, and DCI Roscoe aren’t idiots and follow the evidence. Which shows a much larger, and more complicated conspiracy than it first appeared.
Another great read from Tony Bassett, a man who knows how to write a gripping and intelligent 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.
TO STEAL A MAN’S FREEDOM ALL IT TAKES IS . . . CONVICTION
Wade Darling stands accused of killing his wife and teenage children as they slept before burning the family home to the ground.
When the case lands on barrister Neve Harper’s desk, she knows it could be the career making case she’s been waiting for. But only if she can prove Wade’s innocence.
A matter of days before the case, as Neve is travelling home for the night, she is approached by a man. He tells her she must lose this case or the secret about her own husband’s disappearance will be revealed.
Failing that, he will kill everyone she cares about until she follows orders.
Neve must make a choice – betray every principle she has ever had by putting a potentially innocent man in prison, or risk putting those she loves in mortal danger.
For fans of Steve Cavanagh, Linwood Barclay and Gillian McAllister, introducing the latest novel from the master of the moral dilemma, Jack Jordan.
My thoughts: Neve has been handed the biggest case of her career – defending a man accused of murdering his family and burning his house down to cover up his crimes. Then she is told that she must get him convicted. His late wife’s family are willing to kill her’s to ensure this happens. They’re positive he’s guilty, and even if he isn’t, tough.
Neve is placed in a difficult position, an impossible one. Her client insists he’s innocent but Neve becomes less sure as the case goes on. Can she throw the trial and have an innocent man locked up or is he as guilty as his wife’s family says?
Clever, gripping and full of twists, this is another brilliant thriller from Jack Jordan, with a fascinating, conflicted protagonist and a complex moral dilemma at its heart.
*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’re celebrating the one year anniversary of Death Rattle by Carter Pugh this week!
Death Rattle Publication Date: September 10, 2023 Genre: Murder Mystery/ Urban Fantasy 🔪🫀Murder Mysteries 🏰Urban Fantasy 🕵️Hidden Identities 👩❤️👨He Falls First 🌶️ Spicy 🧚♂️ The Fae 🛏️ One bed 🫦Forced Proximity 🌪️Twists 🫶🪄Fated Mates 🌏Parallel Worlds 👯♀️👬Multiple POV 📚 Start of a Trilogy 🥺😢Depression/Anxiety Rep
Murder Mystery meets Urban Fantasy in this coming-of-age tale where nothing is as it seems.
Meet Clarke Carpenter, a thirty-year-old nanny and student who desires a life more substantial than her own, full of magic and wonder. After moving to the city, hoping to overcome her insecurities and claim a more vibrant life, her world unexpectedly upturns when she is accused of murdering her roommate. Clarke’s dreams of a fairytale existence are obliterated…or are they?
Follow along in this thrilling first instalment of the Death Book series as Clarke discovers the mystery of who she is.
My thoughts: Clarke’s life seems to be going well, until she finds her roommate dead, and as the only suspect, everything goes wrong. Her best friend goes missing and the police think she’s involved in that too. Until a strange man convinces her to run away with him, and gives the cops an alternative suspect.
But there’s more to this than a straightforward crime thriller, whole other dimensions as Clarke’s unlikely rescuer is from another world, and maybe so is Clarke …
Checkout girl Bea Jordan has a knack for stumbling into trouble. Even so, nothing can ruin her picnic in the allotment with her best friend, green-thumbed Ant.
With the annual Kingsleigh Flower and Produce Show approaching, she feels he’s had little time for her. Especially with the drama of a prize-winning tomato thief on the loose.
But a grizzly discovery is waiting for them by the pumpkin patch . . .
The body of Dylan Bradley, their old history teacher. Someone stuck a trowel in his head and left him for dead.
But who would want to hurt Dylan? Bea has a feeling it has something to do with the ruby ring he dug up in the allotment.
Then the discovery of a second body throws the townsfolk into full-blown turmoil. Now Bea must juggle small-town secrets, rivalries and murder with her growing feelings for Ant.
Can she dig up the truth before the killer strikes again, or has Bea finally planted the seed for her own demise?
AN ABSOLUTELY GRIPPING COZY MYSTERY FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS AND LOVEABLE CHARACTERS.
Meet the workers of Kingsleigh Costsave. There’s Bea, a maths whizz with a heart of gold. Ant, a hapless high-school drop-out. And wisecracking Dot, in her late fifties and always beautifully coiffed.
I’m a fiftysomething author of psych thrillers and cosy crime books for adults and thrillers for young for adults. I live in Bath, England, and have a husband, two grown up children and two dogs. I’ve been a full-time writer for 10 years, before which I had ‘sensible’ jobs.
I’m now writing crime for adults. My cozy crime series, The Supermarket Mysteries, is now published as ebooks with Joffe Books. The first novel in the series is The Missing Checkout Girl Mystery.
My debut psychological thriller, Safe With You, is published by HQ Digital and is out now.
For young adults, I have published the Numbers trilogy, The Drowning and Water Born with Chicken House UK. The first book came out in the UK in 2009 and the USA in 2010. My Numbers books explore the gift of being able to see death dates. If you looked in somebody’s eyes and saw the date of their death, would it change the way you felt about people? They’ve been published in 26 countries and optioned for film.
My thoughts: I like this series, I like Bea and Dot very much, but it was interesting to have a book that was focused a bit more on Ant and the other male staff members at Costsave, as well as some of the other characters.
Ant and Bob have been helping their friend Charles out with his allotment, and getting giant marrow Marvin ready for the local produce show and competition. Ant has been spending a lot of time there after work and bonding with the other growers, especially retired teacher Dylan. His genuine horror at finding Dylan’s body, locked in his shed with a trowel to the skull is awful. But he determines to find out who killed his friend and why.
Bea doesn’t want anything to do with it, understandably, but gets drawn into the case anyway. Dylan was a local councillor and wanted to open a town museum to showcase the history. She’s fascinated by this aspect of his life and agrees to find out more.
The whole gang become part of the investigation and the allotments are central to what they uncover as is Dylan’s passion for local history. The town might not seem like an interesting place to many, but all the intrigue and murder they uncover suggests otherwise!
A smart and witty crime novel with really great characters, always a pleasure to read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
London based lawyer Kyra Gibson returns to Martha’s Vineyard and the beach house she inherited for an extended summer holiday. Still reeling from her father’s brutal murder and the role she and the handsome detective, Tarek Collins played in uncovering it, Kyra is hopeful for some peace and quiet. But when a summer squall reveals the wreckage of the pirate ship, Keres, rich with rumored treasure, all hopes of peace are dashed. Conservationists and treasure hunters descend on the exclusive island to lay claim to the ship. When two of the salvagers are killed, Kyra and Tarek’s friend, pub owner and amateur historian, Gully Gould is arrested for murder.
Determined to prove Gully’s innocence, Kyra, Tarek, and reformed playboy Chase Hawthorn team up to clear their friend’s name. But someone wants the treasure for themselves. And with someone willing to kill for it, there is more than just danger lurking along the island’s caves and coves. There is death.
Attorney Kyra Gibson has a lot on her mind this Thanksgiving. She’s been working long hours on a multi-billion dollar corporate merger, her family is visiting from London, and her relationship with former police detective Tarek Collins is heating up. When she and her companions are invited by her aristocrat client to attend a formal gala at a historic mansion on Chappaquiddick, Kyra reluctantly agrees.
But Chappy is more than just a playground for the wealthy. It’s a wild, remote place cut off from civilization. When the first body is found, the occupants are worried. Was it an accident or murder? When a second guest is brutally killed and then a third, there’s no doubt and the guests fearfully turn on each other. They are locked in a house with a murderer picking them off one-by-one. Kyra, her best friend Chase Hawthorn, and Tarek must survive the night and find the killer, or one of them could be next.
Both novels are from the Martha’s Vineyard Murders series, which starts with A Chain of Pearls. They can be read as standalones.
Raemi A Ray’s travels to Martha’s Vineyard and around the world inspire her stories. She lives outside Boston. When not writing or traveling she earns her keep as the personal assistant to the resident house demons, Otto and Dolph Lundgren.
My thoughts: I’ve really enjoyed these books, and hopefully there will be more to come.
Set on Martha’s Vineyard, each book can be read as a standalone or as part of a series, which is how I’ve read them.
Wraith’s Return – after a long lost ship is found just off the island, rumoured to be full of pirate treasure, it brings trouble to the small community. Pub owner Gully is invested in raising the ship from the seabed, and several conservation groups are protesting the plan.
When Gully becomes a suspect in the murders of two divers, and then a local fisherman, tensions heighten. Can lawyer Kyra and police detective Tyrek help Gully clear his name and find the real killer?
The book really casts the divide between lifelong islanders and “newcomers” like Gully, Tyrek and Kyra, even though all three have links to the island. Gully is suspected even though he’s the one who was funding the divers and has no reason to want them dead. Kyra is a brilliant investigator, even though she’s not a criminal lawyer (mergers and acquisitions) she has a really good understanding of human nature and an analytical way of thinking that make her a natural sleuth.
Widow’s Walk – Kyra’s most demanding client has rented a huge historic mansion on the small neighbouring island of Chappaquiddick to celebrate a huge deal. It’s Thanksgiving, and Kyra’s family are visiting. She doesn’t want to go to the event, but her boss and the client won’t take no for an answer, including her guests as theirs.
A tribute to Golden Age crime, this is a smart and clever read, with only a few people cut off from the larger island by a storm, the phones and Internet down, when the bodies start to pile up – one of them must be a killer.
Once again Kyra and her friends must solve the crime, identify the killer and keep themselves safe and alive long enough for help to arrive. They have limited resources, a lot of places to hide and plenty of suspects.
What first seem like accidents take on more sinister aspects when they find a very clearly murdered victim, and accusations fly. A woman is missing too – is she the killer or another victim?
Kyra and Tyrek are trying to get to the bottom of the case, is it linked to the big deal they’re all in the house to celebrate or is it about something else? Who could be killing the guests?
Both books are well written and very enjoyable, I liked the characters a lot too, Kyra is a great protagonist and her group of friends and family are a pleasure to spend time with. She’s smart and resourceful and as Wraith’s Walk ends with her needing to make decisions about her future, if she becomes a PI, I think she’d make a great one.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
