Tag: crime fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Story to Strangle For – E.V. Hunter

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A failing hotel…
With its reputation in tatters, Alexi Ellis is determined to save her beloved Hopgood Hall from any more bad press. A writing course for wannabe journalists shouldn’t cause too many issues and will
hopefully take the heat off Hopgood Hall….

A shocking death…
But disaster strikes, when one of the group is found dead in a local pub. What’s worse Alexi was the last person to see the victim alive, which makes her suspect number one.

A case too close to home?
Alexi is sure she is being set up but who would go to such deadly lengths? With her
reputation and liberty on the line, this is a case Alexi, Jack and Cosmo can’t afford to leave unsolved!

Perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Frances Evesham and Emma Davies.

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Evie Hunter has written a great many successful regency romances as Wendy Soliman and is now redirecting her talents to produce dark gritty thrillers for Boldwood. For the past twenty years she
has lived the life of a nomad, roaming the world on interesting forms of transport, but has now settled back in the UK.

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My thoughts: Alexi has organised a course for aspiring journalists, ones who can afford it, that is. The six attendees are supposed to find local stories to write about…not become the story! But unfortunately she’s now associated with another murder as one of the course members is found aggressively strangled to death in the gents of a local pub.

The dead man has a mysterious past, and a tragic one at that. Is it his childhood in an awful care home that has led to his death or is it something more recent? Which government department does he work for, is it his work or the story he’s been chasing?

As Alexi and Jack (and obviously Cosmo, my favourite crime favourite crime sniffing moggy) start to dig, they find links to a missing local woman, another attendee and Alexi’s former boss Patrick. There seems to be a lot more to Peter Foreman than it first appeared. And who killed him?

Another clever, knotty and entertaining read in this series.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Yule Island – Johana Gusťawsson, translated by David Warriner

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Art expert Emma Lindahl is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.

Emma must work alone, and with the Gussman family apparently avoiding her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to hide? As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants.

When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate, and memories of his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could this young woman’s tragic death somehow hold the key?

Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past – Viking rites and tainted love – and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest winter…

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently under way in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding was a number-one bestseller in France and received immense critical acclaim across the globe. Johana lives in Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.

My thoughts: this is not a Christmas book, despite the title, it’s a creepy, dark read about obsession, murder, and how twisted some minds can get.

And it is also so, so good. Totally compelling, very enjoyable as I like dark, weird stuff, and peopled with very normal individuals, and some very disturbed ones passing as normal. Which of course makes it worse.

There are several narratives that once you realise what’s happening and how they interconnect, build to reveal the total horror that has taken place in the Gussman family’s manor house.

This is the second book I’ve read from this author, and it is deeply chilling but incredibly interesting and her writing (and the excellent work of the translator) just sucks you into the world Johana has created on this island. It’s that good. If you prefer your winter reading to be dark and full of horrors, monsters hidden in plain sight, then this is absolutely for you.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

#TeamDaniels Double Review: Without a Trace & Her Last Request – Mari Hannah

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A FATAL CRASH

A plane on route from London to New York City has disappeared out of the sky. This breaking news dominates every TV channel, every social media platform, and every waking hour of the Metropolitan Police and US Homeland Security.

A PRIVATE TRAGEDY

The love of DCI Kate Daniels’ life was on that aircraft, but she has no authority to investigate. This major disaster is outside of her jurisdiction and she’s ordered to walk away.

A SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH

But Kate can’t let it lie. She has to find out what happened to that plane – even if it means going off book. No one is safe.

And there are some very dangerous people watching her…

My thoughts: when Kate believes Jo is on a plane that has just been destroyed, she leaps into action, crashing into the investigation and demanding full access. Bright is playing catch up getting the paperwork in place, and as the case builds, it seems there’s a link not to terrorism, but to a murder in Kate’s own back yard. Could this all be about a war between drug dealing gangs in Northumberland?

Kate is recruited to help the FBI to investigate and get justice for the flight’s passengers, which may or may not include Jo. This case is personal and then becomes something so much bigger than Kate could imagine, and also incredibly local. It’s all hands on deck and it could end up costing the MIT everything.

A Hidden Clue

A victim leaves a note for the SIO who will investigate her death. This not what DCI Kate Daniels expects to find concealed at a crime scene.

A Desperate Plea

The note contains a last request: ‘Find Aaron’. But is Kate searching for a potential second victim, or a killer?

The Countdown is on…

Following the clues, Kate becomes the obsession of her adversary who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Will she find Aaron before he does?

My thoughts: imagine you know that you’re going to die, in fact, you’re going to be murdered. Would you carefully leave a trail of evidence to lead the police to your killer? Ensuring that they can’t reach the one person you’d do anything to keep safe in the process.

Kate’s newest case has a victim so determined to protect someone and ensure their killer ends up where he belongs. But only if Kate can figure out all the clues and follow the trail left behind. It’s a clever, complex case, and Kate needs to ensure the team is at their best, but after the events of the last book, they’re still reeling.

This series just gets better and better, the cases more intriguing, complex and ingenious. And Kate finally starts to understand the concept of a work/life balance, as opposed to her eat sleep breathe the job behaviour. Thankfully the ever loyal Hank Gormley is always right behind her, trying to stop her going off the rails completely.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Dead Sweet – Katrin Júlíusdóttir, translated by Quentin Bates

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When a celebrated government official is found dead after his surprise birthday party, a young police officer uncovers a terrifying world of financial crime, sinister cults and disturbing secret lives. Icelandic politician KatrÍn JÚlÍusdÓttir’s award-winning, breathtaking debut, and first in a chilling series.

When Óttar Karlsson, a wealthy and respected government official and businessman, is found murdered, after failing to turn up at his own surprise birthday party, the police are at a loss. It isn’t until young police officer SigurdÍs finds a well-hidden safe in his impersonal luxury apartment that clues start emerging.

As Óttar’s shady business dealings become clear, a second, unexpected line of enquiry emerges, when SigurdÍs finds a US phone number in the safe, along with papers showing regular money transfers to an American account. Following the trail to Minnesota, trauma rooted in SigurdÍs’s own childhood threatens to resurface and the investigation strikes chillingly close to home…

Atmospheric, deeply unsettling and full of breakneck twists and turns, Dead Sweet is a startling debut thriller that uncovers a terrifying world of financial crime, sinister cults and disturbing secret lives, and kicks off an addictive, mind-blowing new series.

KatrÍn received the Blackbird Award, an Icelandic crime-writing prize, for her first novel, Dead Sweet. Her debut novel was reviewed well by critics and hit the best-selling lists in the first weeks after publication. KatrÍn has a political background and was a member of Parliament from 2003 until 2016. Before she was elected to Parliament, KatrÍn was an advisor and project manager at a tech company and a senior buyer and CEO in the retail sector, as well as the Managing Director of a student union during her uni years.

Translator – Quentin Bates escaped English suburbia as a teenager, jumping at the chance of a gap year working in Iceland. He is the author of a series of crime novels set in present-day Iceland (Frozen Out, Cold Steal, Chilled to the Bone, Winterlude, Cold Comfort and Thin Ice which have been published worldwide. He has translated all of Ragnar JÓnasson’s Dark Iceland series.

My thoughts: this was really good, but also really awful because when the truth comes out about the victim, Óttar, he turns out to have been one bad man and I didn’t really want the cops to find his killer, because weirdly I felt bad for them – not him!

SigurdÍs is a really good investigator, even if she does go off on her own – she just wants to prove to her bosses that she’s a great cop and not keep getting left out of investigations or given paperwork to shuffle.

I really hope this grows into a series as I was completely hooked, the writing (and Quentin’s brilliant translation work) was so gripping and compelling, even as I realised, oh no, he’s guilty of really gross and horrible things, I wanted to keep reading.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Beggar and the Ghost – Vincent Holland-Keen

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At the very moment when Daniel Littlewood decides to end his worthless life, he’s not himself any more.He’s the suave and deadly hero of a Hollywood dream filled with fast cars, beautiful women and jetsetting intrigue.As fantasy and reality begin to collide and a global conspiracy threatens the fate of the world, the only question is,𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝘿𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙡 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚…

The Beggar and The Ghost is Part One in the stunning high concept thriller Eidolan Trilogy. Part Two coming Summer 2024.

Vincent lives in Leeds with his wife and an assortment of plush hippos. As a child he was constantly disappointed that his wardrobe didn’t open into Narnia, but eventually realised writing about excitement and adventure is a lot less stressful than living it. He works for a major metropolitan university doing the kind of IT that doesn’t involve telling people to switch it off and on again.

My thoughts: this was quite interesting, Daniel’s life is falling apart, it can’t get much worse but now he’s having strange blackouts and waking up in someone else’s body, someone else’s life. In which he seems to be a kickass assassin or something. If only he could work out what’s going on.

As he flips back and forth between his two lives – the rubbish old one and the exciting but terrifying alternate one, he’s spiralling and the two lives are slowly scaring him. Especially as his dream one is edging into reality, and reality is bad enough.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Waitress – Emily Shiner

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Secrets can be kept. If you’re willing to pay the price.

Anne Marie’s life isn’t easy. She’s a single mom in a dead-end waitressing job with a beater car and bills to pay. Adding to the pressure, her teenage son, Dave, is out of control, and no matter what she does, Anne Marie can’t seem to get through to him.

Then, out of the blue, Dave completely changes. He’s kind, he’s thoughtful, he helps out around the house and looks after his mom. Anne Marie can’t believe her luck.

Until she discovers the reason for her son’s sudden transformation – he’s done something really awful and he’s terrified he’ll be caught. Even worse, someone out there knows about it and they’re blackmailing him.

Anne Marie is desperate to protect her son and knows she has to somehow stop the blackmailer. But how?

As she considers her choices, Anne Marie realizes she may be taking the first steps on a path that will lead her straight to the gates of hell.

How far is she willing to go to save her only child?

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Emily Shiner always dreamed of becoming an author but first served her time as a banker and a teacher. After a lifetime of devouring stacks of thrillers, she decided to try her hand at writing them herself. Now she gets to live out her dream of writing novels and sharing her stories with people around the world. She lives in the Appalachian Mountains and loves hiking with her husband, daughter, and their two dogs.

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My thoughts: Anne Marie is trying to keep all the plates spinning – her dead end waitressing job, her struggle to pay the bills, her son Dave, who’s getting into trouble at school. But after a hit and run on their street, Dave changes for the better. Can it last and does he have anything to do with the death of their elderly neighbour?

When he finally opens up to her, it’s with the horrifying news that he did indeed hit their neighbour and somebody saw – now they’re blackmailing him. He needs his mother’s help to get the blackmailer off his back. And from there it all spirals out of control.

Anne Marie no longer has any control of what’s going on, and increasingly her son, who’s not a particularly nice person, is and he doesn’t care who he has to hurt to get his own way.

There are twists and turns along the way, as Anne Marie’s life falls apart, all the things she’s scrabbling to hold onto are escaping her and she’s on her own with no one to turn to. I felt sorry for her, she’s lost in her own life and nothing seems to be improving. Even when she tries to take back control it goes wrong. The final twist was gasp worthy, but no spoilers here.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Season For Murder – Anna A Armstrong

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Enjoy a visit to the idyllic Cotswolds where the blackberry jam is delicious, the pumpkins are ripe and a killer is plotting death.

Vivian Plover is an unlikely murderer but needs must. If her bumbling husband is ever going to reach the exalted office of Lord-Lieutenant, Vivian, in sensible shoes, twin set and pearls has some murderous work to do. She is beset by challenges, from her godson’s fake fiancée to Dee’s meddling.

With the worthies of Little Warthing falling foul of accidents, can Dee FitzMorris thwart her scheme or will she find herself yet another victim?

Rarely has murder been so amusing.

Indulge in this quirky and humorous cozy crime novel that will keep you entertained from start to finish. Set in modern-day England, amidst the charming British Cotswold countryside, “Season for Murder” delivers a captivating blend of mystery and comedy. With its light-hearted atmosphere and engaging whodunit plot, this British detective series is a must-read for fans of cozy crime murder mysteries.

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My thoughts: this was an entertaining murder mystery, that was only a mystery to the characters. The killer was known to me (and all readers) from the offset. But her reasoning is of course completely bizarre.

Vivian wants her husband to be Lord-Lieutenant, whether he wants to or not, without even knowing if he’s in the running or what the people who decide these things think. She’s decided it has to happen and anyone who gets in her way will simply have to go. Including Dee FitzMorris, purely because Vivian thinks she’s a nuisance. And then there’s godson Tom’s “fiancèe” Emily, she’ll have to go too,as Vivian thinks Tom should marry her choice of bride.

Vivian should see someone about her god complex issues – instead she embarks on blackmail and attempted murder, but isn’t exactly a great killer. She almost offs her husband by accident at one point.

As the strange murder attempts continue, Dee and her family are confused by it all. Who is trying to kill these unconnected village residents, even the police are at a loss.

There’s plenty of other village goings on to enjoy too, fetes, new residents, Dee’s many attempts to drop off jars of jam, Tom and Emily’s blossoming love affair, it’s all very charming. And funny, this book did make me giggle.

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

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Blog Tour: After the Sleepover – Kerry Wilkinson

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“Gone. They’re gone.” Dylan’s wide-eyed mother bites her nails in desperation. “All three kids. They wanted to sleep outside. But I went to check this morning and… the tents are empty. They’re gone.”

Twenty-five years ago: teenage Leah had a sleepover with her three best friends. By morning, the other girls were missing. This small town has been searching for answers ever since. Now it’s happened again…

Three boys decide to camp in a field next to one of their homes. When dawn comes, dew glistens on their empty tents.

Overgrown farmland is searched. Three distraught families are desperate for news. A mother herself now, Leah’s heart breaks as terrible memories flood back…

Leah thought she knew what happened at the sleepover years ago but now another three children are missing. What if she was wrong? And how far will Leah have to go, to finally discover the truth, before it’s too late?

A completely addictive psychological thriller packed with twists, that will have you up all night racing through the pages. After the Sleepover can be enjoyed as a standalone read, and anyone who loves Shari Lapena, Lisa Jewell, or The Perfect Marriage won’t be able to put it down.

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Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.

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My thoughts: Leah is only finally coming to terms with the secrets she learnt about her own friends’ disappearance when the mother of a teenage boy the same age as her son asks for her help. She was at school with Leah and now she’s living every mother’s nightmare – her son and his friends have disappeared…or have they?

Leah is uncomfortable supporting Jennifer, a woman she barely knows, but does it anyway, she’s a good person and feels sorry for her.

However when Jennifer’s son reappears, minus his friends, with a weird story about being kidnapped by a man who threatened to kill them “like those girls”, with what Leah knows, something isn’t quite right.

Turning to her dad, despite him being the last person alive she would normally contact, Leah does some digging. And actual bones are found on Jennifer’s land too. Something very strange is going on.

Shocking, twisting and full of gasp out loud moments, this is a great follow up to The Night of the Sleepover although you don’t have to have read it to enjoy this. Leah is a wonderful protagonist, willing to help people but not gullible or naive enough to fall for everything people say. Putting her amateur detective skills to work preventing a sort of copycat from getting away with it pushes her to reconsider how she’s seen by the people in her home town.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Between the Lies – Louise Tickle

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When it comes to families, is anyone a reliable witness?

Cherry Magraw can never forget the date her mother and brother were killed – the night of her ninth birthday. When her father was jailed for their murders, she lost everyone she loved.

Twenty years later, Cherry is a freelance journalist investigating domestic abuse and the secret world of the family courts, when she gets a letter from her father – still in prison for the killings – which contains a startling request.

From that point on, her past becomes entangled with her work, dismantling everything Cherry thought she knew about her family tragedy and plunging her into a dangerous of game of cat and mouse. Will her history cloud her judgement about another desperate family? And how far will she go to save someone else’s children?

If you buy a copy direct from the publisher, there’s a free shipping offer with code XMASFREE. The first chapter is also available on the Bath Publishing website to give you a taste of the book.

My thoughts: based on her experience as a journalist covering family court, Louise Tickle has written a complex and thought provoking book.

Cherry is now a journalist with an interest in domestic violence cases and family court, but as a child she was present when her father killed her mother and younger brother after a night of terror. He also scarred her for life. He is in prison but Cherry has gaps in her memory of that night and he might be the only person who can help her fill them.

She has also been drawn into the fraught custody case of Kathie and Ed. She claims he’s a master manipulator, using threats, physical violence and coercive control to stop her from escaping him with their two young children. He says she’s a liar.

With an unsympathetic judge who doesn’t seem to really care, Kathie grows more and more frantic, and despite promising to stay neutral Cherry’s own experiences colour her reactions and after a frightening moment with Ed, she’s more concerned than ever. But there’s no evidence that he’s dangerous.

Domestic cases are always very complicated, a lot of what happens is in the home with no witnesses, except maybe the children, and it can be difficult to demonstrate what has been going on.

There are lots of shocking moments and heartstopping twists as the novel builds towards its ending – played out against the North Wales coastline where Cherry grew up in the care of her loving aunt and uncle.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Murder All Inclusive – Alastair Puddick

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From the author of 46% Better Than Dave, which was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2020, comes Murder All Inclusive.

When somebody starts murdering authors during a writers’ retreat, can miserable, second-rate novelist Freddie Winters catch the killer before it’s too late?

Curmudgeonly, mediocre crime novelist Freddie Winters unexpectedly finds himself invited to a mysterious writer’s retreat in a fancy hotel in Spain. While he makes the most of the free food and drink – and begrudgingly gives talks and teaches classes – the hotel is thrown into chaos as someone starts murdering the other authors and industry figures. Finding himself the prime suspect, Freddie decides to use his crime-writing skills to investigate for real, so he can clear his name and find out what’s really going on.

Before long the other writers are trying to get in on the action, keen to be the one who solves the case. Everybody wonders why the killer is leaving scrawled-in copies of an old murder mystery at the scene of each killing. Most concerned are the author of that book – legendary crime writer Edward Cross – and his duplicitous agent, who also happen to be at the event, and clearly have a dark secret they’re desperate to protect.

Alastair Puddick has written three novels: The Unexpected Vacation of George Thring, Killing Dylan and 46% Better Than Dave, which was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2020.

Alastair has spent the past 20 years writing for a variety of magazines, websites and corporate clients. His work has spanned many different paths, from jetting off to exciting cities around the world to writing about dating advice, data centres, technology and the exciting world of flooring. He also once wrote an agony advice column posing as Elvis Presley’s ghost.

My thoughts: I’ve been to a few crime writer festivals (Hi Capital Crime!) but thankfully no one was murdered at them. Or at any book events I’ve been to. But this one, set at a sunny Spanish resort, hides a killer with a real grudge against some of the guests.

It’s also very, very funny. Despite the presence of so many crime writers, they’re all a bit clueless as to who it might be and why. You’d think after creating so many terrible murders and brilliant detectives, they might be a bit more savvy, but maybe it’s all the sun and free booze boiling their brains!

Luckily grumpy, greedy, somewhat struggling author Freddie Winters has a bit more of an idea and is hot on the case. Although the local police would rather he wasn’t. Besides, he’s a suspect – don’t leave the hotel is the warning.

As the body count rises and the event teeters on the edge of collapsing into chaos, Freddie has been putting the pieces together while stuffing his face – it is all you can eat after all.

Highly enjoyable, fun, entertaining stuff and hopefully it won’t encourage anyone to carry out a real life copycat situation at the next crime writers event!

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