Tag: crime fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Stranger in the Village – Kate Wells

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Where there’s a body in Malvern End, there are secrets to be uncovered…

Jude Gray has worked hard to bring a steady equilibrium to life on Malvern Farm and things are going well.The only fly in the ointment is the foul addition of a new face in the village: staunch townie and chauvinistic sleaze, Des Smith. Jude has nothing but sympathy for his caring, patient wife, Loretta, who has become a regular visitor to the farm for a cup of tea and a chat. But things take a turn for the worse when a hit and run outside The Lamb brings death once again to the village. Is it an accident or is something more sinister afoot?

Perhaps the answer lies in the stranger with red trainers who’s been seen wandering through the village and through Jude’s fields at night. Following the clues, Jude desperately hopes she will find the right answers because the murderer being someone she knows is unfathomable…

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Kate Wells is the author of a number of well-reviewed books for children and is now writing a new cosy crime series set in the Malvern hills, inspired by the farm where she grew up. Boldwood will publish the first title, Murder at Malvern Farm, in August 2023.

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My thoughts: This might only be book two, but I really like this series and the characters of Jude and her friends and family. Sebbie, her nephew, is delightful and very cheeky. Noah, the hunky shepherd continues to be a quiet, comfortable presence in the pink house. Even her sister, who I didn’t love so much before, is growing on me. And Jude’s detective friend Biddie is great, too. Plus, there are puppies and lambs, and if I wasn’t quite so allergic to the countryside, I’d want to move here. Minus the murders, obviously.

This time it all ends very close to home as first new friend Loretta’s rather horrible husband is killed and as the police investigate, Lucy gets arrested as a suspect. But why would she kill Des? There are plenty of other people who didn’t like him.

As Jude tries to connect the dots and save her sister from being charged for a crime she can’t have committed, things take some twists and turns, but Jude’s family is always her priority.

*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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Blog Tour: Driven to Murder – Debbie Young

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A perfect cosy crime for fans of M C Beaton’s Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth series.

Change is coming to Wendlebury Barrow–and not everyone is happy about it…

When the local bus company announces it will be stopping its route through their quaint Cotswold village,the people of Wendlebury Barrow are up in arms. Not least Sophie Sayers, whose driving lessons with her boyfriend Hector get off to a bumpy start. But the locals’ peaceful protests against the decision turn deadly when a body is discovered on the Number 27. No one can work out how Janice Boggins met her demise, let alone how the driver didn’t notice. While the police wait for the post mortem results, Sophie immediately suspects foul play and launches her own investigation. Can she solve the murder before another passenger is hurt?

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Debbie Young is the much-loved author of the Sophie Sayers and St Brides cosy crimemysteries. She lives in a Cotswold village where she runs the local literary festival and has worked at Westonbirt School, both of which provide inspiration for her writing. She is bringing both her series to Boldwood in a 13-book contract. They will be publishing several new titles in each series and republishing the backlist, starting in September 2022.

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My thoughts: I love Debbie Young’s books, they’re funny and clever and a little bit silly. In this case it’s all about buses – and murder.

After the local bus firm suggests it might have to suspend the route through Wendlebury Barrow, people are up in arms, until miserable village resident (and bus picnicker) Mrs Boggles dies on the bus. That cools a lot of the enthusiasm about saving the route.

Sophie Sayers, amateur detective and newly in possession of a driving licence, is determined to find out what happened and why. There’s something a bit off about all the recent sabotage of the buses be connected?

As Sophie investigates and she and Hector are planning on expanding the bookshop, it might also be time to make some changes to their relationship.

I really enjoyed this outing with Sophie and Co, the case is a bit more convoluted than it might sound and Sophie is a good protagonist and has a nose for the truth.

*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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Blog Tour: Halfway House – Helen Fitzgerald

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They’re the housemates from Hell…

When her disastrous Australian love affair ends, Lou O’Dowd heads to Edinburgh for a fresh start, moving in with her cousin, and preparing for the only job she can find … working at a halfway house for very high-risk offenders.

Two killers, a celebrity paedophile and a paranoid coke dealer – all out on parole and all sharing their outwardly elegant Edinburgh townhouse with rookie night-worker Lou…

And instead of finding some meaning and purpose to her life, she finds herself trapped in a terrifying game of cat and mouse where she stands to lose everything – including her life.

Slick, darkly funny and nerve-janglingly tense, Halfway House is both a breathtaking thriller and an unapologetic reminder never to corner a desperate woman…

Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of thirteen adult and young-adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and adapted for a major BBC drama. Her 2019 dark­comedy thriller Worst Case Scenario was a Book of the Year in the Literary Review, Herald Scotland, Guardian, Sunday Times, The Week and Daily Telegraph, shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and won the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award. The critically acclaimed Ash Mountain (2020) and Keep Her Sweet (2022) soon followed. Helen worked as a criminal-justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Victoria, Australia, and now lives in Glasgow with her husband.

My thoughts: this is a very darkly comic tale of what happens when you don’t do your homework before taking a job on the other side of the world and end up trapped in a hostel for sex offenders and murderers. Which is what happens to Lou, she doesn’t know anything about the charming inhabitants or the role required of her as the only staff member on the night shift in a house filled with potentially violent men.

She also oversteps the bounds massively, but some of the other staff are worse, and have left her vulnerable. Her completely inappropriate relationship with one of the residents makes her perhaps a bit too trusting when she needs to be clear headed and professional but I did feel sorry for her, the whole experience ends up being a complete nightmare.

I shouldn’t have been laughing as much as I was, but I have a twisted sense of humour that this book really tickled. It was very enjoyable and different to a lot of the crime fiction I’ve read, great stuff.

*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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#TeamScilly Blog Tour: Hangman Island – Kate Rhodes

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ON A REMOTE ISLAND

When Jez Cardew’s boat is found drifting empty on the Atlantic Ocean, DI Ben Kitto and his fellow lifeboat crew members immediately fear the worst. After an extensive search yields no results, the team are forced to retreat to dry land as darkness sets in.

THE OCEAN IS MERCILESS

But Kitto can’t let it go. Why would Jez – an experienced sailor – get into difficulty when the sea has been calm for weeks? Unless his disappearance was no accident.

BUT SO ARE THE PEOPLE . . .

The gruesome discovery of a hand washed ashore on the beach confirms his hunch. Because a medal is attached to the index finger, and it can only have been placed there by the killer.

This strange clue is the only lead to an agenda as cold as the ocean itself. Kitto must work fast, before the small, isolated community closes ranks. And it’s only a matter of time before the murderer among them strikes again . . .

Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths, this gripping new locked-island mystery will keep you on the edge of your seat until the bitter end.

My thoughts: a lot of the places in the Scillies have dark names and dark pasts, as in the titles of this series, and indeed this book. As Ben Kitto prepares for his wedding to Nina, the lifeboat crew is under threat.

The RNLI volunteers do an incredible job, and are true heroes, living on the edge of the Atlantic, the Scillies need them a lot, the main mode of travel is by boat after all. But someone has a problem with heroes, Jez, is found with a lifesaving medal attached by wire to his hand, drowned; possibly keel hauled, a truly terrible way to die. Can Kitto and his team find the killer before anyone else is killed?

The tension is this series in great, small isolated community, everyone knows everyone (or so it seems), there’s suspicion and whispers in the air. Kitto has to figure it out fast, he’s on a deadline after all. Can’t get married with a murderer on the loose.

My beloved Shadow, Kitto’s right hand hound is back to full health and finding clues again, because he’s the best detective around. There’s a personal angle as Eddie, Kitto’s DS is related to the first victim and taking it hard.

I don’t know how many more stories of murder and tragedy Kate Rhodes can find in the small collection of islands that make up the Scillies, but I hope there are more to come.

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Blog Tour: The Girl in Seat 2A – Diana Wilkinson

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Funny how one lie can spiral…


One thing about me: I HATE flying. It’s my worst nightmare.
That’s why I book seat 2A every time I fly. Since my big win, I’ve been booking seats 2B and 2C as well. They’re my comfort seats, they cushion the claustrophobia, and at last I can afford them.
I am now determined to live the life of luxury. I deserve it, after all.
How to Live Like a Millionaire is the book I’m reading on this flight. When it lands on the floor, a handsome guy hands it back to me. I know he clocks the title, because he’s totally charming and talks to me as if I’m one of the Marbella Millionaire set.
When I land in sunny Spain, I’ll be acting like a millionairess, that’s for sure – even if it’s stretching the truth, just a bit. We all know that money talks, and I intend to talk my way into a better life.
Who knows… maybe this guy, the one who had the cheek to sit down in seat 2C, might be someone special. He has an air of danger, but who cares?

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Diana Wilkinson writes bestselling psychological thrillers, including her debut novel 4 Riverside Close published by Bloodhound. Formerly an international professional tennis player, she hails from
Belfast, but now lives in Hertfordshire.

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My thoughts: Jade has had some good fortune, just not as much as she’s letting people think on her live like a millionaire holiday in Marbella. When she meets Isaac on the plane, she decides a holiday fling with a real millionaire could be fun. Only Isaac is more terrifying and dangerous then she could imagine.

She’s also scared of his sullen and moody housekeeper, but maybe she shouldn’t be. She’s not sure who to trust, far from home, among strangers. But as things get worse, you start to wonder who is playing who.

Told from several perspectives and moving back and forth on the timeline, the truth about casa de Astrid is revealed and all becomes clear. A clever and gripping thriller set in the Spanish sunshine. Holidays have never been so dangerous.

*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: Who To Believe – Edwin Hill

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WhoToBelieve copy

Welcome to the ARC tour for Edwin Hill’s upcoming thriller Who to Believe. Read on for more details!

Who To Believe - Hill - FINAL

Who to Believe: A Twisty Domestic Thriler

Expected Publication Date: January 23, 2024

Genre: Thriller/ Domestic Thriller/ Serial Killers

In a twisty, claustrophobic suburban suspense novel for fans of Ruth Ware and Liane Moriarty, the aftermath of a murder in a quiet coastal New England town reveals a web of dark secrets among friends . . .

Monreith, Massachusetts, was once a small community of whalers and farmers. These days it’s a well-to-do town filled with commuters drawn to its rugged coastline and country roads. A peaceful, predictable place—until popular restaurateur Laurel Thibodeau is found brutally murdered in her own home. Suspicion naturally falls on Laurel’s husband, Simon, who had gambling debts that only her life insurance policy could fix. But there are other rumors too . . .

Among the group of six friends gathered for Alice Stone’s fortieth birthday, theories abound concerning Laurel’s death. Max Barbosa, police chief, has heard plenty of them, as has his longtime friend, Unitarian minister Georgia Fitzhugh. Local psychiatrist Farley Drake is privy to even more, gleaning snippets of gossip and information from his patients while closely guarding his own past.

But maybe everyone in Monreith has something to hide. Because before this late-summer evening has come to a close, one of these six will be dead. And as jealousy, revenge, adultery, and greed converge, the question becomes not who among these friends might be capable of such a thing, but—who isn’t?

This is an adult suspense thriller by Edwin Hill, very LGBTQ+ inclusive. Publisher is Kensington. Coming out January 2024.

“Confounding twists and seismic reveals stud Edgar nominee Hill’s meticulously crafted, diabolically plotted mystery. Structured to maximize suspense, the tale unfolds in seven parts, each with its own nuanced first-person-present narrator and unique voice. Every new section delivers a kaleidoscopic turn, reframing all that came before and keeping readers perennially off-kilter. A devilishly clever delight.” —Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

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About the Author

Edwin Hill is a suspense writer and author of the critically acclaimed domestic suspense novels including Who to Believe, The Secrets We Share, and the Hester Thursby Mysteries. A two-time Agatha Award finalist and a Sue Grafton Memorial Award finalist, his novels have received starred reviews from Library Journal, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly, and been selections of the Mysterious Press First Mystery Club, Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books selection. Formerly the vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martin’s (Macmillan), he now teaches at Emerson College and has written for the LA Review of Books, The Life Sentence, Publishers Weekly, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. He lives in Roslindale, Massachusetts with his partner Michael and their Labrador, Edith Ann. Visit Edwin Hill online at http://www.Edwin-Hill.com.

My thoughts: this was a clever and entertaining thriller, you get several different versions of the same events, and each person might be a murderer. The small town setting gives it that claustrophobic edge, everyone knows each other, their lives are intertwined, maybe a little too much.

When a local woman is killed, suspicion naturally falls on the husband, but there’s a few other people with reasons to kill her. Is it one of the guests at Alice’s birthday? Their stories show them to be not a particularly pleasant group. All bitterness, jealousy and resentment.

Then one of them is killed after the party, who did it? The sheriff has to recuse himself, he was there. But if everyone has a motive, will finding the killer be possible?

The final section (narrated by a dog!) ties everything up, and reminds us that your pets see everything you do, even if they don’t really understand.

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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.

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Cover Reveal: Boys Who Hurt – Eva Björg Ægisdottir

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Boys Who Hurt – Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, translated by Victoria Cribb out 18th July Link

Fresh from maternity leave, Detective Elma finds herself confronted with a complex case, when a man is found murdered in a holiday cottage in the depths of the Icelandic countryside – the victim of a frenzied knife attack, with a shocking message scrawled on the wall above him.

 At home with their baby daughter, Sævar is finding it hard to let go of work, until the chance discovery in a discarded box provides him with a distraction. Could the diary of a young boy, detailing the events of a long-ago summer have a bearing on Elma’s case?

 Once again, the team at West Iceland CID have to contend with local secrets in the small town of Akranes, where someone has a vested interest in preventing the truth from coming to light. And Sævar has secrets of his own that threaten to destroy his and Elma’s newfound happiness.

Tense, twisty and shocking, Boys Who Hurt is the next, addictive instalment in the award-winning Forbidden Iceland series, as dark events from the past endanger everything…

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Cover Reveal: Shatter Creek – Rod Reynolds

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Shatter Creek – Rod Reynolds out 25th April Link 

Fresh from the scandal at Hampstead County PD, Detective Sergeant Casey Wray works a complex double-homicide that points to a killer on a murderous rampage and a shattering series of discoveries that could end her career … The shocking sequel to the addictive, twisty, bestselling Black Reed Bay…

Hampstead County Police Department is embroiled in scandal after corruption at the top of the force was exposed. Cleared of involvement and returned to active duty, Detective Sergeant Casey Wray nonetheless finds herself at a crossroads when it becomes clear not everyone believes she’s innocent.

Partnered with rookie Billy Drocker, Casey works a shocking daytime double-homicide in downtown Rockport with the two victims seemingly unknown to one another. And when a third victim is gunned down on her doorstep shortly after, it appears an abusive ex-boyfriend holds the key to the killings.

With powerful figures demanding answers, Casey and Billy search for the suspect, fearing he’s on a murderous rampage. But when a key witness goes missing, and new evidence just won’t fit, the case begins to unravel. With her career in jeopardy, Casey makes a shattering discovery that threatens to expose the true darkness at the heart of the murders… with a killer still on the loose…

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Cover Reveal: The Kitchen – Simone Buchholz

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The Kitchen – Simone Buchholz, translated by Rachel Ward out 11th April Link

Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her colleagues investigate the murders of men with a history of abuse towards women … as a startling, horrifying series of revelations emerge.

 When neatly packed male body parts wash up by the River Elbe, Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her colleagues begin a perplexing investigation.

 As the murdered men are identified, it becomes clear that they all had a history of abuse towards women, leading Riley to wonder if it would actually be in society’s best interests to catch the killers.

 But when her best friend Carla is attacked, and the police show little interest in tracking down the offender, Chastity takes matters into her own hands and as a link between the two cases emerges, horrifying revelations threaten Chastity’s own moral compass … and put everything at risk.

 The award-winning, critically acclaimed Chastity Riley series returns with a slick, hard-boiled, darkly funny thriller that tackles issues of violence and the difference between law and justice with devastating insight, and an ending you will never see coming…

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Blog Tour: The Chameleon Killer Mystery – Gina Cheyne

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Who is the Chameleon Killer?

When you are having a really bad day, drink yourself legless, abuse everyone around you, pass out and try again tomorrow.
Trouble is; every day is bad in Rupert Fletcher’s world. He threatens his ex-wife, mocks his girlfriend, abuses his neighbours, and gets into a fight in the pub.
Next day, he is found dead.
Who’d want to kill him? Well, almost everybody, but it looks like only one person did. The police arrest his ex-wife’s therapist, Anthony.
Anthony’s family claim he is innocent and employ the SeeMs Detective Agency to find the real killer.
Cat, Miranda, and Stevie uncover clues that point them back to an intricate web of family injuries and an unexpected connection between the victim and his killer.
Could Rupert’s murderer be The Chameleon Killer, who has already killed before and is bent on revenge? They need to act fast before the killer strikes again.

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Gina has worked as a pilot, physiotherapist, freelance writer and dog breeder. As a child, Gina’s parents hated travelling and never went further than Jersey. As a result she became travel-addicted and spent years bumming around SE Asia, China and Australia, where she worked in a racing stables in Pinjarra, South of Perth. She then lived and worked in various places in Spain, the
USA and London before settling in West Sussex with her husband and dogs.

This is her fourth crime novel in the SeeMs Detective Agency series. This book is set between Sussex and London.

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My thoughts: the SeeMs Detective Agency are dealing with a terrible murder close to home. Cat’s former son-in-law is dead and her daughter Caroline is a person of interest, as is former therapist Anthony.

But there’s a rather odd woman who’d crowbarred her way into Rupert’s life, could she be his killer and might she be the criminal they’ve been hunting for some time – the elusive Victoria? She seems to have multiple identities, and yet no one truly knows who she is.

With Stevie hunting down DNA and learning about family connections, Cat and Miranda are out and about asking questions. This mysterious woman seems to be after Caroline’s daughter, Lagartha, but why?

As they unravel the clues, more people disappear, and there’s some odd goings on at the pub Rupert was last seen drinking in. Are they connected?

It’s all very convoluted but they seem sure they can unravel it and prove that the wicked kidnapper and murderer is Victoria or Bella or whoever she is this week. Can they get justice, they’re pretty sure of it.

Once things start to slot into place and the killer’s multiple identities are uncovered, the story starts to really pick up, between all the mistaken sightings, the names and addresses, the odd connections, a case is being built. The police need evidence, but the private eyes of SeeMs don’t.

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