For almost a decade now, Brent Wright has been in prison for the murder of seven women – unless the surviving twin sister of one of his victims is right and Brent didn’t kill anyone at all.
She goes to Brent’s sister in her last attempt to prove that Brent didn’t kill Sunni.
In fact, Sunni’s alive … and she’s the real murderer behind everything.
If the theory is true, Sunni is dangerous and they should leave well enough alone, but neither sister will be entirely satisfied until they find out for certain.
Rebecca Frost is a published academic who researches and writes about serial killers. Her dissertation was about the history of written true crime in the United States. She is the author of three books published through McFarland on Jack the Ripper, H.H. Holmes, and Making a Murderer, is currently under contract for two books about the works of Stephen King, one through McFarland and one through Lexington. She is also the author of Psychological Thriller Not Your Mary Sue published through Aesthetic Press. BLOOD SISTERS is her second published title through Aesthetic Press. Rebecca uses her research into both real and fictional serial killers in order to realistically craft her own murderous characters.
My thoughts: the sister of a convicted killer teams up with the sister of one of his supposed victims – who might still be alive, and might just be the real killer.
With lots of twists and turns, this is a clever and twisted tale from a writer with an interest in serial killers that keeps you hooked.
Vanessa will do almost anything to prove her brother’s innocence, and Skye wants to prove that Sunni’s still alive, somewhere. The pairing is interesting and I felt for Vanessa, she’s only got Brent, (and her husband and his snotty family) her brother means the most to her and she never believed he was guilty. An enjoyable and compelling read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Former New York darling turned amateur sleuth Madeline Vaughn-Alwin is once again thrown into a colourful yet deadly web of secrets, lies and soirees to die for! It’s the week of Fiesta in Santa Fe and Maddie is looking forward to enjoying the celebrations. But as ‘Old Man Gloom’ Zozobra goes up in flames, so too do Maddie’s hopes for a carefree life . . .
Human remains are found in the dying embers of Zozobra, and then Maddie and her dashing beau Dr David Cole find a body washed up in the arroyo at the edge of town. Soon identified as Ricardo Montoya, a wealthy businessman and head of one of the most affluent families in Santa Fe . . . the plot starts to thicken. While his beautiful wife Catalina and her complicated children seem less than heartbroken at his untimely demise, and with many disgruntled locals crawling out of the woodwork, Maddie is surrounded by suspects. With the celebrations of Fiesta continuing around them, Maddie and her ‘Detection Posse’ get busy infiltrating the best parties and hobnobbing with old and new faces – but can they bring the murderer to justice before they strike again?
Amanda wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen–a vast historical epic starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not her strongest subject…) She’s never since used algebra, but her books have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA Award, the Romantic Times BOOKReviews Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion.
She lives in Santa Fe with two rescue dogs, a wonderful husband, and a very and far too many books and royal memorabilia collections. When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network–even though she doesn’t cook.
My thoughts: set in the 1920s in Santa Fe, New Mexico, among the artistic set that flocked there, this is a fun and somewhat gory murder mystery. When local businessman (and cruel husband) Ricardo Montoya is found murdered, and bits of him are found inside the huge effigy Maddie’s artist pals burnt on their bonfire (think Guy Fawkes), she and her friends investigate.
She doesn’t believe it could be anyone she knows well, her friends are eccentric but they’re not killers. But does the answer lie with his family, who don’t seem too upset, or in his past?
Maddie is a lot of fun, and has a quick mind, able to sort through clues and facts easily, narrowing down her suspect pool, and ruling people out. But she does put herself in some danger, although in the end she gets her killer and is free to party again, with the lovely English doctor.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Bergen PI Varg Veum investigates two different cases that are uncannily similar to harrowing events that took place thirty-six years earlier…
Bergen Private Investigator Varg Veum is perplexed when two wildly different cases cross his desk at the same time. A lawyer, anxious to protect her privacy, asks Varg to find her sister, who has disappeared with her husband, seemingly without trace, while a ship carrying unknown cargo is heading towards the Norwegian coast, and the authorities need answers.
Varg immerses himself in the investigations, and it becomes clear that the two cases are linked, and have unsettling – and increasingly uncanny – similarities to events that took place thirtysix years earlier, when a woman and her saxophonist lover drove their car into the sea, in an apparent double suicide.
As Varg is drawn into a complex case involving star-crossed lovers, toxic waste and illegal immigrants, history seems determined to repeat itself in perfect detail … and at terrifying cost…
One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour). Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted for the award in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen.
My thoughts: this is another fascinating case for PI Varg Veum, with the present and past all tangled up. Berit hires him to quietly locate her sister and brother-in-law, who she says have disappeared. But Veum is interested in the suicide pact deaths of their mother and her lover, years before. Something isn’t adding up, is history repeating itself?
As he digs into the past and also searches for the missing couple, he has more questions than answers. Something strange is also happening at the missing man’s workplace – a shipping firm nowhere near a dock. A journalist has asked him to make a few enquiries into a ship, The Seagull, owned by the company.
As both cases weave themselves together and Veum seeks to separate them and get some answers, he’s almost killed. Accident or intent?
Gripping, thrilling, occasionally darkly funny, this is another fantastic outing for my increasingly favourite grumpy PI.
*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 killer is hiding in plain sight, like a snake in the long grass…
When Dr Nell Ward stumbles across a woman’s body amongst the purple heather on Furze Heath, she was on the lookout for nests of poisonous adders.
But something is lurking out here far more dangerous than vipers.
A cold-blooded killer is on the loose and this is not his first victim. As DI James Clark begins to investigate, a pattern emerges pointing towards this being the work of a serial killer. Every victim shares the same physical characteristics – all of which are a match to Nell herself.
As Nell is pulled into a tightly coiled mystery, she can’t help feeling someone is tracking her every move…
Can she unmask the murderer before they strike again?
A completely gripping and page-turning cosy mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Janice Hallett and Robert Thorogood.
My thoughts: I really like this series, but if I was Nell, I’d maybe stop going anywhere on my own – she either finds dead bodies or almost becomes one in every story, including this one! Maybe it’s time to write a book on bats Nell, something you can do inside, safely.
Having said that, could murderers stop leaving bodies in beautiful places full of wild creatures, it’s probably affecting them quite badly too. Not every little newt or adder fancies finding dead humans in their homes. Which is how come Nell finds this one, she’s doing an ecological survey on a planned development site, one teeming with wildlife, some of which is protected, and stumbles across a corpse.
Could the killer be one of her new colleagues? And if so, how much danger is she in, given that the deceased looks a lot like her?
With Rav in hospital, and Nell needing to finish this survey and help the animals move house, it’s up to James, luckily a police inspector, to work out whether it’s one of the four men Nell now works, which one and why. Not that Nell, or Rav, can leave it alone.
Rav’s long road to recuperation following his accident in the last book, is well done. My former husband was a paraplegic, so I felt for Rav, spinal injuries are very hard to overcome and can be endlessly frustrating as you reconcile the person you are post-injury with who you were before. But you can lead a full and happy life disabled, and I hope Rav learns that, Nell isn’t going anywhere.
The crimes of this killer also relate to the work of Nell’s mother, a Tory MP with an eye to prison reform, partly due to all the scrapes Nell gets into. She’s a total magnet for murder and chaos. Even when she says she wants to focus on her work as an ecologist and bat expert (please fewer murdered bats in future, that was probably the worst bit), she can’t help getting involved with the investigation.
James also gets more of a role in this book, I quite like him. He puts up with Shannon’s craziness and is a dedicated officer and a good friend. He really shows his detective nous in this one, and there’s more of his team too. It isn’t Nell and Rav doing all the investigating this time. Although Rav spots a few crucial clues.
This series gets better and better with each book and I’m really pleased. I also feel my British wildlife knowledge has improved too (the author is a Doctor of ecology, like Nell) and I love all the different creatures Nell and Rav come across too.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
When Ryan Kennedy is imprisoned after killing a police officer, he knows what he has to do. Keep his mouth shut about who he was working for, keep his head down, and rely on his youth to keep his sentence short. When he gets out, he’ll be looked after.
Following the death in the line of duty of a fellow detective, DI Sarah Collins has left the capital for a quieter life in the countryside. But when a missing teenager turns up on her patch, she finds herself drawn into a much bigger investigation – one that leads her right back to London, back to the Met, and back to Ryan Kennedy, the kid who killed a cop.
This powerful novel from a former Met detective explores the devastation that organized drug-running gangs can wreak on young lives. It asks who deserves to be saved – and whether saving them is even possible…
Kate London graduated from Cambridge University and worked in theatre until 2006 when she joined the Metropolitan Police Service. She finished her career working as part of a Major Investigation Team on the Metropolitan Police Service’s Homicide Command. She has since written four novels in The Tower series, which is now a major ITV drama, starring Gemma Whelan. She is on Twitter @K8London.
My thoughts: after a police officer is killed by a teenager, the officers most affected by the killing are scattered across the Met and beyond – trying to move on.
But a chance to take down a county lines drug gang, and the killer, now free from prison, who may or may not be involved. As a mother desperately seeks her missing son, dragged into a life of crime and fear, the police see a way into the gang to bring them down and save lives.
A gripping and compelling book from a former detective, tackling one of the big issues facing law enforcement today – county lines and the young people whose lives are destroyed by the web of crime and violence they’re drawn into.
The writing is concise and intelligent, the characters flawed and realistic, the story compelling and moving. A highly enjoyable and interesting read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own
1918 Italy When a deadly blizzard traps Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane in the Dolomite Mountains, it’s all downhill from here.Their hotel is snowed-in, and no one can get in or out. Then a man is found dead in his locked hotel room – and the killer is still on the premises. But with no murder weapon and too many suspects, their investigation is treading on thin ice. The colder it gets outside, the hotter it gets inside as Fiona squares off with both her beloved Archie and her nemesis Fredricks. With her love-life on a slippery-slope, Fiona risks everything in one bold move… As fast and twisty as a downhill slalom, this slick new cozy from Kelly Oliver will have you melting into a puddle of laughter. Snap in and enjoy the ride.
Kelly Oliver is the award-winning, bestselling author of three mysteries series: The Jessica James Mysteries, The Pet Detective Mysteries, and the historical cozies The Fiona Figg Mysteries, set in WW1. She is also the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
My thoughts: still in pursuit of Frederick Fredericks, Fiona, Kitty, Charles and Poppy are now in the Italian Dolomite mountains, snowed in with a motley crew of soldiers, socialists and one Benito Musolini, the future leader of Italy.
After a soldier is injured and taken to the hospital next door, Fiona starts to investigate, something strange is going on in this lonely place and she’s determined to ensure it won’t affect the war and that Fredericks won’t get up to any more mischief.
As usual Fiona feels she’s got less information than everyone else, especially Kitty, and with her beloved Archie popping up out of nowhere, she’s suspicious. But she’ll put all her skills and knowledge into this mystery first.
Lots of fun, and with a few real people and events thrown in for good measure, Fiona is getting even better at investigating, and while her colleagues seem to be less than open with her, it is war and loose lips…
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Today is my first post on this epic tour covering all of Kate Rhodes’ Isles of Scilly Mysteries series, featuring DI Ben Kitto. Follow the hashtag #TeamScilly on social media for the other hosts.
DI Ben Kitto needs a second chance. After ten years working for the murder squad in London, a traumatic event has left him grief-stricken. He’s tried to resign from his job, but his boss has persuaded him to take three months to reconsider.
Ben plans to work in his uncle’s boatyard on the tiny Scilly island of Bryher where he was born, hoping to mend his shattered nerves. His plans go awry when the body of a sixteen-year-old girl is found on the beach at Hell Bay. Her attacker must still be on the island because no ferries have sailed during the two-day storm.
Everyone on the island is under suspicion. Dark secrets are about to resurface. And the murderer could strike again at any time . . .
THE ISLAND OF TRESCO HOLDS A DARK SECRET SOMEONE WILL KILL TO PROTECT.
Ben Kitto has become the Scilly Isles’ Deputy Chief of Police. As the island’s lazy summer takes hold, he finds himself missing the excitement of the murder squad in London. But when the body of professional diver Jude Trellon is discovered, anchored to the rocks of a nearby cave, his investigative skills are once again needed.
At first it appears that the young woman’s death was a tragic accident, but when evidence is found that suggests otherwise, the islanders close ranks. With even those closest to the victim refusing to talk, it seems that plenty of people might have had reason to harm her. As the islanders remain guarded, Ben Kitto suspects a killer is on the loose in Tresco.
Everyone is a suspect. Nobody is safe.
My thoughts: Ben Kitto has returned to the Scilly Isles off Cornwall’s Atlantic coast, the place he called home as a child. He hasn’t been back for a while and he’s on extended leave from the Met following his partner’s death.
More or less immediately after arriving on the island of Bryher, he’s drawn into the search for a missing teenage girl. When her body is found on the beach, he volunteers his services as a Murder Team detective to the local DCI. He’s a local and has the skills to catch a killer.
There’s not many people on the island and the killer has to be a local, in a tight knit community, this is devastating. When another teenager disappears, the DCI decides it’s case closed – the missing boy killed his girlfriend and then himself, but Kitto doesn’t believe that at all. His unorthodox methods and willingness to ignore orders put his life in danger, but he will find the truth.
I really like Ben, I like his silly dog Shadow too, even though Ben doesn’t want a dog. I like the islanders, they’re a tough bunch, isolated by tides and weather at times, dependant on fishing and tourism for much of their income, in a place famous for its historic smugglers and not known for violent crime. A murder sends shockwaves through the community, but they pull together and help Ben where they can.
I think his deputy, young detective Eddie, is a sweetheart, desperate to do a good job, delighted by his impending fatherhood, keen as mustard and with good instincts too, he’s the perfect foil for Ben’s jaded cynicism.
In book two, Ruin Beach, the tragedy is on another island, Tresco, but it’s still Ben and Eddie’s patch so off they go to investigate.
The victim this time is another woman, older than in their last case, mother to a small child and a well known diver. Born and raised on the island, she knows the waters well so her drowning is shocking.
Under the seas around the islands lay hundreds of shipwrecks, some ancient, and there are a lot of people keen to find the possible treasures still aboard. I always feel a bit uncomfortable about things like this, as those ships are also grave sites, a lot of sailors will have gone down with their ships and their remains rest at the bottom of the ocean.
But others have no qualms, and while taking anything without handing it over to the authorities is very illegal, people in nedd of money, like some of the islanders, might be willing to do desperate and stupid things. Did Jude and did her killer find out and murder her for her treasure?
As Ben and Eddie dig into the case, more people are put in danger as this very ruthless killer stops at nothing to evade the police and find the sunken ship, hoping to make their fortune. There’s a few red herrings, Jude seems to have fallen out with her brother and several others, and there’s a dodgy couple from the States hanging around, but after working his way through the suspects, can Ben stop anyone else from being harmed?
If anything, this was even more chilling than than Hell Bay, with the killer kidnapping people and leaving them to drown – a truly horrible way to die. Their desperation makes them do awful things, but Ben Kitto isn’t a man to let it go, and even risking his own life to save another, won’t slow him down.
Join me next time for more #TeamScilly crimes and don’t let them put you off heading to the Isles for a visit, they’re meant to be truly stunning and are on my list for the next time I head to my beloved Cornwall.
*I was kindly gifted copies of these books in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Dr B. McRannoch, a savvy and tough young woman, is staying in the Bahamas with her father. However, when Sir Bart Edgecome, a British agent who has been positioned with arsenic falls ill on his way back from New York, she becomes involved in a series of events beyond her wildest imagination. Drawn into an espionage plot with multiple suspects, it is only the presence of enigmatic portrait painter Johnson Johnson on his yacht, Dolly, that saves the day. But nothing is quite as straightforward as it at first seems.
Dorothy Dunnett (1923-2001) gained an international reputation as a writer of historical fiction. She moved genres and turned to crime writing with the acclaimed Dolly books, also known as the Johnson Johnson series. She was a trustee of the National Library of Scotland, and a board member of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. In 1992 she was awarded an OBE for her services to literature. A leading light in the Scottish arts world and a renaissance woman, Dunnett was also a professional portrait painter and exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy on many occasions.
My thoughts: if you’ve been around for a bit, you’ll probably know that I’m really enjoying this series and as we’re now on book 4, I don’t see that changing any time soon.
This time we’re in the Bahamas, before the recent change to a Republic, when it was still a British colony of sorts as part of the Commonwealth. So most of the white characters are wealthy and privileged beyond the native population. They travel to Nassau (the capital) to holiday, play golf, fish, swim and generally enjoy themselves.
Dr B. Donald MacRannoch works at the main hospital, she’s Scottish, but moved to the Bahamas to look after her father, The MacRannoch of Clan MacRannoch, chieftain and apparently a terrible asthmatic. She’s rather severe and remote, looking down on most people from her lofty scientific height. She needs to learn to relax and not be quite so uptight and unhappy. Her only pleasure is playing golf. I’m of the Mark Twain theory on golf – it is a long walk spoiled. I’d rather a park or jungle than the finicky water wasting greens of a golf course.
After saving a man’s life, Dr MacRannoch gets drawn into the world of espionage, the man she saved is a member of Her Majesty’s Secret Service, as is our familiar bespectacled friend Johnson Johnson, handily in town to investigate this attempted murder, on the good ship Dolly.
He confides immediately in the Doctor and recruits her into helping him prevent Sir Bart Edgecombe from being bumped off. She’s not exactly happy about it. But after several more foiled attempts, a threat or two, someone else gets killed, and her father is planning a clan gathering (and a wedding), which means she needs to be around a bit more than usual. Which handily means she can assist Johnson in solving this mystery.
In almost every book someone tries to blow up Dolly, this is no exception. Thankfully Johnson and Spry, his loyal sidekick, are pretty good at keeping the yacht intact, otherwise they’d never be able to keep popping up all over the world, under the auspices of being a famous portrait painter. Into the mix this time are a Turkish ballet dancer, a Japanese golfer, a builder of bridges and an Army sergeant major, one of them might be the killer. And one of them might even end up married to the doctor. If they’re all alive at the end of it!
Enjoyable as always, with red herrings, plenty of suspects, eccentric characters, crazy carrying on and Johnson Johnson in the midst of it all, completely unruffled.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own
It was meant to be the start of quiet season in the sleepy Cornish village of Seal Bay, but not for sexagenarian librarian and wild swimming enthusiast Morwenna Mutton. Because when a local businessman is found on the beach with a bread knife is his back, bungling police officer DI Rick Tremayne is soon out of his depth. Morwenna knows it’s going to be down to her to crack the case. The list of people the victim upset is long, the evidence is slight, and an arrest illusive. Morwenna has plenty to occupy her time what with ghostly goings-on at the library and skullduggery at her granddaughter’s school, but she could never resist a challenge. And even the most ruthless of murderers should quake at the sight of this amateur sleuth getting on her bike to track them down. If you love Miss Marple and The Thursday Murder Club, then you’ll love The Morwenna Mutton mysteries. Purchase
Judy Leigh is the USA Today bestselling author of The Old Girls’ Network and Five French Hens and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.
My thoughts: having walked up and down some Cornish hills, the maddest thing about Morwenna might be her cycling! The wild swimming, the long hair in her sixties, her colourful wardrobe are all fine but I cannot imagine anyone willingly going up and down Cornwall’s steep and crazy hills on a bike.
Apart from that, I think Morwenna’s great, she’s smart, brave and more capable than she might appear. After finding a local businessman dead on the beach at her daughter’s engagement party, and seeing how utterly hopeless the local police are at solving it, she decides to find out who murdered him herself. And as her family get drawn into the killer’s crimes, it’s up to Morwenna, with a little help from her friends, to save the day and stop anything else from happening.
I loved her mad librarian friends, who think a local ghost is giving them clues via the library books as well as making a rather smelly mess. Her mother, Lamorna, is a wonderful classic British (Cornish) eccentric (and shares a name with a delightful pottery) and then there’s her granddaughter Elowen. Who has an invisible dog called Oggy. I loved Elowen, I loved Oggy, and Oggy 2. She’s delightful.
This was a lot of fun to read and the twist as to who the killer is was very unexpected. Although there were clues, that I missed, throughout. I hope there will be more Morwenna.
*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 Premier League bad-boy murdered at his newly refurbished home; a teenage runaway’s corpse uncovered on a construction site; a gunman shoots up the premises of the local gangland boss – all of them projects run by beleaguered builder Mark Poynter.
Can he fix it?
Things seem to be on the up for builder, Mark Poynter.
Mark’s got himself a nice little earner taking care of the sizeable property portfolio built up from the career earnings of former Premier League bad-boy and local celebrity, Danny Kidd.
But when Danny Kidd puts an interested party’s nose out of joint by using his star status to gazump them on a development site – the derelict Admiral Guthrie pub – things turn ugly and incendiary, leaving Mark to deal with the consequences.
Meanwhile local villain, Hamlet, uses his subtle persuasion to dupe Mark into unwittingly help him launder vast sums of dirty cash but when it drags the area to the brink of gang warfare, Mark’s help is needed to try and broker a truce.
At the Admiral Guthrie secrets from the past meet conflicts of the present – will the rising flames reduce Mark’s future to ashes?
Matthew Ross is the author of 3 published novels to date. His first novel, “Death Of A Painter” was selected by The Sun newspaper as one of its picks of the week. Matthew wrote his first novel after undertaking the prestigious Faber Academy 6-month novel writing course under the tutelage of Richard Skinner.
Prior to that Matthew wrote material for a leading British stand-up comedian for their live performances, corporate bookings, national theatre tours and their appearances on tv and radio shows such as “Have I Got News For You”, “Mock The Week” and “The News Quiz”.
In addition, he was commissioned to provide material and sketches for several comedy series that were broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
My thoughts: I felt sorry for Mark, as soon as something seems to be going right for him, things start going wrong. He’s gone into business with the Kidd brothers, former footballer Danny and Stuart. They’ve bought an old pub to turn into flats, Mark’s going to do the work with his Uncle Bern and Co, but someone doesn’t want them anywhere near the place. There’s a furious Scot called Donaldson who keeps popping up and Danny’s feuding with a rapper online.
Lots of grim things keep happening, not least what’s unearthed at the old Admiral Guthrie. Now the police are involved and Mark’s trying to keep the work coming in. He might need to ask local kingpin Hamlet for help, which his girlfriend Perry isn’t pleased about.
This is a blackly comic novel, as Mark and his friends stumble from one disaster to another, there’s murder, arson and he keeps ending up with guns pointed in his face. The building game in Kent’s Medway towns is not exactly all friendly. But thankfully Mark’s got good, if interesting, friends and it might all be ok. This time. Great fun and with lots of twists and turns.
Click on the image for more on the tour
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 