Tag: crime fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Murder at the Inn – Katie Gayle

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Julia Bird loves the village pub quiz, but it seems one of her team won’t make it to the next round alive…

On the first Tuesday of each month, Julia Bird and her Agatha Quizteam teammates take part in Berrywick’s village pub quiz. They take it seriously – what’s the point of playing, after all, if you aren’t in it to win it? But it seems someone connected with the quiz night has taken the competition to a whole new level when Lilian, the local police constable and all-round general knowledge expert, is found fatally stabbed after the evening’s final round.

With local DI Hayley Gibson stuck home with a broken leg and an incompetent Superintendent brought in from the nearby town, it’s up to Julia to make sure the investigation stays focussed – whether they like it or not! While the police are convinced that the murderer is linked to Lilian’s professional life, Julia turns her amateur sleuthing eye to suspects much closer to home. Perhaps Lilian’s personal life could have something to do with the dreadful crime?

When another quiz team member is attacked, Julia is finally put on the right track. But what could possibly be important – or dangerous – enough for two attendees of the pub quiz night to meet such foul ends over? Could the culprit really be among them on that busy Tuesday night? As Julia’s race to identify the killer ramps up to desperate heights, she wonders, where will the murderous spree end?

Perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands, Murder at the Inn is a brilliantly compelling English cosy mystery.

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Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats. Unlike their sleuth Epiphany Bloom, neither of them have ever stolen a cat from the vet.

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My thoughts: who knew pub quizzes can be so dangerous!?!? I love a pub quiz, and so does Julia, whose team Agatha Quizteam (excellent team name fyi) are in a weekly competition against several others. But one team, containing two detectives, seems to be the target of a particularly ruthless individual. After several accidents and murders, does the answer lie in the past or is someone out to win the pub quiz league the bloody way?

Julia is on the case as DI Hayley Gibson is laid up with a broken leg, and the superintendent drafted in is an idiot. Can Julia’s knowledge of human weaknesses and the connection between the victims lead to a killer? Another cracking case for Julia, and there’s an inter species romance brewing for the naughtiest dog around too.

I don’t think I’ll be moving to the Cotswolds and joining a quiz team any time soon. Just in case.

*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: Murder in Siena – T.A. Williams

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A brand-new cozy crime series set in gorgeous Tuscany…It’s murder in paradise!
A lazy weekend in the country…
Dan Armstrong and the new love of his life, Anna, are heading to a hotel deep in the gorgeous Tuscan countryside for a long weekend, looking forward to some time away from the stresses of their day
jobs. With the beautiful and historic city of Siena just around the corner, it promises to be relaxing and enjoyable. What could possibly go wrong?
A mutilated body…
But when a mutilated body is discovered in the hotel grounds Dan is called in to help with the investigation. But who or what could have been responsible for such a vicious attack? Was it the work of wild animals, or is there a brutal murderer at large?
A killer who cried wolf?
Dan knows he is dealing with a clever killer – whether whether two- or four-legged! And as he sets out to solve the case he begins to worry about his own loyal canine companion. Could Oscar be in
more danger than any of the other hotel guests or is a murderer trying to cover their tracks?
It’s another case for Dan and Oscar to solve!
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T A Williams is the author of over twenty bestselling romances for HQ and Canelo and is now turning his hand to cosy crime, set in his beloved Italy, for Boldwood. Trevor lives in Devon with his Italian
wife.

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My thoughts: Dan and Anna are supposed to be on holiday with their friends but staying at their hotel is a conference on ecology and the scientists are an interesting bunch. There’s a tangled web of sex and intrigue, they all seem to be sleeping with each other or hate one another. After one of them is killed Dan and Virgilio get drawn into the case to assist the local police with translating and their impressions of the biologists.

There are wolves in the hills around Siena, and while the experts at the hotel insist they wouldn’t attack a human, local farmers want the wild animals gone. Is someone framing the wolves to get them removed or to throw suspicion on someone in particular? As another scientist meets a grisly end, Dan and the police realise there’s a really messy situation unfolding and that the conference is covering up a ring of adultery and sexual jealousy. Can they find the killer/s before they go home?

Another great fun outing for Dan and obviously Oscar, who once again finds vital clues that the human detectives miss. Trust a dog’s nose to find the important stuff. He can also tell whether the chilling howls in the night are wolf or human, more than Dan can. Someone get him a K9 cop badge! Anna is also growing as a character and Lina, Virgilio’s wife, is also a bit more involved, which is nice, Dan’s community is important as he grows his PI business, he can only expect Oscar to do so much, he doesn’t do filing.

*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: The Continental Affair – Christine Mangan

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With gorgeous prose, European glamour, and an expansive wanderlust, Christine Mangan’s The Continental Affair is a fast-paced, Agatha Christieesque caper packed full of romance and suspense.

Meet Henri and Louise. Two strangers, travelling alone, on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul. Except this isn’t the first time they have met. It’s the 1960s and Louise is running. From her past in England, from the owners of the money she has stolen — and from Henri, the person who has been sent to collect it.

Across the Continent — from Granada to Paris, from Belgrade to Istanbul — Henri follows, desperate to leave behind his own troubles. The memories of his past life as a gendarme in Algeria that keep resurfacing. His inability to reconcile the growing responsibilities of his current criminal path with this former self. But Henri soon realizes that Louise is no ordinary mark. As the train hurtles toward its final destination, Henri and Louise must decide what the future will hold — and whether it involves one another

Christine Mangan is the author of the national bestsellers Tangerine and Palace of the Drowned. She has her PhD in English from University College Dublin, with a focus on 18th-century Gothic literature, and an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Southern Maine. She lives in Detroit.

My thoughts: this was an interesting read, as Louise and Henri travel across Europe to Istanbul, Turkey, on what I think is the Orient Express or certainly something very similar, their story unfolds. Henri has been following Louise since Madrid. Where she stole a small fortune in a moment of opportunistic luck. However the money belongs to some criminals Henri, a former police officer, now works for, and they want it back.

Henri isn’t even the only person following Louise. And they’re both in danger. Neither is happy with their lives, both are running from things they’d rather forget. On this strange journey across Europe, as they meet and part in different places, they start to reconcile with themselves and discover who they are now.

It’s a strange book, there’s a slightly dreamlike quality to some of the events, Louise is often disconnected from what’s happening around her and is more honest with Henri than anyone else. She’s on a journey with no real destination in mind, and suddenly in possession of a small fortune. Henri is a man struggling with grief and regret, he’s fallen into this job and is reluctant to complete it, especially after Louise starts spending the money. Their relationship is odd, but somehow they connect and reconnect as they travel, and perhaps heal.

I enjoyed it, I love an adventure story with some peril and complicated characters, and this is definitely that. The ending left me with more questions than answers and I wanted to know what became of our unusual travel companions. Did Henri go back to Algeria? What did Louise do after Istanbul? Will they meet again? I wonder.

*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: Sherlock Holmes and the Silver Cord – M.K. Wiseman

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“I speak of magic, Mr. Holmes.”
Mr. Percy Simmons, leader of London’s Theosophical Order of Odic Forces, is fully aware that his is not a case which Mr. Sherlock Holmes would ordinarily take up.
These are not ordinary times, however.
For something, some unquiet demon within Holmes stirs into discomfiting wakefulness under the occultist’s words. The unassuming Mr. Simmons has spoken of good and evil with the sort of certainty of soul that Sherlock yearns for. A certainty which has eluded Holmes for the three years in which the world thought him dead. While, for all intents, constructions, and purposes, he was dead.
But six months ago, Sherlock Holmes returned to Baker Street, declared himself alive to friend and foe alike, took up his old rooms, his profession, and his partnership with Dr. J. Watson—only to find himself haunted still by questions which had followed him out of the dreadful chasm of Reichenbach Falls:
Why? Why had he survived when his enemy had not? To what end? And had there ever, truly, been such a thing as justice? Such a thing as good or evil?

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M. K. Wiseman has degrees in Interarts & Technology and Library & Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her office, therefore, is a curious mix of storyboards and reference materials. Both help immensely in the writing of historical novels. She currently resides in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

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My thoughts: I quite enjoy this author’s take on the Sherlock Holmes stories, she sticks to the feel of the original stories well and to the style Arthur Conan Doyle used so they seem authentic. This one was interesting to read as it’s narrated by Holmes, not Watson, so there’s more of the great detective’s inner life, something that isn’t always there in the original stories. Holmes is struggling with the events of Reichenbach Falls and after, the years he was supposedly dead. He’s not a killer, rarely using any weapons, preferring his great intellect and his involvement in the death of Moriarty and his followers haunts him.

He rejects religion so is unable to find comfort in prayer or faith, unlike his creator who was a famous spiritualist, so when he meets the leader of the Theosophical Order of Odic Forces, a Mason-like order of those who believe in a form of magic, he is intrigued. He envies their faith and certainty in something other than what he can see. But something has stricken several of the order’s members, and they’re dying. But it’s no ordinary illness of the flesh. Mr Simmons believes they are under a spiritual attack by a hostile magician and he needs Holmes and Watson’s help to stop this enemy.

It’s a very interesting bent to take, Holmes prides himself on his rational mind and struggles with the concept of a hidden world beyond ours, that magic exists and can be wielded to cause harm. Having identified a possible suspect, he is too late to prevent another death. But can he stop more? With his faithful Watson and his medical bag at his side, Holmes searches for a rational cause, but refuses to believe anyone is capable of magic. Could the mysterious Mr King merely be an illusion?

A clever and enjoyable addition to the Holmes continuation, giving us an insight into the mind of the consulting detective at a strange point in his life, back from the dead but not yet feeling truly alive.

*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: Artful Antics at St Bride’s – Debbie Young

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When English teacher Gemma Lamb’s school flat is wrecked by storms, maverick headmistress Hairnet insists the girls must fund its repair by setting up their own businesses – the start of a series of hilarious unintended consequences.
Meanwhile Gemma’s worries are compounded by the arrival of bossy new girl Frieda Ehrlich, sponsored by a mysterious local tycoon whose wealth is of dubious origins. Fearful for the school’s
reputation, Gemma recruits an old friend to help investigate the tycoon’s credentials, jeopardising her romance with sports teacher Joe Spryke.
What is Frieda hiding? Why is her sponsor living in a derelict manor house? Why is his chauffeur such a crazed driver? And what has become of McPhee, Hairnet’s precious black cat? With a little help
from her friends, Gemma is determined to solve these mysteries, restore her flat and save the school.
For anyone who loved St Trinian’s – old or new – or read Malory Towers as a kid. St Brides is the perfect read for you!
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Debbie Young is the much-loved author of the Sophie Sayers and St Brides cosy crime mysteries. 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: this series continues to be utterly delightful, with more mysterious goings on and one day maybe we’ll learn the truth about Max Security’s past! Turns out, he speaks German, so that’s something Gemma can add to her information about him.

This term at St Bride’s the roof has finally given up the ghost and now Gemma and Oriana are having to stay in the old servants quarters, not as nice as their flats at all, but better than wet walls! Time to get making some money and the eccentric headmistress has decided that the girls should start their own businesses to raise the cash. Cue pet detectives, cake bakers, an art show and all sorts of hijinks.

There’s also a strange new student in the Sixth Form, she’s a bit off as far as Gemma can tell, and she’s determined to figure her out. Her dad works for a new local businessman, except he doesn’t seem to have a business. Very odd. Are these new faces a risk to St Bride’s? Gemma’s on the case.

Lots of fun, intrigue and whizzing around the local lanes in fast cars ensues. It’s all highly enjoyable and entertaining. There’s little real jeopardy, although McPhee has disappeared and without their mascot, the headmistress is in a bit of a tizz.

*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: Claire and the Missing Heir – Amanda Nelson

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Who loves a cozy mystery? Then check our Claire and the Missing Heir by Amanda Nelson!

KDP_Claire and the Missing Heir_Paperback_new-060923 (1)

Claire and the Missing Heir

Publication Date: June 19, 2023

Genre: Cozy Mystery/ Romcom

When Mr. Johnson, the abrasive and crotchety bank manager who was almost universally disliked, is found dead in his house under suspicious circumstances. Best friends CC and Claire decide the new sheriff doesn’t know enough about small towns, and the people who live there, to solve the case. They begin asking questions, and generally annoying the sheriff, but one person points the finger at another until there are no answers, just more questions. With lots of reasons to want Mr. Johnson dead, what finally caused somebody to kill him? Could somebody they know really be a killer?

Claire’s inability to keep her thoughts to herself cause hurt feelings, hilarity, and bodily harm wherever she goes, but that won’t stop CC and Claire from trying to find who might be a murderer. Nor do the sheriff’s hopefully idle threats, and pointed statements, to keep out of his investigation. As far as Claire is concerned, he doesn’t have much of an investigation.

To make matters worse every time Claire and the sheriff are in the same area, he ends up injured. She didn’t mean to hit him with her car, or slap him, or hit him with a door, or feed him dog biscuits, or run over his foot, or … well you get the idea. A smart person would avoid the walking hazard that is Claire, but the sheriff keeps turning up wherever Claire goes. Is it a coincidence, or something more? The sparks and injuries fly as Claire and the new sheriff both try to solve the suspicious death of Mr. Johnson.

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Available on Amazon

About the Author

Writing has always been a hobby for Amanda Nelson. However, it was not always something she thought she could make a living with. After years of teaching elementary school, she finally sat down and wrote her first book. A cozy mystery about best friends solving a murder in their small town.

Since turning her passion into a profession she is never happier than when she sits down at her desk and puts the opening words to a new book or story on paper.

Amanda lives with her husband of over 20 years, her two grown children, and a lot of pets. When not writing she likes to spend time with family and friends, walk on the beach with her dogs, read, and take photographs.

Follow Amanda on Amazon for notifications when new books release and connect with her directly at amandanelsonauthor.com.

My thoughts: this was a really fun book, Claire is very funny, very scatty and her inside thoughts never manage to stay there.

Thankfully her best friend CC lives next door with her husband Jake and their seven children, a multitude of pets and CC’s a brilliant cook too. Which is great as Claire doesn’t eat in her own house as there’s only pet food there.

When the local crotchetty bank manager dies, Claire’s boss at the insurance company can’t find out who the person he’s left his five million dollars to. And Claire and CC start looking into it.

There’s a hunky sheriff, a teenager off to college, Claire’s useless boss and creepy colleague, lots of cake to eat, dogs to pet and a cat that likes to take showers. It’s very funny and entertaining. I want more Claire!

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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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Blog Tour: Who Killed Jerusalem? – George Albert Brown

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WhoKilled copy

Welcome to the book tour for Who Killed Jerusalem, a madcap murder mystery by George Albert Brown! Read on for more details and the opportunity to win HUGE prizes! You can also visit one of our Instagram hosts and win 1 of 3 book boxes!

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Who Killed Jerusalem

Publication Date: February 6, 2023

Genre: Murder Mystery/ Literary Mystery

Publisher: Galbraith Literary Publishers

A budding cult classic that dramatically splits the reviewers. Which side will you be on?

A seamless melding of the intricate plotting of Umberto Eco in The Name of the Rose; the side-splitting humor of John Kennedy Toole in A Confederacy of Dunces; and the fabulous world of William Blake.

In 1977, Ickey Jerusalem, San Francisco’s golden-boy poet laureate, is found dead in a locked, first-class toilet on an arriving red-eye flight.

Ded Smith, a desperately unhappy, intelligent philistine with a highly developed philosophy to match, is called in to investigate the poet’s death. Thus begins a series of hilarious encounters with the members of Jerusalem’s coterie.

Ded soon realizes that to find out what happened, he must not only collect his usual detective’s clues but also, despite his own poetically challenged outlook, get into the dead poet’s mind. Fighting his way through blasphemous funerals, drug-induced dreams, poetry-charged love-making, offbeat philosophical discussions, and much, much more, he begins to piece together Jerusalem’s seductive, all-encompassing metaphysics.

But by then, the attempts to kill Ded and the others have begun.

Before Ded’s death-dodging luck runs out, will he be able to solve the case, and perhaps in the process, develop a new way of looking at the world that might allow him to replace his unhappiness with joy?

Available on Amazon

About the Author

George Albert Brown

George Albert Brown, a graduate of Yale University and Stanford Law, started as a hippie in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury and retired at age 40 after having co-founded a successful international finance company. Following stints thereafter as a humorous author (The Airline Passenger’s Guerrilla Handbook) and an angel investor in over a score of high-tech university spinouts, he built a catamaran in Chile and for more than a decade, cruised it across the globe with his significant other. Today, as a father of three grown children, a grandfather of four not-yet-grown children, and an involuntary lover of stray cats, he continues his peripatetic lifestyle by other means.

Who Killed Jerusalem? is the book that George, a life-long devotee of William Blake, had always wanted to write.

Who Killed Jerusalem

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Blog Tour: One Beats the Bush – Riall Nolan

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Meet Max Donovan, a man who was kicking butt when Jack Reacher was still in diapers…

Vietnam veteran Max Donovan is in Bangkok, and very hungover, when his friend “Fat” Freddie Fields is arrested in San Francisco for the murder of an Australian diplomat. He knows his old buddy would never hurt a fly, so he rushes back to the Bay Area to help. There he locks horns with the District Attorney who seems intent on pursuing the case. Suspecting Freddie is being framed, Donovan tries to rustle up some cash to bail him out, but only succeeds in getting into trouble with the local mob.

He’ll have to solve the case on his own. Unfortunately, the only clue he has suggests the answers lie in the jungle-covered mountains of Papua New Guinea, and the shark-filled waters of the Coral Sea.

As he comes face to face with smugglers, hostile tribesmen, insurgents, and a web of corruption and deception, can Donovan achieve what is seemingly impossible in this high­octane, action-filled adventure full of nail-biting suspense?

The second book in the series, WITH TOOTH AND NAIL will be published later this year.

These books will be great for fans of Lee Child, Wilbur Smith, Raymond Chandler, and Ernest Hemingway.

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Riall Nolan grew up in upstate New York, and joined the Peace Corps after graduating from college. He got sent to Senegal, in West Africa, an experience from which he has never fully recovered.

While there he began to notice that many development projects didn’t work very well, largely because outside experts lacked basic cultural understanding of local communities. That’s when he decided to become an anthropologist.

He headed to the University of Sussex where he obtained a doctorate, and began working around the world as a development planner. He spent nearly twenty years overseas, in places like Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Tunisia and Sri Lanka. When he returned to the US at long last, he became a university administrator in charge of international education at several large research universities. His goal was simple: get as many young Americans out of the country as possible, by any means necessary.

In 2010, he finally moved back into the ranks of the faculty, where he taught courses in development anthropology, cross-cultural adaptation, and the application of anthropology to global grand challenges. Before retiring in 2020, he split his time between Purdue University in Indiana and the University of Cambridge in the UK.

He is the author of eight academic books on anthropology and numerous articles. He has also published a guide to mountaineering in Papua New Guinea. Now his focus is on adventure novels.

Today, he lives with his wife Christine in a small university town, venturing forth as often as possible on exciting trips to faraway places. Aside from writing gripping fiction, he writes, hikes, makes furniture and tries to fix the house.

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My thoughts: an action packed, globe trotting adventure as former helicopter pilot Max Donovan tries to help his friend and fellow vet, Fat Freddie out of trouble. Freddie suffers from horrific PTSD and prison would be the very worst place for him. Besides he’s not a killer, and Max will prove it.

Taking in political corruption, smuggling, collectors of illegal goods, drug addled tribespeople, changing global times and a genial professor with a bone through his nose (one of my favourite characters), this is non stop mayhem. Max angers a drug dealer, a slimy DA, a scary so-called missionary and a lot of other nefarious people as he goes all the way to the top and bottom of this to save his friend.

Accompanied by San Francisco detective Sam Young, who is possibly tougher than he is, Max somehow just manages to avoid death multiple times and get the answers he needs. Cracking 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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Blog Tour: Killer Bodies – Heleen Kist

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BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

In a prestigious Edinburgh apartment building, gym receptionist Evie whiles away long hours doodling the deaths of residents who’ve annoyed her.

On her birthday of all days, a man slumps off the exercise bike — dead. She tries to get help, but someone has locked the doors and the phones are out of reach.

When another resident collapses inexplicably, Evie realises the deaths resemble those she drew … and her sketchbook is missing.

Was she framed…

… or is she next?

KILLER BODIES is a modern locked room thriller full of old-school ‘impossible crimes’, darkly humorous and with some visual surprises inside! Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware ‘The Turn of the Key’, Catherine Cooper ‘The Chalet’ and Sarah Pearce’s ‘The Sanatorium’ — with a dash of Knives Out.

Heleen Kist is a Dutch, formerly globetrotting career woman who fell in love with a Scotsman and his country, and now writes about its (sometimes scary) people from her garden office in Glasgow. ‘Killer Bodies’ is her fourth novel, inspired by her hatred of exercise.

She was chosen as an up-and-coming new author at Bloody Scotland 2018. Her novels have been finalists in a variety of awards, both in the UK and USA, and she years to some day ‘be the bride’.

Heleen hopes you enjoy her writing, and would love to hear from you on twitter (@hkist), Faceboook (@heleenkistauthor) or Goodreads. You can also sign up to her newsletter on http://www.heleenkist.com

My thoughts: this is why I don’t like gyms! Evie is trapped in the gym she works in as the receptionist with some of the residents of the fancy apartment building housing it. They’re twelve floors up, nothing’s working and then people start dying in bizarre and sudden ways that mimic the sketches she’s drawn of them. Is the killer using her as inspiration or is there something even stranger going on? Oh, and it’s her birthday.

As the bodies keep dropping, Evie and the increasingly smaller number of residents try to figure out what’s going on, what is killing these people, who is it? Is it one of them? Paranoia grows, this is the worst birthday ever.

I felt for Evie, what a horrible thing to be dealing with, she’s going to be having nightmares for sure. Although she does form a bond with Suki, the new tenant, and that helps them both cope with the horror around them.

The ending lets up the carnage, thankfully, and the survivors get what they need and deserve. Blackly comic and very cleverly done, I really enjoyed this one.

*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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Book Review: The Associate – Victoria Goldman

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The Associate is the second book in the Shanna Regan Mysteries series from journalist Victoria Goldman. It features themes of racism and prejudice, heritage and identity, British Jewish-Muslim interfaith projects, and dark secrets. The Redeemer, the first book in the series, was shortlisted for Best Debut Crime Novel of 2022 in the Crime Fiction Lover Awards 2022.

THE BODY COUNT IS RISING … AND GETTING FAR TOO CLOSE

A missing architect. An interfaith charity project. Vandalism and online threats. Can racist slogans lead to kidnap – or even murder? When an architect vanishes in East London, her concerned fiancé asks journalist Shanna Regan to find her. The missing woman has been leading an interfaith Jewish-Muslim charity project that’s become the target of malicious damage and racist threats. After Shanna witnesses a teenage girl fall to her death, she’s convinced the architect’s disappearance is also linked to a local youth outreach project. And then another woman is reported missing. Amid rising local tensions, danger appears to be lurking around every corner. Even the safest sanctuaries seem to be hiding the darkest secrets. As Shanna uncovers a tangled web of lies, she puts her own life on the line. Will she find the missing architect before it’s too late? The Associate is the compelling and thought-provoking sequel to The Redeemer.

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VICTORIA GOLDMAN is a freelance journalist, editor, proofreader and author. She was given an honourable mention for The Redeemer in the Capital Crime/DHH Literary Agency New Voices Award 2019. The Redeemer was shortlisted for Best Debut Crime Novel of 2022 in the Crime Fiction Lover Awards. Victoria lives in Hertfordshire.

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My thoughts: this was really good, the second book in a series is often when the characters feel more realistic, as now we’ve done the back story, they have more room to grow and I certainly felt that Shanna was more fully realised here.

I liked the way she’s trying to actually be a journalist and do her job, even though she can’t leave the mystery of the missing Louisa alone, even after two people are killed in front of her. I would be at home with the doors locked, praying no one knocks on my front door at that point. Not Shanna, who keeps digging into the strange goings on at the East London synagogue.

She’s also learning more about Judaism and her heritage from the other characters, which is really interesting. Having lived in North West London amongst the Jewish community all my life, I knew some things and could probably even identify the areas she visits from the descriptions.

The undercover reports on the different synagogues and towns were funny, if a little cruel or frustrated too. I find it weird when there isn’t a kosher section in a supermarket, I’m so used to them, so I did appreciate the frustrations.

The mystery within a mystery format, the hidden rooms in the old building, the inter-faith group (which are so important in building bridges), there’s so much detail and it’s all brought vividly to life.

And Shanna’s quest for her family finally starts to take shape, I can’t wait to see how that goes in future books. As well as what she gets involved with next.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for my review but all opinions remain my own.