Tag: crime fiction

books, reviews

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.

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Blog Tour: Ibiza Surprise – Dorothy Dunnett

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When Sarah Cassells, a young British woman who has just completed her training as a chef, hears of her father’s violent death on Ibiza, she refuses to believe it is suicide.

She goes to Ibiza to investigate and becomes involved with an art dealer; with two beautiful jetsetters; with her brother’s strange predicament; with a remarkable American woman who is not all what she seems – and with Johnson Johnson, the mysterious portrait painter who shows up on his yacht, Dolly.

As Ibiza prepares to celebrate Holy Week with the traditional processions, events become more and more macabre…

Dorothy Dunnett 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. She died in 2001.

My thoughts: we’re back with portrait painter and secret agent Johnson Johnson on his yacht, Dolly, and this time he’s in Ibiza. Sarah Cassells has flown into the island after the supposed suicide of her father, Lord Farley of Pinner, but she’s pretty sure he was murdered.

Besides, she’s a woman in search of a husband with a decent sized bank account and she cooks, rides, water skis and all sorts of other things. Why wouldn’t she find one in this town? Staying with a friend’s family, she’s determined to find out what happened to her father. Getting embroiled in a scheme involving art, fake rubies, Holy Week and Russians, probably wasn’t part of her plan, but she’s pretty game if it will get her answers.

There’s actually less of Dolly and Johnson in this one, probably because they’re just in the port, no yacht race this time, and Sarah is right in the middle of things, including a very crazy party. Everyone drives back and forth across the island and Johnson is just in the background, working it all out in his bifocals.

But he’s there for the vital bits and explaining it all to Sarah and Co, she doesn’t even need to bother finding a husband just yet either, plenty of time for that and most of the candidates turn out to be unsuitable anyway. Jolly good fun.

*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 Crying Cave Killings – Wes Markin

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Are you missing Happy Valley? Pre Order the next gripping instalment in the Yorkshire Murder Series by bestselling British crime author Wes Markin!


A murdered child. A case from the past. A detective inspector with nothing to lose…
DI Paul Riddick is a man tormented by his own actions and determined to right the wrongs of his past any way he can. But when his instincts lead him to follow a child he believes to be in danger, Riddick
gets in deeper than he ever imagined…especially when the child is found dead.
DCI Emma Gardner doesn’t believe Riddick has blood on his hands, but he’s off the case until she can clear his name. If she can clear his name. Because Riddick seems determined to chase ghosts that only get him into more trouble.
Riddick’s certain he didn’t kill the kid in the cave. But he also remembers another case, twenty years ago, with shocking similarities…which means someone is trying to trap Riddick.
Can Riddick uncover the truth, or will this be the case that finally destroys him once and for all?
Don’t miss the brand-new gripping crime series by bestselling British crime author Wes Markin!
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Wes Markin is the bestselling author of the DCI Yorke crime novels, set in Salisbury. His new series for Boldwood stars the pragmatic detective DCI Emma Gardner who will be tackling the criminals of North Yorkshire.  Wes lives in Harrogate and the first book in the series The Yorkshire Murders was published in November 2022. 

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My thoughts: so to North Yorkshire, where my Grandad was from. But a different side to God’s own county than the one he told me about, and he would have loved this series. There’s a child’s body found next to Mother Shipton’s cave, petrifying under the unusual mineral water, and a young PC Riddick is first on the scene.

Years later, he’s convinced they arrested the wrong man for that crime, and while suspended after being found unconscious by another dead boy, he decides to re-open that first case and find the real killer. Perhaps he can make amends for his own sins in doing so.

Meanwhile his boss DCI Emma Gardner is looking into the dead body he was found next to – was it murder or suicide? The teenager had lots of secrets, and so do several others around him. As the cases unfold, there are links and a local criminal comes to their attention after a second boy goes missing.

Emma’s also dealing with her personal life, as husband Barry’s girlfriend shows up. All she wants is to keep custody of her daughter and niece, Barry’s free to go.

If she can this case closed, sort out Riddick, who’s spiralling, and get home in time to put the girls to bed, she might get what she wants.

The case she’s on gets very dark and sad, there’s a lot of pain in the lives of the teenage boys she’s looking into. And they don’t talk about it, preferring fantasy worlds in comics and toys to the things they’re dealing with. Getting through to them is tough. But she needs the friends of her victims to open up and help her find the killer/s. Luckily she’s good with people and even though he’s been stood down Riddick has her back. Another excellent book from Wes Markin.

*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 Housekeepers – Alex Hay

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When Mrs King, housekeeper to the most illustrious home in Mayfair, is suddenly dismissed after years of loyal service, she knows just who to recruit to help her take revenge.

A black-market queen out to settle her scores. An actress desperate for a magnificent part. A seamstress dreaming of a better life. And Mrs King’s predecessor, who has been keeping the dark secrets of Park Lane far too long.

Mrs King has an audacious plan in mind, one that will reunite her women in the depths of the house on the night of a magnificent ball – and play out right under the noses of her former employers…

THEY COME FROM NOTHING. BUT THEY’LL LEAVE WITH EVERYTHING.

A note from the author… I love books full of big houses, broken families, loyal friendships and wild ambitions – textured with all the glorious sights, scents and sounds of the past. When I started The Housekeepers, I was itching to write a novel set in the early 1900s, to revel in the era’s extraordinary opulence, scrappy characters, remarkable flashes of modernity, and layers of corruption that exist just underneath the polished exterior. I’d also always adored the slick engineering of a juicy heist plot, and was longing to try and write one of my own. I was washing the dishes – apt, in hindsight – when it occurred to me that the marbled drawing rooms and glittering saloons of Edwardian London had all the gumption and gloss of a Las Vegas casino, and could make the perfect backdrop for a high-stakes heist. My mind’s eye turned slowly to a green baize door, and a cast of servants began sidling out of the shadows, each with their own desire for revenge… I’ve been asked why I turned to an alliance of women to lead the cast of The Housekeepers, and it’s a good question, and one I’ve considered myself too. The truthful answer is that I never really saw this tale any other way; the decision was instinctive. I love Mrs King and her gang – they feel a bonedeep desire to imprint themselves on the world and the systems that marginalise them, as I think many of us do. The Housekeepers is, of course, a work of fiction, but the glittering Park Lane mansion at the heart of this story is inspired by extraordinary houses that once stood all around the wealthiest parts of West London. Stand outside the present-day Dorchester Hotel and you can still glimpse Stanhope House, turreted and gargoyled, commissioned for soap manufacturer Robert William Hudson in 1899. It faced 25 Park Lane, a luxury townhouse built for Barney Barnato, a music-hall actor who made an eyewatering fortune in diamond-mining before dying mysteriously at sea. These were homes built for rich and powerful men, containing the most decadent and costly treasures, attended to by a seemingly endless supply of obedient servants. But just imagine what might have happened if some of those working below stairs had decided to claim a little of that power for themselves.

Alex Hay grew up in Cambridge and Cardiff and has been writing as long as he can remember. He studied History at the University of York, and wrote his dissertation on female power at royal courts, combing the archives for every scrap of drama and skulduggery he could find. He has worked in magazine publishing and the charity sector, and is a graduate of the Curtis Brown Write Your Novel course. The Housekeepers is his debut novel and won the Caledonia Novel Award 2022. Alex lives with his husband in South East London. T: @AlexHayBooks I: @AlexHayBooks Website: alexhaybooks.com #TheHousekeepers

My thoughts: this was very good, really enjoyable and clever. I loved Mrs King and her gang of actors, thieves and reprobates. They decide to turn the tables on the people they’ve worked for, the ones who could barely be bothered to acknowledge them most of the time, one servant’s the same as any other. But they know all of your secrets and that knowledge means everything.

The plan is incredibly complex and so well done, pulled off with great flair and leaving the “Upstairs” crowd completely unaware of what’s gone on right under their noses. Never underestimate a housekeeper who’s had 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

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Blog Tour: Dead Man Driving – Lesley Kelly

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Two years on from the start of a devastating pandemic, food shortages are becoming critical, and rationing looms. So it’s more than embarrassing when a lorry full of luxury food for Scottish Virus Minister’s banquet goes missing. When Bernard and Maitland from the HET team find it, the food is missing – but there is a dead body.

My thoughts: this series is very funny and clever and keeps me entertained. The hapless team at the North Edinburgh HET are tasked with finding a missing van load of food, that might have been pinched by eco terrorists, which could be very awkward for their ghastly boss. But then there’s dead bodies and still the hangover of their last case and chaos ensues.

Even though some of the team are technically police officers seconded to HET, they’re not empowered to arrest anyone or even demand more than a Health Check, which is just what they need. And now the police liaison officers have vanished and they’ve been given a new manager, who doesn’t want to be there.

Mona’s still looking into the Bryce matter from before, getting a bit distracted by a hunky Belgian terrorist, who might be somehow involved in both cases. And they’ve finally let their pet IT nerd out in the field, not that he’s got a clue either.

It’s all madness as ever and none of its really a Health matter, except the Minister says it is, but really it’s about embarrassing headlines at an awkward moment. Bernard also has some family matters to sort out, hardly great timing. Can’t wait to see how it all falls out in the next book.

*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 Genius Killer – Mark Robson

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“The Genius Killer” is, at its core, a confrontation of powerful characters. A psychological battle between DCI Theodore “Tex” Deacon and the purest psychopath he has encountered, Karl Jackson. Local journalist Debbie Pilkington rides shotgun with the Lake District DCI. Their lives intertwine as the hunt begins. The novel is set in the mountains of Cumbria/Lancashire.

Tex Deacon is a legendary hunter of serial killers, but, following the death of his wife, he’s hit a kind of “detective’s block”. Deacon is close to a breakdown. The Chief Constable, Barbara Bracewell, dilutes his duties. She wants Deacon to host a new venture, “The Sir Robert Peel Lecture”, and then to follow that up by helping with the cadet training programme. Deacon’s subject at the lecture is murder, and it’s titled, “How to Catch a Killer”. Deacon’s a humble local hero, and the lecture hall is packed.

At the lecture, Deacon encounters local chemistry teacher, and serial killer, Karl Jackson. The incognito Jackson asks a question from the floor, and the relationship begins. Deacon needs help though. He’s been instructed to step back from hard core police duties, and, of course, he has his “detective’s block”. A young journalist, Deborah Pilkington, wants to do Deacon’s life story for the local paper, as part of a series on “Great Lancastrians”. Deacon persuades Debbie to help him. Deacon can now work covertly. He draws on Debbie’s strong journalistic capabilities, and couples them with his own natural, but currently hampered talents.

Mark has been a journalist and broadcaster for over 30 years. Working almost exclusively in sport. Mark was employed for 15 years by SKY Sports, and 11 years by the BBC. Elsewhere he worked, on significant national contracts, for ITV, Eurosport and Premier Sport.Mark has been been involved in BAFTA and Sony award winning, and nominated, documentaries and programmes. Mark worked on these productions as a writer/reporter.  For the last 10 years Mark has focused on rugby commentary with SKY, as well as Premier Sport and Eirsport. Mark was working on the Six Nations Rugby when all sport stopped due to the pandemic, so he decided to write his first novel.

My thoughts: Karl Jackson thinks he’s a genius, he’s pretty sure he’ll never get caught, even when several of his victims are members of his own family. He doesn’t watch enough crime shows, only interested in the killers, you should pay more attention to how they get caught.

DCI “Tex” Deacon and journalist Debbie Pilkington put the pieces together, and with a little help from a surprising source, finally gather enough evidence to go to Deacon’s boss and get a warrant for the so-called genius’ arrest.

Written with a dark sense of humour and by a writer who clearly has studied the TV and literary classics (I spotted some lovely little references, including a “Mother of God” for all the Line of Duty fans out there), the characters are all intelligent but only one of them is using his brains for murder. And that last twist, ooh, nice. Highly enjoyable and clever writing. I hope there’s more in a similar vein to come.

*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 Piper’s Children – Iain Henn

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A baffling mystery sets an FBI agent on a dangerous path… Park rangers are puzzled when a child is found wandering alone in the a forest near Seattle. middle of Stranger still, he speaks a peculiar language that sounds a little like German, and is dressed in clothes people wore in the Middle Ages.

With no one having reported him missing, FBI Special Agent Will McCord assembles a dedicated unit to investigate the case, placing Detective Ilona Farris at its head. Their relationship is edgy. They used to be an item. But McCord knows Farris is the best person for the job. Especially when more children turn up in similar circumstances. Farris isn’t convinced that she is in fact the right person. Memories of a traumatic incident in her own childhood begin to emerge, and threaten to cloud her judgement. Can she bury her demons and solve the mystery of these children, seemingly lost in time?

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Born in Sydney, Australia, Iain worked for many years in print media production for newspapers, magazines, and direct marketing agencies, and as a writer for small business websites. He has written fiction from a young age. Somewhere in his framed copy of his first published story, a ‘5house, there is still a minute fiction’ tale in Woman’s Day. Since then, he has never looked back, having short stories published in various magazines worldwide, and now his suspenseful thrillers and mysteries . Commenting on what influenced his writing journey, he describes a moment that has stayed with him.

On his first day in his first job, as a teenage messenger boy, he left the office via a back exit into a narrow alleyway where he saw the body of a man crumpled on the ground. He had just jumped out of a window from the neighbouring building. The paramedics were already approaching. When Iain returned an hour or so later, the body and the surrounding activity were gone, there was just a chalk outline on the ground where the body had been. Ever since he has wondered who that man was, what led him to suicide, and what his future might have been had he lived. Decades later, that chalk outline is often on the writer’s mind when telling the stories of his characters’ lives. Authors who have inspired Iain include Daphne Du Maurier, Ken Follett, Michael Crichton, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Robotham, and Harlen Coben. He lives on the New South Wales coast with his wife.

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My thoughts: I really enjoyed this creepy and clever thriller. A lost child who appears dressed and speaking like he’s from medieval Germany in the middle of an American forest sparks the FBI’s interest. He’s clearly traumatised but they can’t work out what’s going on. He says he’s from Hamelin and followed a piper. The Pied Piper, but that was several hundred years ago, and is considered fiction. So where did he come from?

When more children appear with the same story, the investigators are intrigued and worried. Ilona also has her own private investigation, but could they be connected?

The mysterious figure of the Piper is spotted and the children disappear again. The tension builds and the team suspect each other. Will and Ilona’s past relationship adds to the tension and as she is put into danger by her personal case, could all be lost or will this all turn out to be more complicated and twenty-first century in origin than they thought?

Very clever, full of twists and turns, with characters that charm (I loved Zach and Zoe) and the folktale links were right up my alley thematically. I hope this becomes a series, each case more ingenious and fiendish than the last. There’s a lot of potential here.

*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 Bleeding – Johana Gustawsson, translated by David Warriner

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To celebrate the paperback publication of The Bleeding, available from all good bookshops and Orenda Books, I am sharing my review from the hardback tour to refresh your memory should you decide to read it yourself.

1899, Belle Époque Paris. Lucienne’s two daughters are believed dead when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist community to find them. 1949, Post-War Québec. Teenager Lina’s father has died in the French Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina’s life in the darkest way imaginable. 2002, Quebec. A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her husband – a famous university professor – to death. Detective Maxine Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation. Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and murder, secret societies and spiritism … and women at breaking point, who will stop at nothing to protect the ones they love.

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 28 countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding – number one bestseller in France and the first in a new series – will be published in 2022. Johana lives on the west coast of Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.

My thoughts: I don’t really know how to explain this genre bending book. It is very, very good. It weaves several disparate plots together in a clever and highly enjoyable way. It made my head itchy, in a good way, as detectives uncover a sinister secret life in the house of a retired school teacher and her professor husband. They’re plunged into arcane knowledge and a deep held belief in satanism, witchcraft and magic. A belief and practices that go back centuries, that unite the ancient and modern and that have been kept secret and hidden.

The three women – Lucienne, Lina and Maxine are each learning about these things, in very different times and contexts, attracted or repulsed by the things they see. Their stories are different, but much connects them.

I think this is definitely a book you need to read to understand, and then read again and again in case you missed something. It’s gripping and compelling and a little shocking. And, as I said, very, very good.

*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: A Killing at Smuggler’s Cove – Michelle Salter

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Wartime secrets, smugglers’ caves, skeletal remains. And the holiday’s only just begun…
July 1923 – Iris Woodmore travels to Devon with her friends Percy Baverstock and Millicent Nightingale for her father’s wedding to Katherine Keats.
But when Millicent uncovers skeletal remains hidden on the private beach of Katherine’s former home, Iris begins to suspect her future stepmother is not what she seems.
The police reveal the dead man is a smuggler who went missing in 1918, and when a new murder occurs, they realise a killer is in their midst. The link between both murders is Katherine. Could Iris’s
own father be in danger?
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Michelle Salter writes historical cosy crime set in Hampshire, where she lives, and inspired by real-life events in 1920s Britain. The first book in her Iris Woodmore series, Death at Crookham Hall, draws on her interest in the aftermath of the Great War and the suffragette movement.

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My thoughts: I think Iris and I would be great friends but I’d be reluctant to go on holiday with her because of her habit of finding dead bodies! Like the author I have family connections to Devon and Cornwall and know a bit about the area – including the long history of smuggling and wrecking.

A body in a cave in a cove used by smugglers wouldn’t really be a surprise, but it hasn’t been used as such for a long time and the skeleton isn’t that old, at least the train ticket in its pocket suggests a much more recent demise. And despite what the local bobby thinks, Iris is pretty sure it’s not a local n’er-do-well but someone connected to the house above it on the cliff, where her father’s fiancée once lived.

While everyone keeps telling her that Katherine is actually lovely, and she certainly does seem to be, Iris wants more information. Did the dead man visit Katherine and her now deceased ex-husband? Is Katherine the killer, or is it someone else close to home?

I also spent a lot of time mentally telling Iris that Percy is madly in love with her and would she ever put him out of his misery and kiss him! The poor man is traumatised by his war memories and is too polite to just say it, but I do wish someone would. At the beach party in particular, even with the hunky Belgian chef flexing his muscles, there’s Percy friendzoned again. For someone with an eye for detection, Iris can’t seem to see what’s right in front of her face.

The case is a bit of tricky one, the sensibilities of Iris’ refugee friends and the terrible memories of the things they suffered mean it’s hard to ask too many questions, the discovery of the skeleton’s real identity completely changes the view and that’s before another body drops. It’s a bit of a sticky mess and Iris only has a few days before the wedding to sort it all out.

Tremendous fun as always, drawing on real history and adding in the joys of the roaring 20s, Percy’s landlady and her actor guests are especially entertaining, plus it ends with a wedding, like all the great stories.

*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 Secret of Villa Alba – Louise Douglas

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1968, Sicily. Just months after a terrible earthquake has destroyed the mountain town of Gibellina, Enzo and his wife Irene Borgata are making their way back to the family home, Villa Alba del Ciliegio, on roads overlooked by the eerie backdrop of the flattened ghost town. When their car breaks down, Enzo leaves his young wife to go and get help, but when he returns there is no trace of Irene.
No body, no sign of a struggle, nothing.

Present Day. TV showman and true crime aficionado Milo Conti is Italy’s darling, uncovering and solving historic crimes for his legion of fans. When he turns his attention to the story of the missing Irene Borgata, accusing her husband of her murder, Enzo’s daughter Maddi asks her childhood friend, retired detective Jane Cobain, for help to prove her father’s innocence. But the tale Jane discovers is murky: mafia meetings, infidelity, mistaken identity, grief and unshakable love. As the world slowly closes in on the claustrophobic Villa Alba del Ciliegio, and the house begins to reveal its secrets, will the Borgata family wish they’d never asked Jane to investigate? And what did happen to Enzo’s missing wife Irene?

Bestselling author Louise Douglas returns with an irresistibly compelling, intriguing and captivating tale of betrayal, love, jealousy and the secrets buried in every family history..
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Louise Douglas is the bestselling and brilliantly reviewed author and an RNA award winner. The Secrets Between Us was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. She lives in the West Country.

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My thoughts: families always seem to have terrible secrets but the ones here only do damage to the other members. Enzo’s wife disappeared, despite needing a wheelchair, which was left behind. Did he kill her or did something else happen to her? He won’t talk about that day, and no one else, except the missing Irene, knows what happened. They all have theories, and secrets of their own.

Jane is mourning her husband and hopes that helping her old friend look into her family mystery will help her recover from her loss. But digging into the complicated family dynamics at the Villa Alba threatens to bring a lot more to light than what happened to Irene.

With the family keeping things from her, and each other, Jane is struggling to get answers before the deadline of the TV show, but with a little help from her friend back home and the charming local police detective, she just might solve it.

A moving and evocative story of love and loss set in the beautiful Sicilian countryside, complete with mafioso and delicious food.

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