How deadly is the fight for equality? It’s 1922, and after spending a year travelling through Europe, Iris Woodmore returns home to find a changed Walden. Wealthy businesswoman Constance Timpson has introduced equal pay in her factories and allows women to retain their jobs after they marry. But these radical new working practices have made her deadly enemies. A mysterious sniper fires a single shot at Constance – is it a warning, or did they shoot to kill? When one of her female employees is murdered, it’s clear the threat is all too real – and it’s not just Constance in danger. As amateur sleuth Iris investigates, she realises the sniper isn’t the only hidden enemy preying on women. Purchase
Michelle Salter is a historical crime fiction writer based in northeast Hampshire. Many local locations appear in her mystery novels. She’s also a copywriter and has written features for national magazines. When she’s not writing, Michelle can be found knee-deep in mud at her local nature reserve. She enjoys working with a team of volunteers undertaking conservation activities.
My thoughts: Iris Woodmore has returned from her travels around Europe and is trying to fit back into her old life in Walden. But things have changed, her father’s got a girlfriend, her friends have moved on with their lives, and she doesn’t have a job anymore. After finding the body of a young woman in a canal barge, she’s drawn into another complicated and complex case.
Taking in several concerns of note to the times; from women working, returning injured servicemen, the new freedoms afforded to women, changes in fashion (Iris has bobbed hair and trousers!), it’s a tricky case. There’s a lot more going on around the biscuit factory than just baking!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
The competition is fierce…. Desperate to try and rebuild the reputation of Hopgood Hall, owners Alexi Ellis and Cheryl and Drew Hopgood agree to host a realty TV baking show, spearheaded by their arrogant but enigmatic head chef Marcel Gasquet. Hopefully the ratings will bring in bookings to the struggling hotel and Cosmo, Alexi’s antisocial feral cat, is hoping to get a starring role too! The temperature is high… Fiery and hot-headed, Marcel’s antics makes for brilliant television, but off-screen trouble is brewing. One of the contestants, femme fatale Juliette Hammond, makes it clear that she will do anything to secure the winning prize – even if it means sweetening up the prima donna chef. The results are deadly! So when Juliette is found dead, all eyes turn to Marcel. Has his fiery French temper got the better of him or has someone else fallen victim to Juliette’s devious ways? With the reputation of the hotel in tatters and Marcel’s liberty on the line, Alexi needs answers and fast. And the only person she can turn to for help is her old friend and private eye Jack Maddox. Jack’s working his own case, but he can’t refuse Alexi and he knows more than anyone that this murder could cost them everything! Purchase
Evie Hunter has written a great many successful regency romances as Wendy Soliman and is now redirecting her talents to produce dark gritty thrillers for Boldwood. For the past twenty years she has lived the life of a nomad, roaming the world on interesting forms of transport, but has now settled back in the UK.
My thoughts: Hopgood Hall is hosting the regional heat of a national cooking contest on TV and resident chef Marcel is hoping they get his good side. Until one of the contestants dies – and it looks like murder. Was Marcel the killer?
Alexi and Jack don’t think so, it’s too convenient that one of Marcel’s chef knives is stuck in Juliette’s chest, besides chefs are precious about their blades, they’d never kill someone with one. And there’s plenty of other suspects – all with a grudge against the not so lovely contestant.
Perhaps something in her past has returned to haunt her or she pushed someone too far? And what’s the connection to Jack’s current PI case at Cash Out? The duo get digging, aided by Alexi’s huge black cat Cosmo, who’s become a bit of a star in his own right.
Having my own attention seeking moggy, I can totally see why he’s such a camera magnet, I imagine he might be almost as handsome as my boy, and he does an excellent job of guarding Alexi’s car, which is impressive for a cat. They’re usually far too lazy to care.
Jack and Alexi’s relationship steps up a notch or two as well, from the spare room to Alexi’s bed! Good thing Cosmo likes Jack. The investigation runs fairly smoothly as they sort through their suspects, asking the right questions, and helping the under-resourced local police out with tying up the loose ends and discounting any red herrings. Juliette was not a nice person but she certainly didn’t deserve to be murdered. Thankfully this pair are on the 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.
Venice is a city full of secrets. For hundreds of years it has been the scene of scandal, intrigue and murderous rivalries. And it remains so today.
1548, Lorenzino de Medici, himself a murderer and a man few will miss, is assassinated by two hired killers.
Today, Marmaduke Godolphin, British TV historian and a man even fewer will miss, is stabbed by a stiletto blade on the exact same spot, his body dropping into the canal.
Can the story of the first murder explain the attack on Godolphin? The Carabinieri certainly think so. They recruit retired archivist Arnold Clover to unpick the mystery and to help solve the case. But the conspiracy against Godolphin runs deeper than anyone imagined.
David Hewson is a former journalist with The Times, Sunday Times and Independent. He is the author of more than twenty-five novels, including his Rome-based Nic Costa series which has been published in fifteen languages, and his Amsterdam-based series featuring detective Pieter Vos. He has also written three acclaimed adaptations of the Danish TV series, The Killing. He lives near Canterbury in Kent. @david_hewson | davidhewson.com
My thoughts: Convinced he’s found new evidence in a historical murder, ghastly academic turned TV historian Markaduke (Duke) Godolphin descends on Venice with his former students, the Gilded Circle, in tow. And promptly gets himself killed.
Carabinieri Captain Valentina Fabbri summons archivist Arnold Clover to tell her about the events leading up to the man’s death, about the Wolff Bequest, the rumours of Michelangelo’s involvement in the Medici assassinations and the life of Marmaduke Godolphin, who hired him to find the letters that supposedly prove the artist’s role.
It’s a convoluted story, involving a cast of people with good reasons to hate Duke, including his wife and son, a huge pile of rubbish at the State Archives, an American TV network, a cast of actors and the long ago real life drama of the Medici family, who never fare well outside of their city of Florence.
Lorenzino de Medici murdered his cousin, and was then himself assassinated in Venice. Either his uncle, the Pope, or Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, was behind it, and according to Duke, artist, sculptor and former Medici favourite, Michelangelo (yes, that Michelangelo) was heavily involved in both deaths. Or was he? The mysterious Wolff, a man no one has heard of, or met, donates his papers to the Archive in Venice after telling Duke that somewhere in there is proof.
Arnold and his friend Luca are hired to sieve through the detritus of this mystery man’s life and find them so Duke can make a triumphant return to fame and fortune.
But who is responsible for Duke’s unfortunate death? Fished from a canal dressed as the doge, stabbed in the heart with a fancy dagger. His wife, son, former acolytes, and an American TV producer were all at his party a few hours before, as were Arnold and Luca. But which one of them did for him? Valentina is convinced Arnold’s story holds the answers.
There is a lot of food and a lot of wandering around Venice (which, having done it, I recommend) while Arnold tells his story of academic rivalry, family feuds, long held grudges and murder. Valentina doesn’t seem hugely interested in the actual crime, as much as the quest for the Michelangelo letters, the mystery of Wolff and the over the top behaviour of Duke in the lead up to his death.
It’s a very dramatic carry on, Duke has spent a lot of money (most of it someone else’s) on this quest, throwing parties and buying costumes, hiring actors to recreate Lorenzino’s death, and trying it on with the young American Patty, sent to get a contract signed on proof of the scandal. Problem is, the Michelangelo letters might not be the genuine article.
Hugely fun and a really interesting take on the whodunnit, pairing a historic series of events, ones covered by real historians, with a rather entertaining and complicated fictional plot, narrated by an archivist who doesn’t really want to be there, punctuated by delicious Venetian cuisine and the stunning landscape of the canal city. More please!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Private investigator Billie Carlson is back in the next gripping instalment of this utterly addictive series. Perfect for fans of Martina Cole and Marnie Riches.
PI Billie Carlson is in Cleveland, Ohio following a lead on the whereabouts of her son, Lucas. But when the trail goes cold, she is forced to return to Glasgow and a life of waiting and praying that one day she might see him again.
Back in the office and ready to throw herself into work, she picks up a call from Lars, an old friend from her teenage years in Sweden. He tells her some devastating news. His younger sister, Astrid, was found dead in the Highlands, frozen to death with traces of drugs and alcohol in her system.
The police are convinced that Astrid killed herself, but Lars knows his sister would never do such a thing. He begs Billie to investigate and to accompany Astrid’s body back to Sweden. Billie quickly agrees and soon finds herself involved in a web of institutional corruption linked to the dark recesses of the criminal underworld. Can Billie find out what happened to Astrid, or will she be silenced by those desperate to keep her from finding out the truth?
Published 11th May, available from all bookshops.
My thoughts: PI Billie Carlson is asked to go to the Highlands and bring the body of her friend’s younger sister home to Sweden after her shocking death. She digs into what happened to Astrid and finds herself embroiled in an international drug syndicate and a violent world hidden in the scenic Scottish countryside.
At the same time she’s also searching for her missing son – kidnapped and taken to the US by her ex-husband, she’s hired an American PI to search for her, one with connections on that side of the Atlantic, desperate for answers.
While her former colleagues build a case against the men who are responsible for Astrid’s death, Billie flies to New York hoping to be reunited with her toddler son.
There’s a lot going on in Billie’s life and with investigations on both sides of the pond, both personally important to her (but one more so than the other), she’s divided but wants both to come to a positive conclusion – to get justice for Astrid and for Lucas to be back where he belongs.
She’s an interesting character, with a bad habit of charging into danger and almost gets herself killed. Her secretary is called Millie, which made me laugh, and her relationships with her former cop colleagues are complicated, but they come through for her when she needs their help.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for my review but all opinions remain my own.
Why would an airline pilot exchange a world of comfort for life on the streets? In 2006, Miranda meets an itinerant in the wood, she takes him home. He refuses to stay, desperate to return to the streets. Miranda gives him some money and forgets the incident. Fifteen years later, the SeeMs Detective Agency is investigating an abandoned house and discovers a homeless man was found there: murdered. No one knows who the dead man is or how he died, and, with one hundred and fifty unidentified street deaths per year, no one has time to find out. But, the SeeMs Detectives have both time and a client. Their investigation takes them into a surprising world of aviation, night-clubs and the homeless. What they discover threatens one of their team. Can they save their colleague before the homeless man’s killer strikes again?
Gina Cheyne is a retired helicopter pilot who has lived and worked in many countries. At present she Lives in Chaos, although she originally came from Erehwon. Her schooling was so bad she had to be re-schooled by animals. She loves to laugh. Plays tennis badly, bridge slightly better, golf even worse. She is exceptionally good at walking, unless it is muddy, then she is good at reading.
My thoughts: this was a very convoluted crime novel, with a murderer who muddies the waters and at various points has different names and stories, all to confuse and mislead the detectives on their trail. The murdered homeless man is a victim many times over it seems, although he has a few things in his past that weighed on him.
Tracking down his old acquaintances, colleagues, family and lovers takes the team into the world of airline pilots and a complex web of relationships, accidents, enemies and the history of a house called Wild Garlic.
While they untangle the mess of the dead man’s life, one of their own is put in danger by a suspect. Can they unravel the story and save their friend in time?
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Nice, France — Retired CIA agent, Cain, is living a quiet life, trying to stay out of trouble.
But he can’t turn off his old instincts like a lightswitch.
When an unsuspecting American woman becomes the target of criminals, he can’t sit back and do nothing.
What starts as one good deed puts Cain in the sights of highly-trained mercenaries, brings him to the attention of INTERPOL, and puts him on a collision course with evil personified.
With no one he can trust, in a land of double-crosses, Cain must rely on his wits to survive.
My thoughts: Cain is a complicated character, a former agent of some sorts, definitely a killer, but also seemingly a nice man. He wants to help people, either as a sommelier suggesting the perfect wine, or when a wedding gets shot up by terrorists, by hunting down the bad guys and putting a stop to them.
In this case he gets entangled with the Interpol agent who should really be arresting him, and a supposedly dead man. Known as The Devil, he’s an African warlord, terrorist and somewhere in France is his army. And they want someone from that wedding. Cain goes after the kidnap victim, and winds up in a whole heap of trouble.
I was hooked from the get go. A one night stand leads to his wedding invite, which he engineered because of something he’d overheard. He gets himself involved, when he could just go back to his nice quiet life. I think he misses being an international man of mystery. With his trusty and beloved car, he won’t let anyone else drive, he’s chasing after blacked out trucks full of crazy men with guns, relying mostly on his wits. Cracking stuff.
Currently available to read for free on Kindle Unlimited on Amazon. This is the sequel to The Florentine – also available now.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for writing a review. All opinions remain my own.
Winner of the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of 2020 Shortlisted for the Glass Key Award
A snobbish Danish literary author is challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days, travelling to a small village in Iceland for inspiration, and then the first body appears…
Copenhagen author Hannah is the darling of the literary community and her novels have achieved massive critical acclaim. But nobody actually reads them, and frustrated by writer’s block, Hannah has the feeling that she’s doing something wrong.
When she expresses her contempt for genre fiction, Hanna is publicly challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days. Scared that she will lose face, she accepts, and her editor sends her to Húsafjörður – a quiet, tight-knit village in Iceland, filled with colourful local characters – for inspiration.
But two days after her arrival, the body of a fisherman’s young son is pulled from the water … and what begins as a search for plot material quickly turns into a messy and dangerous investigation that threatens to uncover secrets that put everything at risk … including Hannah.
Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. She recently made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award. She lives in Denmark with her young family.
My thoughts: come with me to an Icelandic village in the middle of nowhere, in winter, where writer Hannah is attempting to write a crime novel in 30 days to win a bet. When there’s a murder, which she gets involved in and puts her safety at risk. She doesn’t speak the language, forcing others to have to speak English or Danish, she doesn’t know the people, but she’s pretty sure she can catch the killer. As you do.
I found Hannah a bit grating, she pushes her way into people’s lives and business with little regard for their feelings and clearly thinks very highly of herself. Her career is stalling as not many people seem that keen on her literary fiction – preferring crime writers like her nemesis Jørn. Which is why she boasts she can write a whole crime novel in a month. This tickled me, I do love it when writers poke fun at the industry and their own genre.
Especially when the book is so good, like this one. Jenny Lund Madsen has written a cracking crime thriller, with all the good ingredients – remote location, nosey outsider, secrets that have been buried for years, lots of possible suspects, a conflicted community, a lone policeman, and winter closing in. Iceland’s unique geography and the fact that the sun isn’t in evidence for much of the winter adds to the sinister atmosphere – snow bound crimes are always a bit more macabre than sunny ones. The winter darkness adds to the sense of claustrophobia and paranoia, someone here is a killer. They can’t leave, but neither can anyone else.
Full of suspense, intrigue and horror, this dark and twisted tale of murder and tragedy is absolutely perfect for a dark and stormy night’s reading. Or not, if you don’t want to stay up all night!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
My life was perfect until she came along. Norah. Younger, prettier and about to marry my own ex-husband, they are a walking cliché. I hate her. I hate them both. She’s taken everything from me – my husband, my life, my home – but I refuse to allow her to take Cassie, my beautiful daughter. That’s a step too far. Now I’ve discovered that Norah plans to have a baby of her own and that causes me no end of problems. She could destroy everything and reveal my deepest, darkest secrets. That can never be allowed to happen. No matter what it costs… A brand new psychological thriller that will keep you guessing till the end! Perfect for fans of Sue Watson, Nina Manning, Shalini Boland Purchase
Amanda Ashby and Sally Rigby are a crime writing partnership. Both authors live in New Zealand, have been friends for eighteen years and agree about everything (except musicals). They decided to collaborate on a psychological thriller which they then entered into a competition, run by Boldwood, and which they won!
My thoughts: this was another clever, assured thriller from the writing team of Sally Rigby and Amanda Ashby. Family dynamics are at the heart of this book. Those of parents, children, couples and siblings.
It’s a tangled mess and a teenage daughter – with a dodgy boyfriend, doesn’t help. As Alice tries in vain to get over her ex, Mark, with his new fiancée Norah a source of huge envy, and co-parent seventeen year old Cassie. Norah only has her brother for support.
And yes, Alice goes too far in basically stalking Norah. But did she kill her? There’s secrets upon secrets here, some of which could ruin lives. Knotty and with some twists that’ll make your jaw drop, this is a brilliant and absorbing 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.
Cairo. December 1917. Following a tip-off from notorious spy Fredrick Fredricks, Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane of British Intelligence find themselves in the hustle and bustle of Egypt. But ancient mummies aren’t the only bodies buried in the tombs of Cairo. When a young French archeologist is found dead in a tomb in the desert with his head bashed in, and an undercover British agent goes missing, the threat moves closer to home. As they dig deeper, soon Fiona and Kitty uncover a treasure trove of suspects, including competing excavators, jealous husbands, secret lovers, and belligerent spies! Fiona wonders if the notorious Fredrick Fredricks could be behind the murders? Or is the plot even more sinister? One thing is clear – If Fiona and Kitty can’t catch the killer, they might end up sharing a sarcophagus with Nefertiti. With humor as dry as the Arabian desert, and pacing as fast as a spitting camel, Fiona and Kitty are back in another sparkling adventure, this time in WW1 Egypt. Purchase
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. She is bringing new titles in the Fiona Figg series to Boldwood, the first of which, Chaos in Carnegie Hall, was published in November 2022.
My thoughts: we’re in British occupied Egypt in 1917, Lord Caernarvon, Howard Carter, T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) and Gertrude Bell are all present when Kitty and Fiona arrive (with chauffeur/chaperone Clifford and pooch Poppy in tow). They’re on the trail of the ever annoying Frederick Fredericks and a missing British agent.
The army is in town, with soldiers travelling back and forth to the Western Front, unlike WW2 where fighting took place in North Africa (my great-uncle was a Captain of a tank at the time), there’s no fighting in Egypt but as a British territory, there’s certainly a lot of war related activity. So of course there are spies, and undercover Germans (officially they’d been expelled from the country) as well as unhappy natives who wanted all of the Europeans gone. Then there’s the archaeologists and crooks stealing ancient artifacts to either sell on the black market or send home to museums.
With all this going on, Fiona and Kitty need to locate the agent, arrest Fredericks, hunt down black market smugglers, ensure the Suez Canal is in one piece, oh and Fiona would quite like to find Archie too. Easy. Armed with their collection of costumes, assistance from the local British intelligence bureau, Kitty’s array of skills (definitely not learnt in a French boarding school) and Fiona’s nose for trouble, they’ll be done in no time. Just a few balls, murders and kidnappings first.
It’s more like chaos in Cairo, as a French archeologist is murdered, they both get kidnapped several times, a British agent is poisoned, Fredericks appears and disappears, they hob nob with the local British celebrities and functionaries, and Fiona eats a lot of toast (local cuisine not suiting her). Tremendous fun and a bit silly, even with a war raging away in the background, Fiona even gets to dig out her beard and mustache collection.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own .
State Prosecutor Chastity Riley faces her most challenging case yet, with a violent serial killer at large, who might just be uncatchable…
A serial killer is on the loose in Hamburg, targeting dancers from The Acapulco, a club in the city’s red-light district, taking their scalps as gruesome trophies and replacing them with plastic wigs.
Chastity Riley is the state prosecutor responsible for crimes in the district, and she’s working alongside the police as they investigate. Can she get inside the mind of the killer?
Her strength is thinking like a criminal; her weaknesses are pubs, bars and destructive relationships, but as Chastity searches for love and a flamboyant killer – battling her demons and the dark, foggy Hamburg weather – she hits dead end after dead end.
As panic sets in and the death toll rises, it becomes increasingly clear that it may already be too late. For everyone…
Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street, Hotel Cartagena and River Clyde all followed in the Chastity Riley series, with The Acapulco out in 2023. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.
My thoughts: Chastity Riley is back. After her travels to Scotland, she’s back at work investigating crimes in Hamburg as a prosecutor, aided by detectives from the local police. Murdered pole dancers are being found in the streets, scalped and wearing cheap wigs. They’re all young, and work in the same club – The Acapulco.
The team look into their lives and the customers at the club. Someone really wants to humiliate these women – taking their hair and scalp, replacing them with gaudy wigs that you could buy anywhere. And is there a connection to a murdered pimp?
Chastity’s relationship with her neighbour has also stepped up a notch, spending nights in each other’s beds. Then there’s the theatre director, is he connected to the killings or just after Chastity? And her best friend, possibly her only friend, is acting a bit strange. Can she solve that mystery too?
I really like Chastity, she’s a complicated person, with a weakness for drinking and staying out all night, at odds with her professional life. She doesn’t let many people in and she takes too many risks. Faller and the other detectives worry about her, but she even shrugs them off. She’s put herself in danger before and probably will again.
This was another dark, twisted, clever thriller, looking deep into the heart of the nightlife in this district of Hamburg, itself a city of many faces. I enjoyed learning more about the area and the culture, and the passion for football that a lot of the characters share. This series gets better with each book and you learn a little bit more about Chastity each time 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.
ramblingmads 