Tag: crime fiction

When there’s a pack on the hunt, nobody’s safe…

After the traumatic events of the past year, Tuva is back as deputy editor reporting for the Gavrik Posten, but her world will never be the same.

A closed community. Rose Farm is home to a group of survivalists, heavily armed and completely cut off from the outside world.

A missing person. A young woman, Elsa Nyberg, goes missing within the perimeter of the farm compound. Can Tuva talk her way inside the tight-knit group to find her?

A frantic search. As Tuva attempts to unmask the culprit, she gains unique access to the residents. But soon she herself is in danger of the pack turning against her. Can she make her way back to safety and expose the truth?

Will Dean’s most heart-pounding Tuva Moodyson thriller yet takes Tuva to her limits, both professionally and in her personal life. Can she, and will she, make the right choice?

WILL DEAN lives in the middle of a vast elk forest in Sweden, where the Tuva Moodyson novels are set. He grew up in the East Midlands. After studying Law at the LSE, and working in London, he settled in rural Sweden and built a wooden house in a boggy clearing, where he lives with his wife and son, and it’s from this base that he reads and writes. Will Dean is the author of Dark Pines, Red Snow, Black River and Bad Apples in the Tuva Moodyson series. His debut novel in the series, Dark Pines, was selected for Zoe Ball’s Book Club and shortlisted for the Guardian Not the Booker prize. The second, Red Snow, won Best Independent Voice at the Amazon Publishing Readers’ Awards and was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2020, as was his third novel, Black River. The series is in development for television. Will is also the author of two stand-alone novels, The Last Thing to Burn, shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2022, and First Born, both published by Hodder. Will Dean posts regularly about reading and writing on YouTube and you can find him on Twitter, TikTok and Instagram. @willrdean TikTok: will_dean_author YouTube: Will Dean – Forest Author

My thoughts: I love Will Dean’s writing and I love Tuva Moodyson – she’s a great character, clever, stubborn and determined to get to the root of the story, even when she gets into trouble and puts herself in danger.

Investigating a missing person case on a private and somewhat sinister farm, which hosts a group of “preppers” with some extreme beliefs and a disturbing number of weapons, Tuva gets in a little too deep.

The people on the farm are planning to basically cut themselves off and go entirely self sufficient – because they don’t believe the world as we know it can sustain itself. They grow their own food, produce their own power with solar panels, and plan to defend their land and lives with their huge arsenal.

But a worker on their farm is missing and that brings unwanted scrutiny from the police and from Tuva – as the press.

Tuva is still reeling from her last case, which ended with her girlfriend Noora now reduced to a vegetable, cared for by her loving parents, but no longer able to communicate. This is portrayed incredibly sensitively. Tuva still loves her very much, but is beginning to lose hope that Noora will recover. Much as with Tuva’s own deafness, Noora’s terrible sad condition is not sensationalised and is so moving and heartbreaking. It adds another dimension to Tuva’s character and as she’s such a loner, it gives her another connection to the world.

This series in general is brilliant and this latest condition continues to cement Will Dean as one of my favourite writers.

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

Welcome to the book tour for The Voice by John Reid! Read on for more details!

The Voice

Publication Date: March 31, 2022

Genre: Mystery/ Suspense/ Crime Fiction/ Police Procedural

The world of warfare is changing, and a new weapons delivery system developed secretly in the UK is targeted by an international terrorist gang who set out to steal it on instructions from “The Voice”. “The Voice” is a mysterious mastermind who uses an electronic device to disguise his voice and keep his identity hidden.

DCI Steve Burt is asked by his old Army Commander to search for his son, a serving Army officer who is missing. This unofficial inquiry becomes part of an official investigation and takes the DCI into a world of international intrigue, terrorism, murder and corruption at the highest level of government and the Metropolitan Police. The evidence always leads back to “The Voice” but who is he? Unearthing a phantom is a difficult task even for DCI Burt.

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About the Author

John Reid is the creator of the DCI Steve Burt series of thriller and suspense crime fiction at its very best.

Retirement has given John the time to fulfil his passion for writing, creating the mystery series through his unique creative process. Each main character is fully developed at the beginning of the writing process, with the part they play in each journey evolving organically within the confines of the underlying plot line. This freedom and flexibility creates inventive and compelling story telling that keeps the reader intrigued throughout.

John was born in Scotland and, after serving in the Army, embarked on a career in industry. He has worked in several different sectors in senior roles and was latterly CEO of a large international data capture company. He retired for the first time in 1995 to take on a consultancy designed to help new businesses become established. In 2018 he finally retired from business life to become a full-time author. John lives in Scotland and Portugal with his wife, and they have two grown-up sons.

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My thoughts: I really like this series, it’s gritty and well written, enjoyable and realistic. Even when the crimes are quite extreme. This book is a case in point, a mysterious voice at the end of the phone is prompting people to commit terrible crimes – they can’t really explain why. These crimes seen connected to a new military technology.

DCI Steve Burt is on the case however, and determined to find the person behind The Voice. And he will get his man. He understands how criminals think and this insight guides his investigation.

Gripping, edge of your seat stuff.

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Mick Hardin is home on leave,
recovering from an IED attack, when a body is found in the center of town. It’s
Barney Kissick, the local heroin dealer, and the city police see it as an
occupational hazard. But when Barney’s mother, Shifty, asks Mick to take a
look, it seems there’s more to the killing than it seems. Mick should be
rehabbing his leg, signing his divorce papers, and getting out of town–and most
of all, staying out of the way of his sister Linda’s reelection as Sheriff–but
he keeps on looking, and suddenly he’s getting shot at himself.A dark, pacy crime novel about grief and revenge, and the surprises hidden below the surface, Shifty’s Boys
is a tour de force that confirms Chris Offutt’s Mick Hardin as one of the
most appealing new investigators in fiction.

My thoughts: I like Mick, I don’t entirely understand his relationship with his Sheriff sister but he does at least try to get answers legally, before having to bring out the big guns and leave a nice mess for the Feds to sort out.

What at first looks like a falling out between rival drug dealers takes in a lot more – private military, illegal waste dumping, climate crisis, fracking, and most importantly of all – the complicated messes that are families.

Shifty’s sons are for the most part criminals or useless, except for Ray-Ray, who joined the Marines. He comes home to bury his brothers and joins forces with Mick to get revenge for his family. The law in the hills is a little different to the law in town.

Mick’s a complicated character, between the divorce papers he hasn’t signed, the fragile truce with his sister, the way his grandfather raised him in the woods, he’s interesting. I want to read more – even if he has to head back to the army now his leg’s getting better.

This isn’t a long book, it’s sparing with description, but there’s a lot that happens in its pages, drawing you into a world hidden quietly away in the Kentucky hills, where things are done as they always have been, and where justice isn’t necessarily handed down by a judge.

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

ONE HOUSE
EIGHT KILLERS
NO WITNESSES

Jeanette is the manager of a probation hostel that houses high risk offenders released on license.

At 3am one morning, she receives a call telling her a resident has been murdered.

Her whole team, along with the eight convicted murderers, are now all suspects in a crime no one saw committed…

Don’t miss the first nerve-shredding standalone thriller from Noelle Holten, author of the Maggie Jamieson series.

Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at http://www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. She is the PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering a variety of risk cases as well as working in a multi agency setting. She has three Hons BA’s – Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice – and a Masters in Criminology. Noelle’s hobbies include reading, attending as many book festivals as she can afford and sharing the booklove via her blog.

Dead Inside – her debut novel with One More Chapter/Harper Collins UK is an international kindle bestseller and the start of a new series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson.

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My thoughts: this was a clever thriller with elements of the locked room and country house murder mysteries. The suspects are all either residents or staff at a probation hostel. One which houses seriously violent offenders. Incredibly unpopular with local residents and in the press.

Danny Wells killed his partner, and now, years later, someone has killed him. The police are sure the killer is connected with the hostel. As is local resident Helen and journalist Sadie. They’re both keeping a close eye on events.

But the killer is spiralling and the secrets of 6 Ripley Avenue are all coming out.

Clever, and with plenty of suspects and red herrings, this is an enjoyable standalone thriller.

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

We’re celebrating the release of page-turning thriller, Inhuman Acts by Brooke French! Read on for more details and don’t forget to try your luck at winning a $25 Amazon gift card!

Inhuman Acts

Publication Date: September 29th, 2022

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

A deadly, incurable disease creeps silent through Chattanooga. And its victims aren’t random.

When inexplicable human rabies cases appear in Tennessee, disease ecologist Letty Duquesne jumps at the chance to trace the virus back to its source. But the closer Letty gets to finding the outbreak’s origin, the further someone will go to stop her.

With an unwanted promotion threatening to take Letty far from the fieldwork she loves, this outbreak feels like her last chance to make a difference. It’s not something she can ignore, especially now. The spillover of zoonotic diseases to the human population is on the rise and violent animal attacks-like the one that killed her sister-are becoming all too common.

Something in nature has gone very wrong.

Local authorities would rather she go home, but Letty can track a source animal like no one else. With the help of disgraced detective Andrew Marsh, Letty follows the virus’s epidemiological trail. But her every move is watched. And the source animal is closer than she thinks.

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About the Author

Brooke French is a recovering lawyer turned writer who lives with her husband and sons between Atlanta and Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. She spends most of her days gleefully researching and writing about fatal viruses, terrorism, and murder.

Brooke is likely on numerous watch lists

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My thoughts: this was a clever, slightly grim, crime thriller. A strange rabies outbreak brings University of Georgia scientist Letty to town, wanting to offer her expertise to the doctors who treated the unfortunate victims (there is no cure for rabies, only a preventative vaccine for humans and animals). But no one wants to know.

Police detective Andrew was the unlucky soul who shot one of the rabies victims. He’s on admin leave while the incident is investigated. A chance meeting with Letty draws him into a somewhat clandestine investigation into the outbreak.

Letty’s digging also brings her into contact with local vet Pete, going through a tough divorce, Letty and he connect and he offers his help with her investigation too. Can Letty trust these friendly men? Is her pal Priya, struck down by a rogue strain of malaria in Cambodia, going to be ok? Will Letty be able to finally grieve her sister’s terrible death?

With zoonotic diseases (like Covid-19) on the rise, this is a timely book in some ways. Letty and her colleagues study the intersection of animal viruses and humans, as we encroach further on the natural world, we risk increasing exposure to things like malaria, zika and rabies. Often without any way to treat and cure these diseases. Letty and scientists like her are at the front line of research into ways to prevent awful viruses reaching humans and while the rabies outbreak turns out to have a very human cause, it could so easily be a case of interspecies contact gone wrong.

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Four hikers enter the mountains. Only two return. But is it tragedy? Or treachery?

When sisters Cat and Ginny travel with their husbands to the idyllic Swiss Alps for a hiking holiday, it’s not just a chance to take in the stunning scenery. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with each other after years of drifting apart–and patch up marriages that are straining at the seams.

As they head into the mountains, morale is high, but as the terrain turns treacherous, cracks in the relationships start to show. With worrying signs that someone might be following them, the sun begins to set and exhaustion kicks in. Suddenly, lost high on a terrifying ridge, tensions spill over–with disastrous consequences.

When only two of the four hikers make it down from the mountain, the police press them for their story–but soon become suspicious when their accounts just don’t add up.

What really happened up on that ridge? Who are the survivors? And what secrets are they trying to hide?

Susi Holliday grew up near Edinburgh and worked in the pharmaceutical industry for many years before she started writing. A lifelong fan of crime and horror, her short stories have been published in various places, and she was shortlisted for the inaugural CWA Margery Allingham Prize. She is the acclaimed author of nine novels and a novella. The film adaptation of her Trans-Siberian-set psychological thriller Violet is currently in development.As well as working, reading, writing, walking and drinking tea, Susi provides mentoring for new crime writers via http://www.crimefictioncoach.com.You can find out more at her website, http://www.susiholliday.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SJIHolliday, on Twitter @SJIHolliday, and on Instagram @susijholliday

My thoughts: families are very complicated – and Cat and Ginny are very complicated. On a hiking trip with their husbands, secrets forcing wedges between both sets of spouses and the sisters. These secrets are boiling up and over as the four get lost hiking in the Swiss Alps.

Cat has a plan, but it goes sideways on the mountainside and now she has to convince the police that she’s the only one telling the truth, not the man she stumbled off the mountain with.

I love Susi’s books, they’re always smart and compelling reads, and this is no different. Cat is a mess and her plan isn’t very smart – there are better ways to deal with your sister (mine is still alive, promise).

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

AMY ROWLINGS RETURNS!

Sunday morning, and the body of Reverend Villiers has been found propped up on the vigil seat in the church’s lychgate. It appears that he has been poisoned.

When amateur sleuth and regular churchgoer, Amy Rowlings arrives she finds DI Bodkin already at the scene. Bodkin tells her about a cryptic scripture reference that has been scrawled in chalk on the stone slabs beneath the body. What the citation hints at, shocks everyone.

Amy, a huge Agatha Christie fan is determined to get involved in the investigation and despite a stern warning from the detective’s boss, Amy and Bodkin team up again to try to solve the most complex murder case he has ever been involved in. When the toxicology report comes back from the lab, the results only add to the mystery.

Meanwhile, Amy looks to her favourite Agatha Christie character, Hercule Poirot for help, and using his techniques, she narrows down the list of possible murderers to just nine suspects.

Can Amy fit together the jigsaw of clues to solve this, the most complex of cases?

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T A Belshaw is from Derbyshire in the United Kingdom where he shares a house with his chatty rescue cat, Mia. He writes for both children and adults. A former miner and computer technician, Trevor studied Advanced Creative Writing at the Open University. He is the author of Tracy’s Hot Mail, Tracy’s Celebrity Hot Mail and the noir, suspense novella, Out of Control. Following the sudden death of his wife in 2015 Trevor took a five-year break from writing, returning during lockdown in 2020, when an injury forced him to take time off work. The result of this new creative burst was the Dual Timeline, Family Saga, Unspoken and the Historical Cosy Crime Whodunnit, Murder at the Mill.

Trevor signed his first contract with Spellbound Books Ltd in April 2021. He signed a further mullti-book contract with them in the spring of 2022.

His short stories have been published in various anthologies including 100 Stories for Haiti, 50 Stories for Pakistan, Another Haircut, Shambelurkling and Other Stories, Deck the Halls, 100 Stories for Queensland and The Cafe Lit anthology 2011, 2012 and 2013. He also has two pieces in Shambelurklers Return.

Trevor is also the author of 15 children’s adventure books written under the name of Trevor Forest. 

His children’s poem, Clicking Gran, was long listed for the Plough prize (children’s section) in 2009 and his short poem, My Mistake, was rated Highly Commended and published in an anthology of the best entries in the Farringdon Poetry Competition.

Trevor’s articles have been published in magazines as diverse as Ireland’s Own, The Best of British and First Edition. 

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My thoughts: this was a really enjoyable crime story about a vicar, who nobody seems to really know, left poisoned and a suspicious Bible verse chalked onto the wall behind him in the lychgate of his church on a Sunday morning.

Local detective Bodkin and newly minted PI Amy Rowlings set out to find the truth about the Rev Villiers and who could possibly have wanted to kill him.

Amy is a clever, determined sleuth, she’s the one that cracks the case, even though Bodkin gets the credit with the police. They work well together and always find time to hit the cinema or the pub with friends. In fact that’s where they pick up a few clues.

Set in a time when women had far fewer options than we do now, Amy isn’t keen on being a housewife and giving in to society’s expectations, instead she’s forging her own path and putting things to right at the same 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.