Tag: crime fiction

A Dickensian murder mystery. A brutal modern-day gang. Can Helen Oddfellow outwit an old enemy – or will she be his next victim?

When literary researcher Helen Oddfellow finds an old newspaper cutting in an antiquarian bookshop, she uncovers a mystery dating back 200 years. Her quest to find the real woman behind one of Charles Dickens’ best-loved characters takes an unexpected turn, when the bookshop owner goes missing. 

Helen befriends his distraught teenage daughter as they try to find the missing man. But the marshes of north Kent are home to a criminal gang more brutal than anything Dickens imagined. Murky money, royal connections and desperate people link the past with the present. But it’s the unexpected return of an old enemy that puts Helen herself in mortal peril. 

FOLLY DITCH is latest in the series of mysteries featuring literary sleuth and London tour guide Helen Oddfellow.

Long-listed for the Stockholm Writers’ Festival 2022 First 5 Pages prize.

Anna Sayburn Lane is a writer, editor and journalist. She lives on the Kent coast, at Deal. 

Anna has published award-winning short stories and was picked as a Crime in the Spotlight new author at the 2019 Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival. Her 2018 debut novel Unlawful Things was shortlisted for the Virago New Crime Writer award.

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My thoughts: while I continue to have mixed feelings about Charles Dickens (DM me on Twitter if you’d like to hear the rant), I did enjoy this book, which revolves around a mysterious reference to a Nancy Love – could she be the inspiration for Oliver Twist‘s doomed character and if so, what could so many people want with a letter she might have written and given to a child Dickens to deliver? As Helen Oddfellow, a literature scholar, delves into the life of Nancy, she’s caught up in a terrible dark conspiracy that costs the lives of innocents and links her to a gang of people traffickers.

Aided by her journalist friend Nick, and a young woman called Wiz, she fights back and they might just bring down a right wing group while they’re at it.

Set mostly in Kent, where Dickens lived at various periods in his life, and referencing at least two of his books at various points, you don’t have to know much about him to enjoy this, or the secrets Helen unwittingly discovers.

Lots of fun and I do love a literary conspiracy, so I’m off to check out the rest of this series, apparently my old fave Kit Marlowe pops up in at least one. And if you subscribe to the author’s newsletter (link to website above) you get a free 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.

A private investigator is asked by a famous model, to discover if the death of her father was really accidental as she feels the police have hit a brick wall and have no further leads to follow. Simeon Cain decides to look into it. The results are both surprising and horrifying…

Tin Man is the first of a new series, which you will not want to miss. The novel is full of action and intrigue and the series is set to grow. Brian Caves is a great storyteller and this book is pure action all the way through, with twists and turns aplenty. The plotting is genius…Buy

I started out as an engineer, then an estate agent, followed by senior management roles in cable TV and telecoms. Spent a few years as a management consultant and now work in the language translation industry.

I have played music all my life. Classically trained on the clarinet from the age of eight until fourteen when my world took a quantum leap forward after hearing Jimi Hendrix and Voodoo Child on the radio. I thought, wow, I gotta do that. I dumped the clarinet and I picked up the guitar and have never put it down. I have played alongside topflight musicians, both live and in studios.

From a young age I read books like Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Black Beauty, Swallows and Amazons, then The Famous Five, Billy Bunter, Jennings and Derbyshire, Biggles, and Tarzan. Agatha Christie had a major impact as did Georges Simenon. I penned short stories at school – mostly adventure, but it wasn’t until I became hooked on American Crime Noir that my urge to write came crashing to the forefront of my mind. Reading Hammett, Chandler, Jim Thompson, Macdonald, and the master, James M. Cain had the same effect on my potential writing career as Hendrix had for my music.

Currently, having been further influenced by the greats of Southern literature, I write crime stories based in the Deep South as well as UK based dark noir crime set in the county of Northamptonshire where I reside. Throw into the pot crime and horror short stories and novellas and you’ll have some idea of what goes on in my head. Facebook Instagram Twitter

My thoughts: this was a clever crime novel, twists and turns a plenty. A murdered man, supposedly a mugging gone wrong, who worked as an interpreter and translator, did he hear something he shouldn’t have?

His glamorous daughter requests PI Simeon Cain look into it as the police aren’t interested. As he does his own life is put into danger, it seems the deceased stumbled onto something someone will kill to keep quiet. But what did the Tin Man, a local with a strange habit, see? And how far will Sim go to solve the case? Gripping, intelligent and at times funny, this is the start of what I think will be a really good series.

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

Julia Bird’s picturesque Cotswolds life is everything she’d dreamed of. Until, that is, she discovers a dead body in the library…

Julia Bird had imagined the quiet of rural life would be soothing after years in the city, but she finds she can’t just sit still.Determined to throw herself into village activities, she joins the library just in time to attend a talk by celebrated local author Vincent Andrews.

Charming, devilishly handsome and talented, Vincent teases the crowd with a reading from his forthcoming novel. Set in a village bearing strange similarities to Berrywick, with characters the audience start to recognise, Vincent hints of dark secrets to be revealed, to gasps of outrage from the room. The meeting ends in uproar, and, just hours later, Vincent’s dead body is discovered behind the bookshelves…

As one of the last people to see him alive, Julia feels morally bound to help the police investigate. With her trusty Labrador, Jake, at her side, she decides to do her own sleuthing and quickly discovers that Vincent’s personal life is messy, his finances are in disarray and his book sales are declining. But most of all, remembering her neighbours’ faces at the book reading, Julia wonders if one of them could have lost the plot enough to kill…

As Julia interrogates the suspects, she walks straight into another scene of murder and mayhem, and realises Vincent’s manuscript is now missing. There’s someone out there who’s deadly serious about keeping their secrets unpublished. Will Julia be able to stop them, before anyone else gets hurt?

Brilliantly twisty, this completely thrilling cozy mystery is perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton, Helena Marchmont and Clare Chase.

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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: this series is shaping up to be lots of fun as Julia Bird finds another dead body, this time in the shape of local author VF Andrews, in the local library.

Teaming up with her doctor beau Sean, and the local police detective, she’s soon on the case of a missing manuscript and the author’s slightly dodgy dealings.

As always Julia’s quick mind and understanding of people help her untangle the leads and follow the clues to find the culprit and solve the mystery of the author’s books, why was the latest one so bad? With Jake the naughty labrador at her heels, this is a great, fun comedy caper.

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

A notebook full of secrets, two untimely deaths – something sinister is stirring in the perfect seaside town of Morranez…
It’s summer and holidaymakers are flocking to the idyllic Brittany coast. But when first an old traveller woman dies in suspicious circumstances, and then a campaign of hate seemingly drives
another victim to take his own life, events take a very dark turn.
Mila Shepherd has come to France to look after her niece, Ani, following the accident in which both Ani’s parents were lost at sea. Mila has moved into their family holiday home, as well as taken her
sister Sophie’s place in an agency which specialises in tracking down missing people, until new recruit Carter Jackson starts.
It’s clear that malevolent forces are at work in Morranez, but the local police are choosing to look the other way. Only Mila and Carter can uncover the truth about what’s really going on in this beautiful, but mysterious place before anyone else suffers. But someone is desperate to protect a terrible truth, at any cost…
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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: this was really good, I think there needs to be a whole series with Mila solving crimes the police aren’t bothered with. She not only finds a murderer, she solves a serious historic crime with far reaching consequences. And all without taking her eye off the ball with regards to her niece Ani, who’s mourning her parents, lost at sea.

Mila also has to deal with her flamboyant stepmother, the new recruit at the family PI firm, a missing professor, a long distance relationship with her police officer boyfriend in Bristol and the loss of her sister – whose voice she can’t stop hearing.

She’s a very resilient and strong woman, she’s looking after her family even when she’s not sure she’s doing it right. Being back in the French village she spent time in as a teenager is dragging up memories she thought buried and the close proximity of former crush Carter Jackson isn’t helping matters.

Solving the horrible murder of an old woman living in a converted horse truck, who was carrying out her own very personal quest, is just one of the things she feels she has to do, especially as the police don’t seem to care. But the deceased woman is much more interesting than she appears and Mila is carrying on her legacy by piecing things together.

This is a really enjoyable, moving and rather striking book. It seems fairly simple a story to begin with but there are layers and clever little plot twists aplenty.

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

He’ll watch you.
A lawyer is found dead at sunrise on a lonely clifftop at Dunnet Head on the northernmost tip of Scotland. It was supposed to be his honeymoon, but now his wife will never see him again.

He’ll hunt you.
The case is linked to several mysterious deaths, including the murder of the lawyer’s last client – Scotland’s most notorious criminal… who had just walked free. DS Max Craigie knows this can only mean one thing: they have a vigilante serial killer on their hands.

He’ll leave you to die.
But this time the killer isn’t on the run; he’s on the investigation team. And the rules are different when the murderer is this close to home.

He knows their weaknesses, knows how to stay hidden, and he thinks he’s above the law…

Max, Janie and Ross return in the third gripping novel in this explosive Scottish crime series.

My thoughts: this is a very clever and dark police thriller. If the killer is a copper, how can they catch them? Max and his team are a lot of fun to follow as they investigate a reluctant to engage MIT 6 team on a murder case. One of the team is a killer, or are there more involved? Sending a friend undercover to infiltrate as well as bringing in their surveillance expert – ex-MI5 tech Benny, Max is throwing everything he can at this one and Ross, on yet another diet, just has to get it all signed off. I love Janie and her constant teasing, all while finding sweet treats to enjoy while driving around Scotland. I want Norma, their computer expert, to be my pal, she’s hilarious.

The case is pretty grim and there’s a high body count, not all of whom are criminals who got away with it, and the twist at the end is one you just won’t spot coming. I had no idea who the mastermind was. Brilliant 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.

Burnt-out from policework, Detective Sergeant George Manolis flies from Australia to Greece for a holiday. Recently divorced and mourning the death of his father, who emigrated from the turbulent Prespes region which straddles the borders of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia, Manolis hopes to reconnect with his roots and heritage.

On arrival, Manolis learns of the disappearance of an ‘invisible’ – a local man who lives without a scrap of paperwork. The police and some locals believe the man’s disappearance was pre-planned, while others suspect foul play. Reluctantly, Manolis agrees to work undercover to find the invisible, and must navigate the complicated relationships of a tiny village where grudges run deep.

It soon becomes clear to Manolis that he may never locate a man who, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t exist. And with the clock ticking, the ghosts of the past continue to haunt the events of today as Manolis’s investigation leads him to uncover a dark and long-forgotten practice.

My thoughts: I was utterly gripped by this tale of a missing person in Northern Greece, not an area many tourists visit. The poverty and hardships faced by the villagers, the conflict that never leaves them (the Greek civil war), the way they talk about the strange traditions and culture, was all fascinating.

I know a lot about Ancient Greece but modern Greece doesn’t get a look in in terms of learning about it. I didn’t even know there was a civil war following WW2. How terrible is that.

This book, is however, far from terrible. Instead it’s utterly gripping. As Manolis searches the buildings and countryside of this border land and bonds with Roze, an Albanian who claims she just walked over the border, he delves into the old ways that small villages still honour, but also modern smuggling, secrets and the concept of being ‘invisible’ in the modern world – somehow existing without any paperwork or really being a person legally.

The twists at the end made my head spin – just as you think you understand what’s happened, you’re thrown completely off track. Highly enjoyable, intelligent crime fiction.

*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 body of a baby is found in the woods but all is not as it seems.

A twisted serial killer is targeting pregnant teenage girls.

DI Blood races against the clock to stop the most chilling murderer he’s ever hunted. His private life meanwhile threatens to distract him and derail his investigation.

Any mistakes, any hesitation on his side, could cost another innocent life …

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Eileen Wharton is an Oscar winning actress, Olympic gymnast, and Influencer. She also tells lies for a living. Her first novel was published in 2011 to worldwide critical acclaim. And she’s won awards for exaggeration. It did top the Amazon humour chart so she’s officially a best-selling author. She currently has five ‘lively’ offspring ranging from thirty-three to fourteen years of age, and has no plans to procreate further, much to the relief of the local schools and police force. She lives on a council estate in County Durham. She has never eaten kangaroo testicles, is allergic to cats and has a phobia of tinned tuna. She’s retired from arguing with people on the internet.

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My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book, I liked DI Blood, he felt like a real person – trying to balance his job, grim as it is, with dealing with his crazy ex-wife, his children and his crush on his best friend and former sister-in-law. The case is pretty dark, young women are being murdered and so are their unborn babies. Anything involving children is bound to be pretty terrible but this seems completely monstrous and the cops are at a loss.

Meanwhile Sue is dealing with the disappearance of a young girl, and her mother’s behaviour is very odd. Sobbing one minute and then playing video games and yelling at her other kids the next. Something is off here but Sue’s own past is colouring her vision. She’s also worried about her daughter, and looking for her long missing brother.

Blood is juggling a lot and worried about more young women being killed – he can’t figure out the connection. Is it the slightly weird church they all seem to have gone to, is it the gymnastics centre his niece attends, what connects these young women? And how does the killer know them?

There’s a lot happening in both the cases and in the detectives lives, and the pace is relentless. Racing against time, even more so when Sue and Rachel are put in danger, can Blood stop the murderer? 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.