Oxford, 1963 In a backstreet club, people dance the night away to their favourite band. But behind the scenes there is trouble afoot. An argument is brewing between bandmembers, two possessive girlfriends have plans for their partners, the club manager is creaming off profits – and a tragic accident leaves the lead singer dead.
But was it an accident at all? Coroner Clement Ryder is suspicious, and WPC Trudy Loveday knows there’s only one thing for it. She’s going undercover, deep into the seedy underbelly of Oxford nightlife.
Meanwhile Clement’s own secret is becoming increasingly difficult to keep hidden, and discovering the singer’s murderer might not be the only shock in store for Trudy…
My thoughts: another pleasing outing for Dr Ryder and PC Loveday, as they investigate the death of a pop singer on the rise. His death looks like an accident at first but his injuries are a little off for a tumble down the stairs in a nightclub. Something else is definitely going on. With several suspects and not many willing witnesses, the duo could be struggling to get some answers.
Then there’s also Ryder’s declining health, his Parkinson’s disease is progressing and he knows it’s time to hang up his coroner’s robes. My great-uncle, a lovely man, died of Parkinson ‘s, so I know it can be a truly horrible condition and slowly robs you of your ability to do things. In the 1960s, when the book is set less was known about it than now, so it must have been terrifying. It adds an element of sadness to the story – this could be the pair’s last case.
As always I really enjoyed this book, the writing is so good. I always root for Loveday to get one over on her sexist boss, making her do the filing and make tea just because she’s a woman, and having the brass acknowledge her skills and successes is always 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.
For fans of Jane Harper’s The Dry or Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects, a searing debut crime novel set in the Australian outback, where the grief and guilt surrounding an unsolved disappearance still haunt a small farming community…and will ultimately lead to a reckoning.
The tiny outback town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of Australia. Once a thriving center of stockyards and sheep stations, years of punishing drought have petrified the land and Nannine has been whittled down to no more than a stoplight, a couple bars, and a police station. And it has another, more sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of young Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago.
Mina McCreery’s life has been defined by the intense public interest in her sister’s case—which is still a hot topic in true-crime chat rooms and on social media. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her family’s sunbaked destocked sheep farm.
Enter Lane Holland, a young private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Before she died, Mina’s mother funded a million-dollar reward for anyone who could explain how Evelyn vanished from her bed in the family’s farmhouse. The lure of cash has only increased public obsession with Evelyn and Mina—but yielded no answers.
Lane wins Mina’s trust when some of his more unconventional methods show promise. But Lane also has darker motivations, and his obsession with the search will ultimately risk both their lives—and yield shocking results.
Compulsively readable, with an unforgettable setting and cast of characters, WAKE is a powerful, unsparing story of how trauma ripples outward when people’s private tragedies become public property, and how it’s never too late for the truth to come out.
My thoughts: this story unfolds slowly, both Lane and Mina have kept things secret, things that help build up the truth about what really happened to Evelyn. It’s only when they start being honest, with each other and the police, that answers surface.
The stark landscape of Mina’s family farm, the small town that she’s stayed in despite her isolation, the world she’s built for herself, letting no one in, isolates her. Lane has also isolated himself – only his sister in his life.
The story is intense and insidious, layer after layer of secrets, lies and finally the truth is peeled open. Clever and compelling, it’s not hard to see why this won the Debut Dagger at the CWAs.
*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 unexplained disappearance is strange, but two are sinister. In Lower Hembrow, an idyllic village nestled beneath Ham Hill in Somerset, the villagers are preparing to enjoy the autumn traditions of the rural English countryside until Joe Trevillion, a curmudgeonly local farmer and the father of six children, vanishes. When Adam Hennessy, the ex-detective proprietor of The Plough, the village’s popular Inn, investigates, he finds ominous undercurrents beneath apparently harmless rumour and gossip. Meanwhile, a vicious campaign of vindictiveness forces Adam and his three amateur sleuth friends to dig deep into the secret lives of their neighbours to expose the source of a cruel vendetta and prevent another death. As they uncover the disturbing truth, the friends learn they must also lay their own past lives to rest before they can hope to make their dreams for the future come true. Purchase
Frances Evesham is the bestselling author of the hugely successful Exham-on-Sea murder mysteries set in her home county of Somerset, and the Ham-Hill cosy crime series set in South Somerset.
My thoughts: even the most picturesque villages hide dark deeds and not very nice people. Somerset village Ham Hill apparently hosts a few unpleasant and murderous souls. Also a donkey kidnapper (the donkey is fine).
Someone seems to have it out for artist Dan, after a series of cruel sabotages, could they be blaming him for a tragic accident years before? And where’s Joe gone? His wife and six children need him home, as do the cows, they won’t milk themselves after all.
Luckily Adam and his friends are on hand to dig into both these cases and assist the local police. Joe isn’t as blameless as he seems and Dan needs to deal with the past before he and his son can move on.
Highly enjoyable as always and there’s a rather fiendish murder to solve – a very Agatha Christie sort of death. Though I think I’ll skip Somerset on my next visit to the West Country.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Sister Agatha is 118 years of age, whose vim and vigour would put the most robust athletes to shame. However, during a routine check-up, her doctor claims that she has just a week to live – inconvenient, seeing as the beloved sister once made an improbable vow: to be the oldest person in the world. At last count, she was the fifth. Never one to admit defeat, Sister Agatha concocts a bold Plan B. Using her final days, she intends on travelling the world to meet the only four people whose birthday cakes boast more candles than hers. And then, one by one, she will kill them.
Hailing from Navan in the royal county of Meath, Domhnall is a graduate of the Bachelor in Acting Studies Programme, Trinity College Dublin, later completing a Master’s in Screenwriting at Dún Laoghaire IADT. He now works as an actor and a journalist, dividing his time between Galway, where he films TG4’s award-winning series, Ros na Rún, Dublin and Venice, where he and his Italian lover continuously promise their well-worn livers that they will refrain from quaffing so much Prosecco. (Unfortunately, it seems some vows, just like nearby Rome, were not built in a day.) Wine-drinking aside, for more than four years, Domhnall has also enjoyed the responsibility of being Assistant Editor at Irish Tatler Man, a title whose various awards includes Consumer Magazine of the Year. Thanks to this role, he interviewed a host of high-profile names such as Tommy Hilfiger, Chris Pine, Kevin Spacey, David Gandy, and Jacques Villeneuve. Domhnall has written for the majority of Ireland’s leading newspapers and magazines, including the Irish Independent, The Irish Times and RTE. He also writes a monthly column in Woman’s Way, the country’s biggest-selling weekly magazine. His first novel, Sister Agatha: the World’s Oldest Serial Killer, was released in 2016 to critical acclaim (Tirgearr Publishing). His second and third books, Colin and the Concubine and Crazy for You were published by Mercier Press, Ireland’s oldest publishing house.
My thoughts: this is a very funny book about a very determined 118 year old nun, who despite her vows and religious belief is about to break a commandment and commit several murders – so she can die safe in the knowledge that she was the oldest living person. But along the way various things happen and her adventures touch the lives of others – for good or bad. She also gets quite lucky at times and the sisters back home in the convent have no idea what she’s up to. There’s some very silly moments, like hiding in a big crate of apples in Warsaw, or hijacking a camel ride in Morocco, but Sister Agatha is going to get her name in the history books, one way or another!
*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 went missing when you were sixteen. Was it all your fault?
Trembling with shock, Jodie picks up the old T-shirt. She hasn’t seen it for twenty years. Her boyfriend had been wearing it – her Ben – the day he went missing. The last time anyone saw him alive.
After her dad’s funeral, all Jodie wants is to clear out her childhood home as quickly as possible and get back to life with her son. But a terrifying discovery changes everything she knew about her kind, loving father.
Her boyfriend Ben went missing when they were just teenagers. His parents still stare out the window desperately waiting for him to come home. So how did the T-shirt he was wearing when Jodie saw him walk away from their last date end up in her father’s attic?
The search for answers leads Jodie to an old family friend who knows all her father’s secrets. She can’t shake his questions about her older brother, and the real reason their dad left everything to Jodie, not him. But when a stranger begins to follow her around their little town, and a deadly fire breaks out in her home, it’s clear someone will do anything to stop Jodie finding the truth about Ben’s disappearance. Has Jodie unknowingly put her own son in terrible danger?
An absolutely addictive psychological thriller with a heart-stopping twist, about how even the people we love can hide the darkest secrets. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, I Am Watching You and Shari Lapena.
You can also sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you’ll love
Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.
He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.
Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Kerry Wilkinson here
My thoughts: how well do we really know our parents? When Jodie finds her dead teenage boyfriend’s t-shirt in her late father’s attic, hidden away, she’s forced to confront events from years ago. Did her dad kill Ben? Or was he protecting someone else? Suddenly her world is upside down and she doesn’t know who to turn to. Then there’s her teenage son, in trouble at school and lying to her.
The man imprisoned for Ben’s death is out and living back in the same town – a brave move or perhaps foolhardy. Everything’s on a collision course and Jodie doesn’t know it yet. Clever, tense and gripping 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.
When you think you’re safe, When you think you’re all alone, That’s when he’ll come for you…
A silent killer stalks the city, targeting those home alone at night – killing without pity or remorse.
As panic spreads, Detective Inspector Helen Grace leads the investigation, but is herself a hunted woman, her every step dogged by a ruthless killer bent on revenge.
As she tracks the murderer, Grace begins to suspect there is a truly shocking home truth that connects these brutal crimes…
Check the windows, lock the doors – this is a twisted page-turner that will prey on your darkest fears, in the way only M.J. Arlidge can.
Matthew (MJ) Arlidge has worked in television for the last twenty years, specialising in high-end drama production, including prime-time crime serials Silent Witness, Torn, The Little House and, most recently, the hit TV show Innocent. His debut thriller, Eeny Meeny, was the UK’s bestselling crime debut of 2014 and has been followed by nine more DI Helen Grace bestsellers including the latest, All Fall Down. In 2015, his audiobook exclusive Six Degrees of Assassination was a number-one bestseller.
My thoughts: this was very good, nice and suspenseful. The title implies one cat and one mouse, but there are really several. There’s DI Helen Grace and the various individuals after her – from annoying reported Emilia Garanita, to ex-colleague (and lover) Barton, as well as deranged psychopathic psychologist Alex Blythe and his proxy. Then there’s the murderer the police are hunting and DI Helen Grace and the MIT team looking for him. Also the murderer and his victims. Lots of cats, lots of mice, and some mice are also cats. I think my analogy may have lost the plot somewhere there …
However the plot in the book, thankfully, makes a lot more sense and hooked me right in. I have read previous books in this series so I knew it would be good, and pleasingly it was. There seems to be no connection between the victims – a recent mother, a teenage boy, then another woman dies. And the police start to look a bit closer – not just at the victims but also at their families.
Grace is in danger, both from Blythe and his machinations from a distance, but also in danger of losing her job as her boss is trying to find a way to get rid of her – and he just might get it.
Despite the distractions however, Grace and her team are putting the case together and chasing suspects – sometimes quite literally. A cracking 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.
When the bodies of five men are discovered in a secret vault at the villa Belle Époque, suspicion falls upon the villa’s former owner, enigmatic Pascal Deveraux. Actor, gambler, general good-for-nothing – Pascal has lived a life of privilege and excess. But with no evidence to implicate him in murder, the case goes unsolved. Called in to investigate the cold case, it’s not long before Margot’s enquiries re-open old wounds. Aided by policière municipale, Alia Leon, the investigation moves swiftly from the smugglers’ trails of the Pyrenees to the cannabis clubs of Barcelona. And it’s there, in the dark medieval streets of the city’s Gothic Quarter, that someone finds a reason to silence her. Amazon UKAmazon US
Rachel Green is the pen name of a writer from the UK. Rachel has twice been longlisted for both the Bath Novel Award and the BPA First Novel Award, as well as being on the shortlist for the Capital Crime New Voices Award. Rachel lives in a tiny village in England, but travels frequently to the south of France where the stories from the Madame Renard Investigates series are set.
My thoughts: this was very enjoyable, I like Margot, and I liked Alia, I hope she appears in another book in this series. Investigating a strange cold case leads the two women into the odd lives of the Deveraux siblings, the creepy Pascal and his strange sister. Pascal likes to play perverse and disturbing games with people and immediately Margot has her suspicions of him. When Alia remembers seeing a man matching the remains of one of the victims, they’re set on a trail that will lead beyond the village’s borders and across the mountains into Barcelona.
Margot is an intelligent, resourceful investigator – for all that her late husband was the police officer, she has the right instincts for detective work. The remote villa and the tragic and disturbed family are ripe for investigating. Working with Alia, who really deserves a lot of the credit, means she has back up when things go wrong.
Set against the backdrop of a hot summer in the south of France, and the descriptions of all the delicious food Alia’s father, Didier, provides, gives an intense juxtaposition to the dark deeds and the sinister bunker where the remains were found. Twisted, gripping and intelligent crime writing.
*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 girl is sitting upright, her dark brown hair arranged over her shoulders and her blue, blue eyes staring into the distance. She looks almost peaceful. But her gaze is vacant, and her skin is cold…
When Detective Jackie Cooke is called to the murder scene, she is shocked by what she sees. Missing teenager Chloe Smedley has finally been found – her body left in a cold back yard, carefully posed with her bright blue eyes still open. Jackie lays a protective hand on the baby in her belly, and vows to find the brutal monster who stole Chloe’s future.
When Jackie breaks the news to Chloe’s heartbroken mother, she understands the woman’s cries only too well. Her own brother went missing as a child, the case never solved. Determined to get justice for Chloe and her family, Jackie sets to work, finding footage of the girl waving at someone the day she disappeared. Did Chloe know her killer?
But then a second body is found on the side of a busy motorway, lit up by passing cars. The only link with Chloe is the disturbing way the victim has been posed, and Jackie is convinced she is searching for a dangerous predator. Someone has been hunting missing and vulnerable people for decades, and only Jackie seems to see that they were never lost. They were taken.
Jackie’s boss refuses to believe a serial killer is on the loose and threatens to take her off the case. But then Jackie returns home to find a brightly coloured bracelet on her kitchen counter and her blood turns cold. It’s the same one her brother was wearing when he vanished. Could his disappearance be connected to the murders? Jackie will stop at nothing to catch her killer… unless he finds her first…
An absolutely gripping crime thriller that will keep you racing through the pages. Fans of Kendra Elliott, Rachel McLean and Val McDermid will love The Lost Ones.
You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you’ll love
Marnie Riches grew up on a rough estate in north Manchester. Exchanging the spires of nearby Strangeways prison for those of Cambridge University, she gained a Masters in German & Dutch. She has been a punk, a trainee rock star, a pretend artist and professional fundraiser.
Her best-selling, award-winning George McKenzie crime thrillers were inspired by her own time spent in The Netherlands. Dubbed the Martina Cole of the North, she has also authored a series about Manchester’s notorious gangland as well as two books in a mini-series featuring quirky northern PI Bev Saunders.
Detective Jackson Cooke is Marnie’s latest heroine to root for, as she hunts down one of the most brutal killers the north west has ever seen at devastating personal cost.
When she isn’t writing gritty, twisty crime thrillers, Marnie also regularly appears on BBC Radio Manchester, commenting on social media trends and discussing the world of crime fiction. She is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Salford University’s Doctoral School and a tutor for the Faber Novel Writing Course.
Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Marnie Riches here
My thoughts: this was really good, I’ve read some of the author’s previous books but this really was a compelling read. I really liked the character of Jackson ‘Jackie’ Cooke, pregnant, mother of twins, wife to a rather useless man, but determined and incredibly good at her job. Her own little brother Lucian (their dad’s an artist) was abducted as a boy and the case is still open. He had Down’s Syndrome, as does the first missing child in this case. The connection means that for Jackie, this is personal.
As more remains are found, and more mothers are informed that their missing children are dead, Jackie becomes even more dedicated to solving this. Despite her boss wanting her, at 8 months pregnant, behind a desk till maternity leave.
The ending and the perpetrator is something you won’t see coming. Jackie’s personal life is on its knees, and I really didn’t pick the murderer out, like I can sometimes do, it just seemed too cruel. Brilliantly done and totally gripping.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
When Mary receives a blank diary as a present, she thinks nothing of it. Until she opens the diary, and sees it’s not blank after all… 1st January MURDER LISA, OXFORD 1st February MURDER JANE, BIRMINGHAM 1st March MURDER DAVID, CARDIFF 1st April MURDER MARY, CHELTENHAM Is this some kind of sick joke? But…it’s the end of January now. And a woman named Lisa was murdered in Oxford on 1st January. Does that mean there really is a killer out there, planning to commit a new murder on the first of each month? And is the Mary due to be killed on 1st April her? The clock is ticking for Mary to uncover the truth, before she becomes the next victim on the killer’s list…
Jackie Kabler is an internationally bestselling author of psychological thrillers including The Perfect Couple, Am I Guilty? and The Happy Family. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then in television news for twenty years, including nearly a decade on GMTV. She later appeared on BBC and ITV news, presented a property show for Sky, hosted sports shows on Setanta Sports News and worked as a media trainer for the Armed Forces. She now combines her crime writing with her job as a presenter on shopping channel QVC. Jackie lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.
My thoughts: this reminded me a little of one of Agatha Christie’s books – possibly The ABC Murders, which if I remember correctly contains a list of names, but this is a clever and modern thriller. Much like Mary, I couldn’t figure out who the killer was, why they have selected these particular victims and how they’re going to get to Mary now the police are aiming to keep her safe.
There are several twists at the end that put an entirely different spin on the plot and the characters, there’s some shocking things that Mary has kept secret. And the killer – no spoilers, but I never saw it coming.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
When DI Barton is asked to investigate a seemingly innocuous fire that kills, he believes it’s either children fooling around or a worrying racially motivated crime. As he delves deeper into the case, he soon realises that there is a history of similar blazes spread out over many years, all within a close area. And after an idea is suggested by pathologist Mortis, Barton suspects he has the arsonist’s motives wrong. When a night worker comes forward with a tip, Barton narrows down the suspects. Yet all of them act suspiciously and he knows for sure that one or more of them are lying. And when a huge house blaze shocks everyone, Barton fears the killer has lost all control. Who is The Fire Killer? What will be next to burn? Purchase
Ross Greenwood is the bestselling author of ten crime thrillers. Before becoming a full-time writer he was most recently a prison officer and so worked everyday with murderers, rapists and thieves for four years. He lives in Peterborough.
My thoughts: another outing for DI Barton and his team, this time on the trail of a serial arsonist, after a woman’s body is found in a burnt out skip. Dark, twisted and a bit disturbing. Fire is a primal thing and most people are either drawn to it or afraid of – perhaps a bit of both.
Set during lockdown, which helps narrow the suspect pool a bit as most people stayed close to home, even the supposedly victimless bin fire that follows the skip isn’t entirely free from damaging a life. The killer’s guilt doesn’t drive them to turn themselves in and there’s a worrying link to a county lines drug case from London too.
Barton’s family are getting a dog and he wants to be home with them, getting to know their new family member, but this case keeps drawing him back in. After a house fire that almost kills an old lady, it’s time to really put some pressure on the suspects.
Gripping and highly entertaining, it’s another slice of the dark side of Peterborough’s otherwise quite pleasant cathedral city.
*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 