Tag: crime fiction

They said they’d keep me safe.
They said, ‘It’s okay, Hannah. You know you can trust me.’
They lied.
When eight-year-old Hannah Perry goes missing in the small Suffolk village of St Just, the community is rocked. Heading up the investigation is Acting DS Rob Minshull, but he’s out of his depth in a case
that seems to mirror the disappearance of a young boy, seven years ago. That search ended in unimaginable tragedy…and Minshull is praying that history won’t be repeated.
But with an investigation full of dead ends, and a kidnapper taunting the police with sinister deliveries of Hannah’s belongings and cryptic notes, the young girl’s life hangs perilously in danger.
Until Dr Cora Lael enters the picture. A psychologist with a unique ability, Cora’s rare gift allows her to sense emotions attached to discarded objects. When she is shown the first of Hannah’s belongings,
she hears the child’s piercing scream.
With few leads on the case, could Cora prove Hannah’s only hope? And as time runs out, can they find Hannah before history repeats itself…?
A twisty, original and utterly gripping detective thriller that fans of James Oswald and LJ Ross will love.
Don’t miss the crime thriller debut from the bestselling women’s fiction author, Miranda Dickinson.

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MJ White is the crime pen name of the internationally bestselling author Miranda
Dickinson. To date she has sold over one million books worldwide and has been translated into sixteen languages. Miranda has always been a huge fan of crime fiction and The Secret Voices marks the start of a new and exciting departure for her writing.
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My thoughts: When an 8 year old is abducted in broad daylight from a Suffolk village, the police lurch into action. They know they don’t have long – sadly this has happened before and it ended badly.

But this time they have a rather unorthodox secret weapon – Dr Cora Lael can “read” objects – a sort of emotional synaesthesia, and tell them about the emotional state of the owner and in Hannah’s case, whether they’re still alive. She is, and fighting back, all she wants is to get home to her mum and sisters. And that’s what Cora and acting DS Rob Minshull want too.

Clever and with a surprise twist or two thrown in, this is a confident and assured debut crime novel from a very talented author. I’ve read some of Miranda Dickinson’s rom coms and this is a very different book, although Rob and Cora definitely have a connection. I look forward to the next in this series – where hopefully the duo solve more cases and get to know one another better.

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

Ladies. Are you a perfect wife wanting to live in suburban utopia?
Then Crimson Avenue is for you!
Come and join other like-minded women in our idyllic community.
We might even let you into our little secret…

When a striking young woman turns up to Adele Love’s antique shop acting suspiciously and gives her a cryptic message …

Tell Sam that they know…

On leaving the shop, to Adele’s horror, the woman is bundled into a white van and abducted.

Beginning a search for the missing woman, DI Vincent Sullivan and DS Josephine Jenkins conduct their house-to-house investigations, which lead them into a sinister world of diamond smuggling and drugs, all happening behind the perfect façade of Crimson Avenue.

As the pressure mounts with the severity of the crimes committed, the wives close ranks and deny all knowledge.

But just as cracks begin to appear and the women start to turn on each other, they realise there’s also the small problem of Adele’s secret, which could get them all killed…

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Sadie Ryan is the author of three books. Her latest, Guilty came out in April 2021, a psychological thriller. She loves animals and lives in leafy Cheshire in the North West of England with her daughter and rescue dog. When not writing she spends her time reading, gardening, walking her dog or watching old black and white movies.

When asked where she gets her ideas from, she says, ‘From observation, inspiration and lots of wicked thoughts.’

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My thoughts: I’m not entirely sure the four friends at the centre of this book are really friends, as things unravel around them and their stupid act lands them in shark infested waters, their resentments and petty squabbles come to light and maybe they need to all find new pals.

Adele’s in the worst fix – her diamond dealer husband is missing, a strange woman just got kidnapped right in front of her and a Russian gangster is after some diamonds her stupid husband stole from him. And now the police are asking questions.

DI Sullivan and his team know the four women, the wives of Crimson Avenue, know a lot more than they’re saying, their strange behaviour is giving them away. He’d like to get home in time for dinner with his wife but until they start telling the truth, it’s going to be a long shift. Then the bodies start turning up.

Clever, more complicated than it first appears and with smart, savvy cops hot on the heels of the gangsters and certain the women are involved more seriously than as mere witnesses, this was an enjoyable and entertaining 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.

An unexpected murder. A suspect with a reason. The power of unwavering belief.

A murder has been committed in an office in Jerusalem. That’s for sure. The rest is not as clear-cut as it might seem.
Asaf languishes in his cell, unable to tell his story even to himself. How can he tell it to someone who elicits such fear within him?
His colleague, Nathalie, has studied Beauty and the Beast. She understands its moral. Maybe that’s why she’s the only one who believes in Asaf, the suspect. But she’s new in the company – and in the country. Would anyone take her opinion seriously?
She coerces her flatmates, Yarden and Tehila, into helping her investigate. As they uncover new trails, will they be able to reverse popular opinion?
In the end, will Beauty’s belief be strong enough to waken the Beast? Or, in this case, can Style waken the Solitary?
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When Miriam Drori says she loves to perform, people don’t believe her. When she says she’s not shy, they think she’s delusional. The fact is, things ain’t what they seem. A witch called social anxiety
took away her ability to be spontaneous, but it didn’t change her exhibitionist nature. You need to watch her dancing or speaking before an audience to understand that.
Fortunately, she has found an outlet for her thoughts in writing, a solitary activity with multiple recipients. She never doubted her ability to write, but only in recent years has she managed to gather her views and observations together into papier-mâché balls worth throwing far and wide.
If you ignore the witch, life has been good to Miriam, especially since she made the decision to move from the UK to Israel. She has a wonderful husband, three lovely children and a delightful house. She
loves to read, travel, hike and dance. She has worked in computer programming and technical writing, and now enjoys the freedom and versatility of creative writing. And she believes passionately in raising awareness of social anxiety.

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My thoughts: this was an interesting take on Beauty & the Beast, set in modern day Jerusalem. My mum lived in Israel for a bit before she married my dad and would probably recognise a lot of the roads and neighbourhoods that the characters traverse as they investigate a terrible murder in their workplace.

Nathalie is a French emigrè who worries her Hebrew isn’t very good but does her best to interview people connected to the crime. She doesn’t believe the police have the right man in her quiet colleague Asaf, despite him being found with the murder weapon in hand.

Asaf struggles to socialise, he’s quiet and studious, good at his job but his colleagues feel like they don’t really know him. Which makes him, a loner, the perfect suspect in many ways.

Nathalie determines to help him, she knows there’s more to Asaf, and her faith in him pays off, her investigation unveils the real killer.

This is a clever and intelligent story exploring social anxiety in its different guises.

*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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The water ripples as the girl’s body escapes the reeds and floats silently upwards. Her beautiful face—blue eyes frozen open, skin as white as snow—breaks the surface. But it’s too late, this innocent soul has taken her final breath…

When camp counselor Carolyn Sable’s body is found floating in a lake beside Eagle Ridge Summer Camp, Detective Katie Scott must dig deep to stay focused. As a child, Katie spent many happy weeks at that camp toasting marshmallows on the fire with her best friend Jenny… until the day Jenny disappeared. The loss will always haunt Katie, but Carolyn’s inconsolable family need answers.

Searching the area, the devastating discovery of two more bodies sends the case into a tailspin. Suddenly on the hunt for a serial killer, Katie’s blood turns to ice when she finds newspaper clippings about her own past cases planted near one of the bodies. Was this twisted killer banking on Katie taking the lead? And why?

Carolyn was adored by children and staff at the camp, so Katie thinks her sudden resignation is key to cracking the case. Uncovering a tragic accident involving a group of children the weeks before Carolyn left, Katie knows she’s getting close.

But when the carefully laid trap Katie sets to catch Carolyn’s killer backfires, Katie finds herself in unthinkable danger and unable to even trust her own team. Can she stay alive long enough to crack the toughest case of her career, and how many more innocent lives will be lost before she does?

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Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and best-selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells.

In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists, and member of the International Thriller Writers.

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My thoughts: this was really good, as with the rest of the series, it’s action packed and the case is really compelling. Bodies found mutilated on an old campground, related to a terrible accident twenty years before.

Katie and McGaven are on the case, but in danger as the killer seems to be happy to set off explosives and start fires to stop them from finding him. Katie’s K9 Cisco is the real hero in the book though, with an action scene perfect for Hollywood. What a good boy.

There’s several suspicious characters and the trail seems cold when they find out their chief suspect is dead, but could someone be carrying out these horrific crimes on their behalf? And Katie keeps seeing the ghost of her childhood friend Jenny, abducted from the same campsite when they were children. Is her PTSD going to stop her from solving this one?

As always the writing and research is meticulous and hooks you instantly into the story, though I’m glad we don’t have summer camps in the UK, nothing good seems to happen at them. The detectives risk their lives a fair amount and the sheriff, who’s also Katie’s uncle, must have a lot of grey hair from all the worrying he does.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour

When Anna Matheson fails to collect her son from the babysitter after a works party, the police are swiftly called. Anna is a stickler for time and a good mother – she would never abandon her baby. Her disappearance is totally out of character and DI Isabel Blood and her team soon suspect foul play.

CCTV footage shows Anna was last seen at precisely 11.11pm, as she collected her coat to leave the party. But the cameras outside the venue have failed to pick up her exit from the car park – how could she have vanished in plain sight?

Rumour has it that Anna was set to make big changes in the workplace, and Isabel can’t help but think someone wanted her out of the way.

Everyone at the party is a suspect, and all the clues point to murder…

My thoughts: I like this series, I like Isabel and her team, especially Zoe, who came to the fore in this book, working as the FLO (Family Liaison Officer) and getting crucial information from the victim’s mother that helps steer the investigation in the right direction – towards a killer.

As the police gather information, and interview suspects, you’d think the killer would show themselves, give themselves away, but this one is stone cold.

There are some distractions for Isabel too – her son still hasn’t found a job or an idea of what to do, the family’s beloved dog disappears and her boss is breathing down her neck – wanting her in the office and not out investigating crimes.

The revelations keep coming about the victim – her baby’s father, her own father, she’s been well trained in keeping secrets by her mother, who has a fair few herself. But it’s time for them all to come out and allow the team to get some justice.

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

CSI Ally Dymond’s commitment to justice has cost her a place on the major investigations team. After exposing corruption in the ranks, she’s stuck working petty crimes on the sleepy North Devon coast.

Then the body of nineteen-year-old Janie Warren turns up in the seaside town of Bidecombe, and Ally’s expert skills are suddenly back in demand.

But when the evidence she discovers contradicts the lead detective’s theory, nobody wants to listen to the CSI who landed their colleagues in prison.

Time is running out to catch a killer no one is looking for – no one except Ally. What she doesn’t know is that he’s watching, from her side of the crime scene tape, waiting for the moment to strike.

My thoughts: I’m very familiar with North Devon as part of my family comes from there and several relatives still live there. I’ve spent many holidays down there visiting my rellies, and am weirdly familiar with supermarkets and traffic queues of the area, it’s what happens when you’re staying with residents, not in the more “Holiday” areas.

Breakneck Point is set in that world, the part tourists don’t see, the rundown estates and unlovely bits in which real people live their whole lives, not eating fish and chips washed down with a Mr Whippy for every meal.

I liked Ally, she’s very dedicated and dogged when it comes to her work, she doesn’t like people who break the rules and won’t lie to get a conviction, even if she knows the scumbag’s guilty. But that backfires on her and leaves her without a friend in the police when she spots inconsistencies and evidence they’ve overlooked that could have prevented further deaths.

But when it comes to her daughter, she’s not as focused as maybe she should be and I get that too. It can be hard, teenagers are secretive and don’t share, she and Megan have lost some of their closeness – which is normal, but the fact she’s been a little distracted means she’s even more passionate about solving this case when Megan becomes a victim.

The writing was really clever, flipping between viewpoints and tenses – you get a really disturbing insight into the mind of a violent criminal as well as the attempt to stop him. The author worked as a CSI and draws on her knowledge here, and that adds a layer of expertise and insider details to the story.

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