Tag: crime fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Borderline – Graeme Cumming

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When the system isn’t working, work outside the system.

A search for a missing man thrusts Rand Scott into the dark realms of homelessness, drug dealing and sex clubs.

Kirsty Moore wants to find her brother Johnny, a one-time rock star.
The police also want him – for murder.
And there are others looking who don’t play nicely.

A simple job turns deadly as Rand uncovers a world where money talks louder than the screams of innocent bystanders.

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Graeme Cumming lives in Robin Hood country. He has wide and varied taste in fiction, but a particular leaning towards the darker side – though he’s very pleasant when you meet him.

Borderline, the first book in his new crime series was released in 2025 and already gained praise from readers.

When not writing, Graeme is an enthusiastic sailor (and, by default, swimmer), and enjoys off-road cycling and walking. He is a past President and Education Director at Sheffield Speakers
Club. He also reads (a lot) and loves the cinema.

For more information about Graeme and his books, you can check his website

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My thoughts: Rand Scott used to be a police officer, now he’s working outside the official system, helping the homeless, and investigating a missing man, who might be on the streets somewhere.

There’s a lot more however to the case than first appears, some rather nasty criminals are also looking for the missing man, Johnny Moore, and they don’t mind beating up anyone who gets in their way. Unfortunately they picked on the wrong person.

Dragged into a murky underworld where criminals cross big business arms dealers, Rand has to tread carefully, everyone here prefers to shoot first and ask questions later, if at all. He’s also fending off the local police, including his former boss (and what a dodgy piece of work he is) and trying to give his friend Liv the collar.

Nothing is ever easy in his world and this is a nightmare, still, he’s got his sense of humour – the vehicles registered in the names of famous musicians made me laugh. And if he survives, there’s always that trip to Rotterdam to look forward to. 

Funny, smart, and with plenty of twists and turns, this is an enjoyable and entertaining read. 

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

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Blog Tour: Death at the School of Translators – Esther Knight

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A Rebecca DeToledo Medieval Mystery

Ivanhoe meets Phryne Fisher in this medieval adventure of a woman sleuth.

Toledo, 1193: A city of scholars, secrets, and simmering tensions.

When Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine’s Jewish spy is found dead, whispers of treachery reach all the way to England.

Rebecca DeToledo, a gifted healer and wealthy Jewish heiress, arrives under royal orders to investigate at the School of Translators. Her mission quickly turns perilous as she faces threats to her life and a sudden battle over her inheritance.

Assigned to guard her is Sir John of Hampstead, a disillusioned crusader burdened with knowledge that could threaten King Richard’s release from captivity. Forced into this partnership, he must protect Rebecca while grappling with his own prejudices.

As they navigate Toledo’s complex alliances, where Christians, Jews, and Muslims coexist in fragile peace, they uncover a web of secrets reaching deep into the cathedral. Can Rebecca and John unearth the truth before they become the next targets?

For fans of historical sleuths, slow-burn tension, and secret missions cloaked in royal intrigue.

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Author Bio – Esther Knight writes historical mysteries featuring a bold heroine who challenges the norms of her time.
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My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book, I liked Rebecca a lot, she was an interesting character, a trained medic in a time when most were men and bloodletting for medical reasons was a favoured treatment, that more often than not, did nothing beneficial. She’s trusted by Eleanor of Aquitaine – Queen of France, then of England, probably one of the most powerful women in history.

Tasked with looking into the death of the Queen’s man in Toledo, Rebecca and John of Hampstead (a somewhat disgraced knight) find themselves in the bustling Spanish city where Christians, Jews and Muslims live and work alongside each other, slightly uneasily.

The School of Translators was a real place, and there scholars worked at translating ancient manuscripts into Castilian (a dialect of French mixed with Spanish) and Latin from Hebrew and Arabic. It must have been a fascinating place.

But it’s also a place where competition thrives and the various scholars jostle for position. The dead man was known to be boastful, unpopular and a creep. His landlady’s son had kicked him out after he made unwelcome advances to his sister, his colleagues disliked him and he was just generally quite unpleasant.

Rebecca also has to deal with a family issue, her aunt and cousin have been living in her father’s house and running the family business. Her father’s will left everything to her, which doesn’t go down well with her relatives who choose to contest it. This is a complication she doesn’t need and distracts from the investigation.

But as she has decided to stay in Toledo and set up a clinic, she must contend with the traditions and gossip of her community. She doesn’t want to marry but that won’t stop the matchmaking at the synagogue.

I’m looking forward to more of Rebecca’s adventures in Toledo with Sir John as her ever-present shadow, causing gossip of its own, as they work for the Queen.

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

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Blogathon: I Am Death – Chris Carter

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In this pulse-pounding thriller from bestselling writer Chris Carter, criminal behavior psychologist turned LAPD detective Robert Hunter finds himself engaged in a brutal game to the finish with a ruthless opponent. But no matter what moves Hunter makes, death is coming….

At the Los Angeles International Airport, the body of a twenty-year-old woman is discovered. The autopsy reveals that she had been tortured and murdered in a most bizarre way—but the surprises don’t end there. The killer likes to play, and he left something behind for the cops to find.

LAPD Detective Robert Hunter is assigned to the case but almost immediately a second body turns up. Surrounded by new challenges as every day passes, Hunter finds himself chasing a monster—one with a dark past and whose desire to hurt people and thirst for murder can never be quenched.

My thoughts: After the vacation that wasn’t, Robert Hunter returns to LA to be faced with a new case, another gruesome and violent one. He and Garcia are called out to a body by the airport, the victim was brutally tortured to death, and she won’t be the last.

Taunting the detectives by leaving the message I AM DEATH with each poor victim, the duo feel like they’re getting nowhere, until the killer makes a mistake that will bring Hunter to his door. 

Another shocking and gripping case for Hunter and Garcia – there’s a method of murder in this one that actually succeeded in making me flinch, I am pretty unshockable most of the time. The story has a dual narrative, with a clever twist, and the identity of the killer, and their motivation is something you won’t see coming.

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

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Blog Tour: The Other Boy – Heidi Field

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When the worst comes calling…

Scott and Blair Bagby are a happy, successful English couple living in the suburbs with their teenage son and Great Dane. Life seems good, until one beautiful spring morning when a detective inspector
knocks on their door asking if their son is home, unleashing an unspeakable horror that blows apart the life they thought they had.

Police have discovered bodies buried deep in the Peasedale forest and the inspector suspects one is Jamie, the final victim of a brutal and prolific serial killer. But Jamie’s death is unlike all the others, starting with his emergency phone call that leads to a macabre burial ground near a dilapidated
hunting shack and creates shocking suspicions.

With bone deep grief threatening to destroy their marriage and their sanity, Scott and Blair set out to investigate Jamie’s death, a journey that not only upends their perceptions of who they are, but torturously reveals they may not have known Jamie at all…

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Heidi Field was raised in the beautiful countryside of the South of England with her parents and her two sisters. In her twenties she was a freelance Sports Massage Therapist. She achieved a Degree in Zoology at the age of thirty and then went on to raise two boys and became the stepmother of three more young children. She still lives near her family home with her partner, their Great Dane and the
children that have yet to fly the nest.

In her early forties Heidi completed a Masters in Creative Writing at Winchester University. She entered the course hoping she would become a children’s fantasy writer and left with a burning desire to write contemporary mysteries and thrillers. Heidi wanted to put relatable people in extraordinary situations, challenge them, push them to their limits
and watch them fight for their sanity. The Other Boy is her first novel.

My Facebook author page is: Heidi Field Author
@HeidiField11
@heidifield.bsky.social

My thoughts: Sad, shocking and chilling, Scott and Blair’s quest to find answers to their son’s death at the hands of a sadistic killer lead them to unexpected and disturbing places. Grieving but unable to let go of Jamie’s last hours, they hunt for the titular other boy, a friend of their son’s who might just have been helping his killer.

Blair especially struggles with her grief, manifesting a version of Jamie that only she can see in order to cope with the loss. Time at an inpatient clinic helps her come to terms but only answers will help her finally let him go.

Scott, an investigative journalist, doggedly follows every lead, chasing down a burglar and hunting through his son’s things. He too wants answers, but more for Blair than himself.

Combining an exploration of parental grief with a quest for truth and answers to Jamie’s death, this is an unusual and highly enjoyable thriller.

*This is a repost of a review from earlier this year, to help promote this book. All opinions expressed remain my own.

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Cover Reveal: Murder on the River – Janice Frost

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It’s the one piece of evidence that will crack the case . . . but is it too shocking to reveal?

A murdered student. A secret buried in the past. A killer who’s still watching.

Detective Steph Warwick is halfway through her Christmas shopping when she gets the call.
The body of a young man has been pulled from the icy River Witham.

The victim is Max Barsby, a quiet, hardworking archaeology student with no enemies – or so it seems. But Max didn’t drown. He was murdered. Bludgeoned over the head and left for dead.
With the university all but deserted for the holidays, Steph finds herself with few leads and even fewer witnesses.

Meanwhile, Special Constable Jane Bell is investigating a routine break-in when she stumbles across an unexpected link to Max. As Jane and Steph’s paths cross once more, Steph reluctantly brings the warm-hearted mother-of-two into the fold – knowing Jane can reach people – and places – that she can’t.

Their enquiries unearth a mysterious girlfriend, a controversial dig site, and a discovery someone will kill to protect.
But when Jane finds a piece of evidence too explosive to share, her silence may prove deadly – for both of them.

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Janice was born and grew up in West Lothian, Scotland. After completing an English degree at St Andrew’s University, she moved to London where she lived for ten years doing an assortment of jobs. Her passions are reading, writing, and walking in Scotland and the Lake District. She lives in Lincolnshire with her husband and two sons.

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Blog Tour: Back to Haunt You – S. Englefield

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There’s no such thing as happy families.

In the space of a morning, Vicky’s life changed. She started the day happily married, with a wonderful infant son and a doting husband. By lunchtime, her husband was dead and her child missing.

DI Jennifer Stone knows time is critical. She and her team need to find nine-month-old Harry quickly – but the case has reopened old wounds for her, reigniting a pain that had only just started to heal.

However, when people close to Vicky are hurt and her late husband’s estranged mother turns up, DI Stone suspects something may be going on behind the family’s closed doors. If she can’t figure out what, and soon, more people will die.

It begs the question; how well do you really know your family?

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Scott Englefield grew up on the Isle of Wight. Despite being surrounded by
idyllic beaches and woodland walks, he was often to be found with his
head buried in a book.

His love of reading endured into adulthood and now he spends his free
time writing crime and psychological thrillers, often having to stop to fend
off his cat James who believes his keyboard is the perfect place to sleep.

He is in his mid-forties (and feels it) and lives with his wife, son and cat in
the East of England.

He grew a beard once – his wife hated it.

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My thoughts: Poor Vicky, her husband has a shocking heart attack in the supermarket car park and then someone abducts her infant son from his car seat. That’s truly awful. The police quickly start looking for little Harry, they know the longer he’s missing, the worse the outcome.

But things get worse for Vicky after that, her sister-in-law is knocked down by a car, then her lovely old neighbour John, who has been so kind and supportive, dies in a suspected murder. What on earth is happening and why to this poor woman?

But the police know there must be something in Vicky’s past – some clue as to what’s going on. Her mother-in-law might be in the frame for one, maybe two, of the incidents, but is in the clear for the rest. Especially once the toxicology report on Tom comes back. Things are very weird.

The twists in this, the killer’s reasoning, so many gasp out loud moments. Poor Harry will never remember his dad, and Vicky will have to live with the memories and trauma. But it’s very enjoyable and I was totally hooked.

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

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Blog Tour: The Cow Shed – Emmy Ellis

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Two women. Twenty years apart. One deadly link.

Twenty years ago, Effie vanished without a trace. She was last seen arguing with her cousin Shannon at the pub before storming home — except she never made it.
Suspicion fell on Shannon, but with no body and no evidence, she walked free and the case went cold.

Decades later, a young woman is found strangled in an allotment at the bottom of Shannon’s garden. And once again, Shannon finds herself at the centre of an intense police investigation.
Detective Anna James finds Shannon blunt to the point of rude, but without solid evidence, there’s nothing to hold her on.

With the investigation at a standstill, Anna turns to an unlikely source: her former lover, ex-crime boss Joshua ‘Parole’ Cribbins. He still has connections with the seedy underbelly of the town — and he’s all too willing to help. But getting close to Parole again could cost Anna everything.

Then, a breakthrough leads Anna to a place known as the Cow Shed. What she uncovers there will change everything — and expose the horrifying truth that’s been buried for decades.

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Emmy Ellis lives in Nottinghamshire with her husband and cat. She has five adult children. She loves reading and binge-watching anything to do with crime. She’s an introvert with an extrovert mask she puts on when the need arises. Described as quirky and clumsy, she loves nothing more than seeing people smile…or cringe while reading her novels.

My thoughts: The motive for these murders will make you gasp, it’s truly shocking. But no spoilers here.

After a gap of twenty years, the killer strikes again. After Effie disappeared, rumours swirled around Shannon (who I felt very sorry for) and now there’s a body in her garden, amongst the beetroot.

She’s an innocent victim, but the killer clearly knows her, why taunt her like that otherwise?

The police are stumped, there’s so little to go on. They’re pretty sure the two cases, despite the gap, are connected. But how? Then slowly a trickle of information about the past starts to reach them. And buried within it, the truth about why the killer has risen again after twenty years.

Chilling, compelling, shocking. And so, so good.

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

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Blog Tour: A Very Merry Murder – Kate Wells

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Mistletoe, mince pies… and murder

When Jude Gray inherited Malvern Farm, she never thought she’d become so used to farm life, let alone be good at it!

But now a beloved national TV show is coming to film their Christmas special on her land, celebrating the charm of rural living and all Jude’s achieved so far.

At least, that’s the plan… until one of the crew is found dead in suspicious circumstances.

At first, it looks like a tragic accident, but when alibis start to crack, it seems like anything but. With a growing list of suspects and enough behind-the-scenes drama to rival anything the cameras are capturing, Jude must dig deep to uncover the truth.

Because someone on her farm is hiding a deadly secret – and this year, the season of goodwill may come with a killer twist…

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Kate Wells is the author of a number of well-reviewed books for children, and is now writing cosy crime set in the Malvern hills, inspired by the farm where she grew up.

Facebook: @KateWellsPoels
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My thoughts: I really like this series and while reading a book set at Christmas at the end of summer does feel a bit silly, hard to imagine needing a big coat yet, once December arrives, this book will be perfect.

Jude has agreed to let a TV show film on her land – it’s a bit like Countryfile I think or Springwatch. It’s also paying her, so she can afford to keep the farm going. However it’s the run up to Christmas, there’s always a lot to do on a farm and she’s also helping her sister organise her wedding, to be hosted just after Christmas on the farm.

The director is an egotistical nightmare who seems to think Jude works for him, and doesn’t understand animals at all. He drives her a bit crazy with his demands and orders. The rest seem OK, but there’s tensions and secrets among them.

Then the camera operator is killed, in what could be a horrible accident but the police investigation reveals it’s murder. Again. Jude seems to attract them.

When it looks like the presenter of the show has been having an affair with the dead woman, and his co-presenter wife knows, but could that be a reason to kill? As Jude and her police friends investigate the TV crew and try to uncover who might have wanted the camerawoman dead, another member of the crew is found dead, pointing in a different direction. What is going on?

A clever, twisty-turny crime, with lots of festive goings on around the chaos on the campsite. And it ends with a wedding!

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

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Cover Reveal: A Body in the Forest – P.F. Ford

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Detective Norman is out of retirement and back on the beat in a rainy Welsh seaside
town. Llangwelli might be short on sunshine, but it’s certainly not short on murders . . .

Norman may seem a bit old-fashioned, but he’s always willing to learn from his band of misfit recruits.

A body in the forest. An ancient pagan ritual. A baffling mystery.

On Halloween night, the body of a young woman is discovered buried in a shallow grave in the Dragon Forest, a popular local beauty spot. The only clue to her identity is the number 37 tattooed on the sole of her foot.

Detective Norman’s new boss, Acting Superintendent Evans, is convinced the murder is connected to a group of pagans who were performing a secret ritual in the forest that night.

Norman’s not so sure. The one thing he does know is that he’d make much faster progress without the insufferable Evans breathing down his neck.

Something is off about this case. Norman knows he’s missing something important — but he can’t seem to see the wood for the trees.

Then the discovery of a second body in the woods turns everything on its head.

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Peter Ford always dreamed of becoming a writer, but a dream is easily stifled without support from those around you. It was only when his old, unhappy life fell apart and he met his new partner (now wife) Mary, who believed dreamers should be encouraged, that he finally got the chance to live that dream. Fast forward a few years and you find a man transformed.
Now, blissfully happy, settled in a quiet corner of Wales with wife Mary and their rescue dogs, P.F. Ford is living proof that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.

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Blog Tour: Let’s Play Dead – Elena Frost

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Don’t speak. Don’t move. Don’t even breathe.

After a whirlwind romance, widow Lisa thinks she’s found her perfect match in senior policeman Alex. He’s everything she needs—a devoted husband and caring stepfather to her daughter Bella.
And, like Lisa, he knows what it is to lose someone precious. Alex suffered his own bereavement when his previous partner, Polly, passed away.

But is he really Mr. Right?

As Alex’s charm gradually morphs into rigid control, Lisa realises that he has a dark side, that she has married a man she doesn’t really know.
When she discovers a note left by his deceased wife Polly which seems to imply that Alex may have been responsible for her death, Lisa fears that she and Bella may be in mortal danger.
But escaping a man who wears a badge and knows how to hunt isn’t just difficult—it could be deadly.

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Elena enjoys psychological thrillers and crime fiction of all kinds, from the cosiest of cosies to the blackest of noirs.
She lives in East Lothian, Scotland, with her husband, three kids, and a fat black pug. Born in a colliery village in the North East of England, she cut her literary teeth on the great storytellers of the 70’s – Wilbur Smith, Frank Yerby, and Mary Renault. She began her writing career as an advertising copywriter and has since had novels published by Random House and HarperCollins. She’s had an original audio series produced by Audible UK, and also writes for TV.

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My thoughts: The domestic abuse statistics for police officers are pretty grim and the last few years have shown us that not everyone who works for the service is a good person. That’s certainly what Lisa comes to realise as she discovers that her new husband Alex is not the person he pretends to be.

There are cameras inside the house “for security”, he tracks her phone, checks her emails, follows her to her friend’s digs in Bath, demanding they go home right away. She catches him attempting to drown their dog. None of this is normal behaviour. Then she learns a bit more about his previous marriage, and the fact that he might have been poisoning his late wife.

So she plans to escape him, taking her young daughter with her, scared for her safety. He’s dangerous and she can’t go to the police – he’s one of them and she doesn’t trust that they’ll listen to her.

Then things turn really nasty. It seems there’s nowhere she can go that he won’t find them, nothing she can do to escape him. Faking her suicide might hold him off long enough to get away, but it might also put people she loves in danger, as he will go to any lengths to hold onto his family.

Gripping, tense and grounded in reality, this is a stay-up-all-night, rooting for the protagonist read.

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