Tag: crime fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: One By One – Helen Bridgett*

ramblingmads

When practising what you preach is easier said than done…

Professor Maxie Reddick has her reasons for being sceptical of traditional policing methods, but, in between her criminology lecturing job and her Criminal Thoughts podcast, she stays firmly on the sidelines of the crime solving world.

Then a young woman is brutally attacked, and suddenly it’s essential that Maxie turns her words into actions; this is no longer an academic exercise–this is somebody’s life.

But as she delves deeper, the case takes a sickening turn, which leads Maxie to the horrifying realisation that the attack might not have been a one-off. It seems there’s a depraved individual out there seeking revenge, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it… little by little… one by one.

Helen Bridgett lives in the North East of England. Outside of writing feel good fiction, Helen loves the great outdoors and having a good laugh with friends over a glass of wine. Helen lives with her husband and their chocolate Labrador, Angus; all three can often be found walking the Northumberland coastline that inspired her romantic comedy, Summer at Serenity Bay.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book, I liked that it took a different angle on crime solving – Maxie is a professor of criminology and knows an awful lot about crime but isn’t a police officer or PI, she’s just very determined. Her methodical stance is at odds with the way the police want to carry out their investigation. She’s looking for the motive; they’re looking for suspects.

Her single mindedness almost costs her everything else though – oblivious to what’s going on with her husband and son, she’s shocked when things take a dark turn for her family.

This was an intelligent, well written and compelling book. I look forward to the next one.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Measure of Time – Gianrico Carofiglio*

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The latest in the highly successful Guido Guerrieri series, shortlisted for the 2020 STREGA prize, Italy’s most prestigious literary award. It is a tense courtroom drama set in Southern Italy, but also a tale about passion and the passage of time.

Guerrieri had fallen in love decades earlier with Lorenza, a beautiful older woman who was in his eyes sophisticated and intellectual. She made wonderful love and opened his mind to high literature, but ultimately treated him as a plaything and discarded him.

One spring afternoon Lorenza shows up in Guerrieri’s office. Her son Jacopo, a small-time delinquent, stands convicted of the first-degree murder of a local drug dealer. Her trial lawyer has died, so for the appeal, she turns to Guerrieri. He is not convinced of the innocence of Lorenza’s son, nor does he have fond memories of how their relationship ended two decades earlier.

Nevertheless, he accepts the case; perhaps to pay a melancholy homage to the ghosts of his youth.

Gianrico Carofiglio, now a full time novelist, was a member of the Senate in Italy and an anti-Mafia prosecutor in Bari, a port on the coast of Puglia.

He is a best-selling author of crime novels and literary fiction, translated in 27 languages. This is the sixth Guerrieri novel is in this best-selling series.

Howard Curtis is a well-known translator from the Italian and has translated other titles in this series

My thoughts:

This was a really interesting read, showing the legal profession of Bari, Italy. It was fascinating to see how they conduct trials and I liked the way Guerrieri and his team build up their case.

I also liked the way the plot was interspersed with Guerrieri’s memories of his brief relationship with Lorenza all those years ago. They gave a lot of insight into his character and how his experiences shaped him.

The trial chapters were insightful and the case was laid out for the reader, as though we’re the jury too – it’s not entirely clear whether he’s innocent or not so you can make up your own mind too. The ending then provides the answers, wrapping the case up if not neatly, then enough to release Guerrieri from the feeling of obligation and nostalgia he holds.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Miniskirts are Murder – Des Burkinshaw*

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Porter Norton, his friends and his sarcastic spirit guide, The Gliss, are on the trail of a young actress who went missing in Soho, London, in the Swinging Sixties. Still recovering from their last adventure in the battlefields of WW1, the gang are confronted by a transatlantic conspiracy.

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Des, 52, is a former Times journalist/BBC TV producer. Miniskirts are Murder is the second in the Porter and The Gliss Investigations series, following Dead & Talking in 2019.
Des likes to live out as much of the stories as possible and spent 3 months in the US researching this novel.

He runs a film school in London and has just been commissioned to write a limited season TV series intended for Netflix. He is also a keen musician and through work has jammed with people like Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson and Jeff Lynne. He is married with 1 daughter.

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My thoughts:

This was a much better book than the blurb suggests, taking in murderous film producers, Soho gangsters, the Swinging 60s, lots of transatlantic flights, Bristol’s past as a hub for the slave trade, Nazis, the dead, legal wranglings and putting some horrible men in their place.

It’s also rather funny, in a black sort of way.

I really enjoyed it, and have downloaded its predecessor onto my kindle. The gang are all really interesting characters, and their back stories alone could run to several volumes, making it all quite intriguing.

It was a very clever book, with a genuinely dastardly, awful scheme at its heart. I felt a bit like cheering when they finally got the villain behind it all. Horrible man.

Hopefully there’s lots more adventures for this team of intrepid investigators to come.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Murder at the Mela – Leela Soma*

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Newly appointed as Glasgow’s first Asian DI, Alok Patel’s first assignment is the investigation of the brutal murder of Nadia, an Asian woman. Her body was discovered in the aftermath of the Mela festival in Kelvingrove Park. During the Mela, a small fight erupted between a BNP group and an Asian gang, but was quickly quelled by police.

When Nadia is accused of having an affair with a local man, even more questions about her death arise. Was her murder a crime of passion, or was it racially motivated? Could it be an honour killing? The deep-rooted tensions within Glasgow’s Asian communities bubble to the surface as DI Patel struggles with his parents, who disapprove of his relationship with his Muslim partner, Usma.
As DI Patel struggles to gain any help from the Asian community, another body is discovered in the West End- the body of a white man. Is this new murder fuelled by revenge? Killed by an Asian gang? As the list of murder suspects grows, DI Patel finds himself grappling with the pressures of his new rank, including the racism of at least one fellow officer.
This novel peels away the layers of Glasgow’s Asian communities, while exploring the complicated relationships between Asian people and the city.

Ringwood Publishing Amazon UK

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Leela Soma was born in Madras, India and now lives in Glasgow, Scotland. She was a Principal Teacher of Modern Studies before deciding to write full time. Her poetry and short stories have been published in a number of anthologies and publications most recently, Issue 5 of Gutter magazine. She won the Margaret Thomson Davis Trophy for Best New Writer 2007 for her then unpublished novel Twice Born which was later published on YouWriteOn. She is on the Committee of the Milngavie Book & Art Festival and the Scottish Writer’s Centre. Her writings reflect her experiences as a first generation Indo-Scot.

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My thoughts:

This was a really good crime thriller, looking at the Asian community in Glasgow, both Indian and Pakistani, and some of the issues that unite and divide them, both first and second generation Scots.

DI Patel is the first Indian-Scots inspector in Glasgow CID and he’s determined to do a good job and also encourage an uptake of minority officers. His first big case is the murder of a Muslim bank teller, wife and mother in the park late one night.

The day before had been the Mela, an open air celebration of Asian culture and food, where Nadia had lost her grandmother’s necklace. Hoping to find it, she’d returned to the park and tragically lost her life.

Patel and his team are determined to find the culprit. Sensitive to the religious and cultural issues raised by her death, they investigate the people closest to her.

Well written and engaging, this was a really enjoyable and informative book while also delivering a solid crime novel, with modern diverse Glasgow at its heart.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Two Fathers – Keith Dixon*

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Read my review of The Cobalt Sky

Why does Jessica Hastings come home late several times a week?

Her husband asks Private Investigator Sam Dyke this simple question. Dyke doesn’t want the case: he doesn’t do divorce work … but Brian Hastings doesn’t want a divorce, he wants an explanation.

When Sam finds out what Jessica is doing, it opens up more questions. And when Brian Hastings goes missing, they’re questions he feels compelled to answer.

At the centre of the mystery is a man who most people in Manchester don’t know—Larry Stone. But those who do know him, know that far from being the simple florist he seems to be, he’s actually the biggest crook in town. He’s powerful, he’s dangerous, and he’s currently working a deal with a Dutchman who’s even worse.

And Sam is now caught in Stone’s sights as he works to find Brian Hastings, to solve a couple of murders, and to prevent Stone corrupting even more members of his own family than he already has.

Before the biggest deal of Stone’s crooked career goes down.

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Keith Dixon was born in Yorkshire and grew up in the Midlands. He’s been writing since he was thirteen years old in a number of different genres: thriller, espionage, science fiction, literary. Two-time winner of the Chanticleer Reviews CLUE First in Category award for Private Eye/Noir novel, he’s the author of ten books in the Sam Dyke Investigations series and two other non-crime works, as well as two collections of blog posts on the craft of writing. His new series of Paul Storey Thrillers began in 2016.

Two-time winner of the Chanticleer Reviews CLUE First in Category award for Private Eye/Noir novel, he’s the author of ten books in the Sam Dyke Investigations series and two other non-crime works, as well as two collections of blog posts on the craft of writing. His new series of Paul Storey Thrillers began in 2016.
When he’s not writing he enjoys reading, learning the guitar, watching movies and binge-inhaling great TV series. He’s currently resident in France.

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My thoughts:

Private Investigator Sam Dyke can’t catch a break, manipulated into finding out where Brian Hastings’ wife is sneaking off to, he finds himself involved in a much bigger case, and one that comes with a body count.

Darkly funny, this is an intelligent crime thriller, where no one actually seems to have a plan, least of all Dyke, and chaos thrives. A really enjoyable and clever plot involving florists, a man named Leg, and two rather strange police detectives.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Devil’s Mark – WD Jackson-Smart*

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Bloody remains. Multiple victims. Ritual sacrifice?

When a blood-stained effigy of body parts is found in a central London park, D.I Daniel Graves must set about trying to discover what it could mean and find the person responsible. Symbols at the crime scene suggest the occult. Who would leave a murder victim in such a way, and why?
As Graves and partner DI Charlie Palmer begin to investigate the ritual and the act of human sacrifice, they enlist the help of Charlotte Gooding, a talented professor specialising in the subject. They hope to narrow down on a motive. Could the killer believe in the supernatural? Witchcraft even?
Then the next crime scene is found. More blood, more symbols, and out in the open. It seems the killer wants the world to pay attention, but why? How are they choosing their victims?
The pressure is on for Graves to put an end to the murders before more remains show up in brutal tableaus. One thing is for sure, this killer is out for blood and is not afraid to make it a very public display.
There’s just one problem. Grave’s past is still not behind him. Someone is eager to make sure he doesn’t forget, cannot move on. And they’re not playing games anymore. There may be an occult killer out there, but now there’s another out for blood, Daniel Grave’s blood.

Panther Publishing

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WD Jackson-Smart, 35, is a London-based horror and crime fiction author who has been writing crime and horror fiction since 2011. His novel Red Light was self published on Amazon and charted in the top twenty best selling Suspense / Thriller Kindle books on release.

His horror short story, What’s Yours Is Mine, was shortlisted for the Horror For Good anthology.

His first crime thriller Slasher, about a serial killer targeting slasher movie actresses in Hollywood, is out now, and he has launched a brand new crime series set in London and starring D.I. Graves. The Demons Beneath is the first in the series, and the sequel From Inside The House was published on July 1st 2019.

As well as his passion for horror and crime thrillers in all forms, WD Jackson-Smart also loves art and design, having studied Fine Art and Art History in Leeds and Toronto and working as a graphic designer for the majority of his career.

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My thoughts:

This was a really good, sinister thriller with the suspects hiding in plain sight at a women’s centre and using modern interest in witchcraft as a cover for some terrible crimes.

DI Graves is running against time, trying to get ahead of the bodies and prevent any more deaths. He’s also started something new with a professor he consulted for advice. Unfortunately his past and possible future are about to collide.

Clever, fast paced and engaging, the multiple viewpoints coalesce as the terror amps up and innocent lives are put at risk. The ending is explosive and takes place in driving rain, hampering the police pursuit of 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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Sleep Tight – C.S. Green*

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Even in your dreams you’re not safe…

The nightmare is only just beginning…

When DC Rose Gifford is called to investigate the death of a young woman suffocated in her bed, she can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to the crime than meets the eye.

It looks like a straightforward crime scene – but the police can’t find the killer. Enter DS Moony – an eccentric older detective who runs UCIT, a secret department of the Met set up to solve supernatural crimes. Moony wants Rose to help her out – but Rose doesn’t believe in any of that.

Does she?

As the killer prepares to strike again, Rose must pick a side – before a second woman dies.

My thoughts:

This started out as a tight, tense locked room murder but then dipped into Rivers of London style territory and became even more weird and twisted and I really enjoyed it.

DC Rose Gifford is contacted by a detective working for UCIT – apparently a compliance team but actually they deal with the weirder cases – ones like this, that might involve a killer who can astral project himself into his victims’ dreams and then into their reality.

What Rose is hiding is that she can see things that she shouldn’t – like her dead mother, and she’s worried if she says anything they’ll think she’s crazy but DS Moody and her team are on the lookout for people just like her – for them seeing the dead is a good thing.

As the case continues Rose has to be brave and dig deeper – it’s just all too neat and tidy, their suspect is too convenient. I liked Rose, her tenacity and nose for the truth, however strange, serve her well in this case.

Well written, gripping and very enjoyable, this is the first in what will hopefully be a series of strange cases solved by the UCIT team with some unorthodox methods, can’t wait!

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Fragile Ones – Jennifer Chase*

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Read my review of Last Girls Alive

“Please Mommy, can Tessa and I go play on the swing by the creek?” the little girl begs, pushing a blonde curl from her eyes. “We’ll stay together, and we promise to be safe.” Hours later, their mother waits anxiously for her darling girls to arrive home with a list of reasons why they are late. But the front door never opens…
When the bodies of eleven and twelve-year-old sisters, Tessa and Megan, are found at the bottom of a ravine—dressed in matching pastel summer outfits, their small bodies broken from the fall—Detective Katie Scott is called to one of the most shocking and heartbreaking crime scenes of her career.
Carefully picking through the fragile remains, Katie makes the first of many disturbing discoveries: the girls were not biological sisters. The youngest, Megan, is a DNA match to a kidnapping case years before. The tiny number burnt into her skin the mark of a terrifying killer intent on keeping count of his collection.Her PTSD from the army triggered, Katie is left reeling as she maps other missing children in the local area.

Has this twisted soul found a way to stay nearby his victims? Could he be watching now as Katie hits one dead end after another?
A wild storm building, matching a fiber found during the autopsy to a nearby boatyard is the break Katie needs. But when another girl goes missing, just as lightning strikes and the power goes out, Katie only has her instincts, her team and her service dog to rely on.

As time runs out for Katie to finds the stolen child alive, who will become the next number on this monster’s deadly list?
Fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh, you better buckle-up for the ride of your life! BEWARE – this gripping crime thriller is guaranteed to keep you up all night!

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, dark and twisted, with a town full of secrets at the heart of the mystery. Detective Katie Scott and her partner Deputy McGaven are asked to help a small police department to solve the disappearance and murder of two young girls; but there seems to be much more going on.

I really enjoyed this book, it’s so well plotted and constructed, the way it all unravels is pleasing and cleverly done.


*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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Blog Tour: Sandman – Anna Legat*

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Read my reviews of The End of the Road and A Conspiracy of Silence

The fourth instalment in the gripping DI Gillian Marsh series.

When Christmas shoppers board the 7.15am train to Bath Spa, they don’t expect to never see their loved ones again.

When a co-ordinated terrorist attack derails the train, the passengers are left fighting for their lives. For Andrej the train driver, Harald the Zimbabwean farmer and Oscar the war veteran travelling with his grandson, life will never be the same again.

As the manhunt for the terrorists begins, DI Gillian Marsh must act on her instincts to find the ones responsible for this tragic attack.

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Waterstones Blackwells

Kobo Foyles

Anna Legat is a Wiltshire-based author, best known for her DI Gillian Marsh murder mystery series. She dabbles in a wide variety of genres, ranging from satire to dystopian. A globe-trotter and Jack-of-all-trades, Anna has been an attorney, legal adviser, a silver-service waitress, a school teacher and a librarian.

A globe-trotter and Jack-of-all-trades, Anna has been an attorney, legal adviser, a silver-service waitress, a school teacher and a librarian.

She read law at the University of South Africa and Warsaw University, then gained teaching qualifications in New Zealand.

She has lived in far-flung places all over the world where she delighted in people-watching and collecting precious life experiences for her stories. Anna writes, reads, lives and breathes books and can no longer tell the difference between fact and fiction.

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My thoughts:

Christmas is coming in this gripping, moving crime thriller that brings global terrorism to the Gloucestershire countryside.

We meet various members of the local area – from Pippa and Harry whose estranged son has finally written to them, to their neighbours, young engineering students, a train driver and his homesick wife, a former Para and the young boy he feels responsible for. All of them will be thrown together in a terrible, tragic way.

DI Gillian Marsh, never call her Gill, is supposed to be on holiday, her daughter’s getting engaged and she’s a bit stressed out. But this case is person and she will find the perpetrators.

Marsh is an excellent protagonist, her determination and experience make her a great detective and its her instincts and drive that mean she’s the best placed person to get justice for the victims.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Crown Agent – Stephen O’Rourke*

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A ship adrift, all hands dead. A lighthouse keeper murdered in the night.

The Crown needs a man to find the truth. Doctor Mungo Lyon, his reputation tarnished by the Burke & Hare scandal, and forbidden to practise as a surgeon, is the wrong man.

A lighthouse keeper murdered in the night.

The Crown needs a man to find the truth. Doctor Mungo Lyon, his reputation tarnished by the Burke & Hare scandal, and forbidden to practise as a surgeon, is the wrong man.

That’s exactly why the Crown chose him.

Stephen O’Rourke is an advocate and a Member of the Institute of Chartered Arbitrators. He formerly wrote a regular column for

He formerly wrote a regular column for The Scotsman and has written for The Guardian, Caledonian Mercury and Think Scotland websites.

In 2012 he won a short story competition run by The Daily Telegraph, which proved to be the basis for The Crown Agent.

My thoughts:

This was a really enjoyable historical thriller inspired partly by real events and people. It features a cameo from Hare of Burke & Hare fame, which roots it in reality, a dark time in Edinburgh’s past and one that allows the invented Doctor Lyon to become the titular agent.

Struck off for his relationship to the surgeons at the heart of the scandal, he’s in the right place at the right time as far as the Crown, in the figure of the Lord Advocate, and sent to look into the events causing concern. Murder, intrigue, theft, and whiskey.

Tremendously fun and utterly gripping, this is a fantastic debut novel and introduces a new reluctant hero in Mungo Lyon (what a name too!) set to carry on investigating dark deeds with the assistance of the wily Mister Dervil.

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