Tag: mystery

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Blog Tour: Last Seen in Havana – Teresa Dovalpace

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A Cuban American woman searches for her long-lost mother and fights to restore a beautiful but crumbling Art Deco home in the heart of Havana in this moving, immersive new mystery, perfect for fans of Of Women and Salt.

In 2019, newly widowed baker Mercedes Spivey flies from Miami to her native Cuba to care for her ailing paternal grandmother. Mercedes’s life has been shaped by loss, beginning with the mysterious unsolved disappearance of her mother when Mercedes was a little girl. Returning to Cuba revives Mercedes’s hopes of finding her mother as she attempts to piece together the few scraps of information she has. Could her mother still be alive?

33 years earlier, an American college student with endless political optimism falls deliriously in love with a handsome Cuban soldier while on a spontaneous visit to the island. She decides to stay permanently but soon discovers that nothing is as it seems in Havana.
The two women’s stories proceed in parallel as Mercedes gets closer to discovering the truth about her mother, uncovering shocking family secrets in the process . . .

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Writer, translator and college professor, Teresa Dovalpage is a Cuban transplant firmly rooted in New Mexico. She is the author of twelve novels, among them the Havana Mystery series, three short story
collections and four theater plays. She lives with her husband, one dog and too many barn cats.

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My thoughts: This was a really interesting and moving story about family secrets and finding the truth of who you are and where you come from.

Mercedes travels back to Cuba, where she grew up, to see her grandmother, who raised her after her mother disappeared and her father died. There has always been questions about what happened to her parents but her grandmother never answered them before.

This time she is determined to get her answers, the family home is falling apart and her grandmother isn’t doing well. She’s invited her friend along for the trip and she’s going to track down her extended family to see what they know too.

As the story unravels, we learn not only what Mercedes finds, but also the story of American Sarah Lee, who falls in love with Cuba and Joaquin, but starts to see through the socialist paradise she’s supposedly living in. Mercedes learns some hard, sad truths, and struggles with them. Ultimately her quest for the answers she’s needed her whole life is redemptive and bittersweet. A moving, intelligently written story.

*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 Star and the Strange Moon – Constance Sayers

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We are thrilled to share The Star and the Strange Moon this week. Read on for more details!

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The Star and the Strange Moon

Publication Date: November 2023

Genre: Historical Fantasy
From the author of A Witch in Time comes a haunting tale of ambition, obsession, and the eternal mystery and magic of film.
A vanished star. A haunted film. A mystery only love can unravel…

1968: Gemma Turner once dreamed of stardom. Now the actress is on the cusp of obscurity. When she’s offered the lead in a radical new horror film, Gemma believes her luck has changed—but her dream is about to turn into a nightmare. One night, between the shadows of an alleyway, Gemma disappears on set and is never seen again. Yet, Gemma is alive. She’s been pulled into the film. And the script—and the monsters within it—are coming to life. Gemma must play her role perfectly if she hopes to survive.

2007: Gemma Turner’s disappearance is one of Hollywood’s greatest mysteries—one that’s captivated film student Christopher Kent ever since he saw L’Étrange Lune for the first time. The screenings only happen once a decade and each time there is new, impossible footage of Gemma that shouldn’t exist. Curiosity drives Christopher to unravel the truth. But answers to the film’s mystery may leave him trapped by it forever.

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About the Author

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Constance Sayers is the author of two best-selling novels: A Witch in Time (Hachette, 2020) and The Ladies of the Secret Circus (Hachette, 2021), the latter receiving both a Publishers Weekly and Library Journal starred reviews. Her work has been translated into six languages and her third novel, The Star and the Strange Moon will be published by Hachette on 11.14.23. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, and her short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.

She received an MA in English from George Mason University and a B.A. in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. She lives outside of Washington D.C.

Constance Sayers

My thoughts: the premise of this was so intriguing I had to read it as soon as I received a copy and my goodness. This book is so mindbendingly ingenious and clever and I was hooked from the off.

Christopher has spent much of his life fascinated by why his mum once freaked out and smashed up a picture of a film star in a hotel. He can’t ask her, as sadly she died after a long battle with her mental health. His aunt doesn’t know either.

Meanwhile in the 60s Gemma Turner has been offered a role in a Nouvelle Vague film shooting in the French countryside. It needs to be a success as her career’s on the slide. But things take a strange and terrifying turn…

As the two lives play out and slowly start to collide, strange occurances and a haunted movie dog them both.

Utterly brilliant and written so you really feel for these two lost souls as they search for answers and try to build something for themselves. It’s also an achingly sad story of a young man’s search for answers about where he comes from, and a woman’s about where she belongs.

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*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: The Canterbury Tails – Trudie Pabor

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Carol Flynn and Jack Wallis are living and working in the same square mile, eighty years apart. In the twenty-first century, Carol is afraid of potential dangers lurking in the outside world and locks herself away safely at home. Longing to improve her mental health she keeps a diary and rehomes a dog to help her go outside and meet other people.

When out walking Biddy, her Bichon Frise, she sees a poster protesting the closure of the local social club and unwillingly finds herself co-opted onto the committee to save it.

In the twentieth century, Jack is on the home front as the first line of defence for the aeroplane factory, fighting the dangers that invade his world. He has made a special human connection and wants to explore it before time runs out.

When Covid 19 threatens the closure of the social club on their housing estate, saving it could acknowledge Jack’s affections and provide the community Carol is trying to find.

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Trudie Pabor lives on the outskirts of Coventry. Having worked as a secondary school teacher in various schools for twenty-four years, she now helps university students to achieve their goals. Whilst obtaining a master’s in creative writing, she made several contributions to a university anthology and has continued to write since.

Trudie enjoys cycling to work and takes inspiration from the world around her. ‘You never know what you are going to see that will spark your imagination!’ A background in secondary education shaped her first novel ‘The Malady of Miss Maybely’, and her experiences of living in Coventry have heavily influenced her second novel ‘The Canterbury Tails.’

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My thoughts: so a book with lots of dogs was always going to appeal to me, and I love history too, which added to the appeal of this book with its dual timelines.

Carol is a recovering agoraphobe (with good reason) who gets a dog, Biddy, to help her go outside and even meet people. And she does; Arthur, who is almost 100 years old and his dog George, Jackie and her excitable pup too. These people are her first friends, and they help her come out of her shell and get involved with saving the local social club. Until the pandemic forces them to cancel their plans.

Jack is living through WW2, working in an aeroplane factory and drinking a quick pint at the pub before catching his train home to Rugby. That’s where he meets Billy. Drawn to one another, they become friends, sharing a shift as night watchmen on the factory roof, and a meal in the pub.

As lockdown lifts, Carol starts looking into the area’s history, drawn into Jack and Billy’s story by a chance discovery. Jackie does some digging too, and Arthur offers up his memories of the war years. Can they piece together the story?

A sweet and charming story of friendship and community at challenging times in recent and not so recent history.

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*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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BBNYA Semi-finalists: Sea State – J.M. Simpson

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This year, the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it into Round Two with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title. BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Jesse Stevens needs to escape her past, start a new life and feel safe.

The rugged coastline and tight-knit community of Castleby offers her that chance. Her new job with the local lifeboat crew gives her the stability and comfort she craves.

Her skipper, Doug Brodie, faces his own demons. He is struggling with survivor’s guilt, physical and mental scars, and a marriage teetering on the brink.

Jesse is desperate to put aside the dark nightmares and terrible memories. As she and Doug grow closer, she wonders whether she can ever really live a normal life and be happy. But Jesse is in grave danger. Someone is watching her; trying to control and manipulate her life. Someone plans to make her life a living nightmare and return her to the hell she thought she had left behind. Will she ever be free?

Mystery and suspense sprinkled with humour and romance in the first of the author’s Castleby Series.

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J.M. Simpson was born in Essex, but was raised primarily in the West Country, never far from a rugged coastline, a sandy beach, or harbour. With a degree and PhD, much of Jo’s working career has been spent undertaking research in a variety oStaying in the Welsh town of Tenby some years ago and watching the local lifeboat launch one stormy winter night, gave Jo the beginnings of an idea for a book. Jo’s debut novels are the Castleby series; Sea State and Sea Change; suspense thrillers set against the backdrop of a lifeboat crew in a coastal town. The third in the series, Sea Shaken is out at the end of September, and there are two further books in the series to come.

f subjects; most notably in construction where her expertise lies.

Jo lives in Kent, with her two (occasionally stroppy) teenage daughters, her extremely long-suffering husband and her two writing partners Max and Merlin, both rescue Border Collies. She also runs a successful research consultancy, but dreams of becoming a full-time writer.

In what little spare time Jo has, she spends writing, walking the dogs, being an armchair movie critic, dreaming of Scotland or the Pembrokeshire coast; drinking endless coffee’s in various local café’s (on the pretense of writing) or drinking copious amounts of wine in her most favourite pub with friends, (where no writing occurs whatsoever).

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BBNYA Semi-finalists: Murder at the Expo; Miss Sadie Brown & the Death of Dr Wolf – P. Austin Heaton

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This year, the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it into Round Two with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title. BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

In 1915 California, Dr. Asa Wolf was a specialist in female hysteria. Sadly, some weren’t happy with his particular skills, and now he’s dead. Come along with snoopy Sadie Brown, aviatrix & newspaper columnist, for a delightful, historical romp to discover the killer’s identity. There’ll be a fiery ending you won’t soon forget.

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A native of the San Francisco Bay Area and now living in Southern California, P. Austin Heaton writes what she loves to read, murder mysteries and historical fiction. A member of Mystery Writers of America, she’s also an amateur genealogist and history lover — both find their way into her fast-paced novels. Her books contain unforgettable storylines, vivid & quirky characters, and small bits of history. If you like twists and turns and wondering what comes next, you will find her writing addictive.

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Book Blitz: The Year of Secrets – Silvia Villalobos

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We have a great new mystery to share with you today! Check out The Year of Secrets by Silvia Villalobos!

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The Year of Secrets

Publication Date: October 24, 2023

Genre: Suspense/ Mystery

A mystery novel in the tradition of Michael Connelly’s stories set against the backdrop of Los Angeles.
After a difficult year, Zoe Sinclair seeks solace in vain. Her life takes an unexpected turn when her law mentor is found dead, and a series of disappearances grip everyone’s attention. In the midst of L.A.’s captivating but mysterious scenery, she is soon pulled into a web of secrets that have been kept hidden for too long. Unexpected encounters reveal that strangers know too much about her. Her friends become suspicious, and secrets, once whispered, ignite the flames of reckoning. She defies caution and joins forces with the LAPD. Together, they unearth a truth that shakes the core of her world and forces Zoe to tap into her inner grit, revealing newfound strength.

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Book Blitz: Death Rattle – Carter Pugh

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The perfect book for Halloween! Check out Death Rattle by Carter Pugh, where murder mystery meets urban fantasy!

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Death Rattle

Publication Date: September 10, 2023

Genre: Murder Mystery/ Urban Fantasy

Murder Mystery meets Urban Fantasy in this coming-of-age tale where nothing is as it seems. Meet Clarke Carpenter, a thirty-year-old nanny and student who desires a life more substantial than her own, full of magic and wonder. After moving to the city, hoping to overcome her insecurities and claim a more vibrant life, her world unexpectedly upturns when she is accused of murdering her roommate. Clarke’s dreams of a fairytale existence are obliterated…or are they? Follow along in this thrilling first installment of the Death Book series as Clarke discovers the mystery of who she is.

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Blog Tour: A Long Time Burning – J A Higgins

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Nell has had a terrible year, so she travels to North Chase to find some true Christmas magic. But the town has its own problems; its solstice festival is tainted by the disappearance of two teenage boys and a witch’s curse is blamed.
Then, nine-month-old Ava is threatened. Has a medieval killer been awoken or does something else haunt the woods?
Nell must battle through horrific nightmares and face her own demons to expose the truth before another child is spirited away. There is magic in the air this Christmas, but behind the tinsel and
baubles glitters a terrifying secret that one family has hidden for centuries, and only Nell can uncover it.

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J A Higgins was born and raised at Porton Down in Wiltshire, and currently works for the NHS in Salisbury. She has always been fascinated by history, crime and the unexplained.
A Long Time Burning is the second book in the Nell Montague Mystery series which explores how horrors from the past are still very relevant today. The first book, Finding Ruby, was a Page Turner Book Award winner in 2021.

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My thoughts: Nell decides to spend Christmas alone in North Chase, where her grandmother grew up. It’s an old place, with lots of history and traditions. Surely there she can find some peace.

But ghosts of old curses, tales of witches buried at the crossroads and other spooky stories abound and Nell, along with her friends Max and Austin, is drawn into the mysterious goings on. Is it an ancient curse or is someone very modern threatening the local lord of the manor’s baby daughter?

Full of ghosts and folk tales, North Chase ends up being the worst place Nell could have picked, and then there’s the appearance of her estranged father to contend with too. Thankfully her friends are there to help her and between them they solve some mysteries before Christmas Day is ruined by ghostly noises and modern day murder.

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by
Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal
data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway
organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
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*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: Artful Antics at St Bride’s – Debbie Young

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When English teacher Gemma Lamb’s school flat is wrecked by storms, maverick headmistress Hairnet insists the girls must fund its repair by setting up their own businesses – the start of a series of hilarious unintended consequences.
Meanwhile Gemma’s worries are compounded by the arrival of bossy new girl Frieda Ehrlich, sponsored by a mysterious local tycoon whose wealth is of dubious origins. Fearful for the school’s
reputation, Gemma recruits an old friend to help investigate the tycoon’s credentials, jeopardising her romance with sports teacher Joe Spryke.
What is Frieda hiding? Why is her sponsor living in a derelict manor house? Why is his chauffeur such a crazed driver? And what has become of McPhee, Hairnet’s precious black cat? With a little help
from her friends, Gemma is determined to solve these mysteries, restore her flat and save the school.
For anyone who loved St Trinian’s – old or new – or read Malory Towers as a kid. St Brides is the perfect read for you!
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Debbie Young is the much-loved author of the Sophie Sayers and St Brides cosy crime mysteries. She lives in a Cotswold village where she runs the local literary festival, and has worked at Westonbirt School, both of which provide inspiration for her writing. She is bringing both her series to Boldwood in a 13-book contract. They will be publishing several new titles in each series and republishing the backlist, starting in September 2022.

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My thoughts: this series continues to be utterly delightful, with more mysterious goings on and one day maybe we’ll learn the truth about Max Security’s past! Turns out, he speaks German, so that’s something Gemma can add to her information about him.

This term at St Bride’s the roof has finally given up the ghost and now Gemma and Oriana are having to stay in the old servants quarters, not as nice as their flats at all, but better than wet walls! Time to get making some money and the eccentric headmistress has decided that the girls should start their own businesses to raise the cash. Cue pet detectives, cake bakers, an art show and all sorts of hijinks.

There’s also a strange new student in the Sixth Form, she’s a bit off as far as Gemma can tell, and she’s determined to figure her out. Her dad works for a new local businessman, except he doesn’t seem to have a business. Very odd. Are these new faces a risk to St Bride’s? Gemma’s on the case.

Lots of fun, intrigue and whizzing around the local lanes in fast cars ensues. It’s all highly enjoyable and entertaining. There’s little real jeopardy, although McPhee has disappeared and without their mascot, the headmistress is in a bit of a tizz.

*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: My Summer With the Hermit King – William Todd

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Welcome to the tour for A Summer with the Hermit King by William Todd. Read on for more details!

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A Summer with the Hermit King

Publication Date: December 2022

Genre: YA/ Cozy Mystery

Year: 1888. Diminutive sixteen-year-old Auggie Rose decides he can no longer take the physical and mental abuse at the hands of other boys living at the orphanage. He decides to leave and cast his lot living as a recluse on the nearby beautiful Presque Isle, a peninsula on the shores of Lake Erie. After sneaking out in the middle of the night, on his way to the peninsula, he witnesses a murder at the hands of ‘the man with a limp’.The murderer initially does not know he was witnessed. Not knowing what else to do that wouldn’t jeopardize him being sent back to the orphanage, Auggie tries as best he can to put the incident out of his head and so begins his new life adjusting to the wilds of Presque Isle. To that end, Auggie is helped along by Joe Root, a hermit himself and a curiosity among the locals, who has been living on the beaches of Presque Isle for decades. He is also befriended by kitchen help, Maisy, who works at a resort at the entrance to the peninsula. Over time, his relationship with Maisy blossoms into more than just friendship as he adjusts to his new life. During this time, he also slowly begins to realize that the murder he had witnessed is part of a larger plan that has something to do with the peninsula itself. Auggie inadvertently inserts himself into the investigation and is befriended by Will Weston, the detective investigating the murder. As businesses around Presque Isle are being bought then shuttered by a mysterious businessman, one of these owners is murdered. It is then that Auggie begins to realize that whatever nefarious plan ‘the man with the limp’ has, it is putting his life and the lives of those closest to him in mortal danger.

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About the Author

William Todd has been writing for over 20 years, primarily gothic horror stories in the style of Lovecraft, Poe, and Shelley. Loving all things Victorian, he was inspired to read (and later to write) by Arthur Conan Doyle. The first book he ever read cover to cover was Hound of the Baskervilles, which also fed his appetite for horror. William Todd has written two short story compilations of gothic horror, Dead of Night and Beyond the Gossamer Veil and one sci-fi/horror hybrid genre Something Wicked This Way Comes. He has also written multiple Sherlock Holmes pastiches, Murder in Keswick, A Reflection of Evil, Mystery of the Broken Window, and Elementary—a short story compilation, which were picked up for republish by Spellbound Publishing, LTD. Three of his short stories were part of MX Publishing’s New Sherlock Holmes Stories with proceeds going to a charity for special needs children housed in Undershaw, the very home Conan Doyle penned Hound of the Baskervilles. Writing for the books was a special privilege because his daughter, Alina, has Down Syndrome. In 2022, he published his first YA/historical novel A Summer with the Hermit King, which was an Amazon #1 New Release, and he has started yet another Sherlock Holmes compilation. When not writing (which isn’t often!) William spends his time walking the trails and beaches of Presque Isle in his home of Erie, Pennsylvania, and spending time with his family.

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