Tag: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Secret Lives of the Doyenne of Didsbrook – Tessa Barrie

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The remote village of Didsbrook is thrown into turmoil after its best-known resident, the former actress turned best-selling novelist Jocelyn Robertshaw, is found dead under mysterious circumstances.

Villagers are appalled to learn that the charismatic Jocelyn died from Hemlock poisoning. Police claim she shot and ate a quail that had ingested hemlock. A theory disputed by all who knew her well. The
animal-loving Jocelyn would never kill anything, but due to the lack of forensic evidence, police rule death by misadventure.

Jocelyn’s young protégée, Lucy Fothergill, determined to discover the truth about what happened to her mentor, discovers a hidden stash of Jocelyn’s notebooks, revealing jaw-dropping secrets from
Jocelyn’s past. The impression Jocelyn gave the world that she lived a near-perfect life was an Academy Award-winning performance.

RBelieving the events from Jocelyn’s past may have led to her death forty-eight years later, Lucy begins to piece together the clues that lead to the truth.

The sleepy village of Didsbrook is about to wake up!

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Author Bio

Tessa Barrie was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and despite her parents uprooting her at the age of three and moving her down south, she is proud of her Yorkshire heritage.

Growing up, she recalls her family life being more Little House on the Prairie than The Waltons because her early years were fraught with drama. However, intermingled with all the emotional disruption, she remembers humour squeezing its way through the frayed feelings.

So, incorporating humour in her writing has become very important to her as she believes that, however dark a story gets, there should always be a subtle sprinkling of humour.

In June 2021, Tessa self-published her debut novel, Just Say It, a bittersweet family saga, and her second novel, The Secret Lives of the Doyenne of Didsbrook, a quirky murder mystery, is currently on
pre-order and is due for release on 1st July 2025. Her third novel, The Rebuilding of Freya Michaels, will be published in 2026.

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My thoughts: When former actress turned author Jocelyn Robertshaw is found dead at home one Sunday morning, the police suspect foul play as she was in good health and the autopsy reveals she was poisoned by hemlock. From this I learned that quail are one of the few species that can eat hemlock and not be affected by it, I have never eaten quail, and just to be on the safe side, I don’t think I ever will.

Her protégée Lucy inherits Jocelyn’s writing studio, Manderley (named after the house in Rebecca, which seems a bit ominous) and finds her mentor’s diaries, all of her past and her secrets laid bare. They give a member of the community, later seen trying to break into Manderley, a serious motive, and armed with the facts, Lucy confronts the suspect at the local writers’ group. Could she be right? Are the secrets Jocelyn kept in her notebooks the reason for her death all these years later?

With lots of twists and turns as we learn,  along with Lucy, the story of Jocelyn’s life and loves, the secrets she kept till the very end, have implications for many of the other villagers and her family. 

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Art Lovers – G.N. Lawson

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Frank Armstrong, a successful but self-important portrait painter, is horrified to discover that Martin, a former student, has painted them together in an exposing scene as past lovers.

Despite his efforts, he is unsuccessful in persuading Martin not to exhibit the painting named ‘The Art Lovers.’ The matter escalates further when Martin has an accident and ends up in hospital in a coma, and the police investigate Frank as a suspect.

Once free from the police and their questioning, Frank is commissioned to paint a series of murals for the nuclear industry and rents a flat in Cumbria. But he soon finds himself amidst protesters and living in an environment very different to the one he grew up in as a child in Kendal.

Things are spiralling out of control when the building to house the murals he painted is burnt to the ground. However, thanks to his resourceful wife, Louise, and the efforts of two crafty art dealers, Frank muddles his way through the setbacks and is surprised to realise a newfound fame which leads to an unexpected reconciliation with Martin.

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Apart from three years studying History of Art and Philosophy at University College London, I have lived my entire life in the North West – born in Warrington, lived and worked in Manchester, and fourteen years ago moved to north Cumbria.

After several years of freelance arts journalism, I ran a NW-based public relations agency called Lawson Leah in the 1990s, then worked for various organisations in the construction
industry, as CEO of Construction for Merseyside Ltd and then Director of the Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association. I have been a guest lecturer on urban regeneration and chaired a housing association for three years, and now work part-time as a consultant.

I have had articles on a range of topics, including the arts, construction, engineering, housing and economic development published in numerous magazines, as well as poetry and a
guidebook to waterway walks in the NW.

My approach to writing tends to involve identifying a problematic situation and then finding a means of resolving it. I derive particular pleasure from finding the right words to achieve that.

I was first inspired to write, as a teenager, after reading The Catcher in the Rye, and latterly find inspiration in the daunting novels of Bellow, Nabokov and Pynchon.

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My thoughts: A group of grumpy old artists are stirred up when one of their former students paints a portrait implying that he, Martin, and his former tutor, Frank, had a relationship back when they were younger. Frank is horrified by this and confronts Martin, but his wife Louise is unbothered. When Martin suffers an accident and ends up in hospital in a coma, the police think Frank is involved, but thankfully the evidence points elsewhere. Another member of their group decides to put the cat among the pigeons and then mysteriously disappears.

Meanwhile Frank is commissioned to paint a series of landscapes, despite normally being a portrait artist, to encourage people to think positively about nuclear power. He is required to return to Cumbria, where he grew up, but finds a very different place to the one he knew. Then the building planned to house his work is burnt down and stuck with a series of paintings he doesn’t want, his agent conspires to include him in an art exhibition of queer artists, despite Frank not being one – because of the slightly infamous “Art Lovers”.

Filled with dry humour, grumpy old men and their much smarter wives and daughters, this was an interesting read, all about complex relationships.

*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: Murder on an Italian Island – T.A. Williams

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A holiday island…

When private investigator, Dan Armstrong, and his girlfriend, Anna, are invited to the gorgeous island of Elba for a much-needed break, he jumps at the chance. The thought of sun-drenched shores makes Dan promise Anna he won’t “play detective” for a whole week…

A luxury hotel…

Their luxurious hotel, with its wonderful food and picturesque seaside views, seems the perfect escape, especially with Dan’s best friend Virgilio and his wife joining them. But the calm shatters with a sinister encounter and a sudden, suspicious death..

A decades old case…

Virgilio’s past connection to the victim casts a long shadow, pulling Dan into a decades-old case. But beneath Elba’s beauty lie secrets and resentments – the victim was universally hated – but was his
death the result of foul play or just a tragic accident?

With his faithful canine companion, Oscar, Dan must unravel the island’s mysteries, a task that soon takes a decidedly personal and unsettling turn.

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T. A. Williams is the bestselling author of the Armstrong and Oscar cosy mystery series. Trevor studied languages at University and lived and worked in Italy for eight years, returning to England
with his wife in 1972. Trevor and his wife now live in Devon.

Facebook: @TrevorWilliamsBooks
Twitter: @TAWilliamsBooks
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Bookbub profile: @trevorwilliams3

My thoughts: Dan, Anna and Oscar are on holiday with Virgilio and Lina, on the island of Elba (the one Napoleon infamously escaped from). They’re all hoping to get a break from murder for a while, but crime seems to follow them around. Although it might be an accident, a man seems to have fallen from the cliff. Until his brother turns up dead a night later, not a coincidence surely?

Obviously Dan can’t resist digging, especially as Virgilio has history with the first man, many years ago he arrested this person for a horrific crime. Now he’s on Elba at the same time – the police can’t believe that’s a coincidence either.

Do the brothers’ deaths have to do with the second one’s dodgy business dealings? The concigliere is interested in the smuggling of ancient Etruscan artefacts, and he might be using his campsite as a front for the removal of these priceless pre-Roman antiquities. As Dan and Virgilio assist the local police, Anna gets injured, and Dan makes a huge decision.

Oscar finds clues, suspects and saves a life because he is a hero dog. He is rewarded with lovely steak and fusses from the many admiring fans. As he should.

Another excellent crime caper in beautiful Italian sunshine.

*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: Nightshade – Briar Black

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Nightshade (The Cheshire Set #2)

Release Date: June 21, 2025

Genre: Small-town Romance

Forbidden Love 💔
Age Gap 🕰️
Slow Burn 🔥
Small Town Romance 🏡
Grumpy x Sunshine 🌦️
Morally Grey Hero ⚖️
Healing Romance 🩹
Dark Cottagecore 🍄

When eco-warrior and budding bee expert Suzie returns to Ashfordby, she expects a peaceful summer solving the mystery of Hugh Delaware’s dying bees and spending time with her best friend.

After a recent run-in with The One That Got Away (and made her swear off relationships for life), she needs the break. Peace, quiet, and a chance to focus on what she loves sounds perfect—until she stumbles into a tangled web of sabotage, murder, and secrets threatening to destroy the estate Hugh has dedicated his life to saving.

As Suzie and Hugh join forces to unravel the mystery, a shocking discovery leaves the estate reeling and the pair questioning everyone around them—except each other. But with a struggling marriage and the weight of the estate on his shoulders, Hugh’s world is a far cry from Suzie’s council-house upbringing. Any connection between them feels impossible—and forbidden. She would never entertain an affair, yet the more she tries to stay away, the more she’s drawn back in.

Caught between her growing feelings for Hugh, the painful wounds of her past, and a sinister plot targeting the estate, Suzie must summon the courage to expose the truth—and keep her heart out of the crossfire—before more lives are lost.

With its blend of romantic tension, murder, and environmental intrigue, Nightshade is a gripping tale of love, loyalty, and uncovering beauty in the most unexpected places. Perfect for fans of romantic suspense and age-gap romance.

My thoughts: This was really good, it works as a standalone, so if you haven’t read Bane (about Michael and Aimee) that’s ok.

Suzie returns to her hated hometown to help out some bees who are dying, the owner of the tea farm that needs the bees to do their pollinating thing is worried that without them, his business is over and he’ll have to sell his family’s ancestral home to developers.

She’s not keen as her awful ex lives in the area and she’s not especially close to her parents, but her best friend Aimee and her boyfriend Michael also live there. She moves into the spare room at Aimee’s and starts investigating the bees’ deaths.

The book is both a romance and an eco-murder mystery – the victims might be bees, but their deaths lead to other shocking actions as someone is trying to sabotage the tea farm and the estate.

Suzie’s investigation has ramifications for all of the residents and staff, especially Hugh, who runs it and will eventually inherit it. His whole life revolves around the estate and even though he and Suzie have an instant attraction – he’s married to Victoria, a not entirely happy woman. He’s also a lot older than Suzie.

The story gets more intriguing as Suzie discovers what’s been going on and who has been killing the bees. She also meets the resident witch, her crow and badger (totally normal), and has an eventful run in with her scummy ex (urgh).

Will love flourish? Will Hugh leave his wife and will they solve the mystery of who is trying to bring the estate down? Well, you’ll have to read it!

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*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 Manuscript – Steven L. Wright

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A newly married couple from Harrogate purchased a manuscript from an antiquarian bookseller titled, The Universal Language Isn’t Love or Music but Loneliness. Completed in 1940 by unknown author, William Travers, it was one of several items offered at the estate
auction of a local family. Reading and discussing the work changed their lives … and their marriage.

Waking in hospital Lieutenant William Travers learns the war’s over. The Armistice has been signed.
Physically wounded and emotionally crippled, Travers shuns convention and, armed with an alto saxophone, turns his back on America to remain in Paris. He’s a jazzman at heart, so a jazzman he’ll remain. Throughout the Roaring ‘20s and Lean ‘30s, he encounters a bevy of
characters: the artists of Montparnasse; the ladies at the Paris brothel; the curator at the Musee du Luxembourg; fellow band members in Paris; the stiff-collared Edwardians and the Bright Young Things who dance at London’s Savoy Hotel; the fiery Yorkshire sheep farmer who is half-American; the hard-bitten landlady in London; and, the owner of a Soho night club – the epicentre of everything considered illegal. On the eve of the Blitz in September 1940, he decided to perform one more gig.

A parallel narrative where the three protagonists, although separated by eighty years, confront the existential meaning of life.

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Steve earned a BA and MA in history from the University of Cincinnati. After serving five years as a captain/attack helicopter pilot in the US Army’s 9th Infantry Division (1980-1985), he worked as a professional archivist and historian for twenty-five years. He has published several articles in peer-reviewed history journals in addition to three works of scholarly non-fiction including, Britain’s Battle to Go Modern: Confronting Architectural Modernisms, 1900-1925 published in 2018.

After relocating from London to the Yorkshire Dales National Park in 2014, he set himself a challenge: to write a work of fiction. His first attempt, Grey, Red, Blue … Gone was published in 2021. Steve enjoyed the process so he set his sights on a work of historical fiction hoping to incorporate his passion for history. The Manuscript is the culmination of years of research and
writing concerning the period in Paris and London known as the Jazz Age. An era when syncopated music nursed by cocktails comforted the bored and disillusioned and propelled the Bright Young Things toward an uninhibited lifestyle unknown to earlier generations.

Since his early days in secondary school, Steve has been interested in the lives and published works of several notable writers of the 1920s to the early 1940s, from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Richard Aldington to Ernest Hemingway and W. Somerset Maugham. He believes their work helped define those unique and troubling decades.

He still lives in the Yorkshire Dales National Park with his wife, Suzanne, a studio potter, whom he met twenty years ago at a Chicago jazz club, and a three-year-old rescue cat named Vesper.

My thoughts: The framing device of couple Fiona and Peter who have bought this mysterious manuscript allows the reader to feel as though they too are embarking on uncovering the mysteries about the document that forms the main body of this book.

Starting in the years after the First World War, the Manuscript is a memoir and philosophical meditation on life, love and loss. It’s author, William Travers, is the only survivor of his cohort of American airmen. Injured and alone, he has nothing to return to his hometown of Cincinnati for. Finding himself in Paris with his alto sax in hand, he sets himself up as a jazzman for hire.

Finding a small flat, a few paying gigs and eventually a lover, Veronique, he makes himself at home amongst the Roaring Twenties, the artists, musicians and other characters of the Left Bank. These are happy years, he joins a jazz band of fellow American ex-pats, serenades the ladies of a high class brothel, and befriends a British bartender who supplies him with free whisky.

When tragedy hits, he abandons this life for the Savoy in London and the turbulent years of the 1930s. The Bright Young Things, disaffected and outrageous, the Edwardians (my own great-grandparents are products of that time, my Grandad was born in 1930).

William meets the delightful Helena, only remaining child of her family’s sprawling farm in the Yorkshire Dales. She farms the sheep and contends with her broken hearted mother. Their romance brings a sparkle back to his life, but sadly it doesn’t last and here he starts to develop the philosophy that will rule the rest of his life and provide his memoir it’s title – The Universal Language isn’t Love or Music – it’s Loneliness. But then in 1940 as the Blitz begins, William disappears.

Peter becomes obsessed with finding out what became of William and how his memoir ended up in an estate sale in Harrogate. It begins to affect his marriage, as obsession can, and while he will find some answers, he might just lose his wife.

I found William’s story both moving and compelling, the interwar years are complicated and unlike any other time before or since. Huge loss of life brackets those years, and many of the people who lived then were profoundly affected by the social, political and financial shifts that took place. I studied the period in both Britain and German history, contrasting the two countries as they recovered from one devastating war and into the next.

William’s wartime experiences are never far from his mind, he struggles with survivors’ guilt and probably has PTSD, as well as his physical injury from being shot down in his plane. It colours everything he does and experiences, his relationships with women and friendships with other men. There were actually a couple of moments so gut-wrenchingly sad I actually teared up.

The writing is compelling and gripping, you are right there with William as he sees the newly built Cenotaph and rages at the loss of life, the pointless futility of war. It reminded me so much of the poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, furious at the way so many were betrayed into giving their lives, and for what?

*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: One More to Die – Joy Ellis

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Detective Kate Carter is called out to a fatal car accident on a remote fen lane.
At first glance it looks like a drunk driver simply lost control and crashed headlong into a ditch.

But nothing about the scene adds up. The number plate is fake. The driver’s licence doesn’t belong to the dead man in the car. One tyre doesn’t match the other three. And what is a vinyl 1960s pop record doing in the glove box?

A neat puncture wound to the driver’s neck reveals this was no accident.
The following day, the body of a young woman is found in an old barn out on the fens. She’s been dead at least two years. Placed on the body is another vintage pop record.

And then the nightmare becomes personal. A mysterious package arrives at the station addressed to Kate: a 45-rpm record, and a chilling note scrawled in block capitals: ONE MORE TO GO.

It’s just the start. Sinister phone calls, creepy notes left on her car, unwanted gifts on her doorstep: Kate can no longer deny that she’s being pursued by an obsessive stalker . . .
Is she next in the killer’s sights?

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I was born in Kent but spent most of my working life in London and Surrey. I was an apprentice florist to Constance Spry Ltd, a prestigious Mayfair shop that throughout the Sixties and Seventies teemed with both royalty and ‘real’ celebrities. What an eye-opener for a working-class kid from the Garden of England! I swore then, probably whilst I was scrubbing the floor or making the tea, that I would have a shop of my own one day. It took until the early Eighties, but I did it. Sadly the recession wiped us out, and I embarked on a series of weird and wonderful jobs; the last one being a bookshop manager. Surrounded by books all day, getting to order whatever you liked, and being paid for it! Oh bliss!

And now I live in a village in the Lincolnshire Fens with my partner, Jacqueline, and three Springer spaniels and four little rescue, Breton spaniels. I had been writing mysteries for years but never had the time to take it seriously. Now I write full-time, and as my partner is a highly decorated retired police officer; my choice of genre is a no-brainer! I have an on-tap police and judicial consultant, who makes exceedingly good tea!

I have set my crime thrillers here in the misty fens because I sincerely love the remoteness and airy beauty of the marshlands. This area is steeped in superstitions and lends itself so well to
murder!

I am lucky enough to be one of the amazing Joffe Books team of authors and am really enjoying being able to spend time doing what I love… writing!

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My thoughts: This was really good, I have enjoyed every one of Joy’s books I’ve read, she’s very good at hooking you with a mystery, in this case the 1960s records, and what a clever case too, the police are stumped when it comes to the old vinyl, but the slightly odd pathologist has an idea, his uncle is a bit of an expert and might be able to help them.

Then the case gets a bit too personal as it becomes clear the killer is stalking Kate, and with her as SIO, it might be best to keep a low profile until they get closer. After sending her kids and animals to friends and family to keep them safe, although her husband won’t go and gets parked at an empty desk in the station (which made me laugh) for his own safety, she keeps working the case. 

As this case seems to hark back to unsolved one in the cold case archives, the team start looking into that one, which might just slot a few more things into place…

Absolutely cracking stuff, could not put it down, fiendish and clever, with plenty at stake as the team race to find the killer before anything happens to their boss. So good. 

Side note: Joy, please write a memoir, you seem to have led a really interesting life. 

*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: Private Lives – Emily Edwards

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In the sleepy seaside sleepy town of Waverly, Rosie and Seb Kent are happily married. Now that Seb has achieved his dream of becoming headmaster of the local school, their lives couldn’t be any better.

Then Abi arrives.
Abi, a young, single mother, has come to Waverly for a fresh start. She plans to reinvent herself and give her children a new life.
Then she sees Seb.

As their complicated hidden past threatens to destroy them both, they try their hardest to keep it contained. But in a small town, secrets don’t stay hidden for long and soon, what should be their private business becomes a very public scandal.

How far will everyone – them, their
families and the whole community – go to protect everything they hold dearest?

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After studying at Edinburgh University, Emily Edwards worked for a think tank in New York before returning to London where she worked as a support worker for vulnerable women at a large charity. She now lives in Lewes, East Sussex with her endlessly patient husband and her two endlessly energetic young sons. Her previous novel, The Herd, was a number one bestseller.

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My thoughts: I went to school before the internet, if there was gossip about teachers it was confined to our theories on the playground, and to parents at the school gates, you didn’t really believe they had private lives and you certainly didn’t know anything about them.

Now of course that isn’t the case, quite a few of my friends are teachers and they work hard to separate their professional and private selves. Occasionally bumping into your students in the supermarket is one thing, but the kind of drama in this book is something else entirely.

Seb might have done something that will harm his marriage, but is it really anyone else’s business? The scandal that follows comes from his best friend’s wife, Anna. She’s the one that decides it should be everyone’s business and in doing so ruins relationships and lives, including her own.

The repercussions from her decision to tell everyone what Seb did are shocking and violent, her inability to keep things to herself lead to some very nasty reactions. But what emerges from the rubble are in some cases, stronger relationships, healthier ones with no secrets. Maybe small town living isn’t for everyone, in a larger place, where people don’t know you quite so well, you can keep your past private.

*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: Home Before Dark – Eva Björg, Ægisdottir, translated by Victoria Cribb

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November, 1967, Iceland. Fourteen-year-old Marsí has a secret penpal – a boy who lives on the other side of the country – but she has been writing to him in her older sister’s name. Now she is excited to meet him for the first time. But when the date arrives, Marsí is prevented from going, and during the night her sister Stína goes missing – her bloodstained anorak later found at the place where Marsí and her penpal had agreed to meet. 

November, 1977. Stína’s disappearance remains unsolved. Then an unexpected letter arrives for Marsí It’s from her penpal, and he’s still out there…  Desperate for news of her missing sister, but terrified that he might coming after her next, Marsí returns to her hometown and embarks on an investigation of her own. But Marsí has always had trouble distinguishing her vivid dreams from reality, and as insomnia threatens her sanity, it seems she can’t even trust her own memories. And her sister’s killer is still on the loose…

Born in Akranes, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir studied for an MSc in Globalisation in Norway before returning to Iceland and deciding to write a novel. Her debut, The Creak on the Stairs, was published in 2018, becoming a bestseller in Iceland and going on to win the Blackbird Award and the Storytel Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year. It was published in English by Orenda Books in 2020, and became a number-one bestseller in ebook, shortlisting for Capital Crime’s Amazon Publishing Awards in two categories, and winning the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger.

Girls Who Lie, Night Shadows, You Can’t See Me and Boys Who Hurt soon followed suit, shortlisting for the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger, the Capital Crime Awards, and the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. You Can’t See Me won the Storytel Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year in Iceland in 2023. In 2024, Eva won Iceland’s prestigious Crime Fiction Award, the Blood Drop, for Home before Dark and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key. The Forbidden Iceland series has established Eva as one of Iceland’s bestselling and most distinguished crime writers, and her books are published in eighteen languages with more than a million copies sold.

My thoughts: This was really good, sinister and full of twists and red herrings. Marsí has returned to her parents’ house on the tenth anniversary of her older sister’s disappearance when they were teenagers. She’s determined to find out what happened to Stina, and who killed her.

She’s received a letter from the penpal she failed to meet on the very evening Stina vanished. Something she has always thought connected. Could the boy she was writing to be the person who harmed her sister? She was using Stina’s name and parts of her identity, like her age, in her letters. But she doesn’t think her sister knew anything about them.

With dual timelines, showing Stina and Marsí in both 1967 and ’77, the truth is slowly revealed to us, and it is shocking. Marsí also finally confronts her parents about their reluctance to search for their missing daughter and the limited police investigation. What they believe happened completely changes everything for her.

*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 Whistle of Revenge – KD Sherrinford

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Sometimes, our deepest fear is not the darkness but the light that blinds.

If you loved Conan Doyle’s, The Hound of the Baskervilles, prepare to be enthralled by KD Sherrinford’s captivating follow-up, The Whistle of Revenge.

The deadly antagonist, Jack Stapleton, makes a spectacular return to the city of Milan in pursuit of his old nemesis, the celebrated Detective Sherlock Holmes.

Adopting the enigmatic persona of Janus, a vengeful Stapleton, along with the Italian mafia, wreak havoc on the Italian horse racing fraternity and fledgling car manufacturing industry, and kidnapping Holmes’s beloved son as part of their evil and well-executed master plan— Operation Whistle.

Will Holmes, Irene Adler, and their trusted ally, Inspector Romano, crack the code, rescue the boy, and unmask the deadly Janus?

Set against the backdrop of modern Milan, mind games and misdeeds of the highest order play out as the story reaches its thrilling and memorable conclusion.

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KD Sherrinford was born and raised in Preston, Lancashire, and now resides on The Fylde Coast with her husband John, and their four children.
An avid reader from an early age, KD was fascinated by the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, she read the entire Doyle Canon by the time she was 13.
A talented pianist, KD played piano from age six, the music of some of her favourite
composers, Beethoven, Schubert, Stephen Foster, and Richard Wagner, all strongly feature in her novel.
KD had a varied early career, working with horses and racing greyhounds, she and her husband won the Blackpool Greyhound Derby in 1987 with Scottie.
Then to mix things up KD joined Countrywide, where she was employed for over 20 years and became a Fellow of The National Association of Estate Agents.
Retirement finally gave KD the opportunity to follow her dreams and start work on her first novel. She gained inspiration to write” Song for Someone” from her daughter Katie, after a
visit to the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker Street in 2019. It had always been a passion to write about Irene Adler, she is such an iconic character, and KD wanted to give her a voice.

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My thoughts: This is an interesting series, imagining that Irene Adler, the infamous woman who beat Sherlock Holmes, later became the detective’s wife, although he uses an other identity in an attempt to keep his family safe from his enemies.

Unfortunately that has failed – a vengeful Jack Stapleton, presumed dead at the end of The Hound of the Baskervilles, has returned to destroy the detective. Working with the Italian mafia, in a rather intricate plot to steal a painting, fix a horse race and kidnap Holmes’ son Nicco for an extortionate ransom.

As Holmes and the police race to find Nicco and foil the rest of the plot, the gang Stapleton has assembled carry out the rest of the plot, but Holmes is one step ahead of them. Inspector Romano (think an Italian Lestrade, but smarter) has liaised with colleagues across Italy to stop the bigger conspiracy from going ahead.

Clever, engaging writing, with lots of twists, a devastated Irene and Sherlock must put aside their fears, rely on the police and Holmes’ genius as well as Nicco’s inherited brilliance to bring the boy safely home to them.

*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 Reunion – Sonya Bateman

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I almost didn’t come.
Even with the free champagne, the five-star resort, the promise of closure.
Even though it’s fifteen years since we all finished high school.
But now I’m here. Snowed in.
And someone’s already dead.

It should’ve been a reunion. Laughter. Memories. Old friends — even if
they never  really saw me. But our old prom dates are waiting tables. Our teachers are lurking in  corridors. And one by one, the people I once called friends are acting like we’re back  in school. There are eight of us.

There were eight of us then.
But one vanished after prom.
And someone knows what really happened that night. They invited us here for a reason.
And they’re not going to let us leave.

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Sonya Bateman is an award-winning copywriter and novelist, a mid-eighties to late-nineties fantasy movie enthusiast, coffee hoarder, and collector of cool rocks who spent a not-insignificant portion of her childhood climbing trees in order to read books in peace. She grew up in Central New York, where the seasons are Winter and Road Construction and “not the city” is officially part of everyone’s address.
Sonya has been writing professionally for more than 15 years. She currently lives in a big house in a little city, still in Central New York (not the city), with her husband, son, and feline overlords. She writes fast-
paced urban fantasy and twisty, shocking psychological fiction that may leave you suspicious of your friends and neighbors—and sleeping with the lights on.

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My thoughts: We don’t really do high school reunions in the UK, thankfully. There aren’t a huge number of people I’d want to see again, those I do I am by and large still in contact with.

But they do seem a popular thing in films, books and TV shows (I don’t know how realistic that is) in the States. And having read this, I’m not sure why. You change a huge amount after leaving school, hopefully. And going back in time, no thank you.

Desiree isn’t entirely sure why she’s decided to attend this reunion, she’s avoided all the previous ones, but here she is, in a luxury resort at the top of a mountain in the snow with some of her old “friends”.

And someone has arranged for her a selection of other old faces from school to be there too, and the events of that rather dramatic prom night – where one student died and another disappeared – are brought shockingly back to them.

Terrifying moments are in store for the assembled group, someone wants revenge and is willing to kill for it.

Gripping, with its mysteries and twists, it will make you glad your high school days weren’t quite so dramatic (I hope).

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