+ crime fiction, family, fiction, friendship, murder, police procedural, review, spiritualism, thriller
The Dying Hour by Jane Jesmond
The wind still carries the memory of a recent storm across the Yorkshire hills. But it’s not the weather that’s set the dogs howling all day…
When police officer Josh Mason is sent to investigate a complaint at Cooper’s Stables, he expects nothing more than an awkward conversation with the yard’s notoriously difficult owner. What waits behind the locked gates will haunt him forever.
A family has been brutally murdered.
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Amidst the carnage, two things give Josh pause – a cryptic note clutched in a corpse’s hand: For Freddy. Tell Giles. But Giles Cooper is among the dead. So who was meant to receive this message? And two tarot cards. One viciously defaced with red slashes scored across a child’s face.
What do the cards and the note mean? And why are Josh’s superiors on the force so determined to ensure he never finds out?
My Review
This was brilliant. I loved it. Told from a number of points of view, it started as PC Josh Mason’s story, but then became more about his aunt Kezia Heron. Josh works in local policing but is seconded to Crime under controversial DCI Carter when the bodies of the Cooper family are found on the farm.
At first I got the impression that photographer Kezia was about 60 but she was only 47! Seems young to me. She’s a very complex character, somewhat withdrawn, self-effacing and anti-social since her divorce from David Kingsley. Her ex-husband is a solicitor but has links to the biggest crime family in the area. He insists he has nothing to do with them – and Kezia believes him – the police are more suspicious.
Kezia and her sister Zina (Josh’s mum) dabbled in tarot when they were younger but didn’t really believe any of it. So why are tarot cards being left at the scenes of the crimes?
The other night I attended an online lecture on the supernatural and the occult in fiction. The Rider-Waite Tarot deck came up in the talk which was very interesting. I had no idea it was a thing. I only mention this because all the cards that are found come from a Rider-Waite deck. I love discovering the background of things that come up in books. The author has done her research.
Mrs Monroe is a spiritual medium. She invites Kazia to a free session at her upcoming meeting called An Afternoon Beyond the Veil in exchange for photos to help Mrs Monroe promote her website. Whether any of it is real, there is no doubt that Mrs Monroe is a kind woman and her words comfort those seeking help.
I will say two things. I did guess the killer about two thirds of the way through, but I loved the twist which I never saw coming.
I became very fond of Kezia and Mrs Monroe as the story progressed but my favourite character was probably Wanda Stainthorpe who owns the pheasant shoot (not that I approve of shooting anything) next door to the Cooper’s farm where the murders happened. She’s such a badass. You’d want her on your side!
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Jane Jesmond writes psychological suspense, thrillers and mysteries. Her debut novel, On The Edge, the first in a series featuring dynamic, daredevil protagonist Jen Shaw was a Sunday Times Crime Fiction best book. The second in the series, Cut Adrift, was a Times Thriller Book of the Year and the Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month. She has also written two standalone thrillers – Her, a psychological thriller with a speculative twist (May 2023) and A Quiet Contagion, a historical mystery thriller inspired by the 1957 Coventry Polio Epidemic (November 2023).
Although she loves writing (and reading) thrillers and mysteries, her real life is very quiet and unexciting. Dead bodies and danger are not a feature! She lives by the sea in the northwest tip of France with a husband and a cat and enjoys coastal walks and village life.
Stay connected to Jane and receive news about her books and giveaways by signing up for her newsletter – https://jane-jesmond.com/contact/
You can find Jane:
On Twitter – @AuthorJJesmond
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A Gothic mystery set in the labyrinthine alleys of 1840s Naples — the first modern English translation of Mastriani’s masterwork.
Naples, 1840. In the anatomy hall of the Hospital for the Incurables, a young medical student stands over his dead sister’s body and makes a vow. What follows is one of the most gripping novels of the Italian Romantic era: a story of hidden identity, buried crimes, a blind woman of extraordinary perception, and a city where justice moves slowly but with terrible force.
Beatrice Rionero has been blind since childhood, raised by her widowed father in a villa above the Bay of Sorrento. When a mysterious foreign physician arrives — Dr. Oliviero Blackman — he claims to offer her the chance of sight. But Blackman is not what he appears. And neither is anyone else in this labyrinthine story of secrets, vengeance, and redemption.
Francesco Mastriani (1819–1891) was the great chronicler of Neapolitan society — a writer sometimes compared to Dickens and Eugène Sue, whose serialized fiction drew enormous popular audiences while unflinching in its portrait of class, injustice, and the hidden lives of the poor. La Cieca di Sorrento (1852) is his most celebrated novel: a work of Gothic sensation and moral seriousness, set in the streets and drawing rooms, courtrooms and catacombs of nineteenth-century Naples.
This first modern literary English translation, by Idara Crespi, restores the full force of Mastriani’s prose — its declarative rhythms, its operatic emotional peaks, its dark comedy, and its portrait of a blind woman whose inner sight surpasses everyone around her.
Part One
An extract from Chapter I — The Medical Student
In that labyrinth of endless alleys, lanes, and passages no wider than an outstretched pair of arms — bearing their hundred barbarous names, grim vestiges of foreign peoples — through which one always passes with a certain unease of spirit, as when visiting a prison or a hospital; in that mass of squalid and blackened houses heaped one upon another, so grudgingly touched by sunlight; in those quarters where the eye and thought of wealth rarely penetrate, yet whose damp walls shelter honest families of humble day-labourers; in that network, in short, of densely peopled ancient alleyways that compose the districts of the Mercato, the Pendino, and the Mandracchio, and which go by the single common name of Old Naples — there lies a little lane, or rather a burrow, one of that thousand that raise a species of dread in the breast of even the Neapolitan who visits them for the first time. This crooked, ill-omened, and fetid lane bears the name of Vico Chiavetta al Pendino: you would search in vain, dear reader, for it in that Hispano-Gallic-Latin almanac of viceregnal memory, unless you happened upon it by some accident of chance.
An hour past midnight of the tenth of November, 1840.
The land-wind blows violently through the old arches of those medieval buildings, howling like an enraged demon over the sleeping city and rattling the ancient shutters of the windows. The silence of that street reigns absolute and solemn in the intervals that the wind leaves between its cries…
It is the hour when the race of the wretched and the suffering finds in sleep the balm for its wounds.
But what is that man doing, bent over that table on which the stub of a tallow candle sputters? What is that thing thrown across the table? Good heavens — a head!.. a human head!.. and the blood is still clotted at the part severed from the trunk!… And a knife… he holds it in his hands! Do not be alarmed… That man is no assassin… He is simply a student of medicine.
In the pale light of the candle, his face reveals itself: dark, lean, hollow-cheeked, and ugly. His head is covered with red hair — coarse and tightly curled; his upper lip protrudes outward, fleshy, and nearly meets the tip of a large aquiline nose. The rough bristles of his moustache seem to find no room to settle between those two prominences and twist themselves in every direction, composing themselves almost in the form of a hedgehog’s quills. His eyes, rather noticeably cross-eyed, are nonetheless full of vivacity and extremely mobile beneath a wide, broad forehead, in the center of which a deep furrow opens like a wound — or like the mark of a curse with which God has branded it. In the whole of this human being’s physiognomy one reads at first glance the hatred he has conceived for all beauty, and that irascibility of character natural to the deformed; but, studying his features more closely, one is struck by the expression of profound sagacity with which they are impressed, and by that solemn authority that clothes the face of those men who have made science their constant occupation.
The miserable candle serves more to cast sinister shadows about the room than to illuminate it; a few quarto-sized books are piled in one corner against the wall; several lie open on the table, indicating that the young man has only recently ceased drawing from them his intellectual nourishment.
The walls of the room, wavering between black and white, gave it more the aspect of a prison than a dwelling — all the more so as the floor was cold, damp, and without tiles.
Poverty without doubt, with all its court of deprivations, hardships, and sufferings, reigned in that house; that squalor, that wretchedness, those reminders of death, that night so gloomy and dark, those plaintive voices the wind drove through the shutters — all of it seemed to place upon the lips of that house’s master the biblical words: My soul is sorrowful on every side, even unto death: stay here, and watch with me.
And indeed, in the way the young man would sometimes turn his almost frightened eyes around and around the room, it seemed as though he had called upon some companion to remain and keep watch with him.
This man — who might appear at first glance to be already of mature years — has only a little past his fifth lustrum; his name is Gaetano, and he is from Calabria. For some two hours he has not moved from beside that table, his eyes fixed immovably upon that livid head. But what is he doing? Why has he suddenly started and thrown a worn rag over that head, casting a glance toward a corner of the room?
Ah! — a woman, an old woman, lies asleep on a poor straw pallet thrown on the ground, wrapped in a scrap of the coarsest woollen blanket. In her sleep she had called Gaetano’s name, and he, believing her awake, had turned sharply toward her — not without a movement of alarm, for he had two reasons for hiding that anatomical specimen from her.
That woman was his father’s mother.
The woman was still sleeping, and Gaetano, who had crossed on tiptoe to see whether she had woken, returned to his place and uncovered once more that remnant from the hospital. He sinks back onto his chair; he rests his head in his two open hands, and immerses himself anew in the dark meditation inspired by that gloomy and mutilated companion.
Why do two great tears fall cold and heavy from his eyelashes, worn with wakefulness? Why does his hair stand upon his pale forehead? Why do his eyes make a convulsive turn in their sockets, and then close — as though to flee from some object of horror?
Dreadful memories coil about in that head, and gather there like dense storm-clouds heralding an imminent tempest.
A full hour passes in that mute and savage contemplation of the fleshed skull; but sleep descends upon Gaetano’s eyelids; nature reclaims her rights; and one must obey.
The full novel continues with 38 chapters of Gothic mystery, concealed identities, and a labyrinthine plot across Naples and the Sorrento coast.
The Blind Woman of Sorrento is available now in Kindle and paperback from www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com
ESPRESSO PUBLISHING HOUSE
+ 1930s, diary, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, germany, grief, Historical fiction, jews, loss, love, music, nazi germany, review, siblings, twins
The Diva’s Daughter by Heather Walrath
Munich & Vienna, 1932. Aspiring opera singer Angelika Eder thought she had it all — a cultured life in Vienna, along with the guidance of her glamorous mother, a world-famous soprano.
But when tragedy strikes and her mother dies amidst a swirling family scandal, eighteen-year-old Angelika finds herself uprooted to Munich, where civil unrest is rife and leaders of the increasingly powerful Nazi Party seek to use her voice as propaganda.
Genre: Historical | Romance | Women’s Fiction
When a figure from her mother’s past offers Angelika the chance to study and sing at an elite Viennese university, she decides to fight for her dream while evading the vile Nazis she despises. But the Nazis aren’t relenting in their demand that Angelika support their party and sing for Hitler himself. Can Angelika find her voice and stand against evil, even if it means risking not only her dreams of fame, but also the safety of herself and everyone she loves?
My Review
My late mother and grandmother were both born in Bucharest, into a Jewish family. In around 1930 when my mother was fifteen they moved to Vienna. On one occasion, they were at a performance by the renowned Austrian tenor Richard Tauber. They were tear gassed in the theatre. By 1938, the situation for Jews was so bad that they escaped to London and were then evacuated to Cheltenham where I was born. Tauber also fled to London in 1938, having had his music banned in 1937 and his passport taken away. He eventually died in London aged just 56. But I digress.
I mention this because it was why I wanted to read this book. Would I get a feel for the city where my mother lived? I visited when I was 12 with my father and brother. I clearly remember Schönbrunn Palace, and the Prater wheel which my mother said she could see from her bedroom window.
In 1932, when we first meet Angelika Eder and her family in Munich, the rise of the Nazis was simmering in the background. Hitler was persuading German citizens that their poverty and lack of jobs was due to the immigrants – ie the Jews. – sound familiar? If you tell people something enough times they will believe you. Angelika is engaged to Kurt von Hügel, but secretly in love with Erich Bauer whose father is a staunch Nazi and regularly beats Erich for his own anti-Nazi views. Personally I didn’t want her to marry either. Far too young.
The book moves between Munich and Vienna and also Lake Fuschl near Saltzburg, which is where we stayed when I was twelve and visited again a few years ago. Saltzburg is all very Sound of Music these days.
Angelika is an opera singer whose mother was the world famous soprano Clara Eder. Clara was married to Rudolf Eder, to a cold-hearted businessman, but in love with Viennese opera director Daniel Weiss, a Jew, who Angelika believes to be her real father. The scandal led Clara to take her own life, leaving Angelika and twin brother Andreas inconsolable. While Angelika adores Daniel, Andreas blames him for their mother’s death.
The rise of the Nazi party is always simmering in the background. It’s quite subtle initially and I think it could have been much harsher, but then I suppose in 1932 it wasn’t really up to speed yet, just sewing the seeds of anger and discontent that would escalate by the end of the decade. An enjoyable read but I could probably have done without the ‘romance’ but that’s just me.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheDivasDaughter blog tour.
About the Author
Heather Walrath is an author crafting new stories while celebrating the release of her debut historical novel, The Diva’s Daughter. Whether they are standing against evil in fractious 1930s Europe or solving a sticky bootlegging mystery in Prohibition-era America, Heather’s relatable heroines make the past accessible and engaging for modern readers. She holds a master’s degree in publishing and a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
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I have actually listened to quite a few more audiobooks so far in 2026 than I did at the end of last year, so once again I am giving them their own post. However, I am going to put all three Crimson Lake books into one, as they follow on in the series. I am then going to do the same with the Harriet Blue series.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
I really have no idea how to review this, so let’s start with the cats. There are cats everywhere, ginger, tabby, Persian – they figure in the mysterious stories and in Zachary’s own life. There are no dogs, strangely. I guess cats are more ethereal.
The book opens with stories about pirates and painters and acolytes, and ‘ships that sail upon a starless sea’.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is the main character in the book. He’s a student in Vermont who finds a book of stories in which his childhood is featured. As for the rest – his ending is ‘not yet’.
For my full review click here
Crimson Lake series books 1 – 3 by Candice Fox
I loved this book. It’s taken me on walks with my dog and I’m sure I ended up walking further because I was so engrossed.
Ted Conkaffey was a Sydney detective, thrown out of the force after being accused of child rape and abduction. Of course we the reader know he is innocent, but his colleagues and even his wife don’t believe him. He has spent eight months on remand, but was released due to lack of physical evidence, but he can be re-arrested at any time.
So he moves north to a remote house in the crocodile-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake. Having no idea what to do next, he adopts an injured goose whom he calls Woman and her brood of goslings. Then his lawyer introduces him to private investigator Amanda Pharrell, who has served ten years for the vicious murder of her high school ‘friend’ Lauren.
For my full review click here
Never Never / The Harriet Blue series by James Patterson and Candice Fox
I recently read (well listened to with Borrowbox) The Crimson Lake series, so while Never Never is co-written with James Patterson, I can clearly hear Candice Fox’s voice. But then it’s been years since I read one of Patterson’s books.
Sydney sex crimes detective Harriett (Harry) Blue has just discovered that her brother Sam has been arrested for the kidnap, torture and murder of three women. She’s sure he is innocent though evidence proves otherwise. In order to keep her away from the media circus that is sure to follow, Harry is sent to Perth to assist in the investigation of the disappearance and probable killing of mine worker Danny Carter. Though based in Perth, Harry is sent into the outback known as the ‘never never’.
For my full review click here
The Violin Maker’s Secret by Evie Woods
Baggage handler Devlin’s life is drifting. His girlfriend Melissa wants to get married so when he turns up on her birthday with a violin he found in the Lost and Found, she is devastated. She expected a diamond engagement ring.
But the violin has history. Little did Devlin expect that their flat would be broken into to recover it, while his new found friend and retired history teacher Walter has also been targeted. For Walter though it was worth it. Helping Devlin find the violin’s provenance has given his lonely life meaning. Unfortunately, Melissa doesn’t feel the same. She kicks him out and he ends up living in Helga, his old camper van.
For my full review click here
+ crime fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, List, murder mystery, mystery, supernatural, superstition, thriller
My Top 10 Books of 2026 – Part One
So here we go again into another year of reading. And here are ten of my favourite books of 2026 Part One, excluding audiobooks, of which there are loads so far. As usual a disparate selection, with a fair bit of superstition thrown in, but only one Gothic this time. It was a difficult decision as I had to leave out about three more that could have been on this list.
Sleep No More by Guy Hale
This is Act IV in The Shakespeare Murders series and it really is the last in the series. And what a conclusion! It was certainly dark – very dark indeed as Oliver descends into madness in true Shakespearean fashion. But the humour is always present. My favourite is the ridiculous conversation between Toby and the owner of the boat moored next to Felix.
‘Can you remember the name of his boat?’
‘Yes.’
‘Feel like sharing?’
‘Something about twigs.’
Toby’s heart gave a lurch. ‘How about Styx?’
‘That’s what I said.’
Toby wrote it down on his notepad and held it up to him.
‘That’s it. I told him that’s not how you spell sticks.’
‘….that’s the boat we’re looking for.’
‘Why, are you the spelling police?’
I don’t know why but it just tickled me. There’s more but I won’t carry on.
For my full review click here
Estella’s Fury by Barbara Havelocke
I absolutely loved the first book in the series – Estella’s Revenge – I say series because I’m sure there will be a third book out soon. I loved Estella’s Fury even more. I got it on Audible – fantastic narration – so I could listen while walking the dog, but in the end I just kept listening, while cooking, doing my hair etc. Everything else went on hold.
It is 1835. Estella’s adoptive mother Miss Havisham has died and she is still grieving for her. Her husband Bentley Drummel has disappeared from society – what has Estella done with him? He almost killed her on their honeymoon in Paris, believing it was his right as her husband to do whatever he wanted with her. But he underestimated Estella, something he will forever regret.
For my full review click here
The Hanging Tree
A couple of years ago, when I first thought about writing a novel, my husband came up with the idea of a story about an ancient tree and all the myths, legends and curses that surrounded it. I never got anywhere and then I was asked to review The Hanging Tree. I could never have done it as well as Jessica Huntley.
I just loved this book. I read it in two sittings. I almost took my Kindle to the pub so I could hide it under the table and keep reading. Graham Williams and Stephen Mallow are kindred spirits, both alone and drawn to each other through investigating mysterious happenings. They have worked together before, somewhere called Cherry Hollow, but we never really discover what happened there. So when retired police officer Graham finds a creepy scarecrow hanging in the cursed tree known as The Hanging Tree, he calls on writer Stephen for his help. But the truth behind it all is more disturbing than I could ever have envisioned.
For my full review click here
Lie Quietly
First of all let me just say that there is no way I would have gone to stay in a run down old house that no-one has lived in for decades, on my own, eight months pregnant, no car, and with no phone signal. And my husband would not have been happy to leave me there either.
But let’s move on. The house itself appears to have been ransacked since Hannah and her husband visited, but who would have done such a thing? The tap water is running like sludge, and there is no heating. The locals are not exactly friendly – hostile even – they just tell her she should leave. And not to ever have a baby in that house.
For my full review click here
Liar Thief
There is so much I could say about this brilliant novel, but spoilers prevent me. I would have enjoyed it as a ‘buddy’ read so I could discuss it with others. It was so different, so unique, and I loved it although there were times I was almost too afraid to turn the page. Some of Ginnie’s actions are unimaginable. As the book progresses, they just get worse. But are they real?
My first thought was why ex-DI Tom O’Brien remained friends with Ginnie, especially after he married his childhood sweetheart and they had a child, Joe. Ginnie is supposedly a narcissist and a sociopath, and she is dangerous. She claims that anyone who dies that she was close to, died because of her. She alleges that she played a part in all their deaths, even though in some cases it wasn’t physically possible. And no-one believes her. Would you?
For my full review click here
The Death Watcher by Chris Carter
Number 13 – unlucky for some, but not for me. This is absolutely my favourite without a doubt. The horror of the murders have been toned down somewhat (they are still gruesome), but the message behind them is what really matters. Yes there’s torture, and killing, but it goes much deeper than that.
Our first victim was found by the side of the road, having been hit by a truck. His injuries fit that scenario. But LA Chief Medical Examiner, Dr Carolyn Hove, has found some strange inconsistencies that point to the victim having been tortured first. He died well before the hit-and-run. So she brings in Detective Robert Hunter of the LAPD Ultra Violent Crimes Unit and his partner Carlos Garcia.
For my full review click here
Assassins Are Our Greatest Assets by Shesh
Sometimes I wonder at myself, but I found book two even more hilarious than book one. But then I am writing a ‘comedy’ about a serial killer, so maybe I just have a warped (and dark) sense of humour.
In book one, retired CEO-turned-assassin Ishmael Dollah dispatched his first two victims and is getting pretty good at it. It’s all in the planning you see. It must be meticulous. Leave no stone unturned, though I think he needs to improve his disposal methods. Not of the bodies, but of his clothing and murder tools ie the evidence.
We now have a potential third target – the man who spread the false rumours about his son’s wife having an affair and almost destroyed their marriage. The man is a trouble maker and needs to go. Deserves to go in fact. So Ishmael decides to set him up online. It’s called catfishing apparently – I learned a lot if I ever decide to assassinate anyone (I’m joking).
For my full review click here
The Magdalene Stones Murders
Not having read the first book in the series, I was a bit overwhelmed initially by the number of important characters. In fact I wasn’t sure who was our main protagonist – Fire Chief Joe Ripley or DS Scott Hansen. Then there’s Jack whose wife Fee has recently died leaving a daughter, 17-year-old Bonnie, and Doctor Ruth who went to school with Joe.
The book opens with the murder of Gina Murray, locked in her house while someone has set the place on fire and she is killed. Her three beloved dogs though have been shut outside. Joe is devastated – they were good friends – and takes the dogs. He doesn’t understand why they were shut out of the house while Gina died. The killer is obviously a dog lover and I totally get that.
For my full review click here
The K by Dawn Merriman
This is such a creepy book. One of the best books I have read this year so far. It’s dark and unsettling, with a main character in Jeremiah White who sinks to unspeakable depths of depravity. I’ve read reviews that say you can’t help being drawn to him. I, for one, am not. And not just because of the frog hunting (which is bad enough).
After his father dies and his mother falls into a deep depression, 13-year-old Jeremiah is pretty much left to his own devices. And then he finds a body in the swamp behind his house. His reaction is not normal.
He is sent to live with his Uncle Stanley, where he seems to be getting on pretty well. He goes to the local school – Uncle Stanley gets him a bike and a dog. He also happens to be a taxidermist, which suits Jeremiah down to the ground. So far so good.
For my full review click here
The Ravine by Maia Chance
‘If I hadn’t found that dead girl’s head in the ravine, what would’ve happened to us?’ How many books can claim an opening line as good as that one! And this book was good, great in fact. Such brilliant characters and setting.
Harlow wants a baby, but it’s just not happening for her and new husband Gregor. She has a great job, but it’s pressurised and Gregor (and his dreadful mother) think that taking a six month sabbatical from work will help her conceive. They suggest spending the time at Gregor’s childhood home on a remote island with his young son Sam, and his family. Gregor is in a band and it will give him the opportunity to rehearse and lay down an album. And one of the band members happens to live next door with his beautiful, earth-mother wife Kirsten and their almost too beautiful children.
For my full review click here
In Westbrook, wives are currency. Belonging has a price. And the most dangerous thing a woman can do is change her mind.
MARNI
I didn’t come here to be brave…I came to disappear. After New York, after the firm, after everything that broke me, Westbrook felt safe. Predictable. A place where the rules were clear, and someone else made the decisions. Elke chose me. That meant everything.
I learned how this town really works – the rankings, the favors, the silence. I learned when to smile, when to look away, and which questions never get asked. Now I’m pregnant. Now I know what happened to the women who stepped out of line. And now I understand the truth Elke never says out loud: Westbrook isn’t about tradition. It’s about control.
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I built Westbrook from nothing. A town of order. Tradition. Women who want to be told who they are. They see cherry orchards, homemakers’ fairs, and smiling wives. I see loyalty, hierarchy, and power that works because it looks beautiful.
The Cherries follow my rules. They check in when I tell them to. They show up when I summon them. They don’t ask questions. And when someone threatens what I’ve built, I don’t hesitate. Perfection only survives if you protect it.
My Review
After reading The Tradwife’s Lie I thought I’d do a bit of research on the phenomenon. I looked at the main influencers such as @ballerinafarm, @naraaziza and @esteecwilliams. They promote living a simpler life with defined gender roles, akin to the 1950s, where husbands were the breadwinners and wives embraced domesticity. Tradwives look after the children (often home schooling), cook from scratch, bake their own bread – you know where I’m going with this. But why would it attract Gen Z? It is believed that they are struggling with doing it all, having stressful jobs while taking care of the family.
But one of the main differences between now and then is that some ‘tradwife influencers’ are making a fortune from being on social media, thus monetizing the whole movement. Hypocritical? Elke in the book is a prime example. She is the power behind the Westbrook community. The women – Cherries, Blossoms and Orchards (the hierarchy) have to post at least three times a day with pictures and videos of their wonderful lives. Elke demands loyalty, but it’s about control.
But life isn’t always as wonderful as it looks in Westbrook. Everyone has their secrets including Marni, who fled her law partnership in New York, and is now married to a doctor, Diwa who knows more than she should, Elke’s business partner Rebecca, and the mayor’s wife Bruna amongst others.
Podcaster Simone Bator went to university with Marni. She hosts a successful podcast called Sociology After Midnight and is going to feature her findings in the next episode. She won’t be pulling any punches – she is going to reveal the truth. She can see that ‘something is rotten in the state’ of Westbrook and she’s going to find out what, even if it puts her safety at risk.
I so loved this book. I was on holiday in Dorset when I read it so it only took me two days. I’d never heard of tradwives, so that gave me the added enjoyment of finding out more about them. I love a bit of background research. And no, I don’t want to be one. It would be too exhausting.
Incidentally, I discovered I have something in common with the author. No not my talent as a writer – I also have a small dog with delusions of grandeur.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Dr. Bella Ellwood-Clayton writes twisty domestic suspense about the secrets we hide from those closest to us. Her novels include The Tradwife’s Lie, The Swimming Group, and Weekend Friends, praised as “unputdownable” by bestselling author Nicola Moriarty.
Born in Canada, Bella now lives in Melbourne with her family and a small dog who has delusions of grandeur.
Get a free short story when you join her newsletter at www.drbella.com.au
Where can you find her?
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+ fiction, ghosts, grief, haunting, marriage, mystery, review, supernatural, superstition
The Ones Who Never Left by Gabrielle Mullarkey
Newlyweds Hugh and Lucy become property guardians of ‘haunted’ Rook House in rural Yorkshire, unfazed by local claims about its past.
As Hugh puts it: ‘What old house standing alone in the countryside doesn’t have stories attached to it?’
The young couple regard the house as a haven to rekindle their creative sparks in beautiful, tranquil surroundings.
But it soon becomes clear that someone – or something – in Rook House has been waiting for its latest occupants… waiting to unfold a story that’s been whispered down the years but gone unheard. Now a malevolent force awakens, exploiting the hidden darkness in two people who barely know themselves – let alone each other.
Rook House has a story to tell. And if you listen too closely, you’ll end up joining the ones who never left.
My Review
I loved this book in spite of some truly horrible characters. Shows how well written it is that I hated them so much.
Firstly – Jude. What a truly dreadful woman! Conning her way into being Lucy’s friend just to get at her husband. Someone slap her please.
Secondly – Hugh. Just a weak idiot of a man if you ask me.
Finally – Elena. Lucy’s stepmother, but then I probably have stepmummy issues. I found the part when she comes to stay quite funny though.
I’m not even going to include Ezra as he’s the actual villain in the story.
Good characters – Lucy naturally, Snowy Bird and Pinky, even if the names sound like pet bunnies.
Newly married couple Lucy and Hugh are staying in the haunted Rook House as ‘property guardians.’ They are paying a peppercorn rent, though I thought they should be paid to stay there. It’s in rural Yorkshire and they are not exactly country types, having always lived in the city.
Almost immediately Lucy hears things go ‘scratch scratch scratch‘ in the night behind the walls and then voices. The house is said to be haunted by the spirit of the evil Ezra Napier whose picture ‘watches’ them from the living room wall, his wife Belle, and various family members. Others have stayed there but it’s Lucy that is more open to sensing things than Hugh or previous tenants.
I adored this book. It’s really chilling and creepy, though I was never really scared as such. I only have a couple of issues and that is the constant use of short versions of words (mainly by Jude) like mani-pedi or pretty ‘rad’ really irritating. And who text-speaks nowadays unless you’re twelve, such as ‘shops in Swsby… might b back… if u can… etc.’ But it doesn’t matter. It was brilliant.
About the Author
Gabrielle Mullarkey is an award-winning author and seasoned storyteller. Having written three previous novels and over 3,000 short stories and serials for magazines across the UK and beyond, she delivers gripping, character-driven fiction. As a journalist, she’s contributed features, travel writing and opinion pieces to a wide range of publications.
Her writing has been broadcast on radio, adapted for audio downloads, and has won or been shortlisted in writing competitions. She’s served as a writing judge, teaches creative writing for local authorities, and has led therapeutic writing workshops for hospices and mental health charities. With an MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes, Gabrielle brings rare emotional depth to her storytelling – fiction that’s as human as it is haunting.
+ audio book, audio drama, Australia, crime fiction, fiction, murder, obsession, police drama, review, serial killer, siblings, thriller
Hush Hush by James Patterson and Candice Fox Detective Harriet Blue #4
Top cop, devoted sister, and now Inmate 3329: even prison bars won’t stop Harriet Blue from seeking justice for the murder of her brother.
Prison is a dangerous place for a former cop — as Harriet Blue is learning on a daily basis.
So, following a fight for her life and a prison-wide lockdown, the last person she wants to see is Deputy Police Commissioner Joe Woods. The man who put her inside.
But Woods is not there to gloat. His daughter Tonya and her two-year-old child have gone missing.
He’s ready to offer Harriet a deal: find his family to buy her freedom . . .
My Review
This is book four in the series and another cracking story. Harriet Blue is in prison. She broke every rule in the police handbook, going rogue and then killing the man she was chasing. The only man who could prove her brother’s innocence.
Prison is very tough for a cop – even a suspended one who rid the country of a serial killer who targeted young women. It seems everyone is corrupt, even some of the guards. Apart from Dr Goldman who has become Harriet’s friend.
I’m not going to go into the plot in detail as there are a number of main threads and it’s all a bit complicated. Harriet, Whit and Tox Barnes have been teamed up, Harriet having been released from prison by her nemesis Deputy Police Commissioner Joe Woods. His daughter and granddaughter are missing and he wants them to find her Harriet has nowhere to live so she moves in with her mentor ‘Pops’ and his three fluffy foster dogs. Whit and Tox are technically suspended but also brought in to help.
So we have a missing woman and her daughter. How is one of the country’s richest lawyers linked to them? Then we have a biker gang and bodies buried in the desert. And who murdered the lovely doctor? Are they connected and how far will our fearsome trio go to pull it altogether?
Unfortunately they changed the narrator – which was a bit of a disappointment but I did get used to her in the end. The last in the series – please write another one. I want to know what happens to Harriet, Whit and Tox.
About the Authors
Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs composed of half-adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.
As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia’s wealth of true crime writers.
Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, while undertaking a PhD in literary censorship and terrorism.
James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time and the creator of such unforgettable characters and series as Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride. He has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Michael Crichton, as well as collaborated on #1 bestselling nonfiction, including The Idaho Four, Walk in My Combat Boots, and Filthy Rich. Patterson has told the story of his own life in the #1 bestselling autobiography James Patterson by James Patterson. He is the recipient of an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.
+ audio book, audio drama, Australia, crime fiction, fiction, murder, obsession, police drama, review, serial killer, siblings, thriller
Liar Liar by James Patterson and Candice Fox Detective Harriet Blue #3
Detective Harriet Blue is clear about two things. Regan Banks deserves to die. And she’ll be the one to pull the trigger.
But Regan – the vicious serial killer responsible for destroying her brother’s life – has gone to ground.
Suddenly, her phone rings. It’s him. Regan.
‘Catch me if you can,’ he tells her.
Harriet needs to find this killing machine fast, even if the cost is her own life. So she follows him down the Australian south coast with only one thing on her mind.
Revenge is coming – and its name is Harriet Blue …
My Review
This is book three in the series and if I had to choose my favourite, this might just be the one. I’ve loved them all but Liar Liar is more focused on finding the serial killer without going off on a tangent to the ‘never never’.
Harriet Blue is on the run now. After her brother Sam was murdered in prison, she is determined to find Regan Banks and kill him. She’s gone rogue and she’s not bringing him in. She’s going to shoot him even if it means she ends up in prison.
Edward ‘Whit’ Whitaker has permanently transferred from Perth to Sydney so he can help Harriet prove Sam’s innocence and find Banks. His eccentric partner Tox Barnes is still in hospital, so Whit has a new partner. I wasn’t sure about her as she persuaded Whit to have a few drinks even though he had told her he was a recovering alcoholic. Seemed very unprofessional. She also seduces him – I actually assumed he was gay as in book one the miners called him ‘nancy boy’.
After Regan is shot he seeks medical attention from a cosmetic surgeon. She has her 11-year-old daughter with her at the surgery. You know what’s going to happen. Her sister’s comments at the press conference were so brilliant – one of the highlights of the book.
But I’m also still reeling from the revelation about Regan’s childhood file and why it was sealed. I kind of guessed the truth, but not how or why. It’s going to stay with me for a long time.
Same narrator – she’s perfect. Excited that there’s a book 4 Hush Hush in the series. Can’t wait.
About the Authors
Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs composed of half-adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.
As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia’s wealth of true crime writers.
Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, while undertaking a PhD in literary censorship and terrorism.
James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time and the creator of such unforgettable characters and series as Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride. He has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Michael Crichton, as well as collaborated on #1 bestselling nonfiction, including The Idaho Four, Walk in My Combat Boots, and Filthy Rich. Patterson has told the story of his own life in the #1 bestselling autobiography James Patterson by James Patterson. He is the recipient of an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.
From two-million-selling author Steena Holmes, nine dark and gripping stories featuring Detective Meri Amber.
Nine missing girls. Nine cases the world wants to forget. One detective who never will.
Each file is someone’s daughter. Someone’s sister. And if Meri Amber can’t bring them home, she’ll make sure their stories end with justice.
#NineMissingGirls X(Twitter @ZooloosBT #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour #booktwitter
Instagram @zooloosbooktours #bookstagram
As the FBI’s leading child abduction specialist, Meri has spent her career chasing the vanished – from Minnesota to Montana, from abandoned barns to dark cellars that still echo with screams. But every case cuts deeper than the last.
“I’m Detective Meri Amber. I’ve been searching for my sister for twenty years. Every missing girl is a mirror. Every scream behind a wall could be hers.
“I’ll never stop looking. These are the stories of the girls I’ve found, the truths I’ve uncovered, and the cracks in my own past I can’t seem to seal.”
From the horrifying secrets of the House of Dolls, to a macabre twelfth birthday party, to the sinister truths buried in the Widow’s Barn: delve into nine intriguing mysteries which will chill you to the bone.
NINE NAIL-BITING STORIES FULL OF SHOCKING TWISTS BY A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR.
My Review
I read The Girls in the Basement a year ago and thought it was brilliant. It was my introduction to Detective Meri Amber. Meri has been looking for her sister who disappeared twenty years ago. She will never give up. Every time a new missing girl, a new victim is discovered, Meri hopes it will shed some light on her sister’s abduction. Even if the victim turns out to be her sister it will give her closure.
In Nine Missing Girls, we have nine separate stories, nine rules, each story about a different girl, but they are all linked. Certain names like Caleb Rusk and Andy Rawlings keep cropping up. Caleb is a volunteer with the Search and Rescue crew, except his boots are always clean, while Rawlings makes deliveries to the same places where Caleb volunteers. Many of the homes like Moon House are run by ‘religious’ fanatics with an agenda. Girls are disciplined, locked away, hidden.
But not all. In one story three girls make a pact. One leaves, they all leave or die. But why did they make the pact? If you tell someone the same thing over and over, soon they will believe you.
A House of Dolls is spooky and weird. Then there is a twelfth birthday party where the girls are always twelve years old. In What the River Took body parts are found in the river. The river gives up its secrets eventually. Then there is Luce in The Girl with a Broken Smile, who doesn’t speak and has a forced smile.
Nine Missing Girls is beautifully written and constructed, the language is very typical of the author. It’s unmistakable as her ‘voice’.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
With 2 million copies of her titles sold worldwide, Steena Holmes was named in the Top 20 Women Author to read in 2015 by Good Housekeeping. She continues to write books that deal with issues that touch parents’ heart, whether it is through her contemporary fiction or psychological suspense novels.
To find out more about her books and her love for traveling, you can visit her website at http://www.steenaholmes.com
Where can you find her?
Steena’s Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorsteenaholmes/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorsteenaholmes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/steenaholmes
Website: http://www.steenaholmes.com
Goodreads:
www.goodreads.com
Purchase Links:
www.amazon.co.uk
+ audio book, audio drama, Australia, crime fiction, fiction, murder, obsession, police drama, review, serial killer, siblings, thriller
Fifty Fifty by James Patterson and Candice Fox Detective Harriet Blue #2
It’s not easy being a good detective – when your brother’s a serial killer.
Sam Blue stands accused of the brutal murders of three young students, their bodies dumped near the Georges River. Only one person believes he is innocent: his sister, Detective Harriet Blue. And she’s determined to prove it.
Except she’s now been banished to the outback town of Last Chance Valley (population 75), where a diary found on the roadside outlines a shocking plan – the massacre of the entire town. And the first death, shortly after Harry’s arrival, suggests the clock is already ticking.
Meanwhile, back in Sydney, a young woman holds the key to crack Sam’s case wide open.
If only she could escape the madman holding her hostage . . .
My Review
Before I get on to the story, I’d like to mention a couple of things. First of all I loved the narrator from book one, so I was really pleased to discover it was the same person in book two. Secondly, I get very frustrated when books are badly edited and full of typos. I guess when you are dealing with James Patterson you expect that everything will be perfect, and it is.
Moving on. Harry’s brother Sam Blue, known as the Georges River killer, is still the main suspect in the abduction, torture and murder of three young women, and maybe more. Harry believes Sam is innocent, but having assaulted the prosecutor outside the court building, she is sent into the outback again to investigate a strange case where a diary found by the roadside reveals a shocking plan to massacre a whole town – the town of Last Chance Valley (population 75). Harry must work with Victoria Snail, local police officer and ex-army veteran Cash.
In the meantime, Edward ‘Whit’ Whittaker, Harry’s partner in Never Never remains in Sydney to help prove Sam’s innocence and also to find another missing woman. Who took her? Many people believe that this new abductor is working with Sam. Seems very strange to me as my first thought would be that Sam must be innocent and this is the real killer. But, hey, what do I know.
Once again this is a tough, gritty crime story with plenty of violence, murder, bad language and a kick-ass heroine. Just up my street, bring it on. I’m so looking forward to the next in the series Liar Liar which takes Harry on a roller-coaster ride looking for a new killer.
About the Authors
Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs composed of half-adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.
As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia’s wealth of true crime writers.
Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, while undertaking a PhD in literary censorship and terrorism.
James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time and the creator of such unforgettable characters and series as Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride. He has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Michael Crichton, as well as collaborated on #1 bestselling nonfiction, including The Idaho Four, Walk in My Combat Boots, and Filthy Rich. Patterson has told the story of his own life in the #1 bestselling autobiography James Patterson by James Patterson. He is the recipient of an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.
A Way with the Fairies is a captivating folklore anthology that delves into the mysterious world of fairies, myths, and legends as they have been remembered, whispered, and reimagined across generations.
Rooted in Irish tradition yet reaching outward to stories from across Europe, the collection brings together poems, songs, and retold tales that blur the boundary between the natural and the otherworldly.
Fairies here are complex beings—capable of generosity and cruelty, wonder and loss—reflecting the contradictions of human nature itself.
Inspired by the author’s lifelong connection to folklore and the supernatural, and closely linked to the accompanying Supernatural album, this book is both a preservation of old tales and a deeply personal creative offering.
Other information:
1. The supernatural is woven into everyday life. The book invites readers to see folklore as something once deeply embedded in daily existence. Fairies, spirits, and otherworldly forces are presented as part of the same landscape as homes, fields, music, and family life, reflecting a worldview where the unseen was accepted rather than questioned.
2. ‘A Way with the Fairies’ positions itself as a threshold work in that it connects literature, music, mythology, and personal memory. It asks readers not just to consume stories, but to enter them, linger with them, and allow them to resonate.
3. By retelling, adapting, and contextualising these stories alongside music, the book emphasises that folklore is not frozen in the past. It evolves through voice, song, memory, and personal interpretation. Readers are encouraged to see tradition as something alive and ongoing.
4. Transformation, death and rebirth are key themes and symbols throughout e.g. a child is taken by the fairies (The Stolen Child and Fairy Boy); the piper who can only play one tune becomes an extraordinary musician (Piper and the Púca); the 12 brothers are turned into ravens; Lusmore loses his hump, Jack Madden meets a bitter end; Étaín is transformed into a fly and reincarnates in human form.
My Review
To be honest I find fairies a bit scary. Not The Cottingley Fairies kind, but the ‘real’ ones in myths and legends. They are not like Tinkerbell, in a diaphanous dress, with a cute wand, and the type of wings that little girls wear at parties. Or teens at Glastonbury. All fairy dust and glitter.
In folklore they can be mean and cruel, and put spells on unsuspecting people, and they are not very kind to animals. And the people involved seem happy with the level of cruelty to beasts and even pets.
I found the Lithuanian folk tale Twelve Brothers: Ravens really terrifying. OK, so nothing to do with fairies, but still…. After his wife died, leaving him with twelve sons and a daughter, a grieving man decides to remarry, but his bride-to-be turns out to be a witch. She says to him ‘Your daughter may stay, but you must burn your twelve sons and send me their ashes in twelve little bags. Only then will I marry you.’
His ‘clever’ servant told him ‘You have twelve dogs… burn them instead and send their ashes… the witch will never know.’ At this point I would have broken off the wedding, but no, he went ahead and sent the poor dogs’ ashes. Eventually she discovers his deception and turns the sons into ravens.
Of the other folk tales, some are poems or songs, while others are stories. They have all been collected from Ireland, Spain, Lithuania and Ukraine. They form the inspiration for the author’s fourth album Supernatural.
The most famous of the poems is The Stolen Child by W.B. Yeates.
‘Come away, O, human child
To the waters and the wild
With a faery hand in hand
For the world’s more full of weeping
Than you can understand.‘
A Way With The Fairies is a very interesting compilation of tales, which apart from The Stolen Child I had never heard of. There are many from my own heritage (Polish/Romanian) that I will now research.
Many thanks to PalamedesPR for inviting me to be part of this #blogtour
About the Author
Born in 1975 in County Down, Bróna McVittie is a Northern Irish musician and trained biologist whose work has earned widespread critical acclaim for its imaginative fusion of traditional folk, nature-inspired songwriting and experimental soundscapes. Her music draws deeply on the mythology, folklore and landscapes of her homeland, reimagining traditional ballads and composing original songs that reflect the rhythms of the natural world and the ancient stories woven into Ireland’s cultural fabric.
McVittie describes her music as cosmic folk, blending ethnic instruments, harp, guitar and electronic textures to create music that evokes birdsong, open skies and elemental forces. Her voice, richly accented and clear, carries both the intimacy of a traditional sean-nos singer and the breadth of a contemporary experimental artist, an approach encapsulated in The Guardian’s praise that her music “takes you on its wing, and gives you fresh visions”.
Since her solo debut in 2018, McVittie has released three acclaimed albums. Her first, We Are the Wildlife, was recorded and produced in County Down and interweaves original compositions with re-imagined traditional songs, drawing on local lore such as the County Down ballad “The Flower ofMagherally”. Her 2020 album The Man in the Mountain expanded her palette, balancing experimental electronic elements and collaborations with musicians from diverse backgrounds to deepen the mythic and pastoral dimensions of her work. Most recently The Woman in the Moon (2022) has been celebrated for its broader stylistic range, incorporating jazz, South American rhythms and atmospheric instrumentation while remaining rooted in Celtic song traditions and mythic themes.
McVittie’s music has been championed by publications including MOJO, Uncut, The Guardian and The Independent, with her albums selected for The Guardian’s Folk Album of the Month and twice listed among its year’s best folk records. Her performances span major festivals such as WOMAD and Celtic Connections, and broadcasts on programmes from BBC Radio to RTÉ Radio 1, bringing her compelling blend of folklore, science-inflected curiosity and sonic experimentation to audiences across the UK and beyond.
A note to you, the bloggers, from Brona:
I would like readers to consider the supernatural as enmeshed within and around our natural world, its people and landscapes, and not as mere fantasy. The folklore and legend of Ireland and of other European countries is our cultural lifeblood; something to be celebrated, not forgotten. Our intangible cultural heritage, and the shared themes of death and transformation characteristic of fairy stories across Europe, cement our national identities and international synchronicities. I want the songs and stories to evoke a sense of connection to the unseen world around and within us, to conjure an imagining, a personal reaffirmation of our shared cultural identities, hopes and dreams.
Where can you find her?
Instagram
@bronamcvittie
Background/Book Site
https://bronamcvittie.corkbots.com/
Goodreads
www.goodreads.com
Buy link
www.amazon.co.uk
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