‘One last touch, one last word, one last I love you…’ Fifteen Minutes – the new novella from Amanda Prowse that will take you on the wildest emotional adventure.
It gets us all in the end, time.
What if I told you that time was not as unyielding as you might have believed? What if I told you it was in fact a fluid, bendable thing and that there are gaps in it, if you know where to look.
Interested? You should be.
What if I told you that the makers of time made a small error, an oversight if you will that allows us to give time back.
Fifteen minutes to be precise – gifted to the most deserving, where they get to spend precious time with someone they have lost.
A chance to right a wrong, ask that burning question or maybe just be held, one last time…
I guess the question is, who would you choose or more importantly when?
My Review
I asked my husband if he had ‘fifteen minutes’, who would he choose to talk to. He said his father. I was very surprised. I won’t say why I was surprised at his choice or his reasons. I would probably choose my own father as well, but for very different reasons.
This all set up a discussion with other relatives at dinner. The father (again) who never got to meet his great-grandchildren. Could fifteen minutes be all it would take to tell him who or what might be coming in the future? And that unanswered question – how did they get their furniture up the fire escape to their new flat? All the things you wish you had asked before it was too late.
Fifteen Minutes is not my usual genre these days, but I really enjoyed this. It’s interesting to see who people would choose. I was very pleased at the end that the author recaps the various characters and tells us what happened to them afterwards, as it would have felt incomplete without it.
I don’t want to go into too much detail as that would spoil it for others, but basically six people at various stages of their lives are visited by the mysterious Chen who tells them he can give them each fifteen minutes with a loved one who has passed. He also says, “I promise you that I have never and will never tell you a lie.” But the one proviso is that they must NOT try to change the outcome as it has already happened. If they do, the person will immediately disappear and their fifteen minutes will be cut short.
They are of course all sceptical but still find themselves in the right spot at the right time, just in case it’s true. Chen has chosen those who – like many of us – never got the chance to say goodbye, or tell that person they loved them, or ask them something really important. The one about the baby was the one I found the most heartbreaking.
I have never read anything by this author before, but it’s beautifully written, and packs a lot of emotion into what is actually a short novella.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #FifteenMinutes tour.
From the Author
“Hi, I’m Amanda Prowse.
“If you love relatable, emotionally driven, character-led fiction that shines a light on family life and the trials and tribulations that affect us all, then you’re in the right place.
“My name is Amanda Prowse. Now nearly sixty, I started writing in my mid-forties. I divide my time between London, where I live by the river, and our farm in the West Country.
“I’m passionate about the representation of women. My characters range in age from six to ninety-six and come from all walks of life. The women in my stories face adversity head-on. They grab opportunities with both hands and run towards the horizon, often with a large dollop of humour.
“My stories sometimes punch you in the gut with their realism, but they also leave you with a glimmer of hope and the reassurance that you are not alone. They are tales that will make you ugly cry and laugh out loud, sometimes on the very same page.
“I’ve sold millions of books, translated into dozens of languages around the world. Described by the Daily Mail as “the queen of family drama,” my novels have won awards, including the coveted Sainsbury’s eBook of the Year Award. Two of my books have also been selected as World Book Night titles: Perfect Daughter in 2016 and The Boy Between (co-written with my son, Josiah Hartley) in 2022.
“I’m a huge supporter of libraries and a proud ambassador for The Reading Agency. My ambition is to create stories that keep people from turning off the bedside lamp at night, with characters you walk alongside every step of the way, and narratives that stay with you long after the final page.
“I’m also a passionate advocate for ageing naturally and gratefully. Every wrinkle, every line, every blemish on my face is a badge of honour, a reminder of what a gift ageing truly is. This forms part of my wider belief that when women support women, magical things can happen.
“When the time comes, this is what I’d like written on my headstone:
“Wrote great stories, made a cracking roast potato…”
What more could I ask for?”
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The Chunky Cow and the Barnyard Beat is a silly, high-energy picture book for kids ages 2–7 about a funky cow who invites the whole barnyard to dance along.
With Chunky Cow and her animal friends leading the way, the story is full of rhythm, movement, and read-aloud fun. At its heart, it encourages kids to be confident, welcoming, and brave enough to dance to their own beat.
My Review
First of all, let me just say that the illustrations are amazing. So bright and colourful.
The book starts with a boy who has crept out in the dark after hearing noises coming from the barn, so he decides to take a peek.
And then he sees it. A Chunky Cow dancing to the beat. Stomping her feet, flicking her tail and sliding to the left and the right.
Then bang goes the door and a pig in a wig joins in, followed by a horse in shorts. a sheep with a beat, and a duck in a truck. It’s all very silly and hilarious and written in rhyme. But then suddenly the music stops and they are all looking at the boy. Now what! They ask him to join in of course.
This book is such a treat, and I’m sure children will love it, as will their mums and dads, and grandparents too. It encourages them to let go, be silly, be themselves, and most of all have fun.
So let’s all join in and do the Barnyard Boogie – cool shades recommended.
Many thanks to the author for a gifted copy.
About the Author
Evan Hutson is the author of The Chunky Cow and the Barnyard Beat, his first children’s book. He wrote the story shortly after his son was born, inspired to create something silly, joyful, and genuinely fun for both kids and parents to read together. Evan hopes the book encourages his son, and other young readers, to be themselves, welcome others in, and have fun.
Within the walls of Winterbourne dwells a secret room, with an unspeakable collection of books.
Librarian Anne Adams has found the perfect a job cataloguing the library of Winterbourne, an architectural masterpiece on a remote island off the west coast of Scotland. Surrounded by an awe-inspiring landscape, the library is magnificent, with priceless first editions, a librarian’s dream.
However, Anne’s early weeks in her new job are beset by obstacles – no internet, a house plunged into darkness every night and unexplained mysteries on the island. After weeks of isolation, upon meeting the mysterious owner Lucien Broussard, Anne is puzzled. Eloquent and well-travelled, his reclusive nature seems uncharacteristic. But after finding a cryptic clue within the pages of a book, Anne discovers that Broussard’s collection includes everything from the mundane to the books no one should ever open . . .
My Review
The narration was great, but I have one criticism and it grated on me. Lucien Broussard is posh and well educated. When reading out his letter, the narrator spells out ‘haitch’. No-one with his background says ‘haitch’. It would be ‘aitch’. Tell me I’m wrong if you want.
But all in all I really enjoyed listening to this on Audible. It was perfect while walking the dog. Poor Anne. Having survived a terrible car crash which killed her beloved twin brother Malcolm – Anne was driving – she is told she may never walk again. Except she does. She is forced to live with her parents who can never forgive her for the accident. So she takes a job on a remote island off the coast of Scotland, cataloguing Winterbourne’s fabulous, priceless, yet often sinister library.
There are only two other human residents on the island – the dour Robert Cooper and the ghastly Mrs Cooper. Plus Loki the dog. The handsome, enigmatic Lucien Broussard only visits from time to time. There is no TV, no internet and not even a phone signal, mobile or landline. Anne is totally cut off from civilisation.
Now I am quite accident prone, but not as bad as Anne, with her gammy leg and burn scars, she seems to keep falling over, passing out, or getting ill – it’s like a year’s worth of episodes of Casualty.
As the truth about Winterbourne and the Broussard family begins to reveal itself, it all gets a bit The Omen. However, it was great fun and I was amazed that it’s the author’s first novel in this genre. I would certainly read more by Elisabeth Wolf in the future. I must look up her crime novels.
About the Author
“After having eight (!) crime novels published under the name Alison Belsham, January ’26 sees a new departure for me. I’m swapping genres, and my first Gothic novel, Winterbourne, will be published under the name Elisabeth Wolf.
“What’s it about?
“I’ve loved Gothic stories since I was a teenager and two of the most notable are Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. They have all the classic Gothic tropes – an isolated property, a naive young woman, an overbearing antihero with a dark past, and an overwhelming feeling that something isn’t quite right… I wanted to take the chance to play with those tropes myself but I chose to write contemporary Gothic. Winterbourne takes place in the present day but my heroine, a young librarian called Anne Adams, still finds herself in jeopardy and at the mercy of a dark stranger…
“Gothic novels are at the intersection of horror and romance, walking a fine line between the two. I want my readers to be unsettled, even scared at moments, but at the same time swept up in the story of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, finding her way in a world she knows little about.
“It’s a book I’ve loved writing and I’m so excited to see it making its way into the world. My publisher, Black & White Publishing, have created a wonderful cover for it and now I’m excited at the prospect of seeing it out in the world.”
Where can you find her?
Instagram: @elisabethwolfauthor
Website: https://elisabethwolf.net/home
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elisabeth.wolf.gothic
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/elisabethwolf.bsky.social
Alyssa wants to be seen. Less wants to be someone. She takes two buses to class, posts pictures of her lunch, and pretends it’s all effortless.
He hides his privilege beneath thrifted clothes and a sketchbook full of impossible designs. Together, they are inseparable, two outsiders constructing a version of themselves the world might finally applaud.
Then Alyssa stumbles upon the hidden world of phrogging – living unnoticed inside other people’s homes. She and Less slip through Los Angeles’ glossy veneer: influencers, producers, pop stars, all so busy performing their perfect lives they don’t notice the shadows in their attics, the scratching in their walls.
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An act of rebellion. A harmless thrill. A social experiment.
Until they choose the wrong house.
Until the influencer they idolise catches them in the act.
Until the cameras, already rolling, capture everything.
What begins as a reckless adventure becomes a nightmare of lies, power and the cost of visibility. Bad Influence is a breathtakingly tense, darkly funny thriller about the lives we curate, the secrets we hide, and the monsters made by the need to be seen.
My Review
Having just finished listening to Carver’s first two January David books, and having read all his work from The Beresford onwards, Bad Influence starts off as a bit of fun, a bit of a lark. Not the usual Carver fare. Two bored twenty-something college students (more Gen Z than millennials – I’m a bit obsessed with generations) doing silly stuff together. Alyssa is poor, while best friend Less is from a wealthy family, but wants to stand on his own two feet as a milliner, designing hats for the rich and famous. Alyssa wants to be an influencer.
Then they decide – well it’s Alyssa’s idea really – to become ‘phroggers’, people who squat in other people’s houses, while the owners are living there. They are never seen, but eat the food, sleep in the attic or basement, even in the walls, and watch TV etc while the householders are out. Alyssa and Less think it’s amusing to move things around a bit, just to freak the owners out.
In the meantime, Paige of @TheFitnessPaige, is one of the top fitfam influencers. She is approached by reality TV producers Lincoln and Lowell to be filmed every day for an undisclosed sum of money, uploading the content to a server for a limited audience. They warn her that it could break her. She says it will be fine because she’s strong (when not secretly eating cold pizza and ice cream, and throwing up).
So far so good, but not very Carver. Then in a shocking twist, everything changed. I gasped. It became very sinister and unsettling, involving online searches for shovels, duct tape and heavy duty bin bags from Amazon, with the inevitable ‘how to bury a body’. Now we’re talking!
In typical Carver fashion, the humour is very dark and might not appeal to everyone, but readers of my blog know that dark humour one of my favourite genres, and Will Carver is one of my favourite authors. He never stops surprising me.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series and the critically acclaimed, mind-blowingly original Detective Pace series, which includes Good Samaritans (2018), Nothing Important Happened Today (2019) and Hinton Hollow Death Trip (2020), all of which were ebook bestsellers and selected as books of the year in the mainstream international press.
Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for both the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2020 and the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize, and was followed by the literary thrillers, The Beresford, Psychopaths Anonymous, The Daves Next Door, Suicide Thursday and Upstairs at the Beresford.
Will spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He and his partner run their own fitness and nutrition company, and live in Reading with five children and a tortoise.
About Orenda Books
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
1930s Warsaw. Two privileged sisters: Ida—glamorous and self-assured—and Luiza, the spirited tomboy striving to fulfil the ambitions their German-born father once held for the son he never had.
At just seventeen, Luiza’s world is upended when her Polish homeland is occupied. Caught between two identities—raised speaking both German and Polish—she must now decide where her true allegiance lies. Meanwhile, Ida, newly married and expecting her first child, is living under Soviet occupation in the eastern part of Poland. When she vanishes, taking her baby with her, Luiza begins a search that will span decades.
In a cruel irony, the war that destroys Ida brings Luiza both adventure and love. But her life becomes driven by survivor’s guilt—a need to live not only for herself, but for the sister she lost.
Inspired by the life of the author’s mother, Finding Ida is a gripping family saga. It explores themes of faith, loss and forgiveness, and the enduring human drive to survive. At its heart, it is a story about identity and belonging.
My Review
I could have placed my late father inside this book. The names, the places, the food, all the things that made him Polish and – forgive me – I had forgotten. He joined the Polish infantry at the start of the war but was taken prisoner-of-war in Northern Russia before escaping and coming to the UK where he joined the RAF Polish Squadron. I was born here in the fifties.
According to the author ‘…In England I had played up the esotericism of my provenance…’. At a convent school in the late sixties I felt the same. I was foreign, other, exotic. I didn’t visit Poland until 1978 after a failed attempt (due to my father’s dual nationality and the government’s inability to protect him as Poland was still behind the Iron Curtain) to see my grandmother before she died in 1966. As with Marya: In Poland I became 100 per cent British…’
But onto the book itself. This is a novel about two sisters, but ‘inspired by the life of the author’s mother’. We follow the girls – Ida and Luiza – from childhood up until the 1960s. It starts in 1955 with Luiza in Singapore reflecting on her early life and opening a letter from Poland. We then go back to the early 1930s, when life was relatively carefree. Ida was obsessed with fashion, socialising and having a good time, while younger sister Luiza wanted to ride horses, shoot, and be an engineer.
But as the threat of both the Nazis and the Bolsheviks increased, with Poland somewhere in the middle, life began to change. The family were born in Germany, but the girls had always lived in Poland, so they were ‘caught between two identities’. They also had Jewish friends, which often made them a target for further discrimination.
When war breaks out, Ida’s husband is missing in action, she leaves her child with her mother-in-law to go to her family, but her child is taken, and she loses her grip on reality. Then she vanishes as well, and Luiza spends decades searching for her.
It’s a brilliant book, for me, also being personal and very emotional. I had a Jewish mother so I understand about conflicted identities.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #FindingIda book tour.
About the Author
Marya Burgess’s BBC career spanned almost 40 years, reporting for Woman’s Hour and PM, producing All in the Mind and For One Night Only, and finally curating The Listening Project in partnership with the British Library. Over the years, Marya attempted to tell her mother’s remarkable story, but it was only after getting a dog and moving to rural Scotland that Finding Ida finally took shape.
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Three women, three eras, surprising things in common…
On 4th August 1962, the night she should have died, Marilyn Monroe – the biggest star in the world – receives a visitor who changes the course of her destiny. The Virgin Mary appears in her kitchen with a curious message. Inspired, Marilyn abandons her home, her life, her fame, and disappears into the night…
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Fifty-four years later, in a Hull kitchen, Flora Baker finds Mary, bathed in light. She has a similar message for the working class woman who is on the poverty line and dreaming of a better life. Flora begins to make changes that impact not only her life but the lives of those around her…
Do Marilyn and Flora have more in common than just Mary’s visit? Are they somehow linked across time? And is Mary’s message for all the women of the world?
Wonderful is about the way women are portrayed in both history and the world of celebrity, about women not being quiet, and about women united by the shared stories that shape them.
My Review
I’ve never particularly been a Marilyn Monroe fan, but then I’ve never been a fan of the glamorous movie stars of the fifties – the Golden Age of Hollywood. As a child of the sixties, it was all about the pop music scene. My idols were Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithful and broadcaster Kathy McGowan. Big fringes, long straight hair and pale pink lips. We wanted to look like them – be them. The movie stars like Marilyn, Lana Turner, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly were unattainable.
So why did I choose to read this book, I hear you ask. I guess it was the premise. A movie star, fed up with fame, notoriety and lack of privacy, decides to take her own life. Until she sees the Virgin Mary in her kitchen and is delivered of a strange message and it changes her decision.
But what should she do now? Personally I would have moved somewhere like London or Paris, changed my look, and become incognito. Marilyn hides out in a nunnery until her platinum-dyed hair grows out, so she can escape.
In Hull, fifty-four years later, it’s 2016, and working class Flora Baker is also visited by the Virgin Mary in her kitchen. Another message and Flora has become noticeably ‘different’. She decides to volunteer at a home where vulnerable women can go when they need help, like her younger sister Bella when she was unwell.
But don’t worry that Wonderful will be all religious and preachy, because it isn’t. Even if you are not Catholic, or even Christian, you will still be moved. You may even be an atheist, but just keep an open mind. Wonderful is about women and friendship and being there for one another. And yes, I cried at times because it definitely moved me.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Louise Beech is the author of nine novels and a memoir, Eighteen Seconds (2023). Her debut, How to be Brave, was a Guardian Readers’ Pick; The Lion Tamer Who Lost shortlisted for the Romantic Novel Awards 2019 and longlisted for the Polari Prize that same year; Call Me Star Girl was Best magazine’s Book of the Year; This Is How We Are Human was a Clare Mackintosh Book Club pick; and audiobook Daffodils shortlisted for the Audies23.
Wonderful, which imagines if Marilyn Monroe had lived, is released on Marilyn’s 100th birthday, 1st June 2026. Louise’s dystopian thrillers, End of Story and Lights Out, are written as Louise Swanson.
You can find Louise here:
Instagram: @louise_beech_swanson
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Website: https://louisebeech.co.uk/
+ audio book, crime fiction, fiction, murder, murder mystery, psychic, review, serial killer, supernatural
The Two by Will Carver January David #2
They Kill Without Mercy. Disappear Without Trace.
They are The Two.
And now the stakes are raised once more for Detective January David.
Five lie dead, brutally murdered – the first taken on the night of Halloween and as autumn bleeds into winter more ritualistic murders are discovered.
January must battle his demons, for in his mind lies the clue to stopping a ruthless murderer.
But his worst nightmares have literally come true when he discovers there’s not one but two twisted killers on the loose ……
My Review
Once again I listened on Borrowbox. There are still two narrators – one male and one female – but many different voices and points of view. These include Detective January David himself, the killer, Celeste and the victims.
As with most of Carver’s books, The Two is not for the faint hearted. The descriptions of the killings are extremely graphic, as are Jan’s visions of the boy and the girl. We also know from book one that Jan’s sister Kathy was taken as a child and never found.
The killings revolve around Wicca rituals which the man known as ‘V’ claims have been carried out by Celeste to cleanse the victims, all of whom were either old, dying or wanting to die. ‘V’ also claims that Celeste is the killer. He has captured her and kept her locked in a room to prevent her from killing again. It’s all very confusing!
Again you will either love it or hate it, and probably never read Carver again. However, if you are reading book two then I can only assume that you enjoyed book one. I love all his work although he evolves over the years. Just because you don’t take to the January David series doesn’t mean you won’t love the (very) dark humour in The Beresford, or even darker in Psychopaths Anonymous.
Carver is an acquired taste but I personally believe he’s one of the best authors of our time.
About the Author
Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series and the critically acclaimed, mind-blowingly original Detective Pace series, which includes Good Samaritans (2018), Nothing Important Happened Today (2019) and Hinton Hollow Death Trip (2020), all of which were ebook bestsellers and selected as books of the year in the mainstream international press. Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for both the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2020 and the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize, and was followed by the literary thrillers, The Beresford, Psychopaths Anonymous, The Daves Next Door, Suicide Thursday and Upstairs at the Beresford. Will spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He and his partner run their own fitness and nutrition company, and live in Reading with five children and a tortoise.
What if the truth really did come out… even just for an hour?
Barbara is a curious soul who lives to read books. She’s a mum, a wife, a reader, a cat-owner and someone who still believes that kindness matters. Then one rainy afternoon, she steps into a peculiar little shop in her local town and leaves with something extraordinary: a vial of tea that compels anyone who drinks a drop of it tell the truth — for exactly sixty minutes.
Bookstagram Tour: 2nd – 6th June
Genre: Contemporary | Family Life | Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
At first, Barbara experiments carefully. Harmlessly. But when politics creeps closer to home and a dangerous new movement begins to take hold of her community, the temptation to use the tea for some greater purpose becomes impossible to ignore.
As neighbours, friends and families are drawn into a plan that could change far more than a council election, Barbara must decide how much power is too much, and whether honesty really is the best policy when the stakes are this high.
Sometimes all it takes to change everything is the truth.
My Review
If you voted for Brexit or plan to vote Reform in the next election, then this book is probably not for you. There are a lot of parallels, particularly the ‘Change’ party, and its councillors and MPs. And it’s not flattering or sympathetic.
Barbara Truscoe is a fairly ordinary wife and mother, living in a fairly typical suburban cul-de-sac. She gets on really well with her neighbours and her kids are pretty OK. Daughter Dani is twenty-one and supposedly intelligent, even though she says ‘like’ in every sentence. Teenage son Leo is not your average teenager – studious and thoughtful, and no drugs or getting drunk every weekend – though he does admit to getting up to a bit of naughtiness when under the ‘tea of truth’.
Because Barbara sheltered from the rain in a bookshop called Surprises, which doesn’t appear to exist. She purchased four ‘perfect’ books for her family and the owner Jean gave her a small bottle of ‘truth drops’. ‘Just one drop of this in any drink, although it prefers builder’s tea, it has to be said,’ Jean told her. ‘… just one drop in any drink and the imbiber is compelled to tell the truth for exactly one hour…. I firmly believe you can be trusted with this responsibility.’
But the Tea of Truth isn’t just for fun. It can change everything if you are willing to go that far. So when Dani slips a drop into Change’s prospective councillor’s drink at a hustings, he tells the truth and it’s not pretty.
Neighbour Nicola Lambert was married to a total loser, and 18-year-old son Robbie is looking to go the same way, following his father’s right wing views and obsession with Poundland Andrew Tate, Troy Hunt. In the meantime Milly Dobson from Dani’s old school is assisting Change’s leader Trevor Jensen with the local elections, and recruits Robbie to take promotional photos. And then of course there’s the cat – the Duchess of Poppet – who has an opinion about everything.
I loved this book. I found it very funny and really on the mark with what’s going on in politics in the UK at the moment.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #bookstagram tour.
About the Author
Peter Berry (known as PB to friends) was born in Surrey at the end of the 1960s and miraculously graduated from the University of York with a degree in history. He used this knowledge of the world to begin a career in PR which quickly lead to working in telly, theatre and film. In the 1990s he worked with Channel 4 publicising many of their US imports – Friends, E.R., Oprah Winfrey, Frasier and the short-lived but much loved by eight people, Bakersfield. He also used to receive Christmas phone calls from the actor, James Stewart.
In 1996, he ambled into the music industry and spent ten high-speed years working with musicians as diverse as Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Steps, The Who, Groove Armada, Meat Loaf (always two words), George Benson, Billy Ocean, Atomic Kitten and many more. In 2001, he began working with Jamie Oliver and ultimately became the chef’s Head of PR, travelling the world and eating delicious food; the toughest of gigs indeed. In 2016, he started the food PR business, Berry & Green with the excellent Chloe Green (no relation to Suzanne Green in Lunch with the Deadly Dozen).
In 2019 he started writing a novel on the basis that, despite the excitement of the previous thirty five years, he hadn’t actually ever created anything interesting (apart from a three page biography of The Blue Nile in 2004 which was quite good). The result, after four years, eighteen drafts, numerous rejection letters and four title changes, is Lunch with the Deadly Dozen. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife, two daughters and a cockerpoo. He listens to music every day and is probably doing that right now.
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+ 1960s, 1970s, adoption, childhood, family, fiction, friends, grief, Iceland, Iceland noir, lies, review, Scandi noir, secrets, sisters
Home Before Dark by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb
November, 1967, Iceland. Fourteen-year-old Marsí has a secret pen pal – 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 pen pal had agreed to meet. November, 1977. Stína’s disappearance remains unsolved. Then an unexpected letter arrives for Marsí. It’s from her pen pal, and he’s still out there…
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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…
My Review
What starts off as a slow burn, picks up pace and becomes creepier and more unsettling with every chapter. It’s told from the point of view of Marsí in November 1977, and then goes back and forth to her older sister Stína up until she went missing in November 1967.
Stína appears to have vanished completely, but how is that possible? Her body has never been found, but some believe she wanted to get away enough to leave the country and never return. That makes Marsí cross as she doesn’t believe Stína would do that to her or her parents.
The parents are a bit odd. Their mother wanted to be an actress, but had to give it up when she got married and became pregnant with Stína. Their father owns an intensive chicken farm, which is horrendous, with hens pecking other hens to death. It makes me glad I don’t eat chicken. In one part, the father is feeding chicken meat to his pet chickens, and Marsí is understandably horrified. She won’t ever eat chicken.
While searching for links to her sister’s disappearance Marsí discovers that the house where her sister studied art was previously a home for unmarried mothers called Reykir. This was during the second world war. Reykir is relevant to the story, as are various other characters in the book. There are a number of twists – including one major one – and eventually it all comes together. It’s very cleverly written and I gave up trying to guess what had happened. What makes it all the more complicated is that Marsí is an unreliable narrator, unable to separate her visions and dreams from reality.
Suffice to say I really enjoyed it and look forward to more from one of my favourite authors in one of my favourite genres – Iceland Noir. I love that Iceland is a character in itself. It’s so different from anywhere I have ever been.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
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.
Follow her on @evaaegisdottir
About Orenda Books
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
+ crime fiction, Danish Noir, Denmark, fiction, murder, murder mystery, retreat, review, Scandi noir, thriller, writer
Under the Blazing Sun by Jenny Lund Madsen
Hannah is miserable. Her love life is in ruins, her contract demands a sequel to her bestselling crime debut―and she’s out of ideas.
After a mortifying TV interview, her agent ships her off to a sun-drenched Sicilian villa with a simple order: finish the book. No distractions. No excuses.
But inspiration doesn’t strike―murder does.
When a night out ends in murder, Hannah finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation… again. The police want her out of the way, and the only person who seems to believe her is a young but charming Italian police officer. That is, until she doesn’t.
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Soon Hannah is chasing suspects, fleeing crime scenes, and doing whatever it takes to avoid becoming the next victim. She came to write a crime novel. Now she’s trapped inside one.
Dark, sly and deliciously atmospheric, Under the Blazing Sun is the second novel in the award-winning series featuring accidental sleuth and disgruntled literary author Hannah, whose pursuit of plot twists keeps turning dangerously real.
My Review
Hannah’s a prickly individual. Having stormed out of a TV interview her agent Bastian tells her that he needs her second crime novel NOW. She owes him for the advance. He then suggests that she goes to Sicily where she can stay in a luxurious villa – albeit in the middle of nowhere – and write in peace and quiet. A retreat of sorts.
But things don’t quite work out that way. Having got completely lost walking home from the nearby village where she met a nice couple who gave her their contact details, she has no option but to ring them and ask for help. They take her back to theirs for the night as she’s quite drunk and exhausted, when tragedy strikes.
Hannah is now a witness to the murder of someone she barely knows, and is soon embroiled in yet another mystery. At least it’s inspiration for book two, though that makes the police suspicious.
I really enjoyed Under The Blazing Sun – it’s great fun – personally for me even more so than book one. The last few chapters are fast and furious.
If I had one word of advice for Hannah (other than ‘chill’), it would be to cut back on the wine. First night in a villa that she barely knows how to find in daylight, let alone in the pitch dark, and off she goes on foot, gets plastered, and then spectacularly lost. She could have driven her hired Fiat Panda (I’ve owned two of those), had one small glass of wine, and not been a witness/suspect in a murder. Well done Hannah! Roll on book three!
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. She recently made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award. She lives in Denmark with her young family.
About Orenda Books
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
Rain, rain go away, come again another day.
It’s playground day for Ziggi the dog, but it’s pouring with rain! Ernest, the flea who lives in Ziggi’s ear, is relieved – he’d rather stay at home with a nice cup of tea. But then Ziggi decides to try out her Go Away Rain Dance with all sorts of weird and wonderful animals. Poor Ernest..
Pages: 44
Publisher: HB Publishing House
Genre: Children’s Fiction 3+
My Review
Ziggi wants to go to the playground, but it’s no fun in the pouring rain. And Ernest the flea who lives in Ziggi’s ear would rather watch a movie. So Ziggi decides to do a Go Away Rain Dance to stop the rain. She wants Ernest to join in but Ernest thinks it’s a silly idea. I think he’s a bit embarrassed to be honest. Ziggi asks the other creatures to join in. But nothing works and eventually Ziggi agrees.
The other animals were having so much fun they didn’t want to stop. But then…. a gust of wind blew the clouds away and the sun came out! Ziggi said it was because everyone joined in, including Ernest in the end.
It was brilliant. Everyone played and Ziggi could zip and zoom on the zip wire like Superdog in the Superdog movie.
And once you’ve read this great book you can have a go at the activities. Can you do a Go Away Rain Dance like Ziggi and all her friends?
Many thanks to Hygge Book Tours for inviting me to be part of #TheGoAwayRainDance #blogtour
About the Author
Book Links/Buy Links
Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com
Website: www.claireflewis.com
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Detective Inspector January David has always put his professional before his private life, but the two worlds are about to clash horrifically as he visits his latest crime scene.
He is confronted by a lifeless figure suspended ten feet above a theatre stage, blood pouring from her face into a coffin below.
This gruesome execution is the work of an elusive serial killer. Three women from three different London suburbs, each murdered with elaborate and chilling precision. And as January stares at the most beautiful corpse he’s ever seen, he detects the killer’s hallmark. But Girl 4 is different: she is alive – barely. And January recognises her…
My Review
It started with The Beresford, since which I have read everything Will Carver has ever written. So I decided it’s time to go back to the very beginning with Girl 4, book one in the January David series.
January David is our leading protagonist. He’s a police officer with a touch of the psychic. This doesn’t endear him to one of his colleagues, Murphy, the other, Poulson, being more open-minded about Jan’s visions.
I listened on Borrowbox and while there are only two narrators – one male and one female – there are many different voices and points of view. These include January himself, the serial killer Eames, and Jan’s dreadful wife Audrey, who I really disliked. Not only has poor Jan got to endure Poulson’s laddish idea of a stag night, he has to go along with Audrey’s over the top, pretentious wedding. I wasn’t always keen on the narration, Jan doesn’t sound like I imagine him, but the worst is Murphy’s Irish accent – luckily he doesn’t get to say much.
As with most of Carver’s books, Girl 4 is not for the faint hearted. The descriptions of the killings are extremely graphic, as are Jan’s visions of the ‘smiling man’, who is trying to tell him something. We also learn that Jan’s sister Kathy was taken as a child and never found, his father was a magician who blamed Jan for losing her, and he hasn’t seen his mother for years.
You will either love this book as I did, or you will hate it, and probably never read Carver again. I love all his work although he evolves over the years. Just because you don’t take to the January David series doesn’t mean you won’t love the (very) dark humour in The Beresford, or even darker in Psychopaths Anonymous.
Carver is an acquired taste but I personally believe he’s one of the best authors of our time.
About the Author
Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series and the critically acclaimed, mind-blowingly original Detective Pace series, which includes Good Samaritans (2018), Nothing Important Happened Today (2019) and Hinton Hollow Death Trip (2020), all of which were ebook bestsellers and selected as books of the year in the mainstream international press. Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for both the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2020 and the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize, and was followed by the literary thrillers, The Beresford, Psychopaths Anonymous, The Daves Next Door, Suicide Thursday and Upstairs at the Beresford. Will spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He and his partner run their own fitness and nutrition company, and live in Reading with five children and a tortoise.
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