Journalist Gil Peck is back; in therapy, married to Jess – now editor of the Financial Chronicle – and still driven by the need to prove a point that he can’t quite identify.
Yet all is not well at home. Jess is fed up with Gil’s obsession with his job, and she’s kicked him out of their home.
But Gil has never let anything get in the way of a scoop. He and Jess have landed the interview of a lifetime with the Prime Minister, Stella Barnsbury, for the podcast they co-host, and Gil has no intention of missing it.
#TheKillSwitch Twitter/X @Peston @ZaffreBooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n #CompulsiveReaders
Instagram: @robert_peston @thebookdealer #CompulsiveReaders @zaffrebooks #blogtour #bookstagram
During the interview, Barnsbury begins to pale, her coughing intensifying before she finally collapses.
Within 48 hours, the Prime Minister is dead.
Gil is used to landing the biggest stories. But as the last person to see the PM alive, he’s now a main character. And when foul play is confirmed, he’s also a prime suspect . .
My Review
I cannot get over how much I loved this book. I read the first one ages ago and thought it was pretty good, but The Kill Switch is in a league of its own. There are so many shocks, but one of them had me gasping in disbelief.
It’s a mixture of politics, murder – the Prime Minister is killed right near the beginning (just what I like in a book, start off with a bang) – and discussions about AI and whether it is a force for good or bad. How far can we go with it and will it become more powerful and knowledgeable than those who created it?
I was so involved in the story, that when it ended I had to wait a good 24 hours before I started another book. In fact I’m finding it hard to write a review. It’s one of those books you just want to read, rather than analyse. It’s probably because it’s too clever for me to explain the premise. Best to just immerse yourself in Gil and Jess’s world of intrigue and obsession. The kids are great, the dog is cute, Jess is brilliant, and Gil is still annoying. Not because he’s neurodivergent, but because he can be a total twat.
As an aside, I love the way the author self-inserts as political commentator Robert Peston (along with Tom Bradby) in an interview, like a Hitchcock cameo.
Many thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Author
Robert James Kenneth Peston is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the political editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston. From 2006 until 2014, he was the business editor of BBC News and its economics editor from 2014 to 2015.
A vanished mother. A fractured family. A lifetime of choosing the wrong men.
When their bold, brassy mother vanishes into Ireland’s Traveller community, Shibby Magee and her twin sister, Dorah, are left behind in a family already cracking at the seams.
Under the iron rule of their rigidly bigoted grandmother, the girls grow up on opposite tracks: Dorah, sharp-edged and defiant; Shibby, bruised and unmoored.
As an adult, desperate for love, Shibby is drawn to men who wound and discard her, caught in patterns she can’t yet see. She finds a measure of stability in the chaos of a restaurant kitchen — but a question persists: is her future in the settled world, or on the open road to God only knows where?
With the steadfast support of Alice Duffy, a housekeeper turned surrogate mother; Moochie de Barra, a stand-in for an emotionally absent father; and Kitty Dooley, who embodies the fierce pride and harsh realities of Traveller life, Shibby begins to confront hard truths about cultural identity, family, and what it will take to find where she truly belongs.
Set across the roads, towns, villages, and rugged coastlines of western Ireland—from Roscommon and Galway to a remote Atlantic island, the story traces how early abandonment echoes into midlife, revealing what endures, what shifts, and how the cycle repeats until it finally breaks.
My Review
Shibby Magee is definitely one of my favourite books of the year so far. One cannot help but love Shibby and her twin sister Dorah, both such endearing characters in their own right. And so many of the others are memorable, if not always likeable, like housekeeper Alice Duffy, Traveller and best friend Kitty Dooley, father Benny, Moochie de Barra, and the spiteful, judgmental Nanny Magee.
The book follows a dual timeline. We briefly meet a pregnant Shibby, aged 45, at the beginning, then jump back to the twins as children on the day their mother, Vera Coffey, walks out and leaves them behind. We follow their lives as they attend the local Catholic school, befriend Kitty, and try to connect with Benny, who runs the bakery. Nanny Magee is horrible to them, so Alice becomes their surrogate mother. I loved the warmth and humour in this part of the book. Eventually the twins are sent to boarding school in England.
In part two, the twins are both 45. Dorah is happy to have affairs, but never settle down. Shibby still wants a husband and children. Poor Shibby just seems to attract the wrong men. Will she ever find true love? And will she finally discover what happened to her mother?
I have a real thing about Irish narrators in audiobooks (which is why I always listen to authors like Jess Kidd rather than read her books – one is even narrated by Siobhán McSweeney), and it was the same with Shibby Magee. It gives you a feel for place and characterisation, immersing you in Shibby and Dorah’s world. And much of the humour comes out in the language.
Many thanks to the author for a review copy of the book.
About the Author
Published by Penguin Random House, Carrie Kabak’s novel, Cover the Butter, was an Independent Booksellers’ Pick, won an Audiofile Magazine award, and was nominated for a Quill Award. Her essays appear in For Keeps and He Said What? (Seal Press), Exit Laughing (North Atlantic Books), Faith (Simon and Schuster), and Dumped (She Writes). Carrie’s latest novels, Shibby Magee and Every Mole and Freckle, will be released in spring and fall 2026, and Mali Morgan’s Summer in spring 2027.
Alongside her writing, Carrie works as a book cover artist for major publishers after working for many years as a production designer at Hallmark Cards.
When sisters Libby and Rachel open a letter from their late mother, they discover that it’s the first of five.
Each letter asks them to scatter their mother’s ashes in a different place, and travel together to the carefully chosen locations.
What begins as an act of remembrance soon becomes a journey into the past. With every trip, the sisters uncover unsettling truths about their family. As questions mount, Libby and Rachel are forced to confront what they thought they knew about their mother, and about themselves.
#UntilTheNextLetter X(Twitter @ZooloosBT #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour #booktwitter
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Along the way, grief gives way to connection, laughter and unexpected romance. Old wounds are reopened, but new bonds are formed, offering the chance of healing and hope.
Until the Next Letter is a warm, uplifting novel about sisterhood and the courage it takes to face the truth. One letter, and one journey, at a time.
My Review
Not my usual genre, but occasionally I like to dip into something uplifting and heart-warming instead of yet another serial killer thriller or Gothic mystery. And Until The Next Letter will have you wrapped up emotionally in the lives of the sisters, Rachel and Libby.
Their mother has just died at the age of 62. Libby is devastated. Rachel is too, but also regrets having fallen out with her over her wedding to Ivan. She doesn’t know why her mum missed the ceremony. Maybe the letters will tell her something.
Ah the letters I hear you ask! Well it turns out that there are five of them to be opened in order. Each letter reveals a location where the sisters must go, each one a mini road trip. Something important will be unveiled at each place. There will be revelations and shocks. Their mum had secrets buried so deep that even her own children knew nothing.
In the meantime, Libby is helping at the school where her mum was the special needs coordinator. So far an outdoor classroom has been built – the plan also being to have a farm, complete with goats, ponies and chickens. And Josh, the teacher in charge of the project, just happens to be drop dead gorgeous.
I loved this book, and read it in two days. It was so easy to get involved. The only bit I found hard to believe was something their mother did all those years ago. It just didn’t seem likely. I also found historian Brian Barker’s initial reaction to the sisters a bit odd, considering he knew what he did.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Hannah Claire has been an avid book lover for as long as she can remember, enjoying nothing more than escaping into fictional worlds. As a teenager, she wrote a prize-winning short story and later turned her attention to novels. She lives near the beautiful Peak District, where her books are set, with her husband, three children, two cats and one bouncy dog.
Connect with Hannah
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582402563058
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahclairewriter/
Goodreads:
www.goodreads.com
Purchase Links:
www.amazon.co.uk
2026 is turning out to be a good year for audiobooks, so once again I am giving them their own post.
We have one Jess Kidd (always, and always as an audiobook as the narration is one of my favourite parts), a modern Gothic mystery and two Will Carvers (who also made it to my Top Ten favourite books of 2026 Part Two). Here we go:
Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd
Nora Breen Investigates Book #2
Murder at Gulls Nest ‘stars’ Nora Breen, ex-nun turned Miss Marple. It’s very different from Jess Kidd’s other novels, but it still has the same ring to it. Murder at the Spirit Lounge is the second in the series and it’s even better.
I literally couldn’t wait for this and I was not disappointed. New narrator but just as good. I listened to it with Audible.
Dolores Chimes, a famous medium, arrives in Gore-on-Sea and organises a séance in the ‘Spirit Lounge’ with six sitters, all personally invited by Dolores. One of them happens to be Detective Inspector Rideout himself.
For my full review click here
Winterbourne by Elisabeth Wolf
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.
For my full review click here
Girl 4 by Will Carver January David #1
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.
For my full review click here
The Two by Will Carver January David #2
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.
For my full review click here
+ adventure, childhood, crime fiction, domestic abuse, fiction, lies, marriage, murder, review, secrets, thriller
How To Survive in the Woods by Kat Rosenfield
Wild meets The Wife Between Us in this page-turning thriller, set in the treacherous final stretch of the Appalachian Trail – an addictive tale of passion, betrayal, control and what it means to survive.
Emma Sharp knows the rules of survival. From being raised by a doomsday-fearing father and hardened by the startup world, she has learned how to endure – especially in her marriage to Logan Grant, a charismatic tyrant who keeps her under tight control. To Emma, her marriage is a cage: it keeps you in, but it also keeps you safe. Until it doesn’t.
When Emma forms an unexpected bond with Logan’s former girlfriend, the two women form a plan to help Emma reclaim her life. Destination: the punishing final stretch of the Appalachian Trail.
After all, bad things happen in the woods all the time.
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As the three venture deeper into Maine’s back country, desire and dread curdle into something unpredictable, dark and deadly. Someone is lying. Someone is watching. And in the remote heart of the forest, someone is about to be lost . . . or found.
How to Survive in the Woods is a heart-stopping knockout of a novel, by turns smart, psychologically rich and deliciously dark. In her masterful hands, Kat Rosenfield asks us to consider what it means to be a survivor – and what, or who, you would sacrifice to stay alive.
My Review
The book starts with Emma Sharp in hospital, having tried – and failed – to take her own life. She’s had some kind of breakdown, which we know nothing about initially. All will be revealed later.
She is ‘rescued’ by handsome, charismatic Logan Grant, with whom she forms a relationship, and they get married. He keeps her on a tight leash, which is what she thinks she needs at this point in her life. It prevents her from going off the rails. She knows so little about him until she meets and becomes friends with his ex, Taylor.
As we discover more about Emma, we realise she’s not very nice. Her wealthy father was a ‘doomsday-fearing’ prepper, who taught her from a very early age how to survive in a dangerous world, and be prepared for Armageddon. He had rules, which he trained her to follow, the first of which was: ‘Nobody is coming to save you’. But Emma likes the last one best: ‘Never point a weapon at anything you are not willing to destroy‘. Both will be useful at some point.
Now believing that Logan is more dangerous than she at first thought, she and Taylor form a plan to help Emma escape her prison. It involves hiking the final stretch of the Appalachian Trail. And this is where everything changes. Because who is really lying, and who is telling the truth? And neither Logan nor Taylor have a clue what Emma is actually capable of.
A real roller coaster of a ride with plenty of exciting moments. I just feel there was too much musing about her life from Emma which held up the action at times. But the characters are brilliantly written and full of depth, even if mostly hateful.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Kat Rosenfield is the author of six books, including No One Will Miss Her (Edgar Award nominee for Best Novel), and the New York Times-bestselling A Trick of Light, co-authored with the late, great Stan Lee.
A former reporter for MTV News and current columnist for The Free Press, her essays and cultural criticism have appeared in The Boston Globe, Vulture, Wired, AirMail, and The New York Times. She lives in Connecticut.
+ crime fiction, folklore, Historical fiction, humour fiction, List, murder mystery, mystery, superstition, thriller, WW2
My Top 10 Books of 2026 – Part Two
Here are ten of my favourite books of 2026 Part Two, 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 two more that could have been on this list.
The Tradwife’s Lie by Bella Ellwood-Clayton
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.
For my full review click here
A Bad Deal in Mormon Land by T.I.M. Wirkus
Three of the things I love best in a book – religion, magic, and shady dealings. Add to that a medium, seances and murder, all wrapped up in a Gothic mystery, and you have the perfect recipe for my favourite literary concoction.
The year is 1908, and our main character, Madame Ilsa von Hoffmann, a spiritualist medium, has fallen on hard times. Then she is hired by Roger Marsh, a Mormon elder who has been excommunicated by the church for refusing to accept that polygamy is no longer legal. He has three wives. He wants Ilsa to raise the spirit of Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon religion. But is Ilsa a fraud?
For my full review click here
The Last Secret of Wickham Grange by Zoe Manlow
I almost didn’t read this but I’m so glad I did! I loved it from start to finish. It takes place in two timelines – 2006 when Caroline Alleyn’s beloved grandmother Frances has just died and Caroline has inherited Wickham Grange, and just after the war when we learn the history of the residents and why a group of five women all left on the same day in 1947. Unfortunately for Caroline, she is not allowed to sell the Grange without the permission of those women.
If they are still alive – they would be pretty old by now – Caroline needs to contact them. But when she does get hold of the women, she is met with outright hostility. The answer is a definite no. What is it they don’t want her to discover? She is told not to look for Lizzie Sixpence, the one Frances had said she couldn’t save. And the elderly residents of Wickham Grange, including Mr Harris, are also hiding something. And then she finds the bones…
For my full review click here
The Bone Mother by Suzy Aspley
As with the first Martha Strangeways book, Crow Moon, I still struggle with knowing that Martha’s three-year-old twins had died in a fire. I understand it gives depth to her character, but it still makes it hard to read. Somehow, it doesn’t seem necessary.
But moving on, I love everything else about the book. Anything Gothic, folklore, local myths is probably my favourite genre.
Basically, the premise of the book revolves around a local legend in which the Bone Mother goddess protects the land. There is a shrine dedicated to her. Disturbing the shrine will cause havoc for those around. But a developer is going to flood the land where he is building an energy plant, using sustainable methods. So which is more important? A Facebook group has been set up encouraging young women to trek alone to the shrine. ‘Alone’ should have rung a few bells.
For my full review click here
Wednesday Night Whites by Marci Lin Melvin
I hardly know where to start. When I got to the end I thought ‘what the hell did I just read?’ It’s deep and meaningful with the focus on vulnerable women and white supremacy, but it’s also quirky and rather strange at times. So did I guess the abductor and alleged killer of the missing women? No I didn’t. I had my own theory (which I’m rather proud of to be honest) but I can’t say any more as it might give too much away.
There is another major twist, which I wasn’t that keen on – a bit too far-fetched for me – but it didn’t distract from my enjoyment. The whole book is so fast-paced that I just kept reading and reading.
For my full review click here
Barbara Truscoe and the Tea of Truth by Peter Berry
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’.
For my full review click here
Finding Ida by Marya Burgess
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…’
For my full review click here
Wonderful by Louise Beech
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.
For my full review click here
Fifteen Minutes by Amanda Prowse
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.
For my full review click here
Bad Influence by Will Carver
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.
For my full review click here
The Goddesses Artemis and Hebe are staying in Central London to obtain a better understanding of the lives of ‘normal’ people.
To their surprise, they soon encounter a plot to blow up a foreign embassy. Add to that a sophisticated operation involving the theft of valuable paintings from a major art gallery, and the two goddesses begin to question what a ‘normal’ life is all about.
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Meanwhile, in the Underworld Cerberus encounters another dog who, amazingly, only has one head! How will they get on?
A mixture of Comedy, Fantasy and Criminality, Pimlico People should appeal to readers of Terry Pratchett and Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson).
ALL THE AUTHOR’S ROYALTIES WILL BE GIVEN TO SUPPORT CHARITIES FOR THE HOMELESS
My Review
I was always a fan of Greek Mythology, but this is not how I remember the gods and goddesses! They certainly never dressed up as cleaners to foil an art theft or stayed in posh hotels and travelled around London in a taxi driven by an old cockney with a horse called Bunnykins. Nor did they consort with little people from Lilliput (mixing our myths here) or go round saying ‘ey up’ and ‘Oggie Oggie Oggie’. But that is what Hebe and her sister Artemis have found themselves doing in order to blend in with us mere mortals.
I’m going to stick my neck out here when I say that it’s the underworld that was my favourite part by a chthonic mile. There’s dog Cerberus (woof) with his three heads and a snake’s tail called Audrey and no idea about anything, even though he’s head of ‘security.’ Then one day Charon the boatman brings the ghastly Marchioness and her dog Popsy (woofy), even though Popsy is still very much alive. Hades wants to send her back but Cerberus rather likes her. So does everyone else, so they need to hide her till Persephone returns from Olympus as she’s a dog lover.
Meanwhile, up above, it’s all Chaos (see what I did there), as Hebe and Artemis cause havoc wherever they go. Can they stop an attack on London, plus uncover the secrets of a sophisticated art fraud? With the help of lots of other gods, plus Sir Cedric, his wife Lady Felicity and nosy 10-year-old granddaughter Emily who talks to pelicans, it should all be plain sailing – in theory.
It’s all great fun and bizarre in a good way and I just love Cerberus and Popsy.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Rupert is a Cambridge graduate. He was born in Manchester but has lived most of his adult life in Central London. He has always been an avid reader and in recent years decided to take up writing himself. His books have one overriding objective which is TO MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH!
His first book, Gods Galore, was published in November 2021 and this was followed by The Four Horsemen, in April 2023. His latest novel, Pimlico People, was published in October 2024. All three books are a mixture of fantasy and comedy about the Olympian Gods in the 21st Century.
In addition, he has written Greek Gods on TikTok which recounts various myths about the Greek Gods in the Classical World.
Connect with Rupert
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rupertstanbury/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070534804639
X/Formerly Twitter: https://x.com/RupertStanbury
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rupertstanbury
Book Links
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220939148-pimlico-people
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/pimlicopeople-zbt
+ 1960s, family, feminism, fiction, literature, love, marriage, music, psychiatrist, relationships, review, sisters, therapy, twins
The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 6 by Sophia Lambton
Life can be alienating.
Adaptation tampers with the twins in this penultimate instalment of The Crooked Little Pieces: an edition that seals both into unnatural habitats.
Domesticity daunts Anneliese as she enjoys (endures?) a liberating love. Across an ocean unfamiliar faces shun the shrinking soul of Isabel. Belligerently climbing up the academic ladder, Susanna hangs up her psychiatrist spurs to be reached… never. Homelessness becomes a state of mind and mischief seems amiss until a road trip tilts predictability.
An interlude of dire longing, The Crooked Little Volume 6 confines its heroines to safety destined not to a test for feuding selves.
My Review
We have now reached the crossroads I referred to in my review of Volume 5. The year is 1963. Isabel is married to billionaire Tally and living in California. She is the headmistress of a girls school. She is trying hard to ensure her principles are maintained in the face of all that money.
In the UK, twin sister Anneliese is in a relationship with Stuart, but he is already married, though an expected tragedy will change all that. Stuart is in the police, and Anneliese is still ‘treating’ philanderer Charles Antony, who inadvertently feeds her with information for Stuart. The sisters haven’t seen each other for over three and a half years.
We don’t see Susanna until the end, when Anneliese visits Isabel and they go on a road trip. We don’t see Richard at all, but Isabel has decided to convert to Judaism, even though it’s Richard who is Jewish, not Tally. I didn’t really understand why. Hopefully it will come together in the final instalment.
I felt Volume 6 was more of a link between 5 and the final denouement. I look forward to reading it, though I will miss the sisters.
Many thanks to the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author
Sophia Lambton became a professional classical music critic at the age of seventeen when she began writing for Musical Opinion, Britain’s oldest music magazine. Since then she has contributed to The Guardian, Bachtrack, musicOMH, BroadwayWorld, BBC Music Magazine and OperaWire, and conducted operatic research around the world for The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography, which was published to coincide with the soprano’s one hundredth birthday in December 2023.
Crepuscular Musings – Lambton’s cultural Substack – provides vivid explorations of tv and cinema together with reviews of operas, concerts and recitals sophialambton.substack.com.
The Crooked Little Pieces is her first literary saga. This is volume 5. She lives in London.
A darkly twisted and wonderfully original debut thriller for fans of Riley Sager and Jessica Knoll – at an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers, the participants begin to wonder if somebody’s continuing the family tradition when one of their number turns up dead.
Plenty of people have lousy parents, but Nicola Fischer’s father has just been convicted of murdering five young women, including her best friend. Fired from her job and hounded by reporters, Nicola passes the time by doomscrolling and drunk-dialling Greer Woods, the alluring host of the hit show To Catch a Killer, who cracked the case and turned Nicola’s life upside down before disappearing along with her so-called ‘best intentions’.
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When an email from Greer finally shows up in Nicola’s inbox, there’s no apology or explanation, just a cryptic invitation. The Death Row Club is an annual weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers – and Nicola is the newest reluctant member. Desperate to escape her small town, she accepts the offer with barely a second thought, forging tentative bonds with her fellow club members, most of whom seem intriguing, and only slightly unhinged.
But when an uninvited guest shows up at their remote wilderness retreat, everyone is put on high alert, and the next morning paranoia turns to outright fear. Because one of their own is dead, and the rest of them are left with only one question.
If the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, which of them is the bad seed?
My Review
As the daughter of a prolific serial killer, whose story has just been told on the hit show To Catch a Killer, Nicola Fischer’s life is in tatters. Fired from her job as an art teacher, too many people believe she colluded with her father and is therefore guilty by association. She is going to lose her house, she doesn’t know what to do.
Greer Woods, the woman who hosts the show and purported to be her friend has disappeared. She ignores her texts. Then Nicola gets an invitation to a weekend retreat called the Death Row Club for the children of serial killers.
On the plane survivor Zach swaps seats to sit next to her and soon reveals that’s where he is going too. It’s all very strange and mysterious. Once on the island, it becomes even stranger. There is someone in the woods who seems to know who they are and why they are there. She just wants to stay to hide from her abusive father. But they don’t want her there or understand how she knows about the retreat, and so Zach is tasked with returning her to the mainland.
It’s at this point that we need to decide if Nicola is an unreliable narrator. When one of the party turns up dead, she becomes the main suspect, because she is the only one that no-one knows. I must admit that I too started to doubt her innocence. We only have her word that she didn’t know that her father was a murderer.
There are so many twists and turns in the second half that I did get confused, plus one scene I found a bit unbelievable. Occasionally I had to reread and try to work it out. The whole Steffani story was a bit of a distraction for me, but all in all it was a cracking read.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
VA Vazquez was born and raised in Buffalo, NY where she currently teaches English. She received her BA in English from Barnard College and used to live in Scotland in a town inhabited by more sheep than people.
Three girls disappear into the night. One by one they go missing, never to be seen again. No witnesses, no leads, nothing.
The only thing they had in common? An uneasy sense of being watched in the days before they vanished. Noises in the night, boot prints in the flower beds outside their bedroom windows . . .
Today.
One of the lost girls was Anna Klein’s best friend. With no body, the case went cold. But Anna never stopped looking for Sylvie – or whoever took her.
Now, four years later, Anna finally has a lead when a body turns up in an abandoned mansion. She has to know is it Sylvie?
But time is running out. As the storm of the century rolls in, the clock is ticking to find the answers before this trail goes cold.
Can Anna find Sylvie and the other girls before they’re lost forever?
My Review
What a roller coaster! Anna survives the most ludicrous dangers (the mortuary for instance). She must have nine lives. But I absolutely loved listening on Borrowbox while walking the dog. It’s totally over the top, far-fetched much of the time, and when you eventually find out who the killer is, you will wonder what his motivation is.
But did I care? Not a bit. It’s an exciting mix of fast-paced serial killer thriller, and a race against time as a devastating hurricane is about to hit the town of Charlotte. Journalist Anna Klein must discover everything she can about the missing girls before all the evidence (including the bodies) is washed away. She has the help of fellow journalist, Justin, but he’s not quite as brave (or stupid) as Anna.. She takes a lot of risks, especially when the storm is getting far too close for comfort.
As time goes on, it gets more bonkers, but don’t be put off. It’s exciting, never boring and would make a great Netflix series.
When Rosie and her family move into a crooked old cottage at the edge of a village, the house seems to greet them with creaks, sighs, and stories of its own.
As the seasons pass, Rosie watches as the cottage is cared for, with its floors warmed and its roof given a new hat. With the help of neighbours, builders, and a mischievous beagle, each repair uncovers traces of the past and makes room for new memories to settle in.
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Tender and full of wonder, Rosie and the Old House is a story about curiosity, community, and how caring for a place can bring it to life.
My Review
What I really loved about this book was the amount I learnt about the history of old houses, and how to ‘do them up’. Rosie’s house is very very old, with crooked walls and a thatched roof, and secrets hidden under the plaster. The language is also very poetic and beautiful, not always found in a children’s book.
Rosie and her family, plus ever curious Bee the Beagle (my favourite character, naturally) have moved into an old cottage, which needs lots of work. The builder explains every step that needs to be taken, from replacing the old plaster with lime plaster to creating a new thatched roof. Traditionally used for old and historic properties, lime plaster ‘allows walls to “breathe” by managing moisture naturally, preventing damp, and accommodating the natural structural movement of a building’. A thatched roof is a form of art and every thatcher has his own signature.
Under the old plaster are initials and dates, going back hundreds of years, so Rosie and co decide to leave their own marks – even Bee leaves a paw print.
It’s such a lovely book. I really enjoyed reading it.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Elizabeth lives in England and has long been drawn to old buildings and the stories they tell. After moving with her family into a weathered countryside house, she learned how patience, care, and curiosity can slowly bring a place to life. Living there meant listening, noticing small changes, and understanding that homes are shaped over time.
Rosie and the Old House is her first children’s book, inspired by those experiences and by the idea that paying attention can help us see familiar places in new ways
Connect with Elizabeth
Instagram: elizabethdawnwilson
Goodreads:
www.goodreads.com
Purchase Links:
www.amazon.co.uk
We are but dust and shadows is the motto on the sundial in the garden at Blackthorn Manor. The past haunts the family living there.
When Robert Landimor, a famous painter, dies suddenly, he leaves his estate, including Blackthorn Manor, to his housekeeper, Mary, disinheriting his three daughters, Lucia, Izzy, and Sara in the process. No one understands why.
Sara attempts to find answers, but only uncovers buried secrets about their father and his family instead.
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Then, the body of a woman is discovered in the lake on the Manor’s grounds, leaving Sara and her sisters to face terrible danger.
Ghosts and the past may not be the only things haunting their family.
Fans of “Weyward” by Emilia Hart, “Wakenhyrst” by Michelle Paver, “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt, and “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson will enjoy “The House of Dust and Shadows” by Tabitha Potts.
My Review
This was a very entertaining read, though I can’t pretend I liked any of the characters very much. Of the three sisters I probably liked Lucia best. She is talented and artistic, but a lot nicer than her very talented and famous painter father, Robert Landimor. His paintings have sold for up to £500,000. But he’s a horrible man, though as we discover his childhood, we begin to understand why.
Izzy is too self-absorbed and I found it hard to empathise. She and Lucia have the same mother, Gloria Potter, a glamorous actress and model. She left him and re-married, while he married his secretary, the rather boring Jane Vaughan, with whom he had Sara. When Robert dies unexpectedly, we know that Jane is already dead.
The House of Dust and Shadows works in a number of ways. It is a contemporary Gothic mystery set mainly in 2016, but we go back and forth through Robert’s (and those of a few others) paintings. They give us background and context. It’s also a whodunnit if you believe Robert’s death is suspicious. Finally it revolves around Blackthorn Manor, an old decrepit house which Robert has left to his housekeeper, Mary, thus disinheriting his three daughters. Being a Gothic mystery, there has to be a crumbling mansion. That goes without saying.
I love a Gothic mystery and The House of Dust and Shadows did not disappoint. The twist at the end was unexpected, the outcome even more unexpected. In fact I was really shocked.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Tabitha recently received an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize and in 2025 was longlisted for the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers Prize. Several of her stories have been published in print anthologies. She completed an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck and has a First in English Language and Literature from Oxford University. In her spare time, she runs Story Radio Podcast, a literary podcast. She lives in London with her family and Tamaskan dog Flin.
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