When a young boy endangers himself to save a mermaid, he never could have imagined the unexpected result of his actions.
Genre: Children’s fiction ages 4-8 Years
Pages: 15
It turns out one good deed deserves another.
My Review
When Douglas Ridge, who was very, very mean, captures a mermaid with the darkest hair and the greenest eyes that the young boy had ever seen, he boasts that she will make him a fortune.
But the boy is a kind and sensitive soul, and he saw the mermaid’s fear. So while Douglas and his mates are out of the room, he freed her and ‘scooped her up into his arms and held her to his chest’. He then released her back into the sea. And that was that, or was it?
But what happened many years later is at the heart of the book. I shall leave you to read it for yourselves.
It’s a lovely story with a message about kindness and karma, and it teaches children how when you help someone out who is in trouble, you may be repaid with a favour when you are in trouble yourself.
The illustrations are colourful and striking and will appeal to children of all ages.
Many thanks to Hygge Book Tours for inviting me to be part of #TheYoungMermaid #blogtour
Meet the Author
Diagnosed with dyslexia when I was 5 years old, I struggled at school until I discovered my love of books and started to learn how to read at 11. I have since published over 6 books including my Faraday Bear & Friends book series. Away from the desk I enjoy surfing, collecting badges and autographs and playing the guitar.
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+ audio book, audio drama, childhood, family, family drama, fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, literature, review, secrets, siblings, sisters, Yorkshire
Mrs England by Stacey Halls
West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs.
But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there’s something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ruby is forced to confront her own demons in order to prevent history from repeating itself. After all, there’s no such thing as the perfect family – and she should know.
Simmering with slow-burning menace, Mrs England is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, weaving an enthralling story of men and women, power and control, courage, truth and the very darkest deception. Set against the atmospheric landscape of West Yorkshire, Stacey Halls’ third novel proves her one of the most exciting and compelling new storytellers of our times.
My Review
I got this audiobook from Borrowbox. It’s such a great service from the library and it’s free. Plug for our libraries, but let’s get on with the book itself.
As you know Gothic mystery / horror is one of my favourite genres, particularly the ones where an often feisty governess (in this case she’s a children’s nurse) takes a job at a remote house in the countryside. It’s spooky with shadows on the walls of corridors and messages written on mirrors, and the master is dark and broody. And handsome – obviously. The mistress is often ill (or dead) or locked in the attic (think Jane Eyre). Or supposed to be dead, but lives in the attic. But I digress.
In Mrs England, we have most of these things. Except Lilian England is very much alive, but she’s fragile, forgets things, and walks in her sleep. Her family is very rich and powerful. Mr England, however, is in charge of the house and the mill.
Ruby May, her previous family having moved to America and she didn’t want to emigrate with them because of her own family, takes a job looking after four children, Decca, Saul, Millie and baby Charlie, in deepest Yorkshire. She particularly gels with eleven-year-old Decca, who is intelligent and thoughtful.
Ruby is from Birmingham and the book is narrated from her point of view. I love the narrator’s accent. Ruby has devoted her life to being a nanny, rather than marriage and children of her own. Her feelings towards Mr England trouble her.
It’s initially a slow burn, but then it becomes mysterious and scary and I loved it more and more. I adored The Foundling, and I am now on the waiting list for The Familiars, the author’s first novel.
About the Author
Stacey Halls was born in Lancashire and worked as a journalist before her debut The Familiars was published in 2019. The Familiars was the bestselling debut hardback novel of that year, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards’ Debut Book of the Year. The Foundling, her second novel, was also a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. Mrs England is her third novel.
How would you cope if your dog suddenly became disabled after an accident?
This is the situation Jo Sellers found herself in when her beloved dog Reba ran into a tree in her garden in the dark. She found herself in her worst nightmare, with her dog hanging onto life by a thread, with a broken neck making her body unresponsive. From that moment, her world turned upside down and she has chronicled her emotional journey from the moment of the accident, the surgical interventions, and the long process of helping her dog heal not only from the physical injuries, but the emotional ones too.
Publisher: Green Cat Books
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 156 including images
She is an expert in canine separation anxiety, but had never had to nurse a dog back to health before. Follow Jo through the steps she took to adapt to her dog’s changing needs, how she helped to teach her dog to stand and walk again, and how you can find inspiration from any similar situation of rehabilitating a dog after spinal injury.
My Review
One Paw At A Time is written in diary form. Each day we follow Reba’s progress from quadriplegic to restored mobility (up to a point). It’s a miraculous journey for both dog and owner.
Following Reba’s horrific accident in the garden, the operation to stabilise her neck, and the extended stay at the vet hospital, Jo has to now rehabilitate her beloved dog at home. She must perform the daily physio, provide reassurance as Reba is very distressed, help with the toileting, and cope with sleepless nights.
Initially Reba is on pain medication and sedatives, and has no control over her bladder or bowels. She cannot walk at all, so Jo must carry her everywhere. This is taking a toll on Jo’s health, she is exhausted, and has a bad back from the weight of the dog. She does have friends and family who come round to help her.
Slowly but surely, Reba begins to get better. As she becomes stronger and her mobility improves, she is less distressed. Jo cannot leave her alone in case she has another accident, and the soaring costs of the vet bills and therapy sessions are impacting on Jo’s finances. She has exceeded the insurance pay out, used all her savings, and is unable to take on work as before. But Reba comes first.
When I said I would read this book, I thought it would be heartbreaking and that I would be crying all the way through. In fact it is uplifting (once you get past Reba’s initial distress), and the strength of both pup and owner shine through. I hope we’ll get an update on Reba’s progress in due course.
About the Author
Jo Sellers is an award winning ABTC Accredited Trainer and a Certified Separation Anxiety Behaviourist. Pippin Pets Dog Training was established in 2015 at the same time her dog Reba joined the family. This cheeky Cocker Spaniel/Bichon Frise crossbreed led her to specialise in Separation Anxiety after helping Reba overcome her fear of being home alone.
Helping dogs overcome Separation Anxiety is now the principal part of her business and online support for other trapped at home owners, and she has helped hundreds of other dogs and owners.
In 2024, Reba’s freak accident shook her world, and a long road of recovery loomed ahead. She took on the challenge, learning about dog’s biology and motion, the various rehabilitation therapies, and alongside the many specialists, helped her dog to learn to walk again.
Jo regularly studies and learns from other amazing professionals to keep up to date and learn new skills and techniques in order to provide her clients with the best support and guidance.
Many thanks to Hygge Book Tours for inviting me to be part of #OnePawAtATime #blogtour
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+ family, fiction, love, Magical realism, marriage, review, romance, speculative
The Color of Dreams by Michael Zajaczkowski Readalong
What if the key to saving your dreams—and your family—came in the form of a tiny, mystical angel?
Ben Davidson’s life is unraveling. He loses his job unexpectedly, his family is slipping away, and the dream he once shared with his father is on the verge of collapse. Just when it seems like all hope is lost, a magical encounter with a glowing little angel reveals six powerful spiritual truths. Will it be enough to help Ben turn his life around before it’s too late?
Set in the late 1980s in the Pacific Northwest, The Color of Dreams weaves an enchanting tale of perseverance, love, and the mystical forces that shape our reality. As Ben embarks on a journey of self-discovery, the angel teaches him lessons that challenge his deepest fears and awaken his long-buried faith in himself.
In this life-affirming novel, readers will be drawn into Ben’s journey as he learns:
- How dreams are born from a higher source
- Why thoughts become reality
- The power of choosing faith over fear
- How to “Imagine better than the best you know”
- How to trust the “why” of your dreams and let the “how” unfold
- And most of all, how to help others by letting your inner light shine
Will Ben be able to apply these life-changing lessons to rebuild his broken life, rekindle his family’s love, and revive the dream he thought was lost? With heartfelt moments of inspiration and a touch of metaphysical magic, The Color of Dreams is a soul-stirring story that reminds us of the power of believing in ourselves and the beauty of second chances.
Perfect for fans of metaphysical fiction, spiritual transformation, and heartwarming stories of redemption, this novel will leave you inspired to chase your own dreams and embrace the possibilities of life’s unseen magic.
My Review
When I started reading The Color of Dreams and the angel was introduced, my first thought was I can’t deal with this. I don’t believe in angels, or manifesting or any of that stuff. But I was enjoying the story, and though both Ben and Em needed a kick up the bum, I loved the kids and of course Sadie the dog and Oreo the cat.
When Sadie was getting weaker and the angel was relaying to Ben what the dog was thinking (I hope that’s not a spoiler), I was crying buckets. When we lost our 17 year old Jack Russell three and a half years ago, she had dementia and was in severe distress. We knew it was time. We sat with her on the grass, the sun was shining, and the vet gave her an injection. You could tell she was at peace. I’d have loved an angel to tell me how she felt.
I’m still not sure whether the angel was real, or allegorical.
I love Ben’s relationship with his father and how after years of bitterness towards him for giving up on Ben’s dream, they can finally let go and rebuild their relationship. Ben also helps his neighbour’s grandson Toby, who is going off the rails because he has no focus, but Ben teaches him all about making the mailboxes and he is totally changed. I was surprised though that he was only 13!
A couple of things mystified me though. Em’s family are very wealthy, but apart from doing expensive sounding things with the grandchildren, they don’t help out financially at all. Seemed pretty mean to me. If they had helped, maybe Em would have been more supportive of Ben’s ambitions. We also stopped hearing about Ben’s mum – was she still around? As for Ryan – just don’t get me started.
At the end of the book there are some discussion points including one about the six lessons. The third lesson asks us Fear or Faith? I suppose this is the one that will stick with me. Because Ben is driven by fear and Em has no faith in him. It’s not a good relationship. It also asks if I could spend one day with the angel, what would I ask her? Well that’s a simple one. I want to know what my puppy is thinking!
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheColorOfDreams readalong.
About the Author
“Imagine better than the best you know…” So begins the magical teachings in my new novel, The Color Of Dreams, which releases on May 1, 2025. Imagine if a magical visitor came to you with a chance to redeem your life, a chance to make your deepest dream come true. Could you develop the faith to chase your dream one more time? The Color Of Dreams is a story I’ve had inside me for 30 years. Now my dream is finally becoming a reality! I hope it inspires you to not only let your own dream out, but that it helps you shine your light so others can follow it to live their dreams, too.
I’m inspired by books, people, animals, nature…life itself, really. In my last book, The Owner’s Manual To Life, I collected 100 of my favorite quotes and wrote a two-page essay helping to reveal their wisdom. The subtitle of the book, “Simple Strategies to Worry Less and Enjoy Life More” sums up the intent of the book. Who doesn’t want to enjoy life more? Here a few of my favorite quotes from the book:
“Happiness is pretty simple—someone to love, something to do, something to look forward to.” –Rita Mae Brown
“We don’t need more to be thankful for, we need to be more thankful.”
“Formula for failure: try to please everyone.”
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” –Annie Dillard
If you’re looking for a book to help you find the joy in this remarkable world, to help you look beyond the occasional darkness, then check it out. I guarantee it will help you become kinder to yourself, and it will help you rediscover the point and purpose of life: to help others.
Lastly, I encourage you to visit my website, https://michaelzbooks.com/ and sign up for the quotes I send out each Wednesday. Also, you’ll find my email address there; I encourage you to send me some of your favorites as well. I always enjoy the wisdom other people have inside of them.
Until then, remember what Ruth Ann Schabacker said: “Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons.”
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+ Dogs, fiction, friends, friendship, grief, literature, loss, love
A New Life by LJ Ambrosio (Reflections of Michael Book 4)
From America to the streets of Paris, A New Life follows two friends as they navigate grief, love, and self-discovery in a city filled with history and hope.
A New Life is a story that lingers long after the last page
Excerpt
“They spent the rest of the trip talking about Rhonda and how great she was, from the fight where she tried to protect Ron to the National Cemetery where she was left behind by accident at dusk, not found until midnight.
“Louie and Ron had a chuckle over how Rhonda refused to walk on the sidewalks in Paris because of all the cigarette butts on the ground; she had to be pushed around in a baby carriage, because she did not want to burn her paws. Louie started crying, and Ron comforted him, assuring him that the pain was fine; he needed to accept it.
“Rhonda was so smart,” Louie said proudly. “Some people don’t know the relationship between an owner and their pet. It is so special, so unconditional. Rhonda will always be a part of me. It was nice to bury her here in America, her home country.”
“A while later, Ron and Louie arrived at their motel. Ron said to him, “Let’s get the luggage and go to bed. Hey, I was thinking when we get back to Paris, you should move in me with me and stop sleeping in the bookstore.”
“Louie could not believe what he heard. Sharing more time with Ron would be special; he was excited to have that time together.”
Competition
L.J. Ambrosio will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner…. via Rafflecopter
My Review
Since reading the last book, we acquired a Jack Russell puppy called Patch. She’s nearly nine months old. She makes Mikey look like a saint. She climbs like a monkey on tables and windowsills, chews everything and hides under the bed and won’t come out. Four slices of pizza would be chicken feed to her.
Jack Russell Mikey can never replace Rhonda, who Ron and Louie buried in America before exiling themselves in Paris, but Louie needed a friend as well as Ron. They learned a lot about love from Rhonda.
Louie is now living with Ron in his apartment and they are both running the Shakespeare and Company bookshop owned by Madame. Joseph, who they met on the street, is one of the ‘Tumbleweeds’ (who stay free in exchange for help in the shop), and Louie also befriends Adrian, a highly intellectual man who is unfortunately very sick, but is delighted with the friendship.
Since Lily passed away in book three, Louie has struggled with his sexuality, though he has never had a gay relationship and is not sure how he feels. Despite the freedom felt in Paris there is an underbelly of hatred towards gay men and communists in particular. Demonstrations can be dangerous for those involved.
I was interested in The Lost Generation of artists, writers and poets, like Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Hart Crane, but it was Zelda Fitzgerald’s story that really got to me. The wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald of The Great Gatsby fame, she spent much of her life in and out of mental hospitals, diagnosed with schizophrenia, but it is more likely she was bipolar. She died with eight other women locked up in Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. I hope the smoke got to her and the others before the fire consumed them.
Many thanks to Goddess Fish Promotions and the author for inviting me to be part of the review tour.
About the Author
Louis J. Ambrosio ran one of the most nurturing bi-coastal talent agencies in Los Angeles and New York. He started his career as a theatrical producer, running two major regional theaters for eight seasons. Ambrosio taught at seven universities. Ambrosio also distinguished himself as an award-winning film producer and novelist over the course of his impressive career.
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Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/exiles/id6482298566
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+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, kidnapping, murder mystery, mystery, police drama, police procedural, psycopath, review, serial killer
An Evil Mind by Chris Carter (Robert Hunter #6)
A freak accident in rural Wyoming leads the Sheriff’s Department to arrest a man for a possible double homicide, but further investigations suggest a much more horrifying discovery.
A serial killer who has been kidnapping, torturing and mutilating victims all over the United States for at least twenty-five years. The suspect claims he is a pawn in a huge labyrinth of lies and deception – can he be believed?
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The case is immediately handed over to the FBI, but this time they’re forced to ask for outside help. Ex-criminal behaviour psychologist and lead Detective with the Ultra Violent Crime Unit of the LAPD, Robert Hunter, is asked to run a series of interviews with the apprehended man. These interviews begin to reveal terrifying secrets that no one could’ve foreseen, including the real identity of a killer so elusive that no one, not even the FBI, had any idea he existed … until now.
My Review
Welcome to post number six on this fab #blogathon. I will be reviewing one book per month.
This is definitely my favourite so far, even without Garcia at Robert’s side. In An Evil Mind, Detective Robert Hunter is called by the FBI to help with a case. There’s been an accident in the car park of a diner, and the truck that was hit has a surprise in the back. A freezer containing half a ton of oven chips? Cookie dough flavoured Häagen-Dazs? No, two severed heads. After all, this is Chris Carter, what else would we expect?
The case has immediately been handed over to the FBI. They have someone in custody, but he is asking for Robert, and him alone. Who is this man and why Robert? All is soon revealed, but can he believe that the suspect is innocent, and that he was simply delivering the truck.
Robert is partnered with Special Agent Courtney Taylor, working under old adversary Adrian Kennedy, head of the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. Together they must work out if the suspect is lying, but he is like an automaton, and almost impossible to break.
A Evil Mind is quite different from Carter’s other novels, as we are examining the mind of a psychopathic serial killer, rather than looking for one. It’s terrifying. At one point I had to take a break before I could read on, because I cared about the victim. Then it happened again, but this time I also dreaded the level of violence that I knew was coming.
I really enjoyed this book and am now looking forward to the next one I Am Death which I will be reviewing on 8th September.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogathon.
About the Author
Born in Brazil of Italian origin, Chris Carter studied psychology and criminal behaviour at the University of Michigan. As a member of the Michigan State District Attorney’s Criminal Psychology team, he interviewed and studied many criminals, including serial and multiple homicide offenders with life imprisonment convictions. He now lives in London. Visit his website www.chriscarterbooks.com
A newly married couple from Harrogate purchased a manuscript from an antiquarian bookseller titled, The Universal Language Isn’t Love or Music but Loneliness.
Completed in 1940 by unknown author, William Travers, it was one of several items offered at the estate auction of a local family. Reading and discussing the work changed their lives … and their marriage.
Waking in hospital Lieutenant William Travers learns the war’s over. The Armistice has been signed.
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Physically wounded and emotionally crippled, Travers shuns convention and, armed with an alto saxophone, turns his back on America to remain in Paris. He’s a jazzman at heart, so a jazzman he’ll remain. Throughout the Roaring ‘20s and Lean ‘30s, he encounters a bevy of characters: the artists of Montparnasse; the ladies at the Paris brothel; the curator at the Musee du Luxembourg; fellow band members in Paris; the stiff-collared Edwardians and the Bright Young Things who dance at London’s Savoy Hotel; the fiery Yorkshire sheep farmer who is half-American; the hard-bitten landlady in London; and, the owner of a Soho night club – the epicentre of everything considered illegal. On the eve of the Blitz in September 1940, he decided to perform one more gig.
A parallel narrative where the three protagonists, although separated by eighty years, confront the existential meaning of life.
My Review
Peter and Fiona have discovered a manuscript at the estate auction of a local family in Knaresborough. The author Lieutenant William Travers is unknown, but they begin to read together and their views are very different. Peter is somewhat obsessed, but Fiona fails to understand why. The story then continues with the contents of the manuscript.
I really adored Will. He’s a brilliant main protagonist in the story and we live his life through his eyes, from just after the First World War until 1940. Having been shot down in his aircraft, he was injured leaving him with mental trauma, back pain and one leg three inches shorter than the other. But he’s lucky – his friends all died.
Having no family left in America, he remains in Paris where life is much freer and he can earn a living playing his alto saxophone on the streets of Montparnasse. (He played in the house band of the Sinton Hotel before signing up to fly just as the Armistice was being signed.)
During his time in Paris he plays with the daring, modern jazz band Swaneeland from America, and in a brothel where the girls all have a sad story. Eventually, after a two year relationship with the enigmatic Veronique, he moves to London where he meets half American sheep farmer Helena Bolton-Leigh.
My only reservation is that we don’t know enough about Peter and Fiona to care about their relationship or the outcome. Fiona seems pretty horrid to me.
At one point, Will meets a woman who tells him that ‘The Universal Language Isn’t Love or Music but Loneliness‘, which becomes the title of the manuscript, but I disagree. The universal language is love and if it isn’t, it should be.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Steve earned a BA and MA in history from the University of Cincinnati. After serving five years as a captain/attack helicopter pilot in the US Army’s 9th Infantry Division (1980-1985), he worked as a professional archivist and historian for twenty-five years. He has published several articles in peer-reviewed history journals in addition to three works of scholarly non-fiction including, Britain’s Battle to Go Modern: Confronting Architectural Modernisms, 1900-1925 published in 2018.
After relocating from London to the Yorkshire Dales National Park in 2014, he set himself a challenge: to write a work of fiction. His first attempt, Grey, Red, Blue … Gone was published in 2021. Steve enjoyed the process so he set his sights on a work of historical fiction hoping to incorporate his passion for history. The Manuscript is the culmination of years of research and writing concerning the period in Paris and London known as the Jazz Age. An era when syncopated music nursed by cocktails comforted the bored and disillusioned and propelled the Bright Young Things toward an uninhibited lifestyle unknown to earlier generations.
Since his early days in secondary school, Steve has been interested in the lives and published works of several notable writers of the 1920s to the early 1940s, from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Richard Aldington to Ernest Hemingway and W. Somerset Maugham. He believes their work helped define those unique and troubling decades.
He still lives in the Yorkshire Dales National Park with his wife, Suzanne, a studio potter, whom he met twenty years ago at a Chicago jazz club, and a three-year-old rescue cat named Vesper.
Book Links
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Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/manuscript-zbt
+ 1930s, 1970s, fiction, murder, review, serial killer, Shakespeare
Put Out The Light by Guy Hale readalong The Shakespeare Murders Book #3
Act III Stratford-upon-Avon, spring 1972.
On the streets of Stratford, four murders remain unsolved. For DC Toby Marlowe, there is only one potential killer: Oliver Lawrence. But nobody has seen Oliver for over fifteen years. They don’t even know what he looks like; they are chasing a shadow.
Genre: Crime Fiction
Publisher: The Bullington Press
Oliver’s first act is complete. As spring turns to summer, Act I, III is about to begin. Like Othello, he is poisoned by lies from the past. Revenge has consumed him … Now is the time to put out more lights!
My Review
This is Act III in The Shakespeare Murders series and I assumed it would be the last one (it isn’t). It is now 1972 and we are back in the police station with DS Fred Williams and his partner young DC Toby Marlowe who we met in book one The Croaking Raven. Toby has always been convinced that Oliver Lawrence (assumed dead fifteen years ago though his body was never found) is the killer, using Hamlet as his theme.
In book three, it’s more Othello, with a bit of the Scottish play thrown in for good measure (for measure – see what I did there). I’m afraid I am not as familiar with Othello, as with Hamlet which I studied for A level and have seen umpteen times, but the murders revolve around lies and revenge. Oliver believes everyone has wronged him and he is determined to get his own back. Poor old Felix is getting a bit perturbed as he is implicated, but often doesn’t approve.
Told from the point of view of both Toby and Oliver, I found the police parts the funniest in a lot of ways, the banter, Fred’s unusual methods of policing, and his use of the skills of their friend Whomper and his psychic sisters. However, Olive and Felix bounce off each other endearingly in a very dark way, and provide some truly hilarious moments.
I’m loving this series and can’t wait to read book four, and yes there are a few still alive for Oliver to bump off next time. I wonder which play it will be based on? I hope it’s not Titus Andronicus or we’ll be in for real gore fest and I definitely won’t be eating any pies.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #PutOutTheLight readalong.
About the Author
Guy Hale was born in Worcestershire, England. His first job was as a Professional Golfer. He also played Rugby and raced motorcycles until his mid-twenties. When this failed to kill him he started writing plays, mostly two handers which he performed in pubs and assorted venues with his mate, Andy.
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Detective Kate Carter is called out to a fatal car accident on a remote fen lane.
At first glance it looks like a drunk driver simply lost control and crashed headlong into a ditch. But nothing about the scene adds up.
The number plate is fake. The driver’s licence doesn’t belong to the dead man in the car. One tyre doesn’t match the other three. And what is a vinyl 1960s pop record doing in the glove box?
A neat puncture wound to the driver’s neck reveals this was no accident.
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The following day, the body of a young woman is found in an old barn out on the fens. She’s been dead at least two years. Placed on the body is another vintage pop record.
And then the nightmare becomes personal. A mysterious package arrives at the station addressed to Kate: a 45-rpm record, and a chilling note scrawled in block capitals: ONE MORE TO GO.
It’s just the start. Sinister phone calls, creepy notes left on her car, unwanted gifts on her doorstep: Kate can no longer deny that she’s being pursued by an obsessive stalker . . .
Is she next in the killer’s sights?
My Review
I really enjoyed this book. It was hugely entertaining and well written.
One More To Die is a book of two halves. First of all we have the initial murders – a body in a crashed car, the victim having a knife in the back of his neck, and a vinyl 1960s pop record found in the vehicle. The second victim has been dead for around two years and while initially there is no connection she was also killed by a knife in the neck, and another pop record is found on her.
Then we have Detective Kate Carter’s stalker, who leaves a sinister note, a box of chocolates and sings down the phone. It’s very scary and starts to affect her whole family – husband Tom, three children and their menagerie of pets. Could it be a criminal who she put away in the past out for revenge, or just someone random who has become obsessed with her? All her colleagues are standing by her and taking it very seriously.
But is there a connection between the two victims? Pathologist Cold Colin thinks so. Having been very cold (hence the nickname) and unfriendly in the past, this case has piqued his interest. He’s like a different man. Why he is so interested will become apparent as the story moves forward.
It was very exciting and I read it in two sittings. The book moves at a cracking pace, but I’d love to have known what the records were.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
“I was born in Kent but spent most of my working life in London and Surrey. I was an apprentice florist to Constance Spry Ltd, a prestigious Mayfair shop that throughout the Sixties and Seventies teemed with both royalty and ‘real’ celebrities. What an eye-opener for a working-class kid from the Garden of England! I swore then, probably whilst I was scrubbing the floor or making the tea, that I would have a shop of my own one day. It took until the early Eighties, but I did it. Sadly the recession wiped us out, and I embarked on a series of weird and wonderful jobs; the last one being a bookshop manager. Surrounded by books all day, getting to order whatever you liked, and being paid for it! Oh bliss!
“And now I live in a village in the Lincolnshire Fens with my partner, Jacqueline, and three Springer spaniels and four little rescue Breton spaniels. I had been writing mysteries for years but never had the time to take it seriously. Now I write full-time, and as my partner is a highly decorated retired police officer; my choice of genre is a no-brainer! I have an on-tap police and judicial consultant, who makes exceedingly good tea!”
“I have set my crime thrillers here in the misty fens because I sincerely love the remoteness and airy beauty of the marshlands. This area is steeped in superstitions and lends itself so well to murder!
“I am lucky enough to be one of the amazing Joffe Books team of authors and am really enjoying being able to spend time doing what I love… writing!”
It is the year 1710, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret.
One night, lost amongst the squalor of London’s hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses.
Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly’s stoic guard. When a young man is found murdered, he realises there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices.
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Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before they hang? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own forbidden love?
Set amidst the buried streets of Georgian London, The Betrayal of Thomas True is a brutal and devastating thriller, where love must overcome evil, and the only true sin is betrayal…
My Review
This book is undoubtedly a masterpiece, a modern classic, but it was hard to read at times. The way people were treated was unbelievable, with punishments as cruel as they could possibly be. The bull defies imagination. Who could come up with something like that?
Thomas True is the son of the reverend and his wife in Highgate. The reverend is a cruel man who regularly beats his own son and even puts him in the pillory to be stoned and ridiculed. Thomas eventually runs away to London where he meets first Jack and then Gabriel and becomes a patron of Mother Clap’s molly house, where gay men could be themselves, but risked execution if caught. As someone whose usual historical novel is Gothic mystery of the Victorian period, I was out of my comfort zone with Georgian England.
I’m not going to pretend I liked Thomas, in fact he was rather annoying at times. Gabriel was really the star of the show, a huge, hairy, bear of a man with a kindly heart, who fiercely protects his friends. What drew him and Thomas together still mystifies me, but together they were.
Unfortunately, the discovery that there is a ‘rat’ amongst them makes the mollies’ ‘Always Together’ motto a misnomer, as they all suspect each other and trust has been truly defenestrated.
My favourite characters, however, were the Blackguard of Alsatia, a gang of children, moving and speaking in rhyme as one, like the chorus in a Greek tragedy. In fact I did some research to find out more about them. The Blackguard were runaway orphans, but don’t think Oliver! ‘picking a pocket or two’ – they were far poorer, dirtier and more deprived, living in the worst parts of London. Brilliant.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
A.J. West’s bestselling debut novel The Spirit Engineer won the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown Award, gaining international praise for its telling of a long-forgotten true story. An award winning BBC newsreader and reporter, he has written for national newspapers and regularly appears on network television discussing his writing and the historical context of contemporary events. A passionate historical researcher, he writes at The London Library and museum archives
around the world. To connect with AJ and discover more about his research, visit www.ajwestauthor.com
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.
+ 1980s, audio book, family, fiction, ghosts, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, haunting, loss, love, review, siblings, supernatural
The Lincoln House by LB Stimson
It would be a new start – a reincarnation of sorts.
Hannah Murphy faces an uncertain future. Her aunt was dead and soon, strangers would take possession of the only home she had ever known.
When a letter arrives informing her she is the sole heir to an unknown uncle’s estate, the news seems like a Godsend.
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Days later, she finds herself on the road to New Orleans, her life in Richmond quickly fading.
Upon her arrival, she feels she has stepped into the pages of a modern-day fairy tale. However, she soon learns that in this fairy tale not all that glitters is gold.
The Lincoln House has its own rules–written and bound by blood. Will she be able to fulfill the terms of the inheritance? Why had this family been kept a secret?
My Review
The Lincoln House is written over a number of timelines, the main ones being Hannah in 1980 and her mother Jessica twenty five years earlier. Hannah was just a baby when Jessica was killed in a tragic accident and was brought up by her mother’s sister, Rose, in a house in Richmond, a town 1,000 miles away from the Lincoln House estate.
When Rose dies, Hannah is left with almost nothing and survives on her salary as an art teacher. But then she receives a letter informing her that she has inherited her uncle’s house – an uncle she didn’t even know existed. But there are strict rules and terms which she must accept, but being homeless and almost penniless, she feels she has no choice.
She packs up her meagre belongings, resigns from her job, and drives to hot, humid New Orleans, where she will have to live in the Lincoln House. It is here that she discovers that only women can inherit the estate, and that her uncle was merely the caretaker. She also ‘inherits’ the ghastly housekeeper Maud, the dodgy solicitor Basil, best friend of her even dodgier uncle, and must have her portrait painted for the Lincoln women’s gallery, and be introduced to the local community during a lavish gala.
She meets the young, attractive Lucius and falls in love. But can she trust anyone? She tells him about the sounds and the voices and the ‘ghosts’ she sees by the swamp, but he dismisses them as the noises that are always present in old houses.
This is the third novel by this author that I have listened to as an audiobook, and I love the whole Southern Gothic genre, though I feel the spookiness could have been more pronounced. I definitely preferred modern Hannah’s timeline and felt I wanted to move on from Jessica in particular.
One thing that will always remind me of this book is the song that Hannah hears in the swamp. Down to the River to Pray was popularised by Alison Krauss in the George Clooney film O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000, though it is attributed to George H. Allan in the Slave Songbook of 1867, which is appropriate for Black servants Harlan and his sister Ruthie.
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way!
O brothers let’s go down
Let’s go down, come on down
Come on brothers let’s go down
Down in the river to pray
Listen on YouTube
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
L.B. grew up in a one stop-light town in central Idaho. After earning a Bachelor of Art’s degree in cultural anthropology from California State University-Chico, she uprooted herself to begin a new life in Washington, D.C., where she began a varied career in professional communications in private business and education.
“I’ve always had a passion for photography, travel, writing, and history. I am thrilled to now be creating works of fiction that allow me to share these passions with others. One of my favorite parts of the writing process is the historical research required to bring authenticity to my characters’ lives.”
This is her fifth book and the second in her standalone series: Tales from the Parlor Room – a collection of Gothic and ghostly tales. She currently resides in Virginia where she enjoys cemetery walks, visiting abandoned and haunted places and working on more ghostly tales.
Social Media Links
Amazon Profile: www.amazon.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com
Instagram: @stimsonink
Pinterest: uk.pinterest.com
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Website: www.lbstimpson.com
Book Links
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com
Purchase Link: www.amazon.co.uk
+ brothers, community, cosy mystery, fiction, friendship, humour fiction, review, Scotland, Scottish Highlands
The Missing Links of Tannadee by Maurice Gray
Cocky American billionaire Gordon Weever has set his sights on becoming a Scottish clan chief – but there’s just one problem: he’s not even remotely qualified.
Undeterred, he sets out to manufacture his own lineage, see off his equally dubious rival, and hire a couple of crooks to make the plan stick.
But the crooks have problems of their own, not least a small, scrappy dog who holds the key to their chaotic scheme. As Weever’s desperation grows and the cons close in, the unsuspecting villagers of Tannadee rally to defend their home from ego, deception, and downright nonsense.
Packed with heart, hilarity, and Highland spirit, Missing Links in Tannadee is a joyful romp about unlikely heroes, madcap plans, and the power of community in the face of ambition run wild.
My Review
This is completely bonkers, but in a good way. When Peggy the dog is seemingly being mistreated, Chizzie Bryson, part time teacher and part time hotelier, and his mate Billy Pung kidnap (or is it rescue?) her, and hide her from the man in the blue Maserati. He turns out to be one of two brothers, a rather incompetent pair of local crooks.
Chizzie’s wife Yolanda, also happens to be the daughter of billionaire Gordon Weever, who wants to become the clan chief of the little known McShellacs. Except he’s not really a McShellach, but he’s never let something so trivial stand in his way. He recruits the lovely Erica, a historian, to help him build his claim. He’s even happy to use the brothers if necessary.
Yolanda, on the other hand, is backing Lord Tulloch, who also wants to be the clan chief, though he doesn’t want it as much as Gordon. But at least he has some claim. Confused? You will be.
So what does this have to do with Peggy? Not a lot to be honest, but the brothers need her to find a missing fortune.
Apart from all this mayhem, we have rock star Tommy Neptune, lead singer of the Luvvin’ Vulcans, who lives in one of the cottages and thinks he’s William Wordsworth, ‘wandering lonely as a daffodil….’ as he recites it. He is one of a number of weird and eccentric characters who add depth and humour to the story. I often laughed out loud in public.
It’s a great book and really funny. Probably even more so if you are familiar with Scottish highland life.
Many thanks to @LiterallyPR for inviting me to be part of #TheMissingLinksofTannadee blog tour.
About the Author
For most of his professional life Maurice Gray was a sportsturf agronomist advising venues ranging from the renowned to the very humble. Before that, he was a biology teacher in Zambia and Scotland, and was once a prize-winning sprinter on the amateur Highland Games circuit. Now retired, he is based in Perth.
Buy Links
www.amazon.co.uk
Goodreads Link
www.goodreads.com
Literally PR
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