+ abuse, audio book, Australia, child abduction, crime fiction, family, fiction, grief, loss, marriage, motherhood, review, Scotland, secrets, superstition
Stranger in the Woods by Anni Taylor
Photographer Isla Wilson is thrilled she’s landed her dream job, but the clients who hired her are getting stranger by the day.
It sounded so perfect – a month‘s assignment at the misty, sprawling Scottish Highlands property of brilliant architect Alban McGregor, and his wife, Jessica.
But deep in the woods, there is a chilling playhouse.
Two years ago, the McGregors’ daughter, Elodie, died after being abducted and taken there. Alban refuses to knock the playhouse down, and he keeps a picture of it on his wall.
Isla senses that both Alban and Jessica are keeping terrible secrets.
The closer Isla comes to getting answers about Elodie, the more the danger mounts. And with a dense cover of snow now blanketing the town, all chance of escape might already be gone.
My Review
First of all let me say that I really enjoyed listening to Stranger in the Woods on Audible, but I can’t say I didn’t have some issues. It started off OK, with Sydney-based, professional photographer Isla having had a seizure on a boat during a shoot and almost drowning, deciding to take a dream job in Scotland. She has never been abroad before.
Her mother tries to dissuade her but she is determined to go. The job is to photograph an architect and his family – the same family whose daughter Elodie was abducted and killed. I already had misgivings – surely there was a photographer in the UK who could do the job?
Isla is met by assistant Greer and installed in the cottage near the house designed by Alban McGregor, who is the talented architect looking for a portfolio of his work. The family is a bit strange, especially Alban’s wife Jessica. We know there will be secrets, lots of them. Then Isla goes to a neighbour’s house where she meets Troy who insists she knows him. In fact he claims they had a relationship two years ago. And this is where it all got a bit far-fetched.
I won’t say any more, but I felt there were too many things going on and it all got a bit confusing. Sometimes I was just ‘No way’.
Also, hearing from Elodie’s voice while she is being abducted and in a ‘coma’ made me very uncomfortable, as did Jessica leaving an eight-year-old alone in the middle of nowhere while she went out to get potatoes.
About the Author
Anni Taylor writes thrillers for readers who love deep, twisty plots that surprise. She lives by the beach north of Sydney, Australia, with her partner and sons and little fluffy (sometimes scruffy) dog – where she concocts her stories. Her most recent gig before becoming a full-time author in 2016 was as a Features’ Writer & Community Manager for Fairfax Media, Australia.
+ abuse, crime fiction, fiction, Iceland, Iceland noir, murder, murder mystery, review, Scandi noir, secrets, sisters
Black As Death (An Áróra Investigation Book #5) by Lilja Sigurðardóttir translated by Lorenza Garcia
The haunting final chapter to an award-winning series…
And a final reckoning…
With the fate of her missing sister, Ísafold, finally uncovered, Áróra feels a fragile relief as the search that consumed her life draws to a close. But when Ísafold’s boyfriend – the prime suspect in her disappearance – is found dead at the same site where Ísafold’s body was discovered, Áróra’s grip on reality starts to unravel … and the mystery remains far from solved.
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To distract herself, she dives headfirst into a money-laundering case that her friend Daníel is investigating. But she soon finds that there is more than meets the eye and, once again, all leads point towards Engihjalli, the street where Ísafold lived and died, and a series of shocking secrets that could both explain and endanger everything…
My Review
Black As Death is Book 5 and the final episode in the Áróra Investigation series. We have followed Áróra as she tries to discover what happened to her sister Ísafold, but we now know that she is dead, her body found in a suitcase inside a fissure on the Reykjanes peninsular. Believing that her boyfriend Björn killed her, it came as a surprise when his body was also found in the same place.
Their relationship was turbulent, Björn regularly beating her up, gaslighting her, and making her believe she was stupid. All the time Björn was dealing in drugs, eventually persuading Ísafold to steal tablets from the residents of the old people’s home where he made her get a job.
We are also introduced to other characters including Sturla, another drug dealer, one of his ‘boys’ called Felix, and the owners of a seemingly successful chain of coffee shops called Kaffiko Ltd. Except that the coffee shops are making too much money compared to their actual trade, and Áróra helps her now boyfriend police officer Daniel to investigate the irregularities. Then there is Grimur, whose strangeness has been discussed in previous books. He is Ísafold’s neighbour and is very protective of her.
The saddest part of the story is when we hear from Ísafold herself, as she tells us about Björn, her fear of being beaten and abused, how she has to hide in the bathroom when he’s been drinking, but how she still loves him. No matter how many times Áróra tells her to leave him, she can’t. Áróra gave up on her a long time ago, Ísafold tells us.
This whole series has been exceptional. There are always exciting stories – the supernatural element in Book 4 was my favourite – at the forefront of the books, but Ísafold’s disappearance simmers away in the background until we get the final resolution in Black As Death.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Icelandic crime writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in
Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written eleven crime
novels, including Snare, Trap and Cage, making up the Reykjavík Noir trilogy, and her standalone
thriller Betrayal, all of which have hit bestseller lists worldwide. Snare was longlisted for the CWA
International Dagger, Cage won Best Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year and was a Guardian Book
of the Year, and Betrayal was shortlisted for the prestigious Glass Key Award and won Icelandic
Crime Novel of the Year. The film rights for the Reykjavík Noir trilogy have been bought by
Glassriver. Cold as Hell, the first book in the An Áróra Investigation series, was published in the
UK in 2021 and was followed by Red as Blood, White as Snow and Dark as Night. TV rights to the
series have been bought by Studio Zentral in Germany. Lilja lives in Reykjavík with her partner and
a brood of chickens.
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, Detective novel, fiction, kidnapping, murder mystery, mystery, police drama, police procedural, psycopath, review, serial killer
Gallery Of The Dead by Chris Carter (Robert Hunter #9)
‘Thirty-seven years in the force, and if I was allowed to choose just one thing to erase from my mind, what’s inside that room would be it.’
That’s what a LAPD Lieutenant tells Detectives Hunter and Garcia of the Ultra Violent Crimes Unit as they arrive at one of the most shocking crime scenes they have ever attended.
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In a completely unexpected turn of events, the detectives find themselves joining forces with the FBI to track down a serial killer whose hunting ground sees no borders; a psychopath who loves what he does because to him murder is much more than just killing – it’s an art form.
Welcome to The Gallery of the Dead.
My Review
Welcome to post number nine on this fab #blogathon. I will be reviewing one book per month.
I’ve always said that the Robert Hunter series gets better and better, but with Book 9, Gallery Of The Dead, we have jumped into a different realm. Book 8 was not my personal favourite, especially after the brilliance of Book 6, An Evil Mind, but I think we may even have outdone that one. I’m also glad that the victims are not all young, attractive women, as that makes me slightly uncomfortable.
In Gallery Of The Dead, Robert and sidekick Carlos Garcia must work with two FBI agents. It doesn’t start off well as Garcia and Agent Fisher take an instant dislike to each other. The suspense is at times unbearable, and I just couldn’t stop reading. Just a bit more, and a bit more. Is that the time? Good thing I’m retired.
The first victim’s body is discovered in her own home and is one of the most shocking scenes Robert and Garcia have ever witnessed. But is this the killer’s first victim? The FBI are already tracking someone that may be the same killer. However, the victims have no connection to each other. Different ages, different sexes and discovered in three separate states. And it seems that the method of killing has less relevance than the victims themselves. But what links them?
There are clues, like the messages left in Latin, but what do they mean? It looks like the killer is creating works of art, his own ‘gallery of the dead’, but we don’t know whether the setting is the art, or the victims themselves. Everyone has a theory, but they could all be wrong.
Agent Fisher is an interesting character, moody, acerbic, and forthright to the point of rudeness. The FBI works alone, and while she admires Hunter’s brilliant mind, she treats Garcia like an unwanted addition to the ‘team’. But they must all work together before the killer finds his next target. And they have no idea who or where that might be.
Gallery Of The Dead is so sophisticated and well-plotted, and I got my wish with Hunter, say no more. And that ending! That taster of what’s to come in the next book Hunting Evil! I can’t wait.
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
MEET YOUR NEW FAVOURITE DETECTIVE.
Detective Norman is out of retirement and back on the beat in a rainy Welsh seaside town. Llangwelli might be short on sunshine, but it’s certainly not short on murders . . .
Norman may seem a bit old-fashioned, but he’s always willing to learn from his band of misfit recruits.
A body in the forest. An ancient pagan ritual. A baffling mystery.
On Halloween night, the body of a young woman is discovered buried in a shallow grave in the Dragon Forest, a popular local beauty spot. The only clue to her identity is the number 37 tattooed on the sole of her foot.
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Detective Norman’s new boss, Acting Superintendent Evans, is convinced the murder is connected to a group of pagans who were performing a secret ritual in the forest that night. Norman’s not so sure. The one thing he does know is that he’d make much faster progress without the insufferable Evans breathing down his neck.
Something is off about this case. Norman knows he’s missing something important — but he can’t seem to see the wood for the trees.
Then the discovery of a second body in the woods turns everything on its head.
My Review
If I said this was great fun and an entertaining read, that would probably sound inappropriate for a book that involves murder, people trafficking and pagan worship. But what makes it so entertaining is the banter between DS Norman Norman, his boss DI Sarah Southall and the other members of the team, plus their total dismay at the attitude of Acting Superintendent DCI Evans who is the temporary stand-in for DCI Bain, who is recovering from an operation. It seems like Evans wants to get rid of both Bain and Norman in case they affect his ambitions.
A Body In The Forest is the seventh book in the West Wales Murder Mysteries series and the first one for me, though it can be read as a standalone. I was attracted to the book because of the number 37 tattooed on the first victim’s ankle. I like anything that may involve witchcraft, symbols and strange carvings (often into the body itself) but this turned out to be something quite different. Evans, however, is convinced that it’s connected to the pagan rituals carried out a few times a year, especially because of the location of the body – Dragon Forest is a place of myth and mystery – and the fact that it’s Halloween. Evidence be damned!
DNA shows that the victim was probably from the Middle East, which makes identifying her almost impossible if she was here illegally. However, when a second body is discovered, that proves to be easier, but the MO is totally different, so are they even connected? Norman and his band of merry men (and women) have their own ideas, which don’t sit well with Evans.
At the time of the first murder, six teenage friends were celebrating Halloween, but there was also a seventh, who could be key to the whole mystery. It’s all very complicated or so it seems.
It’s a great read and the characters of Norman and Southall are as endearing as Evans isn’t. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Peter Ford always dreamed of becoming a writer, but a dream is easily stifled without support from those around you. It was only when his old, unhappy life fell apart and he met his new partner (now wife) Mary, who believed dreamers should be encouraged, that he finally got the chance to live that dream. Fast forward a few years and you find a man transformed.
Now, blissfully happy, settled in a quiet corner of Wales with wife Mary and their rescue dogs, P.F. Ford is living proof that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.
Where can you find them?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PFFordAuthor
Website: https://pfford.com/
Book Links
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240349998-a-body-in-the-forest
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/bodyinforest-zbt
Ragnar Jónasson’s iconic, multi-million-copy bestseller, Snowblind, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a glittering new edition, including a never-before published prequel, Fadeout…
Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors – accessible only via a small mountain tunnel.
Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik – with a past that he’s unable to leave behind. When a young woman is found lying half- naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in the local theatre, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life.
An avalanche and unremitting snowstorms close the mountain pass, and the 24- hour darkness threatens to push Ari over the edge, as curtains begin to twitch, and his investigation becomes increasingly complex, chilling and personal. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness – blinded by snow, and with a killer on the loose…
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Fadeout
When Ari Thór Arason receives a staggeringly high bill for a foreign credit card that was taken out in his name, his life takes a turn he never anticipated. The bill in question belongs to his namesake – his father, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances when Ari was only a child.
Seeking answers, Ari Thór travels to London to investigate, hoping to learn the truth about what happened to his father all those years ago, and discovering far more than he could ever have imagined…
My Review
I almost wish I hadn’t read Fadeout first, because it gives the answers to many of the questions about his mother and father that Ari Thór Arason doesn’t yet know in Snowblind. I was on the blog tour for Winterkill – the last in the series – in 2021, but I can’t remember what he had discovered if anything. Winterkill was my third venture into Icelandic Noir, though not my last. It’s one of my favourite genres now and I have read many Icelandic authors.
But back to the books. My five stars goes to Snowblind, more so than Fadeout, which was great but maybe a bit overlong. It jumps back and forth from the time that Ari Thór Arason was a child when his father disappeared without a trace, and his mother died soon after – we know this much in Snowblind, but nothing more. We also discover that Ari Thór was studying Philosophy at University in Reykjavik, but changed to Theology. It was here that he met Kristin, but their relationship was a slow burner because Ari Thór spent most of his time trying to find out what had happened to his father. This was triggered after all these years by a credit card bill in his father’s name. I found it all a bit confusing to begin with, especially as so many other characters are introduced, both now and then. However, the ending is a revelation, one I would never have guessed, though looking back, perhaps I should have. There are a fair few clues along the way.
In Snowblind, Ari Thór has given up studying Theology and embarks on a career in the police force. He feels it will suit him better than being a priest. Before he has even finished his training, he lands a job in Siglufjörður, a small fishing village in Northern Iceland, where there are only two other police officers, a small population and a lot of snow. Siglufjörður was once an important part of the herring fishing industry, but the herring left Icelandic shores in the late 1960s, partly due to overfishing, a cooling of ocean temperatures, and a decline in their food source. It devastated Iceland’s economy.
Kristin is annoyed that Ari Thór took the job in Siglufjörður without discussing it with her, and he is annoyed that she isn’t supporting him. And then there is the beautiful Ugla, to whom he is irrevocably drawn.
Siglufjörður is not exactly the crime centre of Iceland, but when a young woman is found bleeding and unconscious in the snow, and an elderly author dies after falling down the stairs, Ari Thór is thrown straight into what might be a double murder investigation.
But this is an author where nothing is simple, and we are tossed about on a turbulent sea filled with red herrings (see what I did there) and false starts. When we think we’ve solved both crimes, something else crashes over us like the relentless winter storms and avalanches that turn everything on its head. It’s dark, claustrophobic and compelling in equal measures and I loved it.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Ragnar Jónasson is the award-winning Icelandic author of the international bestselling Hulda series, the Dark Iceland series, and standalone crime fiction, with five million copies sold across 36 territories. The Times selected The Darkness as one of the 100 Best Crime Novels and Thrillers since 1945, and Snowblind has been selected as one of Top 100 Crime Fiction of all time. The Times has said of his work: ‘Is this the best crime writer in the world?’ His books have been on bestseller lists across Europe and the USA, and won multiple prizes. He has also won a special jury recognition for his poetry in Iceland. Ragnar has translated fourteen of Agatha Christie’s novels into Icelandic. Ragnar was also an executive producer of the CBS Studios TV series The Darkness, based on the first novel in his Hulda series. His novel Outside is currently being developed for the screen by Ridley Scott. Ragnar has a law degree and teaches copyright law at Reykjavik University. He also serves as a board member of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, and as the Deputy Chair of the Writers’ Union of Iceland.
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.
Helsinki, 1982. Recently divorced postal worker Ilmari Nieminen has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but with six days to go – and no money – he’s desperate.
A last-minute job offers a solution: transport a valuable antique sofa to Kilpisjärvi, the northernmost town in Finland.
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With the sofa secured in the back of his van, Ilmari stops at a gas station, and an old friend turns up, offering to fix his faulty wipers, on the condition that he tags along. Soon after, a persistent Saab 96 appears in the rearview mirror. And then a bright-yellow Lada.
That’s when Ilmari realises that he is transporting something truly special.
And that’s when Ilmari realises he might be in serious trouble…
My Review
I love that the ‘heroes’ of the author’s books all have mundane jobs. In The Adventure Park trilogy, our intrepid hero Henri Koskinen was an actuary, who had inherited the YouMeFun theme park with all the drama that ensued. Not a spy, or a detective, or a brain surgeon, but basically an accountant. Then in The Burning Stones, Anni Korpinen sold saunas. And not even the whole flaming thing, just the stove.
In The Winter Job, it’s 1982 when we meet postal worker Ilmari Nieminen. There’s nothing special about him. Recently divorced, he wants to buy his daughter a piano for Christmas, but he doesn’t have enough money, so he agrees to deliver a sofa to Kilpisjärvi, the northernmost town in Finland. The sofa is admittedly a valuable antique, but surely it’s not valuable enough for the chase that follows.
Firstly, there’s the Lada, a really old-fashioned looking car made in the Soviet Union. It came in a variety of colours, including a bright lemon yellow. Driven by two mismatched communists, Anneli and Erkki, they want to use the sofa to raise money for their cause. But they are also being pursued by crazy Otto in his Saab 96, who has a different agenda. What does he know that they don’t? Something crucial of course. And don’t get in his way if you want to stay alive. Ilmari teams up with his old school friend Antero, but can he trust him? Or does Antero have his own agenda?
It’s often very dark, very gruesome, and very funny, all at the same time. And the method of killing the man who stole his leather jacket at a party is almost as bad as the first murder in The Burning Stones, which will remain branded on my memory for years to come. Antti Tuomainen’s books are unique in their humour and weirdness – once read, never forgotten. And again, the translation is perfectly seamless.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. In 2011, his third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Novel and shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards and now a Finnish TV series. Palm Beach, Finland (2018) and Little Siberia (2019) were shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The Rabbit Factor, the first book in the trilogy will soon be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell for Amazon Studios, and the first two books were international bestsellers. Antti lives in Helsinki with his wife.
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.
Grandad keeps forgetting more and more, and I worry that soon … he will forget me too.
But I know that he loves me and we can still have lots of fun, even if our treasured times together will only stay in my memories.
Genre: Children’s Fiction 3-9 Years
Publisher: HB Publishing
Number of pages: 40
Remember for you, is based on Nadine Holland’s own experiences with her beloved Dad and wanting to help her daughter understand. Her hope now is that this book will help other children and provide a space for them to express their feelings around Alzheimer’s.
My Review
What a beautiful and moving story. Granddad is starting to forget things, like the route to places he’s been visiting for years, and the words to songs. Soon it seems that granddad is forgetting more and more.
He can’t recollect the things he knew the day before. What if granddad forgets her? Will he still love her?
Mummy tells her not to worry, that you can still have fun together, and even though he may forget, it will still be in your memory.
I personally have no experience of dementia, but for those who do, this is such a wonderful way to explain to children how it can affect them and their relationship with an older relative. I hope it never affects me or my loved ones, but this book is there if it ever does.
Congratulations to Nadine for writing something so poignant and meaningful.
Link to the audio book on You Tube
Many thanks to Hygge Book Tours for inviting me to be part of the #RememberForYou #blogtour
Social Media Handles
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+ audio book, audio drama, family, family drama, fiction, Historical fiction, literature, review, siblings, sisters, Victorian Britain
The Household by Stacey Halls
In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women.
The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common – they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life – but how badly do they want it?
Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, discovers that her stalker of 10 years has been released from prison . . .
As the women’s worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price . . .
The Household is the new novel from the award-winning, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars , The Foundling and Mrs England. Set against Charles Dicken’s home for fallen women and inspired by real figures from history, it is Stacey Halls’ most ambitious and compelling novel yet.
My Review
Another audiobook, this time from Audible, and my fourth by this author. I eagerly await her next offering.
In The Household, it is 1847, when we meet a group of women who have fallen on hard times, and ended up in prison, or working the streets. Martha is the first to arrive and seems too good and innocent to be there. I was never really sure why she was, but I adored her. Then we have Josephine and Annie, who met in prison and became really close. About to be released, they are chosen to go to Urania Cottage, where they will learn skills like baking, sewing and playing an instrument. But after a while they will travel to Australia to begin new lives. Who will want to go?
Angela Burdett-Coutts, heiress of Coutts bank, is one of the benefactors, but like celebrated author Charles Dickens, she doesn’t really understand these women and their needs. Angela has been stalked by the deranged Richard Dunn for a decade, and he has made her life hell. She discovers that he has been released after serving time in prison, and she is now terrified that it will all start again.
Urania Cottage is run by Mrs Holdsworth, who tries her best to keep the young women in check, without it seeming like another prison. Her son Frank is a frequent visitor – he is a lowly PC in the Met.
I loved this book. I loved every character (the good ones anyway), particularly Martha and Josephine. They are so well-written and their situation and wretchedness draw us in, we just want them to have a happy ending. I’m not saying anything! There are often little clues – will Frank have a romance with one of the women, will Angela find love and with whom? There is drama and sadness, women were second rate citizens, even Angela in spite of being a millionairess. For the less fortunate, a woman of high intelligence and education, being a governess was considered the pinnacle if she hadn’t ensnared a wealthy husband. The Household is a fascinating look at the lives of women in the mid 1800s.
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 was her third novel. The Household is her fourth.
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, murder, narcissist, police procedural, revenge, review, thriller
The Surgeon by John Nicholl
Your life is in his hands… Exactly where he wants it.
When an eminent surgeon is arrested for murder, he knows he didn’t do it. He knows what it’s like to feel a person die on his operating table, but he didn’t inflict the wounds that ended the life of the girl they say he killed.
So, when the real perpetrator comes forward, and he is released, he feels vindicated.
Genre: Psychological Thriller / Thriller
Pages: 266
Publisher: Boldwood Books
What nobody knows – not the officer who arrested him, nor the influencer who petitioned for his freedom, nor the girl who escaped a killer years before – is that while he was incarcerated, he was making a plan.
Because revenge is sweet. But murder is sweeter…
My Review
I found this book very unsettling and I’ve read some pretty gruesome crime thrillers. Maybe it was because we hear from the voice of the killer himself and what goes through his head is disturbing to say the least.
He has a very high opinion of himself, believing that he is superior to virtually everyone else in the world. He is intelligent, educated, wealthy, and totally barking.
We know from the beginning that he didn’t kill the girl whose body he was found bending over, his face and hands covered in her blood like some kind of demented vampire. But though he didn’t kill her, we know he is not an innocent bystander, and that either he has killed before, or plans to in the near future. In fact we know he tried and failed ten years ago and he’s not going to let that one go. Because he has a plan. His killings will be carried out for medical science, so he can study their suffering and deaths. But it’s also about revenge plain and simple.
One wonders how he ever managed to work as a surgeon without anyone spotting his lunacy, but then I suppose he managed to keep it well under wraps.
The Surgeon is a very entertaining, if graphic and terrifying book. It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheSurgeon blog tour.
About the Author
John Nicholl is a Welsh author renowned for his gripping psychological thrillers and crime novels. Born and raised in West Wales, Nicholl draws upon his experiences as a former police officer, child protection social worker, and lecturer to craft compelling narratives that delve into the darkest corners of human nature. His work often explores themes of justice, psychological manipulation, and the resilience of the human spirit.
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Now you see a murder, now you don’t…
The Golden Age of Hollywood, 1938. It’s the annual Awards Banquet at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, and Vivian Steele can’t wait for the star-studded event. She’s attending with her best friend, Carole Lombard, and several acclaimed actresses will be wearing her fashion designs. What she doesn’t expect is for the night to turn deadly.
During the awards ceremony, Carole finds an actress stabbed to death in the restroom. She quickly alerts the staff, but when they return, they can’t find a body. An hour later, another guest screams bloody murder that an actor drowned in the pool outside. Again, the body disappears.
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While the guests have a good laugh, Vivian is convinced the murders took place and reluctantly asks Preston Stone, Hollywood’s notorious playboy, for his help in proving her suspicions.
Together, they uncover a sinister killer who has mastered the art of illusion and set his sights on two Oscar-winning stars. Can Vivian and Preston stop the killer in time…and without revealing their well-kept secrets?
A Bloody Banquet is the second book in this exciting new 1930s Stone & Steele mystery series starring a great cast of characters ranging from the rich and famous to Bella and Boris, the canine costars, and a few other endearing folks. (A pretty clean read – series or standalone)
My Review
Our intrepid heroes are back in book two in the exciting new series – the Stone & Steele Mysteries. And of course Bella, the Boston Terrier, and her friend, Boris, the giant Saint Bernard are back too. They are part of the book’s attraction for me as a dog lover. Since reviewing book one I got a Jack Russell puppy, who is about the same size as Bella, so ALL her doggy friends are bigger than her, though not as big as Boris.
But I digress. Vivian is best friends with the film star Carole Lombard. They are at an awards ceremony at The Cocoanut Club, when Carole discovers a dead woman in the Ladies Restroom. But when they return to investigate the body has disappeared. Was it ever there or did Carole imagine it? But then another guest discovers a body floating in the swimming pool, which also mysteriously vanishes. No-one believes them of course, but Vivian is not so sure. It’s not like her friend to make things up.
One of the things I love about this series is the real life film stars that feature in the stories. Actors like Clark Gable, who was famously married to Carole Lombard until her premature death in 1942 in a plane crash (historical fact not a spoiler), Bette Davies and Spencer Tracy. Their involvement in the plot of course is entirely fictional.
Preston Stone and Vivian Steele still dislike each other, though we know they don’t really. Vivian is a dress designer to the stars, while Preston is a wealthy playboy. He’s everything she hates, but they still make a great team as he is always reminding her. And then there are Nick and Barney, who help Preston with his investigations. It’s a great series, full of excitement and intrigue and I look forward to book three.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Award-winning author Gail Meath writes historical romance novels that will whisk you away to another time and place in history where you will meet fascinating characters, both fictional and real, who will capture your heart and soul. Meath loves writing about little or unknown people, places and events in history, rather than relying on the typical stories and settings.
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+ 1950s, alcoholism, bullying, childhood, family, family drama, fiction, marriage, motherhood, review
The Butterfly Bush by Josephine DeFalco (Book 1 of The Butterfly Series)
Growing up and figuring out who you are has never been easy. It’s the early 1950s, and following her husband’s death in WWII, Leandra’s mama yanks her off the family’s Appalachian farm to fulfill her personal dream to live in a big city.
Leandra, only thirteen years old, learns that survival is best accomplished by pushing aside her country identity to fit into city life.
After high school graduation her rich city boyfriend makes plans to start college while she struggles to find work and juggle family issues. Mama turns to alcohol to ease her disappointment with her new husband, while Leandra is left to look after her little brother burdened with troubles of his own.
In time she discovers she doesn’t belong in the big city or the country. As her Appalachian ways call her to heart, drawing her back to Mamaw, Papaw, the butterfly bush, and home, she must follow her journey to the end. But what her journey reveals will remain both a mystery and surprise–especially to Leandra.
My Review
I loved Leandra as a character. I felt every sympathy for her living a life that is totally out of my experience. It’s the early 1950s, just before I was born, and Leandra is still a child. Her father was killed in the war and she lives with his parents, whom she calls Papaw and Mamaw, and her mama. She has a little brother Ray, who is a bit ‘slow’.
Everything is fine until mama starts dating, and finally decides to marry Roger, and move with him to New York. The children are understandably devastated. They don’t want to leave their grandparents, their home or the butterfly bush which means so much to them.
Life is very different in the city, and it takes a while for Leandra to get used to it, but she makes friends with some girls at school, an Italian boy named Sal, their neighbour Mrs Scuderi and of course the boys who are not averse to her looks.
But for Ray it’s another matter. Sent to a Catholic school, he struggles with every aspect. He finds anything academic beyond him and is bullied and told he is stupid. Ray’s story is so sad, as no-one apart from Leandra seems to understand his unhappiness. Nowadays, he would be sent to a specialist school, where he could be helped and encouraged, but things were very different then.
So much of Leandra’s life is sad, with her alcoholic mama, her troubled brother who she has to take care of, and the dreadful Roger. I think I would have taken Ray and gone home to Mamaw and Papaw. There is so little light in the darkness and things only get worse. I just hope Leandra finds her happiness in Book Two.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheButterflyBush blog tour.
Author bio
Josephine DeFalco loves to tell a good tale. With three adult children and their children, a multitude of pets and wild things in her life, she finds ample material for her stories. A degreed dietitian, she worked in public health and wrote for Arizona Woman Magazine for ten years, before returning to college to become a registered nurse and EMT. She will rescue anything with fur, feathers, or skin as long as it promises not to bite. That includes humans. Jo divides her time between an urban farm in Arizona and a rural farm in Wisconsin, growing much of the food her family eats. This resulted in two books on food preservation which supports her drive to teach others food gardening, health and nutrition. Her Facebook page, BestLittleOrganicFarm, is filled with photos, stories, and information on gardening. Born and raised in Arizona, the southwest desert inspired her first historical novel, The Nightbird’s Song, reflecting on the hardships of the early desert settlers. Her first series includes The Butterfly Bush and The Butterfly’s Secret, revealing her deep respect for the Appalachian families that inspired her stories.
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The jungle watches. The dead remember.
The virgin rainforest seems a paradise to Englishman Simon Corbett. A last chance to salvage his career. A final refuge from a terrible secret.
But the jungle is no Eden. It hides secrets of its own. It does not forgive.
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As Simon is drawn deeper into its haunted shadows, he learns to his horror that the past will not stay buried. For there are places in the forest where the line between the living and the dead is thinner than the skin of water.
A terrifying supernatural tale from Sunday Times bestseller Michelle Paver, author of Dark Matter, Thin Air and Wakenhyrst.
My Review
I’ve only read one book by this author – Wakenhyrst – which was brilliant, so I knew this would be too. But oh what an unlikable main character and narrator! Simon Corbett really is a creep and a stalker and the fact that this is set in the early 1970s is no excuse. Things were different then? My era – and no they weren’t.
Simon has never had a relationship before, but he falls head over heels in love with a girl called Penelope, around twenty years his junior. She’s bright, young and fashionable, and while she is happy to have the odd coffee with Simon, she is not looking for a relationship with him. But he won’t let go. We know something awful happened, but we only learn about it gradually throughout the book.
It’s why he fled England to join an archaeological dig for three months in a virgin rainforest in Mexico. It was the home of the Mayans, who left their mark on the jungle, and the Yachikel Indians still live there. But Simon is not interested in archaeology or Mayan superstition – he’s there to collect mantids – hoping to find a new species that will give him tenure at a university. His methods include fogging the great ceiba (kapok) tree, but it kills other forms of wildlife in the process. The Yachikel are not best pleased.
The sense of impending horror is one that creeps slowly and insidiously – it never jumps out at you or provides instant shock value, but it’s there all the same. There were times when Simon and most of his colleagues like Ridley and Birkenshaw were so vile that I even hoped the howler and spider monkeys, which Simon dislikes intently, would get them.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Born in Malawi to a Belgian mother and a father who ran the tiny Nyasaland Times, Michelle Paver moved to the UK when she was three. She was brought up in Wimbledon, and following a Biochemistry Degree from Oxford University, she became a partner in a big City law firm. She gave up the City to follow her long-held dream of becoming a writer. Successfully published as an adult author, the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness (“Wolf Brother”) were her first books for younger readers, followed by her brilliant 5-part series set in the bronze age, Gods and Warriors. On the adult side, her first ghost story, Dark Matter, was a UK bestseller and won massive praise from reviewers and readers alike, as did her supernatural novels, Thin Air and Wakenhyrst.
