+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, murder, police drama, police procedural, review, satanism, thriller
The Midnight Killer by Jez Pinfold
Detective Bec Pope is waiting in Heathrow departures when the call comes in: a body has been found in a quiet Bloomsbury cemetery. Her long-overdue holiday is over before it begins.
It’s no ordinary crime scene. The smartly-dressed young man hasn’t just been murdered. The killer has left a message – a pentagram, brutally carved into the dead man’s chest.
Then a second victim is discovered on a patch of scrubland in Bermondsey. Another young man, killed at midnight, just like the first.
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The same five-pointed symbol etched into his flesh.
Bec is on the hunt for a ruthless killer unlike any she’s faced before. If she is to crack the case, she must discover what the symbols mean. And why these victims were targeted.
With the press circling and the entire city on edge, Bec’s running out of time in a case that grows darker by the hour. She needs to stop the killer before midnight strikes – and another life is taken.
My Review
First of all let me say that if I was at the airport about to board a plane to New York with my family, and work rang, I would have ignored the call till I got to my destination. But Detective Bec Pope takes the call and cancels her holiday. Then her partner and his children do the same. I want to know whether they are covered by insurance, or whether the police are paying for the missed trip.
If Bec really was the only officer at the station capable of solving this case, then bring someone senior in from another force. Anyway, rant over, because this was a really good story.
In my youth I was fascinated by all things occult – weren’t we all in the 70s – seances, scary films, Dennis Wheatley books. I even studied it during my OU degree in the 2000s. Let me just say that I know a fair bit about pentagrams, Satanism and such – don’t ask – so I was surprised that no-one seemed to, apart from Kevin aka Acheron. And where’s the dark web when you need it? That surely would be the way to go. Or they could have consulted me! But I digress.
The Midnight Killer is a fast-paced, exciting read and personally I did not work out who the killer was until near the end. It’s very twisty, if a little far-fetched at times, but Bec is a great female lead with a good team around her. I would not have realised that this was part of a series if I didn’t know, as the book stands up well on its own. The main thing we discover is that her previous colleague Detective Miller was killed in the line of duty, and Bec initially struggles to accept his replacement.
If you like procedural crime thrillers, then The Midnight Killer is definitely for you. It would make a good TV series with someone like Vicky McClure in the lead. And what a cliffhanger! We’ll hopefully discover the outcome in the next book.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Jez Pinfold taught English and Film Studies in London for twenty years, including eight years as Head of English. Before landing in secondary teaching he had various jobs, including roadie, sound engineer, guitar tutor and teacher of English as a foreign language. After writing, his other passion is music. He plays guitar in a rowdy covers band currently called The Maverick Detectives, although they frequently change their name to avoid becoming too recognised and succumbing to the trappings of fame.
Book Links
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/midnightkiller-zbt
+ audio book, audio drama, fiction, Historical fiction, marriage, motherhood, review, witchcraft, witches
The Familiars by Stacey Halls
Young Fleetwood Shuttleworth, a noblewoman, is with child again. None of her previous pregnancies have borne fruit, and her husband, Richard, is anxious for an heir.
Then Fleetwood discovers a hidden doctor’s letter that carries a dire prediction: she will not survive another birth. By chance she meets a midwife named Alice Grey, who promises to help her deliver a healthy baby. But Alice soon stands accused of witchcraft.
Is there more to Alice than meets the eye? Fleetwood must risk everything to prove her innocence. As the two women’s lives become intertwined, the Witch Trials of 1612 loom. Time is running out; both their lives are at stake. Only they know the truth. Only they can save each other.
Rich and compelling, set against the frenzy of the real Pendle Hill Witch Trials, this novel explores the rights of 17th-century women and raises the question: Was witch-hunting really women-hunting? Fleetwood Shuttleworth, Alice Grey and the other characters are actual historical figures. King James I was obsessed with asserting power over the lawless countryside (even woodland creatures, or “familiars,” were suspected of dark magic) by capturing “witches”—in reality mostly poor and illiterate women.
My Review
I read The Foundling by this author with my online book club in 2020. I adored it, but not sure why I didn’t pick up another of her books until I listened to Mrs England just over a month ago. I loved that as well, so I thought I’d better listen to The Familiars. I used Borrowbox from the Library for both.
The Familiars is based on the real case of the Pendle Hill witch trials in Lancashire in 1612. ‘The trials occurred during the reign of King James I, a staunch believer in witchcraft who introduced the death penalty for it.’ The characters in the book are mostly real people of the time, but the story is pure fiction.
It’s crazy that at the time anything unexplained could be ‘explained’ by witchcraft. For instance when Jon Law is taken ill, his face having collapsed on one side, his arm having lost its use and he is unable to speak, it’s obvious that he has had a stroke. But Alizon Demdike, who was seen nearby with a black dog, confessed to having putting a curse on him. And God help you if a frog or toad was found in your house.
Seventeen-year-old Fleetwood Shuttleworth has already lost three babies and is now pregnant again. In the woods, she meets a strange girl called Alice Grey, who is carrying a bag of dead rabbits. Alice is technically trespassing on Shuttleworth land, but Fleetwood is intrigued by her. They meet up again and Alice tells Fleetwood that she is a midwife. And that is the beginning of their friendship.
In the meantime, lifelong friend of her husband Richard, Roger Nowell (he was a real person) is determined to make a name for himself in his twilight years by seeking out witches and sending them for trial and certain death.
We have to remember that this was the 17th century when women had no voice and were subservient to their husbands. It’s maddening at times!
I loved this book so much, and it’s perfect as an audiobook.
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.
+ female friendship, fiction, friendship, Historical fiction, murder, murder mystery, revenge, review, secrets, spiritualism, supernatural, Victorian Britain
The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder by Stephen Cox
London 1881. Can two crooked women stop a murder?
Extravagant medium Mrs Ashton and her lover, blunt working-class Mrs Bradshaw, run a spiritualist scam. Mrs Ashton secretly reads minds.
Believing that Mrs Ashton is genuine, grieving Lady Violet craves the truth behind her mother’s untimely death.
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But Lady Violet’s powerful husband Sir Charles hates spiritualists. Has he killed before? Uncovering this MP’s wicked crimes will put all three women in terrible danger…
To solve a shocking murder, look both sides of the grave.
My Review
This was an interesting read set in one of my favourite periods of history, the Victorian era, the pinnacle of hypocrisy. I say interesting because the style of writing used by the author is very different, often as if written at the time. I sometimes struggled with Braddie’s way of speaking, but maybe that’s because it put me outside of my comfort zone. The story however, is great fun, though there is a serious undertone.
Mrs Honoria Ashton is a medium. Except she’s a fraud, of course she is, as we all know it’s not possible to contact the dead. Her seances are full of tricks and ruses, but many who are grieving are taken in. But in spite of all this fakery, she can read minds, and get people to ‘open’ so she can see what they are really thinking.
As I said, Braddie grated on me, but I did love Maisie. Only fourteen years old, she’s street-wise beyond her years. She helps Mrs Ashton with various jobs, while looking after her younger siblings and drunken ‘pa’ since her mother died. But what she really wants to be is an amateur detective and be paid for it out of the profits.
The main story revolves around the beautiful Lady Violet and her husband Sir Charles, a rising star of the government, but in reality, a coercive bully. But is that all there is to him, or is he actually far worse, a murderer even? He hates spiritualists, but Lady Violet has asked Mrs Ashton to contact her late mother as she is still grieving and can’t move on.
This was a very entertaining read, if a little overlong (as so many books are these days), and I really enjoyed it. Recommended for anyone with an interest in spiritualism and the Victorian period of history.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Stephen Cox is a writer living in London. He’d read every Holmes, Christie, and Sayers before he was 21 and did Holmes fanfic in school. He has also read the Moonstone six times. With a science degree he has always been a fan of history and the imagination.
The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder contains the strong characterisation, women protagonists, authentic period setting, and wide roaming imagination of his other works. He says ‘It’s a rip-roaring twisty story, with relationships under stress and surprising readers at every turn.”
His first two novels, Our Child of the Stars and Our Child of Two Worlds were called “heartfelt, imaginative and gripping”, with wide praise in the national press.
Stephen says ‘I wanted female rogues as my leads – women with mixed relationship with law and the truth, yet capable of great kindness. This is a rigorous detective story with a client in trouble and old crimes to be solved. It has everything – a brutal man, a Lady in danger, and the past and present feeding the action. Can these outsiders possibly win through?
Queer women certainly existed and made lives together in Victorian England, as those with eyes to see can see,’
Buying links
The books are available through Amazon (eBook and print) and you can buy non-Amazon print books directly from Stephen’s website, including a signed option.
To purchase on Amazon click here
More Information
Website https://stephencox.co.uk
Stephen’s socials
Instagram @stephencoxauthor
Twitter/X @stephenwhq (very inactive)
Facebook stephencoxauthor
BlueSky @stephencoxauthor.bsky.social
Self-Published
The book is self-published to a high standard with professional editing, copy-editing, proofing, formatting, and a professional cover. It will be available from Amazon and other retailers. Committed to professionalism, Stephen is applying to join the Crime Writers Association, which can only be considered when the book is out.
+ cancer support, childhood, family, fiction, friendship, grief, love, review
The Wish by Heather Morris
Jesse is 15. She loves her friends, her little brother and her parents – even when they’re arguing, which feels like constantly these days. But most of all, she loves playing video games. Even from her hospital bed.
Alex is 29. He doesn’t love a lot of things. To be honest, he’s not really sure he knows how to. His desk at work, as VR games designer, is empty, much like his life feels sometimes.
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Then Jesse makes a wish. A simple one: a video experience made of her life, something to be there, just in case she isn’t.
One loving teenager.
One lonely adult.
Which one will get the happy ending?
My Review
In 2004, when my younger son was in sixth form, 15-year-old Laura E. was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia. More than 400 people turned out to give blood samples to The Anthony Nolan Trust one Thursday night in a bid to save her life, even many who didn’t know her. She needed a bone marrow transplant.
I remember sitting with my sister-in-law crying as we read of the failed transplants, and how she chose to let go. It was one of the bravest and saddest things I’ve ever read.
A lot of books make me cry, but this one had me in tears for much of it. Maybe it was because of the memory of that brave girl, or I would have done so anyway, but The Wish handles it so sensitively. It never shies away from the feelings of anger as well sorrow.
Poor Jesse. In hospital for months at a time, she needs a bone marrow transplant. The one from little brother Sam didn’t work. Her mother is naturally devastated, but her father is in denial and gets cross with everyone. Especially Alex. Jesse’s wish is to make a video experience of her life for those left behind if she doesn’t make it. Her father can’t accept that it’s a possibility and virtually throws Alex out. How can they convince him that it’s what Jesse wants?
Jesse’s friends at the hospital are brilliantly written characters. Mouthy Amy, and cheeky boys Luke and Ryan, who try to help in the most unusual ways. And then there is Alex. He could never have imagined what was really being asked of him or how emotionally involved he would become.
The Wish is a masterpiece and everyone should read it. It throws everything into perspective.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Born in New Zealand, Heather Morris is passionate about stories of survival, resilience and hope. In 2003, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who ‘might just have a story worth telling’. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Lale’s story formed the basis for The Tattooist of Auschwitz and the follow-up novel, Cilka’s Journey.
In 2021 she published the phenomenal conclusion to the Tattooist trilogy, Three Sisters, after being asked to tell the story of three Holocaust survivors who knew Lale from their time in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Together, her novels have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide. Sisters Under the Rising Sun, a heart-wrenching novel based upon the experiences of women in Japanese POW camps, was published in 2023 to great acclaim.
Heather’s first contemporary novel, The Wish, is published in September 2025.
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, kidnapping, murder mystery, mystery, police drama, police procedural, psycopath, review, serial killer
I am Death by Chris Carter (Robert Hunter #7)
Seven days after being abducted, the body of a twenty-year-old woman is found on a green patch of grass by the Los Angeles International Airport.
She has been left with her limbs stretched out and spread apart, placing her in a five-point human star. The autopsy reveals that she had been murdered in a most terrible way. But the surprises don’t end there.
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Detective Robert Hunter, who leads LAPD’s Special Section, Ultra Violent Unit, is assigned the case. But almost immediately a second body turns up. Hunter knows he has to be quick.
Surrounded by new challenges as every day passes, Detective Hunter finds himself chasing a monster. A predator whose past hides a terrible secret, whose desire to hurt people and thirst for murder can never be quenched – for he is DEATH.
My Review
Welcome to post number seven on this fab #blogathon. I will be reviewing one book per month.
Carlos Garcia is back for I Am Death (he wasn’t in the previous book), the seventh outing in the Detective Robert Hunter series and they just get better, though An Evil Mind will take some beating.
The first murder is terrible, the second probably one of the worst in all the books I’ve read so far, while the third is very Jack the Ripper. That’s all I’m saying. But what makes it worse (one in particular) is that we have got to know the victim and admired her strength, and her determination to overcome her terrible childhood. She really didn’t deserve what happened to her. Not that any of the victims do. But the back stories are becoming more elaborate with each book, I know I said something similar after reading An Evil Mind.
I will say that I did guess one of the twists quite early on, though the changing timelines made me doubt my instincts at times. It didn’t make any difference to my enjoyment of the book though – if enjoyment is the right word – it’s more about the (evil, sadistic) journey than the destination in I Am Death and that’s fine by me.
When you read a news story, and someone dies in a fire, you are often told that the smoke will have killed them first, so they didn’t suffer. With a Chris Carter novel, it’s the opposite. There’s no ‘they were dead already when they were being carved up’. It’s ‘oh yes they were still conscious while watching their own hands and feet being chopped off, and being skinned alive’. But that’s the nature of the beast. No-one ever said these novels are for the faint-hearted.
I’m not a romance fan in general, but please let Robert have a relationship. I think he’s lonely and needs more than a one night stand. Occasionally we think he’s found a kindred soul, but they either get killed or it just fizzles out. He needs a strong career woman who understands him.
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
Saunas, love and a ladleful of murder…
A cold-blooded killer strikes at the hottest moment: the new head of a sauna-stove company is murdered … in the sauna. Who has turned up the temperature and burned him to death?
The evidence points in the direction of Anni Korpinen – top salesperson and the victim’s successor at Steam Devil.
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And as if hitting middle-age, being in a marriage that has lost its purpose, and struggling with work weren’t enough, Anni realizes that she must be quicker than both the police and the murderer to uncover who is behind it all – before it’s too late…
My Review
I think it will take me some time to get the images of the first murder out of my head. I’m not going to say any more. I don’t want to be reminded.
Then there are the sprats. I ate them once as a child and was immediately sick, and I have never eaten them since. The thought of them still fills me with horror!
Finally we have the ‘bumlet’. It’s a square of folded linen designed for hygiene purposes. I wasn’t sure if it’s an actual ‘thing’ or just created for the story. Of course I googled it and apparently the Finns (who invented the sauna) also like the extra protection from the heat. They take their saunas much hotter than we do in the UK.
But we also don’t really do naked in the UK. And if we did, we would sit on a neatly folded towel, with another one over any naughty bits. In the case of our first victim, it would have taken more than a double thick bumlet or a folded towel to save him from overheating.
Anni Korpinen is our narrator. Following the impending retirement of Erkki ‘The Stove King’ Ruusulu and the horrific murder of his successor Ilmo Räty, she is now in line to be the next CEO of Steam Devil sauna stoves. She is also the number one suspect in the murder as she has motive, means and opportunity. Chief of police Kiimalainen couldn’t care less about any of these – he is gunning for her because of an age old feud with her father over an Elk. I kid you not.
Anni is married to Santeri who is obsessed with Formula One and former racing drivers’ old socks. Thirty years ago she was engaged to police officer Janne who she jilted, but that’s a whole separate story.
Incidentally, the translation is seamless. Hard to believe The Burning Stones was written in a foreign language, especially as Finnish is considered one of the hardest languages to learn.
I loved this book. It’s very different from the Adventure Park trilogy, where our intrepid hero Henri Koskinen was an actuary. Anni Korpinen is a sauna stove salesperson, though I’m not sure that’s any more exciting. And she doesn’t have a cat. If there’s a follow up can she have one of Schopenhauer’s kittens please.
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.
Bad Girl Pie is a dark comedy set in New York City. Dorothy Sherlock, a prolific ghostwriter, shares her running commentary on the absurdity of the human condition as she navigates her future.
Until now, she’s spent her life crafting other people’s success stories and mourning a failed romance. After a near-fatal encounter with her abusive father and his sudden death, Dorothy resolves to write her own book, blending her expertise in dieting and dessert.
A whirlwind trip to a tango festival in Mexico reignites her passion for love through a romantic tryst with a tango-dancing firefighter.
Hopeful and happy, Dorothy returns home, only to discover that her agent has stolen the manuscript and sold it to a new client, and her late father has cut her out of his will. As if this weren’t enough, Dorothy reconnects with her ex-boyfriend, but after a night of bliss, she finds out that he’s living in sin with his cleaning lady. The triple whammy drives her to despair. Can Dorothy’s sense of humor and talent save her and help her find success?
My Review
Don’t get me wrong, Bad Girl Pie is a brilliant book, but I had mixed feelings about it for just one reason. My husband and I used to go ballroom dancing and while I loved the Waltz, Quick Step and Cha Cha, and he liked the Foxtrot, neither of us really took to the Tango. And certainly not the Argentine Tango.
Even watching Strictly, I decided it’s not the dance for me, though Al Pacino performing a blind tango in Scent of a Woman almost changed my mind. And there’s a lot of tango in Bad Girl Pie and for me it was far too much detail. And too much musing on the parallels of tango and life.
However, I did warm to narrator Dorothy, or Dots as she calls herself, but her ‘friend’ and two-timing agent Susanna is a snake in the grass, as they say, while her abusive father is a horrible man. Peter is also vile, but I quite took to George who she meets at the tango festival in Mexico. I’d have given him another shot, as it was obvious he wasn’t devoted to his wife Tara, who seemed more interested in dance partner Carlos.
I loved the food side of it though, even though I am not a foodie, and my favourite dessert is Crème Brûlée, with a plain shortbread biscuit on the side. Not exactly a spectacular, mind-blowing dessert. Dots’ book could have made her a household name, but that was stolen from her, and I really felt for her. I’d have been furious.
When Dots meets tango teacher Tomas, I thought romance might be in the air, but what a pretentious git he turned out to be. Sorry, but he took it all too seriously.
All in all, it was a very entertaining book, but I did end up skimming some of the tango details. That part was too niche for me, and to the potential readers of her book, apparently. But I love Dots’ sense of humour and take on life, and parts of the book are laugh out loud funny.
Many thanks to Collective Ink Books for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. Visit www.collectiveinkbooks.com for more information.
About the Author
Marilyn Horowitz is an award-winning author who has taught her trademarked storytelling method at New York University for twenty-five years. Her students have been nominated for Emmy Awards, won a Peabody Award and been produced by the major Hollywood studios.
Now sharing her storytelling secrets with a broader audience, Horowitz has written several books on the art of writing. Her most recent book, Word of the Day: Transform Your Writing in 15 Minutes a Day shares a journaling practice that demonstrates a new, easy way to create and sustain genuine happiness.
Shadows and Echoes, her latest book, co-authored with world-famous clairvoyant Martin Sherlock shares her three-year journey to enlightened self- awareness. Marilyn’s first novel, The Book of Zev was published in 2016. Horowitz is a Reiki master and is certified in Dao Yin Yoga and Authentic Movement. She dances the Argentine Tango as often as possible.
Find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Marilyn offers a free bi-weekly webinar. Readers can also sign up for her weekly newsletter filled with tips and tricks, and peruse her website for many additional free resources.
- Publisher: Roundfire Books
- Language: English
- Print length: 288 pages
- ISBN-10: 1803417633
- ISBN-13: 978-1803417639
Book Link: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/roundfire-books/our-books/bad-girl-pie-novel
As the clock ticks towards the millennium – and the threat of a potentially new apocalyptic reality – Jonny Murphy is sent to investigate the discovery of a child’s body on a deserted swamp island, fifty miles from London. What he finds is more than just a tragedy, it’s a warning. Something big is coming … Can Jonny stop it? Should he?
London, Christmas 1999. The world is on edge. With the new millennium just days away, fears of the Millennium Bug are spiralling – warnings of computer failures, market crashes, even global catastrophe. But fifty miles east, on the frozen Blackwater Island, a different kind of mystery unfolds. A child’s body is discovered on the bracken, untouched by footprints, with no sign of how he died. And no one has come forward to claim him.
At the International Tribune, reporter Jonny Murphy senses something is off. Police are appealing for relatives, not suspects. An anonymous call led officers to the scene, but no one knows who made it. While the world fixates on a digital apocalypse, Jonny sees the real disaster unfolding closer to home. With just twenty-hour hours before the century turns, he heads to Blackwater – driven by curiosity, desperation, and the sting of rejection from his colleague Paloma.
But Blackwater has secrets buried deep in the frozen ground. More victims – some dead, others still paying for past sins. And when Paloma catches up to him, they stumble onto something far bigger than either of them imagined. Something that could change everything. The millennium is coming. The clock is ticking. Can Jonny stop it? Should he?
And what if Y2K wasn’t a hoax, but a warning…?
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Here is the fantastic cover:
Pre-order link here
About the Author
Sarah Sultoon is a journalist and writer whose work as an international news executive at CNN has taken her all over the world, from the seats of power in both Westminster and Washington to the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan. She has extensive experience in conflict zones, winning three Peabody awards for her work on the war in Syria, an Emmy for her contribution to the coverage of Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015, and a number of Royal Television Society gongs. As passionate about fiction as nonfiction, she recently completed a Masters of Studies in Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge, adding to an undergraduate language degree in French and Spanish, and Masters of Philosophy in History, Film and Television. When not reading or writing she can usually be found somewhere outside, either running, swimming or throwing a ball for her three children and dog while she imagines what might happen if…
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.
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?
I read this five years ago and while I reviewed it on Goodreads and Amazon, it never made its way onto my blog. I wasn’t reviewing on here yet – that came later.
With the release of the film which I watched on Netflix last night, I thought I would pop my review on here with a few comments about the film.
My Review
Written by TV presenter Richard Osman – and I’m a huge fan – I just had to read it didn’t I. And I wasn’t disappointed.
It’s choc full of of red herrings. Even the red herrings have baby herrings and just when you think you’ve cracked the mystery, something else turns up. Having finished quite late in the evening, I had to concentrate when I woke up to check if I could remember it all. It’s highly entertaining and will keep you guessing right up to the very end. And some of the answers might even be pointless (see what I did there).
There are so many references to the four main protagonists’ previous lives – Elizabeth for instance was a spy – but also to popular culture, some of which made me laugh out loud. As well as a murder mystery, it’s also a sharp observation of life with plenty of humour and often hilarious dialogue. However, I didn’t expect to cry while reading it, but I did. The last part was so touching that I couldn’t help shed a few tears.
I know our gang will be back in a few months time to solve another tale of bludgeoning (it’s a wonderful word), poisoning and derring-do or whatever crime will take place in book two and I have a sneaky feeling that The Thursday Murder Club will become a modern classic and a TV series.
And the moral of the story – never underestimate the combined wisdom of a group of octogenarians when it comes from the pen of one of our cleverest writers. And I almost forgot their partners-in-crime-solving – our two detectives Chris and Donna.
Now for the film. I loved every minute of it and what a cast! Ghandi, James Bond, The Queen (watch out for a moment when Elizabeth is in disguise), Miss Babs from Acorn Antiques, and Dr Who, aka Ben Kingsley, Piers Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Celia Imrie and David Tennant. All brilliant! And not forgetting Jonathan Pryce as Elizabeth’s husband (who steals the show whenever he’s on screen) and Daniels Mays as the police officer in charge of the murder investigation with his sidekick PC Donna De Freitas (played by Naomi Ackie).
The film is very funny, but it also handles dementia sympathetically, and the ending is touching and poignant and had me in tears. I think I might watch it again.
About the Author
Richard Osman is an author, producer and television presenter. The Thursday Murder Club is his first novel. He is well known for TV shows including Pointless and Richard Osman’s House of Games. As the creative director of Endemol UK, Richard has worked as an executive producer on numerous shows including Deal Or No Deal and 8 Out of 10 Cats. He is also a regular on panel and game shows such as Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie To You and Taskmaster.
The third volume of Kurkov’s critically acclaimed, intimate and deeply moving war diaries: a poignant, personal account of life under siege in Ukraine – rich with humanity, dark humour, and unforgettable resilience amidst devastation.
In this third volume of Andrey Kurkov’s war diaries, Ukraine’s greatest living writer chronicles the third year of the full-scale invasion from his home in Kyiv and from journeys all over the country – capturing moments of horror, resilience, absurdity and grace with unmatched clarity.
Children on a contested border wear hooded bulletproof vests to school; soldiers write haiku; professional clowns go to war; and the mother of a young soldier, killed in battle, uses his compensation money to create a rehabilitation centre for veterans. Roses bloom across Ukraine in quiet tribute to a florist and soldier killed in Avdiivka, remembered by those who once bought his flowers.
The Dnipro River seems to slow when the first missiles fall, as though nature itself had paused in shock. In Pokrovsk, 7,500 residents refuse to leave a city that no longer exists – their homes obliterated but their will unbroken. A general’s seventeen-year-old pet toad becomes an iconic symbol of defiance. And buried beneath a cherry tree, a murdered writer’s final diary is recovered, a haunting echo of a silenced voice.
From the home front to the trenches, Kurkov captures the rhythms of survival – the quiet rituals, unlikely joys, unexpected humour and appalling costs – in an intimate and deeply moving record of national endurance. Three Years on Fire is a luminous act of remembrance, rich with unforgettable detail and human spirit, from a writer whose voice stands witness to everything Ukraine has lost – and everything it refuses to give up.
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Here is the fantastic cover:
Pre-order link here
About the Author
Andrey Kurkov is a Ukrainian author translated into 45 languages. His novels are full of black humour, elements of surrealism, irony and humanism. Most of the novels deal with post-Soviet Ukraine, but also with Pre-Soviet and Soviet history. He lives in Kyiv, Ukraine with his British wife Elizabeth and their three children. From 2022 he learned how to be an IDP and refugee.
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.
+ community, female friendship, fiction, friends, friendship, lies, love, marriage, motherhood, mythology, relationships, review, secrets, supernatural, superstition
The Empty Cradle by Lisa Rookes
Amy’s so sure that her husband, Joel, is deeply invested in their future together. After all, it’s his dream of a family together that has them trying so hard to have a baby, despite a series of disappointments. It’s this certainty that leaves Amy absolutely floored when she learns of Joel’s affair with her best friend.
Heartbroken and horrified, Amy flees to a dilapidated cottage in a Yorkshire village, a place she’d bought with dreams of making it feel homey and warm. In the new village, she feels like a clear outsider, but a group of local women soon take her under their wing. They gather for a routine book club, they say. Before Amy knows it, these women are in her life, and in her home.
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Amy wakes one night to find herself outside in the fields. Strange offerings seem to be left on her doorstep. And the surveillance camera she installs shows shapes creeping around her house in the night. Strangest of all, she suddenly finds she’s pregnant. A pregnancy that feels like a cruel joke.
The book club is incredibly invested in Amy’s pregnancy. And it might just be in Amy’s mind, but the women’s interest doesn’t always seem safe. What do the women want with her? And what do they want with her baby?
My Review
This was so good. I’m not sure how a story could be scary, creepy, and really funny at the same time. I think that’s because it’s so well written it can be serious, dark and hilarious without ever being in bad taste or offensive (though there is a bit of swearing. Get over it).
Amy and Joel have the perfect life. Or so it seems. They buy houses, do them up and flip them for a nice profit. Except Joel is desperate for a family, and Amy is struggling to get pregnant. Then all at once, Amy has lost the cottage she had put in a sealed bid for, found out her pregnancy test is negative, and discovered that Joel is having an affair with her best friend.
We next see Amy in Yorkshire, having left Joel and moved into the cottage which she now mysteriously owns. It needs a lot of work, but she has enlisted the help of the enigmatic (or maybe just sullen and rude) Ethan, who seems to be a dab hand at everything practical. She met him through his cousin Sam, who Amy met at the craft market.
Now I have to admit that I don’t like Sam. She is everything I dislike – pushy, won’t take no for an answer, and organises wonderful get-togethers that you didn’t ask for, but feel you need to be grateful for. She has friends I wasn’t too sure about either – Ruby, Fran the estate agent, and pregnant Alice whose pregnancy is making her very ill and she throws up frogspawn. Maybe she’ll croak if she doesn’t get help soon. Sorry.
They are all friends, or maybe they are a coven. Ethan is obsessed with ley lines and her neighbour Pete seems to be trying to warn her of something. But he has a lovely elderly dog called Ian, so he is forgiven. I’ll even forgive him for calling the dog Ian.
I can’t pretend the book is perfect. There are a few things that don’t make sense or add up, and the ending is rather far-fetched, but I adored every page and read it in two sittings. One of my favourite books of the year so far.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Lisa Rookes is an award-winning journalist and lecturer. She spent the start of her career as a crime reporter and news editor before moving to national newspapers and women’s magazines. She is currently head of the undergraduate Journalism programme at the University of Sheffield and has won further multiple awards for her teaching. Her debut Gothic thriller The Village published in 2025. She lives in Holmfirth in South Yorkshire with her husband, two sons, an arthritic Labrador and a disabled pug.
+ childhood, family, fiction, grief, Italy, loss, love, Magical realism, marriage, murder, review, secrets, supernatural, thriller
The Unravelling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline
When Julia’s husband is brutally murdered in a random attack, her life unravels in ways she never could have foreseen.
Haunted by his death and spiraling into despair, Julia seeks refuge in a secluded Italian villa she has mysteriously inherited from a stranger. But her sanctuary becomes a prison as she uncovers disturbing connections to her own past – and faces chilling threats that may not be imaginary.
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Caught between a heritage she doesn’t understand and a darkness she can’t escape, Julia must confront secrets that could cost her what little she has left. The Unraveling of Julia is a gripping, atmospheric tale of grief, memory, and a descent into psychological terror that will keep readers turning pages deep into the night.
My Review
I wasn’t sure about this when I started it, but it grew on me. It’s a real page turner, but some of the supernatural elements were a bit over the top.
And then there’s the astrology, which we all know is b*****x. Apologies to those who believe but here’s one of mine for today:
“Another person might let you know how they see you today. Maybe the grandiose vision of yourself that you carry in your head isn’t what comes across to others. Remind yourself that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While the connection-craving Moon passes through your 7th House of Relationships, your companion may give you a chance to come down to Earth and enjoy life on a less dramatic scale. Follow what feels comfortable instead of scheming to look as impressive as possible.”
Really? Grandiose vision? 7th house of Relationships? Less dramatic scale? Could mean anything. But Julia believes hers is a warning of her husband’s impending murder. Other supernatural elements I liked, but Italian noblewoman Caterina Sforza and her blue light were a stretch too far.
But back to the story, which continues with Julia’s inheritance. She’s been left a villa in Tuscany and the land around, plus money. The whole lot is worth around 2 million dollars. She has no idea who has left it to her or why. She’s fostered and has no family. Emilia Rossi who owned the villa had no children, but Julia is not convinced she wasn’t lying. Many children of her generation had children out of wedlock, which they gave up and no-one knew. An illegitimate child of Emilia could be Julia’s mother. Or not.
The two stories unfold, as Julia herself unravels, but is there any connection? Is she going mad with her visions, her ‘ghosts’ and her dramatic ideas, or is she being used for some bigger plot of which she has no clue. It was an interesting premise and I really enjoyed it. Unlike some reviewers, I felt the ending was satisfying. We’ve got a bit of romance thrown in as well, for those who like that sort of thing!
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Lisa Scottoline is a #1 bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author of 33 novels. Lisa has been President of Mystery Writers of America and she reviews fiction and non-fiction for the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She has over 30 million copies of her books in print and is published in over 35 countries. She lives with an array of disobedient pets, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
