Clayton Stumper is an enigma.
He might be twenty-five years old, but he dresses like your granddad and drinks sherry like your aunt.
Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by the sharpest minds in the British Isles and finds himself amongst the last survivors of a fading institution.
#TheFellowshipOfPuzzleMakers @samuelburr @orionbooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour #puzzlemakers
When the esteemed crossword compiler, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle to him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for his future.
Yet as Clay begins to unpick the clues, he uncovers something even the Fellowship have never been able to solve – and it’s a secret that will change everything…
My Review
This story is so character-driven, that you have to get to know everyone before you can really get into the book. First of all, we have Clayton Stumper, our reluctant hero, who as it says in the synopsis ‘dresses like your granddad and drinks sherry like your aunt’. Except he’s only 25 and was abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers. He has no idea who he is in more ways than one.
Then we have Pippa Allsbrook – the Pipster – who is the matriarch of the Fellowship. She set it up and she looks after it and everyone in it. She is a crossword compiler for The Times newspaper, using the soubriquet ‘Squire’ as it makes her sound like a man and men are the usual setters.
Earl is probably my favourite of everyone (how I love Earl with his golden locks and his sheepskin jacket!). He is a mazemaker and Pippa is rather in love with him, except he is married (and devoted to) his wife Rosa. We never actually see her.
Nancy, younger than the others, was a cab driver in London and the second only woman (missed being first by a whisker) to learn the Knowledge by the time she was nineteen. She lives with her mother, who is very controlling, and smokes like a chimney – Nancy that is. She sets the questions for a pub quiz.
Angel is my second favourite character. In her thirties, and into all things ‘spiritual’, she was the housekeeper at the hotel that eventually became a sort of commune for this eccentric group of puzzle makers. When they moved in, she came with the property, like a pet donkey, or a maiden aunt, that is part of the contract. She is even more eccentric than the rest of them put together.
Hector paints pictures that are used as jigsaws. He is very good at it and his jigsaws are massively popular. Very mainstream. When Pippa first discovers him, he is living in his camper van.
But enough of the people (there are loads more). When Pippa dies, Clayton must solve the biggest puzzle of all. Where did he come from and who are his biological parents? Pippa has left him one final puzzle, the clues all hidden for him to find and the result could change his life forever. It’s a wonderful story, and the characters will become your friends and stay with you for many years to come.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Samuel Burr is a TV producer who has worked on popular factual shows including the BAFTA-nominated Secret Life of 4-Year-Olds. Samuel’s writing was selected for Penguin’s WriteNow scheme and in 2021 he graduated from the Faber Academy. He previously studied at Westminster Film School.
Captain Kit loves snacking.
Shipmates Joy and Pedro hide the food one day with a surprising outcome.
A rhythmically-told story for 3 to 5 year olds featuring pirate adventures and cake.
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Age: 3-5 year olds
My Review
Pirates and cake – what could be more fun! Captain Kit loves cakes and sweets, but they are not good for him, so his fellow shipmates Joy and Pedro hide the food one day, and even resort to firing it overboard.
“While Captain Kit was sleeping,
They grabbed the cakes and buns.
They fired them all into the sea
From cannons and musket guns.”
But they never expected what happened next.
This charming book is written in rhyme so it’s easy to read out aloud, while slightly older children will be able to read it for themselves.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #CaptainKit blog tour
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Julie thought he was the man of her dreams
I walk into my bedroom. There’s a woman in my bed. Next to my fiancé. He promises her he has no idea who I am. That he’s never seen me before. He’s calling me a stalker.
But before I even know how to respond, someone’s breaking down the front door. Pounding up the stairs. I run, but I can’t hide.
Now I’m trapped in a cabin in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a blizzard with a man who swears he doesn’t know me. As though the last five years together never happened.
He’s lying.
And then he looks me right in the eye and whispers so our kidnappers can’t hear him:
‘I’m sorry.’
HER PERFECT FIANCÉ IS TURNING HER LIFE INTO A PERFECT NIGHTMARE.
My Review
Julie arrives home at 6.52 in the morning to find her fiance in bed with another woman. She was away at a conference, but came home early to surprise him. Not half as much as what she saw surprised her.
Julie and Colton have been together for five years and now he’s doing it in the bed they bought together, in the house they bought together, and only recently moved into, with someone else. Who is this woman?
‘Who is she?’
‘Her name is Monique.’ Like it matters what her name is. And so it begins.
A race against time thriller, as Julie and Colton are forced to escape through a second floor window, while being pursued by an unknown assailant. But what do they want with them? What has Colton done that has put them in danger? Or is it about Julie?
This was very exciting, moving quickly from one dangerous situation to the next. And poor Julie has no idea what’s going on. But does Colton?
It’s a fairly complicated plot, at times a bit far-fetched, but this is fiction, and stranger things have happened in real life. I quite liked Julie, hated Colton, Keith and Michael, but for some reason I found Monique the most interesting. She’s like a Bond villain, all sleek black hair and a slinky cocktail dress, with a small gun hidden about her person. Sophisticated. Unlike frumpy Julie.
And I also love the poleman Stamper. He’d be great in his own series.
Many thanks to the author for giving me the opportunity to beta read The Perfect Fiance before publication.
About the Author
T.J. Brearton’s books have reached half a million readers around the world and have topped the Amazon charts in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. A graduate of the New York Film Academy in Manhattan, Brearton first worked in film before focusing on novels. His books are visually descriptive with sharp dialogue and underdog heroes. When not writing, Brearton does whatever his wife and three children tell him to do. They live happily in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Yes, there are bears in the Adirondacks. But it’s really quite beautiful when you’re not running for your life.
+ audio book, fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, review, superstition, witchcraft
Fyneshade by Kate Griffin narrated by Charlie Sanderson
Many would find much to fear in Fyneshade’s dark and crumbling corridors, its unseen master and silent servants. But not I. For they have far more to fear from me…
On the day of her grandmother’s funeral, Marta discovers that she is to be sent to be governess at Fyneshade, her charge the young daughter of the owner, Sir William Pritchard.
All is not well at Fyneshade. Sir William is mysteriously absent, and his son and heir Vaughan is forbidden to enter the house. Marta finds herself drawn to him, despite the warnings of the housekeeper that Vaughan is a danger to all around him. But Marta is no innocent to be preyed upon. Guided by the dark gift taught to her by her grandmother, she has made her own plans. It will take more than a family riven by murderous secrets to stop her…
My Review
It’s one thing when the heroine is not very nice, but Marta is truly evil. Not because her French grand’mere was supposedly a witch, or because of the way she treats the young girl who she is sent away to ‘educate’, or the fact that she would be considered ‘no better than she should be’ in those days, but because of the way she views herself and others and is happy to wreak havoc on anyone who crosses her.
Discovering that she is not to be married to her lover Nathaniel, she accepts that she is to be sent away to be governess to ten-year-old Grace, the daughter of Sir William Pritchard, the owner of Fyneshade. She has never met him and told he is away for lengths at a time. She is shocked to discover that all members of staff at the house appear to be either old, unlovely, or in some way debilitated. They are shocked when Marta arrives and is young and attractive.
But the biggest shock is when Marta discovers that Grace is not what she expected (probably Downs from the description) and will not be learning how to become a society lady. But Grace is a lot cleverer than Marta gives her credit for. She is an accomplished artist, and she knows her way round the house, through the secret tunnels as well as the usual routes. The tunnels include getting to the stables where her older brother Vaughan lives, having been barred from the house for many years. It’s all very mysterious.
Marta calls Grace ‘Dearest’ and compliments her on her loveliness and talents, but in reality she treats her with spite and disdain. She is really horrible. She doesn’t even like the dog – has always hated their smell – well that’s a trigger if there ever was one! I’m surprised the dog isn’t more on to her, to be honest.
Marta has an agenda, of course, and will stop at nothing to carry out her plan. But will she succeed, and how far is she prepared to go? You will ask yourself how you feel about her, and do you want her to get her comeuppance? Or do you want her to succeed? By the end I’m not sure you will have much sympathy left.
I listened to this book on Audible and the narration was excellent and entertaining.
About the Author
“I’ve always loved getting lost in a good book. It’s why I studied English Literature at university. What a luxury to read novels for three years! After a few false starts, I was taken on as a trainee reporter by a local newspaper where I worked very happily for several years.
“I love old buildings and the stories they tell. I’m very lucky that my current work as press officer for a heritage charity allows me to visit and explore some amazing, inspiring places, including the wonderful Wiltons Music Hall in the East End. Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders (published by Faber and Faber) is partly based on that building. ‘Kitty’ is my first book and later this year Templar will publish my first first book for children The Jade Boy , written under my maiden name Cate Cain
“As I hope you can tell, I am passionate about history and about London in particular. I was born in the City at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, within the sound of Bow Bells – so I really am a true-born cockney! One of my earliest memories is being taken to the top of The Monument by my father when I was about four years old. Clearly, the story of the Great Fire made an impact on me as that’s what The Jade Boy is all about…”
“Never-my-name and Isn’t-my-name were naughty fairy twins.
But Isn’t-my-name went missing, which is where my tale begins.”
When Never-my-name loses her fairy twin sister, Isn’t-my-name, while playing on the snowy mountainside, she fears she may never see her again. Enlisting her fairy helpers, Never-my-name searches high and low but Isn’t-my-name is simply nowhere to be found.
Publisher: Brown Dog Books
Paperback: 32 pages
Genre: Children’s fiction
What she doesn’t know is Isn’t-my-name has gone on an accidental adventure where the help of a tea-loving, ancient green dragon and a blast of his fiery breath may hold the key to her safe return.
Never-my-name and Isn’t-my-name: naughty fairy twins is a beautifully illustrated poem by author Colin Stern that will delight young children up to six years old.
With colourful characters and gentle humour, this fantastical fairytale is a classic in the making that will spark the imagination. The catchy rhythm and rhyme of this simple story, meanwhile, makes it perfect for reading aloud at bedtime … or any time.
My Review
What a gorgeous book! I love that it is written in verse – it makes it flow beautifully when reading aloud. And I adore the illustrations. They look very modern in style, and remind me of cutouts stuck on the page. I mean that in a good way.
When Isn’t-My-Name goes missing, Never-My-Name and the other fairies start looking for her. But where has she gone?
Isn’t-My-Name has slipped down a never-ending hole where she meets a grass-green dragon.
‘You’re just in time to make my tea, but what’s your name, my dear?’ asks the dragon.
‘It’s Isn’t-My-name,’ she replies, but the dragon decides to call her Jane. ‘It Isn’t-My-name,’ she shouts at the dragon. And however is she going to get home (after making the tea of course).
Younger kids (and their mums and dads) are going to love this book.
Many thanks to Palamides PR for inviting me to be part of the #blogtour and for my signed copy of the book.
About the Author
For more than 40 years, until his retirement in 2005, Dr Colin Stern was one of the UK’s most respected paediatricians, both treating young patients and spearheading innovative areas of medical research at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital. While he had excelled at literature in his youth, where he received guidance from none less than decorated British poet Siegfried Sassoon, it wasn’t until the tragic passing of his wife Ann, whom he cared for during her battle with dementia, that he once more turned to writing. His first work, poetry collection A Catafalque for Ann was quickly followed by an explosion of delightful children’s verse, inspired by the many tales he had told to his grandchildren. Since then he has expanded into medical memoir with Listening to Mother and has multiple new books in the works. He is based in Wiltshire, where he lives with his partner, Eileen.
Visit www.ColinStern.co.uk
+ female friendship, fiction, gay, gay community, grief, lockdown, loss, love, mental health, mental illness, psychiatric hospital, review
Hold Back The Night by Jessica Moor
From the Observer debut novelist of the year, comes a blistering, heart-wrenching new novel of complicity and atonement, delving into one nurse’s experience of the little-known history of conversion therapy and the heart-breaking betrayal of the AIDS crisis.
March 2020. Annie is alone in her house as the world shuts down, only the ghosts of her memories for company. But then she receives a phone call which plunges her deeper into the past.
1959. Annie and Rita are student nurses at Fairlie Hall mental hospital. Working long, gruelling hours, they soon learn that the only way to appease their terrifying matron is to follow the rules unthinkingly. But what is happening in the hospital’s hidden side wards? And at what point does following the rules turn into complicity – and betrayal?
#HoldBackTheNight X/Twitter @jessicammoor @ZaffreBooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n
Instagram @ms_jessica_moor @manilla_press @thebookdealer #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour
1983. Annie is reeling from the loss of her husband and struggling to face raising her daughter alone. Following a chance encounter, she offers a sick young man a bed for the night, a good deed that soon leads to another. Before long, she finds herself entering a new life of service – her home a haven for those who are cruelly shunned. But can we ever really atone?
The powerful and captivating new novel from the celebrated author of Keeper and Young Women, Hold Back The Night is Jessica Moor’s most powerful and commercial book to date. A darkly compelling character-led novel, drawing on themes of complicity and betrayal.
My Review
There is a scene that takes place in 1959, where Annie and Ruth are asked to assist with a patient who is having electric therapy (or electric shock treatment as we know it today). Along with one of the interns they have to hold her down, while she is ‘shocked’. I had to stop reading. My mother had this treatment in the 50s. I never knew they had to be held down. She later had a leucotomy and this also occurs at Fairlee Hall, where the girls are training to be ‘mental nurses’.
In the side wards, patients are receiving treatment to make them ‘normal’. This, we discover later on, was a means of treating homosexuals with emetics and images of young men, all designed to deter them. The alternative was prison as it was still illegal to be actively gay in the UK until 1967. Alan Turing was chemically castrated in 1952 for homosexual acts, again as an alternative to prison.
As student nurses, Annie and Ruth have to do as they are told, but at what point do they question the rules and ask themselves if what they are doing is wrong. Are they complicit in something morally questionable? Many years ago I worked in a nursing home where dementia patients were forced to use the toilet with two HCAs holding them down and removing their clothing. I was very upset about it. Nowadays, it would be considered an assault.
In 1983, Annie is widowed and is a single mother to 13-year-old Rosie. One day she meets a young man named Robbie and his older friend Jim, and gives them a home when no-one else will, because this is the AIDs crisis, and homosexual men are shunned by society, people terrified of ‘catching’ it. And Annie needs the rent money from all her spare rooms. But soon her home becomes a haven for those dying of AIDs, and mostly they do. Sometimes their own parents have shunned them as well as society.
It’s 2020 and it’s the time of the pandemic. The country has been locked down. I usually hate stories that take place during the pandemic, but it’s necessary here to draw parallels with the AIDs crisis in the 80s. How they were dealt with and how much has changed.
Annie is now in her eighties. She lives alone. She talks to Rosie every day on the phone. Rosie thinks she should come to stay with her, that she is too vulnerable on her own. She also talks to Jim, who of all her lodgers, has survived AIDs, though he will always be HIV positive.
The book is not written in that order though. We start with a phone call in 2020, and then move around the timelines as the story progresses. It’s a very powerful novel that questions whether following the rules is always the right thing to do, even when we know it’s wrong, and can we atone by trying to right the wrongs. Even though the 1959 parts were hard for me to read, I really enjoyed the book (if that’s the right word).
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Author
Jessica Moor grew up in south-west London and studied English at Cambridge before completing a Creative Writing MA at Manchester University where her dissertation was awarded the Creative Writing Prize for Fiction.
Prior to this she spent a year working in the violence against women and girls sector and this experience inspired her first novel, Keeper. Her second novel, Young Women, was published in 2022.
She was selected as one of the Guardian’s 10 best debut novelists of 2020, longlisted for the 2020 Desmond Elliot Prize and a Mystery Writers of America Award. She won the 2022 Nouvelle Voix du Polar. She lectures in Creative Writing.
+ alcoholism, crime fiction, Danish Noir, dark humour, Denmark, fiction, grief, Iceland noir, literature, murder, revenge, review, Scandi noir, secrets, writer
Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Masden – translated by Megan Turney Paperback Out Now
A snobbish Danish literary author is challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days, travelling to a small village in Iceland for inspiration, and then the first body appears…
Copenhagen author Hannah is the darling of the literary community and her novels have achieved massive critical acclaim. But nobody actually reads them, and frustrated by writer’s block, Hannah has the feeling that she’s doing something wrong.
#ThirtyDaysOfDarkness @JennyLundMadsen @OrendaBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #BlogTour #NordicNoir
When she expresses her contempt for genre fiction, Hannah is publicly challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days. Scared that she will lose face, she accepts, and her editor sends her to Húsafjörður – a quiet, tight-knit village in Iceland, filled with colourful local characters – for inspiration.
But two days after her arrival, the body of a fisherman’s young son is pulled from the water … and what begins as a search for plot material quickly turns into a messy and dangerous investigation that threatens to uncover secrets that put everything at risk … including Hannah.
My Review
Well this was different, not your average crime novel. But then Danish writer Hannah Krause-Bendix is not your average author. Her books are rather high-brow, literary, full of deeper meaning and she pours scorn on everyday crime writers who she believes have no talent and write books that are formulaic. Especially her arch nemesis Jørn Jensen who churns them out one after another and is making a fortune. And she is not. In fact hardly anyone reads her books.
Following a public spat with Jørn at a book fair (their constant banter is very entertaining), Hannah agrees to a bet. She has to write a crime novel in a month. For peace and inspiration, her editor sends her to Húsafjörður in Iceland, where she will stay with an older lady called Ella. There will be no distractions (apart from the cold and the snow), so she can just get on with it.
So far so good, but then the first body appears. It’s that of a young man, who supposedly drowned, but could it have been something more sinister and could it be material for Hannah’s book.
Hannah is very annoying. Not only is she so up herself she can’t help being arrogant and irritating, but she is also unbelievably nosy. She asks inappropriate questions of just about everybody, and lies about her reasons for doing so. She is told by local police officer Viktor to stay out of it, but that’s like a red rag to a bull. Oh and did I mention she’s an alcoholic.
In poking around she has put herself in danger, but does she heed the warnings? No of course not. What starts as a simple death by misadventure becomes a fabulous Icelandic romp with plenty of intrigue and dark humour. I really enjoyed it.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
Available to buy from these stockists. Also available to buy at Sainsbury’s.
About the Author
Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. She recently made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award. She lives in Denmark with her young family.
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, friends, grief, loss, murder, murder mystery, nineties, police drama, police procedural, review, serial killer, thriller
The Fells (Detectives Donovan & Young Book #1) by Cath Staincliffe
Yorkshire Dales, Summer 1997. Vicky Mott slips out the door of her remote cottage, and into the pale dawn light. She scrawls a note for her friends.
Gone to see the sunrise. V xxx That’s the last anyone ever hears from twenty-year-old music lover Vicky. Another victim of the Fellside Strangler?
That would make Vicky the fourth young woman to lose her life this summer. Snatched by a mysterious killer who stalks the fells . . . But Vicky’s body is never found.
2019. A skeleton is discovered in a twisty network of caves beneath the fells. Detectives Leo Donovan and Shan Young think they can finally give Vicky’s mother the closure she so desperately wants. After twenty long years of questions and anguish.
But the deeper they dig into the past, the less certain they become. And nothing can prepare them for the shocking truth . . .
THE DETECTIVES
Detective Leo Donovan is a veteran of the Yorkshire force. A true empath, he’s happily married, but prone to low mood and bouts of arthritis. Compassion motivates him, and a need to see justice done in a flawed world that is seldom fair. Leo’s wayward son drives him to distraction, but working with his partner Shan is a breath of fresh air.
Detective Shan Young is a rising star of Leo’s team. She lands her first case as detective while pregnant. Not that she’s fazed by it. A salt-of-the-earth Yorkshire lass with Chinese heritage, she often feels caught between two cultures — something which makes her appreciate Leo all the more, as a mentor and a friend.
THE SETTING
Welcome to the Yorkshire Dales, an untamed landscape of fells and valleys, waterfalls and ruined barns, deep, dark caves and windswept limestone pavements.
My Review
The story is told from four different points of view. We have Detective Leo Donovan, Detective Shan Young, the missing woman’s mother Elizabeth, and the victim herself, Vicky. I wasn’t sure about Vicky’s POV, because it felt a bit like I was cheating. As the reader, I can see what happened, but no-one else can – it was speculation from everyone else’s point of view in 2019.
Vicky went missing in 1997, her body never discovered. Or maybe she isn’t dead at all, but decided to disappear. No-one believes this is likely – she had too much to lose, too much planned. There were people who suggested Lucy Partington ran off to join a cult (I knew her though not well) in 1973. Then her body was found in Fred West’s house in 1992 along with his other victims. In The Fells, a serial killer nicknamed the Fellside Strangler is in prison after being convicted of the abduction and murder of three young women. So it makes sense that he took her as well, like West.
Twenty two years later, a pot-holer discovers a skeleton in a cavern. the police can use DNA and other methods to find out whether it’s Vicky, and of course it is. But did she fall, was she pushed or was she killed and thrown in afterwards? Even with the most sophisticated means, it will be impossible to know, and even harder to prove. And that’s what bothered me about hearing from Vicky.
However, it’s a really good story and the detective team of Leo and Shan are brilliant. They obviously have their own stuff going on – this is the first of a new series of books – Leo’s son Luke being not just a pain in the neck, but a racist with a hideous agenda. Shan is in a relationship with Erin and is pregnant. There’s a lot more to come I’m guessing, and some things remain unresolved at the end of the book. Bring on book two!
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Cath Staincliffe is a best-selling, award-winning novelist, radio playwright and the creator of ITV’s hit series, Blue Murder, starring Caroline Quentin as DCI Janine Lewis. Cath’s books have been short-listed for the British Crime Writers Association best first novel award, for the Dagger in the Library and selected as Le Masque de l’Année. In 2012 Cath won the CWA Short Story Dagger for Laptop, sharing the prize with Margaret Murphy with her story The Message. Cath was shortlisted again with Night Nurse in 2014. Cath’s Sal Kilkenny private eye series features a single-parent sleuth working the mean streets of Manchester. Trio, a stand-alone novel moved away from crime to explore adoption and growing up in the 1960s, inspired by Cath’s own experience. Letters To My Daughter’s Killer was selected for Specsavers Crime Thriller Book Club in 2014 and featured on ITV3s Crime Thriller Club.
Cath also writes the Scott & Bailey novels based on the popular UK TV series. Cath’s latest stand alone book, The Girl in the Green Dress, was inspired by her experience as the parent of a transgender child. It tells the story of a transphobic hate crime and asks the question: how far would you go to protect your child? Cath is one of the founding members of Murder Squad – a group of Northern crime writers who give readings, talks and signings around the country. Cath was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, UK and now lives in Manchester, Lancashire with her family. You can follow her on Twitter @CathStaincliffe, which she does when she should be busy writing!
Think you know Great Expectations? Think again
Raised in the darkness of Satis House where the clocks never tick, the beautiful Estella is bred to hate men and to keep her heart cold as the grave.
She knows she doesn’t feel things quite like other people do but is this just the result of her strange upbringing?
As she watches the brutal treatment of women around her, hatred hardens into a core of vengeance and when she finds herself married to the abusive Drummle, she is forced to make a deadly choice:
Should she embrace the darkness within her and exact her revenge?
A stunningly original, gripping Gothic read, perfect for fans of Stacey Halls, Madeline Miller and Jessie Burton.
My Review
I’ve always loved Great Expectations in all its iterations – my husband loves the 1946 film version where John Mills plays Pip (I think he is far too old), but my favourite is the TV mini series where Gillian Anderson portrays Miss Havisham. As a child, the scene where Miss H goes up in flames terrified me and still does.
As an aside, for my OU degree creative writing module, I wrote a short story called Miss Havisham’s Ghost. It earned me a good mark, but it never saw the light of day, as it got woven into another story a couple of years later. Just goes to show that we all have a budding Dickens in us somewhere!
But back to Estella’s Revenge. I absolutely loved it and have given it a worthy five stars. The writing is impeccable and immaculate. The plot is original and entertaining. It’s not a retelling of GE though, you have to remember that – it’s the story from Estella’s pov, NOT Pip’s, so anything can happen, and it does. There are a lot of the original characters, but also others that are new.
But – if I could keep two things from the story I know and love, it would be Estella and Pip coming together at the end (soppy Love Actually stuff I know), and Bentley falling off his horse and breaking his neck after being cruel to it ie the ‘horse’s revenge’. To discover whether either of these happen in Estella’s Revenge, you’ll have to read it to find out.
My fellow Pigeons and I read this in ten staves over ten days with The Pigeonhole book club and thoroughly enjoyed commenting as we went along. I would highly recommend Estella’s Revenge as a book club read.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Barbara is an international bestselling author, whose psychological thrillers have topped Amazon and Kobo. Her writing career started in journalism, interviewing the real victims of crime – and the perpetrators. The realistic, complex characters who populate her fiction reflect this deep understanding. When not writing, Barbara is found walking her two dogs, Scamp and Buddy, or taking photos of wildlife.
How many bad decisions does it take to go from doting father to travelling down a very dark path?
Not as many as you’d think . . .
Adrian Smythe is just a regular guy. He is employed, married, and loves his daughter Grace. He even has a dog. But he can’t shake the feeling that something is missing.
Genre: Crime / Thriller / Mystery
Pages: 235
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
So, in an act of rebellion, Adrian quits his job and moves out of the family home. After disconnecting from everything in his past, he believes he is finally free from the constraints he resented so much.
But Adrian’s new life may not be exactly what he bargained for. In fact, it could all end in murder.
My Review
I’m getting slight Will Carver vibes here, though I couldn’t describe Fall From Grace as darkly funny. But it is shocking and highly original. We are forced to be voyeuristic, watching him having a mental breakdown. But just how far will he go?
Adrian Smythe has been in his job for seven years. He hates it. Do this, do that. There are no windows in his office. It’s claustrophobic. New CEO Jason Gash talks in annoying marketing-speak. …to sync our online output more dynamically,’ he says, ‘with the bricks and mortar side of our business … yada yada’. And has no-one ever told him his trousers are too tight. You really want to slap him. Adrian decides to walk out instead. Nine year old Grace knows he’s quit his job, because he takes her out of school to explore with Reggie the dog and eat ice-cream. He loves Grace but thinks she is bordering on ugly. I found this very strange.
He doesn’t tell his wife though. He puts on a suit and pretends to go to work each day. She’s lucky. She loves her job and is always talking about it, and her boss Joe. Adrian thinks they are having an affair.
We watch Adrian’s breakdown from his point of view. He smokes weed all day and walks the dog. He talks a lot about sex. When Dolores finds out about the job, it all comes to a head and he walks out of his marriage as well. He lives in a flat by the sea, a regular visitor to his next door neighbour Doris, only he calls her Flo because she doesn’t look like a Doris. He tells her to call him Hank. He’s never known anyone called Hank, only the singer Hank Williams, and he can’t even remember one of his songs.
As he begins to spiral out of control, he counts the days since he last saw Grace. But do we feel sorry for him? I’m not sure.
The ending is so touching, I cried. I cried for Adrian, for Grace and for Flo. And for Chantal, Queen of all the faeries. But I didn’t cry for Derek, because he didn’t deserve my sympathy.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #FallFromGraceBlogTour
About the Author
Alan Feldberg is the author of Fall From Grace. He writes literary fiction and psychological crime, with a keen focus on the human condition and the hidden, underlying motives that drive conventional people to do unconventional things. His influences include John Banville, Richard Ford, Iris Murdoch, M.J. Hyland, Elizabeth Strout, Flannery O’Connor, Sebastian Faulks and Roddy Doyle. Alan has travelled extensively, living in South Africa and Canada, and now lives in Yorkshire with his wife and daughters.
His second novel will be published in June.
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When recently widowed Allison tells her new found friend that her marriage had been one of convenience, not love, Heather gifts her a book.
Aroused by the four short steamy and romance stories about bondage and submission, the previously unexplored sexual sensations force forty-two year old Allison to examine herself and realise her sexually dead marriage was, in part, her fault.
Genre: Erotic romance (25 – 60yrs)
Pages: 202
She decides she’s ready to break free of the self-imposed and restrictive morality inherited from her family’s Brethren background.
After an online dating disaster Allison runs into Peter, a former colleague. She decides it’s time to take a chance on love.
About the Author
D Accord is the author of an exciting new Erotic Romance Novel, Allison Consents. She is currently working on a sequel to the book, Allison Explores. Thank you for following and commenting on her books. D Accord also writes as Liza Miles for Cosy Murder Mystery, YA and Women’s Fiction. Her other pen name is Mary-Beth Mazzini for children’s books.
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There is something rotting in Harrisville.
It’s 1944 and Veronica works so she can afford to eat. Maybe one day she will save enough to own the home her family is living in, but for now, she doesn’t have time for fanciful thoughts, or much else. She doesn’t have time for the fire whispering to her, the ghosts trying to talk to her and the son of her boss, who can’t stop staring at her.
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She definitely doesn’t have time to think about Lazlo, the handsome black soldier that she processed at the draft office, but she can’t seem to stop herself. As her ability to ignore Lazlo evaporates, so does her self-imposed ignorance about her hometown. There is, and always has been, something rotten in Harrisville. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. After all, Veronica works in the cigarette factory, where corpses hide in the tobacco with the roaches.
My Review
Fanning Fireflies is like a fantasy version of Mississippi Burning (sorry if that dates me), only set in 1944 rather than the 1960s. Racism is rife in the Southern states and in Harrisville it’s about as bad as it can get. Rallies are held by a group of Harrisville residents, which eventually morph into the Ku Klux Klan. And they soon become violent.
Veronica lives with her mother Iona and her brother Franklin, who has a stutter. This makes him a target for the town bullies, particularly the loathsome Tommy Sawika. Tommy’s father John owns the cigarette factory where both Veronica and Iona work. Franklin works at the pig farm.
Then comes the draft for young men to join the war effort and many of these boys are black. In the book they are referred to as ‘colored’ but that is not meant in any way to be disrespectful – it’s how they were referred to at the time. Veronica, plus her friends Lizzie and Missy, can earn more money by helping to register these would-be soldiers. The girls alternate each day between the white men and the ‘coloreds’. And it’s here that Veronica first encounters Lazlo Fox. If the townspeople saw him so much as looking at her, he would be beaten, and she would be considered an outcast.
In the meantime, Franklin is in love with Nan Payne, daughter of the widowed Dr Payne, but he is too scared to court her. He would be ridiculed by Tommy and his bunch of bullies, or worse.
One day Veronica sees the most beautiful couple. She eventually discovers that they are called Dante and Kara. But are they real or are they ghosts? Veronica has started to see the ghosts of dead animals who appear to be trying to tell her things. And it’s not only animals who have died in suspicious circumstances.
Fanning Fireflies took me way out of my comfort zone. I read a lot of gothic horror, supernatural stories and magical realism, but as this book progresses we are literally ‘shoved kicking and screaming’ into the world of fantasy, with an ending that borders on apocalyptic. It literally blew my mind and I was almost scared to read on. But of course I did!
Many thanks to @LiterallyPR for inviting me me to be part of the #FanningFireflies blog tour.
About the Author
Lexy Delorme was born in San Diego, California. After graduating from the University of North Carolina School of law, various internships and years working in risk, tax, family, and international law, she now classifies herself as a recovering attorney. With a father who served in the US Military, Lexy had a wandering lifestyle from her earliest days and in her time has been a pop musician, a science geek and a writer for magazines like Bonjour Paris and Playtimes. Throughout all of her different careers, her love of fiction has been a mainstay.
Within this eclectic life, she was also one of the first employees at 23andMe, a genomics and biotechnology company based in Mountain View, California and that experience influenced the genetic aspects of her Limerent Series, of which Caio is the first book.
For as long as she can remember she’s had characters in her head. As a child, these were the friends she wished to have. As a young woman, the lovers she wanted to find or the people she wanted to become. Writing fiction novels allows her the chance to give these characters a background, a story and a voice.
Having lived in in three continents, none US states, and 21 cities around the world, including London and Hong Kong, Lexy now lives in Paris with her French husband and two very cool sons. She is currently working on the next books in the Limerent Series.
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