Daily folklore ideas to guide you through the ritual year from Brighton-based author and voice behind The Everyday Folk Lore Project, Liza Frank.
Everyday Folklore ~ An Almanac for the Ritual Year, is not your traditional almanac in that it doesn’t provide the times of the tides or the phases of the moon. You can, however turn to any date and find something to learn or do suggested by folklore of the day, the month, or the season.
Some suggestions will take no more effort than sticking your head out the window to look at the clouds, while others might involve knee pads and scouring giant chalk horses cut into hillsides.
#EverydayFolkore #LizaFrank @lilithepunk #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Taking inspiration from folklore found around the world, each daily entry is a tiny snapshot of what goes on – be it animal or plant lore, love predictions, the zodiac, the supernatural, food, festivals, divination, anniversaries, the weather or luck.
By following the customs and traditions of the ritual year, you’ll find yourself becoming more engaged with what’s happening about you and discover how every month and season creates its own identity.
Consider yourself curious? Dip into this fascinating book at any time of the year and discover something new and intriguing about the world around you.
Just beware of the hare…
My Review
Did you know that house spiders are rather partial to classical music and are said to descend their webs to listen, only to climb back up when the movement has finished? That’s no more Classic FM for me then. Anyway, I’ve chosen the following graphic because I was born in November. Nothing to do with those horrible eight-legged spawn of Satan.
Everyday Folklore is not a book that you would sit down and devour in one go like a novel. It’s a book to dip into, return to and savour. I’ve picked out a few of my favourites, like Goat-e-oke and flaying a corpse (the former is doable, the latter will have you locked up, probably permanently). I have had so much fun with this. I highly recommend it.
February 14th (Valentines’ Day) – probably my favourite
“Now if you find your garter slack and wish to resurrect your love, consider stealing into a graveyard after dark, liberating a nine-day-old corpse, flaying it from head to toe, wrapping the flesh strip around your lover’s leg while they sleep, removing it before they wake, and keeping the skin ribbon in a secret hidey-hole. Because that way, it’s said you’ll have their love for as long as you want it.” I hope you can find a secret hidey-hole in your prison cell.
February 20th
“…But if blisters are the problem, you can always find a weasel to suck on them while you sleep. Although given some say weasel spit is poisonous, probably best not.” Good luck with that one.
First Saturday in April is the day of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
“However, had your preference been a little less watery, previously you could have had a flutter on the Oxford and Cambridge Goat Race across the river at Spitalfields City Farm instead. Run at the same time as its more famous namesake, two goats, appropriately named Oxford and Cambridge, charged round a specially prepared course at the farm. But while this tradition is no more, you could still recreate another of the farm’s attractions that day: Goat-e-oke (the caprine version of karaoke), and belt out such classics as ‘Billy Don’t Be a Hero’, ‘Night Goat to Cairo’, or anything from The Trolls soundtrack.” Or you could simply revive the tradition?
Around May 27th
“Should you wish to spend the last May Bank Holiday Monday in danger of concussion or a twisted ankle, head to Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire, where you can take part in a spot of cheese rolling.” I mention this because we live less than 10 miles away and I have been there.
“With an average incline of 45 degrees, competitors stumble and spin down the 200-yard Cooper’s Hill course, chasing after an 8-pound circular Double Gloucester, which has reportedly reached speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.” By the look of it so can the competitors. It’s considered extremely dangerous, and not just for the runners. My nephew was hit by the cheese while trying to film the race.
Or you could try something safer like “the famous shin-kicking championships held on Dover Hill near Chipping Campden,” a few days later. Note that steel toe cap boots are now banned (thankfully).
“World Gin Day is held on the second Saturday of June.” Enough said.
June 26th
It’s National Cream Tea Day. Such a lovely idea but steeped in controversy. “Take the cream and jam. The good people of Devon believe that cream should go on the scone first, while their neighbours, Cornwall, go for jam. Then your choice of jam might out you as a traditionalist (strawberry) or a radical (blackcurrant or raspberry).” For me there is only one jam – apricot. I’m not sure what that makes me, but I’ve had plenty of disapproving frowns.
And on July 7th “….it’s World Chocolate Day. You know what to do.” I do anyway.
August 18th
It’s National Bad Poetry Day. On this day you may want to don a black turtleneck and beret, and pen some of your best worst verse.
October 6th
“National Badger Day is an annual celebration of all things brock. Indeed, some have even designated October, Brocktober.”
And October 8th is “World Octopus Day, a day to celebrate these astonishing eight-legged cephalopods, comes on the eighth day of what was once the eighth month in the ancient Roman calendar.” (They are intelligent creatures so please stop eating them.)
October 26th (October is a busy month in the folklore calendar)
“Today is Worldwide Howl at the Moon Night, an annual tradition since 2009. Should you wish to take part and give a robust howl at the moon, you might want to consider those around you and ensure you do it in a place where your howl will not frighten the horses.” And tomorrow is National Black Cat Day. But don’t howl at them.
Of course October 31st is Halloween. “Where to start? It’s known by many names, including Mischief Night, Crack Nut Night, All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day Eve, Allhallows Even, All Hallows Eve, and Eve of Hallowtide. It’s also the start of Samhain and therefore another New Year’s Eve/Day (as it starts at sunset), and the beginning of Allhallowtide, Allantide or Hallowtide. Plus it is another of those nights when it’s said the worlds rub up against each other, making it easier for the Wild Hunt, Fairy Courts, fae in general, witches, the Devil and ghosts (hungry or otherwise) to appear, and for divination to work.”
For my granddaughters it’s almost as good as Christmas and more important than Guy Fawkes (though if you’re into “big torchlit processions through narrow, people-filled streets, Lewes, East Sussex, puts on a magnificent festival of giant parading effigies”). They start planning around the beginning of October.
December 1st is the day when we crack open the Advent Calendar. Personally, unless they contain a chocolate for each day, I’m not interested. Unless there’s a diamond in each window, or a gold ring. You get my drift.
And so the run up to Christmas has started (though for retailers it began some time around the end of September).
A quick aside, on December 3rd (or any other day presumably), “it’s said the best course of action should you be bitten by a snake is to ask it to suck its venom back. However, given snakes do not possess external ears and thus may ignore you, you could also try drinking your own urine or ingesting a rather unsavoury recipe (which the author won’t repeat), containing hippopotamus testicle and marjoram.” Or you could just enter I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, where you’ll probably have to eat it anyway.
And that’s it! There are too many Christmas traditions to mention here, but you will have your own, no doubt and celebrate as you do each year. Or maybe you’ll try a new one or two, but in the end it’s all about family and friends, not shopping and debt. Have a good one and many thanks to Liza Frank for this fabulous, insightful delve into folklore, both ancient and modern.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Liza Frank grew up watching B-movies and dreaming of being Chrissie Hynde before working backstage in theatre and film for over a decade. She has written extensively about folklore for The Everyday Lore Project and for a Masters in Folklore Studies from University of Hertfordshire, as well as teaching literacy and creative writing in primary and secondary schools. Out of the many traditions she’s tried, her favourite was recreating a Gruel Thursday ritual off the beach in Brighton. That and competitive mince pie eating. She also writes an agony aunt column using folklore to solve dilemmas, and searches for sons of preacher men to persuade them to teach her something. In 2007, her slightly wild photographic exhibition was published as the book My Celebrity Boyfriend. She still dreams of being a rock chick.
+ childhood, fiction, friendship, Ghost story, grief, haunting, journalist, loss, love, mental illness, obsession, paranormal, psychiatric hospital, psychiatrist, review, supernatural, writer
13 Doors by G J Phelps
Thirteen doors, thirteen hauntings.
News reporter Joe Baxter has a plan. His idea is simple – to use his newsroom contacts across England to find thirteen haunted places to stay, and then record his experiences in a book.
From an abandoned cinema to a dank pub cellar, from a World War Two airfield to a lonely, landlocked cruise liner, Joe is prepared to spend long nights in the cold and dark, but has no idea what he is about to unleash.
Twitter/X #13Doors @Midlands_editor @BookGuild @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour Instagram @gary.phelps @troubador_publishing @zooloosbooktours
For, as he endures increasingly dangerous vigils, meeting a succession of gruesome, tragic and terrifying spectres, a terrible truth begins to emerge. Something – or someone – is reaching out to Joe, awakening long-buried memories of his father’s death, a dark family secret and his teenage brush with madness.
And then there is Wilko, the imaginary friend who haunted his childhood. After decades of silence, Wilko has found his voice again…
A spine-tingling supernatural mystery entwined with chilling ghost stories, 13 Doors places the reader at the dark heart of the moment, from gut-wrenching action to eerie vigils.
My Review
My son has a friend who does this kind of thing. He’s even written a book about it and takes people on ghost tours. Luckily he’s never experienced the kind of stuff that Joe has.
I would just like to say here that I am in awe of the editors and proofreaders who must have worked so hard on this book. It’s perfect as far I can tell – and I read a lot that are full of typos and inconsistencies regardless of final editing.
But on to the review. I just love this book. It’s like a series of short stories, all joined together by Joe’s past and his current life. Having been made redundant from the newspaper where he has worked all his life, he decides to hold vigils in haunted locations (not just houses) and write a book about his experiences. Each vigil becomes more terrifying as he opens himself up to the spirits of the long departed. And for some reason, he is more open than most people.
His mother and his friends are worried about him, because following the tragic death of his father he went off the rails, earning him the nickname Mad Bax at school, and eventually putting him in a mental hospital for six months. He claimed to have experienced something terrible in the catacombs in a cemetery (I recognise the cemetery in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter), and they won’t let him out until he admits it was all in his imagination. But was it?
And then there are the voices, or at least one voice in particular, Wilko, his imaginary friend. Wilko disappeared for many years, but has now returned and he’s not very friendly, in fact he couldn’t be less so. He’s terrifying.
But my favourite character has to be Patience, who Joe meets at one of his first vigils. She is like his mentor, and she explains about the place between the living and the dead. “Where I come from, people used to say that some folks are between two places. That’s me.”
Self-styled medium Adam Zacharanda claims he can talk to the dead. “No one can speak to the dead,” she tells him, “because they’re dead.” Brilliant.
I could go on and on, because there is so much more I love. I always had a fascination with seances and ghosts as a teenager – didn’t we all – but this is is way beyond that. Do you believe in ghosts? I have always believed that ghosts are a time stamp, where something so traumatic happened that it has left its mark on a place. 13 Doors may question everything you ever believed. It’s one of my favourite books of the year.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
G J Phelps is an award-winning journalist who spent thirty years in the news industry, working his way up from junior reporter to eventually edit nine newspapers. He lives in Birmingham, England, where he runs a successful PR consultancy. A devotee of horror fiction since childhood, 13 Doors is his debut novel.
Gary’s Links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gary.phelps/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/Midlands_editor
Book Links
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195066350-13-doors
Buy Links – https://mybook.to/13doors-zbt
+ cosy mystery, crime fiction, Detective novel, female friendship, fiction, friendship, Historical fiction, Italy, lies, love, marriage, murder, mystery, novella, review, secrets
Meet Me In Milan by KD Sherrinford
While her husband, Sherlock Holmes, is off playing detective in London. Irene Adler finds herself having to play investigator when her friend Renata becomes the prime suspect in the attempted murder of her husband Luigi Amato.
How can she refute the testimony of a credible eyewitness, even though her heart tells her that Renata is innocent? What she needs is tangible evidence, and she’s willing to do what she must in order to obtain it.
#MeetMeInMilan @KDSherrinford @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
When Sherlock finally arrives on the scene, Irene seeks his counsel, and he agrees to assist with her investigation.
However, their relationship is called into question by Irene’s dear friend Sophia, who is not overly fond of Irene’s husband, nor approving of the way in which they conduct their marriage.
Will Irene be able to prove her friend Renata’s innocence, or is there a more tangled web of deception at play?
And will Sophia’s misgivings regarding her marriage bear unfortunate fruit?
My Review
In Meet Me In Milan, the world’s greatest detective – Sherlock Holmes – and his wife Irene Adler have been married for ten years. Sherlock is currently away in London working, while Irene is in Milan with her friend Sophia. The children are staying with their friends in the country.
Sophia is not Sherlock’s biggest fan and they have often disagreed about the way the Holmes conduct their marriage. Irene meets Sophia’s friend Renata and they instantly become friends and confidantes. Then Renata’s husband Luigi Amato is poisoned and she is the prime suspect. But what motive could she possibly have for such a crime?
It’s obvious that Irene needs the help of her husband, but where is he? He is supposed to be on his way to Milan, but she hasn’t heard from him.
When he finally arrives, he puts his plan into action, using various disguises to infiltrate himself into Renata and Luigi’s lives and see what he can find out. And there is far more to this than a simple poisoning. There are deceptions at play here, and not just the Amatos.
Another great story from KD Sherrinford, again it’s only short, and I am sure there will be more to come in the future.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
KD Sherrinford was born and raised in Preston, Lancashire, and now resides on The Fylde Coast with her husband John. She was employed by Countywide for over 20 years and became a Fellow of The National Association of Estate Agents. Retirement finally gave KD the opportunity to follow her dreams and start work on her first novel. Song for Someone. KD recently completed her second book in the Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler mystery series Christmas at The Saporis. The third Meet Me In Milan will be published this summer.
KD’s Links
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/kdsherrinford/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/KDSherrinfordAuthor.co.uk
Twitter : https://twitter.com/KDSherrinford
Website : https://www.kdsherrinford.co.uk
Cub reporter Jonny Murphy is in Buenos Aires interviewing families of victims of Argentina’s Dirty War, when a headless torso has washed up on a city beach, thrusting him into a shocking investigation…
Argentina. 1998. Human remains are found in a beat on the outskirts of Buenos Aires – a gruesome echo of when the tide brought home dozens of mutilated bodies thrown from planes during Argentina’s Dirty War. Flights of death, with passengers known as the Disappeared.
International Tribune reporter Jonny Murphy is in Buenos Aires interviewing families of the missing, desperate to keep their memory alive, when the corpse turns up. His investigations with his companion, freelance photographer Paloma Glenn, have barely started when Argentina’s simmering financial crisis explodes around them.
As the fabric of society starts to disintegrate and Argentine cities burn around them, Jonny and Paloma are suddenly thrust centre stage, fighting to secure both their jobs and their livelihoods.
But Jonny is also fighting something else, an echo from his own past that he’ll never shake, and as it catches up with him and Paloma, he must make choices that will endanger everything he knows…
*Out in paperback & e-book 1st February 2024*
Published by Orenda Books
Please find the pre-order links here:
Death Flight – Print – https://geni.us/jPl9Q
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.
A young man and his young family set out on a perilous voyage across a devastated planet to uncover the origin of the events that set the world on its course to disaster … The prescient, deeply shocking prequel to the bestselling, critically acclaimed Climate Emergency thriller, The Forcing.
Kweku Ashworth is a child of the cataclysm, born on a sailboat to parents fleeing the devastation in search for a refuge in the Southern Ocean. Growing up in a world forever changed, his only connection to the events that set the world on its course to disaster were the stories his step-father, now long-dead, recorded in his manuscript, The Forcing.
But there are huge gaps in the story that his mother, still alive but old and frail, steadfastly refuses to speak of, even thirty years later. When he discovers evidence that his mother has tried to cover up the truth, he knows that it is time to find out for himself.
Determined to learn what really happened during his mother’s escape from the concentration camp to which she and Kweku’s father were banished, and their subsequent journey halfway around the world, Kweku and his young family set out on a perilous voyage across a devastated planet. What they find will challenge not only their faith in humanity, but their ability to stay alive.
The Descent is the devastating, nerve-shattering prequel to the critically acclaimed thriller The Forcing, a story of survival, hope, and the power of the human spirit in a world torn apart by climate change.
*Out in paperback & e-book 15th February 2024*
Published by Orenda Books
Please find the pre-order links here:
The Descent – Print – https://geni.us/EPOP
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.
“My name is… Justice.”
Chad Hilton, footballer, recovering opioid addict and criminal psychologist is on the edge. His fragile sanity is disintegrating following the horrific murder of his wife in Leeds.
Seeking rest and recuperation he arrives in Sydney, to find a city in the terrifying grip of a barbaric serial killer.
Inspector Ruben ‘Pop’ Murray won’t take no for an answer and enlists Chad to help identify the killer.
As he follows the trail of clues left by the murderer Chad realises that he’s in a race…Catch the killer or become a victim.
Genre: Crime Thriller
Pages: 331
Publisher: Red Kimba Press
X (Twitter)
@GabeGalletti
@KellyALacey
@lovebookstours
#LBTCrew #Freebookreview #Lovebooktours
Instagram
@GabeGalletti
@lovebookstours
#LBTCrew #Freebookreview #Lovebooktours
About the Author
Following a successful business career spanning forty years and three continents Gabe put his love of crime thrillers on a more creative footing. He began writing in 2019 and worked with the Cornerstones Literary Agency Scouting programme under the mentorship of author Mark Leggatt and the watchful eye of McIllvanney nominee Neil Broadfoot. He self-published his first crime novel Best served Cold in 2022. In March 2023 he was accepted as a member of the Crime Writers Association.
Buy Links
www.amazon.co.uk
www.amazon.com
Lost among the dune-swept ruins of ancient glass towers, 14-year-old Spiric hunts for his stolen memories. Guided by the exiled scholar that found him, he embarks on a perilous journey across the Droughtlands to uncover his origins.
He’s told his red eyes mark him as a Hytharo, one of the long-extinct storm callers that sealed all water into the air itself before they were erased from history. In the thousand years since, thirst has been quenched simply by breathing, but that hasn’t stopped the surviving runic peoples from wanting water any less.
For without it, there’s no ink, no runes, no magic, and in the vast desert wastes of the Droughtlands, magic means power.
To Spiric, the mantra is eerily familiar.
Word of his presence ripples across the Droughtlands and pressure mounts on him to reverse the Hytharo’s final, sacrificial act. It’s only as his memories begin to return that he realises the true reason his people were wiped out.
With the fragments of Spiric’s memories growing bloodier and more desperate, he must determine whether carrying out his supposed fate will cause history to repeat, or if he can forge a new destiny, both for himself and the Droughtlands.
Genre: High Fantasy
Instagram
@jonathanw_author
@lovebookstours
#LBTCrew #Bookstagram
X (Twitter)
@KellyALacey
@lovebookstours
#LBTCrew #BookTwitter
About the Author
Jonathan Weiss is an Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction author of The Flux Catastrophe and The First Hytharo series. He has a background in Journalism and commercial cloud sales and lives with his wife and three budgies in the Illawarra region of New South Wales.
Buy Link
www.amazon.co.uk
+ Christmas, crime fiction, fiction, friends, friendship, lies, locked room mystery, murder, murder mystery, obsession, revenge, review, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, secrets, thriller, twins, University
The Twelve Days of Murder by Andreina Cordani
Twelve years ago, eight friends ran an exclusive group at university: The Masquerade Murder Society.
The mysteries they solved may have been grisly, but they were always fictional – until their final Christmas Masquerade, when one of the group disappeared, never to be seen again.
Twelve years later, the remaining members of the group receive an invitation to a reunion masquerade, to be held in a beautiful and remote hunting lodge in Scotland. When they arrive they are each assigned a new identity themed around the Twelve Days of Christmas – they become Lady Partridge or Mr Gold; Lord Leapworth or Doctor Swan. The game begins, and it feels just like old times.
#TheTwelveDaysOfMurder @AndreinaCordani @ZaffreBooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour
Until the next morning, when Lady Partridge is found hanging from a pear tree.
It quickly becomes clear that in this game, the murder will be all too real, and the story is bringing long-hidden secrets to the surface. If they hope to win the game and survive the festive season then they will need to face the truth about their history together, who they have become – and what really happened on that fateful night twelve years before.
My Review
“On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me…a partridge in a pear tree.” And so goes the carol. Remember it as it’s important.
Twelve years ago, eight university ‘friends’ – and I use the term loosely – ran The Masquerade Murder Society. They took it very seriously, the characters dressing up, learning their identities, and really getting into their roles. There was always a grisly murder, and one of the group did it. Then a member of the society disappeared and was never seen again.
The society was disbanded, everyone went their separate ways, and that was it. Until the remaining members are invited to a reunion in a remote Scottish hunting lodge. It’s Christmas and it’s starting to snow.
Charley was never really one of them. They were all rich toffs, from wealthy families, and she was the poor relation. They treated her like dirt, accusing her of stealing a necklace, and basically looking down on her class, or lack of it. I don’t really know why she turned up. Oh yes, Ali the organiser was going to pay her. And she needs the money.
As they arrive, each one is assigned an identity, based around the Twelve Days of Christmas. I said it would be important. But the game becomes too real when influencer and Greek heiress Pan, aka Lady Partridge, is discovered hanging from a pear tree.
Is she the first? Will she be the last? And who would want to kill them all (if not literally)? Probably most people, if truth be told, as they are all horrible, rude and arrogant, Charley excepted, and they all have secrets and someone knows what they are.
It’s great fun, and I really enjoyed it, though there was one character I’d love to have kept alive, but I’m not saying which one.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour
About the Author
Andreina Cordani lives on the Dorset coast with her family where she reads voraciously, occasionally makes Tik Tok videos and swims in the sea. She is the author of two dark thrillers for young adults, The Girl Who… and Dead Lucky. The Twelve Days of Murder is her first novel for adults.
+ crime fiction, family, fiction, grief, kidnapping, loss, mental health, mental illness, mystery, obsession, police drama, review, thriller
Gone by TJ Brearton
How can an entire family disappear into thin air?
An empty house on the edge of a small town . . . a teddy bear abandoned . . . a half drunk glass of wine . . . the TV left on and all the computer equipment missing. Where have Hutchinson Kemp and his wife and two children gone?
Detective Rondeau doesn’t think they left by choice. However he is on the verge of cracking up as he pursues the trail of the film-maker and his family who have disappeared without a trace. Rondeau discovers disturbing evidence that big money and government might have something to do with the chilling crime, but no one seems to believe him anymore. Ignoring his sceptical police colleagues, he puts his life at risk as he races to find the family in this twisting-turning crime thriller. Are the family even still alive, and what are their abductors trying to hide?
My Review
I’ve been listening to this on Audible. I really like the narrator, which to me is very important. Sometimes less than a minute and I think I can’t stand this voice. But this was perfect.
I love a conspiracy theory, but it must have its roots in fact. I don’t believe that Elvis is alive and living on the moon with Princess Diana. We are not talking about the National Enquirer here. I have this idea that when the world population hit 7 billion, someone, somewhere, decided to release a pandemic to bring it down. Ok, maybe not, but there has to be an inkling of possibility.
Detective Rondeau’s brother-in-law Millard is full of conspiracy theories. So when the Kemp family disappears, he has a list as long as your arm. Has the family been abducted? Not by aliens thank goodness, but by government – the ‘deep state’ – the FBI, the CIA or whatever. Rondeau doesn’t believe him but he knows something is going on. Is organised crime involved, the mafia even? He had a run in with the FBI a few years back over the Valentine serial killer and it didn’t end well for him. He has the bullet holes to prove it.
Hutchinson Kemp is a filmmaker. His last documentary Citizen Farmer was about the meat industry. It suggested that the meat industry was more responsible for global warming than fossil fuels. Methane causes the biggest damage to the environment. Of course the big players don’t like anything that affects their profits. I saw a programme about this recently and I was appalled.
Kemp’s latest project involves waste. It’s called Nothing Disappears. It will also be controversial, but we know it’s a fact. Where does it all go? Into landfill, the oceans, we’ve seen the devastation it can cause to wildlife.
I really enjoyed this book. There is something rather prophetic about it, considering it was published four years before the pandemic and people keep getting sick. And I love the ending – you know the saying ‘just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they are not after you’.
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.
+ child abduction, crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, lies, loss, marriage, murder, obsession, police drama, police procedural, review, secrets, serial killer, sisters, twins
The Murder Trail by DG Penny DC Izzy Wilde Crime Thriller #1
Can a rookie cop stop a serial killer before another life is lost?
Three months after moving out of uniform, DC Izzy Wilde wants to make an impression. But sometimes she can’t help going off track. It’s got her in trouble before. As first responder to a monstrous death at a remote farm, she discovers a slain wife whose eight-month-old daughter is missing.
And there is a stranger abandoned in the kitchen who cannot be woken. Seconded to the Murder Team with her partner, DS Jack Ward, Izzy fears they may never crack the case. The dead woman has a torrid secret that puts her husband in the frame for her murder. Izzy endeavours to uncover evidence as she fights her own demons. And all the while the killer is choosing his next victim.
When the identity of the abandoned girl is discovered it reshapes the investigation. Relentlessly pursuing what evidence, Izzy and Jack uncover more secrets. As they do the boldness of the killer is made clear. Can Izzy and Jack unmask the killer whose only plan is to slay at random, or will they become his next victims?
My Review
I read this with my online book club, The Pigeonhole. We were warned there would be typos, as this was a proof copy. Unfortunately there were a lot of inconsistencies, not just typos, which hopefully will be picked up in the editing.
It’s a good story – it has the bare bones of an excellent one. I just wish it paid more attention to modern policing and how young officers behave. It feels a bit stuck in another decade.
But enough of the negatives. DC Izzy Wilde has recently come out of uniform and is now a detective in Preston. She is partnered with DS Jack Ward. But she is the first to respond to a horrific murder at Caxton Farm. Rosie Wilson lies dead in a pool of blood, cradled in the arms of her husband Mike. Eight month old Grace is nowhere to be found, but another child is unconscious on the sofa.
Rosie had some dark secrets, so did Mike kill his wife in a fit of temper? Izzy doesn’t think so. She thinks this is the work of a cold-blooded killer. And who is the child on the sofa? DNA can tell us most things these days, so it doesn’t take long to discover her identity. And that makes everything so much more complicated.
Izzy wasn’t popular with my fellow Pigeons. She struggles with procedure and often goes out on her own, causing havoc in some cases. She doesn’t have any patience, but she’s no Harry Callaghan (look it up). In fact she often messes up the whole case by failing to involve her colleagues. However, we like Jack and civilian IT wizz Priya.
Izzy also has her secrets, which have formed her detachment and often blunt, unsympathetic attitude. She’s not a team player. She probably needs to get a cat (so long as the author doesn’t kill it off – us Pigeons hate that). In the follow up book in the series, I hope she starts to thaw, and we see a nicer side to her.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
David Penny is the author of the Thomas Berrington Historical Mysteries set in the chaotic final years of Moorish Andalusia in Spain and the early Tudor period. After being traditionally published in his 20s with four science fiction novels, he chose to publish independently on his return to writing. David’s work is available in eBook, print and audio, as well as translations into Spanish and German.David’s forthcoming release is The Murder Trail, the first in the Izzy Wilde crime thriller series, written under the name DG Penny.
+ adventure, crime fiction, dark humour, family, fiction, Finland, friends, friendship, humour fiction, murder
The Beaver Theory by Antti Tuomainen (translated by David Hackston)
Henri Koskinen, intrepid insurance mathematician and adventure park entrepreneur, firmly believes in the power of common sense and order.
That is until he moves in with painter Laura Helanto and her daughter…
As Henri realises he has inadvertently become part of a group of local dads, a competing adventure park is seeking to expand their operations, not always sticking to the law in the process…
#TheBeaverTheory @antti_tuomainen @OrendaBooks
#RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #BlogTour
Is it possible to combine the increasingly dangerous world of the adventure-park business with the unpredictability of life in a blended family? At first glance, the two appear to have only one thing in common: neither deals particularly well with a mounting body count.
In order to solve this seemingly impossible conundrum, Henri is forced to step far beyond the mathematical precision of his comfort zone … and the stakes have never been higher…
My Review
And Henri Koskinen is back! Everyone’s favourite actuary and his Adventure Park ‘YouMeFun’. All the usual suspects are here too – artist Laura Helanto and her daughter (they have just all moved in together) – the staff at the park (see The Moose Paradox review), and Detective Inspector Pentti Osmali of the Joint Division of the Helsinki Organised Crime and Fraud Units, with his tiny, too small, brown, leather shoes and his love of art. Osmala is almost my favourite character (Schopenhauer the cat is up there too) – I picture him a bit like a smartly dressed version of Columbo, minus the glass eye. Osmala that is, not the cat.
I’m not quite sure how there is so much crime in an adventure park (Alton Towers is hardly a seat of lawlessness and felony), or how Henri manages to accidentally get involved in murder. It all starts when a new adventure park called Somersault City opens up nearby and tries to put him out of business by offering free entry and free food. Of course Henri knows that the maths doesn’t add up and it’s only a matter of time before they go bust.
But now to the Beaver of the book’s title. Beavers are definitely playing second fiddle to horses, but The Horse Theory just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. Neigh it does not (sorry). The Beaver is actually ‘eighteen metres high, and its countless activities include a foam DIY dam, a tail with a bouncy castle and a network of slides. It’s the number one attraction at Somersault City’ and it’s where all the ‘fun’ begins.
I do still wonder if I have a warped sense of humour (along with the author), but this really tickled me: ‘We cautiously approach the Banana…..Even if Joonas’s box is in fact a bomb, I can’t imagine him using his explosives to blow up the bare interior of a seven-metre-long plastic fruit and, thereby, himself too.’ No-one is that dedicated.
I’m really sorry this is Henri’s last outing. He’s been great fun and I shall miss him.
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.
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.
A young nation in peril. A web of deceit. A triangle of forbidden love.
The year is 1315. The fledgling nation of Switzerland – the Confederation Helvetica – is under threat from the Habsburgs. In France, the Knights Templar have been disbanded and declared heretics by the king. Magda, a weaver living near the Alpine village of Morgarten, befriends Walter, a messenger and tracker who is the son of the legendary Wilhelm Tell. Walter and Magda’s budding romance is threatened by the arrival of Sébastien, a fugitive from France. What secrets is this foreigner hiding? Can Walter solve the mystery of a murder and a stolen religious artefact before a mighty battle with the Habsburgs ensues? And who will be the victors in their turbulent triangle of love?
Finalist in the 2023 Page Turner Awards.
Genre: Historical Fiction | Medieval Mystery
Publisher: Mana Publishing
About the Author
Louise Mangos writes award-winning suspense novels and short fiction which have won prizes, placed on shortlists and been narrated on BBC radio. She holds a Masters in Crime Writing from the University of East Anglia in the UK. Louise’s books are set mostly in Switzerland where she lives with her Kiwi husband and two sons at the foot of the Alps, enjoying an active life in the mountains. Their home is only a few miles from the site of the Battle of Morgarten in the Aegeri Valley which inspired her to write The Secrets of Morgarten, her first historical novel.
Author’s Website: https://louisemangos.com/
X (Twitter)
@louisemangos
@KellyALacey
@lovebookstours
#LBTCrew #BookTwitter
Instagram
@louisemangos
@lovebookstours
#LBTCrew #Bookstagram
Pre-order link
www.amazon.co.uk
Bookchatter@Cookiebiscuit 