+ child abduction, family, female friendship, fiction, friends, grief, jealousy, journalist, kidnapping, lies, London, marriage, motherhood, obsession, Psychological fiction, revenge, review, secrets, sisters, stalker, thriller, University
No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara
No one saw it happen.
You stand on a crowded tube platform in London. Your two little girls jump on the train ahead of you. As you try to join them, the doors slide shut and the train moves away, leaving you behind.
Everyone is lying.
By the time you get to the next stop, you’ve convinced yourself that everything will be fine. But you soon start to panic, because there aren’t two children waiting for you on the platform. There’s only one.
Someone is to blame.
Has your other daughter got lost? Been taken by a passing stranger? Or perhaps the culprit is closer to home than you think? No one is telling the truth, and the longer the search continues, the harder she will be to find…
My Review
I’m exhausted after reading this book! It literally races along at breakneck speed, jumping from the ‘now’, back to the last few days and then fifteen years earlier.
Sive and Aaron and their three children live and work in Dublin, but they are going to London for a university reunion with Aaron’s old mates. There’s Scott the pilot, serious-slightly-boring Maggie, dopey Dave and Nita – Nita, a social media influencer with 45,000 followers, who just happens to be the sister of Yasmin, who was engaged to Aaron before she died in a fire at the age of 26. They all lived in a house in Stratford (in London not Shakespeare’s birthplace) belonging to Dave’s mother Carol. Keep up!
Then on that fateful day, Faye and Bea board the tube ahead of Sive and the doors close, leaving Sive and the baby on the platform. But it will be fine because Faye will look after Bea until the next stop where they will get off. Except when they arrive at the next stop there’s only Bea. Where is Faye? She would never leave Bea alone – which means something has happened and Sive is panicking.
Who can Sive trust? Her friends, her successful barrister husband (frankly I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him), his friends? Her friends – she doesn’t appear to have any apart from Jude, the hard-nosed journalist who works for the same paper. The police? Well at least them hopefully.
And then we board a speeding train, only this one is full of lies and red herrings, because no-one is telling the truth and Faye’s life may depend on it.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Andrea Mara is a Sunday Times and Irish Times top ten bestselling author, and has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including Irish Crime Novel of the Year. She lives in Dublin, Ireland, with her husband and three young children, and also runs multi-award-winning parent and lifestyle blog, OfficeMum.ie. Hide and Seek, her second thriller to be published in the UK and internationally, became an instant top ten bestseller.
+ family, fiction, forgiveness, grief, lies, obsession, Psychological fiction, revenge, review, secrets, stalker, thriller
I Know Who You Are by Mark Gillespie
Rowan Wilson has finally escaped her dark past. Or so she thinks.
Rowan Wilson has humiliated another woman online. But she took it too far and caused a shocking tragedy which rocked her hometown to the core. Rowan is advised to leave – quickly. She’s given a new identity and, desperate to make up for the damage she’s caused, works hard to redeem herself.
Now she lives a quiet life working at a drug and alcohol rehab centre. She keeps to herself and gives little away about her past.
But is Rowan’s second chance doomed before it begins?
#IKnowWhoYouAre @MarkG_Author @InkubatorBooks @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
Someone is watching Rowan, day and night. He’s following her to work, and back to the flat where she lives alone. He knows who she really is, behind the lies.
But who is he and what does he want?
Two lives connected by tragedy. Destined to collide. And one last mind-blowing secret, waiting to be revealed.
I Know Who You Are is packed with mystery, suspense and jaw-dropping twists. If you love suspense and nail-biting tension, you’ll love this chilling psychological thriller.
My Review
Rowan Wilson did something terrible while she was at University. It resulted in a shocking tragedy that saw Rowan and her family having to leave the town where they live and relocate, even using a different last name. She was forced to abandon her studies. take a job in a rehab centre in St Andrews and live quietly under a new identity.
But is she safe? Because someone is watching her, but who is he and is he connected to what she did? Or is it something else – something from her past?
I Know Who You Are is a short, quick read, full of intrigue, suspense and lies. I was totally conflicted about Rowan. Are we supposed to like her and forgive her, or do we believe her to be the monster others think she is? Much of the book is written from her point of view, recounting the details of the tragedy and why she needs to redeem herself, seemingly for the rest of her life. We also feel her fear, always looking over her shoulder, looking for that figure in the shadows who is coming for her.
The rest of the book is written from the point of view of her ‘stalker’, slowly leaking tiny clues as to why he is following her.
The twists at the end were a real surprise and just when you think you have unravelled the mystery, another one comes along. Brilliant!
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Mark Gillespie writes psychological thriller and suspense novels. He’s a former professional musician (bass player) from Glasgow, Scotland who spent ten years touring the UK and Ireland, playing sessions and having the time of his life. Don’t ask though. What happened on the road stays on the road. He now lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife and a small menagerie of rescue creatures. If he’s not writing, he’s jamming with other musicians, running on the beach, watching mixed martial arts and boxing. Or devouring horror and thriller movies. This is his first psychological thriller with Inkubator Books.
Follow Mark at :
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markgillespieswritingstuff
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkG_Author
Website: https://www.markgillespieauthor.com/
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/131476479-i-know-who-you-are
Buy Links – https://geni.us/C9NAAb
+ art, fiction, friendship, germany, jews, journalist, literature, love, nazi germany, review, secrets, World War Two, WW2
Café 7Rheinhardt by Patrick Gooch
Anton Fischer, a curator at the prestigious Belvedere art museum, stands at the crossroads. War is on the horizon. Should he stay in Vienna under Germany’s oppressive regime, hide to avoid conscription in the Wehrmacht, or flee and join those opposed to Adolf Hitler?
Sacrificing his feelings for the woman he loves, Anton makes his way to England, and joins the Royal Air Force. Suffering injury during combat, Anton is seconded to the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives Programme. Its aim, to safeguard, and where possible, return to their rightful owners, their works of art expropriated by the Nazis.
#Cafe7Rheinhardt @PATRICKGOOCH6 @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
In the final stages of the Second World War he returns to Vienna, in search of the woman he loves. But nothing is simple. In following his heart, Anton is painfully aware that she may be beyond his reach.
My Review
It’s 1938 and Anton Fischer is a curator at the Belvedere Art Museum in Vienna. At this time, my Jewish mother and grandmother were living there, having moved from Bucharest some 12 years earlier. They knew it was time to get out, but unable to return to Romania, they fled to London where my grandfather was already settled, and were eventually evacuated to Cheltenham, my home town.
Why am I telling you this? Well, for me the book was personal. I know my family had to leave everything behind other than the few things they could carry, the nazis would have taken it all anyway. I never found out what they had abandoned and we never got any of it back.
The first part of the book tells the story of Anton’s attempts, with others, to hide works of art that Hitler considered to be ‘degenerate’. These included the paintings of Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. Hitler was also planning to create the largest art collection in the world at Linz where he grew up, but little did he know that the likes of Heydrich and Göring were skimming Monets, Van Goghs and Vermeers off the top for their own personal collections. But Anton has a daring plan. Can he produce forgeries so good that they could replace the real thing?
Meeting at the Cafe 7Rheinhardt, Anton befriends Milo Stanton, an American war correspondent, who helps him in his mission, while reporting events back to his newspaper in the US.
Of course, in 1939, Hitler, having already taken Czechoslovakia and the Sudetenland, invaded Poland and we officially declared war on Germany. It would be years before we would know the full truth of his treatment of the Jews and other non-Aryan races, disabled people and homosexuals, together with the horrors of the concentration camps.
Eventually it becomes too dangerous for Anton to remain in Austria, so he returns to his parents’ home in England, joins the Air Force, and having been wounded, is “seconded to the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives Programme. Its aim, to safeguard, and where possible, return to their rightful owners, their works of art expropriated by the Nazis.”
All this and a love story too. Because Anton is in love with a woman he cannot have. But will she be waiting when the war is over?
When I was twelve years old, I went to Austria with my father and brother. We stayed just outside Salzburg, visited Vienna briefly and took a coach trip to Berchtesgaden where we visited one of the remaining bunkers – most ‘tourist attractions’ were destroyed to prevent them becoming a shrine to the führer – and spent the afternoon down a salt mine. I remembered this fondly while reading Cafe 7Rheinhardt, especially the secret location of the hidden art works.
I read the book in two sittings – one in the back of my son’s car travelling to Kent. It’s very short and it doesn’t mess about. We follow Anton from place to place over the years, hoping he will succeed and survive. I highly recommend it.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Patrick Gooch studied History of Art, and lectured at the Central School of Art and Design in London. However, marketing was his main occupation; and in this role he worked for a number of German, American and British companies. Latterly, he joined the family trade development company, working principally with government departments of foreign countries. To relieve the tedium of long-haul flights and the four walls of rooms in impersonal hotels, he turned to writing.
Over time he amassed a number of manuscripts, which were stored in the metaphorical bottom
drawer. The number grew until, in exasperation, his wife declared he should either attempt to get
them published, or she would. In fact, she did submit the first novel; and, to date, ten have been published.
Follow him at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PATRICKGOOCH6
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125004824-caf-7rheinhardt
Buy Link – https://geni.us/JGklqze
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, murder, murder mystery, police drama, police procedural, religion, retreat, review, secrets, thriller
The Monk by Tim Sullivan – The DS Cross Mysteries #5
DS George Cross has always wondered why his mother left him when he was a child.
Now she is back in his life, he suddenly has answers. But this unexpected reunion is not anything he’s used to dealing with. When a disturbing case lands on his desk, he is almost thankful for the return to normality.
#TheMonk @TimJRSullivan @AriesFiction @HoZ_Books #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
The body of a monk is found savagely beaten to death in a woodland near Bristol. Nothing is known about Brother Dominic’s past, which makes investigating difficult. How can Cross unpick a crime when they don’t know anything about the victim? And why would someone want to harm a monk?
My Review
First of all I’m going to recap the first part of my review of the previous George Cross Mystery:
‘I love DS George Cross. He’s on the neurodivergent spectrum and takes everything literally. He doesn’t get jokes or irony which can be very confusing for his colleagues and intimidating for the criminals. They think he is taking the p*ss. His colleague DS Josie Ottey does though – she’s worked with him many times.
‘We also met George’s father Raymond, an inveterate hoarder with a penchant for building models. George was brought up by him after his mother left. At the end of The Politician, she came back into his life. George is not really sure how to handle the change.’
Just as things are starting to settle down, a disturbing case lands on George’s desk. A Benedictine monk has been found in a field, savagely beaten to death. Who would do such a thing? But George’s first question is why.
In order to discover the truth and the killer, George and his team must follow the clues. Who was Brother Dominic before he took his vows? There must be records, but first they need to establish his real identity.
One of the things we learn about George is that he is an accomplished organist and plays regularly at his local church, where Stephen is the vicar. So a visit to the Abbey where Dominic lived is a wonderful experience for him. It’s quiet and peaceful and there is an old organ in need of repair. All the monks seem too kind and spiritual to have murdered one of their own, but you can never tell. Or is the murder linked to Dominic’s past life?
It was great fun trying to work it out.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Tim Sullivan is a crime writer, screenwriter and director whose film credits include A Handful of Dust, Jack and Sarah and Cold Feet. Early in his career he directed Jeremy Brett’s iconic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in ITV’s The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes¸ cementing his lifelong passion for crime fiction.
Tim’s crime series, featuring the socially awkward but brilliantly persistent DS George Cross, has been widely acclaimed and topped the book charts. The Monk is the fifth in the series.
He lives in North London with his wife Rachel, the Emmy Award-winning producer of The Barefoot Contessa and Pioneer Woman. To find out more about the author please visit TimSullivan.co.uk
Follow him at:
Twitter: @TimJRSullivan
Facebook: Tim Sullivan novels
Instagram: @timsullivannovelist
TikTok: @timsullivanauthor
+ family, feel-good, female friendship, fiction, friendship, grief, loneliness, loss, love, relationships, review
Preloved by Lauren Bravo
Gwen’s life has stalled. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the country and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around herbaceous borders and the council’s wheelie-bin timetable. Above all she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone?
When Gwen’s made redundant from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, she realises it’s time to make a change. Over what might be the best – and most solitary – meal she’s ever eaten, Gwen vows to find something meaningful to do with her life, reconnect with her family and friends and finally book herself a dentist appointment.
#Preloved @laurenbravo @simonschusterUK #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Her search for meaning soon leads her to volunteer in a local charity shop where she both literally and metaphorically unloads her emotional baggage. With the help of the weird and wonderful people she meets in the shop and the donated items bursting with untold stories that pass through its doors, Gwen must finally address the events and choices that led her to this point and find a way to move forward with bravery, humanity and more regular dental care.
Brimming with life, love and the stories bound up in even the most everyday items, Preloved is a tale about friendship, loss, being true to oneself no matter the expectations – and the enduring power and joy of charity shops.
My Review
I love browsing charity shops, especially in places like Wimbledon or Oxford where the quality of the donated items is really good. I don’t dwell on the history of the items though – most are not really interesting enough – but I may do so now.
But what’s so special about Preloved is the staff. Most of the people who volunteer in our local charity shops are over 75, think Next is a designer brand, and wear polyester that looks like a hairdresser’s overall. I jest and I apologise.
In Preloved, they are all mostly younger, eccentric or just plain crazy. Maybe that’s London compared to the suburbs. I love this about the book. Connie’s story, for instance, really touched me, though I’m not going to say why. And Gwen’s mum and dad are just struggling with trying to process grief. Asha finds it hard to go to work even though she is bright and well-qualified. Nicholas is… I don’t really know what to say about him. He likes Gwen, but he’s way too young and certain things he does are not in the spirit of a charity shop shall we say. He’s a bit of a twicer.
As well as the staff and the customers, there are also the items, many of which have their own story. It reminded me a bit of The Keeper Of Lost Things. There’s a vase which is definitely not Clarice Cliff, a sunburst clock given away by mistake, a pair of white, strappy shoes that come and go, and scarves – lots of them.
But this is about Gwen. Having been made redundant from a job she hated, volunteering in the charity shop till the money runs out, her non-marriage to Ryan having ended over six years ago, she is lost. And lonely.
I absolutely adored this book. The writing, the descriptions, the little stories, the people, everything about it is wonderful. The author is so perceptive and sympathetic. The characters came alive on the page.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Lauren Bravo is a freelance journalist who writes about fashion, popular culture, food, travel and feminism, for publications including Grazia, Refinery29 UK, Cosmopolitan, Stylist, easyJet Traveller, Time Out, Delicious, the Telegraph and the Guardian. She is the author of two non-fiction books, What Would the Spice Girls Do? (2018) and How To Break Up With Fast Fashion (2020). Lauren lives in East London, and Preloved is her debut novel. Find out more on her website www.laurenbravo.co.uk.
Budding landscape architect Luisa MacGregor is stuck in a rut – she hates her boss, she lives with her sister, and she is still morning the loss of her fiancé many years ago.
So when she is given the opportunity to take on a parcel of land in a deprived area, she sees the chance to build a garden that can make the area bloom.
#TheForgottenGarden @sharongosling #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Arriving in the rundown seaside town of Collaton on the north-west coast of Cumbria, she realises that her work is going to be cut out for her. But, along with Cas, a local PE teacher, and Harper, a teen whose life has taken a wrong turn, she is determined to get the garden up and running.
So when the community comes together and the garden starts to grow, she feels her luck might changed. Can she grow good things on this rocky ground? And might love blossom along the way…?
My Review
I’m not normally a sentimental old romantic but this book left me an emotional wreck. I cried buckets, but then I did have Covid when I read it, so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
Luisa MacGregor is in a rut. After her husband Reuben died in an accident, she hasn’t been able to move on. Never having worked as a landscape designer, the degree in which she mastered, she works for a dreadful boss, lives with her sister Jo and has put her love life on hold forever. That is until she is gifted a piece of land in the rundown seaside town of Collaton on the north-west coast of Cumbria. She can turn it into a beautiful community garden – it was Reuben’s dream to do something like this – but can she make it work?
Well if she can’t we wouldn’t have a story, would we. But when she visits the land, she sees that her work is really cut out for her. She finds help in the most unlikely of places. First there is Cas, a local PE teacher who runs a boxing gym for deprived children, and Harper, a teenage girl whose life is taking a bad turn, with a drunken father and a shy, nine-year-old brother Max to care for.
But soon the community rallies round and the garden starts to bloom. I love Luisa’s Potato Planting Party idea (Harper still thinks she’s a loony), where local children (and adults) can plant a ‘seed’ potato or other vegetable, label it with their name and a date and watch it grow.
There’s a lot of information about plants and growing, but not too much, which I loved. It’s full of colour, scent and joy. We can take so much from growing things, and once the locals stop suspecting they are being used as cheap labour, they embrace the project with open arms. For some it changes their whole life. More tears I’m afraid. Though it’s Max that totally had me in the end.
But will it change Luisa’s life? And will romance blossom along with the garden? I certainly hoped it would but I’m keeping schtum.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Sharon started her career as an entertainment journalist, writing non-fiction books
about film and television. She is also the author of multiple children’s books. Sharon
and her husband live in a small village in northern Cumbria where they run a
second-hand bookshop, Withnail Books in Penrith. She can be found on Twitter
@sharongosling.
+ alcoholism, dark humour, fiction, grief, loneliness, loss, love, mental health, mental illness, murder, obsession, review, serial killer
Death Of A Bookseller by Alice Slater
In this “utterly unforgettable” debut (Catherine Ryan Howard), a disaffected, true crime-obsessed bookseller develops a dangerous obsession with a colleague.
Roach would rather be listening to the latest episode of her favorite true crime podcast than assisting the boring and predictable customers at her local branch of the bookstore Spines, where she’s worked her entire adult life. A serious true crime junkie, Roach looks down her nose at the pumpkin-spice-latte-drinking casual fans who only became interested in the genre once it got trendy. But when Laura, a pretty and charismatic children’s bookseller, arrives to help rejuvenate the struggling bookstore branch, Roach recognizes in her an unexpected kindred spirit.
Despite their common interest in true crime, Laura keeps her distance from Roach, resisting the other woman’s overtures of friendship. Undeterred, Roach learns everything she can about her new colleague, eventually uncovering Laura’s traumatic family history. When Roach realizes that she may have come across her very own true crime story, interest swiftly blooms into a dangerous obsession.
A darkly funny suspense novel, Death of a Bookseller raises ethical questions about the fervor for true crime and how we handle stories that don’t belong to us.
My Review
Roach is one of the creepiest characters I have ever come across in a book. I have a bit of a thing about personal hygiene so boyfriend Sam’s sweaty, unwashed sheets (I’d have been out of there pronto first time never to return) and her bed smelling of dirty knickers turned my stomach. Plus all the Dark Fruits cider and cigarette breath just add to the disgust.
Laura also smokes continuously and drinks whatever is put in front of her, usually bought by co-worker Eli, who is in a supposed relationship with Lydia. They had a bit of a thing in the past, but he has chosen someone else.
Roach is obsessed with true crime – her favourite department in the bookshop where they all work is the true crime section, obviously. She listens to podcasts by the ‘Murder Girls’, reads books about serial killers and the likes of Ted Bundy and Charles Manson, and regards them as ‘celebrities’. She’s a bit like those women who write to killers in prison and end up marrying them. The most famous of these is Charles Bronson, a violent criminal who attracted a number of women after they read about him and started writing to him. It’s something I’ve never understood.
She is also obsessed with Laura, believing them to have a ‘connection’. Laura, on the other hand, hates Roach. I feel quite sorry for Laura because of her tragic past, but I can’t say any more. Roach’s obsession is seriously misplaced, her ‘understanding’ delusional.
When Roach meets gothy Sam we immediately expected something much darker, but is the darkness only in Roach’s head, or will it ultimately manifest itself for real?
I’m very glad I don’t work in a shop where they go out after work all the time to get drunk. I work in retail (a large department store) and we go out every now and again for the two-for-one cocktails at Turtle Bay – max two each. God we are so posh!!
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read. The interaction with my fellow readers was a big part of the enjoyment.
About the Author
Alice Slater spent six years working as a bookseller with Waterstones. She started as a Christmas temp in Manchester Deansgate and worked her way up to bookshop manager of Romford, then Gower Street’s fiction section, and eventually Notting Hill Gate, lending a hand in 20 different branches across the UK on the way. Now a London-based writer, she is a co-host of literary podcast “What Page Are You On?” and writes about short stories for Mslexia.
+ crime fiction, family, fiction, folklore, friendship, lies, love, murder, psychopath, relationships, review, secrets, serial killer, thriller
Killing Jericho by William Hussey
Murder this twisted demands a new kind of detective. Fresh out of prison, former Detective Constable Scott Jericho is a desperate man.
Disgraced and penniless after his assault on a violent suspect, he is forced to seek refuge with the fairground family he once rejected. Now, troubled by his failure, Jericho’s brilliant mind stagnates.
That is until a series of bizarre murders reawaken his interest. Men and women with no obvious link to each other are being ritualistically slaughtered.
Slaughtered in ways that recall an old legend of the Jericho Travelling Fair.
Now, in a race against time, he must unpick the threads of a baffling mystery. But as his investigation unfolds and the corpses pile up, a shocking truth awaits him. A revelation that will test not only Jericho’s intellect but challenge the very core of his morality…
My Review
I loved this book. Not just exciting and suspenseful, I learnt so much about the travellers’ way of life. It was fascinating. The Jericho ‘freaks’ (I hate to call them freaks) killed when their caravan went over the bridge into the river when it collapsed was based on the true story of the Hartley Bridge disaster of 1853, when 30 people died, many of them travellers. It became known as Travellers Bridge. The freakshow came from the author’s research into real-life showman Tom Norman’s diaries.
My husband’s grandad’s family went hop-picking (this will make sense when you read the book) in Kent between the wars. They lived in South London and lots of people did it during the summer holidays. I remember being about 14 years old and going fruit picking. A scruffy, mud-stained land rover with a trailer picked us all up outside Boots Chemist and off we went. We were so rubbish at it that we hardly earned any money – the travellers did though. They knew how to work hard. We just ate the fruit!
Former Detective Constable Scott Jericho has just been released from prison. He was serving time for beating up a suspect in a terrible crime, which resulted in his disgrace, sacking from the police force and the culprit literally getting away with murder. Being totally broke, he had to return to his traveller family, whom he rejected when he joined the police.
But then he is asked to investigate a strange case – three people murdered, their deaths staged to look like the victims of the Travellers Bridge tragedy. But there are no links between the killings or the victims. And five travellers died in that accident. Will there be more murders and can Scott, with his brilliant investigative mind, solve the clues in time.
This was so good, the twists coming thick and fast, but it was the last two that really grabbed me. Especially the final one. I would never have guessed. Next book in what will no doubt prove to be a brilliant series? Bring it on.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
William Hussey is the award-winning author of over a dozen novels, including the Crime Fest award-nominated Hideous Beauty and The Outrage. Born the son of a travelling showman, he has spent a lifetime absorbing the history, folklore and culture of fairground people, knowledge he has now put to work in his Scott Jericho thrillers. William lives in the seaside town of Skegness with his faithful dog Bucky and a vivid imagination.
+ child abuse, childhood, crime fiction, family, fiction, mental illness, motherhood, murder, psychopath, review, secrets, split personality, thriller
The Bone House (Slayton Thrillers #3) by Caroline Mitchell
When hundreds of birds fall from the sky into Slayton’s lake in a terrifying freak event, the waters are dredged – revealing a dark, long-held secret.
An old pram is pulled from the depths, with the bones of a baby still strapped inside.
It’s the moment that new mother, Cora, has been dreading since she moved to Slayton – because someone knows, and is going to make her pay.
#TheBoneHouse @Caroline_writes @emblabooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour
With the help of forensic anthropologist Sophia Hudson, and the extraordinary young Elliott Carter, Detective Sarah Noble gets to the bottom of a cold case that refuses to stay in the past. Will she survive the secrets of the bone house?
My Review
Atmospheric and creepy, what secrets are hidden in The Bone House? Only Cora knows, but when an old pram is pulled from the lake with the remains of a baby still strapped in, she knows it’s time for her to pay. And that the residents of the strange town of Slayton will make sure she does.
Detective Sarah Noble from the first two books in the series is given the cold case to solve, but it turns out to be more than just that. I don’t know Sarah’s back story, but I gather it was traumatic, as I also don’t know about her next-door neighbour Maggie or Maggie’s son Elliott, who has extraordinary powers of clairvoyance. Is that what it is? He ‘sees’ things that others don’t, as does his teacher – we meet her part way through the book. I will need to read The Midnight Man and The Night Whispers to find out more. They also sound really creepy – just up my street.
But back to the ‘now’. Cora has a beautiful, eight-week-old baby named Millie and runs a bookshop called Turn The Pages. She has an assistant, Timmy, who also helps with babysitting. Life was looking up for her until hundreds of birds fell into the lake. It was when it was dredged that the pram was discovered.
Cora’s history is shocking. Her time at The Bone House with her stepfather, a well-respected consultant, her fragile mum and baby sister is just terrifying, but I won’t say more in case I give anything away. But you will be horrified, as was I. What follows is full of red herrings and numerous suspects, but it’s Cora’s story that will keep you up at night.
I can’t get over how good this book was; it’s absolutely riveting. I couldn’t put it down. I read Silent Victim by the same author some time ago (before I started reviewing on my blog) but this was even better.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour
About the Author
New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post and International #1 Bestselling Author. Shortlisted by the International Thriller Awards for best ebook 2017, the Killer Nashville Best Police Procedural 2018 and the Audie awards 2022. Over 1.5 million books sold.
Caroline originates from Ireland and now lives in a village outside the city of Lincoln. A former police detective, she has worked in CID and specialised in roles dealing with vulnerable victims, high-risk victims of domestic abuse, and serious sexual offences. She now writes full time.
Caroline writes psychological and crime thrillers. Her stand alone thriller Silent Victim reached No.1 in the Amazon charts in the UK, USA and Australia and was the winner of the Reader’s Favourite Awards in the psychological thriller category. It has been described as ‘brilliantly gripping and deliciously creepy’.
The first in her Amy Winter series, Truth And Lies, has been optioned for TV.
+ abuse, child abuse, crime fiction, family, fiction, friendship, kidnapping, loss, murder, police drama, police procedural, revenge, review, Scotland, serial killer
The First Cut (A Jane Renwick Thriller #1) by Val Penny
It’s hard to escape a brutal past. A vicious killer is on the loose. Victims targeted include an academic and members of Edinburgh’s high society.
When the Murder Investigation Team find out that the killer is connected to her past, DS Jane Renwick is banished to the side-lines and forced to look on as the manhunt ramps up at a ferocious pace.
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Has someone from Jane’s birth family returned to haunt her? Is one of her relatives involved? Where will the killer strike next?
This gripping police procedural is set in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The exciting novel is the first in Val Penny’s new series of Scottish thrillers.
My Review
Having read all three novels in the DI Hunter Wilson Edinburgh Crime Mysteries, I was looking forward to a new thriller featuring DS Jane Renwick, who we have already met many times. We don’t see Hunter in this book, but we do see Jane’s wife Rachael, Tim Myerscough (my favourite character) and his now girlfriend Gillian, Bear and Mel and lots of the others from the force.
There’s still a lot of banter in this one, a bit more swearing and constant tea and coffee, cakes and donuts. In fact the amount of hot drinks they partake in is enough to flood the police station and it did make me laugh.
But on to the story itself. Edinburgh has a serial killer on the loose. He or she (though apparently we are told that it is most likely a ‘he’ as there have only been four female serial killers in the UK and none of them in Scotland) has so far targeted ‘an academic and members of Edinburgh’s high society’. The victims appear to have nothing in common, except the women used the same fashionable hairdresser, an expensive cleaning firm, and a dog grooming parlour. All the victims had also registered with an online dating society called Alone in a Crowd. But why would that get them killed? There had to be more.
In the meantime, we have learnt a lot about Jane’s traumatic past. Having been removed by a social worker from her neglectful, abusive, drug-addled parents, she was separated from her siblings, but there is something in her DNA that might link her to the killer.
Another fast-paced, exciting read from this author, and I’m looking forward to the next book in the Jane Renwick series called A Fighting Chance.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Val Penny has an Llb degree from Edinburgh University and her MSc from Napier University. She has had many jobs including hairdresser, waitress, banker, azalea farmer and lecturer but has not yet achieved either of her childhood dreams of being a ballerina or owning a candy store. Until those dreams come true, she has turned her hand to writing poetry, short stories, nonfiction, and novels.
Val is an American author living in SW Scotland. She has two adult daughters of whom she is justly proud and lives with her husband and their cat.
Follow her at:
Twitter : https://twitter.com/valeriepenny
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Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Authorvalpenny
Website : http://www.valpenny.com
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122788545-the-first-cut
Buy Links – https://geni.us/WAYcoj
+ adventure, child abduction, childhood, eighties, fantasy, fiction, friends, friendship, Ghost story, horror, kidnapping, mythology, paranormal, review, supernatural, superstition
Amongst the Mists by M.L Rayner
It was the most anticipated summer break of their young lives.
For Bran Lampshire, that summer of 1986 would be far different. The lure of a wilderness adventure sends him and his friends on a troublesome journey that would see them far from home and into the isolated shadows of the Sleathton Estate.
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In a forgotten land where nature thrives, an unexplained mist settles upon the shaded grounds. And stories were told of events so chilling, they were forcibly buried over time.
Lose yourself beneath the endless trees. And discover that legends are sometimes so much more than ghost stories.
My Review
It all starts out as an innocent boys’ camping trip in the summer of 1986, when Bran, Marcus and Jack set off following the trail on Marcus’s antique map to the grounds of the Sleathton Estate. All seems well at first, but then Marcus falls off his bike and they are ‘rescued’ by a mysterious old man named Gregory. He takes them to his house in an abandoned village called Thyme and tells him about the myth surrounding the swamp, and the reasons why the village is now deserted. If they’d had the internet back then, I doubt they would have gone near.
Bran and Marcus have always been friends, but Marcus has invited Jack (who Bran calls ‘Special’ – it was the eighties remember), a slightly strange boy with odd coloured eyes. I really liked Jack, and Marcus, not so much Bran, who is a pain in the neck to be honest.
In the meantime, we hear from Olivia, a young girl wandering in the woods, near the swamp. But she’s been here many times and knows her way. Then she hears a voice that seems to be asking her to follow. The voice just repeats the same word ‘lost’ over and over. I found Olivia’s story the most harrowing. We feel her fear and ultimate panic.
Oh my goodness, what a creepy tale! It’s so cleverly written that I didn’t understand what was going on until the very last two chapters. And then it made sense. I never would have guessed. Would I want to go there and ‘check it out’? Not if my life (or my very soul) depended on it. Great stuff!
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Born and bred in the county of Staffordshire. Matt is a keen reader of classical, horror and fantasy literature and enjoys writing in the style of traditional ghost stories. During his working life, Matt joined the ambulance service in 2009, transporting critically ill patients all over the UK. After writing his first novel, Matt now dedicates his time on future releases. His hobbies include genealogy and hiking, and he enjoys spending time with his wife, Emma, his children, and his family.
Follow him at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLRayner/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m.l.rayner/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/M_L_Rayner
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63190613-amongst-the-mists
Buy Links – https://geni.us/j7cTyO
+ adventure, fantasy, fiction, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, supernatural, witchcraft, witches
Between the Dragon King and His Wrath by Barbara Russell
Revenge is a curse that can only destroy.
Princess Annika loves dancing, wearing bright gowns, and enjoying life. When she travels to the neighbouring kingdom of Walhack for the spring festival, she expects to make new friends. What she doesn’t expect is to meet Wlad, the former prince of Walhack now a slave in his own kingdom, starved and beaten by the violent usurper. Her attempt to help the fallen prince ends with her being assaulted and her father damaged for life.
Revenge is the only thing that keeps Wlad alive after the invaders occupied his kingdom, killed his parents, and turned him into a slave. Annika is the first ray of sunlight in years of pain and humiliation. Her kindness and compassion awaken the most dangerous feeling of all in his heart—hope.
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Desperate to take his kingdom back, he makes a pact with the Sister Witches. He’ll be cursed forever in exchange for the supernatural powers that will allow him to defeat his enemy.
Eight years later Annika doesn’t dance anymore. Doesn’t wear bright gowns anymore. As she struggles with her trauma, she has to meet King Wlad the Dracul—the Dragon King of Walhack who slaughtered his way back to the throne. Everyone says he’s cursed, turned into an immortal creature who seeks blood to survive. But she hopes he’s still the kind young man she met years ago.
This is a standalone, steamy paranormal/historical romance with a happily ever after. Trigger warning for explicit sex scenes, assault (off page), violence (off page), and trauma. There’s a time jump after the first few chapters. Cinnamon roll hero.
Here is a short extract from the book:
“She had to grab the wrought iron handle with both hands and pull with all her strength before the door swung inward. The bright lights of the corridor glared at her when she inched the thick and heavy door open. Distant voices, laughter, and music echoed from the lower floor. Music! She perked up on her toes, hearing the happy tunes of harps, flutes, and kettledrums. A fast tempo was beating through the castle, and even from her bedchamber, she could smell the scent of spiced roasted mutton and mulled wine. She shifted her weight, the music and scents teasing her. Oh, dash it. She wanted to go. Where were the servants? Was her maid already carousing without her?
“Chewing her bottom lip, she searched the hallway. The light from the torches hanging on the walls danced on the dark stone floor. Closed doors lined the corridor, but there was no one around.
“There… Her heart leapt when she spotted someone. Whoever it was, the person was slogging along the corridor, carrying a basket.
“Excuse me.” She stepped out of the bedchamber, a hand on the front of her dress to prevent it from falling. “Excuse me,” she repeated when the figure didn’t give any signs of having heard her.
“The sound of shuffling feet stopped as the servant paused. Under layers of tattered clothes was a young man, who stared at her in stunned silence. She stepped back. For some silly reason, she’d taken it for granted that the servant was an old woman. Now she wasn’t so sure she wanted this man’s help. But he had only to tie her belt. He didn’t need to enter her bedchamber or touch her. Of course, she wouldn’t tell anyone. Her papa would panic again and ship her to Sieben-Saxon for good.
“He touched his chest, mouth hanging open. “Are you talking to me, my lady?”
“I’m in need of assistance, sir.” She waved at him.
“He limped over to her, carrying the basket with one arm. As he came closer, shivers crawled down her spine, leaving a chill on her skin. His short dark hair was trimmed close to the scalp, showing a cut on his hairline. Despite his strong jaw and broad shoulders, his face still held the roundness of youth. She gathered he wasn’t much older than she was, perhaps a year or two. Although ancient pain swirled in his deep dark eyes. They were so dark that the pupils were lost in the black sea of the irises. Cuts and bruises marred his face, knuckles, and neck. Bones protruded from underneath his worn tunic. If anything, it wasn’t fear that gripped her heart as he walked closer, but compassion.
“My lady?” His baritone sent another set of shivers along her body. Deep and steady, it vibrated with an unexpectedly gentle note.
“I’m sorry to trouble you, but I need your help to tie my belt behind my back.” She
patted the saffron fabric. His gaze darted around, and his breathing sped up.
“My lady, that wouldn’t be appropriate. Lord Draga will punish you and me if he knows I touched your dress.”
“Why would Lord Draga care? Also, why did this servant speak in such a refined fashion?
“We’ll be quick. My belt only needs to be tied up. Please.”
Concern tightened his face, but he nodded. “As you wish, my lady.” He put the basket down, wincing as he bent over. Dried blood stained his sleeves and black eyebrows.
“Lord, you’re injured.” She couldn’t stop herself from eyeing his body. She wasn’t an expert on the art of healing as her mother had been, but sage oil would soothe those bruises. Something was wrong with his leg, judging by the awkward way he held it slightly up. Or maybe with his entire body.”
From the Author
“Love stories have always captured my imagination. What’s better than two people falling in love with each other? I write steamy romance, usually with a paranormal twist in an historical setting. Add a touch of suspense and mystery and a pinch of darkness. I love stories with strong, sexy heroes and mischievous heroines who pull no punches. I live in the City of Sails, New Zealand, drinking tea (coffee gives me anxiety) and devouring books.
“Join my newsletter for exclusive content and the chance to receive an ARC copy of my books. Just copy and paste this link into your browser:
Barbara’s Newsletter
“If you love steamy paranormal romance set in Victorian London, my Royal Occult Bureau series is for you:
The Royal Occult Bureau Series
“Are you into shape-shifter romance? Check out my da Vinci’s Beasts series, set in WW2:
da Vinci’s Beasts Series
“For more Victorian paranormal romance with witches and sexy warriors, see the Knights of the White Blade series:
The White Order Series
“Love steampunk? Check out my Auckland Steampunk series:
Auckland Steampunk Series
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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68057091-between-the-dragon-king-and-his-wrath
Buy Links – https://geni.us/qYezIr
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