+ female friendship, fiction, friendship, mental health, mental illness, psychiatric hospital, review
Stolen Summers by Anne Goodwin
All she has left is her sanity. Will the asylum take that from her too?
In 1939, Matilda is admitted to Ghyllside Hospital, cut off from family and friends. Not quite twenty, and forced to give up her baby for adoption, she feels battered by the cruel regime. Yet she finds a surprising ally in rough-edged Doris, who risks harsh punishments to help her reach out to the brother she left behind.
Twenty-five years later, the rules have relaxed, and the women are free to leave. How will they cope in a world transformed in their absence? Do greater dangers await them outside?
The poignant prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home is a tragic yet tender story of a woman robbed of her future who summons the strength to survive.
My Review
This was a hard read for me. I won’t go into detail again about my Jewish mother’s constant battle with mental illness, her escape from the Nazis shortly before the war, her lobotomy in the 1950s, her electric shock treatment, as I already mentioned all this in my review of Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home. But I can’t pretend that Stolen Summers didn’t upset me. It did.
We first meet Matilda when she is taken to Ghyllside Hospital, a mental institution, probably referred to as a ‘lunatic asylum’ in those days. It’s where girls were often sent after becoming pregnant ‘out of wedlock’. Their sanity was called into question and their babies taken away to be adopted immediately after they were born. The mothers were considered mentally defective and this ‘mental defect’ was believed by some to have caused the women’s ‘immorality’. They were locked up to prevent the perpetuation of ‘unfit’ genes. Unbelievable to think that nowadays.
Matty doesn’t talk about the pregnancy or the baby. Her main concern is that her little brother is only six and how will they explain to him where she has gone. Eventually she is told that it would be better for Henry if he forgets she even exists. We have to wait until Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home to find out more about Henry.
For now it is just about Matilda and the friendship she forms with the course Doris who ends up being her best and only true friend. She also befriends a black, American soldier called Eustace, who she meets at the weekly dances. Until then she had no idea that there were men at Ghyllside Hospital as they are segregated the rest of the time. We suspect this brief ‘relationship’ will not go well.
Stolen Summers is very short. I read it in a couple of hours max. It basically serves as an introduction to the twenty-year-old Matilda, and shows us how she ended up in Ghyllside Hospital, following her pregnancy. We also jump back and forth between 1939 when she enters the hospital, and 1964 when she has more freedom to come and go, and then finally we see Matilda in 1989 right at the start of Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home.
It’s a wonderful book – please don’t be put off by my own personal experience. It gives a real insight into the way unmarried mothers were treated in what is actually less than 100 years ago. A lot less in fact.
Many thanks to the author for an advance copy in exchange for a review.
About the Author
Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
Anne writes about the darkness that haunts her and is wary of artificial light. She makes stuff up to tell the truth about adversity, creating characters to care about and stories to make you think. She explores identity, mental health and social justice with compassion, humour and hope.
An award-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.
Website annegoodwin.weebly.com
Twitter @Annecdotist
Link tree https://linktr.ee/annecdotist
Book blog Annecdotal
Amazon author page viewauthor.at/AnneGoodwin
YouTube Anne Goodwin’s YouTube channel
Facebook Annecdotist
Instagram authorannegoodwin
Newsletter subscribe
TikTok @annegoodwinauthor
Amazon and other purchase links
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFJH1VL8
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BFJH1VL8
CAN: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BFJH1VL8
AUS: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BFJH1VL8
IN: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0BFJH1VL8
Universal link: https://books2read.com/u/mvXq6q
Direct review links @ https://linktr.ee/stolensummers
+ childhood, coming-of-age, family, feminism, fiction, girl's school, Historical fiction, literature, London, love, music, piano, relationships, review, sisters, twins, World War Two
The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 1 by Sophia Lambton
Lost are the creatures destined never to be understood.
1926. Professor Josef van der Holt obtains a post at an all women’s college overseas. Stuffy London suddenly becomes the site for the unseemly exploits of his half-Dutch and half-German daughters Anneliese and Isabel. When tragedy carves out a hollow in their lives, an ailing soul sends the sororal twins along a jagged path: while Isabel takes flight in sensual hedonism Anneliese skirts danger in her role as sleuth. Elusive are the sentiments they seek: swift stopovers of fleeting feeling. Seditious loves and passions scarcely probable veer each away from the predictable.
And when the obvious appears unstoppable the opposite may achingly be true.
Spanning the twentieth century’s five most volatile decades, The Crooked Little Pieces is a series about inextricable entanglements. Perverse relationships pervade a glossary of scenes. Plots criss-cross over a rich tapestry of twists and tension-fuelling characters: some relatable, others opaque and many “crooked”.
It is television drama. Novelised.
My Review
Wow! Just wow! I never expected this. It’s a true work of literature. The language is beautiful – the story engrossing.
It starts with half-Dutch and half-German twin sisters Anneliese and Isabel aged six living with their father Professor Josef van der Holt in Switzerland. He is a neurologist, but his ideas are considered old-fashioned. He forms a platonic relationship with another neurologist called Sara, but it does not develop.
Josef is offered a job in London and his two daughters are devastated. His wife Elise is a strange character, who never seems to come out of her room. I’m not sure how she survives to be honest, as they don’t have a maid or cook. In order to persuade her to go with them to London, she is told they are going on holiday.
The sisters are both talented. Anneliese is destined for great things in the medical profession, though her interest in psychiatry makes her unpopular at medical school. Isabel is potentially a musical genius on both cello and piano, but her inability to perform in front of others prevents her career from flourishing.
Anneliese has no interest in relationships and cannot see herself ever marrying. The most intense relationship she forms is with her psychiatrist shortly after a tragic event in the sisters’ lives.
Isabel is seemingly the opposite. Her hedonistic lifestyle is a constant source of worry to her twin sister.
The Crooked Little Pieces is very different. Don’t expect straightforward historical fiction. It’s more about emotions and the relationship between two women, who even though they are twins are disparate and diverse. As we leave them amidst world war two, I look forward to the next instalment in this fascinating tale.
Many thanks to the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author
Sophia Lambton became a professional classical music critic at the age of seventeen when she began writing for Musical Opinion, Britain’s oldest music magazine. Since then she has contributed to The Guardian, Bachtrack, musicOMH, BroadwayWorld, BBC Music Magazine and OperaWire, and conducted operatic research around the world for a non-fiction work set to be published in 2023. Crepuscular Musings – her recently spawned cultural Substack – provides vivid explorations of tv and cinema together with reviews of operas, concerts and recitals at sophialambton.substack.com.
The Crooked Little Pieces is her first literary saga. Currently she’s working on her second. She lives in London.
+ coming-of-age, family, fiction, history, literature, love, memoir, motherhood, piano, relationships, review, World War Two
Lessons by Ian McEwan
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines’s life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother’s protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano
teacher Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
Twenty-five years later Roland’s wife mysteriously vanishes, leaving him alone with their baby son. He is forced to confront the reality of his rootless existence. As the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster spreads across Europe he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life.
#Lessons #IanMcEwan @VintageBooks @ChristianLLewis #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
From the Suez and Cuban Missile crises, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Covid pandemic and climate change, Roland sometimes rides with the tide of history but more often struggles against it. Haunted by lost opportunities, he seeks solace through every possible means – literature, travel, friendship, drugs, sex and politics. A profound love is cut tragically short.
Then, in his final years, he finds love again in another form. His journey raises important questions. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we learn from the traumas of the past?
My Review
Some of the book – which is really Roland’s memoir – resonated with me, but being a few years younger, a lot of it didn’t. I was, however, fascinated by anti-Nazi group known as The White Rose as my mother living as a Jew in Vienna, had to flee the Nazis in 1938. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 for instance went over my head at the time as I was too young to understand the danger, and have only read about it as history. The Suez Crisis in 1956 happened when I was about three years old.
However, I went through Checkpoint Charlie in 1973 when I was a fashion student. I was about 20 years old. It is an experience I will never forget. I cannot understand how ANYONE could defend the GDR. It was awful and scary. They counted our English money on the way in and again on the way out to make sure we hadn’t given any to the residents of East Berlin to spend in the Western shops. We had to have receipts. Machine guns were pointed at us as we went through the checkpoint. In the Eastern shops they sold a lot of strong spirits (they no doubt needed it) but I best remember all the teddies were the same colour. How we celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Chernobyl was important to me and I remember being in hospital giving birth to my second child just after it happened. The woman in the next bed was terrified of the fall-out and had come to England from somewhere in Europe to have her baby. I am still affected by the man who stayed to feeds the cats and dogs after everyone left. And the children who would die of cancer in years to come and came here to the UK for a holiday.
But the most important part of the actual story follows young Roland from his early childhood in Tripoli where his father was stationed and he felt as if he had total freedom, to a somewhat ‘alternative’ boarding school in the Suffolk countryside. It is here that he meets his piano teacher Miriam Cornell when he is eleven years old. It changes his life, but it will be another three years until he is seduced by her and their ‘affair’ begins. By today’s’ standards, I found this all rather distasteful. It reminded me of a film I saw many years ago called Summer of ’42 . It tells the story of the author, in his early teens on his 1942 summer vacation, who embarks on a ‘romance’ with a young woman, whose husband has gone off to fight in the war. It seemed beautiful and poignant at the time, but in retrospect it’s all rather tacky and creepy.
The ‘affair’ with Miriam has an impact on Roland’s life and relationships. He doesn’t marry until he meets Alissa in the eighties. They have a child – Lawrence – but one day she just walks out, leaving him with a seven-month-old baby, Lawrence. We then delve into her family’s history – her mother Jane is English, but her father Heinrich is German. Eventually Alissa explains why she had to leave in order to write her books and become one of Germany’s most celebrated authors, but as a mother myself, I’m not buying it. She felt as though her marriage to Roland and motherhood were stifling her creativity, but she could have done both as numerous authors have shown us over the years.
There is so much more but if I go on my review will be nearly as long as the book! Roland muses about new Labour in power under Blair and then Brown, disillusionment, followed by years of disastrous Tory rule, Brexit and the pandemic.
Lessons is a fascinating look at the history of our times, wrapped around Roland’s story. It’s an ambitious book and one that only an author of McEwan’s talent and experience can pull off with such mastery.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Ian McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of seventeen novels and two short story collections.
His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; Nutshell; and Machines Like Me, which was a number-one bestseller. Atonement, Enduring Love, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach have all been adapted for the big screen.
+ brothers, crime fiction, Detective novel, family, fiction, friendship, haunting, Historical fiction, kidnapping, literature, London, love, murder, police corruption, prostitution, revenge, review, secrets, sisters
Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time.
The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie’s empire faces threats from without and within. For beneath the dazzle of Soho’s gaiety, there is a dark underbelly, a world in which it is all too easy to become lost.
#ShrinesOfGaiety #KateAtkinson #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
With her unique Dickensian flair, Kate Atkinson brings together a glittering cast of characters in a truly mesmeric novel that captures the uncertainty and mutability of life; of a world in which nothing is quite as it seems.
My Review
I adored this book more than I can even put into words. Everything about it, everyone in it and there’s even a cute terrier called Pierrot (I hope the name isn’t a spoiler but I think I need a dog called Pierrot).
Nellie Coker is the head of an empire. She runs five somewhat dodgy nightclubs with the help of her children – Niven, a romantic figure who fought in the Great War, the enigmatic and clever Edith, glamorous Shirley (I can’t read about Shirley without imagining someone I work with who shares her name and is about as glam as it gets), equally glamorous Betty, and budding author Ramsay. We also have 14-year-old Kitty but she’s a pain in the neck, though it’s not really her fault. Where Nellie got the money to start up her business remains shrouded in mystery, but we can guess it wasn’t legal.
In the meantime, 14-year-old Freda runs away to London with her friend Florence, to seek their fortune as dancers on the stage, along with the hundreds of other girls their age. Freda is quite talented for a girl from the provinces, while poor Florence is better at eating humbugs than performing. However, to make it as a dancer in the metropolis is less about talent and more about what you are prepared to trade for fame and fortune.
Detective Chief Inspector Frobisher is a man on a mission – he is determined to bring the Coker Empire crashing down and reveal the police corruption that allows Nellie to continue running her shady clubs. However, he has also been tasked with finding Freda and Florence by Gwendolen Kelling, a friend of Freda’s sister. Gwendolen is a librarian, who has inherited what was a lot of money in 1926, so she takes a sabbatical from the library and heads off to London. There’s also a romantic love interest, but with whom (and there’s more than one) is one of the delights of the story.
I could go on and on. Everyone is so well written – I loved them all, though I have my favourites, particularly Gwendolen. There is sadness, joy, murder, romance, a haunting, 1920s excesses, and humour.
‘”I know Pamela,” Betty said. “She’s not in the least bit bright.” All of the Cokers poured scorn on the so-called Bright Young Things. “She’s not even that young,” Shirley said. “Just a thing then,” Betty said.’
I must now start reading Kate’s other novels, but which one to start with?
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Kate Atkinson is one of the world’s foremost novelists. She won the Costa Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her three critically lauded and prize-winning novels set around the Second World War are Life After Life, an acclaimed 2022 BBC TV series starring Thomasin McKenzie, A God in Ruins (both winners of the Costa Novel Award) and Transcription.
Her bestselling literary crime novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie, Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News? and Started Early, Took My Dog, became a BBC television series starring Jason Isaacs. Jackson Brodie later returned in the novel Big Sky. Kate Atkinson was awarded an MBE in 2011 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
+ audio drama, Cat on a Piano, dark humour, fiction, humour fiction, podcast, radio play, Theatrephonic
Pearly Gates by Cat On A Piano / Theatrephonic
Pearly Gates
But hey! They survived!
‘Sorry I wasn’t here to welcome you. I was having a comfort break. You know …. as you get older.’ says St Peter. And it turns out that Satan is responsible for identity theft. Who knew.
Sylvester is addicted to watching cartoons. It’s called bi-toonism. Is that anything like bi-curious, asks St Peter? No that’s something completely different.
So how did Sylvester end up at the pearly gates? I think he may be a contender for the Darwin awards. Hilarious. Loved this.
Written by Nigel Foster
Directed by Emmeline Braefield
With
Peter M. Smith as Sylvester
Danielle Lade as Cherub
and Tom Jordan as St. Peter
Produced by Cat on a Piano Productions
Music:
Angelic Forest by Doug Maxwell
Angel Guides by Jesse Gallagher
Pizzetti – Sanctus – Messa di Requiem performed by The Tudor Consort
Earth Appears by Brian Bolger
Brain Trust by Wayne Jones
Goat by Wayne Jones
Bike Rides by The Green Orbs
Toy Piano by Wayne Jones
Cartoon Bank Heist by Doug Maxwell
Cartoon Hoedown by Media Right Productions
Seahorse by Rondo Brothers
Thunderstorm by Hanu Dixit
The Theatrephonic Theme tune was composed by Jackson Pentland
Performed by
Jackson Pentland
Mollie Fyfe Taylor
Emmeline Braefield
Cat on a Piano Productions produce and edit feature films, sketches and radio plays.
Their latest project is called @Theatrephonic, a podcast of standalone radio plays and short stories performed by professional actors. You can catch Theatrephonic on Spotify and other platforms.
For more information about the Theatrephonic Podcast, go to catonapiano.uk/theatrephonic, Tweet or Instagram @theatrephonic, or visit their Facebook page.
And if you really enjoyed this week’s episode, listen to Theatrephonic’s other plays and short stories and consider becoming a patron by clicking here…
+ childhood, family, fantasy, female friendship, feminism, fiction, forgiveness, friendship, grief, haunting, loss, love, magic, review, sisterhood, supernatural, witchcraft, witches
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais
The House in the Cerulean Sea meets The Golden Girls in this funny, tender, and uplifting feminist tale of sisterhood featuring a coven of aging witches who must unite their powers to fight the men determined to drive them out of their home and town.
A coven of modern-day witches. A magical heist-gone-wrong. A looming threat. Summoned by an alarm, five octogenarian witches gather around Ursula when danger is revealed to her in a vision.
An angry mob of townsmen is advancing with a wrecking ball, determined to demolish Moonshyne Manor and Distillery. All eyes turn to Queenie—as the witch in charge, it’s her job to reassure them – but she confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments and property taxes.
Queenie has been counting on Ruby’s return in two days to fix everything. Ruby is the only one who knows where the treasure is hidden, those valuable artifacts stolen 33 years ago on the night when everything went horribly wrong. Why didn’t clairvoyant Ursula see this coming sooner?
#WitchesMoonshyneManor @BiancaM_author @Harper360UK #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Wasn’t Ivy supposed to be working her botanical magic to keep the townsmen in a state of perpetual drugged calm, all while Jezebel quelled revolts through seductive bewitchment?
The mob is only the start of the witches’ troubles. Brad Gedney, a distant cousin of Ivy, is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy that was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. And things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
In a race against time, the women have nine days to save their home and business. The witches are determined to save their home and themselves, but fear their aging powers are no match against increasingly malicious threats. Thankfully, they get a bit of extra help from Persephone, a feisty TikToker eager to smash the patriarchy. As the deadline approaches, fractures among the sisterhood are revealed, and long-held secrets are exposed, culminating in a fiery confrontation with their enemies.
My Review
Who would have thought this book would make me cry? But it did. I’m not saying when or why. It also made me laugh and want to be a witch (some would say that’s not such a far leap). So excuse me a second while I pop my broomstick away in the cupboard, consult my personal grimoire, and let us begin.
There is so much I loved about this book. The witches – Ursula, Queenie, Ivy, Tabby, Jezebel and Ruby – plus 15-year-old Persephone and Tabby’s familiar, an elderly crow named Widget. I must also mention that Persephone has a dog called Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I am ashamed to say that I didn’t know who she was, though I assumed she was a real person. I apologise. I’m making myself sound really ignorant, but although it’s no excuse, I am in the UK. In fact I felt so bad, I looked her up and have been doing quite a bit of reading about her. What a marvellous woman! Born in 1933, she was only the second woman and the first Jewish woman to be appointed to the US Supreme Court. And she was 60 years old at the time. She was a champion of gay rights, women’s rights, the poor and many other marginalised groups. It explains why the dreadful Brad Gedney in the story has a photo of himself shaking hands with Donald Trump (who I guess was not a fan of Ms Ginsburg).
But I digress yet again. The six witches have lived in Moonshyne Manor since they all arrived as children and that was many years ago as they are all in their eighties (maybe Jezebel hasn’t quite hit 80 but she’s near enough). But now they risk losing everything unless they can pay the half a million dollars they owe the bank. And in an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. But maybe Ruby will be able to help when she comes home, except she is no longer the person she was the last time they saw her.
To add to the problem, a group of local dignitaries ie the mayor, the bank manager etc, want to knock down the manor and distillery, and turn the land into a theme park called Men’s World. This just gets more Trump all the time. But Persephone, who happens to be the daughter of one of the men, is a staunch feminist with strong feelings of her own. I love how she talks about Youtube, TikTok and Harry Potter and the witches have no idea what she’s on about. And she wants to help them, but why does Queenie try to keep her away?
Writing this review is like talking in riddles – it’s so hard not to give anything away. Suffice to say I just adored it. There is so much that resonated with me, even though I am not in my eighties or have I got magical powers unfortunately. But it’s the whole idea of people power, in this case the power of women, proving that you can do anything if you put your collective minds (and wands) to it. This book is a triumph.
Oh yes – and there are recipes for some simple spells and salves (I wonder if any of them are real), plus the ultimate banned spell – A Spell to Grant the Deepest Longing of Your Yearning Heart. However, it requires amongst other things a gallon of rainwater from Puerto Rico, 1/2 gallon of black rhino urine, 3 drops of Cuchumatan golden toad saliva, some scorpion venom, an eyelash from a ruling British monarch, 2 oz placenta powder from a sextuplet birth and a powerful magical artifact, so I think we can safely say it might be rather difficult to perform.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Bianca Marais is the author of the beloved Hum If You Don’t Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh (Putnam, 2017 and 2019). She teaches at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies where she was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award for Creative Writing in 2021. A believer in the power of storytelling in advancing social justice, Marais runs the Eunice Ngogodo Own Voices Initiative to empower young Black women in Africa to write and publish their own stories, and is constantly fundraising to assist grandmothers in Soweto with caring for children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In 2020, Marais started the popular podcast, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, which is aimed at helping emerging writers become published.
Crime fiction author Rachel Amphlett has created a plot twist for mystery fans – a short story podcast.
Inspired by research from Bookwire that revealed Gen Z enjoys listening to crime stories as much as reading them, Rachel headed to the recording studio.
If you love audio drama or true crime podcasts, then Case Files: Short Crime Fiction Stories is just for you. With each episode of the series less than an hour, you can grab a crime fiction fix over lunch, while walking the dog, or in the gym. Season one will see a new story released each week from September 26 to October 31 and a second season is in production.
Rachel said: “True crime podcasts are popular, you’ve got scripted audio drama like radio plays, and you’ve got some people who take their audiobooks and serialise them. But as far as I can find, there are no crime fiction or murder mystery publishers regularly sharing new stories by their authors on podcasts.
“This got me thinking about whether I could reach a new demographic of readers through a different worldwide audience and nurture them into readers of my audiobooks, my ebooks, or my print books. It’s providing a connection between a podcast audience and an audiobook audience.”
Bookwire’s research found:
16 to 24-year-olds listen to podcasts more frequently than any other generation
They mainly consume media on the major music streaming platforms
43% of Gen Z stream audiobooks on Spotify
77% stream podcasts on Spotify
Rachel has written more than 30 crime novels and short stories featuring spies, detectives, vigilantes, and assassins. The USA Today bestselling author has created two detective series, Detective Kay Hunter and Detective Mark Turpin as well as thrillers featuring Dan Taylor and Eva Delacourt.
Inspired by reading books as a child, her aim is ‘to write gripping stories that you won’t want to put down’.
She said: “The first tales I fell in love with were written by Stephen King, Richard Matheson, Rod Serling and Roald Dahl.
“They wrote short stories where the good guys didn’t always win, where I found myself smiling at what the bad guys sometimes got away with. I’d often feel a shiver of anticipation as the page turned and the author posed the question “What if?” For example, what if a contract killer needed to see a chiropractor on a regular basis? And what if you discovered that your husband was a serial killer? What would you do?”
Case Files: Short Crime Fiction Stories is available on all major podcast apps including Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. For episode updates go to www.shortcrimestories.com.
Here are the links to sign up and listen:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37azQCNLhDfQxq87teZma4
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/f5b8268a-96ff-461e-90d9-73ea5999bf44/case-files-short-crime-fiction-stories
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/case-files-short-crime-fiction-stories/id1643538895
Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5hY2FzdC5jb20vcHVibGljL3Nob3dzL2Nhc2UtZmlsZXMtc2hvcnQtY3JpbWUtZmljdGlvbi1zdG9yaWVz
Joe had a bad day at school. Everything went wrong…FIRSTLY, he had to read to the class and that was his worst nightmare, reading in front of everyone.
THEN, he scored an own goal in football.
LATER, after eating three chocolate eclairs at Gran’s house, she tells him about a raid in the bank this morning. The robbers had guns and monster masks! To Joe it sounded exciting, if only he could have been there too!
#TheTurkeyShedGang #RuthYoung @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
But his opinion soon changes when he realises the danger his Gran is now faced with. She shows him a bag full of money that she picked up by mistake, thinking it was her shopping after the raid.
Joe decides the only thing to do to keep her safe is for them to go on the run. They must go before the police come to arrest her or worse still, the robbers find out she has their money. To add to his problems, Gran wants to take Mr Percival with them, a talking parrot she inherited from a neighbour.
A school boy, his gran and a parrot on the run, what could possibly go wrong?
My Review
A school boy, his gran and a parrot on the run, what could possibly go wrong? Well, everything it would seem.
Hilarious story aimed at 7 to 9 year olds and it’s perfect for this age group, whether the children are independent readers or the story is read to them. I particularly loved Mr Percival, a talking, often slightly rude, sulphur crested cockatoo. His vocabulary is better than some people I know. Pieces of eight. Shiver me timbers. He seems to know hundreds of words and phrases.
The story is actually written from Joe’s point of view so we can see how he imagines what trouble his gran would be in for making off with someone else’s money. They need to keep a low profile at all times. But where can they go and how will they get there? Incidentally, I’m hoping that we are seeing Gran from Joe’s point of view as she seems very old-fashioned to me and I’m older than her. She’s more like my granny from the sixties.
There is also a more serious side to the story. Joe has dyslexia, so reading out loud to the class really is a nightmare for him. He’s good at football, but when he scores an own goal it is just another disaster that day. Gran has the beginnings of dementia and forgets important things and we also learn that the family has money worries.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
Q & A with Scarlett Jordan, Age 8
What do you think of the cover?
Good. I’d pick it up in a shop.
Was the book funny?
Yes it was.
Did having a parrot with them add to the humour?
Yes definitely. The parrot was funny.
Who was your favourite character?
Mr Percival, the parrot!
Would you have behaved in the same way as Joe and go on the run?
Not sure. He’s quite childish, but then I am a year older than him.
Did you like Gran? Did you think she was old-fashioned compared to your two nannies?
I liked her. I didn’t really notice that she was old-fashioned.
Would you recommend this book to your friends?
Yes I think they would like it.
About the Author
Ruth has been a teacher for a very long time. She loves being in the classroom making learning fun and specialises in teaching reading and spelling. Now retired, Ruth teaches children with learning difficulties at her home and it doesn’t matter how old they are, she loves to help!
Ruth has always told stories to the children she teaches. Her book, The Turkey Shed Gang, is for 7–8-year-old independent readers. She also writes for dyslexic children in mind so that they can read a book, maybe with a little help, which is age appropriate for them.
When she’s not teaching, Ruth loves walking in the Surrey Hills where she lives with her husband, who is a retired airline Captain. They take every chance to travel worldwide and it’s on trips away that Ruth comes up with her ideas for her books, always scribbling notes down in her purple notebook which she carries everywhere.
Ruth loves baking bread and cakes and is always in the kitchen with her vast collection of cookery books. She has been interviewed by the BBC three times about writing, environmental issues and her work with dyslexic children, and had an article published in a national magazine for parents.
Follow her at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruth.young.127
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/ruthyoung6/
Buy Link – https://geni.us/5IaP4M
+ Australia, crime fiction, fiction, friendship, literature, murder, murder mystery, relationships, review, secrets, stalker, story within a story, USA, writer
The Woman in The Library by Sulari Gentill
In every person’s story, there is something to hide…
From award-winning author Sulari Gentill comes a mischievous, twisty crime novel in the vein of Only Murders in the Building and White Lotus.
Four strangers in the Reading Room at Boston Public Library are introduced by a scream. Caught up in the subsequent murder investigation, each one finds themselves revealing more than they intended about their pasts as they race to solve the murder before one of them gets hurt.
#TheWomanInTheLibrary @SulariGentill @ultimopress https://twitter.com/ultimopress #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Whilst their stories unfold, so does another.
Dear Hannah… As correspondence between the author and an avid fan becomes interwoven with the core tale, the boundaries between what is fiction and what is real life begin to blur, highlighting the lengths people will go to keep their secrets.
Through these entwined narratives, Gentill delves into the complicated nature of friendships, the lives we show versus the lives we lead and the ways in which art can imitate life. Or perhaps it’s the other way around?
A sharply thrilling literary adventure, The Woman in the Library is contemporary crime with a clever twist.
My Review
Before I say anything else, I must just say that I love the book cover. It immediately made me think of the original Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho even though it’s not really like any of the posters.
But now for the book itself. Well this was something completely different. It’s a murder mystery, but it’s also a story within a story, with a side story thrown in for good measure.
Hannah Tigone is a well-known, published, Australian author, writing a book about a young Australian writer – Winifred ‘Freddie’ Kincaid – who is living in Boston, USA (not the one here in Lincolnshire) having won the prestigious Sinclair scholarship. One day she goes to the Boston Public Library, where she sits at a table with three other people, psychology student Marigold Anastas, Harvard law graduate Whit Metters and author Cain McLeod, when suddenly they hear a blood-curdling scream. And it’s this that brings them together and their friendship blossoms.
In the meantime, Hannah has a superfan in budding writer Leo, who emails her constantly with comments and ideas. Living in Boston himself, he offers to help Hannah with American language usage and descriptions of local places. However, what starts out as Leo’s admiration for another author, begins to turn a bit creepy. He suggests more and more changes to Hannah’s story and seems to forget she is the successful one, not him. I also need to mention that the ‘Hannah – Leo’ story is set during the pandemic so Hannah is unable to travel to America herself, which is why Leo offers to help her.
I’m not sure if anyone reading this who has read the book will agree with me, but I really didn’t like Marigold. She is so needy and her constant stalking of Whit, turning up at Freddie’s uninvited, and then offering to stay and help and never taking the hint when Freddie says no it’s fine, drove me mad. She never seems to understand that Freddie needs some peace and some space to do her own work. Just …… off Marigold. You are supposed to be studying psychology but your empath mode seems to be permanently switched off.
The Woman In The Library is a fantastic book if you love crime fiction but want something just a bit different. It may take a while to work out who is who, but it’s worth it in the end. Full of twists and turns and some real surprises, it’s very clever, but in a good way. It also pays homage to a number of writers and film directors from the past including Hitchcock which is probably why the cover reminds me of Psycho.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours.
About the Author
After setting out to study astrophysics, graduating in law and then abandoning her legal career to write books, Sulari now grows French black truffles on her farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains of NSW. Sulari is the author of The Rowland Sinclair Mysteries, historical crime fiction novels (ten in total) set in the 1930s. Sulari’s work has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Best First Book), the Davitt Award, the Ned Kelly Award and the ABIA. She won the Davitt Award for A Decline in Prophets, and the Ned Kelly Award for her most recent standalone novel, Crossing the Lines.
+ crime fiction, dark humour, Detective novel, fiction, haunting, history, murder, murder mystery, police drama, police procedural, review, superstition, witchcraft
Beneath The House of Sin (DCI Mike Saxby #1) by David Field
17 Cavendish Square. The home of the Pelican Club – a notorious upmarket brothel. Now the scene of a murder.
DCI Mike Saxby is the officer in charge. He’s straight-shooting and by-the-book. There are no grey areas – Saxby is called in to investigate the death of the madame, Linda Clifford but the case throws up more questions than answers, as well as a slew of suspects.
#BeneathTheHouseOfSin #DavidField @RedDragonbooks @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
Saxby and his team also uncover secrets which involve the highest echelons of the police – and a centuries-old mystery of a murdered witch. Juggling issues, which concern both his family and his mis-matched personnel, Saxby struggles with the investigation.
As they begin to dig up the past, Saxby will be forced to face the depths of human depravity.
My Review
It’s like two separate books in one and the first two in a series, which I guess it is. I actually could not put this down, but not just because of the story but because I loved the characters. All of them, but particularly DCI Mike Saxby, his wife Alison, young police officer Cathy who reminds Mike of his daughter and keeps feeding him yoghurt so he can lose weight (orders from above ie Alison) and even boring Dave Petrie. Or Paperless Petrie as he is known, because he never does his admin. Mike is known as Paddington for reasons that will become clear and marmalade keeps turning up on his desk, usually on toast.
In fact the list of characters I loved is too long to mention here, but it’s the banter that really makes this book so readable. I often laughed out loud. One word of warning though. It is at times, VERY politically incorrect, but remember, this is the banter between the police officers and I’m sure it doesn’t reflect the author’s opinions, but you may be shocked.
The relationships are so much part of the book, I almost forgot that serious crimes had been committed. In the first half we have the murder of Linda Clifford, the madame of a posh brothel. How did she die, who killed her and what was the motive? The ‘how’ is easy to figure out, but the ‘why’ and ‘who’ are much harder. There are plenty of witnesses (though many scarpered as soon as the police arrived – no surprise there) but are any of them reliable. And who was the ‘sales rep’ who mysteriously replaced Linda’s usual drug dealer?.
The brothel also happens to be located in one of the town’s most infamous houses – built in the former forest where in the 1600s a so-called witch was wrongly hanged and the house is now reputed to be haunted. In its time as lots of things before it became a brothel – it was even a church – there have been far more strange and grisly deaths than is usual in one location.
Is it just coincidence or is there a link to the witch’s death? We all know that police officers don’t believe in coincidences and Mike Saxby is no exception. But is the witch the only connection or are there more sinister goings on much closer to home. Writer and journalist Jeremy Giles believes in the hauntings, though he is dismissed as a crank. But is he?
What a great book! Definitely one of my favourites of the year. Bring on many more books in the series. I can’t wait to read them all.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
David was born in post-war Nottingham and educated at Nottingham High School. After obtaining a Law degree he became a career-long criminal law practitioner and academic, emigrating in 1989 to Australia, where he still lives. Combining his two great loves of History and the English language he began writing historical novels as an escape from the realities of life in the criminal law, but did not begin to publish them until close to full-time retirement, when digital publishing offered a viable alternative to literary agencies, print publishers and rejection slips. Now blessed with all the time in the world, his former hobby has become a full-time occupation as he enjoys life in rural New South Wales with his wife, sons and grandchildren to keep him firmly grounded in the reality of the contemporary world.
Follow him at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063551498733
Website: https://davidfieldauthor.com/home/
Buy Links – https://geni.us/x5Af
The Other Side of Night begins with a man named David Asha writing about his biggest regret: his sudden separation from his son, Elliot. In his grief, David tells a story.
Next, we step into the life of Harriet Kealty, a police officer trying to clear her name after a lapse of judgment. She discovers a curious inscription in a secondhand book—a plea: Help me, he’s trying to kill me. Who wrote this note? Who is “he”?
This note leads Harri to David Asha, who was last seen stepping off a cliff. Police suspect he couldn’t cope after his wife’s sudden death. Still, why would this man jump and leave behind his young son? Quickly, Harri’s attention zeroes in on a person she knows all too well.
Ben Elmys: once the love of her life. A surrogate father to Elliot Asha and trusted friend to the Ashas.
Ben may also be a murderer.
My Review
I won’t say I went into this blind, but apart from the brief synopsis above, I didn’t read any reviews or any other information before I started. Therefore it was all a surprise.
When Elliot Asha’s mother Beth dies of cancer, his father David is distraught. So much so that he is last seen stepping off a cliff, his body never recovered. But why would he leave his beloved young son to cope on his own? It doesn’t make sense.
Harriett Kealty, sacked from the police force, doesn’t believe it either. But there is nothing she can do apart from go out on her own and investigate. And the first person she questions is the former love of her life – Ben Elmys. They met online, had two wonderful dates – it was love at first sight – and then on the third date, he ended the relationship. Harri was devastated. Ben also happens to be Elliot’s guardian and was best friends with the Ashas.
And that’s as far as I can go. Because everything else is too important to the story to reveal. There are secrets and twists that many people will adore; though many will find it all a bit far-fetched. But the one thing that is irrefutable is that it is a beautifully written tale of love and sacrifice that will have you in tears, both of joy and of sadness. Because for every choice there is a price to pay.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
British author and screenwriter Adam Hamdy works with studios and production companies on both sides of the Atlantic. As well as creating the Scott Pearce series, which comprises of Black 13 and Red Wolves, he is the author of the Pendulum trilogy, an epic series of conspiracy thriller novels. James Patterson described Pendulum as ‘one of the best thrillers of the year’, and the novel was a finalist for the Glass Bell Award for contemporary fiction. Pendulum was chosen as book of the month by Goldsboro Books and was selected for the BBC’s Radio 2 Book Club. Prior to embarking on his writing career, Adam was a strategy consultant and advised global businesses in the medical systems, robotics, technology and financial services sectors.
+ audio drama, Cat on a Piano, cosy mystery, fiction, podcast, private investigator, radio play, review, Theatrephonic
The Private Investigator by Cat On A Piano / Theatrephonic
The Private Investigator – Winter Reprise
When a dame gets under your skin…
The first time Mrs Tierney hired PI Webster, he was surprised to find that her missing ‘person’ Maurice was actually her cat. But when she asks him to work for her again, it’s quite different.
This time it’s serious and Mrs Tierney also happens to be very attractive.
Written by Barbara Jennings
Directed by Emmeline Braefield
Starring
Tom Black @blackly.jpg as PI Webster
and
Lydia Kenny @lid_ear_kenny as Mrs Tierney and Mrs Brody
Produced by Cat on a Piano Productions
Music:
Saxophone interludes were performed by Lydia Kenny
Blue Mood by Robert Munzinger
The Black Cat by Aaron Kenny
Jazz Mango by Joey Pecoraro
The Theatrephonic Theme tune was composed by Jackson Pentland
Performed by
Jackson Pentland
Mollie Fyfe Taylor
Emmeline Braefield
Cat on a Piano Productions produce and edit feature films, sketches and radio plays.
Their latest project is called @Theatrephonic, a podcast of standalone radio plays and short stories performed by professional actors. You can catch Theatrephonic on Spotify and other platforms.
For more information about the Theatrephonic Podcast, go to catonapiano.uk/theatrephonic, Tweet or Instagram @theatrephonic, or visit their Facebook page.
And if you really enjoyed this week’s episode, listen to Theatrephonic’s other plays and short stories and consider becoming a patron by clicking here…
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