+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, grief, journalist, loss, love, mental health, murder, obsession, police drama, police procedural, serial killer, thriller
A Life For a Life by Carol Wyer
Nobody can get into the mind of an erratic killer—except an unpredictable detective.
When a young man is found lying on a station platform with a hole in his head, DI Kate Young is called in to investigate the grisly murder. But the killing is no one-off. As bodies start to pile up, she is faced with what might be an impossible task—to hunt down a ruthless killer on a seemingly random rampage.
#ALifeForALife @carolewyer @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
Meanwhile, Kate has her own demons to battle as she struggles to come to terms with her husband’s death. And she is hell-bent on exposing corruption within the force and bringing Superintendent John Dickson to justice. But with the trail of deception running deeper—and closer to home—than she could ever have imagined, she no longer knows who she can trust.
With her grip on reality slipping, Kate realises that maybe she and the killer are not so different after all. But time is running out and Kate is low on options. Can she catch the killer before she loses everything?
My Review
I couldn’t wait to read on each night to find out what happened. However, as this is the third book in the series, there is one story that is ongoing, but the other is totally standalone and exciting.
The book opens with a horrific car crash on the motorway. The driver, his pregnant wife, his sister and her four children are all involved. Then we jump to a body found on the station platform, a hole in the dead man’s head. It looks like an execution. But this is only the first body and the method of despatch is the same in all of them. So what connects the victims and what links them to what has now become the work of a serial killer? For DI Kate Young this is her most baffling case yet.
Kate’s team is made up of some great characters: tall, broad-shouldered, handsome DS Morgan Meredith, DS Emma Donaldson, whose childhood was very traumatic and recently added DC Jamie Webster who Kate doesn’t yet trust. When the team are no further forward enter eccentric profiler Samuel Links. What can he tell them about the killer? A great deal it would appear.
Turn the clock back one year exactly and Kate’s journalist husband Chris met an untimely death. It comforts her to ‘talk’ to him and get his advice. Was he silenced as part of Kate’s covert investigation into Superintendent John Dickson? It all revolves around child sex trafficking and prostitution and Kate believes Dickson is involved. All she needs is proof and to find two girls called Rosa and Stanka. But everyone is scared and rightly so.
For about 12 years a pair of swans named George and Zelda lived together happily on the lake in Pittville Park near my home. They were inseparable and many cygnets were the result. Some of you may even recall that George was shot through the eye with a crossbow – it made the national news – but he made a full recovery. Then last year Zelda died and George has been lonely ever since. Why am I telling you this? You’ll find out later on in the book.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer’s crime novels have sold over one million copies and been translated into nine languages. A move from humour to the ‘dark side’ in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in Little Girl Lost and proved that Carol had found her true niche. February 2021 saw the release of the first in the much-anticipated new series, featuring DI Kate Young. An Eye For An Eye was chosen as a Kindle First Reads and became the #1 bestselling book on Amazon UK and Amazon Australia.
Carol has had articles published in national magazines ‘Woman’s Weekly’, featured in ‘Take A Break’, ‘Choice’, ‘Yours’ and ‘Woman’s Own’ magazines and the Huffington Post. She’s also been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ‘Irritable Male Syndrome and Ageing Disgracefully‘and on BBC Breakfast television.
She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband Mr. Grumpy… who is very, very grumpy. When she is not plotting devious murders, she can be found performing her comedy routine, Smile While You Still Have Teeth.
To learn more, go to www.carolwyer.co.uk, subscribe to her YouTube channel, or follow her on the links below.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carol-E-Wyer/221149241263847
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolwyer/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/carolewyer
Website : https://www.carolwyer.co.uk
Buy links:
Amazon UK : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Detective-Kate-Young-Book-ebook/dp/B09BCPR894
Amazon US : https://www.amazon.com/Life-Detective-Kate-Young-Book-ebook/dp/B09BCPR894
‘WE ARE ON THIS CASE LIKE A BONER FIDO BLOODHOUND…
AND MY MEN ARE BARKING AT THE LEASH’
In this darkly comic novel, Clifton Gentle is an ordinary man without much to distinguish him. Not much, that is, apart from being a serial killer who is leaving bits of his young male victims scattered around North London.
#ShakingHandsWithTheDevil @BryanJMason @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
DCI Dave Hicks is the larger than life policeman determined to catch him. His attempts to find ‘the nutter’ through a combination of spoonerisms, personal abuse and a belief that something will turn up don’t go well. All that turns up are yet more body parts.
In a sleazy London dogged by growing squalor and an IRA bombing campaign in the last days of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, the gruesome murders spur an over-the-top media and merchandising frenzy.
The hunt becomes an increasingly personal one and a race against the clock as Clifton, Dave Hicks, a would-be victim, and a copycat killer each try to uncover what – or who – they hold responsible for their own problems.
My Review
Two men, like chalk and cheese, and the only thing in common is the body parts that keep turning up around London. Because one of these men is a serial killer and the other is the police officer on his trail.
Clifford Gentle is a quiet man who lives alone and works in a mundane job. Little do his workmates know that he is the serial killer or ‘Cereal Killer’ as he becomes known (the book will explain), responsible for almost twenty murders and dismemberments.
Larger than life police officer DCI Dave Hicks is determined to catch ‘the nutter’ as he calls him. A huge man with a large beard, Hicks lives across the road from his mum, who still does all his cooking and cleaning. He loves his mum, almost as much as she loves him. She dotes on him and feeds him massive, unhealthy meals every day, which no doubt partly account for him being larger than life. Hicks also has a way with words, or probably doesn’t: ‘Everything fits in with my previous proboscis,’ he tells the press upon discovery of yet another body.
This book is at times gruesome and at times hilarious. It has all the makings of a great detective novel, plus Dave’s ridiculous spoonerisms, his ineptitude, very-un-PC banter from his co-workers and a philosophical killer. Because Clifford Gentle struggles with his life, his sexuality and frequently his motives. What he really needs is a hobby – other than chopping up his hapless victims.
You need to be prepared to be offended, disgusted and broad-minded in equal measures to enjoy this book (the humour made me wince at times), but this was written in the eighties about life in the eighties at the end of Thatcher’s government. And the ending is worth waiting for as the initial horror has smatterings of a farce, but you’ll have to wait till you get there to find out.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Bryan J Mason wrote his black comedy about a serial killer in the late 1980s, but reluctantly put it away in a drawer after his agent narrowly failed to get it published. He concluded that he was a failed author, so might as well be a failure at something else instead. However, every ten years or so he dug it out and read it and each time he did was surprised to find that he still found it funny. He has now managed to get it published after making some changes, including firmly placing the action in the late ʼ80s and early ʼ90s for today’s reader.
He has worked as a brush salesman and rent collector, made sound effects for BBC Radio and been a tax inspector and occasional actor. He writes regular theatre reviews for StageTalk Magazine and Bristol 24/7. He is a member of the Crime Writers Association and currently working on a new novel featuring a Jewish detective investigating a series of serial killings in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, called An old Tin Can. Bryan lives in Bristol with his wife and has two children in their twenties.
Follow him at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bryanjmason89/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryanjmason/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BryanJMason
Website: www.bryanjmason.com
Buy Links
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shaking-Hands-Devil-Bryan-Mason-ebook/dp/B09GKQF66Z
Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/Shaking-Hands-Devil-Bryan-Mason-ebook/dp/B09GKQF66Z
+ audio drama, Cat on a Piano, feminism, fiction, friends, history, murder, obsession, podcast, radio play, review, Theatrephonic
Dead Medieval Princess by Cat on a Piano Productions / Theatrephonic
Dead Medieval Princess – “she died 700 years ago!”
Kate wants her essay to show how personal and political lives merged in Medieval Portugal. But she can’t find any information about a dead princess or that anyone tried to pursue justice. She was murdered by her husband who faced no repercussions.
We move to today – at crimes motivated by misogyny. How can we make women’s lives safer? The police don’t seem to care. When Amber is frightened of a group of youths one evening, the police officer even suggests that she may have ‘encouraged’ it.
Kate’s essay only earns her 50% because she concentrated on the dead princess and didn’t meet the requirements. So Kate decides to write about her for her dissertation. But she can’t find enough information. Women’s lives were barely documented in the Middle Ages. Her sponsor advises her to broaden her subject, but while Kate agrees, she takes a very different approach.
Written and directed by Vivi Bayliss
With:
Lydia Kenny as Kate
Catherine Mclean as Amber
AJ Deane as Professor Castor and the Police Office
and
Emma Wilkes as Professor Macrides and the News Reporter
Produced by Cat on a Piano Productions
Music:
Yonder Hill and Dale by Aaron Kenny
Jupiter’s Smile by The 126ers
A Baroque Letter by Aaron Kenny
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…
+ abuse, child abuse, childhood, family, fiction, horror, loss, motherhood, mystery, relationships, review, secrets, sisters, thriller
Sundial by Catriona Ward
You can’t escape what’s in your blood…
All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind.
She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice.
Callie is worried about her mother. Rob has begun to look at her strangely, and speaks of past secrets. And Callie fears that only one of them will leave Sundial alive…
The mother and daughter embark on a dark, desert journey to the past in the hopes of redeeming their future.
My Review
I loved The Last House on Needless Street so I was excited when this appeared on my bookclub The Pigeonhole. However, Sundial is something very different. I’m not sure it was really for me but I still enjoyed it – if that’s the right word.
Totally surreal, and at times horrific, (but it does warn you that this falls partly into the horror genre), mother Rob just wants an ordinary life. But 12-year-old daughter Callie hurts her little sister Annie, keeps pictures made from real animal bones (did she kill them?) so she can talk to them and also talks to an imaginary friend who she calls Pale Callie.
Husband Irving is horrible to Rob. He hurts her, puts maggots in her suitcase (who does that?) and threatens her when she says she wants to leave him.
But it’s Callie that is Rob’s main concern. So they take a trip to Rob’s childhood home Sundial, in the Mojave desert, where she will have to make a life-changing decision.
But all is not as it seems. Who really were Rob’s ‘parents’ Falcon and Mia? What happened to her twin sister Jack and what was the ‘puppy farm’ nearby? Some of the concepts are literally terrifying. At times I really had no idea what was going on.
This is a brilliant book but I have to say that if this story evolved from my own imagination I’d be quite worried!
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Catriona Ward was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. She read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia.
Stephen King praised her gothic thriller, saying: ‘The buzz building around Catriona Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street is real. I’ve read it and was blown away. It’s a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end. Haven’t read anything this exciting since Gone Girl.’ It was published in 2021 by Viper (UK) and Tor Nightfire (USA).
Sundial was published by Nightfire (US) and Viper (UK) in March 2022.
Ward’s second novel Little Eve won the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award, as well as the August Derleth Prize at the British Fantasy Awards, and was a Guardian best book of 2018. Little Eve will be published in the US by Tor Nightfire in October 2022.
Ward’s debut Rawblood also won the 2016 August Derleth, making her the only woman to have won the prize twice. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. ‘The Pier at Ardentinny’ was shortlisted for the ALCS Tom Gallon Trust Award organised by the Royal Society of Literature. She lives in London and Devon.
+ crime fiction, family, fiction, journalist, motherhood, murder, politics, secrets, stalker, thriller
Reputation by Sarah Vaughan
The bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal—soon to be a Netflix series—returns with a new psychological thriller about a politician whose less-than-perfect personal life is thrust into the spotlight when a body is discovered in her home.
As a politician, Emma has sacrificed a great deal for her career—including her marriage and her relationship with her daughter, Flora.
A former teacher, the glare of the spotlight is unnerving for Emma, particularly when it leads to countless insults, threats, and trolling as she tries to work in the public eye. As a woman, she knows her reputation is worth its weight in gold but as a politician, she discovers it only takes one slip-up to destroy it completely.
Fourteen-year-old Flora is learning the same hard lessons at school as she encounters heartless bullying. When another teenager takes her own life, Emma lobbies for a new law to protect women and girls from the effects of online abuse. Now, Emma and Flora find their personal lives uncomfortably intersected…but then the unthinkable happens.
A man is found dead in Emma’s home. A man she had every reason to be afraid of and to want gone. Fighting to protect her reputation, and determined to protect her family at all costs, Emma is pushed to the limits as the worst happens and her life is torn apart.
Another breathless and twisty novel from an absolute “master of suspense” (CrimeReads), Reputation brilliantly illustrates that it isn’t who you are that matters…it’s who people think you are
My Review
When Emma Webster gives up her teaching job to become an MP her life is turned on its head. Her marriage breaks down, her relationship with her daughter is damaged, and she becomes the victim of countless insults, trolling and threats. These include rape threats and even having acid thrown in her face. But she is determined to carry on.
However, she is unnerved by the negative attention, particularly after being accused of only being interested in women’s issues. At one of her surgeries, she is accosted by the father of a soldier, badly affected by PTSD, who accuses her of not caring about what they have been through.
The issue she focuses on is that of ‘revenge porn’ and online abuse against women, a crime she believes needs more legal protection for the victims, more so after one of her constituents tells her what happened to her sister. Emma works with journalist Mike Stokes to bring online abuse into the public eye and gets the law changed.
But in order to be taken seriously, you have to make sure your own reputation is unblemished. Then two separate things happen. Her 14-year-old daughter Flora is subjected to endless bullying at school which results in her taking matters into her own hands and then a man’s body is found at the bottom of the stairs in Emma’s London home. But are they linked? And is Emma telling the truth about what happened?
This is the story of the lengths to which one woman will go to protect her family but can she save her own reputation in doing so. It’s a cracker of a read.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Sarah Vaughan read English at Oxford and went on to be a journalist. After training with the Press Association, she worked for The Guardian for 11 years as a news reporter, health correspondent and political correspondent before leaving to freelance and write fiction. Her 3rd novel, Anatomy of a Scandal, was an instant international bestseller, a Sunday Times top five bestseller, a kindle number 1 bestseller, a Richard & Judy pick, and was longlisted for the Theakson’s Old Peculier Crime Novel and shortlisted for awards in France, Sweden and the UK. It has been translated into 22 languages and is being adapted for TV. She lives in Cambridge with her husband and two young children.
+ childhood, feel-good, fiction, folklore, friendship, illegitimacy, India, literature, loss, love, relationships, review, superstition, tradition
Karma and the Art of Butter Chicken by Monica Bhide
Raised by Buddhist monks in Delhi after his mother’s untimely and tragic death, Eshaan sets out on the challenging quest to feed and nourish the hungry so they do not suffer her same fate. His attempts to achieve this monumental goal are constantly thwarted. And when his former girlfriend returns from Europe with a handsome fiancé in tow, his life becomes even more complicated.
A sliver of hope appears in the form of a local TV cooking competition. Winning would offer the solution to all his problems: money for his mission and the chance to impress the girl he loves. But to win this competition, Eshaan first must face a secret that has the potential to destroy his life and his dreams.
#KarmaAndTheArtOfButterChicken @mbhide #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours
Can a young life that has been defined by a crisis ever really thrive? Will Eshaan’s pain-filled spirit ever hear the songs of salvation that the Universe sings for him, or will his demons ultimately win?
Celebrated food writer Monica Bhide dishes up a page-turning story of sacrifice, determination, and an honest exploration of the human spirit. Set in contemporary India and seasoned with gentle love, dramatic loss, enchanting poetic verse, and exotic food, Karma and the Art of Butter Chicken will take you to a place where past and present keep uneasy yet delicious company.
The cover photograph is by the talented and award-winning photographer, Simi Jois.
My Review
I’ve been a huge fan of this author since I was invited to be on the blog tour for the wonderful The Soul Catcher. In fact Monica, knowing how much I loved the book, asked me if I would like a copy of Karma And The Art of Butter Chicken. I said I would be delighted. I had just started reading it when I was even more delighted to be invited on the blog tour, so here I am.
Such a thoughtful novel with the most delightful cast of characters – Eshaan Veer Singh, our main protagonist, Dr Sinha who lives near to the monastery where Eshaan lives with Lama Dorje and the other monks, his daughter Kitt, the love of Eshaan’s life, their friend Loveleen, unmarried and pregnant, the oddly named Radio Rani, and too many more to list.
However, I must briefly mention one of my favourites – Rani the Dogman – who brings his ten dogs to guard the entrance to Buddha’s Karma Kitchen, because I had this vision, not of a pack of Dobermans and Rottweilers, but a raggle-taggle group of barking, snapping Chihuahuas and scruffy terriers.
I loved this book! Such a mix of modern ideas – same-sex marriage (though still frowned upon by many in India), children born out of wedlock, trans people, Bollywood and designer fashion. Then on the other hand we have superstition – particularly from Mr Merry Merha who hates his neighbour Loveleen, not just because she is unmarried and pregnant, but also because she has a black cat which he believes is bad luck. ‘You are a witch,’ he screams at her during one of their weekly arguments. Dr Sinha’s sister Kimi Bua is also superstitious – everything not done according to tradition is not auspicious and will therefore curse the parties involved. Two different worlds colliding at every turn.
I dare you not to fall a little in love with Eshaan. He is so kind and generous, if a bit naive at times, and we feel his pain and suffering. We just want him to be happy. But he is his own worst enemy, Can he overcome his guilt and his demons in order to find happiness and fulfil his dreams? Wonderful stuff!
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Monica Bhide is an award-winning writer, accomplished literary coach, gifted poet, storyteller, and educator with a lyrical voice and universal appeal. As a bestselling fiction and internationally renowned cookbook author, Monica is known for sharing food, culture, mystery, and love in her writing.
A respected writing authority, Monica appears regularly on NPR and conducts sold-out workshops on writing, food, culture, and scheduled speaking events at prestigious venues as the Smithsonian Institution, Sackler Gallery, Les Dames d’Escoffier, Georgetown University, and Yale University. She has taught all over the world including conferences in London, Dubai, US etc. She has also been the “Writing Coach in Residence” for the annual conference of the Association of Food Journalists.
Monica’s short story collection, The Devil in Us, topped the list on Kindle as a bestseller in its category of Literary Short Fiction. Her memoir, A Life of Spice, was picked by Eat Your Books as one of the top five food memoirs of 2015.
Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi picked Bhide’s Modern Spice (Simon & Schuster, 2009), as one of the “Best Books Ever” for Newsweek in 2009.
The Chicago Tribune named Monica “one of the seven food writers to watch in 2012”.
In April 2012, Mashable.com picked her as one of “the top ten food writers” on Twitter.
Her work has garnered numerous accolades and has been included in four Best Food Writing anthologies (2005, 2009, 2010, and 2014).
As a noted international food writer, Monica has built a diverse and solid audience through her books and articles in top-tier media such as: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Ladies Home Journal, AARP-the Magazine, Parents Chicago Tribune , Christian Science Monitor, Bon Appétit, Town and Country Travel, Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Coastal Living, Health, Better Nutrition, and many others.
Monica lives in Virginia with two sons.
Website: www.monicabhide.com.
Twitter: @mbhide
Instagram: @monicasaigalbhide
+ crime fiction, fiction, jealousy, legal drama, murder, murder mystery, obsession, police drama, rape, revenge, review, stalker, thriller
The Killing Kind by Jane Casey
He tells you you’re special…
As a barrister, Ingrid Lewis is used to dealing with tricky clients, but no one has ever come close to John Webster. After Ingrid defended Webster against a stalking charge, he then turned on her – following her, ruining her relationship, even destroying her home.
He tells you he wants to protect you…
Now, Ingrid believes she has finally escaped his clutches. But when one of her colleagues is run down on a busy London road, Ingrid is sure she was the intended victim. And then Webster shows up at her door…
#TheKillingKind @JaneCaseyAuthor @fictionpubteam #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
But can you believe him?
Webster claims Ingrid is in danger – and that only he can protect her. Stalker or saviour? Murderer or protector? The clock is ticking for Ingrid to decide. Because the killer is ready to strike again.
My Review
Gosh what a complicated story, though I mean that in a good way. And what fascinating characters. Who can you trust? Who is lying? So many clues but are they red herrings? I had my suspicions, but I was often totally wrong, though one or two I didn’t trust and proved right. I can’t say more except trust no-one. Because anyone could be guilty, though sometimes it’s the guilty we need to trust.
We have all heard about the ‘policeman’s nose’, that instinct they often claim to have acquired. But in court, it’s only evidence that counts, especially when you yourself are a lawyer like Ingrid.
I’m not alone (I have read other reviews) in enjoying – I won’t say liking – the character of John Webster (stalker, thief, possible killer) more than Ingrid herself. She’s a barrister, who finds herself the possible target of some kind of revenge killing. This is the conclusion she comes to when her colleague Belinda dies under a lorry, assumed to be an accident. But Belinda was carrying Ingrid’s umbrella, so Ingrid believes she herself was the intended target.
But was she, or is she being paranoid? Other things happen that make her think she is right, but does that mean everything is connected? Because if it is, she hasn’t a clue who or why.
It’s interesting that the law is brought into question here. Is it ever right to defend in court someone who has done something terrible, committed a heinous crime. I personally know the solicitor who defended Rose West. His mum once said to me that she didn’t understand how he could defend someone so evil. But in law, everyone is entitled to a fair trial – even murderers. Innocent until proven guilty and all that.
By the time you get to the end, there are so many twists, turns and threads to pull together, but this author manages to do that perfectly, with each ‘reveal’ dealt with one by one. Absolutely superb and very different from the usual crime thriller. And I’d love to see John Webster in another novel, even if that is a bit weird.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Jane Casey is no stranger to the crime world. Married to a criminal barrister, she’s got the inside track on some of the country’s most dangerous offenders, giving her writing an unsettlingly realistic feel. This authenticity has made her novels international bestsellers and critical successes. They have been nominated for several awards and in 2015 Jane won both the Mary Higgins Clark Award and Irish Crime Novel of the Year for The Stranger You Know and After the Fire, respectively. In 2019, Cruel Acts was chosen as Irish Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. It was a Sunday Times bestseller. Born in Dublin, Jane now lives in southwest London with her family.
+ brothers, crime fiction, family, fiction, friendship, grief, journalist, murder, review, secrets, thriller
Twelve Secrets by Robert Gold (Ben Harper Book 1)
Ben Harper, true crime journalist, is about to unravel his most shocking story yet . . . his own. The day his older brother was murdered was the day Ben Harper’s life changed forever.
In one of the most shocking crimes in national history, Nick and his friend were stabbed to death by two girls their own age. Police called the killings random, a senseless tragedy.
Twenty years on Ben is one of the best true crime journalists in the country. He has left the past behind, thanks to the support of his close-knit hometown community.
But when he learns about a fresh murder case with links to his brother’s death, Ben’s life is turned upside down once more. He soon find himself caught in a web of lies, one that implicates everyone around him. And on his quest for answers, Ben discovers one very important truth:
Everyone has secrets.
But some secrets are deadlier than others.
My Review
This was so good. If I hadn’t read it with the Pigeonhole book club in twelve staves I would have read the whole thing in one go. Stayed up all night if necessary. So many secrets, so many mysteries, so many red herrings – this book has it all.
Then we have the characters, all well developed – some nice like true crime journalist Ben Harper and his school friend Holly, some not so nice like Sarah’s ex-husband James or Ben’s boss Madeline Wilson, and some downright nasty like Holly’s father-in-law Francis Richardson. But does that make any of them killers? Or just the keeper of secrets?
The ‘action’ takes place mainly in the fictitious areas of London called Haddley and St Marnham and briefly in Farsley in Yorkshire and Deal in Kent. The main plot follows Ben, whose brother Nick and best friend Simon Woakes were murdered by two 14-year-old schoolgirls, Abigail Langdon and Josie Fairchild. It was a crime that shocked the nation. Some years later the girls were released and took on new identities. Then a murder occurs which may be linked to the original case.
Ben’s mother supposedly committed suicide by throwing herself in front of a train, but with everything else that has come to light, Ben is not convinced. Now Madeline wants him to write his own story, but Ben starts delving deeper, something which puts a lot of people on edge. What do they know and what are they keeping from him? And then there are those who are just pretending that everything is OK. As I commented to the book club while reading, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Or good women as we will see as we read the book. But who is protecting who? And why?
“Everyone has secrets. But some secrets are deadlier than others.” Brilliant stuff!
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Originally from Harrogate in North Yorkshire, Robert Gold began his career as an intern at the American broadcaster CNN, based in Washington DC. He returned to Yorkshire to work for the retailer ASDA, becoming the chain’s nationwide book buyer. He now works in sales for a UK publishing company. Robert lives in Putney and his new hometown served as the inspiration for the fictional town of Haddley in Twelve Secrets. In 2016, he co-authored three titles in James Patterson’s Bookshots series.
+ cover reveal, crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, murder, murder mystery, police drama, police procedural
Cover Reveal – The Woman Who Knew Faces by Jane Badrock
I’m thrilled to be invited by @zooloo2008 to share the cover reveal for The Woman Who Knew Faces by Jane Badrock. The book is the third in the series of the Karen Thorpe novels. The book will be published on 30th March, but here is a taster of the story:
One tenacious cop. One amazing artist.
There’s a big operation underway and DS Karen Thorpe is feeling left out. Then she meets Emma, with the talent of memorising faces, and Karen’s reenergised with her potential crime-solving contribution. But she’s not the only one.
A body turns up. Karen’s finally called up to work with the Met on the operation. But Emma’s gone missing. Is it connected? Where is she? Who can she trust?
It’s a race against time as the new team try to catch a major crime ring before they can carry out their horrific activities.
And here is the fabulous cover:
About the Author
Jane writes novels, short stories and poems, usually with a good dose of humour in them. She’s probably owes it all to her late grandmother who, she’s just found out, also wrote short stories and poems. She tends to get an idea and then run with it whether it be a 100 word short story or an 80 thousand word novel. It all depends on the voices in her head at the time…
Follow her at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janebadrockauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janebadrock/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janebadrock
Amazon : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jane-Badrock/e/B07HZ2HD3Q
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18510015.Jane_Badrock
Buy links:
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09T7BRSYQ
Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09T7BRSYQ
+ audio drama, Cat on a Piano, childhood, family, fiction, podcast, radio play, review, sisters, Theatrephonic
Tiny Tears by Cat on a Piano Productions / Theatrephonic
Tiny Tears – it’s not just about a doll.
Barbara is on life support. Her sister is talking to her even though presumably she can’t hear her.
‘I’ve always been trim,’ she says, not like you, Barbara, and our sister Sheila was always too thin.
She tells her about finding Tiny Tears. Alice was the youngest – too young to appreciate a doll that cries and wees when you put water in it.
What starts as ‘gossiping’ turns more sinister when the truth comes out. Excellent.
Written and performed by Geraldine Brennan
Music:
Down with Paradise by Norma Rockwell
Produced by Cat on a Piano Productions
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…
+ abuse, bullying, childhood, dark humour, domestic noir, family, fiction, love, marriage, mental health, motherhood, obsession, rape, relationships, review, secrets, sisters, supernatural
Nasty Little Cuts by Tina Baker
WHEN YOUR MARRIAGE IS THIS BROKEN, YOU MAY NOT MAKE IT OUT ALIVE.
A nightmare jolts Debs awake. She leaves the kids tucked up in their beds and goes downstairs. There’s a man in her kitchen, holding a knife. But it’s not an intruder. This is her husband Marc, the father of her children. A man she no longer recognises.
Once their differences were what drew them together, what turned them on. Him, the ex-army officer from a good family. Her, the fitness instructor who grew up over a pub. But now these differences grate to the point of drawing blood. Marc screams in his sleep. And Debs hardly knows the person she’s become, or why she lets him hurt her.
Neither of them is completely innocent. Neither is totally guilty. Marc is taller, stronger, and more vicious, haunted by a war he can’t forget. But he has no idea what Debs is capable of when her children’s lives are at stake…
My Review
It’s just a book! Only fiction. But somehow Nasty Little Cuts is so much more. How can you get stressed over a work of fiction I hear you ask? Believe me, you can.
Having had a terrible nightmare, Debs wakes up in the middle of the night to find an intruder in her kitchen. Only it’s not an intruder – it’s her husband Marc. And he’s holding a knife. And so the real nightmare begins.
As the night slowly turns into day, the situation becomes more dangerous. Marc seems deranged, crazed with drink and drugs. The children are asleep upstairs. Does he mean to harm them all? I was holding my breath at times.
But interspersed with the current timeline, we go back 10 years, two years, 25 years to Deb’s childhood and also Marc’s. We have sympathy for him at times. His mother Jean or Jeanne as she calls herself, was horrible to him, cruel, never let him meet his father Dudley. Then school, the bullying, the army. No wonder he is damaged. But the children? Surely he wouldn’t.
And then we have Debs. Her mam Shirley, a tiny woman with a larger than life personality. A party girl, foul-mouthed, free with her body and her lashings out. But a good mum to her girls, Debs and Kelly. In the only way she knew how. But she never protected them from the terrible things that went on in the pub they lived above. Kelly now her only real friend after their mam died.
We are simply observers, watching the cracks begin and spread, the ‘nasty little cuts’ that Debs and Marc inflict on each other. Two people, too damaged and broken ever to make it work. Get help Debs, get out, save yourself and the children. Don’t go down with the ship.
I don’t think I’ve never read anything quite so visceral. There’s something very personal about it and while it was brilliant, I sometimes dreaded the next chapter. I was so stressed that something terrible was going to happen to Dolly, Pat-Pat or Lulu the dog. This is a book written from the gut as well as the heart.
As someone who writes a lot of short stories, I understand how difficult it is to evoke real emotion, particularly when you are writing in the third person. However, Tina does this so well. There are no holds barred here and some of the language and the abuse may shock some people. This is not for the faint-hearted. Please don’t say there is too much swearing etc because this is real life for many, hard as that may be to stomach. Not the sanitised version we often see.
Yet in spite of the horror, there is also warmth, love and humour. So much humour. It’s a masterpiece.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable – if again stressful – read.
About the Author
Tina Baker, the daughter of a window cleaner and fairground traveller, worked as a journalist and broadcaster for thirty years and is probably best known as a television critic for the BBC and GMTV. After so many hours watching soaps gave her a widescreen bum, she got off it and won Celebrity Fit Club. She now avoids writing-induced DVT by working as a Fitness Instructor.
Call Me Mummy was Tina’s first novel, inspired by her own unsuccessful attempts to become a mother. Despite the grief of that, she’s not stolen a child – so far. But she does rescue cats, whether they want to be rescued or not.
Nasty Little Cuts is her second novel.
+ anthology, cosy mystery, crime fiction, dark humour, fiction, literature, murder, murder mystery, review, short stories, short story, thriller
Music of the Night by Martin Edwards (Editor)
Music of the Night is a new anthology of original short stories contributed by Crime Writer’s Association (CWA) members and edited by Martin Edwards, with music as the connecting theme.
The aim, as always is to produce a book which is representative both of the genre and the membership of the world’s premier crime writing association.
The CWA has published anthologies of members’ stories in most years since 1956 with Martin Edwards as editor for over 25 years during which time the anthologies have yielded many award-winning and nominated stories by writers such as Ian Rankin, Reginald Hill, Lawrence Block and Edward D. Hoch.
#MusicOfTheNight @medwardsbooks @flametreepress #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Stories by long-standing authors and stellar names sit alongside contributions from relative newcomers, authors from overseas and members whose works haven’t appeared in a CWA anthology before. Among the gifted stars of today whose fiction featured in a CWA anthology at an early stage of their crime writing careers are Mick Herron, Frank Tallis and Sarah Hilary. It isn’t a closed shop and never has been.
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy,and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at http://www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress
My Review
What a great selection of crime fiction, all with a musical theme. Most of the authors are ones that I have not read before though there are a few old favourites. These include Andrew Taylor, whose works are very familiar to me – I’ve probably read virtually all his crime novels and most of his historical fiction as well.
So it came as no surprise that his Wrong Notes was one of my favourites, full of dark humour in his inimitable style. Can the ‘Cub’ – aka rookie reporter Roddy Hanbridge – cope with a simple write-up of a concert at a girls’ school. He should be OK as ‘unlike most teenagers he seemed fully formed, rather than a work in progress,’ …until something far more sinister occurs.
I think my favourite though was A Sharp Thorn by Alison Joseph in which a middle-aged divorcee receives a strange invitation to meet a dying man in Cornwall and features a harpsichord with a hammer through it. All very mysterious.
I also liked Taxi, in which a girl sets out to discover the identity of a serial killer and revenge her sister’s murder. Be warned though, this is no cosy mystery.
Reading other reviews, I think the one that comes out top is The Melody of Murder by Antony M Brown in which a series of murders is staged to look like the covers of pop records. The most interesting part for me though was the references to the eighties, such as the Falklands War, Wogan, the SDP winning the Glasgow by-election, the Snooker World Championships and much more. It was very cleverly written.
I’ve read stories by Peter Lovesey before and I am quite familiar with his work. In The Band Played On, grandpa sings the same song (the one in the title) over and over. Why that song and what does it mean? A slightly sentimental, cosy mystery, this was another one I really enjoyed.
The final story is another of my favourites. In Bombay Blues by Vaseem Khan, a well-known jazz musician has been murdered in the Taj ballroom in Bombay. Shot twice at close range. A handsome, charming man with a reputation as a womaniser and gambler, but who hated him enough to want him dead?
Music of the Night is a series of 25 short stories. I have selected a few of my favourites to give a flavour of another brilliant anthology of crime thrillers from authors both well-established and new to the genre from around the world.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Martin Edwards (Editor) is the author of eighteen novels, including the Lake District Mysteries and the Harry Devlin series. His ground-breaking genre study The Golden Age of Murder has won the Edgar, Agatha and H.R.F. Keating awards. He has edited twenty-eight crime anthologies, has won the CWA Short Story Dagger and the CWA Margery Allingham Prize and is series consultant for the British Library’s Crime Classics. In 2015, he was elected eighth President of the Detection Club, an office previously held by G.K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.
The CWA (Crime Writers’ Association) was founded in 1953 by John Creasey and organises the prestigious CWA Dagger Awards which celebrate the best in crime writing. The CWA is a pro-active, thriving and ever-expanding community of writers based in the UK but with a reach that extends worldwide.
Bookchatter@Cookiebiscuit 