+ crime fiction, family, fiction, holiday, murder, murder mystery, mystery, relationships, review, secrets, serial killer, thriller
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Once a sanatorium treating tuberculosis patients, it was abandoned years ago and had fallen into disrepair. Long plagued by troubling rumours, it has recently been renovated into a lavish hotel.
An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place detective Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin’s on a career break, scarred by a particularly brutal case she just can’t shake. So when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancee, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.
But when Elin wakes the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. And she soon realises that Laure is not the first person to have vanished mysteriously from the old sanatorium.
As one of the worst snowstorms in thirty years descends, Elin starts to connect the dots between Laure’s disappearance and the hotel’s troubling history. Just when she thinks she’s making progress, a body is found, staged to send a terrifying message. With avalanches closing off all access to the hotel, Elin is under pressure to uncover the sanatorium’s secrets and find her brother’s fiancee before the killer strikes again.
My Review
To start with I absolutely loved this book. It was creepy and atmospheric and the method of killing was horrific and unique. So far so good. But I did have a couple of issues, though reading in staves – one every two days with The Pigeonhole – didn’t help with the suspense or the continuity.
Issue number one was that the main protagonist police detective Elin was suffering from PTSD following a particularly difficult and horrific case, but seemed to suddenly forget all that and jump into police mode a bit too quickly. My second issue was the ending but I can’t say any more because of spoilers so you will have to make up your own mind.
Basically the plot revolves around an old TB sanatorium which has been turned into a very expensive, luxury ski resort called Le Sommet, in a remote part of the Swiss Alps. Elin’s brother Isaac has invited her and boyfriend Will to celebrate his engagement to Laure at the resort. But Le Sommet had always been plagued by controversy. There was huge objection locally to its renovation and one of the architects disappeared before it opened. Now I could have warned them this would happen. There was an old sanatorium near Cheltenham (where I live) that was turned into flats some years ago and many people believed it was haunted. I wouldn’t want to live there but the flats sold well so maybe it’s just me!
Elin and Will finally arrive via a treacherous, snow-covered, mountainous road (my worst nightmare), but the next day Laure has disappeared. She is not the only one and the mayhem and murders begin. Then the weather turns and they are all trapped. Like Agatha Christie with snow. The killings are too terrifying and horrific to describe this book as a good romp, but at times the pace could have taken on Usain Bolt for speed and there were enough red herrings for a smorgasbord (if we were in Sweden not Switzerland).
The atmosphere and setting alone were worth five stars but I’ve dropped it to four as I found the ending too convoluted and slightly unconvincing. A good exciting read though.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Sarah Pearse lives by the sea in South Devon with her husband and two daughters. She studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Warwick and worked in Brand PR for a variety of household brands. After moving to Switzerland in her twenties, she spent every spare moment exploring the mountains and the Swiss Alpine town of Crans Montana, the dramatic setting that inspired her novel.
Sarah has always been drawn to the dark and creepy – remote spaces and abandoned places – so when she read an article in a local Swiss magazine about the history of sanatoriums in the area, she knew she’d found the spark of the idea for her debut novel, The Sanatorium. Her short fiction has been published in a wide variety of magazines and has been shortlisted for several prizes.
You can find Sarah on Twitter @SarahVPearse and Instagram @sarahpearseauthor
+ childhood, family, fantasy, fiction, love, motherhood, religion, review, supernatural, time travel
Space Hopper by Helen Fisher
This is a story about taking a leap of faith
And believing the unbelievable
They say those we love never truly leave us, and I’ve found that to be true. But not in the way you might expect. In fact, none of this is what you’d expect.
I’ve been visiting my mother who died when I was eight.
And I’m talking about flesh and blood, tea-and-biscuits-on-the-table visiting here.
Right now, you probably think I’m going mad.
Let me explain…
Although Faye is happy with her life, the loss of her mother as a child weighs on her mind even more now that she is a mother herself. So she is amazed when, in an extraordinary turn of events, she finds herself back in her childhood home in the 1970s. Faced with the chance to finally seek answers to her questions – but away from her own family – how much is she willing to give up for another moment with her mother?
Space Hopper is an original and poignant story about mothers, memories and moments that shape life.
#SpaceHopper @HFisherAuthor @simonschusterUK
My Review
This is one of those books where I am so conflicted. The writing is beautiful but at times I almost gave up with frustration. If I was reading a physical book I would have thrown it across the room screaming Faye Noooo! Please don’t go back! You are risking everything. But I’m so glad I persevered.
I cried at the end. I didn’t really expect to. While I know it’s about time travel I still think it’s allegorical, testing the concept of faith. After all if you believe in a God you cannot see or prove exists, then why not believe in time travel. Or ghosts. Or anything else metaphysical. Nowadays it’s all about science. Everything requires proof. Which is quite sad in a way. If it can’t be explained rationally, then it can’t happen.
So why only four stars on Goodreads? For me it is only because the questions and Faye’s internal conflict are a bit overlong and I think this may be off-putting for readers who want a straightforward storyline. Space Hopper is a slow burn, intelligent and immersive, but ultimately I loved it.
The writing is flawless and more often than not there are some real gems.
‘He’s like a hairy dog and his wife looks like a mouse. It’s sweet. It’s like you invited pets to the party.’ This could be one of my favourite lines from a book ever.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Helen Fisher spent her early life in America but grew up mainly in Suffolk, England, where she now lives with her two children. She studied psychology at Westminster University and ergonomics at University College London, and worked as a senior evaluator in research at the Royal National Institute of Blind People. She is now a full-time author. Space Hopper is her first novel. She is currently working on her second.
James Cowper—art dealer, gambler, thief—is going straight and on the brink of redeeming himself with his disillusioned wife, Imani. He’s still broke, but all he needs to take care of that is a rare art find.
#FaketheNovel @_RozKay @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours Facebook @damppebblesblogtours
Then trouble arrives in the shape of a scheming landlord and an unwelcome dinner party with his boss. As events spin out of his control it appears that nobody, including Imani, is what they pretend. And over everything looms one make-or-break question for James: can he get a grip on his exploding life?
My Review
Absolutely hilarious. What a cast of crazy characters. First off we have James. A self-confessed fraudster, gambler and cheat. But he looks a bit like Hugh Grant so we can’t help but love him. And he is stereotypically English in a country full of yanks. That’s because it’s set in Philadelphia. Who knew.
Then we have his long-suffering wife Imani who is a nurse at the hospital. Imani and James have been together for over 20 years and have a son Cody, who is at university on a Lacrosse scholarship. Good job too as they certainly couldn’t afford to send him otherwise. I love Imani – I think she’s the only sane one and I love this quote from the book: “…she had African ancestors and slavery had stitched together the bloodstained quilt of America’s history….” Wonderful stuff. And she wants a dog. More Brownie points for her.
James works for Nick, a bumped-up git, currently on his fourth wife who he refers to as Pumpkin. He calls them all Pumpkin in case he gets their names muddled up. You couldn’t make him up – if this was real. James unfortunately pulled a fast one on Nick and is now paying the price – literally. That, or he would have gone to jail.
Finally we have the landlords – Bruce and his Croatian wife Davorka, 20 years his junior. Having retired to Florida, their home, car and possessions have been swept away in a hurricane and he has no insurance. James and Imani are renting their house on a two year lease but Brucie wants it back. And he’ll go to any lengths to get it. And if that’s not enough, Nick thinks they own the house, though I’m not sure why that matters so much to James.
I just adored this book. The humour is so British. Told mainly from James’s point of view, we can’t help but love him
Many thanks to @damppebbles for inviting me to be part of #damppebblesblogtours
About the Author
Roz Kay is a writer and former journalist. Her debut children’s novel, The Keeper of the Stones, was published in March 2020 by Hayloft Publishing and she’s had literary short stories published under the name Roz DeKett. Roz, who now lives in Wiltshire, England, has lived in Ghana, Canada, Malaysia, Brunei, and the United States—including nearly six years in Philadelphia where Fake is set. Fake is her debut novel for adults.
Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_RozKay
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RozKayWriter
Website: https://rozdekett.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_rozkay/
Purchase Links:
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/39BNW1W
Waterstones: http://bit.ly/35QNpb4
Bookshop.org: http://bit.ly/3sy5vbK
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, murder, police drama, police procedural, psycopath, revenge, review, serial killer, thriller
Sign of Evil (Shannon Ames, #3) by TJ Brearton
They came looking for pleasure. They found only pain.
A serial killer is targeting clients of local sex workers. The victims, all male, are either burned alive or beaten to death.
Suited for deep cover work because she is single, without family ties, Shannon is young enough to pass herself off as a working girl. More importantly, she is smart, energetic, and determined – her superiors know she’ll do whatever it takes to crack the case.
#SignofEvil #TJBrearton @inkubatorbooks
But spending her nights on the streets as she hunts for the killer takes its toll. Shannon’s personal life is falling apart, her strong moral core is being tested as never before. She begins to feel as if the case is eating her alive.
And as it becomes clear that she herself is on the killer’s radar, Shannon realises she’s up against something truly terrifying – a monster who wants to see her forever marked with his sign of evil.
My Review
I love stories about serial killers. You only have to mention vicious murders, ritual sacrifice, multiple victims, psychopaths, and I’m like ‘woohoo, bring it on’. So long as it doesn’t involve children or animals. However, I have a bit of a thing about people being burnt to death (going back to something my ‘best friend’ told me when I was about eight years old) so I was in two minds but then I thought ‘what the heck’. Luckily for me the ‘burnings’ are not described in too much gory detail, but like the ‘stonings’ they are biblical in scale.
In this her third outing, Shannon Ames is still on probation with the FBI. Going undercover as a street hooker will fast-forward her career, but it’s a huge ask. Not one to be taken lightly – it will not only put her life at risk, but also her relationships, and test her ethics to the very core. The more she infiltrates the seedy side of prostitution, drugs and pimps (is there an unseedy side?) the more she discovers the vulnerability of the girls on the street. But they are not the murder victims in Sign of Evil – the ‘johns’ who solicit them are.
What I loved most about T.J. Brearton’s Rough Country (which I read and reviewed in November) was the religious references and we have it here again. This fascinates me as I said before. It makes me think. It makes me do research while I’m reading – stories and quotes from Milton’s Paradise Lost and also from the Old Testament – not many books do that.
I’m also slightly reminded of Hannibal Lecter talking to FBI rookie Clarice in Silence of the Lambs when she first meets him in the secure unit. Maybe it’s a bit of a nod, an homage to that great film.
‘A country girl. God-fearing. You yearn to do good,’ the killer says to Shannon at one point, ‘and you’re not easily corrupted.’ But are the lambs still screaming Shannon? Or do you wake up in a cold sweat, the nightmares never ending.
This is great stuff. Leaps and bounds ahead of the usual feast of police procedurals. I can’t wait for the next one.
About the Author
T.J. Brearton’s books have reached half a million readers around the world and have topped the Amazon charts in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. A graduate of the New York Film Academy in Manhattan, Brearton first worked in film before focusing on novels. His books are visually descriptive with sharp dialogue and underdog heroes. When not writing, Brearton does whatever his wife and three children tell him to do. They live happily in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Yes, there are bears in the Adirondacks. But it’s really quite beautiful when you’re not running for your life.
You can purchase Sign of Evil on Amazon.co.uk
And Amazon.com
Bloody remains. Multiple victims. Ritual sacrifice?
When a blood-stained effigy of body parts is found in a central London park, D.I Daniel Graves must set about trying to discover what it could mean and find the person responsible. Symbols at the crime scene suggest the occult. Who would leave a murder victim in such a way, and why?
#TheDevilsMark @wdejackson @PantherPubs @damppebbles
As Graves and partner DI Charlie Palmer begin to investigate the ritual and the act of human sacrifice, they enlist the help of Charlotte Gooding, a talented professor specialising in the subject. They hope to narrow down on a motive. Could the killer believe in the supernatural? Witchcraft even?
Then the next crime scene is found. More blood, more symbols, and out in the open. It seems the killer wants the world to pay attention, but why? How are they choosing their victims?
The pressure is on for Graves to put an end to the murders before more remains show up in brutal tableaus. One thing is for sure, this killer is out for blood and is not afraid to make it a very public display.
There’s just one problem. Grave’s past is still not behind him. Someone is eager to make sure he doesn’t forget, cannot move on. And they’re not playing games anymore. There may be an occult killer out there, but now there’s another out for blood, Daniel Grave’s blood.
About the Author
WD Jackson-Smart, 35, is a London-based horror and crime fiction author who has been writing crime and horror fiction since 2011. His novel Red Light was self published on Amazon and charted in the top twenty best selling Suspense / Thriller Kindle books on release. His horror short story, What’s Yours Is Mine, was shortlisted for the Horror For Good anthology.
His first crime thriller Slasher, about a serial killer targeting slasher movie actresses in Hollywood, is out now, and he has launched a brand new crime series set in London and starring D.I. Graves. The Demons Beneath is the first in the series, and the sequel From Inside The House was published on July 1st 2019. As well as his passion for horror and crime thrillers in all forms, WD Jackson-Smart also loves art and design, having studied Fine Art and Art History in Leeds and Toronto and working as a graphic designer for the majority of his career.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wdejackson
Website: https://www.wdjacksonauthor.co.uk/
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/…/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Not all angels are from heaven.
You arrive for your first class at the Self Centre. The receptionist (who you spoke to on the phone earlier in the week) seems to say ‘fabulous’ to everything you say, even if it isn’t – fabulous that is. She’s also somewhat condescending, especially if you’re old and want to pay cash or cheque. She even offers to set up contactless payments on your phone. She asks you to wash your hands to remove any ‘historical effluence’ before cleansing your aura (I love that line). What starts out as a comedy set in one of ‘those’ places where you can release your inner child or take part in Hot Yoga (I have and believe me it’s HOT) becomes a tale of sadness, guilt and rebirth.
Angel runs the Self Centre and while the narrator doesn’t always believe in everything she teaches, Angel saved her life when her grief was ready to overwhelm her. She gave her a job and taught her how to deal with loss. Self Centre is so poignant and relevant, especially at the moment. What an amazing play. I absolutely loved it.
Self Centre was written by @JCarreiraWriter
Starring @zoefcunningham
Directed by @EBraefield
Produced by @COAPiano
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.
And if you really enjoyed Self Centre, listen to Theatrephonic’s other plays and short stories and consider becoming a patron by clicking here…
There are so many ways to kill a friendship . . .
You’re lying, sprawled at the bottom of the stairs, legs bent, arms wide. And while this could be a tragic accident, if anyone’s got a motive to hurt you, it’s me.
Bec and Izzy have been best friends their whole lives. They have been through a lot together – from the death of Bec’s mother to the birth of Izzy’s daughter. But there’s a darker side to their friendship, and once it has been exposed, there is no turning back.
So when Izzy’s body is found, Bec knows that if the police decide to look for a killer, she will be the prime suspect. Because those closest to you are the ones who can hurt you the most . . .
#MyBestFriendsMurder @perthectpolly @simonschusterUK
My Review
When I started reading, I commented that I didn’t like any of the characters apart from Missy the dog. By the end I liked them even less (apart from Missy again and maybe Tilly). The main characters – and even some of the less important ones – are as toxic as the relationship between Bec and her ‘best friend’ Izzy. I’d rather have no friends than have one like her.
Izzy is married to Rich, who Bec knew from childhood and has always been secretly in love with. They have a four-year-old daughter called Tilly. Bec is engaged to Ed, who is a bit of a prat really, but they have a gorgeous Bassett Hound called Missy, who doesn’t feature nearly enough for me. Bec also has a brother Rob who is in a relationship with a film star (also a secret).
Rich has two snooty brothers who he rarely sees and a father who wants him to get a better career. Rich just wants to be a writer and is working on his first novel. His mum isn’t that much better. Izzy’s parents, especially mum Glenda are awful.
Izzy is practically perfect in every way (apologies to Mary Poppins). She’s beautiful, slim, well-dressed, throws wonderful parties and runs a 10k effortlessly. You get the picture. Yes we hate her already and want to slap her. No-one is that great.
But Bec worships Izzy even though she treats her so badly. To say their relationship is toxic would be an understatement. Bec brings flowers to a party – Izzy bins them. Bec buys Tilly an amazing Christmas present – Izzy goes mental and says it’s too much.
They are all ghastly but it’s still very entertaining. We know that at some time Izzy will die (it’s in the opening chapter and in the book description), but it’s not until the end we discover the how and the why. Great debut novel.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Polly is originally from South West London but after visiting Australia in 2011, she fell head over heels for the lifestyle, even though she doesn’t drink coffee and rarely goes to the beach! Polly currently lives in Perth with her husband, daughter and much-loved dog. My Best Friend’s Murder won the writing prize at the Emirates Literature Festival and is her debut novel. She hopes that after they read it, her friends will still be talking to her…
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, DNA, female friendship, fiction, murder, murder mystery, police drama, police procedural, review
Silent Graves by Sally Rigby
Nothing remains buried forever…
When the bodies of two teenage girls are discovered on a building site, DCI Whitney Walker knows she’s on the hunt for a killer. The problem is the murders happened forty years ago and this is her first case with the new team. What makes it even tougher is that with budgetary restrictions in place, she only has two weeks to solve it.
#SilentGraves @SallyRigby4 #CavendishandWalker @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours Facebook @damppebblesblogtours
Once again, she enlists the help of forensic psychologist Dr Georgina Cavendish, but as she digs deeper into the past, she uncovers hidden truths that hurtle through the decades and into the present.
Silent Graves is the ninth book in the acclaimed Cavendish & Walker series.
My Review
The team are back! DCI Whitney Walker and Forensic Psychologist Georgina ‘George’ Cavendish star in the ninth book in the series but this one is very different to the last one I reviewed – Ritual Demise – where our intrepid duo were on the trail of a serial killer who leaves his victims in staged positions with their heads on a heraldic cushion. Click here to read my full review.
Silent Graves is not so grisly, in fact it’s a cold case dating back 40 years to when two girls went missing and the police decided they were runaways. But two bodies have been found on the edges of a farm which is being dug up for housing development. Could they be the missing girls? DNA has come a long way (in fact it wasn’t used in a police investigation until 1986 in the UK so wasn’t possible in 1980) and it’s not hard to identify a body in 2020. So long as you have samples of the girl’s hair for instance, or a sample of the parents’ or siblings’ DNA.
But how did they die and who buried them? And why was the original investigation so bungled? It’s up the the team to find out. Talking of which, the team has changed since the last book. Two members have left – Doug, Frank and IT specialist Ellie remain – and are joined by ambitious sergeant DS Brian Chapman and DC Meena Singh. How will they gel? Whitney isn’t sure about Brian. He’s too keen and she has to keep putting him in his place. I have a feeling we’ll find out a lot more in book ten. She hasn’t found out much about Meena yet so the same applies.
They have also moved into a new building and have a new ‘super’ – the formidable Helen Clyde – who appears to have more respect for Whitney than the last ‘super’ Jamieson did. But I’m waffling. What about George? She’s still there, watching and analysing quietly in the background. She knows when people are lying – which will prove to be very useful in this case.
My only sadness is that we don’t get to see crazy pathologist Claire often enough. I love her. Please give her more to do next time.
Silent Graves is another great police procedural which examines the dynamic of the team and its individual characters as much as it does the criminals and their victims.
Many thanks to @damppebbles for inviting me to be part of #damppebblesblogtours
About the Author
Sally Rigby was born in Northampton, in the UK. She has always had the travel bug, and after living in both Manchester and London, eventually moved overseas. From 2001 she has lived with her family in New Zealand (apart from five years in Australia), which she considers to be the most beautiful place in the world. After writing young adult fiction for many years, under a pen name, Sally decided to move into crime fiction. Her Cavendish & Walker series brings together two headstrong, and very different, women – DCI Whitney Walker, and forensic psychologist Dr Georgina Cavendish. Sally has a background in education, and has always loved crime fiction books, films and TV programmes. She has a particular fascination with the psychology of serial killers.
Check out Sally’swebsite for a FREE prequel story….. www.sallyrigby.com
Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SallyRigby4
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Sally-Rigby-131414630527848/posts/?ref=page_internal
Website: https://sallyrigby.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sally.rigby.author/
Purchase Links:
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/373TnGQ
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/39ZDwL1
Following on from the Sunday Times number one bestseller, The Burning Chambers, Kate Mosse’s The City of Tears is the second thrilling historical epic in The Burning Chambers series.
August 1572: Minou Joubert and her family are in Paris for a Royal Wedding, an alliance between the Catholic Crown and the Huguenot King of Navarre intended to bring peace to France after a decade of religious wars. So too is their oldest enemy, Vidal, still in pursuit of a relic that will change the course of history. But within days of the marriage, thousands will lie dead in the streets and Minou’s beloved family will be scattered to the four winds . . .
A gripping, breathtaking novel of revenge, persecution and loss, the action sweeps from Paris and Chartres to the city of tears itself, Amsterdam.
My Review
I described The Burning Chambers – the first book in the series – as epic. I can’t think of another word that fits The City of Tears. Once again we have conflict, religious wars and unbridled ambition, set mainly in Paris, Chartres and Amsterdam over a period of around ten years.
We join Piet and Minou living comfortably in Puivert, Minou now the Chatelaine, due to her inheritance. The family are planning a trip to Paris for the Royal Wedding between the Catholic Crown and the Huguenot King of Navarre intended to bring peace to France. Minou’s brother Ameiric will go separately as he is a soldier, but sister Alis plans to go with them. Piet and Minou have two children – seven-year-old Marta and two-year-old Jean-Jaques, who will also be on the trip.
But things in Minou’s life rarely go to plan and what should have been a beautiful celebration and coming together of peoples of different Christian denominations turns into a nightmare. Paris is burning and bodies litter the streets. No one is spared, not women or children or the clergy. Minou and Piet must flee but at what cost? I got so upset and angry I almost couldn’t carry on reading. I’m glad I did – I know with Kate’s books there will be sadness – but sometimes it is unbearable.
In the meantime, Cardinal Valentin – Vidal – is obsessed with collecting religious relics (real or fake it doesn’t matter so long as people believe them to be real). He has also acquired the service of a nine-year-old boy known as Louis, who we soon discover is his illegitimate son.
Following the massacre in Paris, Vidal has been forced to flee and seems to have gone underground. Power mad and bitter, he wants to start his own Catholic church based around the relics he has collected (a bit of a simplistic description for which I apologise). Piet and Minou are now living in Amsterdam but for them the conflict will never be over.
As with book one I got quite stressed at times. I got cross too as I mentioned above and was upset by certain decisions the family made, but then I suppose I have to put myself into what life was like in 1572 and not nowadays. I kept thinking about it but I’m afraid I didn’t change my mind by the end of the book.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Kate Mosse is an international bestselling author with sales of more than five million copies in 42 languages. Her fiction includes the novels Labyrinth (2005), Sepulchre (2007), The Winter Ghosts (2009), and Citadel (2012), as well as an acclaimed collection of short stories, The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales (2013). The Taxidermist’s Daughter was published in 2014.
Kate is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (previously the Orange Prize) and in June 2013, was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to literature. She lives in Sussex.
Every choice has a price.
Ella loves her job. Designing solutions for houses with unusual shaped rooms. And she ‘s good at it. In fact they are all good at their jobs apart from maybe Bronwyn who just happens to be the daughter of the owner of the construction company.
But business is not good due to the economic climate and there may be redundancies. But who will have to go? Neil has been there forever. Samira has ‘connections’. Bronwyn is family. Poor Ella is the last in first out. But who gets to decide?
Enter Geoff. No qualms about feelings or fairness for him. But the others? It’s every man for himself and every choice has a price. How far would you go?
What an entertaining piece of radio theatre. Well-written and brilliantly acted. Food for thought. I’m still reeling…
Unintended Consequences was written by Barbara Jennings
With @MaisieCarter1
Tristan Carter
@LukeRhodri
@pippameekings
Ashley Shiers
Directed by @EBraefield
Produced by @COAPiano
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.
And if you really enjoyed Unintended Consequences listen to Theatrephonic’s other plays and short stories and consider becoming a patron by clicking here…
Hare’s Landing, West Cork. A house full of mystery…
Rachel Lambert leaves London afraid for her personal safety and determined to uncover the truth behind the sudden death of a homeless man with links to a country house hotel called Hare’s Landing.
#TheDarkRoom @samblakebooks @corvusbooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours
New York-based crime reporter Caroline Kelly’s career is threatened by a lawsuit and she needs some thinking space away from her job. But almost as soon as she arrives, Hare’s Landing begins to reveal its own stories – a 30-year-old missing person’s case and the mysterious death of the hotel’s former owner.
As Rachel and Caroline join forces, it becomes clear that their investigations are intertwined – and that there is nothing more dangerous than the truth…
My Review
They say a change is as good as a rest but I sincerely hope I never have a holiday like this one. I doubt Hare’s Landing will turn up on Airbnb any time soon and if it ever does I’ll give it a wide berth. I prefer a vacation without murder, secrets, intrigue and ghostly violins.
Caroline Kelly is at country house hotel Hare’s Landing to get away from her stressful life as a crime reporter in New York, where her job is under threat. Rachel Lambert arrives a day or so later with ex-police-dog-turned-pet Jasper in tow, to escape from London where partner Hunter has been knocked off his bike, and their houseboat has been broken into. Are the two incidents connected?
Caroline and Rachel have never met before, but not only do they hit it off, they soon find that their stories may be linked.
What happened at this remote and slightly spooky hotel 30 years ago where previous owner Honaria Smyth died in mysterious circumstances? What happened to the teenagers Meg Cassidy and Johnny O’Connor who both went missing at the same time? And how is it connected to the death of a homeless violinist known as Alfie Bows (yes really) in London about whom Hunter is making a documentary?
Caroline and Rachel join forces to untangle the web of secrets and lies in a remote part of County Cork where everyone knows everyone else’s business, only some know more than others. I really enjoyed this book. The tension grew as the story progressed and the great reveal was quite a surprise.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours.
About the Author
Sam Blake is a pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, the founder of The Inkwell Group publishing consultancy and the hugely popular national writing resources website Writing.ie. She is Ireland’s leading literary scout and has assisted many award-winning and bestselling authors to publication. As Sam Blake, she has written four previous novels and has topped the Irish bestseller chart.
1917: with her father in the British secret service and her brother Alfie in the trenches, under-age Poppy Loveday volunteers against her parents’ wishes to drive ambulances in France. We follow her adventures, racing to save wounded men driven to the Casualty Clearing Station, and back to the Base Hospital.
#PoppyFlowersAtTheFront @WriterJWilkins @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours Facebook @damppebblesblogtours
During one battle she finds Élodie Proux, a French nurse, at a roadside clutching a dead soldier. Poppy rescues her. Élodie becomes her dearest girl as they fall in love.
Poppy and Élodie encounter frightening adversaries at the Western Front as well as away from it during the closing weeks of World War One.
My Review
This book was nothing like I expected. The story begins in France in 1917, towards the end of the First World War. Our heroine 17-year-old Poppy Loveday drives an ambulance ferrying injured soldiers from dressing stations to makeshift hospitals and to the mortuary in many cases. She can hear the soldiers screams of pain from wounds and gas. Every detail of the horror – the mud, the cold, the lice, the rats, the blood, the body parts – it’s all here.
But a lot of the story focuses on her forbidden relationship with French nurse Elodie Proux – a romance that must remain hidden from everyone else. Only in high society Paris can they express their love more freely.
Poppy keeps a private journal in which she reveals her true feelings for Elodie – musings about forbidden love and about the futility of war. We also get to read the letters she sends home and to her brother Alfie, stationed somewhere in Europe. In these letters she can only refer to Elodie as a friend.
Her thoughts are very mature for someone so young. She even worries about the horses, including those from her parents’ estate, that are sent to die needlessly. As the war moves towards its conclusion, the soldiers seem to get younger, the deaths more frequent and the injuries more horrific. Then the Spanish flu begins to take hold across Europe and Poppy is more afraid than she was before. Very apt in these times of Covid. Maybe the author felt it was appropriate to write about it at this time.
I really enjoyed reading about Poppy and Elodie. It has horror and sadness mixed with a touch of P. G. Woodhouse, especially from her brother Alfie, referring to – as my friend would call them (courtesy of Charles Dickens) ‘the Aged Ps’ – ‘Dada’ and ‘mater’ and his jolly good show type of language. But then Poppy is actually Lady Ophelia Loveday, mother used to be a suffragette and Dada is a spy. How totally spiffing!
I got to love Poppy in particular and I am sure you will too.
Many thanks to @damppebbles for inviting me to be part of #damppebblesblogtours
About the Author
Jonathan loves to write. He is a retired teacher, lapsed Waterstones’ bookseller and former Basketball Coach. He taught PE and English for 20 years and coached women’s basketball for over 30 years. He regularly teaches creative writing workshops in and around Leicester.
Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WriterJWilkins
Website: www.jonathanwilkins.co.uk
Purchase Links:
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3owCjPw Brigand: https://bit.ly/34enzNZ
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