Tag: mystery
+ childhood, family, fiction, gay, ghosts, loneliness, loss, love, motherhood, mystery, review, secrets, siblings, supernatural
The Season of Secrets by DE McCluskey
To make sense of what was happening around you, could you believe? ‘This could be your mother’s last Christmas,’ were not the words Alison wanted to hear so close to the holidays. Determined to spend one last festive season with her ailing mother, Alison, her daughter Grace, and Anthony her brother, decide to make the journey back to the town where they grew up. … Read More The Season of Secrets by DE McCluskey
A Body in the Forest by PF Ford
MEET YOUR NEW FAVOURITE DETECTIVE. Detective Norman is out of retirement and back on the beat in a rainy Welsh seaside town. Llangwelli might be short on sunshine, but it’s certainly not short on murders . . . Norman may seem a bit old-fashioned, but he’s always willing to learn from his band of misfit recruits. A body in the forest. An ancient pagan … Read More A Body in the Forest by PF Ford
+ crime fiction, dark humour, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, List, murder mystery, mystery, supernatural, superstition, thriller, Victorian Britain
My Top 10 Books of 2025 – Part Three
Here are my favourite ten books of 2025 Part Three, including audiobooks, as I haven’t listened to enough to have their own post this quarter. As usual quite a disparate selection. The Empty Cradle by Lisa Rookes This was so good. I’m not sure how a story could be scary, creepy, and really funny at the same time. I think that’s because it’s so well … Read More My Top 10 Books of 2025 – Part Three
+ crime fiction, dark humour, feel-good, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, humour fiction, List, Magical realism, murder mystery, mystery, supernatural, superstition, thriller, Victorian Britain
My Top 10 Books of 2025 – Part Two
Here are my favourite ten books of 2025 Part Two, including audiobooks, as I haven’t listened to enough to have their own post this quarter. Again quite a disparate selection. The Cure by Eve Smith I’m so out of my comfort zone here. Firstly, I don’t usually read speculative fiction, sci-fi or dystopian future novels. And secondly, I don’t think this is entirely fiction, … Read More My Top 10 Books of 2025 – Part Two
Secrets of Lostmor by Ann Smythe
In 1971, the Sanders family suffer a loss so great that they abandon their Gothic mansion house forever. Twenty-four years later, Lily Sanders reluctantly returns to her hometown for the reading of a mysterious will. Lily must face the secrets that lie within the crumbling estate in the wilds of Cornwall… and uncover the mystery hidden within. My Review Another great holiday read, and … Read More Secrets of Lostmor by Ann Smythe
The People Next Door by Kate Braithwaite
Twenty years ago, Jen’s sister disappeared. Now, she’s looking for answers. Jen Silver has moved to a new neighbourhood in affluent, suburban Pennsylvania with her partner, Dan, and her daughter. It’s a picture-perfect neighbourhood where the residents hang out on each other’s patios drinking margaritas on warm summer nights. They eagerly welcome Jen and her family. But Jen isn’t who they think she is. … Read More The People Next Door by Kate Braithwaite
The Return of Frankie Whittle by Caroline England
Once you enter the gates, will they ever let you leave? Frankie Whittle has it all: a career in the City, a gorgeous husband and a baby on the way. It’s the perfect life, but it’s built on sand. In one terrifying night, everything she has worked so hard for unravels. She needs a fresh start. When she discovers the very place she was … Read More The Return of Frankie Whittle by Caroline England
The Versailles Formula by Nancy Bilyeau Cover Reveal
She craved purpose. She found danger. Now, there may be no turning back. Genevieve Sturbridge was never meant for a quiet life in the English countryside. Once an artist in the heart of London, now she spends her days in restless solitude, longing for the passion and purpose she once knew. But when a familiar figure from her past arrives with an urgent request, … Read More The Versailles Formula by Nancy Bilyeau Cover Reveal
+ adoption, childhood, family, fiction, forgiveness, grief, loss, love, mystery, relationships, review, secrets
Her Empty Chair by Sunna Coleman
She left without a trace… not even a crumb. For student and waitress, Sylvia Morelle, it’s just another day at the French café in Covent Garden – that is, until her beloved elderly regular, Mrs Ida Laine, mysteriously disappears. As weeks go by with no sign of the glamorous Parisian, the young journalist in training begins her own investigation, only to unearth far more … Read More Her Empty Chair by Sunna Coleman
+ childhood, Detective novel, fairy tale, female friendship, fiction, grief, kidnapping, literature, loss, love, murder, murder mystery, mystery, obsession, police drama, review, serial killer, thriller, writer
Little Red Death by A K Benedict
ONCE UPON A TIME LIKE YOU’VE NEVER READ IT BEFORE . . . DI Lyla Rondell is on the case of a lifetime. Tasked with investigating a series of perplexing deaths, the only lead she has is that each appears to be based on a different classic fairy tale. Far from the stuff of bedtime stories, the press is having a field day with what … Read More Little Red Death by A K Benedict
+ audio book, childhood, dark humour, family, fiction, ghosts, grief, Ireland, loss, Magical realism, mystery, psychic, review, supernatural, superstition
Himself by Jess Kidd
Blending strange kindnesses, casual violence and buried secrets: an unforgettable debut from a dark new voice in Irish fiction. When Mahony returns to Mulderrig, a speck of a place on Ireland’s west coast, he brings only a photograph of his long-lost mother and a determination to do battle with the village’s lies. His arrival causes cheeks to flush and arms to fold in disapproval. … Read More Himself by Jess Kidd
+ alcoholism, brothers, crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, kidnapping, mystery, obsession, police drama, police procedural, review, thriller
Hollow Ground by Freya Wallace
In the rugged wilderness of Dartmoor, school teacher Sophie Parsons vanishes without a trace during a weekend trek. For Detective Inspector Jacob Knox, Sophie’s disappearance stirs unsettling echoes of a previous case involving another woman who vanished in the same desolate moorland six months earlier. As Knox delves deeper, he uncovers the complexities of Sophie’s personal life, including a secret affair with a charismatic … Read More Hollow Ground by Freya Wallace
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