Blog tour: 19 November to 3 December 2020

Synopsis

This warm-hearted tale explores marriage, love, and longing, set against the majestic backdrop of Morecambe Bay, the Lakeland Fells, and the faded splendour of the Midland Hotel.

Ted Marshall meets Rene in the dancehalls of Morecambe and they marry during the frail optimism of the 1950s. They adopt the roles expected of man and wife at the time: he the breadwinner at the family ceramics firm, and she the loyal housewife. But as the years go by, they find themselves wishing for more …

After Ted survives a heart attack, both see it as a new beginning … but can a faded love like theirs ever be rekindled?

My review

Set mainly in Morecambe, in the period from the 1950s to the New Millennium, In the Sweep of the Bay tells the story of a couple called Edward (Ted) and Irene (Rene) Marshall. We find out more about their courting days, their wedding, bringing up two children and their twilight years, and all the little battles and struggles, high points and lows, that they experience over the years.

It was a way of showing she loved him. She wished she could say it, wished they could say it to one another, like they did in the early days. She didn’t know what had happened to the words, why they wouldn’t come out.

Ted works for the family ceramics firm, S. & L. Marshall, leaving school aged 15 to be an apprentice and eventually taking over as head of the firm. Rene did have an office job but gave this up when they got married. The couple still love each other but have forgotten how to communicate and have slowly drifted apart. They just need to reach out to each other and show that they care.

They forgot the happiness. Or rather, they pushed it away. But it was there, all their lives, waiting to surprise them. Now and again it did.

We also meet a street sweeper who looks after the Eric Morecambe statue, learn more about a couple called Vincenzo and Henry and their relationship/friendship, and we also get to know Rene and Ted’s daughters, Margaret (Peg) and Dorothy (Dot), their granddaughter, Cecily, and Ted’s young personal assistant, 20 years his junior, Madge Turner.

The story includes little snippets of life and put together they create a rich tapestry of life and all its elements: relationships, marriage, children, work and death.

This is a poignant and touching read, and beautifully written with simple but pertinent observations. At times, sad, but also with moments of joy when the characters are enjoying the simple pleasures of life. I also liked the lovely descriptions of the town with its Eric Morecambe statue!

A reminder of happiness to ease the sorrowful times.

It’s a cleverly observed novella and touches upon the negative elements of life and marriage: apathy, boredom, complacency, niggles, taking each other for granted and a lack of communication, effort and intimacy. It also shows the defined and expected roles of couples in the 1950s and 1960s and the sacrifices that women were expected to make. Rene gave up her job to be Ted’s wife and a mother, and their daughter had to forfeit a place at university too.

Realising how little we know of other people’s lives, even our own parents. Perhaps especially our own parents.

It’s a thought-provoking and touching read and there were some lovely phrases and observations in the book – I’ve quoted a few above – and I will definitely be rereading In the Sweep of the Bay again at some point soon. I look forward to checking out the author’s other novella, The Plankton Collector, and reading her work in the future.

Buy the book

In the Sweep of the Bay by Cath Barton can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. It’s also available to buy as an eBook and paperback from the Louise Walters Books bookshop.

About the author

Cath Barton lives in Abergavenny, Wales. She won the New Welsh Writing AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella in 2017 for The Plankton Collector, which was published in September 2018 by New Welsh Review under their Rarebyte imprint. She also writes short stories and flash fiction and, with her critical writing, is a regular contributor to Wales Arts Review.

Twitter: @CathBarton1
Website: https://cathbarton.com
Louise Walters Books: https://www.louisewaltersbooks.co.uk/cath-barton

Blog tour

Thanks to Louise Walters Books for my digital copy of In the Sweep of the Bay and to Emma Welton at damppebbles blog tours for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 2 to 11 December 2020

Game details

Foul Play: The Manor House Murder

Welcome to Edwardian England. The Lord of the Manor is dead! The servants are our lead suspects and it’s up to you to unearth the evidence, seek out the suspects and catch the culprit in order to scupper the other sleuths, and win this game of murder!

There’s more than one way to catch a killer though. So what’s it gonna be? Good Cop or Bad Cop? These two game versions come with their own set of rules and tactics to crack the case and finger your suspect, but will you use fair play or FOUL PLAY?

The game is afoot! Playing as detective, you’ll need to find the three evidence cards that point to a specific suspect in order to catch a killer in this crazy criminal caper. Will you uncover them in the crime scene? Could the other detectives be willing to collaborate and share their findings? Or will you resort to more tricky tactics, and plunder the proof you need to solve this crime?

A game for 2–5 players | Age 14 +
£8.95 + p&p

My review

Foul Play by After Dark Murder Mystery Events is a fun murder mystery card game for two to five players (aged 14 plus) and I was excited to take part in the blog tour and be one of the first to try it out!

The Lord of the Manor, Lord D’Arque, has been murdered and there are eight suspects to the crime: the servants of the manor. They are Mortimer Throttle (chauffeur), Frau Vermuten (governess), Harry Hemlock (gardener), Lilith Lynch (housekeeper), Ivy Smothers (maid), Cillian Lynch (stablehand), Olive Mangle (cook) and Mason Smothers (butler). Each suspect has various distinguishing features, is wearing various items of clothing/jewellery and carrying a potential murder weapon, and some of them are related.

Foul Play consists of a pack of 52 game cards and four instruction cards. The cards are red, blue, green and purple and there are 13 of each. The red cards include cards for the eight suspects and various action cards (block, crime scene, fair play, foul play, full cooperation, interrogate and red herring). There are five blue Evidence A cards, five green Evidence B cards, five purple Evidence C cards and various action cards.

Both games need to be set up in the formation shown:

You can play the game as good cops or bad cops and there are a set of instructions for each method of play. The Good Cop game is shorter and there is only one set of evidence (A, B, C) cards, whereas the Bad Cop game takes longer and the evidence changes. You must have three evidence cards and a suspect card in your possession to win the Bad Cop game but, as long as you’ve seen all three evidence cards, you just need the card for the person you want to accuse in the Good Cop game.

I have to admit that we struggled to work out what to do initially and were a little confused by the evidence cards and how to set up the game, so we checked out the instructions online. We started by trying to play the Bad Cop game but I’d recommend starting with the Good Cop one as it’s shorter and it give you a good overview of the game techniques; it’s simpler as the evidence remains the same. It would be good if there was a walkthrough video on the website showing you how to set up each game, just to get people started. We were also a little confused about playing the action cards and whether we needed to pick up a replacement card or not, but I’m sure this will become clearer as we explore the game even more.

I played the game with my husband, Mark, and once we’d got in the swing of things, we had great fun doing the Good Cop game and attempting to pull our best poker faces! In one of the games we played, I was convinced that I had the correct suspect card (Cillian Lynch) but Mark pulled a win out of the bag by revealing that he’d seen the third and final evidence card and the murderer was actually Mason Smothers! Denied!

My husband got annoyed when I kept using the foul play action to steal his cards so we agreed not to use those in order not to force the end of the game as the case has gone cold!

The game is quite varied, with two different techniques of play required for the Bad Cop and Good Cop versions, and we had fun trying to work out how and when to use the action cards. A few times I thought I’d played a good card but it actually didn’t work out that way! It’s definitely a game you need to play a few times to identify the best strategies!

The Bad Cop game is a bit trickier to play with two people and lasts longer as all 52 cards are in play. We need to spend a bit more time getting the hang of this one and learning how to play it properly.

The game is different every time as the evidence and suspect changes and I liked the fact there were two games in one, adding to the variety. It can even be played with more than five players if you purchase extra decks.

Overall, once we knew what we were doing, we had great fun playing this entertaining game! The game play is varied and the logic is good. I can imagine us playing it lots over Christmas with other family members and maybe trying to adapt it so that our children (aged 4 and 6) can play too. It would be good to play with more people and increase the competitiveness!

There’s scope for the creators to bring out different versions too and it would be fun to play the game if it was set in another location and with an alternative cast of characters!

For more information about the game, including the rules of play, action and suspect cards, and FAQs, visit the Foul Play website.

Buy the game

Foul Play: The Manor House Murder, the murder mystery card game, can be purchased online from the Foul Play shop for £8.95 plus postage.

About the creators

Game concept: Ben and Lee Cooper-Muir
Character design and illustration: James Lawrence
Graphic design: Ian Robinson

Twitter: @afterdarkmurder
Facebook: @afterdarkmystery
Instagram: @afterdarkmurder
Website: https://www.afterdarkmurder.co.uk

Blog tour

Thanks very much to After Dark Murder Mystery Events for my Foul Play card game pack and to Emma Welton at damppebbles blog tours for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 23 to 27 November 2020

Synopsis

33 women … one big secret

When sisters Celine and Pip get a call telling them their reclusive mother has died, the women are reunited. But someone is missing – their middle sister, Vanessa, murdered years ago and the victim of an unsolved case.

The discovery of another body in similar circumstances raises questions about Vanessa’s death. What do the mysterious residents of Two Cross Farm, the women’s commune, have to do with it? What secrets are lurking behind their locked gates? And what is the significance of the number 33?

My review

After the death of their estranged mother, Delilah Murphy, sisters Celine and Pip (and her daughters, Olive and Beebee) head to her rather grand house (called Belle France) in Arundel, West Sussex, where she’s lived for over 17 years. Their mother’s old friend and their ‘auntie’, Una, 57, is the executor of the will and is helping the women to arrange her funeral. Pip, her husband, Stefan, and their children live in the old family home in Kingston and Una still lives next door.

While sorting Delilah’s belongings for charity, the women are paid a visit by the police who tell them that a 24-year-old American chef called Robyn Siegle has been found dead, in suspicious circumstances, on the river bank a mile away. The police think she was a resident of the woman’s commune, Two Cross Farm, which is a big gated property down the road from Belle France.

Celine and Pip’s sister, Vanessa, died in March 2005, aged 20, and her body was discovered on Brighton pier, which is 20 miles away. It was thought that her boyfriend, Jem Falmer, murdered her but he disappeared and his whereabouts are unknown. The women believe there is a connection between the two deaths and Una, a former detective at Scotland Yard, speaks to an old colleague, Detective Inspector Dave Aston of Sussex Police, to see if the 15-year-old case can be reopened.

The short, snappy chapters alternate between the present day (May 2020), which tells Celine’s story, and various periods of time (mid-1970s, 1990s and the present day) at Two Cross Farm, which are told from a woman called Bramble’s viewpoint.

Two Cross Farm was set up in 1976 by the six Founding Sisters, Bramble, Fern, Kathy, Regine, Susan and later, Seed, who is the current leader. It is a place of sanctuary and ‘a shelter from oppression, a place women can settle, free of their chains of enslavement, where they may never fear the raised hand of violence again’. Fern believes in the power of numbers and selected 33, the highest of the master numbers, as the maximum number of women who may stay at the farm at any one time. There is a code of conduct of 12 rules that all the women must abide by.

Seed is rather mysterious and intense and seems to be hiding numerous secrets: her own and that of the farm. All the women are rather secretive and reluctant to talk about things. Various incidents have obviously happened at Two Cross Farm over the years – nearly 400 women have stayed there since it was opened – but everyone is keeping quiet.

As Celine, Pip and Una look into the deaths of both women, with the help of DI Aston, and pay a visit to the commune to speak to Seed, things start to unravel at Two Cross Farm and they get nearer to discovering the truth about what happened to Vanessa and Robyn, and uncovering other well-hidden secrets.

Overall, I really enjoyed 33 Women – it was an intriguing and tense read with a well-plotted and gripping storyline. I had several theories as the story progressed but the twists and turns kept me guessing about exactly what was going on. The short, alternating chapters cleverly disclosed key elements of the plot and we found out more revealing details about various characters.

The descriptions of all the characters were good and I enjoyed getting to know Celine, Pip and Una. The sisters were obviously damaged by their upbringing but had pulled together to support each other and Una is a strong mother figure who cared deeply for the girls.

Two Cross Farm was also well described – very mysterious and atmospheric – and seemed a rather troubled and dubious place to live. The 12 rules were quite severe and women had to give up a lot to join the commune and conform to its way of life. It all made me feel rather uncomfortable, uneasy and suspicious!

The pacing of the story was good with lots of suspense and misdirection and, in several places, I was frantically turning the pages to see what was going to happen. It was compelling and engaging and there were some shocking revelations, which I hadn’t expected!

I already have several of the author’s other books on my Kindle and I look forward to reading them soon and checking out her future novels.

Buy the book

33 Women by Isabel Ashdown is released on 26 November and can be preordered from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

With several critically-acclaimed novels already to her name, Isabel Ashdown first burst onto the thriller scene in 2017 with her Amazon bestseller, Little Sister. She has since seen two of her thrillers shortlisted in the prestigious Dead Good Reader Awards, and her dark family dramas continue to hook readers across the globe. 33 Women is her eighth unmissable novel.

Isabel was born in London and grew up on the south coast, where she now lives with her family and their two dogs, Charlie and Leonard. She is a full-time novelist, a Royal Literary Fund associate, and a regular creative writing host at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.

Twitter: @IsabelAshdown
Facebook: @IsabelAshdownBooks
Instagram: @isabelashdown_writer
Website: https://isabelashdown.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Alainna Hadjigeorgiou at Orion Publishing for my copy of 33 Women and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 9 to 25 November 2020

Synopsis

Who will heed the call when Death comes whispering?

Small time drug dealer, Marcus Sharpe and DCI Clive Burston had never met until one night in August. By the end of that night, both had been shot dead in a small bedroom in the heart of gang territory. DI Erika Piper is called to the scene but is at a loss to explain what’s happened. How did these two even meet, let alone end up dead in what appears to be a strange murder-suicide?

As Erika leads the investigation, another two bodies are found, killed in a similar fashion. One murder, one suicide. But who is controlling this macabre puppet show? As Erika delves deeper into the lives of the dead, the pieces begin to fit together and a number of nefarious characters crawl out of the woodwork – one of whom is almost certainly pulling the strings.

A catastrophic event and a personal miracle threaten to derail the investigation. Erika must find the strength to continue, before the whispers catch up with her too …

My review

After really enjoying the first book in the Erika Piper series, A Wash of Black, I couldn’t wait to read the second instalment, Whispers in the Dark.

Set six months later, in August 2019, the story opens with Detective Inspector Erika Piper attending the wedding of her colleague, Detective Sergeant Liam Sutton. As most of their team are also at the reception, her boss, Detective Chief Inspector Bob Lovatt, has asked her to be on call in case there’s an emergency. Towards the end of the evening, just when she thinks she can relax, Erika receives a phone call requesting her help.

She heads a few miles down the road to a residential street where she discovers not one but two dead bodies waiting for her in the bedroom of a terraced house. The dead men are drug dealer and Bennett Street Rebels gang member, Marcus Sharpe, and, shockingly, DCI Clive Burston, who was on gardening leave after misplacing evidence, which lead to a suspect walking free.

Erika and the rest of the team investigate possible connections between the two men, coming up with all kinds of theories, and look into whether Sharpe’s dealing had got him into trouble with a rival gang called the Longsight Lunatics and their leader, Olly Pilkington.

While enjoying a meal at the Italian restaurant in Marple village in Manchester with her boyfriend, Tom, a former policeman and now security guard, she receives a call to say another two bodies have been found at St Peter and the Light Anglican church, which is next to the street where the other two men were discovered. One of the victims is another Bennett Street Rebels gang member, while the other is a woman this time.

The circumstances of the killings are bizarre and the police are now following a murder–suicide line of enquiry for both cases but are still completely confused about what’s going on, except for the fact that there is obviously a gang connection. Things are spiralling out of control! Will Erika and the team figure it all out before the killer or killers carry out more murders?

Whispers in the Dark is another superb read from the author and I flew through it in a few hours, frantically turning the pages to see how everything was going to be resolved! The pacing was good with lots of intrigue and tension to keep me entertained. There were several twists and turns and red herrings, as well as some shocking revelations, which I didn’t see coming at all.

Although the book is part of a series, I think it could be read as a standalone as events in the first book were mentioned in passing, to set the scene. I definitely recommend reading A Wash of Black first though as it helps you to get to know the characters and see the lovely rapport that Erika and Liam have.

I really enjoyed this gripping, action-packed and cleverly plotted police procedural. It was compelling, engaging and well put together, with great descriptions and attention to detail. I enjoyed spending more time with the main protagonist, DI Erika Piper, who yet again had an eventful time of it, and I hope we see her in another book soon!

Buy the book

Whispers in the Dark by Chris McDonald is released on 14 November and can be preordered from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback. Or purchase paperback and hardback editions directly from the Red Dog Press online shop.

About the author

Originally hailing from the north coast of Northern Ireland and now residing in south Manchester, Chris McDonald has always been a reader. At primary school, the Hardy Boys inspired his love of adventure before his reading world was opened up by Chuck Palahniuk and the gritty world of crime.

A Wash of Black was his first attempt at writing a book. He came up with the initial idea whilst feeding his baby in the middle of the night, which may not be the best thing to admit, considering the content. Whispers in the Dark is the second instalment in the DI Erika Piper series, and Chris is currently working on his latest series, The Stonebridge Mysteries, to be published by Red Dog Press in 2021.

He is a fan of 5-a-side football, heavy metal and dogs.

Twitter: @cmacwritescrime
Facebook: @cmacwritescrime
Website: https://macsbookreview.wordpress.com
Instagram: @cmacwritescrime

Blog tour

Thanks to Meggy Roussel at Red Dog Press for my digital copy of Whispers in the Dark and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 26 to 30 October 2020

Synopsis

She was sent down …
Cara Lockhart has just commenced a life sentence in HMP North Fern – the newest maximum security women’s prison in the country. She was convicted of a crime she is adamant she didn’t commit.

She was set up …
One morning she wakes up to find her cellmate murdered – shot in the head with a gun that is missing. The door was locked all night, which makes Cara the only suspect.

But that was just the beginning.
Cara needs to clear her name, unravelling an impossible case, with an investigation governed by a prison timetable.

But as Cara starts to learn more about North Fern and the predicament she is in, she finds connections between the past and present that she never could have imagined.

Indeed it seems that her conviction and her current situation might be linked in very strange ways …

My review

When Cara-Jane Lockhart, a 23-year-old prisoner serving a life sentence, is transferred from New Hall prison in Wakefield to North Fern in Buckinghamshire, she’s rather surprised to find herself at a new, futuristic prison that has its own rules and regulations.

At North Fern, prisoners wear Cuffs, which are like ID cards with a built-in tracker and allow them access to some areas and restrict where they can go. If the prisoners stray somewhere they shouldn’t, they get an electric shock. The prison guards also wear Cuffs.

The prison has impressive, state-of-the-art facilities and, rather than actual windows, there are multiple screens on the ceiling that show images of the sky. There are no clocks or any indication of time passing. Rather than time outside, the women have periods of illumination where the natural light system is turned on. The exercise yard is actually indoors and like a sports hall with mats and equipment, a wooden floor and gym equipment. It all feels like a bizarre social experiment.

The women aren’t allowed to have visitors, due to the seriousness of their crimes, but they can receive letters and small parcels from their families and friends. Movie night on Saturdays is compulsory and a rather repetitive event.

Cara was nicknamed ‘The Butcher’ at New Hall and her reputation has followed her to North Fern. She’s very wary of the other women and has a few run ins but soon makes friends with her cellmate, Stephanie Barnard, and the two women get into a routine and support each other.

When she wakes up one morning to find her cellmate dead, with a bullet hole in her forehead, Cara is horrified and protests her innocence. It seems futile with the overwhelming evidence against her – the pair were in a locked cell together and, despite a 12-second blank period in the camera feed, the systems prove that no one else had any access to the room.

As Cara is marched into an isolation cell, she’s left alone with her thoughts and decides that she needs to be strong and work out exactly what’s going on. There’s something really off about the prison but she has to remain calm and not give up, and work out the whys and hows of the situation and find the murder weapon if she has any hope of proving her innocence.

At first, there seems to be no reason why Cara has been set up but, as we learn more about past events, everything becomes clearer and there were some good twists and turns and a few aha moments!

I’m a big fan of books set in prisons and this was certainly a bit different and even more claustrophobic than your average establishment. Cara seemed the ultimate unreliable narrator – I was never sure if she was imagining things, lying or telling the truth. I wanted to like her but the crime she was convicted of was horrific and she seemed strangely detached from reality at times.

Overall, I really enjoyed Inside Out – it was entertaining, cleverly plotted and had a gripping storyline. Once I’d got into the story, I was frantically turning the pages to see how the main protagonist was going to get out of her impossible predicament. There were some interesting characters and I was never really sure who could be trusted. I had to suspend belief at times but that was all part of the charm!

I’ve already got the author’s other books, Guess Who and Now You See Me, on my Kindle and I’ll be checking them out soon!

Buy the book

Inside Out by Chris McGeorge can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Chris McGeorge is a graduate of MA Creative Writing (crime/thriller) from City University London where he wrote debut thriller, Guess Who, as his thesis. He told stories from an early age, writing and drawing comics and then scripts and finally novels. He loves Golden Age crime and gets incredibly excited about anything a little out of the ordinary. In his spare time, he is an actor with Durham Dramatic Society.

He lives in Durham with his hamster, Agatha Christie.

Twitter: @crmcgeorge
Facebook: @chris.mcgeorge.1

Blog tour

Thanks to Alainna Hadjigeorgiou at Orion Publishing for my copy of Inside Out and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 26 to 31 October 2020

Synopsis

The wealthy Crawleys can’t abide a scandal, so when fifteen-year-old Maddie’s behaviour causes concern, she’s packed off to the family’s country estate, along with her best friend, Ellie. But while Maddie is resentful, Ellie is secretly thrilled. A whole summer at Greywater House, which she’s heard so much about – and with Maddie, who she adores …

But from the moment the girls arrive, it’s clear there’s more to the house and the family than Ellie could ever have imagined. Maddie’s aunt, Natalie, and her bedridden grandmother are far from welcoming – and something has been waiting at Greywaters, something that flits among the shadows and whispers in the night.

As the July heat rises and the girls’ relationship intensifies, the house’s ghosts can’t be contained, and it isn’t just Ellie who has reason to be afraid. Three generations of the Crawley family must face their secrets when past and present violently collide.

‘Hill House for the 21st century: haunting, dark, and very, very real. Chilling and very sinister, but still rippled with the confusion of being a teenager, of first love, and of making impulsive mistakes. A masterpiece.’ – Anstey Harris

‘As poetic as it is unsettling, We Wait is an absolute triumph. The beautifully vivid prose is reminiscent of Du Maurier – both haunting and chilling at the same time. An eerie, clever, spine-tingling novel. This is Megan Taylor at her most thrillingly dark.’ – Kerry Hadley-Pryce

My review

From the chilling and rather disturbing prologue, I knew this coming-of-age novel set in an eerie country house was going to be a very creepy read and perfect for Halloween!

It’s 2016 and Sara Crawley is driving her 15-year-old daughter Madeleine (Maddie) and her friend, Eleanor (Ellie), to Greywater House where the teenagers are going to be spending the summer. Maddie has been involved in something scandalous at school and, as a result, her father, Hugo, wrote to his sister, Natalie, who lives at the house with their elderly mother, and asked if she could stay with them to give her parents a break.

Before they even get to Greywaters, strange things start happening and there’s sense of anticipation, fear and trepidation. It’s clear there’s something not right about the house; a feeling of evil and foreboding. Sara drops the girls off and talks to her sister-in-law but can’t wait to leave.

The story is told from the viewpoints of Maddie’s friend, Ellie, and her aunt, Natalie. Ellie’s mother is suffering from cancer and she’s looking forward to having some time to relax with her best friend after caring for her mum, who is going on a retreat. Natalie is also a carer for her elderly mother and resents looking after her while brother, Hugo, carries on with his life.

Natalie already seems to be dealing with enough without having two teenagers thrust on her as well! There are hints about something dark in her past, and a childhood friend called Jess often features in her memories.

Ellie has always had awful nightmares and she sleepwalks at the house. She’s upset about her mum but feels reckless and freer being there. She’s always had a bit of a crush on Maddie and looks up to her and the girls grow much closer in the claustrophobic and intense setting.

In the second part of the book, we’re whisked back to the summer of 1986 at Greywater House, where we learn about the events that brought us to where we are in the present day. Things are hinted at in the first part and all becomes clearer as we put the pieces of the puzzle together and work out exactly what’s happening. The story comes together in a dramatic, life-changing conclusion.

The house is old, dark, menacing and creepy and feels like it has a life of its own, with something lurking within the walls. Everything feels off and ominous, everyone begins to feel more and more and out of control and they’re all hiding secrets and waiting for something to happen. It’s like there’s a creeping, malignant force hiding in the house that taints all around it. It grabs hold of people and stops them from leaving.

Overall, I really enjoyed We Wait – it’s beautifully descriptive with lovely imagery. Megan Taylor creates an excellent sense of place in the dark, gloomy, disturbing and atmospheric location of Greywaters with its hostile grounds including various outbuildings, gardens and a deep, silver lake.

The novel is cleverly written, with an intriguing and compelling plot. There were some shocking moments and I was surprised by how the story unfolded, with its twists, turns and revelations. As the tension rose, the pace quickened and the walls started closing in, I wasn’t really quite sure what was real and what was a dream. The writing was excellent – tense, claustrophobic and it made me feel uncomfortable and uneasy.

I’m already looking forward to checking out the rest of the author’s novels and reading some of her short stories.

Buy the book

We Wait by Megan Taylor can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and directly from the Eyrie Press bookshop.

About the author

Megan Taylor is the author of three previous novels. Her first, How We Were Lost, a dark coming of age story, was published in 2007. Her second, The Dawning, a domestic thriller set over the course of a single night, was published in 2010. Megan’s third novel, The Lives of Ghosts (2012), is a mystery about repression, inheritance and motherhood.

Megan also writes short stories, some of which form her collection, The Woman Under the Ground (2014), beautifully illustrated by Nikki Pinder.

Megan lives in Nottingham, where she provides creative writing workshops and courses when she isn’t busy playing with her own fiction.

Twitter: @meganjstaylor
Website: https://www.megantaylor.info/

Blog tour

Thanks to Emily Powter-Robinson at Eyrie Press for my paperback copy of We Wait and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 21 to 27 October 2020

Synopsis

1949: Rudy, a Jewish New Yorker snatches a briefcase of cash from a dead man in Los Angeles and runs away from his old life, into the arms of the Boston mob.

1966: Hinako, a young Japanese girl runs away from what she thought was the suffocating conformity of a life in Japan. Aiming to make a fresh start in America, she falls into the grip of a Hawaiian gang dubbed ‘The Company’.

1967: Rudy and Hinako’s lives collide in the city of Honolulu, where there is nowhere left for either of them to run, and only blood to redeem them.

My review

Spanning nearly 20 years from 1950, Say Goodbye When I’m Gone skips back and forth in time and location as we follow the two main protagonists and their stories and eventually find out how they become associated.

Rudy is married to Maggie and they have six children. The family are Jewish and live in New York. The couple met aged 13 when they both lived in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan. One evening in July 1950, Rudy, Maggie and three of their children are at a restaurant for their oldest daughter Grace’s 16th birthday when Rudy’s past catches up with him and a shocking event occurs.

In Nagoya, Japan, it’s December 1966 and Hinako, aged 16, lives with her mother in a small one-bedroom apartment. Her father no longer lives with them. Hinako works in a ramen shop and is desperate to escape her claustrophobic, restricted and boring life and move to America in the next few years. When she sees a flyer on a pillar for maids and waitresses for new Japanese hotels in the United States, with flights and accommodation, she can’t believe her luck and naively thinks all her prayers will be answered if she gets the job. Sadly, she has no idea what she’s getting herself into.

We also learn more about another character who was a child in Seoul in 1951 during the Korean war and had to fend for himself after the deaths of his parents. He did what he had to do to survive and this time has a profound effect on the boy and turns him into a disturbed individual who is confused about right and wrong and carries out some dreadful acts.

At first, there seems to be no link between any of the three but all becomes clear as more of the story is revealed. It’s cleverly done and helps to build up a good picture of each of their lives, with lots of shocking and pertinent moments, which explain what was to follow.

With themes of torture, murder, sexual abuse and rape, among others, with graphic violent scenes, this book won’t be for everyone but I found the descriptions were in keeping with the novel and not at all gratuitous.

Overall, I really enjoyed this well-plotted, cleverly written and action-packed novel. It’s a bit different from the norm and the story is engaging and gripping as we move between different timelines and countries and learn more about Rudy and Hinako and how they come to meet in an antiques shop in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Despite the fact that he’s a criminal with a rather chequered history, I felt a lot of sympathy for Rudy. He’s a family man who desperately loves his wife and children and wants to support them and do his best for them. There’s good in him but he’s caught up in this line of work; it’s difficult for him to escape due to the constant fear of retaliation.

Hinako’s story is heart breaking – she doesn’t really relate to her mother and feels trapped and constrained by her life and the constant pressure to conform. She wants the freedom to find herself and experience individuality. What she actually experiences in America is one of the worst nightmares you can imagine and she has no life or even freedom. It’s terrifying and tragic.

Say Goodbye When I’m Gone is a gritty, shocking, dramatic and violent book but it’s also gripping, intense and poignant. I found myself caring for Rudy, Hinako and others, like Irishman Joey McCarthy, and hoping that they’d all survive and have happy futures. An entertaining read and one which definitely sticks in the mind! I’m looking forward to seeing what the author writes next. And I can’t finish this review without mentioning that gorgeous blood-splattered cover, which looks like a slightly worn postcard! I’m definitely going to order a copy of the book so I can see it in the flesh!

Buy the book

Say Goodbye When I’m Gone by Stephen J. Golds can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo. Or purchase a copy directly from the Red Dog Press online shop.

About the author

Stephen J. Golds was born in London, but has lived in Japan for most of his adult life. He enjoys spending time with his daughters, reading books, travelling, boxing and listening to old Soul LPs. His novel, Say Goodbye When I’m Gone, will be released by Red Dog Press in October 2020 and another novel, Always the Dead, will be released by Close to the Bone Press January 2021.

Twitter: @SteveGone58

Blog tour

Thanks to Meggy Roussel at Red Dog Press for my digital copy of Say Goodbye When I’m Gone and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.

Blog tour: 19 to 21 October 2020

Synopsis

‘Dylan …’ I croak, but my little boy doesn’t even look at me. ‘Dylan!’ My voice is louder now, and my gaze stays locked with my son’s as the car pulls away from the curb and drives away, taking my very life with her.

Single mother Beth loves her seven-year-old son Dylan with all her heart. He’s her world. So when a terrible series of events lead Dylan to be taken into foster care, she is determined to do whatever she can to get him back.

Mother of two, Ally has always dreamed of fostering – it feels like her chance to give back when she has been so lucky in life. But when Dylan joins their family, Ally finds herself struggling to balance his needs with those of her own children and husband – something Beth can’t help but witness when she visits.

Beth wants nothing more than to find a way to bring her beloved child home. But when she also sees Dylan bonding with Ally, she has to ask herself – where is the right home for Dylan? She wants to believe it is with her … But does a mother always know what’s best for her child?

A beautiful, powerful and ultimately hopeful story of the heartbreaking power of a mother’s love, for fans of Diane Chamberlain, Jodi Picoult and Jojo Moyes.

My review

With their children soon to fly the nest – Emma, 18, is headed to college and Josh, 16, is a junior in high school – Ally, 46, and Nick Fielding decide to look into fostering. They attend a 10-week course and, before they know, it have been allocated a child called Dylan.

Beth McBride is a single mum to seven-year-old Dylan. She has no family support, few friends and Dylan’s dad no longer sees him. Her son is selectively mute and has behavioural and anxiety issues. Beth loves Dylan desperately but their relationship is rather intense, obsessive and unhealthy and she’s terrified of him having tantrums and screaming in public. He often has meltdowns if he’s in an unfamiliar place so Beth restricts what they do and keeps to certain routines and places like the library, parks and the supermarket. He hasn’t attended preschool or kindergarten and doesn’t go to school either.

One particularly trying day, Dylan has a screaming episode in a shop over sweets and Beth shouts at him and grabs his arm. Someone phones the hotline for Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families (DCF), whose radar the family have been on since Dylan was two when his father, Marco, called them and asked for a ‘voluntary relinquishment’ of his son. Susan from DCF speaks to Beth about what has been happening over the past five years and decides that she needs help and Beth reluctantly agrees to give up her son for a fostering placement for three months.

When Ally and Nick take on Dylan’s care, life is going well for the family with Emma about to start at Harvard and Josh doing well at high school, especially at sports. They own a beautiful house and have good jobs – Nick is a financial analyst for a large insurance company and Ally works as a part-time bookkeeper. Before long, cracks start to appear and soon their perfect life is anything but. Looking after Dylan is challenging and hard work, and most of his care seems to fall to Ally, but it seems easy compared to the other problems that the family face.

Having some time away from her son is really distressing for Beth but gives her the chance to evaluate her relationship with Dylan and others. They’ve had an isolated existence, which hasn’t been healthy for either of them. Beth has sacrificed her own life, relationships and friendships to look after Dylan and something needed to give because it’s no existence for either mother or son.

The story is told in alternating chapters, from the viewpoints of Beth and Ally, and we really get to know both women and their innermost thoughts and feelings. I felt for Beth and later Ally as her own life imploded. They’re both trying to do their best but, for differing reasons, things don’t work out and the women are struggling to hold their lives together. They’ve been put on opposing sides as carers of Dylan and neither of them is sure how to react around the other – you can feel their tension and unease, and Beth’s hostility and hurt.

Beth wants her son back but feels completely disengaged from Dylan and like she’s not good enough to take care of him. Ally is worried about her own family and is shocked how things have deteriorated over a matter of months.

Overall, I really enjoyed When You Were Mine – it’s an emotional and heart-wrenching read and the story develops well, with some surprising revelations. It’s engaging and sensitively written and I really cared about all the characters, especially Beth and Ally. I was rooting for them both to have a happy ending but wasn’t sure if that would be possible for either. It’s a gripping and thought-provoking novel and I was keen to find out how it was all going to be resolved.

This is the first book of the author’s that I’ve read but I’ve got a few of her others on my Kindle and will definitely be checking them out soon.

Buy the book

When You Were Mine by Kate Hewitt can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo, iBooks and Google.

About the author

Kate Hewitt is the author of many romance and women’s fiction novels. A former New Yorker and now an American ex-pat, she lives in a small town on the Welsh border with her husband, five children and their overly affectionate Golden Retriever. Whatever the genre, she enjoys telling stories that tackle real issues and touch people’s lives.

Twitter: @author_kate
Facebook: @KateHewittAuthor
Instagram: @katehewitt1
Website: http://kate-hewitt.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Sarah Hardy at Bookouture for my digital copy of When You Were Mine and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.