Blog tour: 2 April to 14 June 2020

Synopsis

Ursula, Gareth and Alice have never met before.

Ursula thinks she killed the love of her life.
Gareth’s been receiving strange postcards.
And Alice is being stalked.

None of them are used to relying on others – but when the three strangers’ lives unexpectedly collide, there’s only one thing for it: they have to stick together. Otherwise, one of them will die.

Three strangers, two secrets, one terrifying evening.

My review

Strangers tells the story of three people whose lives shockingly collide in a frightening event one evening.

Alice Fletcher is 46 and the manager of a ladies’ fashion boutique called Mirage Fashions, which is in the Meads shopping centre in Bristol. She is divorced and a single mum of a 20-year-old daughter called Emily.

Gareth Filer is 48 and a security officer at the shopping centre. He lives with his mum, Joan, who is 79 and suffers from dementia.

Ursula Andrews is 32 and a courier. She used to be a primary school teacher. After a falling out with her friend, Charlotte and boyfriend, Matt, she moves into a house share with a live-in landlord, Edward. She is a regular visitor to the shopping centre.

The main protagonists aware of each other but don’t know each other personally and they all have their own difficulties and traumas in life including failed relationships, a missing father and bereavement. They were all likeable and relatable but I did wonder if any of them was an unreliable narrator and hiding more than they were letting on.

As the novel progresses, we learn more about the characters and it’s fascinating to build up this picture of their lives. Strange things happen and various events occur that had me frantically trying to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together to try and work out exactly what was happening! Throughout the book, I had a strong sense of foreboding and was suspecting various people but still wasn’t sure what the climax would be.

Overall, I really enjoyed this cleverly plotted and well put together novel. It was intriguing to see all the threads of the stories come together and to discover how actions can have unexpected consequences. It was very entertaining and tense with several twists and red herrings to keep me on my toes! It’s a gripping and absorbing read and I sailed through it in a couple of days.

Surprisingly enough, despite owning all of Cally Taylor’s back library, this is the first book of hers that I’ve actually read! I’ll have to rectify that and start reading all the rest soon. I’m already looking forward to her next novel, which is due out in 2021.

Buy the book

Strangers by C.L. Taylor can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

C.L. Taylor is the six-times The Sunday Times bestselling author of seven gripping stand-alone psychological thrillers: The Accident, The Lie, The Missing, The Escape, The Fear, Sleep and Strangers. She has also written a young adult thriller, The Treatment.

Her books have sold in excess of a million copies and hit the number one spots on Amazon Kindle, Audible, Kobo, iBooks and Google Play. They have been translated into over 25 languages, selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, and optioned for television.

Cally Taylor was born in Worcester and spent her early years living in various army camps in the UK and Germany. She studied Psychology at the University of Northumbria and went on to forge a career in instructional design and e-learning before leaving to write full time in 2014. She lives in Bristol with her partner and young son.

Twitter: @callytaylor
Facebook: @CallyTaylorAuthor
Instagram: @cltaylorauthor
Website: https://cltaylorauthor.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Sanjana Cunniah at Avon Books and Harper Collins for my digital copy of Strangers and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 20 April to 8 May 2020

Synopsis

In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the wakaresaseya (literally ‘breaker-upper’), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings.

When Satō hires Kaitarō, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Satō has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitarō’s job is to do exactly that – until he does it too well.

While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitarō fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter’s life.

Told from alternating points of view and across the breathtaking landscapes of Japan, What’s Left of Me is Yours explores the thorny psychological and moral grounds of the actions we take in the name of love, asking where we draw the line between passion and possession.

My review

Set in modern-day Japan, What’s Left of Me is Yours is inspired by a real trial in Tokyo in 2010 and tells the fascinating fictional account of the crime that occurred.

Told from the alternating viewpoints of Rina Satō; her daughter, Sumiko Satō; wakaresaseya agent, Kaitarō Nakamura, as well as Rina’s father and Sumiko’s grandfather, Yoshitake (Yoshi) Sarashima, we learn more about the family’s past and the events leading up to Rina’s death.

Sumiko’s father, Osamu Satō, isn’t a very pleasant man and was often absent and working long hours. He hired breaker-upper, Kaitarō, to seduce Rina in order to escape their marriage and use her adultery to get a divorce, which he knew she wouldn’t grant him.

With a mutual interest in photography, Rina and Kaitarō quickly fell in love after meeting in Atami and their relationship quickly became passionate and obsessive. It made unsettling reading as the affair progressed and events spiralled out of control to the ultimate tragic end.

Sumiko always believed that her mother, Rina, died in a car crash driving home from Shinagawa in March 1994, when Sumiko was seven, and it’s only after she receives a phone call from the prison service, 20 years later, that she begins her quest for the truth and, through evidence and photos, eventually discovers what actually happened.

Sumiko’s grandfather, a lawyer, has shielded her from the truth about her death for all these years. They have always had a lovely close relationship – he used to take her to the temple every week when she was younger – and he cared for Sumiko while her parents were divorcing, as well as after her mother’s death.

I was immediately drawn to this book by the stunning cover and I’m also a fan of Japanese crime thriller and mystery books. I’d never heard of the Japanese marriage-breakup industry and I enjoyed finding out more about this rather unpleasant business!

The scenic descriptions of the various parts of Tokyo, like Meguro and the family’s holiday home in Shimoda, were very well written and really brought the setting to life.

Overall, I really enjoyed this beautifully atmospheric and descriptive book and it was a captivating and emotional read. The story was cleverly layered and built up as we switched between the viewpoints of the characters. It gave a fascinating insight into Japanese culture and the legal system and it was very intriguing to put together the pieces of the puzzle and discover the tragic truth about Rina’s life and death. This thought-provoking and absorbing novel will stay with me for a long time and I look forward to reading more from the author.

Buy the book

What’s Left of Me is Yours by Stephanie Scott can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle, in hardback and audiobook, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. The hardback is also available online from Waterstones and Blackwell’s.

About the author

Stephanie Scott is a Singaporean-British writer who was born and raised in South East Asia. She read English Literature at the Universities of York and Cambridge and holds an M.St in Creative Writing from Oxford University.

She was awarded a British Association of Japanese Studies Toshiba Studentship for her anthropological work on What’s Left of Me is Yours and has been made a member of the British Japanese Law Association as a result of her research.

She has won the A.M. Heath Prize, the Jerwood Arvon Prize for Prose Fiction, and runner up in the Bridport Prize Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award for an early draft of the manuscript. What’s Left of Me is Yours is her first novel.

Twitter: @stephaniewscott
Facebook: @stephaniewscottauthor
Instagram: @stephaniewscott
Website: https://stephaniescottauthor.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for my beautiful hardback copy of What’s Left of Me is Yours and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 21 to 25 April 2020

Synopsis

When DS Felicity Springer is reported missing after a police training conference, the countdown to find her begins …

On her way home after an exhausting weekend, with colleagues she can’t wait to escape, Felicity notices something odd about the white van in front of her. A hand has punched through the car’s rear light and is frantically waving, trying to catch her attention.

Desperate to help, Felicity dials 999 and calls it in. But whilst on the phone, she loses control of the car on the icy road, crashing straight into the vehicle ahead.

Pinned in the seat and unable to move, Felicity feels a sudden whoosh of cold air across her face. Someone has opened the passenger door … and they have a gun.

With Felicity missing and no knowledge of whether she is dead or alive, DS Nikki Parekh and DC Sajid Malik race to find their friend and colleague.

But Felicity was harbouring a terrible secret, and with her life now hanging in the balance, Nikki can only hope that someone will come forward and break the silence …

My review

The morning after a multi-agency ‘Making Bradford Safe’ conference, Detective Sergeant Felicity Springer is feeling a bit delicate and when she gets in her car to drive home via the back roads in snowy conditions, the last thing she expects, or wants, to see in front of her is a white van with a hand and arm waving through the punched-out rear-light unit!

Intrigued, DS Springer phones 999 and calls it in and continues to follow the van along the icy roads. The driver realises he’s being followed, brakes hard and causes the police officer to crash. While struggling to extricate herself from the vehicle, DS Springer is shot and, after that, she vanishes, leaving her crashed car and blood at the scene.

While DS Nikita (Nikki) Parekh and DC Sajid Malik look into her disappearance, a woman’s body is found. The investigation expands as more bodies turn up and the police are frantically trying to work out what’s going on, especially as the evidence points to links between the cases. Their Scottish boss, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Hegley, is falling ill under the strain of the cases and he’s also refusing to reveal key information, much to Nikki’s annoyance.

DS Parekh knows Bradford and she tries to keep her finger on the pulse of what’s happening in her city with the help of various contacts and informants, as well as a source in the vice squad, but she’s disturbed to discover things are happening that she hasn’t got a clue about. There’s a major crime wave happening involving a key figure in society who is hiding in plain sight, as well as smaller local criminals who are involved at a lower level. The story unravels to reveal people trafficking and grooming, slave labour in a halal chicken-processing factory, violence, murder, torture, prostitution, drug and gun dealing, money laundering and corruption. Never a dull moment!

Broken Silence is the second book in the DS Nikki Parekh series and I’ve read the first one, Last Request, so it was great to hear more about this feisty and rather prickly character! She’s dedicated to her job, often to the detriment of her family, and has a good relationship and banter with DC Sajid Malik and her DCI, Archie, who’s also a funny one!

This crime thriller is well plotted and gripping and there are several threads of story line and it was intriguing to try and work out how everything fitted together and who the mysterious criminal, Xavier, was! It’s a compelling read and there were lots of twists and turns and red herrings; I was never really sure who to trust!

Overall, I really enjoyed this action-packed, gritty police procedural set in Bradford and I look forward to reading more books in the series. I’ll have to check out the other series about DI Gus McGuire written by the author too.

Buy the book

Broken Silence by Liz Mistry can be purchased on 24 April from Amazon on Kindle and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Born in Scotland, made in Bradford sums up Liz Mistry’s life. Over 30 years ago, she moved from a small village in West Lothian to Yorkshire to get her teaching degree. Once there, Liz fell in love with three things: curries, the rich cultural diversity of the city … and her Indian husband, Nilesh (not necessarily in this order). Now 30 years, three children (Ravi, Kasi and Jimi), two cats (Winky and Scumpy) and a huge extended family later, Liz uses her experiences of living and working in the inner city to flavour her writing. Her gritty crime fiction police procedural novels set in Bradford embrace the city she describes as ‘warm and rich and fearless’ whilst exploring the darkness that lurks beneath.

Having struggled with severe clinical depression and anxiety for a large number of years, which she continues to grapple with, Liz often includes mental health themes in her writing and credits the MA in Creative Writing she took at Leeds Trinity University with helping her find a way of using her writing to navigate her ongoing mental health struggles. Being a debut novelist in her fifties was something Liz had only dreamed of and she counts herself lucky, whilst pinching herself regularly to make sure it’s all real.

Twitter: @LizMistryAuthor
Facebook: @LizMistrybooks
Website: https://www.lizmistry.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Sian Baldwin at HQ Digital for my digital copy of Broken Silence and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 17 to 21 April 2020

Synopsis

A missing baby. A mother’s nightmare.

When Izzy Grant’s newborn daughter Alys disappears, her world shatters around her. Despite an extensive search, the police find no trace of the missing girl, but Izzy refuses to give up hope that her daughter will be found.

Then a note is pushed through her letterbox, warning her off.

For Izzy, it’s a ray of hope, another lead for the police to follow. For DC Gaby Darin, it’s another piece of the puzzle that just won’t fit. But as a long-lost friend returns to Izzy’s life with a shocking secret, Gaby realises the truth of who took Izzy’s daughter from her might lie in the past – and far closer to home than anyone could have imagined …

My review

Five years ago, in Abereiddy in south-west Wales, Isabelle (Izzy) Grant’s boyfriend, Charlie Dawson, took their week old baby, Alys, out for a drive to the shops to give her a break. Izzy falls asleep and when she wakes up a few hours later, there’s no sign of them. She discovers a plain white postcard on her door mat, with wording that says: ‘I’ve got Alys. Don’t try to find us, Charlie’. Despite a lengthy and expensive police investigation, they were never seen again and the car was never found.

After several awful years, culminating in a cry for help, Izzy decides she needs to try and move on and throws herself into her work making handmade knits and enjoys being an aunt to her nephews, Dylan and Gareth, who are the children of her sister, Bethan, and brother-in-law, Oscar.

One afternoon, while Christmas shopping in Swansea, Izzy spots her former best friend, Grace Madden, who she met while they were both heavily pregnant and attending antenatal classes. Grace left town around the time of Charlie and Alys’ disappearance and cut all contact with Izzy, who has her suspicions she was involved somehow. Grace hinted that her and Charlie were having an affair.

Later on that day, when she bumps into local policeman, Detective Inspector Rhys Walker, who is the brother of an old schoolfriend, Rebecca, she mentions to him about seeing Grace. He was involved in the original case and he investigates again, with the help of Detective Constable Gabriella (Gaby) Darin, who has recently transferred from Cardiff after a few difficult incidents in her work and personal life. The pair visit Izzy’s cottage a few days later, after Christmas, and discover a postcard has been delivered. It’s of the Eiffel Tower, with a French postmark and is another message from Charlie.

The police investigate the case again and DC Gaby Darin studies all the paperwork to see if she can spot anything that was missed. As new evidence is brought to light, Izzy is hopeful that she may finally discover what happened to her boyfriend and daughter but, as the police move nearer to the truth and Izzy makes her own enquiries, someone seems determined to ensure that she won’t be around much longer.

Poor Izzy has had a terrible time of things over the years, with one trauma after another, and it’s only her family and white cat, Bucket, who keep her going. DC Gaby Darin is an interesting protagonist, with a good instinct for police work, and I’m keen to see how her character is developed in the next novel.

Silent Cry was a compelling and engaging story and well put together, with great details and descriptions. I liked the setting of the novel, in Wales; it was fascinating to check a map and see that these places actually exist! The Blue Lagoon sounds beautiful.

In this well-written and cleverly plotted police procedural, we’re treated to a great storyline with some intriguing twists, turns, red herrings and misdirection! The investigation developed well and I hadn’t guessed in which direction it was going to go; there were some surprising revelations. I had a few theories but was still surprised by a lot that happened!

Overall, I really enjoyed this gripping, engaging and entertaining read and I flew through it in a few hours, frantically turning the pages to see how everything was going to be resolved! I’m already looking forward to the next book in the Detective Gaby Darin series.

Buy the book

Silent Cry by Jenny O’Brien can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle now and in paperback on 25 June, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Born in Dublin, Jenny O’Brien moved to Wales and then Guernsey, where she tries to find time to write in between working as a nurse and ferrying around three teenagers.

She’s an avid reader and book blogger, in addition to being a previous Romantic Novel Awards (RoNA) judge.

In her spare time, she can be found frowning at her wonky cakes and even wonkier breads. You’ll be pleased to note she won’t be entering The Great British Bake Off. She’s also an all-year-round sea swimmer.

Twitter: @ScribblerJB
Facebook: @JennyOBrienWriter
Instagram: @scribblerjb
Website: https://jennyobrienwriter.wordpress.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Sian Baldwin at HQ Digital for my digital copy of Silent Cry and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 13 to 17 April 2020

Synopsis

Beth Murphy is on the run …

For nearly a year, Beth has been planning for this day. A day some people might call any other Wednesday, but Beth prefers to see it as her new beginning – one with a new look, new name and new city. Beth has given her plan significant thought, because one small slip and her violent husband will find her.

Sabine Hardison is missing …

A couple hundred miles away, Jeffrey returns home from a work trip to find his wife, Sabine, is missing. Wherever she is, she’s taken almost nothing with her. Her abandoned car is the only evidence the police have, and all signs point to foul play.

As the police search for leads, the case becomes more and more convoluted. Sabine’s carefully laid plans for her future indicate trouble at home, and a husband who would be better off with her gone. The detective on the case will stop at nothing to find out what happened and bring this missing woman home. Where is Sabine? And who is Beth? The only thing that’s certain is that someone is lying and the truth won’t stay buried for long.

My review

Beth Murphy from Pine Bluff in Arkansas is on the run, escaping an abusive husband who she’s been planning to escape from for a long time. She’s finally finished planning her departure and saved enough money and she lays down a trail of false leads for her husband and the local police force. She’s clever and brave but will it be enough to stop anyone finding her and can she have her freedom and new beginning?

When Jeffrey Hardison returns after a four-day sales conference in Florida, he discovers that his wife, Sabine, a very successful real estate broker, is missing. There’s no sign of her at their house on Arkansas River and she didn’t attend a work training session at which she was supposed to present and missed a late showing at a new development. Her twin sister, Ingrid Stanfield, who doesn’t get on very well with Jeffrey, doesn’t know where she is either, despite the fact the women talk several times a day and tell each other just about everything.

Detective Marcus Durand of Pine Bluff police department is investigating the disappearance of Sabine and he uses all his years of experience and various contacts to try and determine where she is. He doesn’t trust husband Jeffrey, who is an account executive at a company that makes human resources management software, and soon discovers that he has been lying about this whereabouts.

As we follow Beth’s journey, we see how resourceful she is and, despite being a bit naive, she manages to get fake ID and a job, and meets some interesting characters along the way. There’s still no sign of Sabine and there are no firm leads, even though lots of surprising new information comes to light.

As the story progresses, we’re left wondering who the women are and if they know each other or whether, in fact, they’re actually the same person. I had various ideas and came up with several difference scenarios as we got to know the women and other characters more.

The author writes well about an abusive relationship – the voice in her head that Beth hears constantly, the fear that she experiences and the awful violence that her husband has inflicted upon her. To the outside world and their families, their relationship is great but others don’t realise the emotional, physical, psychological and sexual abuse that Beth is suffering.

Dear Wife was cleverly plotted, compelling and switched well between the viewpoints of Beth, Sabine’s husband, Jeffrey, and the policeman, Marcus. There were lots of twists and turns, red herrings and misdirection, and I was never completely sure who was telling the truth and what was going to happen next. Beth’s road trip and escape made gripping reading and, throughout the novel, we were taken on an intriguing and intense journey!

Overall, I really enjoyed this absorbing, action-packed story and flew through it in a couple of hours, desperate to find out what happened to Beth and Sabine. I’ve got a couple of the author’s books (The Marriage Lie and Three Days Missing) on my Kindle already and will definitely be checking them out soon.

Buy the book

Dear Wife by Kimberly Belle can be purchased on 16 April from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Kimberly Belle is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of five novels. Her third novel, The Marriage Lie, was a semi-finalist in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Mystery and Thriller, and her work has been translated into a dozen languages. A graduate of Agnes Scott College, she divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

Twitter: @KimberlySBelle
Facebook: @KimberlyBelleBooks
Instagram: @kimberlysbelle
Website: https://www.kimberlybellebooks.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Sian Baldwin at HQ Digital for my digital copy of Dear Wife and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 30 March to 12 April 2020

Synopsis

Two extraordinary people. A love that draws them together. A loss that threatens to tear them apart.

On a summer’s day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?

Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that one of the children will not survive the week.

Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright. It is a story of the bond between twins, and of a marriage pushed to the brink by grief. It is also the story of a kestrel and its mistress; a flea that boards a ship in Alexandria; and a glovemaker’s son who flouts convention in pursuit of the woman he loves. Above all, it is a tender and unforgettable reimagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

My review

Set in 1596, Hamnet tells the story of William Shakespeare’s family: his wife, Agnes (pronounced Ann-yis), older daughter, Susanna, nearly 14, and 11-year-old twins, Hamnet and Judith, who live in Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon with numerous other members of their extended family. They live in an annex to the main house. Shakespeare, himself, is away in London most of the time and only comes home a few times a year for a week or so at a time.

One summer’s day, Hamnet is hunting for the rest of his family and can’t find anyone. His sister, Judith, has fallen ill and needs help. His father is away, his mother is looking after her bees a mile away and he can’t find his older sister, grandparents, aunt, uncles, the maid or his grandfather’s apprentice glover. Everyone seems to have vanished and, as Hamnet runs for the physician, he keeps missing them. By the time the members of the family return, his sister is in a deep sleep and seriously ill with a fever and buboes (lumps under the skin), which are symptoms of pestilence.

The story is told in a couple of timelines, the past and the present (1596), and switches between them often, which can be a little confusing at first; I kept forgetting who was who! We read about Agnes’ childhood and then the period where she meets the tutor (Shakespeare), their subsequent marriage and the births of their three children. And, in the current day, we’re following the events that build up to the death of one of the twins and the subsequent heart-wrenching, eternal grief and pain that everyone suffers.

This is a work of fiction but is based on the family and life of William Shakespeare, who isn’t actually mentioned by name in the book. It focuses on his wife, Anna Hathaway, who is called Agnes in the book as this is what her father named her as in his will.

Hamnet is a beautifully written book and the time period is cleverly brought to life with some detailed and stunningly descriptive prose, which completely drew me in and took me to another, almost ethereal, world. The author writes a rich tapestry of 16th century life and the characters are splendidly drawn. It’s a captivating and haunting read and I felt thoroughly immersed in it. I’m looking forward to re-reading it in the future to pick up on things that I missed first time round. I read it in digital format and would love to get my hands on that gorgeous hardback!

Overall, I really enjoyed this bewitching and absorbing tale; it’s not my usual genre at all but I’d heard such good things about it that I jumped at the chance to be on the blog tour. It was certainly an epic story; one to be read carefully and each line savoured rather than raced through. It was a powerful and emotional novel and will stay with me a long time.

Buy the book

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Maggie O’Farrell is the author of seven novels: After You’d Gone, My Lover’s Lover, The Distance Between Us, which won a Somerset Maugham Award, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, The Hand That First Held Mine, which won the 2010 Costa Novel Award, Instructions for a Heatwave, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Costa Novel Award, and This Must Be the Place, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Costa Novel Award. Maggie has also written a memoir, I Am, I Am, I Am. She lives in Edinburgh.

Facebook: @MaggieOFarrellBooks
Website: https://www.maggieofarrell.com/

Blog tour

Thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for my digital copy of Hamnet and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 1 to 5 April 2020

Synopsis

South London, 1896.

William Arrowood, Victorian London’s less salubrious private detective, is paid a visit by Captain Moon, the owner of a pleasure steamer moored on the Thames. He complains that someone has been damaging his boat, putting his business in jeopardy.

Arrowood and his trusty sidekick Barnett suspect professional jealousy, but when a shocking discovery is pulled from the river, it seems like even fouler play is afoot.

It’s up to Arrowood and Barnett to solve the case, before any more corpses end up in the watery depths.

My review

In South London in 1896, private enquiry agent William Arrowood and his assistant, Norman Barnett are visited by Captain Moon and his daughter, Suzie, who run the little pleasure steamer, the Gravesend Queen, on the River Thames. They pick up passengers at Old Swan Pier by London Bridge and take them to Terrace Pier in Gravesend and have been doing this route for 13 or 14 years. They’ve been having trouble with a man called Polgreen who started up on the same route a year ago and is now trying to put them out of business by sabotaging their boat. They ask Arrowood and Barnett to help them out and gather evidence to prove that it is Polgreen who has been damaging their steamer.

At first, the case seems fairly straightforward but then, following an arson attack by a gang of masked men, a shocking discovery turns things on its head and the private detectives soon realise they’ve become embroiled in something far bigger and more dangerous than they were expecting.

As the story races along and the body count rises, we follow Arrowood and Barnett all over dirty, impoverished London to various areas and establishments as they try to get to the bottom of things and stay out of trouble, while struggling to survive on little money and, in Arrowood’s case, trying to support his sister, Ettie, and a baby. They both ending up pawning things just to have enough money to eat sometimes.

The two main protagonists work well together and have a good partnership. They each have their flaws but they look after, and bring out the best in, each other.

This was a fascinating historical read, with brilliant attention to detail, and vividly descriptive; I could almost smell the pungent and disgusting aromas of Victorian London. The story was rather gory and revolting at times but it definitely helped to create an atmospheric and graphic read. Everything and everyone seemed to be grimy, sweaty, greasy, bloody or oozing and there were rats and other nasties everywhere! I feel like I need a good wash after reading it!

There was a great cast of characters, with lovely names like ratcatcher Foulpipe Annie and cracksman Flatnose Fisher, from all walks of life, from the street urchin children to the violent thugs and the more distinguished individuals. The story was well researched and I really felt that I got to know all the types of people and the period of time in which the book is set.

There were several twists, turns and misdirections, as well as some shocking revelations, which I hadn’t seen coming! The story had a lot of depth and, at times, I was a little overwhelmed by the cast of characters and had to remind myself who was who.

Overall, I really enjoyed this cleverly plotted and well-written story. It’s not my usual genre but I found it really absorbing and loved the layering of the story and the way it built up a great picture of the horrors of the city at the time. I hadn’t realised this was the third book in the series but I’ll definitely be checking out the others, Arrowood and The Murder Pit, now!

Buy the book

Arrowood and the Thames Corpses by Mick Finlay can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Mick Finlay was born in Glasgow and grew up in Canada and England. He now divides his time between Brighton and Cambridge. He teaches part-time in a psychology department, and has published research on political violence, persuasion, and verbal and non-verbal behaviour. Before becoming an academic, he ran a market stall on Portobello Road, and has worked as a tent-hand in a travelling circus, a butcher’s boy, a hotel porter, and in various jobs in the NHS and social services.

He writes historical crime fiction set in 1890’s South London. The first in the series, Arrowood, was published in 2017 by HQ (Harper Collins). The sequel, The Murder Pit, came out in January 2019 and Arrowood and the Thames Corpses is the third book.

Twitter: @mickfinlay2
Facebook: @mickfinlayauthor
Instagram: @mickfinlay_books
Website: https://mickfinlay.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Sian Baldwin at HQ Stories for my digital copy and proof copy of Arrowood and the Thames Corpses and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 2 to 16 April 2020

Synopsis

Everyone lies about their lives. What would happen if you shared the truth instead?

Julian Jessop is living a lie. He’s lonely but refuses to speak to his neighbours. He loved his wife when she was alive, but he didn’t tell her. (In fact, he wasn’t very kind to her at all.) He feels invisible to the world but he doesnt want to go out. But now he wants to be honest. So he writes his truth in a small green notebook and leaves it in his local café.

Monica gave up a high-flying career as a lawyer to open her own café, but it isn’t going as well as she hoped. On finding the notebook, she’s both inspired to write her own truth and to help Julian out of his loneliness.

Little does Julian know that his one small act is about to bring a whole group of people together as they discover the power, and the danger, of honesty.

My review

Julian Jessop is in his late seventies (or is it early eighties?!) and a flamboyant artist who has lived in the Chelsea Studios on Fulham Road for the last 57 years. He’s lonely and misses his wife (who he didn’t treat very well), their friends and active social life. He decides to write a few pages about his life in a pale green exercise book, which he entitles The Authenticity Project and leaves in his local café.

Monica is 37 and runs her own café called Monica’s Café, which is where the exercise book is left. She used to be a solicitor in a big City firm but then she realised she was single and that her life revolved around work, work parties and client entertaining. She became disillusioned by it all, quit her job and took over the lease on a derelict sweet shop and turned it into the café. She’s also lonely and still single and wants more than anything to have a husband and a baby. She’s a planner and hates the fact that she can’t make things happen and feels she’s running out of time.

Benji is in his mid-twenties and a red-headed Scot who works in the cafe. We meet his boyfriend Baz’s granny, Mrs Wu, who brings a great comedic element to the proceedings!

Timothy Hazard Ford (known as Hazard), aged 38, is an equity trader. He’s also an addict and behaves recklessly: drinking, taking drugs and regularly sleeping with different woman. He realises that he hates himself and something needs to change, which coincides with the exercise book making an appearance on his table in a fancy wine bar.

Alice Campbell is 26, married to Max and they have a little girl called Amelie (nicknamed Bunty). She’s an Instagram influencer and posts regularly about her experiences online. She’s struggling but feels like she has to keep up appearances and post about what a marvellous time they’re having, even though she feels like crying most of the time.

Riley is 30, Australian and has recently arrived in the UK from Thailand. He’s staying with friends in Earl’s Court while he explores London.

One by one, the characters are brought together by the exercise book, either directly, by finding it somewhere, or indirectly, as a result of someone else’s actions. At first, some of the main protagonists seem a bit shallow or horrible but, as we get to know them, we learn more about the secrets they’re hiding and realise why they behave the way they do.

The Authenticity Project was an engaging and thought-provoking read and I loved the concept of the green exercise book, which revealed people’s innermost thoughts and helped them tell their own truths. It brings them together and creates connections and a sense of community. There are some sad moments to the story but, generally, it’s an uplifting read and has some touching and perceptive moments, as well as some funny bits!

Overall, this was a lovely, heart-warming story and I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters in the book. They were a real mix of people and it was fun to see how they all interacted and ended up looking out for each other and forming lovely friendships. I’m looking forward to reading more from Clare Pooley and hoping she writes another book soon!

Buy the book

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Clare Pooley graduated from Cambridge and spent 20 years in the heady world of advertising before becoming a full-time mum. She is the author of the hugely popular blog, Mummy was a Secret Drinker, under the pseudonym ‘Sober Mummy’ and her memoir, The Sober Diaries, was published by Hodder in 2017 to critical acclaim.

Her blog has had over two million hits and she recently gave a TEDx talk titled ‘Making Sober Less Shameful’.

Clare’s debut novel, The Authenticity Project, is inspired by the time she spent in advertising, a world where the line between authenticity and fiction is constantly blurred, and by her own experience of exposing truth about her seemingly perfect life in her memoir.

Clare writes from her kitchen table in Fulham, London where she lives with her long-suffering husband, three children, dog and an African pygmy hedgehog.

Twitter: @cpooleywriter
Facebook: @SoberMummy
Instagram: @clare_pooley
Website: https://clarepooley.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 16 March to 10 April 2020

Synopsis

‘Who am I? Why am I here? Why did my mother give me away?’

On the surface, Luke and his girlfriend Hannah seem to have a perfect life. He’s an A&R man, she’s an arts correspondent and they are devoted to their new-born son Samuel.

But beneath the gloss Luke has always felt like an outsider. So when he finds his birth mother Alice, the instant connection with her is a little like falling in love.

When Hannah goes back to work, Luke asks Alice to look after their son. But Alice – fuelled with grief from when her baby was taken from her 27 years ago – starts to fall in love with Samuel. And Luke won’t settle for his mother pushing him aside once again …

My review

Luke is 27 and works in the music industry as an artists and repertoire (A&R) man and runs his own record label, Epic, and his girlfriend, Hannah, also 27, is an arts correspondent for the culture section of The Sunday Times. They’ve recently had a baby, Samuel, who is three months old.

Luke was adopted and has always felt that he didn’t really belong anywhere. Becoming a father has made him think about his birth parents. When he tracks down his mother, Alice Garland, they meet up and there’s an instant connection. He learns more about Alice, who is now aged 47, single, has no other children and is an artist, and his father, Richard (Rick) Fields, who is a famous artist. Hannah is looking to go back to work, three days a week, and they’ve been unable to find a suitable au pair. Alice seems the ideal person to look after Samuel and she readily agrees.

As Luke and Hannah get to know Alice, and then Hannah goes back to work, things seem to be going well and Alice shares a great bond with baby Samuel, taking him to cafés, the library and the park, and having a great time. Luke, though, suffers from mixed emotions as he feels that he’s no closer to having a relationship with his biological mother and he’s jealous of her closeness with Samuel and also begins to become suspicious of her motives and behaviour and there are a few red flags that things aren’t right.

The story is told in two timelines: the ‘Now’ in 2000, which begins with Luke meeting Alice after all these years, and the ‘Then’ in 1972, where Alice and Rick are 18/19 years old and two of only 12 students on the fine arts degree at the Slade, the best arts school in the country.

We learn more about Alice’s past and the carefree but intense times she shared with friends and the relationship that defined her younger years, which all ended with the birth of Luke and subsequent act of giving him up for adoption.

At the beginning of Luke’s chapters, the paragraphs from Who Am I? The adoptee’s hidden trauma by Paul Harris, were an interesting insight into Luke and Alice’s emotions and feelings, and explained a lot of what they were experiencing. (I assume this is a fictional book as I couldn’t find it online.)

Mine was an intriguing and compelling story, with some great descriptions of music and art, and was cleverly written with a plot that built up nicely, with a great sense of tension, foreboding and fear. I felt that something bad was going to happen but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what!

Emotionally charged and beautifully written, Mine was an interesting look at the impact of adoption and how, for Luke, it defined him and had affected his whole life and relationships with others and meant that he had a sense of not belonging. Alice had also been deeply affected by giving up her son and had never got over it, which was equally sad.

Overall, I really enjoyed Mine; it was very thought provoking and emotional, and I liked the way the heartbreaking story unfolded and we got to know the real truth about the past, which several of the main protagonists had tried to hide in various ways. I’m really looking forward to reading Him now, which I bought over a year ago!

Buy the book

Mine by Clare Empson can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Clare Empson worked as a staff writer on national newspapers, covering everything from collapsing merchant banks to tea with the late Barbara Cartland (everything pink including the cakes).

When she moved to the West Country, she founded the arts and lifestyle blog, countrycalling.co.uk. The idyllic setting inspired her first novel, Him, which reveals the darker side of paradise.

Clare lives on the Wiltshire/Dorset border with her husband and three children.

Twitter: @ClareEmpson2
Facebook: @clareempsonauthor
Website: https://www.clareempson.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for my digital copy of Mine and for my place on the blog tour.

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