Blog tour: 15 to 28 February 2022

Synopsis

Ash Carter and Bill Wolfe are in Israel hunting a group of British Army deserters known as the Killing Crew. Some people think they were a myth, others believe they were the most hated of British soldiers.

In the newly formed state that’s at war with the Arab nations, hated by Jews and despised by Arabs, the two SIB officers think they face an uncomfortable task.

But when they become targets they realise this is more than just a job. It’s life or death.

My review

Set in the new state of Israel in the late 1940s, The Killing Crew is the second book in the Ash Carter Near East crime thriller series. The series is a prequel to the brilliant Ash Carter mystery thrillers, which are set in 1950s Singapore.

It’s June 1948 and Captain Ash Carter, who is in the British Army’s Royal Military Police (in the Special Investigations Branch), has been tasked with locating and arresting the group of pro-Arab British deserters known as the Killing Crew.

Ash Carter and Major Bill Wolfe are on official business and have authority from the Israeli government to search for the Killing Crew but they still need to be careful as the new state of Israel is at war and it’s a very dangerous place to be, especially as the British are now ‘despised and unwelcome’ and ‘seen by many as the enemy’.

After an encounter with a Hungarian refugee and Slovakian debt collectors, Carter finds himself in trouble straightaway and is lucky to escape with his life! It’s a thrilling and terrifying start and the pace of the book doesn’t let up from then on!

With the help of Bert Finney, an inexperienced but enthusiastic 20-year-old recruit, and a 19-year-old Jewish secretary called Sylvia Rom, Carter and Wolfe make some progress and investigate various leads and work their way through paperwork to try and pinpoint exactly who the deserters are. They are able to strike some people off the list, for various reasons, but aren’t really getting anywhere until a local informant helps them out. They then get a spot of good luck when Carter makes a connection after showing a photo to someone. It’s a difficult mission and there are lots of dead ends and twists and the team often find themselves in danger. Time is running out and they need to solve the case.

Carter has an interesting relationship with his German Jewish landlady, Erika Arnold. She’s not keen on the English after her husband was killed by a British bullet shortly after the war ended, but she has a begrudging friendship with Ash and they enjoy playing cards together in the evenings, and there seems to be a bit of a spark between them.

Overall, The Killing Crew is a well-researched, action-packed and gripping read! It’s well plotted and fast paced with lots of action, lots of tension and some terrifying twists and turns. There are startling revelations and some shocking and violent scenes, but all in keeping with the story. The characters are well drawn and the main protagonist is intelligent but also rather reckless at times, which adds to the excitement as you never know what he’s going to do next!

There are lots of military and political tensions in the period and area in which the book is set and it’s all very tense and volatile. I could really picture the location and found it well described. There’s such a sense of menace and danger and no one can be trusted, even those close to Carter. While reading, I was on edge the whole time, waiting for someone to be threatened or attacked!

I really enjoyed the original Ash Carter thrillers and this prequel series is intense and absorbing and an excellent addition to the author’s list.

Buy the book

The Killing Crew by Murray Bailey is released on 1 March and can be preordered from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback and hardback.

About the author

Murray Bailey got his first taste of success when he was published in The Times at 18 and in his local newspaper. Although he went on to pursue a different career, he continued to write and edit and became the editor of an international magazine and editor of four technical books.

I Dare You was the first of his books to be published in 2016. It was followed by Map of the Dead, the first of the series based on his interest in Egyptology. His main series, however, is the Ash Carter thrillers, inspired by his father’s experience in the Royal Military Police in Singapore in the early 1950s.

Murray was born in Greater Manchester, England and has been moving south ever since. He now lives on the beautiful Dorset coast with his wife and family.

Twitter: @MurrayBaileybks
Facebook: @MurrayBaileyAuthor
Instagram: @murraybaileyauthor
Website: https://murraybaileybooks.com/

Blog tour

Thanks to Murray Bailey for my digital copy of The Killing Crew and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 31 January to 10 February 2022

Synopsis

She thought she’d got away with it. She was wrong.

Hannah Godley is an agony aunt on a London radio show Queen of Hearts. She’s warm and empathetic; a good listener. Her catchphrase is: Be kind, always. But when a stranger phones in to tell a tragic story about her brother who killed himself after he was the victim of a terrible prank by two people, Hannah goes cold. Because she remembers Diane’s brother well. In fact, all these years later, he still haunts her dreams. All because of that one bad thing she did when she was young …

Is Diane just a sad, lonely woman looking for a friend, or does she know what Hannah did, and is looking for revenge? Because as Diane insinuates herself into her life and family, Hannah is going to discover that you can never truly escape that One Bad Thing you did – sooner or later, you’re going to have to pay the price …

My review

Psychologist Hannah Godley is an agony aunt on a Saturday afternoon radio show in London and, on her last day before making the move to TV broadcasting and the Morning Brew daytime TV show, she answers a call from a woman called Diane who talks about her brother, Martin. He was bullied and treated badly by two strangers and then later killed himself.

Hannah is shocked – she recognises the incident as she was one of the people involved! She’s felt guilty ever since and has tried to put it behind her. She makes contact with Diane after the show and they meet up, and from then on we’re taken on a wild, twisty ride as Hannah’s life starts falling apart and Diane appears to be following Hannah – popping up in the same places and lurking around waiting for her. She seems totally harmless but also so menacing, disturbing and suffocating at the same time!

Hannah starts questioning everything – her relationship with husband Sean and with her friends, even closest friend Izzy and her husband, Ollie.

This was such a tense and gripping read with so many red flags and I had no idea who to trust! Diane is so creepy and pushy and made me feel really uncomfortable and nanny Siobhan (Shiv) is rather suspicious as well and I couldn’t really work her out. I didn’t trust her with Hannah and Sean’s 18-month-old daughter, Amber. Sean seems rather unreliable as well – too many liquid business lunches and drinking sessions with his mates!

Hannah has a very difficult relationship with her parents, especially after the sudden death of her sister, and she hasn’t treated people well in the past and has had several turbulent relationships. You can see that these experiences have really affected her and left her with a rather reckless streak.

Overall, this was a well-written and cleverly plotted read, with great suspense, and I was turning the pages frantically to see how it was all going to play out – there were so many shocking moments, especially one fairly nearly the beginning that I definitely did not see coming and had me messaging a friend who had already finished the book!!

It was fast paced and very entertaining, with lots of brilliant twists! When I wasn’t reading the book, I was trying to work out which of the characters was really behind everything and had several theories, mostly wrong!

This was the first book by the author that I’ve read but I’ll definitely be checking out his Sasha Dawson series now!

Buy the book

One Bad Thing by M.K. Hill can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

Mark Hill was born and brought up in Essex and went on to become a journalist and an award-winning music radio producer for Radio 2 before becoming a full-time writer.

The first novel in the Sasha Dawson series, The Bad Place, was described as ‘everything a police procedural should be’ by The Times, who also named it as their crime book of the month.

One Bad Thing is his latest standalone thriller, again using the fast moving world of broadcast and TV as background for this compelling psychological thriller.

He is married with a son and lives in London. 

Twitter: @markhillwriter
Facebook: @MarkHillAuthor
Instagram: @markhillwriter
Website: https://mkhill.uk

Blog tour

Thanks to Sophie Ransom at Ransom PR for my proof and hardback copies of One Bad Thing and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 26 January to 9 February 2022

Synopsis

In a matter of minutes, a speeding ticket turns her life upside down.

Thirty-eight-year-old Maggie Simmons has another reason to hate the Department of Motor Vehicles – other than the long lines. A visit to the DMV reveals a photo from a speeding ticket with her husband in the arms of a mystery woman. Maggie’s happy marriage to Nate shatters, but he refuses to leave her alone. In her attempts to move forward, remnants of her old life tear apart.

After separating, she fills the void with her dog, Chili, and a string of unexpected relationships. She finds herself with multiple people vying for her attention – and she enjoys the distraction. However, Maggie soon realizes they may have ulterior motives.

One by one, more betrayal weaves its way into Maggie’s life, leaving her devastated by the idea of being heartbroken and alone. In order to escape her reality, she flirts with the unthinkable – the one thing that triggered her suffering in the first place. A lie.

My review

When Maggie Simmons (38) has to renew her driving licence at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Miami, she’s annoyed to discover there’s an outstanding speeding ticket on her car, which she knew nothing about. She’s even angrier when she’s shown the photographic evidence and sees her husband of three years with a blonde woman nuzzling his neck!

She has to keep it together while she goes to collect her stepchildren, Max (10) and Emily (13), from school and then she confronts Nate while the kids are watching TV. He denies everything and says the woman is just a friend from work. Nate first cheated on Maggie before they were married so this is the final straw and she tells him to leave and asks for a divorce. He’s reluctant for them to part and keeps asking her to try again but she refuses.

As Maggie begins to find herself and enjoy life as a single woman with her dog, Chili, a Golden Lab, by her side, she leans on her best friend, Rachel, for support and begins to date again, meeting someone at a work conference in San Diego and another man at a bar while out with Rachel. Things don’t go smoothly though and Maggie must make some difficult decisions.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel – it’s well written and a nice easy read. It kept me entertained and I was keen to find out what happened and read it over the course of a couple of days. We get to know Maggie and follow her journey as she extricates herself from her husband and their life together and she learns more about herself and grows in confidence and enjoys life a bit more.

Maggie is quite frustrating at times and should probably have remained single for a while so that she could grieve her husband’s actions and the loss of their relationship rather than moving on too quickly and jumping straight into new romances. She has her difficulties along the way and things are not plain sailing in her love life but it’s all character building and makes her realise what she actually wants.

I liked the way the story developed and I enjoyed Maggie and Chili’s friendship with the couple from the retirement home, Betty and Al, who were both great characters! Maggie learnt a lot from their experiences and she was a great comfort and friend to them too.

This was an engaging read and I’d definitely check out another book by this author.

Buy the book

Love the Way They Lie by Linda Smolkin can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback.

About the author

Linda Smolkin always wanted to be a writer – ever since she saw her first TV commercial and wondered how to pen those clever ads. She got her degree in journalism and became a copywriter. Linda landed a job at an ad agency, where she worked for several years before joining the non-profit world.

Love the Way They Lie is the third novel by the author whose debut, Among the Branded, was called ‘a beautiful and fascinating novel that will keep readers hooked’ by San Francisco Book Review.

When not in front of the computer, she’s behind the drums (slightly) annoying her husband, son, and their 70-pound dog.

Twitter: @lindasmolkin
Facebook: @AuthorLindaSmolkin
Instagram: @lindasmolkin
Website: https://lindasmolkin.com

Blog tour

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

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

Blog tour: 17 January to 19 February 2022

Synopsis

In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days. Only I know the truth of her disappearance.
I’m no Hercule Poirot.
I’m her husband’s mistress.

Agatha Christie’s world is one of glamorous society parties, country house weekends, and growing literary fame.

Nan O’Dea’s world is something very different. Her attempts to escape a tough London upbringing during the Great War led to a life in Ireland marred by a hidden tragedy.

After fighting her way back to England, she’s set her sights on Agatha. Because Agatha Christie has something Nan wants. And it’s not just her husband.

Despite their differences, the two women will become the most unlikely of allies. And during the mysterious eleven days that Agatha goes missing, they will unravel a dark secret that only Nan holds the key to …

The Christie Affair is a stunning novel which reimagines the unexplained eleven-day disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926 that captivated the world.

My review

The Christie Affair is the fictional account of a true-life event – the disappearance of Agatha Christie (36) for 11 days on Friday 3 December 1926, which is thought to have occurred after her husband, Archie, left her for another woman. Her mother, Clarissa, had also recently died and she was still in mourning. The couple lived in Sunningdale in Berkshire with their daughter and Agatha’s car was discovered abandoned on the edge of a chalk pit in Guildford. Agatha Christie has never discussed her disappearance and claims she can’t remember what happened.

The fascinating story is told solely from the viewpoint of Nan O’Dea, who is Colonel Archie Christie’s mistress in the novel (she was Nancy Neele in real life). She admits to embellishing events that she wasn’t actually privy to and filling in the gaps about various encounters of the other people.

Nan is a fascinating character but I was surprised that the story was focused more on her than Agatha Christie. We learn about her difficult upbringing as one of four sisters (Colleen, Megs and Louisa), the summer spent in Ballycotton in Ireland with her Uncle Jack, Auntie Rosie and family, and what happened to her around the time of the First World War and afterwards.

It’s an intriguing, twisty and eventful tale with some dark and disturbing scenes. The story is cleverly written and the strands are well woven together, with it not being clear exactly what’s going on until the end, when everything is finally revealed! Very compelling and cleverly done!

I really liked Nan – she was quite a feisty character! Nan’s Irish boyfriend and fisherman’s son, Finbarr Mahoney, and the policeman who is sent to Leeds to search for Mrs Christie, Inspector Frank Chilton, were also fascinating protagonists.

Overall, I really enjoyed this excellent novel, which has elements of everything from mystery and intrigue to romance, heart break and distress. It’s a gripping read and very thought provoking and poignant at times and I raced through it, keen to see how it would all be resolved. As befitting a novel about Agatha Christie, there’s the odd dead body and a possible murder inquiry too!

Buy the book

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

Nina de Gramont (also known as Marina Gessner) lives in coastal North Carolina with her husband, the writer David Gessner. She teaches at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and is almost always in the company of her two dogs, Missy and Isabelle.

She’s the author of the acclaimed Meet Me at the River, Every Little Thing in the World, Gossip of the Starlings, The Last September, as well as The Distance from Me to You, which has recently been optioned for a movie.

Twitter: @NinadeGramont
Instagram: @ninadegramont
Website: https://ninadegramont.com/

Blog tour

Thanks to Amber Choudhary at Midas PR for my proof copy of The Christie Affair and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 20 January to 2 February 2022

Synopsis

‘I must send a postcard back home.’
‘Hang on a minute, I need to take a photograph of this.’

Favourite holidays and special travel memories are shared in this anthology featuring twenty award-winning and top travel memoir authors.

We all have that one holiday that stands out in our minds, that one break or vacation we will never forget. Whether it is a childhood ‘bucket and spade’ family holiday, the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ dream destination, your first trip abroad or the city where you first fell in love, the memories are still there today.

The authors in this anthology bring out their postcards and photo albums and invite you to join them as they reminisce about their travels.

Maybe they will inspire you to book your next holiday too.

My review

Wish You Were Here: Holiday memories is the third book in the Travel Stories series. It’s a lovely anthology of holiday accounts from places around the world, from the last 20 years to as far back as the sixties.

It contains some fascinating personal accounts and special memories as 20 travel memoir authors reminisce about their adventures. We visit places in this country, as well as Europe (France, Italy, Greece), the Americas and further afield.

The book includes some lovely descriptions, and I could really imagine being in the various locations and wanted to visit nearly all of them! Right from the first story, there were some mouth-watering descriptions of delicious-sounding foods. I could really smell the tasty food, envisage the fantastic sights and hear the array of sounds.

There’s an eclectic mix of locations with people experiencing a variety of life situations and memories – from one extreme to another, with some really unique adventures! What makes it particularly interesting is that we learn about the history of places and the authors have puzzles to solve, as well as intriguing tales to tell.

Wish You Were Here provides a real glimpse of the world; a snapshot of people’s lives with some magical moments and also some rather disturbing experiences. I was surprised that the book stirred up a mixture of emotions and it was definitely a thought-provoking read – it wasn’t all sun and sangria!

Overall, I really enjoyed this! It’s a really engaging and inspiring read and a lovely book to dip in and out of when you’re in need of a pick me up during these cold and dreary months.

The other books in the series are Chasing the Dream: A new life abroad and Itchy Feet: Tales of travel and adventure and I’ll definitely be checking those out too.

Buy the book

Wish You Were Here by Alyson Sheldrake can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback.

About the author

Alyson Sheldrake was born in Birmingham in 1968. She has always loved art and painting, although she found little time for such pleasures, working full time after graduation. She joined the police in 1992 and served for 13 years, before leaving to work in the field of education.

Once her husband Dave retired from the police, their long-held dream of living in the sun could become a reality. Alyson handed in her notice, and with her dusty easel and set of acrylic paints packed and ready to move, they started their new adventure living in the beautiful Algarve in Portugal in 2011.

She is now an accomplished and sought-after artist working alongside her husband, a professional photographer. She has published three books about their Algarve adventures, as well as her Travel Stories series. The first book, Chasing the Dream: A new life abroad, was released in June 2021. This was followed in September 2021 by Itchy Feet: Tales of travel and adventure. Wish You Were Here: Holiday memories, is the third book in the series.

When she is not painting or writing, you can find her walking their rescued Spanish water dog called Kat along the riverbank in Aljezur, Portugal.

Twitter: @AlysonSheldrake
Facebook: @AlysonSheldrakeAuthor
Instagram: @alysonsheldrake
Website: https://www.alysonsheldrake.com

Blog tour

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

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

Blog tour: 6 to 25 January 2022

Synopsis

A fatal attraction …
Rachel Reeves has it all. The perfect family, a rich husband, and a gorgeous home. But when her only child flies the nest, Rachel feels lost – and succumbs to a mind-blowing one-night stand.

With a deadly twist …
Instantly regretting her infidelity, Rachel cuts ties with Chris. But he won’t let her go that easily. She erases him from her life – until a text changes everything.

And an unforgettable end …
Someone knows what she did.
And they’re ready to destroy her entire life because of it.

My review

When Rachel Reeves’ daughter, Dylan, heads to university in Birmingham, she feels a bit lost. She’s 47 and, after being a stay-at-home mum for 18 years and a carer to their 90-something neighbours, Bill and Iris, it’s time for her to return to work as an editor, despite her husband’s disapproval. Robert is a property developer who mainly works in central London, finding and developing exclusive properties for wealthy clients with extravagant tastes.

When her friend and former colleague at Edelman, Serena, mentions that there might be a vacancy at the company and invites her to a party to celebrate the launch of a new imprint, Rachel hopes her life is about to change!

And it does, but not in the way she expected! After a chance encounter with a university boyfriend after the party, Rachel gets caught up thinking about old memories and the pair end up sleeping together.

She wakes up the next morning and regrets what happened and hopes that they can forget about it. But Chris Hannah has other ideas and Rachel soon finds that life is slipping out of her control – her husband is really distracted by work, her daughter is acting strangely, Rachel keeps receiving anonymous messages on her phone, as well as various gifts and incriminating photographs, and she begins to struggle at work too.

The intriguing story gathers pace and there are lots of twists and turns as more is revealed about Rachel, Robert and their lives. All is not as it seems and I found myself questioning things and suspicious of several of the rather flawed characters! There were some fascinating subplots that really added to the story too and I was desperately trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together and work out who was responsible for the stalking.

Overall, I really enjoyed Unfaithful – it was gripping and tense and, after a slightly slow start, the story developed well and I was fully immersed in the well-plotted and twisty storyline and desperate to discover how it would all pan out. There were several revelations along the way and I was shocked at times!

Over the years, I’ve read a few of the author’s books written as Tasmina Perry but I’m keen to read more, and try her other J.L. Butler book, Mine.

Buy the book

Unfaithful by J.L. Butler can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. (It’s currently 99p in eBook format.) See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

J.L. Butler trained as a lawyer and journalist. J.L. Butler is the pseudonym for international and The Sunday Times bestseller, Tasmina Perry. Her books have been translated into 17 languages and sold over two million copies worldwide.

Twitter: @tasminaperry
Facebook: @officialtasminaperry
Instagram: @tasminaperry
Website: https://www.tasminaperry.com

Blog tour

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

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

Blog tour: 1 to 7 December 2021

Synopsis

It’s Christmas!

A year since their last case, and Adam and Colin are pulled out of semi-retirement when Stonebridge legend and regular town Santa, Gerald Agnew, is found dead in the snow.

The police believe his death to be a drunken accident, but evidence that our amateur detectives uncover points to something more sinister.

When DI Whitelaw dismisses their claims, Adam and Colin must navigate drug dealers, deception, and department store Santas to get to the truth.

Mistletoe and Crime is the fifth book in the Stonebridge Mysteries series of cosy crime novellas.

About the series

Stonebridge is a small town on the north coast of Northern Ireland. Most of its inhabitants are friendly, happy people. Most of them … Because bad things happen even in the happiest of places. It’s a good thing, then, that Adam Whyte and Colin McLaughlin call Stonebridge home.

Armed with an encyclopaedic knowledge of detective shows, a misplaced sense of confidence and a keen desire to see justice done, these two are the closest thing the town has to saviours. Which isn’t that reassuring …

My review

I love The Stonebridge Mysteries series and couldn’t wait to read this Christmas special novella! Set in the small Northern Irish town of Stonebridge, these short but perfectly formed cosy crime stories are great fun!

It’s been a year since Adam Whyte and Colin McLaughlin, childhood best friends and amateur sleuths, last investigated a murder case. They’ve matured since the first novella and established themselves in their jobs, bought property and, in Adam’s case, found a girlfriend!

When Gerald Agnew, a local homeless man, is found lying dead in the snow, police dismiss his death as a tragic accident, brought on by years of living on the streets and drinking alcohol.

Adam and Colin disagree and set out to find the truth. With rumours of drug deals in town and trouble concerning the Father Christmas at local department store, Baldwin’s, they’re going to have their work cut out solving this tricky case!

As usual, there were some good twists and turns and several potential suspects. I was suspicious of a few dodgy characters and had fun trying to guess who was responsible for Gerald’s murder!

I love the amusing chapter titles – they’re a brilliant device to give the reader a little insight into what’s to come!

Adam and Colin make a great amateur sleuthing duo and work well together to solve some puzzling murders, which the incompetent police always seem to dismiss as accidents. The twosome get rather a lot of luck along the way but that’s all part of the fun!

Mistletoe and Crime is another well-plotted and entertaining novella from the author and I’m a big fan of this fab series! The book is a quick read, at 100 pages, but it’s engaging, action packed and full of intrigue and suspense. The story develops satisfyingly and there are some witty lines.

I’m really enjoying this engaging, well-written crime mystery series and spending time with Adam and Colin and I’m hoping there’s going to be yet another instalment soon!

Buy the book

Mistletoe and Crime by Chris McDonald is released on 7 December and can be preordered from Amazon in hardback and paperback, or from Kobo or Google Books. Purchase the hardback, paperback and eBook directly from the Red Dog Press online shop.

About the author

Chris McDonald grew up in Northern Ireland before settling in Manchester via Lancaster and London.

He is the author the DI Erika Piper series: A Wash of Black, Whispers in the Dark and Roses for the Dead. He has also recently dabbled in writing cosy crimes, in the shape of The Stonebridge Mysteries, as a remedy for the darkness.

He is a full-time teacher, husband, father to two beautiful girls and a regular voice on The Blood Brothers Podcast. 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 Sean Coleman at Red Dog Press for my digital copy of Mistletoe and Crime and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 22 to 30 November 2021

Synopsis

The one man she thought she could trust …

When a teenage girl is found brutally murdered, DS Amelie Davis struggles to keep her own trauma from clouding the investigation. After suffering years of abuse at the hands of her father, Amelie has only ever trusted one man – her husband Edward.

But he might be the most dangerous of all.

In the middle of the night, she receives a phone call from an unknown number. The voice at the other end asks:

Do you think you know your husband?

Suddenly, Amelie fears Edward is not the man she thought she knew. In fact, he might just be the killer she’s been hunting …

My review

When a 16-year-old girl is found murdered in a wooded area on Hampstead Heath in mid-October, Detective Sergeant Amelie Davis is part of the Major Investigation Team responsible for finding the killer. The victim was drugged, sexually assaulted and strangled.

Amelie has demons of her own – a difficult childhood, which continues to haunt her, especially at night when she suffers from terrible nightmares. She also drinks heavily. She’s married to Edward, who she met at university. He’s the only man she can trust after her traumatic past.

The morning after the murder, Amelie receives a mysterious phone call at 4.15am from a woman who asks, ‘Do you think you know your husband?’. Amelie is confused and begins to question everything she knows about Edward, becoming suspicious of his business trips away, locked home office door and his movements – since when did he like jogging?

As the investigation intensifies, the team struggle to find any leads. There are clues and the killer left some evidence, but they need a lucky break to find a connection and crack the case. There are some links back to the past, especially for Amelie, and things start to get even more complicated and intriguing.

The main protagonist, Amelie, was an interesting character, though rather flawed, and I enjoyed getting to know her.

The investigation developed well and it definitely kept me enthralled. The book contained some vivid images of murder and included some difficult, sensitive topics but these were all well written.

Overall, I really enjoyed this gripping and tense read. It was well plotted, fast paced and engaging and I found myself frantically turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. There were some good twists and turns and great misdirection – I fell for a few of the red herrings and was surprised by the reveals at the end!

This is the first book of the author’s that I’ve read but I’ve got The First Lie on my shelf so I must read that soon and check out his other books, written as Karl Vadaszffy. I’m looking forward to seeing what he writes next!

Buy the book

Don’t Speak by A.J. Park can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

A.J. Park is the author of The First Lie, published by Orion Fiction. His second psychological thriller, Don’t Speak, was published on 25 November 2021. The translation rights to The First Lie have been sold to publishers in Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

His real name is Karl Vadaszffy. Karl Vadaszffy is the author of three novels: The Missing, which was twice a Kindle top 10 bestseller in the UK, peaking at number 6, as well as a number one bestseller in Australia, Sins of the Father and Full of Sin. The Missing has now been repackaged and republished as an A.J. Park book.

He is also a freelance journalist and the head of English at a secondary school in Hertfordshire.

Twitter: @AJParkauthor
Twitter: @KarlVad
Facebook: @karl.vadaszffy
Instagram: @ajpark_author
Website: www.karlvad.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for my digital copy of Don’t Speak and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 15 to 19 November 2021

Synopsis

Her partner. Her son. She’s next.

Hannah Thomas returns home one morning to every mother’s worst nightmare: a missing child and a dead fiancé. When DI Gaby Darin questions her, Hannah insists she can’t think of anyone who’d want to hurt her family – and yet it all feels disturbingly personal.

Mere hours into the investigation, a second body is found. As Gaby and her team dig into the victims’ lives, they hit dead ends at every turn – particularly when it comes to Hannah’s past. What is the grieving woman hiding?

But when Gaby stumbles upon Hannah’s tragic secret, it doesn’t bring her any closer to the truth. Can she connect the dots before the killer strikes again?

My review

Buried Lies is the fifth book in the Detective Gaby Darin series and after enjoying others in the series (I haven’t got to the third one yet!), I was really keen to read this for the blog tour.

The novel begins with work colleagues Hannah Thomas and Milly Buttle enjoying drinks at a spa hotel in Ruthin, but things take a sinister turn the following morning. Hannah returns home to discover her fiancé, Ian Strong, a police officer, dead in his car in the garage and her five-year-old son, Hunter, missing.

Gabriella (Gaby) Darin is now a detective inspector and heads up the Major Incident Team at St Asaph. After a spa weekend in Betws-y-Coed to celebrate family liaison officer (FLO) Amy Potter’s upcoming wedding, it’s back to work with a bang for the pair and their colleagues.

At first, the case seems clear cut but when a second body is found, the team have to pull out all the stops and investigate everyone involved to try and work out what happened. They follow several different lines of enquiries and put forward numerous theories but struggle to work out who is responsible for the deaths.

The puzzling investigation is set over the course of 10 days and, despite the numerous frustrations and dead ends, the storyline develops well and I found it a gripping and satisfying read with some surprising revelations. I flew through it in a few hours, frantically turning the pages to see how everything was going to be resolved!

Buried Lies is a well-written and cleverly plotted police procedural with some intriguing twists and turns and elements of misdirection and suspense. I had several theories but didn’t put everything together until close to the end!

I really enjoy this series – it’s very entertaining and engaging, with a good pace, and I like the main character, Gaby Darin, and her rather slow-moving relationship with resident pathologist, Rusty Mulholland. She’s a great protagonist and I really like her personality and the way her character is developing.

Gaby has a good working relationship with her colleagues and manages to support and encourage them while getting the best out of the team and successfully solving cases. She gets the job done and is firm but fair. She has her flaws and isn’t very good with the more sensitive side of her role, but FLO Amy Potter makes a good foil and covers that aspect well!

The Detective Gaby Darin books can be read as standalones but there are a few passing mentions of previous cases and events so it’s probably best to read the series in order to get the full experience and learn more about Gaby Darin and her life.

This was another excellent, compelling read from Jenny O’Brien and I’m already looking forward to the next book!

Buy the book

Buried Lies by Jenny O’Brien can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle now (and is released on 20 January 2022 in paperback), and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

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 Alliya Bouyis at HQ Stories for my digital copy of Buried Lies and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 1 to 30 November 2021

Synopsis

A missing child

Ten years ago, the disappearance of firearms police officer Jonah Colley’s young son almost destroyed him.

A gruesome discovery

A plea for help from an old friend leads Jonah to Slaughter Quay, and the discovery of four bodies. Brutally attacked and left for dead, he is the only survivor.

A search for the truth

Under suspicion himself, he uncovers a network of secrets and lies about the people he thought he knew – forcing him to question what really happened all those years ago …

My review

After Sergeant Jonah Colley from the Metropolitan Police’s firearms unit receives a call for help from his former best friend and police colleague, Detective Sergeant Gavin McKinney, asking him to meet at midnight at a warehouse in Slaughter Quay on the South Bank, he decides to head there to find out what it’s all about. This is despite the pair not being in touch for nearly 10 years, after a serious falling out. After a tense and unsettling prowl around the derelict buildings, Colley is horrified to discover four bodies, wrapped in polythene, in the warehouse and is then attacked himself by an unknown assailant and left for dead with a badly injured knee and head wound.

The police are rather suspicious that Colley went willingly to the warehouse on the request of DS McKinney and that he was the only one who has managed to survive the incident. They quiz him about what happened and he soon realises that he’s actually a suspect and in rather a lot of trouble, especially as he can’t explain things and seems to be holding back key information.

In this first book of a new series, we learn that Colley’s four-year-old son, Theo, went missing 10 years ago from a local park and, sadly, he was never found and is presumed dead. Colley was obviously traumatised by this and it led to the breakdown of his marriage. At the time, he coped with the overwhelming guilt and grief by leaning on McKinney and later attending a local support group but Theo is never far from his thoughts.

Colley isn’t sure who can be trusted and he decides to conduct his own investigation to try and work out exactly what Gavin McKinney was involved in. As various connections from the past raise their ugly heads, Colley becomes more and more convinced that the tragic events from 10 years ago are the key to solving this complicated puzzle. He is putting himself and others in peril though and really isn’t sure what he’s getting into. He needs to watch his back as there seems to be danger on every corner!

Overall, I really enjoyed this tense and gripping read! It was cleverly plotted, well written and entertaining, with some dramatic and disturbing scenes that had me on the edge of my seat, frantically turning the pages to see how much blood would be shed and how it was all going to be resolved.

As the novel progressed, we gradually learned various revelations about Jonah Colley, Gavin McKinney and their pasts but I couldn’t see how everything tied together and what the missing links were! There were some good twists and turns, and just when I thought I’d worked it out, there would be another element of misdirection to confuse me! I didn’t know who could be trusted – I wasn’t even sure of how Colley fitted into the whole puzzle.

This is the first book of the author’s that I’ve read but I’ve got all of his Dr David Hunter series on my Kindle so I must start them soon! I’m also looking forward to reading the next book in this series and learning more about Jonah Colley.

Buy the book

The Lost by Simon Beckett is released on 25 November and can be preordered from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

Simon Beckett taught English as a foreign language in Spain, installed cavity wall installation and played in various unsuccessful bands before becoming a freelance journalist and author.

In 2002, a commission to write a feature on highly realistic crime scene training for US police officers led him to the Body Farm in Tennessee. This provided an eye-opening glimpse into the work of forensic anthropologists and formed the inspiration behind his internationally bestselling David Hunter crime thrillers.

The series has been translated into 29 languages. Simon’s novels have appeared in The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller list and become No.1 international bestsellers, selling 12 million copies worldwide.

As well as the David Hunter series, he is the author of five standalone thrillers: Fine Lines, Animals, Where There’s Smoke, Owning Jacob and, most recently, The Lost. The first in the Jonah Colley series, The Lost spent five weeks at number one in Germany’s Der Spiegel hardback fiction charts before its UK publication.

Twitter: @BeckettSimon
Facebook: @SimonBeckettCrime
Instagram: @simonbeckettauthor
Website: https://simonbeckett.com/

Blog tour

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

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