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.

Blog tour: 26 to 30 October 2021

Synopsis

You can cover up the truth, but every murder leaves a trail …

The rain was relentless. It stung Ruth Prendergast’s face as she dashed towards her house, desperate to escape the cold and settle down for an early night. But upon entering her bedroom, she finds a man, lying on her bed – a knife buried in his chest.

When Detective Isabel Blood and her sergeant arrive on the scene, Ruth claims she’s never laid eyes on the victim before. But with no sign of a break-in, how did the killer gain access to the house?

Then Ruth disappears, leaving Isabel and her team to fear the worst. Has their lead suspect escaped, or is Ruth in danger herself?

Forensic evidence at the crime scene is sparse, and it’s proving impossible for Isabel to make a breakthrough. With Ruth still missing, time is running out.

But how can you catch a killer that doesn’t leave a trace?

My review

I read the author’s debut, In Cold Blood, for the blog tour last year and really enjoyed it so was keen to read this book when I heard about it!

Without a Trace is set in the fictional Derbyshire town of Bainbridge and the novel’s main protagonist is Detective Inspector (DI) Isabel Blood (56), wife of Nathan and mum to Kate, who lives in nearby Wirksworth, Ellie (14) and son, Bailey (who’s not mentioned in this novel).

Ruth Prendergast has only recently moved to the area after a divorce and getting a new job as an HR manager at a telecommunications company and one January evening, after a hard day at work, she’s shocked to discover the dead body of an unknown man in her bed. She’s got no idea who he is and the police are confused about how he got into the house as there is no sign of forced entry.

The timing of the murder investigation is particularly difficult for DI Isabel Blood who is on her way to the airport – and due to start two-weeks’ leave – when she’s phoned by her colleague, Detective Sergeant (DS) Dan Fairfax. She’s back in touch with her father, Donald Corrington, who she hasn’t seen for over forty years, after he left when she was 14 years old, and he’s visiting from France for a couple of weeks.

The case gets off to a slow start as the murder took place in a quiet cul-de-sac of only five houses called Hollybrook Close in the north side of Bainbridge and there are few witnesses to question. The victim, who was stabbed with a kitchen knife, is eventually identified as a 47-year-old local car mechanic who has a criminal record and is an alcoholic with a difficult past but doesn’t appear to have any particular enemies who would want him dead.

DI Blood delegates all the various tasks of the case well to her colleagues but she struggles to give the investigation her full attention with her dad and half-brother, Fabien, visiting. They’re staying at a local hotel and she’s desperate to spend time together to get to know them both but can’t with a murder to solve. When Ruth Prendergast goes missing, the police are even more confused and desperately try to put all the pieces of the jigsaw together, but struggle with a complete lack of evidence all round.

This was another gripping and well-paced police procedural from the author and I really enjoyed the way the cleverly plotted investigation slowly unfolded, with its frustrations and dead ends, before things eventually came together and the case was solved. It’s a satisfying, engaging read and I raced through it in a few hours.

The story was very entertaining, with some intriguing and surprising revelations. I had several theories about the identity of the killer as we met various suspects and learnt more about their connections to others but didn’t predict how it would all turn out.

I really like Isabel Blood – she’s dedicated to her job, methodical and thorough, and seems quite normal for a police detective with a lovely husband and children but has an interesting past, which adds another dimension to her character’s story.

Overall, I’m really enjoying this series with its good old-fashioned police work and I hope it won’t be too long before there’s another case in Bainbridge to solve! I’m looking forward to seeing how Isabel’s relationships with her father and half-brother develop and it would be good to get to know her colleagues, DS Fairfax and DC Piper, better too.

Buy the book

Without a Trace by Jane Bettany can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle now and in paperback on 6 January 2022, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

Jane Bettany is the author of In Cold Blood, a crime novel featuring DI Isabel Blood and set in the fictional Derbyshire town of Bainbridge. The book won the 2019 Gransnet and HQ writing competition, which was for women writers over the age of 40 who had written a novel with a protagonist in the same age range.

In Cold Blood was her first novel, but she has been writing short stories and non-fiction articles for over 20 years, many of which have appeared in women’s magazines, literary magazines, newspapers and online.

She lives in Derby and has an MA in Creative Writing.

Twitter: @JaneBettany
Facebook: @JaneBettanyAuthor
Instagram: @bettanyjane
Website: http://www.janebettany.co.uk

Blog tour

Thanks to Sian Baldwin at HQ Stories for my digital copy of Without a Trace and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 14 to 18 October 2021

Synopsis

Is her family in danger?

When Allie moves to a quaint old cottage with her husband, it’s their dream home. Nestled in the village of Pluckley, it seems a perfect haven in which to raise their two children. But Pluckley has a reputation. It’s known as England’s most haunted village. And not long after the birth of their new son, Allie begins to notice strange things …

What’s the flash of white she sees moving quickly through the woods to the back of their house? And what’s the strange scratching noise coming from the chimney?

As Allie discovers more about the history of their new home, she uncovers a story of witchcraft and superstition, which casts a long shadow into the present day. And not everything is as it seems. Her family might well be in danger, but it’s a danger none of them could have foreseen …

Bestseller Lisa Hall’s The Woman in the Woods is full of creeping unease and nerve-wracking tension, and will have readers on the edge of their seats …

My review

The Woman in the Woods tells the story of Rav and Allie Harper, who move to the village of Pluckley in Kent from Ebbsfleet with their daughter, two-year-old Mina. Their son, Leo, is born soon after they arrive in the place that’s referred to as England’s most haunted village!

Allie is a florist and manager of a shop called The Daisy Chain, which her friend, Naomi, is looking after while Allie is on maternity leave. Rav is a barrister or judge and works long hours, putting cases together and dealing with criminals in court. The couple met in Goa – Rav was visiting his aunts and uncles with his parents and brother and Allie was backpacking with two friends she’d met along the way.

Their house (Gowdie Cottage) in Pluckley is a 400-year-old Grade II listed cottage with an intriguing past. It hasn’t been lived in for years and needs lots of working doing still. With two young children, Allie is exhausted most of the time and getting little sleep as Leo is feeding regularly through the night. She is so tired that she starts seeing people in the woods near their house and she feels watched.

Strange things seem to be happening inside the cottage too. Allie discovers items that have been left by the previous owners and when she learns the cottage’s history, she becomes even more freaked out and feels that a ghostly presence is trying to make itself seen and heard, especially when she finds various symbols of witchcraft and superstition.

As the story progresses, I wasn’t sure if Allie was an unreliable narrator and was imaging things or if the family really was in danger from a supernatural being. Allie’s husband, Rav, was acting very strangely and her friend, Naomi, also seemed to be trying to get too close to the family, especially as she moved to the same village! The pair of them seemed to be gaslighting Allie and questioning her thoughts and actions constantly, and dismissing her worries about the house being haunted by a ghost.

Allie makes some mum friends in the village but they all seem rather cliquey and it often feels like they’re talking about her behind her back. They like to gossip and took great delight in telling her about the history of Gowdie Cottage. It’s difficult for Allie to know who to trust and her mum and Rav’s mum, Avó, also like to interfere too.

Overall, I really enjoyed this disturbing and gripping novel, which had me distrusting several of the main protagonists and wondering what on earth was going on! I had several theories but couldn’t put my finger on what was really happening. It’s a creepy and atmospheric story and I enjoyed the descriptions of the cottage and its grounds with the rather dangerous herb gardens and water feature!

The book is well paced and cleverly plotted and kept me intrigued throughout with its spooky goings on and Allie’s rather erratic behaviour. At times, there were tense moments and I was really worried for Mina and Leo’s safety as Allie was distracted and the ghostly happenings ramped up. An unsettling read with some good elements of misdirection and perfect Halloween reading!

I’ve read several of Lisa Hall’s books and this was another entertaining and compelling read. I look forward to her next novel and catching up on the two I haven’t read yet.

Buy the book

The Woman in the Woods by Lisa Hall can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle (currently 99p) and in paperback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

Lisa Hall loves words, reading and everything there is to love about books. She has dreamed of being a writer since she was a little girl – either that or a librarian – and after years of talking about it, was finally brave enough to put pen to paper (and let people actually read it).

Lisa lives in a small village in Kent, surrounded by her towering TBR pile, a rather large brood of children, dogs, chickens and ponies and her long-suffering husband. She is also rather partial to eating cheese and drinking wine.

Twitter: @LisaHallAuthor
Facebook: @lisahallauthor
Instagram: @lisahallauthor
Website: https://www.lisahallauthor.co.uk

Blog tour

Thanks to Sian Baldwin at HQ Stories for my digital copy of The Woman in the Woods and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 12 to 19 October 2021

Synopsis

‘Your secret didn’t die with me.’

The mysterious note tucked inside the pages of a recently returned book leaves librarian, Morag McLaughlin, chilled to the bone. She knows it was meant for her.

Someone out there knows her darkest secrets and they could destroy everything.

Torn apart from her own family, she will stop at nothing to create a perfect new one.

Why are they all so ungrateful? She’s only looking after them …

Isn’t she?

My review

Set in a small town in the north east of Glasgow called Lennoxhill, You Need Me centres around the lives of five people and the story is told from their viewpoints. They are 55-year-old librarian, Morag McLaughlin; Ronnie Whiteside (26), who lives with his mum; Susan Bonner (25) and her daughter Lily, 4; Jess Wishart (24), who works at a café on the high street, and Alan Aitken, a thief and drug addict.

Each chapter is from a different character and we gradually build up a picture of their lives as we learn more about them. It makes for tough reading as we find out about the main protagonists and what they’ve experienced at the hands of their relatives, particularly their parents.

Right from the start, the book makes for chilling and uncomfortable reading. There’s something bubbling under the surface, something we’re not being told, and it’s all rather creepy and disturbing, rather like the characters themselves, who have strange ideas about friendships, relationships and family.

On the face of it, Morag, Susan and Jess seem nice but they’re all rather two faced, are hiding secrets and have specific agendas. I didn’t trust any of them and was worried about how things were going to play out in the story.

Morag runs a special group at the library and she encourages misfits to join her Tuesday morning session so that she can keep an eye on them. With her big handbag of memories, she’s clearly a complicated woman with ‘secrets nobody must ever find out’. I’m glad I don’t go to that library!

Jess works in the popular local Café Marianna’s, which is owned by her boss, Marion. She keeps an eye on the various goings on and befriends Ronnie and looks out for him. She’s similar to Morag in that she tries to be friendly to people who are less fortunate than her and who others shun. She even talks to Radio Joe, who can always be found sitting on a park bench with an old transistor radio pressed to his ear. He’s probably the happiest person in town!

As I was reading, I was wondering what the connection was between the characters and how the story was all going to be resolved. I had several theories but I couldn’t put it all together and was surprised by the ending!

Overall, I was gripped by this rather dark, chilling and twisted novel and couldn’t put it down as events raced along and things got more and more out of control. It was a fascinating read and very intense and the small town setting, with its unsavoury housing estates, felt claustrophobic and unsettling.

I felt so sorry for the main characters, who’d all had a tough life and been let down by their families and partners. Most seemed to have mental health issues and several of them were hearing voices and struggling to ignore their inner thoughts. They were all rather untrustworthy and secretive, with ulterior motives, and all up to something!

I’ve had the author’s debut novel, Sins of our Fathers, on my wanted list for a while and it sounds equally disturbing so I must buy a copy soon!

Buy the book

You Need Me by Sharon Bairden can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback and paperback. Or purchase a copy directly from the Red Dog Press online shop. There’s also a limited edition hardback. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

By day, Sharon Bairden is the services manager in a small, local independent advocacy service and has a passion for human rights; by night, she has a passion for all things criminal. She blogs about books at Chapterinmylife and is delighted to be crossing over to the other side of the fence to become a writer.

Sharon lives on the outskirts of Glasgow, has two grown up children, a grandson, a Golden Labrador and a cat. She spends most of her spare time doing all things bookish, from reading to attending as many book festivals and launches as she can. She has been known to step out of her comfort zone on the odd occasion and has walked over burning coals and broken glass – but not at the same time!

Twitter: @sbairden

Blog tour

Thanks to Sean Coleman at Red Dog Press for my digital copy of You Need Me and for my place on the blog tour.

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

Blog tour: 7 to 10 October 2021

Synopsis

A small town in outback Australia wakes to a crime of medieval savagery.

A local schoolteacher is found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Suspicion instantly falls on the refugees at the new detention centre on Cobb’s northern outskirts. Tensions are high, between whites and Aboriginals, between immigrants and the townies.

Still mourning the recent death of his father, Detective Sergeant Giorgios ‘George’ Manolis returns to his childhood hometown to investigate. Within minutes of his arrival, it’s clear that Cobb is not the same place he left. Once it thrived, but now it’s a poor and derelict dusthole, with the local police chief it deserves. And as Manolis negotiates his new colleagues’ antagonism, and the simmering anger of a community destroyed by alcohol and drugs, the ghosts of his past begin to flicker to life.

Vivid, pacy and almost dangerously atmospheric, The Stoning is the first in a new series of outback noir featuring DS Manolis, himself an outsider, and a good man in a world gone to hell.

My review

Set in the small northern town of Cobb in outback Australia, The Stoning tells the story of the horrendous murder of local primary schoolteacher and widow, Molly Abbott, and the subsequent investigation by city cop, Detective Sergeant Giorgios ‘George’ Manolis, who has been sent to his former hometown to try and unravel this difficult, tension-rising case.

The victim was tied to a gum tree in the copse behind the local football/cricket oval scoreboard and stoned to death and her body was discovered by old Ida Jones, who was on her way to acquire her morning newspaper.

On arrival in Cobb, DS Manolis discovers a town very different from the one he left as an eight year old with his parents. It used to be home to 5000 people but now the permanent residents number around half that. It’s a place that has been in decline for years and there are lots of racial tensions within the town, especially after the new immigration detention centre (called the brown house by locals) was opened. There’s also an Aboriginal settlement on Cobb’s southern outskirts.

Manolis’ new colleagues are Sergeant Bill Fyfe, Constable Andrew Smith (Sparrow) and Constable Kate Kerr. Fyfe spends most of his time drunk and propping up the bar in the top pub (for ‘whitefellas’), rather than the bottom pub (for ‘blackfellas’). It seems like he’s already checked out and is just waiting to either retire or drop dead.

The local police officers were supposed to have contained the crime scene, collected evidence, analysed samples and made some progress in solving the murder but, much to Manolis’ dismay, they seem to have followed none of the expected and required protocol!

Manolis stays with a couple called Rex and Vera Boyd, in their spare cabin, and they remember George’s dad, Con. He recently died and Manolis is mourning his loss. Several other characters in the town are also grieving after the deaths of close family members in recent years.

Lots of the locals spend their time drinking, taking drugs and being aggressive towards each other and the Aborigines, and there are big tensions and reprisals against anyone connected with the immigration detention centre, which is run by a man called Frank Onions.

It all makes for a rather depressing and resigned feeling to the town. The men are prejudiced and misogynistic and the women aren’t much better. People spend their time fighting each other and everyone has given up hope.

As DS George Manolis calmly trawls through the evidence and makes pertinent enquiries, we learn more about the forty-something murder victim and discover that the locals are keeping things from him. Everyone assumes that one of the residents of the immigration centre is responsible for the murder but Manolis isn’t so sure. He’s frustrated that he can’t work out the pieces of the puzzle – there’s something not right about this whole case and various people aren’t being honest.

Overall, I really enjoyed this atmospheric and gritty outback noir novel, with its intense and claustrophobic setting in sweltering heat in a hellish small town. I was gripped as the unconventional investigation unfolded and we learned more about the secrets that the locals and others were hiding. It’s a compelling read and I couldn’t put it down!

This dark and disturbing book makes uncomfortable reading at times, with its descriptions of violence and racial tension, but it’s well written, intriguing and very thought provoking – I was still mulling things over after I’d finished it.

I especially liked the eye-catching and striking cover, which really sums up the story and location and shows the harsh and arid conditions.

I was pleased to see that this is the first in new series and will definitely be checking out the next book to read more about DS George Manolis and see where he ends up next.

Buy the book

The Stoning by Peter Papathanasiou can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Peter Papathanasiou was born in northern Greece and adopted as a baby to an Australian family. His writing has been published internationally by The New York Times, Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, Daily Telegraph, The ABC, SBS, Huffington Post. He also holds an MA in Creative Writing from City University, London, and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the Australian National University. His first book, a memoir, Son of Mine, was published in 2019 by Salt.

Twitter: @peteplastic
Facebook: @PeterPapathanasiouWriter
Instagram: @petepapathanasiou
Website: https://fromtheplasticpen.wordpress.com/about/

Blog tour

Thanks to Katya Ellis at Quercus Books for my copy of The Stoning and for my place on the blog tour.

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