I’m delighted to share my review of ‘Blunt Force’, the sixth book in the excellent series featuring Jane Tennison in her early career – way before her ‘Prime Suspect’ days.
I’m reading this series as part of #TeamTennison – thanks to Compulsive Readers and Zaffre Books for inviting me on to the tour and for my copies of the books for review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
In this book, Jane Tennison has left Flying Squad and is now stationed in Knightsbridge – not exactly a hub of violent crime in comparison to some of her previous postings! Just as she’s beginning to worry that her career is going nowhere, a brutal murder is committed and Jane joins the investigative team. However, the case is far from straightforward – the victim, Charles Foxley, was a theatrical agent who was well-known, not always above board and had some powerful enemies…
I’m delighted to take part in the blog tour for the paperback of Fern Brady’s brilliant memoir, ‘Strong Female Character’.
Thanks to Random Things Tours and Octopus Books for inviting me on to the tour and for my copy of the book for review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
From the Publisher:
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘I tore through this hilarious, smart, sad, revealing book’ – Bob Odenkirk ‘Funny, sharp and has incredible clarity’ – Jon Ronson ‘An absolute riot. I’m literally going to read it again once I’ve finished, and I’m a miserable bastard…it’s a belter’ – FRANKIE BOYLE ‘A set text for all of us in 2023’ – DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE
A summary of my book:
I’m diagnosed with autism 20 years after telling a doctor I had it.
My terrible Catholic childhood: I hate my parents etc.
My friendship with an elderly man who runs the corner shop and is definitely not trying to groom me. I get groomed.
Homelessness.
Stripping.
More stripping but with more nervous breakdowns.
I hate everyone at uni and live with a psycho etc.
REDACTED as too spicy.
After everyone tells me I don’t look autistic, I try to cure my autism and get addicted to Xanax.
REDACTED as too embarrassing.
‘Fern’s book, like everything she does, is awesome. Incredibly funny, and so unapologetically frank that I feel genuinely sorry for her lawyers.’ – PHIL WANG
‘Of course it’s funny – it’s Fern Brady – but this book is also deeply moving and eye-opening’ – ADAM KAY
‘It made me laugh out loud and broke my heart and made me weep…I hope absolutely everyone reads this, and it makes them kinder and more curious about the way we all live’ – DAISY BUCHANAN
‘Glorious. Frank but nuanced, a memoir that doesn’t sacrifice voice or selfawareness. And it has brilliant things to say about being autistic and being funny’ – ELLE MCNICOLL
‘Strong Female Character is a testament to the importance of self-knowledge.’ – Rachael Healy, The Guardian
‘Fern is a brilliant, beautiful writer with a unique voice and even more unique story. Astute, honest and very, very funny.’ – LOU SANDERS
‘So funny and brilliant’ – HOLLY SMALE
‘Witty, dry, and gimlet-eyed, Strong Female Character is a necessary corrective. Brady offers a compelling, messy, highly resonant portrait of what masked Autism feels like.’ – Devon Price, author of Unmasking Autism
My Review:
I was so glad I was invited onto the blog tour for this book – I’d picked it up a few times in bookshops and weighed up whether it would be too sad, too challenging, too harrowing for me. I know Fern Brady is a comedian, but still…
It’s time for my review of Book 5 in the Jane Tennison crime series by Lynda La Plante!
Thanks to Compulsive Readers for inviting me to read the series as part of #TeamTennison and Zaffre Books for my review copy of the book. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
I’ve really enjoyed this series to date, so I was looking forward to see what came next in Jane Tennison’s (1970s) Metropolitan police career before the events of the ‘Prime Suspect’ TV series with Helen Mirren. Each of the books have been so different, with Jane involved in traditional police procedures, forensic murder investigations, undercover police work, lots of different teams in different areas of London and even the aftermath of a major bombing.
In this instalment, WDS Jane Tennison has finally gained a spot in the famous Flying Squad, also known as ‘The Sweeney’. She knows it’s going to be tough, especially as the first female detective there, but nothing can prepare her for the dramatic events of his first day when she attends the scene of an armed robbery on a bank. As the investigation progresses, it seems both that the gang involved have a bigger target in mind, and that Jane’s maverick policing techniques may just get her in a lot of trouble…
Thanks to Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this beautiful book for review – as always, opinions are entirely my own.
From the Publisher:
A dazzlingly illustrated collection presenting the extraordinary life stories of fourteen bright stars from Black British history, from Tudor England to modern Britain.
Brought to life through hand-painted illustrations by award-winning illustrator Angela Vives, this important and timely book from author and educator J. T. Williams brings the lives of fourteen shining stars from Black British History into the spotlight, celebrating their remarkable achievements and contributions to the arts, medicine, politics, sport and beyond.
Featuring a constellation of iconic individuals – including storytelling freedom fighter Mary Prince, football star and World War I soldier Walter Tull, and Notting Hill Carnival founder Claudia Jones – ‘Bright Stars of Black British History’ shines a light on the courage, resilience and talent of remarkable individuals who have left a lasting mark on our collective history.
Thanks to Random Things Tours for my place on the blog tour and copy of this book for review – as always, opinions are entirely my own.
The Blurb:
When Hannah Lloyd falls from her third-floor balcony at the end of her birthday lunch party, suspicion falls immediately upon the three guests who had only just left the apartment, alongside Hannah’s estranged husband Adam and a jealous neighbour with an axe to grind. But as the investigation develops, so does the network of suspects, eventually revealing a chilling connection between the crime and those in charge of preventing it. Forced to work alongside her arch-nemesis DCI Matt Preedy, DS Ronnie Delmar finds herself looking over her shoulder at her own colleagues and questioning the motives of those she thought she trusted.
Thanks to Compulsive Readers for inviting me onto the #TeamTennison project and to Zaffre Books for my copy of this – the fourth in the series covering Jane Tennison’s life before Prime Suspect.
As always, opinions are my own.
In this book, Jane Tennison has been made Detective Sergeant and is working in Peckham CID, in a tough part of London and in a policing team imbued with the all-too-familiar misogyny and racism that we’ve seen before in the series. When a young woman is found killed in Bussey Alley, Peckham, Jane Tennison is first on the scene and keen to find the killer. A second body with no obvious link to the first other than physical proximity throws Tennison’s team into confusion…and a third murder on their patch tests them further. The newspapers begin stirring up panic about a serial killer in Peckham – as Tennison uncovers some baffling links and leads…
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Ideal Couple’, a lively Australian crime novel and the fourth in the series to feature Detective Veronika Pope.
Thanks to The Book Folks for inviting me onto the tour and for allowing me access to the book for review purposes. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
This book was published on 2nd October, 2023.
From the Publisher:
When detectives try to close a missing persons case, a small town’s twisted secrets begin to unravel…
A couple disappear in a region of the outback known for its gold mining. Some three years on, there is still no trace of them.
Detective Veronika Pope is handed the cold case. It’s cold only in name. When she turns up to the godforsaken town where the couple were last seen, the heat is sweltering; suspicion simmering.
The detectives stay in the same seedy hotel as the couple did. The townsfolk aren’t welcoming. Nobody wants the cops probing into their affairs.
From what Pope can gather, the missing duo were the perfect couple. Loving. Happy together. The picture of marital bliss.
Assuming a murder but missing a motive, the detectives do make progress. They might even find the bodies, as the trail is hot. Almost too hot to touch.
Here’s my review of ‘Good Friday’, the third in the series to feature a young Detective Constable Jane Tennison way before her ‘Prime Suspect’ years.
Thanks to Compulsive Readers for inviting me to join #TeamTennison and read the whole series. Thanks too to Zaffre Books for my copy of ‘Good Friday’ to review – as always, opinions are entirely my own.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Whistlers in the Dark’, an eerie but sweet historical middle-grade novel. Thanks to The Write Reads for inviting me onto the tour and for my copy of the book for review – opinions are my own.
It’s 158AD and times are tough in Scotland. The invading Roman army is up against the native Damnonii tribe, kept apart only by the Antonine wall. On the Damnonii side, twelve-year old Jinny is coming to terms with an accident that has affected her family, for which she blames the ‘metal men’, the Romans. On the other side of the wall, teenager Felix wants to be a Roman soldier like his father. A hostile encounter between Jinny and Felix leads to the chance awakening of the mythical standing stones, an event that brings terror and danger to Jinny and her people. Can Felix and Jinny work together to save the day?
