Book Review: ‘Run Time’ by Catherine Ryan Howard

I absolutely loved the idea of this book! A thriller that takes place on the remote set of a horror film – what a great idea. I’d read one of Catherine Ryan Howard’s previous books (’56 Days’) set during Covid lockdown so I knew that I was in safe hands…if anyone can pull off some bogglingly high concept ideas then she can!

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Book Review: ‘Dear Little Corpses’ by Nicola Upson

If you haven’t yet discovered Nicola Upson’s excellent historical crime series, here’s your chance.

This novel takes place in the early days of World War Two as war is declared and children evacuated en masse to the country. The Suffolk village in which Josephine Tey is living ends up with a lot more evacuees than planned, forcing those who didn’t want to take children to open their homes – the scene in the village hall where the evacuees are being homed made me really think of ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ in all the best ways! When a child goes missing, Tey and the villagers start asking questions and pointing fingers…

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Book Review: ‘Cat and Mouse’ by M J Arlidge

You pretty much know what you’re getting with an M. J. Arlidge crime novel – a high body count, scary and gruesome murders, lots of twists and DI Helen Grace doing her maverick thing along the way! This one is no exception and it’s a satisfying addition to the series.

In this book, a killer is targeting people in their Southampton homes – attacking when they are alone or vulnerable. DI Grace and her team are called in to investigate, but immediately struggle with finding the link between the victims. As the murders continue, the police investigation seems to be going nowhere and the stakes continue to rise. With DI Grace in danger herself, it’s a race against time to stop a killer.

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Blog Tour: ‘From the Ashes’ by Deborah Masson

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for the latest in the series featuring DI Eve Hunter – ‘From the Ashes’ by Deborah Masson.

Thanks to Compulsive Readers/Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the tour and for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review – as always, opinions are entirely my own. The paperback will be published in August 2022 by Penguin Books, although I believe the Kindle edition is available before this.

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Book Review: ‘The Botanist’ by M W Craven

A new book by M W Craven is always a treat – usually a gory, gruesome, twisty treat, but a treat nevertheless!

This book – the fifth featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw – is another excellent addition to the series. Regular readers will not be at all disappointed, but if you haven’t made the acquaintance of Poe and Bradshaw before then I’d recommend that you start with Book 1, ‘The Puppet Show’. This novel makes total sense as a standalone, but you really don’t want to miss the rest of the books!

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Blog Tour: ‘The Binding Room’ by Nadine Matheson

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this fantastic new slice of crime fiction!

Thanks to HQ for inviting me on the tour and for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review – opinions, as always, are entirely my own.

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Blog Tour: ‘Bad for Good’ by Graham Bartlett

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this brand new, debut police procedural.

Thanks to Helen Richardson for inviting me on the tour, and to Allison and Busby for my review copy of the novel. As always, opinions are entirely my own.


Regular followers of my blog know that I love a crime novel. A debut crime novel? Even better – a chance to find a new favourite! A debut crime novel written by someone who really knows his stuff? Better still – and crime novelists probably don’t come much better qualified than Graham Bartlett, former Chief Superintendent and Police Commander of Brighton and Hove.

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Blog Tour: ‘Sister Stardust’ by Jane Green

Thanks to Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the blog tour for this tale of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in 1960s Marrakesh.

As always, opinions are entirely my own.

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Book Review: ‘Dangerous Women’ by Hope Adams

This was a book that I was very excited about in 2021 but that – for reasons too dull to explain – got pushed down my reading pile.

I’m so glad I have remedied this now!

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Blog Tour: ‘The Affair’ by Hilary Boyd

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Affair’ by Hilary Boyd.

Thanks to Sarah Harwood and Penguin Random House for my copy of the book and invitation to join the blog tour. This hasn’t influenced my review at all – opinions are entirely my own, as usual!

I expected this book to be a psychological thriller…lots of lies and deception, twists and turns, tense and sinister events. You know the score.

It absolutely isn’t that at all.

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