Tag: investigation

Blog Tour: ‘Seven Days’ by Michelle Kidd

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Seven Days’ by Michelle Kidd, the second book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh.

I was lucky enough to be included on the blog tour last year for the first book in this series so I jumped at the chance to read the sequel!

This tour is organised by Damp Pebbles Blog Tours – thanks to them and Michelle Kidd for my free copy of the novel for review. As always, opinions are my own.

Book Blurb:

One killer. One city. One week.

July 2012 and a serial killer is terrorising the streets of London. With the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games in just seven days time, Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh and his team at the Metropolitan Police have one week to find him. With the killer’s motives unknown, and a mysterious clue being left at each scene, the case takes on a menacing and personal twist. Distracted by his own demons, will DI Jack MacIntosh solve the case before it is too late?

The clock is ticking.
Tick.
Tock.

My Review:

The first book in this series was a twisty, jet-setting thriller with a huge cast of characters, secrets galore and lots of tension.

With the second book, Michelle Kidd has produced an absolutely brilliant police procedural. Lots of the same cast, but a totally different feel to the first book – and I loved it.

The book opens with the discovery of the body of a woman in a London park. DI Jack MacIntosh, still struggling with the PTSD from his distant past, is called in to investigate and finds a mysterious clue…which makes a lot more sense with the death of a second woman and the deliberate placement of another clue. It seems that someone is taunting the police – but with only seven days to go before the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games turns the world’s eyes to London, there is a race against time to catch the killer.

Returning in this book is Isabel (a main focus on the first novel), Mac and some other familiar faces. I was particularly pleased to see Isabel again as the first novel really immerses the reader in her story and she is an interesting character. She has moved on from her past experiences and set up a cafe in London – but, as expected, she can’t seem to stay out of trouble for long!

One of the main strengths of this book is the clever plotting – I honestly thought I’d solved this mystery several times over, only to be confounded at every turn. At least I wasn’t alone – DI Jack MacIntosh and the Metropolitan Police seemed to be having the same problem!

I found the timeline easier to keep track of in this novel as it didn’t jump around as much as the first. I liked that each scene in the book had a clear time and place so it was easy to follow – it felt a lot more cohesive than the last book which was great but made my head spin with the time and location jumps!

Although this is the second in the series, I think it probably could be read as a standalone. There are some elements that carry across the books and it obviously would be better to have the back-story, but I think the plot absolutely carries this book in its own right. There are also a lot of flashbacks which help to explain the history behind Jack, Mac and Isabel.

A lot happens in this book and the pacing is generally good – I never felt like I was bored or waiting for something to happen. My only gripe would be that there did feel like there were some additional scenes that weren’t central to the plot, especially at the end – although I would guess that these may well feed into the sequel.

I’d recommend this to anyone who is looking for an engaging and immersive police procedural. There are properly scary, thriller elements too – but the real strength is in the clever plot, likeable (and familiar) characters and the wow-factor twists.

About the Author:

Michelle Kidd is a self-published author known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels.

Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.

But the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.

In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and had not looked back since. There are currently three DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fourth in progress.

Michelle works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order J

Bibliography:

The Phoenix Project (DI Jack MacIntosh book 1)

Seven Days (DI Jack MacIntosh book 2)

The Fifteen (DI Jack MacIntosh book 3)

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorKidd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellekiddauthor

Website: https://www.michellekiddauthor.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellekiddauthor/ 

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/3obLftd

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/3qNy2bM

Publishing Information:

Published in paperback and digital format on 22nd January 2020

‘The Jigsaw Man’ by Nadine Matheson

I was delighted to win a proof copy of this serial killer crime novel from Nadine Matheson and the lovely people at HQ Stories.

The book is published on 18th February 2021 – just enough time to sneak in a pre-order!

This book opens with the gruesome discovery of body parts in various parts of South London and the return to front-line policing duties for DI Anjelica Henley who has been on office duties after a traumatic experience. Faced with the dismembered corpses, Anjelica and her newbie detective sidekick embark on an investigation that will have sinister echoes of a previous spate of serial killer murders. However, that killer, Peter Olivier, is in prison – so how can he be responsible?

DI Anjelica Henley herself is an interesting character. She has a complex home life and the case threatens to break the uneasy peace she has found for herself after her past experiences. It is normally a bit of a bugbear of mine when police officer’s private lives are tied up in a case (you’d think all crime was a personal vendetta against individual officers if you read too much crime fiction!); however, it was well managed here and Anjelica’s family context and relationships added to the sense of her as a realistic character.

As I’ve mentioned, this book is gruesome. You do need quite a strong stomach to deal with the dismemberment and descriptions of injuries. It is dark, although I didn’t find the violence gratuitous.

I did find the casual racism expressed towards DI Henley by other characters in the novel quite shocking – the idea that this highly competent and intelligent woman was being judged primarily on her skin colour was an eye-opener for me.

This is a debut novel, not that I think you would know that from the confident way that Matheson has plotted out her narrative and presented her characters. The book, although fairly long at over 400 pages, is well-paced and packed full of tense moments that keep the reader going. Personally, I finished this novel at 3am during a particularly sleepless night – and I had to get up to check all the doors were locked before I nodded off!

I did have a few niggles with the book – mainly the large cast which meant that some of the revelations didn’t always pack the necessary punch because I had to remember who was being referred to! I’m also not sure whether the ending was setting up a sequel (although please do be reassured that this mystery is tied up comfortably at the end). However, these are small quibbles and didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

Overall, this is an excellent debut novel and I do hope that Matheson is planning more cases involving DI Anjelica Henley.

An affiliate link for this book is below – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.

‘An Eye for an Eye’ by Carol Wyer

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this excellent police procedural, ‘An Eye for an Eye’ by Carol Wyer. This is the first book in the series to feature DI Kate Young.

This tour was organised by Damp Pebbles. The book was published on 1st February 2021.

Book Blurb:

A killer running rings around the police. A detective spiralling out of control.

DI Kate Young is on leave. She’s the force’s best detective, but her bosses know she’s under pressure, on medication and overcoming trauma. So after her bad judgement call leads to a narrowly averted public disaster, they’re sure all she needs is a rest.

But when Staffordshire Police summon her back to work on a murder case, it’s a harder, more suspicious Kate Young who returns. With a new ruthlessness, she sets about tracking down a clinical, calculating serial killer who is torturing victims and leaving clues to taunt the police. Spurred on by her reporter husband, Young begins to suspect that the murderer might be closer than she ever imagined.

As she works to uncover the truth, Young unravels a network of secrets and lies, with even those closest to her having something to hide. But with her own competence—and her grip on reality—called into question, can she unmask the killer before they strike again?

My Review:

I love detective fiction with a female lead so I was pleased to be invited on the Damp Pebbles blog tour for this book, the first book in a series to feature DI Kate Young. The fact that is it set in Staffordshire – pretty close to my own home ground – was an added bonus!

In this book, DI Kate Young is called back to work after a traumatic incident that has demonstrably clouded her judgement. She is put onto a murder case with a small team – just two colleagues, Emma and Morgan – although it is also clear that senior management within Staffordshire Police are scrutinising her every move.

She is investigating the rather gruesome killing of a local businessman, Alex Corby, who was tortured and killed in his large, remote house. However, as she begins to uncover the events of Alex’s last day, it becomes clear that there are a lot of suspects , secrets and lies to work through – and Kate’s personal life and issues keep threatening to surface too.

I’ll admit I was worried about the PTSD element of the story as this is becoming quite a staple of this type of detective fiction – and, if I’m honest, I prefer my detectives to be a bit more straightforward! However, I needn’t have been concerned – in Wyer’s hands, the cliché of the broken and troubled police officer becomes something more realistic and compelling as we watch Kate struggle with her mental health issues and her loyal team questioning her capability.

What I really enjoyed about the story was the clever plotting. I’ll admit I just about beat Kate to the final solution, but only just! Throughout, I was caught up in the twisty narrative and the ingenious way that the story strands intertwined – there were so many twists that I didn’t see coming and the final denouement was so far from where I thought we would end up when the story began. For that reason, Wyer should be commended for producing a genuinely surprising narrative.

I liked too that the investigations were methodical and logical, something seen as the right way to do things by Kate. There was a real sense of the investigation stopping and starting which felt realistic – the police team hit dead ends as often as they found important clues, although this didn’t slow the pace of the novel at all. In fact, rather a lot happens to keep the story moving…

Overall, I’d recommend this as a clever and engaging piece of crime fiction. For those who love police procedurals (like me!), this is an excellent example of the genre. I really hope that the next DI Kate Young book will be available soon!

About the Author:

USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer writes feel-good comedies and gripping crime fiction.

A move from humour to the ‘dark side’ in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in LITTLE GIRL LOST and demonstrated that stand-up comedian Carol had found her true niche.

To date, her crime novels have sold over 750,000 copies and been translated for various overseas markets.

Carol has been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ”Irritable Male Syndrome’ and ‘Ageing Disgracefully’ and on BBC Breakfast television. She has had articles published in national magazines ‘Woman’s Weekly’, featured in ‘Take A Break’, ‘Choice’, ‘Yours’ and ‘Woman’s Own’ magazines and the Huffington Post.

She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband Mr Grumpy… who is very, very grumpy.

When she is not plotting devious murders, she can be found performing her comedy routine, Smile While You Still Have Teeth.

Social Media:

Website www.carolwyer.co.uk

Blog www.carolwyer.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolEWyer/

Twitter https://twitter.com/carolewyer

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/carolwyer

Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/carolewyer

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-wyer-407b1032

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14925467.Carol_Wyer

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj5O-lvkAYO19S0AMW8VqJQ

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2LdJpdV

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/35y4g2j

Publishing Information:

Published in paperback, digital and audio formats by Thomas & Mercer on 1st February 2021

‘Dark Truths’ by AJ Cross

I love crime fiction and was intrigued by the idea of a forensic psychologist being involved in a murder mystery – mainly, I think, because I’m not sure what a forensic psychologist is, but it sounds interesting!

This is the first in the series featuring Will Traynor helping the police with investigations and is an extremely promising start. Thanks to NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book opens with the brutal murder of a jogger on a popular trail. Her head is removed from the scene in a gruesome and horrifying twist, but forensic investigations of the nearby area uncover a whole host of other problems that need dealing with too. Detective Inspector Bernard Watts is put in charge of the investigation with an inexperienced rookie police officer, PC Chloe Judd, for support. Together, they begin to uncover the truth about the crime, aided by criminologist Will Traynor – who seems to have his own agenda.

This is a well-paced and engaging police procedural. I found that there were plenty of events and twists to keep me reading and enjoyed the interaction between the main characters – including a fabulous and likeable forensics expert, Dr Chong, who I hope features in future books. PC Chloe Judd is also an interesting character and I liked the fact that she is still learning – it was good to see a more insecure and relatable police officer starting to find her feet.

I was less sure about the character of Will Traynor. I thought that he would be more central to the investigation, but actually Watts and Judd are the key figures. He made some interesting observations on the investigation, but also seemed a bit of a liability! I’d be intrigued to see how his story is developed in future books.

Overall, this is a well-written and cleverly-plotted crime novel. I am certainly looking forward to the next book in the series by A J Cross and would recommend this to those who love a twisty police investigation.

If you’d like a copy of this book, published in paperback on 4th February 2021, please use my affiliate link below – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo with thanks to Ahmed Adly on Unsplash.

‘The Art of Death’ by David Fennell

Happy publication day to this debut novel from David Fennell!

I was in the mood for a fast-paced, tense book to break a bit of a reading slump – and this book hit the spot perfectly!

The story opens with a gruesome and shocking scene: an art installation in Trafalgar Square contains the bodies of three homeless men. DI Grace Archer, newly promoted and in an awkward situation in regards to her new team, is called to the scene and embarks on a dangerous and difficult search for a serial killer who plans more ‘art’ pieces.

There was lots I liked about this book – it was well-plotted and very tense. It certainly kept me reading as I really wanted to know how it would all pan out! I also really liked DI Grace Archer – she was tough but also realistic and it was good to see her gain control of her tricky work situation. I thought that the idea of the killer as an artist was interesting too – although the reality of the art works was rather stomach-churning!

Overall, this is a lively and pacey crime story as Grace Archer and her team race to unmask a serial killer operating openly on the streets of London. This is a confident debut and I hope that there will be more books featuring DI Archer in the future – I’d certainly like to read more.

Header photo with thanks to Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash.

‘How to Solve a Murder’ by Derek and Pauline Tremain

I’m a huge fan of crime novels and have always been interested in the truth behind the fiction! This seemed like the perfect opportunity to find out a bit more about forensic investigation from people who have spent their careers in the field – thanks to NetGalley for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was published on 21st January, 2021.

I’d already read the book ‘Unnatural Causes’ by Dr Richard Shepherd (who worked with the Tremains and who wrote the foreword for this book). I was hoping for more of the same – an insight into the cases that shaped a fascinating career choice. This book is much more about the forensic techniques than the actual cases, but it was still interesting.

The book mainly covers Derek Tremain’s career from a 15 year-old student technician at Gordon Museum (a museum of medical specimens) to working in Guy’s Hospital’s forensics department to setting up his own company dealing in body mapping of wounds for legal trials. It’s an interesting story, gruesome at times, and gives a lot of information about tests for various conditions carried out post-mortem. There’s some humorous anecdotes amid the gory details – Pauline’s coffee-making story being a very odd but funny moment!

Most of the story is told by Derek, but there are sections narrated by Pauline too – she worked at the forensics department in a secretarial role that took her way beyond the regular job. Indeed, she tells of crime scenes and mortuary visits which are interesting. However, it is difficult to tell from the layout of the book who is ‘speaking’ as the electronic version doesn’t make it clear and the perspective changes from Derek to Pauline between paragraphs sometimes.

Overall, this is an engaging read for those interested in forensics. It is perhaps a little too detailed in terms of testing procedures at times – I’d like to hear more about the cases that the Tremains worked on – but I enjoyed this and read it in a day.

Header photo with thanks to Bill Oxford on Unsplash.

An affiliate link for this book is below – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Blog Tour: ‘The Shape of Darkness’ by Laura Purcell

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Laura Purcell’s ‘The Shape of Darkness’.

This tour is organised by Random Things Tours and the book is published today (21st January)!

From the Publisher:

As the age of the photograph dawns in Victorian Bath, silhouette artist Agnes is struggling to keep her business afloat. Still recovering from a serious illness herself, making enough money to support her elderly mother and her orphaned nephew Cedric has never been easy, but then one of her clients is murdered shortly after sitting for Agnes, and then another, and another… Why is the killer seemingly targeting her business?


Desperately seeking an answer, Agnes approaches Pearl, a child spirit medium lodging in Bath with her older half-sister and her ailing father, hoping that if Pearl can make contact with those who died, they might reveal who killed them.


But Agnes and Pearl quickly discover that instead they may have opened the door to something that they can never put back.

‘Dripping with atmosphere with a corkscrew plot, Laura Purcell just gets better and better’

STACEY HALLS

‘Darkly addictive and utterly compelling. Reading Laura’s books is like watching a horror movie where you have to keep hiding behind a cushion because you dread what is coming next, but you simply have to find out!’

RUTH HOGAN

‘Wow. I think it’s her best one yet and that’s saying something. A story of a woman haunted in every way possible, I think it’s a future gothic classic’

MARTYN WAITES

My Review:

I’ve loved Laura Purcell’s previous books so I am very grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy – as always, opinions are entirely my own.

Gothic spookiness is really my thing, so I have absolutely lapped up Purcell’s previous books – I particularly liked ‘The Corset’ and ‘Bone China’ where the creepiness focused on inanimate items that seem to have more power than they should. I was expecting something similar from ‘The Shape of Darkness’, but feel that this book delivers something different altogether.

In this novel, our main character, Agnes Darken, is a silhouette artist working in early-Victorian era Bath. She has struggling health and relies on her art to support the family she has been left with after the death of her sister, Constance, a number of years earlier. However, bad things start happening to those who sit for her silhouettes and – as mysterious deaths begin to stack up – she searches for answers from a medium who seems to be able to communicate with the dead. The dead speak through a strange child, Pearl, and Agnes gets caught up in the girl’s own problems with devastating consequences.

One of the real strengths of this book is the way that Purcell ramps up the spookiness. This is a book absolutely packed with memories of the dead and their ghosts – the séance scenes are genuinely creepy and the tension is high for a lot of the novel. It certainly kept me reading as I wanted to understand the strange events and occurrences – as a life long cynic, I was desperately trying to find rational explanations for what was happening (often with no success!)

Another element that I really enjoyed was the sense of mystery – as murder mysteries are my favourite genre, I was absolutely engrossed by trying to work out who was behind the deaths and even if there was a logical pattern or set of clues to latch on to. Every time I felt that I was getting close, Purcell whipped the rug out from under my feet and I would have to start again while balancing the supernatural possibilities. There were a lot of twists and revelations and my head was spinning a bit by the end!

The period details were also well integrated into the novel – it felt like a real historical world, although I don’t know that it was specifically Bath as I don’t know that city. The gloom of the houses, the dirt and danger of the streets, the domestic details – everything felt authentic. In fact, some of it was rather stomach-churning – Pearl’s father’s illness, for example, is described in rather gruesome detail.

I did struggle a little with the fact that Agnes was not a particularly strong character – I like my protagonists with a bit more sass, whereas Agnes was weakened by her recent illness, pining for a man and seemed to mostly accept her role as subservient female. I do understand that this was the societal norm, but I longed for her to stand up and do something at times.

Overall, this is a beautifully written, well-researched and engaging Gothic novel. It hits the spot for those who like a bit of supernatural terror while also being absolutely rooted in the grim everyday realities of those living in fairly poor conditions in the 1850s. It’s cleverly plotted and will certainly keep you racing through the pages to the end.

About the Author:

Laura Purcell is a former bookseller and lives in Colchester with her husband and pet guinea pigs. Her first novel for Raven Books, The Silent Companions, was a Radio 2 and Zoe Ball ITV Book Club pick and was the winner of the WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award, while her subsequent books – The Corset and Bone China – established Laura as the queen of the sophisticated, and spooky, page-turner.

laurapurcell.com |@spookypurcell

‘The Appeal’ by Janice Hallett

Happy publication day to this fabulous crime story with a difference! With thanks to Viper Books for my gifted copy and my buddy reader, Locky Loves Books, for lots of chat along the way.

Although the book was given to me by the publisher, opinions are entirely my own.

From the Publisher:

Someone was murdered.
Someone went to prison.
And everyone’s a suspect.
Can you uncover the truth?


Dear Reader,


Enclosed are documents relating to the events surrounding the Fairway Players’ staging of All My Sons, and the tragic death of one of its members. Another member is currently in prison for the crime. We have reason to suspect that they are innocent, and that there were far darker secrets that have yet to be revealed.


We believe that the killer has given themselves away. It’s there in writing, hidden in the emails, texts, and letters. In the events surrounding the charity appeal for little Poppy Reswick, and the question of whether that money was truly being used to fund her life-saving cancer treatment. Will you accept the challenge? Can you uncover the truth? Do you dare?


The Appeal by Janice Hallett is the standout debut thriller of 2021 in which the reader is challenged to solve the crime… and predict the victim. With the small-town intrigue of The Casual Vacancy and the deft plotting of Agatha Christie, it will change the way you think about the modern crime novel.


‘An addictive read’ – Michelle Frances
‘Brilliantly original, inventive and clever’ – Phoebe Morgan


TV RIGHTS OPTIONED BY ABC STUDIOS

My Review:

Look at that strapline! ‘Someone was murdered. Someone went to prison. And everyone’s a suspect. Can you uncover the truth?’ What an intriguing prospect! I volunteered to read the book based on that alone, with absolutely no sense of what the book was actually about. Indeed, I assumed the appeal of the title was something…legal-ish?

It turns out that ‘The Appeal’ is actually about a fundraising appeal to provide medication for a sick child, Poppy Reswick. The story of the appeal and the community undertaking this charitable venture is told through a series of letters, notes, texts, transcripts and voicemails between the key players. Alongside this main focus, a lot of the community also form the theatrical group rehearsing for a production of ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller and a further sub-set are involved in the local healthcare system. Some are long-term members of the community or deeply embedded in family networks, while others are more peripheral – work colleagues, members of the Fairway Players or friends.

It’s these overlapping stories and characters that form the thrust of this book – yes, there’s a murder, but the main part of the book is getting to know the characters and the events that lead up to the killing. The reader (along with two legal trainees, Femi and Charlotte) is left to read between the lines of the communications, make assumptions and judgements and try to work out what on earth was going on!

The characters are only ever seen through their own words (in the emails, etc.) and from the perspectives of the other characters. This immediately throws up lots of questions for us armchair sleuths. Isabel seems lovely and chatty so why isn’t she liked? How does SJ get away with being so blunt? Who is caught out in lies? Who is pretending to be something they aren’t? And who is causing enough friction to set themselves up as the murder victim?

The strapline asks ‘Can you uncover the truth?’ and – for me – the answer was a very definitive no! I enthusiastically took up every red herring, went off on all kinds of irrelevant tangents and totally missed some of the biggest clues. I would make a terrible detective, it turns out.

Still, I absolutely loved this book. I got so caught up in the lives of the Fairway Players, the appeal for Poppy, the petty jealousies and rivalries within the community, that the cast started to feel like people I actually knew!

I really loved the flashes of humour in the book too – some of the minor characters are very funny and Isabel’s notes of the committee meeting are hilarious. For anyone who has ever sat through committee meetings (or tried to document them), there is so much here that is relatable. All of life is here – the people taking offense, the sniping, the power struggles, the deception, the gossip. It felt like being thrown into a community and trying to work out who might be a good friend and who to watch out for – something I really enjoyed.

I’d highly recommend this book – it’s my first 5 star read of 2021 – and suggest that you too take up the challenge. Can you uncover the truth? You could not be worse at it than me and you’ll have a lot of fun along the way!

About the Author:

Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government speechwriter. She co-wrote the psychological thriller feature film The Retreat (starring Cillian Murphy, Thandie Newton and Jamie Bell) with director Carl Tibbetts. She’s now a full-time writer of fiction in various forms, with several plays produced and scripts in development. The Appeal is her first novel.

Blog Tour: ‘Banking on Murder’ by J D Whitelaw

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Banking on Murder’ by J D Whitelaw. This cosy mystery story was published by Red Dog Press on 3rd December (who have also organised the blog tour).

With thanks to Red Dog Press and the author for my copy of the book for review – as always, opinions are entirely my own.

From the Publisher:

Martha Parker runs a small private detective agency in Glasgow with her two sisters, Helen and Geri. They specialise in catching cheating partners and those playing away from home.

The Parkers are hired by the reclusive wife of a wealthy banker she suspects is breaking their vows, but when he shows up murdered, it’s up to Martha, Helen and Geri to prove the wife’s innocence in their most dangerous case yet.

Buy Links: 

https://www.reddogpress.co.uk/product-page/banking-on-murder

Amazon

mybook.to/BankingOnMurder

My Review:

I jumped at the chance to read this cosy mystery story, the first in a new series to feature the Parker sisters as detectives and set in modern-day Glasgow.

In this novel, the detective agency run by Martha Parker and her two sisters is called upon to investigate the infidelity of a wealthy banker – his wife, who is both reclusive and slightly unstable, is sure that he is cheating but wants to know who with. As the trio begin to investigate, they realise they may have taken on more than they can cope with – especially when the banker is murdered and they are suspected of being involved by the formidable police detective in charge of the investigation.

What appealed to me about this book was the notion of sisters working together as detectives – the relationship between the three women, for me, was the strength of the book and I really enjoyed the slightly spiky sisterly teasing that comes with the sibling bond.

Of the three sisters, Martha is the eldest and the main focus of the novel. She is forty and has a family of her own (although we don’t see them much). Next is Helen who is 30 and the academic of the family, and then there is Geri, in her early 20s and the slightly loose cannon.

The sisters are so different and have been well-developed in their own rights so that the reader engages with them as individuals. I particularly liked Martha, slightly baffled to be middle-aged and trying to be the responsible one (but maybe my preference is linked to my own age!) The scenes with the sisters bickering about various things were my favourites – from Geri’s social life, Helen’s party faux pas and Martha’s dress sense, no topic was out of bounds and this felt absolutely relatable to my own family! This also added a humour to the story which I really liked.

The story is well plotted and engaging. While I never felt that there was any true peril, there are some tense bits and it certainly kept me interested throughout – more so because of the detectives than because of the murder victim or his wife, both of whom seemed pretty unpleasant.

The backdrop of the city of Glasgow was an interesting and appealing choice – especially the wealth of the banking area and the penthouse apartments contrasting with the less salubrious areas of the city.

I’d recommend this to anyone who likes cosy crime with appealing leads. As the Parker sisters bicker and banter their way through the investigation, you will be sure to keep turning the pages.

About the Author:

J.D. Whitelaw is an author, journalist and broadcaster. After working on the frontline of Scottish politics, he moved into journalism. Subjects he has covered have varied from breaking news, the arts, culture and sport to fashion, music and even radioactive waste – with everything in between. He’s also a regular reviewer and talking head on shows for the BBC. Banking on Murder is the first of three Parker sister novels. They follow his hugely successful HellCorp series. His debut in 2015 was the critically acclaimed Morbid Relations.

Blog Tour: ‘Out for Blood’ by Deborah Masson

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Out for Blood’ by Deborah Masson. This book will be released in paperback by Corgi on 10th December, 2020, but the e-book is available now.

This blog tour was organised by the fabulous Random Things Tours.

From the Publisher

THE RETURN OF DI EVE HUNTER: DI Eve Hunter is back in the edge-of-your-seat new detective thriller from Deborah Masson, winning author of the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2020.


A young man, the son of an influential businessman, is discovered dead in his central Aberdeen apartment.

Hours later, a teenaged girl with no identification is found hanged in a suspected suicide.


As DI Eve Hunter and her team investigate the two cases, they find themselves in a tug-of-war between privilege and poverty; between the elite and those on the fringes of society.


Then an unexpected breakthrough leads them to the shocking conclusion: that those in power have been at the top for too long – and now, someone is going to desperate lengths to bring them down…


Can they stop someone who is dead set on revenge, no matter the cost

READERS ARE OBSESSED WITH THE DI EVE HUNTER SERIES


‘Out For Blood has everything you need in a crime thriller and more’ – Rebecca Bradley


‘DI Eve Hunter is truly a force to be reckoned with’ – David Jackson


‘This is first-class crime fiction’ – Marion Todd


‘Not to be missed, edge-of-the-seat stuff from a genuine rising star’ – Denzil Meyrick


‘One of the best books I’ve ever read!’


‘I loved DI Eve Hunter and her team’


‘Without a doubt the best police procedural I have read in a long time’


‘I cannot wait to see what else is to come in the DI Eve Hunter series’


‘You won’t want to stop reading this addictive crime novel’


‘Fantastic characters that you’ll fall in love with – I really couldn’t put this book down!’


‘Can’t wait for the next one . . . and the next one . . . and the next one!

My Review

This is the second book in the series featuring DI Eve Hunter. I absolutely loved the first in the series – ‘Hold Your Tongue’ – and this is a worthy sequel.

The story opens with the death of a young man in a flat in an exclusive area of Aberdeen. At the same time, a young woman is found dead at a golf course in the city – it would appear to be a suicide, but there are some questions over the circumstances. DI Eve Hunter and her team are called in to investigate both deaths and start to make connections with some very powerful men and a previous police investigation.

I really liked the idea behind this novel – the fact that power at the highest level of society isn’t without corruption. This made for a compelling read as I was keen to find out what happened to the men in power and why.

DI Eve Hunter is an appealing and feisty protagonist – she has temper problems and doesn’t always have the best judgement which is refreshing and real. She has strength, but also she can be vulnerable, and her personal life doesn’t crowd out the crime story (as sometimes happens in police procedural series).

Another strength is DI Hunter’s team. They are also appealing and have identities in their own rights which is refreshing – too often, in books like this, the police team surrounding the main investigator tend to blend together, but this doesn’t happen here. They are individually interesting and likeable.

The story is well plotted and pacey – I was keen to race through to the end to find out what happened and was not disappointed at any point. It isn’t as gruesome as the first book in the series or quite as tense, but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment!

Overall, this is highly recommended to readers who enjoy a solid police procedural with a strong female lead. It’s perhaps not quite as edge-of-your-seat tense as the first one in the series, but it is engaging and compelling. I really look forward to the next one in the series.

About the Author:

Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen, Scotland. Always restless and fighting against being a responsible adult, she worked in several jobs including secretarial, marketing, reporting for the city’s freebie newspaper and a stint as a postie – to name but a few.


Through it all, she always read crime fiction and, when motherhood finally settled her into being an adult (maybe even a responsible one) she turned her hand to writing what she loved. Deborah started with short stories and flash fiction whilst her daughter napped and, when she later welcomed her son into the world, she decided to challenge her writing further through online courses with Professional Writing Academy and Faber Academy. Her debut novel, Hold Your Tongue, is the result of those courses.


Hold Your Tongue has been widely well reviewed by readers and authors alike, with many comparing her favourably to Stuart MacBride. It won the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year 2020 and was longlisted for CWA New Blood Dagger 2020.