Tag: murder

Blog Tour: ‘Silent Graves’ by Sally Rigby

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Sally Rigby’s ‘Silent Graves’, the ninth book in the Cavendish and Walker crime fiction series.

This tour was organised by the lovely Emma at Damp Pebbles and I’d like to thank her and the author for my free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was published in paperback and digital formats on 15th January 2021.

Book Blurb:

Nothing remains buried forever…

When the bodies of two teenage girls are discovered on a building site, DCI Whitney Walker knows she’s on the hunt for a killer. The problem is the murders happened forty years ago and this is her first case with the new team. What makes it even tougher is that with budgetary restrictions in place, she only has two weeks to solve it.

Once again, she enlists the help of forensic psychologist Dr Georgina Cavendish, but as she digs deeper into the past, she uncovers hidden truths that hurtle through the decades and into the present.

Silent Graves is the ninth book in the acclaimed Cavendish & Walker series. Perfect for fans of L J Ross, J M Dalgleish and Rachel Abbott.

My Review:

I love police procedurals and doubly so when there’s a strong female lead – so I jumped at the chance to join this blog tour.

I hadn’t read any of this series before (this is the ninth book) but I managed just fine with it. This book works well as a stand alone – everything relevant is explained.

The opening pages introduce us to DCI Whitney Walker who is about to meet her new team in the shiny new Lenchester police station. She’s worked with some of them before, but there are new additions and she has a new boss – all very unnerving for her, but useful for those of us catching up with who’s who!

The team’s first case comes about when two bodies are found on farmland that is being developed for a housing estate. The two skeletons present a problem – this is clearly a historical case and there will be limited forensic evidence. When the bodies are established to be connected to the 1980 disappearance of two teenage girls, Walker and her team are faced with the difficulties of investigating a cold case with limited time – Lenchester Police are unwilling to fund a long investigation that might ultimately lead nowhere…

This is a solid police procedural with a good range of characters – Walker’s team are an interesting bunch, all recognisably real and human, from the slightly cocky new DS who has big career plans to the timid researcher whose brilliant work gets overshadowed by her more confident teammates.

Walker herself is also engaging – although she is slightly prickly and would be terrifying to actually work for, I think! Her friendship with Dr Georgina Cavendish, a forensic psychologist and another spiky character, is well developed and the two women have complementary skills that further the investigation.

I have no clue as to whether this is a realistic portrayal of police work – I did have a few questions – but it is an enjoyable and well-plotted police procedural. I thought there would be issues with keeping the momentum going on a 40 year-old case, but this is well managed and I was keen to keep reading.

I would recommend this to lovers of crime fiction with a strong (female) detective at the helm. It isn’t gruesome or full of peril, but it is an engaging and interesting read – and equally accessible whether you are a die-hard Cavendish and Walker fan or (like me) brand new to the series.

About the Author:

Sally Rigby was born in Northampton, in the UK. She has always had the travel bug, and after living in both Manchester and London, eventually moved overseas. From 2001 she has lived with her family in New Zealand (apart from five years in Australia), which she considers to be the most beautiful place in the world. After writing young adult fiction for many years, under a pen name, Sally decided to move into crime fiction. Her Cavendish & Walker series brings together two headstrong, and very different, women – DCI Whitney Walker, and forensic psychologist Dr Georgina Cavendish. Sally has a background in education, and has always loved crime fiction books, films and TV programmes. She has a particular fascination with the psychology of serial killers.


Check out her website for a FREE prequel story….. www.sallyrigby.com  

Social Media:

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Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/373TnGQ

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/39ZDwL1

‘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: ‘Foul Play’ card game

Something a bit different on the blog today – a blog tour stop for a new murder mystery card game!

This blog tour has been arranged by Damp Pebbles Blog Tours – with thanks to After Dark for my copy of the game in exchange for an honest review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.

From the Game Creators:

FOUL PLAY

The Murder Mystery Card Game

The Manor House Murder

A game for 2 – 5 players | Age 14 +

£8.95 + p&p

www.foulplaygame.co.uk

Facebook : @afterdarkmystery | Twitter : @afterdarkmurder | Instagram : @afterdarkmurder

Email : info@afterdarkmurder.co.uk

The Game

Welcome to Edwardian England. The Lord of the Manor is dead! The servants are our lead suspects and it’s up to you to unearth the evidence, seek out the suspects and catch the culprit in order to scupper the other sleuths, and win this game of murder!

There’s more than one way to catch a killer though. So what’s it gonna be? Good Cop or Bad Cop? These two game versions come with their own set of rules and tactics to crack the case and finger your suspect, but will you use fair play or FOUL PLAY?

The Game is Afoot! Playing as detective, you’ll need to find the three evidence cards that point to a specific suspect in order to catch a killer in this crazy criminal caper. Will you uncover them in the crime scene? Could the other detectives be willing to collaborate and share their findings? Or will you resort to more tricky tactics, and plunder the proof you need to solve this crime?

History of Foul Play

What’s a Murder Mystery Events Company to do?

With a pandemic sweeping the nation and no sign of being able to perform their confounding criminal cabarets or incredible interactive investigations any time soon, they needed to come up with a plan, another way to provide mystery to the masses (and provide income to keep themselves afloat)!

Well, lockdown does strange things to people, especially actors who can’t go out and perform. So one fateful evening, Ben & Lee Cooper-Muir decided to come up with a whole new way to murder people. Keeping their cards close to their chests they plotted and schemed until Foul Play : The Murder Mystery Card Game was born. So, what to do next? This is where After Dark enters the picture. After all, Ben and Lee were two of the operators of the infamous murder mystery company. Maybe they could collaborate to bring the game to the masses. When Lockdown restrictions were eased a top-secret meeting was held with the other criminal masterminds behind After Dark, Helen Burrows, Sophie Webster & Tom Fisher and a pact was made. The game would be launched and licensed under the After Dark banner.  In true After Dark style, the team burst into action and then began the beta testing, design updates, promotional planning, character changes, proofing, proofing and more proofing until finally all the kinks were ironed out, mysteries solved, and FOUL PLAY came to life!

We hope you enjoy playing it, and although we all hope to be back performing soon, WATCH THIS SPACE! Now we know we can create and produce games we’ve got a lot more fun things planned for the future! 

My Review:

I jumped at the chance to review a murder mystery card game on my blog – my family love a game and Cluedo is a favourite so I hoped we would enjoy this one.

The premise is easy to understand – you either play the ‘good cop’ version where you race to find the culprit, or ‘bad cop’ mode where you try to frame anyone you can!

We played the first go through as a bit of a dummy run but that was all we needed – after this, even my 10 year-old took to the game quickly and had no problems following play. The trickiest bit was working out the playing space with the ‘crime scene’ and other piles of cards. We did find the ‘bad cop’ version a bit easier to follow for the children though as this was more about collecting combinations of cards and so a bit simpler than competing to deduce the single solution in the ‘good cop’ mode.

The game itself isn’t complicated but takes a bit of brain-work and following the cards held by other players – if you lose concentration then you are in for a frustrating time as you chase clues and try to avoid the useless red herrings!

The game cards are well made and the illustrations are appealing – I loved the range of culprits and the way that the clues gradually narrow them down based on their clothes, physical appearance and other items in their pictures.

We played mainly as a 3 – me and my 12 year-old son and 10 year-old daughter. This worked really well and we had a lot of fun stealing clues from each other, collaborating or passing off the dreaded red herrings. The game worked well as a game for 4 too on the occasion we managed to rope in my husband for a round.

The game is suggested for those aged 14+ but my children had no problems picking up the game and there was no unsuitable content – nothing they aren’t already familiar with through Cluedo, anyway. In fact, my daughter won every single game we have played so far which is either incredible luck or more skill than the rest of us have!

I’d recommend this as a fun family card game. It doesn’t take long to learn to play and I think it has plenty of scope for repeated playing – each round would be different and varied. It certainly was a winner with my family and will be a game we play many more times over this Christmas period.

‘The Butcher of Berner Street’ by Alex Reeve

This is the third book in the series featuring Leo Stanhope, a hospital porter turned journalist living with a big secret that could jeopardise everything he has worked for. This series, set in Victorian London, has been a treat from the beginning and this is another satisfying instalment.

This book will be published on 12th November, 2020.

This story follows Leo as he investigates a murder in a backstreet gaff, a low-rent wrestling venue packed with it’s own cast of tough men, dodgy management and street urchins looking for shelter. Leo, struggling to make his name on the front pages of the newspaper, writes an article that gets all the wrong sort of attention and finds himself caught up in something he cannot control or understand.

The story here is pacey and there are plenty of false turns and red herrings to keep readers guessing. The setting is appropriately seedy and the characters interesting.

What will appeal to readers returning to the series is the cast of Leo’s friends – Rosie and her pie shop, Alfie and Constance, Jacob and family, even the familiar Constable Pallett – who are all here.

This probably could be read as a stand alone novel, but I would really recommend that you start at the beginning of the series as there is so much to enjoy for lovers of historical fiction.

If you would like a copy of this book, please use my affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog! I’ve also added a link for ‘The House on Half Moon Street’ in case you wanted to start at the beginning of the series:

Header photo with thanks to SHOT for sharing their work on Unsplash.

‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton

I knew that this book would be so entirely my thing that I pre-ordered myself a gorgeous hardback copy because I couldn’t wait to see whether the NetGalley elves would be kind enough to grant me an ARC!

I loved Turton’s previous book, ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’, and was awaiting this one eagerly.

And I was right. It is so entirely my thing!

The story is set in 1634 on board a ship sailing from Batavia (in the Dutch East Indies) to Amsterdam. On board the Saardam, one of a fleet of seven ships sailing together, are an odd group of shipmates, including the governor general and his family, his mistress, a famed detective and his bodyguard, There’s also a whole host of unpredictable and bloodthirsty crew members, some musketeers and a mysterious cargo consigned to be watched over at all hours.

A horrific incident at the docks before boarding has rattled them all and introduced the idea of Old Tom, a demon under whose malign influence the Saardam is predicted to fall. When things on board the ship start to go wrong – often in disturbing and horrific ways – the ship seems doomed and all lives in danger.

With the celebrated detective locked in a holding cell for a crime he may have committed, it falls to two unlikely passengers on the ship to unravel the dark events that threaten the voyage.

I loved this book from the beginning when we are first introduced to Arent Hayes (bodyguard) and his master, Sammy Phipps – the celebrated detective who has more than a shadow of Sherlock Holmes about him. Powers of deduction? Tick. Widespread renown due to his sidekick’s reporting of his exploits? Tick. Slightly hedonistic tendencies when bored? Tick. It is fair to say, I was bought into this from the start!

When Sammy is confined to the cell, Arent becomes the main focus for the story and he is an interesting character in himself. Out of the shadow of his famous master, we see a man struggling to have the courage of his own convictions. He is someone who is more known for brawn than brain, although this seems unfair as the novel progresses and Arent is forced to use his intelligence as well as his strength. He is a realistic character with a shady past and I found myself really wanting him to prove himself.

Aside from Arent, what I loved about this book were the strong female characters. Sara Wessel, wife of the governor general of Batavia, is the main one who comes to the fore and she is a formidable woman, albeit one with contradictions. On the one hand, she is a clever, spirited woman with a talent for healing, but she is also subject to a domineering and violent husband and living in what essentially is a gilded cage. She makes a brilliant heroine because she is both so good and yet so plagued with her own problems too.

The setting of this book was also part of its considerable appeal for me. Although I can’t claim to know much about the East India Company and the technical details of the Indiaman ships, it felt authentic – the historical research was lightly worn and never felt laboured at all. Indeed, Turton claims (in a note at the end of the book) that ‘this is historical fiction where the history is the fiction’, but it all felt right to me and I was happy to be carried along in the wake of the compelling plot while admiring the history along the way! In fact, it has made me want to read more about the East India Company and this time period, so I’ve since bought ‘The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company’ by William Dalrymple which I hope will enlighten me further.

I think it needs to be said that ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ is a very dark book – the clue is in the title! It probably isn’t for the faint at heart as there are murders, fights, gruesome injuries, tales of abuse and lashings administered on the ship. When a story opens with a dying leper, you know there’s more horrific things to come! Still, none of the violence ever felt gratuitous and it added to the authenticity of the danger of the high seas.

It’s really hard to say more about the plot without giving spoilers, which I absolutely don’t want to do. Let’s just say that the twists and turns are there, everything is cleverly plotted and the final resolution is satisfying. Given that I didn’t know if I was reading a historical crime novel or a supernatural mystery, it’s safe to say I had no clue where everything would end up. However, there is lots to keep any reader occupied and I raced through the pages looking for clues.

I’d recommend this highly to anyone who enjoys locked room mysteries, historical fiction, strong female leads, supernatural creepiness, claustrophobic thrillers, a nautical slant to proceedings… there really is something for everyone and an awful lot of ground covered.

As a seasoned reader of mysteries, I thought there was little left that could genuinely surprise me, but Stuart Turton has proved me wrong. Bravo!

As well as my lovely hardback copy of this book from ‘Forbidden Planet’ (there’s even a map of the ship – I was sold on that alone, to be honest!), I received a free e-copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you’d like your own copy of this excellent, dark mystery, please use my affiliate link below – I earn a small commission on any purchases at no additional cost to you.

And in case you’re interested in the East India Company further (like I was), here’s a link to ‘The Anarchy’ as mentioned in my review. This one was shortlisted for the non-fiction award by the rather marvellous Historical Writers’ Association and they know their history!

Blog Tour: ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir

Welcome to my stop on the Random Things Tours blog tour for ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir.

This is the first in a new ‘Forbidden Iceland’ series and was published on 1st October, 2020 by Orenda Books. It is translated into English by Victoria Cribb.

From the Publisher

‘An exciting and harrowing tale from one of Iceland’s rising stars’ Ragnar Jónasson

The first in the electrifying new Forbidden Iceland series, ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ is an exquisitely written, claustrophobic and chillingly atmospheric debut thriller byone of Iceland’s most exciting new talents


When the body of a woman is discovered at a lighthouse in the Icelandic town of Akranes, it soon becomes clear that she’s no stranger to the area.


Chief Investigating Officer Elma, who has returned to Akranes following a failed relationship, and her colleagues Sævar and Hörður, commence an uneasy investigation, which uncovers a shocking secret in the dead woman’s past that continues to reverberate in the present day…


But as Elma and her team make a series of discoveries, they bring to light a host of long-hidden crimes that shake the entire community. Sifting through the rubble of the townspeople’s shattered memories, they have to dodge increasingly serious threats, and find justice … before it’s too late.

My Review

I love crime fiction and have made a few forays into Nordic Noir, although this was the first book I’ve read set in Iceland. It certainly won’t be my last trip to the Land of Fire and Ice.

I’ll admit to being intrigued by the premise of this book – a murder at a remote lighthouse that starts to uncover the secrets of the town. I also love a book with a female detective, so this ticked boxes for me too.

The story moves between the investigation into the 2017 murder of a woman in the small Icelandic town of Akranes with a voice from the the late 1980s/early 1990s narrating a tragic family story. At first it isn’t evident how the strands fit together but, as it becomes clear, the reader is pulled into the backstory that has led to the murder at the lighthouse.

One of the real strengths of the story is the main character, Chief Investigating Officer Elma. She has returned to Akranes, where she grew up, following the break-up of a relationship (something I sense will become more of a feature of future books – I know the second book in the series is already being translated by Orenda Books, so we shall see Elma again).

We get to view Elma more clearly than anyone else in the book, including her dysfunctional relationship with her sister, her hangovers and potential love interests. She is a charming and realistic character and her interactions with her work team, family and various people associated with the case seem authentic.

Another real strength is the plotting. The narrative device of alternating between the past and modern-day voices is interesting, but it also means that a lot of information is given that suddenly falls into place later in the novel. The early parts of the novel do seem a little slow, but they work brilliantly to set up a pervasive sense of foreboding that the reader never really escapes until the pace picks up towards the denouement. All very understated, but it really adds to the sense of claustrophobia in the small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.

I really loved the setting of the book – Elma has left Reykjavik CID and is back in the town that she grew up in, so we experience the oppression of small-town life just as she does. We hear the gossip of a small community, see the close (but not always easy) relationships of people who have always known each other and experience the uncovering of secrets bubbling just under the surface. Akranes itself seems like a remote setting – a port town with a small population – that is perfect for this kind of story.

I think it is worth saying that the story is very dark – obviously expected in the genre, but it does sometimes make for uncomfortable reading – especially in the 1980s/1990s narrative which is a child’s perspective. Having a child relate some horrific elements makes the story very chilling at times.

Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime fiction with a dark heart. The sense of tension that builds gradually makes for compulsive reading – before you know it, you will be racing through to see where the story goes! It isn’t an easy read because of the dark themes, but it is cleverly plotted, engagingly told and has a heroine that you will want to see again in book two.

About the Author

Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva moved to Trondheim, Norway to study her MSc in Globalisation when she was 25. After moving back home having completed her MSc, she knew it was time to start working on her novel. Eva has wanted to write books since she was 15 years old, having won a short story contest in Iceland.


Eva worked as a stewardess to make ends meet while she wrote her first novel. The book went on to win the Blackbird Award and became an Icelandic bestseller.

Eva now lives with her husband and three children in Reykjavík, staying at home with her youngest until she begins Kindergarten.

‘The Postscript Murders’ by Elly Griffiths

This book will be published on 1st October so time to get a pre-order in now!

In what seems to be turning into a recurring theme for me, I came to this book not realising it was second in the series featuring Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur.

Luckily for me, this one works as a stand alone novel really rather well! The novel opens with the death of an old lady in a flat overlooking Shoreham sea front. She is found by her carer, Natalka, who – along with another elderly resident of the block of flats and the local coffee shack owner – become the unlikely sleuths in a case that starts to spiral.

The key to the mystery seems to lie in the lady’s past and, in particular, her provision of consultancy services on murder methods to writers. DS Kaur leads the investigation into the possible murder and finds herself caught up in a literary puzzle.

This was an enjoyable and light read – very much in the realm of cosy crime as there’s nothing graphic or particularly perilous here. Instead, it’s a quite lovely tale of how some unlikely characters forge relationships and support each other. In particular, DS Kaur’s Sikh family were great – warm and likeable – so I hope they appear more in future outings. I wouldn’t say the events were particularly realistic but it’s a clever premise and I was happy to be drawn along in its slipstream.

Overall, this is a rather gentle but engaging mystery. For all its cosiness, I’d still say that it has plenty of surprises and twists that make it enjoyable for fans of this genre.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Header photo with thanks to Art Lasovsky for sharing their work on Unsplash.

‘Keeper’ by Jessica Moor

In all the excitement of setting up my blog and all the new releases, I feel that I’ve not shared my reviews on some absolutely outstanding (but slightly older) books.

This book was released in March 2020 and was one of my five star ARCs of 2019.

I really didn’t know what to expect from this, but wow! This is a well-written and pacy thriller that will not be forgotten easily. It’s shocking, sad, tragic…but more than anything made me feel so angry. Just as the writer intended, I think.

The story begins with the body of a young woman, Katie Straw, being recovered from a river in a small town somewhere outside Manchester. The police recognise that it’s probably a suicide, but they just need to check out a few things to close the case. The narrative then splits between the investigation in the ‘Now’ sections of the book and Katie’s life leading up to her death (‘Then’). In this strand, a much darker theme of domestic abuse rears its head and the novel becomes almost unbearable in its inevitability.

However, this is so much more than your average thriller. It is unflinching and quite unsettling in its portrayal of the trauma suffered by the women in the novel. The women’s refuge featured is at once a safe space but also precarious and underfunded. The women residents are flawed and realistic, their decisions often poor and their thinking blurred by their suffering.

It made me angry, I think, because it was so believable; this does happen every day and the statistics about women being killed by their domestic partners speak for themselves. But how do you help or understand women who repeatedly return to or excuse their abusers?

I raced through this book and recommend it highly. It will make you absolutely furious that this happens, but it’s a clever and an engaging read too and recognises some important issues. It’s much darker than my usual reads, but I am so glad I chose it give it a try.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Header photo with thanks to Sydney Sims for sharing their work on Unsplash.

‘Their Silent Graves’ by Carla Kovach

Happy publication day to this excellent police procedural!

This is the seventh book in the DI Gina Harte series and it is one of the best. I picked up the series at Book 3 and am never disappointed with any of the novels, but this book is excellent – just the right mix of tension and terror!

This one really isn’t ideal for the claustrophobic – a killer is on the loose in Cleevesford who is burying people alive in coffins. The victims are left with three matches and a string attached to a bell with no clapper so the victim will never be heard while thinking they have a lifeline – fiendish! It’s a terrifying idea and one that DI Gina Harte is personally horrified by as it reminds her of being incarcerated during her abusive marriage to Terry, mentioned in previous books. When a second body is found, Harte and her team have to race against time to identify the links between the victims; this will, ultimately, lead to more potential victims that need protecting, as well as the killer themselves.

What makes this book stand out for me is the way that Cleevesford is starting to feel like a familiar and developed community – Harte’s team, the various locations and the geography of the town are all coming together in my head and becoming much more real. This is especially true in this book as the settings are perhaps more varied than previously – we whisk between the police station, the graveyard, woods and plenty of other places (no spoilers!) with real pace and purpose.

The other strength to this novel is the tension that Kovach creates as we experience the terror of the serial killer’s victims (and Harte herself). This isn’t new to the series, but seems ramped up here as victims have time to realise their fate before their death. This is truly sinister and creepy and the stuff of nightmares – perfect for a novel written about Halloween and during our shared confinement of lockdown.

I think this book could easily be read as a standalone, although I’d really recommend that you start at the beginning to fully understand Harte’s situation with her abusive husband and tentative relationship with her colleague Briggs. However, this is one book in the series where the personal lives of the police team are more in the background than some of the previous books so it’s not essential.

Overall, this is a strong police procedural with real menace. I’d recommend this to fans of crime writers such as Cara Hunter, Rachel Lynch and MJ Arlidge. It will keep you turning the pages and isn’t one you will forget for quite a while!

I received a free copy of the novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Header photo with thanks to David Menidrey for sharing their work on Unsplash.