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Blog Tour: ‘We Are All Liars’ by Carys Jones

Thanks to NetGalley and Orion for my copy of this book for review and my place on the blog tour.

From the Publisher:

We’re best friends.
We trust each other.
But…

We are all liars.

Allie, Stacie, Diana, Emily and Gail have been by each other’s sides for as long as they can remember. The Fierce Five. Best friends forever. But growing up has meant growing apart. And little white lies have grown into devastating secrets.

When Gail invites the increasingly estranged friends to reunite at her Scottish cabin, it could be the opportunity to mend old wounds and heal the cracks in their friendship. But when a freak snowstorm rocks the cabin and one of the girls is found dead on the ice, their weekend away becomes a race against time – and each other – to get off the mountain alive.

Book Review: ‘Deep Cover’ by Leigh Russell

I am always up for a good police procedural and jumped at the chance to read this – I’d heard so many good things about this series which focuses on DI Geraldine Steel. Thanks to No Exit Press for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: ‘The Christie Affair’ by Nina de Gramont

I love crime novels – especially Agatha Christie’s – so jumped at the chance to read this fictionalised account of the period during 1926 when Christie disappeared for 11 days. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy of this book, to be published in January 2022.

Book Review: ‘Lying Ways’ by Rachel Lynch

It’s no secret that I love DI Kelly Porter so a new book from Rachel Lynch is always a treat. This is the ninth in the series – a great series that I’ve followed since the start.

This book is centered on HMP Highton, a prison in a remote bit of the already pretty remote Lake District. When a newly released convict is found tortured and killed shortly after leaving Highton, DI Kelly Porter and her team are horrified at the brutality of the crime. When a second ex-convict is killed in similar circumstances, it seems that there is a dangerous killer on the loose…but the leads keep taking the team back within the prison walls.

Blog Tour: ‘The Woman in the Wood’ by M. K. Hill

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for ‘The Woman in the Wood’, the second book in the series featuring DI Sasha Dawson.

Thanks to Random Things Tours and Head of Zeus for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was published in hardback in March 2021 – this blog tour coincides with the paperback publication.

From the Publisher:

A reality TV star becomes a suspect in an Essex murder case in the sharp, funny and moving new thriller from M.K. Hill.

Three years ago, Danny ‘Abs’ Cruikshank, star of reality show ‘Laid in Essex!’, was living the dream. And then, on the night of the party, everything changed.

It was supposed to be an intimate weekend gathering. Just a few close friends in a remote cottage in Wales. But after a night of heavy drinking in the village pub, a local girl was reported missing, presumed dead. Abs and his friends had been the last to see her alive.

No-one was ever charged, but the controversy destroyed Abs’s career. So now, three years later, the celebrity who once captured the heart of millions is opening Southend’s new branch of Quidstore. And then one of Abs’s mates is murdered. Does someone know what really happened that night in Wales?

DI Sasha Dawson and her team must race against the clock to find the killer before they strike again – but first she must discover what happened to Rhiannon Jenkins on the night she vanished. Will the truth set Abs free? Or bury him?

My Review:

Crime fiction is my go-to genre so I was delighted to get a place on the blog tour for ‘The Woman in the Wood’ by M. K. Hill. I haven’t read the first book in the DI Sasha Dawson series, but this works beautifully as a stand alone.

The novel opens with the death of a man on Hockley Station and DI Sasha Dawson of Essex Police is called in to investigate. She recognises the victim’s name from a list of people questioned about the disappearance of a young woman in Wales three years previously – a disappearance that made headline news as a star of reality TV show ‘Laid in Essex!’, ‘Abs’ Cruikshank, was also questioned.

As Sasha and her team look deeper into the events surrounding the mysterious death, it seems that Abs and his friends are again going to be forced back into the spotlight…

When I picked up the book, I hadn’t really registered the Essex connection – it was lovely to read a book about the areas I grew up in, even if the events are slightly sinister! Hockley, Hadleigh, Southend, Chelmsford…I could picture it all! Even the reality TV dimension – here ‘Laid in Essex!’ – was familiar to me; anyone who has lived in Essex has surely been repeatedly asked if they know ‘Sugar Hut’ in Brentwood, the club featured in ‘The Only Way is Essex’. Reality TV and Essex – it seems – go hand in hand in people’s minds.

(Answer: no, I’ve never been there, Sorry).

Essex connection aside, I could not put this book down. I have cooked meals, done chores and generally ignored my family in the company of DI Sasha Dawson!

One of the real strengths of the book is the plotting. As the novel progresses, we find out more about the fateful night in Wales when the young woman went missing and this thread is cleverly entwined with the present-day lives of those who were there. There were so many twists and turns on the way through this story that I’m surprised I don’t have whiplash! There are some really tense moments too as the characters fight for survival against an unknown threat.

I also really liked the character of DI Sasha Dawson – she’s a likeable, slightly workaholic forty-something who is juggling her stressful job with family life. I could definitely relate to Sasha, although I wasn’t sure whether references to her family tragedy perhaps relate to the first book in the series. Definitely one I need to look into!

Overall, I thought this was a clever and engaging police procedural. The supposedly glamorous reality TV element is interesting but never overshadows the grim truth of the murder investigation – and the race to the finale is proper heart-in-mouth territory. I’d recommend this to anyone who likes their crime novels packed with tension, twists and turns – there is so much to get your teeth into here.

About the Author:

Mark Hill was a journalist and an award-winning music radio producer before becoming a full-time writer. The first novel in the Sasha Dawson series, ‘The Bad Place’, was described as ‘everything a police procedural should be’ by The Times, who also named it as their Crime Book of the Month. He lives in London.

Book Review: ‘The Midnight Hour’ by Elly Griffiths

I love historical crime and this series ticks all the boxes for me (if we are OK with calling the 1960s ‘historical’!) – this isn’t my first book in this series and so I knew more or less what to expect. I wasn’t disappointed and actually think this is one of the stronger instalments in the series.

Book Review: ‘The Chateau’ by Catherine Cooper

I devoured Cooper’s first novel, ‘The Chalet’ in one sitting during a heatwave – and I’m pleased to report that ‘The Chateau’ was every bit as gripping! This is another one that I sailed through with remarkable speed.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Tour: ‘Cold Sun’ by Anita Sivakumaran

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Cold Sun’ by Anita Sivakumaran, a lively and engaging police procedural set in Bangalore.

With thanks to Random Things Tours and Dialogue Books for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

From the Publisher:

‘Cold Sun is a stylish and exuberant, fish-out-of-water, crime thriller… A wonderfully observed, whip-smart, India-set thriller.’
Amer Anwar, author of Brothers in Blood and Stone Cold Trouble

Bangalore. Three high-profile women murdered, their bodies draped in identical red saris.

When the killer targets the British Foreign Minister’s ex-wife, Scotland Yard sends the troubled, brilliant DI Vijay Patel to lend his expertise to the Indian police investigation.

Stranger in a strange land, ex-professional cricketer Patel must battle local resentment and his own ignorance of his ancestral country, while trying to save his failing relationship back home.

Soon, the killer’s eyes will turn to Patel. And also to Chandra Subramanium, the fierce female detective he is working with in Bangalore.

This breathless thriller will keep you guessing until the final, shocking revelation.

My Review:

I’ve read a few police procedurals set in India – both Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee write fabulous crime novels set in the country.

However, what appealed to me with ‘Cold Sun’ was the idea of a British Indian detective helping to solve a crime in Bangalore. DI Vijay Patel of Scotland Yard is sent in to investigate a series of high-profile murders and finds himself totally lost in India’s policing practices. Kind of a bit ‘Death in Paradise’ but grittier and in India!

DI Vijay Patel is called in when three high-profile women (one of them the British Foreign Minister’s ex-wife, hence the UK link) are killed. There are key similarities between the crimes and each of the women is clothed in a red sari when she is found. Patel needs to work with the often-hostile local police in order to stop a killer before they strike again…

I really liked the way that DI Patel was forced into a balancing act and his position was continually precarious. He has to work hard to gain the trust of the local police while finding their policing methods alien. He works hard not to trample on Indian customs while really struggling with his lack of awareness of his own ancestral heritage. All of this makes him quite a sympathetic character, even as the reader watches him make some huge errors and faux pas.

For me, the character of Chandra Subramanium was one of the real strengths of the novel. I loved that this tough, feisty female detective is partnered with Patel and they make an extremely unlikely pairing – she gets things done in often unconventional ways, while he is much more used to softer policing methods. I really enjoyed the relationship building between the two characters and hope that we will see more of them in future books.

The Indian setting is vibrant and vivid – regular visitors to my blog know that I’m all about the setting! I really enjoyed being immersed in a culture and place so different from rainy Cheshire in August. There was a sense of the heat and the dust, the poverty and colour, the people and customs of Bangalore. I’m a huge fan of novels that can transport me to other places so this was a hig bonus.

The plotting of the novel is well done – it was suitable twisty so that I didn’t guess the denouement at all, even as the book was racing towards its conclusion. I found myself caught up in the story and wanting to read on as the tension was ramped up and the stakes became ever higher.

I’d recommend this to lovers of police procedurals, those who enjoy a ‘fish-out-of-water’ detective, those who love immersive settings, those who like strong female characters…just about everyone really. There is plenty to enjoy in this clever and tense thriller – and I hope to read more by this talented writer.

About the Author:

Anita Sivakumaran was born in Madras and has lived in the UK since 2004. Her historical novel, The Queen, based on real events, has been made into a major television series. Cold Sun is her first novel in the DI Patel detective series.

Book Review: ‘The Dark’ by Emma Haughton

As I’m much too ginger to really enjoy the sun, I’ve developed a bit of a fascination with cold places. Holidays in Alaska, Russia or Norway – count me in! With that in mind, it was the setting of Antarctica that brought me to this book – and I am so glad it did.

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The story opens with Kate, our main character and a medical doctor, arriving at a research station in the Antarctic. She has her own reasons for taking the remote job and steps at short notice into a role recently held by a doctor who died in an accident on the ice. As the team shrinks down to core staff for the winter, only 13 people remain at the facility, When that number becomes 12, Kate begins to question whether the death is part of a bigger picture. Not knowing who she can trust, she begins a dangerous investigation…

This is a genuinely tense and exciting thriller – I couldn’t put it down as I watched Kate navigate her way through some excruciatingly tense events and situations. Given the fact that Kate is herself an unreliable narrator (not a spoiler), I was drawn into guessing and second-guessing all the time. I didn’t manage to get anywhere near the solution but I had a lot of fun trying.

The setting is the real strength of this novel. The dangerous and inhospitable Antarctic surroundings really add to the tension, especially when the research facility closes down to core staff only for the 24 hours a day darkness that the winter season brings. Haughton perfectly captures the peril inherent in living in such extreme conditions – the disorientating and unnavigable whiteness, the reliance on generators and supplies, the lack of contact with the outside world. There is a real sense of claustrophobia that will probably be a whole lot more understandable to readers now after the various Covid lockdowns!

The day to day realities of living in these remote conditions make up a lot of the novel and Haughton seems to have done some seriously extensive research into this. Between all the heart-in-mouth moments, I found it fascinating to see how people cope with living in these circumstances. Details about clothes, weather, food supplies, communications, the base’s layout and the science experiments are woven into the fabric of the novel seamlessly. So interesting, but so extreme!

I loved the fact that this is essentially a mystery with a closed circle of suspects. There is no way anyone can come from outside, so the reader is left to guess which of the research station’s ‘inmates’ is dodgy – and there is an international and diverse cast to choose from. I did find it a bit tricky to remember who was who at the beginning – a reference list would have been handy. I found myself really liking some characters before (like Kate) remembering that they could easily be a criminal!

I’d recommend this to anyone who loves truly tense thrillers – the monotony of daily life at the research centre (although I found this bit really intereresting!) is perfectly offset with the paranoia that everyone could be an enemy. If you like psychological mysteries with a finite number of possible suspects (think along the lines of Ruth Ware and Catherine Cooper books) then this is for you.

As for me, as much as I love cold places, I will give Antarctica a miss!

If you’d like a copy of this book (out on 19th August) then please use my affiliate link – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo by Torsten Dederichs on Unsplash

WWW Wednesday: 28th July, 2021

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.

The school term is now finished and I am free to read! In fact, I spent much of the heatwave this week lying really still and reading books…bliss!

I’m now at 78/100 on my Goodreads Challenge.