Book Review: ‘The Night Before Christmas by Alex Pine

Happy publication day to this Christmassy crime novel!

It always feels a bit weird reading Christmas books in early autumn, but I couldn’t wait to immerse myself in the latest book in the series featuring DI James Walker of Cumbria Police. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this before publication – as always, opinions are entirely my own.

Continue reading Book Review: ‘The Night Before Christmas by Alex Pine

Book Review: ‘Tennison’ by Lynda La Plante

I was absolutely delighted to be asked to join #TeamTennison and read the whole series featuring Jane Tennison from the start! Thanks to Compulsive Readers for my spot on the team and for my copies of the books.

This review is for ‘Tennison’, the first in the series – most people will be familiar with DCI Jane Tennison from the ‘Prime Suspect’ series featuring Dame Helen Mirren, but this series takes us back to 1973 and the very start of Tennison’s career.

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Book Review: ‘The Retreat’ by Sarah Pearse

I liked Pearse’s first book – ‘The Sanatorium’ – because of the claustrophobic atmosphere and the edge-of-your-seat tension levels. I had high hopes for this book, ‘The Retreat’, as this marks the return of detective Elin Warner in a different but equally remote setting.

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Blog Tour: ‘End Game’ by Liz Mistry

I’ve followed the DI Nikki Parekh series from the start and was delighted to be invited onto this blog tour – thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the tour and for providing the book.

Opinions are entirely my own.


About the Book:

Four dead bodies. One missing person. Let the game begin.

When an anonymous tip-off leads Detective Nikki Parekh and DS Sajid Malik to the sprawling Salinger estate, Nikki’s senses are on high alert. The brutal murder of all four members of the Salinger family has shocked the sleepy Bradford village to the core.

A mother, father, daughter, and son. . .  all killed in exactly the same way – whilst sat around the coffee table, playing a game of monopoly.

But Nikki notices that there are five pieces on the board. One of the players is missing… Did they manage to escape the killer, or was the killer part of the game?

Continue reading Blog Tour: ‘End Game’ by Liz Mistry

Book Review: ‘The Night Man’ by Jorn Lier Horst

Thanks to the lovely people at Penguin Michael Joseph for my copy of ‘The Night Man’ by Jorn Lier Horst. I was delighted to win this in a giveaway but – as always – opinions are entirely my own.

I love Scandinavian crime fiction and was intrigued by this – especially when I saw that it has been made into a major TV series which will be my next port of call! I came to this expecting a dark, tense thriller and wasn’t at all disappointed.

The story opens with the gruesome discovery of a severed head on a stake in the centre of a small town called Larvik in Norway. Police Inspector William Wisting is called in to investigate, but the media are also circling as they seek out a sensational story – and the media pack are led by Wisting’s own daughter, Line. When a second body is recovered from a lake, Wisting is forced to confront the fact that Larvik has been infiltrated by a dangerous and ruthless criminal network…

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Blog Tour: ‘The Politician’ by Tim Sullivan

From the Publisher:

A ransacked room. A dead politician. A burglary gone wrong–or a staged murder?

THE DETECTIVE

DS George Cross loves puzzles–he’s good at them–and he immediately spots one when he begins investigating the death of former mayor Peggy Frampton. It looks like a burglary that went horribly wrong to most but George can see what others can’t–that this was murder.

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Book Review: ‘The Winter Killer’ by Alex Pine

I’ll admit that this isn’t my first trip to DI James Walker’s Lake District – I read and enjoyed ‘The Killer in the Snow’, the book prior to this one in the series, so I was pleased that NetGalley granted me access to this one.

As with the previous books, it’s winter and Cumbria is icy and treacherous – but the surroundings present minimal danger compared to the humans existing in the bleak landscape who have immense capacity to harm.

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Book Review: ‘Hope to Die’ by Cara Hunter

A new Cara Hunter book is always a treat – and this is no exception. I read A LOT of crime fiction and think that Cara Hunter’s books are among the best.

This is the sixth book in the series featuring DI Adam Fawley and his team – although there are some plotlines that run across the books (mainly to do with the team’s personal lives and relationships), I think this could be enjoyed as a standalone novel.

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Blog Tour: ‘From the Ashes’ by Deborah Masson

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

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

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Blog Tour: ‘Bad for Good’ by Graham Bartlett

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

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


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

Continue reading Blog Tour: ‘Bad for Good’ by Graham Bartlett