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The Trials of Marjorie Crowe – C.S. Robertson

How do you solve a murder when everyone thinks you’re guilty?

Marjorie Crowe lives in Kilgoyne, Scotland. The locals put her age at somewhere between 55 and 70. They think she’s divorced or a lifelong spinster; that she used to be a librarian, a pharmacist, or a witch. They think she’s lonely, or ill, or maybe just plain rude. For the most part, they leave her be.

But one day, everything changes.

Local teenager Charlie McKee is found hanging in the woods, and Marjorie is the first one to see his body. When what she saw turns out to be impossible, the police have their doubts. And when another young person goes missing, the tide of suspicion turns on her.

Is Marjorie the monster, or the victim? And how far will she go to fight for her name?

I received a review copy from the publishers, Hodder & Soughton, through Netgalley

Here it is. The high-bar to which all other books will need to aspire to match through 2024. When I tell you I started my reading this year with a stone cold banger of a book it’s no exaggeration. The Trials of Marjorie Crowe will introduce you to one of the most memorable lead characters you’re likely to encounter for many months to come and her story will live with you just as long. I adored this book.

Marjorie Crowe is a witch. Not the halloween-esk, pointy hat, bubbling cauldron type of witch but a woman who’s learnt from her predecessors which plants and flowers can have medicinal benefits, the roots which will help make a lotion or the oils which could make a salve. She lives in an old cottage in a quiet village in central Scotland. Naturally the other villagers, particularly the teenagers, consider Marjorie a figure they can ridicule and easily dismiss but Marjorie doesn’t care too much about wagging tongues, those that came before her faced bigger dangers than being mocked by their neighbours (wirriet and burnt) and she goes on with her day and follows her routine – like clockwork.

Each day Marjorie takes the same walk around the village of Kilgoyne, she treads the same paths, turns the same corners and passes directly through the local pub (not stopping). Every. Single. Day. It drives the publican crazy and it further adds to the rididule Marjorie exposes herself to but Marjorie is a creature of habit. One day, however, something is going to happen during Marjorie’s walk which will shake her to her core. Deep in the woods Marjorie finds a local teenager, Charlie McKee, hanging in a clearing. Marjorie heads home – stunned and incommunicative – she doesn’t raise the alarm and it is only when Charlie’s body is discovered several hours later that people start to question why Marjorie didn’t tell anyone of what she saw until it was far, far too late.

The villagers of Kilgoyne will shun and turn on their peculiar neighbour. But for the reader there’s a small amount of clarification dripped into the story by C.S. Robertson. When Marjorie speaks with the police about what she saw when she found Charlie it seems there were two impossibilities – one is that someone else had seen Charlie, alive and well, an hour later than Majrorie saw his body. The second impossibility was who was beside Charlie in the woods when she saw his hanged body.

As I read I was sure Marjorie was always truthful about what she had seen. This is a woman of utter conviction and she knew she was right. Until the point came when Marjorie herself began to doubt what she’d seen. How could she be mistaken? What of the unexplained coincidence of markings appearing on a tree which mirrored an identical mark that appeared when another teenager vanished from the village around two decades earlier? More mysteries and more dangers, small villages are always a haven for secrets and C.S. Robertson makes sure Kilgoyne is packed with unanswered questions.

Events in Kilgoyne escalate as another teenager disappears and Marjorie finds herself under increasing pressure and scrutiny. She’s done nothing wrong (that she sees) but the court of public opinion is very much against her – the real trial of Marjorie Crowe appears to be a trial over social media, in the streets by her home and in the heads and hearts of her neighbours. Will Marjorie be strong enough to withstand the pressure of all the negative attention and what happens when emboldened mobs decide they can take matters into their own hands.

There is so much to this story that I simply cannot do it justice in such a short space. This is a book crying out to be your next pick at your local bookgroup, it needs discussed (only with people who know what happens) and the impact it had on me will last for quite some time. Stellar reading – grab this book!

The Trials of Marjorie Crowe releases on 18 January 2024 in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can get your copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-trials-of-marjorie-crowe/c-s-robertson/9781529367690

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December 12

My Ten Favourite Reads of 2023

It does not feel like twelve months since I last sat down to select my favourite reads of the year, yet here we are.

It hasn’t been the best of years in terms of getting reviews onto the blog. I’ve still been reading but I started the year on an extremely busy contract (the day job) and it was draining – at the end of a long day the last thing I could do was open up another laptop screen. Then in the summer my crazy busy contract finished – I flew home early from my summer holiday to begin the second crazy busy contract of the year (day job part the second) – again lots of reading but, again, not so many reviews added to the blog.

This has made me even more determined to share my ten favourite reads of the year. There have been many cracking books which I shouted about as I read them but I want to showcase my favourites (particularly as there are still a couple of weeks to go until Christmas and I hope you may consider gifting some of these suggestions).

So without further ado (and in no particular order) I present the ten books which gave me the most pleaure in 2023

Paris Requiem – Chris Lloyd

I start with Paris Requiem. I read this back in February, had the pleasure of hearing Chris Lloyd speak about this book at September’s Bloody Scotland Festival and I have been recommending this particular title for 11 of the 12 months in 2023. It’s a crime thriller set in 1940s Paris. The lead character is a French cop and he is trying do do his job while the German army is occupying the city and putting their own leaders in positions of power in the city.

For Eddie Giral there’s just one question…why has a man he recently put in prison just turned up (very, very dead) in the office of a Parisian night club?

https://www.waterstones.com/book/paris-requiem/chris-lloyd/9781409190325

The Last Line – Stephen Ronson

It’s another book set during the Second World War but this time the action takes place in the South East of England and the hero of the tale is a former soldier who finds himself accused of a particularly nasty murder and has to prove his innocence. Along the way he will become embroiled in a mystery surrounding a missing refugee and also find himself facing off against some particulary dangerous “businessmen”.

A terrific debut novel from Stephen Ronson who delivers a perfectly paced, gripping thriller which I knew was a certain inclusion in this list as I rushed through the last few chapters. I was dying to see how this story ended but at the same time I really didn’t want it to end.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-last-line/stephen-ronson/9781399721233

The Darkest Sin – D V Bishop

It’s another historical crime thriller but this story takes place in Florence, Italy in the year 1537. The second of three Cesare Aldo books by D.V. Bishop that I read this year. I could honestly have selected any one of the three (City of Vengeance, The Darkest Sin and Ritual of Fire) to make this list as I virtually devoured each story back to back..it got to the point I was beginning to develop an Italian accent!

The Darkest Sin got the nod due to the sinister nuns, the sublimely clever twist of getting a very different story for those that had read City of Venegance than those that had not read CoV and also Aldo being a terrific character I want to read about again and again.

If you haven’t read D.V. Bishop yet I implore you to get that put to right immediately.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-darkest-sin/d-v-bishop/9781529038842

The Sun Down Motel – Simone St James

Here is the best ghost story I read this year. A haunted motel? A small town with secrets? A dangerous predator? Yes please!

In 1982 Viv took a job as the night receptionist at the Sun Down Motel. But Viv vanishes one night and is never found again. In 2017 Viv’s neice, Carly, comes to the Sun Down Motel to try and discover what happened to her aunt – she discovers more than she could ever have expected.

This is a terrifically creepy tale and a damned good mystery too. If you don’t do supernatural then it’s not for you but miss out at your peril.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-sun-down-motel/simone-st-james/9781405962315

The Institution – Helen Fields

This book is not for the faint of heart. I do like my crime thrillers to be on the darker side but Helen Fields has delivered a particularly grim situation and (excuse the prison pun) but it’s shackles off on the dark and gritty narrative.

In the world’s most secure prison hospital a nurse is murdered, her child abducted and the clock is ticking to recover the infant and catch a killer. It’s a locked room mystery but with everything ramped up to the absolute maximum.

I’ve always enjoyed books by Helen Fields but this really raised the bar.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-institution/helen-fields/9780008533519

The Devil You Know – Neil Lancaster

Regular visitors will know that I generally favour reading about recurring characters than I enjoy stand-alone novels. The Devil You Know is the newest title in the terrific Max Craigie series (book 5). Having devoured each of the previous Craigie novels I feel this series is only going from strength to strength with The Devil You Know simply blowing me away with page after page of thrills and action.

At the risk of incurring your temporary wrath – I got to read an early copy of The Devil You Know and it’s not on general release until March 2024. But let me assure you…it is well worth the wait. Why not pre-order your copy so you don’t miss out. Really….don’t miss out.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-devil-you-know/neil-lancaster/9780008551322

The Hotel – Louise Mumford

If The Sun Down Motel was the best horror novel I read this year, The Hotel is the best chiller. Not a full horror novel but suitably chilling and with a plot that had me thinking “Blair Witch” when the protagonists take video footage of their nocternal visit to an old, abandoned hotel high on the Welsh coastal clifftops.

Great characters, a clever mystery story and a hugely enjoyable read which just flowed from first page to last. Hunt this down and check out The Hotel

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-hotel/louise-mumford/9780008589943

Murdle – G T Karber

I love puzzle books. I love logic puzzles and I love murder mysteries. That’s Murdle in a nutshell. A collection of fun mystery puzzles which challenge the reader/player to solve the clues and discover the murderers. Grab a pen, Grab This Book and enjoy something charmingly different.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/murdle/g-t-karber/9781800818026

The Silent Man – David Fennell

Another dark crime thriller and another absolutely cracking read. This thriller has a serial killer, a gangster with a vendetta against a cop and her family and it packs tension and twists into every chapter.

I hadn’t read David Fennell’s earlier books and I am correcting that oversight already – this story just hit the ground running and I just kept turning the pages. This is the kind of book I love to find – a story which immediately makes me feel I need to read all the other books by the same author.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-silent-man/david-fennell/9781804181737

The Stranger Times – C.K McDonnell

This was an audiobook listen and it made me laugh out loud so many times that I just could not leave it off this list. Falling firmly into the fantasy realms I loved the manic chaos of The Stranger Times (a weekly newspaper of odd, unexplained and the totally bonkers aspects of life). The boss is a sweary, drunk, the new reporter is making it up as she goes along, the tech support is a young teenager and the office manager tolerates them all (just).

Elsewhere a dark magician is breaking the rules and has a brutal monster under his control which he will unleash onto Manchester (and the World) if he can overcome those that would oppose him.

I’d bought book 2 of this series long before I heard the last chapters of book one. So Much Fun.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-stranger-times/c-k-mcdonnell/9780552177344

That’s my ten. I left out some really good books by authors I love to read and I wish I could have included more than ten books in my “Ten Favourite Reads” list but I work with numbers all day and to have a list of ten with more than ten books would make me positively antsy.

I shout about books every day of every week over on social media – I am @grabthisbook and if you follow me on Twitter/X I will endeavour to continue to flag up terrific reads through 2024 and beyond.

Enjoy what you read and share the booklove.

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September 22

The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black – Lisa Hall

You know she has been murdered. Can you stop it happening twice?

Two very different lives…

It is 2019 and Lily Jones is living her dream in LA. Sort of. It hasn’t quite turned out as she planned and instead of working as a movie producer, she is cleaning at the prestigious Beverly Hills Hotel. At least she gets to work in the renowned Paul Williams suite, site of the brutal murder of Honey Black 70 years ago, shrouded in rumour and dark glamour.

It is 1949 and Honey Black is about to hit the big time. She may have started out a country girl from Hicksville but now she is a star. And Hollywood had better watch out – nothing can stop her now!

One Hollywood murder…

After an accidental bump to the head, Lily finds herself in Hollywood, 1949. Like a dream come true, she is rubbing shoulders with the great and good of Tinseltown. Including Honey Black… Horrified, Lily realises that the actress has only two weeks left to live before she will be murdered.

Could this be why she has found herself in 1949?

To find the killer and stop them in their tracks?

I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley

A time-travel adventure which will catapault Lily from Hollywood in 2019 back to to the golden era of filmmaking in 1949. It gives The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black an utterly fabulous setting, Lily is one of the most likeable lead characters I’ve encountered this year and I constantly had the feeling I was reading a book which the author loved to write.

Where to start?

Lily is a girl displaced. English born and a lifelong fan of classic movies, she has travelled to Hollywood with the hope of finding a successful career in the industry she loves. She is working in one of the hotels in Holywood, a staff member who’s keen to help her colleagues and is a good friend to them too. She dreams of getting a break and being offered the opportunity to work on a movie but as the story begins she’s offering to help clean one of the suites in the hotel – the room where upcoming starlet Honey Black was found murdered 70 years earlier.

Lily takes a knock to the head while cleaning what had been the room occupied by Honey Black. When she recovers her senses Lily finds she has been transported back in time. It’s 1949. Lily has no money, nowhere to stay, no idea what’s happened and she’s a very modern girl in a very old fashioned world. None of these things are going to make life easy.

But it’s not all bad news for Lily. She is given an amazing opportunity to work as an assistant to an upcoming new starlet…Honey Black. Yes, Lily has arrived in 1949 in the days before Honey is due to be murdered. Has she been sent to the past to avert a murder? Should she try to intervene and change history? Or is it just coincidence and, if so, how on earth is Lily going to get home?

Watching Lily navigate her way around movie sets, Hollywood stars and handle the attitudes and behaviours from 70 years ago is a huge amount of fun. She’s a no-nonsense sort by nature so there’s no hope of Lily accepting the misogynistic culture on film sets or of adopting a demure and deferential persona so she fits in. We are going to enjoy a feisty and independent woman shaking up the world around her.

I loved reading about life in the late 1940s, there are several cameos to enjoy from huge Hollywood stars (no spoilers) and Lisa Hall makes the whole period come alive around the reader. Lily gets to contrast clubs and hotels with the LA she knows so well. She makes friends along the way but ruffles more than a few feathers as she leaps to the defence of her new employer, Honey Black.

As for Honey herself, she’s a small town girl who’s been given a huge opporunity to become the “next big thing”. But if Honey is to succeed she will need to be better than her rivals, behave impeccably, defer to the big bosses and be squeaky clean. Unfortunately it seems soneone wants Honey to fail and temptations, challenges and physical attacks will all need to be dealt with (often by Lily) if she is to finish filming the movie which should propel her to the brightest of spotlights.

There’s so much to love about The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black and it’s all to easy to forget Honey is due to be murdered and Lily is trying to prevent that from happening. I got far too caught up in the world of films, producers and directors, bickering actresses and the social lives of a long-forgotten generation. The writing and scene setting is joyous, the characters are glamourous, whimsical and deeply posessive of their own celebrity. I don’t know if it would be possible to revisit that world given how events pan out (again no spoilers) but I am sure Lisa Hall would find a way to make it happen if we were all to cross our fingers, wish really, really hard and all buy a copy of The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black…there’s a handy wee link just below this paragraph to help you get your copy.

The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black is published by Hera Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-mysterious-double-death-of-honey-black/lisa-hall/9781804365946

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June 19

The Hotel – Louise Mumford

Four of them went to the hotel

Four students travel to Ravencliffe, an eerie abandoned hotel perched on steep cliffs on the Welsh coast. After a series of unexplained accidents, only three of them leave. The fourth, Leo, disappears, and is never seen again.

Only three of them came back

A decade on, the friends have lost contact. Oscar is fame-hungry, making public appearances and selling his story. Richard sank into alcoholism and is only just recovering. Bex just wants to forget – until one last opportunity to go back offers the chance to find out what really happened to Leo.

Ten years later, they return one last time

But as soon as they get to the hotel things start going wrong again. Objects mysteriously disappear and reappear. Accidents happen. And Bex realises that her former friends know far more than they are letting on about the true events at Ravencliffe that night…

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley

It’s publication week for The Hotel as I sit to write my review. I will cut straight to the chase on this – I really, really enjoyed this thriller/chiller by Louise Mumford and I’m recommending you seek it out. Seriously entertaining. My kind of book which gave me feels of a Dean Koontz tale. Shades of horror, a thumping good mystery and plenty of cryptic suggestions as to what may have ocurred in an old (possibly haunted) buiding which four teenagers felt compelled to visit one dark evening – lives were changed forever.

Ten years ago four friends made a trip to Ravencliffe. High on the rocks above the Welsh coast sat an old hotel, long since abandoned, but fabled to be haunted with stories of a murder on site and strange stories of former residents. The friends (Bex, Richard, Oscar and Leo) took a video camera with them. As horror fans they planned to record their trip and make a feature from it. Little could they know their film would become a cult horror classic – one of their number (Leo) never returned from the expedition and the three surviging friends could not explain much of what occurred that fateful evening.

Ten years on we meet Bex, living in the bustle of London where the crowds give her a degree of anonymity. Oscar is boucing between public appearances at various “cons” where fans of their film regularly gather to discuss the film which told the story of that night at Ravencliffe. Having one of the friends there is a big deal for the fans but Oscar, for reasons which become clear, isn’t the draw which Bex or Richard would be. Richard has battled his own demons over the last Decade – at the time the film was recorded he and Bex were an item but that created a degree of friction within the group.

The defining image of the movie, which had been watched in the minutest detail by an army of fans was that of Leo vanishing from the sheer cliff steps in a flurry of blurred pictures, shouts of panic from Bex and then nothing. What happened to Leo? He hasn’t been seen since that fateful evening and no body was ever found either. It’s had fans speculating for ten years, theories on what happened to Leo, could Bex have treated him better? Did Richard have a problem with Leo? All incredibly difficult for Bex to cope with as Leo had been her oldest friend. She dreads the tenth anniversary of Leo’s disappearance and suspects someone may try to make something of the event.

Bex’s instincts are correct – the film company want to bring the three friends together, back at the Ravencliffe, to make a follow up feature which will revisit their adventure and address some of the speculation. Bex is reluctant until something arrives at her house. Something only one of the four friends could have known about and something which hasn’t been seen for ten years. Steeling all her resolve Bex agrees to participate in the reunion fiming and we go back to the Hotel with a new film crew in tow.

Through a narrative set in present day and also in flashback the reader will hear more about what the four friends faced on their first visit. We also experience shocks and unexplained incidents in the present day. It’s a really effective use of a dual timeline and Louise Mumford makes this a terrific read as you just want to keep reading so you can get to the bottom of what actually ocurred.

As I said at the top of this review – The Hotel comes highly recommended. Not a full on horror tale but a chilling thriller that I gobbled up in quick time.

The Hotel is published on 22 June 2023 and you can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BXGPL8GJ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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June 2

To Die in June – Alan Parks

A woman enters a Glasgow police station to report her son missing, but no record can be found of the boy. When Detective Harry McCoy, seconded from the cop shop across town, discovers the family is part of the cultish Church of Christ’s Suffering, he suspects there is more to Michael’s disappearance than meets the eye.

Meanwhile reports arrive of a string of poisonings of down-and-outs across the city. The dead are men who few barely notice, let alone care about – but, as McCoy is painfully aware, among this desperate community is his own father.

Even as McCoy searches for the missing boy, he must conceal from his colleagues the real reason for his presence – to investigate corruption in the station. Some folk pray for justice. Detective Harry McCoy hasn’t got time to wait

I received a review copy from the publishers and was invited to join the blog tour by Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours.

It is time for my annual trip back to 1970’s Glasgow to reunite with Harry McCoy, Wattie, Stevie Cooper (McCoy’s oldest friend and one of Glasgow’s biggest gangsters) and Jumbo – Cooper’s garden-loving dogsbody. There are other characters I can expect to pop up as I dip back into the world Alan Parks has created (albeit that world is Glasgow of yester-year) but I always know these familiar faces will command my full attention until I reach the last page of the book. I seldom know when a new book is due out but I am always looking out for the next book by Alan Parks and I’ve never been disappointed with the stories he spins.

To Die in June is the sixth McCoy thriller and events are set during the heat of the 1975 summer. It begins with a missing child. A young boy is not in the family home when his mother comes down the stairs in the morning. She rushes to the police station, hysterical and demanding help. McCoy initiates an immediate search of the area but when he visits the family home to speak with the woman’s husband he is told there is no missing child. The search is called off and McCoy’s standing with his new colleagues at Possil police station dips even further than he could have anticipated.

Possil is McCoy and Wattie’s new home. There are changes taking place – Glasgow Police is becoming Strathclyde Police and while the transitions for the force are phasing in McCoy and the increasingly capable Wattie have been relocated. Their relationship with their new colleauges is fractious but for McCoy there is an opportunity to align himself with the other officers stationed at Possil but to do so will mean turning a blind eye to some of their activities and even applying a strong arm, when necessary, to get the outcomes needed. There will be a share of any spoils if he does and with his chaotic personal life seeming to take a turn for the better – McCoy is now in an unexpected relationship with one of Scotland’s leading actors and even McCoy is realising he needs to smarten up a little to be seen with her. This burgeoning relationship leads to some wonderful cameos, particularly early in the story when McCoy finds himself at a swanky Scottish Awards dinner.

But To Die in June isn’t all about sipping wine at posh functions. Out on the streets of Glasgow it looks like someone is giving the rough sleepers a toxic concoction to drink. At least that’s what McCoy believes. His colleagues are quick to point out that it is not unusual for the less fortunate citizens to start drinking anything they can get their hands on and early deaths are not uncommon given the toxins they regularly pour down their throats. Regular readers will know McCoy’s own father is one of the homeless souls and McCoy’s sensitivity to the plight of the homeless is not somthing his colleagues are quite so quick to give time to. But McCoy is concerned when his father’s drinking friends are telling him some of their number are dying after drinking a particularly toxic mixture. Wattie trys to convince McCoy he is reading too much into a few random deaths but McCoy isn’t so quickly convinced and the time he spends looking for a link between these deaths is putting a strain on his relationship with Wattie who is trying to cover the official investigations which the pair should be concentrating on.

As we have come to expect from Alan Parks there are critical events bubbling away and their importance may not always be apparent to the reader. Until suddently that subtle bubbling explodes into a very big deal and McCoy has a huge problem on his hands. That’s when you realise how smoothly Parks has sneaked some really important clues into the story, the very best sleight of hand, and McCoy’s life is in turmoil again. Alan Parks just keeps getting better and better – every new book feels more assured and that’s from a point where he was already setting a very high bar.

Glasgow never felt more unpredictable and it’s the dirty, rough city of old. There’s rival gangs buslting for superiority, gangsters trying to establish “legitimate” business interests, a religious group to be investigated (forcing McCoy to quash his natural distrust of all things faith-related), unhelpful and unethical police officers working to their own agenda. McCoy walks a dangerous path between these factions and he remains one of the very best protagonists in crime fiction at this time.

To Die In June is a five star read. The Harry McCoy series should be required reading for anyone calling themself a fan of Crime Fiction.

To Die in June is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/to-die-in-june/alan-parks/9781805300786

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May 22

The Roanoke Girls – Amy Engel

EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A ROANOKE GIRL. BUT YOU WON’T WHEN YOU KNOW THE TRUTH.

The girls of the Roanoke family – beautiful, rich, mysterious – seem to have it all. But there’s a dark truth about them that’s never spoken. Either the girls run away… or they die.

Lane is one of the lucky ones. When she was fifteen, over one long, hot summer at her grandparents’ estate in rural Kansas, she found out what it really means to be a Roanoke girl. Lane ran, far and fast. Until eleven years later, when her cousin Allegra goes missing – and Lane has no choice but to go back.

She is a Roanoke girl.
Is she strong enough to escape a second time?

I had received a review copy from the publisher through Netgalley but I also bought a copy of the book and it was the paperback I actually read.

I went looking for my review of The Roanoke Girls and discovered I hadn’t written one. But I clearly remember writing a review as I loved this book and I wanted to shout about it – so where’s my review? How very odd. But if that’s odd then brace for The Roanoke Girls, there’s something very, very odd going on in this story and it’s down to Lane to take the reader through her family history and unpick what’s happening at her childhood home.

The Roanoke’s are a rich and highly influential family (old blood) and the daughers of the family conduct themselves with a regal air over the other local kids. Lane’s mother was a Roanoke Girl but she didn’t want to continue to live the life – she left home and raised Lane away from her family, just the two of them. However, at the start of the book we find Lane at a real low point, her mother has died. Lane is still at school and she can’t carry on alone. So the only real option is to return to Roanoke and live with her grandparents. It’s not too bad as her cousin Allegra is there too and the two girls form a strong bond. Sort of.

I say “sort of” as the relationship between Allegra, very much queen of the town, and the unknown quantity of the new-girl being welcomed to the fold does create some tensions between the two. Allegra appears jealous of Lane and yet at the same time acts out like she is much more mature and knowledgable than her cousin. It creates an interesting dynamic which keeps the story bubbling along nicely. Which Allegra will Lane encounter, what secrets is she hiding and what was happening in their large house before Lane arrived to shake up the Roanoke lifestyle?

The Roanoke Girls is very much a story you need to read. The dynamic of the family. The flashbacks to other family members, long since gone, who help flesh out the readers understanding of what happens in this quite wee town. It’s not a story you want to read too much about as the impact of events can only best be enjoyed when you have taken the journey that Amy Engel wants you to take – no shortcuts and no clues, just hear Lane’s story.

This was, quite simply, a terrific read. One where I was barely aware of turning the pages and when I did finally uncover the secret of The Roanoke Girls I wished I hadn’t – that way I could have the joy of reading this all over again without knowing the fate of the characters. It’s not a book I will forget any time soon.

The Roanoke Girls is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01INGSY0A/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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April 17

Blood Runs Cold – Neil Lancaster

She was taken against her will.

On her fifteenth birthday, trafficking victim Affi Smith goes for a run and never returns. With a new identity and secure home in the Scottish Highlands, she was supposed to be safe…

She escaped once.

With personal ties to Affi’s case, DS Max Craigie joins the investigation. When he discovers other trafficking victims have disappeared in exactly the same circumstances, he knows one thing for certain – there’s a leak somewhere within law enforcement.

She won’t outrun them again.

The clock is ticking… Max must catch Affi’s kidnappers and expose the mole before anyone else goes missing. Even it if means turning suspicions onto his own team…

I received a review copy from the publishers through Netgalley

This blog is nine years old. Therefore I can confidently state that ten years ago I had little awareness of books which were approaching publication. I would make time to find out when the next new book by Terry Pratchett or Lee Child would be published but, other than that, I relied upon spotting new books on the tables at Waterstones or if my friends at my local library gave me the heads-up about new books I should be reading. Support your local library people!

Now I follow my favourite authors on Twitter. I rely upon other bloggers flagging up books I need to be looking out for and I am actively tracking the next publication date of several authors so I can get my next fix of some of my favourite characters. One of the authors I make no secret of tracking is Neil Lancaster. His Tom Novak thrillers were (and still are) brilliant reads but then Neil introduced DS Max Craigie to the world and I was an immediate fan.

Craigie works within Police Scotland and his remit can take him all around the country which gives the author scope to showcase the best, the busiest or the remotest corners of Scotland. Alongside partner Janie Calder, their foul-mouthed boss (Ross) and and Norma their computer and data whizz, the four are working slightly under the radar within the police to identify and remove corruption within the force. The nature of the crimes they investigate and the fact they can’t always trust the personnel they are working with on any given investigation means in every book there is a constant tension that their plans may be scuppered at any moment.

Turning my focus to Blood Runs Cold – terrific. Again. It’s another Neil Lancaster crime thriller which is perfectly paced, delivers on the entertainment, makes you care about the characters (and not just those recurring faces) and I didn’t want the book to end. As a reader I don’t think I could be asking for more.

Particularly enjoyable was the lead in to this investigation and how Craigie becomes involved. In the Scottish Highlands a young Albanian girl is heading out for a run. She’s run before – fleeing from the Albanian gang who had asked her to carry drugs for them. Now she has been placed in the Highlands with a family and a support network and she has been thriving, her natural athletic ability has given her a chance to compete in the national running trials but it has also put her on the radar for the gang she escaped and they want her back. For Affi, going for a run is going to be a terrible mistake.

When Affi fails to return home at the planned time her parents are frantic. They tell Affi’s care worker who, in turn, tells her husband – Max Craigie. Craigie initially doesn’t know what he can do to assist but when he does reach out to the local police they are happy to have some assistance. Soon Craigie and Janie are discovering some unusual activity and making a little progress. Their enquiries will see them pitted against Albanian gangsters and traffikers. These are dangerous criminals and the stakes are high. Higher still when it becomes apparent the gangs are relying upon some members of the police force to keep their activites running.

I really don’t want to post spoilers so I will simply say this story kicks ass. I don’t always enjoy reading about the bad guys in crime stories but in Blood Runs Cold I found both the heroes and the villains to be hugely entertaining. The author makes excellent use of humor to keep some of the more intense and bleak moments on the right side of enjoyable and it makes the story shine. Four books in to this series and it is going from strength to strength.

Blood Runs Cold is published in hardback, digital and audiobook format on 13 April 2023. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BF76PZV8/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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April 3

No More Games – Gordon J Brown

Glasgow, 1974 – a time of power cuts, strikes and the three-day week. Twelve-year-old Ginger Bannerman is playing in the local woods when he stumbles across a gunman in hiding. The man has incriminating evidence of police corruption and forces Ginger to steal a tape recording from a major criminal’s flat. But when Ginger discovers that his dad, a police constable, is mentioned on the tape, his world is turned upside down. With both the gunman and the criminal in hot pursuit, he must prevent the tape falling into the wrong hands if he’s going to save himself and his family. Things have suddenly got very serious.

I was grateful to recieve a review copy from the author

Ginger and Milky are 12 years old. They go to high school in Glasgow and it’s 1974. Best friends who look out for each other and are about to have a life changing encounter.

You’re going to hear about this encounter, and all the subsequent consequences that spiral from it, as someone is reminiscing and telling their story. The storyteller isn’t sure his audience of one (you will be the second listener) will actually stay to hear the whole story but if they do listen there’s a suggestion of a job to be completed at the end of it.

The story begins with a dead body. In Milky and Ginger’s secret den of all places. Milky has found the body and he seeks out his best friend to share the discovery and seek guidance on what they should do. Once they have assured themselves there really IS a dead body in their den neither boy is prepared to approach the dead guy but that problem quickly becomes irrelevant when their corpse wakes up. Terrified and fascinated in equal measure the boys make their high speed escape.

When Milky returns to the den the next day the dead guy is gone but he’s left something behind…a gun. While the boys are debating what to do with a loaded gun (obviously one of them wants to try it out) the “dead guy” returns to collect his property and a standoff ensues. Again the boys will have to escape from an older (and slower) pursuer but speed won’t help when the man you’re running from knows where you live.

Soon Milky and Ginger are being followed by people that want to involve them in affairs outwith their youthful comprehension. Return the gun. Don’t tell your parents. It’s going to end badly for you if you don’t do as we say. Unfortunately for Ginger and Milky there is a suggestion of corruption within the Glasgow police, their encounter with the gunman brings them directly into this situation.

Someone is keen to utilise their knowledge of these corrupt officers, someone else is already paying these officers and wants to continue to benefit from their services. Both parties are powerful and dangerous individuals and two twelve year old boys are not going to disrupt their plans.

Ginger will soon find himself in possession of a tape which could shine a light on the dark corners of the corruption in the police station – but there’s a suggestion his Dad’s name is on that tape. Can Ginger and Milky risk exposing Ginger’s own father as a criminal?

Huge Kudos to Gordon J Brown for making this story sing from first page to last. The scene setting (Glasgow in 1974) is perfectly captured, the rental televisions, the rolling power cuts, the school janitor sneaking a nip of vodka during class time and the two boys behave exactly how you’d expect two twelve year-old’s to behave. It all feels so very real and the story just flows from one predicament to the next.
No More Games was absolutely mesmerising. Time will slide past, totally unnoticed, as you get caught up in Ginger and Milky’s story. Their problems just snowball from chapter to chapter and every decision they make seems to drag them deeper and deeper into the mire. You will want to know who is telling Ginger’s story and you’ll want to know who is listening. You’ll will them to survive, you’ll hope their problems are not as bleak as they appear and you’ll love how 1970’s Glasgow comes alive for you.

No More Games is published by Red Dog Press and is available directly from the publisher here: https://www.reddogpress.co.uk/product-page/no-more-games

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March 27

Her Deadly Game – Robert Dugoni

Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career.

Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There’s little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple’s impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense.

As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for. When shocking information turns the case upside down, Keera must decide between her duty to her client, her family’s legacy, and her own future.

My thanks to Sophie Goodfellow at FMcM Associates for the opportunity to join the Blog Tour for Her Deadly Game and for the review copy I recieved to participate in the tour.

Her Deadly Game is one of the best books I have read for ages, I absolutly loved the mix of courtroom thriller and muder mystery. From the very early pages the reader is presented with a brutal murder, a vulnerable victim and what seems to be a clear-cut case for the police and the prosecution. But then the doubts and distractions creep in. There are strange elements at the murder scene which lead Defence Lawyer. Keera Duggan, to believe the case against her client – the victim’s husband – can be strongly contested. But if Vince LaRussa did not kill his wife, then who did?

There were so many elements to Her Deadly Game which I loved that I’m not sure where to start and I know I will not do the book justice.

I will start with Keera – a dogged warrior in the courtroom and daughter of a well known courtoom brawler – her father’s reputation as a fighter and the best man to have in your corner when the case is going against you is legendary. But Keera’s father has been battling an addition for too long and his reputation for hitting the bottle has cast something of a cloud over his status in the courtrooms. Keera has joined the family firm (against her will) after leaving the state prosecution service following a failed relationship with one of the lead prosecutors. He has engineered Keera’s caseload to be reduced to scaps and she knew his vindictive nature would mean her career would stall.

Next high point from Her Deadly Game was the crime. A woman home alone for the evening is shot in the back of the head. The police determined she had three visitors over the course of the evening. A family lawyer, her oldest friend then her husband returned home from a charity event. It was the victim’s husband (Vince) that found her body but the family lawyer and her friend both claim they left the house while Ann LaRussa was still alive. It appears Vince did kill his wife yet there is no evidence that would link him to the crime.

The crime scene has some random and unexplained things. Airconditioning turned off on one of the hottest days of the year. A broken glass on the floor, a strange mark on a kitchen appliance. Are any connected to the murder? If so then how? Puzzling out the crime scene will keep Keera distracted and frustrated but there’s a mysterious figure keen to help her enquiries (albeit indirectly).

Before an explanation can be found the prosecution decide to move for a fast trial and seek conviction of Vince LaRussa for the murder of his wife. Vince is determined to prove his innocence and feels stalling a trial would make him look guilty so a fast move to a courtroom drama happens.

The next great element of Her Deadly Game. I LOVE courtroom dramas when they are played out as well as this one. Keera is up against her former lover (extra edge) and neither side is willing to make concessions. The niggle continues into their trial and there are confrontations and mind games from both sides. The judge is notoriously strict so she isn’t entertaining the unpredictable displays from the legal teams. It all makes for cracking reading.

Suffice to say there were plenty of twists to the case, surprises in the ongoing investigations too and I found the story utterly compelling. The author sets up lots of questions as the story unfolds and the challenge for the reader is to try to work out where they may be heading. My curiosity was piqued very early on and until I reached the finale no other books were getting a look in – this was all I wanted to read!

I would be happy if I enjoyed all my books as much as I did this one

Her Deadly Game publishes in Hardback, digital and audiobook format on 28 March 2023. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09V575VRP/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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March 12

City of Vengeance – D.V. Bishop

Florence. Winter, 1536. A prominent Jewish moneylender is murdered in his home, a death with wide implications in a city powered by immense wealth.

Cesare Aldo, a former soldier and now an officer of the Renaissance city’s most feared criminal court, is given four days to solve the murder: catch the killer before the feast of Epiphany – or suffer the consequences.

During his investigations Aldo uncovers a plot to overthrow the volatile ruler of Florence, Alessandro de’ Medici. If the Duke falls, it will endanger the whole city. But a rival officer of the court is determined to expose details about Aldo’s private life that could lead to his ruin. Can Aldo stop the conspiracy before anyone else dies, or will his own secrets destroy him first?

Reviewing my purchased copy of City of Vengeance

If asked, I’d tell you that I don’t really read a lot of historical fiction. However, over the last twelve months I seem to be spending far more time in the past and that’s been a bit of an eye opener for me. Suddenly it seems there’s a whole new range of titles calling out to me and I am going to make the time to read them.

Part of the reason behind my recent conversion towards historical crime is that I have chosen a few crackers to read. Just last week I was giving a five star review to a story set in occupied Paris of 1940 and today; another five star read but this time the story is set in Florence in 1536. Beautiful Florence but D.V. Bishop is going to show us the darker side of the city too. The action will move from the courts of the leaders of the city, to the brothels, the churches, the prison and the guardhouse. Some characters will appear in all of these locations – some will pop up in areas they really shouldn’t be and that will keep Cesare Aldo a busy man.

We meet Aldo as he is returning to Florence – he is escorting a wealthy businessman who has concerns about his personal safety (and that of his money) as he travels home from business meetings. Aldo is to see him safely through the dangerous paths and the open spaces in the Italian countryside. But in the opening paragraphs of City of Vengeance Aldo’s worst fears are realised and the two men are ambushed. A fight ensues and the reader gets to see Aldo in the thick of the action. He was a soldier, he’s now an officer in the city guard and as well as being an astute investigator he can more than handle himself in a fight. Usually. It is a terrific opening to the story and as the dust settled I knew I was going to get on well with Cesare Aldo.

When he is safely home the real intrigue begins. A wealthy moneylender is murdered in the Jewish sector of the city. A young man is battered to death, his sexual preferences deemed an abhoration to soneone. Plots to disrupt the power at the top of Florence. Aldo will be drawn into each of these issues, his reputation and his life will be put on the line while he tries his best to execute his duties to the best of his abilities.

D.V. Bishop keeps multiple storylines flowing and interweaving without letting the pace drop or the action stagnate. There are clear villains for readers to oppose, you want to see them topple. But there is also a nice collection of allies for Aldo with an equally satisfying number of players that cannot be easily put into categories. This third group are the most intruging as their motives are not always clear and Aldo the least of their concerns – you can’t help but feel some of these characters will return in future and their interests will overlap with Aldo’s story again. It all feels part of the author’s broader plan to bring readers to sixteenth centrury Florence and get them invested in the life of the city and the players that will define its future. I am very much here for the ride.

I said that I was going to make time to read more historical fiction and that time starts immediately – I am returning to Florence and picking up Aldo’s story. The second book, The Darkest Sin, is going to be my next audiobook listen, I don’t want to wait any longer than is necessary to find out the consequences of Aldo’s decision right at the end of City of Vengeance.

City of Vengeance is available in paperback digital and audiobook. You can buy a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08G1HJVVW/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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