Cover Reveal: Best Defence – William McIntyre

As the year draws to an end my thoughts turn to the year ahead and the promise of many new books to enjoy. My preference will always be to pick up the latest book in an ongoing series – the opportunity to reunite with familiar characters and to see how their stories continue to develop always holds a greater lure for me (I am invested into so many fictional lives).

One of the first returning characters I will meet in 2022 is Robbie Munro, star of the Best Defence series from William McIntyre. An enticing prospect as Robbie’s legal adventures are always a treat and the author mixes adventure, legal wrangling and lots of wry humour which I always enjoy.

Best Defence is the twelfth book in the series but, having read the earlier titles, I am confident that the new book will be accessbile to new readers without need to pick up any of the previous stories. However, I would highly recommend trying these books for yourself, if you haven’t discovered Robbie Munro yet then you are missing out on a treat.

Before I share the cover for Best Defence I also get to reveal something of what we can expect from the book too:

Honesty is the best policy, but not always the Best DefenceWhen the wife of a soccer superstar is charged with murder, Robbie Munro is instructed for the defence, but his client’s version of events keeps changing as more and more damaging evidence is revealed.Meanwhile, Robbie’s brother, Malky, falls victim to the cancel culture, and insists Robbie step in to save his TV career.Both Robbie’s clients have their own strategies, but it’s up to Robbie to decide the BEST DEFENCE.

And now that cover:

That’s going to light up my Twitter feed! Not too long to wait until we can start reading, pre-orders are already possible on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Defence-Book-Robbie-Munro-ebook/dp/B09P1J7YH8/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1640302440&refinements=p_27%3AWilliam++McIntyre&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&text=William++McIntyre

Best Defence will be available from 1 January 2022.

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December 21

The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill – C.S. Robertson

Death is not the end. For Grace McGill, it’s only the beginning. When people die alone and undiscovered, it’s her job to clean up what’s left behind – whether it’s clutter, bodily remains or dark secrets.

When an old man lies undetected in his flat for months, it seems an unremarkable life and an unnoticed death. But Grace knows that everyone has a story and that all deaths mean something more.

A stand-out novel with a unique narrative voice and an unguessable mystery, you are guaranteed to remember Grace McGill.

My thanks to the publishers who provided a review copy through Netgalley.

I don’t know where to start with this review. To be honest I just want to say:

Don’t read anything about this story.

Avoid all spoilers.

Just start reading and don’t stop.

Thank me later.

I’m not sure that will be quite enough. Even if I add *****Five Stars***** you would probably want a bit more. Okay I will do what I can but seriously, avoid spoilers.

Grace McGill lives in Glasgow. She works for herself and offers a specialist cleaning service – she cleans houses which have been neglected for prolonged periods of time and need to made habitable for a new resident. Often the reason the houses need a particularly deep clean is because the prevoius resident of the house has died in the house and nobody has noticed for a lengthy period of time. The Undiscovered Deaths part of the title suddenly clicks with the reader.

Needless to say the content of this story can be and may be upsetting for some readers. I don’t often include warnings when putting together a review but this time I feel it important to highlight that C.S. Robertson does not shy away from the work Grace McGill undertakes and the steps she may need to take to clean a home. It’s not detail which is included for shits and giggles, it forms an important part of understanding Grace and is dealt with factually and then the story proceeds.

Grace herself is a fascinating and unforgettable character. She lives alone (with a cat) and knows that people have trouble accepting what she does for a living. Even the cops who will contact her with new work can find her tricky to engage with. But Grace takes her work very seriously and wants to ensure she does right by the people she is cleaning up behind. She gets a quite unique insight into their lives and she is always respectful to their memory.

But Grace is now facing a strange dilemma. She has noticed something in one of the houses she is cleaning which does not seem to belong there. It is similar to an item she found at a previous house-clean. Curiosity leads Grace to a funeral and in turn she heads out of Glasgow to the Isle of Bute. Many years ago the island made the news and Grace has to consider the possibility a long-forgotten story may have a resolution in an untidy Glasgow flat.

I can’t say much more and I don’t want to say much more about the story. I DO want to say more about the writing which I found to be gobsmackingly good. C.S. Robertson tells a compassionate, haunting and unforgettable story and I loved reading about Grace. She dominates the story and shows a savvy inner strength when facing very challenging circumstances.

The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill is out in January – I cannot wait for everyone to read this too.

The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill is published by Hodder & Stoughton on 20 January 2022. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-undiscovered-deaths-of-grace-mcgill/c-s-robertson/9781529367645

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December 20

The Gift – Eleanor’s Story – RA Williams

The North Atlantic, 14 April 1912. Amid the chaos of the sinking Titanic, a young Eleanor Annenberg meets the eyes of a stranger and is immediately captivated. As the ship buckles around them, she follows him down into the hold and finds him leaning over an open sarcophagus, surrounded by mutilated bodies. She catches but a glimpse of what lies within before she’s sucked into a maelstrom of freezing brine and half-devoured corpses. Elle is pulled out of the water, but the stranger – and the secrets she stumbled upon – are lost. Unintentionally, however, he leaves her a gift; one so compelling that Elle embarks on a journey that pulls her into a world of ancient evils, vicious hunters and human prey to find the man who saved her that fateful night. From trench warfare at Cape Helles in 1915 to a shipwreck in the tropical shallows off the Honduran coast, from a lost mine beneath the towering Externsteine in a Germany on the verge of war to the gothic crypts of Highgate Cemetery in London, Elle gets closer to a truth she has sought for most of her life. But at what cost? Gifts, after all, are seldom free.

I received a reveiew copy from the publishers. I would also like to thank Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this leg of the blog tour for The Gift.

If The Gift was a movie (oh what a movie it would make) then it would absolutely be crying out for some between scene interludes where a series of dots track the progress of the story location across a map of the world. It begins on board the Titanic but events will see us in the trenches of Gallipoli during WW1, to lecture halls in the USA and then out in the ocean around the carribean. It’s a story which crosses continents and wherever the adventures take us there is always the threat of an unknown evil lurking in the background.

Onboard the Titanic during her maiden fateful voyage we meet Elle, a feisty 17 year old who is travelling with her parents. She is fending off unwelcome attentions of bankers and businessmen when the ship strikes the iceberg. But below decks one of the crew has discovered a horror in one of the holds, before alarm can be raised he is captivated by the sight of something watching him from the darkness, he will never see the light again.

As the alarm on the ship is raised Elle is below decks – she hears the shouts of alarm but not of the disaster which looms for Titanic, for a much more pressing danger below decks. There are names shouted, warnings, shotguns are discharged and one name – Balthazar stands out in the chaos.

It’s a dark, eerie and exciting opening to this story and the sinister, gothic danger continues. RA Williams has done a terrific job of teasing chills and keeping the reader’s attention. Action quickly switches from Titanic lifeboats to trench warfare at Gallipoli. This time we see a promoted soldier in no mans land, crawling through carnage to bring his own terror to the enemy as he hunts down snipers and enemy soldiers ensuring his own platoon stay safe. It is while he hunts among the bodies of the fallen that a “devil” is spotted – a creature which could not be explained but one that someone else may have seen.

The scenes in the trenches were particularly engaging. I loved this part of the story and the thinly veiled contempt which is shown to the officers who secure themselves safely away from the action is terrifically scripted.

Through the story is a constant threat of an undead evil. Mayan gods are mentioned, bats, ressurection and powerful sentinels. There is so much detail given about these mysterious forces that you will become captivated by the story which unfolds.

Elle grows into Eleanor and she is a successful academic. People travel many hundreds of miles to hear her speak about mysterious carvings, messages from history which crop up in new places around the world seemingly suggesting an old tale has spanned the globe when travel was extremely limited. The common theme – A Gift. While a gift would seem to be a positive story in these tales it really does not have a good association, fear and death seem more common companions.

The Gift comes as a fast flowing adventure tale with lashings of detail of evil forces. I loved it.

The Gift is published by Whitefox Publishing and is available in hardback. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-gift-book-1-eleanor/ra-williams/9781913532956

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December 17

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Lisa Gray

It’s mid December and it has been eleven months since my first Decades guest joined me back in January. That first guest was Sharon Bairden, an author I often met while attending book launches in Glasgow. So what a happy coincidence that my final guest of the year is also an author I would frequently meet when we attended book launches in Glasgow: Lisa Gray.

Don’t panic about the “last of the year” comment, I always say “DECADES WILL RETURN.” But with the busy holiday season approaching I have decided I am not going to share any new guest selections until 7th January 2022. Decades is as much about my guests as it is about their book selections so I do not want anyone to be overlooked while there are so many other distractions at this time of year. I have been asked to make my personal Decades choices so that may happen.

But back to the present (no Christmas pun indended). This week I am delighted to be joined by one of my best bookish pals, Lisa Gray. The challenge remains the same, Lisa has to nominate five of her favourite books which she thinks should be added to my Ultimate Library. She is allowed to choose any five books but can only select one book per decade from five consecutive decades.

Sometimes one of my guests will nominate a book and I will be instantly gobsmacked that the book or author has not yet featured in a previous selection. This is true of this week too…I shall let Lisa explain.

DECADES

Lisa Gray is an Amazon #1, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Her debut novel, Thin Air, was the third-bestselling Kindle book on Amazon.com in 2019. She previously worked as the chief Scottish soccer writer at the Press Association and the books editor at the Daily Record Saturday Magazine. She lives in Glasgow and writes full-time.

Lisa is the author of the Jessica Shaw books. Jessica is a troubled and tenacious private eye of no fixed abode, who investigates cases in and around Los Angeles. The latest in the series, Lonely Hearts, sees Jessica delve into the Lonely Hearts Club and the world of women who write to dangerous convicted criminals.

1970s — Carrie by Stephen King

I know, I know. Yet another Decades contributor picking a Stephen King book, but I do think it’s fascinating that we’re all choosing completely different ones! Carrie was the first King book I read, the first he had published, and it’s the one that has stayed with me the most. That heartbreaking scene in the girls’ locker room… That iconic scene with the pigs’ blood at the high school prom… It doesn’t matter if you read the book or watched the film, you’re not going to forget those images in a hurry. Carrie White is an outsider, bullied by her classmates and her own mother, before her telekinetic powers allow her to inflict a terrible, bloody revenge on the town that terrorised her. I liked that the novel was told in an epistolary style with newspaper articles and scientific reports included as part of the story. A true horror classic.

1980s — A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton

Confession time. Even though this book was published way back in the ‘80s (the best decade ever in my opinion), I only read it for the first time a couple of years ago. Like Grafton, I write a series about a plucky female private eye who doggedly investigates cases in Southern California. When people started comparing my Jessica Shaw books to the famous ‘Alphabet’ series, I knew I had to check it out. What can I say? That comparison is one hell of a compliment! I absolutely adore the twice-divorced Kinsey Millhone and her page-turning mysteries. If I can ever write a novel half as good as Sue Grafton, I’ll be happy.

1990s — The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly

The Concrete Blonde is one of the closest things you’ll get to a perfect police procedural in my opinion. It has everything—a complex plot, a warped killer, a dogged cop in the superb Harry Bosch, intrigue, suspense and plenty of twists. And all set against the wonderfully drawn backdrop of the City of Angels. For me, Connelly always nails the big three of character, plot and setting. He’s the best in the business. The fact that this book was only the third that he wrote kind of blows my mind.

2000s — Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Everyone knows Gillian Flynn for Gone Girl, the book that made her a household name—but Dark Places is easily my favourite by the author. Libby Day is the sole survivor of a massacre that happened during the ‘satanic panic’ of 1980s small town America. Years later and strapped for cash, she agrees to help a group of amateur sleuths delve back into what really happened the night her mother and sisters were murdered, and her brother was jailed for the horrific crimes. Flynn is the queen of the unlikeable female narrator and just a really, really terrific writer. One of the few books I’ve read more than once.

2010s — Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

First of all, I should probably say that Karin Slaughter’s books aren’t for everyone. They are often brutal and unflinching, and Pretty Girls is no exception. It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted but what it is, is a masterclass in making the reader care about the characters. It’s about teenage girls who disappeared years apart and it gripped me, surprised me, and, ultimately, it broke my heart. I cried twice reading it and I don’t mean delicate tears dropping onto the page, I’m talking full-blown ugly sobbing. One twist floored me so much I actually shouted, ‘No way!’ and had to set the book aside for a few moments. Between the crying and the yelling, it’s just as well I read Pretty Girls at home and not on the morning commute to work…

Ending the year with King and Connelly and also introducing Karin Slaughter, Sue Grafton and Gillian Flynn to the Decades Library means I get to finish 2021 on a real high. My thanks to Lisa for these terrific recommendations. As this is the last Decades of the year I would like to thank all my wonderful guests who have made this feature a year-long celebration of booklove.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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December 15

Cover Reveal: Rockdown in Lockdown – Adam Maxwell

I don’t often do cover reveals but the Kilchester books by Adam Maxwell are firm favourites in the Grab household and I am extremely excited to be able to join the blogger reveal of the cover of the latest title:

Rockdown in Lockdown

The cure for all your Covid blues…

The Blurb

Katie – other characters can be found lurking on blog posts shared today by some of my fellow bloggers.

Violet Winters was a master criminal. A one-woman crimewave. Until lockdown happened. Now she’s stuck in the house catching up on box sets and ordering crap off the internet.

And then she finds out about The Lakehouse. A former rehab facility, the residents have been thrown out and replaced with a roll-call of some of the most dangerously stupid celebrities in this hemisphere all indulging in a torrent of excess while the rest of the world cowers in their beds.

And that doesn’t sit well with Violet.

At the centre of the The Lakehouse is a vault and inside… the combined riches of every one of these over-privileged idiots. Violet hatches a cunning plan to pull off an audacious robbery and begins by planting a man on the inside.

But when does anything ever go to plan?

With a social media starlet hell-bent on revealing Violet’s identity to her millions of followers and a deranged MMA fighter on their trail things rapidly go from bad to worse.

If she can pull off the world’s only socially-distanced heist, it will be the stuff of legend.

If she can’t she might very well end up floating face-down in the lake.

Rockdown in Lockdown is the latest book in the Kilchester series. It mixes high-octane heist shenanigans with sharp, surreal wit.

The Giveaway

Rockdown in Lockdown will be published on the 20th January 2022 and the author is giving away signed copies of the hardback edition (shipping anywhere in the world included). To enter all you need to do is visit Adam’s website https://www.adammaxwell.com/giveaways/rockdown-in-lockdown/ and everyone who enters will receive a free Kindle copy of the Kilchester Christmas short story ‘Come On Steal The Noise’.

The Author

Crime writer. Idiot. Genius. Liar. Adam Maxwell is at least three of these things.

Adam lives in the wilds of Northumberland with his wife, daughter and an increasingly irritated cat. If you wave to him there is every chance he will consider waving back.

Rockdown in Lockdown is available to pre-order now as an ebook, with real-book pre-orders arriving any minute!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09N4WT1TL

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December 12

The Christmas Murder Game – A.K. Benedict

Twelve clues. Twelve keys. Twelve days of Christmas. But who will survive until Twelfth Night?

Lily Armitage never intended to return to Endgame House – the grand family home where her mother died twenty-one Christmases ago. Until she receives a letter from her aunt, asking her to return to take part in an annual tradition: the Christmas Game.

The challenge? Solve twelve clues, to find twelve keys. The prize? The deeds to the manor house. Lily has no desire to win the house. But her aunt makes one more promise: The clues will also reveal who really killed Lily’s mother all those years ago.

So, for the twelve days of Christmas, Lily must stay at Endgame House with her estranged cousins and unravel the riddles that hold the key not just to the family home, but to its darkest secrets. However, it soon becomes clear that her cousins all have their own reasons for wanting to win the house – and not all of them are playing fair.

As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, the game turns deadly. Soon Lily realises that she is no longer fighting for an inheritance, but for her life. This Christmas is to die for… let the game begin.

My thanks to Eleanor Stammeijer at Bonnier Books for my review copy.

If you are thinking of gifting a book to someone this festive period and you know they are a fan of classic crime, locked room mysteries or love a story with some puzzles to work on as the story unfolds then AK Benedict’s The Christmas Murder Game is the book you should be wrapping for that person. If you are also a fan of those things then I would recommend getting a second copy for yourself. This one is FUN.

Okay maybe it isn’t fun for the victims in the story, all members of the same family who have been called to the family home, Endgame House, after the death of the family matriach. In years gone by all the children in the family would take part in the Christmas Game where clues were provided and had to be solved with presents at stake. Lily loved the games and knew Endgame House so well that she could easily solve the clues, however, she didn’t enjoy the tempers from some of the family members who fared less well so she shrunk into the background and let others claim the prizes.

Years earlier Lily vowed never to return to Endgame House after her mother died, leaving Lily to fend for herself at far too young an age. But it was her aunt’s dying wish that all the family (Lily included) return to Endgame House to pay the Christmas Game one last time as her death meant someone had to win the Game to win Endgame House. With a huge ancestral home going to the winner the former hotel is filled with squabbling kin who all want to best the other.

There will be daily clues and the chance to win keys. The correct key will open the door to a secret room hidden within Endgame House and for the winner the whole house. Lawyers have been consulted and the competition will be legally binding but only the family and a housekeeper will be resident during the twelve days of Christmas while the game plays out. The fact the guests all arrive as a heavy blizzard descends means they will all be trapped within Endgame House irrespective of how the rules were devised. Nobody can get in, nobody can get out so when one of their number is found dead there is only one possible truth – there is a killer in their midst who will stop at nothing to win the Christmas Game and take ownership of Endgame House.

AK Benedict has worked wonders with this story. It’s a Christie-esk murder tale. It’s Doctor Who’s Robots of Death (without the robots) and it’s a puzzle fan’s dream as there are anagram challenges and christmas books to identify which the author has peppered through each “day of Christmas”. I will confess to doing badly at those challenges but I had lots of fun trying (stress trying) to do well!

Lily shines through this story and she drives the narration. There are unexplained and unusual incidents, creepy noises from empty parts of the house and a murderer in their midst but Lily also has to contend with a return to the place of her mother’s death and that is hitting much harder than she had expected. Lily is beautifully written and I got much more invested into her plight than I ever did with the procession of characters Dame Agatha tripped out in her English Country Manor tales.

The Christmas Murder Game has the feel of a classic crime thriller but is very much a modern tale – when a Playstation was mentioned at one point it made me realise this wasn’t a book written in the Golden Age of crime fiction though I had that sepia tinted impression a number of times.

This is the perfect time of year to be picking up this book but don’t take too long and risk spoilers, the fun really is in not knowing where this story will take you. Charming with some nasty murders – great fun!

The Christmas Murder Game is published by Bonnier Zaffre and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-christmas-murder-game/alexandra-benedict/9781838775384

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December 11

The Untold Story – Genevieve Cogman

Return to the world of the Invisible Library for Irene’s most perilous mission yet . . .

Librarian Spy Irene is heading into danger. Not for the first time, but could this be her last? She’s tasked with a terrifyingly dangerous solo mission to eliminate an old enemy, which must be kept secret at all costs. But even more troubling news emerges. Multiple worlds are disappearing – and the Library may have something to do with it.

Determined to uncover the truth behind the vanished worlds, Irene and her friends must descend into the unplumbed depths of the Library. And what they find will change everything they know. This may be Irene’s most dangerous assignment of her hazardous career.

My thanks to Black Crow PR for the opportunity to host this leg of the blog tour and for providing a review copy ahead of publication.

The Untold Story, for fans of Genevieve Cogman’s wonderful series about The Invisible Library it is time for the biggest secret to be revealed – the story of the Library.

This is the culmination of events, the point where all the threads will be pulled together and what better way to to that than by having Librarian Irene and her companions seek out the story which began it all? The Library has been at the heart of everything through the previous seven books and Irene has shown she will do whatever it takes to complete the missions which the elders at the Library will set her. Of late, however, the book retrieval missions which Irene would traditionally undertake appear to have been reduced in number as diplomatic discussions are becoming more numerous – as is the case at the start of The Untold Story.

Irene is tasked with getting a treaty signed, she feels she is being kept out of the The Library but respects the task she has been assigned to complete and is preparing for a prolonged negotiation. She is alone as her dragon partner, Kai, has not been allowed to attend. Fate will not allow Irene to conduct a “normal” negotiation though and soon readers will enjoy another display of Irene’s resourcefulness and blind luck as she tries to wriggle out of a dangerous predicament. It’s a great opening to the story and allows Genevieve Cogman to bring readers back up to speed with recent events in Irene’s life while also getting the players in place for the next chapter in the story.

The Untold Story is the eighth book in the Invisible Library series so it’s not a jumping on point but there is still care taken by the author to ensure readers are aware of enough background information to get full enjoyment from the new story. There are characters returning from previous books who will play key roles but more importantly there are many familiar faces who will seek to aid (or hinder) Irene as she undertakes her most challenging mission to date.

Irene has discovered the truth about Alberich but she needs to keep that infomration to herself if she can. However, he remains the most dangerous enemy of The Library and he wants to meet as he is proposing a peace treaty. Irene, however, is doing her own investigation into Alberich as she tries to understand what made him turn against the Library in the first instance. To fully understand this she begins to dig deeper into the history of the Library and its creation – how did this astonishing force come into being?

The history of the Library is a well kept secret and someone or something does not want Irene to find out anything about its creation. Working on rumour and story Irene finds a storyteller who can fill in some of the gaps in her knowledge. Will the story she hears let her understand what has turned Alberich from faithful Library servant into a dangerous enemy who is hellbent on destroying the Library? If she can get to the truth then perhaps she may finally defeat Alberich and bring a new peace for the Library.

There are no spoilers in my review but I can tell you that this is a wonderful story which shocks, entertains and fully rewards readers as the secrets are revealed. There are some unexpected casualties along the way and I am not sure Irene’s life will be the same after The Untold Story ends. What I do know it that I have loved this sweeping saga of Librarians, Dragon and Fae – the cautious politics and the sneaky deceptions. The Untold Story is an essential acquisition for any fantasy reader and I do hope there may be more stories from the Library one day.

The Untold Story is published by Pan Macmillan and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-untold-story/genevieve-cogman/9781529000634

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December 10

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Susi Holliday

Imagine being tasked with starting a brand new library. You don’t have any books yet but know you want to fill the shelves of your new library with the very best books so that visitors know each title they select has been loved and recommended. Where would you start? Which books would you pick?

That was the challenge I set myself back in January. But I knew there was no way I could undertake this task alone so each week I invite a new guest to join me and I ask them to nominate five books they would want to see on the shelves of my Decades Library. I have had recommendations from authors, publishers, bloggers, journalists – all booklovers. Eleven months later there are around 200 books in my Library but the challenge continues.

Why is it a Decades Library? Well each guest has two simple rules to follow when choosing their books:

1- Choose Any Five Books
2 – You May Only Choose One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades

This week it is my absolute pleasure to welcome Susi Holliday back to Grab This Book. Regular readers will know I am a big fan of Susi’s books so I had a pretty good idea which authors I would see appearing in her selections – but I was totally wrong! That said there are new authors making their debut in my Library who I am astonished have not been mentioned thus far. I will let Susi take it from here:

Susi (SJI) Holliday is a Scottish writer of dark fiction. She cut her teeth on flash fiction and short stories, and was shortlisted for the inaugural CWA Margery Allingham Prize in 2014. She is the UK bestselling author of the creepy and claustrophobic Banktoun trilogy (Black Wood, Willow Walk and The Damselfly), the festive serial killer thriller The Deaths of December, the supernatural mystery The Lingering, a psychological thriller set on the Trans-Siberian Express (Violet) and a horror novella (Mr Sandman). Her latest two novels (The Last Resort and Substitute) contain a speculative science edge. Her short stories have been published in magazines, newspapers and anthologies. By day, she works as a clinical research statistician. Susi divides her time between London and Edinburgh. She loves travelling, long walks, and scaring herself with horror movies.

DECADES

1970s – Flowers in the Attic – Viginia Andrews

I think I actually read this in the 80s, but I was definitely very young and definitely slightly confused (and wrongly titillated, I suspect) by the subject matter. Given that this was one of my early reads when I was probably about 12 years old, it’s really no wonder I have so far only managed to write very dark stories. With sex bits.

1980s – Stephen King and Jackie Collins – Lucky

I know, I am cheating here by picking authors from the same decade, but they were both hugely influential at the time, for very different reasons (no details required). OK, OK – if I have to pick one book and one author, I’m going with Jackie Collins’s Lucky – for pure escapist filth and glamour. No wait, I’m choosing Stephen King’s Christine – for its underrated horror. I mean, who could be scared of a possessed car?! (Answer: me!) Also, I’m starting to see a strong pattern emerging here through the decades, where sex and horror are combined… Virginia Andrews, Stephen King, Jackie Collins… and moving on to…

1990s – Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

This is one of those books that is just the perfect example of right story, right decade. I was at the age where all of Bridget’s concerns with the world were my concerns with the world – such as, have I smoked/drank too much – should I really have slept with him – am I ever going to make a success of my life… it was laugh out loud funny and so relatable to my generation. I remember a friend of mine rushing home from the pub one night after being sure she’d pulled, so she could shave her legs before the bloke made it back to her flat. I think I was very much anti-Bridget when I told her that I doubt her fella would care too much about her hairy legs. Anyway, there have been many contenders since then, but no one could create a character like Bridget like Helen Fielding did. Legend. Can I just point out that this is the decade where I became a Goth so the earlier decade influences followed by Bridget’s sweetness must’ve tipped me over the edge.

2000s – The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

Spurious link: Could this be described as a modern gothic novel? All that religion and secrets and whatever? This may be one of the first books where I vividly remember being sucked in by ‘the hype’ and I absolutely devoured it. This would not normally have been my type of book at all, but the marketing spin/rumours about how much of it was true was what swung it. Wildly entertaining, and of course, complete baloney – but I loved it at the time but don’t think I would re-read it now. Dan Brown gets a bad press sometimes, but honestly, writing something that gets the whole world talking is hardly to be sniffed at!

2010s – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman

One of the big things that draws me into a book is the character’s voice, and this is where Eleanor absolutely grabbed me. Like a miserable version of Bridget, there was something relatable and compelling about her story that had me unable to put the book down… and then of course it has a very clever unpeeling of the onion that makes it 100% worthy of all the massive acclaim. Again, many have tried since to replicate this, and failed. There are some characters that can only be written once, and both Eleanor and Bridget are those for me. I also think Eleanor perfectly encapsulates my light/dark elements that have clearly been signposted heavily throughout this piece. Thanks, Gordon – I may have reached the path to enlightenment!

Huge thanks to Susi for these brilliant selections. I cannot believe it has taken 11 months of Decades before Bridgit Jones made her debut in the Decades Library and as for Flowers in the Attic – wasnt’t there a rule every house had to have a copy of this in the early 1980s? Flowers takes its place on my library shelves too.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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December 7

My Top Ten Reads 2021

It’s December and another reading year draws to a close. This means I get to look back and select the ten books which I enjoyed most over the last twelve months. These are my personal favourites from the ones I read. They may not be to your liking and you may feel I have missed something outstanding (maybe I didn’t read it) but I hope you will seek out some or all of my selections and enjoy them as much as I have.

If you follow me on Twitter (@grabthisbook) then you will not be surprised at my selection for my favourite book of 2021 – I have been singing its praises since I read it back in February. The exciting news is I am able to share a fabulous discount offer which will grab you 25% off the purchase price if you buy my favourite read through the publisher’s website – details are below.

So to the books. Ten. Because choosing more makes it easy and I start to ask myself why I am leaving out good books if I have made an exception for an eleventh book or a twelfth or thirteenth – before you know it you have a top 25 and that’s too many to be “Top”.

10: The Murder Box – Olivia Kiernan

This was my introduction to the Frankie Sheehan books by Olivia Kiernan and I immediately regretted missing the first books in the series.

A murder mystery wrapped in a puzzle for Sheehan who is too distracted by the disappearance of a local celebrity to give the Murder Box she has recieved the attention it deserved.

It’s great to discover a new series and I will be catching up on Frankie Sheehan in the new year.

You can buy The Murder Box here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-murder-box/olivia-kiernan/9781529401141

9: Blood Summer – Steven Dunne

It had been too long since I had last read a Steven Dunne thriller so when Blood Summer released earlier this year I grabbed it at the first opportunity. Boy am I glad I did!

Steven Dunne is brilliant at spinning his magic on dark and disturbing murder stories. Blood Summer shows that he can even bring chills to summertime in the South of France. This story has a global span but is centred around a small French village and a brutal double murder in a luxury villa.

French police and a former American agent who now works on security and protection are both interested in the victims but for very different reasons. Trust me when I say you should not miss out on this book.

You can buy Blood Summer here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09B12NDXS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

8: The Family Tree – Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry

Debut release for the writing partnership of Mullin and Mabry. It’s a serial killer story and I always enjoy reading those. But the nice switch-up, which made this book shine for me, was that the killer abducts his victims and keeps them alive for months before finally dumping their bodies. He also takes two victims at a time. We know this as the authors tell of each abduction through the eyes of the victims, each new abduction reveals a little more of what happens to the girls who are taken.

In present day Liz Catalano takes a DNA test to trace her family tree, she is shocked to discover she is actually adopted but her DNA flags on the FBI watchlist as Liz is related to a serial killer who has been escaping justice for many years.

You can buy The Family Tree here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-family-tree/steph-mullin/nicole-mabry/9780008461249

7: Fragile – Sarah Hilary

I’ve been a fan of Sarah Hilary’s Marnie Rome books for a good few years but Fragile is her first stand alone novel. As I know Sarah is one of the few authors who will really put her recurring characters into very dark places I was keen to see what would happen when she was given a blank canvas with no requirement to keep anyone alive at the end of the book.

What we get is a beautiful gothic story with a tight cast of characters who are all so wonderfully realised that the spring from the pages as the story unfolds around them.

You can buy Fragile here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/fragile/sarah-hilary/9781529029444

6: True Crime Story – Joseph Knox

True Crime Story is one of the books I enjoyed as I read it but then found myself still thinking about some elements of the story long after I had put it down. That’s the sign of a good story and that’s why TCS has been included in my selections. It also makes me go against my policy of not recommending books with characters I really didn’t like (but I wasn’t meant to like the character in question so I guess it’s Kudos to Mr Knox here).

In 2011 a girl went missing, years later a journalist tries to put together the story of that missing girl. She speaks with friends of the girl and they recount what they can remember but time can play tricks on your memory, particularly if the person you were as a student is not the person you are today. Clever, clever writing and a cracking story teased out for readers.

You can buy True Crime Story here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/true-crime-story/joseph-knox/9780857527707

5: 56 Days – Catherine Ryan Howard

In 2021 as we are almost two years into a global pandemic but there have been very few books which actually acknowledge said pandemic. Step forward Catherine Ryan Howard who not only references the pandemic but builds a very slick murder story around Covid. In spring 2020 as the world inched its way into the very first lockdown Ciara and Oliver are in the early stages of a relationship. They think. So when lockdown looms they agree to couple up and move in together. Nobody else knows. Fifty six days later one of them is dead and the police have no idea why.

56 Days was my top audiobook listen in 2021 and it very much gets included in this top ten too.

You can buy 56 Days here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/56-days/catherine-ryan-howard/9781838951627

4: Black Reed Bay – Rod Reynolds

Introducing Detective Casey Wray this is another American based thriller from Rod Reynolds. A young woman has disappeared, last seen in an exclusive waterside residential estate. She called for help as she ran through the streets and some of the residents saw her but nobody knows what happened next.

Casey Wray is investigating but there are distractions in her precinct and loyalties will be put to test.

I got completely caught up in this book, everything else was put to one side until I found out how the story in Black Reed Bay was going to be resolved. From the moment I inhaled that last page and set down the book there was never a doubt it woudl be included here in my end of year favourites.

You can buy Black Reed Bay here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/black-reed-bay/rod-reynolds/9781913193676

3 – The Quiet People – Paul Cleave

This is a story to put you through the wringer. A troubled 7 year old child, his parents barely coping, disappears from his bedroom in the night. The previous day the boy had publically clashed with his father at a local fair. Witnesses will come forward to tell of their shock at how the father coped with his son’s behaviour.

The parents are both crime authors and have a fair degree of celebrity. For years they have written books where murders have been committed and bodies hidden. Now they are in the spotlight for all the worst reasons and the strain on their relationship is making them appear to be acting in a guilty manner. An increasing number of people are thinking the worst of them and while they are under suspicion their son remains missing. Utterly gripping.

You can buy The Quiet People here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-quiet-people/paul-cleave/9781913193942

2: Dead Man’s Grave – Neil Lancaster

Bringing the action thriller to Scotland with the brilliant Dead Man’s Grave. In a remote Highland graveyard the head of a powerful crime family is murdered, his body hidden beside an old grave. Max Cragie is a former Met police officer now working with Police Scotland and he is caught up in the aftermath of this killing. A powerful family want revenge for their father’s death but it seems the motive lies in the past and a long-forgotten family feud is suddently resurrected.

Craigie must act to keep some innocent people safe from the gangsters but when he discovers the criminals have some members of Police Scotland on the payroll his task gets much more complicated.

A terrific action thriller and the first book in a new series – get caught up on Craigie immediately.

You can buy Dead Man’s Grave here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/dead-mans-grave/neil-lancaster/9780008517120

1: Phosphate Rocks – Fiona Erskine

I may be running out of superlatives for Phosphate Rocks. I adored it.

A body in an old chemical works in Leith. It’s been there for years. Beside the body is a table with ten objects, each has a story and former site foreman John Gibson is going to tell those stories. His audience is DI Rose Irvine of Police Scotland and she will hear all about life in a chemical plant at a time when the world delivered valuable resources to Edinburgh and a crew of working men would oversee the production of these chemicals from their raw state.

Fiona Erskine combines a crime story with some fascinating science lessons and gives it heart and soul by making each character feel real. As the book does seem to contain a number of anecdotal tales (with Fiona herself making a cameo) you cannot help but feel each character and incident actually was real.

It’s a story like no other I have read this year and I urge you to seek it out.

You can buy Phosphate Rocks here: https://sandstonepress.com/books/phosphate-rocks and if you use the code below you will get 25% discount on the cover price (if you buy before 31st December 2021). Order before 14 December to get delivery in time for Christmas.

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December 5

My Five Favourite Audiobooks of 2021

It has been a great year for audiobooks so, after being dropped from the blog for the last couple of years, I am going to resurrect an end of year “Favourite Audiobooks” list for 2021.

This selection of books was brought to you in association with Odin.

No not the craggy, one-eyed Norse deity but a soon-to-be two-year old cockerpoo who needs a couple of good walks each day. My daily dog walking gives me the time and opportunity I need to get lots of listening done and this year I have enjoyed a couple of dozen full books while chucking sticks around a park and trudging up and down woodland paths. So thanks to Odin for bringing back the listening.

I have selected five of my favourites and although they are not in any specific order I will finish with the story I enjoyed the most. These five books are included because of a number of factors, a great narrator, an engaging story or subject matter, a tale I couldn’t stop thinking about or just beacuse I thought it was terrific. These are the five which I considered the best purchases I made through my Audible account.

Far From The Tree – Rob Parker

Brendan Foley has worked to balance the responsibilities of a demanding job and a troublesome family. He’s managed to keep these two worlds separate, until the discovery of a mass grave sends them into a headlong collision….

The juggle for Brendan Foley in this book is brilliantly handled by Rob Parker. Foley’s family have dubious criminal connections as his father is one of the North West’s biggest gangsters. So when Brendan’s nephew is found dead in a mass grave, family loyalty is not high on Brendan’s list of priorities. He is a man under huge pressure and there are a lot of corpses who deserve justice – can Brendan Foley step up for them?

Billy Summers – Stephen King

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit….

How could I not include Billy Summers in my selections? King is the master storyteller and Billy Summers is one of his very best. A hitman with the chance to make enough cash from the next job that he could retire. But there are too many things Billy doesn’t like about the assignment and fate isn’t going to make it easy for him.

This was a book which had me making longer detours on my walks just so I could hear another ten minutes of story. When it was finished I wasn’t – I wanted more.

The Reacher Guy – Heather Martin

The Reacher Guy is a compelling and authoritative portrait of the artist as a young man, refracted through the life of his fictional avatar, Jack Reacher….

I don’t read non-fiction and I certainly don’t read biographies. Well that was true until I listened to Heather Martin’s excellent biography of Lee Child, author of the tremendous Jack Reacher novels.

I thought I knew Reacher well (I’d been reading his story for over 20 years). I knew Lee Child was an alias but that was all I knew. Heather Martin showed me how little I actually knew. She tells the story of three men and she shows how my favourite fiction was shaped by history and experiences and tells the reader about the stubborn determination of a man called James Grant.

This book opened my eyes and gave me an enjoyment of non-fiction which I had not previously experienced. Since reading The Reacher Guy I am now picking up more non-fiction titles and feel I am gaining from each one I read. This is a detailed and fascinating listen.

Chasing The Boogeyman – Richard Chizmar

In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town. The grisly evidence leads police to the terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet suburb. But soon a rumour begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human. Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI, are certain that the killer is a living, breathing madman – and he’s playing games with them. For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end.

The release of this post was delayed 24 hours as I still had 45 minutes of Chasing The Boogeyman to listen to. Even before I had finished the audiobook I knew it was going to be included in my list of five favourites. It’s a story from the late 80’s when for six months a killer attacked a number of teenage girls and held a terror over a small town. The story is told by Richard Chizmar himself, a resident of the town in question, and he plays an integral part of the story even fearing he may become a suspect at one point. It is chilling ficton but presented as a true crime investigation – there is even a PDF of pictures of the characters to accompany the audiobook to allow listeners to see snapshots of the key figures in the story and locations important to the plot. It’s a really clever addition to a brilliant audiobook.

56 Days – Catherine Ryan Howard

No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead….

It is December 2021 and Covid and lockdown have been present in our lives for over 20 months yet this isn’t being reflected in the fiction I am reading. Who is writing the lockdown stories? Well Catherine Ryan Howard is – 56 Days takes all the anxiety, claustrophobia, tension and paranoia of 2020 and weaves it wonderfully into this murder story.

This is the audiobook I enjoyed most in 2021. The narration was wonderful, the shift in narrative across the 56 days which cover the novel kept the teases and reveals flowing through the story – it isn’t a linear narrative so you realise some characters know more than they are letting on at certain parts of the story and that just throws up more question around why they are behaving why they are. The story hangs on the characters and their actions and Catherine Ryan Howard has crafted a wonderful cast to make this story absolutely shine.

So there you have it five wonderful and unmissable audiobooks. Some non-fiction which includes a lot of fictional references, a serial killer thriller, a police investigation with gangland links, a hitman story which is so much more and a clever murder tale hidden from the world during a pandemic lockdown.

I limped over the finishing line with a busted pair of headphones so until I get back to the shops and replace my £10 headphones with a new pair of similar value no new audiobooks will be started. I can be confident, therefore, that no new audiobook will be listened to over the last three weeks of 2021 and that this five really are the best five audiobooks I listened to this year. Now all that remains is for you to seek them out too and see for yourself why I loved them so much.

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