Where Demons Hide – Douglas Skelton

Something scared Nuala Flaherty to death. When her body is found in the centre of a pentagram on a lonely moor, Rebecca is determined to find out what. Was she killed by supernatural means, or is there a more down-to-earth explanation?

Rebecca’s investigation leads her to a mysterious cult and local drug dealings. But what she doesn’t know is that crime matriarch Mo Burke still has her in her crosshairs. Mo wants payback for the death of her son, and after one failed attempt to hurt Rebecca, she is upping the ante. And this time, it could be lethal.

My thanks to ISIS audio for the review copy and to Danielle Louis for the opportunity to host this leg of the audio blog tour.

Where Demons Hide is the fourth Rebecca Connolly thriller from Douglas Skelton. It builds on events from the three earlier books but is also easily read as a stand-alone title, Skelton deftly brings though the key events which new readers need to know without the reader feeling the past narrative is shoe-horned into the story.

The story largely concerns its-self with events on the island of Stoirm but for much of the story Rebecca is in Inverness which gives some of the supporting characters the chance to shine. Very much in the story spotlight is photographer Chazz Wymark – he is asked (grudgingly) by the police to take photographs of a body which was found in remote moorland on the island. The dead woman is Nuala Flaherty and despite an evidence of insubstantial clothing to be on the moors her body is also found lying inside an occult symbol.

There are no obvious signs of injury to Nuala’s body and the police are initially perplexed. But there are toxicology exams to be run and the potential of exposure (given the sheet-like clothing Nuala was wearing) so the police cannot assume accidental death is not a factor, nor can they rule out foul play. Chazz feels there is more to this death than may meet the eye – not least the symbol cut into the ground – and he alerts Rebecca to his suspicions.

Unfortunately for Chazz the person best placed to give him any more information is is old English teacher as she was acting as landlady for the deceased. The conversations between teacher and former pupil were absoulte highlights of this story for me. I don’t think any good teachers ever really lose the respect of their former pupils and this is wonderfully played out as Chazz tries to to some fact-finding with his mischevious but (almost) co-operative teacher.

Chazz is on Storim with his partner as their wedding looms. Rebecca will be joining them but she has stories to investigate before heading off to the island. Unbeknownst to Rebecca an old grudge against her is still festering and steps are being taken to end Rebecca’s young life before many more days have passed. Returning readers will know an attempt was already made on Rebecca’s life – obviously it was not successful. But this has only stoked the fires of anger and stakes have been raised with an outside contractor engaged to send professional killers after the reporter.

Word of this danger does get to Rebeccca’s friends in the police and some steps are taken to try to ensure her safety but Rebecca is largely unaware of the danger which she may face. It’s a tense situation and as a reader I loved seeing the danger to Rebecca growing while she was oblivious to the moves being made against her.

Back on Stoirm and there’s more information emerging about Nuala and her connection to a commune on the island. Is it a haven for people who wish to leave the mania of society behind them? Or could there be a hidden danger and a nefarious motive for the community to be sequestered away in teh reomote Scottish Highlands? There are a few people looking too closely at the sanctuary and this isn’t something which sits well with the commune’s owner.

I make no secret of being a fan of this series, and indeed of the author too. I always enjoy how Douglas Skelton plots his thrillers and the pacing and reveals never fail to keep me reading. Where Demons Hide also makes the transition to audiobook really well too. The team at Isis Audio have done another great job and the narrator, Sarah Barron, is once again nailing this performance. Sarah may be a familiar voice as she has narrated all the previous books in the series and her familiarity with the characters shines through.

The Rebecca Connoly series is one of my current favourites and whether this would be your first encounter with Rebecca or if you are a returning reader I know this book will captivate and entertain. Where Demons Hide is available from today and I urge you to seek it out.

Where Demons Hide is available in paperback, digital and (of course) audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Demons-Hide-Rebecca-Connolly/dp/B09ZBJRY1G/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

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July 30

Truly, Darkly, Deeply – Victoria Selman

Twelve-year-old Sophie and her mother, Amelia-Rose, move to London from Massachusetts where they meet the charismatic Matty Melgren, who quickly becomes an intrinsic part of their lives. But as the relationship between the two adults fractures, a serial killer begins targeting young women with a striking resemblance to Amelia-Rose.

When Matty is eventually sent down for multiple murder, questions remain as to his guilt – questions which ultimately destroy both women. Nearly twenty years later, Sophie receives a letter from Battlemouth Prison informing her Matty is dying and wants to meet. It looks like Sophie might finally get the answers she craves. But will the truth set her free – or bury her deeper?

I recieved a review copy from the publisher via Netgalley

There’s been a lot of buzz around Truly, Darkly, Deeply over the last few weeks. It isn’t often I see a book get so much love from so many readers but having devoured this gripping story I can see why it has been praised by the great and good of crime fiction. It was a brilliant read.

Sophie is the focus of the story, she is brought from Massachusetts to England by her mother (Amelia-Rose) and they are starting a new life together in a new country. Ameila-Rose meets Matty, he is a larger than life figure and the couple slowly start to grow their relationship. Sophie and Matty get on well and as the story unfolds we see a family unit forming.

As we get to know Sophie, Ameila-Rose and Matty we see them spending time together and Victoria Selman has seeded their lives into the early 80’s when these formative months of their relationships were founded. It was fun to see how this new “family” viewed the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana some 40 years after the event took place. Obviously the reader knows how many of these real world events turn out over time but seeing the trio discussing them as they unfold was enchanting and entracing too.

But the homely domesticity also has a shadow hanging over it. A serial killer is operating in the city near where Ameila-Rose and Sophie live. As the number of victims grow, Sophie cannot help but notice that each of the dead women share similar characteristics in their appearance and those characteristics are also shared by her mother.

When we are not reading about life in the 1980s we are in present day. In present day Matty is in prison as he was convicted for the murder of the women. He is dying and he wants to see Sophie. Why does he want to see Sophie? Does she want to see Matty? Well she doesn’t, not really, but there is an inevitability of them having a conversation and as that draws closer the reader is wholly invested in Sophie’s life and also wants to know what Matty plans to say. Is he going to finally confess to the murders? Has he information to share or will he try to undo Sophie’s life? His conviction pretty much changed Sophie once already, could he somehow do more damage?

What made this book shine for me was how deftly Victoria Selman nails the pace, the subtle and dramatic reveals and the utter heights of tension. Despite knowing Matty has been convicted for the murders you don’t know if he actually committed the crimes. After some time Sophie has suspicions but Matty is charming and personable and she really can’t bring herself to believe he could be a killer, at times I had my doubts too.

An immediate favourite. It’s a book you need to read – I loved it.

Truly, Darkly, Deeply is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Truly-Darkly-Deeply-gripping-thriller/dp/1529420687/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=ST6ka&pf_rd_p=4894e669-125c-4a90-a2cc-9002e7df2d59&pf_rd_r=4RGQC1JBM2P0TJQYJ328&pd_rd_wg=hMaPa&pd_rd_r=7b67566e-a6f7-44a5-83a9-fc137e783e5b&content-id=amzn1.sym.4894e669-125c-4a90-a2cc-9002e7df2d59&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk

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July 28

Old Bones Lie – Marion Todd

DI Clare Mackay is about to face a test of her loyalty…

When a report comes in that a van containing two prison officers and a convicted jewel thief is missing, the police in St Andrews work quickly to locate the vehicle. Their efforts prove in vain when no trace is found and they realise the wives of both officers also appear to have left the area. Is this a case of corrupt guards springing a felon, or innocent people caught in the crossfire?

DI Clare Mackay leads the team but has to do without her right hand man; DS Chris West is a cousin to one of the missing prison officers and must not be involved in the case. With a new sergeant at her side plus a previously unencountered DCI, Clare’s people skills are pushed to the limit. Especially once she realises her boss is keeping her on the sidelines. Just what is it that Clare doesn’t know? And if she has to choose between keeping secrets from a friend, or letting slip something that could see a culprit go free, which path will she take?

My thanks to Canelo who kindly provided a review copy of Old Bones Lie

When I collated my Best Books of 2020 list back in December 2020 I singled out Marion Todd’s See Them Run as the best debut I had read that year. See Them Run was the first DI Clare Mackay book, spin forward to Summer 2022 and I am reviewing Old Bones Lie which is the sixth Clare Mackay book. It’s a series which I absolutely love to read, I look forward to each new release and it is very pleasing to see so many crime readers are also discovering these books and enjoying them as much as I have been.

With an intro like that it should come as no surprise to learn I thoroughly enjoyed Old Bones Lie. It starts with a chilling scene: two couples enjoying an evening in have just ordered takeaway food – a knock at the door turns their world upside down. Next morning Police Scotland are scrambling after reports of a convicted armed robber has been sprung from custody. Two prison guards are unaccounted for, their wives are also missing and not answering their telephones.

Clare Mackay is co-ordinating events but she will lose her right hand man as her DS (Chris) is related to one of the two missing prison guards. He wants to play an active part in the investigation but Clare knows he cannot be involved. It creates a friction within her team and one which needs addressed quickly – Chris will be tasked with investigating a series of thefts of agricultural vehicles and a new DS will be brought in to work with Clare. The fractious issues within Clare’s team will intensify when a new boss is dropped into supervise Clare and the hunt for the missing prisoner. Her new boss is happy to give Clare some leeway to investigate but frustratingly he is taking ownership of some tasks and not sharing his findings or explaning his reasoning and Clare feels hamstrung.

These personnel issues add a fascinating extra layer of frustration into the investigations. Four missing people, an escaped jewel thief and before too long a dead body – someone who was connected to the robbery which led to the imprisonment of the escaped convict. It is a high profile case and events are unfolding quickly. All these elements are great for keeping the intensity of the story running through the chapters and it makes the reader keep those pages turning.

Marion Todd writes in a very readable style and over the course of the six books has developed a great team of characters which returning readers will enjoy meeting again. Old Bones Lie had all the clever plotting and nice reveals which I have come to expect from this series and it’s always a genuine moment of sadness when I reach the end of the book and I know I have a wait until the next is released. But just as I finished reading the news came out that were were three more books to follow so I can content myself with the knowledge I will be returning to Clare’s corner of St Andrews in future.

I recommend lots of authors to different readers when I write blog posts but it is less frequent for me to be recommending a whole series as part of a review. I have no hesitation in recommending all crime fiction fans to seek out the Clare Mackay books. Each can be read as a stand alone mystery but as the titles follow the development of Clare’s team and the changes to her personal life you may wish to seek them out in publication order – as mentioned above, See Them Run is where it all begins.

A firm favourite! Grab a pack of your favourite biscuits and immerse yourself in these wonderful stories – the latest adventure for DI Clare Mackay is another triumph.

Old Bones Lie is published by Canelo and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format: https://www.waterstones.com/book/old-bones-lie/marion-todd/9781800327306

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July 25

Decades: Compiling The Ultimate Library with Helen FitzGerald

My Decades Library grows. Each week I am joined by a booklover (authors, pubishers, bloggers or journalists) and I ask them to nominate five new books which they think should be included in my Ultimate Library. I started this challenge back in January 2021 and since then over 70 guest curators have joined me and selected some of their favourite reads which they feel the very best library should have available for readers to enjoy.

My guests don’t quite get to choose their five “favourite” books as I impose a couple of rules on their selections which means some books just don’t get to be included – I am told this can cause a bit of heartache and I do sometimes feel bad about this.

The reason I describe my Library as the Decades Library is beacuse of the rules governing selections:

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

So it’s selections from a fifty year publication span and means the fans of Tom Clancy can’t just pick all the Jack Ryan books – I initially hoped these rules would bring a broader range of reads to choose from and this seems to have been the case. Incidentally – in 18 months of Decades selections I haven’t had a single Tom Clancy book nominated.

Today I am delighted to be joined by Helen FitzGerald. Helen’s latest book, Keep Her Sweet, is published by Orenda Books (who also made five Decades selections). You can order a copy of Keep Her Sweet here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keep-Her-Sweet-Helen-FitzGerald/dp/1914585100/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1650564375&sr=8-1

Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of ten adult and young adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and adapted for a major BBC drama. Her 2019 dark-comedy thriller Worst Case Scenario was a Book of the Year in the Literary Review, Herald Scotland, Guardian and Daily Telegraph, shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and won the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award. Helen worked as a criminal justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Victoria, Australia, and now lives in Glasgow with her husband. Follow Helen on Twitter @FitzHelen

DECADES

Published 1979 – Flowers in the Attic, V.C Andrews (smuggled this into the house!)

Up in the attic, four secrets are hidden. Four blonde, beautiful, innocent little secrets, struggling to stay alive…

Chris, Cathy, Cory and Carrie have perfect lives – until a tragic accident changes everything. Now they must wait, hidden from view in their grandparents’ attic, as their mother tries to figure out what to do next. But as days turn into weeks and weeks into months, the siblings endure unspeakable horrors and face the terrifying realisation that they might not be let out of the attic after all.

Helen shared with me that she read this when she was 13 (which may explain why she smuggled the book into the house). It’s definately a book which resonates with Decades Curators, Susi Holliday also made this choice when she picked her five and also suggested that she read it at an impressionable age.

Twice adapted for film, Flowers in the Attic was the first in a series which saw seven sequels follow over the years.

Published 1980 – The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco

The year is 1327.

Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate.

When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey where extraordinary things are happening under the over of night.

A spectacular popular and critical success, The Name of the Rose is not only a narrative of a murder investigation but an astonishing chronicle of the Middle Ages.

Selling over 50 million copies worldwide, no doubt boosted by the film of the same name which starred Sean Connery and Christian Slater, this biblical crime thriller was ranked 14 in Le Monde’s top 100 books of the century.

Published 1997 – Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey

Peter Carey’s novel of the undeclared love between clergyman Oscar Hopkins and the heiress Lucinda Leplastrier is both a moving and beautiful love story and a historical tour de force set in Victorian times.

Made for each other, the two are gamblers – one obsessive, the other compulsive – incapable of winning at the game of love.

Winner of the 1998 Booker Prize the book was also adapted into a film which starred Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett.

Published 2008 – The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas

At a suburban barbecue one afternoon, a man slaps an unruly boy.

The boy is not his son.

It is a single act of violence, but the slap reverberates through the lives of everyone who witnesses it happen.

Christos Tsiolkas presents the impact of this apparently minor domestic incident through the eyes of eight of those who witness it. The result is an unflinching interrogation of the life of the modern family, a deeply thought-provoking novel about boundaries and their limits…

The story is told through the voices of eight characters, in third person and each in a chapter of their own. Events after the incident are outlined chronologically through each character’s story.

The Slap won the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 2009 and has twice been adapted into a mini-series.

Published 2016 – A Dark Matter (The Skelfs), Doug Johnstone

Three generations of women from the Skelfs family take over the family funeral home and PI businesses in the first book of a taut, gripping page-turning and darkly funny new series.

Meet the Skelfs: well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors of a long-established funeral-home business, and private investigators…

When patriarch Jim dies, it’s left to his wife Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah to take charge of both businesses, kicking off an unexpected series of events. Dorothy discovers mysterious payments to another woman, suggesting that Jim wasn’t the husband she thought he was. Hannah’s best friend Mel has vanished from university, and the simple adultery case that Jenny takes on leads to something stranger and far darker than any of them could have imagined.

As the women struggle to come to terms with their grief, and the demands of the business threaten to overwhelm them, secrets from the past emerge, which change everything…

Shotlisted for the 2020 McIlvanney Prize (Scottish Crime Book of the Year) A Dark Matter introduced readers to The Skelfs – a much loved Edinburgh Family who have subsequently appeared in two further novels and will return later this year for a fourth outing in Black Hearts.

HONORARY MENTION: Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner (1894, watched on TV 1973). I was the second youngest of 13; Mum was step-mum to the older eight children; dad was a strict ex military man; we lived in rural Victoria – so this really hit home. The only time we were ever allowed to miss mass was to watch the final episode when it was adapted for television.

My thanks to Helen for these wonderful selections. I can only include the five official selections in the Library but I do love an honorary mention as it lets me see which books almost made the cut.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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July 11

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Lesley Kelly

Welcome to the Decades It’s my ongoing challenge to assemble a Library of nothing but the very best books as selected by booklovers. This challenge began in January 2021 and each week a new guest curator joins me and they add some of their favourite reads to the Library shelves.

Choosing five favourite books seemed far too straightforward a challenge though so I decided to throw in a random element to the selection process. This random element is why my Library is a Decades Library. When making their selections my guests are asked to follow just two rules:

1 – Select Any Five Books

2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades

The rules are often flexed and I am often cursed as my guests turn to Google to find that elusive fifth book which was published in decade which allows them to complete the challenge of finding five books from a fifty year publication span. The winner at the end of this challenge are the readers who will have a Library full of highly recommended reads.

This week it is my pleasure to welcome Lesley Kelly to Grab This Book. You may spot a bit of a theme running through some of Lesley’s selected titles but if you have already discovered the fantastic Health Of Strangers series you will understand why that theme is there.

DECADES

I spent the years 2016-2020 writing the Health of Strangers crime series, set in Edinburgh against the background of a (fictional) killer pandemic. In a daring act of plagiarism, Real Life took this idea and ran with it. I’m currently working on Book 5 in the series, having had more than a little inspiration on everything viral over the past two years; we’ll soon know if the world has an appetite for any more plague literature! There’s info on the books here: https://www.lesleykelly.co.uk/

Here are my choices, more than a little influenced by recent events…

Noah’s Castle, John Rowe Townsend, 1975

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, worrying about the threat of nuclear war, fuel shortages, and rampaging inflation. Thank God times have changed. These troubles were obviously playing on the minds of the nation’s young adult authors, which resulted in some very dark teenage novels. This book, along with Z for Zachariah by Robert C O’Brien, was my absolute favourite piece of youth-orientated apocalyptic writing. I re-read it recently and it has definitely stood the test of time.

A is for Alibi, Sue Grafton, 1982

This series could not be more 1980s if it had backcombed hair and was wearing a neon pink ra ra skirt. I love the Californian setting, and Kinsey Millhone is as kickass a heroine as anyone could wish for. However, Ms Grafton had it easy as a crime writer – no mobile phones to get Kinsey out of her scrapes!

What a Carve Up!, Jonathan Coe, 1994

There’s no easy way to sum up this book. It’s a satire, it references the film of the same name, it has a country house, a failing novelist given a mysterious task, and an aristocratic family whose siblings just happen to be a tabloid journalist, a politician, a farmer, an art gallery owner, an investment banker, and an arms dealer. Told you it was satirical. Anyway, it’s hilarious, so go read it.

The Cutting Room, Louise Welsh, 2002

This was the book that really opened my eyes to the variety of crime writing that exists beyond the police procedural. This book has everything: a compelling (anti) hero in Rilke, an intriguing setting in the world of Glasgow auctioneers, a plot that draws you right in, and a smattering of very dark humour. Oh, and it’s beautifully written too.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, 2014

And we’re back with the apocalypse… in this case a flu pandemic which kills most of the world’s population. The book focuses on several individuals who were in some way connected to a performance of King Lear on the night that the pandemic starts and charts their progress over the years. Much of the action revolves around the Travelling Symphony, which moves around the United States entertaining the survivors. For a book with such a dark theme, it is surprisingly hopeful. Given the events of the past couple of years, this is surely a must for the Decades Library!

My thanks to Lesley for five terrific selections. I know there’s a lot of love for Kinsey out there and I am delighted that The Cutting Room has found its way into the Library. All five books are officially included in the Decades Library and I can’t wait to see what may follow next.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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July 5

The Dark Remains – Ian Rankin and William McIlvanney

In this scorching crime hook-up, number one bestseller Ian Rankin and Scottish crime-writing legend William McIlvanney join forces for the first ever case of DI Laidlaw, Glasgow’s original gritty detective.

If the truth’s in the shadows, get out of the light…

Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong type of people. Now he’s dead and it was no accident. He’s left behind his share of enemies, but who dealt the fatal blow?

DC Jack Laidlaw’s reputation precedes him. He’s not a team player, but he’s got a sixth sense for what’s happening on the streets. As two Glasgow gangs go to war, Laidlaw needs to find out who got Carter before the whole city explodes.

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the tour for The Dark Remains. I am also grateful to Canongate for a review copy.

Laidlaw. Is this where it all began? For almost ten years I have been lurking around the fringes of the Bloody Scotland Crime Festival and the names “Laidlaw” and “William McIlvanney” are mentioned at most panels. The McIlvanney Prize is given to the best Scottish crime book of the year. Laidlaw’s shadow looms large over all current writing – that is a legacy to hold in reverence. It is 2022 and a new Laidlaw book is being released to the paperback market. The name McIlvanney is joined by that of Ian Rankin, that duo is a USP beyond measure.

But for many (myself included) Laidlaw is not a character they may have read before now. So does The Dark Remains capture the character of Laidlaw? The book cover states this is Laidlaw’s First Case – will The Dark Remains introduce a new generation of readers to the original books?

I honestly cannot answer either of these questions. Having not read any of McIlvanney’s books I don’t know how well the character of Laidlaw may compare to his original outings. On that front I can say that I adored how he comes across in The Dark Remains. There are quirks in his character, a deep level of thinking and an odd apparent indifference to his family. He commands respect from the low level hoods he meets in Glasgow’s streets and bars and he battles with a boss who clearly hates him. His presence dominates this story and it is magnificent.

Will readers of The Dark Remains pick up the original books? I will be. For years I have promised myself I will read McIlvanney’s books – after reading The Dark Remains I immediately got myself the other books – holiday reading locked in.

But what of the story its-self? Bobby Carter is found dead in an alley behind a pub. Glasgow is divided up amongst rival gangs, each with their own influencial figurehead controlling his troops. Bobby Carter was found in the “wrong area” so was he killed to send a message or did someone over-step their remit and take action into their own hands?

The police know all the players in the city, who owns pubs and bookies, who the dealers report to and where the trusted members of each “family” can be found. But this time nobody seems to be talking but all the evidence which comes to light suggests it may be one of Bobby’s own who sought to end his life. But can the police trust the evidnece or is someone playing them for fools?

Laidlaw is not inclined to take everything at face value. While his colleagues are chapping on doors and seeking witnesses, Laidlaw is talking to people who knew Bobby Carter and people who saw Bobby in places where he should not have been.

The Dark Remains is a terrific read, Ian Rankin has brought McIlvanney’s unfinished manuscript to a delighful and thoroughly enteretaining completion. I enjoyed the characters, the dry quips and the depiction of Glasgow more than I have any police procedural for some time. It flowed with apparent effortless grace and I did not want to leave the world when the story ended.

The Dark Remins is one of those rare “must read” stories.

The Dark Remains is now available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-dark-remains/ian-rankin/william-mcilvanney/9781838858810

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July 5

Hostage – Clare Mackintosh

You can save hundreds of lives.
Or the one that matters most …

The atmosphere on board the inaugural non-stop flight from London to Sydney is electric. Numerous celebrities are rumoured to be among the passengers in business class and journalists will be waiting on the ground to greet the plane.

Mina is one of a hand-picked team of flight attendants chosen for the landmark journey. She’s trying to focus on the task in hand, and not worry about her troubled five-year-old daughter back at home with her husband. Or the cataclysmic problems in her marriage.

But the plane has barely taken off when Mina receives a chilling note from an anonymous passenger, someone intent on ensuring the plane never reaches its destination. Someone who needs Mina’s assistance and who knows exactly how to make her comply.

It’s twenty hours to landing.
A lot can happen in twenty hours …

I received a review copy from the publisher before taking part in the blog tour. I was invited to join the tour by Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours. My thanks to both.

As the summer holiday season is upon us many readers will be looking for the books they can stuff into a suitcase or their hand luggage. The smart cookies out there will have an ebook and a reading app on their phone. Nothing says “prepared” like opening the Kindle App when you suddenly find you are in a 3 hour airport queue. The really smart cookies out there will be taking Clare Mackintosh’s Hostage with them on their holiday – though some may find it a bit too intense to read on a flight!

I am keeping a firm eye on the blurb (above) as I try to explain why you must be reading Hostage this summer. The last thing I want to be doing is sprinkling spoilers into my review as this really is a book you want to pick up with as little advance warning of what is about to unfold as it is possible to achieve.

The key character in Hostage is Mina. She is a flight attendant who will be working on a landmark journey: an England to Australia direct flight. Pushing the boundaries of aviation capability means a 20 hour flight with no stops. For the crew it should be a long and demanding trip, the flight will be full of celebs, reporters along with the usual quota of people making the epic journey with their own personal ambitions and aspirations driving them on.

Mina didn’t need to be on the flight – for all the prestige involved in being on board it was deemed a “short straw” by the crew. Yet Mina volunteered to swap with a friend. She has been having a really tough time at home, her marriage seemingly falling apart due to her husband’s unreliable nature. Their five year old daughter is the light of their lives but she is also a lot of work for Mina when Adam (Mina’s husband) isn’t pulling his weight. Mina will get some time away on the round trip and Adam will just need to cope.

Unfortunately for Mina someone has been paying too much attention to her personal situation and with the flight in the air she receives a note which will rock her world to its core. Someone on the flight plans to ensure the hightest profile air trip of a generation will never reach its destination and they need Mina to make that possible.

I really cannot go into too much more detail but I can tell you from the moment Mina’s flight takes to the air this book will have you gripped and you will not want to stop reading. Claire Mackintosh builds up the background so smoothly and weaves important narrative into scenes where the reader may not appreceiate their significance. Aside from Mina and her family there are interludes where she introduces passengers and shares their stories. These passengers will also be caught-up in the drama as if the plane does not reach its destination and knowing what they have at stake is crucial to buying into the tension.

Hostage is the first of Claire Mackintosh’s books I have read. But having been in the audience at events to hear her speak, I already owned a few of her earlier books. Kicking myself for not making time to read those books sooner but a thriller of this quality is not a fluke and I cannot wait to catch up on the titles I missed. Those will be MY summer holiday reads.

Hostage is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format you can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/hostage/clare-mackintosh/9780751577082

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July 4

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Anne Coates

I am in awe of bloggers who are able to juggle their reading, their personal lives and still keep their blog ticking over. Sometimes that IS me, recently it has NOT been me. Over the last few weeks my day job has become overwheming and has taken far too much of my time; becoming something of a “whole-day” job. Something had to give and unfortunately that was Decades. My apologies to my guests who have been waiting patiently, also to those who have indicated they would like to join in but I have not yet been in contact with them. And my apologies to everyone who as asked me “where is Decades?”

Today Decades is back.

Since January 2021 I have been inviting guests to join me and I ask them to nominate their five favourite books which they would like to see included in the Ultimate Library. This Ultimate Library is my Decades Library, I started with zero books and wanted to curate a library which contained only the very best reads – the ones booklovers read and want everyone else to enjoy too.

Each guest is asked to follow just two rules when nominating their favourite books to the Decades Library:

1 – You May Select ANY Five Books

2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades. Selections are to be made from any fifty-year publication span.

It sounds easy but I am often told that nailing down a final five can lead to some frustrating internal soul searching. And cussing.

Today I am delighted to bring Decades back and introduce the wonderful Anne Coates. As Decades is not about me but about my guests I am now taking a step back and leaving you in Anne’s care…

It only took one tap dancing class (and some coaching from her mother who had been a dancer) for Anne Coates to realise that she would never be a Ginger Rogers but being a journalist/editor and writing fiction has allowed her to explore all manner of careers and situations with far less embarrassment. Anne has worked as a journalist and editor for newspapers, magazines and publishers and has published seven non-fiction books as well as short stories. Born in Clapham and now living a few miles away in East Dulwich, Anne’s Hannah Weybridge series, amzn.to/38egdOO published by Red Dog press, is set in 1990s London. The first book, ‘Dancers in the Wind’, was inspired by interviews she did for a national newspaper and the latest, ‘Stage Call’ begins and ends in one of the capital’s most iconic theatres, The Old Vic – a favourite with the Coates family.

DECADES

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (1865)

Alice is the book made unforgettable by my mother reading it to me. I adored listening to her as she brought everything alive with different “voices”. I love the sheer madness of these books and although I never sought out rabbit holes, I have certainly spent time staring into mirrors and hoping to be absorbed into another world! I continued the tradition by reading it to my daughter and quoting passages on the walk to school (she was not impressed).

Middlemarch by George Elliot (1871)

What a perfect novel! And how irritated I was with Dorothea when I read this as a teenager. Middlemarch followed me from school to my degree and I still have my battered Penguin edition. It encompasses so much social history especially the status of women, issues about marriage and inheritance, beautifully written and plotted. Much later in life I abridged Middlemarch for a compact edition and nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to cut parts of a favourite tome!

The Strange Case of Dr Jekell and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

From an early age I have been fascinated by the occult and the supernatural (in theory not practice!). Although I wasn’t a fan of Treasure Island or Kidnapped, Stevenson’s Jekell and Hyde captured my imagination with a struggle between good and evil in one character with two lives.

New Grub Street by George Gissing (1891)

A book I have reread since university, about writing and authors, their trials and tribulations. Written well over a century ago, Gissing depicts a society in which literature has become a commodity, which could very much sum up the case in publishing now especially in the snobbism associated with literary as opposed to genre fiction. New Grub Street is a “three volume novel” which one of the main characters, Reardon, struggles to write. It was a book, which resonated with me long before I became a published author.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (1901)

What’s not to love about Sherlock Holmes stories? Holmes intrigued me and I found his legendary powers of deduction utterly beguiling – the ultimate in detectives. Plus of course there was often the possibility of a supernatural agency at work. Doyle uses a favourite Holmes ruse of being too busy to attend the scene in Dartmoor and sending Dr Watson in his stead. Of course Holmes is there in disguise conducting his own enquiry into the death of Sir Charles Baskerville. Greed as ever was the motivation for the death, which was not the result of a family curse. Perfect reading.

My huge thanks to Anne for five wonderful selections. If you knew how much trouble we had behind the scenes to actually get Anne’s book recommendations to my inbox then you would know why I am feeling particularly thrilled to bring these five new Decades books to you today.

To everyone who has enjoyed Decades – thanks for the love and support. To new readers, welcome – I hope you find some new books to love.

I will aim to bring a new Decades post to you every Monday as we go forward. If you feel you have five unmissable books (pubished over five consecutive Decades) then please do get in touch with me @GrabThisBook and together we can hopefully share the booklove and introduce new readers to those titles.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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June 28

London In Black – Jack Lutz

A TENSE, TICKING-BOMB THRILLER SET IN A GRITTY NEAR-FUTURE LONDON

LONDON 2027

Terrorists deploy London Black, a highly sophisticated nerve gas, at Waterloo Station. For ten percent of the population – the ‘Vulnerables’ – exposure means near-certain death. Only a lucky few survive.

LONDON 2029

Copy-cat strikes plague the city, its Vulnerable inhabitants kept safe by regular Boost injections. As the anniversary of the first attacks draws near, DI Lucy Stone, a guilt-ridden Vulnerable herself, is called to investigate a gruesome murder of a scientist. Her investigation soon unearths the possibility that he was working on an antidote – one that Lucy desperately needs, as her Boosts become less and less effective.
But is the antidote real? And can Lucy solve the case before her Boosts stop working?

My thanks to Tara at Pushkin Press for the opportunity to join the blog tour for London in Black. I am reviewing a purchased digital copy of the book.

I have read a few dystopian stories for this blog and too often the blurb on those books made the book sound edgy and terrifying but the story just did not deliver on that early promise. So it was a genuine pleasure to discover London in Black was graphic, edgy and sufficiently nasty to tick all my boxes.

The cause of the apolcalypic event in this story was a toxin attack on London. Large numbers of the population were not harmed by the gas but for the vulnerable amonst them infection meant a prolonged and terrifying slide towards a painful death. A very small percentage of those vulnerable are hanging on to life, their bodies dependant upon a drug developed by scientist Flinders Cox and manufactured by his firm. But Flinders Cox has been murdered and DI Lucy Stone is on the case. Except she isn’t because she has been suspended from duty.

Lucy is one of the vulnerable who relies upon the drug Cox developed. She monitors her reistance to the effects of London Black (the toxin) and takes a daily booster to keep her alive. But the booster seems to be losing efficiency and with each hour her monitor shows her defences against infection are falling. If Cox has been killed then who will be able to continue his research and develop an antidote? Why was this prominent scientist killed and who benefits from his death?

London in Black takes a fast paced murder investigation and throws in the drama of the lead character constantly battling to avoid potential exposure to toxins which could kill her. The prospect of Lucy’s daily booster failing her and losing effectiveness over each day means she is in a real race against time to solve this case and uncover what Cox had been working on at the time of his death. Could it have been an antidote which would cure her?

I really enjoyed the duplicity and red herrings littered through this story. I thought I was doing well in unpicking motives and identifying possible suspects but Jack Lutz had other ideas and kept me on my toes with revelations and surprises which totally caught me off guard. Despite my abject failure at guessing where this story may take me I was fully onboard for the ride. At the end of the book I was only disappointed it was finished – I could easily have spent more time reading about this near future London.

If you want a thriller which offers a high tempo and edgy, gritty storyline then you should look no further.

London in Black is published by Pushkin Press and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09YN2YPGV/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

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June 22

The Haunting of Crimshaw Manor – Mark E Drotos

Every town has a mystery.

The Crimshaw family were once the caretakers of the prestigious Strathmore Estate. After the great blizzard of 1868, the townspeople found Elizabeth Crimshaw’s body hanging from the banister. Her young son and husband were declared missing and never found.

Every town has a legend.

The locals say they have seen Elizabeth’s ghost and that the manor is haunted. Others claim to have heard a woman’s scream and have witnessed strange lights and shadow people.

Some mysteries are better left unsolved.

What really happened to the promising Crimshaw family? Are the rumors surrounding the family true? Intent on investigating these claims, Stephen Davenport, adjunct professor of Paranormal Studies at Strathmore University, along with students from the school’s paranormal investigations club begin a weekend investigation.

What they find confirms their beliefs in the paranormal—and challenges them to simply stay alive.

I received a review copy of The Legend of Crimshaw Manor from the publisher through Netgalley

Sometimes a book lands on my Kindle and it’s the type of story I need to read right there and then. That’s what happened with The Legend of Crimshaw Manor. I was in the mood for a chilling horror tale and I stumbled upon Crimshaw Manor – the timing was perfect so I dipped straight in and before I knew it I was over 30% of the way through the book. The whole story was read over three days but only because I was having a busy weekend so didn’t get as much reading time I had hoped.

Stephen Davenport is the lead character in this creepy tale. He has an ability to see ghosts and is brought to Strathmore University to take on a professor role overseeing Paranormal Studies. Stephen comes to Strathmore and finds himself offered the opportunity to supplement his income by overseeing the management of a new nightclub which is being built/renovated in one of the old abandoned buildings in town. His friend knows Stephen can’t run a bar but would like him to be around on the property to oversee things while the construction is ongoing. Needless to say the old building where Stephen will be sleeping houses a few ghosts and it’s clear Stephen is going to be encountering more than a few spirits in this story.

Stephen’s department get the opportunity to investigate an old house on the edge of town – Crimshaw Manor. The house is famed locally as being haunted and the story of its former residents is disturbing and tragic. A couple and their young son moved to the house many decades ago. They were not used to the area and were unaware of the need to adequately prepare for winter. The snows came early and the family were cut off from the rest of the town. They had little food and no means to contact the outside world for help. The family didn’t survive but exactly what happened to them while they were snowed in to their home is not clear.

Now Stephen and two of his students are at Crimshaw Manor and they are brining all their best scientific gear to the old property to see if they can record the presence of ghosts. Suffice to say their weekend is going to be eventful.

I will confess to being a fan of a good haunted house story and there were more than a few chilling chapters in this book which kept me well entertained. Not all threats which the team encounter are supernatural and there are some good action sequences thrown in too. Combine these with flashbacks into Stephen’s past and there’s a lot of creepy action to enjoy here. One minor quibble, the scenes between those chilling moments didn’t hold me quite the same way – I wanted back to the spooky stuff – and one of the support characters brought slightly too much comedy when I didn’t always feel it was needed. Minor, as I say – the chills really outweighed the niggles.

The Haunting of Crimshaw Manor is published on 12 July 2022 and will be available in digital and hardback editions. You can pre-order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haunting-Crimshaw-Manor-Mark-Drotos-ebook/dp/B09ZMVPP48/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KOJS5Q3YKHRY&keywords=crimshaw+manor&qid=1652990655&sprefix=c%2Caps%2C47&sr=8-1

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