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Paperbacks From Hell: The Twisted History of ’70s and ’80s Horror Fiction – Grady Hendrix

An affectionate, nostalgic, and unflinchingly funny celebration of the horror fiction boom of the 1970s and ’80s

Take a tour through the horror paperback novels of two iconic decades . . . if you dare.

Page through dozens and dozens of amazing book covers featuring well-dressed skeletons, evil dolls, and knife-wielding killer crabs! Read shocking plot summaries that invoke devil worship, satanic children, and haunted real estate!

Horror author and vintage paperback book collector Grady Hendrix offers killer commentary and witty insight on these trashy thrillers that tried so hard to be the next Exorcist or Rosemary’s Baby. Complete with story summaries and artist and author profiles, this unforgettable volume dishes on familiar authors like V. C. Andrews and R. L. Stine, plus many more who’ve faded into obscurity.

Also included are recommendations for which of these forgotten treasures are well worth your reading time and which should stay buried.

My thanks to Quirk Books for my review copy which I received through Netgalley

It is 2018 and if you were asked to name a few horror writers then it is likely that the name Stephen King would quickly be mentioned, perhaps James Herbert, Ramsey Campbell, Clive Barker and Richard Laymon – authors with healthy catalogues of work which fill the shelves in the Horror section of your local bookshop.

If you were to take a trip to a good second-hand bookshop and look for the Horror books then you are likely to find shelves packed with virtually unknown names. Book covers would feature inventive pictures of blood, fangs, monsters and demons, churches and spooky houses and each would be trying to give the impression that each is more terrifying than the last. For a horror fan this could be the chance for a little shelf-browsing fun. For Grady Hendrix I get the impression it would be one of the best ways to spend a day.

Paperbacks From Hell will take readers on a journey of discovery through the 1970’s and 1980’s as Grady Hendrix tracks the books, the authors and publishers and the stories which would shape horror writing for decades. Although the focus is very much on the 70’s and 80’s there is discussion around earlier books and as the book draws to a close there is a sign of where the genre was heading as the 90’s approached.

Readers will be familiar with many of the more popular titles: for example, reading about Rosemary’s Baby was fun – discovering how it gave life (no pun intended) to swathes of other imaginative tales was utterly fascinating.

Some of the titles which are discussed sound absolutely bonkers and kudos to the author for sticking with them! There are dozens and dozens of books referenced in Paperbacks From Hell. Grady Hendrix writes with humour and obvious affection for the source material. He will provide plot synopsis and make observational judgements on whether the “surprise” horrific developments in these horror tales can carry the story.

Pages are filled with pictures of book covers. The subtle, the shocking, the classics and the over-the-top. Hendrix does not just focus on the stories and their authors but the artists get to share the limelight and we see their body of work. Also under discussion are the publishers who determined which books would fill the shelves and display stands across the lands. The social commentary of these decades shows how the narrative in horror tales changed and evolved over 20 years.

If you consider yourself a fan of horror stories then this is a brilliant read. Not only do you see how the books you loved have come to be but you will also identify books you will feel you must track down to read. Really enjoyed the time I spent with Paperbacks From Hell and the paperback (which I spotted in my local bookshop last week) is gorgeous.

Paperbacks From Hell is published by Quirk Books and available in Paperback, Audio and Digital versions. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paperbacks-Hell-Twisted-History-Fiction-ebook/dp/B01NBO5GIH/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526808922&sr=8-2&keywords=paperbacks+from+hell

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May 15

The Louisiana Republic – Maxim Jakubowski

New York, and the world, have been transformed by an unexplained global catastrophe now known as ‘the Dark. Once a modest researcher, has now become an involuntary detective.

He is recruited by her elder sister to find the missing daughter of a local gangster in a city in chaos where anarchy and violence are just a step away. He soon discovers the case is anything but straightforward and compellingly close to home. Compromising photographs and the ambiguous assistance of a young woman with ties to the criminal gangs lead him to New Orleans, which has seceded from the rest of America in the wake of the Dark.

A perilous journey down the Mississippi river, murderous hit women and sidekicks, and the magic and dangerous glamour of the French Quarter become a perilous road to nowhere and to madness in his quest for the amoral daughter, his own lost love and his sanity. Will he find the missing women or lose himself?

My thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Blog Tours for my review copy and the chance to join the Louisiana Republic Blog Tour.

Been staring at a blank document for 10 minutes trying to find a way to begin a review of The Louisiana Republic…tricky…very tricky as this is the book which I loved for its striking difference to everything else I have read recently.

Okay, I think we are in.

The Dark has changed the modern world as we know it, a dystopian America is the setting for The Louisiana Republic and it is not a place for the faint of heart. Savage criminal gangs are running rampant through the cities and there is more than one President (some may see this as an improvement on our present reality). Battles are being fought over key strongholds, libraries are revered (because of what the Dark is) and people are required to learn lost skills.

Into this mix steps a gorgeous femme fetale who wants to recruit the our lead character (a detective) to find her missing sister. He should have said no, but that would have made a much shorter book. The missing sister is a legend among purveyors of specialist pornography. Before the Dark she was happy to pose for any picture which people would request and people had some very extreme requests. Her father used his vast wealth to try to remove every trace of these images from the hands of strangers, he also disowned his daughter and most certainly does not want some private detective to find her. No problem – he has a number of employees who can deliver very persuasive messages!

I should probably make it clear that The Louisiana Republic is not going to be to everyone’s taste. It is dark, violent, sweary, ~~shaggy,~~ though I think “erotic” is the official designation and dystopian thrillers are not to everyone’s liking. The deeper I got into The Louisiana Republic the more I lost the link to a releatable reality – and the more I enjoyed what I was reading. It is not easy to create a new world and breath such compelling life into the society you have built whilst also keeping the main story spinning along.

There are not many books like The Louisiana Republic but when a story like this comes along I cherish the opportunity it gives me to enjoy something so very different.

The Louisiana Republic is published by Caffeine Nights and is available in digital and paperback format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Louisiana-Republic-fantastic-distopia-erotica-ebook/dp/B07C5SJDHJ/ref=sr_1_8?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1526326337&sr=1-8

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May 13

A Mind Polluted – Martin Geraghty

His world falls apart…

Triggered by overhearing a confession from his mother’s lips when he was a young boy, Connor Boyd carries the burden of the secret through his life.

Is falling in love his saviour? Or will he embark on a journey down a self-destructive path which ultimately leads to his version of justice?

Will he concentrate on his future, or be consumed by his past?

My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.

Loose lips sink ships. In A Mind Polluted it is loose lips which sink Connor Boyd. At age 13 he overhears his parents arguing. Not an uncommon incident, however, on this particular day he hears his mother voice a terrible truth which rocks Connor’s world and will change his destiny forever.

Shocked by what he has heard, Connor’s attitude and approach to life will radically change. He had previously been a promising student at school but he becomes troublesome and disruptive. He will sneak out at night and hang with the “bad crowd” who will lead Connor further down a dark path.

His relationship with his parents will deteriorate to the point they can hardly recognise their son. He will not explain why he is behaving the way he is, but he firmly holds his mother responsible.

A Mind Polluted is a Glasgow based novel and the dialect and language reflect the city exceedingly well. The loutish behaviour of the kids in the story is really well realized but most striking is the reader’s view of Connor. He is a conflicted and complex character and we see his confidence, anger, neurosis, anguish, hopes, worry and fears. The author will take readers on a harrowing journey and if you get caught up in the tale then Connor will make you angry, upset, elated and frustrated…it is a highly emotive tale to read.

If you are a fan of a strong character driven story then A Mind Polluted is one to seek out.

A Mind Polluted is published by Crooked Cat Books and is available in digital and paperback format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mind-Polluted-Martin-Geraghty-ebook/dp/B07B4G3H9R/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526204857&sr=8-1&keywords=a+mind+polluted

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May 11

A Series Business – Marnie Riches

Regular visitors to Grab This Book will possibly have worked out that I very much enjoy books which feature recurring characters. I love to see characters develop over time and I look forward to regular reunions with Jack Reacher, Charlie Parker, The Ankh Morpork City Watch and many, many others.

While writing reviews of new books I sometimes worry that we lose sight of the other books written by the author we are championing that day. This is particularly important where we are singing the praises of book 4 in a series but glossing over the earlier parts of what is essentially the same tale!

So A Series Business was born (with thanks to Kate at Bibliophile Book Club for the name). My hope is that I can chat with authors about writing recurring characters, planning for a long-game and give them a chance to showcase ALL their work and not just the latest release.

My first guest is Marnie Riches:

I never begin with a question. Could I ask you to introduce yourself and ask you to ensure you take full advantage of this opportunity to plug your books?

I’m Marnie Riches, the author of two best-selling crime-fiction series. Before I wrote crime, I wrote for children and penned the first six books in HarperCollins’ children’s series for 7+ year olds – Time Hunters. Before I wrote for children, I was a professional fundraiser but have also been a trainee rock star, a low-rent Sarah Beeny and a pretend artist. Before all that, I grew up on one of the roughest estates in Manchester but went to Cambridge University to study Modern & Medieval German & Dutch – a must for any author whose characters are continent-hoping Europhiles!

My debut thriller was The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die – the first outing for Georgina McKenzie, a criminologist and all-round kickass young woman who has come to navigate the international underbelly of the modern world in a bid to fight traffickers, gangsters and murderers. With some autobiographical nuggets hidden in her backstory, this series has grown to incorporate a further four titles, the latest being The Girl Who Got Revenge: a twisty, fast-paced tale where guilty war-time secrets collide with the horrors of contemporary people-trafficking and the hot topic of illegal immigration. My debut won a Dead Good Reader Award in 2015 for having the most exotic location, and it seems Amsterdam, Cambridge and London is a perennially popular trio of settings for crime-thrills, as readers have stayed with me for the ride.

My second series is set in Manchester and is a rather different gritty and gripping saga of Manchester’s crime families. Born Bad was released in 2017 and The Cover-Up followed in January 2018, bringing a slice of Mancunian gangland to the publishing world – and I’d know! I grew up in the armpit of north Manchester. What I don’t know about the city’s sink estates isn’t worth writing about.

As the purpose of A Series Business is to discuss the George McKenzie books could you now introduce us to George?

Georgina McKenzie is my response to Stieg Larrson’s character, Lisbeth Salander. I had read the Millennium Trilogy avidly at a time when I had been hoping to become a children’s author. But I found Scandi Noir and surly, no-bullshit Salander in particular so captivating that I decided back in 2010 that I would write my own response to Scandi Noir with my very own heroine. She would be so recognisably like every woman and yet, so much…better. George is from the mean streets of South East London but has shrugged off her urban-ghetto-beginnings to gain a Cambridge University education. Through sheer hard work and determination, she carves a career as a criminologist for herself – able to understand how the criminal mind works, thanks to her shady past. It is her Erasmus year in Amsterdam that first embroils her in a tricky case of serial murder. When she and Inspector Paul van den Bergen meet, their chemistry binds them instantly, and there begins a side-line for George where she is drafted in as a consultant to help the Dutch police on the trickiest of trans-national trafficking cases and hunts for dangerous killers. When a twelve year old Syrian girl is found dead in the back of a heavy goods vehicle in the Port of Amsterdam in The Girl Who Got Revenge, George is called on yet again to help piece together a terrible puzzle.

Had it always been your intention to build a series around a recurring character?

Yes. I guess it must have been. I think when you have a character with such a rich backstory and complicated, dysfunctional family life (which may or may not be inspired by my own family *coughs*), further adventures simply present themselves. A good, believable lead character should always drive the plot and with George in the driving seat, it felt natural to buckle up for a journey that would take me to some unexpected places. I do love series and I think readers do too. After all, it’s great to finish a book that blew you away and find there are more to read!

Have you a character path mapped out and are you building up towards key events? Or is the future for George still unclear, even to you?

With the fifth George book having just published, the future for George is very unclear. The Girl Who Got Revenge is getting great reviews and has appeared only three years since the publication of The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die and The Girl Who Broke the Rules. In that time, however, George has aged by ten years. I felt that as I was ageing – and my life has been really fraught with melodrama over the last few years, so I feel like I’ve crammed a good decade of living into a shorter time-frame – George needed to age too. So, where I take her next will depend rather on what happens in my own life. George McKenzie is not me, but she and her stories rely on whatever mayhem is happening in my life to inform her fate, I’m afraid! Change is always afoot…

Have you written anything thus far in the series which you now wish you could undo?

No. Actually, I haven’t. I’m very happy with the path that George has been following. If Jo Nesbo can bring Harry Hole back for sequel after sequel, George can do anything, armed only with hairspray, blister plasters and sanitary products!

Do you include “spoilers” from earlier stories in subsequent books? If I were to be reading out of order could I possibly learn of a character death or a murderer’s identity which was a twist in an earlier story?

I try hard to avoid spoilers to ensure that people can safely read the series out of sequence. My various editors have always pushed me to include more detail for readers coming fresh to the series, and I have resisted including too much for that very reason and also the fact that it feels like an information dump, to me. I do weave in just enough detail so that it’s easy to get a handle on who’s who, though. I allude vaguely to what has gone before but I hope I never reveal twists or identities. It’s a difficult stunt to pull off, five books in!

In my Manchester series, there is such a big twist at the end of Born Bad which informs the story of The Cover-Up that I had to work really hard not to ruin the experience for readers. The blurb on the back cover of The Cover-Up gives a momentus happening in Born Bad away, but it was just unavoidable! The main twist should still come as a surprise, though.

Do your characters age in real time, living through current events and tech developments ore are they wrapped in a creative bubble which allows you to draw only on what you need for the latest book?

No, as I mentioned earlier, George and Van den Bergen have undergone an accelerated ageing process. I have to say, it’s far more satisfying in terms of drawing the character arcs for the series if you move people’s personal relationships and ages on. You change as a person as you get older and that impacts on your relationships, your priorities and how you behave. The Manchester series follows a more realistic timeline, though. There was almost a year between the publication of those books and that’s about right for how time elapses for Sheila O’Brien, Gloria Bell and the lovely Leviticus Bell.

Can a George McKenzie novel end in a cliff-hanger or does each story demand a resolution?

Well, I know readers don’t generally like cliff-hangers, but in a long running series, you have to put one in sometimes to keep yourself, as a writer, wanting more and to keep the reader hooked. I do tend to resolve each distinct story in the course of a novel, but it’s George’s journey that I can play games with because that’s a continuing and evolving thing. There’s an almighty cliff-hanger at the end of The Girl Who Walked in the Shadows. Naughty, I know, but I just had to!

Colin Dexter famously killed off Inspector Morse. Agatha Christie wrote Poirot’s death and then released dozens more Poirot stories before Curtain was published. Will there ever be a “final” George McKenzie story?

Having seen how other authors have killed off their main characters and have then had to back-track because their publishers have demanded a further instalment in the series, I would say it’s unlikely I’d ever kill George or Van den Bergen off. I love them too much. I have no compunction in axing characters from my Manchester series, because that’s how gangland works in real life. Gangs go to war and there are always casualties, after all. Manchester’s recent history is littered with anecdotes about players who have been gunned down in cold blood. But with George…I want to keep the door open for her. She’s too interesting and loveable not to!

Huge thanks to Marnie for taking time to join me today. You can find all Marnie’s books through the attached link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marnie-Riches/e/B00WBJZ364/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1526028951&sr=1-1

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May 10

Salt Lane – William Shaw

SHE ALWAYS WENT TOO FAR

DS Alexandra Cupidi has done it again. She should have learnt to keep her big mouth shut, after the scandal that sent her packing – resentful teenager in tow – from the London Met to the lonely Kent coastline. Murder is different here, among the fens and stark beaches.

SHE WAS THE ONE WHO FOUND THE KILLERS

The man drowned in the slurry pit had been herded there like an animal. He was North African, like many of the fruit pickers that work the fields. The more Cupidi discovers, the more she wants to ask – but these people are suspicious of questions.

AND NOW IT WAS KILLING HER

It will take an understanding of this strange place – its old ways and new crimes – to uncover the dark conspiracy behind the murder. Cupidi is not afraid to travel that road. But she should be. She should, by now, have learnt.

Salt Lane is tagged as the first in a new series which will feature DS Alexandra Cupidi – sounds good to me, I loved Cupidi and she drives this story.

Cupidi has left the Metropolitan Police and relocated to Kent, readers are given early glimpses into her background which allude to why she may have made this move and it is clear that she may not have made the best of choices in the past. Cupidi brings her daughter but faces the single parent dilemma of how to do parenting things when work commitments are all consuming and a listless teenager is not keen to conform or help her mother.

Cupidi is partnered with Constable Ferriter and the dynamic and developing relationship between the two women made for terrific reading. Cupidi seems prickly and aloof while Ferriter is younger and more impetuous. Both can deliver some cracking one liners or a suitably waspish comment so their discussions are a joy to read.

Salt Lane, supported by cracking lead characters, is a dark thriller which I really, really enjoyed.

A man is murdered in a slurry pit, pushed in and held under the sludge until life left his body. A grim murder investigation for Cupidi who was already fronting a second murder investigation after a woman’s body was pulled from water with no identification documents which may have let the police know who she was.

There is loads going on in Salt Lane and the story is wonderfully told by William Shaw. The book holds a real feeling of location and scenes come to life very vividly as I was reading. I found pages were flying past as I kept reading, one more chapter, one more chapter – brilliant pacing which avoided lulls in the narrative and kept me hooked.

More Cupidi please…stories of this quality don’t come around too often.

Salt Lane is available in hardback, digital and audio formats and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salt-Lane-Alexandra-Cupidi-Book-ebook/dp/B073BPFJGM/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1525941622&sr=1-1

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May 10

Fault Lines – Doug Johnstone

A little lie … a seismic secret … and the cracks are beginning to show…

In a reimagined contemporary Edinburgh, where a tectonic fault has opened up to produce a new volcano in the Firth of Forth, and where tremors are an everyday occurrence, volcanologist Surtsey makes a shocking discovery.

On a clandestine trip to new volcanic island The Inch, to meet Tom, her lover and her boss, she finds his lifeless body, and makes the fatal decision to keep their affair, and her discovery, a secret. Desperate to know how he died, but also terrified she’ll be exposed, Surtsey’s life quickly spirals into a nightmare when someone makes contact – someone who claims to know what she’s done…

My thanks to Orenda Books for my review copy and to Anne for inviting me to join the blog tour

There is a volcano in Edinburgh and it has changed the lives of all the residents of the capital. Earth tremors are commonplace and the unexpected arrival of a new volcanic isle at the edge of the city means that the scientific community have an exciting and unexpected new area to investigate.

Surtsey is a volcanologist and she is studying The Inch, on an evening trip to the new island she plans to meet her lover Tom (who is also Surtsey’s boss). However, all her plans are unexpectedly changed when she discovers Tom’s body. There can be no doubt that Tom was murdered so Surtsey decides to head home and not report the crime. Nobody knows about their relationship and Surtsey did not tell anyone she was traveling to The Inch, if she can keep her head down then she may be able to keep her part in Tom’s life a secret.

Unfortunately for Surtsey this is not going to happen. Someone knows she and Tom were sleeping together and it is not long before the secret is out. The police will come calling, Tom’s widow is convinced Surtsey is the killer and Surtsey’s boyfriend doesn’t react well to the news either.

Her world is falling apart and Surtsey needs to rely upon her friends and family but there can be no respite their either. Her mother is in final stages of terminal cancer, her sister and mother barely speak and Surtsey feels she is intermediary between the two at a time when every conversation is strained and challenging. Surtsey can see her mother slipping away and is struggling to cope.

Fault Lines is a murder, mystery while Tom’s killer remains free. However there is so much more depth to Doug Johnstone’s story as the human drama of Surtsey’s struggle plays out too, the chapters with her mother are quite distressing in places as the reader shares Surtsey’s anguish at seeing her rock diminishing in front of her eyes.

I thoroughly enjoyed Fault Lines, the story flows wonderfully and the characters are deep and engaging. A book which draws you into the lives of the characters and you just want to keep reading to see how the story unfolds.

Fault Lines is published by Orenda Books and is available in digital and paperback format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fault-Lines-Doug-Johnstone/dp/1912374153/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1525901181&sr=1-1

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May 9

Don’t You Dare – A.J. Waines

What if your daughter becomes your enemy?

When barmaid, Rachel, discovers her soon-to-be-married daughter, Beth, pinned down by a stranger in the pub cellar, Rachel lashes out in panic and the intruder ends up dead. In desperation, Rachel convinces Beth they should cover up the crime and go ahead with the planned wedding in one month’s time.

Rachel, however, has her own reasons for not involving the police.

Hiding their dreadful secret is harder than they both imagined and as the big day approaches and the lies multiply, Beth becomes a liability. Rachel looks on in dismay at the hen party when, after too many drinks, Beth declares she’s about to make a special announcement. But before Beth can say a word she disappears…

When two people share a chilling secret can both hold their nerve?

My thanks to Sarah at Bloodhound Books for my review copy and the chance to join the Blitz

Having previously read a few books by A.J. Waines I picked up Don’t You Dare knowing (without even opening the first page) that I was holding a book with guaranteed thrills and an engaging story. Some quality reading time proved me right.

Rachel is alone in the pub when she spots light coming from a room in the cellar where nobody should be. She is startled to find her daughter, Beth, cowering under a strange man – Beth is clearly terrified and Rachel rushes to protect her daughter. A scuffle ensues and when it abruptly ends the man lies dead with the mother and daughter standing aghast over his body.

Urgent action is needed and the pair decide they can hide the body and escape detection. Nobody knows they were in the pub at the time the incident occurred and the man was not meant to be there either – if they can keep their cool and plan carefully then they can keep this terrible secret and get on with their lives.

Of course it is never as easy as it sounds and Beth starts to feel the burden of guilt hanging over her. Rachel is stronger but readers are given some insight into the fact that Rachel may well have experience of keeping secrets – perhaps this was why she was not keen to involve the police from the outset and elected to keep their crime secret?

Don’t You Dare splits narration duties between Rachel and Beth. It gives readers insight into how each woman is coping with the events following their ill-fated evening. The need to keep the secret becomes overwhelming and it is not long before lies and more lies are needed to cover Beth’s increasingly erratic behaviour and to try to throw the police off the track of a missing person investigation.

Tension from first page to last as lies are spun and trust is shattered, I highly recommend Don’t You Dare.

Don’t You Dare is published by Bloodhound Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-You-Dare-heart-stopping-psychological-ebook/dp/B07CLKBQQ9/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

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May 3

Death of an Actress – Antony M Brown

Published in time for the 70th anniversary of one of the most dramatic trials in British criminal history.

DEATH OF AN ACTRESS is the second in the Cold Case Jury Collection, a unique series of true crime titles. Each case study tells the story of an unsolved crime, or one in which the verdict is open to doubt. Fresh evidence is presented and the reader is invited to deliver their own verdict.

October 1947. A luxury liner steams over the equator off the coast of West Africa and a beautiful actress disappears from her cabin. Suspicion falls on a dashing deck steward with a reputation for entering the cabins of female passengers. When the liner docks at Southampton, the steward is questioned by police. Protesting his innocence, he makes an astonishing admission that shocks everyone, and is charged with murder. His trial at the historic Great Hall in Winchester draws the world’s media. He is found guilty and sentenced to hang.

But was the verdict sound?

Many believe not.

Now for the first time, Antony M. Brown has secured unprecedented access to the police file, enabling the definitive story to be told. Included in the file are original court exhibits, including a hairbrush with strands of the actress’s red hair. Could a personal effect left behind in her cabin provide clues to how she might have died? Take your seat on the Cold Case Jury…

My thanks to Mel at Mirror Books for my review copy and the opportunity to join the blog tour.

A rare dip into True Crime today at Grab This Book. I generally don’t read True Crime stories as I am terrible at keeping track of characters and non-fiction tends to have a larger list of people, places, names and other important details which it is very important to keep track of. Also I like knowing that the horrible things I usually read about are all just made up, when it becomes REAL I get uncomfortable. The psychologists can have some fun with that last confession!

So how did I get on with Death of an Actress? I will be honest and confess that I rather enjoyed it. Quite a lot as it turns out.

This is the second book in Antony M Brown’s Cold Case Jury collection. A real life crime is presented to the reader. Through disclosure of facts, compilation of official documents presented in the real life court cases and some dramatic recreations of events penned by the author the reader gets the case compiled for their consideration.

The twist which I loved was that once you have read the book you visit the Cold Case website and cast your own vote as to how you felt the accused should have been charged. I cast my own verdict on Death of an Actress just before I started writing this review. Unsurprisingly I did not side with the most popular verdict.

Death of an Actress recounts the murder of Gay Gibson, a young rising star of the stage who was traveling from South Africa back to Southampton on luxury liner Durban Castle. One night Miss Gibson vanished from her cabin and her body was never found. A crew member, James Camb, was suspected of her murder – he had a reputation for pressing his advances upon single female passengers and had taken a shine to young Gay.

Antony M Brown will introduce readers to Gay Gibson and guide us through her young life and explore her character. He considers Camb and his reputation and status among the crew of the Durban Castle. He then uses dramatic recreations to explore the last days of Gay Gibson’s life. Using witness statements, news paper reports and other primary source material we get a great insight of life on board the Durban Castle for those important days after the ship left South Africa.

The fun in reading Death of an Actress is absorbing the information provided, forming your own assessment of the behaviours of Camb and Gibson and then working out if the arrest, and trial, of James Camb for Miss Gibson’s murder was correct or if some important facts were not given proper consideration.

I must admit I was caught up in the details of the case. I knew I was going to cast my own verdict on events when I finished the book so I was paying close attention (most unlike me). I was shocked by some of the omissions from the court case and I got sidetracked from fact by some “additional” detail which was included after the main case had been discussed, unverified recollections of stories overheard but which had potential to change the nature of the trial.

All very interesting and very well constructed by the author. Some readers may quibble that a dramatic recreation of conversations which the author could not have possibly have overhead have no place in a true crime book. Personally I really enjoyed the switch from hard facts to the authors own interpretation of possible scenarios – it opened up my own imagination to what may have occurred.

A very welcome change to my normal choice of book. I may even read another True Crime book soon…particularly as I cannot help but notice this was the second case for the Cold Case Jury. The first book has the intriguing title The Green Bicycle Mystery.

Highly recommended!

Death of an Actress is published by Mirror Books and can be ordered in digital or paperback format here:

http://www.mirrorcollection.co.uk/products/details/search_results/DeathofanActress/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Actress-story-murder-Collection/dp/1910335827/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524665646&sr=8-1&keywords=death+of+an+actress+book

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May 1

My Mother’s Secret – Sanjida Kay

You can only hide for so long…

Lizzie Bradshaw. A student from the Lake District, forced to work away from home, who witnesses a terrible crime. But who will ultimately pay the price?

Emma Taylor. A mother, a wife, and a woman with a dangerous secret. Can she keep her beloved family safely together?

Stella Taylor. A disaffected teenager, determined to discover what her mother is hiding. But how far will she go to uncover the truth?

And one man, powerful, manipulative and cunning, who controls all their destinies.

My thanks to Corvus Books for my review copy

Having thoroughly enjoyed the two previous novels by Sanjida Kay I was keen to see what lay in store for readers in My Mother’s Secret.

Family drama from multiple narrators is what I got to enjoy, the story is told from different viewpoints and we can see one incident played out from various perspectives. One of the main voices is teenager Stella and her contributions are perfectly laced with teenage hormones and anger.

Sanjida Kay gets right into the head of each of her narrators – we read what a wife thinks about her husband, his annoying habits and quirks which irritate her. Stella’s frustrations at her mother and the lack of respect she feels towards her father who seems too forgiving of others.

Chapters come in small bursts and name the next narrator so you can know who is pulling the story on. I have a terrible habit of skipping chapter names/numbers so I often found I had to flick my eyes back a page to make sure I knew who was speaking (do not adopt this lazy reading habit!!!)

I am purposefully not speaking too much about the plot for fear of slipping spoilers. There are secrets lurking in this tale (and I love stories with secrets) but the reason things are kept a secret is that having the information made pubic can create pain or problems for others. Probably not ideal for the characters in My Mother’s Secret…

Sanjida Kay writes beautifully and I swear that I could smell fresh baking or the countryside freshness as I was reading her latest book. Trials and troubles in this story – well worth your time seeking this one out.

My Mother’s Secret is published by Corvus on 3 May 2018 and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Mothers-Secret-brilliantly-deception-ebook/dp/B0785MSQDD/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525208302&sr=8-1&keywords=my+mothers+secret

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April 29

Panic Room – Robert Goddard

Another evening of fun looms with the First Monday Crime team. For May 2018’s gathering they are meeting on Monday 30th April – so not in May at all. This follows on from the April Meeting which actually took place on the SECOND Monday in April. Despite their dubious decision to call the evening First Monday I am reliably assured that these gatherings in London are great fun and give readers the chance to hear some top authors discuss their work and I am sure book signing opportunities exist too.

For details on First Monday Crime visit their website HERE

One of the guests at May’s meeting is the legend that is Robert Goddard – his latest thriller Panic Room is a terrific read so lets take a closer look….

Sometimes the danger is on the inside . . .

High on a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion. Uninhabited except for Blake, a young woman of dubious background, secretive and alone, currently acting as housesitter.

The house has a panic room. Cunningly concealed, steel lined, impregnable – and apparently closed from within. Even Blake doesn’t know it’s there. She’s too busy being on the run from life, from a story she thinks she’s escaped.

But her remote existence is going to be invaded when people come looking for the house’s owner, missing rogue pharma entrepreneur, Jack Harkness. Suddenly the whole world wants to know where his money has gone. Soon people are going to come knocking on the door, people with motives and secrets of their own, who will be asking Blake the sort of questions she can’t – or won’t – want to answer.

And will the panic room ever give up its secrets?

My thanks to Patsy at Transworld for my review copy.

Panic Room is a book riddled with mysteries, the biggest being why would someone need a panic room in their house?

Jack Harkness is in a whole lot of trouble, his business and reputation are in tatters and the vultures are circling for his cash and assets. His luxury Cornish home is held in the name of his wife (who is no longer on the scene) and she has decided to sell it. The book opens with estate agent Don Challenor being asked to travel from London to Cornwall to appraise the house for sale – time is of the essence and Don is offered a healthy sum to do the job quickly and efficiently.

On arrival in Cornwall he finds the house and an unexpected resident – a young woman called Blake who was working as housekeeper. Don is instructed to make sure that Blake leaves the property immediately. Blake has other ideas.

While Don is checking the house he discovers an anomaly in the Master Bedrooom – the dimensions of the room seem to be off. Further investigation reveals the titular Panic Room, a puzzle which Don has to solve as the room is closed over. Is it malfunctioning or could there be someone inside?

As the story unfolds the puzzles and mysteries build up – Blake and Don will attempt to locate a missing girl, fall afoul of a witch and will have to keep one step ahead of a couple of “heavies” who are very interested to learn of the existence of the Panic Room.

You read Panic Room, you get instantly caught up in the problem facing Don and before you know it 100 pages have flown by and you have more questions than answers.

I really enjoyed this book – it draws you in and you want to keep reading. Exactly what a good story should do!

Panic Room is published by Bantam Press and is available in Hardback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panic-Room-Robert-Goddard-ebook/dp/B01I0RU1O4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525015964&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+goddard

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