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The Maidens – Alex Michaelides

St Christopher’s College, Cambridge, is a closed world to most.

For Mariana Andros – a group therapist struggling through her private grief – it’s where she met her late husband. For her niece, Zoe, it’s the tragic scene of her best friend’s murder.

As memory and mystery entangle Mariana, she finds a society full of secrets, which has been shocked to its core by the murder of one of its own.

Because behind its idyllic beauty is a web of jealousy and rage which emanates from an exclusive set of students known only as The Maidens. A group under the sinister influence of the enigmatic professor Edward Fosca.

A man who seems to know more than anyone about the murders – and the victims. And the man who will become the prime suspect in Mariana’s investigation – an obsession which will unravel everything…

The Maidens is a story of love, and of grief – of what makes us who we are, and what makes us kill.

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this leg of The Maidens tour. I recieved a review copy from the publishers.

The Maidens: a group of young women who meet their professor in his quarters at Cambridge’s St Christopher’s College. One of their number has been murdered but the group are closing ranks and are not accepting the possibility they are in danger.

Nor are The Maidens willing to consider any suggestions their handsome, charismatic professor is behaving inappropriately. It is no surprise that Mariana (a group therapist) is frustrated by their lack of engagement when she believes she is trying to help and protect them.

Mariana is a tragic character. She fell madly in love with Sebastian and even aftet the couple married they were besotted with each other. Tragedy struck when a much needed holiday to Greece ended with Sebastian’s death, drowned at sea. Mariana remains bereft at the loss and his death overshadows her life.

Mariana is contacted by her niece, Zoe, after one of her friends at college is found dead. Zoe tells Mariana that the dead girl had problems with substance abuse but during a drug Hugh she had confided in Zoe that she was scared for her life. Zoe too is terrified and Mariana steps in to help Zoe and to try to uncover the truth. She is alarmed by the influence Professor Edward Fosca holds over his young students.

The story is mainly set in the college at Cambridge and it is a world I don’t recognise. Porters, bedders, Chambers and lectures where anyone can roll up to listen. The Professor studies classics and Greek Tragedies are very much part of this story. My lack of knowledge in this area didn’t stop me enjoying the story but I did need the author’s helpful explanations to know the characters he was discussing.

Mariana’s investigations are very unofficial but she is allowed some leeway to speak with people close to the murder and it quickly becomes apparent she is putting herself at risk with the questions she is asking. Tension ramps up as the story progresses and as Mariana gets closer to exposing the danger that is Professor Fosca the more you fear for her safety.

The Maidens is a psychological thriller with a murder mystery to be solved. It’s a fun read and the reader can quite easily get caught up in this mysterious, secretive world of academia.

The Maidens is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R18D45M/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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May 1

The Bursar’s Wife – E. G. Rodford

Meet George Kocharyan, Cambridge Confidential Services one and only private investigator.

Amidst the usual jobs following unfaithful spouses, he is approached by the glamorous Sylvia Booker. The wife of the bursar of Morley College, Booker is worried that her daughter Lucy has fallen in with the wrong crowd. Aided by his assistant Sandra and her teenage son, George soon realises that Lucy is sneaking off to the apartment of an older man, but perhaps not for the reasons one might suspect.

Then an unfaithful wife he had been following is found dead. As his investigation continues, enlivened by a mild stabbing and the unwanted intervention and attention of Detective Inspector Vicky Stubbing, George begins to wonder if all the threads are connected…

Thanks to Lydia at Titan Books for my review copy

Meet George Kocharyan, a Cambridge private investigator who is about to take on a case which may just change his life (assuming he manages to avoid being bumped off by a stooge with a pocket knife).

George’s wife has left him for another woman. He is ‘dealing with things’ and making Bambi eyes at the nutritionist that works in his building, but business is slow. As the story opens we find George breaking the news to his client that the client’s wife is spending time with strange men in parked cars – George has the photo’s to prove it (even if you cannot always see her face). As one unhappy client leaves his office a new one enters in the form of the lovely Sylvia Booker. Mrs Booker is the wife of one of the Bursar’s at a Cambridge college. Her husband’s position means she moves in powerful social circles so cannot afford a whiff of a scandal. She wants to engage George’s services to keep an eye on her daughter who seems to be falling in with the wrong crowd. George can hardly say ‘no’ to the bewitching Mrs Booker, especially when there is a bulky cash-filled envelope pushed across his desk to cover his costs.

What seems to be a relatively simple task soon starts to snowball in complexity. Mrs Booker has not been entirely forthright with George and has kept back a lot of information that could have made his task much easier. Her daughter (Lucy) is also keeping secrets but for the life of him George cannot quite work out what she is doing hanging around the home of a man that is old enough to be her father.

As if these secretive Booker women were not proving George with enough of a headache the local police are very keen to have him ‘help them with their enquiries’. The lady from the parked cars has been spotted in another car, however this time she is on her own and very, very dead. DI Stubbing does not seem to like George and seems to believe that a man who spends his time taking pictures of people coupling in cars should certainly have no problem spending time assisting the police with their investigations.

The Bursar’s Wife was great fun to read. There is a really good crime story to enjoy but the tone is light and the lead character really engaging – if you have read Lawrence Block’s fantastic ‘Burglar’ series then you may have an idea as to how well this balance can work.

I am going to be singing the praises of The Bursar’s Wife for quite some time, it ticked all the right boxes for me and I was delighted to find that George Kocharyan will be returning next year. Although my bookshelves are filled with dark, intense and gritty reads The Bursar’s Wife was a very welcome addition…I love when an author feels that they can have fun with a story and E.G. Rodford nails this perfectly. You have to read this one – it would be a crime to miss it!

The Bursar’s Wife is published by Titan Books and is available in paperback and digital formats. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bursars-Wife-George-Kocharyan-Mystery/dp/1785650033/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462054044&sr=8-1&keywords=the+bursar%27s+wife

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February 28

Missing Presumed – Susie Steiner

Mid-December, and Cambridgeshire is blanketed with snow. Detective Sergeant Manon Bradshaw tries to sleep after yet another soul-destroying Internet date – the low murmuring of her police radio her only solace.

Over the airwaves come reports of a missing woman – door ajar, keys and phone left behind, a spatter of blood on the kitchen floor. Manon knows the first 72 hours are critical: you find her, or you look for a body. And as soon as she sees a picture of Edith Hind, a Cambridge post-graduate from a well-connected family, she knows this case will be big.

Is Edith alive or dead? Was her ‘complex love life’ at the heart of her disappearance, as a senior officer tells the increasingly hungry press? And when a body is found, is it the end or only the beginning?

My thanks to the team at Harper Collins/The Borough Press for my review copy which I received through Netgalley

Edith Hind is missing. She should be at home yet her front door is ajar, her coat and phone are still in the house and there is a blood splatter that no-one can explain. Thus begins a police investigation to track down a clever, independent and headstrong young woman.

Missing Presumed follows the investigation with a narrative which switches between key players in the tale. DS Manon Bradshaw is the primary voice of the police and we see behind the scenes of a major incident through her eyes. What I found particularly refreshing was that everyone on the force seemed so human – police officers booking their holiday travel while at work, comparing dates, struggling with day to day tasks with young twins at home. There are loads of lighthearted scenes sprinkled through the story (particularly when Manon is embarking on her latest internet date).

The characters in the book are well mixed – the reader will come to like some more than others…some being totally unlikeable. The constant switch in narrative actually had me looking forward to certain characters returning to the spotlight as I enjoyed their contributions more than most.

As you would hope from a good police procedural there are plenty of red herrings and dead ends to try the patience of the investigative team. You may think that you know where the story is heading…I was convinced I knew how the plot would resolve – yet I was totally wrong (which as a reader is a pleasing outcome). It is not a fast-paced tale but it is wonderfully constructed and the reward is there for those that stick with the story.

A very realistic investigative story and a highly enjoyable read.

Missing Presumed is published by The Borough Press and is available in Hardcover and digital format now.

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