Category: July- September 2022

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The Hidden Palace by Dinah Jefferies – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

An island of secrets. A runaway. And a promise…

A rebellious daughter
1925. Among the ancient honey-coloured walls of the tiny island of Malta, strangers slip into the shadows and anyone can buy a new name. Rosalie Delacroix flees Paris for a dancer’s job in the bohemian clubs deep in its winding streets.

A sister with a secret
1944. Running from the brutality of war in France, Florence Baudin faces a new life. But her estranged mother makes a desperate request: to find her vanished sister, who went missing years before.

A rift over generations
Betrayals and secrets, lies and silence hang between the sisters. A faded last letter from Rosalie is Florence’s only clue, the war an immovable barrier – and time is running out…

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. I hadn’t realised when I started this book that it was the second part of a trilogy but I had no problem reading it as a standalone novel. There are references to earlier events but very few of them were relevant to the storyline.

Two separate timelines in three different countries. France in the 1920s, Britain in the 1940s and Malta covering both periods. It was the Maltese storyline that captivated me, I have visited both Valletta and Mdina and could identify many of the places mentioned. But it wasn’t just being familiar with the location it was Rosalie’s story. Her excitement at doing what she loved, the people she met and her guilt and regret at the way she left her family and homeland.

Florence was similar in many ways. Living in Devon, separated from her sisters and a difficult relationship with her mother, Rosalie’s sister. It did take me slightly longer to get to know her, maybe because of the novel I hadn’t read. But as she settled into her new life in Devon and decided to try and find Rosalie I enjoyed her storyline more.

This was a novel that showed the hardship experienced by many towards the latter end of WW2. The fear of bombing was one I had read before, the fear of running out of food wasn’t. The excitement when the war was over but being able to see how difficult it still was after with regards to travel and rebuilding lives. The entertainment offered, some of it innocent, some a little more dubious. It all felt real. 

This was the first book I had read by this author, I will definitely read more.

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She Knew Her Killer by Rebecca Bradley – Review.

About The Book

A DARK, TWISTY AND UTTERLY COMPELLING PAGE-TURNER.

Five old school friends reunited for a weekend in Sheffield. A drunken game of truth or dare. One won’t survive.

The young woman is found murdered in a swanky hotel room. Detective Claudia Nunn gets the text just as she leaves her therapist’s office.

The victim’s friends all say the same thing: she had been distracted and kept disappearing all weekend. And on the Saturday, someone had screamed abuse in her face.

Did she know her killer?

As Claudia closes in on the murderer, the top-brass start closing down the investigation. And the team become the target of violent attacks.

Someone will do anything to stop the truth getting out.

Prepare to be hooked.

My Review

With thanks to the author for the copy received. This is the third book in the series that features Claudia Nunn and it is probably the easiest out of the three to read as a standalone novel. However I do recommend that you read them I’m order. This is one of those series where you benefit from knowing exactly what is happening within this small team of police officers. 

I can’t remember when, or if, I’ve read a novel where one of the main characters was the police officer who was investigating the murder and the other was the victim. This felt a little eerie at first, knowing what was going to happen even though I didn’t know who the murderer was. Seeing Harlow’s excitement and trepidation and knowing what the outcome would be even though you didn’t know what her plans were.

I have also never read a novel where the police were being controlled by somebody outside of the force. Someone who was determined to prevent them finding out the truth and were prepared to do anything to get their wish. I read with increasing anxiety about the team’s safety.

In this novel you get to see how close that team is. Having to deal with the control, the danger they faced when they over stepped the boundaries and the huge amount of respect they had  for each other. I really appreciated seeing the bond between Claudia and Russ but also with her DCI, Maddison Sharpe. All too often that relationship is missing in a novel, but the author shows how important it is for the more superior officers to be present. 

This is a series that I’m eager to continue, I can’t wait to see what Claudia has to face in the future.

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The Bleeding by Johann Gustawsson – translated by David Warriner – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

1899, Belle Époque Paris. Lucienne’s two daughters are believed dead when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist community to find them.

1949, Post-War Québec. Teenager Lina’s father has died in the French Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina’s life in the darkest way imaginable.

2002, Quebec. A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her husband – a famous university professor – to death. Detective Maxine Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation.

Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and murder, secret societies and spiritism … and women at breaking point, who will stop at nothing to protect the ones they love…

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. This is the fourth book that I have read by this author and each time I have been left lost for words. Many authors use alternating  timelines throughout their novels but with differing levels of success.This novel worked perfectly. Three different timelines, two different countries but the three women who feature are all linked. When the husband of one of them, is murdered the link between them is slowly revealed. 

All three women were struggling to deal with the situation that they were in. In 1899 Lucienne wanted answers and turned to a medium, in 1949 Lina wanted revenge and befriended an elderly lady in a care home,and in 2002 Maxine wanted her loving daughter to lose her teenage anger, clinging to the memories of happy times. She threw herself into work, getting relief from her colleagues Jules and Gina.  Whilst all three captivated me it was Lina I wanted to read about most, she was the one who I had more sympathy for. 

But as I read more I realised I’d been duped. Nothing was as it seemed and I had no idea what would happen. It was a sinister, macabre, slightly confusing at times, book to read and I read it very quickly. I believe that it is the start of a new series, with the ending of this I have no idea what to expect. An absolutely brilliant novel. 

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Whisper of The Seals by Roxanne Bouchard – translated by David Warriner – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

There’s only one thing more deadly than the storm…

Fisheries officer Simone Lord is transferred to Quebec’s remote Magdalen Islands for the winter, and at the last minute ordered to go aboard a trawler braving a winter storm for the traditional grey seal hunt, while all of the other boats shelter onshore.

Detective Sergeant Joaquin Moralès is on a cross-country boat trip down the St Lawrence River, accompanied by Nadine Lauzon, a forensic psychologist working on the case of a savagely beaten teenager with Moralès’ old team in Montreal. 

When it becomes clear that Simone is in grave danger aboard the trawler, the two cases converge, with startling, terrifying consequences for everyone involved…

The award-winning author of The Coral Bride returns with an atmospheric, race-against-the-clock thriller set on the icy seas in the midst of a brutal seal hunt, where nothing is as it seems and absolutely no one can be trusted. 

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. I had read the first book in this series but to my regret not the second. However, it didn’t take me long to catch up with Moralès and get to know and appreciate Simone Lord, the fisheries officer who he was hesitant to acknowledge his feelings for. Their relationship has made me determined to read the second book The Coral Bride. 

The storyline concerns both of them and switches back and forth between them throughout the entire novel. Much of Moralès storyline covered his angst about his divorce, his inability to admit his feelings for Simone, his brilliant friendship with Lefebvre and eventually his determination to rescue Simone from the fishing trawler.

Simone’s is much more intense. She isn’t a character I warmed to instantly, just like Moralès she was unable to admit how she felt, and it was only in the latter stages of the novel that she could. But I appreciated almost instantly her determination to stand up to the men she was on the trawler with. 

I found her to be brave in many ways, her job, the danger it brought and also her acceptance of the seal cull. After seeing various reviews of this part of the book I wasn’t relishing reading it but even though it was at times brutal it was also handled with sensitivity and showed that some of the men at least showed that they didn’t want the animals to suffer. There was a brief time that showed they cared more about the animals than the activists did, something I had never thought about before.  

There was nothing that would have got me onto the trawler, the group of men were only a small one but they were either terrifying or infuriating. I had no idea what any of them would do next and who out of all of them were the biggest threat to Simone.

This was a fascinating novel, descriptive, emotional and dangerous and one that I will definitely read again.

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Her Deadly Friend by Rae Sargeant – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

The Suspect
Bullied by Steph Lewis at school, then betrayed by her lover, Amy Ashby still seethes with fury. Despite the decades-old resentment, she’s on the hunt for a new man and a fresh start. This time for keeps.

The Stalker
When both women are stalked by a figure from their shared past, danger threatens.

The Detective
Now Detective Inspector, Steph follows a tip-off to her old rival. After quarrels exploded beyond the playground and changed lives forever, she vowed never to see Amy again. But that was then.

The Deaths
Murder rocks the city. First one, then another. The body count reaches five, and all Steph’s leads point to Amy. But is Steph obsessed with a schoolgirl vendetta or closing in on a deadly killer?

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. At the beginning of this novel you get to meet two of the main characters, one in the police and the other a suspect, as children. One of them is accused of bullying the other and you soon see that the events that happened in childhood still had an impact on both many years later. This is definitely not a relationship where feelings have mellowed. 

But these are two people who have to communicate. Both of them are strongly connected to the investigation and Steph has to ask questions despite what occurred in their past. I had a lot of sympathy for Steph, despite the accusation against her. I detested Amy almost immediately.

The team that Steph is part of is a strong one. Not really friends, just colleagues who tolerate each other, but they don’t let any animosity impact on their jobs. They do care about each other though, and this became more evident when Steph’s worrying health issues were revealed. This was a part of the novel that I appreciated a lot. It’s not often where a team is portrayed so honestly. And it’s not often where I’ve had a lot of concern for a character’s health. 

I read a lot of crime fiction, sometimes I guess who is responsible for whichever crime has been committed, sometimes it’s a surprise but also a disappointment because it doesn’t make much sense. I thought I knew which way the storyline was going until a very surprising and clever event part way through In this novel and from then I had no idea what was going to happen or who was the murderer. 

I hope that there will be a follow up to this novel, I enjoyed this one a lot.