First book of the month was intriguing. In Trust In Me
by Luca Veste we meet Sara Edwards, a therapist whose happy family life
is threatened when a new patient recounts a murder she’s hidden, the details
fit exactly with an incident Sarah was involved in eighteen years before in
another country. Desperation sinks in as Sara tries to track down the young
woman while trying to keep her family safe.
Next up was the cozy crime Mrs Sidhu’s Dead And Scone
by Suk Pannu. Mrs Sidhu is a caterer who manages to worm her way into
police investigations. This time around it starts with a murder at an exclusive
wellness retreat. As Mrs Sidhu, ably assisted by the police, investigates it
turns out that there are links to a cult that existed in the village years
before. It was assumed the cult no longer existed as the leader died in South
America, however, it appears to have risen from the ashes. Mrs Sidhu is one of
those characters who refuses to take no for an answer, speaks her mind and
manages to get people to do her bidding.
Anna O by Matthew Blake is all over Twitter so
I was really keen to read this tale of a young woman who commits murder while
sleepwalking. It has been impossible to convict her of the murder as she has
been unconscious for the four years since the murder. This is one of those
stories where you make assumptions about what’s happened but never with any
certainty. Lots of twists keep you guessing and hooked right up to the end.
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett sees a
return to the amateur dramatics group, The Fairway Players. Misunderstandings,
misdirection and a lot of undermining had me chuckling from beginning to end.
The Christmas panto, and the events leading up to it, are farcical. You’ll be
gasping with shock at the ludicrous ways in which some of the events are
handled.
Author Gillian McAllister puts a novel spin on a missing
person story in Just Another Missing Person. Just how does a young woman
disappear into thin air? One moment Olivia Johnson is seen entering an alley
and then nothing. She doesn’t walk back out, the alley is a dead-end and has no
doors or windows. DCI Julia Day is determined to find out what happened,
desperate to give the family closure. Julia is a mother and knows the lengths
that parents will go to in order to protect their children.
When a celebrity chef is murdered at an exclusive cookery
school in Belgravia suspicion falls on his friend and replacement in Knife
Skills For Beginners by Orlando Murrin. Keen to prove his innocence,
Paul Delamare has to uncover the secrets each student is obviously hiding, as
well as dealing with his own stalker, in this cosy crime mystery.
I loved The List Of Suspicious Things by Jennie
Godfrey. Don’t let the title and cover make you think this is a cosy
mystery, it’s anything but. Set in a Yorkshire town at a time when the whole
country was terrorised by the thought of the Yorkshire Ripper, two friends
decide to try and uncover the identity of the man responsible. Their innocence
leads them into some dangerous situations but also brings together some of the
isolated members of their community.
Day One by Abigail Dean is harrowing. The
story of the aftermath of a school shooting and the effects on a small
community that is harassed by conspiracy theorists. This is very emotive, your
heart goes out to the families impacted by the tragedy. Over an eight-year span,
we discover that local girl and small-town hero Marty hasn’t been entirely
truthful about what she did on the day of the shooting.
It was great to be able to read another book in the
Callanach & Turner series by Helen Fields. This time around a
religious zealot is targeting young women with questionable pasts in Perfect
Silence. I always find religious overtones add a seriously creepy element
to thrillers and this is no different. Being book four in the series we really
see the way in which the relationship between the main characters is developing
as well as some shocking office politics.
The Four by Ellie Keel is another book that is all over Twitter, so
I was keen to get my hands on a copy. This is a dark and disturbing story about
older teens at an exclusive boarding school. Tragic events and a host of
secrets put loyalties to the test. (Note, I haven’t posted my full review for this yet).
First audiobook of the month was Us Three from Ruth
Jones. An uplifting, and at times bittersweet, story of the friendship
between three women. We see how the friendship grows, and is sometimes
strained, from the age of five. We experience all the major life events and you
are reaching for a tissue on more than one occasion.
Fans of the Jonathan Creek TV series will enjoy the baffling
locked-room murders in Three Card Murder by J. L. Blackhurst. A policewoman and her
con artist half-sister have to work together to solve three murders before
someone makes public a crime they carried out fifteen years ago. The ingenious
crimes will have you scratching your head trying to figure out how the murders
were carried out.
Another audiobook chosen as an antidote to all the thrillers
I’ve been reading was Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce. Set in London
during WWII we follow Emmy Lake who dreams of being a war correspondent and
accidentally ends up as a junior to an agony aunt, Mrs Bird, on a woman’s
magazine. Mrs Bird refuses to deal with any letters about relationships, so
Emmy secretly begins answering them. The tone and narration are perfect for the
era.
Publication dates to watch out for are:-
Trust In Me by Luca Veste will be published on
14/9/23 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
Mrs Sidhu’s Dead And Scone by Suk Pannu will
be published on 12/10/23 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett will be
published on 26/10/23 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
Anna O by Matthew Blake will be published on
1/2/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
Knife Skills For Beginners by Orlando Murrin
will be published on 1/2/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
The List Of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
will be published on 15/2/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
Day One by Abigail Dean will be published on
28/3/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
The Four by Ellie Keel will be published on
11/4/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
No comments:
Post a Comment