We are given clues early on in What We Did In The Storm
by Tina Baker but the who, how and why are drip-fed as we get to know
the residents and wealthy visitors to the island of Tresco. The intensity of life
on such a small island, where the disparity of wealth is obvious, leads to tension,
gossip, rumours and jealousy.
The David Raker series of books by Tim Weaver is new
to me, despite the first one being published fourteen years ago. Having raced
through the first book, Chasing The Dead, it’s great to know there are
another twelve books waiting for me. David Raker uses the skills he garnered as
an investigative journalist to find missing people. His neighbour asks him to
find her son who disappeared six years ago and she’s convinced she spotted him
recently. The only problem is that he was declared dead a year ago following a
car accident. This is a fast-paced and action-packed thriller that pulls no
punches.
I was attracted to Guilty By Definition by Susie
Dent thinking it might be a lightweight cozy crime, however, once I got
used to the style I was totally gripped by an expertly-plotted mystery that
certainly wasn’t “cozy”. There are lots of cryptic clues, thankfully these are
clearly explained, along with literary references, as a woman tries to solve
the mystery of what happened to her sister who simply disappeared over a decade
ago.
Mick Herron is going to have to go some way to beat
book 4 in the Slough House/Slow Horses series. Spook Street begins with
a shocking event and doesn’t let up from there as links to the Cold War put the
life of River Cartwright’s grandfather in danger, along with the rest of the
team. I was left devastated by the ending.
The premise of Five By Five from Claire Wilson
sounded great, a prison intelligence analyst is trying to uncover a killer. She
finds herself attracted to another prison officer but wonders if they could be
the person she is trying to track down. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the style,
found much of the dialogue difficult to follow and couldn’t warm to any of the
characters. The conclusion left far too many threads unfinished.
Older protagonists have been featured a lot recently in the books I’ve read. Virginia Lane Is Not A Hero by Rosalind Stopps features a widow who has decided she’s got nothing left to live for following the death of her husband. Until a neighbour who is the victim of domestic abuse asks her to shelter her child. This is one of those books that pulls you up short and makes you realise that you don’t know what the people around you are struggling with day to day. It also fills you with hope, particularly the hope that if you needed to you’d find a little bit of “hero” inside yourself.
I enjoyed Isolation Island by Louise Minchin
far more than I expected to. Ten celebrities are gathered on a remote Scottish
island in winter for a new reality TV show. Lauren, an investigative
journalist, has an ulterior motive, she wants to expose a Hollywood celebrity
and hopes that being trapped together on the island for two weeks will help
her. Living conditions aren’t what they were promised and when a storm cuts
them off from civilisation a murder occurs.
I loved the first three books in the DI Grace Archer series
by David Fennell. I was a little bit worried that the events in book
three would put an end to the series, however A Violent Heart sees a
re-set for the series. Much more of a police procedural, and slightly less
terrifying, two murders, thirty years apart, have strange similarities. Is
there a serial killer at work who’s never been noticed? Grace has to combat
outdated and misogynistic officers to solve the case.
Frankie by Graham Norton is one of those
sweeping sagas that will take you from 1950s Ireland to 2020s London, via a
bohemian New York, as we meet Frances Howe, an orphaned ten-year-old, whose
life is decided for her. I was raging at the way in which society treated
Frankie but so admired her backbone. Despite everything life threw at her
Frankie refused to be bitter and resentful.
Part murder mystery, part fantasy, part dystopian sci-fi, The
Last Murder At The End Of The World by Stuart Turton had me
completely puzzled until halfway through. A fog has destroyed mankind, the last
vestiges of civilisation exist on an island. When one of their number is
murdered the barrier keeping the fog at bay falls. They have 107 hours to solve
the murder before the fog completely covers the island.
My first audiobook of the month was The Phoenix Ballroom
by Ruth Hogan. I thoroughly enjoyed this sweeping tale of an elderly widow
who decides that she wasn’t going to spend the remainder of her life grieving,
she would use some of the wealth she inherited to restore a dilapidated
ballroom. Along the way she is helped, and in turn helps, a number of engaging
characters.
The Secrets Of Sunshine by Phaedra Patrick is
a gentle reminder that we “work to live, not live to work”. Guilt-stricken
Mitchell is raising his daughter alone. He’s never been able to forgive himself
for putting work first on the day his partner was killed in a car accident
three years ago. When he rescues a woman who has fallen into a river he ends up
meeting her sister who shows him that he still has a life to live if only he
can forgive himself first.
I’ve enjoyed each Beth O’Leary audiobook I’ve
listened to so was really looking forward to The No-Show, the story of
three women who are all stood up on Valentine’s Day – by the same man! I so
wanted to dislike the man, Joseph Carter, but it’s impossible not to like him.
I did feel that the story was going in circles after a while but then there was
a HUGE twists that made me re-assess everything I’d been listening to.
Publication dates to watch out for are:-
Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent will be
published on 15/8/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
The Liars by Katherine Fleet will be published
on 15/8/24 in paperback, ebook and audio format.
Virginia Lane Is Not A Hero by Rosalind Stopps
will be published on 29/8/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
Five By Five by Claire Wilson will be
published on 29/8/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
A Violent Heart by David Fennell will be
published on 29/8/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
Isolation Island by Louise Minchin will be
published on 12/9/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
Frankie by Graham Norton will be published on
12/9/24 in hardback, ebook and audio format.
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