March 2025 Reads

 

March was a bumper month for me in terms of reading. Not only did I get through twelve books and four audiobooks I also attended my first book festival (you can read about Bay Tales here) and took part in my first blog tour.

March began with a blog tour read, Where The Light Is Hottest by Catherine Yardley and gives a warts-and-all look at what it takes to achieve fame. The story not only highlights the fact that success rarely happens overnight but also shows that once you are famous the press like nothing more than trying to dig up dirt on you.

I went into Fair Play by Louise Hegarty completely blind. The book opens with a group of friends celebrating New Year’s Eve at a country house. The following morning one of them is dead. The story then splits. The modern-day version follows the sister of the dead person trying to come to terms with her grief, constantly wondering how she hadn’t spotted her brother’s mental health issues. The second storyline has the characters set in a 1930s-style murder mystery with a detective investigating.

Catherine Ryan Howard writes those twisty kind of thrillers that make you want to go straight back to the beginning once you’ve finished reading. Burn After Reading has an intriguing foreword that explains how she got the idea for the book, then leads into a terrifying opening chapter. A writer is asked to “ghostwrite” the memoir of a famous athlete. The only problem is that everyone assumes the athlete murdered his wife and the memoir will feature his hypothetical confession.

Elderly protagonists are one of my favourite genres so I was pleased to meet hoarder Alfred in The Secret Collector by Abigail Johnson. After a drinking binge teenager Kian vandalises Alfred’s home and he is forced to help Alfred clear out some of his junk. No sooner has Kian gotten rid of some of the clutter and Alfred is moving it back in. As the pair lock horns they begin to learn about the struggles they’ve each gone through.

The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose sees the return of Molly the Maid. The storyline features Molly’s gran recounting her early life through diary entries, alongside this there is a mystery story when a valuable antique disappears during a televised auction at the hotel. The two stories are linked and the big question is will there be a happy ending for Molly?

Next up was The Death Of Us by Abigail Dean, a book that is in contention for my book of the year. Twenty-five years after being victims of a serial rapist and murderer couple Isabel and Edward are able to confront their attacker during his trial. The author avoids the descriptions of gratuitous violence, focusing on the impact the crimes have on the victims instead, making this a powerful read.

Another book featuring an elderly protagonist is The Margaret Code by Richard Hooton. Margaret Winterbottom’s friend is found murdered and Margaret is sure she has pertinent information, if only those pesky senior moments would let her remember. Aided by her teenage grandson, Margaret decides to investigate in this poignant story about the frailty of growing old.

The Cornish Castle Murder from Fiona Leitch is book 8 in the Nosey Parker cosy crime series. Jodie and fiancé Nathan find their wedding at an exclusive country house in doubt when a body is found on the grounds. Fans of the series will know that Jodie finds it impossible not to get involved in any investigation. The big question for the reader is will the wedding go ahead?

Romance isn’t my normal genre of choice but I found myself enjoying  Five Things I Love About You by Clare Swatman more than I expected. Miranda keeps dreaming about the man she almost collided with on her bike. When life offers the opportunity to do something different she moves from London to Newcastle in the hope of finding her dream lover.

I was over the moon to see that C. J. Wray had written Bad Influence, a sequel to The Excitements. This time around the Williamson sisters are side characters to Jinx Sullivan, an old woman determined to get to Florence. I loved finding out all about Jinx’s background, discovering the reason for her determination to get to Italy, and the influence Penny Williamson had on her life.

The Man Made Of Smoke is the first book I’ve read by Alex North and having read a lot about it on social media I was prepared to be scared. Thankfully, it wasn’t terror-inducing but the serial killer element certainly had me feeling anxious. A psychiatrist returns to his childhood home following the death of his father, a home that reminds him of his brush with a man who abducted and murdered young boys.

I rounded the month off with an emotional read, When The Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen. Elderly Bo is living out his final days, and his dog Sixten is his constant companion. Worried that looking after the dog has become too much for his father to manage, Bo’s son wants to rehome Sixten. As a battle of wills ensues we learn of Bo’s life and his hopes that he has been a better father than his own. Make sure you have plenty of tissues to hand when you read this.

Audiobooks

The Love Intervention by Caroline Khoury features a woman who is career-focused and as a result has forgotten how to live. Her friends stage an intervention, forcing her to visit three men she was previously involved with in the hope that she will realise what she is missing out on. Fun, sunshine and romance are guaranteed.

Murder On Line One by Jeremy Vine is a slow burner. Edward Temmis, local radio talk show host, finds himself investigating the mysterious death of one of his listeners and discovers that there could be links to his radio show. Once the story got going I was gripped by the different turns it took.

Work Trip by Chloe Ford was a perfect enemies-to-lovers story. Being a fairly short audiobook the story zipped along as Fliss and James found themselves on the team-building exercise from hell as they were dumped in the middle of the Scottish Highlands with a tent and very few supplies. The only way to get home is to rely on each other.

Following Covid, family life has stuttered for Wendy. Questioning what she wants to do, she takes herself off to a cabin in France in Where Do We Go From Here? By Nick Alexander. Initially, this seems like a fish-out-of-water story as Wendy grapples with life in rural France with only schoolgirl French to get by. But, as the story develops, we learn that Wendy has a number of issues in her life that she needs to deal with if her marriage is to survive.

Publication Dates

Fair Play by Louise Hegarty will be published on 3/4/25 in hardback, ebook and audio format.

Burn After Reading by Catherine Ryan Howard will be published on 10/4/25 in hardback, ebook and audio format.

The Secret Collector by Abigail Johnson will be published on 1/4/25 as an ebook, the paperback and audio format will be available 10/4/25.

The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose will be published on 10/4/25 in hardback, ebook and audio format.

The Death Of Us by Abigail Dean will be published on 10/4/25 in hardback and ebook format. The audiobook is available now.

The Margaret Code by Richard Hooton will be published on 10/4/25 in hardback, ebook and audio format.

Where Do We Go From Here? By Nick Alexander will be published on 23/4/25 in paperback, ebook and audio format.

Murder On Line One by Jeremy Vine will be published on 24/4/25 in hardback, ebook and audio format.

The Cornish Castle Murder by Fiona Leitch will be published on 24/4/25 in ebook and audio format, and in paperback on 8/5/25.

Five Things I Love About You by Clare Swatman will be published on 24/4/25 in paperback, ebook and audio format.

Work Trip by Chloe Ford will be published on 24/4/25 in paperback, ebook and audio format.

Bad Influence by C. J. Wray will be published on 8/5/25 in hardback, ebook and audio format.

The Man Made Of Smoke by Alex North will be published on 8/5/25 in hardback, ebook and audio format.

When The Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen will be published on 15/5/25 in paperback, ebook and audio format.