Paula Longhurst's Blog, page 9

The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman

The Thursday Murder Club have been busy, Ibrahim’s trawling CCTV footage, Joyce is knitting friendship bracelets. Ron’s got his eight year old nephew for the week and they’re all helping Elizabeth find an ex husband with twenty million quid’s worth of mafia diamonds in his possession.

As funny, poignant and socially aware as Osman’s first book. 

Fuzz :When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach

When animals break the law, human law, what happens? This is the thorny subject that science writer Mary Roach sets out to tackle, wrestling with questions like : How do you reason with a hungry Indian elephant? What are the consequences of humans encroaching on bear habitat. Who won the other battle of Midway? What do New Zealanders classify as a 'humane' trap. How does the Vatican handle its rat problem (and why his holiness doesn't release peace doves anymore) all told with her signature mixture of humour and curiousity.

Clark and Division, Naomi Hirahara

 The Itos, Rose and Aki and their parents ran a successful grocery business in California until they were sent to camp Manzanar. Finally released and sent for resettlement in Chicago they have to start over but Rose who went on ahead dies just days before they arrive. 

Aki worshipped Rose and losing her spurs the youngest Ito to find out what happened to her sister amid clouds of suspicion from her own community and prejudice from most of the cops. An unsettling period accurate read that shows what a country is capable of if it deems you ‘enemy’

Night Singer, Johanna Mo

Oland is the place Hannah Duncker ran from to get away from the murderous shadow of her father, imprisoned for killing a local woman. Now a fully trained police officer with a gift for interrogation; Hannah returns and not everyone is happy she’s back.

Threatening phone calls, outright hostility and a nosy new partner complicate her first case in her new station, that of a teen boy found stabbed at a local beauty spot.

The victim has ties to Hannah’s old life. Some of the suspects do too…

Mo has crafted a clever thriller, reminiscent of a Swedish ‘Broadchurch’ where everyone has secrets, layered upon secrets and collateral damage to the community is guaranteed.

Reviews for Rollover

 There is nothing more gratifying - as a bookseller - to have a customer come back several weeks later and say 'I loved that book what else do you recommend?' We call it handselling and it is a skill that is actually quite tricky to master. 

With so many books to choose from, you may wonder how we decide what to read next. Well its a combination of reviews, excerpts, and word of mouth and for authors especially those like me who don't have the shameless self promoter gene reviews are what encourage other booksellers to read your book and add it to their handselling repertoire.

Reviews are a double edged sword for newbie authors, but if you are reading this and you are a newbie the constructive criticism of author reviews will help you improve your craft because they are done by someone who doesn't know you or your work and always remember even with a complete stranger reviews are subjective. I've had a five star and a one star review on the same day and in the words of Taylor Swift you have to 'Shake it Off' and keep going.

For your consideration here are two of the latest reviews for Rollover

https://theprairiesbookreview.com/2021/06/25/rollover-a-nikki-doyle-novel-by-paula-j-longhurst/

https://bookviewreview.com/2021/06/26/bookview-review-rollover-a-nikki-doyle-novel-by-paula-j-longhurst/

Steel Fear, Brandon Webb and John David Mann

I have a love hate relationship with military thrillers and legal thrillers especially the former. They tend to go into too much detail on the hardware and be light on the tactics or tradecraft. Webb and Mann have balanced this thriller to perfection. Just the right combo of action, characters who have more than two dimensions, a locked ship murder mystery and just the right amount of uncertainty to keep you turning the pages. Not since Terry Hayes' I Am Pilgrim have I been so gripped by a what some will dismiss as a 'guy' book. 

Here's the review:

The giant maritime city that is the USS Abraham Lincoln just gained a passenger. Finn, a Navy Seal being shipped home - in disgrace. The Lincoln is at the end of her tour in the Gulf; overdue for a serious stem to stern overhaul, crew morale is in the basement and now a serial killer is stalking the crew.

Finn cannot rule himself out as the serial; he’s been suffering serious memory lapses since before he came aboard. Cut off from his unit, the only way for Finn to clear himself is to use his ‘talents’ to unmask the real killer.

 

Falling, T.J. Newman

You're the Captain, of Coastal Airways non-stop service to New York. Thirty minutes into the flight you learn that your family is being held hostage and for them to survive you’ll have to sacrifice yourself, your crew and all 147 souls onboard.

What do you do?

Your heart will be in your mouth for most of this pulse pounding thriller. Former bookseller turned flight attendant T.J. Newman's debut is authentic, thought provoking and scary. Best consumed in one sitting.

Suburban Dicks, Fabian Nicieza

A washed-up Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and a knocked-up (for the fifth time) former criminal profiler team up to solve the murder of a gas station attendant in the multi-cultural West Windsor neighbourhood. Their investigation will send shockwaves through the Asian, Black and retirement communities whilst poking the reader’s funny-bone and pricking their conscience simultaneously.

Castle Shade, Laurie R. King

Mary Russell and Holmes travel back to Roumania where he had been masquerading as an archaeologist before Mary summoned him to Monaco over the Clarissa Hudson affair. Holmes, approached by Queen Marie (and subsequently Mycroft Holmes much to Mary's disquiet) is reluctantly investigating a threat to Marie's young daughter. Marie has transformed her country from a backwater into a force to be reckoned with and Mycroft suspects political motives are behind the threat.

Holmes and Russell aren't so sure; preceding the Queen's arrival at Castle Bran, her summer home on the border with neighboring Transylvania, their nightly patrols outside the castle grounds uncover a clever campaign seeded with bitterness, playing on the superstitions of the villagers and the old legends of strigoi - known in the west as vampires.

A Study in Crimson, Robert J. Harris

Not content with reinvigorating Richard Hannay of ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’. Harris now turns his attention to the world’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes. The adventures of Harris’ Holmes (based on Basil Rathbone’s film portrayal) take place during WWII.

In a blacked-out London a Victorian era horror is unfolding. Has the Ripper really returned from the dead? Holmes and Watson, summoned by Lestrade race to prevent more killings; aided by American journalist Gail Prescott and (courtesy of Mycroft) suave intelligence officer Phillip Raynor. Whilst others run for the air raid shelters, Holmes and Watson attempt to unmask a calculating enemy as bombs fall around them.