Veronika Jordan's Blog, page 22

The Rescue Sisters by Elaine Whiteford

Stirling and Quebec, 1900

A tale of blackmail, kidnap and terrible secrets. Of children being sent abroad, and of women trying to do the right thing at a time when they were second class citizens.

How far will Jane Knight and Eliza Frew go to protect the ones they love … and save themselves?

Child rescue and migration are the backdrops to this historical drama that packs a punch.

An intelligent and emotionally rich story which is truly engaging.

Highly commended in the Pitlochry Quaich Historical Novel competition.

My Review

It’s very interesting to read about the children who were sent abroad to ‘better their lives’ in another country. In this case it was Canada, but the reality is that they were separated from their families, and while many of them did end up happy and successful, many didn’t. It was still exploitation of children, many of them ridiculously young and vulnerable.

In The Rescue Sisters, we have three main characters. Eliza Frew has given up any idea of marriage and a family to rescue children that would otherwise have ended up in the poor house or on the streets. She has her reasons. The children are taken in, cleaned up, given beds, food and an education. But only the girls could remain after a certain age, the boys being sent to Canada to work mainly on farms. This is what happens to Winnie and her brother at the beginning of the book.

Jane Knight is the niece of Alice Knight, her father’s sister, and following a family tragedy, she goes to stay with Alice who takes her to meet Eliza. It is here she first encounters Winnie, who makes her promise to come back and see her. But it’s a few years until this happens, and Winnie feels that Jane owes her, and asks for a favour that would be beyond most young women’s capabilities in those days. And that is how we end up in Canada, where something happens on the journey that will test Jane to her limits.

I was fond of Jane, Eliza not so much. Her constant quoting from the Bible grated on me (my having been to a Convent school in the late sixties), but by far my favourite character is Alice Knight. Like Eliza, she never married or became a mother, but she is feisty, intelligent, fearless and a believer in women’s rights. She’s like the ‘unsinkable Molly Brown’ in Titanic. I can imagine Alice standing for Parliament as an MP, though we are still almost 20 years too soon for that to happen.

If I had one criticism, it would be that it is all a bit too neat at times. It could have been a lot more harrowing and gritty, but then I would probably be saying now that it was too harrowing and realistic, and that it left me in floods of tears! I can definitely see it as a TV series in the future.

Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheRescueSisters blog tour.

About the Author

Elaine Whiteford is a Scottish writer of fiction and non-fiction. She is passionate about local history and women’s social history in late Victorian and Edwardian times. The Rescue Sisters is the first of her historical novels to be published. She has had extracts of two novels published in Gold Dust magazine and short fiction published by Stryvling Press. In non-fiction Elaine is the author of The Story of Stirling Golf Club, a contributor to Wild & Temperate Seas and has had photo articles about scuba diving and marine life published in a wide range of magazines.

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Unsolved (Cal Lovett Files #1) by Heather Critchlow

He won’t rest until he finds out the truth…

Cal Lovett is obsessed with finding justice for the families of missing people. His true crime podcast is his way of helping others, even if he can’t help himself.

His sister, Margot, disappeared when he was a child. Only one man seems to know something. But he’s behind bars and can’t be trusted.

So when the family of a missing Scottish woman begs for his help, he heads to Aberdeenshire in search of the truth.

Does Cal have what it takes to unearth the secrets hiding in the hills? And what if he finds something that leads him back to the heart of his own family’s past?

My Review

Unsolved is the first in the Cal Lovett Files. I read it with my online book club – The Pigeonhole – where we read a ‘stave’ a day – usually a stave is made up of a few chapters. It’s great for crime stories as we can play amatuer detective in our comments.

Cal loves uncovering secrets in his true crime podcast, but his popularity, like his marriage, is going down the pan. He needs a gritty story to resurrect his credibility. He’ll need more than that to save his relationship with his wife Allie.

There are three main strands to this story. Cal visits a notorious serial killer in prison. It’s going to be the subject of his next podcast. His wife wants him to give up the visits because they are taking their toll on Cal. But on his last visit, the killer, Marc Dubois, tells him something that will turn his world on its axis. But is it true, or is Dubois trying to vex him?

And that leads us to the second strand. Cal’s older sister Margot disappeared without trace when Cal was nine years old. He wants to know what happened, but it’s tearing him apart.

Finally we have Layla, who also vanished. The year was 1986. She had gone for a ride on Ruby, one of the horses from the stables where she helped out, but Ruby came back badly injured and Layla was never seen again. The locals believed it was her on-off boyfriend Stephen who killed her (no body was ever discovered), but could Dubois have been involved. Layla’s parents want closure, or do they?

We also have a separate story involving Cal’s teenage daughter Chrissie, who is going through her own trials and tribulations.

I loved this story and hope that the next in the series will also be available on The Pigeonhole. It’s not perfect – there are one or two things that could have been better – but altogether it deserves a hearty 5 stars.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Heather Critchlow grew up in rural Aberdeenshire and trained as a business journalist after studying history and social science at the University of Cambridge. Her short stories have appeared in crime fiction anthologies Afraid of the Light, Afraid of the Christmas Lights and Afraid of the Shadows.

Esme’s Life as a Ten-Year-Old by Vicki Baxter

Meet Esme. The girl with two houses, but not because she is super rich, but because her parents are divorced.

Esme talks about growing up with her younger sister, juggling school, hobbies, pets and two very different parenting styles.

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A funny and truthful story, sharing a roller coaster ride of the life of a ten-year-old.

My Review

Life through the eyes of a ten-year-old. That’s Esme! Her take on her family’s situation is funny, poignant and very well observed. There is no anger or bitterness – it is what it is. She is very philosophical for one so young.

Esme’s mother is stricter and more organised than her dad. No screens while eating (I wish – tell that to my ten-year-old granddaughter), regular bedtimes and up early (Mum is always early – dad is always late) and ready for school. But they have a rabbit called Muffin, so it’s all good! They have two guinea pigs too. Esme’s is Pancake and younger sister Hattie’s is called Syrup. We had a dog called Pancake, so I’m with Esme on the name choice.

Their dad is more disorganised. But while Esme and her sister love them both, her mum and dad were always going to clash. Different personalities – different parenting styles. When they lived together they were always arguing, though Hattie doesn’t remember as she’s too young. “Mum still gets irritated by the fact he stores his motorbike and surf boards in the lounge.” I’m not surprised!

“Dad’s house is always trashed, he says it is us and that we make all the mess, but it isn’t just that. Mum is always tidy and makes us sort our toys and bedroom out, so it is nice when we are at Dad’s because we just throw all our clothes on the floor and leave all our stuff out and he doesn’t care.”

There’s also a lot about school. The sex education class is very funny.

“The nurse asked us to volunteer to draw a boy’s private parts on the board and one of the boys did it so big, it was really funny. We were taught how to check our breasts for lumps, which can be caused by cancer. The lady had knitted boobs for that bit and was squeezing them, we were all laughing, she had lots of knitted body parts.”

If you have children of this age (or grandchildren), you’ll love this book. My younger son is divorced, though his children are much younger than Esme, and they don’t remember mum and dad living together. Children are very adaptable, particularly if separated parents don’t play one off against the other. Esme’s parents are pretty good at that side of things.

I just have one question. Who is Uncle Monkey? I know he’s Esme’s godfather, but please tell me why he’s called Uncle Monkey? Thank you.

Many thanks to @ZooloosBT  for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

Vicki Baxter lives by the Cornish coast with her two daughters. Following her graduation with a Leisure Management and Sports degree, Vicki has experienced a varied career as a tennis coach, prison custody officer and sales representative in the confectionery market. Vicki works four days a week and enjoys using her day off writing, cold water sea swimming and exercising. Vicki’s previous publications include a rhyming picture and activity book called Our World and Me. A children’s fantasy story called The Hatteme Tales (illustrated by Caz Banks and narrated by Kate Stebbing-Allen). A book about her previous work experience called Incarcerated – A Young Offender
Institute Through the Eyes of an Officer, and a selection of poetry in various books.

Vicki’s inspiration to start writing came from composing poems for her friends at secondary school. This led to her Nan suggesting she enter one of them into a competition. The Perfect Wave was a success and was published in a poetry collection. Writing has become a passion and something to give to her daughters as they grow up and have their own families.

Vicki’s Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005574826507
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vicki.the.author

Blossom Spring Publishing’s Social Media
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Website: https://www.blossomspringpublishing.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216619999-esme-s-life-as-a-
ten-year-old
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/esmeslife-zbt

The Grandmother by Jane E. James

I might be a grandmother. But I’m not some sweet, harmless old lady who people can push around.

Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother.

They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by.

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I think their father, Vince, killed my daughter. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I warned her he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.

But then, most people have a dark side — and I’m no different.Now he wants his daughters back. Over my dead body. I finally have a family of my own. And nobody is going to take it away from me.

My Review

I had no idea when I started reading this how clever it would end up being. At first it was fairly straightforward – a bit ordinary to be honest. But don’t be deceived. Nothing is what it seems and no-one is telling the truth.

First of all we have the ‘grandmother’, Yvonne Castle. A nice little old lady (less of the old – she’s quite a bit younger than me), but at times we see her true colours. And maybe she’s not quite so nice. She has no experience of children, but when her estranged daughter Scarlet is murdered, she offers to take in her granddaughters – Daisy and Alice – their father Vince being a ‘useless unemployed slob’, with a snarling wolf tattoo on his neck and a nice sideline as a getaway driver.

He left Scarlet when she was at her most vulnerable for Leah, and together they have a baby called Saffy. Vince adores her. But Leah is a slob, with her dirty kitchen, her useless parenting, her grown out roots and her disgusting bubble gum. Vince is so sorry he left Scarlet and the girls, now that he can see Leah for the spiteful, nasty piece of work that she really is.

Alice takes to her granny really quickly, but Daisy is far more suspicious. And I don’t blame her. She loves her daddy, in spite of his many faults. But Yvonne hates him, believing him to have killed Scarlet. And nothing is going to stand in her way when it comes to keeping the girls.

It all sounds so simple, but believe me it isn’t. There’s a jaw-dropping twist part way through that turns the whole story on its head and we start questioning who really is the baddy and who can be saved. I really enjoyed it. And the story around Lucky the dog is my favourite part.

Many thanks to @ZooloosBT  for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

Jane E. James is a bestselling author who likes to create chilling reads that appeal to fans of psychological suspense thrillers, mysteries, and dark fiction. Her novels are packed with plot twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. All of them are standalone novels. Jane is an animal lover and lives with her cat, Hero, in a small country village near Stamford, Lincolnshire in the UK, which is known for its quirky tea shops and cobbled streets. Rebecca, Carrie, The Woman in Black and Wuthering Heights are among some of Jane’s favourite reads.

Jane’s Social Media
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Website: http://www.janeejames.com

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Book Links
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Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/grandmother-zbt

I Died At Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel

Anna Deerin moves to a remote Cotswold cottage to become a gardener, trying to strip away everything she’s spent all her life as a woman striving for, craving the anonymity and privacy her new off-grid life provides.

But when she clears the last vegetable bed and digs up not twigs but bones, the outside world is readmitted. With it comes Detective Inspector Hitesh Mistry, who has his own reasons for a new start in the village of Upper Magna.

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Drawn in spite of herself to this unknown woman from another time, Anna is determined to uncover her identity and gain recognition for her, if not justice.

As threats to Anna and her new life grow closer, she and DI MIstry will find that this murder is inextricably bound up with issues of gender, family, community, race and British identity itself – all as relevant in decades past as they are to Anna today.

My Review

I didn’t really know what to expect from this book apart from the fact that it’s set in Gloucestershire where I live, and Cirencester is about 15 miles down the road. Detective Inspector Hitesh Mistry has left London to take up a post there. I’m pretty sure that Upper Magna is fictitious, though there is one in Shropshire, while Chew Magna is a village in Somerset. From the Latin, ‘Magna’ just means big or great in village terms.

Anna Deerin moved to Upper Magna about 18 months previously, to become a gardener and live her life off-grid. She doesn’t even have a phone. With it comes a remote, rent-free, one-bed cottage, but she has to grow her own food, which she sells at the local market. It takes self-sufficiency to a whole new level.

The cottage is set in the grounds of Fallow Hall, so when she digs up a skeleton along with the carrots and turnips, she is certain that the dead woman – who she refers to as her ‘Fallow sister’ – had something to do with the hall. And she is not going to let it go. This anonymous woman deserves respect and recognition.

It’s at the market that she meets Hitesh and you can see that they are going to become friends and co-conspirators. They both have reasons to be here, away from the hustle and bustle of London.

There are a lot of other interesting characters, but I was particularly drawn to Reverend Watts, the vicar of the local church, and his Golden Retriever David (named after the Biblical king). I love a human name for an animal – I knew someone who called his Golden Retriever Elizabeth, and someone else whose cat was called Colin.

I can’t even begin to describe how much I loved this book. I just wanted to keep reading. I needed to know who the woman was, but I didn’t want it to finish. I kind of guessed who she probably was, and how, but I only got the last part half right.

I also better mention the deeper themes at play here – ‘of gender, family, community, race and British identity itself – all as relevant in decades past as they are to Anna today.’ And also to Hitesh of course.

But it’s the writing that will stay with me. The author has a unique voice and style that is overwhelmingly beautiful. It captured something in my very soul. I Died At Fallow Hall is one of my favourite books of the year so far.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Born and raised in South Gloucestershire, Bonnie Burke-Patel studied History at Oxford. After working for half a decade in politics and policy, she changed careers and became a preschool teacher, before beginning to write full time. She lives with her husband, son, and needy cat in south east London, and is working on her next crime novel about fairy tales, desire, and the seaside.

The Murmurs by Michael J Malone (Annie Jackson Mysteries #1) revisited

Book two, The Torments, in the Annie Jackson Mysteries is out soon, so I’m reposting my original review.

On the first morning of her new job at Heartfield House, a care home for the elderly, Annie Jackson wakens from a terrifying dream.

And when she arrives at the home, she knows that the first old man she meets is going to die. How she knows this is a terrifying mystery, but it is the start of horrifying premonitions … a rekindling of the curse that has trickled through generations of women in her family – a wicked gift known only as ‘the murmurs’…

With its reappearance comes an old, forgotten fear that is about to grip Annie Jackson. And this time, it will never let go…

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My Review

I adored this book. I couldn’t wait to read it. Really spooky and scary, but the most terrifying part is when we go back in time to the ‘witches’ who were accused of witchcraft, forced to confess and then strangled before their bodies were thrown on the bonfire.

Annie Jackson comes from a line of women who have a ‘gift’ or is it a curse? She knows when someone is going to die and how. But when she tries to warn them, she is treated like a mad woman, even when she is only twelve years old. She can see the person dying, their faces turn into skulls, and she hears sounds and voices which are referred to as ‘the murmurs’.

On the first day of her new job in a nursing home (not the best place to avoid death premonitions), she sees an old man having a stroke on the bathroom floor and dying. Before she goes home, she tries to warn him, but he tells her to go away and leave him alone. It’s just the beginning of her terrifying dreams and visions. She can’t look at anyone, in case she sees their demise.

She tries to find out as much as she can about the family curse, but everyone seems to be keeping schtum. When she was still a child, her mother died in an accident, but Annie somehow survived. She remembers nothing about it and very little of her life beforehand. Then her father dies too and she and her twin brother go to live with a foster family.

As she starts to remember tiny snippets from her childhood, she discovers that her mother had two sisters – Sheila and Bridget – one of whom she met just once. She knew that Sheila was ill.

Her mother is very religious and they attend a church which is almost a cult. (Oh how I love this kind of thing as anyone who has read my reviews will know.) The local ‘pastor’ puts his hands on Annie’s head and tries to get rid of the devil inside her. It’s very creepy. Outside the church, an old woman whispers that Annie should be burnt at the stake. It’s all scary stuff with a gothic feel and a mixture of superstition and a hint of the supernatural.

We are interrupted during the story today, by flashbacks to the witches, episodes in Annie’s mother’s life and incidents of ‘the murmurs’ in Annie’s childhood. For instance she knew that a local girl would be involved in something terrible, but no-one will listen to her.

I’m going to say it again. I absolutely adored this book. It’s just up my street and I look forward to reading more about Annie in the future. I know this because it’s the first of the Annie Jackson Mysteries #1.

If I could offer Annie one word of advice it would be to accept what you see. You probably can’t prevent it anyway, without changing the future as well. While this would be devastating, it would surely be better than telling someone they are going to die and failing to prevent it. Or maybe not. Thank goodness I don’t have Annie’s gift.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. His dark psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and is currently in production for the screen, and five powerful standalone thrillers followed suit. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr, where he also works as a hypnotherapist.

Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.

The Rescue Sisters by Elaine Whiteford Out Now

Stirling and Quebec, 1900

A tale of blackmail, kidnap and terrible secrets. Of children being sent abroad, and of women trying to do the right thing at a time when they were second class citizens.

How far will Jane Knight and Eliza Frew go to protect the ones they love … and save themselves?

Child rescue and migration are the backdrops to this historical drama that packs a punch.

An intelligent and emotionally rich story which is truly engaging.

Highly commended in the Pitlochry Quaich Historical Novel competition.

REVIEW TO FOLLOW!

About the Author

Elaine Whiteford is a Scottish writer of fiction and non-fiction. She is passionate about local history and women’s social history in late Victorian and Edwardian times. The Rescue Sisters is the first of her historical novels to be published. She has had extracts of two novels published in Gold Dust magazine and short fiction published by Stryvling Press. In non-fiction Elaine is the author of The Story of Stirling Golf Club, a contributor to Wild & Temperate Seas and has had photo articles about scuba diving and marine life published in a wide range of magazines.

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The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Doll Factory, The Burial Plot is an unstoppable historical thriller about murder, manipulation, and a young woman trying to wrestle power from the hands of a dangerous man. But he’s always one step ahead . . .

London, 1839. Where the cemeteries are full and there is money to be made in death, Bonnie and Crawford lead a life of trickery, surviving off ill-gotten coin and nefarious schemes. But one hot evening, their luck runs out. A man lies in a pool of blood at Bonnie’s feet and now she needs to disappear.

Crawford secures her a position as lady’s maid in a grand house on the Thames, still deep in mourning for its late mistress. As Bonnie comes to understand this family – the eccentric Mr Moncrieff, obsessively drawing mausoleums grand enough for his dead wife, and their peculiar daughter Cissie, scribbling imaginary love letters to herself from the mysterious Lord Duggan – she begins to question what really happened to Mrs Moncrieff and whether her own presence here was planned from the beginning.

Because Crawford is watching, and perhaps he is plotting his greatest trick yet . . .

My Review

This is no reflection on the book, but I found it quite stressful to listen to at times. It’s because of Crawford. I want to hide behind the sofa. His plotting is just too awful. And it only gets worse. Is there no end to his scheming?

One of my favourite things about the book is the characters. First of all we have Bonnie, who has run away from her comfortable home to avoid being married off to a creepy man old enough to be her father. She goes to London where she meets Crawford, handsome and charming, he coerces her into doing his bidding, as he does his friend Rex (whose interest in Crawford is somewhat unhealthy). In fact they are little more than a couple of con artists, but Crawford has set his sights on a much higher ambition.

Poor naive Bonnie! Once in Crawford’s clutches, her intense love for him, together with being told she could go to prison for things he makes her believe she has done, and she’s hooked. And he has a plan. She is to become a lady’s maid at Endellion, a grand house on the Thames. She will take care of Cissie, a troubled girl who has recently lost her mother, and daughter of Aubrey Moncrieff, the master of the house.

But is that all Crawford has up his sleeve? Oh there is so much more to come and the twists arrive thick and fast, till you are out of breath with the suspense.

There is a fascination with cemeteries in the book, and it is central to the plot. Aubrey is obsessed with building a mausoleum for his late wife, but where will this lead. And Bonnie, now firmly ensconced in Endellion with her ‘brother’ Crawford, has plans of her own.

I loved this book. Gothic mystery is my favourite genre at the moment and The Burial Plot is a perfect example.

About the Author

Elizabeth Macneal was born in Edinburgh and now lives in East London. She is a writer and potter and works from a small studio at the bottom of her garden. She read English Literature at Oxford University, before working in the City for several years. In 2017, she completed the Creative Writing MA at UEA in 2017 where she was awarded the Malcolm Bradbury scholarship.

The Doll Factory, Elizabeth’s debut novel, won the Caledonia Noel Award 2018. It will be published in twenty-eight languages and TV rights have sold to Buccaneer Media.

Pursued by Death by Gunnar Staalesen translated by Don Bartlett

When Varg Veum reads the newspaper headline ’YOUNG MAN MISSING’, he realises he’s seen the youth just a few days earlier – at a crossroads in the countryside, with his two friends.

It turns out that the three were on their way to a demonstration against a commercial fish-farming facility in the tiny village of Solvik, north of Bergen.

Varg heads to Solvik, initially out of curiosity, but when he chances upon a dead body in the sea, he’s pulled into a dark and complex web of secrets, feuds and jealousies.

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Is the body he’s found connected to the death of a journalist who was digging into the fish farm’s operations two years earlier? And does either incident have something to do with the competition between the two powerful families that dominate Solvik’s salmon-farming industry?

Or are the deaths the actions of the ‘Village Beast’ – the brutal small-town justice meted out by rural communities in this part of the world.

Shocking, timely and full of breathtaking twists and turns, Pursued by Death reaffirms Gunnar Staalesen as one of the world’s greatest crime writers.

My Review

There is a lot about fish in this book. Because salmon farming is one of the staple industries in Norway. A bit like sheep or dairy farming here. There is also a lot I didn’t understand about the difference between wild salmon farming and farm-bred salmon, but it’s the basis for the ‘salmon wars’ and the divide between the factions on either side. One thing it revolves around is salmon lice (which I can’t even think about without cringing), but I’m not going to go into detail. It just may put me off eating salmon ever again.

Varg Veum reads about a missing man and realises he saw him with two young women, a few days before. The missing man was one of a group of demonstrators, protesting against the whole exploitation of salmon farming. He then travels to the small town of Solvik out of curiosity, and heads out to a disused salmon farm with a local man, Aga Edvard, where they discover a camper van in the sea, with a dead body inside.

It’s a well written, excellently plotted crime thriller in the Nordic Noir tradition, perfectly translated by Don Bartlett. It has quite a lot of what I can only describe as throwaway humour, which could easily get lost in the drama, except it doesn’t. It’s also not quite as gritty as some Scandi Noir, so for those who find the genre all a bit gory, Pursued by Death will definitely appeal. The characters have depth and the descriptions are comprehensive, without being over the top. The plot twists and surprises are intricate and intelligent.

Pursued by Death is the latest in the Varg Veum series. I’ve met Varg Veum before (in Bitter Flowers written in 1991) and I liked him as much today as I did then. He’s now 62 years old, so not your average thirty-something cop we usually see in crime novels. In fact he’s a private investigator who was never a police officer. He’s just a regular guy. He does have an ex-wife, don’t they all, and though he likes a drink or three, he’s not an alcoholic, at least not any more. In Bitter Flowers, he’d just come out of rehab.

I wonder if the author has any more Varg Veum books still up his sleeve. I certainly hope so.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim.

Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour). Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted for the award in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen.

Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.

The Guests by Charlotte Stevenson

They weren’t invited. But they refuse to leave…

Tamsin is being haunted by unwelcome visitors in her house she calls The Guests. 

Nobody knows about their presence but her. After confiding in her husband, he left, and she won’t make that mistake again.

Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Bloodhound

But now her relationship with her teenage daughter Summer is starting to suffer.

As each day passes, the presence of The Guests becomes harder to bear. They have infected her life and Tamsin needs help.

But just what do they want from her?

Will she be able to face the disturbing truth and banish The Guests, or is she destined to be haunted forever?

My Review

If I said I found the ending hilarious, you’d think I was really weird. I actually told my son about it and he laughed and said ‘I get it.’ However, the opening chapter with the baby crying at the end of the bed was heartbreaking and not one bit funny.

The book was nothing like I expected. The ‘Guests’ are not real in the sense that they are actual living flesh and blood. They haunt Tamsin, but they are not ghosts either. There are three of them and she knows they want something from her, but she has no idea what it is. She knows who they are, but not why they won’t leave her alone. Her answer is to drink every night and get totally smashed.

Tamsin’s husband Alex left her when she tried to tell him about the ‘Guests’. He just thought she’d gone bonkers and walked out, leaving her and teenage daughter Summer to get on with it.

In the meantime, we know that Tamsin’s dad was a really horrible person. He exercised such a degree of control over her mother that they both breathed a sigh of relief when he died. Her sister Hetty is disabled and he found her irritating and embarrassing. He also taunted Tamsin and made her feel responsible for his ‘unhappiness’. Now Alex has made her feel that she is entirely responsible for him leaving. She can’t cope with the guilt.

Tamsin has had enough of being drunk all the time, and wants to be a good mum to Summer, so she visits a psychiatrist called Dr McCabe. He of the colourful socks. He gradually helps her to unpick the truth about her deeply hidden past, and the revelations are shocking. In spite of all this, I still found humour in the outcome. It’s brilliantly written, suspenseful and engaging. I loved it.

Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheGuests blog tour.

About the Author

Charlotte Stevenson is an author born and raised in North West Cumbria. Charlotte studied Medicine in Scotland and continues to work part-time as a doctor. She writes dark, twisty psychological thrillers with elements of psychological horror. She is fascinated by the complexity of human behaviour and the dark depths of the mind. The Serial Killer’s Son was her first novel.

Charlotte now resides in Greater Manchester with her husband, three wonderful children and two rambunctious dogs. When not writing or working, Charlotte is a voracious consumer of audiobooks and has an ever-expanding TBR pile that she has no desire to control. Follow and connect with Charlotte Stevenson on instagram @stevenson_charlotte

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