Veronika Jordan's Blog, page 4

The Betrayal of Thomas True by A J West

It is the year 1710, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret.

One night, lost amongst the squalor of London’s hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses.

Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly’s stoic guard. When a young man is found murdered, he realises there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices.

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Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before they hang? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own forbidden love?

Set amidst the buried streets of Georgian London, The Betrayal of Thomas True is a brutal and devastating thriller, where love must overcome evil, and the only true sin is betrayal…

My Review

This book is undoubtedly a masterpiece, a modern classic, but it was hard to read at times. The way people were treated was unbelievable, with punishments as cruel as they could possibly be. The bull defies imagination. Who could come up with something like that?

Thomas True is the son of the reverend and his wife in Highgate. The reverend is a cruel man who regularly beats his own son and even puts him in the pillory to be stoned and ridiculed. Thomas eventually runs away to London where he meets first Jack and then Gabriel and becomes a patron of Mother Clap’s molly house, where gay men could be themselves, but risked execution if caught. As someone whose usual historical novel is Gothic mystery of the Victorian period, I was out of my comfort zone with Georgian England.

I’m not going to pretend I liked Thomas, in fact he was rather annoying at times. Gabriel was really the star of the show, a huge, hairy, bear of a man with a kindly heart, who fiercely protects his friends. What drew him and Thomas together still mystifies me, but together they were.

Unfortunately, the discovery that there is a ‘rat’ amongst them makes the mollies’ ‘Always Together’ motto a misnomer, as they all suspect each other and trust has been truly defenestrated.

My favourite characters, however, were the Blackguard of Alsatia, a gang of children, moving and speaking in rhyme as one, like the chorus in a Greek tragedy. In fact I did some research to find out more about them. The Blackguard were runaway orphans, but don’t think Oliver! ‘picking a pocket or two’ – they were far poorer, dirtier and more deprived, living in the worst parts of London. Brilliant.

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

About the Author

A.J. West’s bestselling debut novel The Spirit Engineer won the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown Award, gaining international praise for its telling of a long-forgotten true story. An award winning BBC newsreader and reporter, he has written for national newspapers and regularly appears on network television discussing his writing and the historical context of contemporary events. A passionate historical researcher, he writes at The London Library and museum archives
around the world. To connect with AJ and discover more about his research, visit www.ajwestauthor.com

About Orenda Books

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 Lincoln House by LB Stimson

It would be a new start – a reincarnation of sorts.

Hannah Murphy faces an uncertain future. Her aunt was dead and soon, strangers would take possession of the only home she had ever known.

When a letter arrives informing her she is the sole heir to an unknown uncle’s estate, the news seems like a Godsend.

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Days later, she finds herself on the road to New Orleans, her life in Richmond quickly fading.

Upon her arrival, she feels she has stepped into the pages of a modern-day fairy tale. However, she soon learns that in this fairy tale not all that glitters is gold.

The Lincoln House has its own rules–written and bound by blood. Will she be able to fulfill the terms of the inheritance? Why had this family been kept a secret?

My Review

The Lincoln House is written over a number of timelines, the main ones being Hannah in 1980 and her mother Jessica twenty five years earlier. Hannah was just a baby when Jessica was killed in a tragic accident and was brought up by her mother’s sister, Rose, in a house in Richmond, a town 1,000 miles away from the Lincoln House estate.

When Rose dies, Hannah is left with almost nothing and survives on her salary as an art teacher. But then she receives a letter informing her that she has inherited her uncle’s house – an uncle she didn’t even know existed. But there are strict rules and terms which she must accept, but being homeless and almost penniless, she feels she has no choice.

She packs up her meagre belongings, resigns from her job, and drives to hot, humid New Orleans, where she will have to live in the Lincoln House. It is here that she discovers that only women can inherit the estate, and that her uncle was merely the caretaker. She also ‘inherits’ the ghastly housekeeper Maud, the dodgy solicitor Basil, best friend of her even dodgier uncle, and must have her portrait painted for the Lincoln women’s gallery, and be introduced to the local community during a lavish gala.

She meets the young, attractive Lucius and falls in love. But can she trust anyone? She tells him about the sounds and the voices and the ‘ghosts’ she sees by the swamp, but he dismisses them as the noises that are always present in old houses.

This is the third novel by this author that I have listened to as an audiobook, and I love the whole Southern Gothic genre, though I feel the spookiness could have been more pronounced. I definitely preferred modern Hannah’s timeline and felt I wanted to move on from Jessica in particular.

One thing that will always remind me of this book is the song that Hannah hears in the swamp. Down to the River to Pray was popularised by Alison Krauss in the George Clooney film O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000, though it is attributed to George H. Allan in the Slave Songbook of 1867, which is appropriate for Black servants Harlan and his sister Ruthie.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way!

O brothers let’s go down
Let’s go down, come on down
Come on brothers let’s go down
Down in the river to pray

Listen on YouTube

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

About the Author

L.B. grew up in a one stop-light town in central Idaho. After earning a Bachelor of Art’s degree in cultural anthropology from California State University-Chico, she uprooted herself to begin a new life in Washington, D.C., where she began a varied career in professional communications in private business and education.

“I’ve always had a passion for photography, travel, writing, and history. I am thrilled to now be creating works of fiction that allow me to share these passions with others. One of my favorite parts of the writing process is the historical research required to bring authenticity to my characters’ lives.”

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This is her fifth book and the second in her standalone series: Tales from the Parlor Room – a collection of Gothic and ghostly tales. She currently resides in Virginia where she enjoys cemetery walks, visiting abandoned and haunted places and working on more ghostly tales.

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The Missing Links of Tannadee by Maurice Gray

Cocky American billionaire Gordon Weever has set his sights on becoming a Scottish clan chief – but there’s just one problem: he’s not even remotely qualified.

Undeterred, he sets out to manufacture his own lineage, see off his equally dubious rival, and hire a couple of crooks to make the plan stick.

But the crooks have problems of their own, not least a small, scrappy dog who holds the key to their chaotic scheme. As Weever’s desperation grows and the cons close in, the unsuspecting villagers of Tannadee rally to defend their home from ego, deception, and downright nonsense.

Packed with heart, hilarity, and Highland spirit, Missing Links in Tannadee is a joyful romp about unlikely heroes, madcap plans, and the power of community in the face of ambition run wild.

My Review

This is completely bonkers, but in a good way. When Peggy the dog is seemingly being mistreated, Chizzie Bryson, part time teacher and part time hotelier, and his mate Billy Pung kidnap (or is it rescue?) her, and hide her from the man in the blue Maserati. He turns out to be one of two brothers, a rather incompetent pair of local crooks.

Chizzie’s wife Yolanda, also happens to be the daughter of billionaire Gordon Weever, who wants to become the clan chief of the little known McShellacs. Except he’s not really a McShellach, but he’s never let something so trivial stand in his way. He recruits the lovely Erica, a historian, to help him build his claim. He’s even happy to use the brothers if necessary.

Yolanda, on the other hand, is backing Lord Tulloch, who also wants to be the clan chief, though he doesn’t want it as much as Gordon. But at least he has some claim. Confused? You will be.

So what does this have to do with Peggy? Not a lot to be honest, but the brothers need her to find a missing fortune.

Apart from all this mayhem, we have rock star Tommy Neptune, lead singer of the Luvvin’ Vulcans, who lives in one of the cottages and thinks he’s William Wordsworth, ‘wandering lonely as a daffodil….’ as he recites it. He is one of a number of weird and eccentric characters who add depth and humour to the story. I often laughed out loud in public.

It’s a great book and really funny. Probably even more so if you are familiar with Scottish highland life.

Many thanks to @LiterallyPR for inviting me to be part of #TheMissingLinksofTannadee blog tour.

About the Author

For most of his professional life Maurice Gray was a sportsturf agronomist advising venues ranging from the renowned to the very humble. Before that, he was a biology teacher in Zambia and Scotland, and was once a prize-winning sprinter on the amateur Highland Games circuit. Now retired, he is based in Perth.

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The Other Boy by Heidi Field

When the worst comes calling…

Scott and Blair Bagby are a happy, successful English couple living in the suburbs with their teenage son and Great Dane. Life seems good, until one beautiful spring morning when a detective inspector knocks on their door asking if their son is home, unleashing an unspeakable horror that blows apart the life they thought they had.

Police have discovered bodies buried deep in the Peasedale forest and the inspector suspects one is Jamie, the final victim of a brutal and prolific serial killer.

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But Jamie’s death is unlike all the others, starting with his emergency phone call that leads to a macabre burial ground near a dilapidated hunting shack and creates shocking suspicions.

With bone deep grief threatening to destroy their marriage and their sanity, Scott and Blair set out to investigate Jamie’s death, a journey that not only upends their perceptions of who they are, but torturously reveals they may not have known Jamie at all…

My Review

Such an emotional read. When Scott and Blair Bagby find out that their fifteen-year-old son Jamie was murdered, and that his death led to the discovery of twelve other bodies buried in Peasedale woods, what else could it be?

But Jamie’s death was different from the other boys. The media of course are trying to suggest that he was the killer’s accomplice, but his parents refuse to believe this. He was a lovely, kind boy, a bit of a loner, but he would never have harmed anyone.

Mum Blair totally falls apart, while dad Scott is more in denial. Their relationship is at breaking point. Blair sees Jamie all the time, claiming that he talks to her. She knows it’s in her head, but rather than seek grief counselling, she takes loads of pills which put her in a permanent stupor. And she also claims to see the ‘other boy’, the one who always has his hood up, and appears to be stalking her. Scott never sees him though and thinks he is another figment of her imagination.

Then it starts to change. Following a road accident, Blair begins to seek help at last. But she and Scott still want to know what really happened and whether their beloved boy was in some way involved. At this point the story picks up pace as they start to pull it all together. The other boy really exists, and frightening things begin to happen. Can they continue and stay safe?

Of course they don’t go to the police, afraid they will be accused of hiding evidence, but I would have done so straight away, but then there would be no story, or the terrifying climax. A great read, but not exactly full of laughs.

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

About the Author

Heidi Field was raised in the beautiful countryside of the South of England with her parents and her two sisters. In her twenties she was a freelance Sports Massage Therapist. She achieved a Degree in Zoology at the age of thirty and then went on to raise two boys and became the stepmother of three more young children. She still lives near her family home with her partner, their Great Dane and the children that have yet to fly the nest. 

In her early forties Heidi completed a Masters in Creative Writing at Winchester University. She entered the course hoping she would become a children’s fantasy writer and left with a burning desire to write contemporary mysteries and thrillers. 

Heidi wanted to put relatable people in extraordinary situations, challenge them, push them to their limits and watch them fight for their sanity. The Other Boy is her first novel.

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One By One by Chris Carter (Robert Hunter #5)

‘I need your help, Detective. Fire or water?’ Detective Robert Hunter of the LAPD’s Homicide Special Section receives an anonymous call asking him to go to a specific web address – a private broadcast.

Hunter logs on and a show devised for his eyes only immediately begins. But the caller doesn’t want Detective Hunter to just watch, he wants him to participate, and refusal is simply not an option. Forced to make a sickening choice, Hunter must sit and watch as an unidentified victim is tortured and murdered live over the Internet. 

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The LAPD, together with the FBI, use everything at their disposal to electronically trace the transmission down, but this killer is no amateur, and he has covered his tracks from start to finish. And before Hunter and his partner Garcia are even able to get their investigation going, Hunter receives a new phone call. A new website address. A new victim. But this time the killer has upgraded his game into a live murder reality show, where anyone can cast the deciding vote.

My Review

Welcome to post number five on this fab #blogathon. I will be reviewing one book per month.

I’m still mystified that it’s not possible – or maybe it is – to prosecute people who voted on the killer’s website. It must be a criminal offence to choose how someone dies. I know it would be a logistical nightmare, but if the police held a press conference and warned people that they are aiding and abetting a premeditated murder, and basically if we catch you voting you will go to prison, it might scare some of them off. Or maybe I am being naive.

Chris Carter is known for his gritty, disturbing thrillers, but the more I read, the more I realise that the gory killings are actually quite a small part of the whole clever stories. Yes the murders are horrific, but the books are so much more than just that. They are an insight into the mind of a serial killer, the process of discovery of evidence by the detectives, particularly Hunter and Garcia, and the eventual identification and capture of the perpetrator.

The series has matured with each consecutive book, the writing is more sophisticated, the stories are more engaging, and the characters are more developed. I am a huge fan of the author.

In the 1970s, ‘snuff’ movies were films produced for financial gain which purported to show actual murders on video. Was it real or an urban myth? There has never been any proof of an actual snuff movie being real. In One By One, we’ve moved on. The killer uses the internet to broadcast his perverted reality show where the online audience can vote for the method of death. He or she is an IT expert and very clever. Can Hunter and Garcia find him before he picks his next victim?

One By One was published in 2013. Nowadays we are led to believe that this really happens on the dark web. I’m certainly not going to try and find out.

Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogathon.

About the Author

Born in Brazil of Italian origin, Chris Carter studied psychology and criminal behaviour at the University of Michigan. As a member of the Michigan State District Attorney’s Criminal Psychology team, he interviewed and studied many criminals, including serial and multiple homicide offenders with life imprisonment convictions. He now lives in London. Visit his website www.chriscarterbooks.com

My Top 10 Books of 2025 – Part Two

Here are my favourite ten books of 2025 Part Two, including audiobooks, as I haven’t listened to enough to have their own post this quarter. Again quite a disparate selection.

The Cure by Eve Smith

I’m so out of my comfort zone here. Firstly, I don’t usually read speculative fiction, sci-fi or dystopian future novels. And secondly, I don’t think this is entirely fiction, which is terrifying.

I remember reading some time ago (may have been Sir David Attenborough) that seven billion was the tipping point for our population. We’ve already passed that and those of us with half a brain know the earth is in trouble. But then we have another issue. We want to eradicate the diseases that mostly come with ageing, like cancer, heart disease and dementia. That would enable people to live to a ripe old age, and not merely ‘exist’. Because no-one wants to die, much less in pain and confusion. Much of this has to do with the demise of religion in the west, as we no longer believe we are going to a better place up there (hopefully up not down).

For my full review click here

Dangerous by Essie Fox

Once I’d finished the book and read the historical context at the end about the real characters and the fictional ones, I went online and did my own research. I never realised Byron was the father of Ada Lovelace or that Polidori’s sister was the mother of Christina and Dante Gabriele Rosetti (the latter of which I was a bit obsessed with after watching the TV programme Desperate Romantics in 2009). Polidori is also an interesting character, I’ve researched him as well. Polidori’s father worked as a secretary for the ‘tragic’ Italian playwright Count Vittorio Alfieri.

Dangerous is a very entertaining read, though Lord Byron is hard to like. He is ultimately a selfish, self-absorbed, narcissistic philanderer. He spreads it about without consequence, but the one that upset me the most was his poor little daughter Allegra (her fate is well documented though I won’t print a ‘spoiler’ – you can look it up). And I did worry about the menagerie, especially Mutz the dog (again real and well documented).

For my full review click here

The Mysterious Bakery On Rue De Paris by Evie Woods

I did French for O level (and almost A level but we won’t go there) and I found that I understood almost all the French in the book. Useful and surprising, but not essential. Mostly it’s translated or hinted at in the text.

I’m a huge fan of the author and this book was gorgeous, with a lot of love, a bit of ghostly haunting and old secrets. I adored the characters of Edith, Hugo, Madame Moreau, Nicole and all the others from Compiègne. Even the customers of the bakery are fascinating.

But this is not just a tale about an old bakery with a love element thrown in. It’s also a dual-timeline story about war and injustice, prejudice and hope.

For my full review click here

Sixty Is The New Assassin by Shesh

This was hilarious! I loved every minute. I did guess a couple of things, but I think I was supposed to.

Sixty-year-old Ishmael Dollah is an asshole. Not my words – he calls himself that all the time. He’s a retired CEO, the ruthless type that takes companies and breaks them apart, leaving people jobless and desperate, but he doesn’t care. His wife Nysa is a kind, creative, beautiful woman. Why they are together is anyone’s guess.

They have one son whose wife is like a daughter to them. Then one day at a company ‘do’, Ishmael hears a rumour that she is having an affair and he decides to interfere. NEVER interfere in your grown-up children’s lives. It can only end in disaster.

For my full review click here

Dead as Gold by Bonnie Burke-Patel

I can’t begin to express how much I loved this book. It’s not just the characters, especially Adam, it’s the exquisite writing, the main story and the way in which it’s interspersed with fairy tales that reflect what’s happening. I loved the fairy tales though they are crueller than the real life.

Then there’s the setting – I love anything to do with the seaside, and the way in which the sea becomes a character of its own, with its power and majesty.

While I loved Bonnie’s previous novel I Died At Fallow Hall (I was on the blog tour), it didn’t speak to my heart and soul in the same way as Dead As Gold. Sorry that sounds so pretentious.

For my full review click here

Boy With Wings by Mark Mustian

According to an article I just read, it is physically impossible for a human to be born with wings. “Humans have arms and legs, not the skeletal framework and bone structure necessary for wings.” And that doesn’t include the mutations necessary to allow flight.

But Johnny Cruel can’t fly. But he does have wings which he has to bind to his body so they can’t be seen. As a small child, his mother hid him in a tiny box, and pretended he had died, all to protect him. People thought he was a devil and that tragedies in their community were caused by his presence.

For my full review click here

The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Hooper

I wasn’t too sure when I started this, but by the end I knew it would become one of my favourite books of the year.

It’s set over two timelines – Head Curator Tildy Barrows at the beautiful, archival Belva Curtis LeFarge Library (known as the ‘Bel’) in San Francisco, in 2024, and artist Cora Hale from her arrival in Paris before the Great War until her death in the 1970s. Seventeen-year-old Cora fled the United States to escape a possible scandal and criminal investigation. She knows she can never go back. But instead of painting portraits under commission as she intended, she finds herself creating a dollhouse for Belva LeFarge, as a testimonial to her life.

For my full review click here

The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei

About three quarters of the way through this brilliant book, I was going to give it 4 stars. As a character-led story, it was starting to get overlong, and Genevieve was really getting on my nerves. I needed the story to move forward, and quickly. I wanted to tell her that not everything in the world revolves around her. She seems to think that Arin’s behaviour is all about being more successful than her. That her mother Su prefers Arin (I did), that she is not the centre of the universe.

But in the last part it all changed. We return to where we started in 2015, when we discovered that Su is terminally ill. Gen and Arin are still estranged, but Su wants to see Arin before she dies. At this point I could not believe Gen’s behaviour. I was angry. I cried. I pleaded.

For my full review click here

Kill Them With Kindness by Will Carver

Once the pandemic was over, I swore I would never read a book about Covid. But this is different. It’s Will Carver, so I made an exception. I’d read the telephone directory if he’d written it.

Not that this book is about Covid per se, but the parallels are there. Carver is obviously not a fan of politicians and is scathing about their greed and self-interest, particularly the prime minister Harris Jackson. Anyone who recognises themselves might be a bit worried. They should be.

For my full review click here

Murder At The Lunatic’s Ball by R S Leonard

I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did, but it was just brilliant. I loved every minute. It’s shocking to discover the things they did in the asylums in the late 1800s (and continued to do so for many years to come).

Women, of course had the worst of it. Any ‘issues’ and they were immediately considered neurotic, suffering from Ophelia syndrome (based on Hamlet’s Ophelia declining into madness when jilted) or from erotomania. The latter could, at the extreme, involve a ‘cure’ called a clitoridectomy that was similar to female genital mutilation – GFM – as we know it today. Oh yes, we did these things as well. Thank goodness it was rarely carried out.

For my full review click here

Robots vs Princesses vs Unicorns vs Hamsters by Chris White

Lost in space! Sasha is a space unicorn without a home. Join her on a journey across the galaxy to find a new home.

The only trouble is that space is full of playful princesses, hilarious hamsters and ridiculous robots who won’t stop blowing stuff up.

Genre: Children’s Fiction 3-13 Years 
Pages: 88

My Review

When Sasha the Space Unicorn’s planet blows up, she has to find somewhere else to live. And just a few miles away is the Planet of the Hamsters, ‘the sleepiest, snuggliest planet in the whole universe’.

It’s friendly, peaceful and calm. No-one would want to blow it up. Or would they? The robots would. They hate the ‘fluffy freaks’. Just then Sasha arrives at the Planet of the Hamsters, where Nibbles invites her to snuggle.

‘A few hundred more space miles away is another planet spinning in the sky. This one looks like a sparkly floating disco ball. Welcome to The Planet of the Princesses’, where almost everything is pink. But they are not nice princesses. Oh no! They are bad, really BAD.

And just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, they do. It seems that all they want to do is blow each other up – well the robots and the princesses do. So there is only one solution. Maybe they could try living together: ‘Tolerating and respecting each other.’

They would live in ‘a place full of oil and fizzy lemonade and sunflower seeds and dancing and laughter and snuggling and rainbow poop. But most of all, happiness.’

This is a hilarious children’s book, filled with brilliant illustrations.

Many thanks to Hygge Book Tours for inviting me to be part of #Robots #blogtour

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Mistral by Robert Cole

Adam’s wife, Maryanne, vanished without trace whilst on holiday in southern France, more than two years ago.

Unexpectedly, he receives an enigmatic message.

It prompts him to return to the scene of her disappearance. His efforts to piece together what happened force him to reexamine their relationship, coupled with his feelings of guilt.

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Retracing events that led to that fateful day, he soon learns that his return has not gone unnoticed, and his efforts to find Maryanne are far from welcome.

Adam is joined in his search by Abigail, Maryanne’s daughter from a previous marriage. It is February. The mistral is battering the streets and dark corners of the ancient towns across this area of France.

As more of Maryanne’s past is revealed, the search, enmeshed in a world of intrigue and deceit, with its past rooted in antiquity, becomes increasingly dangerous.

They discover that some will do anything to stop them from uncovering the final, terrifying truth.

My Review

I used to read a lot of books like this some years ago – thrillers with religious undertones – but it’s been quite a while. The Cathars, the Knights Templar and Mary Magdalene (think The Da Vinci Code). There are so many myths and legends that surround these things and I was always fascinated. In fact I did quite a bit of reading around the subject.

Adam had a relationship with Maryanne straight after university, where they were both reading law. But Maryanne ended the relationship and they both moved on. Then some fifteen or so years later, they meet again. This time they get married, but one day she disappears. No trace of her is found until Adam receives a message and returns to the last place they were together before she vanished.

He is joined by her daughter Abigail from a previous marriage and their quest takes them all over France, mainly to various locations known for their religious devotees and tourists.

The synopsis talks about Adam’s feelings of guilt, but I’m not sure what he feels so guilty about. We never really find out what was wrong with Maryanne, but her detachment from reality, her devotion to the cult (not a cult in the traditional sense, but still a cult) she becomes involved with, and her treatment of Abigail, all point to a mental illness of some sort.

However, I didn’t expect the story to become so dark and dangerous as Adam and Abigail (aided by Caroline who did not like Maryanne and who can blame her), try to find out what happened to her in those intervening years. But there are some who will do anything to stop them. And all set against a backdrop of the mistral, a strong, cold, dry wind that blows across parts of France.

An intriguing and well-written book which I thoroughly enjoyed.

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

About the Author

Robert Cole trained as a clinical psychologist but spent most of his career within the corporate business world, both in the UK and overseas. He has held senior positions in Human Resources within a number of large global companies. 

Mistral is his second novel and is a powerful and sweeping drama set amongst the vineyards and picturesque towns and villages of the Languedoc and Provence areas of the South of France. 

His well-received first novel, A Breeze Across the Aegean published in 2020, draws on his affinity with Greece and its diverse islands. 

He is currently working on a sequel. In addition to the UK he has lived in Singapore, Cyprus, the Netherlands and South Africa. Currently he divides his time between Surrey and Uzes in France.

Book Links
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/230398001-mistral
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/mistral-zbt

The Ballochbrae Book Club by M.C. Mackay

The Ballochbrae Book Club  is a heartwarming tale set in the charming Scottish village of Ballochbrae.

On Balmoral Castle’s doorstep, Flora, Heather, Chatty and Morag – women of a certain age – form a book group. There’s just one problem: nobody wants to read the books.

Then a body is dragged from the River Dee. Was foul play involved? Led by Flora, the four set out to pursue their own enquiries, uncovering secrets and lies in Ballochbrae, their sleepy Highland village.

Genre: Cosy mystery

But when their investigation gains pace, a series of setbacks causes tensions to escalate. After police warn them off, the would-be detectives give themselves forty-eight hours to solve the mystery.

As the clock runs down, it emerges their suspects aren’t the only ones with guilty secrets. Flora is forced to confront her worst fears and Chatty’s past comes back to haunt her.

My Review

Cosy mystery isn’t always my favourite genre as I prefer the grittier serial killer thrillers and Scandi Noir type crime fiction. But The Ballochbrae Book Club is a great romp in the Scottish Highlands, with an array of often hilarious characters.

Our four intrepid amateur lady detectives set up a book club, except no-one is interested in the books. They would rather discuss the discovery of a body in the river, very much dead, and initially unidentified (without going into details as to why).

The ladies are very different and often don’t get on and throw snide comments at each other. I really didn’t like Chatty (really Catriona), even the name grated. She almost single-handedly runs a guest house, and doesn’t half go on about it. She dresses to kill and uses her fading womanly wiles to get what she wants. I’m told that the fact that I really dislike her is a sign of how well written she is.

Heather is a school teacher and a bit too upright, or uptight more likely. Her dwindling pupil numbers are dwindling even further and could result in the closing of the one and only school in the immediate area. She would then be out of a job.

Morag is a farmer, looking after her grumpy old dad. Her fashion style comprises dungarees, wellies, mud and straw. She’s terrifying.

Finally, Flora’s husband had an affair with a younger woman – she even caught them ‘in flagrante delicto’. Flora has been taking care of her mother Kate, who has dementia, and is now in a nursing home. She is my favourite character by miles.

The body is discovered by two of the pupils at Heather’s school, who were playing truant at the time. The ladies try to get as much ‘intel’ as they can so they can solve the crime, but the police are not happy about their interference.

It’s great fun and the first in a new series. If the author is reading this, please can we have a dog in the next book. Not Morag’s working dogs, but maybe Flora could get a Jack Russell or a Border Terrier. She’s not the Chihuahua or Cockapoo type. Thank you.

Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #TheBallochbraeBookClub #blogtour

About the Author

“I spent a magical childhood in Fort William, a small Highland town on the eastern shore of Loch Linnhe, at the foot of Ben Nevis and the entrance to the Great Glen.

“After studying English, I pursued careers in newspaper and television advertising, HR and training consultancy before marrying and moving to Aberdeen. There I became an antiques dealer. Baby under one arm, I scoured the countryside for precious finds, mining a rich seam of material for my first love: writing.

“Early success saw short stories published in magazines. A window of opportunity allowed further study for MLitt in Creative writing. It was only after my children left home I found the opportunity to write full-time.

“Holidays are spent on Deeside, where the majestic Cairngorm mountains, the Scots pine remnants of the ancient Caledonian Forest and the tumbling peaty waters of the River Dee sowed the seeds of inspiration for The Ballochbrae Book Club.”

The pre-order link is https://amzn.to/42u4PXE

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Estella’s Fury by Barbara Havelocke Cover Reveal

I’m so excited to be taking part in the cover reveal for Estella’s Fury, the new dark, gothic historical thriller by Barbara Havelocke.

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It’s the sequel to Estella’s Revenge, a twisted tale of dark deeds, which I loved when I reviewed it last year – and this sounds even better!

Daughter. Murderer. Saviour.
London, 1835.

To high society, Estella is the perfect lady. But her fair face hides dark secrets – what has she done with her husband? And will her past crimes come back to haunt her?

Desperate to escape her troubled life, she visits her friend, Lady Taykall. But when a servant girl disappears, Estella stumbles on a horrifying web of crimes and feels the old fire for vengeance burning inside her.

To mete out her own brand of dark justice she must risk everything. Even if it means she cannot survive.

About the Author

Barbara is an international bestselling author, whose psychological thrillers have topped Amazon and Kobo. Her writing career started in journalism, interviewing the real victims of crime – and the perpetrators. The realistic, complex characters who populate her fiction reflect this deep understanding. When not writing, Barbara is found walking her two dogs, Scamp and Buddy, or taking photos of wildlife.

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