Veronika Jordan's Blog, page 48

Naked Truth: Or Equality, The Forbidden Fruit: A Novel by Carrie Hayes Out Now

Sisters. Lovers. Con Artists. Gender equality warriors.

BASED ON A TRUE STORY. New York City, 1868.

Spiritualist TENNESSEE CLAFLIN is smart, sexy and sometimes clairvoyant.

But it’s her sister, VICTORIA WOODHULL who makes history when she becomes the first woman to run for President of the United States.

Genre: Historical 

First comes the seduction of the richest man in America. Next, they’ll take New York City and the suffragist movement by storm. They’ll rock the Establishment. They’ll rock the suffragist elite.

Boldly ambitious, they stop at nothing, using enough chutzpah to make a lady blush.That is, until their backstabbing family takes them to court. Within moments, their carefully spun lives begin to unravel, out in public and in the press.

Told from shifting points of view and using actual news reportage from the era, Naked Truth or Equality is a riveting inside look into the struggle for women’s rights after the Civil War.

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The Girls Left Behind by Emily Gunnis

1985. Separated from her little sister at the children’s home where they are taken as orphans, Holly Moore is a troubled teenager in need of love.

When she meets a man who promises to take care of her, she hopes her luck has finally changed.

2015. The clock is ticking for Superintendent Jo Hamilton when the discovery of a young woman’s remains takes her back to an unsolved case from the past. As a constable, Jo was often called out to deal with runaways from Morgate House, but when Holly Moore disappeared – after another female resident fell from the cliffs – Jo was convinced the home was hiding something. Now, with only days before her forced retirement, Jo decides to track down Holly’s sister and re-open the case. But will the trail lead her disturbingly close to home?

My Review

I read this book with my online bookclub The Pigeonhole, in 12 staves. It really added to the enjoyment, discussing the story with my online friends and fellow readers.

The book is written in four timelines. Olive, who is around 90 years old, lives in a nursing home, but during the war she was a motorcycle dispatch rider at Bletchley Park. Daisy Moore is one of her carers. In 1975, Daisy and her sister Holly were sent to live in a children’s home – Morgate House – following a fire which killed their parents. At the same time, Morgate teenager Gemma was found dead at the bottom of a cliff, ruled to be a suicide. Jo Hamilton was just starting out in the police force at the time.

In 1985, Holly disappeared, and was never found. We know there was a man involved and he was a police officer, but who was he? And was he the same man involved with Gemma ten years earlier?

In 2015 a young woman’s remains are discovered. Could this be Holly? Jo needs to speak to Daisy, but Daisy is avoiding her. I did find Daisy annoying at times, not because I didn’t understand her attitude, but because it was frustrating for the reader. Unfortunately Jo, now a Superintendent, is retiring in a few days time, and no-one seems keen to help her unlock the cold cases of Holly and Gemma.

Everyone and everything is linked. I usually find that all a bit far-fetched, but in this case it works perfectly. So why only four stars? Firstly, the tight timelines made it too easy to work out the ‘villain’ in the story from his age, and secondly, because for me there was one loophole that was never closed, which concerned a couple of characters mentioned at one stage.

As an aside, in the author’s notes she mentions that her mother-in-law told her what life was like starting out in the police force as a woman in the 1970s. She couldn’t believe the sexism, and the allocation of ‘blue’ and ‘pink’ jobs for men and women. Being of a similar age to Jo I am not remotely surprised. It was like that in all jobs and sometimes still is.

As a second aside, my sister-in-law’s mother and father met at Bletchley Park. I think she did what Lorna does in the story. I don’t really know what he did – he wasn’t allowed to talk about it. After the war she had the first of their four daughters and gave up work. They moved to Cheltenham where he worked with Alan Turing and Hugh Alexander (who wasn’t the handsome womaniser he was portrayed as in the film The Imitation Game by Matthew Goode). He worked there until he retired, being called back during the Falklands War.

When I worked in the Post Office from 2010 till 2018, we had a customer called Betty, who also worked at Bletchley and was one of the only ones left. https://bletchleypark.org.uk/codebreaker-wall/about-our-bricks/ tells you about the ‘bricks’. Betty had a brick which my brother photographed for me and my boss had it printed out and laminated and we gave it to Betty as a surprise. None of these three are alive today.

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

About the Author

Here is Emily’s own introduction:

“Hello everyone,

“Thank you for checking out my author page. Even writing this is a dream come true for me.

“I’ve wanted to be a published author since my mother, Penny Vincenzi, got her first book deal, when she and I would walk and talk about everything plots and stories together.

“Fast forward thirty years and I have discovered it is slightly more difficult than she made it look. But still, I got there eventually, because it is in my blood, and also, because I have always existed, slightly, in a world of my own, and reading and writing books allows me to make a living from that. I still remember my eleven-year-old self, a little at odds with the world, sitting on the cold parquet floor of St Lawrence Junior School utterly gripped as Mr Thomas read us all Boy by Roald Dahl.

“After graduating in Journalism in 1997 I began writing scripts and had two episodes of BBC Doctors commissioned, but I wasn’t keen on all the endless drafts and input from Script Editors and Producers. So, while I worked as a PA at the BBC and the Daily Mirror newspaper I learned as much as I could about storytelling until it all became fodder for my debut novel, The Girl in the Letter.

“I really hope you enjoy it, and my follow-up novel which I am busy researching as we speak. I live in Brighton, Sussex, with my husband Steve, an architect, and my two crazy, beautiful girls, Grace and Eleanor. We read a lot of Julia Donaldson and Roald Dahl, in between walking Merlin our whippet on the beach but when I’ve got a deadline I rely on their tablets rather a lot and feel incredibly guilty most of the time.

“If you’d like to get in touch, please do visit me on Twitter @EmilyGunnis and Instagram @emilygunnis.

“And if you’re really stuck for something to do, feel free to review my book. I would love to know what you think.

“Keep reading!

“Love Emily x”

The Stargazers by Harriet Evans

How can you ever know yourself when you were deprived of love as a child?

It’s the 1970s, and Sarah has spent a lifetime trying to bury her disjointed childhood, the loneliness of her school days, and Fane, the vast and crumbling family home so loved – and hated – by her mother, Iris, a woman as cruel as she is beautiful. Sarah’s solace has been her cello and the music that allowed her to dream, transporting her from the bleakness of those early years to a new life now with Daniel, her husband, in their noisy Hampstead home surrounded by bohemian friends and with a concert career that has brought her fame and restored a sense of self.

The past, though, has a habit of creeping into the present, and as long as Sarah tries to escape, it seems the pull of Fane, her mother, and the secrets of the generations hidden there, are slowly being revealed, threatening to unravel the fragile happiness she enjoys in the here and now. Sarah will need to travel back to Fane to confront her childhood and search for the true meaning of home.

Deliciously absorbing and rich with character and atmosphere, The Stargazers is the story of a house, a family, and the legacies of childhoods fractured through time and inheritance.

My Review

“She’d never had a birthday party, or sat on her mother’s knee. She’d never been hugged when someone waits for you outside school, crouching at your level, smiling broadly, arms flung wide.”

Gosh, this really resonated with me.

The book is written in three timelines though Iris’s childhood only features fairly briefly. Mostly it’s about Sarah as a child in the 1950s, living with her sister Victoria, and their mother Lady Iris Fane. Their father Henry Fox (the girls have his name Fox, but Iris has reverted to her maiden name of Fane), appears to be totally absent.

Then we have Sarah as an adult in the 1970s, married to Daniel (who is lovely but would annoy me if he was my husband) and their life in a crumbling house in Hampstead. It’s a house they can’t afford and Daniel’s attempts at DIY always end in disaster. After a childhood in a crumbling mansion, I am surprised that Sarah wants to live here, but then I suppose for her it’s normal. Daniel invites his bohemian friends and half the neighbours to drop round all the time and Sarah can’t cope. I’m not sure I would be able to.

Iris is truly awful. The girls have been dragged away from a flat in London to Fane Hall, which is freezing all the time, full of dust and dead flies, and stinks of the fossilised bodily waste of the soldiers who lived there during the war. They never have any clothes or shoes that aren’t too small, or enough food to eat. Iris never feeds them. They have to fend for themselves. They are sent away to a second rate boarding school for the children of parents who want to be rid of them, but it is here that Sarah can realise her talent for the cello. The other girls are truly horrible (apart from Monica) and Sarah’s sister does almost nothing to defend her.

Iris is obsessed with the house being hers and not her Uncle Clive’s and they argue and fight all the time. At times I found the girls’ childhood very hard to read, but then I had a mother who suffered from chronic anxiety and agoraphobia, and never left her room for many years. However, she wasn’t cruel, adored cats, and collected them like other people collect postage stamps, and certainly never hit us. And I had my beloved father and grandmother to feed and clothe us, and keep us warm. It did make me wonder though if Iris had a serious mental illness.

The twist at the end was so unexpected, I gasped. I certainly never saw it coming. This is one of my favourite books of the year, like The Beloved Girls by the same author in 2021.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just as an aside, walking back from yoga this morning, in broad daylight (it was about 10.30am) a mother was reprimanding her daughter (aged about 8 or 9). She suddenly slapped the girl across the face so hard I heard the sound of her hand connecting with the girl’s cheek. The girl began to cry and the mother kept saying ‘stop crying, stop crying.’ My friend tried to intervene but the woman ignored her. I was horrified and I immediately thought of Iris and Sarah in that one awful scene.

About the Author

“I was born in London and grew up there. I was very bookish, and had a huge imagination which used to cause me to get rather anxious at times. Now I know it’s a good thing for a writer to have. I loved musicals, and playing imaginative games, and my Barbie perfume making kit. Most of all I loved reading. I read everything, but I also read lots of things over and over, which I think is so important.

“At university I read Classical Studies, which is a great way of finding out that the world doesn’t change much and people make the same mistakes but it’s interesting to look at why. I was at Bristol, and i loved the city, making new friends, being a new person.

“After university I came back to London and got a job in publishing. I loved working in publishing so much, and really felt for the first time in my life that when I spoke people understood what I was saying. Book people are good people. I became an editor after a few years, working with many bestselling novelists, and in 2009 I left to write full time.

“I’ve written 13 novels and several short stories and one Quick Read, which is an excellent way of getting people into reading more. I’ve acquired a partner and two children along the way.

“In 2019 we moved to Bath, out of London, and I am very happy there. We live opposite a hedgerow, and I can be boring about gardening, and there’s room for my collection of jumpsuits and all our books. We have lots of books. Apart from anything else they keep the house warm.”

Upstairs at the Beresford by Will Carver

THERE ARE WORSE PLACES THAN HELL…

Hotel Beresford is a grand, old building, just outside the city. And any soul is welcome.

Danielle Ortega works nights, singing at whatever dive bar will offer her a gig. She gets by, keeping to herself. Sam Walker gambles and drinks, and can’t keep his hands to himself. Now he’s tied up in a shoe closet with a dent in his head that matches Danielle’s broken ashtray.

The man in 731 has been dead for two days and his dog has not stopped barking. Two doors down, the couple who always smokes on the window ledge will mysteriously fall.

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Upstairs, in the penthouse, Mr Balliol sees it all. He can peer into every crevice of every floor of the hotel from his screen-filled suite. He witnesses humanity and inhumanity in all its forms: loneliness, passion and desperation in equal measure. All the ingredients he needs to make a deal.

When Danielle returns home one night to find Sam gone, a series of sinister events begins to unfold. But strange things often occur at Hotel Beresford, and many are only a distraction to hide something much darker…

My Review

Upstairs At The Beresford is the sequel to The Beresford, except it’s actually a prequel. It’s darkly funny, but not in the way The Beresford is. There is still a lot of the author’s musings and philosophising, but less of the googling how to dispose of the bodies, chopping off the fingers and toes to get rid of the prints, and using drain cleaner to dispose of the digits.

In a way Upstairs is much darker, but less embarrassingly laugh out loud funny, in that twisted way that Will Carver does so well. The residents all have their reasons to end up there – it’s cheap, but it’s also a place to hide your secrets.

Singer Danielle Ortega is hiding more than a secret. She’s hiding a tied-up Sam Walker in her closet. But then he should know when to keep his hands to himself. His wife sells her body to pay the rent, while son Odie is at school.

Once a month the third floor is used to hold a conference. Mr Balliol loves the conferences, but then he is a collector and makes his decisions from his penthouse suite. Handsome, suave, and charismatic, he speaks at the conferences and the room is thrown into rapture. Danny Elwes is one of the delegates, and a more selfish, despicable character you are unlikely to meet.

Carol has worked at The Beresford for years. She can’t get over the loss of her one and only love, Jake. She runs the place and organises the ‘clean-ups’ of which there are many. Keith is on reception, always smart and sporting a cravat. He’s non-binary and all he wants is for his mother to accept him. Ollie suffers from PTSD. He manages security.

You can make your wishes come true at The Beresford, but the price you pay is high. And you know what they say ‘be careful what you wish for’, though in this case it’s more a matter of ‘be careful who you wish it for’. Ain’t that the truth.

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

About the Author

Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series and the critically acclaimed, mind-blowingly original Detective Pace series, which includes Good Samaritans (2018), Nothing Important Happened Today (2019) and Hinton Hollow Death Trip (2020), all of which were ebook bestsellers and selected as books of the year in the mainstream international press. Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for both the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2020 and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize, and was followed by four standalone literary thrillers, The Beresford, Psychopaths Anonymous, The Daves Next Door and Suicide Thursday. Will spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, and lives in Reading with his children.

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 Blue Monsoon by Damyanti Biswas Blue Mumbai #2

A ritual murder at a Mumbai temple exposes the city’s dark secrets and ravages the personal life of a detective in this sequel to The Blue Bar.

Amid incessant rains pounding down on Mumbai, Senior Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput is called to a shocking crime scene. A male body is found dismembered on the steps of a Kaali temple. Drawn into his flesh are symbols of a tantra cult. The desecration of a body at a Hindu place of worship puts the city on edge and divides Arnav’s priorities: stopping a fanatic from killing again and caring for his wife who’s struggling through a challenging pregnancy.

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Then video footage of the murder is uploaded onto the account of a Bollywood social media influencer, triggering twists in the investigation Arnav didn’t see coming. Caste systems at war. A priest under suspicion. And an anonymous threat that puts his wife’s welfare at risk. When more bodies are found, the savagery of the city begins to surface—and Arnav fears that no one is safe from a bigger storm brewing.

My Review

When I read the character list at the beginning (not having read The Blue Bar) I thought I’m never going to remember who all these people are. But as you start reading it soon becomes clear.

The story takes place in Mumbai, during the monsoon season and it’s constantly pouring with rain. It opens with the discovery of a man’s body, horrifically disfigured and certain body parts cut off. The body is found on the steps of a temple dedicated to the Goddess Kaali, thereby desecrating a place of worship. Senior Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput of the Mumbai Police Force is called to the scene – he was the main character in The Blue Bar. His wife Tara is in a wheelchair after being shot trying to protect their teenage daughter Pia.

However, I have to admit that Sub-Inspector Sita Naik is probably my favourite character. She’s so brave in both a world and a police force dominated by men, many of them corrupt. Followed by forensic officer Surat Tambe, with his long white beard and eccentric ways. Forensic pathologists are always eccentric in books, but I guess they have to be with the job that they do.

The fourfold caste system features highly in The Blue Monsoon. It’s very well explained by the author, so we can really understand its implications. Of course, it’s long been illegal to discriminate in India, but that doesn’t stop people from still using it against others. It was based mainly on the profession you were born into eg teachers and priests, rulers and warriors, landowners and merchants, or skilled workers like ironsmiths and weavers. The untouchables, now known as the Scheduled Caste, were outside the hierarchy, and often persecuted and segregated.

The corruption in the police force is deeply shocking. At one point a senior officer accepts a bribe in exchange for allowing a victim’s body to be cremated before it can be identified, in order to spare the family shame and destroy their business and their standing in the community. Whaaat? And he’s not even fired, let alone prosecuted.

The imagery of the Remy Virgin Hair Factory (the name is explained in the story) is so well written. The long hair used for wigs hanging up to dry on the roof. It must appear terrifying – like faceless heads, their tresses blowing out behind them.

I never expected the outcome, it was a real surprise to me. This is a marvellous book – I read way into the night. It has so much depth and religious and political background, compared to the usual police procedural.

Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheBlueMonsoonTour and to NetGalley for an ARC.

About the Author

Damyanti Biswas’s short fiction has been published at Smokelong, Ambit, Litro, Puerto del Sol, among others, and she’s the co-editor of The Forge literary magazine. She’s the author of You Beneath Your Skin, an Amazon-bestselling crime novel, which has been optioned for screens by Endemol Shine. Her next crime novel, The Blue Bar was published by Thomas & Mercer, received a starred review on Publishers Weekly,  and was one of 2023’s Most Anticipated Mysteries & Thrillers on Goodreads. Its sequel, The Blue Monsoon will be released by Thomas & Mercer this October.

Author’s Website: www.damyantiwrites.com

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Everyday Folklore by Lisa Frank

Daily folklore ideas to guide you through the ritual year from Brighton-based author and voice behind The Everyday Folk Lore Project, Liza Frank.

Everyday Folklore ~ An Almanac for the Ritual Year, is not your traditional almanac in that it doesn’t provide the times of the tides or the phases of the moon. You can, however turn to any date and find something to learn or do suggested by folklore of the day, the month, or the season.

Some suggestions will take no more effort than sticking your head out the window to look at the clouds, while others might involve knee pads and scouring giant chalk horses cut into hillsides.

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Taking inspiration from folklore found around the world, each daily entry is a tiny snapshot of what goes on – be it animal or plant lore, love predictions, the zodiac, the supernatural, food, festivals, divination, anniversaries, the weather or luck.

By following the customs and traditions of the ritual year, you’ll find yourself becoming more engaged with what’s happening about you and discover how every month and season creates its own identity.

Consider yourself curious? Dip into this fascinating book at any time of the year and discover something new and intriguing about the world around you.

Just beware of the hare…

My Review

Did you know that house spiders are rather partial to classical music and are said to descend their webs to listen, only to climb back up when the movement has finished? That’s no more Classic FM for me then. Anyway, I’ve chosen the following graphic because I was born in November. Nothing to do with those horrible eight-legged spawn of Satan.

Everyday Folklore is not a book that you would sit down and devour in one go like a novel. It’s a book to dip into, return to and savour. I’ve picked out a few of my favourites, like Goat-e-oke and flaying a corpse (the former is doable, the latter will have you locked up, probably permanently). I have had so much fun with this. I highly recommend it.

February 14th (Valentines’ Day) – probably my favourite
“Now if you find your garter slack and wish to resurrect your love, consider stealing into a graveyard after dark, liberating a nine-day-old corpse, flaying it from head to toe, wrapping the flesh strip around your lover’s leg while they sleep, removing it before they wake, and keeping the skin ribbon in a secret hidey-hole. Because that way, it’s said you’ll have their love for as long as you want it.” I hope you can find a secret hidey-hole in your prison cell.

February 20th
“…But if blisters are the problem, you can always find a weasel to suck on them while you sleep. Although given some say weasel spit is poisonous, probably best not.” Good luck with that one.

First Saturday in April is the day of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
“However, had your preference been a little less watery, previously you could have had a flutter on the Oxford and Cambridge Goat Race across the river at Spitalfields City Farm instead. Run at the same time as its more famous namesake, two goats, appropriately named Oxford and Cambridge, charged round a specially prepared course at the farm. But while this tradition is no more, you could still recreate another of the farm’s attractions that day: Goat-e-oke (the caprine version of karaoke), and belt out such classics as ‘Billy Don’t Be a Hero’, ‘Night Goat to Cairo’, or anything from The Trolls soundtrack.” Or you could simply revive the tradition?

Around May 27th
“Should you wish to spend the last May Bank Holiday Monday in danger of concussion or a twisted ankle, head to Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire, where you can take part in a spot of cheese rolling.” I mention this because we live less than 10 miles away and I have been there.

“With an average incline of 45 degrees, competitors stumble and spin down the 200-yard Cooper’s Hill course, chasing after an 8-pound circular Double Gloucester, which has reportedly reached speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.” By the look of it so can the competitors. It’s considered extremely dangerous, and not just for the runners. My nephew was hit by the cheese while trying to film the race.

Or you could try something safer like “the famous shin-kicking championships held on Dover Hill near Chipping Campden,” a few days later. Note that steel toe cap boots are now banned (thankfully).

“World Gin Day is held on the second Saturday of June.” Enough said.

June 26th
It’s National Cream Tea Day. Such a lovely idea but steeped in controversy. “Take the cream and jam. The good people of Devon believe that cream should go on the scone first, while their neighbours, Cornwall, go for jam. Then your choice of jam might out you as a traditionalist (strawberry) or a radical (blackcurrant or raspberry).” For me there is only one jam – apricot. I’m not sure what that makes me, but I’ve had plenty of disapproving frowns.

And on July 7th “….it’s World Chocolate Day. You know what to do.” I do anyway.

August 18th
It’s National Bad Poetry Day. On this day you may want to don a black turtleneck and beret, and pen some of your best worst verse.

October 6th
“National Badger Day is an annual celebration of all things brock. Indeed, some have even designated October, Brocktober.”

And October 8th is “World Octopus Day, a day to celebrate these astonishing eight-legged cephalopods, comes on the eighth day of what was once the eighth month in the ancient Roman calendar.” (They are intelligent creatures so please stop eating them.)

October 26th (October is a busy month in the folklore calendar)
“Today is Worldwide Howl at the Moon Night, an annual tradition since 2009. Should you wish to take part and give a robust howl at the moon, you might want to consider those around you and ensure you do it in a place where your howl will not frighten the horses.” And tomorrow is National Black Cat Day. But don’t howl at them.

Of course October 31st is Halloween. “Where to start? It’s known by many names, including Mischief Night, Crack Nut Night, All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day Eve, Allhallows Even, All Hallows Eve, and Eve of Hallowtide. It’s also the start of Samhain and therefore another New Year’s Eve/Day (as it starts at sunset), and the beginning of Allhallowtide, Allantide or Hallowtide. Plus it is another of those nights when it’s said the worlds rub up against each other, making it easier for the Wild Hunt, Fairy Courts, fae in general, witches, the Devil and ghosts (hungry or otherwise) to appear, and for divination to work.”

For my granddaughters it’s almost as good as Christmas and more important than Guy Fawkes (though if you’re into “big torchlit processions through narrow, people-filled streets, Lewes, East Sussex, puts on a magnificent festival of giant parading effigies”). They start planning around the beginning of October.

December 1st is the day when we crack open the Advent Calendar. Personally, unless they contain a chocolate for each day, I’m not interested. Unless there’s a diamond in each window, or a gold ring. You get my drift.

And so the run up to Christmas has started (though for retailers it began some time around the end of September).

A quick aside, on December 3rd (or any other day presumably), “it’s said the best course of action should you be bitten by a snake is to ask it to suck its venom back. However, given snakes do not possess external ears and thus may ignore you, you could also try drinking your own urine or ingesting a rather unsavoury recipe (which the author won’t repeat), containing hippopotamus testicle and marjoram.” Or you could just enter I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, where you’ll probably have to eat it anyway.

And that’s it! There are too many Christmas traditions to mention here, but you will have your own, no doubt and celebrate as you do each year. Or maybe you’ll try a new one or two, but in the end it’s all about family and friends, not shopping and debt. Have a good one and many thanks to Liza Frank for this fabulous, insightful delve into folklore, both ancient and modern.

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

About the Author

Liza Frank grew up watching B-movies and dreaming of being Chrissie Hynde before working backstage in theatre and film for over a decade. She has written extensively about folklore for The Everyday Lore Project and for a Masters in Folklore Studies from University of Hertfordshire, as well as teaching literacy and creative writing in primary and secondary schools. Out of the many traditions she’s tried, her favourite was recreating a Gruel Thursday ritual off the beach in Brighton. That and competitive mince pie eating. She also writes an agony aunt column using folklore to solve dilemmas, and searches for sons of preacher men to persuade them to teach her something. In 2007, her slightly wild photographic exhibition was published as the book My Celebrity Boyfriend. She still dreams of being a rock chick.

13 Doors by G J Phelps

Thirteen doors, thirteen hauntings.

News reporter Joe Baxter has a plan. His idea is simple – to use his newsroom contacts across England to find thirteen haunted places to stay, and then record his experiences in a book.

From an abandoned cinema to a dank pub cellar, from a World War Two airfield to a lonely, landlocked cruise liner, Joe is prepared to spend long nights in the cold and dark, but has no idea what he is about to unleash.

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For, as he endures increasingly dangerous vigils, meeting a succession of gruesome, tragic and terrifying spectres, a terrible truth begins to emerge. Something – or someone – is reaching out to Joe, awakening long-buried memories of his father’s death, a dark family secret and his teenage brush with madness.

And then there is Wilko, the imaginary friend who haunted his childhood. After decades of silence, Wilko has found his voice again…

A spine-tingling supernatural mystery entwined with chilling ghost stories, 13 Doors places the reader at the dark heart of the moment, from gut-wrenching action to eerie vigils.

My Review

My son has a friend who does this kind of thing. He’s even written a book about it and takes people on ghost tours. Luckily he’s never experienced the kind of stuff that Joe has.

I would just like to say here that I am in awe of the editors and proofreaders who must have worked so hard on this book. It’s perfect as far I can tell – and I read a lot that are full of typos and inconsistencies regardless of final editing.

But on to the review. I just love this book. It’s like a series of short stories, all joined together by Joe’s past and his current life. Having been made redundant from the newspaper where he has worked all his life, he decides to hold vigils in haunted locations (not just houses) and write a book about his experiences. Each vigil becomes more terrifying as he opens himself up to the spirits of the long departed. And for some reason, he is more open than most people.

His mother and his friends are worried about him, because following the tragic death of his father he went off the rails, earning him the nickname Mad Bax at school, and eventually putting him in a mental hospital for six months. He claimed to have experienced something terrible in the catacombs in a cemetery (I recognise the cemetery in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter), and they won’t let him out until he admits it was all in his imagination. But was it?

And then there are the voices, or at least one voice in particular, Wilko, his imaginary friend. Wilko disappeared for many years, but has now returned and he’s not very friendly, in fact he couldn’t be less so. He’s terrifying.

But my favourite character has to be Patience, who Joe meets at one of his first vigils. She is like his mentor, and she explains about the place between the living and the dead. “Where I come from, people used to say that some folks are between two places. That’s me.”

Self-styled medium Adam Zacharanda claims he can talk to the dead. “No one can speak to the dead,” she tells him, “because they’re dead.” Brilliant.

I could go on and on, because there is so much more I love. I always had a fascination with seances and ghosts as a teenager – didn’t we all – but this is is way beyond that. Do you believe in ghosts? I have always believed that ghosts are a time stamp, where something so traumatic happened that it has left its mark on a place. 13 Doors may question everything you ever believed. It’s one of my favourite books of the year.

Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

G J Phelps is an award-winning journalist who spent thirty years in the news industry, working his way up from junior reporter to eventually edit nine newspapers. He lives in Birmingham, England, where he runs a successful PR consultancy. A devotee of horror fiction since childhood, 13 Doors is his debut novel.

Gary’s Links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gary.phelps/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/Midlands_editor

Book Links
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195066350-13-doors
Buy Links – https://mybook.to/13doors-zbt

Meet Me In Milan by KD Sherrinford

While her husband, Sherlock Holmes, is off playing detective in London. Irene Adler finds herself having to play investigator when her friend Renata becomes the prime suspect in the attempted murder of her husband Luigi Amato.

How can she refute the testimony of a credible eyewitness, even though her heart tells her that Renata is innocent? What she needs is tangible evidence, and she’s willing to do what she must in order to obtain it. 

#MeetMeInMilan @KDSherrinford @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour

When Sherlock finally arrives on the scene, Irene seeks his counsel, and he agrees to assist with her investigation.

However, their relationship is called into question by Irene’s dear friend Sophia, who is not overly fond of Irene’s husband, nor approving of the way in which they conduct their marriage.

Will Irene be able to prove her friend Renata’s innocence, or is there a more tangled web of deception at play?

And will Sophia’s misgivings regarding her marriage bear unfortunate fruit?

My Review

In Meet Me In Milan, the world’s greatest detective – Sherlock Holmes – and his wife Irene Adler have been married for ten years. Sherlock is currently away in London working, while Irene is in Milan with her friend Sophia. The children are staying with their friends in the country.

Sophia is not Sherlock’s biggest fan and they have often disagreed about the way the Holmes conduct their marriage. Irene meets Sophia’s friend Renata and they instantly become friends and confidantes. Then Renata’s husband Luigi Amato is poisoned and she is the prime suspect. But what motive could she possibly have for such a crime?

It’s obvious that Irene needs the help of her husband, but where is he? He is supposed to be on his way to Milan, but she hasn’t heard from him.

When he finally arrives, he puts his plan into action, using various disguises to infiltrate himself into Renata and Luigi’s lives and see what he can find out. And there is far more to this than a simple poisoning. There are deceptions at play here, and not just the Amatos.

Another great story from KD Sherrinford, again it’s only short, and I am sure there will be more to come in the future.

Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

KD Sherrinford was born and raised in Preston, Lancashire, and now resides on The Fylde Coast with her husband John. She was employed by Countywide for over 20 years and became a Fellow of The National Association of Estate Agents. Retirement finally gave KD the opportunity to follow her dreams and start work on her first novel. Song for Someone. KD recently completed her second book in the Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler mystery series Christmas at The Saporis. The third Meet Me In Milan will be published this summer.

Ashley Barnard Photography

KD’s Links
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/kdsherrinford/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/KDSherrinfordAuthor.co.uk
Twitter : https://twitter.com/KDSherrinford
Website : https://www.kdsherrinford.co.uk

Death Flight by Sarah Sultoon Cover Reveal

Cub reporter Jonny Murphy is in Buenos Aires interviewing families of victims of Argentina’s Dirty War, when a headless torso has washed up on a city beach, thrusting him into a shocking investigation…

Argentina. 1998. Human remains are found in a beat on the outskirts of Buenos Aires – a gruesome echo of when the tide brought home dozens of mutilated bodies thrown from planes during Argentina’s Dirty War. Flights of death, with passengers known as the Disappeared.

Death Flight Cover Reveal

International Tribune reporter Jonny Murphy is in Buenos Aires interviewing families of the missing, desperate to keep their memory alive, when the corpse turns up. His investigations with his companion, freelance photographer Paloma Glenn, have barely started when Argentina’s simmering financial crisis explodes around them.

As the fabric of society starts to disintegrate and Argentine cities burn around them, Jonny and Paloma are suddenly thrust centre stage, fighting to secure both their jobs and their livelihoods.

But Jonny is also fighting something else, an echo from his own past that he’ll never shake, and as it catches up with him and Paloma, he must make choices that will endanger everything he knows…

 *Out in paperback & e-book 1st February 2024*
Published by Orenda Books
Please find the pre-order links here:
Death Flight – Print – https://geni.us/jPl9Q

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 Descent by Paul E. Hardisty Cover Reveal

A young man and his young family set out on a perilous voyage across a devastated planet to uncover the origin of the events that set the world on its course to disaster … The prescient, deeply shocking prequel to the bestselling, critically acclaimed Climate Emergency thriller, The Forcing.

Kweku Ashworth is a child of the cataclysm, born on a sailboat to parents fleeing the devastation in search for a refuge in the Southern Ocean. Growing up in a world forever changed, his only connection to the events that set the world on its course to disaster were the stories his step-father, now long-dead, recorded in his manuscript, The Forcing.

The Descent Cover Reveal

But there are huge gaps in the story that his mother, still alive but old and frail, steadfastly refuses to speak of, even thirty years later. When he discovers evidence that his mother has tried to cover up the truth, he knows that it is time to find out for himself.

Determined to learn what really happened during his mother’s escape from the concentration camp to which she and Kweku’s father were banished, and their subsequent journey halfway around the world, Kweku and his young family set out on a perilous voyage across a devastated planet. What they find will challenge not only their faith in humanity, but their ability to stay alive.

The Descent is the devastating, nerve-shattering prequel to the critically acclaimed thriller The Forcing, a story of survival, hope, and the power of the human spirit in a world torn apart by climate change.

 *Out in paperback & e-book 15th February 2024*
Published by Orenda Books
Please find the pre-order links here:
The Descent – Print – https://geni.us/EPOP

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.