Two Heads Are Better Than One

S. A. Harris

Publication Day: 15/5/23

Publisher: Salt Publishing

SYNOPSIS

Evie Meyer and her son Alfie flee from her abusive partner Seth in Toronto to spend New Year with her half-brother Luke at their late father’s summer home on the Suffolk Coast, only to find Seahurst abandoned and Luke missing.
As Evie searches for her brother, she is filled with a deepening dread that something is very wrong at Seahurst and that their father’s death may not have been suicide after all. Can Evie uncover Seahurst’s sinister secrets and keep Alfie safe before the souls of the dead claim yet
another terrible revenge?

MY REVIEW

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a spooky, atmospheric read this is!

The first chapter had me hooked. January 1286 on the Suffolk coast. An accused witch and her siblings are found hiding in a room and brought before a roaring crowd and executed, but not before she places a curse on the crowd and on the town.

In the present day Evie takes her teenage son Alfie from their home in Canada back to the Suffolk coast where her father lived before his suicide, to escape her abusive partner. She is hoping to spend some time in the safety of Seahurst and the company of her half brother, Luke. She has no idea what is waiting for her.

When they arrive at the remote house all the lights are on, the doors are open but there is no sign of Luke. 

They sleep at the house, hoping he will return but strange things happen. An awful smell in the bathroom. A scratching sound. Shadows which look like someone is there but surely just a trick of the light? A strange object turns up which looks like a very old child’s rattle.

Evie’s father did a lot of research before his death, on the history of the site the house is built on and the abbey which will soon be taken by the erosion of the sea.

Luke believed there was something strange about his father’s death – which may not have been suicide.

As the hunt for Luke carries on, Evie and Alfie are in danger as events at the house intensify.

This is not one to read late at night! Extremely addictive I love a ghost story and even better that it involves a witch! 

Very highly recommended.

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

S.A. HARRIS
Sally Harris writes ghost stories and gothic fiction as S. A.
Harris. Her first novel, Haverscroft was long listed for Not
The Booker Prize, was one of Den Of Geek’s best books of
2019, a semi-finalist in the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year
Award 2020, and a Halloween recommended read in Prima
Magazine. Sally is a family law solicitor living with her
husband and children in Norwich.
For more information visit https://saharrisauthor.com/
Follow Sally on Twitter @salharris1
PRAISE FOR

Atmospheric

Jennie Ensor

Published: 23/5/23

Publisher: Hobeck Books

SYNOPSIS

In March 2020, the Covid pandemic hits the sleepy English village of Brampton. At the start of lockdown, local busybody Tara Sanderson sets up a community group to help vulnerable residents through the crisis. Elderly Elspeth Chambers, her longstanding neighbour and friend, accepts Tara’s offer to buy food and collect medicine for her.

But it isn’t long before neighbourliness and community spirit turn sour. Tensions arise when Tara becomes jealous of Elspeth’s emerging friendship with Ashley Kahn, a recent arrival in Wilton Close. Suspecting there is more to Tara’s hostility toward them than meets the eye, Ashley and Elspeth start to uncover their neighbour’s long-buried secrets…

MY REVIEW

Set in a small village at the start of lockdown, this is one absorbing psychological thriller with a spattering of dark humour and plenty going on to keep you turning those pages.

When lockdown hits, Tara, who lives alone, decides she will set up a residents group to support the vulnerable and needy, especially since her next door neighbour is shielding. Tara does her neighbours shopping and picks up her medications but becomes increasingly annoyed that she is not getting the thanks she deserves. She begins to buy a little something for herself out of the shopping money. And now her long term neighbour and good friend seems to be getting friendly with the new neighbour. That does not suit Tara.

As lockdown begins to affect their lives more, tempers begin to fray. 

Tara begins to turn into a neighbour no one wants next door. And as for the dark secrets from her past she is hiding and the neighbours are desperate to uncover ….

Jennie has encompassed what lockdown felt like for us, from the worry of catching the virus and keeping our most vulnerable safe, to the strange face masks and social distancing and the ever changing rules we had to follow. Not to forget the Zoom meetings – and those who broke the lockdown rules!

I enjoyed the book being written from the POV of a few main characters so we got plenty of understanding of what was going on in their own lives and how they were trying to get through this difficult time. 

I will be reading more from this author! 

Thank you to Rebecca at Hobeck for my E-arc and my spot on the blog tour. 

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennie Ensor is a Londoner with Irish heritage, and lives with her husband and their Airedale terrier in London and the mountains of south-west France. She writes dark-themed, daring fiction: mainly crime, psychological suspense and thrillers, occasionally with a dash of humour.

She began her writing career as a freelance journalist, writing investigative pieces on subjects from corporate malpractice to forced marriages, turning to writing fiction in her thirties. As well as novels she writes short stories and poetry, some of which has been placed in competitions. Her poem Lost Connection placed second in its category in the 2020 Fish Lockdown Prize. In her spare time (?) she reads widely, sings in a choir, practices yoga and cycles. When not doing all that she loves watching TV drama (Happy Valley, The Sinner, etc etc).

Author website: https://jennieensor.com

Publisher website: http:/hobeck.net

Crime Writers Association profile: https://thecwa.co.uk/find-an-author/ensor-jennie

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JennieEnsorAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jennie_ensor

Instagram: instagram.com/jennieensor

By Sussie Anie

Publication date: 25/5/23

Publisher: Phoenix

SYNOPSIS

When Kwasi and his family move abruptly from one side of London to the other, he sets out to explore his new home. Escaping the watchful eyes of Ma and Da and his irrepressible Aunties, he discovers the local high street and a hidden river. Back at the yellow house, he spends hours drawing, distracting himself from thoughts of the new school that awaits.

As the years pass, the high street remains a source of fascination for Kwasi. But behind the ever-changing shopfronts, it’s a different story. Business is slow and times are getting tougher. Widower Rupert has been trying to hold on to the dreams he and his wife poured into their eclectic charity shop, The Chest of Small Wonders, but now he is close to giving up.

One October night, Kwasi finds himself in trouble and takes refuge in the Chest, and an unexpected friendship begins. As he and Rupert unite to save the shop, they each find a sense of belonging. But old patterns are hard to change, and as tensions around them escalate, difficult choices lie ahead.

Lyrical, witty, moving and timely, To Fill a Yellow House is a story of community, friendship and the power of creativity and connection. It is as vibrant and surprising as the city it is set in and marks the arrival of a bright and bold new talent.

MY REVIEW

A beautiful story which pulled at the heart strings and I devoured. 

I enjoyed getting to know Rupert, running his shop – The Chest – selling second hand items and donating the profits to a charity chosen every 6 months by the local community. He opened the shop with his wife who died 15 years before the story began, and he can’t let go of it now; running it in her memory despite hardly covering the bills. All the plans and dreams they had for the place stay with him.

I also loved getting to know Kwasi, initially seeing the world and his new neighbourhood through the innocent eyes of a child but then his troubles begin as he starts a new school and starts to fall behind with the work, preferring to spend his time drawing, and has issues with his ‘friends’.

The unlikely friendship which develops between the two is heartwarming. There are difficult times ahead but perhaps they may just be ok.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sussie Anie is a British-Ghanaian writer, born in London in 1994. Her writing has been published in Lolwe, and was shortlisted for the 2020 White Review Short Story prize. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, where she was the recipient of the 2018-19 Kowitz Scholarship. To Fill a Yellow House is her debut novel.

A Scandal of Secrets

By J.F. Howard

I’m delighted to be joining in the cover reveal today, organised by Hannah at Hygge Book Tours.

BLURB

Anthony Crawford is young, rich and lazy. With aspirations to take the film world by storm, he never quite seems to motivate himself enough to do anything about it – until he meets the beautiful Cecile. Wife to Robert Ford, who is Anthony’s stepfather’s business associate and close confidente, Cecile is older, wiser and definitely wants Anthony to be her next little plaything, but will an affair with her be Anthony’s making or his downfall? The oncoming Christmas season provides a perfect opportunity for Anthony’s mother and stepfather to throw a party, but what happens to turn a glittering, dreamlike celebration, the pinnacle of the social calendar of the rich and famous, into Anthony’s personal nightmare, and more importantly, will he survive?

A SCANDAL OF SECRETS is a cleverly presented murder mystery set in the environs of 1920’s English high society and is JOHN F HOWARD’S debut novel.

Coming soon from Provoco Publishing.

SYNOPSIS

Our loved ones protect us. So what if you woke up one day to find yours gone? Your mum, your friends, your freedom – all gone. And the one person you trust may be hiding a terrible secret.

Welcome to Arrietty’s life.

Thank you Anne for inviting me to take part in the cover reveal. I’m looking forward to this one! A psychological thriller with hand drawn illustrations. And what a stunning cover!

Publication Date 18/7/23

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abby Davies was born in Macclesfield in 1984. She grew up in Bedfordshire in a seventeenth century cottage near FlittonMoor and started writing ‘thrillers’ when she was seven years old.

After reading English Literature at Sheffield University and training to be an English teacher, she wrote novels in her free time.

She was shortlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition in 2018 and longlisted for the Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award in 2019. Her debut Mother Loves Me was published by HarperCollins in 2020. The Cult came out in 2021. Arrietty is her third novel. 

She lives in Wiltshire with her husband, daughter and two crazy cocker spaniels.

Christopher Paolini

Publication Date: 16/5/23

Publisher: Tor

SYNOPSIS

Fractal Noise is the thrilling prequel to the masterful space opera To Sleep in a Sea of Starsby internationally bestselling author of Eragon, Christopher Paolini.

On the planet Talos VII, twenty-three years before the events of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, an anomaly is detected: a vast circular pit, with dimensions so perfect that it could only have been the result of conscious design. So a small team is assembled to learn more – perhaps even who built the hole and why. Their mission will take them on a hazardous trek to the very edge of existence.

For one explorer, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. For another, a risk not worth taking. And for xenobiologist Alex Crichton, it’s a desperate attempt to find meaning in an uncaring universe. But every step they take towards that mysterious abyss is more punishing than the last. Ultimately, no one is prepared for what they will encounter.

MY REVIEW

This is the first book I have read by this author. I don’t usually read very much SF and have recently started to dip my toes into the genre. Now I’m absolutely converted into a SF fan!

Fractal Noise is the prequel to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars which I am delighted to have bought a signed copy of for my daughter, and which I will be snaffling and reading as soon as I can. Paolini has the highest recommendation from my daughter for his Inheritance Cycle series and now I know why. What absolutely fantastic, immersive, edge of the seat writing.

In Fractal Noise we follow Alex, who is devastated after his partner Layla was mauled to death. With no close family, and as soon as her funeral has taken place, he signs up for the next available expedition.

This is the year 2234. Humans can be given STEM injections to make them biologically immortal. Parts of the body can easily be replaced when worn out. 

The expedition, which was supposed to be takes him to another planet, Talos VII, where an enormous hole has just been found by the ship’s cartographer.

Alex is one of the volunteers to visit the planet’s surface, and the story is told from his point of view.

The planet is thought to be uninhabited, but there are thousands of turtle like moving objects on the surface. 

Alex and his three team mates need to travel for days to reach the hole, and we follow them on their journey with the constant ‘thud’ emanating from the hole getting louder as they get nearer. Their physical and mental struggles just to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Tempers begin to fray and accidents and illness hamper their journey. Alex pushes through knowing he is doing this for Layla, and that is what Layla would have done. 

I was glued to this book, and couldn’t wait to find out what the hole was! I felt as if I was the fifth member of the crew and lived their struggles with them. I was a bit concerned the ending would not live up to my expectations but I am happy to say, although unexpected, it could not have been better in my opinion. 

Even if you don’t usually read this genre, give this a read. It is not very long and it may just change your mind about SF! This is not just a science fiction story. It is a story of resilience, inner strength, and finding something positive out of what feels like an impossible situation. I am left feeling uplifted which really isn’t what I expected to take away from this book.Many thanks to Stephen at Black Crow PR for my copy of the book and my spot on the tour.

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christopher Paolini is the creator of the World of Eragon and the Fractalverse. Holder of the Guinness World Record for youngest author of a bestselling series. Qualified for marksman in the Australian army. Scottish laird. Dodged gunfire . . . more than once. As a child was chased by a moose in Alaska. Has his name inscribed on Mars. Firstborn of Kenneth and Talita. Husband. Father. Asker of questions and teller of stories.

His latest novel, Fractal Noise, will be published on May 16th, 2023.

Jane Cable

COVER REVEAL

SYNOPSIS

Cornwall, 2020

At the beginning of lockdown, teacher Carla Burgess needs to make some changes to her life. She no longer loves her job, and it’s certainly time to kick her on-off boyfriend into touch. But then, while walking on the cliffs she meets Mani Dolcoath, a gorgeous American with a dark aura.

Mani is researching his family history, and slowly their lives and their heritage begin to entwine. The discovery of a locked Georgian tea caddy in the barn on her parents’ farm intrigues Carla, but then she starts to see orbs, something that hasn’t happened since her grandmother died. They terrify her and she’ll do anything to outrun them, but will she lose Mani’s friendship in the process?

Cornwall, 1810

Harriet Lemon’s position as companion to Lady Frances Basset (Franny) perfectly conceals the fact they are lovers. But when Franny is raped and falls pregnant their lives are destined to change forever.

The one person who may be able to help them is Franny’s childhood friend, William Burgess, a notorious smuggler. But he has secrets of his own he needs to protect. Will his loyalties be divided, or will he come through?

PRE-ORDER LINKS

https://getbook.at/LostHeir

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jane Cable writes romance with a twist and its roots firmly in the past, more often than not inspired by a tiny slice of history and a beautiful British setting.

After independently publishing her award-winning debut, The Cheesemaker’s House, Jane was signed by Sapere Books. Her first two novels for them are contemporary romances looking back to World War 2; Another You inspired by a tragic D-Day exercise at Studland Bay in Dorset and Endless Skies by the brave Polish bomber crews who flew from a Lincolnshire airbase.

Jane lives in Cornwall and her current series, Cornish Echoes, are dual timeline adventure romances set in the great houses of the Poldark era and today. She also writes as Eva Glyn.

Social Media Links – 

Social Media Links – 

Twitter: @JaneCable

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaneCableAuthor

Website & newsletter sign up: http://www.janecable.com

Jolene McIlwain

Publication date: 18/5/23

Publisher: Melville House Publishing

SYNOPSIS

Set in the bruised, mined, and timbered hills of Appalachia in western Pennsylvania, Sidle Creek is a tender, truthful exploration of a small town and the people who live there, told by a brilliant new voice in fiction.

In Sidle Creek, McIlwain skillfully interrogates the myths and stereotypes of the mining, mill, and farming towns where she grew up. With stories that take place in diners and dive bars, town halls and bait shops, McIlwain’s writing explores themes of class, work, health, and trauma, and the unexpected human connections of small, close-knit communities. All the while, the wild beauty of the natural world weaves its way in, a source of the town’s livelihood – and vulnerable to natural resource exploitation. 

With an alchemic blend of taut prose, gorgeous imagery, and deep sensitivity for all of the living beings within its pages, Sidle Creek will sit snugly on bookshelves between Annie Proulx, Joy Williams, and Louise Erdrich.

MY REVIEW

This is one of those books which is going to stay with me for a long time. All the stories are beautifully and sensitively written, despite the hard-hitting subjects such as abuse, grief, death, and miscarriage. The resilience people can dig up from somewhere. Some stories are just a few pages, others much longer, but every single one drew me in completely. Well written characters and beautiful descriptions of the area. What a talent for writing.

This is a collection of extremely moving short stories of the residents of Sidle Creek.   

There is Hube. Living alone since his wife died and his son moved away. Obsessed by a doe who comes to his cabin, and by trying to keep her safe from the local hunters. This is one of the longer stories which moved me to tears. 

There is Luke, breeding dogs and running underground dog fights to make money. Then he progresses to having his own boys fight each other in the ring as that makes more money. Thankfully his poor wife didn’t live to see her sons made to fight.

There is a couple who can read the future from the markings on egg shells.

There is an affair.

A missing girl.

An absorbing and unique read which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Thank you Nikki at Melville House for my advance copy of the book and my spot on the tour. 

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jolene McIlwain’s fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net and appears in West Branch, Florida Review, Cincinnati Review, New Orleans Review, Northern Appalachia Review, and 2019’s Best Small Fictions Anthology. Her work was named finalist for Glimmer Train’s and River Styx’s contests and semi finalist in Nimrod’s Katherine Anne Porter Prize and two American Short Fiction’s contests. She’s received a Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Grant, the Georgia Court Chautauqua Faculty scholarship, and Tinker Mountains’ merit scholarship. She’s taught literary theory/analysis at Duquesne and Chatham Universities and she worked as a radiologic technologist before attending college (BS English, minor in sculpture, MA Literature). She was born, raised, and currently lives in a small town in the Appalachian plateau of Western Pennsylvania.

David Hewson

Publication date: 4/5/23

Publisher: Canongate

SYNOPSIS

Venice is a city full of secrets. For hundreds of years it has been the scene of scandal, intrigue and murderous rivalries. And it remains so today.

1548, Lorenzino de Medici, himself a murderer and a man few will miss, is assassinated by two hired killers.

Today, Marmaduke Godolphin, British TV historian and a man even fewer will miss, is stabbed by a stiletto blade on the exact same spot, his body dropping into the canal.

Can the story of the first murder explain the attack on Godolphin? The Carabinieri certainly think so. They recruit retired archivist Arnold Clover to unpick the mystery and to help solve the case. But the conspiracy against Godolphin runs deeper than anyone imagined.

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

MY REVIEW

When famous English historian, and now television personality, Marmaduke Godolphin travels to Venice with his ‘gilded circle’ he doesn’t know he will end up dead, with a stiletto dagger embedded into his chest.He has been given some new information by a fan named Wolff, of secret letters held in his private collection proving none other than the famous Michelangelo was responsible for The Medici Murders in the 1500’s, the second of which took place just a stones throw from where he was staying.

Luca and Arnold are given the job by Godolphin, as they are archivists, of finding the letters amongst piles of irrelevant documents.

The story goes back and forth between the events leading up to Godolphin’s death and the investigation into it by a particularly talented investigator with the carabiniere. She asks Arnold for his help in unravelling the mystery of the death.

Well what a mystery it was! Godolphin had plenty of people who would wish him harm, including his ‘gilded circle’ of three students he met when he was lecturing at university.

I couldn’t work out who was responsible, and the revelations kept coming towards the end of the book. 

I enjoyed the setting in Venice, with its restaurants, it’s history and it’s streets which are easy to get lost in. 

I initially struggled with the move from past to present and back but I soon got the hang of it and went back to re-read the first few pages.

An excellent mystery / thriller and I will read more from this author who has quite a list of achievements!

Thank you Anne at Random Things Tours and Canongate for my copy of the book and my spot on the tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Hewson is a former journalist with The Times, Sunday Times and Independent. He is the author of more than twenty-five novels, including his Rome-based Nic Costa series which has been published in fifteen languages, and his Amsterdam-based series featuring detective Pieter Vos. He has also written three acclaimed adaptations of the Danish TV series, The Killing. He lives near Canterbury in Kent. @david_hewson | davidhewson.com

 

Martin Edwards

Publication Date: HB 11/5/23 PB 7/12/23

Publisher: Head of Zeus

SYNOPSIS

London, 1930s: Rachel Savernake is attending renowned artist Damaris Gethin’s latest exhibition, featuring live models who pose as famous killers. But that’s just the warm-up act…

Unsure why she was invited, Rachel is soon cornered by the artist who asks her a haunting favour: she wants Rachel to solve her murder. Damaris then takes to the stage set with a guillotine, the lights go out – and Damaris executes herself.

Why would Damaris take her own life? And, if she died by her own hand, what did she mean by ‘solve my murder’?

There are many questions to answer, and the clues are there for those daring enough to solve them…

Rachel Savernake faces her most puzzling murder yet in this glamorous gothic mystery from the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Richard Osman.

MY REVIEW

In a nod to Golden Age fiction, Edwards has written another corker of a thriller / detective story set in 1930’s London. Readers who have already read one, or all, of the previous three Rachel Savernake books will know to expect a puzzle Poirot himself would be proud to have solved! You will need to pay attention to every word to try to work out the ending. 

The Hades Gallery. A private viewing for a select handful of invited guests of her new exhibition. Surrealist artist Damaris Gethin has created a macabre exhibition using living actors as waxwork looking models  dressed up as famous crime figures and murderers along with gruesome artefacts.

Wall candles are used giving the exhibition an eerie atmosphere.

Damaris Gethin, dressed as Marie Antoinette – on the day of her execution – approaches Rachel Savernake with a very strange request.  

‘I want you to solve my murder’. Shortly after Rachel agrees to this strange request, Damaris kills herself in a most horrific way.

Rachel teams up with reporter Jacob Flint to begin investigating the reason Damaris took her own life. The trail leads them on a winding road with a tangle of clues to unravel.

Secrets, lies, hidden relationships, more murders and someone very powerful who needs to keep one secret hidden no matter what.

I had only read book three in this series so far (highly recommended) and I was really looking forward to meeting Rachel and Jacob again. Although she is the brains behind the investigation, they work very well together and she gets him out of a number of scrapes in her clear thinking level headed way.I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to fans of Agatha Christie who like a good puzzle to solve. Edwards has added a Cluefinder at the end of the book, which was popular during the ‘Golden Age of Murder’ between the two world wars. The Cluefinder highlights some of the hints and indications in the text what is really going on. 
Many thanks to the publisher for my spot on the blog tour, and my gorgeous finished hardback copy. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Martin Edwards has received the CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing, given for the sustained excellence of his contribution to the genre. His recent novels include Mortmain Hall and Gallows Court, which was nominated for two awards including the CWA Historical Dagger. British librarians awarded him the CWA Dagger in the Library in 2018 in recognition of his body of work. His eight and latest Lake District Mystery is The Crooked Shore and earlier books in the series include The Coffin Trail, short-listed for the Theakston’s prize for best British crime novel. Seven books in his first series, featuring Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin, starting with the CWA John Creasey Dagger-nominated All the Lonely People, have been reissued by Acorn in new editions with introductions by leading writers including Ann Cleeves and Val McDermid. 

Martin is a well-known crime fiction critic, and series consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics. His ground-breaking study of the genre between the wars, The Golden Age of Murder won the Edgar, Agatha, H.R.F. Keating and Macavity awards. The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books won the Macavity and was nominated for four other awards, while Howdunit, a masterclass in crime writing by members of the Detection Club, won the H.R.F. Keating prize and was nominated for five other awards. His long-awaited history of the genre, The Life of Crime, will be published in May 2022. 

In addition Martin has written a stand-alone novel of psychological suspense, Take My Breath Away, and a much acclaimed novel featuring Dr Crippen, Dancing for the Hangman. He also completed Bill Knox’s last book, The Lazarus Widow. He has published many short stories, including the ebooks The New Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and Acknowledgments and other stories. ‘The Bookbinder’s Apprentice’ won the CWA Short Story Dagger, for which he has been nominated for three other stories. 

He has edited over 40 anthologies and published diverse non-fiction books, including a study of homicide investigation, Urge to Kill. An expert on crime fiction history, he is archivist of both the Crime Writers’ Association and the Detection Club. He was elected eighth President of the Detection Club in 2015, spent two years as Chair of the CWA, and posts regularly to his blog, ‘Do You Write Under Your Own Name?’