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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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?’
One spring morning, a bus full of children and their teachers from a Cotswolds primary school head off on a much-anticipated day trip.
But as night falls and the well-heeled parents – one or two of them famous, as well as wealthy – wait at the school to collect their weary offspring, it soon becomes clear that something has gone very wrong.
The children and their teachers simply do not come back.
What’s happened doesn’t seem possible.
How can an entire class of children simply vanish?
Having read and enjoyed The Murder List by Jackie Kabler, I jumped at the chance to join the blog tour and review her new book.
Well this story is every parent’s nightmare. A group of young children go on a day trip from school with their teachers and don’t return. They appear to have vanished into thin air. Unfortunately their brand new minibus developed a fault the morning of the trip, and they had to rent an old minibus from the local taxi company which meant it could not be tracked. The teacher’s phones were all going straight to voicemail.
The concerned parents persuade the head teacher to involve the police.
The tension builds and builds as the police begin to investigate and begin to suspect parents, who in turn begin to reveal long hidden secrets to each other.
An engrossing read, and I’m so glad I no longer have children of school age going on trips! This one hooks you immediately, the pace is spot on, the atmosphere is electric, and that ending!
Thank you Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for my spot on the tour.
BLOG TOUR HOSTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jackie Kabler is an Amazon number one and USA Today bestselling author of
psychological thrillers, including The Perfect Couple, Am I Guilty?, The Happy Family and The Murder List. Her novels have sold nearly a million copies around the world and have been translated into eight languages. Previously she worked as a newspaper reporter and then in television news for twenty years, including nearly a decade on GMTV. She later appeared on BBC and ITV news, presented a property show for Sky, hosted sports shows on Setanta Sports News and worked as a media trainer for the Armed Forces. She now combines writing with working as a presenter on shopping channel QVC. Jackie lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.
Social Media Links –
Twitter @jackiekabler
Instagram @officialjackiekabler
GIVEAWAY
Giveaway to Win a Signed Copy of The Vanishing of Class 3B (Open to UK Only)
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the link below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.
I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize
Colm Reid, a disillusioned Irish journalist, is invited by Norwegian conservationist Kennet Haven to cover a story in the remote Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Colm joins Kennet, Kennet’s sister Jane, Belgian journalist Fatou Ba, and the rangers of Garamba on an expedition into the park to look for the last surviving wild northern white rhinos on the planet.
Kennet neglected to mention one thing: the park is in the middle of a war zone.
MY REVIEW
Colm’s idea of being a journalist and getting into dangerous situations, then being able to shout ‘don’t shoot I’m a journalist!’ was not exactly being realised. He was interviewing a doctor about an old bone. A very interesting twelve and a half thousand year old bear bone, but none the less a bone.
But be careful what you wish for …
The article he writes about the bone from a bear, which was hunted to extinction in Ireland, leads him on to his next big story. Huge story. He is to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Garamba National Park where he will join one of the rangers, Kennet, to track down the last living white rhinos. They are believed to be extinct but Kennet is convinced there are still a few alive.
So with 5 hours notice he gets on a plane heading to Africa. He arrives and is picked up by rangers with guns, who take him and another journalist to the ranger station at Garamba. This area is home to poachers, rebels, murderers, kidnappers… he has no idea what is in store for him and how many times his life will be at risk.
The rangers who work to protect the wildlife from poachers need to be constantly on guard as they never know when their station will next be attacked. There are many dangerous groups in the jungle at war with each other, and they do not think twice about killing anyone to get their hands on such valuable commodities elephant tusks.
Colm finds himself bang in the centre of a war between The Soldiers of God and The Brotherhood of Souls.
I absolutely loved this book. What a page turner. The danger the rangers face every day, risking their lives to protect what they love, is astonishing. It really brings it home what a dangerous place The DRC is, and the risk innocent animals face from poachers and extinction. We read stories and watch films about poachers and wars, but this book takes us to the heart of the fight.
Colm is a great character, taking everything in his stride even though he has never experienced anything like it. However, the real stand out character for me is Jane, Kennet’s sister, a teacher from Norway.
I am looking forward to reading more about Jane in Hunted which is already out! I hope there will be many more in this series.
Thank you Rebecca at Hobeck for having me along on the blog tour.
BLOG TOUR HOSTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Antony is from Bradford in West Yorkshire in the UK. He has studied history, literature, and creative writing. He became interested in the fate of rhinoceros after reading Douglas Adams’ & Mark Carwardine’s “The Last Chance to See”, and seeing the 20 year anniversary follow-up with Stephen Fry.
Hunted, his first novel, was long-listed for the 2020 Grindstone Literary Prize, short-listed for the 2019 UEA Crime Writing Prize, and published by Hobeck Books in January 2021. The opening of the yet-to-be-published sequel, Endangered, was short-listed for the 2020 First Pages Prize of the American Library of Paris.
Antony is a member of the Crime Writers Association and the Crime Readers Association.
You can read more of Antony’s work, short stories, and blog, at http://www.antonydunford.com, or follow him on Twitter @antony_dunford.
What would you do if your husband framed you for murder?
Five years ago, Olivia Sutherland was convicted of plotting to murder her husband.
Now she’s finally free, Olivia has three goals. Repair her relationship with her daughter. Clear her name. And bring down her husband – the man who framed her.
Just how far is she willing to go to get what she wants? And how far will her husband go to stop her?
Because his lies run deeper than Olivia could ever have imagined – and this time it’s not her freedom that’s in jeopardy, but her life…
MY REVIEW
Olivia has just been released from 5 years in prison, wrongly convicted of planning to kill her husband, Dominic.
Whilst in prison she shares a cell and becomes friends with a thief who agrees to help her prove her innocence when they are released.
When Olivia gets out of prison her now teenage daughter doesn’t want anything to do with her. Staying with a friend, she struggles to find a decent job as an ex-con. She is determined to prove she was framed by her husband, taking risks to do so which could put her back inside.
Her scheming husband has one more plan up his sleeve and she must stop him whatever the cost.
Many twists and turns along the way, secrets and lies and wondering who to trust.
I felt so sorry for Olivia and the way the system had let her down and was rooting for her to win her daughter back and get revenge on her husband. She had become a stronger person in prison, but still struggled with some of the difficult decisions she had to make.
I always look forward to the next CL Taylor book. Another cleverly written, page turning, psychological thriller.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C.L. Taylor is an award winning Sunday Times bestselling author of nine gripping psychological thrillers including THE GUILTY COUPLE, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick for summer 2023 and SLEEP, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick for autumn 2019.
Her books are not a series and can be read in any order:
2014 – THE ACCIDENT / Before I Wake (U.S. title)
2015 – THE LIE
2016 – THE MISSING
2017 – THE ESCAPE
2018 – THE FEAR
2019 – SLEEP
2020 – STRANGERS
2021 – HER LAST HOLIDAY
2022 – THE GUILTY COUPLE
She has also written two Young Adult thrillers: THE TREATMENT and THE ISLAND.
C.L. Taylor’s books have sold in excess of a million copies, been number one on Amazon Kindle, Audible, Kobo, iBooks and Google Play and have been translated into 25 languages and optioned for TV.
C.L. Taylor lives in Bristol in the UK with her partner and son.
Sign up to join the CL Taylor Readers’ Club for access to news, exclusive newsletter-only competitions and the books that CL Taylor thinks will be the next big thing. You will also receive THE LODGER for free when you join:
Two Heads Are Better Than One 