How’s your relationship with the drug in your living room? I have an uneasy relationship with TV. There are a few programmes I like but I never watch it by myself, because there’s always so much else to do that I can’t justify the time. However, my husband watches it every evening, either concentrating on […]
‘I know who you are’ by Alice Feeney. Having read and LOVED Alice Feeney’s debut novel, ‘Sometimes I Lie’, I was delighted to spot her second book, ‘I know who you are’, at Crimefest this year. Would it live up to the twisty masterpiece of her first book? The short answer is, not quite, but […]
‘The Devil’s Dice’ by Roz Watkins You know it’s a good book when you giggle out loud three times during the first chapter. You know it’s a fabulous book when it just gets more and more interesting as you get to the heart of the plot. What’s it about? A lawyer is found dead in […]
‘Little Bones’ by Sam Blake. I really wanted to love this. I’ve wanted to read it for ages: I’ve heard nothing but praise for the author, and the idea of a baby’s bones sewn into the hem of a wedding dress is disturbingly intriguing. I bought a copy for a friend, and was delighted when […]
I love this title. It makes me think of that film where it appears that the hapless villagers are living in the 1600s and in dire fear of a beast in the wood, but in fact they live in the modern age, totally separate from the modern world, ruled by despotic village elders who want […]
There are some secrets you should never keep. When widower and single father Andy Boyd meets Anna, he can’t believe his luck. When he ends up in hospital on his wedding night, Andy refuses to see this as a warning sign and enters a world of lies that may cost him everything. What’s it about? […]
Are you the person you want to be? While Steve Mosby’s ‘The Nightmare Place’ is primarily a crime thriller focused on the hunt to catch a violent serial offender, it has quite a strong tilt towards self judgement and self assessment, which I found interesting. DI Zoe Dolan could have turned into a criminal herself, […]
Victorian gothic: possibly my favourite genre. Here, Jess Kidd creates a darkly poetic and watery tale. At it’s heart: Bridie Devine, formerly a resurrectionist’s girl, then a medic’s trusted extra hands, and finally a private detective with a penchant for mind altering blends of tobacco and the odd nip of Madeira. I felt like I […]
‘At first I mistook the severed head for something else. It wasn’t until I was very close that I realised it was Lucy.’ I do love an effective opening sentence, and my word this one grabbed me. To my delight, the words and chapters that followed were equally compelling, and all of a sudden it […]
When a loved one takes their own life, we are stunned. Even if it was expected – and often it isn’t – we wonder how they can have taken themselves away from us. Dr Jo-Ann Rowland sought to investigate some of the whys by focusing on a specific sub-set of one community with a high […]