‘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 […]
Forensics and psychological profiling are probably my favourite crime fiction elements. Kate Rhodes uses both effectively to create a fast paced and rather gruesome tale in ‘Blood Symmetry’, her fifth novel in her popular Alice Quentin series. What’s it about? Clare Riordan is out running with her son, Mikey, one morning when they are both […]
Six friends. Three secrets. One murder. The strapline of this novel suggests a crime thriller, but if that’s what you’re seeking, you might not find it here. A woman dies, that’s true, but somehow her death immediately becomes less important than the sex lives of the living. What’s it about? Maggie’s hen party is a […]
Louise Candlish is a thoroughly contemporary author. In this, her ninth book, she explores the awful impact of trial by media after a woman’s adultery leads to tragedy. I was really looking forward to reading this, having previously read and enjoyed Candlish’s later novels, ‘The Swimming Pool‘ and ‘The Sudden departure of the Frasers’, and […]