‘Whoever did it must have read it.’ When local author and recently retired teacher Liam Allerton is found drowned in Barnes Pond, just like the retired teacher in his debut novel, it’s a curious case of life imitating art – or rather, his death imitating his art – but when DI Garibaldi reads Allerton’s novel, […]
Our families are often the people who hurt us the most. This is certainly true for Nell Churcher, who, despite being attacked by an obsessive ‘Golden Bones’ fan when she was was in her early teens – a fan who believed they needed to carve out Nell’s pelvic bone to resurrect a fictional character called […]
I love books that are completely real whilst also being darkly comic. Welcome back to the North Edinburgh Health Enforcement Team, now on their fifth outing in a fictionalised, mid-Virus-epidemic-Edinburgh. Bernard is still surprised daily by the demands of his job, (which is supposed to be about healthcare but is really a sort of police […]
King Lear is meant to die – but the actor performing the title role isn’t. When Sir Nigel Viliers collapses and dies on stage during the opening night of King Lear, everyone around him appears to be startled: Sir Nigel is a leading light of the London stage – so it’s even more startling when […]
The strapline promises a perfect family with a devastating secret. We know these tropes: we know that this family will turn out to be anything but perfect; we know there will be multiple secrets that emphasise just how broken their family unit truly is; and we know that Lucy will find herself in danger, likely […]
Today I’m excited to be part of the cover reveal for L. C. North’s new thriller ‘Clickbait’  Isn’t it pretty? But of course, we shouldn’t judge a book purely by its cover, so here’s the blurb to tempt you further: ​——————————— ‘We’re not famous anymore. We’re notorious.’ For over a decade, the Lancasters were celebrity royalty, […]
‘Medicine was harder to leave than O2 or Virgin Active gyms.’ Adam Kay is back with his second memoir, reflecting on his experiences not just as a student and doctor within the NHS but with his own mental and physical health. What’s it about? Kay’s adult debut, ‘This is going to hurt’, was sad and […]
Short version: this wasn’t for me. Longer version: ‘The Wife Upstairs’ suffers from a few plot holes, to put it mildly, and despite being promoted as a modern re-telling of Jane Eyre, bears very little resemblance to that classic. Both books contain an orphan whose name is Jane, and even that isn’t true (Jane Bell […]
How do you stop a murder when it’s already happened? I was hooked by the tagline and reassured from reading previous McAllister books that such a brilliant premise wouldn’t fizzle out or otherwise disappoint. This, I was certain, would be a brilliant read – and it was. What’s it about? Jen is waiting up for […]
A murdered woman. A missing husband. An impossible crime scene. The strapline sounded a bit like a locked room mystery, but this is a police procedural with a purpose. When a wealthy woman is found dead in her locked London mansion by her cleaner, the key questions that arise are: what is the meaning of […]