‘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 […]
Schooldays. Whether you loved them or loathed them, their impact on your life can last well beyond the 13 years you actually have to attend. In her debut novel, Laura Marshall explores the after effects of one schoolgirl’s determination to get in with the in crowd – and whether we can ever really know another […]
Very hyped books. You know those books. The ones EVERYONE is talking about? The one even your non-book-reading friends have read? Yeah, that one. And you find yourself wondering, how is it possible that I’ve not read this? Why don’t I possess a copy yet? If you’re a book blogger there might even be a […]
This is, without doubt, my favourite book of 2018 so far. Think Agatha Christie…with body hopping complications. Think locked room mystery…within which a murderer is seeking to kill all the incarnations of you. Think bloody good read, and you’ll be right. What’s it about? It’s not often that I steal the blurb wholesale, but this […]
Imagine. A small, unfamiliar boy is standing, parentless, companionless, by the swimming pool reception. The pool is closing. The receptionist wants to go home. You want to go home. The receptionist asks you to take the boy home and you agree, reluctantly. But when you get there, the house is clearly not a home. What […]
I loved ‘Crimes Against a Book Group’. It’s fun, funny and sweet, featuring a cast of mostly rich characters who are about to be swindled – and enjoy it. What’s it about? Annie and Sarah are best friends with problems. Annie discovers her young son is autistic and decides she needs to pay a ton […]
I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Cutts at Crimefest in 2016. Listening to her talk, she was so friendly, knowledgeable and good humoured that I had to buy one of her books, which somehow over time got buried under a heap of other books. Having recently read and LOVED her fourth book, ‘Buried Secrets‘, […]
What if…the worst thing that ever happened to you wasn’t what happened, but not being believed? What if…that lack of belief in you left a killer free to kill again? This is Alex Taylor’s life. Will it also be her death? What’s it about? Usually, I like to give my own take on what a […]
Sometimes writers use two stories when one would do. As much as I enjoyed reading Sara Alexander’s debut novel, ‘Under a Sardinian Sky’, it definitely feels like a book with one story to tell – and with a largely irrelevant second story tacked onto the beginning and end. What’s it about? In 1952, Carmela Chirigorni, […]