November 2019 – Page 2 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Blog Tour Calendar: ‘The White and Gold People’, by Sogun Starchild

I’ve agreed to post an extract for this tour.

Blog Tour Calendar: ‘The Devil’s Apprentice’, by Kenneth B. Andersen #LoveBooksGroup

Blog Tour Calendar: ‘In The Wake’, by Helen Trevorrow #LoveBooksTours

Review: ‘Died and Gone to Devon’, by T. P. Fielding

X marks the spot for murder…
Temple Regis, 1959: Devon’s prettiest seaside resort is thrown into turmoil by the discovery of a body abandoned in the lighthouse.
It’s only weeks since another body was found in the library – and for the Riviera Express’s ace reporter-turned-sleuth Judy Dimont, there’s an added complication. Her friend Geraldine Phipps is begging her to re-investigate a mysterious death from many years before.
What’s more, Judy’s position as chief reporter is under threat when her editor takes on hot-shot journalist David Renishaw, whose work is just too good to be true.
Life is busier than ever for Devon’s most famous detective. Can Judy solve the two mysteries – and protect her position as Temple Regis’s best reporter – before the murderer strikes again?

Review: ‘Frankie’, by James Essinger and Sandra Koutzenko

Frankie: The Woman Who Saved Millions from Thalidomide

Thalidomide: patented in Germany as a non-toxic cure-all for sleeplessness and morning sickness. A wonder drug with no side-effects.

We know differently now.

Today, thalidomide is a byword for tragedy and drug reform – a sign of what happens when things aren’t done ‘the right way’. But when it was released in the 1950s, it was the best thing since penicillin – something that doctors were encouraged to prescribe to all of their patients. Nobody could anticipate what it actually did: induce sleeping, prevent morning sickness, and drastically harm unborn children.

But, whilst thalidomide rampaged and ravaged throughout most of the West, it never reached the United States. It landed on the desk of Dr Frances Kelsey, and there it stayed as she battled hierarchy, patriarchy, and the Establishment in an effort to prove that it was dangerous. Frankie is her story.

Purchase Links

https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/frankie/9780750991919/

Blog tour calendar: ‘Died and Gone to Devon’, by T. P. Fielden

I love a Miss Dimont mystery. I have the first two in paperback, but this one is an ebook so I’m having a bit of trouble getting through it. I will though, and then you’ll be able to read my review.

Update on my books

All my books and short stories have now been withdrawn from sale. I have decided that the edits I want to do are quite extensive so I won’t get them done by my self-imposed deadline of 17th December, and I don’t want the original version to be out there while I’m not happy with it.

Review: ‘Blue Gold’, by David Barker #LoveBooksTours

Blurb
The near future. Climate change and geopolitical tension have given rise to a new international threat – a world war for water. This most vital of resources has become a precious commodity and some will stop at nothing to control its flow. When a satellite disappears over Iceland, Sim Atkins thinks he knows why. He is given the chance to join the hallowed Overseas Division and hunt for the terrorists responsible. But his new partner Freda Brightwell is aggrieved to be stuck with a rookie on such a deadly mission. Freda’s misgivings are well founded when their first assignment ends in disaster – a bomb destroys a valuable airship and those responsible evade capture. Seeking redemption, the British agents follow the trail to a billionaires’ tax haven in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and uncover a web of deceit that threatens global war. Whom can they trust? As the world edges ever closer to destruction Sim and Freda must put their lives on the line to prevent Armageddon – and protect the future of ‘blue gold’. David Barker’s gripping debut will thrill fans of Richard North Patterson, Scott Mariani and Steve Berry.

Novella Review: ‘Parting Shadows’, by Kate Sheeran Swed

**Buy links:**

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SD7TLGL/

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/parting-shadows-kate-sheeran-swed/1132646970

Indigo – https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/parting-shadows/9781733079709

Indiebound – https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781733079709

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45714915-parting-shadows

Raised by a heartsick AI, she’s programmed to kill. And desperate to flee.

After growing up on an isolated space station, Astra dreams of solid ground. But with an AI guardian plugged into her head–and her nervous system–it’s not like she’s flush with choices. In fact, she’s got just one: use her training to carry out the rogue AI’s revenge. Her first mission? Assassination.

When her target flashes a jamming device that would guarantee her escape from the AI’s grasp, Astra sets out to steal it. But the AI’s plans are more dangerous than she suspected. Corrupted by heartbreak, the wayward computer is determined to infect the star system with a new order of digital tyranny.

Astra’s been raised to care for no one but herself. Now she’ll have to decide if she’s willing to trade the star system’s freedom for her own.

Parting Shadows is a far-future take on Estella Havisham’s journey in Great Expectations, and the first installment in Kate Sheeran Swed’s Toccata System novella trilogy.

Extract: ‘Demon’s Fire’, by Lee Cockburn

**Information about the Book**

**Title:** Demon’s Fire (The DS Taylor Nicks and DC Marcus Black Series #3)
**Author:** Lee Cockburn
**Release Date:** 7^th November 2019
**Genre:** Thriller
**Page Count:** 322
**Publisher:** Clink Street Publishing
**Goodreads Link:** https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48350666-demon-s-fire
**Amazon Link:** https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Y8P3CL2

Summary:

Demon’s Fire is the third instalment in the crime thriller series featuring DS Taylor Nicks and DC Marcus Black.

The City had barely settled back to normal when the sky turned orange as flames licked upwards and smoke billowed out from a quiet industrial estate in Edinburgh.

Blood-curdling screams of those trapped within were muffled by the sound-proofed room as the women climbed desperately over one another to try and escape, their efforts futile against their prison walls, their captors slain where they sat, bullet holes in their heads.

Human trafficking, prostitution, drug dealing, kidnapping, violence and murder hidden in plain sight in Edinburgh City Centre.

Drug dealer Burnett’s grip on the city has no limits, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that remains the case.

Nicks and Black struggle to secure evidence against him within the confines of the law, but an enemy of Burnett, hell-bent on revenge, doesn’t have to play by their rules.

A thrilling story of crime and retribution, good versus evil, Demon’s Fire will have you on the edge of your seat as the tentacles of despair take hold of your emotions.

Hearts are broken and others mended as the tale gathers momentum, the lives of the officers forever entwined by fate.