Crime – Page 11 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: ‘The Silver Sting’, by Angela Dandy

**Book information**
**Publication Date** 30th April 2019
**Publisher** SilverWood Books
**ISBN** 978-1-78132-843-9
**RRP** £9.99

Blurb
It has been thirteen years since the elderly residents of Magnolia Court were scammed out of a comfortable retirement by an unscrupulous developer who took their money and ran. A twist of fate leads Gabby, Uncle Max and Aunt Hetty’s niece, to uncover the developer’s whereabouts. Pointed in the right direction by Gabby, the residents draw on their life skills to overcome one obstacle after another in order to recover what is theirs by right.
No one should underestimate the tenacity and ingenuity of this charming and endearing bunch of senior citizens. Age and infirmity are set aside as they set out on their quest to seek retribution.

Review: ‘Wolves At The Door’, by Gunnar Staalesen

Blurb
One dark January night a car drives at high speed towards PI Varg Veum, and comes very close to killing him. Veum is certain this is no accident, following so soon after the deaths of two jailed men who were convicted for their participation in a case of child pornography and sexual assault … crimes that Veum himself once stood wrongly accused of committing.

While the guilty men were apparently killed accidentally, Varg suspects that there is something more sinister at play … and that he’s on the death list of someone still at large.

Fearing for his life, Veum begins to investigate the old case, interviewing the victims of abuse and delving deeper into the brutal crimes, with shocking results. The wolves are no longer in the dark … they are at his door. And they want vengeance.

Review: ‘The Comedy Club Mystery’, by Peter Bertram

**Amazon:** https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comedy-Club-Mystery-Chronicle-adventure/dp/1096270986
**Publisher:** Independently published
**Publication Date:** 3rd May 2019
**ISBN-13:** 978-1096270980

BLURB
The Comedy Club Mystery: A Crampton of the Chronicle comic crime adventure
Murder has never been such fun…
When theatrical agent Daniel Bernstein sues the Evening Chronicle for libel, crime reporter Colin Crampton is called in to sort out the problem.But trouble escalates when Bernstein turns up murdered. Colin discovers that any of five comedians competing for the chance to appear on a top TV show could be behind the killing.As Colin and his feisty girlfriend Shirley Goldsmith investigate, they encounter a cast of colourful characters – identical twin gangsters, an Irishman who lives underground, and a failed magician’s assistant.And it’s not long before their own lives are in peril as they battle to crack a code that will lead to a fortune. Join Colin and Shirley for a rollercoaster of an adventure in Swinging Sixties England – where the laughs are never far from the action.

Publication Day Review: ‘The Lost Shrine’, by Nicola Ford

With bonus review: ‘The Hidden Bones’, by Nicola Ford

Late last year I bothered Allison & Busby for review copies of some of there books, and I’ve been trying to work out how to fit them into the blog ever since. Well, today is publication day for The Lost Shrine, thus I have decided to do a joint review post in celebration.

Nicola Ford is the pen name of archaeologist Dr Nick Snashall, who is National Trust Archaeologist for the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site. She has a two book deal with the publisher and I hope she’ll get another because the Hills & Barbrook series has only just started getting wind in its sails.

On to the reviews. The Hidden Bones is only getting a short review because I want to focus on The Lost Shrine.

Review: ‘The Suspects’, by Katherine Johnson

**Purchase Links:**
**UK –** https://www.amazon.co.uk/Suspects-Katharine-Johnson-ebook/dp/B07PRCJ785
US – https://www.amazon.com/Suspects-Katharine-Johnson-ebook/dp/B07PRCJ785

Blurb
Shallow Grave meets The Secret History in this quirky psychological thriller
Bristol, 1988. Five young graduates on the threshold of their careers buy a house together in order to get a foot on the property ladder before prices spiral out of their reach. But it soon becomes the house share from hell.
After their New Year’s Eve party, they discover a body – and it’s clear they’ll be the first suspects. As each of them has a good reason from their past not to trust the police, they come up with a solution – one which forces them into a life of secrets and lies. But can they trust each other?
“The hugely talented Katharine Johnson has, again delivered a tense thriller! This is a compelling novel – up there with Erin Kelly and Sophie Hannah.”
Val Penny, author of The Edinburgh Crime Mysteries.
“Gripping and frighteningly realistic. The twists and turns kept me guessing to the very end.”
Jo Fenton, author of The Brotherhood.

Review: One Last Prayer For The Rays, by Wes Markin

DCI Michael Yorke faces his most harrowing case yet.

When 12-year-old Paul disappears from school, Yorke’s only clue is a pool of animal blood. Fearing the worst, he turns toward the most obvious suspect, recently released local murderer, Thomas Ray.

But as the snow in Salisbury worsens, Ray’s mutilated body is discovered, and Yorke is left with no choice but to journey into the sinister heart of a demented family that has plagued the community for generations. Can he save the boy? Or will the evil he discovers changes him forever?

One Last Prayer for the Rays introducing DCI Michael Yorke.

Purchase Links

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Last-Prayer-Rays-exhilarating-ebook/dp/B07M5H7JYS

US – https://www.amazon.com/One-Last-Prayer-Rays-exhilarating-ebook/dp/B07M5H7JYS

Review: ‘Consuming Fire’, by Catherine Fearns

**Purchase Link –** https://mybook.to/consumingfire

Blurb

What Has Been Seen Cannot Be Unseen…

Liverpool is in the grip of an intense heatwave, and strange things are happening.

A woman dies in an apparent case of Spontaneous Human Combustion; a truck explodes on the dock road; the charred corpses of pets litter the city; forest fires ravage the pinewoods…and there are birds everywhere, silent flocks drawing in ominously.

Detective Inspector Darren Swift thinks there are connections, and his investigation delves into the worlds of football, nightclubs and organised crime. But is he imagining things?

Dr. Helen Hope doesn’t think so. And she believes the key lies in a mysterious seventeenth-century occult book which has gone missing from Liverpool Library.

In the blistering sequel to Reprobation, DI Swift is forced to confront some inconvenient ghosts from his past, as a terrifying shadow lies over his city’s reality….

Review: ‘Street Cat Blues’, by Alison O’Leary

Blurb
After spending several months banged up in Sunny Banks rescue centre, Aubrey, a large tabby cat, has finally found his forever home with Molly and Jeremy Goodman and life is looking good.
However, all that changes when a serial killer begins to target elderly victims in the neighbourhood. Aubrey wasn’t particularly upset by the death of some of the previous victims, including Miss Jenkins whom Aubrey recalls as a vinegar-lipped bitch of an old woman who enjoyed throwing stones at cats, but Mr Telling was different. Mr Telling was a mate…

Purchase Links

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Cat-Blues-Alison-OLeary-ebook/dp/B07F1TDX2T

US – https://www.amazon.com/Street-Cat-Blues-Alison-OLeary-ebook/dp/B07F1TDX2T

Review: ‘Revenge on the Rye’, by Alice Castle

Published By: Crooked Cat Books
Publication Date: 13th December 2018
Formats available: Kindle and Paperback
Price: Kindle – £1.99, Paperback – £6.99
IS.B.N.: 9781731437822

Blurb
Beth Haldane, SE21’s answer to Miss Marple, thinks she is going for a carefree stroll on Peckham Rye with her best friend, Katie, and her annoying new puppy, Teddy. But before Beth knows it, she is embroiled in her most perplexing mystery yet.
Strange events from her family’s past, present-day skulduggery in the art world, and the pressures of moving school in south London threaten to overwhelm Beth. Will she be able to piece together the puzzle before her son’s crucial interview at Wyatt’s? Or will Beth’s insatiable curiosity finally drag down all her dreams for the future?
Join Beth, her irascible on-off boyfriend, Detective Inspector Harry York of the Metropolitan Police, and the dog walkers of Peckham Rye in a tale of murder, mayhem – and bloody revenge.

For a chance to win a signed copy of Revenge on the Rye, keep reading.

Review: ‘The Convalescent Corpse’, by Nicola Slade

The Convalescent Corpse by [Slade, Nicola] — Published By: Crooked Cat
Publication Date: 20th November 2018
Format: Kindle
Price: £1.99

Blurb

A story of Family, Rationing and Inconvenient Corpses.
Life in 1918 has brought loss and grief and hardship to the three Fyttleton sisters. Helped only by their grandmother (a failed society belle and expert poacher) and hindered by a difficult suffragette mother, as well as an unruly chicken-stealing dog and a house full of paying-guests, they now have to deal with the worrying news that their late – and unlamented – father may not be dead after all. And on top of that, there’s a body in the ha-ha.

Keep reading for the review, a bit about the author and a chance to win another of Nicola Slade’s books.