Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson – Paperback release tour!

I reviewed this book when it was first published last year. The paperback was recently published so I’m sharing the details and my review as part of the tour to celebrate the paperback publication.

Since the hardback was published last year the following has happened:

WINNER of the Cultura’s Best Fiction Book of 2023 (France’s biggest book chain), plus Crime Fiction
Book of the Year at seven different festivals

High-spec signed paperback with foil and embossing
NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER in France with seven hardback reprints and counting…
Johana has been shortlisted for the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger
FIRST in a new series set in Sweden – The Lidingö Mysteries

Book details

Publication Date: 7 November 2024
Format: Paperback
Price: £ 9. 99
Publisher: Orenda Books

Description

Art expert Emma Lindahl is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the
antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s
wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was
murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.

Emma must work alone, and with the Gussman family apparently avoiding
her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to hide?

As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields
clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants.

When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters
surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate, and
memories of his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could this
young woman’s tragic death somehow hold the key?

Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a
chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past –
Viking rites and tainted love – and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest winter…

My Review

https://everythingisbetterwithdragons.co.uk/2023/12/21/review-yule-island-by-johana-gustawsson/

ABOUT JOHANA GUSTAWSSON

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press, and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in 23 countries. A TV adaptation is currently under way in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding was a number-one bestseller in France, receiving critical acclaim across the globe, and Yule Island has won multiple awards, including Book of the Year with France’s biggest retailer, Cultura, and has been optioned for the screen.

Johana lives in Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.

Angry Robot Sci-fi panel at Foyles

I reviewed Gogmagog in March and will be reviewing Ludluda later this month.

This duology by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard is a sea-faring adventure that has tapped into the minds & hearts of readers who love strange and mythical perspectives on the UK. Ahead of Ludluda‘s publication, Angry Robot is excited to announce the very first in-person event with Jeff & Steve. Who better for them to be talking to then the fantastic Adrian Tchaikovsky! The panel will be chaired by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Dr Una McCormack.

Join them at 7pm on Tuesday 3rd December for a wonderful chat and evening with special, exclusive, tote bags of goodies for attendees!

Tickets & full details are available here.

For an indie publisher like Angry Robot, an event at Foyles in December is a

big deal

I’m very pleased for them and wish I could get to it, because I would love to get my copies of Gogmagog, Ludluda, and Vurt signed. However, London in December is not my idea of fun – there are too many people doing their shopping and it’s rather expensive to stay in London in December. Plus, train tickets less than four weeks out will be extortionate.

However, I really hope people who can get there will go, and have a great time.

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Maria and the Space-Dragons Investigate #1 -November 2024 Instalment

In this month’s instalment, Sarah reveals her true identity, and Maria realises just how dangerous Aurox is.

Enjoy!

Chapter 11 – Sarah McLintock – Aurox

Maria was solidly asleep, and snoring loudly in the guest room, it was safe for Sahrai to be herself now. She stripped, stretched and shifted.

Her wing nubs strained to grow, pushing against the caps the Elder had insisted be installed while she was on this mission. Her snout lengthened, eye and nose ridges rising. Her human ears shrank into her skull, leaving her ear holes unprotected. Her tail unwrapped from its place along her spine, curling around her newly lengthened feet and claws. Her haunches thickened, while her arms became smaller.

It was a relief but hurt!

Review: Victim, by Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

PUBLICATION DATE: 7th NOVEMBER 2024
PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £ 9. 99 | ORENDA BOOKS

Description

Two years ago, Alexander Blix was the lead investigator in a missing person’s case where a young mother, Elisabeth Eie, had been kidnapped. The case came to a standstill when Blix’s own daughter was killed and he was arrested for avenging her. Blix is a now free man again, but Elisabeth’s kidnapper has found him, leaving evidence of her murder in Blix’s mailbox.

The police are unwilling to accept Blix’s help. Even if he was acquitted of his crime, his career in law enforcement is over. But Elisabeth’s murderer continues to pursue him, leading Blix to his new victims, while making it clear that he knows details from Blix’s private life that the former investigator has never shared with anyone…

Meanwhile, Emma Ramm has been contacted by a teenage girl, Carmen, whose stepfather has been arrested on suspicion of killing a childhood friend. But there is no body. Nor are there any other suspects…

Blix and Ramm can rely only on each other. And when Blix’s fingerprints are found on a child’s drawing at a crime scene, the present comes uncomfortably close to the past. A past where a victim has found their very own form of therapy. And it is clear that someone is watching…

Shocking, relentless and unbearably tense, Victim marks the return of the international bestselling, blockbuster Blix & Ramm series from two of Norway’s finest crime writers.

Annual Bonfire Night Post

It’s that time of year again when I remind everyone that Guy Fawkes was a religious extremist and so were his co-conspirators. Guy Fawkes changed his name to Guido while fighting in the Spanish army against protestants in the Netherlands. It made him sound more Spanish and Catholic. Insert me rolling my eyes at the vanity right now.

Blog tour calendar: Yule Island, by Johanna Gustawsson

You’re not having dejavu, I reviewed Yule Island last year. I’m helping with the paperback tour by sharing my review again, 18th November.

Blog Tour Calendar: Victim, by Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Extract Post: Birdie, by J.P. Rose

Summary:

Birdie Bagshaw has never known her parents. Having grown up in a children’s home for mixed race children in 1950s Leeds, now she has come to live with her great-aunt in the Yorkshire Dales. From her arrival, Birdie is treated like an outsider by the local children. When their bullying drives Birdie to hide in the nearby coal mine, she finds an unexpected rescuer in the form of Mr Duke, the last remaining pit pony in the village. As the weeks pass, Birdie forms a special bond with the spirited little pony. But his future is in danger, and Birdie comes up with a daring plan to save his life in return . . .

Book Information

Title: Birdie
Author: J. P. Rose

Release Date: 3^rd October 2024

Genre: YA

Publisher: Andersen Press

Review: October, by Gregory Bastianelli

Fiction: FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
Product format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-78758-923-0
Pages: 384 pp
Imprint: FLAME TREE PRESS

Description

In 1970, four boys on the cusp of becoming teenagers notice strange events occurring in Maplewood, NH, timed with the late-night arrival of an old magician who has taken up residence in a boarding house in their neighbourhood where one of the tenants is a reclusive pulp horror writer. The writer’s fears have kept him from venturing outside in over forty years, fears linked to the magician’s previous visit. As children go missing in town, the four boys try to piece together seemingly unrelated phenomena and realize dark forces are at work, but no one will believe them.

Review: Dark As Night, by Lilja Sigurðardóttir, translated by Lorenza Garcia

PUBLICATION DATE: 10th OCTOBER 2024
PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £ 9. 99 | ORENDA BOOKS

Description

When Áróra receives a call telling her that a child she’s never met is claiming to be her missing sister reincarnated, she is devastated … as ridiculous as the allegations might seem. For three years she has been searching for her sister without finding a single clue, and now this strange child seems to have new information.

On the same day, Icelandic detective Daníel returns home to find a note from his tenant, drag queen Lady Gúgúlú, giving notice on her flat and explaining that she has to leave the country. Daníel is immediately suspicious, and when three threatening men appear, looking for Lady, it’s clear to him that something is very wrong…

And as Iceland’s long dark nights continue into springtime, that is
just the very beginning…