Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: ‘Mark Of The Devil’, By Tana Collins

MARK OF THE DEVIL final

Published By: Bloodhound

Publication Date: 24th April 2018

I.S.B.N.: 9781912604180

Blurb

While Inspector Jim Carruthers and team are busy investigating a series of art thefts they receive an anonymous tip about the body of a young woman on a deserted beach.

The bizarre clues to her identity, and what might have happened to her, include a strange tattoo, a set of binoculars and slab of meat left on the cliffs.

The team’s investigations lead them to a local shooting estate and its wealthy owner Barry Cuthbert. However, Carruthers suspects Cuthbert is not all he seems and the DI soon starts to wonder if the cases of the missing works of art, the dead woman and the estate are connected.

Then when the body of a young gamekeeper is pulled from the sea tensions boil over. The trail of clues lead the team to the unlikely locale of Tallinn and into the sinister world of international crime and police corruption.

Needing answers Carruthers must look further afield than Fife. However, the closer he gets to discovering the truth the more danger he finds himself in.

Since everyone who crosses the vengeful killers seem to end up dead, can Carruthers solve the case with his life in tact?

Continue reading “Review: ‘Mark Of The Devil’, By Tana Collins”

Book shopping and weekly uni update.

It’s student loan day, and therefore it is also book shopping day for me. This term I took a visit to my favourite independent book shop, Lindum Books, of Bailgate, Lincoln.

I made the decision to just get two books. I could have bought all the ones I wanted, but I definitely have to be more restrained and financially responsible at the moment. I’ve got an historical crime novel and a Sci Fi novel to get my teeth into.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky is Lindum Books’ May ‘book of the month’ and I’m hoping to get to their evening book club, but it depends on finances, commitments and brain weasels. They also do a lot of author talks, which I can’t get to because of the train times. They all start at 7 pm and the last train is 20:02. Author of Beloved Poison, E. S. Thompson will be there in May, as will Joanne Harris, The gospel of Loki author, with her follow up novel. It’s so frustrating.

I had a ‘walking workshop’ this morning and my hip is terribly painful, so I’ve blown off the 4 – 6 pm seminar to get an early train home where I can rest. During the workshop we walked through the city centre and up to The Collection, a museum. I’ve been several times. It wasn’t the most challenging of days, except physically.

The most important thing I got out of it was a chance to sit and discuss the future with one of my course colleagues, who is interested in a PhD, as am I. First I need to get a distinction in my Masters degree, but still, it’s interesting to talk to someone else who has similar ambitions.

Next week is our symposium, I will be presenting my dissertation proposal. I have made some notes for it, so I’m as prepared as I get.

St.George’s Day? I prefer Shakespeare’s Birthday.

And it comes round once again, the day every English bigot loves, an excuse to wave flags and be openly racist. Although, to be fair to them, they’re usually openly racist anyway. I’m certain there are some people who ardently celebrate St. George’s Day who aren’t bigots, but they’re drowned out by the noisy, ignorant ones. Continue reading “St.George’s Day? I prefer Shakespeare’s Birthday.”

Cover Reveal

Today I’m taking part in a cover reveal blog tour for:

Decide to Hope

By June Converse

Continue reading “Cover Reveal”

Bonus Review #2: ‘Conan Doyle For The Defence’, by Margalit Fox

Published by: Profile Books

Publication Date: 28th June 2018

Format: Hardback

I.S.B.N.: 9781781253564

Price: £16.99

Received via Netgalley in return for an honest review

Blurb

Arthur and George meets The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: how the creator of Sherlock Holmes overturned one of the great miscarriages of justice.

Just before Christmas 1908, Marion Gilchrist, a wealthy 82-year-old spinster, was found bludgeoned to death in her Glasgow home. A valuable diamond brooch was missing, and police soon fastened on a suspect – Oscar Slater, a Jewish immigrant who was rumoured to have a disreputable character. Slater had an alibi, but was nonetheless convicted and sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment in the notorious Peterhead Prison.

Seventeen years later, a convict called William Gordon was released from Peterhead. Concealed in a false tooth was a message, addressed to the only man Slater thought could help him – Arthur Conan Doyle. Always a champion of the downtrodden, Conan Doyle turned his formidable talents to freeing Slater, deploying a forensic mind worthy of Sherlock Holmes.

Drawing from original sources including Oscar Slater’s prison letters, this is Margalit Fox’s vivid and compelling account of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Scottish history.

Continue reading “Bonus Review #2: ‘Conan Doyle For The Defence’, by Margalit Fox”

Uni Update: Week 11

This week we looked at the work of Gertrude Stein, the U.S. born writer who spent most of her life in France and hung around with Picasso. Her work is weird, and not necessarily in a good way. It made not sense but sounded like it should. Much more amusing, and nonsensically sensible was the response by James Thurber to hearing the same piece of work.

We had a go at writing something in the style of Stein, but I don’t think I was very successful.

The chicken on the table, little feathery dinosaur on the table in the kitchen, wings aren’t flapping. The wings on the chicken on the table aren’t flapping. The chicken on the plate on the table, the blue and white plate, on the blue and white cloth on the table. The chicken on the blue and white plate on the blue and white cloth in the kitchen, the wings on the chicken on the blue and white plate on the blue and white cloth on the table in the kitchen aren’t flapping.

Flapping, flap, flap, chicken, fly away featherless chicken on the blue and white plate on the blue and white cloth on the table in the kitchen.

Blog Blitz: ‘Mark Of The Devil’, by Tana Collins

B L O G B L I T Z (1)

Next week, I shall be taking part in the blog blitz for this book. I’m looking forward to reviewing it for you all. Thanks to Sarah Hardy for organising the blog blitz.

Here’s a bit about the book and author:

Author Bio

Edinburgh based Tana Collins is the author of the popular Jim Carruthers detective series set in Fife. Her debut novel, Robbing the Dead, published February 2017, became a No 1 Amazon bestseller for Scottish crime fiction. Care to Die, the follow up in the series, also became a Top 10 Amazon bestseller. Published on 1^st June 2017 Care to Die was described by Peter Robinson, author of DCI Banks, as “A finely plotted mystery. Tana Collins racks up the suspense on this one. DI Jim Carruthers is a cop to watch.” In September 2017 having won one of the coveted Spotlight places at Bloody Scotland Tana supported Lynda La Plante on stage.

Her third novel, Mark of the Devil, is to be published 24^th April 2018. Author Leigh Russell writes of it, “A cracking read. The suspense never lets up.”

Tana is a trained Massage Therapist and Stress Management Consultant.

Author Links:

Website: tanacollins.com

Twitter: @TanaCollins7

Author Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Tana-Collins-490774634440829

Mark of the Devil blurb

While Inspector Jim Carruthers and team are busy investigating a series of art thefts they receive an anonymous tip about the body of a young woman on a deserted beach.

The bizarre clues to her identity, and what might have happened to her, include a strange tattoo, a set of binoculars and slab of meat left on the cliffs.

The team’s investigations lead them to a local shooting estate and its wealthy owner Barry Cuthbert. However, Carruthers suspects Cuthbert is not all he seems and the DI soon starts to wonder if the cases of the missing works of art, the dead woman and the estate are connected.

Then when the body of a young gamekeeper is pulled from the sea tensions boil over. The trail of clues lead the team to the unlikely locale of Tallinn and into the sinister world of international crime and police corruption.

Needing answers Carruthers must look further afield than Fife. However, the closer he gets to discovering the truth the more danger he finds himself in.

Since everyone who crosses the vengeful killers seem to end up dead, can Carruthers solve the case with his life in tact?

Penultimate April Blog Tour: ‘Everybody Works In Sales’

Blurb

We all work in sales. If you work for somebody, you earn a living by selling their product or service.

If you are self-employed, you earn a living by selling your product or service.

When you buy from Amazon, they always recommended other products similar to the ones you are purchasing or have already purchased – that’s selling.

When you download a song, movie or TV show from iTunes, they always recommend more similar products. That’s selling.

When you register for most websites, they sell their products or services to you through a regular email.

When you attend an exhibition at the NEC, London ExCel, Olympia, Manchester or even a local market, everyone is trying to sell you their product.

We all work in sales, yet few people know how to sell. Until now.

Containing 27 valuable lessons, plus 17 interviews with experts, Everybody Works in Sales combines unique storytelling and personal development to ensure you have the tools you need to do better in your career.

Purchase from Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ET89nn

Everybody Works In Sales - Niraj's business photo 2018.jpg

About Niraj Kapur

Award-winning executive, Niraj Kapur, has worked in corporate London for 23 years.

From small businesses to a national newspaper to FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies, he’s experienced it all and shares his insight, knowledge, big wins and horrible failures.

Containing 27 valuable lessons, plus 17 interviews with experts, Everybody Works in Sales combines unique storytelling and personal development to ensure you have the tools you need to do better in your career.

Niraj has also had several screenplays optioned, sitcoms commissioned, kids’ shows on Channel 5’s Milkshake and CBBC. His movie, Naachle London, was released in select cinemas across the UK.

He’s working on his next book while advising companies and coaching individuals on how to improve their sales.

@Nirajwriter

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/nkapurB

Review: ‘Wheelchairs, Perjury & The London Marathon’, by Tim Marshall

Published by: Clink Street

Publication Date: 8th March 2018

Format: Paperback

I.S.B.N.: 9781912262571

Price: £8.99

Blurb

The top wheelchair athletes of today enjoy the same high-profile exposure and admiration as their able-bodied counterparts. This has come about partly through wheelchair participation in mass fun-running events such as the Great North Run. Wheelchairs, Perjury and the London Marathon charts disability sports pioneer Tim Marshall MBE’s journey from the rock-climbing accident which left him paralysed, to becoming a trailblazer for wheelchair racing. The fun-runs of the 1980s enabled wheelchair road-racing to flourish, and Marshall took part in marathons and half-marathons where wheelchairs were welcome to compete. This did not, however, include The London Marathon, from which wheelchairs were banned for the first two years. This is the story of how this prohibition was overturned, told from the competitor’s point of view. Tim and many others campaigned for the inclusion of wheelchairs in The London Marathon in the face of huge opposition from the organisers. Finally, in 1983 the efforts of sportsmen and women, the press, the Greater London Council and members of parliament resulted in a breakthrough just ten days before the 1983 marathon, which at last agreed to wheelchair participation. Wheelchairs, Perjury and the London Marathon reveals the tenacity and resolve required to achieving sporting greatness in the face of adversity. Tim Marshall’s story — and the legacy he has helped build for disabled sports — are a testament to his love of racing and his passion for disability equality.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Wheelchairs, Perjury & The London Marathon’, by Tim Marshall”