Book review – Page 41 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: ‘She Was The Quiet One’, by Michele Campbell

She Was the Quiet One Paperback by — *Published By: HQ*
*Publication Date: 10th January 2019*
ISBN: 9780008301811
Price: £7.99
Format: Paperback

Blurb

The gripping new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Michele Campbell

Because murderers are never who you expect…
She was the quiet one but is she guilty?

For twin sisters Rose and Bel, enrolling at the prestigious new boarding school should have been a fresh start. But with its sinister rituals and traditions, Odell soon brings out a deadly rivalry between the sisters.

For Sarah and husband Heath, the chance to teach at Odell seems like the best thing that ever happened to their small family a chance to rise through the ranks and put the past behind them.

Until one dark night ends in murder.

But who’s guilty and who’s telling the truth? And who’s been in on it all along..?

From the Sunday Times bestselling author Michele Campbell comes the breathtaking new thriller SHE WAS THE QUIET ONE.

Review: ‘A Christmas Railway Mystery’, by Edward Marston

Cover of A Christmas Railway Mystery — https://www.allisonandbusby.com/_images/books/978074903169-christmas-railway-mystery-pb-wb-2673.jpg

Published By: Allison & Busby
Publication Date: 18th October 2018
Format: Paperback
I.S.B.N.: 9780749021696
Price: £8.99

Blurb

December 1860. The morning shift at Swindon Locomotive Works is about to begin and an army of men is pouring out of the nearby terraced houses built by the GWR. Frank Rodman should have been among them, but he is destined for the grave sooner than he might have expected, or he will be, once his missing head is found.
But Christmas is fast approaching, and the last thing Inspector Colbeck needs is a complex case, mired in contradictions. As he wrestles with one crime, he is alarmed to hear of another – the abduction of Superintendent Tallis. Colbeck and Leeming find themselves in a hectic race to solve a brutal murder before rushing off to Kent in a bid to save the superintendent’s life.

Review: ‘Scampy Doodle and the Reindeer’, by GJ Barnes

Release Date: 4^th December 2017
Genre: Picture Book
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43020585-scampy-doodle-and-the-reindeer
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scampy-Doodle-Reindeer-G-Barnes-ebook/dp/B07KC2NY77

Blurb

Scampy Doodle is a happy go lucky black dog who has a strong nose for adventure. It’s Christmas Eve and Scampy Doodle is fast asleep when he is woken by a strange noise coming from the chimney. Discover what happens when he goes to investigate and gets the greatest surprise of his life!

Continue reading “Review: ‘Scampy Doodle and the Reindeer’, by GJ Barnes”

Review: ‘The Other Miss Bates’, by Allie Cresswell

Blurb

Jane Bates has left Highbury to become the companion of the invalid widow Mrs Sealy in Brighton. Life in the new, fashionable seasideresort is exciting indeed. A wide circle of interesting acquaintance and a rich tapestry of new experiences – balls at the Assembly rooms, carriage rides and promenades on the Steyne – make her new life all Jane had hoped for.

While Jane’s sister Hetty can be a tiresome conversationalist she proves to be a surprisingly good correspondent and Jane is kept minutely up-to-date with developments in Highbury, particularly the tragic news from Donwell Abbey.

When handsome Lieutenant Weston returns to Brighton Jane expects their attachment to pick up where it left off in Highbury the previous Christmas, but the determined Miss Louisa Churchill, newly arrived with her brother and sister-in-law from Enscombe in Yorkshire, seems to have a different plan in mind.

Purchase Link https://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Miss-Bates-Highbury-inspired-ebook/dp/B07KRCYPXT

Review: ‘The Silent Dead’, by Graham Smith

The Silent Dead: A gripping crime thriller with a stunning twist by [Smith, Graham]

Published By: Bookouture

Publication Date: 30th November 2018

Format: Kindle

Price: 99p

Purchase Link

Blurb

He’d found an angel for his collection. But one angel at a time was never enough…

Detective Beth Young has just joined the Cumbrian major crimes team when a body is found posed in a ritualistic manner – arms spread and graceful wings attached – at a crumbling castle in the hills of the Lake District.

The entire police force are on red alert. But Beth begins to feel she’s the only one who can follow the disturbing clues left by the twisted killer. Because she doesn’t think like everyone else. To Beth, crimes are puzzles she can solve. Even if real life is a little harder.

As more bodies are discovered in derelict stately homes across the Lake District, she knows she’s in a race against time.

But the killer is looking for another victim to add to his collection… Will Beth be able to save her? Or will he get there first?

A tenacious young detective with scars both physical and emotional, Beth Young will stop at nothing in her fight for justice for the innocent. The Silent Dead is the first book in the series. Set in the Lake District, it is perfect for fans of Joy Ellis, LJ Ross, and Peter James.

Continue reading “Review: ‘The Silent Dead’, by Graham Smith”

Review: ‘A Hollow Sky’, by M. Sean Coleman

Published By: Red Dog

Publication Date: 21st November 2018

Format: Paperback

I.S.B.N.: 9781916426238

Price: £8.99

Blurb

A SUSPENSEFUL, ATMOSPHERIC THRILLER.

Jane Hewitt had been miraculously healed—cured of a terminal cancer that had been eating away at her body for months. After one meeting with an incredible young woman, Jane rose from her wheelchair and walked out, believing that her lifetime of devoted faith had been rewarded.

The next day, Jane died in her husband’s arms, devastated that her God had deserted her. Her husband, Ian, blames her hastened death on the faith healer she visited. But that faith healer is a teenage girl called Megan, who has been in a coma for five years, and has no say over how her gift is used.

When Ian is arrested after being accused of breaking in to Megan’s house and trying to tamper with her life support, he turns to the only person he knows can help clear his name, and stop this family deceiving any other victims—Dr Alex Ripley, the so called Miracle Detective.

Fascinated by Megan’s case, and needing a distraction, Ripley finds herself on Holy Island, off the coast of North Wales, caught up in an investigation that will prove more sinister and dangerous than she could have imagined. Ian is not the first person to complain about Megan and her supporters, but he seems to be the only one left alive. For now.

A Hollow Sky is the second Alex Ripley Mystery

Purchase Link

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hollow-Alex-Ripley-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B07H9DTFM8

US – https://www.amazon.com/Hollow-Alex-Ripley-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B07H9DTFM8

Direct from Red Dog Press – https://www.reddogpress.co.uk/shop

Continue reading “Review: ‘A Hollow Sky’, by M. Sean Coleman”

Review: ‘Mavis and Dot’, by Angela Petch

Blurb

A warm slice of life, funny, feel-good, yet poignant. Introducing two eccentric ladies who form an unlikely friendship.Meet Mavis and Dot – two colourful, retired ladies who live in Worthington-on-Sea, where there are charity shops galore. Apart from bargain hunting, they manage to tangle themselves in escapades involving illegal immigrants, night clubs, nude modelling, errant toupees and more. And then there’s Mal, the lovable dog who nobody else wants. A gently humorous, often side-splitting, heart-warming snapshot of two memorable characters with past secrets and passions. Escape for a couple of hours into this snapshot of a faded, British seaside town. You’ll laugh and cry but probably laugh more.”This book is quirky and individual, and has great pathos…[it] will resonate with a lot of readers.” Gill Kaye – Editor of Ingenu(e). Written with a light touch in memory of a dear friend who passed away from ovarian cancer, Angela Petch’s seaside tale is a departure from her successful Tuscan novels.

All profits from the sale of the books will go towards research into the cure for cancer.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Mavis and Dot’, by Angela Petch”

November Bonus Review #6

Landruâs Secret Published By: Pen & Sword

Publication Date: 10th October 2018

Format: Hardback

I.S.B.N.: 9781526715296

Price: £15.99

Purchase Link

Blurb

On 12 April 1919, the Paris police arrested a bald, short, 50-year-old swindler at his apartment near the Gare du Nord, acting on a lead from a humble housemaid. A century later, Henri Désiré Landru remains the most notorious and enigmatic serial killer in French criminal history, a riddle at the heart of an unsolved murder puzzle.

The official version of Landru’s lethal rampage was so shocking that it almost defied belief. According to the authorities, Landru had made “romantic contact” with 283 women during the First World War, luring ten of them to his country houses outside Paris where he killed them for their money.

Yet no bodies were ever found, while Landru obdurately protested his innocence. “It is for you to prove the deeds of which I am accused,” he sneered at the investigating magistrate.

The true story of l’affaire Landru, buried in the Paris police archives for the past century, was altogether more disturbing. In Landru’s Secret, Richard Tomlinson draws on more than 5,000 pages of original case documents, including witness statements, police reports and private correspondence, to reveal for the first time that:

Landru killed more women than the 10 victims on the charge sheet.

The police failed to trace at least 72 of the women he contacted.

The authorities ignored the key victim who explained why the killings began.

Landru did not kill for money, but to revel in his power over what he called the “feeble sex”.

Lavishly illustrated with previous unpublished photographs, Landru’s Secret is a story for our times: a female revengers’ tragedy starring the mothers and sisters of the missing fiancées, a lethal misogynist and France’s greatest defence lawyer, intent on saving his repulsive client from the guillotine.

Continue reading “November Bonus Review #6”

Review: ‘Homicide in Herne Hill’, by Alice Castle

Publication Date: 3rd October 2018

Published By: Crooked Cat Books

Format: Kindle and Paperback

I.S.B.N.: 9781724129325

Price: 99p (Kindle); £6.99 (Paperback)

Blurb

Beth Haldane, SE21’s premier – and only – single mum amateur sleuth, is really pleased to find a new friend at the school gates, in the shape of irrepressibly bouncy Nina. As well as a way with words, Nina has a puzzle she wants Beth to solve, centred on the solicitor’s office where Nina works in Herne Hill.

But as the mystery thickens, threatening to drag in not just Nina and her boss, but the yummy mummies of Dulwich, too, Beth is about to find out just how far some people will go to keep up appearances.

Join Beth in this fourth instalment in the London Murder Mystery series for her toughest case yet.

Purchase Link – myBook.to/homicideinhernehill

Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GPGBSC6

There’s a chance to win a signed copy of the book at the bottom of the post.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Homicide in Herne Hill’, by Alice Castle”

November Bonus Review #5: ‘Tempests and Slaughter’, by Tamora Pierce

Published By: HarperCollins UK

Publication Date: 20th September 2018

I.S.B.N.: 9780008304331

Format: Paperback

Price: £8.99

Blurb

The legend begins.

In the ancient halls of the Imperial University of Carthak, a young man has begun his journey to becoming one of most powerful mages the realm has ever known. Arram Draper is the youngest student in his class and has the Gift of unlimited potential for greatness . . . and of attracting danger.

At his side are his two best friends: clever Varice, a girl with too often-overlooked, and Ozorne, the ‘leftover prince’ with secret ambitions. Together, these three forge a bond that will one day shape kingdoms.

But as Ozorne inches closer to the throne and Varice grows closer to Arram’s heart, Arram realizes that one day – soon – he will have to decide where his loyalties truly lie.

In the Numair Chronicles, fans of Tamora Pierce will be rewarded with the never-before-told story of how Numair Salmalín came to Tortall. Newcomers will discover an unforgettable fantasy adventure where a kingdom’s future rests on the shoulders of a boy with unimaginable gifts and a talent for making deadly enemies.

Continue reading “November Bonus Review #5: ‘Tempests and Slaughter’, by Tamora Pierce”