Published by POINT BLANK 12 March 2020 Hardback £14.99 FEAR Tuva has been living clean in southern Sweden for four months when she receives horrifying news. Her best friend Tammy has gone missing. SECRETS Racing back to Gavrik at the height of Midsommar, Tuva fears for Tammy’s life. Who has taken her, and why? And who is sabotaging the small-town search efforts? LIES Surrounded by dark pine forest, the sinister residents of Snake River are suspicious of outsiders. Unfortunately, they also hold all the answers. On the shortest night of the year, Tuva must fight to save her friend. But who will be there to save Tuva?
It may be Midsommar in Gavrik, but this is the most chilling episode yet in the acclaimed Scandi thriller series from British writer Will Dean.
Think the Lake District is a lovely place to visit? Think again. A Psychological & Chilling Thriller set in and around the fictional town of Kirkdale in Cumbria. One by one the young women of Kirkdale are being found grotesquely murdered, with no clues as to why.
Lying between the great lake Kirkwater and the base of Kirkby Pike, although beautiful, Kirkdale isn’t exactly the most exciting place on the planet. But after young reporter Jenny Flood moves into the relaxed Cumbrian town, it sets a catalogue of events in motion that brings this comfortable community to its knees.
When middle aged G.P. Charlotte Peterson discovers Jenny has followed her from Bradenthorpe, six years after a fling with her philandering doctor husband Miles, it stirs deeply buried mental health issues from her youth. In the run up to the Kirkdale country show, the arrival of this third and most recent adversary triggers the already edgy and emotionally scarred Charlotte into finally stepping over the edge. Her longing to destroy Jenny has been on a slow and very resentful burn for years, now the reality of achieving that presents itself as a genuine possibility.
Can journalist Andrew Gale protect new colleague Jenny, girlfriend Gina and her best friend Molly from the psychotic GP’s insane agenda? How will sarcastic ex Met. Officer Harry Longbridge deal with Andrew’s continued interference?
Then there’s the unexpected arrival of an American mystery woman. And just who is on the Blood List?
Published By: HQ Publication Date: 7th February 2019 Format: Paperback I.S.B.N.: 9780008214791 Price: £8.99 Link
Blurb
London Society takes their problems to Sherlock Holmes. Everyone else goes to Arrowood. 1896: Sherlock Holmes has once again hit the headlines, solving mysteries for the cream of London society. But among the workhouses and pudding shops of the city, private detective William Arrowood is presented with far grittier, more violent, and considerably less well-paid cases.
Arrowood is in no doubt who is the better detective, and when Mr and Mrs Barclay engage him to trace their estranged daughter Birdie, he’s sure it won’t be long before he and his assistant Barnett have tracked her down.
But this seemingly simple missing person case soon turns into a murder investigation. Far from the comfort of Baker Street, Arrowood’s London is a city of unrelenting cruelty, where evil is waiting to be uncovered . . .
My Review
The publicity team at HQ are fab; they sent me this book in late December in time for the blog tour this week. I read it during the last few of days of 2018.
Let’s get to it then.
William Arrowood, his assistant Norman Barnett and the indefatigable Ettie are back, and doing their bit to make the world a better place. When Arrowood and Barnett are asked to find the daughter of Mr and Mrs Barclay, they are drawn into a world of corruption between asylums and workhouses, the abuse of mentally ill people and people with learning difficulties, and face a corrupt police officer and magistrate determined to prevent any investigation.
The story is told by Norman, assistant, back-up for the rather less than spry Arrowood, and recent widower who still hasn’t told anyone. It’s written in his voice, and he comes through loud and clear. His anxieties and frustrations with the case, with Arrowood and with himself as he grieves, fights for justice and faces the threat of being accused of murder. Ettie and Neddy as well as the previously mysterious Lewis come to the fore as they all get involved in the case. This cast of characters are an odd, complex little family and their contrasts and frustrations with each other as they butt heads and worry their way through first a missing persons then a double murder case are entertaining and endearing.
The descriptions of London life, the asylum, the farms, all feel real. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric and gripping novel, that had me reading aloud in my excitement to find out what happened next as we reached the climax.
If you enjoy historical crime novels I recommend this one fully. But read Arrowoodfirst, some of the references will make more sense if you do. I reviewed it in May 2017, and I think this one is definitely an improvement on the first.
I’m not reviewing in this tour, but I’ll have a book spotlight post on the day.
Blurb
Whitechapel is being gentrified. The many green spaces of the area, which typify London as a capital city, give the illusion of peace, tranquility and clean air but are also places to find drug dealers, sexual encounters and murder.
Detective Sergeant Julie Lukula doesn’t dislike Inspector Matthew Merry but he has hardly set the world of the Murder Investigation Team East alight. And, it looks as if the inspector is already putting the death of the young female jogger, found in the park with her head bashed in, down to a mugging gone wrong. The victim deserves more. However, the inspector isn’t ruling anything out – the evidence will, eventually, lead him to an answer.
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?
I’m taking part in this blog tour from Orenda on the 22nd. There is a whole month of book reviews and blog posts for you to enjoy however, so do take a look.
I am very much looking forward to reading and reviewing this novel. You may have seen my excitement on Twitter about it, I love the premise and the book quality is fantastic. I love the cover and texture.
I will be in London tomorrow for a few hours, to see ‘Hamilton’ the musical. I am looking forward to it, and no bloody blizzard is going to stop me! I will try to give you a post-musical review. I’m taking my new tablet with me (got a new phone contract last week to decrease the monthly cost – it came with a tablet upgrade!) and it has soooo much more memory that I’ve been able to get all my apps on it, including WordPress. Also, my train reading will be I Know Where You Live, by Pat Young, which I’m reviewing on Saturday, you may have seen the blog tour poster?
Bye, for now, I have a jacket spud in the micro and I need my tea.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 