Tag Archives: Murder

False Lights ( The Gold Detectives Book 2) by Gillian Hamer #Crime #Mystery @GillyHamer #FridayReads

Posted in Angelsey, Book Review, Books, Crime, Modern Detective, Murder, Mystery, Police Procedural, Reading, Suspense by
  • Author: Gillian Hamer
  • Published: November 2015 by GE Hamer
  • Category: Murder, Mystery, Suspense, Police Procedural, Book Review, Books, Reading

“No one deserves to die like this. No one.” 

An elderly woman is burnt to death in the remote hamlet of Silver Bay. A young woman dies of an overdose on a notorious Holyhead estate. A drugs war is about to explode. Somebody knows but no one is talking. 

The second book in the Gold Detectives series finds DI Amanda Gold and her team; DS Dara Brennan, DS Kelly Morgan and DS Gethin Jones, dealing with a ruthless killer whose weapon of choice is fire. Continue reading →

Murder at the Bridge (Exham on Sea Mysteries 5) by @francesevesham #FridayReads #novella

Posted in Book Review, Books, Cozy Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Murder, Novella, Reading by
  • Author: Frances Evesham
  • Published: June 2017 on Kindle
  • Category: Cozy Murder/Mystery, Book Review, Books, Reading

It’s summer, the sun’s shining, and Libby Forest is celebrating her son’s country wedding in Somerset, surrounded by friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Taking a moment to relax in the marquee after her son, Robert’s wedding to Sarah, Libby Forrest has a strange conversation with Belinda, the bride’s mother, which is interrupted by an unnerving man in a kaftan, causing Libby to prickle with discomfort and Belinda to make a hasty exit. Libby’s innate curiosity is aroused but before she could process her thoughts she is dismayed to hear an altercation break out over a supposedly stolen ring.  Continue reading →

Last Breath (Detective Erika Foster #4) by @RobertBryndza #TuesdayBookBlog @bookouture #BookReview

Posted in Book Review, Books, Contemporary Fiction, Crime, Murder, Police Procedural, Reading, Serial killer, Suspense, Thriller by
  • Author: Robert Bryndza
  • Published: April 2017 by Bookouture
  • Category: Crime, Serial Killer, Police Procedural, Book Review, Reading

He’s your perfect date. You’re his next victim.

When the tortured body of a young woman is found in a dumpster, her eyes swollen shut and her clothes soaked with blood, Detective Erika Foster is one of the first at the crime scene. The trouble is, this time, it’s not her case. 

Detective Chief Inspector Erica Foster is not happy. She hates being stuck behind a desk writing reports, and has been refused her requested transfer to the Murder Investigation Team. She and former colleague, Detective James Peterson, are in a tentative relationship and were together when a call came through to Peterson about a body found in a dumpster. Erika can’t resist taking the initiative and is soon involved in the investigation. Continue reading →

Broken Dolls (Jefferson Winter #1) by James Carol @JamesCarolBooks #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Books, Crime, Fiction, Murder, Mystery, Police Procedural, Reading, Suspense, Thriller by
  • Author: James Carol
  • Published: January 2014 by Faber & Faber
  • Category: Crime, Thriller, Book Review, Books, Reading, Procedural

Jefferson Winter is no ordinary investigator.

The son of one of America’s most renowned serial killers, Winter has spent his life trying to distance himself from his father’s legacy.

After a successful career with the FBI, the last few years as a high achieving profiler, Jefferson Winter’s unconventional approach prompted him to leave the constraints of an organisation and go freelance. He now consults on serial killer cases worldwide.

His father was a convicted serial killer and the three words he mouthed as he lay on the prison gurney waiting to be executed, haunt Winter. It’s one of the incentives that drive him, motivating him to do what he does and also to dissociate himself from his father. Continue reading →

#GuestPost by Laura Gascoigne #author ~ The Horse’s Arse #Excerpt @gilbster1000 #SundayBlogShare

Posted in Blog Tour, Books, Excerpt, Guest Post by

 Welcome to my stop of the blog tour for The Horse’s Arse with a guest post from the author and an excerpt from the book.

Birth of the hero of The Horse’s Arse

If you’ve ever edited a specialist magazine you’ll know it’s a hamster wheel you can never get off. Round and round it goes – planning, commissioning, writing, editing, designing – often leaving the editor no time to pursue the specialism that got them the job in the first place. From 1994-99 I edited Artists & Illustrators magazine, and during those five years I went to fewer exhibitions and private views than at any other time in my life, being usually chained to my desk at private view time. But one exhibition I made an exception for. An invitation card arrived with a painting of the Thames at Wapping that I had to see. No other artist I knew of was painting like this, and I decided to go along and ask him for an interview. Continue reading →

Remember No More ~ A DS Kite Mystery #1 by Jan Newton @BrookCottageBks @janmaesygroes #Crime #FridayReads

Posted in Blog Tour, Book Review, Books, Crime, Murder/Mystery, Reading by

  • Author: Jan Newton
  • Published: March 2017 by Honno Press
  • Category; Crime, Mystery

A DS Kite novel – a city detective joins the mid-Wales force
bringing new insights and ruffling country feathers

Newly promoted DS Julie Kite is at a crossroads.  Her husband’s desire for a different life takes her away from urban Manchester and its inner city problems to tranquil mid-Wales. It is to be a clean slate for them both. On her first day at Builth Wells police station, Julie is thrust unexpectedly into the centre of an investigation into a suspicious death in a remote farming community. 

Back in Manchester, Stephen Collins is set free from HMP Strangeways.  Bible in hand he makes his way to mid-Wales, the scene of the heinous crime for which he was imprisoned, in order to confront those who had a hand in his incarceration.

The twists and turns of the investigation into solicitor Gareth Watkin’s death force DS Kite to confront her own demons as well as those of her rural community and, ultimately, to uncover the lengths to which we’ll go to protect our families…

Continue reading →

Murder at the Cathedral (An Exham on Sea Mystery #4) by @FrancesEvesham #FridayReads #cozy murder/mystery

Posted in Book Review, Cozy Mystery, Murder by
  • Author: Frances Evesham
  • Published: February 2016 by AinsleyAssociates
  • Category: Cozy Murder Mystery

The respectable ladies of the Knitters’ Guild plan a surprise for the cathedral city. The surprise isn’t meant to include murder…

Libby Forrest and her friend Angela Miles are enjoying coffee and a chat in Wells Cathedral café. Angela is a volunteer guide at the cathedral. They are unintentionally witnessing an argument between Libby’s lodger, Mandy and her boyfriend, Steve who is Angela’s nephew. As Mandy storms out Angela’s phone rings. There’s been a murder…..

Giles Temple, a historian, has been researching at the cathedral library and was found that morning by Dr Phillips, the librarian. Libby is determined not to involve herself in another investigation. She is busy organising her son’s wedding, her own business and her plans to set up a private investigation service with Max Ramshore. Not only that, she had found herself agreeing to marry Max as well and was getting cold feet about giving up her independence.  Continue reading →

As The Crow Flies by Damien Boyd (DI Nick Dixon #1) #Crime @DamienBoydBooks #Mystery #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Crime, Murder, Mystery by
  • Author: Damien Boyd
  • Published: January 2015 by Thomas & Mercer
  • Category: Crime, Suspense, Police Procedural

Rock climbing is now a blood sport.

Detective Inspector Nick Dixon’s former climbing partner, Jake Fayter, is dead. Killed in a fall whilst practising a new route on High Rock, Cheddar Gorge. Convinced that Jake would not have made such a simple mistake, Nick Dixon starts digging and uncovers a web of intrigue and criminal activity that will rock the sleepy seaside town of Burnham-on-Sea to its core.

DI Nick Dixon recently left the Metropolitan Police and returned to his home county, joining the Avon and Somerset force and, although few people could understand his reasoning, Nick knew he’d made the right decision. He wasn’t particularly interested in advancement, it was all about solving crimes, even if it had left him in an unfurnished rented cottage. That didn’t matter so much when he was on the beach with his eight month old rescued Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Monty. He is enjoying being on his home turf. Continue reading →

Irex by Carl Rackman ~ based on fact #BookReview for #RBRT @CarlRackman #Histfic #FridayReads

Posted in Book Review, Books, Historical Fiction, Murder, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller by
  • 51gv4vgjy-lAuthor: Carl Rackman
  • Published: September 2016 by Rackman Books
  • Category: Historical, Fiction, Drama
  • five-stars

In the harsh winter of December 1889, the sailing vessel Irex leaves Scotland bound for Rio de Janeiro. She carries three thousand tons of pig iron and just three passengers for what should be a routine voyage. But Captain Will Hutton discovers that one of his passengers hides a horrifying secret.

First of all, I have to say it’s hard to believe this is a debut novel. It’s so good and the quality of the writing is excellent throughout. The story is based in history, the ship, a couple of the main crew members, reason for the wreck and the attempts at rescue, are all fact. Carl Rackman has woven an incredibly imaginative and compelling tale around that tragic event. Continue reading →

The Skeletons of Birkbury by @DianaJFebry #Murder #Mystery in the Cotswolds #FridayReads

Posted in Cozy Mystery, Murder, Mystery by
  • 61etjg0qvilAuthor: Diana J Febry
  • Published: May 2012 by Wings ePress, Inc.
  • Category: Murder, Mystery
  • four-half-stars

Twenty years ago no connection was made between the disappearance of a girl from Cheltenham and a fatal car accident in the small village of Birkbury. But that changes when the body is found buried in Birkbury and there are two further car accidents and a local girl goes missing.

On the strength of reading and enjoying Who Killed Vivien Morse? a little while ago, I added The Skeletons of Birkbury, the first in the series and Diana J Febry’s debut novel, to my reading list. And I wasn’t disappointed. The setting, in a rural village location, was realistically described with the horse and farming community. A great mix of diverse and representational characters add to the appeal, from the ‘gentry’ to the older more civil, sometimes nosey, salt of the earth villagers, although they can appear quite uncooperative at times. Continue reading →