Sister

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Author – Kjell Ola Dahl.

One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, Kjell Ola Dahl was born in 1958 in Gjøvik. He made his debut in 1993, and has since published eleven novels, the most prominent of which is a series of police procedurals cum psychological thrillers featuring investigators Gunnarstranda and Frølich. In 2000 he won the Riverton Prize for The Last Fix and he won both the prestigious Brage and Riverton Prizes for The Courier in 2015. His work has been published in 14 countries, and he lives in Oslo.

Kjell Ola Dahl

Social Media Links –

Twitter – @ko_dahl

Publisher – Orenda Books

Pages – 276

The Blurb –

Oslo detective Frølich searches for the mysterious sister of a young female asylum seeker, but when people start to die, everything points to an old case and a series of events that someone will do anything to hide… Suspended from duty, Detective Frølich is working as a private investigator, when his girlfriend’s colleague asks for his help with a female asylum seeker, who the authorities are about to deport. She claims to have a sister in Norway, and fears that returning to her home country will mean instant death. Frølich quickly discovers the whereabouts of the young woman’s sister, but things become increasingly complex when she denies having a sibling, and Frølich is threatened off the case by the police. As the body count rises, it becomes clear that the answers lie in an old investigation, and the mysterious sister, who is now on the run… A dark, chilling and up-to-the-minute Nordic Noir thriller, Sister is also a tense and well-plotted murder mystery with a moving tragedy at its heart, cementing Kjell Ola Dahl as one of the greatest crime writers of our generation.

Today is my stop on the Sister blog tour. Many thanks to Anne Cater for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This is the first book I have read by Kjell Ola Dahl and I was really impressed. I can not wait to read the others in the series.

This book sees Detective Frolich helping a woman who is about to be deported. She tells him to find her sister, she might be able to help her case. However when Frolich finds the sister she denies, she denies the family connection.

Confused, he continues trying to help, but when people start turning up dead, he realises that there is a lot more to this case than he first thought. The supposed sister is now missing.

This is brilliantly written as the author builds the tension from page to page, as the truth finally unfolds.

Purchase Links – Sister

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18 Tiny Deaths

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Author – Bruce Goldfarb.

Bruce Goldfarb is the executive assistant to the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maryland, US, where the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death are housed. He gives conducted tours of the facility and is also a trained forensic investigator. He began his career as a paramedic before working as a journalist, reporting on medicine, science and health.

He collaborated with Susan Marks – the documentary filmmaker who produced the 2012 film about Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshells titled Of Dolls and Murder.

Bruce_Goldfarb

Social Media Links –

Twitter – https://twitter.com/bruce_goldfarb

Website – http://brucegoldfarb.com/

Publisher – Endeavour

Pages – 320

The Blurb –

For most of human history, sudden and unexpected deaths of a suspicious nature, when they were investigated at all, were examined by lay persons without any formal training. People often got away with murder. Modern forensic investigation originates with Frances Glessner Lee – a pivotal figure in police science.

Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962), born a socialite to a wealthy and influential Chicago family, was never meant to have a career, let alone one steeped in death and depravity. Yet she became the mother of modern forensics and was instrumental in elevating homicide investigation to a scientific discipline.

Frances Glessner Lee learned forensic science under the tutelage of pioneering medical examiner Magrath – he told her about his cases, gave her access to the autopsy room to observe post-mortems and taught her about poisons and patterns of injury. A voracious reader too, Lee acquired and read books on criminology and forensic science – eventually establishing the largest library of legal medicine.

Lee went on to create The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death – a series of dollhouse-sized crime scene dioramas depicting the facts of actual cases in exquisitely detailed miniature – and perhaps the thing she is most famous for. Celebrated by artists, miniaturists and scientists, the Nutshell Studies are a singularly unusual collection. They were first used as a teaching tool in homicide seminars at Harvard Medical School in the 1930s, and then in 1945 the homicide seminar for police detectives that is the longest-running and still the highest-regarded training of its kind in America. Both of which were established by the pioneering Lee.

In 18 Tiny Deaths, Bruce Goldfarb weaves Lee’s remarkable story with the advances in forensics made in her lifetime to tell the tale of the birth of modern forensics.

Today is my stop on the 18 Tiny Deaths blog tour. Many thanks to Anne Cater for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This is a truly amazing book. I read a lot of books and watch a lot of television programmes about forensic science and I have never heard of Frances Glessner Lee.

She is such a fascinating character and I’m glad that this biography has been written, celebrating her influence and contribution to forensic science. Her study into the field and her creation of miniature crime scenes to explain and educate murder investigations was groundbreaking.

There are pictures included in the book so you can see for yourself the work Frances Glessner Lee did and although I hadn’t heard of her before, I realised that these dioramas have been referenced in several television series including CSi and Elementary.

Thanks to Lee’s work many advances have been made in the field of forensice science and we should all be grateful for that.

This book is brilliantly written and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Purchase Links – 18 Tiny Deaths

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Killing Pretties

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Author – Rob Ashman.

Rob is married to Karen with two grown up daughters. He is originally from South Wales and after moving around with work settled in North Lincolnshire where he’s spent the last twenty-two years.

Like all good welsh valley boys Rob worked for the National Coal Board after leaving school at sixteen and went to University at the tender age of twenty-three when the pit closures began to bite. Since then he’s worked in a variety of manufacturing and consulting roles both in the UK and abroad.

It took Rob twenty-four years to write his first book. He only became serious about writing it when his dad got cancer. It was an aggressive illness and Rob gave up work for three months to look after him and his mum. Writing Those That Remain became his coping mechanism. After he wrote the book his family encouraged him to continue, so not being one for half measures, Rob got himself made redundant, went self-employed so he could devote more time to writing and four years later the Mechanic Trilogy was the result. 

Rob published Those That Remain, In Your Name and Pay the Penance with Bloodhound Books and has since written the DI Rosalind Kray series. These are Faceless, This Little Piggy, Suspended Retribution and Jaded which are also published by Bloodhound.

His latest work sees the introduction of a new set of characters – DS Khenan Malice and DC Kelly Pietersen. The first book in the series is titled Killing Pretties and the second is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Lies. Both books will be published this year.

When he is not writing, Rob is a frustrated chef with a liking for beer and prosecco, and is known for occasional outbreaks of dancing.

Rob Ashman

Social Media Links –

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rob-Ashman-Author-1428800800468097/

Website: http://robashman.com/

Twitter: @RobAshmanAuthor

Pages – 295

The Blurb –

Detective Sergeant Khenan Malice is a rubbish ex-husband, a crap father but a damned good detective. It’s a shame he spoils his only redeeming quality by being a bent copper.

Detective Kelly Pietersen joins the team to help find a missing woman. But she has a secret…

Damien Kaplan is a leading criminal barrister and a keen amateur potter. He also happens to be a serial killer with a chilling approach to creating his art. He’s married to Elsa, though she considers him more of a possession than a husband. She controls those around her using sex and procures men and women for her husband to play with but only after she’s finished with them first.

Killing Pretties is his passion, having sex with them is hers. It is difficult to say which one is worse. The missing woman brings all four crashing together – an incendiary mix that doesn’t end well.

Today is my stop on the Killing Pretties blog tour. Many thanks to Sarah Hardy BOTBS for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This is a brilliant read. The author has created some exceptional characters in Elsa and Damien. A really twisted couple who relish their own debaucheries and end up feeding off each others desires.

DS Khenan Malice and Detective Kelly Pietersen are tasked with finding a missing woman, Belinda Garrett. It isn’t long into their investigation that they realise that she isn’t the only woman to have disappeared. Are the cases linked?

A really good start to a new series, the dynamic between Malice and Pietersen works well and I am interested to see how this relationship develops.

Purchase Links – Killing Pretties

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Blog Blitz – Texas Style Justice

Author – Susan P Baker

Social Media Links –

Website – www.susanpbaker.com

Instagram: @suewritesandreads

Facebook: @legalwriter

The Blurb –

Devastated by a divorce and death of a child, Judge Torie Van Fleet rebuilds her life around succeeding in the justice system. Her goal: the U.S. Supreme Court. Vowing to do whatever it takes, she risks her relationship with her new husband, her relationship with her best friend, and the support of her constituents. Not until the critical first step in the process does she realize what an exorbitant price her backers demand that she pay. Will she risk everything, come to terms with her priorities, or does she even have a choice? 

Two Lives

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Author – A Yi.

A Yi (author) is a celebrated Chinese writer living in Beijing. He worked as a police officer before becoming editor-in chief of Chutzpah, an avant garde literary magazine. He is the author of several collections of short stories and has published fiction in Granta and the Guardian. In 2010 he was shortlisted for the People’s Literature Top 20 Literary Giants of the Future. A Perfect Crime, his first book in English was published by Oneworld in 2015. He is noted for his unsentimental worldview, and challenging literary style.

A Yi

Alex Woodend (Translator) is a writer/translator whose fascination with Spanish and Chinese began at Franklin & Marshall College. He continued his studies at Columbia University where he wrote his Masters on early post-Mao literature. Translator of The Captain Riley Adventures , Murder in Dragon City, and other works, he currently lives in New York.

Social Media Links –

Twitter – @alexwoodend

Publisher – Flame Tree Press

FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched recently in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Pages – 288

The Blurb –

Seven stories, seven whispers into the ears of life: A Yi’s unexpected twists of crime burst from the everyday, with glimpses of romance distorted by the weaknesses of human motive. A Yi employs his forensic skills to offer a series of portraits of modern life, both uniquely Chinese, and universal in their themes. His years as a police officer serve him well as he teases the truth from simple observation, now brought into the English language in a masterful translation by Alex Woodend. The stories include Two Lives, Attic, Spring, Bach, Predator. The first in the new Flame Tree Press series, Stories from China.

Today is my stop on the Two Lives blog tour. Many thanks to Anne Cater for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – I am always saying I am a huge fan of short stories and this collection is no different. I will start by saying that this book is not for the faint hearted amongst you. It deals with a lot of issues, and includes violence.

There are seven stories in the book and if you don’t mind a challenging read then this is definitely for you. Yes it is dark but it is so well written that the characters and situations come off the page and I have found the book stay with you after. Making you think, and I always find this a good thing.

Highly recommended.

Purchase Links – Two Lives

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Tapestry

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Author – Beth Duke.

Beth Dial Duke is an Amazon #1 Best Selling author and the recipient of short story awards on two continents. 
She is eyeing the other five.
Beth lives in the mountains of her native Alabama with her husband, one real dog, one ornamental dog, and a flock of fluffy pet chickens.
She loves reading, writing, and not arithmetic.
Baking is a hobby, with semi-pro cupcakes and amateur macarons a speciality.
And puns—the worse, the better.
Travel is her other favourite thing, along with joining book clubs for discussion. Please invite her to London…England or Kentucky, either is fine. Anywhere!

Beth Duke

Social Media Links –

Website – bethduke.com

Twitter – @bethidee

Publisher – The Art of Dixie

Pages – 346

The Blurb –

Twenty-one-year-old Skye Willis lives in Eufaula, Alabama, a tourist mecca of stately homes and world-class bass fishing. Her childhood friends are either stuck at dead ends or have moved on to accomplish Big Things.

Skye’s grandmother, Verna, insists on being called “Sparrow” because she suspects her ancestors were Muscogee Creek. She dresses in faux deerskin and experiments with ancient Native American recipes, offering a myth or legend to anyone who will listen.

Skye has no idea what to do with her life. She’s smart as hell, but she has no faith or knowledge there’s something out there she was “born to do.” Nor does she know much of anything about her father, who died in Afghanistan when she was a toddler. He and his family are a mystery her mother won’t discuss. But when Sparrow sets out to confirm her Creek ancestry through genetic testing, Skye joins in. The results hit like a DNA bomb, launching them both on a path filled with surprises and life-changing events. Skye learns a harder truth than she ever expected.

Alternating chapters between Skye’s Alabama life and an intertwining tale of greed, deceit, and control in Texas, this story offers proof that all life is a woven tapestry of past, present, and future.

In Beth Duke’s uplifting and soul-singing voice, TAPESTRY is Southern Fiction at its best; you will cry, you will laugh out loud, and you will wish you were a member of the beautiful, matriarchal family Duke has created for her readers.
A must-read for fans of Fannie Flagg, Anne Rivers Siddons, and Rebecca Wells.

Today is my stop on the Tapestry blog tour. Many thanks to Anne Cater for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This is a beautifully crafted book.

Skye feels like her life is stuck, she lives in Alabama and is desperate to find out what her purpose is.

Her grandmother insists on being called ‘Sparrow’ as she s convinced she has Native Indian roots, so when she decides to do a genealogical DNA test to prove her theory, Skye gets involved.

She feels the loss of her father deeply and is keen to learn more about her roots too. The results they find will change their and their families lives forever.

As I said it is a well crafted book as you become engrossed in these people’s lives and their histories. Have some tissues at hand.

Purchase Links – Tapestry

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Flowers On Her Grave

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Author – Jennifer Chase.

Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and best-selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells.

In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists, and member of the International Thriller Writers.  

Jennifer Chase

Social Media Links –

Twitter – @JChaseNovelist

Website – https://authorjenniferchase.com/

Publisher – Bookouture

Pages – 328

The Blurb –

On the floor, amongst the piles of freshly pressed laundry, lay the woman’s lifeless body, her pale yellow nightdress soaked in blood.
“I didn’t do it…” came a whisper from the corner of the room.

Detective Katie Scott has never seen two people more in love than her aunt and uncle as they danced on the decking the night of their wedding anniversary party. But the next morning, when Katie finds her aunt’s body sprawled across the floor, that perfect image is shattered forever.

All fingers point to Katie’s uncle, Pine Valley’s beloved sheriff and protector – after all, his prints are all over the antique knife found at the scene. Grieving, but certain of her uncle’s innocence, Katie is consigned to the cold case division after she’s discovered searching the house for clues. Does someone want to keep her as far away from this investigation as possible?

Ignoring warnings from her team, Katie digs into her uncle’s old case files and discovers photographs of the body of a young girl found tied to a tree after a hike in search of a rare flower. Her body is covered with the same unusual lacerations her aunt suffered. Katie knows it can’t be a coincidence, but every lead she follows takes her to a dead end.

Moments before the sheriff is arrested, Katie realises that a single piece of thread she found at the crime scene could be the missing link that will stitch old crimes to new. But how can she prove her uncle’s innocence without throwing herself directly into the line of fire? She doesn’t have a choice, he’s the only family she has left…

A totally jaw-dropping crime thriller with an ending you will never see coming! Perfect for anyone who adores Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh.  

Today is my stop on the Flowers on her Grave blog tour. Many thanks to Bookouture for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – I was pleased to read this after reading Her Last Whisper the previous book in the series.

This book hits closer to home for Katie as a member of her family is found murdered. All the evidence points to another family member but Katie knows this can’t be the case. Using her knowledge of cold cases she tries to prove their innocence, even though she is not allowed to work on the case. She finds striking similarities between her aunt’s case and another cold case she has seen.

A really well written book, highly recommended.

Purchase Links –

Amazon: https://bit.ly/39a7hVs

Apple Books: https://apple.co/2U7txv9

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2U4MJcP

Google Play: https://bit.ly/2wfPMpC

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