Barnabas Tew and the Hellenic Abduction

Author – Columbkill Noonan

Columbkill Noonan is the author of the best-selling Barnabas Tew series, which features a proper British detective from Victorian London who ends up solving mythological cases for gods all around the world. She was was born in Philadelphia and grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland, and teaches Anatomy and Physiology at a university in Maryland. Her writing is mostly speculative fiction (especially stories that involve mythology, or the supernatural, or any combination thereof). Some of her work is a bit on the spooky side, but usually there is a touch of humor (who says the afterlife has to be serious?) 
When she’s not teaching or writing, Columbkill can be found with her rescue horse (whose name is Mittens), hiking in the woods, or doing yoga of all kinds (aerial yoga and SUP yoga are particular favorites). She is an avid traveler, and can’t wait to get back to seeing the world again.

Columbkill Noonan

Social Media Links –

You can visit her on Twitter @ColumbkillNoon1, or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ColumbkillNoonan.

Publisher – Darkstroke Books

Pages – 245

The Blurb –

Zeus is used to getting what he wants…but that was before he met Barnabas Tew!

Barnabas and Wilfred, the unluckiest detectives ever, are happily enjoying their time in India, working on mastering their emotions, and learning how to do all sorts of interesting yoga poses. They’re having a splendid time, and feel as if they’ve finally found some peace in their lives. Everything changes, though, when Zeus suddenly whisks them away from their idyllic retreat and demands that they solve a case for him.

Having no choice, they reluctantly accept the job, but quickly come to realize that nothing is as it should be. Zeus’ motives are suspect from the beginning, the rest of the Greek gods and goddesses are untrustworthy at best, and Barnabas’ temper hasn’t improved at all during his time in India. And, most importantly, who is the mysterious lady who keeps popping up just when they need her? Is she friend, or is she foe?

To make matters even worse, both Barnabas and Wilfred have unresolved feelings of their own. Can they settle their own emotional affairs, once and for all? Will they figure out what’s right and what’s wrong in this topsy-turvy world of lies, intrigue, and trickery? Or will the Greek gods and goddesses prove too much for them?

Today is my stop on the Barnabas Tew blog tour. Many thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – I absolutely love this collection of books, mixing history and humour for me is a sure fire winner.

The author has created some amazing characters in Tew and his poor side kick Wilfred.

This adventure sees them encountering Zeus, a god. Barnabas is his same old self which provides much of the humour throughout. Zeus wants them to solve a case for him, so they get to meet many Greek gods and goddesses.

I highly recommend this series to everyone.

Purchase Links – http://mybook.to/Hellenic

Murder in the Snow

Author – Verity Bright.

Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s. 

Social Media Links –

https://twitter.com/BrightVerity?s=09

Publisher – Bookouture

Pages – 272

The Blurb –

An English Christmas has mince pies, cheerful carols, a twinkling tree… and a murder? Thank goodness Lady Swift is on the scene!

Winter, 1920. Amateur sleuth Lady Eleanor Swift is feeling festive. She is playing host to the entire village at Henley Hall for gifts, games and gingerbread. She’s also purchased perfect presents for each of her household – not forgetting the biggest bone in the butcher’s shop for her partner in crime, Gladstone the bulldog – and is looking forward to celebrating her first English country Christmas.

As snowflakes fall, Eleanor is cheering on contestants in the traditional Christmas fun run in the grounds of the Hall. But tragedy strikes when one of the runners drops dead at the finish line. Dashing Detective Seldon is convinced it’s just a heart attack, but Eleanor isn’t so sure. When she finds a rather distinctive key where the man fell, Eleanor knows she’ll never rest until she finds out the truth about what happened in her own home.

Next the vicar is taken ill with what looks like poison and Eleanor starts to wonder if the two cases are linked. When someone tries to frame her by planting poisoned berries in her own kitchen, she knows speed is of the essence. But the entire village was at Henley Hall for the festivities and Eleanor has enough suspects to stuff a town full of turkeys. Can she nail the true killer and clear her name in time for Christmas?

Today is my stop on the Murder in the Snow blog tour. Many thanks to Bookouture for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This is another really good read in the Lady Eleanor Swift series.

I love the scene Verity paints for us in this book, it is Christmas in the 1920’s. The writing puts you right there amongst all the party food and decorations but as with all cosy crime books something is about to happen to put a dent in the Christmas celebrations.

When a runner drops down dead, everyone thinks it is a heart attack apart of course for Lady Eleanor. She doesn’t have a lot to go on but when someone else ends up dead she knows she has to act.

With help from her ever faithful butler she endeavours to crack the case and restore the Christmas festivities.

Purchase Links – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1800190719/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabt1_dg5UFbMP8T0CZ

Netted

Author – K.T. Rose

K.T. Rose is a horror, thriller, and dark fiction writer from Detroit, Michigan. She posts suspense and horror flash fiction on her blog at kyrobooks.com and is the author of a suspenseful short story series titled Trinity of Horror, an erotic thriller novel titled When We Swing, and A Dark Web Horror Series. She also writes supernatural and paranormal horror novels and short stories.

Social Media Links –

• Webpage: https://kyrobooks.com/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kyrobooks/

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/K-T-Rose/e/B01N4T91M2

• Twitter: @kyrobooks

• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6480089.K_T_Ro

Pages – 129

The Blurb –

When a serial killer pulls Dale and Jessica into his world of torture and murder, they are left fighting to escape the clutches of a sadistic cult leader.
Dale simply wanted to rebound from a failed relationship. Now, he is fighting to escape abduction.

Jessica’s curiosity led her onto the dark web where she found The Silent Red Room Show. She admired the show from afar…until she found herself sucked in.

Will these perfect strangers survive the dark web? Or will they become a part of a vicious serial killer’s deadly collection?

Today is my stop on the Netted blog tour. Many thanks to Blackthorn Book Tours for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – At 129 pages this is a perfect quick read, as you enter the world of the dark web. This is the first in the Netted trilogy.

As it suggests, nothing good happens in the dark web and when Jessica stumbles across a secret room her curiosity kicks in.

The Silent Red Room Show is a torture room, where people pay to watch people in pain. Is Jessica safe just watching or is someone watching her?

A great start to the trilogy full of twists that make you want to read the second in the series.

Purchase Links – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07N2GXB5W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_oL2UFbPQ2VVE6

Murder at the Gorge

Author – Frances Evesham.

Frances Evesham is the author of the hugely successful Exham-on-Sea Murder Mysteries set in her home county of Somerset. In her spare time, she collects poison recipes and other ways of dispatching her unfortunate victims. She likes to cook with a glass of wine in one hand and a bunch of chillies in the other, her head full of murder―fictional only.

Francis Evesham

Social Media Links –

http://facebook.com/frances.evesham.writer

http://twitter.com/FrancesEvesham

http://instagram.com/francesevesham
http://bookbub.com/authors/frances-evesham

Newsletter sign up: https://bit.ly/FrancesEveshamNewsletter

Publisher – Boldwood Books

Pages – 256

The Blurb –

A joke? A prank? Or something more sinister?

When the Exham-on-Sea residents are targeted by anonymous emails containing apparently harmless nursery rhymes, no one knows whether to laugh or shudder until an unexplained death touches the town.

Libby Forest, baker, chocolatier and Exham’s very own resident private investigator, alongside her partner Max Ramshore, set out to solve the puzzle before more people die. But when Max’s ex-wife arrives on the scene, ahead of Max and Libby’s long-awaited nuptials, things go from bad to worse.

With the town and their relationship under threat, Max and Libby need the help of the Exham History Society if they’re going to find the nursery rhyme killer in time.

Murder at the Gorge is the seventh in a series of Exham-on-Sea Murder Mysteries set at the small English seaside town full of quirky characters, sea air, and gossip.

If you love Agatha Christie-style mysteries, cosy crime, clever dogs and cake, then you’ll love these intriguing whodunnits.

Today is my stop on the Murder at the Gorge blog tour. Many thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – I really love cosy crime books and this is the seventh in this series. This can easily be read as a standalone though as Libby finds herself looking in another case.

Someone in Exham is emailing the residents nursery rhymes which sounds very innocent until there is a death.

I am new to this series and I loved the characters and the plot. It contains all the ingredients needed to make a great read.

Highly recommended.

Purchase Links –

https://amzn.to/3cnJN1F

Into the Void

Author – Jackie O’Reilly.

Christina is an author and proofreader living in the Waikato region of New Zealand. Several of her short stories have been published in anthologies, most recently in Fresh Ink: A Collection of Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand 2019. Into the Void is her first crime novel and was longlisted for the Michael Gifkins Memorial Prize in 2019. It is also a finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards for Best First Novel.

Christine O’Reilly

Social Media Links –

https://www.facebook.com/Christina-OReilly-Author-102419694721372/?modal=admin_todo_tour

The Blurb –

How easy is it for a man to simply disappear?

When rural banker Richard Harper is reported missing, DSS John (Archie) Baldrick and DC Ben Travers are drawn into the tangled details of the man’s life. Would Harper really have chosen to leave his seriously ill wife, and abandon his pregnant girlfriend? Or is there a real threat behind the abusive emails he’d been receiving from desperate clients in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis?

On the home front, Archie’s marriage is rocky and his two teenage daughters are giving him all sorts of trouble. The frail but beautiful Helena Harper and her magnificent house offer an oasis of calm as Archie struggles to discover who is responsible for her husband’s disappearance. Has he really been abducted, tortured or killed? Or is Richard Harper himself behind everything that has happened?
Archie and Travers ultimately face a race against time as the case descends into a bewildering morass of obsession, violence and murder.

Longlisted for the 2019 Michael Gifkins Memorial Prize for an Unpublished Novel
Finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards for Best First Novel

Today is my stop on the Into The Void blog tour. Many thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This is such a good read and I’m hoping the first in a series.

When a man goes missing, the police get to delve into his complicated life. He has a wife and a girlfriend for starters. Is his disappearance linked to his personal life or is something more sinister going on.

The story introduces us to DSS John Baldrick and DS Ben Travers, both characters I enjoyed getting to know them.

The story is well written and the mystery gathers speed to an interesting conclusion.

Highly recommended.

Purchase Links –

US – https://www.amazon.com/Into-Void-Christina-OReilly-ebook/dp/B08529J3DY

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Into-Void-Christina-OReilly-ebook/dp/B08529J3DY

Everyone is a Moon

Author – Sawney Hatton.

Sawney Hatton is an author, editor, and screenwriter. His published credits include the Dark Comedy novel Dead Size, the YA Noir novella Uglyville, and his Dark Fiction short story collection Everyone Is a Moon. His most recent novella The Devil’s Delinquents appears in the Noir-inspired anthology Murder in Montague Falls. He also edited the Sci-Fi Horror anthology What Has Two Heads, Ten Eyes, and Terrifying Table Manners?

Other incarnations of Sawney have produced marketing videos, attended all-night film festivals, and played the banjo and sousaphone (not at the same time). He fancies himself as somebody you can relax and have a beer with, and encourages people to buy him beer in exchange for his company. As of this writing, he is still very much alive.

Sawney Hatton

Social Media Links –

You can become better acquainted with him at http://www.SawneyHatton.com. You’ll also find him lurking on Facebook and Twitter.

Publisher – Dark Park Publishing

Pages – 212

The Blurb –

“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” —Mark Twain

From the devilishly inventive mind of Sawney Hatton comes this twisted collection of 12 Dark Fiction tales featuring a magical finger, a cannibalistic memorial, an extreme piercing parlor, a Space Age monastery, a budding serial killer, and more.

Presenting three new, never-before-published stories, as well as re-mastered versions of earlier works, this collection is sure to disturb and delight readers who like to play in the dark.

Trigger warnings
• ‘Pet’: animal abuse
• ‘The Dark at the Deep End’: explicit torture
• ‘Suitable for Framing’: sexual assault
Not suitable for readers under 18

Today is my stop on the Everyone is a Moon blog tour. Many thanks to Blackthorn Book Tours for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This collection of short stories comes with a warning, but if you enjoy dark and twisted you will love it.

Like I said it is not for the faint hearted but those who love horror and different, these stories will not fail to entertain you.

The author lets his unique style pour out of the pages, as you work your way through the very different twelve stories.

Highly recommended.

Purchase Links –

Murder on the Dancefloor

Author – Helena Dixon.

Nell Dixon was born and continues to live in the Black Country. Married to the same man for over thirty-five years she has three daughters, a cactus called Spike, a crazy cockapoo and a tank of tropical fish. She is allergic to adhesives, apples, tinsel and housework. Her addictions of choice are coffee and reality TV. She was winner of The Romance Prize in 2007 with her book Marrying Max, and winner of Love Story of the Year 2010 with her book, Animal Instincts. She also writes historical 1930’s set cozy crime as Helena Dixon.

Helena Dixon

Social Media Links –

Website:http://www.nelldixon.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/nell.dixon

Twitter:      https://twitter.com/NellDixon

Publisher – Bookouture

Pages – 260

The Blurb –

Kitty Underhay’s dance card is full… of death.

November 1933. Amateur sleuth-cum-dutiful granddaughter Kitty Underhay stifles a sigh of boredom as she attends the annual Hoteliers’ Association Dinner and Dance on behalf of her grandmother, the proprietress of the Dolphin Hotel. She hopes the company of ex-army captain Matthew Bryant will enliven the otherwise dull evening. That is, until bullish and overbearing local councillor Harold Everton drops dead into his bowl of consommé.

While the local police are still scrambling for their whistles, Kitty and Matt waste no time leaping into action. Soon they find themselves caught up a dangerous search to uncover who amongst the distinguished guests used cyanide for seasoning?

When their digging throws light on a corruption scandal brewing in the local council involving Everton’s assistant Thomas King, they are sure they’ve cracked the case. But before he can be questioned further, King’s body is found in a smouldering car wreck. Meanwhile, the murderer has made a sinister plan to avoid detection or punishment, and it will lead Kitty and Matt into a dangerous dance with death…

A fast, fun and utterly unputdownable Golden Age cozy murder mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T E Kinsey and Lee Strauss.

Today is my stop on the Murder on the Dancefloor blog tour. Many thanks to Bookouture for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This is the fourth in the Kitty Underhay series and is a great addition to the collection.

Again Kitty and her friend Matthew find themselves surrounded by mystery when a obnoxious member of the council drops down dead at a dinner they are attending.

Naturally they start their own investigation and start to unearth secrets within the council, and are surprised when quite quickly they have solved the case. However this book is full of twists as things are not as they first suspected.

Along side the murder Kitty continues with her own personal history, as she hones in on the disappearance of her mother years before.

The author successfully brings the era to life as you immerse yourself in the 1930’s.

A great read.

Purchase Links – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08BV2V69Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_MrtNFbGQS8VKB

Unbound Ties

Author – Liz Mistry.

Born in Scotland, Made in Bradford sums up Liz Mistry’s life. Over thirty years ago she moved from a small village in West Lothian to Yorkshire to get her teaching degree. Once here, Liz fell in love with three things; curries, the rich cultural diversity of the city … and her Indian husband (not necessarily in this order). Now thirty years, three children, two cats (Winky and Scumpy) and a huge extended family later, Liz uses her experiences of living and working in the inner city to flavour her writing. Her gritty crime fiction police procedural novels set in Bradford embrace the city she describes as ‘Warm, Rich and Fearless’ whilst exploring the darkness that lurks beneath.

Struggling with severe clinical depression and anxiety for a large number of years, Liz often includes mental health themes in her writing. She credits the MA in Creative Writing she took at Leeds Trinity University with helping her find a way of using her writing to navigate her ongoing mental health struggles. Being a debut novelist in her fifties was something Liz had only dreamed of and she counts herself lucky, whilst pinching herself regularly to make sure it’s all real. One of the nicest things about being a published author is chatting with and responding to readers’ feedback and Liz regularly does events at local libraries, universities, literature festivals and open mics. She also teaches creative writing too. Now, having nearly completed a PhD in Creative Writing focussing on ‘the absence of the teen voice in adult crime fiction’ and ‘why expansive narratives matter’, Liz is chock full of ideas to continue writing.

In her spare time, Liz loves pub quizzes (although she admits to being rubbish at them), dancing (she does a mean jig to Proud Mary – her opinion, not ratified by her family), visiting the varied Yorkshire landscape, with Robin Hoods Bay being one of her favourite coastal destinations, listening to music, reading and blogging about all things crime fiction on her blog, The Crime Warp.

Liz Mistry

Social Media Links –
FB https://www.facebook.com/LizMistrybooks/
Twitter @LizMistryAuthor
Website: https://www.lizmistry.com/

Publisher – Murder Books Publications

Pages – 295

The Blurb –

Unbound Ties book 7 in the DI Gus McGuire series. DI Gus McGuire Book 7.
When the past unravels, all that’s left is death.

Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly,
When DI Gus McGuire is called out to the murder of a pregnant woman, the crime scene tells him that this killer is not only taunting them … he’s also just getting started.

Lavender’s green,
With ritualistic precision, the killer has placed a series of clues beneath the victim’s feet. Gus soon realises that these clues link back to his mother’s past as a child in foster care in Scotland.

When I am king, dilly dilly,
Troubled by his mum’s secrets, Gus is in a dark place. Side-lined from the main investigation, Gus works another murder, not realising that the two are linked and that the killer is closer than he realises … Dangerously close.

You shall be queen.
Then the killer begins to target people near to Gus. Angry and determined Gus races to unravel the past and catch this sadist before the loss is too much for him to bear.

The seventh gripping thriller in the DI Gus McGuire series, for fans of Angela Marsons, Val McDermid and LJ Ross.

Today is my stop on the Unbound Ties blog tour. Many thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This is the next in the series of the DI McGuire collection.

A clever killer is set to wreak havoc on Gus’s life and that of his family. They leave clues when they murder a woman and Gus is left to decipher the threat.

When it appears the killer is targeting those close to him, he is resigned to another case but realised that they may be a crossover. Can he stop this killer before they cause any more heartbreak?

The author has written this plot extremely well. Part of the back story, that Gus discovers, is poignant and makes you think about how life was/is for some people.

A great read.

Purchase Links – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08KJBB2HF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_lFdMFbPK0EMA4

Murder Me Tomorrow

Author – Keith Wright.

Former Detective, Keith Wright’s books, have achieved critical acclaim in The Times and Sunday Express.

HIS NOVELS NOW REVISED AND REMASTERED WITH NEW CHARACTERS AND SCENES. UPDATED – AS BRAND NEW VERSIONS, CONTINUE TO THRILL READERS AND REVIEWERS.

His first novel ‘One Oblique One’ was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association Award for the best debut crime novel of the year. Keith is now re-mastering his novels, with additional scenes and characters for publication in the digital age to a wider audience. They are a period piece of no-nonsense detective work and the activities and culture of a pre-digital age. They are an incredible snap-shot of a period, before the internet and political correctness. My, how times have changed.

Keith joined the police in 1979 and quickly became a Detective on CID, then being promoted to Detective Sergeant and dealing with all major crime such as Homicide, Armed Robbery and Rape, and everything else in between.

Keith spent 25 years in the police service, retiring in 2005 as a Detective Sergeant. He then began working for a global business, leading the Serious and Corporate Investigations Unit dealing with sensitive cases, such as bribery, and blackmail allegations.

He still lives in Nottingham, and is engaged to Jackie. He has four wonderful children; Chris, Andy, Harry and Lily.

Keith Wright

Social Media Links –

For a full bio and free short stories and samples of his work, visit KeithWrightauthor.co.uk
Follow the author on Twitter @keithwwright

Pages – 314

The Blurb –

I do not know what second it will be, what minute it will be, what hour, or even day. But it will come. You may see it coming. You may not. Regardless, I can guarantee you; there will be a moment like no other when you will draw your last breath. Like it or lump it. And at that moment you will see your final view of the world. However, what I do not know, is whether your last glimpse will be the sympathetic countenance of a loved one or the grotesque, contorted, teeth-clenched face of a crazed killer. Nor do you. That is yet to be determined. Other options are available.’

Paul Masters, a family man, awakes to find his wife and daughter murdered. But how? It seems impossible. He is arrested for the crime. As he suffers a breakdown, Paul admits to the killing, but DI Stark and his team have serious doubts. When another horrific rape and murder takes place, these doubts seem well-founded, and the race is on to catch the maniac who will stop at nothing to feed his depravity.

In his fifth crime thriller, critically acclaimed author, Keith Wright, once again regales the stark reality of murder, derived from his hands-on experience as a CID detective sergeant working in an inner-city area. All Keith’s books are set in Nottingham in the 1980s – a time before political correctness and mobile phones. It was a different world.

Today is my stop on the Murder Me Tomorrow blog tour. Many thanks to Sarah Hardy for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – Any book in this series is an excellent read.

This book sees a man waking up to find his whole family dead. The police are thrilled a completely contained scene with the culprit there. A slam dunk case and although he remembers nothing, the man confesses.

All this has happened while Stark has been off. So when he hears off the case he immediately knows something is off.

Even with a confession he investigates and unearths facts that the previous team didn’t even bother to find.

A great addition to the series.

Purchase Links – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08HTM6CP3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_oAVLFbTB6Z0MP

Five Little Words

Author – Jackie Walsh.

Jackie Walsh lives in Dublin with her husband Paul and dog Layla. She is a member of the Irish Writers Centre and The Irish Crime writer’s group. After years spent building her own business she decided to take time out and pursue her interest in writing. With a lot to learn, Jackie attended classes, writing groups and travelled to lots of festivals and launches She secured a publishing deal with Hera Books who published Familiar Strangers and The Secrets He Kept in 2019 and Five Little Words in 2020.

Jackie Walsh

Social Media Links –

Twitter: @JackieWalsh_ie

Publisher – Hera

Pages – 250

The Blurb –

..Can destroy your life

‘Wow, wow, wow, this book had me guessing all the way to the end!’ ☆☆☆☆☆ Reader Review

When new mother, Laura Caldwell, opens the card dropped through her letterbox, she expected to see a heartfelt note, congratulating her on the birth of baby Shay.

Instead, she sees a message that makes her blood run cold. ‘Your husband is a murderer.’ It couldn’t be true, could it? Not Conor, her adoring husband. He couldn’t be behind the brutal killing of local barmaid, Vicky. Not him.

But while Laura fights to discover the truth about her husband, she’s also holding dark secrets of her own; secrets she’s spent years trying to hide. Could the card be a desperate attempt at revenge – or could her husband really be a murderer? There’s a tangled web between this perfect couple – and the truth might just destroy them…

Today is my stop on the Five Little Words blog tour. Many thanks to Sarah Hardy for the chance to read and review.

My thoughts – This is such a good read.

You never know what goes on behind closed doors, Laura and Conor seem to have it all, they are happily married and have had addition to the family, the birth of their new baby.

The congratulations flood in from the residents of the small village in which they live. However amongst these is a card accusing Conor of being a murderer.

Laura doesn’t believe the card but who did kill the local barmaid, if she can solve that mystery she can clear her husband’s name.

However as she delves further she discovers more secrets and she must be careful not to let her own secrets be discovered.

Highly recommended.

Purchase Links –