Last Testament in Bologna #TomBenjamin #LastTestamentInBologna

By Tom Benjamin https://www.tombenjamin.com/ @Tombenjaminsays

Published by Constable https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/imprint/constable/page/lbbg-imprint-constable/ (an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/ @LittleBrownUK)

294 pages ISBN 9781408715574

Publication date 2 May 2024

Last Testament in Bologna is the fifth book in the Daniel Leicester series.

I was sent a paperback copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours @RandomTTours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and Publisher.

The cover

A very simple but straightforward cover that shouts out Renaissance Italy. It’s the Fountain of Neptune in Piazza del Nettuno that dates from 1566 and shows the bronze statue of Neptune himself. When you can use picture like this to capture the setting of your novel why choose anything else? It’s simply fabulous.

My review

A strange request in a last will and testament of Giorgio Chiesa leads to a most unusual request of Faidate Investigations. The deceased was an engineer specialising in automotives, whose brilliant invention was stolen and patented by his nemesis and arch-rival. His bequest is a third of his estate to investigate the circumstances of the death of his son Niki in a car crash. People die every day in road traffic accidents, but Niki was an expert driver, destined to be one of the greats of Formula 1, whose car simply left the road. Giorgio never believed it was an accident or suicide. He took his conviction, that it was murder, to his deathbed and his dying wish was for this to be proved posthumously, as a tribute to Niki. This conviction was strengthened by the fact that at his death Niki was employed as a racing driver by Giorgio’s great rival, Massimiliano (Max) Molinari.

‘Comandante’ Giovanni Faidate agrees to fulfil the terms of this legacy to the best of their ability, but as he is heading off to hospital for a hip replacement it will fall to his son in law Daniel Leicester to do the bulk of the investigative work. An assignment that will see him rubbing shoulders with the super wealthy and the criminal classes.

Mention Italy and thoughts that come to mind are fine food and wine, fabulous art and architecture, and very fast cars (though in the 70s and 80s they made plenty of rust buckets). If you do think like this, you are not going to be disappointed, as they all figure to some degree.

Anyone who has experienced the Italy that found away from the coastal sun traps of Sorrento and Rimini, will be captivated by the setting and appreciate the author’s fondness for the city. To counterpoint the glamour of the motor racing world we see the ordinary and mundane of urban life in a city rich in history. The cafes are not those of ‘café society’ but normal places where workers stop for a coffee or breakfast before work, something slightly alien to the British, but just a way of life in Southern Europe. This is captured so well that it had be thinking to my working visits to Livorno. Daniel’s daughter Rose is learning to drive, adding to the driving theme and the descriptions of life on Italy’s road rang so true. On one visit to our surprise, we were driven through a red light to which our driver remarked in the UK it is a command to stop, in Italy it is more of a suggestion!

The plot centres on discovering if Niki was murdered but ends up unearthing much more. Car lovers will love the descriptions of the supercars and the racing at Imola, with the ghosts of the past still there. The spirit of the days when Niki Lauda took on James Hunt are evoked, when Grand Prix were more like a chivalric joust, a contest of man more than machine, which at the time were seen as more fun but were reckless and infinitely more dangerous. Naturally a with such a setting the novel needs to work through the gears until it reaches top speed which it does with aplomb on the track and in the case.

The crimes uncovered are dark but certainly believable. Great wealth is rarely accumulated quickly by entirely fair means entirely. The love of money stimulates greed, the desire for more that leaves the rest of us wondering just how much is enough. There is also as sense that when you can afford anything you want it all becomes a little bit boring and you want the things you can’t buy or acquire.

Organised crime rears its ugly head, and the criminals are suitably nasty. There is jeopardy and danger with a side order of violence, which doesn’t always come from where one might expect it, as we build up to a satisfying conclusion.

Another key aspect of Italian life is the family and at Faidate Investigations they are one big family that live together. If they are not directly related, they are cousins or quickly subsumed as a ‘cousin’. This brings some lovely interactions and the human touch, such as Rose’s little secret that everyone knows apart from her father. There is care and concern as family members sort out their problems together which are touchingly portrayed as Giovanni’s hospital stay throws up complications and Dolores’ drops a bombshell from her past.

In Last Testament in Bologna the glamour and opulence of the super-rich collide with crime and skulduggery on a Formula 1 race track.      

Last Testament in Bologna can be purchased via the publisher’s website here

The author

Tom Benjamin grew up in the suburbs of north London and began his working life as a journalist before becoming a spokesman for Scotland Yard. He later moved into public health, where he led drugs awareness programme FRANK. He now lives in Bologna.

Don’t forget to check out the other great reviews on this blog tour:

Liquid, Fragile, Perishable #CarolynKuebler #LiquidFragilePerishable

The hope and fears of small town America

By Carolyn Kuebler https://www.carolynkuebler.com/

Published by Melville House https://mhpbooks.com/ @melvillehouse

343 pages ISBN 9781685891091

Publication date 9 May 2024

I was sent a paperback Advance Reader Copy in exchange for a fair review. I would like to thank Tom at the publisher for arranging this.

The Cover

Quite an unusual, stand out cover, with a picture of a honeycomb. Bee keeping is central to the story so rather apt.

My review

A debut novel, albeit from a woman steeped in the literary world, and a rather bold one at that. There is no real central plot that drives the novel, instead it is more structured like a collage of individual character-based stories. These stories manage to intersect, overlap or run parallel and represent just over a year in the lives of the inhabitants of a small rural, New England community. These stories reflect the joy, pain, pleasures and hardships faced by people and include most of what life has to offer. There are aspects of ‘the circle of life’ story but by covering only a year it concentrates on a series of personal journeys travelled by the townsfolk.   

The central picture of the collage is a simple teenage love story, where boy meets girl and they are instantly besotted. The boy is Willoughby (Will) Culper a city boy whose parents have just moved to the country and he is having a summer at home, before college. The girl is Dorothy (Honey) Mitchell the over protected daughter of evangelical Christian beekeepers. A story of star-crossed lovers that is captivating, with measures of joy and tragedy, and in keeping with classic literature.

Will’s parents have moved from New York; his mother Sarah wants to get back into weaving after a long break, whereas environmentalist father has the wanderlust and wants to travel and write more about global warming and conservation.

Honey’s parents David and Ruth (fine biblical names) run an apiary and during the winter months David does missionary work in the form of volunteering in Haiti and badly effected places. Their biggest fear revolves around the health of their hives under the threat of Colony Collapse Disorder.

There are conflicts and opposites everywhere. There are monied city types moving to the quiet of the countryside whilst the impoverished local economy drives country folk in the opposite direction in search of a better standard of life. Parents wanting a safe, relaxed rural upbringing for their children, who long for excitement. A situation to be found throughout small town American and indeed much of the developed world.  

This is a close-knit community where people have few other options than to try to get along with each other. Friendships form, develop and mature, including a story of love coming later in life. Problems are shared, conflict and tragedy bring people unexpectedly together as they learn to live with each other. Teenagers mature and blossom, even those from the local ne’er-do-wells reflect and consider their futures.

An unconventional but beautifully written novel that captures modern life in a rural environment with all the hardships entailed. It is surprisingly positive and upbeat with a message that there usually is a way forward if we trust in ourselves and those around us.  

All the time in the background there are the bees to show us our short comings, teaching us to find our role and how to live in harmony with each other. Existence is fragile, our story flows like a liquid and we are all perishable, destined to return to the earth; nature is a wonderful thing and must be treasured.

Liquid, Fragile, Perishable is a haunting and deeply touching look at the lives and hopes of the heart of America.

Liquid, Fragile, Perishable can be purchased via the Bookshop org here

The author

Carolyn Kuebler’s debut novel, Liquid, Fragile, Perishable, is forthcoming from Melville House in 2024. Carolyn was a co-founder of the literary magazine Rain Taxi and for the past ten years she has been the editor of the New England Review. Her stories and essays have been published in The Common and Colorado Review, among others, and “Wildflower Season,” published in The Massachusetts Review, won the 2022 John Burroughs Award for Nature Essay. She has published dozens of book reviews, small-press profiles, and author interviews in Publishers Weekly, Review of Contemporary Fiction, Rain Taxi, City Pages, and others. 

Originally from Allentown, Pennsylvania, Carolyn has an MFA from Bard College and a BA from Middlebury College. She worked for years as a bookseller at Borders Book Shop in Minneapolis and the Hungry Mind in St. Paul, before heading to New York, where she was an editor at Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. In addition to editing NER, she is currently a justice of the peace, a volunteer with 350 Vermont, a bad bird-watcher, and an even worse gardener. She lives in Middlebury with her husband, Christopher, and daughter, Vivian Ross.

Source: Author’s website

Escape: The Hunter Cut #LADavenport #EscapeTheHunterCut

Grieving surgeon battles his inner demons and a vicious crime gang

By L.A. Davenport https://pushingthewave.co.uk/

Published by P-Wave Press https://p-wavepress.co.uk/ @p_wave_press

482 pages ISBN 9781916937055 (EB)

Publication date 6 May 2024

I was allowed access to an electronic review copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank the Blog Tour organiser Heather Fitt @HeatherJFitt, and of course Author and Publisher for arranging this.

From the blurb

In this all-new edition, Escape: The Hunter Cut takes the classic tale of L.A. Davenport’s debut novel Escape and retells it through John’s eyes, as he battles with himself and the events that threaten to overwhelm him.

The cover

A reworking of the original cover of Escape, dropping the female face and concentrating on the central main character. The crumpled paper/card effect to signify it is a reworking perhaps?

My thoughts

I know it has been done before, particularly with ‘fan fiction’, but I’m not sure there are two many books that I would re-read with it written from a different perspective. I can see the attraction for the author, they often go to great lengths to create scenarios and plots, so they might wish to develop the story from different viewpoint. I have not read the original version of Escape so this review will solely concentrate on the novel I have just read, with no comparisons.

The novel starts with a man on holiday, who we eventually discover is Dr John Hunter a surgeon. He is staying in a grand hotel in a glamourous unnamed town in Italy and we immediately discover he is a troubled man. He is constantly reminded of a woman, and questions why it is him who is still alive. His wife has recently died in a freak accident that left him unscathed, physically untouched but completely distraught and wracked with misplaced guilt. He has taken the trip to try to escape his familiar surroundings, to properly mourn his wife and start the healing and recovery process. Solo holidays are not the easiest and he finds himself lost and confused, using alcohol as a crutch.

The hotel guests include the great and the good, all wealthy, and some more odd characters including a slightly sinister Russian man, who John seems to come across wherever he goes. The hotel staff are as we might expect, slick and unobtrusive apart from a rather odd, over attentive manager. A man who initially irritates John, but later become a trusted friend.

One evening when he is out on the town, the demon drink takes over, so when everywhere else closes he ends up in a ‘gentlemen’s’ club. Here he is captivated by one of the hostesses, Jasna, but he’s convinced it’s not alcohol fuelled lust. They quickly develop a friendship away from the club, but this becomes the source of pain, angst and grave danger.

For an action thriller it is something of a slow burn, with the first third of the novel setting up the scenario, demonstrating the depth of John’s sorrow, how drink brings out his inner demons and the ubiquitous presence of Charles the manager. Like a true master of his calling, Charles has a habit of suddenly appearing, like the shopkeeper in the Mr Benn children’s cartoon, just when John needs him. Initially a bit creepy I thought, he turns out to be a rather engaging character.

If you ignore the blurb it takes a little while for the plot to become apparent, though there are markers along the way. Dr John is thrust into the world of the high-end criminal gang, dodgy nightclubs, drugs, prostitution, extortion and violence, a world he has no real knowledge or experience of.

John is an unconvincing action hero and proves to be so as he tries to sort out the mess of his own making. He doesn’t get angry and turn into the Hulk or Rambo, he is a surgeon and not a particularly worldly wise one, so his efforts are somewhat lacking so more realistic. He is a prodigious drinker though, putting so much away that it would have the spirits of Oliver Reed and Jeffrey Bernard nodding in admiration. He is put through the whole gamut of emotions from being distraught, through love to the desire for vengeance. Not the most likeable hero at times but he is a good man who starts questioning himself and his purpose, before he embarks on something of a modern chivalric quest for justice (or is it vengeance). Instead of slaying a dragon he is after a murderous crime boss and like all quests this is not straightforward, his actions result in people around him being killed. This produces more self-doubt that he casts aside.

There is plenty of action for the thriller lover, and the brutal violence that comes with the subject matter. The criminals are thoroughly unpleasant without becoming parody and dish out a severe beating for John.

Jasna is nicely judged, whichever version of her ‘truth’ is correct, or whether it is somewhere in between. The interaction between John and Jasna is low-key and quite touching which is nicely judged considering ‘surgeon falls for hostess on holiday whilst grieving his wife’ is edging into fiction cliché territory. The reader is unsure of their motives or indeed who is exploiting who, so it never ends up as Pretty Woman, more a reminder that there is good in us all.

In Escape: The Hunter Cut Dr John Hunter must conquer his own inner demons whilst he battles for justice.

Escape: The Hunter Cut can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

L.A. Davenport is an Anglo-Irish author and journalist, and has been writing stories and more since he was a wee bairn, as his grandpa used to say. Among other things, he likes long walks, typewriters and big cups of tea

Don’t forget to check out the other stops on this blog tour:

The Midnight Man #JulieAnderson #TheMidnightMan

Murder mystery in immediate post war south London

By Julie Anderson https://julieandersonwriter.com/ @jjulieanderson

Published by Hobeck Books https://www.hobeck.net @HobeckBooks

336 pages ISBN 9781915817365

Publication date 30 April 2024

The Midnight Man is the first novel in the Clapham Trilogy.

I was sent an electronic copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Zoe at Zooloos Book Tours https://taplink.cc/zooloosbooktours @ZooloosBT for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and Publisher.

The cover

What a fabulous cover! My first impression was that it captured the Film Noir movie posters of the period, but with the wording there are elements of the Pop Art movement. Then there’s the tunnel and hints of a rolling mist, if that doesn’t grab you then what will?

My review

It’s winter 1946 in Clapham and the paths of two young women are about to fatefully cross. Faye Smith is the canteen manager at the South London Hospital for Women and Children, the only hospital of its kind, for women and staffed by almost entirely women. Faye is diligent and hardworking so is likely to do well and get further promotion, which will be useful for her cash strapped family. She is also street smart and misses nothing.

Eleanor Peveril has just returned from Germany, where, as a legal secretary she was assisting at the Nuremberg trials. Now no longer needed, she faces an uncertain future which has already turned bleaker, as she has been conned by a landlady and seen her fiancé Patrick with another woman. With nowhere to go and no cash, she follows some nurses into the hospital canteen to warm up and scrounge any leftovers. She stands out to Faye, who gets people to rally round in support, and there begins an unlikely friendship.

A young nurse goes missing and eventually her body is found in one of the deep tunnels, which were used to shelter in during bombings, behind a locked door. Ellie heard an altercation on the night the nurse disappeared and so feels personally involved and is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. In her new friend Faye, she finds a willing confederate as they face danger and demons in the pursuit of the truth.

The cover suggests period noir, but don’t expect a Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler homage, this is much more with two female central characters and takes a female perspective. The start is a little low key, at least by modern standards, but is constructed to create the meeting and friendship of Ellie and Faye. After this it quickly gets into its stride and moves along briskly like a consultant on his morning rounds before golf.

The setting is an absolute gem, a real place with a fascinating history, but one probably unknown even just a few miles away. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a novel where such a magnificent setting is utilised so well, from the canteen to the staffrooms, from the wards to the boiler room all exploited for atmosphere just like the best film directors would. The author has managed to incorporate snippets of its inspiring creation, history and ethos within the story arc as mere incidentals, but together they show how much the place was loved without derailing the action. The action itself is nicely judged and has the period noir feel about such that one can almost imagine it written at that time.

The use of the deep shelters and underground tunnels are another master stroke, bringing the prospects of mystery, danger, darkness and fear. Again, a real feature incorporated within the storyline that helps to enhance the feeling of time and place. It also brought a sense the film version of The Third Man when Harry Lime tries to escape through the Vienna sewers, and naturally the earworm of Anton Karas’ zither playing.

The period is set in is another excellent choice by the author and one that experienced great change. Its 1946, the war is over soldiers and auxiliaries are returning to a country bombed and battered and still facing rationing and hardship. The country has relied upon women to keep running during the war, working on farms and in armament factories, yet they are expected to make way for the returning men. Ellie and Faye are two women who want to remain in the world of work and not become the wife or ‘property’ of a man. The timing is critical for another reason, the formation of the welfare state and at its core the NHS. With hindsight we see it as one of the country’s greatest achievements, but here the uncertainty around it introduces a degree of angst in some characters, they want it to be better but will it be, but at the same time great optimism in others. The stark cost of illness pre-NHS is laid bare, as suffered within Faye’s family and is something few alive will now remember.

The friendship between Faye and Ellie is the glue that holds the story together. Its one of those odd relationships of opposites in background. Faye is working class and wily whereas Ellie is a vicar’s daughter and naïve, but their core beliefs align; two different women who stand for the same thing and neither want to be constrained by the old social norms. I suspect that men and women will have differing perspectives on their friendship, how quickly they become friends, and the ups and downs may feel unlikely to a male reader, but there are distinct social differences between the sexes.

The character cameos are brilliant, the stern (Paddington) stare of Matron sent a shiver down my spine, and I was just reading about it, the crooks had a menacing edge without being too obvious and Beryl is perfect as the no-nonsense Glaswegian nurse. The dialogue is nicely judged with enough to place it in London without getting all ‘geezer’ or indeed hardboiled. It also eschewed the modernisms we so easily fall into, again giving the right period feel.

I guess with the first book of a prospective trilogy the acid test is, are you ready for book two; I can’t wait!

The Midnight Man is a fabulous piece of historical fiction that melds crime noir with social history and feminist interests.

The Midnight Man can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Julie Anderson is the CWA Dagger listed author of three Whitehall thrillers and a short series of historical adventure stories for young adults. Before becoming a crime fiction writer, she was a senior civil servant, working across a variety of departments and agencies, including the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Unlike her protagonists, however, she doesn’t know where (all) the bodies are buried.

She writes crime fiction reviews for Time and Leisure Magazine and is a co-founder and Trustee of the Clapham Book Festival.

She lives in south London where her latest crime fiction series is set, returning to her first love of writing historical fiction with The Midnight Man, to be published by Hobeck.

Don’t forget to check out the other great reviews on this blog tour:

The Human Kind #AlexanderBaron #TheHumanKind

Incredible novel based on a first hand account of war

By Alexander Baron

Published by IWM Wartime Classic https://www.iwm.org.uk/ @I_W_M

176 pages ISBN 9781912423798

Publication date 18 April 2024

The Human Kind is the third book in the author’s wartime trilogy.

I was sent a paperback copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to than Anne at Random Things Tours @RandomTTours for the invitation to participate and of course the Publisher.

The cover

A very stirring cover, with artwork by Bill Bragg, showing soldiers departing a landing craft and heading for a beach. There have been some amazing recreations of these scenes in recent movies and this certainly captures some of the fear and trepidation the soldiers must have experienced when they were most vulnerable.

The blurb

Spanning the Sicilian countryside to the brothels of Ostend, and the final book in Alexander Baron’s War Trilogy, The Human Kind is a series of pithy vignettes reflective of the author’s own wartime experiences. From the interminable days of training in Britain to brutal combat across Northwest Europe, the book depicts many of the men, women – and, in some cases, children – affected by the widespread reach of the Second World War. In his trademark spare prose, Baron’s work provides an emotive and incisive snapshot into the lives of myriad characters during this tumultuous period in history. Based on Alexander Baron’s own wartime experiences, this new edition of a 1953 classic includes an introduction from IWM which puts the work in historical context, and concludes the author’s War Trilogy.

My review

I suppose the first question would be why reprint a book written in 1953? Well, it is regarded as a classic and after reading it is easy to see why. There are a great number of historians, professional and gifted amateurs who are producing well written and researched books on the Second World War. Many go back to primary sources and some even have interviewed those who lived through it, but what they lack is first hand experience and which makes a book of this nature compelling. It may have been written 70 years ago, but the prose style compares well with modern writing, is accessible and even quite fresh. So much so that it could easily have been written in the last 20 years.

The novel is set out as a series of anecdotes and observations, created from the author’s time in service, so well crafted I was unable to split fact from fiction. Spanning the full period of the war, from the author’s call up, service in the Sicily and Normandy landings, to the end of hostilities. They run chronologically, though the emphasis if more towards the latter period and vary in length. The reader is given a sense of the waste and futility of war, without it becoming fervently anti-war, more it was something that had to be done at that time.

It begins with the period of the ‘phoney war’ period when the authors regiment could experience almost an idyllic summer in the English countryside; by the end there are men chastened or broken by their experiences. In between through his acutely observed stories we see how these young men are changed through a succession of events. These are young men of varying backgrounds who were forced together and somehow must get along. There is a broadening of cultural horizons for some, through David Copperfield and the music of Beethoven. There is the development of mutual respect for those whose working life is different, most evident in the mining story where they had to work alongside tough, flinty miners. Reflecting on the stories it is easy to see how being exposed to these experiences formed a determined, well balanced and fair-minded generation instrumental to the postwar creation of the NHS, welfare state and determination to clear slums. First-hand experience sharpens the mind and many of us are now insulated from much of what this generation witnessed.

The experience may have had a positive character forming effect on some soldiers, but it also damaged many mentally. There is a disturbing tale of a man breaking down in the heat of action but most of all it is the sense of men being used up. Men fighting themselves to a standstill, using up all their reserves of mental strength to the extension of becoming little more than a physical shell. This is sympathetically described, will some insight and certainly the treatment of sufferers appears to be much better than those suffering from shellshock in the previous war.

There is no appetite to gloss over the bad and shameful though. We like to believe that our armies were more humane than the German and Russian soldiers, and whilst we never fell to the level of depravity that some of their troops did, they were no angels. One attack on a pillbox shocked and surprised me, bad things happen in the heat of war, but this was too much. There are stories that touch on the abuse, both physical and sexual, of women and children as well as a callous disregard for animals, property and life. We see those who are desperate to cling onto their sense of humanity even when others descend into brutality. Thinking objectively, I wonder whether there is a correlation between the length of true active service at the front lines and the dehumanising effects of war. Many of the Allied forces came into the theatre of war late, compared to say the Russians, and never experienced the atrocities of the Eastern Front, so perhaps this is why they didn’t succumb the madness of war to the same extent.

The Human Kind is an incredible testament to one man’s experiences as he clings onto his humanity during a savage war and is rightly being brought a new audience.

The Human Kind can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Alexander Baron (1917 – 1999) was a British author and screenwriter. Widely acclaimed in his lifetime, he rose to prominence with his first novel, From the City, From the Plough, published in 1948 and based on his experiences of D-Day and the advance into Normandy. It quickly became a bestseller, achieving both popular success and critical acclaim, and reportedly went on to sell in excess of one million copies. The novel cemented Baron’s reputation as a skilled, powerful, authentic writer, and he went on to write many more books, including the second and third in the sequence, both best-sellers, alongside scripts for Hollywood and screenplays for the BBC.

Don’t forget to check out the other reviews on this blog tour:

Back From the Dead #HeidiAmsinck #BackFromTheDead

By Heidi Amsinck https://heidiamsinck.co.uk/ @HeidiAmsinck1

Published by Muswell Press https://muswell-press.co.uk/ @MuswellPress

375 pages ISBN 9781739123857

Publication date 18 April 2024

Back From the Dead is the third book in the Jensen series. Click on the links to read my reviews of My Name is Jensen and The Girl in the Photo the first two books in the series.

I was sent a paperback copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours @RandomTTours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and Publisher.

The cover

What at first appears a bit of a low-key cover, not one that immediately grabs the attention, is a rather good one. There’s the ever-popular silhouette, of Jensen with her bicycle, looking across the Copenhagen waterfront, again another winner, but it also manages to convey a sense of being an outsider and looking in. For me it captures the spirit of the novel.

My review

Its June and Copenhagen is experiencing a heatwave as record temperatures are being recorded, and all crime fiction readers know this leads to frayed tempers. DI Henrik Jungersen is preparing to go on holiday with the family to Italy, something he is not looking forward to with relish. When a headless corpse surfaces in the harbour Henrik just has to get involved. The reader knows what he is doing; his wife is certainly knows what he is up to, but her ire is more dampened to more of a resigned disappointment. Of course, he promises to join them once progress has been made on the case, but she understands the reality of the situation, he’s using it as an excuse to opt out of the holiday.

Investigative reporter Jensen is feeling the heat too in the offices of Dagbladet. They are going through yet another round of redundancies now the newspaper has been bought by a Swedish investment fund. The newspaper industry is in a state of flux as the effects of technology and the internet are felt, but these cuts are deep including the senior crime reporter. Jensen is now placed in charge of crime, something she is reluctant to take on, but the alternative is redundancy for herself.

Jensen’s friend the MP Esben Nørregaard approaches her with a little problem, something he wants dealing with on the quiet, without involving the police. Whilst he has been out of the country his driver Aziz, a Syrian refugee, has disappeared. Esben has been receiving threats by email and hints at some shady past dealings, but fears involving the police will attract undue attention to Aziz and his family. Aziz is a friend of Jensen as is the resourceful coffee vendor Liron (who makes the best coffee in Copenhagen) and she will do anything she can for them regardless of their backgrounds.

A Cracking follow up to The Girl in the Picture and this is one novel where the reader would benefit by reading the earlier stories. Back from the Dead can be enjoyed as a stand alone but as the reader will discover some earlier threads are tied up along the way.

Jensen is a journalist of the old-school rather than the modern, online, clickbait variety. After 14 years in England, she has recently returned to Copenhagen unsure of what the future holds and looking for something solid to anchor her life to. Initially working freelance she is now full time at Dagbladet where her boss Margrethe recognises her value as a real journalist and sees a bit of herself in Jensen. Jensen also provides her with a ready-made ‘babysitter’ for nephew Gustav, who has had to leave school at least temporarily. After a period of irritation Jensen starts to like the foolish, reckless and very keen Gustav and they form the sort of unlikely alliance that give a novel a bit of zing. Gustav provides the humour and the light-hearted moments that a story involving headless corpses needs.

Central to the story is the relationship between Jensen and Henrik. Once lovers they are trying to be ‘friends’ though a rekindling of the past can never be ruled out. Henrik is in a can’t live with, can’t live without position, needing Jensen in his life but at the same time unwilling to abandon his home life and children. Jensen is trying to move on, now being in a relationship with her landlord the billionaire businessman Kristoffer Bro. Henrik doesn’t approve and makes his feelings clear, suggesting that Jensen knows little of him and certainly not of his dark past. She feels that Henrik is being the archetypal spurned lover who is reluctant to give up, harbouring the if I can have you then nobody can attitude. After thinking that she could find happiness with Kristoffer, Henrik has now sown the seeds of doubt. The dynamic of this relationship is critical to the series. It is perfectly judged to produce the right balance between interest in the characters and in the plot.

The story moves along at a brisk enough pace, never so quick that the characters cannot express themselves but when it reaches the conclusion it progresses with appropriate urgency. It is a story where there is always something going on, sometimes in the background away from the action, so the reader is encouraged to keep reading a bit more. Don’t be surprised if that ‘just one more chapter’ means you end up reading much later than intended.

The plot is intricate rather than complex, twisting around so the reader is never quite sure what to expect. The killers are wonderfully dumb, managing to leave a key piece of evidence behind. In crime fiction there is the desire for a criminal mastermind, but most, certainly those that are caught are usually done so due to their stupidity or incompetence. In this case it certainly got a chuckle out of me. The violence is low key and not graphic but there are headless bodies, bloodshed and beatings. The motivation throughout is control over people and how it is achieved, be it emotional, coercive, financial or debt of honour.  

Back from the Dead is another compelling slice of Scandi-Noir with a determined heroine seeking the truth and uncovering much more than she bargained for.

Back from the Dead can be purchased direct from the publisher here.

The author

Heidi Amsinck won the Danish Criminal Academy’s Debut Award for My Name is Jensen (2021), the first book in a new series featuring Copenhagen reporter sleuth Jensen and her motley crew of helpers. She published her second Jensen novel, The Girl in Photo, in July 2022, with the third due out in February 2024. A journalist by background, Heidi spent many years covering Britain for the Danish press, including a spell as London Correspondent for the broadsheet daily Jyllands-Posten. She has written numerous short stories for BBC Radio 4, such as the three-story sets Danish Noir, Copenhagen Confidential and Copenhagen Curios, all produced by Sweet Talk and featuring in her collection Last Train to Helsingør (2018). Heidi’s work has been translated from the original English into Danish, German and Czech.

Don’t forget to check out the other great reviews on this blog tour:

Honour Among Spies #MerleNygate #HonourAmongSpies

Danger and deceit in the world of espionage

By Merle Nygate https://merlenygate.com/ @MerleNygate

Published by Bedford Square Publishers https://bedfordsquarepublishers.co.uk/ @bedsqpublishers (an imprint of No Exit Press https://noexit.co.uk/ @noexitpress)

401 pages ISBN 9781915798381

Publication date 11 April 2024

Honour Among Spies is the second book in the Eli Amiran series.

I was sent a paperback copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to than Anne at Random Things Tours @RandomTTours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and Publisher.

My review

Eli Amiran is Mossad’s head of station in London, a man under pressure both personally and professionally. Still processing the fallout from a disastrous operation, that cost the life of one of his operatives, he needs to prove he is still up to the job, still able to operate at the top.

An unexpected opportunity arises following a courtesy meeting with Nicolai, his new Russian counterpart in London. The plan is certainly audacious and high stakes, but if successful will produce significant results; a long shot but occasionally they do come off. The Russians are desperate to secure a supply of drones. Eli realises that a long-term embedded Israeli asset might be to introduce special chips provided by Mossad into the drones, effectively a ‘poison pill’ to provide data and controls to them.

A regular meeting with CIA and MI5 colleagues highlights an unwanted distraction. A group of right leaning evangelist Christians are relocating to the UK and should be placed firmly on all watchlists. A bit of a headache but it provides Eli with an opportunity to sideline some office irritants.

There note at the start of the novel stating that it was written prior to the events of October 2023, when there was a significant shift to the geo-political landscape in the Middle East. Certainly, the timing feels almost prescient and as you read along there’s a sense that it could almost be in real time. Very eerie.

This is the real dirty business of espionage on the page, with little of the 60’s glamour. There are high-tech gadgets, but these are for surveillance rather than exploding pens and laser watches of James Bond’s Q division. Many feel we are living in a world where almost our every move is observed and nothing you read here will dispel that idea. Even the more outlandish proposals are so plausible they may well be grounded in reality. Perhaps George Orwell was essentially correct in 1984.

This is a novel about the deceit and betrayal within the ‘spy game’, which are invoked with convincing intensity. It’s a dirty profession, much depending upon the ability to convince others to betray their government, country and people. The reader gets an insight into the recruitment process, summarised by the acronym MICE, money, ideology, coercion and ego. An unpleasant job, but one that must be done, regardless of the human cost. Crime fiction readers are used to their heroes have troubled personal lives, here it is ratcheted up several notches, as they literally must live a lie. Relationships are based upon trust, how far can a partner be trusted when they cannot speak the truth, something Eli comes to discover.

Espionage is frequently likened to a game and reading this story the parallels are easy to spot. If it is a game, then it is one of strategy and subterfuge, like a complex three-dimensional game of chess, albeit one when pieces are lost from the board it may well be fatal. Here the author has done a fabulous job of building a complex plot around two apparently disparate threads which naturally come together. This kind of plotting cannot be rushed, so naturally much of the story is quite steady, which might disappoint the fans of out and out thrillers, but my advice would be to stick with it and you will be rewarded. The first threequarters is like winding up a clockwork toy, building up the anticipation gradually with just one more turn… Then the lever is flipped, it explodes into action and there is the delayed gratification. There is a release of anger, violence, scenes of real jeopardy and even a touch of gratuitous torture but delivered with an emotional intensity. These are heat of the moment actions not those of a cold-blooded psychopath.

It is a story of conflicted characters and how they deal with their issues alongside their work. Eli and Gal’s marriage has become tainted by guilt and lies, with early clues to the angst to come. Asset Petra has her own relationship issues with Matt but it is her recruitment of 22 year old Tom that begins to trouble her. Tom wants to become a famous investigative journalist and is excited at the opportunity presented, on that will put him in grave danger. Petra’s deception begins to bother her, Tom’s enthusiasm and naivety may prevent her from ‘deactivating’ him as he believes he is a journalist and not a spy. Then there is a double agent, or at least one who tries to play more than one side. The motivation here appears to be purely financial, but the repercussions are far reaching.

Honour Among Spies perfectly captures the intensity, danger and deceit within the world of espionage.

Honour Among Spies can be purchased via the publisher’s website here

The author

Merle Nygate is a screenwriter, script editor, screenwriting lecturer and
novelist; she’s worked on BAFTA winning TV, New York Festival audio drama
and written original sitcoms; previously she worked for BBC Comedy
Commissioning as well as writing and script editing across multiple genres.
Most recently, Merle completed her first espionage novel which won the Little
Brown/UEA Crime Fiction Award. It was described by the judge as ‘outstanding’.

Don’t forget to check out all the other reviews on this blog tour:

Edge of the Land #MalcolmHollingdrake #EdgeOfTheLand

A young man leaves clues but can the police crack the code?

By Malcolm Hollingdrake https://malcolmhollingdrakeauthor.co.uk @MHollingdrake

Published by Hobeck Books https://www.hobeck.net @HobeckBooks

262 pages ISBN 9781915817419

Publication date 16 April 2024

Edge of the Land is the third book in the Merseyside Crime Series. Click on the link to read my review of Catch as Catch Can the first book in the series.

I was sent an electronic copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Rebecca at Hobeck Books and of course the author for the invitation to participate.

The cover

A distinctive local landmark is always a great bet for a cover and this one is magnificent. It’s a clocktower from Liverpool Docks which ends up playing a part in the story. If you visit Liverpool it’s something to look out for.

My review

The waterways of the Liverpool docks contain many ghosts and shadows. It’s a place to disappear… a place to die. (from the blurb)

Well, that should grab the attention of the potential reader and it’s a great summary of the novel.

The death of one homeless alcoholic on the streets sadly is no shock; just another tragic statistic, someone with bad luck, let down by the system or by family and friends. A second death in similar circumstances a couple of days later, registers as unusual with the police, but there seems to be no connection or suspicious circumstances for now. However, it will soon become clear that they have a serial killer on their hands…

Danny Maynard is a young man who is no stranger to trouble and has already served time for drugs offences. When attacked and savagely beaten on the orders of a drugs gang, he denies it to the police and goes on the run. Slipping into the shadows, he is off their radar but DI April Decent and DS Skeeter Warlock are fearful for his safety. Danny does appear to be a survivor though and a resourceful one, as he leaves a series of clues behind like a trail of virtual breadcrumbs.

A two-strand storyline with one baffling and motiveless; the other with a puzzle at its core. The plotting is very clever to make this story come together and maintain the intrigue throughout.

The murder of the homeless people is quite shocking in its callousness, such that the reader will think who would do such a thing and why? This feeling is accentuated by the humanity which the author gives these victims, their circumstances may tragic, but these are people with feelings trying to keep hold of some semblance of dignity. There are sadly many such people on our streets and they all have a story to tell, sometimes it is just bad luck or a need to escape abuse that sees them there.

The puzzle is a cracker, it takes the form of photographs left behind on a mobile phone. These are subtle clues though, the pictures are not easy to decipher as they’re taken odd angles, are close ups or part details. A real rebus for the squad to solve, as they embark on a Magical Mystery Tour of the City requiring a team effort to solve. Different officers latch onto things they recognise, which is more realistic than a Sherlock like supersleuth figuring it all out. It’s all very cleverly assembled and I’m sure that people familiar with Liverpool will enjoy identifying the locations as they read along. It’s a little bit harder for those of us with little knowledge of the city, it’s a shame that these photographs are not reproduced even if just on his website.

One thing is clear though is the affection the author has for Liverpool, which brings a vibrancy to the prose. He doesn’t avoid the grubby, seedy, run down parts of the city, they are used to pronounced effect, as are the waterways of canals and working dock areas. Overall, though, the portrayal is that of a modern, vibrant city, one that is changing but steadfastly proud of its heritage and welcoming to the visitor. Buy the book, organise your city break now and check out the landmarks, statues and musical past.

Another fine aspect is that not all the characters are polarised, but rather shown is shades of light and dark. Danny can hardly be regarded as good, but as the reader discovers more of his background he will be seen in a more sympathetic light, and I found myself rooting for him. A common theme throughout is whether characters possess the capacity to change, to escape their past and even break the cycle of brutality. It has been established that the victims of abuse can go on to be an abuser themselves, but it doesn’t have to be so if other opportunities are presented. It can also fester as a desire for revenge.

April and Skeeter are great central characters, determined but also well balanced and they provide counterpoint to the angst of the storyline. It’s not all about them tough as DC Kasum Kapoor DC Tony Price do much of the leg work, as you would expect their rank to. They also inject banter and light-hearted moments. Overall, the chemistry between the team members becomes believable.

The clues are a fantastic way of controlling the pace of the narrative; no matter what resources and urgency the police introduce there is always a feeling that they are a couple of steps behind. Then the tipping point is reached, and everything unwinds a race against time. Nothing about the story is given away cheaply, so the jigsaw pieces only start to fit together in the final chapters, leaving a satisfying finale that demonstrates we all need a plan in life.

Edge of the Land is an thrilling police procedural packed with contrasts and mystery.

Edge of the Land can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Photograph (c) Tony Bithell

You could say that the writing was clearly on the wall for someone born in a library that they might aspire to be an author, but to get to that point Malcolm Hollingdrake has travelled a circuitous route. Malcolm worked in education for many years, including teaching in Cairo for a while. Malcolm has been happily married to Debbie for over forty years. They met in their first weekend at Ripon college through strange and unusual circumstances. Serendipity was certainly cupid on that occasion. Malcolm has written a number of successful short stories, has twelve books now published in the Harrogate Crime Series. He is also working on the third book of the Merseyside Crime Series which Hobeck will be publishing. The books introduce us to DI April Decent and DS Skeeter Warlock. Malcolm has enjoyed many diverse hobbies including flying light aircraft, gliders and paragliders, learning to fly at Liverpool Airport, designing and making leaded windows and collecting works by Northern artists.

Don’t forget to check out all the other great reviews on this blog tour:

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The Kitchen #SimoneBuchholz #TheKitchen

A deliciously dark crime thriller

By Simone Buchholz @ohneKlippo

Translated by Rachel Ward http://www.forwardtranslations.co.uk/ @FwdTranslations

Published by Orenda Books https://orendabooks.co.uk/ @OrendaBooks

276 pages ISBN 9781916788077

Publication date 11 April 2024

The Kitchen is the seventh Chastity Riley novel published by Orenda Books and the second of the Chastity Reloaded series. Click on the link to read my earlier reviews of Blue Night, Hotel Cartegena, River Clyde and The Acapulco.

I was sent an electronic copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours @RandomTTours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and Publisher.

The cover

Once again, the neon sign style, this time against the backdrop of Hamburg and a lovely variant of the skull and crossbones motif. A great cover.

My review

Chastity Riley is busy preparing for a case against a gang of human traffickers, men recruiting young Romanian women and girls with promises of legitimate work, but which of course ends up as prostitution. After their spirit is broken by rape, they are effectively prisoners expected to service ten men a day. The evidence is strong, but Chastity is determined that the case must be watertight; these men must pay for what they have done.

Hamburg is suffering from a heat wave, with no respite on the dusty streets, conjuring up images of spaghetti westerns to Chastity. Here she imagines she strides like Clint Eastwood, cigarette in mouth rather than a cigar as she brings law and order…

When neatly packaged male body parts are washed up on the river Elbe the police are stumped, they have head, hands and feet but no torso. A policewoman remarks to Chastity that the parcels are too well wrapped to have been done by a man. Then parts of a second body wash up. A pattern developed; both victims were men who treated women abominably.

Klatsche finds Chastity’s best friend Carla in a terrible state, she’s been brutally attacked by two men. Chastity persuades Carla to report the attack to the police, but she discovers that to them it’s just another case number added to a log jammed system. Progress is slow, almost to a state of callous disregard.

Another scorching addition to a fabulous series, one that slices to the heart of the matter, the ill treatment of women by some men. I’m sure it’s happened throughout human history, but in our modern civilised world it is still far too common. A timely novel as women’s hard-fought rights are under threat.   

The author has a very individual style, with pared back prose where all superfluous words and actions are excised, leaving a story with laser like focus. What the reader is left with is a series of remarkable character vignettes, some weird, some funny, whilst others are touching, interspaced with events ranging from bizarre to the mundane. This slightly staccato form may not be to every reader’s taste but it’s never dull or boring. The prose is sharp, concise and at times very witty; the chapters are short and punchy, one being merely a single sentence, but somehow they seem just right. A perfect example where less is actually more, the reader focusing on every single word. Once again Rachel Ward does a wonderful job of translating from German but keeping all these characteristics within a text that flows almost rhythmically at times.

There are elements of the hard-boiled, but there are no detailed descriptions of how characters are dress or a cigarette is rolled, instead there is more of a delve into the character and motivation of the key players. The events of this story having a profound effect upon Chastity who is very much a woman of justice, one who believes in the sanctity of the law. Instead, she is first ambivalent and then seriously conflicted, as can be expected when events affect a loved one or someone close. It’s almost as if we can see her moral compass wilding spinning as events unfold and we are presented with a very different Chastity. A bit of moral ambiguity to be faced up to, the obviously question being what we would do in just such a situation.

It is left to Chastity’s former boss Faller to provide the wisdom of the ages. Every day he sits by the old lighthouse with a fishing rod, though he appears to have little interest in catching anything. Like The Buddha masquerading as a garden gnome as he contemplates long-term retirement, it is Faller who provides the equilibrium Chastity so desperately needs.

The story arc may well become apparent, I certainly had more than an inkling, but dare I say may be more enjoyable because of this. In the way that Oliver Hardy comes crashing through a roof or chimney and is hit by a cascade of bricks, we know there will be one final one a couple of seconds later and still we wait and that’s the biggest laugh. Here we have a serious, painful subject suffused with a some very dark and macabre humour that enhances the message rather than diluting it. The balance is perfection.

The dialogue is a joy, succinct and punchy, buzzing along with a sense of energy. Chastity is a whip smart wit with a knack for the well timed put down or withering rebuke, even when they are not vocalised.

The imagery of life in kitchens and butchery figure throughout, amongst the short diversions are how to eviscerate and prepare a pig along with a recipe for black pudding, actions necessary for the diner to experience sumptuous meals. It also proves to be something of a metaphor for aspects of humanity we try to ignore.    

In The Kitchen violence against women is spatchcocked for all to see and served with a piquant sauce of macabre humour. As they say if you can’t stand the heat…

The Kitchen can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street, Hotel Cartagena and River Clyde all followed in the Chastity Riley series, with The Acapulco out in 2023. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.

The translator

Rachel Ward is a freelance translator of literary and creative texts from German and French to English. Having always been an avid reader and enjoyed word games and puzzles, she discovered a flair for languages at school and went on to study modern languages at the University of East Anglia. She spent the third year working as a language assistant at two grammar schools in Saaebrücken, Germany. During her final year, she realised that she wanted to put these skills and passions to use professionally and applied for UEA’s MA in Literary Translation, which she completed in 2002. Her published translations include Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang and Red Rage by Brigitte Blobel, and she is a member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting.

Don’t forget to check out the other great reviews on this blog tour:

The Red Hollow #NatalieMarlow #TheRedHollow

Gruesome murders and the legend of a vengeful mermaid

By Natalie Marlow @NatalieMarlow2

Published by Baskerville (an imprint of John Murray Press) https://www.johnmurraypress.co.uk/landing-page/baskerville-imprint/ @BaskervilleJMP

320 pages ISBN 9781399801843

Publication date 28 March 2024

I was allowed access to a pdf review copy on Net Galley https://www.netgalley.com/ @NetGalley.  Thanks to the Author and Publisher for organising this.

The cover

What a fabulous cover, the closer you look the more you notice, even down to the wallpaper pattern. It captures the period, the location and protagonists whilst giving a noirish feel with the clever use of the colour scheme.

My review

Its now 1934 and Phyll Hall has joined William Garrett’s private enquiry agency. Business is somewhat slow and will continue to be so until they get back on the right side of ‘Shifty Shirley’. Phyll’s brother Freddy, is another victim of the war and resides in a residential home, whilst being treated for his nerves. When the home’s psychiatrist, Dr Moon, calls saying that he has a problem he wishes them to investigate, William reluctantly agrees, reminding Phyll that it is his son’s christening that weekend.

The residential home is Red Hollow a former grand house set in a hamlet in the Warwickshire countryside. Recently there have been a series of incidents that at first appeared to be nothing more than pranks, but they have escalated into something more disturbing including a death. Now both patients and staff are leaving, and the charismatic Dr Moon is struggling to keep the sanitorium open.

Are William and Phyll looking for a flesh and blood prankster or something more malevolent? Local folklore has it that a young girl was murdered and her ghost returns in the guise of The Mermaid of Red Hollow when the hamlet floods. Then she can take her revenge on the misogynist men who mistreat women.

It’s great to have William back along with Phyll who I feel is a captivating character. The insulting jibe, calling her Burlington Bertie was brilliantly on point for the time and had me chuckling more than once. This time Queenie the boss of the waterways criminal gang and old friend (and more) to William grabs much more of the limelight.

The setting is wonderfully evoked; the grand hall starting to fade. It’s the 1930’s so the servant class has all but vanished with The First World War, and more owners realise that they cannot hope to afford the upkeep of these grand old Halls. Here the owner has moved into a tower in the gardens, leaving the main building to Dr Moon to use. There is also a church containing creepy symbolism and a crypt in the grounds. Almost all the plot is located within these buildings and the estate, allowing for a tight claustrophobic feel to story that is only enhanced by the periodic failure on the electricity generator. At times the tension is palpable.

The style is certainly unusual marrying elements of the noir genre with the supernatural. The setting might have suggested the traditional gothic, but it was the occult references that took over my imagination. Aleister Crowley that man of many guises, artist, novelist, philosopher, magician, adventurer and creator of the Thelema religion is referenced and has some malign influences on the characters. He’s certainly a man who has divided opinion, some regarding him as the most dangerous man in Britain (well he might have been in Leamington Spa where he was born) whereas others, like William just guffawed at the so called ‘Sex Magick’ man. The references are sparing and are used to give flavour to the plot. After all these are the days of the wealthy decadents dabbling in the dark arts for amusement rather than genuine attempts at satanic rites.

The men in the sanitorium are troubled souls with damaged minds, so the evocation of the folklore mermaid to their suggestive state could easily terrify them. The work of Dr Moon also leaves them more susceptible to the idea that the supernatural can manifest into physical form.  

William is still a man trying to recover from his wartime experiences and here he is dealing with men who have suffered just as he has. The reader gets to see more of the man beneath the carapace he has created to protect his feelings, the empathetic man as well as the deeply troubled one. He quickly finds an ally in Dr Moon, though as he comes to find out his methods are somewhat unusual. These techniques lead to some distinctly odd but wonderfully entertaining scenes that marry perfectly with the overall feel of the storyline. William also has flashbacks to his past that come to explain how he ended up with Queenie and Ronnie working on the narrowboats. These are cleverly segued into the story and just a few short paragraphs end up explaining so much about him.

Queenie ends up gatecrashing the investigation, bringing her marvellous combination no nonsense, ball breaking and tough love matriarch to the storyline. As well she might do as we discover that she knows more than initially thought and ends up spilling secrets. Queenie is not a woman to be crossed, but at times appears to have met her match. William sees a different side to Queenie that may change their relationship later in the series.

Tension and anxiety are cleverly built up throughout the story only to be released as a sudden crack of violence or relief of a false alarm. The violence is bloody and will have some readers wincing as the mermaid appears to wreak her revenge on men. The action scenes are thrilling, the villains are menacing and there is a real sense of danger.      

The author

Natalie Marlow is an historical novelist with a fascination for the people and landscapes of the Midlands. Much of her writing takes inspiration from the stories her grandparents told. She holds an MA in Creative Writing (Crime Writing) from the University of East Anglia and is part-way through a PhD at Birkbeck, University of London. She lives in Warwickshire with her family. (Source: Publisher’s website)

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