Escape: The Hunter Cut #LADavenport #EscapeTheHunterCut

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:

Imran Mahmood at Hull Noir #ImranMahmood #FindingSophie #HullNoir

On Wednesday 17 April Imran Mahmood @imranmahmood777 was the guest of Hull Noir https://www.hullnoir.com/ @HullNoir to talk about his latest crime novel Finding Sophie and how he manages to juggle a writing career with being a criminal barrister. Host for the evening and the man asking the questions was local crime author Nick Quantrill https://www.nickquantrill.co.uk/ @NickQuantrill a co-director of Hull Noir.

Imran Mahmood in conversation with Nick Quantrill

As a rule, I attend Hull Noir events in person, but this time I was in La Palma enjoying a pleasant spring break in the Canary Islands sunshine. Fortunately, as well as these events being free to attend in person, they also provide a free livestream so there was no reason to miss out. As you will see from the photograph of my laptop screen the picture quality was excellent, as was the sound. Thanks to the wonders of X/Twitter I was even able to reserve a signed and dedicated copy of Finding Sophie from Julie of J.E. Books https://jebookshull.wordpress.com/ @JEBooksHull, our local independent bookseller who can be found at all of these events.

The event, including a Q&A session ran for an hour but there follows a flavour of what was discussed.

Background

In writing Finding Sophie IM wanted to explore the very worst thing that can happen to parents, a child going missing, what their reactions are and how they deal with a sense of grief it causes. Here the reactions of the parents are very different, but he is trying to find the real voice of the characters.

NQ added that he was impressed with the social realism that runs through Finding Sophie, the threats of violence (but don’t kill the dog!), the help of a clairvoyant and how the sex worker was ignored.

Teachers

NQ pointed out that both the parents in the novel are teachers and asks why. IM said that he wanted to acknowledge the role that teachers has played in forming his life, those that have helped and inspired him to achieve what he has. He jokingly remarked that teenagers were terrifying and that teachers have to deal with them everyday at school. It is easy for adults to dismiss teenagers for having it easy, but they must deal with a world that is constantly changing, ever faster, and also come with the physical and mental changes as they go through puberty and into adulthood.

Why crime?

NQ wanted to know why write crime fiction and not some brilliant legal courtroom drama, of which he observed there were so few are set in the UK. Since the days of Rumpole of the Bailey there has been so little which IM puts down, at least in some degree, to all the paraphernalia of wigs and gowns which hide actors on the screen. The main difference he points out is that the UK courts are much slower and less dramatic. A forensically realistic UK legal drama would be a rather boring read IM suggests. When he wrote his first novel, he asked his wife for her opinion on his draft, and she told him to the cut the boring legal bits.

So, he naturally decided to write crime, coming into daily contact with a wide variety of miscreants and creepy characters.  Of course he has some great stories to tell which I won’t elaborate here, as that would be akin to spoiling a stand-up comedian’s act.

Screenwriting

IM’s 2017 novel You Don’t Know Me was adapted for television, he was fortunate to have some input into the production, but it was Tom Edge who wrote the screenplay. IM has since been asked to work on screenwriting, which he is at pains to stress is a whole different skill set to being a novelist. The main difference is that you cannot get into the characters mind and express their thoughts, so as there is a difference between showing and telling, here the screenplay is much more direct and tells you what happens. The actual writing process is different too, particularly when it comes to the editing stage. A novel will have an editor, possibly two and go through perhaps three or four drafts; a screenplay could have the input of as many as fifty people at the editing stage before it is filmed.

Work-life balance

NQ wanted to know how he could manage to juggle two demanding careers. IM said that he has always enjoyed writing, he has done it in some form most of his life and writing late into the night is ingrained. His success has meant that he has become more selective in the legal work he accepts, which allows him a little more time to write and now he is able to produce a book a year.

Finding Sophie can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The blurb

Sophie King is missing.

Her parents, Harry and Zara, are distraught; for the last seventeen years, they’ve done everything for their beloved only daughter and now she’s gone.

The police have no leads, and Harry and Zara are growing increasingly frantic, although they are both dealing with it in very different ways. Increasingly obsessed with their highly suspicious neighbour who won’t open the door or answer any questions, they are both coming to the same conclusion. If they want answers, they’re going to have to take the matter into their own hands.

But just how far are they both prepared to go for the love of their daughter?

The author

Imran Mahmood is a practicing barrister with thirty years’ experience fighting cases in courtrooms across the country. His previous novels have been highly critically acclaimed: You Don’t Know Me was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club choice, Goldsboro Book of the Month and was shortlisted for the Glass Bell Award; both this and I Know What I Saw were longlisted for Theakston Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA Gold Dagger. You Don’t Know Me was also made into a hugely successful BBC1 adaptation in association with Netflix. When not in court or writing novels or screenplays he can sometimes be found on the Red Hot Chilli Writers’ podcast as one of their regular contributors. He hails from Liverpool but now lives in London with his wife and daughters. 

Coming up in May at Hull Noir:

The Red Hollow #NatalieMarlow #TheRedHollow

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)

Katy Massey at Hull Noir #KatyMassey #AllUsSinners #HullNoir

On Wednesday 20 March Katy Massey https://katymassey.com/ @TangledRoots1 was the guest of Hull Noir https://www.hullnoir.com/ @HullNoir to talk about her debut crime novel All us Sinners and her writing career in general. Host for the evening and the man asking the questions was local crime author Nick Triplow @nicktriplow a co-creator of Hull Noir.

In reviews I generally refer to writers as ‘the author’ but as we have met and even gone to the pub together, I will take the liberty of referring to her as the more intimate Katy.

The event, including a Q&A session ran for an hour but there follows a flavour of what was discussed.

Katy Massey in conversation with Nick Triplow

Background

The novel selects some from aspects of Katy’s life. Her mother worked in the sex industry, running a successful brothel in Leeds during the 1980s. Katy wanted to write about the women who worked there, they are not the stereotypes portrayed in fiction. They are just ordinary people, women working hard for their families under difficult circumstances. Putting forward the case for discrete, safe, well-run brothels which would have been important as the time the novel is set.

The novel is set in 1977 in a Leeds that is living under the shadow cast by The Yorkshire Ripper. He (like Jack the Ripper) when mentioned within stories, tends to drown out everything within the narrative, whereas she wants to reflect the terror felt by women at the time. Wanting to bring something unique to the story, an angle not pursued by other writers, where his existence is felt in the North, but he hasn’t reached the level of national infamy he was to achieve. He is a character in the novel though.

Characters

Maureen believes she is in control and very is street smart, but not as much as she thinks. The intention was to show that the harder the front a people show the outside world, the more vulnerable they are when this façade is taken away. The hard front is the result of what people have done to Maureen, but the vulnerable woman beneath is more likeable. She is a woman of complicated relationships with those around her. Mick is a policeman, around 10 years older, has known Maureen for years and is quite paternal. She sees him as a protector, but he is tempted, seeing her as a woman. A transactional relationship and one ‘across the tracks’.

Katy is deliberately looking to give a voice to characters whose story is not often told, people who are marginalised. She knows the world she is writing about, so can bring that authenticity to the storytelling. Also wanting to acknowledge that since the time the novel in which the novel is set, life has moved on, but all women remain vulnerable and deep down, attitudes have hardly changed.

Too many crime novels open with a naked or near naked prostitute, who has been murdered and never gets an opportunity to speak. In All us Sinners the story begins with the jeopardy, an attacked prostitute but one who gets to speak to the reader and can tell her story.

Setting

Nick commented on how incredibly evocative the novel is of the time and place in which it is set. How important was the relationship of Maureen, her city and specifically her neighbourhood? Katy said it was quite important that she had known nothing else, but Mick has great experience, with him bringing a much broader world view to the story. Mick’s life has been forged by religion, legitimate society and service to the community, yet Maureen had a hard dragged up existence selling what she has left to sell. There’s a sense of being trapped in Leeds, which is all she knows. Nick says this made it wonderfully claustrophobic, with the storyline leaving Leeds only twice.

Katy said for her it was important to create a sense of a community, this being part of race politics. Katy grew up mixed race, in a diverse part of Leeds and yet, she felt that she didn’t read enough books that reflect the mixing pot she experienced. Yes, there are black and Asian voices in literature, but they tend to concentrate on their section of the wider society. Whereas she wanted to give a more soap opera feel to the community, with the epicentre of community life being in Jamaican Linford’s café, he being a man with fingers in many pies.

The technical aspects of writing

As a debut novelist how conscious was she of finding her own unique voice, distinct from her work as a journalist and her memoir? Not a conscious effort at all! She just let the story guide her on tone and style as she learned to write a novel. Not being steeped in a crime writing background or having read much of the genre, she didn’t realise she was writing a crime novel, there was no specific intent from the outset. It was her editor who guided her on the technical aspects of writing within the genre.

Writing as a journalist is very different to writing a novel. Its more focussed with shorter sentences which are easy to comprehend.

Memoir

Are We Home Yet came about because of the feeling that she was burning out. Katy managed to get funding to do a MA at Sunderland and the study brought a sense of reawakening and so refreshed, her thoughts moved on to doing a PhD. The PhD thesis then became the basis for the memoir with little change. It took 11 years between writing and publishing, partly down to timing as the bottom had fallen out of the ‘misery memoir’ market. Then in 2020 she saw an opportunity, a publisher (Jacaranda Books) asking for submissions wanting to publish 20 pieces by writers of colour in that year. It was accepted and with the Windrush Generation fresh in everyone’s minds the timing was perfect.

All us Sinners can be purchased via the publisher’s website here

Are we Home Yet can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Katy Massey was a journalist for many years before studying for an MA and PhD in Creative Writing. Her memoir, Are We Home Yet? was published in 2020 and praised by Bernardine Evaristo as ‘a gem’. It was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and the Portico Prize. In addition, her fiction and nonfiction work has been widely anthologised, including Common People edited by Kit de Waal, The Place for Me, and speculative collection Glimpse. All Us Sinners is her first novel, an unusual take on the crime genre featuring Maureen, a tough but tender-hearted brothel-keeper in 1970s Leeds. She is unexpectedly drawn into investigating the killing of a friend’s son, events which take place against the disturbing backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper’s murder spree.

Source: Publisher’s website

The Thief of Joy #StaceyMurray #TheThiefOfJoy

By Stacey Murray https://thestacemeister.wordpress.com/ @TheStacemeister

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

360 pages ISBN 9781915817303

Publication date 19 March 2024

I was sent an electronic copy in exchange for a fair review.  I would like to thank Rebecca at Hobeck Books and the Author for the invitation to participate in the Blog Tour.

The Cover

A large house in the leafy suburbs (Didsbury as the reader will discover) that looks all warm and welcoming. Then we notice the silhouette of a woman observing the activities from the well-lit within, a hint that not all is warm and cosy.

My review

A dramatic start to capture our interest. We’re introduced to Roz, the central character, as she is preparing for a night out, a date with Daniel, a man who she has recently started dating. The have only been on a handful of nights out but Roz is upbeat, thinking Daniel just might be ‘the one’. Then she receives a phone call from one of Daniel’s friends; Daniel is dead, killed that morning by a massive brain aneurysm. Roz is distraught.

Roz is a single mum of 39 who is mindful that time for her is running out. She just wants what everyone else has; a nice home, a settled marriage and perhaps a baby while she still can. Surely this is not too much to want or expect?

Poor Roz gets little support or sympathy from those around her, in particular her mother. They say life can hardly be over for her, after all she hardly knew Daniel. She was just being silly, projecting a future based on nothing more than dreams. She’s 39 and not 19, it’s been a bit of a shock to her but it’s merely a bump on the path of her life and she should simply move on.

Feeling that nobody understands her, Roz signs up with an online grief support group. The reactions to her posts are mixed, some sympathetic whilst others agree with her mother. Moderator Mark offers her support, and they quickly become friends, with the prospect of more developing. Mark is a widower whose wife and daughter (who would be around the age of Roz’s daughter Chloe) were killed in a tragic road accident. Mark is a bit older, lives in a fine house in Didsbury and is an anaesthetist at a local hospital, a bit of a catch for a single mum, but he likes to be in control and is domineering at times…

As the title suggests the reader must discover whom or what is The Thief of Joy. All is revealed towards the end of the story, though not in this review.

This is a slow burn story with great emphasis placed on describing Roz’s life. Her hopes, fears and expectations as well as her friendships, and the relationships with her seemingly cold mother and star quality sister, her mother’s favourite. To Roz her life may appear mundane, but she has a job, a home and a lovely daughter, which would leave most people content. The problem is she is surrounded by and reminded of those who are doing better in life, sister Fiona has a posh new home and now Roz discovers her friend Kate is going to marry girlfriend Sam. Gradually we can see Roz is not jealous but just feels that everyone is getting on with their lives whereas hers is stagnating. There may appear parallels to Bridget Jones, but their predicaments are very different, this is no romantic comedy but is a psychological story with distinctive creepy edge.  

Momentum gathers once Mark establishes himself within Roz’s orbit. At first, he seems like a good fit as a potential long-term partner, a man willing to commit and used to children and a family life. As time passes though he lets Roz and Chloe down regularly, well he does have an important job and is often on call. Then when they do meet up, he is controlling and is reluctant to reveal his life, his friends, his family or even let them visit his home. Gradually almost imperceptibly the seeds of doubt are sown. This is written with great subtlety; I expect there will be a range of reactions from different readers. I’m sure most will have been in the position where those close to them are advising on a partner (or potential partner) but there is a refusal to accept what is said. People delude themselves through love and there are those who will take advantage.

The pace increases in the final quarter leading to a dramatic and unexpected course of action for the finale. It all gets rather frantic at an inopportune time, producing a real ‘heart in the mouth’ moment.

The answers to the reader’s questions then come thick and fast, fit together nicely and make perfect sense. The motivations are not quite what we think they are, and the reader has only been exposed to a single perspective, which is what makes the story work. Roz is simply too self-absorbed, once she realises this her life looks very different, for her it’s like looking behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. She comes to understand there can be a different reality behind the façade. Just because other people’s lives look better doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems of their own.

I don’t subscribe to the notion that there are men’s books and women’s books, that is clearly nonsense, but I think this is the sort of novel that will elicit different responses from different demographics. I’m sure there are many women who will identify with Roz’s predicament and no doubt some older women will take her mother’s non nonsense standpoint. The reaction of men will differ, I’m sure, depending on whether they have children. Me? I’m firmly in Mum’s camp!

The Thief of Joy is a cleverly constructed story that shows what can happen when we become too absorbed with what we want from our lives to actually live it.

The Thief of Joy can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

A native of Glasgow, Stacey Murray was an international finance lawyer in London and Hong Kong, before changing career to become an independent film producer. Her first film, A Boy Called Dad, was acquired by the BBC and nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (which meant she got to chat with Sean Connery). She lives in the dramatic Derbyshire Peak District which is the setting for her tense psychological novel The Thief of Joy. Her first novel was the acclaimed The Curious Case of Maggie Macbeth. 

Source: Publisher’s website

Don’t forget to check out all the other great reviews on this Blog Tour|:

Safe Hands #WAKelly #SafeHands

By W.A. Kelly https://www.waynekellywrites.com/ @MrKelly2u

Narrated by W.A. Kelly

Published by Picklock Publishing

382 pages (8 hours 53 minutes) ISBN 9781399965170 (PB)

Publication date 6 October 2023

Safe Hands is the first book in the Mickey Blake thriller series.

I reviewed an audiobook provided by the author, in exchange for an honest review, for which I would like to thank him.

The Cover

Straightforward but at the same time effective.

The narrator

As I have noted several times before on this blog, I am not a big fan of an author narrating his own book. That said here he has made a splendid job of the task, displaying a wide variety of voices and accents. A couple of them drifted into silly voice territory but I think he may be forgiven as he attempts to inject some personality into the reading. This is his ‘baby’ and he brings the enthusiasm that demonstrates he’s proud of it.

My review

Mickey Blake is a retired ‘peterman’, a former safecracker, who should be living a life of luxury on the ‘Costa del Crime’. Instead, he is drawn back to ‘Sunny Skeggy’, the bracing Lincolnshire seaside town of Skegness for ‘one last job’. With his wife back in Spain suffering from terminal cancer and a failed business venture behind him, he is in hock to a gangster and so desperately needs the cash, after all nobody goes to Skegness without a good reason.

Hazel is a single mum with an almost grown-up son, Warren. Her life hasn’t exactly gone to plan but she does her best, at least she is doing better than her friend Maeve, who life and one man in particular has treated her badly. Hazel has her own business providing bookkeeping services, but also works part time in a local pub, so she sees a lot of life pass by. Her biggest fear is that Warren becomes drawn into a life of crime.

Mickey and Hazel’s paths will cross as he tries to crack open the huge vault of a gangland casino using only his skill and his delicate, safe hands…but can he also keep them both safe.

Well, it’s certainly an unusual character to base a new series on, a sixty-year-old former safe cracker who hasn’t worked in eighteen years. If nothing else, it will be fascinating where the follow ups head. Mickey is a complex character who doesn’t so much have a bit of baggage but rather a vintage Louis Vuitton travel trunk full. Bullied by his own father, he has spent the entirety of his adult life trying to avoid turning into the man he despised, without seeing the damage this caused his own family. A promising boxer, he quit early in his career after seriously injuring an opponent, a guilt he has carried with him ever since. Crime came easy to him, the money was most welcome, but he was always drawn into the skill aspect, pitching his wits against the safe. Now he feels trapped in a marriage that should have ended years ago, again feeling the guilt for the poor way he treated his wife. No wonder a trip to Skegness seems like a fillip to him.

The plot is nice and crazy, at first seeming too straightforward, but of course it isn’t, a simple event signals this and like railway points being thrown, we head off on a different track. Being the first in a series there is the expected back story introduced, but these are so cleverly incorporated into the plot that it steams along and even incorporates the occasional toot of pleasure. It’s not all laughs though, there is violence, some jeopardy and a body to be dealt with, enough to add some real thrills to the mix. Runaway trains do have a tendency to crash…

Safecracking puts me in mind of the post war black and white British movies, but this is no Noir and it is thoroughly modern in style. The criminals use the language we would expect, and the setting is real and has the faded, run down neglect, we now associate with British seaside towns. Serious issues are addressed but it never gets too heavy and whilst never quite ending up in saucy postcard territory there is a certain cheekiness to proceedings, in the end this is a crime caper. There is a lot of humour throughout, mostly dry and with a sarcastic observational edge, which I found engaging and not overdone. I loved the comment from Mickey telling how he worried when his son fell in with the wrong crowd, “drugs?” was the response, “no, performing arts” the reply. He also has an ear for an interesting turn of phrase and savage putdowns from the street, like ‘sanctimonious piece of excrement’.

The theme through is the family; our commitments, ties and the love we engender. In some cases this is obvious, whereas elsewhere it is buried deeper, but it is manifest in all the significant characters in the own way. This is typified by the strained relationship between Mickey and son Liam, who summarises the position perfectly in that no matter who much you love someone and want to protect them, you must let them live their lives and make their own mistakes. These interactions help to bring some substance to the story.

The supporting cast of characters are an intriguingly mixed bunch, admittedly a couple come straight from central casting but we do want our villains to be nasty. Single mum Hazel is a gem, battling to do the right thing but always seeming to be swimming against a tide of bad circumstances. Her son Warren doesn’t help and represents a generation of confused teens whose attention is easily distracted.

Safe Hands is an engaging seaside crime caper, where revenge comes with a side order of laughs.

Safe hands can be purchased from Amazon here

The author

Wayne Kelly is a screenwriter and novelist. His debut crime novel, SAFE HANDS, is released in November 2023.

In addition to novels and short stories, he’s written and directed several short films including INKLING, which was an official selection at the International HorrorHound Film Festival in Ohio. He is producer of the award-winning feature-length documentary, NO FARE: The Sian Green Story.

Since 2014 he’s hosted The Joined Up Writing Podcast, where he interviews successful authors about their books, writing and journeys to publication.
With his limited spare time, he’s a singer-songwriter with The Wry Dogs and devoted cat father to Milo. He loves to cycle around the beautiful Leicestershire countryside, where he lives with his wife and daughter.

Source: Goodreads profile

Crow Moon #SuzyAspley #CrowMoon #Extract

By Suzy Aspley https://www.suzyaspleywriter.com/ @writer_suzy

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

272 pages ISBN 9781914585500

Publication date 14 March 2024

I was sent an electronic copy and selected extract 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 the Publisher.

An extract from Crow Moon

CHAPTER THREE

The man had to be flexible with the plan. He’d watched Fraser running the trail for a few days and had done all he could to prepare. He knew the forest well, or at least this part of it. He’d been brought here as a child, had become used to the silence. No one to hear you scream but the ghosts. The Queen Elizabeth Forest Park stretched from the Trossachs hills and majestic Loch Lomond, all the way to the village of Crianlarich further to the north-west. Visitors flocked to the area. Studded with clear lochs and towering mountains, it was the Highlands within reach of Scotland’s biggest cities. Friday was the start of the weekend here.

The nearby village of Aberfoyle was steeped in folklore, and the famous Fairy Hill on the other side of the broad glen drew families from far away. Sometimes, if the wind blew in the right direction, he heard bells chiming. Not church bells, but offerings to the pagan forest spirits from folk who should know better. But there were also lonely areas of dense woodland where you could easily lose yourself; and where he knew he would never be disturbed.

People believed there was magic in these woods, and local tourist guides still told tales of witches. They knew nothing, he thought. But the stories meant they didn’t want to be here after dark, which was just as well.

He didn’t think the teenager remembered him. It was a while since they’d crossed paths, but he could take no risks. He wore his heavy coat and dark glasses, just in case. Fraser was a strong young man, almost an adult; easily capable of getting away if he suspected anything, so the man had found a way of putting the teenager on the back foot. A rope slung low across the track had done that; Fraser hadn’t seen it and had rolled to the ground. Then a friendly helping hand to get him onto the trailer. The boy looked relieved. Someone had come to save him. He was too trusting though. No sense of danger. At that time in the morning, no one else was about, but it was important to get him out of the way, off the main path, leaving as little trace as possible. He’d checked the forecast in advance. There’d been a run of dry days, so the quad wouldn’t leave tracks through mud. It had all come nicely together.

The Risperdal was prescribed for him, but he hadn’t been taking it. He’d just kept stocking up the supplies, sure they’d be useful for something. It was a stroke of luck finding the other drug stashed in the old railway buildings. He’d felt as if someone was helping him, knowing he needed to knock Fraser out for a while. But in the end he’d been forced to use a more brutal method – the stick still had the teenager’s blood on it. He’d get rid of that later.

Do it. Hit him. Make sure he stays still.

• 

The Blurb

When the crow moon rises, the darkness is unleashed…

Martha Strangeways is struggling to find purpose in her life, after giving up her career as an investigative reporter when her young twins died in a house fire.

Overwhelmed by guilt and grief, her life changes when she stumbles across the body of a missing teenager – a tragedy that turns even more sinister when a poem about crows is discovered inked onto his back…

When another teenager goes missing in the remote landscape, Martha is drawn into the investigation, teaming up with DI Derek Summers, as malevolent rumours begin to spread and paranoia grows.

As darkness descends on the village of Strathbran, it soon becomes clear that no one is safe, including Martha…

My review

My review will appear later in March.

Crow Moon can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Originally from the north-east of England, former journalist Suzy Aspley has lived in
Scotland for almost thirty years. She writes crime and short stories, often inspired by the
strange things she sees in the landscape around her. She won Bloody Scotland’s Pitch
Perfect in 2019 with the original idea for her debut novel and was shortlisted for the Capital Crime New Voices Award. In 2020, she was mentored by Jo Dickinson as part of
the Hachette future bookshelf initiative. Crow Moon was also longlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award. She’s currently working on the second book in the series, and when she’s not writing, she’s either got her nose buried in a book, or is outside with her dogs dreaming up more dark stories. She lives in Stirlingshire with her family.

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

Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case #ElsaDrucaroff #RodolfoWalshsLastCase

By Elsa Drucaroff @Elsa_Drucaroff

Translated by Slava Faybysh @slavabob8

Published by Corylus Books https://corylusbooks.com/ @CorylusB

TBA pages ISBN 9781739298937

Publication date 5 March 2024

I was sent an electronic copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Ewa Sherman @sh_ewa for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and the Publisher.

The Cover

Very simple but at the same time very effective.

My review

Last month I reviewed Death Flight by Sarah Sultoon whose plot centred on the fate of the ‘disappeared’ some fifteen years after the fall of the military junta, then like buses, along comes another novel that focuses on this dark period in the country’s history. Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case is set in 1976 when the military still had firm control over Argentina and brings a different feel.

Rodolfo Walsh was a famous Argentinian writer of Irish decent, but I would guess little known in the English-speaking world. He was the man who kick started investigative journalism in Argentina, as well as being a pioneer of the true-crime genre with his book Operation Massacre, at a time of civil turmoil and military rule, when to do so would put any writer in grave danger. He also wrote popular crime fiction. If that were not enough, he was active in the political underground not just being a member of the Montoneros but its head of intelligence. He also created ANCLA, (Clandestine News Agency) attempting to disseminate the truth using underground channels under the noses of the junta. So, he was both a talented and courageous man, but did his fame protect him from the repercussions of the military?

Perhaps we are expecting Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case to be a work of non-fiction, but it is not, it is very much fiction, but expertly woven into real life events. Including real people within historical fiction is nothing new, but usually these are cameo roles to bring a sense of reality to proceedings (after all Phillip Kerr had Bernie Gunther meeting just about every major Nazi with that series.) Here though the author goes much further taking a real person (Rodolfo) and imagining a reaction to a real event, the shoot out that his daughter was involved in. A challenging concept in which to write a convincing novel, but one which the author has risen to and produced a work that is as entertaining as it is compelling. How accurate her portrayal of Rodolfo as a complex, caring, moral and driven man can only be judged by those who knew him, but even if this novel just raises awareness of the man then she has triumphed.

The plot centres on a real-life event, a shoot-out on 29 September 1976, subsequently known as the Battle of Corro Street in which Walsh’s daughter María Victoria (nom de guerre “Hilda”, or “Vicki” to family and friends) was involved. It was reported that all five Montoneros where killed, but rumours persisted that one, a woman, was captured alive. It is here that the fiction takes over. Rodolfo does what every caring parent would do, try to establish the truth and if she were alive save his daughter. If she were alive would the military use her for their own ends, as bait or a pawn in negotiations. It is here that Rodolfo does indeed take on his last case.

The story switches between the viewpoints of the venal and corrupt military and the political opposition who were effectively treated as rebels. Here they cling onto the spirit and ideals of the student protests of 1968, a movement for the workers lead by an intelligentsia despised by the military. The spirit of resistance, as well its likely futility against unsurmountable odds, is captured to perfection, the reader is convinced these characters would die for their cause. There is also a deep sense of fear that is ultimately faced by a brazen almost cavalier attitude to life, one where it is better to die an honourable death than to live on your knees in servitude.

Trust and betrayal are the central themes, though there are also explorations into camaraderie, love and family. As both sides via to establish the intent of the opposition they face the dilemma of relying upon the trusting of one’s comrades, but simultaneously on the betrayal of the opposition by those within. If you can infiltrate the opposition, can they not do the same to you. Here we are given a sense of the scheming and paranoia involved, where betrayal could lead to torture and death. I thought initially it took a little getting into the story, probably due to the constantly switching perspectives, but this builds up a nice vein of tension and urgency throughout leading up to a magnificently created set piece as Rodolfo battles to avert disaster. The translator has done a great job in pulling this together and retaining a sense of urgency.

Rodolfo is clearly the central character and wonderfully drawn, at times working in bed whilst his wife lies asleep beside him. For me the big surprise was the characterisation of the military. It would have been easy to portray them as evil, as many clearly were, but there is more nuance here and a reminder that many were conscripted into the forces and one courageous soldier plays an important role within the storyline.

In the end, as the story has its foundations in fact, we know that Rodolfo follows the path of his daughter, dying the day after publishing Open Letter from a Writer to the Military Junta when he refused to surrender to a group of soldiers. Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case is wonderfully imaginative piece of speculative fiction and a fine testament to a talented and courageous writer.

Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case can be purchased via the publisher’s website here or the Bookshop.org here

The author

Elsa Drucaroff was born and raised in Buenos Aires. She is the author of four novels and two short story collections, in addition to being a prolific essayist. She has published numerous articles on Argentine literature, literary criticism and feminism.
Her work has been widely translated, but Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case is Elsa Drucaroff’s first novel to be translated into English.

The translator

(c) Acie Ferguson

Slava Faybysh is a translator based in Chicago. He translated Leopoldo Bonafulla’s The July Revolution, Barcelona 1909 (AK Press), a first-hand chronicle of a weeklong rebellion and general strike followed by government repression, told from an anarchist perspective. His translations have been published in journals such as New England Review, the Southern Review, and The Common, and his translation of Elsa Drucaroff’s thriller set in 1970s Argentina, Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case, was recently published by Corylus Books.

Source: latinamericanliteraturetoday.org

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

The War Widow #TaraMoss #TheWarWidow

By Tara Moss https://www.taramoss.com/ @Tara_Moss

Published by Verve Books https://www.vervebooks.co.uk/index.php @VERVE_Books

317 pages ISBN 9780857308672

Publication date 7 March 2024

I was sent a paperback copy in exchange for a fair review. I would like to thank Lisa at the publisher and of course, the author for making it available.

The Cover

Light and dark, hints of glamour and mystery, it’s a very striking cover that’s perfect for the story.

My review

Its 1946 and war correspondent Billie Walker is back home in Sydney after seeing the horrors of war in Europe. Life has changed though, her father is dead, her journalist husband Jack is missing presumed dead in Europe, and the newspapers are now giving priority for jobs to male soldiers. The new world of opportunity and respect for women is now over. They are expected to go back to what they were doing before the war, to give up new-found independence and leave the work to men.

Billie is reluctant to give up such freedoms lightly and decides to revive her late father’s business, a private investigation agency. She is determined to prove that a woman can flourish in this man’s world.

Initially business is slow, consisting mainly of women asking for proof of their husband’s infidelity, dirty work but necessary at a time when obtaining a divorce was difficult. Barely scratching a living, she needs a proper case to prove her mettle and show she can match the men in the profession. When a woman asks Billie to find her son, what appears to be a simple case leads her to a dark and dangerous underworld hidden just beneath Sydney’s high society life. Billie thought she had left the war behind, but has it left her?

Australian and New Zealand based crime fiction is proving to be very popular, and rightly so there are some fabulous writers out there. So, a chance to review a period piece of Aussie crime was not to be missed for this reviewer, who enjoyed this book immensely. Clearly a great deal of research and effort has gone into giving it the authentic feel that it has, without over embellishments slowing down the flow. The simple things are observed, almost everyone wears a hat and men wear suits, but also the things people would try to forget, the damaged ex-service men who try to cover scars and wear gloves to hid missing fingers. So, prepare to journey back to 1946.

The plot is linear, with two strands that eventually come together with a touch of finesse but then turns after a clever reveal, which makes the story altogether more complex, rather than being too obvious from the start. The pacing is brisk, even frenetic at times but never becomes simplistic or one dimensional, retaining a clarity throughout. Thriller fans are going to love the action which is interspersed throughout the storyline, with Billie and assistant Sam barely having chance to get their breath back before the next incident. There’s real danger and jeopardy introduced at times and some great fight scenes with a female perspective. This is the sort of book you will tell yourself just one more chapter…

Billie Walker is shaping up to be a fabulous character, she is determined and courageous but also impulsive and quite reckless. This reckless streak means she can find herself in danger within the blink of an eye, which promises the reader plenty of entertainment. She may be doing a ‘man’s job’ but she is feminine and glamorous, with her couture lovingly described, even down to the hand sewn garter that holds her mother-of-pearl gripped pistol. She is also a bit of a petrolhead, she has a Willys 77 Roadster that she drives fast, so expect car chases at up to 50mph! The spirit of V. I. Warshawski within Australia’s next top model, a formidable detective.

The supporting characters manage to add some great contrasts; there’s Billie’s mother the Baroness Ella who has fallen on (comparative) hard times, Billie’s young aboriginal friend Shyla and Sam the young, strong assistant who lost fingers thanks to an Italian thermos bomb (Italian grenade). The villains are particularly nasty.   

Billie is ‘The War Widow’ who still longs for Jack and prays that he is still alive, but she is also an attractive woman in the prime of her life, providing a lovely dilemma for the reader. Will flirting and sexual chemistry lead to more, I guess we shall see. Either way the story sets up some great situations for our headstrong PI to go bulldozing through to the consternation to the men around her. Here is a woman who can manage perfectly on her own, one who is determined to hold onto the liberation the war brought, a true feminist.

It is very much an Australian story though, as the reader keeps getting little reminders, be it kangaroos holding up traffic, escaped crocodiles (read the author’s acknowledgements) or the rural police station. There is also an acknowledgement of the suffering of indigenous peoples which is crucial to the plot which is sensitively handled.    

There’s plenty of nods to the golden age of the 1930s US hardboiled PI, but it doesn’t stray into homage territory but does stay faithful to the genre and certainly retains a touch of Noir about it. There are a couple of enjoyable cliches, of the type we would expect, but it retains its sense of individuality throughout.

The War Widow is a gripping private eye adventure, so evocative of the period in which it is set, with a very individual female lead and a hard edge. A fabulous series set up; I for one hope there are more novels to come.

The War Widow can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Tara Moss is an internationally bestselling author, passionate and inspiring chronic pain and disability advocate, human rights activist, documentary and podcast host and former model. Her crime novels have been published in nineteen countries and thirteen languages, and her memoir, The Fictional Woman, was a #1 international bestseller. Moss is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has received the Edna Ryan Award for significant contributions to feminist debate and for speaking out on behalf of women and children. In 2017, she was recognised as one of the Global Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life. The Ghosts of Paris, the second Billie Walker mystery, will be published by VERVE Books in autumn 2024.

Source: Publisher’s website

Sleeping Dogs #WendyTurbin #SleepingDogs

By Wendy Turbin

Narrated by Judi Daykin https://judidaykin.co.uk/ @norfolknovelist

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

376 pages (9 hours 44 minutes) ISBN 1913793087 (PB)

Publication date 9 December 2020 (audio 6 January 2022)

Sleeping Dogs is the first book in the Penny Wiseman Murder Mystery series.

I reviewed the audiobook version purchased from Audible. https://www.audible.co.uk/ @audibleuk

The cover

A seaside pier, the sea and a ghostly figure, they’re all relevant to the story. A nice cover, I like it.

The narration

The choice of narrator is vital with audiobooks, and here they have made an excellent choice. The performance is light and upbeat which is perfect for the story. A nice variety of voices and accents and a good deadpan comic delivery.

My review

Penny Wiseman is a gumshoe, not through choice but through necessity. The business was that of her late father and she is struggling just to keep it afloat. He was less choosy with who he worked for, and Penny believes some clients were not exactly legitimate. His books seem more fiction than fact, leaving her with debts to settle. With few of his major clients willing to employ her, she has had to sell her beautiful seafront apartment and pawn her most treasured possession.  

Desperate, she takes on a case of looking into the activities of a secretive husband, who it is feared is being blackmailed. This then opens a series of other mysteries for Penny to follow.

There is also a complication; Penny can see the dead. Since a near death experience which lead to the drowning of her babysitter, Gail Monterrey, she has been able to see ghosts. A gift? Maybe, or perhaps a curse for the guilt she feels. Either way she is stuck with it and must do her best to use it to her advantage.

A bright and breezy story, not so much a cosy crime as a feel-good crime. There is plenty of humour, quirkiness, a nice line in cutting sarcasm and all-round silliness. I’m sure most will read with a smile on their face, but it is not without moments that on reflection could be darker were it not for the upbeat prose. There are also moments of danger and jeopardy and even a car chase (of sorts) which provide a nice contrast to the remainder of the story and add a sense of urgency to the gentle pacing.

The plot is a little bit silly, as befits the overall style, but is delivered with the necessary conviction and all the tangled threads end up being woven together nicely. Set at the seaside what better than a talent show, but one with a difference and a hint of entertaining chaos. The British obsession with pets also figures strong, with cats and dogs, both real and ghostly, and an accommodating veterinary practice. This is a very English private investigation story.

Our central heroine is of course Penny, a woman drifting through her life, concentrating on the business surviving just another week. She is trying to put her troubles behind her, but when she sees ghosts, she tries to first understand and then help them. During the investigation Penny must face up to her own personal demons. Her parts are told in the first person and like all good PIs she shoots from the lip, which is just as well as this is the UK and not 1940s San Francisco.

Her assistant is the nephew of her father’s former assistant, and the best thing about Nathan is he comes cheap. Tall and thin with a shock of red hair he is useless at undercover work, well at most things other than answering the phone, as he is part Frank Spencer and part Private Pike. He is obsessed with technology as are many young men of his age are and this coupled to his personality produce some slapstick moments and comic gems. A little cruel at times but all done in good faith, they love him really.

Penny’s sister is Sarah, and they bounce off each other with sparky sibling rivalry. Sarah becomes concerned after hearing of the financial problems of the business and is keen to help Penny out of her predicament. In doing so she crosses the path of glamourous, tall, slender and stylish Alice, with her long legs to die for and decidedly large hands and feet. There follows an interesting a problematic relationship as Penny has Alice down on her list of suspects.

The test of the first book in a series is does the reader want more. A definite yes please from me. This is light-hearted crime fiction of the highest order that deserves a follow up.

Don’t let these Sleeping Dogs lie, grab a copy soon, settle down and enjoy.

Sleeping Dogs can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Wendy Turbin lives near the sea, walks a dog or two for the Cinnamon Trust, and is owned by Little Ernie, a cat who spooks at invisible things. An avid reader of crime fiction, she has long been a fan of the private detective from Chandler to McDermid, from Grafton to Galbraith.

This combination of facts may explain why her debut novel contains a PI, a pier and a pet – and a ghost girl in need of help.

Over the years, Wendy has worked in international logistics, customer service banking, and education – but she has always been a writer. Like many others who doubt themselves, few of her tales have seen the light of day, despite the Creative Writing core of her OU Bachelor’s degree.

But recovery from a severe bout of depression a few years ago led Wendy to re-evaluate her priorities and then she came across the UEA’s amazing MA Creative Writing Crime Fiction. Ever the ‘learnaholic’, the idea appealed. Write a whole novel while studying crime fiction? Yes! In a ‘seize the day moment’ she applied. She was thrilled and terrified when offered a place.

Fuelled by huge mugs of tea and a lake of prosecco, she wrote the book and achieved the MA.

Now her world is all murder and mayhem – and she’s very happy with that!

Source: Amazon profile

The narrator

Yorkshire born, Judi has lived, worked and made theatre in Norfolk for the last forty years. She completed her MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in 2019, and her debut novel was shortlisted for the Little, Brown UEA writers prize. That novel became Under Violent Skies, which was long-listed for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger in 2021.

Judi was a working actor with a portfolio career spanning twenty years of theatre, film and television; directing; workshops; audio narration and medical roleplay. These days she writes full time from her study in a North Norfolk village. She also enjoys crafting, art history, watching horror films and going on cruises, none of which she has much spare time for!

Source: Amazon profile