‘Death at the Village Chess Club’ by Debbie Young

Published by Boldwood Books,
3 March 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83518-562-9 (PB)

Alice Carroll has now settled into her new cottage in the picturesque Cotswold village of Little Pride after splitting with her long-time partner Steven. Their split was amicable. Steven wanted to travel to India on a motorbike, living a minimalist life style.  They sold their house and split the proceeds. Unfortunately, Steven’s conveyancing skills were not too good. Nell Little the previous owner of the cottage  who had retired to a care home, had run a Curiosity Shop there for many years, and Alice discovered that she was not allowed to turn the cottage to purely residential. Missed that did you Steven?

However, Alice has made the best of it and come to enjoy running a curiosity shop, buying in goods from the locals and selling them on.

Then Alice receives a call from Steven, who it appears has not quite made it to India but is in France and he has run out of money.  It appears that when in France it would be wrong not to play a bit of roulette!  Oh, dear!  The reason for the call is that Steven wants Alice to go to the storage place where all his belongings are and locate 20 Chess Sets and sell them and send him the money. He doesn’t want much does he?

Despite Alice clearly stating as he knows that she knows nothing about chess, he just says ‘wire me the money as soon as you can’.  So along with her lodger Danny who she used to work with at the museum and not without some difficulty they locate the chess sets.  Some of them are really beautiful and exotic and others quite plain. 

Realising the space they will take up; Alice comes up with the idea of a village chess club to showcase them. And after talking with Nell Little who used to compile the Little Pride Parish News, decides to take that on giving her access to more advertising of the chess sets.  Having reached agreement with the school headmaster world-weary Mr Montgomery Wright to hold a chess afternoon to show them to potential buyers and agreeing to pay him a commission of 10% on the sales, it’s all systems go.

And it goes off really well. And good to see children learning to play chess instead of computer games, until leaving the school grounds, teacher, Jack Dauntless, Alice and Danny find a dead body, and it doesn’t look like natural causes.

Regardless of their successful afternoon, they are all upset. Even more so when they start to sort the remaining chess sets and find pieces missing.  Reeling from these shocks a further one is delivered when Alice’s mother arrives.

So, there we have it, a dead body, missing chess pieces and Alice’s mother.  And Alice’s neighbour Robert who reading between the line’s I suspect Alice may have taken a fancy to. But does Robert have a fancy for her?

Alice muses on why anyone would be interested in stealing random chess pieces, let alone willing to kill for them, but she’s determined to find out. Can she solve the case before someone else gets hurt?

A terrific read with a tantalising mystery, and lots of interesting characters. I so enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one. Soon please. Most highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Debbie Young was born and raised in Sidcup, Kent. When she was 14, her family relocated to Germany for her father’s job. Debbie spent four years at Frankfurt International School, broadening her outlook as well as gaining the then brand new IB (International Baccalaureate). She returned to the UK to earn her BA (Hons) in English and Related Literature at the University of York, then lived and worked for a while in London and the West of England as a journalist and PR consultant.  In 1991 she moved to the Cotswolds. In 2002, she married a Scot named Gordon whom she met in Swindon – and not, as village rumour once had it, a Swede named Scottie.  In 2003, her daughter Laura was born.  Best Murder in Show was the first in her series featuring Sophie Sayers. There are now nine books in this series. And four books in the Gemma Lamb series. The most recent series is The Cotswold Curiosity Shop Mysteries. There are two books in this series.

https://authordebbieyoung.com

Coming Soon: 'The Girl in Cell A' by Vaseem Khan

Published by Hodder & Stoughton,

1st May 2025 

Convicted of murder at seventeen, infamous killer and true crime celebrity Orianna Negi has always maintained her innocence.

But if she didn't kill Gideon Wyclerc...

Orianna has a blind spot over that fateful day: she can't remember what happened.

Forensic psychologist Annie Ledet is tasked with unlocking the truth.

....Then who did?

Orianna grew up in Eden Falls, ruled by the insular Wyclerc dynasty and its ruthless patriarch , Amos. As their sessions progress, Annie reaches into Orianna's past to a shattering realisation....
Scandal. Sex. Power. Race. And murder.
Between guilt and innocence lies a fallen Eden.

 Vaseem Khan was born in London in 1973. He studied finance at the London School of Economics. He first saw an elephant lumbering down the middle of the road in 1997 when he arrived in the city of Mumbai, India to work as a management consultant. This surreal sight inspired his Baby Ganesh Agency series of 'gritty cosy crime' novels. His aim with the series is to take readers on a journey to the heart of modern India. He returned to the UK in 2006 and has since worked at University College London for the Department of Security and Crime Science. Elephants are third on his list of passions, first and second being great literature and cricket, not always in that order. His first book The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra was a Times Bestseller and an Amazon Best Debut. The are five books in the series. His most recent series is Malabar House. There are five books in the series. The most recent being City of Destruction published in December 2024.  

http://vaseemkhan.com

Coming Soon: 'Cold Justice' by Leigh Russell

Published by No Exit Press
8 May 2025

Book 23 in the Geraldine Steel series

The stakes have never been higher for Geraldine Steel.

When Alice Lewis is found murdered, the case becomes personal for DI Steel, as Alice was the niece of her childminder, Lisa. Despite Lisa’s earlier pleas for help, Geraldine hadn’t acted in time to save Alice.

Now, driven by guilt and a thirst for justice, Geraldine dives headfirst into the case. But the deeper she digs, the more layers of secrets and lies she uncovers about Alice's life, forcing her to question everything she thought she knew. With an elusive killer watching her every move, Geraldine finds herself caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

Leigh Russell delivers a masterful tale of suspense, keeping readers on edge until the final shocking twist.

 

Leigh Russell has written twenty three books in her Geraldine Steel series. Leigh launched a new cosy series in March 2023 with Barking up the Right Tree. This was followed by Barking Mad in July 2023. There are now four books in the series with a fifth being published in June 2025. Leigh has twice been a Finalist for The People's Book Prize. She is Chair of the CWA Debut Dagger judges, and a Royal Literary Fellow.

 http://leighrussell.co.uk

Coming Soon: 'A Fatal Necessity' by Marjorie Eccles

Published by Severn House,

6 May 2025.

The 6th book in the Herbert Readon series

DI Herbert Reardon investigates the murder of an enigmatic woman who was about to leave her comfortable life behind and mysteriously disappear in this page-turning 1930s historical mystery with gasp-worthy revelations.

1935, Temple Wood, Worcestershire. Judge Waring's glamorous wife Emilie is mysteriously missing and no one knows where she is - until she's found the morning after a party at neighbouring Falconry Park, in a clearing in Temple Woods grounds, strangled yet neatly laid out next to two pieces of matching luggage.

What could possibly have brought Emilie to the site where the family's new home, The Spinney, was about to be built, equipped for travelling? Was she planning to leave with someone she knew? Who was determined that she should meet such a terrible end? As Detective Chief Inspector Herbert 'Bert' Reardon and Sergeant Jago discover more about the enigmatic Emilie, they unravel terrible lies and devastating secrets stretching back years . . .

This compelling historical mystery sharply conveys British society and politics of the interwar period of the 1930s. 

  

Marjorie Eccles was born in Yorkshire and spent much of her childhood there and on the Northumbrian coast. The author of thirty-three books and short stories, she is the recipient of the Agatha Christie Short Story Styles Award. Her earlier books featuring police detective Gil Mayo were adapted for the BBC. Her most recent series is set after the Great War and features DI Herbert Reardon. There are six books in the series. She has also written a number of standalone books. She lives in Hertfordshire.

Coming Soon: 'Murder in the Grotto' by Amy Myers

 

Published by Severn House,
6 May 2025.

The second book in the British Stately Home Mystery series.

Forty-something single mother Cara Shelley is very content running the Happy Huffkin café in the grounds of a quirky stately home. But her daily routine is shaken up by the arrival of a guest at Tanton Towers: the flamboyant Lady Izzy, who has plans for an extremely peculiar celebration . . . and wants Cara to cater for it.

Ten years ago, Lady Izzy's nephew, the former chair of the local ghost society, died after a ghost hunt in the Towers' spooky subterranean grotto. Now, she plans to commemorate his life - and death - with a fresh hunt in the very same place.

But the morning after the event, Cara makes a horrifying discovery in the network of caves. Unless spirits can kill, there's a murderer in their midst! Soon, the Towers is full of police, including the handsome but annoying DCI Andrew Mitchem. Can the irrepressible Cara keep her feelings in check and catch a cunning killer before she becomes the grotto's next ghost?

 

Amy Myers was born in Kent, where she still lives. For many years she worked as a director in a London publishing firm, before realising her dream to become a writer. Her first series featured detective, August Didier, a half French, half English master chef in late Victorian and Edwardian times. She also wrote a series with her American husband James Myers featuring Jack Colby, car detective, there are 8 books in the series. She also writes a series set post WW1, featuring chef-sleuth Nell Drury. There are three books in this series.  She has also written nine books featuring Marsh and Daughter, and in between a series about a Victorian chimney sweep Tom Wasp. Her most recent series is The British Stately Home Mystery series. There are two books in this series. Amy also writes historical novels and suspense under the name Harriet Hudson.

http://www.amymyers.net/ 

Coming Soon: 'The Wooden Library' by Barbara Nadel

'The Wooden Library' by Barbara Nadel
Published by Headline
8th May 2025

Book 27 in the Inspector Ikman series.

Inspector Mehmet Süleyman is on holiday in Romania when his distant cousin calls. Nurettin Süleyman has bought the Wooden Library, an ancient building in Istanbul once owned by their ancestor. He needs help cataloguing its priceless contents and who better for the job than Mehmet's old friend Çetin İkmen? As İkmen sets to work, he detects a terrible smell pervading the library that leads to the discovery of a rotting corpse. The dead body is that of Senol Ulusoy, the man who sold Nurettin the library . . .

A long-running feud between the two families comes to light, as does the bitter rivalry between the three Ulusoy brothers, fuelled by their father's cruel manipulation. Then pathologist Arto Sarkissian makes a shocking discovery that turns this case on its head, and Süleyman's detective team must dig deep to reveal a truth that is rooted in the past as well as the present . . .

Barbara Nadel was born and brought up in the East End of London. She has a degree in psychology and, prior to becoming a full-time author, she worked in psychiatric institutions and in the community with people experiencing mental health problems. She is also the author of the award-winning Inspector Ikmen series and received the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger for the seventh novel in the series Deadly Web. There are now 24 books in the series. She is also the author of the award-winning Inspector Ikem series now adapted by the BBC as The Turkish Detective. Barbara now lives in Essex.

‘The Vanished’ by N. J. Mackay

Published by Canelo,
27 March 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-491-8 (PB)

Detective Inspector Sebastian Locke lives with his teenage daughter Tilly and Val, who was once his mother-in-law. She has an annexe in the house. He and his girlfriend Charlotte (known as Charlie) had married very young when she fell pregnant with Tilly. They split up before long, Charlie became a drug addict and Seb vowed to bring Tilly up on his own.

A call comes into the police station, Sid, Charlie’s partner has reported her missing. On arrival at their squalid flat on a really run down estate, there is no sign of Charlie or Sid, but a further search in a flat above reveals Sid’s body, his throat cut from ear to ear.

We then learn of Charlie being held in a locked dark room and coming to in a bad state, suffering from an overdose and being violently sick. She has no idea where she is or how she got there.

Seb’s team trace Charlie’s social worker, Sam Martin, he and his sergeant Lucy Quinn pay her a visit. She tells them her brother Alex, a doctor knew Sid and Charlie. On visiting him they learn of a drop-in centre where Charlie often went.

However, on making enquiries, they are told there has been no sign of Charlie there lately. Then another woman disappears, also with a history of drug addiction. Seb and the team are now really puzzled, and when there is another murder and a third disappearance, they hardly know which way to turn.

Investigations are made about a local drug baron, but they can find no connection between him and the murders or disappearances.

What exactly is going on and who can have carried out the crimes and why? Seb becomes desperate to find his ex-wife, can he discover where she is being held before it’s too late?

The book reveals a great insight into the drug addict’s world and how easily it destroys so many lives. An author’s note at the end of the book says this will be Sebastian Locke’s last story. Such a shame, I will miss him. Highly recommended.
-----
Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Niki Mackay studied Performing Arts at the BRIT School, and it turned out she wasn’t very good at acting but quite liked writing scripts. She holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Drama and won a full scholarship for her MA in Journalism. 

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.

 

Full Programme Announced for Final CrimeFest

The full programme for the final CrimeFest in Bristol, which takes place 15 – 18 May at Bristol’s Mercure Grand Hotel has been announced.

2025’s featured guest is icon of the genre, Lee Child, who will be in conversation with his brother and co-writer of the Reacher series, Andrew Child.

One of the UK’s leading crime fiction conventions supported by title sponsor, Specsavers, CrimeFest announced 2025 will be its final event after 16 years. Organisers have said they are putting all their energy into making the final event one to remember.

 New authors announced for the final line-up include journalist, broadcaster, author and cultural historian and Doctor Who fan, Matthew Sweet. He’ll be joined by the actor, novelist, and screenwriter Mark Gattis to discuss Bookish, the upcoming TV series created by Gatiss. Set in post-WWII London Bookish follows a bookseller who uses books to help crack crime cases. A novelisation by Sweet is published by Quercus in July.

Gatiss is best known for his acting work and co-creating shows including The League of Gentleman and Sherlock, as well as writing for Doctor Who.

Also announced is TV writer Chris Chibnall, best known as the creator and writer of the award-winning TV drama, Broadchurch. He brings to CrimeFest his crime-writing debut Death at the White Hart, a whodunnit set in a small village with dark secrets.

A highlight of the event is the Ghost of Honour panel, which this year celebrates John le Carré, featuring his two sons, Simon Cornwell and Nick Harkaway.

A film producer, Simon Cornwell is behind adaptations of his father’s work, including The Night Manager for the BBC starring Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman. Author Nick Harkaway recently brought back his father’s famous literary creation - George Smiley - with his acclaimed novel, Karla’s Choice. His new book, Sleeper Beach, is out 10 April.

Adrian Muller, co-host and founder of CrimeFest, said:

“Programming CrimeFest for the past 16 years has been a labour of love. We’ve had the privilege of bringing together some of the best crime writers in the world, and the sense of community we’ve built is something truly special. While we’re saddened that this will be the final convention, we’re determined to make it one to remember—with an outstanding lineup of authors and panels to ensure CrimeFest goes out with a bang.”

 As part of the celebrations the first 450 registered delegates will be gifted an advance copy of CrimeFest, Leaving the Scene, an anthology with 20 newly commissioned short stories from past (and present) attending authors. Contributors include Jeffery Deaver, Lindsey Davis,
Simon Brett and many more.

The celebratory finale features a record number of Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger recipients in attendance. Alongside Lee Child, fellow Diamond Dagger recipients include Lindsey Davis, Martin Edwards, and John Harvey. Harvey has written over 100 books, including his series of jazz-influenced Charlie Resnick novels. They’ll appear on the panel: A Cluster of Diamonds: Diamond Dagger Winners in Conversation.

The CWA chair, author Vaseem Khan, will also feature as Toastmaster at the CrimeFest Awards night.

Panels include a focus on the adaption of crime fiction to film and TV, moderated by Lee Child with the award-winning Barbara Nadel, author of the much-loved Inspector Cetin Ikmen series, adapted for the BBC as The Turkish Detective starring Haluk Bilginer. The panel also welcomes Barry Ryan - managing director and creative director of TV production company Free@LastTV, best known for its flagship series for Sky TV, Agatha Raisin.

Free@LastTV is currently adapting the Cait Morgan Mysteries by Welsh Canadian author Cathy Ace, starring the Welsh actress, Eve Myles. Cathy returns to CrimeFest on a number of panels, including a discussion on mental health for writers: Keeping Yourself Sane in a Toxic World alongside the author, playwright and radio producer, Simon Brett, and author, Zoë Sharp.

Topics up for discussion include Evil Crimes in Foreign Climes with the author famed for his love of Greece,
Jeffrey Siger, Michael Ridpath (writer of the Magnus Iceland Mysteries), the Danish-born author and journalist Heidi Amsinck, and Singapore’s acclaimed author,
Ovidia Yu.

The Icelandic author known as the Queen of Nordic thrillers, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, takes part on numerous panel discussions exploring topics such as writing violence in crime fiction. She’ll also take part in 2008 Revisited with authors who attended the very first CrimeFest who are now taking part in the last, alongside authors Kevin Wignall and
Steve Mosby. Mosby writes under the pen name Alex North. His book The Whisperer Man, is being filmed for Netflix starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan,
and Adam Scott.

Author Donna Moore, co-host and founder of CrimeFest, said:

“It has been an absolute joy to organise CrimeFest over the years, and we are so grateful to everyone—authors, readers, and panellists—who have made it such a vibrant and welcoming event. While it’s bittersweet to say goodbye, we couldn’t be prouder of this final year’s programme, which promises to be one of our best yet. We’re going out in true CrimeFest style—with unforgettable discussions, brilliant talent, and plenty of surprises along the way.”

Other topics book lovers can delve include panels on historical fiction and high society, comedy in crime fiction, Brit Grit, and the evolving role of traditional publishing.

It also features regular favourites, including the Criminal Challenge Quiz, moderated by the author and publishing polyglot, Maxim Jakubowski, with the chance to win a pair of passes to 2025’s Iceland Noir.

CrimeFest was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention, and CrimeFest runs on the US model. The first CrimeFest was organised in June 2008.

Unlike other major crime fiction events in the UK, any commercially published author who signs up can feature on a panel. In this way, CrimeFest has provided many authors with a platform they would not have been offered elsewhere in the UK.

The convention also continues its Community Outreach Programme. In partnership with the independent Max Minerva’s Bookshop and participating publishers, CrimeFest gifts thousands of pounds of crime fiction books for children and young adults to school libraries.

With thanks to sponsor Specsavers, librarians, students, and those on benefits are offered significantly discounted tickets.

Full passes are now available, and individual entry is open on the door dependant on availability: 

https://www.crimefest.com/

Coming Soon: Mystery at Hideaway House by Clare Chase

Published by Bookouture
7 May 2025

Book 14 in the Eve Mallow series

Amateur sleuth Eve Mallow is enjoying a very well-deserved holiday in a charming cottage with her new husband. But murder never takes a break…

Nestled among the trees of a gorgeous country estate, Hideaway House is the perfect place for a holiday – complete with roof terrace, cosy fireplace and four-poster bed. It’s been a labour of love for charismatic Duncan Blake, who shot to fame thanks to his TV shows restoring old buildings, and he’s hoping his hard work will pay off with a good review.

Despite her misgivings – Eve can’t be bought! – she packs up Robin and dachshund Gus and heads to Kesham. But from the beginning it’s the holiday from hell. First, she finds a threatening note warning her that Hideaway House has history…

And then Duncan is found dead at the bottom of a ditch.

But who wanted to demolish the building expert? Was it his keen apprentice, who was working for free? His wife, who gave up her dreams to follow his? Or the owner of nearby Kesham Hall, whose relationship with Duncan was on decidedly rocky foundations?

Brick by brick, Eve gathers her evidence: a missing murder weapon, a long-lost daughter, and the secret sabotage of Duncan’s plans. But can she nail the killer before she digs herself into a deadly hole?

Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations. Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium. As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.

www.clarechase.com

‘Marshal of Snowdonia’ by Simon McCleave

Published by Stamford Publishing,
20 February 2025.
ISBN: 979-830393192-6 (PB)

A good detective never quite retires, even when he’s served his time, taken his pension and found another part-time job. And Frank Marshal was always a good detective; so, when his close friend Annie, also retired but in her case from the judiciary, asks for his help, he can’t say no.

Annie’s sister Meg has gone missing from the static caravan she lives in with Callum, her supposedly recovering addict son. Callum seems to be missing too, but he turns up quite soon, albeit with a bad attack of amnesia. Evidence emerges to suggest that Meg has come to harm, but she’s an adult, and the police aren’t really interested, especially DCI Dewi Humphries, an old adversary of Frank’s.

Then Frank and Annie make a gruesome discovery at the caravan. And shortly afterwards a body is found. Now the police are interested, but this is rural north Wales; there’s no murder investigation team, and scant experience of crime of this magnitude.

Annie and Frank set off on their own investigation and unearth a trail of clues and red herrings which lead variously to a drugs baron, police corruption, a convicted murderer, and much closer to home. Meanwhile, they are both juggling tricky situations at home. Frank’s wife Rachel is in the early stages of dementia, and his daughter has moved in with her young son in order to escape from an abusive relationship. Annie’s husband Stephen is a serial adulterer, and she can hardly bear to be in the same house as him. 

The plot twists and turns around most of north Wales, with occasional forays further afield. Suspects abound before the culprit is finally revealed, and both Frank and Annie look danger in the face more than once. There are interesting characters on both sides, but mainly it’s very plain who we’re meant to love and who to hate.

This is only the first case for Frank and Annie, and the stakes are already pretty high. Marshal of Snowdonia is the first in a new series by this already prolific author; it introduces an unusual crime-fighting team, and lays threads for a developing backstory for them both. Frank’s new career is as a park ranger in Snowdonia National Park: cue stunning backdrops to future stories. Annie’s background as a judge speaks of a keen intelligence and an ability to weigh evidence meticulously. It will be interesting to see where they go next.
-------
Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Simon McCleave is a million selling crime novelist who lives in North Wales with his wife and two children. His first book, The Snowdonia Killings, was released in January 2020 reached #1 in the UK Chart, selling 250,000 copies. His nine subsequent novels in the DI Ruth Hunter Snowdonia series have all been top 20 bestsellers. Simon is about to launch a new crime series based in Anglesey in May 2022 for Harper Collins. The Dark Tide is Published 12 may 2022.  

www.simonmccleave.com

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.