‘Journey to Casablanca’ by Judith Cranswick

Published by Linen Press,
30 September 2024.
ASIN: BODFC‎WSZIF

Amanda and Graham Mitchell very much enjoy their cruises on the Cygnet Line’s Sea Dream. Since his retirement, Graham has lectured on history on several cruises and both he and Amanda escort groups on their shore trips. The current cruise is a fourteen day round trip visiting several beautiful places, including the iconic Casablanca. At the meet-and-greet for lecturers and entertainers, there are few familiar faces but everybody seems pleasant and friendly apart from the magician, The Great Ernesto. Amanda thinks that he seems to be an unpleasant person and she notices that he is abusive to his young assistant, Sasha, when he spills his drink and blames her for his clumsiness. Also, some of the people who have previously cruised with Ernesto obviously dislike him and try to avoid him.

Ernesto’s cabin is only a few doors away from Graham and Amanda’s and they see him reacting with anger when he discovers a note taped to his door. Not long afterwards, Amanda encounters him just after he receives another anonymous note. At first he is angry and suspicious but then he confides in her about the letters he has been receiving. It is obvious he is scared as well as angry and Amanda insists that he consults the Security Officer, Mark Summers.

After Graham has given a particularly successful lecture there are several people who linger to talk to him. At last Amanda has to intervene to remind him that the performers will need the theatre for a rehearsal. Graham is on the stage packing up his laptop when he hears an angry exclamation and a crash from behind the curtains and goes to check everything is all right. Amanda follows Graham backstage and finds her husband kneeling beside Ernesto, desperately trying to prevent him from bleeding to death from a wound in his throat. Although the lights have been turned off, Amanda manages to find a phone and summon help. However, Graham’s efforts are in vain and Ernesto dies without revealing who had attacked him.

Mark Summers decides to keep the magician’s death a secret from the passengers, lecturers and entertainers. This means it is only known to the ship’s officials and the few people who were present while Ernesto was dying or who arrived on the scene just after. This includes Amanda and Graham and also Sasha, who had turned up for her rehearsal with the magician; and Sasha confides in her uncle and aunt who are passengers on the cruise. Because of this secrecy many wild rumours and speculation abound amongst the passengers, other lecturers and entertainers. This not only means that Graham and Amanda have to be discreet but also keeps bringing back the horror of the violent death and the helplessness of being unable to save him. Amanda is very worried about Graham who is seriously affected by the murder and has recurrent bouts of fear that, because he found the victim, he is Mark Summers’ prime suspect. On a previous cruise Amanda had got involved with investigating a murder and had played a key part in bringing the culprit to justice. In that first investigation Graham had been firmly opposed to Amanda getting involved. This time he is far more willing to help pursue the truth and does a lot of Internet research about the victim and their suspects but he is still resistant to Amanda doing what she does best, investigate in person. Despite Graham’s objections, Amanda continues to talk to people as she tries to discover the truth. There are several suspects with reason to hate Ernesto and Amanda is determined to find the identity of the killer not merely to gain justice for the victim but to exonerate the innocent so that they can continue with their lives unhampered by suspicion.

Journey to Casablanca is the second book in the series featuring Amanda Mitchell and her husband. It is a gentle, cosy crime novel with a likeable protagonist who is determined continue investigating despite the disapproval of her husband and the official investigators. One of the most delightful aspects of these books are the enchanting descriptions of places visited on the cruise with wonderfully evocative insights into some very interesting places. This is a pleasant and enjoyable read, perfect for those who like cosy crime in fascinating locations.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder. I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’ Her most recent book is Journey to Casablanca. 

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/  

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. interview

www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Death and the Dancing Snowman

‘Braybrooke’ by Nick Everard

Published by Published by
The Book Guild, 28 Sept 2024.
ISBN: 978-183574053-8 (PB)

The narrator, Robert Rowland, observes at the start of the book that newspaper reports of a body discovered by a man walking a dog have become a cliche. However, this is what happens to Robert when he is out walking his two dogs along a footpath in farmland near his home village of Braybrooke.

The victim has been shot in the head and, although he is face down, Robert is reasonably certain that it is the body of the farmer who owns the land, Edmund Ayling. Naturally Robert contacts the police, and it is soon confirmed that his identification of the victim is correct. Robert tells the two detectives everything he knows about Edmund Ayling but because he commutes every weekday to work in London, he soon realises that he knows much less about life in Braybrooke than his wife, Lucy, who hears all the village gossip from her cleaner and from her regular attendance at the village WI.

Most of the sheep in a flock belonging to Edmund have vanished and it seems that the police are favouring the theory that he was killed while trying to prevent the rustlers, possibly local Travellers, from stealing his stock. However, Robert and Lucy think that the truth of the crime lies in Braybrooke and, jokingly adopting the personas of Holmes and Watson, they start to make their enquiries.

Soon Robert is more deeply involved in the life of the village than he has ever been before. He gets to know Jack, a young man who is a member of the local Traveller community, who works as a farmhand on Edmund’s farm. He also meets Andrew, Edmund’s younger brother, and Amelia, Edmund’s estranged wife, who have both moved into Edmund’s farmhouse and are in dispute about Edmund’s will. Most troubling of all for Robert are his brief encounters with Lucy’s cleaning lady, Lesley Logan, who has an obsessively jealous husband. Lucy and Robert are conscientious about keeping the police informed whenever they discover any clues but as they continue to probe into the secrets of the village they find themselves in unforeseen and extreme danger.

Braybrooke is a stand-alone novel set in and around the village. It starts with a Preface that describes a murder that occurred in 1932 in the village which Braybrooke represents, and it is this story that inspired the plot and the nature of the village in the book. It describes a quiet rural setting and a small village where everybody knows everyone else’s business, although quite often the things they claim to know are more rumour and suspicion than actual fact. This is a gently paced book with an interesting plot and likeable characters that should be enjoyed by those who like traditional mysteries.
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Reviewer:  Carol Westron

Nick Everard is a former Army Officer whose subsequent career has embraced periods in the city, schools adventure travel and recruiting/headhunting. He became Regimental Secretary of The Royal Lancers in July 2021. He is married to Kiki and lives on the Leicestershire/Northamptonshire border close to Market Harborough. They have two grown children.

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. interview

www.carolwestron.com

To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title

Death and the Dancing Snowman

‘Tipping Point’ by Dinuka McKenzie

Published by Canelo,
18 July 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-80436638-7 (PB)

In the sweltering heat of Christmas-time in Australia, Luke, estranged brother of Detective Kate Miles, comes home for the funeral of his childhood friend, Ant. It’s hard to face his family again, especially as he’s keeping his recent sacking by his high-powered law firm from them. Then there’s a second death ...

This one was hard to put down. It’s told mostly in third person focused on Kate. She’s a sympathetic heroine, torn between the needs of her husband and the demands of her job, then, as police attention moves to Luke, between family and her police integrity. It doesn’t help that a former lover, Leo Esposito, has been sent up to help with the case. Luke gets our initial sympathy, as he’s fired in a ruthless fashion, but his treatment of his family and his drug use has the reader wondering what he’s capable of. The plotting’s clever, with themes hidden in plain sight, and a totally unexpected end twist. I particularly enjoyed the setting of small-town politics and ‘who you know’ links, the constant, inescapable heat, and the pressures of Christmas when it’s your least-favourite time of the year.

An excellent Australian police procedural with a great female lead, a good supporting cast, clever plotting and a vivid sense of place. I hadn’t come across McKenzie before, and Tipping Point didn’t read like one of a series, but it’s the third book starring DS Kate Miles. I’ll certainly be looking out for the others, The Torrent and Taken.-------
Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Dinuka McKenzie is an Australian writer and book addict. Her debut crime fiction novel, The Torrent, won the HarperCollins Australia 2020 Banjo Prize and was published in February 2022. She is represented by Alex Adsett Literary. When not writing, Dinuka works in the environmental sector and volunteers as part of the team behind the Writers Unleashed Festival. She lives in Southern Sydney with her husband.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh and came to Shetland as a newly qualified teacher. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  She lives with her husband and two Shetland ponies.

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk  

Death in the Dales

 

‘Ten Seconds’ by Robert Gold

Published by Sphere,
14 March 2024.
ISBN 978-1-4087-3057-7(HB)

Journalist Ben Harper meets with his editor and good friend, Madeline Wilson at their favourite restaurant. Her father Sam then joins them, they are there to celebrate his birthday. After the evening, they all go their separate ways. However unbeknown to Ben and Sam, Madeline is suddenly attacked and bundled into her chauffeur driven car – except it is not her usual driver.

Meanwhile as Ben walks home he sees a man stealthily approaching the house belonging to a friend and neighbour of his, Sarah Wright. Ben approaches him and tries but fails to catch him as he runs away. He is particularly concerned because there has been a spate of women experiencing intruders lately. They wake to find a man staring down at them, then he runs off. Sarah calls the police and Ben’s girlfriend Detective Constable Dani Cash accompanied by Police Constable Karen Cooke arrive to take statements. James, Sarah’s husband is also soon there. He tells the police that last week a fire had been started in a skip outside the property and then three nights ago dog excrement had been put through the letterbox. They have no idea why, who can hate them so much?

Meanwhile everyone is puzzled as to where Madeline can be. Then Sam, her father receives a message saying, “We have your daughter – it’s time to settle the score”. Accompanying it is a photograph of her, her face is black and blue. Years ago, Madeline had been instrumental in solving a murder which had led to the perpetrator being imprisoned. When Ben and Sam investigate, they discover the murderer, Billy Monroe has recently been released. Surely, he must be behind Madeline being snatched – mustn't he?

Then a man’s body is found.

Sam then receives a demand for two million pounds! However, although he pays the ransom, Madeline is still not released. What do they do now?  The trouble is the more Ben, Sam and the police delve into the past, the more complicated the case becomes and there is much more involved than was first imagined.

Will Madeline be rescued, and a complex series of crimes be solved? Plus, what if anything is the connection with the intruder incidents?

A really absorbing thriller with one jaw dropping revelation after another. Complicated but exceptionally intriguing and a very highly recommended read.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell  

Robert Gold, originally from Harrogate in North Yorkshire, began his career as an intern at the American broadcaster CNN, based in Washington DC. He returned to Yorkshire to work for the retailer ASDA, becoming the chain’s nationwide book buyer. He now works in sales for a UK publishing company. Robert now lives in Putney and his new hometown served as the inspiration for the fictional town of Haddley in Twelve Secrets. In 2016, he co-authored three titles in James Patterson’s Bookshots series. 

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.

‘The Pyramid Murders’ by Fiona Veitch Smith

Published by Embla Books,
13th June 2024.
ISBN 978-1-47141592-9 (PB)

This is the third of Fiona Veitch Smith’s mysteries which feature Miss Clara Vale. Clara is intent on making a success of the detective agency she has inherited from her uncle despite the prejudice and patronising attitudes she has to contend with as a fiercely independent woman making her own way in the world in 1930.

Clara attends a launch party being held at the Handcock Museum in Newcastle to mark a new exhibition of Egyptian artifacts donated to the museum in his will by Clara’s uncle. The highlight of the evening is the opening of a sarcophagus of Amentukah on loan from the British Museum. Later that night, someone breaks into the museum. The mummy is thrown on the floor to reveal a collection of valuable Egyptian jewelled artifacts. The would-be thief is disturbed and gets away. The precious remains have never been documented but Dr Daphnie Coleman, the museum’s curator, believes they were looted by grave robbers. Who hid them there?

There is a further mystery. Dr Colman confides to Clara that the mummy cannot be that of Amentukah. The two women investigate and discover that not only is the mummy that of a woman, but it also cannot be more than a few years old.

Daphne asks Clara to take the jewels to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Clara and her resourceful assistant, Bella, set off on a voyage aboard a luxury liner for a two-week cruise bound for Cairo. It’s a journey fraught with danger that will put both their lives at risk.    

Events unfold at breakneck speed as the action moves from Newcastle to Cairo and the questions keep coming via a series of twists and turns that make the book impossible to put down. Each location from the musty atmosphere of the Handcock Museum, the luxury of the first-class section of the RMS Olympic, the heart-in-mouth plane journey to Egypt’s contrasting city and desert environments is vividly drawn. The reader can only marvel at the vast amount of research it must have taken to be able to re-create so credibly. As events unfold, suspicion falls on each of the archaeologists who are returning to Egypt. Appearances can be deceptive. Can Clara trust anyone back home or in Egypt?

Each of the large cast of characters is well-drawn. My favourite is Bella, Clara’s straight-talking assistant whose working-class background gives her access to areas where Clara cannot venture.

An excellent read that I can thoroughly recommend. 
------
Reviewer: Judith Cranswick  

Fiona Veitch Smith is the author of the Poppy Denby Investigates novels, Golden Age-style murder mysteries set in the 1920s (Lion Fiction). The first book, The Jazz Files, was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger, while subsequent books have been shortlisted for the Foreword Review Mystery Novel of the Year and the People’s Book Prize. Book 5, The Art Fiasco, is out now. Fiona lives with her husband and teenage daughter in Newcastle upon Tyne. She works part time for the Crime Writers' Association and is the Deputy Editor of Red Herrings magazine.  

www.poppydenby.com

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder. I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’ Her most recent book is Journey To Casablanca  

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/

‘Hemlock Bay’ by Martin Edwards.

Published by Head of Zeus,
12 September 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-03590980-3 (HB)

There can be no one more knowledgeable about crime fiction than Martin Edwards. In the Rachel Savernake series, Edwards combines his skills as a major writer and his knowledge of the Golden Age of crime writing. He also indulges his gift of coming up with truly portentous titles. Nothing good, we are sure, will ever happen in a place called Hemlock Bay.

The Prologue tells us that a murder has taken place. Of whom and by whom we know not yet. The first chapter is more explicit: we learn from the journal of one Basil Palmer, accountant unextraordinary, that another murder will take place – committed by him in the bijou Lancashire seaside resort of Hemlock Bay, the creation of a wealthy British man and his even wealthier American wife.

By coincidence – and in the way of the Golden Age there are lot of coincidences – the series protagonist, the mysterious but assuredly rich Rachel Savernake (who lives in Gaunt House) has just bought an Expressionist landscape featuring the very same bay, complete with a figure looking decidedly dead. Her entourage – more friends than mere servants – fails to see its charms. Likewise, a long-standing friend of hers remains unimpressed by a man who turns up at the offices of the national newspaper for which he works, insisting that he is clairvoyant and has had a vision of a death being planned in the very same location. You do not need to go to Denmark to discover a place where there is a good deal of rottenness. Or to agree with an allusion that surprisingly no character makes involving tangled webs and deception.

This is a very clever novel indeed. Not one of the large cast (apart from the goodies, and their relationship is deliberately opaque) is quite what he or she seems, and though one’s credulity is sometimes stretched to the limit, one simply does not care, such is the tour de force of the plotting.

Go on: exercise every last one of your little grey cells and have a most enjoyable read.
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Reviewer: Judith Cutler  

Martin Edwards is the author of 21 novels, including the Lake District Mysteries and the Rachel Savernake books, and also an acclaimed history of crime fiction, The Life of Crime. He received the CWA Diamond Dagger for the sustained excellence of his work. He has also won the Edgar, Agatha, CrimeFest H.R.F. Keating and Macavity awards, the Short Story Dagger and Dagger in the Library, plus the Poirot award for his contribution to the genre.

 www.martinedwards.com.         
www.doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.com

Judith Cutler was born in the Black Country, just outside Birmingham, later moving to the Birmingham suburb of Harborne. It was an attack of chickenpox caught from her son that kick-started her writing career. One way of dealing with the itch was to hold a pencil in one hand, a block of paper in the other - and so she wrote her first novel. Judith has eight series. The first two featured amateur sleuth Sophie Rivers (10 books) and Detective Sergeant Kate Power (6 Books). Then came Josie Wells, a middle-aged woman with a quick tongue, and a love of good food, there are two books, The Food Detective and The Chinese Takeout. The Lina Townsend books are set in the world of antiques and there are seven books in this series. There are three books featuring Tobias Campion set in the Regency period, and her series featuring Chief Superintendent Fran Harman (6 books), and Jodie Welsh, Rector’s wife and amateur sleuth. Her more recently a series feature a head teacher Jane Cowan (3 books). Judith has also written three standalone’s Staging Death, Scar Tissue, and Death In Elysium. Her new series is set in Victorian times featuring Matthew Rowsley. Death’s Long Shadow is the third book in this series. 

http://www.judithcutler.com

‘A Lake District Christmas Murder’ by Rebecca Tope

Published by Allison & Busby,
19 September 2024.
ISBN 978-0-7490-3169-5 (HB)

Rebecca Tope is a prolific author and the highly acclaimed writer of three series of mystery novels.  A Lake District Christmas Murder is book 14 of her Lake District Mysteries which feature Persimmon (Simmy) Brown, her husband Christopher, and her long-term fellow amateur detectives Ben and Bonnie.

Though they have lived in the village for two years, Simmy has been so busy looking after her toddler son and trying to run her florist business over in Windermere, she has not had time to make friends with the locals. An invitation to a party just before Christmas in the neighbouring village of Glenridding would seem to be an excellent opportunity to remedy the situation.

Simmy has reservations about the people she meets but all of that is quickly overshadowed when early the next morning the body of a man is discovered in a beck a short distance from the house where the party was held. His throat had been cut and his body rolled down the bank into the freezing water.

That is not the only mystery troubling Simmy. On Christmas Eve, Celia, one of the women she’d met at the party turns up and thrusts a newborn baby into Simmy’s arms. According to Celia, the baby had been left on her doorstep. She had brought him to Simmy because the shops were now closed, and Simmy was the only person who was likely to have baby formular and nappies. Celia leaves before Simmy has time to protest.

Are the two events connected? It is evident that there is more going on than her new acquaintances are telling her. Who can she trust?

Rebecca Tope’s consummate skill creating a complex plot, well-drawn characters, a vivid setting together with a wonderfully engaging easy style all keep the reader turning the pages long into the night. I loved it and read the whole novel in two days.
------
Reviewer: Judith Cranswick  

Rebecca Tope is the author of four popular murder mystery series, featuring Den Cooper, Devon police detective, Drew Slocombe, Undertaker, Thea Osborne, house sitter in the Cotswolds, and more recently Persimmon (Simmy) Brown, a florist. Rebecca grew up on farms, first in Cheshire then in Devon, and now lives in rural Herefordshire on a smallholding situated close to the beautiful Black Mountains.
Besides "ghost writer" of the novels based on the ITV series Rosemary and Thyme. Rebecca is also the proprietor of a small press - Praxis Books. This was established in 1992.

www.rebeccatope.com

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder.
I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’
Her most recent book is Passage to Greenland 

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/

‘Coffin Island’ by Kate Ellis

Published by Piatkus,
1 August 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-349-4317-2 (HB)

Situated just off the Devonshire coast, the small island of St Rumon’s is known locally as Coffin Island. Although most people insist it is called this because of the shape of the island, others claim there is a more sinister reason behind the name.

Until the Reformation, the island had housed a Roman Catholic priory, but when Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries the monks were driven away and the prior was killed. It is rumoured that the memory of this death is the reason that the island pub is named The Hanging Man. During low tide the island is accessible by a causeway but at other times it can only be reached by boat, which means the vicar who serves five parishes, including St Rumon’s Church, has had to learn how to handle a small motorboat.

The day after a severe storm the vicar approaches the island and sees that part of the cliff that borders the churchyard has broken away and, to her horror, she sees that two skeletons are lying on the shore. When she gets near enough to see properly, she discovers that there is also a third, far more recent body, half-rotted, and wrapped in a purple nylon sheet.

Detective Inspector Wesley Peterson achieved a degree in archaeology before he entered the police. When he and his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Gerry Heffernan, arrive on the island they realise that the skeletons had been buried outside the church wall and Wesley wonders about the reason for this unsanctified burial, however it is the fate of the third body that they must investigate. They can tell that the corpse is that of a woman who had died in the last few years, but the body is too badly decomposed to be identifiable. However, the sheet in which she is shrouded is in the style of the 1970s, which means it was fashionable long before the victim’s death. It is evident that she was unlawfully buried, and it seems probable that she was unlawfully killed. Neil Watson is an eminent local archaeologist who has been a friend of Wesley since their university days and Wesley asks him if he can arrange for a facial reconstruction of the dead woman. Neil becomes fascinated by the destroyed priory and arranges an archaeological dig on the site.

The largest house on the island is Coffin House, which is owned by the author and self-styled academic Quentin Search, who lives there with his troubled daughter, Ginevra, and his assistant-cum-mistress Jocasta. Search’s wife no longer lives there, and he claims that she has left him and has travelled abroad but that he does not know her current whereabouts. Wesley and Gerry suspect that Search is lying but they know they are prejudiced against him because of his offensive arrogance. Search claims to be an academic but Neil has warned Wesley that he is a charlatan who falsifies history and makes up dramatic, untrue stories in order to sell his books. In order to publicise his books, Search mounts a vendetta against Neil, claiming that he and his fellow archaeologists are denying the truth of Search’s claims because they work for the establishment. Neil is upset and angry but he knows that he cannot afford the financial output to sue Search for slander and so he concentrates on his archaeological work and on arranging the facial recognition for the police. At the same time, Neil’s lover, Annabel, assists him by researching sixteenth century church records and she uncovers the diary of a vicar of St Rumon’s parish that reveals the identity of the two skeletons and the reason why they were buried outside the churchyard.

Wesley and Gerry question everyone on the island, including the residents of Coffin House and the local cottages, the team of visiting bell ringers and Search’s ubiquitous builder. Despite all their efforts, the death toll continues to rise and it is not until Wesley links the story in the five-hundred-year-old diary to their current investigation that the truth finally becomes clear.

Coffin Island is the twenty-eighth novel featuring Wesley Peterson and it lives up to the high standard of its predecessors. It is a fascinating mixture of contemporary crime and historical records and the historical diary both explains and anticipates the main contemporary story. The scene setting is superb, the central characters are engaging, and the plot is complex and well-constructed. Coffin Island is a compelling read, which I recommend.------
Reviewer: Carol Westron

Kate Ellis was born in Liverpool and she studied drama in Manchester. She worked in teaching, marketing and accountancy before first enjoying writing success as a winner of the North-West Playwrights competition. Crime and mystery stories have always fascinated her, as have medieval history and archaeology which she likes to incorporate in her books. She is married with two grown up sons and she lives in North Cheshire, England, with her husband. Kate's novels feature archaeology graduate Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson who fights crime in South Devon.  Each story combines an intriguing contemporary murder mystery with a parallel historical case. She has also written five books in the spooky Joe Plantagenet series set up in North Yorkshire as well as many short stories for crime fiction anthologies and magazines. Kate was elected a member of The Detection Club in 2014. She is a member of the Crime Writers Association and Murder Squad, and Mystery People. Her most recent series is set post WW1.  The third and latest book in this series is The House of the Hanged Woman. 

www.kateellis.co.uk   

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries.

Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. interview

www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Death and the Dancing Snowman

‘Murder at the Manor’ by Colin Wade

Published by The Book Guild,
28 September 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-83574047-7 (PB)

‘Right, Sergeant, what have we got” … “Not much’.

It is Saturday morning when Roberto Moretti, general manager of The Cotswold Manor Hotel, dials 999 to report that a member of staff has found a bloodstain on the floor of room 105.  Detective Chief Inspector Chloe Taylor and her less than enthusiastic sidekick Detective Sergeant Spence attend the scene and are examining the chamber, when Mrs Walker from the room next door comes forward to say that she heard a heated exchange taking place there the previous night.  The argument ended, she explains, after she heard a noisy thump. 

The DCI decides that an incident of some kind has indeed taken place - but a crime needs a victim, and there isn’t one.  Despite this incumbrance, Taylor sets up a makeshift incident room on site.  Time is of the essence as most of those staying at the hotel will be leaving by the end of the weekend and some have only booked in for one night.  The detectives have barely begun speaking with guests when an elderly couple spot a body floating in the hotel lake.  Things now begin to unravel in ways that DCI Taylor could never have imagined.  She finds herself negotiating a labyrinth of obfuscation and outright dishonesty, not to mention a cold-blooded killer.  DCI Taylor though is nothing if not tenacious as she faces resistance from false friends and fierce foes alike, in her relentless pursuit of justice and with scant regard for her own safety.

The novel begins with an intriguing prologue that sets up the rest of the story beautifully.  It introduces the theme of deception that runs throughout the tale, but which gently evaporates amidst breathtaking descriptions of the idyllic Cotswold countryside which fill the opening pages of Chapter One.  Thereafter, a sense of playfulness runs throughout the narrative, tempering the complex and serious crimes Taylor must solve. 

The detective herself is a marvellous creation, believable and modern.  Working in a profession that still has its fair share of misogyny, Taylor shrugs off the lads who loathe her and never gives in to victimhood.  She lives with Trent and their two-year-old child, Emma, and her domestic arrangements are described without becoming a distraction from the narrative.  The crime-fighting mother prioritises career over family and her single mindedness comes at a cost.  Taylor endures guilt when she can’t be there for her husband and daughter but never lets her feelings have priority over her vocation. 

This is a refreshingly frank presentation of the realities of life in post-modern society.  Another laudable aspect of Taylor’s character is that whilst she inevitably makes mistakes, she also owns them.  The DCI is sharp and to the point, she is prepared to ruffle feathers to get to the truth.   

Murder at the Manor is a clever book that teases and misleads as it negotiates the puzzle at its heart.  In the fine tradition of Whodunnits, the reader is treated to a smorgasbord of fiendish villains and international intrigue operating within the extensive, and expensive, grounds of the prestigious Cotswold Manor Hotel.  What’s not to love!  Highly recommended.
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 Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Colin Wade is an author of crime and murder mystery thrillers. He has been writing since 2016 and has published five previous books: The Lost Years in 2019, Plutus in 2020, Deadly Connections in 2021, The Sins of the Father in 2022 and The Devil’s Code in 2023.

Colin explains: “I wanted to write another fast-paced murder mystery thriller with lots of twists and turns. The location of the story was inspired by a hotel we stayed at in the Cotswolds. As soon as I saw the façade of the 14th century manor house and the surrounding area, I knew it was where I wanted to set my sixth novel. I had an idea of setting a modern day murder mystery story in a country hotel, inspired by my love of Agatha Christie. The hotel we stayed in proved to be the inspiration that brought the story to life.”

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.  

‘Gallows Wood’ by Louisa Scarr

Published by Canelo, 
11 July 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-651-6 (PB)

Police Constable Lucy Halliday and her “sniffer” dog Moss are called to Gallows Wood in the New Forest. A chewed hand has been found and Moss is needed to find the rest of the body. It takes him no time at all, and Lucy is overcome with grief at the sight of a dead man. She momentarily thinks it’s her husband Nico, a journalist who disappeared two years ago. However, a friend of hers is with her at the discovery and assures her it is not him.

Lucy has been trying to trace him for the two years, sure after no sightings that he has been murdered. She has kept a file of men who have gone missing and/or died and hands it to the new man heading the team, Detective Inspector Jack Ellis. However, he is not happy with her investigations, thinks it is not really part of her job, plus it is too close to her personally.

Then she and Moss find another body. This time it’s a woman and she has been dead for a few months. Both have blunt force trauma to the head, thought to be caused by a baseball bat. An organised wider search is now put in hand.

The bodies are identified, the man was the son of a police officer at the station. The woman was married to a detective sergeant in the drug squad. He never even reported her missing.

When Nico’s body is found, and Lucy is now more determined than ever to discover what is going on. Connections are found to an organised drug dealing gang run by Albanians. Lucy tells Jack that Nico was investigating a story for his newspaper but he wouldn’t say what it was. He kept all his papers and notes together in his camper van which has never been found. This now becomes a priority.

Then there is another death.

The more Jack, Lucy and the team investigate the more they are convinced that there is corruption within the police force, even involving people in their own Hampshire police station. 

Throughout the book there are descriptions of a seemingly young girl named Daisy being kept prisoner in a dark and gloomy place. Who can she be? It is not until near the end of the book the reader learns who it is and what a surprise when Daisy’s identity is revealed.

A really highly recommended brilliantly written book with a fascinating insight into police dogs and their handlers.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Louisa Scarr studied Psychology at the University of Southampton and has lived in and around the city ever since. She works as a freelance copywriter and editor, and when she's not writing, she can be found pounding the streets in running shoes or swimming in muddy lakes.

 

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.