‘The Verifiers’ by Jane Pek

Published by Verve Books,
30 June 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-85730-920-4 (PB)

At least half of modern life seems to take place online. Setting aside the march of technology in the workplace, our banking, shopping, maintaining friendships can all be done without venturing out of our homes. Even the search for romance has become big business to people with a finger in the technological pie. But how can we be sure that the people we’re chatting to, even flirting with, on our laptops, tablets and phones are what they claim to be? How can we even be certain the picture that made us swipe in the right direction is genuine?

Veracity is a company designed to help with that. And Claudia works for Veracity as a verifier, checking the real-life credentials of people who strike a discordant note online with their would-be partners in romance. She is tasked to look into two men on behalf of Iris: Charretter, who is strangely reluctant to consider the possibility of meeting in person, and Jude, who is so circumspect when they do meet that her suspicions are raised. 

There are three interesting facts about Claudia: she comes from a dysfunctional family; she’s addicted to detective novels, especially a series featuring a certain Inspector Yuan; and she cycles everywhere – and I mean everywhere. Her mother wants her to settle down with a nice young man, but Claudia prefers girls. Her brother Charles wants to run her life. And her sister Coraline is unbelievably glamorous and doesn’t understand why Claudia doesn’t want to be. None of them knows what she does for a living.     

Claudia’s work project comes to an abrupt halt when Iris’s body is discovered in her apartment. It looks like suicide, but Claudia isn’t so sure. And when another woman turns up claiming to be Iris, suddenly everything is extremely complicated. Veracity has strict rules about how far they get involved in clients’ lives, and Claudia is determined to get to the bottom of not-Iris’s death. She loses her job, goes on investigating – and soon finds herself out of her depth.

The Verifiers is a debut novel, but you would never know. The plotting is labyrinthine, the writing is quirky and witty, the settings are varied and vivid and the characters leap off the page. As well as Claudia’s family, there’s Becks, her boss, as prickly as a blackthorn hedge, and Komla, her other boss, smooth and sophisticated and completely impenetrable. Claudia herself is dogged, observant and perceptive, though reluctant to make waves by standing up to her family. She shares a downmarket apartment with Max, who has a lot of friends, and has known her own two best friends since school. 

The mystery is solved before the end, but this is far more than a mystery novel. Claudia’s fraught relationship with her family, and their equally stressful interaction with each other, would make a novel on its own, though here it’s only the background.

If a novel makes me laugh and cry, it’s done its job. This one did both and made me think as well – and conclude that online dating is a maelstrom I’ll continue to avoid!
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick 

Jane Pek was born and grew up in Singapore and now lives in New York. She has a BA in History from Yale University, a JD from the New York University School of Law, and an MFA from Brooklyn College. Her short fiction has been anthologised in The Best American Short Stories 2020 and The Best American Short Stories 2021.  

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.

Mrs Spy by M.J. Robotham

Published by Aria,
15 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-03591422-7 (HB)

We first encounter forty-five-year-old Maggie Flynn, Mrs Spy, wearing an elderly lady disguise, one of many she dons whilst plying her clandestine trade.  Today she is watching a block of flats in London’s Russel Square.  It’s almost four years since she lost her husband, but he’s never far from Maggie’s thoughts and today is no exception.  She wonders what Davey would have said about her standing in the rain waiting for her target to appear.  She still loves him, still misses him, but when her person of interest leaves the building, she’s straight back to her undercover duties.  Despite foul weather and a bunion that’s playing up, she follows the man to a park near Smithfield market.  She’s looking for information and photographs that can be used by agents at Leconfield House, MI5 Headquarters, also known as the Spy Shack.  Maggie doesn’t work at the HQ building, as a Watcher, she’s far too lowly.  Instead, she works out of a nearby building known as the Stable, an uncomplimentary name ascribed to the base she shares with other Watchers.  Serving their country from the bottom of the nation’s security hierarchy, Watcher’s tackle assignments that are invariably tedious and uncomfortable. 

Until now, boredom has been Maggie’s most fiendish enemy, but all this is about to change when she receives orders to ‘babysit’ a man being kept at an MI5 safe house.  The task has unexpected consequences for Maggie as it leads her to suspect that her husband’s demise may have been more sinister than she had previously been told. So begins her search for the truth of what really happened to Davy on a fateful, sultry August evening in 1962.  It is a quest that will discover uncomfortable truths about the man she loved and lost, as well as the country she loves and serves.

Maggie Flynn is a captivating protagonist; brave, inquisitive, caring, and direct.  She narrates most of the story in the present tense which adds to the immediacy of the tale and invests the story with Maggie’s viewpoint and sometimes quirky internal dialogue.  After Davey’s death, she and daughter Libby moved in with Maggie’s mother, Gilda.  The large Edwardian terrace in Islington, north London provides a haven for Maggie who is the only woman in a team of six Watchers.  Libby and Gilda are both strong female characters, they ground Maggie and create a domestic environment that is refreshingly different from the male-dominated world in which she works.  Maggie acknowledges, rather than accepts, that throughout the Secret Services men rule the roost - this is the 1960s after all.  Yet, whilst men hold higher rank, women are its formidable gatekeepers.  An unsung army of women secretaries and filing clerks restrict access to their male bosses along with papers containing state secrets.  Indeed, some women have quietly pierced the ‘the old boys’ network.  Hilda Grayling, for example, is the severe and demanding boss of the Watchers, whilst Bea Baglin oversees the sacred Registry containing files crucial to national security.

Mrs Spy is a witty and wonderful romp through one of the most influential decades of twentieth century England.  Through its wonderful array of characters, the novel proffers a glorious smorgasbord of allusions to the social and political tensions, music, fads and fashions that defined Britain and its capital during the period. The plot moves fast and teases with red herrings that discombobulate the spy and her readers.  The story is written with style and flair.  It is funny, thrilling, and at times unexpectedly moving.  I loved it.  Highly recommended.------
Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

M J Robotham is a former journalist and midwife. Her first novel was published in 2018. The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux was published by Aria in 2024. 

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.  

‘One More To Die’ by Joy Ellis

Published by Joffe Books,
18 July 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80573155-9 (PB)

The sight of a new Joy Ellis book always gives me happy glow because I know that it will be a good.  The fact that One More To Die appears to be a non-series book is also tantalising.

Our first encounter is at Sunday morning breakfast when we meet the Carter family, father Tom, son Eddie, daughter Chloe, and Timmy, the youngest.  A telephone interruption calling mother, Detective Inspector Kate Carter of the Serious Crime unit, into work has young Chloe Squealing ‘Get Carter’.

The incident she’s called to, initially looks as though a drunken driver has miscalculated the sharp bend on the fen lane, but a closer look reveals that the number plate is fake, the driver’s licence doesn’t belong to the dead man, and the car tyres don’t match. Even more interesting is a 1960’s pop record in the glove box. Then a neat puncture mark in the driver’s neck says this was no accident.

The following day the body of a young woman is found who it is established has been dead at least two years. The really weird thing is that placed on the body is another vintage pop record.

Clearly, there is much to investigate and DS Geraldine Wilde, Kate’s detective sergeant is quick to admit they need to know a lot more, and here comes the forensic pathologist Colin Winter, nicknamed Cold Colin as he is reputed to be as cold as one of his own cadavers. 

Then the telephone calls start, with a man singing Kaa-tie, Kaa-tie, and Kate recalls that she had found a note on her windscreen but thrown it away thinking it just a prank. Then a mysterious package arrives at the station addressed to Kate with a chilling note ‘One More to Die’. Kate realises that she's being pursued by an obsessive stalker.

One does hear about ‘stalkers’ but I had not really taken on board the damage to a family they can do. One can’t let ones’ children out of one’s sight, but parents have to work.  So, their whole life has to change. As I read the disruption one person can make to a families’ life, I found it terrifying. Is Kate in the killer’s sights?

On a different note, we meet Barney Capstick, who rents a not too good room from his landlady. Miss Enid Houghton who owns the large house where he and several other's live. As a gardener he would love to restore the grounds of Enid’s house, but Barney barely has the courage to say Good Morning to Miss Enid Houghton. Could he possibly overcome this? Probably not. 

Marvellous characterisation. Cleverly plotted.  A complex mystery that kept me turning the pages. Thanks so much, Joy Ellis, for yet another gripping, fascinating and absorbing story.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Joy Ellis was born in Kent but spent most of her working life in London and Surrey. She was an apprentice florist to Constance Spry Ltd, a prestigious Mayfair shop that throughout the Sixties and Seventies teemed with both royalty and ‘real’ celebrities. She swore that one day she would have a shop of her own. It took until the early Eighties, but she did it. Sadly, the recession wiped it out, and she embarked on a series of weird and wonderful jobs; the last one being a bookshop manager
Joy now lives in a village in the Lincolnshire Fens with her partner, Jacqueline. She had been writing mysteries for years but never had the time to take it seriously. Now as her partner is a highly decorated retired police officer; her choice of genre was suddenly clear. She has set her crime thrillers in the misty fens.   

www.joyellis.info 

‘Till Death Us Do Part’ by Reverend Penny Stephens

Published by Quercus,
17 July 2025.  
ISBN: 978-1-52944-142-0 (HB)

The scene is set for a beautiful wedding. Trees line the long drive to the Queen Anne Mansion.  Reverend Clare Brakespear has been invited to the wedding by her husband's, boss David. Their daughter Anna is a bridesmaid for David’s daughter, Jess, who is marrying Ahmed in Dorset. 

It all sounds idyllic. However, it is no spoiler to say that we learn immediately that there is a dead body in the corner of the tree house, stabbed. Oh! Dear

As the guests begin to assemble, Clare finds herself talking with Celeste, the bride’s aunt, who is clearly family but says she hasn’t seen Jess for years, Family problems you see, but let’s not dwell on those, she says.  It’s wonderful to be here, but I feel nervous about today. There’s someone who I think may have been invited and he reminds me of the worst time in my life….

Clare being a Vicar is a keen observer and as she mingles with the guests, she begins to notice that there are tensions between the family members. Leaving her daughter with wedding party and making for the stairs, she sees through an open door the bride’s-stricken face as she shouts, ‘I wish he was dead’.

As the day moves on a banner is seen trailing across the sky, pulled by a light aircraft, on one side ‘Congratulations’ and on the other side, not so friendly.  David contacts the police to have the matter dealt with quickly.  For DCI Jackie Carter it’s a day she hoped would come. A chance to see her old boyfriend for whom she still holds a torch. Of course, Clare is not so pleased.

Then the dead body is discovered, and DCI Jackie Carter is the investigating officer.  She quickly sets her sights on a suspect. The trouble is, Clare is convinced that she has the wrong person.  She might not understand forensic testing and finger-tip searches, but if there's one thing Clare does know, it's people and the complexities of their emotional lives. So, she decides to find the killer herself. But is she in way over her head?

With terrific characterisation. The solution to this complex family mystery is skilfully revealed.  Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Reverend Penny Stephens was a vicar in a village parish before working as a hospice chaplain in East London and Kent. She now takes services in the Diocese of Rochester, where she is an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral. Till Death Us Do Part is Penny's debut novel. 

‘The Dying Light’ by Daniel Aubrey

Published by Harpercollins,
19 June 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-00862443-9 (PB)

Orkney, midsummer 1997, and six teenagers have taken a boat over to the deserted island of Copinsay. Soon, a quarrel breaks out. In the aftermath, suddenly one of them, Michael, sees someone moving around outside. The novel then moves to present day, DI Fergus Muir on his way to view a dead man, dressed in office clothes, inside the Neolithic tomb known as the Dwarfie Stane.

Two intriguing starts, and the pace rattles on from there. Reporter Freya Spence was involved in bringing a paedophile ring to book, and the notebooks of her late father, a policeman, suggest one more person was involved, with the initials SC. She and Fergus Muir make a good pair, the older, experienced local man and the young woman who grew up in Orkney but left it for many years. Part of Freya’s fairly mild autism is a tendency to get obsessed with things, and now her father’s notebook is driving her to finish what he started. The key seems to be the disappearance of a teenage boy, back in midsummer 1997 – and so the two plots are neatly meshed together.

Freya’s a sympathetic heroine, filled with doubts and difficulties, and I enjoyed Muir’s police sidekick, dynamic DS Eilidh Murray, fresh to Orkney from the city, and determined not to let this chance of excitement pass her by. Orkney was also a character in the story, with vivid descriptions of the places, a real feel for the community life, and occasional use of the distinctive dialect. It ends with an explosion of violence that’s extra shocking in this quiet community.

A fast-moving page turner, with interesting characters and a real feel of Orkney in the setting. It’s part of a series, and the plot is linked enough with the first book, Dark Island, to make me recommend reading that before The Dying Light.

Daniel Aubrey is a former journalist whose previous jobs included writing for a local paper in Spain and working as a sub-editor at an international press agency in Hong Kong. Now living in Scotland, his debut novel, Dark Island, is a crime thriller about neurodivergent reporter, Freya Sinclair, who uncovers a disturbing conspiracy following the discovery of human remains on Orkney’s wild Atlantic coast.  The Dying Light is his second book.  

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. 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.  Click on the title to read a review of her recent book

An Imposter in Shetland

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk

‘A Beautiful Way to Die’ by Eleni Kyriacou

Published by Head of Zeus,
8 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83793039-5 (HB)

The 1950s, and the dark side of the Hollywood dream factory. This novel opens in a mental hospital, with an unnamed female narrator who’s not sure who or where she is, except that she was once in Hollywood. Next, we meet Miss Stella Hope, a Hollywood star who was sent under contract to Ealing Studios in England, to get her out of the way after her divorce from her equally starry husband, Max. Now, her co-star’s groping her and someone’s sending her blackmail letters. The third  main female character is Ginny, who won a trip a Hollywood and a screen test. She’s determined to make good, but life in Hollywood’s nothing like her dreams: the toughness of the studios, the predatory men, the hard work. Turned into a platinum blonde, she meets Max and thinks her dreams are coming true ...

 This cleverly-plotted novel draws you in straight away: the mad woman’s heartbreaking situation (and which of them is she?), and the vividly-drawn characters of egotistical Stella, seen through the eyes of her make-up artist, Maggie, who has secrets of her own, and naive Ginny plunged into a world that’s dissolute beyond her imagining. Kyriacou’s last book was based on a true crime case, and at the end of this one she gives a shocking list of examples of Hollywood ruthlessness in suppressing people who threaten to spoil the dream image. Her portrait of life as a wannabe starlet is chillingly credible, and the flashes of memory from the woman in the asylum ramp up the tension as the reader tries to fit the pieces of this puzzle together. I absolutely didn’t see any of the big twists coming, and the ending’s a shocker.

A page-turning mystery with believable characters set against the glittering, hollow backdrop of the 50s movie machine. An excellent read.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Eleni Kyriacou was born and brought up in London to Greek Cypriot parents. Never quite feeling completely British or Cypriot, she's always felt a Londoner and still adores the place, especially Soho. She's an award-winning editor and journalist and her writing has appeared in many publications, including the Guardian, the Observer, Marie Claire, Red and Stella, among others. She's written on a wide range of topics including adoption, relationships, travel, self-development, the arts and women's health. She's edited national magazines and is now freelance. Her first novel She Came to Stay was published by Hodder in 2020.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. 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.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine. 

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book
An Imposter in Shetland

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk 

‘Esperance’ by Adam Oyebanji

Published by Arcadia Books,
22 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-52943-709-6 (PBO)

Present day, and Ethan Krol of the Chicago PD is arriving at the scene of crime, in a luxury apartment block. Two people are dead, a man and a little boy, drowned in sea water, when the nearest ocean is a thousand miles away. The man’s wife is unconscious in the bedroom, knocked out with a mysterious unknown neurotoxin, and there’s a dead barracuda on the floor beside the bodies.

Strange as that is, things are going to get stranger... halfway round the world, in Bristol, Abidemi Eniola has arrived in Bristol, and her gangster style clothes and accent are raising eyebrows – especially when she tries to sell the diamonds she carries in a pouch in her pocket.

This dazzlingly original novel races on from there. Ethan is a conventional cop in many ways: divorced because of the demands of the job, and having friction with his daughter, but he also has problems of his own, which are gradually revealed to the reader. In the meantime, he’s determined to track down the killer, and when there’s another case in Rhode Island, he hopes he’s got a lead at last. Back in Bristol, Abi teams up with streetwise Hollie to help her on her quest for an eighteenth century ship, Endurance, and the relationship between them is beautifully crafted (Oyebanji must have had so much fun getting Abi’s English wrong!). I don’t want to say any more about the plot, because it was wonderfully clever and I’m scared of hinting spoilers, but the novel also reflects on questions of justice, guilt and reparation. I wasn’t sure how SF and modern crime might mix, but the science was convincingly done, the dilemmas and motivation of the characters came out as achingly human, and the ending was satisfying and moving.

A cleverly-crafted mystery, great characters, fast action, humour in the writing and serious considerations under the fun. The cover quote calls Esperance a ‘tour de force’, and I heartily agree – I enjoyed it hugely.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Adam Oyebanji was born in Coatbridge, in the West of Scotland, and is now in Edinburgh, by way of Birmingham, London, Lagos, Nigeria, Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York. After graduating from Birmingham University and Harvard Law School, he worked as a barrister, before moving to New York to work in counter-terrorist financing in Wall Street, helping to choke off the money supply that builds weapons of mass destruction, narcotics empires and human trafficking networks.  

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 

‘Carved in Blood’ by Michael Bennett

Published by Simon & Schuster,
24 April 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-39853678-4 (HB)

It’s cold, bleak winter in New Zealand, but all’s going well for former DS Hana Westerman. Her driving students have all passed their tests, and her daughter Addison announces her engagement to her partner, PLUS1. Then Hana’s ex-husband Jaye is shot in an off-licence robbery – or was it that simple?

This fast-moving police investigation novel is told in the present tense and third person, going between characters as they take up their parts in the story. Hana‘s the main focus, fuelled by emotional distress over Jaye’s shooting, and torn between her decision to leave the police and her wish for justice for him. The perp-hunt is in full swing when Addison is caught up in the investigation – she receives a phone call from a young woman, saying the police are getting it all wrong. Hana’s good friend Sebastian takes a hand in the game to bait a trap for a local restauranteur. The twists in the tale bring real feeling with them, and the suspense is heightened by chapters from the point of view of a chillingly unemotional killer. The whole book is steeped in the atmosphere and beliefs of the Maori community and culture, and the difficulties faced by young Maori folk are highlighted.

A gripping, moving police investigation novel that moves effortlessly between the world of corrupt top businessmen and the lives of young Maoris. It’s the third in the series, and though it works as a stand-alone, you might want to read the first and second  Hana Westerman books, Better The Blood and Return to Blood.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Michael Bennett (Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Whakaue) is an award-winning New Zealand screenwriter and author whose films have been selected for numerous festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto and New York. In 2008 Michael was the inaugural recipient of the Writers Award from the New Zealand Film Commission, and in 2005 he was awarded the British Council/New Zealand Writers Foundation Award. In 2011 Michael’s feature film Matariki won Best Feature Film Screenplay at the New Zealand Screenwriting Awards, and in 2013 he was awarded Best Documentary Screenplay for his documentary on the Teina Pora case, The Confessions of Prisoner T. He went on to publish In Dark Places in 2016, which won Best Non-Fiction Book at the Ngaio Marsh Awards and Best Biography/History at the Nga Kupu Ora Awards 2017. Michael lives in Auckland, New Zealand, and is Head of Screenwriting at South Seas Film School. 

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 

‘Black Gold’ by Rob Starr

Published by Just Once Publishing,
10 July 202.
ISBN: 978-1-73941012-4 (PB)

Kiara Fox has established herself as a successful fraud investigator and now runs her own business from Hurstpierpoint, a quintessential English village in Sussex where she lives with her twin teenage daughters Mia and Jesse.  Kiara has taken some time out since the hazardous events that marked her last investigation and now feels she is ready to take on a new challenge.  That’s when she receives a phone call from Tyrone Waterstone who offers her a short and lucrative assignment. 

Tyrone is Chief Executive Officer of Worldwide Marine Insurance where a major client, Adesco Oil, has recently been granted large payouts for a series of claims related to oil theft from their tankers.  A new claim has been received, so costly that the CEO’s approval is needed.  As a matter of due diligence Tyrone decides to check out the legitimacy of Adesco’s previous transactions.  He needs someone skilful enough to examine the claims discretely and quickly.  Kiara ticks all the boxes; however, she will need to travel to South Africa where the company is based.  At first, she baulks at the prospect of being so far away from her children, but she could do with the money, and the job sounds interesting, who knows, she may even find time to indulge her love of running and swimming under the hot southern sun.  As she boards the plane to Johannesburg, Kiara little realises that this latest assignment will test her mental and physical resilience to their limits.

As a foreigner in an unfamiliar country, Kiara is plunged into the unknown.  She is forced to rely on Tyrone, a man she has only just met.  The CEO is considerate towards his guest employee but expects her to hit the ground running. 

An intriguing subplot unfolds through brothers Gavin and Tony Adriaanse, who are CEO and second in command of Adesco Oil respectively.  Alongside these highflyers we meet an aggressive insurgent and his gang, as well as eco activists determined to disrupt the oil industry for the sake of the planet.  Another key character arrives in the form of a brilliant, but gullible, inventor seeking to produce and store energy without destroying the planet.  It’s quite a cast!  Kiara’s enquiries begin to untangle the carefully concocted mess of associations.  Then the threats begin, and not only to her, but also to the daughters she has left behind.

Black Gold is Rob Starr’s second thriller to feature Kiara Fox and works perfectly as a stand-alone.  The novel is a high octane thriller that weaves contemporary ideological and social issues into a good old fashioned mystery and with a protagonist who proves to be intelligent, assertive and determined that justice will be served.   

A brilliant read and highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Rob Starr is an author, chairman of the charity Starr Trust and CEO. He has co-written two full-length musicals and written two plays, all of which have been staged. In 2013, Rob wrote a book about his English Channel swim in 2012 called From Starr to Starrfish and in 2022 he released his first fiction novel, What the Tide Brings Back' 'The First Widow, published in 2024, is the first book in the new Kiara Fox series. Apart from writing, Rob's passion is open water swimming. He also loves a challenge and, in 2022, completed the 52-52 challenge, which consists of 52 Olympic Triathlons in 52 consecutive weeks. Rob lives in Brighton with his wife and their three children.

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.  

‘The Cliffhanger’ by Emily Freud

Published by Quercus,
8 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-52943-815-4 (PB)

The main characters in this dark and twisty novel are Emma and Felix Larson who write crime novels together under the name Morgan Savage.  From the start the reader is taken on a roller coaster of a ride with twists in every chapter. 

The couple - Emma an American and Felix who is British have exiled themselves to a glorious villa in the South of France in order to get over writers’ block and to attempt to save their marriage.  Their villa is close to a cliff and there is the constant threat of one of the characters going over the edge! 

Secondary characters such as the local woman who is guardian of the villa, their rather sinister publisher Max and the missing Robyn......This is partly a story of the breaking down of a marriage, the descent into alcoholism and the lies people tell to protect themselves and others. 

However, there is also the parallel narratives of the story they are writing together and the sinister events unfolding around them.  This is a very clever and rather addictive novel which leaves the reader wanting more from every chapter and is never disappointing. 

 Looking forward to reading more from Emily Freud.
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Reviewer: Toni Russell

Emily Freud has worked on Emmy and BAFTA award winning television series including Educating Yorkshire and First Dates. Her debut novel My Best Friend’s Secret was published in 2020. Emily lives in North London, with her husband and two small children. 

Toni Russell is a retired teacher who has lived in London all her life and loves the city.  She says, ‘I enjoy museums, galleries and the theatre but probably my favourite pastime is reading.  I found myself reading detective fiction almost for the first time during lockdown and have particularly enjoyed old fashioned detective fiction rather than the nordic noir variety.  I am a member of a book club at the local library and have previously attended literature classes at our local Adult Education Centre.  I am married with three children.