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The Deadly Inheritance Of Everest Macdonald by A.J. West

 

The Deadly Inheritance Of Everest Macdonald by A.J. West.

Published 8th October 2026 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

Some inherit a fortune.

She inherited murder…

1917. As the Great War rages on the continent, Everest Macdonald is summoned to her father's deathbed and entrusted with a final urgent request: she must uncover the truth behind the murder of her uncle, the celebrated Victorian actor William Terriss, a crime that has haunted her family for twenty years.

In 1897, Terriss was stabbed to death outside London’s Adelphi Theatre, a killing that shocked Victorian society. The murderer was swiftly arrested and confined to Broadmoor, the case declared closed. Yet, years later, a sealed package of evidence is passed to Everest by her dying father, which casts doubt on the official verdict and the haste with which it was reached.

Drawn back to wartime London, with her husband and children left behind, Everest begins her investigation, following a trail that leads her into the world of late-Victorian theatre, where fame and fortune mask obsession, envy and cruelty. With time running out and her father’s strength failing, Everest must uncover what really happened on the night Terriss died, and shed light on the unsettling legacy he left behind.

Based on an extraordinary true story, The Deadly Inheritance of Everest Macdonald is a dark, atmospheric historical mystery and a compelling adventure, as an unlikely investigator risks everything to pursue one of the most notorious killings of the Victorian stage.

***********

1917. Everest Macdonald is called to her father's deathbed, where he entrusts her with a sacred charge - to discover the truth behind the infamous murder of his younger brother, William, twenty years ago. Everest is surprised by his request, as everyone knows Richard Arthur Prince (aka 'Mad Archie') confessed to, and was found guilty of, the crime after being caught red-handed at the scene.

However, Everest's father believes there was something fishy about the hastily delivered verdict that condemned Prince to incarceration at Broadmoor Asylum, and he needs to see justice done before he can accept his fate. So, armed with the bulging file of papers her father entrusts to her care, she takes up the challenge...

Set against the backdrop of the Great War, West weaves a delicious mix of fact and fiction to produce an absorbing historical murder mystery, with an enchanting protagonist at the helm. The very real murder of William Terriss shocked Victorian theatre-land, and West takes the scandal surrounding the crime to give plucky Everest a treacherous path to navigate through her family's history.

The story alternates between a crime-caper-esque present in which Everest follows a trail of clues, and unearths revelatory secrets about the past, that send her off in all directions as she puts pieces of the puzzle together - garnered from her father's shocking journal about his adventures in India in 1867; her aunt's heart-rending diary about the trials and tribulations of her marriage to William; an abundance of informative letters; scurrilous newspaper cuttings; and a series of interviews with persons of interest, including one with 'Mad Archie' inside the walls of Broadmoor.

Everest is a dream in a stylish Swiss hat, with a capacious carpet bag (which she keeps losing), a desire to take a break from her ordinary life, and a lack of patience with people's nonsense driven by a very relatable ennui of middle life (and more than a few hot flushes). There is a nice double-act with some-time assistant Clare (who has her own part to play in the story), and lots of other vibrant characters to get the measure of, such as a potentially fitted-up 'Mad Arthur', a gaggle of family members mired in complex relationship dynamics, and a bevy of luvvies from the Victorian stage. 

Creepy curses, exotic mysticism, ghostly happenings, good old-fashioned sleuthing, and theatrical melodrama keep things interesting, as skeletons leap from cupboards and twists and turns lead to a truly original untangling of threads. The atmospheric settings ooze lovely vibes of time and place, as I've come to expect from Mr West, but my favourite thing is West's female cast, in all their shades of stoicism, ingenuity, complicity and innocence - they really made this story for me.

An absolute delight from start to finish, that will send you down rabbit holes about some fascinating history.

The Deadly Inheritance of Everest Macdonald is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats. You can support indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a review copy of this book, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

A.J. West grew up reading books to escape his shyness at school and discovered an early talent for writing fiction which led to an award-winning career as a BBC television newsreader and reporter. He has also written for national newspapers and magazines and has appeared on television programmes including BBC Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, This Morning and the legendary reality television show, Big Brother, where he became an instant household name... though the specific household has yet to be identified. Today, A.J. lives in South London with his husband, Nicholas Robinson.

Ice, Flower, Herbarium by Džena Andersone

Ice, Flower, Herbarium by Džena Andersone.

Translated by Žanete Vevere Pasqualini.

Published 20th October 2026 by Fly on the Wall Press.

From the cover of the book:

When he wakes to find a body in a sack on the roadside outside his home, police chief Vincents sets off a chain of events that threaten to overwhelm him and the sleepy, Latvian backwater town he has lived in his whole life.

A reluctant and unlikely hero, Vincents grapples with his failing marriage, a domineering former police partner and an ever-growing number of strange and bewildering cases. As the body count rises and Vincents' precariously constructed world crumbles around him, the focus of his investigations closes in inexorably on a troubled young man, Jens, whose odd behaviour can no longer be contained by his controlling Aunt Erika. Ice, Flower, Herbarium is a haunting psychological story of inherited guilt and the consequences of raising a child without love or human touch. Will Vincents uncover the truth and find the strength to stand up to the town, or will his resolve melt away with the snow?

***********

Vincents is the police chief of Dansile, a small town in Latvia. It is not the path he intended for himself, but after finishing university and falling in love with his wife of twenty-years, Īdena, he found himself following in his father Edvards' footsteps - even though he has never quite been able to fill his shoes to anyone's satisfaction.

When Vincents finds a body in a sack, lying in the icy road outside his home, he calls on the help of his father's old partner, Dāgs, who advises hiding the dead man inside a municipal building until warmer weather approaches, and they can bury it without causing upset in the town. It is a philosophy the rest of the town's authority figures agree with, but this does not sit well with Vincents.

Meanwhile, a young teacher has gone missing from the local school, and Vincents has to put aside his concerns about the body in the sack while he begins an investigation into her disappearance. He suspects that the school's odd caretaker, Jens, might be involved, as he was the last person to see her alive, but questioning the unfortunate young man in the presence of his domineering aunt reveals few clues.

When Īdena, a human rights lawyer, hears about the murder, she is determined Vincents must do the right thing. For her part, having heard of Jens' difficult upbringing, and seemingly vulnerable ways, she is keen to offer him legal representation. 

But nothing about this case is straightforward, and cutting though the web of secrets and lies in Dansile will prove damaging to Vincents in more ways that one...

I love a bit of pitch-black noir, but have not read any Baltic Noir before, so it was a very interesting experience dipping my toes in its chilly waters. The story revolves around small town complicity, with twisting plotlines that delve into the shocking consequences of the desire to preserve the semblance of a peaceful town, and unfurls though the narratives of Vincents and Jens. 

Mild-mannered Vincents is bogged down by the realisation that his marriage to Īdena is crumbling, and the feelings of inadequacy fostered by his mother. He has lost the will to do his job, especially when everyone, except Īdena, is keen that he should not upset the good folk of Dansille. As he blunders along, he begins to suspect that the people in this town may not be quite as trustworthy as he thought - particularly when it comes to his own history.

In parallel we get to see inside the head of Jens, a young man with the most tragic of upbringings, who is scarred by being brought up by his cold, spite-filled aunt. He is a complex character, young-of-mind and totally out of his depth in a world he does not have the skills to navigate. There is a lot to examine about his state of mind, and whether he understands the difference between right and wrong, which gives this novel a very thought-provoking edge.

I was not sure what to expect of this one, and wondered if the absurdity of the beginning would spin out in a story with a vein of dark humour at its core. Dear reader, it was most certainly did not. Andersone does an incredible job feeding the visceral chill that builds in the pit of your stomach as dark deeds, horrifying confessionals, and any attempt to 'do the right thing' on Vincents' part goes disturbingly awry. The atmosphere is thick with the despair of a winter that seems never-ending; and the setting is full of characters disillusioned by their fate, covering for their guilt, and a whisper away from resorting to violence. The motif of flowers/herbaria and the vivid descriptions of foul armoas are used spectacularly well, and I tip my hat to the translator Žanete Vevere Pasqualini for excellent work keeping you on a knife-edge of discomfort.

If you like your noir in the darkest of dark sides, flooded with recurring themes of harsh landscapes, shifting memories, and the legacy of trauma, then this is the stuff of your dreams... or is it nightmares? What a baptism of fire into the world of Latvian literature.

Ice, Flower, Herbarium is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats. 

Thank you to Fly on the Wall Press for sending me a review copy of this book.

About the author:

Džena Andersone (1977) – lawyer, writer. Džena studied writing in the Literary Academy’s prose workshops. In 2021, her debut collection of stories "Dadži" [Thistles] was published. She participated in the festival Prose Readings various times, with the stories “Kāds pieskaras rokai” Someone Touches the Hand, “Plauksta, aizšauta acīm priekšā” Palm, Held in Front of the Eyes\, “Dzeltenās podziņas” The Yellow Buttions and “Skapī” In the Closet.

A Lady's Guide To Vampire Hunting by Michelle Maxstoke

 

A Lady's Guide To Vampire Hunting by Michelle Maxstoke.

Published 22nd October 2026 by One More Chapter.

From the cover of the book:

In the gaslit dark, love is never tender. It’s teeth at your throat. Blood on silk. It is the sweetest surrender – and the most exquisite damnation.

By day Lady Euphemia Butterworth is a dutiful daughter – corseted, perfumed, and groomed to marry a lecherous duke twice her age. By night, she dreams of freedom, the dangerous thrill of adventure and a life not dictated by men with money and cruel smiles. But when a vampire attack shatters her world, Effie is branded hysterical, locked away and desperate to escape and prove what really happened.

Liam Rafferty has ghosts of his own. Orphan, ex-boxer, ex-patient of the asylum, he stalks the shadows as a reluctant hunter, his body inked with sins and his soul fraying at the edges. He finds refuge in a travelling circus, but it cannot silence the devil whispering in his ear – or the fangs waiting in the dark.

When Effie’s gilded cage collides with Liam’s world, the sparks are as dangerous as the bite of the monsters they hunt…

***********

Lady Euphemia Butterworth longs to be free of the privileged cage that surrounds her in The Gilded Bay. She dreams of pursuing her love of fossils and geology, and to be able to decide her own fate, Instead she is doomed to marry to a lecherous duke more than twice her age - the wealthy friend of her cruel father, Earl Titus Butterworth.

But Euphemia has other ideas. Fleeing from her father's palatial home to seek solace in the fossil-rich caves near-by, she and her brother Cedric are attacked by a vampire. Barely escaping with her life, no one will believe the truth that a vampire has appeared in The Gilded Bay after all these years, and killed her brother. She is branded hysterical, drugged and locked in her room.

In the slums of Redchapel the poor eke out an existence, at the mercy of thieves, cutthroats, and vampires. Liam Rafferty and his sister Nora have taken refuge in the circus, and alongside their performances they hunt the vampires hiding in the shadows. For ex-boxer, and former asylum inmate, Liam, it comes with the burden of a secret gift he considers nothing but a curse from the Devil - an ability to see ghosts.

Euphemia escapes and heads for Redchapel, looking for help with the vampire problem in The Gilded Bay. She bumps into Nora, and under the name Effie Smith, hides out in the circus. She is determined to track down and kill the vampire that killed her brother, and Liam is the perfect person to train her in the skills she needs. Liam is reluctant to get close to Effie, but the more time they spend together, the more difficult it is to ignore the spark that has ignited between them...

Michelle Maxstoke's darkly delicious tale of passion, horror, and vampires is set in an alternate 1800s, where the elite world of The Gilded Bay sits uncomfortably alongside the slums of Redchapel. The two worlds collide when Effie escapes the fate carved out for her by her occult-obsessed father, befriends Nora, and hides out amongst circus performers. Fortuitously, the little circus band also know how to deal with the undead, giving Effie the opportunity to learn the deathly skills she needs to dispatch the vampire that killed her brother - and a chance to fall desperately in love with the brooding, tattooed Liam. Hurray!

The story barrels along at a good pace, with luscious gothic atmosphere in a Redchapel backdrop filled with shady characters and dark deeds, and occasional sorties into the equally hostile, but much cleaner environs of The Gilded Bay. There are a fair number of monsters stalking both, so you never really know who to trust, and they are not all vampires, which makes this lots of fun. Throw in a lovely bit of found family in the circus arena, ghosts galore, oodles of secrets to be revealed on the way to a cracking finale, and an electric love story full of perfectly pitched spice.

The pages of this paranormal historical romance flew by, and Maxstoke's brave little gang of warriors around Effie and Liam absolutely captured my heart. There are some original little twists on vampire lore, and oodles of scope for this to be the first in a very entertaining series. I hope there is a sequel in the wings, because I want to know what happens next. More please!

A Lady's Guide to Vampire Hunting is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to One More Chapter for sending me a review copy of this book.

About the author:

Michelle Maxstoke was born in Solihull but has lived in Leeds for the past 15 years. She worked for the NHS before completing a PhD in nutritional epidemiology and working as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Leeds. She lives with her husband, two sons, and a hyperactive Labrador. As a scientist and mum, her hobbies include mulling over the complexities of the universe, treading barefoot on Lego, and chipping dried Play-Doh from fabric surfaces.

Michelle also writes contemporary romance under the pseudonym Sasha Lace.

Dear Little Corpses (Josephine Tey Mysteries Book Ten) by Nicola Upson

 

Dear Little Corpses (Josephine Tey Mysteries Book Ten) by Nicola Upson.

Audio book narrated by Sandra Duncan.

Published 19th May 2022 by Faber Books.

From the cover of the book:

It takes a village to bury a child.

1 September, 1939.

As the mass evacuation takes place across Britain, thousands of children leave London for the countryside, but when a little girl vanishes without trace, the reality of separation becomes more desperate and more deadly for those who love her.

In the chaos and uncertainty of war, Josephine struggles with the prospect of change. As a cloud of suspicion falls across the small Suffolk village she has come to love, the conflict becomes personal, and events take a dark and sinister turn.

***********

Josephine Tey is on a visit to her cottage in Polstead, Suffolk, for some time with her lover Marta before they are parted once more - Josephine heading back to Scotland and Marta to glamorous Hollywood to work on an adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca with Alfred Hitchcock. But this is not exactly the romantic sojourn they both envisaged.

The late summer of 1939 finds Britain on the brink of war and the country holds its breath for the announcement from Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain that will confirm their worst fears - that the Great War to end all wars was nothing of the kind. A massive logistical undertaking to evacuate children from London to the relative safety of the countryside has begun, but despite all the forward planning, ferrying a mass of youngsters about the country is proving to be mayhem. 

When far more children arrive in Polstead than anticipated, Josephine and Marta cannot refuse to help. They take in a young London lad called Noah, who is distraught after being split up from his younger sister Betty, who is lodging with the very peculiar Herron family nearby. Noah seems to be hiding something too...

On the eve of the village fete, a young girl goes missing. Suspicion lies thick in the air, and some are pointing fingers at the Herron family. It's down to Scotland Yard DCI Archie Penrose to uncover the truth, despite being absorbed in a case of an unusual stabbing in a stairwell in Hoxton - with the help of Josephine, of course.

I am not actually going to say too much about the plot of this one, because spoilers would be involved, but there is no doubt that the themes of this gem delve into human depravity in a way that is very disturbing, with its focus on the fate of small children - as so spectacularly chillingly put in its title. However, as is her forte, Nicola weaves time and place so beautifully into her setting at this very moment in 1939, that I can forgive her for making this, in my opinion, one of the darkest of all the books in this marvellous series.

Suspicion, rumour, guilt, complicity, lost innocence, and twisted notions of protection dominate, and the way Nicola juxtaposes these with love, care, and generosity of spirit is sublime. The fear of change is so poignantly portrayed too, particularly when it comes to Josephine's personal life. Nicola is at the very top of her game in misleading and misdirecting as the search for a missing child throws up far too many suspects for comfort... until the terrible truth clobbers you like a punch to the gut in the final, twist by twist, swathes of the novel. This one hits hard, and I defy you not to weep, like dear old Archie, when the truth is revealed.

Not satisfied with having one crime writer on board in this instalment, I am delighted that Golden Age Queens Tey and Margery Allingham (author of the Albert Campion books) come together in a very enjoyable double-act. They hit it off instantly at the village fete, and their close examination of splendid agricultural produce, closely fought cake tasting, and fancy-dress judging, adds a nice touch of humour to the proceedings before everything goes awry. Lovely that Archie's romantic prospects take a turn in this one as well, with a little twist related to book seven, Nine Lessons. 

My revisit to Dear Little Corpses was via the splendid audio book narrated by Sandra Duncan, of course, whose dulcet tones I am addicted to by now. I am very much looking forward to listening to her in Shot With Crimson next, in my build up to the brand new Tey book, The Voices of the Dead!

Dear Little Corpses is available to buy now in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audio formats.

About the author:

Nicola Upson's debut novel, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels whose main character is Josephine Tey, who - along with Agatha Christie - was one of the masters of Britain's Golden Age of crime writing. She was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2018 for Nine Lessons and longlisted in 2021 for The Dead of Winter.

Roman Mornings by Matson Taylor

 

Roman Mornings by Matson Taylor.

Published 2nd July 2026 by Scribner.

From the cover of the book:

1952, Trastevere, Rome. An idyllic maze crammed full of narrow streets and eccentric characters. A young English woman, Clementine Severs, arrives armed with a teaching certificate and enough idealism to fill a host of Grecian urns.

By 1976, she finds herself wilting, her youthful dreams squashed by time and tide. A chance encounter between an angel and a speeding mint green Vespa brings her into contact with a troubled young carpenter called Montgomery Marsh. Clemmie and Monty forge an unlikely friendship that takes them on a magical ride through the Eternal City in search of fresh hope and a new way of living.

Fun, spirited and full of heart, Roman Mornings, like the city of Rome itself, is a novel of mysterious beauty that you will want to revisit time and time again.

***********

London, 1952. Clementine (Clemmie) Severs, newly qualified teacher from Harrogate, is bringing the delights of English literature to the young minds of North London - but she dreams of much more. Taking the plunge, she heads for Trastevere, Rome, where she hopes to indulge her passion for Keats, and become a fully-fledged writer.

Rome, 1976. Twenty-four years later, Clemmie's dreams seem like youthful fancy. Although living with her charismatic, much-married friend Floss and the splendid cat Octavian is never dull, the drudgery of her job translating less than exciting technical journals into English and the lack of romance in her life are bringing her down.

In an attempt to brighten Clemmie's outlook, the irrepressible Floss gifts her a mint-green Vespa, and instructs her to throw caution to the wind, but her maiden voyage ends in disaster when she runs down Monty Marsh, a young chippy whose eyes have been opened by the delights of Rome. It is a moment that will change all their lives for ever...

With character-led gorgeousness that brings all the wonder of the eternal City alive, and a delightful side-order of magical realism, Matson's delicious third novel, Roman Mornings, is a tonic for the soul.

The story centres around the sun-washed Piazza della Scala, where Clemmie and Floss abide, in a three storey house where history has seeped into its pores - and where Octavian rules in fluffy hauter. Into their lives comes Monty, in need of a place to stay and convalesce, via the serendipitous Vespa incident and some very unusual happenings amongst Rome's stately statuary (you have to be there).

Monty's arrival sets in motion a meandering tale filled with glorious characters, including the fabulous nuns Sisters Geraldine and Tomasina; all manner of Roman bit players; a naked German - and later down the line, the lovely Bob, on his odyssey through Europe in his converted Mr Whippy van. Everything comes together in an unconventional whole that celebrates the life-affirming highs and lows of their past, present, and futures, guided by the interventions of said statuary... and the prodding of Octavian's sage words in Monty's receptive ears.

Have the tissues handy, because Matson fills this novel with emotionally stirring moments, and he spares nothing in delving into heartbreak and revelations that tell of shocking history. But this is not a sad book by any means, the spark that grows between this little band of friends envelopes you in a big warm hug made up of gentle humour, second chances, slow-burn love stories, found family, hope, and healing. 

Matson shows a different, more mature, side to his writing from his previous books about Evie Epworth in this novel, and I was here for it all. Keep those tissues nearby for the epilogue, too... I sobbed. Wonderful stuff!

Roman Mornings is available to but now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Scribner form sending me a review copy of this book.

About the author:

Matson Taylor is the author of two best-selling novels. He is also a design historian and has worked at museums in London and Rome. Roman Mornings is his third novel.

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie (2026)

 

Sleeping Murder (Miss Marple) by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 13th October 2022 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

A strange house...

A ghost from the past...

As soon as she moves into Hillside, Gwenda knows there’s something strange about this house.

A sealed room. A hidden door. The apparition of a young woman being strangled.

But strangest of all – this all seems quite familiar.

As her friend Jane Marple investigates, the answer seems to lie in a crime committed nearly twenty years ago.

The killer may have gotten away with murder. But Miss Marple is never far behind.

Never underestimate Miss Marple...

***********

Newly-weds Gwenda and Giles Reed met in New Zealand, where Gwenda was brought up. They decide to settle down to married life in Giles' homeland, so Gwenda heads to England first to find a home. Her search uncovers nothing of interest, until she discovers a house called Hillside in Dillmouth, Devon, and knows in her bones that this is what she has been looking for.

Gwenda sets to work organising improvements to Hillside in preparation for Giles' arrival. Right from the start, there are things about the house that feel familiar, even though she is sure she has never been in England before. She is at a loss to explain how she knows the pattern on the wallpaper that used to hang in the nursery, that there used to be connecting doors between the sitting room and the dining room, and that the steps in the garden seem to be in the 'wrong place' - but most worryingly of all, she is concerned about the vision of a young woman called 'Helen' lying strangled at the bottom of the stairs that haunts her.

Gwenda begins to feel she is losing her mind, but then she meets Miss Marple, and is reassured by the old lady's belief that the answers might lie in very real events that took place during Gwenda's childhood. Despite Miss Marple's advice to let 'sleeping murder' lie, Gwenda and Giles are determined to find out the truth. Miss Marple has no option but to become part of the investigation - especially since she seems to be the only one who can see that delving into the past could be very dangerous indeed...

The story begins with Gwenda's uncanny experiences at Hillside, and develops into a double-sided investigation. On one side, Gwenda and Giles track down leads about the mysterious 'Helen' with the gusto of youth (guided by Miss Marple's often cryptic advice); and on the other, Miss Marple engages in her more canny sleuthing in her characteristic guise of harmless old biddy. The clues begin to emerge slowly as the trio find out more about Helen, and Christie devises some lovely red herrings to keep you off the scent of who may, or may not, be guilty of causing her demise, by providing a set of very plausible suspects among the men in Helen's life nearly twenty years ago.

Christie delves nicely into murky memories of the past in this tale, hinging the plot on snippets of hearsay, and differing opinions of the murdered woman. She threads recurring themes of unhappy relationships, and mental instability hidden beneath outwardly respectable facades, through the story - and I love the way she contrasts the trusting tendencies of Gwenda and Giles with Miss Marple's hard-learned cynicism. Miss Marple's razor sharp ability to spot inconsistencies, half truths, and deliberate attempts to pervert the truth are key, and she saves the day most delightfully at the climax of  the story! Go Miss Marple!

“It's very dangerous to believe people, I haven't for years.” Miss Marple

This ambles along very enjoyably through clever twists and turns. I always love that the final flourish takes place in a location I know very well too - on the terrace of the Imperial Hotel in Torquay!

Sleeping Murder is my October choice for #ReadChristie2026 as one of her Best Cold Cases, and this year marks 50 years since it was published too! I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting it via the excellent audio book narrated by Stephanie Cole - whose dulcet tones work nicely as Miss Marple. 

Sleeping Murder is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen (Paperback Release)

 

The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen.

Translated by David Hackston.

Published in paperback 24th September 2026 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

Sofas, secrets and a snowbound road to trouble…

Helsinki, 1982. Recently divorced postal worker Ilmari Nieminen has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but with six days to go – and no money – he's desperate.

A last-minute job offers a solution: transport a valuable antique sofa to Kilpisjärvi, the northernmost town in Finland.

With the sofa secured in the back of his van, Ilmari stops at a gas station, and an old friend turns up, offering to fix his faulty wipers, on the condition that he tags along. Soon after, a persistent Saab 96 appears in the rearview mirror. And then a bright-yellow Lada.

That's when Ilmari realises that he is transporting something truly special.

And that's when Ilmari realises he might be in serious trouble…

A darkly funny and unexpectedly moving thriller about friendship, love and death – The Winter Job tears through the frozen landscape of northern Finland in a beat-up van with bad steering, worse timing, and everything to lose…

***********

Helsinki, 1982. Postal worker, Ilmari Nieminen has a problem: he has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but the financial demands of his recent divorce mean the coffers are bare. With only a few days to go until Christmas Eve, he is determined not to let her down, but how is he to lay his hands on the money he needs at such short notice? Then the perfect opportunity come his way when he lands a job transporting an antique sofa to Kilpisjärvi, the northernmost town in Finland.

With the sofa secured in the back of an old van, and plans to take in a couple of stops on the way to deal with unfinished business, Ilmari sets off into an increasingly heavy snow storm. Stopping off at a petrol station for assistance with his broken windscreen wipers, he meets up with childhood friend Antero, who fixes the problem in exchange for a lift.

As the pair head north, they notice that they are not alone. A mysterious green Saab 96, and an almost luminous yellow Lada seem to be in hot pursuit... and when they inspect the contents of the van, they realise that this is no ordinary sofa, and no ordinary job.

How I love an Antti Tuomainen book, and this brand new gem was an absolute festive delight. The story follows the progress of Ilmari and Antero's deliciously absurd road trip to Finalnd's icy north, cutting back and forth from their slow-burn, buddy story to the darkly comic agendas of their pursuers - a misfit pair of communist revolutionaries (one of whom is obsessed with the soap opera Dallas), and a violent outlaw with major anger issues.

Along the way, there are oodles of thrills, spills, and hilarious cock-ups as the assassins on their trail do their very best to wrest the precious sofa from Ilmari, against a cracking (mostly) 1980's soundtrack, and Antero proves his worth in his role as 'shotgun' (quite literally on occasion). Pitch black humour Tuomainen style is the order of the day, which gave me lots of chuckles, and the story is flooded with lovely themes about friendship and loneliness that strum mercilessly on your heartstrings in the way he does so well. Have the tissues handy for the touching moments, because you will need them.

David Hackston does a wonderful job translating this novel, as anticipated, and he pulls an absolute blinder when it comes to the choice words and phrases he uses to hit Tuomainen's farcical mark - particularly when it comes to the opening lines of the chapters about Otto, the wrathful outlaw, which are a riot!

Quintessential Tuomainen madness with a heartfelt core of pure gold, and with the magic of Christmas too. Perfection!

**Review originally published November 2025.

The Winter Job is available to buy now in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audio formats. You can also support indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a review copy of this book, and Random Things Tours for inviting me to join this blog tour.

About the author:

Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. In 2011, Tuomainen’s third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Novel and was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. In 2013, the Finnish press crowned Tuomainen the ‘King of Helsinki Noir’ when Dark as My Heart was published. With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller and has been released as a TV series, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards. Palm Beach Finland (2018) was an immense success, with The Times calling Tuomainen ‘the funniest writer in Europe’, and Little Siberia (2019) was shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The Rabbit Factor, the prequel to The Moose Paradox and The Beaver Theory, will soon be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell for Amazon Studios.

About the translator:

David Hackston is a British Translator of Finnish and Swedish literature and drama. Notable publications include The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy, Maria Peura’s coming-of-age novel At the Edge of Light, Johanna Sinisalo’s eco-thriller Birdbrain, two crime novels by Matti Joensuu and Kati Hiekkapelto’s Anna Fekete series (which currently includes The Hummingbird, The Defenceless and The Exiled, all published by Orenda Books). He also translates Antti Tuomainen’s stories. In 2007 he was awarded the Finnish State Prize for Translation. David is also a professional countertenor and a founding member of the English Vocal Consort of Helsinki. Follow David on Twitter @Countertenorist

The Marchesa by Sarah Dunant

 

The Marchesa by Sarah Dunant.

Published in paperback 7th October 2026 by Ravenna Press.

From the cover of the book:

From the acclaimed author of The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan comes a vibrant exploration of the Italian Renaissance through the character of Isabella d'Este, the first female art collector and patron of her time. Her famed collection has long since dispersed or been lost, but what remains is her correspondence - thousands of letters preserved in a deconsecrated church and convent in the archive of Mantua.

'For the longest time after my death, those who claimed an interest in history showed little interest in me. Or indeed women like me. Nor did they seem to care much about the wonder of our city states: Mantua, Ferrara, Urbino. We may never have been as grand or powerful as Venice or Rome or Florence but our great age - this thing that is now so valued and trumpeted as the Renaissance - would have been a much lesser affair without us.'

The Marchesa is Renaissance history at its most vivid, an immersive, multi-layered experience that mixes historical fiction with biography, scholarship and imagery, of both the people and the time. It is also a meditation on our attitude to history itself, challenging how far we can set aside our own values and certainties when it comes to understanding those who grew out of very different cultural soil.

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Isabella d'Este was born on 19th May 1474, the daughter of Ferdinand I, the Aragonese King of Naples, and Isabella of Clermont. From a young age it was obvious that her determination and intelligence would suit her perfectly for the kind of life she was born to live, and on her marriage to Francesco II Gonzaga, Marchese of Mantua, in 1490, she needed to draw on both to fulfil her duties as Marchesa.

Sarah Dunant tells Isabella's story in an unconventional way, beginning with the voice of her ghost, which haunts the archive that stores the many letters she wrote and received during her lifetime. As she looks over the shoulders of the latest researcher keen to unravel the secrets of her life, Isabella takes you back in time to the moments each document refers to.

The book splits nicely into sections that cover her life before and after marriage, and the many difficulties she negotiated as Marchesa of Mantua during times of war, pestilence, and the machinations of others, all the way to her death when the Dowager Marchesa. The story unfolds like a sequence of examinations of a journal, divided up by visits to the researcher in the archive, and excerpts from Isabella's letters. This makes for slow and reflective going at first, but gradually Isabella's voice captivates you, immersing you in the trials of marriage, motherhood, and the things expected her. By the time the disreputable Borgias entered the fray, I was hooked!

Isabella offers a fascinating perspective on a time of considerable political turmoil, dominated by powerplays between competing houses; the ambitions of France, Italy and Spain; and the influence of the church - all through the eyes of a wily and resourceful woman. The role of women behind the scenes when it comes to succession and diplomacy is especially interesting; and there is a wealth of detail about fashion, art, sexual politics, and the consequences of sexual impropriety. She was a prodigious collector of art, and a patron of many of the artists whose names have become synonymous with the Renaissance too, and Dunant takes time to go into detail about Isabella's passion to acquire her collection.

If there is anything I am unsure about here it is Dunant's choice to examine Isabella's story with the addition of a modern, unnamed, female researcher. The segues in the archive do tend to disrupt the flow of the story and introduce a separation between Isabella and the real meat of the novel - particularly when it comes to the impetus that builds up around the antics of the stellar cast of notable figures who make an appearance. However, you do get an intriguing extra dimension this way, which delves into the nature of archival research, and how individual researchers introduce bias. It also gives Isabella an opportunity to comment on episodes from her own life with hindsight. I will leave it to you to decide whether a straight-up historical retelling is your bag, or if a literary side-quest makes things more entertaining.  

This is an incredible journey through a turbulent period of history, starting in slow-burn country and burgeoning into a many-layered portrayal of a remarkable woman. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Isabella d'Este, Marchesa of Mantua. 

The Marchesa is available to buy now.

Thank you to Ravenna Press/Weatherglass Books for sending me a review copy of this book, and to Folk PR for inviting me to join this blog tour.

About the author:

Sarah Dunant has written twelve novels, four of which have been short-listed for awards, and edited two books of essays. She worked for many years for the BBC in radio and television. She featured as an expert in the BBC2 'Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty' drama-documentary series which broadcast in December 2024. Her most recent five novels, set within the Italian renaissance, weave cutting edge historical scholarship into fiction, have become international bestsellers and have been translated into thirty languages.

 September 2026 Reading Round-Up

I cannot even begin to tell you how busy September has been on the home front, so it is frankly amazing that I managed to fit these ten books in as well (thank goodness for audio books)! There are some absolute crackers here, and you can find your way to my thoughts about each of them by clicking on the pictures below.

Sorry For The Dead by Nicola Upson

Murder At The End Of The World by Akane Araki

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

Escape To The Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker

The Dead Of Winter by Nicola Upson

Faculty Of Liars by R.L. Heber

Dead Man's Run by Murray Bailey

Family Friends by Chloe Ashby

The Last Tenant by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

The Treasures by Harriet Evans

October is looking very promising on the book front, and I cannot wait to get started!