Badges

From London With Love by Katie Fforde

 

From London With Love by Katie Fforde.

Published 13th February 2025 by Century.

From the cover of the book:

It’s 1968 and it’s cold when Felicity arrives in London to stay with her mother, improve her English, do a secretarial course - and meet a suitable man.

She is already missing her home in Provence and her father and his new wife and their extended family. But it’s only for a year she tells herself - and then she can go back to France and do what she really wants and become a painter.

And then she bumps into Oliver who is quite the most interesting young man she has ever met. He lives on a barge for one thing and has a collection of jobs, but his passion is looking for hidden treasures along the shores of the river Thames.

In a word, he’s a mudlarker - and before long Felicity is mudlarking too. She is also pursuing her dreams and painting scenery for Oliver’s actor friends.

But is Oliver a Suitable Man of whom her mother will approve? Felicity knows she will not …

Love, tangled relationships, and a real life adventure lie at the heart of Katie Fforde’s heart-warming new novel.

***********

London, Autumn 1968. Felicity arrives in London to stay with her mother for a year, while she takes a secretarial course - and to possibly enjoy a taste of the swinging times she keeps hearing about, especially when it comes to a little romance (with a 'suitable' man, course).

Missing her father, step-mother, and siblings, who she has left behind at their rambling chateau in rural Provence, not to mention the comfort of the family dogs, Felicity finds it hard to settle into city life with her stiffly correct mother, and the women on her course who she has little in common with. She longs for the next few months to be over so she can return to France and follow her passion to become an artist.

But she soon finds a welcoming presence in Violet, who has also recently arrived in London from her father's sprawling manor house in the country to take a job in a London book shop, and who is staying in the apartment upstairs. The two quickly become firm friends. Then the chance of romance appears in the form of the handsome, dramatic, and often inconveniently muddy, Oliver, who lives on a barge and loves to go mudlarking on the banks of the Thames. But Felicity fears he is definitely not the kind of man her mother would approve of...

This latest gorgeous novel from Katie Fforde picks up the reins of her earlier stories about family, friendship, and romance - this time through the adventures of Felicity, who travels to England for a taste of Swinging London, under the beady eye of her mother, the terribly proper Lucinda. Fans will be very pleased to know that several familiar faces from the series appear in this story, particularly the chateau crowd, but this book is very much about Felicity and Violet, so can be read as a standalone.

With elegant charm, and a nicely wrought backdrop that sizzles with 1960's atmosphere and social history, Fforde weaves two central love stories which will keep you in perfectly pitched romantic suspense until the warm and wonderful threads work themselves out - the stop-start, bumpy love affair of Felicity and chaotic Oliver, and the more gentle meanderings of the courtship of Violet and her bumbling academic romantic prospect, Henry. There are little flirtatious asides for some of the fabulous supporting cast too, which will warm the cockles of your heart, make you indignant, and set you giggling, all of which have direct bearing on the bumps in the road on the way to happiness for the central characters. I have several new favourites from this lovely new set of gems, especially the incredible Miss Wynter, who I really hope will crop up again in Fforde's books - and who frankly, deserves a novel all of her own.

I always love the way Fforde writes her female characters with relatable hopes and dreams, and just the right touch of vulnerability, whatever the time period, but I think she does this particularly well when she is looking back in time. She touches lightly on many of the changes in the lives of women in the 1960s here, such as female independence, sexual freedom and the clash between older ideas and new about romantic relationships, and delves into fashion and popular culture quite naturally as part of the story. There are fascinating threads about history and mudlarking that connect different storylines together beautifully too.

I loved it, and really did not want to leave the characters behind when I came to the classic Fforde, heart-warming conclusion. Until next time old (and new) friends!

From London With Love is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Ed PR and Century for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Katie Fforde lives in the beautiful Cotswold countryside with her family, and is a true country girl at heart.

Each of her books explores a different profession or background and her research has helped her bring these to life. She’s been a porter in an auction house, tried her hand at pottery, refurbished furniture, delved behind the scenes of a dating website, and she's even been on a Ray Mears survival course. She loves being a writer; to her there isn’t a more satisfying and pleasing thing to do.

She particularly enjoys writing love stories. She believes falling in love is the best thing in the world, and she wants all her characters to experience it, and her readers to share their stories.

A Gentleman's Offer by Emma Orchard

 

A Gentleman's Offer by Emma Orchard.

Published 22nd March 2025 by Boldwood Books.

From the cover of the book:

June, 1817.

Sir Dominic De Lacy – one of the season’s most eligible gentlemen – has recently proposed marriage… to a woman he scarcely knows. But his father’s choice for him, Miss Maria Nightingale, seems amiable, and at 29, Dominic cannot live the life of a bachelor forever. He hopes he can provide a happy future for her as they learn to care for each other.

Maria, however, has other ideas. Midway through their engagement celebrations, she confesses to Dominic that she is not Maria at all, but her identical twin sister, Margaret. Maria has disappeared, and Margaret’s been persuaded to take her place until she’s found – and for that she needs Dominic’s help. The pair quickly find they make a formidable team, but with just three weeks to avoid the biggest scandal of the season, time is against them.

But even if they find Maria, can they really hope the wedding will happen? Because, as they are starting to realise, chemistry can’t be arranged – and Sir Dominic might just be engaged to the wrong Miss Nightingale…

***********

June, 1817. Sir Dominic De Lacy is one of the season's most eligible bachelors. At twenty-nine, the time is ripe for him to find a bride, so when his widowed mother tells him it was his late father's dearest wish that he marry the very pretty Miss Maria Nightingale, he gives it serious consideration. Although he barely knows the young woman in question, she seems amiable enough, and when he proposes marriage to her, she graciously accepts. 

On the night of their engagement party, Sir Dominic is astounded when his betrothed takes him aside and tells him she is not Maria, but her twin sister Margaret (Meg). Maria has gone missing, and Meg requires his help to discover where she has gone before the scandal becomes known. As they set about tracking down the whereabouts of Maria, it is clear that Dominic and Meg are attracted to each other in a way neither have felt before. Could he be engaged to the wrong sister?

Emma Orchard has done it again, pulling out all the stops to produce a Regency romp that has everything you could want in terms of characters, story, and romantic suspense. The tale unfurls via the points of view of Dominic and Meg as their search for Maria takes unexpected twists and turns, burgeoning from a missing person mystery into a love story with oodles of intrigue.

Co-opting the assistance of all sorts of helpmates for their quest, from above stairs, below stairs, and even of the salons frequented by gentlemen in search of pleasure, Dominic and Meg soon discover that Maria's disappearance is more than the elopement they suspected - and they find out rather a lot about each other in the process. As the plot thickens, with witty banter galore, confessions, a dollop of blackmail, family reconciliations that greatly improve their stakes in the game, and plenty of simmering passion, Orchard brings everything together in a lush ending that will have you chortling with glee.

There are lovely threads running through the whole story, balancing lighter, comic storylines, and steamy interludes, with deeper social history themes about poverty, race, and sexuality, plus women's independence and their right to choose the course of their lives (and loves). I especially enjoyed the literary threads about women writers, and their admirable blue-stocking ways. Go ladies! I absolutely adored Meg and Maria's half-brother Francis too, who comes through to save the day.

This is my favourite Emma Orchard to date with sumptuous chemistry between the lovers, atmospheric locations that thrum with spot-on time and place vibes, and a stellar supporting cast for you to love and loathe in equal measure. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

A Gentleman's Offer is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Boldwood Books for granting me access to an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and and to Random Resources Tour for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Emma was born in Salford and studied English Literature at the universities of Edinburgh and York.

She was a copy editor at Mills & Boon, where she met her husband in a classic enemies-to-lovers romance.

Emma has worked in television and as a Literary Agent, and started writing in 2020.

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

 

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 22nd March 2018 by Harper Collins. Originally published 1935.

From the cover of the book:

At an apparently respectable dinner party, a vicar is the first to die…

Thirteen guests arrived at dinner at the actor’s house. It was to be a particularly unlucky evening for the mild-mannered Reverend Stephen Babbington, who choked on his cocktail, went into convulsions and died.

But when his martini glass was sent for chemical analysis, there was no trace of poison – just as Poirot had predicted. Even more troubling for the great detective, there was absolutely no motive…

***********

Poirot is invited to dinner by the celebrated stage actor Sir Charles Cartwright, at his home in Cornwall, Crow's Nest. Thirteen guests are expected, made up of various friends and acquaintances of Sir Charles, and it proves to be an unlucky number for one of them, as local vicar Reverend Babbington drops down dead after consuming a cocktail.

Sir Charles and young Hermione "Egg" Lytton Gore (his love interest) suspect foul play, while Patron of the arts Mr Satterthwaite (a mutual friend of Poirot's) muses upon suicide, but nothing was found in unassuming Rev Babbington's glass. Psychiatrist Sir Bartholomew Strange and Poirot are convinced that there cannot be a motive for a murder.

Sometime later, Poirot is in Monte Carlo and meets Sir Charles and Mr Satterthwaite, who inform him that Sir Bartholomew Strange has been poisoned during a dinner party he hosted at his home. Many of the same guests from Crow's Nest were present, which casts Rev Babbington's demise in a new light. Sir Charles, young Hermione "Egg" Lytton Gore, and Mr Satterthwaite set about tracking down clues, with the help of Poirot as consultant (who now also looks upon the tragedies as no mere coincidences)...

This is a Poirot I have not read before, and it is a bit of a curious one, because Poirot actually spends very little time in the thick of the investigation. Instead, it is mostly undertaken by Sir Charles (channelling his stage performance as a celebrated detective); thoroughly modern (but with obvious daddy issues) "Egg" Lytton Gore, who hankers after becoming Sir Charles' wife: and the rather odd Mr Satterthwaite who stands-in as Poirot's proxy (largely known from Christie's Harley Quinn Mysteries).

Poirot appears at various points throughout the 'three acts' to give wisdom, consider the clues, and then provide his classic summing up, but I found myself wanting much more of the little Belgian detective to make this work as proper Poirot story. In some ways, I wonder whether Christie thought about making this a mystery for Mr Satterthwaite to solve on his own, as he is not bad at the sleuthing game, but it falls to Poirot to pull everything together in the end. I can see why the decision was made to completely miss out Mr Satterthwaite and replace him with Poirot throughout in the excellent David Suchet adaptation, as this works much better.

Nonetheless, there are some very lovely things about this story, weaving nicely into a delicious plot that takes you all round the (play) houses, before revealing a shocking surprise. Christie beautifully explores the themes of 'acting', performance, deception, and love, and there is a bitter sweet taste to the motive that drives the murders. I absolutely loved the inclusion of playwright Muriel Wills (also known as Anthony Astor), who is a fascinating character, and whose observational skills are a turning point in the tale!

This is my March pick for #ReadChrstie2025, and I listened to the audio book narrated by my favourite, Hugh Fraser. It is an excellent choice to delve into this month's prompt of 'performers'!

Three Act Tragedy 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 Man She Married by Alison Stockham

 

The Man She Married by Alison Stockham.

Published 20th January 2025 by Boldwood Books.

From the cover of the book:

How can you fight for a life you can't remember?

One moment I was just living my life, finding my way in the world. The next I woke up in a hospital bed with years of my life missing.

The man by my side – Rob, my husband – looks familiar, but I can't remember marrying him. I can’t remember our life together. Most haunting of all: I can’t remember anything about the last five years.

Rob keeps telling me that everything will be fine, that my memories will return, but something feels... wrong. Why does our flat feel so unfamiliar? Why does he flinch when I ask questions? Why are none of my friends and family in touch?

The more I try to piece my life back together, the more I question everything – even myself. Who is Rob, really? And can I trust him? More importantly, can I trust myself?

A compulsive and obsessive read that will have you saying 'just one more chapter!' Perfect for fans of Before I Go To Sleep and Alice Feeney.

***********

When Beth wakes up in a hospital bed, she has no idea how she got there. She is even more confused when she finds out that the man tenderly holding her hand claims to be her husband. Five years of Beth's life have vanished in an instant. She does not recognise her husband, Rob, or anything about the life he says they lead. Everything he tells her about their so called happy marriage feels wrong, and she is dubious of the reasons he gives for her having cut contact with her family and friends. Who is this man? Can she trust him? What has happened in the last few years for her to be living a life she surely would not have chosen?

Beth has been involved in a serious car accident, which leaves her with retrograde amnesia that has taken away her memories of the last five years. Everything about the life she seems to be living, starting with the man who says he is her devoted husband, is alien to her. She is frightened and deeply suspicious... and she has every reason to be.

The story opens with the accident, then jumps forward to unfurl from when Beth subsequently regains consciousness, and Stockham makes the absolute best of this unsettling situation. The tension creeps up as years of psychological trauma are stripped away, driven by shocking reveals from the discoveries Beth makes while the increasingly unlikable Rob is absent, and the impact of fragments of memory that randomly return to her. 

Suffice to say you will come to detest that whopping liar Rob, be turning the pages in a frenzy urging Beth to find the means to escape from her terrifying predicament, and be in awe of the way Stockham keeps her cards very close to her chest when it comes to the twist and turns that come at you thick and fast.  

For a gritty story like this, with a shockingly extreme premise, there are pleasingly relatable characters and moments, which I think comes from the clever way Stockham shines a light on the motivations of the characters throughout. I really enjoyed how she explores the fascinating subjects of memory, and trauma based amnesia; and she does an excellent job getting to grips with coercive control, and how its insidious poison can spread until you find yourself isolated from your friends, family, and even your own self.   

I consumed this little gem in one tasty gulp, totally glued to the page from disturbing beginning to extremely satisfying ending. This stunning mash-up of Before I Go to Sleep meets Sleeping with the Enemy is Alison Stockham's best thriller yet!

The Man She Married is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Alison Stockham for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Alison Stockham’s debut novel, The Cuckoo Sister, was a top 10 bestseller and was also longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. Her novels The Silent Friend and The New Girl followed and a fourth thriller, The Man She Married, was published January 2025.

From a background in film and television production, working in film dramas and then TV documentary production for the BBC and Channel 4, she then worked as the events coordinator for Cambridge Literary Festival. Now a full time writer, she lives in the city with her husband, their children and their cat, who keeps her company while she works on the next book.

A Proper Mother by Isobel Shirlaw

 

A Proper Mother by Isobel Shirlaw.

Published in paperback 6th March 2025 by Point Blank.

From the cover of the book:

Sometimes it's your own child you're most afraid of...

Ever since an ominous palm-reading on her honeymoon, Frankie has suspected that her youngest son, Michael, is different. From an early age he sees things no one else can. As he grows up – academically gifted, a musical prodigy and with an unshakeable religious faith – his mother can no longer deny there is something strange about him, or that it frightens her.

It is only when Frankie learns Michael is sliding into drugs and violence that she realises she can't keep ignoring the past. But by confronting her destructive marriage and her own responsibility for all that has gone wrong, she begins to see there is something darker at play.

***********

Frankie has always known there was something different about her second son, Michael. Gifted with musical and academic prowess he seemed marked for success, but there is a darkness to him that sets him apart, showing itself in an eerie ability to see things that are not there, and sending him down the path of religious obsession. 

Caught up in her own personal trials, Frankie has done her best to gloss over Michael's issues, but there is no doubt that his spiral into drugs and violence can no longer be ignored. She is afraid of her own son, and the time has come for her to confront the part she, and her destructive marriage to his father, may have played in the person he has become...

I came to this incredible debut novel expecting a psychological thriller about a woman who is forced to recognise darkness in her own son. In may ways this is exactly what this is, but it is also a compelling examination of parenthood, marriage and family dysfunction, delving into love-hate relationships, trauma, responsibility, and guilt, which was a pleasant surprise.

The story unfurls in a number of weaving timelines that flip between an unsettling scene during Frankie and her husband Callum's honeymoon in 1974; hard hitting moments from their marriage, and the childhood of Michael and his older brother John; and the years 1997 and 1998, when the weight of all the difficult episodes that have come before bear fruit in the most disturbing ways. 

The timelines are slickly constructed to tip you head first into a complex tale of an unhappy marriage, disappointments, parental struggles and estrangement through the eyes of Frankie. It is a little overwhelming at first, but Shirlaw's writing is superb, revealing just enough to draw you gradually into the messy relationships in this family, before disclosing exactly how and why they come to be in this unhealthy predicament. She ups the tension stakes notch by excruciating notch, as poor decisions, misunderstandings, and deliberately ignored red flags result in behaviour careering out of control.

There is plenty of darkness in this story. Sadness, adversity and the constant threat of violence seep from the page, and yet Shirlaw is way too clever to paint her characters in black and white. There are achingly poignant golden moments, and lashings of shades of grey to be waded through on the way to the powerful finale, which force you to look beyond their behaviour to the experiences that have shaped them too. Love, hate, hope, fear, dreams, nightmares, small wins and bitter regrets are all touched on in the most thought provoking of ways, which I really enjoyed (if that is the right word for the perturbing feelings this novel evokes).

This is an exciting debut, pitched firmly on the literary side of the thriller genre, and it is compulsive reading from the first page to the last. I look forward to following Isobel Shirlaw's writing journey, because this is an impressive beginning.

A Proper Mother is available to buy now in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Oneworld for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Isobel Shirlaw has written for The Times Literary Supplement, The Daily Telegraph, The i and The Catholic Herald in the UK and for The Daily Star and New Age (Bangladesh). She won the Fresher Poetry Prize in 2019 and was shortlisted in Poetry London’s pamphlet prize in 2023. She has worked for The Daily Telegraph, the British High Commission, Bangladesh, and for several UK-based charities including Refuge. She lives in Berkshire with her family.

Son (Kari Voss Mysteries Book One) by Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger

 

Son (Kari Voss Mysteries Book One) by Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger.

Published 27th March 2025 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

Everyone here is lying…

Expert on body language and memory, and consultant to the Oslo Police, psychologist Kari Voss sleepwalks through her days, and, by night, continues the devastating search for her young son, who disappeared on his birthday, seven years earlier.

Still grieving for her dead husband, and trying to pull together the pieces of her life, she is thrust into a shocking local investigation, when two teenage girls are violently murdered in a family summer home in the nearby village of Son.

When a friend of the victims is charged with the barbaric killings, it seems the case is closed, but Kari is not convinced. Using her skills and working on instinct, she conducts her own enquiries, leading her to multiple suspects, including people who knew the dead girls well…

With the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she discovers that no one – including the victims – are what they seem. And that there is a dark secret at the heart of Son village that could have implications not just for her own son's disappearance, but Kari's own life, too…

***********

Seven years ago Kari Voss' son, Vetle, went missing from the village of Son, on his ninth birthday. It was an unbearable blow for a woman still grieving the loss of her husband, but the hope that he is still alive keeps her going through the sleepless nights.

Kari's job as a consultant for the Oslo police, specialising in body language and memory, drags her right back into past when two sixteen-year-old girls are brutally murdered at a summer cottage in Son. These girls were Vetle's childhood friends, and the police think they have the person responsible in custody - Vetle's former best friend, Jesper.

Kari is convinced Jesper is innocent of the crime, but she can see he is not telling the truth about everything he knows. Using her skills she decides to track down clues for herself, with the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, and begins to realise that everyone here is lying about what happened the night the girls were killed. But does that make them capable of murder?

There is a dark secret at the heart of Son, and Kari is about to find out that it may also have something to do with Vetle's disappearance...

When two brillaint authors like Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger decide to team up, you know that magic is going to happen, and you would be right. The first part of their brand new joint venture, the Kari Voss Mysteries, is everything that I wanted it to be and more, thrumming with suspense and the luscious noir vibes that have made their names.

Kari Voss makes a fresh and exciting protagonist for a crime story of this kind, as she is neither a police officer, nor a private detective. Instead, she is an acknowledged expert in her own field, whose impressive skills have dubbed her the 'human lie detector'. 

Hand in glove with the police procedural elements (sometimes from Norum, and sometimes from Kari herself), Gustawsson and Enger weave so much about the truly fascinating worlds of body language and the unpredictable nature of memory into the plot, hinging the twists and turns on exceptionally clever psychological reveals that go far beyond those uncovered by more conventional means. As expected, everyone is lying in this small town, but Kari has weapons at her disposal that betray their wicked ways. Gradually, she strips the layers of this mystery away, casting the red herrings aside in a highly enjoyable Agatha Christie-esque way. And all this is backed up with informative explanations about the hows, whys, and wherefores that fit naturally into her inner musings and the conversations she carefully manipulates with the small cast of characters, rather than constantly bombarding you with jargon.

I thoroughly enjoyed how all this adds up to a very addictive blend of fact, fiction, atmosphere, and visceral chills that has you turning pages on a non-stop, Nordic noir, thrill-ride of a journey through all manner of small town secrets and lies - and leaves you with a parting kiss that will have your counting the days until book two arrives. I cannot wait! 

Son is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats now. Ypu can support indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

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

About the authors:

Johana Gustawsson:

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding – a number one bestseller in France and the first in a new series – will be published in 2022. Johana lives in London with her Swedish husband and their three sons. 

Thomas Enger:

Thomas Enger is a former journalist. He made his debut with the crime novel Burned (Skinndød) in 2010, which became an international sensation before publication. Burned is the first in a series of five books about the journalist Henning Juul, which delves into the depths of Oslo’s underbelly, skewering the corridors of dirty politics and nailing the fast-moving world of 24-hour news. Rights to the series have been sold to 28 countries to date. In 2013 Enger published his first book for young adults, a dark fantasy thriller called The Evil Legacy, for which he won the U-prize (best book Young Adult). Killer Instinct, another Young Adult suspense novel, was published in Norway in 2017. Rights have been sold to Germany and Iceland. Enger also composes music, and he lives in Oslo.

A Death In Berlin (The CI Schenke Thrillers Book Three) by Simon Scarrow

 

A Death In Berlin (The CI Schenke Thrillers Book Three) by Simon Scarrow.

Published 13th March 2025 by Headline.

From the cover of the book:

CI Horst Schenke is an investigator with the Kripo unit. Powerless against the consequences of the war, he fights to keep criminals off his patch. But with doubts growing about his loyalty to the Nazi regime, he is walking a tightrope. If his relationship with a Jewish woman is exposed, a dreadful fate awaits.

Berlin's gangsters run their crime rings with impunity. Decadent senior Nazis protect them. Schenke is different. He won't turn a blind eye when innocents are caught in the crossfire between warring gangs. But dangerous enemies know everything about him. They will do whatever it takes to bend him to their will . . .

From the seedy wartime nightlife scene to aristocratic homes frequented by the Führer, as the distant war spirals ever closer, A Death in Berlin conveys the horror and banality of evil - and the terrible danger for those who dare stand against it.

The stunning new Berlin wartime thriller from the author of Blackout and Dead of Night.

***********

Berlin, May 1940. CI Horst Schenke and his Kripo team have been tasked with bringing down a gang of forgers flooding the market with fake ration coupons. It is an investigation that has brought Schenke uncomfortable attention from the upper echelons of the Nazi Party, something he has been assiduously trying to avoid given his 'un-German' beliefs, and the fact that he is in love with a Jewish woman.

When, Remer, the head of one of Berlin's infamous criminal gangs is found murdered, evidence points to his involvement in the forgery racket, but whether his death is the result of fierce rivalry between the criminal organisations acting with increasing impunity in the city, or something else, is not easy to determine. Against a backdrop of fear, as Hitler's ambition is taking Germany towards all out European war, Schenke and his colleagues walk a perilous line to bring the guilty to justice while trying not to upset those who who turn a blind eye to their activities. Nazi Germany is a difficult place to be a good man, when hatred and evil are the central tenets of those who hold power.

This third book in the gripping CI Schenke series takes you into the heart of the criminal gangs of Berlin, as they adapt from the decadence of the Weimar years to cement their position hand-in-glove with the corrupt players at the top of the Nazi Party. Once again, Simon Scarrow does an incredible job of delving into all the complicated factors at play in Germany of this era, particularly when to comes to those caught between their firmly held beliefs of right and wrong and the monstrous turn of events in the country they love, while crafting a gripping crime story that thrums with noir gorgeousness. 

Our hero, Schenke is stuck between a rock and a hard place (something becoming ever more common in this political climate) as he, his faithful side-kick Sergeant Hauser, and odd-ball ex-Gestapo officer Liebwitz are under pressure to get to the bottom of a forgery racket that is upsetting the powers that be. The threads of this inquiry become steadily more confused as a gang war takes hold in the wake of the vacuum caused by Remer's death. No one of the criminal fraternity wants to share what they know with the police, and the investigation keeps hitting brick walls when witnesses come to sticky ends. But Schenke is not easily dissauded from getting to the truth, even when he is being reluctantly groomed for greatness from above, and threatened with ruin by having his secrets exposed. Fortunately he is not averse to leaping over the line here and there in the process.

This is my absolute favourite of the series so far, with a page-turning story full of gritty gangster shenanigans, that stand up well against anything a top-notch mafia thriller can throw at you; solid policework in the most difficult of circumstances that showcase the developing relationships between Schenke, Hauser and Liebwitz; luscious scenes that immerse you in the uber-levels of sycophancy of the Nazi elite to their horribly fervent masters (and the criminals who aid and abet them); and sharp insight from Scarrow in terms of time and place. The tension ratchets up notch by notch, building to a glorious climax, and there is lovely emotional content from Schenke's personal struggles as he attempts to do the right thing by his conscience, and heart, while avoiding detection. 

Exciting, atmospheric, thought-provoking, and utterly brilliant from the first page to the last. I cannot wait for the next one!

A Death in Berlin is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats. 

Thank you to Headline for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Ransom PR for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Simon Scarrow is the acclaimed author of multiple Sunday Times bestsellers, including Revenge of Rome, The Honour of Rome and The Gladiator.

He is also the author of many other acclaimed novels including Blackout and Dead of Night in the CI Schenke thriller series set in World War II Berlin, and a quartet of bestselling novels about Wellington and Napoleon. 

With T. J. Andrews he has co-written further novels set in the Roman Empire, including Warrior, focusing on the rebel chief Caratacus, and Arena, following the career of a gladiator hero.

Simon lives with his wife in Norfolk.

Small Fires by Ronnie Turner

 

Small Fires by Ronnie Turner.

Published 27th February 2025 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

Evil runs through this cursed island
And these wicked sisters are about to make it burn...

When sisters Lily and Della Pedley are persecuted for the shocking murder of their parents, they flee from their home in Cornwall to a remote and unnamed island in Scotland – an island known for its strange happenings, but far away from the whispers and prying eyes of strangers.

Lily is terrified of what her sister will might do next, and she soon realises that they have arrived at a place where nothing is as it seems. A bitterness runs through the land like poison, and the stories told by the islanders seem to be far more than folklore.

Della settles in too easily, the island folk drawn to her strangeness, but Lily is plagued by odd and unsettling dreams, and as an annual festival draws nigh, she discovers that she has far more to fear than she could ever have imagined. Or does she…?

Chilling, atmospheric and utterly hypnotic, Small Fires is a contemporary gothic novel that examines possession, generational trauma, female rage, and the perilous bonds of family – an unsettling reminder that the stories we tell can be deadly…

Midsommar meets Midnight Mass in a folk horror, modern gothic masterpiece.

***********

Sisters Della and Lily Pedley flee their home in Cornwall searching for refuge from the gossip that insinuates they killed their parents. Their destination is a tiny unnamed island off the coast of Scotland where they hope to find peace, but they are unprepared for quite how bizarre the island people are - people those on the mainland call the God-Forgotten.

The girls are eyed with suspicion from the start, and the whispers about their wickedness, that they hoped to leave behind, follow them still. Kindly Silas, who lives apart on the high moors, is the only one who seems free of the strange beliefs that keep the Folk tethered to their fear of The Warden, their own personal Devil who legend tells lives under the land.

As the annual festival approaches, the Folk are drawn to Della's strangeness, sensing a kindred spirit in her monstrous frame, while petite, blonde Lily is plagued with vivid dreams. Silas is determined to save Lily, but this is a place where things are not quite what they seem.

Ronnie Turner's Small Fires is a deeply unsettling journey into Gothic horror, and the way she weaves folklore and dark fairy tales into a modern setting makes it all the more eerie. Imagine a pair of sisters made famous by the media frenzy around deaths which may, or may not, be suspicious, thrown into a small community setting rife with Wicker Man vibes, and then multiply the stakes by making those sisters more dangerous than the odd people they make their new home with... it is a seductive premise, and Turner casts a perturbing spell upon you as she makes the most of it.

The story unfolds through the narratives of Lily and Silas, switching back and forth between their accounts of events in the present, and stories about their disturbing sibling relationships in the past - Lily with Della, and Silas with his sister Gaia. The pace is almost achingly slow, with meandering storylines, and scenes that bleed into one another, leaving you reeling from the legacy of the past as a new disorienting turn reveals itself. 

Everyone in this story is damaged by trauma, and Turner uses the blurring of stories and memories to cloud your mind with an orgy of dysfunction and violence that misleads and misdirects to perfection. Is this a place where the boundary between reality and the otherworldly has been worn thin by generations of bloodshed? Are these people wicked, misguided, subsumed by mass delusion, or being controlled? Are the sisters quite what they seem? Turner holds her secrets fast, and the twists, when they come are corkers.

She layers her themes quite spectacularly too - scarred psyches, manipulation, love-hate relationships, the bonds of familial duty, the power of suggestion, and most strikingly, female rage. The way she uses the notion and imagery around 'small fires' that can set the world aflame is simply delicious.

Like So Pretty before it (which is cleverly referenced in this story), this is a novel which takes you to the dark side of human nature... and leaves a piece of itself behind. Probably best to read this one in the daylight hours! More please!

Small Fires is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats. You can support indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

About the author:

Ronnie Turner grew up in Cornwall, the youngest in a large family. At an early age, she discovered a love of literature and dreamed of being a published author. Ronnie now lives in Dorset with her family and three dogs. In her spare time, she reviews books on her blog and enjoys long walks on the coast. Ronnie is a Waterstones Senior Bookseller.

 

The Last Days Of Summer by Sarra Manning

 

The Last Days Of Summer by Sarra Manning.

Published 27th March 2025 by Hodder and Stoughton.

From the cover of the book:

After a disastrous first meeting, Cassie and Marc become arch nemeses. He might have great cheekbones and a sexy French accent but he's a terrible person who did a terrible thing. Too bad that Cassie's best friends Lucy and Russell think he's wonderful.

But years later, when an unexpected tragedy strikes their friendship group, Cassie and Marc team up to give Lucy and Russell the best weekend ever so they can make new memories with all of their favourite people. Which means convincing everyone that Cassie and Marc are head over heels in love.

After hating him for so long, it takes four bittersweet days for Cassie to wonder if she got Marc all wrong. Can they let go of their troubled past and together, face whatever the future is going to throw at them?

***********

All Cassie has ever really wanted is to find 'that person' and be their everything in return, but so far life keeps giving her lemons. Fortunately she has the love of her extended family, and good friends, with her happily married besties Lucy and Russell at the centre of her life -  shame about the constant presence of the infuriating Marc, who Lucy and Russell think is wonderful, but who Cassie views as her arch nemesis for very good reasons.

When tragic news knocks them all sideways, Cassie decides to go ahead with the special weekend she has planned for Lucy and Russell. Unfortunately, she finds herself with an unwanted helpmate, who also wants to make sure this is a weekend their favourite couple will never forget - the detestable, but undeniably attractive Marc.

Forced into close proximity, Cassie begins to see another side to Marc. What she did not anticipate is that their relationship would be quite as close as this... for now they have to pretend for the whole weekend that they are in love. Passionate sparks begin to fly, but can she ever move past their uncomfortable history?

How I love a Sarra Manning book, and this might just be my favourite one yet. Alongside a steamy enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, sunny-meets-grumpy love story, which thrums with romantic suspense, Manning also crafts an emotional tale of family and friendship that hits the bittersweet, sob-worthy soft spot to utter perfection. 

Cassie and Marc start the story on opposite sides of a fence that has been strengthened by years of simmering recriminations, after a sexual encounter at the wedding of their best friends Lucy and Russell that left Cassie with confused feelings about the best and worst experience of her life. But as circumstances force them together, she begins to wonder if there really is more to this man than meets the eye and erogenous zones. Suffice to say that the ice melts via a cycle of tempestuous clashes, unexpectedly tender moments that reveal their true feelings, and steamy interludes (decidedly open door, especially when it comes to the pantry!).

Weaving throughout the luscious romantic bits, Manning packs a poignant punch with a storyline about dealing with unbelievable heart-ache that will have you steadily depleting the tissue box to mop up your tears. However, she balances the sadness with lighter moments of drama and comedy between the members of an enchanting friendship group (and not so nice relations) as the weekend plays out, and somehow manages to lead you to an ending that is as hopeful as it is heart-wrenching.

Absolutely fabulous from start to finish, I really did not want to leave these characters behind. What a gem! 

The Last Days of Summer is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Sarra Manning has been a voracious reader for over forty years and a prolific author and journalist for twenty five.

Her novels, which have been translated into fifteen different languages include Unsticky, You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, After The Last Dance, The Rise And Fall Of Becky Sharp and Rescue Me. Sarra has also written over fifteen YA novels, and four light-hearted romantic comedies under a pseudonym.

She started her writing career on Melody Maker and Just Seventeen, has been editor of ElleGirl and What To Wear and has also contributed to The Guardian, ELLE, Grazia, Stylist, Fabulous, Stella, You Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and is currently the Literary Editor of Red magazine.

Sarra has also been a Costa Book Awards judge and has been nominated for various writing awards herself.

She lives in London surrounded by piles and piles of books.