Book after Book

Welcome to the blog tour for Murder At Mill Ponds House by Michelle Salter! More about the book… Spring, 1924. Reporter Iris Woodmore plans to move to London to avoid a shocking hometown scandal. Longtime enemy Archie Powell has been threatening to reveal her darkest secret – and she’s desperate to flee before he does. But when he’s found murdered after a violent argument with her, there’s no escape. Iris must stay and clear her name even though the truth could ruin her reputation. With the police closing in, Iris has to find the real killer if she’s to keep her secret. Can she prove her innocence without revealing the identity of the one man who can provide her with an alibi? More about the author… Thanks for taking the time to stop by my author page. You’ll see all my books are classic murder mysteries – because golden age whodunnits are the stories I enjoy reading most. I love to create memorable characters and devise intriguing plots with a focus on mystery rather than violenc...

Welcome to the blog tour for Murder in Moscow by Kelly Oliver ! More about the book… 1918, Moscow. Fiona Figg trails her nemesis Fredrick Fredricks to Moscow. But when she arrives at the grand Metropol Hotel, the bounder has vanished. After Fiona doesn’t show up for work at the War Office, Kitty Lane raises a red flag and tracks her to Russia. Seeking haven at the British Embassy, Kitty and Fiona become embroiled in a plot to overthrow the Bolshevik government. But the plot turns deadly when Fiona goes undercover as a governess in the household of Iron Viktor, the Bolsheviks’ Head of Secret Police. And when Viktor turns up dead in his study, Fiona finds herself wanted for murder and on the run. Can Fiona and Kitty find the real killer and escape the Kremlin before it’s too late? Or will this dangerous game of Russian roulette be their last? More about the author… Kelly Oliver is the author of three award-winning bestselling mystery series and dozens of nonfiction books. My impressions...

Welcome to the blog tour for Point Zero  by Seichõ Matsumoto, translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai! More about the book… Tokyo, 1958. Teiko marries Kenichi Uhara, ten years her senior, an advertising man recommended by a go-between. After a four-day honeymoon, Kenichi vanishes. Teiko travels to the coastal and snow-bound city of Kanazawa, where Kenichi was last seen, to investigate his disappearance. When Kenichi’s brother comes to help her, he is murdered, poisoned in his hotel room. Soon, Teiko discovers that her husband’s disappearance is tied up with the so-called “pan-pan girls”, women who worked as prostitutes catering to American GIs after the war. Now, ten years later, as the country is recovering, there are those who are willing to take extreme measures to hide that past. More about the author… Seicho Matsumoto (1909-1982) was Japan's most successful mystery writer. His first detective novel,  Points and Lines , sold over a million copies in Jap...

Welcome to the blog tour for Arsenic at Ascot by Kelly Oliver! More about the book… London, 1918. Fiona Figg finds herself back in Old Blighty saddled with shuffling papers for the war office. Then a mysterious card arrives, inviting her to a fancy house party at Mentmore Castle. This year’s Ascot-themed do will play host to a stable of animal defence advocates, and Fiona is tasked with infiltrating the activists and uncovering possible anti-war activity. Disguised as the Lady Tabitha Kenworthy, Fiona is more than ready for the “mane” event, but the odds are against her when both her arch nemesis, dark-horse Fredrick Fredricks, and would-be fiancé Lieutenant Archie Somersby arrive unexpectedly and “stirrup” her plans. And when a horse doctor thuds to the floor in the next guest room, Fiona finds herself investigating a mysterious poisoning with some very hairy clues. Can Fiona overcome the hurdles and solve both cases, or will she be pipped to the post and put out to pasture by the kil...

Welcome to the blog tour for Blackmail in Bloomsbury by Anna Sayburn Lane! More about the book… London, October 1922. When Marjorie Swallow attends her first Bloomsbury party, she worries the conversation will be over her head. But when the night ends in murder, she has more pressing concerns. Was the culprit really the handsome young artist she danced the night away with? And why did so many people want Betty Norris dead? From the garden squares of Bloomsbury to the smart restaurants of Piccadilly and the seedy backstreets of Soho, apprentice detective Marjorie goes on a perilous hunt for the killer. Blackmail in Bloomsbury brings 1920s London to life in a classic murder mystery. More about the author… Anna is a writer and journalist, living by the sea on the Kent coast. Blackmail In Bloomsbury marks a new direction for Anna’s writing, switching from contemporary thrillers with a historical back-story into cosy historical mysteries. Anna is fascinated by the 1920s, a period of enor...

Welcome to the blog tour for Murder in the Bookshop by Anita Davison! More about the book… 1915, London: Working in the dusty bookshop that her Aunt Violet mysteriously inherited, Hannah Merrill is accustomed to finding twists in every tale. But discovering her beloved best friend Lily-Anne – with a paperknife through her heart – in the middle of the bookshop, is not a plotline she saw coming. The case is anything but textbook. With the discovery of a coded German message, and Hannah’s instinct that Lily-Anne’s husband is keeping secrets, she determines to get to the bottom of it. She can’t do it alone though. To crack this case, Hannah will need the enlist the help of her outrageous, opinionated, only-occasionally-objectionable Aunt Violet. They think they’re making progress until one of their chief suspects is found dead. And Hannah realises that she is herself now in the murderer’s sights. Will the final chapter be the ending of a killer… or j...

Welcome to the blog tour for Murder at  Waldenmere Lake by Michelle Salter! More about the book… Walden, 1921. Local reporter Iris Woodmore is determined to save her beloved lake, Waldenmere, from destruction. After a bloody and expensive war, the British Army can’t afford to keep the lake and build a convalescent home on its shores yet they still battle with Walden Council and a railway company for ownership. But an old mansion used as an officer training academy stands where the railway company plans to build a lakeside hotel. It belongs to General Cheverton – and he won’t leave his home. When the General is found murdered, it appears someone will stop at nothing to win the fight for Waldenmere. Iris thinks she can take on the might of the railway company and find the killer. But nothing prepares her for the devastation that’s to come… More about the author… Michelle Salter is a historical crime fiction writer based in northeast Hampshire. Many local locations appear in her...

Welcome to the blog tour for Death at Crookham Hall by Michelle Salter! More about the book… London, 1920. When she catches news of a big story, reporter Iris Woodmore rushes to the House of Commons. But it’s a place that holds painful memories. In 1914, her mother died there when she fell into the River Thames during a daring suffragette protest. But in the shadow of Big Ben, a waterman tells Iris her mother didn’t fall – she jumped. Iris discovers that the suffragette with her mother that fateful day has been missing for years, disappearing just after the protest. Desperate to know the truth behind the fatal jump, Iris’s investigation leads her to Crookham Hall, an ancestral home where secrets and lies lead to murder… More about the author… Michelle Salter is a historical crime fiction writer based in northeast Hampshire. Many local locations appear in her mystery novels. She's also a copywriter and has written features for national magazines. When she’s not writing, Michelle ca...

By David Hewson Published by Macmillan Having recently returned from a weekend in Venice, I couldn’t help but being drawn to David Hewson’s latest book, Carnival for the Dead – A Venetian Mystery . My choice was purely based on the fact that I liked the cover as – to my utter shame – I must confess that I had never heard of this author before. Nor of his bestselling crime books featuring detective Nic Costa, which are now in development for a series of TV movies set in Rome. I was lucky: firstly because this is a standalone book with only vague references to the Costa series and secondly because this is probably going to be Hewson’s last Italian novel, as he has now been asked to produce two works of fiction based on the famous TV show The Killing , set in Copenhagen. Back to the book… Teresa Lupo, a forensic pathologist from Rome, travels to Venice to look for her aunt Sofia, who seems to have vanished in thin air. Not finding any clues as to her whereabouts, she turns for help to the...

By Graham Joyce Published by Orion Books During their holiday in the French Alps, one morning Zoe and Jake are hit by an avalanche while skiing. They are fortunate enough to survive and they slowly make their way back to their hotel, which, with its lit-up windows and promise of warmth, appears like a mirage to the traumatised couple. They soon find out, however, that the hotel is deserted. Food is out on the kitchen counters, the logs in the fireplaces are ablaze but there is no-one around. They also realise that the phones are not working and that both the TV and the radio emit nothing but static. They come to the conclusion that everyone has been evacuated due to the risk of further avalanches and they feel even luckier to have survived. Being cut off from the world doesn’t seem too bad in comparison to what could have happened. In fact, despite still being shocked by their near-death experience and completely exhausted, the new situation is almost romantic. It is when they recover ...

One more title from my ever-expanding reading wish list. ** The cover image is for illustrative purposes only. If you are a publisher and would kindly like to offer me a copy of this book for review, I will change the cover so as to reflect the edition received. ** In Search of a Distant Voice By Taichi Yamada Amazon's product description: A woman is trying to contact Kasama Tsuneo at a crisis point in his life. But she won't reveal her identity. Kasama is an immigration officer in Tokyo, struggling to live a ‘normal’ life after an event that happened eight years previously, when he lived in the USA. His arranged marriage is looming, and he's seized by a strange emotional fit. And then the disembodied voice begins. All Tsuneo can do is desperately chase this woman, and the mystery behind what happened eight years earlier over the sea. Why I want to read this book: I enjoy Japanese literature but haven't read anything by this author yet. This sounds like a good place t...

My " Italy in Books " reading challenge continues with The Savage Garden by Mark Mills. In 1958, Adam Strickland, a Cambridge art history student, travels to Tuscany to study the sixteenth-century garden belonging to Villa Docci. His intention is to write his thesis on the Mannerist garden that occupies a sunken grove near the imposing villa. His Italian summer, however, will teach him much more than he could have ever imagined. Conceived by Federico Docci in 1577, the garden had been created in memory of his beloved wife and was inhabited by classical statues that re-enacted their tales of love and longing amidst grottoes, fountains and triumphal arches. Instantly fascinated, Adam seems to think that the apparently clear display of grief and love hides a secret message. Adam is also intrigued by the Docci family. There is Signora Docci, the matriarch, who takes a shine to the English student. There is her son, Emilio, whom Adam finds oddly suspicious. And then, Antonella, t...

By Kate Mosse Published by Orion Books Expanding an idea that she previously explored in The Cave - a novella that was part of the 2009 Quick Reads initiative - Kate Mosse has created an evocative ghost story that I just could not get enough of. In 1933, Freddie Watson travels to Toulouse in search of Monsieur Saurat, a known translator of Occitan, an old Romance language. Presented with an antique parchment written in this ancient tongue, the French librarian enquiries about its origins. And so the tale begins… It’s 1928 and Freddie, still unable to cope with the loss of his beloved brother during the Great War, has been recommended a change of scenery by his doctors. He sets off to the South of France and, while travelling through the Pyrenees, he gets caught up in a snowstorm and loses control of his car. Surviving the crash, he walks in the woods until he arrives in an eerily quiet village where he takes refuge at the pension run by Madame Galy and her surly husband. Despite being...

By Carlos Ruiz Zafón Translated from the Spanish by Lucia Graves Published by Orion Books Carlos Ruiz Zafón, better known as the author of The Shadow of the Wind, is the pen behind The Prince of Mist, a 1993 mystery and horror novel that earned him the Edebé literary prize in the young adult fiction category. Labelling it as a YA book only, however, would be a great mistake. The story follows Max Carver and his family to a small coastal town that, at least during the war, will be their home. Following their arrival at the station, Max, his two sisters and his parents are met by what can only be described as dark forces. A clock moves backwards, a cat coldly observes them. Is it just Max’s fervid imagination? The answer becomes more evident as more discoveries are made. The house that the Carvers moved into holds many secrets, as does the old lighthouse keeper. In Zafón’s typical style, this book grabs the reader’s attention from the very first page and never lets it go. One could compl...

By David P Elliot The first novel written by David P Elliot, ‘CLAN’ is hard to define. Supernatural thriller? Mystery novel? Historical fiction? Horror story? I am confident in saying that it is a perfect blend of all these genres and even more, as it also touches on themes such as the importance of family and the value of friendship. ‘CLAN’ intertwines past and present, taking its readers from the 14th century – where a battle over the Throne of Scotland is under way – to the present times and back again. In 2007 England, David Elliot starts on a journey of self-discovery accompanied by his daughter, Kate, his son-in-law and his baby grandson, Thomas. Their destination is the borders of Scotland, where the Elliot family stems from and where David, interested in genealogy, hopes to find out more about his ancestors. What he cannot imagine is that his family is in great danger. Lord William de Soulis is waiting for them, observing them using his supernatural powers and aided by his evil...