Another week passes by and not even sure I can account for my time. The excitement that is the slow (and painful) release from lockdown continues and from today I can actually sit down inside a cafe, with a cup of coffee and a book and just read. I mean, I probably won’t, at least not often – don’t want to tempt fate – but I can if I want to. It is a small but significant step that leaves me feeling … blah. Nothing much is changing really is it. Don’t you just dream of the day when you can turn on the TV and not hear a long and painful debate over Covid, or some awful conflict in a not so far flung part of the world? I know I do. Just one day …
But enough of the semi-depressing diatribe (you can tune into the BBC News for that …) I went for a walk and saw baby duckies and a new group of cygnets which were cute and made me smile. And some baby Moorhens. Also cute.
Bookwise it has been a very quiet week. One bit of book post – The Baby Is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite, part of the 2021 Quick Reads series, also the 15th anniversary celebrations.
No new books bought this week but three new Netgalley titles – one of which was an audio. Mimic by Daniel Cole (audio), A Cut For A Cut by Carol Wyer and The President’s Daughter by James Patterson and Bill Clinton
Books I have read
Detective Sergeant Washington Poe is in court, fighting eviction from his beloved and isolated croft, when he is summoned to a backstreet brothel in Carlisle where a man has been beaten to death with a baseball bat. Poe is confused – he hunts serial killers and this appears to be a straightforward murder-by-pimp – but his attendance was requested personally, by the kind of people who prefer to remain in the shadows.
As Poe and the socially awkward programmer Tilly Bradshaw delve deeper into the case, they are faced with seemingly unanswerable questions: despite being heavily vetted for a high-profile job, why does nothing in the victim’s background check out? Why was a small ornament left at the murder scene – and why did someone on the investigation team steal it? And what is the connection to a flawlessly executed bank heist three years earlier, a heist where nothing was taken . . .
Whisky From Small Glasses by Denzil Meyrick
D.C.I. Jim Daley is sent from the city to investigate a murder after the body of a woman is washed up on an idyllic beach on the West Coast of Scotland. Far away from urban resources, he finds himself a stranger in a close-knit community.
Love, betrayal, fear and death stalk the small town, as Daley investigates a case that becomes more deadly than he could possibly imagine, in this compelling novel infused with intrigue and dark humour.
DI Kate Young can’t trust anybody. Not even herself.
In the bleak countryside around Blithfield Reservoir, a serial murderer and rapist is leaving a trail of bloodshed. His savage calling card: the word ‘MINE’ carved into each of his victims.
DI Kate Young struggles to get the case moving—even when one of the team’s own investigators is found dead in a dumpster. But Kate is battling her own demons. Obsessed with exposing Superintendent John Dickson and convinced there’s a conspiracy running deep in the force, she no longer knows who to trust. Kate’s crusade has already cost her dearly. What will she lose next?
When her stepsister spills a long-buried secret, Kate realises she’s found the missing link—now she must prove it before the killer strikes again. With enemies closing in on all sides, she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to bring them down. But time is running out, and Kate’s past has pushed her to the very edge. Can she stop herself from falling?
The Last Witness by Denzil Meyrick
A number one Scottish crime bestseller from Denzil Meyrick
James Machie was a man with a genius for violence, his criminal empire spreading beyond Glasgow into the UK and mainland Europe. Fortunately, James Machie is dead, assassinated in the back of a prison ambulance following his trial and conviction. But now, five years later, he is apparently back from the grave, set on avenging himself on those who brought him down. Top of his list is his previous associate, Frank MacDougall, who unbeknownst to D.C.I. Jim Daley, is living under protection on his lochside patch, the small Scottish town of Kinloch.
Daley knows that, having been the key to Machie’s conviction, his old friend and colleague D.S. Scott is almost as big a target. And nothing, not even death, has ever stood in James Machie’s way …
The Baby Is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite
When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandemic, Bambi has to go to his Uncle’s house in lock-down Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find his Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib.
At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby’s cries, and during the days he is disturbed by a cockerel that stalks the garden. There is sand in the rice. A blood stain appears on the wall. Someone scores tribal markings into the baby’s cheeks. Who is lying and who is telling the truth?
The President’s Daughter by James Patterson and Bill Clinton
Every detail is accurate
because one of the authors is President Bill Clinton.
The drama and action never stop
because the other author is James Patterson.
ALL PRESIDENTS HAVE NIGHTMARES. THIS ONE IS ABOUT TO COME TRUE.
Matthew Keating, a one-time Navy SEAL and a former US President, has always defended his family as fiercely as he has his country.
Now these defences are under attack. And it’s personal.
Keating’s teenage daughter, Melanie, has been abducted, turning every parent’s deepest fear into a matter of national security.
As the world watches, Keating embarks on a one-man special-ops mission that tests his strengths: as a leader, a warrior, and a father.
Because Keating knows that in order to save Melanie’s life he will have to put his own on the line . . .
Another pretty productive week. Can’t complaint. Full week on the blog – recap below.
#Review – Dangerous Women – Hope Adams
#Review – The Writing On The Wall – Gunnar Staalesen
#Review – One Half Truth – Eva Dolan
#Review – The Nothing Man – Catherine Ryan Howard
#Review – The Ice Swimmer – Kjell Ola Dahl
#Review – Twisted Lies – Angela Marsons
The week ahead has a bit of a mixture. Today we are celebrating all of Orenda’s Norwegian authors on Norway’s National Day. Plus we have blog tour reviews of Pathfinders by Cecil Lewis and The Final Twist by Jeffery Deaver.
That’s it for this week – not very exciting but I read some fab books so, I still win. Ooh and I found nice chocolate. Go me.
Hope you all have a lovely week. I’m back to the books (for a change) plus I really need to write up some reviews …
Jen x
Jen Med's Book Reviews 