And just like that, September is done and dusted. Autumn is making its presence known, and days are getting shorter. Well, technically they aren’t, daylight hours are, but you catch my drift… Less than three months until Crimbo. Yay. Maybe.
With festivals and the like, I had a pretty slow reading month in September. Only 12 books completed but, thankfully, they were all excellent. Less thankfully, I still have to review most of them. That’s the part of blogging I am struggling with. Reading focus is, at best, variable. Reviewing – nonexistent. I have today (Monday) off work so hoping to catch up on a few. Apologies in advance to authors as doubt they will be much cop. Your books are definitely worth better!
Books Read in September
A Sliver of Darkness by CJ Tudor
The Inheritance by Howard Linskey
Psalms For The End Of The World by Cole Haddon
The Moose Paradox by Antti Tuomainen
The Hike by Susi Holliday
Red As Blood by Lilja Sigurdardottir
I Don’t Talk To Dead Bodies by Dr Rhonda Morrison
The Pain Tourist by Paul Cleave
From Now On by Amelia Henley
Permission by Jo Bloom
Mania by LJ Ross
Hidden Scars by Angela Marsons
Had a good week this week. Only in work for three days (bonus) and on Friday Mandie and I headed off to London to attend Capital Crime. Only one day this year due to a) costs and b) rail strikes, and, I’m not going to lie, it was very cold and very wet, but most definitely worth it. We made it to some great panels with a fabulous array of authors, and I have come home with more books, plus a few of my own copies signed too. Plus I picked up a few other recommendations which seem to have found their way into my recent shopping … go figure! A bit sad to have missed Saturday but it wasn’t to be. Have to pace myself as it’s been a festival heavy summer and money doesn’t go so far these days. Maybe next year!
Catriona Ward, Matt Wesolowski, Chris Carter, Clare Whitfield and Yrsa Sigurdardottir.
Erin Kelly, John Sutherland, Colin Sutton and Graham Bartlett
Bottom Row (From Left)
Tariq Ashkanani, Chris Whitaker, Erin Young, Mark Edwards, Will Dean
Ayo Onatade, David Beckler, SA Cosby, MW Craven
Top Right: Suzie Edge, Laura Shepherd Robinson, Abir Mukherjee, Anna Mazzola and Jessica Fellowes
Bottom Row (From Left)
Angela Gallop, Claire McGowan, Kate Williams, Her Honour Wendy Joseph QC, Hallie Rubenfold
Michael Robotham, Mark Bellingham, Jeffery Deaver & Victoria Selman
In my Capital Crime goodie bag I got copies of Outside by Ragnar Jónasson; Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris; What You Did by Claire McGowan and A Long Shadow by David Beckler, plus samplers for The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley and Murder In The Family by Cara Hunter. From the event I purchased Manhunt: How I Bought Serial Killer Levi Bellfield To Justice by Colin Sutton; Unlawful Killings by Her Honour Wendy Joseph QC and How To Solve A Crime by Dr Angela Gallop. I also got my copies of The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola, Genesis by Chris Carter and Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham signed. The latter was signed to ‘ A True Believer” which I am assuming is because I was one of the folks daft enough to hang around through the storms to the end of the panel 😂.
I do wish Imran Mahmoud hadn’t asked for book recommendations though as I ended up buying two more books, The Last King of California and A Lesson In Violence by Jordan Harper before I even left the panel tent. If S.A. Cosby is recommending them as ‘throw across the floor because they are just so good I’m jealous’ books, who am I to argue?
Because you can never have too many books (oh no you can’t) I ordered three more to top up the numbers. Manhunt: The Night Stalker by Colin Sutton; a hardback of Ghosts In The Gloaming by Denzil Meyrick (06 Oct) and 6 Ripley Avenue by Noelle Holten.
Two new Netgalley titles this week from two of my favourite ladies. Hidden Scars by Angela Marsons (09 Nov) – excellent as always, and Behind Closed Doors by Carol Wyer (06 Dec).
Books I have read
You can’t run from the past…
Back in London after a dramatic trip to North America, Doctor Alexander Gregory finds himself without an occupation while he awaits the all-important decision of the disciplinary panel at Southmoor Hospital. That is, until he witnesses the death of a famous actor, live on stage during the opening night of King Lear. When the police rule the death suspicious, they call upon the elite services of Gregory and his partner in criminal profiling, Bill Douglas.
Gregory is paired with attractive investigating officer DCI Hope and tensions arise—especially when an old foe resurfaces.
With bodies piling up and no new leads, Gregory and Hope realise they must look to the past to uncover the truth—before it’s too late. Immersed in the glamorous world of celebrity, Gregory soon learns that, beneath the surface, things are far murkier than they seem…
Murder and mystery are peppered with dark humour in this fast-paced thriller set amidst London’s vibrant Theatreland.
Hidden Scars by Angela Marsons
While Jamie’s cold, lifeless body lay in the morgue, Detective Kim Stone stared at the empty board in the incident room and felt her anger boil. Why were there no photos, details, or lines of enquiry?
When a nineteen-year-old boy, Jamie Mills, is found hanging from a tree in a local park, his death is ruled a suicide. Detective Kim Stone’s instincts tell her something isn’t right – but it’s not her investigation and her temporary replacement is too busy waiting for the next big case to be asking the right questions.
Why would a seemingly healthy boy choose to end his life?
Why does his mother show no sign of emotional distress at the loss of her son?
Still mending her broken mind and body from her last harrowing case, Kim is supposed to be easing back into work gently. But then she finds a crucial, overlooked detail: Jamie had a recent injury that would have made it impossible for him to climb the tree. He must have been murdered.
Quickly taking back charge of her team and the case, Kim visits Jamie’s parents and is shocked to hear that they had sent him to a clinic to ‘cure’ him of his sexuality. According to his mother, Jamie was introverted and prone to mood swings. Yet his friend speaks of a vibrant, outgoing boy.
The clues to smashing open this disturbing case lie behind the old Victorian walls of the clinic, run by the Gardner family. They claim that patients come of their own accord and are free to leave at any time. But why are those that attended the clinic so afraid to speak of what happens there? And where did the faded restraint marks identified on Jamie’s wrists come from?
Then the body of a young woman is found dead by suffocation and Kim makes two chilling discoveries. The victim spent time at the clinic too, and her death was also staged to look like a suicide.
Scarred from an ordeal that nearly took her life, is Kim strong enough to stop a terrifying killer from silencing the clinic’s previous patients one by one?
A compulsive page-turner that will have your heart hammering in your chest and leave you absolutely reeling when you discover the explosive final twist. If you’re a fan of Karin Slaughter, Val McDermid, and Robert Dugoni, you’ll love Hidden Scars.
When there’s a pack on the hunt, nobody’s safe
A closed community
Rose Farm is home to a group of survivalists, completely cut off from the outside world. Until now.
A missing person
A young woman goes missing within the perimeter of the farm compound. Can Tuva talk her way inside the tight-knit group to find her story?
A frantic search
As Tuva attempts to unmask the culprit, she gains unique access to the residents. But soon she finds herself in danger of the pack turning against her – will she make her way back to safety so she can expose the truth?
Will Dean’s most heart-pounding Tuva Moodyson thriller yet takes Tuva to her absolute limits in exposing a heinous crime, and in her own personal life. Can she, and will she, do the right thing?
I am happy enough with that. Considering how all over the place my head has been of late, I’ve not done too badly. Now if I could just find the words for those dang reviews … A full enough week on the blog though. Recap below:
#Review – Death on the Menu – Emma Davies
#Review – Psalms For the End Of The World – Cole Haddon
#Review – The Inheritance – Howard Linskey
#Review – A Sliver of Darkness – CJ Tudor
#Review – The Hunting Ground – Will Shindler
Two tour posts this week – The Hike by Susi Holliday on Wednesday and 6 Ripley Avenue by Noelle Holten on Friday courtesy of Mandie. Do stop by.
That’s me done for this week – probably enough bookishness for anyone, right? Trying to decide right now whether to do a day trip up to Seahouses (a long one!) so that I can go on a cruise to see the seal pups. It’s the one thing on my North East bucket list I’ve not yet done and the perfect time of year for it. We’ll see. 🤔
Have a wonderful week all. Keep reading and keep smiling. Lots to be down about at the moment so we all need to find the smiles where we can. Mine are hidden in books, even if the best suggestion I’ve got is to paste the mental image/face of any of our current crop of (useless and amoral) politicians onto the victim of whatever particularly grizzly literary demise you may read … Whatever works, right? 😏
Jen x
Jen Med's Book Reviews 