NO EASY ANSWER (The Dublin Murder Mysteries Book #6) by Valerie Keogh is a perfectly plotted, twisted and unique crime thriller/Irish Garda procedural. I finally had time to read this latest in the Detective Garda Sergeant West books and I was pulled into the investigation and mystery immediately. Even though this is the sixth book in the series, it is easily read as a standalone, but I will be making time to go back and read the previous books.
Detective Garda Sergeant Mike West and his team are hoping for a break after the complicated cases they have had recently. At first glance, the two new cases to cross his desk are seemingly simple and unrelated, but after the first interviews with relatives and the autopsies, West and his team are left with facts from interviews that do not match the science and results of the autopsies.
And then the dismembered body parts are discovered.
West and his team have clues that defy science, no motives, and contradictory statements from those involved. Will West and his team be able to solve the seemingly unsolvable?
I was captivated by the plot in this crime thriller and the intricate step-by-step investigation. This book has a plot which seems unconnected and easily solved, but it just keeps getting turned back on itself and getting more and more tangled. From comments made throughout this book, I feel this team has been involved in previous twisted plots and I will definitely be going back to read them. Mike West and team all work well together and his fiancée, being a crime writer makes the discussions in his home helpful and interesting. Ms. Keogh has written a group of recurring characters that are all fully fleshed and I would love to meet them in a pub and have a Guinness with them.
I highly recommend this crime thriller/Irish Garda procedural!
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Author Bio
Valerie started to write several years ago. She self-published eight crime novels and one psychological thriller before signing a two book contract with Bookouture in March 2018. The first of these, Secrets Between Us, is available now and the second is due in Feb 2019. She is a registered nurse with a degree in English and a Masters in American Literature. Recently she has given up nursing to concentrate on her writing career.
Today is my turn on the Books n All Promotions Blog Tour and I am excited to be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BLOOD STAINED (Detective Claudia Nunn Book #1) by Rebecca Bradley.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
Can’t find her.
Can’t catch him.
Can’t trust anyone.
The first in a gripping new Sheffield-set crime series starring Detective Claudia Nunn.
Detective Claudia Nunn’s colleague DS Dominic Harrison has been leading the case against a dangerous serial killer, who hunts his victims using a dating app. But now his own wife has gone missing.
Then a large pool of blood is discovered in their garage. And Dominic is the prime suspect.
Is Dominic being framed by a serial killer or will Claudia expose an even uglier truth?
BLOOD STAINED (Detective Claudia Nunn Book #1) by Rebecca Bradley is the first book in a new British police procedural thriller/mystery that I could not put down and read all in one sitting. This is an intense and intriguing new thriller with hairpin turns in its plot from a new to me author and I will definitely be following DI Claudia Nunn in her future books.
DI Claudia Nunn follows the facts no matter where they may go. Claudia is assigned to investigate a missing person report and interrogate the missing woman’s husband. The missing woman, Ruth is an undercover investigator and married to a fellow officer and a friend.
DS Dominic Harris has been investigating a serial killer, the Sheffield Strangler, who meets women in their forties with one or more children through a dating app for the last six months. Now he is being held and investigated for the disappearance of his wife and fellow officer by DI Nunn. Harris claims his innocence and swears he is being set up by the Sheffield Strangler.
As the hours pass, DI Nunn is working to find and save Ruth, exonerate DS Harris and solve the Sheffield Strangler case but will the facts lead to the solution expected?
I loved this story and the author’s intricate and tightly woven plotting that not once, but twice truly surprised me. The first surprise is the only reason I was slightly disappointed because it made the previous pages I had just read no longer feel truly realistic. (I cannot say why without spoiling it for you, but you can agree or disagree yourself.) This book is a page turner with the dual narratives of DI Nunn’s investigation in the present and DS Harris’ investigation in the previous six months intertwined throughout. The characters are interesting and fully fleshed. The ending is a huge surprise that has me anxiously waiting for the next book.
I highly recommend this first book in this new series and look forward to many more!
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Author Bio
Rebecca Bradley lives with her family in the UK, and two Cockapoos, Alfie and Lola, who keep her company while she writes. She drinks copious amounts of tea to function throughout the day and if she could, she would survive on a diet of tea and cake while committing murder on a regular basis. Rebecca served fifteen years in the police service and finished as a detective constable on a specialist unit.
Today I am excited to be on the Partner’s In Crime Virtual Book Tour for a new historical mystery – THE TURNCOAT’S WIDOW by Mally Becker. This story features a female amateur sleuth during the Revolutionary War era.
Below you will find a book synopsis, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Book Synopsis
Recently widowed, Rebecca Parcell is too busy struggling to maintain her farm in Morristown to care who wins the War for Independence. But rumors are spreading in 1780 that she’s a Loyalist sympathizer who betrayed her husband to the British—quite a tidy way to end her disastrous marriage, the village gossips whisper.
Everyone knows that her husband was a Patriot, a hero who died aboard a British prison ship moored in New York Harbor. But “everyone” is wrong. Parcell was a British spy, and General Washington – who spent two winters in Morristown – can prove it. He swears he’ll safeguard Becca’s farm if she unravels her husband’s secrets. With a mob ready to exile her or worse in the winter of 1780, it’s an offer she can’t refuse.
Escaped British prisoner of war Daniel Alloway was the last person to see Becca’s husband alive, and Washington throws this unlikely couple together on an espionage mission to British-occupied New York City. Moving from glittering balls to an underworld of brothels and prisons, Becca and Daniel uncover a plot that threatens the new country’s future. But will they move quickly enough to warn General Washington? And can Becca, who’s lost almost everyone she loves, fight her growing attraction to Daniel, a man who always moves on?
Genre: Historical Suspense / Mystery Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: February 16, 2021 ISBN: 978-1-953789-27-3
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
THE TURNCOAT’S WIDOW by Mally Becker is a debut historical mystery set in Morristown during the Revolutionary War era with a female protagonist who is widowed and must find the strength and courage to do extraordinary things to save her family farm.
Rebecca Parcell is a widow who wants nothing more than to continue working her late husband’s family farm with her mother-in-law and servant/friend. She hates the war and feels no love for either side, but her husband supposedly died a patriot and hero.
Some in Morristown believe she turned her husband in to the British and are setting her up to forfeit her farm, but General Washington and his aide Alexander Hamilton know the truth about her husband and his activities for the British. If Becca, with the aide of Daniel Alloway, an escaped prisoner who was imprisoned with her husband, are willing to work together to spy and find the list of turncoats left by her husband, then Washington will intervene to save her farm.
Becca and Daniel work together to discover the turncoats before their plot can change the course of history.
I enjoyed this debut from Ms. Becker. The plot was well paced with several surprising twists and an increasing sense of dread and suspense leading up to the solution of the mystery. Becca and Daniel start out as characters that do not believe in the war, just personal survival, but Ms. Becker takes them through personal changes together that change their beliefs and futures. The secondary characters were all fully fleshed and I especially enjoyed the addition of the historical figures. This story is complete, but there are hints that Becca and Daniel could be up for future adventures.
I recommend this historical mystery for its well written plot and unique setting in history.
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Excerpt
Chapter One
Morristown – January 1780
There was a nervous rustling in the white-washed meeting house, a disturbance of air like the sound of sparrows taking wing.
Becca Parcell peered over the balcony’s rough, wood railing, blinking away the fog of half-sleep. She had been dreaming of the figures in her account book and wondering whether there would be enough money for seed this spring.
“I didn’t hear what ….” she whispered to Philip’s mother.
Lady Augusta Georgiana Stokes Parcell, known simply as Lady Augusta, covered Becca’s hand with her own. “Philip. They’re speaking of Philip.”
Becca couldn’t tell whether it was her hand or Augusta’s that trembled.
“The Bible says, if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, does it not?” The preacher’s voice was soft, yet it carried to every corner of the congregation. “They’re here. Amongst us. Neighbors who toast the King behind closed doors. Neighbors with no love of liberty.”
Philip was a Patriot. He had died a hero. Everyone knew. Minister Townsend couldn’t be talking about him.
The minister raised his eyes to hers. With his long thin arms and legs and round belly, he reminded her of a spider. She twisted her lips into the semblance of a smile as if to say “you don’t scare me.” But he did.
“Which of your neighbors celebrates each time a Patriot dies?” Townsend’s voice rose like smoke to the rafters, took on strength and caught fire. “Their presence here is an abomination.” He rapped the podium with a flat palm, the sound bruising in the quiet church. “Then cast them out. Now.”
Men pounded the floor with their feet.
Becca flinched. It wouldn’t take much to tip the congregation into violence. Everyone had lost someone or something to this endless war. It had been going on for almost five years.
Townsend’s thin arm rose, pointing to her.
Becca’s breath caught.
“And what of widows like Mrs. Parcell? Left alone, no longer guided by the wise direction of their husbands.”
Guided? Becca pulled her hand from Augusta’s. She rubbed her thumb along the palm of her hand, feeling the rough calluses stamped there. She had learned the rhythm of the scythe at the end of the summer, how to twist and swing low until her hands were so stiff that she’d struggle to free them from the handle. She’d fallen into a dreamless sleep each night during the harvest too exhausted even to dream of Philip. She, Augusta and their servant Annie were doing just fine.
“He hardly slept at home, as I hear it,” a woman behind her sniffed to a neighbor.
Becca’s spine straightened.
“No wonder there were no babes,” the second woman murmured.
Becca twisted and nodded a smile to Mrs. Huber and Mrs. Harrington. Their mouths pursed into surprised tight circles. She’d heard them murmur, their mouths hidden by fluttering fans: About her lack of social graces; her friendship with servants; her awkward silence in company. “What else could you expect from her?” they would say, snapping shut their fans.
Relief washed through Becca, nonetheless. This was merely the old gossip, not the new rumors.
“Some of you thought Mr. Parcell was just another smuggler.” The pastor’s voice boomed.
A few in the congregation chuckled. It was illegal to sell food to the British in New York – the “London Trade” some called it — but most turned a blind eye. Even Patriots need hard currency to live, Becca recalled Philip saying.
“He only married her for the dowry,” Mrs. Huber hissed.
Becca’s hand curved into a fist.
Augusta cleared her throat, and Becca forced herself to relax.
“Perhaps some of you thought Mr. Parcell was still a Tory,” the minister said.
The chuckling died.
“He came to his senses, though. He was, after all, one of us,” Minister Townsend continued.
One of us. Invitations from the finer families had trickled away after Philip’s death.
“We all know his story,” Townsend continued. “He smuggled whiskey into New York City. And what a perfect disguise his aristocratic roots provided.” The minister lifted his nose in the air as if mimicking a dandy.
“The British thought he was one of them, at least until the end.” The minister’s voice swooped as if telling a story around a campfire. “He brought home information about the British troops in the City.”
Becca shifted on the bench. She hadn’t known about her husband’s bravery until after his death. It had baffled her. Philip never spoke of politics.
Townsend lifted one finger to his chin as if he had a new thought. “But who told the British where Mr. Parcell would be on the day he was captured? Who told the Redcoats that Mr. Parcell was a spy for independence?”
Becca forgot to breathe. He wouldn’t dare.
“It must have been someone who knew him well.” The minister’s gaze moved slowly through the congregation and came to rest on Becca. His eyes were the color of creosote, dark and burning. “Very, very well.”
Mrs. Coddington, who sat to Becca’s left, pulled the hem of her black silk gown close to avoid contact. Men in the front pews swiveled and stared.
“I would never. I didn’t.” Becca’s corset gouged her ribcage.
“Speak up, Mrs. Parcell. We can’t hear you,” the minister said in a singsong voice.
Townsend might as well strip her naked before the entire town. Respectable women didn’t speak in public. He means to humiliate me.
“Stand up, Mrs. Parcell.” His voice boomed. “We all want to hear.”
She didn’t remember standing. But there she was, the fingers of her right hand curled as it held the hunting bow she’d used since she was a child. Becca turned back to the minister. “Hogwash.” If they didn’t think she was a lady, she need not act like one. “Your independence is a wickedly unfair thing if it lets you accuse me without proof.”
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Author Bio
Mally Becker is a writer whose historical suspense novel, The Turncoat’s Widow, will be published in February 2021 by Level Best Books. She was born in Brooklyn and began her professional career in New York City as a publicist and freelance magazine writer, then moved on, becoming an attorney and, later, an advocate for children in foster care.
As a volunteer, she used her legal background to create a digest of letters from US Supreme Court Justices owned by the Morristown National Park. That’s where she found a copy of an indictment for the Revolutionary War crime of traveling from New Jersey to New York City “without permission or passport.” It led her to the idea for her story.
A winner of the Leon B. Burstein/MWA-NY Scholarship for Mystery Writing, Mally lives with her husband in the wilds of New Jersey where they hike, kayak, look forward to visits from their son, and poke around the region’s historical sites.
BLACK CORAL (Underwater Investigation Unit Book #2) by Andrew Mayne is an exciting second book in the UIU series. All the main characters are realistically imagined and Mr. Mayne hooks you with a story that is an intense, intricately plotted criminal investigation. I have added this series to my “must read immediately” list of books when published.
Sloan McPherson of the UIU is called in to retrieve a body from a submerged car. While avoiding one of Florida’s most infamous alligators, she discovers a van also in the pond. Many vehicles end up discarded in Florida’s waterways, but Sloan has a “feeling” about the van and wants to investigate it. Sealed inside are the remains of four teenagers, assumed runaways, thirty years previously. Law enforcement considers it a tragic accident, but Sloan is not satisfied.
A serial killer has been hunting and killing with impunity in southern Florida for over 30 years. Will Sloan be the next victim?
Absolutely fantastic read!
Sloan is a complex character and a strong protagonist. I liked that Mr. Mayne added Hughes to the UIU to add balance and a voice of reason/caution to some of Sloan’s more impulsive decisions, but he does not interfere with her determination and search for justice for the dead. All the characters, good and evil, add to the believability of the investigation and add depth to the overall story without detracting from the pace of the plot.
Mr. Mayne’s storytelling pulls you in from page one and continues to weave all the dialogue and investigations into a tale that keeps the reader intrigued and turning the pages until the ultimate resolution.
I highly recommend this addition to the series, the entire series and this author!
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About the Author
Andrew Mayne is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author whose books include The Naturalist, a Thriller Award finalist and Black Fall an Edgar Award finalist Black Fall. He’s the star of the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week special Andrew Mayne: Ghost Diver, where he swam alongside great white sharks using an underwater invisibility suit he designed and also was the star of A&E’s Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne.
Today I am excited to be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Damppebbles Blog Tour for SEVEN DAYS (DI Jack MacIntosh Book #2) by Michelle Kidd.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
One killer. One city. One week.
July 2012 and a serial killer is terrorising the streets of London. With the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games in just seven days time, Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh and his team at the Metropolitan Police have one week to find him. With the killer’s motives unknown, and a mysterious clue being left at each scene, the case takes on a menacing and personal twist. Distracted by his own demons, will DI Jack MacIntosh solve the case before it is too late?
SEVEN DAYS (DI Jack MacIntosh Book #2) by Michelle Kidd is the exciting new book in the DI Jack MacIntosh series. Once again, Ms. Kidd has written a page turner that kept me guessing the identity of killer incorrectly well into the night. While this book’s plot is a complete investigation, to get all of the backstory on all the characters, I feel it is helpful to start with “The Phoenix Project” which is book #1 in this fast-paced thriller/British police procedural series.
It is July 2012 and DI Jack MacIntosh and his team are assigned the monumental case of capturing a serial killer in just seven days before the Opening Ceremonies for the London Summer Olympics. Women’s bodies are being discovered strangled and dumped in London parks. There appear to be no ties to connect the victims and all of them have been thoroughly cleaned of all forensic evidence.
As the days count down, Jack works to discover the killer while still fighting demons from his past that could cloud his judgement when it is most important. The killer has Isabel. Will Jack and his team be able to uncover the killer before it is too late?
It was great to be reunited with the characters from the first book and introduced to DS Carmichael in this one. One minor problem was I did feel Jack had too many flashbacks written into the story and at times they slowed the pace a bit, but I did realize they were included to show the extent of his PTSD which he has never dealt with in his adulthood. I love not only Ms. Kidd’s intricately written plot twists and surprises that comprise the individual book’s plotline, but also her ability to still leave small threads that arc over all the books in the series without making you feel cheated.
I recommend this second book in this series and I am anxiously waiting for the next!
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Aboutthe Author
Michelle Kidd is a self-published author known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels.
Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.
But the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.
In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and had not looked back since. There are currently three DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fourth in progress.
Michelle works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order J
Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review on the Damppebbles Blog Tour for DARK TRUTHS (A Will Traynor Forensic Mystery Book #1) by A.J. Cross.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
A fresh case lays bare old bones for DI Watt’s team
When a young woman’s body is discovered on a popular jogging trail in Birmingham, Detective Inspector Bernard Watts and his team are plunged into a disturbing murder investigation. Not only has the woman been violently stabbed – her head is missing.
When a close examination of the crime scene results in a shocking discovery linking the present murder to a past crime, criminologist Will Traynor is brought in to assist the police. Aware of Traynor’s troubled past, Watts is sceptical that Will can contribute anything useful to the investigation.
DARK TRUTHS (A Will Traynor Forensic Mystery Book #1) by A.J. Cross is the first book in a new series with criminologist Will Traynor. This book is a police procedural/mystery/thriller mash-up that takes the reader through a step-by-step investigation of a horrific murder.
DI Bernard Watts is assigned the case of a female body found on a jogging trail stabbed several times in the chest without a head. As he walks the scene with the new rookie, PC Chloe Judd they discover a skull without a body which does not belong to the body on the trail. The body is recent, but the skull is at least a decade old.
With the possibility of a serial killer, Watt’s boss informs him that criminologist Will Traynor will be joining his team, but Watt knows of Traynor’s troubled past and is not happy with this decision.
Will Watt be able to keep his inexperienced and brash rookie in line and learn to trust Traynor’s theories to bring a successful conclusion to this present murder which seems to be tied to several missing persons from the past?
I really enjoyed all the characters introduced in this book: the experienced detective, the abrasive rookie, the intelligent and kind pathologist and the criminologist with a tragic past. They all worked together well in the story to bring the clues and plot twists to a satisfying conclusion in the past and present mysteries. My problem was that DI Bernard Watts was more of a lead character than Will Traynor, who the book and new series is supposed to feature. This fact does not detract from the story itself; it just does not lead where I thought it would. I am looking forward to a return of all these characters in the future.
Overall, a strong investigative story to begin the series, but I will be looking for more of a lead role from Will Traynor in future books.
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About the Author
A.J. Cross is a forensic psychologist with over twenty years’ experience in the field. She lives in Birmingham with her jazz-musician husband and is the author of five Kate Hanson mysteries.
