My turn on the blog tour today. I am excited to share this Feature Post and Book Review for the first book in a new P.I. cozy mystery series set in Wales by a new to me author. MURDER ON THE ROCKS (Jordan Jenner Mysteries Book 1) by J.S. Strange will keep you guessing.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, author info, social media links and purchase links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb:
When PI Jordan Jenner returns to work following the death of his mother, his first case involves a murdered writer…
James Fairview has been killed. As a member of a prestigious writing group hosted by bestselling author Joseph Gordon in the heart of Cardiff, Jordan not only has to cope with solving the mystery, but also deal with press attention.
As Jordan investigates, he discovers his mother’s death may not have been so simple. And when another writer is murdered, Jordan realises the killer could strike again…
A murdered writer, a mysterious death, and a group with jealousy at its heart, this is Jenner’s toughest case yet.
A cozy murder mystery with a gay male detective, Murder on the Rocks is the first in the Jordan Jenner Mysteries series. If you’re a fan of classic whodunits you will love this!
A perfect read for those looking for Welsh crime fiction.
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My Book Review:
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
MURDER ON THE ROCKS (Jordan Jenner Mysteries Book 1) by J.S.
Strange is a new cozy P.I. mystery. It is the first in a series set in Wales
and by a new to me author. This mystery has a unique lead character and the
murder occurs within a prestigious writer’s group of not so friendly
competitors.
Freelance P.I. Jordan Jenner has just returned to work after compassionate leave for the death of his mother. DCI Vanessa Carter calls Jordan in to her new crime scene for assistance. James Fairview, a wannabe author is found poisoned at a writers’ group meeting. He is a member of bestselling author, Joseph Gordon’s writing group in Cardiff.
As Jordan investigates the private lives of the members of
the writers’ group and tries to find the killer, he finds out that his mother
knew Joseph Gordon and her death may be related in some way. Every turn has
Jordan drawn deeper into this web of lies and the killer may not be done yet.
Jordan is an intriguing main character. He is not the nicest
person, but he is intelligent and determined. I also have not read any
mysteries with a gay P.I. protagonist. The plot itself has many twists, turns
and red herrings that kept me reading and guessing right up to the end. Since
this is a cozy mystery, you are able to avoid the strict, true-to-life police
procedures and rules.
The murder mystery is all tied up in the end, but there is a
bit of a personal cliffhanger that will easily lead those of us who want more
into the next book. I am very glad I tried this new to me author and can highly
recommend this book. I am looking forward to many more mysteries in this
series.
***
About J.S.
Strange:
J.S. Strange is an author from Wales,
United Kingdom. He writes crime, mystery and horror. His first novels,
published in 2016 and 2017, were set in an apocalyptic London. Murder on the
Rocks, is the first in a cozy crime mystery series, featuring a leading gay
male detective.
Murder on the Rocks was written by Strange for many reasons. One of those
reasons was a lack of representation within the crime genre, particularly with
detectives and sleuths. Strange created Jordan Jenner, a private investigator,
who lives and works in Cardiff. Murder on the Rocks was written with the
intention of shining light on Cardiff, and bringing Cardiff, and furthermore,
Wales, into the crime genre.
Strange’s previous works, such as ‘Winter Smith: London Burning’, also explored
LGBT themes, and featured socialite Winter Smith escaping a zombie apocalypse.
‘London’s Burning’ became an Amazon best-seller in LGBT fiction.
When Strange doesn’t write, he works in television. He also presents a radio
show all about the paranormal. He has an enthusiasm for Britney Spears and
cats.
I want to share this Feature Post and Book Review for BAYOU CITY BURNING (Harry and Dizzy Lark Book 1) by D.B. Borton which is being released June 1st. Below you will find a synopsis, an excerpt from the book, my book review and the author’s bio and social media.
This is a historical crime mystery set in the 1960’s in Houston, TX with a father/daughter hard-boiled detective duo. Oh, and did I mention the daughter is 12 years old! I highly recommend this first book in this new series and cannot wait to read more.
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Synopsis
Houston, 1961
Texas’ slickest politician has lost his presidential bid to a good-looking naval hero from Massachusetts. President Kennedy wants to put a man on the moon, and the Freedom Riders are raising morale for local civil rights activists.
Sleepy backwater Houston finds itself short on air conditioning just when things are heating up.
In a seedy downtown office, a well-dressed out-of-towner hires P.I. Harry Lark to tail two D.C. visitors looking to build NASA a space center. The more Harry finds, the more he suspects he’s working for the wrong side, and vows to wash his hands of the case. Meanwhile, Harry’s twelve-year-old daughter Dizzy is puzzling over a mystery of her own—she’s running a lost-and-found out of a suburban garage and is unexpectedly hired to find a missing dad who’s supposed to be dead and buried.
When Harry’s client turns up dead in his office, and mobsters start hounding him for cash, Harry realizes he needs the help he can get, even if it comes from his daughter. As Harry and Dizzy’s cases converge, thing is clear: some wants Houston to look like a lawless Wild West cowtown. Together, Harry and Dizzy are going to find out who that is.
***
Excerpt
It was there, and then it wasn’t: a grainy, pockmarked triangle slashed by a dark shadow. First the edges blurred into an impres sionist dream of earth tones and light, then the cut of a thin shadow skimmed across the surface, and then—darkness. Nothing to see, no matter how I strained my eyes.
Static, like a windstorm against a microphone, accented by highpitched beeps.
A calm male voice: “Contact light. Okay, engine stop.” Then another voice, a familiar twang, Texan: “We copy you down, Eagle.” The first voice again: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
Later, I heard that about five million people all over the world were doing exactly what I was doing at that moment. I had a summer job as a day camp counselor at the local Y, but they sent everybody home early that day—kids, counselors, and staff—to watch two men land on the moon, just like President Kennedy had promised they would eight years before. In the thrill of the moment, it was hard to predict what people would remember afterward. Probably they’d remember the words, “The Eagle has landed.” But I’d remember the part that came before. I’d remember the first word in that announcement: Houston.
If it hadn’t been for my old man, that word might have been different.
Some people regard my father Harry as a two-bit shamus. They see him as a licensed peeper with a gun under his coat and the ethics of an alligator lizard. I’ve seen him that way myself. But he’s got his principles. And I knew as I sat in our chilly living room, curtains drawn against the blazing star that lit up the lunar surface and melted the Texas sidewalks, that this was his gift to me: that word.
He didn’t have to do it. The other side was safer, and they paid better, too. But I was his little girl, and he wanted to make me happy.
“Where’s your secretary?” He angled a thumb over his shoulder toward the outer office. Two rings winked at me, a diamond and a signet.
“She must’ve stepped out,” I said noncommittally.
Jeanie had “stepped out” about six months ago when I’d traded her salary for a set of braces for my son. I liked to keep up appearances, though, so I hung an old sweater from the back of Jeanie’s chair and sprayed it with perfume from time to time—mostly rejects from my daughter’s Christmas gift exchanges. I filed some things on Jeanie’s desk instead of in the wastebasket and kept a page in the typewriter. But what did he care, unless he was worried about witnesses?
I nodded at the wooden chair in front of my desk and angled a packet of Winstons in his direction. “What can I do for you?”
He slung his raincoat over the arm of the chair. It dripped small dark stains onto the rug. He took a cigarette and we lit up. Then he settled back in the chair and grimaced. I studied his tie, waiting for him to speak. It was the same slate gray as the suit and thin as a razor blade.
“I need some information about an event that’s taking place here next week,” he said. “In town, I mean.” He waved his cigarette in the direction of the window and grimaced. The grimace told me that he’d never consider promoting Houston from a backwater berg to a city. His voice was flat and forgettable—the kind of voice that could have read the daily stock report. “And what would that be?”
“Two men are coming down from Washington, DC. I want to know what they’re doing here, where they go, who they see. Pictures, too.”
“What’s the beef?” I said.
“Let’s say that I suspect these men of conspiring to defraud taxpayers by engaging in certain underhanded practices that stand to damage my business interests and those of my associates.” He was looking at Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was hanging on my wall, when he said it. If Ike didn’t like this story, he didn’t say so. I didn’t like it, but I was in hock to a certain orthodontist, so I refrained from comment.
“Let’s say that,” I said. “And you would be Mr.—?”
“Smith.” His gaze returned to me and his eyelids dropped to halfmast over the cigarette smoke. “My name is Smith.”
“Well, Mr. Smith,” I said, “I get fifty dollars a day plus expenses.”
“Isn’t that a little steep?” he said.
I shrugged. “I have to pay for the air conditioning.” Besides, his suit told me he could afford it.
He gestured with his cigarette. “And I suppose all the other private dicks in Houston have to pay for air conditioning, too.”
I grinned. “You’re welcome to go ask them.”
I left it up to him to imagine spending the hours between now and his departure time sitting in a Houston office without air conditioning instead of cooling his heels in a lounge near the airport. I felt sure he was doing it, too.
“Yeah, all right,” he said.
My marks were Philip Miller and John Parsons. Their work had something to do with space research.
“What kind of space research?” I said, frowning. “You mean for business expansion?”
“Hey, that’s right.” He pointed the cigarette at me. “Business expansion. But the business is space—outer space.”
My phone rang. The voice on the other end was accusatory. “You were supposed to pick me up ten minutes ago for the orthodontist.”
Since he’d become a teenager, my son Hal addressed me in one of three tones of voice—bored, superior, and disgruntled. He’d found it harder to manage since he’d acquired a mouthful of metal and rubber bands, but not impossible.
I pretended to check my desk calendar and make a notation. “Yes, that’s fine,” I said. “I’ll be there.”
“I’m going to be late for the orthodontist,” Hal said.
“That’s all right. Happy to help out. Thanks for calling.” I hung up and raised my eyes to my visitor. “Where were we?”
“Space.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” I said.
“I don’t, either,” he said. “But there’s business involved, and a lot of money. That’s all you have to know.”
The two men were due to arrive the following Tuesday at Houston International. He didn’t know the time or the flight, but he gave me photographs of the men. The photographs looked like my kind of photograph—stuff taken with a telephoto lens when the subject didn’t know he was being photographed.
He glanced out the window next to the one with the air conditioner. City buildings gleamed in the rain but there wasn’t much else to look at except the Weather Ball on top of the Texas National Bank, which blinked to show that precipitation was expected. It didn’t matter to him; he was blowing town anyway, the sooner the better. He counted out four twenties and laid them on my desk. “That enough to get you started?” he asked. I nodded. He told me he’d come back in a week at the same time.
He was already swabbing the back of his neck with the wet handkerchief as he stood up.
“What if I have to get in touch with you before then?” I said.
“Save it.” He turned his back and headed for the door.
I stood at the window and watched him emerge from the building downstairs, his raincoat over his head like a pup tent. The Chinese laundry on the first floor was kicking up a lot of steam and he gave it a wide berth, stepping gingerly to keep his Italian leather shoes out of the puddles. Then he disappeared around the corner, so I didn’t get to see his car, if he had one. It was probably a rental, anyway. I had already decided that tailing him at this point was a losing proposition. He’d paid me enough to start the work he wanted me to do, but not enough to give me the trouble of tailing him.
Besides, I had a date with my surly teenaged son. I pocketed the twenties and hoped that my daughter’s teeth all stayed as straight as a drill sergeant.
***
My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
BAYOU CITY BURNING (Harry and Dizzy Lark Book 1) by D.B.
Borton is a new P.I. mystery story and the beginning of a new series. Set in
Houston, TX in the 1960’s this father/daughter team are so much fun to get to
know and follow as their separate investigations merge into one intriguing
mystery case. Did I mention that Dizzy is only 12 years old?
P.I. Harry Lark is happy when a well-dressed out-of-towner shows
up at his office. He has orthodontist bills to pay for his son. All he has to
do is follow two men from D.C. and let his client know where they go in Houston
and who they see. When Harry discovers he is not the only one following these
men, he starts to wonder what his client is really interested in.
Desdemona “Dizzy” Lark is not your average 12 year old girl.
She has started a business with her two best friends, B.D. and Mel out of her family’s
garage. Lost and Found finds lost items collected from the neighborhood and you
can have them returned or purchase them for a small trade or fee. Dizzy and her
friends are Nancy Drew fans and Dizzy wants to become a P.I. just like her Dad.
As Dizzy and the girls are sitting around the garage, little
7 year old Sissy Heffelman walks up and tells the girls she wants them to find
her daddy. An expensive Barbie doll was sent to Sissy on her birthday and she
believes it is from her father even though he was supposedly killed in a
terrible train wreck weeks before. They take Sissy’s case.
As the girls work their case, Harry’s client is killed in
his office while searching for something after breaking in in the night. Harry
has mobsters showing up from Chicago and Tampa all looking for something that
Harry knows nothing about. Houston got rid of the mob years ago, so why are
they back? All of a sudden in once quiet Houston there are bombings tied to
picketers and the dockworkers are striking. When Harry and Dizzy begin to compare
their cases, they find the two may be connected by a single incident.
This is such a fun, entertaining and intriguing mystery. Harry’s dialogue is filled with old-fashioned hard-boiled P.I. lingo that at first was a little jarring, but then it just blends right into the whole narrative and I could not imagine him talking any other way. It was especially entertaining when Dizzy used the same lingo. Harry and Dizzy have a unique relationship that had me laughing out loud at times. Set in the 1960’s, the author realistically writes about race relations, dirty politicians and the mafia. There are many twists and turns in this fast moving plot that kept me guessing.
I highly recommend this book and I cannot wait to read more mysteries with this father/daughter duo.
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Author Bio and Social Media
D. B. Borton is the author of two mystery novel series, the Cat Caliban series (Berkley,
Hilliard and Harris) and the Gilda Liberty series (Fawcett), as well as
recent novels Second Comingand Smoke.
She has published academic
work on film, women’s literature, and the
supernatural; she is co-author of Haunting the House of Fiction: Feminist
Perspectives on Ghost Stories by American Women and Ghost Stories by
British and American Women.
She also wrote for Ms. magazine.
A native Texan, Borton became an ardent admirer
of Nancy Drew at a young age. At the age of fourteen, she acquired her own blue
roadster, trained on Houston freeways, and began her travels. She also began a
lifetime of political activism, working only for candidates who lost. She left
Texas about the time everyone else arrived.
D. B. currently teaches writing, film, and
literature at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Today’s Feature Post and Book Review is for Loreth Anne White’s upcoming release THE DARK BONES (Dark Lure Book 2). Below you will find a guest post from the author, an excerpt from the book, my book review and a Rafflecopter giveaway.
This author always gives me mystery, suspense, increasing threat (both physical and environmental) and a bit of romance all rolled into one intense story. Even though this is book 2 in the Dark Lure series, it can easily be read as a standalone, but believe me, you will want to go back and read the first book in this series.
I highly recommend this book and series! As always, good luck on the Rafflecopter giveaway.
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Hunting For Betrayal with Author Loreth Anne White
My
newest novel, THE DARK BONES, is about a cop, Rebecca North, who learns that
her father—a retired police officer—has killed himself. She can’t believe it.
But in order to prove it was murder she must return to her small, rural home
town and face a lot of dark things she’s been running from including the man
she left behind long ago, and a cold case thought long buried.
At
the core, THE DARK BONES examines the lies people tell each other and
themselves—the false narratives they construct in order to hide mistakes, or
bad deeds, or hurtful truths, or realities that shame and burden them. And as
Rebecca North, my detective, digs deep to find the truth of what really
happened to her dad, she begins to crack open a carapace of old lies that wraps
around a cold case—a heinous deed that occurred in her small community
twenty years in the past, a crime from which people are still hiding.
Rebecca
fast learns that the secrets she is beginning to unearth are secrets people
will still kill to keep. However, opening up this vault of lies and betrayals
in the small town also reveals to Rebecca truths about herself, and about the
man she once loved, Ash Haugen. A man who betrayed her. And in confronting
those betrayals and old lies, and the reasons that underpinned them, Rebecca
and Ash can finally heal, and open themselves to a love that was always meant
to be. At the heart THE DARK BONES is also about second chances, and getting
that opportunity to try and set right the collateral damages around betrayal.
Although
THE DARK BONES stands alone, it also revisits the setting and some of the
characters from an earlier book, A DARK LURE. Those earlier characters were
left with a hard road to travel toward their happy end, and as some of them
play a key role
in Rebecca and Ash’s story, we see them also confronting outfalls around betrayal, and getting chance to continue their journey towards a good life.
***
The Dark Bones Excerpt
Rebecca felt
warmth. She was enveloped by it. She heard the crackle and pop of dry logs
burning and, in the distance, dogs barking. The smell of … fire—
Her eyes shot open, her heart thumping.
He sat there. Ash. In a chair by the fire,
watching her with his ice-blue eyes. She was in his living room, and the
lighting had been dimmed. The flickering glow of the flames in the hearth
behind him cast his rugged features into sharp relief. The scar down the side
of his face looked harsh. An old brown dog with a white muzzle slept on a rug
in front of the hearth.
Rebecca’s brain slotted puzzle pieces into
place as she struggled through a mental haze to backtrack and figure out how
she’d gotten here: The lights following her. The razed cabin and the clues that
someone had been inside the shed and maybe fled the scene. Ash shooting at her.
No gas in her truck. Fear of dying. Coming here to Haugen Ranch. Shucking her
dad’s gear in Ash’s mudroom. Him helping her into the living room of his old
family home—a great big log house built by his grandfather. Seating her on the
sofa.
She sat up slowly, trying to pull her brain
into sharper focus. A down duvet was wrapped around her, a heated blanket
beneath that. The duvet smelled of fresh laundry. Yes, she recalled, the fire
had already been going in the hearth when he’d brought her in—she’d noticed
that. Next had come hot tea with honey, warm clothes handed to her—fleece,
oversize. More tea.
He’d told her not to talk. Discussion could
wait.
She met his eyes now and felt a visceral
connection across the darkened room. This was her first proper look at him
after all these years.
Her teen lover had aged. As she had. But he’d
matured in a way she found attractive. He was neither sweet nor handsome.
Rugged rather. A brooding look. Sun bronzed and weathered. Her attention
returned to his scar. So prominent, cutting down the left side of his face from
eye to jaw. He could have had plastic surgery over the past decades, but
clearly hadn’t. Her memory slipped back to the day she’d tried to patch him up
with the help of a small medical kit and knowledge she’d gleaned during her
part-time job as a veterinary assistant.
He lied…
Her attention shifted to his hands. His
knuckles were scarred.
What were you protecting him from that day?
She recalled the blood she’d seen on those
ragged and bruised knuckles that day. Why had she not told her father she didn’t know for certain he’d fallen off
his horse and been dragged across sharp terrain?
Why had she not questioned more firmly, at age sixteen, Ash’s refusal to go
to the ER facility on that particular day? What deep psychology had driven her
to possibly blind herself to search for a darker truth?
In that tempestuous, hormone-filled year she
was sixteen, had she conveniently compartmentalized something that had created
cognitive dissonance, because she’d just recently started sleeping with Ash,
and needed to believe him? Needed to trust him again?
How had her actions that day shaped this
present? Could it—she—have possibly played a role in her father’s death?
And why, oh dear God why, did Ash still make
her feel things? This—this—was why she’d stayed away. He held an animal kind of magnetism over
her. She felt it now, her gaze locked with his arctic eyes. Her attraction had
blinded her to the fact he was not good for her. He was a liar.
She cleared her throat. “What time is it?”
“Almost midnight. You going to be okay? Do I
need to drive you to Clinton?”
From his ranch it would take almost an hour, in
the dark, on bad roads. And the ER would be closed. They’d have to call 911 for
emergency to open up with an on-call physician. It reminded Rebecca that out
here, one looked after one’s own.
“I … I must have passed out.”
A half smile. “Slept like a baby. You must have
been tired.”
A desire to tell him all rose in Rebecca: How
rough her journey home had been with the storms. How seeing her father’s body
had gutted her. How exhausted she felt, emotionally. But she held back as her
mind sharpened and the immediacy of why she was here, with him, in this house,
was pulled into clear focus.
“What made you return to my father’s place when
you did, Ash? How did you come to find me?”
“I go up to the Broken Bar mesa sometimes. The
view of the valley on a clear, cold night is surreal.” A pause. “I needed to
think.” After seeing you. The unspoken words
seemed to simmer between them. “Someplace above it all. Then as the moon rose,
I caught light glinting off metal where your father’s place was. I thought it
might be a vehicle, so I went to check before heading home.” He paused. “You
could have died out there.”
Rebecca swallowed as this fact sank like a
stone through her gut.
“Have you been sitting there watching me like
that all night?”
“You worried me,” he said. Then, very quietly,
he added, “And I like to look at you.” He paused. “It’s been so long.”
***
My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
THE DARK BONES
(Dark Lure Book 2) by Loreth Anne White is a mix of romantic suspense, mystery and
thrills with ever increasing physical, emotional and environmental threats. This
is the second book in this series, but it can easily be read as a standalone.
Detective Rebecca North is notified that her father, a
retired Mounty has committed suicide. Rebecca has been away from her hometown
in rural Western Canada for twenty years and even though she knows her father
had problems, she refuses to believe he would take his own life. He called her
just that day to tell her he is revisiting a cold case from their hometown and
that he believes he is being followed and has had papers stolen from his home.
One of the last people to see Rebecca’s father alive was her
ex-high school boyfriend, Ash Haugen. Ash always dreamed of one day marrying
Rebecca, but he broke her heart and trust. The investigation is stirring up old
feelings and lies. Even as they work together, old friends and relations may
once again pull them apart.
While regathering the evidence for the case her father was working on and trying to prove he did not commit suicide, Rebecca and Ash are under increasing threat by someone who is trying to keep the old case cold.
I loved this book! The murder mystery and the cold case keep
you guessing, turning the pages and they keep the overall pace continually
increasing to the climax. The flashbacks to Rebecca and Ash’s pasts did not
detract or slow down the story in any way. I liked the tie in to the first
book, but it does not interfere with your understanding of this mystery plot or
romance. Rebecca and Ash were complex characters with actions and emotions that
were believable. The romance grows at a realistic pace. The secondary
characters are fully fleshed out and added depth to the small town, good and
bad.
I highly recommend this book and series! Ms. White is an
author that I now automatically go to when looking for an intense suspenseful
read.
***
About a Book
Title: The Dark Bones
Author: Loreth Anne White
Release Date: May 21, 2019
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Summary
When Detective Rebecca North left her rural hometown, she
vowed never to return. Her father’s apparent suicide has changed that. The
official report is that retired cop Noah North shot himself, knocked over a
lantern, and set his isolated cabin ablaze. But Rebecca cannot believe he
killed himself.
To prove it, she needs the help of Ash Haugen, the man she
left behind. But Rebecca and Ash share more than broken hearts. Something
darker lies between them, and the investigation is stirring it back to life. Clues
lead them to the home of Olivia West and her deeply troubled twelve-year-old
daughter, Tori. The child knows more about the murder than anyone can imagine,
but she’s too terrified to say a word.
And as a cold-blooded killer resurfaces from the past, Rebecca and Ash begin to fear that their own secrets may be even harder to survive.
***
Author Biography
Loreth Anne White is an internationally bestselling author
of thrillers, mysteries, and romantic suspense. A three-time RITA finalist, she
is also the 2017 Overall Daphne du Maurier Award winner, and she has won the
Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and
the Romantic Crown for Best Romantic Suspense and Best Book Overall, in
addition to being a Booksellers’ Best finalist and a multiple CataRomance
Reviewers’ Choice Award winner. A former journalist and newspaper editor who
has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now resides in the Pacific
Northwest with her family. Visit her at www.lorethannewhite.com.
I love reading the first book in a new mystery series and finding new characters to follow. I am also always happy when the ending has a twist that I was not expecting. This book has both.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, and the author’s information and social media links. Enjoy!
***
Book Blurb:
Is someone trying to frame psychologist Pippa Durrant for the brutal murder of a woman she’s never even met?
It certainly seems that way when Pippa’s photo is found on the body of murdered lottery winner, Leanne Smith.
Pippa soon finds herself a suspect at the centre of a huge media storm. But she has an invaluable skill set – she is a human polygraph, expertly trained to spot lies and deceit. Skills she will need to help her to solve the mystery of who killed Leanne before it destroys her career – and her life.
But every cloud has a silver lining and this one arrives in the shape of DS Joe Swain. Initially suspicious of Pippa, he comes to trust her and to value her lie detection skills. Soon it’s clear there’s a definite spark between them….
Then, when another body turns up, Pippa realises her reputation isn’t the only thing in danger. Can she identify the killer before she becomes the next victim?
Fatal Fortune is the electrifying first book in the Dr. Pippa Durrant Thriller Series. If you like edge-of-your-seat action, clever sleuths, and shocking twists, then you’ll love Miranda Rijks’ gripping crime novel.
***
My Book Review:
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
FATAL FORTUNE (A Dr. Pippa Durrant Mystery Book 1) by
Miranda Rijks is the first book in a new mystery series featuring psychologist
Dr. Pippa Durrant.
Leanne Smith won the lottery. As she plans for her future,
Leanne is found murdered and a photo of Pippa is left on her body, but Pippa
does not know Leanne or her family. Pippa does not like being a suspect. She is
losing her private practice clients due to the notoriety so she agrees to work
with DS Swain to get her life back.
Pippa has a talent for criminal work. She was a forensic
psychologist while working on her PhD and has studied micro expressions as a
way of being able to read the truth in facial expressions. She is like a human lie
detector. She has also studied graphology. Pippa changed to more main stream
private practice after the loss of her daughter and the disintegration of her
marriage.
DS Joe Swain is at first suspicious of Pippa, but as he gets
to know her and verifies her background, he starts to trust her and her skills.
As they work together, he seems interested in more than just Pippa’s
professional assistance.
Another dead body and another picture of Pippa on the body
with a threat written on the back. Will Pippa and Joe be able to identify the
killer before Pippa becomes the third victim?
I liked the fast paced murder mystery plot in this story. It kept me turning the pages. The twist at the end was not what I was expecting and that always makes me happy. The characters were realistically flawed and each has secrets that they are trying to keep. I still have questions in regards to Pippa’s professional and personal past which I hope will be answered in future books. I also will be interested to read how the author handles Pippa and Joe’s attraction.
I enjoyed this first mystery in the series and am looking
forward to reading more.
***
About Miranda
Rijks:
Miranda Rijks is a writer of suspense
novels. I WANT YOU GONE is her first psychological thriller.
Miranda has an eclectic background ranging from law to running a garden centre.
She’s been writing all of her life and has a Masters in writing. A couple of
years ago she decided to ditch the business plans and press releases and now
she’s living the dream, writing suspense novels full time. She lives in Sussex,
England with her Dutch husband, musician daughter and black Labrador.
Up next is FATAL FORTUNE, the first of three books in a mystery romance series
that will be published in May 2019. They feature Dr Pippa Durrant, a
psychologist and specialist in lie detection, who works alongside Sussex police
getting embroiled in some scary stuff!
Miranda loves connecting with her readers, so you can reach out to her at www.mirandarijks.com
I am very happy to be a part of the Blog Blitz for Heleyne Hammersley’s new book BAD SEED (DI Kate Fletcher Book #3). This Feature Post contains a book blurb, my book review and the author’s social media info.
Even though this is the third book in the series, I had no trouble reading it as a standalone and it is definitely a page-turner. (I will be going back to read the first two books, too.) I love Kate and all of her team. I am hooked on another British police procedural series!
***
Bad Seed Blurb
When the body of a woman is discovered near
Doncaster’s red light district, DI Kate Fletcher is called to the scene.
The victim has an abdominal wound that looks
like a Caesarean incision, leading the police to believe she may have been
pregnant.
Kate’s team establish the woman’s identity
but it soon becomes clear that those close to her have something to hide.
The post-mortem reveals the victim wasn’t
pregnant and, when a second body is discovered with similar wounds, the police
realise they are hunting for a serial killer with a sinister fixation.
Can Kate solve the case before another
woman dies?
And can a ruthless, methodical killer be brought to justice?
***
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
BAD SEED (DI Kate Fletcher Book #3) by Heleyne Hammersley is
the latest DI Kate Fletcher British police procedural in the series. This is
the first book I have read in this series by this author and it is easily read
as a standalone. I enjoyed it so much, I will definitely be going back to read
the first two books.
DI Kate Fletcher is called to the scene of a gruesome murder victim found dumped in a field. The victim has been strangled, raped and had her abdomen sliced open with a precision cut similar to a Caesarean incision. She was not pregnant. As Kate’s team works to identify the woman, they soon discover that those around her are hiding something.
When a second body is found with similar wounds, Kate
believes they may have a serial killer. Can Kate and her team catch this methodical killer before
another woman dies?
This is a fast paced procedural that kept me turning the
pages. Ms. Hammersley’s writing pulls you in and with all the twists and turns I
could not put it down. I love DI Kate Fletcher. A strong female lead character
done well. The whole team makes a great cast of secondary characters that I
hope to learn more about as I follow the series.
I can highly recommend this book and I cannot wait to read
more in the series!
***
Author Info
Heleyne
Hammersley is a British writer based in Cumbria. She writes psychological
suspense thrillers and crime novels.
Heleyne has been writing since junior school –
her first work was a collection of poems called ‘Give Them the Works’ when she
was ten years old. The poems were carefully handwritten on plain paper and tied
together with knitting wool.
When she’s not writing, Heleyne can often be
found wandering on the fells or in the local park with her dog.
MURDER UNEXPECTED (Kat and Mouse Mysteries #2) by Anita
Waller is the second contemporary cozy mystery in this intriguing and
entertaining trilogy. Each book has a unique mystery to be solved, but these
books are best read in order due to the continuation of the main characters’
interactions and development.
This story picks up just a few months after the end of the
first book, which has Kat, Mouse and Doris all waiting anxiously for the birth
of Kat’s baby while being wary as Kat’s husband is still a fugitive. The three
are being careful and vigilant as they work to grow their detective agency,
Connection in the village of Eyam.
When a widow gives the ladies a case to identify the birth
mother of her deceased husband something just does not feel right. Judith is
not telling the whole truth. While others knew of her husband’s wish to find
his birth mother before his cancer diagnosis, no one believes Judith is doing
this out of love. When the ladies go to return her retainer and get out of the
case, they find Judith murdered.
This murder leads to many twists and turns, with the ladies
sharing information with DI Tessa Marsden and Hannah once again.
This second book in the trilogy was even more intense and
emotionally riveting than the first. Kat’s continued personal upheaval with her
husband, Leon ended with a surprise that was realistic, but I did not expect the
author to go there. The murder mystery plot in this book also was not what I
was expecting. It had so many twists and turns that drained me emotionally and
yet were completely satisfying by its resolution. Ms. Waller has some very
clever ideas when it comes to murder.
I love Kat, Mouse (Beth) and Doris. These are strong female
characters you feel you want to meet in real life. DI Marsden and Hannah are
also intelligent law enforcement characters. Wonderful writing brings these
characters to life and the resolutions are clever and thought provoking.
I can highly recommend this book and am anxiously awaiting book #3 of the trilogy!
Thanks very much to Bloodhound Books and Net Galley for allowing me to read this eARC.
