Review: IT TAKES A TOWN, Aoife Clifford

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Published Ultimo Press 
• ISBN 9781761152733
• Pub Date: April 2024
• Extent: 352pp

Synopsis (publisher)

So many people had reason to hate her, but did anyone have reason to kill her?
 
Everyone dies famous in a country town, but glamorous Vanessa Walton was a shining star. A celebrity since a television commercial when she was a child, Vanessa is back on the front page for all the wrong reasons; after a terrible storm she has been found dead at the bottom of her stairs.
 
At first her death seems to be a simple accident, but anonymous letters are discovered that suggest otherwise – and when 16-year-old Jasmine Landridge claims it is murder, she suddenly disappears. As the police begin to investigate, secrets are exposed and friendships unravel.
 
What happens to a community when murders and abductions sit alongside petty workmates, teenage tribulations and longstanding friendships? It will take a town to solve this crime, but what will be broken in the effort to piece together the truth? 

My Take

The attendance at her funeral is huge for a small town and the word on everybody's lips is "murder". But the local police, in the first case for the new station head, and the local coroner, both pronounce that it was an accident. The woman who brought fame to the town was hated by many. But she was adored by many, and there are those who think the investigation into her death has not been thorough enough.

Secrets come to light, and relationships are tested. A wonderful array of believable characters. An excellent read.

My rating: 4.6

About the Author
Aoife Clifford is the author of All These Perfect Strangers, which was long-listed for both the Australian Industry General Fiction Book of the Year and the Voss Literary Prize, and Second Sight, a Publishers Weekly (starred review) and PW Pick for Book of the Week. Aoife’s short stories have been published in Australia, United Kingdom and the United States, winning premier prizes such as the Scarlet Stiletto and the S.D. Harvey Ned Kelly Award.

Review: THE CARDIFF KILLINGS, Gaynor Torrance

• 
  This edition available from Amazon on Kindle
  
• THE CARDIFF KILLINGS a gripping murder mystery (DI Jemima Huxley Crime Thriller Book 1)
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09W33D4BJ
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books crime thriller, mystery and suspense (March 20, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 279 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

MEET DETECTIVE INSPECTOR JEMIMA HUXLEY IN THIS BRILLIANT NEW CRIME SERIES FULL OF STUNNING TWISTS.

Please note this book was previously published as REVENGE.

An isolated manor house. Shallow woodland graves. A troubled female detective facing the biggest case of her career.

The call comes early in the morning. David and Helen Tremaine have discovered a body buried in the grounds of their large Victorian manor house, Llys Faen Hall, just north of Cardiff.

DI Jemima Huxley and her partner, DS Dan Broadbent, race to the scene to discover that a second body has been unearthed in a shallow woodland grave. And the forensic team working the site believe this is just the start.

Jemima knows this is the biggest case of her career. But it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Struggling to get pregnant, she is a woman on the edge, a woman who self-harms just to make it through the day. And with no one reported missing, no apparent motive and no obvious suspect, the investigation is anything but straightforward.

Eight graves. Eight dead women. All with pomegranate seeds placed inside their mouths.

When Jemima makes an unexpected breakthrough, she enters a desperate race against time to prevent more women dying.

Readers of Simon McCleave, Rachel McLean, Ann Cleeves, Helen H. Durrant, Joy Ellis, Angela Marsons, L.J. Ross, J.M. Dalgliesh, Mark Edwards and Lynda La Plante will love Gaynor Torrance’s feisty and flawed protagonist DI Jemima Huxley.

My Take

This is the fairly grisly beginning to a new-to-me series set in Wales. Basically a police procedural about a serial killer. There are some not-so-new elements such as a new female detective inspector charged with setting up a new murder team, hounded by her boss, and also feeling the pressures of being unable to become pregnant.  Jemima Huxley also self harms.  

A body is found in a shallow grave on a wealthy estate. Investigators quickly realise there is more than one body, all killed in a similar way, seemingly with some ritual significance.

I will read another.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Gaynor Torrance lives near Cardiff with her husband and their rescue cat, Cleo. The area is the setting for her Detective Inspector Jemima Huxley Crime Thriller series of books. Like Gaynor, Jemima has a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Though, apart from them both having a keen interest in human behaviour, that’s where any similarity ends.

When she’s not writing or glued to her Kindle, Gaynor enjoys listening to music, playing the piano, walking, travelling, and eating far too much chocolate.

Find out more about Gaynor at: https://www.gaynortorrance.com  

DETECTIVE INSPECTOR JEMIMA HUXLEY
Book 1: THE CARDIFF KILLINGS
Book 2: THE BRIARMARSH CLOSE KILLINGS
Book 3: THE CAERPHILLY MOUNTAIN KILLINGS
Book 4: THE LEIGHTON MEADOW KILLINGS
Book 5: THE MARQUESS CLUB KILLINGS

Review: ONE DARK, TWO LIGHT, Ruth Mancini

• 
  this edition provided by my local library
  
• published by Head of Zeus 2020
• ISBN 9-78188-543354
• 376 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

New Year's Eve, London. Outside the Hope & Glory pub, a man has been left to die. A victim of extraordinary violence, he will never walk or speak again. He remains in hospital, nameless, until criminal defence lawyer Sarah Kellerman walks onto his ward.

Sarah barely recognises the man she once worked with – he was honourable and kind – what was he involved in? Who wanted him dead? But in her race to uncover the truth, Sarah comes to realise there are two men in her life that she never really knew at all...

From one of crime fiction's most compelling voices, One Dark, Two Light sees the personal and criminal collide, as Sarah reaches into the darkest corners to bring secrets into the light.  

My Take

The man Sarah Kellerman recognises in a London hospital has apparently lain there unidentified for about three months. But when Sarah investigates how the police have not identified him earlier, nor seemingly have not written a report on what happened to him, it seems the story does not ring true. And then when her 15 year old client is charged with running him over in a car, she realises she can't leave this alone.

A good read.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.5, THE WOMAN ON THE LEDGE

Review: THE LAST WORD, Elly Griffiths

• this edition from my local library
• published 2024 by Quercus, large print edition
• ISBN 978-1-399-16878-6
• 341 pages
• Harbinder Kaur #4
  

Synopsis (Publisher) 

Words can be dangerous. Sometimes they kill…

Natalka and Edwin are running a detective agency in Shoreham, Sussex. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated, longing for a big juicy investigation to come the agency’s way.

Then a murder case turns up. Local writer, Melody Chambers, is found dead and her family are convinced it is murder. Edwin, a big fan of the obit pages, thinks there’s a link to the writer of Melody’s obituary who pre-deceased his subject.

The trail leads them to a slightly sinister writers’ retreat. When another writer is found dead, Edwin thinks that the clue lies in the words. Seeking professional help, the amateur investigators turn to their friend, detective Harbinder Kaur, to find that they have stumbled on a plot that is stranger than fiction.

My Take

An easy to read story but perhaps just a few too many tangled threads.

Private detectives Natalka and Edwin come across some deaths which relatives think are actually murder. The starting point is a writer's retreat during which a third person dies. From there we go to a book club which seems also linked, and more suspicious deaths are discovered.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read

• 4.6, THE CROSSING PLACES - Ruth Galloway #1
  
• 4.6, THE JANUS STONE - Ruth Galloway #2
• 4.6, THE HOUSE AT SEA'S END - Ruth Galloway #3
• 4.5, A ROOM FULL OF BONES - Ruth Galloway #4
• 4.8, DYING FALL- audio book - Ruth Galloway #5
• 4.5, THE GHOST FIELDS, Elly Griffiths - audio book - Ruth Galloway #7
• 4.7, THE OUTCAST DEAD, Elly Griffiths - audio book - Ruth Galloway #6
• 4.7, THE WOMAN IN BLUE - Ruth Galloway #8
• 4.7, THE CHALK PIT - Ruth Galloway #9
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES - Harbinder Kaur #1
  
• 4.4, THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS - Harbinder Kaur #2
  
• 4.7, THE LANTERN MEN - Ruth Galloway #12
• 5.0, THE STONE CIRCLE - Ruth Galloway #11 
• 4.8, THE DARK ANGEL - Ruth Galloway #10
• 4.7, THE NIGHT HAWKS - Ruth Galloway #13
  
• 5.0, THE LOCKED ROOM - Ruth Galloway #14
• 4.6, BLEEDING HEART YARD - Harbinder Kaur #3
• 5.0, THE LAST REMAINS - Ruth Galloway #15
• 4.8, THE ZIG ZAG GIRL - Brighton Mysteries #1
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Brighton Mysteries #2
• 4.5, THE BLOOD CARD- Brighton Mysteries #3
  
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX - Brighton Mysteries #4 
• 4.6, NOW YOU SEE THEM- Brighton Mysteries #5
  
• 4.5, THE MIDNIGHT HOUR- Brighton Mysteries #6
• 4.6, THE GREAT DECEIVER -Brighton Mysteries #7

Review: BEFORE SHE KNEW HIM, Peter Swanson

• 
  This book made available through my local library
  
• first published in 2019
• 309 pages
• ISBN 978-0-571-34064-4

Synopsis (publisher)

'They had a secret, the two of them, and there was no better way to start a friendship than with a secret.'

When Hen and Lloyd move into their new house in West Dartford, Mass, they're relieved to meet, at their first block party, the only other seemingly-childless couple in their neighborhood, Matthew and Mira Dolamore. Turns out they live in the Dutch Colonial immediately next door.

When they're invited over for dinner, however, things take a sinister turn when Hen thinks she sees something suspicious in Matthew's study. Could this charming, mild-mannered College Professor really be hiding a dark secret, one that only Hen, whose been battling her own problems with depression and medication, could know about? Lloyd certainly doesn't seem to believe her, and so, forced together, Hen and Matthew start to form an unlikely bond. But who, if anyone, is really in danger?

From its deeply unsettling opening, Peter Swanson, the master of contemporary domestic thrillers, fashions a novel as brilliant, dark, coruscating and surprising as Patricia Highsmith and Ira Levin at their very best.

My Take

Another book that just keeps you reading. (I seem to have discovered so many of theme recently - I blame my friends who keep recommending them).

I found this one a little difficult to get into but that may have been something to do with the size of the print which was a bit small.

Hen has trouble convincing her husband Lloyd and the police that her neighbour Matthew is a murderer.  The story is engrossing. But nothing prepared me for the final twist at the end. 

I've also read 4.8, RULES FOR PERFECT MURDERS

My Rating: 4.6

About the Author

Peter Swanson's debut novel, The Girl With a Clock for a Heart (2014), was described by Dennis Lehane as 'a twisty, sexy, electric thrill ride' and was nominated for the LA Times book award. His second novel The Kind Worth Killing (2015), a Richard and Judy pick, was shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and named the iBook stores Thriller of the Year, and was followed by two more critical and commercial hits, Her Every Fear (2017) and All the Beautiful Lies (2018). He lives with his wife and cat in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Review: APARTMENT 303, Kelli Hawkins

• 
  this edition made available on Libby as an e-book by my library system
  
• ISBN: 9781460763322
• ISBN-10: 1460763327
• Published: 8th March 2023
• Format: Paperback
• Number of Pages: 320
• Audience: General Adult
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Synopis (publisher)

Even a locked door can't keep you safe

Twenty-six-year-old Rory rarely leaves her apartment, though her little dog Buster keeps her company. Days are spent working for her aunt's PI business, and watching and imagining histories for the homeless men, the Dossers, across the road. At night she walks Buster on the roof, gazes at the stars and wonders.

The night before New Year's Eve, one of the Dossers is murdered, an incident which brings the world - police, new neighbours, her dark past and new possibilities - crashing through Rory's front door.

She thought she was keeping her fears at bay. But has her sanctuary turned into her prison? Or is it safer for everyone if Rory stays locked away? 

My Take

This is one of those books that takes you into a world that most of us are not familiar with. Rory rarely leaves her apartment unless it is in the company of her aunt or the driver that her aunt employs. She has OCD and constantly battles her compulsive disorders. Those on the downstairs desk in the foyer of Rory's apartment building are careful to look after her, and her food and household supplies are delivered by a trusted family.

She has a good life, well taken care of, work she enjoys, and she even makes friends with a young girl in the building.

But then things change. One of the dossers who sleeps in the park opposite the apartment building is murdered, and one of the doormen decides to retire.  Rory watches the dossers through binoculars and she sees the shape of a man that she thinks she recognises. It is of course someone from her past that she doesn't want to see. That puts her world into a spin.

This is a book that just keeps you reading. We find out that Rory is being manipulated in ways that she doesn't realise. 

Well worth reading.  Perhaps worth looking for other books by this author.

My rating: 4.5

About the author:
Kelli Hawkins writes reports for a private investigator, as well as working on novels for adults and children. She lives in Newcastle with her two teenagers. Over the years she’s travelled whenever possible and worked all kinds of jobs. Kelli’s been a political journalist, a graphic designer, a mystery shopper – even a staple remover. When she’s not writing she’s planning a holiday – or dreaming of one. Or reading, of course.

Kelli Hawkins writes across genres and has five books published by HarperCollins Australia. Three are psychological adult thrillers. Other People’s Houses was published in 2021, followed by All She Wants in 2022. Her latest, Apartment 303, was released in March 2023.

Review: THE TRIVIA NIGHT. Ali Lowe

• 
  This edition, published 2022 Hodder & Stoughton
  
• supplied by my local library
• ISBN 978-1-529-34882-8
• 356 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Question: How long does it take to tear someone's life apart?

Answer: Sometimes just one night.

From the outside the parents of the kindergarten class at Darley Heights primary school seem to have it all. Living in the wealthy Sydney suburbs, it's a community where everyone knows each other - and secrets don't stay secret for long.

The big date in the calendar is the school's annual fundraising trivia night, but when the evening gets raucously out of hand, talk turns to partner-swapping. Initially scandalised, it's not long before a group of parents make a reckless one-night-only pact.

But in the harsh light of day, those involved must face the fallout of their behaviour. As they begin to navigate the shady aftermath of their wild night, the truth threatens to rip their perfect lives apart - and revenge turns fatal.

THE TRIVIA NIGHT is a gripping, domestic page-turner full of shocking reveals, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Sally Hepworth.

My Take

Here is a Trivia Night quite unlike any that you've ever attended.

Four couples sit at a table, and general knowledge questions take a back seat. What happens at this night will have a long tail of consequences that none of them could have foreseen at the beginning. Lives will be changed forever.

There is a twist at the end that I really didn't anticipate.

Question for the reader:
Who is the author of the Prologue and who is she writing to? (there are plenty of clues)

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.8, THE SCHOOL RUN
• 4.6, THE RUNNING CLUB
  

Review: THE LOST APOTHECARY, Sarah Penner

• 
  This edition available as an e-book for Kindle on Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08L7G19RP
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Legend Press (2 March 2021)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 321 pages
• Shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award
  2021's Most Highly Anticipated New Books Newsweek
  Most Anticipated Books of 2021 Popsugar

Synopsis (Amazon) 

With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating debut novel of secrets, vengeance and the remarkable ways women can save each other despite the barrier of time.

Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.

Meanwhile in present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, running from her own demons. When she stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago, her life collides with the apothecary’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.

My Take

This novel attempts (successfully) one of those very difficult formats: two time frames separated by over 200 years, and also at least two themes mystery, and love/faithfulness. Another element is that it is written by an American author but set in London.

Caroline Parcewell's 10 year wedding anniversary trip to London turns out very different to what she had imagined when just prior to the trip she finds out that her husband has had an affair. Instead of a second honeymoon she finds herself in London alone. With time on her hands she goes mudlarking on the mud flats of the Thames and finds a small blue vial. This sparks a quest to find out more and she uncovers information about an apothecary who used these vials to help women deal with husbands they want to be rid of.

I have read it for my U3A Crime Fiction group.

I have discovered a reader's guide which both poses questions about the story, and gives some background to how and why it was written.

Here are some I may use in our discussion. (click here to find more)

1) The Lost Apothecary opens with Nella in her shop, preparing to dispense a poison meant to kill a man. Her work is sinister, and much about her character is dark and disturbing. When you first learned that Nella was a murderer, how did you view her? How did your feelings change over the course of the book as more of her past was revealed?
Did you believe she would eventually find redemption? In the end, did you see her as a hero, a villain, or something in between? Why?

2) At the beginning of Caroline’s story, she finds the apothecary vial while on a mudlarking
tour. Had you heard of mudlarking prior to reading this book? Do you believe that fate or
coincidence led to her discovery? Have you ever stumbled on something that you consider to
be fate?

3) Both Nella and Caroline have been betrayed by men in their lives. In what ways did the two
women respond similarly to these betrayals? In what ways did they respond differently? Do
you feel that one woman was more emotionally resilient than the other?

4) Nella and Eliza form an unlikely friendship early in the story, despite Nella’s resistance to
having the young girl in her shop a second time. Why do you think Nella eventually softened
her heart toward Eliza? What drew the two characters—one on the cusp of womanhood, the
other toward the end of her life—toward one another? What kind of impact did Eliza have on
Nella’s character?

5) The Lost Apothecary is sprinkled with mention of magick, and several events occur that could
be considered either the work of magick or merely good luck. When you learned that Eliza
survived after ingesting the Tincture to Reverse Bad Fortune, did you believe it the result of
magick, or do you think she was a lucky survivor after jumping into the freezing river?

 My rating: 4.5

About the Author
Sarah Penner is the debut author of The Lost Apothecary, which has been sold into eleven territories worldwide. Sarah works full-time in finance. She and her husband live in St. Petersburg, Florida with their miniature dachshund, Zoe. Follow Sarah @SL_Penner Or visit www.SarahPenner.com

Review: DEATH ON THE NILE, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition from Amazon on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DCG8S8NV
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Horizon Ridge Publishing (10 August 2024
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
• First published in Great Britain in 1937

Synopsis (Amazon} 

Beloved detective Hercule Poirot embarks on a journey to Egypt in one of Agatha Christie's most famous mysteries.

The tranquility of a luxury cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful. A girl who had everything . . . until she lost her life.

Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: "I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger." Yet under the searing heat of the Egyptian sun, nothing is ever quite what it seems.

A sweeping mystery of love, jealousy, and betrayal, Death on the Nile is one of Christie's most legendary and timeless works.

My Take

Well, of course, this is far from the first time that I have read DEATH ON THE NILE. My earlier reviews is here. I am re-reading it this time with my U3A Agatha Christie Reading group who are coming to the end of their 4 year course with me. I anticipate they will have enjoyed the novel.

I want to focus our discussion on some of the following

• the way Christie introduces us to all the main characters
• who is NOT what they appear to be at first glance? 
• the interactions between the characters
• how is each character in some way linked to a crime
  
• the suspicions she plants in our minds
• the red herrings which are laid across our reading path
• The role of Colonel Race
• How they felt about the ending.
• what makes this such an appealing book?
  
• some themes that have been suggested: Justice, genre expectations, the importance of class, romantic love, selfishness and generosity, national identity and international connections
  

We will follow our discussion by watching the television production with David Suchet as Poirot. 

My rating: 4.5

My reviews of Agatha Christie novels

Review: EDENHOPE, Louise Le Nay

• this edition available as an e-book on Kindle at Amazon
• 
  ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CTGMCF1H
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Text Publishing (4 June 2024)
• 320 pages 

Synopsis (Amazon)

The warm, heroic story of a grandmother's determination to save her family from themselves.

Marnie is sixty-three and downwardly mobile. Her middle-class marriage is long gone, her only child more or less estranged. She's living in a granny flat behind a stranger's house.

Still, things could be worse. She likes her new boss, Trinh, and her flat has a leadlight window depicting a galleon in full sail. Also, her daughter Lenny has just brought Marnie's adored grandchildren to stay.

She's also brought her repellent boyfriend and raging drug habit, so nothing new there. But this time it's different. This time Marnie can see with absolute clarity the danger the children are in.
And this time-she's going to do something about it.

This is the revelatory story of an ordinary woman who will let nothing, not even the law, stand in the way of her grandchildren's safety. Simply, elegantly told and utterly compelling, Edenhope is an adventure for those who believe adventure can come from anywhere. And it is a love story for those who understand that love can be found everywhere.

My Take

I should say at the start that this is not my usual crime fiction. It is in part a comment on the effects of petty crime on children and families, and about people who decide to do something about it, to make a difference.

Very readable and thought provoking. 

My rating: 4.5

About the author

 Louise Le Nay is an Australian actress and writer, known for her role as Sandy Edwards in Prisoner, and Stella Stinson, Kim's adoptive mother in Lift Off. Her novel, THE HERO, was published in 1996.

Review: KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE, Deanna Raybourn

• 
  This edition published 1923 by Hodder & Stoughton
  
• Supplied by my local library
• ISBN 978-1-399-71278-1
• 353 pages
  

Synopsis (publisher)

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. But now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates their real-world resourcefulness in an age of technology.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses-paid trip to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realise they've been marked for death.

To get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman - and a killer - of a certain age.

My Take

I seem to have score a number of books about elderly or retiring assassins just lately. 

• 4.5, SEVENTEEN: Last Man Standing - #1
• 4.5, ASSASSIN EIGHTEEN - #2

I've added 'geezer lit' to my labels for this one. 

Four female assassins on the brink of retiring, highly trained, very successful, find that they in turn are on someone's list, so they must track down who is after them. They are not sure who to trust of their former associates, nor entirely sure what they've done. Some of them are aging more quickly than others of their group.

Entertaining reading.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

SILENT IN THE GRAVE

About the author

New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a double major in English and history and an emphasis on Shakespearean studies. She taught high school English for three years in San Antonio before leaving education to pursue a career as a novelist. Deanna makes her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband and daughter and is hard at work on her next novel.