The Ringmaster by Vanda Symon @vandasymon BLOG TOUR @OrendaBooks #SamShephard #TheRingmaster

Death is stalking the South Island of New Zealand
 
Marginalised by previous antics, Sam Shephard, is on the bottom rung of detective training in Dunedin, and her boss makes sure she knows it. She gets involved in her first homicide investigation, when a university student is murdered in the Botanic Gardens, and Sam soon discovers this is not an isolated incident. There is a chilling prospect of a predator loose in Dunedin, and a very strong possibility that the deaths are linked to a visiting circus…
 
Determined to find out who’s running the show, and to prove herself, Sam throws herself into an investigation that can have only one ending…
 
Rich with atmosphere, humour and a dark, shocking plot, The Ringmaster marks the return of passionate, headstrong police officer, Sam Shephard, in the next instalment of Vanda Symon’s bestselling series.

The Ringmaster by Vanda Symon is the second in the Sam Shephard series and is published in paperback by Orenda Books on 18 April. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review for this Blog Tour

Back in July last year, I read and reviewed the first Sam Shephard book; Overkill (here's my review) 

I absolutely loved Overkill and Sam Shephard became my new favourite heroine. I've been so looking forward to finding out just what she gets up to next.

Once again, Orenda Books have totally excelled with this amazing cover. Those colours, and the peaks of the circus tent conjure up such a thrill, and the story inside doesn't disappoint. I absolutely adored this, I read it in almost one sitting, desperately turning the pages as Sam's latest adventures unfolded.

After the events of Overkill, Sam Shephard is now in the small town of Dunedin, she's training to become a detective and living with her friend Maggie and Maggie's Aunt and Uncle. Dunedin is so different to her last posting where she was the only police officer. However, when a young woman's body is found and it is quite obvious that she's been murdered, Sam finds herself, once again in the midst of a murder investigation.

Once more, this talented author has written a prologue that is shocking and to the point, and that's one of the things that I really love about this series. There's no gentle introduction with Vanda Symon, oh no, she starts as she means to go on; with a brutal murder.

And so, we follow Sam as she battles against a bullish boss and countless red herrings and twists along the way. She's determined and gritty and straight to the point; some of her put-downs aimed usually at men are gloriously written - just making her more of a hero, in my view.
I love the way that this author enables her readers to learn a little more about Sam with each book; her relationships with family and with potential lovers are examined in this book in more detail, and to be honest, this made me love her more!

I adore the sense of place that this author creates; her small New Zealand town and it's community come alive within the pages.

Vanda Symon is a wonderful story teller. The Ringmaster is atmospheric, gripping and incredibly satisfying; my only problem is that I read it too quickly and now have to wait for the next instalment! 

Vanda Symon is the best-selling author of four Detective Sam Shephard crime fiction novels, published in New Zealand, including Overkill (Penguin, 2007), The Ringmaster (Penguin, 2008), Containment (Penguin, 2009), Bound (Penguin, 2011), and the stand-alone psychological thriller, The Faceless (Penguin, 2012). She is a three-time finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Fiction Novel. Her books have also been published in Germany.

Author Kate Mosse has said: ‘Vanda Symon’s fast paced crime novels are as good as anything the US has to offer – a sassy heroine, fabulous sense of place, and rip roaring stories with a twist. Perfect curl-up on the sofa reading.’ Crimewatch has described Vanda as ‘part of a new wave of Kiwi crime writers… Symon’s talent for creating well-rounded characters permeates throughout’.

Vanda is the producer and host of Write On, a monthly radio show on matters literary on Otago Access Radio, and she also reviews books for National Radio. She is very involved in the New Zealand writing community, having been chair of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors, and is currently the Chair of Copyright Licensing New Zealand. Vanda also has participated in celebrity debates, acted as speaker, reader or chair in literary events and festivals in New Zealand and Australia, and toured with The New Zealand Book Council’s Words on Wheels.

Vanda has a professional background as a pharmacist and has recently completed a PhD in science communication, examining the communication of science through crime fiction.

Follow her on Twitter @vandasymon
Find out more at www.vandasymon.com
Find her Author page on Facebook

The House Across The Street by Lesley Pearse @LesleyPearse @MichaeJBooks @elliescase @ed_pr #Giveaway #Win #Competition

Is there a murderer across the street?

It's 1964 and twenty-three-year-old Katy Speed is fascinated by Gloria and the goings-on at the house over the road. Who are the mysterious women that arrive in a black car most Saturdays?

Then one night, Gloria's house burns to the ground. Bodies are found in the wreckage.

And Katy's horror turns to disbelief when her own father is arrested and charged with murder.

Determined to prove his innocence, Katy sets out to uncover the truth about the mysterious house across the street and find the real murderer. But that means risking her own life . . . 

The House Across the Street by Lesley Pearse is published in paperback by Michael Joseph on 2 May 2019

I originally reviewed the hardback edition of this book; my review was printed in the Daily Express, and can also be found below.

I have one paperback copy of The House Across the Street to giveaway

Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget at the end of this post

UK Entries only.   GOOD LUCK! 

Lesley Pearse’s The House Across the Street is set in the small town of Bexhill in the early 1960s. Katy Speed is twenty-three and lives in the town with her parents, her younger brother Rob is away at University.

Although Katy comes from what is considered a ‘good’ home, her relationship with her mother is strained. Her father Albert is her biggest ally; loving and supportive in all ways, whilst her mother Hilda can only be described as cold and bitter.

Katy is fascinated by the house across the street. The house is occupied by the glamorous dress shop owner Gloria; a woman who always encourages Katy to move away, to go to London, to make more of her life.

Katy is intrigued by the regular visitors to Gloria’s house; they arrive  in a sleek black car, always women, and often with children in tow. Hilda disapproves of Gloria and tries her best to make Katy stay away from her.

When Gloria’s house burns to the ground, and her body and that of her daughter are discovered inside, the police are convinced it is arson. The community is shocked to the core. Katy has finally taken Gloria’s advice and gone to London to seek work and a flat with her best friend Jilly and it is whilst she is there that she finds out that her wonderful father has been arrested on suspicion of arson and murder.

What follows is a tense and thrilling story. Lesley Pearse depicts the 60s era so very well, and Katy is an incredible character. Her strength and determination to prove her father’s innocence lands her in troubles that she could never have imagined. This author deals with the serious theme of domestic violence very well, giving great insight into how the police, and the wider community viewed abused women in the past.

Emotional and moving, this is story-telling at its best, filled with characters that it’s impossible not to care about.

Praise for The House Across the Street

'Heart-warming and evocative, a real delight to read' Sun

'A narrative that gallops along, this is quintessential Pearse that will delight her army of readers' Daily Mail

'Glorious, heartwarming' Woman & Home

'Evocative, compelling, told from the heart' Sunday Express

'Gripping' Hello

One Paperback copy of The House Across The Street by Lesley Pearse



Lesley Pearse was told as a child that she had too much imagination for her own good. When she grew up she worked her way through a number of jobs, including nanny, bunny girl, dressmaker and full-time mother, before, at the age of forty-nine, settling upon a career that would allow her gifts to blossom: she became a published writer. Lesley lives in Devon and has three daughters and three grandchildren. 

Find out more about Lesley and keep up to date with what she's been doing:

Follow her on Twitter @LesleyPearse

Follow her on Facebook @LesleyPearseAuthor

Sign up for her newsletter www.lesleypearse.com

Snegurochka by Judith Heneghan @JudithHeneghan BLOG TOUR @saltpublishing #Snegurochka @EmmaDowson1

‘Something terrible is happening here. Something terrible has already happened.’

Kiev 1992. Rachel, a troubled young English mother, joins her journalist husband on his first foreign posting in the city. Terrified of the apartment's balcony, she develops obsessive rituals to keep their baby safe. Her difficulties expose her to a disturbing endgame between the elderly caretaker and a local racketeer who sends a gift that surely comes with a price. Rachel is isolated yet culpable with her secrets and estrangements. As consequences bear down she seeks out Zoya, her husband's fixer, and the boy from upstairs who watches them all.

Home is uncertain, betrayal is everywhere, but in the end there are many ways to be a mother.

Snegurochka by Judith Heneghan was published by Salt on 15 April 2019. My thanks to the publisher who invited me to take part in this Blog Tour - I am delighted to share a guest post from the author on Random Things today.

There’s a scene in Snegurochka where Rachel, my main character, walks into a state-owned general store and sees a queue. It’s 1992 and she has lived in Kiev for just enough time to know that a queue is always worth investigating. She stands in line, hoping for butter or baby wipes, but when she reaches the front she discovers that the day’s hot ticket is a consignment of Donald Duck push-along toys, manufactured, most probably, in North Korea. 

Consumer goods play a key role in my novel. When I began writing, I knew the daily trawl of local shops, roadside stalls and kiosks that was part of life for most Ukrainians would need to be woven through the plot. I had lived in Kiev with my freelancer husband and our baby during the early 1990s, and while I was fortunate to have some dollars in my purse, there wasn’t much to buy. The country had just declared its independence from a collapsing Soviet Union. Hyperinflation and the black market surged while pensioners traded jars of pickled cucumber or a few frostbitten apples on upturned crates at street corners. Some opportunist opened a ‘Tesco’ shop in a basement, with most items long past their sell-by date. Items such as books, nappies and tin openers that I’d previously taken for granted took on a new and pressing significance. 

While in Kiev I was contacted by the local UN mission and asked to carry out a survey. The survey was to determine the cost of living for its expatriate personnel. It turned out to be a thick file of around 300 items and I needed to find three separate prices for each of them, though quite honestly I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw columns for ‘Brie, French, 100g’ or ‘sandwich toaster, Breville, silver’. Nevertheless, that survey seeded all sorts of story ideas. With my son in his pushchair I trudged across the city, ticking off bananas purchased beneath the high walls of the monastery or Liptons tea bags from the recesses of the cigarette kiosk. Then, one afternoon, as I searched in vain for ‘lightbulbs, screw fitting, 60 watt’ I stumbled upon a white goods shop in a narrow side street. Fridges and washing machines were stacked up to the ceiling. As a particular brand of washing machine was an item in the survey I asked a man sitting at a desk how much they cost. He quickly drew me towards a back room and, stroking my baby’s head, told me in broken English how very sorry he was that none of his machines were suitable. 

That salesman has since morphed into Mykola, my fictional racketeer. 

I completed the survey eventually, guessing a few prices and cobbling together the rest so that the UN expats got their so-called hardship allowance. My shopping odyssey proved a turning point for me, however. I had criss-crossed our neighbourhood countless times with my son in his pushchair and those streets were now part of my imaginative geography. I’d learned to count to one million in Ukrainian. I’d learned to carry a string bag with me at all times and if I joined the back of a queue I knew to take whatever was on offer. It might be cheese. It might be tights or a Donald Duck push-along toy or it might, if I was patient, be a story.

‘An unforgettable story. The claustrophobia is palpable, and the characters are utterly convincing in this beautifully observed novel. Outstanding.’ —Claire Fuller 







Judith Heneghan is a writer and editor. 
She spent several years in Ukraine and Russia with her young family in the 1990s and now teaches creative writing at the University of Winchester. 


Website: www.judithheneghan.co.uk

Twitter : @JudithHeneghan

Twisted by Steve Cavanagh @SSCav BLOG TOUR #ThisBookIsTwisted @orionbooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n @orion_crime

BEFORE YOU READ THIS BOOK
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THREE THINGS:

1. The police are looking to charge me with murder.
2. No one knows who I am. Or how I did it.
3. If you think you've found me. I'm coming for you next.

After you've read this book, you'll know: the truth is far more twisted...

Twisted by Steve Cavanagh was published on 4 April 2019, in paperback by Orion Books. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review, and to Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers who invited me to take part in this Blog Tour

I honestly don't know where to start with this review! 

I have been glued to Twisted for a couple of days and at times the air has been turned blue as I was totally thrown by yet another unexpected and totally glorious twist in the plot. I have sighed, and gasped and sworn and cursed my way through this book. It's been one hell of a ride and I loved every stomach-churning, total mind-fuck minute of it.

It's not really possible to talk about the plot as I'd give too much away, and I really think that the best way to go into this story is completely unaware of what it's about. I knew, due to the very clever pre-publication marketing done by the author and his wife on social media, that this book was about an elusive, top selling crime author called JT LeBeau. I knew that other crime authors were not this author's biggest fans. I knew that there were rumours that LeBeau stole their ideas from other writers. I also knew that nobody, not even their publisher knew the true identity of LeBeau.

From the intriguing and compelling opening, through the fast-paced action that twists and turns like the narrowest of dark country lanes, right up until the shocking ending, I had no idea what would come next. Steve Cavanagh is either a genius, or completely twisted himself ..... or maybe he's both?

So, there you go; nothing about the plot, or who LeBeau is ..... why would I tell you?  If I did, I may have to kill you ....

Buy it, read it, love it.  In my opinion, one of the best crime novels I've read this year. It kept me on my toes and it kept me guessing.

Bravo Mr Cavanagh! 

Steve Cavanagh is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author of the Eddie Flynn series and lawyer. His third novel, The Liar, won the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the year 2018. He is also one half of the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast. 

His first standalone book, Twisted, was released in the UK in April 2019. 


Find out more at www.stevecavanaghauthor.com or follow Steve on Twitter @SSCav

Call Me Star Girl by Louise Beech @LouiseWriter BLOG TOUR @OrendaBooks #CallMeStarGirl

Stirring up secrets can be deadly … especially if they’re yours…
Pregnant Victoria Valbon was brutally murdered in an alley three weeks ago – and her killer hasn’t been caught.
Tonight is Stella McKeever’s final radio show. The theme is secrets. You tell her yours, and she’ll share some of hers.
 
Stella might tell you about Tom, a boyfriend who likes to play games, about the mother who abandoned her, now back after fourteen years. She might tell you about the perfume bottle with the star-shaped stopper, or about her father …
 
What Stella really wants to know is more about the mysterious man calling the station … who says he knows who killed Victoria, and has proof.
Tonight is the night for secrets, and Stella wants to know everything…
 
With echoes of the Play Misty for Me, Call Me Star Girl is a taut, emotive and all-consuming psychological thriller that plays on our deepest fears, providing a stark reminder that stirring up dark secrets from the past can be deadly…

Call Me Star Girl by Louise Beech was published by Orenda Books in paperback today; Thursday 18 April 2019. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of the Blog Tour.

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.   

    They may not mean to, but they do.   

They fill you with the faults they had

    And add some extra, just for you.

- This Be The Verse by Philip Larkin

My favourite poem, my favourite poet. These words from Philip Larkin's This Be The Verse sprang into my head as I was reading Call Me Star Girl. Larkin's darkly humorous observations on life,  is not the only thing that he has in common with Louise Beech. He spent the last thirty years of his life in Hull, and will forever be associated with the city; a city that forms the backdrop for this enigmatic and dark story from one of the most gifted authors currently being published.

I've read all of Louise Beech's previous novels and was excited to hear that she'd taken yet another direction in her writing and that Call Me Star Girl is a psychological thriller. It most surely is. However, it's not a fast-paced, action filled story at all. It's a dark and sensuous story that slowly unfolds during one long and lonely night-shift in a radio studio in Hull.

Stella McKeever has presented the late-night radio show to the city for years, but tonight is her final show. Stella asks her listeners to share their secrets, and tells a few of her own too. The reader learns about her relationship with her boyfriend Tom, in which Stella appears to be needy and ready to do anything to keep her man. Stella describes some of their sexual adventures, which to be honest, made me feel a little grubby and voyeuristic at times. However, the beauty of this author's incredible writing and her ability to weave together threads from what at first appear to be totally unrelated more than make up for a fleeting dirty feeling!


The local community have been rocked by the vicious murder of a young pregnant woman. Victoria Valbon was found dead in a dingy alleyway in the city. Stella is haunted, quite literally, by Victoria and as the news about the murder enquiry is re-told, every hour, during her radio show, the links between Stella and the dead woman become more defined. It's an intricately balanced unstitching of layers of story that when finally sewn back together become something that was never expected.

Probably Stella's most important and defining relationship is the one that she has with her mother Elizabeth. Beech alternates the point of view of this story, allowing narrative from both Stella and Elizabeth to be heard. Stella is a damaged and I think, a damaging individual. Her childhood experiences have left dark and deep scars on her psychologically and the reappearance of her mother into her life has raised so many questions.

I have to admit that I really struggled to write this review. I could talk about the murder case that is pivotal to the whole story, I can expand on Stella's relationships, I could discuss the incredibly crafted supporting characters and the evocative and compelling sense of place. I can admit that I did wonder, during the first few chapters, if the author had made a mistake when switching genre; really did take a while to settle into the story. However, I was soon under the spell of this hugely talented and gifted author and I'm absolutely in awe of her ability to always, no matter what the genre, produce a story that is full of compassion and heart-felt words. The reader is compelled to believe in every single paragraph, and to just want more and more.

The darkest of darkness, the most taut and riveting words and characters who are fine-tuned and so believable. Louise Beech is a superb storyteller whose writing is just so emotionally lyrical. Call Me Star Girl is gripping, atmospheric and deeply satisfying.

Louise's short stories have won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting twice for the Bridport Prize and being published in a variety of UK magazines. Her first play, Afloat, was performed at Hull Truck Theatre in 2012. She also wrote a ten-year newspaper column for the Hull Daily Mail. 

Her debut novel, How to be Brave, was a Guardian Readers' pick in 2015. The Sunday Mirror called Maria in the Moon quirky, darkly comic, original and heartfelt, and The Lion Tamer Who Lost was described as 'engrossing and captivating' by the Daily Express.

Link to her website - http://louisebeech.co.uk/

Twitter @LouiseWriter