Who Did You Tell? by Lesley Kara @LesleyKara BLOG TOUR @TransworldBooks #RandomThingsTours #WhoDidYouTell

It’s been 192 days, seven hours and fifteen minutes since her last drink. Now Astrid is trying to turn her life around.

Having reluctantly moved back in with her mother, in a quiet seaside town away from the temptations and painful memories of her life before, Astrid is focusing on her recovery. She's going to meetings. Confessing her misdeeds. Making amends to those she's wronged.

But someone knows exactly what Astrid is running from. And they won't stop until she learns that some mistakes can't be corrected.

Who Did You Tell by Lesley Kara is published in hardback by Transworld on 9 January 2020. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour

Lesley Kara's debut novel, The Rumour was one of my favourite books of last year, and was a huge success. I've been looking forward to reading her next book for months and she proved with Who Did You Tell that she's no one-trick pony! This is another suspenseful, twisty story that had me gripped from page one.

Thirty-two-year-old Astrid has moved in with her mother in the small seaside town of Flintstead. Astrid is a recovering alcoholic, attending regular AA meetings and struggling to overcome her inner demons. Her mother has endured Astrid's problems for over half of her life and whilst she is supportive, she is also stern and quite suspicious.

There's a really dark and sinister undertone to this story. The author's description of Astrid's longing for alcohol, and how every single day seems like a mountainous climb is incredibly well done. I was so impressed by the details incorporated into the story, it really is quite magnificently done.

Astrid is haunted by her previous relationship. Her boyfriend Simon was also an alcoholic and it's clear that their relationship was difficult and quite poisonous. It's also clear that something terrible happened to Simon and at first, the reader is not quite sure just how much input Astrid had into that. What is clear though is how paranoid Astrid feels; she smell Simon's aftershave, she glimpses him in town, or on the beach. She even sees one of his t-shirts for sale in the local charity shop ... or does she?

This is a chilling and quite complex read, but will keep the reader on their toes throughout. The author has created a superb cast of characters to support Astrid and there's even a little romantic interlude thrown to soften the read. 

Very enjoyable and intelligently written; Who Did You Tell is another fabulous read from this very talented author. Highly recommended.

Lesley Kara is an alumna of the Faber Academy 'Writing a Novel' course. She lives on the North Essex coast. She is the author of The Rumour, a Sunday Times Top 10 and Kindle No. 1 bestseller. Her second novel, Who Did You Tell?, is published in January 2020 

Twitter @LesleyKara

Website : www.lesleykara.com

Author Page on Facebook

Instagram @lesleykarawriter

Author photo credit: Christian Davies Photography.

The Guilty Party by Mel McGrath @mcgrathmj @HQstories #TheGuiltyParty #BookReview

On a night out, four friends witness a stranger in trouble. They decide to do nothing to help.

Later, a body washes up on the banks of the Thames – and the group realises that ignoring the woman has left blood on their hands.

But why did each of them refuse to step in? Why did none of them want to be noticed that night? Who is really responsible?

And is it possible that the victim was not really a stranger at all?

The Guilty Party by Mel McGrath was published in paperback by HQ on 27 June 2019. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.


The Guilty Party is an intricately and cleverly plotted story, populated with characters who will test the boundaries of most readers. Personally, I love a despicable character, I think it's an extremely talented author who can create people who we dislike, but who we are interested in enough to continue reading.

I also like something of a moral question to answer myself, and this novel certainly throws up a 'what would you do' for readers. I found myself outraged by the decisions made by these characters, yet morbidly fascinated by their reasons for doing, or not doing, what they did.

The story begins as four friends attend a music festival. There's a bit of a fight and some bruising and bloodshed, but it's the event that they witness as they leave that is the shocker. A woman is sexually assaulted, possibly raped, in a dingy alley, and not one of these people intervene.
Nor do they do anything afterwards.

The lead voice of this novel is Cassie; one of the group. She's a little different from her three friends; Anna, Bo and Dex. Those three come from a more privileged background, and certainly have a huge sense of self-entitlement. Cassie lives a very different life, yet hangs on to this friendship group tightly.

This author gives an insight into the minds of these characters so very well. She reveals, piece by piece, details about each one of them that enables the reader to understand their behaviours, even if we don't approve.

Deliciously flawed characters in a wonderfully complex and utterly compelling plot. This story poses many questions of the reader. It's a captivating and suspenseful story that is satisfying, intriguing and page-turning.



Mel is a bestselling and award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. As MJ McGrath she writes the Edie Kiglatuk series of Arctic mysteries, currently in development for TV. As Mel McGrath she writes the bestselling psychological thrillers Give Me The Child and The Guilty Party. And as Melanie McGrath she writes critically acclaimed nonfiction. She has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Award for Biography, the Andre Simon Awards and Fortnum and Mason Awards for Best Food Book and the HWA Gold Crown for Best History Book. She has also twice been long listed for the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Book. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. She is a cofounder of the Killer Women author group and co-curates the annual Killer Women Festival of Crime Writing and Drama in London.

Mel was born in Essex and has lived in the UK, Germany, the US and Nicaragua. She has been lucky enough to travel widely, including to the Arctic and the Madagascan Rain Forest. She is now based in London and on the Kent coast. In 2005 she set up a charity to help provide medical care for children in Central America. She has worked in a number of prisons, including Holloway women's prison and is currently a mentor for women who have been sex trafficked.

In other lives, she has been a journalist and TV producer and presenter.

Twitter  @mcgrathmj

Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller @ClaireFuller2 @PenguinUKBooks #BitterOrange

Frances Jellico is dying. A man who calls himself the vicar visits, hoping to extract a deathbed confession. He wants to know what really happened that fateful summer of 1969, when Frances - tasked with surveying a dilapidated country house - first set eyes on the glamorous bohemian couple, Cara and Peter. She recalls the relationship they forged through sweltering days, lavish dinners and elaborate lies, and the Judas hole through which she would spy on the couple.

Were the signs there right from the beginning?

Or was it impossible to avoid the crime that split their lives open like rotten fruit?

Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller was published in paperback by Penguin on 2 May 2019. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.


I've read and enjoyed both of Claire Fuller's earlier novels and had been looking forward to Bitter Orange for a long time. Blog scheduling and life in general got in the way and I've only just got around to reading and reviewing.

Claire Fuller's writing is so evocative, this really is a beautifully crafted story. The reader joins Frances in the attic of the dilapidated house, Lyntons, she's there to do research on the follies in the gardens.Frances spots glamorous Cara and Peter, the couple who intend to spend the summer on the floor below her in Lyntons.

It's a long, hot summer and nearing the end of the hedonistic 1960s. Francis has led a sheltered life; primarily as a carer for her mother and when she finds a peephole beneath the floorboards in her room, she begins to watch Cara and Peter and is transfixed by their lives.

What follows is a sensual and wonderfully crafted story of new friendships and discovery. It's almost a coming-of-age story for naive Frances who is the complete opposite of bohemian and wordly Cara. These two female characters are wonderful though and I adored both of them; their complexities and differences are so well conveyed; their creation is breathtakingly good.

As expected; this friendship between Frances and Cara and Peter doesn't run smoothly and it becomes quite dark and somewhat troubling.

This is a beautifully detailed, character-led story, and oh what characters they are! There's an almost gothic feel to the whole story, with the house and surroundings taking centre stage throughout. There's a hint of mystery and of loss and longing and once more, this talented author kept me enthralled throughout the whole story.

An atmospheric treat!  Recommended by me







Claire Fuller is the author of Bitter Orange (2018), Swimming Lessons (2017), which was shortlisted for the Encore Prize for second novels, and Our Endless Numbered Days (2015) which won the Desmond Elliott Prize for debut fiction. 

www.clairefuller.co.uk
Twitter @ClaireFuller2
Author Page on Facebook
Instagram @writerclairefuller

*** COVER REVEAL *** #WhoIsIt @FitzHelen #AshMountain @OrendaBooks *** COVER REVEAL ***

I am thrilled to bring you one of THE MOST EXCITING cover reveals today.

Ash Mountain by Helen Fitzgerald

Published by Orenda Books

Ebook - March 2020

Print - May 2020

Available for pre-order NOW 

Fran hates Ash Mountain, and she thought she’d escaped.  

But her father is ill, and needs care. Her relationship is over, and she hates her dead-end job in the city, anyway. She returns to her hometown to nurse her dying father, her distant teenage daughter in tow for the weekends. There, in the sleepy town of Ash Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in love for the first time, and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the unbearable heat of an Australian summer. As old friendships and rivalries are renewed, and new ones forged, Fran’s tumultuous home life is the least of her worries, when old crimes rear their heads and a devastating bushfire ravages the town and all of its inhabitants… Simultaneously a warm, darkly funny portrait of small-town life – and a woman and a land in crisis – and a shocking and truly distressing account of a catastrophic event that changes things forever, Ash Mountain is a heart-breaking slice of domestic noir, and a disturbing disaster thriller that you will never forget…

Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of ten adult and young adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and is now a major drama for BBC1. Helen worked as a criminal justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Victoria, Australia. She now lives in Glasgow with her husband.

Twitter @FitzHelen

Black Summer by MW Craven @MWCravenUK BLOG TOUR @LittleBrownUK @BethWright26 #BlackSummer #TeamTilly @TheCrimeVault

Jared Keaton, chef to the stars. Charming. Charismatic. Psychopath . . . He's currently serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his daughter, Elizabeth. Her body was never found and Keaton was convicted largely on the testimony of Detective Sergeant Washington Poe.

So when a young woman staggers into a remote police station with irrefutable evidence that she is Elizabeth Keaton, Poe finds himself on the wrong end of an investigation, one that could cost him much more than his career.

Helped by the only person he trusts, the brilliant but socially awkward Tilly Bradshaw, Poe races to answer the only question that matters: how can someone be both dead and alive at the same time?

And then Elizabeth goes missing again - and all paths of investigation lead back to Poe.

The gripping new thriller in the Washington Poe series from M. W. Craven, winner of the CWA Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel of 2019.

Black Summer by MW Craven is published in paperback by Constable on 12 December 2019. Black Summer is the second in the Washington Poe series; the follow up to The Puppet Show which won the CWA Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel of 2019.

My thanks to the author, and Beth from Constable who sent my copy for review and who asked me to take part on this Blog Tour.

I read The Puppet Show, the  first in this series at the beginning of the year and was totally blown away; by the writing, the plot and the characters. I was so eager to read Black Summer, and at last, I've been able to fit it into what is becoming an increasingly packed reading schedule.

Oh. My. God.      That's it, that is really all that I want to say. Once more, this truly skilled (and, I have to say, a little bit warped) author has taken my breath away. His attention to detail, his fine plotting and his almost obscene ideas really are any crime fiction lover's dream.

If you haven't yet read The Puppet Show, I'd advise that you do. However, Black Summer can be read as a standalone. The author incorporates just enough of Poe's back story to enable anyone to follow this easily, but my opinion is that you'll get much more of a feel of the development of the characters if you start with The Puppet Show first.

 Black Summer opens with a short, but shocking  prologue that paves the way for the rest of the novel, and chapter one is especially quite macabre, set in the dining room of a Michelin starred restaurant. It will shock, it may turn your stomach, but it will compel you to read on.

What follows is a fast-paced, complex and incredibly intelligent story. We find Washington Poe called back to Cumbria. He left the Cumbrian force five years ago, but something, or someone has turned up which poses questions about a case he worked on, and may see him behind bars instead of Jared Keaton; the celebrity chef who Poe was responsible for imprisoning for the murder of his own daughter.

How can Elizabeth Keaton be alive? How has she turned up at a small outreach Police desk in the heart of the Pennines? Poe knows she was killed by her father. He worked the case, and even though Elizabeth's body was never recovered, he is certain of Keaton's guilt.

Once more, Poe works with Tilly Bradshaw; the strange, quirky, but exceptionally intelligent woman who was once a lowly civilian worker on the force but now heads up her own team of investigators.
The relationship between Poe and Tilly is wonderfully done. Poe's initial reluctance to accept Tilly has turned into such affection and respect for this woman whose brain works as quick as any computer and who speaks her mind; regardless of the impact of her words.

It's not for me to tell the plot of Black Summer but I can assure you that it is probably one of the cleverest and most thrilling concepts that I've ever come across in fiction. Kudos to the author; the amount of research that he must have done to write this is incredible, and whilst there's a great deal of science, it is never dull or dry, it's always fascinating and perfectly aligned with the developing plot.

Flawlessly plotted with characters that almost jump from the pages with an atmospheric and almost eerie landscape setting. Black Summer is seamless and extraordinarily well written.

I can't wait to meet Poe and Tilly in the next in this amazing series. Beautifully dark and exquisitely disturbing. Truly exceptional.




MW Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle, returning after thirty-one years to take up a probation officer position in Whitehaven, eventually working his way up to chief officer grade. Sixteen years later he took the plunge, accepted redundancy and became a full-time author. He now has entirely different motivations for trying to get inside the mind of criminals.

His first novel featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw, The Puppet Show, was published by Constable last year to huge acclaim, and he's now working on books three and four in the series to satisfy his fans' cravings for more Poe and Tilly.

MW Craven lives in Carlisle with wife, Joanne. When he isn't out with his springer spaniel of talking nonsense in the pub, he can usually be found at punk gigs and writing festivals up and down the country.

Website : www.mwcraven.com
Twitter : @MWCravenUK
Author page on Facebook
Instagram : @m.w.craven

The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell BLOG TOUR @Nathan_B_Author @orionbooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n #TheSoundOfHerVoice

Detective Buchanan remembers every victim.
But this one he can't forget.

The body of a woman has been found on a pristine New Zealand beach - over a decade after she was murdered.

Detective Matt Buchanan of the Auckland Police is certain it carries all the hallmarks of an unsolved crime he investigated 12 years ago: when Samantha Coates walked out one day and never came home.

Re-opening the case, Buchanan begins to piece the terrible crimes together, setting into motion a chain of events that will force him to the darkest corners of society - and back into his deepest obsession...

Shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Best Crime Novel of the Year award, The Sound of Her Voice is a brilliantly gripping crime thriller for fans of Sirens by Joe Knox, Streets of Darkness by A.A. Dhand, Stuart Macbride and Ian Rankin.

The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell was published on 18 April 2019 by Orion Books. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review, and to Tracy from Compulsive Readers who invited me to take part on this Blog Tour.

Nathan Blackwell is the pseudonym of an ex New Zealand police officer. I heard him speak about his writing, and this novel; The Sound of Her Voice, at the Newcastle Noir festival earlier this year. 

He's a compelling and interesting speaker and I was determined to read his book. I'm happy to say that his writing is just as engrossing as his spoken word.

What is most unusual about this novel is that, although it is a crime novel; it's not structured in the usual way. The reader is not handed one specific crime here. This novel follows the career of Detective Buchanan, from his very early days as a rookie cop; discovering in horror the body of a  colleague killed on duty, right through the following twelve years. Buchanan is haunted by an unsolved crime; the disappearance of young Samantha Coates.

When the remains of a young woman are discovered in amongst the mangroves. Buchanan's thoughts immediately turn, once again, to Samantha. However, just like many cases before this, it isn't the body of Samantha at all, and this hardened detective has a new killer to hunt down.

Nathan Blackwell has thrown a lot at Buchanan, and in turn, at his readers.  Buchanan's career and personal life have been difficult, to say the least. He's left the force more than once, only to return, and he's now the single father to a young daughter after the death of his wife.

Fast-paced, gritty and at times, an uncomfortable read; The Sound of Her Voice is an excellent debut from an author who writes with such authority. Readers should be aware that there are scenes and descriptions of horrific crimes that burn a picture into the brain that can be difficult to get rid of. However, none of this is done gratuitously, every single word is essential to the plot, and if you like your crime dark, then you'll enjoy this one. 

I especially enjoyed the New Zealand setting. This is the second book that I've read this month has is set there. The books couldn't be more different, but the author's ability to transport his reader to his home land is exceptional.

Dark and brooding, with an intricately constructed plot and a fabulous lead character. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Nathan Blackwell was raised on Auckland’s North Shore and attended Westlake Boys’ High  before commencing a ten-year career in the New Zealand Police. 

Seven of those years were spent as a Detective in the Criminal Investigation Branch, where he was exposed to human nature at its strongest and bravest, but also at its most depraved and horrific. 

He investigated a wide range of cases including drug manufacture, child abuse, corruption, serious violence, rape and murder. 

Because some of his work was conducted covertly, Nathan chooses to hide his true identity.

Twitter @Nathan_B_Author

Website : www.nathan-blackwell.com

Author Page on Facebook

Nina X by Ewan Morrison @MrEwanMorrison @FleetReads #NinaX #SaltairePrize

Nina X has never been outside. She has never met another child.
Nina X has no books, no toys and no privacy.
Nina X has no idea what the outside world is like.
Nina X has a lot to learn.

Nina X has no mother and no father; she has Comrade Chen, and Comrades Uma, Jeni and Ruth. Her closest emotional connection is with the birds she sees when she removes the plasterboard that covers her bedroom window. Comrade Chen has named her The Project; she is being raised entirely separated from the false gods of capitalism and the cult of the self. He has her record everything in her journal, to track her thoughts. To keep her ideology pure, her words are erased, over and over again. But that was before. Now Nina is in Freedom, and all the rules have changed. She has to remember that everything is opposite to what she was told, and yet Freedom seems to be a very confusing and dangerous place.

Nina X by Ewan Morrison was published in hardback by Fleet Press on 4 April 2019.  The paperback will be released in April next year.

There's a quote on the cover of Nina X from Ian Rankin. He says 'Sensational. Like Nothing I've ever read."
I agree with every word. In fact, I'd just like to say those words and leave it there. Nothing I can say in this review would ever do this incredible novel justice. It's utterly compelling, it's frightening, it made my blood run cold at times. It also made me smile. It's one of those books that you really do find difficult to put down.

I believe that Morrison's Nina X is loosely based upon the case of Aravindan Balakrishnan who was jailed in 2016 for abusing and mistreating the women who were part of the Maoist cult that he led in London. I've always had something of a strange fascination about cults, and what makes people give up everything to become part of one, and indeed, what reason anyone has to create one and control a group of people.

Nina X is twenty-eight years old when she leaves the house she grew up in for the very first time. Her story is told through her jotters; those written whilst she was still in the house, and those written since she became free.

It did take me a little while to settle into the structure and style of this novel. Although told in the first person, Nina often refers to herself as 'The Project'; for that was her name; and that's what all of her 'Comrades' called her.

Nina is Comrade Chen's project. She's been brought up by the female comrades; not knowing which of them, if any is her mother, and her father is never spoken of. Nina has never been to school, or to the doctor, or the dentist. Her only connection with the outside world are the birds that she sees if she dares to pull back the board that covers her window.

Then Nina is in 'Freedom' and it is then that her education really begins. As she realises, slowly that rain is not radiation and not everyone is a 'fascist Pig'.

This is an utterly convincing novel that will stay in my mind for a very long time. Ewan Morrison's creation of characters is spellbinding; from 'Charity Sonya' who really only wants to help, to Comrade Chen who has brainwashed and abused everyone he comes across.
Seeing the world through Nina's eyes is often heartbreaking for her, and for the reader but there's also an element of humour and warmth that add so much depth to what could potentially be such a dark and dismal tale.

I adored this book. It is extraordinary, absorbing, disturbing and really quite marvellous.




Nina X is Ewan Morrison's seventh book. 
He is the author of the award-winning novels Close Your Eyes and Tales from the Mall, the novels Ménage, Distance and Swung and the short story collection The Last Book You Read. 
Ewan was awarded the Glenfiddich Writer of the Year Award and the SMIT novel of the year 2012/2013.

Nina X won the Saltaire Fiction Book of the Year 2019 

Website : www.ewanmorrison.com
Twitter : @MrEwanMorrison