Three years ago, Detective Saga Bauer received an ominous postcard describing a gun and nine white bullets – one of which was intended for her partner, Detective Joona Linna. The sender alleged that Saga was the only person who could save him. But as time passed, the threat faded.
Until now.
A sack with a decomposing body has been found hanging from a tree in the forest. A milky white bullet casing turns up at the scene. When the body count begins to rise, the police realise that the killer is sending riddles, offering them the chance to stop the murders before they happen.
But the police always seem to arrive a moment too late. As they begin to close in, the case becomes more and more tangled. Someone is spinning a fiendishly intricate web, pulling Joona ever closer to a trap he may not be able to escape.
My Review:
The Spider is a gritty, intense detective story that’s not for the faint hearted. I’ve been a huge fan of this series from the start and in my opinion it keeps getting better and better.
It was great being back with Joona attempting to solve another mystery with the team. For each victim the police get sent a parcel with clues about their whereabouts and then it’s a race against time to try to find them. The author’s cleverly write the story so I felt involved in the investigation and like I was helping to solve the mystery alongside them.
Some of the descriptions of the murders (especially the first) are a bit graphic which won’t be to everyone’s taste but anyone familiar with this series won’t be surprised by this. The author gradually increases the tension as the story goes on until it becomes almost unbearable. I couldn’t put the book down towards the end and found myself reading far too late into the night as I really wanted to find out what happened next.
Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book. If you’re a fan of gritty crime books I thoroughly recommend this series.
About The Author:
Lars Kepler is a No.1 bestselling international sensation, whose Joona Linna thrillers have sold more than 12 million copies in 40 languages. The first book in the series, The Hypnotist, was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club and the most recent, Stalker, went straight to No.1 in Sweden, Norway, Holland and Slovakia.
Lars Kepler is the pseudonym for writing duo Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. They live with their family in Sweden.
Good morning everyone I received this very intriguing book post this week. As a fan of crime fiction I always enjoy solving mysteries alongside the characters in my book and can often guess who dunnit before the big reveal. I’m therefore very excited to try these puzzles and see if I can work them out.
Huge thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book.
Book Synopsis:
From G. T. Karber, the creator of the popular online daily mystery game at http://www.Murdle.com, comes this fiendishly compulsive and absolutely killer collection of 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles. Join Deductive Logico and pit your wits against a slew of dastardly villains in order to discover:
Who committed the ghastly deed?
What weapon was used to dispatch the victim?
Where did the dreadful demise occur?
These humorous mini-mystery puzzles challenge you to find whodunit, how, where, and why. Examine the clues, interview the witnesses, and use the power of deduction to complete the grid and catch the culprit. Packed with illustrations, codes, and maps, this is the must-have detective casebook for the secret sleuth in everyone.
Are you the next Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot? You’ll soon find out, if you dare to Murdle!
Good morning everyone and happy Saturday! I’ve been trying to not buy any more books but I managed to get tempted by these beautiful books this week.
⭐ This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub ⭐ I, Mona Lisa by Natasha Solomons ⭐ Joan by Katherine J Chen ⭐ Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden ⭐ Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber * ⭐ The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende *
Black Narcissus is for the VMC book club on here and the rest are all books that I’ve been wanting to read for a while. The two starred books are ones I found on the damage shelf at work.
What are your Saturday plans?
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
About to turn forty, Alice feels stuck: She works at the school she attended. Her boyfriend isn’t the man of her dreams. And her beloved father Leonard is dying.
But after one too many drinks, she wakes up in her childhood home to find forty-year-old Leonard celebrating her sixteenth birthday.
Now Alice gets to relive this one day in 1996, over and over. When the slightest change will impact the rest of her life.
Can she fix her life and save her father?
Or will her good intentions only cause harm to those she loves most?
I, Mona Lisa by Natasha Solomons
The Mona Lisa has hung in the Louvre for over two-hundred years. She has watched alone in silence as millions of people have admired her behind the glass.
Now, she is finally ready to tell her own story.
Over five centuries, from da Vinci’s bustling Florentine studio to the opulent French court, Mona will be desired, stolen, heartbroken, curious, furious, and above all, she will be heard.
Joan by Katherine J Chen
France is mired in a losing war against England. Its people are starving. Its king is in hiding. Yet out of the chaos, an unlikely heroine emerges.
Reckless, steel-willed and brilliant, Joan has survived a childhood steeped in both joy and violence to claim an extraordinary – and fragile – position at the head of the French army. The battlefield and the royal court are full of dangers and Joan finds herself under suspicion from all sides – as well as under threat from her own ambition.
With unforgettably vivid characters and propulsive storytelling, Joan is a thrilling epic, a triumph of historical fiction, and a feminist celebration of one remarkable – and remarkably real – woman who left an indelible mark on history.
Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
High in the Himalayas, the mountaintop palace shines like a jewel. Built for the General’s harem, laughter and music once floated out over the gorge. Now it sits abandoned, windswept and haunting.
The palace is bestowed to the Sisters of Mary, and what was once known as ‘the House of Women’ becomes the Convent of St Faith. Close to the heavens, the nuns feel inspired, working fervently to establish their school and hospital. But as the isolation and emptiness of the mountain become increasingly unsettling, passions long repressed emerge with tragic consequences . . .
Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
Two sisters. One throne. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown?
Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister’s place in the palace. Trained from birth to avenge her parents’ murder and usurp the princess, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves.
Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility including marriage into a brutal kingdom. Life outside the palace walls is a place to be feared and she is soon to discover that it’s wilder than she ever imagined.
Twin sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other’s lives a whole lot better…
An irresistible fantasy romantic comedy from two YA superstars – perfect for fans of Stephanie Garber, Sarah J Maas and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.
The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende
No, we’re not lost. The wind knows my name. And yours too. Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht – the night their family loses everything. As her child’s safety seems ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on the last Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.
Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Diaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Duran, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother.
Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make, and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers – and never stop dreaming.
Good morning everyone and happy Friday! I haven’t done a reading update for a while so thought I’d show you what I was currently reading.
⭐Last – The Moon Gate by Amanda Geard ⭐Now – Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill ⭐Next – Drowning by T. J Newman
I absolutely loved The Moon Gate and highly recommend it to anyone who loves a dual timeline mystery. You can check out my view on my previous post. Our Hideous Progeny is a book I’ve wanted to read for a while and I’m really enjoying it so far. I then have Drowning by T. J Newman to read for the blog tour. I absolutely loved their first book so I’m excited to read this.
1939: On the eve of war, young English heiress Grace Grey travels from London to the wilderness of Tasmania. Coaxed out of her shell by the attentions of her Irish neighbour, Daniel – Grace finally learns to live. But when Australian forces are called to the frontline, and Daniel with them, he leaves behind a devastating secret which will forever bind them together.
1975: Artist Willow Hawkins, and her new husband, Ben, can’t believe their luck when an anonymous benefactor leaves them a house on the remote Tasmanian coast. Confused and delighted, they set out to unmask Towerhurst’s previous owner – unwittingly altering the course of their lives.
2004: Libby Andrews has always been sheltered from the truth behind her father Ben’s death. When she travels to London and discovers a faded photograph, a long-buried memory is unlocked, and she begins to follow an investigation that Ben could never complete. But will she realise that some secrets are best left buried . . .?
My Review:
The Moon Gate is a hugely enjoyable, addictive multiple timeline book from one of my favourite authors.
The story is told from the point of view of three different sets of characters; Libby in 2004 who is trying to discover more about the father she never knew, Libby’s parents Ben & Willow who inherit a house in Tasmania unexpectedly and Grace and Rose who are evacuated to an intriguing house in Tasmania. I loved following all three timelines, though I particularly liked the war time story as it was interesting to learn more about life in Tasmania during the war.
The author does a great job of setting the scene so I really felt like I was there watching everything develop alongside the characters. The descriptions of the wonderful sounding Towerhurst were brilliant and I loved exploring the house and discovering more about its secrets. I was intrigued by the house’s tower with the wonderful waterfall in the grounds and found myself wishing I could explore it in real life.
Overall I absolutely loved this book and found myself quickly absorbed into the story. There are lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing – including one amazing one that I didn’t seem coming. The ending was brilliant and I liked finding out what had really happened. This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I have loved both of them so I’m now hugely excited to read more from her.
Huge thanks to Isabelle from Headline for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
About The Author:
I have always loved dual-timeline novels, where stories from the past weave with those of the present day. I want to write books that transport you to another time and place, where secrets lie just beneath the surface if only the characters know where to look.
My new novel, The Moon Gate, is set across three locations I ADORE: Tasmania (my home state), London (where I rented a houseboat for many years) and County Kerry, Ireland (where I now live with my family). Each of these places is special to me and I hope you’ll feel you’re entering the temperate rainforest with Grace, opening the door to Towerhurst with Willow, walking through London’s layered history with Libby and stepping out to the heather-clad hills of County Kerry with … well, with several characters, the names of who I won’t reveal here!
The inspiration for my first novel, The Midnight House, appeared in the rafters of our Irish home, a two-hundred-year-old stone building perched on the edge of the Atlantic. Hidden there was a message, scratched into wood: ‘When this comes down, pray for me. Tim O’Shea 1911’. As I held that piece of timber in my hands, dust clinging to my paint-stained clothes, I was humbled that a person’s fingerprint could, in a thousand ways, transcend time, and I wanted nothing more than to capture that feeling of discovery on the page.
I’m also a geologist who loves to explore the world’s remote places. Luckily for me, writing novels provides a similar sense of wonder and discovery; but the warm office, fresh food and a shower in the evening make the conditions rather more comfortable!
It’s also the perfect excuse to regularly curl up by a fire with a great book (often by the wonderful authors who write in my genre). I treasure my reading time, and I know you do too, so thank you for taking a chance on my books.
Good morning everyone and happy Thursday. I have a day off today which I’m really looking forward to as it was a busy day at the shop yesterday. I’d normally be going into the school to hear kids read this afternoon but my eldest was sick last night so he won’t be going into school today.
This book came into the shop this week and I immediately put it aside as I knew I had to buy it. I’ve been hearing lots of good things about this book on here so I’ve been intrigued by this book for a while.
What book has other book bloggers made you buy?
Book Synopsis:
A propulsive, seductive new novel about friendship, exploitation and intimacy from the prize-winning author of Where Reasons End
Fabienne is dead. Her childhood best friend, Agnès, receives the news in America, far from the French countryside where the two girls were raised – the place that Fabienne helped Agnès escape ten years ago. Now, Agnès is free to tell her story.
As children in a backwater town, they’d built a private world, invisible to everyone but themselves – until Fabienne hatched the plan that would change everything, launching Agnès on an epic trajectory through fame, fortune, and terrible loss.
A dark, ravishing tale winding from the rural provinces to Paris, from an English boarding school, to the quiet Pennsylvania home where Agnès can live without her past. The Book of Goose is a story of intimacy and obsession, friendship and rivalry perfect for fans of Elena Ferrante, Ottessa Moshfegh and Kamila Shamsie.
About The Author:
Yiyun Li is the author of ten books, including Where Reasons End, which received the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award; the essay collection Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life; and the novels The Vagrants and Must I Go. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, and Windham-Campbell Prize, among other honors. A contributing editor to A Public Space, she teaches at Princeton University.
“No surrender. No retreat.” With twenty enemy swords at their backs and a broken bridge ahead, the last knights of an outlaw order turn to fight. A young woman with forbidden magic joins their final stand. And as blade meets blade, she starts to sing…
Adelais was raised in the far north, learning stories of the old gods and the skill of weaving runes into magic. Now, she is locked in a convent far from home, forced to kneel to a foreign god.
When inquisitors arrive with plans to torture an innocent man, Adelais cannot stand by. She aids an attack to free the prisoner and joins the raiders as they flee into the night.
Her new companions are the last of the Guardians—once a powerful holy order, now ragged fugitives, hunted almost to extinction.
The knights carry a secret treasure, precious and powerful enough to shape kingdoms. Their pursuers, desperate to possess it, will crush any who stand in their way.
Nowhere is safe—in city or chateau, on the road or in the wilds. And even disguised as a boy, Adelais draws attention wherever she goes. Is she angel or demon, priestess or witch?
Adelais must summon all her courage and all her memories of the old gods’ magic as the noose tightens around her and a thunderous final reckoning approaches.
Discover a thrilling new series, with a rich world and action that will leave you breathless. Hammer of Fate is inspired by Viking magic, medieval combat and the fall of the Templar knights—perfect for fans of Mark Lawrence, Andrzej Sapkowski and Robin Hobb.
My Review:
Hammer Of Fate is an absorbing, thrilling book that’s the start of an exciting new fantasy series.
The story is told from the point of view of three characters who I enjoyed following throughout the book. Adelais was a great main character who I really liked. She’s refreshing normal as she’s not billed as being special or different which made a nice change. She’s a very brave lady who manages to be both impetuous and stubborn but caring at the same time.
The story starts of slowly as the author sets the scene but soon gets very gripping as the three main characters join together in their quest. I thought this book had a bit of everything in it including lots of danger and some intense battle scenes. I loved the world the author has created, which is based on the Viking period, with some of the characters being based on real life historical characters.
This is the first book in the Rune Song Trilogy and I’m now very excited to read more now.
Huge thanks to Second Sky Books for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
G.N. Gudgion (‘Geoff’) grew up with his nose in a book, often one featuring knights in armour. A later search for stories where women didn’t have to be either beautiful damsels or witches led him to the fantasy genre and the works of Guy Gavriel Kay and Mark Lawrence.
After Geoff gave up a business career to write, it was natural to gravitate to historical fantasy, to stories with complex, conflicted characters that a reader can bleed with, cry for, and perhaps fall in love with. They live in worlds where you can smell the sweat and the sewers, as well as the roses.
Geoff lives in a leafy corner of England, where he’s a keen amateur equestrian and a very bad pianist. He spends much of his time crafting words in a shed, fifty yards and five hundred years from his house.
He is also the author, as Geoffrey Gudgion, of supernatural thrillers Saxon’s Bane (Solaris, 2020) and Draca (Unbound, 2020)
For Alice and her partner Joe, moving to the sleepy Cotswold village of Penton is a chance to embrace country life and prepare for the birth of their unexpected first child. He can take up woodwork; maybe she’ll learn to make jam. But the rural idyll they’d hoped for doesn’t quite pan out when a dead body is discovered at their local antenatal class and they find themselves suspects in a murder investigation.
With a cloud of suspicion hanging over the heads of the whole group, Alice sets out to solve the mystery and clear her name, with the help of her troublesome dog, Helen. However, there are more secrets and tensions in the heart of Penton than first meet the eye. Between the discovery of a shady commune up in the woods, the unearthing of a mysterious death years earlier and the near-tragic poisoning of Helen, Alice is soon in way over her head.
CAN YOU SOLVE THE MOTHER OF ALL MURDERS?
My Review:
The Expectant Detectives is a lovely, light hearted and funny read that I really enjoyed.
Firstly I loved the fantastic characters the author has created and enjoyed following them throughout the book. They were such real, relatable characters that reminded me a bit of myself when I was pregnant with my eldest. It was very interesting to follow them from not trusting each other to having a lovely friendship group.
The story starts off slow as the author sets the scene but soon becomes very addictive. I wasn’t sure how it would work with having pregnant detectives but I needn’t have worried as it actually helped create some very funny moments that had me laughing out loud. There were lots of twists that kept me guessing and I found it fun to try to solve the case alongside the characters.
The ending was brilliant, especially as I wasn’t able to guess who the murderer was which I always love. I’m hoping there will be a sequel as I’d love to spend some more times with the characters, though it might be interesting to follow them trying to be detectives with newborns or toddlers .
Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
KAT AILES works in publishing as an editor and freelanced for several years to allow her to take a couple of belated gap years, including hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. She now lives in the Cotswolds with her lovely husband, their young son and her beautiful but foolish dog. The Expectant Detectives is her debut novel, the first draft of which was written largely (and frantically) in three weeks after she submitted the first few chapters to the Comedy Women in Print Prize and was unexpectedly shortlisted.
The brilliant new novel from award-winning writer and rising star Claire Askew.
A city that’s no longer safe… An anonymous vigilante stalks the streets of Edinburgh. As his behaviour escalates, the police are at a loss – they can find no clues to his identity, and no trace of his whereabouts.
A detective in the path of danger… DI Helen Birch has been told to stay away from the case – but she’s never been one to play by the rules. When her colleague Amy comes to her asking for help, DI Birch finds it impossible to resist the challenge – and soon, her life is on the line. Will she crack the case before it breaks her? Or has she finally met her match? A gripping crime thriller for fans of Susie Steiner, Elly Griffiths and Val McDermid – guaranteed to keep you up all night…
My Review:
The Dead Don’t Speak is another fantastically gripping addition to one of my favourite crime series.
Firstly it was great to be back with Helen, helping her to solve another mystery. This time we join a very different Helen to the one we’re used to due to the injury she picked up at the end of the last book, which she’s not coping very well with. Her inability to deal with the restrictions of her injury helped lead to some of the lighter moments in the book, especially when it’s winds up her ever tolerant team.
I felt the pace was a bit slower than in other books but I didn’t mind that as it was fun to just hang out with Helen, her team and her dad who I absolutely loved. There are some quite intense, gritty moments in this book which might not be to everyone’s taste but I didn’t think it was over done and helped contribute to a lot of the tension in the book.
The tension slowly increases as the story goes on and there were lots of twists and surprises that kept me guessing. The ending was brilliant and I’m excited to read more installments in this series – though hopefully with a fully healed Helen.
Huge thanks to Alainna Georgiou for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Hodder for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Claire Askew is the author of the Edinburgh-set DI Birch crime fiction series, published by Hodder & Stoughton. ALL THE HIDDEN TRUTHS (2018) won the 2016 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize as a work in progress, and the 2019 Bloody Scotland Crime Debut Prize. It was also shortlisted for the CWA John Creasy Debut Dagger and the CWA Gold Dagger in 2019. The follow-up, WHAT YOU PAY FOR (2019), was also shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger in 2020. COVER YOUR TRACKS, the third book in the series, was published in 2020, and book four, A MATTER OF TIME (2022) was longlisted for the 2022 McIlvanney Prize. Claire is also a poet, and the author of THIS CHANGES THINGS (2016) and HOW TO BURN A WOMAN (2021), both published by Bloodaxe Books. Her non fiction book NOVELISTA: ANYONE CAN WRITE A NOVEL – YES, EVEN YOU was published by John Murray in 2020. Claire has been a Jessie Kesson Fellow, a Hawthornden Fellow, and Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh.
Good morning everyone and Happy Monday. Half term seems to have gone too quickly and the kids are back to school today.
This is some of the fantastic book post I’ve received recently, which you can find out a bit more about down below.
⭐Banyan Moon by Thao Thai ⭐The Villa by Ruth Kelly ⭐The Black Crescent by Jane Johnson
These all sounds fantastic and I’m looking forward to reading them all soon. Huge thanks to all the tagged publishers.
Today I’m working this afternoon so I’m hoping to get some reading done this morning and to buy some new flowers as all of mine have died. The kids are going to late birds at school for the first time but they’re really excited as they get to have toast there. I have pointed out I could do them toast here but apparently it’s not the same…
Hope you have a great Monday everyone.
The Black Crescent by Jane Johnson
Bringing 1950s Morocco vividly to life, Jane Johnson’s masterful new novel, The Black Crescent, is a gripping story of murder, magic and divided loyalties…
Hamou Badi is born in a mountain village with the magical signs of the zouhry on his hands. In Morocco, the zouhry is a figure of legend, a child of both humans and djinns, capable of finding all manner of treasure: lost objects, hidden water.
But instead, Hamou finds a body.
This unsolved murder instils in Hamou a deep desire for order and justice: he trains as an officer of the law, working for the French in Casablanca. But the city is trapped in the turmoil of the nationalist uprising, and soon he will be forced to choose between all he knows and all he loves…
The Villa by Ruth Kelly
A Villa in Paradise
It’s destined to be the ultimate reality TV show. Ten contestants. A luxurious villa on a private island. Every moment streamed live to a global audience who have total control over those competing for the cash prize.
A Journalist Undercover
Reporter Laura is told to get the inside scoop on her fellow contestants. But once the games begin, she soon finds herself at the mercy of a ruthless producer willing to do anything to increase viewer numbers.
A Reality Show to Die For
There is more to every contestant than meets the eye, including Laura. They all have secrets they’d like to keep buried, and the pressure in paradise quickly reaches boiling point. How far will the contestants go to secure audience votes? And would somebody really kill to win?
Banyan Moon by Thao Thai
A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the family’s inherited burdens and buried secrets.
When Ann Tran gets the call that her beloved grandmother, Minh, has passed away, her life is already at a crossroads. Ann has built a seemingly perfect life. She lives in a beautiful lake house and has a charming professor boyfriend, but it all crumbles away with one positive pregnancy test.
With both her relationship and carefully planned future now in question, Ann returns home to Florida to face her estranged mother, Hu’o’ng. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person who’s always held them together.
Running parallel to this is Minh’s story, as she goes from a lovestruck teenager living in the shadow of the Vietnam War to a determined young mother immigrating to America in search of a better life. And when Ann makes a shocking discovery in the Banyan House’s attic, long-buried secrets come to light as it becomes clear how decisions Minh made in her youth affected the rest of her life and her family.
Spanning decades and continents, from 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast, Banyan Moon is a stunning and deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, the things we inherit, and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.
Over The Rainbow Blog 