tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82739118838565802002024-03-18T20:17:53.419+10:30MYSTERIES in PARADISEWhy <b>MYSTERIES?</b> Because that is the genre I read. <br>Why <b>PARADISE?</b> Because that is where I live.<br>
Among other things, this blog, the result of a 2008 New Year's resolution, <br>will act as a record of books that I've read, and random thoughts.Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-91015131544793818342017-12-30T06:01:00.001+10:302017-12-31T08:10:01.703+10:30Review: THE BLACK PILL, Gino CoxMy Take:<div><br></div><div>Every now and then I read a book that really isn’t my cup of tea. </div><div>This one has been sitting in my e-book TBR for a while now.</div><div><br></div><div>THE BLACK PILL is about organ harvesting, the high demand in particular for kidneys, and the role of drug runners and corrupt autocracies like Haiti in providing organs for those with the money by harvesting organs from poor or kidnapped people. Even organ transplant specialists get drawn into the web.</div><div><br></div><div>This thriller simply failed to create suspense for me. I don’t think the novel’s structure - over 65 chapters in 200 pages - helped, nor did a multiplicity of characters, and a plethora of plot lines. Each of the chapters is given the name of one of the main characters, and there are over a dozen of them.</div><div><br></div><div>My Rating: 3.0</div>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-62886752939187927962017-12-16T08:06:00.000+10:302017-12-16T08:06:07.480+10:30Review: FOR BETTER OR WORSE, Donna H. Murray<ul>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Better-Worse-mystery-difference-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B076DCGPWZ/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51GCk9ZmS1L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51GCk9ZmS1L.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>source: review copy from author</li>
<li>#8 in the Ginger Barnes series</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 2305 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 238 pages</li>
<li><b>Simultaneous Device Usage:</b> Unlimited</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> January 10, 2018</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Amazon Digital Services LLC
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B076DCGPWZ </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Better-Worse-mystery-difference-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B076DCGPWZ/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
Finally back to her spunky self after the loss of her husband, men have
once again become an issue for amateur sleuth Ginger Barnes—men who
mistreat their wives, men accused of murder, and men who ask her out.<br />
<br />While
working on a DIY project at her newlywed daughter’s house, a bag of
bricks is thrown from the neighboring third-story window. Next, pops
that sound like muffled gunshots have Gin racing for her phone. Eric,
who lives in the house with his grandmother, claims she’s obsessed with
mystery novels. Yet after the septuagenarian falls down a flight of
stairs, she’s so frantic to keep Eric away that Gin must intervene. Was
the fall actually attempted murder?<br />
<br />
In her husband’s eyes, Cissie Voight
can’t do anything right. Gin occasionally helps the frazzled young
mother, and when she needs a dresser carried upstairs, Gin brings Eric
along. Bad move! The electricity between the two new acquaintances
sparks a chilling premonition. This time Gin’s good intentions will
produce grave consequences—for everyone involved.<br />
<br /><b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
I spent my time in this book exasperated by Ginger Barnes and her tendency to interfere in the lives of others, and in admiration of her willingness to do so.<br />
<br />
There is another plot strand: Ginger agrees to take on some childminding while a young mother seeks work. However the child's father is at first opposed to the scheme and then reluctant in his agreement. Gin has the feeling that he is following her and watching her.<br />
<br />
The three main plot lines intermingle nicely with the connecting point being Gin's daughter.<br />
<br />
There is a lot in this book about how men treat their wives, some thought provoking stuff.<br />
<br />
A good read. Probably better if I had met Ginger Barnes before.<br />
<br />
Due for publication January 10 2018, available for pre-order. (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Better-Worse-mystery-difference-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B076DCGPWZ/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.3<br />
<h3>
Biography</h3>
<div class="outerAuthorBio" id="outerAuthorBio" style="display: block; height: 150px;">
<div id="authorBio">
Donna Huston Murray's eight cozy mysteries feature a woman much
like herself, a DIY headmaster's wife with a troubling interest in
crime. FINAL ARRANGEMENTS, set at Philadelphia’s world famous flower
show, achieved #1 on the Kindle-store list for both Mysteries and Female
Sleuths. The first in Murray’s new mystery/crime series, WHAT DOESN’T
KILL YOU, garnered Honorable Mention in the 23rd Annual Writer’s Digest
Self-Published Book Awards. <br /><br />At home, she assumes she can fix
anything until proven wrong, calls trash-picking recycling, and,
although she should probably know better, adores Irish setters.<br /><br />Donna and husband, Hench, live in the greater Philadelphia, PA, area.
</div>
</div>
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-81252091691274830062017-12-10T09:08:00.003+10:302017-12-10T09:08:44.450+10:30Review: THE NEIGHBOUR, Lisa Gardner<ul><a href="http://www-sassisamblog-com-zippykid.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/The-Neighbour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www-sassisamblog-com-zippykid.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/The-Neighbour.jpg" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="519" height="320" width="207" /></a>
<li>this edition published 2009</li>
<li>printed in Australia by Griffin Press</li>
<li>ISBN 978-1-4091-0103-1</li>
<li>369 pages</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="http://lisagardner.com/books/dd-warren/the-neighbor-5">author website</a>)<br />
<br />
<em>This is what happened …</em><br />
<br />
It was a case guaranteed to spark a media feeding frenzy-a young
mother, blond and pretty, disappears without a trace from her South
Boston home, leaving behind her four-year-old daughter as the only
witness and her handsome, secretive husband as the prime suspect.<br />
<br />
<em>In the last six hours …</em><br />
<br />
But from the moment Detective Sergeant D. D. Warren arrives at the
Joneses’ snug little bungalow, she senses something off about the
picture of wholesome normality the couple worked so hard to create. On
the surface, Jason and Sandra Jones are like any other hardworking young
couple raising a four-year-old child. But it is just under the surface
that things grew murkier.<br />
<br />
<em>Of the world as I knew it …</em><br />
<br />
With the clock ticking on the life of a missing woman and the media
firestorm building, Jason Jones seems more intent on destroying evidence
and isolating his daughter than on searching for his “beloved” wife. Is
the perfect husband trying to hide his guilt-or just trying to hide?
And will the only witness to the crime be the killer’s next victim?<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
In the "About the author" at the end of the book, Lisa Gardner is described as a research junkie. There are definite signs of that in this book, in fact, I think, a little too much of the research about computers, the internet, and deleting files has found its way into the book. Perhaps back in 2009 when it was all a bit new, this went down well with readers. But today it all feels a bit too much.<br />
<br />
The other thing which the author tried to do I think was trick the reader too much and too often. There were just too many red herrings. I've read a couple of "missing wives" books this year: <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/review-stranger-in-house-shari-lapena.html">A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE, Shari Lapena</a> and <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/review-dont-let-go-michel-bussi.html">DON'T LET GO, Michel Bussi</a>, and I think both created more credible scenarios than this one did.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, I did read it to the end, and there was a final twist.<br />
I just think the plot wandered in places, and perhaps too many devices were used.<br />
<br />
It also appears that the novel is 3rd in a series (9 novels?). Perhaps I would have fared better with an earlier introduction to D.S. D.D. Warren. <br />
<br />
However it is a book that people took notice of when it was published:<br />
<strong>Awarded Best Hard Cover Novel from the International Thriller Writers – July 2010</strong><br />
<strong>Top 10 of Best Books of 2009 – Suspense Magazine</strong><br />
<strong>Best Adrenaline Novel 2010 Reading List – American Library Association</strong><br />
<strong>Best Thriller of 2009 Nominee – Library Journal</strong><br />
<strong><strong>Awarded Grand Prix des Lectrices de ELLE 2011 : prix du policier – “La maison d’à côté” – Elle Magazine</strong></strong><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 3.9Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-77208224239511178872017-12-03T19:44:00.000+10:302017-12-03T19:44:00.403+10:30Review: THE LIGHT ON THE WATER, Olga Lorenzo<ul><a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781925266542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="345" height="320" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781925266542.jpg" width="209" /></a>
<li>this edition published by <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/literary-fiction/The-Light-on-the-Water-Olga-Lorenzo-9781925266542">Allen & Unwin Australia</a> 2016</li>
<li>ISBN 978-1-92526-654-2</li>
<li>350 pages</li>
<li><span class="product-field-display">Longlisted Best Adult Novel - Davitt Awards 2017</span> </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/literary-fiction/The-Light-on-the-Water-Olga-Lorenzo-9781925266542">publisher</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="product-short-description text-large">
A little girl disappears in the wilderness. Two years later her
mother is arrested for her murder. A provocative and unflinching
literary novel of love, guilt and grief set against the wilderness of
the Australian coast. </div>
<div class="product-description">
Recently divorced and trying to make sense of her new life, Anne
takes her daughter Aida on an overnight bushwalk in the moody wilderness
of Wilsons Promontory. In a split second, Aida disappears and a frantic
Anne scrambles for help. Some of the emergency trackers who search for
Aida already doubt Anne's story.<br /><br />Nearly two years later and still
tormented by remorse and grief, Anne is charged with her daughter's
murder. Witnesses have come forward, offering evidence which points to
her guilt. She is stalked by the media and shunned by friends, former
colleagues and neighbours.<br /><br />On bail and awaiting trial, Anne works
to reconstruct her last hours with Aida. She remembers the sun high in
the sky, the bush noisy with insects, and her own anxiety, as oppressive
as the heat haze.<br /><br />A superbly written and conceived literary work
about the best and the worst aspects of family life, this story asks
difficult questions about society, the media, and our rush to judgement.
This is a thoughtful, provocative and unflinching novel in the
tradition of Helen Garner, Joan London and Charlotte Wood. </div>
<div class="product-description">
</div>
<div class="product-description">
<b>My Take</b></div>
<div class="product-description">
</div>
<div class="product-description">
Aida, 6 years old and autistic, runs ahead of her mother on an overnight camping trip and bushwalk to Wilsons Promontory and disappears. Anne has already questioned her own wisdom in taking Aida for this walk, and when Aida cannot be found, others question it too. Hours turn into days, weeks, and months and there is no news about what has happened to Aida. Media attention ensures that Anne is unable to appear in public without people recognising her face and often saying dreadful things. A FaceBook page she sets up turns nasty. Friends turn away when they see her.</div>
<div class="product-description">
<br /></div>
<div class="product-description">
Eventually it becomes obvious that the police are considering charging Anne with negligence or worse. </div>
<div class="product-description">
<br /></div>
<div class="product-description">
A very thought provoking read, probably on the outer rim of crime fiction. </div>
<div class="product-description">
<br /></div>
<div class="product-description">
<b>My rating</b>: 4.4</div>
<div class="product-description">
</div>
<div class="product-description">
<b>About the author</b> </div>
Olga Lorenzo is the author of <i>The Rooms in My Mother's House</i>,
which was published in 1996 and shortlisted for various literary awards.
She has won the Felix Meyer Scholarship and the Percival Serle Bequest
at the University of Melbourne for her writing, as well as grants from
Arts Victoria and the Australia Council, and a Varuna Fellowship. Olga
has taught writing at RMIT University and in a variety of other
Melbourne tertiary institutions for nineteen years, and has a Masters
and a PhD in creative writing from the University of Melbourne. She
previously worked as a journalist and sub-editor for the <i>Melbourne Age</i>. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-79016406053244913272017-11-30T10:52:00.003+10:302017-11-30T10:52:59.533+10:30Review: OCTOBER IS THE COLDEST MONTH, Christopher Carlsson<ul><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/scribe-publications/image/upload/w_800,/v1488391381/newcovers/9781925322217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="521" height="320" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/scribe-publications/image/upload/w_800,/v1488391381/newcovers/9781925322217.jpg" width="208" /></a>
<li>this edition a review copy from Scribe Publications 2016</li>
<li>translated from Swedish by Rachel Willson-Aroyles</li>
<li>ISBN 978-1-925322-21-7</li>
<li>181 pages</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/october-is-the-coldest-month">Publisher</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="bookDiscrip">
Vega Gillberg is 16 years old when the police come knocking on the door looking for her older brother, Jakob.<br />
<br />
Vega hasn’t heard from him in days, but she has to find him before
the police do. Jakob was involved in a terrible crime. What no one knows
is that Vega was there, too.<br />
<br />
In the rural Swedish community where the Gillbergs live, life is
tough, the people are even tougher, and old feuds never die. As Vega
sets out to find her brother, she must survive a series of threatening
encounters in a deadly landscape. As if that wasn’t enough, she’s
dealing with the longing she feels for a boy that she has sworn to
forget, and the mixed-up feelings she has for her brother’s best friend.<br />
<br />
During a damp, raw week in October, the door to the adult world
swings open, and Vega realises that once she has crossed the threshold
there is no turning back.<br />
<br />
<b>My take</b><br />
<br />
Several incidents in this novel ensure that the innocence of Vega's childhood has gone forever. She has had a tough childhood anyway but the going from now one threatens to be even tougher. She lives with her mother who works in a bar at night, her uncle Dan sells moonshine, assisted by her brother Jakob who has left home. <br />
<br />
Her brother becomes an accessory to a crime that puts the police on his trail, and Vega needs to know what actually happened and why.<br />
<br />
I found this a complex and rather bleak novel. In the end I kept thinking that the future for Vega cannot be good. The book blurb says it is the author's first for young adult readers, and there are certainly some provoking "coming of age" elements.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
Christoffer Carlsson was born in 1986 and raised in Halmstad, on the
west coast of Sweden. He has a PhD in criminology, and is a university
lecturer in the subject. He began writing at a very young age and has,
since his debut at twenty-three, written five novels in the crime genre.
<i>October is the Coldest Month</i> is his first book for young adults.
In 2013, he became the youngest author ever to have won the award for
Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, which he was awarded for the first
book in the celebrated Leo Junker series, <i>The Invisible Man from Salem</i> .</div>
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-31605302849219375282017-11-16T10:01:00.002+10:302017-11-28T07:43:12.065+10:30Review: MURDER IN LITTLE SHENDON, A. H. Richardson<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGdNeXAgGUbEX6se55Q28dfQEt_fh1o-PMn_lrpf35zuSaYChhQPkgBK5aiJKRyT6VjR3KxcaV2nty4uM6Sq0EGR_rLsFSJRfacU9kNACjeaEBc5MSkExxa-ntxCuLW0LG9lIQLG7mWsA/s1600/murder+in+little+shendon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="223" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGdNeXAgGUbEX6se55Q28dfQEt_fh1o-PMn_lrpf35zuSaYChhQPkgBK5aiJKRyT6VjR3KxcaV2nty4uM6Sq0EGR_rLsFSJRfacU9kNACjeaEBc5MSkExxa-ntxCuLW0LG9lIQLG7mWsA/s320/murder+in+little+shendon.jpg" width="219" /></a>
<li>this edition published in 2015 by Serano Press USA</li>
<li>ISBN 978-1515283973</li>
<li>248 pages</li>
<li>source: copy provided the publisher</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (provided by publisher)<br />
<br />
The Hazlitt/Brandon series of murder mystery novels follows a pair of clever, colorful and charismatic sleuths - Sir Victor Hazlitt and Beresford Brandon – as they scratch their heads searching for clues to figure out whodunit.<br />
<br />
The first book in the series, Murder in Little Shendon, is a thriller murder mystery which takes place in a quaint little village in England after World War Two.<br />
<br />
Picture, if you will, a picturesque village called Little Shendon, suddenly caught up in dealing with a murder of one of its citizens — not a particularly well-liked one at that. Which makes it all the more intriguing because the list of suspects becomes very long. This tantalizing tale unfolds with twists and turns to find out whodunit to Mr. Bartholomew Fynche, the murdered shopkeeper.<br />
<br />
Fear grips the community as the investigation slowly progresses. Everyone is interviewed; everyone is suspect! From his housekeeper to Lady Armstrong and her household staff. Or could it be the shy librarian new in town? Or the defiant retired army major and his ladyfriend, the post mistress? Or perhaps the weird sisters who live on the edge of town? Then there is the couple who own the local inn and pub, along with the two Americans who are staying there? Even the vicar and his wife fall under the gloom of suspicion.<br />
<br />
Uncertainty, wariness, and terror reign as neighbors watch neighbors to discover the evil that permeates their upturned lives. No one feels safe in this charming little village. Who is the murderer? And why was this strange uncivil man dispatched in such a seemingly civil community?<br />
<br />
A murder mystery that will keep you reading until you learn the details, uncovered by Police Inspector Stanley Burgess and his two amateur detectives, Sir Victor Hazlitt and Beresford Brandon. The three sift methodically through the Alibis and life stories of the suspects until they uncover…<br />
<br />
You are challenged to discover the culprit before the last few pages. And no fair looking ahead — it’s the journey that proves the most enticing.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
Murdered antiquarian/shopkeeper Bartholomew Fynche had many enemies and almost no friends. He had dealt many a local resident a nasty blow in the past and many of them were in his shop the morning before his death, there to remind him of what he owed them. By the time they came back in the afternoon someone had beaten them to it. He was dead.<br />
<br />
Although this novel follows an almost classic formula - make a list of possible suspects and then eliminate them one by one - this novel is unusual in that it has three detectives, two of them amateurs, working together and independently, and then at the end, when they are sure of their ground, a Poirot-style denouement.<br />
<br />
At the beginning there are almost no clues to the identity of the murderer, but then the murderer slips up when he murders a second person who had seen something that she couldn't explain.<br />
<br />
In the end I too thought I knew who the murderer was, although there were several good red herrings.<br />
<br />
This is the first in the Hazlitt/Brandon series: there are already two more: <a href="https://ahrichardson.com/act-one-scene-one-murder/">ACT ONE, SCENE ONE - MURDER, </a>and <a href="https://ahrichardson.com/murder-at-serenity-farm/">MURDER AT SERENITY FARM</a>. <br />
<br />
All 3 books are available for Kindle.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 4.3<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
<br />
A.H. Richardson was born in London England and is the daughter of famous pianist and composer Clive Richardson. She studied drama and acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She was an actress, a musician, a painter and sculptor, and now an Author.<br />
<br />
In addition to the Hazlitt Brandon series, she is also the author of a series of children’s chapter books, the Jorie series, which includes Jorie and the Magic Stones, Jorie and the Gold Key, and Jorie and the River of Fire.<br />
<br />
A.H. Richardson lives happily in East Tennessee, her adopted state, and has three sons, three grandchildren, and two pugs. She speaks four languages and loves to do voiceovers. She plans on writing many more books and hopes to delight her readers further with her British twist, which all her books have.<br />
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Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-64169676084390856692017-11-09T17:19:00.002+10:302017-11-09T17:21:03.377+10:30Review: A TALENT FOR MURDER, Andrew Wilson<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51JkatgjlaL.SX316.SY316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51JkatgjlaL.SX316.SY316.jpg" width="211" /></a>
<li>This edition published by Simon & Schuster 2017</li>
<li>ISBN 978-1-4711-4822-4</li>
<li>403 Pages</li>
<li>Source: my local library </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/andrew-wilson/talent-for-murder.htm">Fantastic Fiction</a>)<br />
<br />
<i>`I wouldn't scream if I were you. Unless you want the whole world to
learn about your husband and his mistress.' </i><br />
<br />
Agatha Christie, in London
to visit her literary agent, boards a train, preoccupied and flustered
in the knowledge that her husband Archie is having an affair. She feels a
light touch on her back, causing her to lose her balance, then a sense
of someone pulling her to safety from the rush of the incoming train.<br />
<br />
So
begins a terrifying sequence of events. Her rescuer is no guardian
angel; rather, he is a blackmailer of the most insidious, manipulative
kind. Agatha must use every ounce of her cleverness and resourcefulness
to thwart an adversary determined to exploit her genius for murder to
kill on his behalf. <br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_CMmy6qwAEy0Fln4bfysA3TTapTSmdUMo71D2Pxvbs4lyGFI7GtXt7q7iQ3Rw2N6uvR2MtqlWsRjXuVHSSkcxE6GcDL-VrUKtznpFtgBYseqApGEJQ-FYqrEKnVMHh1VcZK12czCjwP8/s200/coat-tails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_CMmy6qwAEy0Fln4bfysA3TTapTSmdUMo71D2Pxvbs4lyGFI7GtXt7q7iQ3Rw2N6uvR2MtqlWsRjXuVHSSkcxE6GcDL-VrUKtznpFtgBYseqApGEJQ-FYqrEKnVMHh1VcZK12czCjwP8/s200/coat-tails.jpg" /></a>In the past I have written about <a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/search?q=coat+tails">what I call "coat-tails" books</a>, those that attach themselves to the success of others. I think this is one such book. To be honest, I wouldn't have read it if it wasn't for the reference to Agatha Christie in the blurb. And yet the allure is very strong. I'm not sure there is even a grain of truth in its explanation of what happened to Agatha Christie in those days in which she disappeared in 1926. And yet the book is very persuasive.<br />
<br />
This novel opens with an "Editor's Note", from someone called John Davison. He tells readers that the novel is the result of an agreement between himself and Mrs Christie.<br />
<br />
<i>When I first mentioned the idea of this book to her, she was understandably reluctant. However, she agreed to be interviewed on condition that the resulting volume should not be published until at least forty years after her death. I too served my solicitors with notice to the same effect.</i><br />
<br />
So here is the first of the puzzles this novel, mainly using Agatha Christie as narrator. It is indeed 41 years since the death of Agatha Christie.<br />
<br />
This work of fiction presents a story of what caused her disappearance in 1926. The author says that he tried to "make sure the facts surrounding Agatha's disappearance in 1926 were as accurate as possible." He has even included real characters from the time, including Archie Christie, and the police detective William Kenward.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfCaZh8S__n8nfC6zQ31XZ718vNWenDSBgGIVoCvS01QabJo-j72U4_bp5B87PpblhN_TUO8DByl8Laz0E5v_7z2JKu1AwSYO6ZAGWcGpI2_ynFaFFVpMjvP9kFUbiIc7FVeaftvHlGc8/s200/agatha_christie_rc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfCaZh8S__n8nfC6zQ31XZ718vNWenDSBgGIVoCvS01QabJo-j72U4_bp5B87PpblhN_TUO8DByl8Laz0E5v_7z2JKu1AwSYO6ZAGWcGpI2_ynFaFFVpMjvP9kFUbiIc7FVeaftvHlGc8/s200/agatha_christie_rc.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
So, read it for yourself, and judge how successful you think it is in presenting a plausible story.<br />
<br />
The final chapter in the book is the first chapter of A DIFFERENT KIND OF EVIL, Andrew Wilson's next Agatha Christie adventure.<br />
<br />
My rating: 4.4 <br />
<br />
Find out more about <a href="http://acrccarnival.blogspot.com.au/">The Agatha Christie Reading Challenge</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/p/agatha-christie-novels.html">Here is a list </a>of Agatha Christie novels, and Agatha Christie related books, that I have read.Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-82336948734124559402017-11-05T11:08:00.001+10:302017-11-05T11:09:35.544+10:30Review: BARKING DOGS, Rebekah Clarkson<ul><a href="http://affirmpress.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Barking-Dogs-194x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://affirmpress.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Barking-Dogs-194x300.jpg" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="194" /></a>
<li>this edition published 2017 by <a href="http://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/barking-dogs/">Affirm Press</a></li>
<li>ISBN 978-925475-49-4</li>
<li>230 pages</li>
<li>source: my local library</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="http://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/barking-dogs/">Affirm Press</a>)<br />
<br />
<br />
Everybody thinks they know this story. But do they? If you took a
bird’s-eye view of any sprawling Australian regional town, you’d see
ordinary Australians living on their ordinary suburban blocks. Get
closer. Peer through a window.<br />
<br />
In the town of Mount Barker, you might see Nathan Hearle obsessively
recording the bark of a neighbourhood dog, or the Wheeler family sitting
down for a meal and trying to come to terms with a shocking discovery.
You might hear tales of fathers and their wayward sons, of widows who
can’t forgive themselves, of children longed for and lost, of thwarted
lust and of pure love. Within the shadows is an unspeakable crime.<br />
<br />
Rebekah Clarkson has created a compelling, slow-burning portrait of a
town in the midst of major change as it makes the painful
transformation from rural idyll to aspirational suburbia. What looked
like redemption is now profound loss. What seemed spiteful can now be
forgiven. A novel in stories, <i>Barking Dogs</i> is an assured debut from one of Australia’s most respected storytellers.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
This book is an anthology of connected short stories written over half a decade or so. Not only are they connected with some characters appearing in or referred to in more than one story, they nearly all focus on the Adelaide hills town of Mt Barker, currently undergoing incredible change with an influx of new residents, in a myriad of new housing "estates".<br />
<br />
The book does not qualify in my mind as crime fiction, although there are plenty of mysteries to be unravelled, and certainly a crime or two committed. Between them the stories explore a range of contemporary issues: the pressures of modern living on young families, the onset of dementia, the effects of death from cancer on a family, barking dogs. Older folk, long time residents, live cheek by jowl with newly arrived families with younger children.<br />
<br />
The stories were of particular interest to me because it is an area we travel through every weekend. We have friends who've moved from suburban Adelaide into one of the new Mt. Barker estates. Over the years we have seen farmland sold, cleared, scoured and subdivided into new estates with improbable names. These stories remind the reader that not every rainbow leads to a pot of gold.<br />
<br />
The publisher refers to this anthology as a "novel in stories", but I beg to differ. It is as if somehow a "novel" brings higher acclamation. These stories are well crafted and cleverly written. But they don't have a completeness, or denouement, that a novel tries to achieve. In a sense too there is plenty of room left for further stories.<br />
<br />
Just one thing extra I could have wished for - a table of contents at the beginning listing the stories by title.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b>:<br />
<br />
Rebekah Clarkson’s award-winning fiction has been published widely, most recently in <i>Best </i><i>Australian Stories</i>, <i>Australian Book Review</i> and <i>Something Special, Something Rare: Outstanding </i><i>Short Stories by Australian Women</i> (Black Inc.).
<br />
Her stories have been recognised in major awards in Australia and overseas, including the <i>ABR</i> Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize and <i>Glimmer Train</i>’s
Fiction Open. She has a BA in Aboriginal Studies and a PhD in Creative
Writing from the University of Adelaide, where she also teaches. She has
taught Fiction Writing at the University of Texas in Austin.Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-83771799515976796422017-11-02T10:20:00.001+10:302017-11-02T10:20:16.680+10:30Review: THE DARK LAKE, Sarah Bailey<ul><a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781760295899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="345" height="320" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781760295899.jpg" width="209" /></a>
<li>this edition first published 2017 by <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/crime-mystery/The-Dark-Lake-Sarah-Bailey-9781760295899">Allen & Unwin Australia</a></li>
<li>ISBN 978-1-76029-589-9</li>
<li>429 pages</li>
<li>source: my local library </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/crime-mystery/The-Dark-Lake-Sarah-Bailey-9781760295899">Allen & Unwin Australia</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="product-short-description text-large">
A hot summer. A shocking murder. A town of secrets, waiting to
explode. A brooding, suspenseful and explosive debut that will grip you
from the first page to the last. </div>
<div class="product-short-description text-large">
<br /></div>
<i>There were a few minutes when I was alone with her in the autopsy
room. I felt wild. Absent. Before I could stop myself I was leaning
close to her, telling her everything. The words draining out of me as
she lay there. Her long damp hair hanging off the back of the steel
table. Glassy eyes fixed blindly on the ceiling. She was still so
beautiful, even in death.<br /><br />Our secrets circled madly around the
bright white room that morning. Rocking back and forth on my heels as I
stood next to her, I knew how far in I was again, how comprehensively
her death could undo me. I looked at Rosalind Ryan properly for the last
time before breathing deeply, readying myself, letting her pull me back
into her world, and I sank down, further and further, until I was
completely, utterly under.</i><br /><br />A beautiful young teacher has been
murdered, her body found in the lake, strewn with red roses. Local
policewoman Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock pushes to be assigned to
the case, concealing the fact that she knew the murdered woman in high
school years before.<br /><br />But that's not all Gemma's trying to hide.
As the investigation digs deeper into the victim's past, other secrets
threaten to come to light, secrets that were supposed to remain buried.
The lake holds the key to solving the murder, but it also has the power
to drag Gemma down into its dark depths.<br /><br /><i>The Dark Lake</i> is
an addictive crime thriller, a mesmerising account of one woman's
descent into deceit and madness, and a stunning debut that is already
causing a stir around the world.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
Gemma Woodstock is a Detective Sergeant in the town she grew up in. Rosalind Ryan has recently returned to Smithson to teach in the high school she once attended. When she is murdered shortly after a performance of Romeo and Juliet at the school, Gemma's boss questioned whether there was a conflict of interest in her being involved in the investigation. But she assures him that there is no question about that - her special knowledge of the town and its people will be invaluable. She and Rosalind were in the same class but that was all.<br />
<br />
Gemma obviously believes that being involved in the investigation will give her an edge in solving the murder, as well as keeping elements of her own past hidden. There is at least one big secret that she doesn't want anybody to know.<br />
<br />
The author uses a time frame device to reveal snippets of the past, generally labelled "Then", alongside carefully dated chapters (together with times) to encapsulate the present. I am never sure when we have carefully labelled time episodes whether I have got the timeline right in my mind. I find myself hoping the author hasn't played a trick on me, put something out of sequence.<br />
<br />
Her relationship with the deceased is not the only thing that Gemma is trying to hide, but I'll let you find the rest out for yourself.<br />
<br />
A good read from a new Aussie writer that I will have to watch out for.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.7<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
Sarah Bailey is a Melbourne based writer with a background in
advertising and communications. She has two young children and currently
works as a director of creative projects company Mr Smith. Over the
past five years she has written a number of short stories and opinion
pieces. <i>The Dark Lake</i> is her first novel.<br />
<br />
If you are interested in reading something more by Sarah Bailey I have found on Google books what appears to be a set of short stories titles <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/This_Is_Home.html?id=-A16CgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y&hl=en">THIS IS HOME</a> <br />
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-19659029520175121012017-10-24T10:17:00.001+10:302017-10-24T10:17:48.809+10:30Review: MURDER IN THE MORNING EDITION, Peter Bartram<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51iFyVomCHL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51iFyVomCHL.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Morning-Noon-Night-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B073QWJBPH/">Amazon</a>) - currently available for $0</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 381 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 158 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> The Bartram Partnership (July 4, 2017)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> July 4, 2017</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Amazon Digital Services LLC
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B073QWJBPH</li>
<li>THE MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT TRILOGY, BOOK 1 </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Morning-Noon-Night-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B073QWJBPH/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Welcome to Brighton, England - where they do like to murder beside the seaside…</span></h3>
Don't you just hate it when you get the afternoon off - and then find yourself chasing a train robber with his loot?<br /><br />Join ace crime reporter Colin Crampton and his feisty Australian girlfriend Shirley Goldsmith as they embark on a new adventure.<br /><br />It
all starts when Colin spends a lazy afternoon by the beach with
Shirley. But when a daring robbery takes place before their very eyes,
Colin reckons he's on the trail of a big story.<br /><br />But nothing about the robbery is what it seems. And before long Colin and Shirley are drawn deeper into danger.<br /><br />Colin
encounters a motorcycle rocker with bad teeth, a dyslexic tattooist,
and a seller of novelty toilet roll holders as he chases down his story.<br /><br /><em>Murder in the Morning Edition</em> is the first part of a mystery adventure trilogy which continues in <em>Murder in the Afternoon Extra</em> and <em>Murder in the Night Final</em>.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
While this isn't his first Colin Crampton story, it is the first time that the author has attempted a mystery as a trilogy. In the introduction he even estimates how long it will take the average reader to read. His opinion is that this is his detective's most thrilling adventure yet.<br />
<br />
Elsewhere Peter Bartram calls the book a cosy caper, and I think that is about right. I found it engaging reading with just enough mystery in the main plot to keep me interested. As a bonus, at the end there is a chapter from the next book in the trilogy, just to whet the appetite.<br />
<br />
So, here is some light reading, which may take a night or two on your e-book reader. And did I mention it is free?<br />
<br />
To be honest, I'm looking forward to the next one. <br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.3<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>About the author</u><br />
<h3>
</h3>
Peter Bartram brings years of experience as a journalist to his
Crampton of the Chronicle crime mystery series. His novels are
fast-paced and humorous - the action is matched by the laughs. The books
feature a host of colorful characters as befits stories set in
Brighton, one of Britain's most trend-setting towns.<br />
Website: <a href="http://www.colincrampton.com/">ColinCrampton.com</a> Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-69574449556365601212017-10-19T11:55:00.002+10:302017-10-19T11:55:33.289+10:30review: HE SAID, SHE SAID, Erin Kelly<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://erinkelly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/hsss-uai-258x397.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://erinkelly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/hsss-uai-258x397.jpg" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="258" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li>this edition published by Hodder & Stoughton 2017</li>
<li>ISBN 978-1-444-79715-2</li>
<li>408 pages</li>
<li>source: my local library</li>
<li><a href="http://erinkelly.co.uk/">Author website</a> </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/">Fantastic Fiction</a>)<br />
<br />
In the summer of 1999, Kit and Laura travel to a festival in Cornwall to
see a total eclipse of the sun. Kit is an eclipse chaser; Laura has
never seen one before. Young and in love, they are certain this will be
the first of many they'll share. <br /><br /> But in the hushed moments
after the shadow passes, Laura interrupts a man and a woman. She knows
that she saw something terrible. The man denies it. It is her word
against his. <br /><br /> The victim seems grateful. Months later, she turns
up on their doorstep like a lonely stray. But as her gratitude takes a
twisted turn, Laura begins to wonder - did she trust the wrong person? <br /><br />
15 years later, Kit and Laura married are living under new names and
completely off the digital grid: no Facebook, only rudimentary cell
phones, not in any directories. But as the truth catches up to them,
they realize they can no longer keep the past in the past.<br /><br /> From Erin Kelly, queen of the killer twist, <i>He Said/She Said</i>
is a gripping tale of the lies we tell to save ourselves, the truths we
cannot admit, and how far we will go to make others believe our side of
the story.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
You never think that being witnesses for the prosecution will lead to you having to hide away so that the person who is convicted on the basis of your evidence can't find you, and neither can the woman that you testified for. But that is what happens to Laura and Kit. Laura is worried about a little lie that she told with the best of intentions. What she doesn't realise is that there are some things that Kit has <i>not</i> said.<br />
<br />
For fifteen years Kit and Laura chase eclipses, Laura lives in fear of being tracked down, and she becomes more and more insecure, more and more reliant on Kit. Very nasty events occur that make her feel even more insecure. But in 2015 Kit goes to an eclipse on his own, and this brings everything to a head.<br />
<br />
In line with the blurb on the book's cover I am trying desperately not to give the plot away. The book flashes between several time frames: 1999, 2000, 2015. I found that a bit tiresome as a plot strategy as the jump seemed to happen almost at every change of chapter, and the reader can never really relax.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless it is a cleverly constructed novel with a huge twist at the end that I really didn't see coming.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.5<br />
<br />
About the author<br />
Erin Kelly was born in London in 1976 and studied English at Warwick
University. She has worked as a freelance journalist for ten years,
specialising in women, health, sex and lifestyle.<br />
<br />
She is the author behind Broadchurch.<br />
<div class="sectionhead">
Novels</div>
<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/poison-tree.htm">The Poison Tree</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2010.htm">2010</a>)</span><br /><a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/sick-rose.htm">The Sick Rose</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2011.htm">2011</a>)</span><br /> aka <i>The Dark Rose</i><br /><a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/burning-air.htm">The Burning Air</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2013.htm">2013</a>)</span><br /><a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/ties-that-bind.htm">The Ties That Bind</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2014.htm">2014</a>)</span><br /><a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/he-said-she-said.htm">He Said / She Said</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2017.htm">2017</a>)</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="sectionhead">
Series</div>
<strong>Broadchurch</strong> (with Chris Chibnall)<br />1. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/end-is-where-it-begins.htm">The End Is Where It Begins</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2015.htm">2015</a>)</span><br />2. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/letter.htm">The Letter</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2015.htm">2015</a>)</span><br />3. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/old-friends.htm">Old Friends</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2015.htm">2015</a>)</span><br />4. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/over-the-side.htm">Over the Side</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2015.htm">2015</a>)</span><br />5. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/protection.htm">Protection</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2015.htm">2015</a>)</span><br />6. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/one-more-secret.htm">One More Secret</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2015.htm">2015</a>)</span><br />7. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/leaving-of-claire-ripley.htm">The Leaving of Claire Ripley</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2015.htm">2015</a>)</span><br />8. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/thirteen-hours.htm">Thirteen Hours</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2015.htm">2015</a>)</span><br /><a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/erin-kelly/broadchurch.htm">Broadchurch</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2014.htm">2014</a>)</span>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-45550750496677387612017-10-14T20:24:00.000+10:302017-10-14T20:24:24.820+10:30Review: THE BEEKEEPER, Stewart Giles<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51AQ0Q-zurL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51AQ0Q-zurL.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/BEEKEEPER-gripping-crime-mystery-twist-ebook/dp/B072FKXNC8/">Amazon</a>)</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 1300 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 245 pages</li>
<li><b>Page Numbers Source ISBN:</b> 1912106515</li>
<li><b>Simultaneous Device Usage:</b> Unlimited</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Joffe Books (May 18, 2017)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> May 18, 2017</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Amazon Digital Services LLC
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B072FKXNC8</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/BEEKEEPER-gripping-crime-mystery-twist-ebook/dp/B072FKXNC8/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
<b>A shocking discovery starts a trail of mayhem on the Cornish coast.</b><br /><br /><b>Alice Green</b>
is a beekeeper in the small Cornish village of Polgarrow. She lives
with her pet jackdaw in a beautiful cottage not far from the sea. One
evening, Alice <b>finds something strange under the hollyhock bush in her garden.</b> The gruesome discovery will change everyone’s lives. And then <b>Alice’s best friend Milly disappears . . .</b> <br /><br /><b>Detective Harriet Taylor</b> has just transferred to the area from Edinburgh. As she investigates <b>a series of shocking crimes, </b> she grows close to the old beekeeper and is determined to bring the criminals to justice. <b>But who is really what they seem and who can she trust?</b><br /><br /><b>A crime mystery with a touch of black humour.</b> You’ll enjoy this fast-paced and dark unearthing of the <b>secrets of a sleepy Cornish village.</b> <br />
<br />
<b>My take</b><br />
<br />
This was recommended to me as a lightish read, a cozy, and that is really how I found it.<br />
<br />
Three elderly people who were part of a wedding party forty years before all die within the space of a week. And, even though I had my suspicions, the plot kept me guessing almost to the end. The detective, Harriet Taylor is an interesting character, and extra tension arises when she is included in the investigative team when a group of "experts" descend from Exeter because the local team are apparently not getting anywhere.<br />
<br />
Alice Green was the fourth member of that wedding party. She is the beekeeper, and her bees have begun producing strange tasting honey, and Alice is worried. She becomes friends with Harriet Taylor and that seems to give her some sort of immunity from suspicion.<br />
<br />
I've never read anything before from Stewart Giles and I might just give his other series a try.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
After reading English & Drama at three different English
Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling and
finally ended up in South Africa, where I still live. I enjoy the serene
life running a boat shop on the banks of the Vaal Dam. I came up with
the DS Jason Smith idea after my wife dropped a rather large speaker on
my head. Whether it was intentional still remains a mystery. Smith, the
first in the series was finished in September 2013 and was closely
followed by Boomerang and Ladybird. Occam's Razor, Harlequin and Phobia
(a series of short stories detailing Smith's early life) were all
completed in one hazy 365 days and Selene was done and dusted a few
months later. Horsemen, the seventh in the DS Smith thriller series is
out now. The Beekeeper, a departure from the DS Smith series will be
released through Joffe Books on 22 May.
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-32147982589463646912017-10-11T11:34:00.000+10:302017-10-11T14:33:48.434+10:30Meme- New to Me Authors - July to September 2017<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s1600/new-to-me.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s200/new-to-me.jpg" width="200" /></a>It's easy to join this meme.<br />
<br />
Just write a post about the best new-to-you crime fiction authors (or all) you've read in the period of <b>July to September 2017</b>, put a link to this meme in your post, and even use the logo if you like.<br />
The books don't necessarily need to be newly published. <br />
<br />
After writing your post, then come back to this post and add your link to Mr Linky below. (if Mr Linky does not appear - leave your URL in a comment and I will add to Mr Linky when it comes back up, or I'll add the link to the post)<br />
Visit the links posted by other participants in the meme to discover even more books to read.<br />
<br />
This meme will run again at the end of December 2017<br />
<br />
<hr />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="//www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" /><script src="//www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="//www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="//www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&owner=smik&postid=01Oct2017&meme=9611"></script>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-34119193803239961882017-10-11T11:19:00.001+10:302017-10-11T11:19:42.959+10:30Review: SOMETIMES I LIE, Alice Feeney<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TJu3x79EL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="319" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TJu3x79EL.jpg" width="204" /></a>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sometimes-Lie-psychological-thriller-killer-ebook/dp/B01LXD38NC/">Amazon</a>)</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 1865 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 401 pages</li>
<li><b>Page Numbers Source ISBN:</b> 0008225354</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> HQ (March 23, 2017)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> March 23, 2017</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> HarperCollins Publishers
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B01LXD38NC</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis </b>(<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sometimes-Lie-psychological-thriller-killer-ebook/dp/B01LXD38NC/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me.<br />
<strong>1. I’m in a coma</strong><br />
<strong>2. My husband doesn’t love me any more</strong><br />
<strong>3. Sometimes I lie</strong><br />
Unnerving,
twisted and utterly compelling, you won’t be able to put this new
thriller down. Set to be the most talked about book in 2017, it’s
perfect for fans of <em>Behind Closed Doors, The Girl on the Train</em> and <em>The Widow</em>.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
The story opens on Boxing Day 2016. Amber Reynolds works out that she is in hospital, unable to open her eyes or move. Something very bad has happened and she cannot remember what or when. Two nurses come into the room to look at her and from their conversation Amber works out that she is in a coma.<br />
<br />
The story leaps from one time frame to another: first of all back to events one week earlier, then back to present time, then to 1991 when Amber began to write a diary. In 1991 Amber was almost ten, and beginning at a new school. Her Nana has recently died, and her parents argue a lot. A month later at school Amber is sitting next to Taylor who is exactly the same age as her, and they become friends.<br />
<br />
The story flits from one time frame to another, and gradually a picture builds of Amber's life over the last 25 years, and then she begins to remember the most recent events that have resulted in her being in a coma.<br />
<br />
This became one of those books that I really wanted to race through. I thought initially that a single voice was telling the story, but now I am not so sure. It is one of those books that could probably do with a second reading.<br />
<br />
For those thinking of using the book with a reading group there are some searching questions at end for discussion.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 4.6<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
Alice Feeney is a writer and journalist. She spent 16 years at the BBC,
where she worked as a Reporter, News Editor, Arts and Entertainment
Producer and One O’clock News Producer.<br /><br />Alice is a Faber Academy
graduate from the class of 2016. She has lived in London and Sydney and
has now settled in the Surrey countryside, where she lives with her
husband and dog.<br /><br />Sometimes I Lie is her debut thriller and is being published around the world in 2017.
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-61692006255277283812017-09-24T11:57:00.001+09:302017-09-24T11:59:09.943+09:30Review: THE UNEXPECTED INHERITANCE OF INSPECTOR CHOPRA, Vaseem Khan<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61t8Tyc9w2L.SX316.SY316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61t8Tyc9w2L.SX316.SY316.jpg" width="213" /></a>
<li>#1 in the Baby Ganesh Agency series</li>
<li>this edition published by Mulholland Books 2015</li>
<li>ISBN 976-1-473-61227-3</li>
<li>294 pages</li>
<li>source: my local library</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (Fantastic Fiction)<br />
<br />
Mumbai, murder, and a baby elephant combine in a charming, joyful mystery for fans of Alexander McCall Smith and Harold Fry. <br />
<br />
On
the day he retires, Inspector Ashwin Chopra inherits two unexpected
mysteries. The first is the case of a drowned boy, whose suspicious
death no one seems to want solved. And the second is a baby elephant. <br />
<br />
As
his search for clues takes him across the teeming city of Mumbai, from
its grand high-rises to its sprawling slums and deep into its murky
underworld, Chopra begins to suspect that there may be a great deal more
to both his last case and his new ward than he thought. <br />
<br />
And he soon learns that when the going gets tough, a determined elephant may be exactly what an honest man needs....<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
Inspector Chopra is forced to take early retirement as a result of a heart attack. But he is not yet ready to take things easy, put up his feet and just watch cricket. On the very day of his retirement he learns of the death of a young man, supposedly from drowning, and he knows there will be no investigation, if he doesn't follow it through himself.<br />
<br />
And then he learns that his uncle has sent him a baby elephant. Where do you keep an elephant in a high rise apartment? And what do you do when it won't eat?<br />
<br />
A light humour lies behind every word in this novel, even when the investigation which Chopra takes on without official sanction leads him into Mumbai's steamy underworld and he sights a man who is supposed to be dead.<br />
<br />
On the cozy side of crime fiction, this makes good reading.<br />
Thanks for the recommendation <a href="https://reactionstoreading.com/2017/08/19/review-the-unexpected-inheritance-of-inspector-chopra-by-vaseem-khan/">Bernadette</a>. <br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
Vaseem Khan first saw an elephant lumbering down the middle of the road
in 1997 when he arrived in India to work as a consultant. It was the
most unusual thing he'd ever encountered and served as the
inspiration...<br />
<br />
<div class="sectionhead">
Series</div>
<b>Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation</b><br />
1. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/vaseem-khan/unexpected-inheritance-of-inspector-chopra.htm">The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2015.htm">2015</a>)</span><br />
2. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/vaseem-khan/perplexing-theft-of-the-jewel-in-the-crown.htm">The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2016.htm">2016</a>)</span><br />
3. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/vaseem-khan/strange-disappearance-of-a-bollywood-star.htm">The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2017.htm">2017</a>)</span><br />
4. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/vaseem-khan/murder-at-the-grand-raj-palace.htm">Murder at the Grand Raj Palace</a><span class="year"> (2018)</span>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-46451984668687513232017-09-23T19:25:00.000+09:302017-09-23T19:26:48.114+09:30Review: POSTCARDS FROM THE PAST, Marcia Willett<ul><a href="http://www.marciawillett.co.uk/wpimages/wp154d5783_05_06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.marciawillett.co.uk/wpimages/wp154d5783_05_06.jpg" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="237" height="320" width="208" /></a>
<li>this edition published by Bantam, 2013</li>
<li>ISBN 978-0-593-07151-9</li>
<li>299 pages</li>
<li>source: my local library</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="http://www.marciawillett.co.uk/postcards.html">author website</a>)<br />
<br />
Siblings Billa and Ed share their
beautiful, grand old childhood home in rural Cornwall. With family and
friends nearby, and their living arrangements free and easy, they seem
as contented as they can be.<br />
<br />
But when postcards start arriving
from a sinister figure they thought belonged well and truly in their
pasts, old memories are stirred. Why is he contacting them now? And what
has he been hiding all these years?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51oSJ1T-JvL.SX316.SY316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51oSJ1T-JvL.SX316.SY316.jpg" width="212" /></a><b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
Well, you ask me, is this crime fiction or not? A crime was committed way back in the past, but that is not really the focus of the story, although it does explain why one of the characters is as he is.<br />
<br />
The focus is the mystery behind why their mother's step-son Tris, whom they haven't seen for 50 years, is coming to visit Billa and Ed. The postcards he sends them in the weeks before he arrives have obviously been carefully selected, to remind them of things they would rather forget. And they anticipate his visit with great dread.<br />
<br />
It felt a bit gentler than the books I usually read but I read it with great pleasure. The characterisation was excellent, and the suspense generated by the impending visit was well done.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
<br />
Marcia Willett began her career as a novelist when she was fifty years
old. Since that first novel Marcia has written twenty more under her own
name as well as a number of short stories. She has also written four
books under the pseudonym "Willa Marsh", and is published in more than
sixteen countries. <br />
<br />
Marcia Willett's early life was devoted to
the ballet, but her dreams of becoming a ballerina ended when she grew
out of the classical proportions required. She had always loved books,
and a family crisis made her take up a new career as a novelist - a
decision she has never regretted. She lives in a beautiful and wild part
of Devon where she loves to be visited by her son and young family.
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-36276317537295551912017-09-11T17:14:00.001+09:302017-09-11T17:17:12.849+09:30Review: JOURNEY TO DEATH, Leigh Russell<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51KhvPoo5lL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51KhvPoo5lL.jpg" width="213" /></a>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Death-Lucy-Hall-Mystery-ebook/dp/B014KVMWQ4/">Amazon</a>)</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 2150 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 324 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Thomas & Mercer (February 9, 2016)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> February 9, 2016</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Amazon Digital Services LLC
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B014KVMWQ4</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Death-Lucy-Hall-Mystery-ebook/dp/B014KVMWQ4/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
<div id="iframeContent">
<b>A deadly secret lurks in an island’s history, buried deep but not forgotten. And it is about to come to light.</b><br />
<br />
Lucy
Hall arrives in the Seychelles determined to leave her worries behind.
The tropical paradise looks sun-soaked and picture-perfect—but as Lucy
soon discovers, appearances can be very deceptive.<br />
<br />
As black clouds
begin to gather over what promised to be a relaxing family break, Lucy
realises that her father stands in the eye of the coming storm. A shadow
from his past is threatening to destroy all that he holds
dear—including the lives of his loved ones.<br />
<br />
A dark truth is about to explode into their lives, and that truth is going to hit them right between the eyes.<br />
<br />
<b>My take</b>:<br />
<br />
Leigh Russell is quite a prolific author with 16 Books published since 2009. JOURNEY TO DEATH is the first of 3 in the Lucy Hall series.<br />
<br />
Lucy Hall comes to the Seychelles with her parents just after a romance breakup. She has sustained an emotional collapse and her parents are trying to help her recover.<br />
<br />
While they know that her father was evacuated (forcibly) from the island 30 years before, his wife and daughter know little about his personal life at that time. Their idyllic holiday is shattered when the wife, Angela, disappears. In the meantime Lucy begins to think that someone is targetting their family.<br />
<br />
The main narrator of the tale is Lucy and we see the action mainly through her eyes. However occasionally the reader is told what is happening to Angela, and the tension and suspense ratchet up.<br />
In the long run the story was handled well, and I feel tempted to follow Lucy into the second book in the series.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br />
</div>
<b>About the author</b> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/leigh-russell/">Fantastic Fiction</a>)<br />
LEIGH RUSSELL is described as "a brilliant talent" by Jeffery Deaver.
CUT SHORT (2009) was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award for
Best First Novel. Road Closed (2010) was listed as a Top Read on
Eurocrime. With Dead End (2011) Leigh's detective Geraldine Steel was
Number 1 on amazon kindle's bestseller chart for female sleuths.
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-4429228981443058492017-08-31T15:14:00.000+09:302017-09-01T15:39:00.630+09:30Review: GOODWOOD, Holly Throsby<ul><a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781760293734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="345" height="320" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781760293734.jpg" width="209" /></a>
<li>first published 2016 by <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/popular-fiction/Goodwood-Holly-Throsby-9781760293734">Allen & Unwin Australia</a></li>
<li>ISBN 978-1-76529-373-4</li>
<li>377 pages</li>
<li>Source: my local library</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/popular-fiction/Goodwood-Holly-Throsby-9781760293734">publisher</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="product-short-description text-large">
A delightful debut novel of secrets and small town obsessions from
Australian musician and songwriter, Holly Throsby.</div>
<div class="product-short-description text-large">
<br /></div>
<div class="product-description">
<i>It wasn't just one person who went missing, it was two people.
Two very different people. They were there, and then they were gone, as
if through a crack in the sky. After that, in a small town like
Goodwood, where we had what Nan called 'a high density of
acquaintanceship', everything stopped. Or at least it felt that way. The
normal feeling of things stopped.</i><br /><br />Goodwood is a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone. It's a place where it's impossible to keep a secret.<br /><br />In
1992, when Jean Brown is seventeen, a terrible thing happens. Two
terrible things. Rosie White, the coolest girl in town, vanishes
overnight. One week later, Goodwood's most popular resident, Bart
McDonald, sets off on a fishing trip and never comes home.<br /><br />People die in Goodwood, of course, but never like this. They don't just disappear.<br /><br />As
the intensity of speculation about the fates of Rosie and Bart
heightens, Jean, who is keeping secrets of her own, and the rest of
Goodwood are left reeling.<br /><br />Rich in character and complexity, its humour both droll and tender, <i>Goodwood</i> is a compelling ride into a small community, torn apart by dark rumours and mystery. </div>
<div class="product-description">
</div>
<div class="product-description">
<b>My Take</b></div>
<div class="product-description">
</div>
<div class="product-description">
An interesting novel just on the edge of crime fiction. The reader is never sure whether a crime has taken place or not. I found it a read that you had to take slowly just so that you wouldn't miss anything important.</div>
<div class="product-description">
</div>
<div class="product-description">
We see life in the small town of Goodwood in rural Victoria through the eyes of Jean Brown, in her final year of high school. Rosie White, a year older than Jean, is the first to disappear. Her mother goes to wake her one Sunday morning and her bed is empty and her window wide open. Rumours fly thick and fast and the town is divided in opinion on whether she has run away or whether she has been taken, and is even perhaps dead.</div>
<div class="product-description">
</div>
<div class="product-description">
The town residents largely regard the town as a safe haven, somewhere where crimes can't occur, where young people can largely roam without fear of attack. In fact a number of the residents including Jean's mother have returned to Goodwood after a time away. It is a small town where everybody knows everybody-else, and most "nasty" characters are identified and avoided.</div>
<div class="product-description">
<br /></div>
<div class="product-description">
Jeanie doesn't always understand what she has observed and she is distracted by the arrival of a new girl in town. </div>
<div class="product-description">
<br /></div>
<div class="product-description">
When a second person disappears, it seems that something is seriously wrong. The town has turned into a place of danger.</div>
<div class="product-description">
<br /></div>
<div class="product-description">
A lovely read, lots of humour, and still enough mystery to keep this crime fiction addict engaged.</div>
<div class="product-description">
</div>
<b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
Holly Throsby is a songwriter, musician and novelist
from Sydney, Australia. She has released four critically acclaimed solo
albums, a collection of original children's songs, and an album as part
of the band, Seeker Lover Keeper. <i>Goodwood</i> is Holly's debut novel. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-48796682681096475942017-08-28T09:05:00.001+09:302017-08-28T09:05:58.196+09:30Review: THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE, C.J. Box<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ok7byYQ7L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ok7byYQ7L.jpg" width="202" /></a>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Three-Weeks-Say-Goodbye-C-J-ebook/dp/B003MQM782/">Amazon</a>)</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 834 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 363 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Corvus; Main edition (May 1, 2010)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> May 1, 2010</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Amazon Digital Services LLC
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 1848872917</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-1848872912</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B003MQM782</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Three-Weeks-Say-Goodbye-C-J-ebook/dp/B003MQM782/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
<b>They're so sorry...</b><br /><b>They've made a terrible mistake...</b><br /><b>There's nothing they can do...</b><br /><b>They have to take your daughter away. </b><br /><br /><b>You have three weeks to say goodbye.</b><br />
<br />
After
years of trying for a child, Jack and Melissa McGuane adopted a
beautiful baby girl. Nine months later, a call from the adoption agency
plunges them into every parent's worst nightmare: the father never
signed away his parental rights, and now he wants his daughter back.<br />
<br />
The
biological father is a sullen eighteen-year-old with gangland
connections, and, even worse, is the son of a well-connected federal
judge who is prepared to use the full weight of his influence to get
what he wants. Together they wage a harrowing campaign of intimidation
and harassment aimed at destroying the McGuanes before they can fight
back.<br />
<br />
Jack and Melissa know that the boy has no love for his
daughter, but what they don't know is why he and the judge want the girl
so badly. With three weeks until they must legally hand over.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
This is one of the titles that has been sitting on my Kindle for a number of years. C.J. Box is one of those authors I have heard mentioned often - he has captured many awards - but I have never read anything by him. THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE is a standalone.<br />
<br />
The central theme is why would the federal judge who is the biological grandfather want to take on a baby when his son has no interest in the child. Why is he fighting so hard to get her?<br />
<br />
This scenario truly would be the worst nightmare of adoptive parents who think they have everything sewn up, and who have fallen in love with their adopted child. Then add in friends and relatives who are literally prepared to do anything to help, and the mix becomes explosive.<br />
<br />
For the most part the book held me. However the plot does illustrate how the most peaceful of people can be driven to violence when pressured. In a way the final stage of the plot was inevitable and logical, considering all that happened, but somehow I was disappointed.<br />
<br />
The book has whetted my appetite for more by this author.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 4.3 <br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
<span>C. J. Box is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over
twenty-two novels including the Joe Pickett series. He won the Edgar
Alan Poe Award for Best Novel (Blue Heaven, 2009) as well as the Anthony
Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award,
the Barry Award (twice), the Western Heritage Award for Literature, and
2017 Spur Award for Best Contemporary Western. The novels have been
translated into 27 languages. Open Season, Blue Heaven, Nowhere To Run,
and The Highway have been optioned for film and television. Millions of
copies of his novels have been sold in the U.S. alone.<br /><br />Box is a
Wyoming native and has worked as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, a
small town newspaper reporter and editor, and he owned an international
tourism marketing firm with his wife Laurie. In 2008, Box was awarded
the "BIG WYO" Award from the state tourism industry. An avid
outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout
Wyoming and the Mountain West. He served on the Board of Directors for
the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and is currently serving on the Wyoming
Tourism Board. He lives in Wyoming.
</span>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-29925177713896025772017-08-05T14:04:00.000+09:302017-08-05T14:04:00.862+09:30Review: A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE, Shari Lapena<ul><a href="http://www.sharilapena.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Stranger_UK.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.sharilapena.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Stranger_UK.png" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="587" height="320" width="234" /></a>
<li>this edition published by Transworld Press 2017</li>
<li>ISBN 978-0-5930-7741-2</li>
<li>288 pages</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sharilapena.com/">author website</a> </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="http://www.sharilapena.com/book/a-stranger-in-the-house-uk/">book cover</a>)<br />
<br />
Why would you run scared from a happy home?<br /><br />You’re waiting for your beloved husband to get home from work. You’re making dinner, looking forward to hearing about his day. That’s the last thing you remember.<br /><br />You wake up in hospital, with no idea how you got there. They tell you that you were in an accident; you lost control of your car whilst driving in a dangerous part of town.<br /><br />The police suspect you were up to no good. But your husband refuses to believe it. Your best friend is not so sure. And even you don’t know what to believe . . .<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
One of those novels that hooks the reader right from the beginning.<br />
<br />
When Tom Krupp comes home a little later than he had intended, he knows from the open front door, and the absence of his wife Karen, that something is very wrong. His wife's mobile phone and purse are in the house, and it looks as if she left in the middle of preparing dinner. Her car is gone.<br />
<br />
A little later a policeman turns up to tell him that his wife has had an accident. At hospital Tom finds that Karen is heavily concussed and appears to have severe amnesia. When she was admitted she was unable to give her name and she kept repeating the name Robert.<br />
<br />
The police decide to charge Karen Krupp with reckless driving - she did run some red lights - but they are not convinced by her story of amnesia. They decide to take a closer look at things, to work out why she was driving so badly.<br />
<br />
Tom is not convinced by the amnesia angle either and he wonders what Karen is hiding. He searches the house for clues about what might have sent her out that night.<br />
<br />
A very readable book, with a few hidden twists. The ending still came out of left field.<br />
<br />
<b>My Rating</b>: 4.5<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
Shari Lapena is the internationally bestselling author of THE COUPLE NET DOOR. She was a lawyer and an English teacher before turning her hand to fiction.<br />She lives in Toronto. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-6950423570060103122017-07-18T16:30:00.002+09:302017-07-18T16:30:45.841+09:30Review: SEE WHAT I HAVE DONE, Sarah Schmidt<ul><a href="https://d1j7sgg6ckvcvy.cloudfront.net/books/thumbnails/9780733636882.jpg?v=5&scale=both&width=440" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://d1j7sgg6ckvcvy.cloudfront.net/books/thumbnails/9780733636882.jpg?v=5&scale=both&width=440" width="209" /></a>
<li>this edition published by <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/sarah-schmidt/see-what-i-have-done">Hachette Australia</a> in 2017</li>
<li>ISBN 978-0-7336-3688-2</li>
<li>source: my local library </li>
<li>325 pages</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/sarah-schmidt/see-what-i-have-done">Hachette Australia</a>)<br />
<br />
'He was still bleeding. I yelled, "Someone's killed Father."<br />
<br />
I
breathed in kerosene air, licked the thickness from my teeth. The clock
on the mantel ticked ticked. I looked at Father, the way hands clutched
to thighs, the way the little gold ring on his pinky finger sat like a
sun. I gave him that ring for his birthday when I no longer wanted it.
"Daddy," I had said. "I'm giving this to you because I love you." He had
smiled and kissed my forehead.<br />
<br />
A long time ago now.'<br />
<br />
On 4 August 1892 Andrew and Abby Borden were murdered in their home in
Fall River, Massachusetts. During the inquest into the deaths, Lizzie
Borden was arrested and charged with the murder of her father and her
stepmother.<br />
<br />
Through the eyes of Lizzie's sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, the
enigmatic stranger Benjamin and the beguiling Lizzie herself, we return
to what happened that day in Fall River.<br />
<br />
Lizzie Borden took an axe. Or did she? <br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
This is a work of fiction based on true events, and I was never quite sure how fictionalised everything was.The evidence about the events that led to the murder Andrew and Abby Borden is presented by several narrators, looking for reasons for the murders.<br />
<br />
We are told in the cover blurb that Lizzie Borden was tried and found innocent, and that no one was ever convicted of the crime. The novel presents a number of possible scenarios but I think you are left in no doubt at the end of the author's conclusion.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless it is a book that keeps you reading, and it presents an analysis of the main characters.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.4<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
After completing a Bachelor of Arts (Professional writing and editing), a
Master of Arts (Creative Writing), and a Graduate Diploma of
Information Management, Sarah currently works as a Reading &
Literacy Coordinator (read: a fancy librarian) at a regional public
library. She lives in Melbourne with her partner and daughter. See What I
Have Done is her first novel. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-78418180611988644422017-07-08T17:48:00.000+09:302017-07-08T17:48:18.770+09:30Review: STORMY COVE, Bernadette Calonego - audio book<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51tjfDL08KL._SL300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51tjfDL08KL._SL300_.jpg" /></a>
<li class="adbl-author-row"><span class="adbl-label"></span><span class="adbl-prod-author"><a class="adbl-link author-profile-link" href="https://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2_2_auth?searchAuthor=Gerald+Chapple+-+translator" id="AuthorSearchLink"></a></span>first published 2015 in German, then in English in 2016</li>
<li class="adbl-author-row"><span class="adbl-prod-author">Translator: </span><span class="adbl-prod-author"><a class="adbl-link author-profile-link" href="https://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2_2_auth?searchAuthor=Gerald+Chapple+-+translator" id="AuthorSearchLink">Gerald Chapple</a></span></li>
<li class="adbl-narrator-row"><span class="adbl-label">Narrated by:</span>
<span class="adbl-prod-author">
<a class="adbl-link" href="https://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2_1_narr?searchNarrator=Nicol+Zanzarella">
Nicol Zanzarella
</a>
</span></li>
<li> <span class="adbl-label">Length:</span> <span class="adbl-run-time">12 hrs and 54 mins</span> <span id="detail_more_info_btn"></span></li>
<li>
<span class="adbl-label">Release Date:</span><span class="adbl-date adbl-release-date">05-24-16</span></li>
<li><span class="adbl-format-type">Unabridged</span> <span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">
Audiobook</span></li>
<li><span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"><a href="http://www.bernadettecalonego.com/">Author website</a> </span></li>
</ul>
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"><b>Synopsis</b> (Amazon)</span><br />
<br />
As a globe-trotting freelance photographer based in Vancouver,
British Columbia, Lori Finning has seen just about everything. But when
she lands an assignment on the barren, snow-swept island of
Newfoundland, she finds herself in harsh and unfamiliar territory.<br />
<br />
During
the long, dreary winters in the isolated fishing community of Stormy
Cove, gossiping is the primary pastime. So Lori is surprised when she
learns of a crime the locals have spent twenty years <i>not</i> talking
about: the strange, unsolved murder of a teenage girl. As she delves
deeper into the village's past, she'll discover dark family secrets,
unexplained crimes, and an undeniable attraction to Noah, a taciturn
local fisherman who just might hold all the answers. <br />
<br />
<b><span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">My Take</span></b><br />
<br />
An intriguing and rather complicated plot with lots of plot lines. Lori Finning's assignment to create a coffee table record of life in a remote Canadian fishing village turns into a murder mystery and an investigation of missing women. Rather inevitably it also has a romance strand, and also some danger to Lori herself.<br />
<br />
Nicole Zanzarella does a good job with the narration, producing a number of voices to differentiate different characters.<br />
<br />
The author also uses not only first voice narration but also some segments when a person is being interviewed about his/her impressions of the main characters in the story. This made for challenging listening.<br />
<br />
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"><b>My rating</b>:4.2</span><br />
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"> </span><span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"> </span><br />
<b><span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">About the author</span></b><br />
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">Bernadette Calonego was born in Switzerland and grew up on the
shores of Lake Lucerne. She was just eleven years old when she published
her first story, in a Swiss newspaper. She went on to earn a teaching
degree from the University of Fribourg, which she put to good use in
England and Switzerland b<span class="_dgc">efore switching gears to
become a journalist. After several years working with the Reuters news
agency and a series of German-language newspapers, she moved to Canada
and began writing fiction. Stormy Cove is her fourth novel. As a foreign
correspondent, she has published stories in Vogue, GEO, and SZ Magazin.
She splits her time between Vancouver, British Columbia, and
Newfoundland.</span> </span>
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-78152888118399472832017-07-03T13:20:00.000+09:302017-07-03T13:20:12.281+09:30Review: Cherringham (1-3) - Cosy Crime Series Compilation, Matthew Costello, Neil Richards - audio book <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61bu5bCgKTL._SL300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61bu5bCgKTL._SL300_.jpg" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li>format: <a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/Cherringham-A-Cosy-Crime-Series-Compilation-Cherringham-1-3-Audiobook/B01J69HBES">audible</a></li>
<li class="adbl-author-row"><span class="adbl-label">Written by:</span>
<span class="adbl-prod-author">
<a class="adbl-link author-profile-link" href="https://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2_1_auth?searchAuthor=Matthew+Costello" id="AuthorSearchLink">Matthew Costello</a>
,
<a class="adbl-link author-profile-link" href="https://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2_2_auth?searchAuthor=Neil+Richards" id="AuthorSearchLink">Neil Richards</a>
</span></li>
<li class="adbl-narrator-row"><span class="adbl-label">Narrated by:</span>
<span class="adbl-prod-author">
<a class="adbl-link" href="https://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2_1_narr?searchNarrator=Neil+Dudgeon">
Neil Dudgeon
</a>
</span></li>
<li> <span class="adbl-label">Length:</span> <span class="adbl-run-time">7 hrs and 48 mins</span> <span id="detail_more_info_btn"></span></li>
<li>
<div class="adbl-series-link">
<ul>
<li><span class="adbl-prod-author">Series: <a class="adbl-link" href="https://www.audible.com/series/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2__1_sa?asin=B06XG2GNGX">Cherringham Compilations</a><span class="adbl-label">, Book 1</span>
</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
</li>
<li><span class="adbl-format-type">Unabridged</span> <span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">
Audiobook</span></li>
</ul>
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"><b>Synopsis</b> ( </span><a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/Cherringham-A-Cosy-Crime-Series-Compilation-Cherringham-1-3-Audiobook/B01J69HBES">audible</a>)<br />
<br />
Jack's a retired ex-cop from New York, seeking the simple life in
Cherringham. Sarah's a Web designer who's moved back to the village find
herself. But their lives are anything but quiet as the two team up to
solve Cherringham's criminal mysteries. <br />
<br />
This compilation contains episodes 1 - 3: MURDER ON THAMES, MYSTERY AT THE MANOR and MURDER BY MOONLIGHT. <br />
<br />
Here
Jack and Sarah investigate a suicide in the River Thames - or was it
murder? They investigate an "accidental" fire with deadly consequences,
and they nab the culprit behind the Rotary Club choir poisoning. <br />
<br />
Cherringham
is a series à la Charles Dickens, with a new mystery thriller released
each month. Set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, the
detective series brings together an unlikely sleuthing duo: English web
designer Sarah and American ex-cop Jack. Thrilling and deadly - but with
a spot of tea - it's like Rosamunde Pilcher meets Inspector Barnaby.
Each of the self-contained episodes is a quick listen for the morning
commute, while waiting for the doctor, or when curling up with a hot
cuppa. <br />
<br />
<b><span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">My Take</span></b><br />
<br />
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">This is not very demanding listening, really a cozy in the real sense of the word. The events are almost everyday occurrences, the sort of scenarios the listening audience might find themselves in. The detective duo are interesting enough: a retired NYP detective and a housewife who is also a single mum. Each episode is 2-3 hours, so achievable with a longish return journey. There is not to think about in each scenario, but not a lot of mystery either. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">I think the character development of the detectives is quite well done, and Neil Dudgeon does a good job of the narration.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"><b>My rating</b>: 4.1</span><br />
<br />
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">About the authors</span><br />
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">Co-authors Neil Richards (based in the UK) and Matthew Costello (based
in the US), have been writing together since the mid 90's, creating
content and working on projects for the BBC, Disney Channel, Sony, ABC,
Eidos, and Nintendo to name but a few. Their transatlantic collaboration
has underpinned scores of TV drama scripts, computer games, radio
shows, and - most recently - the successful crime fiction series
Cherringham. <br /><br />The narrator of the audiobook, Neil Dudgeon, has
been in many British television programmes including the roles of "DCI
John Barnaby" in "Midsomer Murders" and "Jim Riley" in "The Life of
Riley".
</span>
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-13392085795448729062017-06-30T08:00:00.000+09:302017-06-30T08:00:10.765+09:30New to me authors read April to June 2017 <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_H_mUpP7JGcjqVCVnDiy-jUrbRkia0j6ZjfFyoGFVNxQ-eraEwCvvOO4v4xQ1uLu74MF7uVInYGgKhTs02_zhhhXJslAKngyP4ADS46wpbYbKGWqaqkfI5OclWHAY01Zw__-9wCThrM/s150/new-to-me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_H_mUpP7JGcjqVCVnDiy-jUrbRkia0j6ZjfFyoGFVNxQ-eraEwCvvOO4v4xQ1uLu74MF7uVInYGgKhTs02_zhhhXJslAKngyP4ADS46wpbYbKGWqaqkfI5OclWHAY01Zw__-9wCThrM/s150/new-to-me.jpg" data-original-height="69" data-original-width="150" /></a>I haven't read quite as many new-to-me authors in this quarter of the year as in the first quarter but nevertheless they have been nearly half my total reads for the year.<br />
<br />
You can see from my ratings that they have all been worth the effort.<br />
I have now read 22 for the year out of a total of 52 books.<br />
The most impressive was the winner of the Petrona Award for 2017, WHERE ROSES NEVER DIE.<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/review-past-crimes-glen-erik-hamilton.html">4.4, PAST CRIMES, Glen Erik Hamilton</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/review-inside-black-horse-ray-berard.html">4.5, INSIDE THE BLACK HORSE, Ray Berard</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/review-jarful-of-angels-babs-horton.html">4.4, A JARFUL OF ANGELS, Babs Horton</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/review-husbands-secret-liane-moriarty.html">4.6, THE HUSBAND'S SECRET, Liane Moriarty</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/review-tell-truth-shame-devil-melina.html">4.5, TELL THE TRUTH, SHAME THE DEVIL, Melina Marchetta</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/review.html">4.4, DAINTREE, Annie Seaton</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/review-bunting-quest-steven-marcuson.html">4.4, THE BUNTING QUEST, Steven Marcuson</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/review-where-roses-never-die-gunnar.html">4.8, WHERE ROSES NEVER DIE, Gunnar Staaleson</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
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<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/meme-new-to-me-authors-april-to-june.html">Check to see what others have read.</a></span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-38827755936991178872017-06-29T08:45:00.000+09:302017-06-29T08:46:39.105+09:30Meme- New to Me Authors - April to June 2017<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s1600/new-to-me.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s200/new-to-me.jpg" width="200" /></a>It's easy to join this meme.<br />
<br />
Just write a post about the best new-to-you crime fiction authors (or all) you've read in the period of <b>April to June 2017</b>, put a link to this meme in your post, and even use the logo if you like.<br />
The books don't necessarily need to be newly published. <br />
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After writing your post, then come back to this post and add your link to Mr Linky below. (if Mr Linky does not appear - leave your URL in a comment and I will add to Mr Linky when it comes back up, or I'll add the link to the post)<br />
Visit the links posted by other participants in the meme to discover even more books to read.<br />
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This meme will run again at the end of August 2017<br />
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