Review: Naked to the Hangman

Naked to the Hangman by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

And now to the eighth and final (for now) book in the series set in small town 1950s England featuring DCI Richard Thornhill and newspaper editor Jill Francis.

Richard's past as a policeman in Palestine has come back to haunt him. His former boss Jock has arrived in Lydmouth to warn Richard that a young man they knew back then is in England, hell-bent on revenge for the deaths of his family. Richard has been instructed to take several weeks of leave by his superior officer as everyone is worried (as we would say nowadays) about his mental health.

Lydmouth is moving (slowly) with the times and its first coffee shop has opened, managed by a cockney-Italian woman Mrs Merini and her teenage daughter Gina.

Meanwhile the dance school is preparing for the Annual Ruispidge Charity Dance, with much consternation as young Walter Raven was promised to young Emily Brown but would now like to escort Gina Merini who he has been making cow eyes at in the café every day. Emily Brown's purse has gone missing and her mother is convinced Gina is responsible, touting her opinions around the local newspaper and the police station, but Edith Thornhill isn't so sure, she saw the woman who accompanies the dancers on the piano (Miss Buckholt) loitering around the coats at the time the purse is alleged to have gone missing.

Richard's second child, Elizabeth, is friends with Walter's sister Gwen and the two of them are often to be found playing detectives, tailing people around Lydmouth and looking for clues. Richard's wife Edith is coming into her own now the children are slightly older, her former training as a teacher and being the mother of three children has equipped her for managing people, children and committees. However, despite Edith now being far more like the interesting, accomplished woman that Jill is (and despite Edith and Jill developing a sort of friendship), Richard seems just as unhappy as ever, but just unwilling to do anything about it.

This felt like the series had run out of steam (and perhaps should have stopped wen Jill decided to return to London at the end of book six). What I enjoyed about the earlier books was the interactions between Richard and Jill as they each brought their skills to solving the crimes. That has gone and now the two circle each other but never really touch base. Also, another thing I liked about the earlier books was the ongoing development of the relationships with the minor characters who didn't just appear in one book never to be seen again. However, in the last two books I have felt much more that new characters are introduced purely for the plot (or as Jill's potential love interest) and then dropped immediately afterwards. What's happened to Charlotte and Bernard - they were two larger than life characters who have disappeared almost completely (its like when characters from the soap opera Neighbours move to Sydney as a euphemism for leaving the show).

As noted in my review of the seventh book, there are a lot of very obvious typos and spelling mistakes which should have been picked up - galling to pay full price for a book that hasn't been properly edited. In one instance where there is an issue around whether a shoe is on the left foot or the right foot of a murder victim it says there are shoes on both feet in the crime scene photo!

Wrapping up this series, I also think that Andrew Taylor's Marwood and Lovett series may be going in a similar direction, he's got them together/in love and doesn't know what to do with them so he has fabricated a talking-at-cross-purposes disagreement to hold off progressing the relationship.

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Review: Call the Dying

Call the Dying by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The seventh novel in this detective series set in small town 1950s England featuring DI Richard Thornhill and journalist Jill Francis.

Three years have passed, Richard is now DCI Thornhill, in charge of the regional CID. Jill has had a difference of ideology with the new owner of the magazine she edits and has resigned/been sacked. Philip Weymss-Brown, the editor of Lydmouth's Gazette newspaper has had a heart attack and his wife Charlotte has asked Jill to return to Lydmouth to take temporary charge of the paper, which is currently losing a circulation war against its rival newspaper which itself has just been acquired by a national chain.

The elderly and irascible Doctor Bayswater has ostensibly retired and sold his practice to an incomer, the devastatingly attractive Dr Leddon, but appears to have fallen out with him and refuses to honour their agreement to sell Dr Leddon part of his property to set up a new NHS practice - as an aside it was fascinating to see Dr Bayswater's mistrust of the NHS.

It's the advent of television, and Richard's family is not immune to the lure, but when a London TV salesman goes missing somewhere between Lydmouth and London it turns out to be a baffling disappearance, especially when one of his distinctive yellow gloves is found beside the body of Dr Bayswater.

Oh, and there's also someone who goes around pee-ing through people's letterboxes, nice!

Although I enjoyed the mystery, I can't help but feel that this book was written 'by popular demand' to bring Jill back to Lydmouth when it seems either that she and Richard have moved on from their doomed affair, or at least decided to leave it behind (although I did wonder whether Richard and Edith's youngest daughter Susie was in fact the product of Edith's own 'affair' in the previous book).

I had my suspicions about the murderer (or should I say there were breadcrumbs tossed to the reader) based on a few throwaway comments, but the truth was not something I saw coming.

Also, this is a criticism of all the books in this series, there are some howling spelling and grammatical mistakes which should have been picked up in the last decade since the book was published and I resent paying £3.99 (aka full price) for something which has been edited in such a slap-dash manner.

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Review: Death's Own Door

Death's Own Door by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The sixth book in this small town 1950s English detective series turns its attention to DI Thornhill's wife Edith and the time she spent as a young woman with her granny in the nearby small town of Trenalt. Edith travels to Trenalt for the funeral of Rufus Moorcroft, a highly respected member of the local community who committed suicide. It transpires that he was gay and seeking treatment at a local clinic for his 'abnormal' tendencies. Attending the funeral and seeing so many of the people she spent that last summer with brings back some awful memories for Edith, the play she starred in, her unrequited love for Hugh Hudnall and his tragic death, the betrayal, the eccentric characters, and all the secrets.

Could the eccentric Miss Carswell unlock the secret behind Rufus' death, and does it have any link to Hugh's death all those years ago? What does she mean about Constance marrying the White Rabbit and why did she want to call someone in Kent?

Meanwhile a valuable painting owned by Rufus (of Miss Carswell as a young woman), painted by a local artist who is married to Hugh's older sister, has gone missing.

I'm enjoying this series as much for the relationships as for the detection. Nothing ever goes the way the reader expects, no-one is ever wholly good or bad, everyone has secrets, just because someone is unlikable doesn't mean they are a villain.

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Review: Where Roses Fade

Where Roses Fade by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Young Mattie Harris is found floating in the river by Jimmy Leigh, a slow-witted young man. Mattie was a waitress at the local cafe, but her death has got the old men of Lydmouth closing ranks. Detective Superintendent Ray Williamson has come out of retirement due to ill-health to manage the investigation and he appears determined to pin the murder on Jimmy, even if the evidence seems to point somewhere else - could it be the Masonic lodge is covering something up?

In addition, Mattie's best friend Violet has recently given birth to a baby out of wedlock, the father Ray, is the son of one of Lydmouth's most prominent citizens and he and his best friend Malcolm, who was struck down by polio as a child and now has to walk with the assistance of crutches, have been using a deserted house for their own purposes ... was Mattie somehow involved.

I'm devouring this series so I'm not doing much analysis, but what I like are the references to issues of the time, eg Malcolm's polio, the criminality of homosexuality (and the pain that caused people), the sin of childbirth outside marriage, and the hypocrisy of prostitution. When people hark back to the golden era of the 1950s they should remember how repressed society was and how so many people had to live a lie, or just unhappily, just because of society's diktat.

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Review: The Suffocating Night

The Suffocating Night by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A London reporter comes to Lydmouth, hoping to sell an article to one of the London papers about the families squatting in a disused army camp after they were evicted from their homes in the local slums. To their faces he is friendly and sympathetic but in reality he intends to slant his piece very firmly towards those who want to evict the families.

Against the backdrop of the war in Korea and the era of McCarthy, there is a fear/hatred of communism running through even small towns like Lydmouth.

When the reporter is found dead in his room at the Bathurst Arms there is a plethora of suspects. Could it be Jill Francis' boss and friend Philip Wemyss-Brown who 'fought' very briefly against Franco in the Spanish Civil War? Could it be one of the evictees, angry at the way they were portrayed and betrayed? Could it be the landlady of the Bathurst Arms who was seen getting very cosy with him in the bar after hours by her step-daughter?

Together and separately, Jill and DI Richard Thornhill investigate the murder, while Richard's wife's Uncle Bernie lobbies for the police to re-open the cold-case of a young teenager who went missing three years ago.

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Review: The Last Word

The Last Word by Katy Birchall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Harper Jenkins loves her job as Celebrity Editor for a magazine called Narrative working with her two best friends, even though the Editor-in-Chief Cosmo is a bit of a hater. The only fly in the ointment is that Ryan Jansson is on the features team for the magazine's sister newspaper The Correspondence. The two of them have history, dating back to when they were both newspaper interns eleven years ago, and are enemies. When Ryan joined the newspaper they made an unspoken pact to pretend they didn't know each other.

Then Harper's friend Rakhee the Features Editor accepts a new job and Cosmo promotes Ryan to Features Editor in her place, now Harper has to sit next to neta-freak Ryan and his condescending attitude every day. Despite being the best in the business, someone who relates to celebrities on a personal level and gets them to share fascinating facts about their lives, Cosmo continually tries to undermine Harper, promoting boring businessmen for the front cover rather than world-famous celebrities, and giving her interviews to Ryan for spurious reasons.

This enemies-to-love, second-chance, opposites-attract, romance started off well, gradually revealing the history between Ryan and Harper but for me it gradually went off the boil. I think it was that Ryan didn't really feel like a rounded character, more just a foil to contrast with Harper. Also, it felt a bit lazy to have such a mirroring of events from the past with the present (and something I've read before), it would have worked better for me if maybe the power dynamic had reversed (trying hard not to be spoilery).

Overall, pleasant enough but didn't end as well as it started (for me) and not as good as The Secret Bridesmaid.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Lover of the Grave

The Lover of the Grave by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Warning, there is some historically authentic language which may offend modern readers (as an aside, I remember this word being used when I was a child and yet when I read it on the page I was seriously shocked - it just goes to show that society really can evolve).

A man is found hanged in the aptly named Hanging Tree with his trousers pulled down around his ankles, initially thought to be a local farmer it turns out to be his twin brother who was a school teacher at the local private school. Add in a peeping Tom, a Hollywood film star trying to go incognito, secret affairs, pregnancies, secret babies. It's book three in this engaging series featuring Detective Inspector Thornhill and reporter Jill Francis.

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Review: The Mortal Sickness

The Mortal Sickness by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Second in a detective series set in the 1950s in the small town of Lydmouth.

A middle-aged woman is found dead in the church grounds, bashed over the head, and the church's most valuable possession, the Lydmouth chalice is missing. Someone is writing poison pen letters accusing the vicar of visiting prostitutes in London.

Detective Inspector Thornhill investigates but as usual there are numerous strands interwoven, including a femme fatale, a secret profession, and his own unhappy marriage.

Meanwhile, Jill Francis is now a journalist for the Lydmouth Gazette but things are becoming a little strained between her and Charlotte as she is forced to impose on their hospitality, which brings her into close contact with Charlotte's husband, and Jill's boss, Philip.

Really getting into this new series.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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Review: An Air That Kills

An Air That Kills by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Intriguing start to a new series (to me) by a favourite author set in the 1950s.

This book follows several different characters and at first it is difficult to see where the story is going or how they are connected, but it all comes together well at the end.

DI Thornhill and his family have transferred to the small market town of Lydmouth from Cambridgeshire. His first task is to investigate a series of local burglaries which the local coppers suspect is the work of a local ne'er-do-well Charlie Meakin who has recently returned to Lydmouth to stay with his mother from London where he consorted with notorious crime boss James 'Genghis' Carn who coincidentally has just been released from prison.

Jill Francis is a London journalist, she has left London in a hurry to stay with an old friend, Philip, and his wife Charlotte. Jill has been ill and this is something of a convalescence. On the train down from London she shares a carriage with a strange little man who gives her the creeps.

Workmen are clearing some derelict buildings from the grounds of an old pub, long-since fallen into disrepair, when they find a small box which contains what look like human remains, baby bones, a silver brooch and a scrap from a local newspaper - one which Charlotte coincidentally owns. Charlie happens to be one of the workmen who discover the remains.

Now with a potential murder to investigate as well, DI Thornhill turns to local historian Major Harcutt for the history of the buildings in which the bones were found. Major Harcutt suggests the bones may be related to a local notorious loose woman in the 1890s who murdered her twin children in order to run away with her Italian lover, the Major hypothesises that she had this before and the bones were the remains of an earlier child. Major Harcutt is the latest victim of the robberies and ends up hospitalised as a result. In her self-appointed role as lady bountiful, Charlotte decides that Major Harcutt's daughter Antonia must return to Lydmouth to nurse him.

How all these people come together, their interactions with each other and the identity of the baby's bones proves to be an interesting read. Although as others have said, the 1950s seems like a particularly bleak period of time in rural England.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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Review: Love Me Do

Love Me Do by Lindsey Kelk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Phoebe Chapman's love life implodes (turning up at her ex's new girlfriend's hen night) she hightails it out of Nottingham and her job as a greetings card copywriter to stay with her big sister Suzanne in LA for two weeks. Unfortunately, there's a crisis at work and her sister needs to go to Seattle immediately, leaving Phoebe all alone in a small mansion in the Hollywood Hills.

At first Phoebe thinks there's a pervert spying on her with binoculars while she's lying by the pool, but it turns out that the half-naked man is her nearest neighbour and an avid birdwatcher (twitcher). The neighbour, Ren, is here to renovate his grandfather's house before his family sell it to a real estate developer, something that Ren bitterly resents.

Phoebe's sister has fully embraced the LA lifestyle, so the next morning she is rudely awakened by Suzanne's personal trainer Bel, one of the most staggeringly beautiful women Phoebe has ever seen. When they run into Ren at a local restaurant Bel confesses she is madly in love with Ren but gets so tongue-tied she becomes a gibbering idiot every time he's nearby. So Phoebe decides to Cyrano de Bergerac Bel and Ren, two such beautiful people are destined to be together and if her writing skills can be used to woo Ren, so much the better.

Of course all too soon Phoebe realises that she too has fallen for Ren, they have so much in common. For his part, Ren is confused, he's fallen deeply in love with the woman who wrote him such a wonderful letter, but in person Bel seems a bit shallow and not interested in the same things as he is.

Throw in a reclusive former Hollywood film star whose mail has a disconcerting habit of being delivered to Suzanne's house by mistake and you have all the makings of a sweet, funny, romantic comedy with a splash of Hollywood glamour.

Loved it, entirely predictable but great execution. Kept me reading avidly.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Renegade

The Renegade by Kimberly Kincaid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

Single mother Jo Rossi had to give up her dreams of becoming an actress when a one-night stand led to an unexpected pregnancy, just when she had won the part of a lifetime. Now six years later she has left her daughter with her ex and come to Remington to audition for a part that could change her life forever. Little does she expect to walk into a bar with her sister and meet the most amazing younger guy. However, given what impulsive behaviour led to previously, Jo wants to play it safe and devote her time to studying for the part that could mean she no longer has to reach drama.

Sawyer Knox was a Marine until an IED decimated his team and left him with a traumatic brain injury. He's spent years in therapy of all kinds and still has blinding headaches from time-to-time but he's determined to live life big and bold, in tribute to his brothers in arms who can no longer do so. Sawyer is blown away by the woman he serves in the bar, she's beautiful, funny, kind and talented but her life philosophy is his polar opposite.

I really wanted to like this but it just felt like a nothing-ever-happens kind of novel. There's no real interactions of any note with anyone other than each other, maybe a brief phone call but otherwise most activities are either Jo and Sawyer together or one of them having an internal monologue. There's a couple of PG-rated dates, Jo cooks a meal, they have smexy times, she has the audition, brief moment of conflict and reconciliation. 100% predictable and not a very exciting or interesting way of getting there.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: We Are Family: A feel-good read from NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER Beth Moran for summer 2023

We Are Family: A feel-good read from NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER Beth Moran for summer 2023 by Beth Moran
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ruth Henderson has felt like the black sheep of the family almost her entire life. Brought up in a family of ballroom dancers, the youngest of four daughters she was the one with two left feet (comparatively). Pregnant by accident after a drunken one-night stand she has made the best of things with her daughter Maggie's father, until his sudden death in a car accident uncovers a mountain of debt and no life insurance. After struggling for two years to make ends meet Ruth knows the only solution is to swallow her pride and move back in with her parents.

At first Ruth is inclined to wallow in grief, anger, and self-pity, until her busy-body mother gets her a part-time job at a local boutique run by Ruth's school nemesis. While the blows keep coming, Maggie is in trouble at school, Ruth's parents appear to be on the verge of splitting up, more debt is uncovered, Ruth gets reacquainted with the school bully 'Meat' Harris and probably her only girl friend from school Lois Finch - and they are married!

Slowly Ruth and Maggie begin to create a life for themselves, centred around the big, happy church that Ruth's parents belong to. But is there a chance for romance for Ruth with Carl the dishy doctor, son of one of the centre's clients, or can she revive her relationship with David, her one true love and now a TV wildlife documentary star?

Isn't it funny, I complain about writers throwing the kitchen sink of issues into a book, overshadowing the relationships and yet this book, which has practically everything you could care to throw at a plot, manages to keep the reader engaged and rooting for Ruth throughout. Her family are just the right side of irritating. Maggie is rebellious, but only because she is hurting. Yes, the story revolves around the church community but it is such a joyful, friendly place even I, an atheist, wanted to join.

Wonderful, feel-good, small-town, English romance. Loved it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Husband List

The Husband List by Ella Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lady Madeline Vivers and her two sisters have drawn up a list of qualities they require in a husband, all of which seem fairly reasonable to the modern reader. The most conventional of the sisters, Madeline just wants a home in the country, children and a dog, also her mother wants her to marry a nobleman. So the way her heart pounds when she is near the ambitious barrister turned MP Mr Harry Stern is rather unfortunate. But as Madeline steps out with a number of eligible suitors it seems that only Harry meets all her criteria.

For his part, Harry is looking for a woman to help him in his career, not a pampered member of the aristocracy, aside from his instant attraction to Madeline, he is also struck by her innate kindness and the way in which she helps those less fortunate than herself - perhaps she would be the ideal wife for a hard-working MP after all.

I think this could have been a fun novel. Unfortunately, not having read each and every one of the previous books in the Worthington series and its spin offs, I was totally adrift in a sea of cousins, second cousins, half-sisters and the like together with their spouses and their spouses' siblings. Actually it turns out that I have only read one previous book in the series, which probably added to my confusion because I expect I was remembering a different series with a similar cast of thousands (possibly Lisa Kleypas?). Added to which, this is clearly a trilogy about Madeline and her two twin sisters (Alice and Eleanor) where their stories run concurrently, hence there was a story about someone attacking Eleanor which was referenced vaguely and glossed over - presumably because it happened in the first book in the trilogy (The Marriage List - which I have just see is indeed Eleanor's story). All of which means there feels like very little actual plot concerning Harry and Madeline, they are just being tugged along by the juggernaut that is the Worthington saga (for reference I believe that Madeline, Alice and Eleanor have two older married sisters, a (possibly) older unmarried brother, and at least three or four younger siblings).

Pleasant enough but doesn't really work as a standalone.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend

Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend by Penny Reid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: LET’S JUST BE FRIENDS a perfect, feel-good romance

LET’S JUST BE FRIENDS a perfect, feel-good romance by Katy Turner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Holly Anderson thought she'd struck the jackpot with a great placement with a large modern veterinary practice in Berkshire, but then there was a problem and instead she's been sent to Eastercraig, a small fishing village in the Scottish Highlands, for a year to assist a bad-tempered old vet in his run-down practice. Holly was kicked in the head by a cow when she was training and has avoided large animal veterinary work ever since - how will she cope when half her practice will be farms?

Holly is just settling down on her first night in the beautiful renovated cottage which has been rented for her, having a luxurious bath, when she hears an intruder in the house. Her intruder turns out to be local man Greg Dunbar, slightly the worse for wear. Greg knows the cottage's owner and has frequently been allowed to stay overnight when tipsy, or visiting his brother who runs the family farm.

Holly can hardly believe the friendliness of the locals, the practice's veterinary nurse and receptionist both befriend her and take her to the pub on her first night, if only the chief vet Hugh were half as friendly, it seems like nothing she can do is right in his eyes.

Greg and Holly strike up a friendship, meeting every so often when Greg comes back to see his mother, although he and his brother Angus have had a falling-out and aren't on speaking terms. But with Greg's legal practice in Aberdeen and Holly only in Eastercraig for 12 months there doesn't seem to be time for anything more ...

I liked this, it was easy-going, fairly predictable, but a lovely sweet romance, perfect beach reading or even sitting by the fire with a mug of coffee and a packet of biscuits.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Just Like That: The perfect feel-good romance to make you smile

Just Like That: The perfect feel-good romance to make you smile by Nina Kaye
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jess is living a great life as a senior events manager for an Edinburgh-based firm, in fact she is hoping for promotion when she finds out that her beloved older brother has had a stroke and is incapacitated. Their parents, who live abroad, seem happy to abdicate all responsibility for their son's recovery and well-being to Jess, although they do at least agree to fund some support. However, when Jess proposes a flexible working arrangement with her boss he utterly refuses to countenance it, re-allocates her prestigious high-profile events to more junior staff and effectively demotes her to dealing with smaller, less interesting clients like East Lothian Wildlife Park which is in danger of closing unless it can raise some serious cash through various fund-raising events.

Jess does her best with the animal park, but the head keeper Nick pours cold water on all her ideas, not only that but he's the creep who tried to hit on her while she was distraught outside the hospital after learning of her brother's stroke.

But gradually as the staff pull together to pull off different events Jess and Nick find they have something in common after all - and it might just be animal attraction (I'll get my coat). But Nick has said he wants something straightforward and uncomplicated after his ex-wife cheated on him several times, which is the exact opposite of Jess' life, she daren't let him know about her carer responsibilities so she'll have to keep her brother a secret from him.

I've read a couple of books by Nina Kaye before and enjoyed her different take on romance. Unfortunately, this didn't really work for me. Jess' thinking made no sense to me and consequently she created all the drama unnecessarily. Everything was all a bit too coincidental and there was no real dramatic tension or conflict.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Rock Hard

Rock Hard by Nalini Singh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After suffering in an abusive relationship Charlotte Baird is quiet, unassuming and introvert, something her boss takes shameless advantage of. When Gabriel Bishop, former rugby player turned entrepreneur slash business wunderkind takes over the company where Charlotte works she is terrified for her job, Gabriel might be a tad shouty and physically intimidating, but he has a good head for business and he can see who's doing most of the work. But when someone physically dominant works with someone timid and submissive things can get out of hand.

I suspect this was written in the FSoG time period, I just can't imagine that anyone would think it necessary to constantly grasp a woman around the neck, especially one who had been hospitalised and nearly killed by a psychotic ex. Maybe I'm over the BDSM-vibe, maybe I was never into it, but I just found the need for both of them to make her feel comfortable with him grasping the nape of her neck was problematic for me.

Overall, I was expecting either a rock-star or a rugby player romance and got neither, it felt more old-school 1980s romance with the dominant CEO pushing around his timid assistant.

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Review: The Girls of Heatherly Hall

The Girls of Heatherly Hall by Julie Houston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow this is getting complicated, why this isn't listed as a series I will never know.

Triplets Eva, Hannah and Rosa have inherited Heatherly Hall from their biological father (even though it turns out that He wasn't actually Eva's biological father due to their bohemian mother's running from one lover's bed to another).

Eva, a dentist by profession but frustrated artist, has separated from her husband and business partner. She is struggling to cope with juggling two small children, different religions, working with her ex, and determining what she wants for her future.

Rosa has left her high-flying investment manager life and retrained as a vicar after finding out she had cancer, just before she discovered the love of her life had cheated on her with her best friend and assistant. Although she has a new man in her life the reappearance of her ex has churned up lots of feelings that cannot be ignored.

Hannah left her very worthy job as a youth social worker to run the Hall full-time (alongside a board) but she's finding it hard to multitask and the continuous resistant from the head groundsman to any new ideas is pushing every button she has.

If it wasn't enough to create romances for singletons in the village, this book has romance for all three triplets. Whilst I did enjoy the book, when I came to write this review I struggled to remember what each sister did, who they fell in love with, and what happened - that's always the problem with ensemble romances. Whilst I also bemoan the linear series where the reader can clearly see the next romance being set up, I think this is maybe going too far the other way, it's hard to get invested in a couple when they only occupy approximately 33% of the book.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this. I love Westenbury, I love all the characters and I love how characters from previous novels drift in and out.

I think you could read this as a standalone, despite the history. A cosy, small town, romance.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Norfolk Beach Murders

The Norfolk Beach Murders by Judi Daykin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the fifth book in a series. I haven't read any of the previous books but this was easy to get into, although there are slight references to ongoing relationships they are very general and I wouldn't say you needed to read any of the other books to enjoy this one.

It's nearly Christmas, a young homeless girl and her dog witness an altercation between two men late at night which ends in one man falling off a cliff edge.

As DS Sara HIrst and her colleagues are winding down for the Christmas break a seal watcher reports a body on the beach. The body is so badly damaged that they can't tell if it was murder or accident that led to him being in the water. Just when it appears that the body could be that of a man reported washed overboard, there is a report of a boat washed ashore with blood stains on the hull and a yacht adrift in the sea.

Meanwhile, Danni, PA to London Italian crime boss Lisa London is concerned about her boss' recent behaviour and an upcoming meeting with one of her business partners. When she spots a police tail the group hightail to Norfolk to inspect their mutual business venture.

As the book progresses these three disparate threads start to weave together against the backdrop of one of the worst storms on record which batters the Norfolk coast.

I really enjoyed this, I would say it fits midway (writing-wise rather than geographically) between Rachel McLean and Marion Todd and I would recommend to fans of either author.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: A Blind Eye

A Blind Eye by Marion Todd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

three and a half stars.

DI Clare Mackay and her team are called in when a ranger finds a car abandoned in the woods with what looks like a body inside. When they gain entry the detectives discover that the man has been murdered, his throat brutally slashed. The victim turns out to be a mild-mannered conveyancing solicitor called Harry Richards, whose wife had both reported him missing and complained about a stalker lurking outside recently.

Shortly afterwards, Harry's colleague's wife dies in a car accident - are the two deaths linked? Is there a vendetta against the law firm?

I do enjoy this series, the way the plot comes together, the mixture of personal lives and police investigations. However, in this case I did feel that solving the case relied very heavily on a Ta-Da moment rather than solid police legwork. but looking back at my review of the previous book in the series I can see that this is not a trend - and let's be honest sometimes it is just a stroke of luck that makes things happen - so I won't let it drag my review down.

Still an autobuy/request. What is it about Scottish crime books that is so addictive?

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Game, Set, Match: Escape to the Spanish sunshine in this laugh-out-loud and feel-good romcom

Game, Set, Match: Escape to the Spanish sunshine in this laugh-out-loud and feel-good romcom by Heidi Stephens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After Hannah discovers her husband Graham has got his assistant pregnant she calls a halt to their fourteen-year marriage, has a make-over and flies to Spain with some new friends for a week of tennis school, after which she intends to drive around Spain, perhaps visiting her father. Having been raised in a repressive religious group Hannah is more restrained and less worldly than her thirty-two years would suggest.

Rob has always been the black sheep of the family, a dyslexic he struggles to match up to his parents and siblings who are all wealthy professionals. He has given up his job to spend the summer as a tennis professional in a smart club in Spain before taking up a tennis coaching job in Bristol. Despite his parents' blissfully happy marriage, Rob has never really felt the urge to settle down, in fact he's quite the player although he would say he never leads women on. But all that must take a backseat while he's in Spain, fraternising with the guests is a sackable offence and he isn't interested in taking part in the sexual bingo game the other professionals have got going.

Hannah and Rob are drawn to each other despite themselves, but the timing is wrong. Also Hannah is nothing but commitment and Rob is anything but. When a spiteful colleague gets Rob fired, Hannah spontaneously invites him to join her Spanish road trip which involves a stray dog, a tennis competition, a family reunion, and a few surprises along the way.

This was pleasant enough (indeed 100% PG) but it didn't really feel like the plot had been properly mapped out in advance. The book felt like a series of scenes strung together, as if the author had said well I need X to happen so I'll make my characters do Y. Characters pop in and out randomly and a lot happens in what feels like ten days. Also, Hannah had broken away from the church and been married for fourteen years (albeit to another former member of the same church) but remained very timid, rarely drinking, never swearing, wearing loose drab clothing etc. Then as soon as she kicks her husband out she's suddenly completely different (other than the swearing), it feels like too much of a change in such a short period of time.

Overall, it dragged a bit for me and smacked a bit of the 'Miss Jones you look so beautiful without your glasses' cliché.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Playing For Keeps

Playing For Keeps by Julie Hammerle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When Bryce Barrett gets passed over for promotion to partner at her fancy Chicago law firm in favour of a snotty-nosed, know-nothing idiot who just happens to be the Mayor's nephew she doesn't take it well. In fact she may have incinerated her career. Now she's retreated to the house her ex-husband bought in the tiny midwestern town of Wackernagel he grew up in (she might have been petty enough to ask for it in the divorce) and is sticking it to The Man (assuming that this means watching every episode of The Gilmore Girls, wearing sweatpants and eating Cheetos - can I also say I've never eaten them but they sound vile).

On a visit to the local ice-cream parlour to buy essential ice-cream provisions, Bryce attracts the eye of a concerned citizen who calls the local security for the gated community in which she lives (cripes these are special snowflakes if they've never seen a woman in sweatpants and novelty slippers binge-eating ice-cream). Jake Warner was born and bred in Wackernagel (I apologise for all the asides, not sure what has come over me, but why do authors insist on having their towns called silly names (please don't tell me it's an actual town)) but he's spent the last decade as far away as possible roaming the US. Now he's back, but only until he's repaid his father, and then he'll be off far from home once again - because 'reasons'. His temporary job as security guard for a gated community is easy work, but when he's called to deal with a possibly violent vagrant woman scaring customers at the ice-cream parlour he feels compassion for the woman who is clearly dealing with some issues.

A chance encounter with Bryce's ex and his new girlfriend leads Bryce to claim that she and Jake are dating, which he goes along with because he can see where she's coming from. When Bryce's power gets cut off because she's not been paying her bills (or opening her mail - see, I'm doing it again), they come to an agreement, Jake will help her renovate the house to sell and in return Bryce will pay him the realtor's fee which will help him repay his father. United in their desire to get out of Wackernagel as soon as possible the two of them become friends - or maybe more.

I've read a few of Julie Hammerle's novels before and I've always appreciated the way she portrays more mature women with real problems and grown-up reactions, which is why I requested this book. Unfortunately, this didn't really work well for me for several reasons. First, Jake blames himself/his father for something that happened - it is this that has kept him away from home for a decade, but frankly his logic is that of an eight-year-old, not a grown man. Second, Jake's family are so irritating I would have left town as soon as possible to get away from them. Third, Bryce's slob phase was too extreme - closer to mental breakdown territory - and I've read better.

Overall, it was okay, a pleasant enough read but after only a few days I could barely remember the plot.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.


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