Review: Watch Them Fall: A must-read Scottish police procedural from one of tartan noir's greatest

Watch Them Fall: A must-read Scottish police procedural from one of tartan noir's greatest by Marion Todd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

DI Clare Mackay is fighting fires on several fronts. First, her partner Al has taken on a new job which keeps him away from home several days a week. She was offered his old job but wanted to stay true to her roots, which unfortunately means she needs to deal with Superintendent Meakin's disappointment. Second, there is planned protest march on Saturday through St Andrews against an application to build 50 luxury homes in the area. Third, a body has just been fished out of the river, it could just be a tragic accident, someone falling in whilst under the influence, but it could also be murder. And then, the cherry on the cake, Clare gets asked to divert her time to placating a wealthy couple (the ones planning to build the luxury homes) about a house break-in, where nothing was taken. Apparently the Superintendent believes that the couple, Rex and Erika Freeman, may have been targeted by the protestors.

It seems as though the cases might all be connected, but can Clare solve the crimes in time?

I can't believe this is the tenth book, or that it took me so long to start reading it! As usual, the mundanity of home life is interspersed with police legwork, theories, wagon wheels, and politics. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: A Deadly Episode

A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A producer has decided to film one of Anthony Horowitz's books about the private detective Daniel Hawthorne in Hastings with Anthony and Daniel as consultants. The director has chosen to bring in an external screenwriter who has some unusual ideas, thinking the detective story (about a woman who hits two young children while driving) is the least interesting part of the book and showcasing her own political beliefs.

From the start it appears that the actor playing Hawthorne is almost universally disliked. He has slept with several of the people on set, had the runner fired, treats the actor playing Anthony with contempt, and ignores the director's instructions. Frankly it's no surprise to anyone when he is found murdered, by a sharp Japanese knife in the back of the neck. The Hastings police are not familiar with murder investigations and invite Hawthorne to assist on the case.

I haven't read any of the preceding five books in this series, but I very much enjoyed reading The Marble Hall Murders by the same author earlier this year so I decided to request an ARC when I sat this on NetGalley. This was an odd book for me. A book written by an author which features himself as a character, who is himself being played by an actor in a film about a fictional book which the author is supposed to have written *breathe*.

Horowitz appears to be the bumbling Holmes to Hawthorne's Sherlock, he misses lots of clues, gets the wrong end of the stick, and is being played as an overweight greasy-looking scruff in comparison to the movie star good looks of the actor playing Hawthorne. Generally I am not a fan of Sherlock Holmes (in any of his written or film/TV adaption guises), I find the 'telling' rather than showing (because only he sees the clues) rather wearing. However, I rather enjoyed this, there was a logic to Hawthorne's deductions and most of them weren't too hard to see (in retrospect). I would definitely read more in this series, particularly when they are set in parts of the world that I know.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Lone Island Mystery

The Lone Island Mystery by Emylia Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pippa Grant is the caretaker on Lone Island nature reserve when she finds the body of a young man, Axel Marks washed up on the shore. The police think it may be suicide, or an accident as there is evidence that he had been drinking heavily, but she is not convinced and calls in Jayden and Ally to find the truth.

Axel had been a soldier in Afghanistan, discharged on medical grounds, he had slept rough and moved around for a few years. Most recently he had been staying in a decrepit camper van parked in the grounds of Porthmerrin House, where his mother had been a housekeeper. Apparently the owner, Edward Grey had asked his son Lucas to find Axel and invite him back. In fact it was Lucas who raised the alarm when Axel went missing.

As Ally and Jayden dig deeper there seem to be lots of secrets and numerous people have motives for (possibly) killing Axel. Can they get to the bottom of things and will DS Skinner and DC Mullins be a help or a hindrance?

This was a hugely enjoyable mystery with lots of red herrings. If you've enjoyed other books in this series then I'm sure you'll love this too.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Statistically Unlikely Rebound: A Grad or Die Romance, Book #1

The Statistically Unlikely Rebound: A Grad or Die Romance, Book #1 by Parker Elling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Daisy Zhang-Wainwright is dumped by her boyfriend Ethan only a few weeks before she was due to join him from California at MIT, she'd even shipped some of her belongings to his place.

She has to find a new apartment in a hurry, then discovers that her downstairs neighbour is Ethan's bête noir Professor Lars Berg-Anderson who apparently got caught in a compromising position with an undergraduate in one of the labs, excluded Ethan from a project he had worked on, and is generally a bad egg. But when Daisy actually meets Lars she discovers he might be a bit taciturn but he is also very kind, and the more she gets to know him the less likely it seems that he did all the things Ethan suggested.

Then she discovers at a faculty drinks party that Ethan had been cheating on her with another woman, her first reaction is to pretend that she and Lars are now dating ... and Lars agrees!

I loved this fake dating STEM romance, devoured it!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Misery Hates Company

Misery Hates Company by Elizabeth Hobbs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Miss Marigold Manners' world collapses when she discovers that her beloved (if somewhat flaky) parents squandered their money before dying of the influenza. Instead of finishing her degree in classical studies followed a career in archaeology, Marigold has been advised to throw herself on the mercy of friends and distant family to help her eke out her paltry annuity of $100 a year. There is an alternative, marriage to the handsome, debonair, and charming Cab Cox, but Marigold knows that marriage, even to someone she loves as much as Cab, would mean the end of her dreams of independence and travel.

One letter from a previously unknown relative catches her eye. It talks of a great wrong done to Marigold's mother that must be made right and it comes from ... Great Misery Island on the New England coast.

Elizabeth Hobbs says in the author note at the end that this is an homage to the great classic Cold Comfort Farm and I totally see that - in fact for at least the first half of the book I thought it was a barely concealed rip off as Marigold uses modern thinking to coax and cajole her long-lost (semi-feral) family into the 1890s.

But in this book the something nasty in the woodshed is something very nasty indeed, a young girl is drowned, and the one of Marigold's relatives is found dead ... all the signs point to Marigold, can she clear her name and uncover the murderer(s)?

I thoroughly enjoyed this once I got over the Cold Comfort Farm similarities, lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing right to the end.

View all my reviews

Review: Murder After Christmas

Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 18%.

I gave this a second try, but the writing was so arch I couldn't bear it - nearly 20% in and no murder, although I don't fancy Uncle Willie's chances of surviving to the New Year since so many relatives appear to actively wishing/plotting his death.

Normally I love a Golden Age detective story, I even love parodies but this ... not so much.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Edge of Darkness

The Edge of Darkness by Vaseem Khan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Persis Wadia has been exiled from Bombay to the Naga Hills District where she is staying in a crumbling colonial-style hotel. Her lover, the Englishman Archie Blackmore lies in a coma in Bombay, being tended to by his wife. Things are all very quiet, despite the Naga people's rebellious activities in the surrounding jungle, until one of her fellow guests, a prominent local politician, is found murdered in his locked room - decapitated in his bath with his head nowhere to be found!

Given the circumstances Persis is sure that one of the guests or staff at the hotel must have committed the crime. Was it the politician's loyal aide? The American husband and wife missionaries? The American businessman? The Naga woman who owns the hotel? And how did they murder him when the door was locked?

While this took me a long time to get into, once it got going the action was think and fast. Once more, Persis seems to get injured an inordinate amount of times over the course of just a few days, the woman must have a skull of titanium!

I was congratulating myself on guessing the identity of the murderer (albeit not necessarily for the right reasons) but (without spoiling the plot) the ending felt a bit like everything including the kitchen sink.

I enjoyed this, but not as much as the previous book.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Deal Breaker

Deal Breaker by Susie Tate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lady Poppy Sterling is a diminutive ray of sunshine, while organising charity fundraisers for her family's personal foundation she also interviews celebrities on the red carpet and has a reputation as a bit of a party girl, which might have been true when she was just starting out but now she takes her responsibilities seriously.

Rory Wallace is a Scottish rugby player, and Poppy's brother Rafe's best friend. Poppy has had a crush on him for years, ever since he patiently helped a dyslexic Poppy with her homework. Five years ago they became an item and then ... he ghosted her. Pathetically, she still fancies the pants off him and his very presence on the red carpet is likely to turn her into a gibbering wreck.

Rory thought Poppy was the one, but when she deliberately set him up with an interview when he was drunk he realised she was just a scheming aristocrat pretending to slum-it to get a story. He hates her party-girl persona, the drinking, and the partying. Living up to the Scottish stereotype Rory is grumpy and avoids the press at all costs.

Now the two of them are being flung together in a worthy cause, a Guinness World Record breaking attempt as a fund-raiser for Motor Neurone Disease which affects one of Rory's best friends and former teammates.

Will these two get a second chance at romance in this opposites attract, best friend's little sister romance? Or will Rory only see what's in front of his face and listen to false friends? I think you know LOL.

What a wonderful gift Susie Tate gave me - an ARC for Valentine's Day, I devoured it despite having many, many overdue ARCs that I should have been reading instead.

I received an ARC from the author via BookFunnel.

View all my reviews

Review: On Thin Ice: A BRAND NEW hockey player x pop star romance from USA Today Bestseller Kelly Jamieson for 2026

On Thin Ice: A BRAND NEW hockey player x pop star romance from USA Today Bestseller Kelly Jamieson for 2026 by Kelly Jamieson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 12%.

I normally love a Kelly Jamieson sports romance so I don't know why I couldn't get into this one - didn't even make it as far as the life-changing accident. Accordingly, I won't be posting my review on Amazon et al as it isn't fair.

I received an ARC from he publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Murder at the Homecoming

Murder at the Homecoming by Merryn Allingham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Flora and Jack have been invited to their neighbour Ambrose Finch's house to meet his long-estranged son Lucas who had been found living and working in Italy. However, the party is disturbed, first by one of the guests almost coming to blows with another, and then by the death of Rita, a local woman who was catering the party, from arsenic poisoning.

Although Flora and Jack are determined to stay out of it, they are separately approached by Rita's friend Alice and Ambrose's assistant's girlfriend to investigate the death, especially when it seems the local police are too caught up in another murder involving a prominent member of the local community.

It seems that Ambrose had taken the homecoming party as an opportunity to mend fences by inviting some of his business enemies, and had encouraged his assistant to do the same, so there is no shortage of potential suspects.

Once again Flora and Jack put their lives on the line to discover the truth.

I enjoyed this, I always like reading about the minutiae of life in bygone decades and the 1950s/1960s is not one that I see often. I also enjoy the cosy mystery. However, I thought the plot was extremely obvious, almost before I even opened the book, which distracted somewhat from my enjoyment. Also, is it just me or does Charlie trash his bicycle in every book?

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Beast Business

Beast Business by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A novella featuring Illusion Prime Augustine Montgomery and Diana Harrison. Diana visits Augustine's PI business because someone has stolen a very rare otherworld creature from her family. The creature is only a baby and will die unless it receives its mother's milk.

Their search for the creature puts both their lives in danger and will result in them exposing their true selves to each other.

I enjoyed reading this, but I have to be honest a week later I could barely remember anything about it - better read after one of the novels I suspect. But anyhoo, its Ilona Andrews so of course its good.

View all my reviews

Review: The Last Page

The Last Page by Katie Holt
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 28%.

Ella has worked at an iconic New York bookstore forever and the late owner promised her he would leave her the store in his will, instead he left it to his estranged grandson Henry.

When Henry (some kind of financial turn-around expert) starts to look at the books he realises that his grandfather has been understating how badly the store is performing and it basically can keep going for less than one month, even if they make drastic cuts.

I appear to be in a bit of a book slump, last night I restarted several books and discarded them all - so it is probably me and not the book. But I find it hard to like either of the main characters and the side characters are awful and probably should all be sacked!

Anyway, I gave it two goes and I can't get into it so I am giving up here.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Heart Racer

Heart Racer by Megan Avery
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 14%.

Apologies, this is just not for me. I loved the idea of a STEM/Jock second-chance romance, enemies to love but after two attempts I just can't get engaged.

Maybe I am just too old for high school romances.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Proposition of the Season

The Proposition of the Season by Michelle Kenney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Josephine Fairfax is a bespectacled, bookish young woman of twenty-eight. After three failed seasons she is most definitely on the shelf and has retired to live in the family home with her eldest (insufferable brother) and younger siblings. She spends her days writing romantic fiction and letters to her imaginary beau.

When she discovers her brother is determined to marry off her younger sister Matilda to Lord Huntingly, a man none of them have ever met, about whom there are murky rumours about a duel which resulted in him and his opponent fleeing abroad, Josephine knows she must act. Matilda has no interest in marriage or children, she wants to be a pirate! Marrying her off to an unsuitable man would be cruel. So Josephine suggest to Lord Huntingly that if all he needs is a wife with the Fairfax good name he should take her instead. Surprisingly, the rather drunk Lord Huntingly agrees.

However, Josephine is determined to discover the truth about the duel and her investigations start to point at her fiancé as being not only in the wrong but also pursuing him and killing him in a street brawl in Italy. If that is true how could she possibly marry him?

This is the third book about the Fairfax sisters, although I haven't read the others. Initially I found the writing a bit stilted and it also felt like a mash-up of several books by Georgette Heyer (Frederica where she suggests Alverstoke should marry her instead of her sister, and Huntingly is a bit like Damerel in Venetia) and probably a bit of Jane Austen as well. That feeling wore off as the story progressed but I must say I found Josephine's character a bit confusing. After coming across like Mary Bennett to start with she suddenly starts berating Huntingly and her older brother which seemed out of character.

Anyway, this was pleasant enough and perhaps if I had read the two previous books I would have had a better understanding of Josephine's character.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Summer Skies Over Starr's Fall: The BRAND NEW small town romance full of sunshine from million-copy bestseller Kate Hewitt for 2026

Summer Skies Over Starr's Fall: The BRAND NEW small town romance full of sunshine from million-copy bestseller Kate Hewitt for 2026 by Kate Hewitt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Zoe Wilkinson is the punk/goth looking woman with pink hair who runs the ice cream parlour in Starr's Fall. Her wild childhood/teenage years have given her a bit of a reputation, one she cultivates to stop people realising how lonely she is. At home, both her parents have medical problems that mean she is their primary carer, although she does have agency help during the day. Zoe refuses to have people pitying her so over the years she has discouraged people from visiting an/or inviting her out. Dating is non-existent but everyone in Starr's Fall thinks she has a wild social life.

Dan Bryant has just moved to Starr's Fall with his teenage daughter Sophie. His ex-wife decided to take a job in Dubai and Sophie was acting out in New York so he thought a fresh start in a small town would be a clean break for everyone, also his newly discovered grandmother lives in Starr Falls. Dan has spent his entire marriage kow-towing to his ex-wife's choices, she returned to work shortly after giving birth, forcing Dan to give up his burgeoning practice to look after the baby, now even after divorce she is calling the shots initially taking custody of Sophie then callously dumping her on Dan when the new job opportunity arose. No wonder Sophie is misbehaving.

Their first meeting isn't good, Sophie tries to steal a trinket from Zoe's shop and when called out deliberately breaks it. Although business is difficult Zoe doesn't want to get Sophie in trouble in front of her future school-mates so when confronted by Dan she doesn't rate her out. Besides, she has some sympathy with Sophie having been badly behaved as a teenager as well. Dan knows Sophie probably did steal the trinket and then destroy it in a fit of pique and he is intrigued as to why this woman would cover it up.

Later, Zoe discovers that Dan and Sophie have moved into the house next door to her and her parents' home, and Dan asks Zoe to give Sophie a job.

I enjoyed this, but I didn't love it. I didn't really understand Zoe's motivation for effectively turning away her parents' friends and pretending to her own friends that she had some amazing social life. Also Dan's ex-wife was just such a caricature with no redeeming features and Dan was such a paragon. I feel we may have reached that point in the series where I am less and less invested in the main characters.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Night Shift

The Night Shift by Nancy Peach
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Violet Winters has volunteered to work nights at Christmas in her Bristol hospital, mainly to avoid telling her loving parents how much she is struggling as a Junior Doctor. She struggles with social niceties and has offended both staff and patients with her abrupt manner.

Doctor Gus Jovic is an anaesthetist, he knows everyone in the hospital by name, is funny, friendly, very good to look at, and very much engaged to be married. Or so everyone thinks. In reality his fiancée left him three months ago for another man but he can't bear to tell anyone, especially his family who rely on him to be the carefree one with his life in order.

When Gus meets Violet he is intrigued by someone who doesn't hesitate to tell the unvarnished truth, there's no subterfuge with Violet, and as a man who spends his entire life trying to find ways to smooth things over, phrase things nicely, etc he finds it refreshing. After all, he spent the entire time with his fiancée bending over backwards to meet her demands, appease her insecurities, and getting whiplash from her mercurial moods.

For her part, Gus gives Violet some good advice, both about dealing with staff and patients and about hanging in during her first year because no-one is confident and after the first year she can start to understand where she wants to specialise. Violet would never mess with an engaged man, so although she objectively finds him very attractive, and subjectively he makes her heart flutter, she thinks he is safely in the friends zone.

I really enjoyed this book. Violet and Gus helped each other, she helped him see that he needed to view his own needs as just as important as other people's and he helped her to see that there are ways of telling the truth which are more palatable than others.

View all my reviews

Review: Beattie Cavendish and the Highland Hideaway

Beattie Cavendish and the Highland Hideaway by Mary-Jane Riley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

`Three and a half stars.

Beattie Cavendish is a former WW2 member of SOE who has been 'relegated' to translating communications for GCHQ, with the occasional field trip. her boss calls her into the office and tells her to go to a remote listening station in Scotland, the commander has gone missing (possibly drunk and/or with one of his fancy women) and there is a suspicion of espionage - some intelligence is not being passed on and GCHQ is concerned that our American allies could be cosying up to former Nazis who have not shed their old allegiances. Her boss also, rather cryptically, suggests Beattie should visit her uncle who lives close to the station.

When Beattie gets there she finds her uncle has also mysteriously disappeared with all the evidence suggesting it was not planned. Can she keep up her cover story, investigate her uncle's disappearance, and investigate the commander's disappearance single-handedly? Well no, so she enlist the help of private investigator Patrick Corrigan.

I enjoyed this and it had a good pace from the start, but the ending felt a bit hurried. In fact I re-read the last chapters this morning thinking I might have missed something. But, no.

Also, there is a lot of harking back to what Beattie and Patrick did during the war with very little resolution - I think that needs to be sorted in the next book as it leads to a lot of repetition.

Overall, I liked it but I didn't love it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Beattie Cavendish and the Highland Hideaway

Beattie Cavendish and the Highland Hideaway by Mary-Jane Riley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

`Three and a half stars.

Beattie Cavendish is a former WW2 member of SOE who has been 'relegated' to translating communications for GCHQ, with the occasional field trip. her boss calls her into the office and tells her to go to a remote listening station in Scotland, the commander has gone missing (possibly drunk and/or with one of his fancy women) and there is a suspicion of espionage - some intelligence is not being passed on and GCHQ is concerned that our American allies could be cosying up to former Nazis who have not shed their old allegiances. Her boss also, rather cryptically, suggests Beattie should visit her uncle who lives close to the station.

When Beattie gets there she finds her uncle has also mysteriously disappeared with all the evidence suggesting it was not planned. Can she keep up her cover story, investigate her uncle's disappearance, and investigate the commander's disappearance single-handedly? Well no, so she enlist the help of private investigator Patrick Corrigan.

I enjoyed this and it had a good pace from the start, but the ending felt a bit hurried. In fact I re-read the last chapters this morning thinking I might have missed something. But, no.

Also, there is a lot of harking back to what Beattie and Patrick did during the war with very little resolution - I think that needs to be sorted in the next book as it leads to a lot of repetition.

Overall, I liked it but I didn't love it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Bedside Manner

Bedside Manner by C.G. Macington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dr Maxwell York is known as the Ice King. He is the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, a control freak from the family that endowed the hospital. His OR is silent, everything is clean to the point of sterility.

Dr Jax O’Connell is the Head of Trauma in the Emergency Room at the same hospital. Loud, messy, ex-military, and brought up care.

When a hospital refurb forces the two doctors to share a small office the staff are taking bets on how long it will take before one of them kills the other. But although they might be like oil and water, enforced proximity brings a certain grudging respect (and some lustful feelings).

Who doesn't love an opposites attract romance? Especially when they are opposite in every single way: rich/poor, rulebreaker/follower, specialist/generalist, etc.

I honestly had no expectations of this, saw it mentioned somewhere and gave it a go - LOVED it. I loved Maxwell and Jax, booed at Maxwell's mother, sort of cheered at his father. Love his little brother.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews

Review: It Was You All Along: The emotional and uplifting second chance romance from the author of The Last Train Home and The Wedding Game

It Was You All Along: The emotional and uplifting second chance romance from the author of The Last Train Home and The Wedding Game by Elle Cook
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Aurora, Ollie, Ben and Liv meet on the first day of University - assigned to share accommodation they soon become found family. Aurora comes from a working class family, her father left when she was young and her mother has worked minimum wage jobs to feed and clothe them. Aurora will be the first person in her family to go to university and has to get a job to subsidise her living expenses. Liv and Ben clearly come from affluent families, Ben's parents have a swimming pool in the garden and neither of them has to worry about getting a job. Ollie is a bit of an enigma.

Despite sharing accommodation throughout university, 'something' happened that lead to them barely keeping in touch, and the book starts with Aurora planning a house-warming party where she intends to invite the other three and 'fix' what went wrong. Thereafter the reader goes back in time to see what transpired between them and how they fell out.

I was enjoying this initially, but it started to drag about halfway through. I think its obvious to the reader who/what is meant by the title and then it is just increasingly irritating as one thing after another comes in the way. Also I didn't really 'get' the different personalities and why they liked each other. I don't understand why anyone liked Liv or Ben - they seemed self-obsessed and each thought the world revolved around them. Ollie was a bit meh, and Aurora suddenly became a model despite no prior indications that she was anything special to look at (other than being tall).

This gave off similar vibes as a previous book by this author that I have read (The Last Train Home) - if you liked that then I'm sure you'll like this.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Work Love Balance: A heart-warming, uplifting romantic read!

Work Love Balance: A heart-warming, uplifting romantic read! by Sophie Loxton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lizzy Brinks is juggling a high-powered job herding unpredictable artist Esme Kaminska through PR minefields whilst also providing for her almost non-verbal autistic brother and financially naïve father. She lives in a dingy flat in a poor part of town, buys all her designer clothes on Vinted and generally is giving off an Ice Queen vibe with her all-black wardrobe and strong red lipstick.

Then disaster strikes, Esme makes a firm-wide internal announcement, after spending the weekend with fitness influencer Ajax Banks they are engaged and intend to merge their businesses whilst simultaneously launching a new dating app based on (wait for it) people's art preferences. Esme won't listen to reason, she and Ajax are all over each other and Lizzy has to deal with her equivalent from Ajax's side, Scottish, ex-military Oliver MacLeod who is all smart suits and charm.

Now Lizzy has her hands full trying to market an app that hasn't even been designed, keep her boss from derailing all they've worked for, and resisting the charms of lovely Oliver.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Fun, silly, serious, with real-life problems and a HEA - what's not to love?

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Murder at the Duomo

Murder at the Duomo by T A Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dan gets involved in an investigation when a British arms dealer is murdered in the confessional at the Duomo.

Tristan Angel was one of the founders of TXA Supplies, one of the world's largest sellers of arms and his death has created a power vacuum - was he murdered by rivals? Was it a government sponsored hit? Was it related to his infamous womanising? Tristan was on holiday in Florence with several colleagues - was it a power grab by one of his partners?

Yet another charming cosy mystery set against the stunning backdrop of Florence and amazing food, with Oscar the dog as Dan's faithful sidekick. The suspects are plentiful and it is going to take some good detective work to find the motive but Dan and Virgilio will do it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Off the Record

Off the Record by Sara Goodman Confino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Judy Greenberg wants to be a journalist, which isn't easy for a Jewish girl in 1962, so when she gets offered a job in the typing pool at a Washington DC newspaper (despite having a degree in journalism) she takes it hoping to be spotted and given her big break.

Miss Kelly who runs the typing pool with an iron fist warns Judy against fraternising with the journalists and editors, saying that's what got her predecessor fired, but Judy has not intention of looking for a husband.

The junior White House reporter Jack Fields is particularly irritating, constantly hanging around Judy's desk and getting her into trouble with Miss Kelly. The galling thing is the leads for his articles are never right - Judy could (and does) do far better. But rather than being angry with Judy for editing his articles Jack encourages her, whilst taking all the credit ... until Judy calls him out for it.

Nevertheless, when Judy takes a very strange message for one of the editors after hours while temporarily filling in for his secretary Jack is the only person she can turn to for help in investigating what the message means.

This book is set shortly after the Bay of Pigs incident. Height of the Cold War, think Russia, Cuba, Kennedy. Women were still expected to get married and churn out lots of children, even Judy as a twenty-two year old woman had her hair, make-up and clothing monitored by her mother.

This had it all, politics, intrigue, women's issues, spies, and romance. A great read and fascinating to find out how much of the story is based on real happenings and people and places (whilst obviously also being fictitious).

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts

The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts by Robert Thorogood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Someone is killing Marlow's celebrities, a former England footballer and a famous author were both shot dead ... who will be next?

Meanwhile, a step-daughter she never knew existed has appeared in Judith's life accusing Judith of murdering her (Judith's) husband and demanding she confess or she (Eleni) will take her evidence to the Police.

Confession time, this is the first book in the series that I have read. I tried to watch the TV series and found it beyond irritating, but I thought people must love it because this is the fifth book so I requested an ARC to give it a go. My conclusion is that the book was very similar in feel to the tv series and just not for me.

Judith is clearly the leader of the trio of amateur sleuths, with a mysterious past and a job as a crossword setter for the local newspaper. Then the other two Suzie and Becks are somewhat interchangeable, one is a vicar's wife and one walks dogs - might be the same one, one is very pretty. There's an absurd plot involving breaking into a Real Tennis men's changing rooms and hiding in a shower. Also, I have serious questions concerning Judith's passport.

Anyway, I didn't guess the identity of the murderer but I believe that is because the clues were all miniscule and the reader isn't put in possession of the facts.

Overall, if you enjoyed the previous four books and/or the tv series I am sure you will enjoy this book too. As I said, not for me, but the plotting was clever.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Only on Gameday

Only on Gameday by Kristen Callihan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Meet August 'Augie' Luck, first draft NFL Quarterback, part of an American Football dynasty, fancy house in LA, sponsorship coming out of his ears (not literally), and stunningly good-looking to boot. So why is he suddenly acting out of character standing on a table and dancing the funky chicken at a black-tie event?

Augie's mother is best friends with Penelope Morrow's mother and the two families have been in and out of each other's houses (possibly in Colorado) their entire lives. Which is why no-one quite understands why Penelope and Augie seem to do everything in their power to avoid each other, even leaving the room when the other enters.

Penny is unhappy, particularly with her mother, because she inherited her grandparents' beautiful home in LA but as a student she can't afford to pay the property taxes and her mother won't lend her the money. To put this into perspective it's a multi-million dollar house on an acre of land in Brentwood designed by Cliff May, so the property taxes are hundreds of thousands of dollars (which is mad for a Brit because in my London borough the maximum council tax anyone would pay on a multi-million pound house is just over £4,000 - I looked it up).

After Penny sobs all this into Augie's mother's shoulder (she is visiting to wish her happy birthday), Augie has a cunning plan. To reassure his agent and the Coach that he has turned over a new, more respectable, leaf he and Penny should get fake engaged and he can pay her taxes, or lend her the money. What neither of them realise is that have each fancied the pants off each other for years - hence the avoidance tactics.

Of course, once they are forced to spend time together they quickly start dating for real.

I feel like a complete hypocrite, I hate manufactured angst and the unrealistic conflict that breaks the couple up before they get back together in romances ... but this felt lacking in conflict. I think maybe I am expecting a Kristen Callihan book to be like a Sarina Bowen book and they are two very different styles.

This feels like each of Augie's siblings (all of whom are named after the month in which they were born *sigh*) will eventually get their own books.

View all my reviews

Review: Brighter than Before

Brighter than Before by Courtney Walsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Claire Karadec falls apart after she discovers her husband John has been having an affair ... and all their friends knew. Twenty years of marriage, supporting his career, just gone in a puff of smoke. After a particularly humiliating episode a year later, she decides enough is enough and things have to change. Rather recklessly she sells the house and moves to Chicago, a city she always wanted to live, with a dream of finding a career and a new life.

Navigating living alone for the first time in her life, trying to get a job, and being dragged kicking and screaming into the dating scene by her daughter Minnie (at college in Oxford), Claire notices a sexy male neighbour seems to have a revolving door of beautiful young women leaving his apartment - who turns out to be the owner of the apartment block, which she only finds out after yet another embarrassing incident, this time involving a face pack, a dressing gown and an automatically locking apartment door. Anyway, her landlord Miles turns out to be a nice guy, albeit with an aversion to commitment, and he is soon conspiring with Minnie to get Claire some non-serial killer dates.

I did enjoy this and it was easy beach reading material but honestly I felt Claire was a totally unrealistic person. Her background, the fact that she had never eaten any foreign food of any description (like even Mediterranean), the multiple Goldie Hawn-esque kooky catastrophes, they all just felt like plot devices.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Between the Lines

Between the Lines by Tracey Magruder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sadie Reed is a book editor in New York. Having split from her narcissistic, abusive ex, who is an unsuccessful author who has been leeching off her for years, she is camping on her best friend (and boss)'s floor. So when her friend asks her to take on Corbyn Pearce, a brilliant author who has already driven off three previous editors and is seriously in danger of missing the deadline for his latest novel, Sadie feels a change of scenery could be just what the doctor ordered.

Corbyn was badly injured in a car accident and since then he has been a recluse at his manor house in the Cotswolds, he is bogged down in his latest book but resistant to any advice or suggestions from editors ... until Sadie refuses to take no for an answer.

Can these two metaphorically and literally scarred individuals find their way to one another?

I was enjoying this and then suddenly it just got glacially slow and nothing much happened for chapter after chapter until the inevitable rather OTT 'conflict'.

Overall, I liked it but I didn't love it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Meet the Newmans

Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

The Newmans, Del, Dinah, Guy and Shep star in a long-running (12 years) TV series as themselves, before that it was a radio series. Del is the mastermind who writes the scripts, directs, and produces with total autonomy, although the sponsors and the network executives insist on reviewing the scripts. But now Guy and Shep are older they are beginning to chafe against their father running their lives. Guy has secretly dropped out of law school, and teenage Shep is drinking, messing around with women, and taking drugs - things his father is having to hush up. Meanwhile, Dinah is experiencing numbness in her arms and Del is worrying about money.

Although a previously beloved tv institution (think I love Lucy meets Happy Days), in 1964 its the era of the Beatles and Martin Luther King, public tastes are changing and the appetite for cutesy family stories where the mother cooks and cleans all day and the father issues a heart-warming homily at the end of each show is wearing thin. The show is up for renewal and the studio is not making encouraging noises.

When Del has a car crash that puts him in a coma, the rest of the family get a chance to grab the reins of their destinies (and much like the finale of Dirty Dancing) do the finale the way they want to do it.

This was written in a very confusing way. Each chapter was set six hours earlier than the last, or two days earlier etc which didn't really make much sense and, if I'm honest, seemed like an attempt to make it seem more intellectual. I did enjoy the historical references but I also found some of the characters seemed to be inserted merely so that they could make speeches about discrimination against different parts of society, rather than because they had a real part to play in the story which felt a bit clunky.

Overall, I enjoyed the read but I was left with the impression that for all the discussion of oppression and the need to conform to societal norms everyone still got a Hollywood HEA.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Grapples of Wrath: The BRAND NEW funny, spooky cosy crime mystery for 2026

The Grapples of Wrath: The BRAND NEW funny, spooky cosy crime mystery for 2026 by Alice Bell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Claire Hendricks sees ghosts, literally. Her best friend Sophie died as a teenager and is now permanently linked to Claire - where Claire goes Sophie goes. Claire used to make a small living as a medium, but after solving two murders (with Sophie's help) she has now turned private investigator. Seeing ghosts can make you a little socially awkward, particularly until you can learn to differentiate them from the living, and Sophie has anxiety. But her first murder introduced her to two new friends Basher and Alex.

Anyway, enough background, Claire's first paying job is at a local pro-wrestling gym. Alex has been hanging around (their latest craze) and it turns out that the manager, the wonderfully named Ken King, believes his dead father Eddie is haunting the gym and asks Claire to find out what is preventing him from moving on ... and move him along.

The thing is, Eddie is convinced that his brother Nate killed him, and wants Claire to investigate because the police ruled it death by natural causes.

This was silly, funny, informative (I learned a lot about pro-wrestling) and there were so many suspects and so much drama flying about that I had no clue as to the actual murderer until the last minute.

Another cracker in this quirky series.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Staying Away at Christmas (Short Story): The most romantic and festive short story you will read this Christmas!

Staying Away at Christmas (Short Story): The most romantic and festive short story you will read this Christmas! by Katie Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A pleasant Christmas novella. Two single parents and their children have booked the same cottage for Christmas. Rather than argue they decide to share the cottage (because why not) and celebrate Christmas together.

Perfect enjoyable romance for that in-between period at Christmas where you can't concentrate on a full novel but want something light and feel-good to read.

View all my reviews

Review: Quite Ugly One Evening

Quite Ugly One Evening by Chris Brookmyre
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jack Parlabane, investigative journalist is approached by someone he knows at MI5 to investigate the decades-old death of an undercover agent. The agent in question was investigating rumours that a Russian spy had infiltrated a rich, influential family with connections to the higher echelons of the civil service, his death might have been natural or he could have been poisoned by the Russians. A recent release of information has made the latter seem more probable.

The family in question created a much beloved 1960s children's TV series (I was thinking like Thunderbirds but set in space). The series has fallen in and out of favour in the intervening period fuelled by nostalgia, the launch on video/DVD etc but has recently come in for a lot of criticism, not least from within parts of the family, for its antiquated and problematic themes (think Pidgeon English, goodies are white, baddies are people of colour etc). Anyway, the entire family will be attending a cruise from England to the USA which hosts a fan convention, which will give Jack some time to get close to the family and see what they can recall about the agent.

In terms of the family dynamics, there's the usual infighting between generations and siblings, added to which a Mitford-esque split in the younger generation between those who want the series to remain authentic (and argue that the Woke agenda would destroy the heart of the series) and those who want better representation and removal of the problematic themes. Added to which, a right-wing billionaire wants to buy the rights to the series from the family and the offer has divided the family in different ways again.

Inevitably, one of the family is murdered, and Jack appears to have been the designated fall guy - can he discover the identity of the murderer before he is charged?

Full disclosure, I think this is the ninth Jack Parlabane novel but the first one I have read, so I don't know whether they are always so political but there is a lot of discussion of the right wing agenda, Putin, Trump, etc. While I 100% agree with the politics I am not sure I wanted it to be so full on in a detective story - but again maybe if I had read the previous eight books I would be expecting it?

Anyway, I really enjoyed it, although Jack seems pretty athletic for a sixty-year old man (she says as an almost sixty-year old woman), I wonder if Chris Brookmyre is still writing him as the thirty-year old he was in the first book. My only gripe was that I thought the murderer's identity was a bit obvious. (view spoiler)[Otherwise what was the point of having a character who was ever present but seemed to be the only one without a motive? (hide spoiler)]

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews