Review: We Could Be Heroes

We Could Be Heroes by Philip Ellis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Will is an English openly gay man who works in a bookshop by day and is trying to make a name for himself on the Birmingham drag queen circuit by night.

Patrick is an American actor, famous for portraying Captain Kismet (sort of Flash Gordon, All American hero who accidentally gets launched into space and finds himself on a strange planet) in a superhero movie, he is in Birmingham filming some additional scenes for Kismet 2 and this film could catapult him into the big leagues (think Marvel franchise). His agent has always told him he can be openly gay or he can be a successful movie star and he has heeded that advice, so much so that he hasn't had a relationship in four years.

One night Patrick's co-star, his stunt man and his nutritionist persuade him to come out on the town and their taxi driver takes them to a gay bar where Will's friends are performing and Will is serving cheap shots as a roving drag queen waitress. They meet ... and the rest is history.

The story is interspersed with flashbacks to 1949 and the husband and wife duo who originally wrote the Kismet comics, their imaginations envisaged a world where they could be their authentic selves whilst having to hide who they really were in real life.

I enjoyed this (sort of). My problem is that it didn't really know what it wanted to be. Is it a romance? Is it a political statement about the way in which current society appears to be reverting back to 1950s views about repressing homosexuality and anything other than heterosexual behaviour? Is it about some idea that stories transport us to other worlds and open our minds to things being different? I don't know and that was the problem for me. Then everything had a lovely happy ever after all wrapped up in a nice bow.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Bones of the Buried

Bones of the Buried by David Roberts
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lord Edward Corinth returns from six months in New York, single once more after his love affair with Lord Weaver's daughter fizzled out. No sooner is he home than Verity Browne comes knocking, she has been in Spain reporting on the fight between the Republic and the fascists with her on-again, off-again boyfriend and Communist Party leader David Griffith-Jones but David has been arrested and convicted of murdering fellow communist Godfrey Tilney, who coincidentally was at Eton with Edward. Verity has come to beg Edward to come to Madrid and help clear David's name. Meanwhile, Basil Thoroughgood from the Foreign Office asks Edward to extend an offer to David, the FO will help him if he agrees to pass on information to them, aka spy.

Soon the body count is mounting, including another fellow Old Etonian, who also happened to be the father of Edward's nephew's best friend. Edward can't help but feel that the deaths of several Old Etonians must have a connection and he is determined to discover the truth.

I think I can only echo others' reviews. I didn't realise that one of the characters was a very thinly veiled Ernest Hemingway (mainly because I have zero interest in him), but it does explain why the character featured so heavily.

I felt that the tension was missing because of the prologue which have the link between the victims and then it was a case of dangling one red herring after another as to the identity of the murderer(s). Also, I feel that the only reason we know the answer is because the murderer(s) confessed, otherwise it could have been another red herring.

Also, both Edward and Verity are becoming unlikeable characters. Apparently he is in love with Verity, despite having lived in New York for six months with another woman, thought he was in love with a second woman, and then had a sexual relationship with a third woman, to pass the time. Indeed, while watching a production of Love's Labour Lost he muses that he could never be celibate for three years in the pursuit of love. Verity on the other hand appears to be easily led and treated as a propaganda and sexual favours machine by David, whilst leaning on Edward and then complaining about him.

I enjoy the historical details about the murky politics on left and right, but I'm not sure how much longer I will continue with the series.

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Review: A Schooling in Murder: The gripping new WWII historical mystery from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Ashes of London

A Schooling in Murder: The gripping new WWII historical mystery from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's 1945. Monkshill Park School for Girls is one of those establishments that appeals to the snobbish while treating the girls as unpaid skivvies and worse than children in an orphanage (although TBH that might just be the food in the 1940s in England LOL).

The book is narrated by Annabel Warnock, a teacher at the school who went away on holiday and never returned. Her fellow teachers assume she just left but we and Annabel know she didn't leave, she was murdered (by person(s) unknown), pushed over a cliff, and her body has been swept down river and out to sea.

For some unknown reason, Annabel can move about freely within the school grounds IF she had visited that place before her death, but if she hadn't previously entered a room, she can't now.

The school is a Petrie dish, all those female hormones inclose proximity. There are same sex relationships, conducted in secret for fear of being sacked, bullying by some girls, blackmail, poison pen letters, theft, intimidation, you name it.

Alec Shaw, the first male ever male teacher at the school, has come as a substitute teacher. Annabel discovers that he is the only person she can communicate with as she can 'hijack' his typing when he is typing his fledgling detective story. After a number of false starts she manages to convince him that she is not a figment of her subconscious, and enlists him in her search for her murderer. But the list of suspects is long. Could it be the surly gardener/former poacher who goes by the charming nickname 'Tosser'? What about the surly young nephew of the school cook Stephen who Annabel was trying to get into a local boys' grammar school? What about the local deserter Sam Crisp, son of the school cleaner? Could it be one of the school bullies Venetia and Rosemary? Could it be someone from Annabel's past - she had impressive qualifications but was forced to take the job at Monkshill after an unfortunate incident at her school?

I have loved Andrew Taylor's Ashes of London series so when I saw this new historical mystery I jumped at the chance to request an ARC. All I can say is 'huh?'. I don't really get this and I am left with a vague suspicion that it is misogynistic - although thinking about it the only character of any note who comes across as even halfway decent is Alec Shaw - and he has spent time in prison for embezzlement - so maybe it is just a book filled with unlikeable characters. Even characters who were supposedly friends turn out not to be.

I turned to my husband when I was 85% through this book on my Kindle and said 'I don't understand the point of this book' and I have to say after finishing it I am still baffled. I think the idea of having a 'ghost' able to overhear other peoples' discussions and/or read private correspondence felt too omnipotent and then this had to be reined back with the odd rule that she couldn't visit somewhere she hadn't before, and couldn't leave the school grounds. Also, why was she a ghost but there weren't any others drifting around?

Also, I thought the murderer's identity was fairly obvious, despite the plethora of red herrings, I just thought the motive was a bit left field.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Sweet Poison

Sweet Poison by David Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's 1935 and the Duke of Mersham and his wife Connie have invited a select group of men to stay at Mersham Castle with the aim of reaching some kind of accord about the relationship between Germany and the UK. He has invited Lord Weaver, the press baron, together with his wife Blanche and daughter Hermione, war veteran General Sir Alistair Craig VC, an up-and-coming conservative MP Peter Larmore and his wife Celia, peace campaigner Bishop Cecil Haycroft and his wife Honoria, and the new under secretary at the German Embassy Baron Helmut von Friedberg.

To occupy the petulant Honoria, whose paramour Charlie Lomax declined an invitation at the last minute, the Duke has strong-armed his younger brother, Lord Edward Corinth to come down for dinner. Edward may look like a typical feckless aristocrat, more money than sense, but in fact he has a keen brain and loves to test himself physically.

On the way down, running late and consequently driving too fast, Edward crashes his car and is rescued by a journalist, Verity Browne, who claims to be from Country Life, writing a series on English castles. Grateful for her assistance, Edward invites Verity to spend the night at the Castle rather than in the nearby hotel. However, shortly after their arrival, as Verity is entertaining everyone with the tale of their meet-cute, the General suddenly starts choking and dies at the table. While all the other guests are sure he has had a heart attack, Edward and Verity aren't so sure, Edward thinks it bears all the hallmarks of cyanide poisoning - something the doctor subsequently confirms.

Eager to avoid publicity, everyone, including the police plays down the death, suggesting the General may have committed suicide, or perhaps mistaken his old army cyanide pill for the painkillers he was taking. But unconvinced Verity and Edward join forces, despite him discovering that she is actually a member of the Communist Party and a journalist for the Daily Worker.

As other reviews have said, Edward bears a resemblance to Lord Peter Wimsey (right down to the apartment in Albany), although Verity is more like some of the characters Lord Peter encounters on some of his adventures.

I did enjoy this, perhaps marred slightly for me by a brutal event close to the end - I understand its purpose etc but it did upset me a little (reading late at night). Otherwise, I am interested to see where this will go and have already downloaded the second book.

Also, I really like the new covers - definitely a factor in my decision to download the book.

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Review: One Final Turn: An Electra McDonnell Novel

One Final Turn: An Electra McDonnell Novel by Ashley Weaver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A satisfying end (I believe) to an enjoyable series.

Electra (Ellie) McDonnell is the niece of a locksmith, the family also has a less legal occupation as safecrackers and thieves. Electra was recruited/blackmailed into assisting Major Ramsay in certain top secret work, and she fell in love with him. However, after a steamy kiss, and a brush with near death, he not only rejected her, but sacked her into the bargain.

Ellie has recently heard that her cousin Toby may have escaped from a German POW camp and be making his way home via Portugal, coincidentally Captain Archie Blandings, a British intelligence officer based in Portugal, is keen to get more information about the route escapees are using to get from France to Portugal, he agrees to help Ellie get to Portugal, unfortunately Major Ramsay will also be part of the team.

It seems as though every clue Ellie and Archie find to help them contact the local resistance is a bust, clearly someone is watching them and getting to the resistance before them. Can they find Toby and rescue him before the German agents recapture him?

I loved this, everything I wanted. All mysteries solved.

I can't wait to see what Ashley Weaver is going to do next.

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Review: The Fix-Up

The Fix-Up by Sharon M. Peterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Ellie Sterns is a twenty-eight year old with ADHD, and the mother of a six year old called Oliver. After an unremarkable career as an actress, and numerous short-lived romances, she was en route to her family home in Oklahoma when she stopped briefly in the town of Two Harts to see her brother and ended up staying. The local diner owner, grumpy Ollie, took pity on Ellie and gave her a job and a place to stay. Ollie has recently died and Ellie has been keeping things going as best she can, when she gets the amazing news that Ollie has left her the house and the diner. Unfortunately, Ollie only left her 50%, the other half has been left to his previously unknown grandson. The kicker is that to inherit the two of them must live in the house for six months.

The grandson, Gilbert, wants to sell and get out of Two Harts as quickly as he can, he doesn't understand why Ollie abandoned his wife and daughter and never got in contact with them when they were alive, an inheritance means nothing to him. Ellie on the other hand, has put down roots, the inheritance safeguards her job and her home, she'll resist any move to sell either of them, even if the local property developer is offering a vast sum for the large plot of land on which the house sits.

This is a classic, opposites-attract, enemies-to-love, small-town romance. After being very grumpy and leaving some less than enthused reviews recently this was a breath of fresh air. Yes it trod a familiar path, but it was fun, sweet, and an easy read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.


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Review: A Queer Case

A Queer Case by Robert Holtom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's 1929, Selby Bigge is a lower middle-class banking clerk living in a grubby bedsit by day and haunting Hampstead Heath by night looking for men of a similar persuasion. One night he comes across an old acquaintance from Oxford, one with whom he shared a brief kiss which Selby has never forgotten. The acquaintance, Patrick Duker is bemoaning the fact that his father, the banking millionaire Sir Lionel Duker has married a much younger woman, an alleged gold-digger and Patrick hates her.

For reasons known only to himself, Patrick invites Selby to have dinner with his father and step-mother at the Ritz with the intention of getting 'proof' that his step-mother is evil/a gold digger. Their dinner is enlivened when a journalist makes a scene and accuses Lady Duker of stealing away his lover (her first husband who she subsequently divorced). The journalist also made several accusations about Sir Lionel before being ejected from the Ritz. Not withstanding all the excitement, Selby is then invited to Sir Lionel's' birthday dinner at his home on Hampstead Heath where he is faced with a bizarre group of guests, including an alcoholic General, Patrick's fiancé (!), and a female novelist with a chip on her shoulder. Just as the evening is breaking up, the journalist comes banging on the door, a row ensues and in the chaos one of the dinner party is found dead, strangled in the Billiards Room.

Selby notices a few oddities, which the Police seem uninterested in pursuing, so he undertakes his own investigation - but soon discovers nearly every person at the dinner had a motive for killing the victim.

I have read several K.J. Charles novels and very much enjoyed them so when I saw the premise of this book, and the gorgeous cover, I requested it immediately. However, Selby didn't really come across as a likeable character, and he also appeared very gullible - which seems odd given that homosexuality was illegal then and therefore his gaydar/antennae for Police entrapment should have been finely honed. Also, the balance between enlightening the reader as to the way in which homosexuality was viewed/ the underground gay scene and the detection felt wrong - too much explanation and not enough real detection (other than going around accusing everyone in turn).

I feel it has promise and I would probably request the next book in the series, hoping that having established the historical context the mystery would come to the fore. Having said that, there were clues to the murderer and I did suspect something of the sort early on (and kind of forgot again).

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Wild Love

Wild Love by Elsie Silver
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 76%.

I don't recall ever DNFing a book this late but I just can't stand it any longer. I even downloaded it AGAIN because I couldn't believe I hadn't read the first book in the series, because it sounded so good, only to find out I had got three quarters of the way through last time.

Older guy with child, best friend's little sister. Small town. Billionaire Ford Grant has just discovered he is the father of a twelve year old daughter, he's trying to open a recording studio in small town Rose Hill, so when his best friend's little sister Rosie comes home begging for a job he reluctantly hires her. Blah blag forbidden fruit.

She busted up his office - to get his attention - the smexy times gave me the ick and then she deliberately trod paint (which he was using to repair his office) into the floor - what is she five? Just no, no, no. I'd have called the police.

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Review: A Cornish Love Story: The perfect brand-new escapist and romantic standalone novel for summer 2025 from the million-copy best-selling author

A Cornish Love Story: The perfect brand-new escapist and romantic standalone novel for summer 2025 from the million-copy best-selling author by Cressida McLaughlin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Georgie Munroe grew up in small-town Cornwall, she loved the Rosevar family saga romance novels of the local author S.E. Artemis which were set in her beautiful cliff-top home Alperton House, which was called Tyller Klos. But the series ended thirty years ago with the last pair of lovers separated by the Atlantic Ocean, the author left her home and never wrote again. Georgie had plans to be a writer but her mother's MS meant she had to leave university after just one term to support her.

Since then Alperton House fell into disrepair, indeed as an adventurous teenager Georgie and her friends explored the half-derelict house and told each other ghost stories in the gloomy rooms.

As an adult Georgie works part-time as a journalist for a local newspaper and also as an assistant to Spence, (drum roll) none other than S.E. Artemis. Alperton House has been bought by a developer and a team have been hard at work transforming it beyond recognition, but Georgie gets a shock when she discovers the architect is none other than her childhood sweetheart Ethan Sparks. Encouraged/forced by both her employers to cover the open day for Alperton House, now renamed Sterenlenn, Georgie is both hopeful and terrified of seeing him after all that went down between them.

I have read and enjoyed previous books by this author so, despite having already requested another contemporary romance set in Cornwall I duly requested this one. Unfortunately, this book didn't really work for me, Georgie and Ethan's romance and break-up were told in flashback (which I have decided annoys me more often than I enjoy it after having two books in succession that use this device) and at the end of it it all seemed like a storm in a tea-cup and the two of them were wetter than a wet weekend in Manchester. Throw in a smart house with a mind of its own which locks Ethan and Georgie in the house and my eyes were rolling so far back I could see the inside of my skull.

Perfect for someone less cynical to read as a beach second-chance romance.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Copper Script

Copper Script by K.J. Charles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Its post WW1, Detective Sergeant Aaron Fowler is part of the Metropolitan Police, he has struggled to overcome two obstacles, his adopted father who was a firebrand unionist, and his aristocratic relations on his mother's side. One if his aristocratic cousins, Paul, comes to him complaining that a charlatan graphologist by the name of Joel Wildsmith has broken up his engagement to a wealthy society heiress by telling a pack of lies and he wants Aaron to investigate/prosecute.

Joel lost his left hand during the war, just his luck that he was left-handed to begin with. Jobs are short on the ground for the able-bodied, let alone a one-handed man who can barely write, but he discovered a knack of understanding people's feelings/emotions through reading their handwriting and he is scratching a living at it.

When Fowler goes to confront Joel he goes undercover with three samples of handwriting to analyse and is shocked by the accuracy of the reading. Convinced there is a trick of some kind, he and a colleague devise a blind test, the colleague will select an ongoing case at random and provide samples of handwriting from several suspects, Fowler will add some control samples from non-suspects and the samples will be numbered. Joel will read each of the samples and give his impressions. The samples and Joel's impressions (written down by Fowler) will be placed in an envelope and sealed pending the successful resolution of the case.

The results are astounding, Joel's reading were amazingly accurate, but it's his chilling reading of one of the control samples that causes consternation. Can Joel and Fowler expose a powerful criminal before he catches up with them?

I loved this, as I love everything KJ writes. It feels like it might be the start of a series and I couldn't be happier.

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Review: Lessons in Life: A funny, fabulous read from Julie Houston

Lessons in Life: A funny, fabulous read from Julie Houston by Julie Houston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the second in a series, I haven't read the first book (I've started it but not finished), but it can be read as a standalone. I also note that there is a third book (at least) in the offing.

Robyn Allen is a former West End dancer who tore her ACL and is now back at home in Beddingfield as a supply teacher. She had been seeing Fabien Carrington, an aristocratic high-flying defence criminal lawyer, but they split up and she had a brief affair with the head teacher at the school where she works.

Robyn's older sister Jess runs a care home at Hudson House, although her ambition has always been to be a chef, a teenage pregnancy put paid to those ambitions, although she has recently won a cooking competition.

Robyn's youngest sister Sorrel is still at school, Robyn's school in fact, and is seeing a young man from a troubled family who may be involved in County Lines.

Lisa, Robyn's mother, is adopted. She is of half-Indian and half-English heritage but doesn't know much more because her adoptive parents were secretive and also ashamed of Lisa's mixed heritage. Lisa has been a single mother since she was a teenager, although the girls' father is still in the picture and has supported Lisa financially. He's a semi-famous musician who prefers life on the road to domesticity. Lisa has suffered from Porphyria for most of her adult life, which has left her weak and subject to bouts of being bedridden, but recently a new treatment has given her a new lease of life.

Interspersed with the narrative about Lisa and her three daughters is an historical narrative involving Eloise Hudson, daughter of a wealthy manufacturer, who used to love at Hudson House as a child and is now a resident suffering from dementia.

If you've read any previous Julie Houston novels, particularly the Westenbury books, then this is very familiar. Multiple stories, multiple protagonists, several strands left unfinished for the next book, on-again, off-again relationships, County Lines, etc. For me, I wasn't really invested in any of the characters enough and every time I did start to be engaged we would abruptly switch to the 1960s and I would lose the thread again.

Overall, this felt very much like a middle book, it sort of ended abruptly with new beginnings in the offing for most of the Allen family, but how long that will last is anyone's guess.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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