Source: Publishers Group Canada

#BookReview The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry @ambroseparry @blackthornbks @PGCBooks #TheArtofDying #RavenFisherSimpsonSeries #AmbroseParry

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#BookReview The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry @ambroseparry @blackthornbks @PGCBooks #TheArtofDying #RavenFisherSimpsonSeries #AmbroseParry Title: The Art of Dying

Author: Ambrose Parry

Series: Raven Fisher and Simpson #2

Published by: Black Thorn Books on Mar. 18, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Edinburgh, 1849. Hordes of patients are dying all across the city, with doctors finding their remedies powerless. And a whispering campaign seeks to paint Dr James Simpson, pioneer of medical chloroform, as a murderer.

Determined to clear Simpson’s name, his protege Will Raven and former housemaid Sarah Fisher must plunge into Edinburgh’s deadliest streets and find out who or what is behind the deaths. Soon they discover that the cause of the deaths has evaded detection purely because it is so unthinkable.

Review:

Absorbing, informative, and remarkably atmospheric!

The Art of Dying is a rich, alluring tale that takes us back to Victorian Edinburgh and into the life of Will Raven, a young doctor returning from travelling abroad to accept the position of assistant to Dr James Simpson, a doctor infamous for using chloroform while treating patients. But when multiple people start to die, and others begin to question Dr Simpson’s abilities, Will, along with the help of the woman he let get away, Sarah Fisher, will have to quickly uncover what’s actually plaguing the city before Dr Simpson’s reputation is completely and irreversibly shattered.

The prose is smooth and authentic. The characters are steadfast, inquisitive, and clever. And the plot is a riveting, suspenseful tale of life, loss, duty, friendship, corruption, manipulation, deception, violence, murder, and the evolution and procedures of early medicine, especially in the field of obstetrics.

Overall, The Art of Dying is a beautifully written, mysterious, fascinating tale that grabbed me from the very start and did such an exceptional job of blending historical facts with compelling fiction I can honestly say I was enthralled, surprised, and thoroughly impressed.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

                  

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ambrose Parry

Ambrose Parry is a pseudonym for a collaboration between Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman. The couple are married and live in Scotland. Chris Brookmyre is the international bestselling and multi-award-winning author of over twenty novels. Dr Marisa Haetzman is a consultant anaesthetist of twenty years' experience, whose research for her Master's degree in the History of Medicine uncovered the material upon which this series, which begun with The Way of All Flesh, is based. The Way of all Flesh was longlisted for both the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year.

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#BookReview Transient Desires by Donna Leon @groveatlantic @PGCBooks #TransientDesires #CommissarioBrunettiSeries #DonnaLeon

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#BookReview Transient Desires by Donna Leon @groveatlantic @PGCBooks #TransientDesires #CommissarioBrunettiSeries #DonnaLeon Title: Transient Desires

Author: Donna Leon

Series: Commissario Brunetti #30

Published by: Atlantic Monthly Press on Mar. 9, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

In his many years as a commissario, Guido Brunetti has seen all manner of crime and known intuitively how to navigate the various pathways in his native city, Venice, to discover the person responsible. Now, in Transient Desires, the thirtieth novel in Donna Leon’s masterful series, he faces a heinous crime committed outside his jurisdiction. He is drawn in innocently enough: two young American women have been badly injured in a boating accident, joy riding in the Laguna with two young Italians. However, Brunetti’s curiosity is aroused by the behavior of the young men, who abandoned the victims after taking them to the hospital. If the injuries were the result of an accident, why did they want to avoid association with it?

As Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, investigate the incident, they discover that one of the young men works for a man rumored to be involved in more sinister nighttime activities in the Laguna. To get to the bottom of what proves to be a gut-wrenching case, Brunetti needs to enlist the help of both the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Costiera. Determining how much trust he and Griffoni can put in these unfamiliar colleagues adds to the difficulty of solving a peculiarly horrible crime whose perpetrators are technologically brilliant and ruthlessly organized.

Donna Leon’s Transient Desires is as powerful as any novel she has written, testing Brunetti to his limits and forcing him to listen very carefully for the truth.

Review:

Atmospheric, sinister, and engaging!

In this intriguing thirtieth instalment in the Commissario Brunetti series, Transient Desires, Leon has written a menacing tale that sees quirky Commissario Guido Brunetti immersed in an investigation that seems on the surface to involve two American women who have been beaten, abandoned, and left unconscious on the hospital docks, but which quickly turns into a much darker case involving human trafficking that will require the assistance of both the Carabinieri and Guardia Costiera to apprehend all those involved.

The prose is vivid and expressive. The characters are steadfast, intuitive, and a little jaded. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel seamlessly into an entertaining tale of dangerous endeavours, criminal behaviour, deduction, lies, exploitation, and Venetian Life.

Overall, Transient Desires is not especially fast-paced or action-packed but is still another absorbing, multi-layered, solid addition to this much-loved, highly-successful, enjoyable series.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

                  

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Donna Leon

Donna Leon, born in New Jersey in 1942, has worked as a travel guide in Rome and as a copywriter in London. She taught literature in universities in Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia. Commissario Brunetti made her books world-famous. Donna Leon lived in Italy for many years, and although she now lives in Switzerland, she often visits Venice.

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#BookReview Exit by Belinda Bauer @BelindaBauerBooks @PGCBooks @groveatlantic #Exit #BelindaBauer

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#BookReview Exit by Belinda Bauer @BelindaBauerBooks @PGCBooks @groveatlantic #Exit #BelindaBauer Title: Exit

Author: Belinda Bauer

Published by: Atlantic Monthly Press on Feb. 2, 2021

Genres: Dark Comedy, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Belinda Bauer is “Britain’s most original crime writer” (Crime Scene), one of the few authors in the genre to be longlisted for the Man Booker prize. Now she returns with a heart-pounding, heartbreaking, and often hilarious new crime novel in which it’s never too late for life to go fatally wrong.

Felix Pink is retired. Widowed for more than a decade, a painfully literal thinker, he has led a life of routine and is, not unhappily, waiting to die a hopefully boring death. He occupies himself volunteering as an Exiteer–someone who sits with terminally ill people as they die by suicide, assisting with logistics and lending moral support, then removing the evidence so that family and friends are not implicated in the death. When Felix lets himself in to Number 3 Black Lane, he’s there to perform an act of kindness and charity: to keep a dying man company as he takes his final breath.

But just fifteen minutes later Felix is on the run from the police–after making the biggest mistake of his life. Now his routine world is turned upside down as he tries to discover whether what went wrong was a simple mistake–or deliberate. Murder.

Belinda Bauer continues to redefine the boundaries of crime fiction, with a novel that is part murder mystery, part coming-of-old-age story–however short that future may be. With the compassion and dark humor of Jonas Jonasson and the twisted thriller plotting of Rear Window, Exit is a novel readers will not soon forget.

Review:

Clever, darkly comedic, and touching!

Exit is a twisty, mischievous tale that takes you on a journey into the lives of an elderly widow who likes to help people pass peacefully, a neighbour with good intentions, an unscrupulous loan shark, an accidental victim, a slovenly cleaner, and a police office determined to keep his family full of misfits a secret.

The prose is tight and witty. The characterization is spot on with a whole slew of characters who are eccentric, sharp-witted, and endearing. And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and intertwine into an irresistibly thrilling tale of deception, compassion, manipulation, moral dilemmas, drama, tragedy, skewed perception, oddball shenanigans, slapstick moments, and unlikely friendships.

Overall, Exit is a fresh, edgy, intricate tale by Bauer that was so much better than I ever expected. It thoroughly entertained me, and I absolutely loved it.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Belinda Bauer

BELINDA BAUER is the award-winning author of seven previous novels that have been translated into twenty-one languages. She won the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Crime Novel of the Year forBlacklands, the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award forRubbernecker, and the CWA Dagger in the Library Award for outstanding body of work. Her previous novel, Snap, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. She lives in Wales.

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#BookReview Sisters by Michelle Frances @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #Sisters #MichelleFrances #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Sisters by Michelle Frances @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #Sisters #MichelleFrances #PGCBooks Title: Sisters

Author: Michelle Frances

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Jan. 5, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

Is blood really thicker than water?

Abby and Ellie were never close as children. Now in their thirties, they each harbour deep-rooted resentment for the other – Abby for her sister’s looks and her status as their mother’s favourite. Ellie meanwhile is envious of Abby’s perfect husband and picturesque home, a villa on the sun-soaked Italian island of Elba.

When Abby invites Ellie to stay, both sisters see the break as a chance to relax and put aside their differences. But with their mother Susanna there too, all the simmering tensions of the past quickly rise to the surface. And Ellie suspects that Abby and their mother are keeping a dangerous secret . . .

But after a shocking act, the sisters have only each other to rely on. Vulnerable and scared, trusting each other will be the biggest risk of all . . .

Review:

Simmering, twisty, and intricate!

Sisters is a fast-paced, character-driven, domestic thriller that takes you into the lives of two sisters, Abbie, a hardworking, overachiever and Ellie a younger, prettier, free spirit as they each grapple with sibling rivalry, enduring jealousy, resentments, and long-buried secrets that will change their lives forever.

The prose is crisp and intense. The characters are envious, secretive, and troubled. And the plot told from differing perspectives unfolds rapidly into a gripping tale full of twists, turns, surprises, familial drama, lies, greed, deception, and tragedy.

Overall, Sisters is another exhilarating, pacey, suspenseful tale by Frances that does a wonderful job of delving into all the complex, dysfunctional relationships that exist between family members and reminds us just how toxic some of them can often be.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

             

 

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Michelle Frances

Michelle Frances graduated from Bournemouth Film School and then from the Masters programme at the American Film Institute, Los Angeles. Returning to London, she has worked for several years in film and TV as a script editor and producer for both the independent sector and the BBC.

Her first novel, The Girlfriend, became an international best seller.

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#BookReview Let Him Go by Larry Watson @PGCBooks @Milkweed_Books #LetHimGo #LarryWatson #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Let Him Go by Larry Watson @PGCBooks @Milkweed_Books #LetHimGo #LarryWatson #PGCBooks Title: Let Him Go

Author: Larry Watson

Published by: Milkweed Editions on Nov. 3, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 280

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Now a Major Motion Picture from Focus Features, Starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane

The celebrated author of Montana 1948 returns to the American West in this riveting tale of familial love and its unexpected consequences.

Dalton, North Dakota. It’s September 1951: years since George and Margaret Blackledge lost their son when he was thrown from a horse; months since his widow left with their only grandson and married another man. Margaret is resolved to find and retrieve her beloved grandson, while George, a retired sheriff, is none too eager to stir up trouble.

Unable to sway his wife from her mission, George takes to the road with Margaret by his side, traveling through the Badlands to Montana. But when Margaret tries to bring little Jimmy home, the Blackledges find themselves entangled with the Weboy clan, who are determined not to give up the boy without a fight.

Review:

Harrowing, gritty, and atmospheric!

Let Him Go transports you to the small towns of the American Midwest during the early 1950s and into the lives of George and Margaret Blackledge. A quiet, unassuming couple who after suffering the devastating loss of their son, their daughter-in-law’s subsequent remarriage to a hoodlum, and the relocation of their grandson, find themselves on a journey where personalities clash, emotions run wild, and conflict is inevitable.

The prose is effortless and precise. The characters are vulnerable, raw, and impulsive. And the plot is a tense, thrilling tale of life, loss, love, grief, rage, fury, familial duty, palpable emotion, violence, and murder.

Overall, Let Him Go is a tragic, haunting, beautiful story by Watson that is ultimately a powerful page-turner where the spaces between the words almost say more than the words themselves.

On a side note, I was lucky enough to watch an advance screening of the movie adaptation of this novel and was amazed at how closely it followed the original story. If you get a chance, I would highly recommend not only reading this novel but also watching the newly released movie starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

           

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Larry Watson

Larry Watson was born in 1947 in Rugby, North Dakota. He grew up in Bismarck, North Dakota, and was educated in its public schools. Larry married his high school sweetheart, Susan Gibbons, in 1967. He received his BA and MA from the University of North Dakota, his Ph.D. from the creative writing program at the University of Utah, and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Ripon College. Watson has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1987, 2004) and the Wisconsin Arts Board.

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#BookReview I Follow You by Peter James @peterjamesuk @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #IFollowYou #PeterJames #PGCBooks

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#BookReview I Follow You by Peter James @peterjamesuk @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #IFollowYou #PeterJames #PGCBooks Title: I Follow You

Author: Peter James

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Nov. 17, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 386

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

From the number one bestselling author, Peter James, comes I Follow You, a nerve-shredding standalone thriller.

To the outside world, suave, charming and confident doctor Marcus Valentine has it all. A loving wife, three kids, a great job. But there’s something missing, there always has been. . . . or rather, someone . . .

Driving to work one morning, his mind elsewhere and not on the road, he almost mows down a female jogger on a crossing. As she runs on, Marcus is transfixed. Infatuated. She is the spitting image of a girl he was crazy about in his teens. A girl he has never been able to get out of his mind.

Lynette had dumped him harshly. For years he has fantasized about seeing her again and rekindling their flame. Might that jogger possibly be her all these years later? Could this be the most incredible coincidence?

Despite all his attempts to resist, he is consumed by cravings for this woman. And when events take a tragically unexpected turn, his obsession threatens to destroy both their worlds. But still he won’t stop. Can’t stop.

Review:

Addictive, unnerving, and suspenseful!

I Follow You is a fast-paced, sinister thriller that takes you into the life of Georgie MacLean, an avid runner whose use of social media and an online running app makes it extremely easy for the man who seems harmless and like he has it all, a beautiful wife, three darling children, and a successful career to always know when and where she will be.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are secretive, obsessive, and impulsive. And the plot is a disturbingly eerie tale of control, obsession, deception, jealousy, betrayal, depravity, senseless violence, and murder.

Overall, I Follow You is a dark, twisty, creepy page-turner that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish and is a wonderful reminder of just how vulnerable and susceptible our dependence on technology and social media truly makes us.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

              

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Peter James

Peter James is the international bestselling author of many award-winning novels. His Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, set in Brighton, has been translated into thirty-seven languages with worldwide sales of over eighteen million copies, and has given him eleven consecutive Sunday Times number ones. In 2015 WHSmith customers publicly voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he became the recipient of the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence. Peter has also written a short story collection, A Twist of the Knife, and his standalone titles include Perfect People and The House on Cold Hill. He has also co-written a non-fiction account of Brighton’s toughest cases with former detective Graham Bartlett entitled Death Comes Knocking. The Perfect Murder, Dead Simple and Not Dead Enough have all been turned into smash-hit stage plays. All his novels reflect his deep interest in the world of the police. Three of his novels have been filmed and before becoming a full-time author he produced numerous films, including The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. He divides his time between his homes in Notting Hill, London and near Brighton in Sussex.

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#BookReview The Winter Secret by Lulu Taylor @MissLuluTaylor @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheWinterSecret #LuluTaylor

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#BookReview The Winter Secret by Lulu Taylor @MissLuluTaylor @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheWinterSecret #LuluTaylor Title: The Winter Secret

Author: Lulu Taylor

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Nov. 2, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Historical Fiction

Pages: 544

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The Winter Secret is a thrilling mystery from Lulu Taylor, top ten bestselling author of The Snow Rose and Her Frozen Heart.

‘My dear boy, the place is cursed. It always has been and it always will be . . .’

Buttercup Redmain has a life of pampered luxury, living in beautiful Charcombe Park. Her older husband, Charles Redmain, is wealthy and successful and proud of the house he has painstakingly restored, once owned by a famous ancestor. Buttercup is surrounded by people who make her life delightfully easy. But the one thing she really wants seems impossible.

There are other discomforting realities: her husband’s ex-wife Ingrid still lives nearby although Buttercup has never met her. And it soon becomes clear that all the people who make Buttercup’s life so carefree are also watching her every move. Does she actually live in a comfortable but inescapable cage? And what is the real story of her husband’s previous marriage?

In the late 1940s, Xenia Arkadyoff lived in Charcombe Park with her father, a Russian prince, and her mother, a famous film star. Life seemed charmed, full of glamour and beauty. But behind the glittering facade lay pain, betrayal, and the truth about the woman Xenia spent her life protecting.

Now Charcombe Park is calling back people who were once part of its story, and the secrets that have stayed long hidden are bubbling inexorably to the surface . . .

Review:

Gripping, menacing, and addictive!

The Winter Secret is an unsettling, pacey, atmospheric novel about love, life, loss, secrets, power, control, friendship, family, jealousy, and tragedy.

There are two main memorable characters, Xenia, a young girl in the late 1940s whose life is anything but glamourous when her mother’s starlet lifestyle leads to a neverending rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows. And Buttercup, the present-day Mrs. Redmain whose life is pristine and wonderful until the cracks begin to appear and everything is not quite as perfect as it originally seemed.

The writing is eloquent and descriptive. The characterization is well done with a cast of characters that are distressed, vulnerable, and sympathetic, and a setting, Charcombe Park, that is a character itself with its history, grandeur, isolation, and multitude of secrets. And the plot uses a past/present, back-and-forth style to create tension and suspense as it quickly unravels all the personalities, relationships, behaviours, and motivations within it.

Overall, The Winter Secret is a clever, haunting, absorbing novel that swept me away to a country estate marred by both cruelty and love and immersed me in a story rife with deception and obsession.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.

             

 

 

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lulu Taylor

Lulu Taylor moved around the world as a child before her family settled in the Oxfordshire countryside. She studied English at Oxford University and had a successful career in publishing before becoming a writer. Her first novel, Heiresses was published in 2007 and nominated for the RNA Readers' Choice award. It was followed by Midnight Girls, Beautiful Creatures, Outrageous Fortune, The Winter Folly, The Snow Angel, The Winter Children, and The Snow Rose. She lives in Dorset, England, with her husband and two children.

Photograph by Alicia Clarke.

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#BookReview Together by Christmas by Karen Swan @KarenSwan1 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan @PGCBooks #TogetherbyChristmas #KarenSwan

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#BookReview Together by Christmas by Karen Swan @KarenSwan1 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan @PGCBooks #TogetherbyChristmas #KarenSwan Title: Together by Christmas

Author: Karen Swan

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Nov. 3, 2020

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 448

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

Canadian bestseller Karen Swan returns with another moving, surprising and heartwarming novel for the holiday season.

When Lee first came to Amsterdam, it was with a newborn baby and a secret. Five years later, her life is approaching normal: her career as a celebrity photographer is flourishing, her son Jasper is growing up, and they are enjoying the run-up to Christmas with their tight circle of close friends.

But all this changes one morning when Lee finds a book in the basket of her bicycle – and scrawled inside it, a desperate message. Who left it for her, and why? Lee feels compelled to help and tracks down the book’s author, Sam. With an instant, undeniable connection it seems they might have a shot at a real future together.

Until her past comes calling. As the snow falls and ice thickens on the city’s canals, the secret Lee has never told resurfaces. Suddenly everything she holds dear hangs in the balance. Christmas is a time for being together – but what if the truth means she ends up alone?

Escape to the snow-covered streets of Amsterdam in this deeply romantic read, featuring twists, turns and characters you’ll fall in love with.

Review:

Atmospheric, festive, and powerful!

Together by Christmas is an absorbing, poignant, sensitive tale that takes you into the life of professional photographer Lee Fitch, a young, single mother whose main focus is on raising her son after years of shooting graphic photos in countries ravaged by atrocities and war has left her wounded by the nightmares and horrors she witnessed and endured there.

The writing is rich and emotive. The characters are troubled, scarred, supportive, endearing, and kind. And the plot is a bittersweet, at times heartwrenching tale of life, loss, love, family, friendship, perseverance, parenthood, guilt, courage, selflessness, war, new beginnings and the delightful history, culture, landscape, traditions, and unique holiday celebrations found in the Netherlands.

As most of you know I am a huge fan of Karen Swan and have read almost every novel she has ever written, and Together by Christmas is without a doubt another compelling, romantic, emotional tale by Swan but one with perhaps a little more grit, depth, layers and hard-hitting themes than we’ve possibly ever read by her before.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

 

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Karen Swan

Karen Swan began her career in fashion journalism before giving it all up to raise her three children and a puppy, and to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer. She lives in the forest outside Sussex, England, writing her books in a treehouse overlooking the Downs.

An internationally bestselling author, her numerous books include The Rome Affair, The Paris Secret, Christmas Under the Stars, and The Christmas Secret. 

Photograph by Alexander James

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#BookReview Still Life by Val McDermid @valmcdermid @PGCBooks #StillLife #InspectorKarenPirie #ValMcDermid

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#BookReview Still Life by Val McDermid @valmcdermid @PGCBooks #StillLife #InspectorKarenPirie #ValMcDermid Title: Still Life

Author: Val McDermid

Series: Inspector Karen Pirie #6

Published by: Atlantic Monthly Press on Oct. 16, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 436

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

From internationally bestselling author Val McDermid comes a propulsive new Karen Pirie thriller that delves into a historic missing persons case, fake identities, and art forgery.

Val McDermid is the award-winning, international bestselling author of more than thirty novels and has been hailed as Britain’s Queen of Crime. In Still Life, McDermid returns to her propulsive series featuring DCI Karen Pirie, who finds herself investigating the shadowy world of forgery, where things are never what they seem.

When a lobster fisherman discovers a dead body in Scotland’s Firth of Forth, Karen is called into investigate. She quickly discovers that the case will require untangling a complicated web—including a historic disappearance, art forgery, and secret identities—that seems to orbit around a painting copyist who can mimic anyone from Holbein to Hockney. Meanwhile, a traffic crash leads to the discovery of a skeleton in a suburban garage. Needless to say, Karen has her plate full. Meanwhile, the man responsible for the death of the love of her life is being released from prison, reopening old wounds just as she was getting back on her feet.

Tightly plotted and intensely gripping, Still Life is Val McDermid at her best, and new and longtime readers alike will delight in the latest addition to this superior series.

Review:

Complex, intriguing, and sophisticated!

In this impressive sixth instalment in the Inspector Karen Pirie series, Still Life, McDermid has written a fast-paced, sinuous, police procedural that has DCI Pirie and her team from the Historic Cases Unit immersed in two investigations, one involving skeletal remains found inside a camper van parked in a residential garage, and the other concerning a newly deceased middle-aged male found floating in the water who seems to have an extremely mysterious, complicated past.

The prose is sharp and tight. The characters are impulsive, secretive, and greedy. And the plot, including all the subplots, seamlessly intertwine and unravel into a gripping tale full of deception, manipulation, misdirection, mayhem, violence, and murder.

Overall, Still Life is another engrossing, pacey, action-packed thriller by McDermid that once again has just the right amount of suspense, well-drawn characterization, and creative storyline to make it a satisfying, highly entertaining read for lovers of this genre.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Val McDermid

Val McDermid is a No. 1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over eleven million copies.

She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award.

She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.

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#BookReview Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #Shadowplay #JosephOConnor

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#BookReview Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #Shadowplay #JosephOConnor Title: Shadowplay

Author: Joseph O'Connor

Published by: Europa Editions on Jun. 26, 2020

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 310

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Shadowplay by New York Times best-selling author, Joseph O’Connor, is set during the golden age of West End theater in a London shaken by the crimes of Jack the Ripper.

Henry Irving is Victorian London’s most celebrated actor and theater impresario. He has introduced groundbreaking ideas to the theater, bringing to the stage performances that are spectacular, shocking, and always entertaining. When Irving decides to open his own London theater with the goal of making it the greatest playhouse on earth, he hires a young Dublin clerk harboring literary ambitions by the name of Bram Stoker to manage it. As Irving’s theater grows in reputation and financial solvency, he lures to his company of mummers the century’s most beloved actress, the dazzlingly talented leading lady Ellen Terry, who nightly casts a spell not only on her audiences but also on Stoker and Irving both.

Bram Stoker’s extraordinary experiences at the Lyceum Theatre, his early morning walks on the streets of a London terrorized by a serial killer, his long, tempestuous relationship with Irving, and the closeness he finds with Ellen Terry, inspire him to write DRACULA, the most iconic and best-selling supernatural tale ever published.

A magnificent portrait both of lamp-lit London and of lives and loves enacted on the stage, Shadowplay’s rich prose, incomparable storytelling, and vivid characters will linger in readers’ hearts and minds for many years.

Review:

Immersive, evocative, and colourful!

Shadowplay is a beautiful, powerful, alluring interpretation that sweeps you away to London in the late 1800s and into the life of Bram Stroker, from his employment as manager of the Lyceum Theatre, his tumultuous relationships with both his employer, Henry Irving and the celebrated actress Ellen Terry, to his ultimately writing the infamous Dracula.

The prose is expressive and eloquent. The characters are exceptionally drawn, complex, and authentic. And the plot set to the backdrop of a city terrorized by Jack the Ripper and using an intriguing mixture of narration, letters, diary entries, and transcripts is an exceptionally absorbing tale of life, loss, loneliness, loyalty, friendship, desires, aspirations, heartache, drama, and love in all its different forms.

Overall, Shadowplay is a vivid, pensive, compelling story by O’Connor that does a remarkable job of highlighting his considerable knowledge and impressive research into these renowned historical figures whose lives and contribution to the dramatic and literary worlds are often unknown or unfortunately long forgotten.

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Joseph O'Connor

Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of the novels Cowboys and Indians (short-listed for the Whitbread Prize), Desperadoes , The Salesman , Inishowen , Star of the Sea and Redemption Falls , as well as a number of bestselling works of non-fiction.

He was recently voted ‘Irish Writer of the Decade’ by the readers of Hot Press magazine. He broadcasts a popular weekly radio diary on RTE’s Drivetime With Mary Wilson and writes regularly for The Guardian Review and The Sunday Independent. In 2009 he was the Harman Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Baruch College, the City University of New York.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

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