#BlogTour - Ghost Story by Elisa Lodato

 

From the Costa First Novel Award shortlisted author of An Unremarkable Body

She came to write, but the island has its own story . . .

Off the windswept coast of Scotland lies Finish Island, rugged and remote. Once a home, it now stands abandoned, a place of dark history and deep memory, a place that holds its stories close. Unable to write since her daughter's death, it's here that Seren comes to work, hoping that the solitude and silence will inspire her next novel.

But the island holds memories of its own, restless and unwilling to stay buried. As unsettling occurrences become even more bizarre and frightening, Seren starts seeing uncanny resonances between her past and the island's history. There is something on this island, something ancient and unforgiving. 

Will Seren discover its secrets, before it's too late?

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An intriguing and unusual novel, GHOST STORY begins with an email exchange between Jamie Doughty and his late ex-wife, Seren’s publishers. It appears that Seren has passed away ‘on that island’ while writing the novel commissioned by the publishers and whose manuscript they would now like to publish. Jamie refuses, arguing that the manuscript in his possession is ‘not a work of fiction’ and it is apparent he holds the publishers responsible for whatever has happed to Seren.

What then follows appears to be that manuscript and tells Seren's story as she does indeed travel to remote Scottish Hebridean Ireland, inspired by the story of a massacre that took place there hundreds of years before and hoping that the location will reignite her creative spark. It's quickly evident that Seren’s manuscript is not a novel, at least not a conventional novel, but rather a memoir telling of the events that brought her to travel to the island and later when she gets to the island it takes the form of journal entries and dispersed with chapters of her intended novel. The prose is melancholy, and slow-moving, and utterly engrossing. Seren’s first novel was a huge success, her second a comparative failure. Her daughter and sister were murdered in an arson attack carried out by her sister’s deranged partner, and Seren’s marriage, to Jamie, did not survive the tragedy. Contacted by her publisher with an offer for a story about ‘“Ghosts…not ghosts that go bump-in-the-night but the inner demon, you know”’ Seren decides to visit the Western Isles, where she spent holidays as a child, Finish Island, uninhabited since 1912 but whose population had been massacred by clansmen centuries before. Seren hopes the location, and the solitude, will inspire her but the reader can’t help but feel that she is trying to escape the grief which which she has been living, grief which, perhaps quiet at times, never leaves.

It would be unfair to reveal any more of the plot, suffice to say I found it gripping and intensely moving. Elisa Lodato is a talented writer. Her prose is exquisite, her dialog modern and realistic. Sadness and grief are present on every page but the book is never gloomy and GHOST STORY lives up to its title as a feeling of increasing dread takes hold in the latter stages. It is chilling and atmospheric. It doesn’t tie everything up in a neat bow, and I liked that. For days after finishing the novel I was still thinking about it - did things happen as they appeared to, as Seren had recorded them? Did the remoteness of the island take a toll on Seren’s sanity? Were the ghosts real or ‘inner demons’, or both? I don’t know but the questions will stay for some time.

#BlogTour - Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner

A remote tropical island. Countless dangerous secrets. No way to call help.

‘A master of the thriller genre’ David Baldacci
‘Full-on action’ Sunday Times
‘The very definition of the word "unputdownable"' Tess Gerritsen
‘Masterful. Not to be missed’ Karin Slaughter
‘This thriller has enough twists and turns to make you dizzy. If you haven’t read Frankie Elkin yet, start now!’ Lisa Scottoline
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Missing persons specialist Frankie Elkin is on an isolated island off the coast of Hawaii.

Her mission: to find Lani, the missing sister of a Death Row serial killer known as the Beautiful Butcher who is awaiting execution in just three weeks’ time.

According to the Beautiful Butcher’s sources, Lani is being held captive by her millionaire ex-boyfriend on the island. The only way to gain access is for Frankie to go undercover.

But can Frankie really trust the word of a serial killer?

Plus, this island is no paradise with deadly creatures and suspicious co-workers at every turn, and an incoming tropical storm about to cut her off from the outside world.

Could this be Frankie Elkin’s most dangerous case yet?
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STILL SEE YOU EVERYWHERE is the third book in Lisa Gardner's Frankie Elkin series. I have read the author before but not this series, but found myself right at home from the start. The setup is the traditional detective novel, very familiar, but with a twist. Think The Big Sleep - the detective, Philip Marlowe, visits a prospective client, who wants him to find a missing person, Rusty Regan - immediately you know where you are. Here we have Frankie Elkin, unlicensed and self-driven missing persons investigator, visiting a prospective client, and being asked to find her missing sister. However, in this case, the client is a serial killer, a woman on death row for the murder of 18 men, who wants Frankie to find the sister she lost touch with 12 years ago, whom she believes is being held captive by a tech millionaire, The Beautiful Butcher's ex, on an isolated island in the Pacific.

So, we have echoes of The Big Sleep, The Silence of the Lambs, Glass Onion, perhaps a bit of Jack Reacher in our nomadic central character. We also have an intriguing protagonist in Frankie Elkin, and a talented author in Lisa Gardner, who takes these familiar elements and builds a singular, unusual and pulse-pounding thriller, which bears comparison to the influences. I liked Frankie a lot. She is driven by a need to fight for those forgotten, or ignored, by the traditional authorities, witty and funny, yet full of self-doubt and uncertainty. The plot is full of twists, keeping the reader guessing right until the end. The supporting characters are rounded and interesting, and some of their backstories could make for very readable novels themselves. Lisa Gardner's prose is excellent and makes you want to continue reading, her dialogue is realistic and natural. Above all, her research is incredible, and used to flesh out the story rather than being an information dump. Nothing I learned pulled me out of the exciting events but, later, I was inspired to learn more about Pacific atolls, and disturbing coconut crabs, and wolf spiders, and pirate treasure (yes, pirate treasure...)

I thoroughly enjoyed STILL SEE YOU EVERYWHERE and will be exploring Frankie's other adventures. Thanks to Century Books UK, Compulsive Readers and, of course, Lisa Gardner for the opportunity to take part in the BlogTour. 

#BlogTour - The Silent Man by David Fennell

A father is murdered in the dead of night in his London home, his head wrapped tightly in tape, a crude sad face penned over his facial features. But the victim's only child is left alive and unharmed at the scene.

Met Police detectives Grace Archer and Harry Quinn have more immediate concerns. Notorious gangster Frankie White has placed a target on Archer's back, and there's no one he won't harm to get to her.

Then a second family is murdered, leaving young Uma Whitmore as the only survivor. Once again the victim's face is found wrapped and inked.

With a serial killer at large, DI Archer and DS Quinn must stay alive long enough to find the connection between these seemingly random victims. Can they do it before another child is made an orphan?

David Fennell is a new author to me. THE SILENT MAN is the third in his DI Grace Archer series, something I didn’t know when starting the book. The novel begins with a very tense and chilling murder of a father, by a killer who gains access to the victim’s home without force, without detection, and leaves no trace other than a man suffocated, his head taped, and a son who heard nothing, unaware until his discovery of his father’s body next morning.  We then meet DI Archer and DS Quinn.

Initially a little confusing, there is a lot going on, with several callbacks to events in previous novels but, like Marvel Comics used to do, anticipating that this might be a first reader, Fennell brings us up to speed, without excessive exposition, respecting his readers’ intelligence and ability to put it together. Di Archer is a prime target for a London Crime Boss who blames her for the death of a jailed family member and so targets Grace’s grandfather. There are moles in the Metropolitan Police and the organised crime gang seem able to attack Archer with impunity. It’s a little Infernal Affairs/The Departed in Charing Cross, and, while I wasn’t drawn to it as much as the concurrent hunt for the killer, possibly due to a lack of familiarity with the characters, it is well-plotted, very well written, and the protagonists engagingly drawn.

When a second body is discovered with seeming links to the first, another child the sole survivor, Archer and Quinn suspect a serial killer and it is here that things really took off for me. The killings, seen from the murderer’s POV, are harrowing and heart-stopping. The search for evidence is painstaking and littered with red herrings. As a procedural crime narrative the novel is first class, the constant threat hanging over the main detective, heightening the tension constantly. There are other subplots which eventually dovetail with the main threads and the author expertly garners the reader’s sympathies for the characters, and not always for those you might expect.

Yes, it may be have been better to start at the beginning of the series, but I did not feel lost or my enjoyment of the story irrevocably harmed by not doing so, and I look forward to dropping back and catching up.

The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree

“Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.” —Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Award–winning author of the Hap and Leonard series 

As an unlikely found-family flees toward Galveston, a psychic young girl bonds with Charlie Fish, an enigmatic gill-man. Meanwhile, they are pursued by bounty hunters determined to profit from the spectacle of Charlie. But the Great Storm—the worst natural disaster in U.S. history—is on its way. Josh Rountree’s strikingly original debut novel ranges effortlessly between the Gothic, pulp, literary, Western, and comedic. With his vivid imagery, evocative storytelling, and uncanny wit, Rountree enters the fine tradition of Texan storytellers, wading into True Grit by way of The Shape of Water

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Paradise was a whirlpool of unnatural greens and gold coral reefs, phosphorescent flowers and palaces cut into the heart of undersea caverns. 

THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH is quite simply one of the best novels I have read this year. Set at the turn of the 20^th Century, a time when the American Old West was beginning to disappear, it is the story of damaged characters - Floyd Betts, estranged from the late father whom he arrives in town to bury, and the orphans he ‘adopts’, Nellie and Hank, whose parents have been murdered by the townspeople who condemned their as a witch. On the return to Galveston, the trio rescue a creature from two ‘scoundrels’ they encounter on the road. While Floyd initially thinks the men have captured a huge fish, Nellie, who has inherited a form of telepathy, ‘whisper talk’, from her mother, recognises the captive as a sentient being, whom she names Charlie Fish.

There are obviously fantastical elements - the titular character is a Creature From The Black Lagoon-like amphibious man - but it is thoroughly grounded in reality, and what a reality; the climax plays out against the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Josh Rountree’s description of the storm is frighteningly visceral; you really hear, and feel, the wind and surging water, the buildings moving, the almost complete disorientation. I would have to think long and hard to find a better evocation of the destructive power of nature.

I believe this is Josh Rountree’s first novel but his prose is beautiful, even when describing intense violence, either of the storm or the swift retribution of a semi-lawless society. THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, of Joe R. Lansdale, but Rountree has his own voice. I thoroughly enjoyed it and rushed breathlessly through the story. I will reread it and look forward to see what comes next from the author.

About the Author: Josh Rountree has published more than sixty stories in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies, including Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Realms of Fantasy, The Deadlands, Bourbon Penn, PseudoPod, PodCastle, Daily Science Fiction, and A Punk Rock Future. Several of his stories have received honorable mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth and Twenty-First Annual Collections, as well as The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. His latest short fiction collection is Fantastic Americana: Stories from Fairwood Press. Josh lives somewhere in the untamed wilds of Texas with his wife and children, and he tweets about books, records, and guitars at @josh_rountree.

 

To Die in June by Alan Parks

There are a few authors for whom I will drop all current reading when their latest book drops. The latest addition to this select list is Alan Parks. His Harry McCoy series has been excellent from the start and continues to get better. The sixth in the series, TO DIE IN JUNE, is no exception. It finds McCoy and Wattie seconded to ‘the shithole of shitholes’ Possil police station, only the former knowing the real reason for their transfer, to expose the corruption centred on the station.It is Glasgow, June 1975. At Possil Police Station, a woman reports her son missing, but there is no trace of the boy, no proof that he even exists. The woman is the wife of the firebrand pastor of The Church of Christ’s suffering, ‘a look in her eyes when she talked about her religion:shining eyes and a conviction that the Lord was on her side and no one else’s.’ Just the thing to get under the Christian brother educated McCoy’s skin.

At the same time, Glasgow’s elderly wino population seems to be decreasing at an unusually high rate, bodies turning up in parks and on the banks of the Clyde, McCoy becoming increasingly concerned with the fate of his down and out father.

Add into the mix his new colleagues extortion rackets and the high likelihood that Stevie Cooper is about to embark on another turf war against fellow gangsters. McCoy’s life, seemingly on the up, a new relationship burgeoning, is about to take a dive…

As with the previous books in the series, Glasgow is as much a character as McCoy - seedy, dirty, crime ridden -  yet the novel is full of dark humour, pathos, social commentary; it is funny, moving and thrilling. Park’s writing gets better and better. It is a lazy comparison to hold the McCoy books up against McIllvanney’s LAIDLAW series but that doesn’t make it inappropriate; the books are that good and can stand alongside the master.

I loved TO DIE IN JUNE and look forward to whatever July brings. I suspect the times the are a’-changin’

#BlogTour - Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey

From the international bestselling M. R. Carey comes a thrilling novel set in the multiverse – the tale of humanity’s expansion across millions of dimensions, and the AI technology that might see it all come to an end . . .

INFINITY IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds – except that they’re really just the one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an AI threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they’ll eradicate it by whatever means necessary, no matter the cost to human life.

Scientist Hadiz Tambuwal is looking for a solution to her own Earth’s environmental collapse when she stumbles across the secret of inter-dimensional travel. It could save everyone on her dying planet, but now she’s walked into the middle of a war on a scale she never dreamed of.

And she needs to choose a side before it kills her.

Discover the spectacular first novel in The Pandominion – an exhilarating new science fiction duology from the author of the million-copy bestseller The Girl With All the Gifts. Perfect for fans of The Space Between Worlds, The Long Earth and Children of Time.

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M. R. Carey’s THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS was one of my favourite novels of the last several years, a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse theme, and his recent KOLI trilogy was an equally original variation on post-apocalyptic society, so it comes as no surprise that INFINITY GATE is an equally thrilling twist on a familiar trope. In his new novel we get Carey’s version of the multiverse.

Hadiz Tambuwal is a scientist striving for a solution to her world’s impending ecological disaster who accidentally stumbles upon Step technology, a way of travelling to an alternate earth. With the, initially unwelcome, help of an opinionated AI, Hadiz begins to use drones to collect data from other Earths, at least in the vicinity of her base in Lagos and, when she ultimately fails in her quest to prevent her planet’s environmental implosion, she makes a home on the reality most resembling her own.

Essien Nkanika lives by his wits on the streets of Lagos and does whatever it takes to live - working jobs others would avoid, stealing, working cons, prostitution. Initially using Essien for sex, possibly for company, Hadiz eventually takes him into her confidence, sharing with him her discovery of the multiverse. And, of course, even though he has no idea how it works, Essien decides to steal the technology for his own profit. And the Pandominion is watching.

The Pandominion controls commerce and facilitates movement across a federation of multiverse worlds. They force order through the Cielo, the largest military organisation in history. And they do not take kindly to unauthorised Step Technology…

INFINITY GATE is a fantastically exciting Sci-Fi novel which pays homage to Carey’s influences but does not imitate them. There are echoes of THE FOREVER WAR and STARSHIP TROOPERS in the depiction of the Cielo but, at least to me, Carey’s characters are more relatable, more human (even, maybe especially, in the case of Paz), than Haldeman’s or, particularly, Heinlein’s, and I love those novels. INFINITY GATE can stand alongside them.

Carey keeps the reader guessing, as to where the story will go next, but also in how we feel about the characters. The idea of infinite realities could be overwhelming but Carey writes in deceptively simple prose which draws the reader into an immersive narrative so that we always understand what is going on, even when we don’t know what’s going on. I loved it and I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

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About the author:

M. R. Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts was a word-of-mouth bestseller and is now a major motion picture based on his own screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on Lucifer, Hellblazer and X-Men. His creator-owned series The Unwritten appeared regularly in the New York Times graphic fiction bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, games, radio plays, and TV and movie screenplays to his credit.

#BlogTour - The Messenger by Megan Davis

‘A sharply written, clever and classy thrill-ride through the streets of Paris. Atmospheric and twisting, The Messenger is a wonderful debut.’ Chris Whitaker   


Wealthy and privileged, Alex has an easy path to success in the Parisian elite. But he and his domineering father have never seen eye to eye. Desperate to escape the increasingly suffocating atmosphere of their apartment, Alex seeks freedom on the streets of Paris where his new-found friend Sami teaches him how to survive. But everything has a price - and one night of rebellion changes their lives forever. 


A simple plan to steal money takes a sinister turn when Alex's father is found dead. Despite protesting their innocence, both boys are imprisoned for murder. Seven years later Alex is released from prison with a single purpose: to discover who really killed his father. Yet as he searches for answers and atones for the sins of his past, Alex uncovers a disturbing truth with far-reaching consequences.



In the heart of Paris, against a backdrop of corruption, fake news and civil unrest, The Messenger is a mind-racing new thriller that follows one son's journey to find redemption and expose the truth. 

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 Set in Paris, Megan Davis’s THE MESSENGER is the story of a dysfunctional family, of Alex Giraud, an angsty teenager, born in France raised in USA, and struggling to fit in Paris to which he, and his father Eddy, have recently returned. Increasingly estranged from his father, bullied by his peers at school, Alex escapes to the streets of Paris where he meets Sami, a small time dealer, a survivor, who introduces him to drugs and the small-time criminals who traffic them. Alex sees a way to use the supply of recreational narcotics to buy his way into the circle of those whose approval he craves, but actually hates, and together he and Sami hatch a plan to rob Eddy, Alex’s father, a plan that ends in tragedy. 

The novel actually begins with Eddy’s death on Christmas Eve. Sami flees the apartment telling the hiding Alex not to go in, that, “He’ll be all right. He was still speaking.” Running to he father, Alex finds Eddy dying from stab wounds. And, seven years later, Alex is released from prison, having served a lighter sentence than the 25 years given to the older Sami, determined to find out who really murdered Eddy Giraud, and why. 

THE MESSENGER is engrossing, tightly plotted and peopled by realistic, characters most of whom are simultaneously fascinating and unlikeable. It is slow-paced but never boring and, as the author alternates between NOW and THEN, we learn a lot about Alex, his relationship with his father, and the events that led to Eddy’s death and Alex’s incarceration; we see the older Alex’s obsessive drive to find his father’s real murderer and clear his and Sami’s names. Megan Davis reveals just enough information so that both timelines build in a deliberate, measured way until, about two thirds of the way in, the pace explodes, the stakes get much higher, and we career to the shocking conclusion. 

 It is difficult to believe that THE MESSENGER is Megan Davis’s debut novel, such is the ease with which she handles the plot. The whodunnit elements are satisfying, the atmospheric setting, the seedy Parisian underbelly, thoroughly convincing, and the suspicion of a deeper conspiracy seeded just enough to build the oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere. It feels ‘real’ and I was completely won over. 

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About the author 

Megan Davis was born in Australia and grew up in mining towns across the world. She has worked in the film industry and her credits include Atonement, In Bruges, Pride and Prejudice and the Bourne films. Megan is also a lawyer and is currently an associate at Spotlight on Corruption. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Her debut The Messenger won the Bridport Prize for a First Novel in 2018, judged by Kamila Shamsie, as well as the Lucy Cavendish Prize for unpublished writers in 2021. She has lived in many places, including France for a number of years, but now lives in London.

White Riot by Joe Thomas

White Riot by Joe Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first of a trilogy, set in Hackney and based on real cases, Joe Thomas's WHITE RIOT is a gritty, uncomfortably authentic thriller.

1978 - punk, Rock against Racism, National Front, Anti-Nazi League, reggae, police corruption, Margaret Thatcher...

1983 - Style Council, more corruption, more racism, more Thatcher...

The more things change…

Against a background of political and racial tension, seen through the eyes of DC Patrick Noble, investigating racist attacks in the area and with undercover agents in both far-right and left wing groups, Suzi, a photographer in the music scene, and Jon Davies, a Hackney council solicitor, Thomas captures the feel, the sounds, the smells of the time. WHITE RIOT is very reminiscent of the RED RIDING books by David Peace, whose blurb adorns the cover.

It is a relatively downbeat story, as anyone who remembers, or has an interest in, the time might expect, and it is full of uncomfortable parallels to the Britain of today. The reader cannot help but compare the events in the novel to the divided, unequal society we now live in. I really look forward to seeing where this story goes, even though I fear I already know.

View all my reviews

#BlogTour - The Stars Undying by Emery Robin

 

 THE STARS UNDYING

Emery Robin

 

 

Publishing 10^th November 2022, in paperback, £8.99

 

LOYALTY, LEGACY AND BETRAYAL...

 

Princess Altagracia has lost everything. After a bloody civil war, her twin sister has claimed not just the crown of their planet Szayet but the Pearl of its prophecy, a computer that contains the immortal soul of their god. Stripped of her birthright, Altagracia prepares to flee the planet - just as Matheus Ceirran, Commander of the interstellar Empire of Ceiao, arrives in deadly pursuit. Princess Altagracia sees an opportunity to win back her planet, her god, and her throne . . . if she can win over the Commander and his distrustful right-hand officer, Anita.

 

But talking her way into Commander Matheus's good graces, and his bed, is only the beginning. Dealing with the most powerful man in the galaxy is almost as dangerous as war, and Altagracia is quickly torn between Matheus and the wishes of the machine god that whispers in her ear.

 

For Szayet's sake, and her own, Altagracia will need to become more than a princess with a silver tongue. She will have to become a queen as history has never seen before - even if it breaks an empire.

 

A spectacular space opera debut perfect for readers of Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice and Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire, inspired by the lives and loves of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.

 

Praise for The Stars Undying

 

‘A glittering triumph that weaves together history and tragedy into a star-spanning epic. I fell into this book and didn't come out for a long time’ - Everina Maxwell

 

''Gorgeously written, clever and captivating’ - Kristyn Merbeth

 

‘Dazzling, transportive, boundless, precise - and dares to ask, what if Mark Antony was the hottest butch girl in space?’ - Casey McQuiston

 

‘Takes the larger-than-life figures of the ancient world and recasts them against a backdrop of drowned worlds and interstellar empires with extraordinary verve’ - Emily Tesh

 

'Beautifully written, with poise and wit and grand epic sweep, The Stars Undying has everything I want from a space opera’ - AK Larkwood

 

'Deftly wields the conventions of science fiction to make old stories new... I did not know I could weep for Antony, love Cleopatra, or lament Caesar, but through Ana, Gracia, and Ceirran, I do’ - Maya Deane

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I have always been interested in Roman history, particularly Julius Caesar, since I had a picture book on Roman legions as a child. I studied Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at O-level and Antony and Cleopatra at A-level, have read multiple biographies of Caesar, histories of the Roman Republic and Empire, even struggled through a few fictionalised versions of the dictator’s life. But I have rarely, if ever, before come across a book which adds so much perspective to this period of history, and the protagonists, by taking the characters and themes and dropping them into a completely different time, and space, adding depth and making the story brand new. 

It is difficult to comprehend that THE STARS UNDYING is a debut novel, so assured is Emery Robin in drawing realistic, flawed characters an giving them a voice different from any of the histories and biographies. The story of Gracia and Ceirran, and of Ana, can be read as a standalone space opera, full of political intrigue and empire-building, and would, I imagine, be thoroughly satisfying; but if the reader knows that Gracia is Cleopatra, Ceirran is Caesar, Ana is Mark Antony, and so on, it adds a deeper understanding of both the novel and its characters and of the historical figures on which they are based. It is not perfect, the alternating view points of Gracia and Ceirran can be a little overwhelming, and it might have benefited from a glossary, such are the number of characters; but it is a hugely entertaining, moving, and impressive debut. 

Robin knows the history and many of the expected events, and some of the myths, are present - the carpet, the dictator’s triumph, a stunning echo of Pompey’s treatment by the Egyptians which takes the breath away - but there are also little touches which make the initiated smile, without ever detracting from the flow of the novel, such as ‘Ceiao’s greatest speaker’, Cachoerian, being so susceptible to flattery that ‘the same flattery worked every time’ just as was Rome’s greatest speaker, Cicero.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is the new light is sheds on Cleopatra. The previous books I have read, great though many of them are, are dominated by the male protagonists, Cleopatra being very much relegated to supporting character. Here, Gracia is as strong, stronger, than her male counterparts, she really drives the political manoeuvring in the plot. She is, by her own admission, a liar, an unreliable novel, but she is strong and assured, ruthless, and, even at the end of the book, I am still unsure what to make of her. But I look forward to finding out.

The Medici Murders by David Hewson

The first in a brand-new mystery series from the acclaimed author of The Killing and Devil’s Fjord.



‘Serious history buffs are in for a treat’ –Kirkus Reviews



Venice is a city full of secrets. For hundreds of years it has been the scene of scandal, intrigue and murderous rivalries. And it remains so today.



1548, Lorenzino de Medici, himself a murderer and a man few will miss, is assassinated by two hired killers.



Today, Marmaduke Godolphin, British TV historian and a man even fewer will miss, is stabbed by a stiletto blade on the exact same spot, his body dropping into the canal.



Can the story of the first murder explain the attack on Godolphin? The Carabinieri certainly think so. They recruit retired archivist Arnold Clover to unpick the mystery and to help solve the case. But the conspiracy against Godolphin runs deeper than anyone imagined.

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‘Remember, always, that in Italian story means both ‘history’ and ‘story’. The gap between truth and fable is slender, sometimes barely visible at all.’

I enjoy David Hewson’s writing, the clarity and precision of his prose, well-constructed plots, and the meticulous research such that his are steeped in local colour, you can hear and smell Hewson’s Italy. In THE MEDICI MURDERS Hewson returns to Venice, the setting of LIZARD’S BITE, one of his Nic Costa mysteries, and his standalone, THE SHOOTER IN THE SHADOWS. His new novel is unlike either of those books, but just as readable.

THE MEDICI MURDERS is narrated by Arnold Clover, a retired archivist who had planned to retire to Venice with his late wife but now lives there alone. Clover is unexpectedly recruited by Carabinieri Inspector, Valentina Fabbri who claims that Arnold can help her solve the murder of famed British TV Historian, Marmaduke Godolphin, ‘The Duke’ having employed Clover as a researcher for a proposed documentary series planned to reveal the ‘shocking’ truth about the 16th Century murders of two members of the Medici family. As Arnold recounts the events leading up to the discovery of Godolphin’s body in a Venice canal, we are introduced to the members of The Gilded Circle, former students of The Duke, a university group the younger Clover envied, wishing he was a member. We also meet Godolphin’s wife and son, and various characters, whose livelihoods, in publishing and television, are intertwined with Godolphin’s.

Hewson has great fun with the history, both real and speculative, and mocking Godolphin, in whom we can see many TV historians who rarely let facts overpower salacious conjecture. The mystery is intriguing, full of red herrings and with a full cast of suspects and a satisfying conclusion. It is perhaps a little less realistic, not as gritty as the Costa novels, but no less entertaining for that. But the novel’s greatest strength is its evocation of Venice, the sights and sounds and smells. It really made me want to return to this unique city.

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David Hewson explains the concept behind the Arnold Clover novels in the following link to his Blog. It is a fascinating glimpse into the research and planning that goes into his stories. 

https://davidhewson.com/2022/09/26/introducing-arnold-clover-a-different-kind-of-hero/

The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh

INTRODUCING DC FFION MORGAN, IN THE UNMISSABLE NEW SERIES FROM #1 BESTSELLER CLARE MACKINTOSH

'Superb, with echoes of Agatha Christie' PATRICIA CORNWELL
'A dark delight of a murder mystery' JANICE HALLETT
'Detectives Leo and Ffion make a storming debut' BELINDA BAUER
'Mackintosh is just getting better and better' PETER JAMES

On New Year's Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests.
His lakeside holiday homes are a success, and he's generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbours. This will be the party to end all parties.

But not everyone is there to celebrate. By midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake.

On New Year's Day, DC Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects.
The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbours, friends and family - and Ffion has her own secrets to protect.

With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn't who wanted Rhys dead . . . but who finally killed him.

In a village with this many secrets, a murder is just the beginning.Sometimes, revisiting the past is the only way to rescue the present . . . 

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Going into a new Clare Mackintosh novel is like opening a lucky bag - you know you are going to get something good but you’re not sure what it will be like. The last three of her books I have read have been uniformly good but radically different - AFTER THE END, a profoundly moving story about the choices faced by parents of a terminally ill child; HOSTAGE, a plane hijack novel which flew much higher, and was better written, than another, very hyped book on a similar theme which was released at the same time; and this, THE LAST PARTY, a modern whodunnit with interesting characters, snappy dialogue and an intriguingly fun protagonist in DC Ffion Morgan.

There are echoes of Agatha Christie, even the likes of Midsummer Murders, in the story of the investigation into the murder of the developer of a lakeside holiday complex on the Welsh border. The holiday homes are occupied by a cast of suspects, each less likeable than the last, each seemingly with a reason to want Rhys Lloyd dead. Ffion, like Lloyd, a local also has to consider her friends and neighbours as potential suspects - few in the village welcomed the influx of rich English people on their lake. Ffion’s situation gets even more complicated when she is paired with Detective Leo Brady from Chester Police, who turns out to be a one night stand to whom she gave a fake name.

As might be expected from Clare Mackintosh, the story is a little darker, the characters more rounded than your typical cosy murder mystery. There is a lot of humour in the book but it goes deeper, into relationships, workplace bullying, racism, exploitation. There is a lot more going on than appears on the surface and that is something that THE LAST PARTY shares with the author’s other novels. DC Ffion Morgan will apparently return and I really hope that THE LAST PARTY is the first in a successful series.

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With over 2 million copies of her books sold worldwide, number one bestseller Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of I Let You Go, which was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller and the fastest-selling title by a new crime writer in 2015. It also won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year in 2016. Both Clare's second and third novels, I See You and Let Me Lie, were number one Sunday Times bestsellers. All three of her thrillers were selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club, and together have been translated into forty languages. After the End was published in 2019 and became an instant Sunday Times bestseller, and in 2021 Hostage flew straight into the top ten. Together, her books have spent more than sixty weeks in The Sunday Times bestseller lists.