Book review: The One Who Walked Away by Karen Rose

Book review: The One Who Walked Away by Karen Rose

2 min read

The One Who Walked Away by Karen Rose reminded me why I used to be such a fan of romantic suspense. I read a stack of her books back in the early 2000s, along with Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, Elizabeth Lowell, Jayne Ann Krentz and Suzanne Brockmann. Although I’m not a fan of straight romance (ie. solely romance, not non-gay romance!) romantic suspense kinda ticks a few boxes for me, those books becoming a comfort-read of sorts. This is marked as Mendocino #1 so presumably the start of a new linked series… our main characters here being a family lawyer turned bounty hunter and a small town detective.

four-stars

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Book reviews: Irish intrigue with Andrea Mara

Book reviews: Irish intrigue with Andrea Mara

3 min read

I recently received a little gift box, including two books… promising some Irish intrigue from Andrea Mara. Mara is new to me as an author and I’m always happy to find a new author with a good backlist. I’m interested to know more about them though as both books here are similarly themed around children going missing… as is All Her Fault,  a miniseries I recently watched, based on Mara’s book of the same name. I think the whole not having kids myself and not relating to parenting stuff means I’m less into books about that as it’s not a fear I’ve had to deal with IRL…

three-half-stars

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Book review: Neighbourhood Watch by Lauren Williams

Book review: Neighbourhood Watch by Lauren Williams

2 min read

Neighbourhood Watch by Lauren Williams is an enjoyable debut from the Aussie author. We’re offered three likeable main narrators with additional input from some of the local ‘colour’. Emma and Margot are estranged sisters, uniting only for family events. We soon learn however that Emma’s husband, an esteemed judge, uses violence and coercion against her and when this opens she thinks she’s finally ready to run… well, maybe. We also spend time with Priyanka Pal, a homicide detective who once worked as a psychologist but joined the force, hoping to make more of a difference to women suffering domestic violence than merely treating the aftermath.

three-half-stars

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Book review: She Lied First by Dinuka McKenzie

Book review: She Lied First by Dinuka McKenzie

2 min read

Wow… She Lied First by Dinuka McKenzie is a great read! It’s obvious McKenzie (well, her characters) are keeping secrets and perhaps fooling themselves (and potentially us), making them consciously or unconsciously remain in denial, but at the same time this book goes in an unexpected direction and flips everything we think we know…or that we’ve assumed.

four-stars

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Book review: Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins

Book review: Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins

3 min read

Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins is lawyer Ruth Dawson’s third rodeo. I didn’t realise that when I started reading and it wasn’t until there’s reference to her ‘reputation’ and later, the presence of a police officer known to Ruth, that I thought to look through my site and Goodreads to check. Sure enough I first met Ruth in The Bluff*.

It’s interesting this isn’t billed as part of a series like Ruth Dawson #3 or anything, although I guess it means it won’t put off those who haven’t read The Bluff and / or How To Kill A Client. And this book is easily read as a standalone. The events here are a little too close to home for Ruth as a homeless man is found dead in the grounds of an apartment building she’s just moved into.

four-stars

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Book review: Everything She Didn’t Say by Jane Casey

Book review: Everything She Didn’t Say by Jane Casey

2 min read

Everything She Didn’t Say by Jane Casey opens with a woman’s death. Well, her murder to be more specific. Of course Casey keeps us guessing as to the who and why and throwing several twists into the whodunnit and whydunnit mix. On the case are mismatched (Irish) Gardas, Ben Butler and Liam Farrell initially trying to work out what happened to a young woman found covered in blood, and more importantly the source of the blood, which would indicate murder.

four-stars

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Book review: The Shadow Step by Mark Billington

Book review: The Shadow Step by Mark Billington

2 min read

The Shadow Step by Mark Billington is the third in the series featuring detective Declan (Dec) Miller and (for me) this was a return to the amazing banter and snarky droll repartee which I loved about the first in the series, The Last Dance.

Here Dec and DS Sara Xiu are called when a body is found in a pond in a park. Happily for them, someone comes forward to explain he’d argued with the man, who’d then tripped over his dog and fell into the pond. Down-on-his-luck ex soldier Barry Cheshire tells them he had no idea the man didn’t pull himself out and went to the police as soon as he heard about the body. In worse news for Cheshire however, the dead man was a drug dealer, working for the Cutlers… well-known to Dec, who (wrongly) believe their territory is under attack and decide to take revenge.

four-stars

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ARC review: Nothing Personal by Alex Dook

ARC review: Nothing Personal by Alex Dook

2 min read

I have to admit I almost put Nothing Personal by Alex Dook aside multiple times as I just couldn’t seem to engage at all. More particularly in the early parts of the book where we’re meeting a stack of not-necessarily-likeable characters. I also wondered if Dook is a pantser type writer as some of the characters felt inconsistent as if they morphed throughout the book. Lola, our lead character and narrator not soo much but some of the support cast certainly. A mobster’s son, Bradley Parker on first meeting, seems nice and wanting something different from his life. Trying to prove his worth to his father, and younger brother Johnny who seems a bit less hinged. In fact, I was expecting him to become a love interest for Lola. But that kinda reverses completely and I wondered if that was a purposeful ploy by Dook, or where the storytelling took him.

three-stars

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Book review: Philly Barker and the French Connection by Joanne Tracey

Book review: Philly Barker and the French Connection by Joanne Tracey

2 min read

Philly Barker and the French Connection by Joanne Tracey is the fourth in the cosy crime series featuring the likeable and pragmatic former cop-turned antique dealer. Here she again pairs up with recently-retired DI Robbie and eclectic colleagues from the Chipwell Barns Antiques. And I’m reminded (other than the murders and crimes) I kinda want Philly’s life*, where she wanders down to the Chipwell Arms most nights to hang with her friends and colleagues.

four-stars

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