Helen Matthews’ Lies Behind the Ruin #BlogTour

I’d thoroughly enjoyed Helen Matthews’ first novel, Leaving the Village, which focused on human trafficking, and her new novel is just as fascinating. Following a fatal accident at her husband’s firm, for which he is held responsible, Emma and Paul Willshire attempt to begin a new life in France with their daughter Mollie. This is …

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The first Booker Winner – P. H. Newby’s Something to Answer For (1969)

The announcement of the Booker shortlist is always a highlight for me. The lists often feature a mix of household names and, perhaps more excitingly, new authors who are making a break from the pack early on in their careers. Fiona Mosley’s Elmet, shortlisted in 2017, is one of the most powerful books I’ve read …

Chris Brookmyre’s Fallen Angel #BlogTour #review

I love a book which starts with a murder - it establishes the genre swiftly and we all know where we stand. The dead man is unnamed – we’ll get confirmation of his identity halfway through the novel – and the plotting is superb from the outset. Brookmyre is a talented crime writer, setting up …

Unlaced by the Highland Duke – Lara Temple #LochmoreLegacy

This is the second book in Harlequin’s Lochmore Legacy series and Lara Temple has now taken us back 26 years from Janice Preston’s His Convenient Highland Wedding. Preston’s novel had set up the story of the feuding clans, the Lochmores and the McCrieffs, and had introduced the central mystery of the brooch found amongst a …

Sally Nicholls’ Things a Bright Girl Can do

This is my second read from this year’s Carnegie Shortlist, and it is a far more complex novel than I had anticipated from the cover. Taking its title from a 1914 book, 301 Things a Bright Girl Can Do, Nicholls gives us three bright girls who each become a part of the struggle for female …