loopyloulaura
My very own website!!! Yikes!
Do No Harm, by Jack Jordan
Dr Anna Jones is a confident heart surgeon. But her life changes forever when her son is kidnapped and she is told to kill a patient in order to free him. Can she put her morals to one side to save her son?
Do No Harm is a medical thriller set in the UK.
Anna has been through a rough break up and lives with anxiety and mum guilt. She frequently feels like her career gets in the way of spending time with her son. Now Zack’s life is in danger from a terrifying gang and Anna is forced to confront the idea of losing him forever if she doesn’t give in to their demands. How will she cope if she kills a patient yet she knows the gang are serious as they murder her friend and neighbour Paula…
The book is written from the first person perspectives of Anna and also Margot, a pregnant nurse with spiralling debts who is thieving from her colleagues, and Rachel, the police officer in charge of Paula’s murder case. This allows us a greater depth of understanding about their emotions and the reasoning behind their decisions.
The premise of the book taps into all of our worst fears. Our natural desire to protect those we love, particularly our children, and it made me wonder how far I would go to save them. Added to this is the tension and pressure of hospitals, the fear of not waking up from an operation and of being vulnerable. The book is fast paced and the change of perspective maintained the momentum.
Do No Harm is a dramatic and tense medical thriller.
A Death of Fresh Air, by Helen Golden
Simon and Ryan are planning to open a new restaurant but a body is found behind a wall during the refurbishments. The police are painfully slow to investigate so the king’s niece Lady Rossex steps in to help her friends get their project back on track by catching the killer…
A Death of Fresh Air is part of the Right Royal Cozy Investigation series of murder mysteries. There are no spoilers about earlier cases but the personal relationships have developed over the series.
As soon as the book mentioned that the old chef had gone to Australia during the last refurbishment and never returned, followed by the decision to remove a wall, I KNEW they would find his body! Lady Bea’s boyfriend is no longer part of the royal police protection so isn’t leading the case and the new detective is sooooo sloooooow! Bea and Perry have no choice but to try to save the restaurant’s opening night by finding the killer themselves.
The victim didn’t seem to have any enemies so the first task is to look for potential motives. Things get tense in a professional kitchen so was one of his colleagues to blame? Or how about his ex girlfriend who claims to have ended the relationship? There are lots of plot twists and red herrings for Bea and Perry to wade through, ably supported by their friends and Daisy the dog!
In tandem with the murder investigation, the other main feature of the plot is Bea’s feelings towards Rich and the future. The conclusion of the case was a complete surprise, but more importantly the relationship of Rich and Bea has a pleasing development that will melt the hardest heart (yes, even mine!)
A Death of Fresh Air was a hugely enjoyable cosy murder mystery and I loved the royal aspect as usual.
A Death Of Fresh Air
In a charming seaside town, secrets don’t stay buried for long…
Body of Chef Found in Wall Three Years After He ‘Left to go to Australia’
Human remains found inside the wall of a disused building have now been identified as those of Victor Blackwell. He was the head chef at Windstanton’s The Seaside Lounge until just over three years ago, when, according his friends, he left for a job in Australia. Detective Inspector Albert Finch from Fenshire’s Cold Case Unit has asked for anyone who has information about the chef’s movements three years ago to come forward.
We have no choice! With only three weeks until the Grand Opening, the last thing Bea and Perry need is the grim discovery of a skeleton in the wall of Simon and Ryan’s soon-to-open restaurant, SaltAir. But when it’s designated a crime scene, and the policeman in charge of the investigation into Vic’s murder refuses to let them have access to continue the refurbishment, they have no other option than to investigate the murder themselves or risk letting Simon and Ryan down.
But in a town where everyone harbours secrets, can they uncover the truth in time or will SaltAir’s opening be a damp squib?
Purchase Link
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Fresh-Right-Investigation-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CWVGLW2Y
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Fresh-Right-Investigation-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CWVGLW2Y
Author Bio –
Hello. I’m Helen Golden. I write British contemporary cozy whodunnits with a hint of humour. I live in small village in Lincolnshire in the UK with my husband, my step-daughter, her two cats, our two dogs, sometimes my step-son, and our tortoise.
I used to work in senior management, but after my recent job came to a natural end I had the opportunity to follow my dreams and start writing. It’s very early in my life as an author, but so far I’m loving it.
It’s crazy busy at our house, so when I’m writing I retreat to our caravan (an impulsive lockdown purchase) which is mostly parked on our drive. When I really need total peace and quiet, I take it to a lovely site about 15 minutes away and hide there until my family runs out of food or clean clothes
Social Media Links –
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/helengolden_author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helengoldenauthor
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@helengoldenauthor
https://twitter.com/HelenGoldenAuth
#Project52 2024 week 40
Well it has been a rather wet week and Thursday was perhaps the wettest school run I have EVER done! In happier news, Zach is flourishing in Year 4 (I really don’t think his teacher last year ‘got’ him) and was awarded star of the week.
The weekend was spoiled by a nasty cold (possibly a direct result of the soaking?) Despite feeling awful, we managed to extend the living space in the shed for our girls.
Young & Damned & Fair, by Gareth Russell
Catherine Howard has been seen as a temptress, an abused child, an innocent, a whore. A review of primary resources aims to provide a more accurate depiction of an executed queen…
Young & Fair & Damned is a non fiction history book set in the sixteenth century with a focus on the life and times of Henry VIII’s fifth queen Catherine Howard.
Catherine Howard was only a teenager when she became queen of England, wife to the notorious king Henry VIII. Less than 2 years later she was beheaded just like her cousin Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife.
Unfortunately there is not much documented about Catherine at the time. This book does a good job of searching out primary sources of historical evidence to piece together details of Catherine’s life. I liked the parts of the book that focussed on Catherine and her experiences. There is a lot of supposition as is necessary due to the sparcity of documents and it is clear that each historian puts their own spin on evidence.
As is common with history books about a narrow subject, the author relies on wider information to fill the pages. The author acknowledges this and states his aim is to reveal the environment that created Catherine’s experience. So we have background information about Catherine’s family and other notable figures of the time. Foreign policy, economics and politics also feature heavily but their direct relevance to Catherine’s life is minimal.
I listened to the audio version of this book and thought the writing style flowed well.
Young & Damned & Fair is well researched but struggles to relate all of its material to its specific subject of Catherine Howard.
Book blurb:
Written with an exciting combination of narrative flair and historical authority, this interpretation of the tragic life of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, breaks new ground in our understanding of the very young woman who became queen at a time of unprecedented social and political tension and whose terrible errors in judgment quickly led her to the executioner’s block.
On the morning of July 28, 1540, as King Henry’s VIII’s former confidante Thomas Cromwell was being led to his execution, a teenager named Catherine Howard began her reign as queen of a country simmering with rebellion and terrifying uncertainty. Sixteen months later, the king’s fifth wife would follow her cousin Anne Boleyn to the scaffold, having been convicted of adultery and high treason.
The broad outlines of Catherine’s career might be familiar, but her story up until now has been incomplete. Unlike previous accounts of her life, which portray her as a naïve victim of an ambitious family, this compelling and authoritative biography will shed new light on Catherine Howard’s rise and downfall by reexamining her motives and showing her in her context, a milieu that goes beyond her family and the influential men of the court to include the aristocrats and, most critically, the servants who surrounded her and who, in the end, conspired against her. By illuminating Catherine’s entwined upstairs/downstairs worlds as well as societal tensions beyond the palace walls, the author offers a fascinating portrayal of court life in the sixteenth century and a fresh analysis of the forces beyond Catherine’s control that led to her execution—from diplomatic pressure and international politics to the long-festering resentments against the queen’s household at court.
Including a forgotten text of Catherine’s confession in her own words, color illustrations, family tree, map, and extensive notes, Young and Damned and Fair changes our understanding of one of history’s most famous women while telling the compelling and very human story of complex individuals attempting to survive in a dangerous age.