Thirty years ago Stacey was kidnapped. Her father didn’t pay the ransom but thankfully she was rescued. Most of the memories have been blocked out but now they come rushing back when her stepdaughter goes missing…
Behind Closed Doors is a psychological and crime thriller set in the UK.
Stacey’s ex husband turns up with the devastating news that his daughter Lyra is missing. She has been kidnapped and he is frantic. Stacey is concerned for Lyra’s safety but finds it hard to trust Jack. She gradually notices similarities between her own kidnapping and the present scenario. She can’t trust Jack due to their past and his current erratic behaviour.
The subject is very emotive with a child at risk as well as the flashbacks of Stacey’s own kidnapping. From the start we know that Stacey was injured by her kidnapper and this raises the tension as she begins to suspect that the original kidnapper is once again responsible.
I felt that this book is quite dialogue led and the chapters are a little long which slows the pace. There is plenty of drama and emotion. Our perspective of the other characters and events are driven by Stacey’s viewpoint as she struggles to deal with the flashbacks and current danger.
Behind Closed Doors is tense and dramatic.
Book Blurb
Two kidnappings, thirty years apart. Can Stacey face her own dark past in order to save her stepdaughter?
When Stacey’s ex-husband turns up on her doorstep begging her to help save his kidnapped thirteen-year-old daughter, Lyra, the terror is all too familiar. Stacey’s own violent kidnapping thirty years ago was never solved, and while a severe case of amnesia spares her from recalling the specific horrors, she remembers enough…
Stacey knows her father never paid the ransom—she has the missing pinkie finger to prove it. She knows she was only saved because of an anonymous tip-off to the police. And she knows her captor was never apprehended.
Lyra’s kidnappers have made it clear the police must not get involved. But Stacey can’t shake the eerie similarities between the two cases, and she’ll use whatever she can, from her journalistic powers to her shady contacts, to save Lyra from the same nightmare. Desperate to find any link between Lyra’s abduction and her own, Stacey forces herself to revisit her forgotten, traumatic past for clues.
But can she make sense of the terrible secrets she unearths in time to save Lyra? And if she does, is she ready to face her own tormentor?
Author Bio
USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer’s crime novels have sold over one million copies and been translated into nine languages.
A move from humour to the ‘dark side’ in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in Little Girl Lost and proved that Carol had found her true niche.
February 2021 saw the release of the first in the much-anticipated new series, featuring DI Kate Young. An Eye For An Eye was chosen as a Kindle First Reads and became the #1 bestselling book on Amazon UK and Amazon Australia.
Carol has had articles published in national magazines ‘Woman’s Weekly’, featured in ‘Take A Break’, ‘Choice’, ‘Yours’ and ‘Woman’s Own’ magazines and the Huffington Post. She’s also been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ”Irritable Male Syndrome’ and ‘Ageing Disgracefully’ and on BBC Breakfast television.
She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband Mr. Grumpy… who is very, very grumpy. When she is not plotting devious murders, she can be found performing her comedy routine, Smile While You Still Have Teeth.
To learn more, go to www.carolwyer.co.uk, subscribe to her YouTube channel, or follow her on Twitter: @carolewyer
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Aaaarrgghh Spider! book blurb
Spider wants to be a family pet. But the family whose house she lives in are terrified of her! Whenever she tries to show them what a great pet she would make, they just scream, …AAAARRGGHH, SPIDER!…
A delightfully funny story all about fitting in, tolerance and making friends from bestselling author-illustrator Lydia Monks.
My review
Aaaarrgghh Spider! by Lydia Monks is a wonderful book. I discovered this book a few years ago at school and absolutely loved it (so did the children)!
The book centres around a little spider who is desperate to belong to a family. Her need for love and acceptance has a deep meaning about the natural desire for a sense of belonging which adults will understand.
I think many children (and adults) are afraid of spiders but this book shows the beauty of their quirks and will therefore help to alleviate the fear.
The illustrations are just wonderful and perfectly match the text. Children and their paretns will be ble to identify with the human characters and pets going about their daily routines. There is the inclusion of stunning glitter embellishments that kids will love; I love the beauty of spiderwebs and searching for them on frosty mornings.
Aaaarrgghh Spider! is one of my favourite children’s books.
Detective Ellie Reeves is looking forward to attend a friend’s wedding. But the bride vanishes moments before walking down the aisle and the bridesmaid is found dead in the river.
The Girl in the River is the 7th book to feature Detective Ellie Reeves and her colleagues. There are no spoilers about the crimes of earlier books but there are continuations of the personal and relationship developments of Ellie’s life.
Ellie thinks she kows her friend Mia well and is looking forward to celebrating her wedding. But Mia’s disappearance leads to shocking revelations about her identity and Ellie needs to unpick the clues from the past and present to understand the situation.
The chapters are short and show multiple perspectives. This increases the pace as well as the tension as we make assumptions and links between characters and events. It also tempts you to keep reading as one more chapter becomes 3 or 4!
The Girl in the River is a tense and engaging detective thriller.
MEDIA PACK
Book: THE GIRL IN THE RIVER
Author: Rita Herron
Pub Day: DECEMBER 6th 2022
Buy Links:
About the Book:
The body lay in the river, arms outstretched. Long brown hair swirled in all directions, flowing with the current of the water. Her eyes were wide open in death, pale pink lips parted in a scream.
Detective Ellie Reeves should be enjoying the wedding of her dear friend Mia Norman. But instead of celebrating, she is frantically searching for the missing bride. Something is terribly wrong—just hours ago, Mia was blissfully happy. Why would she suddenly vanish?
Bursting through the dressing room, Ellie finds it in disarray—chairs overturned, a perfume bottle shattered. Hiding in the bathroom is Mia’s six-year-old daughter Pixie, curled in a ball and sobbing her heart out. The little girl says she was locked inside when she heard a man’s voice, and her mother crying. “I just want my mommy back,” she pleads. Ellie vows to make that happen.
Turning the venue upside down, Ellie’s blood turns to ice when she reaches the riverbank. Someone is dead in the rippling water, floating beside a white veil. Ellie holds her breath as she turns the body over. It belongs to Tori, Mia’s bridesmaid, a gunshot wound in her back. Near the murder scene, Ellie discovers a button from a man’s shirt, and her friend’s engagement ring. The race is on to find Mia—before it’s too late.
When forensics come back, the investigation takes a dark turn. DNA proves that Mia was actually Jesse Habersham, a woman who went missing five years ago. Ellie is certain that Mia was running from someone. Did her past finally catch up with her?
Facing the most complex case of her career, Ellie is in a race against time. Can she uncover the truth before her friend is brutally killed? And when the murderer comes after innocent little Pixie, will Ellie save her from the clutches of death?
This pulse-pounding and utterly addictive crime thriller will have you staying up way past your bedtime, and scared to turn the lights off! Perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, Lisa Regan and Kendra Elliot.
Author Bio
USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author Rita Herron fell in love with books at the ripe age of eight when she read her first Trixie Belden mystery. But she didn’t think real people grew up to be writers, so she became a teacher instead. Now she writes so she doesn’t have to get a real job.
With over ninety books to her credit, she’s penned romantic suspense, romantic comedy, and YA novels, but she especially likes writing dark romantic suspense and crime fiction set in small southern towns.
For more on Rita and her titles, visit her at www.ritaherron.com. You can also find her on Facebook/ritaherron.com and Twitter @ritaherron.
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Celebrity chef Miranda is filming her Christmas special. Fran and Adam are pretending to be writing a book about her but in reality they are investigating a series of unpleasant gifts sent to Miranda but things escalate rapidly and soon they are trying to solve her murder…
Death at Beresford Hall is the 4th book in the Adam and (Francesca) Eve series. There are mentions of earlier cases but no major spoilers about the crimes and criminals.
Fran sees the clay feet of her idol when she arrives on set. The reality behind the show surprises and disappoints her but she has taken on the challenge of finding who has an axe to grind agaist Amanda. She is ably supported by the constantly hungry Adam and I love their friendship.
We see the murder right at the start and then go back in time by 24 hours to see what led up to the death. Miranda’s PA Midge has the motive and opportunity but Fran and Adam can’t believe she would have actually done it. Could someone else have sneaked off set to commit the murder and why?
I really liked the setting of the cookery show and the reality behind the TV fiction. Fran and Adam are a likeable pair of amateur sleuths. They are easy to relate to and have a self-doubt and little quirks that make them seem authentic.
Death at Beresford Hall is an enjoyable cosy murder mystery and fans of TV cookery shows will love it!
I have previously reviewed the first book in the series: Death In Disguise.
MEDIA PACK
Book: Death at Beresford Hall
Author: Emma Davies
Pub Day: December 7th 2022
About the Book:
Francesca Eve, chef, caterer, and baker extraordinaire, has never desired the limelight. But when she’s accepted onto the country’s favourite cooking competition, she can’t help but wonder – what would it be like to win? The one thing she’d never imagined, though, was sharing the kitchen with a killer…
When Francesca Eve arrives for the Christmas special of the country’s most popular baking competition, she knows she’s out of her depth. For not only is she there undercover, reluctantly investigating strange threats to Miranda Appleby, the famous presenter-come-chef, but she swiftly gets roped into competing herself when another contestant can’t cut the mustard and quits.
Cooking may be bread and butter to Fran, but under the bright lights her cranberry sauce won’t set and her mince pies burn. When the real reason she’s there ends in total failure and Miranda is found with a cake slice through the heart – ‘lights, camera, cook’ becomes ‘lights, camera, murder…’
Miranda may have looked like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but looks can be deceiving… From her harassed PA to the rakish producer and even the disappointed contestants, everyone on set seemingly had reason enough to want to bump her off. But who would be nuts enough to cook Miranda’s goose in such an obvious way?
As the police arrive to take over the investigation, Fran can’t help but continue her own lines of enquiry. She’s come to know the crew and contestants and can’t believe that any one of them would be guilty. But Fran must harden her heart to her new friends and focus her mind.
Someone may have thought Miranda was justifiably given her just desserts, but what Fran uncovers takes things to a whole new tier. Can Fran uncover the truth before another death occurs, and before the spirit of Christmas (cake) is ruined forever?
An utterly gripping cozy crime mystery set at a Christmas cooking competition. This is perfect for fans of Faith Martin, M.C. Beaton and The Thursday Murder Club.
Author Bio
After a varied career, Emma Davies once worked for a design studio where she was asked to provide a fun and humorous (and not necessarily true) anecdote for their website. She wrote the following: ‘I am a bestselling novelist currently masquerading as a thirty something mother of three.’ Well the job in the design studio didn’t work out but she’s now a forty something mother of three and is happy to report the rest of her dream came true.
After many years as a finance manager she now writes full time, and is far happier playing with words than numbers. She lives with her husband, three children, and two guinea pigs in rural Shropshire where she writes in all the gaps in between real life. It’s a county she adores, her love of its beautiful people and landscapes providing endless inspiration for her books, and in fact the only thing that would make Shropshire more idyllic is if it were by the sea.
Pop over to her website www.emmadaviesauthor.com where, amongst other things, you can read about her passion for Pringles and singing loudly in the car. You can also wave to her on twitter @EmDaviesAuthor or find her on Facebook (a little too often than is good for her).
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Mmm chocolate, mmm cherry, mmm brownies. Chocolate and cherry brownies? Need I say more? Well, I will!
I made this recipe last month for my mum’s birthday cake. It was a bit of a panic to make after school but this recipe can be whipped up in less than an hour including heating the oven and cooling.
Ingredients
100g Vitalite or other vegan butter
100g caster sugar
100g SR GF flour
1 heaped tablespoon cocoa powder
1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flaxseed mixed with 5 tablespoons water)
100g chopped glace cherries.
icing sugar, cocoa, water
Preheat the oven to GM 5.
Whisk together the vegan butter, sugar, flour, cocoa and flax egg for 3-4 minutes until fully combined
Stir in the cherries.
Pour batter into lined and greased tin
Bake for 20-25 minutes
Leave in the tin to cool.
Make a water icing. I never weigh this, just judge by eye and consistency!
Cut into 9 pieces and enjoy!
For other vegan and gluten free bakes, why not take a look at my 2 ingredient banana brownies or jam sponge pudding.
