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The Girl in the Woods, by Lynda Renham
TRIGGER WARNING: rape, racism
Ana has transferred to a new police team. Their first case is a vigilante taking on a group of racist teenagers. Then a troubled young woman dies and the vigilante is suspected of murder but Ana doesn’t think it fits his other behaviour…
The Girl in the Woods is described as a psychological thriller but also has strong police procedural/crime thriller elements.
A group of teenage boys is spoiling the tranquility of the quiet Oxfordshire village. One man is prepared to stand up to them but hides behind a masked persona known as The Vigilante. Then a troubled teenaged girl (related to one of the racist boys) is attacked and killed in the woods and The Vigilante is accused so the police hunt ramps up.
Ana is keen to prove herself in the new team but the police have a variety of personal and professional issues. Beth has a new superior officer and the pair have a ‘past’. The mentions of their backstory refer to events in The Lies She Told but there are no spoilers about the case. Elements of their personal lives which featured in the first book are developed in this one but it would still work perfectly well as a stand alone book.
Most of the book is written in the present day to show current events. There are also chapters set 7 years in the past, allowing us to guess at the link between the two timelines. Both timelines involve girls and young women being abused and raped which is very powerful and emotive but I felt it was handled sensitively. There is also racist language and violence featured prominently in the book and I thought this was also dealt with to show the unpleasantness and unacceptability of this behaviour.
The plot and writing style were wonderfully engaging. At first, I did find myself a little overwhelmed with the different timelines and wealth of characters. However, by the end I was utterly hooked and making connections between the plot threads.
The Girl in the Woods is an engaging and emotionally charged novel.
Book blurb:
Ana, who lives in a small Oxfordshire village, came from Liverpool carrying a secret. Her life is now on the straight and narrow, though, and she has a blossoming career as a policewoman.
But when a vigilante starts to practice their own kind of justice on her watch, and then a body is discovered in the woods, Ana’s contentment is shattered as the past comes flooding back to haunt her.
Soon Ana must make a choice—turn her back on the girl she used to be . . . or embrace the bitterness and rage she has buried for so long.
When The World Went Silent, by Ellie Midwood
Deaf after contracting measles as a child, Mina is a brilliant student but is thrown out of school due to the Nazi rules about disabilities. Luckily she can lipread and is able to get into university, keeping her deafness a secret. But her scientific brain is recognised by the government and she is whisked away to Berlin to work on the German atomic bomb…
When The World Went Silent is an historical book set in Austria and Germany during WW2. There is some basis in fact but Mina’s character is completely fictional.
Mina won’t let her deafness get in the way of achieving her dream. Luckily she became deaf as a child so is able to talk normally and she is proficient at lipreading so others don’t immediately realise she has a disability. However, she is also in danger from the Nazi ideology about perfect Aryans and the threat of sterilisation and euthanasia are mentioned to coerce her into working for their atomic project.
I loved Mina’s character and her determination to succeed. Her passion for science radiates from the pages as does her desperate hope for humanity. The latter leads her to sabotage the German atomic project to prevent the Nazis creating a weapon of mass destruction. The science behind the story was fascinating and I also enjoyed the medical side to the radiation plot.
I really loved this book despite not understanding most of the science! The best and worst of humanity are depicted with authenticity. The historical side of the book has been well researched. I felt immersed in the history and geography portrayed in the book. The supporting characters are a mix of real people and fictional but all add depth to Mina’s character through their relationships. My only quibbles were that the prologue and epilogue by ‘Mother’ weren’t really necessary and I felt the ending was a little rushed.
When The World Went Silent is a wonderful historical book about bravery and overcoming adversity.
When the World Went Silent: A completely heartbreaking and utterly gripping World War Two page-turner
Berlin, 1942. “All I know is we will survive this together,” he says before kissing the tears away from my cheeks. But I know if the Nazis discover what we’ve done, how we’ve conspired against them, we will die together.
Deaf since the age of five, Mina has had to fight for everything she has, including her place at an Austrian university to study physics. She has never felt accepted—until she meets fellow student Siggy, and her heart stops at the kindness in his bright blue eyes.
But Mina’s world comes crashing down when the SS arrive at her door and escort her to Berlin. She’s terrified it’s because of her disability—she’s heard the awful rumours about the Nazi euthanasia program. So relief washes over her when she’s told as one of Germany’s brightest minds, she’s been recruited to work for the government.
Soon, this relief turns to horror when Mina learns why she’s truly here: they want her to build the atomic bomb that will win Germany the war. Mina knows if she refuses they will kill her. But if she does as they say, she could be responsible for the death of millions.
With Siggy’s help, Mina vows to do everything she can to sabotage the project. Will they save the world from a devastating catastrophe? Or will everything they’ve risked be in vain?
An absolutely unforgettable and page-turning WW2 novel about one woman’s bravery and determination to save millions of lives. Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Alice Network and The Nightingale will be gripped.
Buy link: https://geni.us/B0D4RP4B8Xsocial
Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author, whose works have been translated into 14 languages. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, “The Girl from Berlin.” Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents.
In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and their two dogs.
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The Good Girl’s Guide To Murder, by Holly Jackson (audiobook and TV series)
Andie Bell’s boyfriend killed himself after apparently confessing to committing her murder. Now 5 years later, Pip believes that Sal was innocent and decides to investigate.
The Good Girl’s Guide To Murder is a young adult book set in the UK.
The audiobook narration was a little uneven. The third person elements were read slowly so I listend on 2.5 or even 3 times speed. The first person logs and interviews were so quiet and speedy I had to change back to 2 times to be able ti understand
in August 2024, the BBC broadcast a TV adaptation of the book. Andie Bell disappeared in 2019 and now 5 yars later Pip investigates
Book blurb:
Everyone in Fairview knows the story.
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.
But she can’t shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?
Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn’t want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.
The Antique Store Detective, by Clare Chase
Bella Winter’s father was a police officer and she has inherited his love of investigating. She is first on the scene when a local man is found dead next to his metal detector and she is convinced the death was murder…
The Antique Store Detective is the first book in a new series of amateur sleuth cosy murder mysteries.
Bella is sure that Oliver Barton’s death is suspicious but the local police believe it was accidental. She takes it upon herself to investigate alongside her friend/colleague John who was given a precious coin by the victim. Did Oliver find treasure, could money be the motive, or was there something else behind the murder?
There are lots of characters and relationships to establish as this is the first in a new series. Bella’s character didn’t really stand out despite being the lead and she certainly doesn’t have the charisma of Eve Mallow, the lead in this author’s other cosy murder mystery series. Hopefully this will develop in future books. Her forceful, eccentric mother did make me smile though!
I thought the pace of the book was quite slow. There are several strands of investigation for our amateur sleuths, many characters and motives to explore. Bella and John work their way through their investigation and there are plenty of twists to keep the reader guessing.
The Antique Store Detective has a good mystery and I look forward to getting to know the main character as she develops.
MEDIA PACK
Book: The Antique Store Detective
Author: Clare Chase
Pub Day: Aug 7th 2024
Buy Link(s):
Amazon: https://geni.us/B0CT45DTC8social
Audible:
UK: https://ow.ly/kRbG50Szqro
US: https://ow.ly/gvY950Szqrl
Listen here: https://ow.ly/RXge50Szqrm
About the Book:
Meet Bella Winter. She loves vintage clothes, antiques and… solving crimes?
Bella Winter moved to charming Hope Eaton for some peace and quiet after quitting her busy city job. She delights in spending time in her little antique store on top of the hill, hunting for bargains at auctions, and getting to know everybody – because if there’s one thing Bella’s good at, it’s solving other people’s problems.
But her peaceful life is overturned when she finds eccentric local historian Professor Oliver Barton dead in the ruins of Raven Hall, a trowel lying near his outstretched hand. At first, Bella is like everyone else: saddened by a tragic accident. But then her colleague John asks her to dig deeper. Because the dead man gave him an ancient coin he should never have had, and John thinks he was murdered.
It turns out the professor was hunting for buried treasure in the middle of the night. But who would have wanted him dead? And who are the four suspicious women he told John about, calling them the queens of hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades…?
As Bella delves into the case she uncovers a hoard of suspects: the lord of the manor, a secretive group of treasure hunters, the dead man’s desperate niece and her no-good son. And when another local historian takes a fatal tumble, she is certain that the answers lie in the antiques the professor stole. But can she solve the crime before someone tries to bury her?
A delightful cozy mystery introducing your new favourite amateur sleuth. Fans of Fiona Leitch, Faith Martin and Agatha Christie will love The Antique Store Detective!
Author Bio
Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations.
Her debut novel was shortlisted for Novelicious’s Undiscovered Award, as well as an EPIC award post-publication, and was chosen as a Debut of the Month by LoveReading. Murder on the Marshes (Tara Thorpe 1) was shortlisted for an International Thriller Writers award.
Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium.
As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture,
cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.
You can find Clare’s website and blog at www.clarechase.com
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