Vianne Mercier leaves Paris after being rejected by her one surviving relative following the deaths her her other family members. She has a passion for fahion and longs to be a designer rather than a simple seamstress. She bravely embarks on a voyage to New York to follow her dream and escape her grief.
The Girl From Paris is an historical novel which It begins in the later days of the First World War before moving ahead to the mid 1920s.
Vianne is heartbroken by the deaths of her sister and mother when a bomb explodes in Paris and her father then dies as well due to his grief. Her brother has been traumatised by his experiences of war and rejects her in favour of starting a new life with his wife. Vianne leaves her home country to seek fresh opportunities in New York and finds herself working for renowned designer Eloise Chappelle, quickly establishing her flair and skill in the fashion world.
There is a big twist which makes for compelling reading as we await seeing how secrets unfold. Vianne also has an opportunity to love but needs to reconcile this with her desire to have a career.
The descriptions of the war and 1920s life are brought to life using vivid imagery and wonderful details about the culutre and fashion. Many of the clothes details were intricate and I think plenty of research had been completed by the author. However, the ending was much too abrupt and didn’t leave me with a sense of conclusion.
Vianne rushes through the crowded streets of Paris as the German bombs begin to fall. As she rounds the corner she sees the familiar spires of the old church burst into flames. Too late, she realizes that her mother and sister are trapped inside…
Paris, 1918. The end of war is in sight, and young seamstress Vianne Mercier is longing for the day when she can stop sewing military uniforms and start creating the beautiful dresses that she has been dreaming up in her head.
But just when it seems like peace is within reach, Vianne’s mother and sister are killed in a terrible air raid. To make matters worse, Vianne’s brother has returned home a changed man. Controlling and cruel, he presents Vianne with an ultimatum; give up her dreams of becoming a designer, or be forced onto the streets, penniless and alone.
With nothing left for her in Paris but sad memories, she decides to sail for New York. Determined not to look back, she throws herself into her new life—spending her days sewing dresses for wealthy Upper East Side women, and her evenings dancing the Charleston to Duke Ellington in the new downtown clubs. When Vianne meets handsome Italian Giorgio Conti, he encourages her career, and she feels safe for the first time since she lost her family.
Then news of a terrible accident compels Vianne to suddenly return to France, where she discovers proof of a wartime secret that changes everything she thought she knew about her family. Facing the threat of sickness and ruin, the people who forced Vianne out of her home now suddenly need her help.
Will Vianne find the courage to follow her heart, return to New York and her life with Giorgio? Or will duty bind her to the family she had left behind and force her to remain in France?
From Amazon Charts bestseller Ella Carey comes an utterly gripping and emotional historical wartime novel about the terrible choices people made during humanity’s darkest days. Fans of Fiona Valpy, Rhys Bowen and The Nightingale will adore this novel.
Author Bio:
Ella Carey is the USA Today and Amazon charts bestselling author of eight novels of historical fiction. Ella’s novels have reached over one million readers and have been translated into fourteen languages. Ella has recently signed a six book deal in Germany and a nine book deal in Denmark. Ella’s latest novels are A New York Secret, and The Lost Girl of Berlin, both published with Bookouture in 2021. The Girl from Paris is the third novel in this new series, and will publish in January, 2022. Ella has a music degree in classical piano, and an arts degree majoring in English and history. Her novels have been shortlisted for ARRA awards. For further information:
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Five year old Charlie is sooooo excited about her cousins’ party. There will be a real pony there! She is dropped off by her mum and is due to be collected by her babysitter Megan. But Charlie vanishes from the party and Megan is attacked…
The Birthday Party is a stand alone thriller about every parent’s nightmare: a lost child.
OMG I was hooked by this book and couldn’t put it down. There are several ‘aha!’ moments which I loved. Some twists were pretty easy to guess but there are clues that I enjoyed collecting and piecing together.
Kathy Hamilton lives a life of wealth and privilege. But her marriage is strained, her older daughter needs therapy and she is haunted by the past. The past confronts her via the police officer leading the investigation into her missing daughter. Detective Chase Cooper was her first love and now she is depending on him to find her daughter.
The book is written in the third person throughout but there are some chapters from Kathy’s past in the 1990s and also some therapist notes. There are twists, secrets and lies which all need to be uncovered as the plot races along.
The Birthday Party was a completely absorbing novel. I have previously reviewed two books from Wendy Dranfield’s Madison Harper series: Cry For Help and Little Girl Taken.
MEDIA PACK
Book: The Birthday Party
Author: Wendy Dranfield
Pub Day: Jan 7th 2022
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About the Book:
Charlotte waves at her mother across the crowded lawn. Little red boots on, cowboy hat crooked over her blonde pigtails, she’s been looking forward to this party for weeks. Moments later, she disappears without a trace…
Kathy Hamilton drives away from her sister-in-law’s pristine-white suburban house in Maple Falls certain she’s left her daughter in safe hands. On the hottest day of the year, a birthday is the perfect excuse to gather friends, family and neighbors around the pool for a barbecue. But when she returns hours later to find her little girl has vanished, her world shatters.
Nobody laughing and drinking in the garden that day saw anything unusual.
Kathy’s eldest daughter is anxious and hardly eating. Is she sick with worry for her sister, or hiding a terrible secret?
The phone rings and rings, but why can’t Kathy get hold of the babysitter?
And is she imagining it, or when her husband rushed from work to join the search, was he wearing a different shirt to the one she saw him leave the house in that morning?
As the temperature rises, and long-buried secrets begin to surface, it’s clear that even the most perfect families keep devastating secrets. But in a town as small as this, is there anyone you can trust?
A totally gripping and utterly addictive page-turner that will have you racing through and reeling at the twists. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Gone Girl and Teresa Driscoll, it will keep you up reading all night long!
Author Bio
Wendy is a former coroner’s assistant turned crime writer who lives in the UK with her husband and 3 cats.
Her first novel (The Girl Who Died) was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition. Since then she has written two crime series – one follows Officer Dean Matheson on his quest to make detective, and the other is her current series which follows Detective Madison Harper as she tries to reclaim her life after spending six years in prison for a murder she didn’t commit.
As well as crime novels Wendy also has short stories published in various anthologies in the UK and the US, and she has been shortlisted and longlisted for various writing competitions.
Wendy’s social media:
Could a ghost be exacting revenge on the family of her killer? Emory Fulton is found dead, drowned, and the village of Saxford notes the death of a servant centuries earlier. Eve Mallow is not convinced that there is a supernatural culprit and begins an investigation into his murder.
Mystery at Magpie Lodge is the seventh book by Clare Chase to feature obituary writer and amateur sleuth Eve Mallow and her lover Robin, a former police officer in witness protection.
Eve sweeps into action to write her obituary of Emory who is found murdered. Meanwhile she has a good rummage through the motives and alibis of likely suspects. There is a supernatural twist to the plot as Emory was renowned for ghost hunting and seances, whilst his family history involves suspicious deaths.
Eve is ably assisted by her dachshund Gus and secretly helped by Robin whilst clashing horns with inept and surly police officer DI Palmer. The usual village characters appear plus a host of potential murderers for Eve to sift through. Motive and alibi prove key as usual for this series of book, in the finest Agatha Christie tradition.
MEDIA PACK
Book: Mystery at Magpie Lodge
Author: Clare Chase
Pub Day: January 6th 2022
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About the Book:
After the black sheep of the Fulton family is found dead, the village of Saxford St Peter is quick to blame it on his past misdeeds. But Eve Mallow is on the hunt for someone closer to home…
When the down-on-his-luck Emory Fulton moves into crumbling Magpie Lodge, and starts running historical tours, the locals are none too pleased. He’s inventing grisly tales about their lovely little village, and disturbing everyone’s peace.
But then he’s found dead in his bath, and everyone is suddenly running scared. Could something strange be happening? After all, the murder mirrors one of Fulton’s stories about Saxford’s dark past…
But Eve Mallow is sure the answers lie in much more recent events.
Accompanied by her stalwart dachshund sidekick Gus, she starts to dig a little deeper. Could it be Fulton’s snobbish bigwig brother, or the suspicious local academic? Why was his goddaughter handing him mysterious parcels, and why wouldn’t his sister-in-law let him in her house?
As Eve unravels the secrets of the living and the dead, one thing is for sure: Fulton was a haunted, hunted man. And if Eve doesn’t crack the case soon, she might find whoever wanted to keep Fulton quiet on her trail too…
An unputdownable page-turner, perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Agatha Christie and Betty Rowlands.
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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DI Liam O’Reilly and his team are hoping for a peaceful Christmas but crime never stops! An apparent suicide is discovered on a boat but it soon becomes obvious that it was murder. Soon other suicides are found and also proved to be murder. Can Liam find the killer or is Christmas ruined?
Christmas on the Island is the sixth book in the excellent Liam O’Reilly series from Stewart Giles. I really love this series and have previously reviewed a number of books from this brilliant author.
This book did not disappoint my high expectations! Liam and the team are as wonderful as ever with a glorious banter between them, antagonism and a variety of personal entanglements. All of the police team are really well developed and full of little details that bring them to life from the pages.
The narrative style is dialogue driven as usual but there were also some rather gruesome forensic details as the bodies start to rack up. The plot is fast paced and relentlessly compelling with Liam frantically trying to understand the motive behind the deaths. I enjoyed the seasonal festive setting and this added an extra layer as the team face the prospect of a ruined Christmas due to their dedication.
Christmas on the Island is a fantastic crime and police thriller and a great addition to one of my favourite series of books ever!
DI Liam O’Reilly mysteries Book 6: Christmas on the Island
CHRISTMAS: The silly season. Or, the suicide season?
A string of suicides on the island arouses Detective Liam O’Reilly’s suspicions. He understands that the suicide rate tends to increase during the festive season, but the ways in which these people have chosen to end their lives doesn’t feel right.
As O’Reilly and his team dig deeper they soon learn there is much more to these apparent suicides than they initially thought and O’Reilly realises there is a seriously damaged mind on the loose.
Dubbed the suicide killer by the press, this madman will stop at nothing to get his depraved message across and O’Reilly is the only one who can put an end to his killing spree.
This festive season is one the Irish detective will never forget.
BOOKS BY STEWART GILES
DS JASON SMITH SERIES
Book 0.5-Phobia
1-Smith
2-Boomerang
3-Ladybird
4-Occam’s Razor
5-Harlequin
6-Selene
7-Horsemen
8-Unworthy
9 – Venom
10 – Severed
11 – Demons
12 – Deadeye
13 – Motive
14 – Australia
15 – Wishbone
DC HARRIET TAYLOR SERIES
Book 1-The Beekeeper
2-The Perfect Murder
3-The Backpacker
Trotterdown a box set of DC Harriet Taylor books 1-3
DS JASON SMITH &DC HARRIET TAYLOR SERIES
Book 1 – The Enigma
2 – Dropzone
3 – The Raven Girl
Trilogy: The DS Smith & Harriet Taylor box set
THE MIRANDA TRILOGY (psychological thrillers)
Miranda
Mistress
Medusa
STANDALONE HORROR
The Divide
Stewart Giles – Author Bio
After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.
In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.
3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.
The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.
I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.
After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.
The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow with book 16 recently published. The first 5 books in the Detective Liam O’Reilly series are now available.
Twitter: @stewartgiles
Private investigator Tyrone Swift is hired by Toni Sheringham to look into the death of her fiance alongside a fifteen year old girl. The pair are assumed to have committed suicide together but Toni cannot accept this explanation.
Death by the Thames is a crime novel, the ninth book to feature Tyrone Swift but it is the first that I have read. There are mentions of other cases and characters which I assume are from earlier books but there are no obvious spoilers.
Tyrone is a down to earth man who has left the police and set up his own private investigator business. He is tenacious but also thoughtful which makes him someone we as readers can root for as the case progresses. I liked his interactions with his friends and family as well as his interviewees as the case develops.
Toni is devastated by the death of Sam and was informed on their wedding day. Their relationship is tarnished as the police are convinced Sam and a young girl killed themselves in a suicide pact. But there is no connection between the dead pair and Tyrone is called upon to explore any potential relationship. The plot had plenty of twists and turns as various characters reveal secrets, however I did find the conclusion a little confusing as it was quite complex.
Death by the Thames is an enjoyable crime novel with a likeable lead character.
I have previously reviewed Murder in Mallow Cottage from Gretta Mulrooney’s Siv Drummond series.
Death by the Thames by Gretta Mulrooney
Looking for your next unputdownable mystery? Meet Detective Tyrone Swift. He takes the cases that the police have given up on.
One dead bridegroom.
Financier Sam Goddard never made it down the aisle. Instead, his body is pulled from the Thames. Everyone says he rode his bike into the water. And he didn’t die alone . . .
A teen tearaway with a taste for older men.
Riding in his sidecar, there’s an underage girl. On his phone, a text.
So sorry to do this to you . . .
The police know a suicide pact when they see one, and as far as they’re concerned, it’s case closed.
But Toni — Sam’s grieving fiancée — can’t believe it’s true. Desperate to uncover the truth about Sam’s death, she turns to Tyrone Swift for answers.
But is she prepared for the killer secrets he’s about to unearth?
Death by the Thames is a seamlessly crafted, twisty crime thriller that will have you gripped from start to pulsating finish.
Perfect for fans of Joy Ellis, Tana French, Val McDermid, Robert Galbraith, Ann Cleeves, Jane Adams or Elly Griffiths.
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT GRETTA MULROONEY:
“An exceptional read.” Carole
“5 Stars — Brilliant.” Barbara
“A really page-turning book.” Viv
“I really love this series.” Hannelore
“Mulrooney has a real gift for dialogue, the words and phrases ring true and make her characters wonderfully real . . . A tenderly funny and genuinely moving piece. I loved it.” Fiona Morrow, Time Out, on Araby
“A beautifully observed study of reconciliation, Araby makes astute points about conflict and shifting values between generations.” James Eve, The Times, on Araby
THE DETECTIVE
Tyrone Swift is an ex-police detective who now works privately. He’s survived a stabbing and his fiancée running off with another man. Swift’s personal life is complicated, to say the least.
THE TYRONE SWIFT DETECTIVE SERIES
Book 1: THE LADY VANISHED
2: BLOOD SECRETS
3: TWO LOVERS, SIX DEATHS
4: WATCHING YOU
5: LOW LAKE
6: YOUR LAST LIE
7: HER LOST SISTER
8: MURDER IN PEMBROKESHIRE
9: DEATH BY THE THAMES
GRETTA MULROONEY
Gretta Mulrooney was born in London of Irish parents and did an English degree in Derry. She has been published for over twenty-five years; children’s books, short stories, literary fiction which won critical acclaim and crime fiction. She has also written for the BBC and Radio Four.
Gretta has always been an avid reader of crime fiction and decided, in retirement, to turn to crime. She has written seven novels featuring a London based private detective, Tyrone Swift: She has also started a new police-based series featuring DI Siv Drummond, set in the fictional Sussex town of Berminster.
BOOKS BY GRETTA MULROONEY
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR SIV DRUMMOND
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THESE LITTLE LIES
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NEVER CAME HOME
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STANDALONE NOVELS:
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OUT OF THE BLUE
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LOST CHILD
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COMING OF AGE
FOLLOW GRETTA ON
