1970s Edinburgh. Sergeant Helen Carter is seconded to a murder case. But as the victims start to pile up, an ex cop seems to be prime suspect and he used to work with her dad…
The Uniform is a police procedural and crime thriller novel set in the 1970s. Think Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.
I really liked Helen’s character. She is discriminated against in the police due to being a woman but also accused of nepotism as the daughter of a former police officer. She is also not respected by her boyfriend Ted who wants her to settle down and get a ‘nice job’. I think he feels intimidated and that it threatens his masculinity to have Helen in the police, although I also think he genuinely loves her.
Helen has to work harder than her male colleagues to get the same recognition. She has defied convention and her family’s wishes to join the police. She has held her father is great esteem but this case threatens her idealised view due to his connection with the prime suspect.
The other police characters are stereotyped but fab. Again, think Gene Hunt. Gruff but with a softer side. I think there is more to Jim Craven than we’ve see in this book and look forward to seeing how their professional relationship develops in future books.
Author Jodie Lawrance uses dialogue to get across the Edinburgh accents and I think this felt very authentic. The setting is well described and the Scottish landscape is a great backdrop to the plot.
The Uniform is a very enjoyable start to a new series and I look forward to seeing what happens for DS Carter next.
The Uniform by Jodie Lawrance
IT’S NOT EASY BEING A WOMAN IN THE POLICE FORCE IN THE 1970s.
Introducing the first in a thrilling new Scottish crime series starring DS Helen Carter.
Sergeant Helen Carter is having trouble making her mark in the male-dominated Edinburgh CID, working under the difficult Inspector Jack Craven.
But then she’s landed with her first case: a murder in an old abandoned picture house. Whoever did it left a mysterious clock-like symbol on the wall . . . drawn in blood.
Stranger still, the killer has left a clue: the business card of an ex-cop.
Corpses keep turning up in the strangest of places. Can Helen prove herself and piece together the case before the body count rises?
Fans of Ashes to Ashes, Caro Ramsay, Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean and Maureen Carter will love this retro Scottish crime series.
MEET THE DETECTIVE
HELEN CARTER
Detective Sergeant Helen Carter is used to getting a rough time of it at work. As one of the few women officers around, she has heard it all before: she’s only there as a box-ticking exercise, or she only got the job because of her father, who was a detective inspector. But she can handle it. She knows she can hold her own against any man on the force. The only thing she can’t handle, however, are the constant fights with her fiancé, Ted.
THE SETTING
Edinburgh CID is on the third-floor of the ugly, modern concrete lump that is the police station. On a sunny day, you can look right out to Arthur’s Seat. And on any day, you can see spotty-faced, bored teenagers coming and going from the local high school across the road. With its historic cobbled streets and fair share of deprivation, Edinburgh police are up against every type of criminal imaginable.
JODIE LAWRANCE
Jodie graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2018 with an MA in Creative Writing. When not writing, she is also an actress and has appeared in a variety of television, stage and film.
She’s also a contributor for BBC The Social.
BOOKS BY JODIE LAWRANCE
COMING SOON!
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Fiona leads a reclusive life, working and exercising at home, never venturing further than the front garden. Bethany is a single mum to 2 year old Evie, struggling to cope alone. These two neighbours are thrown together when Bethany needs help and an unlikely friendship develops.
The Girl Who Couldn’t Leave is an emotional book about friendship and our human need for social contact.
Fiona hints at some trauma in her past which has caused her to retreat to the safety of her own home. Bethany is determined to give her daughter the best but medical concerns make her desperate for help. Despite both being young, they seem to have little in common except for living in the same street.
The plot is delivered from the third person perspective of both women, giving us insight into their lives whilst keeping a slight emotional distance. The panic of being left in sole charge of a toddler was amusing and relatable. I enjoyed the inclusion of Wesley the budgie which helps Fiona to bond with Evie. I had no idea that budgies and parakeets are the same bird!
There are some big issues dealt with in the book but they are handled sensitively which leaves a warm feeling due to the human qualities that shine from the lead characters.
The Girl Who Couldn’t Leave is an uplifting story of friendship and I will be on the lookout for more of Catherine Miller’s books.
The Girl Who Couldn’t Leave book description:
She’s too afraid to leave her house. But is she brave enough to let someone in?
Fiona Dexter hasn’t gone outside in five years.
She knows she’ll never sit on a beach to watch the sunset, or share a meal with her family at the friendly café around the corner, or even fall in love.
Then one day, her neighbour, single mother Bethany, shows up on her doorstep holding two-year-old Evie.
Bethany needs help and soon Fiona starts to remember how it feels to be close to other people. Once she’s felt the warmth of Evie’s hugs and danced her socks off with Bethany, can Fiona face the secrets of her past and live again?
This hopeful and heart-warming read will remind you that life continues no matter where you are, and opening the door is the first step on the way back to happiness. Fans of Jojo Moyes, Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain will love this emotional and uplifting story.
Author Bio:
When Catherine Miller became a mum to twins, she decided her hands weren’t full enough so wrote a novel with every spare moment she managed to find. By the time the twins were two, Catherine had a two-book deal with Carina UK. Her debut novel, Waiting For You, came out in March 2016.
Catherine was a NHS physiotherapist, but for health reasons she retired early from this career. As she loved her physiotherapy job, she decided if she couldn’t do that she would pursue her writing dream. It took a few years and a couple of babies, but in 2015 she won the Katie Fforde bursary, was a finalist in the London Book Fair Write Stuff Competition and highly commended in Woman magazine’s writing competition. Since then she’s had four novels published.
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Ali arrives at Seashine Cottage to get some space from her husband. She is 20 weeks pregnant but Jon does not want to continue with the pregnancy. At the home of her late grandmother, she searches for peace and quiet to wait for Jon to change his mind. Ali meets her neighbours Meg, Michael and baby Jem and they instantly bond. But Ali begins to suspect that her neighbour have a secret…
A Mother’s Lie is an emotional book with a strong mystery element about two marriages that are at risk of collapse.
The book is written in the present day to give Ali’s perspective but also in the recent past to show the last months of her grandmother Violet’s life. Several plot strands surrounding family secrets and lies merge in this book. Meg and Michael obviously have a less than perfect marriage and Ali is in denial about her baby and Jon. Violet lives a reclusive life and is trying to forget the past.
The nuances of family relationships are explored as well as difficult life choices and experiences. I found the characters to be relatable and they had a natural humanity to them which made me care about finding the truth.
The theme of loss runs strongly thorough the narrative. It’s actually quite hard to review this book without giving away major spoilers. I’ll just say that there are hints in both timelines about the secrets that are being hidden which allows the reader to make their own assumptions and interpretations about the characters’ behaviour and lives.
A Mother’s Lie is aptly described as a pageturner. I found myself immersed in the lives of the characters and anxious to reveal their secrets.
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Book: A Mother’s Lie (previously Safe From Harm)
Author: Leah Mercer
Pub Day: 24/06
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About the Book:
My darling child… all I’ve ever yearned for. But how do I keep you safe?
When Ali retreats to her seaside cottage, all she wants is to be alone. To reconnect with a place that has always felt like home until her baby is born.
But then her life collides with the people living in the house next door, Michael and Meg, and she is immediately welcomed into their perfect life with their beautiful baby Jem. As they help her prepare for her own arrival, Ali knows she has made the right choice for her baby in returning to Seashine Cottage.
When Michael leaves suddenly for a work trip, and Meg impulsively invites Ali to move in, it becomes clear things aren’t as perfect as they first seemed.
Meg is holding on to a dark secret. And as her behaviour becomes ever more erratic – leaning on Ali for increasing amounts of help – while Michael shows no signs of returning, Ali begins to worry.
Does she need to protect herself and her unborn child from the new friend she thought would help keep her safe? And what about her own devastating secret… the one she’s been running from?
From the bestselling author of Who We Were Before comes an unputdownable and heartbreaking read about how far we will go to protect those we love the most. Perfect for fans of The Silent Daughter, Diane Chamberlain and Kerry Lonsdale.
Author Bio
Leah Mercer was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada. Her first ambition was to be a journalist, but after completing a master’s in journalism, she soon realised she preferred anything other than reporting the news. After trying her hand at public relations, teaching and recruitment in various countries around the world, she finally settled in London and returned to writing… fiction, this time. Her first two novels, Who We Were Before and The Man I Thought You Were, were shortlisted at the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards. Leah loves books, running and visiting historic houses with her husband and their son.
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Newlyweds Natalie and Carl have been hoping to move out of London to be nearer Carl’s children in Kent. But Nat is horrified when Carl buys a house at auction without her even seeing it. Her first impression of the house is not positive: half roofless and a dingy interior (and how many spiders it has!) Not only that but it is also exceedingly close to her husband’s ex wife Antonia…
A Second Hand Husband is written in a really down to earth way, almost a chatty fashion, through Nat’s first person narrative. I immediately liked her and found that she was plagued with the self doubts that I recognise in myself!
Nat is a lovely lead character, self deprecating and believably human. She feels inferior in comparison with the effortlessly composed Antonia. I was desperate for her to develop the confidence to hold her own in the marriage. She then needs to battle to assert herself in her new community, only to find that Antionia rules the roost there as well!
My feelings towards Carl are much more mixed. Again, I think the author has done a great job of making him human. He is older than Nat and been married before so has a confidence and wealth of experience that he uses to get his own way.
Nat and Carl had a whirlwind romance and are still adjusting to life together. I felt really torn about the house situation as I can understand both viewpoints. The house is in an ideal location and has many of the attributes that they have been looking for. But to make such a huge decision is totally out of order in my opinion.
A Second Hand Husband is a gentle and funny novel about the twists and turns in relationships and also finding your own worth. The tone of the book is light hearted and amusing, with a warmth from the genuine-seeming characters.
A Second-Hand Husband
Natalie and Carl are newlyweds, but the honeymoon period is over already.
Carl has just announced he has bought their first home at auction without telling Natalie where it is, never mind showing her a picture of it.
Natalie is horrified to discover that the dream home is in Little Wyford, mere minutes away from Carl’s ex-wife Antonia. And to make matters worse, Antonia’s palatial country mansion has a fully-functioning roof (and a heated swimming pool!), unlike the ramshackle cottage Carl has bought for them…
Antonia is Little Wyford’s Queen Bee, mistress of the book club, organiser of the Christmas Fair and leader of the ladies-who-lunch. No matter how hard she tries, Natalie just doesn’t fit in, and when Antonia insists on referring to Carl as ‘Our Husband’, Natalie’s dreams of happily-ever-after take another nose dive.
Second-hand furniture has much to recommend it, especially when doing up a country cottage, second-hand clothes can be ever-so chic, but second-hand husbands are proving to be a very bad idea indeed… Can Natalie ever escape the label of Wife Number Two or is she destined to share her husband forever?
Hilariously funny, wickedly witty, but with a heart of gold and a warmth and wisdom that are all its own, A Second-Hand Husband is Claire Calman’s tour de force.
Author Bio:
Claire Calman is a writer and broadcaster known for her novels that combine wit and pathos, including the bestseller Love is a Four-Letter Word. She has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Loose Ends. Her first book for Boldwood was published in June 2020.
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Fourth of July celebrations are ruined for Rockwell and Decker when ‘the perfect family’ are discovered dead and their house on fire. The only survivor is 4 year old Thomas who says the killer was a police officer. Can Will trust his own team…?
One Child Alive is a police thriller set in the US. This is the third book in the series and I have previously reviewed the second book Her Perfect Bones by Ellery Kane. There are mentions of family issues from the past but I think this book would work as a stand alone novel.
Detective Will Decker finds himself concerned when the police appear to be the main suspect. His partner has been replaced by a sneering cop who had a confrontation with the family’s father just before the murders. He relies upon Olivia Rockwell’s psychological knowledge to help unravel the truth from 4 year old Thomas but how accurate a witness can a child be?
Will’s partner JB was a source of light relief in the last book and still provides natural banter. However, his illness allows the plot to develop as Will is temporaily partnered with Graham. The animosity and sleaziness of Graham towards both Will and Olivia instantly made me see him as the prime suspect but he has friends in high places that protect him. It’s always great to have a characters we love to hate 🙂
Will and Olivia’s relationship takes a leap but there are still complications from their families. Both of them are so likeable that you are desperate for them to get together properly. Olivia manages to get involved in the investigation by finding clues but this puts her in danger…
One Child Alive is an entertaining and enthralling thriller and I look forward to seeing what happens for Will and Olivia next.
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Title: One Child Alive
Author: Ellery Kane
Pub date: 23/06
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Description:
One, two, three. She counts the bodies dragged from the burning beach house, smoke rising from their cotton pajamas, and remembers a fourth; red hair, freckles, clinging to his mother’s legs, begging to watch the fireworks a while longer. “Where’s the little boy?” she whispers…
In the ashes of the Fox family’s seafront vacation home, Olivia Rockwell can barely hold back her tears as she wonders who in the close-knit town of Fog Harbor could destroy such a warm, loving family. Then she spots a little green toy soldier in the sand and follows a set of small footprints along the beach to an abandoned lifeguard hut. Inside, she finds the youngest Fox child, Thomas. The only survivor…
Holding his trembling body close, Olivia promises to keep him safe. She knows the agony of losing family at such a young age. But the second Thomas catches sight of Detective Will Decker’s sliver police badge over her shoulder, the little boy’s scream pierces the night. Could the family have been targeted by someone sworn to protect them? Is anyone safe if the police themselves are the primary suspect?
Unsure who she can trust, Olivia keeps hold of the tiny horseshoe charm she finds at the scene and follows the trail deep into the web of lies surrounding this seemingly perfect family. But just as a tip-off from a local lighthouse-keeper puts the killer within reach, tragedy strikes: little Thomas is snatched from his bed.
Up against a calculating monster who seems to know her every weakness, Olivia must dig deeper than ever before to find this innocent child. But when one twisted killer becomes two, can she stay alive long enough to save him?
A totally gripping and utterly addictive page-turner that will have you biting your nails and reeling at the twists. Perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, Lisa Regan and Kendra Elliot!
Author Bio:
Forensic psychologist by day, novelist by night, Ellery Kane has been writing–professionally and creatively–for as long as she can remember. Just like many of her main characters, Ellery loves to ask why, which is the reason she became a psychologist in the first place. Real life really is stranger than fiction, and Ellery’s writing is often inspired by her day job. Evaluating violent criminals and treating trauma victims, she has gained a unique perspective on the past and its indelible influence on the individual. And she’s heard her fair share of real life thrillers.
Ellery lives in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, a picturesque setting that provides the backdrop for many of her novels. If you don’t find Ellery interviewing murderers behind prison walls or pecking away at her latest novel, she is probably at the gym landing a solid jab-cross to a punching bag; riding bicycles with her special someone; or enjoying a movie the old-fashioned way–at the theater with popcorn and Milk Duds.
Ellery was previously selected as one of ten semifinalists in the MasterClass James Patterson Co-Author Competition, and she recently signed a three book deal with Bookouture for her new Rockwell and Decker mystery thriller series. The first book is scheduled for release in 2020.
If you’d like to receive a notification when new books are released, please sign up for Ellery’s newsletter at ellerykane.com. Ellery also signs e-books on authorgraph.com.
