DI Andrew ‘Ziggy’ Thornes is called in to investigate the murder of a young woman. Shortly afterwards, her friend disappears too. Are the cases connected and Ziggy is concerned that he has a connection with the chief suspect…
The Web They Wove is a dramatic police thriller that had me hooked. This is only the second novel by this author and I have not read the first, yet Catherine Yaffe writes with confidence and passion.
Ziggy is a great lead character and a dedicated cop. His second marriage has failed and he is struggling to keep things amicable with his ex wife as he repeatedly cancels visits to their son so he can focus on the case. He has good friendships with his colleagues but issues with his superior officer. His general likeability makes the reader warm to him and will him on to success in catching the killer.
The book is written from mulitple third person narratives with the majority being the police developments of the case. There are also disturbing chapters from the viewpoint of the victims and the killer which increase the tension. We are giving insider knowledge of characters’ experiences and emotions so we can understand their motives and actions.
I enjoyed the rapport and respect between the members of the police team, as well as the solid police procedural elements of the investigation. The forensic descriptions are made more emotive as we have seen the terror that led to the death. There are plenty of twists and the plot moves quickly (plus I couldn’t put it down!)
The Web They Wove is an enjoyable serial killer and police thriller and I look forward to more books by this author in the future I’ll be catching up on the debut novel too!)
The Web They Wove
Not all killers are who they first seem..
The mutilated body of a young female is found in a popular recreation ground in Leeds city centre. DI Ziggy Thornes and his team are at once assigned to close the case.
With little to no forensic evidence left at the scene at first Ziggy struggles to put the pieces together. When a second body turns up in the same place, Ziggy starts to feel the pressure from his bosses and the media as fear spreads through the city.
Realising that victims have been held captive prior to their deaths, Ziggy delves deeper and relentlessly chases down every lead, taking him close to breaking point.
When the investigation leads him dangerously close to home, will time run out before the tangled web of evil he’s uncovered destroys everything he holds dear?
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Author Bio – Catherine Yaffe is a full-time writer of crime novels, based in the North of England. The Web They Wove is Catherine’s second novel and continues the theme of questioning how well we know those around us. Her debut novel ‘The Lie She Told’ in October ‘20 was received with widespread acclaim, and so far, has gained over 50 five star reviews across Goodreads and Amazon.
Salzburg in the 1930s. The three daughters of clockmaker Herr Eder are trying to find their role in life. But the shadow of the Nazis looms…
The Edelweiss Sisters is a linear historical novel starting in the mid 1930s and proceeding through the Nazis’ invasion of Austria and the path to war. The events of the prologue set up our expectations for an emotional jounrey ahead…
Three sisters, each with a unique perspective on their family, lives and country. Birgit is plain and hopes to be apprenticed to her father’s clockmaking business. Johanna dreams of secretarial school but is stuck at home being her mother’s shadow as a homemaker. Pretty songbird Lotte attends music lessons but feels she has a religious vocation and wants to join a convent.
Love arrives for Johanna and Birgit but one man is Jewish and the other is a Nazi sympathiser. Meanwhile Lotte’s love of God separates her from her family. There are important themes of love, loyalty, nationalism and faith which thread through the book.
The undercurrent of danger is present from the start as we know the Nazi invasion is imminent. Our own knowledge of Nazi atrocities and the vitriol they spouted ramps up the tension as we await the deterioration of the situation for the Eder family.
The Edelweiss Sisters is a compellingly emotive book which even features the Von Trapp family, made famous by the Sound of Music!
The Edelweiss Sisters book description:
1938, Salzburg. A powerful story of hope, forbidden love, and incredible courage, about three sisters who will risk everything—even their own lives—as part of the resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Austria.
Johanna, Birgit and Lotte Eder have always lived quiet lives, working in their father’s clockmaking shop and helping their mother in the house. But like many other Austrians, they find it impossible to ignore the changes in the world around them.
At first Johanna finds it hard to believe the Nazis pose a real threat. But then her father hires Franz to help in his shop. He’s kind and soulful, with dark eyes that twinkle with intelligence. But he’s Jewish, and as Johanna falls for him, she realizes that loving him puts them all in danger.
Then comes the Anschluss—the reunification of Austria and Germany under Nazi rule. The three sisters’ lives have become ever more separate with Lotte joining the convent at Nonnberg Abbey and Birgit’s secret involvement with the Resistance. But as Johanna realizes how mistaken she was about the level of danger, she begins to see that it may be down to her to protect the man she loves.
She knows that she can’t do it alone though. She will have to turn to the people she trusts the most: her sisters.
The three of them work together to try to get Franz to the safety of Switzerland, and they soon prove invaluable to the Resistance. But they’re risking everything. Can three women who would die for each other, also be prepared to die for what is right?
The sisters’ subsequent journey from Nazi-occupied Salzburg to the devastating concentration camps of Ravensbruck and Mauthausen will show the strength of human spirit like never before. As, out of the darkness, a tiny seed of hope flowers…
A totally heartbreaking and impossibly powerful story about love, tragedy, and the power of humanity. Perfect for fans of The Nightingale, The Lilac Girls and The Sound of Music.
Author Bio:
Kate Hewitt is the author of many romance and women’s fiction novels. A former New Yorker and now an American ex-pat, she lives in a small town on the Welsh border with her husband, five children, and their overly affectionate Golden Retriever. Whatever the genre, she enjoys telling stories that tackle real issues and touch people’s lives.
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Ellie Reeves is reeling from two murder cases in rapid succession. Then she is thrown into a new case when the charred remains of a woman are found, quickly followed by another victim. She cannot believe, but is forced to accept, that there is another serial killer on the loose…
The Burning Girls is the third book in the Ellie Reeves series and I have previously read and reviewed book 2 in the series Wildflower Graves. There are some details about the previous cases in the opening chapters of the book, as well as information about Ellie’s personal life.
Ellie is battling demons in her personal relationships. This tips into her professional duties when the first victim is identified as a contact. Her relationships with her colleagues are also not straightforward due to the sheriff’s drinking making him unreliable and an FBI agent that she has sexual chemistry with.
The book is written in the third person so we gain access to Ellie’s perspective as well as the killer, victims and others. This increases the tension as we witness Ellie’s passion and determination as well as the dread of the victims and the anticipation of the killer.
The short chapter, plot pace and the rapid onslaught of victims keeps the momentum of the book going as twists and developments mount up.
I described the previous book as wonderfully gruesome and that is an appropriate summary again! Hugely entertaining and full of drama, action and danger for our lead character. The Burning Girls is an enthralling but grisly novel that had me hooked throughout!
RITA HERRON MEDIA PACK:
Title: The Burning Girls
Author: Rita Herron
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Description:
The girl was beautiful, even in death. Her skin was translucent beneath the sliver of moonlight peeking through the bare branches of the surrounding pines, and her chestnut hair had tumbled around her pale shoulders. Around her, smoke twisted in the air, curling into the inky sky.
The remote town of Crooked Creek has barely recovered from its most recent tragedy when wildfires tear through the mountains. Detective Ellie Reeves is grappling with her own heartbreak––she has just discovered she was adopted and that her childhood was a lie.
Under the scorching summer sun, Ellie is called to a river where a body has been found. She spots a lone woman’s shoe caught in a nearby tangle of vines, and a pearl necklace scattered by the water’s edge. The remains are surrounded by a circle of stones, which Ellie is certain means something. Was the victim––whoever she was––caught in the fire or is something more sinister at play?
The Fourth of July usually means festivals and fireworks, but when another body turns up the town is left in tatters. A young girl with dark hair lies dead, surrounded by stones, smoke drifting in the air. Thanks to an engraved silver necklace, Ellie identifies the body as eighteen-year-old Katie Lee Curtis, and the diary she finds hidden under the teenager’s mattress could get her close to the killer.
With two victims in less than twenty-four hours, it’s clear Ellie’s up against a serial killer, and she vows that no more innocent girls will be sacrificed. For her, every day is a battle to come to terms with her past, but when this case becomes personal, will she win?
A totally gripping and utterly addictive page-turner that will have you racing through and reeling at the twists. Perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, Lisa Regan and Kendra Elliot, it’s best read with the lights on!
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.
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TRIGGER WARNING; this book includes child abduction and murder
A young boy is found dead and displayed in a way that suggests a ritual or Satanic influence. The police call in Dr Harrison Lane to help with their investigation. Another boy is abducted: can Dr Lane’s insights help to find him before another murder ensues…?
Preacher Boy is the first book in a new series. It features Dr Harrison Lane and the police team he works with. There are three characters that stand out for me and we are thoroughly introduced to them in this opening book.
Dr Harrison Lane has a dark past. He is facing his own demons in the form of an upheaval during his childhood, the death of his mother and the flashbacks which haunt him. His background also gives him extra skills and insights which help him advance the investigation.
Police officers Sandra Barker and Jack Salter have contrasting personal lives. Sandra is married to the job, rarely seeing her family due to long hours. Her addiction to chocolate gives her a human balance against the authority figure she presents. Jack has a newborn baby and a wife with postnatal depression. He is struggling to focus on his work due to his fears of what may be happening at home.
The case itself is quite nasty and deeply emotive. There are forensic details that are grisly but these relate to an adult body (thankfully?!) The personal dimension to the main characters counteracts the atrocities they investigate. It also serves to make us care about their wellbeing as the action ramps up towards the end of the book.
Preacher Boy is a fab start to a new series and I look forward to seeing where the author takes the characters in the next book.
Preacher Boy – first in the Dr Harrison Lane series
IT’S TIME FOR A NEW CRIME MYSTERY HERO
Dr Harrison Lane is everything you wouldn’t expect from a man with a psychology doctorate. For victims, he’s everything they need.
They look, but they don’t see…
As Head of the Metropolitan Police’s Ritualistic Behavioural Crimes Unit, Dr Harrison Lane knows his Voodoo from his Aum Shinrikyo and a Satanist from a Shaman.
Harrison had an unusual childhood, raised by a bohemian mother and one of the native American Shadow Wolves – the elite tracking squad that works with US Drug enforcers. After his mother’s murder, he dedicated his life to tracking down those who hide behind spiritualism and religion to do evil.
Following the discovery of a missing boy’s body in what looks like a Satanic killing, Harrison is called in to help detectives. When a second boy is snatched, it becomes a race against time to save him, and sees Harrison come face-to-face with some dark secrets from his own childhood.
Preacher Boy is the first book in a gripping new crime mystery series from Amazon Top 20 bestselling author, Gwyn GB. Perfect for fans of LJ Ross, JD Kirk, J.R. Ellis, J M Dalgliesh, Rachel Abbott, Joy Ellis and David Blake.
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Author Bio –
Gwyn is an Amazon Top 20 bestselling author. She’s a former UK national TV newscaster and presenter, and journalist for national newspapers and magazines. Gwyn became a journalist and has finally realised her dream of being a full-time fiction author. Born in the UK, Gwyn now lives in the Channel Islands with her family, including a rescue dog and 17-year-old goldfish.
Gwyn launched her debut novel, Islands as Gwyn Garfield-Bennett in 2016, the romantic suspense book rose quickly into the Amazon top 20. Her first crime mystery series, featuring DI Falle, launched with Lonely Hearts in 2017.
You can find out more about Gwyn at www.gwyngb.com
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Sixteen year old Samantha Claymore, heiress to a massive cosmetics company, goes missing from her vacation at Martha’s Vineyard. Newly appointed detective Abby Pierce is called upon to lead the investigation but is it a missing persons enquiry or a murder case?
Her Ocean Grave is an engaging police and crime thriller, featuring a flawed but likeable lead character.
The book is written from Abby’s first person perspective. This gives us insights into her character and the events which have shaped her. I liked Abby’s sparky personality and the way she deliberately doesn’t take the easy option. She chooses to work with someone who envies her job, she clashes horns with the local journalist and she stands up to the chief of police.
Abby’s battle with alcoholism gives a depth to her character as well as an emotional endearment as she faces her demons. She has demons in her past, haunted by the death of her partner. However, she faces the case and her own future with determination and courage. Her character feels authentic and realistic due to her flawed human nature.
The case itself is emotive with the disappearance of a teenager, every parent’s nightmare. There are red herrings that had me firmly convinced of the outcome but there were twists to keep me guessing!
Her Ocean Grave was a great start to a new series and I look forward to seeing what happens with Abby next. I have previously reviewed The Silent Victim and The Golden Girl by Dana Perry.
Her Ocean Grave book description:
The teenage girl in the picture has bright eyes and a smudge of chocolate on her chin. It’s her birthday and she looks self-consciously beautiful in her floral party dress. But nobody has seen this girl’s sweet smile for days. She has vanished without a trace.
Enclosed by endless beaches and crashing waves, the sleepy little island of Martha’s Vineyard is a place where everyone knows each other’s name and locals can leave their front doors unlocked at night without worry. But everything changes the day that Samantha Clayton leaves for an afternoon bike ride along the cliff tops, and never comes home.
Detective Abby Pearce has the difficult job of interviewing the girl’s grieving mother and silent stepfather. But why can’t they answer simple questions about what Samantha was wearing the day she went missing, or who her friends were? Did her family know her at all?
Then a girl’s bright pink shoe is discovered buried on a local beach. What if Samantha is not the first innocent teenager to be taken, but the latest? Another victim is found dead days later, and the terrified residents demand to know what’s happening to their children. But the killer is already planning his next move and more young lives will be taken if Abby doesn’t figure out what secrets this small town is hiding…
An absolutely unputdownable and nail-biting crime thriller that will have you racing through the pages. Perfect for fans of Lisa Regan, Kendra Elliot and Gregg Olsen.
Author Bio:
I am a New York City author who writes mystery thrillers under the pen name of Dana Perry – and also as R.G. Belsky. My latest thriller for Bookouture is HER OCEAN GRAVE, the first in a series featuring Detective Abby Pearce.
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