A discovery of bones is revealed to be a missing young woman. Sarah was assumed to have run away but now a murder investigation is launched, led by Gordie MacLean and his new partner. Then another body is found…
Garden Girl is a police procedural novel set in Canada.
Gordie uncovers an unhappy background to his murder victim Sarah. She is dug up in a garden whilst her friends and family claim she ran away due to issues at home. There are plenty of suspects to investigate and the pressure is on when another corpse is found, fresh this time. Gordie argues wuth his superiors about whether the two murders are connected.
The plot was engaging and I liked the developing working relationship between Gordie and Roxanne. Of course, my favourite part was the inclusion of the dog Taz! My knowledge of the police structure in Canada is non-existent so I was a little unclear on the ranking system, although I did recognise the Mounties when mentioned!
I found the different voices and accents a bit overwhelming as there were so many but they were distinctive. It was impressive that the voice artist managed to do so many voices and accents! I was particularly impressed by the female tone used.
Garden Girl has an intriguing crime to solve and an easy-to-like lead detective (and dog!)
Garden Girl
Gordie MacLean, a 53-year-old bachelor detective is content minding his own patch of Cape Breton Island with its rugged coastal landscape and low crime rate. When the remains of a missing person are discovered though, he’s in the right place at the right time to be lead on the case. MacLean battles his sergeant’s scorn and his own demons to prove that he can hunt down the killer; a killer who will stop at nothing to protect their long-buried secrets.
Renny deGroot was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, a first-generation Canadian of Dutch parents.
Her novels have been shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and a Whistler Independent Book Award. They have been awarded several readers’ awards from the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. She has published mystery, historical fiction, short stories and non-fiction
Renny has a BA in English Literature from Trent University and studied creative writing at Ryerson University. She lives in rural Ontario with her Great Pyrenees and Golden Retriever, and vacations at her cottage in Nova Scotia.
Nathan Foss is a professionally trained and working theatre, film and voice actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre productions. He was a lead actor in Budai with Xiao Sun, as Romeo in the Montréal Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Romeo and Juliet and as a lead in the film Avant Que Tu Part which was an Official Selection of the 2020 Cinema On The Bayou Film Festival. He acted, directed and produced numerous plays and short films including In Loving Memory and commercials for Bios Medical.
Nathan graduated from the Neptune Theatre School and participated in workshops with Tom Todoroff, Scott Brick, Peter Dickson and Marc Graue. He studied voice and singing with Janice Isabel Jackson of Vocalypse Productions. Nathan trained in jazz, ballet and modern dance with the Leica Hardy School of Dance and the Joseph Wallin School of Dance. He performed in improv and attended numerous workshops for the performing arts.
Originally from Dartmouth Nova Scotia, Nathan is bilingual and is now located in Montréal Québec. Versatile by nature, Nathan is excited about the opportunity to expand his onstage repertoire into the fascinating medium of audiobooks and voice work. This allows him to successfully integrate his three passions of direction, production and acting into one form.
Well, we’re about to enter the final week of the Spring Term so the countdown has really started! I can’t believe we are almost two thirds of the way through the school year, but we are!
So we have one term left to prepare our big littleones for secondary school…
Anya is lucky in that she has an older brother at the school so she is familiar with the uniform and general expectations but it is still a big deal!
Plan and practice the route to school. Our journey is easy to walk in half an hour and I’m hoping Anya can find a group of friends to meet up with so she isn’t walking alone.
Mobile phone: Anya received one for her 11th birthday and we can track it if needed. It adds peace of mind for the walk to school but also fears about being robbed! Make sure you and your child know the school rules on mobile phones.
Say goodbye: not all of the year group will go to the same secondary so there are children that they have spent the last 7 years with but they are now going their separate ways. Friendship groups will need to be renegotiated with the added fun of pre teen hormonal angst!
Oldest to youngest. It can be a bit of a culture shock for the Year 6s to go from top of the school to the bottom again. The Year 11s will look massive and scary, but they are usually ok 🙂
I expect there will be lots of tears over the next few months. For me and Anya! There are SATs coming up plus the move to secondary, hormones are starting to rev up and we are both preparing for a shift into growing independence. Good luck to all the other Year 6s and their parents!
Pure Heart is a retreat from the troubles of the world. But the commune has its own problems with financial difficulties and a tragic death. Can the community stay together or will secrets lead to the collapse of the retreat once and for all?
The Last Resort is a psychological thriller set in Cyprus in the recent past.
Sofia’s mother died at the retreat and then she was forced to leave by her grandparents. Now both are dead and Sofia returns to Pure Heart with an offer they can’t refuse: financial security in exchange for denouncing and killing one of their own. The person she considers responsible for her mother’s death is wise woman Quinn but will the others stand by her?
There is a lot of build up as we are introduced to the main characters. I liked the inclusion of background information in the form of private detective reports. The plot becomes more interesting once Sofia’s proposal and revenge is introduced a quarter of the way through.
The book is written in the past and present tense, in 2018 and 2019. There are multiple narrators, some in the first person and others as third person. I found the style to be disjointed which meant I couldn’t easily engage with the characters.
There is some emotion is this book as Sofia believes that Quinn caused her mother’s death even if it was suicide. She calls upon the other members of the Pure Heart community to avenge her mother by killing Quinn which stirs up mixed emotions. My credulity was stretched but the premise of the book is intriguing and I liked the way that the characters give different perspectives and insights into events.
The Last Resort is a intriguing psychological thriller with a cast of strong characters.
The Last Resort
The unputdownable new thriller from the bestselling author of The Perfect Holiday, which will have fans of Lucy Clarke and T M Logan gripped.
As soon as you first see the house, a former hotel in a picturesque enclave of the Cypriot hills, you know it’s the perfect home for you – with breath-taking views, a refreshing pool, and peace and quiet, away from the rest of the world. A private resort in paradise. A place to recover and grow.
But paradise isn’t cheap, and as the debts mount, you could lose everything you’ve worked so hard for.
Until someone makes you an offer: to keep your home, all you have to do is take a life.
Tracey lives in Scotland and writes psychological thrillers. Her short stories have been widely published in anthologies and literary magazines, and her feature writing has appeared in Stella magazine, Woman’s Own and The Sydney Morning Herald. Her first psychological thriller for Boldwood, The Perfect Holiday, was published in April 2022 and was an Amazon bestseller.
Jacey and Rob move to England for his job. Their home is huge but also increasingly scary. What secrets are the couple hiding and what is happening at the house…?
The Perfect Couple is a psychological thriller with a strong supernatural theme.
Jacey and Rob’s marriage isn’t as perfect as they pretend. He is short tempered and takes every opportunity to malign his wife. He is lying about his whereabouts and Jacey is starting to suspect an affair. She is starting to experience strange symptoms where she zones out and finds it difficult to concentrate. Her anxiety is heightened by the spooky house with creepy noises and strange visions of a young boy. Meanwhile she also wants to discover the truth about her grandmother’s move to America.
There are three clear layers to the plot: the deteriorating relationship between Rob and Jacey, the unsettling house and the mystery about her grandmother’s past. Poor Jacey really is under attack on all sides and is struggling with the pressure of her existence in a haunted house with a horrid husband. My heart went out to her and I was desperate for her to stand up to Rob and walk away.
There are lots of mysteries and secrets for Jacey to uncover: her husband’s secret trips to London, her blackouts and confusion, other people’s unsettling remarks about her home and grandmother. I didn’t particularly like Jacey but I felt sorry for her and wanted her to get the truth and find some happiness. There is a wonderful tension and dark atmosphere created and sustained over the course of the book.
The Perfect Couple is an intriguing book with lots going on!
Rob assures me it will be an adventure for us: a year in England living in a gothic mansion. He has a new job and, as his wife, I’ll support him. It will be good for our marriage.
But as soon as we arrive at the house it starts.
The noises.
The voices.
Why can no one else hear anything?
The boy.
Why can no one else see him?
And now Rob is acting strangely. Distant. Dismissive. When I raise it he gets angry. He tells me it’s all in my head. But I can hear the bells in the woods. I can see the boy.
I make friends but I feel they know more than they tell me. Worst of all, they freeze when I tell them where I’m from. Who I am.
I feel myself unravelling. I’m not wrong. There is a secret here that everyone knows. Everyone except me.
This trip of a lifetime is turning into a perfect nightmare.
Jane’s Bio
Jane McLoughlin was born and raised in the USA, but has spent most of her adult life in the UK. A former teacher, she has previously published novels for young people, which were nominated for various awards, including the Carnegie Award and the Branford Boase Prize. She has two grown up children, and lives in Brighton. The Perfect Couple is her debut novel for adults.
A dead body with a bullet in the the head, unidentifiable as it hasn’t been found for a year. A fresh corpse in the adjacent room. Is one of them a missing gangster who disappeared after a diamond heist?
Dig Two Graves is the first book in a new series of police procedural/crime thrillers featuring Detective Superintendent Hedley Sharpe.
Chloe is unhappily married to a bully with dealings with Dean Rawlins and together the men stole diamonds. She is devastated after the stillbirth of her daughter and now she has been uprooted to a new house. She is also being threatened by Dean’s ex. How much more can she take?
Hedley Sharpe is a great new detective. He is overweight, middle aged, sarcastic, cynical. There is pain in his past due to the murder of his wife. He is tenacious and is determined to bring gangster Dean Rawlins to justice although he won’t be too disappointed if someone else disposes of him first.
Hedley barely seems to appear in the first part of the book but, as more bodies are discovered, the police investigation becomes more prominent. The pace of the plot races along and the writing style is quite dialogue driven.
Dig Two Graves is an enjoyable start to a new series and I look forward to catching up with Hedley soon.
Book Description
MEET DETECTIVE HEDLEY SHARPE IN THIS BRILLIANT NEW CRIME SERIES FULL OF STUNNING TWISTS.
A brand-new mystery from #1 bestselling author Helen H. Durrant that will have you gripped from start to explosive finish.
Day 1. Chloe Todd believes her baby daughter is sleeping peacefully in her pram in the back garden. She lifts away the blanket to check on her — and gasps in shock.
Chloe’s neighbour calls the police. But all is not as it seems . . .
Day 2. Superintendent Hedley Sharpe is called to a murder scene in the city centre. A body is discovered in a cellar beneath an empty shop. A single shot to the head. The victim has been dead at least a year.
Day 3. A second body is found in the cellar next door. Again a single bullet wound in the head. But this time the body is fresh.
Hedley Sharpe doesn’t believe in coincidence. The two murders must be linked. Then he uncovers a connection to young mother Chloe Todd — and the case takes an extraordinary twist.
Hedley’s investigations will unearth a series of dark secrets. Secrets that reach back into his own troubled past.
Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean, Joy Ellis, J.D. Kirk, Rachel Abbott, Elly Griffiths or J.M. Dalgliesh.
READERS LOVE HELEN H. DURRANT’S ADDICTIVE POLICE PROCEDURALS:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Full of suspense with a storyline that kept me guessing right up until the end.’ Annette T.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A really good read . . . the perfect balance of investigation versus personal drama for the lead.’ Linda B.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The start of a fabulous new series from Helen H. Durrant . . . Brilliant book — I loved it!’ Charlotte M.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A very enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.’ Sandra G.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This is a gripping edge-of-your-seat thriller that will have you turning page after page all the way to the end. Absolutely brilliant.’ Jill B.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Another stunningly good police procedural from Helen H. Durrant. Fabulous plot and great characters, with everything I want from a whodunnit.’ Amanda P.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Thoroughly gripping and suspenseful with an astonishing surprise. Not one to be missed.’ Carol S.
THE DETECTIVE Superintendent Hedley Sharpe is a long-serving detective working for Manchester’s Major Crime Division. He is something of a rough diamond, but has an excellent clear-up rate. A widower, Hedley lives a lonely life, existing on fast-food takeaways. His wife Emily was murdered some years previously. Her killer was never caught.
HELEN H. DURRANT
OVER 1.5 MILLION BOOKS SOLD!
Helen is one of the ‘baby boomer’ generation and began writing when she retired from her job at a local college. Born in Edinburgh to an English father and Scottish mother the family settled in a Pennine village between the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is an environment which has shaped her stories. Writing is a second career and, despite having a bus pass, keeps her busy, and tuned in.
Helen’s children are all grown-up and she has five grandchildren.