Teresa is unhappily married with a monosyllabic teenaged son and a mother with dementia. She harbours secret feelings for her colleague Stephen, a widower ready to look for love again. But his daughter Maya is devastated by the thought of her mother being replaced…
His Hidden Wife is an interesting mystery. What really happened to Maya’s mum? What is the romantic history between Teresa and Stephen? There are hints that the death of Stephen’s wife may not have been what Maya has been led to believe. Plus there is the almost obsessive dynamic to his relationship with Teresa although he seems oblivious to her feelings.
The book is written through two perspectives: Teresa and Maya. This gives us insights into their thoughts and feelings as well as their views on the events of the book. I felt a lot of sympathy for both women as both struggle with their current life, dreaming of change and what might have been.
Teresa has been in love with Stephen for years and hopes to escape her unhappy homelife. However, we find out from Maya’s perspective that Stephen has actually found someone else. Maya has given up her chance to go to university in order to stay with her dad and feels betrayed that he has found someone to replace her mum. She is also jealous that he is getting a second chance while her life is on hold.
The uncertainty and confusion for Maya is effectively conveyed to the reader and an almost darkness permeates the book. I had plenty of guesses all of which proved wrong! The ending of the book kept me guessing with more twists up until the very last page.
His Hidden Wife was an enjoyable and engaging mystery with strong thriller elements.
The first time you see them, out for an evening walk on the cliffs, you’ll think they’re the perfect family. You’ll see a wife who looks so happy, strolling peacefully beside her husband in his dark winter coat, holding her daughter’s hand. But you have no idea what’s really happening in their house…
If you come a little closer you might hear the way the man speaks to his wife.
You might notice that the woman doesn’t have any close friends. That sometimes her husband doesn’t want her to leave the house. You might wonder if that’s a scar her beautiful daughter is hiding on her neck.
When you read the local newspaper and hear the news that the wife has fallen from the cliffs, you’ll question whether it was really an accident at all.
And when the husband starts dating someone new – a woman with the same long dark hair and big blue eyes as his wife – will you say something this time?
Because someone has to protect the little girl and stop history from repeating itself. And it may already be too late.
A thrilling and twisty tale, His Hidden Wife will keep you up all night, desperate to race through to its final conclusion. Readers of Gone Girl, The Couple Next Door and Lisa Jewell will be hooked.
Author Bio:
Wendy Clarke was a teacher until the small primary school where she worked closed down. Now she is a writer of psychological suspense but is also well known for her short stories and serials which regularly appear in national women’s magazines.
Wendy has two children and three step-children and lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex. When not writing, she is usually indulging in her passion for dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!
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Magda and her family are thrown out of their home by the advancing Nazi occupation of their Czech land. She finds safety in the mountains, in the home of a prominent Jewish doctor and his family. Tensions are fraught as fear and dread threaten to destroy the safety they have enjoyed. Finally the Gestapo arrive to round up the remaining Jews…
The Girl From The Mountains gives a unique insight into the Czech situation during the Second World War. I really enjoyed the setting which I have not read about in other books (and I have read quite a few set in WW2!)
I found the historical side of the book particularly interesting and well researched. However, the author’s note at the end draws attention to poetic licence used to create fiction from the facts. There were details about massacres and the camp of Theresienstadt that I had limited knowledge about previously. The book contains some unpleasant descriptions of the Nazi treatment of their occupied peoples but the Holocaust atrocities are not described graphically. There are also episodes of Resistance brutality to show their fight for freedom against their oppressors.
The main character is Magda. She starts the book in the bosom of her family before they are displaced by the incoming Germans. The family go to live with other relatives but food and space is scarce. Her parents fear for their safety and send her away in the hope she can survive and hopefully thrive. Yet her placement with a Jewish family places her in further potential danger and readers nervously anticipate the risks.
Magda’s sensitivity about her facial birthmark is a theme that runs through the book. She was tormented at school and fears ridicule. Yet she cannot hide away when her friends, family and country are being torn apart by German invaders. Magda’s bravery is evident as she joins the Resistance as well as puts her heart on the line by falling in love with a Jew. She deliberately puts herself in danger despite her natural instinct to survive.
The Girl From The Mountains is an emotive and passionate book with a strong lead character. Love and hope survive due to the determination and courage of ordinary people.
Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger Media Kit:
Title: The Girl from the Mountains
Author: Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger
Publication day: Feb 3rd 2021
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Description:
The story of one young woman’s exceptional courage in the darkest of times, set in the stunningly atmospheric mountains of Czechoslovakia during the Second World War.
1938: Magda has led a sheltered life in her small village until the day she is forced from her home by the invading Nazi army. Torn away from her family and the only place she has ever known, she is offered refuge in an alpine villa owned by brilliant Dr Tauber and his talented, beautiful wife.
But despite having friends in high places, the Jewish Taubers are living on borrowed time. When the Gestapo come to arrest them, Magda is asked to protect something more precious than the silver and jewels they leave behind. Their newborn son Samuel.
Magda turns to the local Resistance, who hide Samuel nearby. Determined to help them and save her country, Magda remains in the house to serve the Nazi commander, passing messages and supplies to the secret network. But when she is caught, Magda is forced to flee into the high mountains with a price on her head.
With the Nazis in pursuit, and nothing left to lose, Magda takes up arms with a band of partisan fighters in the hope of rescuing the Taubers and reuniting them with Samuel. Even if it might mean laying down her life to win the freedom of those she loves…
This heartbreaking wartime epic of love, bravery and survival will stay with you long after you have turned the final page. Perfect for fans of My Name is Eva, The Alice Network and The German Midwife.
Previously published as Magda’s Mark, this edition of The Girl From The Mountains has substantial editorial changes.
Author Bio:
Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger was born in Minnesota in 1969 and grew up in the culture-rich neighborhood of “Nordeast” Minneapolis. She started her writing career with short stories, travel narratives, worked as a journalist and then as a managing editor for a magazine publisher before jumping the editor’s desk and pursuing her dreams of writing and traveling. In 2000, she moved to western Austria and established her own communications training company. She has won several awards for her short stories and novels and now primarily writes historical fiction. During a trip into northern Italy over the Reschen Pass, she stood on the edge of Reschen Lake and desperately wanted to understand how a 15th-century church tower ended up sticking out of the water. What stories were lying beneath? Some eight years later, she launched the “Reschen Valley” series with five books and a novella releasing between 2018 and 2021, in parallel to her WW2 novels and short story collections.
For more on Chrystyna, dive in at inktreks.com
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Christmas 1933 and Kitty Underhay travels to Enderley Hall to spend the festive season with her family and in the company of the man she is walking out with. She has had a busy year solving murders and investigating her mother’s death so is looking forward to a rest. But Christmas celebrations falter when a body is discovered…
Murder in the Belltower is a cosy murder mystery set amongst the upper class experience of the 1930s. The scene is set in a stately home and traditional English village. There are no graphic murder scenes or gruesome forensic detail, instead the focus is on the exploration of motives.
Kitty’s personal life continues to take centre stage as her relationship with Matthew Bryant moves to become more intimate. However, he is secretly investigating the guests but cannot tell Kitty what he suspects. She is also concerned as he appears to have ‘history’ with a beautiful guest. This book moves along the plot for Kitty and Matthew’ relationship but the murder is secondary.
The title feels like a slight misnomer as the murder in the belltower is the second murder and doesn’t occur until the final third of the book. The first two thirds of the book are a little slow as we meet the new peripheral characters and Kitty attempts to understand their suspicious behaviours. We have little knowledge of the murdered characters so I didn’t really care about their demise which sounds a bit heartless!
I enjoyed being immersed into the 1930s world again which felt authentic. The focus is on Kitty and Matt’s personal development, their investigations and the psychology of the situation and characters as Agatha Christie’s Poirot was so fond of persuing.
Murder in the Belltower in the fifth book in the Kitty Underhay series, although each can be read as stand alone novels. I have previously reviewed Murder at Enderley Hall, Murder at the Playhouse, and Murder on the Dance Floor.
Media Pack Information Sheet:
Title: Murder in the Belltower
Author: Helena Dixon
Publication Day: Feb 1st 2021
Description:
Kitty Underhay’s hymn book is open… at murder.
Winter, 1933. Kitty Underhay is enjoying a restorative break from sleuthing on a visit to her family at Enderley Hall. The only thing marring her peace – aside from the uncomfortable sensation she has of being watched – is the obvious history between her beau, ex-army captain Matthew Bryant and another guest, the beautiful Juliet Vanderstafen. So, when the parish clerk is found dead on her front doorstep, Kitty leaps at the chance of distraction.
The police are happy to conclude that Miss Plenderleith met her unfortunate end on a patch of ice, but Kitty isn’t convinced this was a case of bad weather and worse luck. And when the Reverend Crabtree fails to show for tea the next day, she heads to the church to speak to him. But she arrives to find the clergyman hanging from the bell rope, dead.
With Matt seemingly wrapped up with his alluring Austrian, Kitty must solve the case on her own. But as she snoops into parish affairs, she makes some less-than-saintly discoveries. Just who has broken the sixth commandment? Meanwhile the killer is preparing a churchyard grave for Kitty, and she’ll have to use all her wits to avoid falling in…
An addictive, absorbing and completely unputdownable Golden Age cozy murder mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss.
Author Bio:
Nell Dixon was born and continues to live in the Black Country. Married to the same man for over thirty-five years she has three daughters, a cactus called Spike, a crazy cockapoo and a tank of tropical fish. She is allergic to adhesives, apples, tinsel and housework. Her addictions of choice are coffee and reality TV. She was winner of The Romance Prize in 2007 with her book Marrying Max, and winner of Love Story of the Year 2010 with her book, Animal Instincts. She also writes historical 1930’s set cozy crime as Helena Dixon.
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Verity Spencer spots a dropped notebook on the pavement and tries to reunite it with the owener. She travels to his home to find him lying on the floor with a gunshot wound to the stomach. He begs her to hide the notebook and asks her to seek out help, insisting ‘trust no one’. Verity embarks on a terrifying journey to the truth…
No Deadly Medicine was astoundingly good. The plot was well paced and full of action. I did need to suspend my disbelief but I was completely swept up in the story and adventure. The police are corrupt and Verity is in danger from the second she picks up the notebook.
Verity is a fab protagonist: an ordinary women thrown into extraordinary circumstances. She is amazingly resourceful and intuitive as well as brave and determined. The plot is delivered through her first person narrative which means we get to see her thought processes and emotions. She has recently been widowed so has nothing left to lose, explaining why she throws herself wholeheartedly at this mystery.
I was surprised to discover No Deadly Medicine is a debut novel as author Trudey Martin writes with a confidence I would usually associate with established authors. The style of writing is engaging and her choice of a ‘normal’ woman as the main character gives us the opportunity to consider how we would act in the same circumstances.
The ending tied up loose strands as well as setting up the potential for sequels (book 3 in the series is due to be published on 31st January 2021… I can’t wait!)
No Deadly Medicine is a fab read, thoroughly entertaining and a good bit of escapism during lockdown.
No Deadly Medicine book blurb:
One life is about to end…
One life is about to change forever…
What would you do if your life was suddenly broken apart?
An elderly gentleman drops his notebook.
Verity Spencer picks it up.
When she attempts to return it, she finds the old man shot and dying, his house ransacked. He begs her not to hand the notebook to the police and reluctantly, she agrees.
And there’s no one you can trust…
Unwittingly Verity gets drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with people who are not afraid to kill to protect their secrets. In order to stay one step ahead of them she needs to uncover what the scribblings in the notebook mean.
Verity is in above her head. She needs to find new levels of resolve and determination if she has any chance of finding out what is going on. And keeping herself alive.
About the author
Trudey Martin lives, works and writes in Lincoln, England. She has worked in social care for many years and likes to incorporate this experience into her writing. Trudey has previously written and directed plays and several academic articles but hadn’t until recently published a novel. Her first, No Deadly Medicine, introduces Verity Spencer as the protagonist. It is set in Lincoln and London and delves into the world of child trafficking.
Trudey has always enjoyed reading suspense, crime and mystery thrillers and wanted to create a resourceful heroine, who she says contains elements of herself, but is “much more confident and resilient than I would ever be!”
In her spare time Trudey likes to learn Spanish and travel to Spain. Perhaps, in a future book, Verity might head off to Spain.
Julia Blythe has a reputation for causing trouble after whistleblowing at her last employment. She moves to a new hospital and seems to be settling in well but her colleague Nathan Sloan becomes obsessed with her whilst also keeping career-ending secrets…
The Secret Within is quite a dark thriller with the added tension of a medical drama. The tagline is a little misleading as this plot twist doesn’t happen until two thirds of the way through the book. Before that point, we are introduced to the courageous and resilient Julia and her narcissist colleague Nathan.
The plot is delivered through 3 viewpoints: Julia, Nathan and their colleague Hamish who supports Nathan up to a point. This allows us to see various perspectives and get an emotional understanding to their actions, even as we despise them!
Gender roles and the continued strength of patriarchy are explored over the course of the book. Julia stands up for herself and is quite righteous to protect her patients. This had led to personal sexist attacks on her in the past and now she is concerned that a male agenda is taking over again.
I did have a little sympathy for Nathan as his emotional fixation with Julia does seem genuine. However, his repugnant behaviour soon dismiss any positive feelings towards him as he manipulates events in the book.
The Secret Within is a hugely entertaining thriller and did remind me of some plotlines from Holby City. I can see this book being made into a TV drama!
LUCY DAWSON Media Kit:
Title: THE SECRET WITHIN
Publication Day: JAN 26 2021
Author: Lucy Dawson
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Description:
It was supposed to be my family’s promising new start, but now it’s a nightmare I can’t wake up from…
I need the two men sitting opposite to trust me. My family’s happiness is riding on my getting this job. I smile – there’s no link between having a friendly face and being trustworthy, but humans are programmed to think there is. Even us doctors, who should know better.
They’ll know about my past from the newspapers – the court case, the threats, the lies that were told – but what’s important now are my children. This has to be the new start we so desperately need. An escape from my old job, my ex… and the scandal that nearly ruined me.
What I don’t know yet is that if I convince them to trust me, I’ll be putting my family in terrible danger. I’m trying to make things right, but this is when it starts to go very, very wrong…
Utterly twisty and completely unputdownable. This insanely gripping page-turner is perfect for anyone who tore through Friend Request, Gone Girl or My Lovely Wife.
Author Bio:
Lucy has been writing psychological suspense novels since 2008, when her first bestseller – His Other Lover – was published. Since then her work has been translated into numerous languages.
Her gripping books jump in at the deep end… the extraordinary things that can happen to ordinary couples, families and friends with devastating conclusions.
Author Social Media Links:
You can reach her at lucy@lucydawsonbooks.com or find her on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @lucydawsonbooks
