A teenager is kidnapped while her family are burned to death. Explosives have been used and the FBI are called in due to a link to a previous bombing in DC: the one that killed Kane’s wife. Can he stay professional and catch the killer who is determined to murder innocents…
Promises in the Dark in the 10th book in the Kane and Alton series. It would work as a standalone book but I think the character development and details in the previous books improve the reading experience.
The personal involvement of Kane in the case reminds us of the sadness he has been carrying: the murder of his wife has haunted him and now he needs to confront the past. This adds a layer of emotion that is more pronounced than in other books in the series.
The FBI characters we have been introduced to previously return in this book. Jenna struggles with outdated attitutudes towards women from both her colleages and suspects which adds a tension to the plot.
As well as the murders which are quite graphically described in forensic detail, there are rapes but these are not shown to the reader. Some of the scenes are quite horrific but the writing is so compelling that I found Promises in the Dark impossible to put down.
I had no idea of the culprit so enjoyed the exploration of the suspects’ motives. There are some chapters written from the killer’s perspective but no clues are given away!
DK HOOD Media Kit:
Title: PROMISES IN THE DARK
Author: DK Hood
PUBLICATION DAY: 25/11/20
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Description:
The young girl pushes against the backseat of the family sedan, fighting to free herself from the crude ties restricting her hands and feet. As the car speeds towards the edge of town, she looks back at her family home, and watches in horror as it is suddenly engulfed in a mass of flames. Trembling with fear, she turns towards the driver and hears only laughter. She knows that the worst is yet to come…
Detective Jenna Alton surveys the charred remains of the large suburban home, stopping to pause at the three lifeless bodies of the Woods family. Jenna knows she’s looking for a serial killer, but her priority is finding the missing teenage daughter last seen on the night of the inferno.
Days later, Sophie Wood’s body is discovered floating in a shallow pool of crystal-clear water—known locally as Dead Man’s Drop—but Jenna still doesn’t know who would target the quiet family in such a brutal attack.
Delving into the family’s past, she makes a shocking discovery—a link between the killer and someone connected to her deputy David Kane. If Jenna is right and the killer is back and seeking revenge, then she must act fast to keep her deputy safe.
When another girl is taken, Jenna and David follow the trail into a network of underground caves on the outskirts of town. With little time before the killer claims his next victim, they race into the pitch-black tunnels, unsure whether they have just walked into the killer’s trap. Can they find the girl in time and escape the caves without the killer chasing them down?
If you like pulse-racing thrillers from Lisa Regan, Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot, you will love this gripping new book from USA Today bestselling author D.K. Hood.
**Each Kane and Alton book can be read as part of the series or as a standalone**
Author Bio:
I’ve always had a wicked sense of humour and was the kid who told the ghost stories around the campfire. I am lucky to have family all over the world and have spent many vacations in places from Paris France to Montana USA and Australia. I use the wonderful memories from these visits to enhance my stories.
My interest in the development of forensic science to solve crime goes back many years. I enjoy writing crime, mystery and thrillers. With many stories, waiting for me to write I’ll look forward to sharing many spine-tingling stories with you.
D.K. Hood is an active member of International Thriller Writers.
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It is the first Christmas since Lady Eleanor Swift inherited her uncle’s estate. She is determined to keep up with the traditions and invites the inhabitants of the local village to her home for festive activities and the annual fun run. But one man dies during the race and foul play is suspected so Eleanor is embroiled in another murder investigation…
Conrad Canning is not well liked so there are a whole host of suspects who may have wanted him dead. But then another more popular member of the community is also poisoned and Eleanor suspects her uncle’s death may have been suspicious too. A lot of investigating is required!
Eleanor and her butler Clifford continue to have a wonderful rapport as he wittily approaches every situation. She still dreads fulfilling the function as lady of the manor especially mixing with others from the upper class but Clifford helps her to negotiate these social situations.
The continuing romantic triangle of Eleanor, Lancelot and Inspector Seldon sees her feeling stronger towards the latter in this book after the former’s behaviour in the last one. However, both men continue to underestimate the wonderful Eleanor!
The setting of 1920s Christmas was lovely as it allowed us to see Eleanor’s kindness towards the villagers, furthering her covering medical costs in the previous book. She disdains her social position yet uses it to help others, including pulling rank with Seldon to keep her servants from suspicion.
Murder in the Snow is an enjoyable and cosy murder mystery with the classical feel of an Agatha Christie novel.
Book Description:
An English Christmas has mince pies, cheerful carols, a twinkling tree… and a murder? Thank goodness Lady Swift is on the scene!
Winter, 1920. Amateur sleuth Lady Eleanor Swift is feeling festive. She is playing host to the entire village at Henley Hall for gifts, games and gingerbread. She’s also purchased perfect presents for each of her household – not forgetting the biggest bone in the butcher’s shop for her partner in crime, Gladstone the bulldog – and is looking forward to celebrating her first English country Christmas.
As snowflakes fall, Eleanor is cheering on contestants in the traditional Christmas fun run in the grounds of the Hall. But tragedy strikes when one of the runners drops dead at the finish line. Dashing Detective Seldon is convinced it’s just a heart attack, but Eleanor isn’t so sure. When she finds a rather distinctive key where the man fell, Eleanor knows she’ll never rest until she finds out the truth about what happened in her own home.
Next the vicar is taken ill with what looks like poison and Eleanor starts to wonder if the two cases are linked. When someone tries to frame her by planting poisoned berries in her own kitchen, she knows speed is of the essence. But the entire village was at Henley Hall for the festivities and Eleanor has enough suspects to stuff a town full of turkeys. Can she nail the true killer and clear her name in time for Christmas?
Christmas won’t be complete without it! A festive treat for fans of Agatha Christie, TE Kinsey and Lee Strauss.
Author Bio:
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.
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TRIGGER WARNING: this book contains graphic detail of Holocaust atrocities
A female Jewish inmate is discovered to be a famous violinist and is invited to lead the women’s orchestra. Alma fights to save as many inmates as possible from Nazi torture but danger for them all is never far away…
The Violinist of Auschwitz is brutal and often made me put the book down due to the horrors included. However, the hope for humanity, a hint of humour, and love cannot be extinguished and shines through the despair. The struggle for survival, the detachment required to cope with the awful conditions and tragic cruelty, human nature at both its best and worst, all combine to make this an intensely compelling book.
Alma is a remarkable lead character. Brave and bold towards her captors, protective of her charges, determined to help others and offer a glimmer of hope amid the danger. We follow her journey of incredulity that people can treat others with such contempt and cruelty. Her clarity of purpose never leaves her despite the danger she put herself in by being a focal point.
The tension and fear is palpable at all times, yet Alma finds love with a Hungarian composer in the camp. This plot development allows a brief respite from the suffering which is heartwarming but the anticipation that something dreadful is imminent never leaves the reader.
The research for this book is brilliant and fact and fiction blur beautifully. Many of the characters, including Alma herself, are real and I have seen some of them speak in documentaries or on the news. This realism makes the emotional fictionalisation of the graphic content even more terrible.
The Violinist of Auschwitz is horrific but stunning. Hard to enjoy, hauntingly beautiful, impossible to forget.
Media Pack
Author: Ellie Midwood
Book: The Violinist of Auschwitz
Publication Day: Nov 18 2020
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Description:
Auschwitz, 1943: In the depths of hell, can hope rise? And can love triumph over hatred?
Based on the unforgettable true story of Alma Rosé, The Violinist of Auschwitz brings to life one of history’s most fearless, inspiring and courageous heroines. Alma’s bravery saved countless lives, bringing hope to those who had forgotten its meaning…
In Auschwitz, every day is a fight for survival. Alma is inmate 50381, the number tattooed on her skin in pale blue ink. She is cooped up with thousands of others, torn from loved ones, trapped in a maze of barbed wire. Every day people disappear, never to be seen again.
This tragic reality couldn’t be further from Alma’s previous life. An esteemed violinist, her performances left her audiences spellbound. But when the Nazis descend on Europe, none of that can save her…
When the head of the women’s camp appoints Alma as the conductor of the orchestra, performing for prisoners trudging to work as well as the highest-ranking Nazis, Alma refuses: “they can kill me but they won’t make me play”. Yet she soon realizes the power this position offers: she can provide starving girls with extra rations and save many from the clutches of death.
This is how Alma meets Miklos, a talented pianist. Surrounded by despair, they find happiness in joint rehearsals, secret notes, and concerts they give side by side––all the while praying that this will one day end. But in Auschwitz, the very air is tainted with loss, and tragedy is the only certainty… In such a hopeless place, can their love survive?
This devastatingly heartbreaking yet beautifully hopeful tale proves that even in the darkest of days, love can prevail––and give you something to live for. Fans of The Choice, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Orphan Train will lose their hearts to this magnificent tale.
Author Bio:
Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, The Girl from Berlin.’ Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents.
In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and their Chihuahua named Shark Bait.
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Luce Nardini travels to Italy to discover the truth about her mother’s family who she has had no contact with until she used social media to find her cousin. Mathilde is thrilled to reunite the family and Luce is excited to finally meet her grandmother. Her uncle Carlo is determined to shut her out but then the power of nature also tries to destroy the happy reunion…
The Lost Village is a family drama with historical secrets at its heart. Luce’s grandmother Clelia reveals the truth over the course of the novel, right up until the end. Her flashback sections are her telling her granddaughters the story of her life. The mystery of Carlo’s animosity towards Luce and her mother are only revealed in the final chapter.
Luce is dealing with her own conflicting emotions in the present day. She is divorcing Ethan and now has more time on her hands as her son Eli is grown up. There is the hint of a romance in Italy but events take over. I enjoyed, and could identify with, the scenario of Luce acting as a daughter and mother, being able to see both perspectives.
I was swept away in the mystery of the plot and the vivid descriptions of Italy in the past and present. The characters of Luce and Clelia are likeable and I found myself hoping for a happy ending for the family after years of separation. The actual ending was dramatic and heartbreaking, although perhaps a little unrealistic.
Overall, The Lost Village was an emotional story of love, loss and hope.
The Lost Village book description:
1945, Italy. Two sisters give birth to two little girls on the same night, huddled under blankets, deep in the black woods that surround the village of Bosconero. They hold their babies close as footsteps approach. If they make even the slightest sound, the German soldiers will find them…
2006. Luce Nardini searches the cobbled streets of a remote Italian village for a house with a faded blue door. Since her only child left home, and with her estranged husband more distant than ever, she’s been completely untethered. Discovering why her mother cut all contact with her family and the village she loved feels like Luce’s last hope at understanding who she is.
Inside the house, she’s relieved to find the grandmother she never knew living out her final days. With a longing look at an ornate wooden box on her nightstand, her grandmother is just beginning to tell the heart-wrenching story of a little village ravaged by war, and why Luce’s mother swore never to return, when then the unthinkable happens: an earth-shattering disaster that shakes the little village of Bosconero to its core.
Feeling more lost than ever before, Luce fears that the secrets of her past have been buried forever. Her only hope is to win back the trust of the small community and find her grandmother’s little wooden box amongst the rubble of the village.
But will the surprise arrival of the husband she thought she’d lost help sew Luce’s family back together, or tear it apart for good? And will anything have prepared her for the devastating betrayal she finds hidden inside the box…?
An unputdownable historical novel about the secrets we keep to protect the ones we love by the author of million-copy Amazon No 1. bestseller, Watch Over Me. Perfect for anyone who loves Fiona Valpy, Lily Graham or The Letter by Kathryn Hughes.
Author Bio:
Daniela Sacerdoti is the author of the bestselling Glen Avich series which has sold over one million copies in ebook to date, Sacerdoti’s debut novel Watch Over Me was named the eighth bestselling Kindle book of all time in 2015, when she was also ranked as the eleventh top-selling Kindle author. She lives in a small village in the middle of nowhere, with her Scottish husband, two children, a Cocker spaniel and a foundling kitten (who was definitely a witch in a past life).
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Nurse Kate Palmer is called to Seaview Grange to visit former opera star Edina Martinelli. Days later Edina is dead, probably poisoned by her medication. There are a whole host of suspects but the lead officer even accuses Kate! Can Kate and her retired cop beau Woody discover the true killer…?
A Body in Seaview Grange is the sequel to A Body in the Village Hall and sees Kate Palmer using her natural inquisitiveness and people skills to investigate a death. Her job as a nurse gives her ample opportunity to visit other characters who open up to her due to her kind nature.
Edina has made plenty of enemies among the retirement apartment inhabitants so there are lots of suspects for Kate to investigate. Could it be the stepson who needs cash quickly, a jealous wife or someone fed up with her opera singing?
The murder is not graphically described and the traditional amateur detective style is reminiscent of Agatha Christie who I love. Kate calls upon retired detective Woody Forrest again to help her negotiate the awkwardness with the police as well as further develop their romance.
Kate’s sister Angie is still causing concern due to her alcoholism and Kate is worried about her lover Fergal who may be taking advantage of her sister’s desperation for attention. Kate’s relationship with Woody also offers an extra emotional component to the plot and characters.
A Body in Seaview Grange is an enjoyable murder mystery with a very likeable lead character.
Book Description:
Practice nurse Kate Palmer is ready for some peace and quiet in her little Cornish village, but there’s soon to be a murder on her doorstep…
Kate’s retirement in Cornwall hasn’t quite gone as planned – Lavender Cottage is in need of substantial repairs and her sister Angie’s fondness for gin does rather stretch the purse-strings.
So when Kate is asked to do some nursing at the luxury retirement flats in Seaview Grange, she jumps at the chance. The old Victorian house has stunning views of the sea and the retirees are a peaceful bunch. That is, until Edina Martinelli, a glamorous ex-opera singer, is found poisoned in her home.
Edina’s death is ruled an overdose by Digoxin, the same medication she had been on for years. But Kate is sure the woman she met was not suicidal, and with the reputation of her practice on the line, she decides to do some digging. Luckily she’s got the newly retired Detective Inspector Woody Forrest to help her…
It’s not long before Kate discovers evidence of foul play, and there’s no shortage of suspects. Was it the besotted vicar? The ill-tempered stepson? Or perhaps Edina’s neighbour finally had enough of her constant warbling. It seems everyone had a motive, but who amongst them had the stomach for murder? And will they kill again?
If you love murder mysteries by Agatha Christie, Faith Martin or Joy Ellis, then this page-turning novel will have you reading late into the night!
Author Bio:
Aged 18, Dee arrived in London from Scotland and typed her way round the West End for a couple of years before joining BOAC (forerunner of British Airways) in Passenger Services for 2 years and then as a stewardess for 8 years.
She has worked in Market Research, Sales and at the Thames TV Studios when they had the franchise.
Dee has since relocated to Cornwall, where she spent 10 years running B&Bs, and only began writing when she was over 70!
Married twice, she has one son and two grandsons.
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