TRIGGER WARNING: domestic abuse
Lena is adjusting to a change in circumstances. Her boyfriend cheated on her and she was forced to find a new home. Things don’t run smoothly and something sinister is going on in her new street with poison pen letters and random acts of vandalism that start when she moves in. Will Lena be the next target or is she to blame?
Don’t Let Her In is a psychological thriller set in the UK.
Goodness, I felt extremes of emotion with this book! Gareth has treated Lena shabbily and her best friend Kate takes her for granted. But Lena allows herself to be treated like a doormat so my sympathy was limited. There are other despicable characters in the book as we meet Lena’s new neighbours.
The book is written from multiple points of view in the first person so we can see emotions and actions clearly. However the majority of the book centres on Lena. I don’t know if the varied first person perspectives were necessary although young Jolyon’s narrative was absolutely heartbreaking as he tries to make sense of his father’s violence.
There are some huge twists and I did guess them as there are some big hints. The plot has several strands to bring together (poison pen letters, Lena’s personal life, a murder, her neighbours’ secrets) and I thought everything resolved although my credulity was stretched considerably.
Don’t Let Her In is an enjoyable psychological thriller about secrets and lies in a small community.
Don’t Let Her In
The letters drop onto every doormat…
Lena just moved to Mandalay Close. She needed a new start, since her boyfriend cheated her out of the home and happy-ever-after she’d believed they were always going to share.
But on the day Lena moves in, letters begin to arrive for all her new neighbours. Letters that promise to expose everyone’s deepest, darkest secrets. Every house has received one – except for Lena’s.
Someone clearly wants to implicate her, to ruin her new life and turn everyone against her. She’s made an enemy, but who, and why? Everyone seems so nice, so trustworthy. So normal.
Except for one. And as bad things begin to happen and her life rapidly spins out of control, Lena finds herself cursing the day she moved to Mandalay Close. She can’t believe this is happening to her, because she’s not a bad person, is she? Even though she does have secrets of her own, secrets that she’s not willing to share with anyone…
A completely jaw-dropping psychological thriller, perfect for fans of K.L. Slater, Lisa Jewell and Sue Watson.
Author Bio –
Joanne Ryan is the author of several well-reviewed psychological thrillers. Previously published by Tamarillas Press, she lives in Wiltshire. Her first thriller for Boldwood is Keep Your Friends Close.
Social Media Links –
It is December 1999 and the world waits with trepidation for the new year and millennium bug. Alex can’t help using the Finding Machine to help save the life of a teen one icy night. But it has serious consequences for her job and relationship…
The Millennium Affair is the sequel to The Finding Machine. There are mentions of events in the previous book and the relationship development between the characters but no major spoilers (read the first book: it’s fab!)
Alex is keen to use the Finding Machine for good but is fearful that the machine will be taken away from her so can only use it in secret. However the Millennium Bug may cause the machine to glitch and some of the ageing parts need replacing. She needs to decide who she can trust as scientists insist she hand over the machine to them. Her father entrusted the machine to her but, now she has fulfilled his mission, she wants to use it for good.
Alex loses her job for breaking protocol over the missing person rescue. However, she gets an opportunity to join DC Henry Longhurst as he investigates cold cases. Her involvement and use of the machine locates a body and the pair are soon searching for a killer who has struck again in the intervening years. Alex needs to reassess her romantic relationship. Antony is acting oddly and she doesn’t feel supported. She is attracted to Henry and he believes in her but she can’t be totally honest with him about the machine.
I was totally invested in this story, transported back to those fearful yet exciting days as we approached the year 2000. The murder mystery element of the book as well as the personal life of Alex were both engaging. There are lots of twists as the plot progresses and I had no idea which way things would lead. Alex has huge dilemmas to contend with and I enjoyed her thought processes as she tries to stay true to herself and her father’s legacy.
The Millennium Affair is a delightful book, and I loved the plot and characters as well as the ‘historical’ setting (!) of 25 years ago. I am privileged to know the author (who is lovely!) and this book is even better than the first, so congratulations Lucy!
Book blurb:
TWO LOVE RIVALS… A GLITCH IN THE FINDING MACHINE… AND A KILLER COLD CASE
December 1999.
Alex Martin has put the Finding Machine into storage. All she wants is a quiet life. But when a panicked teen phones for help on the coldest night of the year, Alex dusts off the machine and breaks every rule in the book to save him. In an instant, her life is thrown into chaos, she’s fired from the job she loves, and her relationship with Antony is stretched to breaking point.
The rescue attracts the attention of Detective Henry Longhurst, who is intrigued by Alex’s method of finding people. He wants her help to catch an elusive murderer who keeps changing his identity. But there’s a problem—the finding machine is glitching and could stop working any moment. With the new Millennium around the corner, Alex must race against the clock to fix her heart and find the faceless villain before he strikes again. Tick Tock.
Sara and Lainey always planned to take another trip together but life and then death gets in the way. Lainey dies and leaves money and her ashes to Sara with specific instructions to scatter them in Italy. Can Sara enjoy her freedom or will reality drag her down…?
Escape to the Rome Apartment is the third book in the series and I have previously read and reviewed the first book, The Rome Apartment. Some of the characters feature in this book but there are no major plot spoilers.
Ooh I was annoyed! Poor Sara has a job she hates and a family who take her for granted. She has split up from her husband but they still live together and she skivvies around after him and her grown up sons. Of course, I fully believe that people will only treat you badly if you let them and this is a theme that threads through the book as Sara realises she should have more power and freedom in her relationships.
Most of the book is set in the present to show Sara’s experience in Italy (she doesn’t move to Rome or the apartment until halfway so I was starting to think the title didn’t fit!) There are some chapters to show Sara’s past relationship with an Italian man and this helps us to understand how she ended up stuck with Declan, accepting second best.
Ronnie and Marina remain a force to be reckoned with from the earlier books. Their insight and determination reinforces how essential it is to grab every second of life, be true to yourself and value what is important. I felt so sorry for Sara that it takes the death of her friend for her to truly live herself.
Escape to the Rome Apartment is a light hearted but deeply profound book about making the most of life’s opportunities.
Book Description:
Sara’s eyes fill with tears as she reads the letter, her last words from her dearest friend: ‘I’m buying you your freedom. You don’t need to ask your husband’s permission and you have to put yourself first for once. Have an incredible adventure before it’s too late for both of us…’
Sara has lost her zest for life. Trapped sharing a house with her soon-to-be-ex-husband, with grown-up children who still need her but take her for granted, working in a job where her boss bullies her, the final straw is the heartbreak of losing her beloved best friend Lainey.
But Lainey’s death could be the beginning of Sara’s new life… as the last gift Lainey gives to her friend is a sum of money and a request: that Sara travels to Italy, the scene of the pair’s youthful adventures, and scatters Lainey’s ashes on the beach at Portofino.
For once, Sara decides to be brave. She quits her job, tells her family they can manage without her, and sets off on the trip of a lifetime. Swept up by new friends and relishing the freedom of being away from home in beautiful Florence, Sara finds herself drawn to Carlo. Handsome and charming, he is everything Sara finds it so hard to be: carefree, impulsive, living in the moment without worrying about the future.
And then Sara sees something she shouldn’t… and discovers a secret about Carlo that makes her question everything she thought she knew. Stuck at a crossroads in her life and her travels, she can’t face returning home yet, but nor is she brave enough to continue the challenge that Lainey set her. And then she meets an English woman who tells her about an apartment in Rome, that could just be the answer to everything…
Return to the sunny streets of beautiful Rome with this heart-warming and romantic story about discovering your true path in life. Perfect for fans of Jill Mansell, Elin Hilderbrand and Sheila O’Flanagan.
Author Bio:
Kerry Fisher is a million-copy bestselling author. She writes women’s contemporary fiction, is a USA Today bestseller and her books have been translated into twelve languages. She was born in Peterborough, studied French and Italian at the University of Bath and spent several years living in Spain, Italy and Corsica. After returning to England to work as a journalist, she eventually abandoned real life stories for the secrets of fictional families. She lives in Surrey with her husband, and a naughty Lab/Schnauzer called Poppy, who joins in the huge dances of joy when her young adult children come home.
Buy Link:
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Morwenna Mutton has mixed emotions when a theatre company arrives in Seal Bay. Her granddaughter gets a role in the production which is exciting but the unpopular lead actor starts dating her mother. Then he dies on stage, apparently of natural causes, but Morwenna suspects one of his enemies of murder…
Bloodshed on the Boards is the second book to feature amateur sleuth Morwenna in Cornwall. I have previously read and reviewed the first book in the series, Foul Play at Seal Bay. There are mentions of events and outcomes from the first book but no major spoilers.
Morwenna adores her family so is thrilled when Elowen gets to perform on stage. She is less thrilled that Daniel Kitto is dating her mum Lamorna especially after he almost ran her over on their first meeting! She isn’t the only one who finds Daniel a bit jarring and after his death she believes that someone killed him.
There are a host of suspects and motives after Morwenna ‘borrows’ some evidence and discovers that Daniel was murdered. She can’t help launching into her own investigation: I think she enjoys the sense of purpose it gives her as well as the opportunity to find closure for her grieving mother.
I liked the family focus of the book and the strong relationships across the generations. Elowen’s obsession with getting a dog did start to irritate me a little but seemed an accurate depiction of a small child’s relentless nagging! Morwenna and her ex Ruan get along well to support the family dynamic but there are unresolved issues as both try to move on romantically.
Bloodshed on the Boards is an enjoyable cosy murder mystery. I have to mention the Cornish landscape and culture which thread through the plot, characters and dialogue, vividly bringing the book to life.
Bloodshed on the Boards
There is excitement in the air as the travelling theatre arrives in Seal Bay.
When The Spriggan Travelling Theatre Company arrives in Seal Bay to perform a Cornish version of King Arthur the locals flock to be entertained. But for Morwenna Mutton, sexagenarian librarian, wild swimming enthusiast and amateur sleuth, the theatre brings intrigue too. Actor and director Daniel Kitto is not the most popular member of the cast and unbeknownst to him, his role of Uther Pendragon on the opening night is to be his swansong.
In front of a horrified audience, he collapses during the dying moments of the performance in a pool of fake blood, and although the police are content that the causes of his death are natural, Morwenna isn’t so sure. And once it becomes clear that there are a number of people who stand to gain from Daniel’s death, Morwenna’s investigation takes a dangerous turn.
If you love Miss Marple and The Thursday Murder Club, then you’ll love The Morwenna Mutton mysteries.
Author Bio –
Judy Leigh is the USA Today bestselling author of The Old Girls’ Network and Five French Hens and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.
Social Media Links –
June Bennett is a successful businesswoman. She is found dead by two of her employees, murdered by hanging and dressed in a 1930s costume. Drake and his team set to work but are interrupted by the discovery of another murder scene…
Looking Good Dead is the 12th book in the DI Drake series. I have read and reviewed books 10 and 11: Time To Die and Stone Cold Dead. Each book works as a standalone but personal and professional relationships have developed over the series.
June made enemies across her wide business interests as well as in her personal life. There are plenty of suspects for Drake and his team to investigate and pinning down motive is tricky. The killer uses the media to publicise his murders and directly targets Drake who fears for the safety of his family.
Most of the book is written to show the police investigation. There are some chapters written from the killer’s first person perspective and this adds to the tension as we witness his schemes and actions.
As I’ve said in my earlier reviews, I really like Drake and his stable family life. He has just got back from honeymoon and his new wife supports him completely rather than begrudging his dedication to his work. The Welsh landscape and culture underpins the plot and I felt immersed in the events and characters’ lives.
Looking Good Dead is an enjoyable police procedural with an easy-to-like lead detective.
Looking Good Dead (Inspector Drake Book 12)
Can DI Drake uncover the mysterious connection between two unconnected victims dressed in 1930s attire before more deaths?
Two startled shop assistants find the body of well-known businesswoman June Bennett hanging in a shop premises she owns. Drake and his team immediately suspect her death is linked to the parties she organised where revellers wore 1930s style clothes.
As suspicion falls upon her husband, the investigation takes an unexpected turn when the team uncovers ‘spin-off’ parties of a more scandalous nature. With the sudden death of an unrelated bank manager, Inspector Drake faces the formidable task of establishing a motive that links both victims.
Tension escalates as the killer taunts Drake with chilling photographs from the scene of the second murder, attracting a deluge of media attention. Yet, Drake is determined to stay resolute, drawing upon the echoes of his past battles?
Looking Good Dead is the twelfth book in the dynamic Inspector Drake crime series. If you like police procedurals, clever mysteries, and gripping page-turners, then you’ll love Stephen Puleston’s unnerving whodunit.
STEPHEN PULESTON
Stephen Puleston was born in Holyhead/Caergybi, Ynys Môn, in Wales. After leaving university he trained and practised as a lawyer.
He is now a full time author presently writing two crime series. Both are based in Wales, a country rich in history and spectacular scenery.
The Inspector Ian Drake books involve a detective inspector based in North Wales, the area where he was born and raised, who faces his own demons while solving gruesome murders.
The Inspector John Marco series follows the adventures of John Marco an inspector based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. He’s from a Welsh-Italian family catching the killers at large in the bustling city of Cardiff.
All the novels in the Inspector Drake and Marco series are available as audiobooks. All are narrated by experienced professional actors.
Stephen lives with his family in Ynys Môn/Anglesey.
