1923, Pearl Glenham and her father are invited to a stately home by the sea. Pearl believes her father is being blackmailed but their mysterious host isn’t present to welcome them. She goes for a swim and hits her head in a cove before returning to the house, enjoying dinner and then being killed in a fire. She then wakes again in the cove and repeatedly tries to save herself from death…
At The Stroke Of Midnight is a timeloop book in an historical setting.
Pearl becomes stuck in a timeloop, reliving the evening at the country house which culminates in a fire or other means of death. She tries to find ways to outwit the killer but they change their plan to ensure success. She also finds the freedom to escape her controlling father alongside Ellery Brown who becomes aware of her situation.
I felt quite sorry for Pearl. Her mother died giving birth to her and her father treats her like a servant. She is treated dismissively by the other guests but makes a surprising connection with the male servant which develops over the course of the book. Now she dies in a terrible fire but is then caught in a timeloop to save herself and maybe the other guests (who are awful!)
I enjoyed the mystery of the timeloop and Pearl’s struggles to survive. Many of the characters are acting suspiciously or inappropriately which served to make me like Pearl even more. There are secrets to be revealed and the tension simmers gently. The historical and geographical element supported the plot and characters and I felt they had been researched well.
At The Stroke Of Midnight is an enjoyable mystery with a clever timeloop feature.
At the Stroke of Midnight
It’s 1923 and in a decade that promises excitement and liberation, Pearl Glenham and her father are invited to a mysterious country house party on the Dorset coast, by a total stranger.
Her father claims not to have any prior association with Highcliffe House, but upon arrival, it is apparent that he has a shared history with several of the guests, although he won’t admit it. Belatedly discovering that her father was blackmailed into attending, Pearl’s worries are compounded when their host fails to arrive…
Intimidated by everyone at the party, she escapes to the nearby cove and stumbles upon a mysterious mercury clock hidden in a cave. This strange encounter sets in motion a series of events that will culminate in an horrific house fire, claiming the lives of all the guests, including Pearl herself.
But then Pearl wakes up back in the cave, seemingly destined never to live past midnight. She can repeat the day. But can she change its outcome?
Author Bio –
Jenni Keer is a history graduate who lives in the Suffolk countryside. Her lifelong passion for reading became a passion for writing and she had two contemporary romance novels published in 2019. She has now embraced her love of the past to write twisty, turny historicals, and The Legacy of Halesham Hall was shortlisted for the Romantic Historical Novel of the Year in 2023.
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A woman wakes, confused and disorientated. She doesn’t now her name or recognise her surroundings. She is cared for by a housekeeper but has no mempory of her husband or home or even the last few years of her life. She believes she is being kept prisoner and finds evidence that her husband’s first wife may have been murdered…
The Other Wife is an intense and uncomfortable psychological thriller.
The opening chapter had me intrigued but was difficult to comprehend. The timeline then goes back 5 days to show the events immediately before the crisis. Again, there was a lot of confusion due to the narrator’s own mental state.
Initially I didn’t like this book. The woman’s overwhelming fear and confusion was quite unpleasant. The big twist was easy to guess but I couldn’t put the book down and liked it much more once I’d finished it and could see the concept as a whole.
The writing style is vivid and I was utterly absorbed in the lives of the characters. It is written in the first person from a perspective that is very unreliable. There are strong echoes of ‘mad wife’ tropes from Rebecca and Jane Eyre but the book is very modern.
The Other Wife is vividly written but often uncomfortable, powerfully emotional but almost overwhelmingly so.
The Other Wife
The wife is always the last to know…
What if everything you believed was a lie?
Your life…your marriage…your very existence.
What if the person lying to you is your husband, the man who claims to love you more than anything in the world?
Isolated in his remote Scottish ancestral home on the pretext that you are psychologically fragile and recovering from a breakdown, this home has become a prison. As the days slip by in a haze of confusion and a cocktail of drugs administered by a loyal housekeeper, you begin to piece together the fragments of your life and stumble on a terrifying secret.
What if you discover you weren’t his first wife, and nor will you be the last?
That he plans to replace you, to make you disappear – just like the first wife.
Just how far would you go to save your life and prove your husband’s a murderer?
The new gripping read, perfect for the fans of Louise Candlish and Adele Parks
Author Bio –
Danielle Ramsay is the Scottish author of nine novels. The latest three are standalone psychological thrillers; the first was The Perfect Husband, followed by My Best Friend’s Secret. The third standalone is the psychological suspense, The Other Wife, published in March 2024 and perfect for fans of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.
Before writing psychological thrillers, Danielle wrote five Jack Brady crime novels set in a small seaside resort in the North East of England. These were followed by a dark thriller, The Last Cut.
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Julia’s ex husband Peter is getting married to his new partner Christopher but a death after the wedding ceremony leaves one of the grooms as a suspect…
A Country Wedding Murder is the 5th book in the Julia Bird cosy murder mystery series. There are no major spoilers but there are some mentions of outcomes from earlier books as they refer to peripheral characters.
It’s a slightly odd feeling for Julia as she is happy for her ex and delighted her daughter has come home. Luckily she has her own relationship with doctor Sean, but the wedding does bring some mixed emotions and thoughts about the past. This is quickly overshadowed when the caterer is found dead in his refrigerated van after Christopher threatened him. Julia wants to support him so begins to investigate.
The case isn’t straight forward and Julia uncovers a range of suspects and motives which is heightened when another body is found. The style of writing is easy to read and there is little forensic detail. I enjoyed meeting other characters again to give Julia and the setting some added depth. Meanwhile the personal relationships strengthen our support of Julia as she proceeds to investigate.
A Country Wedding Murder is an enjoyable cosy murder mystery.
Book Description:
The joyous crowd applauds as the happy couple strides down the aisle. This Cotswolds country wedding has everything – friends and family, beautiful flowers and… murder?
When Julia Bird’s ex-husband Peter and his lovely partner Christopher decide to get married in Berrywick, Julia is delighted – after all, who doesn’t love a country wedding? Little does Julia know that normally calm and collected Christopher will turn into a full-on Groomzilla – and that by the end of the night, someone will end up dead.
The morning after the big day, the jolly nuptial mood turns grim when Julia discovers the lifeless body of the caterer, Desmond. Someone locked him in the cold truck and the poor man froze to death. Now looking for a murderer, all eyes are on Christopher who, mid-tantrum, had publicly threatened to kill him. Convinced that Christopher is innocent, Julia vows to find the real culprit.
Julia soon discovers Desmond had a long list of enemies as she races against the clock to clear Christopher’s name. Could his death be the work of the respected wedding planner who was heard exchanging choice words with the victim? Or perhaps it was his wife – ‘til death do them part – who didn’t shed a single tear at his funeral?
But just when Julia thinks she’s cracked the case, her prime suspect is found dead with a knife in their back. Can Julia find the murderer before they strike again?
An utterly gripping, charming cosy mystery set in the English countryside. Fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands will love the Julia Bird Mysteries.
Author Bio:
Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats.
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Another book that I read 15-20 years ago but have now revisited in audiobook format. Huge love for Penelope Keith and her mellifluous tones!
Agatha Raisin takes early retirement from her PR job in London and moves to the little village of Carsley. She throws herself into country life including entering the quiche compeition. Except she cheats and buys a quiche before the judge ends up dead…
Agatha Raisin and The Quiche of Death is the first book in a series that now has over 30 books!
Agatha’s life has changed dramatically but she is still quite formidable. She finds friendships a bit tricky due to her forthright nature so is desperate to get off to a good start in her new village. This fails miserably when she cheats in a quiche making competition and the judge is murdered. She becomes the prime suspect and has to prove her innocence which she sets about with gusto.
It is difficult to like Agatha initially as she is quite prickly. However I also admired her determination and think the social commentary about age and gender are important and relevant despite this book now being decades old. The narration by Penelope Keith is wonderful and brings the English countryside and village idiosyncracies to life. There is a lighthearted tone to the writing style and I enjoyed Agatha’s dramas with a wry smile.
I look forward to revisiting and continuing this cosy murder mystery series and reacquaint myself with Agatha and her escapades.
Book blurb
Putting all her eggs in one basket, Agatha Raisin gives up her successful PR firm, sells her London flat, and samples a taste of early retirement in the quiet village of Carsely. Bored, lonely and used to getting her way, she enters a local baking contest. Then her recipe for social advancement sours when Judge Cummings-Browne not only snubs her entry–but falls over poisoned dead!
1945, Tasha is separated from her mother when Lydia is forced to go on the march from Auschwitz. Can the pair reunite against all odds…?
The War Orphan is an historical novel about the situation at the end of WW2.
Auschwitz is set to be liberated and the Nazis force the adults to march away from the site. Children are left behind, including 16 year old Tasha. In the aftermath of the war, Tasha tries to find her mum but is unsuccessful. She is offered, and accepts, the opportunity to move to England but she refuses to identify herself as an orphan.
I have read lots of book about life in the Nazi camps so it was interesting to read a fresh perspective about the situation straight after liberation. The book is written to show the viewpoints of Tasha, Lydia and Alice. Lydia and Tasha are relentless in their search for each other, defying the odds. Alice is a Jew who escaped the Nazi regime and now cares for children in the UK. She doesn’t have a family of her own so this offers her the chance to fulfil her maternal instincts by caring for orphans.
The emotion of families being torn apart and the continued suffering even after liberation was heartbreaking at times. I can’t imagine the mental strength that Lydia and Tasha need to stay hopeful after everything they have faced under the Nazi regime. It is so important that this period of history isn’t forgotten and the long term psychological effects are remembered.
The War Orphan is an emotional historical novel.
Book Description:
1945, Auschwitz: I stumble out of the gates, tightly grasping the hands of two smaller children. Hunger swirls in my stomach and the barren landscape swims before my eyes. I can barely believe it. We’re free. We survived. But what happens now…
Sixteen-year-old Tasha Ancel turns to take one last look at the imposing place that stole her freedom and her childhood. She has no idea how she continued to live when so many others did not. For the first time in months, her heart beats with hope for her future and that of the smaller children who cling to her now.
Tasha was torn from her mother’s arms by an SS guard days before the gates of Auschwitz opened. Now she only has a lock of her mother’s fiery hair. Desperate to be reunited, Tasha asks everyone she meets if they’ve seen a woman with flame-red hair. But with so many people trying to locate their loved ones in the chaotic aftermath of war finding her feels like an impossible task.
Officially an orphan, Tasha is given the chance to start a new life in the Lake District in England. She knows her mother would want her to take the opportunity but she can’t bear the thought of leaving Poland without her.
Tasha must make a heartbreaking decision: will she stay in war-ravaged Europe and cling on to the hope that the person she loves most in the world is alive, or take a long journey across the sea towards an uncertain future?
An absolutely unputdownable and heart-wrenching WW2 story of survival against all odds and learning to live and love again. Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Orphan Train and The Nightingale will be gripped.
Author Bio:
Anna Stuart lives in Derbyshire with her campervan-mad husband, two hungry teenagers and a slightly loopy dog. She was hooked on books from the moment she first opened one in her cot so is thrilled to now have several of her own to her name. Having studied English literature at Cambridge university, she took an enjoyable temporary trip into the ‘real world’ as a factory planner, before returning to her first love and becoming an author. History has also always fascinated her. Living in an old house with a stone fireplace, she often wonders who sat around it before her and is intrigued by how actively the past is woven into the present, something she likes to explore in her novels. Anna loves the way that writing lets her ‘try on’ so many different lives, but her favourite part of the job is undoubtedly hearing from readers. You can reach her on Facebook @annastuartauthor or Twitter @annastuartbooks.
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