Susan has moved house after an experience with a murder. Now, as she settles in, she is in the midst of another investigation into a suspicious death when the local head teacher dies after plummeting from the church…
Death At St Jude’s is the second book to feature Susan but the first that I have read.
Susan was watching bats with Lawrence in the church bell tower. She knows how careful he was up there due to being scared of heights. So she finds it very strange that he would have gone near enough to the edge to fall over. The alternative is that he was pushed but who, why and how?
There was a big argument at the start and Lawrence upset many people but is there a strong enough motive for murder? Susan looks into the range of suspects and their alibis and motives as the police still think it was an accident.
Having not read the first book, I liked Susan’s character and felt sorry for her having been through a divorce and trying to find a new direction for her life. I felt that there were a lot of characters: those in the village as well as Susan’s other friends and family. The plot is a little slow and Susan seems to chat to many characters that don’t seem to have a direct connection to the death.
Death At St Jude’s is an intriguing murder mystery.
Death at St Jude’s
The Isle of Wight has always felt like a safe place to live for keen dog-walker and reluctant sleuth Susan. But after being involved in the investigation of a troubling crime near her old home, Susan decides to move to the peaceful village of Bishopstone.
Susan loves the sense of community and immediately throws herself into village life, volunteering at the local primary school and joining the choir of St Jude’s. So, when there is an altercation at the meeting of the choir committee, followed by a shocking accident involving head teacher Lawrence, Susan is dismayed to realise her powers of deduction may be needed again.
There is a dangerous criminal hiding in plain sight and with the police reluctant to help, Susan must put together the pieces of the fiendish puzzle to flush out a killer before they strike again.
A brand new cosy mystery from the author of the bestselling The House Party. Perfect for fans of Frances Evesham, Faith Martin and LJ Ross.
Author Bio –
Mary Grand writes gripping, page-turning suspense novels, with a dark and often murderous underside. She grew up in Wales, was for many years a teacher of deaf children and now lives on the Isle of Wight.
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Ghost hunter Rylan Flynn is feeling awkward when she goes filming at her ex’s home. But things get a whole lot worse when a woman is found with significant injuries and dies despite her best efforts. Can ghosts help Rylan stop another death?
The Whisper House is the third book in the Rylan Flynn series and I love them! Take a look at The Spirit Girls and The Shadow Girls.
Rylan and her camerawoman Mickey are out on location at the home of Rylan’s ex. She spots one ghost but the encounter is rather underwhelming. Going outside, they find a woman who dies and passes to the other side before Rylan can ask her who is responsible. Mickey asks to take a break from the ghost hunting, leaving Rylan devastated, and then the killer strikes again…
The book is written from multiple first person perspectives so we see Rylan’s experience as well as others. I liked the way we can see Rylan and Ford’s contrasting and corresponding emotions and am desperate for them to get together! There is a careful balance of simmering attraction, ghostly escapades, murder and family drama, which all work well together.
It was a very quick read but I was totally immersed in the plot! I continued to like the way the author blends ghosts and faith. However, I wanted a little more development and emotional depth for some of the plotlines and we didn’t get as much of the family ghosts (the situation in Rylan’s home). Aunt Val has a ghost subplot that played out predictably but beautifully.
The Whisper House is an enjoyable paranormal and supernatural murder mystery.
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Book: The Whisper House
Author: Dawn Merriman
Pub Day: Feb 13th 2024
About the Book:
In a haunted mansion, ghosts are not the only danger…
I’m Rylan Flynn. I hunt for ghosts and restless spirits, and solve the mysteries that make them haunt the living.
My ex-boyfriend Declan never believed in my abilities. Now he thinks his home is haunted and he’s pleading for my help. Declan lives in a huge mansion, full of history and secrets.
When I arrive at the house, I find a dying woman in the gardens. It seems like the spirit in Declan’s house may be the only witness to a murder.
For the first time, Detective Ford Pierce asks for my help. Inside the mansion, we find mysterious locked rooms and shattered windows, but the ghost stays hidden. Why won’t it speak to me?
I’m almost ready to give up when my best friend, Mickey, is snatched from her home in the middle of the night. The killer has her, and time is running out.
I’ll do anything to bring Mickey back. But will my desperate search for clues uncover the truth, or lead me right into the killer’s hands?
The Whisper House is the third book in Dawn Merriman’s thrilling and addictive Rylan Flynn series. With twisting mysteries and a touch of romance, it’s perfect for fans of Wendy Wang, Heather Graham and Dean Koontz.
Author Bio
Dawn Merriman writes creepy small town murder mysteries from her small farm in northeast Indiana where she lives with her husband and teenage children. You can often find her with muck boots on her feet and a story in her head. She enjoys animals, auctions, snorkeling and archaeology.
Dawn Merriman grew up a small town farm girl, on a small time pig farm in Indiana. She spent her young adulthood sitting on her bedroom floor scribbling stories in notebooks. She won the “Northeast Indiana Young Writers” award as a sophomore in high school.
After battling severe depression, she wrote her debut novel “How Murder Saved My Life” as therapy, mixing her love of murder mysteries and farming with climbing out of the darkness of illness.
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Lexie survived one killer but is now targeted by another. A killer intent on finishing the work of other murderers and DC Morgan Brookes is on his list too…
Save Her Twice is the 11th book in the Morgan Brookes police procedural series set in northern England. The plot relies heavily on old cases so there are spoilers.
Morgan saved Lexie once but isn’t there to save her a second time. Can she save the other survivors of the killers she’s caught and protect herself as well? I really felt upset that these women has escaped death once but were now being hunted down again, and this was reflected by Morgan’s emotions throughout the book.
The police characters shine in this book. Ben and Morgan are negotiating their personal and professional relationships. Cain was injured in the last book but determined to support his colleagues. Pathologist Declan is delightfully full of black humour and wry wit whilst also being compassionate to the victims and his colleagues.
Most of the book is written to show the police investigation and potential victims. There are some chapters written from the perpective fo the killer but this does not help us to identify him or his motives. I thought the tension and sense of danger were well maintained. The ending was a little abrupt and lacked a depth of explanation about the perpetrator.
Save Her Twice is an enjoyable police procedural with wonderful lead characters.
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Book: SAVE HER TWICE
Author: Helen Phifer
Pub Day: Feb 7th 2024
Buy Link(s):
Audible:
About the Book:
Morgan shivers in the darkness as she walks through the park towards the abandoned building. She sees the body and the blood dripping onto the cold, frosty grass. A beautiful teenage girl is dead. Morgan feels rage build inside of her as she realises who it is…
Arriving at a quiet family home on the outskirts of the Lake District, Detective Morgan Brookes must deliver devastating news to a heartbroken mother. Seeing Lexie’s pink boots against the side of the house, she remembers the girl’s happy face and can’t help but think of her carefree childhood. Three years ago, Morgan saved Lexie from a serial killer, who is now behind bars. But this time, she’s failed to protect her.
Certain a new and more terrifying killer is at large, Morgan finds a neighbour who claims a man in a silver car was watching Lexie’s house. Then she discovers that Lexie was meeting other survivors of serial killers at a local victim support group. Another girl, Milly, thinks she has been followed by the same silver car.
But just as Morgan rushes to warn the other women, the case takes an even more sinister turn. One of them is found dead, posed in a chair with her hands tied in prayer. Flames engulf the church where the victims usually meet, with several of the others trapped inside.
Morgan manages to save the women just in time, but she knows this killer will never give up. To find him, she must relive every terrifying case she’s ever worked on. Somewhere in her history lies the key to saving more lives, but Morgan has no idea that this dangerous individual wants her as his final victim…
A dark, gripping and twisty new thriller in the Morgan Brookes series that will have your heart racing until the final page. For fans of Lisa Regan, Melinda Leigh and Rachel McLean.
Author Bio
Helen Phifer is the Bestselling writer of the hugely popular Annie Graham, Lucy Harwin, Beth Adams and her current series featuring Detective Constable Morgan Brooks published by the fabulous Bookouture.
She lives in the busy town of Barrow-in-Furness surrounded by miles of coastline and a short drive from the glorious English Lake District.
Helen loves reading books that scare the heck out of her and is eternally grateful to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Herbert and Graham Masterton for scaring her senseless in her teenage years. Unable to find enough scary stories she decided to write her own and her debut novel The Ghost House released in October 2013 became a #1 Global Bestseller.
She has written over twenty books in various genres and you can follow her over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/helenphifer/
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Mila is all set to return home to Brittany after a visit to her family when her detective agency gets a new case. A vulnerable young woman has been manipulated into running away and her poor health means she is in extreme danger. Can Mila find her in time…?
The Summer of Lies is a mystery drama novel set in the UK and France. It is the second book in a series but I have not read the first (it therefore works perfectly well as a stand alone book as I was not aware of any spoilers).
Mila is a young woman with a complex family situation. Her parents split up and she lives in France, caring for her orphaned niece but also trying to negotiate the complicated emotions of her own grief. She has gone to visit her mother in England – which is quite an uncomfortable experience – and is ready to return home to normality when she is entrusted with finding a missing woman.
I felt desperately sorry for Briony who has been blighted by illness her entire life. Her new friendship has offered her the chance to be free of her over-protective parents and I didn’t blame her at all for seeking freedom and friendship wherever she could find it. However, her saviour is a woman with an unsavoury past and running away puts Briony in danger. I was keen for Mila to ensure Briony was safe but also worried that returning home was also dangerous.
There is plenty of mystery and the author adds different dimensions to the plot with the inclusion of the Mila’s sister’s death. However, I found that this made the pace of the book quite slow. Mila’s family situation is explored at the start and took me a while to get it straight in my head (I wonder if this is explored in the first book?) The settings bring the plot to life and are depicted vividly. I liked Mila’s character and wanted her to succeed in her personal and professional endeavours.
The Summer of Lies is an entertaining mystery novel.
The Summer of Lies
The summer is the hottest yet in the Brittany coastal town of Morranez, but when a new case lands on the desk of the Toussaints detective agency, there can be no time to relax. As wild fires bear down on the town, the alert goes out for a missing girl.
Nineteen-year-old Briony Moorcroft has seemingly been taken from her sleepy Welsh village and brought to France. Her parents are baffled and scared – Briony needs her life-saving medicine or this case will become even more sinister, and with the police dragging their heels, the Moorcrofts are relying on Mila Shephard and Carter Jackson’s sleuthing skills.
Meanwhile there are mysteries troubling Mila’s life too. Two years after the accident that swept her sister Sophie and brother-in-law Charlie away and left their daughter Ani in Mila’s care, new evidence resurfaces that makes Mila doubt everything.
Can Carter and Mila find Briony before it’s too late? And is the truth about Sophie and Charlie finally about to be revealed…
Author Bio –
Louise Douglas is the bestselling and brilliantly reviewed author and an RNA award winner. The Secrets Between Us was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. She lives in the West Country.
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1969, teenager Florence is sent away to the Scottish island of Harris to have her baby. 2005, Nell discovers a family secret and heads to Harris to find the truth.
Little Wing is an emotional book full of family drama and the nuances of family relationships and friendships.
16 year old Florence becomes pregnant after a one night stand and is sent to distant family in Harris. Whilst there, she adapts to her new life and enjoys being a mother. Nell in the present discovers that her mother who has mental health issues had a sister and suspects that she is actually Florence’s daughter instead. She travels to Harris to find out more about the past.
The emotion is vivid. The gap between the Florence and Nell timeline makes us wonder what has happened and the truth is gradually revealed. We also have the characters of Dougie and his father Gordon. Their relationship is rather strained and awkward due to the physical distance between them until Dougie returns to Harris.
I don’t know if my issues with this book are because I listened to the audio version. I found it quite confusing to have a single narrator as it wasn’t always clear when the perspective had changed, especially in the opening chapter where it frequently moves between the characters. The depth of emotion and character development was therefore a little diminished in my opinion.
Little Wing is full of emotion and drama but I felt the audio version didn’t work too well for me.
Book blurb
Little Wing is the powerful story of two families over three generations.
1969. Florence Lawson, a 16-year-old schoolgirl who dreams of being an artist, finds herself pregnant and banished to one of the most remote parts of the UK.
1986. Dougie Munro, searching for adventure, leaves the Isle of Harris – the island of his birth – for art college and a career in London as a photographer.
2005. Nell Hartley, content with her life managing a care-in-the-community cafe in Colchester, discovers a shocking truth about her family.
Between the sprawl of London, suburban Essex, and the wild, unpredictable Outer Hebrides, three lives collide and interweave as questions are asked and secrets surface. What happened to Florence? Why is Dougie now so reluctant to return home? How can Nell make peace with the lies she’s been told?
Little Wing is a novel about resilience, forgiveness and the true meaning of family, about finding one’s place in the world and discovering how we all belong somewhere and to someone.
