Nina is recovering from a miscarriage when the son she gave up for adoption 19 years ago arrives on her doorstep. He makes her re-evaluate her life and relationships, and her partner Gary is not happy at all with the new arrival…
The New Son is a psychological thriller set in the UK.
Poor Nina has had a rough life. She got pregnant at 16 and lost her true love Ryan as well as giving away their child, Now she is with the awful Gary and she has just had a miscarriage. Liam’s arrival seems like a miracle to her but Gary is angry that he has competition for her love but more importantly her money.
Ooh Gary had me mad! He is sponging off Nina constantly and I honestly saw no redeeming features to him at all. I was so pleased when Liam sparks such hope and joy for NIna after her recent tragedy and the hideous way she is treated by Gary and his equally repugnant daughter.
The plot takes a darker turn as emotions reach boiling point. Nina has accepted second best for so long and let others order her around. I understood Nina’s dilemma as she tries to protect her son but she is still letting others dictate her life. Adding to the tense atmosphere, there are some violent imaginings and nightmares which are quite unpleasant and vivid. The ending is dramatic and unexpected.
The New Son is a tense and engaging psychological thriller.
Nina always wanted a child of her own. Now she has one.
Nina feels trapped. Her partner Gary is controlling, his daughter hates her, and she’s recently suffered a miscarriage. Just as her life seems hopeless, Alex, the son she gave up for adoption nearly 20 years ago, shows up at her door. Somehow, he has tracked her down.
Their reunion is everything Nina has hoped for. Now she has a child of her own, someone in the family who really cares about her.
But honeymoons are brief and this one is no exception.
Far from welcoming him, Gary is hostile to Alex and as their arguments become increasingly vicious, it soon becomes clear that Nina must choose between them.
But how will the abusive Gary react if she rejects him? And can she trust Alex? Is he really the loving son he seems to be – or does he have a sinister agenda of his own?
Iain’s Bio
Iain Maitland is the author of three previous psych thrillers for Inkubator Books: The Soulmate, The Perfect Husband and The Girl Downstairs.
Iain is also the author of two memoirs, Dear Michael, Love Dad, a book of letters written to his eldest son who experienced depression and anorexia, and (co-authored with Michael) Out Of The Madhouse.
He has also written a semi-autobiographical novel, The Old Man, His Dog & Their Longest Journey.
He is an Ambassador for Stem4, the teenage mental health charity. He talks regularly about mental health issues in schools and colleges and workplaces.
Guinea pigs are social animals so you would think that bonding them so that they can successfully live together would be easy: it isn’t!
Boys and girls need to be kept separate unless you want babies. In fact, boys and girls need to be separated from age 5 weeks! Female guinea pigs should not get pregnant after a year due to pelvis fusion.
Teenage years or any change can be tricky. We adopted Larry and Garry last year and the move unsettled them and they began to fight, drawing blood. We separated them and now Larry lives NEXT TO other boys so he can still have social interaction while Garry has successully bonded with another male Ginger. The bonding process was awful to witness but they live so happily together now!
My 3 boys (2 full siblings and a half brother) have been together since 5 weeks old but have had some arguments. One boy ended up clambering into an adjacent enclosure and was injured. So I had to take the difficult decision to remove the dominant violent individual. I am hoping that he will bond with a baby from our next litter. Otherwise he will continue to live side by side with his brothers.
Girls are so much easier. Our oldest girl rules the roost and the others follow suit (now they all want to be hand-fed veggies, thanks to Sugar!)
Guinea pigs should be introduced in a neutral space. Plenty of hay but no hides should be available. This is also easier outside with a fresh supply of grass to distract them. The living area should be cleaned so it is also a neutral space when they return. Bonding should be done all in one go, not over several sessions, so don’t give up while they figure out the pecking order.
Make sure you research suitable cage sizes for the bonded group and ensure there are enough hides. Think carefully about the time of day as well: guinea pigs are most active at the beginning and end of the day. The middle of the day might be best unless they are cranky from being disturbed from their nap!
Good luck and congratulations if you are planning to welcome new guineas and bond them!
Lady Eleanor Swift, her staff and her pets are enjoying the sights of Venice when she witnesses a murder. Could a family feud have been reignited and is Ellie safe?
A Death In Venice is the 17th book in the Lady Swift series of historical cosy murder mysteries.
Ellie is spellbound by the beauty of Venice but she finds herself in the midst of a centuries old family feud and a murder investigation. Following an accidental collision with another woman, Ellie is left holding a glass heart and wants to track down the true owner who promptly vanished. But the murder and the heirloom could be connected and Ellie herself is placed in danger.
The lighthearted tone softens the drama and murder elements of the book. Once again Ellie has brought butler Clifford and ‘the ladies’ of her staff along and this adds opportunities for humour. Gladstone the dog and Tomkins the cats are also travelling with Ellie and add to the melee! We are also introduced to a range of other characters with comedic effect, for example Kip who wants to replicate Byron’s escapades. Poor Hugh, Ellie’s fiance, is stuck at home at the other end of an intermittent telephone connection and feeling very jealous.
The murder and heirloom mystery start early on and then retreats a little as the focus stays on Ellie’s experiences while she makes connections between events and enjoys the scenic beauty of the city. Her title offers her opportunities but she is constrained by being a woman. The history and geography of the setting underpin the plot and characters and have been well researched.
A Death In Venice is an enjoyable murder mystery.
Book Description:
Stunning views across the Grand Canal and a hotel suite fit for royalty… Lady Eleanor Swift is having a jolly good time on her Italian vacation, until a gondola ride is cut murderously short!
1924. Lady Eleanor Swift has been on a grand tour around Italy for a month with her butler Clifford. Finally arriving in Venice, she’s thrilled to be attending the famous carnival: all that’s needed is the perfect bejewelled costume for her faithful bulldog, Gladstone. But on her first gondola ride to take in the sights, a passenger collapses into the canal with a knife sticking out of his back.
Eleanor saw an argument break out between the gondolier and the victim, Councillor Benetto Vendelini, and it turns out they’re rivals from the city’s two great families. Vendelini’s murder is sure to reignite their centuries-long feud. While attending a glitzy ball that night, Eleanor learns of a plot to steal a precious family heirloom from the Vendelini household. Is the stolen item the key to solving this baffling murder?
In this floating city of tiny winding alleyways, Eleanor traces the missing heirloom to an antiques dealer in a far-flung corner of town. But when her handbag is snatched by a cloaked thief, she realises the murderer is dangerously close. Can Eleanor unmask this most cunning of killers, before she joins the other victim at the bottom of the Grand Canal?
An utterly gripping historical murder mystery set in Italy, full of intrigue and charming characters. Fans of T.E. Kinsey, Agatha Christie and Catherine Coles will be totally hooked by A Death in Venice!
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.
Harriet ‘Harry’ White is demoted to a role in the post room where she has to respond to letters addressedto Sherlock Holmes. Most letters are met with polite declines of further involvement but one catches Harry’s eye and she decides to investigate…
The Missing Maid is the first book in a new series of amateur sleuth mysteries set in the 1930s.
Mildred Longstaff’s family are concerned when she is accused of theft and dismissed from her position as a maid with a prominent London family. Now she is missing and Harry accepts the request for Sherlock Holmes to investigate. Except Sherlock is a fictional character so she is the one investigating!
Poor Harry is sexually harrassed by her boss and then demoted when she refuses his advances. She comes from a good family so has many opportunities in life and this is demonstrated when she decides to investigate the maid’s disappearance. Harry is smart and resourceful with quite a modern outlook on life.
I liked the premise of this book and the 1930s class and gender details that constrain the characters felt authentic and well researched. The pace of the mystery was just right in balance with the introduction to Harriet and there is a light tone despite some big topics being covered (e.g. sexual harrassment, shoplifting).
The Missing Maid is an enjoyable mystery with an easy to like main character and I look forward to seeing what happens to Harry next.
The Missing Maid
A GLORIOUS SHERLOCK HOLMES-INSPIRED MYSTERY FOR FANS OF NITA PROSE AND JANICE HALLETT
London, 1932.
When Harriet White rebuffs the advances of her boss at the Baker Street building society where she works, she finds herself demoted to a new position… a very unusual position. Deep in the postal department beneath the bank, she is tasked with working her way through a mountain of correspondence addressed to Baker Street’s most famous resident: Mr Sherlock Holmes.
Seemingly undeterred by the fact that Sherlock Holmes doesn’t exist, letter after letter arrives, beseeching him to help solve mysteries, and Harry diligently replies to each writer with the same response: Mr Holmes has retired from detective work and now lives in Sussex, keeping bees.
Until one entreaty catches her eye. It’s from a village around five miles from Harry’s family estate, about a young woman who went to London to work as a domestic, then disappeared soon afterwards in strange circumstances. Intrigued, Harry decides, just this once, to take matters into her own hands.
Holly Hepburn has wanted to write books for as long she can remember but she was too scared to try. One day she decided to be brave and dipped a toe into the bubble bath of romantic fiction with her first novella, Cupidity, and she’s never looked back. She often tries to be funny to be funny, except for when faced with traffic wardens and border control staff. Her favourite things are making people smile and Aidan Turner.
She’s tried many jobs over the years, from barmaid to market researcher and she even had a brief flirtation with modelling. These days she is mostly found writing.
She lives near London with her grey tabby cat, Portia. They both have an unhealthy obsession with Marmite.
Jeanie is on her hen night and her biggest worry is her My Little Pony outfit and her fiance’s increasing emotional distance. Until the hens happen upon a dead body in the nightclub and decide to find the killer…
Murder on the Dancefloor is the second book in a series of murder mysteries. I have not read the first book and there are several mentions to events in the last book but no major spoilers.
Jeanie is on her hen night with her mum, 4 sisters and 2 best friends. She argues with a young woman and later Talia is found dead. The women decide to find out the truth and catch the killer following their success with a previous murder case.
I had not read the first book so I felt a little overwhelmed by the range of main characters at first. The plot direction helped to fix the characters in my mind and allowed me to enjoy the book more as it progressed.
As well as the murder mystery, there is Jeanie’s exploration of Tan’s odd behaviour which make threaten their wedding. She also needs to locate lost wedding rings which is a hugely emotional element as they were her late father’s.
I really enjoyed the lighthearted tone and comedic elements to the narrative. The relationships had nuances which made the characters shine from the pages, adding an authenticity and relatability to them.
Murder on the Dancefloor is an enjoyable murder mystery and I want to catch up with the first book.
Murder on the Dancefloor
They DID promise her a killer hen weekend…
Jeanie’s getting married, and – despite her completely impossible four sisters – her best friends Clio and Amber are determined to give her a bachelorette weekend to remember. They’re in matching pink T-shirts and the drinks are flowing…
But the night turns out to be unforgettable for all the wrong reasons when a girl turns up dead on the dancefloor. And – even though she’s a stranger – she is wearing one of Jeanie’s hen T-shirts.
Who is she? And why are the police convinced that the hens are involved? Can the newly-formed Bad Girls Detective Agency solve the murder? And in time to get Jeanie up the aisle?
Unputdownable mystery set on the English coast – perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club, Bad Sisters and How to Kill Your Family.
Katie wrote romantic fiction before turning to crime. Her debut novel was a World Book Night pick and her books are published in ten languages.
She lives in the English countryside and loves strong coffee and pretending to be in charge of her children. ‘How Not to Murder your Ex’, the first in her Bad Girls Detective Agency series is out now, published by Boldwood Books. The next instalment, ‘Murder on the Dancefloor,’ follows in March 2024.
