Detective Jo Fournier is contacted by her family when her cousin and young daughter go missing while Christmas shopping. Can she find them before they are hurt?
Angels in the Snow is the 8th book in the Jo Fournier series of detective thrillers set in America.
Paxton and her 5 year old daughter Alexia headed off to the mall for some shopping and to see Santa. But someone prevented them arriving home as planned. Jo is contacted and finds the car unlocked and with the boot open in the car park.
Most of the book shows the perspective of the police investigation as Jo tries to investigate the kidnapping. She worries that her family connection will get her removed from the case. The most engaging parts of the book are those which show Paxton’s experience and the first person kidnapper’s perspective. This ramps up the tension as we fear for Paxton’s safety whilst also allowing us to discover more about the motive.
Poor Jo and her family face turmoil once again, surely one of the unluckiest families in fiction! The kidnapping of a child is hugely emotive and increases the panic of the family as well as the determination of the police. I also felt a huge sadness for the kidnapper as we gain a greater insight into their past, being mindful that terrible experiences do not excuse treating others badly.
Angels in the Snow is a gripping and emotive detective thriller.
Her fingers numb with cold, Jo rushes to search for footprints in the empty parking lot before they are covered in snow. Her cousin and her little daughter never came home tonight and she is desperate to find them. With temperatures dropping, no-one can survive outside for long…
When Detective Jo Fournier’s cousin goes missing with her sweet five-year-old Alexia, Jo heads straight to where they were last seen. Her heart stops when she finds their unlocked car—one door has been left open and Alexia’s beloved teddy is lying in the snow. Jo’s blood runs cold as she realizes her family have been kidnapped…
Even as she swears to bring them home, Jo makes a discovery that chills her to the bone: other young, single mothers have vanished with their little daughters just before Christmas.
As Jo’s team re-open the cold cases, they make a terrible discovery. Buried deep under the snow in the forest near Oakhurst are the bones of a mother and daughter who disappeared. The snowy grave contains a little angel, the kind you would hang on a Christmas tree.
With no sign of her cousin and little Alexia, Jo is sure that they are in the hands of a twisted serial killer and running out of time. Discovering suspicious activity in the security footage from the day her cousins were taken gives Jo the clue she’s been desperately searching for. Can Jo bring her family home safe, or has the killer lured her into a terrifying trap?
From USA Today bestseller M.M. Chouinard, Angels in the Snow is a totally nail-biting serial killer thriller, the perfect read for a cold winter night! Addictive reading for fans of Lisa Regan, Melinda Leigh and Gregg Olsen.
Links:
Author bio
M.M. Chouinard’s first fiction story was published in her local paper when she was eight, and she fell in love with Agatha Christie novels not long after. While pursuing a Ph.D in psychology and helping to found the first U.S. research university of the new millenium, the stories kept rattling around inside her skull, demanding to come out. For sanity’s sake, she released them. She’s currently at work on her seventh novel.
Author social media
Website
Facebook URL
Instagram URL
Twitter URL
Newsletter URL
TRIGGER WARNING: suicide, infidelity
Claudia’s life in turned upside down when she believes her husband has cheated on her and her best friend kills herself. But what led to Jaz’s death and can Claudia save her marriage…?
My Best Friend’s Secret is a psychological thriller set in the UK.
The book centres around a group of friends who reunite at the funeral of one of their number. Jaz was closest to Claudia but something happened on that final night that lead to the women not speaking. Meanwhile Claudia is also dealing with her suspicion that her husband cheated on her and this leads to her angry response which threatens their whole relationship.
It is difficult to review without giving away spoilers but I will say that the plot sets up Claudia as our main character and she is struggling emotionally. This initially leads to an emotional pull towards her but her ensuing actions do not endear her to the reader.
There is significant emotion and turmoil in this book as well as the mystery about what led Jaz to her death. Claudia feels guilt and regret over messages she left for her best friend and another of their friends is acting oddly. The blurb reveals a major shift in the direction of the book as the pace intensifies.
My Best Friend’s Secret is a tense and emotional charged puschological thriller.
My Best Friend’s Secret
Five women; pretty, privileged, perfect, and ultimately protected… but not for long…
It was ‘their’ dark secret. For twenty-two-years ‘they’ kept it buried. Time hasn’t healed my wounds. Instead, they’ve festered. Their actions went unpunished. Until now…
Shamed, scarred, and shunned, I watched, waited and plotted how to shatter ‘their’ enviable lives. Now, finally, they will suffer as I did in ‘their’ cruel hands that fateful night.
Time’s up. I am here for you, Dr Claudia Harper. But first, you’ll witness your childhood friends, one by one, beg for mercy.
And I’ve saved the best ‘til last, so watch your back; I’m closer than you think. I’m here to expose your best friend’s secret. The one you’ve all kept hidden…until now.
A tale of betrayal, dark, twisted lies and long-awaited retribution. Perfect for the fans of Claire McGowan, Shalini Boland and S. E. Lynes
Author Bio –
Danielle Ramsay is a Scot living in a small seaside town in the North-East of England. Always a storyteller, it was only after completing a First Class (Hons) Degree in Media Production that she then went on to follow an academic career in literature. She was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger in 2009 and 2010, and appointed a New Writing North Read Regional author in 2011.
She is the author of five DI Jack Brady crime novels and The Last Cut, a dark thriller with DS Harri (Harriet) Jacobs. Danielle fills her days with horse-riding, running and murder by proxy. She is also the proud Patron of the charity SomeOne Cares, which counsels survivors of domestic violence, rape and child abuse.
Social Media Links –
A relaxing Munro-bagging in Scotland turns to murder. Fiona MacLeish is enjoying a mountain excursion with friends when the weather takes a turn for the worse. Her team meet up with aother on the way back down but one of tthem is severely injured and Fiona is convinced it was a dleibertae attack. The group find shelter in a bothie but is there a murderer in their midst?
The Shelter is the third book to feature PC Fiona MacLeish but it is the first I have read.
Fiona is enjoying a relaxing climb with her friends when the weather turns. She has some preoccupation with events from the past which I assume happened in the earlier books. Her group unites with another as they make their way down the mountain. One of the group is injured and Fiona sees a rock covered in blood so thinks that the man has been deliberately hurt but by who?
We are straight into the action as we follow Fiona’s adventures on the mountain. There are mentions of her notoriety and she fears being recognised. However there are no spoilers about the outcomes of earlier books although they must have been well publicised in this fictional world.
The weather and lonely landscape add to the tension that Fiona feels as she begins to uncover potential suspects and motives. The group are in danger from the winter as well as a killer in their midst. I liked Fiona’s character and want to catch up on her earlier cases to better understand her references to the past.
The Shelter is a tense crime thriller and I liked the claustrophobic element of being alone on a mountain with a group of strangers.
Book Description:
An agonised scream cuts through the roar of the snowstorm. Horrified, Fiona twists around to look at the group of hikers behind her. There are four people, where there should be five…
When police officer Fiona MacLeish stumbles upon a group of fellow hikers in dire trouble in the dramatic peaks of the Scottish Highlands, she has no choice but to help. One of the party has fallen off the path, lying below with the crisp white snow around his head starting to turn scarlet.
Fiona soon learns the potential accident is actually a deliberate murder. But who would want to hurt this man and why? With visibility worsening and the snowstorm getting worse, Fiona and the group of hikers make it just in time to a nearby shelter. As Fiona questions those in the party, she realises that everyone is keeping secrets about their relationship with the victim. Any one of these hikers could be the killer…
When another brutal attack happens, it is clear that the murderer is still among them.
Trapped in a shelter at the top of a mountain, Fiona must move fast and identify the killer before they strike again. When her role as a police officer is revealed, Fiona herself becomes a target. With tensions rising and food running out, she knows she doesn’t have long until more people die. But can she find the killer and save herself and the innocent hikers in time?
The Shelter is the third book in the Fiona MacLeish series, set in the remote Scottish mountains. Fans of J.M. Dalgliesh, J.D. Kirk and Simon McCleave will love this character-driven police procedural with a dark twisty plot.
Author Bio:
Graham Smith is a time served joiner who has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. Since Christmas 2000, he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland.
He is an internationally best-selling Kindle author and has six books featuring DI Harry Evans and the Cumbrian Major Crimes Team, and four novels, featuring Utah doorman, Jake Boulder. His ‘Lakes’ series which has three novels featuring DC Beth Young has received much critical acclaim.
Graham is the founder of Crime and Publishment, a weekend of crime-writing classes which includes the chance for attendees to pitch their novels to agents and publishers. Since the first weekend in 2013, sixteen attendees have gone on to sign publishing contracts.
Graham also writes as John Ryder and G.N. Smith.
Buy Link:
You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you’ll love at: http://ow.ly/Fkiz30lnzdo
1938, Nora heads to Paris to train to be a chef. Her friend Sabine is pregnant but forced to move to Alsace due to family issues. 1964, Iris discovers she is adopted and wants to find out the truth about her birth mother.
The Last Train From Paris is a dual timeline book set in the 1930s and 1960s.
Nora and Sabine are both facing huge upheaval. Nora is determined to follow her dream of learning French cuisine, whilst Sabine’s dreams are on hold while she supports her husband and gives birth. Both of these women’s lives are overshadowed by looming international events as WW2 approaches.
Iris wants to solve the mystery of her biological parents but her mum finds it too hard to talk about so hands over a tin with letters and photos. I enjoyed the dual timelines as we wait for the connection between the two eras to be clarified. There is plenty of emotion as the three main female characters seek a better future for themselves and their loved ones.
France is soon swept into the war and there are terrible choices to be made. I liked the historical element to the book and felt that the dread and fear evoked as the Nazis approaches was vividly created.
The Last Train From Paris is hugely emotional at times and thought provoking for making you consider how you would act in those circumstances.
The Last Train from Paris
For Iris, each visit to her mother in St Mabon’s Cove, Cornwall has been the same – a serene escape from the city. But today, as she breathes in the salt air on the doorstep of her beloved childhood home, a heavy weight of anticipation settles over her. Iris knows she’s adopted, but any questions about where she came from have always been shut down by her parents, who can’t bear to revisit the past.
Now, Iris can’t stop thinking about what she’s read on the official paperwork: BABY GIRL, FRANCE, 1939 – the year war was declared with Nazi Germany.
When Iris confronts her mother, she hits the same wall of pain and resistance as whenever she mentions the war. That is, until her mother tearfully hands her an old tin of letters, tucked neatly beside a delicate piece of ivory wool.
Retreating to the loft, Iris steels herself to at last learn the truth, however painful it might be. But, as she peels back each layer of history before her, a sensation of dread grows inside her. The past is calling, and its secrets are more intricate and tangled than Iris could ever have imagined.
The year is 1939, and in Paris, France a young woman is about to commit a terrible betrayal…
A beautifully written and addictively compelling historical novel about the terrible choices ordinary people were forced to make in the horrors of World War Two. If you loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Alice Network and The Nightingale, you will devour this book.
What readers are saying about Juliet Greenwood:
“This was fantastic! Perfect for a Kate Morton or Lucinda Riley hangover, this book will draw you in and won’t let go until you’ve read the last page. This book was unputdownable – fascinating characters, excellent writing, and a plot that keeps you turning the pages. I loved every second of it.” Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I found myself reading chapter after chapter, unable to put it down. A first-time read by this author but certainly not the last.” Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“For readers of Kate Morton and Lucinda Riley, this book will be one of your favorites… A historical novel that will keep you reading until the end.” Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“An absolutely brilliant read. I could not put it down…I loved how the war changed everyone and it was a gripping story… I really loved it. Cannot recommend it enough.” Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Did everything that I was looking for… it left me wanting to read more from Juliet Greenwood.” Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Author Bio –
Juliet Greenwood is a historical novelist, now published by Storm Publishing. Her first novel was a finalist for The People’s Book Prize and two of her books reached the top 5 in the UK Kindle store. Juliet has always been a bookworm and a storyteller, writing her first novel (a sweeping historical epic) at the age of ten. She lives in a traditional cottage in Snowdonia, North Wales, set between the mountains and the sea, with an overgrown garden (good for insects!) and a surprisingly successful grapevine.
Social Media Links –
