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:
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Oops I did it again! I bought a bag of lemons with no plan except pancakes and haven’t got round to making them! Instead I needed a quick lunchtime meal so got experimental (once again…)
Ingredients (serves 2 alongside a salad or garlic bread)
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1 tablespoon oil
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1 onion, finely diced
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1 garlic clove, finely chopped
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150g pasta
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500ml vegetable stock
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75 g frozen peas
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1 big handful baby spinach, roughly chopped
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Juice of a lemon
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the oil in a pan and cook the onion for 3-4 minutes until slightly softened.
Add the garlic and continue to cook for 1 minute.
Stir in the pasta.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Add the peas and spinach. Bring back to the boil then simmer for 2-3 minutes until the stock is absorbed and the pasta is cooked.
Stir in the lemon juice and serve
Choose your stock carefully as it flavours the pasta! I always forget that I’m not keen on the flavour of peas so I added more lemon to mask it!
France 1562, Minou Joubert. Piet
The Burning Chambers
This is a loooong book.
Most of the book is written in the third person to show Minou and Piet’s experiences. The nds of some chapters give a first person narrartibe of a woman who has a serious agenda. She has betrayed her husband and has a lover by whom she has beocme pregnant. The pace is quite slow and much of the book seemed to ahve little relevance. I enjoyed the final chapters much more thans the majority of the book as the plot and characters finaly came together.
The Burning Chambers
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 –
TRIGGER WARNING: fertility worries
