TRIGGER WARNING: child and domestic abuse, foster care
Detective Ziggy Thornes is devastated by the death of his foster sister Leila. He is forced to stay out of the case due to his personal connection but cannot leave it alone, especially when his own son is threatened…
When We Deceive is the third police procedural to feature Ziggy. I have previously reviewed the second book in the series, The Web They Wove.
Ziggy is determined that nothing will stop him finding the truth about who killed Leila. However, his superior has taken him well away from the case and someone else warns him off by threatening his son. He is torn between his love for his former foster sister, finding justice for her, and his love for his son, wanting to keep him safe.
The second part of the book, about halfway through, shows Leila’s unhappy childhood. This is very emotional as it shows her abusive stepdad and her arrival into foster care. We have already seen in the first part about some of the escapades with Ziggy. It then moves to Leila’s present day situation wth her girlfriend Frankie and her personal and professional issues which could have led to her death. In the final part of the book, the strands of plot come together.
I flew through this book. Ziggy’s character is great so I was eager for him to find the truth. There was a depth of emotion that surprised me as the plot rattled along so quickly. The plot twists kept me guessing and seeing Leila’s sad past made me root for Ziggy’s success even more.
And the ending…what a cliffhanger!
When We Deceive is an engaging and enjoyable police procedural with a strong emotional thread.
Book Blurb :
The case that MEANS THE MOST to him
Might also be the one that BREAKS HIM
Devastated by the death of his best friend, Detective Inspector Andrew ‘Ziggy’ Thornes is out for justice. At any cost.
During the day he and his team are trying to unravel a murky web of money laundering and organised crime.
At night, he conducts his own murder investigation, and he’s about to uncover the twisted link between the two cases. As tension mounts, and struggling to decide who he can still trust, Ziggy needs to make decisions that mean breaking the sacred oath he took by continually pushing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour for a serving DI.
But as he digs ever deeper, can Ziggy prevent a devastating finale that will leave him questioning everything he’s ever believed in?
Join Ziggy on his latest case that readers are calling an exhilarating and unmissable read.
About the author
Catherine Yaffe is a full-time writer of crime novels, based in the North of England. The Lie She Told is Catherine’s first novel with the theme of questioning how well we know those around us. Catherine lives with her husband Mark and her cats Jenson and Button – she’s also a big fan of Formula One!
Catherine’s Links
TRIGGER WARNING: stillbirth, mental illness
Jenna and her husband move to a new house. New house, new baby! But after the birth, Jenna is struggling physically and emotionally while her husband claims their baby was stillborn…
The Homemaker is an intense psychological thriller set in America.
Jenna and Oliver are excited about their new home. Jenna is a little worried about her unexpected pregnancy but delights in her new son River. Except her husband says that River didn’t survive the birth and she is suffering from post partum psychosis. Her neighbour Ginger’s narrative has a focus on her empty nest and there are suggestions about secrets and lies that she may be harbouring. She is jealous of Jenna’s blossoming friendship with another neighbour Peyton.
The book is written from three first person perspectives Jenna and her neighbour Ginger a year ago and Jenna in the present day. These skewed, vulnerable and unreliable narratives make it difficult to guess the truth as the plot threads weave together.
The strength of the emotion and the content is difficult to read at times as it is very powerful yet utterly heartbreaking. The style of writing was easy to read and I felt engaged with Jenna’s story as I tried to work out what was happening. There were plenty of hints and twists to keep me guessing and interested in the plot.
The Homemaker is an emotionally intense but enjoyable psychological thriller.
MEDIA PACK
Book: The Homemaker
Author: Shari J. Ryan
Pub Day: June 12th 2023
About the Book:
I pull back the blanket to take another peek at my beautiful baby boy. My heart flatlines. He isn’t there. “Where is he?” I cry, my whole body trembling. But my husband just shakes his head. “Darling… we don’t have a baby.”
What is he talking about? Stumbling to my feet, I look frantically at the highchair, the playmat in the corner, the sofa. I need to find my little boy.
Limbs like ice, I rush toward the stairs, shouting my son’s name. But my husband grabs my arms and gently reminds me there is no baby here.
I can’t listen. I don’t understand how our child isn’t in our home. I don’t know who could have taken him. I just know I have to find him.
Climbing the stairs two at a time, my hand is already stretching toward the nursery door, but my husband overtakes, blocking my way.
He forces me to face him. I think I can hear the baby mobile over the crib. I can practically smell the newborn smell. But my husband sighs and shakes his head.
He says it again, firmly this time, as a tear tracks down my cheek: “We don’t have a baby.”
I blink rapidly, my breathing ragged. I think he expects me to agree. But I know that my son is real. I can feel his weight in my arms. And I will stop at nothing to get him back…
An absolutely gripping psychological thriller that will have your heart racing. Prepare yourself for jaw-dropping, mind-blowing twists! Perfect for fans of addictive page-turners like The Housemaid, The Family Across the Street and The Family Upstairs.
Author Bio
Shari J. Ryan is a USA Today Bestselling Author of Women’s Fiction, WWII Fiction, and 20th Century Historical Fiction with a focus on the Holocaust and Pearl Harbor.
Shortly after graduation from Johnson & Wales with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, Shari began her career as a graphic artist and freelance writer. She then found her passion for writing books in 2012 after her second son was born. Shari has been slaying words ever since.
With two Rone Awards and over 125k books sold, Shari has hit the USA Today Bestseller List, the Amazon’s Top 100, Barnes & Noble’s Top Ten, and iBooks at number one. Some of Shari’s bestselling books include Last Words, The Other Blue Sky, Unspoken Words and A Heart of Time.
Shari, a lifelong Boston girl, is happily married to her personal hero and US Marine and they have two wonderful little boys. For more details about her books, visit: www.sharijryan.com
Social Media
Alice and Joe move from London to Penton for a change of pace but soon find themselves embroiled in a murder investigation! A shopkeeper dies during their antenatal class in his shop which also boasted a birth. Can Alice find the killer before her due date?
The Expectant Detectives is a light hearted cosy murder mystery.
Alice is a bit hapless to say the least. Now she is catapulted into village life and a murder case. There is soooo much humour in this book. Mums everywhere will identify, cringe and laugh along with the pregnancy and baby details. There were some guffaw out loud moments and knowing sniggers throughout as Alice rattles through the lead up to giving birth as well as investigating a murder.
There are a whole host of suspects including the others in the antenatal class. I liked the way that Alice negotiates her new friendships whilst also being wary of her fellow amateur sleuths. Alice’s husband Joe is acting oddly and I did guess this twist about a hundred pages before it was revealed. However, the final outcome of the murder case had me guessing until the end so the mystery was maintained well.
The book is written in Alice’s first person voice to show her innermost thoughts. She is such a wonderful character and I loved her zany thoughts. Of course she is ably assisted (or not!) by her nightmare dog Helen and this again brought many moments of humour.
The Expectant Detectives is a wonderful book and even more impressive once you know it is a debut novel!
For Alice and her partner Joe, moving to the sleepy Cotswold village of Penton is a chance to embrace country life and prepare for the birth of their unexpected first child. He can take up woodwork; maybe she’ll learn to make jam. But the rural idyll they’d hoped for doesn’t quite pan out when a dead body is discovered at their local antenatal class and they find themselves suspects in a murder investigation.
With a cloud of suspicion hanging over the heads of the whole group, Alice sets out to solve the mystery and clear her name, with the help of her troublesome dog, Helen. However, there are more secrets and tensions in the heart of Penton than first meet the eye. Between the discovery of a shady commune up in the woods, the unearthing of a mysterious death years earlier and the near-tragic poisoning of Helen, Alice is soon in way over her head.
CAN YOU SOLVE THE MOTHER OF ALL MURDERS?
Author info
Kat Ailes’ debut novel, The Expectant Detectives, was runner-up for the Comedy Women in Print Unpublished Prize 2021. She works as an editor and freelanced for several years to allow her to take a couple of belated gap years, including hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. She now lives in the Cotswolds with her lovely husband and son and her beautiful but foolish dog.
TRIGGER WARNING: war crimes including rape
1940s: Lidia is a non practising Jew in Venice but she is forced to flee for her life when her father is rounded up and deported. Her only hope is to fight the Nazis and Fascists. 2010, Charlotte’s grandmother dies, leaving behind possessions that suggest a secret past…
The Girl From Venice is a dual timeline historical novel set in the 1940s and 2010.
Lidia’s father cannot believe in the approaching danger as the Italians switch sides during WW” and battle each other as well as the Nazis. He and Lidia stay in their home until it is too late to escape and he is deported. Yet Lidia still clings to the hope that he is being well treated in a camp. Decades later, Charlotte embarks on a mission to find out the truth about her grandmother’s past but also needs to heal her own heart that is dealing with a feckless ex and the grief at her grandmother’s death.
The book doesn’t shy away from the horrors of war. We witness the brutality that was experienced on all sides, including Lidia’s emotional reaction to kiling for the first time. In light of the emotional depth in the 1940s timeline, I personally found the sex scenes in the present day a little unnecessary. I expect that they were to contrast against the brutal rape scenes but I thought they detracted from the plot.
The book is written from the first person viewpoints of both Lidia and Charlotte. I was more emotionally affected by Lidia’s timeline but Charlotte’s provided a balance to the strong emotion as she gradually discovers the truth. I enjoyed the unfolding mystery as we charted the life of Lidia and tried to confirm the links with what Charlotte is told. The scenery and character descriptions were vivid and brought the plot to life. I felt like I was immersed in the Italian setting alongside the narrators.
The Girl From Venice is a vividly imagined historical novel.
The Girl from Venice
1943
Lidia De Angelis has kept a low profile since Mussolini’s laws wrenched her from her childhood sweetheart. But when the Germans occupy Venice, she must flee the city to save her life.
Lidia joins the partisans in the Venetian mountains, where she meets David, an English soldier fighting for the same cause. As she grows closer to him, harsh German reprisals and Lidia’s own ardent patriotic activities threaten to tear them apart.
Decades later
While sorting through her grandmother’s belongings after her death, Charlotte discovers a Jewish prayer book, unopened letters written in Italian, and a fading photograph of a group of young people in front of the Doge’s Palace.
Intrigued by her grandmother’s refusal to talk about her life in Italy before and during the war, Charlotte travels to Venice in search of her roots, There, she learns not only the devastating truth about her grandmother’s past, but also some surprising truths about herself.
Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/girlfromvenicesocial
Author Bio –
Siobhan Daiko writes powerful and sweeping historical fiction set in Italy during the second World War, with strong women at its heart. She now lives near Venice, having been a teacher in Wales for many years.
Social Media Links –
An elderly woman thinks her former lodger is breaking in to steal her belongings. She reports it several times but isn’t taken seriously. But DS Jack Warr thinks something strange is happening and days later Avril is found dead and dismembered…
Vanished is the third book to feature police detective Jack Warr and his colleagues and family. I have previously read and reviewed Buried and Judas Horse.
Avril is a right character and has been written off as eccentric by other officers. Jack sees a kernal of truth in her story and is proved right when she is brutally murdered. The plot then takes a different direction as drugs take centre stage. This leads to conflict as the drugs team and murder team argue over the investigation.
In Jack’s personal life, his bride-to-be asks him to look into her boss’s daughter’s relationship but this has disasterous repercussions for his career. Meanwhile, Jack and Maggie tie the knot and delight in the development of their young daughter Hannah. Jack’s relationship with his senior officer is hindered by secrets but their respect for each other is not diminished.
I enjoyed the confident writing style and the careful balance between the criminal elements and the personal dimension. I feel quite invested in Jack as a character as he has been on a significant journey emotionally whilst also having a slightly maverick tendency.
Vanished is an enjoyable police thriller and I would recommend this series.
Book blurb
When an eccentric widow claims she is being stalked by her former lodger, Detective Jack Warr is the only person who believes her wild claims.
Days later, she is found brutally murdered in her home.
When the investigation uncovers an international drugs operation on the widow’s property, the case grows even more complex. And as the hunt for the widow’s lodger hits dead end after dead end, it seems that the prime suspect has vanished without a trace.
To find answers, Jack must decide how far is he willing to go – and what he is willing to risk – in his search for justice. Because if he crosses the line of the law, one wrong move could cost him everything . . .
