Skin Deep by Antonia Lassa, translated by Jacky Collins – review

Published by Corylus Books Publication date – 15 May 2023 Source – review copy When police arrest eccentric loner Émile Gassiat for the murder of a wealthy woman in a shabby seaside apartment in Biarritz, Inspector Canonne is certain he has put the killer behind bars. Now he just needs to prove it. But he…

Mrs Porter Calling by A J Pearce – review

Published by Picador Publication date – 25 May 2023 Source – review copy Emmy Lake is the much-loved agony aunt at Woman’s Friend magazine, relied upon by readers across the country as they face the challenges of life on the Home Front. With the problem page thriving and a team of fantastic women behind her, Emmy finally…

The Last Dance by Mark Billingham – review

Published by Sphere Publication date – 25 May 2023 Source – review copy Meet Detective Miller: unique, unconventional, and criminally underestimated… He’s a detective, a dancer, he has no respect for authority ­- and he’s the best hope Blackpool has for keeping criminals off the streets. Meet Detective Declan Miller. A double murder in a seaside hotel…

The Murderous Type by Sue Minix – review

Published by Avon Publication date – 25 May 2023 Source – review copy I wrote murder mysteries. I didn’t investigate them. Until now… Crime writer turned amateur sleuth, Jen, has taken over the running of the local bookstore in her hometown of Riddleton. But balancing the books at Ravenous Readers is nothing compared to meeting…

What Child is This? by Bonnie MacBird – review

Published by Collins Crime Club Publication date – 13 October 2022 Source – review copy It’s Christmastime in London, and Sherlock Holmes takes on two cases. The angelic three-year-old child of a wealthy couple is the target of a vicious kidnapper, and a country aristocrat worries that his handsome, favourite son has mysteriously vanished from…

Termush by Sven Holm, translated by Sylvia Clayton – review

Published by Faber Publication date – 4 May 2023 Source – review copy The day we came up from the shelters four people were found dead on the steps of the hotel. Welcome to Termush: a luxury coastal resort like no other. All the wealthy guests are survivors: preppers who reserved rooms long before the…

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld – review

Published by Doubleday Publication date – 6 April 2023 Source – own copy Life is (not)* a Romantic Comedy… With a series of heartbreaks under her belt, Sally Milz – successful script writer for a legendary late-night TV comedy show – has long abandoned the search for love. But when her friend and fellow writer…

Date With Death by Julia Chapman – review

Published by Pan Macmillan Publication date – 9 March 2017 Source – own copy Samson O’Brien has been dismissed from the police force, and returns to his hometown of Bruncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales to set up the Dales Detective Agency. However, the villagers aren’t that welcoming to a man they see as trouble. Delilah…

Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland – review

Published by Headline Publication date – 27 April 2023 Source – review copy Loveday Cardew’s beloved Lost for Words bookshop, along with the rest of York, has fallen quiet. At the very time when people most need books to widen their horizons, or escape from their fears, or enhance their lives, the doors are closed. Then the…

The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson – review

Published by Constable Publication date – 21 July 2022 Source – Harrogate giveaway copy Three rival actresses team up to solve a murder at the stately home of Lettice Davenport, the author whose sleuthing creation of the 1930s, Dahlia Lively, had made each of them famous to a new generation.  In attendance at Aldermere: the…