Tag: Mystery

I’m delighted to welcome Amanda Roberts and her new book, Lady of the Quay, to the blog #LadyoftheQuay #Tudors #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalMystery #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Amanda Roberts and her new book, Lady of the Quay, Book 1 in the Isabella Gillhespy Series, to the blog with a snippet.

Snippet

‘Drink?’ I asked, gesturing towards the cabinet. He removed his hat, threw it onto a chair, and shook his head.

‘I’m here on business.’

That had never stopped him before. My heart had already sunk into my stomach, and his curt reply sent it plummeting to my feet. I had envisaged a cosy chat, me resting on my settle, him in his favourite chair, either side of the fire. A scene we had populated so many times in the past. But I already knew that was not going to happen. I did not sit down, but faced him, both of us standing somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the room.

‘Well?’ I challenged him to speak first. If we got the business out of the way we might be able to move on to resolve the more personal difficulties that stood between us, a wall as impenetrable as those surrounding Berwick. But like our town defences, every wall has its gates. I just needed to find Will’s gate.

Here’s the Blurb

Knowing she is innocent is easy … proving it is hard

1560, Berwick-upon-Tweed, northern England

Following the unexpected death of her father, a series of startling discoveries about the business she inherits forces Isabella Gillhespy to re-evaluate everything she understands about her past and expects from her future.

Facing financial ruin, let down by people on whom she thought she could rely, and suspected of crimes that threaten her freedom, Isabella struggles to prove her innocence.

But the stakes are even higher than she realises. In a town where tension between England and her Scottish neighbours is never far from the surface, it isn’t long before developments attract the interest of the highest authority in the land, Sir William Cecil, and soon Isabella is fighting, not just for her freedom, but her life. She must use her wits and trust her own instincts to survive.

Lady of the Quay introduces an enticing new heroine who refuses to be beaten, even as it becomes clear that her life will never be the same again.

From the author of the award-winning ‘The Woman in the Painting’.

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Meet the Author

Amanda Roberts has worked as an Editor in business-to-business magazines for over 30 years, specialising in out-of-home coffee, vending and foodservice/catering, including Editor of the global gastronomy title: ‘Revue internationale de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs’.

She currently freelances, editing UK-based healthcare titles – HEFMA Pulse, Hospital Food + Service and Hospital Caterer. She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Historical Novel Society and West Oxfordshire Writers. She also volunteers for Tea Books (part of Age UK) to run a book club/reading group for elderly people in the community.

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Follow the Lady of the Quay blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

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It’s happy release day to Killer at the County Show by Kate Wells, a fabulous contemporary mystery set in the Malvern Hills #mystery #newrelease #blogtour

Here’s the blurb

Foul play at the sheep show…

Tensions are high at the Three Counties Show when accusations of cheating add fuel to a longstanding feud. For Jude Gray, whose only hope was to not make a fool of herself showing her Kerry Hill sheep, farming life has never been so dramatic.

When a body is found, belonging to one of the competitors, there is no shortage of suspects. Every sheep farmer in this close-knit community has a motive and beneath their show-ready smiles, they all have something to hide.

Experience has taught Jude that when there’s a murderer at large, nobody is truly safe. And with secrets simmering beneath the surface, this may be her most challenging investigation yet. Can she unearth the truth before it’s too late?

A gripping new instalment in the Malvern Farm Mystery series, perfect for fans of Frances Evesham, Merryn Allingham, and Faith Martin.

Purchase Link

https://mybook.to/KillerCountyShow

My Review

Killer at the County Show by Kate Wells is the fifth book in the Malvern Farm Mystery series and I’ve read four of them (see my reviews below).

It’s a delight to return to Jude and her farm and family, and hasn’t she just got involved in yet another murder mystery, all while attending the County Show to exhibit her sheep.

This is another welcome addition to the series. I always enjoy the fact that I never quite manage to guess who the murderer was in every book, and the plot is twisty enough to keep me reading. I will certainly be reading book 6.

Check out my reviews for Murder on the Farm and Death in the Hills, two earlier titles in the fab series.

Meet the author

Kate Wells is the author of a number of well-reviewed books for children, and is now writing a new cosy crime series set in the Malvern hills, inspired by the farm where she grew up. 

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It’s a happy release day to The Monstrous Murders by Elizabeth R Andersen, the third Alewives of Colmar mystery, and I’m reviewing it on the blog #histfic #histficmystery

Here’s the blurb

As winter draws to a close, something suspicious lurks outside the walls of Colmar.

Appel, Gritta, and Efi, the three alewives of Colmar, are enjoying a calm month of brewing and friendship after solving the deeply unsettling riddle of the severed hands. But peace is not destined to last for long. The disappearance of two novice monks in the care of Friar Wikerus spark tales of a supernatural beast on the loose, and when a lowly street sweeper is terrorized one night, fear stalks the town like a monster.

Theories of demons and beasts run wild. Could this foretell another great mortality like the one they only recently survived? Could it be an evil spirit sent to punish the wicked citizens of Colmar? The alewives would rather not involve themselves, but everything changes when a body turns up near their canal. The threat is too close to home to ignore. Once more, Appel, Gritta, and Efi must put their sleuthing skills to good use – while ensuring they don’t also fall prey to the supernatural menace.

Book 3 in the award-winning Alewives of Colmar mystery series, The Monstrous Murders is everything readers have come to expect; witty banter, deep friendship, twisty clues, and frothy brews.

Purchase Link

https://amzn.to/3H1CQHJ

My Review

It’s so good to be back with Efi, Appel and Gritta. And this time, they’re thrust into a most beguiling mystery, with missing shoes, missing novices, and, as usual, the men of the town are more likely to be sent running for the hills with fear than solve the mystery themselves. It’s a good job Efi, Appel, and Gritta are more curious than terrified, although they’re not without some worldly and otherworldly worries.

I’ve read all three books in The Alewives of Colmar series. They are delightful fun and a real treat for the reader. If you’ve not yet discovered Efi, Appel and Gritta and the charming town of Colmar then what are you waiting for?

Another five-star read for me. Bring on book 4 (no pressure, Elizabeth R Andersen:))

Check out my reviews for The Alewives and Sleight of Hand.

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I’m delighted to welcome Julia Ibbotson and her book, The Rune Stone, to the blog #medieval #TimeTravel #Romance #Mystery #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Julia Ibbotson and her book, The Rune Stone, book 3 in the Dr DuLac series (but can be read as a standalone), to the blog.

Blurb

A haunting time-slip mystery of runes and romance

When Dr Viv DuLac, medievalist and academic, finds a mysterious runic inscription on a Rune Stone in the graveyard of her husband’s village church, she unwittingly sets off a chain of circumstances that disturb their quiet lives in ways she never expected.

She, once again, feels the echoes of the past resonate through time and into the present. Can she unlock the secrets of the runes in the life of the 6th century Lady Vivianne and in Viv’s own life?

Again, lives of the past and present intertwine alarmingly as Viv desperately tries to save them both, without changing the course of history.

For fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, Christina Courtenay.


Praise for Julia Ibbotson:

(for A Shape on the Air) “In the best Barbara Erskine tradition …I would highly recommend this novel” –Historical Novel Society

(for the series) “Julia does an incredible job of setting up the idea of time-shift so that it’s believable and makes sense” – book tour reviewer

(for The Rune Stone) “beautifully written”, “absorbing and captivating”, “fully immersive”, “wonderfully written characters”, “a skilled story teller” – Amazon reviewers

“Dr Ibbotson has created living, breathing characters that will remain in the reader’s mind long after the book is read … The characters are brought to life beautifully with perfect economy of description … fabulous!” – Melissa Morgan

“A rich and evocative time-slip novel that beautifully and satisfyingly concludes this superb trilogy. The story is woven seamlessly and skilfully between the past and the present and the reader is drawn deeply into both worlds.  Her portrayal of the 6th century and its way of life are authoritative, vivid and memorable.” – Kate Sullivan

Buy Link

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This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited

Meet the Author

Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She is the author of historical mysteries with a frisson of romance. Her books are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time mysteries. Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language / literature / history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics.

After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s. She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone.

Her work in progress is a new series of Anglo-Saxon mystery romances, beginning with Daughter of Mercia, where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries. Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful storytelling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.

Connect with the Author

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Follow The Rune Stone blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

Check out the details for The Dragon Tree.

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I’m delighted to share my review for Murder in Covent Garden by Anita Davison #bookreview #blogtour #historicalmystery #newrelease

Here’s the blurb

Nobody should be in the market… for murder!

Even though its famous opera house has shuttered its doors for the war, Covent Garden remains one of the most exciting, bustling areas of London. It’s where Hannah Merrill and Aunt Violet have their bookshop and, in spite of the recent spate of burglaries in the area, it’s generally thought to be a good neighbourhood.

So Hannah is surprised when she sees a fellow shopkeeper – a jeweller named Jacob Cornelis – having a heated argument with a stranger. Especially when the next day Cornelis is found dead in his shop, apparently the victim of another burglary.

But what shocks Hannah more is when she meets the policeman supposedly there to investigate the crime. Because he is none other than the man who Hannah saw arguing with Cornelis the day before.

Hannah knows it’s up to her and Violet to investigate. But they don’t know they’re about to uncover a secret underworld of theft, murder and blackmail. And they must act fast, before the Covent Garden Killer strikes again…

A gripping and unputdownable Golden Age cozy crime mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Helena Dixon and Verity Bright.

Purchase Link

https://mybook.to/MurderCoventGarden

My Review

Murder in Covent Garden has everything we’ve come to expect from a Miss Merill and Aunt Violet Mystery – a crime to solve, Hannah determined to discover the truth, and of course, Aunt Violet being her usual enigmatic self in World War 1 era London.

This time Hannah manages to get her herself into all sorts of difficult situations, which she somehow manages to escape from, as well as more than her fair share of possible perpetrators. Again, the ending wasn’t expected, and I always appreciate that.

Check out my reviews for Murder in the Bookshop, Murder in the Library and Murder at Midwinter Manor.

Meet the author

Anita was brought up in London, a city with a history that has always fascinated her and influenced her first attempts at writing. Her first three novels featured a 17th Century West Country family on the losing side of the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685. Other previous work includes an Edwardian Cosy Mystery series featuring amateur sleuth, Flora Maguire set in early 20th Century London and Cheltenham. Anita’s most recent work is the Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet Mysteries set in WWI from Boldwood Books. 

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I’m delighted to welcome R.N. Morris and his book, Death of a Princess, to the blog #HistoricalFiction #CrimeFiction #Russia #Mystery #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub #BookReview

I’m delighted to welcome R.N. Morris and his book, Death of a Princess, Empire of Shadows Book 3, to the blog.

Image shows the cover for Death of a Princess on a pale background with a vase of flowers to the side of it.

Here’s the blurb

Summer 1880.

Lipetsk, a spa town in Russia.

The elderly and cantankerous Princess Belskaya suffers a violent reaction while taking a mud bath at the famous Lipetsk Sanatorium. Soon after, she dies.

Dr Roldugin, the medical director of the sanatorium, is at a loss to explain the sudden and shocking death.

He points the finger at Anna Zhdanova, a medical assistant who was supervising the princess’s treatment.

Suspicion also falls on the princess’s nephew Belsky, who appears far from grief-stricken at his aunt’s death.

Meanwhile, investigating magistrate Pavel Pavlovich Virginsky arrives in Lipetsk from St Petersburg, seeking treatment after a nervous breakdown.

Against his better judgement, Virginsky is drawn in to the investigation. But is he getting closer to the truth or walking straight into a deadly trap?

The cover image for Death of a Princess by R N Morris. The cover image shows a period building from the 1800s with people in the foreground, including a horse and carriage

Buy Link

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This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited

My Review

Death of a Princess is an intriguing and quite complex mystery set in the 1880s in Russia. It is the third book in the series, and I’ve not read the earlier two, but it didn’t diminish my enjoyment, and readers will easily be able to start with this title.

It has a wide cast of characters and follows them as they interact with one another and resolve other issues before fully resolving how the princess’s death came about.

It feels very ‘Russian.’ All the characters have delightful Russian names and attitudes, and the story well depicts the social structure of society. It’s an engaging read, pulling the reader along with some very tense moments until reaching the grand finale.

I very much enjoyed the mystery and look forward to reading more in the series.

Meet the Author

Roger (R.N) Morris is the author of 18 books, including a quartet of historical crime novels set in St Petersburg featuring Porfiry Petrovich, the investigating magistrate from Dostoevsky’s great novel Crime and Punishment. These were followed by the Silas Quinn series set in London in 1914. He has been shortlisted for the CWA Duncan Lawrie Gold Dagger and the CWA Historical Dagger.

A former advertising copywriter, Roger has written the libretto for an opera, modern retellings of Frankenstein and Macbeth for French school children. He’s also a scriptwriter for an award winning audio producer, working on true crime and history podcasts including The Curious History of your Home.

His work has been published in 16 countries.

Married with two grown-up children, Roger lives in Chichester where he keeps an eye out for seagulls.

Author image for R N Morris.

Connect with the Author

Image shows the blog tour banner for Death of a Princess by R N Morris showing the blog hosts taking part in the blog tour organised by The Coffee Pot Book Club
Follow the Death of a Princess blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

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I’m sharing my review for the delightful, The Dog Sitter Detective Plays Dead cosy-mystery by Antony Johnston

Here’s the blurb

Gwinny is at a stately home in the Yorkshire Dales, filming a small part in a gender-swapped remake of Dracula while looking after the dog of an elderly friend who lives nearby.

During filming, an actor is found dead inside a locked trailer – with a stake through their heart! The film’s star, an obnoxious big-shot Hollywood actress who once played a cop on TV, decides she will solve the crime. But Gwinny isn’t impressed, and they clash as both women mount rival investigations.

Cover image for The Dog Sitter Detectibe Plays Dead by Antony Johnston

My Review

This is my first book in the Dog Sitter Detective series, and what fun it was.

This has lovely energy. The pages fly by as the story unravels. It also kept me guessing, which is how I rate a mystery. If I don’t manage to work out who the culprit was, it’s a very good read. 

Gwinny is a great character, and the film set vibe was fab. The very first few pages, with their very atmospheric feel, made me wonder what I’d started reading, but it all quickly resolved itself.

This is a lovely, quick read with a resolution that will defy most readers. It was thoroughly enjoyable, and I will be reading more in the series.

Purchase Link

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dog-Sitter-Detective-Plays-Dead-ebook/dp/B0D6PH16WY/

I’m reviewing Death in the Hills by Kate Wells, a fabulous contemporary mystery set in the Malvern Hills #mystery #newrelease #blogtour

Here’s the blurb

This is no peaceful walk in the countryside…

When Jude Gray and DI Binnie Khatri join a local walking group, their expectations for a peaceful outing to the Malvern Hills takes a grim turn. Arguments abound, and the hike ends in tragedy when one of the walkers is found dead in her car.

Initially ruled as an accident, Jude’s instincts tell her there’s more to the story.

As Jude and Binnie dig deeper, they uncover tensions and secrets within the group. From hidden affairs to longstanding rivalries, it becomes clear this death was no accident.

With each revelation, the danger grows. Can Jude and Binnie unravel the mystery before the killer strikes again?

A gripping addition to the Malvern Farm Mystery series, perfect for fans of Frances Evesham, Merryn Allingham, and Faith Martin.

Cover image for Death in the Hills by Kate Wells

Purchase Link

https://mybook.to/DeathHills

Cover image for Death in the Hills by Kate Wells

My Review

Death in the Hills is the fourth book in the Malvern Farm Mysteries. I’ve read three of them.

It’s a welcome return to Jude Gray and her busy farming life and family, but no sooner have we enjoyed a countryside walk than tragedy strikes. As always, Jude is suspicious, and she’s right to be suspicious as she begins to uncover some of the secrets among the members of the walking group she’s joined.

These mysteries are really solid reads. The plot is very well defined and developed, and readers know they’re going to get a surprise along the way—one that has been well-signposted if only we follow the right clues (which I didn’t—I was very convinced the solution was different from the one we got). 

Death in the Hills is a welcome addition to this thoroughly well-written series, and I’m really pleased that at least four more books will be published.

Meet the author

Kate Wells is the author of a number of well-reviewed books for children, and is now writing a new cosy crime series set in the Malvern hills, inspired by the farm where she grew up. 

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Details of the blog hosts for the Death in the Hills blog tour organised by Rachel's Random Resources

I’m delighted to welcome Julia Ibbotson and her book, The Dragon Tree, to the blog #medieval #TimeTravel #Romance #Mystery #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Julia Ibbotson and her book, The Dragon Tree, book 2 in the Dr DuLac series (but can be read as a standalone), to the blog.

Blurb

A haunting medieval time-slip (#2 in the Dr DuLac series, sequel to A Shape on the Air, but can be read as a stand-alone)

Echoes of the past resonate through time and disturb medievalist Dr Viv DuLac as she struggles with misfortune in the present. She and Rev Rory have escaped to the island of Madeira on a secondment from their posts, yet they are not to find peace – until they can solve the mystery of the shard of azulejo and the ancient ammonite. Viv’s search brings her into contact with two troubled women: a noblewoman shipwrecked on the island in the 14th century and a rebellious nun at the island convent in the 16th century. As Viv reaches out across the centuries, their lives become intertwined, and she must uncover the secrets of the ominous Dragon Tree in order to locate lost artefacts that can shape the future.

For fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, Christina Courtenay.

“The idea of being able to ‘feel’ what happened in the past is enticing … The sense of the island is really wonderful … Julia brings it to life evocatively.”
~ Joanna Barnden

 “Julia does an incredible job of setting up the idea of time-shift so that it’s believable and makes sense.”
~ book tour reviewer

“… an engaging and original time-slip novel that keeps the reader turning the pages…the characters are authentic and the mystery is neatly woven between the centuries … seamless time transitions …”
~ Melissa Morgan

Buy Link

Universal Link:

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited

Meet the Author

Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She is the author of historical mysteries with a frisson of romance. Her books are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time mysteries. Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language / literature / history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics.

After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s. She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone.

Her work in progress is a new series of Anglo-Saxon mystery romances, beginning with Daughter of Mercia, where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries. Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful storytelling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.

Connect with the Author

Website: BookBub:

Follow The Dragon Tree blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

I’m delighted to welcome Roberta Tracy and her new series, Zig Zag Woman, to the blog #HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookclub

I’m delighted to welcome Roberta Tracy and her new series, Zig Zag Woman, to the blog, with an excerpt.

Excerpt One

The Morehouses’ world turned upside down on a warm September day when Captain Hiram Clarke of the Los Angeles Police Department welcomed Margaret to the force with a book of rules and first aid kit. Had he included a crystal ball, she might have been able to predict the way murder and deception would riddle her life for the next twenty years.

On her first official day of work, Margaret tried to take advantage of a long-standing police department privilege, free trolley rides to Central Police Station on First Street. The pot-bellied conductor, who always tipped his hat to policemen and waved them aboard, eyed her up and down with suspicion. “Anyone not wearing a badge must pay!” he declared.

Assuming he had not had a chance to read the morning paper, she handed him the fare.

If she’d left home a few minutes later, Margaret would have ridden to work alongside Alice Stebbins Wells, Los Angeles’s first female policewoman with arrest powers, who never, ever paid to board a trolley.

Blurb

The last thing LAPD Detectives McManus and Tyson expect to find behind Pantages Theatre is a body rolled up in a blanket. The last thing Margaret Morehouse, one of the city’s first policewoman with arrest powers, expects to do is join the investigation. When a deadly explosion at the L. A. Times derails their efforts, Margaret finds herself at a crossroads and strikes out on her own, a path leading to delusion and self-discovery on a vaudeville stage. Her husband’s nephew Leland further complicates the situation by sharing a ransom note and confiding his failure to report his wife’s disappearance at the Dominguez Air Meet.

A brief stint as a magician’s assistant takes Margaret to Chicago, where she almost signs on as a zig zag girl, the term used for ladies performing in the “cutting-a-woman-in-two”

illusion. Instead, Margaret returns to the tumultuous world of early twentieth century Los

Angeles. Reunited with McManus and Tyson, she confronts prejudices and societal norms in efforts to identify a body, clear Leland’s name, and topple the stranglehold one powerful, amoral person has over many lives. Their efforts lead to dead ends and misconceptions before truth comes to light. Love is rekindled and danger uncovered in unlikely places. Margaret goes from Zig Zag Girl to Zig Zag Woman, no longer cut in two but headed on a clearer path.

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Meet the Author

Early experience as a staff greeting card writer introduced Roberta Tracy to witty people who shared the writer’s dream. Marriage, motherhood, and career intervened, but she maintained that creative desire.

A degree in nonprofit management led her to work situations where newsletters, grant proposals, and business correspondence took precedence. Still, she wrote poetry, some of which won prizes and publication, and children’s books set in worldwide locations. Recently, she co-authored Come Dream With Me, a part travelogue, part hippie nostalgia work of creative nonfiction, detailing the adventures of colleague Inese Civkulis.

No matter what writing projects unfold in the future, she’ll never find enough words to thank family and friends for their inspiration and encouragement.

Connect with the Author

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Follow the Zig Zag Woman Series blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club