The Crime Warp

Available here Here and Gone Blurb Hannah Clarke, a wife and mom one day, is a widow without a child the next. Two years later, living as H.L. Mason in Fossil, Colorado, her safe new world explodes with a revelation so shocking and horrifying she can hardly grasp it. By chance, she meets Sheriff Noah Ward, and though she’s leery of cops after being accused of killing her family, she needs help. Noah, a former Navy SEAL, agrees to do what he can, but he soon discovers the case is far more insidious than parental abduction.    Author Bio Ann Simas lives in Eugene, Oregon, but she is a Colorado girl at heart, having grown up in the Rocky Mountains. An avid word-lover since childhood, she penned her first fiction “book” in high school. The author of 21 novels, one novella, and one short-story collection, she particularly likes to write a mix of mystery/thriller/suspense, with a love story and paranormal or supernatural elements.   In addition to...

                                             Available here Blurb: Do you really know your friends? On the afternoon of Nick and Lisa’s wedding, their close friend is found poised on a hotel window ledge, ready to jump. As the shock hits their friendship group, they soon realise that none of them are being as honest with themselves – or with each other – as they think. And there are secrets lurking that could destroy everything. Tense, disturbing and clever, My Husband’s Lies is a breath-taking read, perfect for fans of Lucy Clarke and Erin Kelly. Author Biography: Born Yorkshire lass, Caroline studied Law at the University of Manchester and stayed over the border. Caroline was a divorce and professional indemnity lawyer and instigated her jottings when she deserted the law to bring up her three lovely daughters. In addition to t...

The cover and title are unusually revealing – in fact I get the creeps just looking at the book. Don’t you just hate splinters?  But it is the intrigue that grabs you in the end, the secrets, the mystery. And the anticipation of gore, although those who have read my other reviews know that I’m a wimp when it comes to torture. Having said that, psychopaths can be cruel and I spend much of my time preaching that people need to accept the reality of human nature, and the reality of evil. I suspect that few crime readers view mankind through rose tinted glasses, so I'm probably preaching to the converted.   What about characterisation and the plot? Well, they are excellent and I’ve always been a sucker for psychics, real or fake. Will Sergeant Ruth Lake find out what’s going on with DCI Carver (and will he find out what’s going on with her?) How does he know so much even though he’s confined to a hospital bed? Splinter in the Blood is a British police procedu...

Available here Blurb: Hunter's back, and this time it could mean war... Can ex-CIA assassin Doug Hunter foil an evil plot to spark conflict in the Middle East - and will journalist Kate O'Sullivan survive London's worst ever terror attack? An explosive adventure featuring a unique bioweapon, Islamist terrorists, corrupt politicians, over-ambitious spooks, and ruthless military contractors. This breathtaking and bloody tale of conspiracy will whisk you from Downing Street to Langley and from Cyprus to the Iraq-Iran border in a fast-paced thriller full of killer action, pulse-pounding tension and page-turning suspense. Who - or what - is The Hangman? Find out in this final gripping standalone thriller, the final instalment of The Hack Trilogy .

So, I joke you not,  these books should come with  not one, but three warnings ... a warning not to have anything else planned for the rest of the day.  A warning to makes sure you're not home alone when reading them and, perhaps the most important warning of all -  a warning to avoid hot drinks at crucial points in the book.  Rob Ashman, a bill is in the post for the dry cleaning of my trousers (No - it was only a coffee spill - not the other - although that was a close call) and for the purchase of various scald remedies.  After his thrilling and ever so very warped Mechanic series, Ashman has done the impossible and damn well out done himself.  the new series is great.  Read on for my reviews of the first two books.  I believe the third Suspended Retribution will be released later in the year - I, for one, am waiting with bated breath. Faceless Available here As, I quipped on Facebook , this book could equally have been call...

Available here Blurb Two murders. One missing girl. DI Kate Fletcher is called out to a freezing canal where a woman’s body is found floating in a lock. With no identification, the police struggle to piece together the details of the woman’s life. In Thorpe a daughter confesses to the murder of her father. She says she helped him escape a painful death from liver cancer, but was her role more active than she claims? As Kate and her team investigate, the links between the two cases are inescapable and everything seems to lead back to the disappearance of a teenager years earlier. Then the main suspect vanishes…. Can Kate connect the events of past and present to bring the culprit to justice? Author Bio Heleyne Hammersley, a Cumbria-based writer, is the author of psychological suspense novels ‘Forgotten’ and ‘Fracture’.  Her latest novel, ‘Closer to Home’, is the first in a new crime series.  The second, ‘Merciless’, is due to be/was published on June 1 st ...

link I t seems strange to me that in 2018 we still have to ask that question, but it is clear from the make up of authors and employees in the London dominated publishing houses that it is a question that needs addressing. If there was true equity in this world then we wouldn't need inclusion policies - but until there is and we're all starting from the same point in the race, then we do need them. Exclusion is a very real thing in the UK's creative industires and it's high time it was challenged head on. So, hats off to Penguin Random House (PRH) for leading the way on this one and taking a step towards representing a broader, more representative body of fiction taking into account the modern society in which we live. For years the creative industries have been woefully neglectful of their duty to respond to, not only, the increasing diversity in society but to the inequitable way they have represented it. We've had Jennifer Lawrence in 2015 questi...

Available here It's the summer holidays and a group of kids are playing in the woods, when they spot a local thug burying something. So, what do they do?  Well, as kids are kids, they do the exact opposite from what most of us would do and they dig up the package and realise it's drugs.  Now, their dilemma is, what should they do with the drugs? I know, I know you're all yelling 'Dob in the Dealer' - but, well, kids are kids aren't they? And it's not as easy for them to make this decision (It's all to do with their pre-frontal cortex, you know?)  So, they spend time in their den trying to work out what to do .... and it's then that Waller, as only a devious minded crime writer can do, ups the stakes dramatically, making the kids' dilemma even more fraught.   

Available here A Sneaky-Peek Snippet  - from Stench by A B Morgan The moment when a woman’s body is found by two pest-control officers, under the floor of Rory Norton’s cottage… Extract On the ring finger of the bruised swollen hand was a thick gold wedding band, scratched and etched with fine grains of soil. Fingernails were broken and dirty. Howard’s eyes adjusted quickly to the scene and he could make out, what appeared to be, the top of a head. Human hair, dark and matted. Twisting his head back over his right shoulder, Martin retched several times before charging at the doorway where Rory stood immobile until forced to dodge aside as the workman galloped past him. Loud spewing noises could be heard from outside as Martin’s stomach contents splatted onto the wet gravel a few strides beyond the open porch.  ‘Oh my life. There’s a dead woman down here.’ Howard choked, lurching back onto his heels, turning his head towards where his ...

You’d think that life in Lochdubh would be simple. But ask Hamish MacBeth and you will find out it can be very complicated indeed. His love life is complex, his job is tricky, his boss a downright nutcase, even his domestic life with his pets is confusing and troubling. To make matters even more challenging, Police headquarters send him a new ‘helper’ in the tall shape of the amiable young policeman Charlie. Everything conspires to stop Hamish from having an easy life. For a character to sustain a 34 th book in a series he or she must be well-drawn and popular. Hamish MacBeth is that, in spades. When he makes sure that justice prevails, even if he doesn’t take or get credit for his endeavours, you feel that all is going to be well with the world - even if only on a small patch on the West coast of Scotland. Still, you get all sorts of mischief makers there, a black mailer, even a murderer or two. When that happens, Hamish has to leave his fishing rod behind and get to work inv...

Available here Blurb When a torched body is found in a country lane, DI Bliss and Chandler are called in to investigate. The detectives are drawn towards recent missing person reports, and believe their victim will prove to be one of them. Bliss thinks he knows which, and fears the outcome if he is proven right. Soon the body is identified, and Bliss and Chandler discover evidence suggesting this murder might be a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, someone from Bliss’s past needs his help, and soon he is juggling his personal life with the demanding case. To make matters more complicated, MI5 and the Counter-Terrorist Unit are called in to help solve the case. But are they on the right track? Bliss and Chandler soon find themselves in a race against time, and this might just be their most challenging case yet… Author Bio Tony J Forder is the author of the critically acclaimed DI Bliss crime thriller series, which began with Bad to the Bone . The sequel, The Scent o...