Review - We Know What You Did by Kirsty Lockwood

We Know What You Did by Kirsty Lockwood
Publisher: Orion
Release date: 4 June 2026

Back cover blurb: Everyone saw the murder happen. Now they want to know why. Nineteen-year-old Odette and eighty-year-old Amos were already famous. Their unlikely, heartwarming friendship captured the hearts of thousands of fans online. But when Amos is brutally murdered during a livestream and Odette is filmed covered in his blood, there's no question who's to blame. The video of the murder quickly goes viral, and the world is hungry for answers. How did a sweet, lonely girl turn on her only friend? And why won't she say a word in her defence? As the media storm worsens, Odette is frightened, alone and refusing to speak. But time is fast running out and if she stays silent, the truth may never be revealed . . .

When Social Media star Odette films herself at the murder scene of her video companion and landlord Amos there sees to be little point in trying to understand who the perpetator is. It must be Odette, there can't be any other explanation? Can there?

Odette Adlin is mourning her Mother's death when she meets Amon Miichaels in a museum that she used to frequent with her Mum. 

Is it fate? Or just good luck?

Odette couldn't possibly say. But Amos is exactly what she needs in that moment and the pair of them strike up a unlikely friendship, despite the huge difference in age, interests, and lifestyles.

Over the coming weeks as they get to know each other, Odette can't help but feel like she's finally landed on her feet.  Due to her upbringing she doesn't really have any friends of her own age. So when Amos suggests that she comes to live with him, she only hesitates for the smallest moment.

It's a decision that she will wish she spent longer on, for she really doesn't know Amos at all.

When she suggests that she set up a social media account to document their unlikey friendship, Amos initially appears thrilled. They are both doing something to combat their loneliness, help each other, and maybe even others in the same position as them.

But then Amos begins to show a different side to Odette. One that he doesn't show the outside world, and Odette begins to wonder if she's made the biggest mistake of her life. A mistake that could prove deadly...

We Know What You Did is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - The Spy and the Snake by M.J. Robotham

The Spy and the Snake by M.J. Robotham
Publisher: Aria
Release date: 7 July 2026

Back cover blurb: One mission. One fake husband. One very real problem. Maggie Flynn has finally earned her place at of MI5-but with promotion comes paperwork. No more disguises, no more danger, just meetings, memos, and the quiet realisation that life feels a little too safe. With her daughter away at university and her spirited mother pursuing her own adventures, Maggie's days in London are starting to feel decidedly ordinary. So when the chance arises to return to the field, she doesn't hesitate. The assignment: fly to Budapest and pose as the wife of a notorious British defector in order to smuggle him back to the UK. It should be a straightforward operation. But Maggie Flynn has never done straightforward-and what's waiting in Budapest is anything but routine. As Cold War tensions simmer and shadows linger on every corner, Maggie finds herself navigating a city steeped in secrets-and drawn to a mysterious stranger who may endanger the mission… or steal her heart.

Mandy Robotham - writing here as M.J. Robotham is one of my favourite historical fiction authors, and I have absolutely loved the two novels in the Mrs Spy series (and am secretly hoping they may be revisited at some point!) 

Mrs Flynn (Maggie) is not your conventional spy, approaching 50, widowed with one daughter; she's an unlikely candidate for a covert MI5 mission. But her boss knows how capable she is, even if she's not sure she believes it herself.

Having been promoted to case officer since our last meeting, Maggie thinks she is happy with her lot. That is, until her boss, the head of MI5 assigns her her first mission as a potential agent. Her mission, should she choose to accept it, is to capture a former agent, a defector who wants to come back home.

Usually this would be an easy, straightforward assignment, but this one is off the books. For the agent has info that both British intelligence agencies will do anything to secure.

Maggie knows that her mission is potentially dangerous, but deep down she knows that she is capable.

And so off to Budapest she goes. It should be a simple mission, despite its risks, but as often happens in these scenarios, things don't exactly go to plan, and Maggie finds herself in the middle of secrets, lies and well - espionage, strangely enough!

A great read, and one I'd highly recommend.

The Spy and the Snake is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - the Last Flight from Moscow by Andie Newton

The Last Flight from Moscow by Andie Newton
Publisher: One More Chapter 
Release date: 7 May 2026

Back cover blurb: In the shadowy underbelly of Cold War Moscow, Mae Pierce, once a formidable OSS agent, has found herself once again thrust into a perilous mission that could spell redemption—or ruin. Tasked with posing as a model at the American Exhibition, Mae is haunted by the ghosts of her past. Her plan had been simple: lie low, collect her paycheck and get home. Instead, she must navigate the treacherous waters of deceit, betrayal, and the ruthless Russian Mafia. When her new partner vanishes, Mae soon realizes that the stakes are higher than she ever imagined…

The Last Flight from Moscow is another brilliant read from Andie Newton.

Mae Pierce, once one of the OSS’ most formidable agents is living in America, with a charmed life to the outsider, but a gambling addiction and dangerous levels of debt hidden from view.

After her last mission went wrong, Mae has no desire to be involved in the world of espionage again. But her best friend has other ideas.

Recruiting Mae to look after a new hire, and travel to Russia to pass as a model at the American Exhibition wasn't exactly what she had in mind.

But they are paying her generously for her time, so she decides to go along with it.

Whilst there Mae and her partner realise that they are not like the other 'models' who are actually doing it for fun, or work, and they have to work harder than usual to fit in and not look too much like spies.

Besides, everyone knows that the 'real' spies are the men, and Mae and her partner are just there to be an extra pair of eyes and ears, and keep up appearances.

When Mae's partner goes missing, Mae is determined to follow through with her promise to keep them safe, even if it jeapordies her own safety. 

The Last Flight is a great read, and I always look forward to reading this author. 

The Last Flight from Moscow is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - On the Book Train to Paris by Norie Clarke

On the Book Train to Paris by Norie Clarke

Publisher: Headline Review

Release date: 28 May 2026

Back cover blurb: Carly longs to make-over the family's Edinburgh bookshop, but her father is resisting change. Upstairs, Fran is stumped by her next novel - and with how to fix her marriage. In the flat below, Elsa cares for her husband, in need of a short breather to gather her strength. So when a customer drops in and asks for help at his book festival on a train to Paris, it's the chance of a petit escape. And when a book mysteriously appears in the shop that Fran inscribed to a lover in Paris years ago, it seems too serendipitous to ignore. Boarding the train with Carly and Elsa, Fran wonders if revisiting her past will help her move forward. But there are plot twists ahead. Could the book train to Paris be a passport to joie de vivre?

Carly doesn't realise just how unhappy she is until she comes across an ex, now happily married with children. 

I'm sure we have all been there to some extent. Meeting someone from a past life, whether it be lover or childhood friend who has made us feel inadequate about ourselves, whether it be career choice, lack of partner...

Carly has recently moved home to live with her parents and is looking for a new job, whilst she decides exactly what it is that she wants to do with her life. 

Her Mother Fran is feeling unloved and unfufilled in her marraige, and as a successful author is finding it is hampering her ability to write.

Carly's Father is keeping a huge secret from her Mother which doesn't help the situation at all. Their family bookshop is failing, and there doens't seem to be a way out.

That is until a young man arrives at the bookshop one day, in desperate need of some help and an author to fill a slot at his book festival, on a train to Paris. 

It seems unlikely, but timely and is just the thing that both Fran and Carly need.

I finished this book really quickly; it was enjoyable and full of bookish delights. A perfect summer read for book lovers. 

On the Book Train to Paris is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - Liar Liar by Luca Veste

Liar Liar by Luca Veste
Publisher: Avon 
Release date: 4 June 2026

Back cover blurb: Even good people do bad things… Once hailed as Liverpool’s finest detective, Mark Fletcher brought a serial killer to justice and earned the city’s admiration. But when he's accused of working with Liverpool's most notorious crime family, his legacy is shattered – and so is his life. Now disgraced and spiralling, Fletcher wakes up in a hotel room with no memory of the last 24 hours… and a dead body beside him. The evidence says he did it. His instincts say otherwise. Hunted by the force he once served, Fletcher must uncover the truth – not just to clear his name, but to survive. Because someone wants him silenced, and they’ll stop at nothing to finish what they started…

Mark Fletcher, once one of Liverpool's finest detectives, is now mingling with the people he enjoyed putting behind bars. Liverpool's finest... criminals.

Following a triumphant case in which he was due to be promoted, Mark finds himself helping a woman in need, without following protocol. When things go drastically wrong, he has nowhere to turn, and he is suspended from his role. His friend and colleague Jack Kirkham is promoted in his place.

With nothing to do and nowhere to go he begins drinking heavily. 

Months later, he is thinking that he should at least try to get his life back on track and try to get himself out of the pit of despair he has found himself in, when once again things go drastically wrong for him. 

He wakes up next to a dead body with no recollection of how he got there, but certain he had nothing to do with the presumed murder.

Now very much on the wrong side of the law, Mark knows that he should call it in, or at the very least ask one of his former colleagues for help. But Mark doesn't really know who is still on his side, and believing things possibly can't get any worse, he engages the help of a lifelong friend instead.

The trouble is that Sean, Mark's lifelong friend, has been on the wrong side of the law for as long as Mark can remember. They have agreed to disagree over the years, and since Mark joined the Police force and got promoted, their paths haven't really crossed 'professionally'. 

Until now, they have kept a respectful distance from each other. 

Mark knows that in this situation, Sean is the only person who can really help him.

The trouble is that Mark doesn't know just how involved Sean is with the wrong people, and that he may just have made his most costly decision to date…

Liar Liar is available from 4 June 2026. You can pre-order it now via Amazon online and all good bookshops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - The Lowe Job by Grace Alexander

The Lowe Job by Grace Alexander

Publisher: Orion

Release date: 21 May 2026

Back cover blurb: When Lili Lowe is caught in a compromising position with her boss, married politician Teddy Landen, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the centre of a media frenzy. She turns, as most daughters would, to her mother. Yet Lydia Lowe is a former talent agent, and it's not long before the whole world knows the name Lili Lowe. As the spotlight brightens on Lili, and her three sisters Stevie, Iris and Katie, the women's lives are changed in ways they could never have predicted. And it's soon clear that fame, and fortune, comes with a price...

The Lowe Job is such a great, fun book. 

Lili, Lilibet, Elizabeth Lowe is working in her dream job when she is caught in a compromising position with her boss in the back of a taxi.

Mortified and jobless, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the media spotlight

Lili's Mother, Lydia Lowe is a former talent agent (one of the best in the business), and knows that they should take this for what it is. An opportunity of the biggest kind. Certainly not one that Lili will ever get again.

Lili's sisters, Stevie, Iris and Katie aren't thrilled about being dragged along for the ride. But soon learn to embrace their new celebrity lifestyle, even if it does force them to make some interesting life choices. 

For Stevie, this means embracing the promotion of a lifetime while ignoring her blossoming love life.

For Iris, it means having to let go of the past and allow herself some happiness and the ability to try something new.

And for Kaite, the youngest of the sisters at 17, it is about trying to find out who she really is, whilst under the scrutiny of the public eye.

One thing is for certain, none of their lives will ever ve the same again. 

This is one of the funniest books I've read so far this year, but it also has a lot of heart. It is about so much more than its title and dysfunctional family, and I absolutely adored it. 

The Lowe Job is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review - Five by Ilona Bannister

Five by Ilona Bannister

Publisher: Juniper 

Release date: 5 May 2026

Back cover blurb: On a train platform, five strangers unknowingly face a chilling countdown: one of them will die in five minutes. In this gripping tale narrated with a sharp tongue, the five main characters – a child, a mother, a businessman, an old woman, and a gambler – will draw you in with their stories as the clock ticks down. As the train gets closer and closer, we fall in love with the beautiful Sonny who is on the verge of gambling his life away. We pity the furious old Mrs Worth who grew up in a macabre household and so failed at being a mother. We look away from the demonic child Gideon. We judge his mother Emma who must surely be to blame? And we are curiously compelled by the successful and damaged businessman Liam. Five stories. Five minutes until a life ends. In this tense, intriguing drama that explores fate, sacrifice, and the real meaning of life, you will frantically turn the page to see who will survive, and who will be lost …

If I'm honest, I enjoyed this novel more than I expected to. It's entirely my own fault that I seem to have read an awful lot of train (or indeed platform) based thrillers this year, and I wasn't sure I was ready for another.

This was by far my favourite. Although I will say that not all of the characters are particularly likeable, but then perhaps that is the point, as we know that one of them is going to receive an untimely demise. 

Here we have five main characters: a child, a mother, a businessman, an old woman and a gambler. One of them will die in the next five minutes.

Told in a mixture of real time and flash back, we learn more about these five individuals than they do about each other during their time on the platform. 

There is Mrs Worth, a furious old woman who had the most appalling upbringing, but has done very well for herself. 

Emma, who is unable to control her demon child, Gideon. 

Liam, on first glance, an honest businessman. At second glance, perhaps not so. 

And Sonny, beautiful, yet incredibly troubled. A gambling addict who is terrified of letting people down.

An unlikely group that ordinarily wouldn't cross paths with each other. But life doesn't often work in the way we expect it. As this novel makes very clear...

This is the first release by Harper Collins' new imprint Juniper, whose tagline is 'fiction to think about'. This is certainly true here, and I am very excited for their next release. 

Five is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.