Review: the Ladies of the house by Molly McGrann

the Ladies of the house by Molly McGrann
Publisher: Picador
Release date: 26 March 2015
Rating: ***
Back cover blurb: On a hot July day, three elderly people are found dead in a dilapidated house in Primrose Hill. Reading the story in a newspaper as she prepares to leave the country, Marie Gillies has an unshakable feeling that she is somehow to blame. How did these three people come to live together, and how did they all die at once? The truth lies in a very different England, and in the secret world of the ladies of the house... 

 

the Ladies of the house from its outset, is an intriguing novel. The opening chapter setting the scene for mystery that follows. A mystery, I felt as a reader that was never entirely cleared up, and left me wondering if I had missed something along the way.

the Ladies of the house begins in the present day with the discovery of three bodies in a London house and Marie Gillies at an airport for the first time in her sheltered life learning of the deaths via a newspaper. She feels in some way responsible for those days, but why exactly is that?

Arthur Gillies, Marie's father was a wealthy man, who kept his true worth from his family until he died, and even then it is only revealed by an inexperienced bank clerk. It is made clear to the family that they must never again mention Arthur Gillies' fortune, and instead must consult with Mr Wye regarding any financial matter.

But what does all this have to do with the bodies in the house? Well, as the plot develops it becomes easy for us the reader to see exactly how Arthur made his fortune (and why he thought it might be a good idea to keep it from his family).

Sadly it is less clear why Marie feels somehow responsible for the deaths that she reads about. And I'm still not sure whether I misinterpreted the ending of the novel, whether I missed something, or indeed whether there was anything for me to miss!

the Ladies of the house I think is a book that some will love. Me, well I'm still not sure, but it certainly was 'different' to anything I've read previously.

the Ladies of the house is available from 26 March 2015. You can pre-order it now from Picador and Amazon online.

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

Guest post: Touched by Joanna Briscoe

Today I am thrilled to welcome to my blog, Joanna Briscoe, author of 'Touched' for a guest post.

1963: Rowena Crale and her family have recently moved into an old house in a small English village. But the house appears to be resisting all attempts at renovation. Walls ooze damp. Stains come through layers of wallpaper. Ceilings sag. And strange noises - voices - emanate from empty rooms.

As Rowena struggles with the upheaval of builders while trying to be a dutiful wife to her husband and a good mother to her five small children, her life starts to disintegrate. And then her eldest and prettiest daughter goes missing. Out in the village, a frantic search is mounted - while inside the house reveals its darkest secret: a hidden room with no windows and no obvious entrance. Boarded up, it smells of old food, disinfectant - and death...

Set in a world where appearances are everything, and nothing is as it seems, Touched is unsettling, claustrophobic, and utterly gripping.

Touched is beautifully written, and has everything you could want from a novella; crime, horror, love and much more and I am thrilled to be hosting this post today. 

Here Joanna talks about the process of writing a novella;

How I wrote this novella.

As described in my Afterword, it was a liberating experience writing a Hammer novella. I had never really thought about writing a ghost story before, and it was my publisher, Selina Walker who had the idea that I should. It did make me realise that there was that element in my fiction all along. But this was a new challenge, and it felt like a delicious, forbidden project that I couldn’t get on with until I’d finished a draft of my full length novel. I allowed myself a single afternoon to work on the idea, which came to me immediately as an image of a girl dressed in Victorian clothes on a village green. The supernatural element grew, as did my memories of childhood.

I also wanted to explore childhood in an earlier era, in which children ran free, and could encounter worrying characters.

I wanted to look at sibling jealousy, and the power of beauty, and at women’s roles in the early sixties, before feminism.

I wrote the novella in an intense, short period, working faster and more urgently than I ever had before. The edit took a lot of time and thought, but I had been shy, to an extent, of the supernatural element, and I had to bring this out more. It was the most enjoyable writing experience I’ve had to date. Writers only sometimes actually enjoy writing! This time, I truly did. I know where the setting came from; I don’t know where the plot or characters came from. They seemed to arrive pretty fully formed, and I raced to make notes on them, and started the novella that very first day, with children crossing a village green…

 

Touched by Joanna Briscoe, published in paperback by Hammer, 26^th March 2015

 http://www.joannabriscoe.com/

    Thank you to Joanna and Phillipa Cotton at Cornerstone for allowing me me to host my first guest post!

Review: A place called Winter by Patrick Gale

A place called Winter by Patrick Gale
Publisher: Tinder Press
Release date: 24 March 2015
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb: In the golden 1900s, Harry Cane, a shy, eligible gentleman of leisure is drawn from a life of quiet routine into courting and marrying Winnie, eldest daughter of the fatherless Wells clan, who are not quite as respectable as they would appear. They settle by the sea and have a daughter and conventional marriage does not seem such a tumultuous change after all. When a chance encounter awakens scandalous desires never acknowledged until now, however, Harry is forced to forsake the land and people he loves for a harsh new life as a homesteader on the newly colonized Canadian prairies. There, in a place called Winter, he will come to find a deep love within an alternative family, a love imperiled by war, madness and an evil man of undeniable magnetism.

  

Firstly I must apologise to Patrick because the review that’s about to follow could never do this novel the justice it deserves.

 

I also need to apologise for not having read any of his previous novels. Where have I been?

 

A place called Winter is a novel that can only be described as a masterpiece. When I read on Patrick’s website that it had been inspired in part by family history, well I fell in love with the novel just a little bit more.

 

Harry Cane (Hurricane, Windy – yes he’s heard all the jokes!) is a shy, caring man with a stutter that endears the reader to him even more. Brother to Jack, Wife to Winnie and Father to Phyllis. Harry appears to have it all. But the opening pages of the novel tell a different tale. Harry’s departure from a Canadian mental asylum to an experimental therapeutic centre under the watchful eyes of Dr Gideon Ormshaw shows us a man traumatised by the procedures he has been subjected to.

 

How exactly did Harry end up in Bethel? 

 

A place called Winter alternates between two time periods in Harry’s life. His life within in the asylum and later, Bethel, and the events of his life prior to the asylum; his early life in England, his emigration to Canada minus his family and his settlement in Canada.

 

Harry’s life begins ordinarily enough, left his father’s omnibus fortune, Harry is comfortable with his life as a bachelor, living with his brother Jack. But then Jack meets George, Harry is introduced to George’s sister, Winnie and everything changes.

 

Harry begins his married life happily enough, until he meets a stranger who unwittingly changes Harry’s future in a way that nobody could have foreseen. Harry is forced into a situation where he must make a devastating decision; leave his family, or risk losing everything including his reputation.

 

Harry agonises over his decision and on a whim decides to emigrate to Canada. On board the ship over he meets Troels Munck, yet another individual who is set to change Harry’s life. Upon arrival in Canada, Harry must learn how to farm before he is able to purchase his own land, which he does with commitment and a strength he never knew he had. Soon he is on his way to a place called Winter, where he decides to settle.

 

Here he meets the Slaymakers, Paul and Petra, brother and sister, who are no strangers to the situation that Harry has found himself in, and we begin to understand here, the path that the novel may take.

 

I don’t want to say too much more and spoil the novel for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of reading it. I suppose however I should say that Harry’s life in Canada is determined by three people, Petra, Paul and Troels Munck. The relationships with the former two and the actions of the latter set Harry’s life on a course that could never have been predicted.

 

And the ending? Well we all deserve a little happiness from time to time, and for me, it’s the perfect end to the perfect novel.

 

A place called Winter deserves every little bit of advance praise that it has gathered and is a truly exceptional novel. I guarantee you will fall in love with it.

A place called Winter is available from 24 March 2015. You can pre-order it now from Tinder Press and Amazon online. 

    Huge thanks to Georgina Moore who sent me an advanced proof copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Into the Night by Jake Woodhouse

Into the Night by Jake Woodhouse
Publisher: Penguin (Michael Joseph)
Release date: 26 March 2015

Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: A woman is pushed in front of a train by a man in police uniform. And a body is left on a rooftop, its hands scorched and head missing. Another day in Amsterdam: Western Europe's murder capital. The killer announces to the world that this is merely the beginning. The man tasked with stopping the bodycount is Inspector Jaap Rykel. But as Jaap searches the beheaded body for clues as to its identity, what he finds makes his blood run cold. Why on earth are there pictures of himself - and his home - saved on the victim's phone...?

 

So I was all set to give Into the Night 5 stars, until the very end. I am sure there will be lots of readers of this novel with whom the ending is popular, but for me personally, it just felt like a little bit of an anti-climax, and a slight overuse of violence within the last few chapters to get to  that point.

Into the night is the second book of a quartet, and I would be interested to read the others in the series. Perhaps I would like the ending of the novel more after reading the beginning of the third novel. I guess I will have to wait and see!

Into the night opens with the discovery of a gruesome body, bloodied, be-headed and burnt. Inspector Jaap Rykel is called to the scene to investigate and becomes increasingly uneasy as he realises that the victims phone holds a picture of himself.

When another body appears whose phone holds details of Jaap's lover, Jaap really begins to worry. As an inspector he is used to people holding grudges against the police, but he has never seen anything like this. Is the killer indeed someone that is holding a grudge. Or are they just trying to throw Jaap off the scent?

As Jaap is trying to figure out exactly what's going on, a homeless woman is pushed in front of a train by a man in a police jacket. Jaap has to question, is it one of his own with a grudge? Or is there just someone out there that really hates the police force in general?

Jaap has to work hard to get his answers, and this book requires quite a bit of concentration as there are several cases closely linked to each other and quite a lot of police characters to keep a track off. Although I might have found this a little easier if I'd read the first book in the series.

Although I was personally disappointed with the ending, I had been throughly engaged in the novel up until that point and would recommend it to any crime fiction fan.

Into the night is available from 26 March 2015. You can pre-order it now from Amazon online.

 

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

Black Wood Blog Tour

 Q and A with SJI Holliday - author of Black Wood

You’ve previously worked as a statistician. What made you change your career path or was being an author something you'd always aspired to?

Well I still work as a statistician. There’s nothing like a day in front of a computer screen staring at loads of numbers to inspire the creative brain! Seriously, I think it’s always something I wanted to do but something I never imagined I’d be able to do. I took six months off to travel the world in 2006 and it was then that I realised I wanted to pursue it. I started with short stories, then lots of unfinished novels, before I finally got stuck in and finished Black Wood.

Do you have a favourite author?

No. I read so many authors. I often cite Stephen King as my favourite, but I’m not actually sure anymore! I like different styles and voices. I do love Mo Hayder though. The darkness of her mind is fascinating.

If you could have written any novel what would it be?

Bird Box by Josh Malerman. Just. So.Clever.

Do you have any peculiar writing habits or quirks?

Not really, unless you counting writing in bed?! My worst habit is being too easily distracted by social media.

What are you reading at the moment?

I’ve just finished Untouchable by Ava Marsh. It’s not out until May, but I’ll tell you now - it is fantastic. I’ve got a few books that I’ve read a bit of and put back for later – I’m bad for that! I like a sneak peek of things before I settle down with the one I want.  I’m am trying not to start anything new at the moment as I need to focus on writing, but I know I’m going to crack… I can’t stop myself. I have a to-be-read pile the size of a house.

Is there another novel on the cards? If so can you give anything away yet? And will it be the same genre?

Yes. No. Sort of. I never talk about a work-in-progress in case I jinx it.

Will you continue to write short stories now that you’ve taken the leap and written a novel?

Definitely. I was shortlisted for the CWA Margery Allingham competition last year with a story featuring a character from Black Wood. I’m still trying to decide how to publish that story. I’ll always write short stuff, even though I have less time. They’re great for experimenting with ideas and styles, and it’s satisfying to finish something in days rather than months

Have you read anything that made you think differently about how you write?

That’s a great question. Yes, most definitely. I think everything I read makes me think differently about how I write, especially now that I am a writer as well as a reader. It’s impossible to read now without analysing the writing – you never stop learning about structure and voice and language, especially with crime as people are writing things in many different ways. I love to read first person – it really draws me in and helps me to imagine the character. Black Wood is written partly in first and partly in third, and it’s my aim to one day have the confidence to sustain a whole novel written in first.

Do you prefer an E-book or a physical book?

Physical – and I prefer paperback to hardback, just because they’re more portable and don’t hurt so much when they fall on your face when you drop off to sleep. I do read eBooks too, on a tablet and an iPad. Those things really hurt when they fall on your face!

Davie Gray is an extremely likeable character. If there is another book on the cards, how likely is he to feature, and would you consider a series of books featuring him?

You know what – he was never even meant to be in the book. I needed to add in another character, and I decided to try writing a policeman, sitting bored in a station in a town where nothing much happened. I wrote a chapter and sent it to my writing buddy, and he said he loved him. He grew from there and took on a life of his own. He’ll definitely be back.

There are lots of twists and turns to the plot in Black Wood. How do you keep track of your story as it becomes more complex?

Haha! Ask my editor. I thought it made perfect sense until we realised that one character’s story ended on Tuesday and everyone else was still going on Thursday. I do use a spreadsheet to try and track the timeline and a brief description of each scene, but it tends to get abandoned during the frantic writing phase (i.e. when the end is in sight).

Black Wood is quite a dark book. How did you feel when writing it? And did you need to take any time out to get away from the story whilst writing it?

The sections in the woods freaked me out a bit – I could picture them clearly and the thought of what happened made me feel sick. And there are two sort-of-supernatural scenes that actually scared me when I wrote them. It didn’t help that I wrote them in our old house, which was apparently haunted… I always had to play some uplifting music after a writing session and watch at least half an episode of Friends. That’s a great mind cleanser.

Great questions – thanks for having me!

  Black Wood is available from 19 March 2015. You can pre-order it now from Amazon online.    You can read my review of Black Wood here.   Don't forget to visit crimethirllergirl.com tomorrow for the next blog tour installment!     

Huge thanks to Susi for answering my questions and to Liz for organising the blog tour!

Review: Black Wood by SJI Holliday

Black Wood by SJI Holliday

Publisher: Black and White Publishing

Release date: 19 March 2015

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: He spots the two girls through the cracked screen of beech, sycamore and leg-scratching gorse: a flash of red skirt and a unison of giggles… Something happened to Claire and Jo in Black Wood: something that left Claire paralysed and Jo with deep mental scars. But with Claire suffering memory loss and no evidence to be found, nobody believes Jo’s story. Twenty-three years later, a familiar face walks into the bookshop where Jo works, dredging up painful memories and rekindling her desire for vengeance. And at the same time, Sergeant Davie Gray is investigating a balaclava-clad man who is attacking women on a disused railway, shocking the sleepy village of Banktoun. But what is the connection between Jo’s visitor and the masked man? To catch the assailant, and to give Jo her long-awaited justice.. contd.


Black Wood is Susi Holliday's debut novel, but you wouldn't know it. A truly gripping read from start to finish, Black Wood is one of the best debuts I've read in a while.

Black Wood is set in a small claustrophic Scottish town, where everyone knows everyone (and their business), and some very unpleasant things have happened. Think Broadchurch crossed with Taggart and you're almost there.

Black Wood is the setting of life changing events for Jo and Claire that neither of them are able to really move away from even years later. Affected in different ways both physically and mentally, Jo and Claire although still friends, are bound together by their past.

Whilst Claire would be happy to forget what happened that fateful day in Black Wood, Jo is slightly more reluctant to let go, convinced that a man who has recently returned to Black Wood had something to do with what happened. So convinced is Jo of this persons involvement that she enrols the help of the local police Sergeant, Davie Gray.

Sergeant Davie Gray is a thoroughly likeable character which puts him at odds with quite a few of the other characters in Holliday's debut. A few of whom are thoroughly unpleasant. But this helps to make Black Wood the atmospheric novel that it is.

Davie, although wanting to help Jo, has other concerns. A masked suspect has been seen in the Black Wood area. frightening and attacking young girls. Is it the same man that Jo has been so concerned about, or is it something even more sinister? Something that no one in Black Wood, least of all Jo or Claire, could ever have imagined?

Black Wood without a doubt has to be one of my favourite ever crime debuts, and I urge you to read it. You won't be disappointed!

Black Wood is available from 19 March 2015. You can pre-order it now from Amazon online.   You can read my Black Wood blog tour Q and A with SJI Holliday here.   Don't forget to visit crimethirllergirl.com tomorrow for the next blog tour installment!     

 
    Huge thanks to Liz Wilkins for sending me a copy of the novel and allowing me to take part in Susi's blog tour.

Review: Blood Relatives by Stevan Alcock

Blood Relatives by Stevan Alcock
Publisher: 4th Estate
Release date: 26 March 2015
Rating: *** and a half

Back cover blurb: 'The milkman found her. On Prince Philip Playing Fields. He crossed the dew-soaked grass toward what he took to be a bundle of clothes, but then he came across a discarded shoe, and then t’ mutilated body. her name wor Wilma McCann.' Leeds, late 1975 and a body has been found on Prince Philip Playing Fields. Ricky, teenage delivery van boy for Corona pop, will be late for The Matterhorn Man. In the years that follow until his capture, the Yorkshire Ripper and Rick’s own life draw ever closer with unforeseen consequences. Set in a time in England's history of upheaval and change – both personal and social – this is a story told in an unforgettable voice. 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are looking for something a little bit different to read this year, then this novel is definitely the one for you! 

 

Written in what can only be described as a broad yorkshire dialect, for a southerner like me it did take some getting used to the narrative, but it makes the novel even more real.

Set against the backdrop of the 'Yorkshire Ripper' murders, Blood Relatives is a brilliantly woven coming of age tale.

Ricky Thorpe is a delivery boy for Corona, but he would much rather be famous. 

 

Still living at home with his Mum, Step-dad and Sister, Ricky yearns for another life, and he soon finds it. But happiness comes at a cost, as Ricky is about to find out and life is never quite as simple as it seems. 

 

Ricky's first lesson comes with his first real foray into a gay relationship. The Matterhorn Man is everything to Ricky, but Ricky soon realises that he is not everything to the Mattherhorn Man.

 

Disillusioned, Ricky turns to the gay club scene and meets with a few characters with whom he will make relationships that will shape the rest of his life.

Although I suspected that Ricky's lives and the Ripper's would cross, I didn't quite expect the surprise delivered at the end of the novel by the author.

Curious? 

 

Well, you will have to give Blood Relatives a real to discover what happens. But Ricky's won't be a voice I'll be forgetting in a hurry.

 
Blood Relatives is released on 26th March and available to pre-order now from 4th Estate.
    Thanks to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum

Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum Publisher: Mantle Release date: 26 March 2015 Rating: **** and a half Back cover blurb: Anna Benz lives in comfort and affluence with her husband and three young children in Dietlikon, a picture-perfect suburb of Zurich. Anna, an American expat, has chosen this life far from home; but, despite its tranquility and order, inside she is falling apart. Feeling adrift and unable to connect with her husband or his family; with the fellow expatriates who try to befriend her; or even, increasingly, her own thoughts and emotions, Anna attempts to assert her agency in the only way that makes sense to her: by engaging in short-lived but intense sexual affairs. But adultery, too, has its own morality, and when Anna finds herself crossing a line, she will set off a terrible chain of events that will end in unspeakable tragedy. As her life crashes down around her, Anna must then discover where one must go when there is no going back .

Anna was a good wife, mostly.   

From the very first sentence of Hausfrau I was hooked. It is rare for a novel that focuses on such a passive character as Anna to be able to keep the reader engaged the whole way through. But Anna is so intriging a character that you cannot help but be drawn to her.

Anna Benz lives in Dietlikon, a suburb of Zurich. An American ex-patriate married to a Swiss, Bruno, Anna often feels alone in Switzerland. She doesn't feel as if she fits in. Which is why she takes German classes every week day.

Bruno is oblivious, he believes his wife is happy with him and their three children. Who wouldn't be in such a beautiful setting?

But Anna not happy. Not even with Bruno.

She is a serial adulterer. Her latest in a long line of affairs is Archie, a Scot who happens to be in her German classes. But Archie is not the only man that Anna has in her life, aside from Bruno. Anna simply cannot (or perhaps doesn't want to) say No to anyone.

Inevitably perhaps Anna cannot carry on her shennanigans undectected, but it takes a major tragedy for her to see exactly what she has been doing wrong all this time. But is Anna already too late to save herself from the situation that she has created?

Alongside Anna's narrative, we also see her sessions with a therapist, a further insight in Anna's tangled web of lie, loneliness and deceipt.

Hausfrau handles it subject matter with a sensitivity that you might not expect, and the ending will leave you bereft. An excellent novel that will keep you captivated.

Hausfrau is available from March 2015. You can pre-order now from Amazon online and Pan Macmillan.       Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: the A to Z of You and Me by James Hannah

the A to Z of You and Me by James Hannah

Publisher: Doubleday

Release date: 12 March 2015

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: I'm lying here in a bed, my head full of regret, with only a little bird flitting through a tree to comfort me. Friends want to visit, but I refuse them. So my carer Sheila has given me a task to keep me occupied. An A-Z list. Think of a part of my body for each letter. Tell a little tale about it. When I reach H for Heart, what will I say? How we loved to string crocheted hearts in trees? How our hearts steadily unravelled? So I begin with A. Adam's apple. Will you be there to catch me when I fall?

The A to Z of You and Me is a beautifully written love story with years of grief and regret at its heart.

Ivo is dying, he is forty and in a hospice, refusing to see friends and family and just waiting for the time to come. Ivo is too young to be in a hospice, but life has dealt him more than one tragedy so Ivo just accepts that is where he has ended up.

Sheila (who is brilliant) is Ivo's carer. She is warm and funny, and encourages Ivo to take part in a game she has created for the hospice patients. Ivo must think of a body part for each letter of the alphabet, and create a story to accompany that body part.

At first Ivo is reluctant, but as he begins to recall events from his past, he becomes a willing participant.

Through Ivo's A to Z we learn much about his life, his family, friends and how he has come to be in the hospice. But we mostly learn about Mia, Ivo's ex girlfriend, some might say love of his life. For it is clear that she meant everything to him.

As we learn more about Ivo's life with Mia, we begin to understand his reluctance for visitors, particularly his former best friend, Mal. Yet Ivo's friends are (almost) as stubborn as he is and won't take no for an answer.

 

Will he agree to see them before the end, or will it just be too late to revisit the past?

The A to Z of You and Me by its very subject matter could make for a depressing read, but if anything it is uplifting. 

 

A beautifully woven tale of life and death, family and friendship. Funny yet sad and always brutally honest, the A to Z of You and Me is perhaps one of my favourite books so far this year.

Thank you James Hannah for writing such an accomplished debut. I look forward to the next...

The A to Z of You and Me is available from 12 March 2015. 

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online and Doubleday.

    Thank you to Alison Barrow (Transworld) who sent me an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: After the War is over by Jennifer Robson

After the War is over by Jennifer Robson
Pulisher: William Morrow
Release date: 12 February 2015
Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: After four years as a military nurse, Charlotte Brown is ready to leave behind the devastation of the Great War. The daughter of a vicar, she has always been determined to dedicate her life to helping others. Moving to busy Liverpool, she throws herself into her work with those most in need, only tearing herself away for the lively dinners she enjoys with the women at her boardinghouse. Just as Charlotte begins to settle into her new circumstances, two messages arrive that will change her life. One is from a radical young newspaper editor who offers her a chance to speak out for those who cannot. The other pulls her back to her past, and to a man she has tried, and failed, to forget. Edward Neville-Ashford, her former employer and the brother of Charlotte's dearest friend, is now the new Earl of Cumberland—and a shadow of the man he once was. Contd....

After the War is over is a beautifully written historical novel about Charlotte Brown, a thirty something who is returning to Liverpool to take up her pre-war job role after working as a nurse during the great war.

Charlotte appears to be a charming young woman with some strong opinions about society. She is forthright in these opinions without being rude, and her arguments are usually well founded, as she attended University before the war.

Although she enjoyed being a nurse during the war she is settling back in to her old life quite nicely, so is shocked when she is invited to attend the funeral of the father of her dearest friend Lily and her brother Edward (now the Earl of) Cumberland. 

Although well educated, Charlotte has always been in a different social class to her friends, and is not usually made to feel welcome by the rest of the Cumberland family, particularly Lily and Edward's other sisters. So it is with some reluctance that she allows herself to be persuaded to help Edward who is sadly a completely changed man after the war.

Drawing upon her limited nursing experience (the patients she attended during the war were more mentally injured than physically) Charlotte begins the at first thankless task of looking after Edward. She has the unenviable task of making him understand that is only natural that he feel guilty at surviving when so many didn't, but that he doesn't need to feel the guilt he does.

Slowly Edward begins to recuperate and we see the beginning of a beautiful friendship between the two, and just a hint of the romance that must have been shown in Robson's previous novel, Somewhere in France.

When Charlotte leaves Edward to return to Liverpool, she knows that is is unlikely that they can ever be together as they both desire to be. But are they really so different as society would make them believe? Or are they looking for an excuse to avoid the subject of love?

Now that I've discovered After the War is Over, I feel I really must read Robson's previous novel, Somewhere in France so that I can discover her brilliant characters in their younger days.

After the War is over is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

   

Thank you to Alice Herbert at Harper 360 who sent me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: No place to Die by Clare Donoghue

No place to Die by Clare Donoghue
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Release date: 12 March 2015
Rating: ****
Back cover blurb: DS Jane Bennett takes charge of South London's Lewisham murder squad following the temporary suspension of her boss, DI Mike Lockyer. His involvement with a female witness resulted in her murder. Mike returns to work but he's a shadow of the detective he was a few months before. Bennett gets a desperate call from an old friend to say that her husband, retired colleague Mark Leech, has gone missing. Blood spatters found in the home suggest that she doesn't have long to find him. When Jane is sent to a site in Elmstead Woods she stumbles upon a sinister murder scene. A tomb has been created, and the body she finds is not Mark's - as she dreaded and suspected - but that of missing university student, Maggie Hungerford. Her killer recorded her last moments, even providing an air supply which was only cut off when the game lost its thrill contd...

No place to die is a novel with disturbing crimes at its heart. I've read enough crime novels to not feel too shocked at the idea of the murder victims being buried alive in a tomb whilst being observed dying by their murderer. 

 

DS Jane Bennett is a character that I warmed too immediately. You can feel her nervous anticipation as she is led to the underground tombs with forensic officers in two, the fact that we get to know her family a little I think also warmed me to her. She wasn't the cold hard detective that you see in so many crime novels. 

 

Her superior, Mike Lockyer is quite obviously a troubled character and I feel like I needed to have read the previous novel with him in to understand him a little better, but for this particular novel, the fact that I didn't know him all that well, helped me to understand how DS Bennett was feeling towards him at the beginning of the novel. 

 

Without giving too much away, No place to die centers around the discovery of missing university student, Maggie Hungerford's body and the disappearance of retired police detective Mark Leech. 

 

At first there is little to link the two events and DS Bennett is certain that she has her man (or men-she is largely undecided if they are both involved) in the form of a Universty lecturer and a PHD student, Maggie's former lover, but as the investigation deepens, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. 

 

Sadly I guessed the murderer within the first few chapters, but I don't think it is obvious at all, I think I have just read far too many (if there is such a thing...) novels of this genre. If I hadn't I think I would've been very surprised by the ending of the novel. 

 

No place to die is a well written story with a great twist, and if I wasn't such an avid crime reader I probably would've given it 5 stars.

 

No place to die will be released on 12 March and is available to pre-order now from Amazon online and Pan Macmillan.

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