The Mechanical Devil by Kate Ellis

October 2, 2024 By Leave a Comment


The Mechanical Devil by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Piatkus Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Secrets never stay buried for long . . .

When archaeologist Neil Watson unearths a long-buried mechanical figure in a Dartmoor field, he is determined to discover the truth behind the bizarre find.

Soon, however, the sleepy village becomes the focus of press attention for another reason when two people with no apparent connection to each other are found shot dead in nearby Manor Field, seemingly victims of an execution-style double murder.

DI Wesley Peterson is called in to investigate, but the two murders aren’t his only problem. The daughter of a local MP has gone missing and the pressure is on to find her, especially when it’s revealed that she has a connection to one of the murder victims. And Wesley’s own life is thrown into turmoil when a woman he helped on a previous investigation finds herself subjected to a campaign of terror . . .

Is there a link between the double murder and the accidental death of a young history student in Manor Field twenty years ago? And just what is the true identity of the Mechanical Devil?

Archaeologist Neil Watson unearths a strange, long buried mechanical figure. But soon the area is overrun with press attention for a very different reason – two locals with no apparent connection are both found murdered in what appears to be an execution. DI Wesley Peterson and his team are trying to uncover what has really gone on – but Wesley also is juggling the increasing demands of a previous victim he’s helped when she’s the new victim of a terror campaign. Can Wesley and Neil each solve their respective puzzles?

I found this to be a very interesting and well plotted murder mystery novel. While I thoroughly enjoyed the interweaving of the historical mystery along with the modern day murder investigation I found it really added a sense of tension and atmosphere to the whole book. I enjoyed trying to work out which pieces of the plot were red herrings and which pieces were connected.

I must admit, I was a little disappointed that Wesley took so long to catch on to what was really going on with the previous victim and her many phone calls. I connected those dots what felt like very early on – pretty much after the character’s first few mentions – so it really surprised me that a detective as seasoned and intelligent as Wesley didn’t even seem to wonder or question what popped into my head very early on. It made him appear fairly silly to me to have missed something this obvious and I feel that was a bit of a disservice to the character really.

That said I found the main two plot mysteries – that of the missing teenage girl and the two murdered locals in the field really was a far more interesting and well written plotline. I thought this was handled very well and I enjoyed these two plots as well as Neil and his historical puzzle. I definitely thought this whole book stood very well on it’s own – I don’t think readers really would have needed to read anything previously written by this author to thoroughly enjoy this novel and aside from the blind spot of Wesley with his previous victim I felt this was a very well encapsulated story that can definitely be enjoyed on it’s own merits.

Readers who enjoy a British Police procedural mystery with quite a bit of history interwoven into the plotline should find this an enjoyable read.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Death Message by Damien Boyd

September 26, 2024 By Leave a Comment


Death Message by Damien Boyd
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer Publishers
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Graffiti is a dying art in this thriller from the bestselling DI Nick Dixon crime series.

A routine missing person enquiry takes a grisly turn when a young couple drag a box containing human remains out of a Somerset river. The victim was a surveillance expert investigating an exaggerated injury claim—a murder with an obvious motive, until a police officer is implicated and suspended.

Still brooding after his recent brush with police Professional Standards, Detective Chief Inspector Nick Dixon is on extended leave, helping his pregnant fiancée, Detective Sergeant Jane Winter, fight for her place on the major investigation team.

Convinced that the death of an art student is connected, Dixon returns to duty, and when graffiti depicting the murders starts to appear, the race is on to find the artist and the murderer. But, why the paintings? Could an infamous street artist be involved?

With colleagues questioning his every move, Dixon must stop a sadistic killer before another life is taken. Then a second art student is reported missing…

Detective Sergeant Jane Winter has no problem taking a new probational officer Sarah Loveday under her wing when the officer brings what at first appeared to be a routine missing persons report to Jane’s attention. As they begin to follow the usual procedure it soon becomes apparent that this missing person is anything except ordinary. And when parts of the person are found in a local river – dismembered and weighted down – it doesn’t take long for Jane’s fiancé, currently on leave DCI Nick Dixon to also find his curiosity roused. Can they uncover the various messages layered in this unusual case?

With DCI Dixon taking a slightly more back seat than usual in this novel I found I really enjoyed Jane’s time to step up and be fully one of the main characters in this novel. As Dixon’s fiancé and team member Jane has been a strong secondary for quite a few books now, but I really enjoyed seeing her both take a more active role, but also help train and lead what I feel might become the newest character in their team.

Readers should definitely feel able to pick up this book and read without any of the prior novels – this book stands very well by itself and certainly the plot is completed encapsulated here, with a clear beginning and a satisfying ending with the loose threads all cleared away. Readers who enjoy a solid and well plotted British police procedural should find this pacing and storyline definitely meets their expectations and readers who have enjoyed previous books in this series should be aware that there is a character death in this story. I personally felt the death was very well handled and sensitively treated.

Readers looking for something very high action or intense might not feel this book quite meets that criterion, but personally I’d much prefer a well plotted storyline with plenty of twists and turns as more of the mystery is slowly uncovered. There is some really good police work here and I definitely felt like this was an exceptional mystery. Readers who enjoy most British police procedural style books should feel this is a book well worth the time invested in it.

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Ask The Parrot by Richard Stark

September 19, 2024 By Leave a Comment


Ask The Parrot by Richard Stark
Publisher: The University Of Chicago Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Action/Adventure
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

In Ask the Parrot, the followup to Nobody Runs Forever, ruthless thief Parker is back on the run, dodging dogs, cops, and even a helicopter. His escape brings him to rural Massachusetts, where he is forced to work with a small-town recluse nursing a grudge against the racetrack that fired him. Even in hiding, Parker manages to get up to no good. It’ll be a deadly day at the races . . .

On the run from the law, Parker is trying to find somewhere to lay low until the worst of the heat passes. Finding a semblance of refuge in a small town with a hermit who has a big idea, Parker is determined to make the situation work for him. But can they both turn their fortunes around and stay out of the grasp of the law?

While there is a thread interweaving through all the Parker books, by and large they all stand very well on their own. The last three books ever written, however, are a little more closely linked – and this is the middle book of that. While in one respect I do feel anyone can pick this book up by itself and thoroughly enjoy the lean, gritty and slightly old-fashioned hard-boiled heist novel, I equally really do feel a deeper connection and enjoyment would be had if the reader had also read the previous book to this – “Nobody Runs Forever”.

This book picks up mere minutes after where Nobody Runs Forever leaves off, and while it’s extremely clear the main thrust of what occurred in that book (three robbers got away with a large sum of money, one of whom was Parker) a lot of the depth of trouble Parker currently finds himself in really is laid as groundwork in the previous book. That said, this is an exceptionally well written story, and I did love how the seemingly unconnected people in the small town all began to weave together into their story – rather like a tar baby sucking everything in and not letting anything fully go.

If you haven’t read the previous books in this series, I can strongly recommend them. This is a brilliant series and a superb set of gritty, slightly grim and very lean heist novels that have utterly enthralled me these last few years. I will be deeply sorry to read the last one (there’s only one more left for me in this series) and since the author passed away a number of years ago this time there’s really no hope for any more to come.

With an older style of writing that remains refreshingly wonderful even in this modern era, this is a great series and an excellent book. I’m actually looking forward to going back to the start of the series and re-discovering them all again. Highly recommended.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Lady’s Well by LJ Ross

September 17, 2024 By Leave a Comment


Lady’s Well by LJ Ross
Publisher: Dark Skies Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE WATER…

When the ancient waters of Lady’s Well in the rural village of Holystone begin to run red, it seems to be a nasty Hallowe’en prank and nothing more. But things take a sinister turn when the entire village suffers severe poisoning, and one old man turns up dead.

Accusations abound in the small, close-knit community, and ‘old’ religions spar against ‘new’ while fear runs like wildfire through the streets. With so many potential motives and countless opportunities, there’s only one man who can help solve this particular mystery…

Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit, set amidst the spectacular Northumbrian landscape.

The tiny rural village of Holystone has many customs – old and new – revolving around Lady’s Well. When the waters turn red sometime in the evening of Halloween half the small township feel it’s a distasteful prank, but the other half are convinced it’s an omen of ill will. Accusations abound in the small community and a number of already volatile situations surrounding the small village begin to flare. When first one, then another local is found dead DCI Ryan and his team can only treat these as suspicious and race to uncover what’s really going on in the tiny community.

This is the twentieth book in this series, and I have to admit the writing and plot feels just as fresh to me now as the first few books did. While there is a lot of history between the various team members, I was pretty pleased that I felt everything was very well explained and handled. It’s been a number of months since I’ve read one of this series and I didn’t feel as if I was missing anything – the author did a good job to explain everyone’s links and where the characters were all coming from. While certainly readers might be able to feel the weight of the shared cases and history all the previous books provide, I honestly feel anyone picking this book up on a whim with no previous reading under their belt from this author should be able to enjoy this mystery book as much as I did.

The plot is fairly straight forward and not overly complicated. Readers looking for some nefarious, intricate and deeply plotted puzzle might find this a little light. But I found the small town setting, the British Police Procedural tone and feel to the book coupled with the small team and various characters really helped this feel like an interesting and realistic police murder mystery story to me. There is a bit of residual drama surrounding two of the secondary characters which is clearly explained and I felt sympathetically handled from issues holding over from the previous book. This added a fair bit of emotional weight to the story and helped show the characters’ progression without interfering too deeply I felt with the main murder mystery plotline.

I was pretty pleased with myself for guessing part of the plot but found it equally enjoyable that there were a number of other aspects I didn’t get at all and found delightfully surprising. With a solid plotline having a number of elements wound well together and the cast of well-known and enjoyable characters I found this overall the be a strongly written and solid book that I can recommend to all mystery lovers out there.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Island Dreamin’ by Kate Douglas

September 5, 2024 By Leave a Comment


Island Dreamin’ by Kate Douglas
Escape!, book 7
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, Paranormal
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Teri’s had it! She’s tired of fighting for accounts in her job with the city’s largest advertising firm, but Brad and Steve are making her life miserable. After a frustrating day, she takes her drink and her disappointment into the bath for a long soak. A quiet vacation on a desert island. That’s what she needs…

The dream that follows is anything but frustrating. Brad and Steve, both bound and under her control, and does Teri ever take control! But is it all a dream? And what is it with those two guys? She had no idea they lusted after one another as much as they want her.

Teri is tired of the constant competition and struggle with her city job at an advertising firm. Brad and Steve in particular make her days miserable. Only the calm of a hot bath and a very cold drink at home at the end of the day can help her get up and do it all over again. For in those quiet, relaxing hours in her bath at home she can escape in her dreams and finally be the one in control.

I thoroughly enjoyed this very short but highly relatable and deeply sensual quick read. Having to constantly do battle with idiots at work and wondering if the rat race is really worth it is a situation I feel the majority of people can really feel compassion for. A delicious boozy drink- or three – and a hot bath at the end of the day is also something I can feel down in my soul. So, I thought this book easily grabbed me right from the first few pages.

What followed was a sizzling hot but equally enjoyable island getaway dream. Readers who enjoy M/M/F style threesome stories should definitely find this short story fits the bill. Teri, Steve and Brad quickly jump into their sexy shenanigans and readers will likely find themselves scorched with the outcome the threesome find themselves in.

Disconnect from a hard day, grab a big cold drink and enjoy this quick and sexy read.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Werewolf Cove by Marteeka Karland

September 4, 2024 By 1 Comment


Werewolf Cove by Marteeka Karland
Escape!, book 6
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, Paranormal
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

ER nurse Isabella loves Connor, but she refuses to be just the girlfriend anymore. She need more from Dr. McHottie, but he’s afraid to commit. Will a little fun in the sun bring her sexy werewolf to heel?

Isabella loves Connor – and she knows he loves her in return. But Connor is a little gun-shy when it’s coming to a firm commitment, so Isabella has a plan.

I found this to be a super hot and really quite sweet werewolf steamy romance. I felt immediately drawn into Isabella and her predicament of still being “the girlfriend” after three years with Connor and I was pleased with her modern attitude and refusal to back down from what she wanted. I was pleased though that the author did show us a bit from Connor’s perspective too – as the situation wasn’t as clear as Isabella originally thought, so seeing the matter from Connor’s eyes too really helped me feel connected to both these characters.

The sex was steamy and intense – I feel readers who enjoy werewolf style stories should definitely enjoy this short story. A fast and sizzling hot read this would be a great pick me up when you don’t have a lot of time to commit to a longer story.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Mermaid’s Scream by Kate Ellis

August 29, 2024 By Leave a Comment


The Mermaid’s Scream by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Piatkus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Most assumed that literary legend Wynn Staniland stopped writing because of his wife’s tragic suicide. Yet writer Zac Wilkinson hopes to reveal the true story to the world in his upcoming biography of Staniland.

When Zac is found brutally murdered, DI Wesley Peterson finds that Staniland is a link between Zac’s death and an unexplained poisoning of a couple in a local caravan park. He suspects that the killings are a grim re-enactment of the murder of Mary Field, which inspired Staniland’s best-known novel.

As Wesley begins to unravel decades of deception, he discovers that someone close to him is involved – and the truth proves almost too much to bear . . .

DI Wesley Peterson is called out to a suspicious poisoning out in the local caravan park in what looks might be a double suicide – or possibly a murder/suicide. With little but his instincts to go on he is reluctant to link it to another recent murder of a local author who is writing a biography of a local literary legend. Yet the more Peterson and his team look into the two loosely connected events, the more they find lurking in the background, and when a re-enactment of a young woman many years ago is also tied in the team have more than enough to keep them busy.

I found this to be an interesting and well-paced British murder mystery. I was impressed with the sub-plot revolving around Petersons nearly teenaged son, Michael and hope we can maybe see a bit more of him in future books to come. I also was really pleased that – for now at least – Wesley’s wife Pam seems to have settled down a bit and has a much better and more patient outlook on her life. I was very happy with the progress of both of these characters and found they really added to my enjoyment.

The plot was well contained and while readers who pick this book up and try to read it as a stand alone mightn’t find the same enjoyment with the character progressions that I did – the story and mystery aspect is very well handled and certainly is all tied up with no real loose ends. Readers who are hoping for a strong historical storyline or archaeological plot woven in with the modern day murder mystery might find that aspect to this book a little lighter than Ellis’ books in this series usually are. Speaking personally, I didn’t mind the lighter hand this time around as there was quite a bit going on – both with the characters, their longer running arc and family members as well as the main mystery plot. I felt had the historical aspect to the story taken up more room something else would have needed to be cut back and so I wasn’t upset to see the history take a bit more of a back seat this time around.

Readers looking for a solidly plotted and well-paced British Police procedural style of mystery should find this book really hits the spot. While I feel readers who have read a few of the previous books and know all the main characters and players will find this a little more emotional and more satisfying I do feel the plot is well contained and can easily be enjoyed just with this book alone. A good addition to a long running series and an author I really enjoy.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

A Mark Of Imperfection by Rhys Dylan

August 28, 2024 By Leave a Comment


A Mark Of Imperfection by Rhys Dylan
Publisher: Wyrmwood Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Know thine enemy …

Evan Warlow is a man with enemies. As a DCI in the Dyfed Powys force, that comes with the territory. But when two of his most vicious critics are abducted and turn up dead in a macabre tableau, tough questions need to be asked.

The uncomfortable answers lead Evan and the team back to his roots and an old case that has haunted him for years. The deaths in the forest have all the hallmarks of a dangerous killer with no fear of consequences. And when one of Evan’s fellow officers becomes the next target, it’s clear that the murderer isn’t finished yet.

There’s a coppery aroma of vendetta in the air. Unless Evan and the team can get to the root cause of the killer’s twisted anger, there will be more deaths. And guess who’s next on the list?

DCI Evan Warlow has made a number of enemies on his many years on the police force. When two of his most vitriolic enemies are found tortured and murdered, there are a number of difficult questions to answer. Evan and his team continue to tirelessly pursue both the truth and to stop any more unnecessary deaths, but will they have the strength to come through this – one of their hardest cases yet?

I have been greatly enjoying this slightly gritty, Welsh based police procedural series. While there are a few longer-running plot arcs that run through numerous books together, there is definitely one main plotline for each book and the police investigation around it. So, while I feel each of these books can certainly be picked up alone, I equally feel that readers who have read some or all of the books can get a deeper connection to these longer-running arcs and get a more complicated and layered enjoyment of the stories.

I was particularly glad that two very long plots (one surrounding Evan and his sons, and the other dealing with a particularly distasteful work colleague) were very well handled and wrapped up in this book. While I could understand if there are a few tendrils of the work colleague that linger into the next book or so I definitely feel much better for having – I believe – the bulk of this storyline wrapped up. I also felt a bit bad for Catrin – one of Evan’s team members – being dragged into the muck with this and I am hoping all will resolve well related to her character.

The plot itself was very well handled I felt. The difficulty of having the two victims be genuinely awful people and not at all sympathetic, and in addition to that them being very much antagonists of our hero, Evan, made it a really interesting read to me. Seeing Evan and his team work just as hard to solve this murder as any other shone a lot of light on both the teams’ characters as well as their impartiality – their genuine desire to solve crime no matter who the victim might be. I really enjoyed the slightly different look this gave and it made what could have been a very uncomfortable book something different and fresh to my mind.

With excellent characters – both good and bad – and a solid, well-paced plot I am enjoying this series and am eager for the next installment.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Household by Stacey Halls

August 26, 2024 By Leave a Comment


The Household by Stacey Halls
Publisher: Manilla Press
Genre: Historical
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life – but how badly do they want it?

Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, makes a discovery that leaves her her stalker of 10 years has been released from prison . . .

As the women’s worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price . . .

In a large house in a small town the young ladies who enter and leave it’s walls are all kept practically secret. Offering a refuge to a select few they are allowed to forget their pasts – as prostitutes or petty thieves or merely destitute. They can learn regular household skills with a strict schedule and a plethora of nice clothing and warm food. Then when they are trained, they can begin a new life in the colonies – should that be their wish. The women’s worlds collide in ways neither them, nor their benefactors could ever have guessed.

I was quite curious about this blurb and this new-to-me author. What I found within was a very unusual but highly enjoyable story. Set solidly in the past, the best way to describe the genre of this book would be straight historical. It’s definitely not a romance or mystery, and really at the heart its historical setting is used to highlight the small group of main characters and the entirety of the plot revolves around these people. I loved finding out how they came to be where they were, how they all came together and how the course of their lives brought them together and drifted them all along their own paths. I found this highly engrossing and particularly during the last quarter or so struggled to put it down.

I particularly liked that most of the main characters were women, but also women of different ages – ranging from I suspect late teens to maybe their forties or fifties – and from all walks of life, poor, rich and working class. I thought the author handled these differences very well, and equally I was impressed how the workings of the plot and set up meant this variety of people all needed to work and interact together and find a way to proceed forward. It was interesting, and I was pleasantly surprised.

While there are a smaller number of men, I found these characters were also well varied and while there’s certainly no explicit romance in this story – and certainly there’s no romanticizing the historical time setting – I do like that there were both good and bad characters and a balance between everything. I feel readers who like historical novels, or readers who enjoy character driven plots and storylines should definitely find this to be a well written book with a different and very fresh type of story. While somewhat gritty – as real life was back in those days – I didn’t feel the author went overboard to turn off the reader with many of the realities back then. Also, none of the darker aspects of those times were used in a titillating manner or in a distasteful way. I really thought the author had done a good amount of research and I believe care has been taken to make the historical context realistic, but not unduly dark.

A well written character driven novel, I found this to be a good historical book with a very different and fresh outlook. I enjoyed it and would be happy to read more by this author.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Other, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

A Blind Eye by Marion Todd

August 23, 2024 By Leave a Comment


A Blind Eye by Marion Todd
Publisher: Canelo Crime
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Can DI Clare Mackay unravel a dead man’s secrets?
Harry Richards, a local solicitor, is found in his car, throat slit.

DI Clare Mackay is on the case. She soon learns that Harry was not the upstanding man he seemed to be. Finding the killer should be easy.

Then the wife of one of Harry’s colleagues is discovered dead in her car, and Clare realises there is something more sinister at play…

Can she find out who’s behind the murders before they turn their attention to her?

DI Clare Mackay is called to investigate the seemingly abandoned car of a mission local lawyer who had been reported missing the previous day. When the man is found inside the car with his throat slit, Clare knows this is far more than a missing local lawyer and immediately she and her team begin to search for the truth. When a second, connected, body is found under very similar circumstances Clare knows the treachery extends far beyond just this one man and his questionable actions.

I have been enjoying this Scottish mystery series – delightfully branded as Tartan Noir – and this book was an excellent addition. Similar to British police procedurals this book focuses heavily on the police and their unraveling the truth. Readers who prefer a more action orientated, American or spy syle of novel might find the pace moves a little slowly for them, but personally I really enjoy the slower piecing together of the puzzle as it really lets me follow along and have a good crack at guessing what’s really going on for myself.

There is a strongly written cast of important secondary characters and while there’s quite a history and team network between them, I do feel readers should be able to pick this book up by itself and not need any of the previous installments to fully enjoy this story.

I also enjoyed how there were clearly a few moving parts to this plot, and while they did interweave together very nicely it didn’t feel pay or overly serendipitous, it came across to me as a well plotted and interesting mystery that had a number of different areas overlapping nicely to form a larger picture.

I found this to be an enjoyable and realistic police procedural mystery with a bunch of great characters. I’ve enjoyed this series and am eager to read the next book.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,
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