Epiphany Jones

I have a confession before I get into my review of Michael Grothaus’s remarkable debut novel Epiphany Jones You’ll all think less of me and I feel that I should probably lose my right to blog about books. It took me about a week to read Epiphany Jones…

In A Dark, Dark Wood

Ruth Ware has a new book out this year, The Woman in Cabin 10, and it looks great. A proper Agatha Christie-esque mystery about a mysterious disappearance on board a luxury cruise ship. I’ll definitely be adding that to my never-ending to-be-read pile…

Dead Eyed

Publisher Carina has started a new online crime club, aimed at people who love crime fiction and who want to be able to interact with authors and other fans of the genre. Naturally I was completely sold on the idea and signed up straight away…

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark

Sometimes the title and premise of a book is so intriguing that, even before you’ve read any other reviews, you know it’s a must read. For me The Life and Death of Sophie Stark was one of those books. Anna North’s debut novel has impressed critics…

Jihadi: A Love Story

Last autumn I was lucky enough to take part in the cover reveal for Yusuf Toropov’s debut thriller Jihadi: A Love Story. At the time I didn’t know much about the book other than its provocative title, striking cover and the fact it was being published by the always impressive Orenda Books…

The Widow

Whenever I read a crime thriller, no matter how much I enjoy it, there’s a little part of my mind which strays a bit. Of course I’m interested in the victim and the detectives but there’s that bit which wants to know more about the wider set of characters…

Pretty Is

There’s something visceral and terrifying about the thought of children being kidnapped. As a child I remember being scared of the bogeyman who would take me away from my family and the first news stories I remember are of girls my own age going missing from home…

Top Ten: Books of 2015

As is traditional for the end of the year lists of bloggers’ favourite books have been published and there are some fabulous Top Tens out there with some great books. So here’s my favourite books of 2015 in no particular order…

Follow Me

I managed to shut my computer down the other night without saving the document I had written. It was a book review and the loss of it was doubly irritating, first because it was a couple of hours work down the drain but more importantly because it meant I have to spend more time thinking about a book…

Talk of the Toun

Most people can’t pin down exactly when they made up their minds about contentious issues such as the death penalty or abortion. They are opinions that, for the most part, develop over time or in some cases are just so deeply ingrained that they seem to have been there forever…