#Review By Lou of A Clock Stopped Dead By JM Hall @JMHall @AvonBooksUK #AClockStoppedDead

A Clock Stopped Dead
By JM Hall

It’s a welcome return to the retired teachers who meet in a garden centre cafe and it’s JM Hall’s best yet. Do some sleuthing and discover the blurb, review and what else this author has written.

Blurb

Retired schoolteachers and amateur sleuths Liz, Pat and Thelma are giving up their coffee morning for a brand-new mystery.

Retired teachers Pat, Liz and Thelma are happiest whiling away their hours over coffee, cake and chat at the Thirsk Garden Centre café.

But when their good friend tells them about an unsettling experience she had in a sinister-feeling charity shop, they simply can’t resist investigating…

Because the entire shop has vanished into thin air.

Before long, our trio of unlikely sleuths find themselves embroiled in a race against the clock to get to the bottom of this mystery – but who has a secret to hide and how far will they go to keep it concealed?

Only time will tell…

Review

A Clock Stopped Dead is an entertaining cosy murder. It’s a pleasure to catch up with Liz, Pat and Thelma at Thirsk Garden Centre cafe, Yorkshire.

This is the oddest mystery to date. In this third outing for the retired teachers, they are confronted with a bizarre event. A charity shop apparently goes missing. There’s quite a bit of suspicious activity at play and a death and it keeps you guessing until the end.
Alongside the mystery we also have more insights into Liz, Pat and Thelma, who, being retired teachers you can see how they connect together well, as well as leading their separate lives. They’re very well written.

A Clock Stopped Dead is a curious, unique read and that’s where its qualities lie.

If cosy mysteries are your bag, then give how about giving this a try.

It may be a third outing, after A Spoonful of Murder and a Pen Dipped In Poison, but it can still be read as a standalone.

#Review By Lou of The Secret Keepers By Tilly Bagshawe @tillybagshawe_author @harpercollinsuk @RandomTTours #TheSecretKeepers #BlogTour

The Secret Keepers
By Tilly Bagshawe

The Secret Keepers is the latest book by Tilly Bagshawe. It’s perfect for fans of Lucinda Riley. Tilly Bagshawe has been writing for a long time and this is the first I’ve read of hers. I am glad I read The Secret Keepers and I am sure it won’t be my last.
Check out the blurb below and my review.

Blurb

Sweeping from the French Riviera to the wind-blown Cornish cliffs, lose yourself in this spellbinding novel about one golden family – and a devastating secret that binds them, forever…

Year after idyllic year, the Challant family retreat to their summer house on the glittering French Riviera.

Until one stormy night in 1928 when a local boy suffers a fatal accident in the grounds. Overnight, it becomes a place of ghosts.

As time unspools, those dark memories loosen their grip on the four Challant children. And yet the local whispers about that night never quieten, calling them back to the house on the Riviera.

A family secret lies waiting in the past.

But dare they unlock the truth?

Review

Unlock scandalous secrets and enter the 1920’s and meet the Challant family in their luxurious retreat in France. Money can’t buy the perfect life. Events happen, such as a fatal accident and then there’s no telling what this sparks… unless you read the book. Nothing is hidden forever and secrets are always there, just lying in wait to be discovered. People remember things, tongues wag and whispers become noisier. Some of the family are happy enough to return to the French Riviera and others, not quite so much. There’s quite a bit to unravel to reach the truth of what’s really happened on such a fatal night, making it a compelling read as the air becomes quite mysterious.

The Secret Keepers is a book to easily lose yourself in the locations of France, Switzerland and Cornwall and become entangled in the characters lives and agendas.

About the Author

Tilly Bagshawe is the internationally bestselling author of nineteen previous novels and has written for newspapers and magazines including the Sunday Times, Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph. She lives in London with her husband and 4 children.

#Review of Her Deadly Friend By Rachel Sargeant @RachelSargeant3 @HobeckBooks #HerDeadlyFriend #GloucesterCrimeSeries #CrimeSeries #PsychologicalThriller

Her Deadly Friend
By Rachel Sargeant

Excitingly, Hobeck Books has relaunched Her Deadly Friend, a psychological thriller. It’s one not to be missed by this top Indie Publisher which specialises in great crime books. How about checking out the atmospheric cover, blurb and review of book 1 of the Gloucester Crime Series. There’s a link to where you can buy it below. At the time of publishing my review, the book is on offer, so you can grab a bargain.

Blurb

A random sequence of murders rocks West Gloucestershire. First one, then another. From calculated and clinical, to opportunist and frenzied. As the body count tops five, Detective Inspector Steph Lewis’s investigations point to Amy Ashby as chief suspect for the rampage.

Steph and Amy were arch enemies at school.

Amy, still seething with fury about what Steph did back then, refuses to let the detective stand in the way of her current hunt for a new man and a fresh start. This time, it is for keeps.

As the evidence mounts, Steph is convinced of Amy’s guilt. But is Steph obsessed with a schoolgirl vendetta that could wreck her career and destroy her family? Or is she closing in on a deadly killer?

Her Deadly Friend is the first book in the Gloucestershire Crime Series, featuring DI Steph Lewis, a spirited, no-nonsense detective with secrets of her own.

Review

Set in Gleveham, a fictional town in Gloucester, Amy and her mother made a complaint to the headteacher 29 years ago about Stephanie and Terri damaging a viola.
Time swiftly swings to more present times and a body is found in Georgian Gardens. Stephanie from the school has now naturally grown-up and became DI Steph and she sets about trying to solve the murders. She has terrible migraines that may impair her judgement, which makes things rather interesting.

Steph’s old school pal, Terri and her have remained friends. Amy, on the other-hand is still enemies with Steph. She knows how to hold a grudge and holds it well with a tight grip. I must say, it’s rather impressive. She also has an ex-boyfriend stalking her, caring for her mother since her father died and is Matron in a posh school, so she has a lot on her plate.

It makes you wonder how you’d feel if you suspected someone you knew of murder and may also destroy your life!

Her Deadly Friend is a compelling start to this crime series. You really get to know the characters well within a sharply written murder mystery, where you need to keep your wits about you as it leads you to a very unexpected, shocking end.

Buy it here: Amazon

#Review By Lou of Preloved By Lauren Bravo @laurenbravo @simonschusterUK @simonschusterPR #Preloved

Preloved
By Lauren Bravo

Preloved is an uplifting book set within a charity shop. Thanks to Simon and Schuster, I have reviewed from the e-book. Find out more in the blurb and then my thoughts in the full review below.

Blurb

A love story about things…

Gwen’s life has stalled. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the country and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around herbaceous borders and the council’s wheelie-bin timetable. Above all she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone?

When Gwen’s made redundant from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, she realises it’s time to make a change. Over what might be the best – and most solitary – meal she’s ever eaten, Gwen vows to find something meaningful to do with her life, reconnect with her family and friends – and finally book herself a dentist appointment.

Her search for meaning soon leads her to volunteer in a local charity shop where she both literally and metaphorically unloads her emotional baggage. With the help of the weird and wonderful people she meets in the shop and the donated items bursting with untold stories that pass through its doors, Gwen must finally address the events and choices that led her to this point and find a way to move forward with bravery, humanity and more regular dental care.

Brimming with life, love and the stories bound up in even the most everyday items, Preloved is a tale about friendship, loss, being true to oneself no matter the expectations – and the enduring power and joy of charity shops.

Review

I’d connect with Gwen in a heartbeat. I relate to her, plus I volunteer, although, unlike her, I never offload any emotional baggage, but like her, happy for others to.

Gwen has discovered, come a certain age, the talk is often about babies and household chores. She’s also discovered that when you’re single, there’s also many other things that there are other things that also go on in your life, but can’t always be talked about because no one else understands anymore or friends are wrapped up with their own lives.
Gwen, after facing a series of this and winds up feeling very lonely and for the reader, you wind up feeling very sorry for her because you know she isn’t invisible, she does exist, but not necessarily enough for people to truly see her. Then to make matters worse, she’s made redundant.

As things change, Gwen decides volunteering would be a good road to go down and ends up in a charity shop. As she unloads all sorts of baggage from people, she also offloads emotional baggage and so do the people entering the shop.

It’s a somewhat thought-provoking book about how we treat single people, but its also an uplifting book about new-found friendship and turning your life around.

#Review of Dark Rooms By Lynda La Plante @LaPLanteLynda @CompulsiveReaders @ZaffreBooks #DarkRooms #teamtennison #BlogTour

Dark Rooms
By Lynda La Plante

Dark Rooms is a darkly mysterious 8th book in the Tennison series. Find out more in the blurb and my review below.

Blurb

SOMEONE WANTS YOU OUT OF THE PICTURE . . .

Helena Lanark is the only one who knows about the horrors which once occurred in her family’s house. The heiress of an immense family fortune, she now resides in a luxurious care home; her mind and memory fading fast.

Jane Tennison is leading a murder investigation into the recent brutal death of a young girl, her decomposed, starved body discovered in an old air raid shelter in the garden of the Lanark’s now derelict house. Initially the focus is on identifying the victim, until another body is found hidden in the walls of the shelter.

As the investigation and search for answers intensifies, Jane travels to Australia. There she discovers the dark secret that the Lanark family has kept hidden for decades. A secret that not only threatens to bring down a family dynasty, but also places Jane Tennison in mortal danger . . .

Murder hides behind closed doors in Lynda La Plante’s brilliant new Jane Tennison thriller.

Review

Jane Tennison is newly promoted to the position of DI in Dark Rooms. It’s fascinating seeing her rise in the ranks, see her grow and see her overcome challenges.

There’s a body found in a disused air raid shelter that of course warrants investigation. One problem… Tennison’s boss isn’t interested. Her dogged determination kicks in as she tries to convince her superior otherwise, even if it means her going to the other side of the world to crack the case.

It’s a very involving, fast-paced book that then makes me really look forward to the next one too.

#Review By Lou of I am Hattie the Hare By Pam Ayres @PamAyres @MacmillanKidsUK @panmacmillan

I am Hattie the Hare
By Pam Ayres

Pam Ayres, famous for humorous poems for both adults and children. This latest collection of poems for children is perfect for some spring reading. Find out more in the blurb and then I have a review below that, thanks to Macmillan Kids for the book.

Blurb

Join Hattie the playful Brown Hare as she leaps from meadow to farm to heath, in this heartwarming tale written in rhyme by the much-loved poet Pam Ayres, author of The Last Hedgehog.

We didn’t always live here, once we had a sunny home,
We came here with centurions, all the way from Rome . . .

From grape green meadows to old-fashioned farms, hares travelled thousands of miles to find a home in the British countryside. What do they eat? What’s their perfect habitat? Can you tell them apart from rabbits?

Wonderfully illustrated by award-winning artist Nicola O’Byrne, I Am Hattie the Hare is a follow-up to the bestselling I Am Oliver the Otter. Bursting with natural and historical facts interwoven throughout the story, and with an information spread at the end that includes tips on where to spot these gentle animals.

Review

The mix of poetic rhyme and scenes that Pam Ayres creates is, in my view, sublime. It’s great that she now writes poems for children too. They learn a lot from rhymes at any age. Poems, when told and written well, stick in their brains. Poems can also be fun. Pam Ayres encompasses all of this in this book.

I am Hattie the Hare will inspire many young minds to look around them this springtime and have fun in playful rhyme where they’ll learn something new and have fun at the same time.

Can’t ask for anything more in a poetry book for children.