#Review of Hattie Brings the House Down By Patrick Gleeson #PatrickGleeson @noexitpress #ATheatrelandMystery #Theatre #HattieBringsTheHouseDown #Mystery

Hattie Brings the House Down
By Patrick Gleeson

Hattie Brings the House Down is a book that serves theatre and mystery lovers well. Thanks to No Exit Press and Random T. Tours, I have the blurb and my review for you.

Blurb

Get ready for a thrilling backstage ride in the world of theatre as seasoned
stage manager Hattie embarks on a new production at London’s Tavistock pub
theatre. Here, the drama doesn’t just occur on stage.
Troublesome directors and fastidious assistants soon become the least of
Hattie’s worries as, a week into rehearsals, an actress is found dead backstage
on the same day that an extremely valuable theatrical mask goes missing.
Hattie begins investigating both mysteries, all the while trying to keep the
dysfunctional cast and crew on track for opening night. As she delves deeper
into the secrets behind the scenes, her allegiance to her theatre, cast and crew
will be tested to destruction.

Follow this unconventional detective as she delves into the alluring and
exquisitely perilous world of the theatre.

Review

There’s as much drama off-stage as there is on-stage, if not more…

A theatre, this case London’s Tavistock pub theatre, provides a great setting for a mysterious plot with some larger than life characters, some with more than just a few quirks and foibles.

Readers are treated to theatrical shenanigans and intricacies of putting on a play. All is far from well as, dramatically, there is a dead body and a theft, so the fact the cast and the backstage team aren’t ready for opening night, since it’s only week 1 of rehearsals meaning they’ve got a lot to deal with.

The case isn’t easy to solve as it takes readers down trap doors of secrets and lies and red herrings. Suddenly it isn’t as easy as just saying “stage left” etc. The circumstances sends Hattie on quite a quest to discover the truth of what’s been going on that led to the theft of a valuable item and a death.

Patrick Gleeson’s passion for theatre shines through and as the plot unfolds, the concept could almost be an entertaining play within a play on a stage. As it goes, it’s an entertaining and enjoyable book.

About the Author

Patrick has a degree in philosophy and classics, another one in technical theatre
and stage management, and one more in business administration. He has
worked as a theatre sound designer, an “interpretive naturalist” at an aquarium,
a software developer, a business mentor to fledgling entrepreneurs, and a voice
actor.
He composed the music for a musical about taxidermy that The Stage said “put
to shame the hackneyed standards of the contemporary musical scene”, and has
been performed in London, Edinburgh, Suffolk and, weirdly, Alaska.
He now lives in Norfolk with his wife and two children, where he brews
mediocre cider.

#Review By Lou of The Holiday Escape By Heidi Swain @Heidi_Swain @BookMinxSJV #simonschusterUK #TeamBATC #SummerRead #BeachRead #TheHolidayEscape

The Holiday Escape
By Heidi Swain

What better way to start the spring/summer season with a book by Heidi Swain to gently ease us out of the wintry freeze and into something heart-warming, with all the anticipation of summer sun. I say anticipation because I’m still in a jumper as I write this review, but I have a lot of hope that this shall pass and summery t-shirts and dresses will peek out of my wardrobe and decide to dance one day soon.

Blurb

Her dream holiday is his everyday life. His dream holiday is her normal life. What happens when they collide?

Ally and her dad, Geoff, run the family business, a creative retreat, from their home Hollyhock Cottage in picturesque Kittiwake Cove. They give their guests their dream break, but Ally hankers after glamourous city living, fancy restaurants and art galleries.

Ally’s survival strategy is to escape out of season, take a break abroad and pretend to be the person she always imagined she would be. She meets Logan while she’s away and he turns out to be exactly the kind of distraction she’s looking for.

With her spirits restored, Ally returns home, picks up the reins again and sets her sights on another successful season, but when Logan unexpectedly arrives on the scene, she soon realises she’s in for a summer that’s going to be far from straightforward…

A story about bringing a holiday home – and what happens when what goes on on holiday comes back to bite you…

Review

A trip to Kittiwake Cove holds a summer of interesting times and of course the birds, Kittiwakes. If you’ve ever seen a Kittiwake, which I’ve seen several, they congregate in certain areas of the UK at certain times of the year and can be quite noisy and sometimes you need to hold your nose going past them, but apart from that, there’s still something endearing about them.

The people in Kittiwake Cove have busy lives. Ally is at a bit of a stumbling block with hers. She’s been busy with her dad, Geoff, giving people wonderful holiday experiences at a retreat and realises she wants more out of life and to see what the buzz of cities have to offer, Barcelona, in-particular. She wants to escape the memories Kittiwake Cove holds, such as her mum dying and perhaps be “someone else” for a time to see what she can discover. There aren’t any Kittiwakes, but there is a parrot who is full of cheekiness and humour. Who she discovers is a guy, who later brings complications and secrets, especially when she returns home.

The fact she returns home shows her loyalty to her dad and his business, which makes Ally appealing and brings a whole new slant to this genre. One that’s relatable as not everyone escapes something forever and bonds can still be there, even when there are bigger dreams that have to be dashed for a while. There’s friendship and warmth and humour to be found, which is a great recipe for a summer read, as well as great locations.

So, as we hope for lots of sun or a book to pack into a suitcase to hit the beach or poolside, this book has lots of summer vibes just waiting to get out.

#Review By Lou of Edge of the Land By Malcolm Hollingdrake @MHollingdrake @HobeckBooks #EdgeOfTheLand #MerseysideCrimeSeries #CrimeFiction #BlogTour

Edge of the Land
By Malcolm Hollingdrake

After reading and reviewing the first two of the Merseyside crime series, Catch As Catch Can and Syn, it gives me great pleasure to be back on the Hobeck Books blog tour for the third instalment. You can read it as a stand-alone or as part of the series.
I’ve also trawled through my many photos of Liverpool and included the Albert Docks and the Liverbirds Building that are mentioned after my review. I don’t live in Liverpool, but have visited this city.

Blurb

Edge of the Land is the thrilling third novel in the Merseyside crime series from Malcolm Hollingdrake, author of the best-selling Harrogate crime series.

The waterways of the Liverpool docks contain many ghosts and shadows. It’s a place to disappear… a place to die.
Detective Inspector April Decent and Detective Sergeant Skeeter Warlock are fearful for the welfare of a vulnerable young man injured in an attack ordered by drug dealers. Originally questioned at the scene, the young man denies the attack and refuses to co-operate with the police. He soon disappears. Clues to his whereabouts are sown, a cry for help maybe, but he remains elusive.

At the same time, the team are dealing with a spate of deaths in the city. The one thing the deaths have in common: the victims are all homeless and seemingly ravaged by addiction. Initially, the deaths are not considered to be suspicious as there is no obvious connection. Soon the hallmarks of murder are discovered and a hunt for a potential serial killer is on.
Is there a link between the missing man and the deaths? Could he be the vital piece of the puzzle which will solve the mystery behind the brutal murders?

Review

The Merseyside crime series is gritty with twists and turns, creating a dark, yet very compelling atmosphere. In reality, the docklands around Liverpool is an interesting area to visit, for readers who perhaps visit this city or live in and around it.

The writing is engaging, with shades of light and dark.
There’s a petty criminal, Danny, who has been sadly involved in crime since the age of 8, so knows no different. It’s quite a reflection on certain areas of society and how people can turn out. He’s now fallen foul to a drugs gang. Police are concerned about his activities and his welfare.

Homeless people are seen as “easy targets” and are being murdered. As a wider picture emerges, it looks like a serial killer is on the lose, going through the Liverpudlian streets.

Detective Inspector April Decent and Detective Sergeant Skeeter Warlock are the beat to solve both cases. Both are gripping and intriguing and not easy for the police to piece together the fragments of evidence.

It’s a fascinating read with tricky puzzles to solve before time runs out. There’s a lot for the police to handle and a lot at stake in this pacy read.

Pics are of the docks and Liverbirds building that are mentoned in the book.

#Review By Lou of The Ha-Ha By Tom Shakespeare @Tommyshakes #TheHaha @RandomTTours #BlogTour #SocialComedy #Humour #Diversity

The Ha-Ha
By Tom Shakespeare

The Ha-Ha is a humorous social comedy book, in a P.G. Wodehouse sort of way with eccentric characters and poignancy. Discover the blurb and review as part of the RandomTTours blog tour as you wheel down the page to a country house setting… Discover more about Tom Shakespeare too, he seems an interesting guy, who’s done a lot.

Blurb

A modern country house farce with a diverse cast of characters

Fred Twistleton is about to turn forty. Gathering with his friends to celebrate at a rented stately home, he finally hopes to get together with his college crush, the woman of his dreams, Heather. But Fred is also keen to publish his memoirs, and Heather realises the revelations they contain could threaten her career as a high-flying foreign correspondent.

When the treasured manuscript goes missing under mysterious circumstances, Fred’s at a loss. Could someone have stolen it? Where has the resident pig gone? And will all the group remain friends by the end of the weekend? With burst pipes, sunken kayaks, and suspicious puddings, thank goodness Fred is only going to have one fortieth birthday.

Praise for The Ha-Ha

‘A beautifully observed and highly entertaining tale. Tom Shakespeare is a fine comic writer’ Alexander McCall Smith

‘A blissful social comedy, stuffed with cherishable lines’ Lissa Evans

Review

Turning 40, wheelchair bound Fred (which has, uniquely, given the author an opportunity to show the needs a wheelchair user may have. I know as my mum uses one and also has a zest for life), has decided it would be most fitting to rent a stately home and invite his friends, one being someone whom he had a crush on and didn’t really do anything about back at college. Now, he’s got ideas to buck up his ideas and do something about that. He’s also ambitious, seeing this is quite the auspicious occasion and turning such a special age, he has decided to write his memoirs. So far, all plans are moving in the right direction…. until they don’t and so much that could go wrong, does go wrong.

It could be a comedy of errors or like The Play That Goes Wrong, in modern terms. It, however, also feels like it could play homage to P.G. Wodehouse, with the humour and country house setting, but also with an element of Tom’s own take on the genre, giving it a fresh, modern feel.

The Ha-Ha is a book of humour and poignancy, all brought to life through the eccentricity of its characters, some who are kind, some who are ego-centric and one pig. in the form of Sonia, a literary agent who has experience of unrequited love, an old school friend who lives in a van, a stressed social worker and more… not forgetting the mischievous pig.

There’s also the matter of manuscript of the memoir going missing. It could destroy a career. It could create tensions within this group of friends…

Ultimately the book has the feel-good factor and fun.

About the Author

Tom Shakespeare CBE is a social scientist and bioethicist, an academic who
writes and talks and researches mainly about disability, but also about ethical
issues around prenatal genetic testing and end of life assisted suicide.
Born in 1966 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, he studied at Cambridge
University and has lived in Gateshead, Geneva and Norwich, while working at
Universities of Sunderland, Leeds, Newcastle, then at World Health Organisation
in Geneva, afterwards at UEA Medical School, and presently as Professor of
Disability Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Tom has presented programmes and documentaries on BBC Radio and has
written for publications including The Guardian and The Lancet, alongside talking
to academic, professional and lay audiences around the world.
He has been a stand-up comedian, an actor, a dancer, and an artist. A father of
two grown-up children, he now lives in London. https://farmerofthoughts.co.uk/

#Review By Lou of Leave No Trace By Jo Callaghan @JoCallaghanKat @simonschusterUK #LeaveNoTrace #Thriller @RandomTTours

Leave No Trace
By Jo Callaghan

Leave No Trace is a different crime book. Humans and AI come together. Check out the blurb and my review below as part of the Random T. Tours blog tour.
I didn’t read much acclaimed, In A Blink Of The Eye first and I felt that it was fine to read this as a stand-alone or of course, read after that.

Blurb

DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock return in the provocative new thriller from the author of In the Blink of an Eye.

One detective driven by instinct, the other by logic.
It will take both to find a killer who knows the true meaning of fear . . .

When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI Detective – and DCS Kat Frank are thrust into the spotlight as they are given their first live case.

But with the discovery of another man’s body – also crucified – it appears that their killer is only just getting started. With the police warning local men to be vigilant, the Future Policing Unit is thrust into a hostile media frenzy as they desperately search for connections between the victims. But time is running out for them to join the dots and prevent another death.

For if Kat and Lock know anything, it’s that killers rarely stop – until they are made to.

Review

Leave No Trace is almost futuristic in that one detective is human and the other is AI, except nowadays, this feels closer than ever and even the original creator of AI is now questioning certain aspects of its unleashing. An AI detective feels just a step or two further than that of what we see today.

Leave No Trace is a very well-written, thought-provoking book. You can tell for awhile that the AI is perhaps not perfect within the detective creation, but mixed in with humans, it feels increasingly humanistic as though your brain almost accepts it and I think that’s down to the great quality of the writing, until you remember that it’s AI and this is what makes it interesting for society and readers. It adds many questions for the real world about how far AI could go and how far humans perhaps want it to go and the impacts. It’s quite an exploration of it in this crime series.

The mystery itself is intriguing and some of the book is set out like an interview, which adds an immersive quality. Time is running out for the detectives to solve the case as there’s the danger of more murders. It’s a challenging, rather dark case because how do you solve a murder, when seemingly there’s no trace to collect clues from?
For the answer, you’ll need to find out by reading the book.

Overall it’s a very good read, in its style, including its short, sharp sentences, especially at the beginning and the compelling twists of the plot.
It’s thought-provoking nature beyond the page.

#Review By Lou of Nosy Neighbours by Freya Sampson @SampsonF @CompulsiveReaders #BlogTour #NosyNeighbours #Mystery #ContemporaryFiction

Nosy Neighbours
By Freya Sampson

Even the nosy neighbours have their uses in this mysteriously uplifting book that shows secrets behind doors…
Find out more about what else Freya Sampson has written, after the blurb and my review for Nosy Neighbours, of which I am part of today’s Compulsive Readers blog tour.

Blurb

You can choose your home, but you can’t choose who lives next door . . .

Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never felt at home anywhere, especially not in crumbling Shelley House. The other residents think she’s prickly and unapproachable, but beneath her tough exterior, Kat is plagued by guilt from her past and looking for somewhere to belong.

Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling has lived in Shelley House for longer than anyone else, and if you believe the other tenants, she’s as cantankerous and vindictive as they come. Dorothy may spend her days spying on the neighbours, but she has a closely guarded secret herself – and a good reason for barely leaving her home.

When their building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home; and even less likely detectives when they suspect that foul play is coming from within Shelley House . . .

Review

Kat is a mysterious character. She doesn’t really feel like she belongs anywhere and is someone who’s an intriguing slow-burn to warm to. Dorothy on the other-hand isn’t the nicest of people and also harbours a deep secret.
As you delve deeper into their lives and those of other residents of Shelley House, you soon learn why they are how they are. There are moments of great emotion and others that are rather funny.

Cantankerous Dorothy is the longest serving tenant of Shelley House and likes to keep a good, keen eye on everything and everyone. She’s quite possibly the nosiest woman, but it turns out not to be a bad thing. Apart from sorting the mail, taking the rubbish out, she knows everyone, which turns out to be good for trying to work has the motive and opportunity to attack Joseph, the landlord.
This and the horrifying news that their home is going to be demolished, has the residents rallying around and unexpected alliances being forged. This, in-turn gives it the feel-good factor.

It’s an involving book that’s easy to get caught up in.

About the Author

Freya Sampson is the USA Today bestselling author of The Last Chance Library, The Girl on The 88 Bus (or for the US, known as The Lost Ticket) and Nosy Neighbours.

She studied history at Cambridge University and worked in television as an executive producer, making documentaries about everything from the British royal family to neighbours from hell.
She lives in London with her husband, children and cats.