#Review By Lou of The Black Loch @authorpetermay @poppydelingpole @QuercusBooks @riverrunbooks #sophieransompr #BlogTour #TheBlackLoch #PeterMay

The Black Loch
By Peter May

Review by Louise Cannon

Today is my turn on the blog tour, thanks to Ransom PR for the latest twisty, atmospheric book by Peter May who returns with his detective Fin MacLeod. Find out more in the blurb and then my review below. Peter May is also appearing at Bloody Scotland, 2024 in Stirling.

Blurb

Set against the brooding landscape of the Hebrides, Peter May returns to the territory of his bestselling Lewis Trilogy, and his much-loved detective, Fin Macleod.

When the lifeless body of eighteen-year-old Caitlin is discovered on a desolate beach by the Black Loch, questions of murder and secrecy shroud the tight-knit community. It soon emerges that the young woman was in an illicit relationship with Fionnlagh Macleod, a married teacher at the Nicholson Institute where she was a student. Her lover becomes the prime suspect in the murder investigation. He is also Fin’s son.

Despite leaving the island a decade earlier to escape the haunting memories of his past, Fin is compelled to return to Lewis in a desperate attempt, despite the evidence, to clear his troubled son’s name. He will discover that the crime is connected to his own teenage years, in a tragic salmon fishing accident that had led to two deaths, and in the growth of a multi-billion pound industry on the island.

The Black Loch takes us on a journey through family ties, hidden relationships and unforgiving landscapes, where suspense, violent revenge and revelation converge in the shadow of the Black Loch.

Review

Black Loch, set in the Hebrides is darkly atmospheric. The location building of the atmosphere is skilful and truly becomes integral to the enveloping readers into the story. There’s also a lovely map of Lewis too.

Fin MacLeod is no longer in the police force and has returned to his home town, not for happy reasons, but more for something rather more disturbing as a crime is connected to his son, but did he commit a murder?
It’s interesting to explore how this affects both Fin and his son in family relations terms. The book has many layers like this to explore that all weave together. It’s also interesting to explore the fact that Fin is not happy in his work. In a world where many people aren’t finding happiness in their work, it’s a interesting subject to explore a bit in the realms of this character.

There’s also the challenges of salmon fishing that’s explored, which makes valid points, but the most fascinating part is the mystery itself and character and scenery building.

There are plenty of characters to get your head around, a bit of extra concentration is required for the Gaelic names and words. In someways a challenging book to read due to the Gaelic, which slows it down a bit, but thankfully there is a glossary at the back that helps tremendously along the way, it could be worth photographing it if you’re a reader of a few pages at a time to keep the momentum of the pacing going. Don’t let this put you off reading it though as the story is a cracking read and there is some authenticity to adding in a bit of Gaelic as some people way, way up north still use it and certain terms still creep into the mix of today’s more common language.

Peter May creates tension rather well in a story that builds and builds as it progresses onwards to the end in a manner that grips throughout.

#Review By Lou of Whispers of the Dead By Lin Anderson @Lin_Anderson #CrimeFiction #RhonaMacLeod #WhispersOfTheDead #BloodyScotland

Whispers of the Dead
By Lin Anderson

By Louise Cannon

Whispers of the Dead is the latest book in the Rhona MacLeod series and thanks to Pan Macmillan, I have a review for you.

Blurb

A gangland slaying. A missing movie star.

When an actor goes missing in Glasgow, the clue to his whereabouts could be in the film script itself.

In the dead of night, a man’s body is found strapped to a chair in Glasgow’s Elder Park, his identity unknown. As forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod examines the scene, the violence on display suggests a gangland feud could be the cause. At the post-mortem, a bullet engraved with a snake’s head is found in the man’s stomach, lending weight to the theory.

Elsewhere in the city, a major Hollywood movie is being filmed. But shooting comes to a standstill when its lead actor is reported missing. As the news spreads, Police Scotland believe the two cases may be connected.

DS Michael McNab thinks the key to finding those responsible could be the film itself. A storyline playing out in real-life on the streets of Glasgow with a killer intent on revenge at any cost. A vendetta which must be paid in blood . . .

Though they can be enjoyed in any order, Whispers of the Dead is the eighteenth book in the Rhona MacLeod series.

Review

Rhona MacLeod is back in what is the 18th gripping book in the series!

It starts with a map, which is fun. I do like a map, although grateful there isn’t one in every single book ever to be published by everyone so it is kept as something special.

Whispers of the Dead has the dark atmosphere that feels like it lingers around in the air in parts of Glasgow. The book brings readers to the heart of gangland streets of Glasgow. It shows the worst of humanity in many violent ways.

Quite a number of movies have been filmed in Glasgow as it doubles up as other global cities and the glitz and prestige of Hollywood has graced her streets once more, but it becomes sinister. A movie star goes missing, leaving McNab to piece together the clues.

Rhona McLeod is at the prison where she meets a prisoner, but was she guilty of her crime? She certainly has a story to tell and an odd thing to give to MacLeod, but to what end and for what purpose?

There’s also an unknown man in Goven, part of Glasgow, who is found dead with all the hallmarks of a gangland killing and it’s up to Rhona and her team to solve it..

The characterisation of everyone means you really get to know them and you can place yourself as a reader, right there at the scene of the crime.

All the threads weave around each other and together, creating a darkly gripping book.

#Review By Lou of The Opposite of Lonely By Doug Johnstone @doug_johnstone @OrendaBooks #TheSkelfs @RandomTTours #BlogTour #TheSkelfs #Skelfaholics #TheOppositeOfLonely

The Opposite of Lonely
By Doug Johnstone

By Louise Cannon

The Skelf’s are back with unusual cases in this 5th instalment, which can also be read as a stand-alone. Discover more in the blurb and then my review below.

Blurb

Even death needs company…

The Skelf women are recovering from the cataclysmic events that nearly claimed their lives. Their funeral-director and private-investigation businesses are back on track, and their cases are as perplexing as ever.

Matriarch Dorothy looks into a suspicious fire at an illegal campsite and takes a grieving, homeless man under her wing. Daughter Jenny is searching for her missing sister-in-law, who disappeared in tragic circumstances, while grand-daughter Hannah is asked to investigate increasingly dangerous conspiracy theorists, who are targeting a retired female astronaut … putting her own life at risk.

With a body lost at sea, funerals for those with no one to mourn them, reports of strange happenings in outer space, a funeral crasher with a painful secret, and a violent attack on one of the family, The Skelfs face their most personal – and perilous – cases yet. Doing things their way may cost them everything…

Tense, unnerving and warmly funny, The Opposite of Lonely is the hugely anticipated fifth instalment in the unforgettable Skelfs series, and this time, danger comes from everywhere…

Review

Secrets, arson, assault, death in Edinburgh means the Skelfs are back!
If you’ve not met the Skelfs yet, they are a family who own and work in a funeral parlour and as private investigators.

Dorothy, the matriarch of the family is tasked to do a funeral at an illegal campsite, when she also meets a homeless man. Things are far from straight-forward with crime hot on the tail and getting worse and darker as time goes on.

Jenny is tasked with finding the body of her ex-husband, stolen by her unhinged sister in law.

Hannah is asked to investigate conspiracy theorists targeting a once prominent, now retired female astronaut, whom she is initially starstruck by.

The book brings up thought-provoking topics such as dying alone. which brings emotion with it. The odd thing is, there is a funeral crasher. A person, with issues of his own, just turns up to funerals, those that are not attended by anyone, so, therefore “the opposite of lonely” comes into it.

There is a lot of compassion from the funeral directors/private investigators, which counteracts the grievous crimes, giving it some warmth and heart, also some humour pricks in a bit.

The chapters are short, making for brisk reading and with all the mysterious deaths and the warmth of characters, the strong scenery, this is another great read.

#Interview By Lou with Successful #Comedian Kyle Lucey as we explore the comedy and the life of the man behind ahead of his #tour. #KyleLucey #AlisonGilmour #DirtyAfterDark #Comedy

Interview with Kyle Lucey
Conducted By Louise Cannon

Kyle Lucey is a successful comedian, who has been making his name over the past decade or so. He has performed to thousands of people at world famous venues, such as Massey Hall. Originally from Canada, he settled in Scotland and this year (2024), played a successful show – Dirty After Dark at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year.
I have had the pleasure of interviewing him recently to delve into the man behind the success as we delve deep into his new show and successes and what happened to him in his childhood/formative years with the deep trauma he endured, in a sensitive way. What was returned via email was brave, sincere, candid and hopeful on many levels. There’s even a touch of humour added.
He had a successful show at the Edinburgh Fringe 2024 and is now embarking on big tour, more about that after the interview.

Please join me in welcoming Kyle Lucey to my blog – Bookmarks and Stages.

*Photos credited to Alison Gilmour

What or who inspired you to be a comedian and what was your route

into this field of the arts?

My earliest inspiration was Jim Carrey. When I was 5 years old, I used to keep a diary called “My life as the young Jim Carrey” this was sort of my first joke book. I would write out funny scenarios to myself and make myself laugh. I had no idea that decades later it would be an actual career for me.

You’ve played at world famous theatres such as Massey Hall and won
The I Heart Jokes Award twice, how did that come about and feel?

Massey Hall was a big one. 3000 people on New Years Eve. This show is one of the highest honours in Canada. First you need to be signed to the biggest agency in the country, Yuk Yuks. From there you need to be one of Yuk Yuk’s top comedians to be selected for Massey Hall.
The Weeknd, Neil Young, Justin Bieber, Rush, Gordon Lightfoot they all played Massey Hall. And now me, some who grew up in a trailer park! Being considered cream of the crop out of the cream of the crop in my 20’s was so incredibly validating.

It’s such a different thing to perform for that many people since I am more used to playing comedy clubs. The adrenaline I felt that night I literally could not fall asleep and stayed up for two days. I was so honoured to be hand picked by Mark Breslin, the founder of Yuk Yuks. He took me aside one day and told me that I am on the shortlist. My jaw dropped. One of the most exciting moments of my career to date.

What can audiences expect about your show – Dirty After Dark?

My show is a stand-up show. It is funny and punchline heavy. It’s important that both myself and the audience are having fun or else I should take comedian out of my bio. The way I see it, the jokes in a comedians set are like breadcrumbs. You can take the audience anywhere as long as you properly lead them to that destination joke by joke. Each laugh I get from the audience is a step in the direction I want to take them. My subject matter might be heavy but my 13 years and over 10,000 shows of experience allow me to expertly take them to scary places in a way that is cartoonishly fun. “I can’t believe I laughed at that” is something I hear quite often.

Dirty after Dark feels personal to you, so how do you deal with talking
about the traumatic times and adding humour to them?

My therapist taught me the metaphor of a lotus flower several years ago. He would tell me, “Lotus flowers grow in mud”. Lotuses are beautiful flowers that grow in dirty swamps. He said that I am both flower and mud and that is what makes me beautiful. As someone who holds unbearable shame from childhood trauma, the lotus flower analogy made me feel less dirty. I became obsessed with taking the mud in my life and adding flowers to it.

My show is funny. It has to be. The subject matter is heavy. I have been abused in everyway one could possibly imagine by the very people who were supposed to love and care for me. This is my mud. To make the mud any less dirty would make the flower that less beautiful. The dirtier the mud, the more beautiful the flower. Horrible subject matter needs only a funnier joke.

You say comedy is a tool for healing, in what way does comedy and laughter help people who have experienced trauma and how can people discover this in a safe, effective way?

My therapist tells me that when children are abused by a parent, they internalize the abuse. It’s easier for a child to understand, “I’m bad” or “I’m in trouble” than to admit, “the person responsible for my well being wants to hurt me”. People live their whole lives thinking they are bad people because they have internalized a traumatic experience. Parents are our first love objects so we need to stay connected to them as they are our life line as children. They are our shelter, our food, our survival. So, we misguide our anger. Your father abused you – you start to hate all men. Your mother abused you – you start to hate all women. I too had so much misguided anger until I spent 10 years in therapy and unpacked who my anger actually belonged to. By moving the internalized anger from inward to outward, we start the important process of metabolizing this natural human feeling. By talking about it on a regular basis we are effectively wringing out every drop of built-up emotion we have been suppressing thus starting our journey into eventual healing.

Making comedy out of my trauma is incredibly therapeutic. It reclaims my power in situations where I was once powerless. I have a joke about being sexually abused but every time I tell it I feel stronger afterwards because I am no longer keeping my abuser’s secret. In fact, I get to stand strong and point out that what they did was wrong. The laughter I get from the audience also tells me that they are in agreement that what happened was wrong – undoing years of gaslighting. I can’t describe how much this heals me because to this day my abuser tells me they were too drunk to remember what happened.

I have seen other comedians and audience members who have watched my show start opening up about their own childhood trauma, thus reducing the stigma around something that many people keep private for years.

One of the aims of your show is to help with the feeling of being alone and break stigma surrounding being abused, specifically in childhood, how is your show projecting this to audiences and do you see it making a difference to people?

When people who have suffered early childhood trauma watch my show, they come up to me and say, “My mom did that to me too”, “My dad also hit me”, “My parents were also drunks”. What started out as me venting about my own trauma suddenly turned into others seeing me as a safe space to come forward about their own pain. I stay behind after shows and talk to people in the audience. Often times I refer them to “The Centre” which is an affordable service in Toronto that assigns people with a therapist right for them. 10 years ago, I walked into The Centre after contemplating suicide. I thought I was fundamentally evil after years of internalizing the abuse I received from my parents. My therapist heard my story and told me that I was “a good person”. Nobody every called me that before. I broke down and cried right there and have been seeing him every week for a decade. I want nothing more than to give the same healing to anybody I meet who has similarly suffered. We are alive only once. Horrible things happen to good people every second of every day. We have to make the best of things or live the rest of our existence with a lesser quality of life. Just because evil gets imprinted on good people does not mean they have to live their life with such a branding. If pain is an ocean, therapy on a consistent basis is like draining a little bit of water out at a time. Eventually people drowning in pain find themselves at shore. I am proud to get that conversation started through my comedy.

You took your show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the biggest of its kind in the world, what were the challenges and the positives and how does this now help you to move forwards to your tour around Europe?

I sold everything in my apartment in Toronto, Canada and bought a one-way ticket to Scotland. I am a dual-citizen with Ireland so my Irish passport allows me to work in every country in Europe. This was my first Edinburgh Fringe Festival and I was blown away by the experience. I was regularly performing 7 shows a day which is unheard of in Canada. Since it’s an international festival it was so cool meeting comedians from all over the world and seeing how funny people are from different countries. I met so many people who ended up employing me at clubs throughout Europe in the months to come. At first there were some challenges. People in the UK have different words for certain things and all my local Canadian references went right out the window. It took me a few days to adjust, but once I did, I was able to communicate my funny to a different culture. I feel like I grew not just as a comedian but as a person after doing the Edinburgh Fringe which I will always be grateful for.

Where can people catch your show?

I have tour dates at comedy clubs all over England, Sweden, Demark, The Netherlands, Ireland and many more cities and countries to come. If anybody wants to follow me on my journey, they can catch my live dates on my
website kylelucey.com or my Instagram @kyleluceycomedy.

#Review By Lou of The 7 Secrets of Happiness By Gyles Brandreth @GylesB1 @Octopus_Books

The 7 Secrets of Happiness
By Gyles Brandreth

Review By Louise Cannon (Lou)

I was fortunate to attend the talk Gyles Brandreth gave on The 7 Secrets of Happiness – An Optimist’s Journey in Edinburgh in the summer and what a greatly inspiring talk it was and delivered with such passion and gusto, so I bought the book and thought I’d review it below.
Gyles Brandreth is known for his jumpers, being a former MP, currently an author and is on segments of This Morning and Gogglebox. He also has a tours of Can’t Stop Talking, In Conversation with Judi Dench and book tours, which he brought all of to Edinburgh between 2023/2024. You can also play his word game – Rainbow.
Links are below so you too can have an opportunity to see his shows and purchase The 7 Secrets of Happiness (please note I am not affiliated to any link).
First, let’s take a look at the blurb, before my review.

Blurb

ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF THE 7 SECRETS OF HAPPINESS

Ten years on, Gyles Brandreth has learnt yet more about happiness… featuring a new introduction and charming illustrations, this little book attempts to answer a big question: How can we be happy?

‘Marvellous, brilliant, wonderful, best thing I’ve ever heard, transformational…’

That was the response from a total stranger when Gyles Brandreth delivered the Happiness Lecture at Birmingham University. Someone else in the thousand-strong audience tweeted: ‘The 7 Secrets of Happiness are amazing. Thank you Gyles Brandreth, wherever you are.’

Well, Gyles Brandreth is here now with those 7 Secrets of Happiness. The secrets are simple rules, easy to remember, but challenging to achieve. Gyles Brandreth found them when he set out on a journey looking for happiness and ended up in the psychiatrist’s chair – with Dr Anthony Clare.

What is happiness? Who gets to be happy? And how?

These are the big questions that Gyles Brandreth aims to answer in this little book. Research shows that happy people live up to ten years longer than unhappy people. This is a book that won’t simply enhance your life: it will extend it.

Review

Gyles Brandreth seems to be one of life’s great optimists with plenty of opportunities that have come his way, but not all were successful and yet he appears to be a rather contented man. This book is inspiring and full of realistic pointers that every single person can latch onto and follow because happiness, as he realised after a sad event, is something to be taken seriously. There’s also plenty of humour along the way.
The book is far from airy-fairy, it’s grounded and full of wisdom through experiences and what he says makes a lot of sense. Everyone can place what it says in this book into their own lives, no matter what your background or social class and it is the wise sensibilities and accessibility that is a big part of the beauty of it as well as acknowledging life isn’t easy. He acknowledged it being a bit easier with money, but even he ended up in the psychiatrist’s chair at one point in his life and what comes out of the conversation is fascinating and answers some of life’s important questions.
It’s well-constructed with short chapters and small illustrations to make you smile or think. It’s a thought-provoking book on many levels and has elements that entertain in a way that only Gyles Brandreth can.

The book goes beyond just pointers. It gives interesting histories into psychology and sociology and how it all relates to today’s thinking and imparting of information that then can be used to inform our lives. It’s a very well-researched and considered book that doesn’t just focus on Gyles Brandreth’s own life and experiences of happiness, but that of other people’s and the research that’s been done prior by others in the field of mental health and wellbeing. It’s also fun, but true what he also says about laughter, family, friends, chocolate, forming a passion and being connected to yourself and others. I also feel I want to visit the teddy-bear museum that’s mentioned in the book. The book has fascinating snippets like this in it too.

By the end of the book, you feel, not just a glow of warmth and happiness, but a feeling of increased knowledge that may assist in this enduring throughout all of life, not a “flash in the pan” feeling of a sudden high, only to be hit with a low, but something that’s realistic that can be used for a whole lifespan to seek and feel a lasting contentment.

#Review By Lou of The Soul Trapper By Stanislava Buevich @StacyBuya @LoveBooksTours #LBT #BlogTour #YoungAdult #Mystery #GamingMystery

The Soul Trapper
By Stanislava Buevich

The Soul Trapper is great for 13 years plus readers who are into gaming and/or their technological devices in the many form they come in and it’s worth teens/young adults getting excited about and also worth adults reading too for the value of its thought-provoking nature as technology moves ever onwards. Today I am on the Love Books Tours blog tour. See the blurb and my review below.

Blurb

Childhood friends Stef and Paul embark on an immersive virtual reality adventure, only to discover that The Disappearance of Eden Rose holds more than just puzzles and challenges. Encountering a mysterious character named Ollie James, they uncover a chilling link to a real-world tragedy: the unsolved deaths of numerous children over a decade ago. As they delve deeper, Stef and Paul realise they’re not just playing a game – they’re racing against time to unravel a shocking cover-up and undo its damage, risking their lives in pursuit of truth.

Review

The Soul Trapper is one of those reads that you just know teens are going to get gripped by the immersive adventure and mystery feel.

Innocently playing a game (it reminds me a little of a book by Gillian Cross many years ago, which is still very much relevant today) is what Stef and Paul think they’re doing. They’re just friends gaming in the virtual reality world. All is far from what it seems. It’s a whole lot more sinister than that. This creates intrigue and some page-turning tension. It becomes apparent that it isn’t a game in the true sense of the word, it has collided with the real world and a real mystery to be solved…

It’s thought-provoking about VR in-particular and also an entertaining story.