By Lou – Eeek! One Day To Go Until Bloody Scotland Weekend – Friday 13th-15th Why You Should Dare To Go Out @BloodyScotland #CrimeFiction #Festival #BloodyScotland #Reviews #Article

Friday the 13th – Sunday 15th September –
Dare to go out into Stirling
It would be criminal not to!

Written By Louise Cannon (Lou)

Bloody Scotland is one of the most exciting international crime festivals that just keeps getting bigger and better for readers and authors. Hear the heartbeat of historical (now also millennium city) of Stirling.
I am so excited…. can it be Friday already???
Feel the buzz as Stirling springs into life like no other time of year!
All within a few minutes or in some cases, seconds, of walkable distance, enter the venues of The Golden Lion Hotel, Trinity Church and The Albert Halls for some of most entertaining times of your life!
Seeing an author in-person and meeting them is just amazing! It’s exciting that it isn’t in Edinburgh or Glasgow, but in Stirling.

I am enthused for so many panels to hear what authors have to say about their books. From debut authors to established huge household names, it’s amazingly wonderful that so many come to Stirling to make it the most “happening place” in autumn. I love chatting to whoever I meet, from bloggers to authors to publishers. Bloody Scotland is quite sociable as well as a chance to discover books.

I’ve been lucky to have had the pleasure to read and review some books from authors who are attending and whose panels that get my own crime loving heart beating. The books just steal me away as do the panels their authors will appear on.

Here are links which will open in new tabs to full reviews of some author’s books you can expect to see in Stirling:

See the Programme Here: https://bloodyscotland.com/whats-on/#programme
Also find out how you can join in the fun and buy tickets at the end of this post.
Reviews are in no particular order…

Lin Anderson: The new Rhona MacLeod book – Whispers of the Dead – readers are taken to the heartland of the gangland streets of Glasgow, where there is supposed to be Hollywood glitz and glam as they rock up into the city to film, but an actress goes missing and there’s a murder not far away. Can Rhona MacLeod and the team solve the crimes? Check out my full review here: https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/2024/09/04/review-by-lou-of-whispers-of-the-dead-by-lin-anderson-lin_anderson-crimefiction-rhonamacleod-whispersofthedead-bloodyscotland/

Doug Johnstone: New Skelf’s series book: Living Is A Problem – The Skelf’s are a family who work in an undertaker’s but its the most unusual of its type as they also solve crimes in Edinburgh. It also becomes under siege from a drone attack and there’s a sinister group in this intriguing book. Check out my full review here: https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/2024/09/09/review-by-lou-of-living-is-a-problem-by-doug-johnstone-orendabooks-randomttours-theskelfs-skelfsummer-livingisaproblem-crimefiction/

Peter May new Hebrides book – Black Loch sees the return of Fin MacLeod and he’s returned to Lewis for unexpected reasons to do with his son in this atmospheric book. Check out my review here: https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/2024/09/08/review-by-lou-of-the-black-loch-authorpetermay-poppydelingpole-quercusbooks-riverrunbooks-sophieransompr-blogtour-theblackloch-petermay/

Michael J. Malone has a new Annie Jackson Mysteries – The Torments – Mysterious murmurs and curses abound and Damian has gone missing. It’s up to Annie to solve the mystery in this hauntingly good book. Check out my review here: https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/2024/09/10/review-by-lou-of-the-torments-by-michael-j-malone-michaeljmalone1-orendabooks-anniejacksonmysteries-gothic-randomttours-blogtour/

Jack Jordan has a new thriller – Redemption – I am yet to get a copy and read and review this, but I just know it’ll be good. I had the absolute pleasure to read and review Do No Harm and Conviction some time ago. Do No Harm takes place in the medical world and Conviction in that of law. I was gripped throughout. Here’s the link for Do No Harm, the first I ever read: https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/2023/03/30/review-by-lou-of-do-no-harm-by-jack-jordan-happy-paperbackpublicationday-to-jackjordanbooks-simonschusteruk-t4cyf3nt0n-compulsivereaders-donoharm-blogtour-thriller-medicalthriller/

Peter James has a new Grace book you can pre-order – One of Us Is Dead. Sadly, I still have to get my hands all over this book too, but I will. In the meantime, Here’s a review of a previous DS Roy Grace book in the series to whet your appetite and excitement: https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/2023/05/18/review-by-lou-of-picture-you-dead-by-peter-james-peterjamesuk-panmacmillan-riotcomms-grace-pictureyoudead-crimefiction/

Janice Hallett has a new thriller out – The Examiner. I haven’t read this latest, but I have read and reviewed other twisty books by her. Here’s one of them – The Christmas Appeal:

https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/2023/12/27/review-by-lou-of-the-christmas-appeal-by-janice-hallett-janicehallett-viperbooks/

I will mention Louise Minchin too. She has read the news and now she’s making news in writing a debut novel. Do I want to read and review it? Absolutely!!! I feel compelled to read about investigative journalist, Lauren to find out about her and what’s dug up.

I am also excited to see there are other big names – Richard Armitage, Mark Billingham and Ann Cleeves, Elly Griffiths and so many more…

You too can see your favourite authors or discover a new one.

Buy Tickets Here: https://bloodyscotland.com/whats-on/#whats-on

#Review By Lou of The Torments By Michael J. Malone @michaeljmalone1 @OrendaBooks #AnnieJacksonMysteries #Gothic @RandomTTours #BlogTour

The Torments
By Michael J. Malone

For a sinisterly creepy thriller, The Torments is the place to go… if you dare! I’m bravely on the Orenda Books/Random T. Tours blog tour for the new book by Michael J. Malone. Check out the blurb and my review below.

Blurb

Annie surged forward, but she was too slow, too late.
A hand came over and down, and she felt a sharp pain at the back of her neck.
Then all became smoke, and silence.

Hiding from the world in her little white cottage on the shores of a loch, Annie Jackson is fighting to come to terms with the world of the murmurs, a curse that has haunted female members of her family for centuries.

While she is within the ancient, heavy stone of the old dwelling, the voices merely buzz, but the moment she steps outside the door they clamour to torment her all over again, bringing with them shocking visions of imminent deaths.

Into this oasis comes her adoptive mother, Mandy McEvoy, begging for Annie’s help. Mandy’s nephew Damien has gone missing, after dropping off his four-year old son at his mother’s home.

Unable to refuse, but terrified to leave her sanctuary, Annie, with the help of her brother Lewis, is drawn in to a secretive, seductive world that will have her question everything she holds dear, while Lewis’ life may be changed forever…

The second book in the critically acclaimed Annie Jackson Mysteries series, The Torments is both a contemporary gothic thriller and a spellbinding mystery that deeps deep into a past that should, perhaps, remain undisturbed…

Review

The Torments is hauntingly good. Beware, it might keep you awake at night with its compelling, sinister nature that locks your spine in place, save for a tingling chill and fixes your eyes on the pages.

Loch’s, they sit in the scenic landscape of Scotland. You could even say, they sit somewhere between nature’s beauty and the sinister. This one is closer to the sinister, alongside a lone white cottage. Lingers, is a world of curses and murmurs and a feeling of being trapped. What seems on the surface of it, like a sanctuary from the rest of the world, proves to be anything but this.

Annie is an interesting character. She can see when someone is going to die. All she can do is try to warn people of certain aspects that will undoubtedly lead to death, but it doesn’t necessarily work like that.

Lewis and Annie do end up travelling back to the dark streets of Glasgow, which have, perhaps a slightly less sinister feel, but have something dark in the atmosphere of some of them non-the-less. Mandy’s nephew has gone mysteriously missing, so in the process, Annie also tries to quieten the haunting murmurs so she can help search for him.

The chapters alternate between Lewis and Annie, which throws up another thread with the characters Ben and Sylvia from when they were at a rather creepy boarding school. This then intertwines with the mystery of finding Damien.

With Scottish folklore, some supernatural activity and a mystery to solve, it’s got a bit of everything in it that would suit the reading appetites of many.

#Review By Lou of Living is a Problem by Doug Johnstone @OrendaBooks @RandomTTours #TheSkelfs #SkelfSummer #LivingIsAProblem #CrimeFiction

Living is a Problem
By Doug Johnstone

Review By Louise

The Skelfs series has been SHORTLISTED for the McIlvanney Prize for Best Scottish Crime Book of the Year
(three times), the Capital Crime Best Independent Voice, and Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (twice).
Living is a Problem is the latest book in the series, of which I am on the blog tour for with a reivew, first, onto the blurb.

Blurb

The Skelf women are back on an even keel after everything they’ve been through. But when a funeral they’re conducting is attacked by a drone, Jenny fears they’re in the middle of an Edinburgh gangland vendetta.
At the same time, Yana, a Ukrainian member of the refugee choir that plays with Dorothy’s band, has gone missing. Searching for her leads Dorothy into strange and ominous territory.
And Brodie, the newest member of the extended Skelf family, comes to Hannah with a case: Something or someone has been disturbing the grave of his stillborn son.
Everything is changing for the Skelfs … Dorothy’s boyfriend Thomas is suffering PTSD after previous violent trauma, Jenny and Archie are becoming close, and Hannah’s case leads her to consider the curious concept of panpsychism, which brings new danger, while ghosts from the family’s past return to threaten their
very lives…

Review

The Skelf’s are back!!! This time the women try to bring the undertakers business into the 21st century, whatever it takes to drag it there. It is as far as you can get from a normal family-run undertaker business. It isn’t everyday that funerals become under siege by a drone attack.

There’s an overarching sinister feel to this book from someone or something disturbing the grave of a stillborn to panpsychism.

This was the first time I had heard of panpsychism and apparently it’s from way back in history but every so often makes a resurgence. To put in brief and from what I looked up, panpsychism is “a philosophical theory asserting that a plurality of separate and distinct psychic beings or minds constitute reality”. “It can be found in environmentalism,” which is one of the themes of the book. Panpsychism in Living Is A Problem becomes very dangerous indeed.

The human psyche is often fascinating, so to add this and Thomas’s PTSD from a traumatic experience really gets into the depth of the characteristics of the characters.

The Skelf’s series is one I recommend. I’ve read and reviewed most of them and the story development becomes increasingly compelling as does seeing what happens next in the Skelf’s lives and of course there’s always a mystery to be solved. With all that happens to the characters in this latest in the series, no wonder Living Is A Problem.

#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.