#Review By Lou of The Violin and the Candlestick By David Jarvis @David_Jarvis_ @HobeckBooks #Thriller #MikeKingdomThrillerSeries

The Violin and the Candlestick
By David Jarvis

It’s time to get excited about the third book in the ‘Mike Kingdom’ thriller series, which can be read as a stand-alone or part of the series. Now David Jarvis has joined the Hobeck family of authors, you can find all his books on the Hobeck Books website and all your usual places to buy/borrow books from. Today I am on the Hobeck Books blog tour with its rather atmospheric, arty cover, the blurb and my review.

Blurb

A businessman flies by private jet for a half-hour lunch in Doha, Qatar. This would have been no big deal except that he is the CIA’s main asset in the Middle East and, six hours later, is found dead in his villa.

Michaela ‘Mike’ Kingdom was meant to be investigating something else for Leonard de Vries, her old CIA and Five Eyes boss, when he asked her to help him find the killers. She had been one of his analysts in London before the ‘accident’ that had killed her husband and damaged her leg.

She told everyone many times that she didn’t do fieldwork, but no one listened, not even Mike herself. Leonard told her not to worry as he had organised help in the form of another ex-CIA agent, now a Paralympian in the US basketball team.

Review

Another cracking book by David Jarvis and a great addition to the ‘Mike Kingdom’ thriller series. There’s a lot of foul play in this third book, which can incidentally be read as a stand-alone or as a starting point and then go back to the others.

Leonard De Vries, Mike’s former boss, reckons there’s a ‘mole’ about and also reckons he may be suspended at ‘Five Eyes’. There’s a mystery to be solved there and she needs to talk to Habib Murchison, except this key person is found mysteriously dead just at the point where he had something to say…

It’s another gripping book with the darkness of intense, well-plotted thriller, lightened with some well-placed and well-formed humour. The setting is vivid by the skill of Jarvis’s writing so you can see what’s meant to be seen and where, through the descriptive words. It’s quite arty in that sense. The title made me remember that in 1910 there was a painting called ‘Violin and Candlestick’ created by cubist artist, Georges Braque. In a way, the writing, much like the painting, pops out off the page in a way that is easy to visualise, adding texture and colour to the point where you can almost feel the heat of Doha.

Here’s a link to Hobeck Books website: www.hobeck.net

#Review By Lou of The Runner By Lloyd Devereux #LloydDevereux @HQstories #TheRunner #Thriller

The Runner
By Lloyd Devereux

Explosive and gripping is what Lloyd Devereux brings in this thriller. Thanks to HQ stories for the copy for review. Find out more in the blurb and my review below this brilliant cover.

Blurb

A gripping thriller from Lloyd Devereux Richards author of TikTok sensation, Stone Maidens.

He’s in too deep… And almost out of time.

Martin Gabriel is a runner for Ben. He runs errands. He runs deliveries. And now he is running for his life…

When a deal goes wrong, Martin realizes Ben isn’t the legitimate businessman he thought he was.

He flees before Ben catches up with him, unaware that Ben’s criminal network and the FBI are also on his tail.

No longer a runner, but still on the run.

Is Martin fast enough to get away from his past?

Review

The clocks ticking. Time is running out. The FBI are on a mission to catch up with a criminal network. Martin is a runner and the legitimate businessman he thought Ben was, isn’t quite what he first seemed. It’s life-changing for Martin, but not in the most positive way.

The Runner is fast-paced thriller on the whole, but does differ when readers are introduced to certain characters, but doesn’t lose any of the suspense that builds up throughout the book. It’s an intriguing read that captivates and intrigues.

#Interview By Lou with Darrell Martin – Time To Celebrate Just The Tonic Comedy Club 20 Years At The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the comedy club’s founder @Justthetonic @EdFringe #UnleashYourFringe #EdFringe2024 #Comedy #Theatre @aDarrellMartin

JUST THE TONIC

20 YEARS AT EDINBURGH FRINGE

Written by Angela Allen, celebrated with Lou at Bookmarks and Stages

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Just the Tonic and 20 years of Just the Tonic at Edinburgh Fringe.

Based in Edinburgh, the company has grown from humble beginnings as a Sunday night club into one of the largest comedy producers in the UK, with a huge presence at the Fringe spread over 5 venues.

At a time when the Fringe is becoming more and more expensive for both performers and the public, Just the Tonic boasts one of the most affordable programmes of the festival.

As well as low ticket prices and a Pay What You Want model, there are shows such as the Big Value Comedy Show, Headliners for £10, Comedy in the Dark, Best of Cabaret and All Stars Burlesque where you can see several performers and big names on the same bill.

Just the Tonic has a reputation for supporting new talent and has helped launch the careers of many comedians including Romesh Ranganathan, Johnny Vegas, Jason Manford, Josie Long, Gary Delaney, Sarah Millican, Jon Richardson, Rob Beckett, Sean Walsh.

This year you could discover the next comedian to make it big, catch a theatre

production making its debut in the UK, or enjoy a magical family show.

The 2024 programme is packed with almost 200 shows from comedy and cabaret to theatre and kids events.

Highlights include comedians Andrew Maxwell, Kai Humphies, Lucy Porter, Craig Hill, Clinton Baptist, Alfie Brown and Scottish favourite Connor Burns. US comedy stars Chanel Ali, Titi Lee and Michael John Ciszewski make their Fringe debuts and there’s fresh new

comedy from the UK including Jake Donaldson – ‘a must see’ (Huffington Post) – and Dave Durkom – ‘a young sketch comedian to watch’ (Telegraph).

Theatre includes The Heaven’s Favorite Murderess, an adaptation of the Greek story of Medea, Jewels, a subversive spectacle of indestructible womanhood, and groundbreaking productions from Edinburgh’s own Theatre Paradok.

Family-friendly shows Pure Imagination: A Willy Wonka Parody and 6 Impossible Things: A Comedy Magic Show based on Alice in Wonderland, will delight all ages and there’s robots, escape rooms and mysteries to solve.

Founder Darrell Martin says: “Not one of the ‘big boys’, we are proud to remain in keeping with the spirit of the fringe. Not one of the smaller venues, we also pride ourselves at hosting some of the best new comedy you will find. With 30 years of running comedy clubs and 20 years of producing Edfringe shows, we are proud to be part of this amazing festival.”

For all the shows currently on sale and to get tickets visit: https://edinburgh.justthetonic.com

Instagram and Facebook: @jttedinburgh

Tik Tok: @justthetoniccomedy

#Review By Lou of Felix’s Favourite Day By Fiona Lowry @FionaLowry9 #PictureBook for 3-5 years #ChildrensBook #KidsLit @RandomTTours #FelixsFavouriteDay

Felix’s Favourite Day
By Fiona Lowry

Today I am part of starting off the Random T. Tours blog tour with a review of a lovely award winning picture book for 3-5 year olds. Discover the cover, blurb and review below.

Blurb

A fun and colourful picture book of positive thinking to show that your dreams come true.
Perfect growth mindset book for ages 3-5yrs

Winner of The Golden Wizard Book Award 2022.
Winner of American Writing Awards 2023 Children’s Book International,

Felix loves animals and dreams of being a vet when he is older. The only problem is, he doesn’t have his own pet to look after yet.
After begging, badgering and bothering his parents, Felix is finally taken to the local animal shelter for what his parents hope will be a sensibly chosen cat or dog…Felix may have other ideas!

Review

Felix very dearly wants a pet and has ambitions to become a vet when he grows up. Young readers are taken through his desires for a pet through a lovely rhyming story and brightly coloured, attractive pictures of the different animals he looks at and considers.

The book is playful and fun as well as easily accessible with its linkage of words to pictures and varying fonts. It’s an eye-catchingly attractive book that has a great storyline that is short enough to hold the attention for 3-5 year olds and has humour they’ll appreciate. It’s a book that is just easy to want to turn page after page until the end.

It’s great for a bedtime story or one if you’re considering a pet for the home and it’s also great for nursery settings too. Everyone can have fun with it, including the adults reading it aloud to children or children taking a peek on their own or with a friend.

#Review By Lou of The Blind Devotion of Imogen By David Putnam @daveputnam #SwellMedia #TheBlindDevotionOfImogen #Mystery #CrimeFiction

The Blind Devotion of Imogen
By David Putnam

Set in 1973, The Blind Devotion of Imogen has its quirks and murders to solve and a cover to match the times. Find out more in the blurb and my review below.

Blurb

In 1973, Imogene Taylor is seventy-five years old, on parole for murder, and works at a store that sells dented canned goods. Twelve years earlier, she went to prison for killing her love-of-her-life-husband, Wayne. She called it an accident. The judge and jury called it murder. Imogene’s parole agent is constantly on her case, looking to send her back to prison.

During her time in prison, Imogene had to vent her angst at someone and sent the sitting Presidents (during the ten years in prison) threatening letters bringing her to the attention of the Secret Service. She does extensive research and writes a novel, Peekaboo POTUS, about the assassination of a US President. She sends the book “over the transom” to one publisher. The publisher, after being unable to contact Imogene, comes looking for her.

The Cigar, an organized crime gangster, walks into Dentco, where Imogene works, and extorts the store for protection money. Pay up or get firebombed. The entire strip center is under this threat.

At the same time, Imogene’s neighbor dies of natural causes and leaves a hoarder’s mess to his daughter, Suzanne. Imogene helps Suz clear out a pyramid of boxes filled with junk in the garage. At the bottom of the pile, they find a box with a dead woman who has been hidden for many years.

Imogene must dodge an overzealous parole agent while dealing with a dead woman in the neighbor’s garage. She’s on parole for murder, so she can’t report it to the police. No one would believe her. Imogene and Suz think the woman in the box is Suz’s long-estranged mother. Rather than reveal Suz’s father as the probable killer, Imogene convinces Suz to bury her mom under the avocado tree in the backyard. Until Thelma, Suz’s mother, appears after reading the obituary.

It’s a race to uncover the real killer as Imogene dodges gangsters, family members, and a publisher on her quest to find the truth.

Review

Imogen Taylor at 75 years old is on parole and it’s taken from her point of view. It also makes for a rather different read. She’s quite productive when she’s in prison for murder. The book becomes quirky in that she then tries to solve a crime. She’s an interesting character to work out and sure doesn’t fit neatly into any of the usual type of boxes people fall into. There’s also an intriguing labelled box with writing you wouldn’t expect to see, which gives it a mysterious feel.
The atmosphere generated and the images through the writing that enter your mind, places you at the time and scene rather well.

It’s an entertaining and intriguing book with all its complexities and bits of humour wrapped up in a murder mystery.

#Review By Lou of True Love By Paddy Crewe #TrueLove #PaddyCrewe @DoubledayUK #LiteraryFiction @RandomTTours #BlogTour

True Love
By Paddy Crewe

True Love, which covers all different types of love, is set in the 1980’s that’s gritty and meaningful. It’s an excellent literary read for both young adults and adults alike. It would also be a fantastic read for school classes and adult reading groups alike. There’s much to be learnt from and be inspired by. Today I have a review as part of the Random T. Tours blog tour and thanks to Doubleday UK for a copy.

Blurb

What does it mean to love and be loved?

It is the 1980s and Finn and Keely are growing up in the North East of England.

Keely is a fighter. Even in the face of loss she strives to seek connection, but finds that she’s not always searching in the right places.

Finn is quiet, sensitive, distant. He spends much of his time alone, yet deep down he wants to discover the thrill of relating to others.

When the two finally meet, everything is changed. Love – with all of its attendant joys and costs – is thrust upon them, and each must decide if they will bend or break under its pressure. True Love is a story of the trials of youth, the bonds of family and friendship, and of how much we are willing to risk to have ourselves be seen.

Review

Gritty, gripping and meaningful this is a terrific read!
Connections and that desire to connect with others is human nature and you can feel it sparking off the page. It’s brilliant that it isn’t all romantic love, it also covers agape love, unconditional love etc.

Keely is the true heroine of the piece. She has love running through her bones for her family. She comes from a generation of sea coalers in the North East of England. Life is tough in a way that young people and adults today can learn a lot from.

Keely has immense reserves of resilience and love to the point where she even gives up on some of her dreams and becomes a sea coaler for a time so her family survives, since a great tragedy occurs. I feel great connection to Keely with that level of selflessness she demonstrates and resilience she pulls up and keeps going, even when life throws her the toughest and most unfair of times. Her strength of character is only to be admired.

Finn is quiet and lives with his grandparents as his own parents are living their own lives. Nature, especially the water gives him solace and comfort. He does finally find that there’s more to life and becomes a bit more of a character you want to read when he joins a band. Keely and Finn then meet and their lives begin a new chapter and to change…

The writing is lyrical in places and sweeps you along with the sea into Keely and Finn’s absorbing, quietly intense stories. This is a book that I highly recommend.

About the Author

Paddy Crewe was born in Middlesbrough and studied at Goldsmiths. His debut novel, My Name Is Yip, has been shortlisted for the Betty Trask, the Wilbur Smith, a South Bank Sky Arts Award and The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize.