#Review By Lou of Into Thin Air – The First in a new Scandi-Noir series by Orjan Karlsson #OrjanKarlsson @OrendaBooks #ScandiNoir #Thriller

Into Thin Air
By Orjan Karlsson

Feel the chill and darkness in the air as the untamed wilderness of Norway enters your life.

Blurb

Chief Investigator of Nordland Police, Jakob Weber is drawn into a complex case when a teenaged girl goes missing in Northern Norway, and a second woman disappears from a remote island in similar circumstances … FIRST in a compelling, dark new Nordic Noir series.

When nineteen-year-old Iselin Hanssen disappears during a run in a popular hiking area in Bodø, Northern Norway, suspicion quickly falls on her boyfriend. For investigator Jakob Weber, the case seems clear-cut, almost unexceptional, even though there is some suggestion that Iselin lived parts of her life beneath the radar of both family and friends.

But events take a dramatic turn when another woman disappears in similar circumstances – this time on the island of Røst, hundreds of miles off the coast, in the wild ocean.

Rumours that a killer is on the loose begin to spread, terrifying the local population and leading to wild conspiracies. But then Jakob discovers that this isn’t the first time that young women have vanished without a trace in the region, and it becomes clear that someone is hiding something … and another murderous spree may have just begun…

Review

Islean Hanssen goes missing and naturally the boyfriend is looked upon as being rather suspect in this disappearance in Bodo, Northern Norway. Something more sinister and suspicious is going on when another woman goes missing on the island of Rost. These places to exist and they are quite a distance apart, with the island of Rost being some distance away from the coast, making the net of suspicion cast wider. There’s more guesswork and threads to untangle than you may initially think.

Into Thin Air is twisted and as darkly cold as the title and cover suggest. The bodies stack and people are terrified. There are many moments that you involuntarily gasp at. The further you dive in, the more twisted and spine-tingling creepy it becomes.

The writing is great and you truly fear for anyone who is innocent whilst reading from the edge of the seat.

#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 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.

#Review By Lou of Black Hearts By Doug Johnston @doug_johnstone @OrendaBooks #BlackHearts #TheSkelfs #BlogTour #skelfaholics @RandomTTours #TartanNoir

Black Hearts
By Doug Johnstone

A welcome return of The Skelfs, a family who run a funeral parlour and are also Private Investigators in Edinburgh. I am on the blog tour today, thanks to Orenda Books and Random Things Tours for the invite and book. Find out more in the blurb and then onto my review below.

Death is just the beginning…

The Skelf women live in the shadow of death every day, running the family funeral directors and private investigator business in Edinburgh. But now their own grief interwines with that of their clients, as they are left reeling by shocking past events.

A fist-fight by an open grave leads Dorothy to investigate the possibility of a faked death, while a young woman’s obsession with Hannah threatens her relationship with Indy and puts them both in mortal danger. An elderly man claims he’s being abused by the ghost of his late wife, while ghosts of another kind come back to haunt Jenny from the grave … pushing her to breaking point.

As the Skelfs struggle with increasingly unnerving cases and chilling danger lurks close to home, it becomes clear that grief, in all its forms, can be deadly…

Review

Beware of the single magpie on the cover…. “One for Sorrow” and all that. Grief can have consequences and people can behave oddly and “Black Hearts” becomes both literal and figurative. As grief takes hold, guilt also seeps in.
Family is at the heart of this series of books and a love of music also creeps in.

The Skelfs are funeral directors, as a family, turned Private Investigators, so also deal with families in their many states of life on a day to day basis. Readers can follow this latest case as well as the backstory of the Skelfs themselves and delves deeper into their personalities and lives.

The lives of the Skelfs are in danger; Dorothy takes on a missing person’s case and little does she know what would come next…
Hannah has a disturbing problem to contend with – she is being stalked.
With so much at stake and so much to deal with, its a gripping read.

What occurs in Black Hearts is totally chilling, but with the dark humour that has been established in this series of books and always cuts through well in this Edinburgh based haunting mystery, as does the warmth that cosies it up, just a little, to show a little shed of light through the Black Hearts.

#Review of The Beaver Theory By Antti Tuomainen @antti_tuomainen @OrendaBooks @RandomTTours #CrimeFiction #ScandiNoir #ScandiCrime #Paperback #BlogTour

The Beaver Theory
By Antti Tuomainen

The Beaver Theory is translated Scandi Noir/ScandiCrime with humour.
The quirky humorous crime series in an adventure park is now available in paperback and is as entertaining, yet murderous as ever. Find out more below as then my review for the blog tour below.

Blurb

Henri Koskinen, intrepid insurance mathematician and adventure park entrepreneur, firmly believes in the power of common sense and order. That is until he moves in with painter Laura Helanto and her daughter…
As Henri realises he has inadvertently become part of a group of local dads, a competing adventure park is seeking to expand their operations, not always sticking to the law in the process…
Is it possible to combine the increasingly dangerous world of the adventure-park business with the unpredictability of life in a blended family? At first glance, the two appear to have only one thing in common: neither deals particularly well with a mounting body count.
In order to solve this seemingly impossible conundrum, Henri is forced to step far beyond the mathematical precision of his comfort zone … and the stakes have never been higher…

Review

What an exciting delight it is to be re-acquainted with Henri Koskinen, a mathematician with quite the quirky life. From The Rabbit Factor to The Moose Paradox to The Beaver Theory, this is quite possibly my favourite translated series to date, with the quirky plotlines, the depth of character, the humour and sense of fun.

Henri has now moved in with his girlfriend, Laura Helanto, quite an unlikely relationship that he’s been building up and her daughter, Tulli. He’s decided that he will go for the challenge of being part of what will now become part of a blended family. As if having challenges to overcome and learn to ride to the rollercoaster of family life of, he has obstacles in his professional life to contend with too.

The “YouMeFun” Adventure Park has a competitor, Somersault City. Unlike “YouMeFun” following all the rules and regulations, Somersault City has chosen to be non-compliant, so much so, the International Association of Adventure Parks declined membership. This new park will try anything to lure customers away from “YouMeFun.” There are many freebies, including the irresistible bait of sausages, not to mention celebrity appearances. He reckons his trusty knowledge of maths will help him out.

When there is a murder and the body count adds up, that order gets messier. The murder weapon of choice is far from what would perhaps be considered a “usual” choice. Henri finds himself in trouble, the type which maths may not totally help him out of a sticky situation. He could stand to find himself being accused of the murders, unless he can think and act quickly…

The Beaver Theory is an excellent 3rd book to the series that is highly entertaining and fun to be around, making it hard to put down.

I highly recommend The Beaver Theory that is the perfect finale to The Rabbit Factor Trilogy. I am now looking forward to seeing what Antti Tuomainen writes next and wondering if there will be more humour in the next book.