#Writeup Overview by Lou of #HughFraser #CrimeFiction #Thriller #Books and #TalkWriteUp @Bloodhoundbook #RinaWalker

An Overview of Hugh Fraser’s Books
Including a link to a talk from 2018

Hugh Fraser’s books are very gripping and have a great protagonist – Rina Walker, a rather complex character who just so happens to be an assassin. Find out more below…
Hugh Fraser has a new publisher! This could be very exciting as hopefully it means he is writing again. I read all of his books, when he was with Urbane. Now all those books have transferred and had a revamp by Bloodhound Books. I am so excited for him that my fingers are flying across the keys as I write this. I wasn’t asked to write this. I have just felt moved to. Take a look down to find out more, plus the eyecatching new covers, blurbs for each book, a link to my original review about Stealth (the first book I ever reviewed on the blog) and a little bit about Hugh Fraser himself. I have also added a link to a write-up I produced for my blog of fascinating talk that he gave with Robert Daws at the Morecambe and Vice Festival.

The first book I ever reviewed on my blog was Stealth, after I had met Hugh Fraser at the Morecambe and Vice book festival, which I attended after a lovely conversation with him. Long story, but was all very wonderful… The outcome was me having a lovely in-person conversation, perhaps around 2018 and me having a go at reviewing a festival, which I then was invited to by the organsers and a lovely signed book, which I absolutely treasure and all that aside, taking the book for what it is, I was pleased to find it to be very gripping and one of his best yet! You can read all the books in order or as stand-alone. It is easy to be gripped by them all.

The Rina Walker series, which I read most of, prior to having a blog, is fantastic! Don’t think cosy Agatha Christie type story (which are also fantastic), these are as far removed as they possibly ever can be. Rina Walker is a kick-ass assassin, you don’t want to mess with. She is written very well has quite a complex life really, what with secrets, drugs cartel’s and great plot twists along the way. Rina is a surprising anti-hero who is a feminist you end up somehow rooting for; even though she is an assassin. Hugh Fraser’s writing is very clever that way. This series is one I’ve not forgotten about, even after the load of books I’ve read after….
Without further ado, find out more below…

About the Author

*Hugh Fraser is an author and actor who is well-known for tv series and films. He has played many roles over many years, including: The Duke of Wellington in Sharpe and Captain Hastings in the ITV Agatha Christie, Poirot series. In film he is credited in the Patriot Games, 101 Dalmations, The Draughtman’s Contract and Clint Eastwood’s Firefox. He also wrote the theme tune of children’s tv programme, Rainbow. He also supports the charity – First Light Veterans – supporting veterans of the emergency services and armed forces.
In more recent years, he has turned his hand to writing, creating his protagonist -Rina Walker.

There are 4 books in the Rina Walker thriller series:

What makes an innocent girl become a contract killer?

Acapulco 1974: Rina Walker is on assignment. Just another quick, clean kill.

When she wakes to discover her employer’s severed head on her bedside table, and a man with an AK 47 coming through the door of her hotel room, she must use all her skills to neutralise her attacker and escape.

Notting Hill 1956: Fifteen-year-old Rina is scavenging and stealing to support her siblings and her alcoholic mother. When a local gangster attacks her younger sister, Rina wreaks revenge. Innocence betrayed, Rina faces the brutality of the post-war London underworld – a world that teaches her the skill to kill…

How far would you go to protect the innocent?

London 1961. In the dying days of the Macmillan government, George Preston is in control of crime in West London and Rina Walker is his favoured contract killer.

When Rina is hired by Soho a vice king to investigate the disappearance of girls from his clubs, she discovers that they are being supplied to a member of the English aristocracy for the gratification of his macabre tastes.

Rina’s pursuit of the missing girls, and her efforts to save the innocent from slaughter, become increasingly perilous as she grapples with interwoven layers of corruption and betrayal.

Can Rina survive a confrontation with depravity?

Rina Walker is back and as deadly as ever… but it’s not just her life at stake.

London 1964. Gang warfare is breaking out. Rina Walker struggles to survive amid the battles and betrayals of a gruesome cast of racketeers and gangsters.

Her considerable skills as an assassin are her only hope of survival.

Playing one side off against the other to protect those she loves, Rina is caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse where her life is just one of many at stake…

One tough woman. One fight to the death…

London 1967. A working girl is brutally murdered in a Soho club. Rina Walker takes out the killer and attracts the attention of a sinister line-up of gangland enforcers with a great deal to prove.

When a member of British Military Intelligence becomes aware of her failure to fulfil a contract, issued by an inmate of Broadmoor, he forces her into the deadly arena of the Cold War, with orders to kill an enemy agent.

Rina must call upon all her skills, not simply to survive but to protect the ones she loves.

Will she make it out alive?

Click to link to my STEALTH Review

Entertaining Talk Write-up Link – Showcasing Hugh Fraser and Robert Daws – If I Wasn’t On The Stage

#Reviews etc By Lou – Happy 1st Anniversary to Hobeck Books @HobeckBooks #CrimeFiction #Thrillers #PsychologicalThriller #ScottishNoir and more @HobeckBooks @RobertDaws @mark_wightman @istheauthor @KerenaSwan @AliMorgan2304 @antony_dunford @MHollingdrake

Hobeck Books is a publishing company run by husband and wife team – Adrian Hobart and Rebecca Collins. Today is the first anniversary of this team who are passionate about super crime fiction in all its forms and cats. I am also proud to be on their Advanced Readers Team and read through as many books as I can, to submit feedback, before I write a blog review.
Please note that I have not been asked to write a blog post or anything about it being their first anniversary, so, what I am writing is completely unbiased. I’ve felt I’ve wanted to put something together for awhile and now seems an appropriate time to do so to celebrate such an achievement from afar.
I have included some links to Hobeck Books and some of my reviews and you should check out the eye-catching covers too. There have so many books and authors that I just want to give you a taste of some here and bundle up a small selection of my reviews and also find out a bit more about this Indy publisher.

Hobeck Books have published police procedurals, thrillers, psychological thrillers, political thillers, quirky crime, Scottish Noir and more…There really is something for everyone who likes crime within fiction that also has a wider scope into people’s lives and so much more. Their authors are writing more than one book with them and they are often signing up authors from all over the UK.
They publish Paperbacks, Audiobooks and E-books, sometimes free E-books too. They also have their own Podcast (Hobcast), details can be found on their website. It has been quite a year from them.

Hobeck: Website www.hobeck.net Twitter: @HobeckBooks Instagram: @hobeckbooks
Facebook: www.facebook.com/hobeckbooks10

Hobeck Books is doing tremendously well for year 1. Not only have they learned about publishing (before Hobeck was official of course, as there’s always a lot going on in the background to businesses etc) and made connections with various people from authors to bloggers to other readers, but they have a book in the Shortlist for Crime Book Festival – Bloody Scotland – Waking The Tiger by Mark Wightman. It’s no mean feat as there are hugely popular authors on that list and yet, they’ve found and published a great debut that’s reached (so far), these heady heights. Luckily they all leave the killing to just being on the page. They’re all nicer than their culprits.

Their Flagship Author is the ever popular and hugely successful actor, podcaster and author – Robert Daws, who transferred all his books in his excellent Broderick and Sullivan Murder Mystery series to them and has another being released soon.
All are set in Gibraltar, may well make you want to go there and are twisty and compelling to read. They are also 99p over on Amazon to celebrate this magnificent achievement is such climes.

Links to Reviews
The Rock and Poisoned Rock Reviews
Killing Rock Review

Waking The Tiger by Mark Wightman has made it to Shortlist at Bloody Scotland, a prestigious and ever growing festival in Stirling, Scotland.

Waking The Tiger Review

Lewis Hastings has a trilogy of books – the increasingly popular Se7en series.
Here is a book with Jack Cade returning, but more standalone and works well with its twists and big plotlines to be gripped by.

The Angel of Whitehall Review

Blood Loss is the first in the DI Paton Investigates series. It’s twisty and hard to put down.

Blood Loss Review

Throttled is humourous, with some big themes and is part of The Quirk Files. This is book two. Book one is Over Her Dead Body.

Throttled Review

Hunted takes readers to the heart of nature and the dark world of wildlife crime. It’s books like these that also bring something different to crime fiction.

Hunted Review

Catch As Catch Can by Malcolm Hollingdrake is in the dark and brooding underworld and has quite a hook to it, that then makes you want to read the next book -Syn.
Catch As Catch Can Review

That was just a few, keep a look out for more and also keep an eye out on the Hobeck Books media and bloggers posts for more… Check out their website for what’s coming and for free books too and more info.
Hobeck: Website www.hobeck.net Twitter: @HobeckBooks Instagram: @hobeckbooks
Facebook: www.facebook.com/hobeckbooks10

#Review (by Lou)- Even More Trueman And Riley by Brian B. Thompson, @brianbthompson Starring @RobertDaws and #DuncanPreston #Audible #CrimeFiction #TruemanRiley

Trueman & Riley
Starring Robert Daws and Duncan Preston
Created by Brian B. Thompson

I started listening to Trueman & Riley during lockdown 1 and now getting back to it in lockdown 3, in between work. I’ve been savouring it because it is such a fantastically entertaining series, first created for the BBC, with a sensational cast, that can be listened to on Audible.

Written by BAFTA-winning dramatist Brian B. Thompson, this smart, entertaining crime drama stars Robert Daws as Trueman and Duncan Preston as Riley. Written by Brian B. Thompson. Produced and directed by Toby Swift and Jenny Stevens.

Links to previous episode review Chapters 1 – 5 Chapters 7-10

Below is episodes 11-14 reviews and with just a few more to listen to, it’ll be my weekend treat.

Chapter 11

A Man’s World – Back in the office after a stint in the Student Crime Prevention Team, they back on the front line are on the case of thefts from pregnant women. Eileen Hayes is one of the midwives on duty as the local hospital is under scrutiny, where the crimes are committed.
There is interesting attitudes and points made about equality within employment. It cleverly puts a new slant on things and still most pertinent and an angle rarely talked about, making A Man’s World, not as predictable as listeners would think. There is quite a mammoth twist within this tale.
There are secrets in the midst with one of the women. Listen to find out who is telling the truth in this gripping episode.

Chapter 12

The Other Sheik This is a different start. There is a chase from the beginning for a potential perpetrator. A woman runs a lingerie shop on her own and it’s quite humorous in how she sees Trueman as she is being asked about what happened. It weaves in elements of the topic of objectification. There are some double-entendres and enough to make Trueman, perhaps hot under the collar, or squirm.
There are fires amongst lingeries shops and listeners can find out if or what the connection is and there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Chapter 13

Love Bites banker boyfriend reports his 32 year old girlfriend missing. The case involves the real world and the virtual one and how people spend money in certain virtual games. The denials and the truth of Trueman and Riley and their thoughts on the virtual reality game is fun as is how they create and use their avatar selves. It is fun how they use this to help solve the case.

Chapter 14

Every Dog Has It’s Day causes much excitement when the phone rings to report a murder case. It is not what they expect, which makes it funnier, but got to feel sorry for Trueman and Riley. Got to feel sorry for the victim and the brutal killing it endured. It isn’t their usual sort of case, to say the least and Riley wouldn’t mind being in with a person who is attached to the victim, despite not really being a match and Trueman trying to steer him into the mindset of the case, instead of women, or one woman who just happens to be divorced, but one with quite a history attached to her and she isn’t all as sweet as she may first seem. There’s also that age old thing of how married people behave with their husbands when a single person is around.
There’s some quips from Riley back to Trueman too.

My Top Book Choices of 2020 by Lou #2020Reads #AdultFiction #CrimeFiction #Fiction #Thrillers #RomanticFiction #ContemporaryFiction #Uplit

My Top Book Choices of 2020
Various Authors

I have read and reviewed a huge amount of very good books. It has taken a lot of time and consideration to whittle them down to create the Top Book Choices List. All those that did not make this particular list, were incredibly close. I have added links so you can easily see what the books are about. The books are in no particular order. Look out for my top Adult Non-Fiction List and my top Children’s Fiction List, both are in separate posts.

Top Adult Fiction Books

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman Click Here for More Info

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth by Matson Taylor Click Here for More Info

Killing Rock by Robert Daws Click Here for More Info

Daughters of Cornwall by Fern Britton Click Here for More Info

What Lies Beneath by Adam Croft Click Here for More Info

Orfeia by Joanne M. Harris Click Here for More Info

Hinton Hollow Death Trip by Will Carver Click Here for More Info

Us Three by Ruth Jones Click Here for More Info

Perfume Paradiso by Janey Jones Click Here for More Info

The Things I Want To Say but Can’t by Carla Christian Click Here for More Info

The House of Correction by Nicci French Click Here for More Info

Tell Me How It Ends by Isabelle Grey Click Here for More Info

The Colours by Juliet Bates Click Here for More Info

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce Click Here for More Info

Letters From the Past by Erica James Click Here for More Info

One Step Behind by Lauren North Click Here for More Info

The Unravelling by Liz Treacher Click Here for More Info

Christmas With the Bobby Girls by Johanna Bell Click Here for More Info

The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman Click Here for More Info

The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce by Tom Gillespie Click Here for More Info

Butterflies by D.E. McCluskey Click Here for More Info

Contacts by Mark Watson Click Here for More Info

The Life We Almost Had by Amelia Henley Click Here for More Info

The Guest List by Lucy Foley Click Here for More Info

Summer on A Sunny Island by Sue Moorcroft Click Here for More Info

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths Click Here for More Info

The Garden of Forgotten Wishes by Trisha Ashley Click Here for More Info

Lion Heart by Ben Kane Click Here for More Info

Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb Click Here for More Info

With Or Without You by Drew Davies Click Here for More Info

#Review by Lou of Partners In Crime Podcast @adamcroft @RobertDaws @CrimeFicPodcast #Podcast

Partners In Crime Podcast
Created and Hosted by
Adam Croft and Robert Daws
Rated: 5 stars *****

Partners In Crime Podcast is available from Fridays and I listen in most weeks or play catch up on it at a weekend. The podcast is brought to you by Adam Croft, a hugely successful crime fiction author who writes in every single type of sub-genre and Robert Daws who is also a hugely successful actor and author and sometimes Adrian Hobart who is a founder of Hobeck Books with Rebecca Collins. Each episode is 30 mins long and it is just some bookish and tv fun really, but with added banter of two great friends, that adds to creating a lovely, delightful atmosphere that is rather jovial, mostly uplifting and with plenty of humour.

There is a very genuine, relaxed quality as they put the world to rights in their own unique way. They have various eye-catching titles, with the latest being Don’t Dally In A Doorway, that draws you into their world of intrigue to see what on earth that could possibly mean.

They have, despite lockdown, been able to keep to the rules and did their podcast in various ways, outside, apart and how’s this for the ultimate social distancing? Robert Daws was away filming in Latvia, whilst Adam Croft was still in England. It just shows what technology can do…. except there are some gremlins where they live in England.

The pair talk about the latest crime fiction books they have enjoyed (and sometimes their own that they have written) as well as some of the latest tv dramas, creating a great platform for other creatives to get their work mentioned and to inspire and inform people for what is available or coming soon.

I like that Adam Croft and Robert Daws give a little information about themselves and what they’ve been doing before really getting down to business as it were. It’s an easy listen and a good podcast to escape into for half an hour in a week. In our busy lives, 30 mins of escapism is a good thing and the podcast is a perfect length to fit in.

The podcast has been running for over 100 episodes. They did a Live (or rather, Adam Croft did) for the 100th episode and that isn’t the first time they have been Live. They have also done a Live with Adam Croft and Adrian Hobart (who is a founder of Hobeck Books who publishes Robert Daws books) at the Morecambe and Vice Festival, when festivals were a normal thing.

Some of the latest works by Adam Croft, who has 2 more books coming soon. He has written many books and is highly successful.