REVIEW: Killer on the Kelvin Explorer by GB Ralph

REVIEW Addison Harper is back on the 5th instalment of GB Ralph's Milverton Mysteries, and regular followers on instagram will know just how much I adore this series. I have to say, the latest adventure is probably my favourite one yet! For those new to the series, we first meet Addison Harper in Murder on Milverton Square. Living and working in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, Addison is summoned to the small town of Milverton to find he's the sole beneficiary of his late great uncle's estate. While waiting for the paperwork to be sorted, the solicitor in charge of the estate is found murdered.

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REVIEW: Little Spark by Jess Kidd

Sometimes, if you're lucky, you'll come across a book that'll grab you by the soul and not let go. A book that's so beautifully written, it's hard to write a review because I know my words won't do it justice. Little Spark is that book for me, and has immediately become my favourite read of the year so far. A twisty, victorian-era set, gothic mystery that just captivated me from the start. We first meet Bodkin Bell in 1865, and she's a strange child. Living with her guardian, Cornelius Bell, she never gets a straight answer as to how they came to live together.

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BLOG TOUR: Murer in a Yorkshire Village by Helena Dixon

It's that time of year when it feels like the world and their wife are all in Harrogate for the Theakston's Old Peculiar crime writing festival. All the while, I'm at home, curled up on the sofa reading cosy mysteries. The 24th adventure from Helena Dixon's historical crime series sees her sleuthing pair, Kitty Bryant nee Underhay and her husband Matt head to... Harrogate! Visiting the Yorkshire town to visit with Matt's parents, Kitty and Matt find themselves tasked with looking into the disappearance of a man who happens to be the brother of Inspector Lewis, the police inspector regularly annoyed with the detective pair's prolific problem solving.

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BLOG TOUR: The Cotswold Manor Mystery by Maxine Barry

If you're looking for a quick, cosy mystery with yearning second-chance romance, Joffe Books reissues of Maxine Barry's novels will hit the spot. The novel opens with Oriana Foster released from prison after a lengthy spell incarcerated, and she makes her way back to her home village, where she knows she won't be receiving a hero's welcome. She knows she's innocent of the crime she was convicted of as a teenager, but that means the real killer is still out there... along with the family of the victim. Readers may be more familiar with the author under the Faith Martin name, and her descriptions of the Cotswold countryside give a firm sense of location.

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BLOG TOUR: The Beasts of the Black Loch by Gay Marris

Gay Marris' 1970s murder mystery novel is out now, and it's a book that will stay with me for some time. Dr Ava Dickens heads to the Scottish Highlands to support her god son, who has inherited a large estate after the death of his parents in an accident. Both Ava and Alastair are from a more scientific background; Ava is a specialist in animal behaviour, Alastair a botanist. Recently married and grieving the loss of his parents, Alastair has the challenge of turning the estate into a luxury hotel, to cover the cost of maintaining an extensive property, and may be in over his head.

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BLOG TOUR: No Saints, Only Killers by Luke Deckard

It's 1922, the Great War has been over for 4 years, and former sniper Logan Bishop has left the mean streets of Chicago for London. Having worked as a Pinkerton Detective, he's now a Private Investigator with a morphine addiction. A message from his estranged preacher father, out of the blue, opens up a can of worms that sees Bishop head North to Edinburgh. But when he arrives, he soon finds himself embroiled in a murder case The novel has everything you imagine when you think of classic Noir - the detective in a trench coat, collar up, wandering through foggy, grimy streets.

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BLOG TOUR: Error 404 by Richard Ferrer

A book about an existential crisis has no right to be this funny. Preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, a young Chris Decker starts to have big doubts about God and religion in general. Years later, as a scientist, he asks the most powerful computer available the question, and gets the answer he knew to be true. What follows is a highly funny, irreverent, satirical take on faith, belief, and human nature. While Chris is openly sceptical of philsophy, "misery in a cashmere cardigan", the novel itself is rooted in it. The prose is wonderfully readable with lots of fun word-play, and it's a book you want to devour in one sitting, with characters you really care about right from the start.

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BLOG TOUR: Of Devotion and Death by Anastasia Hastings

I've jumped in to this gorgeous historical mystery series at book 3, and although I enjoyed this as as standalone, it did make me want more - which is fabulous as there are two previous books go go back and devour! Violet Manville writes an advice column under the name of Miss Hermione, although she has problems of her own. The main one right now being that her ex from her time in India has turned up, and is then accused of murdering his wife. It's not looking good for him, but it's fun to watch Violet try and solve this problem, with all the limitations of being a woman in the Victorian era.

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BLOG TOUR: Ales & Alibis by Tobi Doyle

If you're looking for a fun, cosy read, with a mix of mystery and paranormal, Tobi Doyle's Pour Decisions series is the perfect cocktail for you. Wanda Atkins comes from a long line of women with a talent for the uncanny, and an inability to keep men. Some believe they're cursed, and that they are in fact witches. Wanda just wants the spectre in the basement to shut up and leaver her alone. Set in a small South Carolina town, Wanda is running her family's bar, with an ornery presence in the basement, and trying to set up her own therapist business.

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BLOG TOUR – Crime In The Gym by Catherine Moloney

This is my first tour for Zooloo's Book Tours, and I was excited to join the tour for this British mystery novel from Catherine Moloney. The novel is a twisty police procedural with light, humorous moments to avoid the crimes being too dark and heavy, and it's a thoroughly enjoyable read. Following the death of author Peter Lovesey, I've been missing my annual investigations with Peter Diamond, and Moloney's series is a worthy substitute, feeling like a very similar style, covering dark subjects with a lightness of touch. The novel opens in a local gym, with a Paralympian rugby player found dead in the weights room, and it's clearly not an accident.

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BLOG TOUR – The Campervan Detectives by Maeve Haran

Sadie Sutton is running away. After finding out her husband is cheating, she packs up and uses her savings to buy a VW Camper Van and heads off to the coast, to the town of her childhood. But things get complicated when she stumbles upon a body... and it's that of her old head mistress! New to van-life, Sadie finds herself welcomed by three other ladies also living out of camper vans, and the "Vintage Vanettes" team up to solve the case, before they end up in the killer's sights. …

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REVIEW: The Chocolatier’s Curse by Christopher Seto

We're having a heatwave at the moment in the UK, and I bought a bag of chocolate buttons, and left them on the kitchen worktop. When I finally got round to eating them, it was basically one big chocolate button. And on the subject of cursed chocolate... Graduate criminology student Theo Chan has to make alternative plans for his summer, when a trip to France falls through. Needing to find paid work, he follows up on a mysterious advert, and ends up taking an internship with a mysterious detective agency. Primrose Ghaust-Lee, who is legally blind, and Philip Teebin, the more outgoing and eccentric of the pair, run the agency that has little digital footprint, yet appears to be held in high esteem.

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BLOG TOUR – A Death in the Gym by Patrick Hardy

This debut novel from Patrick Hardy is a wonderful slice of British Noir that makes for engaging reading. We first meet Josh Stern in his role as physical trainer at a gym, which is closed suddenly - later to be revealed that the closure is due to a body being found in the mens changing rooms. From there we follow him as he spends the time in his second role - private investigator. Stern is quite a stoic, quiet character, and we see him reflecting on one of his oldest cases, the disappearance of Kat O'Keefe, over 20 years earlier.

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BLOG TOUR – The Castle of Stories by Matt Cain

Adam Webb is stuck in a dreary meeting at a dull job when he gets an email out of the blue to inform him his Great Uncle, who he didn't even know about, has passed away and bequeathed him a run down farmhouse and castle in Tuscany. Upon visiting his inheritance, Adam and his boyfriend Theo decide to spend the summer renovating the property. Shortly before they depart, Theo's ex-wife springs the news that she's off to work in Atlanta, so Theo will have to take care of their three children - two teenagers and an 8 year old - for 6 weeks.

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BLOG TOUR: Murder Off The Pages by Maggie Allswell

REVIEW Matlock's Sleuth on a (Mobility) Scooter, Judy, is called into action once again when a visitor calls on her late at night to tell her they've found the owner of the local chip shop, The Codfather, murdered. And so the Serial Killers Book Club are called back into action to investigate, and uncover the secrets and dodgy dealings going on in the little Derbyshire town. Written with plenty of wit and humour, some of the best business names in literature - barbershop Jack the Clipper, rival chip shop Salty Towers - and a cast of memorable characters, it's impossible to put down.

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