The County Line

 

ONLY £1 in the UK today for this STEVE WEDDLE novel. A steal. 

From Steve Weddle, the author who the New York Times calls “downright dazzling,” 

One Man's Opinion: SADIE WHEN SHE DIED by ED McBAIN

'Like a woman in her tenth month, the clouds over the city twisted and roiled in angry discomfort, but refused to deliver the promised snow.'

I was a little taken aback with this. In a recent 87th, I'm pretty sure I came across an old lady called Sadie and imagined she'd be the subject of this one. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Sadie When She Died shouldn't be as good as it is. In some ways, it has a Columboesque feel in that we're pretty sure of our ground from the off. 

Carella and Kling are working this, in the main. It's coming up to Christmas and the world is under pressure to buy gifts and be jolly. The cops, they need to find their pleasure in solving cases. 

This one seems pretty open and shut. A well-to-do lawyer returns home following a burglary to find his wife has been stabbed. There are open windows and there's a trail of blood, prints and witnesses that means new technician Marshall Davies believes he'll have it wrapped up in no time. And he's right, only there's something off with the case. The husband, when interviewed at the scene tells Carella that he's 'very glad she's dead' and that he's 'delighted that someone killed her'. 

Carella's spidey-sense prickles at that, as well it might, and because of that we know, just like he does, what has really happened. 

Said husband proceeds to court and taunt Carella for reasons that are difficult to fathom, while Kling is stuck somewhere between trying to forge a new relationship with one of the case's witnesses while hoping to get back together with former sweetheart, Cindy. 

We get to travel to some new places in Isola, viewing it from its top of the range to its bottom. There's a diary code to solve, a cop beating, a series of ex-lovers to be grilled and some great work from the technical team. 

The way the personal and the professional lives of our detectives are wrapped together is a real treat. The case itself is intriguing though not intense, while Kling's relationship dilemmas bring a whole heap of tension to the party.

A load of fun.

 

 

 

HELEN BONAPARTE by SARAH D'STAIR

 

Here's one you can read for free if you have an account with Net Galley. 

It's also available over here at Amazon. 

This is what you're in for if you get on board for the ride:

"Blending literary suspense, travelogue, and a spirit of uneasy eroticism, HELEN BONAPARTE plumbs the heart and needs of a bored academic ... This is a full-bodied, sumptuously written, always perceptive study of yearning for something more, as Helen works through a moment of existential crisis, eager for connection ... [D'Stair] brings poetic vigor to Helen's imaginings and occasional pushing of boundaries, deftly mingling desire, tension, and the feeling that things could go very wrong ... the prose startles, dazzles, informs, and pleases." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Middle-aged, middling academic Helen Bonaparte has left her husband and children at home for a week-long Italian group tour with strangers. Happy with her home life, but needing self-renewal, she intends to sulk in the corners of buses and museums for a week, indulging in great art but scowling the rest of the world away.

Until, that is, she meets Marieke, the tour guide, who becomes the object of erotic fantasies Helen didn't even know she had.

As each day passes, Helen's home life recedes, only to be replaced with increasingly bizarre, invasive, and always secretive ways to get closer to Marieke. As she meanders around tourist gems of Renaissance Italy, Helen must come to terms with her new obsession, existing just on the border of dream and disillusionment, the imaginative and the mundane, the sacred and the profane.

A Dead Guy Who Won't Stay Dead - Free For Easter

 

Drawn In is one of my favourtes in terms of work I've written. I love the concept and it feels pretty original. 

As part of the plot, there's a dead guy who just won't stay dead, so what better time to give it away than Easter. 

There's more to it than that, of course. In fact, said dead guy is merely an obstacle.

Anyway, it's free this weekend and I hope you enjoy it. 

US

UK

HAPPY RELEASE DAY: PAUL HEATLEY's FULL THROTTLE

 

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Passing through Detroit, Tom meets brother and sister Ruth and Calvin Styles whose parents were murdered two years ago.

Ruth and Calvin have been trying to discover who was behind the killings and their investigation has stirred up a hornet’s nest such that they themselves now have targets on their backs.

Determined to protect them, Tom takes on the siblings’ powerful enemies – a corrupt unit within the police force who will do whatever it takes to stop the truth getting out. Even worse, the bad cops are in bed with street gangs they can unleash on anyone who poses a threat.

Tom soon finds himself caught in the middle of a raging gang war while being relentlessly pursued by dirty police who want to terminate him – with extreme prejudice.

Outnumbered and outgunned, Tom will have to dig deep and use every one of his deadly skills if he is to keep brother and sister alive and get justice for their family.

Full Throttle - Book 12 in the superb Tom Rollins action thriller series. Perfect for fans of Lee Child, Jason Kasper & David Archer.

When Eric Met Duane

Just look at this for a cracking event. It's way too far for me, but I reckon if you're within a hundred miles or so, this should be on the to do list. If you can't make it along, you can buy the books to offer support by following the links. 

 You do make it, let me know how it went. I promise I won't be too jealous. 

 The Last Few Miles Of Road by Eric Beetner: AMAZON UK AMAZON US 

 California Bear by Duane Swierczynski: AMAZON UK AMAZON US

DANCING WITH MYSELF: MARTTA KAUKONEN interviews MARRA KAUKONEN

 Tell us something about yourself!

My name is Martta Kaukonen and I'm a Finnish thriller writer. My debut novel psychological thriller Follow the Butterfly has been sold to 13 countries. It made the Spiegel bestseller list in Germany and is being adapted for a TV series by American-German production company Legendary Tobis TV. The English translation will be published by Pushkin Press 7.3.2024. Before I became a full-time author, I was a film critic for Finland’s biggest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. I’ve interviewed the likes of Robert Downey Jr. and Justin Bieber. Alongside writing, I love psychological thrillers, film noir, flea markets, abandoned houses and travelling. Fun fact: I met my future husband at his second hand bookshop and fell in love.

Can you tell us something about your thriller Follow the Butterfly?

My novel has two main characters, Clarissa and Ida. Clarissa is a renowned therapist who isn’t afraid to explore the darkest side of humanity. Haunted by the death of a young patient, she will do whatever it takes to save the most vulnerable. But when Ida – angry, damaged and seemingly suicidal – walks into her office, Clarissa may have met her match. For Ida has secrets. Murderous secrets, which mark her like a bloodstain. Somehow, Clarissa must find the key to unlock Ida’s past. So she makes a bargain with her – six months to stop Ida taking her own life. But what if she has entered a game more deadly, and more evil, than she could ever imagine.

What inspired you to write this book and to explore these characters/themes?

I never thought that I would write fiction because I’ve worked as a journalist for so long and I knew it would not be fun and games but hard work. I also thought that I would never invent an interesting story. But one evening I was laying in my bed and waiting to fall asleep when I heard the first five lines of my book in my head. I took my iPhone and dictated the lines to the dictaphone. In the morning I started to write Follow the Butterfly. I knew the beginning of the book and pretty soon I knew the ending but I didn’t know what happened in between. Luckily my main character Ida took me by the hand and led me from the beginning to the end.

How did you come to write this book, how did the idea of the book originate?

To this day I don’t know where the story came to me! It was totally subconscious. But I guess it was because I had been reading so many psychological thrillers since I fell in love with Gillian Flynn’s novel Dark Places (it is still my favourite Flynn novel). Something had to come out of the excessive exposure to all those terrifying stories.

Do you have any idols?

Oh, so many! Gillian Flynn is a genius. I’ve read all her novels several times. I love Elizabeth Little’s Dear Daugter. Joyce Maynard’s thriller To Die For made a huge impact on me. Jessica Knoll’s new thriller Bright Young Woman blew my mind. Paula Hawkins, Erin Kelly, Mary Kubica, Amanda Coe, Lucia Whitehouse… the list goes on!

  Otto Virtanen / WSOY

What is your favourite hobby?

My favourite hobby is to read ”old” women’s magazines from the 1990s or from the beginning of 2000s. As you read them you soon realize that so many things that are now considered important, trendy or talked about are only a couple of decades later (mostly just a couple of years later) indifferent, ridiculous or boring. It gives you a perspective and makes you realize that the trendy things aren’t very important after all, and so you shouldn’t take yourself or most other things too seriously.

FOLLOW THE BUTTERLY