BLOG TOUR: A Death in the Afternoon (The Clapham Trilogy Book 2) - Julie Anderson

Summer 1948

London swelters amid post-war reconstruction, while continued rationing and the black-market fuel the rising crime wave. The empires of gangland bosses grow and thrive, protected by corruption and bribery.

During a party in Clapham a student nurse from the South London Hospital for Women and Children dies in a fall from a balcony. Is it an unfortunate accident as the local police believe? Or something more sinister?

The nurse’s friends ask a newly qualified female detective constable to investigate, a woman who is facing difficulties of her own. Before long all are drawn into the criminals’ deadly games, as gangsters jostle for territory and power. With the solution almost within grasp, their lives are threatened and one of them faces a dreadful fate.

Can the others find her before it’s too late?

And what is the truth about...

A Death in the Afternoon?

 

What did I think?

A Death in the Afternoon is the second book in The Clapham Trilogy but it is the first one I have read and I loved it so I can confidently say that it can definitely be read as a standalone.

Constable Faye Smith has just been promoted to detective and in a 1940s police station she epitomises a woman in a man's world.  Faye can take care of herself though, despite any obstacles that are thrown in her way.  Faye used to work in the hospital so she is determined to get to the bottom of a nurse's death - did she fall or was she pushed?

I absolutely loved Faye and when the plot takes a dangerous turn I simply couldn't read fast enough.  My heart was in my mouth as my eyes raced down the page and the clock kept ticking down.  It just shows the immense talent of the writer when a reader cares so much about an already established character that they have only just met.

Gripping, blisteringly fast-paced and incredibly atmospheric, A Death in the Afternoon is unpredictable and unputdownable.  I will definitely be picking up a copy of The Midnight Man to read more of Faye's backstory and I can't wait for book three.  Julie Anderson has certainly picked up a new fan right here!

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: A Death in Berlin (Berlin Wartime Thrillers Book 3) - Simon Scarrow

BERLIN. MAY 1940. AS HITLER PREPARES TO INVADE WESTERN EUROPE, THERE IS BLOODSHED CLOSER TO HOME

'Scarrow's Berlin is sharply drawn with closely observed detail, a place that reeks of threat and fear - and not just from the Gestapo' Financial Times

CI Horst Schenke is an investigator with the Kripo unit. Powerless against the consequences of the war, he fights to keep criminals off his patch. But with doubts growing about his loyalty to the Nazi regime, he is walking a tightrope. If his relationship with a Jewish woman is exposed, a dreadful fate awaits.

Berlin's gangsters run their crime rings with impunity. Decadent senior Nazis protect them. Schenke is different. He won't turn a blind eye when innocents are caught in the crossfire between warring gangs. But dangerous enemies know everything about him. They will do whatever it takes to bend him to their will . . .

From the seedy wartime nightlife scene to aristocratic homes frequented by the Führer, as the distant war spirals ever closer, A Death in Berlin conveys the horror and banality of evil - and the terrible danger for those who dare stand against it.

The stunning new Berlin wartime thriller from the author of Blackout and Dead of Night.

 

What did I think?

Oh my goodness, I could not put this fantastic book down!  A Death in Berlin is the third novel featuring CI Horst Schenke but it is the first one that I have read and I absolutely loved it.  You can definitely read it as a standalone and it has certainly made me eager to read the first two books.

This period of history is often a depressing subject to read but it's important that we never forget these awful events.  Simon Scarrow brings wartime Berlin to life in this outstanding novel as rival criminal gangs fight to be top dog.  Corruption is rife and the gangs are protected by members of the Nazi party so the police have quite a task on their hands when they investigate ration fraud and a murder.

I loved the character of CI Horst Schenke; he doesn't buy into the Nazi ideology that has caused him to hide his relationship with Ruth, a Jewish woman.  It does mean that he has a secret that can be used to blackmail him, despite the imaginitive precautions he believes he has been taking to communicate with Ruth.

Filled with danger and suspense, A Death in Berlin had me on the edge of my seat as I raced through the pages as fast as I possibly could.  I was gripped from start to finish and I am well and truly hooked on this magnificent series after just one book.  Very highly recommended and unmissable for fans of historical fiction.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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BLOG TOUR: Fanning Fireflies (The Limerent Series Book 3) - LS Delorme

There is something rotting in Harrisville.

It's 1944 and Veronica works so she can afford to eat. Maybe one day she will save enough to own the home her family is living in, but for now, she doesn't have time for fanciful thoughts, or much else. She doesn't have time for the fire whispering to her, the ghosts trying to talk to her and the son of her boss, who can't stop staring at her. She definitely doesn't have time to think about Lazlo, the handsome black soldier that she processed at the draft office, but she can't seem to stop herself. As her ability to ignore Lazlo evaporates, so does her self-imposed ignorance about her hometown. There is, and always has been, something rotten in Harrisville. It shouldn't have been a surprise. After all, Veronica works in the cigarette factory, where corpses hide in the tobacco with the roaches.

 

What did I think?

I was drawn to Fanning Fireflies by the stunning cover and it as mesmerising inside and out.  I didn't realise it was the third book in The Limerent series when I started to read it and it can definitely be read as a standalone but I now want to read the earlier books.

Set in 1944, it's shocking to see the prejudices that people experienced in our not so distant past.  Love doesn't see the colour of your skin so when Veronica meets Lazio she can't stop thinking about him and vice versa.  Lazio is sent to fight in World War II but he writes to Veronica and he meets her every night in his dreams.

Veronica works in a cigarette factory and she has a gift (or a curse) that enables her to see ghosts and there are a surprising number of them in the factory.  When women from the town start going missing, the coloured residents are blamed but Veronica's gift holds the key to what is really happening to the missing women.

Mixing fantasy with historical fiction and romance, Fanning Fireflies is a genre-busting novel that completely blew me away.  It's so beautifully written and completely mesmerising that I couldn't put it down and I couldn't stop thinking about it long after I turned the final page.  The love story is just stunning and it adds an abundance of light to the shocking darkness of the racial prejudice.  A highly recommended read and one I will definitely be reading again.

I received a gifted paperback to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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BLOG TOUR: Never Closer - Margot Shepherd

On an ordinary day in 2017, Jo receives a phone call about her 18-year-old daughter, Jessie. It is the call that every parent dreads. In 1940, 17-year-old Alice ties on her facemask and enters a laboratory to harvest a potential new miracle drug called penicillin. The lives of these women become entwined when Jo finds Alice’s diary in a vintage handbag. Past and present overlap and merge as life-changing events resonate for them all across the gulf of time.

This is a story about a diary opening a door on the past, chronicling a young woman’s determination to succeed against all odds, while unknowingly inspiring others to step into a better life. Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, the infancy of antibiotics and a modern medical emergency and its consequences, it not only reminds us how fortunate we are to live now, but also serves as a stark warning about the fragility of life and the dangers of complacency.

 

What did I think?

Oh wow!  What a debut from Margot Shepherd!  I had to actually double check that Never Closer was a debut as it is so beautifully written.  I don't think I can even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed Never Closer and no review I write could really do it justice, but I'll try my best.

The dual timelines in the story are both riveting and I love that the past storyline is told via an old diary that Jo finds in her friend's vintage shop.  Jo didn't realise how linked her life would be to Alice's until her daughter battles for her life against a deadly infection.  An infection that would have claimed many more lives if it wasn't for Alice's work harvesting penicillin in 1940.

I loved the story of penicillin and it's so sad that Alexander Fleming's name is the only one that springs to mind when you think of this life saving drug.  Yes, Fleming discovered it but he did nothing with it and it's only thanks to the work of Professor Howard Florey and the ‘penicillin girls’ that we have access to penicillin today.  If only Fleming had taken a few more steps to further his discovery into development, so many more lives could have been saved especially during World War II.

Captivating, immersive and thought-provoking, Never Closer is an unforgettable book that I will be recommending for a long time to come.  Blending historical fact with enthralling fiction, Margot Shepherd is an exciting new voice in historical fiction and definitely one to place on my watch list.  Very highly recommended - don't miss this book, historical fiction fans!

I received a gifted paperback to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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About the author:

Margot Shepherd is a British author who was born in Yorkshire where she spent her childhood. She now lives in rural Sussex with her husband and Springer Spaniel, Genni. When she’s not writing she works in medical research at the University of Surrey. She writes about family relationships with a particular emphasis on women and science from a female point of view.

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Chasing the Dragon (Betancourt Mystery Series Book 2) - Mark Wightman

Singapore, 1940

A local fisherman finds the body of a missing American archaeologist

Detective Inspector Betancourt of the Singapore Marine Police is first on the scene. Something doesn't quite add up. He finds out that the archaeologist, Richard Fulbright, was close to deciphering the previously-untranslatable script on a pre-colonial relic known as the Singapore Stone. This was no accidental drowning.

Is there more to this case than archaeological rivalries?

Betancourt also discovers that Fulbright had been having an affair. He is sure he is onto something bigger than just academic infighting.

A government opium factory draws criminal interest.

In his investigations into the death, Betancourt finds his own life in danger, and now he has also put himself on the wrong side of British Military Intelligence, and he is unsure which set of opponents he fears the most...

 

What did I think?

Wow!  I thought Mark Wightman's debut, Waking the Tiger, was fantastic but this next book in the Betancourt Mystery series, Chasing the Dragon, is absolutely stunning.  There's even a map at the start of the book and I do love a map in a book, although I didn't refer back to it as often as I expected because that would have slowed down my reading of this completely gripping novel.

Mark Wightman's writing draws you in and sets a very vivid scene of Singapore in 1940.  The era and the location is very film noir and so atmospheric that I felt as if I was reading through a fug of opium smoke...chasing the dragon that can never be caught.

Max Betancourt's latest case is investigating the death of an American archaeologist which the powers that be seem determined to rule as accidental death...but Max smells something fishy and it's not the whiff from the docks.

I love not only the main character of Max but the whole cast of returning characters, for those readers who have read the first book.  You can totally read Chasing the Dragon without reading Waking the Tiger, but it's wonderful to see how the characters develop as they each have their own personal challenges.

The plot is very intricate but Mark Wightman's vivid writing makes it easy to follow all the strands of the story and how it all comes together at the end is nothing short of breathtaking.  I couldn't read it fast enough and with a virtual bomb thrown under Max at the end, I'm already chomping at the bit for the next book in the series.

Atmospheric, gripping and immersive, Chasing the Dragon is an unforgettable and unmissable crime thriller.  I really can't recommend it highly enough and I'm having an Oliver Twist moment: please Mark Wightman, can I have some more?

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Hobeck Books

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

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Nineteen Steps - Millie Bobby Brown

The debut novel from global star Millie Bobby Brown

Love blooms in the darkest days…

London, 1942.

Despite the raging war, spirited 18-year-old Nellie Morris lives a quiet life in the tight-knit East End community of Bethnal Green. Her family and friends all tease that she will marry air raid warden Billy, the boy next door who’s always been sweet on her.

The arrival of Ray, a handsome American airman stationed nearby, causes Nellie to question everything she thought she knew about her future.

Nellie’s newfound happiness is short-lived when a tragic accident occurs during an air raid. Even the closest family can’t escape the devastation of war, and as the secrets and truth about that fateful night become clear, they threaten to tear Nellie – and those dearest to her – apart.

Inspired by the true events of her family history, Millie Bobby Brown’s dazzling debut novel is a moving tale of longing, loss and secrets, and the lengths that we will go to fight for love.

 

What did I think?

Millie Bobby Brown's debut novel has been written with Kathleen McGurl and it's based around an absolutely tragic event that I had never even heard of, although similar horrific events have happened over the years.  

When I first started reading, I thought it would be a traditional wartime love story with boy meets girl and boy goes to war but Nineteen Steps is so much more than that.  It absolutely devastated me and as hard as it was to read about the horrific tragedy, it's a story that really needed to be told.  I'm not going to reveal what the tragedy was as it would spoil it for other readers but I applaud Millie Bobby Brown for bringing it to light, especially when it is very personal to her.

I absolutely loved Nellie and her whole family.  I feel very fortunate to have never experienced a war on home soil as it must have been so frightening.  Parents, often women on their own as their husband was fighting in the war, had such difficult decisions to make to protect their family, not least whether they should evacuate their children.  

Everyone thinks Nellie will end up marrying Billy the boy next door but fate has other plans for her and American airman Ray is thrust into her life.  It wasn't exactly love at first sight but I loved how their relationship grew, almost cruelly right in front of Billy's eyes.

Haunting, devastating and poignant, Nineteen Steps is a heartachingly beautiful story that will stay with me long after turning the final page.  I was close to tears on several occasions and I had a lump in my throat at the end.  It's well-written, very easy to read and should come with a warning that it may cause tears.  A solid 4.5 stars from me.

I received an ARC for the Tandem Collective readalong and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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