BLOG TOUR: The Grass Widow - Vanessa Edwards

Ditched by her married lover Hugh on the day she was made redundant, Leonie plans to make life difficult for Hugh while she searches for a new job. She inveigles her way into his house as a cleaner, intending to plant fake clues to his new liaison for his wife Amanda to find. But instead she discovers real clues to Amanda’s secrets.

Meanwhile, fellow cleaners Brenda and Tina also have hidden agendas as they work: Brenda is counting on a spot of blackmail and Tina is looking for financial information to sell to her dodgy brother-in-law.

At the centre of this web is Amanda’s gardener Simon: handsome, ruthless and plausible, with a shady past and lofty ambitions.

A death in an apparent accident arouses Leonie’s suspicions. Can she put aside her animosity towards Amanda and use her impressive – if sometimes unorthodox – investigative skills to find the truth before someone else dies?

 

What did I think?

The Grass Widow is a book that is filled with secrets, blackmail and plans for revenge.  Nobody is who they seem and it it feels like everyone is being played; even the players are being played and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to see who would be left standing at the end.

Leonie's life fell apart when her affair with a co-worker ended and she found herself single and out of work.  Leonie is not going to go down without a fight and plans to take Hugh down with her so she poses as a cleaner to get into his house and plant evidence of his infidelity for his wife Amanda to find.  Leonie's conscience gets the better of her when she starts to uncover Amanda's secrets and an unlikely alliance is formed.

Oh this book just keeps on revealing secrets with every turn of the page and the intricately woven plot keeps the reader on their toes.  There is so much going on with every character hiding something and the fast-paced storyline twisted and turned right up to the outstanding conclusion.

Gripping and suspenseful from start to finish, The Grass Widow is an intelligent and unpredictable novel that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

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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About the author:

Vanessa is a solicitor specialising in EU law who has worked in private practice in London and Brussels and for the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

After taking early retirement from the legal profession she turned her hand to fiction.

She lives in Hampstead and likes wine, walking and music of many sorts. And of course reading and writing.

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BLOG TOUR: The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill - C.S. Robertson

 

DEATH IS NOT THE END. FOR GRACE McGILL IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

When people die alone and undiscovered, it's her job to clean up what's left behind - whether it's clutter, bodily remains or dark secrets.

When an old man lies undetected in his flat for months, it seems an unremarkable life and an unnoticed death. But Grace knows that everyone has a story and that all deaths mean something more.

A STAND-OUT NOVEL WITH A UNIQUE NARRATIVE VOICE AND AN UNGUESSABLE MYSTERY, YOU ARE GUARANTEED TO REMEMBER GRACE McGILL.

What did I think?

Oh my goodness, this must be one of the most unusual books I have ever read.  I've wanted to read a Craig Robertson book for a while but this is my first and what a book to start with.  It's shocking, surprising, intriguing, dark and so very clever.

I wasn't really sure how I felt about Grace McGill at first, because she's a loner and it's difficult to get to know her, but she's definitely a quirky character and as her story unfolded she became unforgettable.  Grace does the most horrifying job: cleaning up after dead bodies that have lain undiscovered for a period of time and although it didn't go into too many details, some of the vivid descriptions did make my stomach clench.  Her job shows Grace to be incredibly caring and respectful and when she notices some similarities in the deaths, she sets off to uncover a decades-old mystery from 1964.

This is a hugely entertaining novel with so much going on that I couldn't read it fast enough.  It's an intriguing double mystery with the deaths in present day Glasgow and the mysterious disappearance of Valerie Moodie on the Isle of Bute in 1964.  Grace turns from cleaner to detective as she attempts to find out what happened to Valerie...but someone knows she is getting close to unearthing this long buried secret and will do anything to stop her.

So unusual and completely unforgettable, The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill is a dark and addictive mystery.  Incredibly poignant at times, I struggled to hold back my tears on more than one occasion and I know that I will never forget Grace McGill.

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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The Maid - Nita Prose

 

I am your maid.

I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry.

But what do you know about me?

Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?

 

But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?

Escapist, charming and introducing a truly original heroine, The Maid is a story about how the truth isn’t always black and white – it’s found in the dirtier, grey areas in between . . .

What did I think?

What an amazing debut!  There has been a lot of buzz around The Maid on social media so I couldn't wait to read it and I was not disappointed; I absolutely loved it.  I'm really not surprised to learn that it is being made into a film and it's definitely one I will want to watch.

Molly is such a brilliant character; she is so literal and socially inept that you can't help but root for her, especially when she is mocked and taken advantage of.  After the death of her beloved gran, Molly is completely alone in the world - she has no family or friends, all she has is her job as a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel.  A job in which she takes great pride and excels at.  

When Molly discovers a dead body in the hotel one day, there's nothing in her mental rule book that tells her what to do so she inevitably does things that make the police take a closer look at her.  The police interviews with Molly are absolutely hilarious and this is where Molly's charm really comes through; she may be naive but she is totally honest...or is she?

The Maid is so easy to read that I would probably have read it in one sitting if I hadn't been participating in a Tandem readalong.  It's a charming cosy mystery but it also makes you think about people who are seemingly invisible.  I think this is possibly more apparent in the hospitality industry where hotel guests treat doormen, maids and cleaners etc as servants but they're all important cogs in the machine.

A delightful cosy mystery, The Maid is an outstanding debut from Nita Prose.  It's warm, funny, original and unforgettable; an absolute must read from an author who is definitely one to watch.

Many thanks to Tandem Collective and HarperCollins for sending me a copy to read and review for the readalong.  This is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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