24 Tuesday Jul 2018
Posted in Reviews
Who knew Peter Mayle wrote deft, very enjoyable thrillers?
Not me.
Until now my knowledge of Mayle’s writing was confined to the highly successful, semi-autobiographical A Year in Provence, which my husband liked a lot…and me, not so much.
Accordingly, Murder in the Med was a delightful surprise.
Mayle, a former advertising executive, is an economical writer who doesn’t waste a word. Continue reading
23 Monday Jul 2018
Every reader knows never to judge a book by its cover.
So true – because the pretty, canary yellow, sunshine cover of Forgive Me Not doesn’t even begin to hint at some of the difficult themes explored by author Samantha Tonge.
It’s a bit of a departure for Tonge, who’s better known as a best-selling romance novelist.
But her own battles with alcohol and addiction and her journey towards well-being provided the inspiration for Emma, the recovering alcoholic heroine of Forgive Me Not.
But this is not just the story of Emma’s struggle for sobriety, as well as sibling rivalry, Continue reading
10 Tuesday Jul 2018
Posted in Reviews
What happens when your dad goes to work one day and doesn’t come home?
‘We waited and waited for him,’ says the person, who decided the murdered man would not be forgotten.
And years later the memory of Detective Sergeant Helen Carter’s father comes back to haunt her when her first job in CID is a murder inquiry.
Her boss Detective Inspector Jack Craven doesn’t want a woman on his team. Continue reading
04 Wednesday Jul 2018
Posted in Reviews
If you’ve got your wits about you, you’ll know when you’ve had too many glasses of schnapps.
It’s the moment when it starts tasting okay.
Thank 50-something travel agent Angie for the advice.
She’s the down-to-earth heroine of Helen Bridgett’s sparkling new romantic comedy The Heat is On, which is peppered with similar smile-a-minute nuggets.
Want another taster? Continue reading
02 Monday Jul 2018
Posted in Authors' tips
Sue and I learned something interesting about Author Talks recently: don’t do them – or rather, do them at your peril.
No! I’m only kidding – well – half-kidding if faced with the type of event we recently encountered. Continue reading
27 Wednesday Jun 2018
Whatever you do, don’t mess with crime writer BA Steadman, author of Death on Dartmoor.
She’s a dab hand with a sword!
Although it’s a little while since she went into battle, Steadman’s a second Dan in the Japanese martial art laidō, which roughly translates into English as ‘the way of mental presence and immediate reaction’. Continue reading
20 Wednesday Jun 2018
It’s a truth universally acknowledged – and if it isn’t, it should be – that life is full of what if’s and maybe’s where every choice, every decision, changes the course of a life.
That’s the premise of Lucy V. Hay’s thought-provoking Proof Positive where bright, ambitious Lizzie locks herself in a public toilet with a pregnancy testing kit.
When the test proves positive Lizzie is faced with what could be the most important decision of her life.
16 Saturday Jun 2018
Would you be gullible enough to fall for a charming con man who loves you for your bank balance rather than your GSOH and desire for FTA and an LTR?
Me? I’d have said no, I wouldn’t be so daft.
Although, let’s be honest, any confidence trickster attracted by my bank balance is in for a big disappointment.
But that was before reading Deception Wears Many Faces by Maggie James. Continue reading
15 Friday Jun 2018
Posted in Reviews
Tags
@rararesources, Cuttin' Heads, DA Watson, Dunedin Robert Burns Poetry Competition, Falkirk Storytelling Festival, Pushcart Prize
Prizewinning author DA Watson spent several years working in bars, restaurants and call centres before going back to university with the half-arsed plan to become a music teacher.
Halfway through his degree at the University of Glasgow, he discovered he was actually better at writing, and unleashed his debut novel, In the Devil’s Name, on an unsuspecting public in the summer of 2012.
Plans for a career in education left firmly in the dust, he Continue reading
05 Tuesday Jun 2018
The epiphany moment came halfway through the first term at high school.
That’s when I realised I didn’t really like EP, the most popular girl in the class – a perfectly nice person but just not my type.
I suspect the feeling was mutual – but we managed to rub along together, probably because we were the only two kids in our form to be promoted to the year group netball squad. Continue reading
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