Monday, 9 November 2026

Secrets Of A Winter Escape, by Sue Moorcroft

As regular readers of the blog will know, I've been friends with Sue Moorcroft since we first met at the Kettering Writers Group in 1999 (we genre writers were consigned to the back of the room, where we had a great laugh).  Since then she's gone from strength to strength, hitting number one in the Kindle Bestseller charts (with The Christmas Promise) on her way to becoming a Sunday Times Best Seller, while her novel A Summer To Remember won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award 2020.  As well as featuring her a lot on blog (to see more, click this link), I'm pleased to be part of the blog tour for her latest novel, Secrets Of The Italian Guesthouse, which has just been published in paperback and e-book. This also marks the second novel of the trilogy as part of her new deal for The Legacy Trilogy with Quercus Books, an imprint of John Murray Press.

Will this be a Christmas to remember?

Christmas should be the most wonderful time of year. But for Erin, who's just lost the job that she loves, it's anything but. Down on her luck, the only gift she wants is escape...

So, Erin returns to Lake Como, home to the pensione she inherited from the grandmother she never met. The city sparkles with the magic of the season, and the guests provide a welcome distraction from the life that Erin has left behind.

As the snow begins to fall, Erin finds herself staying in the room next door to Caleb, an injured footballer who's eager to avoid the prying eyes of the press. With emotional baggage bigger than his suitcases, he's a complication that her bruised heart doesn't need. But when Caleb lights Erin up like Como's illuminations, will she admit that all she wants for Christmas is him?

* * *
My review - The second in the Three Sisters trilogy, this follows on directly from “Secrets Of The Italian Guesthouse” and tells the story of Erin, sister number two, raised by her single mum Lisa in Scotland. After a break-up, losing her job and enduring a birthday party that isn’t what it seems, Erin leaves Scotland to spend time with Jade at the Three Sisters Pensione. There, after details of the tragic event which kind of led to all her woes becomes apparent, Erin meets the footballer next door, Caleb, who is recovering from a broken leg and his own relationship troubles. As the two combine forces – his determination to get back into the game and her marketing skills – things begin to happen but, since this is a Sue Moorcroft novel, there are plenty of obstacles in the way.

As usual with a book by Sue, characterisation is key and it was interesting going into this, having been introduced to the character in a previous novel but now seeing her in a new light. Erin is strong, independent, vulnerable, hurt but quite joyous in her way and seeing the relationship between her and Caleb – another stellar creation – grow is a real delight. And it all flows so easily too, which means you start to read and then look up a dozen or so pages later, swept along by the assured storytelling. Como is a character in and of itself and there’s plenty of spot-on description to make you feel like you’re standing in that glorious town in the midst of Christmas celebrations. 

With a varied and well sketched supporting cast, the chance to re-meet the other sisters and a compelling story that races along, I’d say this was another winner. Very much recommended!

* * * 


* * *

Sue Moorcroft is a Sunday Times bestselling author. Her novels have reached #1 on Kindle UK and Top 100 on Kindle US, Canada, Germany and Italy. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Novel of the Year, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award, two HOLT Medallions and the Katie Fforde Bursary. She’s a past president of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

Her novels, short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world.

Born into an army family in Germany, Sue spent much of her childhood in Cyprus and Malta but settled in Northamptonshire at the age of ten. An avid reader, she also loves Formula 1, travel, family and friends, dance exercise and yoga.


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Monday, 6 July 2026

Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse, by Sue Moorcroft

As regular readers of the blog will know, I've been friends with Sue Moorcroft since we first met at the Kettering Writers Group in 1999 (we genre writers were consigned to the back of the room, where we had a great laugh).  Since then she's gone from strength to strength, hitting number one in the Kindle Bestseller charts (with The Christmas Promise) on her way to becoming a Sunday Times Best Seller, while her novel A Summer To Remember won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award 2020.  As well as featuring her a lot on blog (to see more, click this link), I'm pleased to be part of the blog tour for her latest novel, Secrets Of The Italian Guesthouse, which has just been published in paperback and e-book. This also marks the first novel of her new deal for The Legacy Trilogy with Renegade Books, an imprint of John Murray Press (see the press release here).


Two sisters she's never met
A first love who's impossible to forget...

For Jade, life in Lake Como is la dolce vita. Until her beloved grandmother passes, leaving Jade not just the family's bustling guesthouse to run, but two life-changing secrets to confront...

The pensione hasn't just been left to Jade, it's also been inherited by her sisters - who she had no idea existed. As Erin and Rosalie arrive in Italy, Jade is forced to face the heart-wrenching prospect of sharing her last remaining tie to the woman who raised her.

Jade is desperately trying to hold on to the past, but there's one person she would prefer to leave firmly behind: her first love, Leo. He's back in the city that is filled with the memories they once made together. But as Jade fights to take control of her future and her heart, why do all cobbled roads lead back to Leo?

Lose yourself in the first, utterly romantic novel in a brand-new trilogy, filled with new beginnings and second chances. Perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan and Milly Johnson.
 
* * *
Over the years, I've read a lot of Sue Moorcroft's work and, I have to say, this is one of her best. Plus, it's the start of a trilogy, so reading through and picking up what's key to this novel, or perhaps others in the series, has been fun. 

I really enjoyed it, as it’s a wonderful meditation on family, friends and loyalty, with real heart that moved me at times. As ever, it’s full of and adventure, a very keen sense of location (Lake Como has never come across so well on the printed page!) and some nicely nostalgic moments, both for family and long-ago love affairs.

The story is as tight as a spring, the twists and turns perfectly blended in and the whole thing flows smoothly and seamlessly. Jade, the heroine, is very likeable and - given her situation - what might have come across as selfishness from another writer sounds perfectly reasonable (and human) here. Leo was a great Moorcroft hero, all cheekbones, fringe, presence and heart and the raunchy bits were done well. Erin and Rosalie, Jade’s sister, came across well and are nicely set up for the other books in the series. The cast list is rounded out by Leo’s parents and brother, who bring a nice sense of humour to the occasion and Jade’s Gran is a strong presence, even though the story only begins once she’s gone. I could discuss other characters but, to do so, would spoil your enjoyment. 

This is a great book, full of heart, humour and drama and I would very much recommend it.

* * * 

Universal Book Link - https://geni.us/ItalianGuesthouse

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Sue Moorcroft is an international bestselling author and has reached the #1 spot on Kindle UK. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award and the Katie Fforde Bursary. 

Her short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world.

Born into an army family in Germany, Sue spent much of her childhood in Cyprus and Malta but settled in Northamptonshire at the age of ten. An avid reader, she also loves Formula 1, travel, family and friends, dance exercise and yoga.


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Sunday, 4 January 2026

Temporary hiatus

Unfortunately, the Strange Tales site is going into a temporary hiatus but will return at some point in the near future.


In the meantime, further details about my thrillers can be found at https://mewthrillers.blogspot.com/ or using the normal www.markwest.org.uk address.

I also have a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MarkWestWrites/

In addition, I have started a Substack account, which is free to subscribe to - https://fridaynightbooks.substack.com/


Thanks for all your support to this point, I'll see you here again soon.
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Monday, 22 December 2025

The Seventeenth Annual Westies - review of the year 2025

And so we come to the close of 2025. I realise the blog has been in hiatus for a year now, but next year I'll be starting a monthly newsletter on Substack, so I'll post details of that here when it's live and - more than likely - will be continuing the Westies on there going forward. I'm a man who doesn't like change and the thought of stopping something that's been running for this long feels wrong to me.

Anyway, it's been a year. I finished Book 8 at the start of summer then was part of the team putting in SAP at work and that, quite literally, sucked up almost every moment of my time. As a top tip, if your work says they're putting the system in, quit and find a job somewhere else. To that end, I haven't done much writing but David & I have been busy plotting and planning Book 9 and hopefully I'm going to be starting that in the early part of 2026. Due to publishing timelines, there was nothing published this year - which is the first time that's happened since 2022 - and it feels a bit odd. Next year, fingers crossed, you'll more than likely see two new psychological thrillers from me.

In the meantime, as ever, I've been reading and that means it's now time to indulge in the annual blog custom and remember the good books of 2025.

Once again, it's been a great reading year (though I managed less books than last year), with a nice mix of brand new novels, a lot of books that have languished on my TBR pile for too long, some good second-hand finds (which jumped straight to the top of the pile) along with some welcome re-reads.

My target for the year was to read at least twelve old school horror paperbacks and I more than achieved that - some of them were good, a couple were dire, but some were absolutely brilliant.

As always, the top 20 places were hard fought and, I think, show a nice variety in genre and tone.

So, without further ado, I present the Seventeenth Annual Westies Award - “My Best Fiction Reads Of The Year” - and the top 20 looks like this:

1: Ceremony, by Robert B. Parker
2: Secrets Of The Italian Guesthouse, by Sue Moorcroft (to critique)
3: The Widening Gyre, by Robert B. Park
4: The A Team (The A-Team 1), by Charles Heath
5: The Dead Side Of The Mike, by Simon Brett
6: Valediction, by Robert B. Parker
7:     Some Kind Of Wonderful, by David Bischoff
8: Only Old Bones, by Richard Farren Barber (to critique)
9: Dupe, by Liza Cody
10: Star Wars, by Alan Dean Foster
11: Return Of The Jedi, by James Kahn
12: The Empire Strikes Back, by Donald F. Glut
13: H Is For Homicide, by Sue Grafton
14: Tig's Crime, by T. R. Burch
15: The Plastic Nightmare, by Richard Neely
16: A Catskill Eagle, by Robert B. Parker
17: The Manitou, by Graham Masterton
18: Welcome To The Grave, by Mary McMullen
19: Woe Betide, by Wayne Parkin (to critique)
20: The Glow, by Brooks Stanwood


The Top 10 in non-fiction are:

1: Sonny Boy, by Al Pacino
2: On Writing, by Stephen King
3: Under A Rock, by Chris Stein
4: Stories I Only Tell My Friends, by Rob Lowe
5: Never, by Rick Astley
6: Cinefex 48, by Various
7: The Blues Brothers, by Daniel De Vise
8: The Movie Brats, by Michael Pye & Lynda Myles
9: Inside Out, by Demi Moore
10: The Last Action Heroes, by Nick de Semlyen 


And for the sake of complete-ness (and because I like the idea of sharing titles that some people may not even realise exist), here's my list of vintage paperback horror novels, in order of my appreciation of them:

1: The Manitou, by Graham Masterton
2: The Glow, by Brooks Stanwood
3: The Fungus, by Harry Adam Knight (Hak!)
4: Deadhead, by Shaun Hutson
5: The Unholy, by Michael Falconer Anderson
6: The Funhouse, by Owen West
7: Midnights Lair, by Richard Laymon
8: The Hiss, by Andrew Laurance
9: The Brain Eaters, by Gary Brandner
10: The Sphinx, by Graham Masterton
11: Night Killers, by Richard Lewis
12: Spider Girl, by Peter Lear
13: As Evil Does, by John Tigges
14: The Auctioneer, by Joan Samson
15: Snowman, by Norman Bogner


Stats wise, I've read 75 books - 45 fiction, 10 non-fiction, 8 comics/nostalgia/kids and 12 Three Investigator mysteries.

Of the 63 books, the breakdown is thus:

6 biography
19 horror
4 film-related
3 drama (includes romance)
19 crime/mystery
4 sci-fi
2 nostalgia
7 humour


All of my reviews are posted up at Goodreads here

In case you’re interested, the previous awards are linked to from here:

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Tuesday, 31 December 2024

The Sixteenth Annual Westies - review of the year 2024

And so 2024 draws to a close. It's been another up-and-down year for me, what with moving house (nice big study!), breaking my hand just after we moved in (not my smartest move ever), Dude going into his second year at Uni (I still miss him as much as when he first left) and two books published - TO SEE TOO MUCH and the box-set SEASIDE PSYCHOLOGICAL. I've also read a lot.

Which means that it's now time to indulge in the annual blog custom and remember the good books of 2024.

Once again, it's been a great reading year (though I managed ten books fewer than last year), with a nice mix of brand new novels, a lot of books that have languished on my TBR pile for too long, some good second-hand finds (which jumped straight to the top of the pile) along with some welcome re-reads.

My target for the year was to read twelve novelisations and I achieved it - some of them were good, a couple were dire, but some were absolutely brilliant.

As always, the top 20 places were hard fought and, I think, show a nice variety in genre and tone.

So, without further ado, I present the Sixteenth Annual Westies Award - “My Best Fiction Reads Of The Year” - and the top 20 looks like this:


2: E is For Evidence, by Sue Grafton
3: Kill For Me, Kill For You, by Steve Cavanagh
4: Last Night Of Freedom, by Dan Howarth
5: Blacktop Wasteland, by S A Crosby
6: New Blood, by Richard Salem
7: Early Autumn, by Robert B. Parker
8: A Savage Place, by Robert B. Parker
9: French Postcards, by Norma Klein
10: Gregory's Girl, by Gerald Cole
11: Death Walkers, by Gary Brandner
12: One Of The Dead, by Richard Farren Barber
13: Grange Hill Rules O.K.?, by Robert Leeson
14: No Time For Goodbye, by Linwood Barclay
15: Creepers, by David Morrell
16: Han Solo At Stars' End, by Brian Daley
17: Charlie Says, by Neil Williamson
18: The Night Boat, by Robert McCammon
19: The Only Suspect, by Louise Candlish
20: The Shadow Friend, by Alex North


The Top 10 in non-fiction are:

1: Cinema Speculation, by Quentin Tarantino
2: I Am Spock, by Leonard Nimoy
3: The Star Wars Vault, by Stephen J Sansweet
4: Berserker!, by Adrian Edmondson
5: The Devil's Candy, by Julie Salamon
6: Star Trek Memories, by William Shatner
7: The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck, by Mark Manson
8: Cinefex 42, by Various
9: Cinefex 25, by Various
10: The Killers: Destiny Is Calling Me, by Jarret Keene


Stats wise, I've read 79 books - 46 fiction, 13 non-fiction, 14 comics/nostalgia/kids and 6 Three Investigator mysteries.

Of the 73 books, the breakdown is thus:

4 biography
12 horror
14 film-related
5 drama (includes romance)
24 crime/mystery
4 sci-fi
5 nostalgia
5 humour


All of my reviews are posted up at Goodreads here

In case you’re interested, the previous awards are linked to from here:


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Monday, 27 May 2024

Under A Summer Skye, by Sue Moorcroft

As regular readers of the blog will know, I've been friends with Sue Moorcroft since we first met at the Kettering Writers Group in 1999 (we genre writers were consigned to the back of the room, where we had a great laugh).  Since then she's gone from strength to strength, hitting number one in the Kindle Bestseller charts (with The Christmas Promise) on her way to becoming a Sunday Times Best Seller, while her novel A Summer To Remember won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award 2020.  As well as featuring her a lot on blog (to see more, click this link), I'm pleased to be part of the blog tour for her latest novel, Under A Summer Skye, which has just been published in paperback and e-book.

A chance encounter is about to change everything for Thea Wynter.

The moment she arrived on the Isle of Skye, life changed for Thea. Running from a succession of wrong turns, she comes to the island in search of blue sea, endless skies, and mountains that make the heart soar. Here, she feels at peace.

As head gardener at Rothach Hall, life is exactly how she wants it, with her days spent working in the glorious clifftop garden and her evenings in the cosy local village.

But an encounter with a stranger from the mainland brings with it an unexpected turn – and only time will tell if he is friend or foe.

It seems that even on Skye, life can catch up with you, and Thea is soon faced with the past she left behind – and with it, the family she’s never met…

From old lives to new beginnings, lose yourself on the beautiful Isle of Skye with Thea as she discovers how many possibilities life can truly hold if you look hard enough.

* * *
Thea Wynter is head gardener at Rothach Hall and enjoys her life, with days spent working hard in glorious gardens and evenings at the cosy village pub with her friends and sister. But Thea has a secret. She’s running from her old life and now it’s catching up with her while, at the same time, she meets a mysterious stranger who might be friend or foe.

The latest novel from the ever excellent Sue Moorcroft is the first book in the Skye Sisters trilogy (the first trilogy Moorcroft has embarked upon) and takes place, mostly, on the Isle of Skye. The isle plays a key role, in both this and (presumably) the next two books and Sue paints it wonderfully, from the views to the colours, from the roads to the buildings, making the place feel alive. The same can be said of her characters who, as always, spring off the page. 

Thea is a conflicted woman, who tries to do the right thing but sometimes doesn’t, who adores her adopted sisters and parents, who’s been hurt in love but is trying to escape from a mistake she made years before, where a man was injured - his fault, not hers - but for which she managed to cop the blame of the public. Ezzie, who works at Rothach Hall, is equally well sketched, perhaps more vulnerable (as we later discover) but acting as a perfect foil for her younger sister. The eldest sister, Valentina, lives away from Skye and has less of a part to play here, so it’ll be interesting to see her story explored in another book. The sense of family that’s created, both blood and adopted, is sensitively explored and adds real weight to the emotions of the piece.

The characterisation is thorough and all of them - from the leads to the support - are relatable (even the ones who serves at the antagonists) and I quickly came to care for Thea and her situation, especially when family matters take a shift about halfway through. Dev, the romantic lead, is as conflicted as the object of his affections and that’s played out so well, you feel for him even knowing that the news will come out at some point - hey, it’s a Sue Moorcroft novel. There are always obstacles. 

With some nicely-timed comic relief from Daisy the dog, who initially brings Thea and Dev together, a sure sense of place - both in Scotland and France - and a good pace, this is a cracking novel that shows Moorcroft on top form. I’m really looking forward to reading the stories of the other two sisters now.

* * * 

Buy the book here - books2read.com/MoorcroftUASS

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Sue Moorcroft is an international bestselling author and has reached the #1 spot on Kindle UK. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award and the Katie Fforde Bursary. Published by HarperCollins in the UK, US and Canada and by other publishers around the world.

Her short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world.

Born into an army family in Germany, Sue spent much of her childhood in Cyprus and Malta but settled in Northamptonshire at the age of ten. An avid reader, she also loves Formula 1, travel, family and friends, dance exercise and yoga.

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Saturday, 30 December 2023

The Fifteenth Annual Westies - review of the year 2023

And so 2023 draws to a close. It's been another up-and-down year for me (Dude left for university in September and I can report that not only is empty-nest syndrome an actual thing, it's also bloody horrible), but it's been creatively satisfying and I've read a lot.

Which means that it's now time to indulge in the annual blog custom and remember the good books of 2023.

Once again, it's been a great reading year for me (one more book than last year, as it happens), with a nice mix of brand new novels, a lot of books that have languished on my TBR pile for too long, some good second-hand finds (which jumped straight to the top of the pile) along with some welcome re-reads.

My target for the year was to read twelve biographies and I achieved it - some of them were good, a couple were dire, but some were absolutely brilliant (Sam Neill and Geena Davis, I'm looking at you).

As always, the top 20 places were hard fought and, I think, show a nice variety in genre and tone.

So, without further ado, I present the Fifteenth Annual Westies Award - “My Best Fiction Reads Of The Year” - and the top 20 looks like this:

1: Double Indemnity, by James M Cain
2: A Love Letter Christmas, by Sue Moorcroft
3: C Is For Corpse, by Sue Grafton
4: Looking For Rachel Wallace, by Robert B Parker
5: It's My Life, by Robert Leeson
6: When You Comin' Back, Range Rider?, by Charles Heath
7: D Is For Deadbeat, by Sue Grafton
8: Point Blank, by Richard Stark
9: The Deep, by Peter Benchley
10: Carnosaur, by Harry Adam Knight
11: Are You Awake?, by Claire McGowan
12: The Night Shift, by Alex Finlay
13: The Burning Girls, by C J Tudor
14: The IT Girl, by Ruth Ware
15: Nightfall, by John Farris
16: Faithless, by John L Williams
17: The Ideal Couple, by Anna Willett
18: Gila!, by Les Simons
19: The Guilty Couple, by C L Taylor
20: Video Night, by Adam Cesare


The Top 10 in non-fiction are:

1: INXS: Story To Story, by Anthony Bozza & INXS
2: Did I Ever Tell You This?, by Sam Neill
3: Dying Of Politeness, by Geena Davis
4 All About Me!, by Mel Brooks
5: We Could Be Heroes, by Paul Burston
6: The Making Of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, by Derek Taylor
7: Blondie, by Fred Shruers
8: England's Dreaming, by John Savage
9: Chasing The Light, by Oliver Stone
10: The Director Should Have Shot You, by Alan Dean Foster


Stats wise, I've read 89 books - 40 fiction, 28 non-fiction, 14 comics/nostalgia/kids and 7 Three Investigator mysteries.

Of the 82 books, the breakdown is thus:

12 biography
10 horror
16 film-related
4 drama (includes romance)
27 crime/mystery
4 sci-fi
0 nostalgia
9 humour

All of my reviews are posted up at Goodreads here

In case you’re interested, the previous awards are linked to from here:


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Monday, 13 November 2023

The Ideal Couple, by Anna Willett

I am pleased to be part of the blog tour for Anna Willett's new novel from The Book Folks, The ideal Couple.

When detectives try to close a missing persons case, a small town’s twisted secrets begin to unravel…

A couple disappear in a region of the outback known for its gold mining. Some three years on, there is still no trace of them.

Detective Veronika Pope is handed the cold case. It’s cold only in name. When she turns up to the godforsaken town where the couple were last seen, the heat is sweltering; suspicion simmering.

The detectives stay in the same seedy hotel as the couple did. The townsfolk aren’t welcoming. Nobody wants the cops probing into their affairs.

From what Pope can gather, the missing duo were the perfect couple. Loving. Happy together. The picture of marital bliss.

Assuming a murder but missing a motive, the detectives do make progress. They might even find the bodies, as the trail is hot. Almost too hot to touch.

Pope is in serious danger of getting burned…

* * *
My review:
Veronica Pope runs a cold case squad out of Perth and is called in, with her partner Jim, to investigate the disappearance of an apparently loving couple three years ago in the small outback town of Iron Creek. The red-dust coated ten streets are home to a hotel, a garage, a museum and a handful of people waiting for life to pass them by. The rest of Pope’s team are back at base, investigating the missing couple’s blended family and in-laws.

This is the fourth book in the Pope series but the first I’ve read and, apart from a couple of mentions of previous cases and a tease of her past that looks like it will be resolved in book 5, it’s a solid standalone that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Iron Creek literally comes to life, you can almost feel the heat and the oppressive dust and feel the knocks the townsfolk are taking. The characterisation is smart and brisk, giving us a life-story in a paragraph sometimes and leaving the reader to figure things out the next. The case itself is well plotted and constructed - it took me a while to get the main villain - and there’s plenty of grubbiness amongst the sweat to keep the attention as the pace crackles.

An excellent read which I would highly recommend and now I’m going to dive into the earlier cases! 

* * *

* * *
Anna Willett was born in the United Kingdom and emigrated to Australia with her family when she was six years old. She developed a love of reading thanks to her mother who introduced her to authors such as Stephen King, Mario Puzo and John Steinbeck to name just a few.

Although her reading tastes are eclectic, when it comes to writing, Anna is drawn to thrillers and dark tales. Anna writes about the shadowy side of the human experience and how ordinary people cope in extraordinary situations. Common tropes in Anna’s writing include people who get into trouble after they leave the safety of the city and the rupturing of domestic bubbles in which those who one is supposed to trust become a threat.

Anna lives in Western Australia with her husband and their two children. When she’s not writing or reading, she enjoy movies, dining out and bushwalking with her dogs.


THE IDEAL COUPLE is the fourth title in the Cold Case Mysteries series featuring Veronika Pope and the full list of books is as follows:

1. THE WOMAN BEHIND HER
2. THE FAMILY MAN
3. THE NEWLYWED
4. THE IDEAL COUPLE

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Monday, 17 July 2023

The Piper's Children, by Iain Henn

I am pleased to be part of the blog tour for Iain Henn's new novel from The Book Folks, The Piper's Children.
A baffling mystery sets an FBI agent on a dangerous path...

Park rangers are puzzled when a child is found wandering alone in the middle of a forest near Seattle.

Stranger still, he speaks a peculiar language that sounds a little like German, and is dressed in clothes people wore in the Middle Ages.

With no one having reported him missing, FBI Special Agent Will McCord assembles a dedicated unit to investigate the case, placing Detective Ilona Farris at its head.

Their relationship is edgy. They used to be an item. But McCord knows Farris is the best person for the job. Especially when more children turn up in similar circumstances.

Farris isn’t convinced that she is in fact the right person. Memories of a traumatic incident in her own childhood begin to emerge, and threaten to cloud her judgement.

Can she bury her demons and solve the mystery of these children, seemingly lost in time?

* * *
My review:

Starting with a bang - and a touch of surrealism - Henn hits the ground running and puts us straight into the story. Ilona Farris is drafted into a newly set up FBI team, headed by her ex-lover, when a boy is found in a Seattle forest speaking German and apparently on the run from the Pied Piper. 

Things get a lot weirder from that point on, but the pacing and structure keep you completely on board at all times. Peopled with believable characters - the best of which is Farris herself, sporting both a secret and a terrifying experience from her childhood that will help the investigation - and a keen sense of location, this works perfectly and is never less than readable. 

Red herrings abound, there’s a lot of suspense and weirdness as well as a plot that makes perfect sense once you discover all the details. I thoroughly enjoyed this and look forward to more stories about the team. Very highly recommended.

* * *
Born in Sydney, Australia, Iain Henn worked for many years in print media production for newspapers, magazines, and direct marketing agencies, and as a writer for small business websites.

He has written fiction from a young age. Somewhere in his house, there is still a framed copy of his first published story, a ‘5-minute fiction’ tale in Woman’s Day. Since then, he has never looked back, having short stories published in various magazines worldwide, and now his suspenseful thrillers and mysteries. 

Commenting on what influenced his writing journey, he describes a moment that has stayed with him. On his first day in his first job, as a teenage messenger boy, he left the office via a back exit into a narrow alleyway where he saw the body of a man crumpled on the ground. He had just jumped out of a window from the neighbouring building. The paramedics were already approaching. When Iain returned an hour or so later, the body and the surrounding activity were gone, there was just a chalk outline on the ground where the body had been. Ever since he has wondered who that man was, what led him to suicide, and what his future might have been had he lived. Decades later, that chalk outline is often on the writer’s mind when telling the stories of his characters’ lives.

Authors who have inspired Iain include Daphne Du Maurier, Ken Follett, Michael Crichton, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Robotham, and Harlen Coben. He lives on the New South Wales coast with his wife.

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Monday, 29 May 2023

An Italian Island Summer, by Sue Moorcroft

Regular readers of the blog will know I've been friends with Sue Moorcroft since we first met at the Kettering Writers Group in 1999 (we genre writers were consigned to the back of the room, where we had a great laugh).  Since then she's gone from strength to strength, hitting number one in the Kindle Bestseller charts (with The Christmas Promise) on her way to becoming a Sunday Times Best Seller, while her novel A Summer To Remember won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award 2020.  As well as featuring her a lot on blog (to see more, click this link), I'm also pleased to be one of her beta-readers and thoroughly enjoyed her latest novel, An Italian Island Summer, which has just been published in paperback and e-book.

Will one summer in Sicily change her life for ever?

After her marriage falls apart, Ursula Quinn is offered the chance to spend the summer working at a hotel on a beautiful island off the coast of Sicily, Italy. Excited by a new adventure, she sets off at once.

At Residenza dei Tringali, Ursula receives a warm welcome from everyone except Alfio, son of the Tringali family. He gave up his life in Barcelona to help his mother Agata with the ailing business, and is frustrated with Ursula’s interference – and she in turn is less than impressed with his attitude. As they spend more time together, though, they begin to see each other in a different light.

But what with Ursula’s ex-husband on her tail, family secrets surfacing and an unexpected offer that makes Alfio question his whole life, there’s plenty to distract them from one another. Can she face her past and he his future, and together make the most of their Sicilian summer?

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A new book by Sue is always welcome and this time we see the return of a character, Ursula, who played a role in one of her earlier novels. As always, there are plenty of twists and turns as we follow the story of Alfio and Ursula and part of the fun is watching the blocks put into their path and how they might get around.

Told with Sue's usual sure-hand skill, the book moves at a good pace and is filled with characters who burst into life from the page. Family life, in all its forms, is well represented, there's a lovely and lovable cat and the antagonists are realistically horrible. With a well realised - and used - central location, a lovely atmosphere that is well maintained and some great writing, this is another winner!
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Buy the book from Amazon here

UK here
USA here


Sue Moorcroft is an international bestselling author and has reached the #1 spot on Kindle UK. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award and the Katie Fforde Bursary. Published by HarperCollins in the UK, US and Canada and by other publishers around the world.

Her short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world.

Born into an army family in Germany, Sue spent much of her childhood in Cyprus and Malta but settled in Northamptonshire at the age of ten. An avid reader, she also loves Formula 1, travel, family and friends, dance exercise and yoga.

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