📖 Blog Tour ~The Shadow on the Bridge by Clare Marchant

Boldwood Books
11 March 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
And to Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation to be part of the tour

You must forever watch your back,’ I spoke the words clearly, though he could not hear me. ‘Come what may, I shall avenge my brother’s death.’’

Now: When Sarah’s summoned by her godmother to remote Norfolk, she doesn’t want to go. Crossing the bridges where the two rivers meet, said to be haunted by the ghost of a little boy, a large Tudor house looms in front of her. And Sarah’s instantly reminded her of the summer when she last visited. The summer she would like to forget. Which left her unable to ever move forward… Can a person ever recover from the loss of a sibling?

1571: Anne Howard, newly-made countess of Arundel, has also lost a sibling. And been dragged from the relative safety of her home in remote Norfolk to London, by her overbearing, manipulative, new father-in-law Thomas Howard; the very person she suspects of killing her beloved only brother. The Howards have greater secrets than this though. Secrets that will lead Anne to a tragedy that will echo down the ages…

When Sarah finds a mysterious book of poems in a hidden chamber of her godmother’s house, she is drawn into Anne’s story. Perhaps the mystery will take her mind off her own loss? But – as the flood waters begin to rise under the bridges – is Sarah laying ghosts to rest, or bringing truths to the surface that should stay beneath?

📖My Review..

With her godmother’s health failing Sarah returns to Barnhamcross Hall in Norfolk where she spent part of her childhood. However, Sarah’s memories of the house are not happy ones and as we flit between the present day and 2004 we start to understand the sadness which she has carried within her for so long. Connnected by ancient memories we also learn the story of Anne Howard who also lived at Barnhamcross Hall in the 1500s and whose marriage, into the Howard family, is filled with sadness, intrigue and revenge.

There is a good sense of history and the author has obviously taken the time and care to make everything feel authentic especially as Anne Howard’s intriguing story is not a well known one. The dual time aspect is imaginatively done, with seamless transitions which bring both past and present to life. I enjoyed Sarah’s modern day story, her sadness is palpable, as is her need to put the trauma of the past behind her. Anne’s story is particularly intriguing especially her uneasy relationship with her father-in-law, and her need to seek vengeance for the death of her younger brother. Throughout it all, the house, with its mysterious shadows, very quickly, becomes another character in the story, especially as it gives up its secrets slowly.

The Shadow on the Bridge is a fascinating glimpse into the complex lives of two strong young women whose voices are very clearly heard throughout the whole of this intriguing dual time story.

 

About the Author

Clare Marchant is the author of dual timeline historical fiction. Her books have been translated into seven languages, and she is a USA Today bestseller. Clare spends her time writing and exploring local castles, or visiting the nearby coast.

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📖 Book Review ~ Pink Lane by Barbara Scott Emmett

Independently Published
14 January 2025

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

 Newcastle upon Tyne 1956

Cross-dressers are being murdered in the seedy Pink Lane area.

DI Michael Metcalf and his sidekick, DS Al Hughes, are stumped while rookie WPC Betty Morgan has ideas of her own. Her boss is a sexist slob, her mother’s a drunk, and Morgan is the lowest of the low.

When she faces the ultimate challenge, can Morgan prove she’s not just a ‘chit of a girl’?

Some of the characters from Dog Leap Stairs also appear in Pink Lane but both books are standalones and can be read independently.

*WARNING*The speech and attitudes of the characters in Pink Lane reflect those of the time in which the novel is set and not the author’s views. If you are over-sensitive to such things, please don’t read it.

📖My Review…

In Pink Lane we return to Newcastle in the 1950s which the author described so vividly in her previous book Dog Leap Stairs and whilst there is a slight crossover of characters this is very much a separate story but the actions, speech and behaviour of the characters still reflect a very different era which some readers may find difficult to absorb.

In the seedy area of Pink Lane there appears to be a vendetta against cross-dressers and when one victim is found violently murdered the local police have problems discovering who is responsible because as with any close knit community there is a pact of silence with secrets being kept and doors firmly closed.. Detective Inspector Michael Metcalf is in charge of the investigation who together with his DS Al Hughes and WPC Betty Morgan do whatever they can to find out who is responsible and as the deaths escalate so the investigation tightens its grip on the local community.

I thought Pink Lane was really interesting crime fiction and whilst the behaviour of all the characters is not what we consider acceptable today the story is very much of it’s time and the writing reflects this really well. The area around Pink Lane comes alive, from the seedy boarding house of ex-brothel keeper, Lily Frogmore, to the closed confines of a private drinking establishment and the belligerence of local rent collectors there is never a moment when the story doesn’t pull you in. It’s difficult now to imagine a time without computers or mobile phones but without these technological advances the detectives back in the 1950s very much had to rely on good old policing methods, walking the streets, speaking to locals and relying on gut instinct to lead them in the right direction.

Pink Lane is a fascinating and gritty crime novel which gets right into the heart of a community which holds its secrets close and where danger is never very far away. I hope that we get a chance to meet again with DI Metcalf, DS Hughes and WPC Morgan as these novels, such the author oblige, have the potential to develop into a fascinating historical crime series.

About the Author

After many years away, Barbara Scott Emmett is now back living in her home town of Newcastle upon Tyne. She has been writing for many years and has five novels, a book of short stories and a selection of quirky poetry to show for it. She lives in a house overlooking the river with her husband, the writer Jimmy Bain, and their cat, Kitty.

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📖 Blog Tour ~ The Book Seller by Valerie Keogh

Boldwood Books
3 March 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
and to Rachel's Random Resources for the invitation to the tour

A woman with a dark past...

Helen Appleby just wants a quiet life. Recently released from prison for the manslaughter of her partner, she's trying to forget her past mistakes – all of them - to rebuild her life and move on.

When she decides to open a bookshop, she’s certain this is the perfect new start. Here, amongst the quiet shelves of her shop and between the covers of her books, she can hide away from the real world and begin again. The world of books the perfect place to find happiness - even if it is all lies.

But the past can never stay hidden…

As she settles into life as an apparently timid bookseller, it seems that someone is determined to sabotage Helen's new life and ruin everything she's built.

But Helen has killed once before. And to protect her future, she could be willing to kill again...

📖  My Review ..

When Helen Appleby is released, on licence, from prison after serving just two years of her four year sentence for the manslaughter of her partner, she decides to fulfil a lifelong dream of opening a secondhand bookshop. However, despite Helen’s best efforts this dream starts to turn into a nightmare as it seems that there is someone out there who is desperate enough to sabotage all her plans.

The overall pace of the story was good, I enjoyed the slow and steady start and liked how the tension started to build especially when the unexpected starts to happen. I’m deliberately being vague as I don’t want to spoil things as this is definitely one of those clever thrillers where you don’t need to know too much before you start to read. I wasn’t sure that I liked Helen at first but I gradually started to warm to her character, sure she had her faults, and was a little gullible at times, but she was trying so hard and had so many worries that I really wanted everything to work out for her.

I raced through The Book Seller in just a couple of sittings as I really wanted to find out who would go to such lengths to hamper Helen’s dreams and with all the twists, turns and red herrings I genuinely didn’t see the ending coming. I closed the book with the satisfaction of having read another brilliantly crafted thriller by a talented writer whose stories just seem to get better and better.

About the Author

Valerie Keogh is the internationally bestselling author of several psychological thrillers and crime series, most recently published by Bloodhound. She originally comes from Dublin but now lives in Wiltshire and worked as a nurse for many years. Her first thriller for Boldwood was published in August 2022.

​

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📖 Blog Tour ~The Woman with All the Answers by Linda Green

Boldwood Books
February 2025

Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the invitation to the blog tour

Alexa knows your family better than you do. Now you're about to get to know her... 

Fifty-two-year-old Michelle Banks is struggling to keep all the plates spinning. She’s a perimenopausal district nurse, caring for elderly parents. Her husband is wasting their money on children’s TV memorabilia, her teenage daughter is riddled with anxiety and her sixteen-year-old son is behaving secretively.

Alexa is the only one who knows how much Michelle is juggling. Listening in via four smart speakers, she also knows that it’s about to get even worse.

So, when Michelle pleads for help from the woman with all the answers, Alexa decides to go rogue and reveal her true identity as Pauline – a sixty-five-year-old former voice-over artist from Halifax – to teach Michelle everything she knows…

📖 My Review..

They stand like silent sentinels in our living spaces, only speaking when spoken to, filling in the gaps in our knowledge with comprehensive answers to random questions, nonjudgmental and unquestioning but what if the Alexa in the corner of the room was a real person and not an AI controlled device.

This delightful family drama introduces us to Michelle, a harassed working mother, one of the sandwich generation, who is caring not just for her angst ridden teenagers and a husband who has lost his get up and go, but also for elderly parents who are struggling with failing health and an increasingly technological world. The Woman with All the Answers gives us the story not just from Michelle's point of view which is both troubled and funny but also that of Alexa, aka Pauline, a sixty- five year old woman from Halifax, who takes it upon herself to try and sort out Michelle’s chaotic life with far reaching consequences.

Warm hearted, funny and sad and filled with an assortment of relatable family issues I found that I could easily identify with Michelle and I’m sure that there are many women who have found themselves in similar circumstances, juggling the demands of modern life and losing sight of what’s really important. The Woman with all the Answers reminds us to be kind to ourselves and whilst we don’t have all the answers to life’s many problems, with a little bit of help we can navigate the ups and downs and  after meeting Pauline, I’m sure that I’ll never look at my Alexa in quite the same way again.

About the Author

Linda Green is the million copy Sunday Times bestselling author of eleven novels including The Last Thing She Told Me.

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📖 Book of My Month ~ The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey

Harper Collins
Hemlock Press
27 February 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book

 

On a small island off the coast of Scotland, an isolated community is grieving. Eighteen-year-old Alan Ferguson was found at the foot of the lighthouse – an apparent suicide.

DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to investigate. A raging storm keeps them trapped on the island for four days. And the locals don’t take kindly to mainlanders.

As George and Ritchie question the island’s inhabitants, they discover a village filled with superstition and shrouded in secrets.

But someone wants those secrets to stay buried. At any cost.

📖 My Review ..

DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to the remote island of Eilean Eadar, which lies off the coast of Scotland, in order to investigate the mysterious death of eighteen year old, Alan Ferguson. The arrival of the detectives is met with a mixture of excitement, distrust and downright malevolence from many of the islanders who resent any intrusion from the mainland. Whilst Alan Ferguson’s untimely death can be regarded as a tragic suicide, there are questions to be answered however, the islanders do not give up their secrets easily, and become more distrustful as the story progresses. 

There is a genuine air of tension which builds gradually and even the detectives start to feel the pressure of being cut off from everything. I took a while to warm to the detectives, especially Georgina (George) who carries the burden of a past trauma which affects her judgement and makes her rather unpredictable. The story is definitely creepy, with a genuine air of mystery, from the stark sentinel of the lighthouse, which lures above the island, to the turbulent sea and the ever present danger of being surrounded by people with secrets to hide.

Well written, imaginatively described, The Wolf Tree is a locked-room type mystery which builds the tension deliberately slowly, which mirrors the slow pace of life on the island where nothing is ever rushed. Eilean Eadar is a place of dark secrets and with twists and turns I didn’t seen coming, this is definitely a thrilling story which kept my attention from start to finish. I liked it so much I am delighted to make The Wolf Tree the Book of My Month in March.

About the Author

Laura McCluskey is a Melbourne-based writer, editor and actor. She created the production company Sibylline Films and co-founded Three Fates Theatre Company. The Wolf Tree is her first novel.

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