#FridayReads If You Like #Mystery #Thriller Books You Might Like These…

If You Like #Mystery #Thriller Books then I can recommend these books…

22072877Wildlife photographer Gunnar Wolfe looked like the kind of guy every man wanted to be and every woman just plain wanted, and the St. Johns River of central Florida drew him like a magnet. EcoTour boat owner Maggie Devlin knew all the river’s secrets, including the deadliest ones found in the swamps. But neither Maggie nor Gunn was prepared for the danger that would come after them on two legs.
On a quest to make history photographing the rarest birds of them all, Gunnar hires the fiery, no-nonsense Maggie to canoe him into the most remote wetland areas in the state. He was unprepared for how much he would enjoy both the trips and Maggie’s company. He soon realizes he wants more than she’s prepared to give, but before he can win her over, they make a grisly discovery that changes everything, and turns the quiet little town of Riverbend upside down. A serial killer is on the prowl among them. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

 

22051845New York, present day, alternate reality. Karen Brown, angry and frightened after a kidnap attempt, has a choice – being eliminated by government enforcer Jeffery Renschman or fleeing to mysterious Roma Nova, her dead mother’s homeland in Europe.

Founded sixteen centuries ago by Roman exiles and ruled by women, Roma Nova gives Karen safety, at a price, and a ready-made family. Just as she’s finding her feet, a shocking discovery about her new lover, special forces officer Conrad Tellus, isolates her.

But the enforcer has crossed to Europe to pursue her. Unable to rely on anybody else, she undergoes intensive training, develops fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. But crazy with bitterness at his past failures, Renschman sets a trap for her, knowing she has no choice but to spring it…Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

28931623For fans of Child 44 and The Lives of Others, this gripping novel pits an unforgettable heroine against an unforgivable past.

Signs of an agonisingly slow death, pools of blood, hands desperately searching for a hold. Judith Kepler has seen it all.

She is a crime scene specialist. She turns crime scenes back into habitable spaces. She is a cleaner.

It is at the home of a woman who has been brutally murdered that she is suddenly confronted with her own past. The murder victim knew Judith’s secret: as a child she was sent to an orphanage under mysterious circumstances – parentage unknown. And the East German secret police were always there, in the background.

When Judith begins to ask questions, she becomes the target of some powerful enemies. And nothing will ever be the same again. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

20739469Soccer mom Yvette Palmer lives an ordinary life in San Antonio, Texas when a box is delivered to her by mistake, and in taking it to its rightful owner—a crotchety neighbor named Mona who shares her back fence—is drawn into a strange and haunting tale.

Mona’s ratty robe, mood swings, and secretive behavior all raise red flags, and Yvette is sure someone else is living there despit Mona’s claim to live alone, but Yvette is unable to break away as she listens to how Mona transformed from a young college woman about to be married to the odd, reclusive, ghost of a woman she is now.

As Yvette listens to her neighbor’s tale, she discovers a shocking connection, but doesn’t know whether Mona’s come to help or to harm her and her family. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

22130087Ekaterina Romanova, the estranged wife of Russia’s wealthiest oligarch Konstantin Gravchenko, asks Scott Mitchell, an idealistic young English human rights lawyer who is being intimidated by the authorities, to find the father she’s never met. She believes he’s been languishing for decades without trial in the Gulag system. Meanwhile, General Pravda of military intelligence, though an advocate of transparency, is determined to protect a covert operation that he’s been running for years. General Pravda hinders Ekaterina and Scott at every turn and lawyer and client are forced to go on the run for a murder they didn’t commit. As they descend into the Hades that is the world of international realpolitik Scott is compelled to reconsider his own values, and Pravda’s life’s work disintegrates, when Scott uncovers a 50 year-old Cold War secret, which both the Russian and US governments are still trying to hide from the public domain. ‘Moscow Bound’ is the first book in The Puppet Meisters trilogy, dealing with state abuse of power. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

27275817Who would believe the words of a bird brain, anyway? When Camille inherits Simon, an African grey parrot from her deceased neighbor, she sees the challenge of owning such a noisy, spoiled pet. But when the music plays, and Simon starts to replay a violent scene in the voice of his former owner, Camille begins to realize that she has inherited more than she bargained for. Could a bird really recall the last moments of his owner’s life? And stranger yet, could he really be repeating a death scene that he witnessed? Camille’s best friend, Leo, has his doubts, and after the disappearance of Camille’s sister, he wonders if her tragic past is coming back to haunt her and she is finally breaking down. But she has no one else to go to, no one besides the questionable other neighbor who might well have been involved with the murder victim. It’s a question of a bird’s word against the truth and a race to find out what it all means.   Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Introducing the most lovable, pratfall-prone female sleuth in recent memory, this first novel in the Garnet Sullivan Live from Florida series will leave the reader in stitches and begging for more. Marlin, Darlin’ debuts the engaging, redoubtable and often annoying (to her colleagues and friends) small town journalist, the foxy Garnet Sullivan. A murky murder during a marlin fishing tournament forms the basis for this sizzling, uproarious mystery set in contemporary, steamy east coast Florida, featuring the unsinkable freelance reporter, snoop and trouble-maker, Garnet Sullivan, and a host of her bizarre, colorful friends.

A Gordian knot of a plot fairly gallops along from page one to the final page and will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat until the novel’s last words. Saturated with today’s most authentic Florida ambience and whackos, Marlin, Darlin’ is sure to delight the most cerebral mystery buffs as well as fans of romantic comedy–and dog lovers too! The novel is propelled by laugh out loud characters, scenes and situations reminiscent of Carl Hiassen and Dave Barry, but with more lipstick and purses. Fully imagined and drawn from life characters hook the reader from the book’s first sentences and the story seems to vault inevitably from who these characters are–nutty and flamboyantly so, but completely convincing, and whose native habitat could only be Florida. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

 

23396437After being made redundant from a seemingly secure job Jolene Carr takes a two week break in the sun. On the first day she meets Raquel, another hotel guest. Little does she realise how this apparently innocent acquaintance will lead to terrible and lasting consequences. After a frightening incident she hits a conspiracy of silence from the locals and over the rest of the holiday she feels herself slipping into a vortex of fear. Back home, the nightmare continues and she realises that Raquel is stalking her. Her hippie mother and her partner Mark tell her she is imagining it all. All certainties, even about relationships, become fluid and treacherous as her past begins to unravel. If it wasn’t for Rob, her ex-lover who Jolene thinks has his own agenda, she would be left to cope on her own.
How much fear and betrayal can one person take? Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Lori Powers loved being a flight attendant because life at home was a constant nightmare of physical and mental abuse. But her own trauma paled in comparison to her husband’s sexual abuse of their only child. Emily’s suicide note blamed Lori for failing to protect her. Overwhelmed by guilt, Lori sought justice for her Emily. When she heard the voices, she murdered domineering, abusive men whose misfortune brought them across her path.
The murder of Dr. Thaddeus Abrams, the precinct’s psychiatrist brought FBI profiler Mika Scott back to the precinct she began as a homicide detective and also face to face with her past partner and lover Detective Jake Roberts. Together they search for the killer. Michael Gates, Abrams’ lover, wanted to punish Lori. It cost Chief of Detectives Ed Fairchild his life. Airline captain Nick Parker had an insatiable, deviant sexual appetite. Things went desperately wrong when young flight attendant Megan joined him on a layover. Lori was part of the crew. When she met Parker, she heard Emily cry out from the grave. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

January 2015 Issues of Fleet Life & EHD book reviews

Here are the books which made it to the January Issues of the magazines that I write reviews for.

Between them they have around 8000 paper copies and unlimited on-line access.

Fleet Life http://www.fleetlife.org.uk, go to the on-line directory, load the document and turn to page 12 for this months reviews of;

Jan FL

Moscow Bound by Adrian Churchward

Inkker Hauser Part 1 Rum Hijack by Phil Conquest

Touched To The Heart by Elsa Winckler

Degrees Of Losing by Shan Purcell

and Cinema Lumiere by Hattie Holden Edmonds.

Jan Book reviews

Elvetham Heath Directory. http://www.ehd.org.uk. Click on the online directory, load and find my reviews on page 8 this month.

Jan EHD

A Place In The World by Cinda Mackinnon

Flirting With Love by Melissa Foster

Ryan’s Legend by L.F. Young

We That Are Left by Juliet Greenwood

Desprite Measures by Deborah Jay

Jan EHD book reviews

Good Deeds Challenge, Year 2 Week 30

Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year, now I am into my second year.

New Good DeedsThis week I’ve been doing the following;

November 9th – Day 9 on the Mystery Book tour and it was Mike Martin’s turn with his book The Body on the T http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5N9

Have finished reading 3 books this weekend and been writing reviews and drafting posts. Good deeds received: Have been sent an Amazon gift voucher, now what should I spend it on?

November 10th – My morning at school, then picking up bags of potatoes for myself and a friend from the farm I work for (yay, no more supermarket spuds for a few months) Day 10 on the Mystery Book Tour and it’s Marlin, Darlin’ from Margaret Langstaff http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Ts

November 11th – Day 11 on the Mystery book Tour and it the turn of Jan Ryder and her book Blood Pool http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Q0

November 12th – Had a new carpet fitted to one of our rooms today, made the fitters hot drinks. Day 12 of the tour and we met Jane Isaac and her book The Truth Will Out. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Rz

November 13th – A busy day today, I had coffee with fellow author Alison Williams and we had a long chat about all things bookish. Our November mystery writer today was Maria Savva and her book The Dream. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5QY

November 14th – Today we met Adrian Churchward and his book Moscow Bound on the mystery tour. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Oh

Picked up litter on my way back from the post box.

November 15th – It’s the turn of Patrick Brigham and his mystery Abduction: An Angel Over Rimini. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Nd

Moscow Bound By Adrian Churchward

Moscow BoundMoscow Bound by Adrian Churchward

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Moscow bound is a mystery set in and around Moscow in 2013. It begins with a murder of a lone man. The rest of the tale is spread over a time period of just over a week, filled with plenty of action. We meet Scott Mitchell, a human rights lawyer who has just won a case in the European courts against the Russian military.

Scott bravely returns to Moscow where he works, but he’s upset a powerful enemy and his return to Russia is not an easy one. The publicity he has gained sends a new client to him. Ekaterina Romanova is searching for her father who has been held captive without trial for many years. She only has one thread of a trail to start their search but when they get caught on camera at the scene of a crime more than one set of people want to know more about them.

Is Ekaterina telling Scott the truth? What is she not telling him? Why is General Pravda interested in their search and just who can you trust in a country which often shoots first and asks questions later? As the Russian people embrace some of their newer freedom, the old men who ruled with iron fists are dying off, but fighting within still exists and will anyone in Russia ever learn to trust again? There are many twists and turns in the book which kept me glued to the pages to find out just who or what is drawn Moscow Bound.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

Find out more about Adrian and his book in this post from our Mystery November book tour. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Oh

Mystery Tour Day 14 #MysteryNovember Moscow Bound by Adrian Churchward

November Mystery Tour

Today’s guest and book on the Mystery Book Tour is Moscow Bound by Adrian Churchward.

22130087

Where is your home town?

London UK. My apartment overlooks the River Thames, with the O2 Arena in the near distance.

How long have you been writing?

On and off for 15 years

What is your favourite sub-genre of mystery?

I am concerned with the ever-growing abuses of power committed by politicians and the “power elite”, so I am trying to reveal the extent to which these people will go to pursue their agendas – lawful or unlawful. Scott Mitchell, my fictionalised idealistic human rights lawyer, is the messenger.

Where is Moscow Bound set?

Primarily in Moscow, but with scenes in Suzdal (about 220km north east of the capital) and Sarov/Arzamas (about 515km east of the capital)

Can you introduce us to Ekaterina Romanova?

Ekaterina is the beautiful 30-something estranged wife of Russia’s richest oligarch, who is 25+ years her senior. But she is no “trophy bimbo”. She has two economics degrees, is ice cool, assertive and doesn’t tolerate fools.

Tell us about the character of General Pravda

General Pravda of Russian military intelligence (GRU) is fiercely devoted to his Motherland, though he realises that things must change in the way Russia treats its people, if it is to become a transparent and more civilised society.

Can you tempt us with hints at what Ekaterina and Scott must run from?

I don’t want to spoil it for new readers, but the pair discover a brutally murdered body while searching for Ekaterina’s father. Scott is convinced that they will be arrested for the crime, so they decide to get out of Moscow for a while.

Scott is a human rights lawyer, why do his beliefs change during his search for Ekaterina’s father?

He is idealistic, just turned 30 and believes that most issues are “black and white”; especially after winning his Strasburg Court case against the Russian government for Chechen war crimes. However, his adventures with Ekaterina and General Pravda persuade him that geopolitical matters aren’t so clear cut after all, and even the people he seeks to protect may not share his views on human rights.

Tell us what you are working on at the moment.

Apart from working “25” hours a day trying to promote Moscow Bound, I am writing the second novel of the Puppet Meisters Trilogy. It brings Scott back to London and immerses him in even more Machiavellian dealings by our Puppet Meisters than he was subjected to in Russia. Again, it is fact mixed with fiction.

Where can readers find out more about you?

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My social media links are as follows;

www.adrianchurchward.com

www.facebook.com/puppetmeisters1

https://twitter.com/abchurchward

www.facebook.com/adrianchurchward

You can find reviews on:

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22130087-moscow-bound

http://www.madhatterreviews.co.uk/books–e-books.html

http://nblo.gs/106jjz (Book Reader’s Heaven)

Readers can catch up with my own review of Moscow Bound here on the blog tomorrow.

Good Deeds Challenge Year 2, Week 28

Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year, now I an into my second year.

New Good DeedsThis week I’ve been doing the following;

October 26th – Posted a guest author piece for new author Mark Giglio. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5UF Spent all day getting lost in Moscow Bound by Adrian Churchward a mystery set in Moscow and very good.

October 27th – Posted my review of Moscow Bound and began reading Restless Spirits by Kathy Bryson

October 28th – Driving test day today for my eldest, so we were all on tender hooks, bought flowers for her instructor praying for a pass. Yay she did it! Fab book review today with a great picture gallery of Back Packs and Bra Straps, Savannah Grace’s second book about her family backpacking around some beautiful and eye-opening parts of the world. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Qu

October 29th – Walked into town and picked up litter on both legs of my journey.

October 30th – There are big celebrations of the war veterans this year with the anniversary of the start of WWI. The annual Poppy appeal is getting extra support and I bought my own poppy today and gave to the poppy appeal charity.

October 31st – Cleared leaves from a shared pathway and spent a little time out in the warm autumn afternoon. Gearing up for the start of the mystery November book tour tomorrow.

November 1st – Mystery November is off with Joanne Phillips and her book Murder at the Maples. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5OZ We have this awesome imaginary tour bus covered in my orange roses going all over the world each day to pick up the tour authors. Overnight Saturday I magically drove from the UK to Texas making sure I didn’t fall asleep and end up on the Grand Prix race track in Austin. The bus is picking up Della Connor for Sunday’s book Spirit Warriors: The Scarring.