Mystery Book Tour Day 15 #MysteryNovember Abduction: An Angel Over Rimini by Patrick Brigham

Please welcome Patrick Brigham to the Mystery November Tour with his book Abduction: An Angel Over Rimini

Where is your hometown?

I was borne on a small farm near Reading in Berkshire UK. My mother was a widow and she brought up her two unruly children single handed with the aid of a small market garden, loads of chicken, ducks and a nanny goat.

How long have you been writing?

I was given the unenviable task of editing my college magazine, which I discovered was quite compelling and from there onwards whenever anyone wanted me to write anything, I did so with relish. Although, it did not become a serious option until the late 80s, when unemployment reared its ugly head and I had more time on my hands.

What is your favorite sub-genre of mystery?

I like a little romance with my crime and in Abduction: An Angel over Rimini, DCI Mike Lambert, having experienced the indignities of an acrimonious divorce, he meets Countess Beatrix in Italy, who he believes might be a future companion. Whilst he is in Italy, he also finds out about his own father’s wartime exploits in Italy and a skeleton in the cupboard. What kind of sub-genre would you call that?

Where is Abduction: An Angel Over Rimini set?

In Italy on the Adriatic coast. Most of my stories involve travelling, and this is no exception and DCI Lambert – recently appointed to Europol the pan European police force – goes to Rimini to reopen a case involving the kidnapping of a little English girl called Penelope Scratchford.

Who has been abducted?

Penelope has disappeared from a smart Italian campsite, under the noses of her parents, who left to the whims of the Italian Civil Police – who point the finger of blame at her parents – are accused of murder.

Introduce us to Detective Chief Inspector Mike Lambert

DCI Mike Lambert is a thoughtful old school detective who previously was a senior British Army officer. On retirement from the army, he has worked his way up through the ranks of the London Metropolitan Police force and is a senior detective with Thames Valley Police in Reading. Having become disenchanted with his job in Reading – mainly due to to his divorce – he is seconded to Europol. They are established in the Hague of Holland.

Where else in Europe does the mystery trail lead our Chief Inspector?

The trail leads him into Greece, where he discovers organized people trafficking and illegal immigration across the River Evros from Turkey to Greece and also Bulgaria. With the help of certain members of the Orthodox Church in Greece and the Greek border police in Orestiada he finds new clues, which lead him to a crooked lawyer in Sofia.

Tell us about Europol and its differences from other agencies.

Europol is the unsung hero of the EU, serves all the national, European police forces, pays for and provides additional policemen to fight international crime and rarely takes any credit for it.

Tell us what you are working on at the moment.

I am working very hard at promoting the three books which I have written during the last eighteen months. My first book was about useless diplomats plus a murder, the second was about arms dealing, plus a murder and my third book is about child abduction and a murder. I thought it was about time that someone tried to murder DCI Mike Lambert himself – for a change – but I wonder why, and who it might be?

Where can readers find out more about you?

All my information is on my website www.patrickbrigham.co.uk in which you can also find information about my Twitter, Facebook and Blog accounts

Abduction: An Angel Over Rimini, find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Sweet Melissa by Cynthia Harrison

Sweet Melissa by Cynthia Harrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read Sweet Melissa straight after Gypsy, the first book in this Traveling Girls series. I really enjoyed the first book and was equally thrilled with the second, reading it all in just one night.

Melissa is aged 16 years old, she lives in West Port, Washington. Her best friend Popcorn persuades her to take off on a reckless adventure. Melissa agrees hoping her wildness will attract Popcorn’s older brother David, lead guitar player in an up and coming band.

The two girls hitch to Colorado Springs lurching between danger and safety with the rides they accept. When they finally arrive a Jeff’s place it’s not the homely welcome Melissa had hoped for.

In West Port, Natalia’s Romany gifts take her to Paradise Fields. It’s a place across the veil where she is contacted by her Spirit Guides. It has fields, oceans and mountains where the spirits dwell. Aunt Fadelty has died and contacts Natalia asking her to find the person who murdered her. A dark entity known as The Dark Initiate. He tried to hitch a ride to Paradise Fields with Fadelty’s spirit when she died. He’s dangerous and he’ll try again.

When Melissa and Popcorn are reported missing, Natalia’s Dad, Detective Haywood is given the case. He’s a Rom cop who prefers traditional police methods to crack a case, but does allow his own Romany gifts to help when necessary. When Natalia becomes Melissa’s guide to keep her safe Natalia’s Dad’s not happy. When the runaways split, disaster happens. The need to track down a murderer brings Natalia and her Dad together, but Natalia’s parents must work together and be the ones to finally stop the evil force.

This book was just as good as the first, there are lots of twists and turns which had me pointing my finger at several suspects then changing my mind. I love the role of the spirit guides and the whole idea of Paradise fields. A really great series.

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

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

The Devil’s Eye by Dawn Brown

The Devil’s Eye by Dawn Brown

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Brynn James arrives on the Island of Angelsey off the coast of North Wales, she has come to find out about a family she only recently discovered. Invited by her half sister it’s a cold welcome she gets from the staff and her own father.

Stonecliff House is dark and imposing with secrets that send a shiver down your spine. A sinister shadow comes into Brynn’s room at night and there is an evil force in the grounds of the house.

Detective Harding is desperate to pin murders and missing people on to Brynn’s half sister Eleri. Certainly the pile of evidence points in her direction. He’s even planted a spy in the form of Reece Conway on to the scene to catch Eleri in the act.

In good Harlequin style passion between the characters ignites while a culprit emerges with shocking evidence. There will be more to this tale in the next book, The Witch of Stonecliff.

I read this book originally as part of The Shivers boxset, it is now available as a single purchase.

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

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

Murder at the Maples by Joanne Phillips

Murder at the Maples by Joanne Phillips

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a fun book, not a heavy murder mystery, but one written around a retirement home. I do enjoy books which include the older generation they are full of wit and wisdom which the younger generation have yet to experience. In this book young Flora owns a removal business which has the contract to move people into the retirement facility. Flora makes friends with the residents and finds herself embroiled in accusations against the staff and the mysterious Mr Felix. Flora’s friend Joy believes all residents who get moved to the special care unit, don’t last longer than three months after the move, and she thinks Mr Felix is capable of murder. Stretched between an ailing business, dog-sitting and trying to calm Joy’s stress levels, Flora tries to unravel the real story behind Maples.

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

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Hostile Witness by Rebecca Forster

Hostile Witness by Rebecca Forster

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This a Californian Court Room drama. When Supreme Court Justice Fritz Rayburn is murdered people are shocked. When 16 year old Hannah Sheraton his Step-Grandaughter is arrested for his murder, no one knows what to believe.

Hannah’s mother Linda is desperate for help as her world starts to crumble apart. She locates an old school friend and begs her to come back from small, everyday, work as a lawyer to defend her daughter in this high profile case.

Josie Baylor-Bates had her fingers burnt a few years ago on a case and found sanctuary away from the big court cases, but Linda is an old friend and this case is about defending a child. Josie’s small town partner is not pleased about the upcoming publicity that the case will bring and the pair argue more than once.

The case is complicated, there are twists and turns as people go to extreme lengths to protect themselves. Hannah’s Step-father, Kip, gives evidence against her to protect his own career. Fingers point continually at Hannah. Motive, evidence and confession. But Josie won’t let it go even if it threatens to spin out of control. There is just something which makes Josie believe that Hannah is innocent.

This book is the first in a series and was a gripping read.

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

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Guest Authors Sean and Daniel Campbell

Today with have writing duo Sean and Daniel Campbell as our guests. They are the author’s of yesterday’s book Cleaver Square. Here is a link to the post if you missed it. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4p2

Let’s find out more about them.

Sean Campbell

1) Where is your home town?

We’re both from Portsmouth, which is a Naval city on the south coast of England. Sean’s been a Londoner on and off for all of his adult life, but Dan’s still in Portsmouth and is currently at the city’s Highbury Catering College (which includes culinary luminary Claire Smyth among it’s alumnus).

2) How long have you been writing as a duo?

We’ve been writing together since 2012, when we made a St Patrick’s Day bet that we could write a novel in 90 days or less. Dead on Demand, our first book, was the result.

3) Where did the title of the book “Cleaver Square” come from?

It’s a real place – with one of London’s finest pubs in it. There is no 36B, but we’ve otherwise been pretty faithful to reality. The square is a unique slice of London that is almost surreally quiet, with gorgeous townhouses and a huge green that is used for street parties and boules in the summer.

4) If this your first murder mystery?

We had several murders in Dead on Demand, but that was told from the point of view of the antagonist, who tries to plot the perfect murder (and comes pretty close to succeeding!). Cleaver Square is our first book that’s firmly in the ‘mystery’ bracket, but it also crosses into the suspense genre too.

5) What writing roles did you both take on?

Dan does some of the big picture stuff, but I get the research elements (so if you find an error in forensics or police procedure, that’s probably my fault).

6) How long did it take to research the material for the book?

It took a little while – we took nearly eighteen months over this on and off. I trained as a barrister so the legal side is dead easy, and I have a number of friends in the forces as well as some handy contacts in the world of forensics to annoy in the hopes of getting things right.

7) You’ve got some great characters in the book, mine were the Lovejoys purely because their name conjured up memories of a favourite TV series of mine. Which character was your favourite?

Probably Tina – she’s a bit of a tart, but she’s loveable with it. And who doesn’t like drinking/ board game mash-ups?

8) Which were the hardest parts of the story to write and why?

Charlie’s back-story – he’s had a rough time of it, and getting the timings/ age consistent with all the minor elements of the forensics, as well as making sure that little things like sunrise times stay consistent takes a lot of co-ordination. Thankfully, we had some excellent editors on board to catch our faux-pas.

9) Tell us about some of your other books

Dead on Demand is the most well-known – there are tens of thousands of copies out there in the readersphere, and we hope to reach a few more this year. We’ve also got a few non-fiction titles out, including one on the British Peerage system. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the ‘Become a Lord or Lady’ Christmas gifts, where you buy a square foot of land, and allegedly become a Lord, but they’re, at best, misleading. Laird is simply Scottish for ‘landowner’ rather than denoting a title. There are ways to become a Lord, but a square foot of mud probably doesn’t cut it.

10) Do you have ideas for another murder for Detective Chief Inspector Morton to investigate?

Absolutely – we’ve got an idea that we’re outlining at the moment that combines a dash of political intrigue with what we hope our most original murder method yet.

Dan Campbell

1) Where is your home town?

Portsmouth.

2) How long have you been writing as a duo?

Duo? I do all the hard work.

3) Where did the title of the book “Cleaver Square” come from?

Well, we thought about Knife Octagon for a while, but that’s just too multi-sided.

4) If this your first murder mystery?

I never killed nobody guvnor. Honest, I didn’t.

5) What writing roles did you both take on?

I wrote. I looked pretty. Sean provided the requisite age to get taken seriously (I was 16 when ‘we’ wrote Dead on Demand)

6) How long did it take to research the material for the book?

Sean did that. Or so he says. I think he just makes it up. He’s got that convincing look about him.

7) You’ve got some great characters in the book, mine were the Lovejoys purely because their name conjured up memories of a favourite TV series of mine. Which character was your favourite?

Bertram Ayala – he’s almost as vain as I am.

8) Which were the hardest parts of the story to write and why?

The middle is the worst. You’ve not got that “just started” motivation, and the end isn’t in sight yet.

9) Tell us about some of your other books.

I’m doing a couple of solo projects this year – watch out for The Utopia Project, an ‘End of the world’ story that comes out in December.

10) Do you have ideas for another murder for Detective Chief Inspector Morton to investigate?

Yes – can’t say exactly what just yet, but if you think an ice bullet is clever, this will blow your mind.

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

Cleaver Square by Sean and Daniel Campbell

Cleaver Square by Daniel Campbell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cleaver Square is a murder mystery / thriller set in and around London. It opens with a murder scene in Hackney Marshes on a cold January morning. A body is found by Robert Lyons, a member of the North London Metal Detectors. A post mortem reveals the body is of a young teenage boy, who has been in the ground for some weeks. A key item of evidence is a valuable watch found with the victim by the metal detector.

Whilst the murder investigation gets underway led by Detective Chief Inspector David Morton, the readers are introduced to Charlie Matthews a young lad who is being taken to a new foster home by his social worker. Charlie’s history is tragic, both parents died in a car crash, then a set of foster parents died in a house fire, he is being moved once again through the overloaded social care system.

With a murder case going no where and Morton working long unsocial hours his home life is shattered when he and his wife are the victims of fraud and all their bank accounts and savings are emptied and their credit cards compromised.

DNA testing of evidence lead the team to ask “Who is Charlie Matthews?” But they are no closer to answering the question when Detective Tina Vaughn goes missing whilst following her own line of enquires.

Finally a new detective finds a new angle and a window of opportunity for the murder crime is revealed. The Police can close in on the suspects, but which Police department will get there first?

This was a cleverly written book, which kept me interested the whole way through, I wanted to solve the crimes too. The book tackles some serious real life issues which are sad possibilities in todays world.

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

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Sean and Daniel are our guest authors on the blog tomorrow, so do come back and meet them.

The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning by Hallgrimur Helgason

The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning by Hallgrímur Helgason

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was immediately drawn to this book by it’s title. After checking out the book description, it still appealed to me. The idea of a Hitman getting stranded in Iceland, a land that has no army, no guns and a homicide rate of 1 maybe 2 a year struck me as very funny. Our Hitman goes by many names and occupations during the tale, I won’t spoil it for the reader by revealing these except my favourite, Toxic. Iceland a land of fresh bleak beauty, freezing temperatures, days of light or dark and very few people. With plenty of time to reflect his past and change his future the tale lives up to its name. Housecleaning takes place in unusual ways with the help of a mix of characters. I enjoyed the complicated Icelandic language which added humour to the piece, and I was in fits of laughter at the serious nature the whole country took when it came to watching The Eurovision Song Contest live on TV. The past finally catches up with the Hitman in several ways, and we are left guessing, will he settle down and call this land of ice home? Or will he ever make it back to his true home? It does contain strong language and adult content.
Find your copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Born in Death J.D. Robb ( Nora Roberts)

Born in Death by J.D. Robb

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m a big fan on all of Nora Robert’s books. Here she is writing as J.D Robb. Set in the 2060 Eve Dallas is a feisty Lieutenant in the NYPSD, thrown into a double murder investigation, Eve and her team must dig deep under the layers of a top accounting firm. Meanwhile Eve and her sexy Irish Husband have agreed to be birthing partners for her best friend Mavis. As the birth draws nearer, they attend prep classes and Eve must organise a baby shower. For Eve these matters are much more fearsome than finding the killer of her victims. On top of this Mavis has a friend who goes missing and she pressures Eve to run this second investigation alongside the first. The tension builds when a third body turns up and still Mavis’s missing friend doesn’t show. Running on little sleep and too much caffeine Eve finally finds a horrifying link between them all, will she be able to rescue Tandy in time?

Find a copy on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Beatrysel by Johnny Worthen

Beatrysel by Johnny Worthen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was given a copy of this book in return for a review. This genre is not one that I would normally read, however it is always good to challenge oneself. It is an extremely well written horror which includes the occult, sacrifice, murder and highly sophisticated magick. There is a mystery to solve and a very complex storyline unfolds before it can be solved. This book is not for the faint hearted and wouldn’t be suitable for everyone, however if you enjoy a horror story or have an interest in the occult then this book could be for you.

To get your own copy of this book, find it here on Amazon

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