crime

The Mad Days of March

The Mad Days of March
Title: The Mad Days of March
ASIN: B092TQCTWP
Published: April 17, 2021
Author's Twitter: @PhilipCatshill
This is the daily diary of Terry March whose single act of kindness leads to a month of madness and mayhem. After helping an old guy dispose of a blood-stained carpet at the local tip, Terry rescues his old TV remote and while driving home, he uses it to zap phantom aliens! This leads him to an encounter with Police Sergeant Susan. His new resolution to be helpful leads to his first opportunity to be unfaithful to his wife of nineteen torturous years. A soon-to-be divorced Lauren offers her favours to thank Terry for his kindness, but Terry declines the invitation. Within days, another opportunity arises, and Terry can’t convince himself that those phantom aliens haven’t spirited him away to a parallel universe. Before that first week is over, Terry faces redundancy from his mundane job at the local council. In order to tackle the backlog of paperwork, the council employs a temporary typist, Ashley, who closely resembles Terry’s 19-year-old daughter, Megan. Terry’s wife, Brenda disappears and Carol, her twin sister moves in. When a body is found in his garden, Terry is arrested for murder and Carol adds to his torment by accusing him of rape! While in a police cell, Terry encounters further problems as Lauren’s police sergeant husband is the custody officer! But all is not lost! Police Sergeant Susan persuades Carol to withdraw the charge and mysteriously, that old guy from the tip makes a deathbed confession to the murder! But the mad days of March are not yet over. Ashley disappears. Terry’s daughter Megan suffers traumatic memories from her past. Lauren’s house is set ablaze, and a mysterious detective Dave is concerned that Megan too has disappeared! All this in a month of the Mad Days of March! Warning: Sexually explicit content. For adult reading only.

Assessed for Awesome Indies Book Awards

Blood-tied

Blood-tied
Title: Blood-tied
ASIN: B079T7M83J
Categories: ,
Publisher:
Published: February 13, 2018
Author's Twitter: @wendy_percival
A desperate crime, kept secret for 60 years. But time has a way of exposing the truth. And the repercussions are only just beginning. Esme Quentin is devastated when her sister Elizabeth is beaten unconscious, miles from her home. Two days later Esme discovers that Elizabeth has a secret past. Desperate for answers which the comatose Elizabeth cannot give, Esme enlists the help of her friend Lucy to discover the truth, unaware of the dangerous path she is treading. Together they uncover a trail of unresolved bitterness, blackmail and dubious inheritance and, as the truth emerges, Esme exposes evidence of a harrowing and pitiful crime. Realising too late the menace she has unwittingly unleashed, Esme is caught up in a terrifying ordeal. One that will not only test her courage and her sanity, but force her to confront her perception of birth and family.

Assessed 

 

And Justice for Some

And Justice for Some
Title: And Justice for Some
ASIN: B00MT6H8EY
Category:
Tag:
Publisher:
Published: September 16, 2014
Author's Twitter: @joannelessner
Actress Isobel Spice and her best friend Delphi Kramer are thrilled to finally have an opportunity to perform together, even if it’s just a cheesy interactive murder mystery at a judge’s lifetime achievement dinner. But when Isobel’s dramatic death scene is upstaged by a real murder and Delphi is left holding the still-smoking gun, Isobel drops the role of victim and assumes the role of detective.

Assessed for 

Murder in the Synagogue

Murder in the Synagogue
Title: Murder in the Synagogue
ASIN: B008GYVHX6
Categories: ,
Publisher:
Published: July 2, 2012
This true crime classic is a precise and harrowing account of the assassination of Rabbi Morris Adler by 23-year-old Richard Wishnetsky, a Phi Beta Kappa scholar at the University of Michigan and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow bound for the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. A troubled intellectual seeker, Wishnetsky knew Rabbi Adler one of the nation’s most prominent and venerated religious leaders, yet he settled on this learned and charismatic man as the appropriate target of his deepest rage.

Assessed 

The Obsession

The Obsession
Title: The Obsession
ASIN: B008H31AB0
Publisher:
The Obsession is a vibrant novel of suspense and murder, by turns intriguing and surprising, as three smart, driven people match wits with their lives at stake. When Stan, an American grad student falls for Lina, a lovely Italian scholar, his unrequited passion turns perverse. When he follows her from a mid-west college town to Bologna’s ancient streets, they are joined by John, Lina’s American lover and Stan’s mentor. Their love-lust triangle re-ignites, and they flee and chase down the storied Italian boot to a shocking conclusion on volcanic Mt. Etna.

Assessed 

The Car Bomb

The Car Bomb
Title: The Car Bomb
ASIN: B00CP5CD5I
Publisher:
Published: May 7, 2013
Detroit’s top TV anchor Frank DeFauw hunts down the story of a judge who may be corrupt—and is one of his best friends. Booze, drugs, womanizing and a passion for the news are all part of what makes this brilliant, erratic newsman a major player in this deeply troubled city. Finally, Frank is forced to decide if digging out the truth about his pal the judge is worth risking his own career, family and skin. With supple prose, brilliant dialogue, sharply-drawn characters and a surprising plot, this is a gripping tale of betrayal, murder and redemption.

Reviewed 

 

Bloodie Bones

Bloodie Bones
Title: Bloodie Bones
ASIN: B00XJTCLBA
Publisher:
Published: May 11, 2015
Author's Twitter: @LucienneWrite
In 1796 Bow Street Runner and amateur pugilist Dan Foster is sent to Somerset to infiltrate a poaching gang suspected of murdering Lord Oldfield’s gamekeeper, Josh Castle. Dan has walked into a volatile situation: the locals are up in arms against Lord Oldfield for enclosing Barcombe Forest and depriving them of their rights to gather fuel and food. Against a background of vandalism, arson and riot, Dan discovers that there were others with a grudge against Josh. However, Lord Oldfield orders him to arrest the poachers. When Dan learns that Josh had a claim to the Oldfield estate his suspicions focus on Lord Oldfield. Before he can confront him, rioters attack Oldfield Hall protesting against the arrests. During the fight, Dan finds himself at the mercy of the local doctor and realises that he and Josh were rivals in love. Dan narrowly escapes death and arrests the murderer: Doctor Russell.  

Assessed 

Generation

Generation
Title: Generation
ASIN: B01K90E99S
Author's Twitter: @_william_knight
A grotesque figure emerges from the sodden undergrowth; lost, lonely and starving it is mown down by a speeding car on the edge of a remote forest. Ghostly apparitions haunt a rural Northumberland community. A renowned forensic scientist is troubled by impossible results and unprecedented interference from an influential drug company. Hendrix ‘Aitch’ Harrison is a tech-phobic journalist who must link these events together. Normally side-lined to investigate UFOs and big-beast myths, but thrust into world of cynical corporate motivations, Hendrix is aided by a determined and ambitious entomologist. Together they delve into a grisly world of clinical trials and a viral treatment beyond imagining. In a game of escalating dangers, Aitch must battle more than his fear of technology to expose the macabre fate of the drugged victims donated to scientific research.

Assessed for Awesome Indies

Admission of Guilt

Admission of Guilt
Title: Admission of Guilt
ASIN: B00D5Z5J62
Publisher:
Published: June 2, 2013
A 12-year-old girl is the desperate focus of three men–John, a dedicated young teacher, Charlie, a small-time private detective, and Steven, a major narcotics importer. Their lives collide when John makes a shocking move to save his students from the city’s drug wars, Steven’s young daughter goes missing, and Charlie, hired to find her, confronts a moral dilemma that will change all their lives.

Assessed