The Fall Out

The Fall Out is a novel by D J Arthur.

Anita and Marilyn are an inseparable pair of women. Even though they have very different characters. 

Anita weds David and David's best friend, John, also falls for Marylin and they also marry. The lives of both couples become entwined.

John is a freelance writer and receives a surprise commission from an old friend to write for his firmly anti-EU publication The Swiftian.

He agrees to accept the job and begins to dig deep into matters regarding the EU.

However at the same time Anita receives a promotion to a full-time position in Brussels and David, which rather shocked everyone, is chosen as a Conservative Party candidate for Benfleet.

As John digs deeper and deeper into the EU the position that Anita has taken reveals itself as extremely Eurocentric. David must fight his party or his wife in order to remain true to himself.

However, Marylin has some secrets of her own that seem to be on the point of once again coming to the surface. Whilst the marriage of Anita and David seems to be heading to an unhappy conclusion.

What, exactly, will happen to the two couples?

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99. 

Stormfront

Stormfront is a new detective thriller from R. S. Sutton.

It features impecunious private detective Valerie Stone who owns a valuable old watch and a vintage jaguar.

She's already aware that she consumes far too many French cigarettes lives on a houseboat moored on the Thames. She has male admirers that she manages to keep at arms length.

A very lucrative insurance investigation job comes along which will keep her and her assistant Jane afloat for a while longer. Just have to pad the expenses out a bit, OK?

It was a simple job. Body found on the south coast. Just compile a report, take the insurance company's money and... things never go quite as smoothly as hoped.

Jane finds that a secretive, covert organisation also has an interest in the dead body and they blackmail her.

Some people will not say anything, other people are feeding misinformation to Jane and suddenly Valerie, Jane and others around her find themselves deep inside a storm. A very foul storm, indeed.

This is a good detective thriller, which also contains a good deal of pathos.

I hope we will read more novels featuring Valerie Stone and Jane in the future.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

Down in the Country

Down in the Country is a Carlow Valley Mystery.

It's another novel from James Bowring featuring his character ex-DI Clive Walsingham.

The perfectly normal life of a married couple is brought to an abrupt and upsetting end. Discovering the naked corpse of a woman murdered by strangulation in your garden will do that.

Acting Police Inspector Beauregard has never been in charge of a murder investigation and he struggles with the whole concept of why the woman was murdered and why she was left in that particular garden.

He seeks out the assistance of ex-detective inspector Clive Walsingham. Clive is now a hotelier in Carlow Valley, but when he receives the request to help Inspector Beauregard, he leaps at the opportunity. 

Intriguing facts of the history of the dead woman's past come to light and suspicion falls upon a local businessman who has a reputation for being less than scrupulous. 

But  Inspector Beauregard has to leave the case in abeyance as he is called upon to investigate the unexpected disappearance of Lord Westleigh's daughter. This leaves Clive continuing the investigation with the "support" of a Detective Constable who is somewhat abrasive. 

So, what happens? Why was the woman murdered? Why was she murdered? And who was the real killer?

And why does Clive get the feeling that his own life is now in danger? And what link is there to his own hotel?

This is another great detective thriller featuring ex-DI Clive Walsingham.

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99.

In the Silence Long-Forgotten Almond Trees Blossom

In the Silence Long-Forgotten Almond Trees Blossom David B P Mayne has written an interesting story set in the future. Not the far distant future, but the near future.

In the 1980s a geologist, Jack, working in Libya is jailed. Eventually Jack is released from jail by the daughter of rich Greek/Libyan parents, Bushra.

They have a decade-long affair which is fraught with problems. He is in a marriage from which love is totally absent and her political activism are just two of them.

Bushra gives birth to twins fathered by Jack. Against the wills of their parents the children are separated at birth. Emma leaves for London with Jack, Stravros is taken by Bushra's parents to Benghazi.

Moving into the 2020s, Russia sweeps through the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean and Greece.

The UN steps in to create two mandates in Libya. In the East is Cyrenaica, under Russian control. 

In the West is Tripolitania and Fezzan under the guidance of the EDA, the European Defence Alliance.

Other factors in the region cause instability including climate change and a growing refugee situation.

By 2031 Emma's daughter has joined the EDA. She is captured on the border and taken by force to Cyrenaica.

But who ordered her capture? And why?

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99.

No Man is an Island

In No Man is an Island by Joseph Hucknall we read the exciting historical novel sequel to The Boy In a Turban.

Set in London in the 1750s, James Cudlip, who was born of a plantation owner and a slave, he is adopted and taken to Britain by an English sea captain.

James is a talented musician and eventually he becomes a music teacher and he befriends the heir to the throne, who would become George 3rd.

However, he soon finds that the established court is hostile toward him and bears him animosity.

His personal life is fraught with problems and his attempts to seek personal fulfilment and to find love in his life are blighted by tragedy.

However, despite the machinations of some members of the court establishment, he has something that they cannot take away from him, Royal approval.

This gives James something to aspire to. But will this bring him everything he needs, everything he desires? 

It's a fascinating historical novel and is published by the Book Guild at £7.99.

False Truth

 

False Truth is a debut crime thriller from C. D. Steele.

Joe Wilde is a former MI6 agent who is now a private eye. 

He is contacted by Sally Devlin who is the mother of an up-and-coming football star, Liam Devlin.

Liam Devlin is missing and because his car has been found abandoned in Hackney at Lea Bridge, a know suicide blackspot, the authorities have declared him to be a victim of suicide.

However, his mother thinks otherwise and she is convinced her son is still alive and she tasks Joe Wilde to find him.

Together with retired MI6 data tech Mark Thompson Joe quickly discovers that Liam had a massive secret that he had been hiding. Or, at least one massive secret.

The police officer in charge of the case, D. I. Whatmore is not pleased that a private investigator is working on what he considers to be very much his case and warns him off.

Joe finds a lead that takes him to South America and then things become really very, very complicated indeed and the body count starts to rise. 

Can Joe keep himself safe and who, exactly, is involved and what is their true end game?

It's published by the Book Guild at £8.99 and I certainly hope there will be more crime thrillers featuring a new and totally believable British private investigator. 

Measure of Days

 

In Measure of Days The world is in the grips of a plague known as FED, or Flesh Eating Disease.

However, Deter Edison knows little or nothing about this. She has a privileged life and is a normal, ordinary young girl who leads a fairly ordinary life under the care of a guardian, Amery.

However, all this is brought to an abrupt end when Deter is subjected to a vicious and brutal abduction.

She finds herself suddenly living in a dystopian nightmare where she realises that she might have been betrayed by her guardian.

Her captors are scientists who believe that Deter has an exceedingly rare gene that they want to harvest. And they make it clear that nothing will stop them from taking it.

Deter discovers that she is caught up in a battle between her captors and government agencies. 

She is aware that she must escape to London and seek security and safety there. But how can she achieve this? And if she can achieve it, who can she trust? How can she remain at liberty and hidden from those who want to control her body and the gene it carries?

It's a novel with a great deal of soul and a little bit of science fiction. I can recommend it.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99.