The Mirror of Pharos

In The Mirror of Pharos J S Landor brings us the magical story of Jack Tideswell.

Jack's parents were a couple of natural born adventurers, always exploring something or somewhere.

Sadly they lost their lives in a dive that went horrifically wrong whilst they were exploring the submarine ruins of the ancient lighthouse of Pharos.

As a consequence and quite understandably, their son Jack eschews any adventurous inclinations.

However, one day Jack's life is completely turned upside down when he is visited by a messenger seagull which is bearing the gift of an unusual looking disc. Which is addressed personally to Jack. But even more curiously he immediately recognises the handwriting. For it was written by himself.

The fact that Jack has, somehow, delivered a message to himself plunges Jack into a whirlwind of an adventure with all kinds of weird, magical powers at play.

Can Jack learn how to navigate the flow of time? Can he rescue the one person who can help him understand and solve the mystery of the disc that he, apparently, sent to himself?

But there is someone, or something, that is looking ast Jack and watching his every move. But why? And was their motives good, or not?

This is an excellent fantasy novel and will please fans of that genre.

It's published by Matador at £7.99 and you can purchase it here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

The author has a website at www.jslandor.com.

Mist The Path of a Killer

Mist The Path of a Killer is the first part of a new crime series from author Jason Instrell.

It features Detective Inspector John Miste of the Leicestershire Police force.

He is deeply affected by the disappearance of his brother as a child and as a result he decided to join the police force.

As a result of his dedication and his hard work John rises through the ranks and is regarded as a competent and well-respected detective.

He becomes enmeshed in the hunt for a highly dangerous and prolific murderer who is known by the name The Wolf.

The Wolf always seems to be one step ahead of Miste and his dedicated team of police officers.

But why? And who is The Wolf? What are his motives for his murderous spree?

Can John Miste and his team cage The Wolf or will he continue to elude them?

This is an extremely taught and well-written and chilling novel which I can highly recommend.

It is published by The Book Guild at £7.99 and can be purchased here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

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You Must Be Jo King

This is a comic novel debut from author Moira Murphy.

It's about Joanne King who is recently divorced at age 39. Jo, as she is otherwise known, is well aware that she needs to make some changes in her life. And to this end she realises that she must set herself some goals.

Three goals! Yes, three goals should be more than enough.

The first goal is to ensure the future safety of her home and her furniture. Training her dog should achieve this.

Try not to be horrid about her husband's new woman, Fran. Well, especially in front of the children she shares with George, her ex-husband. And she hopes this will be for the sake of George, too.

Thirdly? Yes, her third goal is to get herself a new life all of her very own! And if his plan might include a little bit of some romance to lighten things up for her, so much the better!

However... however... her plans have to be bombproofed against the vagaries of her teenaged children, her mother who is 83 and also the puppy dog that was such a nice and thoughtful departing gift from George. And the thing was that the puppy was supposedly a present to the kids and not o!

Amidst all this internal, family-related chaos she has encounters with artists, a police officer (but not in a bad way!) and Nick King, who is a physiotherapist.

Plus there's the added and dubious pleasure of hostilities between Jo and her and the new love of her ex-husband George's life, his new 'soulmate', Fran.

But something seems to indicate that Jo will come out on top, ahead of the field, with Millie the dog in tow!

This is a gloriously written and very amusing book. It's fiction, but it's very, very truthful indeed!

It's published by The Book Guild at £7.99 and copies will be available here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

A Corner of My Heart

A Corner of My Heart is a debut novel from award winning playwright Mark Seaman.

Originally conceived as a play, the author took the decision to re-work it as a novel.

It tells the story of Mary. At under two months of age in 1949, she is adopted by a married couple,. James and Carol Rowland, who found Mary in a home for unmarried mothers.

Mary has a happy and fulfilled life with her adopted parents and she accepts with equimenity the fact that her birth mother, Ruth, gave her up for adoption.

However, when Mary is 28, and a mother in her own right, old, unasked questions come to the fore. Why was her mother unmarried? Why was Mary, apparently,  so easily given up for adoption?

The focus of the story then shifts to that of Ruth. We see the horrific childhood that blighted Ruth and so many people of her generation, torn from the life she knew and transported to the Nazi death camp, Birkenau, where she knew real suffering and horrendous deprivation.

After the liberation of Birkenau and the end of the war she attempts to make a new life for herself in the austerity of postwar Europe. But the shock discovery of her pregnancy breaks her, forcing to give her child up for adoption. 

However, when Ruth receives a letter from her long-lost daughter, Mary, it is decided to arrange a meeting between them, a meeting that will life changing for the both of them.

This is a thoughtful and very moving debut novel from an author who it is to be hoped will have many more books to bring forward in the future.

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99 and is available for purchase here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

Righteous Correction

Righteous Correction is the first of a new series of crime novel from author Simon J. Stephens.

It concerns a man called Zipoly, so named because his parents used a bag of Scrabble tiles to create his name. As the alternative had been Waduut, Zipoly, or Zip as he was more commonly known, realised that it could have been worse, as he was known to everyone as Zip.

Zip gets married to Francesca, they have two children and then his family is taken away from hm during a horrendous and utterly unnecessary road crash.

He avenges the calamity that took his family away from him but he then becomes drawn into the ambit of a very secret and ancient order, for whom he becomes involved in the fight against crime and injustice. 

His cover is that of a lonely, widowed man who travels the length and breadth of the country, just cruising on the canals of England on a narrow boat.

It turns out that Zip, who previously was a highly successful sanitaryware sales manager, was also highly successful in his new role as a very unconventional crimefighter.

All was going well for Zip -as well as it could, under the circumstances- when he was faced with a dilemma.

Exactly what would happen to Zip should his controllers and superiors demand that he undertake a task that he found to be morally repugnant, to cross a very distinct line?

Zip is about to finds out.

This is a very interesting book, because not only is it a thriller it is also very thought-provoking, raising a great many questions about the human condition, forgiveness, vengeance, love and moral relativity.

It costs £9.99 form Matador and copies may be bought here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.