The Man in the Needlecord Jacket by Linda MacDonald

Genre: Adult contemporary fiction; Domestic Noir
Release Date: 28th May 2017
Publisher: Matador – An imprint of Troubadour Publishing

The Man in the Needlecord Jacket follows the story of two women who are each struggling to let go of a long-term destructive partnership. Felicity is reluctant to detach from her estranged archaeologist husband and, after being banished from the family home, she sets out to test the stability of his relationship with his new love, Marianne.
When Felicity meets Coll, a charismatic artist, she has high hopes of being distracted from her failed marriage. What she doesn’t know is that he has a partner, Sarah, with whom he has planned a future. Sarah is deeply in love with Coll, but his controlling behaviour and associations with other women have always made her life difficult. When he becomes obsessed with Felicity, Sarah’s world collapses and a series of events is set in motion that will challenge the integrity of all the characters involved.
The Man in the Needlecord Jacket is a thought-provoking book, written from the perspectives of Sarah and Felicity. The reader is in the privileged position of knowing what’s going on for both of the women, while each of them is being kept in the dark about a very important issue.
Inspired by the work of Margaret Atwood and Fay Weldon, Linda explores the issue of mental abuse in partnerships and the grey area of an infidelity that is emotional, not physical. The book will appeal to readers interested in the psychology of relationships, as well as fans of Linda’s ‘Lydia’ series.
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Linda MacDonald is the author of three independently published novels: Meeting Lydia and the stand-alone sequels, A Meeting of a Different Kind and The Alone Alternative. They are all contemporary adult fiction, multi-themed, but with a focus on relationship issues.

After studying psychology at Goldsmiths', Linda trained as a secondary science and biology teacher. She taught these subjects for several years before moving to a sixth-form college to teach psychology. In 2012, she gave up teaching to focus fully on writing.
Linda was born and brought up in Cockermouth, Cumbria and now lives in Beckenham, Kent.
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Second prize signed copy of The Man in the Needlecord Jacket + 3 recipe cards and bookmark (uk only) OR an ecopy of The Man in the Needlecord Jacket (International participants.)

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Cover Reveal: The Cold Room by Karen Long

The Cold Room by Karen Long

Publication Date: 8th May 2017
Series: Eleanor Raven – Book 3
Genre: Crime / Thriller

The brand new thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the author of The Safe Word and The Vault.
Winter is settling on Toronto and a series of seemingly unconnected murders are weighing heavily on DI Eleanor Raven. When an army veteran holds his family hostage, leaving chaos and an unidentifiable skeletal human hand in his wake, Raven is left tangled in a web of leads, lies and secrets, with each thread leading her closer to the all too terrifying truth.
But with time running out, Raven needs to re-connect with her past life – the one she thought she’d finally escaped from – if she’s to find out who the killer is before they strike again . . .
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Karen Long was born and raised in the English midlands, educated at Bangor University and taught English and Drama for fifteen years. During her teaching years she studied biology and neurology with the Open University and this interest in medicine, forensics and forensic psychology is reflected in her writing. She is an enthusiastic traveller and has spent time in Toronto, which became the backdrop and inspiration for The Safe Word.
She is a keen amateur naturalist with a deep and abiding love for the crow family. She has dedicated time, love and several fingers in an effort to rehabilitate crows, magpies, rooks and ravens.
Karen is happy to correspond with readers and can be contacted through her website KarenLongWriter.com, where she posts regular blogs.
The Safe Word is Karen's first novel and was an Amazon bestseller, later joined by the second in the Eleanor Raven series, The Vault.
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The Other Side by Kaylor Ward

The Other Side by Kaylor WardGenre: Contemporary Fiction
(Jodi Picoult meets Clare Makintosh)
Release Date: 14th May 2017
Publisher: Parker Press Publishing

Lauren is locked in a cell. She knows she shouldn’t be there.
When Lauren and Rick are left an allotment they embark on a lifestyle change that is supposed to bring their step-family closer together. They embrace the chance for a slice of the good life, fresh air and family times together. Lauren and Rick are in love and happy but sometimes their past issues surface. For Lauren it’s the affair that her first husband had before he left her. For Rick it’s the children he was alienated from and forced to leave behind seven years ago.
One day a new family move into a cottage behind the allotment. That day changes everything. That day they start falling apart.

Praise for The Other Side

‘A wonderful new voice in cross-genre women's fiction that will keep you spellbound’ Best-selling author, Catrin Collier

'A thoroughly enjoyable, bittersweet read' Helen Carey

Excerpt

Prologue
The door shut with a cold, hard slam sending harsh metallic echoes around her. Her eyes shot warily from left to right as she raked her fingers through her hair and tried to make sense of her situation. She was in a cell. She had asked them not to lock her in, but they hadn’t paid her any attention. Where there had been a face a few seconds ago, there was now a slammed metal door with peeling grey paint showing the cracking blue paint beneath. She hated confined spaces. They told her there was a buzzer if she needed anything. Needed anything?
Panic welled in her chest, her throat and her brain as the grey walls and the naked single white light closed around her. Breathe...breathe...slow...down... This was not the place for a panic attack. Not here, not today. She was alone. She had to get through this. Focus...focus... Think yourself somewhere else.
She thought of her daughters, their smiles and their joy. She lay on the hard thin plastic mattress on the concrete bed, and pulled a thin blue blanket over her head to block out the light, to block out the room, and to block out now.
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Kaylor Ward, originally from London, now lives in South Wales. She worked for many years as a management consultant and trainer, writing part-time until her first book was published under the name, Michaela Weaver (Manic Mondays). She has studied creative writing at Masters level, and in addition to her writing she is a qualified Writing Coach. Michaela is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, and a reader for their New Writers' Scheme. Michaela writes cross genre contemporary fiction with psychological twists often about the darker side of family and domestic life.

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Lisbon Labyrinth by David Ebsworth

Genre: Political thriller
Release Date: 1 May 2017
Publisher: sBooks

Lisbon, 1974. Journalist Jack Telford must hunt down a killer, solve a deadly riddle, renew his acquaintance with an old flame, and survive Portugal’s revolution in this taut thriller with a life-and-death finale, which Jack may survive, but only at great cost.
There is a dossier, upon which the whole of Portugal’s future may hang, and Jack's quest to find both the killer and the lost documents will drag him into a labyrinth of deception and danger. Will his best-intentioned actions perhaps have the worst of consequences?
Is it too late for Jack’s past to be finally redeemed by love? And, in a world where nobody can be trusted, can Jack even trust himself?

Excerpt
Jack Telford had been tortured in the past. In Spain, more than thirty-five years earlier. In ’38. It had cost him his left eye and much more besides. His interrogator now, as then, was a lieutenant. On this occasion, the fellow had introduced himself as Tenente Estéves. Slim and slight. A neat civilian suit, naturally, but a lieutenant – a lieutenant firmly in the pay of a secret police force deployed by the regime that had ruled Portugal with an iron fist over the past four decades.
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David Ebsworth is the pen name of writer Dave McCall, a former negotiator for Britain’s Transport & General Workers’ Union. He was born in Liverpool but has lived in Wrexham, North Wales, with his wife Ann since 1981.
Following his retirement, Dave began to write historical fiction in 2009 and has subsequently published five novels: political thrillers dealing with the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War, the battle of Waterloo, warlord rivalry in sixth-century Britain, and the Spanish Civil War. His sixth book, Until the Curtain Falls – published in May 2017 – returns to that same Spanish conflict, following the story of journalist Jack Telford who, as it happens, is also the main protagonist in The Lisbon Labyrinth.
Each of Dave’s novels have been critically acclaimed by the Historical Novel Society and been awarded the coveted B.R.A.G. Medallion for independent authors. His work-in-progress is a series of a further nine novellas, covering the years from 1911 until 1919 and the lives of a Liverpudlian–Welsh family embroiled in the Suffragette movement.
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Review: The Blood Detective by Dan Waddell

Genre: Crime
Release Date: 28/02/2017
Nominated for the CWA New Blood Dagger in the UK and Macavity First Book award in the USA, and winner of the Prix Cezam Littéraire.

As dawn breaks over London, the body of a young man is discovered in a Notting Hill churchyard. The killer has left DCI Grant Foster and his team a grisly, cryptic clue. It's not until the clue is handed to Nigel Barnes, a specialist in compiling family trees, that the full message becomes spine-chillingly clear. It leads Barnes back more than one hundred years – to the victim of a demented Victorian serial killer. When a second body is discovered Foster needs Barnes's skills more than ever. The murderer's clues appear to run along the tangled bloodlines that lie between 1879 and now. And if Barnes is right, the killing spree has only just begun . . .
The Blood Detective is a haunting crime novel of blood-stained family histories and gruesome secrets.

‘Expertly plotted and with great attention to detail, this is the start of a series that has already put down substantial roots of its own’ – Mark Billingham.

‘A fascinating and original investigation into the dark roots of our family trees’ – Val McDermid

'There's panache aplenty in this intriguing tale. Sharp plotting, elegant writing, engaging characters, a cracking climax. A series is promised. Bring it on!' Reginald Hill

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My Review
I've never read a crime thriller before. I love watching them on TV, but I've never actually picked one up and read one, until The Blood Detective, that is.
Just like crime TV shows do, it did have me on the edge of my seat for much of the story but there were a few parts that I felt were a little slow, a little too 'in-depth' but perhaps that's what crime thrillers are usually like. However, having said that, I did enjoy it. I read it over a period of several days, taking in so many pages a night before I turned the light out and went to sleep. Surprisingly, I didn't have nightmares (naturally, there are a few gruesome scenes).
The story was quite unique, the plot being about a serial murderer set within the world of genealogy - an aspect I did find particularly intriguing considering I am a fan of the Who Do You Think You Are TV series.
The pace of the story moved consistently, with a few 'slower parts' that I mentioned above. The characters were relatable, although admittedly I kept getting a little confused as to who was who in the beginning. I would have liked to read a little more about the relationships between some of the characters but perhaps that's just me and my love for chick lit lol! I really loved the book cover too.
All in all, a good read that has encouraged me to delve more into crime thrillers in the future.

Dan Waddell is the award-winning author of more than 20 works of fiction and non-fiction, among them the bestselling book which accompanied the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are? His first crime novel, the critically-acclaimed The Blood Detective, won the prestigious Prix Cezam Littéraire in France and was nominated for debut awards in the UK and USA. He lives in London with his family.
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Death of a Cuckoo by Wendy Percival

Genre: Cosy Mystery
Series: An Esme Quentin Short Read
Release Date: 6 March 2017
Publisher: sBooks

A letter. A photograph. A devastating truth.
When Gina Vincent receives a letter of condolence from a stranger following her mother’s death, a photograph slipped inside reveals a disturbing truth – everything she’s ever known is based on a lie. Shocked and disorientated, she engages genealogy detective Esme Quentin to help search for answers.
The trail leads to an isolated and abandoned property on the edge of Exmoor, once the home of a strict Victorian institution called The House of Mercy and its enigmatic founder, whose influence seems to linger still in the fabric of the derelict building.
As they dig deeper, Esme realises that the house itself hides a dark and chilling secret, one which must be exposed to unravel the mystery behind Gina’s past.
But someone is intent on keeping the secret hidden. Whatever it takes.

Excerpt
I ran down the steps and squeezed my way down the slim passage. In the recess was a narrow door but it didn’t match the faded, peeling paint of the remainder of the house’s decoration. It was brighter, as though it had been protected from the elements. As I stepped closer, I realised that’s exactly what had happened. Under my feet were pieces of broken planking. Until very recently, this doorway had been covered by a decorative panel and disguised. So who had uncovered it? It couldn’t have been there at the viewing.
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Wendy Percival was born in the West Midlands and brought up in the Worcestershire countryside. After training as a primary school teacher she moved to North Devon in 1980 to take up her first teaching post and remained in teaching for 20 years.
An impulse buy of Writing Magazine inspired her to start writing seriously. She won Writing Magazine’s Summer Ghost Story competition in 2002 and had a short story published in The People’s Friend before focusing on full length fiction.
The time honoured ‘box of old documents in the attic’ stirred her interest in genealogy and became the inspiration for the Esme Quentin mystery novels Blood-Tied and The Indelible Stain. She is currently working on the third in the series, where the clandestine past of the Second World War provides the secret world into which Esme must delve to uncover the truth.
When she’s not writing fiction, Wendy conducts her own family history research, sharing her finds on her blog.
Wendy lives in a Devon thatched cottage beside a 13th century church with her husband and a particularly talkative cat.
You can find more on her website.
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Remember No More by Jan Newton

Genre: Crime
Series: A DS Kite Mystery # 1
Release Date: 16 March 2017
Publisher: Honno Press
A DS Kite novel – a city detective joins the mid-Wales force bringing new insights and ruffling country feathers

Newly promoted DS Julie Kite is at a crossroads. Her husband’s desire for a different life takes her away from urban Manchester and its inner city problems to tranquil mid-Wales. It is to be a clean slate for them both. On her first day at Builth Wells police station, Julie is thrust unexpectedly into the centre of an investigation into a suspicious death in a remote farming community.
Back in Manchester, Stephen Collins is set free from HMP Strangeways. Bible in hand he makes his way to mid-Wales, the scene of the heinous crime for which he was imprisoned, in order to confront those who had a hand in his incarceration.
The twists and turns of the investigation into solicitor Gareth Watkin’s death force
DS Kite to confront her own demons as well as those of her rural community and, ultimately, to uncover the lengths to which we’ll go to protect our families…
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Jan grew up in Manchester and Derbyshire, spending her formative years on the back of a pony, exploring the hills and moorland around her home. She lived and worked in London and Buckinghamshire for 19 years until moving to Wales in 2005, where she learnt to speak fluent Welsh. Jan has won several writing competitions, including the Allen Raine Short Story competition, the WI Lady Denman Cup, and the Oriel Davies Gallery competition for nature-writing. She has been published in New Welsh Review.

A WORD FROM JAN NEWTON
I wrote my first novel when I was seven, all about the adventures of a little green one-legged spaceman, who crash-landed his tiny ship in my north Manchester suburb. We had plenty of adventures, Fred and me, filling fourteen Lancashire Education Committee exercise books and earning me two gold stars in the process. But when I was eight, a rotund Welsh Mountain Pony by the name of Pixie trotted into my life, and writing was immediately relegated in favour of all things equine.
It took more years than I care to admit for me to resume my writing career. In 2005 we moved to gloriously inspiring mid Wales. In 2009 I stumbled across an Open University creative writing module and the rest, as they say, is history. After completing my OU degree, I fulfilled a lifetime ambition and enrolled on an MA course at Swansea University. The whole experience was magical. It was like being taken by the hand and led back to a place where my imagination could run riot.
I began by writing short stories, which I love, but I always feel disappointed when I have to say goodbye to my characters so soon, and so the next challenge was to attempt a novel. It’s been a fantastic experience, from its shaky start in a brand new exercise book, but now, finally, I have my second novel. I still have a horse – this one’s been with me for over twenty years - but these days I seem to be able to allow the two obsessions – books and horses – to run side by side.

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Murder on the Run by Lesley Cookman

Murder on the Run by Lesley Cookman

Genre: Cosy Crime/Women’s Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: December 1st and January 31st
Publisher: Accent Press

The world of running is completely alien to Libby Sarjeant and her friend Fran Wolfe, but when Libby’s son Adam and Fran’s stepdaughter Sophie join the Nethergate Harriers, they have to take an interest. And when one of the runners goes missing in the middle of the Nethergate 5K, they take more than an interest! It’s not long before a body is found – and Libby and Fran are caught up in another investigation…
The seventeenth instalment in the hugely popular Libby Sarjeant murder mystery series.
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Lesley Cookman is a former model, actor, DJ and air stewardess, among other things. She has been writing for money for nearly 40 years (no, I know she doesn’t look old enough), her particular areas of interest being Theatre, Old Time Music Hall and Pantomime. She lives on the Kent Coast and has four grown up Performing Children and two cats.
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One Dark Lie by Clare Chase

One Dark Lie by Clare Chase

Genre: Mystery
Release Date: 12 December 2016
Series: London & Cambridge Mysteries #3)
Publisher: Choc Lit Ltd (Death by Choc Lit imprint)

The truth can hurt, and sometimes it leads to murder …
After becoming embroiled in a murder investigation, Nate Bastable and Ruby Fawcett have decided to opt for the quiet life. But crime has a habit of following them around.
When her work dries up, Ruby finds herself accepting a job researching and writing about Diana Patrick-John, a colourful and enigmatic Cambridge academic. Simple enough. But then there’s the small fact that Diana was found dead in suspicious circumstances in her home – the very place where Ruby has now been invited to stay.
As she begins to uncover Diana’s secret life, Ruby’s sleuthing instinct kicks in, leaving her open to danger and retribution. But can she rely on Nate to support her? Especially when his behaviour has become increasingly distant and strange, almost as though he had something to hide …
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Clare Chase writes mysteries set in London and Cambridge featuring crime-solving couples. She fell in love with the capital as a student, living in the rather cushy surroundings of Hampstead in what was then a campus college of London University. (It’s currently being turned into posh flats …)
After graduating in English Literature, she moved to Cambridge and has lived there ever since. She’s fascinated by the city’s contrasts and contradictions, which feed into her writing. She’s worked in diverse settings – from the 800-year-old University to one of the local prisons – and lived everywhere from the house of Lord to a slug-infested flat. The terrace she now occupies presents a good happy medium.
As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.
She lives with her husband and teenage children, and currently works at the Royal Society of Chemistry.
One Dark Lie is her third novel with Choc Lit. Previous titles are You Think You Know Me and A Stranger’s House.
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A Bed of Brambles by Sam Russell

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Draymere Hall #2
Release Date: 11th March 2017

Hettie and Alexander are back, and this was never going to be a conventional love story. No bed of roses. Proud, passionate and wilful, they are alike in so many ways. That has to be a good thing doesn’t it? Or it could be a disaster…both carry scars, and old wounds have a habit of causing new hurt.
Physical attraction draws them together but hearts and minds can be thorny. One thing is certain, together or apart their lives will move on. Alexander and Hettie’s clashes of spirit will only be part of the story.
Second chances. New beginnings. The opportunity to make things right. Or to make the same mistakes all over again. Unless fate takes the future out of your hands…

Praise for Sam Russell

‘Russell delves into her characters’ minds exposing their innermost thoughts, fears, and desires’
‘The author's ability to flesh out a character into a believable human being is what sets a great book above the rest’
‘Sam Russell's beautiful writing draws you right into Draymere alongside Hettie, Alexander the horses and dogs, and keeps you there’

EXCERPT

Her sharp green eyes slipped over him as she scanned the arrivals hall. He noticed the dusting of sun-freckles across her cheeks and his heart clenched as he waited. He needed to read her face, to believe she was back for good. Her gaze swept around again, and this time their eyes connected. For a suspended moment it felt as if his heart stopped beating, and the pit of his stomach fell.
Then she grinned at him.
The suitcase swung into her legs at her sudden change of direction. He waved, and she abandoned the case and ran at him. He lifted her off the ground and pressed his eyes shut, not trusting himself to speak. He felt her breath warm on his neck.
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Sam Russell was born in London, but it was her family’s move to the countryside which ignited her passion for writing and love of the rural life. She worked as a groom and trained as a riding instructor, teaching in the UK and abroad before returning home and marrying a farmer.
Sam ran a livery stables from the farm whilst raising their three children. Her writing, which was a hobby while the children were young, took off when they flew the nest. She was encouraged to write and publish her debut novel, A Bed of Barley Straw. Her latest book, A Bed of Brambles, is the second novel in the Draymere Hall Series.
When she’s not writing, Sam will be out and about on the farm with the animals and the dogs. You can read more of her story on her Rustic Romance blog.
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Through the Barricades by Denise Deegan

Through the Barricades by Denise Deegan
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: 8th December 2016-12-08
She was willing to sacrifice everything for her country. He was willing to sacrifice everything for her.
‘Make a difference in the world,’ are the last words Maggie Gilligan’s father ever says to her. They form a legacy that she carries in her heart, years later when, at the age of fifteen, she tries to better the lives of Dublin’s largely forgotten poor.
‘Don’t go getting distracted, now,’ is what Daniel Healy’s father says to him after seeing him talking to the same Maggie Gilligan. Daniel is more than distracted. He is intrigued. Never has he met anyone as dismissive, argumentative… as downright infuriating.
A dare from Maggie is all it takes. Daniel volunteers at a food kitchen. There, his eyes are opened to the plight of the poor. It is 1913 and Dublin’s striking workers have been locked out of their jobs. Their families are going hungry. Daniel and Maggie do what they can. Soon, however, Maggie realises that the only way to make a difference is to take up arms.
The story of Maggie and Daniel is one of friendship, love, war and revolution, of two people who are prepared to sacrifice their lives: Maggie for her country, Daniel for Maggie. Their mutual sacrifices put them on opposite sides of a revolution. Can their love survive?

Excerpt

Prologue

1906

Maggie woke coughing. It was dark but there was something other than darkness in the air, something that climbed into her mouth, scratched at her throat and stole her breath. It made her eyes sting and tear. And it made her heart stall. Flames burst through the doorway like dragon breath. Maggie tried to scream but more coughs came, one after the other, after the other. She backed up in the bed, eyes wide, as the blaze began to engulf the room. She thought of her family, asleep in their beds. She had to waken them – with something other than her voice.
She hurried from her bed, peering through flame-lit smoke in search of her jug and washbasin. Reaching them, she flung water in the direction of the fire and began to slam enamel against enamel, fast and loud. She had to back away as flames lapped and roared and licked at her. But she kept on slamming.
Her arms grew tired. Her breath began to fail her. And she felt the heavy pull of sleep. She might have given in had she been alone in the house. But there was her father. There was her mother. There was Tom. And there was David. She could not give up.
Then like a miracle of black shadow, her father burst through the flames, his head tossing and turning. His frenzied gaze met hers.
‘Maggie!’
She began to cry with relief but relief changed to guilt as she realised that she had only drawn him further into the fire.
‘No! You were meant to take the stairs. You were meant to-’
‘It’s all right, Maggie Mae. It’s all right,’ he said, hurrying to her. He scooped her up and held her tight as he carried her away from a heat that burned without touching.
She felt cool air on her back as he opened the window. Wind rushed in, blowing the drapes aside. The flames roared louder, rose higher. But her father only looked out at the night sky. And down.
‘Missus O’Neill! I’m dropping Maggie down to you!’ he called. ‘Catch her now, mind. Catch my little girl.’ Then he looked deep into Maggie’s eyes. ‘Missus O’Neill is down below with her arms out for you. I’m going to drop you down to her.’
‘Will she catch you too?’
But he just smiled and kissed her forehead. ‘Make a difference in the world, Maggie.’
The sadness in his eyes filled her with a new terror. ‘But you’re coming too?’
He smiled once more. ‘I am, as soon as I get the others out. Now keep your eyes on mine, Maggie Mae. Keep your eyes on mine all the way down.’
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About Denise Deegan

Denise Deegan is author of several best-selling novels for adults and teens. She has been a nurse, a china restorer, a pharmaceutical sales rep, a public relations officer, an entrepreneur and a college lecturer. Her most difficult job was checkout girl, though ultimately this ‘experience’ did inspire a short story…
Denise’s writing for Young Adults includes The Butterfly Novels: And By The Way, And For Your Information and And Actually.
Denise writes women’s fiction as Aimee Alexander including Pause to Rewind, The Accidental Life of Greg Millar and All We Have Lost.
Most recently, Denise has written an historical novel of love and revolution, Through the Barricades.
Denise is represented by the East West Literary Agency and Barry Krost Management. She is a member of the SCBWI.
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336 Hours by Rachel Cathan

Genre: ‘Based on the author’s true life experiences, 336 Hours is a humorous and poignant diary about one woman’s quest to be a mother.’
Release Date: 13th February 2017
Publisher: SilverWood Books
The next 336 hours will be tough. No, the next 336 hours will be really tough…
I feel like an Olympian, waiting to see whether the years of hard work, sacrifice and dedication are finally going to pay off, or whether my body is about to fail me at the last hurdle and make me wonder why I ever hoped I could win.
My best friend is pregnant, my single friends are planning their pregnancies and, after five long years of tests and investigations, I’m coming to the end of my third – and supposedly final – IVF treatment. There are 336 hours to survive before I’ll know if I get to join the motherhood club. That’s 224 waking hours of pure psychological torture. 112 sleeping hours to stare at the ceiling and wonder, what the hell am I going to do with my life if it turns out I can’t have kids?
Based on the author’s true life experiences, 336 Hours is a humorous and poignant diary about one woman’s quest to be a mother.

Extract
I can’t pretend to have a clue what she means, of course. I don’t know what it’s like to have little people shouting, ‘Mummy! Mummy! MUUMMEEE!’ all day long, to never be able to go for a wee on your own, to make spaghetti bolognese and then watch your dinner dates tip it straight over their heads, to stay up all night comforting a teething toddler, to spend hours coercing and pleading with very small people to put shoes and coats on so you can at last leave the fucking house.
But I want to know this life. Because that stuff gives you stories, first-hand experiences, and the right to exchange knowing smiles of solidarity with other frazzled parents as you all manoeuvre your wayward shopping trolleys around the aisles of Tesco.
And it comes with other stuff, too: the good stuff.
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About Rachel Cathan

Rachel Cathan is a writer from Bedfordshire. In 2001, a mutual friend introduced her to a part-time pub DJ in Southend-on-Sea. A month later, they had moved in together, around seven years later they tied the knot, and a little while after that – just like so many couples before them – they made the exciting and terrifying decision to start a family. And then, like a growing number of couples today, well...not a lot happened.
Throughout the subsequent years of fertility investigations and failed treatments, Rachel kept a diary of her experiences, and it’s from these first- hand encounters in the world of infertility and IVF that her first book, 336 Hours has been adapted.
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Cover Reveal: Penhaligon's Attic by Terri Nixon

Penhaligon's Attic by Terri Nixon
Genre: Historical Saga
Release Date: 01 December 2016
Publisher: Piatkus Books

1910. Anna Garvey arrives in Caernoweth, Cornwall with her daughter and a secret. Having come from Ireland to take up an inheritance of the local pub, she and her eighteen year-old daughter Mairead are initially viewed with suspicion by the close-knit community.
Anna soon becomes acquainted with Freya Penhaligon, a vulnerable girl struggling to keep her family business afloat in the wake of her grandmother's death, and starts to gain the trust of the locals. As their friendship deepens, and Freya is brought out of her shell by the clever and lively Mairead, even Freya's protective father Matthew begins to thaw.
But when a part of Anna's past she'd long tried to escape turns up in the town, she is forced to confront the life she left behind - for her sake and her daughter's too . . .
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Terri was born in Plymouth in 1965. At the age of 9 she moved with her family to Cornwall, to the village featured in Jamaica Inn -- North Hill -- where she discovered a love of writing that has stayed with her ever since. She also discovered apple-scrumping, and how to jump out of a hayloft without breaking any bones, but no-one's ever offered to pay her for doing those.
Since publishing in paperback for the first time in 2002, Terri has appeared in both print and online fiction collections, and is proud to have contributed to the Shirley Jackson award-nominated hardback collection: Bound for Evil, by Dead Letter Press.
As a Hybrid author, her first commercially published novel was Maid of Oaklands Manor, published by Piatkus Entice (a digital-first imprint of Little, Brown) in 2013. The paperback is published by Piatkus Books. The two further books in this series: A Rose in Flanders Fields and Daughter of Dark River Farm are published by Carina UK (a digital-first imprint of HarperCollins)
Terri's self-published Mythic Fiction series set in Cornwall, The Lynher Mill Chronicles, is available in paperback and e-book.
Terri also writes under the name T Nixon, and has contributed to anthologies under the names Terri Pine and Teresa Nixon. She is represented by the Kate Nash Literary Agency. She now lives in Plymouth with her youngest son, and works in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Plymouth University, where she is constantly baffled by the number of students who don't possess pens.
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Saved by the Firefighter

Genre: Contemporary romance
Release Date: Nov 1st
How can she forgive him for what he didn't do?
Photographer Izzy Cooper feels as frozen as her pictures. Trent Palmer might be the hottest firefighter in Templeton Cove, but she can never face him again. Not after he failed to save her brother. But when they're forced together by a calendar shoot, the sparks between them are undeniable.
Izzy knows it's not fair to blame Trent for the tragedy, but opening herself up to loss again isn't something she's prepared to do, no matter how determined Trent is to show her that pain is part of life and that love—their love—can make any suffering bearable.

Excerpt
The security alarm chimed. Someone had stepped inside the studio. Exhaling a heavy breath, Izzy pulled back her shoulders, lifted her head and forced a smile.
“Hi, how can I…” Her heart stopped. Trent Palmer stood just inside the door. “Why are you here?”
His dark green gaze bored relentlessly into hers, his strong jaw set as he reached behind him and shut the door. “I came by to see how you’re doing.”
Traitorous attraction skittered over the surface of her skin before Izzy turned and strode toward the corner she used for staging portrait shots. The fluffy bunnies, huge furry dice and toys she’d used to relax a toddler earlier now felt macabre.
She spun around, clutching a teddy bear. “The same as I was doing yesterday and the day before. I told you I don’t want to see you. I don’t ever want to see you. Why do you keep coming back?”
He came closer, his gaze locked on hers. “You have to talk to me. I was Robbie’s friend. There was nothing—”
“You could do. Fine. I get it, but why do you feel the need to keep coming in here and checking up on me? What do you want me to do? Dance in the street? Kick up my heels at the fairground? God, just leave me alone.”
“There’s a beach party tonight. I want you to come with me.”
She stared. Why him? Why would a man she really liked—a damn firefighter—have to pursue her like she was someone worth pursuing? “No.”
He looked at the equipment covering the desk alongside him. He lifted and replaced a camera, the hunch of his wide shoulders indicating his discomfort. Izzy hated that she drew no satisfaction from that…only sadness.
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About the author

Rachel lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK. After having several novels published by small US presses, she secured agent representation in 2011. Since 2013, she has had six books published by Harlequin Superromance (Templeton Cove Stories) and recently signed a contract for two more. She also has four Victorian romances with eKensington/Lyrical Press.
Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, and was selected to mentor the Superromance finalist of So You Think You Can Write 2014 contest. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family. Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England.
She likes nothing more than connecting and chatting with her readers and fellow romance writers. Rachel would love to hear from you!
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Review: No More Birthdays by Lissa Pelzer

No More Birthdays by Lissa Pelzer
Genre: Crime
Release Date: Aug 2015
Series: Carol Ann Baker #1

Runaway teenager, Lilly Lessard has some secrets. For a start, that’s not her real name and she wants to keep quiet about her real age too. Bumping into ex-hitman Bobby at a small town film festival isn’t the coincidence it seems either. She’s tracked him here. He owes her money and she’s desperate enough to come looking for it.
And she’s not the only one who has followed him here. Detective Davis is after him too. She’s been after him in Miami for years, but never quite managed to get a hold on him. Maybe this weekend she’ll get lucky.
But the closer Lilly gets to Bobby and his money, the closer Davis gets to them both. One by one, their secrets are coming out. And Lilly’s about to find out, the worst secrets are the ones you keep from yourself.
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Excerpt

‘There’s no money,’ Cassandra said dryly. ‘Don’t be a dumbass. Don’t get in that car. It’s not safe.’
Lilly watched the end of the girl’s cigarette burn as she took a hit. Cassandra had always liked the fact that Bobby was a dangerous man. But she hadn’t seen him that night when he got back in the room after killing The Judge. His face had blanched and his false teeth had hung half out of his mouth. Killing The Judge hadn’t been easy for Bobby, not like when he drove past that phone box down in Florida and shot three times into some guy’s back. Bobby had lost his appetite for murder. He wouldn’t try to kill her, not unless it was absolutely necessary.
‘I have to take the risk,’ Lilly said. ‘I’ve got nothing. I’ve got to try. And if Bobby doesn’t give me the money, I’m as good as dead anyway.’

My Review

As a book blogger, I occasionally agree to read and review books 'blind' - in other words, without learning a little more about the book beforehand. This was one of those cases. And I soon discovered that No More Birthdays was certainly not the kind of book I would ordinarily read. I like books to be a little uplifting, with some humour perhaps. This contained nothing like that, however. It is by and large a very dark and quite a disturbing read. To be honest I felt rather down after I finished it. But, having said all this, the quality of writing is excellent. Lissa Pelzer certainly has talent, and she has it in spades. If she ever writes anything that will leave me feeling happier and amused, then I would most definitely be interested in reading it. This series however, was just not my cup of tea. If you like dark and disturbing stories, then I would definitely recommend it.

About the author

Lissa Pelzer is a British crime writer living in Germany.
Her previous published work includes romance fiction under a pseudonym. No More Birthdays is her first work under her own name.
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The Unravelling by Thorne Moore

Genre: Domestic noir
Release Date: 21 July 2016
Publisher: Honno Press
From the Top Ten Bestselling Author of A Time for Silence

The Unravelling
When they were ten everybody wanted to be Serena’s friend, to find themselves one of the inner circle. But doing so meant proving your worth, and doing that often had consequences it’s not nice to think about – not even thirty-five years later.
Karen Rothwell is randomly reminded of an incident in her childhood which just as suddenly becomes an obsession. It takes her on a journey into a land of secrets and lies; it means finding that gang of girls from Marsh Green Junior School and most importantly of all finding Serena Whinn.

Praise for Thorne Moore’s novels

‘A true page turner’– www.gwales.com

‘The most chilling part of Thorne Moore's skill is the way that she represents evil' – Helen Tozer, sideline jelly

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Hi Thorne! Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
The Unravelling is a psychological mystery or, if you prefer, Domestic Noir. It’s narrated by Karen Rothwell, as a random event – an apple rolling into a gutter – resurrects memories of a girl she knew, back in the mid 1960s, when she was ten. Time, or something else, has wiped out all thought of Serena Whinn, whom the young Karen had worshipped, but now, memories start slotting back into place and Karen becomes obsessed. She has to go back, to rediscover the friends and places and events of her childhood. Whatever it was that happened back in 1966, it left Karen damaged, mentally and physically, but it left everyone else damaged too. The unravelling of the truth could put things right – or it could make everything worse. Either way, Karen can’t stop.

What inspired you to write it?
I was vaguely remembering children I’d been at school with (I’m the same age as Karen), and wondering what had become of them – of the boy who emigrated to Australia, or the girl who took me once to her Sunday School in a corrugated iron Gospel Hall. I couldn’t even remember their names in most cases, but I was intrigued to know what seeds had been sown at junior school. Had any paths continued to cross, or had they all headed off over different horizons? From that idle thought came an idea for a story in which paths could not diverge, because something had bound them together for ever. Something sinister, of course.

How did you come up with the idea for the cover?
I didn’t. My publisher is in charge of that.

If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
This is very difficult. Do you choose actors who could convey the right emotion, or just select people who look right? Lesley Sharpe and Suranne Jones are two options and I gather they might have some free time soon. Anyway, I wouldn’t mind if actors looked all wrong, as long as their characters came across as I intended. Although, who am I kidding? If I were offered a film of my book, I wouldn’t mind who played anyone.

Is it part of a series or is it a stand-alone novel?
Very much a stand-alone novel. It has closure, as they say.

Where is the novel set and why did you choose to set it there?
It’s set all around England and Wales as Karen goes in search of her old friends, but the scene of the action in the 1960s is Lyford, which is a fictional town near London. Fictional, except that it’s constructed out of my million and one images of Luton, where I grew up, and most especially the estate where I lived. I used the layout of the estate, with its prefabs being demolished to make way for tower blocks and grids of council houses on land that had been farmland only a decade or two before. There’s a brook still running through it, which disappears into culverts and suddenly reappears a hundred yards away. There are paved lanes that, back in the sixties, were still muddy, shaded farm tracks, even though they no longer led to farm houses. There’s a parade of shops, and allotments by the railway line. All appear in the book, though rearranged.

What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?
It’s about people shaken out of their comfortable grooves. I’m not really interested in writing about carefully planned murders, committed by clever villains determined to cover up the evidence and outwit the law – traditional whodunits. I’m interested in small domestic murders that were never intended, committed by ordinary people pushed over the brink, and in the consequences for perpetrators, victim’s friends and families. Grief and guilt and panic. Why, rather than how.

What made you want to become an author?
I never wanted to be anything else. I write about consequences, and that’s what history is: a long string of consequences, so I enjoyed studying history, but my headmaster advised me to study law. I absolutely refused, because studying law meant becoming a lawyer, and I was going to be a writer. Nothing else. It only took me forty years.

How do you come up with character names?
I do often use surnames in my family, and first names too, occasionally – in my family tree, that is, working on the assumption that a great-great grandmother can hardly object. I try to avoid using names of acquaintances. In The Unravelling, I avoided using the few first names I can remember from junior school, because I didn’t want to risk anyone mistakenly identifying themselves. The place might be real enough, but the characters are purely fictional, invented to meet the needs of the story. I do use names that are common for the period. There’s a website called FreeBMD which indexes birth registrations since 1837 and I go for names that were popular in the year my characters were born. One exception is Serena Whinn, the girl that Karen is desperate to find. I wanted an uncommon name that couldn’t be found just by checking in a phone directory, so I went for the more unusual. Serena because it suggests serene and Whinn, which has an element of whistling in the wind.

Do you struggle to come up with book titles? Do they come before, during or after you've written your book?
They come towards the end, or after. I start with an idea and use a working title – usually “that book” – until something falls into place. Sometimes it doesn’t fall and I struggle. Sometimes the perfect title comes to me and then I check on Amazon and find that fifty other writers have already used it, which can be annoying.

Name one of your all-time favourite books?
The Bell, by Iris Murdoch. It has it all, hugely memorable and complex characters, agonizing dilemmas, humour, provocative thought, a wonderful setting and evocative descriptions. And it’s riddled with lines that I keep quoting.

Who, or what, inspires you?
Place, mostly. An image of a place, in the flesh (?) or in my mind, sparks off notions of what might happen there. And news stories, little insignificant items that leave me pondering why?

Where is your favourite place to write?
In bed, on my laptop. Probably not a good idea, but my brain works best at 6 am.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
Hm. I was very impressed by the recent film of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, because I thought it impossible to feed such a complicated book into the confines of a 2 hour film, but they did it very well. Whether it made any sense to anyone who hadn’t read the book is another matter.

Name two of your favourite authors.
Jane Austen. Linda Huber.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I ran a restaurant for a while, and spent about 18 hours a day making pies.

Who would play you in the movie about your life?
I don’t know. It would have to be someone very charismatic, or the audience would be asleep within 30 seconds.

Tell us an interesting fact about where you live.
It’s a Victorian farm cottage, which was extended and altered in the twentieth century, but I’ve discovered that it’s on the site of a Mediaeval mansion. I’d love to see some proper archaeology – not just the random unearthing of things when I’m digging the garden.

What are your (writing) plans for the future?
To keep on writing till I die. I have one new book with an agent and another being tweaked, and then a couple more ideas. I might bring out a book of short stories, to tie in with my novels.

Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list.
I’d love to visit Skara Brae.

Favourite myth / fairytale?
Dick Whittington, since the real Sir Richard was so fascinating in his own right, and it just goes to show how stories grow like Chinese whispers.

Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid?
A writer. Before that (i.e. when I was about 5), I was conflicted: either a missionary or a tight-rope walker. So hard to choose.

Thorne Moore was born in Luton but has lived in in the back of beyond in north Pembrokeshire for 32 years. She has degrees in History and Law, worked in a library and ran a family restaurant as well as a miniature furniture craft business, which is still in Production, but she now concentrates on writing psychological crime mysteries.
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