Lovely Sheryl Browne, author of After She’s Gone, the first in the DI Matthew Adams books, is a regular visitor to Linda’s Book Bag and an author I love spending time with in person so I’m delighted to welcome her back today to talk about the questions that run through her head whilst writing psychological thrillers.

Published by Death by Choc Lit, Sheryl’s latest book, After She’s Gone, is the first in the DI Matthew Adams thrillers and is available for purchase here. There’s a smashing short video trailer for the series you might like to watch here.

Blog readers might also be interested in book two, Sins of the Father, available here and book three, Deadly Intent, available here.

After She’s Gone

He’s killed your child and kidnapped your wife. What would YOU do?

There’s evil and then there’s Patrick Sullivan. A drug dealer, pimp and murderer, there are no depths to which Patrick would not sink, and Detective Inspector Matthew Adams has found this out in the most devastating way imaginable.

When Patrick’s brother is shot dead in a drug bust gone wrong, the bitter battle between the two men intensifies, and Matthew finds it increasingly difficult to hold the moral high ground. All he wants is to make the pimping scum suffer the way he did … the way Lily did.

But being at war with such a depraved individual means that it’s not just Matthew who’s in danger. Patrick has taken a lot from Matthew, but he hasn’t taken everything – and now he wants everything.

The Method behind the Murders

A Guest Post by Sheryl Browne

Hi Linda! Thank you for featuring me on Linda’s Book Bag to share a little bit about After She’s Gone – Book 1 in the DI Matthew Adams thrillers.

I’m often asked whether I prefer writing psychological thriller to contemporary romance. The answer is, I write the story according to where the characters lead me. I’ve always been fascinated by what shapes people and whatever genre I write in I like to strip away the layers and, hopefully, share with readers a little of what lies beneath the surface. A writer’s mind thrives on exploration. Every scenario, every face, every place tells a story. A glimpsed situation, an argument between a couple, for instance, a verbal ‘slanging match’ in the street, and you have your stimulus for a story.

There are many facets to the human character; no one can be truly good or irretrievably bad. Or can they? The driving force linked to most murders, I’m reliably informed by a former DCI, is humiliation. How many of us haven’t felt humiliated at some point in our lives? Who hasn’t wished for revenge? That’s where the ‘what if’ scenario clicks in. What if the ‘good guy/girl’ isn’t all good? What if he’s fundamentally flawed in some way that might make him unwillingly/unwittingly hurt other people? If he admits his flaws, does this make him good? Is he good if he actively tries to fix his flaws? If his motives at heart are good, say, the protection of his family, would that justify him taking a life? Then there’s the ‘bad guy’? How deep does his humiliation run? Is it nature or nurture that makes him evil?

In his encounters with his nemesis in After She’s Gone and Sins of the Father, DI Matthew Adams had pondered this question. In Deadly Intent, the third book in the series, his mindset is thus: “He’d long ago stopped wondering how perverted individuals like Sullivan came into existence. As far as Matthew could see it wasn’t nature or nurture. It was a lethal cocktail of genes, brain function and childhood experience that created monsters like Patrick Sullivan.”

Would the reader see any redemption in Patrick Sullivan I wondered? Well, according to some reviewers (Amazon review snippets below), apparently, I created a monster people love to hate. A truly evil ‘tour de force’ according to one reviewer.

“I loved hating Patrick Sullivan.

I hated Patrick Sullivan I wanted to reach into the book and throttle him…but in a love hate kind of way.

In the case of Patrick, you find out he has a daughter that he worships above all others, I found this compelling considering his attitude towards women in general.

Patrick is a really wonderfully awful creation. I believed in him totally. I hated him but was also mesmerised by him, and just couldn’t tear my eyes away.”

It seems I’ve certainly created someone who incites powerful emotion. If you do read the book, I would love to know what you think.

Thanks so much for having me, Linda. While I’m here, can I take the opportunity to thank all bloggers and readers for their absolutely fantastic support? It really is tremendously appreciated. Those reviews mean the world to an author and, together with posts and extracts, will help a book find its wings. THANK YOU!

(You’re always welcome Sheryl. I love featuring authors I’ve met in real life and one of the joys of blogging is helping authors a little on their way!)

About Sheryl Browne

Sheryl Browne brings you edgy, sexy contemporary fiction and psychological thrillers.

A member of the Crime Writers’ Association, Romantic Novelists’ Association and awarded a Red Ribbon by The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, Sheryl has several books published and two short stories in Birmingham City University anthologies, where she completed her MA in Creative Writing.

Recommended to the publisher by the WH Smith Travel fiction buyer, Sheryl’s contemporary fiction comes to you from multi-award winning Choc Lit.

You can find more about and from Sheryl using these links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Buy | Buy US | Pinterest

Loveahappyending Lifestyle

Choc Lit | Romantic Novelists’ Association

My grateful thanks to the publishers The O’Brien Press for providing a copy of The Woodcutter and His Family by Frank McGuinness in return for an honest review.

The Woodcutter and His Family is published by O’Brien on 18th September 2017 and is available for pre-order here.

The Woodcutter and His Family

My son betrayed me. It is a family tradition.
Didn’t I do the same to my father?

The World War intensifies in Europe. In Zurich a writer breathes his last imagining his life till now from his childhood in Dublin.

The voices of his family circling him – wife, son, daughter – carry him to his end as he hears each separate chapter chronicling the power of their passion for their famous father, their love, their hate, their need, their sorrows and joys, their strangeness.

And James Joyce has saved for them one last story to delight and defy them: The Woodcutter And His Children …

My Review of The Woodcutter and His Family

James Joyce lies dying and his family relive their memories of him.

What an intricate and fascinating read The Woodcutter and His Family is. I found myself horrified, entertained, amused and sometimes bewildered as I read.

The story is divided into five sections and each has its own distinct voice. Because of the intricate sentence structure and the lack of speech marks, the narrative is often a stream of consciousness that confused and bewildered me which is exactly what I felt it was meant to do. Not only does it echo Joyce’s own writing, this carefully crafted looseness makes the reader think, makes them go back over sentences to check meaning and makes them realise that words do not always convey true meaning and intention, but can deceive and manipulate. I thought the style was inspirational. There’s frequent expletives and sexual reference but they all add to the colourful tapestry of the prose.

Grief, regret, love, memories and hatred all blend when we consider death and The Woodcutter and his Son provides a frequently beautiful and equally disturbing depiction of a man’s passing. I especially enjoyed Bertha’s story which made me laugh aloud on several occasions as she articulates just what anyone else might think but be afraid to say.  Reading the daughter Beatrice’s section made me very uncomfortable. Her desperate need for the mother she purports to hate is so affecting. So too is Archie’s grief at his father’s passing. The result of these different sections is an emotional and disturbing insight into a man who is only too aware of his own faults.

The section told by Himself and the allegorical story of the woodcutter made me truly reflect on death, on how we live our lives and on our ability to affect others’ lives.

I feel I haven’t quite done justice to The Woodcutter and His Family as a reader. I think I have missed many references that would add even more layers to my understanding and believe the book deserves several close readings to appreciate fully just how intelligently and movingly written it is. It has left me entertained, certainly, but also moved, perplexed and feeling slightly unworthy as a reader. I highly recommend it.

About Frank McGuinness

Frank McGuinness is Professor of Creative Writing in University College Dublin. A world-renowned playwright, his first great stage hit was the highly acclaimed Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme. He is also a highly skilled adapter of plays by writers such as Ibsen, Sophocles, Brecht, and writer of several film scripts, including Dancing at Lughnasa, and he has published several anthologies of poetry.

Having enjoyed the first of Vivian Conroy’s Cornish Castle Mystery books, Death Plays a Part, my review of which you can read here, I’m pleased to be taking part in the launch celebrations of the second in Vivian’s series, Rubies in the Roses.

Published by HQ Digital on 30th August 2017, Rubies in the Roses is available for purchase here.

Rubies in the Roses

Guinevere Evans has a dream summer job: cataloguing books at a castle on a tidal island off the coast of Cornwall. With her perky dachshund Dolly by her side she explores the island’s colourful history, tries fabulous local food and sees the gorgeous sunsets.

But when an old friend of her employer drops in, claiming a rare bejewelled wedding goblet is hidden in the castle gardens, strange events start to take place: several people turn up claiming they have a right to the elusive goblet, and a dead body is found on the beach.

An unfortunate accident, or does this death relate to the struggle for ownership of the goblet? Is there even a goblet?

Guinevere and Dolly dig in and discover plenty of motives to lie, steal and yes, maybe even kill. Can they prove what really happened to the victim and what became of the precious rubies that are at the heart of the mystery?

An Extract from Rubies in the Roses

Guinevere leafed through the yellowing pages to find the number indicated in the index. A scent of dust and dampness rose into her nose. Maybe this book hadn’t been touched for decades. Excitement rushed through her at the idea there might be something interesting hidden between its fading covers. A revelation about an artefact actually here on Cornisea Island.

‘Here it is. The goblet of Rose and Stars. A bejewelled wedding goblet.’

She scanned the explanation to paraphrase for Oliver. ‘These goblets were made from silver and decorated with precious stones if the buyer could afford it. The buyer could be a land owner or a dignitary in a community.’

‘Or the lord of a castle,’ Oliver supplied, gesturing around him with the cheese rasp.

Guinevere nodded. ‘Probably. The goblets were used at wedding ceremonies where both the groom and the bride drank from the goblet to symbolize their new life together. The goblet was kept in the family, passed on from generation to generation. This particular one got the designation of Rose and Stars because it was decorated with both rubies and diamonds.’

Oliver whistled.

Dolly pricked her ears up as if she couldn’t wait to learn more about something so rare.

Guinevere read and paraphrased quickly, ‘It also had an engraved scene on a round emblem like part of the goblet depicting a couple drinking from a goblet. Its exact origins and age are unknown, but it’s taken to be medieval because of the clothing of the couple in the little scene. Oh, here – this is interesting.’

Oliver turned to her and leaned against the sink.

‘What?’

Guinevere ran her finger along the lines, taking in the detailed explanation before her. ‘The goblet is believed to have been stolen by a Lady Anne when she ran away from home to be with a man her parents didn’t approve of. They married, drank from the goblet, and then hid it somewhere in their keep.’

Oliver looked at her. ‘And that particular goblet is supposed to be hidden here? Why Cornisea? It could have been any keep. And Cornwall has a few.’

‘I know.’ Guinevere studied the piece in front of her. ‘It doesn’t give any specific details as to who the parties involved were or what keep was meant. It’s more like a fairy-tale story: once upon a time there was a priceless goblet and a lady ran away with it.’

‘Right. I don’t believe for one moment that the goblet of Rose and Stars ever existed. Let alone that it can be found here.’ Oliver slammed some sandwiches together and stacked them on a plate.

Guinevere stared down at the book, pursing her lips. ‘Wadencourt seems to believe that there is a connection between the goblet and Cornisea Island, or he wouldn’t be here.’

‘Or he’s trying to make himself interesting again.’ Oliver poured the hot water into the teapot. ‘Almost done. We’d better go up and see that Father and dear Gregory haven’t killed each other yet.’

Guinevere cringed at the word choice. ‘I thought they were friends.’

‘They were, but Wadencourt left here after a terrible row. I was just a kid so I have no idea what it was about. Later on it seemed they were on speaking terms again, but I have never found out what they fought about. My father has a great memory for injury.’

Guinevere nodded. ‘Let me take the sandwiches; you take the tea.’

She put the book on the tray beside the plate with sandwiches and left the kitchens.

Dolly came after her, salivating at the idea of treats.

About Vivian Conroy

Vivian Conroy discovered Agatha Christie at 13 and quickly devoured all Poirot and Miss Marple stories. Over time Lord Peter Wimsey and Brother Cadfael joined her favorite sleuths. Even more fun than reading was thinking up her own fog-filled alleys, missing heirs and priceless artefacts and so he own writing career began.

You can follow Vivian on Twitter @VivWrites.

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Regular visitors to Linda’s Book Bag will know that I adore travel as much as books. As well as visiting Uganda and India next year, I’m off to Indonesia in the hope of seeing Komodo dragons. When I heard that Diego Zapatero had not only devoted considerable time to the area but was producing a limited edition book and e-book of photographs, The Last Breath of the Prince – A Dying Art, with prints and other merchandise funded through Kickstarter, I had to ask him onto the blog to tell me more.

You can join in the Kickstarter campaign here and find out more about the book here.

The Last Breath of the Prince – A Dying Art

Why And How I Made The Last Breath of the Prince – A Dying Art

A Guest Post by Diego Zapatero

Nowadays, I think we are in a “decisive moment” as modernity, technology is reaching everywhere, often a process associated with loss of identity and traditions. In South Asia we are in a crucial moment where this loss is happening, unfortunately forcing the last opportunity to see something that will not be present any longer in the coming 10 or 20 years.

My passion for the masks started a long time ago, when I was I kid I was used to see all the material from my father’s expeditions into the Amazon, amongst them a big collection of the Yanomami tribe artefacts, blowpipes, arches and also including masks. First time I saw a “wayang topeng” (masked dance) performance was already 3 years ago, I took one of the most representative photos of my work. At that time I didn’t realize how complex this Javanese art really was.

With time I started a survey on the topic until I found a large collection of Dutch journals, ranging from the late 19th century to the early part of the 20th century. I came upon photos taken during the colonial period; in old studios with a technique modern photographers don not use anymore. That truly woke an inner feeling within, I had never come across such a thing in those days, and it convinced me that maybe it could be the right moment to start a project out of it. Concerning the topengs, I had already seen exhibitions of masks before, as a material thing, as a souvenir, but I thought why not pay tribute to those who are behind them? It is a universal issue, a performer loses his previous identity and assumes a new one, letting go of his own will, which now becomes subservient to that of the personage of the mask. Each time it is precisely then that something important occurs on stage.

On this occasion, the whole thing was closer to a movie shooting than a photographic one, from the design of theatre backgrounds based in old motifs, carpets, and the fact that I had to build a large tent structure with the villagers for the shooting. That was an amazing experience, sharing with them the real Javanese life, and feeling their inherent sense of hospitality. They were really enthusiastic and they highly appreciated the fact that a foreigner wanted to make such a big thing out of an almost extinct art. They understood very well and they were very collaborative at every crucial moment.

Masked dances in Malaysian Borneo had already disappeared, and it required a timely deep research from old books, as well as from museum materials. I was really lucky to find some of these dancers, from the Iban tribe in Sarawak, and the Bahau tribe in the Indonesian Borneo. This topeng project is more related to fine arts than previous ones, more personal, focusing on portraits, more than ever before. The reason behind it is that to get the feeling of old photos, I made a research, using the same techniques as the old photographers, and discovering how they managed the light was one of the keys. To create that specific feeling, most of the otherwise moving models were made to pose as required by the slow shutter speed.

The “Wayang Topeng” is a masked dance performance which lives on in Java, with roots and elements originating from an ancient, pre-Hindu creation myth, and retold in the 21st century in ever fewer rural villages in East and Central Java.

Sadly, the syncretism, once so characteristic of Javanese mysticism, is fading away rapidly in a modernizing Indonesia. The Panji mask dance is today still performed by small groups in the island.

When the master of a craft or the keeper of the knowledge is gone, there is nothing but material traces and vague memories left behind, crumbling away with time; there is no way to recreate their deepest intangible history and state of existence.

It is already too late for hundreds, or more likely thousands, of such cultural manifestations around the world. For the few surviving traditions, the time is now to safeguard continuous evolution and interpretation of their ancient spiritual cultural heritage.

About Diego Zapatero

Diego Zapatero (1982) lives in the city of Yogyakarta, the cultural cradle of Indonesia. In his work he travels Southeast Asia to seek out the deepest and most genuine stories to substantiate his photo documentary projects.

While still in Spain, at the age of 25, he migrated into photographic work from a background as a pianist and composer after a career in marketing and business administration. He was led progressively towards his passion for cultural exploration; something inherited in his veins, at the same time pushed by a keen interest in Indonesian culture.

In 2010 he was sent from Spain on a two month mission to cover the eruption of the 9.600 feet tall Merapi Volcano on the island Java in Indonesia, one of the world s most active volcanoes. Zapatero has since taken an interest in the intangible about cultures in Asia.

Whether, through his projects, capturing a tattoo on a tribal body in remote parts of Borneo or a traditional dance character in full paraphernalia in densely populated Java, there is more to his photos than meets the eye at first glimpse.

Many manifestations of cultural heritage needs to be put and seen in the light of sometimes thousands of years of continuous evolution, interpretation and reinterpretation, as to even remotely fathom the depth of the characters and their current appearance.

You can find out more about Diego on his website, by following him on Instagram and on Twitter and finding him on Facebook.

I adore historical fiction so when I was offered the chance to read Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar I jumped at the chance. I can’t thank Jimena Gorraez-Connolly at Aardvark Bureau/Gallic Books enough for my copy of Salt Creek in return for an honest review.

Salt Creek was published in the UK by Aardvark Bureau on 4th September 2017 and is available for purchase on Amazon and directly from the publisher.

Salt Creek

A story of love, duty, hardship and intolerance told by a strong woman in 1850s colonial Australia.

A part of me will always live at Salt Creek though it is on the far side of the world…

Hester Finch’s comfortable life in Chichester, England, could not be further from the hardship her family endured on leaving Adelaide for Salt Creek in 1855. Yet she finds her thoughts drawn to that beautiful, inhospitable outcrop of South Australia and the connections she and her siblings forged there: encounters with passing travellers and the local indigenous people – in particular a boy, Tully, whom Hester’s father seeks to educate almost as his own son – would change the fates of the Finches, and of the area’s first people, for ever.

My Review of Salt Creek

Making a new life in the wilds of Australia will have repercussions for Hester that echo down the years.

What a wonderful, wonderful book. I adored this read. I thought the authorial tone of Hester’s voice was perfect for the era so that it was less that I was reading about her and more that I was residing in her head and experiencing everything in tune with her. The style of the book so well underpinned the era of its setting. I felt completely transported to a world, when the white man held sway over women and non-whites, so that at times I could hardly contain my horror and rage at Hester’s father’s actions and blind, delusional plans. I wanted to wrench Hester away and save her and Addie with every fibre of my being. I don’t often make comparisons between books and authors, but Lucy Treloar made me think of the very best of Tracy Chevalier’s writing. Salt Creek is authentic in every way.

Each character was fantastically well defined. I think it’s no coincidence that they are called the Finch family in a time when Darwin was exploring the evolution of finches and Fred was echoing this interest in nature. Mama’s spiral into depression, Addie’s flirtations, Tully’s division between native and non native lifestyles, Stanton’s barely suppressed rage and aggression and so on all serve to weave a brilliant tapestry of family life. I went through a whole range of emotions reading about the Finch family, from dismay to horror and fear to joy. Of all the characters it was, of course, Hester whom I loved the most.

Lucy Treloar examined family life in its desperate minutiae alongside big emotions of love and hate so that I was held enthralled throughout. She balanced every word, every syllable, to add depth and quality to the book. I almost wish I hadn’t read Salt Creek yet as I would love the delight of discovering its qualities for the first time. In fact, I didn’t so much read Salt Creek as experience everything Hester experienced in her life.  The filmic and poetic quality of some of the description placed me in Australia with her.

I want to shout from the rooftops about Salt Creek. It was, for me, a perfect book that I can’t stop thinking about.

About Lucy Treloar

Lucy Treloar was born in Malaysia and educated in Melbourne, England and Sweden. A graduate of the University of Melbourne and RMIT’s Professional Writing and Editing program, Lucy is a writer, editor, mentor and creative writing teacher and has plied her trades both in Australia and in Cambodia, where she lived for several years.

She was awarded an Asialink Writer’s Residency to Cambodia (2011) to undertake research and to work on her first adult novel, then titled Some Times in Life. Lucy is the winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Pacific), the 2012 Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award and a 2013 Varuna Publisher Fellowship. Her short fiction has appeared in Sleepers, Overland, Seizure, and Best Australian Stories 2013, and her non-fiction in a range of publications.

Lucy’s debut novel, Salt Creek was published to critical acclaim. It has won the Dobbie Award, the Matt Richell Award for New Writer, and the Indie Award for Best Debut, and has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the Readings Prize for New Australian Writer.

You can follow Lucy on Twitter @LucyTreloar and visit her website. You’ll also find her on Facebook.

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I can’t thank Emma Finnigan PR enough for my review copy of Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford that I will be reviewing soon. In the mean time, I’m thrilled to bring you a publication day guest post from Jamie who agreed to write something for me on the difference between writing a novel and writing a screenplay. I love what he’s come up with.

Love and Other Consolation Prizes is published by Allison and Busby today, 12th September 2017, and is available for purchase here.

Love and Other Consolation Prizes

1909, Seattle. For twelve-year-old Ernest Young, a charity student at a boarding school, the chance to go to the World’s Fair feels like a gift. But when he’s there amid the exotic exhibits, the half-Chinese orphan discovers that he will actually be a prize, raffled off to ‘a good home’. He is claimed as a servant by the flamboyant madam of a high-class brothel. There he forges new friendships and discovers a sense of family for the first time. Perhaps this is the home he’s always wanted?

On the eve of the new World’s Fair fifty years later, Ernest is juggling memories and the demands of his ailing wife as well as long-held family secrets which threaten to leak out.

A powerful new novel, inspired by a true story,from the bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

Novel Versus Screenplay

A Guest Post by Jamie Ford

LINDA (V.O.)

I asked Jamie to comment on the difference between writing a novel and writing a screenplay. I wonder what he’ll come up with?

BLACK.

INT. JAMIE’S HOUSE – OFFICE – MORNING

Jamie sits at his desk. He sips a cup of coffee.

JAMIE (to camera)

Writing a novel is like building a house. You put on the roof, install the plumbing, hang the wallpaper, lay the carpet–you do everything.

Jamie opens a screenwriting program and begins writing this.

JAMIE (CONT’D)

But a screenplay is more like a blueprint. It’s your design, but other people are going to finish the job–the director, the editor, the producers, the talent, etc. At first I hated the idea, but I’ve fallen in love with the concept of collaboration. Plus, I re-outlined HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, and actually (I think) made a more compelling story.

SFX: The doorbell rings.

Jamie looks outside and sees a FedEx truck. He goes to the door and signs for a package from Alison & Busby, which contains finished copies of his new novel, LOVE AND OTHER CONSOLATION PRIZES. He returns to his desk.

JAMIE (CONT’D)

Where was I? Oh, yes: screenplays. I don’t feel like I’m compromising, I’m just translating my work to a different medium. The characters, interestingly enough, take on new life because I have the opportunity to add to their backstories.

But there are constraints. Like time. Instead of 350 pages I have 120 minutes. So some things may change in the final script.

SFX: Jamie’s iPhone rings. He answers.

DIRECTOR (on the phone)

Dude! I love this book! It’s got everything. But you know what would make it better? Zombies! I’m serious. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF ZOMBIES AND APOCALYPSE. I’m talking to one of Tom Cruise’s people and he’d love to do a historical zombie flick. IT WOULD CRUSH AT THE BOX OFFICE. ALL WE HAVE TO DO…

Jamie hangs up.

JAMIE

You just have to make sure things don’t get out of hand.

SFX: Jamie’s phone rings again.

JAMIE (CONT’D)

Yeah. I’m not going to answer that.

SFX: Jamie’s iPhone continues to ring.

BLACK.

About Jamie Ford

Jamie Ford is the great grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from China to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name ‘Ford’, thus confusing countless generations. Jamie Ford’s debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a New York Times bestseller, and has been awarded the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. It has been translated into twenty-nine languages. Having grown up near Seattle’s Chinatown, Ford now lives in Montana with his wife and children.

You can find out more about Jamie on his website and you can follow him on Twitter @JamieFord. You’ll also find him on Facebook.

I have been hearing excellent things about the writing of Jaime Raven and so I’m thrilled to be able to share an extract from his latest book, The Mother, here on Linda’s Book Bag as part of the launch celebrations.

Published by Avon Books on 7th September 2017 by Avon, an imprint of Harper Collins, The Mother is available for purchase through these links.

The Mother

I’ve taken your daughter, as punishment for what you did …

Prepare to be gripped by the heart-stopping new thriller from the author of The Madam.

South London detective Sarah Mason is a single mother. It’s a tough life, but Sarah gets by. She and her ex-husband, fellow detective Adam Boyd, adore their 15-month-old daughter Molly.

Until Sarah’s world falls apart when she receives a devastating threat: Her daughter has been taken, and the abductor plans to raise Molly as their own, as punishment for something Sarah did.

Sarah is forced to stand back while her team try to track down the kidnapper. But her colleagues aren’t working fast enough to find Molly. To save her daughter, Sarah must take matters into her own hands, in a desperate hunt that will take her to the very depths of London’s underworld.

An Extract from The Mother

‘I’ve just called the office and told them to circulate the photo and alert uniform. Just to be on the safe side.’

It should have reassured me but it didn’t. Instead his words brought a sob to the surface and I had to force myself not to burst out crying.

‘Take this,’ Brennan said, handing me a handkerchief he produced from the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

I lowered the visor and looked at myself in the mirror. The face that stared back at me was pale and gaunt. I suddenly looked much older than my 32 years.

Tears sparkled in my eyes and my short brown hair was dishevelled from where I’d been raking my hands through it.

I dabbed at my eyes with the hanky and then used it to blow my nose.

‘You need to tell me where to go,’ Brennan said.

I cleared my throat and told him to take a left at the next junction and then the first right after that. He didn’t respond, just concentrated on the road ahead.

‘Thank you for coming here with me,’ I said. ‘I’m grateful.’

‘You don’t need to be,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t let you do this by yourself. I can imagine what you must be going through.’

Brennan, who had a grandson a similar age, had met Molly a couple of times when I’d taken her into the station. He had always been understanding of the problems faced by single mothers in the department and I’d come to view him almost as a father figure as well as my boss.

Right now I was so glad he was with me. I knew he would do whatever he could to help me find my daughter.

‘It’s the house up there on the left behind the privet hedge,’ I said.

My childhood home was a semi-detached pre-war property in a quiet, tree-lined street. My father’s ageing Mondeo wasn’t parked out front so I took that to mean that he was still at his allotment.

‘Have you got a key?’ Brennan asked.

I nodded and extracted my keys from my shoulder bag.

A short paved pathway led up to the front door and as I approached it my emotions were spinning. I didn’t bother to ring the bell, and my hand shook as I fumbled to insert the key in the lock.

As soon as the door was open I called out and stepped inside. But my heart sank when there was no response.

‘They might be in the back garden,’ Brennan said as he followed me in.

I hurried along the hallway and threw open the door to the kitchen, hoping to see or hear Molly.

Instead I was confronted by a sight that caused my stomach to give a sickening lurch.

About Jaime Raven

Jaime Raven is a full-time author living in Southampton UK. He spends some of his time writing at his second home on Spain’s Costa Calida. He has three daughters. He was born in London and grew up in the gritty streets of Peckham where his family were well known street traders.

You can follow Jaime on Twitter @JaimeRaven1 and visit his website.

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Every time I meet Barbara Copperthwaite I’m struck anew by how modest, unassuming, friendly and talented she is so I’m thoroughly delighted to be helping reveal her latest book, Her Last Secret.

I’ve been lucky enough to interview Barbara for Linda’s Book Bag here, and I have reviewed another of her books, The Darkest Lies, here. When Barbara’s Flowers for the Dead hit its first book birthday she kindly returned to the blog to tell me a bit more about that journey and you can read her thoughts here.

Her Last Secret will be published by Bookouture on 13th October 2017 and is available for pre-order here.

Her Last Secret

There are some secrets you can never tell.

The last thing to go through Dominique Thomas’s head was the image of her teenage daughter’s face and her heart lifted. Then the shot rang out.

They were the perfect family. Successful businessman Ben Thomas and his wife Dominique live an enviable life, along with their beautiful children; teenager Ruby and quirky younger daughter, Mouse.

But on Christmas Day the police are called to their London home, only to discover a horrific scene; the entire family lying lifeless, victims of an unknown assailant.

But when Ruby’s diary is discovered, revealing her rage at the world around her, police are forced to look closer to home for the key to this tragedy.

Each family member harboured their own dark truths – but has keeping their secrets pushed Ruby to the edge of sanity? Or are there darker forces at work?

This dark, gripping psychological thriller will have you holding your breath until the very last page.

About Barbara Copperthwaite

The people behind the crime, from the perpetrator to the victim and beyond, are what intrigue Barbara Copperthwaite.

She was raised by the sea and in the countryside, where she became a lover of both nature and the written word – the latter leading to a successful career as a journalist. For over twenty years people have kindly and bravely shared with her their real experiences of being victims of crime. Now, through fiction, Barbara continues to explore the emotional repercussions.

You can find out more about Barbara by visiting her website and following her on Twitter. You’ll also find her on Facebook.

Having met lovely A.J. Waines I’m delighted to have an extract from her latest book, Lost in the Lake, to share on Linda’s Book Bag today. Lost in the Lake is the second in her Dr Samantha Willerby series. I have reviewed the first, Inside the Whispers, here and another of A.J. Waines’ brilliant books, No Longer Safe here.

Published on 7th September 2017, Lost in the Lake is available for purchase in the UK here and the US here.

Lost in the Lake

She came at first for answers…now she’s back for you

Amateur viola player Rosie Chandler is the sole survivor of a crash which sends members of a string quartet plunging into a lake. Convinced the ‘accident’ was deliberate, but unable to recall what happened, she is determined to recover her lost memories and seeks out clinical psychologist, Dr Samantha Willerby.

But Rosie is hiding something…

Sam is immediately drawn to the tragic Rosie and as she helps her piece the fragments together, the police find disturbing new evidence which raises further questions. Why is Rosie so desperate to recover her worthless viola? And what happened to the violin lost in the crash, worth over £2m?

When Rosie insists they return to the lake to relive the fatal incident, the truth about Rosie finally creeps up on Sam – but by now, she’s seriously out of her depth…

 The second book in the Dr Samantha Willerby series, Lost in the Lake is a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat Psychological Thriller that will leave you glancing over your shoulder.

An Extract from Lost in the Lake

Prologue

Did I make you jump? Turning up like that in your own kitchen? You have to admit, it must have been a nasty shock.

I bet you thought you’d been ever so smart at covering your tracks. But, be honest, you made a complete hash of things. You made out you were one step ahead of the game all along, but once you scooped the ultimate prize you couldn’t work out what to do next! Face facts, you were too ambitious for your own good and hadn’t thought things through properly.

You took great delight in explaining your cunning scheme to me, even though it was bound to leave you with egg on your face. I could see you thought you’d have the last laugh. I could tell your little brain was ticking over, thinking that once you’d told me the whole story, there was no way I’d be walking out of there. But that’s where you went wrong. You underestimated me. Most people do.

I could feel rage burning up my insides as you brandished that bottle of whisky like we were mates – in it together.

‘Let’s toast our windfall’, you suggested, trying to make me smile. By then, however, my fury with what you’d done had ignited from a niggling spark into a white-hot ball of fire. Every moment I was forced to endure with you, a growing, uncontainable frenzy was building inside me.

You reached over to the draining board to find two glasses and that’s when you made your fatal mistake.

You should never have turned your back.

(I don’t know about blog readers, but this makes me desperate to read on!)

About A.J. Waines

AJ Waines has sold over 400,000 books worldwide and topped the UK and Australian Kindle Charts in 2015 & 2016 with her number one bestseller, Girl on a Train. Following fifteen years as a psychotherapist, she is now a full-time novelist with publishing deals in France, Germany, Norway, Hungary and USA (audiobooks).

Her fourth psychological thriller, No Longer Safe, sold over 30,000 copies in the first month, in thirteen countries. AJ Waines has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Times and was ranked a Top 10 UK author on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) in 2016. She lives in Hampshire, UK, with her husband. Visit her website and blog, or join her on Twitter, Facebook or on her Newsletter.

There’s more about and from AJ Waines with these other bloggers too:

Ever since I read Watermelon years and years ago, I have loved Marian Keyes’s writing. I was thrilled to go and see Marian in Nottingham some months ago and hear her speak about her life and writing too. So, when The Break was made available on Netgalley I broke my self-imposed ban (because I have more books than I can ever read) and requested it. I was delighted to be approved.

The Break was published by Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on 7th September 2017 and is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

The Break

Amy’s husband Hugh has run away to ‘find himself’. But will he ever come back?

‘Myself and Hugh . . . We’re taking a break.’
‘A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?’

If only.

Amy’s husband Hugh says he isn’t leaving her.

He still loves her, he’s just taking a break – from their marriage, their children and, most of all, from their life together. Six months to lose himself in South East Asia. And there is nothing Amy can say or do about it.

Yes, it’s a mid-life crisis, but let’s be clear: a break isn’t a break up – yet . . .

However, for Amy it’s enough to send her – along with her extended family of gossips, misfits and troublemakers – teetering over the edge.

For a lot can happen in six-months. When Hugh returns, if he returns, will he be the same man she married? Will Amy be the same woman?

Because if Hugh is on a break from their marriage, then so is she . . .

The Break is a story about the choices we make and how those choices help to make us. It is Marian Keyes at her funniest, wisest and brilliant best.

My Review of The Break

After two bereavements Hugh needs time to find himself again, but Amy might actually be the one needing to do so too.

I’m going to be totally honest and say that when I began The Break I was disappointed. For the first few pages it felt as if I was reading more about Marian Keyes’ own family than about Amy and Hugh and I kept thinking ‘Oh. I know why that is in there…’ and it felt as if too many characters were introduced in one go with too much description of clothing!

However, it was no time at all that I was completely swept up in the story and all my reservations had been abandoned as I became absorbed in exactly the kind of book I was expecting and wanting. From that shaky early point onwards I loved, loved, loved The Break. And those who know me will know that I must have enjoyed it as I spent quite a bit of the latter part of the story in tears – I adore an emotional read. I was relieved the chapters are so short as I found I needed a little ‘break’ of my own at times. They serve to make The Break fast paced so that it’s easy to get drawn in to reading just one more chapter! There’s also a deft touch of lightness with some very witty one liners and laugh aloud moments alongside the more emotional passages so that The Break feels perfectly balanced.

Along with her trademark ‘Irishness’, Marian Keyes always produces human, flawed characters that evoke a strong response in me as a reader and every person in The Break was as vivid as anyone I’ve met in real life. I hated Hugh to start with because of his effect on Amy, yet by the end of the book my attitude towards him had changed completely. As Amy’s personality is gradually revealed so Marian Keyes examines what love really is, what makes a marriage and how we are consumed by guilt, fear, hope and devotion to become rounded and fulfilled people. This is such skilled writing.

And it was the themes that I found so absorbing. The Break makes the reader consider what constitutes fidelity and betrayal, what makes a family and friendship so that as well as being an interesting story, there’s much to think about. There are some serious political topics covered too, although I don’t want to spoil the story by saying too much.

After a slow start when I wasn’t sure, I really, really enjoyed The Break. Reading it was a bit like running a bath with too hot water. Once I’d got the temperature right I sank in and wallowed in every glorious moment.

About Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes’ international bestselling novels include Rachel’s Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for Beginners, Angels, The Other Side of the Story, Anybody Out There, This Charming Man and The Woman Who Stole My Life. Three collections of her journalism, Under the Duvet, Further Under the Duvet and Making It Up as I Go Along, are also available from Penguin. Marian lives in Dublin with her husband.

You can find Marian on Facebook and Instagram and follow her on Twitter @MarianKeyes. Marian Keyes also has a wonderful website.