Where The Truth Lies by Julie Corbin

I must start with a warning, do not on any account start reading this book unless you have a few hours free. You immediately find yourself in the middle of a dramatic situation and the pace never halts, not for a minute, and it is impossible to stop reading. I made the mistake of starting this book during the wee small hours when I was unable to sleep – mistake, I got no sleep!

Claire’s young daughter is having a birthday party and appears to go missing. While Claire is concerned, her husband Jules overreacts, and she sees in his eyes that he is desperately worried. Bea turns up safely, but in that time, Claire knows there is something major going on with her husband, something she has no idea about to have made him react the way he did. Jules is off on business for a couple of days immediately after the incident, so Claire is unable to talk to him about it.

Jules is a lawyer and is currently working on the prosecution of a very bad man, a vicious man he has been trying to get behind bars for 20 years, Claire, used to be a lawyer before she decided to become a stay at home mum and move to Brighton. All her skills in investigation come to the fore when she decides to try to discover what is going on, and what she finds frightens her to her core. Her family is in danger and she will not sit by relying on others to deal with their situation.

This is fast, frightening and exciting. I really enjoyed the book and I was left breathless by the end, I felt I had been on such a journey with this family. How in one day a seemingly quiet ordinary family could suddenly be in danger of being torn apart, how every person in their lives has to be considered suspect until proven otherwise.

This is the 2^nd novel by Julie Corbin, I enjoyed her first one, and I shall certainly be waiting impatiently for her third. Highly recommended.

Fallen by Karin Slaughter

This is the 3^rd novel in the Georgia Series, by Karin Slaughter. Her 1sr series Grant County were about Dr Sarah Linton, and her husband, police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver. She then moved on to the 2 books about Will Trent, then the Georgia series in which the two previous series overlap. So I am pretty familiar with the main players when I start this book.

The book begins explosively, you are right there involved with the situation and holding your breath from the start, when Special Agent Faith Mitchell of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, arrives at her mother’s house to pick up her baby daughter. There she finds, bodies, blood and chaos, the entire house has been torn apart and destroyed. Faith finds two men still alive in the house, however there is no sign of her mother, Evelyn, who is an x Atlanta Police Chief. With the help of Will Trent (her work partner), Dr Sarah Linton and Amanda Wagner (Will and Faiths boss), they set out to find Evelyn.

They need to figure out what has happened and why, before they have a chance to find her. There appears to be a strong drug connection with the bodies they find at the house, and there is history between Will and Evelyn, as he investigated her old drug squad and they all ended up in jail except for Evelyn herself. Will is still unsure about her innocence in this matter, and this is a potential stumbling block, however Amanda, his boss, is her best friend, but plays her cards close to her chest.

The action is fast paced, as we all try to figure out what is happening and why, the story gets more and more confusing as nothing seems to make any sense. There is also some more personal issues going on in the background, some of which we are already aware of from previous books.

I would say that if you have read her previous books, you will not be disappointed, if you haven’t, and you enjoy a good police thriller, I would highly recommend the entire series. I am certainly waiting for the next one!

Picture Her Dead By Lin Anderson

  

This is the latest book in the series about Dr Rhona MacLeod, forensic scientist in Glasgow.

The book begins with the disappearance of a film student, Jude, while looking at old cinemas in the city. She is a friend of Rhona’s newly discovered son, who contacts her for help.  While looking into this case, she discovers more than any of them had anticipated, and the case takes on a new twist. Then she hears from an old colleague, and an old case resurrects its self.  The result is fast packed action with both cases, a race against time, dealing with unpleasant colleagues, and dealing with her past. We have the professional Doctor and the vulnerable woman, can you be too close to a case to see properly what is happening?

As usual I found the novel extremely irritating. Irritating because I was unable to simply sit down and read it all in the one go, I had to put it down from time to time to do other things, and would then be impatient to get back to it. You want to know how it all ends up, but don’t want the book to finish.

I so love when following a really good series of books, you get the latest one,  always with a little trepidation in case you are let down. But you start reading this book and remember the people and what has happened in previous books so clearly, and you realise that it has kept up the same high standards, it hasn’t slowed down or lost its edge at all, it’s is just fantastic!

If you haven’t yet discovered Lin Anderson and her creation Dr Rhona MacLeod………..Why not!!!!!!!!

Spirit Dances by C E Murphy

This book 6 of the Walker Papers; Seattle Detective Joanne Walker is a Shaman, and in the previous books we have travelled with her as she discovers this fact, and seen how she learned how to use her abilities. We have enjoyed getting to know her partner Billy who can see and communicate with certain ghosts, and her boss Captain Michael Morrison. 

This book begins with Joanne and Billy on a call out which results in Joanne having to shoot a woman in order to stop her killing Billy. Although there was no problem with the shooting, she has to go on 3 days leave while it is investigated. During this time she is given tickets to see a Native American dance group and she ends up taking Morrison. As could be expected it proved to be an interesting evening and the start of the main action of the book.

We move into new territory in this book with shapeshifting, Joanne actually begins to turn into a coyote during the concert, which does startle Morrison somewhat, but he handles it well! However when the last dancer drops dead, Joanne is unable to heal her, and then her heart starts to disintegrate in her chest, it become clear there is a strong magical presence and it is dangerous. The hunt is on. 

I love the way she evolves in each book as she becomes more familiar with her powers, and as her powers themselves evolve. There is all the excitement and action to be expected and the humour as always. There is a little case of the - will they won’t they - going on just for added interest.

It is a terrific series, and this is a terrific book, and I did read the last page with a great big gasp, my only question when is number 7 out?????

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

This book is both the story of Edie in the present and her mother in the past and their relationship with the 3 sisters living in Milderhurst Castle.

Edie’s mother was evacuated there during the war and lived with the sisters and their father till she was forced back to London. The book is basically about Edie unravelling the story of her mother, and getting to know the woman she has only ever known as a private and distant person.

I found it to be an atmospheric book, I wanted to go and visit the castle and feel what was described and meet the sisters. There were twists in the story as it unravelled, although to be honest I had guessed most of the story, I still enjoyed reading the book and seeing if I was right!

This isn’t a great book, but a very pleasant, good read.

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

This book really appealed to me as I enjoy books with a supernatural twist, and reading about the story felt it would be a good big book to get lost in.

The story revolves around Evangeline, who was abandoned on the steps of the St Rose Convent. While working there, and after a visit from a stranger looking for access to their library, she finds letters which uncover secrets to do with the her family and what sounds like bodies of angels found in a cave in the Bulgarian mountains.

One of the elderly nuns in the convent is able to tell her part of the secret, as she discovers that she has found the letters, and tells her of her experiences when she was young.

We also discover there are angels living alongside us, they simply have their wings tied back, and they have been both living and breeding with humans, creating a hybrid and there are some of them coming down with a strange disease. We also have a lengthy description of angels and the different types there are etc.

I started off intrigued by the prospect, but I must admit to losing interest and feeling there was a great chunk of the book that I found to be tedious and becoming like a history lesson. I persevered to the end, to find out how the story went, but it was, for me, a great disappointment. 

Annette Blair Skirting the Grave, book 4 of the Vintage Magic Mystery

I have read the first 3 books of this series, about Maddie who returns home to Mystic Falls to run her own Vintage clothes shop, called Vintage Magic. In the shop, which was previously a funeral home carriage house, there is a resident ghost, whom she can see and chat to. She can also tell the history of a garment when she touches it. 

She has her best friend Eve, her on/off boyfriend Nick (FBI agent) and Detective Sergeant Lytton Werner (because she always finds herself in the middle of trouble) Maddie has also discovered that her mother was a witch.

In this book, Maddie’s sister Brandy is  coming home to host a huge fund raiser, but making Maddie do all the work, at the same time she coerces Maddie into taking on a temp intern to learn her trade.

As usual there is a murder, plenty of twists and turns, mystery and mayhem. So if you enjoy a supernatural mystery with some romance thrown in, you will love this, I enjoy her easy style of writing and will be ready when book 5 comes out