BLOG TOUR: Urban Scarecrows by Jim Chambers

Title: Urban Scarecrows by Jim Chambers
Published by: SilverWood Books
Genre: Political Thriller
Amazon UK

Synopsis:

The Labour Party election victory of 2019 ushers into power a radical socialist government which swiftly mutates to a British form of totalitarian Marxism in its quest for social justice and equality. Dominic Green, a Labour Party activist and celebrity chef, is caught up in the economic and social crisis as the country lurches towards civil war.

Taunted by the jibes of his volatile Spanish wife, Rosa, he moves from denial to acceptance to opposition and becomes a totemic media figure in the struggles. His marriage is in terminal decline; Rosa cannot forgive his philandering or his support of the government. His family falls apart as Rosa leaves him and one son is incarcerated, whilst the other attempts to liberate his sibling. Labelled a turncoat terrorist he is hunted by the brutal SNPS state police whose attempts to subjugate the population includes ‘urban scarecrowing’.

Who can he trust as he goes on the run whilst assisting the resistance movement? Will Rosa forgive him as she tracks his public pronouncements and his efforts to free their son? Will Dominic escape the clutches of the SNPS as the net closes? Will international outrage translate into military intervention as sections of the armed forces rebel? And can Dominic survive and recover his relationship with Rosa and their surviving son?

BLOG TOUR: The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson

Title: The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson
Published by: HQ
Publication date: 7th July 2022
Genre: Crime & Thriller
Amazon UK

Synopsis:

In this room, no one can hear you scream…

The Serial Crimes Unit are called in to investigate when a local pastor is found stabbed to death. As DI Henley assesses the crime scene, she discovers a hidden door that conceals a room set up for torture – and bound to the bed in the middle of the room is the body of a man.

When another body is found, also tied down, Henley realises there’s someone out there torturing innocent people and leaving them for dead. But why?

There’s nothing that connects the victims. They didn’t know each other. Their paths never crossed. But someone has targeted them, and it’s up to Henley and the SCU to stop them before they find another binding room…

BLOG TOUR: We All Have Our Secrets by Jane Corry

Title: We All Have Our Secrets by Jane Corry
Published by: Penguin
Genre: Crime & Thriller
Format: Paperback
Amazon UK

Synopsis:

Two women are staying in Willowmead House.

One of them is running.
One of them is hiding.
Both of them are lying.

Emily made one bad decision, and now her career could be over. Her family home on the Cornish coast is the only place where she feels safe. But when she arrives, there’s a stranger living with her father. Emily doesn’t trust the beautiful young woman, convinced that she’s telling one lie after another. Soon, Emily becomes obsessed with finding out the truth…

But should some secrets stay buried forever?

BLOG TOUR: Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

Title: Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid
Published by: Del Rey
Genre: Fantasy/Horror
Format: Hardback
Amazon UK

Synopsis:

As the last true witches living in a city shifting from magic to industry, Marlinchen and her two sisters are little more than tourist traps as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate their tyrannical, xenophobic wizard father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. While at night, she and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theatre, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart.

But as Marlinchen’s late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father’s rage and magic. And while the city flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.

BLOG TOUR: Perfect: Stories of the Impossible by Sally Emerson

Title: Perfect: Stories of the Impossible by Sally Emerson
Published by: Quadrant Books
Genre: Supernatural/Thriller
Format: eARC
Amazon UK

Synopsis:

A clerk working in a public register office begins to receive death certificates dated in the future, but can she alter fate and save their victims? A woman unable to have children discovers a way of cloning her husband, but is their cloned son destined to repeat the mistakes of his father? A suburban mother is prescribed health supplements with rather amorous side-effects; can she resist its sway and keep her hands off her neighbours? 

Emerson’s beguiling tales of quotidian life invaded by forces beyond our control are both uncanny and charming, and ultimately uplifting as she celebrates reality and unreality in its many forms. Fantastical, humourous and unfailingly honest in its depiction of humanity, Perfect will stay with the reader long after they leave the magic of its pages.  

BLOG TOUR: Goering’s Gold by Richard O’Rawe

Title: Goering’s Gold by Richard O’Rawe
Published by: Melville House
Publication date: 31st May 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction/Crime & Thriller
Format: Paperback
Amazon UK – Waterstones

Synopsis:

When WWII ended, the allies discovered that a huge amount of gold bullion plundered by Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering had gone missing. Some believed the gold had been hidden in a train box car in Poland. Others that it was secreted in Lake Toplitz in the Austrian Alps. And a few thought it was buried in the Republic of Ireland, which was neutral during the war.

When ex-IRA soldier Ructions O’Hare stumbles on a piece of Nazi memorabilia once owned by Goering, he begins to think that those who suspect the gold was in Ireland just might be on to something.

But for Ructions to return to Ireland is easier said than done. For a start, the IRA is after him for not paying them a cut from a huge bank robbery he carried out in Belfast. And then there’s the Neo-Nazis, who believe that Goering’s gold rightfully belongs to them, and who are happy to kill anyone who gets in their way.

And as Ructions gathers clues to the gold’s location and, as his many adversaries realize he’s getting closer, it’s as if a noose is tightening around his neck…

BLOG TOUR: The Stealing by S.A. Sutila

Title: The Stealing by S.A. Sutila
Pages: 394
Published by: Advantage, Forbes Books
Publication date: 8th March 2022
Genre: Gothic/Paranormal/Romance
Format: eBook
Amazon UK

Synopsis:

She chose to die. Now she chooses to live. And love. But her spirit has been claimed by a dark presence.

Sarah Vise’s life is a literal dead-end street. Abandoned by her mother as a child, she lives on a coastal road to nowhere, working endless hours on her domineering father’s fishing boat in the shadow of a run-down lighthouse. As her high school graduation approaches, the end of the relentless monotony seems to be on the horizon. She is accepted into college and has an intriguing encounter with Grant Eriksen, the tall, blue-eyed neighbor who appears intent on making amends for past mistakes.

But when Sarah’s father forbids her from going away to college, she is forced to face a future without hope. Sarah decides to surrender her life to the sea.

Grant saves her from drowning, but that night her weakened spirit is carried to a dreamy afterlife world, where a handsome hunter-sage takes her under his wing. Sarah is happy to remain with him until she learns he is even more possessive and dangerous than the men in her “real” life.

To escape his clutches, she makes a terrible bargain. He will return her to the life she now so desperately desires. She will be free to follow her heart, but only for a while. The clock is ticking.

Once she fulfills her end of the bargain, he will steal her spirit again. Forever.

BLOG TOUR: The Soul Stealer by Graham Masterton

Title: The Soul Stealer by Graham Masterton
Pages: 384
Published by: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 3rd March 2022
Genre: Horror
Format: eBook
Amazon UK – Waterstones

Synopsis:

Nemo Frisby used to be a detective. Now he drives an Uber between billionaire mansions in California. But he never lost the nose for the case – and when his housecleaner Trinity Fox discovers a young woman lying dead in her neighborhood, she persuades him to help her prove it wasn’t suicide.

Their investigation leads them to the Bel Air home of a wealthy movie producer, who built his mansion over an American Indian burial site. Ancient mythology tells of a demon who, if unearthed, can imbue evil men with terrible power. But only if the demon is fed by the sacrifice of innocent lives…

BLOG TOUR: The Key In The Lock by Beth Underdown

Title: The Key In The Lock by Beth Underdown
Pages: 288
Published by: Viking
Publication date: 13th January 2022
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Format: Paperback
Amazon UK – Waterstones

Synopsis:

‘I still dream, every night, of Polneath on fire…’

By day, Ivy Boscawen mourns the loss of her son Tim in the Great War. But by night she mourns another boy – one whose death decades ago haunts her still.

For Ivy is sure that there is more to what happened all those years ago: the fire at the Great House, and the terrible events that came after. A truth she must uncover, if she is ever to be free.