Category: reviews

March 1941. Joseph Gunner is back on the streets of Glasgow after being wounded on the front lines in France.

Keeping the pain in his leg at bay with the help of morphine, Gunner, a former detective, is hoping to lie low as the Luftwaffe begins bombing Glasgow.

But when he runs into his old boss Drummond, he is persuaded to help examine a body found in the wreckage. When it turns out to be that of a German, mutilated to disguise his identity, Gunner reluctantly agrees to investigate.

As he begins to hunt for the truth Gunner runs into old flames and bitter enemies, before finding himself embroiled in a high-level conspiracy that reaches far beyond his hometown of Glasgow.

This was very kindly sent to me as a proof last year by the lovely folk at Baskerville and was sat on a shelf waiting to be read for far too long. I swear I am a good book blogger, honest. I get to them eventually.

I took it on holiday with me recently and was hooked immediately. It’s flipping brilliant. I’m annoyed with myself that I put this off for so long.  Don’t make the same mistake!

I’m not usually a historical fiction kinda guy, but absolutely loved this one. Joseph Gunner is back from the war, discharged due to his horrific injuries on the front line in France, and now back in Glasgow. Fresh off the train he’s approached by his old boss Drummond, who wants him to look into something odd involving a body that turned up after a bombing raid. 

What exactly is a mutilated German doing amongst the bodies found in the rubble? Conspiracies abound. I loved the gritty feel of wartime Glasgow, there’s a real sense of place as we follow Gunner down the streets as he investigates.

Joe Gunner is a brilliant character and I absolutely cannot wait to find out what happens next. Book 2 will NOT even get close to the bookshelf before being read immediately, and the only benefit of my laxity in reading book one is that I will not have long to wait.

Highly recommended.

Gunner by Alan Parks is published by Baskerville and is out now in paperback. Many thanks to the publisher for the advance copy for review. Opinions remain, as ever, my own.

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In modern day Vienna, city of spies, American Sterling Lockwood is the loyal Concierge & Keeper of Secrets at the infamous Hotel Orient, a love hotel where cameras are banned, aliases are required, and every guest has a secret.

After the double murder of two guests, including a tech mogul building an Austrian surveillance state, Sterling has to turn detective. But finding the truth will require breaking the Orient’s sacred code of secrecy, while keeping a few secrets of her own. The police struggle when modern investigative technology proves useless at the old-fashioned hotel. Because clients use aliases, pay cash, and stay mere hours, all suspects have vanished.

Sterling agrees to assist alongside her best friend and colleague Fernando, if only to avoid arrest and fight suspicion regarding her own movements that night. As enemies close in, she risks everything to solve a case haunted by the past in a city with a fetish for nostalgia.

It’s a world of secrets, the Hotel Orient. A world where you can do what you will, where names are discouraged, where pleasures are taken (with consent, naturally), phones left at the door, and where your host Sterling Lockwood will look after your every whim. It’s a gloriously decadent setting, oozing with glamour, secrets and champagne, of course. With a side order of murder, naturally. Who would be so… gauche as to do the deed? It’s up to Sterling to find out. One can’t let the good name of the Hotel Orient be besmirched in such a fashion, can one?

The book is fabulous, I adored Sterling, smart, witty and pithy. I also loved her stiff-upper-lipped police nemesis Andreas and watching them gradually, oh so very gradually start to succumb to Sterling’s charms.

And of course Serafina. But you’ll need to read the book to find out more about her. Vienna itself plays a huge role in the book too, and it was fascinating to wander the streets and clubs and bars and soak up the atmosphere. We’re back to the ‘give a book a good sense of place and make me a happy boy’ thing.

I hope we get to see much more of the Hotel Orient and her concierge/keeper of secrets. Because I feel that there are a LOT more secrets to be peeled away.

Get this on your lists for next year kids. And remember, Sterling is watching, and will know if you’ve been naughty or nice. As to which she prefers, well you’ll have to wait and see…

Highly recommended.

Murder at the Hotel Orient by Alessandra Ranelli is published by Baskerville in May 2026. Many thanks to the publisher for an advance copy for review, and to Alessandra for inviting me to take part in the publicity shenanigans in Harrogate!

Canada, 1898. The Gold Rush is on in the frozen wilderness of the Yukon. Fortunes are made as quickly as they’re lost, and Dawson City has become a lawless settlement.

In its midst, three women are trying to find their place on the edge of civilisation. Journalist Kate, along with her dog Yukon, has travelled hundreds of miles after receiving a letter from her sister warning that her husband means to kill her. Martha’s hotel and livelihood are under threat from the local strongman, who is set on buying up the town. And down by the river, where gold shimmers from between the rocks, Ellen feels her future slip away as her husband fails to find the fortune they risked so much to seek.

When a woman is found murdered, Kate, Martha and Ellen find their lives, fates and fortunes intertwined. But to unmask her killer, they must navigate a desperate land run by dangerous men who will do anything for a glimpse of gold…

Well, regular readers around these parts, or anyone who has innocently asked ‘read any good books recently?’ will know how much I adore Beth’s books. And luckily for you, dear reader, The Rush is both out now in paperback, and utterly brilliant (as per usual).

Three women’s lives in the gold rush collide. You emerge blinking into the sunlight almost feeling the grit under your fingernails from the trail, sunburnt from the environment, looking over your shoulder to see if that man has an itchy trigger finger, and is that a glimmer of gold over there?

It’s so refreshing to read a book with so many strong female leads. Kate, the journalist, travelling the Yukon trail to find her sister who has written to say her husband is going to kill her. Martha, hotel owner and madam, whose girls look after the men, but is under threat from the local hard man. And Ellen, whose husband is convinced that gold is just around the bend of the river.

Great characters, and a plot that finds these three incredible women’s lives coming together. It’s a historical murder mystery, it’s a book about the lives of the women in the Yukon, it’s about the gold rush. What more could you want?

Oh, and there’s a dog called Yukon. We love dogs.

Stunning. If you’ve not read any of Beth’s books yet, you’ve been missing out (and ignoring me).

Start here! Go buy a copy!

I loved it so much I bought myself the beautiful shiny hardback, but the new paperback is possibly even more gorgeous…

The Rush by Beth Lewis is published by Viper (many thanks for the early ebook copy for review, sorry it took so long…) and is out now in paperback. Which you’d already know if you’ve read this far.

Opinions remain, as ever, my own. Now, go buy the book…

In a brand new country, ruled by the most famous of its citizens, visibility is all that matters. But if Tamsin doesn’t act quickly, neither she nor her best friend Charlotte will ever be seen again.

Tamsin, a reclusive engineer, is the only viewer who can see where Charlotte’s ‘hot new reality show’ is heading – the finale will be the end of her.

To get near the film set, Tamsin’s only option is to put her shyness aside and build herself a sensational backstory, a springboard of lies that will propel her all the way to the infamous People’s Republic of Love.

But she does not understand how this country works, with its intoxicating blend of power and popularity. The Republic will give you everything you’ve ever wanted… if you hand over your whole self in return.

Now I’ve been a fan of Heather Child’s books for a long time. I loved Everything About You, and The Undoing of Arlo Knott. So it was with no small amount of excitement that I saw that she had a new book coming out, and having squeaked excitedly about it, was offered an ebook to review by the publisher.

Naturally I jumped at the chance to get my grubby bookblogger paws on a copy of the intriguingly-titled The People’s Republic of Love.

In this hyper-connected world of ‘influencers’ (gah, I hate that term), what would happen if they all took off and set up their own country on a tropical island (where else?), where entry requirements included follower count or reach?

Charlotte is invited to take part in a reality show – think of a combination of Big Brother, with devious tasks thrown in. People play to win, but the challenges are getting oddly personal to Charlotte, and old fears seem to play an increasingly large part. Charlotte’s friend Tamsin is watching, but can see that her friend is struggling, so has to engineer a way into The People’s Republic of Love to try and save her. Who is tormenting Charlotte, and why? And what can Tamsin do about it?

It’s a chilling view into a world that’s all too close to what we see now, where influencers vie for views, and some will do anything to get them. It’s also an indictment of greed and a cracking page-turner of a thriller. Loved it.

The People’s Republic of Love by Heather Child is published by SRL Publishing in March 2026. Many thanks to the publisher for the ebook copy for review.

You can get a copy of The People’s Republic of Love from the publisher here.

Jamie Tulloch and Sam Li never intended to be spies. Jamie, a former exec at a tech company, found himself caught up in a mission and discovered a taste for the secret world while Sam, a burnt-out corporate lawyer, was unexpectedly talent spotted by MI5. When both are plunged into covert training, they find themselves pitted against each other for their final evaluation – Exercise Red Poacher.

Every year, MI6 trainees must evade capture, infiltrate sensitive sites and report back with the right intel, while their peers at MI5 try to stop them. But things take a sinister turn when they witness the apparent murder of one of their fellow recruits. Is it all part of the exercise? Or is someone trying to weaponise this game of spies into something far more deadly?

I absolutely loved David Goodman’s first book, the superb A Reluctant Spy (one of my books of the year for 2024 and winner of the Old Peculier McDermid Debut Award and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize), about which I said:

Properly good spy novel to keep you up at night reading just one more chapter. Edge-of-your-seat action, and a cracking plot. Goodman is one to watch.

Well friends, watch him I did (and met him at Harrogate last summer, and at Stockport Noir in January), and he’s back with the sequel, Solitary Agents, a short review of which, might read something like

Another properly good spy novel to keep you up at night reading just one more chapter. Edge-of-your-seat action, and a cracking plot. Goodman is still one to watch.

OK, fine.

Following on from the (mis)adventures of everyone’s favourite not-quite spy Jamie Tulloch, we find him here having signed up to do the job properly. Naturally, things start going awry fairly quickly, and Jamie finds himself on the run from MI5. What follows is a properly good spy novel…

Look, it is! It’s really really good. Properly tense, fantastic characters, some absolutely superb action and a growing sense of dread that Jamie, whilst now trained up, is rapidly heading out of his depth, and the sharks are sensing blood and starting to circle.

I loved the first book a lot. And the second is even better. If you like spy thrillers, or just thrillers, or just damn good adventure stories, David Goodman needs to be firmly on your lists.

Highly recommended. Get yourself a copy of The Reluctant Spy now (out in paperback from your friendly local indie bookshop, bookshop.org) and catch up with Jamie’s adventures before Solitary Agents hits the shelves in June.

Thank me later.

Solitary Agents by David Goodman is published by Headline in June 2026. Many thanks to the publisher for the advance copy of David Goodman’s book for review.

In modern day Vienna, city of spies, American Sterling Lockwood is the loyal Concierge & Keeper of Secrets at the infamous Hotel Orient, a love hotel where cameras are banned, aliases are required, and every guest has a secret.

After the double murder of two guests, including a tech mogul building an Austrian surveillance state, Sterling has to turn detective. But finding the truth will require breaking the Orient’s sacred code of secrecy, while keeping a few secrets of her own. The police struggle when modern investigative technology proves useless at the old-fashioned hotel. Because clients use aliases, pay cash, and stay mere hours, all suspects have vanished.

Sterling agrees to assist alongside her best friend and colleague Fernando, if only to avoid arrest and fight suspicion regarding her own movements that night. As enemies close in, she risks everything to solve a case haunted by the past in a city with a fetish for nostalgia.

It was some time ago that the first whispered words about the Hotel Orient first made their way to me. A mysterious author in a red dress at Harrogate, a series of cryptic posts on Instagram. The game, as a certain detective liked to say, was afoot.

Fast forward to Harrogate, July 2025. A bunch of bloggers and readers furtively picked up their hand-labelled bags from the reception at the Old Swan Hotel. A note from Sterling Lockwood, Concierge (and keeper of secrets) at the Hotel Orient was within.

We gathered, at Sterling’s request, in the lobby.

Then set out across the festival to spread the word. The Hotel Orient would be open for business very soon. And you’re all invited, darlings.

Fast forward once again to October, and a copy of Murder at the Hotel Orient dropped into my lap. Well, my kindle anyway. I dived in.

It’s a world of secrets, the Hotel Orient. A world where you can do what you will, where names are discouraged, where pleasures are taken (with consent, naturally), phones left at the door, and where your host Sterling Lockwood will look after your every whim. It’s a gloriously decadent setting, oozing with glamour, secrets and champagne, of course. With a side order of murder, naturally. Who would be so… gauche as to do the deed? It’s up to Sterling to find out. One can’t let the good name of the Hotel Orient be besmirched in such a fashion, can one?

The book is fabulous, I adored Sterling, smart, witty and pithy. I also loved her stiff-upper-lipped police nemesis Andreas and watching them gradually, oh so very gradually start to succumb to Sterling’s charms.

And of course Serafina. But you’ll need to read the book to find out more about her. Vienna itself plays a huge role in the book too, and it was fascinating to wander the streets and clubs and bars and soak up the atmosphere. We’re back to the ‘give a book a good sense of place and make me a happy boy’ thing.

I hope we get to see much more of the Hotel Orient and her concierge/keeper of secrets. Because I feel that there are a LOT more secrets to be peeled away.

Get this on your lists for next year kids. And remember, Sterling is watching, and will know if you’ve been naughty or nice. As to which she prefers, well you’ll have to wait and see…

Highly recommended.

Murder at the Hotel Orient by Alessandra Ranelli is published by Baskerville in May 2026. Many thanks to the publisher for an advance copy for review, and to Alessandra for inviting me to take part in the publicity shenanigans in Harrogate!

HIGH PRESSURE OUTSIDE
On a boat heading out into the North Sea, Ellen Brooke steels herself to spend almost a month working underwater with five other divers. It is a close knit team and it has to be: any error or loss of trust in the living quarters could be catastrophic.

EXTREME PRESSURE INSIDE
All is going to plan until one of the divers is found unresponsive in his bunk. He hadn’t left the chamber. It will take four more days of decompression, locked away together, before the hatch can be opened. Four more days of wondering if one among you is a killer. The constant struggle not to give way to panic. Because if someone does unlock the door, everyone dies…

Well, this is a little embarrassing. I read The Chamber some time ago and realised that not only had I not written up my review (sorry Will), but that the book is now out in paperback with a new name, One At A Time.

In my defence, it’s probably taken me this long to get over the book. Will Dean has done a variety of locked-location mysteries over the years, from his little snowy town of Gavrick with his Tuva Moodyson series, but has taken this to a little extreme in this case, with possibly the smallest locked-room mystery I’ve ever read! Can you get any smaller than a hyperbaric chamber?

Six deep sea divers are on a job in the North Sea. They’re locked in a hyperbaric chamber and sent down to the sea bed to work, but before long there’s a death. And there are only five suspects…

And of course, they’re all in the same room, living on top of each other. It’ll take days to decompress safely, but can they last that long?

Suffice it to say, this is not a book for the claustrophobic. Incredibly tense, the paranoia and mind games at play make this a must finish in one sitting book. As someone with family in the navy, I think it added an extra level of nail-biting tension for me!

Absolutely brilliant. Read it, if you dare…

The Chamber / One At A Time by Will Dean is published by Hodder and is out now. Many thanks to the publisher for an advance copy for review via NetGalley.

I bought my hardback copy at The Rabbit Hole in Brigg where they hosted Will Dean doing a reading and signing. You can get a copy via bookshop.org here.

Welcome to the true-crime controversy that’s divided the media for the last twenty years. To discover the truth, we need to delve back into the past…



THEN: In June 1999, the last five prisoners at HMP Panbrook were killed just before the prison closed its doors for the final time. Anna Kendall, the nurse accused of their murders, died before the case went to court. Her motive and guilt have never been proven.



NOW: The Panbrook Prison Hotel is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Hotel manager Madeleine Batten is determined to discover what happened there twenty years earlier. But as the prison’s dark secrets are gradually exposed, danger lurks in the shadows. And someone is determined to keep the truth locked away.

I loved this. I’m already a huge fan of Victoria Goldman’s books – her Shanna Regan mysteries (The Redeemer and The Associate) are both fantastic. I was delighted to catch up with Victoria at Harrogate over the summer and discover that she’d written another book (hurrah!) and that it was a standalone locked room mystery set in a former prison turned luxury hotel.

I was, to say the very least, intrigued.

Reader, I was not disappointed. It’s a lovely slow burn of a book, packed with an assortment of suspects who will keep you guessing while you try and figure out what’s going on. The dual timeline narrative, hopping back to 1999 and the story of the nurse Anna Kendall, is nicely played out adding more layers to be unpicked. Finding out more about Anna and the five prisoners who died was fascinating.

The prison is as much a character in the story as the people are. It’s a strange place, even in its present renovated state as a rather unique hotel. I’m not sure I’d be rushing to stay there (and definitely not after the events of the book!). It’s almost as dangerous now as it was back in the 90s. Regular readers of this blog and my reviews will know that I absolutely love a story with a real sense of place, and this book absolutely has that.

I thought I’d figured out at least one of the twists but as ever, I’m not as clever as I think I am!

Locked room mystery, strange murders, spooky prison, cracking plot. What more could you want from a book?

Highly recommended.

Little Secrets by Victoria Goldman is published by Three Crowns Publishing. You can get a copy on Amazon here. Many thanks to the author for sending an advance ebook copy for review. Many apologies to the author for taking so long to actually write the review. Sorry Victoria!

THE SETTING
The body of a bookseller is discovered, lying in a pool of blood in his Bristol bookshop. Police have one question: how did the man meet such a violent, murderous end in this peaceful place?

THE CONFLICT
DS Cross’s ability to dismiss red herrings is challenged by a worrying development in his personal life. Hopelessly distracted, he needs to rely on those around him in a way he has never been comfortable doing before.

THE MURDER PLOT
It may be a quiet profession, but it’s full of passionate, ambitious characters who know the value of a rare book. Their extensive reading means they also know how to get away with murder.

But is that enough to fool the tenacious DS George Cross?

The Bookseller marks the seventh instalment in Tim Sullivan’s series featuring the brilliant but eccentric Bristol-based DS George Cross. It’s the first one that I’ve read, but the title grabbed me and I dived right in.

A bookseller is found dead in his antique bookshop in a pool of blood. But who would want the quiet old gent dead? Turns out there are quite a few…

I really enjoyed this book. DS Cross is a fascinating character, able to pick out the tiniest of clues from a scene, but struggling to relate to other people due to his autism. The intermix of the crisis in his home life clashing against the murder case was nicely done against the backdrop of the rare book business. I had fun trying to figure out who might have been the culprit, though Sullivan throws in plenty of red herrings along the way!

Needless to say I was not successful in my sleuthing (good job I’m not a detective, eh?) but did spot some of the clues along the way. There’s a nice gentle humour at times in the book too, which added to my enjoyment of the story.

It may be the latest book in the series, but one which can be enjoyed as a standalone, and I will definitely be delving into DS Cross’s back catalogue of cases!

The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan is published by Aries and is out now. Many thanks to the publisher for an advance ebook copy to review via NetGalley.

SOHO, 1935.
SERGEANT LEON GEATS’ PATCH.

A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code.

The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another young woman who topped herself early.

But Geats – a good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at bay – knows the dark seams of the city.

Working with his former partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer – a decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both men in ways they could never expect.

A couple of years ago I heard about this fabulous book that everyone was talking about. I picked up a hardback copy, fully intending to read it next.

Then it sat on the shelf, cos it’s a BIG book. I picked up a copy on kindle, fully intending to read that. Bookblogger friends on the socials cheered, as I had to read it, it was so good.

[time passes]

Suddenly it seems that Dominic Nolan had another book out. Surely I hadn’t had it that long?

Reader, I had. A not-so-gentle nudge by Liz Barnsley (source of 90% of my book recommendations and a scourge on my wallet) had me off to the shelves to retrieve my copy. It was a Sunday morning, around 10am. This might take me a while, at nearly 600 pages Vine Street is a beast.

I put the book down at around 10pm, having spent a huge chunk of the day immersed in the murky world of Sgt Leon Geats.

My review: I read a six hundred page book in a day, pausing occasionally only to make a fresh cup of tea as the previous one had gone cold.

It’s phenomenally good. It oozes atmosphere, you can almost feel the grit and grime of the streets coming off the page. Geats is an incredible character, but only one of a whole cast who are all brilliantly realised. They’re not all nice people, but they all feel so very much… alive. The story pans out over three timelines covering some 67 years, and it’s just glorious.

And there’s a cat.

Don’t do what I did. Get a copy (or get it off your shelf if you already have it), clear the decks, stock up on tea and biscuits and settle in for a book that will feature very highly on my books of the year list.

Sorry it took me so long, Dom. It was very much worth the wait.

Vine Street by Dominic Nolan is published by Headline and is out now

Find a copy on bookshop.org