Book review: The Italian Correspondent by Belinda Alexandra I harp on and on about the fact I don't read historical fiction. But I just read historical fiction. ON PURPOSE! And I very much enjoyed The Italian Correspondent by Belinda Alexandra. I'm helping with reviews / interview questions for someone and they gave me a selection of books and I chose this one because the other options included non-fiction, rural romance and fantasy novels.

I very much enjoyed The Italian Correspondent by Belinda Alexandra, historical fiction set in post WWII Italy offering up romance and intrigue. #bookreview

Book review: Come Back to Me by Sara Foster Come Back to Me by Sara Foster is a release or reprint of her 2010 debut novel. I've read several of Foster's books but discovered her after this was published. The events here come about thanks to a bizarre act of fate and what ensues could potentially be a second chance, and a time to do the right thing this time around...

Come Back to Me by Sara Foster is a book about relationships, past secrets and a life lived in limbo. #bookreview

Book review: No Good Deed by Katherine Kovacic No Good Deed by Katherine Kovacic is aptly named as it centres around a retired woman travelling Australia who comes across a burning car and stops to help and prevent the fire spreading to surrounding bushland. Unfortunately there's a very crispy dead body inside the vehicle and Rena's presence at the scene and subsequent interest in the case means she comes under some suspicion by the police when it becomes obvious the man's death preceded the fire and the driver was once known to Rena.

In No Good Deed by Katherine Kovacic, a recent retiree struggling with grief comes across a burning car and a body of someone she knew decades before. #bookreview

Book review: Family Lies by Karen Rose Family Lies by Karen Rose is apparently the 33rd romantic suspense novel written by the American author and fourth in her San Diego series. I was an avid reader of Rose back in the early 2000s when I visited my local library twice weekly. Coincidentally the last book I've read of hers, Cheater, was part of this series, though I'd not remembered any of the characters or backstory.

Family Lies by Karen Rose sees the return of detective Kit McKittrick, here trying to understand a series of murders linked to her foster sister. #bookreview

Book review: Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughan Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughan is the fourth book I've read by Vaughan, best known for Anatomy of a Scandal which was made into a series on Netflix. This centres around a family gathered for the 70th birthday of a renowned children’s author amid threats to that author–promising to reveal long-buried secrets that could potentially destroy her career and life–and her three adult daughters all grappling with secrets of their own.

Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughan features a famous children's author - about to celebrate her 70th birthday amid emails threatening to reveal secrets about her past that will destroy her.

Book review: Click by Sarah Bailey Click by Sarah Bailey is a sequel to her 2021 book The Housemate where we first met Olive (Oli) Groves. Apparently I wasn't alone in wanting to see more of the tenacious but likeable journalist as Bailey has resurrected that character in her new thriller.

Click by Sarah Bailey sees the return of journalist Oli Groves who we met in The Housemate, here given a personal crisis while investigating a series of gruesome murders.

Book review: It’s Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh It's Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh is another unexpected read from the English author. Her debut I Let You Go was a very memorable book for me and in my review I comment on almost dropping my iPad into the bathtub (where I read) as the midway plot twist was sooooo shocking with limited foreshadowing. On starting this I assumed I was about to read a book about a cheating partner who gets his comeuppance, with the victim / partner becoming a key suspect...

It's Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh is a very twisty thriller which will keep readers guessing. #bookreview

Book review: The Move by JP Delaney The Move by JP Delaney is another edge-of-your-seat 'I can't believe they did that' type thriller. The Crowther family think they've hit the jackpot with their dream house (albeit one that needs some work) in the countryside and very welcoming neighbours and a friendly community, until things turn sour and their neighbours are far from welcoming and community far from friendly.

In The Move by JP Delaney we meet a family who are welcomed into a small community until their secrets start to be revealed. #bookreview.

Book review: The Shark by Emma Styles I met Aussie-raised England-dwelling Emma Styles in person when I attended Theakston Crime Writing Festival a few years ago, but The Shark is the first novel I've read of hers. I had heard of her debut... No Country For Girls of course, which was well-received by readers and much lauded by critics.

In The Shark by Emma Styles two young women with differing motives set about to uncover a serial killer known as the 'Shark'. #bookreview

Book review: Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz is the 11th in the series featuring Orphan X aka Nowhere Man aka Evan Smoak, and this is one of my favourite series. Here Hurwitz flexes all of his usual high-tech armoury bells and whistles but in the background Evan is continuing to morph from the cold assassin preferring his own company, to someone who can no longer hide that he's come to care for those in his life.

In Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz Orphan X / the Nowhere Man is on trail of a group who kidnapped and attacked a young woman. #bookreview

Book review: When I Kill You by BA Paris When I Kill You by BA Paris is a twisty thriller featuring a woman who believes her past has come back to haunt her. For Nell has not always been Nell, and over a dozen years earlier 19-year old Elle witnessed a young woman being snatched off the street. She became obsessed with the person she believed to be guilty of the girl's murder...

In When I Kill You by BA Paris a woman is sure her stalker is related to an incident that took place years earlier and reflected very badly on her. #bookreview

Book review: What She Saw by Mary Burton What She Saw by Mary Burton is an enjoyable read that unfolds in two timelines. We're taken back 30+years ago to the lead-up to small-town music festival and the days (weeks) following, and in the present we're with writer Sloane as she unpicks the past. We learn fairly quickly that she's got a personal interest in the case–featuring a killer dubbed the Mountain Music Festival Killer–so perhaps more dogged in her pursuit than she might otherwise be trying to learn the truth.

In What She Saw by Mary Burton, a writer revisits the murder of four women at a small town music festival over 30 years earlier. #bookreview

Book review: What the Bones Know by Kirstyn McDermott I must admit to almost putting What the Bones Know by Kirstyn McDermott aside. There's a haunting / mystical element to it and I hate books that dip into the supernatural as logic tends to go out the window which was slightly the case here. However there was enough of the 'tangible' elements of mystery/suspense to keep me contented, allowing me to skim the more fantastic elements.

In What the Bones Know by Kirstyn McDermott, Jude returns to her family home to check on her mother and is reminded of a long-buried secret. #bookreview

Book review: The Girls Before by Kate Alice Marshall The Girls Before by Kate Alice Marshall is a twisty and addictive read. It opens with a search and rescue team on the trail of a missing toddler... who's thankfully found and there are #nospoilers there as that's unrelated to the rest of the book 😉 . It is however while searching on private property (where she shouldn't be) that school counsellor and search and rescue volunteer Audrey finds 'witch beads' (a talisman of sorts used by teens to ward off a local legend).

Book review: The Girls Before by Kate Alice Marshall is centred around the disappearance of young women in a small community, years apart.

Book review: Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant is the first book I've read by the English author since 2018. I absolutely loved her very twisty Under Your Skin, which I read over a decade ago. Here 51-year old journalist Matt is staying in a guest cottage in Greece after losing his job and girlfriend when he becomes embroiled in a love triangle (or is that rectangle?) involving long-term friends, Adam and Celia, and a mega-rich newcomer to their usually peaceful seaside haven.

In Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant a recently-unemployed man stays in friends' holiday cottage in an idyllic summer that is anything but. #bookreview

ARC review: The Gambler by JP Pomare The Gambler by JP Pomare is the second of the Kiwi-born author's books to feature PI Vince Reid. I was one of those who read The Wrong Woman in 2022 and commented that I liked him and would love to see him again and... voila, Pomare reinvigorates him 18 months after the events of the previous outing (albeit four years in human-years).

PI Vince Reid is back in The Gambler by JP Pomare, trying to discover why a seemingly normal woman would go to a political rally and shoot a young woman.

Book review: And The Corpse Wore Tartan by Stuart MacBride And The Corpse Wore Tartan by Stuart MacBride is apparently officially the second in the 'Steel and Tufty' series, though MacBride points out it's the first to solely feature DS (demoted from DCI) Roberta Steel who's a regular in the Logan McRae books penned by the Scottish author. MacBride tells us he started this as a novella just before the first Covid lockdown so it's simmered for a while before becoming a short novel.

In And The Corpse Wore Tartan by Stuart MacBride DS Robbie Steel gatecrashes a wedding and then if forced to solve a murder with a killer hangover. #bookreview

Book review: Papercut by Rachel Taff Papercut by Rachel Taff features a woman who found infamy as a teenager, committing murder to escape a cult. It's a heavily textured read, set twenty years later as Lucy continues to 'live off' the proceeds of her memoir and appearances at 'true crime' events. She's keeping secrets however, telling us she's worried they'll come out and Taff sets this up so readers are in suspense wondering what are or - in my case - how bad they may be, and being joined by Lucy (years later) discovering some she wasn't aware of and twists we didn't see coming.

In Papercut by Rachel Taff, a teenager achieves infamy after committing a murder to escape a cult and she's living off the proceeds of that years later when new evidence of those events are uncovered.

PI Spenser is back in Robert B Parker's Showdown by Mike Lupica, here trying to discover if a racist podcaster fathered a son to a Guatemalan immigrant. #bookreview

Book review: The Missing by Fleur McDonald The Missing by Fleur McDonald is the second in a loosely linked series based in Kalgoorlie. I don't tend to get review books from McDonald's new publisher so only belatedly read both only weeks apart. We met a few of the characters here in The Prospect though I really only remembered Jack, a police officer who (grudgingly) took a demotion to accompany his journalist partner to a new job.

In The Missing by Fleur McDonald we're introduced to Kalgoorlie's newest detective, the likeable Angie Sullivan, here on the case of a missing boy. #bookreview

ARC review: The Shadow Friends by Tess Gerritsen I must confess I let The Shadow Friends by Tess Gerritsen leapfrog over all of the books in my reading list on its arrival, despite it not being published until August 2026 because I love this Martini Club series so much. I think in my first review I talked about it being akin to the 'Thursday Murder Club on speed'. Thanks to the fact that all five members of this 'club' are ex-CIA, all with their own set of skills, which have only dulled a little in the decades since their retirement.

I'm so loving the Martini Club series by Tess Gerritsen which I describe as the Thursday Murder Club on speed. #bookreview

Book review: The Redline by Adrian Hyland The Redline by Adrian Hyland is the third in the series featuring small-town cop Jesse Redpath. I hadn't realised when I started but the lead characters felt familiar so I checked and could see I'd read the second book in the series. And. I. Made. The. Exact. Same. Error. In. Judgement! I don't know what it says about me but again...

Small town cop Jesse Redpath is back in The Redline by Adrian Hyland which opens with the death of a colleague. #bookreview

Book review: The Pact by Lisa Walker The Pact by Lisa Walker is a book about writers and writing... which always appeals to me. However, anyone who's done the Camino de Santiago walking trail or wants to do it will very certainly love this because it's narrated by Tess, a writer walking the Camino to reconnect with former friends, albeit with the aim of seeking vengeance on those she holds responsible for ruining her life.

In The Pact by Lisa Walker four former study group members reunite to walk the Camino de Santiago walking trail, bringing up secrets from their past which ended in tragedy. #bookreview

Book review: Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan was a mixed bag for me. I didn't particularly like either of our two lead characters.... though Hannigan doesn't try to make them particularly sympathetic or likeable. And the plot itself felt a little disjointed. At times it felt obvious where it was heading and who was responsible for the disappearance of 9 year old Roisin (I should mention the book's title doesn't help), but then we'd be given new information that was inconsistent with what we thought we knew or what we were told.

In Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan the sister of a missing girl reinvestigates her disappearance twenty years later. #bookreview

Book review: Dark Desert Road by Tim Ayliffe I enjoyed Dark Desert Road by Tim Ayliffe much more than I expected. I'd worried a little it would be centred around 'preppers', 'cookers' or conspiracy theorists and get bogged down in their beliefs and actions, and though it is a little, it's not the focus of the book. Rather it's more a game of cat and mouse as a young woman tries to avoid a death sentence after seeing something she shouldn't.

Dark Desert Road by Tim Ayliffe is an action-packed thriller about conspiracy theorists and a reminder to be careful about who we 'get into bed' with. #bookreview

Book review: The Last Party by AR Torre Wow, what a head-spin The Last Party by AR Torre turned out to be. Much of the book seems frustratingly obvious. We're given an incredibly unlikeable character who we learn, loves to lie, is jealous of her husband's affection for their daughter and .... (wait for it), intends on killing her daughter and two friends to replicate a famous murder from over two decades earlier, casting doubt on that killer's innocence, freeing him so he can be beholden to her.

In The Last Party by AR Torre we're forced to wonder, how far would someone go to get the attention of a killer?

Book review: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth is another I missed getting during the year for review, so I only read it belatedly during my brief Christmas sojourn. 81-year-old Elsie is a bit like a character out of a Fredrick Backman book. Sassy and grouchy to all except her long-time friend Daphne and Pete, a neighbour. We learn she's lived on Kenny Lane for 60 years and it's a microcosm of sorts and also includes a single mother and her rowdy 7-year-old daughter, and the litigious Joan who's constantly slipping notes under Elsie's door complaining about one thing or another.

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth tells the tragic story of a young girl laden with a moniker and reputation she certainly did not deserve but becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. #bookreview

Book review: Our Last Resort by Clémence Michallon I loved The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon. The tone of the book itself beguiled me and I note (in my review) I comment on a sense of ponderance. I didn't enjoy her latest release Our Last Resort quite as much but it does offer the same weighty themes and take place amidst a sense of impending doom. Unfolding in three different timelines Michallon again slowly drip-feeds facts from the past into the present, with Frida our narrator torn between a kindredness she feels towards her chosen-brother Gabriel and the impact that a childhood characterised by coercion, control and thwarted trust has going into adulthood.

In Our Last Resort by Clémence Michallon, brother and sister (who escaped a cult 15 years earlier) become suspects in a murder. #bookreview

2025 in books I've already shared my 'Favourite new release books of 2025' (which featured just four books) but thought it was worth reflecting on the reading year that was - 2025 in books. According to Goodreads I have read 109 books (well, 108 but I'm assuming I'll finish my current read this evening). In addition to those in my 'faves' post, Tenderfoot…

My 2025 in books thanks to #GoodreadsYearInBooks. Links to my favourite four new releases and a stack of books I rated as 4.5 star or above.

Book review: Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell is the latest from one of my go-to authors. I enjoy her consistently twisty novels which often take the form of domestic noir, centred around family or relationships-gone-sour. In fact I gave her 2023 and novels None of This is True and The Night She Disappeared 4.5 stars which is a rarity in my hard-arse rating world.

Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell is another superb and twisty thriller that is very satisfying.