From the Book Elf

Last Act by Heather Peck Last Act by Heather Peck Published on 24th October 2025 by Bittern Books. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and to  Random Things Resources for inviting me on the tour. Norfolk is on edge !!! Five attacks. No connection. One detective who must find it — before the killer strikes again. Juggling a new job, a newborn, and an untested team, Greg already has more than enough to handle — until a prison escape throws everything into confusion. Someone out there is killing without pattern or mercy. And the closer Geldard gets to the truth, the more certain it becomes that they haven’t finished yet.  My Thoughts This is a gripping read from start to finish as Heather takes us on a journey to find out who is behind the murders and attacks, and why. DCI Geldard is a really likeable, family man as well as an outstanding Detective who is sensitive to the situations that he finds himself in and I really like him as the m...

A Deadly Inheritance  by Jane McParkes A Deadly Inheritance by Jane McParkes Published on 20th November by No Exit Press. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and to  Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the tour. Synopsis Eco-architect Olivia Wells’s return to the small Cornish seaside village of Penbartha is troubled. She’s taken leave from her successful life in Manhattan to create the legacy her godfather wanted, a sustainable group of entrepreneurs working out of his beloved disused railway station, boosting the local economy and bringing more life to the village. But it seems that not everyone is as committed as she’d thought. The day after an unexpected argument with someone she considered an ally, Olivia finds her friend’s murdered body. The tight-knit Cornish community closes ranks to protect Olivia, but the forensic evidence points in only one direction. Against all her instincts, Olivia finds herself relying on newcomer...

The Secret Sauce by M.J. Porter   First of all my thanks to the author for sending me a copy to review and to Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me onto the tour. Birmingham, England, November 1944. Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is summoned to a suspicious death at the BB Sauce factory in Aston on a wet Monday morning in late November 1944. Greeted by his enthusiastic sergeant, O’Rourke, Sam Mason finds himself plunged into a challenging investigation to discover how Harry Armstrong met his death in a vat containing BB Sauce – a scene that threatens to put him off BB Sauce on his bacon sandwiches for the rest of his life. Together with Sergeant O’Rourke, Mason follows a trail of seemingly unrelated events until something becomes very clear. The death of Harry Armstrong was certainly murder, and might well be connected to the tragedy unfolding at nearby RAF Fauld. While the uncertainty of war continues, Mason and O’Rourke find themselves seekin...

Windows by Anni Holliday Windows by Anni Holliday is published by Troubadour. My thanks to Anni for sending me a copy to review and to Rachel at Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me onto the tour. Synopsis Windows  is a celebration of the High Street, small-town life and the hard-working and dedicated shopkeepers, public servants and other people who work to keep that life going. It’s a funny and poignant portrayal of human nature and its many frailties and strengths, including love, hate, loyalty, ambition, determination, error and redemption. A key theme is the human tendency to rush to conclusions about others which can later prove to be wrong. It’s also a celebration of family, community, childhood and play, books and the joy of reading, and the beauty of the Scottish landscape. The apparent idyll in which it is set is, however, in danger from an unknown person secretly bent on revenge, threatening the inhabitants’ lives and livelihoods and the very fabric of the town it...

  The House on Buzzards Bay  By Dwyer Murphy The House on Buzzards Bay by Dwyer Murphy   published on 9th November by No Exit Press. My thanks to Dwyer and No Exit Press for sending me a copy to review and to  Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis When a group of old college friends reunites for a summer vacation at a beach house in coastal Massachusetts, a sudden disappearance and the arrival of a seductive stranger threaten to unearth the darkest secrets of their relationships. 'A masterful psychological thriller...It’s a devilish twist on the traditional locked-room mystery.' Publishers Weekly Starred Review 'A delicious, brooding heart-stopper of a book.' - Tea Obreht, author of The Tiger's Wife As they hurtle into midlife, Jim and his closest college friends get together to rekindle the bonds of their friendship in his family’s beautiful, generations-old vacation home along Buzzards Bay. But what begins as a restor...

Escape to the Northern Lights by Carrie Walker  Escape to the Northern Lights by Carrie Walker is published by Head of Zeus. Thank you to Carrie and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to  Rachel for inviting my to take part on the book tour. Synopsis Packed with humour, romance and a love affair with nature, Escape to the Northern Lights is a story of transformation, second chances and finding home in the most unexpected places. High-powered lawyer Sara thought she had life figured out – until her whirlwind marriage ends in divorce, her dream promotion slips away and a burnout diagnosis forces her to take a break. Desperate for a reset, she books a four-week spa retreat in Norway, imagining a luxurious escape. Instead, she finds herself in the rugged wilderness of Firefly Forest, knee-deep in reindeer droppings and stuck with an annoyingly bohemian – and ridiculously attractive – outdoorsman, Henrik. What starts as a nightmare turns into a journey of self-dis...