Backlash by Marnie Riches: pub Trapese. pb £8.99 ebook and audio
I am blessed with great neighbours, but this is not the situation for some others.
PI Beverley Saunders goes undercover, eager to make the most of her chance. She disguises herself as a cleaner to get within investigative distance of a really BAD lad, Anthony whose neighbours have their concerns. Can Beverley find out what is actually going on?
Tension, danger: can our ‘cleaner’ find out the truth about Anthony, with her sidekick, Doc’s, help and avoid being killed off?
A page turner, witty with a cracking pace. What’s not to like.
A Death in Medina by James von Leyden. Pub Constable. pb/ebook.
One of my favourite publishers takes us via James von Leyden to Marrakech at the start of Ramadan. It’s too hot to handle, literally, for many, including the locals. Karim Belkacem is a young detective at the commissariat, who is finding the Ramadan fast hard to cope with, not least because he is working himself to a frazzle, doing two jobs to pay for her sister’s wedding. To top it all, an English girl comes to him for help, whilst at the same time a Moroccan girl is found dead. This is the start of Karim’s journey into a world of predators, and secrets that lurk behind the high walls of the medina.
An intriguing glimpse of skullduggery in the medina of Marrakech. As we can’t travel during lockdown, take a trip to Marrrakech. It’ll be worth your while.
The Girl with the Amber Comb by Linda Finlay pub HQ. pb eBook and audio.
Not as far as Marrakech but Somerset still has promise. It’s where I lived for years, and I found this novel evocative.
Orphaned at birth, Eliza and her grandparents live in a cottage surrounded by willow beds where she makes laundry baskets and eel traps. Then along comes Clem. Uh oh,
Clem unsettles Eliza as he tells her of his adventures along the river, and disturbs her equanimity. Surely the grass is greener?
Then, wealthy Theo tempts her further, with the vision of a life beyond the cottage. Oh, bad mistake.
Eliza finds the dream is far from perfect, and in order to escape the horror, she runs away, but will she find her way home, and into the arms of those who really love her?
I have no intention of telling you. Give it a go…