Skip to main content

Featured

Coming Home to Maple Lodge by Alison Sherlock #Review

  I am delighted to feature the first in Alison Sherlock's new series set in the Corswolds. Coming Home to Maple Tree Lodge was published by Boldwood Books on June 20th. A family and hotel in desperate need of help… Maple Tree Lodge has been the home of the Jackson family for over a century. But the hotel has never been a success and, following the sudden loss of his father, architect Ben Jackson soon discovers the hotel is close to financial ruin. Ben has to make some tough decisions if the hotel is to survive and his family are to keep a roof over their heads. With the hotel in urgent need of a renovation, Ben’s sister calls on the talents of her best friend, interior designer Lily Watson. Cash strapped Lily needs a successful project to prove to herself and her high-achieving parents that she can carve a successful career and Maple Tree Lodge sounds like just the place for Lily to showcase her talents. However, Lily’s vision for a cosy, country Cotswolds hotel is the com...
Post a Comment
Read more
Labels

The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola *Blog Tour Review*


    I am delighted to be the next stop on Anna Mazzola's Blog Tour for The Unseeing. It is her debut novel and quite  an amazing one at that. I always enjoy historical crime fiction and this one captures the sights and smells of Victorian London. Inspired by the real life case of the murder of Hannah Brown, which became known as 'The Edgware Road Murder', the author's research shines through. You have a real sense of the physical surroundings where the different characters reside and how they impinge on their lives.  

    Set in the 1830's, Sarah Gale has been sentenced to hang for her part in the murder of Hannah Brown who has been dismembered and her body parts scattered through the city. Sarah's ex-lover, James Greenacre is to be hung, accused of the murder. Sarah's case has been passed to Edmund Fleetwood, a barrister, to review. We soon discover that we cannot take at face value the known facts of the case. Sarah is reticent as to what actually happened, leading the reader to feel unsure, as Edmund must be. Building on actual source material, Anna Mazzola has written a fictional account which weaves together a complex web of relationships. We are kept guessing as to how reliable some of the accounts are, even finding Edmund's motives for continuing his investigation open to question.

    I found the descriptions of life inside Newgate Prison both vivid and chilling. Anna Mazola's eye for detail means that the reader has a strong visual image of the world she has created and you come to care about the people in it as you are so thoroughly immersed in it all. Well paced and expertly plotted, it really is a page turner. This is a book which immerses the reader in the Victorian period and keeps you guessing to the end.

In short: A book which oozes with authenticity and intrigue.

My thanks to the publishers, Tinder Press for a copy of the book via Bookbridgr. 

You can connect with the author on her website, Facebook and Twitter.
 

                                     Follow the rest of the Blog Tour





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts