Tag: advance review copy

#BlogTour #BookReview The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan @RandomTTours @fictionpubteam

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The Murder Rule BT PosterWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to HarperCollins for my digital review copy. Do check out the post by my tour buddy for today, Elizabeth at libcreads.

The Murder RuleAbout the Book

No one is innocent in this story.

First Rule: Make them like you.
Second Rule: Make them need you.
Third Rule: Make them pay.

They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system. They think I’m working hard to impress them. They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row.

They’re wrong. I’m going to bury him.

Format: Hardback (304 pages)     Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: 12th May 2022 Genre: Crime, Thriller

Find The Murder Rule on Goodreads

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Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

We know from quite early on in The Murder Rule that Hannah has a very personal reason for inveigling her way on to the Innocence Project team. Far from wanting to prove the innocence of one of the individuals the Innocence Project is representing, she’s convinced of the person’s guilt and is determined to ensure they remain in prison. As we discover, she’s willing to do anything to achieve her objective even if that means deceiving others or sabotaging the Project’s activities.  Her determination to achieve what she’s set out to do borders on obsession, even if seemingly born out of love.

Hannah’s not a particularly likeable character to begin with but I had to admire her tenacity, her ingenuity and her chutzpah.  She’s not going to let anyone stand in her way and if that means some shady tactics, that’s fine with her.  After all, the end justifies the means doesn’t it? The more we get to know her, though, the more we sense there’s someone quite vulnerable behind that tough outer shell. And what if everything you thought you knew, everything you had been told, was wrong and the truth was quite different?  Can a desire for revenge be transformed into a desire for justice, and just what will that entail? After all, if the truth has been buried for over a decade, there are sure to be those with an interest in ensuring it never sees the light of day.

At times you’ll probably find yourself cheering on Hannah and at other times find yourself thinking, I really wouldn’t do that if I was you, or, look out here comes trouble. If you like the idea of a courtroom scene that could have come straight out of a TV drama, and you’re willing to suspend disbelief just a little, then you will love the scenes towards the end of the book.

The Murder Rule is a twisty legal thriller with some moments of high drama that gathers momentum, reaching warp speed in the final chapters. Will justice prevail? You’ll have to read it to find out.

In three words: Taut, suspenseful, dramatic

Try something similar: An Engineered Injustice by William L. Myers, Jr.

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Dervla Author picAbout the Author

Internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writer Dervla McTiernan burst onto the writing scene with The Ruin, her crime debut set in Ireland. The Ruin is the first in the detective Cormac Reilly series and has been published in the United States, the UK and Ireland and in New Zealand and Australia, where it was a top ten bestseller.

Dervla spent twelve years working as a lawyer. Following the global financial crisis, she moved to Australia and turned her hand to writing. An avid fan of crime and detective novels from childhood, Dervla wrote a short story, The Roommate, which was shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Competition. She went on to write The Ruin, and a string of other bestsellers. Dervla is a member of the Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers Association, and lives in Perth, Australia, with her husband and two children.

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Murder Rule Graphic 1

#BlogTour #BookReview The Witch’s Tree by Elena Collins @rararesources @BoldwoodBooks

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The Witchs TreeWelcome to the opening day of the blog tour for The Witch’s Tree by Elena Collins. It also happens to be publication day! My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Boldwood Books for my digital review copy via NetGalley.   Do check out the reviews by my tour buddies for today, Anne at Being Anne and Wendy at wendyreadsbooks.

The Witch's TreeAbout the Book

A tale as old as time. A spirit that has never rested.

Present day – As a love affair comes to an end, and with it her dreams for her future, artist Selena needs a retreat. The picture-postcard Sloe Cottage in the Somerset village of Ashcombe promises to be the perfect place to forget her problems, and Selena settles into her new home as spring arrives. But it isn’t long before Selena hears the past whispering to her. Sloe Cottage is keeping secrets which refuse to stay hidden.

1682 – Grace Cotter longs for nothing more than a husband and family of her own. Content enough with her work on the farm, looking after her father, and learning the secrets of her grandmother Bett’s healing hands, nevertheless Grace still hopes for love. But these are dangerous times for dreamers, and rumours and gossip can be deadly. One mis-move and Grace’s fate looks set…

Separated by three hundred years, two women are drawn together by a home bathed in blood and magic. Grace Cotter’s spirit needs to rest, and only Selena can help her now.

Format: Paperback (401 pages)    Publisher: Boldwood Books
Publication date: 17th May 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find The Witch’s Tree on Goodreads

Purchase links
Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

The book moves back and forth between the two timelines with some interesting parallels between the two women’s experiences. There are some clever, subtle touches such as when Selena and Grace share the same impulse, for example to walk barefoot in the garden at night or to warm their hands in front of the fire. I also liked the way certain characters echoed others in the alternate timeline. For instance, Bett, Grace’s grandmother and Selena’s friend, Joely, who both have knowledge of natural remedies, or Nathaniel and Nick who are both sons of the owners of Hilltop Farm (although quite different in personality). There were also some neat opposites as well, such as Selena and Grace having quite different experiences of motherhood and friendship.  There was one particular character in Grace’s life I didn’t trust from the outset!

The author gives Sloe Cottage an unsettling atmosphere, something sensed not just by Selena but by other visitors to the cottage. Personally, I found the hints of a supernatural presence – rooms that have a perpetual chill, unexplained noises in the night, the tapping of branches against a window – scarier than any actual physical manifestation.  I liked how Grace’s experiences became somehow manifested in Selena’s artwork, as if by a spectral guiding hand.  I wonder if it also influenced Selena’s productivity as she seemed to produce paintings at a rate of knots!

There are some beautiful descriptions of the Somerset countryside and I can see quite a few readers including visiting the area in future holiday plans.  Several characters are given an interest in local history which allows the author to include some historical detail about the period in which Grace’s story is set and enable the eventual discovery of her fate and that of her family.

I’ve read enough books set in the period to know that women perceived as ‘different’ – unmarried or gifted in the art of healing – were often the subject of accusations of witchcraft, either as a result of superstition, ignorance or vindictiveness. Along with subtle clues from Selena’s exploration of the local area, it wasn’t difficult to guess what Grace’s fate would be although it was still desperately sad to witness. By the end of the book if Grace’s story is one of love and sacrifice, Serena’s is one of healing and hope.

The Witch’s Tree weaves together a number of different elements – a little bit of drama, a little bit of romance and a touch of the supernatural – to form an enjoyable time-slip novel.

In three words: Atmospheric, engaging, romantic

Try something similar: The Marsh House by Zoë Somerville

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Elena Collins Judy LeighAbout the Author

Elena Collins is the pen name of Judy Leigh. Judy Leigh is the bestselling author of Five French Hens, A Grand Old Time and The Age of Misadventure and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.

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