Tag: advance review copy

#BlogTour #BookReview The Girl from Bletchley Park by Kathleen McGurl @rararesources @KathMcGurl @HQStories

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Welcome today’s stop on the blog tour for The Girl from Bletchley Park by Kathleen McGurl. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to HQ Digital for my review copy via NetGalley. The Girl from Bletchley Park is available now as an ebook and will be published in paperback in January 2022.

The Girl from Bletchley ParkAbout the Book

A country at war. A heartbreaking betrayal.

1942.Three years into the war, Pam turns down her hard-won place at Oxford University to become a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. There, she meets two young men, both keen to impress her, and Pam finds herself falling hard for one of them. But as the country’s future becomes more uncertain by the day, a tragic turn of events casts doubt on her choice – and Pam’s loyalty is pushed to its limits…

Present day. Julia is struggling to juggle her career, two children and a husband increasingly jealous of her success.Her brother presents her with the perfect distraction: forgotten photos of their grandmother as a young woman at Bletchley Park. Why did her grandmother never speak of her time there? The search for answers leads Julia to an incredible tale of betrayal and bravery – one that inspires some huge decisions of her own..

Format: ebook (326 pages)                  Publisher: HQ Digital
Publication date: 3rd November 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Dual Time

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Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

I really enjoyed The Stationmaster’s Daughter when I read it back in 2019 so my interest was immediately piqued when I learned Kathleen McGurl had a new book coming out.

There is a continuing fascination with the work carried out at Bletchley Park during World War 2, work which we now know proved of great significance to the war effort. The author takes us “behind the scenes” at Bletchley Park through the story of Pamela, a promising student of mathematics who is persuaded to defer her place at university and instead put her skills to work in the service of her country. During her time at Bletchley Park, Pamela makes friendships that will last a lifetime but also learns in the most dramatic way possible that not everyone is quite what they seem, the author deftly playing with the reader’s doubts and suspicions.

Interwoven with Pamela’s experiences is the present day story of Julia, Pamela’s granddaughter. As the book progresses the similarities between the situations the two women face become increasingly apparent. For example, a neat touch is that Julia runs her own IT business whilst Pamela worked on what could be considered an early version of a computer. In different ways, both Pamela and Julia experience betrayal by those they have come to trust but also find help from unexpected quarters. Along the way ties of friendship and affection are tested and both women have to summon up all their strength to protect those they care about.

I really liked the way Julia’s relationship with her two sons, Oscar and Ryan, was portrayed and how they progress from being stroppy teenagers to showing signs of becoming fine young men. Julia’s brother, Bob, and Drew, the husband of Julia’s business partner, act as counterpoints to other less than admirable examples of the male species. And, in the earlier timeline, Clarissa proves a steadfast friend to Pamela whose warnings, as it turns out, Pamela would have done well to heed.

The Girl from Bletchley Park will appeal to fans of dual timeline stories with an element of mystery, and those with an interest in the contribution, often largely unsung, of women to the war effort.

In three words: Engaging, emotional, intriguing

Try something similar: The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson

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The Stationmasters Kathleen McGurl author photoAbout the Author

Kathleen McGurl lives near the coast in Christchurch, England. She writes dual timeline novels in which a historical mystery is uncovered and resolved in the present day. She is married to an Irishman and has two adult sons. She enjoys travelling, especially in her motorhome around Europe.

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The Girl From Bletchley Park

#BookReview A Memory for Murder (Selma Falck, 3) by Anne Holt @CorvusBooks @ReadersFirst1

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A Memory for MurderAbout the Book

When former high-powered lawyer turned PI Selma Falck is shot and her oldest friend, a junior MP, is killed in a sniper attack, everyone – including the police – assume that Selma was the prime target.

But when two other people with connections to the MP are also found murdered, it becomes clear that there is a wider conspiracy at play.

As Selma sets out to avenge her friend’s death, and discover the truth behind the conspiracy, her own life is threatened once again. Only this time, the danger may be closer to home than she could possibly have realised…

Format: Hardcover (432 pages)           Publisher: Corvus
Publication date: 4th November 2021 Genre: Crime, Literature in Translation

Find A Memory for Murder on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

A Memory For Murder (translated from the Norwegian by Anne Bruce) is the first book I’ve read by Anne Holt but, on the strength of this one, it certainly won’t be the last!  Although it’s the third in the author’s Selma Falck series, I didn’t feel at a disadvantage from not having read the previous books. True, there are a few references to events in the earlier books (A Grave For Two and A Necessary Death) but if anything it made me even keener to read them at some point.

I really enjoyed getting to know Selma Falck, even if she’s described as being ‘seldom completely herself’. A former lawyer turned private investigator, she’s also been variously a world class handball player, a social media star and a (mostly reformed) gambling addict. She’s also a grandmother eager to be allowed a closer relationship with her grandson, and that forms a key part of her motivation for finding out exactly who was the target of the sniper attack – her or her friend? – who was responsible and why they did it.

Safe to say, there are plenty of twists and turns in a plot which encompasses stalking, government malpractice, contingency planning, adoption, child welfare policy, investigative journalism and much, much more.  It might seem too many topics to cram into one book and still keep the plot moving along and the reader engaged, but Anne Holt manages it – and how! Frequently introducing new characters and different points of view shouldn’t work either, but it does; it’s just more people to either suspect or wonder how they fit into the story. Oh, and never has a round object or an emoji etched in dust been more chilling.

I thought A Memory For Murder was terrific and I simply raced through the pages, admiring the way the author brought all the different threads together to reveal a final picture that’s a good deal darker than you might have expected.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Corvus and Readers First.

In three words: Gripping, clever, suspenseful

Try something similar: A Better Part of Valor by Gary Corbin

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Anne HoltAbout the Author

Anne Holt is Norway’s bestselling female crime writer. She spent two years working for the Oslo Police Department before founding her own law firm and serving as Norway’s Minster for Justice between 1996 and 1997. She is published in 30 languages with over 7 million copies of her books sold. (Photo/bio credit: Publisher author page)

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