Tag: blogtour

#BookReview #BlogTour The Mystery of Yew Tree House by Lesley Thomson @HoZ_Books @AriesFiction

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Mystery of Yew Tree House by Lesley Thomson, which will be published tomorrow. My thanks to Poppy at Ransom PR for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Head of Zeus for my advance review copy. Do check out the post by my tour buddy for today, Rachel at Rachel Read It.

About the Book

Eighty years of secrets. A body that reveals them all.

1940. At Yew Tree House, recently widowed Adelaide Stride is raising her two daughters alone – but it’s not just the threat of German invasion that keeps her up at night. She is surrounded by enemies posing as allies and, while war rages, she grows sure that something terrible is about to happen.

2023. Soon after Stella Darnell begins her holiday at Yew Tree House, a skeleton is found in a pillbox at the bottom of the garden. The bullet hole in the skull tells her that the person was murdered.

This triggers the unravelling of a mystery eighty years in the making. Soon, Stella will learn that Adelaide was right to worry – the fighting might have been happening abroad, but the true enemy was always much closer to home…

Format: Hardback (320 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 14th September 2023 Genre: Crime

Find The Mystery of Yew Tree House on Goodreads

Purchase links 
Bookshop.org 
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Hive | Amazon UK 
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My Review

The Mystery of Yew Tree House is the ninth book in Lesley Thomson’s ‘The Detective’s Daughter’ series featuring cleaner turned amateur detective, Stella Darnell and her partner, tube driver Jack Harmon. Although the book could be enjoyed as a standalone there’s a lot of background information about Stella and Jack’s personal and professional history for readers new to the series to absorb, as well as some references to past cases. I’ve only read one other book in the series, The Playground Murders back in 2019, so it took me a little time to refamiliarise myself with past events and the relationships between returning characters.

At one point, a character remarks to Stella, ‘I can’t see the attraction of holidaying in a village. They are described as idyllic, but they are places of poison. Behind the facade of a pond, a green, a war memorial, lies cruelty and violence’. Too right. In fact, Bishopstone seems a peculiar place for Stella and Jack to have chosen as a holiday destination since the area holds unpleasant memories for both of them.

Stella and Jack have reached a turning point in their relationship with Stella, in particular, concerned about the prospect of them becoming a permanent family unit. Given the resilience she has shown in other situations, I thought her worries about whether she possessed suitable parenting skills were misplaced. Having said that, perhaps Stella was right to worry because Jack’s seven-year-old daughter, Milly, proves a bit of a handful, determined single-handedly to track down the murderer. Oh Milly, if only they’d paid more attention to you!

The story moves between the present day and a timeline which starts in 1940. I particularly enjoyed the past timeline and would have been happy to have had more of this. I thought it was clever to have the start of the mystery be in wartime, a time when people were displaced, families were often separated, ordinary citizens were armed and trained in how to kill, and the blackout was the perfect cover for illicit activities. I was particularly fascinated to learn about preparations put in place in the event of Britain’s occupation by the Nazis.

The Mystery of Yew Tree House is a skilfully plotted crime novel with plenty of twists and turns, false trails and surprise reveals. If you guessed all of the latter, you’re a genius.

In three words: Intriguing, clever, engaging

Try something similar: The Ghost Tree by M. R. C. Kasasian

About the Author

Copyright: Michael White

Lesley Thomson grew up in west London. Her novel, A Kind of Vanishing, won The People’s Book Prize in 2010. Her second novel, The Detective’s Daughter, was a #1 bestseller and the resulting series has sold over 900,000 copies.

Lesley divides her time between Sussex and Gloucestershire. She lives with her partner and her dog.

Connect with Lesley
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#BlogTour #BookReview The Postcard by Carly Schabowski @bookouture

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Welcome to the penultimate day of the blog tour for The Postcard by Carly Schabowski, published on 29th August by Bookouture. My thanks to Jess at Bookouture for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the posts by my tour buddies for today, Kristin at Kristin’s Novel Cafe and over on Instagram, Christine and Ellen.

About the Book

When her beloved grandmother, Ilse, is taken into hospital, Mia drops everything to travel to Germany and care for the woman who raised her. But when her grandmother briefly wakes up and asks for a man called Szymon , Mia is confused. Who is he? And why does her grandmother need to see him so desperately?

Later that night, Mia returns to her grandmother’s apartment to search for clues. She soon discovers a small parcel hidden inside one of Ilse’s suitcases. When she removes the wrapping, she finds a stack of faded postcards neatly bound together, signed with a name that makes her heart stop in her Szymon .

Desperate to find Szymon before it is too late, Mia unearths a story her grandmother never told of childhood friendship and heartbreaking young love on the eve of the Second World War, and of a plan to rescue a young man imprisoned by the Nazis. Mia can’t quite believe her grandmother was so brave, and risked so much to save this man’s life… But did she succeed?

As the final pieces of the past come together, Mia realizes that she is about to find out what really happened to her grandmother during the war. But she doesn’t expect to uncover a secret that will change everything…

Format: ebook (368 pages) Publisher: Bookouture
Publication date: 29th August 2023 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find The Postcard on Goodreads

Purchase links 
Amazon | Kobo
Link provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

As the author reveals in her letter to readers at the end of the book, The Postcard is inspired by a chance find in a Polish flea market and a true story of wartime sacrifice.

The standout parts of the book for me were the sections describing the experiences of cousins Szymon and Tadeusz during the Second World War. Chilling and often disturbing, these scenes had a real feeling of authenticity. I think we are probably all aware of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, not just on Jewish people but on citizens of other occupied countries, but it doesn’t make it any easier to read about. I couldn’t help but think about the current situation in Ukraine as I was reading the scenes of the young cousins serving as soldiers on the front line.

I’ll confess I found the young Ilse difficult to warm to because of her self-absorption and her inability to recognise – perhaps even blithe indifference to – the events unfolding around her. Of course, she wasn’t alone in that. ‘Everyone seemed happy with the Fuhrer and their new Germany, so if no one else seemed to care, it seemed pointless that she should worry about it too.’ Even when she does realise what’s going on – and the evidence is there under her nose – her motivation is partly the prospect of adventure. With the older Ilse it was a different matter. Her guilt and regret at the actions of her younger self was heartbreaking to witness, as was her determination to put things right.

My favourite character was Marlena who proves a steadfast friend to Ilse, a loyal confidante and a resolute individualist. I loved the way she supported Mia as she struggles to come to terms with the prospect of losing her grandmother, the woman who has brought her up since her parents’ death. Attempting to discover the truth about her grandmother’s early life provides a sort of distraction for Mia from her own troubles. It’s a journey the reader joins her on as the story moves back and forth in time until all the pieces of the jigsaw finally come together.

The Postcard is an emotional story about love, friendship and the choices that can change lives forever.

In three words: Emotional, dramatic, powerful

Try something similar: The Lost Girl in Paris by Jina Bacarr

About the Author

Carly Schabowski worked as a journalist in both North Cyprus and Australia before returning to Oxford, where she studied for an MA and then a PhD in creative writing at Oxford Brookes University. Carly now teaches at Oxford Brookes University as an associate lecturer in Creative Writing for first and second-year English literature students.

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