Tuesday, 3 September 2019

Unseen Evil - Liz Mistry #BlogTour #Extract #GusMcGuire


Unseen Evil

Today I am pleased to be able to participate in the blog tour for Unseen Evil by Liz Mistry.  My thanks go to Sarah Hardy at Book on the Bright Side for my spot on the blog tour. 


About the Book

New Release from best-selling author Liz Mistry is number 6 in her D.I. Gus McGuire series.

Social Media can be the death of you …

The Snapchat
A twisted killer comes to the attention of DI Gus McGuire and his team when a teenager receives a Snapchat image of his murdered friend. 

The Killer
As the killer becomes bolder, using social media to publicise the murders, Gus fears there may be more than one murderer targeting young people.

The Stalker
Meanwhile, Gus comes under threat from a stalker who is not afraid to get up close and personal.

Can Gus protect his loved ones and catch the killer before another Snap is received?
  

Extract

Today I am pleased to be able to bring to you the Prologue from the new Gus McGuire book Unseen Evil.  I have had a bit of reading slump of late and due to other issues going on have taken a bit of a back seat from blogging.  I am pleased to say that I have started reading again and will be writing reviews for any book I have read, however, I could not let this blog tour pass without taking part one way or another.  Now if like me you are a big Gus McGuire fan but either a) haven’t got round to reading the book yet, b) are unsure whether to buy it well I think this little snippet will persuade you to do both. 



PROLOGUE
March 2018
The Zodiac Club



W
e had to have a headquarters. Somewhere we could meet. Somewhere we wouldn’t be seen and just by luck, while I was exploring, I found it. An old grocer’s store on a side road. No For Sale sign, no indication anyone was interested in it… Nothing. It was easy to get in.

The front of the property faced a busy side street, but the windows were covered by a metal shutter with Bradford City spray painted on in black. Some smart-ass had crossed out the ‘C’ of City with a black marker and replaced it with a ‘T’. How droll. I knew there was no way in from the front, so I wandered around the back. It looked promising, so I waited until dark and came back. Sure enough, the back of the shop had an enclosed yard with a sturdy door which was hanging off its hinges. But, more importantly, the properties behind it were also lying empty… apart from the druggies and tramps that occupied them by night. It was easy to get the gate fixed and I knew just the person to help me. A sturdy lock and we were sorted. Our own private space.

I love it. It’s well enough out of the way as to be discreet, but not too far out of the way as to be difficult to get to. The headquarters we call it… HQ. Nobody sees us coming and going because we’re invisible. Today’s important. Today is the day we extend our manifesto… make more plans… finalise things.

‘Neck it! Neck it! Neck it!’

Their chants are like hooligans at a football match as they loll about on the carpet, sprawled over the cushions, intent on getting pissed. Leo, dark eyes all sparkly, cheeks flushed, hands clapping in time with the chants, is the most drunk. Pisces is a little less so… nervous, maybe? Picking those oozing pussy spots and licking cracked lips – yuk, enough to make me want to barf, but I cover it up… for now. Instead, I move my phone, taking in our handiwork… all this will go down in history… saved for posterity. I smile a little. I remember when I used to muddle that word with posterior… but that was a long time ago.

The items pinned to the wall document the progress we’ve made. A timeline of charts, newspaper clippings, photos… Each one evidence. Each one a piece of the plan. Ambling round the room I zoom in on my favourites.

First there’s the list:
Sumaira Begum
Shannon Oyando
Billy Clark-Thompson
Becky Easton
Imran Sajid
Suki Singh

It’s so satisfying to see them all crossed out. Next there’s the first lot of evidence… the photos. Sumaira Begum, when she found the bacon in her locker… that was brilliant. She was hysterical… crying and yelling as if someone was stuffing the rasher down her throat. It served her right telling Ms Copley about me smoking in the girls’ toilets. The one of Shannon Oyando with her tits out – ’cept they weren’t really hers – we’d photoshopped over hers, printed them out, and stuck them up in the lads’ toilets.

The other two are still necking the voddie… Leo’s really flushed now and Pisces, all bleeding pox and nervous eyes, is getting there too. I’ll call the meeting to order in a bit, but for now, I record the last few items… the newspaper clippings… Fame! I love the way we’ve moved on… the way we’ve developed. Progress… you can’t whack it.

November 2017
Local Teacher Convicted of Grooming Students
Craig Borthwick, a teacher at a local secondary school, pictured here entering court, today received a ten-year sentence after images showing him booking into a low budget hotel with a fourteen-year-old student were anonymously uploaded to the Internet.

We did that! We made that happen. That snooty little bitch got what she deserved when that picture of her snogging Mr Borthwick went viral. That taught her. The way she dumped Leo, like a sack of hot potatoes, all the time on her phone sexting that dirty old perv. Served her right… served him right too.

All I can say after reading that is thank goodness I have a copy of this book waiting on my kindle after pre-ordering the same in readiness to read.  I can’t wait to start reading this in the next few months, once the back to school routine has been finalised, my daughter is off to high school this time so a new change is afoot and one which will involve certain changes around the house, most importantly a reading hour which has been introduced in our house to ensure that we can all wind down from our busy days and chill with no electronic devices allowed and no TV on.  All I can say is it’s pure BLISS!!!

About the Author

Born in Scotland, Made in Bradford sums up Liz Mistry’s life. Over thirty years ago she moved from a small village in West Lothian to Yorkshire to get her teaching degree. Once here, Liz fell in love with three things; curries, the rich cultural diversity of the city … and her Indian husband (not necessarily in this order). Now thirty years, three children, two cats (Winky and Scumpy) and a huge extended family later, Liz uses her experiences of living and working in the inner city to flavour her writing. Her gritty crime fiction police procedural novels set in Bradford embrace the city she describes as ‘Warm, Rich and Fearless’ whilst exploring the darkness that lurks beneath.

Struggling with severe clinical depression and anxiety for a large number of years, Liz often includes mental health themes in her writing. She credits the MA in Creative Writing she took at Leeds Trinity University with helping her find a way of using her writing to navigate her ongoing mental health struggles. Being a debut novelist in her fifties was something Liz had only dreamed of and she counts herself lucky, whilst pinching herself regularly to make sure it’s all real. One of the nicest things about being a published author is chatting with and responding to readers’ feedback and Liz regularly does events at local libraries, universities, literature festivals and open mics. She also teaches creative writing too. Now, having nearly completed a PhD in Creative Writing focussing on ‘the absence of the teen voice in adult crime fiction’ and ‘why expansive narratives matter’, Liz is chock full of ideas to continue writing.


In her spare time, Liz loves pub quizzes (although she admits to being rubbish at them), dancing (she does a mean jig to Proud Mary – her opinion, not ratified by her family), visiting the varied Yorkshire landscape, with Robin Hoods Bay being one of her favourite coastal destinations, listening to music, reading and blogging about all things crime fiction on her blog, The Crime Warp.

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LizMistrybooks/ @LizMistrybooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LizMistryAuthor @LizMistryAuthor


Check out the rest of the blog tour with these fabulous blogs: 


My thanks to Sarah Hardy at Book on The Bright Side for my spot on the blog tour.  

Tuesday, 13 August 2019

One For The Road, Morgen Bailey #BlogTour #Extract


One For The Road

Today I am pleased to be able to participate in the blog tour for One For The Road by Morgen Bailey.  My thanks go to Sarah Hardy at Book On The Bright Side for my spot on the blog tour. 


About the Book

Panicked at killing a man on a Northamptonshire country road, drunk driver Liam Ross buries the body in the woods. The man was an undercover cop. When Liam returns to the woods… the body has disappeared.

Set in present-day Northamptonshire, England, ‘One for the Road’ focuses on three interweaving threads: the repercussions for drunk driver Liam Ross after he hits a man on a country road when yet another argument with live-in nurse girlfriend, Jo, has driven him to the pub on that fateful night; gang underling Barry ‘Not Gary’ Newman; and newly married Todd Litten aka Neil Ryder, the policeman who was just doing his job.

Extract

Today I am pleased to be able to share a little snippet of the book for you to read.

Liam stared down at the man. Apart from the blue eyes – so blue they were a walking cliché, or would have been before Liam hit him – everything about him was bland. His scruffy beard, brown like the long coat unfurled around him like Superman’s cape flying in the wind. No, darker, like something out of a Victorian movie, a foe that Sherlock would have been chasing in the dead of night. Like now. 

The man’s shoes too were brown. One had stayed on, the other lying side down at the same angle as the man’s shoed foot, as if keeping unison even after death.

Liam wanted to fall to his knees, cry, tell the man he was sorry, but he stood up, inhaled until he ran out of air, held it in as long as he could as if to punish himself… but he knew the punishment if he got caught. 

Stupid. You’re so stupid. Jo’s words again flooded his brain.

He wasn’t stupid. She knew he wasn’t stupid. They’d met on the same Egyptology course and they’d had long conversations about Ma’at and Egyptian religion, until they’d become one-sided conversations because he’d lost interest and not renewed, switching to European languages instead. He wished he’d gone with criminology.

Even the man’s trousers were brown. “Wanted to blend in around here, did you?” Liam shook his head. “Blended in too bloody well.”

He bent down and pulled at the man’s trouser legs. “Let’s get you out of here.” He was surprisingly light. Despite the coat exposing his top and trousers, Liam hadn’t noticed how skinny the man was. “Living out here, were you? Yes, I bet you were. Who are you, mate? Do you not have someone who loves you, who gives a sh…” Liam’s thoughts turned again to Jo. He wondered if she’d care if he’d be the one lying in the middle of the road, with a stranger dragging at his brown trousers. She would have once, but he knew things had changed, irreparable damage? Certainly if she ever found out.

Liam groaned as he pulled the man along the tarmac, but stopped as the man’s head scraped and bobbed along the ground. “Oh, Christ.” Liam moved to the man’s torso and scooping his arms under his shoulders, tried to drag him that way but Liam struggled to shuffle a few feet. He lowered him again and brought the man’s arms above his shoulders and pulled him along that way. It wasn’t quick but it was more humane. Liam watched as the man’s sock peeled off and deposited itself it on the roadside.

He heaved the man up the shallow embankment until there was enough distance between them and the road to be invisible. Liam’s back complained until he let go of the man’s arms, letting him fall onto the damp ground, and Liam was able to straighten up. 

He knew he couldn’t leave him there. Even if few people walked their dogs, having him lying there, in amongst the sodden leaves, left too little to chance. Someone would spot him. Liam knew he’d have to come back, with a shovel, and bury… his name. What was his name? 

Liam went back to the side of the road to fetch the shoe and sock and put them back on. “There we go, you’ll be warmer… What am I saying?” He looked up to the sky, breathed in, then puffed out the air, in then out until his neck began to ache. 

“What have you got yourself into, Liam? You should have just left him there, stayed there, called the police, taken whatever… Too late. What’s done is done.”

Done, Liam, look what you’ve done.

Can’t wait to start reading this one which is sat patiently on my kindle waiting for me to pick up etc.

About the Author

Morgen Bailey – Morgen with an E – is a multi-genre author, freelance editor, writing tutor, writing competitions magazine columnist and judge, blogger, and speaker.

Her website is www.morgenbailey.wordpress.com, email is morgen@morgenbailey.com, she is morgenwriteruk on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.



Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/morgenbailey) and wherever books can be ordered.


Social Media Links


Check out the rest of the blog tour with these fabulous blogs: 


My thanks to Book On The Bright Side and Sarah Hardy for my spot on the blog tour.  


Friday, 5 July 2019

Kill For Me (Detective Hannah Robbins #5) by Rebecca Bradley #KillForMe #DIHannahRobbins @RebeccaJBradley @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours


Kill For Me (Detective Hannah Robbins #5) by Rebecca Bradley
#KillForMe #DIHannahRobbins @RebeccaJBradley @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours


Today I am pleased to be able to participate in the blog tour for Kill For Me by Rebecca Bradley.  My thanks go to Damppebbles Blog Tours. 


About the Book

A deadly game. An unstoppable killer. The perfect alibi.

Lucy Anderson is late collecting her daughter from nursery. A mistake that could prove fatal.
 
Her daughter is gone and there is only one way Lucy can get her back. The ransom is simple, she has to kill someone…

And this is just the beginning. A deadly game with a domino effect has started as the real killer forces others to do his bidding.

Can detective inspector Hannah Robbins find the killer’s next puppet before they’re forced to strike or will this be the case where her opponent has found the perfect way to kill?

Pick up Kill For Me for impossible choices and moral dilemmas and see where you would fall.

For fans of Peter James and Angela Marsons

Review

This is the first book I have read in the series and despite being the first book I’ve read is the fifth book in the series.  This however does not distract from the story or spoil your enjoyment of the book.  You are able to follow the back stories as there is enough information without giving away any of the other books. 

I finished the book over a week ago if not more, and even though I am on the blog tour for this book have struggled to put my review together.  This is not because I haven’t enjoyed the book but more I don’t want to give too much away. 

How would you feel if you child was kidnapped or went missing from school, seemingly picked up by a friend of yours according to school who say that you texted to say that this person could pick your child up!!   If that was me I would panic. 

How would you feel if you then got a message saying your child is safe but to get them back you must kill someone and then send a picture to prove that the person is dead.  It doesn’t have to be a particularly person, a stranger will do.  The only rule is that you can’t involve the police as they will know you have been in contact with them and your child will die!!    Again if that was me I would panic.

The above is only a snippet of what the book is about and DI Robbins is caught up in trying to unravel multiple crimes and the reader is left wondered in things are connected or are they just seemingly separate incidents.    

A fantastic book and I am certainly going to be going back to the beginning to read more of DI Robbins.   

About the Author

Rebecca Bradley is a retired police detective. She lives in the UK with her family and her two cockapoo's Alfie and Lola, who keep her company while she writes. Rebecca needs to drink copious amounts of tea to function throughout the day and if she could, she would survive on a diet of tea and cake while committing murder on a regular basis, in her writing of course.

She writes the DI Hannah Robbins police procedural series and has also released a standalone novel, Dead Blind, about a cop who acquires prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. 


To receive a free novella sign up to her readers' club and you will be able to download the prequel to Hannah Robbins series. Find it on the blog at rebeccabradleycrime.com You'll also be provided exclusive content and giveaways.

Social Media Links


Facebook




To buy from:

www.amazon.co.uk



Check out the rest of the blog tour with these fabulous blogs:  


My thanks to Rebecca Bradley for a copy of the book and also Emma Welton @ Damppebbles Blog Tours for my spot on the blog tour.