Audiobook Review - The Man In Black

Collection of short stories, all written by one author, can go one of two ways: really well or really bad?

But when I heard of The Man in Black and Other Stories by Elly Griffiths, I got ver excited. She's a crime author I keep saying I will try and she seemed to explode during the COVID lockdown, but I've only read one of her books - The Postscript Murders - and I had plans to do more. But life got in the way and I kept putting it off. Until Man in Black was up for preorder... 

Title and Author: The Man in Black And Other Stories by Elly Griffiths

Publisher: Quercus

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Audiobook Bought

Buy From (Affilate): uk.bookshop.org

In this collection of 19 short stories, Elly dips her toes into crime short stories, following a mix of characters her readers know and love (Ruth Galloway, DS Harbinder Kaur, Max Mesphisto, even a grown-up Justice Jones and Ruth Galloway's cat, Flint).

Library Audiobook WatchList - The Crime Edition

You can blame @yorkshirebook48 for this post as, a few days ago, they tweeted and asked what our fave crime book was. I answered with the first two adult crime thrillers that I read/devoured: Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs and Body Double by Tess Gerritsen. But after I answered, I read other people’s replies to see what they say and see if any titles/covers catch my eye and, if so, put them on my “”Reading Lists”. Let’s say I add quite a bit on there…

And my “Reading List” is now getting a little longer (with a mix of audiobooks that have connections to NetGalley proofs, books I have purchased or have been gifted [by publishers or by friends/family] and lots that I just like the look/sound of), I wanted to share some with you. There are a mix of genres, but I will try and keep this post as close to the crime & mystery genre as possible and, if I enjoy writing this, I will try and do another post in the coming weeks leaning towards fantasy or something else…

So, where to begin?

Tansy Bloom: Monster Hunter Press Release

 EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 ON THURSDAY 27 JUNE 2024

AUDIBLE RELEASES NEW ORIGINAL, TANSY BLOOM, MONSTER HUNTER, BY DEBUT AUTHOR L.J. WELLER

NARRATED BY TANYA REYNOLDS

Launching exclusively on Audible 27^th June 2024

27 June 2024, London. Audible, a leading provider of spoken word entertainment, has announced Sex Education star Tanya Reynolds will narrate a new and exciting Audible Original title from debut novelist L.J. Weller. 

 

Three months ago, twenty-eight-year-old Tansy Bloom quit monster hunting. Since then, she’s been trying to live a normal life (whatever that means), but ending up single, unemployed, and living on a boat outside her godfather’s pub definitely wasn’t part of the plan. So, when Tansy’s ex-husband – fellow monster hunter Rex Barclay – turns up like a bad penny and asks for her help with his latest investigation, Tansy reluctantly agrees.

 

At first, the job appears to be a straightforward monster hunt – following a spate of large creature sightings, Rex believes a werewolf is on the loose in Norfolk, and he intends to capture it. But Tansy’s not convinced. For one thing, the mysterious black dog Rex is hunting is able to vanish into thin air. For another, everyone who’s encountered the black dog is dying in a series of freak accidents.

 

Bad news for Tansy, who’s just come face-to-face with the creature herself.

 

L.J. Weller, author of Tansy Bloom, Monster Hunter, said: “I’m thrilled to be working with Audible to bring my debut novel to life. From day one, Audible has championed this book with enthusiasm and excitement, and collaborating with the team has been a wonderful experience. I hope everyone enjoys listening to Tansy Bloom, Monster Hunter as much as I enjoyed writing it!”

 

Tanya Reynolds, narrator and actor, said: “Recording audiobooks can be quite challenging, but when you can totally lose yourself in the world that you're reading, it is such a joy, and this was indeed a joy. All the characters were so vibrant on the page and so fun to read, and the story itself is a joyful journey into mythical folklore with a wicked sense of humour. I had so much fun recording this.”

 

Tanya Reynolds landed her first major role as a series regular on the Sky 1 comedy-drama Delicious. She is also well known for playing Lily Iglehart in the Netflix comedy-drama Sex Education where she was a part of the main cast in the first three seasons. Other credits include Outlanders, Death in Paradise, Emma, Dodger, The Baby, I Hate You and The Decameron.

 

Tansy Bloom, Monster Hunter will be available exclusively on Audible from 27^th June and out now from Audible at http://www.audible.co.uk.

 

Alongside Tansy Bloom: Monster Hunter, Audible has released an array of incredible titles this year including The Shouts Beneath by Paige Cowan-Hall, The River Man by R.B. Croft and Iris is More than Okay by Natalie Cooper. Audible Original list has spawned several bestsellers in the fantasy genre recently, including Morgan is My Name by Sophie Keetch and Slayers: A Buffyverse Story by Christopher Golden and Amber Benson.

About L.J. Weller

L. J. Weller is an author of quirky, contemporary fantasy fiction. Originally from London, she now lives in Norfolk with her family and an ever-growing collection of books and jigsaw puzzles. When she’s not busy writing, she can be found attending pub quizzes or feeding the local wildlife (including a cheeky grey heron named Herbert).​

Her debut novel, Tansy Bloom, Monster Hunter, is a Norfolk-set supernatural mystery inspired by her lifelong interest in folktales, ghost stories and urban legends. An Audible Original, it will be released exclusively on Audible and Amazon from 27th June 2024. Find out more at www.ljweller.com.

The Last Thing You’ll Hear Blog Tour - Guest Post

With Glastonbury, one of the UK’s biggest music festival happening next week, it feels only right to be involved in The Last Thing You’ll Hear blog tour (hosted very kindly by Kaleidoscopic Tours)

The Last Thing You’ll Hear follows sisters Wren and Lark, who seem more like rivals than sisters. So when a mysterious music producer and his DJ prodigy come to their small town, both sisters are desperate to impress. Lark is the one who is taken under the producer’s wing, but Wren can’t help feeling that there’s something sinister going on as Lark distance herself from her friends and family.

But when the sisters get the chance to perform at the most-talked-about music festival of the summer, Enrapture, things come to a head a there’s a lot to lose. Can Wren put her jealously and ambitions to save her sister, or is it too little, too late for them both? 

A twisted thriller set at a music festival? Sign me up! 

Anyway, I am thrilled to be hosting a guest post about the power/dangers of music and why festivals are the perfect place to set thrillers, written by Jan Dunning. Some of you might know her from her debut thriller, Mirror Me, a twisted fairy-tale inspired thriller set in the world of high fashion…

Before I past you over to Jan’s guest post, I just want to thank her for finding the time to write this for this tour and huge thank you for Blue at Kaleidoscopic Tours for allowing me to tag along on this tour. If you want to say hi to Jan, you can do so on either Instagram and X/Twitter, and if you want to know more about The Last Thing You’ll Ever Hear, please check it out at uk.bookshop.org (Affiliate Link Alert).

Now, with that out of the way, over to Jan!

Audiobook Review - The Last Murder at the End of the World

I’m gonna be honest with you: I have no idea how this got on my radar. It just appeared one day and, after picking it up and down several times, I went “Sod it!” and bought the audiobook. And what I got was something I wasn’t expecting (something I now discover the author does with every book he’s released). 

Title and Author: The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton
Publisher: Raven Books & Bloomsbury
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

The world is ravaged by a fog that will kill all in its path. The only safe place is a small Greece island where 122 villagers and 3 scientists live, where all live in harmony, all overseen by ABI, an artificial intelligence who keeps the security fields up and the fog at bay. 

But one morning, the island wakes up to one of the scientists is brutally stabbed, which triggers the security fields to lower, meaning that the fog will be on the island within 92 hours. 

What makes the situation worse is that ABI has wiped everyone’s memories so no one can remember what happened the previous night, and even they don’t know what happened or who gave the order to erase the night’s events. 

Meaning someone on the island is a killer and they don’t even know it. And the only way to put the security fields back up is to find the killer and figure out what happened last night…

eBook Review - My Sister’s Keeper

This is one of those books where it feels like every one has either read or know the vague outline of. And the author of this is one of those authors that I have been meaning to read for YEARS, but I keep putting off due to the Hype Monster that surround them and their novels. 

Yes, I am talking about My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. 

Title and Author: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughtin
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

Anna was born a Saviour Sibling for her older sister, Kate, who has acute leukaemia. When she was born, doctors took blood from umbilical cord. As she’s grown up, she has given her blood, blood marrow and now, at the end of 13, her parents want her to donate a kidney. But Anna decides to sue her parents for medical emancipation. 

Now, from the little I wrote above, you would expect this book to be really heavy and quite dark. We have a saviour sibling storyline, illness and how it affects everyone around the people who is ill (and how those in need to help can slip through the cracks), messy family relationships, a messy relationship between Anna’s lawyer and the court appointed guardian ad litem.

Audiobook Reread - A Discovery of Witches

I am going to be honest: this was meant to be one of the series I wanted to reread this year. And I wanted to do it before the release of the newest installation of the All Souls world, The Black Bird Oracle, which is coming out in mid-July. Now, I don’t think I’m going to be able to binge-reread the rest of the All Souls trilogy (Shadow of Night and Book of Life) as well as the companion novel, Time’s Convert, before it’s release. 

But I am going to try and reread (all via audio) before the end of the year. I do think I am going to attempt Time’s Convert next month (I read this originally and was very middle of the road about it, but I got the audiobook on sale so am doing to attempt it this way as see if my opinion changes as I really like the leads in this). 

Anyway, like I said, I really wanted to reread this, which means I needed to start from the beginning. 

Title and Author: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Publisher: Headline

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Audiobook Bought

Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

Diana Bishop is a scholar and descendant of a line of powerful witches, though she tries very hard not to use her magic. When she discovered a strange manuscript at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, she returns it to its archives due to the strange enchantments around it. But this manuscript - Ashmole 782 - was thought long lost and deeply enchanted and now, vampires, witches and daemons, are coming to Oxford, watching Diana. In the hopes she recalls it. 

For this book has its own secrets and it looks like Diana is right in the middle of it…

eProof Review - Missing White Woman

Sometimes, you crave a book as soon as you seen the cover online. It’s almost a physical reaction. This is what happened when I saw Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett. I saw someone tweet about it with the UK cover and I became obsessed with it. I mean, LOOK AT IT! And 24 hours later, it appeared on NetGalley so, of course, I had to request and hope that I would be approved. 

Which I was (hooray!) and once I finished Kate Atkinson’s Normal Rules Don’t Apply, I jumped straight into this. 

Title and Author: Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett

Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction

Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

It was meant to be a romantic getaway in New York City. Just Breanna and her new boyfriend, Ty. They hired out an airbnb four-story house with a beautiful view of the skyline. Until Bree wakes up one morning to discover a dead woman in her foyer and Ty’s missing. Is the dead woman Janelle Becker, a recently missing dog walker that the media is reporting on and social media is a buzz over? 

A Black woman stranded in a strange city, Bree is scared. A black person involved in the white person’s disappearance/murder isn’t a good look. And she knows how the Police sees her. And until she can find Ty, the only person who can help her is an ex-best friend, a lawyer who Bree shares a complicated history with. 

But as the Police and the social media mob close in, Bree realises that the only way to stay out of jail is to discover what happened that night. But is she going to like what she finds…?