Murder Month 2019 - The Shape of Night

• Title And Author: The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen
• Publisher: Transworld
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: eBook gifted by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction
• Length: 288 Pages

Have you guys ever watched Grey’s Anatomy? If I said to you “ghost sex”, you’ll know what episode and storyline I’m talking about, right? Ok, keep that in mind while I do this write-up. 

It’s been quite a long time since I read a Tess Gerritsen. I tried to read Playing With Fire when that first came out, but couldn’t get past the first few pages. I never warmed to it the way I warmed to Tess’s Rizzoli and Isles series (I plan to reread one or two of them in the coming few months so keep your eyes peeled for those). So, when I saw The Shape of Night on NetGalley for review, I jumped at it, making sure I didn’t read anything about it. I wanted to go in as blind as I could. 

Ava arrives at Brodie’s Watch, she thinks she’s found the perfect place to find writing her cookbook. And the perfect place to hide from her past - something awful happened. Something she’s desperate to forget. 

But the old house that Ava plans to stay in till October welcomes and repels her and soon, Ava can’t scare the feeling that she isn’t alone… But is she? Is she in danger? If so, is the danger outside the house, inside the walls, or inside her own guilt-ridden head?

Hey Sherlock! Extract

I have a murdery extract for you guys! I know, an extract from a crime/mystery novel within Murder Month? Shocking! But am kinda excited and intrigued on this one and want to know your thoughts on this series. Plus, when Vicki from David Fickling Books emailed me about this, I had just started watching Elementary so it's a sign!!!

Hey Sherlock! by Simon Mason is the third in the award winning Gavin Smith series (the first, Running Girl, was shortlisted for Costa Children's Prize Award 2014 and the second, Kid Got Shot, won the CrimeFest Best Crime Novel for Young Adult 2017), and Gavin is lazy, school dropout but utterly brilliant and beyond smart.

Amy Roecastle has gone missing. She's beautiful and utterly selfish. But why would she go missing? And why would her best friend lie to the Police? Inspector Singh has no leads, no clue, no idea. Cue Gavin who might be one step of the investigation, but who might be getting in over his head as nothing is ever simple when it comes to Amy Roecastle...

Not sure if I am going to have time to read this within the month (I know - this was perfect for this month or the coming autumn/winter months as there's something about autumn that makes perfect thriller reading), but I wanted to share this extract with you all!

Before I go, I want to thank Vicki for emailing me after I chatted to her about my themed Murder Month and going "I think this would be perfect for you!". If you are curious on the series or you like what's below, you can check out David Fickling Books's website.

NOW, ONTO THE EXTRACT (sorry about the formatting of extract in advance. For some reason, my laptop wasn't happy the day I was writing this p!!!

#re3 Murder Month 2019 - Murder On The Orient Express

• Title And Author: Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Physical
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 240 Pages

I am going to say this now but this reread wasn’t planned to happened. After I finished reading Howl’s Moving Castle (link here to read my write-up) where I struggled to finished, I wanted something light to read. Something fast. Something I could finish within a week. My brain decided that, even though I was thinking of reading this for Murder Month, I wanted to reread Murder on the Orient Express. So, I read this back in August and decided to pop my write-up of this now… 

I think we all know the basic premise of Murder on the Orient Express, but to refresh your memory, this is the tenth outing for Hercule Poirot and he is returning to Paris after a telegram comes to him, begging him to return to London. While on the Orient Express, his is approached by an American, Samuel Ratchett, who wants to hire Poirot as his personal detective. Poirot refuses, not liking the man. But the following morning, Poirot discovers that Ratchett is dead, stabbed 12 times while he slept and that Orient Express is at a standstill due to a vicious snowstorm, meaning the murderer is still on the train…

Murder Month 2019 - The First Lady

• Title And Author: The First Lady by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois
• Publisher: Century
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed via Local Library & BorrowBox
• Length: 368 Pages or & Hours 15 Minutes

Do you have one of those authors? You know the authors I mean. The ones where you know you shouldn’t read as you and they don’t get on, but every now and then, your resolve weakens and you go “One last time. I will try that author one more time”?

This is my relationship with James Patterson. I find his audiobooks fun, fast and great beach reads, but I find them quite predictable. I know the beats of each of the novels I listen to or read and, though I do have fun listening to the audiobook (I went through a small blitz when I was in my teens with his novels and I find, because of that, I can’t really physical read them any more) and I have a soft spot for the Women’s Murder Club, I always feel a little let down by the stories. 

So, when I first started to think about doing Murder Month, I thought I would give one or two authors a second chance. The first was Patrica Cornwall’s Kay Scarpetta and I found, after nearly two or so hours of audiobooking All That Remains, I frankly didn’t care and I DNFed it. But the second was James Patterson. Now, originally, I decided to do The President Is Missing as that had a lot of hype and noise when it was coming out. But I changed my mind. I’m not sure why, but I decided to try The First Lady instead. 

It’s four weeks before the next Presidential Elections and the President is riding high in the polls. So when he is ambushed walking out of an Atlanta hotel with his mistress, President Tucker is desperate to get the scandal under control, and the first step is the get the First Lady by his side…

Expect, she’s not in the White House. She walked out of the East Wing after the scandal broke to ride her horse outside the capital and, within moments, she loses her security detail lose her. 

The First Lady is missing. Did she run away? Is she dead? Either way, she must be found and, all the while, things are happening behind the scenes… things that will protect the President at all costs.

Murder Month 2019 - The Five

• Title And Author: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed by BorrowBox & Essex Libraries
• Length: 432 Pages or 10 Hours 18 Minutes

Since I first heard of this book earlier in the year, I wanted to read it. I am not a fan of True Crime and not really had much interest over Jack the Ripper (though I have said I would be curious to go on a Jack the Ripper Walk round East London), so the idea of me wanting to read this came very left field. I mean… why? Why would I want to read about Jack the Ripper and his murders? 

But wanting to read this surprised me and when I decided to close my Audible subscription and use my local library and their audiobook app, I went to see this was on here. And it was, much to mu surprise, and I knew, without really thinking it through that I wanted this to be part of my Murder Month. No, not wanted. This HAD to be in my Murder Month. 

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper looks at the five women at the heart of this terror, and, with this, looks at the social pitfalls and peril of being a middle-class women (or just a women in general) in Victorian London. 

I don’t want to go any further here as I want to go further a little later in this write-up.

The Devil Upstairs

Blog tour time! I know, what is going on this Murder Month?!

And this is linked to The Devil Upstairs by Anthony O'Neill. I read his previous novel, Dr Jekyll and Mr Seek (a "sequel" or sorts to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) a few years ago and thorough enjoyed myself. So when I was asked if I wanted to be involved in this blog tour, I jumped at it. But, this sounds a little creepy...

The Devil Upstairs follows Cat Thomas, who moves from Florida to Edinburgh into her dream house. Everything is perfect. Expect the neighbour upstairs. He is loud, rude and respects nothing. In sheer desperation, Cat appeals to the Devil to do something, anything.

Then upstairs goes deafly quiet. Has Cat's nightmare ended, or just begun...?

I am so excited to be involved in this tour and I have something to share. Anthony O'Neill found time to write a small guest post for the tour about the novel's title! How very intriguing!

Before I hand you over to Anthony, I just want to thank him for finding time to write this and to Jaz at Black and White Publishing for asking if I wanted to be involved in the tour! If you fancy checking out his website - anthonyoneill.net - you are always welcome. And if you are curious over The Devil Upstairs, you can read more about it on Black and White Publishing website. Now, over to Anthony!

Murder Month 2019 - The October Man

• Title And Author: The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch
• Publisher: Gollancz
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 192 Pages or 4 Hours 20 Minutes

I am in two minds over whether or not to write this as part of my Murder Month. I decided, probably against my better judgement, that I will on the condition that I attempt to read the first book in the Rivers of London series this month as well (yes, I know, this is my first within this series and before you all have a go at me, when have I EVER read a book series in order? This is very on me brand).

The reason I bought this is because back in October last year, at the Orion Book Blogger Event, the sampler of this audiobook was played and I went “Ok, I need to read this!” so I preordered it a few weeks later and thought “I’ll have plenty of time to catch up”. Oh, foolish book blogger, do you know nothing about yourself? You’ve been doing this for how long and still, you don’t know yourself? 

So, in this 7.5 novella of the Rivers of London series, we are no longer in London, but Germany. In Trier, to be exact. Famous for being Germany’s oldest city, its wine and now a dead body covered impossibly in fungal rot. Enter Tobias Winter, an investigator for the Abteilung KDA, the branch of the German Federal Criminal Police that handles magic and the supernatural. His aim is to get in, solve the case and get out, with little fuss, danger and, more importantly, paperwork. 

Together with a frightening enthusiastic local cop, Vanessa Sommer, the two link the first victim to a group of ordinary men who create a wine club to handle their midlife crisis. But is it possible this club has reawaken a bloody conflict from the previous century? Looks like the duo will have the unearth the secret, magical history of Trier that goes back two thousand years. That is… is history doesn’t kill them first…

The Apartment Awaits...

When I first heard of The Apartment, something about it chilled my blood and I knew I had to get it involved in my Murder Month!

The Apartment is an Audible original thriller, written by KL Slater (author of The Silent Ones, Closer, The Mistake and other creepy thriller), which is inspired by the terrifying "Little Albert" Experiment. I won't go to much into what the plot of this is, but let me be as vague as I can.

Freya is struck by tragedy. Losing her husband and her house, she needs to find somewhere to live quickly. So when she meets by chance Dr Marsden, she can't believe her luck. He offers her and her five year old daughter, Skye, a place to live. A small apartment in an exclusive part of London for a fraction of the market rent. When she moves into Adder House, she feels comfortable with the other residents.

But strange things start happening and no matter what Freya does, she can't help feeling that she and Skye are never truly alone... Freya might have escaped the problems of her past, but it looks like danger is in Adder House, and they are terrifying...

Now, I am thrilled to have a small guest post from KL Slater, talking a little about The Apartment and I hope to will creep you out to check it out!

I want to thank KL for writing this post - I know how busy she is! And I want to thank Anna at Midas PR for asking this would be up my street! Now, if you want to check KL out, visit her via her website - klslaterauthor.com - or via her Twitter at @KimLSlater. And if you want to check out The Apartment, you can visit Audible now!

Murder Month 2019 - Small Wars

• Title And Author: Small Wars by Lee Child
• Publisher: Penguin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from BorrowBox & Local Library
• Length: 1 Hours 17 Minutes

Maybe this wasn’t the best place to start with Lee Child and his well loved creation, Jack Reacher. This is, to my knowledge, 19.5 within the series. But when have I ever started in the right place...? 

Set in 1989, a young lieutenant colonel in a stylish handmade uniform and a swish car, drives through the woods down a lone road meets a very tall soldier with a broken-down car. 

But what connects a cold-blooded off-post shooting, an officer in the military police called Jack Reacher, his mysterious brother Joe and a secretive unit of pointy-heads from the Pentagon…? 

So… what are my thoughts of this short audiobook that I wanted to listen to due to Murder Month?

Murder Month 2019 - Murder She Wrote: Gin and Daggers

• Title And Author: Murder She Wrote: Gin and Dagger by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Physical
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrow from local library
• Length: 261 Pages

I bet you thought when I decided to do a possible crime reading month back in May, you didn’t think I was going to start with Murder She Wrote. But yeah, I am and I have no shame. 

The first book in the series, best selling author Jessica Fletcher is off to London for be a keynote speaker as a mystery writers convention. She’s also looking forward to meeting her friend and fellow crime writer, Marjorie Ainsworth, who she’s hasn’t seen in so long. When Marjorie invites Jessica to a house party to celebrate the release of her new novel, Gin and Daggers, Jessica happily accept. But the party ends with murder when Jessica discovers Marjorie stabbed in her bed… 

When I first discovered this book spinoff series existed, I went “This is no way going to be as fun as the TV show” and yet I still wanted to read at least one of the titles in this series. And it’s a long series. At the time of you guys reading this, its 50th instalment will be published this coming November. FIFTY BOOKS in this series, and it’s not going to end any time soon as it’s still hugely popular, plus the TV is still hugely popular with reruns still airing on TV channels round the world (according to me Googling, 5USA is the UK home for Jessica now, but ITV, BBC and Alibi have all been home in the past ten years). 

So… what do I think of this?

Murder Month - Sue Wallman Gets Dead Popular

Let's kickstart this Murder Month of mine with having the super lovely Sue Wallman on for a quick Q&A.

For those of you not in the loop, Sue is a YA thriller writer who's previous three novels, Lying About Last Summer, See How They Lie and Your Turn to Die have been making waves with YA thriller readers. Lying About Last Summer was selected as one of Zoella's Book Club picks with WHSmiths in autumn 2016 and each book has won awards and have received praise across the UK.

Her newest, Dead Popular, came out last month, but I have been saving myself to read it till this month as how perfect this book is to fit into this themed month of mine! Sue has written about what Dead Popular is in my quick Q&A of six questions - I didn't want to go too spoiler plus I wanted to know what her thoughts of the genre of crime and thriller.

Before I hand you over to the Q&A, I want to quickly thank Sue for answering these questions and thank Harriet at Scholastic for going "That sounds like fun" when I mentioned I was planning to do this month. If you want to say hi to Sue, you can check out her website at suewallman.co.uk or say hi to her on Twitter at @SueWallman. 

ONTO THE MURDERY QUESTIONS!

Murder Month 2019

In possible the worst-kept secret I’ve had on The Pewter Wolf, I have decided to make this September my crime/thriller/mystery reading month - or, as I like to call it, Murder Month! 

Ok, I have done this once before, back in ye olde days of in 2016 and I always said I would read more of these types of books as I enjoy them and I didn’t want them to feel like a “guilty pleasure” read (they’re not). And I think I’ve done a goodish job reading more crime/thriller months, but two things happened that made me go “Ok, I want to do a themed month linked to the crime genre”. 

The first is Capital Crime. Capital Crime is a literary festival that is going to happen later this month in London to celebrate Crime literary. I believe this is the first festival celebrating the crime genre in London (I know Scotland has several and I know there are a few others, but this is the closest to where I live).

The second is a podcast I listen to called Death By The Books. It’s a podcast I love where the two hosts - Lianne and Kirsti - talk about “crime, thrillers and other books where people die”. And seeing as I have bought and requested from publishers several books based on this podcast, I feel like I need to get my rear in gear and read them in honour of this podcast. 

And with that, the idea of redoing a murder-reading month came to mind and I got excited to try! 

When I first thought of this idea, it was back in May, so I have been slowly getting ahead of myself with this themed month, based on the idea that I want to read far and wide within the crime/thriller genre. It might not be great reads, but I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. Some of these books are going to be real curveballs so heads up in advance for that! 

Now, I can’t guarantee that this month is going to make interesting reading for you guys, but I hope to explore this genre a little more, try new authors (and maybe try a few I know vaguely but been too chicken to try), give one or two authors one final chance and maybe reread a few novels that I love… 

There are a few titles that I do want to try and read this month, but I can’t guarantee I will read them this month (for one reason or another). I’m going to put them below, as a taster of what I want to try and do this month, and then will leave the rest as a surprise. So come with me as we murder the month away…!