Tag: MANTLE

CTG’s #threewordbookreview – Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

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Blood S

Today’s three word ‘micro’ book review features the stunningly brilliant debut historical crime novel BLOOD & SUGAR by Laura Shepherd-Robinson.

Here’s what the blurb says: “June, 1781. An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock – horribly tortured and branded with a slaver’s mark. Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham – a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career – is visited by the sister of an old friend. Her brother, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He’d said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing . . . To discover what happened to Tad, Harry is forced to pick up the threads of his friend’s investigation, delving into the heart of the conspiracy Tad had unearthed. His investigation will threaten his political prospects, his family’s happiness, and force a reckoning with his past, risking the revelation of secrets that have the power to destroy him. And that is only if he can survive the mortal dangers awaiting him in Deptford…”

My verdict: POWERFUL. HEART-WRENCHING. MYSTERY.

This is an incredible debut novel – beautifully written, fast-paced and suspenseful, with one hell of an emotional punch. Quite simply a must-read for any crime fiction fan.

Blood & Sugar will be out in January 2019 from Mantle. To find out more and pre-order the book click the cover below and hop over to Amazon (note: this is the actual cover, mine pictured above is an early proof):

The Twelfth Department by William Ryan

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The Twelfth Department

The Twelfth Department

What the blurb says: “Mosco, 1937. Captain Korolev, a police investigator, is enjoying a long-overdue visit from his young son Yuri when an eminent scientist is shot dead within sight of the Kremlin. Korolev is ordered to find the killer.

But when another scientist is brutally murdered, and evidence of the professors’ dark experiments is hastily removed, Korolev begins to realise that he’s caught in a dangerous battle between two warring factions of the NKVD. And then Yuri goes missing …”

The Twelfth Department is the third in William Ryan’s Captain Korolev series set in 1930s Russia. His previous novels in the series, The Holy Thief and The Bloody Meadow have between them been shortlisted for a range of fabulous awards including the Theakstones Crime Novel of the Year, the CWA New Blood Dagger, the Irish Fiction Award and the Ireland AM Irish Crime Novel of the Year.

The Twelfth Department is a stunning read. On every page of this novel you feel the undercurrent of tension and horror, a situation made commonplace by Stalin’s Great Terror. Yet despite living in a city caught in the vice-grip of fear, Captain Korolev is a loyal and honourable man, seeking out justice and truth, and determined to do the right thing even if that puts him in danger.

The story feels so authentic, the setting and period detail so vivid, and the story drives forward with a sense of urgency born from the very real jeopardy that the characters find themselves in. I found myself so drawn into the story – the lives of the characters and the world in which they lived – that it was a real struggle to put the book down when I had to go to work (or sleep).

While the novel is part of an ongoing series it works well as a stand alone story in its own right. A must for fans of the police procedural and historical crime fiction, and for anyone looking for a gripping mystery and emotive story that will keep you hooked to the very last page.

Highly recommended.

 

[With thanks to MANTLE for my copy of The Twelfth Department]

 

Book Launch of The Twelfth Department by William Ryan

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The Twelfth Department

The Twelfth Department

I was thrilled to be invited to the launch of author William Ryan’s new novel The Twelfth Department. The event was held on Tuesday at the gorgeous bookstore Goldsboro Books by invitation of Pan Macmillan and Goldsboro Books. It was a fabulous evening.

The Twelfth Department is the third novel in William Ryan’s Captain Korolev series set in 1930s Russia.

I’ll be posting a full review shortly, but to whet your appetite here’s the blurb: When an eminent scientist is shot dead within sight of the Kremlin, police investigator Captain Korolev is ordered to find the killer. But when another scientist is murdered, and evidence of the professors’ dark experiments is hastily removed, Korolev realises that he’s caught in a dangerous battle  between two warring factions of the NKVD. Then his young son Yuri goes missing … 

The Twelfth Department is published by MANTLE today, 23rd May 2013.

Watch this space for my review …