"The Killer Question" by Janice Hallett

Janice Hallett is a dare-devil. And a clever cookie.

Who else writes an entire murder mystery using only texts, emails, transcripts, and still makes it this gripping? It shouldn’t work as well as it does... and it really, really does.

The setup is deceptively cosy. Sue and Mal Eastwood retire early and take over a rural pub, The Case is Altered, and bring it back to life with a weekly pub quiz. You get to know the regular teams through scoresheets, categories, bits of conversation. It’s all very low-key, quirky, British.

There’s even that one team member who complains about everything every single week, and the running joke that the quizmaster is always right, even when he’s clearly wrong.

And then a body turns up in the river behind the pub.

From there, things start to shift. A new team arrives, The Shadow Knights, and begins winning every week, unsettling the regulars and changing the whole dynamic. The second half of the book goes somewhere I didn’t expect at all. It gets twisty, but still grounded in that same clever format.

I love pub quizzes, and I really loved this book.

It's Not What You Think

"It's Not What You Think" by Clare Mackintosh is an excellent book. I couldn’t put it down. It's he kind of book where you tell yourself one more chapter and suddenly it’s well past midnight.

I went in expecting a fairly straightforward psychological thriller. Instead, I got something a bit sharper, a bit more self-aware. The story keeps nudging you into forming opinions. About what’s happening, about who to trust. And then quietly pulls the rug. 

I loved Nadeeka and Lauren. They’re not perfect characters, which is exactly why they work. There were moments I didn’t agree with them, moments I questioned them, but I never disengaged. 

What stayed with me is the sense of unease running under everything. It’s a clever reminder that perspective is slippery, and that we’re often far more certain than we should be.

I read it quickly, but it’s the kind of book that lingers a little afterwards, making you replay moments and wonder what you missed the first time.

Smart, addictive, and just a bit unsettling in the best way.

Inside Man by John McMahon

This sequel brings back Gardner Camden and the PAR team with the same clever energy that made the first thriller so compelling. The mystery unfolds on two fronts (a militia investigation and a chilling series of buried victims) and the tension builds steadily without losing the human side of the story. 

It’s a smart, absorbing novel that reminds you that puzzles aren’t just about clues. They’re chiefly about people.

What I loved most was hanging out with four brilliant, slightly odd book people who trust each other enough to tackle the cases nobody else can solve. Thank you, John, for normalising neurodiversity and unveiling how cool and desirable it is.

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

I read "We Solve Murders" in less than 24 hours (while on Christmas break) and I absolutely loved it. Loved the characters, loved the pace, even loved the crazy improbable plot.

This makes me wonder why I couldn't get into the authors pervious books in the The Thursday Murder Club series. I'll try them again, and if it's still a no, I'll try the TV adaptation. I do remember getting lost early in The Thursday Murder Club, unable to keep track of all the characters, so maybe this is one of those books that only works when you’re properly on holiday and your brain has switched off from work?

Blurb: 

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He still does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers the pub quiz and afternoons at home with his cat Trouble. His days of adventure are over – that’s his daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul, which makes being a private security officer to billionaires the perfect job. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Then a dead body, a bag of money and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending Steve an SOS . . .

As a breakneck race around the world begins, can they stay one step ahead of a deadly enemy?

Missing sister by Joshilyn Jackson

This author never disappoints. Now that I've finished racing through "Missing Sister", I can't decide what I value most: the quirky characters, the plot, or the unique way Ms Jackson wields language to craft prose that is both natural and a Fabergé egg (for those who've read the book, yes, the metaphor is intentional). 

As always with Ms Jackson's books, it's difficult to put it firmly in a genre box, and that is a good, good thing. Mystery, yes. Family drama, also yes.  A milieu story, less so than some of her previous books. Bestseller, for certain.

I love all the Albrights and would be honoured to have them over for dinner. But, my favourite character? Gand.  Hope to meet him again in a future book.

Joshilyn, thank you for writing your wonderful books. They make my life better.

(Release date 3 March 2026)

Kiss Her Goodbye: A Frankie Elkin Novel by Lisa Gardner

I just finished Lisa Gardner's Kiss Her Goodbye and I’m still turning it over in my mind. From the very first chapter, I was pulled into Frankie Elkin’s world again. This time, she’s searching for an Afghan woman who has disappeared and left behind her young child. It’s a story full of heartbreak, courage, and resilience, and it feels incredibly timely.

What I love about Frankie is how flawed and real she is. She’s stubborn and reckless at times, but at her core she’s driven by compassion, and that makes her such a compelling character to follow. Alongside the darkness of the case, Lisa Gardner gives us those small, lighter moments that let you breathe, including Frankie’s unusual pet-sitting arrangement in a mansion full of reptiles, which made me smile in the middle of all the tension.

This book has everything I want in a thriller: pacing, emotional depth, and a character I can’t stop rooting for. 

Lighting the Torch for "The Wrong Girl"

Fresh off the press, recorded this morning. I'm talking about what inspired me to write "The Wrong Girl". Click here to watch.

BUY LINK for all you amazing people.

(ebook available now)