*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Love Will Tear Us Apart – Book 3 of the Stranger Times series by C.K. McDonnell #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #StrangerTimesbookreview

I’ve loved this series – see my review of This Charming Man. The humour is very British and I particularly appreciated the humorous articles at the beginning of every chapter, so I was delighted when this offering popped up on Netgalley.

BLURB: Love can be a truly terrible thing.

Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead. Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?

With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn’t have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone? As if that wasn’t enough, one of the paper’s ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.

REVIEW: I found it a bit difficult to get into this one. That occasionally happens with a much-anticipated book, I’ve discovered. I hated the fact that Hannah had cut and run from The Stranger Times office – and initially, her apparent reason didn’t ring true. I soon discovered there’s a reason for that. So at that stage, I relaxed into this one and went with the flow. Though I would say that if you haven’t read either of the first two books, I’d put this one back on the shelf and go searching for either or both of them. There was a lot of plot to pack into this one, so McDonnell didn’t hang around re-establishing the characters in the same detail as happened in The Stranger Times or This Charming Man.

I liked the fact that Stella had more of a role in this story – she’s always been something of an enigma. But I did find Grace’s unravelling a bit annoying and I wasn’t convinced by it. She’s always been a very efficient office manager and coping with receipts for Petty Cash is one of those bread and butter tasks that has to be done with thoroughness, or the whole system quickly gets out of hand. It simply didn’t make sense to me that Grace would have been so slapdash with the paperwork that accounts for the pennies and pounds running through a working office.

The scenes at the health spa were enjoyable, with plenty of humour. And as ever, the climactic scenes that trip into horrific paranormal played to McDonnell’s writing strengths. What I really, really missed from this arc were The Stranger Times articles that appear at the start of every chapter. They usually make me laugh aloud – but while there was a line identifying what they would be about, they hadn’t yet been added to this edition before it was released to reviewers. I know readers won’t find it a problem and so I’m not critiquing their lack – I’m just having a personal whine, as they are always hilarious.

Overall, I enjoyed this latest adventure from the quirkiest newspaper to hit the streets of Manchester. This book and the rest of the series comes highly recommended if you enjoy your paranormal fantasy peopled by eccentric larger-than-life characters having all sorts of odd adventures with a large dollop of Brit humour. While I obtained an arc of Love Tears Us Apart from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Sentenced to Death – Book 4 of A Writer for Hire Mystery series by Betty Hechtman #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #SentencedtoDeathbookreview

I thoroughly enjoyed the previous book in this cosy murder mystery series, Making It Write – see my review. So when this one became available, I snapped it up.

BLURB: When writer for hire Veronica Blackstone is asked to write the copy for The Friends of Hyde Park’s annual house and garden tour, she never expects to get involved in a violent death. But that’s exactly what happens when famous author Landon Donte is found dead in his study during a dinner to highlight the tour. With his career on the wane, and apparently having deleted his last manuscript, it looks as though Landon committed suicide. But Veronica isn’t so sure…

It’s true that Landon had many enemies: his rival and neighbor, bestselling romance author RL Lincoln; his put-upon assistant, Brad; even his own daughter! But are any of them capable of murder? Veronica is determined to uncover the truth.

REVIEW: I’d enjoyed the previous book in this series, so was pleased when I saw this one was available. But if you haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading of the previous offerings, don’t let that put you off. There are some series where crashing midway means you’re floundering – this isn’t one of them.

Veronica is a writer for hire, whose first book has had some modest success and she’s trying to finish her second novel – but is suffering a bit from writer’s block. Fortunately, she’s an adaptable soul, who also undertakes other writing gigs. Indeed, the unfolding adventure whereby she assists a go-getting career woman in finding a suitably attractive and rich husband by writing love letters on her behalf is a really enjoyable plot thread.

Hechtman doesn’t put her foot to the floor with the pacing, so the murder is uncovered by a steady build-up of clues as Veronica gets on with her life. So to really get the best out of this whodunit, it’s necessary to enjoy Veronica’s character and become suitably engrossed in the details of her daily routine. The author’s smooth writing style and strong characterisation meant I found this an easy, enjoyable read, as Veronica discovers the ongoing tensions between those neighbours willing to open up their homes and gardens.

If I do have a niggle, is that her relationship with Sam is plain irritating. Either they have a thing, or they don’t. And they’re now of an age that they both should know one way or another – so all the will they/won’t they business that went on seemed rather forced, given their maturity.

However, it isn’t a dealbreaker – and I’d be very happy to read another book in this entertaining series. While I obtained an arc of Sentenced to Death from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Before I Sleep – Book 24 of the Bill Slider series by Cynthia Harrod Eagles #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #BeforeISleepbookreview

No… I haven’t managed to get hold of all twenty-three of the previous books in this entertaining series – but I have read and thoroughly enjoyed, Cruel as the Grave, Old Bones, Shadow Play and Headlong. So it was a no-brainer that I’d request an arc for this re-release by the excellent Severn House publishing company.

BLURB: The clock is ticking for DCI Slider when a woman goes missing. Can he find her – and does she even want to be found?

Felicity Holland is missing. She left her handsome West London house to go to her weekly pottery class and didn’t come back. She’s a mature, sensible woman with a stable home life and a happy marriage – no reason to abscond. Her distraught husband is convinced she must have been snatched.

DCI Bill Slider and his team know that when a woman goes missing, you have to move fast if there’s to be a hope of finding her alive. But with no evidence of foul play – nothing to go on at all – where do you even start looking?

The clock is ticking. But as Slider tries to retrace the last known movements of Felicity Holland, he is led ever further down a dark and twisted path into the secret past of this beautiful, enigmatic woman.

REVIEW: Once again, the pages flew past on their own as I was engrossed in this police procedural whodunit from the first page. DCI Bill Slider is all about getting the job done – and that involves keeping himself and his team from attracting too much attention from Them Upstairs. So when a worried husband insists the police start looking for his missing wife – and rings up the Commissioner of the MET to ask that it’s done, he isn’t thrilled when he’s the one who gets the job. Because said husband is a successful author, who happened to go to school with the Commissioner, who’s also a fan of his writing.

Initially, everyone on the team is exasperated that their precious time is being taken up with this annoying case, that is bound to be trivial – and but nonetheless put in their best effort to get it sorted out as fast as possible. After all, some 95% of missing spouses either return, or let their half know where they are within three days. But when those days trickle by and Felicity still hasn’t shown up, despite Slider’s diligent enquiries, the team’s speculations become a whole lot darker.

I love Harrod Eagles’ easy style – she knows her main characters inside out and it shows. There is a lot of banter amongst the team, much of it funny enough to have me laughing aloud. And while this isn’t a gritty, blood-soaked affair, neither would I class it as a cosy anything. Harrod Eagles’ writing might not be unduly graphic, but neither does she ever let us forget that a beautiful, vibrant woman has disappeared – and is likely not going to be seen alive again.

I have also read sufficient books in the series to enjoy watching Bill’s happiness with his second marriage. So many protagonists in police procedurals are dogged loners, living on takeaways and constantly staying late at the office, that I enjoy his happy domestic circumstances and sociability.

I did get a little fed up about halfway through, when I knew exactly what was going on – and probably who’d done it. Although it wasn’t a dealbreaker, I was a little disappointed that the normally well-constructed and twisty plotting I’d become used to enjoying was thinner this time around. Until, it turned out – while I was right about some of it, I didn’t know who’d done it after all. And as events moved forward, I realised that I wasn’t supremely clever – and probably that guess happened just when the author wanted it to. So yes… the plotting is every bit as twisty and well-constructed as usual. And so heartbreakingly poignant that I finished the book with a lump in my throat.

In short, a thoroughly satisfying read and highly recommended for fans who like their police procedurals featuring a likeable protagonist and a memorable victim who certainly didn’t deserve what happened to her. While I obtained an audiobook arc of Before I Sleep from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc The Luminaries – Book 1 of The Luminaries series by Susan Dennard #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #TheLuminariesbookreview

I thoroughly enjoyed Truthwitch and Windwitch, so I was delighted when I was approved for an arc.

BLURB: Hemlock Falls isn’t like other towns. You won’t find it on a map, your phone won’t work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you.

Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie’s town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night. Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyal—and restore her family’s good name. Or die trying.

But in order to survive, Winnie enlists the help of the one person who can help her train: Jay Friday, resident bad boy and Winnie’s ex-best friend. While Jay might be the most promising new hunter in Hemlock Falls, he also seems to know more about the nightmares of the forest than he should. Together, he and Winnie will discover a danger lurking in the forest no one in Hemlock Falls is prepared for. Not all monsters can be slain, and not all nightmares are confined to the dark.

REVIEW: This is a major shift from the Witchlands series that Dennard has been working on, though I recognised many of the same strengths in the writing. Firstly, Winnie is a gutsy, appealing character. Having spent the last four years being officially shunned by everyone in Hemlock Falls, she has the courage and resilience to still come back fighting. That said, such a hammering from erstwhile friends and relations leaves it mark – and when public attitudes suddenly shift, I was pleased that Winnie is still struggling with her anger at the betrayal. I quickly found myself entirely in her corner and willing for her to prevail as I liked and sympathised with her.

That said, I was a bit flummoxed at her particular habit of clicking her front teeth – the only people I’ve ever come across who did such a thing wore dentures. And on several occasions I was pulled out of the story by wondering exactly how much noise they made and how exactly she did it. I was a bit surprised that such a mannerism survived the editing stage, to be honest, as it’s sufficiently rare to be distracting and rather an off-putting habit.

The other strength of this story is the forest and the monsters that reside there. This terrifying place constantly creates unpleasant creatures who are highly dangerous and the Luminaries are designated families whose task it is to keep them sufficiently culled so they don’t leave the forest and spread out to attack everyone else. I enjoyed the range of monsters, who Winnie obsessively studies and draws, so we also get to discover them and their methods of killing. Winnie wants to become a hunter and has to pass three trials in order to succeed at this demanding role, but is very much hampered because while her family were shunned, she wasn’t able to train using the excellent facilities and equipment to make her sufficiently formidable. I think Dennard gets away with her workaround – I was pleased that Winnie didn’t end up being some kickass heroine who was able to march into the forest and take down a dangerous beast with hardly any problem.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and while the slow-burn romance wasn’t an aspect of the book that particularly drew me in – it was well handled. However, I do have a major grizzle that has knocked a point off my original score – and that was the very abrupt ending. Reading a digital copy meant I wasn’t completely aware of how far through the book I was. And when I suddenly swiped the page to be confronted with the back matter, I wasn’t best pleased. Chiefly because not a single one of the major dangling plotpoints are resolved. I am aware that we do have a complete story arc for Winnie, but that didn’t appear to be the narrative engine powering the plot, so I felt both wrong-footed and more than a little dissatisfied with the sudden ending. That said, I did enjoy the world sufficiently that I definitely want to discover what happens next. While I obtained an audiobook arc of The Luminaries from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 8th February, 2023 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week’s Can’t-Wait offering – Love Will Tear Us Apart – Book 3 of The Stranger Times series by C.K. McDonnell – release date 9th February, 2023.

#urban fantasy adventure #Manchester setting #humour

BLURB: Love can be a truly terrible thing.

Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead.

Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?

With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn’t have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone?

As if that wasn’t enough, one of the paper’s ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.

Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times.

I have read and loved the previous books in this entertaining series – see my review of This Charming Man, the second book. The humour is very British and laugh-aloud, while there are also moments of real poignancy. So I’m thrilled to have it in my TBR pile – I’m running a bit behind my reading schedule at the moment. And if you are also keen to get hold of the latest in this series, then you won’t have to wait long as tomorrow is the release date:). If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, then get hold The Stranger Times – it’s worth tucking into this series from the beginning.

Review of NETGALLEY AUDIOBOOK The Windweaver’s Storm – Book 2 of T.J. Young and the Orishas series by Antoine Bandele #BrainfluffNETGALLEYAUDIOBOOKreview #TheWindweaversStormbookreview

It was the setting of this one that caught my eye. There are plenty of magical schools out there, which I love by the way, but set in Africa? Drawing on West African culture and origin myths? It was this difference that snagged my attention and made me particularly want to listen to this YA adventure.

BLURB: TJ Young spent last summer fighting to unlock the secrets behind his sister’s mysterious death but found himself battling the magic of the ancient Orishas instead. And some of the answers he sought came with a promise he may not be able to keep: to dismantle new human construction on the coastline of Lagos, Nigeria by the start of spring.

But how does a teenager do away with decades of infrastructure in only half a year? He’ll need to enlist the help of new allies, mortal and immortal alike. And thankfully, after surviving the grueling magical curriculum of Camp Olosa, he’s now headed to the most prestigious magic school in West Africa: Ifa Academy for Tomorrow’s Diviners.
But will that be enough as he prepares for what can only end in an all-out war between mortals and gods?

REVIEW: It didn’t take me long to realise that this was the second in the series – but at that stage, I wasn’t sure I would like this one enough to spend one of my precious book credits on listenng to the first book. While T.J. seemed an engaging and sympathetic protagonist, initially the leisurely pace took some getting used to.

That said, the production values on this audiobook are very high – I enjoyed the sound effects at the start of each chapter, as the birdsong, in particular, served as a handy reminder that we’re in Nigeria. And Nekia Renee Martin does a wonderful job narrating this tale. Once I got used to the depth of description, I was able to relax into the story as T.J. struggles to settle into this prestigious magical school. I liked the fact that he battled in most of the lessons and didn’t find much of the magic easy to control, given his evident talent in quirky yet powerful ways. It would have been all too easy to turn him into a Gary Stu and I’m very glad that Bandele didn’t.

The tension continues to crank up throughout the story – the ongoing reminders on T.J.’s phone worked nicely to highlight the countdown to the cataclysmic event. Of course, if you build up such a catastrophe, when the hammer falls it needs to be spectacular. And Bandele’s writing didn’t disappoint. Indeed, I was shaken by the sheer extent of the devastation and some of the deaths – Bandele isn’t afraid to off some of his cast of characters that have played a significant role in the story. In fact, I stayed up later than I should to hear what happened next.

Any niggles? Well, I could have done without the love triangle. I understand that teenage romances are often messy due to the strong emotions and inexperience of those caught up in such feelings – but frankly, I wanted to shake T.J. until his teeth rattled at the upset and hurt he was causing. And he got off far too lightly, in my opinion. So I have taken off a point for that. But otherwise, it’s a cracking YA adventure with a lushly portrayed setting that is both unusual and effective. So, yes – I shall be spending one of my precious credits to read the first book in this engaging fantasy, The Gatekeeper’s Staff, as I want to spend more time with T.J. and those Orishas. While I obtained an audiobook arc of The Windweaver’s Storm from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Waste of a Life – Book 3 of the Decluttering Mysteries by Simon Brett #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #WasteofaLifebookreview

I always enjoy Brett’s twisty plotting and sardonic view on contemporary life in England – see my reviews of Death on the Downs, The Liar in the Library, The Killer in the Choir and Guilt at the Garage. I also have enjoyed Mrs Pargeter’s Public Relations. But I’ve a particularly soft spot for his current heroine, Ellen Curtis in the Decluttering Mysteries, see my reviews of The Clutter Corpse and An Untidy Death. So I was delighted to discover that another book in this entertaining series is hitting the shelves.

BLURB: Declutterer Ellen Curtis has been working to bring order into the life of Cedric Waites, a recluse in his eighties who hasn’t left his house or let anyone inside it since his wife died. On one of her regular visits, Ellen finds the old man dead.

Sad but, given his age, perhaps not unexpected. Nothing to get worked up about . . . until the police raise the suspicion that Cedric might have been poisoned! The cause seems be something he ate, and as Ellen cleared away the old man’s food containers, she is under suspicion. As is Dodge, who works for Ellen and has unhelpfully done a runner . . .

Meanwhile, a rival declutterer is out to sabotage Ellen’s reputable business, her two grown-up children are back home and in crisis, and she has a potential love interest. Ellen’s life has taken on a chaotic turn of its own! Can she uncover the killer and bring order back to her own life?

REVIEW: Before I go further, I need to mention a trigger warning – in Ellen’s past there is a suicide. While this book doesn’t go into huge detail about the event, ten years later it still reverberates through Ellen’s life in a poignant and realistic manner.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading the previous two books, don’t be deterred from enjoying this one. Like many murder mystery series, while there is a narrative arc for the main protagonist, each whodunit is resolved within the book so you won’t be left to flounder. And an author of Brett’s skill and experience doesn’t do such things to his readers, anyway. I have huge affection for Ellen. She is at an age where she is of the middle generation squeeze – still looking after grown-up children, neither of whom are particularly thriving, as well as confronted with an ageing and increasingly frail mother. It doesn’t help that she isn’t on particularly good terms with her mother or her daughter.

I like Brett’s unsentimental approach to family life. There is often a rather unrealistic gloss around the key relationship between mothers and daughters in genre fiction, unless it is the darker psychological sort, or gritty murder mysteries. But while there is definitely a bedrock of love and concern in the relationship between Ellen and her children, she is also extremely careful to step around their adult sensibilities. The result is often poignant and humorous. In amongst all this family angst, Ellen is having to continue her daily routine – also refreshingly realistic.

The murder mystery in this story is a slow burn that gradually gains momentum. I won’t claim that the murderer is a huge surprise. But I wasn’t sure they would be satisfactorily uncovered so the police could step in – and I’m not telling you if that happens, as then we’d be lurching into Spoiler territory. Once more, I was pulled into this story to the extent that I didn’t put it down until I’d reached the end, so I read it in two greedy gulps. Highly recommended for fans of the gentler sort of murder mystery that nonetheless has an edged look at modern life. While I obtained an arc of Waste of a Life from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY AUDIOBOOK Murder Most Royal – Book 3 of Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series by S.J. Bennett #BrainfluffNETGALLEYAUDIOBOOKreview #MurderMostRoyalbookreview

I was in the mood for something a bit different, when this offering caught my eye. I was initially a bit hesitant – until I saw that Samantha Bond was narrating this one which gave me confidence to go for it. I particularly didn’t want to plough through some second-rate parody of Her Majesty, especially in the wake of her sudden death.

BLURB: December 2016 – A severed hand is found washed up on a beach next to the Queen’s estate at Sandringham. Elizabeth has become quite accustomed to solving even the most complex of murders. And though she quickly identifies the 70-year-old victim, Edward St Cyr, from his signet ring, the search for his killer is not so straightforward. St Cyr led an unconventional, often controversial life, making many enemies along the way in the quiet, rural world of North Norfolk, where everyone knows each other’s business.

But when a second man is found dead, and a prominent local woman is nearly killed in a hit-and-run, the mystery takes an even darker turn. With the Christmas break coming to an end, the Queen and her trusted assistant Rozie must race to discover how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Or the next victim may be found even closer to home.

REVIEW: I’m so glad that I went for this one. It’s a joy. Although it’s the third book in the series, I was blissfully unaware of the previous two books until I came to write up this review so don’t worry if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading the other books – neither have I. Yet.

Set in 2016, the Queen is a battling a head cold as she and Prince Philip travel to Sandringham for the usual Christmas festivities. I loved the little additions, like the Queen’s chat with the PM. In fact, Bennett’s writing is enormously clever – she manages to avoid pinning the Queen down to any strong political opinion, which is entirely realistic. But neither does Her Majesty come across as too wishy-washy either. The only moment when I wasn’t completely happy with the depiction of the Queen is when she chooses to go wandering across the field, when the sensible option would be to stay in the Range Rover. But that is a minor niggle set against the rest of the book. In addition to the Queen, I loved Prince Philip’s character and the staff. I thought the relationship between the Queen and the royal household was very well done, particularly Rozie Oshodi, her Assistant Private Secretary.

As for the murder mystery, it’s a slow burn affair that throws out all sorts of puzzling details which at once stage had me wondering how the murder mystery was going to be wrapped up. I needn’t have worried. Bennett is clearly an experienced and able writer, who delivers a thoroughly enjoyable denouement. There were times when I listened to this with a lump in my throat for the loss of the amazing lady who ruled over us for a whole generation. Highly recommended for fans of quirky murder mysteries that is also well researched with a wealth of historical detail. I’m looking forward to tracking down the previous two books. While I obtained an audiobook arc of Murder Most Royal from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc And Justice for Mall – Book 4 of the Jersey Girl Legal Mystery series by E.J. Copperman #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #AndJusticeforMallbookreview

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the previous books I’ve read in this entertaining cosy mystery series – see my reviews of Inherit the Shoes and Witness for the Persecution – so when I spotted this one on the Netgalley dashboard, I immediately requested it.

BLURB: When Riley Schoenberg strides into family lawyer Sandy Moss’s office without knocking and coolly sits down, Sandy’s more irritated than amused. She has a client meeting to prepare for, and being interrupted by an eleven-year-old girl is not on her to-do list.
But then Sandy hears Riley’s pitch, and it’s a killer one: Riley’s father’s been convicted of murdering her mother . . . and the oddly intimidating pre-teen will do anything to get him out of jail.

Sandy, in turn, will do anything to get Riley out of her office. Which includes agreeing to look into her dad’s case for free. A decision she regrets when it turns out Riley’s inheritance has made her a multi-millionaire. Still, Sandy’s determined to get Riley the answers she needs. There’s just one tiny problem: Riley might be convinced her father’s innocent, but Jack Schoenberg is insisting he did it.

REVIEW: Yet another legal tangle for our feisty heroine, Sandy Moss, to solve. It could so easily be full of fraught, angsty emotions – after all there isn’t anything at all funny about a pre-teen with a murdered mother desperate to get her convicted father out of prison. But somehow, Copperman’s protagonist manages to make almost all the situations she gets herself in genuinely funny – without diminishing the upset surrounding said situations.

Young Riley certainly tugs at our heartstrings – though not because she breaks down and weeps. She’s had a hard time of it since her mother’s death and doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve. I found her tough front particularly poignant, given that children of her age shouldn’t have to be so streetwise and wary of their emotions. So when she does crack, it’s a big deal and I thought Copperman dealt with her character really well, having spent time with children of her age who have also suffered a similar lack of love.

As for Sandy, she is also house-hunting with the love of her life, gorgeous actor Patrick McNabb. It rapidly gets very complicated, as Sandy is frankly overwhelmed with the outlandish luxury that Patrick is accustomed to, yet she also is mindful that he’s got a lot of stuff that needs room. So they need to find somewhere large enough for their needs, but not too large and overblown – and she’s also aware that if she finds something that she wants, Patrick will immediately agree to it whether he likes it or not. I found this sub-plot endearing and a bit of light relief when events take a sudden, darker turn. Perhaps it’s Copperman’s gift of making sure there are lighter moments while the rest of Sandy’s investigations are getting dangerous that keeps the humour coming, without it appearing crass or insensitive.

I thought the denouement worked well and that the main murder mystery was successfully tied up. There’s a possible cloud on the horizon regarding Sandy’s happiness that I may have spotted… I’m hoping I’m wrong. But I can’t wait to dive into the next book, anyway, because there’s bound to be tension and adventure, alongside Sandy’s lovely dry humour. Recommended for fans of legal murder mysteries with a splash of ironic humour. While I obtained an arc of And Justice for Mall from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 2nd November, 2022 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week’s Can’t-Wait offering – Waste of a Life – Book 3 of the Decluttering Mysteries by Simon Brett – release date – 6th December 2022

#contemporary murder mystery #feisty heroine #family relationships #humour

BLURB: Declutterer Ellen Curtis has been working to bring order into the life of Cedric Waites, a recluse in his eighties who hasn’t left his house or let anyone inside it since his wife died. On one of her regular visits, Ellen finds the old man dead.

Sad but, given his age, perhaps not unexpected. Nothing to get worked up about . . . until the police raise the suspicion that Cedric might have been poisoned! The cause seems be something he ate, and as Ellen cleared away the old man’s food containers, she is under suspicion. As is Dodge, who works for Ellen and has unhelpfully done a runner . . .

Meanwhile, a rival declutterer is out to sabotage Ellen’s reputable business, her two grown-up children are back home and in crisis, and she has a potential love interest. Ellen’s life has taken on a chaotic turn of its own! Can she uncover the killer and bring order back to her own life?
This is a favourite series of mine – see my reviews of The Clutter Corpse and An Untidy Death. I love gutsy Ellen, who has had to recover from a terrible blow and is a study in resilience. She also has a delightfully dry humour, so I’m really looking forward to spending more time with her, as she tries to uncover the story behind another dodgy death.