Reviewing Husband and Wife by K L Stater

I have read books by K L Slater before and really enjoyed them so when this book appeared on my Amazon recommended list with the byline 'We promised to keep each other's secrets. Until they found the body...' well I just had to read it!

This book does not disappoint. If you have yet to be introduced to author K L Slater she is a British author known for her psychological crime thrillers.

This book, Husband and Wife, is told from various POVs and also jumps timelines, but it's always easy to keep track of. The main POV is Nicola who, if I'm being honest, is a little irritating at times. Let's have a look at who is in the book:

Nicola and Cal are husband and wife, parents to Parker and doting grandparents to Barney. Cal is a self-employed plumber while Nicola is a former cancer patient who just wants to spend more time with her son and grandson.

Parker is Nicola and Cal's son and he is married to Luna and the father of Barney. Parker is in sales and very ambitious. Luna is a fashion influencer - her parents are very well to do and Parker, Luna and Barney spend most weekends at her family's estate.

Sarah is a young mother to a four-year-old daughter who went out for a night with friends and ended up being discovered dead from strangulation in an alley.

In this book Parker and Luna drop their son Barney off at Nicola and Cal's for the night as they are going into the city to an event and spending the night in a hotel. Parker also tells his mum he wants to talk to her the following morning when neither his father or his wife will be around.

During the night the police pay Nicola and Cal a visit as there's been a car accident and both Parker and Luna have been seriously injured. This is the start of a great book that will have you guessing. I was convinced I'd worked out who had murdered Sarah, I thought I had seen through the red herring and was so confident - I was also completely wrong.

The guilty party took me completely by surprise which is a refreshing change and makes me want to read it a second time to see if I can pick up on some different clues.

Let me know if you've read this book and if you have - did you guess the right culprit?

This book was free for me to read as part of my Amazon Unlimited membership which I tell people is like having a library card for Amazon!

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Reviewing The Ellie McEwan Mysteries by Joy Ellis

I love Joy Ellis police series and have read them all. When I heard that two manuscripts had languished in her attic for two decades before being 'rediscovered' I immediately downloaded both titles.

An Aura of Mystery is book one and introduces us to Ellie McEwan in a crime thriller with a supernatural twist. The characters are quirky and well-rounded as all of her characters are - I find it hard to believe this was her first foray into writing. 

Ellie McEwan is a flower shop owner who has an accident while driving home late one night. Days later she wakes up with a new ability, she can see auras. Her friend Carole is well versed in the spiritual side and tries to help her learn to master this new gift, introducing her to an old professor friend of hers who is an expert in these matters. 

While Ellie is coming to terms with what this new gift is going to mean with her getting on with her life, along with her healing from her car accident; the local police force is dealing with a couple of murders.

Inevitably, given it's a Joy Ellis mystery, Ellie realises that her new-found gift could help to catch a killer. The very sceptical DCI Bob Foreman decides to involve Ellie in the investigation and I will leave it at that. You will have to read the book to discover the how, why, what & when! 

The second book - The Colour of Mystery sees Ellie and Michael set up a Healing Centre for specialty care with a variety of 'alternative' healers. While they are busy setting up the new centre and coming to terms with the circumstances they found themselves in at the end of the last book it appears that there is another spate of murders. 

This time respected and well-loved people are acting completely out of character and murdering people. DCI Forman once again asks for Ellie's help as it really seems as though the murderers may be victims themselves. After committing the murder the 'murderers' go into a catatonic state. 

The second book was a lot more obvious, but wanting to know how the characters were going to deal with things kept me thoroughly engaged. These two books will be the only books in this series which is a shame as I found them to be really easy to read and would love to see more. 

These are two perfect books to curl up with one weekend when you don't anticipate any interruptions. Enjoy them with a lovely cup of cocoa and a few nibbles. 

The series that introduced me to Joy Ellis was the Nikki Galena series that I wrote about here - Joy Ellis' Nikki Galena Series. I've read all of Joy Ellis' books as part of my Kindle Unlimited Membership which I can't recommend enough for any fellow bookworms.

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Reviewing Harlan Coben's Stay Close, Netflix Series

I really enjoyed watching Harlan Coben's The Stranger so when I saw another series based on one of his books I was interested. James Nesbitt & Cush Jumbo as two of the leads were another draw for me and I am so glad I watched it. 

Image from Pixabay, adapted via Canva by Lou16

If you're interested in Harlan Coben's books then you really should check out my fellow contributor, Wednesday Elf's Harlan Coben book reviews as she is a huge fan of his books.

This series is only eight episodes long and episode one is a little slow, it is well worth persevering, however because the next seven episodes more than makeup for it.   The series is full of twists and turns and red herrings that lead to an ending my husband never saw coming.

I did predict the killer earlier in the series (I can't remember which episode as we binge-watched this over two days), my husband did not believe me and I have to say there were a few moments where I started to second guess myself too!

The series is based in the North West of England and it opens with a young man disappearing after a night out at The Vipers (a nightclub).   One of the detectives who is handed this case to investigate is convinced that it is linked to the disappearance of another man, Stewart Green, last seen at The Vipers seventeen years previously.

We are also introduced to a family of five - Dave, Megan and their three children.   We soon discover that Megan used to be called Cassie.   Cassie worked at The Vipers as an exotic dancer and also disappeared on the same night as Stewart Green seventeen years ago.

I won't go into too much detail as I really want you to discover all the twists and turns for yourself, but I will let you know that after the killer is revealed, everything else gets revealed too so that there are no loose ends for you to continually wonder about.

I really do have to start reading Harlan Coben's books as I love all the plot twists in the television series and just be reading reviews of his books they sound like they are made for me.

Have you seen Stay Close or The Stranger yet?

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Reviewing Vera: A British TV Drama

I must admit I love British murder mysteries and Vera is definitely one I enjoy a lot, let me tell you a little bit about it.

Press Release photo (itv.om) adapted by Louanne Cox using Canva

DCI Vera Stanhope is a middle-aged, blunt-talking woman with a brusque attitude who gets things done.   Donning a trench coat, tatty hat and driving her (very old) landrover around the wonderful landscape of Northumberland she hasn't been portrayed as a sex symbol and there's no love interest in the cast.   Basically, her team feels like 'real' people which means you can concentrate on the crime at hand and trying to solve it .... along with the panoramic shots of the area (British tourism must appreciate this series).

I love her down-to-earth mannerisms, her use of the words love and pet just really consolidates her character.   She gets frustrated with her team on occasion, but you can tell they have respect for her and the unit is very cohesive.

I haven't watched Vera from the beginning, I stumbled across it one evening as it was about to start so watched it, then I found another episode a few weeks later.   It was a few seasons in before I started to watch every episode, I have since watched older episodes so I think I'm completely up to date now and eagerly awaiting Season 11 to be aired.

I mention this because you could easily watch just an odd episode and enjoy it without needing to start from the beginning.   In fact, some critics have panned the first series (even though it continually ranks well in the countries it's shown) so maybe it was good that I saw a couple of later episodes first.

If you are like me and get invested in characters you will get a shock in one of the episodes in season 6 (I won't ruin it by telling you which one) as something happens which almost made me cry.   For the record, I rarely cry over television shows or movies.

If you have heard of the novelist Ann Cleaves you may have heard of Vera as this drama series has been based on her novels: Hidden Depths, Telling Tales, The Crow Trap and Silent Voices. 

If you want to watch Vera you can see her for free on the ITV in the UK and ABC in Australia, you can also watch her on Prime Video in other parts of the world or purchase her DVDs.   Each series has four episodes in them, but according to the latest information Series 11 which is being filmed as I write this should be having 6 episodes, two being filmed in 2021 and four in 2022.

If you enjoy series such as Broadchurch, The Stranger, Endeavour or Shetland (also written by Ann Cleaves) then you should really check out this series.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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