Left on the Shelf

About the Author

Jenny O’Brien writes complex thrillers and heartbreaking historical fiction, as well as intriguing romances. Silent Cry, initially self published, topped the Amazon kindle chart in both the UK and the USA. Most of her books have followed suit.

Jenny has over 40 years experience as a qualified nurse. She turned to creative writing as a hobby when her children were born. Now, 20 years later, she's retired from the day job to focus on writing. She's currently working on the third book in the Threads Series.

Born in Ireland, she now lives in Guernsey with her husband and children.

You can also find Jenny at:

Facebook

The Resistance Knitting Club

Bluesky

My Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author

The Puppet Maker

(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

Tuesday, 4 August 2026

Murder at Christmas by T. A. Williams - #bookreview #blogtour

My phone started ringing as Oscar and I were on our way back from an early-morning assignment. An American would have referred to what we were doing as a stakeout, but I try to avoid using that world unnecessarily, because my ever-hungry Labrador is all too familiar with the word 'steak' and I don't like to get his hopes up...

***

The Blurb

A festive gathering...

Private investigator Dan Armstrong, accompanied by his wife and his canine sidekick, Oscar, are spending the days before Christmas in a luxurious Alpine chalet tucked away in a hidden valley. It should be the perfect escape, except the owner is in fear for his life.

A house full of secrets...

Amid perfect winter wonderland scenery, the more Dan discovers about his host and the other guests, he realises that all is not as it seems. What should be a happy family party is riddled with rancour, mistrust and hatred.

A killer in the snow?

Then the snow falls – fast and heavy – and within moments, someone is dead. Accident, suicide, or murder? As the snow closes in, Dan has to work out if he's looking for a killer, or whether he and Oscar are barking up the wrong tree.

A brand new instalment in the page-turning Armstrong & Oscar cozy mystery series, this time in the snowy Italian Alps.

My Review

I have been wanting to read this series for a while now. Whilst I would usually start a series at the beginning, I was offered this book as part of the blog tour and I simply couldn't resist. This works perfectly as a standalone story and I enjoyed it very much.

It seems somewhat ironic to be reading a Christmas book during a heatwave, but I so enjoyed reading about Private Investigator Dan Armstrong and his faithful canine friend, Oscar. Call me fickle, but almost any book which has a dog on the cover has my immediate attention.

Asked by a friend to visit the house and talk to its owner, who is in fear of his life, Dan is employed to stay and look into this. There is an interesting cast of characters staying at the house, and Dan and Oscar have to investigate whether one of them is a killer.

The Italian setting of this book was gorgeous and the descriptions of the snowy scenery sounded like something from the front of a Christmas card. Gorgeous imagery alongside the claustrophobia of the snow causing the guests in the house to be trapped until the snow was cleared. Add into that scenario a potential murderer amongst the guests and you have this fabulous novel.

The author knows just how to bring his characters alive on the page. In the same way that Oscar is an excellent judge of character, as dogs so often are, and combined with Dan's intuitive yet experiential nature, I was left fully trusting the judgement of the duo.

Using both narrative and dialogue to move the story along, the pace of the book was perfect for the genre. Without doubt, the author is an excellent storyteller and this book has left me wanting more. I may well go and start at the beginning of the series now. There are sixteen other books in the series for me to enjoy, and I can't wait to get stuck in.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1837031627

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Formats: e-book, hardback and paperback

No. of Pages: 256 (paperback)

Series: Book 17 in the Armstrong and Oscar Cozy Mystery Series

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

About the Author

In his own words: I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I studied languages at Nottingham University a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to work in Italy for seven years. My Italian wife and I then came back to the UK with our little daughter (now long-since grown up) where I ran a big English language school for many years. We now live in a sleepy little village in Devonshire. I’ve been writing almost all my life but it was only 13 years ago that I finally managed to find a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me my first contract.

I started off writing romances but after 28 of them, I knew I wanted to try something different, and so the first of the Armstrong and Oscar cozy mysteries, Murder in Tuscany, was born three years ago. I’ve been having a lot of fun ever since getting to know the dynamic duo (and introducing them to people all over the world). These books are cosy crime [a genre I didn't even know existed when I started writing them). They are murder mysteries, but not gory, over-violent stuff, but stories designed to exercise the brain of the reader and to put a smile on their face. Maybe it’s because there are so many horrible things happening in the world today that I feel I need to do my best to provide something to cheer my readers up. My books provide escapism to some gorgeous locations all over my beloved Italy.

You can also find the author at:

Murder on the Farm by Kate Wells

Facebook

My Other Blog Posts Featuring Cosy Crime

The Wonderland Murders by Millie Ravensworth

How Not to Murder Your Ex by Katie Marsh

(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Monday, 3 August 2026

The Novel Detective by Teresa Dovalpage - #authorQ&A #blogtour

In her metafictional mystery The Novel Detective (Soho Crime, July 2026), author Teresa Dovalpage steps directly into the pages of her own story. In this candid Q&A, she discusses ghosts, the underground secrets of 1980s Havana, and what happens when a mystery writer becomes her own protagonist.

The Blurb

A metafictional mystery set in Cuba past and present about a writer returning to her long-lost hometown, seeking the truth about two suspicious deaths.

2020: Teresa, a Cuban-born mystery writer now living in America, gets an unexpected call from her childhood best friend, Estrella, inviting her to Havana. Estrella is determined to get answers about a case that has haunted them both for decades: the purported murder-suicide of a teacher and a student at their high school. Though Teresa doesn’t quite understand why Estrella is taking the story so personally, she’s along for the ride—as she always wanted to write a novel about this case.

1980: Fourteen-year-old Teresita, bespectacled, awkward and mystery novel–obsessed, is “nosy, but not a tattletale.” She knows who’s been skimming off the top of the amphetamine stash in her mother’s pharmacy, which teacher keeps cyanide in his cabinet at school and that their classmate Yoyi is sleeping with their English teacher. Over the course of one fateful day, Teresita gets closer than ever to learning the “Truth of Life”—her catchall term for the intricacies of adult existence—even if it means coming face to face with death.

Directly inspired by the author’s own childhood in Cuba and adult life in the United States, drawing upon the tradition of Latin American magical realism, this is a resonant tale at once personal and universal, full of nostalgia, candor and danger.

Welcome to the blog Teresa.

Q In the 1980 timeline, Teresita is obsessed with finding the “Truth of Life.” What does that phrase mean to a fourteen-year-old in Havana?

A Teresita is at that awkward age where she’s no longer a child, but not yet an adult. For her, the “Truth of Life” is the secret code that adults use to navigate a world that she finds full of contradictions. It’s about understanding why a classmate meets with a teacher in a “tunnel of love” and discovering how enjoyable (or icky, as it turns out to be) it is to kiss a boy for the first time. Plus living in 1980 Cuba, she needs to understand how the world actually works once the revolutionary anthems stop playing.

Q The book is described as metafictional. How does your perspective as a real-life mystery writer influence the way the fictional Teresa approaches the investigation?

A It adds a layer of creative self-consciousness. The adult Teresa is investigating a crime while thinking about how the case would work as a literary plot. She’s analyzing clues like a mystery writer, looking for hidden reasons and character arcs, even as real-world Havana throws her curveballs that don’t fit into a neat three-act structure. It’s a story about a writer investigating a detective story, which allowed me to play with all the tropes of the genre.

Q We meet Teresita’s childhood best friend, Estrella, in both timelines. What role does she play in pushing the story forward?

A Estrella is the ultimate catalyst. While teenage Teresita is the observer, Estrella is the one who takes things personally, gets into fights and acts out. In 1980, she’s the rebellious girl joking about the school’s “mustard and ketchup” uniforms and doing Santería ceremonies to attract a boy she likes. In the modern timeline, she’s the one who pulls Teresa back to the crime scene and asks her to find out what really happened. Every detective needs a partner who provides the emotional stakes, and for Teresa, that’s always been Estrella.

Q Teresita knows some dangerous secrets, like who is stealing amphetamines in the pharmacy where her mother works and the affair between a teacher and a student. How much of this was a reality for students in Cuba back then?

A When a society is highly monitored, the underground thrives. Growing up, things like black-market jeans, diverted pharmacy supplies, inflated grades, and banned Beatles songs were just part of daily life. We had a saying back then: “Whatever is not prohibited is compulsory.” I wanted The Novel Detective to capture that exact tension. Behind the facade of perfect socialist behavior demanded by teachers like Irma, absolutely everyone had a secret they were desperate to protect.

Q What do you hope readers take away from your specific blend of Cuban nostalgia and atmospheric mystery?

A I hope readers see that nostalgia isn’t always sunny. You can miss the place you grew up while still acknowledging the shadows that lurked there. I wanted to portray a Havana that is still beautiful, but one that is also crumbling and facing immense shortages and hardships. Ultimately, I want readers to walk away feeling like they’ve spent time in the Manzana de Gómez, both as tourists in a luxury hotel, and as students who know exactly where the “tunnels of love” lead.

Thank you so much for being on the blog today, Teresa.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1641298285

Publisher: Soho Crime

Formats: e-book and hardback

No. of Pages: 333 (hardback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

About the Author

Teresa Dovalpage is the author of fourteen novels, four collections of short stories in English and Spanish, and four theatre plays. Her Havana Mystery series, published by Soho Crime, began with Death Comes in through the Kitchen (2018). Subsequent novels include Queen of Bones (2019) named by NBC News as one of the ten best books by and about Latinos of the year; Death of a Telenovela Star (2020); Death under the Perseids (2021), and Last Seen in Havana (2024) which Sarah Weinman praised in The New York Times for exploring “how familial bonds can fray, yet manage to hold steady, across the decades.” Last Seen in Havana was also an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense. The Novel Detective is a metafictional mystery inspired by the author’s own childhood in Cuba and adult life in the United States.

You can also find Teresa at:

Facebook

(media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Friday, 31 July 2026

Books I Read in July 2026

As we wave goodbye to July, I am looking back at the books I have read this month. It has been a good month for reading. I guess the heatwaves we've been experiencing have meant that some days it has been too hot to do anything but sit and read.

How has your reading been this month?

Mothertongue by Alex Morgan

This memoir by autistic author, Alex Morgan was a 5 star read for me. You can read my full review by clicking here.

The Santorini Writing Retreat by Eva Glyn

I enjoyed reading this so much and the review will be up as soon as I can find a gap in the blog diary. It loosely follows on her previous book, The Dubrovnik Book Club, and you can find the review here.

House of Twisted Shadows by J.H. Mann

This book is an exciting story which I enjoyed reading. You can read my full review by clicking here.

The Freshman Parents by Ko Porteous

This was a wonderful book to read and I enjoyed every page. You can read my full review by clicking here.

Indie in Disguise by Katie Clapham

This is a delightful book aimed at both girls and boys who enjoy imaginative play. You can read my full review by clicking here.

Wedded to Her Enemy Knight by Lissa Morgan

Lissa Morgan is my favourite author of this type of historical fiction. You can read my full review by clicking here.

Be Patient by Tilly Rose

This is a memoir which is well worth reading. The review will be coming very soon.

Fiona and the Forgotten Piano by Kate DeMaio

This is a lovely middle grade novel which I enjoyed reading and is about an eleven year old girl who hates her piano lessons. You can read my full review by clicking here.

The Anniversary by Andrea Bajani

This slim book of just 144 pages is quite remarkable. Translated from Italian by Geoffrey Brock, it tells the story of the narrator's estrangement from his parents. You can read my full review by clicking here.

Vengeance is Mine by Michael Wood

I highly recommend this for lovers of mystery/thrillers. You can read my full review by clicking here.

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

This was a wonderful book to read and my review will be up very soon.

The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer

I finished this one late last night so no review up as yet. It was a fun read which I enjoyed.

(all opinions are my own)

Thursday, 30 July 2026

A Strange & Terrible Wonder by Nichole Louise - #coverreveal

I am so excited to be part of the cover reveal for this book today. Let me tell you a little about the book, which is due for release on 18th of August...

The Blurb

𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐤𝐞’𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝗪𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞, 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐲. 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐇𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡...⁣

⁣Blending 16th century science, occult, and the impacts of early colonialism, A Strange and Terrible Wonder by Nicole Louise, reimagines what became of the Lost Colony. Look for it on August 18th!⁣

Nicole Louise

You can find Nicole at:

Bluesky

(media courtesy of Xpresso Book Tours)

(all opinions are my own)

Mothertongue by Alex Morgan - #bookreview

1968

Everyone but me wants to go to the Moon. Sometimes, instead of reading to me at bedtime, Mum tells me a story about Rupert and Jiminy, two imaginary mice living under our shed who dream of being astronauts...

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from the author. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

A memoir about growing up in Scotland in the sixties and seventies with undiagnosed autism

Is it ever too late to discover your authentic self? Alex Morgan always felt different, she just didn't know why. As a child living above the family's Edinburgh dress shop, she learned from her mother that the world was filled with monsters - her father chief among them - and dreadful things could happen at any time. To stay safe, she spent almost sixty years trying to blend in, hiding her fear, pretending to understand and be like other people.

Then, exhausted and stuck in bed with Covid, she took an online neurodivergence test and came face-to-face with the real cause of her difference: she was autistic.

How had she and everyone around her failed to realise? Which parent did the crucial genes come from, and how could this new understanding help her build a better life? With unflinching honesty, Alex chronicles her journey to unravel how autism shaped her family's story and her own.

Along the way, she details the condition's history, causes and the diagnostic process, where decades of misogyny, combined with females' conditioning to conform, have left so many women undiagnosed. Studies suggest there may be 700,000 in the UK alone, many mislabelled with anxiety, depression, OCD or bipolar disorder and mis-medicated accordingly. Women struggling to play the part expected of them by society, with no idea of the actual issue.

By revealing what it feels like to be an autistic child, teen and adult - and recounting how she cast off her neurotypical mask - Alex demystifies a condition whose impact on women has been tragically underestimated.

My Review

I am ashamed to say that prior to reading this wonderful memoir, I knew very little about autism. It just hasn't crossed my path in life and, thus, has been a gap in my understanding and knowledge. However, having now read this book, I have a much better understanding of the subject, and in particular how it might affect women.

The author bravely sets out her life experience of living with autism. Undiagnosed until she was in late middle age, she had spent her lifetime pretending; trying not to be noticed, trying to appear neurotypical, and masking her every move.

Working as a journalist for many years, the author has written her book with skill. It is engaging and makes for compelling reading.

I think her journey to diagnosis will aid some readers in making more sense of themselves, as the author did. Her step-by-step narrative of self-realisation, along with sourcing the help that she needed, will aid some readers in seeking diagnosis and help themselves.

This is a brave and candid account and I greatly admire the author for revealing so much about herself and her family. For myself, I found the book to be informative and it has given me a greater understanding of the world of autism.

This book is well worth reading and I highly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1919254920

Publisher: Thorn and Haw Publications

Formats: paperback

No. of Pages: 296

Purchase Links

About the Author

Alex Morgan was diagnosed as autistic in 2022 at the age of fifty-eight. She is the founder of theautisticwoman.co.uk, the UK’s only comprehensive online autism resource written by an autistic woman, and blogs @theautisticwoman on Substack (links below.)

Alex spent almost forty years as a writer, sub-editor and editor on everything from women’s magazines to national newspapers. Her first novel, Tandem, won the 2013 Hookline Novel Competition judged by book groups from around the UK, and she co-authored A Practical Guide to Camping, published by White Owl in 2022. Mothertongue, which was shortlisted in the Northern Writers’ Awards, is her first work of narrative non-fiction. She is currently working on her second novel.

You can also find Alex at:

(ARC and media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)

Tuesday, 28 July 2026

Indie in Disguise: Stylist-ing and Other Jobs by Katie Clapham and Illustrated by Emma Farrarons - #bookreview

Indie woke up feeling fabulous. She put on: star-shaped sunglasses, a dress over a top under a jacket, three necklaces and the fancy socks...

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from the publisher. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

Meet Indie, a girl who loves imaginary play, in these full colour illustrated stories – perfect for encouraging independent reading for children aged 5-7.

Hilarious, playful and perfectly true to both imaginary play and family life, this is the first title in a sparky chapter books series for newly independent readers.

Indie is a little girl with a big personality – and quite the flair for the dramatics! What job will she roleplay today? In these four stories, Indie takes on four very important jobs: a librarian, a cleaner, a dentist, and even a stylist – star-shaped sunglasses at the ready! But these jobs are never easy. Indie's dentist chair (balanced backwards on a skateboard) isn't particularly stable, and when Mum doesn't look like Mum anymore in her big floppy hat and fur-trim gloves, Fashionista Indie ponders... Is there such a thing as TOO much style?

The adventures continue in Indie in Disguise: Astronaut-ing and Other Jobs.

My Review

This is a delightful book aimed at both girls and boys who enjoy imaginative play.

Based on the cover alone, it would be easy to assume that this early reader chapter book is aimed at girls. However, I think boys would enjoy it just as much.

The opening story, Indie the Stylist, is followed by Indie the Cleaner, Indie the Dentist and Indie the Librarian. Indie is an adorable character, full of enthusiasm and trying new things. Children will be able to engage with her character very well.

It has been nicely illustrated by Emma Farrarons. Children will enjoy following the illustrations alongside reading the text.

It is full of humour and is ideal for children aged around six to eight years of age, depending on their reading ability. Any child who enjoys playing dress up will love this book.

I can't wait to share it with my grandchildren. I think this would be perfect for sharing as well as for early chapter reading.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1529522099

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 64 (paperback)

Series: First book in a planned series

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Vinted

About the Author

Katie Clapham is the co-owner of independent bookshop Storytellers, Inc. with her mum. Picked by The Bookseller as a rising star, Katie was also named Best Young Bookseller at the British Book Awards. Katie is the author of acclaimed teen comedy Three Girls (UCLan, 2022), and The Missing Bookshop (Stripes, 2019). She lives by the sea with her husband, daughter and dog, where she writes the popular Substack newsletter, Receipt from the Bookshop, as well as working in the bookshop.

You can also find Katie at: