Louise Marley (2)

contemporary, local-gossip, local-law-enforcement, secrets, lies, false-identities, false-information, small-town, rural, situational-humor, framed, fraud, family-drama, family-dynamics, family-history, professional-rivalry, dual-narrators, due-diligence, personal-issues, perspective, procedural, local-legends, multiple-murder, investigations, twisty, wry-humor, new-series, first-in-series, England*****

Milla is ready to do and say whatever she needs to in order to make sense of her past and show more find out more about her family and its history. DI Ben Taylor missed out on having his daughter for the weekend and instead gets sent to Raven's Edge to investigate a rather bizarre murder in abandoned manor house despite another jurisdiction claiming it for their own. The other DCI is an aggressive, dismissive sort of the kind that I really wanted to smack the smugness off her face. But in actuality she is more involved than is known until quite near the end. The characters are so real as compared to some of the situations and background, but the investigations are amazing to keep track of. Loved it! Hope it gets into audio for those of us with vision issues.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Storm Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!
Available 07 May 2024 #EnglishVillageMysteryBk1 show less

I always enjoy character-driven novels, but a book with a compelling plot is appealing. In “Trust Me I Lie” we have both. Ben Taylor is a policeman with a heart, a Detective inspector who acts like a Knight in shining armour, but Milla Graham is a more complex person. She admits to being a liar, frequently breaks the law but has great charisma and charm. Her determination to solve a crime, which took place 18 years earlier when she was 6, takes Ben to the brink of losing his career and show more endangers both their lives.

Written in the third person, Trust Me I Lie tells the story partly from Ben’s point of view and partly from Milla’s, interspersed with a narration of events 18 years before, gradually revealing what happened; but look out for the red herrings. A mansion had burned down killing the children of a family where their mother has been stabbed to death. Now a young woman connected to the family has been found murdered in the abandoned mansion and Ben must solve both cases without incriminating Milla in the latest crime.

The theme of fairy tales, especially Alice in Wonderland, is wound effectively into the book adding an extra dimension. I felt the motivation of DI Lydia Cavill needed a little more explanation but I was particularly fond of Detective Sergeant Harriet March who deserves a story of her own. With a light touch, Louise Marley has involved the reader with the hopes and fears of the main characters and produced a mystery story packed full of twists and turns and romance. show less

Elizabeth Holly is a book editor, and the younger daughter of the Holly family. That's the Holly family of "Holly Jolly Christmas," Britain's longest-running Christmas program.

Agatha Holly has been determined for the last two decades or so to teach everyone how to have the perfect Christmas--even if drives her family to insanity.

Lucy Holly, the older daughter, has grown up to found her own production company and produce her mother's Christmas extravaganza. In pursuit of her mother's show more continued success, she hasn't hesitated to use Elizabeth's, or rather "Beth's, as she's known on air, clumsy moments and awkward missteps and unsuccessful attempts at rebellion as hilarious laugh moments--making her the star of thousands of hilarious, but humiliating, gifs and memes.

That's why Elizabeth has refused to participate for the last several years, and this year, after a disastrous date resulting in a quite public unwanted marriage proposal, is heading for a not-yet-opened hotel to be a test-run guest for a traditional Christmas. Or at least, that's what she thinks.

Aiden and Nick Hall are the sons of a "scream queen" movie actress and a builder, who died seven years ago when their car went off a steep cliff on an icy road at Christmas time. The two brothers both had to give up university. Aiden took over their father's construction business, and has grown it substantially--he has millions. He never goes back to Myra Abbey, the home they were raised in, unless absolutely unavoidable. Nick became a model, and pours all his money and off-work time into repairing and restoring the Abbey, along with whatever money he can get Aiden to contribute.

But now Aiden, who is convinced their childhood there was miserable and thinks it's deeply unhealthy that Nick spends his time and money on the place (or at least that's what he tells himself and Nick), has decided to sell the Abbey so that Nick will be forced to move, and will have to build a real life. And maybe get a real job; how much can he be making as a male model?

Nick is determined to keep his home--also the home, incidentally, of his minimal staff, Ophelia (cook and housekeeper), and Chloe (part-time maid on her breaks from university.) And when he and Chloe are in the house library, trying to come up with a plan, they see a picture of Aiden, among many other family pictures, with his girlfriend at university, right before he had to quit.

Elizabeth Holly.

They idly look for her online, and find a Facebook post about her need for a hotel with a room available, that can give her a traditional Christmas. Chloe uses Nick's account to offer her that room and that Christmas at Nick's not-yet-officially-open "hotel." Aiden will be back with the papers he wants Nick to sign, and the girl he's never forgotten will be there...

Of course, all heck is about to break out.

Nick's, Elizabeth's, Aiden's, Lucy's, and Agatha's plans are all about to go hilariiously wrong--especially after Lucy finds out where Elizabeth is, and comes up with a mad, and completely ruthless, plan to save A Holly Jolly Christmas, and her own and Agatha's careers.

Because yes, the show has been falling in the ratings for several years now. Possibly since the hilariously, and unwillingly, funny Elizabeth started flatly refusing to participate in it.

All these people are about to learn an awful lot about themselves, each other, and Christmas.

It's just a lot of fun, very warm, and throughly enjoyable. Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher, and am reviewing it voluntarily. show less

Fourteen years after her older sister was murdered with no perpetrator found, Natalie puts all the angst, guilt, and frustrations of her derailed life into a book of fiction. Bringing the tragedy back out in the open proves to be an invitation for someone to finish the job by terrorizing Natalie with the expectation of murdering her as well. Tightly wound and plotted thriller with some really incredible twists.
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected proof from Storm Books via show more NetGalley. Pub date Jul 15, 2025
#MurderatCastleVyne by @louisemarleywrites #EnglishVillageMysteryBk4 @stormbooks_co
#secrets #psychologicalthriller #unputdownable #coldcase #angst #survivor's guilt #stalking show less