Dark Waters by Mary-Jane Riley

Dark Water
By Mary-Jane Riley
Published by Killer Reads (16 March 2018)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

Secrets lie beneath the surface…

Two men, seemingly unconnected, are discovered dead in a holiday boat on the Norfolk Broads, having apparently committed suicide together.

Local journalist Alex Devlin, planning an article on the dangers of internet suicide forums, starts digging into their backgrounds.

But Alex’s investigation soon leads her to a much darker mystery – one that will hit closer to home than she could possibly have imagined, and place the lives of those she loves in terrible danger.

My verdict

I really enjoy Mary-Jane Riley's writing. All three of her Alex Devlin books have been very easy to read, with plenty of description to paint a vivid picture in my head of characters and places without taking anything away from the pace of the plot.

Alex Devlin is a fantastic character - a feisty journalist with a nose for mystery who throws herself into her job 100% but still manages to maintain a strong sense of family. There are some larger-than-life flamboyant characters in Dark Waters too, providing some light-hearted humorous moments. There's one particular character I would have loved to see more of (since he features more heavily in the previous books) but he's still there in the background.

I highly recommend Dark Waters. I found myself racing through the pages and had to remind myself to breathe! A couple of twists and turns made me sit upright as I really didn't see those coming. This series is getting better and better, and the main characters are definitely growing with each book. As with the previous books, Dark Waters left me wanting more (in a good way).

Can this be read as a standalone? Yes, it probably can. But I would suggest you buy (and read) all three books in this series so far anyway!

Mary-Jane Riley's Writing Toolkit

WRITING TOOLKIT gives you an idea of an author's writing process through the tools they use. The tools can be anything (real or virtual) that they think is essential for their writing - serious, fun or even a fetish (that they're willing to own up to)! 

I am delighted to welcome 

MARY-JANE RILEY

AUTHOR OF DARK WATERS

TO SHARE HER WRITING TOOLKIT

FOR HER BLOG TOUR

Dark Waters was published by Killer Reads on 16 March 2018. 

A room of one's own

It’s not necessary to have a whole room to write in - indeed it can even become a bit of a millstone (husband says ‘you can have the whole day to write in your room’ I freeze and generally find I can’t do much at all) - and I like to be able to write in all sorts of places - the dining room table, the train, an aeroplane, a balcony in Greece overlooking the ocean... but I do love my room and I probably write my best stuff there. I have a lovely view over the Common and see sparrow hawks, kestrels, rabbits, dog walkers and even deer. I keep my handbags in my room, and I often have company in the form of one of my dogs, Reggie, who likes to sleep on the futon (I know, I know, who on earth buys something as uncomfortable as a futon?). Sometimes *whispers* I curl up with him. 

Walking

And talking of Reggie, walking him and Bella is a wonderful way to clear my head, untangle plot messes, think about characters and feel that maybe what I’m writing isn’t one hundred percent c***p. I often go up the road to a wonderful area where the dogs run free to sniff and smell and play. The East Anglian sky is wide and beautiful and the sense of space is amazing. The dogs are also very good sounding boards as they always seem pleased to hear about my plots, characters, and so on. They never get bored! Marvellous! 

Radio

I have to have silence while I work, but when I want to switch off I love listening to the radio, usually plays I have downloaded from the BBC - Radio Four or Radio Four Extra. I have heard some great stuff over the years, and I particularly like plays that use the medium of radio to its fullest - a recent Jonathan Myerson play was a brilliant example of this. If I can’t sleep at night I listen to Radio Five Live Up All Night, which is full of interesting and informative items, so not great for getting me off to sleep. I am also an out and proud fan of The Archers.... 

Notebooks

Notebooks, notebooks and more notebooks! Of all shapes and sizes! But mostly I like to write in big ones, at least A4 size.... I make notes, write character outlines, doodle, and often write down what has happened so far in the latest book I’m writing - I find if I do that a couple of times it can unlock the next bit... 

Husband

Couldn’t do any of this without him. Simple. He is encouraging, he doesn’t yawn when I bore on. And on. And on. He listens and makes great suggestions, tells me I’m great (even though I’m not), whistles when I’m shouting about things not working - computer, ideas, that sort of thing (actually the whistling can be quite annoying). Suggest ways to make my writing tighter. AND HE DOES THE IRONING. ALL OF IT.

The delete button

To take out those clumsy sentences, those rubbish paragraphs, that purple prose, those over-the-top descriptions, those sentences that seem so fine but are far to ‘writerly’, and all those damn ellipses and exclamation marks! 

THANKS FOR TAKING PART, MARY-JANE!

About Mary-Jane Riley

Mary-Jane wrote her first story on her newly acquired blue Petite typewriter. She was eight. It was about a gang of children who had adventures on mysterious islands, but she soon realised Enid Blyton had cornered that particular market. So she wrote about the Wild West instead. When she grew up she had to earn a living, and became a BBC radio talk show presenter and journalist. She has covered many life-affirming stories, but also some of the darkest events of the past two decades. Mary-Jane has three grown-up children and lives in Suffolk with her husband and two golden retrievers.

DARK WATERS is her third crime thriller featuring investigative journalist, Alex Devlin.

Find Mary-Jane Riley on her Facebook page and on Twitter - @mrsmjriley

About DARK WATERS

Published by Killer Reads (16 March 2018)

Publisher's description

DARK WATERS is the third crime thriller in the series featuring journalist Alex Devlin. It begins with a macabre discovery on board a pleasure cruiser on the beautiful Norfolk Broads – the decomposing bodies of two elderly men. It appears the dead men did not know each other and police suspect an internet suicide pact.

Alex’s search for the truth reveals a darker story. She finds a connection between the two men and possible links to other unexplained deaths.

As she investigates further, the stakes rise and her own family becomes embroiled in the mystery. Her inquiries lead her to the University of Cambridge. Could the roots of the puzzle lie there with a tragedy that unfolded amongst a group of carefree students many years before?

Long-buried secrets come to the surface and Alex’s life and the lives of her family are on the line. As the past and the present collide, Alex questions everything she thinks she knows about those she loves.

Follow the Blog Tour

BEST OF CRIME with Rachel Sargeant

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

RACHEL SARGEANT

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS
Agatha Christie wrote sixty six crime novels, as well as romances, plays and short stories, over a fifty-three-year career. She gave us two unforgettable and unlikely sleuths; dozens of demonic, funny, romantic, odd characters; and some of the most unexpected plot twists in the business. And it was all without a word-processor or the internet.

... FILMS/MOVIES
I’m not a great cinema-goer so I’ll have to choose Death on the Nile, a film that I caught up with on TV. I loved the lavish adaptation with many famous actors playing the suspects. It was before I’d read the book so I loved the unexpected twist.

... TV DRAMAS
I’m fond of many TV detective dramas. My favourites are the early Taggart episodes written by the series creator Glen Chandler. He wrote brilliantly gothic plots. And at the other end of the crime spectrum, I adored the Miss Marple series that stared Joan Hickson.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS
I loved the killer in Kate Atkinson’s One Good Turn. I’m smiling now as I type this and thinking: good on you. 

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 
Jackson Brodie, Kate Atkinson’s world weary detective who just can’t stop trying to protect people, especially all the lost girls.

... MURDER WEAPONS
Not that interested in weapons, but I think I’ve seen some bizarre devices employed in Midsomer Murders.

    

... DEATH SCENES
I recently read Friend Request and was very taken with the way Laura Marshall wrote a particular scene towards the end…

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES
My research changes depending on what I’m writing. I don’t have one favourite website but am grateful to many.

... WRITING TIPS
Write, write, write and read, read, read.

Don’t prevaricate, just get that first draft down. Then you’ve got something you can work on.

Apart from being great fun, reading will give you an insight into how other authors approach character, setting, plot and technique. You won’t end up copying them but they may spark new ideas in you. 

... WRITING SNACKS
Black coffee.

About RACHEL SARGEANT

Rachel Sargeant grew up in Lincolnshire. The Perfect Neighbours is her third novel. She is a previous winner of Writing Magazine’s Crime Short Story competition and has been placed or shortlisted in various competitions, including the Bristol Short Story Prize. Her stories have appeared in My Weekly and the Accent Press Saucy Shorts series. Rachel has a degree in German and Librarianship from Aberystwyth University and a Masters in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. She spent several years living in Germany where she taught English and she now lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and children. 

Find Rachel Sargeant on her website, on her Facebook page and on Twitter - @RachelSargeant3

About THE PERFECT NEIGHBOURS

Publisher's description

The perfect neighbours tell the perfect lies… When Helen moves to Germany with her loving husband Gary, she can’t wait to join the ex-pat community of teachers from the local International School. But her new start is about to become her worst nightmare.

Behind the shutters lies a devastating secret… As soon as the charming family across the way welcome Helen into their home, she begins to suspect that all is not as it seems. Then Gary starts to behave strangely and a child goes missing, vanished without a trace.

When violence and tragedy strike, cracks appear in the neighbourhood, and Helen realises her perfect neighbours are capable of almost anything.

The Perfect Neighbours is being published in paperback by HarperCollins Killer Reads on 25 January 2018.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Author catch up - Mary-Jane Riley

I've had Mary-Jane Riley's two books - The Bad Things and After She Fell - on my Kindle for a very long time (an embarrassingly long time). But I finally managed to read them a few months ago. And I'm so glad I did.

Both books feature journalist Alex Devlin, who is investigating crimes and cases that are personal to her. As a journalist, I do have a soft spot for crime fiction featuring journalists although only when they're portrayed realistically, as Mary-Jane Riley has done here.

In The Bad Things, Alex is looking into the abduction and murder (15 years earlier) of her sister Sasha's two small children - Harry's body was discovered soon afterwards, but Millie's remains have never been found. When the woman who was jailed as an accessory to murder is released, Alex is determined to discover what really happened all those years ago. She wants her troubled sister to find closure as Sasha still struggles to cope with the aftermath of the past.

In After She Fell, Alex is investigating the death of the teenage daughter of an old friend. Seventeen-year-old Elena was found at the bottom of the cliff near her boarding school. In this book, we hear Elena's voice in the form of her diaries, providing a snapshot of her life - the teenager is portrayed realistically.

I loved both of these books. Alex is a very believable character. She's warm and sensitive when she needs to be, but also determined and not one to take no for an answer. These books are as much about the characters as the investigations.

Both books are filled with family dynamics, secrets and lies. They are well plotted and gripping, with enough tension and pace to keep me intrigued all the way through. Mary-Jane Riley certainly kept me on my toes, with her twists, turns and red herrings. The endings were unexpected, but also neat, leaving no loose threads.

You could read After She Fell as a standalone, but it does reveal information about The Bad Things, which could act as a spoiler. It's probably best to read this books in the right order.

I look forward to seeing what's next from Mary-Jane Riley.

About the books

The Bad Things
Published by Killer Reads (August 2015)

Publisher's description

Alex Devlin’s life changed forever fifteen years ago when her sister Sasha's two small children were snatched in broad daylight. Little Harry’s body was found a few days later, but Millie’s remains were never discovered.

Now Jackie Wood, jailed as an accessory to the twins’ murder, has been released, her conviction quashed by the Appeal Court. Convinced Jackie can reveal where Millie is buried, Alex goes to meet her.

But the unexpected information Wood reveals shocks Alex to the core and threatens to uncover the dark secret she has managed to keep under wraps for the past fifteen years. Because in the end, can we ever really know what is in the hearts of those closest to us?

After She Fell
Published by Killer Reads (April 2016)

Publisher's description

There are so many ways to fall…

Catriona needs help. Her seventeen-year-old daughter Elena was found dead at the bottom of a cliff near her boarding school. The death has been ruled a suicide, but Catriona isn’t convinced.

When her old friend, journalist Alex Devlin, arrives in Hallow’s Edge to investigate, she quickly finds that life at private boarding school The Drift isn’t as idyllic as the bucolic setting might suggest.

Amidst a culture of drug-taking, bullying and tension between school and village, no one is quite who they seem to be, and there are several people who might have wanted Elena to fall…

Her Deadly Secret by Chris Curran

I am delighted to be today's stop on the blog tour for Her Deadly Secret by Chris Curran. Her Deadly Secret was published by Killer Reads on 21 July 2017.

Her Deadly Secret
By Chris Curran
Published by Killer Reads (21 July 2017)

Publisher's description

A young girl has been taken. Abducted, never to be seen again.

Joe and Hannah, her traumatized parents, are consumed by grief. But all is not as it seems behind the curtains of their suburban home.

Loretta, the Family Liaison Officer, is sure Hannah is hiding something – a dark and twisted secret from deep in her past.

This terrible memory could be the key to the murder of another girl fifteen years ago. And as links between the two victims emerge, Joe and Hannah learn that in a family built on lies, the truth can destroy everything…

My verdict
Her Deadly Secret is a twisty psychological thriller that gained pace halfway through.

The story focuses on the disappearance of a teenage girl and the impact it has on her family, liaison police officer and sister of a girl who was murdered 15 years earlier. The first half of the book is a slow-burning build up, establishing the background of the characters, main plot and setting, and I did wonder at first if it was going to be a book for me.

However, I'm very happy that I persevered. The second half of the book is written at a much faster pace, filled with revelations, twists and turns. These two families are tied together by circumstances, lies and secrets. Alternating narratives by the different characters gradually revealed that everything in the first half that seemed so straightforward wasn't straightforward at all.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Follow the Blog Tour

BEST OF CRIME with Chris Curran

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

CHRIS CURRAN

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...

 

... AUTHORS

If I have to pick just one author then it’s Cathi Unsworth because she is a writer I always recommend to friends and one who I think should be better known. Her novels are set in the recent past and they have a dark and dirty glamour that is utterly compelling.  Along with the kind of sharp writing and twisty plots that characterize the best crime novels they also have that elusive quality – real heart. 

... FILMS/MOVIES

I’m fascinated by how our memories function, or fail to function, and all my books so far have featured characters struggling with some aspect of memory. So a film that really resonates with me is Memento. It’s a brilliantly constructed story that takes a fairly standard idea – a protagonist trying to track down his wife’s killer – and turns it into something incredibly rich and complex. The twist is that the hero suffers from what’s called anterograde amnesia brought on by the trauma of the attack. He is unable to form new memories and suffers short-term memory loss every few minutes. It’s a film that plays with the viewer’s own perceptions of how time works and I’d recommend watching it on DVD because it rewards multiple viewings. 

... TV DRAMAS

I was completely hooked by Happy Valley.  It makes a refreshing change to have a uniformed police officer, who is also a woman, at the centre of a crime drama. Instead of a crumpled male loner, Sarah Lancashire is totally convincing as the matriarch of an extended family and the moral heart of her local community. The series has everything: a terrifying villain, heartbreaking tragedy and a sprinkling of black humour.    

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

My favourite Christie novel is the standalone mystery written in the 1960s: Endless Night. In order not to give the game away I’ll just say that the killer in the book is one I find very intriguing. 

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

C.J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake is a lawyer practising during the reign of Henry V111. Like so many great fictional detectives he is an outsider. A hunchback at a time when such a disability is regarded with suspicion and disgust, Matthew bears his frequent humiliations with admirable fortitude always trying to do his best for his ordinary clients at the same time as attempting, usually unsuccessfully, to avoid getting tangled up with the royals and their entourage. 

... MURDER WEAPONS

Like many real murderers from her era, Agatha Christie uses poison very creatively. In Dumb Witness the victim is killed by phosphorus and her dying breath appears as a cloud of vapour that the witnesses imagine is her soul escaping from her body. 

    

... DEATH SCENES

Mark Billingham’s villain in Sleepyhead doesn’t want to kill his victims, but to render them helpless forever. After some false starts, where the women die, he succeeds with Alison and his attack leaves her with locked-in syndrome. As readers we are allowed into her thoughts and discover that she is a vibrant and courageous girl. Only able to blink, she nevertheless helps detective Tom Thorne to identify her attacker. But she has no hope of recovery and realizes that the only way she can outwit the villain is to frustrate his desire for her to stay alive. The final pages are incredibly moving. 

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES
A blog I always find inspiring is Lizzy Kremer’s Publishing For Humans. It appears on occasional Mondays and is a series of beautifully written musings on writing from a successful literary agent (not my agent by the way).

... WRITING TIPS
Monotonous but satisfying chores are perfect for solving plotting problems providing you don’t actively think about them and instead let solutions float up from the unconscious. I find ironing is effective in cold weather and some mindless gardening, like weeding or grass cutting in the summer.  

... WRITING SNACKS

Endless mugs of Earl Grey tea and the occasional slice of toast with crunchy peanut butter. 

About CHRIS CURRAN

Chris Curran was born in London but now lives in St Leonards-on-Sea near Hastings, on the south coast of England, in a house groaning with books. She left school at sixteen to work in the local library – her dream job then and now – and spent an idyllic few months reading her way around the shelves. Reluctantly returning to full-time education, she gained her degree from Sussex University. Since then she has worked as an actress, script writer, copy editor and teacher, all the time looking forward to the day when she would see her own books gracing those library shelves.

Find Chris Curran on her website, FB page and on Twitter - @Christi_Curran

About HER DEADLY SECRET

Publisher's description

A young girl has been taken. Abducted, never to be seen again.

Joe and Hannah, her traumatized parents, are consumed by grief. But all is not as it seems behind the curtains of their suburban home.

Loretta, the Family Liaison Officer, is sure Hannah is hiding something – a dark and twisted secret from deep in her past.

This terrible memory could be the key to the murder of another girl fifteen years ago. And as links between the two victims emerge, Joe and Hannah learn that in a family built on lies, the truth can destroy everything… 

Her Deadly Secret was published by Killer Reads on 21 July 2017.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Extract from Watching Edie (by Camilla Way) - Blog Tour

I am delighted to be today's stop on the BLOG TOUR for Camilla Way's Watching Edie, which is published by Harper Collins on 28 July 2016. 

Below is an extract from the book, followed by a link to my review. 

READ THE EXTRACT

Before

Year 11 leavers’ day, and everywhere you look girls are writing on each other’s shirts in felt-tip pen, drinking from Coke cans I think they’ve filled with something else, throwing flour bombs out of top-floor windows. I sit on the bench below the library window and watch. They’re all going up to the rec later to get drunk – I’d heard them talking about it in the loos. They hadn’t asked me, but I don’t really mind because Mum always worries if I’m back late. I see Nicola Gates over by the water fountain, but she turns away when I wave.

And that’s when I first see Edie. Walking across the forecourt in the direction of the main doors. As I watch, her face appearing then disappearing behind others in the crowd, she stops, her eyes squinting up at the building before darting around herself again and then finally landing upon me. I hold my breath. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so pretty before, not in real life.

Then there she is, standing right in front of me, and at first I’m too distracted by all the different parts of her to take in what she’s saying: the smell of the leather jacket she’s carrying over her arm, mixed with something else, something soft and appley, her eyes, big and golden brown with lots of black eyeliner, pale mauve varnish on her nails. In the hollow of her clavicle is a little gold locket with a tiny green stone in the middle. If you were to put your finger beneath it you’d feel the jump jump jump of her pulse.

‘Sorry,’ I say. ‘What?’

She smiles. ‘The office. Where is it?’ Her voice is clear and sure with a northern accent – Manchester maybe.

Of all the people she could have stopped to ask, she’d picked me. I get to my feet. ‘I’m going that way myself,’ I tell her, though I wasn’t. ‘I’ll walk with you if you like.’

She nods, shrugs. ‘Yeah, OK. Ta.’

As we walk, I see Sheridan Alsop and Amy Carter standing by the water fountain. They stop talking and watch us as we pass. I have a mad impulse to link my arm through hers, this stranger who walks beside me, and I imagine us strolling along like that, arm in arm like best friends. How amazed Amy and Sheridan would be to see that! I don’t though, of course. People don’t like it when you do that sort of thing, I’ve real­ized.

‘My name’s Heather,’ I tell her instead.

‘I’m Edie. Well, Edith really. But how lame’s that?’ She looks around herself then shakes her head, ‘Bloody hell, this place.’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I know! Totally lame, isn’t it? Are you going to come to school here then?’

She nods. ‘Starting my A-levels in September.’

‘I’m doing my A-levels here too! What’re you studying? I’m taking Biology and Maths and Chemistry. I was going to do a language as well but Mum and Dad said it was pointless because it’s not what I need to read Medicine at uni. Best to concentrate on just the three. What with all my volunteering work and everything too. I’m going to be a doctor one day and—’ I stop myself, my mouth snapping shut. I always talk too much Mum says. I bite my lip, waiting for Edie to look at me the way the other girls do.

But she doesn’t, she only smiles again. Her long brown hair swings in front of her face and she pushes it away, tucking it behind her ear. ‘I’m doing Art,’ she tells me. ‘And photography. I’m going to go to art college in London. Saint Martins prob­ably,’ she adds with breezy certainty. And she explains that she’s recently moved down here to Fremton from Manchester with her mum. She has this way of talking, like she’s a bit bored by everything, looking around herself like she finds it all a bit of a joke, but all the while glancing back at me, including me as if I’m in on the joke too. It’s nice. I could stare at her for hours.

We’ve already reached the office, even though I’d taken her the long way round. ‘It’s in here,’ I say, and I’m about to tell her that I’ll wait for her, that I’ll show her around after if she wants, but she’s already moving away. ‘OK. Thanks, yeah?’ she says. ‘See you later.’

The door swings shut behind her. Edie. Eedee. I turn the word over and over in my mind on the walk home, trying it out for size, tucking it away for safekeeping like it’s a precious locket on a fine gold chain.

Watching Edie

By Camilla Way

Published by Harper Collins (28 July 2016)

ISBN: 978-0008159016

Publisher's description

THERE ARE SOME FRIENDS YOU’LL NEVER FORGET…

NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY

BEFORE

Edie is the friend that Heather has always craved. But one night, it goes terrifyingly wrong. And what started as an innocent friendship ends in two lives being destroyed.

AFTER

Sixteen years later, Edie is still rebuilding her life. But Heather isn’t ready to let her forget so easily. It’s no coincidence that she shows up when Edie needs her most.

NOW

Edie or Heather?

Heather or Edie?

Someone has to pay for what happened, but who will it be?

Reviewer taster: It's a totally bewitching book about friendship, lies and secrets... The writing is chilling, disturbing and unsettling. 

Read my full review here.

Follow the Blog Tour