Tag Archives: Scottish highlands

#BookReview ‘The Hunting Party’ by Lucy Foley #mystery #thriller

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I’ve read a few of the closed room mysteries by Lucy Foley now but not The Hunting Party, one of her first. So after reading a number of intense thoughtful books, I wanted a page-turning rollercoaster. I wasn’t disappointed. Lucy Foley The Hunting Party begins on 30th December 2018. A group of friends are travelling to the wilds of Scotland by train. Their destination, Loch Corrin, is an exclusive Highlands getaway surrounded by mountains. The height of luxury. As friends since university, they know everything about each other. Or do they. As well as the original students there are the partners, incomers, who try to fit in but are conscious they’re not part of the founding gang. As well as the nine guests there are two members of staff living on site, Heather the manager and Doug the gamekeeper, a handyman, plus two unconnected guests, an Icelandic couple staying at a far-off guesthouse. Doug is an ex-marine who is ‘surviving, existing – just. Not living. That is a word for those who seek entertainment, pleasures, comfort out of each day.’ Through the voices of Doug and Heather, her previous job is hazily defined but she like Doug seems to be running from something, are the observers. Through their eyes we see the group from the outside, without prior knowledge. It adds another perspective.
Everyone, guests and staff members, has a past, something they’re not proud of, something they’re hiding. Ambition. Jealousy. Addiction. Grief. Regret. Anger. Take them out of their comfort zone and put them somewhere unfamiliar and vaguely threatening, anything can happen. And does. Especially when guns are available and a stalking party is on the list of activities.
Foley has chosen an unsettling location. The surrounding hills are beautiful, bleak, empty. The guests stay in individual lodges but socialise and eat in the central glass building, The Lodge. Its lights glare out into the dark. For the uneasy, there is the feeling that someone is outside looking in, just out of sight, watching. Seeing everything. As the New Year’s Eve entertainments commence, alcohol and drugs are consumed, inhibitions drop, long-held resentments rise to the surface. And then it begins to snow. Not just any snow, this is ‘a one-in-a-thousand weather event.’ No one can get in or out.
The story unfolds in a structure now familiar from reading Foley’s other thrillers. In each novel she creates an original world and populates her territory with characters that are each in their way troubled and hiding secrets. Then she adds murder. It’s a formula at which she excels.
Chilling. Read quickly over a weekend. I had my suspicions about the identity of the victim and the murderer, I was correct on one of the two.

Click the title to read my reviews of these other novels by Lucy Foley:-
THE GUEST LIST
THE INVITATION
THE MIDNIGHT FEAST
THE PARIS APARTMENT

If you like this, try:-
‘The Bear’ by Claire Cameron
‘Little Deaths’ by Emma Flint
‘The Girls Left Behind’ by Emily Gunnis

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE HUNTING PARTY by Lucy Foley https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8zN via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- SW Perry

#BookReview ‘Death on a Winter’s Day’ by @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

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Death on a Winter’s Day is the eighth instalment in the Lady Eleanor Swift between-the-wars cosy mystery series by Verity Bright. Oh what an emotional ending! Verity BrightWhen a Christmas house party with friends on a remote Scottish island turns out to be less than hospitable, Ellie is a long way away from help. Except of course from butler-cum-personal assistant Clifford and her entire domestic staff, who have travelled with her north of the border to assist in the Christmas festivities. They didn’t expect to be confined to the island when a guest dies, stabbed in the back.
Novice lady of the manor Ellie has to use all her conversational and diplomatic skills at Castle Ranburgh to negotiate the tensions amongst her fellow guests. Already beset by staff problems – hence Ellie’s offer of arriving with her own domestic staff in tow – Baron and Baroness Ashley are struggling to be hospitable hosts. Ellie overhears talk of a business deal in danger of not happening, the usually romantic hosts seem to be at odds with each other, an American guest is rather too fond of the whisky and the Ashley’s begrudging cook is sabotaging the food. Clifford and his team of ladies from Henley Hall try to save the day with Stilton straws and other gorgeous canapes. Then a harmless game of ‘wink murder’ turns into the real thing and the local Inspector removes all boats from the island. The Ashleys, their guests and staff are effectively imprisoned together and squabbles turn into arguments. And there is an armoury, well-stocked with antique but deadly weapons.
At the request of her friend Wilhelmina Ashley, Ellie starts detecting. She and Clifford have already made a few observations of strange behaviour and gossip. An envelope passed to the local inspector. A man with a limp in a corridor he should not be visiting. This is a closed room mystery. The murderer must be one of the people on the island, but though their identities are known their real reasons for being at Castle Ranburgh are not. Why are Lord and Lady Fortescue, cousins of Lord Ashley, attending the Christmas house party when they seem to dislike their relatives so much. Why are Robert Campbell, the local Laird of Dunburgh, and his son Gordon, at loggerheads and is the Laird really the charming genial man he appears to be.
Death on a Winter’s Day includes another discovery for Ellie about her mother, tied in neatly with the sheer beauty and harsh conditions of this part of the Scottish coast. The island sits in a sea loch and can be reached only by boat, rowed over by a local man who appears to wear dead animals strung around his neck. A winter snow storm, a dangerous sea passage and the appearance of a selkie – a mythical creature that can shift form from seal to woman – add to the Scottish atmosphere in an isolated but beautiful corner of the world.
Another fun read, this time with a deadly chase that threatens the lives of all involved. The most touching book so far in this wonderful series.

Read my review of other books in the Lady Eleanor Swift series:-
A VERY ENGLISH MURDER #1LADYELEANORSWIFT
DEATH AT THE DANCE #2LADYELEANORSWIFT
A WITNESS TO MURDER #3LADYELEANORSWIFT
MURDER IN THE SNOW #4LADYELEANORSWIFT
MYSTERY BY THE SEA #5LADYELEANORSWIFT
MURDER AT THE FAIR #6LADYELEANORSWIFT
A LESSON IN MURDER #7LADYELEANORSWIFT 

If you like this, try:-
‘A Snapshot of Murder’ by Frances Brody #10KateShackleton
‘The Ninth Child’ by Sally Magnusson
‘Murder at Enderley Hall’ by Helena Dixon #2MissUnderhay

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview DEATH ON A WINTER’S DAY by @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7E7 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Conn Iggulden

#BookReview ’Summerwater’ by Sarah Moss #contemporary

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Twenty-four hours in the Scottish countryside, twelve people are staying in holiday cabins beside an isolated loch. Summerwater by Sarah Moss starts off with strangers concerned with the minutiae of their own lives and ends with a tragedy. Sarah MossThis is beautifully written with sly humour coupled with sensory description of the place which puts you right there. The pace is slow and contemplative, taking time to plait together the observations by characters and the actual names, so carefully building together a picture of a temporary community. At first, they make assumptions and generalisations about each other. A retired couple sit and look out at the rain, reminiscing about the previous years they spent in this cabin. A young mother runs in all weathers and at all times of day, leaving her husband to look after the children. A teenager escapes the boredom of his bedroom by kayaking around the loch. The Romanian family, who party all night and don’t know how to behave, are the only ones seeming to have fun on holiday. They are also the only ones whose viewpoint we don’t hear, setting them apart from the rest. While at night a shadow stands in the woods, watching.
I never did get the identity of some characters straight in my head and the building of tension – the shadow in the woods – didn’t convince me. I didn’t feel it was necessary as I quickly became fascinated by the setting and the gradual interaction of characters. The constant rain acts as a claustrophobia device keeping everyone inside, feeling trapped, looking out and watching others, making judgements.
Summerwater is also darkly funny. Don’t miss the chuckle-out-loud scene when Milly and Josh are having sex but she’s thinking about a cup of tea and a bacon butty. The chapters about people are alternated with short sections about the natural world – a deer and fawn, the geology of the rocks, the origin of water flowing into the loch, bats, birds waiting for the rain to stop. These briefly pause the story – most are two paragraphs long – but add to the sense of place.
Most definitely not a page-turner in the thriller sense, Summerwater ends abruptly. It is however thick with atmosphere. The rain, the wet vegetation, the finger-chilling cold, the sense of the holiday park, the loch and earth being much older than the visitors. It is a book about a day in which not a lot happens, showing how small things become big when you are bored, and how we are all inter-connected.

And here’s my review of another novel by Sarah Moss:-
GHOST WALL

If you like this, try:-
‘Akin’ by Emma Donoghue
‘These Dividing Walls’ by Fran Cooper
‘Anderby Wold’ by Winifred Holtby

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview SUMMERWATER by Sarah Moss https://wp.me/p5gEM4-4SD via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘The Moon Sister’ by Lucinda Riley #romance

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Fifth in the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley, The Moon Sister is the story of Tiggy, wildlife conservationist and warm-hearted introvert. Each of the D’Apliese sisters is different with diverse skills, interests and hugely varying birth stories. Tiggy’s story alternates between a Highland estate where she is managing the rewilding of Scottish wildcats, and the flamenco world in Spain during the 1930s. Lucinda RileyThe Kinnaird Estate is a beautiful, isolated, wild place. The four wild cats move into their custom-built enclosure and Tiggy moves into a shared estate cottage with fellow worker Cal. Riley builds the Kinnaird community quickly and skilfully from new Laird Charlie to housekeeper Beryl and old retainer Chilly. It is Chilly – speaking in a muddled mixture of English, Spanish and Romani – who introduces the first hints of premonition, seeing and herbal remedies. He tells Tiggy she has healing hands. Caught up in the twists and turns of the Kinnaird family, the frictions in Charlie and Ulrika’s marriage and their tempestuous daughter Zara, Tiggy grieves for Pa Salt and is curious about her own birth family. In his farewell letter, Pa Salt tells her she comes from a gifted line of seers. She must go to Granada in Spain, to the gypsy area called Sacromonte, where she must knock on a blue door and ask for Angelina. Tiggy delays, unsure of the truth, attracted to Charlie. But when she is injured in a poaching incident on the estate, Tiggy feels upset, confused and wronged. She flies to Granada. This is a quick reminder that Tiggy, who lives the most normal, ordinary life of the sisters so far, is far from a normal girl and when times get tough, the D’Apliese wealth is ever-present.
The second storyline is that of Lucia, Tiggy’s grandmother, who rises from a tiny girl living in deepest poverty in Sacromonte to a world-famous flamenco dancer. Though Tiggy’s character and situation is appealing, I found Lucia a more difficult character. By nature energetic and stubborn, Lucia turns into a selfish, spoiled woman who rides roughshod over others. Exploited by her feckless father who keeps control of her money and career, Lucia’s few moments of caring for others were not enough for me to warm to her. But the world in which she lives, the Sacromonte community, the gypsy brujas, and the violence and depravities of the Spanish Civil War were fascinating to read. As with the stories of the other sisters, Riley concentrates most of the birth family story on a generation further back than the birth parents and there were times when I longed for less flamenco and more bruja. I also wanted to know Chilly’s story and how he came to work on a Scottish estate.
There are more teasers in this book about the truth of Pa Salt’s identity and death, but nothing concrete. There is also the reappearance of Zed Eszu, who can only be described as a sleazy millionaire cad, who first appeared in Maia’s story. What lies behind his fascination with the six D’Apliese sisters. And is Pa Salt really dead?

Read my reviews of some of the other novels in Lucinda Riley’s ‘Seven Sisters’ series:-
THE SEVEN SISTERS #1SEVENSISTERS
THE STORM SISTER #2SEVENSISTERS
THE SHADOW SISTER #3SEVENSISTERS
THE PEARL SISTER #4SEVENSISTERS
THE SUN SISTER #6SEVENSISTERS
THE MISSING SISTER #7SEVENSISTERS

… plus my reviews of these standalone novels, also by Lucinda Riley:-
THE BUTTERFLY ROOM
THE GIRL ON THE CLIFF
THE LOVE LETTER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ by Katherine Arden
‘The Penny Heart’ by Martine Bailey
‘Rush-Oh!’ by Shirley Barrett

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE MOON SISTER by Lucinda Riley https://wp.me/p5gEM4-46t via @SandraDanby