Kelly Clayton

I've only just got around to reading this book, though I've had it on my radar for ages. Should have read it sooner!

Blood in the Sand

Amazon.com link

My review - 

A rich widow apparently overdoses on her insulin and falls to her death from her balcony. Things are just too perfect, though. Can it really have been an accident? This is just the beginning of an increasing body-count for DCI Jack Le Claire. The holiday island of Jersey suddenly has a surfeit of ‘blood on the sand’

This author and her books have been on my radar for some time but I’ve not had a break in my reading schedule until now. I bought this and read it – devoured it – in two days. The story is complex, interesting, plausible and exciting. It’s peopled with three-dimensional characters who are so real, so human, that you can’t immediately say who is the perpetrator. Everyone has some financial need or some family feud and it’s only right at the end that the tangle is sorted out. I enjoyed it immensely and I’m going to do what I very rarely do and immediately buy Book 2 in this series.

Highly recommended.

Alison Baillie

A new author to me, and I really enjoyed Alison Baillie's style. 

Sewing the Shadows Together

Amazon.com

My review -

Tom McIver’s family moved to South Africa after his thirteen year-old sister was murdered. He’s back in Scotland to scatter his mother’s ashes when he finds that new DNA evidence exonerates the supposed killer who is released after serving thirty-five years in prison. This means that the case is re-opened. He meets up again with Sarah, his sister’s best friend, now married to Rory, his own best mate from school. Relationships are closely examined and it all becomes complicated.

I really enjoyed this story. The characters were well drawn, including a monstrously self-obsessed mother, a wife and mum who puts everyone before herself, a number of unpleasantly obsessive and strict fathers and, I was pleased to see, some very balanced children who boosted my faith in humanity. The story weaves in and out of the characters’ lives and the suspicions and doubts of Tom and Sarah concerning the murder. It was a gripping and satisfying read which I thoroughly recommend.