Hello fellow noir lovers!
At the end of January it dawned on me that #Fahrenbruary was just around the corner so I went on a bit of a Fahrenheit shopping spree. It took surprisingly little time for my new babies to arrive in Belgium. It took a surprisingly long time for them to be actually delivered at my home. Gotta love bpost ? I was starting to think the posties confiscated my beautiful books to read them themselves! I even got so impatient, I went on a whole new shopping spree on the Fahrenheit site, this time buying way too many eBooks. And then I got a text from the hubby yesterday, asking dryly: “Bought a book, have we?”, my haul had finally arrived! (I could see his ? before my mind’s eye, but after all these years he just shakes his head wearily and goes on with his day ?) After both these sprees, it kinda looks like #Fahrenbruary will last until May!
Alright, enough chitchat! Let’s take a look at all the beauties I got myself, and hopefully you’ll feel inspired to get one (or five, or ten) too ?
📚📚📚📚📚📚
All Things Violent by Nikki Dolson
What the blurb says:
A violent, funny, shockingly addictive debut…”
Once upon a time, Laura Park was a normal college sophomore with her best friend at her side. A year later, Laura was on a deserted road on the outskirts of Las Vegas killing a man.
She didn’t expect to get away with it but she did with the help of a stranger named Simon who took her in, liquored her up, and broke her down.
Soon the ambitious Simon introduces her to Frank Joyce, a man who would teach her how to become a stone-cold professional killer.
Laura learns her deadly trade and earns her money. Twenty-six years old and she thinks she’s found her happily ever after. Sadly it all falls apart when Simon leaves her for another. Now some other woman, blonde and polished, all shiny and new, is living Laura’s happy life.
Heartbroken, but knife always at the ready, Laura waits for any opportunity to get Simon back. The question is, when she gets her chance, will she take it?
In Laura’s world anyone can become a target, loyalties can shift in a blink of an eye, and when everyone is homicidal, people are definitely going to die.
Why it caught my eye:
Vegas baby! I fell for the cover and bought for the blurb
📚📚📚📚📚📚
Killer Instincts by Linden Chase
What the blurb says:
There’s darkness in the heart of Tranquility.
Society has developed reliable tests to detect psychopathy in individuals. Those with the disorder are re-classified as victims rather than monsters.
The question remains though, how does a liberal society deal with the inherently violent impulses of human predators who live among us.
In response a government think tank is launching an experiment, Tranquility; an island where psychopaths will be isolated and left to form their own community.
Zane King, an investigative journalist, has been given a tip-off by a high-level government source that something big is happening on a remote island. After a heart-stopping journey Zane manages to infiltrate Tranquility by persuading the citizens that he’s a psychopath just like them.
It doesn’t take Zane long to realise that something has gone very wrong with the experiment but by the time he fully understands what the island is really all about the community is already imploding in a wave of monstrous violence.
“Not for the faint hearted…”
“A terrifying glimpse into the heart of darkness…”
“Gripping to the very last page…”
Why it caught my eye:
I fell for the title and bought for the Shutter Island vibe emanating from the blurb
📚📚📚📚📚📚
What the blurb says:
Charles Stone has just woken up dead. Well he’s pretty sure he’s dead, what with the bullet holes in his chest and all. He also appears to be totally alone in the after-life except for the ghostly dog who seems to be his new companion.
Unable to interact with the world of the living other than watching and listening, he and the dead dog (whom he names Rose) have nothing to do and all the time in the world to do it.
When Charles and Rose try to unravel the circumstances of Charles’s death, they uncover a criminal who is raking in millions of dollars by cruelly exploiting, and sometimes killing, his victims.
But what difference can a ghost make?
And what does the damn dog have to do with any of this?
Why it caught my eye:
I don’t usually read novels with animal characters because I can’t take it if something bad happens to them. However, I read a glowing review by Sandy (@rowingwabbit), who convinced me on Twitter that I would be able to handle Dead Is Better and should totally add it to my wishlist.
📚📚📚📚📚📚
A Mint Condition Corpse by Duncan MacMaster
What the blurb says:
Batman schmatman, there’s a new hero in town and he’s kinda dorky…
Kirby Baxter went to Omnicon for the cosplay, the comics and the collectibles.
No-one was supposed to get murdered. Get ready for a whole new kind of crime novel. The Dork Knights are rising and Kirby Baxter and his friends are putting the nerd firmly into noir.
It’s all fun and costume changes at OmniCon until schlock horror superstar Erica Glass turns up dead. Fresh from a mysterious adventure in Lichtenstein Kirby Baxter soon finds himself up to his geeky neck in a deadly murder mystery.
Kirby must deploy his unique skills of deduction and detection before the body count rises and ruins OmniCon for everyone.
Why it caught my eye:
Uhm, have you SEEN that cover?! Hello gorgeous!! And a dorky hero? How could I refuse?!
📚📚📚📚📚📚
What the blurb says:
Jake Mooney is a ghost-writer who just landed a lucrative gig penning the autobiography of legendary eighties television icon Rick Rendell.
It should have been easy money – fly to Rick’s island paradise, enjoy the sunshine, collect some juicy stories of Hollywood excess then weave them together into a bestselling memoir for a public already hopelessly addicted to scandal and celebrity gossip.
Simple? No. Not so much.
Before he even gets started Jake narrowly escapes an attempt on his life and when the first shot rings out it becomes clear that some people will stop at nothing to ensure their secrets remain firmly under wraps.
Jake’s used to dealing with clients with scandal in their past but one with murder in his future is definitely not what he signed up for.
Why it caught my eye:
I got drawn in by the tagline on the cover: “If books could kill”
📚📚📚📚📚📚
Dark Water by Ariana D. Den Bleyker
What the blurb says:
When Henry’s wife is murdered he’s forced to disappear. Nobody would believe he didn’t kill her. His sister, the only witness, won’t testify. His brother-in-law, the detective, doesn’t trust him. His mistress, the investigating pathologist, won’t help him.
They all have their own secrets to protect.
And after all, Henry killed so many others before.
Dark Water is a pitch black tale of suicide, torture, murder and revenge as an artist returns to produce his greatest work out of those closest to him.
Why it caught my eye:
After reading Red Hands, I had to have this. Also, how fabulously creepy is that cover!
📚📚📚📚📚📚
What the blurb says:
In April 1990, as rioters took over Strangeways prison in Manchester, someone killed a little boy at Black Moss.
And no one cared.
No one except Danny Johnston, an inexperienced radio reporter trying to make a name for himself.
More than a quarter of a century later, Danny returns to his home city to revisit the murder that’s always haunted him.
If Danny can find out what really happened to the boy, maybe he can cure the emptiness he’s felt inside since he too was a child.
But finding out the truth might just be the worst idea Danny Johnston has ever had.
“As one would expect from a writer with the skill and experience of David Nolan, this haunting book deals with very difficult issues in an incredibly sympathetic manner while at the same time throwing a light onto one of the most complicated and shaming areas of our society – the failure to protect those who are the most vulnerable.”
Crime fiction stands or falls on realism – and books don’t get more realistic than Black Moss. Author David Nolan has drawn on his own experiences to create a novel that’s as dark and bleak as the real-life reservoir that it’s named after.
Why it caught my eye:
Again, Sandy wrote a fab review! And this article sealed the deal.
📚📚📚📚📚📚
And here is my eBook haul:
Be sure to check these beauties out on the Fahrenheit Press website! They’re all available in Kindle format and ePub format!
I hope you like what you’ve seen!
Stay tuned for a review of all of these! You may have to be extremely patient though ?
STACKING THE SHELVES is hosted at Tynga’s Reviews & Reading Reality, and it’s all about sharing the book haul.
Nice book haul, still quite reasonable though (yes you can tell hubby) ;-)! The cover of Burke’s Last Witness is kind of creepy-scary 🙂 I like the cover of Black Moss and the blurb of Killer Instinct is also very intriguing. Lots of psychos together, that should be interesting! Happy reading Kelly!
I got the Burke eBook because the cover creeped me out too much to buy it in PB ??