Tag Archives: rachel amphlett

July 14, 2020 · 4:33 pm

Turn to Dust by Rachel Amphlett – BLOG TOUR

I have been lucky enough to be able to follow the Kay Hunter series from the beginning, and whilst I must admit to being a couple behind I was still very excited to be asked to join the blog tour for the latest ‘Turn to Dust’

Turn to Dust starts with the discovery of a naked body in a field, it looks like he may have fallen out of a plane. Yet the injuries soon point to a much more brutal cause of death. When Detective Hunter finds out that someone has been offering money in exchange for information about the dead body she begins to realise that this case is not going to have a simple ending. When a key witness goes missing Kay and her team have a race on, to stop more people ending up dead.

Turn to Dust by Rachel Amphlett is the 9th in the series featuring Detective Kay Hunter, and I have to say I think they keep getting better. I really like the character of Kay, she has a relatively normal marriage and just wants to focus on doing a good job. I like the relationship between the two and I think that Adam’s job as a vet and his love of saving stray animals adds a great comedic element to what is a pretty sad tale.

I always like the style of writing by Rachel, the chapters are relatively short and this makes it a pretty fast paced read. Although it is part of a series I think it works as a standalone too, there is enough back story of the characters to help you get to know them, but not so much that you feel like you are reading the same book again and again (which can be a tricky balance) As with her previous novels as well, she manages to make the murder line the main story throughout with the characters pushing the investigation along.

This is one of those stories that is difficult to review without giving away the plot, but it will certainly make you think about the way that people on the edge of ‘normal’ society are treated, and how any of us could one day end up having to ask for help.

I would highly recommend this series, in fact now I’ve finished Turn to Dust I intend to go and fill in the gaps of my Kay Hunter knowledge and read the couple that I’ve missed!

Turn to Dust is available here

Don’t forget to visit the other stops on the blog tour:

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June 14, 2019 · 8:00 am

The Friend Who Lied by Rachel Amphlett – a review BLOG TOUR

I have previously read author Rachel Amphlett’s detective Kay Hunter series which I have always enjoyed, so I was intrigued when I got the email inviting me onto the blog tour for her latest novel a stand-alone psychological thriller, The Friend Who Lied.

The Friend Who Lied starts as Lisa wakes up after a life saving kidney transplant. The last thing she remembered was being in an escape room with her friends. Now one of them is dead and Lisa’s life has been saved thanks to his kidney. As she starts to recover she tries to piece together exactly what happened in that room and begins to uncover a web of lies that shows they are all hiding something. As closely guarded secrets begin to emerge Lisa realises that she can trust no one and that someone doesn’t want her to uncover the truth.

This was an interesting read that kept me entertained during a couple of nights on my own in Liverpool. As someone who thinks the idea of entering an escape room is frankly ridiculous (You might as well just travel on LNER somewhere, it’s the same concept being trapped in a tiny box for a few hours with a bunch of people you don’t like and no way of escape until your time is up!) I thought the premise of this story was intriguing. You know that in a novel as soon as you meet a group of friends that knew each other at university it is never going to turn out well. There will always be some dark history between them and this group were no different. They have a bond that comes from long friendship and shared knowledge but this also hides fragile relationships and petty jealousy.

One of the things I really liked about this book was the way it was written from the different viewpoints of the main characters. None of them were particularly likeable and I really struggled to warm to any of them including Lisa. However this did not detract but rather added to the story. It meant that my opinions kept flitting back and forth as to how I hoped the novel would pan out. Each of the characters had their own quirks and issues that became clear as the story moved forward, and they soon started to intertwine towards a devastating conclusion.

I must confess that I did sort of guess the end pretty much from the start, however without giving any spoilers I was close but no cigar as they say. This was a good read that was an entertaining way to pass a few hours.

To find out what others thought of the novel visit the rest of the stops on the blog tour:

Author Bio:
Before turning to writing, USA Today bestselling author Rachel Amphlett played guitar in bands, worked as a TV and film extra, dabbled in radio as a presenter and freelance producer for the BBC, and worked in publishing as a sub-editor and editorial assistant.

She now wields a pen instead of a plectrum and writes crime fiction and spy novels, including the Dan Taylor and English Spy Mysteries espionage novels and theDetective Kay Hunter British police procedural series.

She’s a member of International Thriller Writers and the Crime Writers Association, with the Italian foreign rights for her debut novel, White Gold sold to Fanucci Editore’s TIMECrime imprint, and the first four books in the Dan Taylor espionage series contracted to Germany’s Luzifer Verlag.

Purchase your copy of the Friend Who Lied here

 

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November 17, 2017 · 9:40 am

Hell to Pay by Rachel Amphlett – BLOG TOUR

I am a big fan of Rachel Amphlett and have read all of her series featuring detective Kay Hunter. Therefore it is a great pleasure to be taking part in the blog tour for her latest book Hell to Pay. I’m very pleased to be able to welcome Rachel to acrimereadersblog.

Thanks for joining me Rachel. It must be incredibly exciting to have a novel published, so how do you spend the night before publication day and what do you do on the actual day?

Publication day for me is a bit weird, as I’m in a completely different time zone to a lot of my readers. I’m originally from the UK, but Australia is currently home. So, after I get up in the morning in Brisbane, feed the dog, and make the first cup of coffee of the day, it’s still late afternoon the previous day in the UK!
The night before, I’ll have checked all the links to my books are working on the different retailers, and I’ll prepare the newsletter to go out to my Reader Group, so I don’t have to worry about that – everyone who joins my Readers Group gets the chance to buy the book at a discounted rate, so it’s really important to me to have that ready to go.
For the past four releases, I’ve had a number of book bloggers kindly take part in a book tour for me, and by the time publication day comes around, that tour has typically been running for a week.
I get a flurry of activity on social media as the rest of the world starts to wake up (I’m a very early riser, so that means 5:30am for me!), but before I do anything else, I hit my word count on my current work in progress – that way, I can concentrate on the launch of the previous book without feeling guilty!
The rest of the morning is spent responding to emails and social media shout outs from readers and the incredible book bloggers that support my new releases.
The action really kicks off once the UK is wide awake and continues through the night as most of my book blogging buddies are in the UK and North America – I can get a bit overwhelmed trying to keep up with all the notifications, but it’s a lot of fun, and I really appreciate the support everyone gives to authors in this way.
I don’t get much sleep that night, either – again due to time differences, my Facebook launch party usually starts pretty early the following morning for me, even though it’s still only 8pm in the UK. I don’t mind though – I know for at least 48 hours I’m going to be running on pure adrenalin!
Once the Facebook party is over, it’s a case of monitoring emails and social media for any notifications – I try to respond to every shout out I receive from readers and bloggers, and I always respond to every email I receive from readers. I wouldn’t be here without any of them.
The blog tour runs for another week after publication day to help me spread the word about the new book, but in the meantime, it’s back to business as usual for me, and that of course means finishing the next book!

Sounds like a very busy day, but completely worth it of course. Hell to Pay is out now and is a great read either as a stand alone or as part of this excellent series. I would throughly recommend them, and a huge thanks to Rachel for taking the time to join me today.

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December 30, 2016 · 2:26 pm

Scared to death by Rachel Amphlett – a review

I was contacted by Rachel Amphlett to see if I would be interested in reviewing her novel, and as soon as I read the blurb I jumped at the chance.

Scared to Death begins with the body of a young girl being found by her parents in a drain. She had been kidnapped and they were responding to the ransom demand. At first it is thought it was just a kidnapping that went wrong. However when another body is unearthed with the ransom money still on it, Detective Kay Hunter believes that there is a killer at work.

This was the first in a new series featuring Kay Hunter and was the first novel I had read by Rachel Amphlett. It was certainly a promising start to a series. I enjoyed the writing style of the novel with short chapters that make it a fast paced read. The characters all felt well rounded and believable, especially that of likeable Detective Kay Hunter. As with all detectives Kay has secrets and is struggling to restart her career after being the subject of a standards investigation. However unlike most Detectives in crime fiction she has a stable marriage to her husband. He is a vet and plays a great role within the story of providing a bit of humour with his animal stories. One thing I did like was the fact that the back story of the characters doesn’t take over from the main focus of the novel as it sometimes can do. The main story here is definitely the hunt for a killer who is literally scaring his victims to death.

The story itself is creepy and keeps you guessing with lots of twists and turns. I especially enjoyed the chapters told from the killer’s point of view which added a different element to narrative. I enjoyed this novel and will definitely be looking out for the next in the series.

 

 

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