by admin | Oct 2, 2025 | Crime Fiction |
When the body of a homeless man is discovered, carefully tucked between the weathered beach huts of Thorpe Bay on Southend seafront, the residents of Essex hardly bat an eye. That is, until the post-mortem shocks everyone by revealing the victim’s identity: Herbert Tucker, the local MP with a notorious past.
As the political and media pressure surges like a rising tide, DS Tomek Bowen is forced to navigate a treacherous undercurrent of lies, betrayal, and scandal. Digging into Herbert’s murky history, Bowen finds himself entangled in a labyrinth of secrets where every shadow conceals a potential suspect—and every clue deepens the mystery.
Death’s Kiss is the unforgettable third book in the DS Tomek Bowen Essex Murder Mystery series by Jack Probyn. Filled with twists, peppered with romance and flavoured with ounces of dark humour, this fast-paced British detective novel will keep you guessing until the very end when the final shocking twist is revealed. Perfect for fans of JD Kirk, JM Dalgliesh, TG Reid, Simon McCleave and Rhys Dylan.
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THE SETTING
Canvey Island, with its low-lying marshes and silent, brackish waters, feels like a place cut off from the rest of Essex. The island’s isolation, surrounded by the dark, slow-moving waters of the Thames, gives it an unsettling stillness. Sea defenses and forgotten corners of the shoreline hint at a past riddled with floods and unspoken tragedies. Here, as the fog and rain rolls in, the island takes on a haunting air, as if the land itself remembers things best left buried beneath its soggy surface.
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MEET THE DETECTIVE
Now on the wrong side of forty, DS Tomek Bowen has begun to worry more about the little things. Like the food he puts in his body, how many pints he can have without feeling too hungover, and what beard dye to use for his increasingly greying hair. But now he has something more important to worry about: a thirteen-year-old daughter he knew nothing about until recently. Now he’s a father, life and all its delicate intricacies have become infinitely more difficult and troublesome. On an island at constant risk of flooding, will he sink or swim?
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by admin | Oct 2, 2025 | Teen & Young Adult |
Welcome to Evergreen Academy, the secret college for Magical Botanists.
I’d always sensed something peculiar about the reclusive Evergreen Academy, tucked deep in the woods of my hometown. But I never could have imagined it was a college for magical botanists–and that I am one of them.
An invitation to the academy opens up a whole new world of wonder, yet my plant affinity powers remain elusive, and my scientific training is far behind that of my peers.
When I’m assigned a tutor, Callan Rhodes, a powerful descendant of the academy’s founders, I’m baffled by his willingness to help me.
Despite my challenges, I’m enchanted by the academy’s glass schoolhouse, its grounds which are overflowing with plants that defy the climate, and the quirky festivals held each equinox and solstice.
But disaster looms as the verdant shield that protects the academy from the prying eyes of nonmagical people begins to falter. Can Callan and the other founder’s descendants sustain the magic on their own, or will the clock finally start to tick on figuring out my powers?
Elements you’ll find in this story:
Magical academy
Plant magic
Small town setting
Cozy fantasy
Light academia
Science-based magic system
Slow burn romance (no spice)
First person POV
An enchanting world
And so much more
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by admin | Oct 2, 2025 | Paranormal & Fantasy Romance |
I knew hot flashes were supposed to be hot, but I didn’t expect flames.
One day I’m in anger management, normalizing the cordial hate between me and my husband.
The next, we’re divorced and he has taken both our house and the business we built together. I’m forty years old and living above our empty restaurant, plotting my next move.
And then the world around starts lighting up—literally catching on fire. I’m starting to think my defining characteristic may not be my snark or my cupcake-baking prowess, but spontaneous combustion.
I’m done suppressing my anger. I’m done playing by other people’s rules. Ready to take the reins on my destiny, I’m making the choices I used to be too afraid to make. Like my favorite cast iron skillet, women get better with age. And at forty, I know exactly who I am and what I want.
I’ll embrace the fire and the fury. This is my life, and I’m in control.
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by admin | Oct 2, 2025 | Cozy Mystery |
A mysterious killer is no match for a group of mums in sensible shoes…
Mary Plunkett has mastered how to be a stay at home mum. Her kids mostly make it to school on time, forty percent of them do their homework and sometimes they even have clean socks. In fact, Mary can actually get them their five a day, as long as it’s apples. But she is terminally bored. When the teacher at her kid’s school is murdered, Mary joins a group of mums to find out who killed him
The Wronged Women’s Co-operative are more used to tracking down errant husbands and finding stolen dogs than catching killers, but it can’t be that hard, can it? When Mary becomes their newest member she realises that there is more to life than dirty nappies and winter colds. Mums are famous for being able to multitask, so why not add catching a murderer to the list?
A funny, charming novel that is the first in a series of cosy mysteries.
by admin | Oct 2, 2025 | Literary |
Longlisted for the 2025 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and Named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2024
“Head Fake is about how laughter can save us.” —Chris Rock, comedian, actor
“An absorbing, uplifting tale of finding light and self-worth in adversity’s darkest depths.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Mikey makes everything a joke, even the clinical depression he’s struggled with for years. After a run of failed jobs, he becomes the unlikely basketball coach at a high school for high-risk offenders who are experiencing mental illness. The position becomes suddenly available after the team tried to strangle their last coach.
Every instinct tells Mikey to get as far away from this school as possible. Coaching these kids, who have been arrested for who-knows-what, would be difficult for a normie. For Mikey, it could cause another breakdown and force him right back to living on the street. But he knows that if he has any chance to make his twenty-sixth birthday, he needs to keep this job, even if the school board wants him fired, and the students would rather fight each other than play ball.
This poignant, hilarious, and sometimes uncomfortable novel proves that even the most damaged of us can emerge victorious.
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