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The Heretic Cypher - Murray Bailey

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  The Heretic Cypher Egyptian Stones - Book 1 5 Stars Genre : Mystery, Adventure, Thriller Pages : 319 (Kindle Edition) Publisher's Blurb When Egyptologist Alex MacLure’s friend and mentor dies he’s stunned to discover she’s left a message—hidden, encoded, and meant only for him. With a mysterious artifact and a trail of cryptic symbols, Alex is thrust into a deadly race against time. What begins as a quest to finish her research quickly spirals into a chilling her death was no accident. She was murdered for what she discovered. Now he’s the next target. Hunted by a ruthless adversary, Alex finds himself swept from the academic halls of London to the heart of Egypt’s oldest sites. As he races to decode a forgotten truth buried beneath centuries of deception, powerful enemies close in—willing to kill to protect a secret—a revelation so explosive, it could rewrite everything we know about ancient Egypt and religion. Review Book 1 in the Egyptian Stones series. This tale has everythin...
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Flash Fiction - Fifty Fifty

Fifty / Fifty  Six Sentence Story Linkup Prompt Word : Wire Beads of sweat are forming on my forehead, running down through the gap between my eyebrows, down my cute button nose and then dripping onto my hands as I sit hunched over the improvised explosive device nestled in the corner of the room. I’m receiving instructions over the short wave radio from an expert but it is difficult to think straight when the timer that is strapped to the ten pounds of Semtex is continually counting down the seconds I have left to deactivate the mechanism “I’ve got a bunch of wires, two blue, one green and at least three red ones that all run from the timing device to various connections on the device”. “Find the wires that are linked to the detonator, it’s likely to be a small silver disk with just a couple of connections and one of them will <<static>> you’ll need to cut that one. “Say again” I replied, “you’re breaking up, do I cut the red or the blue wire?”...
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Short Stories, Drabbles & Flash Fiction

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  Only Murders In My Mind is an excellent podcast available on YouTube where the three co-hosts discuss everything about being an author. It is accompanied by a blog that includes further articles to support the podcast and also a series of writing prompts, in the form of photographs, to encourage budding writers. I've always wanted to write something but the thought of a novel, or even a novella scares the life out of me so, I thought I'd have a go at some of the set prompts. Some have an extra challenge to meet an exact word count I've included the original prompt photo along with the word challenge for each story and would be interested to hear what you think. The podcast can be found here and the blog here The co-hosts back catalogs can be found on their Amazon author pages Liz Hedgecock Carol Bissett Mike Jackson   Challenge 1 - No word limit They say that the pen is mightier than the sword and what happened in the classroom today was certainly not how I’d interpreted...
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Razor Country by Nicholas Wagner

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  Razor Country Nicholas Wagner 3 Stars Pages: 147 Genre: Noir Crime, Thriller Published: 09 April 2024 Publisher: Independently Published Promotor:  Henry Roi PR Amazon Publisher's Blurb On the eve of World War I, a private detective investigates a series of violent crimes across the British Empire. Review Razor Country follows Colm Steiner, a private detective, around the British Empire on the eve of World War I and shows a much darker side to the investigation business than is portrayed for most independent sleuths. Steiner does whatever he needs to get the job done and is more of an anti-hero than the normal period detectives. He is a difficult man to like, but it is also hard to disagree with most of the decisions he takes regarding the criminals he is confronted with. I'd like to see some of the stories in this collection to be expanded into longer tales and others to be dropped entirely. The best chapters are excellent but a few are not so good and don't add to the e...
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Widdershins by Helen Steadman

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  Widdershins Newcastle Witch Trials Book 1 Helen Steadman 5 Stars Pages: 300 Genre: Historical Fiction Published: 08 April 2022 Publisher: Bell Jar Books Publisher's Blurb ‘Did all women have something of the witch about them?’ Jane Chandler is an apprentice healer. From childhood, she and her mother have used herbs to cure the sick. But Jane will soon learn that her sheltered life in a small village is not safe from the troubles of the wider world. From his father’s beatings to his uncle’s raging sermons, John Sharpe is beset by bad fortune. Fighting through personal tragedy, he finds his purpose: to become a witch-finder and save innocents from the scourge of witchcraft. Inspired by true events, Widdershins tells the story of the women who were persecuted and the men who condemned them. My Review Based on a real life witch trial in northern England, Widdershins is a fascinating look at the motivation and methods of the so-called Witchfinders who persecuted innocent women, and th...
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Quick Reviews March 2024 - Part 1

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  The Lady's Guide to Escaping Cannibals Emmanuelle De Maupassant 4 Stars Adventure Ahoy! A lady's search for her missing brother takes her to the remote island of Vanuaka under the seeming protection of Captain Jorge de Silva. Battling her deepest fears, an erupting volcano and a bunch of cannibals, Lady Bathsheba Asquith finds herself in a desperate struggle to survive. Amidst all this, she finds herself drawn to the handsome Captain. A fun adventure story, with a piratical theme, containing some sensual adult content that was an interesting listen. Audio narration was excellent and professionally produced with additional sound effects Sleepless Night Audrey Walker 5 Stars First book in the 'Shelby Griffin' mystery thriller series. Great characters and an intriguing plot that sees Shelby and her partner embroiled in a gang dispute. An excellent introduction to the series One-Eyed Cy Gets Something to do Simon Carr 5 Stars Cy is reclassified as a pirate when his monste...
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The Prisoner of Acre by Murray Bailey

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The Prisoner of Acre Murray Bailey Ash Carter Near East Thriller Book 4 5 Stars Publisher's Blurb Ash Carter returns to Israel on what should be a straightforward mission. However there is a mystery. Why did Alfred Duffy go AWOL from the British Army, go to Israel and then hand himself in at Acre Prison. The mystery deepens when Carter finds that Duffy escaped just as he arrived. The hunt begins but as the mystery unravels towards an exciting climax, it becomes unclear who is the hunter and who the hunted. Review A simple collection of an A.W.O.L. soldier who has handed himself in at Acre prison goes catastrophically wrong when the prisoner escapes shortly before Ash Carter arrives for the pick up. What follows is a far from straight forward 'prisoner on the run' chase that ultimately turns deadly. Book 4 in Murray Bailey's acclaimed 'Near East' crime series is a well researched, thrill-a-minute adventure story that propels the reader on a frantic manhunt throug...
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