My Book Reviews for March 2025
My Book Reviews for March 2025
My book reviews for March 2025 comprise some absolute gems, including an outstanding historical novel set on a slave planation in the 1840s, a sultry and sizzling tale of duplicity and desperation set in Puerta Vallarta, and a superior and suspenseful English crime story.
A More Perfect Union by Tammye Huf
This is a powerful story of self-determination and belonging, told against the cruel and inhuman backdrop of 1840s slavery. It’s also a love story of two protagonists caught in hostile worlds.
Henry has fled abject poverty and starvation in Ireland to make a better life in America. But New York is a hard city, where ‘No Irish’ signs appear at every possible work location. In desperation, Henry takes the clothes and shoes of a well-to-do mugging victim and reinvents himself as an American, eventually getting work on plantations in Virginia as a travelling blacksmith.
Sarah is a house slave, sold to new owners who consider themselves a good master and mistress as they only have their slaves whipped if they break the rule of law or the rule of God. But Sarah knows life is unpredictable; punishment is only one presumed misdemeanour away, as is the threat of rape or being sold on to a less ‘Christian’ owner.
Henry is passionate and impetuous, never thinking through the repercussions on Sarah and the other slaves of his gut reactions and reckless actions. Sarah, well versed in the healing powers of plants, possesses a keen intelligence that she has to keep contained as she’s acutely aware of the danger of contravening the white man’s rules. However, her growing love for Henry means that she, too, lets her heart rule her head.
This is far more than a tale of star-crossed lovers, as is made clear by the chapters from the viewpoint of the third narrator, Maple. She is one of the many slaves who disapprove of the growing friendship between Sarah and Henry, knowing the devastation that such an illegal union would bring to Sarah. Maple is a house slave and cook, who was gifted to the household by her previous master, the father of Maple’s new mistress. Maple is also the illegitimate daughter of that previous master and, therefore, half-sister to the new mistress. But this is a family tie that brings her neither privilege nor protection. Maple’s mother was a slave repeatedly raped by that owner, then cast aside to work in the fields when he moved on to raping a younger slave.
Although we see tenderness between Sarah and Henry as their clandestine love grows, we also see sexual abuse, whippings and families ripped apart as husbands, wives and children are sold separately. The romance made me want to read the book; the true-to-life brutality made me have to read it.
Highly Recommended.
Retreat by Krysten Ritter and Lindsay Jamieson
Liz earns a living by separating rich people from their money. Sometimes it’s a long con, where she poses as an art dealer; sometimes it’s a spot of petty thieving when she bluffs her way into empty holiday homes to pilfer jewellery and credit cards. Whenever the net closes in, she ups sticks and moves her lucrative living to another city.
When things get tight in Chicago and she contemplates where to head next, a friend of her current mark texts her out of the blue with a tantalising proposition. The wealthy woman wants Liz to spend a week at her villa in Mexico to take delivery of a new painting and perk up the soft furnishings before she and her husband arrive.
Liz fails to remember the first rule of confidence trickery: if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. As she boards her paid-for, first class flight to Puerto Vallarta, she’s no idea what she’s heading into. Is the seasoned scam artist about to get well and truly scammed?
I did spot the cheeky twist very early on – I read way too many suspense novels – but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book and I closed the final page with a smug, satisfied grin on my face.
Despite her dubious activities, Liz is a likeable, resourceful protagonist, who lies, cheats and sleeps her way out of everything that’s thrown at her in the luxury sunshine resort. Well done to authors Lindsay Jamieson and Krysten Ritter for creating this sultry, shocking and sizzling tale of duplicity and desperation.
With thanks to the publisher and authors for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
The following are titles I was lucky enough to read in advance of their publication this month. With thanks to the authors, publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read early copies in exchange for independent reviews.
The Crime Writer by Diane Jeffrey
Leona – wife, mother and probably dishonest local councillor – disappears one evening in late November. Despite an extensive police search and intense media scrutiny (chillingly reminiscent of a tragic real-life case) plus the attention of amateur sleuths, psychics and true-crime addicts, Leona is still missing after five years.
The story is told across two timelines:
In 2019, during the days immediately after Leona’s disappearance, from the viewpoint of Leona’s husband, Matt. He writes crime fiction for a living and soon becomes the chief suspect.
In 2024, from the viewpoint of Gabi, a journalist. Back 2019, she secured a series of exclusive interviews with Matt. Now, when new evidence emerges, she revisits the case via her podcast.
Diane Jeffrey is an accomplished writer who knows how to plot, build suspense, establish setting and create rounded and intriguing main characters. This story gripped me to the extent that I downed tools to read it in two days. It’s likely to feature on my favourite books of 2025 list.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
It’s always a pleasure to come across an established crime writer for the first time. This is the third outing for Kate Webb’s DI Lockyer Mysteries, but the first one I’ve read. Detective Inspector Matt Lockyer and Detective Constable Gemma Broad investigate the cold case of a young woman who disappeared twenty years earlier. The case has become live again because a bag of her belongings has washed up on the bank of the River Kennet near Marlborough, Wiltshire.
As one would expect from a seasoned writer (Kate Webb also writes bestselling historical novels as Katherine Webb), the writing is fluent and accomplished. The novel is ideal for fans of lengthy, involved police procedurals whose engaging detectives have fully realised and unusual backstories. To get the full experience of this protagonist’s story, it would be worth starting at book one. However, I didn’t lose any understanding by jumping in at book three. Although this works as a standalone, it sets up nicely for book four.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
It’s 1979 and a stifling summer in Canberra. A young man has been murdered in a respectable neighbourhood. Twelve-year-old Tammy, to me reminiscent of Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, delves into the crime. Ideal for fans of literary fiction that focuses less on mystery and more on the lives, lies and simmering secrets of the characters.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
The New Neighbours by Claire Douglas
There’s a good premise here: Lena overhears her new neighbours say something shocking and takes it upon herself to do all she can to prevent a crime being committed. But, with her own dark past, is she the right person for the task?
This is another fluently written novel from this bestselling author. Ideal for readers who enjoy bundles of backstory, suspense, shocks and murderous characters.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
Ideal for fans of meticulously researched literary fiction that's populated with a big cast of characters.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
From the blurb: It is 1895. A high-speed steam train is the emblem of progress. Industry and invention are creating ever greater wealth and poverty. One autumn day an anarchist boards the Granville to Paris Express.
The train carries others from all over the globe: the railway workers who have built a life together away from their wives, a little boy travelling alone for the first time, an artist far from home, a wealthy statesman and his invalid wife, and a young woman with a secret hidden under her dress.
Justine, an upcoming barrister, is given her first murder case to prosecute. The accused is a face she hasn’t seen for eighteen years. Back then he was called something else and he was the love of her life. Now he’s accused of a double murder, and the names of the victims seem familiar.
Across two timelines, eighteen years apart, Justine’s own trauma, and how it links to the current court case, is revealed.
Ideal for fans of shocks and suspense with lots of backstory and told in a straightforward style.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Greater Sins by Gabrielle Griffiths
From the blurb: 1915, the Cabrach, Aberdeenshire. An isolated Scottish community is disturbed by a strange discovery: a body in a peat bog, perfectly preserved. Two people haul the body from the ground: Lizzie, the wife of a wealthy local landowner, and Johnny, a nomadic singer and farm hand. … As their stories entwine, a series of unsettling events befalls the isolated community: ruinous weather, a damaged soldier, strange occurrences that cannot be explained.
Not really a mystery story but ideal for fans of literary character studies in historical settings. The writing is fluent with a good nod to the dialect of rural Aberdeenshire in 1915 but still accessible to a wider readership.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.