Virtual Crime Book Club – Video and Voting

The virtual crime book club met last night to discuss the debut crime novel, Blood Sugar, by Sascha Rothchild.

It was an overwhelming success with group members, with the majority loving it and prepared to read the next book Sascha brings out.

Watch the video of the meeting below to hear all the views, but be aware it contains spoilers all the way through. So if you plan on reading Blood Sugar, maybe don’t watch until after you’ve read it.

The theme for the next book is a sequel to a book we’ve already read in the three years we’ve been running – because next month the virtual crime book club has been running for THREE YEARS! It started as something to keep crime readers occupied and connected during the pandemic, but has continued to grow into a genuine community. So if you know of anyone who would enjoy the meetings and likes crime fiction, then do give them this link > http://rebeccabradleycrime.com/virtual-crime-book-club to let them know what we’re about.

The next meeting is 8 pm. GMT. Monday 3rd April. Read the book blurbs below and leave your vote in the comments by the end of Friday 10th March.

Chance by Matthew Fitzsimmons

Cloning is a luxury for the wealthy. For Chance Harker, it’s a way of getting on with his lives. Five years ago, when he was sixteen, he and his brother, Marley, were murdered in a kidnapping gone wrong. Chance was revived—and his grieving parents met his existence with anger, neglect, and aversion. The public, though? They can’t get enough of the death-defying stunts he has parlayed into a social media spectacle.

But after Chance’s latest “refresh,” he awakens to accusations that he’s killed Lee Conway, a stranger Chance has never met. Has one of his clones? With no memory of his previous selves, and working fast before he’s arrested, Chance digs into Conway’s background, the mysteries of his own life—and death—and the tragic abduction that tore his family apart.

All Chance has to do is stay ahead of the LAPD; his kidnappers, who are back on the hunt; and a growing mob of incensed protesters outraged that a rich clone appears to be getting away with murder.

The Invisible by Peter Papathanasiou

Burnt-out, recently divorced and mourning the death of his father; Detective Sergeant George Manolis heads to Greece to reconnect with his roots.
Arriving in the Prespes region, which also straddles Albania and North Macedonia he learns of the disappearance of his old friend Lefty – an “invisible” who lives off the grid. The police and locals believe the simply skipped town, while others suspect foul play.
Going undercover; Manolis delves into the complex relationships of a village where grudges run deep and even the landscape itself seems determined to keep its secrets buried.
It soon becomes clear that Lefty had powerful enemies and was in over his head. With the clock ticking, the ghosts of the past continue to haunt the present as Manolis uncovers a dark and long-forgotten practice.

Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner

Manon has settled back into life in Cambridgeshire with her adopted son Fly. She’s perfectly happy working on cold cases until a man is stabbed to death just yards from the police station, and both the victim and the prime suspect turn out to be much closer to home than she would like. How well does Manon know her loved ones, and are they capable of murder?

The Big Chill by Doug Johnstone

Running private investigator and funeral home businesses means trouble is never far away, and the Skelf women take on their most perplexing, chilling cases yet in book two of this darkly funny, devastatingly tense and addictive new series!

Haunted by their past, the Skelf women are hoping for a quieter life. But running both a funeral directors’ and a private investigation business means trouble is never far away, and when a car crashes into the open grave at a funeral that matriarch Dorothy is conducting, she can’t help looking into the dead driver’s shadowy life.

While Dorothy uncovers a dark truth at the heart of Edinburgh society, her daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah have their own struggles. Jenny’s ex-husband Craig is making plans that could shatter the Skelf women’s lives, and the increasingly obsessive Hannah has formed a friendship with an elderly professor that is fast turning deadly.

But something even more sinister emerges when a drumming student of Dorothy’s disappears and suspicion falls on her parents. The Skelf women find themselves sucked into an unbearable darkness – but could the real threat be to themselves?

Double Agent by Tom Bradby

It was supposed to be a quiet family weekend away. But for Senior MI6 officer Kate Henderson, nothing is ever that simple…

Kidnapped in Venice by a Russian defector, Kate knows she’s in trouble. But all is not as it seems. The spy offers her conclusive evidence that the British Prime Minister is a live agent working for Moscow. Kate’s holiday quickly becomes the start of her next mission.

With proof of the PM involved in a sordid scandal and a financial paper trail that undeniably links him to the Russians, the evidence seems bulletproof. But the motives of the defector are anything but clear. And, more worryingly, it seems that there are key people at the heart of the British Establishment who refuse to acknowledge the reality in front of them.

Kate can trust no one, and this mission will push her dangerously close to the edge… but is that the price to pay for the truth?