Who Can you Trust (#4 in Cristy Ward Series) by Susan Lewis

                                       

Ebook:  384 pages 

Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Adult Fiction, Mystery 

Publisher:  HarperCollins (9thApril 2026)

Source: My Kindle Library via NetGalley

First Sentence:  Most people walked a little faster when passing 42 Randall Lane, picking up the pace as if something about the house might somehow be rotten or contagious or was waiting to spring outing get them.

Review Quote:  'Plenty of twists to keep you guessing' Heat

My Opinion: 

Susan Lewis is a prolific author writing across a broad range of genre, crime thrillers, suspense and family drama. I have been reading and enjoying her books on and off for over twenty five years now.

'Who Can You Trust' is the fourth title in the series about "hindsight" a podcast with the protagonists Cristy and Connor. This time they are investigating a suspected miscarriage of justice concerning a young woman convicted of murdering her baby twins some twenty years ago. The investigation is not an easy one and it impacts on the characters working and personal lives. It was great to catch up with the many familiar characters as they worked on another fascinating case.

Although this novel will read well as a stand alone story, I would recommend reading the whole series in order for maximum enjoyment and understanding of the relationships between the characters. Definitely recommend to fans of the series, the author and mysteries in general.

With thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and the author for the opportunity to read and review

Previous Reviews:  A Sicilian Affair.  Don't Believe A Word  Nothing to See Here 

Never Look Back

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

Book 4 in the Cristy Ward series

A terrible crime. A shocking confession. Do you believe her?

Twenty years ago, Nicole’s twins disappeared without a trace.

No bodies. No witnesses.

Despite her pleas of innocence, Nicole was convicted.

Now she’s out. And she’s finally confessed.

But for true crime podcast host Cristy Ward, the story doesn’t add up.

Having worked on the case as a young reporter, Cristy can’t help but wonder whether Nicole is the villain everyone believes her to be.

Why did Nicole confess after so many years … and is the truth still out there, waiting…?

Author Profile:         

                                                                         

                                                                                 

                                               Courtesy of Official Author Website 

I was born in 1956, in Bristol.  My father was a Welsh miner, a poet, an engineer and a thinker.  My mother was one of 13 children who, at 20, persuaded my father to spend his bonus on an engagement ring instead of a motorbike.  We were a normal, happy, nuclear family, living in a spanking new council house on the outskirts of town – my mother’s pride and joy.  But we were going to do better, my mother had made up her mind about that.  My father, an unabashed communist, was writing a book, I was signed up for ballet, elocution, piano and eventually a private boarding school, and my brother, (the real great love of my mother’s life) was going to succeed at everything he set his mind to.

The rest of this fascinating biography can be read on the authors  Official Author Website

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

 Official Author Website  Twitter Profile   Instagram Profile   Facebook Profile 

Amazon Profile    Goodreads Profile

River of Stars by Georgina Moore

                                                  

Hardback:  340 pages                                                                                                

Genre:  Contemporary Fiction

Publisher:  July 2025 HQ

Source:  Tywyn Public Library

First Sentence: The music pulsed out of the darkness, a siren call pulling her to Walnut Tree Island.

Review Quote: 'Full of rich characters and an enchanting setting, this is a gorgeous read' Fabulous

My Opinion:  

Georgina Moore's second novel 'River of Stars' published last year is inspired by her life living on a houseboat moored on an island in the River Thames near London.

A family saga that feels realistic as the reader is introduced to a group of residents that are part of a small island community. The main characters are members of the Star family, Mary an older lady now the matriarch, her daughter Ruby and granddaughter Jo. Their family history is interweaved with the Greenwood family owners of the island. When the grandson returns after many years away, to consider selling the island after his father's recent death, emotions run high. Everything about island life becomes complicated as the past tangles with the present.

A character driven atmospheric read that brings alive the bohemian life style of the island residents. The wonderful descriptions of the nature on the island also adds to the pleasurable reading experience.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

A stunning new novel exploring the lives and secrets of a group of residents of an island in the Thames

Walnut Tree Island is home to artists, dreamers, lovers and heartbreakers. Life is different slow, languorous and always communal, with every evening offering a new opportunity to gather at a neighbour's houseboat over a glass of wine.

But when a former resident reappears after nearly two decades away, the islanders are thrown into a frenzy as they wonder what plans their new landlord has in store for them.

And for Jo, an artist who long ago lost her muse, his return reopens the wounds of a love she thought was gone forever…



Previous Review:   The Garnett Girls

Author Profile

                                         
                                                     

                                           Courtesy of Goodreads                                       

Georgina Moore grew up in London and lives on a houseboat on the River Thames with her partner, two children and Bomber, the Border Terrier. The Garnett Girls was her first novel and is set on the Isle of Wight, where Georgina and her family have a holiday houseboat called Sturdy. Georgina's second novel River of Stars published in 2025 is inspired by her life on the river but also by the musical heritage and artistic community of an island upstream from her called Eel Pie Island.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Goodreads Profile.    Amazon Profile.    Georgina Moore - Twitter

Facebook Profile

Six Little Words by Sally Page

 

                                            

Ebook:   432 pages      

Genre:  Contemporary Literary Fiction, Fiction,                                         

Publisher: Harper Collins 12 March 2026

Source: NetGalley

First Sentences: To be or not to be... That is all that is written on the orange card. Six little words. Nothing more.

Review Quote: 'I LOVE Sally Page's story-telling and her characters, who, quite frankly, could simply sit about a room for an entire novel and I'd still be entranced' Freya North

My Opinion: 

Having been recommended to Sally Page's novels a couple of years ago, she is now a firm favourite of mine. 'Six Little Words' is the fourth I have read and it is just as captivating as her previous ones.

A group of very diverse men and women get together as a group to try and discover creativity within themselves. They all have inner struggles ranging from battling cancer to difficult childhoods. The group gives them the confidence to form new friendships and regain their self esteem. Using quotes from Shakespeare to introduce each chapter, cleverly leads the characters into the creative ideas they come up with.

Both funny and sad the story is to be recommended to readers that enjoy character driven fiction that deals with contemporary problems.

With thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and review.

 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

Can one small note give her the courage to find a new path?One Note. One Act of kindness. Her new beginning is closer than she thinks.

Kate gave up her dreams of being a painter years ago. But six little words pinned to the noticeboard of her local café could change her path forever.

‘To be, or not to be…’ – printed on orange card with no explanation – appears one morning.

Each day, a new line from a different Shakespeare play is added, sparking curiosity throughout the café. Among the regulars is Bardy, a retired English teacher grappling with writer’s block.

As Kate and Bardy follow this breadcrumb trail, they discover a local community group encouraging people to rediscover their own creative spark – and the long-lost courage to chase it.

For Kate, their new group might just offer a second chance at happiness, if only Bardy can find the strength to share his story too…

Previous Review:  The Keeper of Stories.  The Book of Beginnings  The Secrets of Flowers

Author Profile: 

Courtesy of Author Website

After studying history at university, Sally moved to London to work in advertising. In her spare time she studied floristry at night school and eventually opened her own flower shop. Sally came to appreciate that flower shops offer a unique window into people’s stories and she began to photograph and write about this floral life in a series of non-fiction books. Later, she continued her interest in writing when she founded her fountain pen company, Plooms.co.uk.

In her debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, Sally combines her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. Sally now lives in Dorset. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is a doctor and her younger daughter is the author, Libby Page. Both are keen wild swimmers.

Photograph, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Amazon Author Page.    Author's Official Website.   Instagram Profile  Twitter Profile

Facebook - SallyPageAuthor.   Goodreads Profile

The Opposite of Murder by Sophie Hannah

                                                           

Hardback:  357 pages

Genre:  Contemporary Murder Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton 2026

Source:  Tywyn Public Library

First Sentence: This is my story and no one else's. In it I am a killer.

Review Quote: An ingenious puzzle of a novel that crackles with energy and menace -- Nicci French-Author 

My Opinion: 

Although I prefer Sophie Hannah's psychological thrillers, I have read some, but by no means all of her Spilling CID series of which 'The Opposite of Murder' is. Detectives Simon Waterhouse and Charlie Zailer are on the case again, this time investigating a murder that was confessed to before the event!  As with the previous novels in the series, this can be read as a stand alone story.

The story is set around the complicated family relationship that the female protagonist Jemma Stelling has had with her step-mother. This leads her to walk into a local Police Station and confess to a murder that she has planned but not yet committed. Most of the officers she spoke to did not take her seriously though. At the same time as Jemma is confessing a murder takes place that she would be the prime suspect for had she not already got the perfect alibi. Will Simon Waterhouse, Charlie Zailer and colleagues be able to solve this case, the twists and turns keep them and the reader guessing. The result was certainly not one I had expected.

Although I found this novel intriguing, I still prefer Sophie Hannah's psychological thrillers which I find more entertaining. If you are a crime fiction fan you will probably enjoy this one.

 

Previous Reviews:   Haven't They Grown  Little Face  Hurting Distance  Point of Rescue  

The Other Half Lives.  The Couple at the Table

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

What if the only way you could prevent a murder was by confessing to it?
5.05pm. A terrified Jemma Stelling walks into a police station and says she is about to commit a murder.
She knows that the person she hates most in the world, Marianne Cass, might soon be killed. She knows this because she is the one in danger of killing Marianne, and the urge to do so is growing stronger.
The only way to stop the struggle in her mind is to inform the authorities that Marianne is at risk - from Jemma herself. Desperate to be free of her frightening obsession, she seeks out police officer Simon Waterford and makes what she thinks of as a 'preventative confession'. 
5.05pm. Marianne Cass is murdered in her home.
But while Jemma is talking to the police, Marianne is brutally murdered. The time of death window means Jemma is unequivocally eliminated as a suspect.
The problem for Simon is that he's now positive that Jemma Stelling is a ruthless, cold-blooded killer, and possibly the most ingenious one he's ever encountered...

Author Profile:         

Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling writer of crime fiction, published in forty-nine languages and fifty-one territories. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide. In 2014, with the blessing of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, Sophie published a new Poirot novel, The Monogram Murders, which was a bestseller in more than fifteen countries. She has since published two more Poirot novels, Closed Casket and The Mystery of Three Quarters, both of which were instant Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers.

In 2013, Sophie’s novel The Carrier won the Crime Thriller of the Year Award at the Specsavers National Book Awards.  She has also published two short story collections and five collections of poetry – the fifth of which, Pessimism for Beginners, was shortlisted for the T S Eliot Award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE, A Level and degree level across the UK. Most recently, she has published a self-help book called How to Hold a Grudge: From Resentment to Contentment – The Power of Grudges to Transform Your Life.

Sophie has recently helped to create a Master’s Degree in Crime and Thriller Writing at the University of Cambridge, for which she is the main teacher and Course Director. She is also the founder of the DREAM AUTHOR coaching programme for writers. She lives with her husband, children and dog in Cambridge, where she is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Sophie Hannah - Official Website  Twitter - Sophie Hannah  Facebook Profile 

Goodreads - Author Profile   Amazon Author Page.   Instagram Profile