#BlogTour ~ Murder at the Manor House by Katie Gayle @Katie GayleBooks @Bookouture @KatieGayleBookTour

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Murder at the Manor House by Katie Gayle.

Murder at the Manor House was published on 22nd September 2006 by Bookouture.

 

Julia Bird is as keen as anyone in Berrywick to see inside the famous Greystone Manor. But when she does, the last thing she expects to find is a body!

When Julia Bird is asked to clear out the gatehouse at Greystone Manor after the sudden death of Colonel Loxton’s sister, she is intrigued to finally see inside the impressive house. But when she discovers the body of the Colonel, who greeted her only hours before, dead behind the sofa with a bruise on his forehead, Julia believes his death is no accident.

Once forensics confirm it was murder, Julia tries to piece together what happened. On the day the Colonel died, she saw an unknown man getting into a car outside the manor. The butler Garforth and the housekeeper Biddy claim there were no visitors that day, so who was this mysterious man? Or is someone in the Colonel’s family not telling the truth, with tensions running high over the inheritance?

Days later, Julia finds another body dead among the rhododendrons and knows the deaths must be connected. At the Colonel’s funeral she heard his friends talking about a long-buried secret. Had the second victim discovered it, and is it motive enough to kill? With time running out, can Julia solve the case before there’s another murder at the manor?

 

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*AD PR PRODUCT: I have received a copy of this book for free and am receiving no payment*

A big thank you to Sarah Hardy and the publisher for issuing me with my review copy of the book and for inviting me to take part on the tour!

Murder at the Manor House is another solid addition to an already wonderful series by one of my favourite sets of authors, Kate and Gail. As soon as you start reading you are right at home in the Cotswolds, surrounded by familiar characters and places. Greystone Manor, owned by Colonel Loxton, is somewhere that hasn’t been mentioned so it was nice to see Julia and Jess her daughter venture a bit further out of the village to clear out the Gatehouse at the Manor following the death of Colonel Loxton’s sister.

As what is now usual for Julia, it isn’t too long before she stumbles upon a body – The Colonel himself! Despite his advancing years, it is clear to Julia that someone has murdered Colonel Loxton and Julia despite her slight reluctance finds herself helping DI Hayley Gibson with the investigation.

Murder at the Manor House was a great murder mystery that kept me guessing. Every time I thought I had an idea or had uncovered a clue, the more questions I had! The family dynamics play a big part in this story which in turn give you no end of suspects. Was the Colonel murdered for more than financial gain? The final reveal had me completely stumped

Despite this now being the tenth instalment in the series, the authors still make it seem fresh with the added addition of new characters and situations that never fail to make me chuckle – there seems to be an obsession with tomatoes in this book which was hilarious and kept the tone light despite a couple of murders! Jake, the naughty dog is still besotted with Henny Penny – a friendship and mutual understanding is still possible between a dog and a hen!

I can absolutely recommend this cosy whodunnit.

 

To follow the tour….. #KatieGayleBookTour

About the Authors

Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre.

Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats.

Unlike their sleuth Epiphany Bloom, neither of them have ever stolen a cat from the vet.

 

#BlogTour – The Twilight Garden by Emma Davies #EmmaDaviesBookTour @Bookouture

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Twilight Garden by Emma Davies.

The Twilight Garden was published on 3rd September 2026 by Bookouture.

A secret garden. A moonlit reunion. And a chance to start again…?

Perched on a hilltop in the Cornish countryside, with the sea sparkling in the distance, lies a garden, once forgotten but recently rediscovered. As the sun sets over its gently crumbling walls every evening, two figures appear and quietly tend the soil at dusk. This is a place that heals the soul.

Gemma is here to find the version of herself she lost long ago. What she hasn’t expected to find is someone who understands her heartbreak all too well.

Leo is also trying to rebuild his life. He knows how to fix things around him with nails and a hammer. But if he tries to mend Gemma’s heart as he mends the garden, could he heal himself too?

Working side by side to uncover long-forgotten flowers in the garden, Gemma wonders if she’s planting the seeds for a whole new future for herself too.

But then one evening, it’s clear somebody else has been to the garden. Someone intending to destroy what they’re creating. Someone who needs to be stopped….

Can Gemma and Leo save the tumbledown, magical place that has saved them? Or will they lose the twilight garden forever?

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*AD PR PRODUCT: I have received a copy of this book for free and am receiving no payment*

A big thank you to Noelle and the publisher for issuing me with my review copy of the book and for inviting me to take part on the tour!

The Twilight Garden is a lovely, slow burn of a book that what was I needed to read after what feels like a lot of murder from my reading list! We follow Gemma who is feeling lost in her life following the death of her beloved mum. Having given up her job to help care for her, she feels adrift and unsure about what her life entails. She is still grieving but looking at starting a new role which will hopefully give her the focus in her life that has been missing.

When things go awry, Gemma feels once again lost. A chance moment at the doctor’s surgery and a job advertisement in the pages of a magazine make her think about her life. The help on a farm in Cornwall doesn’t scream lots of money but it calls to her all the same and despite the impracticality of it all, she decides to travel to see the farm and see if she can imagine herself there. The farm and buildings are definitely a work in progress but the vision and positive outlook from the young owners Willow and Rowan, persuade her this is just what she needs to rediscover herself and find the joy in life again.

Despite reservations from her best friend, Gemma is at peace with the quietness and relative slower pace of life at the farm. Things take a big turn however when she discovers a person from her past is also helping at the farm and once again her life upside down!

The Twilight Garden was a lovely cosy read for me and I loved hearing about life on a farm (even if it slightly dilapidated!) in Cornwall, one of my favourite places. It isn’t all sunshine and beaches though, the weather as we learn can be quite unforgiving but as we know, life on a farm doesn’t stop if there happens to be a downpour! When Gemma discovers a rundown garden on the grounds of the farm (following twisting her ankle – ouch!) she begins to see light at the end of the tunnel and it determined to restore it, along with a bit of herself along the way. The peaceful evenings become a sanctuary for her as she works tirelessly to bring this part of the farm back to life.

The story moves at a lovely pace, not rushing along which is exactly the pace that Gemma needs to move herself and I loved hearing her thoughts and reading her discover her own peace and haven in her magical garden.

A lovely story from Emma Davies that I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

 

About the Author

Emma once worked for a design studio where she was asked to provide a fun, humorous, and not necessarily true anecdote about herself for their website. She wrote the following: ‘I am a bestselling novelist currently masquerading as a thirty something mother of three.’ Well the job didn’t work out but she’s now a forty something mother of three and happy to report the rest of her dream came true.

She now lives in rural Shropshire where she writes full time from a shed in the garden.

#BlogTour ~ A Farmhouse in France by Rachael Lucas @RachaelLucas @RandomTTours #AFarmhouseInFrance

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for A Farmhouse in France by Rachael Lucas.

A Farmhouse in France was published on 3rd August 2026.

 

 

When Daisy Lewis inherits a crumbling farmhouse in rural France from the father who never knew she existed, she expects nothing more than paperwork and problems. What she finds instead is an overgrown orchard, a village full of people who knew her father better than she did, and Patrick – an infuriatingly handsome neighbouring farmer, who definitely doesn’t speak English… until he does.

Daisy’s life has been swallowed up with trying to keep her Yorkshire pub afloat. France was supposed to be a detour – one quick summer trip to sort out the details, sell up, and leave.

But life has a way of happening when you’re busy making other plans…

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*AD PR PRODUCT: I have received a copy of this book for free and am receiving no payment*

A big thank you to Anne Cater and the publisher for issuing me with my review copy of the book and for inviting me to take part on the tour!

A Farmhouse in France was a lovely cosy, feel good book that was actually a welcome tonic from all the crime books I have been reading recently!

We follow Daisy Lewis, who works in her partner’s pub and is just going through the motions. When a letter arrives in the post for her from France, little does she know the changes that it will bring to her life. She learns that her father has recently died and left her money and a cottage in the French countryside. Having not known anything about her father, apart from the fact that he apparently abandoned her before she was born, she is reluctant but eventually decides to drive to France with her dog, sister and niece in tow!

When they arrive they find a neat and tidy cottage alongside an overgrown orchard and a warm inviting village full of all varieties of people including her handsome neighbour Patrick, most of whom knew her father Georges and his love of feeding stray cats that frequented his land! The more she learns about her father and the secrets that her mum kept from her, the more she warms and embraces the French part of her life and even meets her French family who welcome her with open arms.

When an emergency occurs back in England, Daisy returns and soon comes to realise that maybe the French countryside is where she is meant to be.

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The beautiful French countryside and way of life is wonderful – the 2 hour lunch break where everything closes sounds absolutely perfect to me. The more and more time Daisy spends in France so you can sense her blossoming and finally finding a place that she belongs. She rediscovers her joy of painting that she just never had time to do in England. Staying in the farmhouse also brings a sense of closeness to her father and seeing his things still scattered about the house, helps her to learn more about the man that she never knew.

As this is a trilogy, I’m really looking forward to being reunited with the wonderful village people and learning more about them.

 

 

To follow the rest of the tour…

About the Author

Rachael Lucas is the author of heartwarming, feel-good women’s fiction set in small towns full of characters who feel like friends. She writes about friendship, family, and women in later life discovering happiness. She has written 20 novels for adults and teenagers, including the Carnegie nominated THE STATE OF GRACE, top ten bestseller SEALED WITH A KISS and the internationally bestselling APPLEMORE series.

Social Media Links – Instagram.com/rachaellucas

Facebook.com/rachaellucaswriter