Blood on the Strand
Page 29
‘Come in and sit down here, dearie.’ Her voice was gruff and nicotine tinged. ‘I’ve been expecting you.’
Russell walked forward, pulled the stool out and sat, opposite her. ‘Miss Lee?’
She cackled. ‘You can call me Ivy Rose.’ Then reaching forward she demanded: ‘Show me your hands.’ Without thinking he held them out. She grasped them in her own gnarled hands, tipped with talon-like nails. Deftly flipping them over, she stared hard at the palms. ‘You’ve a very long lifeline, but…’ She bent forward, her face almost touching his palms, the fringes on her headscarf tickling his wrists. ‘But, there are some significant events.’ She looked up; her dark eyes seemed to burn as she stared at him. ‘Something happened in your recent past – something unexpected and painful. Am I right?’ The eyes bored into him.
‘Maybe…’ His answer was noncommittal but an icy trickle of sweat rolled down between his shoulder blades.
‘Thought so.’ She gave a smug smile, as if she’d scored a point. ‘This other line…’ She traced it with the stained nail of her index finger. ‘It suggests something momentous. Something that has just happened or is about to happen.’ Russell shrugged. She pushed his hands away. ‘Let’s see what the cards have to say.’ She reached for a small package wrapped in a velvet cloth. Reverently unfolding the fabric she revealed a deck of Tarot cards and pushed them towards him. ‘Shuffle them, please.’ He picked up the cards and did as she’d asked, then passed them back. Laying the cloth out flat she turned the first five cards over.
BLOOD ON THE TIDE
The first DI Sony Russell mystery
Chris O’Donoghue
When a gruesomely mutilated body trussed up in a distinctive fashion washes up on a lonely stretch of the south coast in the 1950s, DI Sonny Russell is soon struggling to unravel an intriguingly knotty puzzle. And as more bodies, similarly tortured, appear he begins to realise that, for some at least, the war is far from over.
A trail of intrigue leads him to Europe where he befriends a French detective and together they set out to track down the villains.
Blood on the Tide is a story of the sea and boats, murder and Nazis that begins in a sleepy coastal backwater and takes the reader through post-war France and Germany.
‘The writing is concise but vivid and authentic - clearly carefully researched. It would make a great film with its evocation of the sights and sounds, cars, boats and trains and way of life in the 1950s.’
‘The pace doesn’t falter at any point and the book is hard to put down.’
‘A post war murder mystery with a difference. I was swept along with the characters in this wonderfully, intelligently written book.’
‘Chris O’Donoghue expertly conjures up the atmosphere of Britain in the 1950s. He has a feel for place and an eye for the telling detail.’
‘I'm a big fan of Simenon and I'm sure anyone who is will enjoy this tale of the quirky DI Sonny Russell who is a vegetarian and lives in a railway carriage.’
‘Like the best books in this genre you will not want to put it down until all the loose ends are tied up.’
BLOOD ON THE SHRINE
The second DI Sonny Russell mystery
Chris O’Donoghue
Snowed in on a Buddhist retreat DI Sonny Russell isn’t peaceful for long. A monk is found dead in the shrine room and two men also staying at the centre quickly arouse his suspicions.
Meanwhile his sidekick, DC Johnny Weeks meets a small time crook who, thinking he is trustworthy, asks the policeman to participate in a daring train robbery.
The action begins in Russell’s sleepy corner of the South-East, travels to Eire and has its denouement in France, skilfully engineered by Russell’s wily old friend, Inspecteur Bruissement.
Blood on the Shrine is a story of Meditation and friendship, deception and intrigue, which tests DI Russell to his limits.
‘It grips the reader from the beginning. Not only does the author continue from his previous book, Blood on the Tide, but a new tale is intricately woven throughout with familiar characters including Sonny’s dog, Aggie.’
‘I really enjoyed this sequel to Blood on the Tide and especially loved the way that the new plot became interwoven with a continuation of Chris's last storyline.’
‘It’s a neatly-crafted work that carries on from Chris’s first novel and carries the reader at a brisk pace to a climax that leaves plenty to expand on in his next book, Blood on the Strand.’
‘A book that once you’ve started you will put off all other jobs to carry on reading. Can really picture all the characters and think it could make a really good TV series.’
‘A really cracking read, so full of atmosphere, ties up the loose ends from Blood on the Tide nicely, bring on book three.’
About the Author
Chris O'Donoghue trained in industrial ceramics at Bournemouth Art College and worked at Poole Pottery and Cranbrook Pottery in Kent before setting up on his own in Rye. He later specialised in model making and sculpture.
When much of the kind of work he did began to be made in the Far East, Chris, having always loved the outdoors, decided on a change of direction and started gardening. His design ability led him to create three medal-winning gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show.
A lifetime's passion for the sea, crime novels, the simple pleasures of the Fifties and railways - he is well known on the model railway scene - led him to combine all three in this, his third published book.
The first two DI Sonny Russell mysteries
BLOOD ON THE TIDE
&
BLOOD ON THE SHRINE
are available from Amazon
or direct from the Author
chrisodonoghue.blogspot.co.uk
www.chrisodonoghue.co.uk
The fourth DI Sonny Russell mystery
BLOOD ON THE CARDS
will be published soon