Publishing Deal - Sarah Ward

News has been released today of the next book(s) from Euro Crime favourite, Sarah Ward. She is changing tack to historical crime fiction, and so the new book will be under the pseudonym of Rhiannon Ward.

Here are some of the details (from The Bookseller):

Trapeze has acquired historical mystery The Quickening by Sarah Ward, writing under a pseudonym, in a two-book deal.

[] Written by crime writer Ward under the pen-name Rhiannon Ward, the first book will be published by Trapeze in hardback, e-book and audio in February 2020.

The novel’s protagonist is Louisa Drew, based on the celebrated Christina Broom, a pioneer of women’s press photography in the Edwardian era.

Its synopsis states: “Louisa Drew lost her husband in the First World War and her six-year-old twin sons in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. Newly re-married to a war-traumatised husband and seven months pregnant, Louisa is asked by her employer to travel to Clewer Hall in Sussex where she is to photograph the contents of the house for auction.

“She learns Clewer Hall was host to an infamous séance in 1896, and that the lady of the house has asked those who gathered almost thirty years ago to come together once more to recreate the evening. When a mysterious child appears on the grounds, she finds herself compelled to investigate and becomes embroiled in the strange happenings of the house. Gradually, she unravels the long-held secrets of the inhabitants and what really happened thirty years before… and discovers her own fate is entwined with Clewer Hall’s.”

Blog Tour: Review of The Shrouded Path by Sarah Ward

I'm very pleased to have been invited onto the blog tour for Sarah Ward's latest book, The Shrouded Path. I've reviewed the previous three: In Bitter Chill,  A Deadly Thaw and A Patient Fury.

The Shrouded Path by Sarah Ward (September 2018, Faber & Faber, ISBN: 0571332412)

THE SHROUDED PATH opens with a chilling premise. Six schoolgirls enter a railway tunnel but only five emerge. This event is witnessed by a younger girl and it haunts her for a lifetime.

Sixty years later, DC Connie Childs is looking into the unexpected death of a woman in her seventies. Her boss DI Sadler is on leave and whilst out walking in the nearby Peaks he meets a woman called Mina whose mother, also in her seventies, is currently dying in hospital of cancer.

Mina's mother has been agitated of late. She says she's seen “Valerie” but that she can't of as she killed her. Mina, understandably shocked by this revelation, promises to find Valerie and makes sure that she's well.

Sadler is called back to work when there is a suspicious death at the hospital and Mina sets off to find out about Valerie armed with an old photograph of five girls, her mother's school-friends.

Connie and Sadler's investigations draw closer over the book as they unearth a decades-old wrongdoing which is still reverberating in the present day. Tragedy ensues for innocent and guilty alike and the Bampton police team will be deeply affected.

From its atmospheric cover to the final page, THE SHROUDED PATH hooks the reader in and keeps them there. It sounds a deceptively simple premise however things are not what they seem and it is a knotted tale indeed. As with earlier books the narrative is told both by the professionals: Connie and Sadler, but also by a civilian, in this case Mina, a professional gardener with the excellent logo of 'The Land Girl'.

This is the fourth book in the quartet and it ends satisfactorily for the detectives we've enjoyed reading about but I do hope that they will return.

Karen Meek, September 2018. 

Blog Tour: Review of A Patient Fury by Sarah Ward

I'm very chuffed to be on the blog tour for Sarah's third book, A Patient Fury. I've reviewed the previous two: In Bitter Chill and A Deadly Thaw and A Patient Fury doesn't disappoint.

A Patient Fury by Sarah Ward (September 2017, Faber & Faber, ISBN: 0571332323)

A PATIENT FURY is the third book in Sarah Ward's Derbyshire series, following on from IN BITTER CHILL and A DEADLY THAW. The series which began with a trio of detectives, Sadler, Palmer and Childs is increasingly marketed as the DC Connie Childs series and as befits that, it's Connie who puts the most into the case(s) and risks the most, in this new book.

A PATIENT FURY opens with slaying of a father and small son in their home. It quickly moves on to the police being called out to a house fire – three suspected casualties: mum, dad and son.

The fire investigator concludes that the fire which killed dad, Peter and son, Charlie was set by the mum, Francesca, before she hung herself. Connie is unhappy with this conclusion and challenges Sadler – when do mothers kill their children?

The next of kin are two adult children from Peter's first marriage, Julia and George. Connie finds out from Julia that this is not the first parent she's lost under mysterious circumstances. It's Connie's investigation into this cold case which leads to her career being on the line. Connie, however, gets help from an unexpected source as she digs deeper into the past and current tragedies.

As with the earlier books the narrative is mainly split between the police officers and a sympathetic female civilian, in this case Julia, with the cliff-hanger chapters switching briskly between them keeping the pace up; even more so in the second half of the book.

Each book in the series has been more ambitious than the last with A PATIENT FURY having a larger cast of secondary characters which fortunately are easy to keep straight and adds to the (fictional) town of Bampton feeling like a real community.

The mystery of who did what to whom is kept from the reader until the very last page, in what I'd call a typical Karin Fossum ending, you are left satisfied and yet wanting more. I always enjoy my time in Bampton and I can't wait to find out what happens next with our Bampton police squad.

Karen Meek, September 2017.

Blog Tour: Review of A Deadly Thaw by Sarah Ward

Just under a year ago, I reviewed Sarah Ward's debut, In Bitter Chill, for its blog tour and I was very pleased to be invited back to review book two, A Deadly Thaw.

A Deadly Thaw by Sarah Ward (30 August (ebook)/1 September (Hardback) 2016, Faber & Faber, ISBN: 057132102X)

I work in a public library which is really strapped for cash so I have been making the (too) few copies we have of IN BITTER CHILL, work as hard as I can. I was rewarded with one of my regular customers responding to my enquiry as to did he like it, by him replying...”It was bloody brilliant!”.

I too really liked IN BITTER CHILL and have been eagerly awaiting the sequel, A DEADLY THAW, also set in Derbyshire's Bampton.

The three detectives from IN BITTER CHILL, DI Sadler and his team DS Palmer and DC Childs (Connie) return and are confronted by a conundrum. Local man, Sadler identifies the newly dead body found in a disused and isolated morgue building as a contemporary of his, Andrew Fisher, however, Andrew's wife Lena has recently completed a long prison sentence for the murder of her husband.... So who was the man she killed, where has Andrew been hiding and why has he been killed now?

As Sadler wasn't very involved in the initial investigation in 2004, his team are tasked with finding out the answers to these questions. The obvious thing is to ask Lena about the dead man found in her bed. She is reluctant to answer and things get more difficult when she disappears. Her sister, Kat, believes it's a voluntary absence but is perplexed when Lena apparently sends her clues via a teenage boy. Whilst the police carry out their investigation, Kat, a therapist, gets help from one of her clients, and tries to find Lena herself.

With chapters left on cliff-hangers, alternating points of view and occasional time shifts, you can't help but race through A DEADLY THAW to get to the bottom of all the mysteries. As well as the crime elements there are developments in the relationships between the team members and already these characters are well established and real and you want to know what's happening to them outside of work. A DEADLY THAW is a darker book than the first, has an even more complicated plot, and looks at policing in the past compared to the more empathetic experience we (particularly women) would hope to get today when reporting a crime.

Roll on the next in the series, A PATIENT FURY...

Karen Meek, August 2016
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Yesterday's stop on the blog tour was at Crime Watch and tomorrow's is at Liz Loves Books.

Heads Up: A Deadly Thaw blog tour

I'm currently reading Sarah Ward's second book, A Deadly Thaw, in preparation for the upcoming blog tour. You may remember how much I enjoyed In Bitter Chill and I can report that book two is every bit as full of well-rounded characters and contains an even more puzzling mystery.

Publishing Deal - Sarah Ward

So chuffed to hear that Faber have picked up Sarah Ward's third and fourth books! From the press release received today:

Faber has acquired Sarah Ward's new novel A Patient Fury which is a gripping psychological thriller with a Scandinavian sensibility, set in the Peak District. A Patient Fury will tell the story of a deadly house fire that reveals deeply hidden family secrets and long-held resentments that have devastating consequences.

World all languages for A Patient Fury, plus one further novel, were acquired from Kirsty McLachlan at David Godwin Associates.

Ward’s debut novel, In Bitter Chill, was widely acclaimed and Faber is publishing the sequel, A Deadly Thaw, in September. Mitzi Angel, publisher at Faber & Faber, said: ‘There is a tidal wave of enthusiasm for Sarah’s writing from the entire team at Faber. She has a very exciting career ahead of her and we are delighted to be publishing two further books—she represents a very important part of the list.’

Ward has reviewed for the Los Angeles Review of Books, crimesquad.com and Eurocrime. Her articles have appeared in the Sunday Express magazine, Traveller and other publications. She is a judge for The Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel.

New Reviews: Broadfoot, Goddard, Lovesey, Neville, Perry, Redondo, Russell, Ward, Williams

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, five have appeared on the blog since last time, and four are completely new.

You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Amanda Gillies reviews Neil Broadfoot's The Storm, the sequel to the acclaimed Falling Fast;


Geoff Jones reviews the final part of the World Wide trilogy by Robert Goddard, The Ends of the Earth;

Terry Halligan reviews Peter Lovesey's Down Among the Dead Men, the fifteenth in the Peter Diamond series [and if anyone knows the title of the book he refers to in his review, do drop me a line/comment on the blog and I'll pass it on];

Lynn Harvey reviews Stuart Neville's Those We Left Behind in which DCI Serena Flanagan from The Final Silence, is promoted to main protagonist;

Michelle Peckham reviews Karen Perry's Only We Know, their (two authors co-writing) second psychological drama;


Laura Root reviews the CWA International Dagger short-listed The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo tr. Isabelle Kaufeler;

After a four year absence, Jan Fabel is back in Craig Russell's The Ghosts of Altona, reviewed here by Ewa Sherman;


I review Sarah Ward's debut In Bitter Chill set in a chilly Derbyshire town

and Terry also reviews The Suicide Club by Andrew Williams, set during the First World War.


Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, along with releases by year.

Blog Tour: Review of In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward

I'm very pleased to be included in the Blog Tour for Sarah Ward's debut, IN BITTER CHILL. Regular readers will know that I've known Sarah for a few years and we are part of the Petrona Award team and it has been fascinating to follow Sarah's journey from unpublished to published writer, an arc  which culminated in last week's launch on the hottest day of the year.

I don't feel my review does this excellent and atmospheric book justice but I do urge you to grab a copy for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward (July 2015, Faber & Faber, ISBN: 0571320988)

IN BITTER CHILL is Sarah Ward's debut novel, set in the fictional Derbyshire town of Bampton. In January 1978, two eight-year-old girls are kidnapped on their way to school. One of the girls, Rachel, survives but her friend Sophie is never found.

In the present day, Sophie's mother commits suicide on the anniversary of her daughter's disappearance. Her actions precipitate a reinvestigation into the original case: a young constable at the time is now the Superintendent and he gives DI Francis Sadler's team permission to investigate until a more urgent case turns up.

Sadler's team includes fellow local, DC Connie Childs and incomer, DS Damien Palmer who is about to get married – in the very same hotel in which Sophie's mum committed suicide.

The reinvestigation of the kidnapping must needs begin with interviewing Rachel again. Rachel who has little to no memories of what happened to her.

The modern investigation is interspersed with short chapters from Rachel's 1978's experience as well as longer chapters about her current life, her job as a genealogist and her new attempts to find out what happened to her all those years ago.

I absolutely loved IN BITTER CHILL. Within a few pages I felt comfortable and knew I was in for a five star read. I particularly like this kind of countryside noir where you get a strong sense of place and also get to know many of its inhabitants - such as you also get with Martin Edwards' Lake District mysteries or Aline Templeton's 'Big Marge' Galloway series – and was unable to put it down.

I'm very pleased to hear that the police characters will return in a second book, out next year. Sarah Ward gives you enough information to make you like them and be interested in them whilst leaving plenty of mystery to their back stories, especially the lead police officer DI Francis Sadler.

With my library hat on, I noted the absence of graphic violence and bad language so I know from experience that IN BITTER CHILL will go down well at my library!

Karen Meek, July 2015
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The previous stop on the Tour was at Novel Heights and the next stop on the Tour, is at Orenda Books.

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2014 - Sarah

In today's instalment of the Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2014, Sarah Ward reveals her favourite Euro Crime titles:

Sarah Ward's favourite reads of 2014

Thomas Mogford - Hollow Mountain
I’ve come to this series in the third book and I’d love to go back and read the earlier ones. Mogford is an excellent writer. The books are thrillers set in Gibraltar with a hard edge and excellent characterisation. The place comes alive in Mogford’s hands and I wish I’d discovered this author sooner.

Hans Olav Lahlum - The Human Flies tr. Kari Dickson
Delightfully retro and with a tightly contained plot, Lahlum’s book was the star translation for me this year. Another writer that I can’t wait to read again.

K T Medina - White Crocodile
A debut novel set partly in Cambodia. The writing is excellent and a sense of menace dominates the narrative set amongst landmine clearance. I can’t wait to see what comes next from this talented writer.

Andrew Williams - The Suicide Club
As soon as I got the book, I wanted to read it which is a mark of the quality of Williams’s writing.

Sarah Hilary - Someone Else's Skin
This is a debut novel for Sarah Hilary and the first in a series featuring Marnie Rome. She has managed to give us something new with her detective inspector. Marnie has her own secrets which she partially gives up towards the end of the novel. I suspect there are more to come.

Publishing Deal: Sarah Ward

I'm very pleased to repeat the news that Sarah Ward has a publishing deal with Faber. Sarah is a friend of mine and many crime fiction fans, a Petrona Award judge and owner of the blog Crimepieces. She revealed the news of her publishing deal at CrimeFest and the the official news is now out.

I'm so looking forward to reading In Bitter Chill:

Faber and Faber have acquired two novels from debut UK author Sarah Ward.

Crime Editor Katherine Armstrong bought World rights from Kirsty McLachlan at David Godwin Associates for IN BITTER CHILL and an as yet unnamed second book.

Armstrong said: ‘I am thrilled to be publishing Sarah Ward’s IN BITTER CHILL. This is a compelling debut from a new and exciting voice and it struck a chord with me from the moment I started reading. Two girls are abducted in Derbyshire in the late 1970s and only one returns home. Cut to the present day and the mother of the still missing girl commits suicide, re-opening old wounds for the girl who came back. This is a story that gets to the heart of a community and the legacy of a tragedy like this. It’s a story about loss and secrets – those we tell ourselves and those we tell each other.’

Ward, a well-known online book reviewer and blogger on Crimepieces, said: ‘I’m delighted that Faber will be publishing my debut novel. I’m impressed by their commitment to producing quality fiction and am a huge admirer of Faber’s existing crime authors. I’m looking forward to working with all the team.’

Faber will publish IN BITTER CHILL into trade paperback and eBook formats in summer 2015.

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2013 - Sarah

In today's instalment of the Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2013, Sarah Ward (also a Petrona Award judge) discloses her favourite Euro Crime and/or translated titles:

Sarah Ward's favourite reads of 2013

Leif G W Persson - He Who Kills the Dragon tr. Neil Smith
Jan Costin Wagner - Light in a Dark House tr. Anthea Bell
Jorn Lier Horst - Closed for Winter tr. Anne Bruce
Fred Vargas - The Ghost Riders of Ordebec tr. Sian Reynolds
Hakan Nesser - The Strangler's Honeymoon tr. Laurie Thompson