#BlogTour Last Orders by Bill Todd

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Last Orders by Bill Todd. It's a murder mystery solved Danny Lancaster style.

About the Author
Bill is a journalist and travel writer who has visited more than 40 countries from the white wastes of Arctic Finland to the ancient deserts of Namibia. He loves a good wilderness. He received the Ed Lacy travel award in 2007.

Bill has written six crime thrillers featuring soldier-turned-investigator Danny Lancaster and was startled and delighted to be voted one of the 100 best crime authors in the WH Smith readers’ poll in 2015. He’s also written three short factual military histories. He lives to write although keyboard time has been cut lately with the arrival of grandson Theo.

Follow @williamjtodd  and @DannyLancaster3 on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Instagram, on Amazon, DannyLancasterInvestigates on Facebook, Visit billtodd.co.uk

About the book
Big Eddie Archer is throwing a celebrity party for the reopening of The Bellerophon public house. When singer Paul Toopen, star of TV reality show Dreamboat, goes missing there is only one man the pub’s guv’nor can call on. But Danny Lancaster is off his game after overdoing Eddie’s free hospitality at last night’s dress rehearsal. Fans besiege the pub and the media are everywhere. This could be a public relations disaster but Eddie reckons if Danny can crack the case before closing time it will make the new Bellerophon famous. Danny’s head is pounding but Eddie’s star guests might just be trapped in a pub with a killer. And the clock is ticking down to last orders. #TheBigBellBash

Review
This is a novella length story, but Todd manages to deliver an entertaining read worthy of a novel. I kinda liked this one a lot more than the full-length ones though, perhaps because the focus is on less rather than on more. It's just Danny and his devil-may-care attitude and a few side characters, which is all the story needs.

The story is really quite simple. A minor celebrity goes missing at an event, during the event actually, and Danny is called in to solve the mystery of the disappearing guest. The author takes that scenario and turns it into so much more.

There was this moment during the story - the most poignant one in my opinion. It's a comical one, and I admit to laughing out loud at that moment. Then bang the author flips the switch and takes the reader straight into a flashback. The reader is right there with Danny as he relives the trauma and the horror of the situation he finds himself in once again.

The juxtaposition of the comedic moment and traumatic flashback is a stroke of genius. It actually gives the reader similar visceral reactions as they are reading. Laughter melds into uncertainty, then shock and finally the realisation of what is happening. Kudos to Todd for that particular part of the story.

It's a murder mystery solved Danny Lancaster style, as only he can solve them. It's snarky, funny and a jolly good read.

Buy Last Orders:Trapped in a pub with a killer (Danny Lancaster) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published in paperback and ebook formats by DLE-Fiction on 1st August 2019. Buy at Amazon com.

Read my reviews of Rock Hard and Rough Diamond by Bill Todd.

Buy Rough Diamond, Death Squad, The Wreck of the Margherita (free download), Gargoyle Pixie Dog, Godlefe's Cuckoo all by Bill Todd.

#BlogTour Rock Hard by Bill Todd

Today it's my turn on the Danny Lancaster BlogTour, this time with the book Rock Hard by Bill Todd. It's an action packed read full of suspense and a main character who is making a name for himself.

About the Author
Bill is a journalist and travel writer who has visited more than 40 countries from the white wastes of Arctic Finland to the ancient deserts of Namibia. He loves a good wilderness. He received the Ed Lacy travel award in 2007.

Bill has written six crime thrillers featuring soldier-turned-investigator Danny Lancaster and was startled and delighted to be voted one of the 100 best crime authors in the WH Smith readers’ poll in 2015. He’s also written three short factual military histories. He lives to write although keyboard time has been cut lately with the arrival of grandson Theo.

Follow @williamjtodd  and @DannyLancaster3 on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Instagram, on Amazon, DannyLancasterInvestigates on Facebook, Visit billtodd.co.uk
Buy Rock Hard

About the book
When Danny Lancaster gets a call from an old friend it looks like a chance to swap work and women worries in Brighton for a sunshine reunion.

Danny hasn’t seen Pogo since they fought together in Afghanistan. They have war stories to retell, beers to drink. But Pogo is broke, sick and in serious trouble. It started in Gibraltar smuggling cigarettes to pay his debts. Now his Russian boss has taken on a dangerous job for a mysterious businessman. A priceless package must be smuggled into Europe across the narrow straits from Africa.But unseen eyes are watching. Lives are in danger. A game of Russian roulette is just the start of a deadly clash where two continents meet.

The two friends are way out of their depth. And Danny must make a decision.
How far do you go to help the man who saved your life?

Review
This is the fourth book in the Danny Lancaster series, and although there are threads that reappear in the books they can all be read as standalone novels.

In this book Lancaster accidentally falls into a deep well of danger, when he visits an old army pal and gets completely blathered on a night out. Their liquid adventure is the beginning of domino stones falling across the world, all of them somehow connected to our military vet come detective.

It's a brutal and vicious read. It's also uncomfortable at times. Todd knows how to present fiction on a plate and serve it with a portion of brusque reality.

I think it is fair to say that Todd has a very specific style when it comes to plotting. Imagine drawing a spider web from the outside towards the inside instead of the other way round. Direct lines lead towards the centre and the interlinking threads are the various storylines and subplots in the story. Danny Lancaster is threaded through the web like the unwitting fly being drawn into whatever trouble awaits him.

Todd isn't satisfied with any old scenario. His stories are ambitious and action-packed. It's interesting how Lancaster often falls into the midst of everything almost by accident. He isn't looking for trouble it just seems to come looking for him.

Lancaster doesn't mind, perhaps part of him believes he has to excel at taking down the bad guys and saving his friends and himself to prove he is still the man he was before his injury. The truth is he isn't and never will be. He is defined by his experiences and a more driven man because of it.

It's an action packed read full of suspense and a main character who is making a name for himself.

Buy Rock Hard at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com.

Buy Rough Diamond, Death Squad, The Wreck of the Margherita (free download), Gargoyle Pixie Dog, Godlefe's Cuckoo all by Bill Todd.

Read my review of Rough Diamond by Bill Todd.

#BlogTour Rough Diamond by Bill Todd

Today it's my turn on the Danny Lancaster BlogTour with Rough Diamond by Bill Todd. It's a suspense thriller with the vibe of an adventure read.

About the Author
Bill is a journalist and travel writer who has visited more than 40 countries from the white wastes of Arctic Finland to the ancient deserts of Namibia. He loves a good wilderness. He received the Ed Lacy travel award in 2007.

Bill has written six crime thrillers featuring soldier-turned-investigator Danny Lancaster and was startled and delighted to be voted one of the 100 best crime authors in the WH Smith readers’ poll in 2015. He’s also written three short factual military histories. He lives to write although keyboard time has been cut lately with the arrival of grandson Theo.

Follow @williamjtodd  and @DannyLancaster3 on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Instagram, on Amazon, DannyLancasterInvestigates on Facebook, Visit billtodd.co.uk
Buy Rough Diamond

About the book
Marion Carter wants her husband back. He won the Lottery, then vanished. Jessie Shafto, a young girl far from home, is looking for her lost love.

For Danny Lancaster, wounded Afghanistan veteran turned private investigator, it’s two easy missing person jobs, and the money’s good. But it’s never that simple.

Two people have travelled halfway across the world in the hunt for the Demon’s Eye and the secret of Kaapse Kobra.

They weave a dangerous web of blood ties and revenge in the search for their own kind of justice.

Tangled in a maze of scandal, troubled celebrities, designer drugs and violent death, Danny finds out the hard way that there really is no honour among thieves.
Diamonds are not always a girl’s best friend.

Review
What I liked about Danny Lancaster is his attempt to be truthful - to the point of abrupt. Sorry no can do and reason why. There is no dithering or dathering. It's what makes him stand out from the crowd, well aside from being a war veteran with a physical injury, which he doesn't allow to slow him down.

I wasn't keen on the boys locker room dialogue and descriptions. Not my cup of tea, however I am sure there are plenty who will enjoy it.

The book begins with a graphic death and a diamond that appears to be lost to all. Then we meet Danny as he is hired to find two missing persons.

Todd brings the different threads together in an exciting plot that goes much further than Danny playing catch me if you can with local coppers. The question is whether he has cut off more than he can chew or is it all just in a days work for him?

It's a suspense thriller with the vibe of an adventure read. It's rambunctious and bawdy with a devil may care attitude. The war veteran turned detective doesn't let anything get in his way when it comes to getting results.

Todd defines a path for his character, a narrative that doesn't start with hero and end with homelessness and/or suicide. A way forward after the trauma of war. An important message comes with the main character of his Danny Lancaster series - there is no stopping this man.

Buy Rough Diamond at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com.

Buy Rock Hard, Death Squad, The Wreck of the Margherita (free download), Gargoyle Pixie Dog, Godlefe's Cuckoo all by Bill Todd.