Tell me about the person behind the blog?
I’m Claire and I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. I’m a mum of two and I live just outside Leeds. I work in the very exciting(!) world of pensions and reading is my escape.
When did you start blogging and why?
I originally started reviewing just on Amazon and Goodreads back in 2013 when Mark Edwards asked me to post a short review for The Magpies (which I loved). Then in early 2015, I met the amazing Noelle Holten and she was about to set up Crimebookjunkie and she invited me to be her guest reviewer. I started November 2015 and haven’t looked back. I spent just over two years reviewing a mixture of my own choices, review requests and blog tours. I always knew I wanted my own blog but with working four days a week and a young family to look after, I stayed with Noelle doing all the hard blog stuff! But then my youngest started at nursery in January and I knew it was time. I flew the CBJ nest and launched A Knight’s Reads on 1 February this year.
What are your proudest moments or achievements to date as a blogger?
Being featured on your Behind the Blogger of course 😉
One of the proudest moments was being told I’d had part of my review for “How To Be Brave” by the luscious Louise Beech printed in her follow up “A Mountain In My Shoe”.
Also when Ragnar Johansson shared my review of Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, I had the biggest grin on my face!
And I can’t not mention the fabulous authors, Mel Comley, Tara Lyons and Graham Smith who have all featured me as a character in their books.
If you had to breakdown the components of your ideal perfect book what would they be?
When it comes to the psychological thrillers I love an unreliable narrator and twists that I don’t see coming. For the crime thrillers, I love the thrill of the chase and trying to work out whodunnit before its revealed!
What is your favourite genre to read?
I adore crime fiction, whether it’s police procedurals, psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, golden age crime. I’ve dabbled in scandinoir, cozy crime and spy thrillers! My translated crime fiction reading has even stretched to France, Italy and Japan!
What 3 books would you recommend and why?
Only 3??! It’s hard to narrow it down to just three so I’ll go for three I’ve read this year, which even then is tough!
Past Echoes by Graham Smith – this is the third Jake Boulder and picks up where The Kindred Killers left off and we see a darker side to Jake but you have to read TKK before venturing into Past Echoes
The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton – this amazing debut is a perfectly crafted psychological thriller about a woman’s obsession for the man she wants and will do anything to get him
The Babysitter by Sheryl Browne – Sheryl really knows how to craft a psychopath to perfection.
Finally, tell me more about your blog and why we should subscribe?
I don’t blow my own trumpet very well but A Knight’s Reads is still in its infancy so if you subscribe now, you’ll be in at the beginning and see how things will change. I’ll be sharing my reviews on crime fiction new and old, maybe the odd extract and author interview. I’ll also tell you about any of the bookish events I go to!
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