Hello and happy Thursday. The weekend is almost in touching distance – hoorah! Today has a bitter/sweet feel to it as today also marks the last of my #R3COMM3ND3D2018 posts. But fear not, #R3COMM3ND3D in the form of #R3COMM3ND3D2019 will return on 1st November – yay! I am delighted to welcome a brilliant author, Nick Quantrill, to damppebbles today. Nick is the author of the Geraghty Novels which have recently been republished by Fahrenheit Press and I cannot wait to read these books! I’ll tell you a little more about them soon.

First, allow me to explain what #R3COMM3ND3D is all about. #R3COMM3ND3D is my end of the year feature where I invite book bloggers and authors to share three books they think the rest of us need to read. They can be any genre, published traditionally, by an indie press or self-published by the author. There’s always a catch though, otherwise, it would be far too easy! All three books must have been published in the same year. This is the last of my #R3COMM3ND3D posts for 2018. But watch out for #R3COMM3ND3D2019 starting on 1st November!

Here are Nick’s three choices…

November Road by Lou Berney
Who doesn’t love a conspiracy novel? ‘November Road’ touches on the most enduring of conspiracy theories, the assassination of John F Kennedy, but it’s much more than that. It’s part-noir, part road novel, part-love story. Frank Guidry, a man who’s lived a bad life is on the run, but what happens when he discovers he really wants a shot at redemption?

This Is How It Ends by Eva Dolan
With her finger always on the pulse, this is the best yet from a writer with an unflinching eye on the state of the UK. Focusing in on the gentrification of a London tower block, we meet the cynical and downtrodden, the hopeful and those who want a better future. But is everyone as they seem to be? It’s a book that grapples with big social issues, but never forgets its primary job is to be a thrilling read.

The Smiling Man by Joseph Knox
He’s young, he’s talented, he’s good looking – the list goes on, so I should hate Joseph Knox. But how can you hate someone who writes books like this? On the face of it, it’s a police procedural, but in reality it twists off into different territories. Aidan Waits is a troubled cop for our times, pounding the grim and dark streets of Manchester. Waits is practically a Private Investigator, ‘The Smiling Man’, a pitch-perfect noir novel.

Brilliant choices, thanks Nick. I have read and loved This Is How It Ends and I’m adding the other two to my wishlist!

If Nick has managed to tempt you, or if you would like to find out more about the books he recommends, please see the following links:

| November Road by Lou Berney | This Is How It Ends by Eva Dolan | The Smiling Man by Joseph Knox |

About The Geraghty Novels:

Book #1 Broken Dreams
A cracking authentic crime thriller.

Joe Geraghty is used to struggling from one case to the next, barely making the rent on his small office in the Old Town of Hull.

Invited by a local businessman to investigate a member of his staff’s absenteeism, it’s the kind of surveillance work that Geraghty and his small team have performed countless times.

The case soon becomes anything but routine when Jennifer Murdoch is found bleeding to death in her bed, Geraghty quickly finds himself trapped in the middle of a police investigation which stretches back to the days when the city had a thriving fishing industry.

As the woman’s tangled private life begins to unravel, the trail leads Geraghty to local gangster-turned-respectable businessman, Frank Salford, a man with a significant stake in the city’s regeneration plans. Still haunted by the death of his wife in a house fire, it seems the people with the answers Geraghty wants are the police and Salford, both of whom want his co-operation for their own ends.

With everything at stake, some would go to any length to get what they want, Geraghty included.

Broken Dreams is the first urban thriller from Hull based writer, Nick Quantrill, featuring private detective Joe Geraghty.

Book #2 The Late Greats
Hull’s most successful band of the 1990s is making a comeback…but not everyone is happy…”

Having been convinced by their manager, Kane Major, to put their acrimonious break-up behind them and launch a comeback, New Holland, Hull’s most successful band of the 1990s, is reforming. Allowing one privileged journalist to document the process.

Joe Geraghty is employed to act as a liaison between the different camps. What appears to be a straightforward assignment sees him neck deep in trouble when singer, Greg Tasker, disappears leaving behind a trail of people who wanted him out of their lives.

Geraghty has to choose sides and the investigation penetrates deeper into the city. As the rich and famous rub shoulders with the poor and vulnerable, the stakes increase. Forced to keep his friends close but his enemies’ closer still, the case could see Joe Geraghty lose everything.

Book #3 The Crooked Beat
When Joe Geraghty’s brother Niall finds himself in financial trouble, it’s only natural that he turns to the private investigator for help. But when it relates to a missing consignment of smuggled cigarettes, it’s not so easily sorted.

A consignment of smuggled cigarettes have gone missing and as Joe is drawn into the murky world of local and international criminals around the busy port of Hull, Geraghty knows the only way to save his brother is to take on the debt himself.

As Joe attempts to find a way out of the situation, it becomes clear that the secrets and conspiracies he uncovers are buried deeply in the past and that the people he’s investigating are willing to do whatever it takes to keep them that way.

As the pressure mounts we see Geraghty’s relationships with those closest to him start to unravel but Geraghty can’t let his family down and when the past crashes into the present Joe is in until the bitter end.

The Crooked Beat is the third urban thriller from Hull based writer, Nick Quantrill, featuring private detective Joe Geraghty.

| amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | Fahrenheit Press |

About Nick Quantrill:
Nick Quantrill was born and raised in Hull, an isolated industrial city in East Yorkshire. His trilogy of Private Investigator novels featuring Joe Geraghty are published by Fahrenheit Press and he’s hard at work on a fourth. A prolific short story writer, his work has appeared in various volumes of “The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime”. Nick is also the co-founder of the Hull Noir festival.

Nick’s Social Media Links:
| Website | Twitter @NickQuantrill | Facebook @NickQuantrillWriter |

If you’re a book blogger or author and you have three books published this year that you want to shout about then please complete the following form (or click this link: https://forms.gle/PE483qCyrKEgV5Uq6)