Good afternoon bookworm, do come in. As promised on your last visit, I’d like to tell you all about the next instalment in the Sam Applewhite series by Heide Goody and Iain Grant: Doggerland.

Firstly, here’s the blurb:

There’s something wrong at the Otterside Care Home.

When Sam Applewhite tries to help a friend who’s lost a beloved pet, she finds it’s the first in a series of seemingly unconnected deaths. Is it her imagination, or do all of them somehow point back to the same residential home seniors?

Sam’s skills are in demand elsewhere however, as she must orchestrate a safety drill with animal actors, cook dinner on an abandoned oil rig and keep an eye on those vikings who are building a longship.

When the police don’t see the pattern, it’s all down to Sam, and the closer she gets to uncovering what’s going on at Otterside, the more danger she’s in.

And here’s my review: I loved the second offering in Goody and Grant’s Sam Applewhite series as much as I loved the first. I was pleased to see the Odinsons taking centre stage as their antics had me laughing out loud (there’s a particular scene involving a naked dance which is emblazoned in my mind!).

Sam is back, as busy with work and caught up in DefCon4’s red tape as ever, her assignments even whackier, including her millionaire ex-boyfriend Rich’s outlandish requests. I love how the authors seamlessly knit the lives of the characters together in some way, with a few red herrings thrown in for good measure.

The residents of Otterside Care Home are not as docile as they first appear and the reader is enticed into the reality of their retirement world.

The characterisation is witty and vivid, the plot perfectly crafted and these books genuinely make me smile. It’s another five stars from me and I’m looking forward to reviewing the next book,

If you like the sound of this, just click on the book image above to go to the relevant page on Amazon. I don’t get anything for providing the link, I’m just being a helpful bookworm. Thanks so much to the authors, publisher and Rachel’s Random Resources for the gifted digital copy of Doggerland in return for my honest opinion.

And now I must go – I can’t wait to find out what happens in Sandraker, which I’ll be reviewing on 7th July. Farewell, bookworm!