Sing Like A Canary: Novel Review
Hello, hello dearest reader!
I have a lot of projects lined up this summer and I am excited to buckle down and focus a lot more on challenging myself in my artistic pursuits. One big thing was that I was asked to create a portfolio of art for a short fiction collection — my biggest art commission to date!
I’m going to be really busy this summer but I am also excited to see how it all goes.
And, if you haven’t checked it out yet, you should grab a copy of my debut collection What Remains When The Stars Burn Out! It’ll give you a needed chill as the weather heats up, I can promise you that!
Now onto the review! This is another Blackthorn Book Tours review, so I did receive a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. And as always, I’ve kept this review spoiler-free for your convenience, dearest reader, don’t go beyond the spoiler-line if you haven’t read it yet!
The Author
Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning novelist whose prolific works include mysteries, psychological thrillers, and horror. Holding a PhD in Western Esotericism from the University of Western Sydney, Blackthorn has also written non-fiction and wrote the world’s only biography of Theosophist and mother of the New Age movement Alice Bailey – Alice A. Bailey: Life & Legacy. Just take a look at her long list of achievements:
The Cabin Sessions was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award 2018 and the Ditmar Awards 2018. Isobel’s biographical short story ‘Nothing to Declare’ was shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prose Prize 2019. The Legacy of Old Gran Parks is the winner of the Raven Awards 2019. A Prison in the Sun was awarded Finalist in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards LGBTQ category 2020. And The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey won the Honorable Mention award in the Realistic Fiction category of the 2021 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards. — Blackthorn’s website
The Book
Retired police officer Marjorie Pierce is on her way to Lanzarote to track down her old informer, Billy McKenzie. Billy ended Marjorie’s career, and she needs an explanation; an apology.
Present and past soon collide when gangsters Eric and Mick Maloney turn up on the island with revenge in their veins, and Marjorie has to race against the clock to get to Billy before the brothers.
But who is complicit and who can be trusted… and who really betrayed Marjorie all those years ago?
A multi-layered mystery packed with suspense, Sing Like A Canary is the fifth book in Isobel Blackthorn’s Canary Islands Mysteries Series, and can be enjoyed as a standalone even if you haven’t read other books in the series.
One interesting fact I learned about this book is that Blackthorn drew inspiration from her own mother, who worked in London’s Metropolitan police in the 1970s. Check it out:
She was part of a crime squad that nailed a notorious London gang, so notorious books have been written about them and they even feature in course material at the Open University, UK). Of course all of the characters, settings and scenes in my book are completely made up.
The Review
Right off the bat, I can reassure you that this book stands on its own. I haven’t read any of the other books in the series, but you don’t need to. Obviously I could tell there was some history to the characters, they were all well-rounded and dynamic, but there’s enough context in the book that you don’t feel lost.
Be forewarned, reader, this is a slow burn of a book.
Right away, I got Agatha Christie vibes from the writing — the settings are luscious (I could almost feel the Spanish sun beating down on me), I really enjoyed the strong, realistic females characters in this book (Blackthorn shines a blunt light on the blatant sexism that ran rampant in the British police departments, which her mother no doubt had many stories about)— though I also grew fond of the informant, an avid dog lover and puzzler, and the ending was as unexpected as it was satisfying.
We join Marjorie as she is grieving the loss of her partner and seeking revenge against an old informant. Their story is told in alternating chapters, which are broken up with segments of their past, which slowly reveals the betrayal and secrets between them.
So not only is this a tale of intrigue and crime, but also of grief and remorse.
If you’re looking for a nice, decadent summer read — this is a good option!
7/10
x PLM
You know the drill, partner! This here’s the spoiler-line, so don’t cross ‘less ya wanna be spoiled!
Okay, so one thing that disappointed me was how poor ex-informant Billy dies off-screen. Blackthorn really got me attached to him. He’s a great dog owner, a heavily flawed but remorseful character, and does puzzles! And he just gets taken off on a boat and that’s it!
I guess I would have liked him to have his last word, maybe he says something sassy to his killers or something. Not gone out with a whimper so to speak.
He does, however, get his redemption in the fact that he shouts out an apology to Marj and leaves her his vacation home — which results in her being able to move on a little better and heal from the loss of her partner. She adopts the dog, so don’t worry about that.
But I guess I wanted him to have his final moment. Oh well.
