Clear My Name by Paula Daly | @PaulaDalyAuthor @TransworldBooks @HJ_Barnes

Delighted to join the blog tour for Clear My Name by Paula Daly today! My thanks to Emma Welton for the invitation to join and to Hayley at Transworld for the fab review copy! Make sure you also check out my dear friend Rae’s review!

Author : Paula Daly
Title : Clear My Name
Pages : 293
Publisher : Transworld
Publication date : August 8, 2019

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

Innocent?

When Carrie was accused of brutally murdering her husband’s lover, she denied it. She denied it when they arrested her, when they put her in front of a jury, and when they sent her to prison.

Now she’s three years into a fifteen-year sentence, away from the daughter she loves and the life she had built. And she is still denying that she is to blame.

Guilty?

Tess Gilroy has devoted her life to righting wrongs. Through her job for Innocence UK, a charity which takes on alleged miscarriages of justice, she works tirelessly to uncover the truth.

But when she is asked to take Carrie’s case, Tess realises that if she is to help this woman, she must risk uncovering the secrets she has struggled a lifetime to hide . . .

We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.

| MY THOUGHTS |

Carrie has been found guilty of murdering her husband’s mistress and is currently three years into a fifteen year sentence. But Carrie has always maintained her innocence. Now her case has come to the attention of Innocence UK, a charity that devotes itself to putting right alleged miscarriages of justice. When Tess is asked to take on Carrie’s case, she realises she may need to face up to things she’s kept hidden for years.

Right from the start, I was hooked on the intriguing premises of Clear My Name. It’s a murder mystery but it’s also a cold case and I absolutely love those. For once it’s not being investigated by a detective or a journalist though, which I found immensely refreshing, even if the intent remains the same. The reader is right there with the team, going back to look at the evidence, talking to potential witnesses and trying to determine if there is even a case here.

This isn’t your fast-paced, action-packed thriller. Clear My Name is relatively slow and extremely character-driven but I found it utterly compelling nonetheless. I couldn’t at all figure out whether Carrie was guilty of this crime or not and could quite easily relate to the frustration Tess and her team went through when it seemed there were nothing but dead ends along the way.

These characters are flawed and in Carrie’s case, especially, I had a hard time figuring out if she was even reliable. But there is more than meets the eye and some of it is quite thought-provoking. There is one question in particular that has stayed with me, which I’m still mulling over in my head. Is it worse to have a guilty person walking the streets or to have an innocent one behind bars? I do so love it when an author makes me think.

I thoroughly enjoyed Clear My Name. It’s suspenseful, gripping and I had a hard time putting this one down, desperate to get to the conclusion. Throw in a rather shocking, and again thought-provoking, ending and you have a well-plotted and twisty story that kept me glued to the pages. I may even go as far as to say this could quite possibly be my favourite Paula Daly book yet.

Clear My Name will be published on August 8th.

Affiliate link : Bookdepository
Other retailers : Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | Waterstones | Wordery

| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |

Paula Daly is the critically acclaimed author of six novels. She has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year award, and her books have been developed for the new ITV television series, Deep Water, starring Anna Friel.

She was born in Lancashire and lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children, and whippet Skippy.