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Heather Burnside
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Slur (The Riverhill Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Heather Burnside (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 1,604 ratings
When Julie Quinley wakes up after a night out with friends to find herself accused of murder, it proves to be only the beginning of her worst nightmare. Released by the police due to lack of evidence, Julie nevertheless faces the taunts and hostility of colleagues, as more and more people – including members of her own family – seem convinced she is a cold-hearted killer.

Just when it seems as if all hope has gone, and Julie's mental state reaches rock bottom, her friend Vinny announces a breakthrough; something he has witnessed that could prove Julie's innocence once and for all.

But the police remain unconvinced, and Julie and her friends find themselves having to take bigger and bigger risks to collect the evidence they need to nail the culprit. Will they be in time to save an innocent woman from being convicted of a crime says she didn't commit? Or will a ruthless killer get away with murder?
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  1. Book 1 of 3
    The Riverhill Trilogy
  2. Print length
    314 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Aria
  5. Accessibility
    Learn more
  6. Publication date
    July 14, 2018
  7. File size
    4.4 MB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Heather Burnside is a Manchester based author who formerly worked in credit control and is a qualified Member of the Institute of Credit Management. After taking a career break to raise a family, she swapped credit control for writing and decided to study for a writing diploma.
Heather had articles featured in several popular UK magazines before publishing her first Manchester based crime thriller, 'Slur'. She recently released the sequel, 'A Gangster's Grip', which focuses on the inter-gang rivalry of 90s Manchester. These form the first two books in the Riverhill Trilogy with the third book scheduled for release in summer 2016.
Heather has also published a multi-genre short story collection entitled, 'Crime, Conflict & Consequences', which is a great introduction to her writing.
When Heather isn't working on her books she provides writing services to a broad client base utilising her knowledge of the consumer finance industry. She also writes about a wide range of other topics.
You can find out more about Heather's books by signing up to her mailing list at: eepurl.com/CP6YP to receive regular updates, or by viewing her website: heatherburnside.com.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07C431D7C
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aria
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 14, 2018
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4.4 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 314 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788546546
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 1 of 3 ‏ : ‎ The Riverhill Trilogy
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 1,604 ratings

About the author

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Heather Burnside

Heather Burnside

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Heather Burnside writes gritty urban crime novels set in the inner-city suburbs of Manchester. To date she has published fifteen novels most of which have become Amazon Category Bestsellers. More recently she has written her first psychological thriller, which she intends to publish in 2025.

Before writing novels, Heather completed a creative writing course. During that time, she had various articles published in well-known UK magazines and went on to run a writing services business.

Her novels include: The Riverhill Trilogy, The Manchester Trilogy, The Working Girls Series of five novels, and four standalone novels.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
1,604 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great mystery
    Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I was disappointed thAt I was unable to read this straight through. Even though I had to pick back seat sevel times, it was easy toget involved back into the totwo girls predicaments and frustrations.This was well written mystery and if kept me hooked right to the end. I was and to see that justice wwaswell served. Now I am wondering g if Julie and Vinnie. went to Greece for their no eymoon
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  • Christine Terrell
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent debut crime thriller
    Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Slur is a wonderful debut crime thriller by British author Heather Burnside. It starts off with a bang when a lovely young woman named Julie Quinley and her clubbing buddy Rita get arrested for the murder of their friend Amanda. The story takes off from there, centering on Julie’s and Rita’s reactions to being accused as murderesses, and who else could have been responsible for Amanda’s death.

    In terms of the characters, Julie is engaging and you really want her to be innocent of wrongdoing. Rita, on the other hand, is definitely a tart and a little too nonplussed by the drama of it all, making one wonder what she knows. Despite that, I couldn’t help but like Rita. Julie’s boyfriend, Vinny, is an underappreciated guy, and I found myself wanting to smack up Julie into realizing she should think more highly of him.

    The plot is excellent. The police are focused on Julie and Rita despite the lack of definitive evidence against them. Julie is shunned and bullied at work, making me wonder how I would handle a similar situation if I were in Julie’s shoes. On the downside, I thought the story dragged just a bit early on when Julie is nearly incapacitated by the fallout of her arrest. Fortunately, the tempo soon picks up when the two women and Vinny decide they need to become involved in the investigation; at this point the pace picks up considerably. There are neat twists and turns and chills as the tale moves along. I was delighted to see courtroom drama towards the end. I must say I was not quite sure if Ms. Burnside was going to throw in one last zinger before the conclusion or not. I did like the way she wraps up the story.

    I admire Ms. Burnside’s decision to have the characters speak authentically as natives of Manchester, England, where the story is set. This is so effective that as I read the novel, my mind was having the characters speak with a British accent. There is liberal use of British slang; but even if I was not familiar with a specific word, I could deduce the definition by the context. In addition, the author does have a glossary of British slang at the end of the book, which I found quite entertaining.

    In conclusion, I had a good time with this book. I contacted the author to see when the sequel is coming out. She told me most likely by the end of summer 2015. I will definitely be on the lookout for it. Slur is a solid debut by Ms. Burnside. I recommend this book to all crime/mystery/thriller fans.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • glasslass
    4.0 out of 5 stars It took awhile to get into the story
    Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I had a hard time at first getting interested in this story, it took me several tries and it sat for a time before getting back to it. All in all it ended up a pretty good story and eventually got to a point where I didn't want to quit reading and take care of daily chores. In the end was glad to see it all resolved as I was getting weary of it going on any longer.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Sharon Hayden
    5.0 out of 5 stars Self-sleuthing
    Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    When Julie and her friend Rita were taken in by the police for the murder of Julie' friend, there seemed nothing they could say too convince the inspector of their innocence.
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  • espie chavez
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Love it but I wish I could have read this before A Gangsters Grip
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  • E8inLA
    5.0 out of 5 stars Easy Read
    Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Easy read. I enjoyed it.
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  • Jean F. Coldwell
    4.0 out of 5 stars “Girls just wanna have fun, ” right
    Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2015
    “Girls just wanna have fun,” right? When Julie Quinley, best friend Rita, and a few other gal pals take their friend Amanda out for her birthday, they get more than they bargain for. Sure, it seemed like fun to spike her rum and Cokes with vodka, but Amanda winds up more than a little tipsy, and the girls have to help her get home. The next day, they find themselves at the Manchester police station, accused of her murder.

    What? Imagine being accused of killing someone and having no way to prove your innocence. Julie is frantic. The police don’t believe her. Her own dad doesn’t seem to believe her. Co-workers whisper. Some even condemn her to her face. Her friends and relatives gossip and shun her too. Despite the support of her mom, her little sister, and her boss Norma, and her boyfriend Vinnie, Julie becomes more distressed and more depressed. Rita, on the other hand, seems unfazed. She gets laid off from her job, but she travels, meets a new guy, and continues to act like a tart. She is quite a different personality from Julie, and while others don’t seem to see what Julie likes about her, they are the best of friends. Through it all, Vinnie remains steadfastly loyal. What a peach of a guy!

    I felt that the plot was somewhat weak, but it did pick up about two-thirds of the way through the book when Julie’s friends think they know who the killer is, and they conspire to expose him. Some of their plans seemed a little corny and immature to me, but this was the 1980s, and these are 20-something-year-olds, so perhaps it is not so unrealistic.

    This is Ms. Burnside’s debut thriller novel, and her strength, I feel, is in her characters. At first, I thought that they seemed rather stereotypical, but as the story moves along, they develop a life of their own. The dialogue is terrific. I am an American Midwesterner, but I barely noticed the dialect because it seemed so natural. There is an abundance of dialogue, and that’s what gives this story its life. Julie, Rita, and Vinnie are all believable as young adults; they start out as superficial party animals and mature right before our eyes. I liked Julie’s parents, and Norma, who supported Julie from the get-go. The character development of Leslie Stevens is well done too.

    Overall, I felt this was quite a good start to Heather Burnside’s fiction writing career. Initially, I thought I might only give this book three stars, but because of the compelling dialogue and characters, plus the fact that the plot came together nicely at the end, I am giving Slur four stars.

    4 stars
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • SLH
    5.0 out of 5 stars A trip back to the 80s!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    A fantastic novel, which had a gripping story line. The author manages to explain the motivations and desires of each of the characters in succinct way that doesn't get in the way of the plot so that you really feel that you know them. The novel was very well written and paints a vivid picture of the club scene of 1980s Manchester and is filled with twists and turn that keep the reader guessing. All in all it was a great read with an interesting dialogue between the characters and realistic and gritty story line. I'm very much looking forward to any future publications from Dianne Mannion!
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  • Marty
    4.0 out of 5 stars A great crime novel
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 6, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    I have never been to Manchester, but after reading this book I feel like I know this city fairly well now, or at least I can imagine what it would have looked like in the 1980's. As someone who was a teenager back then, I felt that the author was extremely accurate in the rendition of that decade, from the fashion, to the language, the music, I really felt transported back to that period.

    It took me a while to 'warm' to the characters of the book, in particular to the heroine, Julie. At first I found her detached, at times really cold and uncaring, especially towards her boyfriend Vinny, but as we read through, we discover she's not that bad, really. Her best friend Rita would be judged by mostly as a bit of a tart, but I find her likeable and what is mostly appealing is the powerful friendship that exists between the protagonist and her.

    But let's not forget that there is a crime that has been committed, and it's not clear until the end who has killed Julie's friend, and in the meantime, two more people are assassinated, in a unexpected turn of events. There are plenty of twists in this novel and you wonder if the bad guy gets found and punished in the end. There is only one way to find out.
    I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I recommend it to all lovers of crime fiction.
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  • Gooner63
    3.0 out of 5 stars Ok read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Ok read, i felt it dragged on a bit and found myself skipping pages to get to the end. Started well then fell flat for me
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  • Kirsteen Stuart
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 23, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Excellent read I was gripped from the very start just makingy way through books written by her
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  • David Purkiss
    5.0 out of 5 stars Start of a 3 book trylogy by heather its explosive reading.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    I have been reading the working girls trilogy but I gave this book a try instead and it was brilliant book to start this trylogy off Heather's books are brilliant to read everyone is such a good read you never want to put them down this one I read in one sitting if you read any of Heather's books you wont be disappointed ok.
    D.l.purkiss
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