What do you think?
Rate this book
Bedsit Three: A Gripping Tale of Murder and Love
"A word of warning to anyone who picks this book be prepared for a sleepless night, because you won't want to put it down until you get to the end," Michael Barton, WordPlay Publishing. A stupid mistake ended Ian's marriage. Now he's trying to put it right. Sandra was a teenage mum. Now she's fighting to make a good life for her daughter. Maxine made an important decision behind her boyfriend's back. His reaction devastates all their lives... Every mother tries to do her best for her child. But sometimes that ‘best’ creates a monster. Bedsit Three is a tale of murder, mystery and love. It won the inaugural Wordplay Publishing/Ian Govan Award and was shortlisted for both the Silverwood-Kobo-Berforts Open Day Competition and the Writing Magazine/McCrit Competition. Michael Barton, Founder and Managing Director of WordPlay Publishing said of Bedsit Three, “This novel is well-constructed and well-written. But it’s also far more than that. It’s a book that elicits emotional reaction, drawing the reader into the story and placing him or her in the middle of the action page after page.”
247 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 26, 2015
4 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Sally Jenkins
10 books13 followersSally Jenkins is based in the West Midlands and writes part-time around her job as a computer programmer. She targets her short stories at a range of competitions and magazines. Sally also produces the odd article on writing-related topics.
When she is not tapping away at a keyboard, Sally enjoys Body Combat classes and church bell-ringing.
She would advise all would-be writers to join a local class or group. Writing is a frustrating, solitary pursuit and meeting other like-minded people is necessary to stop yourself going mad!
When she is not tapping away at a keyboard, Sally enjoys Body Combat classes and church bell-ringing.
She would advise all would-be writers to join a local class or group. Writing is a frustrating, solitary pursuit and meeting other like-minded people is necessary to stop yourself going mad!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 20, 2015
Following his divorce and recent redundancy, Ian moves into Bedsit Three in order to be closer to his young son hoping he will be able to resurrect his failed relationship with his ex-wife. Across the hall from Ian, lives Sandra, an unconventional single mother, who wants to build a better life for her daughter and herself after falling pregnant as a teenager. Although coming from completely different backgrounds, Ian and Sandra start to bond, but something sinister is linked to Bedsit Three. Ian and Sandra become involved in a gruesome mystery that involves them with the police and the unstable previous tenant of Bedsit Three, which ultimately jeopardizes not just their relationship but their lives.
Told from Ian and Sandra's perspectives as well as the disturbed ex-tenant's, Bedsit Three was a quick and enjoyable read. Its strength was the well drawn characters who felt authentic and the vividly described settings that drew you into the story. There were a couple of nice twists to the mystery and crime angle of the story.
I felt a little confused as to what the author intended the story to be. There was a lot of focus on the relationships between Ian and Sandra and between Ian and his ex-wife. A lot of emphasis was placed on social class. While I found it interesting to read, it was almost like reading two different stories. One, a suspenseful mystery about a deranged killer and increasingly unstable guy with mother issues and the other one, a story about relationships, second and third chances and improving your life.
I believe Bedsit Three is Sally Jenkins' first publication that isn't a short story and as a debut, it was well plotted and well written.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Told from Ian and Sandra's perspectives as well as the disturbed ex-tenant's, Bedsit Three was a quick and enjoyable read. Its strength was the well drawn characters who felt authentic and the vividly described settings that drew you into the story. There were a couple of nice twists to the mystery and crime angle of the story.
I felt a little confused as to what the author intended the story to be. There was a lot of focus on the relationships between Ian and Sandra and between Ian and his ex-wife. A lot of emphasis was placed on social class. While I found it interesting to read, it was almost like reading two different stories. One, a suspenseful mystery about a deranged killer and increasingly unstable guy with mother issues and the other one, a story about relationships, second and third chances and improving your life.
I believe Bedsit Three is Sally Jenkins' first publication that isn't a short story and as a debut, it was well plotted and well written.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
August 28, 2016
I really enjoyed this novel, it's a good psychological thriller that steadily builds in tension until the end.
Sally Jenkins' style of writing is easy to read without being cosy. Her words take the reader steadily through the plot without revealing too much, yet there is also subtle foreshadowing. .
The main characters are well portrayed: the single mother, Sandra, with a young daughter, the new occupant of bedsit three, Ian, a middle class, unemployed man, separated from his wife and son, desperate to be reunited with them. And then there is the former resident of bedsit three; the mentally disturbed Ignatius Smith, evicted and living nearby in his car. The author gradually reveals the actions and thought processes of each of these people. And I liked how the two"off the scene" characters associated with Ignatius Smith were revealed.. And, no, I won't say any more about that!
My only disappointment in the whole of this book was with the dialogue. Sometimes, with all of the characters, I thought the dialogue was stilted (perhaps a little contrived?) and didn't fit their portrayed personalities. Every now a then a section of speech felt as though it was there, not so much for exposition, but for explanation to the reader. Hmm, does that make sense? .
The main setting is Vesey Villas, an old house separated into cramped bedsits. The descriptions of the building are evocative and gives a good sense of place; of seedy, uncared-for rooms. In fact each setting that the characters move around in is well depicted
Bedsit Three has a good, progressive plot, the story is equally shared between the three main characters and was gripping enough to keep me reading almost in one session. Personally I was a little disappointed with the ending. But this wasn't because of the writing or the way the plot evolved; it was because I wanted a different ending. I need to stress this was purely personal and gives credit to the writing of Sally Jenkins. So ignore what I've just written. You could always find out what I mean by buying this great book.
Bedsit Three is for anyone who enjoys a well written contemporary psychological thriller.
Sally Jenkins' style of writing is easy to read without being cosy. Her words take the reader steadily through the plot without revealing too much, yet there is also subtle foreshadowing. .
The main characters are well portrayed: the single mother, Sandra, with a young daughter, the new occupant of bedsit three, Ian, a middle class, unemployed man, separated from his wife and son, desperate to be reunited with them. And then there is the former resident of bedsit three; the mentally disturbed Ignatius Smith, evicted and living nearby in his car. The author gradually reveals the actions and thought processes of each of these people. And I liked how the two"off the scene" characters associated with Ignatius Smith were revealed.. And, no, I won't say any more about that!
My only disappointment in the whole of this book was with the dialogue. Sometimes, with all of the characters, I thought the dialogue was stilted (perhaps a little contrived?) and didn't fit their portrayed personalities. Every now a then a section of speech felt as though it was there, not so much for exposition, but for explanation to the reader. Hmm, does that make sense? .
The main setting is Vesey Villas, an old house separated into cramped bedsits. The descriptions of the building are evocative and gives a good sense of place; of seedy, uncared-for rooms. In fact each setting that the characters move around in is well depicted
Bedsit Three has a good, progressive plot, the story is equally shared between the three main characters and was gripping enough to keep me reading almost in one session. Personally I was a little disappointed with the ending. But this wasn't because of the writing or the way the plot evolved; it was because I wanted a different ending. I need to stress this was purely personal and gives credit to the writing of Sally Jenkins. So ignore what I've just written. You could always find out what I mean by buying this great book.
Bedsit Three is for anyone who enjoys a well written contemporary psychological thriller.
December 3, 2015
A gripping debut tale of murder and mystery set in the bedsit land of Birmingham. Middle-class Ian has moved into Bedsit Three so that he can see more of his estranged young son. Also a tenant of Vesey Villa is single mother, Sandra, and her young daughter. The two are drawn closer together, not only by physical attraction but by the mysterious disappearance of the girlfriend of the previous tenant, Ignatius. Ms Jenkins has successfully taken us into the lives of all three of the main characters, including the pyschopathic Ignatious. As the tension builds, so does the scary element. Anyone reading this will not want to put it down until the very last page.
January 18, 2016
I enjoyed this story. I might have liked it to be a little longer, as I ended with questions about the main characters. That is probably a back-handed compliment. A good way to while a way a few hours
August 6, 2018
I fell in love with the characters from page one. Ian a recently divorced man trying to build a future for him and his son whilst reconciliating his marriage and Sandra a single mother doing the best for herself and her daughter.
The story starts with the murder of a young lady In Bedsit 3. Yes there aren’t many plot twists but that made the book easy to read and kept the pages turning.
I throughly enjoyed my first experience of this authors work and shall definitely read more.
The story starts with the murder of a young lady In Bedsit 3. Yes there aren’t many plot twists but that made the book easy to read and kept the pages turning.
I throughly enjoyed my first experience of this authors work and shall definitely read more.
June 9, 2018
An easy read.
February 28, 2019
BEDSIT THREE is the first book by Sally Jenkins I've read and I must say it had a slightly different feel to it than those I normally read. I can't quite put my finger on it but I felt it still lacked something, though I don't know what.
It begins with a man burying something we could only assume was a body in the darkened backyard of Vesey Villa, a house divided into bedsits in Birmingham. Afterwhich, he then disappears into the night.
Enter Ian Wolverstone. Divorced and following his redundancy, Ian moves to Birmingham to be closer to his 7 year old son Marcus who lives with his ex-wife. Needing somewhere inexpensive until he finds work, he moves into Bedsit 3. Across the hall in Bedsit 2 is slightly unconventional mother Sandra to 7 year old Halifax, who wants to build a better life for her daughter than she had.
Ian and Sandra are from vastly different backgrounds but they soon begin to feel the electricity between them. Ian tries ignoring it as his plan is for reconciliation with his ex-wife Josephine and to be more than an alternate weekend father to Marcus. Sandra knows Ian is way out of her league but she is smitten with him and cannot ignore the spark between them and tries to impress him with colouring her hair from purple to blonde - with disasterous results.
Aside from the obvious attraction growing between them, when Ian finds a box stashed at the back of the wardrobe in his bedsit, its contents somewhat confusing, they start to believe something sinister is linked to Bedsit 3. Ian returned home one day to find a stranger trying to break into his bedsit giving a lame excuse as to his presence. It isn't long before Ian works out that this stranger is the elusive and mentally disturbed Ignatius Smith, the former resident of Bedsit Three who did a midnight flit, leaving his cardboard box of precious memories in the cupboard.
Then Ignatius makes his move. And what follows is a race to find the truth about what really happened in Bedsit Three.
Told from both Ian and Sandra's perspectives throughout as well as the disturbed thoughts of Ignatius Smith, BEDSIT THREE is a quick and fairly enjoyable read. It's not a short story but it's not a long one either, so it can be easily read in one sitting. The Prologue was compelling and extremely promising, and the entire setting of Vesey Villas was vividly described that I could almost see the bedsit rooms myself. Added to that were a couple of intriguing twists along the way.
But what let this promising read down was the confusion as to what the story was meant to be. While the main plot was meant to be a suspenseful and psychological mystery about a mentally disturbed killer with mummy issues, there was a lot of focus on the relationships between Ian and Sandra, and between Ian and his ex-wife. As someone else has said "it was like reading two different stories", and I have to agree. While other authors have managed to combine relationships with a mystery thriller and give it that real sense of one complete story, Jenkins has failed to do this here I feel. However, having said that, I still DID enjoy the book...just not as much as I could have.
I was also disappointed in the Epilogue. Really? It should have been about the discovery of the body that was left floating down a Derbyshire river or Ignatius and his mentally disturbed thoughts...not the wedding of someone I didn't even like or connect with. After all, it WAS about the mystery of Bedsit Three... Again, the confusion of just what this story was meant to be.
In all, BEDSIT THREE is a quick and enjoyable read with a compelling and dramatic plot.
This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.
It begins with a man burying something we could only assume was a body in the darkened backyard of Vesey Villa, a house divided into bedsits in Birmingham. Afterwhich, he then disappears into the night.
Enter Ian Wolverstone. Divorced and following his redundancy, Ian moves to Birmingham to be closer to his 7 year old son Marcus who lives with his ex-wife. Needing somewhere inexpensive until he finds work, he moves into Bedsit 3. Across the hall in Bedsit 2 is slightly unconventional mother Sandra to 7 year old Halifax, who wants to build a better life for her daughter than she had.
Ian and Sandra are from vastly different backgrounds but they soon begin to feel the electricity between them. Ian tries ignoring it as his plan is for reconciliation with his ex-wife Josephine and to be more than an alternate weekend father to Marcus. Sandra knows Ian is way out of her league but she is smitten with him and cannot ignore the spark between them and tries to impress him with colouring her hair from purple to blonde - with disasterous results.
Aside from the obvious attraction growing between them, when Ian finds a box stashed at the back of the wardrobe in his bedsit, its contents somewhat confusing, they start to believe something sinister is linked to Bedsit 3. Ian returned home one day to find a stranger trying to break into his bedsit giving a lame excuse as to his presence. It isn't long before Ian works out that this stranger is the elusive and mentally disturbed Ignatius Smith, the former resident of Bedsit Three who did a midnight flit, leaving his cardboard box of precious memories in the cupboard.
Then Ignatius makes his move. And what follows is a race to find the truth about what really happened in Bedsit Three.
Told from both Ian and Sandra's perspectives throughout as well as the disturbed thoughts of Ignatius Smith, BEDSIT THREE is a quick and fairly enjoyable read. It's not a short story but it's not a long one either, so it can be easily read in one sitting. The Prologue was compelling and extremely promising, and the entire setting of Vesey Villas was vividly described that I could almost see the bedsit rooms myself. Added to that were a couple of intriguing twists along the way.
But what let this promising read down was the confusion as to what the story was meant to be. While the main plot was meant to be a suspenseful and psychological mystery about a mentally disturbed killer with mummy issues, there was a lot of focus on the relationships between Ian and Sandra, and between Ian and his ex-wife. As someone else has said "it was like reading two different stories", and I have to agree. While other authors have managed to combine relationships with a mystery thriller and give it that real sense of one complete story, Jenkins has failed to do this here I feel. However, having said that, I still DID enjoy the book...just not as much as I could have.
I was also disappointed in the Epilogue. Really? It should have been about the discovery of the body that was left floating down a Derbyshire river or Ignatius and his mentally disturbed thoughts...not the wedding of someone I didn't even like or connect with. After all, it WAS about the mystery of Bedsit Three... Again, the confusion of just what this story was meant to be.
In all, BEDSIT THREE is a quick and enjoyable read with a compelling and dramatic plot.
This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.
August 24, 2016
Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber's Review Team
A dark, fairly gritty drama with a side plot of insanity and murder - I enjoyed it! It centres around Vesey Villas, an old house made up into seedy bedsits. One occupant is Sandra, a single mother with her daughter, and a new arrival is Ian, an enemployed father who is hoping to get back together with his wife. Sleeping in his car outside is the former resident of Bedsit Three, Ignatius Smith, who is eager to get back inside the building....
The novel is well written and nicely observed, the characterisation extremely good - I loved the parts about the increasingly disturbed Ignatius, and Sandra and Ian are both real and likeable, the sort of characters you root for. The plot is perfectly paced, alternating between the three main characters, with no boring bits; I was not tempted to skip read at all, and read 80% of it in one sitting.
On occasion I felt the dialogue was a little unlikely, and I thought Ian's story was too speedily and rather drearily wound up in the epilogue (I hoped for so much better for him!), but these are my only complaints, and they are but minor. I enjoyed the unfolding of Ignatius's story the most.
I think it would be enjoyed by anyone who likes a mild sort of contemporary thriller; it's very good.
A dark, fairly gritty drama with a side plot of insanity and murder - I enjoyed it! It centres around Vesey Villas, an old house made up into seedy bedsits. One occupant is Sandra, a single mother with her daughter, and a new arrival is Ian, an enemployed father who is hoping to get back together with his wife. Sleeping in his car outside is the former resident of Bedsit Three, Ignatius Smith, who is eager to get back inside the building....
The novel is well written and nicely observed, the characterisation extremely good - I loved the parts about the increasingly disturbed Ignatius, and Sandra and Ian are both real and likeable, the sort of characters you root for. The plot is perfectly paced, alternating between the three main characters, with no boring bits; I was not tempted to skip read at all, and read 80% of it in one sitting.
On occasion I felt the dialogue was a little unlikely, and I thought Ian's story was too speedily and rather drearily wound up in the epilogue (I hoped for so much better for him!), but these are my only complaints, and they are but minor. I enjoyed the unfolding of Ignatius's story the most.
I think it would be enjoyed by anyone who likes a mild sort of contemporary thriller; it's very good.
August 28, 2016
This was such a gripping book. It's not for the fainthearted. That said it was enjoyable and I liked the main characters. I even felt sorry for the villain. The heroine was a lovely feisty young woman. The story draws you on with twists and turns that are well thought out. My only criticism is it could have been a bit longer with a bit more foreshadowing of the final twist, but I suppose that would have introduced another character and might have detracted from the nail biting drama.
September 5, 2016
Excellent read a real page turner. Great characters.
April 26, 2017
A short read but interesting story. Easy to read and good background stories for all characters. I especially like Ignatius, his profile, behaviour was well written.
Overall I really like this book but wouldn't mind a bit of a twist, to me it was pretty straightforward and was easy to figure out who the killer was.
Overall I really like this book but wouldn't mind a bit of a twist, to me it was pretty straightforward and was easy to figure out who the killer was.
Read
June 15, 2017Very good light read - well written
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews