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... for no good purpose, either for the reason our hero goes, or what he does when there. Apparently shortlisted for the International Booker but not my sort of thing at all.
The second in the DI Clare Mackay series (also borrowed from my local library - hurrah for libraries) turned out to be as fine as the first with a suitably twisty plot and an easy reading style. Our hero continues to have an interesting life outside work, just like all the best detective series, and that bodes well for more reading of these books however sadly I seem to have run out of Marion Todd novels in the library so it's off to a book shop for the remaining four.
First book in the DI Clare Mackay detective series; set in St Andrews.
This was a slightly random pick from my local library but it's a cracker. Started it this morning, finished it this evening. DI Clare Mackay, who recently moved to join the St Andrews force, leads the investigation into hit-and-run which turns out to have rather more to it than it first appears.
Amazon tell me that there are six of these in print (and available as a set for £15.99, uh oh) and a seventh due shortly so I don't think this will be my last Marion Todd book.
(This is also my 13th book of 2013 and I've still got one week left of March so I'm still, just, on target for 52 books in 2023 ...)
The Mapp and Lucia saga continues in book five of the series and in this one Lucia is undoubtedly the winner, by a country mile, which doesn't have quite the same buzz as the previous book. But still very fine, and with a happy and romantic (FSVO "romantic") ending.
I've read the previous two Thursday Murder Club books (also as ebooks via the library) and, like those, this one is a joy. Yes, they're an increasingly unlikely set of characters but such fun to be with, and such sorrow too which comes with age but overall this was a great read.
I really must buy paper copies of all three of these as they're definitely books I'm going to want to read again.
When a passenger check-in desk at Terminal Two, Heathrow Airport, shot up through the roof …
I bought this book for a second time (it turned out, although I still can't find my original copy but it is allegedly lurking somewhere in the house) and read it after a recommendation from someone on Mastodon but as I read it I remembered how disappointed I'd been the first time.
Fundamentally I think there's an interesting plot idea here but Adams' unravelling of it is confusing and assumes the reader knows as much as he does about Norse mythology and hence he can't be arsed to explain.
The fast lane is much too slow for twenty-seven-year-old Rachel Walsh, who is always the …
Having read the second Rachel story the library offered me the first so I gave it a go and, again, I found it enjoyable and a pretty compelling read.
The conclusion to 'Again, Rachel' now makes more sense but I have to say that yet again the ending wasn't really the one I wanted.
... which is pretty appropriate since this novel is all about addiction, and loss. I really enjoyed it, more than I expected. My only disappointment, if I'm honest, is that the ending isn't the one I wanted, but the journey there was always enjoyable.
Henry Twyst, eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth, is convinced his mother is losing her marbles. She …
I did write a longer version of this review but the short version is: poorly plotted, poorly written.
Gone straight in the "charity shop" pile.
Moving on.
Mapp and Lucia is a 1931 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is …
Book four of EF Benson's series of Mapp and Lucia novels is the one which finally brings them together. It's easy to look at the previous books from here and think that this was always Fred's intention but my suspicion is that the idea of bringing them together only came to him after he's written the two previous Lucia books and 'Miss Mapp'.
Whatever, the joining of these two characters provides the spice that was missing from the previous books in that they both, finally, have an adversary worthy of each other.
It is a gorgeous book. A real period piece about life among the independently wealthy middle classes between the wars and it's full of little episodes all of which come together to a magnificent conclusion.
Lucia in London is a 1927 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is …
I've read EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia novels, and also books by other authors featuring our two heroines, so many times but it's always a pleasure to revisit them.
This is book three of Benson's chronicle. It's the last before Mapp and Lucia finally meet and is in some ways the odd one out in the set in that it's set in neither Riseholme nor Tilling but (mainly) in London and the other characters are a lot more knowing than in the other novels in that they regard Lucia as an amusement rather than one of nature's forces.
But it's still a fine read and I wouldn't dream of skipping it as part of my current re-reading of the whole set.
Next up is 'Mapp and Lucia' and then the sparks will really start to fly ... but that's for another day.
I borrowed this book from my library as an e-book and I confess I struggled with it. About 80% of the way through I finally gave and just scrolled through the rest (mainly to see if there was any reference to 'The Good Wife' ... I didn't find any).
I think my title sums it up: if you like Cumming you'll probably forgive his style of writing, but in the end I just found it tiresome.
Book 5 in the Casey Jones detective series
I’m a sucker for female private detective novels and I’ve got five of Tracy Monger’s Casey Jones novels, of which this is fifth (I’ve recently re-read 1 through 4). And yes, before you ask, our hero is aware of that TV series … and there’s a very brief reference to it in an earlier book.
Casey is a southern gal who works as a private detective carrying a fake licence as she has a criminal record, has a boyfriend who is paralyzed from the waist down (long story, see previous books) but still has sexy times with him, and others, and is surrounded by a collection of interesting characters who crop up through the books.
This one is about a series of rapes and murders set around Duke University and features a bigger and more diverse host of characters than normal but it romps along towards a suitably implausible outcome …
I’m a sucker for female private detective novels and I’ve got five of Tracy Monger’s Casey Jones novels, of which this is fifth (I’ve recently re-read 1 through 4). And yes, before you ask, our hero is aware of that TV series … and there’s a very brief reference to it in an earlier book.
Casey is a southern gal who works as a private detective carrying a fake licence as she has a criminal record, has a boyfriend who is paralyzed from the waist down (long story, see previous books) but still has sexy times with him, and others, and is surrounded by a collection of interesting characters who crop up through the books.
This one is about a series of rapes and murders set around Duke University and features a bigger and more diverse host of characters than normal but it romps along towards a suitably implausible outcome and was fun to read.
I picked up this book somewhere a while ago now but finally made the effort to give it a proper read today and it's disappointing. For a start, as someone who lives in Nairn there really is very little on Nairn, despite the title. One chapter and just odd mentions before and after.
If you live in one of the communities mentioned: Nairn, Elgin, Forres, Burghead etc then the section on that community will be of interest but the complete lack of maps, which would give context to each chapter, really doesn't help making it a disappointing read overall and I ended up skip reading most of the other chapters as I had little context.
I can't help feeling there is a good book to be written on this subject, and a lot of the basic research is here, but this isn't the book.
Two pensioners travel the railways of the UK accompanied by Daniel Dafoe and other historical …
This book is sub-titled “a surreal odyssey through modern Britain” and that seems apt. On the surface it’s a record of how two retired Scots, the author and his friend John, rode every mile of all the railways in the mainland UK (and also on the Isle of Wight) but if that’s the book you’re looking for then this is not it. John is the railway nerd and it’s clear he planned the expedition and knows much about the railways, but of his knowledge you hear only passing references.
The author is on a rather different journey. For a start he engages with about 250 other passengers to discover their stories. That in itself would be interesting enough but there’s a surreal element overlaying this all.
For a start the two are accompanied throughout their journeys by Daniel Defoe, who keeps escaping from the pages of his book (and the …
This book is sub-titled “a surreal odyssey through modern Britain” and that seems apt. On the surface it’s a record of how two retired Scots, the author and his friend John, rode every mile of all the railways in the mainland UK (and also on the Isle of Wight) but if that’s the book you’re looking for then this is not it. John is the railway nerd and it’s clear he planned the expedition and knows much about the railways, but of his knowledge you hear only passing references.
The author is on a rather different journey. For a start he engages with about 250 other passengers to discover their stories. That in itself would be interesting enough but there’s a surreal element overlaying this all.
For a start the two are accompanied throughout their journeys by Daniel Defoe, who keeps escaping from the pages of his book (and the author is clearly knows quite a lot of Defoe’s life and publications) but we’re also joined at various points by fictional characters from books and films and also real characters from history. Isambard Kingdom Brunel for example joins in on several occasions.
There’s also a general fantasy element too on top of these spirit passengers. So a description of something ordinary will suddenly lurch into fantasy.
All of this is very strange and I suspect you’ll either put it to one side in frustration after a couple of dozen pages or embrace its weirdness and find joy in it. I know I did.