Books in November

 

November was a busy month! Lots of reading done, much of it seasonal, so dip in and see if you can find something new to enjoy (or indeed something old)!

Carmen Radtke, Ghost Conquers the Castle: This charming series continues with an episode set in a Highland castle at Christmas. With the risk of Adriana actually meeting another ghost, and the challenges of several extensive meals each day, being snowed in with a murder victim is not ideal as Genie tries to learn the subtleties of upper class social life. Very entertaining – made me want to head for the Highlands!

David Gatward, The SomersetSlayings: Though I thought the plot here was a bit contrived, I enjoyed the possibilities of this Somerset spin-off with Gordy, one of my favourite characters from the Grimm books. I’m very fond of Somerset and look forward to seeing how this goes – the team already looks promising and the food equally dangerous!

M.W. Craven, The Mercy Chair: Too many Americanisms, like ‘pantsuit’ (horrid word), but although I found Poe really unnecessarily rude to start with, I relaxed back into the whole Poe/Tilly thing and mostly enjoyed it. There’s a slight tendency to have Tilly as the answer to everything, a kind of deus ex machina for anything Poe needs, but she is still very funny and the relationship is a good one.

Susan Hill, The Woman in Black: This is one of two books this month that are basically ghost stories, not my usual genre. It’s also one of two books that I feel I have read but haven’t really. In this case I saw most of a BBC production years ago and heard people talk about the stage production and the film. Of course it’s well-written – it’s Susan Hill – and of course it doesn’t have the jump-scares of the onscreen version. But it’s an insidious, creepy story, filled with malice and deep unhappiness, and I’ll remember it for a long time.

Michelle Paver, Dark Matter: This is the other ghost story, set north of the Arctic Circle on a long sunless winter between the wars, as the narrator, a young, class-conscious man on a scientific expedition, goes steadily mad in the face of a terrible haunting. The atmosphere is terrific and you can really see and feel the place, living his optimism even as you know it’s all going to end very badly. A very chilling read.

S.L. Ireland, The House on Devil’s Lane: And as it happens, another ghost story – this time a young-mother-in-peril style where you’re really not sure from one chapter to the next if it’s ghosts or there’s a rational explanation. There are certainly plenty of secrets to be revealed and fingers to point before it’s all over – if it ever is.

Anna Faversham, Beware the Midnight Train: And oh, my goodness, another ghost story! It must be the season. Set in the 1970s, this one involves a young, jilted woman going to live on her own in the countryside in what turns out to be a haunted cottage. Only by travelling back in time on the Midnight Train can she hope to help the ghosts and allow them to rest – but is it a trap? Funny and tragic (the upstairs neighbours are a joy), this is one of those reads where you dread the ending but have to read on.

Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana: And this is the other book I feel I’ve read but I haven’t. Poignant and funny, this is very familiar: you’ll all know the story of Wormold the vacuum cleaner salesman and his semi-accidental fall into espionage in order to support the ambitious lifestyle of his beautiful daughter, and the consequences. There are lots of beautifully observed details: someone in the audience receives a stripper’s gloves as if they were receiving the contents of an in tray; an old German doctor secretly dresses up in fancy uniform at night, in love with that aspect of the army but appalled by the idea of the actual Wehrmacht.

Various authors, A Right Cosy Christmas Crime: This was a good mixture of cosy crimes, from America to the UK to Nigeria, and a very pleasant light read for the season. This is the first in a serious of cosy crime anthologies edited by Wendy H. Jones – more to follow soon.

Alison Joseph, Thou Shalt NotKill: Another outing for fast-driving, fine dining Sister Agnes, this time involved in road protests and sabotage as she tries to help a young girl re-establish relations with her father and investigate two deaths. 

Simon Brett, Mrs. Pargeter’s Principle: My one qualm with this is that Mrs. Pargeter agrees to travel in a grand 4x4 instead of her usual Bentley. I can’t easily see Mrs. Pargeter in what I picture to be her usual wardrobe managing to climb into a grand 4x4. However, the rest of the plot is great fun, as we unravel more and more of Mr. Pargeter’s past and his team’s histories.

Simon Brett, Mrs. Pargeter’s Point of Honour: The return of stolen works of art to their rightful owners at the behest of a dying woman proves more challenging that she expects for Mrs. Pargeter, and very funny for the reader.

Fiona Veitch Smith, The Pantomime Murders: Despite occasional anachronistic jolts, this was a very enjoyable read set round about December Newcastle and York. The theatrical setting felt right and I do enjoy spending time with the main character. Less cosy, though, and more traditional.

Fiona Leitch, The Cornish Wedding Murder: Cosy and fun, with our heroine an ex-cop turned events chef in her childhood home, crossing swords with an unreasonable and unreasonably good looking local police inspector.

T. Kingfisher, A Sorceress Comes to Call: Kingfisher’s books are deeply written, her characters strong and beautifully developed. Within pages, you can find yourself crying for them, even when the situation is still not clear. The whole book is perfectly constructed and very funny, and would make you beg for more if it weren’t rounded off so well.

Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe’s Assassin: The last book in the Napoleonic War part of the Sharpe series, and as excitingly written as all the others. Sharpe’s occasional discomfort with his rank, his dissatisfaction with those who do not face up to their responsibilities, his conflict between finishing a job and his own responsibilities to his wife and son, all these feed into some cracking battle scenes and clever tactics, and the usual witty asides.

Claire Keegan, Small Things like These: Not my usual fare but this is beautifully written and at probably close to novella length it would make a lovely Christmas read. A family man is faced with a moral dilemma that causes him to reflect on his own birth and upbringing, and on the small Irish town around him.

And finally, an update - at last I seem to be writing again and am now over 3/5 through the first draft of The Gowden Wifie, Cattanach 2. It feels as if it's going quite well - hard to tell! I just hope it will keep going and make some kind of sense in the end.

October reading

 

Again, a relatively light reading month but very enjoyable! See what you might fancy:

Pat McIntosh, The Rough Collier: a fine complex plot, archaeological discovery leading to accusations of murder and witchcraft and a detailed investigation across a swathe of Scottish geography. The descriptions are realistic and lovely, and the relationship between the newly-wedded Gil and his wife is delightful. It’s a while since I’ve read one of these, and I was very pleased to return to them.

Carmen Radtke, Murder on theAirwaves: A good cosy mystery for this time of year, set in a quiet American community at Hallowe’en. Eve is visiting her father and stepmother but finds herself involved in investigating the murder of the local community radio host and bringing harmony back to a disrupted neighbourhood. Very readable and charming.

Simon Brett, Mrs. Pargeter’s Plot: A peculiarly devious mystery, this, as the detective is impeded by an old lag trying to make good on his previous mistakes while educating himself in humour – and a marmoset is involved, too. Very entertaining.

J.M. Dalgleish, The Cuillin Dead: This could do with a bit of tightening up in terms of typos and so on, and barring the Skye landscape I can’t really visualise much in the book, certainly not the people, all of whom seem a bit thin. Perhaps it’s me. There’s also a weird habit of putting place names into italics – maybe because they’re Gaelic, but not all of them are, and it’s not even consistent. And there’s a great deal of ‘scoffing’. I really didn’t enjoy this as much as previous ones, and I’m not particularly drawn to Duncan, the main character. Perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood.

David Gatward, Dark Harvest and See No Evil: very enjoyable as always, as the overarching relationship between the characters continues to develop and more murders and mysteries are solved against the lovely backdrop of the Dales. It’s just a little too easy to race through these books, though!

Jodi Taylor, A Bachelor Establishment: a lovely Regency romance with a family mystery wound in – will our hero and heroine recognise love despite the rift between their families? Will Lord Ryde survive the invasion of his home by countless women? As always, Jodi Taylor’s writing is historically lovely, touching and very funny.

G.G. Collins, Editor Kill Fee: Again, the setting is wonderful but threatening as we venture down Devil’s Road, where people have been known to disappear into the forest and never be seen again. There are problems at the publishing house and at a local crime book club, and chiles are also involved – this is irresistible! These books make me, an inveterate Scottish moor and mountain non-traveller outside the UK, make me want to visit Santa Fe quite badly.

Joy Margetts, The Stranger: There is a great sense of place and time here, and we are drawn quickly into Silas’ world and his mental struggles. Silas runs away from his monastery feeling he has failed in trying to establish its daughter house in a hostile environment. On his travels he is the stranger, stealing a coracle (with great incompetence), living with a carpenter’s widow and helping her find her feet, learning from a lonely charcoal burner … though he seemed humble enough he learns a proper humility as those he thinks less religiously educated than himself teach him something else about his faith. While he is a stranger to them, he has tried to make himself a stranger to God, too, but God, of course, does not take this lying down. Silas’ service to others is a strong theme – having felt he failed in this at Grace Dieu, he goes on to help everyone he meets quite unselfconsciously, though he also learns how to accept help from others. Though we can take Silas as the stranger of the title, one character, Cennad, who leads him and encourages him at one of his lowest ebbs is also a key stranger, not seen to speak to anyone but Silas, moving mysteriously and vanishing just when he has seen Silas to safety. This is a lovely and encouraging story, grounded in its historical setting, woven in with appropriate Biblical quotations and insights, particularly from Brother Hywel who has appeared in previous books. It is a delight to see Silas re-encounter God, the God who reminds him, surprisingly, that Silas loves Him (not the other way around, which is the more obvious statement!). A joy to read.

Well, there we are. The Gowden Wifie, Cattanach 2, is at last showing some signs of being a book one day, and if you're around Auchterarder, Perthshire, on 9th November or Montrose's George Hotel on 17th, I'll be making appearances at book fairs at both - pop in and say hello! Now I'm off to continue to work my way through the season's tomato glut - passata, anyone?

September's books

 September is always a really busy month for me so there are only a few books here, unfortunately! But still, quality counts.

Elly Griffiths, The Man in Black: I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but I really enjoyed this collection which interwove all kinds of bits from Elly’s writing, Ruth, Nelson, Max Mephisto, Justice and Harbinder. It was clever and great fun.

Simon Brett, Mrs. Pargeter’s Package: Our heroine is off to Corfu with a friend who does not long survive to enjoy her holiday. The cast of Greek villagers is a little muddling but the setting is good and the plot entertaining.

Simon Brett, Mrs. Pargeter’sPound of Flesh: Mrs Pargeter is now at a health farm, not, of course, for her own benefit as she is perfectly at ease in her body, but she does discover some dark dealings behind the scenes. These are well-written and engaging, though it might be best not to read too many in a row!

J.D. Kirk, A Killer ofInfluence: Another excellent episode, this time with the plot based in Logan’s past and some fun with social media influencers. The usual mixture of humour and pathos and a cracking good plot.

Rhys Dylan, Burnt Echo: Rather a tragic but very satisfying plot here and the team all acting well together as always. I did enjoy what they did to Byron, and I was very relieved to see the biscuits back. Young Rhys needs his food!

Guy Gardner, The Mirror Game: Mostly very good, and the period atmosphere is lightly evoked even with a few anachronisms in the language. I found the plot a bit unlikely, but it was interesting enough to go along for the ride.

G.G. Collins, Looking Glass Editor: I couldn’t resist a return to Santa Fe, this time in skiing season, to follow Taylor the editor with her new cat (no, the old one is not happy) and her new eccentric author to manage. G.G. has a talent for an exciting ending, too! Good cosy books in a very attractive setting.

And indeed there has been very little progress in writing, either. The second Cattanach book should have been finished by now, and it's barely started! Maybe October will give me a chance to catch up a little!

August reading

 Rather a mixture of books for August, but some really good ones here! See what you think.

Robert Galbraith, The Running Grave: As always, a huge book but it drew me in straight away and though I did not intend to read some of it every evening, I did. In the last twenty percent I really resented any interruptions! Horrific but compelling, with the usual strong characters often doing the wrong things for the right reasons.

K.J. Sweeney, The Body at Back Beach: This is a well-observed cosy crime set in a slightly faded harbour town in New Zealand. The main character, Helena, an older woman and pleasingly happily married to the somewhat absent academic Dave, is very sympathetic and when she finds a long-lost body she inevitably gets involved in the town’s past history to try to find out the name of the victim and the reasons for her death. The plot is nicely paced to feel real while keeping up the excitement, with a dramatic conclusion. A good debut – looking forward to more.

Hugo Rifkind, Rabbits: possibly my read of the month. Mind you, though it was recommended to me and I bought it, I put off reading it for a while because I really didn't like the cover. The narrator, Tommo (as he decides sounds best) is a lonely boy trying to fit in in the relatively posh boarding school he’s been sent to, because his mother is ill and his father is suddenly a busily successful author. One of the boys he falls in with has recently lost his brother in a shotgun accident, and the others are similarly maladjusted though some hide it better than others. As Tommo tries to negotiate his way through the usual teenage angst coupled with the unreality of his eccentric surroundings, the illness of his mother and his desperation to fit in, we’re treated to a really well observed slice of familiar and bonkers Scottish society, ineffectual parents, strange houses and habits, first jobs, outdoor pursuits and a general air of not knowing what’s going on that’s not going to have a wholly happy ending, yet it’s not at all without humour.

Simon Brett, A Nice Class of Corpse: I was lucky enough to pick up this series for something silly like 99p for eight books, and though they’d been recommended by a friend, and I knew the author from his wireless work, I was a little wary. No need: Mrs. Pargeter, widow of a kindly and generous gentleman with an interesting address book and a past history of prolonged absences at, we may assume, H.M.’s pleasure, finds herself in a genteel hotel on the south coast, seeking a place to retire quietly, and ends up investigating a couple of murders in a very entertaining, tongue-in-cheek fashion.

Simon Brett, Mrs, Presumed Dead: Mrs. Pargeter, having tired of hotel life, has bought a house in a quiet cul-de-sac of aspirational absent husbands and antisocial wives, but something is not quite right and she uses her late husband’s useful address book to help her investigate the previous house owner’s disappearance.

Tormod Cockburn, The Ness Deception: This is fun – Calum is forced to investigate the Loch Ness Monster while still clinging on to his credibility. Additionally distracted by his father’s frailty, a rather lovely scientist, and some subsea geological oddities, he risks life and limb to produce reasonable copy for his magazine and solve at least some of the mystery. Just a couple of pedantic points, though: there's an extra apostrophe in the very first line of the book description on Amazon, and, argh, a fracture and a break are the same thing!

G.R. Halliday, From the Shadows: A creepy portrayal of Wester Ross and the country between Gairloch and Inverness as a social worker seeks a boy he had been supposed to meet but who has disappeared, and police investigate another young man’s death. Michael Bach, the social worker, is a bit of a mess and the crimes are nasty. I don’t like ‘the kid’ being used so much, particularly when it’s by a parent about her child, and there’s very little lightness to balance the darkness. The plot is interesting, but I didn’t find any of the characters particularly sympathetic, which was a shame because I wanted to. Just me.

D.V. Bishop, City of Vengeance: Set in mediaeval Florence, this has a good atmosphere, a fine sense of setting, and an interesting, if not overly engaging, hero. The plot is strong and the secondary characters varied and interesting – Ruth, cousin of a bereaved daughter, though minor, was a fine inclusion. It would have been better without the constant use of merda and palle – surely mediaeval Florentines had access to more swear words than these? – but otherwise a good, if relentless, read. A bit of humour would not have gone amiss, here and there.

David Greig, Columba’s Bones: This is the tale of what happened on Iona after a Viking raid wiped out all the monks and other inhabitants, except for one young monk and the widow of the smith and, unexpectedly, one of the Vikings. It’s a witty, coarse and lovely tale by turns, quick to read but with lots to think about, including what is service to God and what is martyrdom, and what, in the end, faith is.

And what else is going on? Well, I'm working very slowly indeed on The Gowden Wifie, the second in the Alec Cattanach Second World War series - but September has now hit and there will be no time for anything!

July reading

 I don't think I've read quite so much this last month - partly because we've been busy setting up the new mailing list system and the volume of three novellas you get when you sign up! (here's the link if you feel the need: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/1007729/126295472895689891/share).

But here are the books - a bit of a selection, as always!

Alison O'Leary, Sleeping Cat Blues: This is a lovely series, where the cats investigate almost as much as the humans but in very different ways – it’s not sweet, and it’s not magical realism, just two different perspectives on the same investigation. The humans are very sympathetic, as they try to find the reasons behind an attack on a journalist and links with murders in the past. If I had any criticism to make, it’s that it ended rather abruptly.

Jasper Fforde, Shades of Grey: This is so much better than the last book of Fforde’s I read. Witty, knowing, clever, mysterious, satirical, but based around humans trying to deal with the world as they know it – and it’s a strange place indeed, where all society is based on the ability to perceive particular colours. Really interesting, and apparently the start of a series.

Mick Herron, Real Tigers: A Slow Horse is kidnapped, for very complex reasons and with complex results. Good and interesting plot and an ending that leaves you wondering what will happen to Slough House next.

Jason Monaghan, Byron’s Shadow: The action here is mostly set in Greece, where Flint (and I can’t help thinking of Ruth Galloway’s cat) is wanted for a murder that he just avoided being arrested for many years before. I preferred the English setting of the first book, but the cat and mouse chase is good fun to read – though if I were Lisa I’d have run a long time ago. The ending is a little deus ex machina but it works well.

A.J. Aberford, Bodies in the Water: There’s a bit too much international conspiracy in this for my preferred reading, and not very many likeable characters, though the main character is sort of sympathetic if a bit innocent-abroad. I quite liked the setting, Malta, but would have preferred something a bit more domestic to allow me to get to know it. But the plot trots along at a good pace – not its fault that it’s not so much my kind of thing. It became more intriguing about 20% from the end, though.

Lesley Kelly, Death at the Plague Museum: I was reading this at the same time as Real Tigers and had to watch as there are characters in both called Markus who like a bit of a flutter. This is great stuff, though: a high heidyin in the government has gone missing, just before her mandatory health check, and then someone similarly elevated who attended a meeting with her is found dead. Bernard and the others at HET are forced to investigate along with Police Scotland, an unhappy alliance. There are revelations about Mona and the greater plot, as well as a moment of glory for poor Bernard, and a cliff-hanger ending – very enjoyable.

Anne Wedgewood, The Botanist: A clever book. We know the murderer from the start, but that does not mean we should jump to any conclusions about the murder, either the victim or the motive, or the surrounding circumstances. These are revealed very subtly, leading us down a number of garden paths. Did I like the ending? I’m not sure, and that ambiguity is also a sign of how cleverly the book twists you round!

GG Collins, Dead Editor File: A cosy mystery in an idyllic setting laid on thick with affection – the heroine lives in an adobe house in Santa Fe with all the original features and an Abyssinian cat, and works in a publishing company. There are a few changes in point of view which are sometimes a bit disconcerting, but on the whole this works very well – the characters are entertaining and the plot is very nicely paced with an exciting ending. I very much enjoyed this.

There! not so many, but some good ones. What am I up to? I've just started the sequel to A Vengeful Harvest, the Alec Cattanach book set in Second World War Aberdeen. Life is getting in the way, though, particularly with our two big events, the Banchory Agricultural Show and the Aboyne Highland Games, both in the last fortnight - lots of logistics and making of packed lunches! Now things are a little clearer and I'll have to run to catch up. But if you need to know, the new book is to be called The Gowden Wifie - if I ever get it written.