A catch up on what I've been reading

I've abandoned any kind of reading challenge for this year as I was so late starting - I still have a George Eliot book sitting on the hall table waiting to be read for it! But I have been reading, of course, and so below is the list - mostly crime, of course!

Dead Wood: I bought Chris Longmuir’s three book collection and this is the middle one. I enjoyed the first of these as a separate book, and started the second one ages ago. Various circumstances led to me not making any progress with it after the first few pages, but I went back to it recently and was amazed to be able to slot back into what was happening straightaway, a sign of a good writer, I think. I wasn’t quite sure till the end who the perpetrator was, but I found the characters really compelling and wanted them to find the right paths eventually.

Thorn in my Side by Sheila Quigley: I was wary of this as it’s the first in what’s called ‘Holy Island Trilogy’ and I’ve been stung by a ‘Holy Island’ book before. This is better, rough and tough and I suspect not quite true to police life but interesting. Could do with a bit of an edit – ‘classified’ is an American term, not a British one, a straight jacket is not the same as a straitjacket, for example, apostrophes deserve a day off, too, and it’s the second book I’ve read recently with a reference to florescent lighting – blooming lovely! I didn’t like the main thrust of the plot – just not my kind of thing, and I wasn’t convinced that an open order of monks could be taken over so secretly. But I did appreciate the portrayal of experiencing diabetes, the characters of Smiler and Aunt May, and I liked the variety of characters and their personal experiences.

Big Sky, Kate Atkinson:Ah, bliss, a new Jackson Brodie! Great start, leading us up the garden path as usual! She’s wonderful at laying multiple trails, including some drawn over from previous books (I was delighted to meet Reggie again), and slowly weaving them together in unexpected ways. The ending is episodic but ultimately very satisfying – she does like to tie up her loose ends. I read this far too fast – stupid. How long might we have to wait for another one? But unlike a lot of crime fiction they bear rereading well.

Other editions

Helen Fields Perfect Kill: urgh, a dark one indeed. But well  written, and of course the tantalising ongoing non-relationship between Luc and Ava is a major component. Inevitably I read it too quickly and really want to go back and read it again.

Other editions

Elly Griffiths, A Dying Fall: a great counterpoint to Helen Fields, lighter and gentler, though I wouldn’t call it a cosy. Ruth’s near stream-of-consciousness narration (only that it’s third person) keeps the story alive, though there’s little danger of it falling flat between domestic crises and deaths of old colleagues. An excellent entertainment, always feeling as if it’s part of real life.

Nick Quantrill, Broken Dreams – straight into the action here, private detectives finding the person they’ve been innocently following has been murdered. Much of the paragraph layout is confusing – it’s not clear who’s speaking – and I couldn’t particularly warm to the narrator. This is another book where you think – why is he hurling himself into that particular chasm? How thick is he, to go and poke that particular bear? But it kept the attention quite well, even if I wasn’t particularly convinced by the solution.

The Silent Companions, Laura Purcell – and she seems such a nice girl when you meet her! This is a thoroughly creepy, Gothic book, and as I read the first thirty or forty pages I changed my mind three or four times about the 19^th century narrator – there’s a 17^th century one who comes in later and though she has her secrets she is rather less ambiguous. Wisely written in smallish chunks so you don’t completely wallow in darkness, this is a very good read.

The Burned Man, Jason Vail: The usual good stuff – in fact, perhaps a little better than the last couple in the series, which were turning into some kind of American action film. But we’ve settled back into 12^th century England now, and there is indeed plenty of action and excitement and humour, as well as a decent plot.

Way Beyond a Lie, Harry Fisher: This is an impressive debut, and if there are one or two elements that you feel you may have seen before, the whole comes together well and the writing is very good – you really feel as if you’re there and with the characters. Has the missing wife been kidnapped? Did she run away? Did she exist at all? The plot is full of action and you’re not quite sure who to suspect and who to trust. Very good, entertaining book.

Other editions

Death in the Asylum, Caroline Dunford: I’m a long way behind in this series so picked up a few at once. This is the third, and I liked it better than the second, even if it rushed a bit towards the end. The plot held together well and carried on the characters and lines from previous books.

Caroline Dunford Death at the Wedding Party: My edition of this needs a serious proof read, unfortunately, and I’m never quite convinced by Rory’s accent. But as always these are entertaining and full of action and amusement. I carried on with Death in the Pavilion – well, poison ivy doesn’t generally grow in Britain, but we’ll disregard that and enjoy Euphemia’s growing relationship with the awful Richenda, which is great fun. Then Death in theLoch, which takes the characters back to the Highlands with Rory and Bertram at each other’s throats and plenty of government skulduggery.

The Gathering Murders, Keith Moray: Okay start, though I very much dislike being told the make and model of every vehicle that appears. And is the Padre Church of Scotland? I think they might take issue with him offering the last rites, if so. However, the setting is rather pleasant and the lead characters are quite appealing. I was slightly puzzled by the ‘village green on the hill above the town’! but it’s a gentle and amusing book for the most part. – the ending, however, stretched credulity a bit.

Other editions

Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Golden Samovar, Olga Wojtas; An amusing twist on the current fashion for time-travelling lady investigators, often librarians. This one has a serious hang-up about The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie which is the thing that endears her to the reader through her rather irritating though funny omniscience and Morningside superiority. Her well-bred pomposity sits badly, occasionally, with her use of current slang. The setting is less familiar to me, mid 19^th century Russia, which made for a good background. Altogether an amusing book.

Other editions

Swordheart, T. Kingfisher – witty, really witty. I enjoyed tremendously this road trip romance between a middle-aged (soi-disant – she’s thirty-something) woman and an enchanted sword, with a priest called Zale and an ox-driving gnole for company. It’s a well-paced adventure, a fantasy romance, a comedy about older women, families, the law, cults … a really entertaining read.

Other editions

Douglas Skelton, Thunder Bay – good start, very emotional. The characters felt real though densely packed on a small island. The island itself I wasn’t so sure about – don’t quite know what it was but it didn’t come to life for me. But I’ll read more of this author.

Other editions

The Body in the Marsh, Nick Louth – A good sound police procedural with a nice twist that I saw coming but still enjoyed. I thought it was the first in a series but it turns out to be later than that – nevertheless it was perfectly readable as a standalone.

Worst Case Scenario, Helen Fitzgerald: This is a funny but quite a stressful read, taken from the point of view of a parole officer who has submitted her resignation and is trying to sustain a long-distance relationship with her husband in Australia while also keeping in touch with her son, annoyingly consorting with someone involved in her current high-profile wife-murdering case. So often I found myself yelling ‘No! Don’t be so stupid!’ as her whole life tumbles into chaos – her own fault, in so many ways, but still you want to hug her and drag her away from it all.

Other editions

Death Stalks Kettle Street, John Bowen: A cosy with a conscience. We have a lead character with mild cerebral palsy, and another with bad OCD, and both conditions are rather well and sympathetically described. But it’s not a heavy book – Beth is attending a writing workshop with a famous author who has produced nothing for years, while Greg is receiving odd warnings, or clues, about the next in a series of local murders – both of them think that something is a bit suspicious, but how could it be in ordinary lives when they have other things to think about, like Greg’s horrible therapist and Beth’s crush on the famous author? Mind you, I’d like to distinguish between ‘ravish’ and ‘ravage’ here. The plot leads us up one or two garden paths before we reach the dramatic conclusion, made all the more convincing by very good preparation.

A Breath on Dying Embers followed, with some serious personal traumas for Jim Daley with his awful wife Liz, and a more prominent part for his boss, Carrie Symington, whom I like – and interesting consequences for Brian Scott. A very good read as usual, with a bit of a cliffhanger ending – roll on the next book!