December was, of course, quite busy, but a few books managed to get themselves read in the cracks in the corners (a shame books aren't quite so quick to get themselves written, but there we are!). Anyway, the snow's on the ground (here, anyway) so see if you can find yourself a good read or two to keep you cosy.
Cecilia Peartree, Death at the Pavilion: another in this excellent and
entertaining series set in the dysfunctional town of Pitkirtly and featuring an
entire population full of aversions and complex self-confidence issues. Most of
our characters by now have rich histories and it’s easy to feel at home even
with retired spies and murder suspects. I hope this will not be the last we’ll
see of Amaryllis and Christopher.
Simon Bond, Mrs. Pargeter’s Public Relations: This was a great ending to
the huge box set … the explanations of UK terms to US readers at the end was, shall
we say, idiosyncratic.
Veronica Heley, Murder by Accident: Another entertaining tale (and not
quite as dark as the previous episode), with the usual tensions – will the
dreadful Diana get the upper hand? Will the subservient Stewart stand up for
himself? Problems with the electrics cause more than one shock before the usual
satisfying ending.
Gareth Williams, Rescuing Richard: This is such rich fare it needs to be
read a little at a time, absorbing the wonderful historical detail and the fine
African setting. The complex and political plot takes him eventually to London
in the company of a Zulu chief to visit King George IV. Extremely interesting and authoritatively written.
Wendy M. Wilson, Recalled to Life: The second in this unusual series set in late 19th century New Zealand, with a retired English soldier set up as a private investigator in a town part Maori and part Swedish. Hardy has been arrested by the unpredictable Armed Constabulary for no reason he can establish, until it begins to seem the roots lie in his army service in India. A bit of me was intrigued by the Tale of Two Cities reference in the title, but this doesn't seem to go anywhere, sadly.
Jodi Taylor, Doing Time: My first in the spin-off Time Police series –
Max’s son Matthew joins up, for complex reasons, and is teamed up with a timid
soul on the run from her grandmother and a brash young man hoping to be thrown out to prove a point to his
wealthy father. The characters are of course more complex than that, and we
watch them develop through their training and against a background very
different from St. Mary’s.
Jodi Taylor, Hard Time: Our Team Weird are in action again, sent on a
dreadfully dangerous assignment before their training is properly complete.
Extremely witty, tense and moving, this series is just as good as Taylor’s
other books – not sure why I’d been avoiding it!
Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club: I’d only heard chunks of this
on Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime when it first came out, so decided to give a
proper chance. Of course I wasn’t keen on the present tense, never am for a
narrative, but otherwise I enjoyed it quite well, even if I found it – perhaps
it sounds stupid to say far-fetched in a cosy mystery, but yes, I thought it
stretched credulity a touch too far. There are similar series I prefer and I
wondered if Osman was trying to stuff too much into a cosy plot. Still, I’d
probably read another one.
David Gatward, Blood Fountain: Another very good episode in this series
with a couple of gory murders and, for a while, yet another dog. I miss Gordy (now
down in Somerset) from the team, but the setting is still magnificent and the
humour very welcome.
Hm, someone needs to update their covers online! David Gatward, Hatchet Hill: The second in Gordy’s spin-off series set
in Somerset, and this is even gorier than Blood Fountain. The team is slowly
building up steam and the addition of retired consultant Jameson is a good one.
There were a couple of things I wasn’t so keen on in this one, one aspect that
was a bit predictable (and that I would not have expected from this author) and
one point that I felt could have been followed up again (but perhaps I was
over-thinking that). Anyway, a good solid read and I hope to be back for more.
Rhys Dylan, A Body of Water: A man stabbed on the driveway of his remote
Welsh farmhouse starts us off on another episode of this very good series,
giving us plenty of examples of why one might want to retreat to the back of
beyond. But what happened to the victim’s hens??
Carmen Radtke, Murder Makes Waves: The glamorous setting of a cruise
ship heading for London gets us off to a good start, and I liked the way
Frances’ involvement with the ship’s entertainment allowed us to see two levels
of shipboard life. The plot is light and fun and Frances, Jack and Sal are so
likeable it’s good to spend time with them. But what next, now they’ve arrived
in Europe?
Ben Aaronovitch, Amongst Our Weapons: It’s a while since I’d read one of
these so this was a bit of a Christmas treat to myself, and despite its length
I whizzed through it. Pete’s narrative voice is really strong and very funny with
his sarcastic asides about policing and architecture, and the whole mad world
of the Rivers of London (one of whom is, of course, his girlfriend) is a rich,
crazy delight with enough links to real life to make it weirdly convincing. I
particularly like the talking foxes, but there’s so much here to enjoy that,
apart from one uncharacteristic Latin error, it’s hard to fault it at all.
There we are, not too many to choose from! And as regards the very belated The Gowden Wifie (Alec Cattanach II) I can tell you that I've just reached the end of Chapter 44 (out of 50), and I'm pressing on, so perhaps there's hope!
