I thought I'd already done this, then realised I hadn't! It doesn't seem that long since the December list. Again, this is a bit of a mixture with fact and fiction thrown in - something for everyone!
Cecilia Peartree, The Great Calamity: The calamity referred to is
the death of almost the entire Royal Family at Osborne House due to one of
Prince Albert’s experiments going wrong. The alternative history proposed here,
therefore, outlaws steam power and has the throne pass to the Prussians, though
the scope of the book is much more domestic. Two families who were involved in
the Calamity have parted but are now drawn together again, initially through
the deaths of family members. Though I love this author’s Pitkirtly series and
have very much enjoyed her other books, I can’t help feeling that this is her
best book yet – and there are hints at a sequel.
David
Howarth The Shetland Bus: This is the story of the organisation of
fishing boats that worked the winters of the Second World War between Shetland
and Norway, rescuing refugees and helping the resistance. Their ingenuity and
bravery is extraordinary. This is written by one of the Royal Navy officers who
worked with them and though it veers into technical realms of which I know
little, it’s still an excellent read with some good photographs, telling with
deep affection and admiration of work that I know I could never have done.
Jodi Taylor, Saving Time: Team Weird are now fully qualified
(terrifying thought) and Luke is determined to find his father guilty of
involvement in all kinds of illegal time business. Jane, meanwhile, is enjoying
an unexpected romantic interlude, and someone is going round destroying
witnesses to various time misdemeanours. Really entertaining, and you find
yourself caring deeply for the characters.
Jodi Taylor, About Time: I really didn’t expect to enjoy the Time
Police series anywhere near this much! The mystery of Jane’s past is mostly resolved,
and Luke’s relationship with his father takes an unexpected turn as the team
tries to bring the worst illegal time traveller to justice.
S.J. Richards, Change of Direction and Taken to the Hills:
A prequel to this series which is in the box set, which explains Luke
Sackville’s joining the police, and then the first in the series. By the
beginning of the book, Luke is no longer in the police but despite a disrupted
home life he is starting a new job related to security in a large financial
firm. Several women have disappeared, apparently after issues at work, and as
Luke and his new, inexperienced team begin to draw the cases together they
realise that there is more peril to come. I look forward
to getting to know the team better in the next book.
Takashi Hiraide, The Guest Cat: there’s a bit too much geography at the
beginning of this, but there is some charm to it. The author is really writing
about himself most of the time, and it’s hard to see how the cat fits in much.
It’s not a long book, but there was only so much I could stomach at a time, as
I found it not so much meditative as self-absorbed and unoriginal. Thank
goodness I finished it at last. The author refers to it as a novel, but I
couldn’t discern much in the way of plot – no doubt others love it but it was
not for me.
Denzil Meyrick, The Death of Remembrance: Brian must at last
confront his demons, but I preferred the bits set on the west coast and not the
standard Glasgow mob violence of some of the scenes. There are a surprising
number of typos in this, and in some places I found Brian intensely annoying –
maybe I just wasn’t so much in the mood, but this wasn’t my favourite of this
series. Still, it’s a good deal better than some of the stuff around just now,
and in essence I enjoyed it. The ending was a bit odd but it was better than
the rest of the book.
Ambrose Parry, Voices of the Dead: Here I am, back with one of
these, despite the fact that I don’t really like either of the main characters.
I think it’s for the plots, really, and the views of Edinburgh. One little
note, however, pleased me: a reference not to the well-worn contrast between
Old Town and New, or rich and poor Edinburgh, but the links between them that
are so much part of the city. There are some concepts which don’t sit easily in
the historical context, though I understand the authors have done some very
careful research – still, there are plenty of uses of language that jar. And
why couldn’t Raven have shopped the dentist to McLevy?
Ernest Bramah, The Complete Works: particularly the Max Carrados
short stories. I enjoyed these short stories featuring a blind detective –
clever deductions and quite witty. To be honest, I didn’t read much of the rest
of this book. It’s well-written, but it was very political and just at the
moment I wanted a bit of a break from that in my fiction reading. I think I
might well come back to it, though.
Camilla Lackberg, The Cuckoo: I haven’t read much of this series
but quite enjoyed this, the latest. The main character and those around him are
pleasant company, which can’t be said for almost anyone else in the plot (there
are about four exceptions). There’s an unbelievable level of come-uppance at
the end – in fact, an awful lot of it is unbelievable, but an entertaining
read, nonetheless.
S.G. McLean, The Winter List: For some reason this is the first
of this series I have read, but I hope it won’t be the last (I should probably
go back and read the first, in fact!). This is not my favourite historical
period but in McLean’s hands it is of course wonderful – her writing is so
accomplished, vivid and real, the characters rounded and interesting. And the
plot – well, who could want for anything more?
Celia Norman Smith, The Tales of Harry Also: Harry Also is a
rather philosophical scarecrow in a lovely vegetable garden. This is
technically a children’s book – probably better as one to be read to a child
than one for the child to read, as some of the words are a little advanced
(though some are explained as we go along). The writing and description are
beautiful and of real attraction to any child with an interest in the natural
world, but themes of birth, death and indeed torture and redemption might call
for some adult support. On the whole a rewarding read, but very hard to place.
Hans Rosling, Factfulness: Not my usual kind of read, but an
interesting one. The subtitle is ‘Ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and
why things are better than you think’. Rosling analyses, with some frightening
anecdotes, the ten instincts that cause us to believe the world is an
increasingly terrifying place: gap (believing there is a gulf between the worst
and the best, while actually most people are in the middle), negativity, straight
lines (in projected graphs), fear, size (getting things in proportion),
generalisation, destiny (forgetting that slow improvement is still
improvement), single (use more than one tool to tackle a problem), blame, and
urgency. It is a sort of reassuring book, though it’s harder to apply its
principles when the world now does actually look worse than it did when Rosling
died in 2017. I found myself trying to decide if he had been proved wrong and
things really are in a decline, or if he was being proved right by my struggle
to think otherwise.
Georgette Heyer, Death in the Stocks: I have only, and years ago,
read one of Heyer’s murder mysteries, and had thought for a long time that it
had been a one-off. I was delighted to find there were more. The Vereker
siblings are fairly repulsive and both are fully deserving of being charged
with the murder of their loathed half-brother Arnold. I didn’t care for either
of them, nor for their prospective spouses, but their solicitor, their cousin
Giles, saves the day as far as the book is concerned, being both sensible and
charming.
