Picking up The Janus Stone was such a relief – I was reading natural English with a sense of place that made me feel fully at home again. It was after the Victorian style of The Princess and Curdie and
Book Review | The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
I have every sympathy with anyone facing a ‘celebration’ they do not wish to celebrate, and who climbs out of the (ground floor) bedroom window to escape from it. Like Water For Elephants, the protagonist is an elderly man in
Book Review: Frankie Dupont And The Mystery Of Enderby Manor
Frankie Dupont has a letter in his pocket. It may tell him the result of his PI exam. He so wants to be a PI like his dad. But Dad is away and his cousin Kat has gone missing. Who
Book Review: The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis
If you haven’t discovered Lindsey Davis’s delightful informer (which is what a private investigator is called in Ancient Rome) Marcus Didius Falco, then you’ve missed a treat. I’ve read 14 out of the 20 she has written (I gather there’s
Norwich Crimewriting Festival
This looks like something I should get involved with! A New Crime Writing Festival in Norwich, UNESCO City of Literature 10 – 14 September 2014 A deadly new festival of crime writing is coming to No(i)rwich this September in an
W for Whiskey – Whiskey Rebellion in fact
Saturdays mean book reviews here, so knowing that W is for Whiskey in the NATO alphabet I set out to find a suitable book for the A to Z Challenge. I was tempted to search out Whiskey Galore, which is
Book Review: Death by Ice Cream by Rebecca M Douglass
Regular readers of this blog will know that Rebecca M Douglass is the author of The Ninja Librarian and Return to Skunk Corners, both of which have been reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed by me! Now Rebecca has leapt firmly into
Book Review: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
The Crossing Places opens on an archaelogical dig where the protagonist, Dr Ruth Galloway, discovers a body – but it is an Iron Age body preserved in the peat of the saltmarsh. Not all the bodies in this book are
Book Review: Shirley Link and the Safe Case by Ben Zackheim
Move over Sam Spade, there’s a new detective in town! Most reviewers suggest she’s Veronica Mars for grade-schoolers, but since I don’t know Veronica Mars I bow to their superiority and just say Shirley Link rocks! Some years ago there
Book Review: The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri
Since I have another book review scheduled for next Wednesday, which is Kid Lit Blog Hop day and the first day of a Blog Tour by Julie Grasso, I thought I’d nip over to the more adult books on my
Book Review: Sinfandel by Gina Cresse
This is a crime novel suitable for mid teens upwards. There’s no sex and no graphic violence but I can’t imagine younger teens would enjoy it (except for the raccoons). Gina Cresse’s Sinfandel is a murder mystery thriller set in
Book Review: Vigilante by Claude Bouchard
This is not a children’s book – it’s a crime novel, and the crimes are pretty violent. The first in the Barry/McCall series, it introduces us to Dave McCall, police investigator with a problem, and Chris Barry, Executive Vice President
Book Review: Red Hot and Dead by Nora Barker
This is not a children’s book but would be fine for older children and teens. Dr Chris Connery, Director of the Division of Fine Arts at Midstate University, is no stranger to police investigations. But when her Ceramics teacher comes