It must be quite frustrating at times for a police officer reading crime fiction and thinking, ‘but that would never happen that way!’ Debut novelist Desmond P. Ryan is here to address this problem: a former Canadian detective with 30 years experience on the force behind him, he’s penned the first in a planned series […]
As the autumn chill deepens and Christmas approaches, it’s lovely to snuggle up with a hot drink and read books with a chilly setting. This is the first Anne Perry book I’ve tried, but I understand that ‘A Christmas Promise’ is the seventh in a series of Christmas themed novellas penned by the author, all […]
‘I will come for you my little boy and I will smile at you and tell you I’m your daddy and then we’ll go away together hand in hand and we’ll live happily ever after… Just you see if we don’t.’ Utterly chilling in it’s presumption, menacingly understated in it’s threat, this book jacket quotation […]
Having loved Anne Rice’s vampire series when I was in my late teens, I was very excited to be offered a copy of her new novel, ‘The Mummy’. When it arrived through the post, I was startled to see that the book was actually co-authored by Anne Rice and her son, Christopher Rice. Having now […]
‘The Dead can Wait’ is a Dr Watson thriller. Although I’ve only read a few of the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Conan Doyle, I am as fascinated as most by the great detective with his brusque manner and unerring eye for the telling detail. Perhaps it is odd that I keep finding myself reading […]
‘Reader, I murdered him.’ So begins Jane Steele’s tale, a tale which includes a multitude of elements familiar to readers of Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’: an unfairly treated orphan girl; a terrible experience at boarding school; life as a governess; falling in love with a powerful, rich man who is flawed. But, make no mistake, this […]
Sometimes, a change of reading pace is precisely what’s needed. September is bringing changes for me: two children off to school now and only my littlest lady home to kick through the leaves with me and insist that she needs my attention NOW. What better time to embrace a different, more autumnal read than the […]
When a blurb promises a huge twist, I’m wary. If I’m on the lookout for a twist, I might be disappointed when I find it. I might guess it before it arrives. I might not trust anything I read because, well, why should I? I’ve been told my assumptions will be wrong. But. When there […]
‘Again! Again!’ The men bind her again…This time they carry her into the water. This is the much anticipated follow-up to ‘The Girl on the Train’, so of course all the publicity focuses on comparing the two and declaring this book to be “even better”. If by “better” the blurb writers mean “completely different”, then […]
Schooldays. Whether you loved them or loathed them, their impact on your life can last well beyond the 13 years you actually have to attend. In her debut novel, Laura Marshall explores the after effects of one schoolgirl’s determination to get in with the in crowd – and whether we can ever really know another […]