Memory. It is vitally important to our sense of selves, and some of my favourite tales explore how it’s loss can affect us. Christopher Nolan’s film, ‘Memento’ and books including ‘The One Memory of Flora Banks’, ‘How I Lost You‘, ‘The Last Thing I Remember‘, ‘The Girl on the Train‘ and many more create powerful […]
Peter and Jane and Mummy Too: The Book. Sort of. Gill Sims is an extremely successful “mummy blogger” who maintains a Facebook page which presents the trials and tribulations of her family life to the world. It is funny. Very funny. So when I learned she had written a book, I was excited and delighted […]
I loved ‘Crimes Against a Book Group’. It’s fun, funny and sweet, featuring a cast of mostly rich characters who are about to be swindled – and enjoy it. What’s it about? Annie and Sarah are best friends with problems. Annie discovers her young son is autistic and decides she needs to pay a ton […]
Lily was dead. To begin with. Of course, Lily doesn’t realise she’s dead until the police arrive and completely ignore her, focusing instead on something behind her, which turns out to be her dead body. And it’s definitely dead: ‘I said, I’m not sure you’re going to need the defibrillator, Gary…Because her f***ing head is […]
Do you like staying up all night? If not then you should definitely start reading T. M. Logan’s second thrilling novel, ’29 Seconds’, early on in the day. This is a gripping story that combines a twisting plot with a very relevant look at the way our culture rewards predatory male behaviour. What’s it about? […]
When you realise your police investigation is going to expose your own double life… #Awkward What’s it about? DI Helen Grace is summoned to ‘The Torture Rooms’, a Southampton night club that caters for a particular clientele, to discover a murdered man bound from head to toe. As she unwraps him, she discovers she knows […]
How do you investigate a crime the Stasi don’t want you to solve? This is a problem Oberleutnant Karin Muller is familiar with. David Young’s first thrilling crime novel, ‘Stasi Child‘, saw Karin investigate the mysterious death of a teenage girl who appeared to be escaping from West to East Berlin, and ‘Stasi Wolf‘, our […]
I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Cutts at Crimefest in 2016. Listening to her talk, she was so friendly, knowledgeable and good humoured that I had to buy one of her books, which somehow over time got buried under a heap of other books. Having recently read and LOVED her fourth book, ‘Buried Secrets‘, […]
Hands up: who loves a novel with more twists than a slinky? Me! Me! Me! As long as they make sense in the wider context of the plot and characterisation, of course, which these do. Oh they do so beautifully. ‘Buried Secrets’ is the first of DC Lisa Cutts’ crime novels I have read, but […]
I think I just found a new favourite author. ‘Hide and Seek’ completely gripped my attention and I read it from cover to cover over a day and a half. It would have been even less, but I have three small children who like attention. (Did I say like? I meant insist upon.) What’s it […]