Five Go…Parenting? If you’re at all familiar with Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books, then the title above is likely to give you pause. I’ve not spotted these in the shops (which tells me I’ve spent too little time browsing books lately!) but I imagine they occupy a similar POS to the new Ladybird ‘How it […]
‘New name. New family. Shiny. New. Me.’ People talk about the relative influences of nature vs nurture. But what if both influences were disturbingly malign throughout your childhood? Could you still forge a new path? If there are good and bad wolves inside each of us, which will win in the battle for supremacy? Annie […]
Trust. Love. Honesty. These are all important ingredients in a happy marriage. You might think all those ingredients are present in your marriage, but could you be deceiving yourself? What if you couldn’t trust your favourite person in the world? This is Iris’ dilemma in Kimberley Belle’s suspenseful third novel, ‘The Marriage Lie’. What’s it […]
I’ve always enjoyed fiction written in, about or around the Victorian period. This means I was delighted to discover Octavius Guy, known as ‘Octopus’ to his friends, developing his detective skills in a convincingly imagined Victorian London. Author Michael Gallagher has published two mysteries following Octopus’ adventures and the third instalment in the series, ‘Big […]
Last year David Young published his superb debut novel, ‘Stasi Child’. It’s a thrilling mixture of crime, history and mystery, featuring a cast of fascinating characters placed in dangerous political situations. I loved it – and wrote about it here and here – and I wasn’t alone: it became an e-book and then a paperback bestseller, and its author has since graced many a […]
Sometimes it’s good to read something a little different. Having enjoyed a range of psychological crime fiction lately, I was in the mood to try something different when I spotted ‘The Food of Love’ by Amanda Prowse. What’s it about? Freya and her husband, Lockie, are happily married with two teenage daughters. Both are creative […]
Some books you choose; some books choose you. ‘The Lonely Life of Biddy Weir’ chose me; there’s no doubt about that. It wasn’t a book that held an immediate appeal for me, perhaps because the slightly odd name of the protagonist suggested a dated storyline, perhaps because of the floral cover design, or perhaps simply […]
I’ve no idea how this came to feature on my book group’s *crime* reading list this year. And I ought to: I wrote the list. Despite my bewilderment regarding how this slipped into the crime category, I did enjoy reading it and did finish it. I’m not sure how many members of my book group will be […]
Grief is a challenging topic for any novelist to explore. This is presumably even more pertinent when the novel involved is your debut and the grief involved was once your own. Mary McCluskey, journalist and short-story writer, tackles this subject with knowledge and care in her subtle portrait of a couple whose marriage is struggling […]
What does it take to make a man kill? Prosecutor Teodor Szacki is forced to discover some difficult truths in this stunning conclusion to Zygmunt Miloszewski’s loosely connected trilogy. This works perfectly as a standalone novel, exploring the work of prosecutors in Poland, contemporary social attitudes towards domestic abuse and the true driving forces behind […]