You might think this story is about a ring. That’s only the lure. It’s a story about deception, myth, manipulation and family feuds, and it positively seethes with blackmail and corruption. What’s the story? Tim Harding agrees to do a favour for a friend by bidding on his behalf at an auction for an ancient […]
Last year I reviewed the beautifully handled debut novel that is G. J. Minett’s The Hidden Legacy. A short while later I had the pleasure of quizzing the author about his work, which at that point had been published as an ebook by Twenty7. As of today, it’s also available in paperback, so whether you liked the […]
So. Why retell Austen at all? Having read and reviewed Joanna Trollope’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (mildly amusing but ultimately unconvincing) and Val McDermid’s ‘Northanger Abbey’ (much more entertaining but still a little daft in places), I’m fast reaching the conclusion that it’s purely in order to shift a few books with minimum effort by appealing to […]
What drives a sane person to murder? Prosecutor Teodor Szacki is about to find out. What’s it about? When bones are discovered in a bunker in Olsztyn, everyone assumes they’re relics from the German occupation of Poland, but it soon transpires that the bones are actually fresh, and that their chemical removal began when their […]
It’s any parent’s greatest fear: losing their child. Unfortunately, such a devastating loss can also lead to couples losing each other, and that’s certainly the case with Lola and Duncan Drummond, the married couple at the center of Colette Dartford’s debut novel ‘Learning to Speak American’. What’s it about? Since they lost their young daughter, […]
It seems many journalists harbour a desire to branch out into fiction. Today on Buried Under Books I’m privileged to be interviewing journalist and prize-winning short-story writer turned debut novelist Mary McCluskey about her emotionally complex novel, ‘Intrusion’. In this dark and psychologically acute tale, a once happily-married couple are struggling to cope with the […]
I’m always a little dubious when I’m told that ‘only’ one person can join the dots. What, exactly, makes DS Aector McAvoy so special that he is the only police officer able to see a connection between three seemingly disparate murders? It seems to be his conscience and a determination, sadly not shared by all […]
Jane Austen knew what she was doing when she made the relationship between sisters central to her novels. Elizabeth Bennet needs Jane’s gentle reminders that people are capable of more than Lizzy is minded to give them credit for, and Jane needs periodic, pragmatic dousing with Lizzy’s realism. Marianne and Elinor are even more obviously […]
Stag nights have changed significantly over the years. No longer just an opportunity for a drink or three down the local boozer with your best mates, nowadays stag dos – and their not-to-be-outdone female companion, hen dos – and more likely to see the potential groom flying off to Prague or Amsterdam with every male […]
I’ve admitted before that I like to read books about babies / children / parenting. After all, the perfect way to spend my child-free time is to read about how to parent children, right? As you can tell from the rather fluorescent cover image depicting a ‘busy’ mum, this is quite an old book (first […]