‘Every contact leaves a trace.’ This is the Locard Exchange Principle and it’s the fundamental building block of what we term ‘forensics’. In this neatly presented book, talented crime writer Val McDermid explores the development of forensic science and its applications in solving real life crime. What’s it about? McDermid explores the interaction of justice […]
‘Shakespeare translated…vandalised, brutalised and outright demolished…Why? Because we can.’ Such is the bold claim made by Aaron Kite and Audrey Evans, who have ‘interpreted’ Shakespeare’s language to transform ‘Macbeth’ into what ‘a few of us think he would have written if he were still around today, and if he sat around watching a lot of […]
Secrets. All families have them. If you could choose, would you want to know your family secrets? Or would you rather seal any hints in a box you never open? This is Ellen’s dilemma. What’s it about? Mother of two, recently divorced Ellen Sutherland is stunned when she’s left a valuable Cotswold cottage in a […]
East Berlin, 1975, a murdered child, a staged crime scene. You know how sometimes you’re not completely sure about something, but you take a punt and you LOVE IT? That’s my relationship with this book. What’s it about? When Oberleutnant Karin Muller is summoned to investigate a young girl’s body, found at the foot of […]
Jasper Fforde: pioneering fictioneer. I’m not usually a fan of fantasy fiction. In fact, I actively avoid it, moving on as soon as I spot words like ‘magic’, ‘curse’ or ‘dragon’ in book descriptions and reviews. The one exception is Jasper Fforde, whose genuinely distinctive styling of comedy, fantasy, literary mash-up, satire and sci-fi is […]
Historical fiction isn’t my first choice of genre, but something about this book’s blurb appealed to me. …and the cover was lovely. (Yes, I’m afraid I do judge books by their covers, but only until I read them!) Pam Jenoff’s carefully researched novel, ‘The Last Embrace’, uses World War Two as a dramatic backdrop for […]
Today is National Poetry Day and it’s got me thinking about the value of sharing poems. Children instinctively love poems. They enjoy the rhythms, the humour, the sheer nonsense of nursery rhymes and their early introductions to poems. Then, something happens. For most older children poetry becomes academic, boring, uncool. It’s something your teacher might […]
Ghosts are trapped in the past, right? They might communicate by bashing tables, putting out the lights and throwing a few objects around, but they’re typically portrayed as very old school. Well, not in Peter James’ first ghost story, in which it seems that ghosts can text, email and generally use modern technology to bedevil […]
Endings can be incredibly powerful. An unexpected ending can completely change our perspective on what has gone before, and I have persevered with several very dull or irritating books in the hope that their endings would somehow redeem their middles. (This is doubtless because I remember finding Louis de Bernieres’ ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’ a real […]
I get very excited about meeting my favourite authors. The trouble is, when I do meet them, I become so tongue-tied I’m barely capable of requesting a signature and giving my name. Anything more – except possibly a simpering, eyes-downcast, barely audible mutter of “I love your books” – is absolutely beyond me. (My husband […]