Reviews and Comments

I re-read this book today, not for the first time, and it was a joy. Again. Easy to read, with an enjoyable cast of characters led by a feisty first person heroine, lots of laughs, several mysteries, and overall just good. It's the first of a series, all of which I enjoyed the first time around.

I loved the Thursday Murder Club books but this one seemed contrived. Had a plot device that just didn't work and characters I really didn't like, unlike TMC. Didn't finish it.

"The Maid" was one of my two favourite books of 2023 and so I was worried how this would compare but it's a fine follow up with a more coherent plot, an excellent back story, and some nice touches. It also signals a possible way forward for Molly in another book if Nita Prose wants to take her that way.

Alex (Barney) Barnaby was a little Evanovich side project around the time Stephanie Plum reached book ten, and it's understandable that she wanted another heroine but this one is ... a bit thin to be honest. The NASCAR theme gets boring fast, there's little made made of Barney's motor skills, and the plot is flaky ... even compared to a Stephanie Plum. There was a second novel, and two graphic novels, but it ran out of steam and I'm not surprised.

Despite being "A Strafford and Quirke Murder" the latter is conspicuous by his absence but this strange and haunting book is really rather fine. A plot very much of its time and place, with a lot left unsaid, and it is very dark but it's well written (and I polished it off in only two days, which is a bit of a giveaway).

Manages to swing an unlikely plot around to a plausible conclusion with a likeable set of characters and some nice sub-plots.

A collection of serialised short stories written by pTerry in the early 70s, mainly in the 'Western Daily Press' and mainly using the name Patrick Kearns. You can see how his style is developing towards the early Discworld novels and they're an amusing read.

... but I struggled to find this. I got 288 pages (out of 470) into this book and finally gave up. The thing that finally put me over the edge was that the author seemed to forget one of the plot elements, without any explanation, but I was already losing interest in it. Our hero seems ... well, just unlikely. She's not thrown by things which should throw her, she accepts things at face value when she shouldn't. And this against a background cast of characters which seemed equally unlikely.

... quite literally. Chapter 1 is essentially "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" but viewed from a member of the writers' room and I enjoyed that. A lot. Chapter 2 is an exchange of emails and that's a writing style I've always struggled with, but at least it's fairly short. Chapter 3 is, in truth, predictable but fine.

It's chick lit, but there's nothing wrong with that from where I'm reading, it's also set, in its second and third chapters, against the background of full on Covid and it's the first book I've read where it is a vital plot point. It's also, in truth, a bit predictable but it was fun, and it was easy to read, but I can't imagine me ever reading it again.

A fictionalised memoir of a troop commander of three Churchill tanks describing their exploits in the run up to D-Day through to VE day.

It's well written and it's undramatic, but you're left with a clear impression of what it was like for the soldiers of Five Troop with, like all proper war memoirs, a lot of sitting about and only the odd skirmish.

Well worth a read.

On the cover it claims to be about "How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War" but it's really not that.

What actually happens is that Murray picks a selection of officers, mainly pretty senior and all army, and spends a chapter on each.

Out of that comes a lot of interesting stories. For example Monty on VD is a fascinating interlude but you actually learn little about Monty in general. And that's often the way. Murray is having to pick little episodes out of each officer's life and run with that and I didn't really feel he came to any real conclusion.

But overall it works pretty well, and it certainly left me wanting to know more about some of the characters and also more about the subjects that the book wander into. So a worthwhile read.

First of a series of books introducing us to Miss Clara Vale, a very modern young woman who in 1929 is finding her way through the social morays of the era while discovering a new life as a private detective in Newcastle.

A pleasant read with a likeable central character and a good supporting cast. It's all a bit superficial, but it was enjoyable and provided an easy start to 2024.

The king of humorous Florida crime stories is back with another excellent tale in which, inevitably, Skink makes an appearance in the end. This is recent too, being set just post Covid, and it also includes a president and first lady who, although never named, are clear loosely based on Donald and Melania Trump.

An enjoyable read and a lot of fun.