Book previews, detective, new releases, reviews

Bonus Review: Death at the Spirit Lounge

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Jess Kidd’s first book about ex-nun Nora Breen was a BotW back in March, and as I mentioned at the time I managed to get the second via NetGalley and read it straight away. And so to mark the release, I’ve got a bonus review for you today.

Cover of Murder at the Spirit Lounge

We re-join ex-nun Nora in Gore-on-Sea where a famous medium has arrived in town. Doreen Chimes’s séance are invite only and Inspector Rideout has been invited to one. But when the guests are assembled and the séance begins the medium dies and other guests are soon dead too. Nora starts to investigate – even though Rideout tells her not to – to try and catch a serial killer before Rideout becomes the next victim.

I mentioned in my review of the previous book that I really enjoyed watching Nora discover who she is now she’s not in the convent and that process of self discovery continues in this. The mystery is good, but the characters are almost better – with Nora and Rideout bickering, as well as the regulars at the boarding house and Hosmer. The post-World War II setting also works really well, with the seediness and shabbiness of a seaside town conjuring a distinct atmosphere. I really really loved it, and I can’t wait for the next one. My only regret is that I read it in March ahead of a May release – and so I’ve got even longer to wait for book three. There were some characters from book one who didn’t make a reappearance in book two, which I hope means they will pop up again in a future book, because there are certainly some unanswered questions left at the end of this.

I got my copy from NetGalley as I said at the top, but it’s out today in hardback and actually came out on Tuesday in Kindle and Kobo. It should be fairly easy to get hold of because I’ve seen the first one all over the place.

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Cold War-set mysteries

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After Beattie Cavendish and the Highland Hideaway was a book of the Week in January, I’ve been on a little run of other historical mysteries with a Cold War or spy setting. And as you could see from yesterday’s BotW post that’s now culminated in my finally getting around to reading the John le Carré books I have in the backlog. But those of course were written contemporaneously to the events they depict (pretty much) so for this post I’m talking about historical mysteries – aka the stuff that’s been written recently but is set in that time period. And I am starting to wonder if a 1950s setting is the new trend in historical mysteries, taking over from the interwar period. But maybe I’m just spotting more of them because I’m looking for them at the moment? Anyway to the reviews:

Mrs Spy by M J Rowbotham*

As far as everyone else knows, Maggie Flynn is a widowed single mum who moved back in with her mother after her husband’s death. But she’s actually an MI5 operative, following in the footsteps of her husband whose work in the world of spies she only discovered after his death. But when she is assigned to guard a Russian defector for the day, she discovers that he knew her husband and suspects his death was because he was betrayed by someone he thought was on his side. So she sets out to discover what really happened to him while keeping it a secret from her teenage daughter who is more concerned about whether her mum can get her Beatles tickets. Maggie’s job is mostly observation and surveillance rather than derring do so when she finds herself conducting her own operations it’s a steep learning curve for her. This took me a little while to get into mostly because it took me a while to twig that it was meant to be humourous as well as murderous, but once I did I found this really readable. I liked the references to Bond films and other spy thrillers and Maggie is an engaging heroine and the good news is that this has a sequel out in the summer.

Under Admiralty Arch by S J T Riley*

This is the third in a series featuring newspaper crime reporter Robert Lynnford in the early 1950s. I read the first in the series a couple of years ago and thought that it was a good mystery albeit witha lot of plot but didn’t do the best job at explaining some of the background and details (sort of the reverse of an info dump problem!) but didn’t realise that when I requested it from NetGalley. Still it was nice to drop in again to see what’s changed. And actually there are some similar issues here – the plot is very complicated, with a big cast of characters that can get a bit confusing because there’s not a lot of detail to differentiate them from each other. But the underlying mystery is interesting and I wanted to see who did it. This is definitely going more towards the adventure-mystery end of the genre, with plenty of car chases and more than a few fights.

The Queen Who Came in From The Cold by S J Bennett

In the fifth the H M The Queen Investigates series, it is 1961 and preparations are underway for a state visit to Italy on the Royal Yacht Britannia. But before the trip, there is a visit to Lancashire to accomplish. On the royal train up though a guest claims to have witnessed a murder through the window. The Queen and her assistant private secretary Joan start to investigate and find themselves tangled up in all sorts of Cold War plotting. This is the second book in the series that has been set in the past, and we find ourselves a couple of years after that previous instalment (early 60s compared to late 50s) and the world is changing fast. The Soviets are on the brink of winning the space race and there as spies being uncovered all over the place. So it’s fitting that this is a spy related story – complete with references to James Bond novels and Stephen Ward. I enjoyed this a lot – it’s a fun world to spend some time in and even better (in my mind) now we’re back in the past.

And that’s your lot for today. There was another on recent read that could have been included in this – but it would have been a bit of a spoiler for the resolution. But again, it would be a spoiler to tell you which one! But this is a very good opportunity to mention that there is a new H M the Queen Investigates coming in October called Death on the Royal Yacht which is very good news indeed.

Happy Humpday!

Book of the Week, first in series, Thriller

Book of the Week: Call for the Dead

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Happy Tuesday everyone, and I’m kicking off a slightly espionage themed week here on the blog with a thriller that’s an absolute classic of the genre.

Cover of Call for the Dead

A Call for the Dead is the first novel that features John le Carré’s most famous creation. When a civil servant kills himself after being the subject of a routine security check, George Smiley finds himself in the firing line as the person who carried out said security check. In order to dodge the finger of blame from his boss, Maston, Smiley begins his own investigation into the death. He’s warned off the case – but that evening receives a letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans know more about this than Circus think? Smiley is determined to find out.

Le Carré is said to have created Smiley as an antidote to James Bond – rather than glamorous women and high octane chases, Smiley’s Circus is a world of anonymous men doing paperwork and following routine. But although that might sound boring, what is on the page is compulsively page turning as you try to work out what on earth is going on. I read this and went straight on to the next book in the series, A Murder of Quality, which is completely different in terms of what Smiley is investigating, but just as good. And fortunately for me I had the third book waiting for me when I finished the second. Because of course this is one of those situations where I have been buying up the books when they appear in Kindle sales (because I enjoyed Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy so much) and then not getting around to reading them. But clearly this is the time to remedy that – it’s a classic for a reason. And it’s not a particularly long classic either – it’s under 200 pages but so much happens in it and it packs such a punch that it feels like a much longer book. So good.

You don’t need me to tell you how easy this is to get hold of – it was published in 1961 and it has been in print ever since in various iterations, including as a Penguin Classic. It’s available in every format, including as an audiobook written by the peerless Simon Russell Beale.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 11 – May 17

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Happy Monday everyone. I hope you used your weekend as wisely as I did – with a trip to see my sister and her family where we watched three episodes of Rivals, all of Eurovision and I read a lot of stories to a toddler. And despite all that, my reading list is still pretty good. Yay me?!

Read:

Major Bricket and the Body in the Bell Tower by Simon Brett*

Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh

Murphy’s Law by Rhys Bowen

Henry VII by Seam Cunningham

Call for the Dead by John le Carré

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

A Murder of Quality by John le Carré

A Piece of Justice by Jill Paton Walsh

Started:

A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Catching a Killer by F H Petford*

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

Three books bought – the rest of the Imogen Quy series, one of which I’ve already ready!

Bonus picture: There are a couple of new coffee shops on my walk to work, one of which has this board outside for fairy bread matcha. I’m tempted to try it except for three things: i don’t like coffee, I’m not sure i like matcha and it feels like it might be super sweet. But it looks so pretty!

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

book adjacent, streaming, tv

Not a Book: Capote vs The Swans

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It’s only taken two years, but I’ve finally managed to watch Feud season 2 – Capote and the Swans. After having checked Disney+ for it for ages with no joy, suddenly when I was on there the other weekend there it was. When that happend for the UK, who knows, but the fact remains it has and now I have watched it.

This is an eight episode series based on Laurence Leamer’s book Capote’s Women, which I read back in early 2024 when this originally dropped in the US in preparation for watching this series – expecting to arrive way sooner than it has! Capote is played by British actor Tom Hollander, following in the footsteps of Philip Seymour Hoffman who won an Oscar for playing him in 2005’s Capote and Toby Jones in 2006’s Infamous. And the rest of the cast is incredibly starry – the main Swans are Naomi Watts (Babe), Diane Lane is (Slim), Chloe Sevigny (C Z) and Calista Flockheart (Lee) with Demi Moore and Jessica Lange also in the cast.

For me it’s always interesting to see how a work of non-fiction is turned into a drama – particularly an episodic drama, where you need to have cliff hangers and peaks and troughs to keep the audience watching. I had a couple of issues with the book – the omission of a couple of the swans and the non linear nature of the book, which deals with the Swans mainly one at a time so it is fairly easy to lose track of where in time you are. And if anything this is even less linear than the book was – jumping backwards and forwards between before and after Capote publised the article that exploded his relationship with the women. And that’s the problem with it. You don’t really get to know – or understand – the women’s relationship with Truman or even why they found him so alluring before he blows it all up (so to speak).

The outfits are fabulous and it looks beautiful but somehow – despite some great performances – it struggles to hold your interest. I watched it across a couple of days but that was because I wasn’t feeling very well and wanted some mindless TV to watch rather than because I was obsessed with it and desperate to see what happened next if that makes sense. There is so much drama in the story that it’s telling – but I wanted more of the women and less of maudlin drunken Truman and his terrible abusive boyfriend – even if Russell Tovey is doing a great job of playing the boyfriend.

So if you’ve got your Disney+ subscription turned back on for the new series of Rivals, then this isn’t a bad option for wiling away the time before the next episode drops, but it’s not one to take a subscription out for. And perhaps that’s the real reason it took so long to turn up to watch in the UK!

Have a great Sunday.

The pile

Books Incoming: Mid-May 2026 edition

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I’m not going to lie, this was looking a lot less substantial until the last week – and there’s still a book missing from this because my copy of Star Shipped is still at my mum and dad’s waiting for me to pick it up. Anyway, two of these are already off the pile as you know – because the Richard Osman and the Tom Bower were my airport purchases and I read them on the holiday. So what of the rest. Well the Rainbow Rowell was a pre-order so almost doesn’t count as it was ordered back when Waterstones had that big pre-order offer on back in October – and I still have two books from that order to come. One of which is the final Thursday Next book* which is now expected in mid-October but it does have a cover so it’s edging closer – and of course you can also see here the first Thursday book. Now you may be thinking “doesn’t Verity already own a copy of The Eyre Affair” and yes, yes I do. In paperback and on audio. But this is the 25th anniversary edition – with annotations from the author. According to Jasper Fforde’s instagram, it’s about 8,000 words of annotations. And given that I’m going to re-read the whole series before the final book doesn’t it make sense to read the version of the first ones with the annotations? Certainly all the people I messaged in my indecision over this (full price hardback) purchase agreed with me.

Also bought at the same time is Crime Rangoon, which is the latest Noodle Shop mystery. These are so hard to get copies of in the UK in physical copies or on Kindle at any sort of sensible price that I just couldn’t help myself. More on *where* I bought them next week. The S G MacLean was my purchase at Word on the Water – which actually turned out to be a four book afternoon as I wandered my way back from there via four other bookshops – it would have been five, but I arrived at one just as they flipped the sign over to closed because it was six o’clock. Sad times for me, but potentially a good thing for my walley and my shoulder as by that point I had the Dorothy Dunnett and the Donna Leon in my (not very big) shoulder bag along with the S G MacLean – and soon added the Jill Paton Walsh too.

I would say that that was when I stopped because four books plus a purse, plus a kindle was plenty enough, but I did go to two more bookshops (including Waterstones Gower Street) after that so I’d be lying. And it was only the fullness of bag and the realisation that I was going to have to fess up to all of this when I wrote this post that stopped a couple more purchases! I did have a lovely time though – even if it has undone all the work that I had been doing on reducing the size of the actual pile. I had nearly got rid of the front overspill pile, but that’s now back up to the size of the two behind it. Oops.

Happy Saturday

not a book, streaming

Out Today: Rivals Series 2!

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Happy Friday everyone – a bit of a break in the normal order of things today because the first part of the second season of Rivals has arrived on Disney+ (or Hulu if you’re in the US) today. You will remember how much I loved the first series when that came out in 2024 (I think I’ve watched the whole thing nearly three times now) and I’ve been so excited for the new series. I fully intend to spend my weekend watching as much of this as Eurovision and other life commitments permits because I can’t wait to how they carry everything on. I mean I’ve read Rivals so I know how that turns out but there isn’t enough of the plot of that left to do another whole season let alone a season which is four episodes longer than the first. There’s a lot of polo-playing in the trailer and the next book in the series is Polo so they may be including some of that in this I guess – although there’s not a lot of Rupert and co in that – or I guess they could be doing their own thing and expanding the world out in their own direction. Either way, I can’t wait.

Book previews

Out Today: New Emma Straub

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UK cover of American Fantasy

This one has been out in the US for about a month now, but the new novel from Emma Straub is out in the UK today. American Fantasy is set on a cruise for fans of a 90s boyband, where thousands their now grown up fans are on a ship with all five band members. One of the cruisers is Annie who’s really only there to keep her sister happy, but reconnects with a part of herself that she’s forgotten and (per the blurb) “By the time she meets one of the band members—not just a celebrity but someone in need of a friend—she has accessed a new sense of possibility.” If this is going where I think it might be going, it’s joining a number of books along the same lines in the last few years – but this being Emma Straub I could be completely off base with where this ends up. So I’m looking forward to reading it, and expecting to see it in the shops quite a lot.

books on offer, Recommendsday

Recommensday: May 2026 Kindle Offers

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It’s the second Wednesday of May and so we’re back to Kindle offers and the post that is traditionally the most expensive for me to write in any given month!

OK, lets start with a recent BotW Katherine Center’s The Love Haters, which is 99p, as is the first Tuga book Welcome to Glorious Tuga and given that book two is out in paperback next month I wouldn’t be surpised to see a price drop on that in June. There’s also the third Emmy Lake book, Mrs Porter Calling, the middle Kiss Quotient book The Bride Test and for £2.89 you can pick up Love and Other Brain Experiments which was a BotW back in March.

Also in romances that I’ve read, there’s Sarah Adam’s When in Rome which has a very Taylor Swift-figure goes to small town and falls in love vibe about it, but which was a little too New Adult for my tastes and then there is Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail from Ashley Herring Blake‘s Bright Falls series which I liked a lot more.

Among the recent releases there’s the new Kate Claybourn Paris Match, and the new Cat Sebastian Star Shipped which I would totally be buying if I didn’t already own a copy (even if the copy is at my parents. In other books waiting on the TBR shelf there’s Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time, the sequel to The Maid, The Mystery Guest; S J Paris’s Traitor’s Legacy and last year’s Ashley Poston Sounds Like Love,

In mystery there is recent release A Murder in Eight Cocktails; the first Ruth Galloway book The Crossing Places; the third Canon Clement Murder at the Monastery; the Rivers of London novella, What Abigail did that Summer; the third Three Dahlias book, Seven Lively Suspects; the first in Simon Brett’s latest series Major Bricket and the Circus Corpse ahead of the release of the sequel later this month; the third Cesare Aldo Ritual of Fire; the third Grave Expectations book, The Grapples of Wrath; the first Flavia De Luce book The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – presumably to coincide with the new TV adaptation and there’s also the latest Hamish MacBeth, Death of a Groom and a much earlier one The Death of a Glutton as well as the second Agatha Raisin The Vicious Vet.

In other fiction, there is Curtis Sittenfeld‘s Prep; the third Cazalet Chronicle, Confusion and The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House which was a featured review a looooong time ago (in a time before BotWs I think). In non-fiction there’s Kate Moore’s The Radium Girls; the Spinal Tap ‘memoir’ A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever; Dan Jones‘s The Hollow Crown and Ronan Farrow‘s Catch and Kill.

In things I bought while writing the post there is the first in Rhys Bowen‘s Molly Murphy series, Murphy’s Law; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold which I have been eyeing up in bookshops since the stage version was on in the West End at the start of the year; The Chinese Gold Murders which likewise I have been eyeing up in bookshops for a while; Nancy Goldstone’s The Rebel Empresses (likewise) and Mark Galeotti’s A Short History of Russia. And surely that is enough for this month…

Happy Humpday!

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: The Wyndham Case

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It’s Tuesday again and I’m continuing my pattern of picking a mystery for Book of the Week fifty percent of the time this year! I was going to say every other week, but it’s not strictly every other week, it does go in patches – a couple of mysteries, a couple of romances, one mystery, one romance – you get the pictures. Anyway: The Wyndham Case.

St Agatha’s College, Cambridge has a collection of books donated to them in the seventeenth century. Unfortunately the books are now completely uninteresting to scholars and come with a lot of strings attached. And on this particular morning they also have a dead body lying in front of them. Imogen Quy is one of the first on the scene in her role as college nurse and isn’t convinced with the idea that it was suicide – or that the dead student was stealing books. And then another student is found dead in the college fountain.

I have been wanting to read the Imogen Quy series for a while, after enjoying Jill Paton Walsh’s Wimsey continuations and during my wanderings post-Word on the Water last week (more on this on Saturday) I bought this. And I’m so glad I did because I really enjoyed it and it was a proper one sitting read for me. In the introduction to that first Wimsey continuation, Paton Walsh mentions that Gaudy Night was one of the reasons why she wanted to go to Oxford and she’s done a really good job in this of creating her on fictional college, this time in Cambridge (which is where she lived). The mystery is pretty good and the collection of students that you encounter feels pretty realistic for the time that it was written (early 1990s). My mum was a solicitor at one point in her life – and she’s done a lot of fundraising over the years, so the complicated bequest of the Wyndham collection was particularly appealing to me as well.

There are four books in this series – and the bad news for the to-read pile is that I know that the bookshop I bought this from has the next two in the series, and it’s pretty easy for me to get back there in the not to distant future! I’m not telling you which bookshop it is in case you get there before me, because I don’t think they’re strictly in print anymore but they seem to be fairly easy to get second hand. And they’re also in Kindle, Kobo and on audio too.

Happy Reading!