not a book, theatre, comedy

Not a Book: The Comedy About Spies

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I’m back with my second Mischief show of the year. After Thespians back in May (with an almost entirely new to Mischief cast) today I’m back with a bunch of the OGs in their latest West End show, which premiered last autumn and sold so well I didn’t manage to get to see it and now is back – and this time I was quicker with the ticketbuying finger. And I’m posting this a bit later in the day than usual, partly because I only saw it yesterday and it was a late night home and I needed time to recover but also because tonight is opening night.

It’s the early 1960s and in London a rogue secret agent has stolen plans for a top secret weapon. Hot on it’s trail are agents from the CIA and the KGB all of whom converge on the same hotel to try and track it down and steal it back. However they’re not the only people at the hotel and soon unsuspecting fellow guests are drawn into their plans including an actor preparing for an audition to play James Bond and a baker trying to work up the nerve to propose to his girlfriend. And of course because this is Mischief nothing goes to plan for anyone and it soons descends into chaos and a glorious farce.

As I said at the top this is a revival after a very successful run in the West End last summer, which I suspect might have otherwise extended then if it wasn’t for the fact that most of the cast were already lined up to do Christmas Carol Goes Wrong very soon after this closed – so close in fact that there was probably only just enough time for a holiday and rehearsals to get it up and running. This has a fresh set up and cast of characters but all of the hallmarks of Mischief’s best stuff – slapstick, physical comedy and a joke rate that hardy gives you time to finish laughing at the last joke before the next one hits. I think the second half of the first act, which has a brilliantly clever set split into quarters to make four hotel rooms, colour coded, is the high point of the show but that may be because the stunts and jokes are at their height before the second half has to bring it all to some sort of conclusion. And I did worry about how they were going to end it satisfactorily, but they managed to land it just fine. I shouldn’t have doubted them.

All of the Mischief regulars are turning in great performances, but the more I see him, the more I become convinced that Dave Hearn is the strongest and most versatile actor of all of them. He originated Max in the Cornley shows – who is distracted by the audience, frequently has a complicated love life and is gets relegated to supporting roles. He’s great here as Lance, the CIA agent, turning in a really clever performance for reasons that I can’t really explain without giving huge spoilers which would be mean.

If this sounds like your sort of show, then do try and get to see it while it’s on this summer – the set is so complicated (travelators! that giant dollshouse hotel set!) that I don’t think it would be easy to tour and I think it’s one of Mischief’s best shows in age – I think we preferred it to Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, for all that I love the Cornley characters deeply.

bookshops

Books in the Wild: Mr B’s Emporium

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After last weekend’s Conference book haul, this week we start on the bookshops that we visited around our weekend at conference. You’l have to wait and see what I bought from them though, so sorry about that

Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights is tucked around the corner from the Jane Austen centre near Queen Square in Central Bath. It’s been there 20 years and won a tonne of awards (including the UK’s best independent bookstore twice!) and I don’t know how I hadn’t been there before.

There were genuinely so many pictures from my visit that I could have chosen to illustrate this, but I’ve gone for this one because I think it does a good job of conveying how excellent the selection of books they have is. We were in there for ages – so often you go into a book shop and find the same books that you’ve seen everywhere else (or at least I do) but this is not that. Yes it’s got some of the “usual” stuff in there (like Meet the Newmans – now in paperback!), but it’s also got a whole load of books that I’d never come across before and suddenly wanted to read.

All the fiction is in together in alphabetical order but there are sections picking out highlights from particular genres too – this is a romance one, featuring the new Annabel Monaghan which you know I loved, the TJR I still need to read, the latest Ashley Poston and Alexandra Vasti and some other stuff I’ve seen before along with Rooting Interest which I totally hadn’t and Heart the Lover which has got a Booker Longlisting so I wouldn’t have normally thought at about.

It’s also got a beautiful children’s section, which I managed to catch looking like there’s no one in it (there was) because I do try not to put pictures of unsuspecting people’s children on the internet so you’ll have to trust me that it was busy because there’s a whole area behind that you can’t see with the picture books where the toddlers were hanging out. And it has friendly staff, in every section but particularly the children’s one, who will ask you if they can recommend you anything or find you anything or order you anything. We were in there late morning on a Monday it it was doing such a steady trade in customers that it was a delight to see.

I leave you with the Terry Pratchett hardback corner, which is basically all you would have needed to show me to demonstrate that this was a bookshop I would love. I have so much trouble resisting these beautiful hardbacks – I’m writing this looking up at my fancy bookshelf where I can see my copies of Guards! Guards, Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal, Making Money and Raising Steam all of which you can also see here – still sort of regretting that I didn’t buy another one to add to them. On the wall to the side just out of shot is also a poster guide to where to start and the interconnections of the series which is a really good touch because as I have said before, you don’t need to start these at the beginning and in fact unless you’re a regular fantasy reader you probably shouldn’t.

Basically, if you’re in Bath don’t miss this one – I think between the three of us we came away with six books at least – and this the day after Book Conference at a point when we all had made resolutions not to buy too much stuff!

books, stats

Reading Stats: July 2026

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Books read this month: 32*

New books: 26

Re-reads: 7 (5 audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 9

NetGalley books read: 9

Kindle Unlimited read: 6

Ebooks: 3

Audiobooks: 5

Non-fiction books: 2

Favourite book: The Shampoo Effect

Books bought: We’re not going to talk about this, because after a Very Good Books Incoming in the middle of the month as you all know I went to Book Con and it all got a bit excessive. You’ve already seen the Book Con purchases, but there are a stack more that you haven’t yet from the days around the actual conference. And then there were another 13 ebooks…

Most read author: Three Dimsies (middle grade, not loads of pages) vs three St Just mysteries probably means that GM Malliet is th most read on page count

Books read in 2026: 233

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 588

A pretty solid month in reading – except for the number of books coming in. Yes I may have sold more than than I bought, but the stuff I bought is now on the already bulging to read pile, and the stuff I sold wasn’t taking up as much space. But I did have a wonderful time!

Bonus picture: A summer garden party I walked past on the way back to the station one day…

*often includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – but not this month!

Book previews

Out This Week: Meg Langslow 39

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It’s the first week of August which apparently means that it’s new Meg Langslow day – and this time it’s book 39 with the amazing punny title of Probably Caws. In great news for long-time fans, this one sees Meg back at some blacksmithing when she’s called in to help with a huge influx of horses at Ragnar’s estate after a horse rescue organisation lost its premises and of course murder ensues. I am currently two books behind the latest in the series because I am trying to pace myself and be sensible, but I do find Ragnar’s menage hilarious so who knows if that resolution will hold!

book round-ups, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: July 2026 Quick Reviews

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It’s the first Wednesday of the month and you know what that means – it’s Quick Review o’clock. So here we go with three reviews of books I read last month that I haven’t already talked about!

Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion by Beth Brower*

It’s 1883 and Emma M Lion has just arrived back in London to take up residence at her home. But there are obstacles in her way as this first volume of her journals from Lapis Lazuli House details. This is novella length and very amusing – but leaves you with a lot of questions about Emma’s backstory, which presumably get answered in the following volumes. It’s a great way to make you read more and more, but sometimes when you’re reading it and missing great dollops of information so that you can decide what’s really going on I did find myself being a little cynical about the drip-drip of information. But the fact that I’ve gave it four stars on Goodreads shows you how much I enjoyed it despite that slight side-eye! Apologies for the terrible photo – I read it on NetGalley but I also spotted it in the wild while I was out in Bath last week!

How To Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin*

This was… not what I was hoping for. I should have been more literal with the title’s equivalence to the romantic comedy of a similar name and been more prepared for the prank war that ensued between the heroine and hero for most of the book. It was too cringe-embarrassing for me and I ended up really disliking the pair of them because of it. And I’m still not sure by the end what they actually saw in each other beyond someone to play tricks on, and as that’s not what I think of as a successful relationship I didn’t really buy the ending. I liked Irwin’s first book, liked the second one less and then this one less than that. Her next book is an “official” Georgette Heyer novel (which is why I read this one now) and now I have a slightly trepidatious feeling about that – but here’s hoping it’s more like A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting than what has come since.

Broadcast Murder by J G Colgan

Cover of Broadcast Murder

This is my third Colgan – and I was hoping this would be closer to The Christmas Alibi than Murder on the Bernina Express, but alas it’s the latter. The idea is good but more work is needed on several fronts. Firstly, I had the murderer spotted too early, secondly it needs a bit more research and thirdly it needs a better edit. In fact the thirdly could maybe be the firstly because if you had a good editor they’d spot some of the issues and flag them so they could be fixed. Because some of them are small (but careless) – like the white line that’s at the bottom of the cover design (that I’ve cropped off in my photo) and some of them are small but annoying like this one which I maybe the only person it annoyed but again: “The lift was old. It had the kind of brass fittings that spoke of a time when even functional objects were expected to be beautiful, and the kind of creaking, groaning movement that spoke of a mechanism that had been in constant use for longer than anyone cared to remember.” Why is it annoying? This is a book set in 1937, the lift in question is in Broadcasting House, which opened in …1932. So if you know, it lifts you out of the story and makes you read everything else more critically. So in summary: promising but needs more work before it’s released to the demanding masses (like me!) especially given the British-Library-Crime-Classic-alike cover style.

And that’s your lot for this month – a reminder of the other Recommendsdays in July which were Sports Romances 2, Summer New Releases and First in Series 2 and the Books of the Week were The Shampoo Effect, The Verdict of Twelve, American Fantasy and A Taste for Murder.

Book of the Week, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: A Wedding Planner’s Guide to Stealing the Bride

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Happy Tuesday and my pick today is back to romance and it is one of the new releases that I read last week and there’s another coming up tomorrow in the quick reviews too.

Kalpana is planning the wedding of her dreams, or at least the wedding of her fiancé’s dreams. Marcus is a literary fiction superstar and Kalpana is a romance writer. He’s from old money and she’s the third generation of her family born in the UK but they’re in Sri Lanka with their wedding planner Sampath to plan the big traditional Sri Lankan wedding that Marcus wants – even though Kalpana isn’t sure those traditions feel right for her. Sampath is a great listener – and seems to hear what Kapana wants in a way that Marcus seems not to be.

I read it across less than twenty four hours over the weekend and it was a real treat. As you can tell from the title this is a love triangle type situation, but I don’t think this is going to ping anyone’s cheating monitor for reasons that I can’t really explain without it being a spoiler. As well as the romance, Charika is exploring feelings of identity and culture and also looking at the place of romance and commercial fiction in the bookish infrastructure all of which is right up my street. It also really made me want to visit Sri Lanka – it paints such a vivid picture of the future places they visit and the potential wedding venues.

My copy came from NetGalley but this came out last week and I’m not sure how easy the paperback will be to find but it’s on Kindle and Kobo for £1.99 at the moment as are some of Charika’s previous novels some of which I’ve written about here like Picture Perfect and Knowing Me, Knowing You.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 27 – August 2

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Welcome to August everyone, all the usual start of the month stuff coming up over the next week or so. In the meantime, here’s the list from last week, which includes three of my Bristol purchases, three new releases (included one I mentioned in the Summer romance releases) and the last of the St Justs I hadn’t read which meant I could finally write that post on Friday! This week it’s meant to be hot and sticky again and I’ve got at least one theatre trip planned so we’ll see how all of that meshes with the reading list.

Read:

A Taste for Murder by Matt Baker

Dimsie Goes to School by Dorita Fairlie Bruce

The Reluctant Ballerina by Linda Graham

The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion Vol 1 by Beth Brower*

Death and the Old Master by G M Malliet

The One Where They Fall in Love by Christina Wolf*

Helen, Ballet Student by Linda Graham

The Wedding Planner’s Guide to Stealing the Bride by Jeevani Charika*

Started:

The Irresistible Urge to Fall Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley

Still reading:

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

We won’t talk about it – there was a stack acquired in Bath on Monday and a bunch of tempting new Kindle offers too

Bonus picture: my favourite shop name from Bath on Monday!

*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

Book Adjacent: Book Conference 2026

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In response to popular demand in the comments, here’s my look back at last weekend’s Bristol Book Conference. I’ve already posted my book haul, and told you about my sales. We did turn it into a proper outing – with stops on the way down and a day out in Bath on the Monday afterwards, so this isn’t the last you’ll see of the Bookish Odyssey of 2026!

Once again we were back at Wills Hall at the University of Bristol, which has the delightful old Quad that looks like it could have come out of a boarding school story and a new quad that comes straight from all my experience of 80s and 90s-built school and uni buildings! As ever the official name of the conference is Twentieth Century Schoolgirls and their books, but the theme this time was Fresh Air and Freedom, so books with holidays and sports were the main subject of the talks.

As ever the main series were represented – with a dedicated talk on Elsie J Oxenham and the Chalet School popping up in more than one talk. There was also a fairly large spattering of Enid Blyton this year, because holidays feature so heavily in her books as many of her series occur during school holiday time, which definitely helped me at the sale table. I had a stack of Blytons that I dithered over taking to sell because traditionally I have a lot of stuff that is too common for anyone else to buy, but took on the off chance – and I only went and sold the lot! Not for much, but a sale is a sale and given that you don’t get any money if you donate them to somewhere, it’s a total win.

Because I’m at the younger end of the attendees, often my favourite talks are about discovering a new author, often a bonkers one – we’ve had Rita Coutts and C Bernard Rutley, this time it was Dorothea Moore and the insane rate of disasters in her books. I’ve only ever read Judy, Patrol Leader of hers which I spot all the time at vintage shops which is absolutely crackers (and which I sold my copy of last weekend, sorry mum!) but it was fun to see that Judy’s exploits (starting guides at her school, foiling two burglaries, several rescues and finding emeralds stolen by an 18th century highwayman) are by no means out of the ordinary for the Moore Oeuvre!

This was my fourth time at conference and as I said back in my post about my first time, it is wonderful to be able to talk to people who love the same thing that you do. I was hesitant about going the first time because I’m basically a massive introvert and large groups of strangers make me anxious. In fact I probably wouldn’t have gone if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had another friend going (and we agreed together that we were going so she may well have been the same). But I’ve now got a little group of friends that I’ve made through conference – we have whatsapp groups and even meet up when it’s not conference – and there’s a whole group of people that know through conference, which means that I have plenty of people to talk to and if I ever fancy going to one of the other groups that’s related to these books I will know people there too. There were a bunch of first timers this year too – I chatted to loads of them – so if you’re thinking about going in two years time and worrying about being the only newbie don’t be.

I leave you with a slide from my friend’s presentation about unusual sports in books – mostly because the book in the picture traumatised me and my sister when we read it as children and it turns out we’re not the only ones. A true if you know you know – I won’t spoil it for you but it’s so shocking I’ve never re-read it and never wanted to – and gymnastics is one of the sports that I watch! Have a great Sunday everyone – and here’s hoping we have a tenth conference in 2028!

The pile

Books Incoming: Conference Buys 2026

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Welcome to the first of the Bristol Book Odyssey posts – the sale acquisitions. Here we have three hardback Drina books so that I can continue to compare the original text to the updated 1980s versions that I read as a child, Drina goes on Tour is probably my favourite of the whole series, it’s certainly the one that I read the most as a child, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the original tour experience of digs and exposure and the reveal of Drina’s secret went down.

There’s a strong dancing theme this conference as I also picked up three Linda books about ballet, musical comedy and television and then The Recluctant Ballerina, all by Linda Graeme. That Detestable New Girl was a recommendation and finally my quest to fill in some Dimsie gaps only resulted in the one book – but it does mean I have now read the first book and the events which are much referred to later on in the series.

And as a bonus before I go: a photo from the end of the book sale last Sunday – some much emptier boxes with and one gone entirely, and lots of loose books also gone so you can see the scale of the clearout!

mystery, series

Mystery Series: St Just Mysteries

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Happy Friday everyone and today for the series post I’m writing about G M Malliet’s St Just books. I’ve already written about her Max Tudor series, most recently back when I did a spy-themed week a couple of months back. But this week I finished the last book in the series I hadn’t read (reading severely out of order!) and so now I can tell you about then.

Our detective is Arthur St Just, a police Detective Chief Inspector and the crimes are Christie or Golden age-esque. Many of them are set around rich families, authors or Oxbridge colleges, or some combination of the above. St Just is from Cornwall but primarily based in Cambridge but Oxford also makes an appearance or two. St Just is a widower but does acquire a fiancée later in the series for some continuity of running characters as well as the fact that is it even a mystery series without a love interest?

It is very much a series of two halves as there was a decade or so gap (and a change of publishers) between book three and book four, and in fact I hadn’t realised that the series had restarted until I saw Death and the Final Cut on NetGalley last autumn. I read that then and now I’ve filled in the gaps with books four to six. And I’m pretty sure I’ve enjoyed these later ones more than I liked the earlier ones. My reviews of those on Goodreads from around a decade or so ago (I read them after having already started on the Max Tudors) are short but very much in the ok to fine sort of area.

Books three to six are in Kindle Unlimited at the moment and I actually think these are a pretty good place to start or at least test out series. They all have interesting characters, but the earlier books are more in the dislikeable mode than the later ones, and three to six particularly have good pacing and interesting mysteries. Seven isn’t quite as good, but it clearly wasn’t enough to put me off going back for the rest when I got a chance or to make a note to keep an eye for any more appearing.

Have a great weekend!