Month: November 2025

books

Book Adjacent: The First Wives Club

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Happy Sunday everyone. I’ve got another film for you this week and I’ve picked it for today because Bette Midler is 80 tomorrow (December 1) but obviously Diane Keaton died back in October.

Firstly, I apologise for the rubbish print of that trailer video, but it does give you the sort of vibe that (most of) the movie has going on. The First Wives Club is based on a book of the same name, and is the story of three college friends and new divorcées who are seeking revenge on their husbands who have left them for younger women. I remember the first time I saw the movie I actually didn’t see the start of it, so when I watched it again – in full for the first time – I was surprised that it has quite a bleak start where a fourth friend commits suicide because of her ex-husband has just remarried a much younger woman and that the three protagonists had lost touch and only reconnected at her funeral. But given that part of the plot needs the ex-husbands to not know the other husbands, it does make sense even if it is a bit bleak. But lets skip over that because the joy of this movie is the comedy of the women working together to get their revenge.

As well as Bette Midler and Diane Keaton it’s got Goldie Hawn completing the trio but also Maggie Smith, Sarah Jessica Parker, Victor Garber and a whole host faces that you’ll have seen in loads of other things too. Because I’m the age I am, and I first saw this so long ago (we’re talking more than 20 years) it’s kind of hard for me to work out how it will land now with with a first time viewer, but it’s a total comfort movie for me. I have been known to record it anytime I see it on the TV so that I can watch it again. I don’t have it handy at the moment – but that’s only because we had an “upgrade” on the TiVo box a few weeks back and it deleted everything that was on there and I’m still rebuilding the collection (don’t get me started).

Anyway it’s currently available on streaming service but I’m hoping it will pop up on TV again soon. And because clips of it are in the trailer, I feel like it’s ok for me to leave you today with the end sequence of the film – the performance of Leslie Gore’s You Don’t Own Me by the trio – it doesn’t spoil any of plot for you and it’s just wonderful. Although there are a few continuity errors in there if you know where to look but for me that’s just part of the fun!

Happy Sunday – and happy birthday to Ms Midler tomorrow!

bookshops

Books in the Wild: The Riverside Bookshop

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Happy Saturday everyone, I’ve been bookshop wandering again this week and I’m back with another new spot. I tried to visit The Riverside Bookshop last time that I went to see a show at the Menier Chocolate Factory, but they were closed early for an event. But this time I managed it, and I’m glad that I did!

As you know, my main reading interests are almost always Crime and Romance and here they’re right next to each other so that’s pretty perfect. It’s a bijou selection for both, but I think you’d manage to find something for most reading tastes. I’ve read a lot and I still managed to find a couple of books I hadn’t seen before that were in my sort of reading wheelhouse.

As you can see, here is A Murder for Miss Hortense looking all pepermint-y in the wild but also Nicola Upson‘s new standalone book – which is a Christmas mystery that’s probably slightly longer than a novella but not hugely so. You can also see a pretrty good sense of the range: a couple of Maigrets, some Japanese crime, a bit of Irvine Welsh, Stuart Turton, Louise Penny and Kristin Perrin.

I love a table of new non-fiction, especially where there are things that I haven’t seen before, like Ghosts of the British Museum, How to win the Premier League and Supremacy along with things that I’ve read reviews for like If Russia Wins and The View from Down Here.

And finally I had to put the new fiction shelves too – because right at the top there is one of my recent reads The Murder at World’s End along with the new ones from Salman Rushdie, Bob Mortimer, Ken Follett and Richard Osman. A truly eclectic selection.

Happy Saturday – go out and support your local bookshop by buying some books for Christmas!

series

Series Redux: Ministry is Murder

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Advent starts on Sunday, and so I thought now was a great time to remind you all about the Ministry is Murder series given that they’re all set around a church community in Ohio. Your intrepid sleuth is Aggie, the wife of the a minister in a small town in Ohio who is trying to find a balance between what the church thinks the minister’s wife should be doing for them as part of her husband’s job but also having her own life and an extra income to help the family out. You can read my original post here and the BotW post for Beware False Profits. They’re still not on Kindle or Kobo as far as I can see, but they do seem to be relatively easy to get hold of in the US in paperback format. These were my Ohio books for Read the USA for years – but never fear, I’ve found another Ohio-based cozy crime series to replace them with on this year’s list.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Book previews

Out This Week: New Olivia Dade

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By the time you read this, my final* pre-order of the year will have dropped through my front door because Olivia Dade’s Second Chance Romance is out in the world. I ordered this back in March, but I’ve been waiting to see what Karl the Baker’s deal is since I read the first Harlots Bay book At First Spite back in February last year. According to my reading plan, I’m meant to be reading Christmas books this month but there is a fairly high chance that this will be jumping right to the top of my to-read list/

*Unless I’ve forgotten one!

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Dysfunctional Families

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It’s Wednesday again everyone, and tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US so I did think about doing a recommendsday post about books with Thanksgiving, but I don’t actually have a lot to add to the one I did a couple of years back. And so instead, I thought I’d do dysfunctional families because I know there is a lot of conflict over family dinners at events like Thanksgiving.

I think dysfunctional families come on a scale. So I’m going to start with the light(er) and fun(ner) ones. The ones that are a bit soapy and more on the family drama end of the spectrum and it often that comes with a side order of Rich People Problems. So there is The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren with a grocery store heir trying to get his inheritance from his family with a fake marriage that’s got to survive scrutiny at a family wedding on a tropical island. Then there’s Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan with another rich old money family who are trying to get rid of their son’s girlfriend because she’s not from a rich Singaporean family. There’s also Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple, where Bernadette is the mum of our protagonist, who disappears after a disastrous school fundraiser leaving her daughter behind to try and work out where her mum has gone.

Slightly less soapy but still not grim, and you have The Vacationers by Emma Straub which is about a family with a lot of secrets on holiday in Mallorca. It seems to be a divisive book – some Goodreads reviewers hate it (typically saying nothing happens or they hate all the characters) but I enjoyed it – there’s a steady drip of revelations that kept me turning the pages even as I liked the characters less! Then there’s also two Taylor Jenkins Reid books – Malibu Rising, which had the messy lives of the Riva siblings and impact of their famous dad; or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with the many marriages and relationships of a Hollywood star.

Getting grimmer there is The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley which is a middle grade book but which I described as Goodnight Mr Tom but amped up somewhat. It’s got a satisfying ending but the early stages are heavy going. And then about as grim as I will go today on the fiction side we have The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel where a woman returns to the house she spent a summer as a teen after her cousin goes missing.

Over in the non fiction world it’s all a bit grimmer: Educated by Tara Westover and I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy were on the edges of what I could cope with, especially because you know it’s a memoir and really happened. And because I want to end on a bit of a lighter note Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher is very funny even as it’s dealing with growing up the child of famous parents, her struggles with addiction and her mental health as well as just generally being Carrie Fisher.

Happy Humpday everyone!

Book of the Week, detective, first in series, Forgotten books

Book of the Week: Death in High Heels

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You know I seriously picking Romantic Comedy as BotW again – but I decided that that would be too cheaty even for me. But I did listen to Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel about a writer on a show that’s definitely not Saturday Night Live on audiobook last week and it’s still a delight, even if I didn’t love the way the narrator did the male voices. But it remains my favourite novel that includes the pandemic in it and I thoroughly recommend it. But like I say, I didn’t pick it again. I just put all the links in…

Instead I have a pretty newly released British Library Crime Classic, and another Christianna Brand murder mystery – this time it’s her debut, Death in High Heels. This features a murder at Christopher et Cie, a dress shop of the most superior kind, where the murderer must be one of five young women who work there. Our detective is a young and somewhat susceptible Inspector Charlesworth, who is trying to untangle the murder.

I do like a workplace mystery, especially where you learn something about how things used to be done. Murder Must Advertise where Wimsey is employed at an advertising agency is brilliant for this – with print blocks, art studios and runners, and Death in High Heels also has vanished details about how clothing shops used to be done – with things like women employed as mannequins to demonstrate how the outfits look to clients, and a staff lunch service. The introduction to this BLCC edition says that (like Dorothy L Sayers and her time in advertising) Brand took inspiration from her own spell working in a shop selling cookers to write this. As I said, this is Brand’s debut, and it’s not as good as Green for Danger or Tour de Force but it still makes for an interesting read, even if Charlesworth goes off down a lot of wrong paths and seems to stumble upon the solution.

This is in Kindle Unlimited at the moment, so if you’re a subscriber to that, it’s definitely worth it. That also means that it’s not on Kobo at the moment. But if you want it in paperback, the British Library’s shop are doing three for two on their fiction at the moment, and I’ve recommended enough previous BLCC books that hopefully you can find two more to make the three – I’ve linked to various others I’ve written about throughout this, but some others that were BotWs are: Not to Be Taken, Tea on Sunday, The Ten Teacups, The Man Who Didn’t Fly, The Theft of the Iron Dogs and The Belting Inheritance.

Happy Reading

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 17 – November 23

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Another week, another four states ticked of the 50 states list. It’s almost looking doable now, but I’m not relaxing too fast because that’s what gets me into trouble. That’s especially true as it’s starting to get proper busy in the run-up to Christmas now, which usually means less free time for reading because I’m out and about having fun – or doing Christmas shopping!

Read:

Savage Run by C J Box

Calling All Blessings by Beverly Jenkins

Animal Attraction by Jill Shalvis

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Stranger Danger by Patti Benning

Strawberried Alive by Jenn McKinlay

Death in High Heels by Christianna Brand

Started:

Halloween Hijinks by Kathi Daley

Still reading:

You Had to Be There by Jodie Harsh*

Ritual of Fire by D V Bishop

Pet Shop Boys, Literally by Chris Heath

One ebook and two book-books bought. Restrained… ish.

Bonus picture: last week’s theatre trip was out to Wembley to see Starlight Express which is a whole experience!

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

Exhibitions, not a book

Not a Book: Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World

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Happy Sunday everyone, I had a really good time out at a gallery on Friday and given that the exhibition is only on until early January, I thought i ought to write about it sooner rather than later.

Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World at the National Portrait Gallery is an examination of the photographer’s work in Fashion and Portrait photography. It takes you through from his early days and Bright Young Things of the 1920s to the My Fair Lady era in the 1960s. Along side the photographs there are also things like his first camera, which he used all the way through til after he first started at Vogue, and one of the dresses he designed for Julie Andrews to wear as Eliza Doolittle in the West End production of My Fair Lady in the late 19050s.

I didn’t get to see the last Cecil Beaton exhibition at the NPG – because it opened just a few days before Covid shut the world down in 2020 and never reopened. I have the exhibition poster from that on the wall of my house and the exhibition book as well, and that one focused on his work in the 1920s and 1930s with the Bright Young Things. This does have some of that, but is much broader in its scope. Yes the famous Stephen Tennant picture is here, but so also are the royal portraits and Hollywood royalty – like Marlon Brando, Katherine Hepburn and a young Yul Brynner with hair!

I really enjoyed myself – it’s in the same space that The Culture Shift exhibition was in earlier in the year which is big enough that you feel that there is plenty to see and that everything has space to breathe but not so big that you get overwhelmed by it all and start to lose focus.

Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World is on at the National Portrait Gallery until January 11, and I would book your ticket in advance, especially if you’re planning on going at a weekend.

books I want

Buy me a book for Christmas 2025

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For the second year in a row, I’m posting my personal Christmas book wishlist the second last weekend of November. A saturnalia miracle indeed. So hi mum! (!) here’s what I’m hoping might appear under the tree this year!

Cover of Making Mary Poppins

I’m going to start with two books from my autumn preview post which I have managed to resist so far. I’ve picked up and put down Tim Curry’s Vagabond at least three times now – on one occasion reading the introduction and then forcing myself to walk away – telling myself that I don’t need more books, and that I didn’t have space in my bag for a hardback. But I really want to read it. I also really want to read Making Mary Poppins but I haven’t seen that one in the stores so it’s been easier to resist on that front. But Christmas is the season to watch Mary Poppins, and I think knowing more about the behind the scenes will only enhance the experience!

Right, now the new release non-fiction is done, I’ve been to check out the wishlist I keep of books I can’t justify buying for myself to come up with the rest of this year’s list. Options at all price points people, never fear – some of them have been on the list so long that they’re now in paperback.

One in that category is the Willig-White-Williams murder mystery The Author’s Guide to Murders which was on last autumn’s new fiction preview and consequently is in paperback now. I haven’t seen this in any of the many bookstores I’ve been in this last year – or I think I would have bought it. So either I’ve been looking in the wrong sections of the shop or it’s harder to find than it should be. I read Patrick Gleason’s Hattie Steals the Show a couple of months back, and I really want to read the first one Hattie Brings Down the House before the third one comes out next year (which I know about thanks to the author popping up in the comments on that last post, which was really exciting). Still in murder mysteries, I would like to read Murder at Gull’s Nest – the algorithm keeps suggesting me the sequel even though I haven’t read the first one yet, and you know what I’m like about reading in order!

On to non mysteries – I really want to read Alexa Martin’s new book How to Sell a Romance, which is set in and around an MLM and sounds like it might involve taking it down and so I think my sister would probably like to read it too, which makes it an ideal candidate for this list. Also in things I think my sister would like to read as well as me is The Influencers by Anne-Marie McLemore, which is about a fire and a murder at the house of a social media influencer who has been writing about her five daughters and their lives for 25 years. I would also like Last Summer at the Golden Hotel, which is about a hotel in the Catskills that has been run by the same two families for more than 60 years, but has reached a crossroads.

I think that’s probably enough for people to go on – for now at least! Have a great Saturday everyone.

historical, mystery, series

Mystery Series: County Guides

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Happy Friday everyone, it’s very, very cold where I am in the UK* and I’m seriously starting to think about starting Christmas shopping. I know. It’s still November. Anyway, after a romance series last week, here is a murder mystery one for you.

It’s the 1930s and the County Guides books follow “the People’s Professor” Swanton Morley around the UK as he writes a series of guidebooks. It is seem from the point of view of his newly recruited (at the start of book one) secretary Stephen Sefton, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War who has a slightly shady past. Also travelling with them is Morley’s daughter Miriam. Everywhere they they stumble across a body and this – and Morley’s attitude – makes them unpopular with locals and the authorities alike.

As you know I really like a historical mystery series and the 1930s are one of my real sweet spots for that. And the fact that each book moves to a different part of the country makes for a good way of varying the setting and giving opportunities for new characters to be introduced each book without expanding the core group and leaving hanging threads for the next book.

These are very much in the books where I love the premise but sometimes find the reality disappointing. This is mostly because Morley is set up as deeply irritating and at times Stephen can be too and that leaves you with no one to really root for – you share the exasperation of the locals with these annoying people who are telling them how to solve a murder! But that said, I liked them enough that I followed them through all five books in the series – even though it has taken me a while and they got harder to find.

I got the first few of these from NetGalley, a couple from the library and then bought the final one on Kindle. I have occasionally seen paperbacks in the shops – new and secondhand but I suspect at this point Kindle or Kobo will be the easiest way to get hold of these, although, neither Kindle or Kobo have managed to link the five books together as a series which is both annoying and weird because it makes it hard to give you a proper link to click and so all I can do is link you to the list of Ian Sansom ebooks and tell you that the order is: The Norfolk Mystery, Death in Devon, Westmorland Alone, Essex Poison and The Sussex Murders.

Have a great weekend everyone.

*although obviously as nothing to winter in some places, but the UK is not made for the cold.