A pretty solid list this week, although slightly more classic crime than I was expecting! But another one off the long-running list so that’s good. And after being nudged in Waterstones the other day, I’ve got started on some of the Kennedy books on the shelf. And we had a nice weekend in Cumbria so I got to wander around one of my favourite bookshops again as well as everything else!
Well that’s a much better list than last week isn’t it. I mean it’s mostly because I was exhausted and so didn’t try and get any theatre tickets while I was staying in London and stayed in instead. And it was a bit rainy too which doesn’t exactly encourage wandering around. That said, I did wander over to Waterstones Gower Street and yes, I did buy a book and there were some Kindle offers. Ahem. But I can’t be perfect all the time…
Not going to lie when I saw all of these in Waterstones Piccadilly it made me really quite happy. And of course it made me wonder how many of them I have read. And then I started writing it and realised there were a few more I had on the pile and a few I had read but not written about so if I could just do that the post would be better. And then suddenly it’s three months later. Ahem. Anyway after having finally finished and posted the BLCC roundup that that that started (slowed by several of them ending up as Books of the Week rather than round up post fodder), here we are.
And so here we go… One the wall from clockwise top right we have He Who Whispers (read but haven’t written about), The Lost Gallows – haven’t read, Capital Crimes, Murder in the Mill Race, The Hogs Back Mystery,then two more I haven’t read (yet) It Walks by Night and Miraculous Mysteries.
Let’s start on the back row and work left to right going forward: Guilty Creatures – which I haven’t read; The Ten Teacups, The Edinburgh Mystery – haven’t read, Murder in Vienna; Death of a Bookseller; Capital Crimes again, Murder as Fine Art and Post After Post-Mortem. One the second row: The Wheel Spins – which I haven’t read but which is the book the Hitchcock movie The Lady Vanishes is based on, Tour de Force, Metropolitan Mysteries, Blood on the Train, Quick Curtain, The Cornish Coast Mystery, The Notting Hill Mystery which is one of the very first murder mystery books and which I read nearly a decade ago and Crimes of Cymru which I haven’t read and doesn’t seem to be on Kindle which may explain why that is. And on the front row The Widow of Bath, Someone from the Past, The Lake District Murder, Castle Skull, The Corpse in the Waxworks (haven’t read), The Hogs Back Mystery (again), Murder Underground (one of the very first BLCC I read) and Tea on Sunday.
And there were even more… so here we go again with the table – this time just the ones I haven’t already mentioned: Port of London Murders, Who Killed Father Christmas, Dramatic Murder, Final Acts, Death of Anton, Murder at the Manor, London Particular, Serpents in Eden, The Mysterious Mr Badman, Family Matters, Surfeit of Suspects, and Murder by the Book.
And finally – and this time just the front facing ones that I haven’t already mentioned: Continental Crimes, Settling Scores (read), The Port of London Murders, Crook O’Lune (read), The Z Murders (read but not written about), The Spoilt Kill, The Murder of My Aunt, The Santa Klaus Murder, Mr Pottermack’s Oversight, Scarweather, Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm, and Death of Anton.
Phew. Honestly, I’m pretty pleased with my hit rate on this front, but it has given me a shove to finish a few things off that I have had kicking around on the kindle and on the shelves and also made me aware of a bunch of books in the series that I didn’t know about. Expect a(nother) BLCC post in the near future I think….
Most read author: Judith Flanders – three books in the Sam Clair series.
Books bought: too many
Books read in 2025: 219
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 799
I mean I think you must be bored of me telling you that it’s been a really busy week/month at this point, because I feel like I’m always typing it. But it really is true. In July I had a work trip to Accra, two theatre trips and a concert to name but a few. And the malaria pills and the overnight flight home really wiped me out and it’s taken (is taking?!) a while to recover. But given all of that, I’m pretty pleased with the stats for the month, even if they don’t include any non-fiction books *again*. Must really try and sort that out this month. Possibly wishful thinking though.
Bonus picture: another picture from Accra.
*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 3 this month!
So this week was as busy as advertised, and then some. But here’s the list, I did get a couple of the long runners sorted and I’ve got a few things that are close to being read so it could be worse.
A few weeks back I wrote about the 18th Royal Spyness mystery, which featured a movie being filmed at Georgie’s house, and that got me thinking about other mystery books that are set on or around movie sets.
Of course the most recent one that I’ve read is the latest Daniel Clement mystery, A Death on Location. This sees a movie crew take over Champton to film a historical epic and many of the locals sign up to appear as supporting artists – aka extras. But when one of them dies after filming a ball scene Daniel finds himself caught up in another murder investigation with Neil. I actually had the culprit for this one spotted early doors, but not the reason why so I enjoyed finding out the why of it all (and if I was right obviously). I continue to find this series very readable, but I’m not sure how many more scenarios Richard Coles will be able to come up to put Daniel in the way of bodies!
Going back to May, I read A Knife to Remember by Jill Churchill, which is the fifth book in the Jane Jeffries series, which is a 1990s written series. In this there’s a crew filming in the field behind Jane’s house and is using her backyard as part of the behind the scenes. The visitors seem to be riven with rivalries and then the set designer is found murdered and it goes from there. I really like this series, they are very easy reads and shorter than the average cozy these days which always leaves me wanting more. Unlike the Goldy Schulz series, these don’t seem to have been picked up for Kindle, so I’m having to resort to the second hand sellers to try and get some more at reasonable prices.
The fourth Flavia De LuceI am Half Sick of Shadows sees Flavia’s home invaded by a film crew in the run up to Christmas, and a snow storm trapping villagers there too. Flavia ends up investigating the death of one of the film contingent as well as whether Father Christmas really exists. I had a few moments with the early Flavia books, and I also read them out of order which I don’t think helped, but Flavia in this one is an engaging mix of innocence and omnipotence which works really well.
I’m sure there are more that I can’t remember at the moment, but that’s ok – I can always do a second post!
I said last week that this week was busy, and it really was. But every week is busy at the moment, so what can you do. This one had a three event weekend and a theatre trip earlier in the week so I’m surprised that the list is as long as it is. I haven’t added anything new to the long-running list, but I haven’t got anything off it either, so mixed work there. I shall endeavour to focus my efforts this week!
Bonus picture: At the athletics on Saturday, watching the British 4 x 400m men’s relay team from the Athens World Championships in 1997 get their gold medals 28 years on after their result was upgraded.
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
Hello from my sofa back in the UK, where I am safely back after a week in Ghana. It was incredibly busy week and so the list sort of reflects that – especially as the flight home on Saturday was an overnight one. I put an old Bond film on to go to sleep to and it worked a treat – it was Goldfinger and I don’t even remember the card game by the pool! Anyway, I’ve got a couple of days off at the start of this week, but the job list is huge – and we’ve got a super busy weekend as well, so the list maybe similarly small next week…
One of my most anticipated books of the year came out this week – Sarah MacLean’s first contemporary set novel These Summer Storms. It’s set on a private island off Rhode Island and is about the children of a billionaire who are called back to the island after the death of their father. I have a mixed record with books about billionaires (or the children thereof) but I’ve been a fan of Sarah MacLean’s historical romances for I don’t know how long at this point, so I’m optimistic that this will be my sort of thing when I manage to get hold of a copy. It’s a hardback release, which means that the kindle price is *a lot* so it may be a while before I’m able to report back though!
Happy Monday everyone. I feel like every week I say that it’s been a busy week but this week really has been. And I’m on a work trip at the moment, so it’s only going to get busier. What can you do. I haven’t made much progress at all on the two new books I started last week because I had so many nights away from home and didn’t take them with me.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 