Category: week in books

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 8 – May 14

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Well as expected, Eurovision week put a dent in my reading time. But I regret nothing. I also went to Tony! The Rock Opera on one of the non-Eurovision nights, which was fun, but also no reading time! Will normal service be resumed this week? We will see.

Read:

Death at the Dolphin by Ngaio Marsh

Prime Cut by Diane Mott Davidson

Famous for a Living by Melissa Ferguson*

Have His Carcase by Dorothy L Sayers

To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey

Started:

Proper English by K J Charles

Sticks and Stones by Diane Mott Davidson

Still reading:

Wild Dances by William Lee Adams**

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Reach for the Stars by Michael Cragg

Five books bought – including ebooks but also a preorder or two – and a couple of preorders arrived as well.

Bonus photo: it’s wisteria season again!

*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 of the Week, books, cozy crime, new releases

Book of the Week: Grave Expectations

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Another murder mystery pick this week – but after a forgotten classic last week, this week it’s a new release – and a debut at that.

Grave Expectations’s “detective” is Claire Hendricks – thirty something, a true crime fan and a medium. Yes really, a medium. She can see ghosts and one ghost in particular who follows her around – her best friend Sophie who has been haunting her since she was murdered when they were teenagers. Claire’s been booked as the entertainment at a family birthday party for one of her uni friends’ grandmothers. Except that at the party they find an unquiet ghost and set out to discover what happened with the two least unbearable members of the family to help them (neither of them are Claire’s uni mate) despite some scepticism.

I have written before about how I can never quite put my finger on what makes something with paranormal or supernatural elements work for for me and what doesn’t, but from the fact that I’ve picked this you’ve probably worked out that this one worked! I had a couple of issues with it, but they were minor ones. But basically this is a fun and funny cozy crime novel with a clever set up and a heroine with issues, and who I wished was a little bit less messy. But if this is the start of a series (and I hope it is) they’re minor quibbles that can be ironed out in the sequel.

This is Alice Bell’s debut and it’s already been picked by the Radio 2 book club, so hopefully it’ll be easy to get hold of – it’s a bargainous 99p on on Kindle as I write this, although it’s a bit more expensive on Kobo. My copy came from NetGalley – and I finished it just ahead of its release last week so I’ll be looking for it in the shops in the coming weeks.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 1 – May 7

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It’s bank holiday Monday – again! I’ve had a fun week of reading – I’m nearing the end of the Alleyn re-listen (or at least as far as I’m prepared to go!) and I’m rationing myself with the Wimseys. It’s Eurovision week so Ive started reading a Eurovision-related memoir written by someone I know and I’ve made some progress on the long runners. I’m away a couple of nights this week so we’ll see what that means – also Eurovision does tend to interfere with reading time…

Read:

Dead Water by Ngaio Marsh

Falling Hard for the Royal Guard by Megan Clawson*

Absence of Mallets by Kate Carlisle

Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L Sayers

Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor*

Grave Expectations by Alice Bell*

Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie

The Mountbattens by Andrew Lownie

Started:

Wild Dances by William Lee Adams**

Prime Cut by Diane Mott Davidson

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Reach for the Stars by Michael Cragg

One ebook bought. A minor miracle.

Bonus photo: spring is sprung so have something pretty from the church car park!

*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 of the Week, books, detective

Book of the Week: Murder of a Lady

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This week I’m back with a murder mystery – and another British Library Crime Classic – after a run of more than a month without one! This time it’s an impossible murder in the a Highlands by Anthony Wynne.

The murdered lady of the title is Mary Gregor, the sister of the laird of Duchlan, who is found stabbed to death locked in her bedroom of the family castle. Our amateur sleuth is Dr Eustace Hailey, who is in the grand tradition of the Golden Age mystery, and who happens to be staying nearby when the body is discovered. Despite being told that the victim was a kind and charitable woman, he soon uncovers evidence that suggests the reverse and that the situation at the castle was not a happy one. In fact even after her death, Mary Gregor still seems to loom over the building – and then more deaths happen.

This is definitely one of the more fantastical of the BLCC’s I’ve read, with a strong vein of highland superstition and mysticism. In fact there was a while when I was wondering is the solution was going to involve the supernatural so impossible did it seem for anyone to have carried out the crime. But it does stick to the rules of the detective club – although the solution is quite something, it is just about plausible.

I bought my copy at the Book Conference second hand sale, but this is also available on Kindle and Kobo and is actually pretty bargainous at £1.99 as I write this, although it should be noted that the ebook edition isn’t a BLCC one (there are some of these where the paperback and ebook rights appear to have got separated) so I can’t vouch for the quality of the ebook version. And if you want more impossible/locked room mysteries, I have a post for that too.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 24 – April 30

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It’s the first of May so Happy Bank Holiday Monday if you’re in the UK. We have three this month because it’s the Coronation next weekend. I’m hoping this all means some extra reading time for me but who knows what will actually happen. Anyway, all the usual end of month stuff coming up this week after a productive week of reading at the end of April – even if the long running list is still long!

Read:

False Scent by Ngaio Marsh

The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

Mother of the Bride Murder by Leslie Meier*

Hand in Glove by Ngaio Marsh

Paper Cuts by Ellery Adams*

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny

Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne

Started:

Falling Hard for the Royal Guard by Megan Clawson*

Absence of Mallets by Kate Carlisle

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Reach for the Stars by Michael Cragg

Two books bought. Oops daisy.

Bonus photo: my second rugby match in less than a month! This time watching the Saints beat Leicester (whilst following the women’s six nations on the phone)

*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 of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: Happy Place

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It’s the last week of April and I’m bang on time with a review for once – because Happy Place is actually out today. Astonishing work from me for once!

Emily Henry’s new novel is about Harriet and Wyn, who are on a weeklong summer holiday with their group of friends who don’t know that they broke up five months earlier. They’ve all been going to Sabrina’s dad’s cottage in Maine since they were students but now he’s decided to sell it they’re there for a last hurrah and neither Harry or Wyn can bring themselves to spoil it by telling everyone that they’ve broken up – especially as the others all call them the perfect couple. But as the days pass it’s clearer and clearer that they’re not over each other and pretending they’re still a couple is not helping any of it at all…

This is definitely at the women’s fiction end of the romance genre – yes, it follows the rules but it’s actually a lot about Harriet herself and her own personal growth as well as about her relationship with Wyn. It also made me cry more than once, so there’s that – Him Indoors got quite worried about me sniffling away at the end of the sofa – but by the end of the book it was worth it, even if I had a couple of minor quibbles along the way that mean I didn’t like it quite as much as I liked Book Lovers, but that was a high bar to reach!

You’re going to be able to get this everywhere – and it’s even got a nice coordinating/matching cover to the other three Emily Henry Romances. You can get it on Kindle or Kobo here and I’m expected the physical copy to be on the tables in all the bookshops, the airports and probably the supermarket too.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 17 – April 23

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It’s starting to feel very spring-like. Of course now I’ve said that the weather will probably teach me a lesson, but this week I’ve been wandering around at times without a coat and thinking about getting some of the more summery outfits out. In book terms, I was away for a couple of nights last week so haven’t managed to read much more of the Michael Cragg, so the ongoing list has grown again, but apart from that it was a good week of reading.

Read:

Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L Sayers

Killer Pancake by Diane Mott Davidson

The Hollow Crown by Dan Jones

Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers

The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams

Premeditated Mortar by Kate Carlisle

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Started:

Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny

The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Reach for the Stars by Michael Cragg

One new arrival – but it was a gift not a purchase and it was also the reason I managed to resist in Daunt – I needed the space for it in my suitcase! But that was it last week. Go me.

Bonus photo: a lamb frolicking. I said it was starting to feel like spring!

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

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 10 – April 16

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Well. Two nights away from home off the back of a bank holiday Monday, and today’s list is long, but doesn’t feature any of the long runners, which is a it of a fail. However I am relatively up to date with this month’s NetGalley releases, so that should count for something right? It does mean I’m in a bit of a pickle about what I write about tomorrow, because there is a clear front runner but, well, you’ll see tomorrow. Apologies in advance…

Read:

Shot Through the Hearth by Kate Carlisle

If Only You by Chloe Liese*

Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson*

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

A Thief in the Night by K J Charles

This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs

Started:

Reach for the Stars by Michael Cragg

Killer Pancake by Diane Mott Davidson

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Well you’ve seen three purchases in Books Incoming and there was also one kindle – Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail. I guess it could have been worse?!

Bonus photo: at the Reach for the Stars book event on Thursday night. Very exciting times.

*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 of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: Romantic Comedy

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Yup, I’m going there. I can’t help it. I was trying to pace myself, but I had it finished before the end of release day so it had to be my pick this week.

So as previously mentioned the plot of this is: Sally is a long time writer at a late night comedy sketch show called The Night Owls – known as TNO and definitely not SNL. She’s single but has watched the show’s actors fall in and out of love with guest stars on the show, but when her friend Danny starts dating a glamorous actress who was a guest host on the show she writes a sketch about average looking – or dorky – guys who get involved with beautiful women and how you never see the reverse and calls it the Danny Horst Rule. That week’s guest host is Noah Brewster – a music star whose romantic history (according to the gossip magazines) includes a lot of models. Noah and Sally hit it off as they work on sketches together but would someone like him ever date someone like her?

The first part of the book covers the production week of the show and then we jump ahead two years to Covid times when Sally is staying with her stepdad in Kansas City and Noah is in LA and they reconnect. It’s playing with the ideas of romantic comedy movies whilst also being a romantic comedy and following a lot of the rules that you would expect but in subtle (well sort of) ways. What I always enjoy about Curtis Sittenfeld’s books are the heroines – they’re always smart often a little (or a lot) neurotic and have interesting and not perfect lives and back stories. It’s fun just to spend time with them – but even more so when Sittenfeld is playing with something that you love – which I think is why I loved her Eligible (modern day retelling of Pride and Prejudice) so much. And this is a good one. If you follow celeb gossip in anyway you can probably work out who inspired the Danny Horst rule, but actually that’s just a device to set up everything else. I’ve read a bunch of books recently where one half of the couple is famous and the other isn’t and while a lot of them give their celebrities similar issues not all the books are good at it. And yes I realise that I’ve now recommended three of them in a very short time – but I’ve read more of them than that and haven’t told you about the rest!

I guess the main difference with this is that because it’s Curtis Sittenfeld it gets a hardback release and a photo cover (in the UK at least) rather than coming out in paperback with a cartoon/drawn cover like Nora Goes Off Script or Funny You Should Ask. But it’s actually much more similar to those in style and tone than it is to a lot of the other stuff that gets hardback releases. And that’s a good thing not a criticism. And it’s also a Reese Witherspoon pick. So that’s fun too.

Anyway, I have a physical copy of Romantic Comedy that is still on its way to me (it was a special edition for indie booksellers which has got held up in the bank holiday weekend post) but I also requested it from NetGalley before the preorder – not expecting to be approved but I was! Hence how I’ve managed to read it before my actual copy has arrived. It’s out now and available in all the stores – I saw it in Waterstones and Foyles at the weekend and it’s also in ebook on Kindle and Kobo and I’m audiobook. I suspect it’s the sort of thing that will also get an airport edition if you’re heading off on holiday and it would make a great sun lounger read.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 3 – April 9

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I hope you all had a good Easter Sunday if you celebrate – and if you don’t I hope you at least got a bank holiday out of it. We’ve had a lovely long weekend so far and it’s a bank holiday here today, so who knows what I might manage to finish this week coming – after all I got another book off the long runners list this week so that’s progress. I’m also having a good go at getting through the April NetGalley releases I have – I hesitate to even write that down, but I’m trying!

Read:

Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear*

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L Sayers

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld*

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton*

Bookman, Dead Style by Paige Shelton

The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish by Karina Yan Glaser

Started:

If Only You by Chloe Liese*

Shot Through the Hearth by Kate Carlisle

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Well I went into two bookshops on our trip to London on Saturday looking for a specific book with no luck. I’ve now got it reserved at Waterstones Gower Street – but as I haven’t paid for it yet that doesn’t count right? So it’s just one preorder. Check me.

Bonus photo: Easter Sunday afternoon in the countryside with the little dog after a lovely family meal. Exactly how I like a religious holiday.

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