Category: week in books

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras

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I nearly picked the Diane Mott Davison today, even though I finished it on the train on Monday morning, but you never know what’s going to happen in a week, and I did really enjoy the Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras, so I’m going for that today, but I suspect this isn’t the last time I’ll mention Diane Mott Davison.

Hubert Schuze runs a shop selling Native American pottery in New Mexico. Officially that is. Unofficially he’s also an illegal pot hunter – after all that’s what got him kicked out of university – so perhaps it’s not a surprise when a mysterious man offers him $25,000 to steal a pot. Except that this pot isn’t on a reserve, it’s in a museum – so it’s proper stealing. But the money is tempting, so he goes to scope out the museum, but when he returns to his shop he finds an agent accusing him of stealing a different ancient pot. And then he’s accused of murder. It’s all getting a little bit out of hand – will Hubie manage to escape jail and make sure that the culprit doesn’t?

This fits into the not-quite-the-right-side-of-the-law adventure caper genre, if such a thing exists. Think Ranger from Steph Plum – but before he started his security company and with pottery. Or a Karl Hiassen novel – but with a lot less death and destruction. Like a cozy crime that’s gone a bit rogue. Think John Smythe from Vicky Bliss if he owned a shop in New Mexico and specialised accordingly, and his friends call him Hubie. You get the picture. And it does exactly what you want it to – there’s a very tight spot for Hubert to try and get out of – hopefully in one piece and preferably coming out with a profit of some sort. Or at least something to try to sell. It is a lot of fun – and it’s the first in a series so I will try and remember to report back on whether it manages to keep the momentum going!

This is easiest to get hold of in ebook – and it’s actually cheaper on Kobo than Kindle at the moment although in terms of my target prices for ebooks both prices are a bit high at time of writing for what is a cozy crime adventure caper. It is also available in paperback form, but the prices are (even more) eye-watering for that!

Happy reading.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: February 20 – February 26

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How is it nearly the end of February already? I know that it’s the shortest month, and January always feels like it goes on forever, but this year it seems to have gone even quicker. Anyway, what have I done in the last week? Ummmmm. Well. Lots of work? And quite a bit of reading? Oh. I know. We watched seven episodes of Drive To Survive after it came out on Friday. That would explain it. Anyway, there are another couple of books nearly finished, so we’ll see how that goes this week, when I have another couple of nights away in London and an event or two I’m planning to go to. All the usual stuff coming up this week by the way including the Stats and Quick Reviews.

Read:

Movie Star by Jessica Simpson

The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer

Murder Served Neat by Michelle Hillen Klump*

The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras by J Michael Orenduff

Death in the Stars by Frances Brody

I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee

Started:

Gone But Not for Garden by Kate Collins*

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davison

Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor*

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe

Two books bought in Foyles because I just can’t help myself and another two books in the post plus two Kindle books. Whoops.

Bonus photo: The park again as that’s the prettiest photo I have from the week. It’s starting to look more green and less muddy and the hope that spring is coming is rising.

*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

Book of the Week: The Soulmate Equation

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Oh it’s another contemporary romance book pick. Two weeks in a row. It was Valentine’s Day, it’s allowed. The fact that it’s Christina Lauren again, just a few months after Something Wilder got a mention in a Recommendsday and not a year since Roomies was a BotW pick, is less allowed. But it’s my blog and I make the rules so I can break them too.

This is a sort of enemies to lovers but definitely fake relationship romance featuring single mum Jess. She doesn’t date because she’s too busy keeping all the balls in the air – being a single mom, her business doing data and statistics, keeping a roof over her family’s head and looking after her grandparents. Her best friend Fizzy buys her a kit for a new DNA-based matchmaking services for her birthday and in a moment of weakness she submits her spit sample. Which turns up the highest match the company has ever seen – the trouble is the person the algorithm says is her perfect match is the company’s cofounder, Dr River Peña, who she already knows she can’t stand. But soon the company is offering to to pay her to see if she’s wrong and she finds herself spending more and more time with River and starts to wonder if there is something in this matching thing after all…

This is a delightful treat of a romance. It’s told purely from Jess’s point of view, which I started off by finding frustrating but after about fifty pages I didn’t mind because it meant you really didn’t know what was going on with River and whether he was falling for Jess or just playing along for the sake of the company. Jess’s daughter Juno is just the right side of romance children (and it’s a difficult line to tread) and I loved the set up with the apartment building with Jess’s grandparents in the bungalow in the garden.

I’m not a numbers and figures person (I dropped all maths and science just as soon as I could because I wanted to do languages and history) so I can’t speak to the accuracy of the data and stuff, but it made sense to me without losing me in the technicalities and detail. This is another fake relationship Christina Lauren (like Roomies was) and has no pranks or any of the bits of their novels that sometimes don’t work for me, so if you’re not a humour from embarrassment person, I have good news for you, this is safe to read.

I got this off the pile last week because when I was reading up on the next Christina Lauren for last week’s upcoming books post I discovered that the heroine of that is the aforementioned Fizzy, Jess’s best friend who a romance writer and thought I ought to read Soulmate Equation before that came out. And I’m glad I did because it’s great but I’m also now even more excited about The True Love Experiment than I was before.

I got my copy of The Soulmate Equation from either the supermarket or the Works, I can’t remember which, but it’s all over the place – I saw it in Foyles the other week any everything. And of course it’s on Kindle and Kobo and all the usual ebook outlets too.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: February 13 – February 19

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Another very busy week including a few nights away from home, but with a bit of excitement as well – like a panel about Eurovision and a trip to the Cotswolds. Oh and Valentine’s Day and even more romance reading because why not!

Read:

A Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh

In Farm’s Way by Amanda Flower*

A Lie for a Lie by Emilie Richards

Fudge Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Peril in Paris by Rhys Bowen

Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

Started:

Murder Served Neat by Michelle Hillen Klump*

The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras by J Michael Orenduff

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe

One book pre-ordered, but that’s about it. I’m surprised at myself.

Bonus photo: Bourton-on-the-Water on Saturday. Beautiful but jam packed with people, although I think I’ve done quite a good job of disguising that in the picture!

*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, romance

Book of the Week: Nora Goes Off Script

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It’s Valentine’s Day today and we have a romance pick this week. Nora Goes Off Script is probably the easiest BotW choice in ages, for reasons which I will explain later in the post and (spoiler alert) are not the fact that it’s a romance and today is February 14th!

The plot: Nora is a scriptwriter for a romance channel, but after her husband leaves her and their two children she uses their breakup to write a script that doesn’t end in a chaste kiss and a happily ever after. And it sells to a movie company who want to film part of it on location at her farmhouse. Along with the film crew comes the film’s star: Leo Vance, former sexiest man alive and playing Nora’s ex. But when the film crew leaves, Leo doesn’t. And what turns into a week for him to clear his head turns into something more, something that can break your heart…

The Goodreads blurb calls this Evvie Drake Starts over meets Beach Read, and although I haven’t read Beach Read (yet) I have read Book Lovers and have been comparing it to Emily Henry to people so let’s call that pretty accurate. It’s romantic and sweet but it’s also relaxing. Yes Leo and Nora’s relationship doesn’t go smoothly but there’s no peril, and actually Nora does that thing I love in books of figuring out who she is and what she wants and the fact that she gets a handsome man by the end is a delightful bonus not the solution to her problems. Did that make any sense? It’s like in Legally Blonde: Elle is successful by the end because of her hard work and brains not because of a relationship. Yes she ends up with Emmett but he’s not the reason why she wins the case and gets voted valedictorian*.

I bought this while writing the Recommendsday post, started it in bed on Tuesday night and read nearly 100 pages without noticing (and definitely not what I meant to do and had finished it before bedtime on Wednesday. And then I read the last 20 percent again on the train to work on Thursday. Yup. I liked it that much. In fact writing this has made me want to go and read it all over again. It’s Annabel Monaghan’s first adult novel and I am already really looking forward to her second one which is due out in June. If it’s anything like as good as this I’ll be a happy girl.

As I said last week – this is 99p on Kindle at the moment and I don’t think you will regret it. I don’t know how easy the paperback will be to find – I couldn’t see it in Foyles on Friday, but that’s not foolproof.

Happy Reading!

* this is the crux of my biggest issue with the stage musical version of the show where Elle definitely succeeds because Emmet helps her and tells her what to do. But I digress.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: February 6 – February 12

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Well in case you couldn’t tell, I had quite a fun week last week – with a trip to the theatre and a nice meal out with my parents. Work continues a little busy, but I’m hoping this week coming will be better as it is half term week for the people with children. I’m due to be in town a couple of nights again and I’m hoping to have a bit of fun, so we’ll see what they does to next week’s list. As for this week, I finally got a book off the long running list, which is quite the achievement given my recent record. If only I can manage another before the end of the month!

Read:

Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Death at the Bar by Ngaio Marsh

Invitation to a Killer by G M Malliet*

Vera Kelly: Lost and Found by Rosalie Knecht

Exes and O’s by Amy Lea*

Started:

A Lie for a Lie by Emilie Richards

In Farm’s Way by Amanda Flower*

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe

Peril in Paris by Rhys Bowen

Well, one book in Foyles (on top of the three in there last week) ahead of Noises Off, and one on kindle while I was writing the Kindle Offers post.

Bonus photo: a frosty morning in Fitzroy Square last week. For once I had a whole week of cold but dry on the commute!

*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, Forgotten books, mystery

Book of the Week: Death of an Author

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Another classic crime reissue from the British Library this week – this is the book I mentioned that I hadn’t finished in time for the Quick Reviews and in the end that’s turned out to be a good thing as it means I can write about it at a greater length here. And I’m also relatively timely for once – as this was one of the BLCC’s January releases.

The author of the title is Vivian Lestrange, the reclusive person behind several bestselling mystery novels. He is reported missing by his secretary – who arrived for work one day and found the house locked up and her boss – and his housekeeper – vanished without a trace. But the investigation is mired in confusion from the start – there is no body and there is even doubt about whether Lestrange really exists. Could the secretary, Eleanor, perhaps be him? Bond and Warner from Scotland Yard have a real job on their hands.

I enjoyed this so much. Lorac has set up a seemingly impossible crime and laid so many red herrings around that you can’t work out what you’re meant to think. And then there’s the humour. As previously mentioned E C R Lorac is a pen name for Carol Carnac, a woman mystery writer. And it’s clear that she’s having a lot of fun at the expense of reviewers and readers of the time who couldn’t believe that a woman could write mysteries the way that she did. It’s just delightful. I read it in about two giant sittings, across 36 hours and if I hadn’t had to get on with my normal life I would have read it even faster! It was first published in 1935 and has been incredibly rare and hard to get hold of until now – which is a bit boggling because it is so good – so thank goodness for the British Library!

I got Death of an Author through my Kindle Unlimited subscription, so that’s the only ebook platform you can get it on at the moment, but you can of course buy it in paperback direct from the British Library shop where they are doing three for two at the moment so you could pick up some of the others that I have recommended recently – or potentially through your local bookshop that carries the BLCC series as it only came out in the middle of January so it may well be in their latest selection.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: January 30 – February 5

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It is official: I have finished the Meg Langslow re-read and I now have to wait until *checks* August for a new one. But, even though it’s been a blast, it has set me behind some of my other goals for the year. The best the to read page in my journal is looking worryingly empty. And this week hasn’t really helped that much as I was away for four nights and didn’t take a book with me – and I bought three on that trip to Foyles on Friday. Oopsie daisy. Still at least I made some progress on the NetGalley list and a lot of progress on one of the long runners. Maybe this week…

Read:

Artists in Crime by Ngaio Marsh

Vermeer to Eternity by Anthony Horowitz

Death of an Author by E C R Lorac

Irish Coffee Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross*

Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh

Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood*

Dashing Through the Snowbirds by Donna Andrews

Crowned and Mouldering by Kate Carlisle

Started:

Vera Kelly: Lost and Found by Rosalie Knecht

Peril in Paris by Rhys Bowen

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe

Exes and O’s by Amy Lea*

Three books bought in Foyles, plus one Kindle book. And the audiobook on CD of the last (chronologically) Amelia Peabody so that Him Indoors can hear how it all ends!

Bonus photo: as I mentioned, I was away for four nights – this time staying near St Paul’s cathedral. So I offer you a lovely nighttime photo of that, that I took on my way back from the theatre on Friday.

*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

Book of the Week: Georgie, All Along

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Continuing the Kate Clayborn theme of the last few days, but I’m not even sorry about it because this was delightful and it’s new and it deserves a bigger mention than just Thursday.

Georgie is back in Virginia after years away working as a PA in LA. Most of the time she’s too busy to think about anything except the next job on her list. But suddenly there are hours and days and weeks stretching out in front of her. She’s meant to be helping her best friend – who has just moved back to their home town too ahead of having her first baby – but it doesn’t feel like she really needs Georgie. And then they find a diary they wrote in high school full of plans for the future. Are these the ideas Georgie needs to figure out who she is and what she wants? And then there is the problem of Levi, her unexpected roommate and former town bad boy and current dock builder and semi recluse, who offers to help her on her quest…

This was a really lovely, calming read – and also romantic. There is very little peril (maybe no peril?), just two people trying to figure out who they are and what they want in the world. And if you’ve ever wondered what you’re doing with your life and why everyone seems to have things better planned than you, this may well speak to you on a cellular level. I often say that I’m very lucky because I knew what I wanted to do for my job at a very young age, and turned out that be good enough at it that I’ve been able to earn my living doing it (so far!). But I don’t really have a grand plan. I’m much better at knowing what I don’t want to do, than what I *do* want to do and so I really enjoyed watching Georgie working out what she wanted from life and also the way it all resolved – and I can’t really say more, because: spoiler.

So if you want a charming romance that will make you swoon-y happy but without making you anxious, then this may well be it. My copy came from NetGalley, but it’s out now in various formats: in Kindle and Kobo in the UK – it looks like the paperback option is the US version (at the moment at least).

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: January 23 – January 29

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So I’m realising that the problem with some of the long runners (I’ll let you work out which) is that they are books I need to concentrate on, and also a bit miserable. And this means that I need to be in the right mood for them (and one of them is also a hardback) and my brain is a bit frazzled right now, so it’s been happy to carry on down the Meg Langslow binge reread (only one left now!) as well as romance. I’m working on it though. I’ll get there in the end.

Read:

The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson

Death in Ecstasy by Ngaio Marsh

Missing Christmas by Kate Clayborn

Twelve Jays of Christmas by Donna Andrews

Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn*

Round Up the Usual Peacocks by Donna Andrews

Started:

Irish Coffee Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross*

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe

Exes and O’s by Amy Lea*

Well I may have picked up a couple of books (one ebook, one actual book) but that’s much, much better than last week so I’m counting it as a total win!

Bonus photo: A new plant, to soothe my wounded heart after I killed off a couple a few weeks back. Say hi to Fern-mino!

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