In which our heroine attempts to tame the to-read pile
It’s that time of year again: I’m on the hunt for new mystery series. I’m very near the end of the Goldy Schulz series, I’m all up today with several of my others, and the ones that I’m not are asking hardback prices at the moment. So hit me up with your suggestions in the comments, whether they are contemporary cozy crime, historical crime or a classic author that I’ve missed!
Thanking you!
January was quite a quiet month on the book release front as usual but the start of February is somewhat busier. This wee there are a few new cozy crime books out, but the one I want to mention is the latest in Lynn Cahoon’s Tourist Trap series. Vows of Murder is the seventeenth in the series about Jill Gardner, a bookstore owner in California. I’ve read five of the series – but one of the reasons that I wanted to mention the latest one today is because the other sixteen are all in Kindle Unlimited at the moment. So if you want to take a dip into the work of South Cove now might be the ideal time.
The first month of 2025 is over and so I’m back with another whistle-stop tour through a couple of books that I read last month that I didn’t already tell you about.
Vanishing Box by Elly Griffiths
Let’s start this month with a rule breaking mid-series book. But there’s a reason for this I promise. Vanishing Box is the fourth in Griffiths’ series set in Brighton in the early 1950s. It’s been five years since I read the third book but my mum’s book club picked the first one just before Christmas and it reminded me that I had forgotten to go and read any more of them. And this is a good instalment in the series. The general premise is that Edgar Stephens is a police detective but in World War 2 he worked in a shadowy unit with Max Mephisto who is a magician. They fall back into each other’s orbit during the first book (The Zigzag Girl) and have stayed there since. This book sees Max performing on the bill of a variety show in Brighton and Edgar investigating the death of a flower shop worker who happened to be living in the same boarding house as some of the other performers on the bill with Max. You could read this without reading the rest of the series, but it will definitely work best if you’ve got the background.
Natural Selection by Elin Hilderbrand
A short story on the list this month – this is an Amazon Original that follows Sophia, a New Yorker who has finally found a man she can see herself settling down with, but who finds herself on a couples trip alone after an emergency means he has to bail on her as they’re about to board the flight. This sends Sophia on a journey of self discovery – the holiday was his choice – so Sophia finds herself the fish out of a water on a once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos Islands – without her boyfriend, without her phone signal (most of the time) and too embarrassed to talk to anyone about what’s going on. Hildebrand packs a lot into just over 50 pages and I found it surprisingly emotional as well as satisfying.
Not in My Book by Katie Holt*
As I previewed this when it came out, I thought I ought to follow up now I’ve read it. This is an enemies to lovers romance about two writers who are forced to write a book together after they take their classroom rivalry one step too far for their professor to let slide. If New Adult was still a thing, I would say that this is squarely in that area, but it’s not really any more so I don’t really know what to call it. And I think for some people this is going to work really well. It’s being compared to Sally Thorne‘s The Hating Game in the blurb and I think that’s pretty fair, but I think these two are maybe meaner to each other than those two. And that was my problem: they’re awful to each other and although I enjoyed it once they started getting along, as soon as there is any hint of conflict they revert to saying the most hurtful things they can to each other, and that’s just not my thing. Maybe it’s the age of the main characters and I’m just too old for that now – but it ended up being the end of the trope that I find hard to get on board with.
And that’s your lot for this month – a reminder of the Books of the Week from January: White House by the Sea, Deadly Summer Nights, Dark Tort and The Paradise Problem.
Happy Reading!
I’ve got one of my recent purchases for this week’s pick – I love it when a bookshop wander turns up something good that you didn’t know about before, and that’s exactly what happened with The Fan Who Knew Too Much.
When a podcaster is murdered live on air when about to reveal a secret about cult 1980s TV show Vixens from the Void, fellow fan and friend Kit finds herself dragged into an investigation disguised as a Blu Ray extra documentary. Was Wolf killed because he had discovered something new about the disappearance of an extra on the show 40 years earlier – and is there as yet undiscovered trivia to be found from reuniting the original stars of the show?
Nev Fountain is a writer on the sketch show Dead Ringers and this has got blurbs from Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch and Jenny Colgan if that gives you a clue about the sort of end of the mystery and fiction spectrum this falls into. I would also say it’s pretty British and has got a lot of references to British culture (beyond that of old TV series) that might be lost on you if you’re not someone who grew up watching low budget TV and setting the video for your favourite shows.
I’m not a massive Doctor Who fan, but I was a big viewer of Star Trek and also of shows like Buck Roger when they were repeated when I was little. I’m also not a stranger to the world of online fandom and communities so this really appealed to the nerd inside me. And it’s not perfect – some times it’s just too, too bonkers – but I think that’s part of the point. If you want to follow a group of professional fans trying to recreate some low budget sci fi in Brighton while corralling a group of aging actors and their egos, this delivers on that in spades. Some of the murder plot is frankly insane and it could have used being slightly shorter, but I forgave it because it had enough hilarious moments that they’re the bits that stick with you.
I bought my copy in Waterstones, but it’s also available on Kindle and Kobo – where it also looks like it’s in Kobo Plus. And there’s a sequel coming later in the year too.
Happy Reading!
Another busy but solid week in the end. Slightly more novellas than usual, but a few things crossed my path and it was a bit of a difficult week so they suited what my brain could cope with. Hopefully this week will be better.
Read:
The Bookstore Sister by Alice Hoffman
The Bookstore Wedding by Alice Hoffman
Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh
Murder as Fine Art by Carol Carnac
Vexed in Vermont by Patti Benning
Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh
Oddities in Ohio by Patti Benning
The Fan Who Knew Too Much by Nev Fountain
Tune in Tomorrow by Melanie Benjamin
Started:
A Victim at Valentines by Ellie Alexander*
Still reading:
Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson
The Favourites by Layne Fargo*
A Traveller in Time by Alison Utley
Cher: The Memoir Part One by Cher
One book, one pre-order. Restrained.
Bonus picture: another jigsaw finished. The Discworld Emporium ones are really tricky. Lots of similar colours in different areas.
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
I did go to the theatre this week, but given that I’m going again next week and that show is on a much shorter run that this week’s one, I suspect we may be back at the theatre again next weekend, so I thought I’d mix it up and go with a retro TV series this week. I have to say I did struggle to get a video for this post because my favourite era of the series is from the pre-YouTube era…
Jonathan Creek is a mystery drama series that started in the late 1990s on the BBC. The titular character played by comedian and current QI stalwart Alan Davis and is a designer of magical illusions who is dragged into solving crimes by pushy investigative journalist Maddie Magellen, played by Caroline Quentin. Maddie is willing to lie and be devious to get what she wants, Jonathan is not. Jonathan also works for stage magician Adam Klaus who is flamboyant and often provides comedy subplots. Over the course of the nearly 20 years covered by the original series and then the subsequent specials, Maddie is replaced by ambitious TV exec Carla Borego (Julia Swalha) and then Joey, a paranormal investigator played by Sheridan Smith and finally Sarah Alexander’s Polly.
Although at the start of the series Jonathan is pretty antisocial and reclusive, over the course of the early series he gains in confidence and social skills to become fairly witty and charming in an offbeat sort of way – which continues in the specials. However, there is not a lot of running plot strands in this – they’re basically murder of the weeks, where the emphasis is on the actual mechanics of the crime being investigated. There is a will they won’t they with Maddie in the early years, but it’s never anywhere near the main focus of the series.
There are a few bits that haven’t dated that well – and if you’re under 30 the fact that at least one of the plots involves a video recorder is going to be novel to you. But the mysteries are tightly plotted and very hard to work out when you watch the show first time around. But at this point I’ve seen all of the early series a couple of times and they still hold up even when you know the solution. And they have the advantage of having a lot of interesting guest stars – the writer is David Renwick who has as long and storied history in British comedy and that brought in people. And so there are a few Easter Eggs here if you’ve watched a lot of British TV over the years – but also if you watch the pilot episode you’ll see that Adam Klaus was originally played by Anthony Stuart Head – who couldn’t continue with the series as he got a role in a little American show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Jonathan Creek is on the iplayer if you’re in the UK, and if you’re abroad it’s also available on various streaming service.
Have a great Sunday.
Books read this month: 31 *
New books: 19
Re-reads: 12 (all audiobooks)
Books from the to-read pile: 5
NetGalley books read: 2
Kindle Unlimited read: 8
Ebooks: 4
Audiobooks: 12
Non-fiction books: 1
Favourite Book: Paradise Problem (although the final part of the Fangirl Manga was also really good)
Most read author: excluding the Ngaio Marsh and Kerry Greenwood audiobooks, Diane Mott Davidson and Vicki Delany with two each.
Books bought: Five books and three ebooks
Books read in 2025: 31
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 760
A very busy month in real life, and a set of stats held up by the fact that it’s the start of the new year and audiobook relistens count to the total again. Relatively restrained on the purchasing front – mostly helped by the fact that a lot of what I wanted to read was in Kindle Unlimited.
Bonus picture: my favourite sign from my visit to Bookends at the start of the month
*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including this month!
I mentioned a few small town series in my post on Wednesday, but I’m taking the opportunity this Friday to remind you about the Fool’s Gold series. There are twenty full length novels in Susan Mallery’s series set in a small town in California as well as twenty five novellas of various lengths. The novels come in groups – friendship groups, or siblings, or business partners – where they all getting paired off one book after another. Overall the series covers about six years in the life of the town. They’re very easy to read – and even easier to read one after another. As I said in my original post there is a slightly higher pregnancy ratio plot than I would usually go for, but they’re so relaxing I let them off. If you don’t want to start at the beginning, I suggest you start with the group of retired sportspeople that start at book 14.
Have a great weekend everyone!
It’s the end of January, but most of the books out this week are scary thriller type books, which are really not my thing, so instead I wanted to mention a new middle grade fantasy novel that’s out this week. The Secrets of Underhill sees a young apprentice who is trying to save a grove of magical trees. It sounds like a really interesting idea with an environmental theme that’s seems like it will appeal to youngsters.
It’s the tail end of January. It feels like a long time since Christmas. You could be forgiven for having a bit of the blues at the moment. So I’ve got a bit of a recommendsday supercut for you, of suggestions to try and help you through the gloom and towards the spring.
First of all I have a whole list of novels about fresh starts – not to be confused with the non fiction post of self help books. I’ve also got a lot of recommendations for books about house renovations- which are a sort of fresh start aren’t they? – whether it’s this recommendsday post or the Fixer Upper mysteries, the Real Estate Rescue ones or a romance with Maggie Moves On?
I find small town romances very comforting but also cheering – so how about Happily Inc or Blessings? But maybe you want to escape away to somewhere tropical. Obviously The Paradise Problem was book of the week the other week but there’s also The Unhoneymooners. And finally if you want to go completely the other way there’s ski resort action with the O’Neil Brothers.
Happy Humpday!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 