The pile

Books Incoming: November crime novels

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Ok. So it’s all got a bit out of hand this month and I’ve had to split the books incoming up because there were just so many of them. And that’s because a bunch of preorders came in, a load of stuff that I’ve been wanting to read came down in price and I found a nice large book voucher that I needed to spend – and so here we are. So this week you’re getting the crime and mystery arrivals, next week you’re getting the other stuff and then I’ve saved the Christmas-themed arrivals to do all together!

So right at the back we’ve got the latest Rivers of London graphic novel which was on of those preorders and that I picked up from the Comic Bookshop last weekend. Then there’s the second in Frances Brody’s new series, the next two in the series which started with last week’s book of the week A Dark and Stormy Murder – one of which was second hand, the other came from the lovely cozy crime selection at Waterstones Piccadilly thanks to that voucher. Also on that voucher and from the same place is Six Sweets Under and Deadly Summer Nights – which are both first in series. The Anne George is a second in series – and will help with my 50 States challenge for this year (if I read it before the end of the year!) and then there’s another Edmund Crispin because happened to see it, the next books in two other series – the Edward Marston ocean liner books and Perveen Mistry mysteries.

Happy Saturday!

Authors I love, Series I love

Belated Happy Birthday Soulless!

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One of the things that happened last month that I missed was the fifteenth birthday of Gail Carriger’s first book, Soulless. I wasn’t quite in on this from the start – I started reading her about five years in, but I have consistently revisited Soulless since – and read all of the connected books at least once. I own many of them in more than one format – Soulless I have in paperback, ebook and audiobook (which I’m actually listening to at the moment) because that is the sort of person I am. Anyway, the point of this is to point you back at my series post for the Parasolverse, although I’ve also got review posts for a bunch of the later books which I read after I started this blog. So if you fancy some vampires, werewolves and more in Steampunk Victorian London this week, these could be just the thing for you!

books

Out This Week: The Author’s Guide to Murder

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The new novel from Lauren Willig, Karen White and Beatriz Williams has come out this week – and part of the blurb describes it as Murder, She Wrote meets Agatha Christie which is absolutely something I can get on board with. As I said in the autumn preview post this has got a big name author being murdered on a remote island in the Scottish Highlands, with three authors among the suspects.

When I came to write this post, I was convinced that there was more than one novel this Christmas that has got an author being murdered on an island (even an island in Scotland(, but I thought I must just have been remembering being excited about this one, which is hilarious. And then when I was in Foyles the other week I spotted this years BLCC Christmas release in the wild, which is about the murder of a well known playwright at his castle on a private island off Scotland – so I was right, there is more than one, it’s just the BLCC one was first published in 1948 and has been forgotten since then. So I wasn’t going mad, and I had actually remembered something real. Anyway this seems to be a break from their previous books as a trio because as far as I can tell this one only has one strand and it’s set in the present day. The blurb describes it as a pointed satire about the literary world, which is definitely a new development for these three, so I’m excited to see what they’ve written – if I can find a copy which is always a challenge…

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: October Quick Reviews

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There are not many of these this month I’m afraid, largely because I’ve read a lot of books from series, including a complete re-read of Lily Bard, but also because I read a few things that I didn’t like and don’t really want to write about either! But you’ve got two, so that’s something, and they’re both non-fiction, so maybe I should say it’s a non-fiction special and style it out? Except I’ve told you that now so it doesn’t really work does it?

Murder: The Biography by Kate Morgan*

This is a really interesting and incredibly readable look at the legal history of the crime of murder in England and how the statute has developed and evolved over time. It picks out the key cases that have shaped the law’s application – some of which you will have heard of, others you may not. If you’re a reader of crime fiction, this is really interesting – as you can see the development of things that you’ve seen in classic murder mysteries but in real cases. It also includes the development of corporate murder and manslaughter statutes and their success (or lack thereof) in the latter half of the twentieth century. Interesting and thought provoking.

Unruly by David Mitchell

I saw someone somewhere describe this as “Horrible Histories for grownups” and I think that’s not a bad comparison. This is a look at the Kings and Queens of England from King Arthur until the death of Elizabeth I from the comedian and actor (and history graduate) David Mitchell. It’s quite sweary at times and it’s full of pop culture/modern day references which I think is where that Horrible Histories comparison comes from, but I think it’s also got some comparators in the podcast world – with things like You’re Dead to Me and Even the Rich – as well as some stand-up comedy that goes on. I enjoyed it, and I learned a few things – mainly because it focuses on the early kings more than the later ones who are the ones I usually read about!

And there you go, that’s your two – they wouldn’t make bad Christmas books if you buy those for the people in your life and Unruly is in proper paperback now (as opposed to airport paperback like my copy) too so it’s more stocking sized now as well.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: Death at the Dress Rehearsal

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Yes I’m cheating because I finished this on Monday. No I’m not sorry. Not even remotely this time!

It’s 1970 and Edward Lowe and John Le Breton, two aging actors are on location filming a not very good BBC sitcom called Floggit and Leggit . But when Edward stumbles across a body he’s convinced the death is not the accident the local police think it is and even though they’re not really friends to start with (you could say they tolerate each other) he convinces John to help him investigate. Soon they’re crisscrossing the country in their gaps in filming and the body count starts to mount. Can they figure out who is behind the deaths before the killer strikes again?

Now if you’re anything like me, you’re reading that blurb and thinking hang on, that sounds like Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier solving crimes around the filming of Dad’s Army. And then about ten seconds later I had a sample in my kindle and about 30 seconds after that I’d read enough to decide to buy it. And that is definitely the vibe. It’s a pretty solidly plotted cozy crime novel with plenty of twists and an interesting and slightly fractious duo of aging actors at the centre of it where the dynamic is definitely a mix of Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson and the generally accepted personas of the two actors behind them. The sitcom is more Lovejoy meets open all hours or last of the summer wine but there’s actually not as much action from the set as you might expect. I really enjoyed it – and if I hadn’t been trying to finish Astor before I went away for another few days (and if there had been less action in the F1) I would have finished it yesterday. I haven’t read anything else from Stuart Douglas, but I’m already looking forward to the sequel next year.

I bought my copy on Kindle – it was £1.99 when I bought it last week, but it’s up at £5.99 at time of writing. And it’s also in Kobo (for the same price as Kindle) and available in paperback too, although the only one of the central London Waterstones that claims to have it is Piccadilly and the only Foyles is the main one at Charing Cross Road.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: October 28 – November 3

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A busy week in life and reading. Am I on a bit of a Simon Brett binge? Yes. But actually most of them are books I haven’t read before that have been sitting on the virtual TBR so that is progress on the backlog right? And I have started another 50 pages and out run through the bookshelf which has weeded some books off the pile because I don’t like them and don’t want to read the rest. Again, progress of a sort.

Read:

Hide My Eyes by Margery Allingham

The Corpse on the Court by Simon Brett

The Strangling on Stage by Simon Brett

Reunion Dinner by Jessie Q Sutanto

Dead Room Farce by Simon Brett

The Tomb in Turkey by Simon Brett

A Holiday Homicide by Ellie Alexander

Crime of Fashion by Emma Rosenblum

Astor by Anderson Cooper

Started:

Death at the Dress Rehearsal by Stuart Douglas

The Divorce Colony by April White

Still reading:

A Jingle Bell Mingle by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy*

Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans

Two books and one ebook added to the pile. And I still have that book voucher to spend remember…

Bonus picture: another night out at the theatre…

*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

October Stats

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Books read this month: 31*

New books: 20

Re-reads: 11 (6 audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 4

NetGalley books read: 2

Kindle Unlimited read: 8

Ebooks: 5

Audiobooks: 6

Non-fiction books: 2

Favourite book this month: Probably A Dark and Stormy Murder

Most read author: Charlaine Harris, with the Lily Bard reread

Books bought: moving on….

Books read in 2024: 336

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 754

A pretty solid month by figures, but still more than I’d like in novellas rather than actual books because that means it’s not reducing either the physical TBR pile or the Netgalley list. Still in the main they’re coming via KU so at least it means I’m getting value out of that membership!

Bonus picture: is it wrong to be proud of a cake?! Any way, I made this and I was so…

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 7 this month!

book related, bookshops

Books in the Wild: Latest bumper releases…

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I’ve been in Foyles this week – and Gower Streey again and only two weeks on and and a few new things have appeared…

Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir is clinging on in the display but Al Pacino, Malcolm Gladwell and others have taken the rest of the slots.

The biggest change though is that they’ve moved the crime hardbacks, BLCCs and mass market cozy crimes and now we have three cases of horror…

On to Foyles and we’ve got the big name fiction including Nick Harkaway’s Smiley novel and the Ali Smith which I also spotted in Waterstones a couple of days early too.

And all the new crime and thrillers – including the Leonora Natrass I mentioned the other week.

And then the celebrity memoirs. I think we’ve pretty much got them all now, I can only think of one on my list that hasn’t arrived yet, but it’s a bit more niche.

I’ve included this one because I liked the look of the book about women in advertising.

And I know the question you’re all asking. Yes I did buy something. But actually it was in Foyles, as Gower Street didn’t have any of my target books. So that £30 voucher is still in my purse and I’m going back to Piccadilly next week for the big cozy crime section i resisted so valiantly last week…

Book previews

Out Today: Return to the Dallergut Dream Department store

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I’m going to start with the fact that I have no idea why this is coming out on a Friday, when Thursday is the usual book release day in the UK and Tuesday in the US. But that’s what the bookshop websites say, so I’m going with it as it enabled me to post about the new TJR yesterday, even if I then found copies on sale in Foyles yesterday evening on my way to the theatre. And yes. I checked the release date again and it still said preorder on the book sites.

Anyway, this is the sequel to Mi-ye Lee’s The DallerGut Dream Department Store, which came out this time last year (and which has been sitting on my tbr shelf for almost that long) and has been one of the translated fiction books you’ll have seen in the bookshops this year. In the first book we meet Penny, a new employee at the store which sells dreams, in book two she is continuing to learn about the dream industry – and discovers the people who make complaints about their dreams and tries to work out why some people never come back to the shop.

Will this be the push I need to read the first book, for the sake of my TBR pile we can only hope it is…

Book News

Just Announced: New Taylor Jenkins Reid

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You know how I sometimes say I don’t know if this was just announced or if I had just not noticed? Not this time. This was just announced yesterday and was not my original plan for today but I couldn’t not do it, given that as soon as I read the email from Taylor Jenkins Reid I clicked on the preorder link in it and preordered the signed edition Waterstones had. And when I came back to my inbox, there was an email from Waterstones telling me about the book that I had just ordered. Ahead of the game I tell you. Anyway…

I don’t need to give you the plot of Atmosphere because the blurb is right there in the Instagram post, but if what Taylor Jenkins Reid said when Carrie Soto came out still holds, this is not going to be linked to that quartet – although whether those characters will exist in this new world (as Easter eggs for us nerds) or not I do not know. I enjoyed those four books so much that I’m a little trepidatious about venturing into a new world – especially because space and sci fi aren’t usually my thing and I am Aware of certain space shuttle related events in the mid 1980s – but clearly not nervous enough not to have ordered that signed copy immediately. A nice treat coming my way in eight months time – the big question is will I remember that I’ve preordered it or will I accidentally order it again before then? Anything is possible…

If you haven’t read the quartet then I’ve written about all off them: there’s old Hollywood secrets in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Fleetwood Mac-esque music shenanigans in Daisy Jones and the Six (which I even went to a signing for at my now regular haunt of Gower Street Waterstones), sibling rivalries and family drama in Malibu Rising and finally an epic sports comeback and journey of self discovery in Carrie Soto is Back.

Also before I go: there hadn’t been an email from Taylor Jenkins Reid since April and then she sent one on Tuesday with book reccs – so another one twenty four hours later announcing a new book was quite the shock – and delightful surprise because I was disappointed at the end of Tuesday’s email that there was still no news of anything new!