Tag: previews

Book previews

Out Today: New K J Charles

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We have a bit of a surprise new release today – I only found out about this one about ten days ago when Amazon sent me one of those “new release from an author you like” emails and was surprised to see it was a new release coming very soon. Anyway, K J Charles‘ latest is Copper Script which is set in the 1920s and features a Metropolitan Police Detective and a graphologist who can work out people’s lives and personalities from their handwriting with freakish accuracy. I pre-ordered this off the back of that email – so I have a copy dropped onto my Kindle just waiting to be read once I’ve finished the current Mitchell and Markby….

Book previews

Out Today: Mrs Spy

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Anyone fancy a Lady Spy novel set in the 1960s? Well this is out today and sounds intriguing. This from the blurb:

Maggie Flynn isn’t your typical 1960s mum.

She’s a spy, an unsuspecting operative for MI5, stalking London’s streets in myriad disguises. 

Widowed and balancing her clandestine career with raising a Beatles-mad teenage daughter, Maggie finds comfort and purpose in her profession – providing a connection to her late husband, whose own covert past only surfaced after his death.

It goes on to say that there’s a Russian agent and her husband’s death may have been because he was betrayed by someone on home soil. And as you can see from the cover above it’s got a “Thursday Murder Club for Spies” line on it. If I can just get over my need for comforting familiarity, this will be jumping right to the top of my list!

Book previews

Out Today: Julie Chan is Dead

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Welcome to May everyone and I’m starting the new month by mentioning a really buzzy book that came out today, but one which may be too far down the thriller and of things for me!

Julie Chan’s identical twin sister is an influencer. Julie is not. But when Julie finds Chloe’s body and unlocks her twin’s phone to call the emergency services, she sees the reality of her sister’s life: the sponsorship deals, her money, her followers. And Julie wants some of that for her. So she decides to take over Chloe’s life. All she’s got to do is try and blend in with the gang of influencers that Chloe was a part of. Except someone seems to know that something is up…

One of the blurbs describes this as edgy and vicious – hence my doubts about whether it is a Verity Book, but it sounds totally intriguing so I look forward to seeing if it turns up around the swimming pools and on the airplanes this summer!

Book previews

Out this week: New Simon Brett series

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Given that I’ve already written series posts for most of Simon Brett’s other series – namely Fetherings, Charles Paris, Mrs Pargeter – it would be remiss of me not to mention that he has a new book out this week and it’s the first in a new series. It’s called Major Bricket and the Circus Corpse and there is already a second book in the series listed on Amazon for this time next year. Our new amateur sleuth has just retired to the village in Suffolk where he’s owned a home for years, although he hasn’t really lived there because his work has taken him abroad a lot. The village has speculated about his occupation, but when he discovers a body on his lawn, he uses his professional skills to try and figure out what happened. I’ve actually read this already (thank you NetGalley) so this could actually count as a bonus review so your luck is in!

Now I’ll admit that I haven’t read Brett’s Blotto and Twinks series, so i can’t include them in this but if there is a scale of realism in his books where Jude and Carol in Fetherings live in the most realistic world and Mrs P is the least – then Major Bricket is the new measure of the far end out beyond Mrs P. Brett is doing his thing on your spy-thriller-secret identity type novel with more than a dash of the OTT about it. I’ve been trying to figure out what it reminded me of, and I can’t quite work it out – but it’s definitely closer to the M C Beaton Hamish MacBeth-everything-falls-into-place end of the cozy scale than it Brett usually is. Overall, I’m glad I read it, but I would rather have had another Charles Paris I think!

Book previews

Out Today: Paul Delamere sequel

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The first book featuring Paul Delamere, Knife Skills for Beginners, was a Book of the Week last year and given how much I’ve seen it in bookstores, it’s probably no surprise that Orlando Murrin has written a sequel. In Murder Below Deck Paul finds himself on board a super yacht with an old friend, but things start going wrong when a necklace goes missing and then a guest ends up dead. I’ve got a copy of this from NetGalley and have got as far as the necklace disappearing and Paul getting roped in to do some cooking – no body yet, but I had a migraine that stopped me getting further. But so far, so good. I’m expecting this to be fairly easy to get hold of because of how well the first book has done – that paperback came out in January with a snazzy new cover and I’m pretty sure it was on the “buy one get one half price” table in at least one of the bookshops I’ve been into since then.

Book previews

Out This Week: New Linda Holmes

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This is the second author from my favourite Not New Books of 2024 to have a new release in the first quarter of the new year. Linda Holmes’s third novel, Back After This, is about a podcast producer who gets her big break as a presenter – but only if it’s about her own dating life and features an influencer and relationship coach. Given that Holmes’s day job is on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, I’m optimistic that this is going to be a lot of fun with some insider knowledge (and hopefully jokes) as well as a satisfying story about Cecily working out who she is. The only question is how easy it’s going to be to get hold of it in the UK. Fingers crossed…

Book previews

Out This Week: The Secrets of Underhill

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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.

Book previews

Out this week: New Jill Shalvis

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Obviously this week the big release is the new Rebecca Yarros book – which has had the big midnight opening, parties and events type release. But given that I still haven’t started that series and that everyone bookish has probably already heard about it, I wanted to mention something different – which is that there is a new Jill Shalvis out this week as well. It’s the seventh in the Sunrise Cove series which I am (still) a few books behind because I keep waiting for the ones I’m missing to be on offer and it seems to never happen! But this is a wintery entry with a heroine who needs help to find her off-grid parents who have gone missing and the only person that she can trust to help is her ex – an investigator for the Parks Service who is currently stuck at home injured. I love a second chance romance – and this sounds like a really interesting premise too so I’m looking forward to reading this when I can get my hands on it.