Tag: previews

Book previews

Out today: New Robert Langdon

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So I said yesterday I don’t know what I was going to do for BotW today, and I kept thinking about it and I still didn’t and I couldn’t come up with any enthusiasm for any of the new things I read last week so I decided to do something different because…

The Autumn new book deluge has really started now because today we had the arrival of the new Dan Brown book, the sixth in the Robert Langdon series. It’s been eight years since the last installment in the series, Origin, and I’m sure there were other people who, like me, thought that that might be it for the series. But no, he’s back and I think this may be the biggest print run of the books out this autumn – the announcement doesn’t say how big it is, but it’s a simultaneous release in 17 territories and the man has 250 million books in print. That is a lot of books.

I’ve read the first two Langtons, back at the original height of Da Vinci Code Mania 20 years ago and I also read his standalone Digital Fortress at around the same time. When the third book came out I had a go at it and then gave up on it and haven’t gone back. When I was reading the first two back I was in France and was borrowing any English books I could get my hands on and I don’t think I had the same motivation for them once I was back in the UK with free reign on anything I wanted to read. But there’s no doubt that he’s one of the authors who will shift big units – they’re the sort of books that people who don’t read many books per year will pick up at the airport. And I don’t say that as a derogatory thing – I do exactly the same with Richard Osman. And his new book is out in a few weeks too…

Book previews

Out This Week: Christie-adjacent books

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It’s nearly the weekend everyone, and it’s almost the end of August and more new books are starting to appear again. There are loads out this week but the ones I’m most interested in (I think) are two Agatha Christie adjacent novels.

Let’s start with Amanda Chapman’s Mrs Christie at the Guild Library because it’s a debut. The blurb promises an old money New York book conservator, a woman claiming to be Agatha Christie and the suspicious death of a talent agent. It also mentions a snarky librarian, a child computer prodigy and a badly dressed police detective and has a beautiful cover so it’s going on my list to read the sample for and see if it can go on the long list for the Christmas book options!

And the second is Sulari Gentill’s Five Found Dead. This is set on the Orient Express where a crime fiction writer and his twin sister are taking a trip as a reward after he’s finished medical treatment. But then they wake up to a bloody crime scene in the cabin next door, but no body and so of course they start investigating. And then a steward is murdered. I’ve read a couple in Gentill’s Roland Sinclair historical mystery series but has now branched out into standalone mysteries that seem to be more towards the thriller end of the genre (although not so thriller that they made it onto the thriller section of the new books list that I look at!) and so may possibly be too scary for me – but I will be checking it out if I spot it in the shops!

Book previews

Out this week: Kit Pelham sequel

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Back in February, The Fan Who Knew Too Much was a Book of the Week, so I wanted to mention that the sequel, Lies and Dolls, came out on Tuesday. The blurb for this promises Kit and Binfire en route to Lincolnshire to see undiscovered tapes of Vixens of the Void and promises missing action figures that lead to murder. I thought the first one could have been a bit tighter, but that was possibly because it was doing the world building work – so I’m looking forward to seeing what Nev Fountain has got planned and how it’s all developed. As you can see, I had the paperback pre-ordered – but given the state of the pile at the moment, who knows how long it will take for me to get to it!

Book previews

Out this week: New Beatriz Williams

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There’s clearly something in the water with books set on islands this year. After Sarah MacLean’s book set on a private island, Beatriz Williams’s latest is back on Winthrop Island, which featured in The Beach at Summerley a couple of year ago. This is another time slip novel with one strand set in 1846 and the other set in what sounds like the present day. There is a cache of paintings, a movie star, a chef and a steam ship disaster across the two threads and it sounds great. I continue to be really annoyed that Williams most recent novels haven’t been getting kindle releases over here – I’m now about three books behind because they just don’t seem to turn up in the shops and there’s no kindle option. All of which is annoying because I really like her writing.

Book previews

Out today: Island Calling

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Welcome to Glorious Tuga was a book of the week almost a year ago, and today the sequel is out. It’s planned as a trilogy, so don’t go expecting everything to be resolved at the end of this one but the blurb is promising the arrival on the island of Charlotte’s mother, determined to drag her daughter back home to England and the career Lucinda thinks her daughter ought to have. I loved the characters as well as the setting when I read the first book, so I’m looking forward where we go next. I’m hoping that the angst level stays pretty low (similar levels to book one please) because that’s what I need in my reading at the moment! I saw the first book in a bunch of shops last year so I’m hoping this one should be fairly easy to find.

Side note: you’ll noticee that we’ve got a new cover style since last year – the first one got a redesign with the arrival of the paperback and the sequel has followed that. I think it’s really pretty but it’s bad news for those who have the first in hardback and like a matching set…

Book previews

Out today: A Murder for Miss Hortense

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This week’s theme may be older lady detectives – because after Vera Wong on Tuesday, today we have Miss Hortense. She’s a retired nurse who lives in a Birmingham suburb and who came to the UK from Jamaica in 1960. When a body turns up in the home of one of her acquaintances, she is drawn into investigating. I’m looking forward to reading this one – not just because Miss Hortense sounds great but also because it’s been ages since I read a book set in Birmingham.

Happy Reading!

Book previews

Out this Week: The Listeners

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Maggie Stiefvater’s adult debut came out this week – The Listeners is set in an Appalachian hotel commandeered by the authorities in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. The Avalon has a sweet water spring and a reputation for unrivalled luxury. But when 300 diplomats and Nazi sympathisers arrive, the delicate balance at the hotel is threatened. You might have noticed that this one is already on my reading list, but I just keep getting distracted by the Mitchell and Markbys, but so far so good.

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!