2024
Recently reviewed
Secret Seven Fireworks
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Reviewed on 28th December 2024
The seven reappear for another Bonfire Night. My copy is from the 90s so the currency at least has been decimalised, and I don’t know if that means other changes have been made too.
Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret
Reviewed on 28th December 2024
In this self-described “Holiday Special”, we revisit Ernest as he receives a concerning phone call and is dragged off to another grisly murder scene.
The Case of the Counterfeit Criminals
Reviewed on 28th December 2024
The Hardy brothers are competing at athletics (they are multiskilled) when they get involved in trainer-based crime. The British use of the word “trainer”, as in the type of shoe.
Ardent Violet and the Infinite Eye
Reviewed on 21st December 2024
In this second book, we meet up again with the established characters as they are thrown into a new series of mega adventures.
Murder Under the Mistletoe
Reviewed on 15th December 2024
This novella takes us to visit the rectory at Christmas. It takes a bunch of the best bits from the series and compresses them in.
Murder Most Unladylike
Reviewed on 15th December 2024
This book has been calling out to me from shops for some years now, and I finally picked it up somewhere to read. I know it’s intended for children, but the title feels very enticing, and I wondered what I was missing out on.
The Quanderhorn Xperimentations
Reviewed on 7th December 2024
After Reading a moderately dark novel I decided I needed something light, and so picked this off my shelves where it has been waiting a few months since I finally found it after years of looking.
How To Solve Your Own Murder
Reviewed on 30th November 2024
An intriguing new mystery, taking a classic setup with a new twist. We find ourselves meeting Annie, whose great-aunt received a harrowing fortune sixty years ago, and has spend that time documenting everything in her life to solve her own murder.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong
Reviewed on 24th November 2024
Book six of St Mary’s - by this point I have thoroughly lost track of everything that’s happened, but fortunately the book does a good job of reminding me of all the important things. I also have no sense of how much time has passed in the series so far, but again I don’t think that really matters.
A Fatal Crossing
Reviewed on 24th November 2024
I had been looking out for this first Tom Hindle novel for a while before coming across two copies together in a charity shop. I was imagining it to be the first in the series, but having read it, it seems I was wrong and these are standalone novels.
Random Sh*t Flying Through The Air
Reviewed on 16th November 2024
I’ve put off reading this second book for some years, based on a memory of finding the first a bit of a slog. But my experience her was better than I was expecting.
Ink Ribbon Red
Reviewed on 10th November 2024
I was a bit concerned going into Alex Pavesi’s second novel - the first had such a clever structure to it and I wasn’t sure how this would avoid feeling like a copy or just becoming a regular novel. But it’s managed with amazing talent to create a really addictive reading experience.
Asylum
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Reviewed on 10th November 2024
Una McCormack arrives as a Strange New Worlds author in this poignant and entertaining novel set in both season two of the show and as a prequel, giving us backstory about the first meeting of Pike and Chin-Riley.
Noise Floor
Reviewed on 2nd November 2024
I just find that I really enjoy hanging out with these characters that Cartmel has invented. Yes they go and have adventures finding records and murderers, but they seem to just have a good life between that too, with a good bunch of friends.
The Neverending Story
Reviewed on 2nd November 2024
Having watched the film often as a child, I was attracted to find out what the book was like, so picked it up recently. Turns out it’s both similar and not.
The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder
Reviewed on 24th October 2024
My latest purchase in the cosy crime with a unique take genre is this, in which we find ourself meeting the estranged former apprentice of a deceased antique hunter. Write what you know is the classic advice, and the author’s status as a child of famous antique experts seems to provide an excellent in.
The Future
Reviewed on 24th October 2024
A random purchase based on being attracted to the cover, this slightly dystopian future thriller throws us into a world of tech billionaires planning to survive an apocalypse.
The Cat Who Solved Three Murders
Reviewed on 24th October 2024
Conrad is back, as he comes along to visit an old friend of Lulu ahead of a big birthday party. Naturally, this being a cosy crime story, things don’t all go to plan, and they have more murders to investigate.
The Dollmakers
Reviewed on 24th October 2024
I picked this book up following the recommendation of another author I regularly read. It’s a fantasy story set in a world of subtle magics, which in the country we visit is manifested in the form of dolls, magical androids built to delight and serve, or to defend.
No Man's Land
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Reviewed on 5th October 2024
The online blurbs when I ordered this were not explicit enough that this is the script of the audio play, and not a novelisation. So I was slightly surprised with what I found inside, and I’ve seen other readers with the same comment.
We Solve Murders
Reviewed on 5th October 2024
Richard Osman proves that he can write a fun and compelling novel without his usual cast of characters, as we meet Amy, Steve, and Rosie, a somewhat unlikely team, and yet one that’s been great fun to read about.
Even Dogs in the Wild
Reviewed on 28th September 2024
Rebus is solidly retired, and his ex-colleagues Siobhan and Malcolm assigned to separate stations and cases, as we are thrown into new investigations when someone tries to shoot old foe Big Ger.
A Very Lively Murder
Reviewed on 28th September 2024
The 3 Dahlias reconvene in Wales after one receives a death threat, and various other mysteries surround the production of their new film.
The Ending Fire
Reviewed on 28th September 2024
The final part of the trilogy sees us return to the Empire and our four leads as their journeys separate around the continents.
The Examiner
Reviewed on 28th September 2024
Janice Hallett returns for yet another of her genius mystery stories presented in the form of found written material.
The Masquerades of Spring
Reviewed on 16th September 2024
A fascinating prequel to the Rivers of London series in which we visit prohibition-era New York, see the Nightingale in full action, and learn quite a lot of history too.
The Hotel Avocado
Reviewed on 16th September 2024
Bob Mortimer’s sequel sees Gary make new friends and new enemies as he considers relocating to his girlfriend’s new hotel, while suffering the repercussions of the first novel.
The Case of the Missing Marquess
Reviewed on 13th September 2024
I picked this up because I enjoyed the films, and found that the voice of the narration very easily defaults to Millie Bobbie Brown’s in my head too.
Children of Ruin
Reviewed on 7th September 2024
This sequel to Children of Time has been sat on my shelf for over three years, and it’s been five years since I read the first book. Yet I found it easily to slip back into and read - easier than the first from what I can interpret from my notes.
Black Friday
Reviewed on 31st August 2024
I was surprised that the reading order has meant that it’s three years since I read the previous book in this series, but I needed something quick and fun to dispel the disappointment of the book I read before this one.
Empire of the Vampire
Reviewed on 24th August 2024
I’ve been wanting to read this ever since it was published. It came with a massive publicity campaign which couldn’t possibly have missed me.
To Be Taught If Fortunate
Reviewed on 24th August 2024
This short novel follows the small crew of an exploratory space vessel visiting several exo-planets. Each chapter is like a novella covering their time at a different destination.
Magpie Murders
Reviewed on 24th August 2024
In this brilliant murder mystery inside a murder mystery, Horowitz has put together two incredibly complex plots that tie together beautifully into one story.
The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley
Reviewed on 24th August 2024
Another successful “it looked pretty in the pile in the bookshop” find for me. This novel tells the story of the titular character and his father, from traumatic birth to traumatic adulthood.
Starship Titanic
Reviewed on 24th August 2024
A novelisation by Terry Jones of a computer game by Douglas Adams? What could there be not to enjoy?
Strange Tide
Reviewed on 10th August 2024
The Peculiar Crimes Unit return to investigate a unique sort of locked room mystery set on the River Thames.
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Reviewed on 3rd August 2024
I found this instantly and utterly gripping. It’s a story of two sisters, separated by their joint need to keep magic safe from the world.
The Mystery of the Dead Man's Riddle
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Reviewed on 3rd August 2024
The 22nd adventure for the Three Investigators sees them set to unravel a series of riddles left in a contested will.
Practical Demonkeeping
Reviewed on 3rd August 2024
Having read two of Moore’s later works I decided to stock up on some of the earlier ones, and where better to start than the beginning.
Meantime
Reviewed on 27th July 2024
Frankie Boyle’s novel has been on my wish list since I first saw it listed, and so when I came across it in a charity shop it was an easy choice.
Queen B
Reviewed on 21st July 2024
Although technically a prequel, this novella totally stands alone and doesn’t need the reader to have any familiarity with the main series. Some knowledge of Tudor monarchy will help, but only as much as is standard primary school curriculum.
The Cracked Mirror
Reviewed on 21st July 2024
Chris Brookmyre subverts the genre with a bewildering opening to this complex novel, where we open in a Scottish village, following a cosy crime story about an elderly Marplesque detective. But after three chapters suddenly another novel starts - now we’re in LA, the present tense, and a gritty thriller about a reckless cop.
A Master of Djinn
Reviewed on 21st July 2024
Clark’s first novel drops us into a parallel early-20th-century Egypt, several decades after the Djinn and other supernatural beings returned to the world. There we meet Fatma, an agent of the government ministry responsible for the supernatural, as she’s assigned to investigate some mysterious deaths.
Death and Croissants
Reviewed on 7th July 2024
I’ve seen this book and its sequels in shops so many times and eventually picked it up in a charity shop.
Dune
Reviewed on 7th July 2024
I’ve waited many decades to read this, but a desire to avoid the films until I’ve done the book finally prompted me into it.
Death in Fine Condition
Reviewed on 29th June 2024
After reading a hefty non-fiction tome and trying to read something which turned out to be very much not my thing, I turned to Andrew Cartmel, whose previous novels I’ve found very relaxing and enjoyable.
The Whole Truth
Reviewed on 29th June 2024
Having just finished a hefty non-fiction tome, I was recommended (by said tome) to pick up a thriller next, and so I grabbed this one which was early on my shelf and had remained unread for some years.
Unruly
Reviewed on 29th June 2024
Just occasionally I dip into some non-fiction reading, and this time I’m glad I did.
Murder at the Monastery
Reviewed on 23rd June 2024
Everything is a bit shaken up in Canon Clement’s third mystery novel, which follows immediately on from the second.
Supernova
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Reviewed on 23rd June 2024
The second Star Trek Prodigy novel is a novelisation of a video game based on the TV series. It seems to be set immediately after the first novel, somewhere in the early second half of season one.
Shadowstitch
Reviewed on 15th June 2024
The second main book in the series arrived much larger and longer than o was expecting, with 650 or so pages.
Dead Tired
Reviewed on 9th June 2024
It’s sequel time, and we return to the sleepy Cotswold village that Alice moved to before Jack was born, and which now even the characters refer to as being like Midsomer.
Pliable Truths
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Reviewed on 9th June 2024
A Next Generation / Deep Space Nine crossover novel, this story covers the period shortly before the DS9 pilot episode, when the Cardassians are withdrawing from their occupation of Bajor, and the Enterprise is dispatched to provide humanitarian and diplomatic help.
The Secret of the Haunted Mirror
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Reviewed on 1st June 2024
Looking for something short to read, I grabbed this mystery from my shelf to revisit. While I’ve read it before, I didn’t remember this one at all, so it was fun to see the adventure play out.
The Shooting in the Shop
Reviewed on 1st June 2024
A quick return to Fethering was really relaxing, and I raced through this mystery in two days - it was just what I was looking for in a book.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Reviewed on 1st June 2024
I have found myself reading several books about pirates lately and this one landed in my hands after the cover stood out in the bookshop.
Displeasure Island
Reviewed on 26th May 2024
Back for a second adventure, Claire and Sophie go on holiday to an Irish prison island turned wellness retreat. Naturally given this is cosy crime, murder ensues, and the pair and their friends need to work out who dunnit, alongside a host of other mysteries.
Radical Moves
Reviewed on 26th May 2024
In their 113th novel, the Hardy Boys take up skateboarding (it is 1992 for them after all), meet up with some competitive skateboarders, and naturally get dragged into a skateboard-related mystery.
A Spy Like Me
Reviewed on 11th May 2024
Kim Sherwood’s version of the Double O’s return for what does slightly have the feel of a middle book.
The Hidden Queen
Reviewed on 11th May 2024
Book two of the Nightfall Saga, sequel series to the original Demon Cycle, sees our teenage heroes regroup in a journey to save their parents, and the world.
A Beginner's Guide To Breaking and Entering
Reviewed on 6th May 2024
Andrew Hunter Murray’s third novel is an amusing yet insightful tale that follows Al, a self-described interloper, as his life turns chaotic and everything starts to go wrong.
The Cat Who Caught A Killer
Reviewed on 28th April 2024
This was a charity shop purchase which I’m absolutely delighted by.
The Galaxy and the Ground Within
Reviewed on 28th April 2024
The fourth and final Wayfarers book takes us to a low population planet that serves as a rest stop along a galactic superhighway, where three guests are trapped with their host during a planetwide emergency.
The Cloisters
Reviewed on 28th April 2024
This was another new book I picked up based on the attractive cover art, and though it turned out not to be my normal thing, I’m glad I did.
A Dangerous Trade
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Reviewed on 20th April 2024
Having finally managed to catch up on all the episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy’s first season, I felt comfortable starting my dive into the three novels that have been published.
Faebound
Reviewed on 20th April 2024
I really loved Saara El-Arifi’s first two novels, so was intrigued to see what she’s constructed in another world. In some respects, it’s a quite different sort of story, but it retains a lot of the progressive elements that I’m finding very comforting in my reading at the moment.
Frontier
Reviewed on 20th April 2024
I bought this short novel after seeing the author recommended for fans of Becky Chambers. It’s not quite in the same space I don’t feel, but close enough that I still found myself enjoying it, particularly as I got more and more invested in the character and the world.
The Three Dahlias
Reviewed on 14th April 2024
This new twist on the golden era/cosy crime genre sees three actresses who played the fictional detective Dahlia Lively meet up for a convention, where naturally they are drawn into solving a real murder.
The Olympian Affair
Reviewed on 7th April 2024
The second full length Cinder Spires novel and it really does feel its length. It took me two goes to read it, having a pause halfway for a holiday and two other novels.
Red Seas Under Red Skies
Reviewed on 7th April 2024
The second adventure of Locke Lamora finds him in a new city, with a new plan, and new things to go wrong with it.
Attack and Decay
Reviewed on 7th April 2024
Book six sees the Vinyl Detective and ever expanding posse head to Sweden on the trail of a rare special edition album which has totally nothing dangerous about it whatsoever.
Firewall
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Reviewed on 7th April 2024
In this prequel to Star Trek: Picard / sequel to Star Trek: Voyager, we follow Seven of Nine’s journey of discovery following the end of the Voyager TV series. Rejected by the Federation over their fear of her Borg past, she seeks to fit in elsewhere.
A Spoonful of Murder
Reviewed on 9th March 2024
Picked this up in a charity shop as a random buy because the premise sounded like a casual cosy crime I could enjoy. Sadly I never found the enjoyment I was seeking.
A Dirty Job
Reviewed on 9th March 2024
My second visit to the mind of Christopher Moore was as enjoyable as the first. In this novel we meet Charlie, who through a CD-related accidental encounter, believes he has become Death.
Everyone on This Train is a Suspect
Reviewed on 9th March 2024
The classic sequel, in which our protagonist returns to tell another story with a title that tenuously connects it to the first despite not being entirely accurate when it comes to evaluating the plot, wherein only a specific subset of the people on the train some of the time are suspects.
Wish You Weren't Here
Reviewed on 9th March 2024
This was a random purchase for me based on the cover and description. It’s a short but amusing tale of a family of modern day exorcists, who get called to a church on a small island to help the local priest with a poltergeist problem.
Sunbringer
Reviewed on 9th March 2024
I picked up this sequel after having enjoyed Godkiller, but have found it a struggle.
The Maid
Reviewed on 9th March 2024
Picked this up from a charity shop after being very tempted when it first came out in paperback. It took three days to read which was a relief after a book I struggled to get into.
A Death in Diamonds
Reviewed on 22nd February 2024
For obvious reasons to contemporary readers, book four of Her Majesty The Queen Investigates is a prequel, taking us back to 1957 and a younger monarch, setting out to solve one of her early cases.
Red Side Story
Reviewed on 22nd February 2024
After fourteen years’ wait, the sequel to Shades of Grey has finally arrived. I absolutely loved the first book and have read it more times than any other over the intervening years. And so I’m excited and trepidatious to re-enter the world.
A Day of Fallen Night
Reviewed on 22nd February 2024
The prequel to Shannon’s “The Priory of the Orange Tree” is possibly even better than the first novel. I picked it for a holiday as the length meant I wouldn’t need multiple books, but still it took me a good two weeks to race through the 850 pages of narrative.
Mrs Sidhu's Dead and Scone
Reviewed on 22nd February 2024
Although the first Mrs Sidhu novel, the book starts with well established characters, being a spin-off from the radio series. And so this isn’t an origin story at all, and we are straight into the action as the chef turned investigator is called to make scones for a village fete, after the previous volunteer’s murder.
The Defector
Reviewed on 22nd February 2024
Chris Hadfield’s second novel sees the return of the stars of his first, for an unrelated story which begins in Israel in 1973.
Hercule Poirot's Silent Night
Reviewed on 22nd January 2024
Sophie Hannah returns with a well inspired fifth Hercule Poirot mystery. She has a great grasp of the character, style, and mystery, and has produced another captivating tale.
Making It So
Reviewed on 22nd January 2024
Celebrity memoirs are not my usual choice of reading material, but when it’s Patrick Stewart there is an obvious exception.
Defiant
Reviewed on 22nd January 2024
The fourth and final main novel in the Skyward series see us join Spensa as the time comes for her civilisation and its new friends to take the battle to their oppressors.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Cats
Reviewed on 22nd January 2024
This fun little book depicts the main characters and key scenes from the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series as if they were cats.