Shastrix Books

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A Spoonful of Murder

A Spoonful of Murder

J M Hall

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.

There are three main characters, but even after a hundred pages I hadn’t noticed anything to distinguish them in my mind. All were retired primary school teachers, with husband and/or child to moan about, and didn’t really want to get into solving the crime. But they weren’t distinct enough in my mind to be able to follow which chapters went together.

The plot did little for me. I think because the characters had no strong motivation to be involved in the plot, that meant I wasn’t given one either.

And something about the structure or narrative meant that I had no interest in more than one chapter at a time - which means I end up doing something else instead of reading.

So while there was nothing awful about it, it just didn’t meet my threshold for attention. I set it aside and immediately read five chapters into another book.

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A Dirty Job

A Dirty Job

Christopher Moore

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.

It’s a hilarious yet also very sad novel in places, including right at the start. There are a plethora of fascinating characters, and it’s lovely to see a world populated by so many of them who are really fleshed out and leave you wanting to spend more time with them.

The plot feels a bit chaotic, and there are some parts where I’m not sure I entirely followed what was happening. Time doesn’t really pass in a linear fashion, with jumps ahead after the first act which don’t always seem to quite flow. But that doesn’t stop the fun.

I’m inspired again to find more of his books - Moore has an inspiring comic take on the world.

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Everyone on This Train is a Suspect

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect

Benjamin Stevenson

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.

It’s a very clever and very funny narrative, told as our hero is invited to a writer’s convention aboard a train travelling the north-south span of Australia. The mystery is to some extent the classic locked room, where the room is the train.

I do think with the plethora of cosy crime available today that it’s the narrative that has to make it. This is amusingly meta as the detective is a crime writer, and so references all the classic tropes as he goes.

Really good, raced through it, book three is going straight on my list for next year.

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Wish You Weren't Here

Wish You Weren't Here

Gabby Hutchinson Crouch

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.

It’s a novel set of characters with unique abilities and characteristics that makes for an entertaining read which transitions neatly into something quite tense. I particularly liked the accountant.

I enjoyed this trip to something random, though I’m not sure I enjoyed it enough to specifically seek out the sequels.

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Sunbringer

Sunbringer

Hannah Kaner

9th March 2024

I picked up this sequel after having enjoyed Godkiller, but have found it a struggle.

I pushed through to about page 70, chapter by chapter, but something about it seems to just make my eyes fall off the lines of text and I find them skipping to a line much lower leaving my brain with no idea what’s happening.

I want to blame the printing I think. The font is not a standard choice and the lines of text do feel very close together, but I’m not sure it’s fair to assume it’s entirely that, and not something about the narrative that’s failing to grip me too.

I gave it a second go after reading something else, but immediately found the same thing happening. So I’ve shelved the book for now and will see if inspiration to try again appears later.

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The Maid

The Maid

Nita Prose

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.

This is the story of a hotel maid and a murder, but mostly it’s about the maid and the way that other people treat her and take advantage of her.

I found the first half of the book quite hard to read because of the character’s treatment. This is clearly something the author intended and it makes a really strong point.

The second half flew by however almost in a single sitting. I’m not sure yet whether it’s caught my attention enough to buy the sequel - it’s possible that the awkwardness will have been dealt with and gone, but really I’d rather less stressful reads at the moment.

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A Death in Diamonds

A Death in Diamonds

S J Bennett

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.

This allows for some great new characters to be thrown into the mix, and Bennett paints well the difficult balance of social class between them in a variety of contexts.

The author has clearly done a lot of research and pours a great deal of love into these pages, taking little things that are maybe known about the real characters these are based on and expanding them into endearing parts of the story.

I find these incredibly relaxing and joyful cosy crime stories, full of amusement, despite the occasional serious parts of the storyline.

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