The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis
Belatedly I have just discovered the wonderful literature of this deceased author Walter Tevis. Having ignored the recent Netflix series made of the novel (though…
Book Reviews
The Man Who Died Twice (The Thursday Murder Club Mysteries #2) by Richard Osmond
What a delight to again spend time with the indomitable Septuagenarians Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron who reside in Coopers Chase Retirement village, and just…
I’d Kill For That by Marcia Talley
I was astonished that only 5 people have read this book so I was compelled to write a review. This is a collaborative serial novel….
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1) by Alan Bradley
Whether you are going to like this novel or not is totally reliant on how you respond to the narrator: the titular Flavia de Luce,…
Mr Wilder and Me by Jonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe mixes reality with fiction in this book which is an unapologetic love-letter to the titular Billy Wilder, one of the greatest film directors…
Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan
What makes a great crime book? A book that is about so much more than the crime itself. Midnight at Malabar House is that sort…
Still Life by Sarah Winman
Do not be deterred by the lack of punctuation (Winman uses no quotation marks for dialogue) or by the strangely truncated sentences. Because once you’ve…
Over My Dead Body by Dave Warner
For many of us, the name Dave Warner evokes memories of our misspent youth, with ‘Just a Suburban Boy’ playing (loudly) in the background. However,…
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
The twenty-year voyage of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, is an archetypal tale of bravery, cleverness and cunning, the saga of a wily hero among a…
The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions by Kerry Greenwood
In these uncertain, pandemic, times when it can be hard for even the most focussed fiction reader to concentrate, this book of 17 short stories…
Daylight by David Baldacci
Historically this author would keep sets of characters each within their own series, often finishing their story arc (forever) after five instalments. Happily Mr Baldacci…
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
To be Taught if Fortunate takes us to the 22nd century. In this future, space exploration is citizen-funded, ‘exploration for exploration’s sake. Apolitical, international, non-profit.’…